Category: Travel & Vacation

Trips, road miles, and getaways.

Queen of the Juggle > Travel & Vacation

‘Nina is here…quick trip to Vegas…houses

Posted on by Sherri

Christina came in to be with us on 10/13.  We’re so happy to see her!  The boys were so excited and I took Carter with me to go to the airport.  Makes me smile to know she’s here for a couple of weeks.  Brandi came on Thursday and Friday to show ‘Nina the ropes.  ‘Nina is taking over caring for the little guys and spending time with us. 

The next day after ‘Nina came in I jetted to Vegas on a buddy pass.  I took the day off and met with Maria and saw Sweet Jewel.  Much better than I expected.  🙂  Took pictures of the lawns as we know we’ll have to fight it later.  Unfortunately our renters at Fair Play couldn’t pay this month.  So they will be using their deposit to pay rent.  This stuff is really miserable, but at least we have an offer (cash) on Fair Play.  We’re just waiting for the bank to approve it.  Unfortunately our credit is fairly wrecked.  All due to the houses.

Went to lunch with Deann, so nice to see her and talk with her.  What a good, good friend she is.  Enjoyed Pink Taco at the Hard Rock.  After seeing the houses I picked up Gillian and then we waiting for Kaitlyn.  Picked up Kaitlyn and then her friend Tia.  What a nice girl!  JF is moving and going bankrupt so the girls showed me where their new home will be.  It is amazing to me how he can weasel…weasel…weasel and weasel again to get his way.  Anyway, took the girls to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner then we did a little browsing at Burlington and Borders.  Dropped off the girls, took the car rental back and headed to the airport.  Whew!  Such a long day and quick trip but worth every minute.

Ben "poops the pottie", Tahoe and Girls leaving

Posted on by Sherri

Ben poops in the potty.  Literally a log.  Probably TMI, but totally true.  He didn’t like it at all either.  He cried, but it was probably the better considering he crosses his legs and twists himself and then cries while he holds it in.  Poor little guy just hasn’t put it together that it is so much easier when sitting on the potty.  Hopefully it’s the beginning of not buying diapers for 4 kids.

Went to Tahoe on Thursday (8/12).  It was a glorious day!  We couldn’t have asked for a better day!  So lucky for us for sure.  I’m so glad to be a part of RTT to connect with my peeps, but it also helps to have a bit of a hookup for the Tahoe MS Dixie cruise.  It was fabulous!  We boated out to Emerald Bay.  So, so beautiful.  We enjoyed being in a great space that allowed

Girl leave on 8/13.  Wow.  So hard for me.  It never gets easier.  The girls both want to live here.  Then when they say it, they get guilt ridden text messages back.  Like “I must be a terrible father…I guess I should take back those Lakers tickets”.  Wow…really?  You really think it’s appropriate for a father to blame his children for not wanting to live with him?  Kaitlyn has been real clear for months.  Gillian took it upon herself to mail JF a letter explaining her position.  He just rejected it and said that it was because she was here in Reno that she felt that way.  He also tells her that the judge decided and that’s the way it is.  Funny how it’s changed from him supporting what they want (when they wanted to live in Vegas) to “that’s the way it is” when they want to be in Reno.  What a gem.  Blaming the kids.  Rock on JF!  What a rat bastard.  I’m certain he thinks I put the ideas in their heads.  Little does he know that buying them everything doesn’t buy love and family.  HELLLLOOOO! But no, he cannot think that way.

Vegas Visit – The houses….oh the houses.

Posted on by Sherri

Last week I was in Vegas for both work and personal stuff. It was quite eventful, even though I wasn’t even there 48 hours.

Tuesday morning started at 4:30a to catch a 6 a.m. flight. In Vegas I picked up the rental car and raced off to a business breakfast. Then over to our former home, which we are renting (Sweet Jewel). The new renter is in the process of moving in (over the last couple of weeks). There was a ton of damage to the house from the former renters. Although our new renter had sever well over 200 pictures of the property, it didn’t really do it justice. When I arrived our handyman was there along with the new landscaper who ironically lives around the corner and has lived there for several years. In any case, I walked up and met the two of them and then took the grand tour of damage. The backyard by far was the worst. The landscaper said he’d hauled off over 15 bags of debris and dead foliage. The backyard grass was completely dead. The inside had a lot of damage from being dirty to crayon on the walls to destroyed paint and cracked light fixtures. Very disappointing to say the very least. Truly amazing that human beings can be so inconsiderate of others property.

I had been in the house a few times over the last year but hadn’t seen the upstairs. Downstairs was just dirty.

After a quick business lunch I headed over to our other rental house (Fair Play). The renters have been there almost 3 years, so it’s a good feeling to know that they take pretty good care of the place. They also put up with the entire plumbing system being redone. Not everyone could live through that! Once over in that community and driving up to check on the house I found the lawn to be pretty crispy, but not dead. It wasn’t fun to find it and I wasn’t very happy about it. I left a message for the renters and continued on with work meetings.

