Month update

Wow it has been so long since i last blogged! Holy cow!  Alright some updates:

1. outlaws have been informed that I will not be sending pictures and if the kids want to be in contact with them when they get older that will be fine…other than that right now i am not comfortable with it.
2. next week is the last week of camp THANK HEAVENS
3. I have had walking pneumonia…I am better now, but i hate being sick
4. I have lost 21 lbs!! OMG
5. I cried today
6. It is time for summer to end although i am not  ready for fall season to start
7. I am working on a cool xmas project for my family
8. My mom is the only one who knows i am doing this and it is killing me, I want to tell my dad!!
9. This project is for my dad, my aunts and my grandmother
10. Jordan is away at camp!  How cool is that?
11. I want a new job
12. I saw a pretty interesting guy, Matt Monarch, talk about Raw food diet.  A lot of things to think about
13. So much to think about, how food make you really feel. and are we all really eating food anymore?
14. AGH so much to think about!  thank heavens there is Heather to sort all this out!!
15. Get to go pick up Jordan
16. Kids go back to school!!

Okay well i want to find time for my blog!! and i will! So many other things to talk about!! I am trying very hard to look towards the positives, like camp is almost over! phew!! then I am sailing on a 12 meter again! YEAH!!  This xmas project is AWESOME!!

A week goes by so fast!

Phew this week passed so quickly!  Gym, sailing through a squall, camp inspector coming to camp.  Then getting sick.  YUCK!!

Gym was good.  I am starting to notice clothes fit different, my dad noticed, he said why do you keep pulling up your pants? ’cause they are to big!!  how cool is that?  I have lost 16 lbs and inches of my body!  it is cool!  It is hard work as well!  I like the way it makes me feel. and i am feeling better.

Sailing through the squall, holy shit! tallen and i were getting ready for the start, i said to him, i am having a hard time seeing the start.  We were getting heavier wind and then as the starting gun goes off, the wind changes directions 180 degrees and picks up to 20 plus knots!  YIKES, four boats drop out and tallen and i pull ourselves together cross the start line a little late but finish the race.  It was heavy wind, we got banged around a little, but all in all we had a great time.

Friday i could tell i was getting sick but went to the gym anyway to see if i could sweat it out.  THat is after the camp inspector came.  We passed.  I came home and went straight to bed. Wayne called on his way home from practice, to see what was going on.  He offered help, it was so nice!  thanks!

They boys were tired they watch tv,i picked up some chinese food for them and i crawled back into bed until noon the next day.  phew!

Went shopping for Jordan’s big camp he is off to in a couple of weeks.  Picked up granny at the airport, hung with mom and dad then made my way home.

To put a damper on the weekend, the “outlaws” emailed me asking me to send pictures “of their grandsons”  I am torn. I do not know what to do about this….what the right thing to do…they were so mean to me.  I can count the times they have seen my boys on one hand.  but as a proud mother i want to share my boys and show the world what great kids they are! UGH i just do not know what to do…..I wish there was a rule book or guidelines to follow in this case… share your thoughts.

“Do you have a squeegee to help push the water out?”

Yesterday was like no other day i have had.  what happened? the day starts with the alarm going off at 6am….ugh drag my butt out of bed.  check weather report, it says rain rain rain, thunderstorms, and more rain.  But really? no rain, nothing on radar…hummm, okay well kids up, off to orthodontist, OMG twins are going to need to have impressions and xrays, to the tune of $250 each. ouch! this is not going to be fun! I hate the dentist…..anyway off to camp.  It is like prying barnacles off the bottom of a boat to get them out of the van.

Kids reluctantly go off to camp and that mother’s guilt kicks in. OMG what a horrible parent i am for forcing my kids to go to camp. I question why i had not found a way to find something they would have liked to do….like sailing. the heart strings were pulled, still a little tired, a little overwhelmed by the fact i am going to have to pay $500 for the dentist to tell me the twins will need braces! but  I trudge off to camp. A bit frustrated and in need of a friendly face! Thank god for Amanda, that is all i have to say….

They have a plan, sailing! OMG have they seen the weather report? Did they read what NOAA had to say? SEVERE WEATHER.  Okay, well go for it, not sure they would have listened to me even if i said no.

