An email worth repeating!

Jay Leno wrote this; it's the Jay Leno we don't often see....

"The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true, given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence, 2/3's of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What are we so unhappy about?'' Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?

Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?

Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time, and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?

Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?

I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough.

Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all, and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings.

Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.

This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the President who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The President who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same President who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11?

The President that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?

The Commander-In Chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

Think about it...are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go.

They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want, but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds, it leads; and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about "how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way"...Insane!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

We are among the most blessed people on Earth, and should thank God several times a day or at least be thankful and appreciative.

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Jay Leno
2007

Please keep this in circulation. There are so many people that need to read this and grasp the truth of it all.

Why he isn't a 2nd baseman!

He-man is feeling pretty bad at the moment.

His team scrimmaged his own team today, and he was playing 2nd base. A popup was hit behind 2nd base, and the tank took off after it. Well, you know how center fielders are smaller and lighter and faster?

Suffice it to say the smallest kid on the team collided with the biggest. He said the center fielder flew about 5 feet and was laid out.

I would bet the boy who collided with He-man is going to feel like a truck hit him in the morning!

Dimples

He-man had to be to baseball earlier than we did yesterday, so I thought about sending him on with his team. When I asked him if he could get a ride, he said....

Ummmmm, I could DRIVE over there?! I looked at him, and he was trying hard to not smile, but his dimples were so deep on his cheeks!

While he has driven that probably 20 times, Studmuffin and I just weren't ready for that yet!

So last night, we were all tired after baseball and had gotten all cozy at home, and I watched Suzi use the last of the milk.

I asked He-man to run to the store and grab some. Again, those dimples were shining. He said, are you SERIOUS? I think he was shocked that I was asking him to drive alone.

So he went to the store without incident.

When he walked back into the house, there they were again. No smile, mind you, but the dimples don't lie

I don't think my baby will ever be a good poker player. He just doesn't have the face for it!

Uh oh!

My daddy just called me and yelled at me.

He wanted to know why I was trying to get HIS little baby boy arrested for a stolen car! He said we've done gotten plumb wild and crazy in California! (yes, he uses the word plumb for those that will laugh at that)

Well, after our fines and 2.5 hours at DMV, we have our tag renewed. Funny thing though, the car still isn't registered to us. The lady told us to keep the original registration where it WAS registered with the new one where it's not. California cops must be used to this kinda thing!

Note to self: Renew tags in November. Not a birthday month or a month that means anything to anybody, but November! I can see this happening again!

I am

Nervous, excited, scared to death but above all, happy for my little He-man. He's a licensed driver now :)

Look out all you California drivers!

UPDATE

The appointment was for 9:10 this morning. The computers are down at DMV. They are still waiting! Can you believe California is so archaic? This is why I wasn't really expecting him to get his license today. It's just the way it goes here. It took us 3 or 4 attempts to get our licenses switched and tags for the car. Nothing simple in California. I guess if they made things more efficient, they couldn't justify the bazillions of tax dollars we pay!

But, on the upside, it IS beautiful here. :)

Is this scary or what?

Yesterday, on the way to the baseball game, we were about 5 minutes from the school we were going to. All of a sudden, we hear a siren. Look up and it's Officer Poncherello (chips) pulling my baby boy over! I thought oh, NO! He doesn't even have his license yet!

Come to find out, our license plates had expired in November. I actually didn't believe the cop and got out and looked for myself. Sure enough.

We have a ticket that is a fixit kind of ticket, so no big deal.

I went to AAA to renew the tag while I was waiting for the game to start. WELL, come to find out, ass backwards California has screwed up our registration somehow. Mind you, I have a registration to my tag that is registered to me and to my car. Well, now it isn't in the system that way.
We have to go to DMV to fix it. Who knows how that will happen.

Anyway, so He-man is off to DMV, but we are thinking because this is California and nothing is ever easy and quick here, he probably won't get his license today. But I have my fingers crossed for him!

My little baby boy!

I wish you could really see the face this boy is making. It has to be intimidating!

