Easy Come - Easy Go

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T10:36:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to all.
And to all, a good night.

Be Careful What You Ask For

2009-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

me: "Don't leave your swimsuits on the floor - make sure you put them in the bathroom."

the girls:

bathroom

and:

bedroom

Guess I forgot to mention the "hang up" and to include the "wet towels" as part of the deal.

I need an adjective

2009-08-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Gee, has it really been 3 months? Guess so. Oh well - it's bound to happen from time to time.

My word of the day: Obstinate

obstinate - definition of obstinate by the Free Online Dictionary ...Stubbornly adhering to an attitude, opinion, or course of action; obdurate. 2. Difficult to manage, control, or subdue; refractory.
stubborn: tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield

That's what I thought I was until I actually looked up the word. Make no mistake - That definition definitely fits me. I do have those tendencies, but that's not what I am right now.

Right now, I have a rather unattractive bandage on my nose, since I had a "little surgery" done on Friday to remove some skin cancer (benign, but still needed removal). I've been told to "do nothing" this weekend. I laughed at the young lady giving me those instructions... but I did agree NOT to play soccer with the kids this weekend. I also agreed to stay inside and not get the damn thing wet or sweaty. No gym for me this weekend either. So what do you suppose I've been just dying to do? I want to go swimming. I want to dive down to the bottom of the deepest end and retrieve the toy thrown there. I want to go to the gym and do at least an hour of aerobics. Maybe even a spin class. Yeah - no sweat involved there! I want to run through the sprinklers!

Did I want to do any of these things during the summer when I had time and opportunity to do them? Not particularly. That's why I thought I was obstinate. Maybe I'm more oppositional - but that implies defiance against authorities. Nope - not that. So anyone have the right adjective for me?

Lovely, isn't it? No, that's NOT the adjective I'm looking for.

PB&J, please

2009-05-24T16:27:00.001-07:00

I happen to be smack dab in the middle of the sandwich generation. But seeing as how I started over with a little one when my others were sorta kinda getting grown up, I inadvertantly extended the gooey part of this sandwich stuff a little longer.

Last week I left DH & LK to their own devices for a few days while I visited my dad and his wife in Phoenix. I purposefully scheduled the flight so that I wouldn't have to miss a baseball game, nerd that I am, and got into AZ around dinner time.

Somehow I made it to their house on my own. I guess it was probably when he called me to make sure I had the directions to his house that I've driven to oh, maybe 30 or 40 times...

That was probably why I was a little nervous flying out.

But I had no reason to be. Outside of some pretty significant short term memory loss
- he wondered if LK was "ours" now, forgetting that we adopted her more than 4 years ago, and
- he forgot that his granddaughter graduated from college 3 years ago and that he was there for it,
he was pretty much the same. Still plays tennis and bridge. No more golf, though I'm not really sure why. He still bowls, and emails sometimes even. And he's coming up on his 88th birthday.

He does, mostly, remember his grandkids - even the little ones. This can be explained by li'l sis' calendars she makes for him every year with pictures and important dates like birthdays listed on them. He keeps it right in front of his computer monitor. So he's doing pretty well, considering...

Then again consider this scene while we waited for the airport shuttle to pick me up -

Dad: "Do you have enough money?"
me : "Enough money for what?" (No one ever has enough money - everyone knows that!)
Dad: "You know, to get back home."
me : "Oh. That. Yeah, Dad, I think I have enough to get back home." (Bummer - I was hoping he was wondering if I had enough to put my Hoosier through college or something)

Still - I hope I'm in as good a shape as him when I'm 88.

Back to the other 1/2 of the sandwich - we've got an appointment with the school psychologist next week to discuss various things, including learning disabilities. Letcha know how that goes later...

Wish you were here

2009-05-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

I'm working today, getting ready to take the rest of the week off. My mother's day present has landed at SFO and DH has picked her up. They find a nice little hangout (which I've been trying to get DH to go to for, oh about 3 years or so) and have a beer. I'm still working - in meetings all afternoon, feeling very sorry for myself, when I get this picture and email:

Wish you were here.

haha.

I hate him.

Uh... awkward moment...

2009-04-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

We visit LK's birth dad oh, once or twice a year or so. Whenever he gets out of jail or treatment. It's been about a year. I know cuz the last time we saw him, we brought a baseball, bat and gloves to a park and watched them play a little baseball. So he called a few weeks ago saying he was out of jail and going into treatment. Then a couple of weeks ago he called saying he could start having visitors. Next thing I know, he's living at his sister's house, which means he left the treatment facility.

Fortunately, LK's old enough to actually talk on the phone with him now, which is easier than telling him she didn't want to talk to him like I had to do when she was a toddler and didn't want to talk to anyone on the phone, let alone him. I envision more of that reluctance in future years, but we're not there yet.

We are happy to see him, and LK knows when a visit is scheduled. Our visits are fine - no conflict, lots of play, lots of compliments to her, lots of catching him up on pictures, activities and so on. Then we say goodbye, figuring we'll see him once or twice and then not at all for another year or so.

So here's the situation - this whole weekend, LK's been touchy, pouty and prone to sulkiness. She does this now and then, and gets her feelings hurt easily. She doesn't stand up for herself much and just kinds of shuts down. Her teacher is working on this with us. LK also misreads situations frequently and takes offense when there was really no sign of any. But she actually sat out an inning of her game this weekend to pout because someone sat next to someone else. Then when she went back in, she made two outs, pouting all the while. It's like she dissolves into this puddle of mush that is somehow weirdly functional. It seemed more pronounced this time than usual.

What seems to be the key difference here? Maybe the scheduled visit? Does it weigh on her mind when she knows we're going to see him? Is that the X factor that makes her so fragile at times? Seems likely - or is that just me trying to assign a logical reason to something that might just be a typical little 1st grader grumpiness?

So what to do? I don't want to avoid the visits - I think in the long run, it's better for her to know that he wanted to maintain contact - at least in whatever way he can. And that we were always open to that. But I hate like heck to see her fall apart so easily.

There's always this awkward moment at the end of our visit when we say goodbye and he gives her a kiss. We all know he expects one from her too, but she's so not there. He gets a little half hearted hug, but that's about all. Sigh...
I guess awkward moments are a given, and so are the labile, fragile occasional weekends. At least for a while.

btw - the visit was fine, she beat him at air hockey and we ate pretty crappy pizza and ended up with about 17 bouncy balls. Oh, and the awkward moment when he gave her a kiss and then said, "Where's mine?". After the halfhearted hug he got instead, we were off to see "Earth" with her Brownie troop, where she sulked for about an hour before perking up and having fun with a friend who stuck it out with her. What a weekend.

At least we got to see Baby G on Saturday! Check out the preshus feets... and face...

Who's the Boss?

2009-04-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

I am.
:-)

Blog again... I'm bored

2009-04-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

That was the text message I got a day or two ago from BK.
Nevermind that he is in college, with no lack of homework or studying to do. But I do remember the days. I did many things to avoid my books back then. My sister (I lived in a room attached to their house for most of my freshman year. My parents didn't exactly trust me in a dorm, but that's another post for another day.) always knew when it was finals time because there would be fresh baked cookies or brownies in the kitchen. I know all about procrastination.
Speaking of cookies...

Easter was quietly nice. Lunasea and family came over and no one ended up looking like a monkey or a saloon trollop. There was a little consternation about the fact that the boys fully intended to leave with the eggs they found in the easter egg hunt LK helped me set up for them. I guess she forgot to tell them the rules of engagment - that the cereal was theirs to keep, but she wanted the eggs back. Oh, and some of the candy too. But it took her about 30 seconds to realize we still had a lot of candy, so it was really just fine. I was proud of her for that.
Speaking of Easter...

DH is so excited that his new found passion for hockey has paid off! Finally one of his teams does good. The Sharks win the President's Cup - not with the win he'd hoped for to end the season, but they set themselves up in a position where that wasn't necessary, and that was almost as sweet.
Oh, did I say hockey?

(these two will be one of the longest standing couples in HS in a few years)

So what to do when bored? I'm betting he won't ask me to blog again for a while. But it was pretty fun to reminisce a little, at his expense perhaps, but it's still fun.

So, BK - I can think of things you might do - go kick a soccer ball around!

Do some handstands!

Or maybe just take a nap...

Love you!

I want one of these

2009-04-01T17:25:00.001-07:00

what to do...what to do...

2009-04-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

So we're thinking here - my project is stalled in a "capital freeze", DH's job is definitely considered tenuous in this economy. This might be the time to make the big jump. DH thinks maybe Montana. I think Pacific NW would be ok cuz we have family there and Lil Sis will probably end up there someday anyway. Just don't know if I can handle the rain... Either place, we could get a very nice pad for what our house will still go for here.
So whaddaya think? Any suggestions or advice?

Freakin' Hilarious

2009-03-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

Gay Scientists have located the Christian gene.
Take a look:

(stolen from a friend I am so excited to have heard from again!)

Confounded

2009-03-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

Main Entry: con·found·ed
Pronunciation: [kon-foun-did, kuhn-] \kən-ˈfau̇n-dəd, (ˌ)kän-ˈ, ˈkän-ˌ\
Function: adjective
Date: 14th century
1 : confused , perplexed
2 : damned
— con·found·ed·ly adverb

Synonyms
befuddled
bewildered
disconcerted
perplexed

What a great word.

I have too much to blog!

2009-02-25T17:00:00.001-08:00

M&M are moving out of their apartment. I took G. for them while they cleaned and got a decent night's sleep. Then I went with M. to have pictures taken of little G. on Sunday. The first picture was the only one where he really smiled. But that one picture was totally worth it. The boys were moving the last of the stuff to storage, but were able to meet up with us by the time we were picking out the package, and that was fun too.

Apparently LK thought that whole process was fun, so she created a photo shoot of her own, using our semi-adopted dog, Zen. What a trooper that dog is. I posted the full album on facebook, but just imagine every type of sporting equipment we might have and then a little more and you have the idea of the photo shoot. Great idea!

And then, last night LK decided to make dinner for us. She made nachos, warmed up leftover pizza and we were not to touch these buns until we were completely done.

When we were really really done, this is what we got inside the buns:

Gotta love it.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Facebook

2009-02-24T20:43:00.000-08:00

"During the last 24 hours you were compared 3 times. You won in 1 of them." (That's supposed to make me feel good?)

"Check here against whom you won in 'who is a better public speaker'. 2 hours ago" (Oh good. I'm a better public speaker than somebody else. Why do I feel like such a dork?)

"NOTE: Check your NEW ranking!8:08pm" (I just can't figure out what's in it for anyone.)

"Someone voted for you!9:16am" (And I STILL don't know what for.)

In the last few months since I opened my facebook account, I've found myself drawn to it often. All my nieces and nephews have kindly agreed to be my friends and we joke back and forth now and then. I feel more in touch with them. My own children have also agreed to be my friend which means I get to keep in touch with them in a more fun way than I would otherwise. I've connected with an old high school friend or two (and I do mean OLD!!) and even have parents of LK's friends on my list. I get reminded of birthdays. And I get the right days for birthdays too! I get to see pictures of trips, parties, babies and other cool stuff. And I have to say, when I've got a scrabble game or even sudoku (DDD whups my ass on this every time, even though I consider myself a pretty fair sudoku player), I look forward to signing on at least once a day to keep the game going.

