Two Girls For Mama

Indians and Cereal Box Book Reports

2012-01-24T09:59:00.000-08:00

This weekend was all about school projects.
Shawna’s class is studying American Indian’s. She was given the Yurok Tribe to do a report and art project on. The report part was fairly easy given she’s in 3rd grade. I wasn’t sure how the

Art project would go. She could do a drawing, mask or diorama. She (we) choose a diorama. We had a bunch of stuff left over from Paula’s Mission project last year like grass, trees, rocks, animals. I just had to buy

A couple more Indians and some glue.

Shawna drew a picture of their traditional house, knew exactly where she wanted the trees and deer to go. She even came up with the idea to puncture the grass with the bottom of the tree, then insert the tree bottom, kind of like putting an earring thru an ear hole. This way the tree’s would stand up better. It worked great.

Todd and Paula left the house so I could concentrate. I can’t help with these projects if others are in the house making noise and stuff. In 2 hours we had her project completed.

Paula’s project day was Sunday. Hers was a cereal box book report. Her book was WAR HORSE. If you’ve never read the book the book is told by the horse. The movie is told by the boy I’m told.

She had to create a cereal using her book as inspiration. She named her Cereal Horse Pops. A toasted vanilla cereal shaped in a horseshoe. Her project took like 5 hours. She had to create a game for the back of the box. She made up 2 games. A prize was optional. We had a horse prize to put inside. On the sides of the box you had to list the Ingredients (main characters) and summary of the story. As the kids get older the details get more intense.

I have scrapbook supplies I used to use for scrapbooking, but now they are just for these activities.

Todd and Shawna took off at 11am to his parents house to help with his dads computer. They didn’t return until 5pm.

Paula had just finished her project In fact, we were still tweaking it a bit even after they returned home.

She’ll turn it in tomorrow. I still need to snap a picture of the cereal box.

Lighthouse Adventure & more

2012-01-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend my family and I went camping in Pescadero to a place called Costanoa KOA. It's sandwiched between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. Pescadero is famous for Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

photo

We toured the grounds, went into the visitor store and purchased Girl Scout Pigeon Point Lighthouse patches, a book on dolphins and a paper book mark. All in the spirit of supporting the lighthouse. At least that’s what I told myself as I was shelling out the dough.

there is another building where the original light lives. The light in the lighthouse now is the 3rd light since it's erection. heh

There was a man there to tell us all about its history. Once we were done checking out the lighthouse the girls checked out tide pools for fishy critters. They discovered many fun living creatures.

We spent time in the campgrounds riding bikes and not freezing our fannies off.

The campgrounds were nice and clean. Although the nearby horse stables did not smell nearly as nice as the ocean.

I had to work on Monday where everyone else in my family had today off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day so Todd and the girls went home around noon while I left the campgrounds before 8am.

It was a great time had by all. We were overdue for a camping adventure. This one fit the bill.

Field Trip

2012-01-13T13:56:00.001-08:00

Yesterday both 5^th grade and 3^rd grade attended a play on Tom Sawyer. Thankfully both my kids are in those grades so I was able to be a chaperone and kill two birds with one stone. Which is to say, I attended a field trip for both my kids but it only cost me 1 day out of work. Heh.

I was technically a driver and had another mom in the car with me. I had to get my car washed prior because dang….the car was a filthy mess. I have been on field trips where I didn’t wash the car first. It’s not a must for me. But there was so much dust inside my car on everything plus the windows were awful. In certain lighting it was hard to see out!

I had 3 girls and 2 boys in my car. The mom chaperone with me belonged to one of the boys. I didn’t know her son or her so I’m glad they paired us up. On the way home I think I even convinced her to chair the Halloween Event next year. Score! She was saying how she wished we had one like another nearby school does, where her bosses child attends. I explained we used to have it, but the chairperson no longer wanted to be in charge of it (it’s a big task) so a few year ago it went away. This mom thinks she might get a couple others involved for next year. Yay!

I really enjoyed the play and especially enjoyed experiencing the reactions of the children in the audience. Kids are so funny. When the scary Indian showed up in the graveyard the kids got scared, when the actors did funny things they all laughed and giggled. When Tom and Becky kissed the audience giggled louder. I was sitting next to the 3^rd grade teachers aide for half the show (during intermission Shawna decided she wanted to sit on the other side of me so we switched places). Even the TA was cracking up at the kids reactions.

Paula sat up higher in the seats with her classmates so I wasn’t able to see her reaction. I was a driver for the 3^rd grade so sat down with the kids I was in charge of. When we were outside before the show Paula came up and gave me a hug. She was really glad I attended, even though I wasn’t her chaperone per se. Another plus is one of the 5^th grade boys in our school was acting/singing in the play. All the children in our school knew him and enjoyed watching him on stage. After the show he signed Paula’s program book. She was impressed. LOL

I just had the best day ever yesterday and forgot I even had a job to go back to today.

School plays

2012-01-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

Shawna, who turns nine in a couple weeks, is a vastly entertaining child. She's energetic, funny, obnoxious, loud, chatty, smart.

The past couple months she and a few of her friends have been performing plays at school. Not the kind on a stage or anything. They perform them for each other. As in make-believe. During lunch and recess.

In December she brought Santa hats and reindeer antlers to school so her friends could be Santa and reindeer. At first when she was telling me about this play I believed the school was using the props. Nope, just her and her friends.

After the Santa/Reindeer play they moved on to the Chipmunks and the Chipettes. Each of her friends is a character of the movie. Today in the car on the way to school she described who was who. I haven't seen the latest movie but the kids have. Paula knew every character Shawna mentioned.

I love that my daughter and her friends have found such an imaginative and creative way to spend free time.

Tomorrow I'm going on a field trip the 3rd grade (Shawna's class) and 5th grade (Paula's class) are attending to see Tom Sawyer. I'm driving too so I'll have some of her little friends in the car. It's cute to see them all interact. I wonder if they'll put on a Tom Sawyer play after they see it.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Floods

2012-01-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

My kids wear uniforms to school. Paula wears a skirt or can wear shorts or pants. Shawna has to wear a jumper, pants or shorts. Lately she's been wanting pants. Last week she wore the same pants all week. (4 day week). I get them pants from the free uniform swap but they both are weird sizes and not always do the pants fit. Sometimes the waist is too tight or something. I do bring the unfitting clothes back to the swap the next time but 6 months may go by before I do that.

Today Shawna wanted tights for her jumper but we didn't know where they were. She got all ATTITUDE on me so I left the room.

I'm in the kitchen making lunches and she comes down stairs wearing pants which are way too short. 'Floods' as we call them here in Cali. Some folks call them 'high waters'. I'm looking at them and thinking are those the pants she wore all last week cuz I know they fit her last week. My kids grow fast but not that fast.

Nope, these pants were buried in her drawer so she yanked them out. I said they're floods. "How are they floods?" she says looking down. The bottom of the navy pant legs are hitting the top of her white socks. It's almost blinding the socks show so much. We are now at the point in the morning where we have to go to school. There is no changing our clothes now. I told her she's probably going to get a clothing note home. She's already complaining that her jumper needs to be let out. I don't do "letting out". I hate hemming anything. Why can't my kids be normal and short so everything is long. ugh.

13 Wedding Anniversary

2012-01-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary. It's amazing we got here considering a few years ago we were both seriously contemplating divorce. I'm thankful we trudged thru the mucky waters and came out the other side.

To celebrate we went to San Francisco for the weekend. We had dinner at Morton's of Chicago. Todd's steak was insanely huge. It took up the entire plate. My tiny "petite" fillet mignon was so small compared to his that we took pictures comparing the two.

When the restaurant learned it was an anniversary celebration they sprinkled heart shaped glitter on our table and took a picture of us with their camera, bringing us back 2 printed copies. One photo was in a nice black thick paper frame signed by many employees. The other other photo in an envelope. It was a very nice unexpected touch and I'm happy to have the photo to remember the evening. They also subtracted our dessert from the bill.

I don't have the pictures with me now so I can't upload them but come back later and I might have added them to this post.

I didn't fall off the planet. Really.

2011-11-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

For anyone wondering if I fell off the planet you can be either relieved I didn’t or upset I didn’t .

It’s good to be working. So many people still don’t have jobs so I don’t for a minute take it for granted that I’m working and being paid to do it. But, this job is definitely interfering with my social media time. The Nerve!!! By the time I get home I’m exhausted and barely even glance at my iPhone for updates let alone go on the desktop in the computer/shoe/snake/junk room. Unless my phone talks to me telling me I have a message, I pretty much don’t look at it once I go thru my front door.

Still, for the few people who might be interested in my daily life I’ll update you.

I think this new company going to make me permanent after the New Year but I haven’t received confirmation yet. I also haven’t had any time to look to see what’s out there. I miss my long lunches and short work days.

The most exciting thing that’s happened since I posted last was Shawna broke her arm over Labor Day weekend while camping at Mt. Madonna. She was carrying a blanket out of the trailer and forgot about a log in front her that she couldn’t see with the blanket in front of her, and tripped over it. She broke it really well too. Her break was called a Distal Humerus Fracture requiring surgery to place 3 pins in her arm. We had an overnight stay in Kaiser. The girls and I JUST went on their insurance thru Todd’s company, in August. $3000 later (gasp!) my daughter’s arm is fine. The cast came off after 4 weeks. They don’t send you to physical therapy. Rather they feel since she’s young and energetic she’ll get the use of her arm back on her own. We did help her by making her use a tiny weight, like one you’d take to aerobics class. She’s back to playing on the monkey bars like her usual self. We had to pull Shawna from volleyball once the arm broke but she’s in Girl Scouts and choir at church/school.

Paula is also in choir too but also plays volleyball with the 5^th grade girls. She’s better this year than last year and enjoying herself more I think too. They had their first game on the weekend and won. She also just joined a Girl Scout troop. For years I’ve tried to get her in a troop but our school didn’t have one in her grade. The neighborhood I live in was also full. Her new troop started a couple weeks ago and we had our first meeting last Friday. She loved it. I’m also happy to participate. They meet in the evenings so I can help run a meeting. Shawna’s troop meets on their short day of school soon after school gets out, on campus, so I never can attend.

Todd’s birthday is coming up. We were hoping to go camping but volleyball games changed our plans. It’s okay. I like attending the games. We still aren’t sure what we’re doing for Thanksgiving. We were planning to go to my parents house but now Paula’s new troop get so to participate in a parade on Friday after T-day so we should stay in town.

I'm on my lunch hour so I'll close with some pictures.

Here is Shawna in her cast. This was her 2nd cast. The first one was sliced down the sides to allow for swelling. It got way too big even with the ace bandage wrapped around it.

Halloween! We hava a Devil and Leopardess.

Day at the park in October. One of their school mates was having a birthday party. We weren't invited but were there to just play in the playground. They saw us and invited the girls to use their party stuff.

August 2011

2011-08-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

Summer has flown by and it's going to be day 1 of school next Tuesday.

My job is going well. I'm solo and enjoying it so far.

My family recently went camping. In addition I have some pictures to show of my last few weeks. I'm too lazy to write up a proper commentary so I apologize.

Also, my mom is here this week and I'm bugged when she's here. I don't know what's wrong with me because she's awesome, but I'm bugged just the same. I like my space and with her here I lose some of that space. She's here because we asked her so it's not like she's not wanted. Why can't I be normal?

Okay, on to the pictures.

That's me, and my brother, Alan, behind me. I'm getting ready to get in the cold water BEFORE I've had my coffee, and water ski. This is Rollins Lake in Grassvalley/Colfax CA area. Great lake, very pretty. We've camped here for years.

I'm waterskiing.

Now I'm wakeboarding. I didn't move much the next day.

My 8 year old Shawna got up on the training ski for the first time ever!

Getting some air!!!

This year my husband strung twinkle lights around the campsite for everyone. We all agreed they were a nice touch.

This is me playing on the kids playset. I used to be a total pro on the bars so I showed them my "moves". I still got it.

Thanks for looking!

Jesus, Mary and Joseph

2011-08-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Holy Moley people. I literally do NOT have time to breathe these days. Work is busy and I only have tomorrow left with my trainer because tomorrow is her last day before maternity leave. I've learned a lot in 4 weeks but not enough!!! This gals desk is BUSY! I know I'll be fine but holy shit batman.

This past weekend was also our big family boating/camping trip. This year we had 46 people at the height of Saturday night. Lots of fun had by many and my new nickname is Light Ass. I could explain the origin of this name but if you weren't there to witness the experience it just won't mean as much.

I missed Thursday and Monday because of my job and apparently those were the "best nights". Figures.

This post will be all over the place, just so you know, so hang on for the ride.

My younger daughter is at my parents this week. She's having a blast. Grandma even took her to Kmart to get new clothes. Kmart to my kids is a huge experience. We don't take the girls shopping. I buy most of their stuff online. Someday they'll learn just how lame Kmart is, and when I say lame I mean lame. Kmart was a job I had at age 16. I worked there for 3 years. I had to take back yellowed gross used pillows because "customer service comes first" and totally worn out shoes that the kid wore everyday for 6 months because "customer service comes first". Only you know what? Kmart is closing store by store. I know because they were an account of mine at my last job. Sears bought Kmart but Kmart never fully recovered. Each month I'd receive an email how another couple Kmart stores were closing down. They will not be around much longer.

Oh, while camping one of the moms kept saying "Jesus, Mary and Joseph". Hence my title. It felt fitting after the past few weeks I've had.

This weekend is my 25 year high school reunion. It's a picnic of sorts and families are invited. I don't know how big the turnout will be but it's fairly nearby for me so I'm going. I sort of feel that with Facebook reunions aren't the same as they were before FB. You know what the people are up to and see pictures of their families, etc.

School starts in a couple weeks. Summer really flies by. Remember when you were a kid and summer lasted FOREVER?! At least it did for me. I loved summers.

I have a new job peeps

2011-07-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

I've had a busy couple weeks my friends.

A week ago last Friday I was emailed by the CFO of the semi-conductor company I was hoping to get a hob with, and he was asking if I'm still available and looking for a job.

I said Yes.

I received a phone call an hour later from he finance manager asking if I could start work on Monday. I was still working at my company (almost 12 years there) and later learned I had a job with them until August 5th.

I signed some paperwork and started my new (temporary) job on that following Monday. I'm being trained by the gal going on maternity leave. I like her a lot. She's a good trainer and gives me tons of patience and good training notes.

I hope this new job has an opportunity to become permanent, if it's meant to be.

I wish I was a writer, like so many of the blogs I read, because there is so much more in my mind, but I'm lazy in writing it all down. I think it, but writing it down feels like so much work.

Kudos to the writers.

My Day

2011-07-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

This Monday will be July 4th, otherwise known as Independence Day here in America. Many years ago I was born on July 4th, but not until I made my poor mother wait 10 days after my due date. Her father, my Grandpa, told her that since I was already late she needed to make sure I was born on July 4th or he'd disown us both. (he was kidding).

As a young girl my mom always knew she'd name her daughter Sandra. She intended to nickname me Sandy, but I never had the personality of a Sandy. Some neighbors growing up called me Sandy and if you're old and feeble I'll let you get away with calling me Sandy, but I am not a Sandy.

Once pregnant with me my mom never considered I was a boy. She just knew I was a girl. Ultrasounds were not available in those days. At least not according to my mom. However, on the way to the hospital she mentioned to my father how they should probably come up with a boys name just in case. His middle name is Edward so they agreed if I was a boy I'd be named Edward. No offense to the Edwards out there but I'm pretty happy I'm a Sandra and not an Edward.

As a child, birthday's were fun, but parties were problematic. When you're a summer birthday it's hard enough to find friends who aren't on vacation with their families, but when you're a 4th of July baby no one is available since it's a huge family affair.

Another downside to summer birthday's is you don't have classroom recognition of your birthday and you don't get to wear the birthday crown. Those are big deals to a child, if that child is me.

Something I do love for my birthday is an ice cream cake. As a child I'd always ask for one. My mom obliged sometimes, but more times than not she made my cake. I loved when the ice cream cake had a large firework decorated on it. This year my mom is getting me an ice cream cake. Just a small one since it will only be the 6 of us. I'm already excited.

Of course the fireworks on my birthday every year is pretty awesome. There have been a few birthday's with no fireworks, like when I went to horse camp for 2 week stretches a few times or when we just didn't feel like dealing with the traffic and parking, etc of getting a great spot to see a fireworks show or when I was little and scared of the fire crackers and loud noise they made. I " hid behind the skirts", that's what my Grandpa always said.. But for the most part I'd say I have seen fireworks on almost all my birthday's.

This year will be no different. My parents now live in a gated community with a lake and each year a very nice fireworks show, costing $20,000, is done over the lake . My parents don't actually live on the lake but their best friends do so we drive the couple minutes to their house a few minutes before the show starts, sit on their dock enjoying the show, then drive back to my parents house and put the kids to bed. It's really the best thing ever.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend. I plan to have a great time up at my parents house, spending time on the lake or by the pool where they organize activities for the kids. I'll try to forget, that in addition to it being my birthday, I'm actually a year older. heh

How about some pictures

2011-06-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

I've posted these pictures on FB but only a few of you who read here actually know me know me on FB so I'm going to post these here too.

My girls wear uniforms to school, so when summer comes around they LOVE being able to show their style off. Shawna's style is unique. She's more fashionable than I ever was at her age. She's funny in that in cold months she opts for sundresses, and in warm months she'll wear tall boots and a jacket. Although, to her credit, yesterday it did rain hard all day so her tall boots and jacket came in handy.

I took this with my iphone before we left for summer camp yesterday.

This past weekend when Todd took the girls to the local water park I finally got around to buying and planting some annuals in front of my house. This area is tiny, but it's right along the driveway. I normally plant impatiens, but this time I opted for snapdragons. On the end near the hose I planted some sage. I don't use sage much for cooking but I do like planting herbs, watching them grow and then pulling off leaves and smelling them. I can't be the only one who does this right?

Once I had them planted I needed to water them. There was one sprinkler not working so I fiddled with it. Bad idea. The sucker opened up completely and soaked me from head to tow, as well as soaking the driveway. It was really a Candid Camera moment.

Something else I did this past weekend was shave our dog. Poor Rosie is a Llasa Poo whose hair, if left alone, would grow down to the ground. Since no one in our house is interested in brushing her she tends to matt up. Is it mat or matt? Anyway, I borrowed some clippers from a neighbor friend but she only had a size 10 blade. I've NEVER used clippers before. Ever. I knew this wasn't going to be pretty, but I did go online and watched a few videos on how to groom a dog with clippers. At first I thought I'd just do the important parts, like the butt hole, since this entire event started over the fact that Rosie had poop stuck to the hair on her butt. Gross! But, as I got going I decided to go all the way.

I choose to clip her in the backyard on the patio table. This allowed the hair to float all over my backyard which resembled what it would look like if an enourmous bag of cottons balls exploded.

Here we have a before picture.

This was also before Todd power washed the winter's worth of grime that accumulates on our back patio.

And here we have after.

She's not as upset about her new look as she appears to be. However, if you were to see her up close you would notice her cut is horribly uneven and blotchy. heh. She didn't like me messing with her feet and wouldn't you know there are 4 of those stupid things. But, by taking the initiative I saved me $50 in grooming fees and she's cooler for summer. Win win.

Here is my oldest, Paula, enjoying a hot summers night in the backyard.

whaaaat?!

2011-06-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

I didn't get the wine and spirits job. I found out last Thursday via a generic email. I also don't think I got the temporary semi-conductor job either since I haven't heard back. I did check out the other guys resume' on linkedin and it did list some things mine didn't so I copied them onto mine for future jobs.

Sooo, I'm back to square one.

I'm also anxious to start my new life as unemployed but with a severance so I can lay around and do nothing for a few days. I did take a mental health day on Friday because I was pretty bummed about my current status in life. Not getting chosen doesn't do much for the ego if you know what I'm talking about.

Lastly, there is a really funny and popular blogger called the thebloggess. She recently wrote a post that makes me laugh every time I read it, and I've read it several times today. If you want a good belly laugh check her out. I linked directly to the post. Funnay! I mostly laugh when I see the chicken at the front door. hahahahahahaaha

Job Search update

2011-06-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

Last week on Friday was a crazy day and it continues to be crazy. I'm putting all this down mostly for myself, so I apologize if it jumps around or gets confusing.

First, my brother calls me in the AM last Friday to say Mom called him and Dad had a mini stroke. My dad's memory was affected but nothing else. He couldn't remember things from far back as 2 weeks ago. My mom was going to take him to the hospital for a scan. My girls were up there with my parents, which is 3 hours from me, so I was worried about my mom even dealing with my children. Plus, Paula is a worrier and I knew she wouldn't like the hospital visit, but later in the day I learned it wasn't a mini stroke. Doctor felt it was a reaction to something, maybe the Benadryl he'd been taking. We all thought that was weird. He had a follow up appt yesterday but I haven't called to see what his personal doctor had to say about it all. I saw my dad over the weekend when I went to pick up the girls and he seemed fine, but still has pockets of no memory. Some of it's coming back, but not all of it.

Also on Friday I received an email from semi-conductor company I did a phone interview with 2 Thursdays ago, asking me my salary expectations. I took this as a good sign but panicked on what to say. I ran down to HR but everyone was outside for a company event. I did track one gal down and she gave me some advice. I waited to email the company back. I don't want to say too much $ or too little $.

