Depression

I haven't posted for bit. Manly had to go back to work since we'd been gone a lot and I got all caught up in the first day so I sat....and sat.....and sat :-( I tried cleaning out that annoying drawer in my dressing table that needed it. I caught up on all the shows I'd recorded and not watched. I rented movies. I reorganized a cupboard that was bugging me. I e-mail a bunch of people. I read the book club selection and then 3 more by the same author. But mostly I sat and get depressed. I missed my kids, a lot. Oh they all called at least once a day, like they usually do but they seemed SO far away.

Number 1 son has kicked the wedding planning into high gear with his girl. I wanted to drive up there and stay a bit but it wasn't realistic, I mean they had to work and all. Number 2 son is embarking on a great internship and trying to make all his classes fit. I wanted to fly down and help him register and buy his books but again, it wasn't realistic, I mean another flight and being gone again. Baby bird is just loving life at school. Was it weird that I wanted to go get his laundry? I was craving contact. The poor kid is the only one close so I worry I smother him. It doesn't stop me.......but I worry about it at least.

Any suggestions? I don't want to make large life changes because I'm not in the right frame of mind but something?

So I'm trying to find more things to do.

Today I had lunch with an old friend. She's the friend that's known me most of my life and still loves me. We have spent time when we talked all the time and time when we went without talking for months. Either way, we are still friends.

We met for lunch and talked about our kids. We had kids roughly the same time and the same number, I have 3 boys and she has 3 girls. We have moved and moved back, and we are now close enough to meet for lunch whenever we want. The problem is, she works and I travel and we still find it hard to connect. So today was a nice treat.

We talked about my latest trip, our kids sports woes and her granddaughters. We just talked. Do you have a friend like that? It really is my sanity lock. I can tell her anything and I don't have to be in a good mood unless I really am.

We all need friends like that. Friends that love us, don't judge us, are always there for us, understand us and never leave us. We can fight but we never leave for good.

I also have a group of friends, The Goddesses. We are the same way except we do it collectively. We have times when it's all of us and times when it's just a few of us but there is always one of us available for another. The group is called into action when ever needed, right now it's needed. When one of us hurts, we all hurt. We love our friend and she is hurting a lot. So, we all hurt, a lot. Because we love her and her family.

My hope is that you all have friends like that, we all need them.

While we were in Vegas last week we ate at 2 of our favorite places, In 'n Out Burger and Texas de Brazil.


In 'n Out Burgers are not in Oregon so any time we go south, we try and stop by. The have the simplest menu and the best burger sauce. Look at this menu, could it be any more simple? Now if you are in the know, and we are, you can ask to have your meal "animal style", that means you get cheese sauce and grilled onions on your burger and/or fries.




Everyone in our party got their order that way except for me. I mean come on, I have was eating off the diet anyway, how bad did I want to get? Secretly, I just don't like cheese on anything, weird, I know.


There is also a little something about In 'n Out Burger that is kinda cool. Look closely at these pictures..........



Do you see the bible verse reference on the packaging? It's not talked about and it's no where on their website but different biographers have said that it's the brain child of one of the family that owns In 'n Out after he became a born again Christian. He felt he needed to be able to answer to God about spreading his word and this was his way. It's not the verse, just the reference and you can find it on the wrappers, the soda cups and the milk shake cups. Cool huh?

The next place we go to is Texas de Brazil. This place is an experience not just a meal. It's based on a Brazilian Steak house where servers some around with meat on skewers and you eat till you want to explode! You start at the salad bar which can be whole meal in itself. They have rice dishes, salads, grilled veggies, soups, cured meats and some different cheeses. Then you just sit back and relax while these fun people bring around all kinds of meat on skewers. They have beef, chicken, pork, lamb, you name it and it's prepared in lots of different ways. When you want meat you turn these cards over to Green and when you're full you can take a break for a while by turning the card over to Red.

The hard thing is, all of it looks so good that you keep eating even after you're full, which of course I did. The bacon wrapped chicken was so good and the garlic steak was to die for!

Texas de Brazil is our annual tradition in Vegas, they are so fun and the food is so good, you must go there. I've heard there are other places like it and I confess I've never tried them but our friends say this one is one of the best. And the husband part of our friends was born in Brazil.

Vegas

As you know, I spent the last week traveling. The first few days were semi-local with the Fire Fighters where we had a blast! Lots of late nights and good dinners. My friend and I played the lotto slots to get ready for my second trip......... Las Vegas!

We stayed at the Luxor and were there to visit a Trade Show in order to find new products to feature in a business we have. The trade show was good but the lack of US and Union Made products was disturbing. There are so few that we found maybe 6-8 vendors that would work for us. Sad isn't it?

So, a little side note. We walked past this wall each day on the way to the Trade Show, can you say "What the heck?"

But then it was play time! I am notoriously tight with money when gambling so I stick to the penny slots only. They are fun and I can play for hours on $20 and not feel too bad when I lose it. Lucky for me, I seem to be winning this time, go figure. This was a machine I played more than once and turned my $20 into $71 this time. I played different machines at different casinos and still did OK. I loved it!!

Manly played craps and did pretty well also.


We did a lot of other things in Vegas that were fun too and I'll write about them in later posts, let's just say almost all of them revolved around food LOL.

On the way home we decided to bump up to First Class. It was totally worth it but can I tell you, people are nuts. I mean just stupid nuts. If you live in the Portland area you probably heard about the disruptive passsenger on the Alaska Airlines flight (NO, it wasn't Manly LOL). Just dumb people.

