At Least It Wasn't Raining

You wanna know what's not awesome?  Walking over a mile to my sister's house... uphill... without a jacket... in my torn pajama bottoms... on wet dirt... in my socks... carrying a 12 lb dog... because when the "sign-my-paper" dude came to the door and the dogs flipped out and one escaped so I ran after him and closed the door behind me so the other one wouldn't escape but, of course, did this all about a whole millisecond before I realized my keys and my cell phone were in the house and my door is always locked so that crazy people can't just walk in.  Crazy people like me!!  So the "sign-the-paper" dude watched the circus, had me sign the paper and then seriously started to walk away before I said, "Uh... think I could use your phone?"  So he walked to his apartment and brought back a cell phone.  But you know what?  I only know one number.  My parents' number.  The same number I memorized before entering preschool in case I got lost or abducted or smart enough to run away and start prank calling.  So I called that number.  And nobody was home.  So I left a message that sounded a lot like this, "Hi Dad.  It's me, Emily.  I'm locked out of my condo so would you please come bring me the key as soon as you get this message?  I'll be waiting.  Oh, I don't have shoes.  So... I won't be going anywhere.  Please hurry."  The "sign-my-paper" dude listened as I left the pathetic message, asked if I had someplace to wait and then when I said I had a sister a mile up the hill but I wouldn't be going there because I'm in socks he smiled and walked away.  So the trek to my sister's began.  

But... at least it wasn't raining.  And I only had to carry one dog instead of both.  Also, the bedroom window I was scared was weak enough to give way with a slight nudge holds up a lot better than I thought.  So, there's that.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yeah, we really were having that much fun.

See, there's at least one other person who knows how to rock St. Patrick's Day.

Bouncing Baby Boy

I know that my voice is annoying.  Sorry.  :)

But, really, have you ever seen a kid that good looking??

Special

Be Mine

25 Things

I did this on facebook.  And now it's on my blog.  Today is my blog's 6th birthday.  It's a twofer.  Or a threefer.  Whatever.  

1.  Sometimes I dream in ASL.

2.  I was a girl scout for six years.  I wanted to be a boy scout.  They got to do the cool stuff.  We made crap out of pom pom balls and hot glue and sang songs with Canadians.

3.  I played softball for 12 years.  First base was my favorite position.  I took it very seriously and would chant under my breath, "Nobody gets on my bag!  Nobody gets on my bag!"  My sophomore year my team celebrated an undefeated season. It was the same year I broke my nose in the 2nd inning and, ignoring my coach's request to sit a few innings out, kept playing through the end. 

4.  I played softball for my high school team for only one season because the other girls made fun of me.  Apparently softball was a "popular" sport and I didn't fit in the category.  I still regret letting them get to me like that.

5.  For a long time I thought my brother's Deafness was my fault because I loved Linda Bove on Sesame Street so much I prayed for a Deaf friend.

6.  I played piano for six years and loved every minute of it.  My piano lives in my condo now and every day I look at it and wish I could take piano lessons again.  Maybe this summer.  :)

7.  I own a guitar but don't know how to play.  I took one class in college and I totally sucked.  I bought the guitar about three years after that class.  I still want to learn how to play but I can't even tune the thing.

8.  I played flute for six years and was one of those high school band kids that got teased for being one of those high school band kids.  I told everybody my mom was making me do it but she really didn't care what I did.  I played because I loved it.

9.  When I was four, a random lady purposefully ran me down with her cart at our local grocery store.  I mean, she started running towards me, eyes a-blazing and ran me down.  I broke my leg and was in a cast up to my hip for a very long time.

10.  I grew up in the same house my whole life and my parents are still married.  I had no idea how rare that was until I went to college.

11.  As much as it sucks sometimes, I really love my job.  Being a special ed teacher is a constant reminder of how blessed I am and how much power I have to help other people.

12.  I love to travel.  Visiting new places and meeting new people makes me feel light and optimistic because I realize more fully that there are good people everywhere.  However, I haven't been to that many places.  Yet.

