Category: Me

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Activities Family & Friends Me

I’m Going to Disneyland!

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No, I didn’t win the Super Bowl, but I am going to Disneyland this coming weekend. 

My mom’s favorite place in the world is Disneyland.  She has always loved it, and she always made sure we were able to go there a few times while we were growing up.  I haven’t been so diligent as an adult going to Disneyland. The last time I was there was <ahem>…1997.  I went with my mom and my sister for the weekend.

My mom is turning 60 in April (sorry Mom to reveal your age), and it worked out that my sister, brother, and sister-in-law, and of course my mom, could go to Disneyland and celebrate this weekend.  I had been hoping I could go too, but wasn’t sure how it would work out with Joe’s schedule.  I found out a few days ago that Joe would be able to watch the boys for the weekend.  I checked out the airfare on Saturday, expecting it to be outrageously expensive, but there was a sale!  So I get to be with my mom for her 60th birthday party. 

One of my fondest childhood memories was going to Disneyland.  We always had a good time there, and we were always happy.  I am looking forward to spending time with my mom (who lives out of state, and I don’t get to see her a lot), and of course the rest of my family.

I wish Ryan and Cole could come too.  Ryan is the perfect age, but Cole is still a little too young.  I know we will have  a trip someday, where they can both come and enjoy it together.  I hope they will enjoy Disneyland as much as  I did.  But for this weekend, it is about my mom turning 60, and us being with her at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Now for your enjoyment (or amusement), I found some pictures of the last time I was in Disneyland (remember it was 12 years ago)  Enjoy.  🙂

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The three of us

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In front of the castle (don’t you love the white shoes?)

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My mom and I

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With Goofy Claus

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Trying on Donald Duck’s hat

Categories
Household Me Mothering

My Blackberry and I

I admit it.  I am not an electronics or gadget junkie.  I had no idea what the big fuss was when the iPhone was released.  I thought it was ridiculous anyone would spend that much money on a phone and wait in line overnight and camp out for one. 

In Colorado, where I live, people used to only camp out for Denver Broncos play-off tickets, or something equally as important- like Colorado Rockies World Series Tickets, or Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup tickets.  I can understand that- after all, cheering on your favorite sports team when they have made it to the big game- it can be a once in a life time event.

I have failed to see what is so exciting about the next big ‘must have’ electronic device that motivates people to spend all night laying on the sidewalk in a sleeping bag in front of Best Buy.  Whether it is the latest phone, Mp3 player, computer, HDTV, or video game system.  It is just a thing. 

A little less than a month ago, I wrote that it was finally time for me to replace my almost two-year old cell phone, which was absolutely ancient in electronic years.  I had decided to get a Blackberry Pearl.  One of the reasons I liked the Blackberry was because it was not an iPhone. My boss has an iPhone, and I have used hers before.  I don’t like how sensitive the touch screen is.  Every time I thought I was touching what I wanted, I had touched something else instead.  I realized I need buttons I could push, and the Blackberry Pearl has buttons- yay! 

I knew there were other features that I would like, but the main reason I decided on the Blackberry was because of the buttons.  How high tech is that?  My friend, Amy, told me to watch out- I was getting a ‘CrackBerry.’  I laughed and thought that was funny, but I would never become that dependant on a phone- it is just a thing. 

Not even a month later, I am not laughing.  While I haven’t officially signed up at CrackBerry.com, I find every day I am becoming more and more dependent on my Blackberry.  I love it.  Never mind I can make phone calls.  It has a calendar in it. I no longer have to wait until I get home to write on the wall calendar an appointment- better yet, I don’t have to try to remember to write it down.  I just pull out the Blackberry and  presto- the appointment is in the calendar.  It even sends me a reminder just to make sure I really remember it.  My mommy brain doesn’t even do that. 

It has a note pad.  Now I don’t have to carry around 10 different pieces of paper with me (a.k.a. my memory), with the grocery list, the Target list, the Costco list,  the errands I need to do, or the tasks I need to complete.  I can start a new note for each one, and when I need it, I push a few buttons (love those buttons) and presto- my memory is at my fingertips.

I no longer have to be at the computer in the house to check e-mail.  I can receive and send e-mail from the phone.  I can respond to the important ones right away, like the one I received from my boss this week. I was out and about and it would have taken me hours to get back to her.  Instead I was able to respond moments after she sent the e-mail.  I was able to respond quickly to some e-mails regarding my blog too.  I can keep up with my family and friends via the cool Facebook application. 

