Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Are you insane?

I've had a tough couple of weeks. Every day it seems I'm supposed to be in at least 2 places at the same time, and it's been challenging juggling it all. Plus the Boy's basketball team is having a tournament this week, so I never know until the night before what time their game is going to be. I've been flaking out all over the place, but I'm doing the best I can. That's all I can say.

Did I mention that the van went down with both a bad starter and head gasket? It's been hard juggling these things with only one vehicle, too. Did I mention that these repairs will be expensive?

I got upset with my Boss last week, when I found out something he'd withheld from me. I thought it over, and ultimately decided that I withold things from him too.

Our workplace had their company party last week at the Atheneaum, which was v. delicious. Steak over polenta and broccoli rabe with a little blue cheese. Sat by Moreanne, my favorite. Let my Boss off hook, told him he's still my second most favorite boss ever (sadly, this is true). Text messaging the Boy over forgotten jersey crisis. Left a little early to take it to him. Missed dessert, but was v. full from steak (& wine!)

The Girl's class had their party next day (Thurs) and played present game. Very cute kids. The Girl likes techy things, so she ended up with a voice changer thing, even tho she already has one.

Friday I played tennis finished present packing with K. We loaded the presents into boxes, and he was helping me get the boxes ready to go out. On one box, he covered the addresses already on the box with 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper, which looked a little tacky, but he didn't want to wait for me to find labels. Then he wrote the address, and he has terrible handwriting anyway. But the marker he was using ran out, so he went over it again with a darker marker, but you could still see where he'd written with the lighter marker. All together, it looked like an insane person had done it!

I didn't know what to do. He wanted to send it, of course, but it was to HIS parents, who have their doubts about us already! It was just going to make us look bad. I told him I didn't think the Post Office would even deliver it! They'd all say, "I'm not touching THAT package. It looks like an insane person did it!" Plus we've had packages he addressed never show up, I think due to confusion over his handwriting.

K got a little frustrated with me. He didn't want to hear about repacking the contents into another box, so I had few options. Eventually I put labels over his writing and wrote it again myself. But I made a mistake and put CA instead of CO, so I had to color in the O, which looked kind of funny. I told K, "I fixed it."

We laughed about it later. He kept saying, "Are you insane?"

Our tree is a small one - the same small one I've had for years. This year the Girl pressured me to get a tree topper, so I went and bought one. I got the lightest looking star I could find (didn't see any angels), but it still makes the tree lean in a way that suggests that it may fall over. The Girl said it reminded her of a Dr. Suess tree, she said, "It looks ready to take off!"

We went to a friend's party Friday night. We had some great conversations and the food was excellent. There was a good dip that was simply cream cheese spread all over a plate, then covered with raspberry chipotle sauce. She also made bacon-wrapped chicken appetizers that were very good.

At first the Boy was only hanging around his sister, which was an amazing and welcome outcome of making him go to the party. She asked him what he thought was in a big safe that was in the garage, and he told her a story that reminded me of the old days, when he used to make up stories all the time. This one began with Juan Ponce de Leon, and by the end also involved Col. Sanders, Ronald McDonald, and Uncle Sam. It was quite a story.

Later, he was hanging out with the few teenage girls that were there. I asked him later how he made that transition, he said it was easy. I asked him how again, and he said, "Does a magician reveal his techniques?"

He can be so funny.

Some interesting articles this week:

Independent America

Nuggests vs. Knicks

Colorado Christmas! Guess they're done shopping!

Brokeback bullshit

The other day I watched "Brokeback Mountain" because it was free on HBO or one of the MAX stations. When it was over, I felt like, huh? That was Brokeback bullshit!

It really (REALLY) bothered me that Heath Ledger's wife had that whole scene about "I wondered why you never brought back any fish!" when know perfectly well that she saw them kissing before they ever went anywhere! Don't you think she'd say, "Why were you kissing that guy?" instead of "why didn't you ever bring back any fish?" I thought that was very poor scene planning and story telling.

And then the end where Jake Gyllenhaal's wife (Anne Hathaway!) explains things one way and then we see a flash of an alternate ending... I just didn't like that. That was strange storytelling too, in my opinion. And why didn't the mom even ask why he was taking the shirt away?

But the scenery was beautiful and the cinematography awesome. The acting was very, very good. It's just that the story had problems, if you ask me. But you didn't, so please feel free to disregard above opinion of a critical moviegoer.

Authority Issues

My bad luck with authority continues, evidently. The other day I went to pick up the daughter at school, and stopped at a curb to see if I could see her before I proceeded into the pickup line. A policeman drove by, but I wasn't too worried because my car was still running. But he pulled up beside me! So I waved at him, like OK, OK, and I went ahead and pulled forward and into the pickup spot. Luckily the Girl WAS right there, which was good because he still stopped right beside me. So she got into the car he let me go home.

Whew!

Then yesterday I parked in a 20-minute spot in Shoppers Row, behind some shops at Lake and Del Mar in Pasadena. I was going to the Sansai Grill, which is so delicious. Then I noticed that Tower Records was having a going-out-of-business sale, so I went over to have a look. I never saw so many CDs and DVDs that I DIDN'T want. Or know anyone who wanted. I mean, even at $10, you want it to be something a person actually WANTS. (I did manage to find a Ben Harper CD, but I totally took a chance because I only think I might like it.)

Anyway, you know how this story must end. I went and got my food, went back to the car, and found a $36 ticket on it.

Boo hoo. My reign as a parking bandit has come to an end!

Or has it...?

I can't afford my life!

I've been thinking about getting another job, as I feel we're running out of money and it would be nice to have some extra for Christmas. Then came the expensive ND game, which was more expensive than we'd planned.

Then K took my car in to check a tire, and they said I need new tires. Of course, and 4 of them too. My car is a nice one, so I dread anything ever going wrong on that car, as everything is so damn expensive on it. And these are especially big tires, that look really nice, but are expensive. So he told me it would be $750, and I about had a heart attack! I finally convinced him to just replace the front tires for now.

Then, the microwave tried to catch on fire! So we have to buy a new one, but meanwhile, we have to boil water on the stove for coffee. How archaic! And it's hard to heat up leftovers. Plus, that was our only clock in the kitchen, so we keep looking at it, forgetting that it won't tell us the time anymore.

Then there's a looming dentist appointment, where they're trying to soak me for at least $300 I'm sure. And I need new printer cartridges.

Oh, I almost forgot about the text messaging! I upgraded my service and told the Boy he had unlimited text messaging. Then I got the bill and there were $98 in text messaging charges! So I called them and found out that it's not UNLIMITED, but up to 500 free a month. So thinking that should be enough, I asked what the problem was. The problem turned out to be 1112 text messages! I think that sounds excessive, but the woman at Verizon said she's seen as many as 6000 per month!

Sigh

Anyway, I'm off to Best Buy to shop for Christmas. And a new microwave.

Notre Dame vs. USC

K had the idea to go to the game on Saturday night and see if we could buy tickets in front of the game, since the game was sold out. He and his family (and even MY dad, go figure) are big ND fans. It didn't seem like we would get in, or even if we did, ND would have trouble winning. It sounded possibly expensive and futile, but I thought at least we could have a margarita and watch it in a nearby restaurant if plan A failed.

You see, way back in 2003 the husband and I were in a laundrymat in Rome trying to wash our laundry. A few americans students were there, and we overheard them talking about going to a concert and trying to get tickets there. Someone asked what if they got counterfit tickets? A girl responded with, "Who cares? It will be a great story!" and we were impressed with how positive and adventurous she was.

So we figured that even if we didn't get in, we'd have a story. We ended up leaving later than we wanted to, and got to South Central LA just as the game was starting. We checked out the parking lots that weren't yet full, and we expected it to cost a lot, but we were shocked to find they wanted 60$! I consider myself something of a "parking bandit", and looked for a spot we could get away with. I'm pretty lucky at making up spots and not getting tickets. Finally I spotted an area with lots of other cars around - a gas station/MacDonalds lot. I thought it looked OK since game already starting. We parked in the corner, by the trash bins.

We walked over to Forum, and found the scalpers tickets too expensive ($400 or $325 for 2). There weren't many scalpers, but lots of cool tents and tailgate TV situations and plasmas and very large sets. And food and alcohol. Then we walked over to restaurant, and found it not open anymore, just parking. No margarita for me. So we walked back to stadium. I was ending up getting a lot of exercise! K dissapeared suddenly and came back with tickets. Don't ask what he paid, it was a deal but it was still a lot.

We found our way inside (the tickets worked!), and found our seats at very, very top row. That forum has some tall steps, and I was very tired by time got there. Then we had to scoot in front of everyone who seemed to be standing anyway.

We tried very hard to bring ND luck, but were not too sucessful. We tried standing up, sitting down, but nothing helped. There were lots of ND fans scattered in the crowd. The guy sitting next to us had a Fighting Irish Leprechan tatoo on his hip! He told us that at 4:00 they released another 1500 tickets, so even tho it was sold out he still got a ticket for $65.

