(Steve) Austin = Bionic Man

Once again, my motherly buttons have burst and are scattered all over the floor.  My 14-year-old son never ceases to amaze me with his drive, determination and athletic ability.  This past Tuesday Austin and his dad rode around Lake Tahoe…. 72 miles of hills… including a 1200 ft. incline.  Not my idea of a good time, AT ALL.  But hey, if it floats their boats, more power to ‘em.  BUT, get this,…… one day of pain and agony was not enough.  Austin wanted to beat the five-hour time with his father slowing him down, so he rode around the lake a second time on Thursday.  His father drove the pace car and handed out granola bars when needed.  Austin shaved more than an hour off his time.  No big surprise!  Three hours and 56 minutes. 

As his mother, I’m so proud of his incredible perseverance…. WAY more drive than my husband or I have….. or ever did have!  We don’t actually know where this drive originated from.  Maybe it goes back to Austin’s 1/4 Native Indian heritage WAY back when they had to run after buffalo or moose or some other wild animal…. for days on end.  But that was for survival, not thrills-a-minute.  I don’t get it.

Here are some more photos for your viewing pleasure.  :o)

There we are.  The proud parents.  See!  There’s no buttons left on our shirts.

Vacations are Underrated!

Every year we come to Lake Tahoe during the summer…. it is honestly a little slice of heaven on earth.  The temperature is particularly inviting because we abide in Phoenix…. the Valley of the Sun.  I happened upon the weather at home today and it was a blistering 114.  It was a balmy 76 here at the lake… with a light breeze… and slightly cloudy skies that randomly hid the sun from view. It is sublime.

As a homeschool mom, you would assume that my life is somewhat lackadaisical with relaxed schedules and leisure time at hand.  Not so.  Imagine the pressure of your four children’s education resting solely on your shoulders.  It’s A LOT to think about…. and more so than not, why I completely appreciate our time in Tahoe.  I do not bring one iota of school with us. OK, that was a lie.  I did bring two audio books from our literature list next year.  OK, AND a small reader.  After being away from our home for approximately 35 minutes, I realized that the audio books were useless because we no longer possess a functioning portable CD player.  My driving shift started at 2:30 a.m. ….. when I was not afforded the luxury of using the car stereo for my American History literature choices…. simply because four other people wanted to sleep at 2:30 am.  How selfish.

The 1850s novel I’m reading purely for pleasure has been cracked open but once during the past three days on the lake.  How have I been busily spending my time, you ask? Relaxed in the sand I stared in a catatonic state at the crystal blue water for several hours.  Perched on the couch I gazed at the aqueous goodness beyond the patio doors for long periods of time.  Parked at the kitchen table I played game after game after game after game. Today we all walked into town.  TWO whole miles one way… uphill… in the snow (well, it would be snowing in January, but we are here in June.)

Somehow the cerulean water calms my spirit.  Surprisingly, breathing is easier up at 7,500 feet due to lack of stress.  This scenery allows me to collect myself and ease off of the pressures of home.  Vacations are WAY underrated in my humble opinion.

dis-obey: to fail to obey

If you’ve been reading MySistersJar for several years, you will remember my story about the trips to the dump when the road was closed.  (http://mysistersjar.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/frazzled-mother-goes-ballistic-at-city-dump/) That road is Dixileta.  That short-cut, albeit crazy-bumpy, has been used in our digs for several years.  It’s right near my parent’s home and is the quickest way onto the freeway heading into Phoenix.  Nora refers to it as “la avenida de montaña” …the mountain avenue!  The drop on that crazy pavement is rollercoaster worthy if you are speeding!

A few weeks back, the city put up signs telling all of us who use that road, that if we weren’t driving a truck we were breaking the law.  WHAT?  How can they do that?  Easy.  Slap up a few signs… and post a policeman.

With my mother in the car, I disobeyed (that’s what the ticket said!) and took the shortcut anyway.  Not a good idea with the nice officer of the law waiting for me.  He did kindly explain the reason for the signs.  Seems the road does not belong to the city.  It is owned by the gravel company that is located just east of the signs.  It was put in for the gravel trucks, which is good because then they don’t rumble down through our neighborhood.  The city told the gravel company to do some repairs on their road.  They replied, “No, get your traffic off our road.”  And up went the signs.

