Bear Scare

For the 24th of July we were able to escape the stuffy city life and enter the sprawling wilderness in a wonderful camping adventure. I am not an avid camper, but I am also not one of those girls that freak out when I get dirt under my nails. I was always excited to spend a week of my summers at girl's camp eating toasted marshmallows until I started to look like a marshmallow myself. Girl's camp was the only place I felt freedom. I mean, true freedom. The freedom to not put on ANY makeup and actually feel cool about myself. The freedom to walk around smelling like a cross between a port-a-potty and a can of OFF spray. The freedom to sing the most ridiculous songs with the most ridiculous lyrics and compound the charade with the most ridiculous dances. And believe me, you were seriously looked down upon if you did not know every word and were yelling it at the top of your lungs! For some reason, teenage girls go into some sort of trance when they enter the wilderness with a bunch of their friends. I say trance because any other week of the year they would not be caught dead dancing like a chicken, washing their hair in a dirty spring, or sitting around a table doing boondoggle for 12 hours in the day. Maybe it is something in the water- oh wait, we couldn't drink the water! Anyway, so I was all pumped up to go on our little trip UNTIL.... I stayed up late one night watching TV while Jake was at work and somehow landed on the Discovery Channel. I sat and watched about 2 hours of bear attacks, bear habits, and the recent increase of human attacks. Suddenly, hauling my little ones to a "bear habitat" and sleeping in a flimsy tent did not seem like the best idea. I was content in my city, breathing in all the pollution I could take! I did not say anything to Jake because I knew what his reaction would be, but as the day drew near I began to get more and more worried. On a side note- please understand that I know I was being completely ridiculous. I was going to sleep in a camp ground with hundreds of people around on the 24th weekend. I knew the chances of a bear eating my guts was tiny but the fear remained. I told Jake and got the reaction was I was fully anticipating. Eye roll.... sigh.... staring at me hoping that I would say "Just kidding!" But no, I was serious. That is when the laughing began. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Then he went and sat on the couch... and laughed some more. Then he just ignored the subject until the day before we were to leave. This is were my cute husband steps in. He had called around to some places and found a trailer that we could rent.

It was a tent trailer so the bear could still rip right through it but it somehow made me feel better. If the bear was going to make a meal out of me, I was going to make it as hard on him as possible. Now instead eating me off the ground, the bear would have to pull up a chair to dine at the 5-foot-high table I was sleeping on. Ridiculous, I KNOW! In the end, it turned out that the trailer was a huge blessing. Not only for warding off ground-level-eating bears, but it rained hard the first day so we were able to stay somewhere warm, with a stove, and still function without becoming water logged. It was a great place for the kids to take naps, escape the hot sun, and it let Mason roam for a little bit. Steve and Jake did not have the greatest luck with fishing but what they did get was BIG! We are happy to be home, with our warm showers. And I am happy to report that all the bears are still roaming around with their bellies empty of any of the Hancock family!

For the first time ever, I actually listened to Jake about packing light and only brought one pair of pant, which, of course, had to be the pair I sat in a fresh smore.

YouTube Star

I have way to many things going on in my life and sometimes I try to do too many things at once and end up paying for it dearly. Jake and I often talk about how different our minds work and how we accomplish things in such a different way. Jake, for example, likes to take one thing on at a time. If he is watching the kids, he is only watching the kids. If Mason is hungry, he feeds him. If Tylie's room is a mess, he helps her clean it up. If I am watching the kids, I am also cleaning the house, emailing clients, paying bills, and brushing my teeth all at the same time. If mason is hungry, I put him in his high chair, grab his rice out of the cupboard along with a box of cereal for tylie (why waste a good trip to the pantry when I know that tylie will want cereal in about 5 minutes), grab 2 bowls, 2 spoons, and a sippy cup. By the time I get to my island I look like Rachel Ray does everytime she leaves her fridge. I am juggling something on every finger and balancing a gallon of milk on my pinky toe. I throw Mason's cereal in the microwave and realize that I have 10 seconds of time. What will I do with 10 seconds? I don't want to waste it just standing here waiting for this stupid machine to beep at me. Oh Yeah! I have to run to the bathroom- I haven't peed yet today. I knew there was something I was missing! OK, I am exaggerating but you get what I am saying. I hate to see one second of time wasted when there is so much to get done. This mentality has served me well throughout my life but sometimes it can get me in trouble. Today was one of those times.

