Can't Believe It....

..my daughter is graduating High School tonight. I can't believe time has past so quickly. I can remember just yesterday sending her off to kindergarten on the bus and today she graduates High School with honors. She is giving a speech tonight and I couldn't be prouder. The cameras (both video and still ) are charged and ready to go. I will post later with pictures and video (if I can figure the video part out) of the momentous event.




Well it happened...My daughter graduated with honors. Here she is giving her speech during ceremonies. It was so touching. I was moved beyond words...couldn't be because she is my daughter or anything...I am sure.






Here we are getting ready to head off to graduation. One of the only "family" pictures I have. My son on the left, daughter in the middle, and me on the right. I am oh so proud of my little family!

Well, here it is. One of the most momentous days in my life. I am happy to be able to share it with all of you. CONGRATULATIONS BABY GIRL!!!!

Mistaken Identity

Sunday, May 25, 2008. It started out like any ordinary day. I worked in the morning and by afternoon decided that I was finished working for the day and if we had any hopes of eating dinner, I had to go grocery shopping.

I didn't want to go to the grocery store alone, so I took my 18-year-old daughter with me. We were having fun, picking out groceries for meals that she will never eat with us (like most 18-year-olds she isn't home much) and reminiscing about when she was a little girl and used to come shopping at the very same store all the time. At the check stand I was paying for my groceries. I had purchased a bottle of wine (on a recommendation from J) and the checker asked me for my ID. I could have hugged her!!!! I am 38 and haven't been carded in, well I can't remember ever being carded. I was on cloud nine!

Thinking it couldn't be a better day, there was a courtesy clerk bagging my groceries. Now, I was at a store that doesn't usually offer that kind of service and I always bag my own groceries. By the time I was finished paying, the groceries were all bagged up. I was taken by surprise and said "Wow, thanks! I am not used to having my groceries bagged up for me here." At that time my daughter said "Ya, she trained me when I was little to bag the groceries here." That's when it happened....the courtesy clerk looked at me with her eyebrows close together and said "You are her MOM? You two look like sisters! I would have never guessed that you were her Mom!!" I was flabbergasted! There is no way I look 18, but I took that compliment and ran with it like I stole it. It truly made my day...even my daughter making the comment "Oh God, do I look that old?" couldn't ruin my day.

Carded when buying wine....mistaken for my daughter's sister. Could it get any better?

I have .....

Started taking vitamin supplements on a daily basis. Never thought I would be the one to need a daily pill organizer, but alas....I have reached the age where counting my vitamins on a daily basis could be a five minute process. Now, I take fifteen minutes each Sunday night and get all my vitamins in line for the week. The way I look at it I am saving twenty minutes each week....lol Gotta love the time savers!

Gas Prices Skyrocket!!

This sign just cracks me up! Anybody who has filled up their car lately would have to agree. Makes me wish I was in a larger city so I could take public transit!!

Loving my Birthday Present!

So it was my birthday a few days ago. You know that time of year when you get presents that you don't really want or the kind of presents that leave you wondering "Exactly what vibes am I sending out to get this kind of present?" Well, this year wasn't one of those years.

My daughter took me to the Rascal Flatts concert, which was AMAZING! My sister took me to a scrapbooking weekend...so much fun! But the present that has me so so so happy is the patio table and four chairs my parents got me. Right now, it is 10:45 p.m. and I am sitting outside under the stars, at my awesome table, typing my blog!

Weekend mornings are going to be spent out here, with a cup of coffee and a good book! Thank you Daddy and Mom for the wonderful birthday gift!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Here is a picture of my Grandpa at his 93rd birthday party. I forgot my camera (shame on me), but was reminded that I had a cell phone and could capture the moment that way. Not too bad, seeing as I am about 12 feet away from him at the other end of the table!

It truly is difficult to see age just take a person over like it has my Grandpa! His mind is still as sharp as ever, but his body is failing miserably. He used to be this strong man that would carry arm loads of wood in during the wintertime, and now he is this frail, hunched over, little old man that needs help getting out of a chair, who can no longer go out to visit family and friends. This was a rare opportunity to celebrate with him and we took full advantage of it.

