Mountain Girl Silver - Hand-Stamped Customized Silver Jewelry - Portland, Oregon

It has been 18 days since I’ve seen my 4 year old, Maggie Georgia…..  Seriously… who lets their 4 year old daughter go stay with their Aunt and Uncle for close to three weeks???!!???  It’s been…. ahhhhh…. it’s been nice, yes, to not hear the fighting between the two kids, and it’s been nice not having to hear the whining, and it’s been quite nice to be able to spend one on one time with Anders, but it hasn’t been nice inside my heart, especially these last few days. The first week she was gone was an adjustment period. I missed her, but I was also enjoying the silence. Then, the second week, I started missing her, and spent major dough on her new wardrobe for school. New shoes, new nighties, new dresses, new everything… I was missing her, and was spoiling her and she didn’t even know it. Then… these last few days have just been physically hard. I just wanna feel her… hold her, kiss her face, smell her hair, rub her arms at night, pinch her butt as she’s walking by me, tease her, hug her… all that stuff.  Apparently, she hasn’t whined ONE TIME since she’s been there. She’s conquered the diving board at the pool, they took her golfing several times, she went to the county fair, she’s been sleeping in her own bed… I mean,, all these things that make her seem a different child to me. She should be rolling up with my mom and my mom’s friend, Nancy this afternoon. Mom is on her way up here from California to watch the kids while Eric and I go to New England for a wedding alllll next week. Seems so bad…. we haven’t seen her for close to three damn weeks, and then we’re turning around two days after she’s back and leaving for a whole week? That’s messed up right there……..   but the logistics of life aren’t always peachy. She’ll be here at home, with Anders and my mom and Nancy while we are gone, and when she’s with her MiMi, she’s good to go. But that this point, seriously, she must think we don’t love her anymore or something twisted like that. There’s only so much a 4 year old brain can fathom. GOSH I can’t wait to see her…….  it’s countdown time.

Sooooo yah, we’re off to New England. I really do secretly love it there. I don’t think I could ever live there per se’, but being born and raised in California, New England has always been mystical to me. It’s that place where they make syrup, and the leaves change colors, and black n’ white cows all over the place, and fishermen, and funny accents, and cold cold winters, and people living in old farm houses on rolling hills of land, carrying milk buckets and having festivals in the fall, and like town dances and stuff.  My hubby is from Massachusetts, and it wasn’t until our “honeymoon” did I get to go for the first time. It totally lived up to my childhood expectations and then some. It’s a place I love going………   especially this time of year.

One of my husband’s Coast Guard Academy brothers is getting married next weekend, on Lake Sebago in Maine. It’s going to be a fabulous wedding. A) I love weddings.. B) I love New England.. so this is really going to be a fun trip for me. He’s going to be able to see all of his buddies together again (and when that happens,, things can get a little crazy)..   But before we head to Maine, we are stopping in Woodstock, Vermont. One of my favorite places EVER!!  If I HAD to move to the other side of the country, I would only live in Woodstock. In fact, everytime I get an order from Woodstock, I have to write on the back of the card how much I lOVE that town,,, yadda…  

So that’s that….     But, leaving for vacation is a pain, because I like to have all pending orders out the door. I like leaving with a clean slate.. makes for a more relaxing (mentally) vacation.  Daneen will be holding down the MGS fort while I’m gone tho’…. so most orders will get stamped and sent out. But I’m already anticipating coming home to a buttload of work. Christmas is right around the corner, and that makes me scared….VERY SCARED!!!  It’s right about September when I have to start mentally preparing myself for the rush……  Like some big hairy burly guy “whoop whoop whooping” at a football game…  

Headed out to breakfast for now………..   one last hoorah before Maggie comes back today. She’s not a morning person, so going out to breaky is NOT optional with her….    I wonder if this is going to be an “every summer” sort of thing.?  Her going down to my Aunt and Uncle’s house.  We’ll see….   But I want to make a public THANK YOU to my Aunt Jeri and Uncle Don for taking such good care of her, and letting her be a part of their lives for these last few weeks. I love you guys!!!!

