He Went With His Gut

Tony always seems to find weird or crazy happenings. Well, thank God he found one on Saturday.

He was on his way home from work on Saturday night/Sunday morning. It had snowed just a bit, and the roads were a little bit slick. As he was coming down McKee (a 2 lane road) towards Oakdale, he saw some tire tracks that went off the road. He kept on driving, but those tracks really just didn't look right to him. So, because he couldn't stop thinking about the tracks, he turned around to go and check everything out.

As he peered over the edge of a drop off, he saw a car in the creek. The headlights were still on, windshield smashed, and just basically a mess. He called 911, and headed down to a small bridge to take him to the other side of the creek. The man inside was moaning, so he just kept on talking to him until the paramedics came. Once they got there, he asked if they needed him for anything else. When they said that they didn't, he just headed home. As he got home, he heard the emergency siren. We found out later that the man had to be life flighted to the hospital.

So, send some good vibes for this man. From what I understand, he is holding on, and doing better than he was when he got there. But he's not in the clear quite yet. I am so proud of Tony for stopping. This poor man could have been down there for hours before somebody else found him (it was about 3:30 am).

Good reason to just go with your gut.

Best Thing I Heard

I have a little ritual with my girls at bedtime. I talk with them. I spend some time reading with Chloe, then she completely leads the conversation. After Chloe dozes off, I do the same thing with Becca. The other night, as Becca and I were having our little conversation, the subject of penises came up. The little voice in my head told me 'OK, watch what you say. Not too much. Answer her questions. Don't scar her for life.'

The subject came up because she asked me how, when somebody is pregnant, they can tell whether it's a boy or a girl. So, I explained the whole ultrasound thing to her, and that the doctor can see whether or not the baby has a penis. I could see her searching in her brain, wheels turning, trying to remember what in the hell a penis is. So I said to her, "Remember when we changed baby Logun's diaper, and he had a penis?" Yes, she remembered. All was good. No scarring involved.

Then, she proceeded to tell me "It's way better to be a girl. Because when you're a girl, you can read a book when you go pee."

Good point, little girl. Good point.

It's All About the Vibes, Man.

I'm not sure how many people know this about me, but I completely believe in the law of attraction. Many of you have probably either read, seen, or heard about 'The Secret.' Now I'm not saying that 'The Secret' holds all of life's answers. But it did open up an area for me to explore a little.

If you don't know much about the law of attraction, I'll give you the nutshell version (since I'm not writing a blog to teach this stuff). Basically, it says that whatever you put out there, you get back. You put out good vibes, you get good things back. It really gets a lot more complicated than that, like being grateful for what you have, and making room in your life to get the things that you want. I'll include some books at the end of this post that I like. Why am I telling you all of this stuff? Well, it's sort of the intro to a story I remembered the other day. And here it is:

Almost two years ago, we were planning a trip to the Outer Banks, NC. This is a place where we go every couple of years with the Downey family. We were excited about going, and really looking forward to spending some 'quality' family time together. There was one thing that Tony had always wanted to do on these trips. He always wanted to go deep sea fishing. He wanted that feeling of being strapped into a chair with that huge fishing rod, reeling in the 'big one.' A couple of months before the trip, we were chatting about this in our kitchen before he left for work. He said "I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'm going deep sea fishing this year. I've decided."

I thought "Ummmm, OK. I don't know how we're going to pay for one big huge fishing trip." He had attempted to get a fishing trip together about 4 or 5 years prior. The trip that he booked didn't exactly live up to his expectations. There was a group of maybe 6 guys, and they went out on a boat, but there wasn't really any 'deep sea' involved. They went fishing. Pretty much, regular old fishing out in the ocean. When the first guy started reeling in a fish, he got ready for a big fight. As he pulled back on the rod and started reeling his catch in, the fish literally skipped across the top of the water.

Well, here's what happened a few days after that kitchen conversation. At this time, Tony worked at a hotel bar at the airport. He was chatting with his guests, and mentioned his upcoming trip to the Outer Banks. One of his semi-regular guests said that he was also going to be in the Outer Banks around the same time. He started to tell Tony about how they charter a million dollar boat every year to go deep sea fishing. Tony, seeing this as his golden opportunity, asked if they had room for an extra guy. He said that he'd definitely pay his way. Matt (his guest) said that yes, he might have room for an extra guy. But they would have to figure out if they were going to be there the same week (Note: Why do guys NEVER know when things are happening. Tony was only semi-sure of the dates we would be there, and same with Matt. Women have to deal with all of the details!).