I will always be that 5-year-old little girl who sat under his drafting table while he drew up house plans and will fondly remember him in that regard. I love you Grandpa!

I Love Strawberries!

I went to Costco yesterday and what did I find...the first strawberries of the season. I love strawberries. I don't know if it is the sweet, refreshing juice that cools one down on a warm spring day, or the shear happiness that I feel when just looking at a strawberry that draws me so. In my opinion it is the perfect fruit...juicy, refreshing, eye appealing, delicate, versatile, delicious!

I love this time of year...the season doesn't last long, but it is certainly worth the wait.

Signs of Spring

One of my favorite times of the year is spring. Might have something to do with my birthday (which seems to be more dreaded each year) or perhaps just the temporary calm before the storm between winter and summer here in Northern California, which as anybody familliar with the weather around here knows, both can be britial.

There are many places around here where the Redbud trees are in full bloom. They are so majestic. There are many bursts of pink and purple amidst the drab of all the yet to bud out oak trees. It really is a site to see. Pictures like this are difficult to get because, with the ever changing weather, a spring storm came through our area and blew all of the beautiful buds off. Click here for a link to the site where this amazing picture and many more like this came from.

AUGH!!!

My poor little boy is sick. It came on so quick and out of the blue. He is on antibiotics now, but isn't feeling better yet. Not very often that my 13-year-old little man stays in his jammies all day carrying around his comforter and pillow. Let's hope he gets better soon....and that I don't get it!!

Back to My Monkeys!

So, in one of my last entries I complained about my kids...calling them monkeys. Well, Have I got another story for you!

Last night my oldest monkey took my youngest monkey to a Trapt concert. While there, my youngest monkey needed to go to the bathroom (augh! I must continue). Not wanting her younger brother to go "alone" she sends him to the bathroom with her cell phone, telling him to call the other friend that they went to the concert with, if he got lost or needed help. (Keep in mind 13 year old monkeys NEVER ask for help!!) Well, to make a long, gross story short, he dropped her phone into the toilet! He reached into the toilet (Ewwwwww! Gross!) and thoughtfully rinsed it off in the sink. When he gave it back to her he didn't tell her what happened (bad idea!). She finally notices that her phone isn't working, pushes some buttons, water comes out of it, and she freaks out!!

So fast forward to today. She is all teary because "Oh My God! I was without a cell phone all day today. I just feel like a victum. I was just doing something nice and this is what happens!" I know, an 18-year-old without a cell phone, does one even exist nowadays? We go to Verizon to get her a new phone and it is going to cost some real $$ because she is not ready for an upgrade. We leave there and she is really upset. She has a cool new phone, but she is out $350. She had to get the best one, the hot pink one, the "it" phone for an 18-year-old monkey.

I didn't buy her phone, she is working now and can afford her own "fine" things. I would have paid the $50 insurance deductible to replace it with the same "Chocolate" phone, but no! She had to get the "it" phone.

So, we get home and my 13-year-old monkey is all upset....WITH ME!!!!!! What the hell? How is his dropping his sister's cell phone in the toilet MY fault? Because he is his father's son, that is why. EVERYTHING is my fault! He is actually upset because she bought a new phone, to replace the one that he accidently dropped, and I am the bad guy because I haven't bought him a cell phone yet. My God.....What am I thinking? Doesn't every 13-year-old, disrespectful little boy need a cell phone?

Malibu Pineapple and Candlelight

Is there any better way to spend a Friday evening?

By Popular Demand.....The Dinner Story

This, by far, has got to be the strangest dinner I have ever experienced.

It all started with a simple errand to Costco. My son was picked up from school by his father's live-in-girlfriend/fiance, who shall remain nameless. Although she is very nice and I actually like how she treats my son, she is not my first choice for getting him home from school, but he likes her and wanted her to pick him up that day. She works as a custodian for a different school in the district, so she picks him up and he pals around with her 14 year old son while she cleans classrooms. (Totally against the rules according to her job!) Since I live 20 minutes across town and didn't want to make two trips to the west side, I arranged to pick him up after my Costco errand.

