I'm not a Mom on tv, but I play one in Real Life.

Today was one of my blessed days off. Last Saturday I took the kids bowling, and to see the latest Spy Kids movie. The previous Saturdays were filled with birthday parties, a baby shower, and work obligations. I decided today required some much needed homebound vegging. I slept in, watch Food Network all morning, and caught up on my blog-surfing.

Sean and Skye spent the morning constructing this: The tv is in there, as are a variety of stuffed animals, a dvd player, Runner the hamster and goodness knows what else. I think there’s some sort of strategy session going on. I hope it’s not a hostile take over. I think Sean had his calculator in there, so they could be balancing the budget. You’re welcome, Congress.

After lunch, Jason took the littles over to my parents’ house for some end of summer swimming. The weather here is still awesome, in the 80s, and the kids have been begging all week. I figured they’d get to get their swim on and I could enjoy a little quiet time at ye olde homestead, which I never, ever, ever get. The problem is my mom-ness got the best of me. Within 10 minutes of them leaving, I had a load of laundry going and was in the kitchen scrubbing out the sink. Why? I can only assume a great illness has befallen me. I loathe housework, that’s why I have so many kids. With four still at home, I should NEVER have to scrub out the sink. And yet, I got some perverse SATISFACTION from that damn shiny clean sink. I need to call my doctor. I’m sure this is the first sign of an aneurysm. Or stroke. Or possibly complete mental breakdown. If it happens again before Tuesday, I’ll rush down to the ER immediately. I promise.

About the time the kids got back, I was just settling into an Extreme Couponing marathon. I spent a little Facebook time, finished the Spy Kids movie review, and had delegated the rest of the laundry to the kids. Obviously, I was feeling better. Whew!

I did have to run to the grocery store for dinner fixin’s. I really need to get better organized! I’ve started bringing one of the little kids with me, to get some extra one on one time in where I can. And because since they’re not babies anymore, they don’t slow me down. It was Skye’s turn and seeing her little eyes light up because its her turn to go with Mommy – well, it made my heart go all ooey-gooey.

So as we’re walking down the back isle where they were restocking the meat cases, Skye asked me “Mom, is it meat season?!” Ah, we are city girls!

We were out of one of our household staples, ice cream. Look at what we scored: Circus Animal Cookie ice cream!! This was like just the perfect end to the perfect day! I think this must be why people love Saturdays so much!

Today was the first Saturday all summer that I haven’t had other commitments or work (at least, that I can remember.) Obviously, the kids and I needed to go do some bondin’. I thought about taking them into the City, maybe the SF Zoo. But for those unfamiliar, late summer is heavy “marine layer” weather in the Bay Area. Think streets of London type fog. Jack the Ripper would totally vacay here.  Not really ideal weather for traipsing around the City. Ok, the City would be fine, but driving across the Golden Gate Bridge on a Saturday morning when you can barely see the car in front of you. Not awesome. We’ll wait til October, thankyouverymuch. The beach was out for the same reason: foggy 50 degree weather. Not inviting. At least to me. The kids would have loved it. But I’m a selfish Mom that way. Plus, it was windy and I didn’t want sand blowing into my Kindle.

So I started thinking of indoor things we could do up here in Marin or Sonoma county. Movies came immediately to mind (naturally!) but that’s only about 90 minutes worth of entertainment. We needed something additional. And then it struck me (the puns are starting already!) Bowling! The kids have been begging me to take them bowling forever. The closest lanes are about 20 minutes away (plus bowling is no longer a cheap activity!) and so there are always a million and one reasons why we can’t go. Well today, those excuses were kicked to the curb. It was decided. Bowling AND a movie! Wicked AWESOME!!

These days, when I say kids, I mean Sean and Skye, and usually Tad. Cali doesn’t live at home anymore and is very busy being a responsible adult. Jason does still live at home, but he’s all gettin’ his responsible adultness on too. So “the kids” I’m actually referring to the ones who are not legally adults. It pains me that I have TWO who are legally adults. But I digress…

Tad, Sean, Skye and I hit the lanes for almost two glorious hours. We barely managed to squeeze in two games. It totally surprised me how long it takes 4 people to bowl 10 frames twice. And we pushed it hard and fast through the second one. They put the rails up for the kids, and I can tell you it helped improve my score immensely! They had flyers advertising family dollar nights and we decided we’d be making the whole bowling thing a regular activity. Sean wants his own bowling ball. I think it may be a while before that happens. But I do hope to be posting again soon about our latest bowling exploits. Strike on, my friends. Strike on!!

Sean snapped that one of me. Not my best angle. These days, I’m not really feeling a best angle, so I guess it doesn’t matter. But I bowled with my kids and lived to blog about it, photographic evidence and all.

Afterwards, we went to a matinee showing of Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D. Aroma-vision is the 4th dimension. I’ll be doing a movie review of that tomorrow. That is a whole other post!! I’ll spare you that for now (and on that pun, I close!)

I’m reading Jillian Michael’s new book “Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life“, cause you know, who doesn’t want to do that, right? At the end of the first chapter, there’s a quiz. The questions are supposed to help you figure out how to get the most out of your life. And the very first question “What is your favorite thing in the world to do?” has me stumped. My without-thinking-about-it-gut-answer was SLEEPING! Ah, such is the life of a working, single mom of five. But sleeping is like the antithesis of “doing”, so I don’t think it qualifies. And that left me wondering… I haven’t  been able to move past that question and it’s been nearly a week now. What do I love to do?