It’s almost as if I’ve been driving 90 down the freeway,, and now all of a sudden I’m hittin’ a construction zone……   Rules…… schedules… normalcy…  you know… all the things that come with the school year.  Granted, this summer has been nothing but “normal”, having moved and all, and STILL unpacking..   But here we are, staring at the edge of summer. When the breeze blows through the window, my first thought isn’t “ahhhhh  cool me down”… it’s.. “Ahhhh where’s my sweatshirt.”..  The bite is in the air forsure… in fact, tonight I’m whipping up a pot of chili….. with cornbread.. mmmmmmmm

Maggie Georgia is still down in California at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. She’s been gone 11 days. ELEVEN DAYS!! And ummm,, she’s 4 years old..  FOUR..   She’ll be home this week tho’. I can’t wait to feel her little arms wrapped around my neck. I can’t wait to see her bottom lip all perched up into her top lip, I can’t wait to see her little naked body walk out of the bathroom, I can’t wait to start folding her damn clothes again!! Shocker, because I HATE folding laundry. But her little panties, and her cute little leggings, and her stained-with-paint t-shirts… I miss her… I soooooo miss her.  It’s funny tho’, because I DON’T miss the fighting… I don’t miss the conflict between the two of them. And I sit here and wonder why the conflict is even there…..  she’s docile, he’s aggressive, maybe that’s why..  I don’t get it.  And I know the minute I hear that first argument, I’m going to explode into a million pieces and my brains are going to splatter onto the wall, and my eyeballs will pop out of my head and my tongue will stick out so far that it won’t go back in, and my arms will raise up to the Heavens, and I will shout,, “WHY LORD WHY??”

But you know what??  I’ll gladly deal with all that shit, if it means I can have Maggie arms around me….   And… I’d post a picture of her, one of my faves,, but for whatever reason, my stupid blog software has decided that pictures can only be “so big”… and frankly, I can figure out how in the heck to resize em……   so just imagine in your head, if you will, the cutest damn face, with a blackberry jam jar in her hand, with blackberry jam all over her face, staring at the camera with the biggest grin ever……….

I travel back into my memory bank, and I can still feel the pre-wedding nerves that all brides suffer from the day of, and the day before their wedding…….   We were living in San Diego, totally, madly in love with each other……   We were young(er), free to do what we wanted, living the good life on the sandy beaches of California…..   making our way on foot down to the strip in Ocean Beach at 5pm,, and stumbling home at midnight… hand in hand…. not a care in the world besides each other.  Life was (now looking back) just free and just carefree, and just IRRESPONSIBLE!!  ha ha..

So…  we got married 9 years ago, tomorrow the 19th of August, 2000.  It was such a beautiful day. Wasn’t hot, as it never really gets too hot in the beautiful Sierra Nevadas. Got married at Camp Sierra, Ca, which was a stones throw from my house growing up, on the curvy, wind-ey road to Big Creek, CA where I went to elementary school. Our reception immediately followed 9 miles down the mountain on the shores of Shaver Lake at the picnic area. Ahhhh  all the family and friends were there, mingling, visiting, admiring the bird houses my daddy carved for each table center-piece, and I was meeting some of his family for the first time……   it was such a good day. My wedding dress didn’t stay on for long (that sounds bad), but after the ceremony, we agreed that since our reception was at a picnic area, lakeside, we’d get rid of our wedding garb and throw on comfey shorts and flip flops. Not your “traditional” wedding reception…. but I’ve always gone against the grain of tradition and rule.

I also MUST add the fact that the night we got married was the night I got pregnant with Anders.  We had abstained for 3 months prior to the wedding, so as to have something to look forward to. And BAMMMMM  like clockwork, got prego on the wedding night…  Anders arrived, to the day, 40 weeks later.  So basically, it was bam bam bamm..  married, pregnant, and parents w/in the first year. Not really the way I had visualized my life as a newlywed, but wouldn’t take it back for one second.

Marriage is tough. There are days when I’d like to kill him. And then there are days where I look at him, when he’s busy doing something, and I see what a motivated, ambitious, driven person that he is. And I say to myself… “Man.. I lucked out!!”   But then, along with the good, comes the bad. And we have had our fair share of bad times. Those are the times that I look at him and say to myself,, “Oh dear LORD, there’s no way I’m going to be married to THAT in 15 years!!!”…     But… we keep trucking.  I always accuse him of not loving “unconditionally”…. but after 9 years, I know deep down in my heart that he does love me. And I love him. I love him for who he once was, I love him for who he is today, and I know I’ll love him for what he grows into tomorrow. He’s a catch….    In my heart of hearts, aside from all the shit we’ve been through, and will inevitably go through, I know he is the one for me……..   Happy Anniversary Baby…     (you never read my blog, but I’m wishing you a good one anyways)…..    Muah!!!

This is all too surreal….  I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it at the moment.

