Yesterday I flew in to meet up with my clients to take care of their kids while they vacation in Northstar Tahoe. It appears though that they have it arranged that the boys are in lessons and the little girl is at a daycare program everyday. So what did I do today? Snowboarded. It's been 5 years since I've snowboarded. I should have taken a lesson, but didn't. I had fun though and I taught myself some new tricks and by the end of the day I was feeling quite confident. Like maybe tomorrow I'll do more turns and hit more blue runs. Unless I work tommorrow which is fine by me because a day on the slopes runs you $100/day and I'll be spending more than I'm making if I keep it up.

I'm writing this from the airport. I'm on my way to Northstar Tahoe via Reno (for work of course). Hopefully I won't be snowed in with the kids this time. They let me fly in today so I wouldn't miss church this morning. It was our first Sunday as Cornerstone Vineyard at our new church location conveniently located just blocks from my house. It was a good service for the most part. The former south bay vineyard folk like myself were in hysterics over the fact that the the former city vineyard folks don't put the donuts and bagels out until church is over. There was some playful chanting... "release the donuts. release the donuts." The downside of change.

In other news, my mom is pissed off at me. I don't exactly know why, because she refuses to answer her phone or even answer the door. But it has to do with my clients firing her off of a job that she didn't actually even want anymore anyways. The incident was nobody's fault and I'm not sure why she got the brunt end of their antics and I did not. Actually after they let her have it, they hugged me and went out of their way to let me know they were not mad with me. But it was as much not her fault as it was not my fault. And actually I think they realized that because they told me to tell her to just give them a few days to cool down, but I can't tell her that because in her typical fashion she is giving me silent treatment. It's making me feel ill whenever I think of the whole thing.

And lastly, yesterday was Bean Day... the day of birth of my dear cousin, our beloved Raebean. Embarrassing childhood photos to come.

This last weekend was all work, no play. But at least I was in town and close to home. The extra money was needed anyways. For Valentines Day I wanted no romantic pressures so Sunstar and I went up to SF to hang out with Kelvyn at some anti Valentine party. And after hitting a few bars, we went to this after party at this awesome loft. Well, I didn't get home until 7am. Thank God I didn't work until noon. I was able to squeeze 5 hours of sleep. And the next day I was really productive. Maybe 5 hours should be my norm. Maybe I'm getting too much sleep.

Today is my day off of work. I'm suppose to have every Wednesday and Friday off of work, but since I started this job I have been called in every single day off. And then they've been using me alot on the weekends and not to mention our trips together. I've been with these kids every single day straight for at least 3 weeks. I definately have them 50% of the time or more. I definately have more one on one time with them. And this wouldn't phase me in a typical nanny job, but it does here only because their mom is a stay at home mom. She's just very busy. Ends up she actually really did end up needing me today, but she had been hyping up this whole "real day off" thing all week long and then couldn't really back out of it. And I'm on overload. There are so many things I've been putting off waiting for a day off that I don't know which to tackle... take down christmas lights, catch up on school reading, install a new garbage disposal, steam clean the bathroom, do crepe related stuff... I'm just not sure. I'm starting with the gym. I'm off.

I'm not fond of the once a week catch up blog style, but I haven't had time for anything else. So we'll start with last weekend and going to Reno.

* I figured I would get selected for additional airport security screening. After all, I was buying my ticket an hour before the flight and I paid in cash. And that was as expected. What I did not expect is for one of my carry ons to fail the hazardous chemical swipe test they do. So then they had to go through absolutely everything. And give me extra pat down. I was just praying that they didn't escort me to a room in the back. Later, I realize why. That bag is normally my gym bag and holds my swim stuff. Chlorine.

* In Reno I hung out with my Uncle Rayfield and his family. My Uncle and Aunts idea of a good time... dinner and an AA meeting. It was interesting... a little hokey, lots of comical sob stories, but not much focus on these 12 steps I keep hearing so much about. They all had a pretty good sense of humor about how they had screwed up their lives though. I think covering the pain with jokes is a form of denial. Or maybe that's the only way they keep it from becoming a public sobfest.

* Of course, I had to drive up to Susanville and visit my brother in prison. I forgot and only packed underwire bras, so when I got there I wasn't passing the metal detectors. They wanted me to either borrow a bra from the visiting office (like prison isn't gross enough) or cut the wire out of mine. Thank God my luggage was in the car. I was able to opt for throwing on a tank top on with some built in support. But there's me having issues with security again.

* The rest of the weekend was all arcdade, no superbowl. I'm not exactly sure why my clients brought me and the kids. I had the kids 22 hours in a 42 hour period. That accounts for all but 2 of their waking hours. The first night we had to evacuate the kids to the lobby right before bed because there was a fire alarm. There a kind gentleman entertained us with a magic trick called the tree of knowledge.

