Is she really TWO already?

My how the time flew. My baby girl is now officially a two year old. I have watched her grow, watched her become ever more independent as each day passes. And she's just a delight to behold.

She has the strongest will and wants to be capable beyond her capabilities which frustrates her sometimes but eventually, if she is unable to do what she is attempting, she will accept defeat and ask "Mommy, hep?" (hep would be help in toddler talk).

We had a birthday party for her at my ex husbands house with my ex mother in law there. Sounds like a volatile situation, but contrary to popular assumption, we actually all get along rather well now that the stress of the marriage is gone.

So I picked up a cake that I had ordered over the phone with no idea what it was going to look like when I got there (the signs of a busy mom). I just requested a "cake with Elmo on it". It was so adorable! There was a little 3" Elmo character on the top with a hacky sack that looked like a beach ball and Elmo was plunked down on a sandy shore with waves about to tickle his feet.

Elektra did not ingest a single bit of said cake. She did eat a very small portion of frosting and she also smashed her piece joyfully before shaking her frosting-laden hand ferociously at her grandmother in adamant protest of the awful stickiness!

I bought her some of those Crayola magic markers and paper where the markers won't mark on anything but the special paper. Of course, if/when she runs out of the 40 sheets I got her, the markers will be useless so I'll have to purchase more "magic" paper.

Excellent profiteering idea from someone in the board room at Crayola! But hey, what price to pay to keep my what used to be a white couch the now dingy greyish no longer so much of a white color instead of Crayola colors. Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe it would look better if I bought her some fabric paint and let her go to town on my not so white couch?

Necessity was the mother of invention until the invention negated necessity and bore a different invnention, hence came along father.

Don't ask. I did, but I wasn't able to answer myself satisfactorily.

Back to my lovely Elektra and her gifts which her torn from their packaging with glee. Her favorite of all her new toys? A Happy Birthday Elmo from her dad's new roommate who has known her for all of 2.25 weeks. Now why didn't I think of that? Oh well.

Hey, bright side... The roommate is pretty cool and Elektra likes him. Which of course gets him big points in my book. My daughter has to live with him 1/2 the time so the fact that she likes him is really rather awesome.

I can't wait to get her into the dress that her grandma bought for her. It is a beautiful antique white dress made by hand in a town near where grandma lives.

Daddy got her two different floor puzzles, one Lego Cookie Monster puzzle and a toy with 4 balls and a hammer. I just hope she doesn't decide to use the hammer on her big brother.

She is rather feisty. Wonder where she got that from?

Quiet, We're Hunting Wabbits!

Easter was a religious thing in my house as a child, but once I grew up, I dropped the religion like a bad habit. So for my kids, it's about candy, colorful hard-boiled eggs and the delusion that a huge rabbit lays plastic eggs full of skittles and m&m's in your yard once a year.

Friday night, I took my teenage daughter to an egg hunt geared toward teens... at 8:15 pm... in the dark. She needed a flashlight to find the eggs and it only took 15 minutes. Wish they'd separated those bigger kids from my egg hunts as a child. I might have ended up with more than 2 eggs!

I Will Never Forget

I wrote this short story about a hike I did when climbing South Sisters in Oregon several years ago and it was brought back to my memory recently and I've found it today, so I thought I would share it.

I Will Never Forget

As I neared the end of the arduous path, each trembling, burning step produced a larger image of an ice-blue lake. I finally placed both aching blistered feet at what previously seemed a fictitious destination: the summit! As I began to devour the breath-taking beauty that was the reward for all of the sweat and the flecks of knee and palm I had given to the mountain during the prior two days, I discovered something that I did not expect. The mountain; she was speaking to me. Her whisper came to me as a soft touch to my heart, to my soul.

As I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply in an attempt to quiet my pounding heart, she stole away my breath, mingling it with her own; then, we exhaled with complete synergy. Together, the mountain and I drew the clear, fresh, thin air, in a passionate rhythm. I felt my cold, dry lips begin to tingle slightly and a sensation only describable as pleasantly near ecstasy enveloped me.