I had to go to a training at my work this morning. Melissa, my friend at work, had reminded my several times that I had this training but with all the crap that is stuff in my brain, some things tend to get pushed out. Although she probably told my 6 times last week, I still forgot and showed up at my office expecting work as usual. When I casually waltzed in and sat at my desk, she calmly asked me if I was still going to the training. As my mind quickly sorted through the work file locating what I was supposed to remember my face went blank. Then I blurted out that I of course remembered and would be heading out in just a minute. She knew dang well that I forgot but hid it pretty well from my manager. I got to the training and all went well. I was able to see some of my old coworkers that I have not seen since I got back from Cali and it is always fun to catch up. As fun as it is though, it is really hard to sit stationary in a room for 4 hours when I could think of a million things I could do with 4 hours. When I finally got out of there, I grabbed my phone, checked my text messages and saw that Jake had text me worried because we were out of food for Mason. I was walking out with my friend chatting with her about how good it was too see her all while texting Jake back that I would pick up some food before I came home when out of the blue... W H A M!!! I ran full force into a glass door! I don't think I explained it right. Maybe I should use words like pummeled, slammed, exploded, tackled the glass door. I did not see this thing coming and it got the full force of whatever momentum I had going for me. This is something you would only see on YouTube folks! I am sure that if my work had any sort of security camera set up, I will be all over the internet tomorrow. Although this was completely embarassing, it was hilarious. How did I not see this thing coming? What kind of glass cleaner do these cleaners use? I gathered myself together, picked up my phone, laughed with my friend, and assured that secretary at the front desk that I would not be submitting any type of workers compensation claim for the incident. I guess I am just not the kind of person that can walk, talk, and text at the same time. That or my work has found some amazing cleaning people. I think I will go with a little of both!

4th of July. Better late than never...

What's the 4th of July without a parade?

It was soooo fun to see aunt Sundee

Buddies!

Sugarlips

Around my house, tylie is not the only one who needs a treat once in a while. I often find myself craving sugar and any pantry that is within a square mile is going to be plundered until I find something that we quench my need. I found myself raiding my pantry the other day until I decided to forgo the processed treat and create a scrumptious little morsel on my own. My sister-in-law, Lyndsay, makes these amazing cookies that sounded like the perfect solution. I grabbed the phone, called her up, and started piling all the ingredients onto my counter. After about 45 minutes of preparing and baking, I was ready to complete the final step of rolling the cookies in powdered sugar. The whole time, Mason had been sitting in his high chair intently watching every move I made. I would occasionally throw him a scrap or two to keep him happy but I was pretty involved and he was content- What more could I ask for? As I was rolling the balls in the sugar Mason started to get squirmy and decided that he had been patient for long enough and was done with his high chair. I quickly licked the sugar off my fingers and rushed over to get him out. I was rocking him gently and singing to him because I thought he was tired and wanted to go to sleep. Nothing puts a baby to sleep like a melodic lullaby from his mommy. He sat there and stared at my lips. My heart melted as I thought he was memorizing every tone that came out of my mouth and would be dreaming of this moment hours later. The song came to an end and Mason started to lean toward me with his little mouth. How sweet! This is going to be a journal moment. I can't wait to write down the first time that he gave his momma a kiss. I couldn't believe that he knew how to give kisses. I leaned forward to meet him half way when my horror was realized. He didn't want to give me a kiss. He didn't hear a word of the song that came out of my mouth. He was only focused on the extra sugar that was on my lips and was not going to be able to focus on anything else until he licked every last bit off. I sat there patiently as he licked at me like a little puppy dog. I placed him back into his chair and went back to my cookies. I guess my journal will have to wait for another day when he really decides to give his momma a kiss!