13.  My balance is horrible.  I fall and run into things all the time.  Just yesterday I was walking down my hallway and randomly tripped and stumbled into the wall.

14.  I have two chihuahuas.  I don't even really like small dogs that much.  But I love mine.  It's awesome that they're so excited when I get home from work and every idea I have is brilliant.  "What?  You want to go into the living room now?  Great!  I'll sit on your lap.  Oh!  Now you're walking into the kitchen!  I'll follow you!"  It's like having my own fan club.

15.  I have a very firm belief that Disneyland really IS the happiest place on Earth.

16.  I love books.  I own almost 300 of them.  The smell of a new book makes me much happier than it probably should.

17.  I once saved my mom's life by performing the Heimlich maneuver at Taco Time when she choked on a tortilla chip.

18.  I'm a big sports fan.  I go to several Mariners games a year and watch every football game (no matter who is playing) that I can.  A growing percentage of my clothing is BYU, Mariners and Seahawks related.

19.  I tell people I bought a Toyota Yaris because it was fuel efficient.  I really bought it because it was cheap and cute.

20.  When I was a child and in my teens I had some real issues with texture that resulted with me gagging at just the sight of things like pudding, yogurt, cheesecake and cottage cheese.  In fact, I still gag at the sight of cottage cheese.  

21.  I drove all the way across the country to pick up a suburban that my friends bought from some people in New York on ebay.  It was awesome!

22.  I have a sometimes pretty severe speech impediment.  In first grade a speech therapist pulled me out of class one time to try to fix it.  She succeeded in teaching me how to say the "ch" sound instead of relying on the "sh" sound as a substitute.  She gave up on the rest of my freakish speech patterns.  To this day whenever I visit the Lunsford home Jeff shouts, "The big E!  Pull up a shair!  We're having shicken tonight!"  And I love it.

23.  I love being outside.  Nature is my friend.  I love hiking, camping, chilling on Lopez Island and just enjoying the view from my condo.  Sunsets are gorgeous in the Puget Sound area.  I love the smell of pine, especially after it's rained recently.  Also, the mountains and the water... beautiful!

24.  Halloween is my favorite holiday.  But... I'm afraid of everything.  I can't watch anything even remotely scary or potentially hurtful on screen.  I can't watch any part of a movie that has to do with blood, hitting or hear any sounds of pain.  I try to be sneaky about covering my eyes and ears.  I rarely succeed.  I hid behind the couch during Jurassic Park and had a very traumatic experience while watching ET that may or may not have resulted in PTSD.

25.  I started going gray at 12 years old.  I think that says it all.

Today I am Little Miss Trouble

Royale Confusion

Ouch

Hairspray

Mental Health Day

PostSecret

So I have been fully engulfed in reading the archives of this blog which has been turned into several awesome books that I want to own one day.

People tell some pretty impressive secrets on this thing always on a post card.  And it's all artsy and cool.  I wonder who these people are and whether they're all real secrets.  

Either way, I'm inspired.  I will post a secret of my own for your viewing pleasure.

Chalupa

One year ago today I drove all the way across the Sound to "look" at Chelsea, a dog I had seen on www.petfinder.com (thanks a lot, Kat!) and ended up bringing her home with me.  I had brought my mom along because she didn't think I needed another dog and I figured she could be my voice of reason.  Because she was right.  I didn't need another dog.

But the little dog, all skin and bones, immediately kissed my face  when I met her and just wanted to be held.  And when Taquito came in they were instant best buds.  My mom dug out a pen for me and I signed for her and brought her home the same night.

The vet guessed she was about a year old when I took her in the next day and they needed an estimated birth date for vet records so I decided her adoption day would be a good day.  I dubbed her Chalupa, enrolled her in obedience classes and she's been the most delightful little pain ever since.

I blogged about my dog's birthday.  That just happened!!