So, because of my glowing flawless violation record I had the option of choosing traffic school.  yippee…..  BUT, things have improved over the years and I was able to take it online… in my pjs… while wrapping gifts, folding laundry, washing dishes and feeding the fish.  ALSO, I found one that is called Improv Driving School.  Yes, you read that right… IMPROV!  All that means is that they added sarcastic comments after the real rules of the road… and they offer 5-10 minute videos of traffic jokes at the beginning of each lesson… that aren’t required.  I thought the videos were dumb at first (well, I still do) but each of the ten lessons is timed.  They are approximately 23 minutes each… WAY more time than is necessary to read the information and answer the three questions EVEN if you are only in grade four at the present time.  So I skipped the videos, read the info, did the review and clicked on ‘take the test.’  It told me that I didn’t spend enough time reading the material… there is a clock that counts down for you.  Good grief.  If I read the whole chapter S L O W L Y, pronouncing every syllable from 25 feet with one eye covered, I would still have to wait for the clock.  This IS just the same as wasting my time in a class, except for the fact that I can go get things crossed off my to-do list while I wait for the clock to count down.  Sheesh.

Did you hear the one about the driver who died from being hit in the head by a kleenex box? (Seriously, that was on there!)

VBS = Very Busy Sistah!

Last week I only had 50% of my kids in the house.  One is still in Africa and one was at camp in California.  So the two that were here participated in a Vacation Bible School program that lasted from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.  I love summertime!  It was a little slice of heaven for this sistah!  I felt like a mother who sends her kids away to school…. but just for five half days.  I didn’t quite know what to do with myself…. so I went shopping, out to lunch, bookstore browsing, shopping, out to lunch….etc.  And then the last day I just came home and did nothing.  Nada.  I didn’t even blog.  Seriously, I sat and looked through a few magazines… stared out the window enjoying the silence… nothing.

Nora has not really been away from me in a setting with other kids, other than Sunday School…. and that only lasts one hour!  So this was a stretch for her!  She told me on the second day that she had no friends.  I asked if there were other girls her age and she said there were.  So I explained that she needed to go up to them and say, “Do you want to be my friend?“  And she did.  She got in the van that afternoon and said, “Now I have lots of friends!”  If you want to have friends, show yourself friendly.  It works!

One of my FREE mornings, my mother and I went to a fabric store…. and my sewing creativity that had been dormant for over eight months burst forth into life.  I purchased two dress patterns for Nora and came home to check my fabric stash.  I had ample pieces for little dresses, but needed some zippers, some rick-rack, some sequin trim and a few extra pieces of material.  I finished two of the dresses and I’m onto number three.  They all have lime green, turquoise and dark brown in them, so I’m also working on a corresponding purse that works with all three!  Matching is SO important! 

Did I mention that I love summertime?

Checking In with Mom

My fourteen-year-old son called home from camp tonight.  It surprised me.  He started by saying, “I thought I’d call you………….  “   and then I asked questions for five minutes.   Is the place nice?  How’s the food?  Who are you rooming with?  Are there girls on your team?  When do you come home?   Then there was a 20 second pause and he asked if dad was home.  Nice.  Yeah, I love you and miss you too, son. 

This is my not-highly-emotional-or-physical son.  Physical for sports – yes.  Physical for hugs and kisses – no.  I don’t even think he writes “love” at the bottom of his cards to me.  I think they say “from”.  Nice.    Anyway, there is a sign on the fridge in CURSIVE that says, “Mom, I love you.  Thanks for taking us camping. Austin Crosby”  It totally made me laugh because it was his signature, but my husband wrote in messy cursive to make it look like Austin wrote it.    I left it there because it makes me smile.

Several years ago…. probably five years ago… this same son called home from camp.  It surprised me then too.  That time his sole purpose for calling was to make sure I put the garbage can to the road, because it was Wednesday, after all!

When he left on Sunday morning my parting words were, ‘I love you.  Be a leader.”  I expect a full report upon his return.

Monday’s Smorgasbord

My favorite words by Nora and the definitions by yours truly:

1. Teddy Burr (teddy bear):  when a stuffed animal gets under your saddle.
2. Unnerwhere (undies): what’s that unner there?… unnerwhere?
3. Peaksa (pizza): when you take a little looksie in the oven door to see if the cheese is indeed melted.
4. Enbalope (envelope): when you quit eloping earlier than planned.
5. Austeen (Austin): the new teenage version of her older brother.
6. Chickenout (check it out): what you do when you are too scared to jump into the cold water.
7. Heronimo (Geronimo): an old Indian hero – Nora yells this when she jumps into the swimming pool.

Other tidbits of information from today’s saga:  VBS has begun… hip hip hooray!  My mother and I went shopping and out to lunch!  Boooyah!  The colorful fabrics at JoAnn’s caused me to be deeply inspired to CREATE!  I bought a pattern to sew a dress for Nora!  Ohhhhyeah!  I was dismissed from jury duty before they even saw my outfit!  Rockonnnnn! And I got a ticket from a nice officer of the law.  Booo-hisssss!  Traffic school, here I come! No, I wasn’t speeding… the city closed the road that is the closest entrance onto the freeway… and I took it anyway… for the last time.

