pinkwik

Do you ever have a day where you just want to walk away from it all? Go back to a time when things seemed like they were more simple? No cell phones attached to your ear, or back to back to back appointments?

I have a picture from a magazine hanging on the wall in my office of a large beautiful two story log cabin in Idaho. It backs up to a tree covered hill.  There are corrals off each side of the home, and the area to the front and just beyond the corrals are grassy like meadows. And the part I love the best? The small river that runs in front of the home. There are even two wooden chairs next to a small tree down by the water. I so want to be there!! I could sit in one of those chairs for hours! Do some fishing, some reading maybe. Seems so quiet there…no craziness! Sure you may need a snowmobile to get out during the winter, but it almost seems worth it. Just make sure you load up on the firewood and the basics.

Or what about a move to Amish Country? They have a great sense of community, and family, and no one cares if you’re at the store without any makeup on, they dont care about having materialistic things, and ladies,–you may have a little more time to bake some bread, whip up a quilt, and the men can raise a barn.

See……skills…..Isn’t that what girls want? Men with skills?

Ok- so Amish Country may seem easier and not so hurried, but is it really? I mean there’s the farm to run, and quilting and cooking and baking… cleaning… beating your clothes against rocks or with sticks … washing ALL your dishes by hand….hmmm …wait….where is nap time scheduled again? Where’s the peaceful quiet time? Maybe you’re not busy all day and you can sit on the porch or go dip your toes in a creek someplace.?

Anyway- Im just thinking that summer is coming and that means its time to do some traveling, and just get out of town. I have a backpacking trip to experience once the snow melts. I’d love to go on an extended vacation. …. like for a month or two. Go to Panama… Costa Rica…..live on the beach or in the jungle. A place where you are actually living life.. not just living through life as life and everything in it passes you by. Where there are no watches, or clocks to remind you when you have to get up, or that you need to be at an appointment, that it’s time for work. Where you have more time for family, or for yourself. More time to just sit and enjoy. I think I get so busy sometimes I forget to breath.

Whatever your plans are for this summer, remember to take time to slow down a little. Take a break from your cell phone.. even if it’s just for a day.. if you can. Spend time with family. With friends. Go for a hike, go camping. Breath. ….

Whatever it is, enjoy….

I was at coffee today with my boyfriend when I saw a very harsh fashion flop. This girl came in wearing some gray pinstripe slacks, and a light blue sweater. A blue sweater might have been ok to try and match the blue in the stripe, but not the kind where there’s large blue puff bobbles at the end of the ties that tie at the neck. And to top it off she was wearing a cream colored jacket with the fur around the hood. I can say her hair wasn’t completely ugly….. maybe..

Then another girl came in. What the crap?!

Now-I have to say she really looked a lot older than me. I dont know how old she really was, but the go-go dancer makeup could have been the cause. Then she’s got these low-rider hip huggers on, (way to tight), and some short tight shirt and jacket. Then she had her looooong hair in Maryanne (Gilligan’s Island)  pig tails, and sporting a mesh truckers cap. And to top off her dazzling outfit she had these very ugly flat silver shoes on. SILVER!

Now, I will never claim to be a fashion diva or anything, but when people are getting dressed in the morning, how can they think the combination is anything they should put on? I mean silver shoes? Maybe at prom or a big New Years bash or something, but not with your tight pants and pig tails.

My boyfriend said I had an obligation to go help them and I declined.  But wished my sisters were there to help me rip on these people.

Now- my sisters and I  have shared in some fashion horror sightings.  And I have to say that only my sisters will understand the urgency for women all over to think about their choice of outfits before walking out of the house. But then again- who will we make fun of then? And yes- I know we’re going to hell for making fun of people, but at least its tropical there.

