3d times the charm…?

I was doing so well, and then… I wasn’t. WHAT HAPPENED? It seems that I lost steam. Can’t explain it any other way…

I want to do this whole blogging thing… maybe the 100 days is a bit much. Maybe start smaller? Like, an entire month, taking Saturdays off. I could probably do that… yeah?

I think I need to think about this more.

So anyway, life has been good. Today especially (according to my clock, I still have 23 minutes of today left). The Man and I went to the Toyota dealership and we bought a new car. A Sienna. A very pretty one. And the best part? We all fit in it! See, this is the first time since the last of my spawn were born that I’ve had a car that my entire family can fit in. As you can surmise, this is a big deal. Until now, we didn’t go too many places together, and when we did, it was always a giant pain in the ass to manage it. Now, though, it’s going to only be a matter of ALL of us getting in the car and ALL of us arriving at the same time! Imagine that!

This past week has been rather eventful. Took the younger two kidlets to the dentist- no cavities! But the boy child has to go to an orthodontist; the kid needs braces. Joy. The youngest girl child also had no cavities, and we like it when that happens. She’s taking her oral health very seriously since her visit, brushing and flossing more effectively. But that’s typical of her; when she finally sets her mind to something, she goes and does it.

The next day, I had a doctor appointment for a previously unmentioned incident, and I’m happy to report a clean bill of health! So say YAY! and we can all get back to the business of whatever our business might be.

Oh, and I turned 34, too. Which was both slightly surreal and anti-climatic. Birthdays just aren’t as exciting as they used to be. I wonder what that’s all about, anyway…

I DID get some very lovely gifts, though. I have very thoughtful friends and family.

I bought some Halloween decorations this past week, too. VERY exciting stuff, that is. I love it. I’ve never really decorated seasonally before, although I’ve kinda always wanted to. I see other people’s houses and think, hm, that’s neat, I should do something like that… and then… I don’t. THIS year I decided that at least for Halloween, I would decorate. However, the places I’ve been buying my decor from have some very neat trinkets for fall in general, and I’m thinking that after Halloween has passed, it would be neat to get some Thanksgiving type stuff up, too. And of course Xmas…

I’m beginning to see that it’s a cycle, possibly a vicious one, meant to depart me from my money. However, this is a cycle that I think I don’t think I’ll mind at all!

Alright, kids. I just heard what I think was gunshot from outside my window. No, I’m not kidding. I don’t think it was super close, but neither was it that far away, so I’m going to take that as my cue and go away to bed now.

I could totally be wrong, because although it sounded like there was some yelling and other excitement happening immediately after the maybe gunshot, I don’t hear anything else, and I think that I would hear sirens by now, because someone would have called the cops.

(hello, run-on sentence)

Alright. This is me, signing off. Later, doods.

life happens

100 days of blogging is a great idea… in theory. I’m pretty disappointed that I missed a few days, although it was somewhat inevitable given certain circumstances. No, I don’t really want to share those circumstances. I’ve come to the realization that I’m a fairly private person, and while I don’t mind, even enjoy writing about day to day stuff, with some silly and some serious thrown in there, I have to draw a line somewhere and this is one of those times.

Part of it is that I’m not entirely sure just what happened… only that it wasn’t fun, and I have a doctor’s appointment next week. Suffice to say that for one whole day I was more or less out of commission, and the next day (yesterday) I was feeling tired and overwhelmed and didn’t seem to have the wherewithal to sit in front of my computer and write about random stuff.

That being said, drawing a line and being all cryptic doesn’t really make good blogger fodder, I know. But for now, at least, this is where I’m at. I hope that’s alright with you.

I’ve decided that I’m going to push on with this 100 days of blogging, life notwithstanding. Sometimes, things are going to just happen. I might not be able to get to the computer to blog my little heart out. Like this upcoming weekend, for example; I’ve going to be soooooper busy come Friday and Saturday. Saturday is the Virgo Bash where my friend Neya and I are throwing a duo birthday party. Friday I have to bake a ton of stuff for said party, as well as do all of the regular errands and what-not, plus ferry the kidlets from place to place. And then head up to Neya’s for a sleepover because the next day is the party, and we can’t fit all of US plus everything else we need to bring in our one teeny car. I don’t think that on Saturday I’ll be able to get to a computer to blog. I think I’ll be pretty busy.