An hour after the email, I received a phone call from HR at the wine and spirits company I'd interviewed with the week prior, asking for a 2nd interview for Tuesday (yesterday). Again, good news! I bumped into another HR person and filled her in on my day so far. I've kept her posted on my job sitiation from the beginning. We went back to her office where she gave me some good advice.

On Friday I called the CFO, who I know, at the semi-conductor company. My HR person said since I have a relationship with him, ask if he can hire me as a regular employee. He holds the purse strings and would be the one to ask. After playing phone tag we had a nice conversation. He told me I'm 1 of 3 in the running. I told him about the 2nd interview for the wine and spirits company and asked if he'd consider hiring me permanently instead of keeping it a temp job for now. He understood but said at this time he can't promise a perm position. They are running very tight at the seams though. He asked me to let him know how the interview goes with the spirits company.

Yesterday's 2nd interview at wine and spirit went well. I met with a controller and the A/R supervisor who I met last week was also in the room. I think I showed them I'm more than qualified, but I am wondering if I'm over qualified. The perk to this company is definitely that it's only 6.5 miles from my house and it's a permanent position. They aren't making their decision till the end of this week or next week. He still needs to do more 2nd interviews.

Yesterday I emailed my friend W, who I worked with here but in 2008 she was laid off. She managed the claims group. I didn't work for her, but we sat next to each other in our cubicles and worked together for almost 10 years. She's buying my Maui time share vacation week for next year so we've been emailing back and forth on details. She knows about my job sitation. I told her all about my job prospects and gave her the names of the companies. She called me today. She just talked to that same semi-conductor company yesterday, as a reference for an ex-worker here named P. But she wasn't listed as P's reference. Rather, the office manager, who we both know, called her to ask if she would mind talking to some people about him.

P and I are applying for the same job. They told her yesterday he's the most qualified person so far. Which blows she and I away since if you knew P, you would not think he's more qualified than I am. She asked if she could call the office manager and the other person she spoke to and recommend me over P. I told her yes, I'd appreciate it if she did that for me. W also reminded me that a guy we both worked with here,. T, his wife works at the semi-conductor company. I saw T walking down the hall and told him what I learned today. He said he can't believe they're even considering P. You have to understand that P is not like everyone else. He's a very serious odd person. T said he'd email the CFO and recommend me. T worked with the CFO as well.

So, that's where my job status stands. I'm still up in the air on whether, if I'm offered both jobs, I should go with one or the other. I hope only one offers then I don't have to make a choice.

Make it stop

2011-06-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

Over the past 12 months there have been many deaths in my life. I realize people die every second of the day but those are not people I know. This past year has been deaths of people I know, or know of.

I remember a boss I had when I was in my early 20's. He himself was 76 years old and refused to retire. He told me that at his age many of his friends were dying. He went to funerals more than birthday celebrations.

This past year I've had 2 coworkers, and one ex-coworker die, my grandmother passed away, my friends mom recently died, and now a friends 20 year old daughter died in a motorcycle accident where she and her boyfriend were hit head on by a driver in a car who'd been drinking and crossed over the yellow line.

With this recent death I'm struck and floored by the fact this person was their daughter. Because I have daughters. I can't imagine and don't want to imagine losing my child. Not at any age. Not now when she's 8 or 10 years old, not when she's 20 and not when she's 40.

Make it stop.

Kidless

2011-06-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my mom took both girls up to her house for a few days. My mom plays in USTA tennis and had a tournament today which she didn't want to miss while babysitting my girls this week. My mom is in great condition for close to 70 years old. I was checking her legs out the other day and they do not jiggle like mine do. Her ankles give her problems these days but her knees are fine. I couldn't do tennis w/my knees. It sucks to have bad knees.

So, Todd and I are kidless for a few days. The house is more quiet and Rosie, our dog, is looking at us like we should be doing something to locate the children.
Tomorrow night we're going on a date. San Jose Improv has the comedian Ralphie May there right now. We always enjoy the dinner, drinks and entertainment there when we go.

Saturday Todd works and I'll head up to my parents house to get the girls. I'm hoping to stop at my friend Jen's with my girls to see her house. She bought a total dump of a house on some large land last year and with lots of elbow grease has made some major improvements. She has baby chickens too and I'm dying to see those. Todd will get most of Sunday to himself for Father's Day. The girls and I will do something for him, what yet...I don't know. We used to go to theme parks when the girls were little. That was easy.

I had my interview today for the wine and spirit disty today. I liked the supervisor I interviewed with and I think she liked me. I may have been too chatty because I was so comfortable with her. We'll see what happens. It's sooo close to my house. I drove there in under 10 minutes. I could ride my bike! She had a gal waiting when I left. Our interview ran long. There is no telecommuting, no iphone, hourly salary and apparently parking sucks. But, the closeness to my house would be a huge bonus. I haven't heard anything back from the semi-conductor interview yet. If they don't pick me I'll be disappointed only because I think I'm awesome and everyone should want to hire me! but won't miss doing that commute. That commute is daunting.

Update on job interviews

2011-06-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to update but here you go.

I interviewed via phone last Thursday for the semi-conductor billings/A/R job where I was recommended by the CFO. They said they'll know by the end of this week. It went okay I guess. I'd prefer a person to person interview instead of a phone interview. There were 4 people on the phone but only 1 guy talked. The gal going on maternity leave doesn't leave until August so they still have time, but they want a long training time.

I have my interview for the wine and spirits disty this Thursday morning.

Today I just found out that a coworker, who has been here as long as me, was just moved from our A/R group to our A/P group which is in another building. Her A/R position was going to be moved to China (lame and makes no sense if you knew what she did) but I'm happy for her they found her another job. Her husband had a stroke last year and she really needs the medical insurance. She's not thrilled with her new position. It's all very new and she has no idea what she's doing. I have concerns about her surviving over there. I hope it works out.

I applied for a job today in Oakland. If you know where I live you know that Oakland isn't ideal. Oakland is not part of Silicon Valley and has a high crime rate. I could get there via BART but we're still talking at least an hour or more. But, if I don't apply for these jobs I don't feel like I'm contributing my all on this job hunt. One of our previous employees works there too but I do not know if saying I know him is a good thing. He's a bit weird and unusual.

HR asked me to come see him today. I'd inquired (emailed him) a week or more ago if he knew if my director was aware about this new software implantation that is replacing me when they brought me over here from my previous department. He researched and said no, they did not have plans when I was brought over. I believe him. Not sure I believe who told him that information but whatever. He told me I should ask my manager about my exit plans. I told him I'm not asking on purpose. Denial denial denial. He understood, but still said I should ask.

He told me to look at SimplyHired online as well as Indeed and Monster. I also contacted our in-house temp agency today and sent them my resume. My HR person told me he's seen where people take a temp job then a permanent one comes available later.

I had lunch with a gal who used to work here. She's such a fun person and working in the same city I live in. I told her to find me a job! She's on the job hunt too. She commutes an insane distance but her job ends the end of the month.

Life is so weird right now.

When it rains it pours

2011-06-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

Who came up with that catchy phrase? So true.

Yesterday I was feeling sad with no prospects of a future job. Today I've been contacted by two companies for interviews. Yay me!

Company 1: I worked with their CFO at my current company in 1999. He actually interviewed me. He left in 2004. I contacted him last week via linkedin to tell him of my current job status. I received an email via linkedin from his HR person saying the CFO asked him to contact me about a temp job for a few months (maternity leave fill in). Once the gal returns from maternity leave the job will transition to a generalist position helping A/R and A/P. They are not a new company but they're young still and in a similar place financially like my current company was 12 years ago. I'm doing a phone interview tomorrow. The other kicker is the office manager (who is optional on the phone interview) used to be this guy's exec admin at my current company who I know very well too. She left here to go work for him a few years ago. The downside is the commute. Much longer than I have now. The industry is semi-conductor which is what I've been working in for the past 12 years.

Company 2: A couple weeks ago I applied for this postion online. I have a friend who years ago used to work for them in sales but after 7 year gone she doesn't have any current contacts. Still, I applied and they called me back today for an interview next week. This company is very close to my house. It's in a completely different industry - Wine and spirits distribution. But, it's working on a system I currently use and in my field expertise.

Both jobs are very similar. Not sure of the pay for either.
I still need to interview. Nothing is final until it's final.

Don't ask, won't happen

2011-06-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

I talked to my mom today. I wanted her opinion on something regarding the girls that I couldn't talk to Todd about because when I called him he was on the manufacturing floor, which is LOUD, so I'd have to scream from my cubicle which I didn't want to do. So I just told him to call me back whenever, no hurry. To which he replied it will be awhile since he has blah blah blah to do.

So I called my mom.

In talking to her I admitted that I still don't have an end date for my current job and it's not because I couldn't have an end date, but because I'm procrastinating on knowing an end date because then, the end is real. Like there will then be a real end once I ask and have the date. Right now I'm in denial in a 'don't ask, won't happen' sort of way. Make sense?

Just wanted to clarify for anyone who cares. Which is really nobody.

Funky Funk

2011-06-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

The past several weeks have moved quickly by. I attempted a few times to post updates but couldn't pull a post together so I moved along. My emotions are up and down. Today I'm in a funk. .

I believe I mentioned I have to find a new job. I'm being replaced by technology and have a job till the end of Q2 which is June. I learned of this in March. At the time June felt a long time off. Guess what? It's June.

Finding a new job is the FOCUS of my life. It's really hard to think of much else. We are a two income family, living in one of the most expensive places in the country, and half that income is leaving. Can you say panic?

M-F while at work (since I still have a job but they're making me look elsewhere so why shouldn't I look for a new on their time. heh) I go to Indeed.com and Monsters.com and Craigslist (less than the others) to see if there is anything out there for me. I went on an interview a couple weeks ago for a temporary position but apparently didn't get the job since they never called me back. I've also applied for a few others. Last week I did get a call back for a job in San Francisco that I applied for in April. I applied probably thinking they'd never call me or something. San Francisco is hella far from my house for a daily job. I guess the person they chose didn't work out and the recruiter wanted to talk to me. But at this point in the game (that would be the losing my job finding a job game) I'm not inclined to jump at a job during a summer I could have off with my children, that would take me an hour by BART to get to. At some point beggars can't be choosers and I might be driving to Nevada for a job, but right now, knowing I have several months of severance covered I can't justify taking on a commute like that.

I told the girls yesterday about my situation on the way to school. They were talking about summer camps and basketball camps etc. I told them I might be home with them this summer. At first Paula was very excited. But then I explained I'm losing my job, it's not workers comp (like she thought). Last night she told me after we talked how she felt scared. She asked will we be poor and lose our house? I waited a long time to tell them my upcoming situation because she of all people is the biggest worrier. I reassured her we'll be fine. Still, in my stomach I feel a pit of uncertainty. My brain rationalizes I'll find something even if it doesn't pay as much as I make now.

I was hopeful a couple weeks ago about a position in the company. I interviewed with the director and felt good upon leaving his office. He later realized he couldn't add responsibilities on to the job, which would be necessary to increase the pay from an entry level to more experienced level. So in the end I didn't get it.

Some days are better than others. Today is bad day.

On the positive side, I did get to help pack food boxes today for a food bank. Also, yesterday I won $100 in a weekly school raffle.

I'm getting my hair re-colored tonight. Maybe I'll feel better afterwards.

My new DREAM husband

2011-05-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

I had a very detailed and realistic dream last night with this guy, Bradley Cooper. He had his shirt off in my dream and we were getting down on it. We didn't do the deed (dang it) but lordy I had fun anyway. Can't get him out of my mind!

Checkin' In

2011-04-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Today is Good Friday. My company had a floating holiday for today which is great since my girls school is closed today. We leave for Pismo to go camping on Monday.

I'm going to be decorating my house today for Easter. The girls are still asleep but once they wake up my husband will take the tub of decorations out of the attic. We aren't doing anything much for Easter. I'll make the girls baskets and we'll hide eggs for them. In the past we had fun money hunts at Todd's parents house followed by a gathering at his brother's house but his mom isn't well so his dad doesn't want to partake in big family events anymore. I'll see my entire side of the family next weekend at our annual family reunion. I guess we'll go to church Sunday so we can be good Catholics and just hang out. Maybe we'll do more. We'll see.

Todd is cleaning the house right now. He already scrubbed down the kitchen and now he's dusting with a dusting brush thing. It's funny watching him use it. I don't know why but it is. I know Todd is more helpful than most men. My girlfriends have been jealous of how helpful he is since they've known him. They can barely get their husbands to put up a ceiling fan which sits in a box for 6 months in their house. Todd is always busy. He's being all careful around the frames on the fireplace mantel. I'm amused. He's sort of clean freak and OCD with ADD tendencies which works great for me since he rarely sits down. Something else that amuses me is that he's wearing latex gloves. He no longer likes to get dirty. In high school when we dated he'd spend most waking moments under his car "wrenching" and was a grease monkey. Since we've been married (12 years) he wears latex gloves to change oil filters on the cars or do other dirty work. He admits he's anal about things now that never before bothered him. It's funny how we change as we get older.

I have to take Rosie to get groomed today so she's all short and pretty for our Pismo trip. She may end up on the beach, which for a Lhasa Poo is not a good thing. She has hair, not fur so when she becomes a wet dirty mess, it's bad. But, if she's short I can brush the sand off her easier. Also, she's a bit matted since we fail to groom her in between visits. We once had a Persian cat which required grooming, but we sucked at that too so we'd cut her hair in summer. She looked so funny when she was short. Thankfully she was an indoor cat so the other cats in the neighborhood didn't make fun of her.

I also need to schedule a bikini wax. I hope I'm long enough. I shaved down there over a week ago when we went to Squaw because I didn't know if we'd partake in the pool at High Camp. We didn't but now it's possible I'm not long enough to wax. I will be in a swim suit next week. This is a problem since I don't want to shave and be rashy a whole week. Damn. See what a woman has to go thru?

Something else I need to do is get spray tanned. Normally I'd go to the tanning salon and use the beds for a couple weeks prior to a sunny vacation, but I didn't do that. Now I'm blinding white. I don't have enough tanning lotion to make a dent in my pasty self so I'm going to try a spray tan at a tanning salon. How do you avoid getting the spray in your hair? I have no idea how it works. I thought about finding someone who comes to your house and sprays you like what celebrities use, but where do you find those people? I wonder if there are any in my area.

Todd is now dust mopping the floor. You should the dust coming off that broom. How does a house get SO Dusty? We leave our windows open a lot, which I know contributes but this is seriously a lot of dust he's pulling out.

It's 9:30am and my girls are still asleep. Ahhhh vacation.

Okay, well if I don't check back in everyone have a great Easter.

Studying saga continues

2011-04-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

Paula has a science test next week. It was originally scheduled for this past Tuesday. Luckily for her it was postponed because she didn't study at all beforehand because..... Remember my post on Tuesday?

I also thought I was quite clear when I told her to bring all her books home everyday. Is that confusing to anyone? Anyone?

Yesterday Paula didn't bring home her science ANYTHING because in her mind the test was postponed until Tuesday the 19th (next week), so why bring it home when she has all these DAYS before the test. Really? Because I'm pretty sure the next few days are BUSY. I'm also pretty sure I told you to bring all your books home everyday.

We are leaving this weekend for Squaw Valley in Lake Tahoe. My girlfriend's ex-ex husband (I like to kid her about all her ex husbands since there are 3 of them and she's only 45) parents own one of the original cabins built up there when Squaw was built. Her ex-ex is also the father of her two boys, who I adore. We've stayed there before with her, when Shawna was 6 months old and Paula was 2.5 years old. I've personally been there pre-kids as well. It's quaint and the staircase to the bedrooms we sleep in is hecka steep. Like, so steep I'm afraid I'm going to fall down them upon my decent. We're going for snow play. We may do tubing or even let the girls take lessons. I haven't totally decided. But, I guarantee my girls and Kim's boys will want to hang out and NOT be doing homework.

Paula gets car sick very easily so she can't read during a car trip. How difficult do you think it would it be for Todd or I to get her to study while we're at a fun cabin with friends? Like pulling teeth I'm sure.

Monday is basketball practice and more homework so really the only logical time to study was yesterday and maybe tonight and perhaps Sunday after we get home. Plus, if you spread it out you don't have to spend so much time in one night.

She's crying last night saying she doesn't want to study EVERY NIGHT. I get it. Really I do. But Honey, you live in a time where school matters. Heck, when did school not matter? Even for Laura Ingles I'm pretty sure school mattered.

Todd stepped in and made a deal with her. She'll bring home all her books and related paperwork home everyday and we'll go from there as far as studying. In the meantime she can watch a tiny bit of TV. Remember how I said we're taking away TV? Yeah, not so much yet.

We're only in 4th grade people. I'm going to need lots of alcohol and therapy to get me thru the next many years. Halp

Study Habits

2011-04-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

We've hit that point in time with our 4th grader where she needs to study in order to do well on tests. It creeped up on us and we were ill prepared.

She always had good grades. Her memory was excellent. She never needed to study to get an A on test.

Until this year.

The first semester of 4th grade she had almost all A's or VG's (equivalent to an A). Then in 2nd semester 8 of her 12 categories decreased. She went down from an A to an A- or a B+ to a B. What is going on here I asked? She didn't know. I looked at my husband. He didn't know. We hadn't changed anything. THAT was the problem.

She needs to study for tests.

Once I figured out this fact I thought we had an easy fix. Turns out it wasn't an easy fix. Why? Because she doesn't know HOW to study. How is it you don't know how to study? This baffled me. Don't they teach you how to study in school? No.

Last week, after she had some frustrating tears, I sat her down and helped her study for her science test.  Turns out she had an entire page of notes written up from when the teacher explained to the kids all the pertinent facts. Her words as she points to the 3 pages of notes "I don't know what to do with those". Again, baffled over here.

I explained to her calmly, you read and memorize those notes. You read and memorize the bold print in the text book also. How do you learn all the words to a Selena Gomez song? You memorize by repetition. We spent an hour on those notes and she had the answers down pat.

She only missed 2 on the test the next day. Yay! I felt like such a good mom! I also foolishly thought she understood how to move forward. I was wrong.

Now comes yesterday. She's typing up a summary or partial book report for a book. The book, however, wasn't totally read. She needed to complete 8 or more pages of text. This is problematic when your typing up a summary of those pages and according to her the teacher will KNOW if you didn't read those pages. Then she starts saying how I need to write a note to her teacher because she didn't complete her Religion Lent workbook due the next day.
Why didn't you complete it?
Because I didn't think it was being graded so I didn't do the pages.
I'm not writing you a note.
TEARS

I stayed up with her until 10pm even though I took a Benadryl upon arriving home (before I knew about all this undone work) and could not keep my eyes open. She finished the religion booklet. BUT, she didn't study for her science quiz that was also the next day. Doh!

Todd and I really need to learn how to help her. We will learn because clearly we've hit a point where she needs us to aid in her organization and maintain structure. Unfortunately to maintain organization and structure there comes a cost. The cost being weekday TV. She is heartbroken since to her TV at night is HUGE. It's how we all unwind at our house. I do feel her pain.

I will need to monitor her homework assigned on Monday's via the school's class website, paying very close attention to quiz and test dates. I'm going to really need to be more present and available when it comes to helping her study for tests. I'm going to need to be willing to study with her and quiz her. I'll need to help her also be more aware of quiz and test dates where she can see ahead that next week is a test so we should study on Sunday to get ahead of the game.

This new direction was inevitable, but I still feel like it came out of nowhere. It didn't. I just didn't have my eyes wide open. Now I do. If I'm honest, I'm not looking forward to the time suck her homework takes from my personal "down time" but she's worth it.

Conflict of Interest

2011-04-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

I have a cousin who is serving a lifetime in prison for a crime he swears he didn't commit. I've mentioned him here and here also here. Recently his sister posted a story on Facebook which was written about his case back in October 8, 1990. Here is the link to the story here but I'm going to copy and paste the story on my blog.

I'm curious what any of you think on this story just based on the below facts as they're laid out.
Keep in mind, there are more issues to this case that aren't even listed like how 2 jury members were said to have been bullied into their guilty plea.

His appeal, by the way, was denied.

Convicted Killer Says Lawyers' Feud Prevented Fair Trial : Appeal: He says his counsel and the district attorney had a short-lived romance and were engaged in a bitter paternity dispute.

October 08, 1990
PHILIP HAGER
TIMES STAFF WRITER

Was a murder defendant denied a fair trial because of a short-lived romance and a bitter paternity dispute between his lawyer and the district attorney?
That intriguing question is now before a state Court of Appeal here in a novel case that might seem better-suited for a television screen were it not for the serious ethical issue at stake.

The real-life plot centers on an appeal by Thomas John Marston, a 30-year-old Willits millworker convicted in 1985 of killing two men in an abortive marijuana deal. Marston is seeking a retrial on grounds he was the unknowing victim of a private feud between his trial attorney, Richard J. Petersen, and the prosecutor, former Mendocino County Dist. Atty. Vivian L. Rackauckas.

