from Mary

1.) How do you handle so much nice weather? Starting to get jealous of you Cali people.
ha ha, it is real tough! Let me tell you. Actually it can get a little bit hot and it never rains enough, but other then that, it IS great!

2.) How do you make time for all of your kids, while working full time? It seems like you have endless time/energy.
Ha ha. I really don't do much. I really don't. I love my job and I love my family, luckily we seem to have gotten a great combo!

3.) If you could only watch 1 TV show for the rest of this season, which would it be?
Man, tough! I am so into Grey's Anatomy but I have been watching Eastenders for years, so I guess I would pick Eastenders.

4.) Do you sleep with your feet under the covers or outside?
Most of the time under

5.) If you could change 1 thing about yourself, what would you change and why?
Oh my gosh, my weight. I am so not focused on losing weight. I wish I were, but no. If I were to pick something else, it would be my temper. I am pretty easy going but you never know when POW I might freak out!

Thanks for asking Mary!

Books

I have been taking the kids to storytime at the library for the last few weeks. I have been reading 3/4 books a week and thought I would put them on here.


You Don't Know Jack


The Wrong Man


The Road to Home



Scoop

My obituary. Will anyone read it?

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Mackey did it. I did it too!

happy, sad. happy, sad

Well my friend of about five years is leaving work. There is a 10 year age difference between us (me being older) but you would never know it. We get along so well. We agree on so many different topics. We enjoy talking politics and have most of the same views. We agree on child rearing which is great because we are strict like her parents and she turned out great! We are both completely down on Wal-mart! We LOVE going to Target! We talk about everything! Kids, movies, husbands, money, anything.

She is going to leave and she is going to work somewhere else. I know this won't be the end of our friendship. It never could. It will just be harder to see her. We go to lunch together every single day. Now we will have to arrange time to see one another.

I am SO happy for her. This is a great opportunity for her, but I will miss her so much! It will be really weird. No Natalie at lunch. No Natalie waiting to get in before anyone else is there and staying until everyone else leaves. No Natalie to tell everyone else they are "racial", one of our favorite things to do. Watch what you say around us.

I will miss her!

wow

Link

UCLA Fight Fight Fight

Oh yeah Final Four! I knew they would do it!

I got this in an e-mail from my cousin. Amen!

gulp

I passed by this broken fire hydrant the other day. Man that is a lot of wasted water!

ahhh So Cal

It is a P E R F E C T 80 degrees with a slight breeze. Oh yeah. This is why some crazy people are paying $400,000.00 for a 600 sq ft loft. PERFECT. Okay, well yes, there have been a few fires. A little bit of ash here and there, but other than that...

It really is a beautiful perfect day. I was driving by the beach today and there were so many people out there walking. Don't these people work? Don't they have somewhere to be? Must be nice! Wish I could have taken Cucui to the dog beach. She loves it there!

I am happy about the time change. It was so nice yesterday. Eric and I went for a walk after work with Siobhan riding her bike. That little girl likes to go fast. For a girly girl she will push the limits!

Tonight is story time at the library. I read three books this week. Hmmm, wonder what we should have for dinner? With weather like this we will have to start cooking outside. Did I mention it is PERFECT outside?

AM

I am NOT a morning person, but I recently changed my morning routine. You see I require very little time to get ready in the morning. I do not wear make-up. I wash my hair, brush it and it is done. I get up an hour and a half before I have to be at work and my work is about 8 minutes away. Last week I decided I was going to stop taking Krystal to school which meant I had to leave the house by 7:40. Now I leave by about 8:10. That half hour makes all the difference. I have time to eat in the morning if I want. I have always taken the time to lay with the little one's in the morning but now I don't feel rushed at all. It is wonderful. I am actually making sure Siobhan (and Diego if he decides to eat) get a good breakfast before we leave the house, it isn't always cereal. I have never been one of those crazy people in the morning (the kind you can tell are late by the way they drive!) but now, oh man, I feel like I could accomplish anything in the morning. Of course I rarely get anything extra done. I might do a few dishes but I don't FEEL rushed. That is the key I think. Isn't that often why we lose our tempers or things go wrong because you are in such a hurry. You hurry and you spill something. You hurry but your kid isn't so you yell. You hurry and your car has a flat, okay, maybe not that one.
Ahh, the bliss of time in the morning (notice: time to blog!)

Hey, Good Morning!

Beyond

It's funny. Sometimes you think life has given you more than your fair share. You know what pain is. You have been through it. Then something else hits you, and you realize you had no idea at all what pain was.

I have experienced pain. Pain that before I knew it would bring tears at the thought of it. Now that that pain is here, it is beyond tears. Beyond explanation. Beyond words. It is beyond, but it is also right here.

The absence of someone is never easy no matter the reason. The failure of someone to ever be able to return, beyond. Beyond knowledge. Beyond dreaming. Beyond comprehension.

What if there were no heaven? What if there is nothing after? I remember Philosophy class. Man created Heaven because we are scared of "after". I believe in heaven. But what if? What if there is NO chance of seeing my dad ever again in all eternity. What if he is beyond? Nope, can't be. If there were no hope, well...there would be nothing.