No more Bats on my Fridge!

Two years ago there was an article in the newspaper of Best Things To Do each month in Phoenix.  I cut out two of the suggestions and put them on the fridge…. with the hope of doing each of them… because they are the BEST!  One was to eat at Pizzeria Bianco… the other was to visit a colony of bats that live right downtown!  Rick and I did go to Pizzeria Bianco one night a couple of months back, but the wait was over two hours and we were too hungry to wait that long.  So, Pizzeria Bianco is still on the fridge.

In celebration of 24 years of wedded matrimony, Rick and I went away for a few days… not far… just away.  We were staying at a resort relatively close to the bat cave, so I suggested that we visit and view, because I’m a nerdy school teacher who is enthralled by God’s provision for animals in the middle of a big city (NOT including the ground squirrels who are STILL eating my garden… grrrrr.) 

In my hot little hand was the newspaper clipping with the bat cave location merely listed as Camelback Rd. and 40th St.  We arrived at said intersection to find a Fresh N Easy, Chelsea’s Kitchen, a dry cleaner and a gas station.  There were no signs indicating BAT CAVE THIS WAY —>  (Bummer.)  We started asking around and were pointed west along the north side of the canal.  I was not prepared for walking a half mile in gravel and dirt…. needless to say, I need a pedicure now.  I’m not sure what I was thinking, but hiking had not entered my mind.  More asking followed.  More pointing west followed.  We finally found a kind gentleman who knew exactly where we were headed.  Perfect.

The bat cave is actually a flood control tunnel that is two miles long.  It is huge… you could drive a garbage truck in there, if the gate was unlocked.  Our arrival couldn’t have been timed more perfectly.  As we wandered up to the top of the tunnel to read the signs, the bats began emerging.  It was cool.  The newspaper reported that there are 20,000 bats in the cave.  The signs reported only 5,000.  We figured it was more than 5,000… as I stopped counting at 476…and the stream of flying mammals continued for another 15 minutes.  The other end of the tunnel also has bats emerging… so definitely more than 5,000 Mexican Free Tail bats. 

Don’t worry, that’s not all we did on our excursion!  We also ate out at two fine Mexican restaurants, did some shopping, watched some Glen Beck (FYI: Our family stands with Israel), swam and read.  It was most relaxing and VERY needed.  And there are no more bats on my fridge.

Camping Chronicles

Yes, we camped for three days in the dirt.  It was dirty.  But there was a gorgeous creek.  It was freezing… well, not actually freezing with ice chunks and all, but REALLY cold.  There was sunshine the whole time… except for the clouds, which we welcomed with glad hearts… a break from the heat of the day.  This may sound a bit like whining, but we actually had a great time laughing and laughing and laughing. 

Three camp chairs, of antiquated status, were put to rest as the bearer of weight went crashing to the dusty ground.  It was comical all three times… and I was even one of them.  Currently, I’m sitting on the front of my chair for the time being.  A bit of a bruised backside.

A highlight, or lowlight as the case may be, was my son losing his retainer.  He plucked the clear plastic guard from his upper jaw right in front of my eyeballs… he was standing in between the fire pit and the picnic table.  He had a banana in the other hand.  The scene was burned into my brain. But what he did next with the clear plastic retainer remained a mystery.  He didn’t let me know that it was missing until nighttime.  Yes, we lit lanterns and donned flashlights searching for the plastic gem… to no avail.  I dreaded the phone call to let his ortho-paying father in on the news.

The next day, he and I carefully dug through the entire trash bag… removing each and every piece to a new trash bag. It was disgusting.  Really.  Half way through the bag, he told me, “If it is in here, I’m not sure I’m going to want to put it back in my mouth… ever.” We also tore apart the boy’s tent… piece by smelly piece. Nada.

An hour later, I was envisioning his teeth moving back to their previous locations… and knew we would need to get a new retainer Thursday morning right after we arrived home.  I didn’t have the ortho phone number in my cell, so I put on my brave face and called my husband.  He was not impressed with my tale of woe.   As it happened, he was in a different state, waiting for his passengers to fly home… and the ortho number was not in his phone either.  As we made small talk I was slowly wandering around one end of the campground AND I FOUND IT!  Yes, that clear plastic gem was lying in the weeds next to the clothesline.  I screamed and yelled in my joy.  Rick didn’t understand a word I said on the phone.  Eventually we all rejoiced.  The retainer was “washed” (term used completely loosely) and installed back in its rightful place…. however a bit more snug than usual after the 12 hour absence.

See, camping went jes fine.