Marston's new lawyer on appeal charges that Rackauckas had a sexual liaison with Petersen before Marston's trial, then cited Petersen as father of her child, repeatedly threatened during the trial to bring a paternity suit against Petersen and even had the child send him "Dear Daddy" greetings at special occasions.

Included in the evidence is a 1988 court order requiring Petersen to pay $765 a month in child support to Rackauckas.

"The case was tried in the legal equivalent of a sewer, a cesspool filled with the squalor of covert, private conflicts of interest," said Richard L. Huff, a Ukiah lawyer now representing Marston. "Unknowingly, (Marston) was caught in a cross-fire inimical to our belief in fundamental fairness."

Petersen, in a sworn declaration, said the charges of a sexual liaison and a paternity dispute with Rackauckas are true. Rackauckas, now a deputy district attorney in Ventura County, submitted an affidavit acknowledging the love affair but contending that relationship ended six years before the trial. She denied threatening Petersen, and said that during the trial, they both conducted themselves with "appropriate professionalism." It was not until after the trial, in 1988, that she filed suit for child support, she said.

In a further twist, a Ukiah woman has submitted yet another affidavit stating that at a 1983 Christmas party, Rackauckas remarked "matter-of-factly" that her son's father was Mendocino Superior Court Judge Arthur Broaddus, who later served as trial judge in the Marston case. Rackauckas denied having a sexual relationship with the judge or making any such statement. Broaddus also denied such a relationship ever existed.

State Deputy Atty. Gen. Donna B. Chew, representing the prosecution on appeal, agreed the case "raises very important factual as well as legal allegations."

But in a brief filed last week, Chew contends Marston has failed to show that an actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer's performance. Even if there was antagonism between the prosecutor and defense attorney, the defendant might have benefited from the hostility felt by his lawyer, she said.
Chew added, however, that if the appeals court believes Marston has raised legally plausible claims, it should order a hearing to further weigh the conflicting evidence in the case.

Attorney Huff's appeal for Marston centers on the right of a defendant to be represented by a lawyer free of conflict of interest, and to be prosecuted by a district attorney free of emotional involvement in a case.
Ethical guidelines published by the California District Attorneys Assn. require prosecutors to withdraw where they have a personal interest in a case that may affect their impartiality.

There is little legal precedent for the case. But in a 1985 case, another appeals court, citing the potential for conflict of interest, reversed a defendant's conviction because a prosecutor and defense attorney had dated before and during the trial.

According to witnesses' statements, at the Marston trial Rackauckas and Petersen exchanged cutting remarks-- sotto voce but still audible to jurors--and behind the scenes had angry discussions about child support. One associate said Rackauckas adopted an office policy of "maximum obstruction and minimum cooperation" with Petersen, hindering the routine exchange of evidence before trial.

After Marston received a sentence of life in prison without parole, Rackauckas was quoted by a witness as having said, "a lifetime of being sodomized in prison" would be a suitable alternative to the death penalty, Marston's appeal said.

Also submitted was a statement from Dist. Atty. Susan Massini. In it, Massini says files on the Marston case were missing when she assumed office in 1987 after Rackauckas was defeated for reelection.

In her sworn statement, Rackauckas called the affidavits as a whole "misleading, out-of-context or inaccurate." Any personal relationship with Petersen ended when her child was conceived in March, 1980, she said. Petersen denied in 1981 that he was the father and the matter was not discussed again until 1986, she said.

Rackauckas rejected the claim she had any "special policy" on cases handled by Petersen and said she could not recall discussing "anything about sodomy" in the Marston case.

At her request, Rackauckas said, she and Petersen discussed the 1985 appeals court ruling on conflict of interest and whether he should represent Marston. Neither believed their former relationship created such a conflict, she said.

"I believed that no local attorney would represent Marston as vigorously and as well as would Mr. Petersen," Rackauckas said. "Feeling that it was unfair on my part to suggest depriving Mr. Marston of the attorney of his choice and possibly the most capable attorney in the area, I did nothing further with regard to the matter."

The stress level is high

2011-03-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

For some reason, specifically today, my stress level is high and I have a migraine headache to show for it.

My job insecurity is the cause of my stress.

Will I find a new job within my current company? Will I spend this summer home with my girls? Will I find a job in September after summer is over??

These are all pending questions at the forefront of my brain making my brain hurt. Literally.

Today I filled out a profile for Monster.com and per the request of one of our top HR recruiters (who I know personally as well), sent him my resume. He knows lots of people in the valley and will kindly forward my resume on to anyone he thinks might be interested in me.

Last Friday I met with a therapist who is helping me brain storm on what I really want to do with my life. I meet with her again this Friday. I like her.

A week ago Saturday I listed 17 items on Ebay and sold 11 of them. I re-listed the 6 which didn't sell and as of today sold 1. I'm making money off of items I no longer use. This feels good. I plan to do more Ebay listing this weekend with some of Shawna's clothes.

I'm moving forward. I have a tentative plan.

Still, my shaky future is looming in front of me. I feel panicked some days. Today is one of those days.

Uses for Coffee Filters

2011-03-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

This was sent to me. I don't feel like writing so I'm posting this instead.

Who knew? And at a dollar store you can get 1000 for a dollar!

Uses for Coffee Filters

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome…Coffee filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a bottle, filter the fluid through a filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball u a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a filter on the scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line the pot with a filter to prevent soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke a hole for the stick and let the leaks go into the filter.

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, popcorn, etc. It soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great ‘razor nick fixers.’

15. As a sewing backing, use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

16. Put baking soda into a filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.

17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.

18. Use a filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.

19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.

20. Use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.

21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.

23. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a zip-lock bag until they sprout.

24. Use filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two filters and put between pages in a phone book, or other heavy book.

25. Use as a disposable ‘snack bowl” for popcorn, chips, etc.

26. Use to wipe dirty head lights on the car during stormy weather.

27. Use to cover light bulbs when removing them.

28. Use to polish windows, mirrors or computer/tv screens

29. Use to polish chrome fixtures in bath or kitchen, after spraying with glass cleaner.

Bullet Points for March

2011-03-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

I don't have time, or more to the point, the energy or determination to do a written blog post so I'm going to cheat and just do bullet points. I think I'm tricking myself into thinking bullet points are easier and faster but we'll see. Also, I'm telling you now that I'm grumpy and annoyed. You've been warned.

My life lately.

1. Last week in the AM while taking the girls to school a pregnant lady walked across the street in the sidewalk. You know how when someone is halfway across you start to move forward because they'll eventually be on the other side of the street? As I move towards the crosswalk the freaky lady sees her carpool person down the street, waves at him and changes direction. Right in front of me and didn't even blink an eye my way. I could have run her over! Stupid lady. I gave her a hand movement, not flipping her off since my kids are in the car) and a "what the hell are you doing crazy lady" at her stupidly at endangering her unborn child. To which she tells me to Fuck Off I'm in the cross walk.
You don't change direction in the crosswalk mid-street and not look at whose coming towards you!!!!!!
My kids told my husband at school pick up that I yelled at a pregnant lady today.

2. Last week I was told my job is ending. Yep. Coming on board is a new fancy system that will eliminate my need to police the sales team on what they enter into their promotions. I have a job until the end of Q2 (end of June). I've been here 11 years. I need to look inside the company and outside the company. I have lots of thoughts about this predicament but need to do a whole post on them later.

3. Last week I witnessed a teacher, of our CATHOLIC school tell her middle school grade class, while inside the church, to sit down and shut up. I saw her bark at these children 2 more times.   I wrote an email to our priest who is in charge of the school, the principal (who has been away attending funerals) and the VP of the upper grades.  This mean teacher is new to the school this year. Also, apparently she cohabitates with the computer teacher and they're not married so some parents (not me) are upset at that fact. The priest replied back to me that he'll look into her behavior. I don't have a middle schooler but someday I will. I'll drop kick this lady if she talks to my child this way.

4.  2 weeks ago I sat with other parents and faculty in a suicide prevention training of sorts at our school. One of the Alumni parents of our school had her 22 year old shoot himself and take his life several months ago. Her sister is a current parent. The sister is bringing awareness to us to help save a child's life. Did you know that kids ages 10-14, boys and girls, try to kill themselves more than any other age bracket? Also, the boys succeed more. Why? Because girls are afraid to ruin their looks so they usually take pills which can then be pumped out of their stomach, but boys do more permanent attempts like guns, car wrecks and hanging. We have a slew of teens, mostly boys, from an affluent neighborhood committing suicide by way of a train. So sad.

5. Did I mention I'm losing my job?

6. I'm gaining my weight back. Stress eating.

7. It's pouring rain here in the Bay Area.  While it's cold and rainy here the east coast is having spring like days. I'm annoyed. I pay a crap load of money for my nice weather. I want my good weather back east coast people. You've enjoyed your fun in the sun, now move along and give me back my warm days.

8. I don't really know what I want to do with my life. I know that sounds silly from a 40 year old but it's true. I'm arranging to meet with a counselor free of charge provided by a program at my work and to take a career/personality test to find out what I'd be good at. I took one a bazillion years ago in jr. college and it said I should join the military or be a police officer. It said some other things too, but I ended up majoring in Business Management. At the time I took the test I was a supervisor and thought I liked being in charge of people. Heh. Not so much. Turns out I like being an individual contributor. I don't want to worry about anyone else but me. I have enough on my plate being a mom, wife and woman of the world.

9. For St. Patrick's day I don't do corned beef. I've tried to like it. Many times I've tried to like it. But, it's too fatty tasting for me.  Instead we had chicken, I made green mashed potatoes and we had broccoli cuz it's green and the girls love it. I'm Irish. My maternal grandmother was 100% Irish. She married my 100% Italian grandfather. My other grandparents were English.

10. There will likely be an entire post on this later, but last Saturday I attended a crab feed/auction at school. There was a really clueless parent(s) who brought their daughter and made her sit in a corner because they were volunteering and she didn't have a ticket. She's in my oldest child's class. Another parent with us felt bad and said to her if she got hungry to come to our table. Well, she followed him and sat with us the entire night. I'm sad for the girl and annoyed at her parents. Get a babysitter like everyone else.

11. Tuesday I went to the Academy of Science Museum in San Francisco for my older daughter's class. There is some really COOL stuff in there. If you look closely below you'll see a red/blue frog. He lives in the rain forest section of the museum. It was hot and humid in the rain forest. He was soooooo tiny. And red and blue. OMG Lots of neat stuff in there just like this one. If you live here or visit the Bay Area you NEED to visit this museum. I'd been there almost 20 years ago but it was all redone a few years ago.

That's all for now. I'm going home to Glee Out and watch some of Season 1 with my husband and daughter's. I hope next week perks up. Feel free to send me 'find the perfect job' vibes if your so inclined.

Double Digits

2011-03-08T03:31:00.000-08:00

Dear Paula,

Today is your 10th birthday. DOUBLE DIGITS.

I can't believe you're already half of twenty. How did the time get here so quickly?

You are the child who made me a mom. You love when I mention that fact to you because no one else can take that claim. Your father and I were beyond excited when we found out we were finally pregnant. But, in true Paula fashion, you didn't want to wait to start your new exciting adventure so you arrived 6 weeks early. You love telling the story of how you were a preemie, came 6 weeks early and rode in an ambulance to another hospital because of the special breathing tube you needed. You're one of the tallest, smartest children in your class. No one would ever guess your rocky beginning.

For your birthday this year we updated your room. Out with the Princesses, in with the PEACE. I love how much you love your new room. It suits you. We also through you a slumber party with 5 of your favorite friends. We're all still yawning but brought in the year of 10 with a bang, as it should be.

There are so many things I love about you. Here are just ten (ten, get it) of them.

1. You show concern for others, give compliments to people you know and don't know, causing them smile and feel good.

2. You are rarely shy or afraid to speak up. Those are wonderful qualities to have, especially as you get older.

3. You love animals of many types. In addition to the furry ones, you also have a fascination for reptiles and aren't afraid to hold snakes or lizards we find in the outdoors. You're just like your father when it comes to your love of animals. But please, don't love spiders. I hate spiders.

4. You have a fabulous memory.  I love that you remember events and places from as far back as preschool. You remember facts and specifics that blow my mind. I'm envious of your memory, especially as mine disappears.

5. You're very ticklish so I love kissing you goodnight, digging right into your neck where you giggle hysterically.

6. I love that your back in your room at night so I actually CAN lean into you as you lie in bed and kiss you goodnight again. Every night, after your asleep, I come in to give you one last kiss.

7. You have the best laugh, making me smile when I hear it.

8. I love how close you are to Daddy. You and he have a special bond together.   You're his right hand girl. You look like him too.

9.    I love when you and your sister work together to accomplish something, when you look out for her, help her. She loves you so much. It's a big responsibility being a big sister, one you don't always enjoy, but you're a good big sister with so much to offer.

10. You're beautiful. Inside and out.

My baby is Ten.

I'm so proud of you. I love you more than words can say. I know I tell you to stop growing. I know you can't stop growing. As much as I want to keep you young, I'm very privileged to witness you growing up. I wonder who you'll be someday, what your future holds for you. What I do know is, I'm so lucky to have you as my daughter.

I Love you,
Mom

xoxoxo

Budgets

2011-02-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

How many of you have strict budgets you adhere too? Do you use envelopes to save for certain things like a grocery envelope, clothes envelope, etc?

I've never used the envelope method but I know people who do. I think I'd just borrow from the other envelopes if I needed something. I'm bad like that.

Heck, just on Tuesday at a crab feed meeting I was paid cash for some Girl Scout Cookies I'd sold and not 5 seconds later I turned around and handed that $40 to another person to pay for a crab feed ticket for a neighbor. My neighbor will pay me back but see how that money went in and out so fast?!

Many times Todd and I have tried to stick to a budget. We'll lay out our monthly goals, do well for awhile, then eventually fall into our bad habits.

For example, we don't balance our checking account. Who does that anymore? Now that we have ATM/Debit cards and rarely write checks, I never truly know how much is in the account "for real". I can go online and see how much is in the checking account or have my ATM give me a balance receipt, but we have certain bills automatically deducted. Car insurance, mortgage payment, gas and electric, DirectTV, Netflix, FastTrak, school tuition, etc. At any given moment any number of dollars can be removed. Sure, the biller has told me in a letter when I set up that automatical withdrawel, which day they'll be taking my money, but do I have that information written down somewhere that I can access it? No.

Truth be told, we live above our means. Thankfully we do have retirement stashed away in 401K plans. A percentage comes out of our paychecks before we even see the paycheck. My company has a 401K plan, 401K match program, an ESPP (employee stock purchase plan), flexible spending program, all of which I take advantage of each pay period. By the time I see the net check deposited into my checking account, the amount is severely pilfered.

Something else we do which we've found is very helpful for us, is to set up our property taxes and home insurance payments to where they are taken out with our mortgage payment. They're held in an escrow account and paid out by the mortgage company at certain intervals.

In addition, we pay our mortgage bi-monthly. So, if on the 2nd Friday we get paid, then the following Monday the mortgage (with all the above listed home deductions) comes out. The bonus to this payment schedule is since we're making an extra payment a year our principal goes down faster.

Still, with all I've mentioned we aren't great about sticking to a budget for things like vacations, food, clothes, hobbies and health and beauty costs. We really need to improve these areas.

If anyone has a great system they use I'd love to hear about it.

3 sides

2011-02-22T11:30:00.001-08:00

There are 3 sides to every story.

Your side
Their side
The truth

Iz a hawt

2011-02-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

Day 3 IN.HER.ROOM.ALL.NIGHT.LONG

Whah-haaaaaa!!!

In other news, I'm the coolest mom ever. Really I am.

Yesterday on Craigslist I typed in PB teen and found a lounge chair in ice blue for sale. Originally $299 the lady said make an offer. I immediately responded would she take $100? YES! PB anything, even used or with someone else's name personalized on it, sells for a lot of money. Yes honey, I know your name is Paula and the thingamajig says Amanda, but just go with it. Mommy saved $20.00

This is the chair. Cute right?!!! This matches Paula's new lamp perfectly.

So at lunch today I headed over there. She lives in one of the "rich" areas of Silicon Valley called Almaden Valley. Beautiful neighborhoods, gorgeous large homes, amazing views. Houses EASILY go for over $1 million. Sucks to be me.

She had the chair in her front entry way. I thought the chair came apart and figured I'd just toss the cushions in various parts of my minivan. Well, it does come apart, but not easily. She said only her husband has dismantled it so she couldn't help me with how to get them separated.

I get that. My husband is the one who dismantles things at our house too.

So I had to go back to my minivan and hide my 3rd seat so the chair would fit in the back. In order to even get the 3rd seat down I had to remove a ton of other crap so it will fit. Live.In.Car.

When I went back to the house to collect the chair she was still just in her socks so I could tell she wasn't going to help me lift this sucker. She did suggest the best way to carry it though. It was heavy but I managed.

As I was driving back to work my brother called. He sponsored my 8 year on her school spell-a-thon and thought he and his daughter would swing by my work to drop off his check. Turns out I was only 15 minutes from his house so I said I'd swing by.

Driving to my brothers house off the freeway I was on you have to pass thru Saratoga. Another "rich" neighborhood of Silicon Valley. Beautiful neighborhoods, gorgeous large homes, amazing views. Houses EASILY go for over $1 million. Sucks to be me. Again.

Get to Alan's house and am accosted by the dog. Try to avoid annoying dog and get to my cute little 23 month old niece. I scooped her up and planted lots and lots of kisses on those soft, puffy cheeks. Soon after, Alan told her to show me her new balloon. She wrapped her little fingers around the red string and brought me her Valentine heart balloon. I asked "what shape is this balloon Allison?" Her reply "iz a hawt". LOVE!!!!

I really do need to get back to work so upon leaving Alan tells Allison to give Auntie a kiss goodbye. She walks over to me and turns her head so I can lean down and give her a kiss on her cheek. hahaha

We blew each other kisses and I was off.

Great Day. Great Day!!!!

Day 2 in her bedroom!

2011-02-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate when you think you have a lunch meeting where they feed you, then it turns out the meeting is tomorrow? Yeah, me too.

Huge news again. Paula slept in her own bedroom AGAIN last night. Today she proclaimed her bedroom feels the same way as my room. SAFE.

Can you hear the angels singing?

I was going my older posts today and found this one post from October 2008 on Paula and her sleep issues. Needs Sleep

Seriously this bedroom problem has been going on for SO long. I'm so happy for my girl.

Valentines Day Miracles

2011-02-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Today is a celebratory day for several reasons.

#1 - It's VALENTINES DAY! A day to celebrate love, caring and Hallmark. heh

#2 - FREE DRESS DAY! My girls were allowed to wear free dress today, which is a huge deal for uniform kids. On top they had to wear either red, white or pink. I surprised them with V-day socks and a couple other treats too.

#3 - CLASSROOM PARTIES! The girls will be all sugared up today thanks to the classroom parties and exchanging of Valentine Cards with candies attached. I sent the girls to school with Dollar Store heart covered zip bags filled with 1 Girl Scout Cookie each. They chose the cookies themselves. Paula wanted Thin Mints in hers and Shawna wanted the Lemon Cookie's in hers. Taped to the front of each baggy was a computer generated V-card with their name on it.

#4 - ROSIE'S BIRTHDAY! Today is our dog Rosie's birthday. She turned 4 years old today. That's 28 in dog years. Rosie is a Lhasa Poo and a dear member of our family. We all forgot today was her birthday until this morning. She received lots of hugs and kisses.

#5 - PAULA SLEEPS IN HER OWN ROOM! This is seriously the biggest, most important event this decade. My almost 10 year old slept in her room the entire night last night!

Back history: Paula is a worrier. She's OCD on top of that. She regularly sees the school counselor, and has since she was in 1st grade, to talk about her worries. A couple years ago my daughter started having fears about sleeping in her room. As a 3 year old she'd had worries too. As a 3 year old she was afraid of TIGERS in her room. We invented a Tiger Spray (water in a spray bottle with a fancy cartoon tiger on the front with a slash thru it indicating NO Tigers). We sprayed the room down with Tiger Spray every night to rid the room of tigers. Wet room. No tigers.

When she was 7 or 8 years old it got really bad. She complained of shadows (close your eyes) noises (houses make noise) burglar's (installed an alarm system). You name it, she worried about it. In addition to the worrying, she had a terrible sleeping pattern. She woke up at weird times or couldn't fall asleep. We resorted to Melatonin for awhile but it didn't help much. For MONTHS my husband and I battled her fears trying everything from night lights, reassuring, sitting with her rubbing her back, bribing, threatening, alarm systems, becoming angry, growing more frustrated and finally in the end - defeat. I told Todd I couldn't take another sleepless night with her coming into our room at some odd hour, listening to her crying when we forced her go back into her bedroom. She wasn't sleeping, we weren't sleeping. I finally told him just spread out a sleeping bag on the floor beside our bed and let's be done with this. She wins.

Having your child sleep in your room havoc's with your sex life. Just sayin.

For several months she slept in our room. We don't recall what happened exactly, but she did go back to her room and stayed there for a few months over a summer. Then one day, for no apparent reason that we could see, she was back in our room and it's been a year now. There have been a few occasions in the last year where she did sleep her room. Like when my mom has visited and slept in there with her (she has a trundle bed) or when her BFF stayed for a sleep over so she, my daughter Shawna and her BFF were all in her room.

