Mowgli

Yep, you guessed it - another crazy story about my week in Montana. There might even be one more.

In our class there was a Mom and son combo. He was 14 years old. His name was Gray. I was weirded about this at first but went with it (like I really had a freaking choice). He seemed harmless enough but I was thinking that taking my clothes off and exposing my bum to a 14 year old boy was going to be awkward at best. He actually was pretty mature about it.

So there's a black cat that lives at the compound where we were staying. His name is Bagheera (like the panther on Jungle Book). The cat is so friendly and purrs and loves to be loved. Well, I just naturally made the connection and started calling Gray "Mowgli". Actually I thought I was pretty clever. Mowgli tolerated the situation.

Mowgli gave me some pretty good laughs. At one time, while he was doing his final on an outside client, he made eye contact with me and looked like he was miserable and bored with the deal. Of course, Katri quickly informed him that he needed to not be distracted with his zone. Hahaha! Mowgli got in trouble.

My point is that I'm pretty impressed with the fact that a 14 year old boy could stay on task all week and receive his diploma. In fact, when Katri was handing out diplomas, we all clapped the loudest for Mowgli. It was a pretty amazing accomplishment. Furthermore, he was able to handle more women's bums and breasts than a 14 year old boy should and he took it all in stride (not sure a grown man would have been so smooth about it).

And when we were all about to have our class photo taken he said, "Sunshine needs to wear her scarf (I wore a scarf around my head all week when I was walking back and forth to the classroom because I can't stand for my ears to get cold)." So, to appease my darling buddy, Mowgli, I did!

Swede-Dar!

Yeah. I feel inundated with these amazing people lately.

When we went to Santa Barbara to get Brian signed up for school we spent an entire day out looking for housing for my boy. We finally decided on this place that was a straight up dump. I called my son to explain the sitch and he was disappointed but wants this school so bad that he said, "whatever Mom. I'll get by." As we were sitting by the beach contemplating life (actually Skip needed a nap or something), I felt compelled to check Craig's List one last time and, Woah!, there was a brand new post for an apartment that sounded PERFECT! I called and a young man with an accent that I knew I recognized answered the phone. We made arrangements and went right on over to check out the pad. Sure enough, the residents were here studying from Sweden. We ended up getting the place and now my boy resides with Swedes. He claims he's learning words. Hopefully, they're not BAD words.

Fast forward to now. My teacher for zoning, Katri, is from Sweden and has a pretty intense Swedish accent. It's pretty hard to understand her but I crave the learning so much that I will sit through ANYTHING to gain the knowledge this woman has.

So, I'm up there in Montana doing my thing and this man walks through the door during dinner one night. Cool. His name is Lars and, you guessed it, he's a freaking Swede (except his accent isn't quite as intense as Katri). He said he was a friend of Katri and Hans and ended up enjoying dinner with us. It was so fun because he put with all the banter going on with us girls.

The next day he came back (yesterday) for a back zone. You see, we need to zone an outside "client" for our final practical exam. Well, it ended up that I got to zone Lars. During the zone he was having a conversation with Katri and leaned over by his ear and said, "talk to her in Swedish because I think it's hot" so he DID! Lol. Well, I told him since he did that he got to have extra time on the aroma massage. I think he thought it was a pretty good deal.

My point is this. It seemed that there were Swedish friends that just kept popping in for a visit. What the heck? Do all these people just settle in one area (because Brian claims that there are GOBS of HOT Swedish girls that come over to the apartment) or are Brian and I just Swede magnets? No matter, these people are AMAZING!!

Guess what!!!

I just finished another week up in Montana. This week I went to get certified in Back Zonolgy. I have to say, this just might be my favorite treatment I've gotten certified in. It's nothing short of amazing. It makes me happy to make others feel well.

It's also been good to be away from my life to clear my head and get redirected. I feel ready to go home and take charge of things. How long will my enthusiasm last? Yeah, probably by Tuesday I'll be screaming for a break! Lol.

What's also funny is that I just had a week of eating nuts, seeds, leaves and twigs (kidding on the last part). You'd think I'd be thrilled to continue because I feel so fabulous. Well, I DO feel fabulous but . . . old habits die hard. I'm spending the night at Dave and Brandilyn's and before I head out to Salt Lake tomorrow morning and we are having (gasp) pizza tonight! Please don't tell Katri.

Another fabby thing? I used my ipad all week to take notes and I was able to keep up with my wise teacher. Pretty proud of that one too. I made some awesome friends and hopefully we will have a long and lasting friendship. I'll blog more about that in the next couple of blogs so I'm sure the average reader will grow weary of reading about it but, hey, this IS my blog, right?

Anyway, I'm ready to take on clients starting, of course, with my own fam. They are gonna love love love this!

Brilliant, My Dear Watson!!

About a month or so ago, for whatever reason, Jacob decided it sounded like a fun idea to grab a can of blue spray paint and spray graffitti on our black utility trailer. Thank heavens he didn't put any profanity on it. Anyway, to say the least, I was highly pissed off but haven't said much to Mr. Jacob because all I'm met with is the usual blank stare. No remorse. No emotion. Nothing.

Skip was home this weekend (you KNOW this is going to be good, right?) and saw the trailer as he was driving out the driveway. WTF??? I gently informed him that it was his youngest son's handy artwork. Omg! He was MORE pissed than I (and justifiably so!). Yesterday, on the way to take Skip to BART, he informed Jacob that he expected him to wash the trailer and scrub ALL of the paint off. No exceptions! Well, we all know how that will go. NOT!!!

