Monday, January 31, 2011

Shopping with a man

I have many, many reasons for choosing Jeff as my husband...



He makes me laugh....
He's handsome
He has soft hands...:)
He cooks...

He also, in the beginning, was patient with me when we went shopping...
Granted he has it easy since I'm not a big shopper...
However, whenever I was on a mission for something he never complained...

He has been slipping in that area lately...
I guess because he's out of practice...

We've walked into a store and within 10 min he's moaning that he's...
tired
has a headache
is hungry...

Yesterday we went shopping...
For him...
mostly...

We picked out a new suit and sports jacket, shoes, ties, shirt...
He's gonna look sharp at that interview on Friday...

Then it was my turn to find something to wear for Friday night dinner with the perspective employers...
Have I mentioned this stresses me out?

I don't know where they are taking us out to eat...
I do know it's in Portland somewhere...
So dressy...
but not too dressy...

Ugh! This stresses me out...

Here are some observations I made today while I was shopping...
 1.  I really, really hate people who wear size 0-6
2.  People who wear size 0-6 need to go shopping more because ALL the clothes I like come only in those sizes
3.  I will NEVER be a 0-6
4.  My husband is clueless that a jacket is part of an outfit
5.  My husband can reduce me to tears without trying at all...(I was really crying because I wasn't a size 2)
6.  Somebody needs to replace the mirrors used in the dressing rooms.  Clearly they are stocked with the ones from the fair that make you look fat.
7.  Someone also needs to fix the lighting in the dressing rooms....really! Clearly men are in charge in that dept...
8.  If your husband asks you if what your wearing is "comfortable" clearly its looking too tight...
9.  If your husband just stares at you and then asks "what do you think" you should walk away
10.  If your husband asks how much it is, he doesn't like it...
11.  If he doesn't ask how much it is and says he likes it, you've hit pay dirt!
10.  If you husband has the patience to stick with you as you plow through the piles of clothes and wander the miles of shopping isles you've got a keeper! :) 

So Jeff was wildly successful and I was only partially successful...
It is his big day and I'm really trying not to make it about me...
But they did invite me to dinner...
so it is a little about me...
right??

It's gonna be a long week!

Frychik

Friday, January 28, 2011

Friday Frets

The weather has been rather spring like...
When it does this its hard not to start wishing winter away...
It was in the upper 60s on the coast yesterday...

I watched the world news last night...
the lead story was about the record breaking snow fall in the northeast...
A town in Massachusetts was forecasted to have 4" of snow over night...
They woke up to 14"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you imagine??????

We had an awesome winter in 2008


I don't think its gonna happen for us this year...

I will leave you for the weekend with this list of my random thoughts...

1.  Why does snow matter so much to me?
2.   Can I ever have too many good friends?
3.  Maybe I shouldn't read so many books...I get all the details mixed up...
4.  At what point can I finally give up coloring my hair and just go grey??
5.  Is there an age that you don't worry about your weight anymore?
6.  Will my kids be ruined because they have grown up with electronics?
7.  Why am I so needy?
8.  Why do I dust?  It just comes back again?
9.  What am I gonna wear to Jeff's dinner interview????
10.  Will I get to use my flannel sheets again this winter?

Have an awesome weekend!
Thanks for reading :)
Frychik


Thursday, January 27, 2011

Winter Sports

For the past 6 years I have had the tough job of driving my boys up to ski on Wednesdays during Winter Sports...

Yes, its rough...

This pic is from 05...
I melt when I look at that little face!

This pic is from '11...
More specifically, yesterday...

My goodness how time flies....

When all this began Josh who is now in high school and sadly, cant join us on Wednesdays anymore...
was in 5th grade...

Which means Ty was in 3rd and their "big sister" was in 7th...


Jeff and I skied BK (before kids) and we were anxious to get back to it when we moved back to the NW...
However, our kids were still too small and it was difficult to pawn them off for an entire Sunday so mommy and daddy could go play in the snow...

Then they got bigger...
but it was such a chore!
They couldn't tie their own boots
we had to carry their boards

They were slow
They couldn't keep up
We had to push them and pull them...

I still remember the first time all 4 of us rode up on the same lift and began skiing together...
Actually they "ride" but I still say ski...
I was thrilled that we had finally made it! 
This was something we could do together as a family!












So, yesterday Jeff, Ty and I along with a couple of Ty's friends left at 7am and headed for our mountain...
It's sad that this will be my last year...
Ty graduates this year and then its on to High School where they don't take a day in the middle of the week to play in the snow...

One benefit of Jeff's current unemployment is that we both can go...