I'd like to hope that just sending Shawna in there to sleep would help the problem, but unfortunately Shawna isn't tough enough to ward off the bad things. Even at my parents house where she does sleep with Shawna, she hasn't always made it thru the night without coming to sleep on our bedroom floor. On a day to day basis she sleeps in our room. She doesn't even like to be upstairs at night if one of us isn't up there with her. Like if Todd wants to stay downstairs and watch a movie with me, she's all worried being up there without us.

For her 10th birthday coming up in March, I told her we'd update her room. She'd been complaining for awhile how her room was too childish. She has princess shelves, princess lamps and Hannah Montana bedding. She said she hoped that with a more grown up room she'd be able to sleep in there. I hoped so too.

I decided rather than give her everything ON her birthday, I'd slowly surprise her with the new items for several weeks making the excitement last longer for her and me. :)

Paula is very into PEACE. She loves the word, the sign and everything it symbolizes. Pottery Barn Teen has a great, but expensive, PEACE bedroom line. Periodically I've checked EBay for items and found a couple affordable pieces. I won a new, but not packaged, duvet cover which I've had in hiding for a few weeks now.

Last week I went to Marshall's and found a bright blue lamp for her to replace her princess lamp. I also found a Ralph Lauren PEACE sheet set. Her walls are purple/lavender so I'm pairing it with a fun bright blue shade. The bedding I found is perfect.

Last weekend I surprised her with just the lamp. OMG you'd have thought she won the lottery. Not that she's even allowed to play the lottery.

Yesterday while she was in the shower I put on her new bedding. I'd already pre-washed them that day, I just needed to do the make-over while she wasn't around. When she came out of the shower she witnessed this new bedding. (I took these pictures this morning) See the lamp? Also, I had to strategically place her stuffed animals and purple blanket JUST SO because of her OCD. Or I'd get yelled at.

SQUEAL'S of joy. THANK YOU MOMMY, THANK YOU MOMMY! I LOVE IT ALL! Also, she really wanted to try to sleep in her own room tonight. Yay!

I told her if she slept in there all week she'd be rewarded with something. (not sure yet what that something IS).

Each night she and Todd read a book together. Right now they're reading the first Harry Pottery book. Normally she reads to him while she's laying in her sleeping bag on our floor. Last night Todd sat by her bed while she read. Lights went out at around 9pm.

Paula did come downstairs at 9:45pm saying the house was making noises and she was hot and sweating. She also wanted some warm milk to help her sleep. I immediately got worried this wouldn't work. I suggested she open her window to cool the room off, since in my bedroom we have the window open and the fan on. We like it freezing in our room. I also reminded her that her clock radio had bird, ocean and other noises to choose from. She drank her milk and up she went. I crossed my fingers.

I checked in on her at 10:45pm and she was sound asleep with her window open, fish light on, bird sounds on.

JOY!

This morning when my alarm went off at 7am I looked and saw She stayed in her room ALL NIGHT!!!! I want to scream this from the rooftops. Seriously.

I quickly went into her room to close her window. I knew the heater kicked in so she'd want her room warmed up. Turns out she'd closed the window herself in the night. Later she told me she discovered the wind blowing into the room was making the door rattle.

She was SO EXCITED and proud of herself. "Mommy, can you bring me the phone?" I knew she wanted to call her dad who was already at work. While laying in bed she called her father. "Daddy, I slept in here ALL NIGHT. It's because I'm surrounded by PEACE. Literally." Heart her

Today she has her weekly meeting with the school counselor. She told me how she's SO excited to tell how she slept in her room.

She also said she'll never forget the date she slept in her room. Valentines Day.

Love

A different reality

2011-02-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I left a comment for a post on thespohrsaremultiplying in regards to expectations we have with our children, based on our own childhood. Her post resonated with me because I too had certain expectations and dreams of what my life married with children would be like, and subsequently what my children's lives would be like based on that dream. Life has turned out differently, but in a good way. I want to share my comment here.

-------------------------------
I had your same vision once, but am living a different reality. My reality is better than I thought it would be given some of the choices we made.

I grew up in N. Calif in the Beaver Cleaver family. My dad worked, my mom was a SAHM, my brother is 4 years younger than me. We lived down the street from my elementary school, walking distance to all schools, including the Jr. High and High School. I played with my friends in the neighborhood and participated in sports at all the schools I went to.

Both sets of my grandparents lived 3 hours away my whole life.

My husband and I both have to work. Our first house was small but on a nice size lot in a cul-de-sac. We loved our neighbors and hung out with them all the time. After both my girls were born (ages 1.5 and 3.5 at the time) I HAD to move. The place shrunk. I could not live through a remodel. I knew it. My husband knew it. We found a HUGE house in a ~so-so~ neighborhood for a killer price. The house was going into foreclosure. It needed work but we were up to the challenge. My husband is very handy. I’m a bit of a neighborhood snob and this is not my dream neighborhood. It’s eclectic, many really nice houses and many dog houses too thanks to inheritance of some homes and rentals. My kids do not attend the local public school, like I always thought they would, because I had too many fears about the education they’d receive there. It’s rated a 6 out of 10 year after year. The principal lives across the street from me.

My kids do not play with the neighborhood kids. They don’t even know more than 2. We live on top of a hill so they can’t ride bikes, or scooters in the neighborhood either, like I did as a child. They do ride in our long driveway and backyard sometimes.

We choose to attend a Catholic school starting in preschool (lowest tuition prices for private schools) where we have made strong relationships with the families there. It’s a great community of people and the teachers LOVE the kids. My kids LOVE the teachers. My kids, ages 8 and 10 now, participate in the parish (Oakland Diocese CYO) sports program doing volleyball, basketball, track & field and soccer through the city rec. I can’t say more good things about the school community.

We drive the girls to the local school to ride their bikes and roller blade and scooter. They have a very close relationship to my parents who moved 3 hours away before they were born. (ironically)

My kids don’t live the life I lived, but their life is really good. REALLY good.

Sometimes different works out.

Documenting February

2011-02-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

The first week of February was busy. With Catholic School's Week over and theme week finished my family and I are moving to a much needed mellow pace.

I do have some new pictures to share though.

Last week on Wednesday I babysat my 20 month old niece Allison. My brother and his wife went to see a comedy show. Lucky me! She's tons of fun and cuteness. Very active and talking a lot. Look how long her hair is getting. She turns 2 at the end of March. So cute!

You may have heard how California has been having some amazing February weather. I'm a native N. Californian and since I was in high school (1980's) I can remember warm February's laying out in my backyard sunbathing. If you have to come here in winter, come in February!

Warm weather brings on great sunsets. Two days in a row we had amazing sunsets. I took these pictures standing on my front porch. We live in a canyon.

Sunday my girls and I went to Santa Cruz for the day. My friend Kim invited us to a beach house she has access to thanks to her stepfather. Kim and I have known each other since we were in our mid 20's. We worked together, then lived together. She has two great boys. Zachary is almost 13 years old, and Niklas is 11. My girls and her boys get along really well.

The beach house is down the street from the ocean not too far from the famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Kids, I'm convinced, are impervious to the cold. The ocean here is cold at approx 50'F. I think once they get numb they just don't notice anymore.

Here is our fun day. Below is Shawna, Paula and Niklas.

I can't tell if Shawna is holding a rock or pile of sand.

Paula

Making the fort of all forts. This thing took a few good hits from the waves and still survived.

Look at this view!

The kids found a Sand Crab. It was "HUGE"

The thing about the beach is it's always entertaining. This guy was juggling up to 8 Frisbee's at at time.

Fun School Day's

2011-02-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

This week is Catholic Schools Week where if you go to a Catholic school many do theme days all week.

At our school each grade chooses their own theme, they decorate their door and dress up in the theme on one day. Yesterday was THAT day. 2nd grade was PJ's and 4th grade choose zoo animals. Shawna's was easy. Paula's I had to shop around a bit.

Today was Blow Your Top Day. The kids can decorate their body from the neck up. I braided the girls hair last night after their showers so today their hair would be puffy and frizzy. We put in a pony tail high on thier head (for Paula) and sprayed red and purple hair color in a alternating pattern.

Fun!

Why do I do it?

2011-02-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying I like kids. I do. But I prefer adults. I love my kids, and I love many of their friends. Kids like me. I'm always getting "Hello Mrs. TwoGirlsForMama" and hugs from the girls who know me. The thing is, in a group setting kids stress me out. Kids in groups are loud, hyper, chaotic and loud. Did I mention loud? They never stop moving. Or talking.

As a family we are required to do 39 volunteer hours at my girl's school so I volunteer for adult things. (My husband helps out too.)  This year, for example, I am the Crab Feed Volunteer Manager, School Board Member/Chairperson of the PR/Marketing Committee, 4th grade Parent Club (aka PTA) Snack Mom and the Box Tops Coordinator. Do you see the pattern?

I do not volunteer in the classroom, I resist (but do get guilted by my children once in awhile) chaperoning on field trips. I don't help with the Halloween day games in the school gym, nor do I help at the school book fairs or Christmas Boutiques. I avoid groups of kids when I can.

This avoidance means I dread my kids birthday's. Why? Because they want a party with their friends.  That means lots of little children. I'm usually okay when it's another child's party. I just stand back and let the birthday child's mom run around like a chicken with her head cut off. Although truth be told, those moms are always cool and collected which annoys me a little. If the party is only 2 hours I'm great. Pool parties I do not like. They give me an eye twitch as I watch children just barely slam their heads into the side of the pool as they jump off crooked or barely land on another kid. I usually have to leave early on those parties.

But, being a mother, a good mother, means sacrificing (lets be honest) EVERYTHING, which means I have to throw my kids a birthday party and have other children in attendance.

Many times I've arranged birthday parties at local places like Pump It Up, bowling, ice skating, Little Gym, and a couple others. The idea here is the space is large, usually a teenager or other adult is paid to do some of the organizing of the children and the mess is left there.

This year, however, I decided I'd throw the party at my house. I'm a glutton for punishment apparently. I limited the guest list to only half the girls in her class, would only do 1 craft, and my husband would set up the Wii and dancing in the garage so the grown-ups could drink mimosas and enjoy each other's company. Great plan right?!

How could this plan fail? Well, let me tell you.

First, I am not a crafty person. There are mom's who like paint, glitter, glue, scissors in small children's hands...that's not me. So finding a craft I could do took time. I settled on a purse project. Wal*Mart sold a 3-pack skirt purse in pink, blue and green. The packaging demonstrated bling via iron on decor. I didn't want ten 7 & 8 year olds around an iron. Hello! So I went with puffy fabric paints and fabric markers. Good idea right? Wrong.

First, after I got home I read the directions on the puffy paint. Dries in 4 hours. Hmmmm...my party is only 2 hours. Also, that meant we could only do one side of the purse. No biggy. But, guess what happens when ten 7 & 8 year olds do designs in puffy paint? They GLOB it on. Hearts, smiley faces, circles, all done in HUGE, puffy paint globs. My plan was to hang the completed artwork on a clothes rack with clothes pins. Only my daughter Shawna's decor (she wasn't the only one) was so globby (this is a word right?) the hearts and faces were dripping down the skirt purse. I had to literally put hers flat on the top of the rack so the paint wouldn't run off.

My plan was to remind the children upon their departure, as I handed them their skirt purse, that their skirt purse wasn't completely dry and to hold them flat, face up. Well, one cute child took hers off the rack while I was distracted (surprise there!) and was holding her globby (it's a word I swear) puffy paint side towards her pants. As she's moving she swings it back and forth covering her pants and tall boots with puffy paint. *Gasp*

Shawna's skirt purse dried by Monday. The party was Saturday. There should be a disclaimer that reads Dries in 4 hours if your not 7 & 8 years old.

Next problem.  Cake. Apparently a vast number of children don't like chocolate cake. Who knew?! I made my daughter, per her request, a bear cake. The theme was Glitzy Glammer, but she wanted a bear cake. It's 2 round cakes, chocolate chips for hair, butterscotch chips for part of the mouth, cupcakes for ears, candy and marshmallows for eyes, licorice (or gel icing) for eye brows. I have a cake book for dummies. I'm not creative, but I can copy candy cakes. Since it was a brown bear I did chocolate cake and chocolate filling and chocolate icing. Death by chocolate.

One girl is allergic to chocolate - it gives her headaches. The others, well, they just don't like chocolate. They loved my cake design.  Mr. Bear looked great. But I had maybe 4 children out of 10 eating cake.

Also? The adults also didn't want cake. Why? Dieting!

The good thing is my daughter LOVED her party. The parents can never tell how stressed or frazzled I really am. Mimosa's helped. It ends and away they go.

Ahhh relax.

Unfortunately for me, my other daughter's birthday is in early March. *shiver*

You're 8

2011-01-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

1/26/11

My Dearest Shawna,

Today is your birthday and you’re 8 years old. We’ve been looking forward to this day for months and it’s finally here.

I am so blessed you are my daughter. My heart bursts with happiness and love when I’m around you. You are a treasure.

We enjoy snuggling on the couch together, giving each other lots of kisses. We play thumb wars and you win! We enjoy our cooking shows and plan meals we’ll make together. If you don’t grow up to be a “Foody” I’ll be totally surprised. You’re almost never afraid to try a new food plus you eat as much as one grown man.

You’re also my mini-me. People often tell us we look alike. As a child I was a chatterbox just like you. I made friends with everyone, adults and children, no matter where I was. You are the same.

People tell me all the time how sweet and cute you are. Teachers and other mom’s at school love your hugs, they love receiving your compliments on their perfume, clothes or hair. You notice and comment on details other children your age don’t think about mentioning.

You enjoy coloring and doing art projects using Bendaroos, crayons and markers. Scissors are also fun. Our refrigerator, your bedroom, my bedroom and many other places around the house are often adorned with your lovely artwork.

Bling and accessorizing is YOUR thing. Your wrists normally sport no less than 5 bracelets or Funny Bands at any given time. You like fake tattoo’s, nail polish, fancy scarves, shorts & summer dresses in the winter, and fancy shoes. Thankfully you’ll wear boots but socks aren’t your thing.

Neatness is also not your thing. I joke how I know where you’ve been by what’s on the floor. However, this week in anticipation of your birthday party at our house, where you told me our house has to be REALLY clean, you’ve been especially good about keeping your room tidy and neat and I love you for that. I love how you want to make a good impression for your friends.

For your 8th birthday you get an American Girl doll. First you looked in the catalogue we had at the house, than we looked online together. You have blond hair and green eyes. The only green eyed AG doll has bangs. You do not like bangs and made sure that I knew you do not want a doll with bangs. This does not surprise me since you may remember how when you were 3.5 years old you decided you no longer wanted bangs so you removed them completely with a pair of scissors, much to your father’s dismay, who found you that way. So your AG doll will be blond with blue eyes and layered hair, no bangs, per your choice.

I’m the luckiest Mommy in the world to have my Shawna girl. Thank you so much for being my daughter.

Love, Mom

XOXO

1/20/11 diet status

2011-01-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

~ Recap

Day 10 - 145.8

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Shredded pork, lettuce, and tomato
Today I had a lunch meeting for our employee activities committee. They had tortilla shells with shredded pork and all the fixin's, but I restrained and just ate the pork (not a meat choice ON the diet btw), lettuce and chopped tomato and a water.
Dinner: Chicken, asparagus, wine, WW bar, 2 string cheese, 2 pieces wheat bread w/cream cheese

Yeah, do you see what I did there? I OVER ATE. I let my cravings get the better of me and ate bad things. haha
But, the scale didn't move! Also, I made 36 chocolate cookies for my 4th graders Treat Day tomorrow and didn't even eat one. Go me! It was tempting, but I restrained. See, I have some will power.

Day 11 - 145.8

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Snack: Chinese cookie - A coworker offered me a tiny cute square Chinese cookie. I felt bad declining (cuz hello! It's a cookie) I'm counting that as my carb for lunch. It has sesame seeds on it. Yum.
Lunch: Spring lettuce, rice wine vinegar, apple, chicken
Dinner: TBD
I have to pick up Paula from volleyball practice tonight at 7:30pm. Normally on late nights I'm better and don't overeat. The more I'm in my house, the worse I am. Heh.

I drank much more water yesterday like I hoped I would. I'm going to do that again today.

More of my unique HCG (not really) diet stats

2011-01-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

Recap ~ Day 9 - 146.0

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: See picture below. That was lunch. Spinach lettuce with rice vinegar dressing, halibut, apple and 1 Melba toast, and diet Coke (not on diet list but was craving soda)
Dinner: Chicken breast (half), asparagus, wine and WW bar.
I didn't drink as much water as I should have. I think Day 10 may reflect that fact.

Day 10 - 145.8

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Shredded pork, lettuce, and tomato
Dinner: TBD
Today I had a lunch meeting for our employee activities committee. They had tortilla shells with shredded pork and all the fixin's, but I restrained and just ate the pork (not a meat choice ON the diet btw), lettuce and chopped tomato and a water.

I'm really going to try and up my water intake. I haven't had a bowel movement today and I'm starting to be constipated in general. Need to get this body moving!

Day 9 HCG diet

2011-01-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

Recap ~ Starting weight 151

Day 8 - 146.4

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Green salad (mixed spinach w/spring lettuce) with chicken, a few cucumber slices (not supposed to mix the veggies btw) and rice wine vinegar, 1 Melba toast and an apple.
Dinner: Chicken, asparagus, 1 Melba toast, wine and WW ice cream bar. I skipped the fruit for the wine. Grapes are a fruit but not on the HCG diet list. Whatever, I like my wine and my chocolate dessert.

Day 9 - 146.0
Only lost .4 today. After I got to work I had a movement that would have dropped my weight further.
Hey, I count everything!

AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: TBD (stayed tuned for updates)
For lunch today I'm hoping my cafeteria has fish I can have. Yesterday they had tuna which is a no no per the HCGdiet.com book.
Dinner: TDB (stay tuned for updates)

Tonight I have a school board meeting at 7pm so dinner won't be until 8:30pm. Also, last night I steamed 2 bunches of asparagus (1 bunch comes rubber banded at the grocery store, then chopped them into 1 inch pieces. I ate some for dinner and have enough for a few nights.

Breakfast:
Tea or coffee in any quantity without sugar. (One tablespoon of milk is allowed per day. The all-natural sweetener, Stevia is great to use! (they added the (!) not me)

Lunch (I'm not going to type it all out but it says measure before you cook and all visible fat s/b removed, only grill or boil the meat)
100 grams of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp.

The veggies your allowed to have, per the HCGdiet.com book are:
One type of vegetable only to be chosen from the following:
spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens (never eaten or heard of beet-greens), green salad (I think this must just mean lettuce because you can only choose ONE right?), tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes (do they come in other colors?), cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage, (Any reasonable portion of vegetables is allowed)

As you've seen from my diet log, I've mixed up some veggies in my salad to add variety, but you're not supposed to.

Also, for Fruit:
An apple, orange, 6-9 strawberries or 1/2 grapefruit.

Dinner
The same four choices as lunch (above)
Do not eat the same meat for both meals

Staying positive

2011-01-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

My HCG diet (I flip between caps and lower case on that...I know it. Go with it) is going okay. I didn't do awesome this weekend, but I didn't totally fail either. Failing to me is gaining it all back.

Friday, as I mentioned in my previous post, we had the Harlem Globetrotters game to attend (which was totally fun btw!). Check this one out of Shawna holding the girls' new Official Harlem Globetrotters basketball.

For Friday dinner I had asked Todd to bring me a piece of chicken I could eat in the car on the way to the event. The store didn't have any pre-cooked whole chickens that looked any good to him so he just bought chicken tenders which are breaded. Normally, breaded chicken would be fine, but not on this diet. But, I thought I could remove the breading. Not so much. It just wouldn't come OFF without taking all the meat with it, so rather than starve, I ate the entire thing, breading and all.

So, let's recap Friday:
Day 5 - 147.2

AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Chicken, green salad, cucumber, apple, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: Chicken tenders (breaded), cucumber. That's it! I didn't do the Melba toast since the meat was breaded. I didn't do the fruit because the meat was breaded.

As always I take the liquid 3X a day, then before bed I take my vitamin B12, a multi-vitamin and 2 calcium pills. I also drink water during the day. Perhaps not a half gallon or gallon like the diet recommends, but I'm regularly visiting the bathroom to pee, so THERE.
Day 6: - 146.4
Weight loss!!!! Woo hoo. But, this is a Saturday now we're on and traditionally on diets I have problems holding to the routine on weekends. When I did WW in 2005 I regularly fell off the wagon on weekends, but kicked butt on weekdays. Every morning I'd have high hopes that I could stick to it, but sadly, I'd give in to some craving. This Saturday would be no different. This day was emotionally very hard for me. I was an idiot and left too late to watch my daughter perform a cheer leading dance routine in a huge competition. My husband was there with her, but my other daughter and I left the house too late (totally MY fault) so we missed it. I was soooo upset with myself I was on the verge of tears for hours. Still, during the rest of the competition I ate what I'd brought. It was when I got home that I failed.
AM: No coffee. Nothing.
Lunch: Chicken pieces, cucumber, 1 Melba toast, 2 cuties
Dinner: Chicken breast, cucumber, 1 Melba toast, apple
Snacks (here is the problem:) Lots of wine, 2 string cheese, WW ice cream bar (1 point bars if you're on the WW plan)

Day 7 - 147.4
I gained a full pound!*!$% Todd said it was water weight but I was kinda (A LOT) upset with myself. Had I stayed the same weight I would have been okay, but to gain a full pound sucked. Also, I slept like crap that night and was awake from 1am to 5am stressing and remembering how lame I was to miss my daughter's routine AND over eat the day before. I knew I'd still have a problem not cheating but I would try to limit my over indulging from the previous day.
AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Chicken breast, cucumber, 1 cutie, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: Hamburger patty, tomato, 1 Melba toast, apple, less wine, WW ice cream bar

Day 8 - 146.4
Phew! Lost that weight again. Go me.
AM: Coffee, 2 TBS milk, Stevia.
Lunch: Green salad (mixed spinach w/spring lettuce) with chicken, a few cucumber slices and rice wine vinegar and an apple.
Dinner: Chicken, asparagus, 1 Melba toast, wine and WW ice cream bar.