At halftime, Andre 3000 sang with the USC marching band. Then they played the Fleetwood Mac hit, Tusk, causing people in the audience to dance like elephants and shout out "UCLA Sucks!"

We finally left a lttle early, as we were worried about the car. Got heckeled on way out, that was fun. When we got back to the parking lot, there was another car parked where we'd left our car. Damn! I couldn't believe they'd really towed it, and actually was considering that it had been stolen!

We asked the tow guys who were in the parking lot, but they were no help. They said we'd have to call the number on the sign. We found a pen and got the address to impound lot. We asked the tow guys if they could take us there, and they said no. I was so mad that I'd actually been towed (this was my first time). I shook my head and told one guy, "I can't believe you guys." He was really big, and leaned forward defiantly, "What?" he snarled. He didn't want to hear any of it.

So we crossed the street, and tried to catch taxi. People kept running in front of us & taking cabs (were they from NY?) One guy even went clear out to the highway off ramp to be the first to catch the next cab. So I called Yellow Cab, and asked them to send us a cab. I gave him the address of Tom's Burgers on the corner. We waited and finally pulled one cab over, but the driver didn't know how to get to the address we were given - Robertson and Exposition.

We bailed on him and got into second cab. The driver was really nice, and followed Exposition till it ran out. Couldn't these guys have towed it somewhere a little closer than Culver City? After awhile we were lost & driving around. We told the driver we only had $25, so he was going to have to let us know when our time ran out. Well, we drove around and around, and finally he just turned off the meter. I think he felt badly that he couldn't find it.

Finally I decided to use the navigation system in my new phone. I laboriously entered the intersection into the system, and tried to understand what it was telling me to do. I kept telling the driver, "We're almost there!" and after awhile that made him chuckle.

I think that driver was possibly the nicest person in whole world. Finally we found Robertson, but Exposition was nowhere to be found! Robertson is a funny little street that goes in a circle at one point, and this made K mutter under his breath about going in circles. Finally I called the tow lot again, and he said we needed to go to Robertson and Venice, next to the Christmas tree lot.

So telling us to go to Exposition was like a dirty trick, really, because it's only about 50 feet long at that spot. We finally found the Christmas Tree place and the tow lot, but there was nobody there! I'd found another $10 in my pocket, so we gave the driver $35 and thanked him profusely. I called the tow place and they told us to wait there 10 minutes.

Then I got a call that our cab had arrived! I say this was the funniest moment of the night.

We got tired of waiting, and I called the tow place again. It went to voicemail, so I left a message asking why they told us to come here if they weren't here, and just for that, they weren't getting a tip! (K thinks that was the funniest thing of the night)

When they finally showed up, it was the very same tow guys who wouldn't give us a ride to the lot. By now we were wondering if they weren't the same person who answered the phone! I was mad at them, so I told the smaller guy "What comes around, goes around you know." He looked alarmed, and asked what I was going to do. I said nothing, that was just karma.

Well, he went back and told the big guy what I'd said, and he got very upset. "Fuck this!" he said, "I didn't even have to come back here! You can come back and get your car tomorrow!" and started putting the padlock back on the fence.

It was so absurd that I was pretty much speechless after that. Such big guys getting all emotional about Karma. I let K smooth it over with them. They even made us walk to the store to get cash, so I just waited there for K to get back. Those guys were just too surly and crazy. People must hate them every day, and they're just determined to not hear any of it. And probably I was more mad at myself than them, anyway.

K came back in just a few minutes, $260 dollars lighter, but with our car. While he was getting the car, some other guy some guy gave him a free ND T-Shirt! What a crazy night.

What I learned:

When someone tows your car away, don't tell them they're going to have bad Karma.
Even McDonalds will tow your car if it's anywhere near USC
Even if you're lucky at something, sooner or later your luck can run out
It almost never helps to get mad

I'm not too sure the good story panned out, either.

When we got home, we stayed up and watched SNL. Beck was the band, and they played along with a puppet show of the band. The second song was Nasuea, and most of the band sat at a table (appropriate for Thanksgiving, no?) and played percussion with glasses, spoons, etc. It was great.

Thanksgiving 2006

For some reason I was feeling a little left out this year. I felt like everyone else was going somewhere or having someone over, and I was just cooking for our little family! By Wednesday I was thinking I should have invited someone over, but I don't know anyone that doesn't have somewhere to go!

So I tried to make it special by using the dishes K's grandmother left us. This year I rescued them from the garage and put them into the hutch, and so it was nice to be able to pull them out and use them.

And the Girl helped me, which was nice. She wore her swimming goggles when she cut the onions, as they were making her cry.

I'd asked her what I should make this year, thinking maybe I could cut out a dish or two that maybe wasn't crucial. But no, she named every. single. dish. I usually make for Thanksgiving. Plus biscuits.

So we had:

Turkey (I cook it over a bunch of garlic cloves, which makes the gravy yummy)
Gravy
mashed potatos
sweet potato pie
broccoli cheese casserole
stuffing
cranberry salsa (mostly for me)
biscuits

We gave thanks for family, friends, health and plentiful food. And I always am grateful for indoor plumbing and electricity!

Hope everyone else had a yummy day!

Week of surprises

Mon - fell asleep that night in front of TV, thought I dreamed that K Federline had a sex tape of B Spears that he was threatening to sell if she did not give him what he wants in the divorce. Woke up next day and found out it was true!

It's like he doesn't care that he's being the greedy sychophant that every one said he was.

Tues - Meningitis scare at the High School, 6pm line for ALL students to get antibiotic.

Wed - saw The Boy on TV, on coverage about the above scare and medication status. Wow! On TV!

Thurs - no surprises, but big Tax test. Glad to be done with the stress of waiting and studying for the test. The more I studied, the more I felt like I was forgetting. I always feel like I've done the correct thing when I do the exercises, but then I find out that I've made a mistake here or there, and it's not real confidence-boosting. K said I was muttering in my sleep about numbers, saying, "Why is it always 1260?"

Fri - Volunteered for event in the Girl's class, but supplies not ready, so had to make do without them. The parent who was supposed to help me didn't show up, and I really needed her! Boy, was I surprised. But luckily another parent just happened to show up, and SHE was able to help me out.

Sat - Sports day. Soccer 8:30am. Bball practice 2-4. Played tennis. The Boy @ birthday party, said would be home around 11:30.

Very suprised when woke up @ 2 in morning realized he wasn't there. Message on machine - staying at a friend's. Called him, told him he didn't have permission and should have gotten his ass home! V. cranky, not feeling well, didn't sleep after 2am phone call until around 4am. Woke myself up at one point, exclaiming, "It's YOUR responsibility!"

Sun - K and Girl left early for San Bernardino - soccer playoffs. I picked up the Boy, brought him home and told him ALL about himself. He came home and went straight to bed anyway. Woke him up around 11 to make him come to work with me, as he owed me a few hours.

And he got SO much credit for going to work with me! Everyone who stopped in the office that day said, oh, that's so nice or my daughter helps me too. So his self esteem got back up and he could see that family members really do help each other and sometimes have jobs to do.

Later that evening he found his report card in the mail, and brought it to me. I was very pleased to see such good grades - especially since we never see him doing homework or studying. We were a little worried. So I rewarded him by ordering pizza to be delivered - which he LOVES.

Monday - Surprised to hear Kelly Rippa say something negative about someone else. NEVER heard that before! She is just the nicest, most positive and upbeat person. How dare this Clay Aikin person put his hand over her mouth! I think she's right, he never would have done that to a man. I think she should kick his ass. I think she could take him.

As it was, I thought she handled it nicely by saying, "Get your hand out of my face! Who knows where that hand's been?" Then, later Monday, Rosie said that Kelly was being homophobic. Wait, Clay Aikins is gay? He admitted that? No, but Rosie just outed him to everyone!! I bet Clay was very surprised.

Brownie Smores

Sunday we had the team dinner that I was put in charge of. The most work I had to do was make 8-10 phone calls. My Girl seemed v. impressed by this, and said she had to go to see the results of all my hard work!

I had to miss her soccer game to set up that day. I was glad I went early, though, because the school janitor (named Earnest!) knew nothing about the event or it's set up, even tho we'd put it onto the school calendar! Luckily the caterer showed up right after I found the janitor, and together they worked out the best way to get the equiment into the area where we were holding the dinner.

I'd asked all the volunteers to bring about 2-dozen baked goods, and set about baking some myself. I was going to make a couple batches of brownies, but as I was making the first batch, I saw a recipe on the box for Brownie Smores. Yum! I love smores!
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Brownie Smores

I cooked a batch of brownies in a 9x13" container. When they were "just" done, I took them out of the oven, and sprinked 1/2 bag of chocolate chips and 1/2 bag miniature marshmallows on top. Then I returned the pan to the oven for about 3 minutes. I took them out again, and then pressed graham crackers onto the top and let them cool completely (overnight).

I accidently put the crackers onto the brownies whole, where the recipe actually said to break them into quarters first. So I had to break them while they were on top of the brownies (before they cooled). So you might not net as many if you space them out more, where mine were a bit crowded.