But I hate the stupid little notifications for things that if you bite, you have to load and then you get something stupid in return. Like when you "poke" someone. Just dumb. This whole voting thing. I never win popularity contests. Never have, never will. People seem to like me - they just don't vote for me (despite the vote above that if I wanted to find out what it was for I'd have to load some stupid program that would make me feel bad because I got one vote and all my other friends got 537 votes). These things are just meant to make me feel bad. No thanks.

So I enjoy FB for many reasons and determine to ignore the chain letters, stupid notifications for stupid things and anything that won't make me smile. Anyone for a game of Scrabble?

How old am I again?

2009-02-23T18:41:00.000-08:00

All this birthday and holiday talk.
I have to remember how old I am again.

I have a confession:

I have a crush. Maybe it's a mommy crush. Nothin' romantic about it - I just think this kid is SO FREAKIN CUTE! I love his Disney movies - I even watch the HSM movies willingly because HELLO - Corbin BLEU!!!

And now I find out he will be doing a little mini-concert after the High School Musical on Ice show THAT I ALREADY HAVE TICKETS TO!!!!!

OMG!!! Best keep me a few rows back and chair nearby so I won't hurt anyone when I faint.

Another celebration. Why not?

2009-02-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

Today is Adoption day, otherwise known as "Gotcha" day.

I decided now that LK is starting to understand and even talk about being adopted, I wanted to start a new tradition with her where we would go and have a fancy lunch on adoption day. With tablecloths and dressing up and all that high-falutin'-ness. Something we just don't do much of at all... I would pick her up at school at lunch time and we'd take BART into the city and go to some fancy schmancy place. Just us. And maybe DH if he could.

Here's one side of the conversation:

"We're gonna do WHAT?"

"Why again?"

"You know, sometimes I like hamburgers."

"How about we don't go to OUR Taco Bell - how about we go to one that's far away?"

"I like that place where they give you balls of dough and they have that machine." (El Machino at Chevy's fine and fancy Tex Mex...)

"But I want to go play with my friends."

"I NEVER get to play with my friends."

"I think I don't want to go somewhere where we have to get on a freeway."

"I already had lunch."

We settled on the cafe at our nearby Nordstrom's. Not exactly tablecloths, but maybe we'll work up to that.

Another place I loved, but didn't help stay in business

2009-02-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

I always hate it when I really love a store, but it's not on the beaten path for me, so I just don't visit it as often as I'd like. And then they go out of business. I feel like it's my personal fault for not going out of my way to patronize them.
I'm sorry I didn't do more to keep you in business, Elephant Pharmacy - you were awesome.

And the Birthday Season Ends

2009-02-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

There are plenty of family birthdays throughout the year, but mid November - mid February are so particularly ~~painful~~ joyful as they encompass every one of my immediate-immediate family birthdays and Christmas (and nearly all the plain old immediate ones too) that once LK has her birthday in mid February I am completely birthday'd out. You should see my calendar - it's ridiculous.

It used to be that I could sort of relax in early January, since the only immediate family birthday to plan any kind of celebration for was my own, but with the addition of LK, I must carry on with my primary birthday celebrator duties until today. I don't really mind, because I truly love birthdays, but I get pretty wiped out. Just not as young as I used to be, I guess.

So today is LK's 7th birthday. She would celebrate by riding her brand new gorgeous bike (one that actually fits her) around the neighborhood if it weren't raining cats and dogs outside. Can't complain, because we need the rain badly, but it does make the excitement of a new bike dim just a bit. But we've got some family and friends coming over to have some pizza with us this evening, and she's invited her beloved teacher, so she's one happy birthday girl.

Enjoy your special day, not-so-little one. I love watching you grow up. I love the tenderness you show your nephew, even if his parents get a little uncomfortable by it. I love that you continue to develop a relationship with your biological siblings, and that you cherish it. I love that you love your other big brothers and sister more than just about anything in the whole wide world. I love the happiness in your face when you see them after a long time apart. I don't always love the resistance and stubborness you show me frequently, but I understand that both of those qualities will be important for you in coming years. I love watching you play soccer and other sports that you love. I love the snuggles when we read stories or watch a movie together. And most of all, I love you.

Happy Birthday.

More Inventive Kidness

2009-02-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

Found this morning:
One travel pillow performing baby doll "boppy" duties.

Another mondegreen

2009-02-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

Submitted by our 10 year old neighbor:

Improving on perfection - that's what that is...
although, I always thought we were singing to Jose.
"Jose, can you see by the dawn's surly light?" and
"...Jose, does that star spangled banner yet wave?"

Shown up by a 10 year old.

Again.

How I know I'm exhausted.

2009-02-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

- I drove by 2640 College Ave and went at least a mile past it before I knew I'd gone too far.
- I was sitting next to a neighbor and friend of mine at a show today and could not come up with her name.
- I had to back up my audiobook several times because I kept losing my concentration.
- No interest in cake or anything else with an ounce of sugar.
- No interest in food of any kind.
- one word: Crankypants.
- Can't sleep.

It's aggravating.

That's Weird

2009-01-25T16:37:00.000-08:00

So about a week ago, I had a birthday. It was a lovely day, nice sunny weather, not too cold... I had my choice of what to do for the day so we went out to Half Moon Bay to see the waves. Hoped to see some surfers too, but while the waves looked plenty big to me, they weren't nearly big enough, I guess. It was a possible "Mavericks" weekend, but again, not quite big enough waves, so no Mavericks. That was good for us, since the traffic is nuts when the surfers are there.

I talked to my in-laws, got a message from my big sis and dad and talked to 3/4 of my children (the 1/4 is in the doghouse for a while). AND I had a great birthday dinner cooked by my baby sis, Lunasea. None of that was weird at all.

I also was served breakfast in bed, which in previous years was reserved for Mother's Day alone. With breakfast, I got a couple of birthday cards. A very nice one from LK and this one from DH. He actually bought it before my birthday, which was pretty amazing in itself. He liked the sentiment. The print is pretty small in the picture, so let me tell you what it says.

"I love the days when we never get around to shoes..."
the inside reads, "...when all we get around to is us." Happy Anniversary

So he crosses out the Anniversary part and prints "Birthday" above it. Very proud of himself for picking it for the sentiment and molding it to the occasion.

LK looks at the picture and says, "That's weird."
DH: "Why?"
LK: "They're both girls"
DH: "Hunh?"
LK: "Look."
DH: "Uh Oh."

So I got a lesbian anniversary card for my birthday. How many of you can say that?
I know. I am special.

Martin and Me

2009-01-23T07:02:00.000-08:00

A piece of schoolwork came home last night with LK. A comparison of MLK and her. It had the typical stuff, name, birthday, hometown, brothers and sisters, favorite games. Stuff like that. But what I liked most was the "Dream for the Future" section. MLK's was "Fairness for all". LK's was "Pick up gorbich".

Dream big, little one.

In twenty years or so, when you see her driving one of those big green or blue trucks around or hoisting cans on her back, give her a wave, OK?

One Concern or maybe One Reaction

2009-01-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

Such a momentous occasion. I have a concern though.

There is such a focus on the African American aspect of this inauguration. And while I don't disagree with that fact and that we are breaking new ground and we've come a long way and all that, I keep seeing the comments from the "guys on the street" saying how proud they are to be an African American. That they never thought they'd live to see the day...

I think that's fabulous, and it's great to have that kind of pride after all these years. And I love it that little kids see that the sky's the limit - they really can do or be anything they strive for and their skin color doesn't need to be a barrier, but it feels a little funny to me. I'm an American. I don't consider myself a white or caucasian American, and I'm extremely proud today, but it feels less progressive to me that the focus is so much on the race of the president and the race of the celebrants. I believe we haven't come as far as we might think. We elected the best and the brightest candidate. I did not care what color s/he came in when I cast my vote. Clearly some did, but with the numbers involved in this election, plenty of people cast their vote as I did.

When we can say we are proud to be Americans. Collectively. Without reference to background or color... THEN we will have come a long way.

Photo credit according to SFGate.com: Getty Images/Mark Wilson

Cougars

2009-01-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hadn't heard the term used quite this way before. Cougars. But apparently it's been around a while and has quite a following.

Turns out if you google it there are clubs and Cougars and Cubs websites and lots of other stuff. Most of the pictures are Ashton and Demi, natch, but there are lots of other celebrity examples and non celebrity too, natch.

To each his or her own, of course, and I guess it's clear what my preference is, but can anyone else say "Ewwwww"?

Global Warming ummm Cooling ummm Warming ummm Cooling

2009-01-19T09:50:00.000-08:00

(written on 1/14/09, but obviously not posted)
For the following cities, all followed via DH’s beloved i-phone (I think he loves it more than me…) the temperature last evening:
New York, NY 12
Manchester, VT -2
Bloomington, IN 6

If live in one of the above areas, please stop reading and don’t look at the picture below.
At my house in lovely Cali, it was 70 degrees yesterday evening. Se.ven.ty. DH barbequed some steaks. It felt for all the world like a lovely summer evening, but for the winter darkness. It is a little harder to BBQ in the dark. You can’t see what you’re doing all that well.

Our steaks were a bit charbroiled, but oh, they were good.
And once again, I am reminded that I love where I live.

It's GS Cookie time again

2009-01-11T09:23:00.001-08:00

Here we go. Once again, I have a Brownie in the house. That means cookie sales. In another GS experience a long time ago, I once volunteered to be the "cookie mom". Never again. Despite very careful accounting (I thought), that volunteer position cost me somewhere around $50. I never could figure out how that happened.

So I'm not cookie mom this time (or ever again), but LK will be selling cookies in the neighborhood and I imagine I'll be taking the order sheet into my office, as will DH. The hard part for me to swallow (haha) is that they are now charging $4 a box for these things. I used to buy 10 boxes easy - maybe more if another cute little brownie came to my door after I'd filled my quota. I'd freeze some and we'd share and eat some. It worked well. But at $4 a box, maybe we'll just cut back on the calories, y'know? Who needs all that sugar anyway?

The Last of the Teenagers

2009-01-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

It seems I've had a teenager in my house nearly all my life. In fact, my first teenager hit those magic digits only 15 years ago. But since then, we've never been without at least one. This is our last year with a teenager for a while. BK is 19 today. And LK is just coming up on her 7th bday. We've got a few years in between to draw a nice deep breath before she gets there.

The last of the teenage years. Not gonna write a big old thing for him this year - like his older brother and sister, he'll just need to wait until he is two dimes and a nickel for that. But I will wish him a VERY Happy Birthday, and hope that he doesn't freeze to death in the midwest over the winter, and that he figures out how to bring school, family, work and girlfriend into balance this year. Oh yeah - and that he enjoys the last year of his teens as much or more than the rest of them all together.

Happy Birthday BK. We love you!

The First Quarter

2009-01-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

Well, you'd think, with two weeks off work I'd have time to get to this little site here and throw some cute little shenanigans at you wouldn't you? I thought so too. So much that I even mentioned this blog in my Christmas card this year. Oops.