I took advantage and made sure he did all the "manly" work...
Also, after all those years of not skiing because of the kids...
all those years of staying on the bunny hills and green runs...
all those years of carrying their stuff, tying their boots, buckling their bindings, zipping their coats...

waiting for them...
pulling them up hills...
encouraging...

They no longer have any time for us...
We only see him at lunch time...
and then he's off with his friends...


B R A T!!!

Not really, he's still my baby



Frychik

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

10 years....

Just over 10 years ago I received my first passport.
I was so very excited just to own a passport!

I don't think I have to explain myself....
If you know me, you get it...
If you love to travel you get it...

I had an opportunity to have my very first trip abroad!
I would be going to England and France and I had a passport!



I really thought I would only have one trip on that passport. 
Passports are good for 10 years.

I am so thrilled that I ended up with 6 international trips during those 10 years!

I traveled to;
England
France (twice)
Germany (twice)
Austria
Liechtenstein
Switzerland
Italy
Budapest
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Hungary
Poland
and
Peru

But now it's time to have a new passport...
Yesterday I finally had my picture taken and filled out my reapplication form...
It's depressing to see the change in 10 years...


By the way, you are not allowed to smile for you passport photo...

Anyway.  I will be sending off for my new passport tomorrow. 
I have no future trips planned...
But I have lots of dreams...

Now, time to update on Jeff's job search...
Gone are the days where you show up for an interview and get offered a job...
He has gone through three interviews for this job...
He got a call yesterday asking for a 4th...
This one to be an all day meeting finished off with dinner..
They want the wife to come along...
Then another meal at a Drs home, Saturday  please bring the wife to that as well...

My stomach hurts!  How did I get drug into this?
What if I open my big mouth and blow it for my husband?
So that all happens Feb 4...

We continue to wait....
But with hope!

Frychik

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I'm Sorry!

It appears I owe Miss Suzanne an apology...

I completely forgot (I think it was her lack of adaptability to our weather)that she is from the NW!!!!!!!!!!

So I'm very sorry to have accused you of being from southern Ca!

Now buck up and take it like the northwesterner that you are! 

Love you! :)

P.S.  I think its a fine picture!  I don't have any of you except for these...which would you prefer?





Love ya girl!

Dear Suzanne

Dear Suzanne,

You crack me up!

Last week she (Suzanne) dedicated one day of her blogging to me
I felt so honored!
It made me smile and laugh!

Suzanne is a funny, high energy, passionate, committed, inspiring woman!

However, she is not a native of the NW and has begun complaining about our sometimes drippy weather....
I have "gently" chasened her for this because nothing screams "I'm from Ca. " like someone complaining about our weather.
And all you Ca transplants need to walk carefully around here.
Can I just say "if Ca. is so great, why do you live here?"

I'll tell you why...
because its the most beautiful place to live!

And here's some proof







What natives of this lovely area realize is that without the rain, we would look like southern Ca. and let's just say it makes every drop worth it!
Who wants to live in a brown, dusty, smoggy place anyway? ;p

Besides, God made seasons, and in the winter we get rain.  That's the way God intended it and I for one am not going to complain...(except for our lack of snow, that I complain about..)

So dear Suzanne, I hope you are enjoying our glorious sunshine this week! 
Please notice how everything is so green and sparkling and yes a bit soggy, but that just gives you an
oportunity to wear those cute rubber rain boots! :)

Your friend,

Frychik

P.S.  Jeff's interview went well. Just waiting for a phone call

P.S.S. - I hate waiting!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Best laid plans...

I'm back from my week of "vacation" from blogging
I hope you're back too!

Jeff's at a 3rd interview with the same place so keep prayin!

A year ago some great friends invited us to spend a long weekend with them at Sun River.
Part of the plan was to ski Bachelor for 3 days...

We had never skied Bachelor...
We were thrilled and quickly packed up our ski gear and headed over Mt. Hood
to the land of Bend and all it offers...

We had fun...
We had snow...

We played hard and came home tired...

So, when the phone rang this year with the same request we knew exactly what fun awaited us!

Except we didn't count on the weather...
You have heard me whine a time or two about our lack of snow...
While we seem to miss out on any snow fall down at my house...
the mountains have enjoyed a healthy amount and the skiing has been great...

Until last weekend,  El Nina was at her finest and POURED rain on the entire state!
We were supposed to be on the "dry" side...
we were in the "rain shadow"...

We were supposed to be in the land of powdered snow...

As we pulled in Friday night we could see that indeed there had been snow...
lots of snow...
Where there was a golf green it was a beautiful white canvas...
It looked as if they had a couple of feet of snow...

But then the rain began Fri night
And it poured all day Sat...
And it poured all day Sunday... (which was to be day one of skiing)

Instead of gaining snow they were losing inches due to the rain and warm temps...

