Easter!

Last Sunday was Easter and we spent it, as usual, playing games, watching movies, eating waaaay too much and running frantically around the backyard in search of eggs that the easter bunny left behind. The Easter bunny is particularly kind to us, in that there is not only a hunt for the little kids, but one for the adults as well. This is a yearly tradition for us and one that I really look forward to. I was the lucky recipient of about 9 key chains with Hawaii logos on them. All in all, it was a good time and I loved that the whole family was able to be there to celebrate.

TMJ

I went to the dentist this afternoon to have him look at a problem that I have been having with my jaw. Apparently my jaw is stuck in a locked open position which basically makes it painful to talk, or chew. To avoid surgery the doctor is going to put a retainer (splint) in my mouth to help keep my jaw in place. I have no idea how long this will take, or if it will even work but it is cheaper and far less invasive than having my jaw broken and wired shut.
So for now, I will continue to eat soft foods and hope for the best.

Road Trip

This past weekend I travelled to Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival. I headed south with an old friend of the family to see "A Mid Summer's Night Dream". We left late Friday night and finally hunkered in at a hotel near Roseberg, Or. The trip for the most part went well, but after driving long hours on little sleep my patience was wearing thin. The person I was with told me that I was stuck up because I did not want to stay at a Motel 6. Now I will admit that I am a bit of a hotel snob, but not without a valid reason. I made the mistake of booking a suite at the Days Inn, when a group of us travelled to Las Vegas for New Years Eve one year. Unfortunately, my idea of a suite and theirs was not the same. We had barely even entered the room before we were on the phone finding other lodging. It was quite the experience; dirty stains on the comforters and on the walls. Needless to say, cheap hotels do not give me that warm, welcome feeling that a more expensive hotel may give. I particularly like the ones who give you freshly homemade cookies upon your arrival, now that's what I call service.

Anyways, I loved the town of Ashland, and the play was great! The director added a modern flavor to the play that made it that much funnier. As Shakespeare can seem to be slightly daunting (boring) and difficult to follow, his interpretation allows you to decipher the monologues and keep track of the many dueling stroylines being played out.

All in All, the trip was fun. It just might be another five years before I do something like this again. It will take me that long just to recuperate.

Ahhhhh...Spas

Yesterday I decided to treat myself to some much needed ME time, and went to get a facial at a shi shi poo poo spa. When you walk in you are welcomed by the owner (a very small office) a petite, elderly Asian woman who whisks you off to a back room to disrobe and assume the position in the warm bed that awaits you.

I am just finding my zen when she walks in, starts pushing on my face and says, "Oh, I can tighten that up for you". Wo(that is for Jeanna)...step on the brakes, back that baby right on up; what needs tightening?. Here I am 37 years old, not concerned about aging, wrinkle lines or any of that, and I can't help but laugh at the situation. It's like going to a plastic surgeon to have a mole removed and having him/her say, "oh, I could do this and that, and you'd be amazing". Now all of these flaws I didn't know or care about are suddenly an issue that needs to be dealt with immediately. You go in with a high self esteem and leave feeling like crap-how ironic.

Anyway, as the 1 1/2 hour long facial proceeds she keeps telling all of the different costs to the things she is doing and she keeps finding new things to do to my face that cost more money. I had to keep myself from laughing, because every time she would add another treatment in my mind I had the cash register sound going off. Cha ching...here's another thing we can do..Cha ching.
Needless to say, I paid a pretty penny for my facial workout. It was, overall, very relaxing and I am happy to say that my self esteem is still intact. I am okay with the wiggle of my waddle.

Another Dead End

How many times have you been lost in a suburban landscape with houses and streets that look exactly the same? As you inch your car down the street straining your neck to try to read the upcoming road sign, you find yourself begging the sign to end your torment. An alluring street pops up from out of nowhere and you are certain that this is the right road for you so you turn only to find that the hidden street is yet another dead end. You turn around searching aimlessly for the way out of the complex grid of seemingly endless cement on the road ahead of you. While traveling down the road you turn down another street that seems to be the answer...the way to freedom and safety, your friends house is in sight so you can finally relax the death grip that you have had on the steering wheel and breathe again. You have found it, the haven you have been looking for! You congratulate yourself on your skills as a navigator, which you will no doubt brag about to your friends. So here it is, four hours later and your sitting in your car wondering....how did I get here again, and better yet, how do I get out?

I have determined that my life is full of dead ends and wrong turns. More often than not, (thankfully) I find my way to the right place, but the journey getting there is not always pretty. My proverbial dead ends are surprisingly full of disappointment. You would think that after running into so many of them throughout my life I would cease to be affected by them. I suppose that is what makes us human, and if I never got lost I would have no need to celebrate the tiny miracles that get me from point A to point B.

This is my random thought of the day.