I left for the gym, and let me tell you I really like going to see a personal trainer! He is awesome, he does not take my crap.  It is good.  I will have to write more about that later…anyway, leave gym and buckets of rain are coming down. HOLY SHIT.  Get to seaport, the water level is so high, not a dry bone in the place.  Lunch goes on, and i explain they need a rainy day plan for all the kids.  Lunch was so loud. I was still grumpy. I get a voice mail from someone on the seaport grounds explaining, no one is answering her calls.  Did I have anyone that could help or did i have a squeegee to help push the water out of her room.

HMMMMM, feeling like i needed to go investigate as she was not answering her phone.  I took a couple of sailing assistants, walked through water that was up my thighs to cross the “road”.  I was so wet already it really did not matter.  Found out there was a leak in the classroom.  So we walked over with a driveway broom and a mop. How bad could it be?

IT WAS BAD!! Water was hemraging out of this building.  It was pouring out and there was SO MUCH WATER!  I have never ever seen so much water. The facilities people were so unorganized. They had no direction, and i do not do well with that. I felt the need to do SOMETHING and a squeegee was NOT GOING TO DO A THING!! The water was not only coming through the wall but it was coming in through the door!  I had Sailing Assistants that wanted to help and did! They did what ever i said and we rocked!  After the water slowed down and sandbags were put down. We picked up everything that was on the floor.  and felt the clean up was now their problem I knew i had boats sinking.

Walk back after feeling as though the a dam was broken into one of our buildings to find my awesome staff hauling all 42 dyers out of the water, first capsizing it as it had so much water in it no one would have been able to lift them.  We helped with the last few. Bailed out the launches that were sinking.

I then noticed there were marks left out on the water….i figured lets go get them. Yup, hopped into the bailed out launch, pull out and get across the channel to find the gas tanks were taken out because they were weighing down the boats during the storm. OMG, Evan came out to us with a tank and hose. But it was the WRONG HOSE.  Got a tow in.  Started to take all the sails off the dyers.

Washed 42 Dyer sails. Completely whipped just like everyone else!  I was proud of the staff.  They all did a wonderful job but next time when NOAA says SEVERE WEATHER, no sailing please.

Yup just another day on the job!

First day of camp

Man it is never boring at work, I must say!!  I have a “green” staff which is great!  I am learning how many times i rolled my eyes at my boss when he said the things he said. I hope i have learned from him and hope they will learn from me as well.  It is so tough!  Anyway…went to work around 1230ish, all seemed well, everyone was excited and you could feel the nervous energy, it was kinda cool. check in went well, for only 11 kids…we had the opening ceremony, which was fine, until JY15s on the back dock started to capsize at the dock!! HOLY SHIT…instructors went running!! I went out to help out as well!  I could  not believe i walked out of the opening ceremony…

Mental note, make sure ALL F’ing boats are tied down at all times, you never know when the wind will take them away!!  So the ceremony went on, we talked with the parents reassured them everything would be great even though the weater forcast was not very promising.  We did have 17 acres of historical museum to entertain the kids and really 11?peParents were off, amy houli and I went to tie down the Jy15s to make sure that did not happen again….I notice their is a beautiful wooden fishing boat that was in the middle of the basin.  I made a mental note, i should watch that…

Boats are done, the three of us go inside to watch the new instructors give the “rig up” lecture.  We were enjoying ourselves on the back windowsill.  then an instructor pointed to the boat, not in the middle of the basin, but over the shoal!  OMG, we need to call someone!!

• Dock office, no answer, hang up.  Security, answered…went something like this…
• me: dock office people still here?
• security: ahhh no, want me to get up and see….pause
• Me: NOT really, there is a boat about to crash into the other side of the river….
• security: ahh, well i do…..
• Me: cutting him off, forget it, you are not helping I am calling the VP of watercraft. kinda hang up on him…i think he is a bit slow and probably did nto realize i did…

I then called the VP of watercraft, he is on speed dail on my phone, I know that all my programs were taken out of his department, but hell this is an emergency….

Dial phone:

• Me: Hello D..
• D: oh hello hallie….
• Me:  sorry to bother you but, there is a situation and I need some advice…..
• D: go ahead
• Me:  sorry to bother you, but there is this beautiful wooden boat dragging its mooring across the basin, it is now over the shoal and in about 5 to 10 minutes it will be across on the rocks, what should I do??
• D: that wooden fishing boat that was down in the anchorage, it is here for wooden boat….GO GET IT
• ME: you sure….okay….I will call you when i do…

I hung up the phone, signaled to Amy and Houli, grab your PFD i need your help….

out like a flash, I took the biggest engine and boat i had, over we went…it never really crossed my mind how big that boat really was.  We got to the boat, I thought in a logical pattern, bow, stern and two spring lines….BUMPERS!!

