“C” Day

It’s “C” Day. After a couple of days of rearranged times, papers flying this way and that, today is officially the day where I close on my house. If I could add a sound effect to my blog at this moment, it would be a wistful sigh…awwwww…

But it’s alright, life is good, life moves forward, and it’s time to head to the next phase of life – whatever that may be. I guess that is one reason why I’ve been in a bit of emotional turmoil over selling and moving because there are still some unanswered questions as to what happens next and where I am exactly moving to. The parents are graciously allowing me to bunk with them for a short time while this is figured out, but beyond that…?? 

This state of fog won’t be lasting very long, however. I do have to turn in my Letter of Intent at work on July 1 as to whether I plan on moving with Intel or not. If no, they will open up my position for hiring (but I can still stay until January 4, 2010). If yes, then they will be padding my pockets with relocation  money to get a move on up to Oregon. Either way, things just ain’t gonna be the same. But not necessarily worse; just different.

Something I have to look forward to in just 12 days is this below:

Yes, that is Greece and Italy for you savvy traveling folks. It just so happens that my ex-mom-in-law and two of my ex-sisters-in-law are headed over there for a trip (well, one sis-in-law, Emmy, is studying abroad with BYU – so we’re meeting up with her) and they have invited me to tag along. I’ll tag. I will most totally tag along! I am so excited to go I don’t know if I could adequately describe it to you. Just picture my face in a gigantic and utterly perpetual GRIN. Never been to either of the areas we are going to so this is going to be a nice treat. And welcome retreat after moving out of my house. 

When did I decide to go? Mmm, about two days ago. I figured that it’s always best to plan trips to Europe last minute – because then the anticipation and waiting game isn’t so long. In not so many days I will be saying “Arrivederci, Utah!” and “Salve, Italia!”

Isn’t it Labor Day?

I know it’s Memorial Day and a time to honor loved ones who have passed, but I’m actually getting the inkling that it’s a bit more Labor Day-ish. Perhaps that’s because all I’ve done this entire weekend is box up everything in my house. Box, box, box, tape, tape, tape, cut, cut, cut, curse – oh wait, no cursing involved, Mom. I whistled while I worked…and left the cursing up to Caden – “Aw, crud!”

It’s weird to look around my house as it is slowly being emptied and start to say goodbye to this period of my life. Caden was 5 when we moved in and so excited to have his own bathroom – until I told him that it meant that it was also his responsibility to clean. Suddenly, not so cool to have a bathroom to yourself anymore. 

I have small dings here and there from Caden crashing into the wall, throwing balls into the wall, kicking the wall, just looking at the wall, yeah…The young couple who is moving in on Saturday has no kids and I feel like I should explain that kids add character – and texture – to a home. So if they find a mark, a spare scuff, a small ding here and there, to really think of it as a love tap from a child to a home. That makes it sound precious and not detracting, right?

Thinking about kids, I was just looking at some of the photos I took of my niece, Ella, on her third birthday last week. She is my brother Ben’s only child, at least for the next four weeks until Baby Boy Brewster arrives. This girl cracks me up like nothing else. Full of sass, crazy dance moves, and stories that can go on forever, she is a hoot. We love her to death and will miss seeing her frequently when the clan moves to Wyoming some time this summer. She’s always excited to see you – even if she’s never met you before. That’s why she’s just so dang adorable.

Hometown slugger

Thursday night, Caden had the hit of his life in his Mustang baseball. It was almost a home run. And it would’ve been a home run if he hadn’t somehow missed touching first base! He had to run back quickly, touch it, and then he still made it to third base. It. Was. Amazing. I know I’m biased being his mother, but I just love it when the smallest kid on the team (I play him up a league, he’s supposed to be in the league below) smacks the heck out of the ball and everyone’s jaw drops by this little slugger.

Ah, he cracks me up. And I so enjoy spending a beautiful Spring evening watching him play.

To be geek is chic

I am totally in the mood for laughing my head off these days. I look for any darn good reason to crack a smile and just laugh uncontrollably. I could post a picture I recently took of The Guy for some pretty dang good giggles…but he might become too famous for being a “pain in the butt”. Let’s just say that he recently was very, very sick and I actually helped him out for several days and did various things like getting food put together, picking up meds, going to his doctor’s office to learn how to…ahem…”pack” a wound from an infection. Yeah, these are the good times of my life. Thankfully, he’s on the mend from end to end. But I thought I would write him a little limerick just for kicks:

A bite can become quite a chore

When it makes your poor rear all too sore

A doctor did drain

The cause of the pain

Now all is relieved in your drawers

So sue me for adding an “s”, but I think it’s dang funny. I’m not sure how The Guy will feel about it…but maybe he will laugh at this below.

