June Gloom & Jazz Fest

June Gloom

1. I've never seen the clouds stay so low for so long out here in sunny CA. Last year, at the Boy's graduation, I almost melted from the heat! This year it's been cool, cool, cool.

Meanwhile, we're supposed to have a party in 2 days. Supposedly it's going to warm up for that day - I sure hope it does!

I've been really busy with end-of-the-6th-grade activities I'd volunteered for. Thursday we knocked out these Memory pages we'd made the kids. Friday I went with them on their 6th Grade Trip to go ice-skating and bowling. Whew! I had fun talking with the other Moms (OK, except one), but it tired me out!

It's also been gloomy because some of my favorite bloggers seem to have stopped blogging. I've tried to find others I like, but so far not much luck. Also, it seems to be re-run season on the talk shows, and there's been lots of reliving Thanksgiving and such. Yawn...


Best Day Ever.

2. Last Saturday we had another Best Day Ever. It started out with a nice, relaxing, romantic morning. The Girl's game wasn't until noon, so we all got to sleep in.

She was in kindof a bad mood, so I think it was good that the other team scored right away with a ridiculous mixup by our defense. That put us immediately behind and they played really hard the whole game. They had to win this game to have a hope for getting into the playoffs, so the coach was on them to be serious and play their best.

No one else scored in the first half. The second half, their goalie touched the ball outside the box, and since he was the last defender, he got an automatic red card. We scored with a penalty kick that was just under the pole. Then they got on a roll and scored 2 more times! Yay!

Then, near the end of the game, the Girl (who is sweeper) went for the ball but missed and hit the player on the other team, got an automatic red card because she was the last defender. At first she didn't even know, and the Ref had to tell her to get off the field! So her team had to play short, but the joke was on them because she can't make the next few games anyway. Ha!

We were still up 3-1, but the other team scored on the penalty kick resulting from the Girl's red card. Her team was still up by one, but went ahead and scored again for good measure.

For us it was a good win, a good game, and the Girl was laughing about her red card. Now she says she's gotten every color card.

Then we went home and got ready to go the the Playboy Jazz festival. I'd gone to Trader Joes and loaded up on hummus, chips, flatbread and pita bread. I made some ham and arugula wraps and some drinks, and then we hit the road. We were a little more prepared than last year, taking lots of food, jackets, umbrella, etc.

Like last year, we took the shuttle from the LA Zoo and it was great. It dropped us off right there, and we picked up our tickets and hiked our way to our seats. Our good friend Schlow was there, visiting from Philly. We saw the gang from last year, and it was fun.

This year we were sitting in the middle, so we had a great view of the Hollywood sign beyond the Bowl. After awhile we took a walk, and I discovered a path that leads to a picnic area that has a great view of the Observatory! Too bad I didn't take my camera on that walk.

The bands were great. Each band that came out seemed better than the last, although truthfully I enjoyed them all. When the Pete Escovedo Orchestra came on, his daughter Sheila E. was with them, and she played a little bit of her hit song (Glamorous Life).

People were throwing mardi-gras beads - I guess the Bowl sponsored that, because there were sure a lot of them. I never did need to put on my jacket. Near the end of the evening some guy gave me a glow-in-the-dark stick. I played percussion for awhile with it, but finally stuck it in my hair.

The last band was the Neville Brothers, and they really jammed out to songs like "Fire on the Bayou." It was so fun - good music, good food, good friends.

What more could you ask for?

Hot Dog Soup

The other day I accidentally made hot dog soup. Usually I pride myself in being a good cook, but this soup was ill-advised. I had purchased what claimed to be "Hot Sausage" , and thought I'd use it to make a soup like the sausage-potato soup they serve at Olive Garden. Then I discovered that our potatoes were no longer edible, and K suggested I use the rest of our uneaten mashed potatoes in the refrigerator. Anyway, I think the soup turned out ok except for the meat, which turned out to taste like spicy hot dogs! There was no getting around it - good soup, but hot dogs. I won't be making that again!

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1-800-Dentist

Commercials keep running for 1-800-dentist, quite a few during the daytime. I sometimes suspect my own dentist of being more interested in my pocketbook than my teeth, so one day I called to see if they had a dentist we could use. The guy on the phone (advisor) was extremely nice and asked a few questions about my preferences, location, etc.