Ladies- maybe check your look in the mirror before you leave. Know what styles you like, and what looks good on you. Some people can wear a number of different styles, but not everyone can pull that off. Don’t walk out of the house with so much makeup on that you look like youre going to a halloween party, or that youre taking a break from street walking. And please, when you hit a certain age pig tails are no longer something you are allowed to do- unless you and your guy are getting frisky….. but lets not go there! Lets leave pig tails for the little girls.

And if youre still not sure about any of this… please at least brush your hair before you leave the house, and hire a fashion consultant.

Well, I’ll soon be on an adventure of backpacking/camping through the forest, carrying all my stuff on my back. No hair supplies, no make up.. only a hat, sunscreen, and my carmex….. oh yeah- and bug repellant. Damn bugs anyway!

I went yeaterday and tried on a few backpacks, and then ordered one. Should be here in a couple of weeks. Next I need to get a good toasty sleeping bag, some cute hiking boots, and maybe a cute hat. No sense losing fashion just because I’m going to be filthy.

I’ve never backpacked in my life.. have only camped in actual camp grounds a few times. You know the kind. Where they have outhouses, and a faucet of cold water. But where I’m going there will be no outhouses, no faucets of cold water…..no signs of civilization- just bugs and animals with large sharp teeth and rumblys in their tumblys. Eating ramen noodles, couscous, trail mix with those icky raisins, and maybe one of those packages of food flakes, where you add water and voila! Beef stroganoff, or lasagna… or better yet, scrambled eggs with bacon and pancakes. These little packages intrigue me- I cant imagine scrambled egg flakes tasting very good! Kerry said not to try one at home because it may be totally gross. But when you’re out in the middle of no where ,with only those packs -they may save my life! I don’t know if they’ll make me sick, kill me, or if I should just bring along the pepto tablets? At least there’s no shortage of places to get sick out in the woods- you only have to find the perfect tree. Guess its a good way to lose some weight..? Between the trail mix and those food flakes.. maybe I should re-think this backbacking thing….? haha

I’m not sure when my adventure will start. Right now everything is covered in snow (and I’m a wussy in cold weather), but we’re looking at trails and planning trips for this year. I’ll be taking my son too. He’s never gone backpack hiking/camping either. Plus he’s going to have to carry his own pack, so I can almost hear the whining now. But maybe he’ll surprise me and be totally into it. He seems really excited about it right now.

Kerry has a degree in Wildlife biology, and Wyatt finds that so interesting… loves learning all sorts of things scientific, and outdoorsy, so we can turn the trip into a learning session and maybe it won’t seem like work. Our friend Mark will come along with us on some trips, and he’s got a degree in Wildlife biology too.. so it should be fun. Kerry and Mark have backbacked through Alaska a few times, so they at least have experience.

Im excited at trying something new. I’ve never done anything like this before, so we’re going to have to start out small. I’m also not sure how much my back can carry, but I’ll give it a good try. But Im very excited and this should be a lot of fun, and I’ll let everyone know when the first trip is happening. I’ll also let you know how Wyatt and I do, and about the food flake packages.

I haved to say kids are so funny. My son is into all sorts of stuff, but is really into the “what if” stage… Like what is he found a dragon egg and got to raise the dragon baby……

or…..’ mom, what if we bought this sarcophagus and put it in our hallway” as he was flipping through this magazine.

Hes got such cute, and wonderful sayings, phrases, and thoughts. Some of them quite bizarre and some of them funny.

The other day he was going through the magazine. This magazine has mid-evil era costumes and so he was asking me which maidens dress I would want. I said I wanst sure so we flipped though and picked one out that I liked. Then he went though and picked out a costume for my boyfriend….. a coachmans costume.. with long trench coat. Then Wyatt flipped through to pick out costume for himself. He liked many of the costumes but there was one that he found that he couldnt get because it would make him look “too frenchy”. I died laughing. I asked him what was to frenchy about the costume and he said the mans facial hair… moustache, beard, etc.