Anyway, the next day I cut around the graham crackers, and if they weren't neat I sort of pressed them together, and they tasted GREAT! No nutritional value whatsoever, but v. tasty.

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I got a lot of credit for coordinating this event, but honestly, I felt a bit guilty about that because it was pretty easy for me.

When it was time for dessert, my smores just dissapeared off the plate! The Girl said she heard one boy say, "What are those?" and another answered, "I don't know, but they're good." It was funny to see it happen so fast! MJ was there, and she said, "Well, looks like you've got your plate back!"

This week the kids started the girls basketball season. The Boy is coaching again, and the Girl is on his team. Hopefully he'll take it a little less seriously this year. Hopefully he'll have a better season himself, too.

Hot Mama

It's so hard sometimes to be a parent. We let the Boy have his way all weekend. He got off early on Thursday and had Friday off, and played around those days. He had practice yesterday, so K ttook over coaching the Boy's (also the Girl's) basketball team practice that day. We let his friends come over, made food for them, generally made it possible for him to have a good time.

But anytime we said anything to him or reminded him of something he needed to do, he gave us a dirty look and said "whatever" or worse, argued with us in front of his friends. Then came the time for him to go to a basketball clinic that he'd AGREED to go to on Sunday afternoon, and we had to endure all the negative energy that pours from him whenever he's not doing exactly what he wants.

He never said he'd be happy to go,and so we expected some complaining, but he was actually trying to get out of it! I told him he'd only be staying home and doing his chores if he didn't go, and he said, "Is that an option?" No, not really, it wasn't.

His father is driving him all the way out there and waiting around for 2 hours. He's paying money for this clinic, all in the hopes of getting his son on a Travel team this summer. This is probably is best option to try and get a college scholarship. I tried to tell him this was a great team for him to be on, since they don't even practice in the summer, but he shut the car door while I was still talking, and turned his stoney face forward.

He better watch it, or this mother is going to turn into one angry mother, and no one wants to see that.

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This is later, and I guess his father survived the trip out there, but it wasn't easy. It was a long drive and I'm sure the Boy had lots of complaining to do, so I advised K to just try not to listen to him, because if he fed in to the Boy's arguements, it would only lead to more arguing.

K said the Boy hit him with everything he had all the way out there, but as they neared their destination the Boy went for the kill. The first dagger in his father's side was, "Right now I'm starting to hate basketball!" Argh!...

The second blow came as, "I hope I don't even make the team! I'm going to try to do badly so that they don't even pick me!" Argh!

Then the final blow. "And I'm NOT coming next week, either!" His father was not quite down, so he rallied with, "You gave your word that you would." The Boy responded with, "I'll tell you my word! My word is that I'm not coming next week!"

So as K dropped the Boy off, some words must have come to him from God. Because as he got out of the car, he told the Boy, "Do it for yourself, Boy."

And I guess he did, because K came back later and said the Boy was guarding the biggest kid there, and doing a great job of it, too! I think my kids don't really know how NOT to play their best in any game situation, it's in their blood.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad are getting grey hair. Oh, and btw, that was the last clinc of the Fall, so the Boy got out of going next week after all.

Galaxy Game

The more I try to pay attention to every little detail (i.e. tax class), the more I turn into the absentminded professor!

For instance, a few weeks ago the Girl's soccer team went to a Galaxy game, where they'd won the right to parade across the field before the game with a bunch of other teams.

In Carson. Far, far away from home. About an hour

Since I wasn't comfortable driving by myself, I carpooled with one of the other girls on the team and her mom, Anki. She doesn't like to drive on highways, and I figured it would take her forever going on side roads, so I told her I'd drive.

We left at 5pm, with plenty of time to get there by 6:30. We started chatting and I guess I just spaced out. For some reason, I had a wrong picture in my mind of where I was going, and I proceeded South on the 5 for a long time. Over an hour! It was about 6:20, when we were by Knotts Berry Farm (Anaheim!!) I questioned the directions. Was Anki's husband SURE that the 110 interesected the 5 down here?

So Anki called him, and no, the 110 meets the 5 by downtown LA, dum dum. Like I didn't know that. Every once in awhile I have a brain fart of great proportions, and this was one of those times. Like I was so angry at having to drive (I'd wanted K to come with me) that I just made myself go the wrong way.

Anki's husband said, "You have to go back to LA to get on the right freeway." I turned us around, but the 5 North was even slower than the 5 South. And it was 20 after 6! At this rate, we wouldn't be there by halftime! I handed Anki the map book and said, "Anki, you have to find me a way to cut across!"

She looked it over and decided that the 605 S to the 105 W was our best option, but it seemed like it took forever to get to the exit. We told the girls we'd get there, but maybe not in time to parade with the others across the field. They made sounds of dissapointment, which just made me feel worse!

Time must have stood still for us a little while, because I drove and drove (luckily those freeways weren't busy) and darned if we didn't make it to the 110 by 6:35 or so. The latest they were supposed to be there was 6:45.

We exited and had to drive for a short time on the streets to get there. We started to think about just getting the girls in there as fast as we could and seeing if we couldn't get them onto the field. A problem was that I'd left Gracie's wristband in the trunk. So at a stoplight, I jumped out of the car, ran to the trunk, pulled out the bag it was in and jumped back into the car before the light turned green!

The girls and Anki were very impressed.

We found the right street, and Anki somehow even figured out the right entrance to pull in to park right by where the girls were supposed to meet everyone else. I pulled into the parking lot, and they were diverting traffic off to the left. The guy in front of me drove forward, and talked briefly with the guy waving traffic, and the waver waved him through. So I went behind him, ready to stop and explain our situation, but he just waved us through too!

So I was able to drive right up to the door, and the girls + Anki jumped out of the car and raced for the entrance.

Whew!

It was all worth it too, as the girls had fun parading across the field. The Girl did cartwheels and the splits! They got free t-shirts, and got the mascot (a frog?) and Miss Galaxy runner-ups/winners autographs on their shirts.

It was a good game, too. High scoring, which seemed unusual. Houston scored first, so I was worried because I thought maybe the Galaxy wasn't that good. But the final score was 5-2, so I guess they are. The only letdown was the food, but what do you expect at a stadium? Not much I guess.

I was even able to talk to the Coach just like I hadn't gotten pissed off at him earlier in the day, so he probably thinks that everything is OK.

And it is, I guess. I've detached from soccer somewhat, because I know that the Girl could be excellent at lots of things. Basketball is next, and I'm slipping tennis in there, too. Partly so she can play with me, partly because there's opporunities for girls in that, too.

Plus she likes gymnastics and wants to do karate again. She's a busy girl, that's for sure!

Tax Class

I kindof like the class I'm taking, even tho it's really hard. I'm a little used to taxes already, having prepared ours for years now. And we have complicated taxes, too - buying and selling rental properties, writing off business expenses, depreciation, etc.

I like the street it's on - Magnolia in Burbank. It's on a block that has a lot of little stores. I explored a little bit, and found Yummy Yummy Doughnuts, Integrated Yoga, and a place that claims to do light therapy for things like weight loss, concentration, all kinds of things.

Down the street there's a coffee shop, then a thrift store. Pinochio's (Monte Carlo) is across the street for great Italian food, and there's a new Porto's on the corner of Hollywood Way and Magnolia. And I discovered Thursday that they have great chocolate croissants there! Double yum, yum.

So I figure my reward for going to this difficult class and struggling with numbers for hours (HOURS!) is to treat myself to visiting places on this street after (or before) class. It's fun!

I've found that Yummy Yummy Cupcakes have yummy frosting - and lots of it!

Happy Halloweenie

The kids are growing up so fast!

The other day I went to pick up the Girl at school, and she demanded that I guess what she won that day. A race, I guessed? No. A spelling bee? No. Another poster contest? No.

Finally she told me she'd been voted onto Student Council! She's always been so cute and talented and athletic, but she's blossoming in other ways. Now she's starting to think of herself as smart.

She's been driving me crazy, tho. She's figured out how to get on Nickelodeon online, and plays a video by a bunch of cute little boys, singing, "Cra-a-a-a-a-a-a-zy car! Cra-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-zy car! It leads me no where, leads me no where..." I told her from now on she has to listen to it using earphones, as it was giving me a headache. Why won't that car take them anywhere? What good is this crazy car?

The Boy got really mad at me when I told him he was too old to go Trick or Treating. He gave us such a hard time, that when I came around to thinking maybe it was OK, I didn't feel like giving in to him and letting him think acting like a brat was going to help.

But we talked it through and I took an informal poll at my work, and it seems there's no set age to stop going out for candy. As long as they're wearing a costume. I just remember as I got older, people started asking me if I wasn't too old to be Trick or Treating. And the boy is a Junior in High School! He's 6'3" for heaven's sake! (almost)

I just didn't like the idea of bands of older boys traveling about at night, but really he's a pretty good boy. When I think of all the truly scary things he could be doing, being a brat is pretty mild. Things his father and I were possibly doing... I don't even want to think about it.