While in Costco, I get a phone call from my son asking me when I was going to get him because nameless live-in-girlfriend/fiance wants to go get dinner. I asked him where she wanted to go out to eat and he said a pizza place in the mall. Since Costco is not far from the mall I told him that I would meet them there. I check out at Costco and take my goods out to the car. While loading the boxes in my car, I picked up a box (which was the heaviest damn box....obviously, the Costco person must have thought I was a weight lifter) and pulled a muscle in my back. Like an idiot, I put the box in my car (looking back, I should have made the box a little lighter first) and finish unloading my cart and take it back to the cart bay. As I am walking to the car I have this sharp, stabbing, burning pain on the right side of my back that hurts every time I breathe or move even the slightest. So, I call nameless live-in-girlfriend/fiance's cell phone and my son answers. I ask him where he is and he says that they were at the pizza place. I told him that I was on my way and to keep an eye out for me because I didn't want to get out of the car (back is killing me now). He says that they just ordered him a pizza and that I should just come in.

GRRRRRRRR! I didn't want to go in!! I park the car, figure that I am not going to cook dinner because of my back, and walk inside. Let me set the scene from here......8:00 on a Wednesday evening, large pizza place, three tables with patrons, and me walking through the door. When I walk in the door I see them, they see me, too late to back out now. Nameless live-in-girlfriend/fiance, her 14 year old son, my son........and my ex-husband (of 8 years, who is a complete and total loser/asshole) all sitting down at one of the three occupied tables. What am I to do? Do I nod kindly and stand a distance away? Do I order the pizza I planned on ordering for dinner and then sit at an empty table and read my book? Oh shit! Left my book in the car.....damn, that's out of the question! Holy awkward! I go to the line (wait, I am the line) and I ordered my 'take-out' pizza and a drink, because suddenly I was as thirsty as if I had ran a marathon in the desert. Upon filling my cup my son yells acorss the empty restraunt "Mom! Come over here and sit with me...I pulled up a chair for you!" Now what was I supposed to do. Nod my head and say 'I will stand right here?' or perhaps 'No thank you buddy, I need to say hi to my friends.' I sucked it up, put on a smile, and went and sat at their table.

It was one of those classic "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" type of moments. They couldn't let silence encumpas the table. Talk, talk, talk, about meaningless topics. All I could think about was the sharp, stabbing, burning pain searing its way through my back! Finally their pizza came and they started eating. Shortly thereafter, my pizza came neatly boxed, and I waited for my son to finish his pizza. Now, keep in mind we are talking about a 13-year-old boy eating pizza. Usually such a quick event that I don't even see the pizza move....it just disappears. But.....not tonight. He ate slowly....painfully slowly. It was almost unbearable.



In the end, I was the bigger person. I sat down, carried on conversation, smiled (knowing I looked increadibly good tonight and loving every moment of it), and had a little bit of fun with my son. After we got in the car he said "Wow, that was weird!" You are telling me son....you are telling me! It must have been due to the lunar eclipse that I saw that night. What other explaination could there be?

Venting my Frustrations

This was written a few days ago and the laptop gods conspired against me and shut down my computer. Thank God for Blogger's autosave program. Here are my thoughts from Friday 02/15/08.

I am at the end of a busy day. I woke up at 5:30am, took my son to school, went and picked up work, since I work at home I threw in a load of laundry, and I worked. About 1:00 p.m. I have a raging headache....Oh ya, did I eat breakfast?? I think that would be a NO! Ok, fix a little something for lunch and get right back to work. Then, Outlook reminder to the rescue...it's 2:45, time to pick up my son from school. Out to school and back....an hour out of the day missing. Back home again, get son a quick snack then right back to work. Suddenly, it is 7:00 and my son is asking what is for dinner. Dinner? Didn't you just eat? Break away from work long enough to make dinner and eat with my son. Back at the computer working away like my life depends on it....oh wait.....it does!! By 10:30 I am finished with work (Whew..Long day!)and go into the kitchen to clean up after dinner. As I am clearing dishes I realize that the dishwasher is full...of clean dishes! I unload it and start loading it when I realize that I am out here busting my butt and my kids are each in their respective rooms watching TV! As I am out clanging dishes neither one of them come out to ask if they could help me. What have I raised....monkeys?! I think at least monkeys would come out to see what was going on.



