Unpacking...

Welcome to our life as it comes out of boxes, lots and lots of boxes! How on earth I managed to keep everything Mason needed for an out of town cooking demo in the middle of a move, I will never know. We started moving this time last week and what a long week it was. People seem to be under the impression that because we moved just 3 doors down that the move was somehow easier - not so! Boxing up your whole house, moving it and then unpacking and finding new homes for every single thing you own is a pain in the butt no matter how far you drive your stuff. In any case, we are here and we are tired. The essentials are in place; shampoo in the shower, towels hanging on the racks, clean sheets on the beds, and the couch with working television is in place. The kitchen is functional but we are still pulling things out of boxes as we need them. It will all come together at some point and all will be well. 

Until then, it's back to work. Happy Monday! 

Holy Blazes Batman, it's Hot!

Holy Hotter-Than-Hot Monday Batman! I'm not sure about where you are, but in my lovely little foothill town it's going to be 105 today. Rod, we know you are in Kuwait and you laugh in the face of 105, but you are also more poolside than any Soldier I've known to be deployed so I don't want to hear it! All kidding aside, it is hot and that means drink lots of water and stay out of the direct heat if you can avoid it. 

In other news, this week is moving week. We are renting the house at the end of our cute little loop so we get to keep our neighbors, stay close to the river, Mason's school and both places of employment for Dave and I. Moving is never fun, but moving during what is shaping up to be the hottest week of the year is a double-yuck! Dave and I were looking back and laughing about how we somehow manage to move during the hot months of the year; we spent our first night in the Aeolia house on July 4th 2003 and moved into the Russell Road house in September 2012 (it was hot as blazes that year, too!). 

I was talking to Mason this morning and we were discussing the challenges of the move and his broken arm (things he feels he's missing out on) and I took the opportunity to reiterate what so many of us learned later in life. I reminded Mason that we cannot control all the things that happen to us, but we can absolutely control how we react to them. He thought about it and asked me for an example. We looked at that he couldn't control that he broke his arm and that means he can't ride the knee board behind the boat or go to the skate park on his bike - and those things suck. We turned it around and I said, "Tell me two fun things you can do." His list started out with just going to the river and as we chatted, it grew to many things he could still do to have fun. As I dropped him off at the Boys & Girls Club I reminded him, "You get to pick how you feel about things, choose wisely and you will always be happy." He smiled and in true Mason fashion said, "Yeah mom, with a mom like you it's hard to be crabby." That was the best compliment in a long time! 

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying summertime, I know we are!

Love, Kathy

 

What a Bummer!

What the heck happened this weekend? One minute it was summer fun with bmx bike camp and the next it was first aid and a trip to the urgent care! Yes, on the last day of bike camp Mason took a spill and not only chewed up his face pretty good, but he broke his forearm in two places. He did his best to assure me the arm was just sprained and would be fine, but the instincts of a mom are pretty hard to fool. For all the talking he did of how it was fine, he sure wouldn't let me get near it and the way he was carrying himself and not using it at all told me something different. Mason has it in him to be an academy award winning actor, but the fact is, the drama only goes so far and when he is not truly hurt he will forget the acting to get back to bike riding, swimming and so on. This left hand issue was not so easily forgotten because I could tell it really was hurting him. A quick trip (Yes! We got really lucky) to the urgent care showed what I suspected; the radius is cracked all the way through and the ulna has a crack about half way through, needless to say, Mason will not be attending week two of bike camp. Now it appointment with an orthopedic doctor and a panoramic X-ray of his jaw to make sure that didn't get whacked out of line. I'm sure sorry he had this accident, but the fact remains that I would rather have him outside playing and living life than in the house in front of the television or his iPad. It's all good and he's all boy.

In other news, Dave made it home safely after 19 days away from home working. We celebrated Father's Day with lunch out on Saturday and then on Sunday, Mason made him biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. It was a really nice weekend in spite of the trip to the urgent care. Now it's back to work and more appointments for Mason. We are also packing to move on the first. I will send out our new address when we move for those of you who keep track of such things. I hope you have a dynamite week and make time to do something fun, it is summertime after all!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I know, it was yesterday but there is nothing wrong with celebrating the awesome guys who are our husbands and fathers to our kids. You all know I married a great guy but what you may not know is that I tell him frequently how happy he makes me and how our marriage and family life has so far exceeded my wildest dreams. Sadly, Dave was working out of town and was not home for Father's Day, ah, such is the life of a military family. No worries, the fact of the matter is our family has lots of fun without a holiday so I am certain we will celebrate Dave and make him feel our love! 

Mason is gearing up for summer food demos including the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma this week, the Napa County Fair on July 4th and the California State Fair on July 15th. In addition to cooking, Mason is really loving BMX biking. He started a BMX bike camp today and said it was the most fun he's had in a long time! I love that he wants to try so many things, but the fact of the matter is, there just aren't enough dollars or hours in the day to do all the things he wants to do. Does this sound familiar mom? Yes it does! Mason is just like I was at his age. 

Finally, it's official, we are moving and likely by the first week in July. The time lines are not firm yet, but I have already started purging and packing. It's a blessing and a curse but this is not my first rodeo, we will get through this. I hope all is well with you and yours! 

