2003 Road Trip

This year the Hobbs decided on a Road Trip for Spring Break. Our plan was to head to San Francisco, stopping at the Redwoods and various beaches in Oregon. In April 2003 Marc was 15, Erin 13, Sean was almost 10, and Niki was 7. Everything was going well, we enjoyed a short stop in Eugene, OR and then a beach near Coos Bay. We were headed to a hotel in Grant’s Pass, OR. That’s when things got interesting!

As we drove along I-5, 10 miles or so out of Grant’s Pass, in a very deserted stretch of road, the engine started smoking. That was a bit scary so we pulled over on the side of the highway. Luckily we did have a phone and AAA so we called for a tow truck. It took awhile because we were out a ways. While we waited I tried to find a closer hotel and cancel the other one. The original hotel kinds gave me trouble but finally gave in and didn’t charge us. We found a Best Western that was closer and near a Chrysler dealer.

Finally a guy shows up with a flat bed tow truck. I got in the tow truck with Niki, the other kids and Curt were on the side of the road while he hooked up the van. I watched out the rear view window of the truck as he began to winch the van up onto the flatbed. Suddenly the chain snapped and our lovely blue van started rolling backwards down the interstate!!! It began to pick up some speed and crossed towards the center and crashed into the guardrail!! Thank heavens no-one came driving in our direction while this was happening.

The tow truck driver was in a state. I am not sure if he was just incompetent or having a bad day or just bad luck but he did then manage to get the van hooked up and on the truck. He dropped us at the hotel as it was pretty late by this point, and took the van to the shop. We found a nearby Applebee’s and could finally relax after a very long day!

We did end up having to stay an extra couple days there while they sorted out the damage and got us a rental van. We then took off for the Redwoods, and Eureka, CA. We wandered about looking at the Victorian mansions and enjoyed a fun dinner at the Samoa Cookhouse. They serve family style at long tables, lumber camp style. The redwood forest is amazing! We really enjoyed admiring the incredible beauty of those trees.

Unfortunately the van was not repaired by the time we were heading home. A couple weeks later I had to take another road trip alone down to Grant’s Pass to return the rental van and pick up ours, but that’s another Road Trip story!!

Just wrote this up for a scrapbook page. I have realized that the little details are gone from my mind. What did the kids think, how did we feel being stuck in Grants Pass. What did we really think of the Redwoods...what did we do in the car all those hours...you really think you won't forget but you do...

Starting Atkins today!

Well this is it! Ash Wednesday! The perfect day to give up something and add something better! I am starting the Atkins diet. I am terrified, terrified of not having the willpower to do this. Terrified of being so crabby and grumpy that I annoy everyone around me. Terrified of failing and staying fat!
For my whole adult life I learned that low fat is it, low carb is wacko. It's been so hard to be at all supportive of Terry and then Patti and then Karen when I am at turns worried about their health and unbelievably jealous of their success!
I still have a hard time internalizing that this ok, all the meat and fat I  want? How can that be good? Won't my cholesterol go to hell? I'll have a heart attack! Ack!
And how can I stay away from carbs? I LOVE chips and salsa! It's my go to, every day, make me feel comforted and loved snack of choice!  I routinely cook extra pasta so I can eat it for lunch and I'll usually have 2 big bows full. I love top ramen with extra peas or corn and cheese. Those whole wheat bagels…yummy! And our favorite family snack is bread and cheese or cereal and milk!
Just writing about them is making me feel bad.
So my first 2 feedings…scrambled eggs with bacon! and then for snack I had tuna mixed with some spicy ranch dressing and a dill pickle half and a cup of beef broth. I am feeling ok. To be honest I didn't feel all that great when I got up or yesterday. Not sure if it's a cold or allergies kicking in. I am just real tired and my throat hurts.
I hope I can do this…maybe some positive thinking will help!

OK, I will be able to do this! I will lose enough weight that it will help my blood pressure and cholesterol, not hurt them. I will stay full on all the tasty meats and veggies I can eat! I will lose 15 pounds in the first 6 weeks and I will lose 30 pounds by Erin's graduation!! I will keep walking and talking with my friends!

I will buy a really great dress, maybe purple, for that graduation and it will be a size 10!!! And maybe some stylish shoes!

so there it is…in black and white! I am printing this out for my Move More Eat Well album and I will work on that today! And I will post this on my blog for all to see! (of course no-one reads that so it's all good!)

Go Karen!!!!