* This weeks visit to my long time hairdresser (15 years) turned into a therapy session over my sibling dynamics. My sister has some serious resentment issues regarding me ever being born and me getting everything she ever wanted growing up, and she's never got over it. So she use to be a complete witch to me, and now we just don't talk unnecessarily. And I think it's better now that we stay out of each other's lives, than when I was younger and she was an active participant critical bully making me feel sad and rejected all the time. It's not the first time Josee's had me tearing in the chair. Then I was on a run right afterwards and I remembered how my sister would never let me hug her when I was little. She would make me ask first and then if she would tense up every muscle in her body and it was like hugging a board. She's pretty screwed up. (**editor's note: I asked my mom and she explained that my sister was and still is very claustiphobic and that's explains the no hugging thing.)

* After not enough sleep Monday night, I was completely exhausted practically falling asleep during my Tuesday night class. But then somebody mentioned that it was Fat Tuesday and that changed everything. I called all my people to rally us to go out. So Steph and I get ready and go to meet the KAK house crew in Los Gatos. The line at mountain charley's is out the door and an hour long wait. It's packed and I keep running into people I know. We wait for a second and then we use our connections to get in. We had a blast there. I've been missing going out these people. Then we all went to eat at Cardinal afterwards and then back to KAK house to watch Dawn of the Dead. When the movie ended it was 5 am making it was 23 hour day for me. And even then it was hard for me to get to sleep. I kept picturing zombies everytime I closed my eyes.

* I should have gone into marketing. I was at the gym working out yesterday listening to my walkman and I came up with this great commercial for 24 hr or any club really. It goes to the new Kelly Clarkson song.... (lyrics)
Since you've been gone [show fat before picture]
I can breathe for the first time [thin now picture of model spinning around]
Im so movin on
Yeah yeah
Thanks to you (thanks to you) [shaking hands with personal trainer]
Now I get [fast clip of now thin person running treadmill]
I get what I want [in aerobics class]
I can breathe for the first time [lifting weights]
Im so movin on [leaving the gym with someone attractive]
Yeah yeah
Thanks to you (thanks to you) [24 hour sign]
Now I get (I get)
You should know (you should know) [proud 24 hour staff watching them walk out the door]
That I get I get what I want
Since you've been gone [show the fat picture again]
Since you've been gone [another fat picture]
Since you've been gone [and another]

That's my idea. Not that I'll pitch it anywhere but here.

* Yesterday Ryan got a bracelet with a cross on it for her christening anniversary. And I hear her telling her mom how I have one of those but it's on my necklace. And I thought it was cute she remembers that I wear one. Then when I got home I notice that it's gone. It fell off the chain some time yesterday. So I'll have to find a new one now. Just ironic to hear Ryan talk about me always wearing it and then have it go missing same day.

*Even though I'm not Catholic, I still like to try to give something up for lent. Last year went well and I think I'll keep some of the same goals. Like no clothes shopping. No daily chocolate indulgences (only special occasions). No caffienated soda (not currently a problem, but a good practice anyways). New to the list will be no being a human garbage disposal. I'm not germ conscious so I always eat the kids food. I hate wastefulness so if they leave 2 chicken nuggets I eat them. If they eat only 2 quarters of their sandwhich I eat them. I eat what they don't all day long and it's a very bad habit that I need to break. So that's my new one.

Ok... off to work. Have a great day!

Guess who loves school?? Yep, ME!! I love my classes. All 5 of them. Great stuff. I don't want to miss a single class. Can you believe that I like school? My parents would be shocked to hear me say that (but I won't bother to tell them I'm going. I feel like it gives them this traditional reason to be proud of me when they should be proud of me anyways). I'm auditing all of them which is great because it releases me of all the pressure of having to turn in assignments and reports. But I'm so enthralled that I'm doing the reports anyways because they are all so incredibly pertinent to the business. It's all stuff I would have to do anyways... like menu planning, facility planning, business process of starting a restaurant.

Guess who had a fantastic day today?? ME again!! Was I just griping about my job in the last post?? Let me take that back. I'm getting a back up nanny so I can have time off. My job is the best ever. My clients are wonderful. They just informed me that they are taking me on a 11-day Carribean cruise. Yahoo!!! I'm so excited. Check out my itinerary and burn with envy. So I got the kids looking all cute-like and did their hair up real good and took them to take their passport pictures. And then I taught Ryan and Coop how to skateboard. And then we watched Two Brothers, that Disney movie about 2 tigers... totally had me tearing.

So this weekend my clients are going to Reno for superbowl and taking me with. And no visit to Reno would be complete without me taking that hour drive up to Susanville to visit my brother in prison. I think he's doing much better. I've got him on this challenge to read through the whole Bible with me. And then I got both him and his mom the Purpose Driven Life books and they are going through that series together. Good ways to stay connected.

Ends up I was entirely too eager about doing my taxes. Yesterday my tax deductible reciept came in for a large amount that I gave in tithing to my church. It's big enough to make a significant change in my return. So now I have to redo my taxes and file for a correction. What a hassle. I hope the new numbers come out to be worth it.