And after a week of deep, introspective thought, I realized that this answer hasn’t changed since I was in elementary school.

I love to write.

So, why don’t I write more? I guess that’s the next question I need to answer.

I actually know the answer to this one already, though admitting it requires a level of introspection I don’t really care for.

I don’t write more because I am afraid. Afraid of laying myself bare, of allowing that level of vulnerability. Afraid of being raw and exposed. There is nothing more powerful than the written word, that whole pen is mightier than the sword and whatnot. I write here on my blog about my life and family and movies and everything else under the (California) sun. But I used to write fiction. I have thousands of stories swirling around in my head, just waiting for me to bring them to life. My fear is that what is in my head won’t translate to paper (computer screen) and what I write will just sound lame. Inept. Stupid. I’m afraid of looking and sounding stupid.

“But what if people don’t like what I write.” Or criticize it. Or mock it (I tend to be a hyper-critical mocking-type reader, so I basically fear myself.) I am insanely insecure. I have zero self-esteem and self-confidence.

I need to get over myself. And just write. Gosh darn it.

And so that is what I’m going to do tonite. Wish me luck!

I spent some time reading over my old Marathon Mom blog this evening. I miss my healthy, active lifestyle. I’ve been taking steps to get back there. I’m eating more fruits and veggies again, I’ve cut Coke Zero out of my life (again) and am drinking lots of water. I’m veeeerrrryyyyy slloowwwly getting back to that exercise groove wherein I do it more than once a month. I think I need to add back in my daily Sunshine Therapy sessions (it involves me walking a mile at lunchtime, to get me out of the office and into some natural sunlight.) I was most upbeat and “sparkly” when I was doing that on a regular basis.

I won’t be going full raw vegan anytime soon. But an upping of the raw fruits and veggies is just a good thing. Period. Someone I wildly respect, admire (and totally blog-stalk) is Bitchcakes. She is the coolest chick and insanely nice too. When I went to NYC a few years ago, I emailed her asking some touristy type questions about places to hit and miss and she totally emailed me right back with tons of New Yorker tips and tricks. She is crazy inspirational and if you should totally check out her blog. She has lost a lot of weight and one thing I totally picked up from her is what she calls her “super salad” – basically just a big old salad full of lots of healthy stuff. She changes hers up and posts the ingredients in it periodically, search through her blog – she talks about it all much better than I could ever hope to recap.

ANYWAY… I am totally going back to my big super salad lunches (yes, that’s where I was going with that.) Fruit smoothies (usually green) for breakfast, fat free greek yogurts for morning snack, super salad for lunch, baby carrots and hummus for afternoon snack and an egg white spinach, mushroom and onion omelet with a slice of whole grain bread with natural peanut butter for dinner. And a small glass of white wine (3-4 oz) if I’m so inclined. Which I usually am.

I am going to go back to updating the Marathon Mom blog and keep that all over there. I’ll put a link to it in the side bar somewhere if you are so inclined to follow my journey. I’m back to marathon training. It’s going back on the calendar for sometime next year. I need to do a half-mary too, I’m aiming for around my birthday (in April). I am not up to road running quite yet, I’m no where near in shape enough to put my body through that level of impact yet. But soon. Definitely before the end of the year. I miss going for my morning run. I miss being a runner.

I’m getting back on the training/healthy track. Full ON!

Growing up in South San Jose, the smell I associate most with summer isn’t sunscreen. It’s garlic! Gilroy “the Garlic Capitol of the World” is just 20 miles down the road. The Gilroy Garlic Festival has been held the last weekend in July since 1979. I can’t remember if I went there growing up, but I didn’t want my kids to be deprived of so much garlicky goodness!! So this morning, I packed up the three youngest and we trekked southward (and by trekked, I mean drove in our air-conditioned car while the kids all ate donuts and slept.)

After parking and shuttling and walking and waiting in line,
these guys were the first to greet us! The Foster Farms “chickens”!
Notice the garlic braids hung ’round their necks. Mmmmm Garlic Chicken!

Look at the excitement on those faces.
The eagerness and anticipation is nearly palpable!

Sean wanted to know when we were leaving.
We’d been there for approximately 12 minutes.
It was shaping up to be a super fun day!

I could not wait to get some Garlic Fries and a cranberry wine cooler.
Best meal I’ve had all year!
Special thanks to Tad, my lovely hand model.

I got the kids some strawberry, banana & peach smoothies.
Tiny umbrellas make everything taste better!

The Garlic Festival is known for it’s “unusual” garlicious offerings.
Like Garlic Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.

And it’s infamous Garlic Ice Cream!

Oh you know we got some!

Tad pronounced it “disgusting”.
Sean said “I don’t really like it so much.”
Skye finished it off.

There were bands playing (country music, ugh! Where are we, Montana?!)
Lots of booths selling everything from handmade baby clothes to
authentic “consumed in SF” flattened glass beer and wine bottles.
There were huge inflatable slides and bouncy houses.
Unfortunately for Sean, their insurance liability wouldn’t allow
kids with casts to play on them. So unfair!

After a couple hours of wandering aimlessly,
I grabbed a bag of garlic tortilla chips and we hit the road for home.

I will never, ever, ever tire of the beauty of the
Golden Gate Bridge.

It will always mean one word to me:

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