"Well, good news!" he enthused, "I found a few in your area!"

"Great!" I answered, "Where are they?"

"One is in Beverly Hills," he said, "and the other is downtown Los Angeles."

Well, neither one of those are anywere near where I live! Who wants to drive 35 miles to visit the dentist? Or even 25 miles when I know there are probably 10 on the nearest big street alone! He claimed that there are only a few dentists who can meet the strict criteria of 1-800-dentist. (I'm thinking that means "dentists who are willing to pay the fee.")

But only 2 in the whole Los Angeles area?! Why even bother to run commercials all the time if there are only 2 dentists in all of Los Angeles? How can they afford to do that?

What about a smaller city or town? How far would they have to drive?

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Reality TV

I got a chance to be part of a Reality show today! They had asked for volunteers to comment on something in the show, and it was pretty fun. I had to be there at 7:30 am, which is WAY early for me, but I woke up excited to go.

It was interesting, it was fun. I can't tell you anything else about it or I could get in really big trouble. But if you see me on TV, let me know!

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Across the Universe

This movie was recommended to me by more than one person. I mentioned that we saw "LOVE" in Las Vegas, and one of my best friends lent me the movie to watch. We've actually had it a long time, so last weekend we sat down to watch it.

What the...? Parts of it actually made my eyeballs hurt! It was a really strange movie. Looking back on it, it may have stimulated my imagination somehow, but it wasn't an enjoyable process.

I've asked around, and people seem to really love it or hate it.

Decide for yourself, at your own risk.


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Lakers vs. Nuggets

My son walked out of the house wearing a Nuggets jersey today. Carmelo Anthony. I told him he's only asking for trouble, but he thinks it's funny I guess. I hope he makes it home OK.

What now?

1. I saw this video, and thought it was really funny. I guess it's more funny if you've seen Jaime Fox's "Blame it on the Alcohol", which is kindof funny all by itself because Ronnie Howard is in it.

2. When my Boy was home for Spring Break, he walked around one day singing, "Kanye West - thinks he's the best" I thought that was pretty funny, for some reason. (because it's true?) The Girl says kids at her school put three fingers in front of their eyes to imitate Kanye - I guess they're making fun of the glasses he wears in one of his videos. I think he's OK, but I don't like that new, flat sound of his new songs.

3. A few weeks ago Lil Kim got voted off Dancing with the Stars, and I just couldn't believe it! I guess there are a lot of country fans out there, but that Ty was pretty cute. I was really impressed with Lil Kim. I'd watched her Reality show, but this show showed her in a different light, and you could see how sweet and pretty she is. And even though this isn't her kind of dance, she gave a really good show every time. She's a real professional.

Usually I don't even vote, but this time I voted for Gils at the last minute. He was the only one without any dance training (I think gymnastics trains girls somewhat similarly to ballet), and I think he did a great job. I was surprised that Shawn won in the end, but they really were all so good, it was pretty even.

4. Could American Idol have been more surprising? Everyone was saying that Adam would win, and I think even Kris believed it too. I have to give him credit for still trying his best and doing a great job with "Heartless." This is also a Kanye West song, and the Girl said, "He managed to make that song sound good!" But when Ryan Seacrest announced that the winner was Kris, the Girl, who was listening from the bedroom, said, "First Lil Kim and now this!"

Don't do this, don't do that

As Mother's Day rolls around again, I'm reminded how much my little girl is growing up. One year she saw Regis & Kelly on TV say that they were looking for people to write in about their wonderful mothers and get them something from their dreams. She looked up at me and I could see she was thinking I was a great Mom and she should do that for me, and I told her it was OK, she didn't have to write a letter. I was happy that she thought I was a great Mom.

Now she's getting older and quieter, while at the same time more irresponsible and silly. She recently didn't even tell her father about the father-daughter dance they'd gone to the last few years, and he was sad about that. But I can see she's gearing up for middle school, and starting to withdraw and fight with us more.

Finally last weekend I told her that she's fighting with me too much. I can see she's headed into the years where everything I tell her is going to be wrong.

