Blogger Problems

Well, Blogger has been a pain to log in to. I've had to come through the "back door" by posting a comment to my blog and then getting to dashboard through that (thanks to someone on the Help Forum who suggested this). The Help Forum has been useless as far as response from the Blogger people. Everyone's computers could not have gone "blooey" all at the same time. It's got to be on the Blogger/Google end. And the "customer service" attitude has been sadly lacking as well. They also seem to think that because only 100 people are complaining that it's a small problem. They apparently don't know that statistically for every 1 person that you hear from, 10 more are having the same problem but not complaining.

Link to New Site

Karin (L.) has started a new blog at http://boosmanbunch.blogspot.com/ since she was having trouble posting to this one during the transition to blogger.com

Test

This is just a test because I have been unable to post to the blog for over a year now

ReBoot!

Well, I had been having some trouble posting to the blog for the last few months, so I'm going to try again.

Hi Again

Well, we have certainly been remiss in keeping the blog up for the last 6 months or so. Kelsey does have some pictures from her Girl Scout Camp experience this past summer. She was a Wrangler-in-Training at Camp Mary Atkinson for 2 weeks and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In the meantime, Kelsey is still particiapting in color guard with Apex Middle School and on December 6, 2003 they once again marched in the Apex Christmas Parade.





She still enjoys participating in color guard and hopes to continue next year with the Apex High School Color Guard.

Happy Holidays!

Summer in the City

Well, I can't believe that it has been so long since anyone posted anything on the Family Blog. It's been both a boring summer (from the kids' point of view) and a busy one (from Mom's point of view). I've been very busy with work. I had two people out on Maternity leave for a big chunk of the summer plus covering for vacations and such. I'm actually taking my vacation this week and while the kids and I aren't actually going anywhere, I hope to find something to entertain us.

Kelsey went to two weeks of camp with the Girl Scouts. This year she was a W.I.T. which stands for "Wrangler-in-Training". That meant that she got to help younger girls learn horseback riding. She also got to work a lot with the horses; taking care of them. The thing that most amazed me is that she had to get up at 5:30 every morning! And she did it! Around here I'm lucky to see her by 10:00 am!

The boys didn't go to any camps this year, so they've basically been honing their videogame and remote control skills. I hope to get them out of the house this week...of course, one of the things they want to do is go to an arcade to play video games! Given that they are getting to an age that they wouldn't really want to spend that much time with their parents I'm actually quite pleased that they want to do anything as a family! Actually all of them still talk about wanting to take a cross-country RV trip together. It's something we have talked about for a long time but never have been able to financially pull off. I'm not sure if we will get to do it because I'm figuring that next year Duncan will have a summer job and maybe Cameron, too. But...we will see what we can do. I would still like to take them to Hawaii someday but it looks like maybe they will have to find their own way there! Time just goes by so quickly and the next thing you know they are all grown up.

Well, it's that horrible time of year here in North Carolina...Summer! As long as I've lived here (and it's about 7 years now between the two times that I've been here) I've never gotten use to the summers. I was so spoiled growing up in California...who knew about humidity? Well, I do now. Today's it's going to be in the 90s and about the same in humidity, which means we will probably see a thunderstorm later today. But, that will cool it off a little for tomorrow. I can't wait for Fall.

Once Kelsey gets her pictures back from camp we will post them. The kids all start school on August 11th so I wanted to take some time off to spend with them before they went back to school. Duncan will be in 10th grade, Cameron will be in 9th and Kelsey will be finishing off Middle School in the 8th grade. And they are all now taller than I am!

Take Your Daughter To Work Day

April 24 was Take Your Daughter (and Son) to Work Day and Kelsey came with me to work. In previous years she has visited her dad's different workplaces and also went with me to Learningsmith, Hobee's and Barnes and Noble. (I think Hobee's was her favorite because of the free food). Anyway, this year she came with me to Cardinal Health to hang out in the Document Control Unit. Even though boys were invited this year both Duncan and Cameron opted not to come. Both had been to my work at other times and had not been impressed.

