We made it to the West coast! I am currently sitting in our hotel room on the 26th floor in downtown SF. Tom and I spent two days in Sacramento with my younger brother, my awesome sis in law Katie and their two darling kids, we even got to babysit the kidletts and it was awesome. I love spending time with my brother’s family, they have such a loving home. Tom and I took the Amtrak from Sac into the city and it was a piece of cake; next time we’ll take the train from the airport to their house. Today we are headed to Sausalito, even though the dark clouds are gathering. Taking the cable car to the ferry, so exciting. Tom is working the rest of the week and I’m on my own, tomorrow I’m having lunch with my dad’s cousins son, we went to high school together, but don’t really know each other too well. Really looking forward to getting to know him, he seems so funny and awesome and sort of a black sheep, just like me . All righty, Tom is getting out of bed, so our day now begins!.

When I was younger I hated being alone, I always wanted someone around entertaining me, now that I am older I don’t mind being alone. A fantastic opportunity opened itself up to me and I’m grabbing hold of it, Tom has a convention in San Francisco the same week that I’m off for spring break, so we flew my Idaho mom down here and she’s watching the kids and dogs and we’re taking off. We rarely take vacations without our kids, we really like hanging out with them, but it’s time we cut the cord and go our separate ways… for at least a few days. Tom has convention business every day from morning til dinner and so I’ll be on my own, all alone in the great city of San Francisco! I bought a tour guide book and a map and am planning on riding cable cars, walking the city, shopping and hanging out. I will know that city like the back of my age spotted hand! I’ve packed my two suitcases, you never know what kind of weather you’re going to find there, my laptop, school books and a few other reading materials and I’m ready. I’ll be updating my blog and also twitter, which my name is Christinashouts, so enjoy my spring break, cause I know I’m gonna!

Today Simon and some friends took their first parent-less road trip to the University of Florida. Simon has been eager to get to his future home and check out the campus. The group of 5 of them met up early this morning and took off for the 2 1/2 hour car ride. Simon’s goal was to get his grandfather a golf shirt, we have a tradition where we buy grandpa a golf shirt from each of the colleges we attend. So far we have UCF, Mizzou and now UF! Simon is also going to pick me up a “mom of a Florida Gator” sticker for the back of my car, to be placed directly underneath my “Mizzou MOM’ sticker. Being the kind of mom that I am, I love bragging about my kids accomplishments and love showing the world where my smart boys go to school.

In other huge Simon news, his band Ridikulous Notion took 3rd place in the LMHS Battle of the Bands. This is an amazing fact since up until 3 weeks ago, most of the kids didn’t know each other. They played three songs and rocked them all. The audience loved the band and clapped and sang along with them. Good job guys!

I am taking a sick day from school today. I am achy and my throat hurts, plus I have a math test and am NOT ready to take it. ( I can be honest). Things have been really crazy around here lately. I’ll make one of my popular lists and tell you what’s going on

Simon made it into UF, that is the University of Florida, the Gators!
Simon and Julia were voted cutest couple of their graduating class
Simon is performing in battle of the bands this Friday night
Olivia has been very busy with various school projects
Tom seems to be doing a lot of extra work late at night in the home office
I am feeling lost and confused
School is hard
Life is hard
I am going to San Francisco for spring break with Tom
4 classes was probably too much to take
Slope and intercept are dumb
I made a pie this week called Crack Pie
I gave up soda for Lent
My brain is about to explode because I gave up soda for Lent
It has been the coldest winter ever here in Florida, it’s almost like a real season
The Olympics make me wish I was 10 again and could choose a rockin sport to try, like snowboarding
I’ve seen Valentines Day twice
Dear John made me bawl like a baby
School is hard
Tommy is feeling much better and is over Mono
Tommy has a radio show on Saturday afternoons, it’s awesome!
There you go, that’s my life.

Things are pretty normal around here. Tommy and his girlfriend have mono. Simon and his girlfriend are going to Universal Studios tomorrow on an excused day off of school. Tom stole my Kindle and is now reading his own books. Olivia was asked to participate in some instructional cheer videos today, AND get paid for it. I’ve been doing homework like crazy. The older I get the less memory I have, I am convinced of this fact. I seem to know the test material before the tests, but not so much once the tests start. This semester is keeping me busier than I have ever been. Simon is in battle of the bands in 2 weeks and is participating in Mr. Lake Mary again this year. Olivia has competition season starting, Tom has jury duty next week, Tommy started a new job at a restaurant in the union at his school, and I am tired.

Today is my dad’s birthday. I could go on for hours waxing poetically about all of his strengths, but I’ll say what I need to in one sentence.

Me and my dad

My dad is the perfect man, in every single way.

Happy Birthday Daddy xoxoxo

I’ve been spending way too much of my free time studying math. I won’t say it hasn’t helped, but man has it hurt. I was actually able to help a fellow student with exponents today and that felt pretty good. My math teacher is seriously being a dork, he is claiming there is a new rule at the school that mandates test corrections, fine whatever. But he isn’t giving us any credit towards our test grade for doing it, just giving us a ZERO if we don’t. I complained sort of loudly and may have said “this is bull S*$&” he didn’t appreciate it and told me in class that this is college and that type of language won’t be tolerated, okay mister 28 year old BOY! Frustration was pouring out of me last Thursday, I’m now over it and able to kinda laugh about it, maybe, sorta. Tomorrow is my math test and I’m nervous, but I’ve done everything I could do to prepare for it. I also have a huge psych test that I been ignoring because of math, so tonight I’m psyching out!

My dear sweet neighbor has been suffering from some very serious health issues for 5-6 years. Her liver is failing and she can’t get on a transplant list because of previous cancers that she has had. She has been basically bedridden for a few years. She is one of the most upbeat people you’d ever meet, even when she is feeling down I’ll hear her cute voice from across the street yell out “Hi Christina”. Today I came home from school to see an ambulance, fire truck and a few police cars on the street between our homes. She has been taking medication that makes her ammonia levels in her blood go sky high, causing her to become delusional and paranoid. Today she took too many of her pain meds. As they wheeled her out of the house and into the waiting ambulance my heart was breaking for her husband and their son (that lives with them). She looked so tiny on the stretcher. She is currently in a coma and isn’t breathing on her own. I had Simon run some dinner over to their house tonight, hoping that it would relieve some of their stress. I am feeling guilty, helpless and like a loser. Why didn’t I go over more often and hang out with her? Why couldn’t I drop emails to her more often? My conscience is weighing heavily on me tonight. I’m turning to God to see if he has any answers.

Adopting one child does not change the world, but for that one child the world will change