Most thoughtful: As a few of you know I had lap-band surgery nearly two years ago. Part of the process involves going on a pure liquid diet for three days pre-op, then another five days post surgery. There’s more, but in a nutshell the last real meal you eat before Weight loss surgery becomes known as “The Last Supper” because not only will you not eat anything semi normal for weeks to come, you will never eat the same again. This wasn’t something I whined about to my husband because I was still trying to keep him on board with the process and didn’t want to utter a teensy complaint about it given that it took me a year to get his support as it was. So, four days before my surgery he surprises me with a baby sitter and sweeps me off my feet for a long drive giving me no clues as to where we were going. Two hours later we arrived at the front door of Ruth’s Chris, the best steakhouse ever. He said he wanted my last meal to be the best.

Most creative: Damien has never really caught on to buying jaw dropping gifts. In fact in the early years he didn’t buy them at all. Not entirely his fault since we have almost always been on a mega tight budget and we share a bank account, but he has been in the dog house once or twice regardless. Last year however on my birthday (which also falls on or within days of Mother’s Day) Damien got super creative and took me to Big 5 to pick out my own gift. If you are confused, so was I… at first. But he soon explained that my gift was to spend time with me, in the form of playing tennis together. We picked out rackets and headed to a court for my birthday…it was awesome.

Most Spontaneous: Damien and I hit it off very early. In a matter of three weeks we had a huge list of dates we had been on, including dinners, movies, meeting parents, Disneyland and more. However in our fourth week we ended up on the road to San Diego heading out to Sea World. I had never been, so it was a very magical trip, however I would have never guessed what was to come next. On the drive home we had this mad idea to get married and have a baby. So sure enough, after an official proposal, four weeks later we met at the alter and began our wild adventure toward the Party of Five. I’m not sure he will ever top the spontaneity of proposing one month in and pushing for a wedding 30 days later, but the best may be still yet to come.

You can find my blog over at: Postcards from the Funny Farm

She’s started subbing and it’s been so awesome seeing her on my campus smiling ear-to-ear. Today she is at a study group with some other people in her college class. She may write soon about some of the challenges of teaching a special ed class for over a week on long-term sub assignment. She will hopefully aslo write soon about the amazing rewards of working in the classroom with children. While it doesn’t pay huge amounts (about $120/day before taxes) it is great for her to be able to pick the days she wants to work by accepting certain jobs and passing on others. Not to mention the fact that it is excellent preparation for her career as a teacher which will be coming in the next few years.

Be patient with Sarah, she’s not as die-hard of a blogger as me (though I am working on it!). I’ll try and convince her to post something in the next week. Thanks to those of you who have checked in with her either through trackbacks or directly in emails to me or her. She is fine and I am hopeful will be back blogging very soon.

Thanks for reading my wife’s blog. Have the best day of your life.

To commemorate this exciting break I took the two oldest kids to the library yesterday. Thinking about how long it has been since I read a book by my favorite author I snuck over to the paperback section and checked out a newer title by Dean Koontz. After getting it home I read it from cover to cover stopping only to eat (btw, I left dinner up to the man and though it was merely hamburger helper it was an exceptional meal as I did not cook it, nor clean it up).

After spending five hours on a book then heading off to get some groceries the kids managed to convince the folks to put on a movie. This is when mom got it in her head to make this a better than average viewing since what-the-heck, we’re on vacation. So we drug out the projector, and speakers, and watched Shrek 3 theater style on the living room wall, while snacking on cheese-its and pb & banana sandwiches (menu decided by the midgets of the house). It was turning out to be a great day until about 1/2 way through it, with a nine year old and two year old glued to the screen, hubby chimes in to point out that it is 12:30am. Wow, where in the world did that day go?

Today has also already wasted away doing nothing much more than sitting on a computer. Pretty soon we are going to have to start digging ourselves out of the surrounding mess, but it sure has been relaxing.

Now here is a photo today:

It baffles me how quickly this happens, but even more puzzling is how I fail to notice the tornado until it has passed. I have stopped to blog once or twice amongst the storms, however it ceases to seem entertaining. Therefore if I continue to go MIA, it is truly an attempt on my part to spare you of the less-than-entertaining aspects of a mediocre housewives monotonous day.

To begin, my mother came over and took the kids home with her so I didn’t even have to tote them all out, which left me plenty of time to get ready. Might I add that as much as I love my children, the second they were out the door I got all giddy like a teenager going on her first date. I rushed off bought a new outfit, came home and curled my hair, then put on perfume and make-up(none of the above were noticed by dh, but oh well, I felt good about it ). Then my date came home from work and we were on our way. BTW, I have been challenged by my blogger husband to give the night it’s full justice, so let me set the scene for you.

The sun was going down,

and we had set our sights on spending the evening at Victoria Gardens, as it offered dining, shopping, and a movie theater to meet any of our needs. More specifically we were headed to the for drinks and dinner.

When we arrived there was a nearly two hour wait to be seated, so as we headed over to get drinks while we waited, we somehow ended up with two seats at the bar which offered full dining. We ordered extremely rich pasta dishes which broke all rules of the diets we have been following, and chased them with a margarita and Heineken. We were surrounded by dozens of rowdy guest’s watching sports on the wide screen’s behind the bar, and had a full view of more beer on tap than you have ever seen. You may have had to be there to get just how fun this was, but maybe you just have to have kids to know that being in a place you could never (realistically) bring them is somewhat thrilling.

We finished dinner and considered many options of relocation, but decided to go see a movie. I should mention that although we only had two drinks, we are pathetic light weights who rarely drink and needed to go snore it off, so it was of little consequence that the movie we chose was awful (not that I expected much from Balls of Fury anyways, lol). We then went and shared an Apple Pie Caramel Apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co. (yummm)

We concluded the night by finding a bench and chit chatting, then we walked back to the car (holding hands no less). The night was romantic, spontaneous, and fun. Dh gets an A+

I wake up early every day, get going with the kids, have something that inevitably calls me away from home, which steals so much time in the minimal details. For example doctors appointments, or grocery shopping, where I need to dress the girls, hope for good moods, then rush home to unload and put everything away, before my son gets out of school. Then it?s time to start working on naps, and basic maintenance of the many toys lying around. Then get dinner started. After dinner I of course don?t want to wash dishes, put away dinner, or bathe the kids, but every so often I do anyways. On the nights I don?t bother, the following morning begins as the previous day, only with several complete colonies of ants browsing the Rio style buffet we have generously left for them.

It is not as if I don?t feel my family is worthy of all of this, however how many days in my life can repeat in this fashion before it becomes like a broken record playing the same verse over and over again? What?s worse is the condition of my house most days. Even though my kitchen and living room are cleaned almost daily, they never stay that way long enough for anyone to witness it. When friends drop in and there are streaks of something sticky running down the couches, or dark stains in the center of the floor, and smudges of who knows what on every door jam and light switch, I think to myself what they are probably thinking ?geez, does this woman ever clean her house?? Shouldn?t this be gratifying knowing that I am supposedly doing the most important job there is? When precisely do the feelings of fulfillment begin?