While Daddy's Away

Ted is out of town for a couple of days for another job interview. Normally I enjoy when he goes out of town as I get to be a slob without "someone" telling me I'm a slob. Duh, like I didn't already know this.

Anyway, when he goes out of town the dogs decide to be naughty because they know who their "real" parent is and he's gone so lets whoop it up!! First they got into the trash and ate everything they could out of the trash can. Mom's dog just stood there and watched. I know this because when Mom got home and saw the mess her dog just stood and sniffed it and my bad dogs went and hid behind the sofa. Lucky for me Mom got home first so she had to clean up the trash mess all over the house.

That night they had horrible diareahh from all the trash they ate so I was outside with them most of the night in the backyard. Had to cancel my workout that next morning because i finally fell asleep at 5:30am and was too whipped to get up.

Last night they decided it would be fun to go out and bark at the little noises so I was up in the middle of the night in my t-shirt and underwear with a flashlight chasing them around the yard trying to get them to be quiet as the neighbor right behind us hates barking and will call at the first sound of the barking monsters. So I'm out chasing them in my t-shirt and trying NOT to step in one of the MANY piles of poop from the night prior. They would bark and just when I get a few inches from grabbing them they would run away so they could continue their escapades. I hated them last night. They thought they could try to sleep with me after being so naughty but I kicked them off onto the floor to sleep on their own beds because I was so mad at them. This morning I awoke to BOTH of the in bed with me sleeping soundly on Ted's side of the bed so I wouldn't notice that they had snuck up onto the bed in the middle of the night.

Yep can't wait till Daddy gets home so he can take care of these dogs.

The above picture is a good example of what they do all day. They have a really rough life.

Little Pumpkins

We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend. I'm not sure I would call it a REAL pumpkin patch but it was a small field with pumpkins in it. In New Hampshire the pumpkin patches are much bigger with a larger bounty of pumpkins, but whatever...it had pumpkins so we went.

The kids picked out some pumpkins and we purchased them from a man that was I think about 150 years old. He was very sweet.

Indy has been taking dance and drama class after school. It's one of the many thing s I love about this school. They offer all kinds of enrichment classes after school almost every day. Of course Alex wasn't interested in taking any classes. Oh well. I did try.

We should hear hopefully this week about a job for Ted. Don't hold it against him if he doesn't get it. The pool was VERY competitive and he doesn't want everybody getting their hopes up. Of course I do have my hopes up. Can't help it.

Bad Behavior

This week I met Shelley at the park across from the beach for some kid play time. The kids hadn't seen each other very much since school started so we thought it would be fun.

Now if you don't want to see two grown mothers behaving badly then leave now because I just couldn't help myself.

Shelley's son Aidan got a bloody nose from running and started a very dramatic crying fit that started a very dramatic laughing fit by his mother and his Aunt Stephanie. I had to snap a few photos of it because he was so cute. Sorry about the bunny ears. I guess I have too much free time on my hands with not having a house to run I'm finding all kinds of fun things to amuse myself with. Making fun of the kids is one of them. Yep that's me once again gettin the "parent of the year" award!!

Something to pass along

When my Mother was sixteen, her mother gave her a gold charm bracelet. Throughout her life my Mom has received many gold charms that have marked many monumental occasions. I.E. graduation, marriage, baby, tick-tockers, etc.

My Mother has really cherished this bracelet. So when she became a Grandmother she decided to start the same tradition with our girls. Note that she didn't start the tradition with us sisters because being a working mother of three doesn't really afford you the luxury of buying gold for your children. No worries, no permanent harm done, no therapy needed. :)

She has been collecting these gold bracelets for a few years now and to mark a sweet sixteen birthday a granddaughter receives a bracelet with one charm on it, with the promise of more charms to come to mark monumental occasions. Indy got the pleasure of seeing these bracelets that Mom has been saving. She is excited to receive something so special and meaningful. There is a story behind each charm. There is a memory.

I got such pleasure out of watching mo Mother and My daughter sit and talk about the special day that she will receive her bracelet. Of course Indy would like to have hers now but the beauty is that she must wait. Must wait for that special day when she turns sixteen and will receive her special bracelet.

Do you have something to pass along to your children?? It doesn't have to be gold. My son Alex received an original copy of "Mark Twain" when he was born. Also from my Mother. It had been given to my Grandfather when he was a small boy and then passed on to Alex...the first born "Boy" in our family. Alex talks about how special that book is to him. He holds it very dear to his heart and says that it is the most important thing he owns. Now that he has an ipod he might change that story but I will still say that the book is very special.

One more thing to share... Dinner ideas. Mom made this the other night... sauteed end of summer squash and grilled halibut

And for Ari since she is a carb girl... scalloped potatoes. Yum Yum!! Yes that is cheddar cheese on top.

The Wonderful World Of Disney

We went to Disneyland on Sunday. We went for two reasons...

1. Because it was Alex's birthday and

2. because the kids have been begging us to go and I didn't want to leave the state having NOT gone. Plus this otta get them off my back about it for at least a couple of years.

