Jorge's Blog

Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley on "LOST," has a blog called Dispatches From the Island.  I've been reading it for a few months now.  He's pretty amusing, just writing about stuff that goes on in his life, mostly non-LOST-related (like gardening, a lizard in his house, dealing with plumbing problems in Hawaii, etc.).

This one about the new SmarteCarte design cracked me up.  Leave it to those blood-sucking leeches at the SmarteCarte company to figure out a way to make yet more money.  I could see James writing about that.

There But For the Grace of God?

I was so saddened by Natasha Richardson's death. It's always tragic when someone dies young, particularly when they leave children behind. And her death was so unexpected and seemingly random.

I read many of the articles that came out, including the one where they reported the autopsy findings - that she died of an epidural hematoma. Apparently when that happens, pressure builds inside the skull, pushing down the brain and causing it to press on the brain stem, leading to the body shutting down.

Reading that made me realize that I sort of dodged a bullet myself years ago. My brother and I were camping for the weekend with my parents. We were bored and were down at the water, throwing rocks at each other to see how big of a splash we could make (yes, I do know what an idiotic game that is). I was in the water on an air mattress when I see this giant rock about the size of an adult's fist dropping down out of the air, right toward my head, and I froze. I knew it was going to hit me, and I couldn't do anything about it.

It did indeed hit right on the top of my head, making me throw my head back as I started to slide into the water. My brother, who was closer to shore, made it out to me in about two seconds flat and pulled me toward shore. My parents, unbeknownst to us, had just come upon us and were trying to figure out what we were doing when they saw me get hit. My dad quickly got down the hill they were atop and carried me back up it, to our campsite.

I was in a lot of pain but, except for a few woozy seconds, was lucid for the most part. I just remember laying in the trailer on a bed (thank the Lord we weren't tent camping then), trying to not hurt so much. I can't exactly remember, but I think we stayed there a few hours, then packed up and headed for home. Or else we stayed overnight and went home the next day.

At any rate, by the next day, my face was showing some pink swollen areas, and my mom took me to the doctor. Turned out the rock had cracked my skull and caused me to have internal bleeding.

I wonder now if the crack in my skull was what kept pressure from building up enough to lead to a more dire outcome for me. I wonder if, had my skull not been cracked by the rock, I would have just slipped into unconsciousness and never woken back up. It freaks me out to think about it now. I just have to thank God for the broken bone in my head. I can still faintly feel where it fused itself back together. It used to be much more noticeable when I ran my fingers over it.

I also wonder why on earth my parents didn't immediately put me in the car and take me to an emergency room for something like that. My mom freaked out when Rachel was in daycare and fell and got a cut above her eye, and basically made us feel like bad parents because we hadn't already gone to the hospital with her. We took Rachel to urgent care, where they just used an eyewash to make sure the cut was clean, then bandaged it. It wasn't bad enough to require stitches and there was no other damage done. We ourselves had been waffling about whether or not she needed to see a doctor, so we were glad we'd done it for our own peace of mind.

But I do wonder what the heck was up with my parents.

Same Old, Same Old

I haven't been that inspired lately when it comes to writing a blog post. Or else when I have, I've been too busy doing other things to get to the computer and post. Nothing much has changed with life circumstances, I'm just keeping more on top of cleaning the house since we're hosting our small group here on Fridays. Plus I also decided to start using coupons again and have been obsessively looking for information and good sources in an attempt to cut our food and household costs while simultaneously sticking it to The Man.

Ben & Rachel are both joys and challenges. I'll take the challenges any day, since the joys are so sweet. Mom is still working on finding a better-paying job but seems to be getting by okay, and I know she's happy to have an apartment of her own again. As are we happy about that. It's been really nice being able to find our groove as a family of four without a watchdog constantly around, creating an atmosphere of oppression and stress. Ben does well with napping and being on a loose schedule. It's tough when he can't get a nap in the morning, so some things will be easier once he actually outgrows his morning nap. But until then, I appreciate the time to get things done around the house, work on budgeting or Bible study, or just play for a bit online.

I've been getting back into doing regular craft days and host them here. I often do scrapbooking, but others have made jewelry, polymer clay sculptures and cards, and recently I worked on printing out family photos to frame for the dining room and creating sailboats out of foam sheets for Ben's room. We haven't decorated Ben's room yet since we're waiting for the weather to warm up a little before we paint it, but I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together, and I've enjoyed the chance to be creative. My next thing is to work on a scrapbook of our Disneyland trip from September, figuring that it's still pretty fresh in my mind and should come together fairly easily. I bought so much stuff for it (papers, diecuts, stickers, etc.) that I'm sure we'll have to take another trip or two to use up the rest. I certainly wouldn't mind!