After our fight, I looked over at the Girl, and she gave me a sad look. I asked what was wrong, and she said, "I NEVER want to be too old to go Trick or Treating!"

It's sometimes sad to grow up, I know.

It was kindof a strange day, as the people next door finished their move out. I hadn't taked to them about it much (mad that they didn't use me as their realtor), but I said goodbye as I saw them finishing their last few things. She said she was going to rent for a year, but didn't mention her husband. We suspect that they're splitting up, mostly because we hadn't seen him in a long time.

Later that day I saw a tall Pirate go into the house. I think he's the new owner. I hope he's a nice Pirate. I hear he's a musician who wants to use the basement as his recording studio. He must have a lot of money to have bought that house, but what single man needs a house that big? And what musician wants to live in the suburbs?

These and many other mysteries will no doubt be solved over time...

My favorite place

The other day I volunteered to help at an after-school event to help the children develop a "Reflections" project with the theme "My favorite place."

I was put in charge of the table with watercolors, and a couple of kindergarteners came and sat with me early in the event. I helped them get started and reminded them about the theme, asking them what their favorite places were. One was a beach and another was her Grandmother's house where she feeds the ducks on a lake. This second girl was very blond with white, light skin.

After a few minutes, I realized she was talking to me. She was saying, "Where's yours? Africa?" She said it twice before I heard her. It seemed like she was trying to be funny, but I couldn't tell if she was trying to mess with me. I turned around and said, simply, "I don't know, I've never been to Africa."

She answered, "Really? It looks like you're from Africa. Your skin is so dark." I told her, "There are lots of different kinds of dark people. I'm Native American, do you know what that is?" And she said no, so I tried to think about how to explain it. I said, "Well, when the cowboys came, the people who were already here were Native Americans, or Indians. But not the India Indians, although they are dark too."

She looked pretty confused by now. I ended up giving her way too much information, but I felt that somehow that served her right. Dumb little kindergartener. I wonder if she came up with that herself.

People have always questioned my nationality. When I was 3 I lived in Hawaii, and tourists would take pictures of me. People in France think I'm French, I could be Persian, I could be India Indian, or maybe Filipino. Maybe Asian.

I told them I thought my favorite place was my bed. They laughed, but my bed is a very nice place. It's comfortable, cozy. I can dream there and play there and relax and read. I can recover or take cover, or even get under the covers. Sometimes it's hard for me to leave!

Yes, it's definitely one of my favorites.

What's your favorite place?

Looking for glasses.

Yesterday, I wanted to do my homework, but couldn't find my glasses. I checked my purse 3 times, even taking everything out at one point. I looked in my car, I looked around the house. Where did they go?

Finally I found another pair under the bed, but it was hard to do my homework because whenever I tilted my head downward, the glasses slid down my nose and the page would go out of focus. I tried pushing the sides of the glasses inward, but they continued to move out so that they didn't stick to my head.

This morning I was getting ready to take the boy to school, and I looked in my purse for my phone. There were my glasses! Right there, standing up inside my purse! From this the Boy concluded that whenever I want to find my glasses, I should look for my phone. And if I want to find my phone, I should probably look for my glasses.

Ugh!

It's definitely another virus.

Sigh.

Bookmarks

I saw a picture in a bead magazine of a project I thought I could actually accomplish, and I got motivated. I made bookmarks, with beads at the ends that hang out of the book. The magazine called them "Book Thongs", but that doesn't sound too comfortable for the book.

Including another bead magazine and some cute beads and a ball of hemp ($8.99!) and a few small presents, I managed to spend $69 at Michaels. I was a little depressed by that, I think. Freaking bead magazines cost nearly as much as a book! Then I came home and started using up beads like crazy. I made about 6 of these bookmarks them in one evening.

I think they came out really nicely, but I think I'll miss some of my favorite beads. I was glad to be able to use the beads I made in pottery class too. They were being wasted.

So that's a good thing about bookmarks. They make good Christmas presents.

The strange thing is that very night, ALL the bookmarks on my browser mysteriously dissapeared. WTF? The boy says he didn't do it, so I guess that can only mean one of two things: Another Freaking Computer Virus, or a lying boy.

But a coincidence, eh? Bookmark bugaboo.

Don't be lying

Bitchin' and crying
Suck it up as a loss

"Number One", Nelly

Big Trouble

Think twice
That's my only advice...
Crazy, Gnarles Barkley

I've been upset with my horoscope lately (Pisces). For two months now it's been claiming that a relationship of mine can blow sky high over something little. Part of me has been on guard for that, the other hopes it's not true. And I've had to be strong and have difficult conversations with various people for various reasons, but so far nothing bad had happened.

Then Saturday, after a fast and furious week where I barely managed to get myself and my kids to the right place at the right time while working and taking a new class, I did IT. The Something Stupid that made a certain situation blow up in my face. Not that I knew it right away, but I had a bad feeling about it the rest of the weekend.

Sunday night I was watching "Elizabeth I" on HBO, and that night I had terrible dreams about a government that would brutally kill people without any reason. I had to wake up and make myself have another dream. I woke up with a headache.

Then my boss called me to tell me all about the situation that had gone awry. Not only had I managed to make someone "livid" with me, but she then tried to get me in as much trouble as possible. Overreact much? Lucky for me my Boss is very understanding (so far). He even offered to do the work for me, so I could still get paid. I've really come to believe he may be the nicest boss I've ever had.

Also, he's my Guru of emotional management. He's always encouraged me to let things go and not take things personally, and I think it's finally working. Or maybe I've just been in the business long enough to just know that's how it is. I cried, I answered her email and apologized, and then I let it go. I told my husband, "Luckily I've got lots of other problems to concentrate on."

And so I concentrated on those other things, and hopefully made some headway on other fronts. It's strange, but for someone that doesn't have many sales, I've got lots of things I need to follow up on and take care of. It makes me feel like I'm working, and even if I'm not making much money at the moment, someday it will come around.

One of those things I'm working on is taking a course in Income Tax. It's strange to me that as complicated and exact as everything seems to be, the teacher will turn around and say it's OK to make mistakes, nobody's perfect. It seems like, since you're filing it with the Federal government, you could get in major trouble if you do something wrong. Instead, they make it seem like you'd have to do something major to get into trouble. Unlike Real Estate, where many little things can get you into Big Trouble.

Vacation rundown

We took three weeks off and drove to Colorado by way of Las Vegas. We took the dog with us, so we couldn't stay in the Flamingo, which bummed K out (or he just likes to complain about the dog.) But we stayed across from the Hard Rock, right after it was in an episode of Entourage, so that was fun.

We saw lots of family and old friends, and mostly had a great time. We also spent time trying to rent out our new duplex, but didn't have much luck with that. My friend (the realtor) was in the hospital the entire time, so I'm still worried about him.

On the way back we stopped in Salt Lake City, which we'd never been to before. Home of my beloved "Dooce." First we drove through Wyoming, which was nearly excruiatingly boring. Utah was much prettier, although I was surprised to find SLC is not that big. It seems about the size of Colorado Springs. I like all the old buildings that have been renovated, I liked the looks of the college, and it seems to have lots of cute neighborhoods.

On the down side, it seems that industry has precidence over tourism. Nearly everywhere we went, it seemed we could see a big factory or refinery or mining operation. A huge mining operation in the mountains(Bingham Canyon Mine) is a blight on what otherwise would be beautiful scenery. The Great Salt Lake was not so great. It was the trip's biggest disapointment - even the marina seemed dead and full of flies. I bet if we had gone to another part of the lake it must surely look better (if not smell better!)

On the last day, we hiked to Tipanagos Caves, which are 1.5 miles UP the mountain. I really enjoyed the caves, although I nearly died getting there. It was really embarrasing being passed by little kids who just strolled up the hill with their parents (who are evidently much younger than me!) K tried to make me feel better by claiming there were people we passed who never made it up there, but I'm not sure that's true.

It made clear to me how out of shape I am, and how fat I'm getting. As much as I've tried to change my eating habits and get some exercise, clearly it isn't enough. I guess my only option at this point is to start seriously exercising and training for... something.

Being around family had its usual pitfalls of people doing things I don't understand and I'm not allowed to ask about. But I've decided that instead of dwelling on those confusing and difficult events, instead I'll try to dwell on the NICE things people have done for me:

-Nice Things-
Mom made a special meal because I requested it. She bought the kids some great school clothes and probably spent way too much money.

My sister highlighted my hair.

My mother-in-law sent us money to help with the trip. She also had Pepsi on hand for me to drink, because she knows I like it.

Another sister offered to help me with the duplex. Another sister offered to let us have the keys to her house so we could watch Entourage when she WASN'T EVEN THERE! This was before we realized my parents do indeed still get HBO.