Speaking of late... (we were, weren't we?) It's 11pm and since a little missy was born at 10:35 pm on January 3, 1984, it's not really late, but as it's nearly midnight, signaling the 4th of January and a different child's birthday; this post feels late.

Twenty-five years ago... it seems so long ago, and yet perhaps it was yesterday. This was before it was de rigueur to know your unborn child's sex and name. I had a newly 3 year old boy who I was convinced would be a girl before I heard "it's a boy" and went into momentary shock. I was not going to be unprepared this time. I thought it would be awfully nice to have a girl, but another boy would be fine too. In fact - I was pretty sure I'd be handing down clothes and toys to our second son anytime. I'd been on bedrest for a couple of weeks before Christmas, and was just released to "light activity". I'd had a doctor appointment that day and stopped at Venture (the local Target) for a few things before going home. I had collected several items when I started feeling some pretty strong contractions. I figured I could just finish grabbing a few more things and then head home to wait it out there. I never got to the checkout. Fast and furious this baby wanted out. I was only at 37 weeks, so I was not in as much of a hurry. Besides, I'd just slipped on some ice and fell HARD on New Year's Eve, so I wasn't very comfortable to begin with. I'm pretty sure a broken coccyx (look it up) was involved. I wanted some healing time before having to use that part of my anatomy for childbirth. OK - it's not really involved, but let me tell you sitting after childbirth is not all that fun, and if you add the tailbone aspect to it (ok you don't have to look it up anymore), it's that much less comfortable.

Anyhooo, leaving the 1/2 full cart in the middle of an aisle (sorry Venture staff), I hustled myself and my toddler out to the car and drove home. We didn't have cell phones, so it was all up to me and it never occurred to me that maybe I shouldn't have been driving with contractions coming at me that frequently. I called DH from home and told him he'd better come home RIGHT AFTER WORK because I was pretty sure I'd need to go to the hospital tonight. He did, we dropped toddler off at a neighbor's house and off we went. Got there about 7pm or so and had a baby at 10:35. Went home the next day and started pacing the floors with a screaming baby.

She was my first experience at colic. She was also my headstrong "I'll do it MYSELF" girl, making every excursion much, much longer since she had to get her own snowsuit on. Or her own shoes. Or her own anything. And THEN she'd have to go to the bathroom. AAAAAAAAAHHHH!

She delighted us with songs at an early age. She still does. She embarassed us when we flew with her because we were poor (and cheap) and did not want to buy an extra ticket for her. She was 18 months old, potty trained and speaking in full sentences. She was also not terribly tiny. The flight attendents were understandably suspicious, and we felt like we should travel with her birth certificate so they'd know we weren't cheating.

She was bright, eager to please, eager to have fun, always had a couple handfuls of friends, but she was always true to herself. She's had a rivalry or two along the way, making things interesting and a little uncomfortable at times. But she's never done something because it's the easy thing. She's made deliberate choices and they've always made us proud. It's been such fun watching her grow from a headstrong baby to a lovely independent woman who is an incredible daughter, sister, friend and aunt and is a quarter of a century old today.

Happy Birthday, DDD. Love you SOOOO MUCH!

A Sociological Study of Terror

2008-12-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

I posted this link a couple of weeks ago about the crazy windboarder.
Since then, I've had some interesting feedback.

Female reaction:
excerpted from a comment: "AHHHH!!! I just kept saying "don't let go! don't let go! don't let go" over and over in my head while I held my breath."

Male reaction:
[hysterical laughter to the point of tears]

My very large study group of 6 (3 each M/F) shows this reaction to be universal.

2008-11-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

Someone had a baby yesterday.

That makes someone a daddy. And someone a mama.
But I can't figure out what it makes me.

Yeah - I know I'm a grandmother (OMG), but I just can't come up with what I want Little G to call me. DH kinda likes "Pepere" (pronounced peh-pay), which is what he would have called one of his grandfathers, had he lived long enough. The companion to that is "Memere", (pronounced meh-may). That's ok, but since I'm not even remotely French, it doesn't exactly fit y'know?

I need your help. What did you call your grandmothers? What do your kids call their grandmothers? I need to pick something sometime...

You gotta be CRAZY

2008-11-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

There are no words. By that I mean I have no words.
That other guy has plenty...

Are Quirky Tastes Inherited?

2008-11-22T15:56:00.000-08:00

I can't wait. It's almost time to put up the Christmas decorations.
Now, lots of people love Christmas decorations, but it's not the typical tree and ornaments that I get all excited about.

I love putting my Anna Lee collection out on display.

I understand there really aren't that many people who share my affinity for these Anna Lee dolls. I set all my Anna Lee dolls out on table tops and floors and shelves and people (some in my own family) walk by and shake their head. They don't see the charm.

My kids know if they want to completely thrill me, a little Anna Lee doll will do it.
I agree with most of my critics that they're a little odd. A little quirky. I think that's what I love most about them. They have a personality. I'm sure I get this from my mother. She also loved these dolls, and I'm not sure if I love them because she convinced me of their charm or that came from me. Either way, I know I have some quirky tastes and I think they might be hereditary.

That way I can blame it all on Mom.

Thanks, Mom!

Beagroomzmom gets all Crafty and stuff

2008-11-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

I got to be crafty for the last second wedding we had on November 1. Yes, a wedding can be thrown together in less than a week, and it can turn out nice, and it can even have some handmade favors.

I took two Hershey Kisses (awwww...) laid them flat end to flat end
wrapped them in blue cellophane and attached them to florists wire with green florist tape. I would have put green leaves on them, but the theme, such as it was, was blue and silver.

I added the little Thank you for sharing our special day note with a little vellum cover to the flower with a little blue ribbon.

Do you think anyone noticed that the hole the ribbon went through was in the shape of a heart? yeah, probably not. But I thought it was cute.

Strategically place them in the napkin at each plate. Ta DA! Wedding favor.

****************
Also - can I just say how irritating it is that the "preview" in Blogger does not look anything like the real product? It must take me 10 times publishing to get these things lined up decently. And I don't even try to make it pretty. Does anyone else have that problem, or is it just me? I might be just a teensy bit crafty, but I'm apparently not nearly enough techy...
(oh, and btw - I give up. there must be a better way)

The Bane of my Fall

2008-11-16T14:48:00.000-08:00

This starts in August, continues through the college season and then we have the college BOWL picks.

ESPN, this is a case of love/hate. You (and various members of our family) have turned college football into an obsession. Three years ago, if we didn't know Louisiana beat Florida, we didn't care. Now we not only care, we need to keep track of who else cares and how many points are available for us to move up in the standings and whether with this pick we can move ahead of a certain other player. (By "us" and "we", I mean in the royal sense, since it certainly affects me even though I seem to have the good sense to remain uninvolved directly) It also instigates some pretty good smack talk, though I think with the political debates flying around this fall, that smack talk has fallen off a bit this year. Wait till 2009.

Love: I love it that DH has such a good time with this. He's totally involved (read, OBSESSED) with it and has weekly conversations with brothers, children and nephews that he typically doesn't talk to that much. That's good stuff. He goes out of his way to make sure the two kids we have playing get their picks in before the deadline. He was never that responsible with checking on their homework!

Hate: I hate it that DH is so completely involved that he is always checking the scores, standings, etc during otherwise completely enjoyable events. His focus is always on his i-phone where he can get the latest from the internet. OK maybe I hate Apple just a little too for making this possible.

See, I'm not looking at the phone in my hand, I swear. I'm watching the little one. Watch, I'll put it back in my pocket now. Really.

This is the bane of my Fall - but I have winter to get reacquainted with him.

Oh wait - that's the college basketball pick'em time. Damn.

And THIS is why I live in California.

2008-11-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

Forecast as of 4:00 am PST on November 15, 2008
In case you missed that - NOVEMBER 15th! This is MID-NOVEMBER! This is exactly when I do NOT miss Chicago! We're headed out to a local amusement park for DH's birthday. (HB, btw) in NOVEMBER! and we're not even in Southern Cal, where they get to cheat and be all closer to the equator and all.
I love it here.

Today
Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s to lower 80s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight
Clear. Lows in the 40s to mid 50s. Northeast winds around 5 mph in the evening...becoming light.

Sunday
Sunny. Highs in the 70s to lower 80s. Northeast winds around 5 mph.

Sunday Night
Clear. Lows in the 40s to mid 50s. North winds around 5 mph...becoming northeast after midnight.

Monday
Sunny. Highs in the 70s. Light winds.

Monday Night
Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 40s to lower 50s.

Tuesday through Thursday
Mostly clear. Highs in the 60s to mid 70s. Lows in the 40s to lower 50s.

Thursday Night and Friday
Partly cloudy. Lows in the 40s to lower 50s. Highs in the 60s.

Copyright © 2008 The Weather Underground, Inc.

And now we return you to Halloween

2008-11-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

For nearly a year, LK has wanted to be a Vampire Queen for Halloween. She has not varied from this goal the entire year. I can pinpoint it back to last Halloween when she was a very cute Minnie Mouse and saw the potential for blood and gore. I blame the 5th graders.

She still wanted to be a Vampire Queen even after I told her the story of M, who when he was 6 wanted to be a vampire. When I had him all dressed up and the make up on his face, I let him look in the mirror. He screamed and started crying. I tried to show him it was just make believe, but he scared himself so much that I quickly washed his face, found some jeans, a flannel shirt, a bandana and a cowboy hat. He made a great vampire - but you know? Somethings are just not worth it.

The other 1st grade girls? Very cute. Cheerleaders, Dorothy, Princesses, various animals and 50's girls. And one Vampire Queen.

Way to stick with your convictions, little one!

Another letter

2008-11-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

Because I thought she should know.

Open Letter

2008-11-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

to my fabulous BIL who faithfully called voters in swing states over the past several weeks.

Thank you.

Third time's the charm

2008-11-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

Or,
I finally have a daughter-in-law.

Favorite quote:
"They're gonna get married if I have to do it myself!" Uttered from the Most Reverend Doctor Lunasea, who graciously got herself ordained in the Christian Glory Church where Glory reigns and where, with a minimum of fuss, you too can be a minister; just so we could actually have an end to the saga. Of course, it helps that she was well aware of, and in fact attended one of, the previous attempts.

Michael & Mariela Wedding

This shindig was thrown together at the very last minute (seriously) and turned out just lovely. Despite the rainy day, we had a very nice time. We had a real cake, incredible lobster stuffed filet, twice baked potatoes, asparagas bundles etc. I actually don't know if this link will work, but Picasa offered me the option, so I'm trying it.

I managed not to have to go trick or treating with LK the evening before, so I spent my time finishing up favors and table decorations. This is not really the way I'd suggest throwing a wedding, but it worked. Of course, it helps to have family members who own a catering and rental shop. We definitely took advantage of their expertise and inventory. It was either that or paper plates. The minister was the groom's godmother and the caterer was the groom's godfather. Kinda nice that way.

The Bride's immediate family will still not recognize the relationship, but a couple of cousins and a friend were able to share the day, so thankfully, she was not all alone with just her inlaws! All in all, it was a very nice day.

another milestone down - only 3 weeks or so for the next one! Fortunately for us, some other little character is responsible for arranging that one.