My newest conquest

2011-01-14T13:46:00.000-08:00

I recently started the popular, very talked about HCG Diet. I read a bunch of articles online before purchasing. One article said the hcg liquid is actually snake oil. haha

I decided to try it anyway. My sister-in-law is a chiropractor with 4 years of medical training. She did (and is continuing to do) the injections of hcg. She's lost over 30 lbs. She's a naturalist, organic food buyer, waited a few months before immunizing her daughter for the first time, type person. She knows what is healthy and what isn't. If SHE'S on this diet, I know it's not all bad. So, I went online & ordered it.

A bit of back history on me.

I've always had to worry about my weight a little bit. I've never been huge, but as I get older and become less active my weight goes up. When I was married in January of 1999 I was a size 8 and about 135 pounds. I hold my weight everywhere with a pretty good even distribution. Some people gain weight just their hips but I gain it everywhere, and you can definitely see in my face when my weight is up or down. My cheeks and triple chin (haha) show my weight.

Below is me in 1994. We had a hat party. :) Size 8.

Below in 1999 on my wedding day

In 2001 I had my daughter Paula and in 2003 I had my daughter Shawna. In 2005 my weight stablized around 150.

This was me in August 2004. (the baby I'm holding is not mine but she sure is cute!) I'm pretty sure those were size 12's I'm wearing.

In May of 2005 my friend Tina and I decided to start Weight Watchers together. We were totally committed and supported each other. In 5 months I lost 22 lbs. My goal weight was 128 and I hovered around that weight (up or down 2 lbs) for a few years.

Below was our December 2005 company holiday party. Tina is on the right, I'm in the middle. The three of us all did WW together so we were celebrating our skinniness with dessert!

Some friends said I was too skinny at 127 but I loved it. I could wear a size 4 or petite 6 in pants. The blue dress above was a petite 8. I felt SO good in my skin. I'm only 5'3" so 127-130 is a good weight for my height.

I'm below on the left at my 20 year high school reunion in August 2006. I was 127 lbs :)

Then, in 2008 I got hooked on this speciality salad at work in our cafeteria. It was a Waldorf salad. It had chicken, blue cheese, cranberries, apples, candied walnuts and a raspberry dressing. OMG I ate it everyday. But, as you can see by the ingredients, it's not a low calorie lunch. Salad doesn't mean low calorie. Gradually, without really noticing anything dramatic, in 1 year I'd gained 10 lbs. In January 2009 I was 141 lbs. I still looked okay but I wanted to lose the weight and wear my small clothes again.

Me in 2009. Size 10.

Then something awful happened. In 2009 I got hives for no known reason. I was tested by an allergist and found to be allergic to NOTHING. But the Prednisone (steroid) they put me on to stop the itching made me STARVING. I would feel as if I hadn't eaten for days, even when I'd just eaten a huge meal 2 hours ago. I could have eaten a couch. I quickly, and I do mean QUICKLY, gained a fast 8 lbs by the end of that stint. Sadly, that weight didn't disappear when I stopped the evil (but necessary) Prednisone. So then I was back to my original weight from early 2005. During 2010 I managed to maintain that weight, give or take a couple pounds. I did attempt to go back on WW, but my heart wasn't in it so I wasn't successful.

My daughter Paula and I on a Christmas Train in December 2010. See my cheeks? Yeah, big time weight gain. Size 12.

During the holiday's is when my brother told me about his wife's HCG diet. I saw her on Thanksgiving and WOW, she looked amazing. I mean amazing. I decided to do my research. I considered doing the injections like her. When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter I had to inject insulin 4 times a day for a month for gestational diabetes so I knew I could handle that part, but in the end I decided on oral.

Last Saturday the HCG kit arrived from hcgdiet.com via UPS and I had to sign for the package upon delivery.

I immediately opened it. Of course. Hello! The rest of my new life starts today!

According to the book, Day 1 and Day 2 your supposed to start the drops (3x a day) and eat a bunch of fatty foods. Then on Day 3 you start the 500 calories. But since eating fatty foods doesn't scream DIET to me, I say the day I started the 500 calories is my day 1. Got it? Ok.

Let me start out by saying I'm not doing this diet exactly by the book. I don't own a food scale, and don't plan to buy one. Also, my schedule is chaotic with work, kid pickup, volleyball games and cheer competitions. I eat lunch at noon and dinner at 7 or 8pm. That's probably not the best for this low calorie meal plan since I'm STARVING by dinner time, so I've had to eat an orange or Melba toast in between meals. Also, I'm a wino. Wine makes me feel civilized and if I don't have my wine at the end of the day I feel jipped. So I need to have 1 glass a day. Again, not on the meal plan. But, I'm on day 5 and have lost 4lbs so I'm doing something right. Also, it says don't eat the same meat for lunch and dinner. I'm going to fail on that some days. I'm a huge chicken fan. Also, I'm drinking several glasses of water during the day. Sometimes it's green tea, unsweetened ice tea or just plain water.

At night I take the B12 drops that came in the kit, with a multi-vitamin and 2 calcium pills.

Day 1 - weighed 151 lbs.
Actually, this was the first time in months I weighed myself at all. The book recommends weighing and measuring before you start the FAT eating diet. The last time I weighed myself I was 153 or 154 lbs so I'd actually lost weight somewhere over the holidays which shocks the heck out of me but I'm not complaining. Also, I didn't measure my body parts. Measuring is recommended but I couldn't find my measuring tape until day 3.
Menu:
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia sweetener
Lunch: Halibut, spinach lettuce, apple, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: Crab meat (fake crab meat), asparagus, orange, Melba toast

Day 2 - 150.8 lbs
That's barely any loss so I was a bit worried this whole thing is a sham. Also, I was hungry the day before. Today was rough because before I went on this diet I'd already made plans to go out to lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in 2 years. I changed our venue from Vietnamese to Applebees and ordered off the WW menu, but tweaked it.
Menu:
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Shrimp skewers (it had a sweet bbq sauce (didn't know it came with the sauce) but I'd asked for no oil), broccoli (not one of the veggie choices in the HCG book but oh well, I'm still learning this whole thing.
Dinner: Chicken, asparagus, orange, 1 Melba Toast

Day 3 - 149.4 lbs
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Trout, spinach lettuce, 2 cuties, 1 Melba toast (2 cuties aren't the same as 1 orange I'm told, Higher sugar content in a cutie)
Dinner: Chicken, cucumber, apple, 1 Melba toast, red wine

Day 4 - 148.2 lbs
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Chicken, green lettuce, cucumber, 2 cuties, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: Shrimp, cucumber, cutie, 1 Melba toast, red wine

Day 5 - 147.2
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Chicken, green salad, cucumber, apple, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: No idea. We're going to see the Harlem Globetrotters tonight. I've asked my husband to bring me some chicken to eat in the car. I have some fruit (orange/cuties) with me and my Melba toast.
I'll try to not blow it. Wish me Luck!

1/11/11

2011-01-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

Today's date makes me want to do a blog post.

A summary of things going on in my world.

1. We had a nice holiday vacation. My company was shut down the week after Christmas so Todd, the girls and I went to my parents for a few days to visit, relax and visit the snow. I prefer to "visit" the snow, not live in it. I'm a California Girl after all. I managed to read two and a half books while at my parents house. Reading is luxury I truly enjoy, but don't always do enough of it.

2. We celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary this month. This is the first time in 3 years we actually celebrated. We went to dinner to a favorite fine dining Italian restaurant of ours. For daycare that night, Todd arranged for the girls to spend the evening with the daycare provider from when they were born. Both girls were 4 months old when they started going to Maureen, but Paula was in kindergarten when we stopped going and Shawna only 3. My older daughter remembers Maureen much more than Shawna but both were soo happy to see her and vice versa. Daycare providers play such an important role in your child's early development. I'm so thankful we found Maureen when we did. Love her.

3. I started the HCG diet everyone raves about this past weekend. I'm hopeful I can follow through with this diet because I NEED to lose 20 pounds. I WANT to be healthier, and I WANT to look HOT again.

4. I'm now planning my youngest daughter's 8th birthday. She has requested an American Girl Doll which I've ordered already. We're doing a bowling party for her per her request. I really need to get on booking that. The decor will be Selena Gomez. haha

5. My older daughter has a California Mission model to build for her 4th grade project. In addition, she needs to put together a scrapbook of the Mission all by January 28th. My kitchen table has transformed into a crafts center.

6. For several weeks now my youngest daughter (2nd grader) is partaking in a psyche evaluation to help finalize her dyslexia diagnosis. Today is hopefully the last day of testing. I'm anxious to see the final results. She has received tutoring for dyslexia last school year and this school year. She wrote her name in cursive for me last night. Cursive is something she learns in tutoring because it's easier for dyslexics to read. I'm sooo proud of her.

7. We still have the rental dog (foster dog). Yesterday he ate a phone. He really did a number (pun intended) destroying the phone. H'es a Chihuahua.

I'm starving right now.

Online Window Shopping

2010-12-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else do this?

I go on a retail website, like LLBean or Old Navy or {insert the name of any popular site here} and click on all their wonderful stuff so it goes into my cart. I actually take a good amount of time and care making my choices. Mostly things for the kiddos, sometimes items for me.

My total reaches $150 to $200 but before I check out I purposely exit out of the website.

Why?

Because I can't actually AFFORD to spend $150 or $200 on all that wonderful stuff.

Online window shopping at it's best.

Planning a trip to New York City

2010-12-06T18:13:00.000-08:00

Recently a classmate from my high school posted on Facebook that he was in New York. I've never been to NY so I decided I should make a trip.

I checked my calendar and February was free. Presidents Day weekend to be exact.

My friend Jennifer lives in Richmond, VA, a mere hop skip and a jump away from NY. She said if she could find a way to pay for it and get her friend Danielle to join her she'd meet me there. I also have two online friends who live in New Jersey. They said they'd meet me too.

I decided I should research my destination. Weather: Lows in the 20's highs in the 30's.

I live in N. California. 30's is not at all okay for my body. I'm going to need to buy a heavy down jacket that reaches my kankels.

I asked my New Jersey friends where I should stay. Brooklyn? Manhattan?
One says "Manhattan to be close to everything, Brooklyn if you are looking for cheaper and want to experience the subway system." I don't mind using the subway system, but how long am I going to be on that subway?

Airfare isn't too bad from SFO to JFK. I found a cheap flight thru Virgin Atlantic.

Where to stay?

So much to do and plan. Stay tuned.

Life is a roller coaster

2010-12-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

How is it already December?! I know I say this every year but seriously, this year has FLOWN by.

2010 has been better for me than some people. I follow a few bloggers who can't wait until 2010 is over. I know I'm lucky. I have a job that I LIKE, my kids are happy and healthy. My husband and I had a fairly good year with minimal major blow ups, my parents are both healthy and my 93 year old (or is it 94?) grandmother is still with us.

In 2008/2009 I was unhappy, my marriage was going down the drain, my older daughter was showing signs of depression and anxiety due to my marriage going down the drain. I hated my job. Money was tight.

I needed a 2010.

Life is a roller coaster.

Do you smell something?

2010-11-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

Today my two daughters and I were in line in the school parking lot waiting for drop off. You know drop off? You must patiently sit until your car is in a certain designated area before your children are allowed to vacate the car. At our school they’ve started fining families $25 per infraction for breaking rules such as speeding over the 5 mi/per hour posted signs, pulling out of parking spaces before the 8am bell (backing out prematurely blocks other cars, which interferes with tardy families like me trying to reach drop off before the bells rings) and kids vacating cars who are not IN the drop off zone (mostly kids who are tardy so their parents tell them to get out and RUN fast).

Our drop off zone has 2 rows. We were in the left row. I prefer the left row because the school is on the left side so my kids don’t have to go around any cars, and they make it past the Not Tardy Line faster. To our right was a father who is family friend. He’s coached my daughters in softball, their entire family has camped with us several times, and we invite each other to holiday parties. We love this family. The wife is a nurse. He’s a computer engineer who helps our country with espionage. Oh yes he does. He even has to go to Washington DC every 6 months for a lie detector test. At parties his wife tries to get him drunk so he’ll talk about what he’s working on, but he never talks dammit.

He and his wife have two children at this school. Their daughter is in 4th grade with my older daughter, and their son is in his final year at our school in 8th grade. This particular father has a passion for cars. Today he was driving his red convertible corvette. Normally he drives a lifted jeep or their Denali Yukon when he’s dropping off both kids. His wife drives a convertible BMW. Did I mention he has a car fetish? In the car with him I saw his son. I asked Paula if his daughter was sick yesterday or maybe she didn't feel well since she wasn't with them. Paula said the daughter had been fine yesterday.

Paula begins to say how MUCH she loves their house because their house is so big, clean and smells so good. I raise an eyebrow from the front seat. “Our house is big and clean and smells good.” She says, “No, our house smells like garbage”.

Gasp!

My house does not smell like garbage. Yes, we do have a garbage can with a lid in the main part of the kitchen, which sometimes gets stinky, but overall my house does not smell like garbage.

I think.

Now she has me wondering. Have I just gotten used to the smell? You know how if you are around something long enough you become immune to it? I’m going to have to buy a ~~crap load~~ of Plug-In Air Fresheners. I have some candles too I’ll light. I do not want to be THAT family. You know the family I’m talking about. The ones you hate to visit because the house smells like garbage.

Damn her and her nose.

My Prison Pen Pal

2010-11-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I talked about my cousin Tommy who lives in prison. You can find the posts here and here if you want to read them. If you don't want to read them, in summary, when I was a teen my cousin Tommy was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for murder. He is now living in his 3rd prison. He was kicked out of his previous prisons for various reasons. First time for having sex with the dental assistant (frowned on apparently ha ha), and next because of a tool he'd owned and used for years, but for some reason he doesn't know, the guards were searching for it, but during the search for this said tool some cell phones were found in other inmates cells. Cell phones are abundant in prisons but not allowed. They're snuck in by the guards.

After the cell phones were confiscated the inmates who had them were apparently angry at Tommy, but Tommy denies this fact. He says he gets along with all the races. Tommy was put in solitary confinement as punishment for having the tool, then aapparently the guards worried about his welfare so they moved him. He describes his new prison view like living on the moon. No view at all. That would be the desert.

A few months ago I sent Tommy my first letter. I was nervous to write him. We weren't close growing up. I remembered him from family functions but he being a boy and me a girl and our age differences meant we had almost nothing in common. But, I'd wanted to write him for awhile so I did.

To my relief, he was thrilled to hear from me and we continue to correspond back and forth. Each of us write/receive a letter a month.

He's got a great attitude considering where he is and where he'll stay most likely for the duration of his life. He is bitter that he has a life sentence, but others who have committed worse crimes received lesser sentences. He's very philosophical and a very good writer. He's been told by me and others to write down his story in essays to be published. He avoids doing so because he doesn't want to relive the nightmare. He denies he's guilty.

He claims to be busy and loses track of time. He gets to watch TV and reads books. He says it's not unheard of for guys in prison to read 1000+ pages a day. He says he doesn't read that much. I sent him a few paperbacks he requested. He's only allowed to receive paperbacks and they must be mailed directly from the book seller. Meaning I can't mail them. A company/distributor has to send them. He gets to spend time in the "yard" where he hangs out with his friends.

He knew some guys at his current prison since they'd been together before at a different prison. He says unfortunately at this prison, when your a Lifer you don't get the good jobs. He enjoys working and was saddened to learn this fact.

In the latest letter certain races were banned from using the common yard due to fighting going on among them. Mostly the blacks and Hispanics. Tommy is American Indian. He's actually American Indian (deceased father), Italian and Irish (mother - my aunt), but he decided in prison to use his American Indian looks to his benefit. It's all about Race in prison.

I think in the future I'll write down some quotes from him. I don't have any of his letters with me right now or I'd give you a few lines.

Former Envy

2010-09-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

When I was 6 years old, entering 1st grade, I excitedly stood out in front of my new classroom. I was going to have Miss. Gomes for 1st grade. I had previously attended kindergarten at this same school the year prior and lived down the street so this school and I were well acquainted.

Standing near the door of the classroom was another 6 year old girl who was crying. I asked her what was wrong. She said she was new to the school, had just moved here from Michigan and she was scared.
I quickly tried to make her feel better. By the time we entered the classroom she was no longer crying.

We became best friends that day. Her name was Nik. She lived with her mother and father. Her mother had been married previously so Nik had 2 half siblings who lived with their father back in Michigan. She was her father's only child so he doted and spoiled her.

The first several years they lived in a townhouse complex we called "Regency". Her complex included a pool and a hot tub. I was so jealous. I didn't live in Regency. I lived in a modest 1700 sq ft house down the street from Regency and we did not have a pool or a hot tub. We only had 1 car too, which was an old Buick that overheated. Nik's parents both worked and had two cars. Her mother drove a Ford Mustang and her father had a Cadillac. Later her mom purchased white Stingray Corvette similar to this one. When we went places Nik and I would take turns laying in the back section. This was at a time long before seat belts were mandated.

My parents still had the same Buick that overheated. #carenvy

Since Nik was an only child I spent lots of time with her and her parents. I'd often go out to dinner with them, which I loved. My parents rarely went out to dinner. We'd have sleepovers at each others house. We were tight as thieves for a couple years.

Nik vacationed in Hawaii with her parents.

My parents took my brother and I to my Grandparents house in Folsom, CA. #vacationenvy

In 3rd grade I remember a handball game where we got into a verbal disagreement. Words were spoken and we called each other out to fight. Literally, "I call you out". She came to my classroom to pick me up so we could go fight, but she came with another girl. I was very concerned the other girl was going to help Nik beat me up. Make no mistake, I knew I'd get beat up. I was very chicken and afraid to fight. Nik was much tougher than I. So in the end I got scared and told my teacher. Nik ran home and called my house to apologize. We were friends again.

At age 9 we both started swimming on swim teams. I wanted to be on the same swim team as Nik, but my parents had joined a swim and raquet club that had a swim team, so I had to be on that team. Nik team was much larger and a more prestigious swim team than mine. After a year I quit. She went on to swim in college and the Jr Olympics. #swimenvy

One day we were sitting in our classroom in 6th grade when the office secretary came on via the intercom system to verify if Nik was in fact in the classroom. "Mr. Anderson, is Nik XXX in class today?". Yes, he replied. We all looked over at Nik. 10 minutes later the same thing. "Mr. Anderson, are you sure Nik XXX is in class?" In unison the entire class chanted YES. We all looked over at Nik again. Awkward. At the end of that day mom was there to meet us, which was unusual. Nik had after school care over the years but my mom wasn't one of them. In 6th grade I believe Nik just walked home on her own, but on this day my mom was asked to come get her because apparently, someone called one of her parents that morning saying they had kidnapped Nik. They were able to describe her clothing from that day, and said they wanted a ransom. Thankfully nothing bad happened and it was totally false.

Soon after the false kidnap incident, Nik's parents bought her a dog for protection. Not just any dog. They got her a wolf for protection. Yes, a wolf, as in wild dog. Her dog, named Lobo, was a wolf breed with some Shepard in him so he'd be trainable. The problem with a wolf is they don't bark. They whine with a sort of crying sound. They also howl. The non-barking thing I guess was overlooked by her parents, however, when Nik answered her front door with a huge wolf beside her, you know that the person on the other side was intimidated. Lobo stood over 6ft tall on his back feet. He was soo cool.

I had a 15 lb cockapoo. #dogenvy

When Nik was younger her dad promised her a Camero when she turned 16. I remember him telling her this promise. Her dad stayed true to his promise. Not only did she get a Camero, but he gave her a Camera with T-Tops.

Do you know what I drove when I was 16? A 1972 Datsun that belonged to my father. Remember those cars people? No, well alrightythen. # carenvy

Her parents divorced around high school. She said they should have divorced sooner, but they held on for her sake.

Over the years we lost touch, but thanks to the social networking we all know and love, we reconnected many years ago. I attended her daughters 1st birthday while she was pregnant with her 2nd. I got to see her parents again after SO many years.

Sadly, a few months after the party her dad died suddenly of a heart attack. She was so close to her father. I mean, really really close. His loss devastated her.

Like many of us, her adult life isn't what she'd hoped it would be. Her marriage is rocky. They separated, he moved out. They're working it out and may get back together. Her father is gone. Her mother lives with her but not out of choice.