Paying it forward

Whenever I go to a restaurant and get good service, I ALWAYS will either ask to speak to a manager, leave a comment card or will call back and speak to a manager. I figure they always get to hear when someone does a bad job, but not always on the good jobs. Plus, I think if someone is doing a good job, they should be commended.

Today, I went to In & Out, a burger joint here in California. They were extremely busy, and it took a few minutes to get our food. But the entire time we waited for our food, every single person was busting their butt. So our wait wasn't because of any person being slow or not doing their job.

Then, once I got my food, I was watching and saw people come out from the back, clean tables, sweep floors, open blinds once the sun went down, filling catsup containers. It really reminded me of the Visa commercial where someone wants to write a check and everybody just stops. They were like bees buzzing around in there.

So I was quite impressed. Very clean and everybody was doing their jobs.

Now, mind you. Every time I ask to speak to a manager, you can tell they get nervous like, uh oh, what did I do. I asked to speak to the manager and informed him of what I was witnessing.

Fast forward. I get home and am talking to The Studmuffin.

He said, guess what. My boss called today. He said one of my dealers called him. Haha, I too said, oh, no! What happened!

He said the dealer could not say enough good things about him. The boss said that the dealer thinks Hubby walks on water. Another awesome thing. The boss was with the zone vice president. He conveyed what the phone call was about.

A good friend the other day called this "paying it forward." I would do what I do regardless, but it sure is nice to come full circle in the same day!

Status symbol?

I have been using American Express almost exclusively for about 5 years now. I do that so that I pay it off every month and to rack up rewards points. They have over the years sent me "special offers."

Now, mind you, I have the plain Jane, green rewards card. It does what I want it to, and I get the rewards.

I got a thing in the mail from Amex. Because I have been such a valued customer, they want to reward me. They want to give me a platinum card. Wooo hooo, right? WRONG.

After reading 4 or 5 pages of the benefits of having a platinum card, the very last page gives you the kicker. The yearly charge is $450.

Ummmm, no, thanks. I'll settle with my little green card that does everything I need it to. I prefer the status to be in my bank account, not on a card in my wallet and certainly not in American Express' wallet!

Skaterboy

I always get excited when George Porge will let me take pics or video. He's a bit camera shy!

I am gonna be in trouble!

With all these bird nests to babysit!

A friend just gave me a link to a bald eagle's nest!

All of the nests I have had in all the homes I have been in, usually right after the chicks hatch, something gets them, either a snake or a cat or in Florida, the weather once. So maybe with these webcams, I will get to enjoy the whole thing from eggs to fledging!

Check this out if you have time. They are beautiful!

http://www.wvec.com/cams/eagle.html

Reflection

When I think about what my life was like just 10 short years ago, I am amazed at how far I have come. My parents have teased about me having a midlife crisis, but there is no other age I would rather be! I am healthier now than I have ever been. I am happier now than I have ever been. If the next 10 years are as good to me as the last, wooooo hooooo. Bring them on!

One thing I attribute it to is surrounding yourself with good people. I highly recommend it. I am so thankful for my family and friends. What a group!

My card from The Studmuffin

This is just too wonderful not to share!

For the love of my life
From the man who adores you.

Thank you for being
the love of my life,
The wonderful one I adore,
The person who shares
all my dreams and desires,
My plans, my adventures,
and more!
Thank you for being
my very best friend,
My comforter when
things go wrong,
The one who encourages,
cheers me, believes in me,
Changes my "weak"
to my "strong."

Thanks for being
my partner in life
And for filling my heart
with such pride.
I feel like the happiest man
in the world
With the woman I love
by my side.

Happy Birthday!




Amazing that I met him when I was 16. Who knew he would be a perfect husband and father?! I DID!
Right back at ya, baby! I love you!

My dreams

Some of you who know me know that I have dreams quite frequently, and at times, they have been known to come true.

I am going to chalk last night's dream up to having a birthday because I DARN SURE don't want last night's to come true!

I was picking my husband off the floor because I had just told him I was pregnant. I think at this stage in the game, I would be picking him off the floor mentioning any kind of pregnancy in THIS household! Come to think of it, we would probably both be on the floor!