Anyway, Kelsey had a good time. For someone who is so disorganized at home she can be quite organized in a work situation. When I asked her about that she said "I don't like organizing my own stuff...I like organizing other people's stuff!" She enjoyed making photocopies, alphabetizing and filing. She also got to destroy some old documents which she thought was a lot of fun (destruction being something that she is very good at). But the most fun she had was when we had to walk through one of the labs in order to get to another CDR (controlled document room). She had to put on a lab coat and lab glasses and she thought that was a hoot! Here she is:


Overall, she had a good time and was a lot of help. I don't think she is going to make document control her career (she still wants to be a vet) but at least she has an appreciation for the work I do.

Now It's My Turn...

Well, today is my 47th birthday. See...I said it out loud. Really, the age itself hasn't bothered me. I think I was more bothered by the kids getting older.

Anyway, my co-workers did my office all up with an Hawaiian theme. Here a picture of the entry:


Here are pictures of the interior:



My co-workers have heard me talk a lot about wanting to take the kids to Hawaii and my own desire to visit Tahiti someday so they decided to go with that. I count myself lucky...not only because they thought enough of me to do this but because my boss also has a birthday (tomorrow) and they did his office all up with black balloons, a fake wheelchair and put a sign on his door that said "Geriatric Ward". Of course, he was turning *50* and that made all the difference!

Tonight I'm meeting with my co-workers for a dinner celebration and then I'm going to open the presents from the kids and Frank. All in all, a very pleasant birthday!

Turn Around, Turn Around....

When I was growing up there was a Kodak commercial that used to play during "Wonderful World of Disney". I don't remember all the words, but it went something like this:

Where are you going my little one? Little one? Where are you going, my baby, my own?
Turn around and you're one, turn around and you're four. Turn around and you're a young girl walking out of the door.

There were more verses and the song ended with "a young wife with babes of your own". I've always remembered that song and as I posted about Duncan turning 16 a few weeks ago, today I think about the fact that at 2:32 tomorrow morning Kelsey will be 13 years old....a teenager, a young woman. My baby...my own.

All my life I wanted a daughter. Perhaps it is because we hope that our children will have the life that we never had. And being a woman, I wanted a little girl to have the life I didn't have. As I said in Duncan's post, I wasn't sure what to do with a son. But a daughter I would understand...or so I thought!

For the longest time I didn't think that I would ever have children and then someone came into my life that I wanted to share the rest of my life with and I was lucky enough to be given 3 really cool kids with him. And my last one...my baby...was a little girl. We had already decided that boy or girl the third one would be the last and so imagine our joy when we got a little girl! We love our sons but it is so cool to have both genders. Her daddy cried when she was born and I couldn't believe it. In fact, I know that's what I said..."I don't believe it" when they told me it was a girl.

It has been cool to have another female in the house...but Kelsey is very different than I am and I am so glad of that. She seems to be a pretty well-rounded individual...very smart, personable and creative. And she is so FEMALE! When she was 3, we used to lose her while cutting through Macy's because she would stop in the jewelry department because she liked the "shiny" stuff. Jewelry and shoes have always been her favorite departments.

And so my baby, my last born child is turning 13. God, do I feel old. Of course, I could be a grandmother if I had started earlier, but I'm glad I didn't. I was old enough to feel ready to have children and I have enjoyed almost every minute raising them.

I am so lucky. Happy Birthday, Kelsey Boosman!

Trapped in the House of Screaming Girls...

Kelsey talked me into letting her have a sleepover for her 13th birthday (which is actually tomorrow). While I will post more about my thoughts on my baby being 13 tomorrow, I just wanted to say that I must have been insane to agree to this. The noise level is intense. How do they understand each other at all? And *I'm* a female so you think I would be used to it!
The boys were wise enough to opt to spend the weekend with their father. They tend to find the female of the species (especially 13 year old ones) about the most loathsome creatures on the earth.
I'm sure that I will survive and it's only for one night, but it just makes me realize how irritating I must have been at the same age! Fortunately for my mother, the one time I ever had a sleepover, I only had two friends over so hopefully the decibel level was much lower.
In the words of Jim from "Murphy Brown"....Pray for me.... ;-)

Happy Birthday, Rabbit!

