Life Viewed Through an Amber Focus

Today Chris and I celebrated our 18th Wedding Anniversary at Disneyland. It was so fun. We got the bride and groom Mickey Mouse ears and they gave us buttons at town hall. And there was a band at this Mediterranean restaurant at California Adventure who seranaded us at our table with the song At Last. The singer was incredible. I haven't heard someone hit a high C so accurately in a long time.

Our kids, my nieces, and my SIL are having a fantastic time as well. I was worried about Hayley, but she's actually been great to be around. She sometimes has a short fuse with her mom and sister, but so far there have only been a couple of moments and she just comes over to me and I jolly her out of her mood. And of course Justine is always a joy to be around. Rose has been grumpy for most of the evening and she is not such a joy to be around. She's generally my easy child, but I don't think she is getting enough sleep. Tobias is doing okay for the most part, but he's been a little greedy and Hayley did tell him off for it. I'm glad she did though because of how he was acting. She's 17 so he looks up to her. Still, the bumps are not nearly as numerous as I had feared. Vicki (SIL) has been so much fun. We've always got on well, but not spent too much time together for the last few years, for one reason or another. So that's been nice.

And tomorrow I get to see my beta amyo67 for the first time since 2009 so I'm excited about that. On Thursday Chris's cousin Bobby, who lives in L.A., is going to spend the day with us in the park. I am really loving this vacation, even if my back is obnoxious from sitting on a scooter all day, and my thumb hurts from holding down the button. Better than than my knee or legs or feet, though. 2 days in and it's been a great vacation. Well worth the money to give my nieces and SIL the trip of a lifetime.

My baby girl is going on her first date to the Homecoming dance on Saturday. *wibbles* I'm excited for her. Plus the boy is a Doctor Who fan and all around sci-fi fan, as are most of her friends, so points up in my book. I think I'm more nervous than she is.

I am starting to have ideas again. I don't know if anything will come of them, but it is good to at least have plotlines starting to percolate in my head. I hope they will stay, because I have missed them.

Homeschool is going along okay. I thought I was going to die from it last week, but now I think both T and I are going to survive it. Things went a lot smoother today than they did the last three days of last week. I think I was just super stressed out.

I have a major ear ache going on. I know it's not infected because I've been on antibiotics for the sinus thing since the 17nth and it's the same type they give my kids for ear infections. I think I just managed to catch a cold on top of the sinus infection or maybe because I was run down by it. Anyway, though, my right ear and the right side of my throat feel like I swallowed a red hot chile pepper both whole and sideways. If I could get the darn thing to pop I think it would stop hurting so much. I am only eating soft foods because solid foods hurt to swallow. This can be done now.

I watched the pilot of Revolution. Pretty much I liked it, though I did wonder how they all managed to stay so clean all the time. I mean, I spend 15 minutes in the garden and I am filthy, how do they slog through "untamed" land and still look like they stepped out of a fashion magazine? (Also the clothes, but we won't get into that). I also want to know how the cement isn't gone to plants more than it is. After 15 years it would be far more cracked and taken over. But I like it more or less. I still think it's a ripoff of S.M. Stirlings' Embersverse, but whatever. It's like fanfic on television (but not the bad stuff).

I also finally got around to watching the season finale of Drop Dead Diva. I really loved the twist at the end. And also the talent of Brooke Elliot never ceases to amaze me. Although this season was a bit scattered and I could have done without Kim Kardashian's guest role early on, the finale was very satisfying for me.

I saw the first episode of Haven's new season. I am still as in love with Audrey and Nathan as I ever have been. I still ship Duke/ his boat. Looks to be a good season if the premiere ep is anything to go buy. I don't imagine I'll be watching too much this year. I've eliminated quite a few things that are too hard to keep up on when my only source to watch them is hulu. Hopefully this will mean more writing.

I am in the middle of season 4 on a Supernatural rewatch, which is the Angels versus Demons season. I don't like it as much as the first three seasons. I like testosterone laden things when I am very stressed out so I watched a lot of it last week. Either stuff where there is a lot of punching and shooting or they blow stuff up. It's like therapy for some reason. Season 4 has too much angst and not enough of the other stuff. Still, cute boys. Yes, I am that shallow.

Chris went back to Alaska tonight so now the real fun begins. Hopefully I will still be alive when he comes home in two weeks. Speaking of Chris, we just hit 22 years together today. We've been together now for more than half our lives. Wow. That's pretty cool.

Am I just doomed to jackassery amongst public school PE teachers forever?

Why, yes. Yes, I think I am.

Taking my daughter to the doctor's office now.

Really, really, really fantastic. But also really long and hot and crowded, and this with timed tickets only letting so many people into the exhibit at a time. We had a great time though and learned a lot. It's amazing to walk through all these displays and realize that the stuff there is 3000 years old. It just give you this sense of awe and of time passing. It also had me wondering how they moved some of the larger pieces. A semi-truck flatbed, I suppose on some of it.

My son took 5000 pictures so I might have something to share in a day or two if anything turned out. The exhibit was about four times as big as the Harry Potter exhibit (and probably four times as crowded). Also way more interesting brecause it was history and real. Not that I wasn't fascinated by the HP stuff, but ancient Egypt is a whole different world.