Stayin' Alive

2008-10-18T08:18:00.001-07:00

Heard on the radio yesterday that playing the BeeGees song "Stayin Alive" during CPR is beneficial because the beat is pert near perfect for timing of compressions.
I could just see it - in ERs and ICUs everywhere, the strains of the BeeGees in the background. At least until there is a workers comp case or two for mental distress.
Back in the 70s it was Yankee Doodle. Not sure which one I prefer.

Oh - and while looking around for stuff about this - there's a comment by Tex at Guitar Girl RN where he is already rewriting the lyrics -

'Well, you can tell by the way I CPR,
I compress real well, I'm a Superstar....."

now I can totally get behind that!

Taking the Linky Way Out

2008-10-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

I could say more, but these posts do such a good job, I thought I'd just lead you to them.

C'mon California - No on Prop 8.

Being Visible

2008-10-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

An esteemed colleague of mine rides his bike to work on occasion (actually a couple of them do, but this story is just about one of them). A few weeks ago, he tangled with a car and the car won.

OK. It was a pedestrian. And the pedestrian won. That just doesn't sound as impressive does it? Anyway, he didn't feel so great for a week or so.
So he decided to go visible.

Additions: yellow bumpers, new yellow helmet, coat, caution sign, reflectors. I just love this guy - he cracks me up. But damn - SOMEONE will see his next crash - we're pretty sure of that!

And in the spirit of sharing wisdom, here are his helmet links:

Bicycle helmet linkage:
Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

The Safety is Sexy Campaign - You'd look hotter in a helmet

Wear A Helmet

(Ba)rack my world

2008-10-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

WHAAAAT is this?
Rod Sterling must be around the corner here somewhere.

Last night:
DH and I had a "date night". Rare. Very rare.
He opens the car door for me. Never happens. (not complaining - just a fact)
I get in and see this:

in his cup holder.
I'm convinced I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

2008-10-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

Parents Weekend accomplishes what is it supposed to accomplish.

We get to see the facilities

We get to check out the local tailgate efforts

We take a picture to record the occasion

and we visit with each other.

The interesting thing about Freshman Family Weekend is that it probably accomplishes exactly what it is intended to accomplish. BK is not as bothered by being so far away and we're happier that he's there. Good all around.

What I did on Summer Vacation, Part 3

2008-09-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

Because all good things come in threes (and some barely passable ones, too, but we'll not go into that), part three shares a fun birthday party with a particularly cute nephew, also known as A. and his equally cute mother, also known as Lunasea, who takes after her slightly older sister also known as me.

We chased after a gaggle? tribe? flock? - turns out it is a rafter of turkeys we chased around the yard. And if my camera had just captured the last one to the right, I'd have demonstrated that multiple of 3 theme again. Yes, this is stretching it a bit thin, but hey...

I had the opportunity to visit some friends from my days in Chicago and drive by one of the houses I lived in nearly 3x10 years ago. Strangely enough - it looks almost exactly the same!

AND, we went to Indiana University for Freshman Parent's weekend in order to make faces we hadn't made for 3x10 days or so.

What I did on Summer Vacation, Part 2

2008-09-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Continuing that theme that our college student might never get to to these things ever again, BK beat the crap out of us at bowling.
(We never bowl - usually our scores are right there with the 64 guy)
Anyone who tells you saying goodbye is easy hasn't been with these two at the airport.

LK was a dunk tank target. It took 3 kids and an invitation to the 3rd kid to go up and hit the bullseye with her hand but she got dunked.

And we watched someone climb a climbing wall in bare feet. Must have hurt.

What I did on summer vacation, part 1

2008-09-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

Catching up on my summer blogging:

I went on a roller coaster and screamed with LK.

I protected her from certain attack. Or maybe I just recorded it for posterity.

We prepared to say goodbye to our Hoosier with very many dinners out or special things to do which we were sure he would NEVER have the opportunity to do again IN HIS LIFETIME!

We had a very creative dessert prepared for us. We didn't eat much of it, but we admired it mightily, for it was prepared with love. And a lot of chocolate syrup.

Karma - Send - Now

2008-09-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

DDD has an official, for a national tour, callback tomorrow. I'm sure it's the first of many, but WOO HOO this is awesome!

She says she's not getting ahead of herself and that there's no way she'll actually get cast at her first callback, but it seems silly not to help her out a little...

I want to gather all our collective internetish good karma and send it her way.

Everybody, on three:

1

2

3

OHMMMMMM....

OK - I might be a little fuzzy on the meaning of Karma, but it seemed right at the time.

So let's all at least send some encouragement her way... You GO, GIRL!!!

Overachievers overachieve

2008-09-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

Remember how weird it was for three olympians in three different sports from the same small town, let alone the same high school and same graduating class? Well, happy to say, they all brought medals home with them! Simply amazing. I keep wondering why NBC didn't pick up on that little story...

So howyadoin?

2008-09-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Most frequently asked question:
"So, How're ya doin'?"
Next most frequently asked question:
"Is it weird?"
Followed by:
"How's LK doing with it?"

I can only assume these people are talking about the hole in my chest where wind whistles in and out with some regularity. I'm not sure how it attracts the attention it does. I try to keep it covered, but somehow it becomes noticeable.

I've been afflicted with this a couple times before, so I understand that it will slowly close up and I'll only hear that faint whistling sound now and then. But it's hard to convey that to curious friends.

I'll be gathering and sending care package #1 when - whoosh - there it is again. Looking at the kitchen table set for 3. whoosh. Running into GF (who understandably talks to him considerably more often than I) who says he's having a hard time today - pretty lonely. WHOOSH... will that damn wind kick it down a notch, please???

Maybe it's because this was my baby for so very long... maybe because he still hung around the house fairly regularly... maybe because he allowed me to talk with him when things were so up and down with GF. Maybe because the last two times, I still had a super busy house to keep up with. Or maybe I have blocked the memory of just how long this feeling takes to become normal.

All I know is that -

re Q1: Hanging in there, wishing I could talk to him at least every other day. Enjoying the clean bedroom while missing the mess. Feeling detached from things - even work, which is pretty consuming. Working hard to conjur some energy to create a "real" dinner. Wishing there was a hockey game to watch.

re Q2: Yes. Definitely.

re Q3: Surprisingly well. She is appropriately and wonderfully self-centered and has gotten into the swing of being a first grader, bringing home the lovely green slips from her teacher exclaming just how exceptional she is. It helps so much that she enjoys her teacher and the classroom. She doesn't hang out in his room, she doesn't ask to talk to him all the time (though she knows she can call him whenever she wants). She's just busy being 6 years old. I think it hits her now and then, but she has two other older siblings who show up and then leave, so it's not as foreign to her as one might think.

Good thing I've got twelve more years before I have to do this again.

Letting Go

2008-08-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

"She's had eighteen years

To get ready for this day

She should be past the tears

She cries some anyway"

BK - Be safe, be good, wear your coat. Study hard, but still have fun. Remember the people you love, and remember how much we love you. Have a fabulous 4 years in Indiana.

Damn, this is hard.

Funny...

2008-08-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Found in piano today.

My family.

What a bunch of comedians.

Overachievers non-Anonymous

2008-08-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

DDD has always felt that her graduating class lacked cohesiveness. They were not all the best of friends. That is probably typical of many high school experiences.

BK's class was so different. There were certainly cliques and social "types", but the lines were more blurred than in most classes. It was a singularly nice class.

I just realized today why DDD's class was so different.

They were just too darn busy overachieving.

Crazy Hair Day

2008-07-27T12:26:00.001-07:00

In which I read an email from camp saying that crazy hair day is tomorrow. And I go shopping with LK to buy some colored hair spray and only find blue. And I get up and put crazy ponytails in hair and spray several of them blue and put colorful ribbons every which way in crazy ponytails

only to find out that the email was sent the day BEFORE yesterday, making yesterday crazy hair day instead of today.

Bah.

Jealousy unleashed

2008-07-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, that last one was a downer, wasn't it? Sorry about that. Sometimes that stuff just rears its ugly head. Thanks for putting up with me. As a matter of fact, things have been pretty danged awful on the work horizon lately, so I've had a hard time coming up with fun stuff in general. But OMG!!! DDD calls me last evening, I can barely hear her. Turns out she's at

SHEA STADIUM

at the very

last

concert

ever to be

held there.

BILLY JOEL.

I just about fainted. And I wasn't even there! I have no doubt I would have been screaming like a teenybopper if I'd been there. Holy Crap! Incredibly Holy Crap!

The first band ever to play there was the Beatles, so they coined this concert Beatles to Billy.

Roger Daultry

Steven Tyler

Garth Brooks

Paul McCartney!!!

I can't stand it! Fuggedaboudit!

She'll be blogging about it soon at Broadway Bloopers. What an experience! I would have known everyone of those songs. Well, if I couldn't be there, I'm glad she was...

Aren't we all supposed to live vicariously through our children?

Well. Ok. then.

photo found at newsday.com

credits: (Kevin Mazur /WireImage / July 18, 2008)

Caring is not a choice

2008-07-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

Once again, I'm reminded of my nursing history. This time, by Kim from Emergiblog, who writes about the death of one of her patients. And again I wonder just why it is that the death stories are the ones that stick with me in those little recesses of brain matter where they are available at a moments notice.

I was a temporary hire in a coastal city in Alabama once for about 6 weeks. This was during a 2 year period of time when DH and I were still pretty much newlyweds and lived the life of employed gypsies. We drove a trailer around and parked it in mostly beautiful campgrounds near wherever DH's engineering assignment led him. This time it was in a post Hurricane Frederick town near the Gulf of Mexico. The devastation was still evident, but streets were passable and the gunk mostly gone. What was still there were the uprooted trees and roofless houses.

This medical center needed help and even though I was only going to be there for 6 weeks, I had intensive care experience. It was mostly a piece of cake job - many of the cases they put in the intensive care would have mostly been handled on the floor at the last hospital I'd been at. But not this one.

The little boy came in - 6 years old, lethargic and clammy. The nurse could not start the IV. I got lucky and got one in only to have it infiltrate within about 20 minutes. Not nearly long enough to hydrate and medicate the youngster. A resident came in and proceeded to do a "cut down" to get an IV in place (a surgical procedure where you cut the skin to visualize the vein and thread the catheter directly into the vein - usually a very last resort). He then left the room and told me (the nearest nurse) to "go tape it". I said "WTF (not quite in those words, but pretty damn close - I was new there, remember?) - you left it unsecured???" and ran in there, "my" patient or not. The child promptly coded and the team ran in to resuscitate. About 15 minutes in (give or take - who knows), I notice the IV was laying on the bed, the meds and fluids soaking the sheet. I can't remember who was directing the code but I remember the incredulity on his face when he realized the IV had not been secured. He uttered some choice words that I felt were directed to me, tried a few more attempts to get access and the code was over.

It should have been the idiot who placed the catheter without taking the extra minute it would have taken to secure it properly who should have felt responsible. But it was me. Because I couldn't get it secured before he needed it. Because it came out at the time he needed it most. Because he was 6 years old. Because his family was going to face the rest of theirs lives without him.

Sometimes it sucks to care.

But the alternative is just not an option.

