We'll Miss You!!

Isn't it nice when you meet someone that you automatically "click" with?  Someone who takes care of you and makes sure you are okay? 
This happened to me when I started working for the State of Utah.  I was scared and shy and awkward.  Almost right from the start a lovely older woman called Toni took me under her wing.  She let me bother her with question after question... and always provided me with at safe place to fall at work - along with a drawer full of candy.  She treated me and the other girls on our team like daughters.  And it wasn't just us that she took care of - she seemed to know everyone and everyone LOVED her.  When co-workers would have babies she would shower them with gifts and proudly display their pictures all around her office. 

Toni became a reason to go to work, even when things were horrible.   A few years ago Toni asked me to go on a vacation with her and her husband to Disneyland.  This was quite an offer.  I knew she was scared to death to fly and felt quite flattered that she was going to use me to make her feel more comfortable.  I remember her squeezing my hand as we were taking off.  We got to Disneyland and had a great time.  I felt like a child on a dream trip!

Once our office team was split up and all of us went our different ways - I was sad to loose that daily contact with Toni.  But, was always happy to receive her sweet emails and forwards.  I knew she was always there if I needed her, and I knew she thought about me as well.
Yesterday I got the sad news that Toni passed away.  It is like loosing a family member.  I am sad that I didn't get to see her one last time.  To give her a little hug or to make her laugh. 
There are so many people who's lives she's touched and she will be very, very missed.
I love you Toni!!

What Would I Do Without Mapquest????

Well I am now approaching the last half of March - thank goodness!!

My March has been painfully uneventful, except for the 5 fabulous days that my good friend came and visited me!

It all started with me picking her up at the BWI Airport.  As I was leaving the airport we were talking about how different the east coast was from the west.  I was telling her that, it was hard for me at first but I was finally getting the hang of things and was fairly confident at getting around - at that point we got lost.  I drove my mom and sister to the airport the day after I got here and got home pretty well... but at this point we were lost somewhere in Maryland.  It didnt take very long for HER to find a road sign and get us back on track. 

We stopped off at work to check on my nanny mom and see that the kids were taken care of since my nanny dad was out of town. 

We came back to my motel room and crashed. 

The next day we decided to visit Hershey World.  We drove through Hershey surrounded by the smell of chocolate - it really does smell great!  Then we headed to Hershey World.  The tour was closed, so there was no way I could push her into the chocolate river, but on the plus side there were also no scary Umpa Loompas, just a tour guide that tried his hardest to be excited about the 15 minute movie he'd no doubt seen millions of times.  Then my friend got to work in the factory (a pretend factory where you fill plastic containers full of kisses - cheap labor for the Hershey people, good for the kiddies).  Then she bought, I'd say, about half of all the Hershey gift shops.  We got back to my nanny house and somehow she ended up helping out with the dinner, while nanny mom "rested".  The kids were badly behaved and the girl wouldnt let go of my friend for anything, a habit that will no doubt be popular with the boys when she seeks attention, but is overboard with everyone else. 

The next day we headed to the Washington DC Temple.  She went in and I sat in the parking lot for about 3 hours.  Reading and practicing my "church guilt" ritual - it didnt help that there was a wedding party taking pictures right outside my car.  My friend and I decided that we had seen a sign that said:

 WASHINGTON 25 miles

so it couldnt be that far - and besides who gets to go see the Capital in their life.  We got directions from some people and they said, "Head straight down Conneticut Ave. and you'll be right there."  So we did - they were wrong - on many levels.  One - Conneticut Ave. stops being a straight street, you have to make a choice one way or another.  Two - you run right into downtown DC - not the Capitol.  Three - all of those things, those monuments you see in the movies and on the news - THEY ARE NOT CLOSE TOGETHER, and it takes Mapquest or a native, to find their way from one to another.  My friend and I got TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY lost.  Driving up and down streets, she "shady" ones, the familiar ones, and even the blocked off ones - right in front of the Capital.  Needless to say, we never got out, by the time we found the White House it was dark, and we had to settle for pictures from the window.  We drove around that city for about 45 minutes.  Finally finding some familiar street and HER finding our way out.  We finally got to the main highway and - can you believe it - we got lost AGAIN, on the freeway I'd driven on 3 times within the last 2 days.