My Aunt and Uncle arrived yesterday afternoon, only to spend one night as they were up here bringing their grand daughter back home to Washington, and then heading down to Bandon, OR today to go look at property and houses etc….   I was pumped because I didn’t have to pay a babysitter this morning to watch Maggers while I cruised to downtown to do my weekly wed. podcast at 10am…  But MORE importantly, I was stoked that Maggie was able to hang out with them, as it had been a long long time since she had seen them, let alone since I MYSELF had seen them, and we all sort of needed an Aunt Jeri and Uncle Don fix…

Ya see……  now lets back up here like friggen TWO DECADES… jeez I’m old…   but when I was a wee lad… and I mean… WEE lad.. like 2 year old lad, my mom would let me head to their house (which was like 8 hours away from my house) EVERY summer..  and from the time I was 2 .. to the time I was like 13 I went up to their house in northern California every summer.. by myself…  all by my lonesome, because my Aunt and Uncle you see….  we were like some serious chemistry.. like glue..  like.. …  like I was like their daughter or something..  I guess it could be that I look EXACTLY like my Aunt Jeri…   The older I get, the more I look like her. We have that big round face, weird facial expressions….   and I look at her as she is aging, and I think to myself, “Self,,,  you got it going on…. you’re going to be lookin’ pretty damn hot when you’re in your 60’s”   I’ve always thought my Aunt Jeri to be the most beautiful ever…..  We hit it off, from the time I was birthed, born, whatever…  we were buddies… we were attached….  where she went, I was there….    but then life evolves, and I grew up, and left for the military, and then got married, and then had babies,,, and it is AMAZING to me, that I see the SAME bond that she and I shared, cultivating between her and my Maggie Georgia.  Maggie loves her big squishy boobs as much as I did as a kid. Maggie loves to contort her face into positions just like I did as a kid, Maggie appreciates the undivided attention that Aunt Jeri and Uncle Don give… because that is what they are all about…  LOVE  AND UNDIVIDED ATTENTION..   You can see it in their marriage of 41 years……   they’ve still got it…   you know??  Like.. they still hold hands and stuff,,, and like .. I dunno.. they just have ‘that’ thing that couples who are true soulmates have…   It’s quite refreshing to be around them…  it gives me hope..   ;c)

So anyways,,,  I walk in at about 11:05am to find Aunt Jeri and Uncle Don ready to leave (which made me kinda sad because when I left, they hadn’t decided whether or not they were staying for another day).  And right out of the gate, Aunt Jeri says, “What would you think about us taking Maggie with us down to California with us for two weeks, and she can ride back up here with your mom when your mom comes up to watch the kids while you and Eric go to that wedding in Maine?”   And immediately.. immediately I thought… no way… no way.. no how…  would this work. Maggie would miss me too much, she wouldn’t sleep well, she would poop well, she wouldn’t eat well, she just wouldn’t .. wouldn’t… just no no no…   And then it hit me……….   It hit me that I’ve always had a real problem with just letting go of control. I’ve been accused of being a control freak, and maybe not a “control freak” per se,, but definitely someone who craves structure…   yah… structure. If anything gets out of order of structure, well.. I have a panic attack and stars explode n’ stuff.  So I thought.. “why the hell not?”..  There wasn’t ONE good reason I could come up with other than the obvious (Well .. what if she misses us so much that we have to drive 7 hours to go pick her up in the middle of the night because she’s so unconsole-able)..    But.. it’s Maggie..  It’s Maggie Georgia.  She’s mellow, she’s docile, she’s passive, she just has always gone with the flow of things since she was born.  Within just recent weeks, I look at her body, and I just am blown away that she’s getting to be such a big girl already. I don’t really need to revisit the fact that I’ve had a hysterectomy and can’t have babies anymore… that will make me tear up…  but she’s all big now.. like big…  like.. saying words like “probably”, and “ohhh definitely”… and today, “mommy….  afterall… it’s only 14 days and 14 nights!!”…   like it’s no big deal….  pa shaw…

So I called hubby and let him in on the little plan. He rushed right home, as he couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing her one last time before a two week absence. We are okay with it.. and now typing this out…  she’s been gone for 4 1/2 hours, and after thinking of her every minute on the minute and telling everyone I love about this whole thing, I’m okay with it. She’s going to do great.  I was out on the deck at hour 2 1/2 after she left, and I shot my Aunt Jeri a text that said.. “WELL????”   and Maggie calls exactly 1 minute after that and says to me.. “Mommy???  I just want you to know that I am FINE!!”..   and put me in my place…..  and then told me she ate brownies for lunch….   oh… and cheetos…     She is sooooooooo  far in her element right now, and there is nothing I want more than for her to have the greatest adventure ever. 2 weeks in a 4 year old’s life is an adventure… not just a trip…

This is good for me……..    this is soooo good for me.  And it has never ceased to surprise me just how much my Aunt Jeri and Uncle Don have ALWAYS known what is good for me….    And now they are looking out for my kids…..   and letting Maggie experience what I got to experience as a baby/toddler/child/tween and teen….

It’s kinda funny when you think you know your relatives like a book……… boy howdy… I didn’t know this chapter was coming when I turned the page…….

