Yeah yeah yeah

My FB friends know I'm a year older. 34. I heard from a certain woman that 35 is really hard. I could say I'm not looking forward to it, but since I am looking forward to 40, I guess I could say I'm looking forward of it. I helped the kids' nanny study English this afternoon and so "of" is significant since we discussed how "de" in Spanish can be "of" or "from" depending on context.

I would post photos as I have tons of cute ones but I can't find my camera. Oops. My losing things drives my mom crazy. I try not to tell her about it but she's so good at locating stuff that it's usually worth it to confess and bear the disappointment de mama.

My sister has been using only one crutch the past two days, so she is recovering. I think I'll be here through mid-February as she and her husband both have work travel and will need the help. My friend Carrie (from Las Vegas post) will be visiting Richlandia next month so I will try to make it back to see her.

A shout out to Anna U. for reading and for cracking me up by telling me about her 'kids'.

I went to Mars Hill Church on Sunday for a birthday treat and wound up meeting a nice young woman who invited me to her small group. So last night I went and it was nice. Should be a good thing for at least a month. Mark Driscoll went to Haiti and preached on giving and loving the church.

Today I covered my sister's volunteer shift at my nieces' classrooms. I was pleased that some of the boys' writing was really focused: Magic Man, the spinning chess pawn. Go with what they find interesting, right? Anyway, that's a random sliver of my current life. :)

Oh, and I finished "Tree" and have moved onto "My Life in France" by Julia Child and her great nephew.

Reading

I've been in Seattle for the past ten days taking over driving duties for my temporarily invalid sister. This includes piano lessons, violin lessons, gymnastics practice, karate, and possibly most importantly Costco. My niece accompanied me on my most recent trip and was a great companion, only getting distracted once by the fountain sculpture of a Boy and Sailboat. My days begin by being woken up by two little faces, those belonging to the eldest two over whom my bunk sets. They climb the ladder every morning not before 7 am and then hang out with me until 7:30 when it's time to get ready for the day. As my brother-in-law says, I'm living an extention of their life. Not really my own. But it's not a bad life as such. I'm reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and have a laptop available to work on the play. But not much progress made in either.

My sister's surgery was fine but I did swing into full Florence Nightengale mode when she returned still getting over anesthesia and pain meds. Since then she's been well enough to crutch around though I don't believe she's left the house since Monday.

So that's my update. Still hoping to get to Tucson. Maybe I'll be there for the hot hot season.

Bed time

I'm driving to Seattle tomorrow to help Delphine out. The hamstring tear is complete, so surgery will be scheduled in the next few days.

Just hung out with Kristie who deserves a big shout out for reading. We watched Remember the Titans for research recommended to me by Jessica S. (Note for Jessica: my dad said he'd watch it once I have watched it and can tell him for sure that it's good.) Research for the play I have started writing that I mentioned in my last post. Finished the general structure and drafted the first three scenes. AND, I got 100% on my census worker test. They should be calling next week but maybe I'll still be in Seattle at that time?

My dad wishes I would get a job. My mom wishes I would get a job. Sometimes, I wish I would get a job too. In Tucson. A fun one with happy-level wages. Wishing is one thing that I'm almost sure is just the Disney word for 'worry' but that's debatable.

Ok, truly I need to go to bed. But I was just excited to post knowing that I do have readers of my non-photo posts! :)

Old year's end

My dad's 73rd birthday. I'd forgotten (bad me) but my mom reminded me before I got home. We ate shrimp for dinner.

Mooch with jingle bell from Robyn's wedding, winter spirit.

My sister Jane took my parents and me to the Seattle Symphony. It was beautiful. The Christmas lessons with sing-along carols, I leaned over to my mom during one point and whispered: this is better than church!

The Big 5, as we now call them. Used to be the Big 3 but now there's two more babies.

My eldest niece being very responsible with the younger two of the Big 5. We left the babies at home with my mom while we went to bell ring for the Salvation Army. Record breaking take in, cute kids = genius marketing.

Mom and one of the babies.

Jane's three after Christmas eve service.

Funny faces waiting for our newer tradition of prime rib and crab legs.

Mom and the other baby. As my brother-in-law Doug says, seeing my mom bounce around giving the granddaughters piggyback rides is not the picture of 73-years-old one usually thinks of.

Baby and "What God Wants for Christmas" boxes.

These two are the same age difference between me and my sister Delphine, only with two more kids in between.

Took Jane's two big girls on Seattle Ride the Duck tour. Pretty hilarious. Here they are with their quackers.

Got a chance to catch up with childhood best friend, Amy. She is in a Masters of Education program at University Washington, cares for her 2 year old son and is expecting. Phew!

This was last night's new year's eve hot pot dinner with my mom and dad. It was yummy and I stayed in and updated my iPod with all the CDs I've acquired over the year.

My sister Delphine fell ice skating a few days ago so on Sunday my mom will head back to Seattle (I just took the Greyhound back to Richland yesterday) via bus to help them out. I probably should have stayed but oh well. Hope to catch up with Tri-Cities friends and Monday I am scheduled to take a 2010 Census worker test. In other job related news, I'm going to try to start some sales leads for my brother-in-law's business and a friend from NYC asked me to draft a play he's been envisioning for some time now. So, praise God, "stuff" is coming up.