Baby Blue Cords

I am going to confess right off that I borrowed the inspiration for this journaling from someone's blog post. I am not going to plagiarize but I will admit to a few direct quotes. This unknown to me blogger is a great writer!http://www.leewoodruff.com/blog/2011/11/1/my-levis-cords.html
     We can not choose the decade that we grow up in. We can not choose what fashions we will have to look back on. This is a difficult fact of life that anyone who grew up in the 70's and 80's must deal with. "Hands down, it was the most hideous fashion decade of the last millennium, with the possible exception of being a man in the Court of Versailles or during the Victorian bathing era."
   The 70's were the days of hip-hugger pants and super wide bell bottoms, granny dresses, Quiana shirts for guys in those horrible prints with long pointy collars, I actually kind of like the sparkly disco dresses but we weren't wearing those to high school! The guys had to have a mustache and girls, well, it was Farrah Fawcett 'wings' or nothing! 
  There is one fashion statement however that I loved then and love the idea of now, Levi corduroy jeans! In particular baby blue cords! As I recall Levi cords came in lots of lovely colors, greens, browns,pink,and baby blue. They were pinwale cord and softer every time you washed them. I seem to recall they were pretty expensive but I know I did own at least that one pair. Pretty sure it was 1975 or 76.
     "Those of you Levis jeans and cord wearers, lets pause reverentially to think about the leather tag stitched on the back right hand side of the waist, displaying your inseam and hip size like a butcher’s cut of meat.  Given the societal paranoia women exhibit over revealing their exact ages and dress sizes, this was a bold move.  We never thought about the fact that the pants were fitted for boys, that Levis had yet to discover a woman’s hips or come up with their brilliant concept of personalizing jeans to a woman’s body." At a recent event she says, "We all recalled the pre-back pack years when high school halls were jammed with girls in shag hair cuts clutching books to their chests, all sporting the multi-colors of Levis from the waist down."
   I can't say that I remember my friends being as obsessed with which jeans they had or the color. I think this is mostly because I was a teenager and obsessed with what I was thinking at all times! And what I was thinking about was how great I looked in my baby blue cords with the cool striped sweater or especially the matching mini check gingham shirt. It just matched my eyes and with my newly sun bleached hair I was sure to catch a boyfriend! I was into some older boy at the time who also wore baby blue cords and had blue eyes to match. Not sure he knew who I was or that we ever spoke but I loved his cords and mine!
    I wish I knew what happened to those cords. I happened upon some colored cords a few years back, not blue but green, but when I wore them there was no magic. Maybe because they weren't Levi's or more likely I wasn't 15. 
   As my fellow class of 78er writes, "On a recent weekend with some high school pals, we opened our yearbook from 1978, half-wincing, half awestruck at the absolutely awful styles that reigned.  It was so much worse than we remembered.  The haircuts, those head gear braces straps that wrapped around the skull (really? was that emotional scarring necessary?) the eye glasses (think Charles Nelson Reilly), the over-abundance of facial hair, the unibrows on Miracle Grow.  Don’t get me started.  Our black and white doe-eyed looks of innocence in the face of so many fashion crimes were cringe worthy.  How could we have been so oblivious?

There I was, standing with the rest of the year book staff, my loud polyester print shirt shining, my bangs feathered and curled back like the Flying Nun about to lift off.  And yes, there they were, my baby blue cords, slight flare at the leg, riding down on my hips, hanging over my wooden platform shoes. Total proof to myself and my children, that I had once been the living end, the absolute height of fashion."  

    All I can say is I wish I could still feel as fabulous as I thought I looked in those baby blue cords.

Summer Home

I have lived in at least a dozen places in my life. The only place that has been home for my entire life is our family summer house in Southold, NY. It was built in 1937 when my Dad was a baby. Every summer for his whole life he has returned there. Almost every summer of my life I have been there too. There is nothing like the feeling of turning into that last dirt road and knowing in moments you will be home!

Home to sound of the waves and the wind and the doves cooing in the morning and the crickets chirping at night.

Home to the smell of the sea, sunscreen, and old wool army blankets and antique furniture.

Home to the same mantel clock, the same view across the bay, & the same old chair by the window.

Home with family… coffee and reading on the lawn in AM, playing on the beach all day, Hearts on the porch in the evening.

Good food, good times, good memories.

HOME

thinking about thinking day...

I talked to 150 plus people today. Made up a 4 minute spiel about Norway on the spot. I got up and spoke for 5 minutes off the top of my head to thank everyone and talk about GS stuff. And yet I said one snippy sentence to one Leader and I can't forgive myself. I apologized in person and in an email and still I feel like a failure. Is this normal or is it just me?
I was sarcastic with Voraya but I think she's ok with that. I let Christine and Bettye take photos and have fun with the girls and I saw nothing again. OK, pity party for Karen!! Pathetic.
sigh.....

My almost prize winning photo!!