Weight loss is still nonexistent. I got in some extra bike-riding on Saturday while Ben was napping. I need to do that more often, and I need to have healthier snacks available and prepared so that when the munchies hit (as I know they will) and I cave in (as I know I will), there's something easy to grab that's not too bad for me. I also haven't been keeping up with reading through the New Testament, but it's not an insurmountable problem yet. I need to start taking a few minutes each day to read 2 or 3 chapters until I get caught up. I *am*, however, managing to keep up with the Beth Moore study of Esther I'm in and haven't missed any of the discussion/video sessions yet, so I feel good about that. It's been a wonderful study that has opened my eyes to so much more in Esther than I knew about before.

Life is settled into a basic routine, which is good. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I get Rachel and Ben up, fed and ready for the day, then Ben and I take Rachel to school. Once we've dropped her off, we either head home for a little play time and then a nap (for Ben) and chores/bills/web time (for me). We pick Rachel up at noon, then come back for lunch, Ben's afternoon nap, some TV for Rachel, reading together and other tasks around the house. Rachel often does a good job playing on her own for a while in the afternoons, which I appreciate. James comes home around 6, and dinner is on the way or about done by then, so we have dinner together, get the kids ready for bed, then get some things set up for the next morning before we head downstairs to the family room to watch a little TV together while riding the exercise bike.

Tuesdays are my women's Bible study in the morning. Rachel and Ben go with me and play with other kids while we're there. It's nice because Rachel gets a bit of a playdate, even if the other kids are all younger. I think the next oldest one is 3, and Rachel will be 5 in a few months. But she does well playing with them. Ben's getting less frustrated as he's able to get around more. There's another little boy there who's 4 months older than Ben, and I hope they'll play together once Ben is more mobile. Afternoons are much like afternoons on MWF.

On Thursdays, we usually have a more relaxed morning, then while Ben is napping, I get lunch ready and we all take lunch to James at World Vision. It's nice being able to see him in the middle of the day and visit with his coworkers a little, and when the weather is better, we sit outdoors at one of the picnic tables and enjoy the breeze and the sun, then take a walk afterwards. Lunch has been slower since Ben's arrival, but hopefully we'll get him up to speed and can take walks this spring and summer.

Saturdays are days to get errands done or for me to take the kids to visit my mom, or we work around the house, or visit James' parents, or do something fun as a family. One Saturday a month is my craft day. Ben stays here with me and Rachel and James have a daddy/daughter day. Eventually Ben will be going with them so that I can get work done, but for now it's been working pretty well to have him here, since he'll usually nap for a good chunk in the middle of the craft time. I have a few friends over, and we have some snacks and a light lunch while we work and talk. It's been a really nice social time and good for me to get back into doing something with all those photos I've been taking!

Sundays we have church, and I'm usually either in choir or on the worship team, so I'm there from 8:30 to 12:30. James brings the kids separately when that's the case; otherwise, they'd have to hang out for an hour before the service started, with no childcare, which doesn't start until the 9:30 service. Sunday afternoon brings a nap for Ben, household tasks and other mellow things.

So that's pretty much it. I fit in trips to the grocery store, vet, library (for story time on Fridays when Rachel isn't in school, or whenever we can to pick up new books otherwise), Target, clothes shopping for the kids and all those other regular tasks. It sounds a little boring when I write it out like this. But I enjoy being with my kids during the day - not that every minute is fun and giggles, but I'm glad I'm the one who gets to be there for all the little moments and that I get so much of them before they start in with full-time school and get "too old" to need me in the same way. There's also a certain satisfaction in a clean house, even though it's disheartening how quickly it gets dirty again, and I like that it's getting easier to keep up with things now that Ben is an older baby. I'm blessed with a wonderful husband who takes good care of his family and helps out quite a bit with household chores, lightening my load. We belong to a great church with solid teaching and a loving community, and we're thankful for the friendships we've formed there.

Washington's been a good place for us, and I'm a fortunate woman.

I Am A Numbers Nerd

Or very OCD/anal-retentive. Whenever I know that a significant number is about to come up on my odometer, I become a bit obsessed with seeing it happen. I even stress a little about "What if I miss it?" (It's happened, you know.)

So I was pretty jazzed when 55555 rolled around. It made me happy to see it. I really can't explain why, but there you have it.

Not Always Right

I love the website NotAlwaysRight.com. It's tales from people in customer service. Sometimes I find them hard to believe and wonder if people just make things up so that they can get a story onto the website. On the other hand, I've seen a lot of examples of people's idiocy, so these may all be genuine stories. If so, I fear for the safety of some of the people involved and wonder how they made it to adulthood unscathed.