The three of us pulled it off, not really how, but I love those guys, a bit nervous not really my boat and well, here we were getting ready to tow it back to safety.  Lines tied up, boat secure, off we go, my boat full throttle, a bit nervous we were not going anywhere, but alas, we were, the wind was killing us.  Slowly we got ourselves away from the shore and bock to the docks we were going.  I could see a woman on land watching us and all i could wonder, was what did she think was going on??

We inched our way back only to get stuck!  SHIT not my boat!  with a little backing and turning i finally got it off, i will admit i got a little nervous…..this boat was big!  instructors were on the docks ready to catch the boat.  We safely land this boat on the docks.  PHEW!!  NOW WHAT?? We tie it off, actually we tie it to one of our ships to support its weight.  My little docks would never have held them without support.  This boat would have ripped it off.

With the boat secure, I was ready to call the VP to tell him what happened and what we did.  We then see the owner!  You knew it was the owner as he was running towards us.  We all were so excited, he actually said to us to slow down!

We told him what happened.  He actually hugged me! I think i needed the hug as well and i am not a hugging type of girl!!  He was so grateful!  It was such a great feeling!!  He offered us money, work policy is not to take money and even if i were not at work i would not have taken it.  there was not enough money in the world that would compare to the feeling i had.  I was so proud!  i was proud of amy and houli.  I was so proud we saved this boat from ALOT of damage!  I cannot tell you how much i appreciate these guys, and the amount of faith they had in getting it done.  I am proud to have them by my side at work!

So that was the first day of camp…good god, i hope this is not an indication of how the summer is going to go!!

PS…my little boat should never have moved that boat!!  I went to say hello to the owner today while walking around the seaport.  When i approached his boat…I could not believe my powerboat moved his boat.  It did not seem possible.  and if you asked me i would never have believed it if i was not there!!  AMAZING!!  I will try and take pictures of it tomorrow!!

I do not want to admit I might have a cold

Oh my, can you believe it has been over a week!  have you missed me??

Alright, if I admit “it” then that would require me to do something about it.  Now look, I am addicted to google calendar, gmail and picasa, ahhh hell i am addicted to google!! It runs my life.  I was looking on my calendar and my next day that has NOTHING on it is March 15th!  Then the next “free” day is June 20th! OMFG! that is the day before Camp starts! HOLY HELL!! I so do not have time to be sick!

If I were sick that would mean….

It means Iwould have to slow down, but i still have three boys that need attention and I do not have the luxury of saying to a spouse, “honey, Im sick, will you cook dinner, get the kids off to school and so on…so i can rest and get better?”  NOPE I have not had that luxury since 2002 and even then, I was a stay at home mom so there was no escaping work!

I have work to deal with, kids to deal with, sailing team to deal with, boats to deal with, yacht club boats to deal with, a house, laundry, dishes, groceries, doctor’s appts, car repairs, picnic tables to sand, teacher meetings to attend and so on, I will go on if you want……  Where do i fit in? I wonder sometimes how this is suppose to work.  My mother gives me no slack,a nd tells me to suck it up and move on.  And to think I am crazy enough to THINK about foster care again!

I think if i could be a foster parent fulltime, teach sailing in the summer and sailing team in the spring, I would be happier and healthier.

I want to take a sick day, hell a couple if I could.  But i suppose it will have to wait until March 15th.  I just hope nothing makes it to the calendar until then.  I am tired now!

four more weeks to go, whos counting?? I AM

Half way through the season, four more weeks to go (but who is counting), we have seen roughly 130 campers, been through bottles of sunscreen, burts beeswax lifeguard chapstick, gallons of water, case of sponges for sponge tag of course, gallons of gas, ice packs and band aids. Even a trip to the ER with a camper that lost her toenail, oooo it was soo gross! Multiply phone calls from parents, and this does not include Community sailing! phew, 90 students in the past two weeks! Oh the paper work!! And the camp inspector came this week!! Passed! but i think i mentioned that already a couple of days ago. I have kids to that have a crazy schedule as well!! i have to find my boys scattered around with different babysitters, they sleep in different places so that they can get to whatever morning activity they have!! Oh and did i tell you i am going to take the dog to doggy manners school?? YUP!! call me crazy!

the boys schedule:

Monday is the free day

Tuesday, one has reading camp another has golf lessons.

Wednesday, two have sailing lessons in the morning

thurdasy, one has reading camp and another has golf lessons

friday is a free day!