The next day, Tony told me about what had happened. He was super pumped, and that day we got an email saying that yes, we would all be there the same week. We went on vacation, Tony caught a 65 pound Tuna, and he had one of the best days of his life. (OK, next to marrying me and having the kids--I hope.) The day of his trip, the rest of our extended family had gone out to dinner, and the girls and I waited at the cottage for Tony's return. He walked in the door with a gigantic smile and a radiant glow. He just looked so farkin' happy!

The point? Tony decided that the deep sea fishing was happening. He concentrated on it, and put it out there. And sure enough, it happened. I can say this for many things in our lives, incuding the opening of our restaurant. If you want to read up on any of this, check out the books below.

If you think I'm a crackpot, that's OK, too.

Sometimes I think I'm a crackpot.

Best Thing I Heard

This is a conversation that Chloe and I had in the car after preschool today:

"Mom, there's a statue of Hamilton (read: Abraham) Lincoln."
"Yeah? Did you learn about it today?"
"Yeah. And he's in a chair. He got a statue because he got dead. Really dead. It's by the White House."

Ha!

Sometimes, I Just Zone Out

There are a lot of things going on in my life right now that need my attention. Downey's House, my online ventures, and, last but not least, Frick and Frack (the kids). Sometimes, even if it's just for a minute, I need to zone out. It is very rare for me to just sit. Even to just sit and watch television. I'm always either working on the laptop while watching tv, or, when I'm with Tony, we're talking shop. Or kids.

Just now, as I was standing waiting for the oven to beep, I was looking out the window and it happened. The complete and total zone out. Children were chirping in the background ("Mom, where's the little backpack? Chloe is using all the chapstick. Can you put a show on for us?"). I'm not quite sure exactly WHAT I was thinking about. Life. Bills. Whatnot. But there, for that brief fleeting moment, I wasn't here. I was floating in my private world of my own thoughts.

Cue the oven

Dinner's ready. Feet back on the ground.

Right now I can't really imagine life NOT being this crazy. Someday, when the kids are grown, I'm sure life will become more routine again. Until then, I'll take my zone outs when I need them. They're better than Prozac.

Suze Orman Can Kiss My Arse

A few weeks ago I saw Suze Orman on Oprah. Of course, I was watching the repeat from earlier in the day. Usually it's on at 4:00 - right when we get home from the bus stop. I was watching it at 2:00 am. Why wasn't I sleeping? I can't really remember, but I digress...

Good ol' Suze was dishing her regular financial advice. Before I saw this segment on Oprah, she already annoyed me. I'm not quite sure what it is about her, but I just get that feeling that I want to either a) punch her right in the face or 2) embarrass the crap out of her. On this particular Oprah show, she was talking about dealing with the crappy economy. Saving your cash. Watch your spending. Blah, blah, blah. I was just about to doze off when she said (and I'm paraphrasing here) "You know what I'd like everybody to do. For one month, don't go out to eat at restaurants."

Bitch, please.

If I had been in the audience I would have stood up and said those exact words. Does she realize what she just said? Thousands of small business owners' jaws just dropped open. Waiters, waitresses, bartenders and cooks everywhere probably had much more vulgar things to say than me. (Have you ever hung out in a kitchen?) Just who in the hell does she think she is? There are plenty of people around who work in restaurants. As stated in this blog post I read recently the food service industry is the third largest employer.

I wonder if Suze stopped going to restaurants.

I'll bet you somebody, somewhere wouldn't be very nice to her food.

Just sayin'

So, stuff it Suze. Didn't you used to work in a restaurant? All these people losing their jobs? Wanna know where they're going to look for a job? A restaurant.

I need to stop now.

/rant

The Best Thing I Heard

If you follow me on twitter, or if you're my friend on facebook, you've already heard this one. I think I'm going to start tagging things like this as 'Best Thing I Heard.' I forgot to post it yesterday.

As we were in the car going to the museum on Sunday, here's what Chloe had to say:

"Mom, some dinosaurs eat trees. Other dinosaurs eat ham."

Damn, she's cute!