Fortunately, we were with friends...
Funny, warm, entertaining friends...

We played lots of games...
Great Dalmoodi
Up and Down the River
Farkle
Rooke
Ate lots of food...
Went shopping...
hot tubing...
swimming...
basketball...
rock climbing...


And in spite of the rain we had fun!

Sat night, after a day of pouring rain, the evening gave way to warm temps, sparkling stars and gusting winds.  We settled into the hot tub for good conversation...


What we did not do during our three day ski vacation was ski....

Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles some times....

Frychik

Friday, January 14, 2011

Takin a Break

So this is my 152nd blog...
I've been pretty faithful and so have several of you...
I have 7 whole followers , but I know there are a few more..
I so appreciate my readers!!!

I'm headed out of town today and will be gone until Tue night...
Then I will be having a "procedure" very, very early Friday morning...
So, I'm thinking I will take next week off.

My biggest fear is that you will forget me...
Hopefully after 152 times a habit has been formed :)
And we will meet up again after next week.

Wed night my table looked like this...


Last night it looked like this...

After 8 hours of grading I was finally at my last test...
I will leave you with this question from my test and the answer provided by one of my students...

Question
Explain how and why Germany was divided following WWII.

Answer
"It was divided the democrats (west side) and Confederates (east side) had different viewpoint so they separated.  Adolf Hitler also sparked WWII when his Natzis attacked Poland.  He blamed the Jews for the separation and depression in Germany."

It would take me an hour to explain all of the historically inaccurate and just plain funny problems with this answer...
I swear I haven't even uttered the word "confederate" in my geography class!  Where do they come up with this stuff...

See ya in a week...

Frychik

Thursday, January 13, 2011

FLS - January

Last night was book club night at my house...
We read the book Female Nomad.  The book describes a woman's nomadic journey around the world.  She also makes a point of cooking with women all over the world.  She spends most of her time in Indonesia where she describes cooking noodles with fish paste and squid ink...

I went with a taco bar...

Followed by Mango with Sticky Rice

This for me, was exotic...

I am completely intimidated by rice...
I ruin it when I cook it in a pot...
a rice cooker...
if it comes in a box...
or a bag...

I follow the instructions EXACTLY  and it NEVER turns out!

But at last I have found a friend in sticky rice...
Or was it beginners luck?

Anyway, the night was about more than sticky rice...


I had fun setting the table.
I pulled out old maps I had and laminated them making place mats
I also laminated some ticket stubs I had from the Eiffel Tower, museums in Peru, a ticket from Prague Castle etc and set them on each plate with a napkin
I placed postcards from various places and the center piece was my Eiffel Tower on top of the book "Journeys of a Lifetime"
Oh, and I found the cutest little tulips...

And then the BEST part!
9 beautiful women came over and we laughed and discussed and ate!


We have so much fun discussing our lives and the book.  The book received mixed reviews from the crowd
I personally admired the author for following her heart and for breaking down her personal walls and
trusting the world and learning from others
Some in the group found her selfish and irresponsible to her family...
That's what's so great about a club
We don't all see things the same way

This pic cracks me up because the lovely Melissa and the lovely Suzanne look like a two headed lovely monster in this pic! :)


Our next selection...
My lucky book club even got a glimpse of my house husband at work.  He helped me prep and then he helped me clean up!  What a guy!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

FLS Tonight!

Due to lack of snow I have lack of inspiration

And without inspiration I have nothing to write about

I also have a messy house and 9 lovely ladies coming over to dinner tonight
I have 32 sophomores to give a final exam to...
Then I have to grade the darn exams...

But I get to begin the whole snowless day by getting my teeth cleaned at 8am!

grumble, grumble, grumble

Frychik

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tuesday Thoughts

So I survived waiting through Monday.  As I waited a few things happened;

1.  Jeff had a phone interview with another company which just unexpectedly called him

2.  Jeff had an email response to a job he had applied to last week

3.  My husband's ego enjoyed a much needed boost!

A few other things happened

1. The Ducks lost but played an amazing game.  I'm not a college football fan.  But I have so many friends that are Ducks it was hard not to get caught up in the frenzy.  At least it was an interesting game!

2.  The stupid weather people changed the forecast to just rain...

3.  I'm getting things ready to host FLS (book club) here Wed night.

4.  I went to the Asian market and bought sticky rice...that was like a trip to a foreign country!  I'm seriously considering taking my passport and suitcase next time just to see if it will satisfy my travel bug!

5.  I went to my sons double header soccer game which ended up to be a double win for them because there was a double forfeit....I guess the other teams are just to scared to even show up :)

So Jeff's appointment is at 9.  It is the job he is most interested in.  I'm so anxious to hear details...
So today will be spent waiting...
 and teaching...
and grading...
and parenting...
 and cleaning...
 and hoping, hoping that the weathermen got it wrong when they said the snow isn't coming after all...