At least on Sunday I’ll have some good pictures and a good story to tell, right?

So that’s pretty much it, for now. Later, gators.

12 down, 88 to go!

URG.

Thought I had it this time, but nope! I checked the cheesecake and it has these deeeep cracks running through it. It doesn’t do anything negatively to the flavor, these cracks, but it doesn’t look like I want it to and I WANT TO THROW IT AWAY.

My kids think it looks cool. My husband says “it’s fine”. Cool? Fine? NO! It’s not cool and it’s not fine, it’s a wretched testament to my cheesecake making skills, is what it is! People are going to SEE it, and know that I am lacking in the cheesecake making skill! Lacking!

le sigh….

I want a do-over. However, it doesn’t quite work that way. I don’t have TIME for a do-over. Unless I stay up all nite… hmmm….

11 down, 89 to go!

10 days later….

…and she’s still BLOGGING! Okay, in the grand scheme of things, this is not big news. This doesn’t even qualify as news, really. But to me, it’s a good start to a big undertaking.

Today I set out to do three things-

1. get thee to the grocery store before thine family runs short(er) on milk
2. return the library books to the library
3. give the dog a bath

I am happy to report that all three things on my To Do List got did. Except I forgot to buy the cream cheese and sour cream I need to make homemade cheesecake. My friend Richard is having a birthday party on Sunday and I volunteered to make the birthday cake. Apparently, he liked it a lot, that cheesecake. Well, what’s not to like? It’s a FANTASTIC cheesecake.

So tomorrow morning I have to run to the market to get the stuff to make the cake. The cake making is a bit tedious, and takes about seven hours total (six of those are just letting it alone to set), and we’re having company tomorrow. I COULD get up early(ish) to go and get the stuff to make the cake… but will I? Oh HELL no. No no and no. Weekends are my bliss. I get to sleep in. I love to sleep in. It’s one of my absolute favorite things to do. Loooooove it.

Alright. I know that this has been a most fascinating read, but all good things must come to a close. This would be me, signing off, til tomorrow!

Peace!

football season!

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not, like, the biggest football fan that ever walked. I am, however, appreciative of the sport and am a BIG fan of the Chargers. The problem is that I don’t totally understand the game. I like to be in the same room when it’s on, but I lose interest because I don’t get all the plays and the rules and the jargon. Lucky for me, I’m married to a HUGE football fan, a guy who knows the sport inside and out, and is more than willing to ‘splain whenever I have a question.

And I have lotsa questions.

I really want to understand the game, because it looks pretty cool. I want to be able to fully immerse myself in it and get it. I have friends who are big football fans, and sometimes we talk about it, but all too soon they lose me because I DON’T totally get it.

All I know is that when I watch it, it’s hard not to get totally caught up in it, watching these athletes perform at the highest level of their abilities. I can’t believe their size and speed and power and I can’t help but marvel at what they can make their bodies do. Watching them is amazing. I just want to know what, exactly, it is that they’re DOING!

9 down, 91 to go!

can i have a timeout now?

If I had to do this over again, would I? Would I have children? I guess that’s not a fair question, because I have them and I adore them so very much, I can’t fathom NOT wanting them. It would be akin to wondering if you could, would you have been born without arms? They’re such a part of my life and my makeup as a human being that I could not possibly imagine my existence without them.

I sometimes wonder, though, what WOULD life be like without my children in it?

I can’t really wrap my head around that.

Today I was ready to wish I’d never had children. Well, one child in particular. She’s my youngest, my “baby”. Yes, she’s nine, and yes, I know… she’s not a baby. Almost double digits. Been a long while since I carted her around on my hip. However, since she’s the last one, she’s my “baby”. And today she was sorely trying my patience.