There is a camera and a video recorder on the phone.  The other night Ryan was doing something cute, and instead of lugging out the video camcorder, I just hit the button for the video recorder and recorded him dancing.  There is a password safe, that keeps all my passwords in one place.  There’s an address book, voice dialing, speaker phone, Mapquest, the weather report, a multimedia player, and more features I haven’t even gotten around to learning yet. 

I can’t believe all the things this phone does.  Now I understand why people will camp out for an electronic thing– it makes life easier.  Instead of having a big, thick, day-timer that I have to lug around or relying on the calendar hanging on my kitchen wall, everything I need to run my life and stay on top of our schedules, fits in the palm of my hand. 

While I doubt I will ever be one of those people camping out for electronics, I do understand it now.  It is great when there is a gadget that can make our hectic lives run a bit smoother, and if you want to be one of the first people who has the latest gadget, more power to you.  I think I’ll save my camping out for the mountains, or maybe just maybe, Broncos play-off tickets in the near future.  🙂

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Me

Comes the Dawn

The other day I was looking through a storage bin of things I have had since childhood.  I think most people have bin or box like this. 

In mine there are yearbooks, pictures- lots of pictures, I never got around to putting in picture books, programs of the plays I had been in, newspaper articles I wrote for the high school paper, the piccolo I used to play.  My coin collection.   A customized Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs book my mother ordered for me when I was probably six- where my name and the things I liked were written into the story, helping Snow White. 

I sat there thinking it was odd, after all the years in school, all the people that have come in and out of my life, the things that I found important at one point or another, I had kept, and put in this bin- this bin that has been buried in the back of a closet for almost two decades. 

I got to the bottom of the bin and found a folder.  In that folder were poems I had written.  I never remembered writing poems, but I had signed my name at the bottom of the poems and dated them. They were from 1991.  The year I graduated from high school.  Eighteen years ago- they were the last things I had arranged in the bin. I was eighteen, and had just had my heart broken.

The poems I wrote, were of course about heartbreak.  But I noticed while they were sad, like any eighteen year-old girl’s poem would be, I ended them with optimism.  I knew it wasn’t the end-even though it felt like that.  I knew over the years, I had been losing that optimism that things would always be okay, one way or another.  Every day, it slipped further and further away- and I felt like there was nothing I could do to change it.  

There are moments in life when we know we have to change.  We know if we don’t, we will be lost forever.  We can’t change other people no matter how much we love them, want them to change, try to change them, or beg them to change.  In the end, we can only change ourselves.  Change is hard.  Sometimes it is the hardest thing ever to do.  There is a quote by Henry David Thoreau which says, “Things do not change, we change.” 

As I rustled through the papers, I found one last poem.  A poem that I did not write, but found very insightful among the few items I had chosen to keep from my past.  I don’t remember where I got this poem, or even copying it from a book. It was in my handwriting, but I had noted at the time, the author was unknown.  It is deeper and more profound than an eighteen year-old’s broken heart.  Perhaps this was a poem I wanted to keep for myself, from my past,  if I ever needed help facing the future.  Here is that poem:

Comes The Dawn

After awhile you learn
the subtle difference
between holding a hand
and chaining a soul.
And you learn that love
doesn’t mean leaning,
And company doesn’t mean security.

And you begin to learn
that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up
and your eyes open.
With the grace of a woman,
not the grief of a child.

And you learn to build
all your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground
is too uncertain for plans,
And futures have a way
of falling down in mid-flight.

After awhile you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul.
Instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.

And you learn
that you really can endure…
That you really are strong.
That you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn…

With every goodbye…
you learn.

© Veronica A. Shoffstall

Categories
Activities Cole Family & Friends Me Ryan

The ‘Awesomeness’ that is Mamma Mia

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So read my Evite invitation from my sister-in-law, Kat. 

My entire family saw Mamma Mia over the summer and just loved it.  Even my brother (who likes musicals) saw it at least three times in the theater.  I never got around to seeing it. Evidently I am not alone and Kat knew some other people that had not experienced the ‘awesomeness’ of it.  So she decided to throw a Mamma Mia party and basically invented the word, ‘awesomeness’ to describe the movie.

I was really excited to watch the movie at the party, eat the yummy Greek food we are bringing (the movie takes place on a Greek Island), and of course break out my Dancing Queen moves. I was going to save the ‘awesomeness’ for the party, which is on Saturday.

