My baby is growing up!

I knew this was going to happen, but when it does, it's a bit surprising. My baby is growing up. Julian turned 5 in January and he has been making leaps and bounds in learning and growing for the last 6 months. Tonight I had to bite my lip in order not to laugh out loud and make him feel self conscious. He was relating a story about how one of his teachers had cheese and he was hungry and he told her he really liked that kind of cheese and she finally gave him some and then he didn't know what to say to her. He'd told me the same story in the car and I asked him if he said thank you. He said no. I told him he should have and he said he forgot.

So as he was telling his dad the same story at dinner, Myron asked him the same question I did - did he say thank you? And Julian said "Dad, that's not the point!" "I was hungry, it was string cheese and I like string cheese." I had to put my glass up to my face to hide my smile. Since when do 5 year olds say It's not the point?

And then after dinner, he asked if he could have candy but could he please have some "french cheese" first. Huh?!? He went with me to Costco yesterday and they were sampling this cheese. We had some and he wanted more. He loved it and I bought it. So now, he wants that cheese for snack and apparently as dessert - or a palate cleanser before his candy!

Where did my little baby go???

Going for Enlightenment

So, as I blogged earlier, I am trying to read Eckhart Tolle's New Earth and trying to follow Oprah's online class/book club about same book. It is a good book, albeit somewhat deep and a difficult read (and I haven't been able to keep up with the classes - I have to resort to downloads that I'll listen to later). But it's forcing me to examine areas of my life and determine how I can change to improve my happiness quotient. So far (through 2.5 chapters) it's making sense to me. Something in chapter 3 is sticking with me. The chapter is about Ego and what makes it tick. The passage is "Being Right, Making Wrong." I'll paraphrase:

Complaining and faultfinding strengthen the ego's sense of separateness on which the ego's survival depends. (Being separate isn't the goal - everyone and everything being one with Spirit is the goal).
These give the ego a feeling of superiority on which it thrives. (No one or thing is superior)
When you complain, by implication you are right and the person or situation you complain about or react to is wrong.
Nothing strengthens the ego more than being right.
For you to be right, you need someone or something else to be wrong.
The ego loves to make wrong in order to be right.
You need to make others wrong in order to get a stronger sense of who you are.
Being right places you in a position of imagined moral superiority in relation to the person or situation that is being judged and found wanting.
It is that sense of superiority the ego craves and through which it enhances itself. (This is the root of many problems)

I used to do a lot of complaining. I can totally relate to this. Particularly in jobs and working situations and it's how I best related to many people - friendships were built around complaining and making others wrong. And I was miserable! Sad, unhappy, crabby, totally miserable. But I guess with age and a mom who constantly tries to look out for my well-being by offering up lots of suggestions that I try new uplifting and healing things and books like Tolle's I am coming to realize that complaining isn't helping me achieve my ultimate goal. And beyond my own personal happiness is working to make my family peaceful and contributing my fair share towards some form of world peace.

There are truths, some universal and some just my own - things I like and don't like, things that I can stand for and some I can't. But I am going to focus on trying not to making others wrong. When something or someone isn't compatible with my sense of peace or a roadblock on the path to enlightenment and when I start feeling my ego taking over, I will simply remove myself without judgement (or at least try not to complain). I can't say I will be able to break old habits right away, but I will do my best. Notice to all my friends - feel free to point out my complaining if I fall into my old ways.

One other quote we heard on 'Akeelah and the Bee' last night - I hope my kids can take it to heart one day:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." (Marianne Williamson)

Might Be Time To Say No

I spent the time between midnight and 1am last night writing out 5 pages of "To Do" list for the next 4 weeks. Yes, I'm back to my special brand of crazy. I was on a nice stretch of letting things go, not worrying too much about all the things piling up, enjoying more time with the family such as movie nights, game nights, etc. But I'm back into full-fledged Type A mode. And it's all my fault!

The kids have their ongoing activities and some new ones, too (tap, POM, basketball for both, baseball for J, etc.) The winter schedules are almost over and the spring schedules have yet to be distributed, so the calendar only showed a few committed dates.

I was feeling really good about passing the President baton to a new person on the South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce. He was already well his way to making great things happen without my daily input or need to sit in on executive committee meetings, Seattle City Council meetings, Neighborhood Council meetings, King County Council member walking tours of South Lake Union, meet & greets, figuring out what in the world upzoning was all about, untangling transportation and parking issues, discussing the merits of open space versus retail space, trying to mediate developers and retailers and arts organizations, etc. etc.

Things were kinda quiet at work, everyone on pace for a busy but steady event season. RFP's were written and deals solidified for one of the best years we've had in a long while. The team seemed solid with no one giving any indication that they'd be moving on. I was actually managing to work no more than 40 hours a week, too.

With all of this relative calm, I figured it would be OK to apply to be on the City Of Shoreline Financial Advisory Committee. After all, it didn't really mean I'd be on the Committee - I'd just throw my hat in the ring to make myself feel like I was concerned and contributing to my community without having to do the hard work. Could I have forgotten the deadly boring meetings I endured being on the Aurora Business Corridor committee last year talking about storm water management, all the crazy ways we could think of to mitigate business losses due to construction (can you say Christmas lights pointing to open businesses from the road?!?!), learning more about the red brick road and why we need to preserve it, etc, etc.?