This person who I envied all through childhood no longer has a life I envy. My life isn't all that great mind you. On any given day my marriage is rocky too. But the big change from childhood to adulthood is she no longer has something I want. I love and adore her and certainly wish the best for her. I'm just happy to say I no longer Envy Her.

I think I turned out okay on my own.

Spell Ricochet

2010-09-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

I know your all dying to know how I did in the Spelling Bee. All (none) of you.

Well, I did very well thank you. I managed to go thru a few rounds with some easy words like
Marriage
Mischief
Lecture
and maybe one more

Then they gave me Ricochet.

I could not even visualize the word. I wasn't even sure RIC was right! LOL I got to RICOshae which I knew was wrong but I had to say something.
I was not the first one sent away. In fact, there were 13 contestants (I was 007) and many were disqualified before me.

So GO ME.

Spell WHAT?

2010-09-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

My company is having a Spelling Bee to raise money For the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Part of the arrangement is your supposed to donate a certain number of hours of vacation (4-16) to enter the Spelling Bee, which will then be donated to the cause. Our company goal is $100K.

My vacation hours are in the negative. With all our shut down days in 2009 and 2010 as well as vacations in 2010 I can barely keep enough on the books.

I guess there weren't a lot of participants so my friend running the event asked if I'd participate. I'm sort of known around here as someone who gets involved. I was willing, but told her of my dilema of no vacation hours. She offered to donate hours in my name. Sweet!

Unfortunately, I'm an okay speller but not great. They are kinda cheating and gave us the looong list of words in advance. On top of the list says "Beginner Words". Hah! Beginner words?! I can read these words easily enough, but spell them?! I'm doomed.

I have one night to study, not that it will help. I'll be nervous in front of everyone and forget everything.

At least it's for a good cause.

Busy weekend

2010-09-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was SO productive! I'm very proud of myself. I'm by nature very lazy. I have my energetic moments like everyone else, but as a rule I like to relax on weekends. Okay, everyday.

Saturday I kicked ass on my neglected backyard. The tomato plant was out of control. It's got branches (or are they limbs?) everywhere, taking over my pathway. I trimmed some away, mostly the ones cascading over the lawn which the Rental Dog dog was peeing on.

I picked up dog doodoo, mowed the lawn, cut away dead rose buds, had spiders land down my shirt. Oh yes I did. I pulled out a dead rose bush, and just overall ROCKED.

Sunday I picked apples off our apple tree and made apple crumble with my girls. It was delicious. My neighbor told me my apples are Golden Delicious. I gave her a bag of them which is how she knew. The tree came with the house and sits on a very HIGH part of our yard on top of our retaining wall. See it below? You can actually access the apples easier via the sidewalk on the side of our house.

And to top off my fabulous weekend, I rode my bike part way to work today. Go me!

Life is short

2010-09-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Last night and today I went to funeral services for a co-worker. He was a 35 year old son, brother, cousin, nephew, friend, husband and new father. I can't go into a lot of details because, well, I don't know many of them to be facts yet. There is a lot of hush hush around what happened. I'm not so naive that I don't know what silence means when your talking about how someone died, but to know this guy you'd never believe it. His wife spoke and referred to him many times as "sweet". He was definitely sweet. Always cared about others first. I sat in the same cubicle row with him for years. He and his wife adopted a son just 2 days old, who just recently turned 1 year old.

I'm thinking a lot about mortality. Mine and my children's. It's not fun.

I'm sorry....Cleaning my dogs teeth will cost how much?!

2010-09-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago my husband took our dog who is a small 12 lb Lhasa Poo, Rosie, to the vet to have her paw looked at. She'd been messing with her paw for awhile and it needed tending to. They gave her a couple routine shots which were past due, lanced the swollen part on her paw and gave us some antibiotic pills. They looked at her teeth and said she needs a cleaning. Turns out small dogs, even if you brush their teeth, have dental problems.She's 3.5 years old. We only feed her dry food because I heard wet food causes worse teeth. There is debate on dry vs. wet by the way. We feed her good food too. She eats wheat free, meat is the 1st ingredient, Wellness Brand (or similar brand) dog food.

I called and made a dental cleaning appointment for today. I take her in. They ask do you want to add a heart worm test. Sure. Do you want her bordetella vaccine. Sure. Okay, here is your low estimate. $850.33!!!! High Total estimate $981.33!!!!

Are you serious?? For a dogs teeth?! Not happening. Honey, I don't even have that much left on my credit card right now after all the dental work I'VE had done lately. (another post to be written later).

She apologized and I apologized, then Rosie and I walked out.

How can it be so much money? She's a dog! I have the detailed estimate in front of me. Let's look shall we?

Dental Adult Dog Up to 8 years old:
Prep Profile (tests to make sure she's okay to be put under anesthsia).........$81.00
Hospitalization........$29.25
Anesthesia 1st 30 min ............$153.00
Anesthesia Each Add 15 min..........$118.50
Dental Prophy+Fluoride..............$99.25
Extract Tooth Minor...........$33.00
Antiobiotic injection...........$33.50
NSAID w/premed inj............$46.50 (what is this?)
Catheterization IV.................$51.50
Fluids Intravenous.................$17.00
IV Pump...............................$18.50
Oravet Dental Sealant Apply..........$20.25
Oravet Home Care Kit..................$31.31
Dental Vacc #1............................$24.50 ?(????)
Extras:
Bortadella vaccine.......................$25.50
Heartworm Test..........................$35.02

Subtotal:....................................$817.38

What sucks is that her breath is bad because she does need her teeth cleaned. How many regular (not rich) families can really afford to pay for their dogs teeth to get cleaned when it costs SO much? On a regular basis mind you. It's not like she won't need this done again 3 years after she gets them cleaned.
I feel bad for her. I feel bad for us. I want to do the right thing, really I do, but we can't afford it. I love Rosie to death but she's a dog, not my child. I'd scrape the money up for my child but sadly, Rosie falls into the Pet category.

Dental cleanings for dogs need to be cheaper. Whose with me!

Whip it good!

2010-09-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

My husband took this great shot of my youngest daughter Shawna in Beaver Creek at Calaveras Big Trees over Labor Day weekend.

Laughing NOW

2010-09-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

This morning on the way to school I was telling my daughters a true story that happened when Paula, my oldest now 9 years old, was an infant. It was mortifying at the time and scary as hell, but thankfully we can laugh about it now.

Paula was 2.5 months old. She didn't crawl or roll over yet. She was a preemie born at 34 weeks so we'd already had our share of surprises and scares up until this point. I really didn't need anymore excitement where she was concerned. She would show to be behind in most milestones until she hit about 2 years old. She's very bright and one of the tallest in her class. You'd never know today she was a preemie.

But, I did something awful that I'm ashamed and embarrassed about. Here it is.

Paula and I were home alone together. It was time to feed her. Due to her awful acid reflux (common in preemies) she was on a special formula (Enfamil AR) which was thicker than others so I needed to go make her bottle. She also took Reglan to speed up her digestive system and Zantax for the reflux. I laid her on the couch kitty corner, like diagonally.

I'm in the kitchen mixing her formula and medicine when I hear a THUD. I paused. What was that noise? A couple seconds later I hear her crying. Was that her hitting the floor?! I run into the room and yes, my sweet baby girl was lying on the floor. She'd fallen off the couch!!! What a horrible mother I am!!! I can't believe I let this happen. What if she has brain damage! What if I've ruined our child! So many things went thru my mind at that moment. She calmed down eventually. I checked her over. On the outside everything looked fine. I needed to get her checked out but I didn't want to call the pedi and say I just let my 2 mos old fall off the couch. I can't be THAT mother.

She'd apparently wiggled herself to the end of the couch where her lower half became heavier from hanging off the end of the couch making her body fall off.

Paula had a rash on her face. I decided I'd use that as my excuse to bring her in. Then while she's being looked at I can casually mention the fall incident. Yeah, cause it's a casual occurrence. Just shoot me now.

We get into the doctors office and one of the many pedi's is examining her skin. I really don't want to tell him, but I have to.
Yeah, so doc, um.....this morning she kind of fell off the couch.
You know the look he gave me right? Can I just climb into a hole?
That must have hurt. How far was the fall? 2 feet?
Yeah, probably. I'm cringing.
He checks her body and determines she's fine. THANK GOD!

I leave hoping I never ever ever get him as her doctor again. There are 6 doctors. Surely there is a chance I'll never have to see him again.

I call my husband and tell him what happened. You what he says? "I'm glad it was you and not me."

FAVORITE THING

2010-08-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

My oldest, Paula, is very serious and a worries so much about too much. She’s 9 years old now and it’s not getting any better. She doesn’t usually like to try new things. Food included. But, I’m mean and force her a lot.

Her first plane ride was at age 5. She was petrified. What will it feel like? What if it’s scary? She was throwing up before we got on the plane. We were the last passengers on purpose. I told first class (as she’s walking and aiming her face in a plastic bag we obtained from a nearby restaurant) it’s okay, she’s not flu ridden, she’s just scared. She got to talk to the pilots before take off. They assured her the ride won’t be too bumpy. Taking a plane is now her FAVORITE THING.

Next, the monorail at Disneyland. Same thing. What will it feel like? Crying, feeling like she’s going to throw up. Now it’s her FAVORITE THING.

Buzz Lightyear Ride: TEARS galore, it’s dark in there, I don’t want to go. It’s scary. FAVORITE THING.

Waterpark slides where you go down in a closed slide vs. open slide. Last year the closed slide was way too scary. This year she was scared but received peer pressure at a birthday party to go down. FAVORITE THING.

Sure, there are times when we don’t force her but I know she’s missing out. Her younger sister is so different. Much more a free spirit. And she’s jealous that Shawna isn’t scared and she is. Paula currently sleeps on our bedroom floor (for over a year now) in a sleeping bag because she’s scared in her room alone. I can’t wait until her room is her FAVORITE THING.

Charlie Chaplin

2010-08-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is right near where I live
The Tramp

Teacher Gifts

2010-05-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

Every year I battle on what Teacher Gifts I should buy this year. For my girls, there are 2 teachers in each grade. Well, one is an assistant but for all practical purposes she's just as important. Well, now that I write that, I have to admit that I have given the larger gift to the "teacher" and smaller gift to the "assistant" so I must not really think they're the same. Shame on me.

Past gifts:
Starbucks gift card (so overdone don't you think?)
Jamba Juice gift card
Homemade cards with kids pictures in them. (How quickly do you think they went into the circular file? aka garbage can)

Last year I got them towel cakes. A gal at work was selling them at a crafts fair. They were a kitchen or bathroom towel rolled into a cake secured with a ribbon. It was placed on a mini cake tin. I was impressed. And for $10.00 each I bought 4 of them. A unique gift and who doesn't need kitchen/bath or even rag towels.

This year at our crafts fair there wasn't anything cutsie for a teacher. *sigh*

So my search continues.

What is the perfect teacher gift?

Where have I been?!

2010-05-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, it’s been a really long time since I wrote here. I guess I just haven’t felt in the mood. It’s not for a lack of nothing to write ABOUT. I can’t even explain in a short blog entry how busy my life is these days. I’ll get to that later though.

Work:

Last time I wrote (not counting the list of things I’ve done and have left to do) I was excited about a new job opportunity at the same company I’d worked at for 10 years. I really like my new job. It’s much different than what I was doing so I get to learn again. In addition, since I’ve been at this company for 10 years I was awarded an extra week of vacation and mullah to spend on that said vacation. (See below under Vacations for details)

Home:

We’re getting a new floor downstairs FINALLY. When we bought our house it came with crappy scraped up wood floors downstairs with two different kinds of carpeting. The shoes and dogs have done a number on both. Todd has ripped up the hardwood and one section of the carpeting. We’re walking on plastic basically. We have a concrete foundation. It’s gonna take a couple months for the entire downstairs to be completed.

Kids:

Paula loves playing basketball. She will say herself “Mama, I haven’t complained one time about basketball.” Basketball ends this weekend but in fall she’ll start volleyball for the first time. Time will tell if she enjoys that or not. In school she’s going fabulous. Mostly A’s and a few B’s. She’s in 3rd grade and is almost proficient in her multiplication facts. Timed tests are hard for her, but if she has time to think she knows the answer.

Shawna finishes soccer next week. She’s liked it okay but doesn’t love it. Regardless, I signed her up for fall to keep her active. She wants to do cheerleading and if it all works out she can do both. School for Shawna has been hard this year. She’s been tested by a resource teacher at school and most likely has dyslexia. She’s getting extra tutoring at school and we all see an improvement. Tutoring needs to continue over summer as well. She gets tested for dyslexia on Monday. If she has it she gets some benefits like longer testing times and access to recorded books. Her father, uncle & cousins all have dyslexia so….you know - It was bound to happen to one of my kids.

Vacations:

So far in 2010 we have camped a couple times in our travel trailer. Over Presidents Day weekend we were in Santa Cruz at a KOA we enjoy. In April over the kids spring break we at the Santa Cruz KOA for a few days, then headed on towards Pismo. Pismo won. The weather was warm so not only did the kids don swimsuits but so did Todd and I. The beach was spitting distance from our campsite. We were 1 of 400 RV’s in this one RV park but we loved it anyway. And what’s funny is my ex-boyfriend’s 2 kids, who were staying with their grandparents that week, ended up camping right next to us in their grandparents motorhome. What are the chances?

In April I had to go to my family reunion with just Shawna. Paula got the stomach flu the morning we were all supposed to leave. I felt so bad for her since she missed the previous year’s reunion for the same reason. Speaking of illness, Todd has managed to escape the stomach flu this year, but the rest of us…not so much.

We are heading to Oahu and Maui in June for my 10-year vacation. We’ll be spending only 1 full day on Oahu where we’ll tour Pearl Harbor, Dole Plantation and several other hot spots on the island. Then we head to Maui to our timeshare.

Other camping trips planned is the Russian River (not actually located IN Russia as I had to explain to my children) Calaveras Big Trees and Rollins Lake for our annual boating trip with some fun families.

Exercise:

This topic needs its own section because this is huge! I bought myself a hybrid bicycle for Mothers Day. I already owned a mountain bike but it’s not a commuter bike and I wanted to commute to work. My commute is ~14 miles one way. My commute comes with hills, 3 overpasses, inclines, declines and tons of vehicular traffic. In order not to die on my first try, I started mid-way. I drop the girls off at school then drive to my mid-way point and hop on my bike there. In 3 days I’ve put 29.99 miles on my bike. =) That counts a trip into the old town by my house as a test run. Yesterday the Bay Area had its annual Bike to Work Day. I did my part. I’m very proud of myself.

Parental:

As a parent I’m overwhelmed. I am Box Top Coordinator at our school, Secretary of the School Board for our school and somehow got hornswoggled into being team mom for Paula’s basketball team. On Saturday morning driving to Shawna’s soccer game I was on the verge of tears because I felt like such a failure in all areas of my parental duties. I managed to work thru all that, conquered some to-do list items and feel much now. I’m happy summer is almost here so I’ll have a break from after-school activities and responsibilities.

Foster Dogs:

We foster dogs. I jokingly call them Rental Dogs. Currently we have 2 Chihuahua puppies (age 9 mos) who just got “fixed” on Tuesday. The rescue organization pays for all the medical care and food. They’re cute dogs who should hopefully find a forever home soon.

Okay, I think that sums up the past few months. I’m off to get changed into my bicycle gear for the long trek home.

99 Things I Ought to Have Done

2010-02-25T16:15:00.000-08:00

99 Things I Ought to Have Done

Instructions:

Copy the list, bold the ones you've done (with explanations if needed), share with friends.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii (Maui a few times and Kaui twice)

5. Watched a meteor shower (not a shower but saw a meteor fall thru the atmosphere. Way cool!

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a thunder and lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables (Love growing my own veggies)

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (It's called a Mental Health day :0) )

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb (Gotta luv petting farms)

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (Maui has the BEST of both. Watched the sunrise from their volcano)

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise (Does a bay cruise around the San Fran Bay count?)

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (Visited where my mom was born)

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing (indoor only)

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (Todd and I met a girl alone in our hotel on Kaui and invited her to a nice dinner. She couldn’t believe it)

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance (not for me, but accompanied my friend while in Cabo last October)

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (snorkeling)

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater (It sucks there aren't many more around)

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen (Served Thanksgiving in college)

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Doing it right now in fact!)

62. Gone whale watching (Again, Maui)

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I faint. They don’t want me)

65. Gone sky diving (I went hang gliding)

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (12 years ago)

71. Eaten caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper (Charity event for Family Giving Tree)

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve

86. Visited the White House (with my friend Jennifer 12 years ago)

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Does a fish count?)

88. had chickenpox (14 years old. Ugh!)

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury (2001 burglary case)

91. Met someone famous (a few professional athletes)

92. Joined a book club

93. Got a tattoo

94. Had a baby (times 2)

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit (small claims against previous homeowner)

98. Owned a cell phone (hello?!)

99. Been stung by a bee (A few times)

45 completed at the age of 41. I’d have to say that’s not too bad.

Been awhile hasn't it?!

2010-01-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

I've been around just not posting. The holidays were great. I had 2 weeks off work. The girls and I did some bowling (I lost both games with bumpers!) and roller skating (redeemed myself there!) along with visiting with friends and family. We stayed at my parents house for a few days and did tubing and snow play. The time off felt long which is always a good thing.

This is my last week in my current job. I move tomorrow to my new cubicle to start my new job. Woohoo!

Today we had an earthquake here in the Bay Area. It centered in Milpitas. It was a 4.1 quake and didn't last long but lasted long enough. haha I don't really mind earthquakes too much, as long as they're during the day. The night ones freak me out since I don't know if I should continue laying in my bed or jump up and get the girls so we can stand under door frames.

I have some pics but they're not loading properly. Once I figure it out I'll put them on.

Finally!!!!

2009-12-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

Something huge happened to me in my life. I've been hoping and praying for this day for 7 years and as of Monday it happened.

I realize in our current economic times some people reading this entry may feel I should just be happy with what I have, but are we ever really happy with what we have?

I work for a company that I love. Yes Love. I have invested 10+ years with them, made life-long friends here, am involved in a couple really important (to me) committees. I have seen them grow from a $100M a year to a $3B a year company, but I have been BORED OUT OF MY MIND doing the same job for 10 years. I came here with approx 7 years experience. I am an expert in my field. I do not have any hopes or dreams of being a manager. I have learned that I do not like to manage people. I like to lead. Two very different things. I even have a bachelors degree in business management. However, I am a mom with two young children and I am happy to say I prefer to be an independant contributor. I only have to worry about ME.

I never wanted to leave the company, I only ever wanted to find something else in the company to do. Several years ago I interviewed for a couple positions here. I was over qualified for one and under qualified for the other. Although I was told I would be good at the latter, the manager did not have the band width (a very over used word here in the Silicon Valley) to train me so she was inclined to hire someone who had already been doing the job for a couple years. *sigh* There are a also couple positions I know too much about (hellish hours and crazy stress) so I know I do not want to do those.
I've been very lucky that in 10 years. I've squeaked thru several layoffs. I'm not the new guy. It's scary being the new guy. Seniority doesn't always help but it can't always hurt either. In these economic times changing companies is not always wise.

Another reason I have to stay here - when you work here for 10 years you get 5 weeks of PTO (paid time off) AND you get an awesome vacation. You receive an extra week of vacation just for that 10-year vacation along with $4500 to spend for that vacation. They pay for everyone except gifts and souvenirs. Sweet right?! Totally. Now you say, Sandra, you've typed that you've been there 10+ years, why haven't you taken that kick ass vacation yet? Unfortunately they prorate your time. I had two children while working here. Maternity leave gets subtracted from your time. I was off approx 9 months total so my 10 year vacation award isn't really until May/June 2010. Must. Stick. It. Out.

It's hard to stick anything out when you no longer want to be there. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Seriously.

A few months ago a part-time (ISO) internal audit position came up here at this company, which would only require me a couple weeks out of every quarter, still enabling me to do my boring regular job. My manager poo poo'd it. She said it would take me away from my "real" job. I was upset. I was frustrated.

Yes, I did look elsewhere. I frequented Monster.com and other job sites over the years. I even sent out a few resume's and got call backs. The trouble was, I didn't want to leave. I just wanted a change.

I finally got what I wanted. A position was created that relates to what I do, but it's in a completely other section of the company. I work in finance. This new position was in sales. They needed someone like me and I knew I was their person. I said many prayers. I tried to do the "Secret" and say lots of positive things like "PICK ME" and "GIVE IT TO SANDRA". I was desperate! They interviewed many people. I GOT IT!!! I start the first week of January. I'm so happy. I really am doing happy dances.

My kids are so sweet. When they found out they wrote me congratulations notes with big hearts. My husband just asked if I'm happy. YES!

Now the tough part is to not act like a "short-timer" while I finish out the year here in finance. I still have to interact with this department and it's quite possible my new job may some day end up back in finance rather than sales.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Husband banned from Target

2009-12-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Another friend sent this one to me today. I'm received something similar but it always cracks me up.

Husband banned from Target

After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target. Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women - she loves to browse.

Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from our local Target.

Dear Mrs. Samsel,

Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store.. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Samsel, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice,'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away'. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money.