I discovered this site on somebody’s blog awhile ago (can’t remember whose blog it was) but I was reminded about it when I happened to run across a post by Krista. You should feel really, really good about yourself after taking a look at these Awkward Family Photos:

Where do I start? The husband hiking up his britches with an apparent priest’s collar??, the daughter with the Sinead O’Connor attitude, or yes, perhaps maybe the loving son with his arms around his mother’s neck. His mother who looks like she could be his younger sister. Maybe that’s why the daughter is so angry; mom’s got it going on more than her. They do seem to share almost the same haircut. Hmmm, I have to say I sometimes worry about a family where the men have longer hair than the women. I took one look at the picture and honestly, I couldn’t stop laughing. But this one below is even BETTER.

“Damn woman, why’d you have to eat those beans!”

Yes, the time honored tradition of taking pictures with your shades on all the while pushing your man to the edge of the splash painted back drop is in full force. It’s like they both thought they were taking individual photos and they just had to share screen time for awhile. Either that or Coolio in the background had on really bad cologne and his “old lady” (as The Guy likes to say) banished him to the back. Or maybe he just wandered in on the shot and is going to be hitting on this girl in about 30 seconds…look at that dude’s face! “Whassup, ladies?”

Seriously, I laughed so hard when I saw these. And kept right on laughing away when I visited the site. Having a bad day? Go laugh at somebody who actually TOOK a picture of theirs. 

All in the family

These be my sibs, Allison and Ben, bedecked in their “stool” of graduation (Ben’s joke, not mine). They are the two brown-eyed beauties of the family (and therefore, my Dad’s favorite kids…he’s partial to brown eyes). And just about a week and a half ago they both graduated on the same day from the University of Utah, Allison in Communications and Ben in Chemical Engineering. Yay! It’s been a long time coming…well, for Ben it has been. Hilary can breathe a sigh of relief. Al is just 20 years old so she just breezed right through her college years.

We used to have a running family joke that Allison just might graduate before Ben, seeing as how she is 9 years younger than him. But when you are pursuing a difficult degree like Chemical Engineering, it takes time. And when you have a wife going to law school, it takes even more time. And when you have a wife going to law school, having a baby, and raising a family, it takes even more time. So even though he may have been on the 7 year undergrad program, he worked hard in what is the most difficult of all engineering degrees – which was evidenced by how many were graduating in that discipline! (just a handful)

Al, or Allie as she is more commonly known to her friends, is following in my footsteps –er, so to speak. I mean that only as in she is focused on her writing. Al is an amazingly accomplished writer with biting wit, if you ask me. She cracks all of us up with her comic nuances and being the baby of the family, she has been spoiled rotten…although she will deny, deny, deny, we know the truth, Al. Just ask my parents. Al was invited along with 38(?) other graduating seniors to submit a commencement speech to be judged and reviewed by the graduation committee. We all joked that they must have thought she was of some foreign nationality (the dark, almond-eyed beauty that she is) because if they knew she was just some white Mormon girl from Bountiful, they never would’ve invited her to submit a speech in the first place. As it was, a very lovely black girl gave the student commencement speech did a great job. I told Al she should’ve tanned more and maybe she would’ve had a chance.

Now we can officially say that every single person in our family has a degree. My parents have instilled in us since we were very young the importance of education. My dad would routinely talk to us at Family Home Evening, at the start of every school year that “education is a priceless gift – it can never be taken away from you unless you let it”. He and my mom both encouraged all five of us kids to study hard, get good grades, and graduate from college. So thanks, parents, we all owe you one. 

Besides graduating, Ben and Al are off on very different adventures. Ben has a really great job that will be taking him to Green River, Wyoming for awhile. it’s an exotic location that we know will be difficult for him to assimilate to. The humid air, the tropical plants, and I’m sure he’ll have difficulty learning the local language, Cowboy-ese. He moves in just a couple of weeks and actually kicks off what will be The Great Exodus of Brewster Kids this summer.

Allison decided she needed to learn a language other than the Spanish she studied for three years at the U of U. So she is currently practicing her German on a daily basis. She left for a summer in Germany just a couple of days ago and is making it up as she goes along. She bought a one way ticket, found an amazingly wonderful family to rent a room from for $50/month, and is going to be (hopefully) gainfully employed in a part-time job at the US Air Base over there. And taking every advantage of traveling all over Europe every weekend. I told her she should stay as long as she can (sorry, Mom, but she should) because at no other time in her life is she going to get opportunities like this. Single girl, school finished, no debt, freedom to do what she wants…man, I’m jealous. I spent 7 weeks in Paris at 19 and I think about that period of my life frequently. Al, being 20 and just a stinkin’ smart kid, has everything ahead of her. I hope she stays long…because then maybe I can come visit her! (and it all comes back to me)

S-O-L…D

I am miserably slow in posting anything to my blog, but please forgive me because MY HOUSE HAS SOLD AND I HAVE TWO WEEKS TO MOVE OUT! Yep, I can finally feel comfortable posting this – because last time I posted I had sold my house, the sale fell through. 