She isn’t the most even tempered child to begin with, although she’s a little love. She is, however, very stubborn and is convinced that she’s more or less right about… well, everything. Sometimes that rears its head in a most inconvenient manner, and it results in several unpleasant moments for the both of us. Because whatever she thinks, I KNOW she’s not right about everything, and last time I checked, I was still the boss of her. Apparently she went mad this morning and lost sight of that little factoid. I thought we’d have at least a few more years before she lost her mind, but apparently… it’s starting early.

Now, this kind of behavior I expect from my teenager, who doesn’t behave this way at all, and from my pre-teen, who… well. Holy crap. Some days I can’t make heads or tails of that girl. One minute she’s DEL-TOR, demon from Hades… and then two seconds later she’s Delta, light of my life, sweetest angel on earth. She can go from happy to mad to sad to glad to curious to elated to… well, you get the idea… all inside of an hour. She falls asleep by nine-thirty every nite, completely passed out, and that can only lead me to think that she’s probably going through some… changes. WHY I thought this might be a smooth transition is beyond me…

I love my son. I really, really do.

8 down, 92 to go!

things i like

Here’s a few things I’m currently into. Enjoy!

Here’s a few things I really look forward to:

Looks exciting, eh?

7 down, 93 to go!

under the wire

I made it! It may be midnite elsewhere, but here in California, it’s just after nine pm. My 100 days of blogging is still intact :)

This morning I woke up and started reading Mockingjay. I mean literally, I woke up and reached over to my nitestand, put on my glasses and picked up my book and started reading, picking up where I left off the nite before. That book is really… that good.  The third and final book in a trilogy by Suzann Collins, the first being The Hunger Games, the second called Catching Fire. Yes, they’re for “young adults”, but don’t let that influence you! Absolutely some of the best books I have ever had the privilege of reading, I kid you not.

I had a lot to do today, so I had to read it off and on, or I would have finished it much earlier. As it stands, I finished it just a few hours ago, and because someone who reads my blog has yet to read the book, I won’t spill any of the pertinent details… I’ll just say this- OH MY GAWD!!! and CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? and *sob sob sob*; yes, there were parts (read that, multiple) parts that brought me to tears. I CRIED. ACTUAL TEARS.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Only that it was a seriously excellent book. And now I’m done. Talking. About the book…

SO! Tonite is my eldest Bonus Son Stephen’s last nite at home. At least it should be. This is… take three, I think, of Operation Boot Stephen From the Nest. We’re cautiously optimistic that his time it will actually happen.

I’m totally making this sound like it’s his fault, and it’s really not. See, a few years ago Stephen exercised his adult privileges and became a reservist in the Marine Corp. He went to boot camp, went to his MOS school in Georgia, then came home with some notion of getting a job… going to college… only… it didn’t quite work out like that! Well, it did, buuuuut… see, he kinda screwed the pooch a little. I mean, he got a job, was working full time at WalNut, decided after several months that it wasn’t for him and before he made sure he had another job, quit. Enter Life Lesson here; never jump ship if you don’t have a place to land! So he moved up north with some friends and tried really, really hard to get a job. He registered for college but sat too long on the whole getting financial aid part, couldn’t find a job, and had to move back in with us since he couldn’t do that whole rent thing. Enter Another Life Lesson here; he who procrastinates gets financial aid not!

In all fairness, he was eighteen, nineteen when all of this went down; not exactly the most savvy, life experienced human being walking around. Super smart, but not real worldly, if you know what I mean.

He couch-crashed with us, then decided that he wanted to go active in the Marine Corp. Only, they said “NO! We like you just fine as a reservist.” So HE said, “Oh yeah? Well, screw that!” and went next door to the Army recruiter and said “Sign me up, please!” and they said “Oh hell to the yeah we will!”.

All he had to do was file some paperwork to have him transferred from Marine to Army… get some bigwig to approve it… do a little of this and a little of that… presto magico, you’re in the Army now!

Yeah…. didn’t exactly work out like that.

Long story short (too late, I know), one year later Stephen, after two false approvals, is still couch-crashing. However, THIS TIME they SWEARS they have the right forms filed, and signed by the right people, and all the i’s are crossed and the t’s are dotted and sometime in the morning, our bonny boy Stephen will be in the wind!