During the day Chip had called and asked some questions about our computer system. It seems that we have an intruder…someone we know…is downloading documents and photos that don’t below to them. It’s shocking and a complete violation. It’s also incredibly illegal. We’ve taken action, but who would’ve thought. People are just amazing.

Quite the eventful week for sure. The one bright spot was more successful business meetings and staying with our dear friends the Tellos.

Dreaded day back to Vegas…

Posted on by Sherri
Yesterday was pretty depressing. The girls went back to Vegas to start school. Whenever the girls come and go Chip and I get more and more bitter about the judge’s decision. I mean really, how could this turn out this way? It was strange taking them to the airport to take off. I found myself almost numb. It hurt a little that even before they took off Kaitlyn was on the phone with John and Gillian was talking to her friend Ellie in Vegas. I sternly asked them to wait another 2 hours and then they’d be there. After they boarded the plane I still was somewhat dazed and sad at the same time. As I have many, many times, I question my decision to move to Northern Nevada. There has just been so much that has challenged us over the last 12 months. Financially, emotionally, even physically.

I’ve been seeing on Facebook over the last week pictures from the annual Orbitz sales meeting. It looked like so much fun. Again pointing me back to really ponder the decision I made to work outside the home, to move, to spend thousands of dollars fighting for the girls only to lose, supporting homes that aren’t in the same city as we are, and not being able to sell any of them. It could be the status quo I guess. Some days I look back and while it isn’t the grass being greener, I often feel that it wasn’t that bad. Was it? Maybe for the first (or thousandth) time it is clearer than ever that we have a small but good network of friends in Vegas. That the damage would have been significantly less with the girls. The relationship between their dad and I is irreparable and the girls feel it. Just one example: I had planned to fly to Vegas with the girls so that I could extend our goodbye a little bit. When Gillian mentioned this to John he told her that my time was over and regardless of whether or not I flew with them he’d be at the airport. On top of the many challenges we face in Reno, their dad gives nothing. No willingness to be flexible. I’ll be punished by him for many years to come. What pains me more is very soon we’ll have to be paying him child support, over $1,000 a month. With that, he’ll continue to give the girls everything, take all the credit for it and I get to fund it. While we had a lot of fun during the summer visit with the girls doing everything from geocaching and hiking to farmer’s markets and swimming, there was a lot more that I wished I could do but the finances are just not there. Nor will they be any time soon. As we figure it, the price to us for moving as far as the girls are concerned are about $2,000 a month between child support and transportation. We are still finishing the final paperwork with my attorney. I asked him point blank what happens if we can’t pay and he said his advice was to think about filing bankruptcy. That is not something we will entertain at all. Hmmm, let me see…John wins custody and child support. In return I get to pay and pay and pay and oh by the way give back everything we’ve worked for to the bank. I think not!

Perhaps this isn’t the forum to be airing all the dirty laundry, but this is our blog and it’s our real life. Chip and I have truly felt the pain of all of this, especially physically. The stress has helped us put on weight. There’s not a lot time or energy to exercise either.

I’m struggling to look at the glass half full when it keeps feeling empty. Especially when the glass half full is that we’re both employed. Glass half empty is as fast as it comes in it goes out.

Virginia City – Girls day out

Posted on by Sherri
Yesterday I took the day off and took the girls, just the two of them and me and headed up to Virginia City. They had asked me a few times to go up there since neither of them had been there. We had a grand day! It started with meeting up with Patrick Gilmore from the visitor’s center. On to the trolley tour that started at the Bucket of Blood Saloon. We heard all about the history of the city, the people and the massive amounts of silver that have come from Virginia city as well as highlights of things to see. After that we did the Ponderosa Mine tour. Really a neat experience to be inside a mine and hear the stories. After that we went on to do the stagecoach ride. Gillian chickened out (it’s ok). Kaitlyn and I did it and it was so fun. Bumpy, but fun. After that we did an old time picture. That was one of the highlights of the day! Gillian wasn’t too sure what to think about it, but me and Kaitlyn jumped right in. After lunch at Red’s we went on to take the V and T Steam train to Goldhill and back. Again, hearing more history. We experienced being “robbed” for charity and a skit to go with it. It was lighthearted and fun. Once back in Virginia City we ended our day with a tour of the Fourth Ward School. More great history and both Kaitlyn and Gillian played on a typewriter. Yes, an actual antique typewriter. Gillian had not ever seen a typewriter like that. They both sat in the historic desks. Gillian asked me what a dunce was when she saw the cap in the corner. I had to laugh as I explained it. We ended the school tour with both of them ringing the bell. The historic class pictures were just amazing. After a great day of playing tourist, we headed back home. When I asked them what they thought of the day, Kaitlyn said it was everything she thought it would be. Gillian said it was “way cooler” that she thought it would be. Both of them want to go back again. It was a fabulous girls day. We spent a long day up there and didn’t even scratch the surface of what a visitor can do. It’s so worth driving up there.