We had a great time with my neice along and she was just so thrilled and happy to be there (more so than my kids, even who are history buffs). After the exhibit we watched a movie on the IMAX there, Secrets of the Pharaohs. It talked a lot about the tombs and the history of the discoveries and about all the grave-robbing and how the pharaoh mummies had actually been hidden by the priests and not placed in some of the original tombs at all. All very intresting. It makes me want to go see some of these things in person.

If anyone is in the Seattle area while this is going on, you really should make every effort to go. It's really worth the $20 for adults, $15 for children.

I did fairly well physically. Although I'm pretty much never moving from my bed and my ice pack again (or at least until morning), it isn't my knee that is hurting. It is my hip and low back. So much walking, but that's not the bad part. It's the standing. Just standing. Moving around loosens things up. Plus I still walk slow and my family walks fast. But no cane and I only had one moment where I wished I had it and that was after we'd left the science center. And I'm glad I didn't use it, because it will mess me up. I proactively scheduled a massage for tomorrow because I knew I'd be tied up like this. Part of it was the standing, part of it was the long drive there and back.

I plan to go swimming tomorrow, too. That always helps things loosen up again, plus anti-gravity is always awesome when you are in pain. Still, all in all, I did great. This bodes well for Disneyland in March.

Was up late last night working on Vortex. I sent chapter 36 off to beta before I went to bed. I'm working on chapter 37 today and the rate at which I am going I may finish that today. I have to pick up thetesh, aka Chris, from the aiport tonight at midnight. It'll be nice to have him home again, though he very well may melt from the heat we're having. I doubt I'll have trouble getting him to go to the pool while he's home this time.

Speaking of the pool, last night it was pretty empty and I got in my 26 laps and all of my physical therpay exercises in. I am doing really well with the exercise right now and the scale keeps going down. At this rate I'll be at or near my goal before we go to Disneyland in March. I am hoping to not have to rent a scooter for my knee this trip so I am trying to build it up strong with exercise well before it's time to go. Swimming is the easiest on my body, but I am starting to walk more for exercise now. We're going to try a hike in the nearby park and see how I do while Chris is home.

And next week we are going to the Pacific Science Center to see the King Tut Exhibit. I am really excited about that. I saw it once in the 70's when I was a little kid. We went on a school field trip and I remember being amazed and awed by all the gold and lapis lazuli. I still think that lapis is one of the reasons blue is often my favorite color (sometimes it's dark red or purple). I always come back to tones like that, though.

( Update on T )

Well, enough chit chat from me. Back to Vortex. I am determined to finish that story this month. Keep your fingers crossed that the muses stay with me.

My son is driving me crazy. Bat-sh*t, up the wall, thoroughly and completely insane. There is a long list of reasons for this, but I will leave you with just the last one.

"Oh, Mom, by the way, we have an orchestra concert tonight at 6:30."

Umm...it's 4:40.

Straw that broke the camel's brain.

At least his uniform is clean and there's still time to eat dinner. But that kid is so on my list if he does not go to bed on time tonight.

*sighs* I am still so exhausted. My left ear still will not pop. My nose may as well be a faucet stuck in the on position. My low grade fever comes and goes, but is sitting around 99, nowhere near last week's 101. My cough is better. It's way up in my throat now, not in the bronchials at all. I can cook things that don't just come out of a can again, though admittedly the tacos I made tonight for dinner were done in the microwave instead of on the stove top. But still...it wasn't chili from a can that I put in a tortilla and pretended was tacos, so go me.

I stepped on a construction staple tonight. Oh, I howled. It punctured my heel, but it did not really bleed. I mean, I can see where it is that it happened, but it is like this tiny red spot. I will call the doctor tomorrow to get in for a tetanus shot. It's been 12.5 years anyway, so I'm due a booster. Will ask him for more antibiotics because I have not beat this illness yet and I don't want a relapse.

I tried to write today, but really all I wanted to do was play Facebook and try to nap. I did not succeed at the latter and spent far too much time playing Cafe World on the former. I started reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. It doesn't really present any new information that I didn't already know and I am finding it awfully repetitive. It's more on the babyfood level when you're already used to eating steak. Or something.

I had to sit through tae kwon do tonight. I think that place is seriously damaging my hearing. They are so loud in there. And the benches are so hard I always feel like a stiff old lady when it's time to get up and leave.

I will try to write again tomorrow. Oh, I won challenge 96 at then_theres_us for the fic Ten Seconds. I've never won a challenge there so I was squeeing a little bit when I found out. Of course I forgot to vote myself. I really want my brain back.

My daughter was teasing my son earlier about him being hatched, an alien, or possibly adopted (which is ridiculous and kind of a running joke, because if you look at either of my kids they are the spitting image of Chris and me). My son rolled his eyes at his sister, put his hands on his hips and said all condescending, "You know very well that Mom gave birth to me. She has the stress marks to prove it."

I just about died laughing. I was going to correct him, but decided maybe stress marks were more accurate than stretch marks, considering the last four years.

In other news, my mother is giving me stress marks... The memorial for dad is tomorrow and for someone who didn't want to do anything, she's sure in a tizzy about it. Like anyone in this family is going to care whether or not she vacuumed under the sofa. Like anyone in this family is even going to realize you can vacuum under the sofa...