A drop of sweat fell from my sun-scorched brow and I opened my eyes to the blinding snow. The realization of my ascent, of my accomplishment hit me and I stood trembling unable to move my weakened, bruised limbs. I smiled a dry mouth smile and felt the internal cartwheels of pride begin to dance within my being. My eyes scanned the scenery surrounding me. The trees below were so many shades of green it was impossible for me to describe with words alone the impeccable beauty that my eyes beheld. The ephemeral clouds cried sweetly into the mountain, giving freely their sole possession. The mountain beckoned to me through the lake frozen so cold it threatened to steal my soul if I got too close, but I could not resist her call. My feet and legs carried me closer to the frozen water’s edge. There, she told me that I must never forget. I must always carry the breath and the voice of the mountain with me, for it is she who breathes pure water into our lakes. It is she who provides shade for our valleys. It is she who gives soil to our forests. It is she who gives substance to our very homes.

I heard the mountain tell me that I must find the energy to reach an arm and a hand to the snow at my feet. She said I must taste it to ease the dreadful burning thirst that was silently screaming from my mouth, fighting against her for my attention. I struggled to comply and heard my own savage protest as I picked up the cold white wetness. I pressed the pure snow to my lips, suckling the sweet moisture from the delicate crystals. Suggestive of a gift from the mountain, my energy increased, I felt refreshed, renewed, and my burning thirst had been silenced.

I thanked the mountain and turned away from the ice-blue lake, looking again to the entrancing panoramic view that my heart struggled to comprehend. I took my bruised body back to the edge where I first glimpsed the ice-blue lake and heard the mountain whisper to me. I realized the bruises did not matter any longer; the cuts were insignificant. The exhaustion had been exhaled and replaced with exhilaration.

I stepped from the snowy edge back on the path toward the rocks; to go on to the dust, and the trees, back to the flowing lakes, to descend to civilization. I carried away with me a voice that was not my own; the voice was that of the mountain. I began to realize that as she had spoken to me through her beauty, she had created in me physical and emotional symptoms that have altered my mentality, my understanding; she had changed my perception and I was indebted to her for her generous gift. I promised her, I will never forget.

Sleeping in the bath

Last night, I fell asleep in my bubble bath, which is something I've done many times in my lifetime. But last night was different as at some point beyond 1 am, for the first time in my life, I slipped under and got soapy water up my nose. Oh the agony!

I sat bolt upright, coughing, sputtering and trying to remove the excruciating pain of inhaled bubbles. I didn't even bother to wash my hair, I just got out of the now forsaken (and slightly cold) water, drained the tub, dried off and went to bed with my nasal passage still stinging.

So, what was different about last night? Why for the first time ever did I slip under the water in my sleep? I've been falling asleep under a field of scented bubbles at least once a month since I was about 12. That would be approximately 1,196 naps while sleeping under water with just my head exposed to the oxygen in the air that is necessary for me to continue life after napping.

Apparently I was coming dangerously close to the good solid round number of 2,000 safe bath-naps and some karmic retribution of some sort decided that it wasn't going to allow me that record. Or maybe it was the jasmine bubble bath that just relaxed me a little too much?

Whatever it was, now I have to start all over again! I suppose that's okay with me.

Until Next Time
JessicaInSeattle

Sunshine!

I am absolutely loving the warm weather.

Why I ever moved to a cold, wet climate is beyond me! I think that I must have been an amphibian in a past life and the inability to warm myself was somehow carried over into this life.

Hey, why not? It's the best explanation I've come up with yet that sounds even remotely interesting.

"I'm just always cold. *shrug*" is seriously lame.

I really should move closer to the equator. Somewhere I could sunbathe on a hot rock all day. *sigh* I suppose my lily white ass would get burned to a crisp in less than a day though.

So maybe I should return to my all time favorite vacation spot: Costa Rica!

The rainforest there would protect me from too many rays and the rain storms are so lively it's impossible to not go out and play in the rain!

I've been deprived of sun for far too long!

Heart strings?

Now that I'm single I feel like I have the freedom to wonder what could or would have been had I chosen to date someone else when I had the chance.

Or if I'd stayed with someone I dated way back when.
Or if I'd said yes when I was asked to marry the first person that asked me that question.
Or if I'd just stayed single.

I'm really enjoying being single now but it's bringing up a lot of "what if" thoughts.

I still remember the intense pain of my first heart break. I'll never forget it yet it was 20 years ago.

Funny that today in the middle of writing this, I just so happen to have a friend who needed someone to talk to and this exact topic is what comes up.

Today must be the day to pull on the heart strings of others or have your heart strings tugged by another.

Curious.