It was all very cute… and I dont think i’ll ever get over the ideas in his head… all of his ‘what if’s ‘they crack me up!

well, I have to say I was out voted. Wyatt said ‘cocoa pebbels are more chocolaty in the beginning because you have to wait for the puffs to be less crunchy. They’re not very chocolaty when they’re crunchy. But once they’re less crunchy they’re better than the pebbles.’

Kerry said ‘hands down puffs are better’…. but I have to tell you that he didnt even try the pebbles.

I still think pebbles are better. They’re chocolaty from the start- and you dont have to wait for them to get soggy for them to be chocolaty.

So I was outvoted 2-1. The next day we all came down with a cold and were out for two days. I think it must have been the puffs.

OK- so the other day I was taking my son to school and we got into a small food  debate. Which is better? Regular Cheerios or honey nut? (he chose honey nut). Creamy peanut butter or crunchy? (he chose creamy, and I agree). Now- heres the important one- cocoa puffs or cocoa pebbles? He chose puffs and I said I thought pebbles were more chocolaty (of course this is the same boy who doesnt like ranch dressing either). So for the remainder of the drive we tried to argue our points of which was better. So at the end, before he got out of the car at school, I said that we’ll just have to have an eat off. So (now- how super cool mom am I?) we’ll buy a box of cocoa puffs AND cocoa pebbles and we’ll see which is the most chocolatiest….. stay tuned for the results.

Remember when you would put Elmers glue on your palm and let it dry, then peel it off? Well, tonight I was brought back to an old elementary school memory. While my son worked on his book report at the dining room table I was prepping the other half of his assingment, and found myself smearing glue on my palm… boy did that take me back a few years… and yes- only a few.. I am only 29 after all….

Funny how something small can do that. Its like when I hear an old Duran Duran song- reminds me of 8th grade and freshman year of high school, or that Bryan Adams song “Heaven” reminds me of the only 8th grade dance I ever went to. Or the summer days.. laying in the sun with Air supply “All out of love” blaring on the boom box while you rub on more baby oil and sprtiz yourself with a water bottle.

A while back I went through this box I have of old tapes… do you remember cassette tapes? Well, I have a bunch of them from The Go-Gos, Pat Benatar.. what about Rico Suave?? Yep- got it! And … oooh ooh,  that “pump up the jam” song, (who can forget that one) to a bunch of untitled mixed tapes. I couldn’t believe the songs I have on those tapes. Staci Q, Glen Medeiros, The Jets, Miss Jackson if youre nasty…..and sadly i think I may even have the “Rip City Rhapsody” Portland Blazers song on there, and lastly Martika’s “Toy Soldiers”.

Each song reminding me of some memory, whether it be a boy I had a cruch on, a summer memory, and each song got its own.. OMG!! I remember this song! Or it could be a show. Remember Northern Exposure? I LOVED Northern Exposure! Didnt you just want to go live up there? Just be there? Sheesh!

And what about those color change t-shirts? Parachute pants? Keds? Stirrup pants and the large belted shirt that would hang down to your knee,  big bangs , and you werent ’all that, and a bag of chips’ if you didnt have an arm full of cheesy bracelets. Wow. Now those are some days.

And the phrases? My son says ’sike’ now… and that REALLY brings my age home like a smack in the face. But its funny too, because he thinks the 90’s were the ‘olden days’ so when I tell him I used to say that when I was his age, he’s thinking the 80’s were filled with cave men, dinosaurs and walking to school with no shoes.. in the snow- up hill, both ways, and we of course didnt have cars back then either. You can almost see his little wheels turning in there.. trying to grasp what life was like back in the REALLY olden days of the 80’s.

Anyway- I had to share some of my memories brought on by some old music and a bottle of glue with a cow on it. Moooo

Am I the only one who thinks this is a bit odd?

You constantly read, and hear their interviews, about these two ‘buddies”, and how much time they spend together… how much fun they have together, always flying wherever it may be to spend time together….I cant help but ponder the thought…two very good looking guys, spending so much time together….. gay or not gay?

Wouldn’t that be just scandelous?