My husband made me coffee this morning, and is trying to recharge my car battery, which I accidently drained before our trip.
--------------------------------------------------------

Ready to exhale

I guess the other day was a lucky day - later, my pain-in-the-ass client called me to tell me to cancel the rental deal I'd been trying to put together for him. After taking a full week last week to get the other agent the paperwork we'd promised, they felt that not getting the signatures right away was a sign of something bad. I'm not sure what - they didn't seem to trust anyone anymore. Not the other agent, not the owners, not even me. This after negotiating the rent DOWN $300 a month from the last year, when all market indications are that the agent could easily have asked for MORE next year.

They felt that not getting a fully executed contract back to them by Thursday was a dealbreaker. I did not realize that this was so, and was trying to help them manage their many fears and not squelch the deal with this generous other agent, because they were starting to seem like pain-in-the-ass tenants. They even consulted a lawyer to make sure they could get out of the deal on Thursday. I wonder how much they had to pay that lawyer, and what it's going to take to get paid myself.

So anyway,I'm glad to have them out of my life now. There's no way I would want to help them again. So I'm lucky to have gotten out of it. I was beginning to be afraid that they were going to get me into some kind of trouble.

I haven't figured out a good spot for a garden in my new yard, but I missed having a garden of some sort. So I planted a few big pots with some basics (salsa, anyone?), and I'm Miracle-growing and hoping for the best.

My lucky day!

Hit from across the pool, thank you. My first hole in one! Must be my lucky day. I'm off to play the lottery!

Canadian bacon=ham

We went out for breakfast yesterday, after church.

G wanted to try something new, I guess, because he ordered Eggs Benadict. When it came, he was saying "Where's the bacon? I'm supposed to get bacon."

I pointed under his egg and told him that the stuff that looked like ham was Canadian bacon. He was amazed. "Canadian Bacon is ham?" he asked. I told him it was a little different, but basically yes.

A while later, when we wre all done eating, he exclaimed as if it were a new realization, "Canadian Bacon is just ham!"

He's been telling all his friends.

For Memorial Day,

I worked at a booth my company set up in the town next door, for their annual parade. We gave out water, juice, and cookies, and it all seemed much appreciated.

I took Josie with me, and she was pretty good and helpful as usual. The parade was fun, but it got a little hot out there in the sun. I like seeing all the little cars and bands and people walk by, but Josie got tired of it after awhile and was bugging me to leave.

I told her I couldn't leave, altho it turned out later I probably could have. But it was over before long anyway. Toward the end she stated shouting at me, "Mom! MOM!!!" I looked over and said, "What?"

She said, "Hanna Montana!"

This is her favorite screen personality, favorite show. So what? I gave her a quizical look.

She said, "She just went by! Hanna Montana!"

I said, "Really?" Guess I hadn't been looking! So we chased down the car, now about 1/2 block away, and got a picture. Even if it was only with my camera phone.

Good thing we stayed!

Adventures in shopping

We bought another car last week.

I'd say a "new" car, but it's not really new - just new to us. We looked at a few the same age as my broken Previa, but the first was not in very good condition. When we went to look at it, it was parked on the street in front of where we used to live in G;lendale! That was weird. It was parked on the main street, but we didn't like the looks of it (except it was blue!) and so never even drove it around.

The second (also blue) car looked better than the first, and when we drove it around it sounded fine. The body had some big scratches and the tape player was broken. I didn't like it that he seemed in a hurry for us to decide right then. There was still another van I wanted to see first, but K seemed eager to tie it up too. The guy said he was in a hurry to sell it because it had to be registered by the next day, and he was hoping we'd take on that cost. Finally I told him we could leave a deposit on it, but he said no, if we were sure, he could wait until tomorrow. Altho I wasn't sure, K shook his hand and said "It's a deal!"

The next day we left in the morning and drove out to see the third car at a dealers. It seemed far away, since we'd never been to that part of town, and we drove through several areas of town to get there.

It was weird weather that day, sometimes cloudy, so that sometimes K would say, "This town is too hot!" We'd drive awhile further and it seemed cooler there, and K said, "Oh, this town is much cooler."

Finally we found the dealership, and the car there was in the best condition, plus it had a radio/tape player and a 10-CD Changer in it too. It's gold. When we drove it I thought it didn't sound the best, but it was a few years younger than the other two and it had far fewer miles. And it's a Toyota, right?

So it seemed clear that was the one to buy, and we quickly came to a deal on the price. Then we felt bad about calling back the guy from the car the day before, but we offered to pay him a $100 deposit we had meant to give him. He said that was OK, which I thought was really cool of him. I haven't been nearly as cool lately when people have gone back on me.

We had to wait around while they got it ready for us, so we decided to go have lunch. I think it was a Vietnamese part of town, and altho I love the food in Denver, I haven't found a Vietnamese restaurant out here. So we walked to the corner and passed a restaurant named "My Dung", but I didn't like the sound of that. That's almost as bad as the restaurant sign near us that says, "Poo Ping".

But I digress. We went into a restaurant that looked nice, but we had no idea what the food would be like there. K ordered filet mignon, and I ordered sizzling beef with spaghetti. K's steak was sliced into chunks and laid in a bed of an asian garlic sauce that was delicious. I added a little hot sauce to mine, and was in heaven. It had sliced beef in it, and seasoning to the noodles, but I have no idea what seasoning. It was like a taste adventure.

Finally we left and went back to the dealership. We told him we'd gone and had lunch, and he said, "Where? My Dung?" and we said oh no, not there.

Then we drove two vehicles home.

How come every time I try harder, it gets harder?

I've been trying harder to take care of the details in my life. I'm trying to pay bills faster, and get some details out of the way faster. Like negotiate with the low-balling insurance company, getting another car, stopping my old dialup ISP from charging to my credit card - you know, little aggravating details.

So the other day when I checked the mail, I was surprised to see a letter from parking violations! I opened it up, and thought it must be a mistake. I thought it was about a ticket I got a year ago when I picked up my sister from the airport - but I knew I'd paid that. So I looked closer, and saw it was indeed at the airport, but it was dated April 1st! At 3:15 in the morning!

If someone gives you a ticket, shouldn't they actually GIVE it to you? Shouldn't you KNOW you got a ticket? If we weren't there long enough to GET a ticket, why should they give us one?

Wasn't it enough to get into an accident that totalled my car that night? Did we have to get a ghost ticket on top of that?

Why even give tickets at 3 in the morning? Was it crowded at the curb? No. Shouldn't people who have to catch a ride at 3 in the morning get some kind of break? Or people that are picking up people at that hour? Do they really need to worry about getting a ticket, too?

Geez!

I learned a lot about cruises.

We decided to try a short cruise first, to see if we even liked it.

I'd always heard about 24-hour buffets and all you can eat benefits of cruises, but I don't think I realized that every night there are gourmet meals! Every night we got to choose an appetizer, salad, meal, dessert - all first rate choices! I even tried escargot (tastes like herb butter). J got strawberry soup and pear soup, but didn't care for the watermelon soup. It's those meals that I missed most of all when it was over.

And I knew they charged for acoholic drinks on cruises, but they also charge for sodas and water! Well, I didn't want to drink the tap water because my Mom got something weird on a cruise and besides it tasted funny. So it came down to drinking the bottled water they had in the rooms, which were small and over $2 each. So it was hard to stay properly hydrated, and was one of the only things I didn't like about the cruise. That and a distinct rolling sensation on the ride back to San Pedro. Couldn't they just drive fast at night when I'm asleep?

Tipping is a big deal on the ships, as I guess no one is paid very much. They actually recommend how much you should pay, and it comes out to around $10 per person per day. Yikes!

I tried to rationalize that J is only 9 and therefore only half an adult and shouldn't cost as much, but when I thought about it, the staff really went out of their way to make her happy. They remembered what she liked and brought her a fancy chocolate-coated glass of milk every night. They were really working those tips!

Once you've paid your tips, though (the last night of the cruise), things really change. They really kick you off that boat but fast! We had to have our bags packed and in the hallway by midnight, and we had to be out of our rooms by 8am! I kept saying that it couldn't be true (I thought people were messing with me!), but it was.

Things have stranges names on ships. We had an emergency drill the first day, and we all had designated spots we were to report to if the siren went off. Those spots are called "Muster Stations."

And when we went to Catalina, we had to go in a ferry, which they called a "Transom." Never heard of that before.
--------------------

Anyway, we had a great time and came home exhausted. The wife of a man I work with arranged the trip for a group from my office, so I already knew some people, which was nice. The first day we went to San Diego, where I took J to Seaworld. We had a great time, but it was not the warmest of days and we got SOAKED in the Shipwreck ride! Cold water, heavy, soaked. I finally had to buy some sweatpants to get through the rest of the day. We saw whales and dolphins and some great pet tricks. I didn't know cats could be trained!

The next day was Catalina, where my shoe broke and I had to buy new shoes! K was so excited to be able to say I blew out my flip flop (like the Jimmy Buffett song.) That night, some friends said they were having Salsa lessons in one of the bars, so we went over there for awhile. They were teaching the Marengo (sp?) and lined up the men on one side and the women on the other. I was looking over at K (he's so cute!). Then I looked a few people down from him, and with a shock I recognized my Uncle Frank!