The next day we headed for NYC.  In PA were were experiencing warmer than usual conditions, and in NY it was a different story.  It was POURING.  We got to our hotel and it was great!  It was very "artsy" and was like a little apartment with bright painting and pictures all over the walls.   We started to walk to Times Square and - got lost - and took a taxi to where we needed to be.  We decided to take an open bus tour of the city.  It was so great.  We were wearing white plastic ponchos and freezing but seeing all of the city, once again, never stepping off the bus, but taking pictures from the bus.  Our tour guide was so funny, but funny in a way that she wasnt.... she tried so hard to make jokes, but no one laughed, or maybe they were - but their mouths were frozen shut.  We got back to Times Square, and - beware of the most telling age sign ever - we went back to the hotel and had naps...you read it right, we were in NYC and we took naps.  But, in our defense, the people in the room next to us, back here at the Econo-Lodge kept us up til 2:30 the morning before.

***As a side note, the morning we were leaving for NYC, it was six-thirty in the morning and to pay the neighbors back, I started out the morning with a very LOUD alarm clock set on no paticular radio station, but static (it started bugging us in this room), then I proceeded to bang the bathroom door shut several times, and the worst torture of all (although pure heaven for me) I turned up my soundtrack of "WICKED" full blast for the rest of the morning.  As we left I slammed the door and smiled.  Then my friend turned to me and said something like - If they were drunk, like it sounded like , they probably didnt hear any of that - But, I hope they did!

Anyway back to the nap - I know - it still doesnt make up for the fact that we took naps.  At any rate, we woke up and headed back out to Times Square for more shopping and eating.  We ate at this pizza place that was great, but the stupid guy went to hand me my pizza and I tried to grab it through the glass - ha ha funny (not really).  Then we shopped some more and then went back and watched the season finale of Flavor of Love - starring FLAVA FLAVE... No, I have no idea who he is, but it was entertaining.... And I know with that last sentence, it makes the nap seem like a great choice.  We headed home Monday so I could get back to work that afternoon.

The next day was time for her to go home, but on the way to the airport we stopped by Amish Country... baffled by their way of life, and Trader Joes for her report for school.  We managed to get to all of those places just fine -- and good news - I didnt get lost AT ALL on the way home from the airport.

It was so great to have her here.  It was like I was on vacation from work for a while and that was the best feeling EVER!  I think I laughed more in those few days then I had the whole time here - and being happy again like that, was the best part of her trip!

   

It Keeps Going and going and going and going and going....

I know it has been FOREVER since I've updated my page... so here you go, for the few of my faithful readers...

I am doing alright here in PA.  A scale of 1-10? Most of the time a 4.  I called and spoke to my dad and he said, "How are you doing"  I said "alright, I've come to realize that on my best days - I'm alright, and you dont even want to know what I am on my worst days."

Am I sounding negative?  Sorry....  but I am. 

This is NOT how I thought things would be.  I am still in the Fab Econo-Lodge.  I have come to realize that I get a good 10 minutes of heat out of the heater, have to run the bath water for at least 5 minutes so the brown water can run out and I can bathe in "clean" water, have to hold down the flusher on the toilet, and I dont think that they have vacuumed my room since I "moved in".  But it is my solitude - and when the Econo-Lodge is your sanity - that tells you something. 

The other day at work I spent 2 hours sorting out my nanny mom's scrapbook by 16 different themes and 8 different colors -- themes alphabetized, colors in order from light to dark.  Where is the nannying work there?  Yeah, I dont know either! 

I have children constantly either loving me more than anything or hating me more than anything.  Everyone assures me that "that is what kids do", and I can appreciate that, I really can... but it gets tiresome getting told on a daily basis either "I hate you!" or "My mom is nicer than you!"

I am trying to tough and stick it out - and I will.  I have a friend coming for a trip this month, another friend's trip next and also MY WEDDING! 

But at the risk of sounding pathetic - I miss my friends - I had a little mini-break down the other night when I was watching Sex and the City and in the last episode when Carrie comes back from Paris and has brunch with her friends.... made me miss mine more than I ever thought I would.  I miss my family and there is little that doesnt remind me of them... and I miss the mountains, mini-corn dogs, fry-sauce, chili's, swings at the park with Kim, sing-a-longs in the car -- driving around with someone in my car other than children for that matter.  And I miss Chris... this wedding cant come fast enough... and if we make it through these next 6 months - I'm throwing a PARTY!

I do love the kids... their hugs, smiles, laughs and spirits help me more than I like to admit.

I am ready for my winter to be over and am waiting for spring.