My friends.....

Are the absolute COOLEST! I got up by about 6:30 this morning and have already had everybody tell me Happy Birthday! One even started yesterday, you know who you are

And my mom called yesterday to warn me of a package on the way.

I am so loved! I forgot all about being old


Actually, I am not old. I have many, many years ahead of me, and I intend to be laughing and smiling for many years to come!

Thanks, everybody!

I am avoiding work!

It's such a beautiful spring day outside and this is how I feel!

Past lives

I think I might have been a farmer in a past life. For one, I am just in awe of all the agriculture around here, but as I pass by these fields that are being plowed and watered and all that, I wish I was out riding on a tractor, wind blowing through my hair and going home covered in dirt!

When He-man was about 18 months or so, I remember riding down the road in Indiana with my grandmother. He said, Look Grandma Windy (that's what he called her) corn growin!! I wish I had He-man telling me what's growing around here now! He would have had a field day with Grandma Windy around here! Even I don't know what all is growing yet. But I sure intend to find out!

I miss these guys! Nancy, this is for you!

My best bud reminded me yesterday that it was not until I visited her home that I ever saw my first hummingbird! AAAAAAAAAH, good times!

I'm a bird nut!

And even though they ARE raptors, I still like these things. This is a webcam for peregrine falcons.

I read up on raptors after Jack was picked up by something. While they scare me in that they can pick up my little dog, they also fascinated me.

When we lived in the hills, Suzi would run home as fast as she could if she saw hawks flying near our house. She would run in saying, MAKE SURE JACK IS IN! She would be soooo worried.

So far, at this house, I haven't seen the big birds flying, but I am hearing the American Kestrel which is a smaller type falcon. I don't think they are big enough to pick up Jack, but they do a nasty thing to pigeons!

http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/falcon/

There is also a live webcam on this site. Two eggs already!

The fun house

It is spring break and has been since last week. My children haven't left the house except for baseball practice and dance or gymnastics. Now, there have been a bazillion kids in and out of here.

Today, a couple young boys were here playing with Suzi. We were getting ready to eat dinner, and one boy came to me and asked.....my brother and I want to know.....

And I fully expected him to ask to stay for dinner. That is not an unusual request around here.

No. He said, my brother and I want to know if we can spend the night.

After I picked up my jaw from the floor, he said so they could hang out with the boys!

Mike is here this week too, so it's a boy fest upstairs anyway.

Suzi got ditched by the boys for the boys! Mike and He-man came downstairs telling about how the little ones were trying to get them to ask if they could stay the night. I think it's kinda cool that my older ones don't run the younger ones off. I think the lil guys like watching and learning the games they play.

I know things are going to change drastically in the next few years, so I will just enjoy the togetherness while I can!

Who knew?!

That a 10-year-old girl would still want to color easter eggs? She is improvising because her terrible mother didn't buy egg dye. They are drying really good right now, and she is going to use marker on them! I may be out tomorrow buying 50 percent off egg dye.

That was the plan all along. I like to do it the thrifty way :)

She'll always be my little angel.





Edited to add: The markers worked GREAT! It was a happy Easter after all!

I didn't take this

But I wish I had! I would love to get lost in a field of these! Wishing, for my northern friends, a little more spring!

Do I title this....

Warning: Student driver or Blind Leading Blinder?

I have He-man out front parallel parking. I had to enlist The Hubby's help because quite frankly, I would walk 10 miles rather than parallel park my car!

We have our huge trash cans out there, and he is pulling in between them. So far, our insurance has only gone up about 2 grand because of it all

Actually, I know I shouldn't laugh. I should knock on wood. I should be on bended knee praying this kid never wrecks my car!

Now, I ask you, have you ever asked a teenager if he wants to drive, and had that teenager say, no??

I told him we were going to go practice parallel parking and he groaned. GROANED! I said, don't you want to get your license?

He said, No, then I have to pay for insurance. What is the equivalent to an old maid? He-man will probably end up being one

Happy Easter!

