Thought for the Day

Be Kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. - Plato

It was chilly this morning. As I walked out in my bare feet to the suburban to take Ali to school, it felt a little cold to the touch. What is up with that? The weird thing is, bushes that have been only green since we moved here in June, all of a sudden with the slightly cooler weather are blossoming with flowers and color. Different bushes are blooming at different times of year, but something is always blooming. I like that.

I loved having Spencer here this past weekend. He brought a backpack for the whole 5-day weekend and that was it. All of his clothes shoved in a backpack. Oh Spencer, you are so low maintenance. Almost too low if you know what I mean. Luckily, I had saved a few things here so he had an extra shirt or two. He went surfing one day, two movies with sisters, and hanging with friends. We checked grades, which looked really good to me, so that was a relief.

Thanksgiving ended up being great. I thought we were going to have it alone, but we got invited to the Anderson's home to share it with them. Mark and Julianne were there, and as a fluke, Brett's other brother Brock and wife Kim were on a flight to Hawaii that got re routed to L.A. due to mechanical problems. So, they got to spend the day with us too. Kim helped me make pies all day and just after dinner, they were off to Hawaii. It was a really great day.

The Anderson women. The matriarch of the family Pat on the left. Becca, in the middle, is attending culinary school, so she helped up the food enjoyment. I want to attend culinary school. My new friend Stacy on the right. I like Stacy a lot. Thanksgiving was casual, comfortable, lots of food, and in this new house of theirs, they have soft drinks on tap. Right next to the water. What more could the kids ask for?

Kim and Ali posing because they were matching. Kim, what's with the arm?

Mark, Spence, Brock, Brett. This was taken after the Turkey Bowl, which every one of them said they played amazing in. They are skyping mom and dad Blake in Germany in this picture. Spencer, why do you never smile? Look how much better it looks when people smile.

Interesting story about the Turkey Bowl. Ali took Kate to watch the guys play, while I ran to LAX and picked up Brock and Kim with Maddie. Ali ended up leaving the game early to take food the homeless shelter in downtown L.A. and Brett told her to leave Mark's wedding ring, which she was holding for him, on the suburban bumper. Pause. I said the same thing. Why would he tell her to leave it there? So, exactly as you have probably guessed, Brett ended up leaving after the football game, forgetting about the ring.

When they realized what they had done, the guys went back to the parking lot and looked for an hour or more. They tried to drive the same way home that they drove before, but still no luck. All day Ali said, "It's not my fault! Dad told me..." and Mark gave us all a little grief over losing his beloved ring.

Get this. Later that night, after it was dark, Mark's wife's sister's husband (are you with me?) was driving around town. He lives here you see, so driving around town at night is a completely normal thing for him to be doing. I think he knew Mark lost the ring, but not where. He saw something shiny in the street. Yep. He pulled over and there in the street was Mark's wedding ring, a little banged up, but right there in his sweaty little palms. In his case, they were probably big palms and most likely not sweaty at all. What a completely random find! Or was it?? Coincidence or as my little friend Jane likes to say, Tender Mercy?

Here I am with the beautiful Ballard sisters. Shauna is on the left (the wife of the lucky ring finder) and Julianne, my sis-in-law who was responsible for leading us to La Canada, is in the middle.

Further news and complete change of subject. You know how I am sort of, well, polka dotted? One of those polka dots on my back was recently judged as "severely atypical" by a lab at UCLA hospital and the doctor personally called me to tell me to get in there and have it taken out. "Don't worry. It isn't cancerous yet. It's just as far on the atypical scale as it gets before it becomes cancer. We don't like those type of cells at all and we just need to get it out. Now."

So, being a little sensitive about the word cancer right now, I got it taken out this week. Here's the thing. The doc said I could either have a 3 inch line down my back (stitches) or a round crater if you will. My friend Melinda analyzed my energy type once, and I am all about round. My eyes, my face shape, which then even influences my clothing choices--round collars, round earrings. There is nothing angular about me or my energy. So, I thought about it for about 5 seconds and told the doc, "No big line scar for me. I want you to just cut it out and I'll have a round scar."

Ugh. I have regretted that decision from the moment I said it. It's bigger than I thought it would be. Also, because when Brett went to change the bandage, words like, "wow" and "whoa" slipped out of his extremely otherwise sensitive mouth. I quietly cry every time anyone looks at it. He says it looks like a bullet hole in the middle of my back. No big deal right? So why is it then?