Today the twins are out of school (dang it) and I informed Jacob that his father has given instructions and he gets to carry them out. So we supplied him with a bucket, soap and a rag. I gave Courtney some miscellaneous chores to keep her busy and I went about my own stuff. I walked into the kitchen as the twins are coming in "to get a new bucket of water" and ask Court what she's doing. "I'm going to help Jacob clean the trailer!" Oh, okaaaay.

Well, they are off busy and seemingly enjoying the journey and I get to have my day to do my thing after all. Awesome! Will we get a clean trailer out of deal? Probably not.

Killing It!!

Back when I was young there was a commercial on TV (well, there were a LOT of commercials on TV, lol). Anyway, this one went something like this . . . there was a young mom playing with her new baby and laughing (and the announcer says, "this is life!" while beautiful music is playing in the background). Then, suddenly the announcer says as the screech of a record being stopped is heard, "and this kills it" as the young mom pulls a cigarette to her mouth. Another scene shows a happy couple walking out in a meadow of flowers and we hear the announcer say while the music is playing "this is life". Then, again, the sound of a record screech as the music stops and the man pulls a cigarette to his mouth "and this kills it."

At the time, I wasn't a smoker (that was later) but this commercial obviously had a lasting impression on me.

Fast forward to tonight. I was in the kitchen having the time of my life whipping up a (I think) delicious vegan meal. I made kale salad in peanut sauce and curried lentil soup. I was enjoying the fact that Skip is home and I get to show off my recent passion for good food that is so good for you. The twins and I are dairy free (Courtney and I), gluten free (the twins and I), sugar free (all three again) and pretty much meat free (me). However, that does leave still a lot of leaway for delicious meals.

Okay . . . dinner tonight. So, I'm serviing up this soup and salad (which, by the way, was nothing short of fabulous) and happy (envision the music playing in the background). Skip walks out, sees what I'm serving and (screech, music stops) he grabs WHITE bread and plops it in the toaster (2 pieces!!) and grabs (gasp) the bucket (okay, tub) of Country Crock margerine (aka plastic food). I tried to not looked alarmed or shocked but . . . . really????

"Special" Ham Loaf

Bahahaha! I was just reading Brandilyn's blog ("princess" on the side tab of my blog) and read about her snafu with dinner the other night. She DID text me but it made me laugh just reading it again. She put 2 Tablespoons of red crushed pepper in some lettuce wraps she was making and they were over the top hot. When she looked at the recipe she realized that the recipe actually called for red BELL pepper. Alas, it was a live and learn moment. She then invited anyone else to talk about any similar experiences. (I think she just wanted to feel better about herself).

Well. . . in a little (big) house in the middle of town. Lol. I'll just get on with it. We bought the Weltz Family Reunion cookbook about 6 million years ago when all the extended members of the Weltz clan were invited to contribute recipes. At that particular time in my life I was a ham eater (gross, except I DID indulge this holiday when Danielle made a huge awesome one for Christmas then asked me to make bean soup with the leftovers). There was a recipe in the book for Ham Loaf. You take the ham and put it through a meat grinder (in the olden days we had such things that screw onto your counter and you can make hamburger from any type of meat - still have mine, btw).

Moving along . . . . the recipe called for several ingredients and, amongst them, was a cup of vinegar. SWEAR!!! It's still in the book right there in black and white (I've checked multiple times throughout the years to make sure I'm not daft). So, while this ham loaf was baking the smell of vinegar was permeating throughout our home. Whatever. Cory and Danielle were little and I think Brandilyn was newborn (she was saved from this event). I dished up the meal and went about dealing with my baby while they ate.

I noticed that Skip and the kids were just kind of staring across the table at each other and not saying much (you have to realize they are dealing with a post partum mother running on NO sleep because my little darling was extremely high need). I told them to eat and get on with it. Finally, Cory mustered up the nerve to say something. "Um, Jode, this doesn't taste good." Skip quickly chimed in with, "really, babe, something is wrong." I got WAY pissy.

I stormed over to the table and took a BIG bite of the ham loaf and almost gagged my guts out. Holy crap! Skip swiftly snatched up the phone and called for pizza (cuz in those days we lived in an area where that was possible).

I wanted to try to make it again leaving out the vinegar and I had three very adamant people yelling to me in unison, "NO STINKING WAY!!!"

Bendy People

Tonight we have tickets to go see the Michael Jackson Cirque de Sole. There's a really funny story about this. Last year Skip gave me these tickets as a Christmas present. We were VERY excited. He flew into the San Jose airport and I met up with him and we checked into the motel. We got all dressed up and went out to dinner then proceeded to drive over to where the performance was. It was eerie quiet. The parking lot was empty. The center was dark as the Ace of Spades. Wtf? Skip then said to me, "Babe, check the tickets and make sure we are supposed to be here and not Oakland or something." Ok.

I read the tickets out loud to him, "Friday January 13, 2012'. Screeeeeech! Wait, WHAT did you just say? I read it again and then realized what it said. We both looked at each other and just started laughing hysterically. Wow. It's a freaking YEAR from tonight (I believe this was a Thursday night to boot).

So here we are. As a yogi I just can't appreciate the talent and gift these people have. It's amazing to say the least. Their bodies bend in ways that defy all logic.

Also, I have a yoga teacher that says what goes on on the mat is pretty much how your life is off the mat. I can only imagine how flexible these people are in their every day lives. My job is to not covet. Right?

Well, no problem. I'm going to absorb and relish every stinking second of the performance tonight. Skip even called me yesterday and said, "Ok. I checked and rechecked the tickets. Right venue. Right date. Right time. We are good to go!"

I mean, wow! Cirque de Sole to Michael Jackson's music? How perfect of a gift for this girl can that be? Furthermore, I got to snag an extra date night in on the deal, heeheeeheee.