We learned from the Boy that kids try NOT to do what you tell them. For instance, I always told him, "No matter what you do, don't bring home a C. I'll get you tutoring, I'll help you any way I can. Just don't get any C's. So his last semester of school he got 4 A's and a C. Everyone says, "That's great about the A's!" But the C was the one thing I told him not to do!

So with that in mind, I want to say to tell the Girl the following:

Don't get good grades. In fact, quit school! Quit sports too.
Get into a relationship early, and what the heck, get married as young as possible!
Don't read, and whatever you do, don't go to college.
Don't learn how to drive, or get a job.
Don't be happy.

Hopefully, in her need to have us be wrong about everything, she'd go against us in a positive direction.

Think that would work?

Eight things

My horoscope, at Free Will Astrology.com, said the following for this week:

"identify five other ways to enjoy yourself without having to spend a fortune or hurt the earth. It's an excellent time, astrologically speaking, to experiment with the hypothesis that cutting down on consumerism can help you discover new approaches to feeling really good. "

So I sat down to think of 5 things, and I thought of a few more, too!

1. Drive somewhere high and look at the lights. You can even take something fun to eat or drink - like a box of doughnuts! No alcohol, though, as that could make the drive down too scary!

2. With kids, it's fun to make your own pizza. Make the dough in advance, then at dinner time divide it into pieces or into one big pizza with everything you want on it. Kids like making their own and eating their own creations.

3. Drive somewhere and enjoy nature = to the mountains to see and play in the snow, to the beach, to a waterfall. Take a light picnic!

4. Movie night! Pick out a few new movies (or oldies but goodies) and make some special popcorn (like maybe Tabasco Popcorn) and get comfortable!

5.Go to a restaurant and split something, like an order of nachos or a bowl of Pho. OK, maybe order a margarita or two. Relax, enjoy, talk and have fun.

6. Make an appetizer dinner. Dig your tin of smoked fish out of the pantry, some capers, olives, maybe some cheese in the refrigerator. Make one or two of your favorite snacks, and add some crackers and/or tortilla crisps, and snack the night away!

7. Have a soup party! Make one or two of your favorite soups, and invite your friends to bring a soup as well as a mug and a spoon. Share the soups, maybe provide some crackers and bread to back them up. Inexpensive, and not much cleanup, as people rinse out and take home their mugs and spoons.

8. Keep track of local restaurant specials. Often they have deals to get people in during the week, or have snacks for FAC. For instance, the local restaurant has "Taco Tuesday" and another has "Margarita Monday." We did this a lot in college too, and it made for some affordable dates.

Things I learned from Reality TV in 2008

-I learned that nearly every problem with dogs can be solved with chicken - or else you tell the dog "Uh uh!." from "It's me or the Dog."

-I learned that every problem with a dog is the fault of the human. And also that humans exude an "energy" that is picked up on by dogs, and we all part of the pack I found out that it's more important to be a good pack leader than a friend to the dog, and to forget the past, look to the future, and live in the now. - From "Dog Whisperer"

-I learned way more than I ever wanted to about Cloris Leachman - from "Dancing with the Stars."

-I learned that every overly messy houses and hoarding problems are "foolishness" and a symptom of another issue. I also learned to put a large flower in my hair. - from "Clean House."

-I learned that even someone with 8 kids can have OCD and refuse let their kids walk barefoot on hotel room carpet (like the bedspreads are better? - from "Jon and Kate plus 8."

-I learned you have to taste your food before sending it out to be eaten - on "Top Chef."

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a nice New Year's Eve. I ate way too much, and now have to start exercising more.

My sister, R, went to Aspen to visit friends for New Year's Eve. My Dad was worried about her driving in the mountains, but it turns out he should have been worried about a nut delivering bombs to banks. What are the odds, right? They ended up evacuating parts of town, so altho she didn't get evacuated, she couldn't go out for New Year's Eve! Everything was shut down!

But I guess she could hear the police cars and the police detonating the bombs. I heard the guy left long rambling notes around town, threatening mass destruction. I think he just wanted to be heard, and thought no one would read his long rambling notes unless he punctuated them with bombs!

My sister- she's always where the action is.