I think being in the sun so long, juggling multiple programs, talking to so many people, juggling a house, kids and anything else that is thrown at me….my memory is gone. it is almost concerning how much i just cannot retain, i cannot remember CRAP! it is more of a “put our the fire” mode. so i have been thinking, it is time to take a trip!!! After the next four weeks are over, i am packing up and leaving. where i am not sure, leaving all the options open right now. most likely head up to NH to the condo. hang up the life jacket and put on some walking shoes. or even get the plastic card and start spending money!! I am actually looking forward to getting away after the summer is over and thinking and doing NOTHING!!

phew feel better!! not really, but tomorrow the boys and i are going to lay low. stay out of the sun, perhaps catch a movie or something. we are all so tan, i even had a mom at camp ask me today if i had spay on tan beacuse i was that tan!!!? and that my tan lines on my feet were impressive!! (if i had a camera i would take a picture, i will soon enough)

so there you have it! thats all i got! Enjoy your weekend!

First week of camp! OVER!! 7 more to go!

so week one of camp is over, my kids are tired! (yeah that means what ever money i am spending on camp is well worth it!) and I am beat (i am not getting paid enough money to be doing what i am doing!!).  We had a small group of 24 kids this week at camp! It was great and the staff did as well as expected for the first week.

how quickly life changes with the season, while school was in session, it was easy! out of bed, plenty of clothes to dress the kids in, no lunches to make, kids have to be at the bus stop at 820am.  Nothing to it!! now you know i am dragging my ass out of bed at 6am to switch the wash, and groom everyone in the house and spray everyone down with sunscreen; having to be to work at 8am takes its toll.  I know this is what happens in the summer and i try  to mentally prepare.  And i am sure i asked last summer in the beggining how did i do this last year?  Well again I am asking how do i do this and stay sane? I mean, the amount of towels and bathing suits that have to be washed a week! OMG!

And then i want to do something fun for me, oh yeah i always forget about me!  where is room service? who will do the grocery shopping?  who will wash the windows, hell i will settle for someone cleaning the kitchen or bathroom once in a while!  you know I still want to sail!!  Tomorrow i will be sailing, racing actually with my brother and father.  It is always is a trip!  LOL, they forget it’s my job, i teach people how to sail or how to use a power boat….so when i suggest something they are always pleasantly surprised I CAN DO IT!

But I have to say, I am having a hard time though balancing work, and friendships.  I am not sure why or what is happening with this one friend.  I am being pulled in so many directions with work and kids, lately though this friend is distant.  Not really there anymore.  something happened.  I am afraid my feelings were hurt a while ago.  and then it festered and now it almost seems like so much time has gone by.  i really do not know what to do.  as i said, life is CRAZY. I sometimes am so tired from the hectic day i do not pull back the covers on my bed, i just collapse into bed where ever i land and fall asleep with glasses on.  imagine if i had a spouse?

so my best action is to let it be and what ever happens happens. I will wait it out.  this is hard because this friend has been such a huge part of my world, a rock when needed.  and now nothing.   I know i should be more proactive, but i always feel like i am the proactive one.   I am afraid i will lose this friend but lets face it i am tired.  Is this selfish? 

“I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions. — Augusten Burroughs

Camp has started summer has started

The swirl we call summer has started!  OMG…six days a week i am at camp.  Lets give you a short break down on how my next 8 weeks will go…

Sunday, drop off kids with parents by about 1ish go to camp.  Welcome new parents and such to camp, prep gs, new sailing asstitants as they come.  opening ceremony. deal with any problems go home.  pack the boys for camp the next day.  go to bed

Monday, up at 6am. Shower, dress everyone, feed everyone, make all children stand for their morning sunscreen spray down….i have marks on the floor to prove it! Drop kids off before 8am.  Get to work, the communte to work from the kids camp is NOT long enough, 2 miles at best!  listen to what ever song i can.  Get to work, greet campers at breakfast, get the run down for the night.  Go out in power boats, lunch, water, more power boats, wishing i could sail.  get everyone off the water, leave at 5pm to pick up tired boys.  get them home, half awake, hose them down, feed them, put in bed, repack bags, do laundry as needed. collapse into bed.

Tuesday, wednesday, thursday and friday…..REPEAT MONDAY.  Friday night just hope the boys want to sleep IN!! Sail on Saturday with brother and father….and so it goes!  AHHH it is a downward slide to the end of 8 weeks.  I am sure there will be lots of fun things!