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.

6. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he would invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged.

8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called.

9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.

12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels.

13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through,yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'

14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'

And last, but not least:

15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, and then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.' One of the clerks passed out.

Random Thoughts for the Day

2009-12-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite friends forwarded this to me in email today. I thought I'd share.

Random Thoughts for the Day:

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more tn that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever.
15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day " Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?
19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well..
20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

I hope she'll always remember

2009-11-24T16:46:00.000-08:00

As a child I only camped a handful of times. I love that my kids get to camp multiple times a year. It's a great family activity. My oldest learned to ride her bike on a camping trip w/out training wheels. She'll remember that forever.

On Sunday the girls and I left the house around 9:45am. It was a brisk clear morning around 50 degrees F. A neighbor 2 doors down had a fire burning in their fireplace. You know that smell a fireplace makes from burning wood? I love that smell. When we camp I love that smell.

Paula walks outside to get into the car and she stops in the driveway, tilts her head up saying "Ah, it smells like camping........it smells like camping."

I love how she knows that smell.

It ain't shorts weather no more

2009-11-18T15:21:00.000-08:00

Last night I attended a school board meeting right after work. My kids attend a private school where they wear uniforms. One of the benefits to kids when their parents attend school meetings is they get free dress the next day. That's huge to uniform kids I'm tellin ya. So I call hubby requesting he inform the girls they get free dress tomorrow and could they please pick out their outfits tonight. Free dress mornings can get quite hectic and I thank gawd all the time I have 2 girls in uniforms. Oh the Drama!

So I get home last night after they're in bed (hence the phone request) make their lunches, etc and settle in for the night. A ~~few~~ couple of glasses later I hit the hay.

Mornings comes way too damn early.

I go into small childs room to wake her up and notice she's chosen shorts for her free dress outfit. Um, it's been in the 30's at night and doesn't get out of the 60's during the day. Granted, this child is impervious to the cold, but as a parent who knows only to well how the school staff and other parents will frown on my parenting skills, I must insist she choose pants. I do have a ~~facade~~ reputation to keep up you know

How do you think that went over? Yeah.

Shawna cries NO! I want shorts!

You can't wear shorts Shawna. It's winter time and way too cold for shorts.

I want shorts!

I'm throwing out pants ideas and she ain't buying it.

Then I remember I purchased some used pants in her size off ebay. I had them in the laundry room to wash before I gave them to her but we had an emergency situation here. I dismissed the fact there might be ~~invsisible germs~~ anything to worry about and ran downstairs to retrieve them. They're cute with flowers or shells down the leg.

Shawna, do you want to wear these new ~~used~~ jeans I got you?

YES!

Problem averted.

Damn I'm good.

Impressions

2009-11-13T17:23:00.000-08:00

I recently left a comment on another bloggers post. This very likable person is being told she's intimidating and not approachable, when she herself feels she's the complete opposite. What makes someone think your one way or another way?

This was my comment about myself:

I think it depends on where I am and what's on my mind at the time that gives a person an impression of me.

My husband says I carry a "mean mug" on my face. I've known people all my life who said when they first met me they thought I was a bitch. There are times I'm in deep thought or not in the mood to socialize. It must show on my face.

Yet, I am approached ALL the time in places because apparently I look like someone who is willing to help or give guidance or give directions. I'm also very willing and do chat it up with strangers. I will try to make someone who looks uncomfortable, more comfortable by smiling at them and engaging them. Not all the time mind you, just when I'm in that frame of mind.

I am considered by many a social butterfly at work. Very bubbly and silly. I can also be serious and stern.

I don't think I'm any one type of person. And I don't know how I could change who I am either. It's just naturally me.

November 2009 Mt. Madonna

2009-11-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

I've updated my blog to be able to post bigger pictures. I'm still playing around with the template and formats so it may continue to change. Thanks for being patient.

This past weekend my family, friends and I ventured once again to Mount Madonna Park here in N. California. It's near Gilroy (for you garlic lovers). Gilroy is the garlic capital. Yes it is. The air even smells like garlic for miles and miles during harvest months.

We have a travel trailer so we tend to camp year round. This past weekend we lucked out with crisp but clear weather. We had some rain last year but afterall, it is November. My oldest daughter, Paula, brought along her BFF from school. Our friends, who we often camp with, came along with their 1 daughter. (and a teenage son too but he kept a low profile) The 4 girls together worked out great. 3 girls tends to lead to arguments. My girls fight over the 3rd child because they want all her attention. It's annoying.

This is poor Rosie feeling captive

The girls found a log for the fire. uh huh.

This was the backside of our trailer where most of the "camping" occurred. J.D, Haley's dad, is leading them in a dance routine from the MP3 player. Step to the right (clap clap) Step to the left (clap clap)

4 little monkeys sitting in a tree

We went on a serious hike. 1.5 miles was down hill but then 1.5 miles was up hill. OMG we were all so tired. Our legs hurt from climbing but it was worth it in the end. Rosie was off leash the entire time and loved being able to run free. (Born free.......can't you hear it?)

We saw banana slugs on our hike. They're super fun looking. I held a couple of them. Two of the girls would touch them. Kind of looks like a used condom.

See. Take a look at the slope of this path. STEEP people. I'm the one in the far back. I wasn't there the entire time. We all sort of rotated. In the end though I was carrying several sweatshirts and a bag Paula's friend brought with a heavy binder full of paper. Because you never know when you'll want to write something amazing on a long hike.

We had excitement on our camping trip. Well, I didn't. I was taking a nap. But when Todd and JD went to fetch firewood (because the long log just wasn't gonna work) they were told the road was closed due to a car fire. Luckily we weren't being evacuated. No one was hurt and thankfully the fire didn't spread to the trees. Todd ran down the path to take pictures. I think the car is totalled.

The girls get in some hula hoopin' time. And yes, Shawna is digging into her shirt for reasons I don't know. Look how non-chalant Paula is with her arms crossed.

There are White Fallow Deer kept in a pen at the rangers station. I took the girls there (because they were driving us nuts so I wanted them to do something other than drive us all crazy) We fed them grass but then later read the info board and saw we shouldn't feed them. Oops. Below is a beautiful buck posing nicely for me.

Shawna stands in front of the doe. One licked her hand. She was soo thrilled.

About the deer.

My sweet Paula picking grass for the deer. (shhh)

Thanks for looking! I have some fun videos to put on here, but I'm lame so that might take me awhile (years). Check back because it might be here someday.

My oldest has braces

2009-11-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

Today my oldest achieved a major milestone. She got braces and couldn't be happier. I don't know what is up with kids these days. They WANT glasses and WANT braces. As a child I HAD glasses and HAD braces but never wanted either. Of course the color choices back in the stone age didn't measure up to today's wide array of colors. Paula has 2 shades of purple ties.

The Starfish Story

2009-10-30T16:51:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I learned of a wonderful organization called The Family Giving Tree. Their mission "is to provide the exact holiday wish, or a backpack filled with school supplies, to those children in the most need in our communities while striving to inspire the values of kindness, philanthropy and volunteerism. "

Most of us may not realize how many children go to school without even a pencil. How fun do you think kindergarten would be without crayons? A kindergarten teacher working in a low income school knows what it's like not to have crayons. She literally cried when receiving backpacks for her kids because she could now plan activities using crayons. I was surprised when I heard that. I mean, I've been working with this organization for years. Certainly a school has a way to fund crayons? Apparently not.

I'm reminded of a story I've heard a few times.

The Starfish Story

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.

The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

Author Unknown

I'm going to post some touching letters this organization put on their Facebook page. These letters are from the children who received brand new backpacks with brand new supplies. It made a different to that one.

http://www.familygivingtree.org/

Vignettes of Cabo ~ October 2009

2009-10-20T15:04:00.001-07:00

My friend of over 15 years and I went on a week long trip to Baja California also known as Cabo. We had a fabulous time together. I've attached some pictures down below.

Vignettes of Cabo ~ October 2009

1. While casually walking back to the resort swinging her hands, the water bottle Sandra held flies out of her hand, thru the air landing in a ditch in the street. The width of the ditch was so narrow, you couldn't have made the shot if you tried. Since it is pitch black in the ditch Sandra yells for help. HELP. A strange man appears. However, she chooses to get the bottle herself. Sandra removes her shoes to wade thru the mud to retrieve the worlds smallest bottle of water. All the while, Kim stands on the sidelines laughing hysterically.

2. While in town visiting a popular destination known as Cabo Wabo, Kim and Sandra are approached by a cute blue eyed guy who calls himself Tom. Tom is smitten by Kim so he proceeds to buy them drinks to keep them there. They oblige. A set of cute guys sit behind them. The tall skinny guy who turned 40 invites them back to their resort that night, but they don't take them up on their offer. Instead, they head back to their own resort where Kim starts working on #3.

3. Kim takes a serious approach to getting out of timeshare spiels by concocting a never before had condition, known only to others, and gets a ride via ambulance in a major tropical storm to the Mexican hospital where mystery meds are put into her body. She spends the entire day resting (stoned) on drugs. She is on vacation after all. She receives a $4000 bill, more drugs and slippers for her trouble but still had to go to timeshare presentation. They are ruthless people after all.

4. Brewhoe the horse trots quickly in an attempt to take first position over the other horse ridden by Kim named Toy Story, and his master Martin (pronounced Marteen). "I know the way!" Sadly, Brewhoe is squeezed back into his pre-determined position by his master. Can't blame him for trying.

5. The Playa Grande Resort thought long and hard about how to confuse their patrons. We prefer to think of it that way rather than the patrons just being confused. Elevators at the Ridge, a private section of the resort, are a never-ending sense of amusement. 2 is really 1 and 4 is out. Sometimes 3 is the required number to get out but yet again, sometimes 2 gets you out. It all depends on which elevator you choose. In addition, they created walkways that lead to no where. Ceilings go lower and lower like a fun house taking you to a dead end. Take the 2nd floor elevator from the lobby to the 3rd floor. Walk 1/4 mile down one hill and up another hill to yet another elevator on the 4th floor. Walk down the breezeway to another elevator where you can get to the main lobby on the 2nd floor that cannot be accessed any other way. Getting out of the resort on our first try will forever be our goal.

6. If you want to fly to and from Cabo and choose American Airlines, you'll be happy to know that not only do you get to visit Cabo, but you'll visit Dallas and L.A. as well. On the brighter side, you get a lot of extra miles!

7. When you observe a group of people sitting around the outside of a Jacuzzi instead of enjoying the warmth inside of it, one might reconsider the action of walking directly into the said Jacuzzi since the temperature might be 109 degrees. Don’t mind the skin hanging from her body as she exits the water at lightening speed.

Bar menu at Cabo Wabo, owned by Sammy Hagar

Sandra trying to get a picture with Cabo Wabo in the background. Kim found this very amusing.

Someone else took our picture

Kim has chest pains so she gets a ride in an ambulance to a Mexican hospital. Here she is being pampered by the paramedics

Sandra following Kim who is on the gourney. Smile!

The 3 day tropical storm was amazing. 90 degree weather and tons of rain. This is one of the clouds about to unleash itself on us.

Apple tart dessert at Galeons Italian restaurant in Cabo. Delic.

Sandra and Kim at Galeons. I left feeling like a weeble wobble.

City lights from our balcony.

Kim rides Toy Story, I ride Brewhoe. (spelled differently I'm sure)

On the beach

This one one helluva large cacti

Mexican saddle horns are huge. Had to take a picture of it.

Desert sunset

Looks like a good place for tires

More cactus

We zip lined. Fun Fun fun!

3 days of tropical storms caused the desert to turn a beautiful green

Friday night a Mexican rodeo group came to our resort for a show.

When I returned home my kids were of course thrilled to see me. I opened a package I received and Shawna promptly turned the box into a toy.

These flowers were delivered to my work as a thank you gift from Kim.

"Thank you for the trip man!"

Interesting Family Cont~

2009-09-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I wrote a post about my cousin who is in prison. He was wrongfully accused.

I recently learned that some very famous people wanted to do a movie on his story. I don't know why, but my cousin turned them down. According to his sister, in 1994 Robert DiNiro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer all went to see him along with Michael Mann the producer.

How cool is that??

Sucky

2009-09-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

Today approximately 30 employees were layed off from my company from our IT group. One of them is someone I really like very much. She's a wealth of information, friendly, funny, has the greatest laugh ever, helps me A LOT and has been here 14 years. I've been here 10 years. We've known each other a long time. She scrapbooks her vacations. She's a very good scrapbooker. She brings her new scrapbooks around to show us what she's done and the trip she took. She just invited me to a scrapbook convention thingy taking place in Sacramento, but it's the weekend I leave for Cabo so I can't go.

She's been crying pretty much ever since she found out this morning. She admits she had a feeling it could happen but she was still surprised and unprepared. She gets 21 weeks of severance. Even that may not be enough time to find a new job here in Silicon Valley. It's a mess out there. Just a mess.

I'm really going to miss her. :0( This is so sucky.

To top that off, my other friend here who'se been at this company 7 years is leaving for a new job she found.

It's gonna suck around here.

Stained Glass Artistry

2009-09-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

My uncle is a stained glass artist. He's been doing it for 30 years or more. How cool is it to have talent in some artistic form. This is a photo of one of his pieces. Ain't it rockin?!

Bullet points are my life lately

2009-09-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

I have so many things going on right now that bullet points have become my life. Below are things I'm doing, thinking about, worrying about, or need to do.

1. I'm not a millionaire. Damn it. The 24 super lotto tickets we purchased last week didn't even win $1. So much for 9/9/09 being lucky.

2. After school activities may cause my hair to fall out. Oh wait, my hair is already falling out.
I have Small child in Daisy's one a month and now cheerleading twice a week. Older child wants to do everything. Piano, basketball, volleyball, choir.
I have signed her up for church choir every Monday and now volleyball, which we don't really know the schedule yet. Once volleyball ends basketball begins. Piano is out. We don't even have a piano. Then she suggested guitar. I gave her a blank stare. Todd is worried because even in 3rd grade homework is taking longer. It should only take 30-45 minutes but he likes to separate the kids because they concentrate better alone so it's more like an hour or more. I'm not even home from work until after homework is done (smart ain't I?) so I can't help out much. We'll play this by ear and see how sports/activities impact school work, or more to the point, my marriage. Live and learn.

3. I lost another 2.5 lbs this week. I'm down in the 146 zone now. Woohoo! That's huge for me.
4 weeks until Cabo. I have got to drop another 5lbs or more. My friend who I'm going with is really pretty and skinny. It sucks to be around pretty & skinny people when you feel like a blob. Women, you know what I'm talkin' about.

4. I have a classmate from high school who is deathly ill. I'm not close to her but she's on my Facebook so I see her progress. I feel so bad for her. I really hope she recovers.

5. On Tuesday I participated on my first school board. I'm the new Secretary on our board. I had to type minutes like a mad woman. It was a little hairy at first but I found my groove. I had to go onto the Internet the next day to clarify some things I heard but didn't know how to spell. Gotta luv that Internet.

6. My husband, daughter's and my Oldest's BFF are camping right now. They had an in-service day so Todd took off work. I'll be meeting them up there after work. Traffic will SUCK. We're camping at a new campground (new to us) in the redwoods near Scotts Valley, CA. It's supposed to be a hot weekend so I'm hoping the trees and swimming pool work to our advantage. Also, this is the first time BFF has ever been camping in her whole life. I'm excited for her to be able to experience something so fun.

7. My cars brakes still need to be done. Where are the fix it gremlins when you need them? What was that movie with Jessica Lang where the little alien flying things fixed everything? I need them. Short Circuit I think.

9. I know so many people with birthday's today. New year's eve babies I think yes?

10. I wrote an anonymous letter to my neighbors about their barking little dog. It barks constantly in the AM when they leave for work. It's even woken us up. I wrote a nice letter so hopefully they take care of it. I can see into their backyard from my upstairs window. The dog runs around barking for no reason other than it's retarded. No offense to the really retarded people. Their yard is full of crap that it's like a dump back there. Some of my neighbors are totol pigs.

I'm done. Have a fantastic weekend everyone.

A quick list of my life lately

2009-09-09T18:00:00.001-07:00

So what is going on in my life lately?

1. Rental dogs will finally be separated. The Pres of the rescue has decided that the poodle/bichon mix can go stay somewhere else. That will help me tremendously. The two rental dogs together are a team to be reckoned with. Rosie, my dog, plays with Rental dog rat terrier so we'll keep her. Only, she's the hyper one.

2. I have a Daisy meeting tonight for just the adults. Daisy's are Jr. Girl Scouts. I hope they have wine. I'm a leader on paper for the 1st grade troop. I was sort of horn-swaggled into agreeing to be a leader. I suck at that stuff. I didn't attend one meeting last year. But, if I wanted my youngest child to be a Daisy someone needed to be a leader of her troop. Thankfully the cadet troop is running the program so really, all I have to do is provide forms and crap. I can sort of do that.

3. 23 employees and myself all put in $1 for the Super Lotto Plus lottery here in CA so I got 24 quick picks today. It's up to $23M. I figured since it's 09/09/09 that maybe that brings a bit of luck. If we win the entire finance group (well, not all) will be missing tomorrow. Sweet! I hope it happens.

4. My car desperately needs the brake drums turned. They grind and the car shakes at stops. It's a Honda Odyssey and every 40K miles this happens. I already had this done once. My old boss had a Honda Pilot. They use the same chassis as the Odyssey and he had the same problem. The van now has 80k plus miles. I'm stalling.

5. Shawna went to the dentist yesterday and got a clean bill of teeth. Her lower center tooth is wiggly. Her first loose tooth!!! She can't wait for it to fall out. She even requested corn on the cob. Too funny.

6. I really need to pee right now so I'm going to end this post. Have a great one!

Labor Day Weekend Camping

2009-09-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

I know how much my regular readers (all 1 of you) enjoy my camping stories. This past weekend my family and I went to Santa Cruz to a KOA campground. For those of you non-camping folks, KOA's are campgrounds which are usually pet friendly and located all over the Unites States. They boast about clean bathrooms, pizza delivered to your campsite, activities for kids and other fun things.

This weekend we had to bring Rental Dogs with us. We have 2 foster dogs living with us besides our own dog. Rental dogs barked and whined a hell of a lot so they spent a good amount of their time crated in the trailer. Hmmmmph.

My oldest went on a mechanical bull

My youngest rock climbed. Yes in her bathing suit. What do you rock climb in??

There was some Dead Man's Diving going on at the pool area

I enjoyed many hours inside the dog corral because as my husband referred to me, I was the Dog Whisperer. They were only quiet (and then not even) if I sat in there with them. A few men came by joking, wondering if I was in a time out or was my husband going to let me out.

Paula and I also rode banana bikes together. For $5 you can rent them for 30 minutes or $8 for an hour. Thank Gawd we only rented them for 30 minutes. See her, not even sweating?! Yeah, that was NOT me. I could barely go down the stairs of the trailer after I was done. #suckstogetold

We met some fun new friends

Lastly there was Rental Dog. He's one of two. This is one happy camper. Too bad he's not going camping with us again. In two weeks when we go camping again, he and his partner in crime are going to doggy daycare for the weekend.

Def Leppard ROCKS!

2009-09-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended a Def Leppard concert. For those of you who are either too young, too old, or just live under a rock they're an 80's rock band. A Kick ass 80's rock band.

In the mid to late 80's I was 16. I had a power blue '66 Mustang with a kick ASS stereo system and gold Enkie rims. Guys asked me if the mustang belonged to my boyfriend. HA! I loved to play Def Leppard and blast it to annoy all the cars around me. The base in their songs is hard and so awesome.

Last night I rocked OUT. There was a small bummer because the lead singer had laryngitis. You could still hear him but his voice sounded raw. I was just thrilled he didn't cancel on us.

So, too all you Def Leppard fans I say this... Gunter glieben glauten globen

Back to school shopping

2009-08-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

Last night I ran to Walmart to tackle the 2009-2010 School Supply List I've had since June. (like any of you shopped in June for your kids school supplies. heh) My school had a pre-order your kids school supplies form before school ended. I didn't sign up. I'm sure I had a great reason at the time. Wish I knew because next June I'm signing up.

Back to Walmart. Many of the hot items are gone. Big Pink erasers. Gone. 70 sheet spiral notebooks. gone.

In addition, my kids school has teachers who prefer Prang watercolors over Crayola (what every friggin store carries!) so I called Aaron Brothers Art and Framing store and Mike (my new love) has several. I told him to put them aside and I'll be there tonight for them.

What else couldn't I find? Well, since you asked, I couldn't find flash cards. Paula needs division and multiplication flash cards this year for 3rd grade.

Going out again tonight with all the other last minute shoppers. It's like Christmas Eve out there right now. School isles are packed. It's ugly. Don't go out there if you can help it.

homemade tampons

2009-08-14T13:38:00.001-07:00

I have a friend who is very Martha Stuart-y. She pickles and jars food. She sews stuff. To me that is very MS-y since I don't do any of that. Her latest craze is sewing handmade reusable menstrual pads. They're really nice actually. She's got all sorts of fabric with different patterns. She has a wildlife theme, french country and even a chamo one.