Well, your mom beat me to it and did a far better job of it than I will, but I wanted to wish you a happy birthday as well, Duncan.

The moment you were born, I cried tears of joy. It was an amazing thing to witness. I remember suddenly feeling as if I was a participant in the grand cycle of life. I still count it as one of the happiest moments of my life.

You were one of the happiest babies we or any of our friends had ever seen. You smiled and laughed a lot. You slept through the night at three weeks. You made your mom and I feel like we were good parents, like we must have been doing something right. (In truth, we became a bit arrogant in this regard. When we'd hear stories of friends with babies who weren't so easy, privately we'd tell each other that it was because they just weren't as talented as we were. That theory was shot down when Cameron came along and spent most of his first six months crying. Poor little guy!)

When you were little, you loved to play with my glasses. (I didn't wear contact lenses then.) When I was holding you, as often as not you'd make a grab for them. We used that to help you learn how to crawl -- your mom and I would set you down on the floor in the middle of the living room and then put my glasses just a bit out of reach. You taught yourself to crawl that way -- that's how badly you wanted to play with them! Sometimes I'd move them again, to get you to crawl some more, but please don't think I was cruel -- I'd eventually let you have them for a bit.

We used to say you were a "funny bunny." That became "Bunny," and then later that became "Rabbit." You answered to that nickname until you were -- oh, gosh, seven years old? I don't know -- your mom will know for sure.

I've been very impressed with how you've been growing up the last couple of years. You've become more thoughtful, more contemplative, more self-aware. You want to do well in life. You want to get along with people. You take yourself out of situations when you know you just need some time to calm down -- that's a fairly mature thing that many adults don't know how to do. You're big enough to admit you're wrong from time to time, and to apologize when it's called for. Again, those are things that lots of adults don't do.

I miss my little Bunny, my Rabbit. You were a heck of a little kid. But I like who you're becoming, too. If I had my 2-year-old Bunny or my 6-year-old Rabbit back, I'd miss my 16-year-old Duncan -- truly I would.

So happy birthday, Rabbit, and congratulations on reaching 16. I love you!

(By the way, Duncan, I'm willing to entertain cash offers to avoid sending the URL for this blog entry to your friends at school. Just kidding -- sorry, I couldn't resist. :-)

16 Years Ago Today...

...at 6:15 am Duncan Reynolds Boosman came into this world and changed a "Couple" into a "Family".

I can't believe that is has been 16 years since I became a mother. While becoming a "Wife" was a big transition (and becoming an "Ex-Wife" even more so), I would have to say that becoming a Mother was the biggest transition in my life but has since become the identity that I treasure most. And Duncan is the one that changed me into a mother.

Duncan's first name was chosen because we felt it was different without being odd (though Duncan might disagree). Not only is it a Scottish Clan name (which means "Dark Warrior") but it is also the name of a loyal and true friend in the novel "Dune". (Duncan Idaho). Duncan's middle name is in honor of Frank's high school friend Reynolds (Rink) Storey. There was never any question that our first son's middle name would be Reynolds!

I will admit that having come from a family of girls, I was ill-prepared to raise a son. But, I think I have done a pretty good job of it (along with his father) since Duncan has grown to be a very intelligent, physically adept and loving young man. Oh sure...he still gets too involved in video games and he certainly knows how to yank his sister's chain...but overall I am very proud to be his mother.

One year after his birth, his father and I wrote in his baby book the following words:

From Mom: "I can't believe that it has been a whole year. It seems like only yesterday that you were a teeny-tiny baby and now you walk, have teeth and talk (a little). You were a great baby. Always happy, inquisitive, a good sleeper. We liked you so much we decided to have another one!