Apparently, yes!

Because I was actually chosen to be on this Committee (I had a 50/50 chance of not being on it - why can't I have those odds for my lottery tickets?!?!?) We had our first 2-hour meeting tonight during which we all had to introduce ourselves, announce what made us think we actually had skills that would benefit said committee, tell why we thought this would be a good idea to meet with 17 other strangers who live in your community each with some special interest ... libraries, parks, transportation, more business, etc! It was all I could do to hold my tongue and tell everyone that we should put the entire City budget into hiring and training halfway intelligent police officers. So this "priviliege" will likely go on through June, possibly July and maybe we'll be "chosen" again to reconvene in the Fall, if the City Council would like this to continue (oh joy!)

Oh, and email messages today now indicate that the kid's sports practice and game schedules will be sent to us this week. Somehow my mind just didn't fill in the blank holes on the calendar to accommodate for all of that stuff! What have I gotten myself into?

Work has exploded - one person has quit, one is going on maternity leave soon, one is getting married and is taking 4 weeks off to honeymoon in Italy and I have one on panic attack watch to make sure that she stays sane after a crazy busy schedule of travel and kissing client's butts. I'm pulled into all HR functions, working out a multi-year deal with our biggest client, supervising a few projects and trying to keep balls in the air, fixing service issues with clients, prep for a few trips across country and the list goes on.

The new President of South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce had a family emergency and in one day quit his job as Vice President of a bank, moved to Virginia and left me a cryptic voice mail telling me to follow up on the chamber's line of credit. Nothing else. No "Sorry I have to resign" or even better "I'll be back. Can you fill in for me for a week or two?" Nooooo. As immediate Past President, I get to step back into the President's shoes ... again:( Letters to city council and city staff, credit lines, prep for and facilitate the board retreat, re-join the political battles I so don't get.

Did I mention that I decided to have my brothers and their families over in a couple of weeks? And the house is a disaster because we are remodeling the office and the kid's bedrooms? Oh yes, tearing out walls and pocket doors, painting, the whole thing. Julian is still sleeping in a race car bed with a crib mattress. His head touches the top and his feet almost stick out of the bottom. I cleaned out Mac's stuff and will be giving it to my youngest brother and sister in law who are having their first baby in May. In the meantime, bags and bags of hand-me-downs are on the dining room table, a pile so high that it really almost touches the chandelier. We have friends coming over for dinner on Friday - do you think they'll notice the stuff on the table?

My mother turned me onto this great healing massage therapist who does Altas Profilax (clicks the first vertebra back into place) and he's so specialized he's only in town this Thursday and I can't miss him and I'm taking Mac because she's complaining of headaches and it's supposed to make you feel so much better. And it'll cost a bunch.

I can't miss GNO!

Gotta keep up with Oprah's New Earth class I signed up for - every Monday from 6p-8p online and I have to read 1 chapter per week. Right ... need to read chapter 3. Oh and missed both classes so need to download week 2 and listen to both weeks - because I signed up for it and got the book and it's for my own good and could make me happier. If only I had the time!

Other things that made the to do list:
- get dog sitter for Easter (next weekend) and spring break (long weekend in Semiahmoo)
- shop for Easter (still next weekend)
- pack for Easter and Semiahmoo and pack Mac for spring break in Chelan with grandparents
- drive back and forth to/from Chelan for Easter and again taking Mac over for part of spring brak and again to bring Mac back from spring break - all in two weeks time
- clean house for guests on Friday and for cleaners coming next week and again for family
- figure out summer camp stuff for Mac, make sure I don't mess up the swimming lessons again this year like I did last year
- pick up even more hand me downs from friend on Friday and figure out where to put all this stuff (garage not an option and office barely walkable with Mac's stuff boxed up)
- pick out paint for kid's walls
- remodel entire house and fully landscape front and back yard, installing super fabulous fire/water feature never before attempted because brothers haven't been over to the house since we bought it (10 years) and oldest built a custom home near Enumclaw with unbelievable view of Mt Rainier, next to youngest is building/remodeling their house right now doing most of the work himself adding a second floor with views of the Olmpics and youngest runs a farm and built a huge barn and office/house next to their main house and remodeled their basement for their new baby last month and all of their homes are gorgeous
- Type Writer's Workshop Stories for Mac's teacher (and trying to decipher 2nd grader phonetic writings that tend to make no sense sometimes!)
- Get snacks for J's basketball
- Get birthday gifts for kid's friends because everyone is having a birthday party these days!
- Recover the headbaord we got from Craigslist last weekend because I just had to have it now

There's lots more, but I'll spare you. I'm officially going nuts and can't stop myself. And this darned time change is messing me up - I'm awake at 1am but can't get out of bed at 7:30a.

Next on my to do list: call someone and have them stop this Daylight Savings Time madness!

School Lunches

This one's just for you Katie! I found this link on A Full Plate's blog. I haven't had much time to read through, but anything that can give some ideas on different lunch menu items can't be bad!
http://www.brownbagblues.com/. We'll have to share if anybody's kids ends up eating anything from this list of suggestions!