Paring down

To the essential version of myself. It started about 8 months ago when I got a horrible perm that burned my hair and turned it a lovely shade of orange! Well, I finally decided to get rid of ALL of it. I really like it!

My children are asking why I want to look like my mom and why hubby wants to look like his dad. He shaved off his mustache this morning. We've been together 22 years, and I have never seen him without it. Meet my new man

A profound quote...

While I don't think I will ever want to be topless on a magazine, good for Jamie Lee Curtis. I do think she is a very beautiful woman. She will be on the cover of the March AARP magazine.

I pulled a quote that I really do like.

Curtis says, "Growing older means paring down to an essential version of yourself."


"I want to be older," she tells the magazine. "I actually think there's an incredible amount of self-knowledge that comes with getting older. I feel way better now than I did when I was 20. I'm stronger, I'm smarter in every way, I'm so much less crazy than I was then."

This is the article if you want to read the rest.
http://snipurl.com/22d0j [news_aol_com] There is also an article on People.com.

I also feel better than I did when I was 20. I was thinking, it's really too bad your children can't skip those years and just meet up with you. I guess that's when you learn everything though, if you didn't already know everything when you were a teenager :)

Still no chocolate

I talked to an old friend today that knows me pretty well.

I prefaced telling him by asking if he was sitting down. He said, yes.

I said, it's been a good two weeks now that I haven't eaten candy or chocolate.

His response......and you're still breathing?

It really is a huge deal. I don't know what to attribute this non craving to, but whatever it is is wonderful!

It's slow

I'm sorry. Not a whole lot of interesting stuff here lately.

My daughter just ran down the stairs a few minutes ago and asked me....

What did the lawyer name his daughter?

Answer: Sue.

Then she asked me. Do you get it?

She might be a comedienne in the making :)

My ecstacy....

Which should worry me more? That my son saw a pill in my car that had an E on it and questioned why I had ecstacy? Or that he figured if it has an E on it, that means ecstacy?? Or that he's even talking about ecstacy at all???

Actually, I thought I was going to need a little caffeine boost one day, and I thought I would take an Excedrin. I didn't take it and left it in my car. A day or two later, I saw it and thought, MAN! I wonder if I get pulled over if a cop would search me for drugs!

So being that my son thought like me on this, I think it is my sixth sense telling me to get it out of there, just so we don't ever have to go there!

It's pretty bad when you're old and your ecstacy comes from Excedrin :)


*edited to add: I guess I should have made it clearer that he was joking, too. He's goofy like his mom. If I had gotten in someone's car and seen it, I probably would have said the same thing :) And I definitely don't know what the real E looks like!

This is exciting on a few levels.

First of all, this is California. Notice the blue skies and palm trees? The white line of trees in the middle of the picture, I have no clue what they are, but they are darn pretty right now!

Now for the most exciting part. See the light green shade on the dirt? Someone informed me today that that is CORN! YES!!!!!! This Indiana country girl LOVES corn!! So every day I pass these fields, I will be anticipating my corn and tomatoes. California was the Garden of Eden, I tell ya!

For my mom!

YES, this is the baby that you wouldn't take the picture of because you thought he was too big to be ours :)

Speaking of yellow weeds

I really have no idea what these are. I call them the yellow weeds, and I am the idiot on the side of the road taking pictures of them. I am 5 foot 4. These things are taller than me! Sometimes, you have to stop and smell the roses. I had to improvise :)

A little more bragging

Bear with me! This is a sequence of him stealing second. I enjoyed taking pics today. Look at those green hills in the background. And it even has our pretty yellow weeds :)

They ran him back to first.
But he finally made it!

Jinxed my baby!

I must have jinxed him. I have video of him getting hit twice, but I shut off the video right after it hit him, and it did something to the video, and it shuts off too soon. The boy got hit THREE times today. This was his 4th at bat. His on base percentage was 100 percent today :) Look at this hit and the RBI running in! They beat the across town rival today!

Look what we found!!!!

This is my first time seeing a hummingbird nest!

It's so awesome. I didn't think I would have any hummers this year, but looks like we have a couple anyway :)

As good as it gets!

