3 years!

Happy 3 Year Anniversary to us!

Apology

This is just a note to say that I am sorry for posting such depressing blogs lately. I am really happy.
Dave is SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW I CANT PUT IT INTO WORDS (and he's desperately tired too!)

I am busy, tired, blessed and excited for the future. Please check back for some exciting pictures on my blog soon.

Fight On!!

Salt and Pepper

Lately life has been feeling very black and white

1 minute things feel incredible
The next minute I am spiraling into a pit
Then I recognize that is happening, start circular breathing (thanks yoga) and then I'm back on the way up or out or calm or something.

Its very exhausting.

Case in point:
Awesome weekend in San Diego for 4 days with Dave during spring break. Sleeping on the beach and hanging out.
Driving home mad at Dave because he is dumb sometimes...
Relaxing week off from cheer and meetings with my new captains.
67 people showing up for the cheer meeting.
One of the girls that didn't make captain completely ignoring me.
No money. I mean literally none.
Hanging out at the track meet and judging pole vault.
Going to sleep alone....
Watching my husband coach on Saturday and seeing his face on the local news that night
Eating dinner alone...
Sleeping in on Sunday.
Venice beach and the drum circle.
Still getting ignored by cheerleaders and letting my opinion be fully known.
5 guys to basket toss and 4 toss to hands extension partner stunts the first day of tryouts. (You have no idea how great that one was...you tube that stunt and you will see why!)

I have been waking up at 2 am almost every night. Despite the fact that I have completely cut out caffeine. Another frustration. Another long night and tired day.

Don't get me wrong. I am completely satisfied with most of my life...
This pace and these extremes are very draining.
That's all.

Off...

Dave is off this week for spring break...lets just say that we have gotten a lot done..
well he has. I have been working

This was our house about a week after we got it in the auction

This is the house now that we have leveled the front and back, added mulch and grass seed (hopefully we will have beautiful grass pictures in about a month)

This is the backyard as we found it.
In the far right corner (out of view) was a bunch of bamboo

Here it is level, retaining wall, mulch, grass seed, and new patio

Now we can relax and wait for the grass to grow.
Some other things that have been going on the last few weeks..

My nephew Judah, born 9 weeks premature, is healthy and thriving!

Kuma made a new friend..Bodie (Mike and Tia's new puppy, house to follow soon!)

Kuma is a huge dog, Bodie is 8 weeks old. And weighs more than Kuma did when we brought him home. THAT IS CRAZY!

Kuma a few weeks ago, the bear stalking the house...

Kuma when he was a baby, also stalking me and the camera.

We are off for the weekend on vaca to San Diego. Well, staying with friends at their house and heading to the beach but it will be very relaxing! That's the news from down here

more progress

I am so incredibly tired today. Long weekend with lots of progress. The backyard is one step closer today to being done. Probably doesn't help that I haven't had any coffee today and its rainy/cloudy.

The backyard on Friday afternoon, more level and partially dug drainage

Kevin and Dave putting in rebar for the retaining wall
What manly men!


Dave demonstrating proper lift technique

Kuma supervising

Almost finished retaining wall sans stairs

The view as the sun goes down. Can't wait to post a finished product (mostly because that means we will be done!!!

Poison

"What there is in this world, I think, is a tendency for human errors to level themselves like water throughout their sphere of influence. That's pretty much the whole of what I can say looking back. There's the possibility of balance. Unbearable burdens that the world somehow does bear with a certain grace." The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver, page 522.

I was pissed last night. I still have a little bitter taste in my mouth. And the sad part is I had a really good day. I worked (and have had a job every day of this month). I went to LAUSD (who believes that they paid me too much in 2007 if you can believe that!!!) and they realized their computations were way wrong....always always always ask for proof from bureaucracy when they try to pull one over on you. The good thing about them is they are afraid of unions! I went to my sisters house and we walked to Trader Joe's with backpacks to get groceries and ended up finding ourselves in the middle of a farmers market. Amazing. And we cooked a fabulous dinner. Then while I was driving home I got a phone call from my hubby telling my we were cited for the dirt pile in my front yard and the dirt on the sidewalk.

I immediately knew who called that in. Because the citation was at 4:55pm and I know the city of Carson errs on the side of finishing early, not being out late writing up citations. And they gave us 36 hours, in the middle of a workweek, to move the dirt. I can still see her beady little eyes as she hides behind her potted plants smoking cigarettes watching me.

All we are trying to do is make this place look like the rest of the houses on the street. NICER. Sorry we cant take a week off to move a pile of dirt back. We have pipes and sprinklers being installed on Friday and our new retaining wall will be up on Saturday. And the dirt will be level. And the weeds that have always been here will be replaced by pretty green grass.

I wish I could let stuff like that go but when people wrong me, especially behind my back, I want to make sure they know that they don't have that power over me. But the truth is we all have the incredible power to hurt each other. Poisonous we are. Toxic even.

And as my mom and I talked about yesterday, the truth is that we often times don't do our best and, while we learn from it and hopefully adapt, we leave a wake behind us of destruction and catastrophe. We were in the wake yesterday, the faraway waves lapping at the other shore. Nothing to steer us off course but to splash us and see us rolling concrete across the lawn and shoveling/sweeping dirt at 9 pm. Pissed.

I'm going to try to make my wake small today. Try to not pour out to much evil.

Oh, and we called the city. Got a week extension for the dirt. I want to say "eat your heart out" to her, but I wont. So I will say it to you.

Progress...

This was mu backyard when we first moved in.

It looks like it is going uphill because it is. We wanted to level it right away but flooring and electrical and new plumbing took priority. Until it started raining and we had floods below our bedroom window a few times. Priority shifted back to the yard.

Last weekend we started by cutting down the bamboo. Kuma was helpful.

Then Friday morning this little beauty arrived!

Dave got right to work. Yep, still uphill.

Coba came over to help on Saturday morning when Dave went to go on a recruiting weekend at SC.

Pretty soon we had visitors.

Elisha brought his tractor..

And scooped dirt off of my patio.

Then he got a chance to help uncle Coba. He literally rode along for almost and hour.

The dirt mound in the front yard grew and attracted the neighborhood. I finally had to establish dirt pile rules (1. no kicking dirt or sliding down the driveway side of the pile 2. no cussing)

Then more friends came to help.

King of the hill and gatorades for my bamboo helpers!

Tomorrow Dave has a day off so he is going to put in drainage and next weekend we are going to plant grass! I am so very very excited!