Glass Half Full

Posted on by Sherri

I’ve been thinking a lot about blogging lately and finally have taken some action! Here’s the first one…

So many ideas have been running through my head this last week. I love it when it feels like there are no limits. This particular post is a long one, but then again, my thoughts have been going crazy rattling around in my head.

As most know, we moved to Reno last July and it has been a rough road. Since about last August, my glass has been pretty much half empty. The lists of why is long and distinguished. Lots of financial stress, the terrible move we endured with Puliz moving company, houses in Vegas, the legal battle with John over the girls (and losing the very expensive battle), beginning a new job that I quickly discovered that I’m not truly passionate about, discomfort at learning this new job and not really liking the whole hotel/casino deal, and finally working at an office instead of at home like I had for the last 6 years. Combine that with little free time and consistent weight gain. What a wonderful place to be. Not so much.

This week a childhood friend of my mother’s is visiting. Artis and mom have known each other since before kindergarten. Both have seen and been through a lot. Artis was diagnosed about a year ago (I think) with pancreatic cancer which really was a rare bile duct cancer. She’s had surgery and is trying to recover. Her cancer cannot be cured. She’s optimistic about miracles and experimental treatments, but her doctors have told her that it’s terminal. I personally have not spent much time with Artis in my lifetime, but having her here and staying with us has really forced me to think about things in my own life. Observing the various levels of difficulty that she is enduring with doctors, medication, and her body make my life look like a cakewalk. Artis is also battling her illness without any immediate family support.

Over the last few days it has become apparent to me that I clearly have been looking at my life situations as “glass half empty”. I’ve replayed some of my conversations with my family and friends. They’ve been about how bad things are. How my relationship is broken with the girls, how hard it is to financially recover from the move, how I’m ashamed that I’ve gained so much weight. Frustration over my job. How dirty my house is and on and on and on.

When Artis arrived this last Wednesday evening, I saw a frail woman who was clearly exhausted by the 8 hour drive she made from Vegas to visit mom. Although I didn’t know her well prior to this visit but Artis came right in and felt comfortable talking about her illness and struggles. She asked me to help her with some medication and I did. After Artis went to bed, I was really emotional. Sad for her. It stuck with me through the night. I wondered how I could possibly think for a moment that things were so bad for me when this woman, who has endured enough heartache, and has rebounded from terrible situation countless times, gets terminal cancer.

I went into work the next morning, raw with emotion. Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about my own negative thoughts. Everyone I know has been told the sad story of what has happened to my family since the move to Reno. As the workday wore on, began to feel grateful. Grateful for the people in my life, grateful for being employed. Grateful that I can work on repairing the relationship with the girls. Grateful for my amazing husband. Grateful that the people in my life happy and healthy. Grateful that I can turn around weight gain. I know what to do. Although I was really tired the entire day, it was clear that I can’t wait another day to try to improve my situations. Life is simply too short. Very cliche I know, but I truly felt and still feel that way.

As mom, Artis and I have talked these last few days, I find that Artis has faith, is optimistic and will talk to me about anything. She puts herself out there. We were talking just last night about home decor and my aspiration to turn my house into a comfy lodgelike environment. I remarked that maybe someday it’ll happen when I win the lottery (I don’t gamble) and then I’ll finally be able to do it. Artis right away jumped in and said that are so many things I can do without a lot of money. She began talking about finding things at yard sales, wrapping twine around vases and ways that I can put nature into my vision of pine cones and rustic furniture. She became passionate about how to do things simply, naturally and creatively. As we talked, I found myself engaged in the conversation but also watching her. She was in the moment. It was a beautiful thing. She’s living so in the moment, both mom and Artis are going to teach me how to paint with acrylic paints on a blank canvas. Artis taught mom not too long ago and I’m happy that she’s up to it and willing to spend her time doing that rather than something else. I can’t wait!

As for myself, I have a renewed commitment for living in Reno, which by the way has been beautiful, and working toward changing the various situations I’m dealing with. Perhaps Artis has impacted me so deeply because I wasn’t able (thank goodness) to watch my dad deal with his surgery and cancer. We were busy resting and growing little boys. I guess I’ve never seen it so closely. I’m trying not to over think it. So, with that, my glass is full!

Ben says cookie and mom heads to Alaska

Posted on by Sherri

3/8 – Ben says cookie!!! The boys are doing great. 18 mos. old today. Time has certainly flown by. Mom went to Alaska for a couple of weeks to see Artis, whose cancer has spread to the lungs and possibly her bones. It was very spontaneous and only somewhat understandable. Based on the circumstances of Gary’s death she wants to see Artis alive. Very understandable. It’s also amazing to hear what she felt and saw there. People rolling their own cigarettes because they can’t afford them. Bodies that break down like Steve’s, preventing him from going up the stairs to bed. Meth eating away the lives of people who know no better. Sad really…she also saw tremendous beauty in the mountains, snow and the people she hadn’t seen in such a long time. She also, in my opinion kept the past the past by not going to Kasilof.

Fred and Celia were available to take over until mom came back which was good.