Today is the day that Rosco goes home. I think this is as good as it's going to get with Jack and Rosco being buds. If they get face to face, Jack "smiles" and shows off his wolf teeth, and Rosco promptly backs away. We really did try, but I just don't think Jack is very social.

For Kathy

We have never lived near my father-in-law, so I can't say that we ever knew him "well." He came to visit a few weeks back and brought his wife with him. Now, my hubby's mom is my mother-in-law, and after my mother-in-law came the witch-in-law, and luckily she's out of the picture now, and now, there's Kathy. I don't know that hubby would call her his stepmom. And I feel kind of funny calling her my step mother-in-law. So suffice it say, I will call her friend :)

We had such a nice time while they were here. Hubby was kind of surprised to know that he was a lot more like his dad than he ever would have imagined. (I already knew this!)

We said that they would get back to the windmill farms to take pics, and we never did. It's nice to have friends that are also family!

Even the weeds...

are beautiful in California! I know, I'm weird!

OOPS!

I forgot to add, this is the river that those two wayward whales had swam up this past fall, I believe it was. There was another whale, Humphrey, who did it a few years back as well.

I just think they were wanting to take the scenic route, too :)

I'm a country girl!

There are no two ways about it.

We took the scenic route home last night from some friends' house. It took us along the Sacramento River on some levee roads. We meandered through some small towns with some older homes. It was just beautiful. Sometimes I think California could possibly have been the Garden of Eden.

This is the sunset we watched as we drove. The picture doesn't do it justice at all. It was like a huge fireball dropping below the mountains. As it sat, the sky became bluer and the water mirrored the blue. There was just this phenomenal orange line on top of the mountains. I really was in awe.

I am not sure what kind of trees we passed, apple, pear, peach, cherry, almond, and for all I know, it could have been all of the above.

I definitely want to go take a ride through there in the fall. I'll keep you posted!

EARTHQUAKE!

No, not really


But when Hubby is snoring, I found out today why my latest attempts to stop him from snoring have worked.

Normally, I would pat him and tell him to turn over. A couple times lately, I have been so comfy and so tired, I didn't have the energy to reach over there. So I rocked the bed!

One time I did it, he said, was that you? I was thinking to myself, well, who else would it be?

Last night, he said, yeah?

I said, roll over.

This morning he said, do you remember waking me up last night? I said when?

He said, I don't know the time, but you did the earthquake thing. A simple pat will work!

So when I rock the bed like that, he thinks there's an earthquake

Chef George

I told ya he likes to cook! He's making radish roses. Isn't the girl who snags him going to be quite the lucky one?!

Homemade tattoo

I talked the other day about being worried about him getting hit by a ball. Here ya go! This is the day after. You can still see the outline of the ball and laces down the middle. Not sure if it is going to be visible after the pic posts. We'll see.

My kind of snowballs!

I pass this every day when I go to the gym, and we had some major winds the last couple of days, so I was so worried I would miss it, but here they are in all their glory!

This is another reason spring is my favorite season. Except for missing the time of harvest, I could live with a year round spring!

People probably thought I was nuts standing in the middle of their road taking pictures!

Meet Rosco

Yes, I could have digitally enhanced this picture and taken away the green eyes, but I left it because I think this is how Jack sees Rosco!

Jack completely believes that Rosco is possessed. I sometimes wonder :)

Jack will have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with him, unless we talk his favorite 4 letter word. WALK (if we want to talk about this around Jack, we spell it backwards because he knows what we are saying)

When they were both on a leash and able to pee on bushes, life was grand. But in the safe abode that Jack calls his home, all friendliness was OFF.

Jack has very big teeth and he showed them off big time yesterday. Hopefully, today will be a better day (sigh)

Big deal

For those that know me and know that I could polish off a pound of chocolate in a day's time, you will be very shocked to know this. In my quest to lose a little weight, I changed my eating habits drastically. While, no, I haven't lost any weight per se, I am much healthier and feel better. Yesterday, I was telling The Hubby, the only thing sweet I ate yesterday was 2 thin mint girl scout cookies. Just two cookies.

