Reaping the Whirlwind

What a month. What a summer. Where in the heck did it go? Because it is officially fall now. Sheesh. I had a wonderful time in SF with my sister the last week. Of the 10 days gone, I had to give 2.5 to a work conference (which paid for my ticket out there!!!). That was additionally beneficial because I WON AN IP.AD.

Yes, you read that right! One of the conference vendors donated a 32GB WiFi iPa.d. Not 3G capable, but who cares? No 3G phone service where I live anyway! So it's basically a larger iP.od touch, but oh, so much cooler! Also at the conference I got to meet up with Janet W for dinner. That was a lot of fun! She even brought me some books! Whoo-hoo!

I can't believe how much my nieces have grown! Especially G, the oldest. What a young lady she is. It's wonderful! We had so much fun playing, even if I had a few headaches while I was there. She was extremely understanding. She is a really good kid. Especially with her 1 year old sister. Very patient, and more gentle/tolerant than you might expect a 7 year old to be!

S, my 1 yo niece, is hilarious. Shy at first, but once she warmed up to me it was great. She walks holding on to just one of your fingers. Actually, it's not really a walk, more like a full-speed-ahead charge! When you give her that finger to hold onto you'd better be ready to move! She's chattering up a storm, and is a great eater. Particularly loves bananas. Her favorite person is her big sister G. Wants to have and do everything her big sister does. It's so cute. Gonna be interesting when she gets a little older. [g]

I even got to spend some one-on-one time with my sister, which was fabulous. Those moments are too few and far between. She is such a good mom, both kids are wonderful. She is also amazingly patient, although she doesn't think so!!!!

My bil was on work travel the last half of the week, and we couldn't have timed our flights any better. His flight had landed at the same terminal I was leaving from right before my sis was dropping me off. He walked up just as I was starting the goodbyes. Which was fortuitous because I hate saying goodbye in the first place, and saying goodbye to niece G is much worse! She was just starting the "I don't want Tia to go" and the "Why does Tia have to go" bit when she spotted her daddy walking up. :) A great distraction!!!

(Please pardon the exclamation points. I blame it on excessive tiredness and coffee)

Welcome to the World!

My niece was born just after 5pm last night. She weighed in at 5 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long. Mother and daughter are both doing well at last report. I can't wait to meet her! :) It's a great day in my neck of the woods.

I'm going to be an Aunt! :)

Just got the call that my sister is in labor. Yippee. Only 12 days early this time. (Four weeks early for her first child!) I'm so excited. I hope my sister is okay, and the baby. Going to be another girl. That will make it 4 nieces, 1 nephew. Gonna be a great day after all! :)

One Day In California

Sitrep: 60 min Weight Class (arms, legs, abs)

And I'm all done in. Not because of the class, either. My 5 year old niece is amazing, adorable, beautiful; full of sunshine and laughter. Not to mention energy. OMG. I'm not sure I can make it 2 weeks. But it would be a good way to go! Apparently she's quite taken with me. I haven't seen her since she was about 2 years old, so...From stories my sister has told, I knew she's a girly-girl. So I made sure I packed the makeup - including nail polish - I bought from my sister-in-law (who's an Avon rep now...in case anyone's interested: http://tomararogers.avonrepresentative.com/. This evening, after playing with her yesterday afternoon, most of the morning, all afternoon (including watching the little fish take a swimming lesson) I was keeping her busy while my sister and BIL cooked dinner...How?, you may ask? Why, by painting her toe nails & finger nails, of course. With my new Mulberry shade by Avon (reminder: gotta stock up, love this color!) And then we used her glitter coating polish on her toes. They called us for dinner, and we ran out into the kitchen. Okay, she danced, pulling me along. (FYI, she doesn't walk, she dances.) After she showed off her nails, she grabbed my hands and we did this spinning around thing. She ended up laying down on the floor "pretending" to fall down from being dizzy. I started to pull her up and she looked up at me and said "You're Great." A compliment, I'm told by her parents, she does not hand out lightly. [g]

I have Girl Feet

Seriously. I have girly feet today! My toenails are red, white and blue, in honor of the 4th of July. The last time I painted my toe nails was...last 4th of July. Oh the horror on MB's, JT's and my little sis's faces when I admitted I'd never painted my toenails. Well, really. This girl stuff is alien to me! I was tomboyish when young, and then more interested in reading later on. My poor mother...neither of her daughters were very girly...