Having you really changed me for the better. It's pretty hard to be self-centered and selfish (two of my worst personality flaws) when there is another person relying on you 24 hours a day. I enjoy you immensely. You are my little sweetheart. Someday you will not love me unconditionally as you do now. And I cherish this time.

I think Daddy & I's marriage is the better for you, too. You gave us a deeper sense of commitment; responsibility, then we had before. We are willing to stick things out and not give up. I love you very much, pea."

From Dad:" My dear son, like your mother I feel that you have made me a better person. You have given me a sense of my place in the cosmos, and I now know that I must work to make the world a better place for you and your brother or sister. I know how much you trust me and I try to repay that trust by being the best father I can. I don't always succeed, but I do try my best. You are my "Sweet Pea" or sometimes just my "little pea". It's hard to imagine what life would be like without you. You can be a bad boy when you want to, but on the whole, you're the best little boy I have ever seen or even heard of. It's seems we can't go out in public without having many people come up and tell us how cute and sweet you are. Many people have told us that you should be on TV, but we will only do what is best for you, and so, you shall never be a child star.

I, too, cherish this period of your life. I love you very much and still like to cradle you in my arms as if you were still a little baby. I know I will always be proud to be your father. I love you, Duncan!"

Well, now it's 15 years after we wrote those first entries and I still can't believe the way time has flown by. Things didn't quite work out the way that way that we thought and there have been a few upheavals in our lives that we didn't foresee...but through it all I have still been proud to be Duncan's mother. And, at the risk of embarrassing him I will say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUNNY!

The Courage of Integrity

"The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity...these are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing".

I'm sure you've all seen those little framed "quotes" at stores like Successories and all. Hey, they even make "mocking" ones of those types of things. However, I do have the particular quote above framed in my office and this past weekend I had an interaction that sorely tested my commitment to always trying to act with integrity. One of my children has run afoul of an adult in a leadership role (I'm purposedly keeping this vague) and the actions of this said leader were just something that I had never experienced. One of the other adults involved in all of this said, "Wow, you are being so calm...if it were my child I'd be pissed". Well, I was angry, but I was trying to take the high road as hard as it was to do.

I'm trying to raise the kids with values like integrity, honesty, loyalty, etc. I try to be a good role model for them in these traits as well. But, boy...sometimes it is REALLY hard!

:-)

California Dreamin'

Well, as I said in the previous post, I'm in San Diego. Sometimes I forget how beautiful California can be. I chose to move back to North Carolina for various reasons, but when you experience a beautiful California day (72 degrees, slight breeze...in January!) you remember how lucky Californians are in regards to weather.

Overheard at my hotel this morning:

Man: "The weather and scenery here is gorgeous"

Woman:"Why do you think it's so expensive to live here? If they could, everyone would live in San Diego."

While I'm not sure that is exactly true (my own son Cameron says the snow in North Carolina is one of his favorite things), it is true that for a native Californian you can take the weather for granted...until you leave it!

When I left North Carolina we had snow on the ground and it was 33 degrees. Now, I do like seasons and actually North Carolina has very mild ones (except their hideous summers) so overall, I'm still glad that I returned to North Carolina for the housing prices, the safety, the feeling of community, etc. But, there are a lot of wonderful memories for me in San Diego. Growing up in a military family, San Diego was always "home base" and the place that we always tried to return to. As an adult, I thought I would never leave...but then Frank's career path took us away from San Diego and we never returned as an intact family. The kids and I did live in San Diego for one year recently (May 2000-June 2001) and thought we would stay, but the housing prices (and the kids' desire to go "home") drove me back to North Carolina.

Anyway, I'm in San Diego to conduct an audit of the Document Control division at our San Diego location. Surprisingly enough, my company in North Carolina has an division in San Diego! It's up in the Mira Mesa area and I will be there on Monday-Wednesday. I came out to San Diego a little early to kick back and also to see my family since my mother, sisters, neices and nephews all live here. I will be seeing them a little later today.