Quite unheard of for me, I know. I could eat 2 boxes of thin mints in a day :) But the other thing, that was the only thing sweet I had to eat all day. I was pretty shocked about that when I thought about it.

Now, if someone tries to tell me salsa is bad for me, just shoot me :)

Creature of habit

Me? or the dog?

Jack is looking at me putting my shoes on to go to the gym. He is looking around trying to figure out where hubby is. Normally, I leave before hubby, so things are not going according to plan this morning, and Jack knows it! Hubby left a little bit ago while sleeping beauty Jack was still in bed!

Little does Jack know, a little bit later, Rosco, our friend's pug will be stopping by and staying for a couple days. This should be very interesting! More to come!

It's 10 pm. Do you know where your kids are?

Yep!

They're upstairs in bed. Sleeping? Ummmm, no.

I just got this text message from He-man. Apparently, he disapproves of my wake up methods :)

"Mom, I have an alarm clock. No more lights in the face, please." So polite, isn't he?!

It's bad when your children text you from the other room as opposed to coming to see you. Gotta love technology!

A whole new ballgame

You know, when you have a little guy playing tball, you do worry about them getting hit by a ball, but it's a different kind of worry. It's one of those things, you know they will get hit, you pick them up, dust them off and get them back out there.

Today, I watched He-man pitch (which he did rather well, if I may say so) and it's a whole new ballgame when the ball is pitched between 70 and 80 miles an hour, and it gets hit back straight at the pitcher. I think my heart skipped a few beats. It's very different when it's a boy/man hitting that ball too. He-man's got great eye hand coordination (video games) but even he was jumping a little on this one. His catcher was teasing him about why didn't he get it. A couple minutes later, there was one hit back at him with a little less heat that he fielded and got an out.

He's been playing baseball for like 12 years now, I think! Good times!

Poor Jack

I don't know what exactly he was thinking.

It's all very routine. We open the back door, he goes out, does his thing and comes back and waits for the door to be opened.

Sometimes, if we don't do it quick enough for his liking, he will bark or "scratch" at the door.

This routine NEVER varies.

I just let him out and was toodling in the kitchen. I looked out at him, and he wasn't by the door or anything. Next thing I know, I hear a thud. I look around, and he was shaking his head. The silly dog walked into the door. He must have been daydreaming of living in a home with a doggy door!

He was trying to tell me earlier that all the blankets had been folded up and that he needed one. It took me a little bit to catch on, but now, he's a happy camper, snug as a bug in a rug and seems to be fine.

It must be Monday :)

I get up early, buzz around here getting the kiddos off to school, did the dishes, a couple loads of laundry, folded some laundry, ate a good breakfast, all in anticipation of my 930 a.m. kickboxing class. I have looked forward to today all weekend because last week, I did a spin class after kickboxing and stretched out everything in my legs, and I just felt sooooo good.

It hit me at 845. Is the class at 930 or at 830?

Yep, you guessed it. It started at 830. I guess it's all good because of all I accomplished, but darn it, I like starting my week out with a good workout! Maybe there is something good going to happen around the corner? I hope!

It's that time again!

Two peas in a pod!

Too much testosterone in this house!

He-man had a ballgame today. They went to Chevy's afterwards. He didn't eat while he was there. He ordered, but he brought his dinner home.

Why?

The baseball team decided to see who could eat the most jalapeños at one time. He said he ate 9 at one time.

The Hubby said, yeah, but you won, right?

He-man said, HELL YEAH!

The Hubby said, that's my boy!


I would bet the farm that my husband has taken part in a jalapeño contest at one point or another!

Murphy's law on milk

It really never fails. Even though we buy about 8 gallons of milk at a time (2 gallons in each box from Costco), whenever I get a hankering for a good bowl of cereal, I go to the fridge, it is always bare.

Old Mother Korndog is gonna be cranky because she didn't get her fiber :)

Actually, I am eating my granola dry as a bone, imagining how wonderful it would taste floating in some ice cold milk. It's really not the same though!

It would be cheaper if you could use gasoline on your cereal. Just sayin...