Each day, my pain is here. Most times it is so strong, it threatens to take over, so it must be pushed down. Pushed to where it can't escape. On it's way, maybe a tear is shed. Maybe a stray thought. Maybe just maybe I can actually put together some words that are the tip of how I hurt. But not usually. Usually, push! harder and harder! The more you can push your pain down, the less you have to think of it. No pain no gain? No thank you!

Beyond words. Although I continue to try. My dad is beyond me. Maybe he is here with me. Maybe one day my dam will break. Maybe one day, maybe...

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today would be my Dad's birthday. I am sure he is up there eating a HUGE cake and watching football on a TV so big that we can't imagine it. Or maybe he is there in person watching but in a super comfortable chair.

I miss you so much. I miss you each and every minute of each and every day. I used to cry when you were alive just thinking about losing you. I had no idea how much it would hurt.

Tonight we will eat cake, in your honor. My love still belongs to you! I am still your little girl.

What is that wet stuff coming from the sky?

Oh my gosh! It is rain. I mean real rain. Not a few droplets, but actually drive carefully rain. Measurable wet rain.
We get storm watches over rain like this. It is glorious. I love when it rains. Probably because it NEVER does. I mean, they write songs about how it never rains in California and they aren't kidding. I actually drove my son to school today because I didn't want him to be soaked all day.

Okay, so now it seems to have stopped, but maybe just maybe it will start up again. That is how it goes here. Off again, on again. One thing is for sure, lots of kids will have wet shoes and socks today. Our storm drains (in the streets) always get backed up when it actually rains. Which means the streets are wet all the way across. Poor kiddies walking to school.

Rain, Rain, don't go away. Stay until another day.

Mother/Wife of the Year?

I have prepared dinner two nights in a row. Yes, two! I know that sounds like nothing, but for me... you have no idea. Not only did I prepare (and I mean cook, not just heating something like usual), I have plans for about 3 or 4 more meals. I actually am serving three things I never make. Oh yeah. This is huge for me. The best thing, I feel like the evening goes so much nicer because I don't have to worry about what to eat. Usually around 7pm, I am thinking, "hmm, I guess I should get something for dinner", which is why I usually go out and pick something up.

Here is what we had tonight.

check out this recipe

If you try it out, let me know. We used the whole box of shells and it fed all six of us.

Me and my girls

something on your mind?

Mine seems to be blank. Driving in my car, I think of a million things to blog about. Sit down at the computer, nada. Weird how that is. Maybe I need one of those little recorders to carry around.

I think my iPod died. I have to take it to the Genius Bar and see if there is anything I can do. Maybe I should just get a little Nano. Eric said the video one's are on sale. ahhh

Family minus one

Yesterday (Sunday) we took the family except for Diego up to Hollywood. We were going to take him but decided that with all that walking, he was, well, going to be a pain. So we packed him off to Grandma's.

Our first stop was Audrey Hepburn's star.


Krystal was very excited. She LOVES all her movies.

After that we just walked around. We went to Graumanns where they are setting up for the Oscars. We did some shopping. Krystal bought a Audrey purse and the owner of the store gave Siobhan a Betty Boop purse for free! How sweet is that!

Siobhan was lucky enough to see the star of one of her favorites.


Perfect picture!

We went for lunch at a little pizza place. Siobhan wanted to know how they flatten the pizza crust. It was a great day! As we were walking back to the car, this guy offered to draw the kids. Okay, I know, toursity but still. For $10 the guy did a great job with a sharpie. I will post it after Eric scans it. So there we are, the guy is drawing the kids, he looks down at the star we are by. He tells me to look down. OH MY GOSH, it is fate! Greg, eat your heart out!

From Yahoo! News- Associated Press

Ramona Montoya, center, and her husband Manuel Munoz, left, kiss their daughter Marina inside the jail of the module F1 of Aranjuez prision, Spain, Tuesday Dec. 19, 2006. Welcome to a jail Spain says is the only the one in the world with cell units for families: Disney characters on the walls, a nursery, a playground for toddlers. The idea is for kids to bond with their imprisoned parents while young enough to be oblivious to their surroundings, and for inmates seeking rehabilitation to learn parenting skills. The prison in this town 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Madrid has 36 cell units for families, although now only 16 are occupied, most with Latin Americans. The units of the special F-1 section are known in jail jargon as 'five-star cells'. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

excuse the dust

Okay, not a great picture I know. I took it with my cell phone. It is a picture of Eric on the floor surrounded in plastic as he sands the cabinets.(Kinda like the bubble boy but not as sad!) Not fun (or so it appears!). Sorry babe!

Got tile?

Then I SERIOUSLY suggest you splurge and get one of these. We have white tile with white grout in the kitchen. We have tried everything to get it clean. Bleach, comet, using a toothbrush (sorry Bradley, hee hee) using a scrubber, using bleach pens and nothing worked. I thought, well, here is another $20 down the drain. (It was only $12.99, but I bought all the attachments too).

Of course I have had it for about a month. Yesterday I made a little comet paste and thought "Okay, let's give it a go". OH MAN! I kid you not, our tile looks great! It actually looks beautiful. I don't even want to put the stuff back on the counter because it looks so good it is a shame to cover it up.

As I promote anything that Apple Computer makes, I am all for the Sonic Scrubber. It has a bunch of different heads that can be used for different things. A+