Epic First Days of Summer Vacation 2014

Happy Monday, 

 

It's been a heck of a weekend but a wonderful welcome to summer vacation for Mason. Dave is off working (an not liking it all that much) while I am holding down the fort and doing my best to make memories with Mason. Late last week I got the opportunity to use two nights in Lake Tahoe at a lovely resort so when Mason got out of school on Thursday I picked him up and we hit the road. He was surprised and excited at what he initially thought was my sheer spontaneity to take off and spend two nights in Lake Tahoe. He realized I had planned it when he saw I packed for the two of us for the couple of nights. It was so fun, Mason had never been to Lake Tahoe during the summer months hence he had never played in Lake Tahoe. We rented a paddle board and I could see he felt an immense amount of freedom as he paddled out as far as he wanted. He ate at an IHOP for the first time, we went to a movie, he played mini golf, we battled it our over several games of air hockey, we worked on his cook book (which we plan to finish this summer) and we tootled the shops - you know how us Partaks like to do that! In the room, we watched TV and ate plenty of crap food. Best of all, we laughed a lot, and that's the best return on this investment I could ask for!

Paddle Boarding!

 On the way home, we stopped at Emerald Bay to take a few pictures, it was awesome. I know we have lots of fun coming this summer, but I don't know that I could top that "Start to Summer Vacation 2014."

 

 

Toes in the sand.

In other news, we have to move. I know, I know, we just got here! Well, it's been two years and the owners of this house want to move their family in. Our lease isn't up until 8/31 but they have listed their house and are hoping to move in before that date. The real pain in the butt about it is we can't use Dave's VA loan until 9/24 when our short sale is officially 2 years old - talk about crappy timing! So now I am trying to work my magic and find a short term rental that will allow us to rent month to month while we shop for a new home. Now for those of you thinking, I thought they were planning to move to the east coast, we are, it's just going to be a few years later while Dave works to finish out his military career so he can collect his full retirement as he moves into he next career as a park ranger. Wish us love and luck because this kind of juggling is no fun!

 

June 5th - Last Day of School

As if that weren't enough, Mason has cooking demos in Petaluma in June, and Napa and the State Fair in July, yeah, life goes on. I hope you are well and enjoy a few of the photos from my trip to Tahoe with Mason.

The Last Week of School!

Happy Monday!

 

This is the last week of school for Mason and to say he is excited would be an understatement. And the start of summer is not the only exciting news in the Partak household, I am working on a great real estate transaction with buyers who were referred to me. We open escrow today and if all goes smoothly, we will close on June 30th. I am over the moon! Dave is still working on classes while planning some continuing education with work, that means 4 weeks away from home, but after 18 month deployments, we laugh in the face of 4 weeks!

Mason and I are gearing up for the summer fair season and cooking demos. We have the Sonoma County Fair on June 18th in Petaluma, the Napa County Fair on July 4th and then the California State Fair on July 16th. Of course there will be lots of time at the river in between cooking gigs. I'm hoping we can squeeze in a camping trip this summer, but we'll just have to see how things play out. We are also planning to see many of our friends the last Saturday in June as David and Lisa Anderson plan to retire. I hate to see them move, but I am excited for them at the same time. It's all good, moving into those next phases of our lives should be exciting and I know David and Lisa are chomping at the bit to get to living the life of luxurious retirement.

What do you all have on the schedule for this summer? I would love to hear your plans, do tell!

Happy Memorial Day!

It's just another Manic Monday...on Tuesday! You all know us Partaks are a busy bunch, but this last week/weekend has been busier than usual. Mason and I have continued to work on the school kitchen project and we have a Community Luncheon coming up this Friday. The school district decided it might be a good idea to invite the community to come to the school, see the kitchen, learn about the plans, and meet the kids who want healthier lunches and to learn to cook. It is also to celebrate Mason's accomplishment of raising nearly $18,000 (of his $25,000 goal) and to share with the community how they can help - in ways other than just financial donations. Mason asked for donations from Dingus McGees, Bootleggers, Chef Gary Gilligan, and Max's Cafe. Jennifer Taggard also offered to donate some food for lunch. It is going to be a lovely luncheon, I'll be sure to take pictures and share next week.

Mason and Dave went to a game convention over the weekend and they both had a great time. I stayed home and spent some much needed time at the river but it wasn't all fun and games for me, I did lots of work, too. On Monday, I showed 8 properties and will hopefully be writing an offer tomorrow. 

Finally, over the last 3 months Mason has been in the audition process for a kids cooking competition and we learned last week that he has been selected as an alternate. We were all a little bummed but Mason took it in stride. He wrote a thank you note to the producer we worked most closely with and asked her to keep him in mind for any other kid-cook kind of projects. She said, "Absolutely!" and even encouraged him to be ready to audition next season. It was a good experience and certainly a real-life lesson in show biz and auditions - there are typically more rejections than there are jobs booked. The good news is that The Food Network Magazine will be featuring Mason's story about trying to raise money for his school kitchen in their September issue (comes out in August), so keep your eyes open for that. Right now, it's time to gear up for the fairs where Mason will be cooking and of course, some fun plans for summer vacation - lots of time at the river!

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and if you did, thank a veteran!