Mom, you stay out of this :)

I know that I did not teach my children that cleaning their rooms meant to shove everything in the closet and/or the corners of the room.

They think that if there is a landing strip down the middle of the room, that that plane will fly.

Well, it just crashed and burned cuz mom and dad are NOT HAPPY!

Suzi is very impressed that she can see the floor of her closet now. She wants to take a break now though so MOMMY can finish HER ceramic painting. She wants to go there so I can finish MY project. Added bonus, she can choose another project!

And, Mom, when you read this post, you are forbidden to comment

Help!

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but this old dog is trying hard to learn new tricks!

My new years resolution was to take some type of art class. I would love to learn how to paint a landscape. All the art classes I have taken in my lifetime (very few) I wish I could take now.

My problem? I am too much of a perfectionist. If I mess up, I scrap it and start over. I have learned in the last few years actually that I don't have to do anything perfect. If I do the best I can, anything I do will be original, and it will be mine.

I took Suzi to a ceramics studio today. She was sooooo excited. She picked her piece and colors of paint, etc. (Granny has a surprise coming!)

She was just exactly like me. She was worried about not having straight lines, etc. I kept telling her, just paint it the way you like it. Don't worry about it.

Then, of course, I was trying to paint a thin line on mine, and the brush had a stray hair sticking out. RRRRRRRRRRRRR

I thought about what I am trying to learn though. I rolled with it. Gotta set a good example for my pup!

A revelation!

Did you know that in a bag of Tostitos flour tortilla chips, there are 10 servings of 140 calories a piece?

If you put the pencil to that, since salsa is good for you anyway, you could eat the whole bag of chips with salsa and nothing else in a day and be under a 2000 calorie diet :)

Things are looking up! I might have created a new diet for myself!

I know, I know. Salsa anonymous :)

Almost finished, I swear!

If you knew how many hours I spent going through old pictures, you'd understand why I couldn't just pick a couple of them. In fact, I could have scanned a half a bazillion more!

I found about a dozen or so of these. They are pics of He-man and George of course, along with pictures of my best friend growing up's 2 daughters. I had baby baby pics of He-man and my friend's oldest daughter. Who knew that just 15-16 years later they would become an item. It's been going on about 7 months now or so that they have been talking. Mind you, we live in California, and they in Indiana. If and when they do actually get to date, their communication skills should be superb :)

Ulterior motives

We're hoping they take care of their mom and dad when they get old. Looking back, I guess it's a pretty good thing they never had any co-incidents (as Jules calls them) with those tools. George is the one who still uses tools quite often. He's all the time taking skateboards apart and putting them back together. If I bought him the wood, he'd have a half pipe built in the garage!



They actually still work this good together. They get along rather well.

What did I feed her?

Suzi was giving me hell when she was looking though the pictures. MOM! What did you FEED ME? In this picture, it was pure sugar she was eating.



She was really going crazy seeing this belly!




She brought me a picture of her when she was about 3 months old. Again, she hollered, MOM! What did you FEED me?!

I cured that. I don't think she will be asking that ever again.

I said, well, what did I feed you?

Breast milk!

She let out a VERY LOUD UGGGGGGH!

WHY didn't you feed me NORMAL milk!

I guess I should have asked her if she would rather have sucked a cow teet!

Bear with me!

I've been looking at old pictures, having a great time doing so!

Remember I told about George Porge flexing? I couldn't find the one of him and hubby flexing together, but I found this one!




An alias of George's was Dennis the Menace. I can't remember why we called him that!

Look what I found!

This is a blast from the past. My buddy, S, she was practicing for when she got her daughter! She was a great mom, before she even knew she would be one!





This was Suzi breaking in S' cats :)

Patience is a virtue

And for those know me and know me well, I am trying hard to learn patience.


I was at a new JCPenney store today, it just opened yesterday. I got a couple things and away to the checkout I went. Little did I know, they only have 3 checkout stations in this whole big new store. Each checkout has 4 stations, so 12 stations all together. I get to the line at the front of the store where I had parked. There had to have been about 20 people in line. People were getting kind of anxious and unhappy.

