I think I need to take an extended weekend, mini-vacation a couple of times a year.  My time away these past few days has been just what the doctor ordered.  

Blissful peace and quiet.

Hot meals that were cooked for me, with no clean up involved.

Sleeping in until 9am.

Adult conversation, uninterrupted.

I could get used to this!   Though I thoroughly enjoyed my time away from home, I am looking forward to returning.   Returning to my family, to my routine, and after all the eating I did this past weekend, returning to my diet as well...

Thank you dear Marlena, for being such a wonderful hostess, tour guide and taxi driver...I love you and will be looking forward to our next visit together!

Feelin' the Butterflies!

You'd think I'd be running down the concourse through the airport to be the first one to get on the plane...instead, I sauntered along, eyes straight ahead--nervous as hell.  That said, I was one of the first to board the plane anyway.

I have a love/hate relationship with flying.  I love the THOUGHT of flying..getting away from the hum drum of this life of mine.  But, when reality hits the fan and I actually GET to fly, the butterflies in my stomach take over and I begin to second guess my need to get away.  And believe me, I NEED to get away.

Gulp.  I did it. Today.  One step at a time.  I boarded the flight from Colorado Springs to Denver--the first leg of my journey.  I'm pretty sure I left fingernail marks in the armrest of the plane as I clung to it for dear life, but I did it.  I made it to Denver in once piece.  I survived all of the 20 minutes it took to get there.  No worries, I have a 3 hour layover in Denver to come to grips with the almost 3 hour flight ahead of me yet. I've also got my good friend, Xanax to help...love those little blue pills!

The next leg of my trip is Denver to Portland, Oregon, where my BFF from High School will be picking me and my dulled fingernails up and driving us to her place in Washington. Destination: Seattle.  

It only took me about an hour to figure out how to hook up to the free wifi, so in the meantime, I wandered the l.o.n.g. concourse sniffing out what to eat.  I ended up at Panda Express for some Firecracker chicken and chow mein.  I ate a hot meal.  All by myself. No kids. Just me, myself and I.

Weird.

It almost feels overwhelming, if THAT makes any sense, to not have any kids with me. Again, weird. But, I get to be without kids for 96+ hours...   

Imagine that. 

I'll update more later, IF my plane makes it to Portland in one piece.  Breathe in, breathe out...

Hiatus Unintentional, Sorta

A year has gone by since my last post.  A whole year.  I'll spare you the excuses as to why and just say "I'm back"!

I've missed blogging.  A lot.  So forgive me if I go off on tangents that don't happen to make any sense. My blogging skills have faded in a years time, and so has my brain.  6 kids is sure to give one a case of brain drain.

Anyway...

We've just pulled off Christmas Break 2012.  And I say "pulled off" in all truthfulness.  That said, I have some explaining to do.

In November, right around Thanksgiving, Roy and Caleb moved back in with me and the kids.  Roy and I have been separated for almost 2 years and divorced for almost 1 year now.  Caleb lived with Roy for about a year and a half, while I had the 5 other kids with me.   Getting to the point, Roy and I decided that since we've been able to form a great friendship over the last year, we needed to try and parent together...and have Roy more in the kids lives.  It also makes financial sense for us to live in the same house and share the rent.  Takes some of the weight off of both of us, you know?

Back to "pulling off" Christmas break...nothing surprising that having a houseful of kids trying to adjust to one another again was hard. Really hard.  But, we pulled together and made it work, successfully!

I realize this was one of the most boring posts ever, but the blanks needed to be filled in so there isn't mass confusion later amongst my readers (thanks Mom!) later...