Photo Challenge Day 2:

Day 2: a picture of you and the person you have been closest to the longest

This is my best friend Kim and I in London in December 1990. We have known each other since we were in 6th grade, about 27 years. We can tell each other anything. You name it, we have been through it together.

Photo Challenge: day 1

all the cool kids are doing it. well, doing it on facebook. i rather do it here.....

day 1: a photo of me and 10 fun-filled facts!

1) i don't drink anymore. maybe one or two here and there, but my boozing days are long over.
2) i hate talking on the phone. so if i never call you, you know why. it isn't because i don't love you, i just rather write, or text, or IM.
3) i will never teach again. i love it, but with children i don't think i could do it. it takes too much time, and if i can't be committed 100% i won't do it.
4) i hate winter. there i said it, no more faking it!
5) i want to live in a purple house! or maybe even pink!
6) i wish i knew how to wear make-up and not look like a transvestite.
7) i can't wait to take the girls camping and hiking, but i fear that by the time they are old enough to do it, i will be too old to enjoy it!
8) spock- the ultimate male! seriously....
9) i dream of africa... one day i will make it there. i might not come back. that might be a problem.
10) this was supposed to be 15 facts, but since i hate these things so much, i turned it into 10!

empathy

i stand at the window in my bedroom and i look out at the churning north sea. a few miles down the coast from us is a nuclear power plant. we are not too far from the Highland Boundary Fault. Japan could be Scotland. This woman could be me.

march madness

spring spring spring spring! oh how i love it!! how i can not get enough!!!! i llove seeing the world becoming all fresh and green and sunny and warm-ish! the days are getting longer, i wake up to the sun peeking around the black-out blinds!!! oh bliss your name is SPRING!!!!!

happy and sick, that is me. i have had an evil cold for about 10 days now, but i am getting better thanks to modern medicine and the healing power of sleep. the girls had it too, although david seemed to ward it off thanks to his case of Crunk juice that he ordered online one night while i was still in Florida.

speaking of David, he just turned 35! yep, he is my young pup! for weeks leading up to the day he acted as if he was turning 53 not 35. you think he would take solace in the fact that no matter how old he gets, he is still younger than me!?!? but no. he did however get a smashing birthday present from his parents, thanks to my intervention. he got a chiminea for the back garden! woot! now hopefully we can have dinner in the garden this summer, maybe actually get the BBQ going this summer (unlike last summer) and have some friends over to enjoy our newly warmed garden!

oh, and i am thinking about writing. actual writing. like a book or something good like that.

5 weeks of florida

there is nothing quite like getting out of Scotland for a few weeks during the winter. this winter being particularly foul, i was very happy to be heading to Florida for 5 weeks (although sad that david could only be with us for the first 2 weeks). It was a grand time, although i didn't see half the people i thought i would, but that is the way life is when you have 2 babies with you. Ruby did get to make some new friends, and people finally did get to meet Esme, and those were the 2 important reasons for this trip. funny that the more i get acclimated to life in the UK, the more i miss the US?
and how was the sun you ask? there, but not hot enough. i wanted to really go to the beach, bake in the sun, swim in the ocean, smell coconut suntan lotion on the breeze.... but atleast it was warmer than dunbar for 5 glorious weeks!!!

40? really?

i hit the milestone age of 40 today. I really thought i wouldn't handle it very well, i thought i might flip out, maybe buy a sportscar or something. nope. nothing. no depression, no crazy thoughts, it was just another birthday. good, i am really glad that i have come to terms with 40 before it hit.

about 6 months ago i was really worried, and i kept thinking about my last birthday that caused me to really freak out. that would be when i turned 24. i know, 24? seems like a weird age, but it was a hard milestone for me. i really thought that by 24 i would have my life together and have things figured out. but all i really was doing was working a menial job, partying, drinking lots of booze, and going nowhere fast. i thought i would have a career by then at the least! but no, my 4 years of university left me qualified to answer phones, be a barista, or even worse, clean up lots and lots of dog crap. it is easy to say that i felt lost, and i had no idea where i was headed at 24.

16 years later, i am pretty happy with myself and my circumstances. if i would have had a crystal ball at 24 and saw myself now, i don't really know what i would have thought. my ideas of what i wanted out of life were so different then. i did not want kids, i wasn't too sure about marriage, and i thought i would have a career in academia. living abroad would probably be seen as a plus, but i think i would have seen myself somewhere more tropical with a bigger population than little Dunbar. but go through those 16 years between 24 and 40, all the things i witnessed and lived through, my life fits me just fine. just fine indeed, even if i am now only 10 years away from 50.

being thankful

instead of complaining about not being able to be in the US for Thanksgiving, this year i decided i should take stock of what i am truly thankful for....

1) my health-


i am feeling so much better than i did 6 months ago. when i had my blood test done last week, it came back that the dose of thyroxin that i am currently taking (50mcg) is doing the trick, and that my levels are back to normal. it is great that this one little pill that i take eachday makes me a sane person once again, and i am grateful that at almost 40 years, this is all that i have to deal with health wise.


2) my little nuclear family-


everyday i think about how lucky i am. i have 2 healthy, beautiful girls. Sure, sometimes they drive me to distraction, but i wouldn't sell them off, or even trade them in. i have a great marriage with a super husband. sure, i don't want to sound all pathetic and mushy, but it is true. i really lucked out in the man department. David takes really good care of us, he loves the girls to the moon & back, and he realizes that i have the harder job! what else could a person ask for?


3) my success-


no, i am not a millionaire. no i don't have fame, or some high power career. i am a mom and a wife, and i try to be a damn good one. ihave some blips, but i am trying, and there are no major blips that will cause the end of the human race as we know it. just little times when i lapse, but they i usually apologize for my blip. my success is tied directly into my health. now that i am feeling better, and have more energy, i have become myself again. i am happier, more fun, less stressed, less likely to flip out, and more likely to listen to the needs of my family. what other success could there be than to raise 2 healthy, smart, fearless girls? remember, the revolution begins at home!!!!


4) the internet-


yep, without the internet i would be in pretty bad shape. i miss my friends and family and this vital link makes my life a little easier. what would i do without being able to chat, skype, flickr, email, and facebook?


even though i am sad that i am not at home for Thanksgiving, I can yell "29 more days"! i can't wait to be in the states, even if i am missing all my peeps on the west coast yet again.