The strangest things seem to happen to me. What are the odds of seeing a relative who lives in another state on the same cruise? (Actually he's a second cousin, but he seems more like an Uncle.) And it's strange because both our families lived in Germany at the same time, and I used to hang out with his daughters for awhile. Later he became estranged from his wife and daughters, and now has a new wife and lives in Arizona! So I haven't seen him since my Grandpa died in Nov. of 1999. I haven't seen his daughters since High School.

We went to visit his mother last summer, though, on our way back from Colorado. She was my Grandpa's sister. I told him I couldn't wait to call my mother and tell her, and he said he was going to call his mother when he got home too!

BTW K really enjoyed learning this Marenge dance, because it was easy and he got to lead! He had me doing lots of turns and was pretty proud of himself.

The last day we went to Ensenada. We used to go there a lot, so there's very little there to tempt us into buying anymore. I bought a few cute bags and a little painting, but that was it. No blankets or ponchos or ceramic hamburgers. K and I looked for the restaurant we always used to go to there, but all we could remember is that it had a tree inside, and we didn't find it. We found our friends, tho, and so we went to Pappas and Beer for a few shots and a few beers. It felt like old times with new friends.

That was fun, but we should have negotiated our drink prices before we sat down, because when the bill came I had a shock. I think every drink was about $5! So next time, no Pappas and Beer without negotiating first. J decided to buy a stuffed monkey on the way back. It was $12, so I told her, "Ask him if you can have it for $10." The guy kindof looked at me, but then he told her, "Tell you what, I'll give you 10% off." so that was some discount, at least.

Then we went back to the boat and ate a buffet, and J climbed the climbing wall about 8 times. She did it 12 times total, for the trip. She's got a lot of energy, that's for sure! She had fun going to the shows with me. I got to see my Uncle a few more times, then they kicked us off the boat early the next morning.

Welcome home!

Yesterday I came home and my daughter came running up to me to say hi.

Immediately I noticed something was different about her. Part of her eyebrow was missing! About a quarter of an inch from the inside, on one eye only. She hadn't looked like that since she got into the Nair when she as about 2 years old!

But now she's 9, and what the...? I asked her if she'd done it with a razor, and she said no, she'd used tweezers from the drawer in the bathroom. I asked her why and she just shrugged.

My efforts to get to the bottom of it have been useless. I tried again later, asking what had motivated her to do it. She just shrugged. I asked if she had noticed that she'd gone to far, and she said no. I asked if she thought it looked good, and she again shrugged.

So finally I started complaining that we are just about to go on a short cruise with people I work with, and now my daughter's going to look funny.

She just said, "Sorr-eeee!"

Argh.

The other day a fireman cut in front of me.

He was just turning on his lights and no siren. I asked Josie, "Why are firemen always so cute?"

She said, "It's because they keep in good shape, Mom. Not like policemen. Don't even get me started!"

What?

Trying not to laugh, I said, "What do you mean?"

She said, "They eat a lot of doughnuts!!"

File under: Cute things the kids do

I was surprised to see how many people are up very early in the morning.

We told the driver which highway to take, and we were about to get onto it when suddenly the driver saw a sign for a different freeway to the right, so he decided to go that way instead. He said, "I think this goes there."

I must have been delirious, or maybe I was just so happy to be headed in the right direction, because I seemed to get into a pretty good mood. "Don't worry," I assured him after he realized his mistake, "this goes there too." And luckily he beleived our directions after that.

So we did get home after going about 20 minutes out of our way. We had planned to leave it at a nearby dealership, but when we got there the entrance was blocked and there was only 2-hour parking on the street. Plus we didn't actually know how we were going to get home from there, so we asked the driver to take us the rest of the way up the hill and just park it at our house.

And I don't think the driver really wanted to, but he felt a little bad about taking us so far astray, and so he drove us all the way home.

HOME! I was finally (FINALLY!) home! I was SO happy to get there, even if it was about 6 in the morning. And I don't think I was even tired anymore, because it took us a little while to calm down and unwind, and we finally went to bed at 7 am.

Funny, that's when I usually get up!

This turned out to be the day I stayed up all night.

And all I wanted to do was get home and spend some time with my hubby before he had to go to work!

When we left the airport, it was probably around 3:30am. It was raining, but not many people were on the road. We came through downtown, which looked misty, and got into the left lane of the 110 so we could exit to the 5 north. We came around a turn and suddenly there was something in the road! At first I thought it was a street sign. You could barely see it because of the mist and the darkness.

K swerved right to avoid it, but we still hit it and I think we drove over it, because after that our right tire was history and we were bouncing along on our rim and the bottom of the van!

As soon as it happened, I was bummed about two things. First, I knew we weren't getting home anytime soon, and second, that might be "it" for my van. My dad had been telling me to get rid of my collision coverage on it because the van wasn't worth much.

But it was worth a lot to me, and I was bummed to see it get so damaged. K had pulled back over to the left, and we got out and looked at it. K was upset, and kept saying, "Man! This van is MESSED UP!" and "What was that thing?" I immediately started calling AAA, and was told they'd be there in 20 minutes.

Oddly enough, the police showed up right after it happened. We told them about the pole we hit, and I advised them to put out some cones or something as other people might hit it too! Well, they seemed to be doing something else (maybe reporting back to dispatch) and sure enough, other people started coming along and hitting it too!

I guess it turned out to be a street light. Every person that hit it seemed to knock it further and further out into traffic. Three people pulled up behind us because they'd hit it too. The guy behind us hit his grill, which seemed oddly high. The third guy looked hispanic, and he just sat there looking stunned. His front bumper was bent forward at an angle, sort of like an "L". I tried asking him if he was OK, but he didn't respond - he just sat there. Later I saw him just drive away.

At first I was afraid to get hit by other cars on the highway, but then I realized that the pole was sort of blocking for us, because people had to drive clear to the right lane to miss it. The flares the police put out helped too.

The flares made a bright barrier, but cars were still having accidents as one person would swerve to miss it and hit someone else. There were quite a few accidents that night because of that light pole. No wonder we didn't see it - it was dark because the street light fell down!

One of the cops that showed up first was pretty cute, but he kept saying the most negative things! I heard him telling the guy behind us that he shouldn't report it to his insurance agency because they'll blame him for hitting the pole! Later I went up to the guy behind us myself and told him that what the cop had said didn't sound right. So we exchanged names so we could be witnesses for each other and about all the other people that didn't miss the pole either! Also that cop told us that our car was driveable - I think he just wanted us to leave! I thought he was crazy, because the rim was even bent!

Finally another police car came, and they pulled the pole off the road I guess, and the flares started burning a little low. All the other cars drove away, and we were the only ones left (waiting for a tow.) Those last poor cops trying to clear the highway were dealing with a bunch of boneheads that night, though, because one driver just stopped and looked at him, like, "Am I supposed to stop here?" and the cop shined his flashlight on him and yelled, "Drive!"

They made their way to us and finally told us to drive off to the nearest exit. So I guess the first cop was right about that. Unfortunately. I'd eagerly watched every car and truck that came through, but the only tow truck was already carrying a car and wasn't the company name the dispatcher gave me. I had my phone in my pocket, but somehow standing out in the rain I didn't hear it, so I had to call AAA back and request another tow truck. The first company claimed we weren't there or something - I never really understood.

Anyway, we ended up right by a bunch of little apartment buildings. The "new" AAA guy showed up pretty quickly, but spent a long time in his vehicle after he showed up. I finally started to get mad - why would nobody hurry up or help us tonight? I asked what he was doing and he said, "Just a MINUTE, Ma'm!" and I finally cried a little bit. K said I looked so sad with my mascara running down my face.

But I guess I got it out of my system, because I didn't get any madder when it took him 45 minutes to figure out he couldn't tow our van because the axle was jacked - he then called for a flatbed. This guy also showed up pretty quickly, and helped the first guy get our van onto the flatbed. Then we climbed aboard the tow truck for our ride home.

It probably was about 5am by then.

My trip was fine until I came home!

I had lots of fun seeing my family in Denver and looking at potential properties. It's always fun to look, I think. It was hard to squeeze in the work (my regular work) I did there, but I managed to get some other things done, too.

Friday I went out to lunch with Mom mi hermanas. I love Vietnames noodle bowls they have there, and I haven't found anything similar in LA. Yum! Mom didn't like her food much. Driving home M was following us, and I needed to tell her something, so I stuck my arm out the window and waved my open cell phone, so she'd know to answer it! When I called she said, "I got your message!" I packed and worked online and pretty soon it was time for dinner and then time to go!

I'd booked a late flight, but getting in at 11:20 pm wasn't TOO bad. Well, when I got to the airport, the flight had already been delayed to LEAVE at 11:20. For some reason we had to wait for a pilot from Chicago, and they were running late. The plane didn't leave until 1:30am, and I arrived in LA at 3:00am!

It wouldn't have been so boring if even one of my family had been there. I hunkered down and read nearly half of the new Michal Connelly book (it's good, but he's one of my favorite authors.)