"Green" Gift Wrapping

2008-07-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

I was stuffing gifts into gift bags and wrapping them one day when I had an idea. Why not use one of those cute little Trader Joe's bags instead - not only is it usually big enough for some of these odd shaped toys, but then the recipient (or their mom, in my case, usually) can use it later for groceries.
So I drove to my not-so-nearby Trader Joes (because theirs were the only ones I thought were festive enough) and bought a handful of these things. Found some decorative tissue paper and here you go:
(one of these is a boy's gift, one a girl's)
I think they turned out pretty cool!

Small Town Holidays

2008-07-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about our small bedroom community town is the holidays. Mostly the 4th of July. The day starts with a race. Runners from all over a 3 mile radius come to compete in this highly rated 2 or 5K run. Kids of all ages are invited to run in the Kiddie run - once around the bank and back, or for the older kids, twice around the bank and to the finish line.

From there, you go to the pancake breakfast.
If you like pancakes.

Then there is the dog parade. We didn't do that this year, although I did put a very patriotic scarf on M's dog and bring her with us to the race. (I forgot my camera though. aaaaghh.)

The big event for us is the bike parade. We forgot about it last year, so this year we made sure we had all the crepe paper and stuff we could find.

No sense in doing something like this unless you can be excessive about it. One of Moraga's finest gets on his bike and leads the parade. Until the speedsters take off and lap him a few times.

After that, games like three legged race, burlap sacks and all; wheelbarrow race; egg and spoon relays; watermelon eating contest. stuff like that.
oh, and the ever popular jumpy houses. This year they had an American Gladiator type thing where you whack your friend around with big ol thingies. The girls lasted about 2 minutes in that one. But it was a fun 2 minutes.

Oh - and looking back at the schedule, I see we completely missed the bocce ball tournament! What were we thinking? Oh well, there is always next year.

And of course, the day ends with a concert at the bandshell (Larry Lynch and the Mob. ha ha. Get it? Lynch and Mob. yeah. well...) and fireworks. Yes, little Moraga has a nice little fireworks show. You can drive a bit and see a really big one, but we all gather together on the hill at the park or at a nearby club/golf course and watch the admittedly smaller show. But it's our community there "ooohing" and "aaahing" instead of some random anonymous crowd. And you can't beat that with a stick.

Yep. This is why I live here.

you crazy liberal, you

2008-06-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Check it out - Wish I could convey my thoughts as well as Looky Daddy does!
Listen dammit!

This is just the kind of stuff that has me banned from the DH family email strings. That and the fact that I ran out to support Wal-Mart in the wake of what was perceived as a misguided donation to a group that would ruin our country and every family moral we've ever envisioned.

So I get left out of the long hotly debated political and moral email strings.

and I couldn't be happier.

It could be this year's Christmas photo except...

2008-06-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

The more children you have, the more likely one of them is going to mess up the family photo.

Reason #7438 Why I Love my Son

2008-06-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

He not only plays catch with his little sister when she just needs a friend,

He'll go swimming with her too.

Damn, we're gonna miss him in the fall.

Help! PC or Mac?

2008-05-28T14:16:00.000-07:00

*
OK - High school senior graduating. Want to buy a laptop for next year.

Sr. dude wants a Mac (duh). We're trying to figure out if it's worth the extra money. School says Mac operating systems aren't the problem they once were with the school systems, so it's a toss up. They do issue a very nice warning about VISTA, so if it's a PC - we need to get it fast so we can get it with XP still on it.

So help me out bloggyfriends - Mac or PC?

btw - went on the apple website and spent WAY too much time enjoying the ads - they have one very good ad firm!

*thanks to pjlighthouse.com for the image!

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Beware of a child's room just prior to Mother's Day.
Especially when they've just learned to write.

Happy Mother's Day to all my favorite moms. Hope your day is one to remember!

D.R. Part III

2008-05-09T21:29:00.001-07:00

More Dominican Republic pics and fun

Anyone want to go to a carnival?
Yeah - I thought not.

The Sexy Fiesta was on the way to the beach. Attention getting, no?

The day at the ranch, which turned out to be the night hour at the ranch. LK did get to ride a horse, but this particular horse was really not feeling much like giving rides. She took off with one of the guys. He had a tough time controlling her. So LK only rode with the guy whose family owns the horse. I rode too, but the horse was fine with me.

We spent a LOT of time with this game. It's called "Find It" or something like that. We had found nearly everything except the penny. It was driving us nuts. Here is evidence we finally found the penny. This is a very good game to take with you on a vacation where you will have a lot of time to ~~kill~~ play with it.

There is a lot of artwork in the D.R. Most of it looks like this. There was one metal sculpture I considered bringing home, but the guy wanted $60 for it. He wasn't willing to cut his price in half, so I left it in the D.R. I've been ok with that decision.

And proof positive that fun was indeed available. How many little girls get to be a sand mermaid? OK, don't answer that, there are probably tons, but it made this little girl happy, and that kind of stuff saved us!

What's in a link? and more boob squishing

2008-05-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've looked to see what brings people to my blog. This month is pretty new, but I've already had someone find me by typing "How to steal a xbox". ???? Have I ever written about stealing an x-box? (yes, dear googler, it's AN, not A when followed by "xbox".)
I have also gotten hits with "son biting my tit" and "women squishing their breasts". I guess I should lay off the boob stories. And just when I was about to relay my latest wonder visit for my 6 month diagnostic mammogram. Well - I will anyway. Might as well, since this post has the words "tit", "breast" and "boob" in it already!

So, "diagnostic" just means they find at least 6 new and different methods of torture per visit, many of these involving removing the breast manually from the chest wall and placing it somewhere across the room. If you have ever seen the size of my breasts, you know this is extremely difficult. The good news this time is that only the 6 new and different methods REALLY hurt this time. The others were tolerable. First time for everything! The other good news is that I'm back on the yearly screening plan again. WaHOO!
So will next month have someone googling "placing breasts across the room"???

American Idol Relief

2008-05-08T06:58:00.001-07:00

Have you EVER seen anyone so happy to finally be released from a show???!!!

That poor dude has been trying to get voted off for at least 3 weeks. He looked miserable in where were they? Las Vegas? Have to say, I still liked him, and I didn't think his "I Shot the Sheriff" was all that bad, but it was certainly time for him to go.

We're watching A.I. this year - the first year we've ever actually watched it. But we have our technique. I can't stand Ryan Seacrest, and I'm not particularly fond of the judges, but I like the "kids". So we DVR it (like Tivo) and then speed through it, watching only the performances and then only the elimination. Takes about 10 minutes to watch a 2 hour program. Perfect. (except sometimes just to be ornery, DH will go out of his way to play and replay Ryan's "THIS is American Idol" which grates on me like fingernails on a chalkboard. - the drawback of DVR.)

Predictions? Everyone seems to think it will be a David/David finale. Could actually happen this time, since that would be a tough one to call. Either David with Syesha, and we all know who's going to be the next A.I. That girl is going places, though. I think we'll see her on Broadway, or at the very least, on tour. She may end up the most successful of the bunch this year, though she won't end up winning.

OK I'm done. Haven't watched this much TV in years!

edited to add: I just LOVE this guy!

We interrupt this program

2008-05-03T17:24:00.001-07:00

to bring you some Senior Ball sweetness.

The painting on the car windows was part of the "asking" activity. The two of them go to different schools and this was her school's Sr. Ball, so she had to do the asking.

But he does a pretty good job of CUTE too - early the morning of the ball, he and I got up at 5 am and set out a red carpet for her from her door to the car. It was not easy!

(and it looked better before people started walking all over it... but then, I suppose a red carpet is supposed to be walked on. oh well.)

I know, I'm predjudiced.
BTW - she just decided she's going to Dartmouth. She narrowed her choices down to Notre Dame and Dartmouth. Cripes. So who gets admitted into Notre Dame and DOESN'T GO????
Those who also get admitted into Dartmouth, apparently.

atsa my boy.
my little boy.
my little premie.
my Hoosier. Yes - he also made his decision. He's going to Indiana.
sigh.

D.R. Part II

2008-05-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Some Dominican artwork in the main square in Santiago, along with a very cute little lady.

Veintesiete Bocas.

We tried hard to capture the volumes of people on motorcycles/scooters. There were singles and doubles everywhere. But as you get out of the city, you start seeing 3, 4 and 5 people on these things. And they're not necessarily even built for two!
Here's 3.

And four.

Unfortunately, the glare makes this one hard to make out, but it's our best picture of a 5 person motorcyle. Little kid in front, then dad, then medium kid, then baby, then mom. wow - and I worried about LK wearing her helmet with her bike and training wheels.

The other thing you notice here is the number of people hanging out in the median of the highway. And people do not drive slow. But there are always men and women just standing there in the middle, waiting for just the right moment to dash across. One of M&M's friends told us that once in a great while you'll see body parts from someone who didn't quite make it. Thank heaven we did not have that experience.

D.R. Part III coming.

D.R. Part I

2008-04-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

TGIF's menu - Kid's Fingers for dinner anyone? (top, middle)

This is a typical street. There are lines in the road, I swear. It's just that they don't matter. If you think your car will fit, you make it fit. The timid driver gets nowhere in the Dominican Republic.

One form of public transportation - always with one or two people hanging out the doors. The other form is a regular car, called a "public car" where for about $.50, you can ride as far as you want, in a straight line. There are typically from 6-10 people smooshed in this type of car. ewwww.

Very common sight - trash heaps along the sides of the road. Infrastructure is not their strong suit.

Also a very common sight - unfinished buildings everywhere. Some people just build a little whenever they have some money, others just start building, run out of money and abandon the building.

Let me tell you - this country was pretty eye-opening to us little old sheltered and clearly spoiled Americans.

send prayers, please

2008-04-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

This is a sure-fire way to put me away in the nut house. I can imagine the horror, and I imagine that what I imagine is only a fraction of the horror felt by those involved. My heart cries out for them and my prayers will be heading eastward as well. Maybe if we get LOTS of prayers heading their way, something good could happen. Sometimes I hate reading the news.

Tax Fun

2008-04-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

This has made the rounds for more than 10 years, but especially on 4/15, I like to be reminded about my lovely deductions.

Dear Sirs:

I am responding to your letter denying the deduction for two of the three dependents I claimed on my 1994 Federal Tax return. Thank you!

I have questioned whether or not these are my children for years. They are evil and expensive. It's only fair that, since they are minors and no longer my responsibility, the government should know something about them and what to expect over the next year. Please do not try to reassign them to me next year and reinstate the deduction. They are yours!

The oldest, Kristen, is now 17. She is brilliant. Ask her! I suggest you put her to work in your office where she can answer people's questions about their returns. While she has no formal training, it has not seemed to hamper her mastery of any subject you can name. Taxes should be a breeze. Next year she is going to college. I think it's wonderful that you will now be responsible for that little expense. While you mull that over, keep in mind that she has a truck. It doesn't run at the moment, so you have the choice of appropriating some Department of Defense funds to fix the vehicle, or getting up early to drive her to school. Kristen also has a boyfriend. Oh joy! While she possesses all of the wisdom of the universe, her alleged mother and I have felt it best to occasionally remind her of the virtues of abstinence, or in the face of overwhelming passion, safe sex. This is always uncomfortable, and I am quite relieved you will be handling this in the future. May I suggest that you reinstate Dr. Jocelyn Elders who had a rather good handle on the problem.