The arrival on the tram.

Ari was nice enough to relinquish control of the drivers seat to the Birthday boy.

I did NOT ride the tea cups... we just took a picture in one. No amount of money would get me on that ride. Well maybe a very high amount of money.

Indy and Danielle (cousin)

Alex and the cousins

Our last meal of the day. Ari bellied up to a plate of ribs.

Nina bellied up to a burger with an enormous amount of mustard on it. See it oozing out of the sides of her mouth?? Yum Yum.

My little angel

a tram ride back to the car after a very long day

Indy "yanked" her tooth out at Starbucks the day before.

1. pulling a tooth out at Starbucks? $3.00 for the cup of coffee

2. wearing a "snuggie" all the way home from Disneyland? $15.00

3. Filming my Mother on a roller coaster??? PRICELESS

In a footnote... I told my Mom that this is what her face will look like if she gets a face lift.

Happy Birthday Alex!!

Happy Birthday Alex!! You have made the last nine years an absolute joy. I felt like I won the lottery the day you came into my life. You are an amazing human, so kind hearted and gentle. I'm so proud to be your mom.

I love you.

Target

Went down to Target with Mom today. It's an event because the nearest Target is 30 minutes away so we make a day of it and go to Target and of course out for lunch. We got there and of course Mom goes straight for the juniors dept because last time she looked she saw a "junior" in the mirror. I of course get my list out and head straight for the beauty dept to get face wash, face wipes and hair doo-dads. We meet up after about 15 minutes when Mom call me from her cell phone from somewhere in the store. I have gotten most everything on my list. She has gotten a whole lot of stuff that was NEVER on her list. Oh wait... she didn't have a list, but her cart is full and on top is a huge fake pumpkin. I tell her that the pumpkin is too fake looking so she puts it back and gets one that doesn't look quite so fake.

We meander upstairs to the kids dept and electronics to shop for Alex's birthday. Of course we get sidetracked by the girls dept because Indy is the most fun to shop for and before we knew it we had several things in the cart for her and she really doesn't NEED anything but oh well!!

So we find some cool stuff for Alex's B-day and head to checkout. That's when I see them. I am shocked and horrified at the sight of them.

I do a double take!!

I look in Mom's cart as she is unloading her stuff onto the conveyor belt and I see the pile of leggings... All from the juniors dept.

Gold metallic leggings

Silver metallic leggings

Black lace leggings (she's attempted to buy these two times prior but I have managed to thwart her attempts)

Black cable knit leggings

Now these on a 17 year old would be super cute I'm sure. Ari would look adorable in them. Any 20 something could TOTALLY pass it off, but MOM????

I don't think so.

So I rip them off the belt as fast as she is unloading them and tell her that no woman over 60 should be wearing metallic leggings in ANY color. She starts laughing and crosses her legs and try's not to wet her pants but we all know how that's gonna turn out. I quickly remove the

leggings tel her how much money I've just saved her. She is happy about that but I know her, and next time she goes to Target she will mos definitely head straight for the junior dept. as she always says to me...

"I'm young at heart" Well I can't argue with that. She even looks like she's in her 50's. Don't get me wrong... How many girls can shop with their mother at Target and have that much fun?

Atlanta

Ted flew off to Atlanta This morning. He is going for his second round of interviews for a major Pharma co. It is a very competitive pool of people and he will be mad when he sees this post because he won't want anybody to get their hopes up. He won't want to disappoint, but I say we need all the support we can get in times like these and my readers won't blame him if he doesn't get this job. We had a very nice fashion debate last night about what suits he should take and which shirts/ties. We even had a debate on the color "brownish-grey". He says there is no such color but I beg to differ. We even had to bring Ari in on the discussion and her answer was the same as mine..."that's brownish-grey Dad". He didn't like her answer either.

I spent the morning telling my parents about our discussion and of course I had to "be" him when I was telling the story and Indy chimes in and says...

"Mommy I like it when you tell Daddy stories. You do Daddy better than Daddy does Daddy and it's funnier when you do Daddy" Yep that's my girl...seeing the humor in my schtick. I really love anyone who thinks I'm funny.

Drove some of the volleyball team down to Oxnard yesterday for a game. Stopped at taco Bell for some bean burritos so they could get fueled up for the game. i sent a couple of the girls in to order and when they realized that they didn't know what one of the girls wanted, they called her in the car from inside of Taco Bell. They looked so silly doing it through the glass that I had to snap a couple of photos of them. It would have been a lot faster for one of them to run back out to the car and ask but that's not how this generation operates. If they have to talk...they text. If they MUST call then they call, even if it's faster to ask in person. They wolfed down their burritos on the way to the game and thankfully won the match. I told them if I saw any signs of sluggishness coming from any of them than that would be the last time I got them burritos before a game. I only had to yell "no more bean burritos" once during the game before they "woke" up and played a little harder. Whatever it takes.