My Bedroom

Before:

After:

So Far This Week

Spent 336 minutes doing some type of an aerobic activity (about 20 miles of walking/jogging plus some stuff)

Wrote 4 IEPs.

Led 2 IEP meetings.

Spent 3 hours in after/before hour meetings (unpaid).

Named spider in faculty restroom and posted above sign under his home.

Dropped 2.9 pounds.

Beat level 23 of Dr. Mario on 10th level of diffuculty at medium speed.

Switched to pita pockets.

Saw my nephew three times.

Changed three diapers.

Got thrown up on three times.

Had zero ounces of soda.

Had zero grams of caffiene.

Made a new friend.

Found my teaching certificate. (phew!)

Did my Visiting Teaching.

Got lost... even with the help of my GPS.

Survived.

The I-Haven't-Seen-The-Sun-In-Months Blues

I have to get out of here.

 

Seriously.

Christmas

Christmas has always been a tough time of year for me.  It may stem from the fact that my birthday was often overlooked due to its close proximity to the holiday.  Or could be the fact that holidays like Christmas just seem to exaggerate the family dynamic to an intense degree.  If your family is happy at the core all year then Christmas is extremely happy.  If your family is less happy at the core (or in my case unhappy and messed up) then Christmas is extremely unhappy and messed up.  

Although, most of my Christmas memories are fond ones.  Because the ones I have chosen not to tuck away into the depths of denial are the ones that are centered around my grandmother.  To our tiny family, she was Christmas.  

Our first Christmas without her was in 2006.  It was painful.  Our family talked about it and decided we would try to get around it by changing it up a bit.  We celebrated at a different location, at a different time but kept the main strands of tradition.  It looked different but we all knew what it was.  It was Christmas without grandma and so it wasn't really Christmas at all.

The next year was much of the same.  We changed it around a bit, tried a few new things to see if it would make the new tradition list.  We hardly brought grandma up at all.  Maybe if we didn't talk about it, it would be better.  But all of our not talking about it didn't change the fact that it wasn't Christmas.  It was just our second Christmas without grandma.

Maybe it would have gotten easier as the years went on without a great intervention.  I don't know.  But I doubt it.  It probably would have continued on just the same.  Just the 3rd Christmas without grandma.  Just the 4th Christmas without grandma...

But this year was different.  It wasn't just a Christmas without grandma.  It was Brayden's First Christmas.  We all gathered around the tree like we used to do and we pulled out all of our gifts.  I sat on the floor with my nephew in my lap and I opened his gifts for him.  I shook them like my grandma used to do then flung off the paper.  Our whole family watched and smiled and oohed and awed over the faces he made.  We laughed as he lunged forward to play with his new toys and used his tiny hands to grab at the dancing lights.  Wherever Christmas had gone, it came back from that place with no hard feelings.  

My parents opened their gift from us, a digital frame.  David set it up, right next to the framed photographs of my grandma I had given my sister the year before, and we all took a few minutes to watch the slideshow.  It was packed with photos of Brayden, of the three kids growing up, of the wedding, of our family pets and my grandma.  

I told Brayden who she was and told him that she was probably here right now.  My sister said that Brayden already knew her.  This took us all by surprise a bit because my sister varies on what she believes in from day to day.  She said that three times now, she had been sitting on the sofa near the photos I had given her and Brayden suddenly looked at the photo of her when she was in her early 20's and squealed in delight and apparent recognition and began cooing and laughing as he gazed at the picture.  Each time it lasted several minutes.  Judy said that if it would have happened only once that she probably would have dismissed it.  But now she has no doubts that Brayden and Grandma had some time to talk before he was born and that grandma must be in her early 20's in Heaven.  

With that in mind, we had an even better Christmas.  We more fully realized that Grandma wasn't really gone.  She's still keeping tabs on us.  So it's not really a Christmas without Grandma at all.  It's just Christmas.