Patrick is 14. I've had my suspicions about this one. His eyes are a little closer together than those of normal people. He may be a tax examiner himself
one day, if he is not incarcerated first. In February, I was awakened at three in the morning by a police officer who was bringing Pat home. He and his
friends were TP'ing houses. In the future, would you like him delivered to the local IRS office, or to Ogden, UT? Kids at 14 will do almost anything on a
dare. His hair is purple. Permanent dye, temporary dye, what's the big deal? Learn to deal with it. You'll have plenty of time, as he is sitting out a few
days of school after instigating a food fight in the cafeteria. I'll take care of filing your phone number with the vice-principal. Oh yes, he and all of his friends have raging hormones. This is the house of testosterone and it will be much more peaceful when he lives in your home. DO NOT leave him or his
friends unsupervised with girls, explosives, inflammables, inflatables, vehicles, or telephones. (They find telephones a source of unimaginable amusement. Be sure to lock out the 900 and 976 numbers!)

Heather is an alien. She slid through a time warp and appeared as if by magic one year. I'm sure this one is yours. She is 10 going on 21. She came from a bad trip in the sixties. She wears tie-dyed clothes, beads, sandals, and hair that looks like Tiny Tim's. Fortunately you will be raising my taxes to help offset the pinch of her remedial reading courses. "Hooked On Phonics" is expensive, so the schools dropped it. But here's the good news! You can buy it yourself for half the amount of the deduction that you are denying me! It's quite obvious that we were terrible parents (ask the other two). She cannot speak English. Most people under twenty understand the curious patois she fashioned out of valley girls/boys in the hood/reggae/yuppie/political double speak. The school sends her to a speech pathologist who has her roll her "r's". It added a refreshing Mexican/Irish touch to her voice. She wears hats backwards, baggy pants, and wants one of her ears pierced four more times. There is a fascination with tattoos that worries me, but I am sure that you can handle it. Bring a truck when you come to get her, she sort of "nests" in her room and I think that it would be easier to move the entire thing than find out what it is really made of.

You denied two of the three exemptions, so it is only fair that you get to pick which two you will take. I prefer that you take the youngest two, I will still
go bankrupt with Kristen's college, but then I am free! If you take the two oldest, then I still have time for counseling before Heather becomes a teenager. If you take the two girls, then I won't feel so bad about putting Patrick in a military academy. Please let me know of your decision as soon as possible, as I have already increased the withholding on my W-4 to cover the $395 in additional tax and made a down payment on an airplane.

Yours truly,
Bob

*Copied this time from basicjokes.com

Happy Tax day - we just had to write checks for 1/2 our current bank balance. Better get back to work!

Look for the Silver Lining

2008-04-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

Look for the silver lining
When e'er a cloud appears in the blue.
Remember somewhere, the sun is shining
And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you.

As you might have guessed, I did not come back from the Dominican Republic a mother-in-law. I did not even come back from the D.R. liking it very much. But the food was GREAT! (silver lining, aka SL)

Given the track record of my son and his "projects", I fully expected to get out there and have to arrange for flowers, food, or whatever. I came out armed with birth certificate, baptism, confirmation - you name it, I had it. Just in case.

Day 0 - work/school/finish packing/errands/get to airport for 9pm flight. Try to sleep on plane. Get to New York 5am EDT (2am for us); stay awake for 4 hour layover. Back on plane; try to sleep again. zzzzzzz

Day 1 - needing more zzzzz's. At dinner - chat about plans for wedding. It's still on the beach. No minister or anyone to do vows with them. Oh and by the way, it won't be legal in the U.S. unless they go over to Puerto Rico and go to the courthouse there. It only costs about $300 or so each to do that. No extra beds in this place, but we're going to the mountains tomorrow so no worries. We blow up some beach rafts (yes - I said BEACH RAFTS), BK and I take a couple of couches and we snuggle in for the night. Luckily, I was so exhausted the couch didn't matter even a little. Can't say the same for DH who was on a raft.

Day 2 - drive to the "mountains". It's beautiful, if not exactly what I consider mountains. We're going with a friend whose family has homes all around the island. He directs me by saying "get to your right. Now go straight all the way" Then he pulls a "get to your left" or a "turn here" now and then just to keep me on my toes.
[off track] Road rules in D.R. = none. There are lines painted on the road. These don't matter. There are traffic lights at some intersections. These don't matter either. If you can go, you go. You honk to let someone know you're there. I honked a lot, but not as much as BK wanted me to.
We have to stop at a Burger King twice b/c M's fiance (M2)is hungry. We also stop at a nice little bakery to sample some local goods. Good stuff. Visited local river. Garbage everywhere, not preventing the locals from swimming in it. (No swim suits - just skivvies) Kids on horses trying to sell us horse rides. Dinner in Santiago - very nice (silver lining). Entertainment = singer with karaoke machine in background. Pretty square in the middle of town with LOUD music and political signs everywhere. We couldn't stay long because M2 is tired and doesn't feel like she can walk.
House = little, on hill, great place for dogs to run (SL). Beds are somewhere around 45+ years old. And they look and feel it. We grab the room with two full beds. We start out with two people in each. Then LK joins us. I have approx 3 inches of space between person and wall. I get up and climb in with BK. He is a bed hog and I end up with a small triangular spot near the top of the bed. I get off and arrange some chair pads on the floor and try to make a mattress of sorts. Pay back for having the couch the night before, I figure. Oh yeah - and there are roosters who don't just crow at daylight to welcome the morning. They crow all the time. ALL THE TIME.

Day 3 - must drive back because oh by the way, we're moving today and have to get the keys from the landlord. We get back early afternoon, but it takes until about 6pm for any moving to take place. I don't know why moving in the dark was a good idea. But this place does have beds. We pull the mattress from the "Maid's quarters" into one of the bedrooms so BK and LK each have their own beds. Electricity goes on and off randomly. Tension is still thick. I sit M down and ask him how he's doing. What's up. He let's me know that they are "probably not going to get married on Saturday". This is M-speak for "it ain't happening, dude". They have "things to work out first". Darn tootin', they do. We're not disappointed in this rare moment of clarity. It only took a little over a day for us to figure out this might really not be the most compatible couple ever. However, when we find out they've been reconsidering for 2-3 weeks, we're a little bothered - it would have been good information to have 2 weeks ago! Prior to the $5k trip and all the other stuff we rescheduled. Would have much rather paid the $50 to reschedule the trip, but hey. we're here, we're gonna vacation anyway. Wake up to very loud birds and very loud street noise many times during night.

Day 4 - clean up rest of stuff left at old apartment. Take tepid showers b/c water heater is teeny tiny, and must be turned on to work. Sometimes it doesn't work. Maid makes lunch of rice and beans with meat mixed in. Food so far, is very good (SL) M needs to do some errands for new apt - get internet service etc. so he guides us to the local mall where we wander for a few hours finding nothing to buy and wondering why the movie theaters aren't open. Finally give up and try to find our way back to new apt. More D.R. driving. We consider leaving early and manage to find out it would cost us another $1K to change the return tickets now. Still debating. And why do people have to have their radios on and motors revving all night long? And why do those blasted birds squawk ALL FREAKING NIGHT?

Day 5 - We drive to a beautiful beach and wander through some resorts, which apparently we're not supposed to do, but no one seems to mind. The beach is beautiful, and everyone enjoys the swimming time (SL). Guys try to sell me jewelry, paintings and coconuts as well as cigars. I tried to talk the guy out of smoking in broken spanish. Told him it was very bad for your lungs. I'm sure he thought I was crazy, but he left me alone after that. Got some pizza to eat on the way home. Great Italian "cracker crust" style. We all decided we need to learn to make that.(SL) Also decide we will figure out some way to survive until our planned departure.

Day 6 - Rain rain rain rain rain. Read read read read read. Watch more movies.

Day 7 - Same as before. M & M2 go out on occasion to return movies or get something from store. Plan to be back in 1/2 hour. Return more than 3 hours later. Aggravates the dad who bought and made ribs for dinner for everyone.

Day 8 - See day 6. We go to beach anyway, driving through torrential downpour. Get about 2 hours of no rain. Beach is ok. Wonderful for finding shells (SL). We're going to make a few picture frames with the shells we found. We can make many picture frames with the shells we found. Many. Many. frames. yes.

Day 9 - can we go yet? We want to go to the beach because it's the only place where there is fun to be had that we can see. Also, we like the pizza (SL). M&M2 will join us there later (they don't), and we will go from there to a friend's ranch where we can ride a horse. We finally hear from friend and by the time we get to the ranch (you don't even want to hear about the drive there), it's dark. We take some very quick rides on a horse and enjoy the dogs and cows and get the heck out of there.

Day 10 - Pack and leave. Spend 13 hours in airports and airplanes and LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Get into our very own car, drive in lanes where people stay in their own lanes (well, most of the time) and sleep in our own beds.

This trip goes down in the annals as one of the absolute worst trips ever, for so many reasons, but there is always a silver lining. We absolutely appreciate every little thing we have here. The abject poverty in the third world countries is still such an eye-opener. I'm glad my kids got a chance to understand just how privileged we are living the way we do, and living where we live.

We're happy the big kids decided to wait until things were more stable for them before taking a step as big as marriage.

Look for the silver lining. It's there. Somewhere. Sometimes it's just kinda hard to find.

And I leave you with this thought

2008-03-25T22:03:00.001-07:00

Had lots of ideas, not lots of time, so I will pack them into some little crease in my mind and they will come out at odd times. Like maybe when I'm asking someone to pass the ketchup.

Anyway, I will be off-line for a couple of weeks. I leave you with a picture and a thought. When I get back on line again, I will be a mother-in-law.
Seriously.

I'll come back with some beach wedding pictures. Looking forward to some serious sun and serious warmth. And maybe a story or two.

Until then...

My idol pick

2008-03-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've never been an American Idol watcher. I might catch a show once or twice a season near the end, but all the "fluff" drove me nuts, so I never got hooked. I watched twice this year, and I have a favorite. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll win, but I just love listening to Jason Castro. I even like the dreads. He's got a great laid back style and doesn't try to be something he's not. Unusual for A.I., yet perfect for him.

Overall, I'm not terribly impressed with this group, but there are a couple I really like. I might even have to vote this year. I want Jason around as long as possible.
Go Jason!

Happy Pi Day

2008-03-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Pi Day!

Last year we surprised my colleagues with "Pi Day". Having never celebrated it, and actually only hearing about it 6 months or so prior, it was new to me, and I presumed most of my department. We put out a notice to hold a block of time for a special occasion and let people start wondering and guessing. Then a day or two prior to 3.14, I started sending out "hints". On 3.14, I sent out a word problem having to do with pi, and the fun began.

Peanut, the overexcited dog, makes 40 laps around a stake and travels a total distance of 1 mile. If his bowl of water is 20 feet away from the stake, can he get a drink?*

The programmers shot back the answer right away. Done. The analysts wondered if he got his leash stuck and so his laps would be increasingly smaller, or perhaps there was a big rock in his path and he would run around it every time - but what if it wasn't exactly every time? hmmmm. And what if he decides to back track, or a scent takes him on a different axis. Mostly they decided that was too much work and figured it out like the programmers, but you could sure see the difference in approach.