Frychik

Monday, January 10, 2011

Monday monolouge

Patience sucks!

Yes, it's gonna be one of those blogs....

I haven't written about Jeff's job search lately because frankly it has been just too depressing!  But just to update you...
Jeff doesn't have a job....

Anyway...

All weekend I have been so happy because on Friday afternoon Jeff received a phone call from a recruiter...
This recruiter wanted to speak with him regarding a specific job....
A very nice, right up his alley, sort of job.

So they settled on Monday at 9am to get together and talk things over..
I have since been "patiently" waiting for Monday to arrive...
We so need good news in this area...

While I am completely enjoying the unexpected joys of having a house husband;
1.  Coming home and finding him shirtless, folding laundry
2.  He is an awesome cook
3.  I haven't gone grocery shopping for over a month now!
4.  Did I mention he does laundry??
5.  The man will do laundry!!!
6.  He gets hot doing house work so he takes his shirt off ;)  No complaints (No, he is NOT for hire!)
7.  He has washed all the windows!
8.  He is always available when I'm not
9.  He is always available to me ;)
10.  He's my best friend and I like having him around more!

Having said all that he is the bread winner and he needs a job!
Enough of this nonsense!  I'm so ready to get on with our lives
To see the future...

It has already been a V E R Y    L O N G   J O U R N E Y!
So as far as I'm concerned the waiting the "being patient" should be behind us now!

So after volleyball my husband approaches me and says "I have bad news"
Can I pause and say that I have heard this statement more times in the past year than I ever imagined!  Enough already!

Turns out it was more "frustrating" news than "bad" news.  The recruiter is having car troubles, more specifically, her window is stuck in the down position.  So because we live in the beautiful NW and it is Jan and not only does it sprinkle on us occasionally this time of year, we are expecting a MAJOR snow storm Tue night (more on that in future posts, where I plan to whine about how the weathermen have yet again led me down a road of bitter disappointment and broken my heart!)
So, because her window must return to the up position ASAP she has to postpone their appointment until Tue............

Right now I'm wishing she had a house husband that could take her car in for her!

Frychik

Friday, January 7, 2011

Fry-day

So about 6 years ago my Ty guy asked for a guitar.  We were hesitant to invest in a guitar because we figured it was just a passing fancy...

Awww, man!  He's so gosh darn cute here!  Where did those 6 years go???

Turns out it has been a very good investment...

As Tyler has grown in his passion and talent for guitar the price tag has risen.  This year he had his heart set on a guitar but he new he would have to pay for it himself...

It was a happy, happy day when he picked up his new guitar!

There are many people who have helped Ty along this path.  Susan Byers, who offered free guitar lessons.  Brett Jackson (a high school kid) who taught him lessons after school.  His church and school for providing so many opportunities to play at various programs.  Parents and friends who gave him money to help him save.


This last last semester Tyler has been an aid to a 3/4th grade teacher at his school.  Instead of having him grade papers she has had him teach guitar to a few of her students.  Today they are performing their song.  Both of the parents of the kids he has taught and the teacher have gone out of their way to say how amazing Tyler is with his guitar and his teaching of these younger kids.

They have called me and come up to me and just gushed!  I can't tell you how that makes me feel as a parent...my buttons are popping! (and not just because I need to lay off the chocolate!)







Apparently this 3/4th graders just totally idolize Ty.  Whatever he says they do...  According to the teacher he is very patient and does a good job teaching.
I find it amusing because when Jeff wanted to learn a few years back Ty had no patience with him...

Anyway, I'm so excited to listen to Ty today.  I will probably have to brag some more next week about him.

I hope you have an awesome weekend!

Frychik

Thursday, January 6, 2011

One of my favorite shots

Here's another perspective...
I have a thing for naked buns...
So cute!

NOT to be confused with butt cracks! (no I don't have a pic but I could so easily get one...)
I have seen way, way, to many of those lately!
Why do "they" insist on wearing jeans that expose them so...
It's winter people! They should at least be cold!
Can't you feel the draft???

It's been cold around here...
The geese are walking on water these days....



I missed this shot...
Imagine the geese landing on the ice...
it was hilarious!
They were all ice skating for a moment
very smooth those geese

Did you know they stand on one leg like that?
Hmmm...

Again, thank you so much for your feedback on the travel photo contest.  I really enjoyed
hearing what you picked.  Its fascinating to hear other peoples perspective and I really value it!

The 5 entries will be






Winners and losers, I suppose, will be notified Feb 1 :)
I'll keep you posted.

Frychik