Here is a picture of my hotel:


I stayed at this hotel on Shelter Island at first because I wanted to see the water. Tonight I will switch to the "company" hotel where everyone else is staying and then I will stay with my mom for the rest of the week.

View from my room (well, actually after you get through the parking lot):


And my favorite thing in California:


This is the view from the back of the hotel...it has the bay on one side and a marina on the other:


As I said, San Diego holds wonderful memories for me. I was born here, basically grew up here, met the man that I married here, had my first child here. Everywhere I look there are reminders of good times in my life. However, some of the dreams that were dreamed here did not come true...and that's hard, too. I always find myself conflicted when I live or visit here. Almost like I don't belong anymore. I'm not sure where I *do* belong...but I'm thinking it's in Montana raising Huskies! ;-) Oh well, perhaps that will be the next phase of my life!

He Shoots...He Scores!

Cameron has started playing basketball again with the Apex Parks and Recreation. They have a winter league each year. While Cam occasionally plays soccer with leagues, his first love is basketball.

Last Sunday was his first game. Unfortunately, he only played the first half but it was for a good reason...his dad had bought him tickets to see the Carolina Hurricanes play against the Colorado Avalanche (Hockey) and the times overlapped.

Here is Cameron on the court:


His team name is the Tritons and he is number 13. He chose the number.



His team won their first game. Their second game is today, but I won't be there since I'm in San Diego (see next blog entry). I hope they do well today, too.

My Fortieth Birthday

The kids and I celebrated my fortieth birthday last night -- none of us wanted to wait until today. They had the kind assistance of their mom with the arrangements, but they decorated the cake and put up the room decorations on their own. It was great!

Cameron and Kelsey bought what must have been the grocery store's entire stock of black 40th birthday candles. The top of the cake was barely visible under it all. It was really quite cute. Here's the tombstone candle they bought. The wisps of smoke are from all the just-blown-out candles and seem appropriate:



I received some wonderful gifts. Among others, here's a miniature R/C car from my friend Tina (perfect for dining table races)...



...and here's a first-day issue of a Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner stamp from Karin -- I hadn't even known such a stamp was issued.



Thanks to my kids for putting on my birthday party, to my ex-wife for graciously helping them with the logistics, and to everyone from whom I received presents and/or cards. It was all much appreciated!

Geocaching with the Kids

After a few months away from it, the kids and I have gotten back to geocaching, the sport of finding hidden treasure troves using a GPS receiver. Cameron, Kelsey, and I are the ones who go geocaching -- Duncan has decided it's not his cup of tea.

The basic idea is this: you go to the Geocaching.com Website, enter your location, and look for caches located nearby. After choosing a cache to seek, using the GPS coordinates and a GPS receiver, you go hunting for it. Caches typically have logbooks and lots of goodies. If you take a goodie, you leave a goodie. When you get back home, you log your visit on the Website.

Here are Cameron and Kelsey yesterday, searching for a cache in Chapel Hill:



And here they are after we found it:



I was the one who spotted this particular cache -- my first. Cameron has spotted most of them that we've found and seems to have the knack for it.

Geocaching is good body exercise, good mind exercise, a good excuse to get outdoors and into the woods, and mostly just fun. I recommend it!

Where Does the Time Go?

My sister recently sent me a graduation photo of my niece, Kayla. I can not believe that she is a senior this year. I remember when she was born. Frank and I had just started dating. Where does the time go?

Isn't she beautiful?


She's smart, too! I'm waiting to hear which college she gets accepted at. Originally, she wanted to be a doctor of oncology. This came about after my father died of cancer when he was 56 years old. Even though she was only 2 1/2 when he died, she has always remembered her "Papa" and wanted to help other people like him. I'm not sure if that is still her career path, but I know she will be successful in anything she does. Her mom (and her stepdad, Rob) have done a wonderful job in raising her. And she likes forensics (like me), too!

The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown!

I recently received an email from a long-time friend, Robi Zocher. In my Christmas newsletter I had mention the address to this blog and she had checked it out and commented (positively) on it. In her words, " We love the blog! Being competitive and icky, we will now have to create a Zocher Family Blog".