Aren't these cute?? Okay, maybe not cute, but you get what I'm saying. (just nod and agree with me)

What kinda gives me the heeeby jeebies is something else she found on Etsy.com that she may embark on. Reusable washable tampons.

Swear to Gawd.

Look here Cotton and bamboo tampons and even here washable tampons if you don't believe me.

Now, I did cloth diapers for my kids (part-time) and had to wash out poop and pee myself (okay, the washing machine did it but I had to put it in there) I'm also concerned about the environment too, so I can appreciate someones desire to make something environmentally friendly, however, inserting fabric into my hoohaa and leaving it there for a few hours doesn't sit well with me.

Am I weird?? Is it just me??

Would you or do you use one of these??

I Heard a herd of cows

2009-08-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Today the rancher, who owns the cows on our hills, decide to move the cows to a new location. Normally the cows are very quiet. You'll hear an occasional Moo of course, but today those cows wanted to be heard! It was non-stop mooing for a full hour at least as they made their way across the hill.

There was one time several years ago that a cow behind our house became stuck. He must have fallen into a ravine and literally couldn't get unstuck. He was so noisy. Finally a helicopter actually came to get him out.

When we moved into our house in 2004, there was a house across our street that I refer to as the "Ugly Brown House". A year or more ago she finally put some money into a new roof and removed the horrible brown siding. She also has a pool that I'm told the city brought her fish that eat mosquito's because she refused to properly care for the pool. We've joked that a bull or cow is drowned in her pool and you'll never know it because of how nasty it is.

Her backyard opens up to one of the hills where the cows roam. (I have hills on 3 sides of me.) Next to her house lives our other neighbor who I'll call House is Never Done. House is Never Done has spent a fortune for the past several years to turn his plain house into a french cottage. I must admit, it's very nice, inside and out. I certainly appreciate the work he's had contractors put into it, but it seems as if he's never satisfied and it may never be finished.

Well, one day several years ago, Todd was at House is Never Done's house with Paula when they realized there was a cow in the Ugly Brown House backyard. Todd lifted Paula up over the fence and she was staring straight into the face of a black Angus bull. Holy Cow! (pun intended!) Ugly Brown House may have closed in her fence by now. She's an odd duck that one.

I'll leave you with the below joke I found online.

A lady from the city and her traveling companion were riding the train through Vermont when she noticed some cows.
"What a cute bunch of cows!" she remarked.
"Not a bunch, herd", her friend replied.
"Heard of what?"
"Herd of cows."
"Of course I've heard of cows."
"No, a cow herd."
"What do I care what a cow heard. I have no secrets to keep from a cow!"

Ace Ventura lives at my house

2009-08-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

My husband has an uncanny ability to find what I consider unwanted critters. I realize that I live in the hills and am therefore, closer to God's creatures. That doesn't mean I have to like it. I don't mind the cows, deer or wild turkeys that frequent my neighborhood. I can even live with the skunks if they stay upwind. It's the creepier creatures that bother me. Thank goodness it's rarely me who comes across them.

We have a gopher snake named Snake. Snake was in my backyard near our BBQ when my husband saw him. Todd grew up with snakes so you can imagine his joy. We feed the snake, house the snake in a glass aquarium and pay electricity for Snake so he can be snuggly warm. (rolling eyes)

Many years ago my husband came across a tarantula in our backyard. It was a big one too. He put it in a nice show and tell container (one of my favorite Tupperware!) and Paula brought him to preschool the next day for their science table. We have an abundance of Black Widows in my backyard too.

We have raccoons that come frequent our backyard at night scavenging for food. Last night, Todd turned on our BBQ to cook chicken and out flew a scorched rat! That's a first and I hope a last.

Here are a just few pictures I have so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.

A moth Todd got to land on his shorts.

Snake

Our industrial strength bug zapper. It goes off non-stop.

the cows on our hills across the street from my house

Turkeys behind our house on the hill in February 2009

THE tarantula in our backyard

This snake Todd did not bring home and was further down our hill.

Two ducks who want inside my house for some reason

Welding mask or sun visor?

2009-07-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

Here in my neck of the woods it would appear a memo has gone out to a certain ethnic group, which will remain nameless, that wearing regular size sunglasses are so yesterday. Here in Northern California many folks have kicked it up a notch. Today, a sun visor that resembles a welding helmet is the preferred method of keeping sun off your face. These over sized sun visors are all the rage here in Silicon Valley. In case you haven't seen one I've included a couple here for you.

You can sport your favorite country.

Sexy

Don't you want one? Admit it. You know you do.

Saw something shiny

2009-07-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

My youngest child, Shawna, is 6.5 years old. My oldest child, Paula, is 8 years old. Paula is very organized and methodical. Her room is usually tidy and she can usually find her things even if under clutter. She does get distracted but not like her younger sibling. When you tell Paula to do something she will complete the said act in a reasonable amount of time. When you tell Shawna to do something, more than likely it won't get done. Shawna starts out with the intention to do said act, but she easily gets distracted. We joke that she'll see something shiny that takes her attention away.

This morning, for example, I helped her get dressed (because if I don't it doesn't happen) and walked her into the bathroom where all she had to do is brush her teeth. I go back into my room to fix my hair that is not cooperating at all. 5 minutes later she still hasn't brushed her teeth. I remind her again to hurry up and brush her teeth. I go downstairs to pop their breakfast of a chocolate chip waffle into the toaster oven, because I'm very Martha Stewart that way, and 5 more minutes go by. Still no Shawna.

Shawna! Hurry up!

She has a small mouth people. She hasn't lost 1 single baby tooth. What is she doing up there?!

Finally she comes down. Now we have to get her shoes on. Where are her shoes? They're not in the shoe room next to the kitchen like they're supposed to be. They're upstairs. Gah! So she runs upstairs to get them. 2 minutes pass.

Shawna! Hurry up!

She brings down the shoes but now we're so late she has to put them on in the car. This is a typical morning in my house. If you do not shuffle behind Shawna ensuring that each task gets accomplished, minutes turn into hours and the act does not get completed.

Do you have a child like this??

It's been awhile since I shared pictures.

Paula on 4th of July for the bike parade. She came in 1st place for her age group.

This is Shawna. She too came in 1st place for her age group. Their dad does a fine job of decorating!

Save a Broken Heart

2009-07-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

In my mid 20's I lived with a gal named Michelle for a few years. Michelle is a kick. She and I laughed non-stop when we first met. My mom and I picked her up to go the airport where we headed for Richmond VA for my friends wedding. I was BF with the bride and she was BF with the brides brother. We worked down the street from each other and lived not too far from each other growing up, but it took my friend Jenny to bring us together.

Today Michelle posted something on her Facebook that I feel I need to put out to our wonderful blogspere. Michelle's dear friend and co-worker, whose name is Elizabeth, is the mother of a 4 year old child who needs a heart transplant. They're insurance has reached its cap. If you or anyone you know would be willing to help them out they'd really appreciate it. Here is the link to their site and it tells Aaron's story. I've also included her last post below. http://saveabrokenheart.com/

This is Elizabeth Tanner's story:

My name is Elizabeth Tanner and I am mom to 4 wonderful boys Nicholas 14, Noah 9, Ethan would be 6 and Aaron whom this blog is for is 4 years old. Aaron was born 4 years ago with a congenital heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrom. It is a very major heart defect that only the left side of your heart works. He has had three open heart surgeries amongst others and as of May 30th he is in renal failure and now is going to need a kidney transplant. I was just informed today that his heart is not handleing the stress and is suffering he is going to need a heart transplant at the same time makeing him one of a very few that need a multiple organ transplant. I am beside myself I truly do not know how much more I can handle.

4 years ago 6 weeks after Aaron was born we lost our then 27 month old son Ethan to what is called hypotropic cardiomyopathy. It was devastating to our family he was never diagnosed so it happened very suddenly. Through our family and friends and there emotional support and love we have made it this farr. I am starting this blog because I realy want to share Aarons story with many he is a miracle and the biggest fighter you have ever seen.

God has a reason for all things in this life we do not know what it holds for us. Aaron is here for a purpose I have been told that by many so I have to share with the world what is happening. Ethan was here on this earth with us for such a short time but he was here long enough for Aaron to be born. We have suffered emensly for loosing him my grief and the grief of my family I cannot even put into words. I keep trying to put aside my grief to take care of my son Aaron. We are truly going to need help from the outside. We have to start fundraising the transplant will take place in UCLA . He will have to wait until one is available I dont know much about the process but I will learn all I can in whatever time frame that is given to me. It is going to cost more than our Insurance covers us for we have a lifetime maximum of 350,000 and we are already very close his antirejection medication after surgery alone is more than $7,000 a month. We need help. my number is 925-899-1010 I am in the process of trying to set something on the blog to donate but you can just contact me in the meantime.

WW Update Week 3

2009-07-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Yay! I weighed in today at 148 so I'm down -1.2 lbs for a total lost of -5.2 lbs. Go me!

This past week this my appetite was better. I wasn't as hungry, although I did have one night where I caved and ate a bunch of Wheat Thins and sharp cheddar cheese.
Below is what I generally ate everyday. It totals to about 22 pts give or take. I'm supposed to eat 20 points daily, and then there are 35 extra points for the week that I can divide how I want. I'm using mine for wine. =) Throughout the week I upped my water intake, although I'm still not at 64 oz like they suggest. I can't be running to the bathroom all day!

I also did a good 1 hour hike on Sunday with Dina & Susanne (neighbor friends) in our hills that included some huffing and puffing. I'm parking at the end of my work parking lot too. Just little things but it all adds up. My friend/co-worker Tina also lots 1.2 pounds this week. We ROCK!!

Breakfast: 1 pouch of blueberry oatmeal from Trader Joe's - (3pts)
Coffee w/non-fat milk (2pt)
Lunch: 2 hard boiled eggs (4pt) [or Lite Progressive soup which is 3 pts]
Diet caffeine free root beer (0 pt) non-fat fruit yogurt (2pt)
Snack: String cheese (2) [or fruit]
Dinner: 2 egg omelet with tomatoes (4pt), 2 glasses of wine (4pts)
Dessert: WW Giant Fudge Bar (1pt)

If I keep up this momentum I should be in bathing suit condition in 3 weeks for our camping/boating trip and even better for my Cabo trip in October with my skinny cute friend.

WW update

2009-07-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

Today is week 2 of my weight watchers plan. Last week my coworker/friend Tina and I started back on WW. In 2006 we were on it and I lost 22 lbs in 5 months. I reached Lifetime in 2007 which is when you stay at goal for 6 months. I did really well for almost 2 years total, then started letting my bad habits take over.

Today I weighed the same amount I did in 2006 when she and I started. 149. Last week I weighed 153!!!! I almost freaked when I saw that. But the good news is I lost 4 pounds! I knew I'd lost a pound in a week but I didn't think it was 4 pounds. I think most of it the weight was water weight from being bloated on the steroid Prednisone. Either way I'm thrilled. I'm only 5'3" so I can't afford to be that heavy. I've been told by doctors that I have a 100% chance of getting adult onset diabetes. I had gestational diabetes with both my pregnancies and in fact was on insulin w/my 2nd pregnancy where I had to give myself a shot 4 times a day. Not only that, but my brother is type 1 diabetic. They say the only thing I can do is stay healthy to prolong the disease.

Now the plan is continue losing. I'm going to Cabo in October with my really cute friend Kim and it's imperative that I look good. If the men just check & seek her out and ignore me I'm going to be devastated. It doesn't matter that I'm married and therefore not going to pursue them.

Why am I sharing my weight on a public blog? To stay accountable to myself and you. Every week on Thursday I'll post how I'm doing.

Alrighty then. I'm off to have some birthday cake for a co-worker. Just kidding!!! I won't eat the cake. I'll just look at it longingly.

2009-07-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today is another hot day in Silicon Valley. We'll reach 95+ again in my neighborhood. I don't mind the heat, especially since I spend most of my time in the office with the A/C on. Normally we're spoiled and at night the temps cool off to where you can open all the windows and get a nice breeze through the house. Last night...not so much. Last night it was still 80 degrees when I went to bed.

In addition, I'm taking care of my friends/neighbors house this week while they're camping. They have a crap load of potted plants that the sprinkler system doesn't hit. After work I go over there to spend some time with their 2 cats and water their yard. I'm alternating days between the backyard and front yard. Normally when I watch their house I don't have to water anything but with this heat their plants will not survive more than a couple days.

What else do we deal with here in California? Black Widow spiders. On Sunday I got a hair up my butt to clean the side yard where Todd dumps a bunch of things. Our neighbors planted a row of bamboo next to their fence to block our view from gazing down at them from our upstairs windows. They work great. They give us shade on that side of the house too which is nice. Well, the bamboo leaves fall into that side yard making it a huge mess. While organizing before we could clean I picked up an upside down planter pot and inside was a black widow spider. I stepped on it. Not only that but there were 3 more black widows plus at least 2 egg sacs underneath the dog igloo we have outside. The igloo has a cris-cross pattern underneath that makes little boxes for them to web and attach to. Rosie, the dog, doesn't use the igloo, but we use it to block the BBQ pan (where the grease drips) to prevent her from licking the pan. Live and learn people. Nothing is more fun than having your white soft furry Lhasa Apso come inside with half her face covered in black grease. She had to tip her head to one side to reach the pan, hence why only half her face was filthy.

Okay then, that's some of my exciting life. I'm off to a work meeting where they feed me lunch. Score!

I'm itchy!

2009-07-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

So, I thought I'd explained my previous hives experience but apparently not. That's what happens when you don't blog often enough.

On Tuesday, June 23rd I woke up with a crazy bad case of hives. I thought they were poison oak. (I'm not all that smart okay).

Let's back up a bit more. Two weekends prior to June 23rd I'd done some major clean up on the upper portion of my yard. We have a retaining wall which isn't easy to get up to and it collects leaves and has ivy running along the fence line, thanks to my backdoor neighbor Bill who has a small forest in his backyard. I was pulling and tugging at the ivy, gathering up the dead leaves with my forearms. I did in fact get a rash on my forearms that same day but it went away by night time. That night a bug the size of a Japanese horror film monster sucked or bit the heck out of my arm because I woke up with 4 (count them people!) four bug bites that itched like crazy. Throughout the week I put cortisone cream on them but not much helped.

We camped over the following weekend at Mt. Madonna, where I didn't really have too much of a problem with the bites other than the occasional itch. I also picked and broke open a couple of them.

Now we're at Monday June 22nd where I went to work like normal. For whatever reason Monday night the arm with the bites broke out in small red bumps. Being smart like I am (not) I thought, omg, those weren't bites, they must have been poison oak and I picked at them and the stuff oozed out and now I have poison oak all over my arm. I told you I'm smart (not).
Tuesday I called in sick. I was itchy and now I had bumps on both arms. Damn this poison oak is spreading fast!

By mid-day it's moved down to my legs where now I'm thinking it's not poison oak but something else. I was also MAJORLY ITCHY!!! It was awful. I call my dermatologist office claiming urgency so they squeeze me in.

I looked so bad that even the Dr. said "wow, I'm just itchy looking at you." She diagnosed me with hives and gave me a bunch of sample cortisone tubes. She also prescribed Prednisone steroid pills. I had to take it in succession like this: 6 pills for 3 days; 5 pills for 3 days; 4 pills for 3 days; 3 pills etc. down to 1 pill for 3 days. It took a week for the hives to go away but the itching did feel better after day two. I was told to take all the pills or the hives could come back. In all honestly I did not take the last two 1 day pills. I gained 5+ lbs during that time People, you are starving on Prednisone. I over ate and couldn't stop. I was starving. I had to get off that stuff as fast as possible so I only didn't take 2 pills. Could that really have screwed me up? I do not want to take Prednisone again.

Fast forward to this weekend when on Saturday I'm sitting in my backyard watching the hives slowly reappear on my arms. I checked often. By Sunday they're all over my legs too. Luckily they didn't itch but for some reason today they're really itchy. Yesterday I took Zyrtec but it made me sleepy so today I took another brand and it's not as good w/the itching.

I did call an allergist and have an appt on Friday this week to have an allergy panel of testing done to see what I'm allergic to, but for the test to be accurate I can't have antihistamines in my system for 3 days. 3 days of being itchy!!

So, that's where I'm at. All I can think of is my arms since they itch the most. My upper arms in fact. Please send non-itchy vibes my way. I really need them.

Just call me Spot

2009-07-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well, my birthday is long gone. We had a fun time at my parents house for the 4th of July weekend. The girls both came in 1st place for their bike parade which made the day go well since we didn't have to hear Paula complain again this year that she lost and Shawna won.

The top story here today is that I have hives. Again. This time they're not itchy (yet) but I'm stumped and frustrated as to why all of a sudden I have chronic hives. I gained a crap load of weight on Prednisone so I do NOT want to take that again. The hives are all down my arms and legs. I don't have any on my chest, torso or face.

My SIL suggested I get an allergy screening done. I must be newly allergic to something I've eaten forever since I am a creature of habit. I eat the same foods, use the same products etc so to all of a sudden have this reaction is buggin'. Speaking of which, the bug bites are gone. Maybe the first hives weren't from the bites at all. Who the hell knows.

Either way just call me Spot.

My birthday is almost here!

2009-07-01T16:29:00.000-07:00

I'm a July 4th baby and love it. I'm a bit obnoxious about my birthday. I'm one of those people who wants everyone to know it's my birthday. You know, so I get acknowledged with lots of attention.

Having a July 4th birthday makes me special. I like being special. Who doesn't? As a child it wasn't always that great for parties since any time you wanted to have a party ON your birthday no one was around. That pretty much sucked ass. I'm actually still in therapy over it so let's move on.

My two daughters love that Mommy gets fireworks on her birthday and that everyone celebrates their mommy's birthday.

Of course, it's also easy to forget it's mommy's birthday when there is so much celebrating to be done. Bike parades & BBQ's. I have to plan for the holiday events by buying my girls new July 4th clothes so they look spirited in the bike parade. That's how you win the bike parade. The most spirited, by age groups, wins. We decorate their bikes, heads and bodies. Shawna has won twice and Paula zero. That does not go over well. If Paula would have just understand the concept and not argue with her parents and grandparents that the hat is too big and therefore she doesn't want to wear it, she too would have won. She gets it now.

Then after dinner we have birthday cake and everyone remembers again that it's my birthday.

I go to bed a year older, a year wiser and happy knowing my kids had the best time on my birthday.

MJ

2009-06-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was bizarre. First Farrah Fawcet passes. Then, Michael Jackson dies of cardiac arrest. I felt bad for Farrah and her family that Michael was getting so much press and thereby foreshadowed, in my opinion, the respect she should have received. Farrah FOUGHT for her life. Not a little fight. I tough fight. Cancer sucks. She opened up to all of us by choosing to show how she wasn't going to give up or be a quitter when it came to her cancer. I respect that.

Michael on the other hand didn't do much in his later days to impress me. In fact, in the end I'm betting that his death was suicide by "accidental overdose".

In the 80's and early 90's he was the bomb. His music rocked and I, like many others, loved his music. But as he aged he got too strange for me. How much more plastic surgery could his face take? His nose was barely a nose anymore. Have you seen the latest pictures of his chin? OMG it's a butt.
I didn't approve of how he orchestrated his children and walked away w/ full custody from their mother. And lets not forget the pedophile court case.

Nope, in the later years MJ didn't do much to impress me. I'm sure now he'll be as popular as Elvis. Even Lisa Marie said Michael said as much to her in a conversation how when he dies he'll be like Elvis.

I can appreciate he was the King of Pop. I can appreciate he wanted and loved his kids and I hope his kids turn out okay. But the bottom line for me is in the end he was a disappointment. He could have been so much more.

Lame Update

2009-06-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't been much into posting lately but I'm around. This past week I've been dealing with a lovely case of the hives. Possibly brought on by some bug bites but we'll never know for sure. Being itchy is no fun.

Work is lame. I go to work to live, not live to work. I have a micro-managing manager. nuff said.

In addition we're doing a huge system conversion over the weekend, which will no doubt going to create havoc for everyone.

Saturday I'm throwing a luau party at my house. My birthday is on July 4th but I'm not really celebrating my birthday. I just want to have a partay! We always go to my parent's house over the 4th of July weekend. Their community has a lake, boat parade, fireworks show and bike parade for the kids.

The girls started summer camp. So far so good. Both enjoy their teachers and have met friends.

We camped over Father's Day weekend. Mt. Madonna is a great place to visit if your looking for a woodsy place with lots of shade. Hiking was fun too and they have white deer.

Sorry for the lame (my word for the day) update.

Oakland Zoo

2009-06-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend Todd and I took the girls to the Oakland Zoo. It had been a few years since I'd been there, but the kids had gone a couple years ago. They have a new children's section which I really liked. For the most part the zoo hasn't changed but I have to say it's still a great place to take the kids.

This is a Sun Bear. He was rolling around in the grass.

Two types of camels. Todd shot this from the tram ride.

Brushing and petting a goat in the petting zoo section. They didn't have many animals to pet but the girls didn't mind.

This is a prehistoric alligator from 15 million years ago. The info said he ate dinosaurs. Cool!

An alligator under water

Lions and tigers together

Todd & Paula on the tram.

Shawna and I also on the tram

To finish off the day we hit the ride section and let the girls blow $16 on rides.

They claim this was their favorite part of the zoo. haha