Snowed In

I have been snowed in for almost three days now.  There was that traumatic venture onto the roads yesterday but that's it.  I have watched every Christmas movie I own and have had plenty of time to get my Christmas presents wrapped and ready for action.  

Today was my birthday.  I was snowed in once before on my birthday when I was 8 or 9.  I was supposed to have a birthday party but one-by-one my friends called to say they couldn't make it.  I was so bummed and spent the evening watching Frosty the  Snowman alone.  I thought today would be a bummer too.  

But it wasn't.

I got plenty of phone calls and messages from the people  I love.  I had an excuse to hang out in my PJs all day and I enjoyed the peace of a winter's day from my balcony while sipping eggnog.  I thought about my age and some of my more prominent successes and failures.  I thought about the person I've become and about the events and people from my past and current life that has shaped the present me.  It turns out that I'm okay with who I am and found myself immensely grateful for what I have and who I have in my life.

There are people who read this blog.  Some of you have been an audience since I started this thing almost six years ago.  And since it's not all that entertaining or creative and since it doesn't provide anything intellectual or mind boggling you must read this crap because you for some reason or another are curious about what I'm doing and thinking.

So thanks.  Thanks for caring.  You're the people that have helped shape who I am and since I like me it's just more proof that you're good people.  I'm surrounded by good people.  What a great birthday present!  Happy birthday to me!!  :)

Snow and Ice and Some Guy That's Nice

It snowed on Saturday night and Sunday morning.  Not a lot.  But enough to cause problems.  Church was cancelled and everybody was advised to stay home.  The news was full of comical (and some not so comical) reports and video of people thinking driving around the hilly Seattle area on ice was a fine Sunday activity.  It's times like these that I really wish I had a camera crew following me around for your viewing pleasure because this morning I was the idiot and I really don't think words will serve the tale. 

 

This morning we had a 2 hour delay.  I used those two hours to sleep and have a weird dream about showing up to work still in my pajamas and horrifically unshowered and my boss at the book store was the principal and the loonies from the book store were teachers and since it was a snow day hardly any kids showed up and we spent the day playing games and watching movies.  As I slept the snow thawed to create a safer driving situation.  Wait... no.  It didn't.

 

But time was up so I slid and cursed my way to the car armed with my purse, my keys and a water bottle filled with warm water.  I attacked my iced over windshield with the warm water and scraper then sat in my car while it warmed up.  Finally, I put the car in reverse, took a deep breath and started to back up.  So far so good.  My car was now facing up the hill.  I took my foot off the brake... and all hell broke loose.  I started to slide.  I slowly added gas.  Not enough.  I gassed it some more.  Still sliding.  I gave it its all.  I could see the smoke from my burning rubber in my rearview mirror.  I stopped.  Put the emergency brake on and started to think about my options. 

 

That's when the nice guy came over to me and said he was going to help.  I liked him right away because he didn't ask if I needed help.  That was obvious.  He just jumped into action.  He tried pushing my car at first while I tried gassing it again.  That didn't work so he went and got sand and put it in front of and behind all of my tires.  That worked for the few feet he had put sand down and then my car wheels spun again.  But, it did get me far enough up the hill that I could safely back down the rest of the hill and go out the other way.  I was going the wrong way on a one-way street but the guy I almost had a head-on collision with was cool about it. 

 

I slowly made my way down the other side of the hill and to the freeway which was all clear.  I almost had another sliding incident on a hill in the neighborhood of the school but with very few tears and only some minor heart convulsions I made it to work safely.  I turned on my computer and checked my email.  My principal had sent us a message letting us know that we were expected to be at work as close to the regular starting time as possible.  Delays didn't apply to us.  Well, you know what?  They apply to me!  If it's safe enough for me then it's safe enough for buses.  If a bus can't make it then I'm not going to risk it either.  That's the way I roll.  Also, I put in nearly ten extra unpaid hours last week alone making sure my students get the services they need.  I don't think they want to start playing the time counting game.  Also, I'm leaving as soon as the kids are gone.  So there.