Category Archives: Reflecting

#SOCSunday: The week ran away with the time

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So we all know how the dish ran away with the spoon… yeah, well this week ran away with the time.

This was a rough week – Mr. Bubba had evening meetings at work 3 out of the 5 workdays and last night we had to attend the school’s Annual Crab Bash. While it was a fun event, he was still working – shmoozing, talking everyone up, networking, or as someone on Facebook said: hussling.

Having him gone in the evenings makes it difficult to maintain some semblance of a routine for all of us. Dinner times fluctuates, the little ones swimming is more complicated (I can’t take him into the women’s locker room and he refuses to go to the men’s locker room alone so he has to get dressed in the women’s bathroom), stuff to be done at home where I need his help can’t get done – I’m pretty independent but I can’t go into the storage shed and dig out the Christmas boxes alone. I sit here typing as I sit in the recliner next to the dried up Christmas tree that still has its decorations on.

I’m hoping this week was an anomaly, that next month I can’t expect the 2nd week to be this packed with meetings. I’ve got obligations at our younger one’s school as his class’s room mom and I have evenings I have to be at his school. We’re still working it all out. I’m sure soon enough we’ll fall into a rhythm, at least that is my hope.

Trying to keep up with everything house/kid related kept me from blogging this week. I did manage to read another book though so look for my post about it on Monday. I cast-on and started a knit hat while watching the 49ers vs. Saints NFC Division Playoff game. Wow! What a game!!! It doesn’t matter which team you were rooting for, that was an amazing football game. I’m not going to lie – I’m SO HAPPY the 49ers won but the Saints have to be acknowledged for a great game and for bringing TORTURE back to San Francisco.

Today, after I finish writing this, I’m baking cupcakes to celebrate my sister-in-law’s 18th birthday! She’s the baby of the family. Now, talk about time running away from us… I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by. And next week, my own baby turns 9 – shaking my head…I’m off to seize the day and make the most of every minute.

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This was my 5 minute-ish brain dump. Link up at all.things.fadra and check out more posts and to find today’s prompt if you haven’t written your post yet.

#SOCsunday

Good-bye 2011! Hello 2012!

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Dear 2011,
It’s been fun, it’s been interesting, it’s been challenging, it’s been rewarding. I’m amazed that we are saying good-bye when I feel like we just said hello. Thank you for all the lessons that I’ve learned this year, I’ve definitely learned a lot. Thank you for all the good times, the laughter, the blessings.
As we say good-bye to this year, I go back to this post and think back on it all. It’s a post I wrote at the end of 2008 but it is most definitely still relevant today and at every milestone.
Dear 2012,
I welcome you with an open heart and an open mind. I know this will be a very interesting year. I’m not going to make any hard and fast resolutions this year, I don’t want to get behind and then get all upset. I will turn 35 this year (yes, I just admitted that on the whole Internet… sigh). I’m looking forward to this quote to guide my days:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

I’m a bit tired of worrying about what everyone else is going to think, life is too short and at the end of the day I’m the one that has to live with the consequences (good or bad) of my choices. Besides, this is MY life and it is NOT a dress rehearsal after all.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2012. I hope it’s better than 2011 was. If you had a good 2011, I hope 2012 is even better!

~ Simply Gabriela

Thoughts on the first day of school

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Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This morning I took Mr. Snugglebunny to his first day of 3rd grade.

Ok, can somebody tell me: where did the time fly? I swear summer started just yesterday! It can’t be over already, even though I was counting down the days until school started.

Someone asked me today about my older son, Mr. Skinny, he just started Junior year of high school. I was oh so nicely reminded this morning (insert eye roll here) that he’ll be starting COLLEGE in just two years.

Thanks! What a way to make me feel like a cold pail of water was thrown in my face!

Yes, I know my kids are growing up and I know they’re supposed to but not this fast! So today I acknowledge that I’m done with second grade – forever. I will never be a second grade parent again.

At the primary school we are a host family to new families. This morning I had the pleasure of chatting with two new Kindergarten families. Both couples very excited about their oldest daughters starting school, asking lots of questions and so excited for what’s to come.

I’m excited to see what’s to come too. 3rd grade is a whole new chapter for Mr. Snugglebunny, I wonder when he’ll decide to have me change his name here on the blog for something a little more grown up and mature. He’s easily grown about 3 feet during the summer. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating just a little but it feels like he’s grown that much.

I hope that all of you who have started school this year have a wonderful start, an easy adjustment to whatever new-ness will come of it all and an excellent school year!

How do you deal with the start of a new school year? Not just the practical stuff but the emotional stuff for them and for you also.

SOC Sunday 5.22.2011 – What did I get myself into???

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#SOCsunday

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I have a pile of paperwork and a shirt given to me at Kick-Off for Team In Training’s Summer Season. I am going to train to walk the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco on October 16, 2011. Somewhere in my brain I decided that it would be a good idea to sign up to walk 26.2 miles… I’d like to find that somewhere right about now and say “What the heck?” 
Apparently this is the right thing to do and it’s the right time to do it. I will be raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and while I don’t have a personal connection to anyone with blood cancer I do spend time each week in the company of cancer patients. Every Thursday I go to the Infusion Center and get an injection of methotrexate for my Rheumatoid Arthritis, every fourth Thursday I also get an hour long IV infusion of Orencia, also for Rheumatoid Arthritis. We don’t get private rooms, our chairs are near each other only separated by the curtains like in the hospital rooms. It’s impossible not to overhear the patients sharing with the nurses or their family members about their daily struggles with cancer, the side effects of their medication/treatment. Even though we don’t talk to each other, I’ve started to get to see some of the same familiar faces, gotten to see how they’ve changed in the time I’ve seen them there. I’ve gotten to see their family members and the toll cancer is taking on them. I don’t know which types of cancer these patients have but it doesn’t really matter… what matters is that there is an organization that can provide support to the patients and their families.
I know that training to walk 26.2 miles will be a challenge for me because of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia and every time I think 26.2 miles all at once, in one day, I freak out a little. Okay, maybe I freak out a lot. I also know that for me this is not about raising the most money or being the fastest walker out there (there’s no way I’m running this, by the way – I’m crazy but not that crazy!) and maybe there is some incentive about getting a Tiffany necklace when I cross the finish line but that’s the carrot. 
My one and only goal is to cross that finish line. I truly don’t care if I’m the last person to cross, I just want to cross the line. Why??? Because when I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of 27 all the thoughts that flooded my mind were thoughts of the things I wouldn’t be able to do, some things that I would never do. So this is an experiment in seeing what I can do. It’ll be phenomenal to do this while supporting an organization that does great work and of course, there’s a conveniently placed widget in the sidebar if you’d like to support my endeavor.
And now to begin this journey with a single step… but first, I’m going to bed.
This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s a five minute brain dump. Link up at all.things.fadra