This story is one of the best I've seen in a while. That coworker was quick on his feet, and doctrinally correct, too!

Some Things I Like About Living in Washington

I have been extremely lax lately in blogging.  But the flip side is that I've been doing a pretty good job keeping up with cleaning, and an excellent job (for the most part) in keeping the kitchen under control, which is the area that seems to most quickly snowball into an avalanche when I don't stay on top of it.  At any rate, I'd like to try to find some time for blogging while still being productive with my "job duties," so hopefully I'll be able to strike a better balance.

I thought it was time for some things that I enjoy about living in Washington:

• The ability to be home with my kids is #1.  We couldn't afford to live on one salary in the L.A. area, and probably in most of California.  Although my days can be tough, I feel so blessed to be able to be here for so much of my children's lives and am thankful.  I'm glad that I can do a job that I feel has value, since I didn't feel I was doing anything significant in my old job.
  
• It's so green and beautiful here.  Sometimes I forget to look around and appreciate it.  I recently looked at an overhead satellite map of our old neighborhood in Monrovia, and the difference between there and our neighborhood here is extreme.  It's so stark there by comparison, and I never thought it seemed very desert-y when we lived there.  But we're surrounded by grass and tall trees and bushes and have greenery all year long, even when some of the trees lose their leaves in the fall.
• A definite change of seasons - Although sometimes it's hard to tell when spring and summer are around, since the rain comes and goes and we have cooler days during those seasons, too, we do have pretty definable seasons.  I like having more variety in the weather, and I even like watching the snow, although I'm not a fan of driving in it.  Especially when it partially thaws, then freezes over, and the hill in front of our house gets slippery.  (But this is about what I do like, not what I don't, so enough about that.)
• Our church - While I enjoyed our old church for a season, it was a very large church, and therefore hard at times to feel connected to the church body as a whole or to the church itself.  I liked our Sunday School class there, but even that had so much turnover that there were very few couples still there in 2006 in comparison with those who were there when we started in 2000.  I think it's part of being in your 20s and 30s and having life changes happening which sometimes affect where you are and what you're involved in.  At any rate, I like our medium-size church and the people we've met there.  We're part of a small group of 5 families and a Sunday school class that has probably 10-12 families regularly involved.  I'm also in the choir and on worship team, and I've so enjoyed getting back into singing again.  We sing a lot of wonderful songs that really touch my heart.  Also, the teaching at the church is solid and Biblical and has been especially applicable for us lately.
• Walking along the boardwalk in Des Moines - it's a nice walk right along the water, good for some moderate exercise and a chance to enjoy Puget Sound.
• Being so close to the ocean - we're only about 2 miles away.  We don't take nearly enough advantage of having it that close, but I'm hoping that as warmer weather arrives, we'll make more conscious efforts to go there and enjoy it.
• Living near James' family - it's been wonderful getting to spend more time with James' family, particularly his parents.  I really wanted our kids to know them and not just see them once or twice a year.  We've enjoyed seeing them more often, too.
• Fred Meyer - woo!
• Seattle is a great city that, again, we haven't explored nearly enough yet.  We were going there once a month for a while but have gotten out of the habit, largely after Ben was born.  Hopefully we'll get back into that and be able to see and do a lot more.
• Affordable homes - Our home here in WA cost about $140K than the home we sold in CA, and it's about 600 square feet bigger.  It's also newer and was in better condition than our first home.  It was flipped by the previous owner, so all we've really had to do is cosmetic stuff like painting and some landscaping and working on decorative items.  We're still working our way through the rest of the rooms, but we're getting there, and we appreciated not having to undertake a huge project in moving in to a fixer-upper.  You just get more for your money here, in most neighborhoods.
• The views of Mt. Rainier, especially on a day when the cloud cover is gone and the sun is shining on its snowy peaks.  It's such a breathtaking sight!
• James is so much more satisfied and fulfilled at his job.  I'm glad he's someplace where he feels he can make a difference and where his work is often acknowledged.
• The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.  It's a great zoo with realistic environments for most of the animal exhibits (they're always working to improve).  Not overwhelmingly large, so you can see all of it in a day if you have kids who can keep up with you.  Otherwise, you can see a good bit of it and see the rest the next time.  I'm hoping we can get a membership again soon, maybe late this spring.
• Not having to water our lawn 9 months out of the year.
  

I actually found it easier to post about things I miss about CA.  I think it's the "absence makes the heart grow fonder" thing, and the fact that we tend to wax nostalgic about places from our past.  Not always, but I think that's often the case and that things seem rosier when we're no longer there and dealing with the day-to-day headaches.