This year we decided to have Pick a Pi(e) day. We posted a bunch of pie recipes - people tried new pies or brought favorites. I ordered pizza for the crew and we ate. You don't have to do a ton of stuff to have some fun in the workplace.

* from a math forum site

Creepy Toys

2008-03-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

There have been strange toys since toys became toys. And I know that I should probably lighten up a little – none of my friends who had Barbies (I didn't, but that's a whole other post) growing up actually thought they were going to look like Barbie when they grew up. I don’t think they even wanted to. But these are still disconcerting –

I have problems with these dolls on so many levels.

The make up. These dolls have the heaviest made up eyes and lips I’ve ever seen.

The hair. Like Barbie’s, it’s long, silky and shiny. And ridiculous. And it has some strange painful plastic thingy coming out of its head. Gross.

The body. Actually, I’m not that bothered by the body. The boobs aren’t like Barbie’s, so strangely out of proportion. Instead, they’re teeny tiny. Kind of pubescent. Perfect for the pervert in the family.

Sexy clothes. Not so unlike Barbie’s, I have to admit, unless you bought Nurse Barbie or Corporate Ladder Barbie.

Anyway, it makes me cringe that we have such dolls in our home (I am not responsible for the purchase of any of them).

But the thing I think is creepiest, and just wierds me out everytime I see them around the house is the feet.

You don’t change the shoes of these dolls.

You dismember them.

See – I told you – CREEPY.

And just LOOK at the size of these feet! Ewwww.

art work

2008-02-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

And if mom won't pop for the cutsey little window decals,

draw some yourself.

When you can't find your dishtowels

2008-02-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

Look for sleeping "babies".

I'm done now

2008-02-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

Six years ago, minus two days, I got a call as I was getting ready to go to church.

"This is xxxx from the Emergency Shelter" she said.

My heart leapt out of my throat. We had been licensed as foster parents just 2 days earlier and had already had one call which didn't pan out because the mother was cleared to take her injured child home.

This one was a newborn, being removed from her parents due to a positive drug test. The baby is healthy and did not test positive which was a really good thing. Probably about a 6 week placement, we were told.

Of course we'll go pick her up. When? 1/2 hour? REALLY? Would it be ok if I got there in an hour or so, after church, so I can let the family know? (Think of the surprise!) Besides - I have nearly NOTHING for a baby yet. A car seat and a portacrib - that's pretty much it.

A quick trip to the attic yielded some baby sleepers and other cute baby girl clothes from DDD's early days. Most of them went straight into the washing machine, but a little pink dress with hearts in the smocking (it WAS the day after Valentine's Day, after all) was very well wrapped and went with us to the hospital.

We got a little information about the baby, dressed her up in the little pink dress for leaving the hospital. We begged for a few diapers and some formula from the obliging hospital staff, bless them. Then we bundled her up and went home.

That was 6 years ago. Many of you visited my adoption entry 3 years ago. Another eternity has passed in the blink of an eye.

Happy Birthday, sweet little 6 year old of mine.

I'm not done yet!

2008-02-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

Three for Three

BK submitted just 5 college applications, as opposed to the 15 or so his over-achieving gf submitted. They are all out of state. We have done something wrong. We have apparently raised a child in one location for nearly all his life so now he feels it's imperative to get the hell out of California! Seeing as how he is the only child we have not uprooted farther than 4 miles across town, this is new to us. and expensive.

He has heard from 3 of the 5 colleges. And ALL THREE SAID YES!!! I think we'll have to wait until March for the other two and hence, a decision, but here we go with location #1 (not necessarily in order of preference, because to my knowledge we don't have much of an order of preference just yet.)

University of Oregon

Benefits in that he has relatives about an hour away. His cousins went there and my niece's (Big Niece to those of you with ties to the other blog) husband, a.k.a Big Nephew, has season tickets to the Duck's games, making tailgate parties immediately accessible to him.

That's a pretty strong pull. But then there is the rain. So it's not one of the top two right now.

Indiana University in Bloomington

Looks pretty enough. But then, are you really going to take pictures when the place is all grey and ugly?

BK is taking a trip there March 10. I'm hoping there will still be enough snow and muck that he'll get a pretty good picture of a winter. California boys don't exactly know how to deal with that stuff when it stays around all the time.

Arizona State Universiaty

Last for now, and probably least overall, ASU Sun Devils would like him to join their student body. This was his "fall back" school, but again, there are relatives fairly nearby for a home cooked supper now and then and maybe a load of laundry. He's worried about the heat, but if he's not doing summer classes, I don't think he'll mind it much at all.

So there's the College Roundup as of February 2008. Two more answers to come, hopefully they will be acceptances and then a decision. So much to look forward to this year!

more misc

2008-02-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

First, let me tell you guys who blog regularly that you are my heroes and I strive to walk in your shoes. OK, I'll walk in my own, I'd flop all over the place trying to fill those shoes... but still, thank you for doing what I cannot seem to accomplish.

Making up for some lost time while I'm on a roll...

After Christmas, we traveled up to Washington to visit big sis who was still holding Poppee, our father, hostage in the cold rainy weather while he waited for us to arrive. L'il sis (Luna) and family beat a hasty path out of there the day after we arrived, so we didn't get to see them.

One day it snowed and everything was white. So pretty! BK and LK went out and built a snowman. It was very fun.

It was also very small.

miscellaneous blog catch up

2008-02-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

Is there a cuter thing than a children's choir at Christmas?
I don't think so...
(LK is front, right with the "beautiful cape"!)

For us, Birthday season follows Holiday season in close pursuit.

DDD loves her some ribs. You should not get in the middle of DDD and her ribs until AFTER she has filled her plate. Especially on her birthday.

We have a tradition of sorts where we decorate the bedroom doorway on "special" birthdays, specifically 5, 10 (double digits), 13 (teenager), 16 (sweet and all...), 18 (adult! well, sort of) and 21 (obvious, isn't it?).

Well, this year, we had some interior construction and remodeling going on and I could not find the crepe paper streamers.

ANYWHERE!

So we papered BK's doorway with really cute young lady wrapping paper (which I totally intended to reuse, until he cut it to shreds so he wouldn't be so inconvenienced by the full sheet) proclaiming the manliness of this birthday.

And when you have back to back birthdays, you can celebrate them at a really nice restaurant (Ruth's Chris Steak House this year) together. (BK's GF is the additional kid there)

Can I just say I love my kids?

That Darn Lunasea

2008-02-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

Lunasea is my sister. And I love her like, well, a sister. Maybe even better than a sister, but I don't know what you'd call that. Not a wife, though I could use one. But I wouldn't pick Lunasea. I need the 1940s wife. The one who cleans and organizes and keeps the children happy and quiet and brings me the paper and a martini when I get home from work. Yeah. That one. That sounds nice. No wonder men weren't too happy with women's lib. I think I get it now.

But I digress. again. I do that alot.

A day or two ago, she has this little post about the "You Make My Day" award. It's very sweet and I love it that I make her day when I post (long pausing emphasis on the "when", maybe even including a heavy sigh...). I even take it in stride when she says I introduced her to the boogeyman.

note: I do NOT remember doing that! But I do, with a touch of shame, remember jumping off the couch once leaving her on it when a cricket which must have been at least a foot long showed up on top of the couch while I was babysitting... To my credit, I did manage to snatch her from the evil grasp of that cricket before it devoured her. Thank God for my ultimate courage.

So it was a nice thing, and like many other chain letters, it is wonderful in sentiment and all that.

But.

and you knew I had a "but".

I don't do chain letters. I'm a pretty nice person, so people tend to think I'm a good one to include in their heartwarming fuzzy chains because I won't break them. They're wrong. Mostly I'm adept at simply clicking the little X at the top. Sometimes, if the chain is something I know or suspect and confirm as an urban legend, and they sent it to their entire list of contacts, I'll respond and tell them they sent out a hoax. Yes, I am that person. I do not, however, reply ALL to tell everyone they got bamboozled or spammed. I leave it to the sender to care or not.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to hell, or will never get another wish granted, or will never see that fabulous crazy thing that happens in 3 minutes after I send the message to 7 people. Yep, I will miss that special episode of my life.

So, I'm supposed to pay this forward. Award this to 5 other blogs which make my day. Actually, when this whole thing started, according to a few of the sites when I googled it, it was 10, so I suppose I should be happy we've gotten it down to 5.

The truth is - you ALL make my day. I can't believe how crazy happy I am to get a comment! (Thanks, mostly Lunasea and Sarah and sometimes Mama Lee!) I use my computer time to wind down, and it's really wonderful to read all of your posts - the funny, thoughtful, crazy, silly, witty and touching. Doesn't matter - they all warm my heart or my funny bone and they all make my day. Now that I've learned how to make a "link" over at the right, you can see some of the blogs that I really enjoy. (the list will grow - I promise. ... someday. it's kind of a "when" thing.) Even if I don't find the time to actually compose and type out a post, I seem to always find at least 3-4 days a week to read the bloggers I enjoy.

I'm not going to continue the chain. officially. I accept the title of chain letter poop. And I absolve each and every one of my handful of readers from having to pass it on. But if you want to, consider yourself "YMMD" awarded and run with it! I get a lot of the blogs I read from the links in yours and I thank you. You really do Make My Day.

So thank you, little sis, for the thought. And right back atcha.

But I did NOT tell you about the boogeyman...

From that same trip

2008-02-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

Miss Confidence on her own, and then just HOW COOl is it to have a big brother and sister who dote on you?
(A: it is SUPER cool.)

This picture was taken shortly before a certain mother checked her 5 year old into the boards and split her lip open.

But that didn't get the same reaction as the father who was told these were the best sticks in the world and then absent mindedly threw them waaaaaaaay down the hillside.

Good thing we took happy pictures. We might be able to use them to convince her she really DID have a good time.

maybe.

snow butts

2008-02-05T20:44:00.000-08:00

I thought I was immune. I was so smug. I was so in control. Then the Temptations came on the sound system and all it took was a handful of very groovy scoops and I was toast.

Damn, humility hurts.

Overwhelmed

2008-02-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This o·ver·whelm (ō'vər-hwělm', -wělm') Pronunciation Key tr.v. o·ver·whelmed, o·ver·whelm·ing, o·ver·whelms
1. To surge over and submerge; engulf: waves overwhelming the rocky shoreline.
2a. To defeat completely and decisively: Our team overwhelmed the visitors by 40 points.
2b. To affect deeply in mind or emotion: Despair overwhelmed me.
3. To present with an excessive amount: They overwhelmed us with expensive gifts.
4. To turn over; upset: The small craft was overwhelmed by the enormous waves.

(Download Now or Buy the Book) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

#3.

Definitely. #3. (not the gifts part. That might be nice, though with my house under construction, I'd have nowhere to put anything. The work part. bah.)
I have some pictures from the holidays that I want to blog someday. Maybe next year.

Deep breath. Breathe. Happily, I have people reminding me to do just that.

Why I get to steal the Xbox 360

2008-01-28T12:06:00.000-08:00

A small snippet from an entire room in similar condition, with clothing and food remnants strewn everywhere.

This is apparently invisible to eyes younger than maybe 30.

Drives me nuts.