It's Tax Time

Every year we promise ourselves that we will get this done early in the year. End of January - mid February lastest!

It's mid-March and we are just now getting to it. Actually, not really getting to it, but thinking of getting to it. We just opened our CPA's tax packet (sent in December) and have to find all the paperwork, all the numbers, receipts, bills, blah, blah, blah.

I HATE TAXES. Made all the more insulting that we are paying taxes for stuff that isn't really a benefit to us. Schools are in worse shape, our roads and transportation are crappy, gas prices sky-rocketing ... it just makes my blood boil. That doesn't even cover the price of this crazy war in Iraq and Middle East. But then again, our kids are going to have to pay for that!

So I'm choosing to blog instead. A worthy alternative, I'd say. I'd ask the question - have you done your taxes yet, but I don't really want to know. I'd rather ask - do you plan to have to pay or get a refund? We always have to pay (two years ago it was almost $12000!!! Talk about having a heart attack!) so we never have a refund splurge. This year, if we get that stimulus check Bush talks about, we're likely going to have to send it right back to pay our stupid taxes.

On the bright side, we got a used headboard for $75 this weekend that I only need to put foam and fabric on to make it look good. Happy about that!

Compelled to answer the call of the Meme

I was tagged. Yep, tagged to come up with six words that sum up my life. This funky version of a chain letter was started it seems by an article brought to light by NPR, that highlighted an article in Smith magazine.

"In this spirit of simple yet profound brevity, the online magazine Smith asked readers to write the story of their own lives in a single sentence. The result is Not Quite What I Was Planning, a collection of six-word memoirs by famous and not-so-famous writers, artists and musicians." The full article can be read at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18768430. I think it's a ploy to get the magazine's name around the world (I've never heard of it), but at least it's something different from the marketing folks.

And like Katie (who tagged me and whose blog I love http://smilelines-k.blogspot.com/), coming up with just one is too much to ask. Here are the few I came up with in just a few minutes.

Star wishing, not a good strategy
Want to live universal truth NOW
Never thought it'd look like this
Warden of own prison, want freedom
Time starved, creatively deprived, physically overfed
From couch, exercise looks like fun
Forget important dates, remember every embarrasment
Mostly happy, never content, want more
Need less things, want more connections
When will I win the lottery
Should have listened to my mom
Everone else's meme sounds much better
Slow to join, then totally committed
Rarely utter first words or last
Explain to me like you're 5
Came this far, where to next
Always reaching for the next thing

I'll go with this one:
How to make a living vacationing


Here are the rules to playing (and my interpretations of them - cause they forgot to explain to me like they were 5):
1. Write your own six word memoir (OK this one is the easiest)
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like (the game just got harder - I don't know how to add a picture from the net and don't have one I took as good illustration - I'll have to spend time getting this to happen)
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere (OK - now I'm officially lost. I can link to Smile Lines, but I have no clue what the "original post" is. Good luck, you are on your own here.)
4. Tag five more blogs with links (I've officially lost this game - Katie tagged all the people I know who have blogs! :-) If I want this to keep going, I'm going to have to search for random blogs to tag to - now it really feels like one of those chain letters.)
5. Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play! (OK, will do, once I find those blogs to link to who won't ban me from the blogosphere because I'm spamming their blog. I'll get right on that! Soon .. really...)

So this will happen in stages and this post will get edited a few times I suppose!

My New Stovetop

This is truly a day to remember! I am so excited ... After more than 10 years living in our house (a 1953 generic), we finally found and bought a new stovetop. Yay! Hooray! Yippee! I know it sounds like I've won the lottery and it feels a little like I have. See, I've been living and cooking daily with a Thermador stovetop circa 1960's. Only 2 of the 4 burners work and they are the smaller back burners to boot. I called an appliance repair service and it didn't take long for him to declare that not only could he not help my poor cooking buddy, but that no one would be able to - parts for that thing no longer existed!

That was 4-5 years ago. Coupled with my "easy bake oven" (seriously small) and cooking in my kitchen is always an adventure. I was once 1.5 hours late to a neighborhood gathering because I couldn't get my big pot of water to boil to throw in frozen potstickers. Thanksgivings are all potluck - my oven can barely roast 1 medium turkey and my stove is good for the mashed potates and warming my MIL's candied yams when she arrives. The microwave gets plenty of play, too and it's no spring chicken. It's functional and fairly large, but I wouldn't doubt it will follow the stovetop in a couple of years.

Myron has his work cut out for him. The new stovetop is smaller so we need to shore up the counters and fill in the gaps with new infrastructure. The countertops will now be unfinished and we'll eventually have to get new countertops, but we also are hoping to eventually remodel the entire space in a couple of years. I've lived with a crazy wacked out stovetop for 10+ years, so an unfinished countertop isn't going to faze me much. I dream of a new kitchen/living/dining space and someday I'll have that. Today marks the first step!

Of course we need to finish the kids' rooms, the office, our bedroom, etc etc etc! One day at a time. But hopefully next week, my family will eat a great meal and I will love cooking it on my new best friend.