a blended life

I have barely recovered from what turned out to be a fantastic but exhausting weekend in Utah. I might have taken a 3 hour nap everyday since coming home.  This also turned out to be an emotional trip for many reasons. The whole reason for our brief visit was this gorgeous lady right here in the blurry grad suit: You're never too old to learn! Go, momma, go!! My dad was on the stand and handed her the diploma cover. The audience cooed. It was adorable. Those robes are not adorable. I know this was a big deal for her and I'm SO glad I could participate and cheer her on from the crowd. She has watched her husband and all kids go through these boring ceremonies and be stressed out to the core over finals and was so supportive. I'm grateful we could be there for her. Definitely a proud moment for all of us. Also, my parents dropped a bomb on us (not a bad bomb, just a surprise) and said they are selling the house and moving to Vancouver. So I knew coming...

I just had one of those weeks. Where nothing I do works out, down to the dinner I make and the wardrobe fails I had.  It started off with jury duty. 10 HOURS OF IT. Downtown, so I had I to leave at 7 am, drive an hour in traffic, leave the courthouse at 6 pm, drive another hour in traffic. I waited for 7 hours before my number was called (without wifi!), then had to spend 3 hours with a pasty white boy judge whose name was....wait for it....Miguel M de la O. True story. You can google it. And the case was a prostitute who (allegedly) had stolen thousands of dollars of jewelry from the man who paid for her services. Plus it was a racially charged (they were of Middle Eastern heritage) and Mr. M de la O, the prosecutor (a young girl with bedhead) and myself were the only white folks in the room. Gratefully, I wasn't chosen to be on the jury. Random factoid--In Florida, you only have to have a jury of 6. Nevertheless, I walked out of the courthouse with my little...

I think we may have experienced a change in season here in South Florida. It happened over a period of two weeks when I saw some brown leaves on the ground. The leaves are gone and all the trees have green again, so I'm not sure what happened or what I missed. I am highly, and I mean extremely,  straight forward in my thinking and speaking, but the brown leaf for two week thing made me wax metaphorical for five minutes (a task I usually 'leaf' to my husband, dad, sister and other poetic individuals). Those few crunchy brown leaves reminded me that everything and nothing can change all at the same time. My babies are still my babies even though they look a little different now. The person I am and the person I was when I was born is the same, though I hope I've become a little more refined and tuned. Everything in my life has changed in the course of two years, but somehow I feel more like myself than I ever have. I KNOW you know what I'm talking about. I've ...

I have a rash on my face. It's probably the family cursed eczema, which plagues my mom and sister and a slew of others. It won't go away and has been there---and is growing--for two months now. It's ruining my life. I've taken a billion selfies lately just so I can see how it's progressing. The girls even give me daily updates on how it looks. And did I mention that it's ruining my life? Jacob came home tonight from a visit with his dad. We all missed him, and I'm surprised that I cared as much as I did. I had never planned on enjoying someone else's company this much--it's quite shocking. I'm not complaining, I just always surprise myself. The girls have to go back to school tomorrow after a nice Spring Break. No one feels ready. They beg to be homeschooled (?) and gripe about how much they hate their school, but then they get honor roll and sign up for a bunch of activities. Academically and socially, they have both progress...