I don’t even know how many days we’ve been here at the new house… the whole end of July and now the beginning of August is all just a big blur. Honest to God… the other day, I couldn’t find the box that had all our bathroom stuff in it,, so I ended up washing my nappy hair with DOVE facial soap…   Not to mention I’ve been wearing the same clothes over and over and over again because I REFUSE to dig through boxes…. I feel like it’s wasting time.  I really need to start using my new awesome antique dressers that I found on Craigslist…   But because they are so old and beautiful and awesome, the rails on the bottom of the drawers need to be candle waxed…….  or so thats what the dude told me… to make em slide a little better.

The house is slowly getting unpacked. I hung a few things on the wall the other day. My office is still looking like a bomb went off. My office at the old house had a big old closet where I could stash my paper trail etc….    so i guess I need to head to IKEA and get myself some shelving and such to hide all this crap. It doesn’t bother ME really,, but I know, beyond a doubt that it’s starting to bug the hubby. Just like the amount of clothes that man owns BOTHERS me..    He owns more clothes than any woman I have ever met. He’s the kind of guy that had to get a tshirt at every concert, every touristy place etc…. and still MUST keep them.  Not to mention our garage. We didn’t have a garage at the old place. So all of our shit was wayyyy up in the attic, or stored neatly in some nook n’ cranny over there. Well… now it’s ALL in the garage.  I know for a fact that he is so stoked about having a garage.  I doubt he’ll ever throw another thing out… and just throw it on the already growing pile of crap in there. One of the things I loved about this house was that it “had” a two car garage so that on one side we could store stuff, perhaps park a car in there … yah sure… and then the other side would be for my 1970 VW beetle that I’m restoring. It’s pretty much restored, but I was so excited to get it out of the elements here in Oregon and undercover. Well….. I think it’s finding it’s way back outside due to the amount of SHIT that we are already accumulating…   Seriously….   I’m going to stand my ground tho’….   fist on hips…   That side of the garage is for MY bug…..   Whatever else he can jam up on the walls is fine,, so long as yard tools, regular tools, long pole-ey, jamming stuff isn’t near it.

My daddy just left the other day too….  he had been here for around 3 weeks. Not necessarily here,, but he flew up from California to go fishing up near Idaho with his buddy Bill, for a week and 1/2, and then he stayed here before and after the trip.  You have NEVER met a more handy dude than my dad. He knows everything there is to know about electricity, plumbing, a/c and heaters, gardening, cars, woodworking, you name it… he knows it. He basically saved us a TON of money doing all the last minute things over at the old house that we are renting out. And he fixed our A/C here at the new house, he installed my awesome pimped out lighting in my new workshop, and just a million other things… I can’t even recall the list. The best part about working side by side with my dad is the entertaining language that flails out of his mouth. I don’t recall him being as much of a potty mouth as he is now… but at times, I was laughing so hard that the “thing” I was holding for him to complete the job,, I had to just drop because I was holding my guts dying of laughter……   sore guts… still my abs are sore from laughing..  He is a true gem……   Daddy… I know you don’t even know how to read on a computer, let alone SEE the screen,, but boy howdy,, I hope mommy passes on my biggest of THANK YOUS to you….  you make my life complete…..   don’t ever die….   please…

The kids are adjusting pretty well.  Their new rooms are a shade bigger than they were at the old house. Which, to me, is a waste of square footage. Why do bedrooms have to be all big and gargantuous? I’d rather have bigger living space… like a bigger kitchen…   not complaining,, but they never spend time in their rooms,, so what’s the point of having big ones??  Same with our master bedroom… just huge….   waste of space. I could do three cartwheels in the thing and still have room to fall on my face…  waste…

Anyways,,, I’m launching new products this next week. You can see them in the pictures. La Vintage Line and Affirmation Circles…   The Affirmation Circles will have the option of having a natural stone (lapis, amethyst, jade, corralium or  beach glass from Rhode Island) drilled and hung in the middle. I’ve had all the inventory to start making these forever, but just now getting around to sending all the info to my awesome media team.  Launching new products is so exciting….. it’s like fishing…..    throwing new bait on the line, to see if anything will bite…..    I’m sure that La Vintage Line is going to do well…..   I wear mine proudly all over the place and get stopped every 5 mins…..   “where did you get that?”     I love getting to answer, “I made them myself”….

Must run for now.  Maybe I’ll unpack a box er two…..   or maybe I’ll go wash n’ wax my bug….    The weather up here in Oregon has been unusually hot these past two weeks. Breaking records from the 1960’s…..    unbelievable heat….  and today we’re cruising at a whopping 86 degrees….   New house has central air……   it’s a beautiful thing..   Good thing the renters are moving here from Alabama…..   they are totally used to the heat…….

Happy Hump Day tomorrow….