As I was lamenting my decision again this morning, wondering why I wouldn't want a clean line instead of a big round scar, Brett said words meant to be comforting. "Erin, think what a cool grandma you'll be. You can tell the grandkids Mr. Creeps stories (like the ones my dad told my kids) and you can say that as you were running away, Mr. Creeps shot you in the back. Then if the kids don't believe you, you can show them your wound and they'll love it!" Thanks? Oh and then there was this line..."Well, it's not like you're a supermodel or anything. It's not going to ruin your runway or photoshoot career. Wow. Whoa." Ha ha. I liked that one. Really, I don't obsess about stupid stuff like this normally. I just have felt vulnerable this week, and I guess that because the reason is the C word, I am obsessing a little bit. I have to go in next week so the doc can "re-look" at my other, um, polka dots now that he knows I am severely atypical. I could have told him that already. There's no way that doc won't want to cut out more. It will never end!

Well, it never fails. Blogging, writing makes me feel good. A good creative outlet for me when I don't have many other creative outlets at this exact moment. Working on that! e

Flash Mobs

I'm fascinated with Flash Mobs. I love the idea of people spontaneously bursting into song in public places. I saw this one this morning, happening in Belgium, and it is my favorite so far. It makes me nostalgic for the musical that I got to be in with Ali. So much fun.

Enjoy.

17

Happy Birthday Maddie! You are the biggest blessing in our lives, and I am not just saying that. Completely serious. You are wonderful. You are beautiful. I am grateful to you for everything you are and do.

Welcome home Spencer! I'm glad your plane made it out just minutes before the whiteout. Pretty good that you are here tonight for Maddie's Portos Bakery fruit tart cake, pumpkin pie and guava cream cheese pastries.

I'm thinking of my friends in Utah. Enjoy the fun of a good old fashioned blizzard. So cozy! Screams hot chocolate. It's cozy here too, even without the blizzard. Christmas is up and it feels nice.

KEEPIN IT REAL

It is 7 p.m.

For some reason, I thought it was 8 p.m.

It feels like 10 p.m.

I just found out that Brett hasn't left the office yet.

That means add another hour and 15 on for the commute.

Kate is a crazy crazy baby.

Why do I want to crawl in bed at 7 p.m.?

Why is it pitch black?

Why am I so tired?

Should there be a limit on the age a mother can be to give birth?

Should there be a rule that long commutes are illegal?

TWILIGHT ZONE

Do you ever experience days that are just, well, a little weird? Our drive to Vegas on Friday was one of those Twilight Zonish days. The quick, 3 1/2 hour drive ended up being a long 6 weird hours. I felt like if we had driven 5 more minutes, we would have been in SLC.

We were stuck in traffic in L.A. for, oh maybe 2 hours. By the time we got to Barstow, we were starving and looking forward to dinner. We pulled into a ghost town. Eerily empty. All of the restaurants had their lights on, with no one inside or out. What? At first, we just thought In-N-Out was closed for some reason, but then no Arbys, Carls Jr. and finally Tommy's. We started noticing signs on all of the doors. The sign said something like this....DO NOT DRINK ANY WATER IN BARSTOW OR YOU WILL BE SORRY!!!!

Something like that. Seriously.. "Due to some nasty bacteria in the water supply, don't eat anything that was prepared with water or any food where the preparer was even thinking about water at the time. If you do, your intestinal tract and colon region will never ever be the same. Just to be sure, we are locking the door to every establishment in the entire city. It's THAT serious." As I read the note on Tommy's door, I turned around and noticed a news van across the street filming me reading the sign.

So, on to Baker it was! All of a sudden, every single one of us was parched, aching for water-- craving the cold, pure liquid that satisfies a scorched throat. Agony in the Blake car. Complete thirst. Once we reached Baker, our options were the "Mad Greek" (you all know the one..) or this new little number.

Good thing aliens had a parking spot here, because I snapped this shot below confirming how much aliens love this place. This one is scouting out a parking place for the hovercraft above his head trying to park.

Where the heck are we?! Only in America. (If you are a senior citizen reading this and are VERY close to me, I know you are happy seeing these pictures. You know who you are.)

We decided to bypass a meal with the little green ones and finally pulled into an Arbys. As we ate, a male customer kept asking if anyone had found his daughter's coat. "Nope," was the reply. He made the workers go into the bathrooms to check as well and had no luck. He left, very disgusted with himself, Arby's and everyone within a 5 mile radius of Arbys. Ten minutes later, he came back in saying, "She left it here! It doesn't just disappear! I'm not leaving until we find it!" At this point, the worker went back into the restroom, this time coming back out with a small white coat. "Sorry. It was in the garbage in there." ???? Who would shove a coat in the women's restroom garbage?

I could swear that I could hear the Twilight Zone music faintly in the background and am almost sure I spied Rod Serling, that quirky host, peeking in the windows from the desert parking lot.

By now, we're all drinking anything we can get our hands on BUT water (shakes, soda and the like) and are all feeling slightly "sick," most likely due to worry that somehow the bacteria at Barstow is seeping into Baker as well.