What looked like a manager came by and told us all that there were other lines. I ended up going to another line. The whole process was about 20 minutes, I think.

It was finally my turn, and I realized that in that time, I had somewhere dropped one of the shirts I had picked up. UGGGGGH. If I got out of line to go get it, I would have to wait all over. If I went to grab one, I would make all those people wait on me. I could just do without it.

I went ahead and checked out. I then decided that I did want that particular shirt. I went back to get it, and when I got back, I went to the shorter line. I struck up a conversation with an elderly woman behind me. She was very sweet. When I noticed the line wasn't moving, I decided to move over to the other one.

She followed me, and we continued talking. A friend who was with her began talking about a coupon. I really didn't know what they were talking about, but before I knew it, they were handing me this coupon. They had 2 and were not going to use it. It was $10 off a purchase of at least $10.

So for all my waiting and issues at the store, it turned out to be worth the wait. I got a free shirt that I would not otherwise have gotten!

Have you ever thought.....

WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?


I did my kickboxing class yesterday, and I still had a little energy afterwards. There are some instructors that I just love to be around because they are very energetic and very motivating. I realized last week that one instructor that I just love and have missed going to because of schedule issues, she has a spin class right after kickboxing.

What is spin? It's a four letter word, I tell ya!

Within 5 minutes into the class, I was thinking, now what the hell was I thinking!? How do I escape this torture?

The one redeeming quality at the time was that the air conditioning must have been blasting, it was a small room, and the fans were on. I was actually COLD! Normally, I am sweating out half the water in my body by that point.

So as not to be embarrassed, I stuck it out. It was all good though. My legs became numb after the first 10 minutes, and I couldn't feel anything :)

I made it through and realized that that bike helped stretch all the little tensed up muscles in my legs. It was a good thing after all. My legs feel better today than they have in a long time. I'm ready to go back.....maybe :)

In touch...

With his feminine side?

Jack doesn't care what color it is if it's warm :)

Remember them?

I put the feeders out with the thinking, if I build it, they will come.

Good news! I had a hummingbird this morning.

What a way to start a Monday morning!

The gym hottie!

Today, while I was working my butt off (hopefully, literally) at the gym, I spied this gorgeous guy looking at me. He smiled, I smiled.

I looked over again a few minutes later, he winked, I winked!

A few minutes later, he came by and asked me if I was from out of town (think Night at the Roxbury)

I asked him if he was flirting with me. He said, should I be?

I told him he probably shouldn't because I have a totally sexy hubby that would kick his butt.

He said he wasn't worried about him.

So I brought him home

I did not sow this!

So why am I reaping it?

The Hubby went joyriding in his mom's Lincoln when he was 14. He sowed it!

Today, we tried to talk the kids into going to Mt. Diablo with us. We didn't tell them WHEN we were going, just that we were. Hubby and I went to the gym, and for some reason, he didn't take his toiletries to shower at the gym. We had to come home first. I even mentioned on the way home about how this was taking lots of time, he should have just showered at the gym. I found out why fate had us come home.

Well, lo and behold, we walk in the house, and boy did the kids look surprised as they sat eating their McDonalds. Now, I do have a 16 year old, but he does not have a license yet. We asked where the McD's came from.

Answer, we were hungry. (Nevermind the pantry and fridge full of food)

How did you get this?

He-man drove to get it.

Seems someone thought we wouldn't be home for a while so they would clean up the evidence before we got home.

They were so much easier when they were 2!

I guess I should be thankful it wasn't like Hubby's joyride. The Lincoln got hit when he parked to go and get pizza. I guess I should check my own car before I say that!

Free

Can you believe it's March already? Seems like it was just Christmas! Here's to hoping you have a wonderful spring, and I hope you always feel as free as a bird!

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took just outside the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

My little half pint!

Yaaaay! You can see metal AND dimples! I was teasing He-man this morning. The back of that jersey has the number 44. In high school, The Hubby's football jersey number was 88. I told He-man I am going to start calling him Half Pint now :) Yeah, he loves me!