When we were asked if we would like a "snack" we thought, well sure. This was the "snack"! As well as all the drinks you wanted. They just kept coming around, they were so nice.

All in all, we came home with more money than we went down with and in Vegas, that is a VERY good thing :-)

So, how do you know that the Baby Bird has landed? You see things like this........

And you get weird calls like "Mom, is it OK if I come back out to the house tonight?" Does anyone else think that's it's weird that your son would call and ask if it was OK to come home? I mean, what does he think is going here while he's gone? Do I look like the party animal? Who knows? LOL Maybe I do...... Maybe I'm throwing giant parties and not inviting him? Maybe I'm rolling around in twinkies and yoo hoos and don't want him to see it? Or maybe I'm sitting on the couch bawling my eyes out because I miss my kids and he doesn't want to be reminded one more time? That's probably it but lets let him think it's the parties :-)

I'm all packed and ready for a week of work and play. I head out to spend some time with my second favorite people, my Fire Fighters. Of course my family comes first but this group comes in a close second. Manly puts on a Educational Seminar for Fire Fighters around the state and I get to tag along. It's a great time so I may be a little scarce as we catch up.

And Baby Bird? The washer is free! There may even be some extra food stocked for just such an occasion.

Errands

So, have you ever had one of those days where you got up, had coffee and then it exploded (the day not the coffee)?

I thought, while drinking my coffee, Manly is going to be gone for the morning, maybe I'll go exchange my coat I got for Christmas. Manly, bless his heart got me a Northface coat. The only problems were, it was the wrong size and he went way overboard. I mean I don't ski or live in the Arctic so I really didn't need a heavy, double layer coat. He promised me he was cool with me returning it so I thought, today is the day. Then it happened.

While getting ready to take out the mail we notice, she's already come. Now I love my mail lady and she really puts up with a lot from us but I never know when she's going to be here. So since I was going in to town anyway, I might as well drop off all the packages at the post office right? Then Manly mentions "Since you have to go by the post office, why not drop off the recycling?" OK, makes sense , so I load up the recycling in the suburban. Then I notice I still have 2 movies I forgot to take back after Christmas (seriously late, so shoot me). Into the car they go. Next the phone rings as I'm leaving. "Mom, the book store doesn't have the book I need for class, can you find it there and mail it to me?" "Sure wonderful Son, I would be most happy to hunt that down for you" You believe I said that, right? The sad thing is, I kinda did. Then another Son calls and reminds me that he left his pills at home when he went back to the dorm and could I run them in to him? Well he needs them right, wouldn't any good Mom just do that?Yeah I know but again, I kinda did.

So my errand to take back my coat became multiple errands in 2 towns. The good news, I did get my coat exchanged. And the really good news, I got 2 coats for less than Manly paid for the 1 coat. And the really really good news? With all my weight loss, I bought a medium and a small!! Yeah you heard me, I fit a small. Now I fit the medium better but hey.....I fit a small, so there.

New Years Day Rose Bowl Party

Since I had 2 of the 3 birdies home this new years day, and we sold our Rose Bowl tickets (don't get me started, I'm still in mourning), I made Manly promise that we could have a party to watch the game.

I decorated with all the Duck stuff we would normally use while tailgating, adding a couple new table cloths.
We had food that we would normally serve at the tail gate; chili and chili dogs, smokey roll ups, chips and dips, candy, dessert and drinks. Then we threw in a bunch of friends and what they brought and it was good food. When we tailgate there are a group of army moms that sell jello shots as a fundraiser and we always buy some; so I had to make some, just for originality sake.

We had prize drawings at the end of each quarter and a scoring pool to buy in to. The kids liked that they won most of the prizes, and by kids we mean the 18-22 year olds LOL. It was a great time had by all except............My Ducks Lost!! How could they do that to me? How I ask you?

We love our Ducks and are happy that they made it to the Rose Bowl, next time guys.

So it begins

With the start of the new year I thought I would try something new, blogging. Let's see if an old dog can learn new tricks :-)

The Manly and I saw our last kid leave the nest this last year and for the first time, and I truly mean the FIRST time, we are alone with no kids. Now, all of you that know me know, I am never without kids. I was worried I wouldn't know what to do and I think Manly felt the same, the poor guy. I was a stay-at-home Mom for 24 years, so really, I guess you could say I'm now retired. EEWW that sounds old and yucky. So, what to do, what to do.

Well the first thing I did was decide that I needed to see more of my kids, makes sense right? While the last year was our baby birds last year of high school, it was MY last year of high school too. I threw myself into all that needed to be done, college applications, senior graduation party planning, volunteering, helping with final projects and chairing the Bond Committee for a new, rebuilt High School. While all that was keeping we busy, it was also keeping me from visiting my other boys that had been out of the house for a while. My bad. I also decided to drop all the weight I'd gained, so far it's 55 pounds! I am also Health Coaching for the program that helped me lose. Strangely, I also got back into baking. Fortunately the college kids get it all. We are also avid Oregon Duck Football fans so I decided to take our tailgating serious, season ticket holders and all you know.

So now it's the New Year, 2010 if you can believe it. My resolutions are: read all the books on my book clubs list, continue to lose weight, visit my kids more and get re-acquainted with my Manly. Sounds good right? Let's see if this blog helps keep me accountable (please read "keep her accountable")