Whew....well at least I don't have to go to bed with this on my mind. Here's to making tomorrow different! Wish me luck in training my little monkeys....looks like I am going to need it.

Bullies!

Remember when you were in grade school? There was always a big, mean, bully that liked to corner kids in the locker room or in a deserted hallway during class. Well, what do you do when that bully is now a teacher? I think I am fairly easy to get along with, but this teacher is a complete a$$! He is the kind of person that picks his favorites at the beginning of the school year and the kids that he picks on. Well, my daughter was one of the lucky favorites. My son is the one he has chosen to pick on. I swear he enjoys making my son's life hell. Well, the joke is on him. I have been documenting everything that he has done and kept all of our corespondence (ie. e-mails and notes) and he pushed my last button today. This afternoon I had a meeting with the principal (my third one this year about the same teacher) and politely told/showed him what continues to go on. I just don't feel like I am getting anywhere by going through the proper channels. So, at 4:30 this afternoon I called the superintendent of the shcool district and requested to be put on the adjenda for the next board meeting.

I will not have a bully teaching my son. He ought to know that if you back a mother and her cub in the corner she will come out swinging every time!

The Sun is Shining!

What a beautiful day it was today. After what seems like months of torrential rain, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping. It always amazes me how much of a difference the sunshine makes in people's mood.


In my back yard I have a wild bird feeder that the little finches use and a hummingbird feeder that, you guessed it, the hummingbirds feed from. I was tired of buying that RED hummingbird food so I looked on the internet and got a recipe for making my own hummingbird food. I made some with my nephew last week and they have eaten over half of it already. It is really neat to see the little guys flocking to my feeder.

Here is to hoping tomorrow brings with it another sunny day!!

Which Comercial Was Your Favorite?

Every year it is always a tradition to watch the Super Bowl at my parent's house. At first , I have to admit, I only watched the game to spend time with my Dad. Then, over time, I really began to watch the game, well and of course, the halftime show. Who could forget the Janet Jackson "Wardrobe Malfunction?" Does anybody know who won that game....not me!

Four years ago my son started playing football in a Pop Warner league where we live. Football is now a year round sport in our house. This year, like many others, we ended up at my parent's house for snack foods, bbq, and watching those 2.5 million dollar 30 second commercial spots. Every year we have the same conversation at the end of the game "Which commercial was your favorite?" As always Budwiser captured the show. Although, they had many commercials during the Super Bowl this one remains my favorite!

Way to go Hank!

I want to come back as a dog....a cute little dog

I have decided today that I want to come back as a dog in my next life. I have been working so hard lately (many hours and late into the night) and my dog just lays down at my feet and sleeps. Every once in awhile he gets up, gets a drink of water, begs for a scratch and then goes back to lay down at my feet. Aside from the fact that he has to go to the bathroom outside, no matter what the weather is, he has it made. What a life!

So as I sit here this rainy, cold, winter afternoon, taking a sanity break from my unrelenting work, it is happily decided that I am going to come back as a dog....a cute little dog! Hopefully my luck from this life won't follow me into the next. If it does, then there is that possibility that I could come back as a dog from the Animal Cops show on Animal Planet. Tortured, abused, homeless, abandoned, starving....Oh damn, that would NOT be good! I might have to re-think this.

Remember when 40 was old?

When you were a kid, what did you consider old? As the years go by, I find myself extending my "old factor."

I remember being 14-years-old when my Aunt turned 30. She was devastated! She cried and cried and I remember thinking "Wow, that's old! She is 'like' close to death!!" (It was the 80's, what can I say?)

Four years ago my daughter graduated 8th grade. I remember calling my friend, Jared, and he said to me "Hey, twenty years ago that was us!" That was the moment I thought "Oh DAMN, I am getting old!" This year she graduates high school and again I am reminded that 20 years ago that was me. I don't feel old...I refuse to feel old!

Over the years, 30 came and went. Now approaching 40, I am thinking 80 is old. I look at my Dad (who just turned 60 last year) and he isn't old. I asked him the other day what he considered old. He looked at me with a smile and said "Well, that number changes each year." I have realized that it has changed for me too.

So, for me, 40 isn't old. I am thinking 80, now that's old! What do you think?