Wow...

This has been an amazing week. Busy. Crazy. But awesome. Good things are happening for your friend, Shoog and I am all but in a fit of giggles seeing how doors open in a way I would never have planned.

So a few weeks back, I get a message from Jen of The Classy Closet asking if I'd be interested in trying out for the co-host spot on The Classy Closet radio show. Sure, I say. Now, we are down to the wire in voting and I am at the edge of my seat wondering how it will turn out. As I'm typing this, I'm in the lead, but only by a couple of votes. It's been like that all weekend. Not stressful at all!!

Through some communicating with Jen, I found out that US Family Guides in Colorado was looking for an editor for their San Diego Kids Guide. I applied and a couple of days later was on an orientation call. So now, I'll be working on getting all the best family friendly attractions and activities reviewed and on the site. If you're planning on a trip to SD this summer, check us out!

Who loves Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?? ME, TOO! So imagine how stoked I was to find out that I'll be on a Press Conference Call tomorrow with Thom Filicia and 24 other bloggers. It seems that Mr. Filicia has a fabulous design book coming out, Thom Filicia Style. He'll be promoting the book on The View tomorrow morning when he unveils the revamped Green Room. He'll also be making a very special announcement... you'll want to check it out if you can. And I will have a copy of his book to give away here at Living - In Theory! Stay tuned for the details on that one.

OH! And one last thing. I am migrating! Yes, finally! If you subscribe to my feed, it'll be like the digital transition... seemless. If you use Favorites on your computer, you'll want to use my url: www.living-intheory.com. I will now have all of my multiple personalities at SugarJones.tv. I'm using a SmartSpace from Go Daddy. I don't care what anybody says, WordPress is a nightmare. Sorry... don't hate me... I just would rather spend my time writing posts than decoding CSS.

A couple of other neat things that I can't really talk about... very hush hush... ;) If you'd like, please follow me on Facebook and Twitter. You never know who you'll meet there.

Please make sure to check in tomorrow for our Making It Happen Mama feature. There will be some pampering products up for grabs this time!!

Seven

My littlest girl is seven today.

Her favorite color is Turquoise. She loves carrots… just like she did when she was a baby. Her favorite thing to do is ride bikes with her friends (and sometimes, her mom).

 

She loves to laugh and dance and make up songs. She loves her brother and screams with joy when her big sisters visit. She is her aspiring photographer mother’s favorite model, and her Daddy’s little girl.

Every day, when I delicately comb through her beautiful curls, I’m humbled by God’s kindness in bringing her to me to care for. The ten years before I knew her were not easy. I never thought I would have the chance to be a mom to another baby. She is, in a way, a miracle. And I am always very aware of that.

Happy birthday, Banana. I love you.

Sunday Nights

I always dreamed of a home that all my children would come to dinner to on Sunday nights. They would come first with friends... then with serious boyfriends... then with families of their own. And each time I opened the door, I would be a little older, but always with the same smile seeing my children and their children bloom and thrive in life.

That's what I'd imagined.

I'm still sad that I don't have that traditional life for them to all come home to. We are, after all, unconventional. In our family, Thanksgivings have been spent at amusement parks and restaurants, sometimes at the homes of our friends and families. Christmas decorating is put off until the last moment so that we can have birthday cakes for the babies while their actual parties happen in June on half birthdays. We just do things a little different at our house. It's not that crazy... just not conventional.

But Sunday Nights. I always imagined that would be a tradition that we could build on as our family grew. The weekly habit would bring us together not only physically, but emotionally... spiritually... and became stronger as a unit. That's not how things are right now.

But that doesn't stop me from hoping...

Still foggy in here...

It's been a week since Day One at BlogHer and I am finally back into reality mode. Not an easy thing, let me tell you.

I'm feeling a lot of feelings right now. And since all of my therapy money went to my trip to San Francisco for BlogHer, I'm just laying it all here. You lucky reader, you...

I really wish I would have stayed at the St. Francis. Not because it's such a beautiful hotel or because I wanted to be able to just walk downstairs to the sessions. I wish I wouldn't have spent nearly as much time with my sister as I had... and it was pretty limited time. It was awkward. I realize now that I just can't be around her. It hurts too much. I'm upset that she's the only other kid that lived through life with me and doesn't have any desire to talk about it without being hurtful and sarcastic. I'm also upset with her for her snarky jabs and then getting all exasperated like I'm the one that did something wrong when I finally had to jab her back. Sorry, but stupid questions and being talked down to kinda do that to me! I had to summon all of my decency in order to just give her one of those two-pat-man-hugs at the airport. I couldn't walk away fast enough. Well, I was late for my flight, so I had to walk fast... but you get what I mean, don't you?

While I was up there, my kids were all here. All of them. Even the one that doesn't talk to me. I invited her, but I have a feeling, that was all being planned before my gracious invitation. I'm still trying to get all the stories straight about how my hand-blown glass humingbird feeder met its demise or why my furniture looks like it's sitting on a slant. I also reached for a mug only to find it missing. I already said what I needed to say. I think my words were heard. I'm not sure how they were processed on the other end, but that's not my deal. What happened was that I let them all know that I was disappointed. The reactions were that they didn't think I should be upset. Apparently, the mere fact that they were helping me out means that anything that was broken or missing or misspoken would be forgiven.

Ummm... no.

If I'm watching your cat and it dies because it jumped out a three story window because I let him play there and then I said Ooops, sorry, but don't be mad, cause I was watching your cat for you... is that okay? No. Or how is it that you can wash all of YOUR mugs without breaking them, but come over to my house and all of the sudden you have some crazy, mysterious hand problem that prevents you from holding MY mug without letting it drop? Huh, Mom? Or if you are going to partake in my home and all the amenities, have the decency to respond to an email that asks if you had a nice time and that I hope you were comfortable here... even though you won't visit when I AM here.

I'm also still heaving out the last of the fog trapped in my lungs. I get this weird temporary asthma whenever I breathe in moist air, which is usually daily living so close to the coast. That was part of the reason I moved further inland when the pilot and I sold our house and separated. I need dry, people! DRY! I'm thinking I'm going to take a trip out to the Grand Canyon. It's so beautiful there... so big... so amazing... we went there for lunch last year. Yep. Just for lunch. The life of a pilot's wife is kinda weird like that.

Am I still a pilot's wife? hmmm...

We are "celebrating" our Eight Year Anniversary next week. He'll be in Texas on the actual day. That's another thing I've become accustomed to. Before you feel sorry for me, I have to say that I understand that it's only a date. Some random numbers on a calendar. I'd much rather have our lives be sane and joyful than to celebrate artificially on a specific date. Does that make sense? So, I'm picking him up from the airport two days later. We're going to dinner from there. Downtown San Diego is always a lot of fun, so it should be nice. I'm really looking forward to some time alone with him. But from there, what? We've been talking about moving back in together, but I think we're both a little scared. I know I am. This Texas thing is nice. He's been away for ten days. I've had some fun in The City. But now, we go back to real life.

And it's all still just a little foggy to me...

...