hitting the road

growing up my family had a tent trailer and we spent many weekends camping together around southern california, never venturing farther than a couple hours away (i think mammoth was the longest trip we ever took and that was maybe once or twice). i feel nostalgic toward this kind of camping, brings back so many fun memories. my parents pulled the trailer with a little truck my grandparents owned and even with the vw squareback we called "betsy" (so cool!) when i first met chris, we acquired a tent trailer from his parents and took a few trips with it but lost interest for some reason... maybe work and a second kid plus crowded local camp sites? the trailer was swapped for motorcycles and his sister took it with her to nebraska. over the years we have wished we had kept it but it was long gone. when chris mentioned wanting a new trailer recently i immediately began to think of all the trips i'd love to take, short weekend or midweek adventures popped into my head. a quick trip to colorado and new trailer owners we became (thanks to my incredible in-laws!!)

of course chris had to send my this photo with the caption "your new trailer"



our "real" new trailer



vegas here we come! (just kidding!!)

garden prep

i have really let my garden plot go this winter, with my new job and more gym time on the schedule, it's been hard to get over there. i have even thought about letting it go...once again....but just like last year i am hanging on to it for another year. i realized i could get my camp fire kids to help, which was the reason i took the plot in the first place. how had i forgotten my original plan, to teach the kids and get them some hands on experience growing vegetables? so last monday, i invited my older group and a few other camp fire kids to help me get ready for spring planting. i am always looking for new ways to earn beads and looking through my vintage camp fire book, i found 8 beads we could earn together. 

we started out with a ton of weeds and harvested beets and fennel...



carrots found mixed in with weeds, kids LOVE to find them (note to self: throw carrot seeds randomly throughout the year to keep kids excited at weeding)



prepping the beds with manure



more weeding (there was a black widow spider in that shed back there, had to act calm and cool when i was really thinking, holy crap!!)



my beets had really gone to town over the winter and most were too gigantic to eat. we sent the good ones to the food bank



the crew at the end of the morning, lots of smiles and excitement for next months tomato planting... can't wait!!

peaceful

finding a quiet moment during a weekend with a mile long "to do" list

snapshots

making collars

growing up in camp fire, i remember clearly making my indian collar and gown with my mom. it was a long process of planning then making then elaborately decorating and embellishing both pieces. my mom went crazy with the details and made sure all the girls in our group had gorgeous gowns. when we started this fifth year as a group, i realized that next year the girls would no longer wear the vests. it hit me then that they would be making collars and gowns this year, graduating up into the higher levels of camp fire. how did this happen so fast? we just flew through five years (side note, this blog was started when i became a leader so 5 years of blogging has flown by as well!) lets just say there were many teary eyed moms (and a dad) working with their daughters at the collar making workshop. you could feel the excitement in the room radiating off these grown up girls while they worked on something they have been waiting years to make.  

she wore it home and would have slept with it on had i let her.

wow, it's been a long long time

so i was thinking about this blog the other day and realized, there is not much substance to it and i am really just journaling and documenting my family life. not sure if i have even one serious "reader" not sure what this blog is even about anymore. i do enjoy writing stuff down and i love the photography but i am going to try and be more thoughtful here, just in case anyone is watching.

the past few years i have been on a roller coaster ride in my ultrasound career. never a day goes by that i don't have someone ask me if i like my job. it is so hard to answer because it is truly a love/hate relationship. i absolutely hate some aspects of it but absolutely love other things. i have been scanning patients for going on 17 years now and had considered myself quite a master at it. there aren't many techs who have been thrown in to the variety of places i have worked at. many many times i have felt i couldn't handle the situation i would find myself in, many times i had to reach down DEEP to stay on task and get the job done. hard patients, terrible schedules, horrific supervisors, condescending doctors, lazy and/or back stabbing bitchy co workers....long days, being on call in the middle of the night, being barfed on and just about any other gross thing you can imagine around sick patients, i have experienced. so here i am thinking i know everything and i apply for yet another per diem job, hoping to earn some extra money to take this fabulous trip to italy i am researching. to my surprise i was plunked down in a situation so demanding and so stressful i had physical symptoms of stress like i had never felt before, ever.



for weeks and weeks i "trained" at this new job experiencing stomach turning stress and the most god awful frighteningly gory patients to scan, the toughest protocols, the pickiest doctors and you know what? it made me a better tech, i learned (and am still learning) a lot! so when the boss at another account i was struggling to hold on to took me in the office after i dared to request a salary adjustment and literally chewed my ass off, i QUIT! believe me, i am no quitter, i actually have a hard time letting things go, i am a hoarder of "stuff" and i tend to hoard my jobs as well, staying per diem everywhere because i am scared to say goodbye to anything. i sat in that room while he told me what a horrible person i am because i don't have a "pep in my step" every day and have a bad attitude and threatened me and growled at me (yes he GROWLED!!) i thought, i don't deserve this? i just proved myself worthy at the most challenging hospital ever and i have never been fired, i have zero complaints from patients and doctors at this place and just because he doesn't like me, i am treated this way? no one deserves to be treated this way. it reminded me of a really out of control parent (guilty) and i didn't like how it felt to be spoken to in this manner, it made me think of my kids and how short i am with them because i work too much and am too tired to really listen to them after a long day of work. i realized that some of what he said was true and i had to be honest and say, this place is toxic, it makes me crazy, i hate the boss' guts and it's not healthy to be in this environment. i will never set foot there again, ever and it feels GREAT! i made a decision for myself and my family and i stood up for myself.



so on this new day off i am spending the day looking at past photos, working on this blog and hitting the gym. i will make lists of things i want to do and things that need to be done and start crossing them off. 2011 is starting to look pretty good.

snow

We are finally getting a bit of vacation in this holiday season. four days at the cabin with lots of snow and chilly weather. unfortunately we had a major leak during the weeks of rain (that came just prior to the snow) and flooded out our bedroom. what a mess! it actually soaked the BED!!! we cranked up the heat and after two days everything seems to be dried out pretty well. today is our last day and then its back to work and back to lots of camp fire events. focusing this day on relaxing as much as possible, wish i could stay a few more days but of course it's back to reality i go. hoping the leaks are something minor and we don't start the year off on the wrong financial foot!

liz with helmet and chapped lips



happy new year!!