Learning all the time

2008-01-26T12:43:00.000-08:00

So I figured out how to add links to the sidebar. I'm such a loser. It's so easy, and all I have to do is add the hyperlinks. So there are some blogs to visit off to the side, representing various different parts of me and my interests. But I have to visit the rest of my computers to actually get all the links that I visit fairly regularly, so bear with me as the list grows. But since I've figured out how easy it is, I'll get there...

nerdness raises its ugly head ...again

2008-01-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

Took this from Sarah O - I'm totally a Harry Potter nerd. But I have to admit, I was super relieved to see where this sorted me. Every one I've ever tried has told me I'm a Gryffindor, but I figured it sorted everyone into Gryffindor, for obvious reasons. But here I am, once again, a

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

Gryffindor - 13
Hufflepuff - 12
Ravenclaw - 11
Slytherin - 8

Weird questions though - many without the answer I would have preferred, so perhaps if my "real" answers had been choices I would have been who knows what...
kicked out??

Broadway Babies

2008-01-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

The news about Heath Ledger today made me sad. It also made me call DDD. She's in NY now, and I wanted to make sure 1) she had nothing to do with his death; and 2) she hears again about the dangers of drugs and actors. Yes, mom. I know, mom. Do you even KNOW who you're talking to? yada yada yada.

But she's been in the freezing cold NorthEast for more than a week now. I figured a reminder was in order.

She and J., friend from CU theatre program (why do they always spell it theat"re"? I think it's pretentious. But I humor all those creative artsy types anyway.) have started writing their own blawg - Broadway Bloopers about their experiences in NY, NJ and auditions and stuff. I may be just a bit predjudiced here, but I think they're both pretty darn good bloggers! Yay them!

Go check it out -
http://broadwaybloopers.blogspot.com/

btw - DDD wants to know if her aunts and cousin are reading their blog, so you might want to LEAVE A FREAKIN' COMMENT dudes! I know I never get any comments from you, but have a heart! They're newbies at it, and as they are both actors, you know they love the attention!

Mr. Ledger, Rest In Peace.

OK, I'll Bite

2008-01-12T21:25:00.000-08:00

77% Barack Obama
76% Hillary Clinton
74% John Edwards
74% Chris Dodd
74% Bill Richardson
66% Dennis Kucinich
64% Mike Gravel
63% Joe Biden
58% Rudy Giuliani
53% John McCain
45% Mike Huckabee
42% Mitt Romney
32% Tom Tancredo
30% Ron Paul
30% Fred Thompson

2008'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/candidates/2008-quiz.html">2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Not too terribly surprised by any of this except that Ron Paul isn't in the last position... Oh wait - he tied with Fred for last. Yep. No surprises.

more things I know about myself, 2007

2007-12-31T14:56:00.000-08:00

I do not like Splenda.

I do not like Diet Coke with Splenda.

I can drive from Vacouver WA to Moraga CA by myself.

Pulling a trailer.

With three other drivers in the car.

I am far more comfortable in the drivers seat than the passenger seat.

Obviously.

I can pick out paint colors for an entire house in less than 5 minutes.

And be happy with them.

I cannot do the same with rugs.

I cannot eat some things, like mushrooms and oysters, because of their texture.

I can, however, eat peach skin and be perfectly fine with it. Strange, I know.

My job is nuts, but I'm finding I like it most of the time. That surprises me.

I'm increasingly proud of my kids. Good thing, I guess.

I actually like working out. ...most of the time.

I do not like the "sleep number" bed. I am the only person I know in this category.

I do not like my home decorating abilities.

I do not like many other people's either.

I long to be able to foster a baby again. But not while I'm working like this.

I am a decent but not expert sudoku player.

I enjoy playing games with family and friends.

I love the snow.

I also love the sunshine.

and warmth.

I miss my bike.

I am sad that someone would steal my bike. again.

It embarasses me to have 9 cars at my house when there is no party going on.

And only two of them belong to our remodeling crew.

My feet are permanently cold.

I sometimes wonder if I am up to the task of raising another headstrong child.

But I'm so glad I am.

As much as my dogs annoy me, I fall apart at the thought of them not returning from one of their "adventures".

I hate their "adventures".

I am looking forward to 2008. Not that 2007 was bad at all. Just looking forward to 2008.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm a shoe whore, or the story of the Halloween costume in 2007

2007-11-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

I'm a shoe whore. Not just an everyday shoe whore - a children's shoe whore. Specifically, a young girl shoe whore. I love the cute little things they have out there for the little girls.

I don't like shopping. At all. But I can look at little kids shoes, no problem! I've tried wandering the adult shoe section and while there are always one or two things that will catch my eye, I don't have a huge urge to spend the money on them. But I have to double park LK's shoes on her shelf, and still there are probably one or two pairs stuck in a closet or under a pile of something somewhere.

I guess there are worse things.

The shoes completely drove the halloween costume this year. And even though it was ridiculously hard to find a Minnie Mouse dress (I ended up making someone's day on ebay), I think it turned out pretty danged cute.

Happy Halloween. A few days late.

Paradise

2007-11-16T07:12:00.000-08:00

LK: "I know what paradise is."

me: "What is it?"

LK: "It's where you lie on the ground and eat food."

Just thought I'd share the new definition, in case any of you were wondering.

Wild Game Week

2007-11-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

So some friends talked us into going to dinner at the Big Four restaurant in SF for wild game week. This is a big deal every year, where the chef, Gloria Ciccarone-Nehls, gathers all kinds of non-typical meats for her entrees. It is quite the popular thing apparently, as my friend marks her calendar every year and calls for reservations on somemonthber 1st when reservations are first accepted.

Our friend admits to being a food snob, in fact, she is very proud of it. She also sold wine for several years, and throws around the word "sommelier" like it was rice at a wedding a really long time ago when they still allowed rice throwing at weddings because we didn't know it was going to make all the birds within a one mile radius explode. Ah, the good old days of rice and ignorance. She also throws around the dear chef's name because I guess they are good friends when they see each other during this week. Anyway, she summoned the sommelier to advise us of the proper wine for a dinner where one person selected the ostrich, one the wild boar, one the yak and the last the elk. (I ordered elk. WHAAA?) We did get a lovely bottle of wine. Which DH desired to finish every last drop of. Apparently that is not what you're supposed to do with a very fine bottle of wine.

Those of you who know us well, know that while DH particularly loves to eat, he's not particularly picky. A food snob, not. I'm picky, but not terribly adventurous. So this was a departure for both of us. And I decided it was a good thing. The food was good. The meat was mostly tasty. My elk was a little tough. We all tasted each other's entrees, of course, even though I think that might have been going a little on the wild side. My favorite was the yak. Who knew? We also found that DH could, in fact, pull out his card to pay an astronomical amount for a dinner we'd never on our own consider. We could have bought an ipod for what that wine cost. We almost felt like grownups.

Don't we look civilized, all fine wine sniffy and stuff.

Tonight we promised LK we'd go see "The Bee Movie". We went to Taco Bell before the movie.

losers.

PS - sorry for the sporadic posting. Again. I've had my hand slapped once or twice... But I think this is not the last time I'll have gaps in my posts. You Go, no mo blo po's or whatever that is people! I still have time to read one or two blogs every day or two, and this daily posting is fun. Maybe in 2012 I can do it too. Until then...

Peanut Butter = No Evolution

2007-10-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

Did you know that a jar of peanut butter conclusively proves that evolution does not exist?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZFG5PKw504

Neither did I. You fundamentalists just keep on throwing these experts witnesses at us crazy heathens, y'hear?

And Just for Fun -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zwbhAXe5yk

omg.

The SWC

2007-09-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

The phrase is out there. It's been said.

Already.

LK was in kindergarten for 3 whole weeks when I had the first "talk" with her after school day care program. It was about that same time when her teacher said "While I have you here..."

LK is a "strong willed child". syn. stubborn, willful, defiant, aggressive. There are more, but what's the point? She is many of those things much of the time, some of them only occasionally, but it is not a surprise that teachers and day care providers find her difficult, especially at first.

She's also not terribly interested in stupid things like letters and numbers. And that makes life a little less than wonderful for her in this day and age of accelerated learning. Add to that our highly accomplished and competitive school district and I think we may have a recipe for some issues.

I think if we get to the 8 week point without a visit with the principal, we should be pretty much ok.

She wants to go back to preschool. Preschool where they let the kids play on the playground for 2 days instead of kindergarten where they only let them play for 2 hours. (obviously her concept of time isn't terribly clear, either) I feel for her - she was finally getting to the point where she really felt comfortable, wasn't getting in trouble all the time and was happy. Now her life is in turmoil and she has to get used to new things all over again.

Anyway - here we go again. This book was recommended to us. Believe me - I've bought books. I've lived in the house of ADHD for 26 years now, and I've read a ton of them. Some of them halfway decent, others ridiculous. But we do know we've got our hands full with this one. I believe she's probably dealing with some kind of a learning disability, probably due to her drug exposure at birth (and unfortunately, no doubt, prior). I'm sure we'll eventually hammer out just what kind, but for now we're not focusing on that. Regardless, we'll have to help her along as best we can and we will have to continue to find new strategies to deal with the "SWC". By the way, she may be strong-willed, but she is also delightful. I hear that's pretty common. Or maybe we're just predjudiced. Either way.

The floor is open - if you've had any experience with your own SWC or have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions!

What's new?

2007-09-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Someone started kindergarten last week. Someone also pretty much took over the class. I'm told the kindergarten gods put her in the right classroom - she will not be able to run over this teacher. We'll see.

What is it like to send your youngest off to kindergarten? Not nearly as traumatic as sending him/her off to college. I have sent my youngest child to kindergarten 3 times now. That might be a record. First time, it was hard. My eyes teared up. The next time it was just plain cute. That big old backpack on that little body. Freakin' cute. I suppose my eyes teared up again, but I remember more just waving and thinking how cute these little people were. This time - I'm just amused at the first time moms and the snifflers. But I'm also impressed that there were so few of those. It was still just absolutely precious and I still got choked up. But mostly because the first of my "youngest kids" is all grown up now and was with her dad and me to wave goodbye to her baby sister. Awwww.

************

Oh - and guess who likes soccer?

(I LOVE the ending... btw, this is not soccer day, but this is the outfit of choice lately.)

2007-08-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

DDD and I had a girls date last night. We went to see Avenue Q at the Orpheum. Tickets were scarce, so we ended up in the Mezzanine, but the view was still very good and we were not so far away that we couldn't see expressions.

We've enjoyed the CD for a while now, and it was delightful to see it all put together with the puppets. If you're ok with swearing and "controversial subjects" being put to music and humor, it is an awesome show. It was fun to hear the audience reaction from some of those who clearly hadn't heard the soundtrack prior to seeing the show. Actual guffaws.

DDD thinks this is one of "her" shows. She thinks she could be Kate Monster/Lucy. She's found that she comes across as a bit of a comedienne anyway, so it's right up her alley. She has a handful of these shows that she thinks are perfect for her. She's done one of them already (Gypsy), and is always looking for auditions for her others. After a weeklong intensive workshop in New York this summer, she's more convinced than ever that she wants to go give it a try...

Anyway - go see Avenue Q if you can - We gave it two thumbs up.