So, now the ball is in your court, Robi (and Eric). I can't wait to see your blog and read about your two beautiful daughters. Maybe this blog idea actually has merit. When Frank first mentioned it, I didn't think much of it. Honestly, it seemed like another way to goof off on the computer. And yet, once I got my digital camera and could post pictures of *my children* on the net I was off and running!

Ironic, eh?

It's Christmas Time in the City....

Happy Holidays to everyone! Christmas in North Carolina was a little odd this year. It really wasn't that cold (probably in the high 40s) and we saw nothing like snow. And, it was the first time since Frank and I separated that we actually "shared" the holiday. Overall, it went very well but for me, there always seems to be a "missing place at the table" at my house.

Because Thanksgiving came so late in the month and then we had the ice storm, I found myself running out of time to get the inside decorations up. (I had actually gotten the outside ones up right before the ice storm). I finally got the tree up on December 22:


I warned the kids that Christmas would be a little tight this year, but I still managed to get them most of what they wanted. Actually, our kids don't *need* much of anything, so I tended to go with more practical items (like books and mittens) and only get them a few "toys". Surprisingly enough, the boy's favorite gifts were two old Super Ninetendo games that I got on eBay for very little money. Who knew?

Kelsey and Cameron opening gifts (notice Daffodil in the midst of things):


Cameron at Christmas.

We asked the kids how they wanted to handle the holiday and they voted for spending Christmas Eve at my house and waking up at my house for Christmas morning. They insisted on watching "Muppet Family Christmas" on Christmas Eve. That had been a family traditon since Duncan was a year old. It was sweet to watch my almost 16 year old son's face light up when Ernie and Bert came onscreen. Ah...Ernie and Bert! I spent many an afternoon on Sesame Street in the early days of my children's childhood. After we watched the video, I asked the kids if they wanted to go out and look at Christmas lights...something that I remember from my childhood. So, we all got in the car and put the dogs in with us and off we went. While in the car, Duncan had this conversation with me:

Duncan: I can hardly wait until I'm a dad and have my own kids so I can go out and do this without guilt.

Mom: What do you mean? Don't you enjoy this?

Duncan: Mom, it's not cool to enjoy this! I'm a teenager!

Of course, I knew that even if it wasn't cool...he was enjoying himself.

After the kids opened their presents, we went over to their dad's house for Christmas Dinner. In my family, we always had the family get-together on Christmas Eve so during most of our marriage Frank and I never really had Christmas dinner. Apparently that always bothered him, so he wanted to make a Christmas dinner this year. For those of you who follow his editorial blog (www.boosman.com/blog) he wrote about how the dinner turned out. For me...if someone else is cooking it, I'm more than happy to eat it! Frank was gracious enough to invite me to share Christmas dinner with he and the kids and I really enjoyed most of the food. I thought the chicken and the pureed fennel was wonderful!

After dinner, I left the kids with their dad to spend the rest of the day and the next day (since I had to work on the 26th and 27th). I was going to go to the movies as I wanted to see "The Two Towers" again, but decided it might look pathetic to be all alone at the movies on Christmas Day. (During our marriage we had all gone to the movies together, usually with friends in tow, on Christmas). So, I decided it was less pathetic to come home and be alone! I actually like having some alone time on occasion and I enjoyed the rest of the evening surrounded by dogs and kitty cats (and watching DVDs of "Star Trek: The Next Generation").

And so our Christmas season has passed here. Overall, it worked out very well as the kids got to spend time with both parents. We are still working out this co-parenting thing but it seems to be working, at least for the kids. I will be honest...the holiday was hard on me. But, life goes on and I'm trying to keep up!

Lest you think we forgot the animals in all the celebration, besides getting to go with us to look at lights, they also got gifts on Christmas morning:


The kitties got little fake mouses and enjoyed them but then Whisper chewed them all up. Typical.

Season's Greetings!