But, as my sister recently told our mother, there is no need to worry. Mom's genes merely skipped a generation. They are alive and well in my sister's little girl. ;) She is such an adorable little princess, and is really into all this girlstuff, even at 3.5 years old. Talking to my sister this weekend was funny. My niece is in ballet classes, and on father's day they put on a recital in an auditorium with stage lights and everything. Well, the parents were told to put makeup on the girls so they wouldn't look washed out. My sister had to go to the store to get some, because she (like me) doesn't wear any. LOL. Her dilemma was funny. Spend the big bucks for the nice stuff, that doesn't test on animals, etc, or just get the cheap stuff. She opted for the cheap stuff. (Two peas in a pod, we are!) My niece was ecstatic to get lipstick "oooh, lipstick, oohhh!" My sis is a little baffled as to how the little one even knows about lipstick. LOL. No siblings, she doesn't wear any...

Daycare, friends, our mother....who knows? But it's funny. As is my niece's comment when my sister got her hair cut short. "Mommy, you look like Abuela." [Abuela is Spanish for Grandmother. Our mom is from Spain.]

My poor sister. It was all I could do not to laugh on the phone when she told me this. Okay, wailed "I don't want to look like my mother! I don't want to look like I'm in my 50's!" [Considering Mom is actually in her 60's, that ain't too shabby. And she doesn't look a bit like it!] And my sister in no way looks like she's in her fifties. [g] It's just too funny...And okay, I did laugh on the phone. I couldn't help it!

Anyway. How did I get here? I was talking about my girly feet. They surprised me when I was doing my Qigong exercises this morning. Bent over and "hello! red, white & blue!" :) Why on earth does this make me feel like skipping, and grinning like I'm 5 years old? I can't stop wiggling my toes, even if they are in socks and shoes...

The Power of Fifteen

Today I woke up in one of the nicest ways possible. With a phone call from one of my best friends wishing me a happy birthday. It was totally unexpected. In fact, I was expecting my Mom to call, as she’s done every morning for the last 2 weeks in an effort to help me get my sorry butt out of bed to REV before work. Really. You’d think getting up 15 minutes early wouldn’t be so hard to do. Apparently, for me, the original morning person, it is!

We had a wonderful chat, especially since we haven’t talked in months! I always ask myself, why do I let it go so long between phone calls or emails or letters? It’s a simple and pleasurable enough task, yet I never seem to get around to doing it. Weird. Then Mom called and really, how nice is it to hear Mom saying “Good Morning, I love you” first thing in the morning? [Insert Warm Fuzzies Here] Even though the phone calls took the place of my 15 minutes of exercise, I bounded out of bed in a great mood!

Determined to keep this outlook on the day, I made it to work 10 minutes early. ‘Traffic’ must have been with me today. Only to come in the door to conversations about yesterday’s tragic shootings at Virginia Tech. And the realization that a day that starts so beautifully can change so quickly. I know this already…I’ve had days changed tragically in less than a second myself. Getting the call that my grandfather was dying, getting the call that my aunt was dead…Strange how that one second can feel so heavy and horrible and like the weight of a thousand bricks on you, not coming one by one, but all at once. As if it was always there, you just didn’t notice – or care – before.

And just how suddenly it can change again to the opposite, with a phone call from my sister wishing me a happy birthday. Asking if the ‘package’ my 3 year old niece made for my birthday and helped to mail has arrived. (Must be what that lovely yellow slip I found in my post office box last night is for, that little slip that gives a huge warm ‘someone-thought-of-me-enough-to-send-a-package’ feeling.) Fifteen unexpected minutes out of my morning to chat with my older sister, whom I adore.

So now I’m back to where I was before, with a warm fuzzy in my chest, a smile on my face, and the wonder at the power of fifteen minutes. I think it’s my new favorite number.