After another longish car ride, we arrived in Vegas. We walked into the lobby to a ceramic life-size Elvis. Finally! Reality!

The rest of the weekend was soooo normal. We just saw big fake elephants and gorillas moving in a rainforest as we ate. Kate didn't know what to do with herself.

...and rounded the weekend out with seeing people dressed as lions, hyenas, meerkats and warthogs in Disney's The Lion King. Quite the weekend.

Honestly, I am grateful to be out of Vegas! I always feel as if I'm doing something wrong just being in that city as if the earth might open up and swallow the entire place. A sign we saw advertising a new hotel pretty much sums up why I hate Vegas. Are you ready? Here it is.

COSMOPOLITAN.... The Right Amount of Wrong.

Are you serious? That is your logo?

Get me home. Back to safe, peaceful L.A.!!!!!

TODAY

Kate and Spence at the funeral. Kate's getup makes me laugh.
Sydney's best school friends. Kate and I helped at the lapathon. I got to squirt water all over the kids with my squirt bottle. I took that job very seriously.
Warm colored goodness from Maddie
Ali letting Kate help with homework.

Today is the day. Christmas goes up. UP, UP, UP. My carolers are going on the grand piano. They will sing to people as they come in. I'm hanging some big ornaments from my curtain rod. There is no space for the tree. Eek. Seriously, no idea where that is going. No big bay window anymore....

It's ok. Kate would probably wreck it anyway. I'll get creative. I do know that snowflakes are going all over my fireplace on both sides. Covered with homemade snowflakes. What else?

I think, gulp, I might start the pie night tradition here. The night before Thanksgiving, pies pies pies and friends friends friends. Si, what do you think? Do I dare? I always loved that tradition so much at your house. Should I wait until I move-maybe next Thanksgiving?

I'm excited about something that happened yesterday. For the Christmas concert, the choir teacher decided he would choose 5 specialty numbers to fill in between the choirs--duets or trios. Lots of kids tried out. My two girls each tried out with guy friends of theirs. Ali and friend Tyler sang "Mary Did You Know." I can't help picturing Clay Aiken or Donny when I hear that song and was also not crazy about 3 verses of the same. Not a lot of variation there. We got the music off of the internet, and as I usually find, the piano was awful.

Here's the deal. When you hear a song on the radio and it has been recorded with either a guitar or strings or whatever, when that same piece of music is transcribed to piano and put on paper, it just isn't as good. If it's not written for piano, the right hand usually just mirrors what the singer is trying to sing. Why have that? Anyway, I tried to "fix" it a little bit. First of all, we had to add a second part, right? So the night before the audition (major rushed because we were gone until the night before) we got Tyler over here and made something up. They sounded great, echoing each other, descants over the melody, etc. I could also hear a guitar with my piano picking the simple chords which would add another layer. I'll have to see if the teacher would let us do that.

I guess the choir teacher loved them! I was so happy! He asked where they got that arrangement? Ha ha. Ali said, well we didn't like the internet version so my mom did it. Then I guess he told all of Ali's classes about them and Ali's mom who did the arrangement. Yikes. Is that even legal? Do I need to get permission from the composer to rewrite his song? I think there are rules about that. Here's my same old problem. They have a guy who plays for all of the choirs, a professional accompanist. What do I do? I don't want him to play the normal version, I want to redo it, but when I write music out for people, it is very hard to read and it seems way obnoxious of me anyway. "I took the liberty of rewriting the accompaniment. Here you go. I hope you can read my little handwritten notes." Help. I just hear it the way I think it "should" be and I can't let it go. I dreamt about it last night.

Maddie and friend Scott also made it! They are singing "Baby It's Cold Outside." Way cute. I'm going to try and let them do it themselves, but I won't be able to help myself. I'll hear them singing by the piano..I'll wander in..and before they can say "Hey mom, get out!," I will be making changes all over the place. ARG!

Does anyone have a warm little body on your lap with chunky arms wrapping around your neck right now? Can anyone else hear "mom, mom, mom, mom" over and over? Is anyone else getting their hair "brushed" with the flat side of a hard brush? Is anyone else liking turning on their mac and having that big picture of the Beatles stare at you as they announce they are now on itunes? Did anyone else just have frosted mini wheats and scrambled eggs? Is anyone else listening to Kings of Convenience while you type? Does anyone else still have pajamas on as you are getting out Christmas boxes? Hey! Me too! What a coincidence!

Celebrate Life Today.

Do something for Someone Else.

Study Your Scriptures for a Little Bit Longer Today.

Give Someone a Compliment.

Say Thank You More.

Call Or Write Someone You Haven't Heard From Lately.

Be Nice To Yourself. You Are Better Than You Think You Are. Believe It When People Tell You.

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