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...