Needless to say, the selling of my house has made me run through the gamut of emotions. First I was ecstatic when my agent called me with the offer. Then I was relieved because I wouldn’t have to worry constantly ‘is it going to sell?’ Then I was nostalgic, thinking about all the wonderful things I love about my house and what I’ve been able to do there. And now I’m in a bit of a depression…I’m seriously sad about the whole thing and every time I come home, I get teary eyed. Every single time.

Part of the reason is that this sale means a BIG move is on the horizon. I am going up to Oregon a few days after I close to spend time with my sister for a couple of weeks and work out of my company’s office up there. It is also a semi-househunting trip, to check out what I think may work and to make sure it just feels right. Because the flip side of this decision is really “am I going to be given another reason to stay?” Pretty much a blue box decision, if you know what I mean.

Sigh…my house is sold. I will be homeless in roughly 17 days. I am dealing with this  reality day in and day out, all the while saying goodbye to many colleagues at my company as their release dates come up. I don’t need to go into detail how utterly emotional and difficult the past couple  of months have been, and now it’s only intensifying. But life is all about change and I tend to face it head on. My mom once told me that I can never just do one thing, that my changes come in big waves and in 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s. And the big change is house selling, moving out of state (potentially), and starting a new phase of life.

Caden has gone back and forth with his excitement on selling our house. He thinks it’s “totally awesome!” that we get to go visit Katie, Dave, and Sam in a few weeks but he is also realizing that he has to say goodbye to many friends. Caden is an outgoing, gregarious kid who tends to be the leader amongst a group of kids. And it doesn’t matter if they are 3-4 years older than him or not; he’s in charge in his mind and most kids go along with it. This is obviously a by-product of the fact that he’s an only child and is used to getting things done his way. But he is pretty fair and good with his friends for the most part which is evidenced by the little notes I am finding lately in his backpack:

• “Caden you are so cool. I’m missing you when you move. Rite to me when you live in Oargon.”
• “I will miss playing sports with you. Your awesome!”
• “You make girls laugh. Now no girls will laugh at me. Don’t move dude!”
• “Do you have a big suitcase? Becuz moving far away is long and you will need alot of stuff.”

Awww…now I think I’ll go get all teary eyed again.

Happy pills

Sometimes, on a Monday morning, when all I want to do is just go back to bed and laze around the whole entire day because facing a new week seems utterly too big to contemplate, I think it would be great if we could have Monday Happy pills. You know, some government sanctioned program that forces everyone to have a cheery attitude about starting another week. [and that was for you, JT]

Personally, I hate pills. I still remember when my OB  doc gave me my prescription for pre-natal vitamins years ago. When I went to open up that bottle, I dang near passed out. “Holy cow! I’m supposed to try to swallow one of these suckers?! That is just not happening. No way no how is that horse pill going down.” I immediately felt guilty because I knew that the vitamins were more for the baby and not for me. I couldn’t be selfish and I would just have to figure out a way to get it down. But then I made the attempt to get one down my gullet. Twenty-five minutes later, I had a waterlogged decaying vitamin pill that was eroding on my bathroom counter. Believe me, I tried. I just patted my expanding stomach and said, “Sorry kid, I guess you are going to be retarded.” And that was how Caden became a special needs child…NO! That was terrible. Erase that little comment from your memory.  (okay, truthfully, I could get a few down here and there…but seriously, what are they thinking in making pills THAT ginormous?! Don’t we have amazing technology now that can zap these suckers down to a more reasonable size? Something akin to a tic tac?)

Back to Mondays, I’m still needing a good way to kick off a busy week ahead. At work I have a huge Cinco de Mayo party I am planning (pina coladas and margaritas galore – virgin, of course), a dentist appointment (groan), Caden’s 2 baseball games and 1 soccer game, work on The Guy’s business website, painting, and just the daily humdrum. Whew! Plus, something else to consider that I will just have to post about later…but let’s just say I will be homeless (for a good reason) by June 1. 

I pulled out my 14,000 Things to Be Happy About book that sits on my bedside table and grabbed a few things that did put a smile on my face this morning. Enjoy. Maybe they will start your Monday off right, too.

• obtaining that which is elusive
• killer Scrabble games
• that happy-go-lucky feeling
• the Rebel Yell
• the one you dress up for
• not underrating your own abilities
• the Seven Dwarfs: Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy
• bargain prices
• wanderlust
• the overwhelming desire to pop someone’s bubblegum bubble
• going to an outdoor cafe (like in Paris!)
• those moments that go beyond words
• want-to, have-to, ought-to feelings
• generalissimos
• the need for imagination

A lazy Saturday

It is one rainy Saturday today. Rain, rain, rain all the live long day and I am feeling content to just laze about my house and paint for awhile. I’m slowly getting my painting groove back, manipulating paint with brushes and turning out the images I want. This is what I’ve worked on recently for The Guy’s business (let me know what you think):

Caden is taking “lazy Saturday” quite literally. After painting for a couple of hours, I found him on the couch like this:

 

That kid…

Also, I had some other potentially life changing thing happen today. Let’s just say that perhaps in 30 days I could be moving…don’t want to jinx myself, but it’s looking good!