Swine Flu

With this recent outbreak of Swine Flu, I have been, to put it mildly, absolutely terrified that I might pick it up and bring it home to my babies. I work with money every day and, if you have had a job where you handle money regularly, you will understand what I am saying when I say money is disgusting. It never fails that as the summer months approach that I will get some burley man come romping up to my window at work. He is sweating profusely and all he has is his giant XXXL t-shirt to wipe the sweat away. He has every sort of sweat line showing through his clothes and for some reason, these guys just can't find a reason to carry a wallet. They sit and complain about the heat as they dig around in their pocket only to pull out a wad of cash that is as wet as their greasy sweaty forehead. They expect me to leap for joy and grab that wad of cash as if it was the last dollar bill on earth. They are just so proud of themselves because they remembered to stop at the bank on their way home and now their wives won't kill them for not making the deposit when they walk through the door. They don't realize that I am sitting across from them, holding my breath to stop the stench and slowly inching toward my garbage can incase I lose it mid transaction. It is people like this that make me scared of the swine flu because they think that they got it and survived so "let's go spread it around and see how many more of you are tough enough to take it!" I get so frustrated with people and so that it why I have been extra cautious. You can only imagine my horror when last thursday my mom called me and told me that my little brother had tested positive for the swine flu and would be staying at her house until he got better. I have not gone to her house since that phone call but I am afraid that I am losing the battle. Luckily, the swine flu has spared my children but I think we still have a nasty case in our house.
Our TOY ROOM!

I probably wouldn't have picked up on this but the symptoms are severe enough that it is the only explanation I can think of. The stupid thing just keeps throwing up every time I turn my back. I have tried all the rememdies that I can think of but nothing has cured it yet. I clean up the mess in the morning and then when I come down in the afternoon, it has hurled all over again. And this thing does not mess around! When it blows, it goes everywhere. I have even found remanents of it in my living room, my office, and on my stairs. I have tried to stop feeding it toys and even remove toys that are no longer used but to no avail. The strangest part is that it only gets sick when tylie is around. It grumbles a bit when Mason is there but I really notice the upset when Ty is in there. I don't know what to do. I don't think the prescribe TamiFlu for inanimate objects. Maybe it isn't swine flu after all. Maybe my toy room is just allergic to Tylie.

Bucking the trend

I like to think of myself as a trendy or "up to date" person. I don't claim to wear the highest fashions, but I know what they are. I browse the magazines so I can join into the latest gossip at work about who is dating who in Hollywood. I recognize that sometimes I even follow trends that I don't necessarily get or understand but go along with it because it is what is "hip" at the moment. Things like wearing shirts that scream where I bought them as if I was some sort of walking billboard. This drives Jake absolutely nuts. I have to admit that he has a point. These companies spend millions of dollars a year in advertising to get their brand recognized. Shouldn't they be paying me to walk around the world spreading their name? BUT NO! I pay hundreds of dollars to buy clothing that has their name splattered all over it and then eagerly watch the malls waiting for the next batch of cotton billboards to arrive. I also don't really understand when V-neck shirts became ok for guys to wear or when it became cool for boys to wear girls pants. I don't understand why we pay hundreds of dollars for "chefs" to go out and pick up a snail off the ground, throw in on a plate, and call it fine cuisine! I wish they would at least cook it or toss it around the kitchen for a minute and then I would feel like they earned at least a tenth of the price. And finally... I want to know who ever came up with the idea of eating raw fish wrapped in seaweed! I understand that this is all the rage now but really??? Why don't we start opening up chocolate buffets or open a fine dining snow shack. Now, that is something I could get into. Yet, with all these trends, I just sigh and chalk it up to the "it" factor. I don't often buck the system but I feel I must buck one trend that I learned of the other night. Red Mango. I went with some friends to celebrate Kat's birthday. I have heard about this elusive Red Mango for quite some time but have never made the journey to this frozen yogurt mecca. I finally made it but did not know what really to expect. "What is the big deal? How different can you really make ice cream? Yeah, yeah. Frozen yogurt. It is still ice cream." As my friends started to explain this, I started to get nervous. I was hearing words tossed out like "tangy", "tart", "pomegranate flavor". What?! Tangy, sour ice cream. Who's idea was this? Why are we trying to screw with ice cream? I think that they got it right the first time and there is no need to try to change it. I am quite happy with my cookies and cream. Anyway..... I got the pomegranate because it is the only flavor that I had ever heard of. I decided that if I could not pronounce the name of the others, I was not going to stuff it in my face. I did, however, get a topping that I could not name now if I tried. It was some cross of marshmallow, gummy bears, powdered sugar, and sweet n low. Thank goodness I got granola to counter act the gush that was going on in my mouth. It took a second to get used to but I never got to the point of loving it. It was alright but I think I am going to stick to my arctic circle shakes. Call me lame and uncool. I don't care. This is one trend that I am going to steer clear!
To my Red Mango friends- please do not be offended. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and hanging out. I just vote that on our next rendezvous, we set up shop in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!