There was a bunch of us waiting, some had it worse than I did. One lady was somehow bumped from her flight to Burbank, but her bags were still going there! A lot of them seemed to have been on a previous flight together.

Everyone on the plane was really tired by the time we boarded, so the lights went out and I cuddled under my coat (it was cold on that plane!) I'd been planning to request a free drink for all the delay, but I was too tired. I think I slept, but it was the kind of sleep where you're mind's so active that you think you're not sleeping. But you have to be because the time goes by pretty quickly.

We finally landed and stumbled toward the baggage claim area. It seemed like it took forever for our bags to come out. I was gettng really annoyed with United that night.

K was right there and we hugged and said hi, and a cop was right there to start writing him a ticket! So he had to go around the airport about 3 times (because the bags took so long), and I was really getting annoyed with the ticket cops because, for crying out loud, it was 3:00 IN THE FREAKING MORNING!! Give a person a break, already!

That seemed so late, but it turned out to be just the start of our adventure that morning.

Last Friday we drove to San Diego.

It took is 4 hours to get there! Our friend C, who left an hour before us, got there in 3 hours. Our friend S, who left a little after us, got there in 5 hours! It was raining, and Friday afternoon, but still!!

Thus, the road pictures for my 30-day challenge. It's interesting to me the things I can find in this city that I never knew were there! I haven't stayed faithful to my extra (Lent) activities EVERY day, but MOST days I get at least 2 of them in.

Speaking of which, I have to say that I'm feeling great. I'm more energetic these days, which is probably from the exercising (or meditating.)

Every year around my birthday I try on new clothes, and am faced with the depressing fact that I'm not as thin as I think I am. Clothes I think should fit me look tight, and every year I have to face the fact that I'm fatter than I want to be! Every year it gets worse, and the fat tries to hide itself in different places.

Well, I refuse to give up. I'm going to continue to fight this battle until my waistline looks better!! I have a (short) cruise coming up next month, and I've got to get in better swimsuit shape ASAP! It's already working a little bit (I think!)

Anyway, I didn't have as much fun in San Diego as I had expected, as I had to stay home that night with my little girl, and thus did not go out with the boys. It wouldn't have been so bad except K came in really late (3am) and woke me up (again at 4am), and I never really got back to sleep properly. Then the next day we'd planned to see our friend's son play in a soccer tourney, but the other team forfitted, and we ended up leaving.

But one fun thing was that we got to take Gallo with us. We were trying to find a place to leave him (where is his vacine paperwork?), and finally called the hotel who said they accept pets for another $10/night! As long as we didn't leave him alone in the room. He was so good, too. God bless Vagabond hotels.

That was fun.

Horoscope of Joy

From freewillAstrology.com
"I don't know why we are here," wrote philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, "but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves." His feelings contrast sharply with that of the poet Robert Bly, who edited a book of sacred poems entitled The Soul Is Here for Its Own Joy. Which of these two approaches are you inclined to follow, Pisces? I believe you're at a crossroads: The direction you choose to endorse and emphasize now will shape your destiny for a long time.

More thoughts about joy. Weird, huh?

Philosophically Bent

OK, a couple of things happened within my immediate family, but neither seemed very significant in the long run, and I think we all came out of it OK. Nothing drastic.

But I keep having dreams about someone who likes me. A lot. Often it seems like an old boyfriend - not someone I miss or anything. What's the deal with this? Did somebody die and is trying to get in touch with me? Is someone thinking about me? And if so, why? It was SO long ago.

It's nice to think somebody out there is drawn to me. But maybe it's just myself.

Since I've been meditating (as part of my Lent Challenge)I've been asking and asking what my purpose in life is. The current path I'm on seems so difficult at times that I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing.

Once I thought I heard "To bring joy." and I like that one. I'm not sure how I'd accomplish this, but I guess I could try. I also heard "To raise awareness" but it didn't say of what. But I'm not sure those were true messages. They were rather faint and could have just been my imagination.

But, thinking of bringing joy, it occurred to me that if one is indulged enough by others to live life in some way their own way, that one is therefore obligated to try and be a happy person! Because they are indulging you by loving you, you should try to bring them joy.

And since I'm getting so philosophical, I noticed at the local high school that there was a couple of teens outside kissing. That's so different from my high school, where people were hanging out in couples all over the place. It seems like these days, kids don't really date one on one very much. They hang out in groups and somehow manage to hook up.

That seems so different from me, and even my husband, who wanted to get into relationships fairly early in our teens. Not that we always did or that it worked out, but I think that was the number one preoccupations in my high school.

I wonder if it's because of the change in attitudes toward parenting. Parents these days are much more into their kids and what their kids are doing. When I was young, children were to be "seen and not heard." I wonder if this made us more prone to seek out relationships in our teens. Teens these days don't seem to have those same relationship needs. Maybe it's because they have better relationships with their families.

Well, it's an idea. It's a theory I'm working on.

I hate my horoscope.

It now says that someone close to me will show their true colors and I might have to break with them. The trouble is, this could show up just about anywhere as far as I'm concerned. Every relationship and deal in my life is ripe with opportunity for dissapointment.

What relationship or goal isn't? I hate waiting for something bad to happen. Just get it over with already! I hate this sense of impending doom.

I went with my daughter's class on a fieldtrip today.

It was to a local mexican fast-food restaurant, which is nearby, so I didn't really understand why I had to be there at 9:30. This is probably the least anyone ever communicated with me about a volunteer event, but there was a small note on J's homework (See you at 9:30!) that made me believe what J had told me.

It seemed kindof funny to just drive down the street and around the block, but it really wasn't far. It was really rainy this morning too, but it let up on us at some critical times, like getting into the car. I wore a crocheted cap since there was no point in fixing my hair for the rain. I love hats and have quite a few (too many!), but seldom wear them. I guess I feel like you attract a little extra attention with a hat.

It was a really good field trip, though. The owner was super-duper nice, and together with the District Manager, they took lots of time (1 1/2 hours) with the kids. They taught them about sanitation and hand washing, then they all made guacamole and tortillas.

With tortillas he gave them each a ball of dough (I got one too) which we rolled around in our hands, then set them down to rise. Then we went into the refrigerator and saw the dough cutting machine and the big grill for the tortillas. Then we walked through the kitchen and past the meat grilling and an industrial-strength blender.

Then we got our balls, flattened them in the tortilla-flattening machine, and threw them on the grill. The owner was funny and kept making us adults do it ourselves, so it was funny trying to turn over my tortilla on a big, rotating surface!

After both groups had done both activities, we got to eat! The kids got to choose either nachos or a burrito, and we adults got to order whatever we liked! So I got a steak burrito, which is still the only thing I've ever had there.

Later I was sitting with some other mothers when a lady walked up wearing a crocheted like mine, but with a thicker, chenille-like yarnc. She was walking up to us with a camera when whe realized she knew Gina (one of the moms), who was her neighbor across the street. It turned out this lady, who was also named Gina, says she's writing a book about "Places I've left my Hat" and she wanted to take a picture of me, since she saw me with my hat on.

Which was kindof funny, since I've been taking a lot of pictures myself for the 30-day Photo challenge. So we took pictures toghether, and she said her book might be vignets about people and their hats. Another mom said she was jealous because I was going to be in a book now.

The original Gina swore that she had a really great losing-my-hat story, but we didn't get to hear it.

Instead of giving up things for lent, I'm adding activities.

This idea started off simply.

The only problem is I'm up to 4 now! It started off easily enough with a vow to exercise a little every day and meditate.

Then I decided to add a little writing. Then I came across a site with a 30-day photo challenge! I don't think the quality of my photos quite reach this bar, but I'm thinking I'll try to use my photos to document some of the more interesting things I see during my day. I'll have to pick one picture to represent my day! (or take one)

I'm behind in 2 of my new activities already. Better go catch up!

Gallo's song

Josie made up a cute song for Gallo the other day. She's been bugging me to take him to get a bath, and it turned into a song:

I like to take
take, take a bath.
Gallo likes to take
take, take a bath.

I like the soap
and conditioner
He likes the soap
and conditoner

Even those flea baths!
Even those flea baths!

The best part of this song is the ending. The only problem with this song is that it just isn't true.

Melodrama & muck

I've never been able to get into Desperate Housewives, but I do enjoy BBC's Footballer's Wives. It's a really crazy show.

I started watching near the end of last season, maybe because there's not much else to watch on Sunday at 10pm, but partly because of all the great melodrama. Even more than American soap operas, FW is full of glamourous women (Tanya!) and crazy situations (a hermophrodite baby?)

But the new season started the other day, and talk about drastic story changes! People are just gone now! We knew that Jason got killed, but Chardonnay dropped dead from anorexia, the coach has dissapeared (gone crazy from his bad-ass daughter) along with his daughter, and where is the sexy Italian?

And what do they give us instead? A sexy pervert with his Baliwood wife?

It's a great show, though. Very over-the-top.

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Yesterday I heard a strange story about some muck oozing out from under downtown LA!

It started the night before. There was a strong sewer smell, so they called the City out, but they couldn't find anything. Then, some cracks started appearing in the street, and the street had to be closed down. Then some muck started oozing out from under an apartment building, and everyone had to be evacuated!

