Maybe he isn't as silent as I thought...

I dubbed my husband the "strong silent mysterious man" partly because of his silent nature. He really is a man of few words. I am always trying to get him into long meaningful mushy "talks" like he did when we were dating; but I am afraid those are days gone by.

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However, as silent as I thought he was... in his absence, it really is quiet around the house... was he making more noise than I realized? It's so weird the things you take for granted until they are gone. I try really hard not to take him for granted... but I think some of the security and warmth of his strong silent self, I must be... because I am really missing it today.

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Something I discovered very humorous... is that along with the accusations that "I" am the one who snores (when I know darn well half of those sleepless nights I lay awake listening to him snore... are not dreams), I also get accused of being the "Tasmanian devil" in bed... you know spinning like crazy, stealing all the covers... most mornings we wake up and can't even find the covers... it's like a wild toga party happened in our bed while we were sleeping.

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The humorous part of that accusation is that this week, I woke up got out of bed and went into my normal morning routine and while standing at the end of my bed I looked down to see this...

You can see perfectly my side of the bed on the left; where I pulled back the covers, got out of bed, after an entire complete nights blissful sleep (well once I fell asleep, I do have a hard time getting to sleep when he is gone) and nothing else had been disturbed... ALL NIGHT!

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I knew it wasn't me slashing amuck in the covers every night!!

And if you put the famous tape measure on the bed, that he likes to use to prove I take up more than my share, I don't even think I took up my entire half of the bed either.

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That is also part of my morning ritual after I am hit with all those ugly accusations, I have to defend myself that I was sure I slept on a sliver of the side of the bed all night long, with no covers, clinching to hang on!

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I think the proof in the picture speaks for itself!

Case closed honey! I know it has been a mystery since we have been married, now we don't have to do anymore sleuth work around here. And you can put that silly tape measure away.

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All the fun and sarcasm aside, I miss you and I can't wait for you to get back home!

Hurry, the pups and the teenager really miss you too!!

Remembering...

I think every American remembers where they were when they heard of the terrorist attacks on Sept 11th 2001. It was a day that changed so many lives and a day we should remember.

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I was a single Mom living in the Seattle area. I had just got Jacob off to school, he was in the 4th grade. And while I was getting ready for work, my Mom was in SC and called me on the phone to turn on the tv.

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I was confused... what could go so wrong that an airplane would hit a building in downtown New York? She was trying to get me to understand it could be terrorists.... I didn't even know what that meant, or felt like... I couldn't wrap my mind around it.

At that moment I watched with my own eyes the second plane hit.

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My heart was crushing, I began to think of the places around us that could make Seattle a target as well, I choked up as fear filled my body. I couldn't imagine the world my son would be growing up in with that kind of anger and hatred around him. How could I, all by myself give him enough love?

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I remember in the time to follow the many Americans who publicly fell to their knees in prayer, and then stood with their flags flying high united as a country to stand together. Stand to acknowledge that our flag meant something honorable to us. I have always loved our flag, and I always get emotional at any services that it is recognized in an honorable way.

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I never want to forget what it meant on that day. And that our freedom comes at a very high price. I think I can say that without one single exception , Jacob has included the soldiers in every single family prayer he has offered since that day! That is 8 years, and it means so much to me!!

It makes me want to be better, I want to always "remember".

Days are flying by me....

I was loving the change over from summer schedule to fall, but I have to say I am not quite in the groove yet and it is kicking my butt.

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Since Saturday.... The boys had a super fun time at the annual golf tournament... I think they played well; but I am not a good listener remember... so I have no idea on scores or placement of their team.

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I did pick up on all the great food they had.

There was roast pork for bbq pork shredded sammies that they were raving about. You can't see it very well, but the pig has one of the employees names seered on his rump... at least they always have a good time together. Like one big happy boy family. With boy jokes. And boy humor.

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Then Jim took off when they got home to go bow hunting... at first when he was asking me about getting to go, it was a quick over nighter. Not even packing in much food, just a quick trip.

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Then as he was leaving and packing up all this gear and food supplies, he says to me... "don't worry if we are not back in the morning... don't call out search and rescue, because if we are on some elk we will just stay". I recognized the bait and switch right away! So with the labor day holiday weekend ahead I just planned for a long weekend without him.

He brought back pictures... even self portraits! Have I taught him well or what?

He didn't bring back any elk, but in this meadow (an unlikely place)... he found these...

two really cool arrowheads! Actually the white one is a knife of some sort, and the black obsidian is an arrowhead. This just totally made his trip!

He made it back home about midnight on Sunday night.
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So the day off he promised he would spend with me on Monday (since he had been off playing the rest of the weekend) were pretty much spent catching up on sleep and rest.
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I tried to keep busy and did some scrap booking. But it wasn't a very productive weekend for me.
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We did get a really fun surprise phone call from his sister driving through on their way home to Washington... so we met them over at the freeway for hugs!


Our niece and her husband and son were with them... we hadn't seen them for a long time, so it was really cool! They are adorable!!

Wait, Ukiah... smile!

There you go!!! That's it!!!

So fun to see them... thanks for calling Johnna, it really meant so much!!!!
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Tuesday it was back to the work routine... I had meetings and lots of work out of the house. So the pups were majorly neglected and were super needy Tuesday evening when we all came home.
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Next it was catch up laundry and get the strong silent mysterious man packed for a work trip. He left Wednesday for a really long trip this time... so it's just me and the teenager. Things are different when Dad's not around... he pushes my buttons more; but we also have a special bond that we get along better somehow too. It's all weird, I think of where we have come from and I am sure that influences our gratitude for our family unit. Our prayers are different, and our phone calls with him are full of sharing special moments in the day and I love you's!
I guess what they say about absence makes the heart grow stronger is very true.
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Then just so I wouldn't get in a rut while Jim was out of town... someone decided to perform some fraudulent activity using our bank account and wiped out our checking and savings... so I got to spend my day dealing with that mess yesterday. Luckily, we caught it really quickly and they didn't get the money all the way transferred into their account, only out of ours... so it will take several days to get it back. In the meantime, we have to change and move everything, and jump through all the hoops to get it fixed, and then just wait for our money which is sitting out in nowhere land to transfer back into our accounts. Mean people suck!
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So that is pretty much my week in review so far... whew! My days are just flying by!