Sweet Pea's Halloween

Tia was a 'Lilac Fairy' for Halloween, a character from the book, "Ella Bella the Ballerina and The Sleeping Beauty."




She went trick-or-tricking with Dad at the Halloween party at work.




Then went trick-or-treating 'for real' for the first time with her 8-year-old cousin Kenzi, who dressed up as Mulan.





She didn't really get the hang of trick-or-treating until after the first few houses, when she figured out that people were just giving away free candy!

Back to School...someday.

All the back-to-school talk and stories of co-workers and friends dropping their kids off at their first days of kindergarten have me wondering, "Will I cry when it's Sweet Pea's time?"

The answer is "Yes". Saying goodbye to that face already makes me tear up.

It's a Girl Thing

A client came into the studio this morning (where I am the only female) and she was a very cute, 20-something with a Valley girl voice that reminded me of the actress Juliette Lewis.

I thought it was curious that this pretty girl made no eye contact with me and didn't greet me, even though I tried to make eye contact and smile at her. And then continued to not talk to me the entire time. I gave up after awhile.

Why do women sometimes do that? It's like an automatic, subconscious cattiness that comes out when two females who don't know each other meet. And either they decide that it's okay to be real, or 'cool' to each other, or they act fake or they simply ignore each other. I was not partaking in this silent phenomenon. At least, I didn't think I was. I was not competing with this girl, who looked way more hip and done up than I did. I just thought it was curious. And entertaining. And I thought I left it behind in high school.

Of course, the three men in the room had no idea what I was talking about.

How Much Is Too Much?

I'm already filling in for a co-worker on maternity leave and another one who is on vacation, in addition to doing my own shift. Late yesterday my boss asked me to come in early (during a split shift? cruel and unusual punishment!) to fill-in for yet another co-worker who called in sick.

Of course, I couldn't sleep, knowing that I had to get up even earlier than usual, or should be humanly possible. Annoyed when my alarm went off at 2:45am, I hated everything and everyone. In my car, I think I actually felt hatred as I was forced to stop at a red light---anything that would stop this day from coming to an end quicker was making me angry. I glared at the road and silently willed other cars to get out of my way.

The only way I could (attempt to) wake myself up was to blast my stereo until my ears rang, but even then Linkin Park and Marilyn Mason didn't seem angry enough. And the coffee I was pouring down my throat as fast as I could was not enough. I think the only thing that will BE enough is when this hell is over.

Please let the next three and a-half weeks go faster.

Not Getting Easier

My eyes were so dry on my way home that when I rubbed my eye, my right contact lense fell out. I was still five minutes away from my house so I put the lense in my mouth to keep it moist and tried not to swallow it.

In between shifts I have exactly enough time to do one task (grocery store, laundry, or other), fix something to eat, take a nap and still leave myself enough time to get back to work for the afternoon shift.

When I woke up again, I saw Sweet Pea for a total of five minutes before I had to leave again. She broke my heart when she said in her little toddler voice, "I want YOU mommy," and she locked her little arms around my neck, "Don't go to work."

My eyes were not dry when I drove away, still watching her wave bye-bye with her arm sticking out from the railing of the deck.

I Hate Hearing These

One was issued out of Kittatas County with two toddler boys, 2 and 3-years-old. When I heard it, I got a pit in my stomach. When I had to put my voice on the story, I felt like I could start crying.

What also pained me was that we first got the report an HOUR before the offical Alert was issued by the state, because the small town of Kittitas is not 'connected' to the national Amber Alert system. How far did that white 98 Ford Explorer get in one hour while the local police were deciding how to get the information out? Did that SUV drive by someone who might have reported it, if they knew police were looking for it?

I don't know the circumstances of the story, if the mom accused of stealing her boys is a bad woman or a good woman, if she means them harm or not, but still, I'm scared for those kids.

Sweet Pea update

She just officially turned 2 and 1/2. This is at the beach near our house. She doesn't care about water temperature, or rocks.