Last year sometime we discovered this amazing app for the iphone called Hipstamatic. It’s an old school camera app that looks like an old pocket camera and takes square digital photos with a variety of ‘films’ and lenses. It’s loads of fun for artsy shots. When the Mullen’s and us went to see Cinderella at the 5^th Ave in December, I took a shot as we walked through the street in Seattle.  On New Year’s day as we relaxed over at the Mullen’s, I noticed the Hipstamatic folks were running a contest, Merry Hipstaholidays. On a whim I entered this shot that was still on my phone. It got posted to Facebook and that’s when the crazyness started!

I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask for a few votes, see what I could get, well it snowballed from there. I only mentioned it a few times and then my fabulous friends started reposting my request and more people voted for me and by the end I had over 150 votes! There was only 5 days of voting and only 1 vote per person so I think it was truly amazing! I felt embarrassed and loved and appreciated all at the same time! In the end I came in 6^th!! Top 5 got the prizes, free prints.

I was so pleased that friends from all over the country got involved, several folks even reposted it to their pages to ask their friends to vote! It would have been cool to win just for the bragging rights but it was still a great boost to my self esteem to get to #6!

Here are some of the posts on FB.

January 1 - Please take a second and vote for my photo at Hipstamatic! Only next 5 days! Thanks!!

January 2 - I'm moving up in the rankings...can you take a second to vote for me! Thanks!

January 3^rd - I'm at #37! Not likely to win but I have 3 days to get more votes! Thanks!

January 4 - Hi could you take a minute and vote, I know it's silly but I am at #24 and voting ends in 2 days, only 1 vote per person! Thanks!

January 5- Hi FB friends, family and friends of friends! I am beyond pleased at the fact that 90!!! people have voted for my photo! There is one day left but you can only vote once so thanks for voting!!! I am at #12 this AM and it makes me happy .

Mj Bortugno Just did it Karen good luck, Great pic!

Pamela Barrows found it, I didn't scroll down far enough. You got one more vote.

Cynthia Connolly just voted for you

Sarah Lynn Rhodes It's not silly!

Pj Rich I just voted for you.

Gail Schneider Kushner Love the picture Karen! You're now at 12!

Diane Maus I voted for you, Karen!

Jan 5 –later- I am so pleased and happy that so many friends, relatives and strangers have voted for my photo! I am at #9 now (top 5 win...) but there is only about 10 more hours to vote and despite all your confidence, the others have over 200 votes, I am at an amazing 120!

I am thrilled to have gotten this far on something I entered on a whim.

If you have not voted yet, I would love it if you did but already I have surpassed any expectations I had for this little contest. Thank you

January 5- evening - #6 !!!

The photo contest ended and I am so excited because even though I missed winning by 1 place I totally feel like a winner!!! Over 150 friends, family and friends of friends voted for my photo! THANK you all so much! Extra thanks to Kerry, Jill, Celeste, Caitlin,Patty, Erin, Niki and anyone else who shared this with their friends.

I really can't express how wonderful it makes me feel to know that you all would take the time to vote. I am glad to know you all! Thanks again!

Ally Wawrin too! Thanks Sweetie! I think it was your pleas that got those last few votes

Karen Hobbs And Wanda, Julie and Pam too! I have the best friends!

Ellen Edington It was a fantastic picture!

Phoebe Arancio You are a winner my friend...we've known that since Girl Scout days!

Celeste Johnston You are #1 in our book.

Rock Climbing Then and Now!

Terrified! Then and now!!

Technically I was rappelling in 1979 but despite the smile it looks like I have on my face I was terrified! This cliff was huge and I was supposed to just casually back off into the abyss with only a rope holding me up! However this was with ROTC and all the guys were cheering me on and acting like it was easy so I had to save face and just go! As I recall once I got over the edge the first time it wasn’t too bad and I think I actually kind of liked it! Pretty sure Bobby, my boyfriend at the time, was there at the top encouraging me too.

Since then I haven’t rappelled but I have gone indoor rock climbing several times.  A few years back I decided I just wasn’t cut out for this sport any more.  However this summer at the ‘Rock On’ Girl Scout Day Camp I didn’t really have an option! They brought in a portable climbing rock and all the girls got to try.  I was not going to try but then my little girls started chanting Pepper, Pepper, Pepper! I had to go for it! I started out okay but about half way up I started to panic! I was practically begging the belayer to let me down but he patiently just kept saying, you can do this, one more step.  The girls were chanting, the sun was shining, and I was racing Goldilocks to the top! If only my body wasn’t so terrified! I didn’t want to look like a chicken in front of the girls so I kept going. One more step and one more step. Finally I rang the bell at the top, thrilled that I had held myself together long enough to make it! Despite trembling from post climbing stress for an hour afterwards, I must admit I was pretty proud of myself!            

So 32 years apart I faced my fears (so I wouldn’t look scared!) and successfully rappelled down and climbed up a sheer rock face. Yeah for me! 

I'll have to see if I can figure out how to add photos! but this is journaling!