First, they said it was a white substance oozing out. Then it became tarlike, but it was very warm. The nightly newscast said that a neighboring business had been pumping out some hot water, and that might account for the heat. The next day the news said nothing about this neighboring business.

They did say that there are some oil fields in the area, and I think they said only lately did they stop pumping oil from that area.

So is downtown LA built over old oil fields? Are there hollow places down below where the oil used to be? In earthquake country?

This doesn't sound good to me, but what do I know?

Hooked on a Feeling

OK, this is great.

No way would he get away with this silliness in the good ole USA. I think this song was popular when I lived in Germany, so that's somehow fitting.

I started hitting the "Next Blog" button on Blogger, and found a bunch of sites that seem to be the product of random word generation, or some kind of metatag madness.

Spater Gator

I had a nice Valentines Day.

K brought me home flowers and a candy bar in the morning. All day I'd planned to give him the little gift I'd bought him at Target (a little candy tin), but when the time came I learned that J had lost it in her closet. She was hiding it for me, but I should have known better than to put anything into that Bermuda Triangle of her room.

While I was at work, I called and made a reservation at Osterio None's. I love that place. It turned out to be a good thing, too, because when we arrived there (after soccer practice in Burbank) about 7:30, it was packed!

Which is good, because I want restaurants I like to do well and prosper and stay in business, but it was crowded. K let me order, so we shared a spaghetti cruda and a pizza parmesana, and I had a glass of red zinfandel. We were remembering the time we went out for his birthday in Rome, and we ended up trading dinners and loving it!

I also made pop-up valentines cards for the whole family, since I had the leftover supplies from leading this activity for the Brownies. Plus, when J came home from practice, I had cut up some strawberries and heated some chocolate (so easy in the microwave), so we had a delicious red snack before we went out. J gets so into holidays that it motivates me to try to make things special for her. I know she appreciated it because she loves chocolate.

The kids stayed home and ate pizza when K and I went out. When we left she said, "Have fun you lovebirds!"

Isn't she the cutest?

This had been a strange and difficult basketball season.

I guess I can't even remember the summer, but everything seemed fine way back then. Coach A was the new coach, and he seemed young and cute dressing up for the games and having the team dress up too sometimes. It was like he was modeling himself after Pat Riley or Phil Jackson.

G started in the first scrimmage of the "season". Then coach started to not put him in. Then he didn't play in 3 games in a row. Then he got in and took a charge and got stitches.

Then he didn't play in 5 games in a row.

This was very hard for K and I. Everything seemed to shift before our eyes. Parents whose kids started to play more are friends of ours, and so that felt funny. Other parents started saying dumbass things like "We need a bench!" to people whose kids were sitting on the bench. Suddenly I was cheering a lot less, and caring about refs calls a LOT less. This is something we'd never experienced before, and so it was a shock.

In fact, it was a struggle not to go to the dark side and actually root for the other team because, after all, you didn't really want them to win if your kid wasn't playing. We didn't know what to say to the other parents after the games. In fact, we both got to the point where we couldn't even stand it anymore and vowed to not go to anymore games. But luckily we both got out of that mode of thinking before the next game.

Then there was the World of Warcraft aspect and K wanting G to work out more to be more competetive and G resisting because ALL he wanted to do was play that stupid game. And K not being able to not talk about it for even 5 freaking minutes! I may have mentioned, I told G he had to work it out with his dad because I didn't want to have to get a divorce over WOW.

Then our parents came out and he started to get to play more. Will we ever know why? Why did he stop playing him in the first place? And what about all the seniors who didn't get to play? What's the point of having a bench if they don't get any practice?

But all in all I'm proud of all of us for coming through it. G really took it the best of all of us. Neither K nor I actually stopped coming to the games, nor did we leave in the middle like another parent did one time. And gradually G got to play more and more toward the end of the season, so K's parents got to see him play a good amount. And he played well when he was in there, but it was hard for him to feel like he had to prove himself right away every time.

I think I feel the worst for the seniors. It about breaks my heart. This was a terrible season for them. A was a co-captain, and by the end was barely getting to play. I can see it maybe if the strategy was to win and so he couldn't play the seniors, but we DIDN'T win and in fact had one of our worst seasons ever. So the coach may be in trouble too, I don't know. My Dad said he was outcoached in the games he saw, so maybe this coach is really no good! I feel sorry for him, but I think he really screwed up this season for a lot of people.

But a couple of good things came out of it, hopefully. G is going out for track now (high jump), and that might open up more interests or options. I've stopped yelling at refs so much, to that's good. And I've become more determined to get G onto a traveling team than ever, since I can't count on High School to do jack.

After my parents left, the winds were crazy.

They left just in time. When the winds kick up, it's like living in a wind tunnel around here!Everything on the patio blew over, including the unbrella (in the down position) along with the table it was attached to!

The pool cover somehow blew ACROSS THE POOL! It was still rolled up, and was blowing up against the neighbor's house. I'd have liked to have seen that cover blowing across the pool. It must have been something.

My son the critic

Guy criticizes Disney constantly.

I think it's funny, of course, and do little to discourage it. He says that the Disney Channel is a dumping ground for all Disney's old shows. He says they should call it "Disney Barf".

Yesterday he saw a billboard for "Bambi II" and he couldn't stand it. He feels that Disney cheapens a classic by coming out with a straight-to-video sequel. He shook his head sadly and said, "There's nobody in hell because they've all gone to Disney."

He's in that teenager phase where he's critical of everything. I just think it's funny when Disney is the target. Ha, ha, ha.

---------------------------

Josie got an "award" from the principle at her school for improved spelling. It included a coupon for a complimentary kid's meal when accompanied by an adult. So we (Mom & Dad were visiting) all went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner to celebrate her award, but I tried to tell her that "complimentary meal" didn't mean she'd get a complement from the manager. But she DID get a compliment from the Manager, plus a little pin!

So I guess I have to give her teacher credit for trying to be more positive.

-----------------------------------

The reason I say "This is the 818 area code" on my message machine.

The other day I was waiting around at Josie's basketball practice (1.5 Hrs!) and my cell phone rang. I picked it up, and it sounded like a young girl on the other end. She said "Are you a hotel?" and I replied that no, I was not a hotel.

"Well, what are you?" she asked.

This question confused me. What was I? I was not a building, I knew that for sure. I didn't know how to begin to describe what I am. I sort of stammered out, "Well, I'm,...I'm... I'm a PERSON!"

She said OK and hung up.

About 15 minutes later the phone rang again. I picked it up again and was asked, "Are you a hotel?" Again, I stated that I was NOT a hotel. I was curious about this problem, so I asked her, "Where are you calling from?"

She was smart, tho. Smart enough to say,"I can't tell you that. But I'm looking on the internet and this is the phone number for a hotel."

So I asked, "Is in the 818 area code?"

She said, "No, it's 816."

So I said, "Well, this is the 818 area code."

And she said, "Oh, OK. Bye."

And I said Bye to her as well.

The Cheese incident

The other day we were getting ready to go to Guy's game, and I had to go back inside for Pepto Bismal as my stomach was hurting! So while we were back in the house, I told Josie to grab some string cheese, even tho she didn't want any, so she would have it if she got hungry later. She grudgingly got it, and we got into the car and drove away. We were almost to the game when a client called me, so I pulled over and asked Josie for a pen so I could write his address down. The cheese was on top of her backpack, but she opened the backpack to find me a pen. Later, when we were on the road again, she said she couldn't find the cheese. So I had her look and look, but she couldn't find it. So I turned her backpack inside out, but we can't find it! So now I have some cheese somewhere in my car going bad. Just what I needed, right?

Meanwhile, I have to help S cancel his escrow. Not the Christmas present I was looking for. I really hoped he would build those houses, as he could (we both could) have made some good money on those. But I tried to take it as cheerfully as possible, hoping that something else may work out with him in the future.

Winter Solstice
I can't remember how we got onto the subject, but the other day I was pointing out that Dec. 21st is the Winter Solstice, which means it's the shortest day of the year. Then yesterday when it got dark, Josie was saying "Why is it dark so early today?" and things like that, when I finally got that she remembered. Yes, honey, it was the shortest day of the year. Now the days will start getting longer and sunnier - so I'm hoping the new year will bring me lots more luck and success and sun into my life too!


Anyway, today is the 22nd - 3 days before Christmas and I've taken a double shift at work - probably just a part of the quietest time of the year (in terms of Floor Time action). Well, I got 3 good leads today!

Leads are just leads and you never know, but as I said, I'm expecting some good luck soon...

Horoscope 12/23: Daily extended (by Astrology.com)
Improvements are in the stars, starting with your mood. Let your annoyances go and embrace all that's calm and bright; you're going to be welcoming some gifts of both the material kind and those you can't grasp but which are even more meaningful. At the same time, you can begin to let go of some old emotions that have outlived their usefulness and make room for what's fresh and new. It's all occasion for much rejoicing!