Then my sister, Mara, started telling me how much my niece Maelin, (who is 21 months) loves the movie.  She even has her favorite songs.  She dances to the songs.  If she wants to hear the songs, she starts asking for “Mia, Mia.”  Mara said my boys would love it, but I had my doubts.

On Christmas Eve, they brought over the DVD to my aunt’s house, and it was the funniest thing.  Three little kids- ages 4, 2, and 1, were totally mesmerized by Mamma Mia.  They should have been wound up and bouncing off the walls- after all in a few hours Santa was coming.  But they just wanted to watch the songs over, and over, and over.

A week later my mom sent the Ryan and Cole the DVD which came with a CD.  I had to break down and finally watch the movie with them one night, and then I understood the ‘awesomeness’ that is Mamma Mia.  I will never doubt again.  (I don’t want to give anything away in case you haven’t seen it,) but it is such a fun, and upbeat movie.  The music is great.  All the songs are from ABBA.  I also loved that fact that the main character, Sophie, who is 20, is not decked out in a ton of make-up, and neither is Meryl Streep, who plays her mother.  They look very natural which I think is a wonderful thing to see in a movie these days. 

That was about a month ago and Ryan and Cole ask to watch Mamma Mia EVERY day.  I’m not joking.  I don’t let them, but it has become a great motivator.  It goes like this (if you haven’t seen the movie, some of this may be lost on you, but if you watch it come back and read this, and it will all make sense):

Ryan:  Mommy, can we watch Mamma Mia- Coley wants to watch Super Trooper.

Cole: No!  I want to watch the Summer song.

Ryan: After Honey, Honey, Cole- remember?

Cole: Oh yeah.  Honey, Honey Mommy.

Ryan: Okay Mom, I think we will just watch it from the begining.

Mommy (me-expecting an argument and tears): I ‘ll tell you what.  You can watch Mamma Mia if you pick up the toys in your play room.

Ryan and Cole (as they eagerly run to their playroom): Okay, we’ll be back in a minute.  You get the DVD ready- Yay!  We get to watch Mamma Mia!

I keep waiting for the ‘awesomeness’ to wear off, but it is going just as strong today as the day they first saw it.  Kat was really on to something. 

I am still looking forward to the party, but since I have watched the movie and have heard it in the background almost every day for a month,  I can have fun without having to worry about missing any of the movie.  I can laugh, eat, talk, enjoy some good wine with good friends, and know exactly when Dancing Queen is on.  ‘Awesomeness’ at its best.  🙂

P.S. We have not listened to another CD in the car since the day it arrived.  I think the songs will be permanently etched in my brain- but at least it isn’t Barney over and over again.

Categories
Activities Family & Friends Holidays Me

New Year’s Eve

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Ever since having kids, I have not been out on New Year’s Eve.  In fact, I was doing well if I could even stay up until midnight, to ring in the new year at home. 

My kids are growing up, so I guess I get to go out again for New Year’s, and I am really excited about it.  I’m going with my sister, brother, and their spouses, and some of their friends.  Joe is going to have a boy’s night in, with Ryan and Cole.  I told them tonight I was going to go out, and they were going to have a party with Dad- I told them they could have some hot chocolate, and they just thought that was the best thing ever.  🙂 It is cute how sweet and innocent they still are. 

We are going to have dinner at a delicious restaurant in Cherry Creek that my sister used to work at, and her best friend is the manager there now.  Then we are going to go to a nice drinking place (bar) and say good-bye to 2008.

I don’t usually make New Year’s Resolutions, but I do get in mind some goals I would like to accomplish for the upcoming year.  The big one, is to finally get all our junk worldly possessions moved to the new house, and get our place rented, so we can finally finish up with all this house stuff. 

I also wanted to lose some weight, but due to the stress of trying to move all our worldly possessions to the new house, I lost some. That is always nice, but I do want to start a regular schedule of doing some exercise a few times a week. 

One other big goal is to not let the house fill up with so much junk- really.  I don’t know how it gets so accumulated, but it is really freeing to throw away and donate so much of the stuff that has piled up; stuff we never use.  Moving is good for a few things- one of which is getting your life de-cluttered  🙂 

I’d love to hear any other resolutions or goals everyone has- I might even be able to add a new one to my list.

Whatever you are doing on New Year’s Eve, be safe and enjoy.

Happy New Year!