We’ll see. That’s what I say. We. Shall. See.

Anyway, this is the third “fare thee well” dinner we’ve had, and I have to say, it went off without a hitch. We had turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, peas, and a delicious cherry pie. We also had guests for dinner (we didn’t eat them; just fed them). Neya and Richard, both of whom I hold in high esteem. It was nice just hanging out and conversing, although there were moments when my spawn got a little louder than necessary, and needed a firm reminder to, you know, BEHAVE like HUMANS WITH HOME TRAINING.

Now I’m going to go to bed. I haz a tired. Later, doods :)

6 down, 94 to go!

on my nitestand

*disclaimer- I know how to spell “night”. I just choooooose to spell it "nite”

I may or may not have mentioned before that I am an avid book junkie. I read a lot. More than most people I know. The problem with this is that I tend to have more books in the “to-read” pile than I can be expected to read in a reasonable amount of time. There’s something wrong with me. I keep buying books, or borrowing books, or winning books, or books somehow find their way to me. No kidding, I have come out to my car to find a book sitting on my hood, and no one around to claim ownership of it. What am I supposed to do, leave it there?

Right now I have a ton of books next to my bed. See, look:

I took that picture today. And this doesn’t show the large basket next to my bed with even more books. Now, some of those books really should go in the basket, since those are for the books I’ve already read but want to read again, but the majority of those books on the nitestand are books I have yet to read. I just need to actually read them.

And today I went and bought another one. Cause I have a serious problem. I think I need help. I just don’t WANT it!

5 down, 95 to go!

a narrow escape

The other nite, my husband was having a fairly bad allergy attack. It was late, around 11:30. I woke up because I could hear him coughing and wheezing, and I asked him if he was alright. He said yes, he was. Twenty minutes later, it got worse. I asked if he wanted to go outside. At first he said no, but after a few more minutes of obvious discomfort and misery, he said that yeah, probably he should go outside for awhile. The fresh air would do his allergies good.

I grabbed my robe and threw it over my pj’s and shoved my feet into flip-flops. The Man actually got dressed. He told me to stay inside, but I informed him that I would be joining him. No way he was going to have to sit outside by himself; it’s kinda my fault that his allergies are acting up. He’s allergic to my little poochy love Chiquita, and the only reason he tolerates her is because I love her so much.

So we head outside, and it was a beautiful, clear nite. Stars were out, it was truly lovely. We sat on the porch and talked for awhile. Talked about things many and varied. It was soothing and quiet, and his allergies slowly got better. His breathing eased, he quit coughing, and he seemed a lot more comfortable.

While we don’t exactly live in the wilds, there are animals that go roaming around our ‘hood in the nite. Mostly, cats and dogs, but we get the occasional wild beastie. Mice, raccoons, even coyotes. Anyway, there was a cat that kept wandering around, unafraid of us as it kept coming into our driveway. I heard it moving around behind us, over by the shed. I asked The Man if he wanted to go inside, and he said in a few minutes he would be ready. A few seconds later, I heard the cat come up the stairs behind me. Our back porch has two sets of stairs on opposite ends, with a landing about four feet across, separating them. I mentioned to The Man that the cat was behind me, and turned to look at it.

A few seconds of squinting in the dark, I said in a low, low voice, “Um. I don’t think that’s a cat.”

He says, “What is it?”

I reply, “I really don’t know, but I don’t think it’s a cat…”

He asks, “Is it a skunk?”

I ask, “Do skunks have white butts?”

He says, “….. I think we should very slowly go inside the house….”

I reply with, “I totally, totally agree….”

People, that was a close one!

4 down, 96 to go!

recharge my batteries

I would really love a vacation. The kind where you go someplace NOT here, where there’s not pressing matters to attend, no homework, no phones, no computer (wait, now I’m just talkin’ the crazy, scratch that no computer part)… where I can sleep as late as I want, stay up all nite if I want, eat whatever I want, read for hours if I want. Someplace quiet and beautiful where there isn’t any traffic, no one is late because there isn’t a schedule, I don’t have to mediate between offspring or make dinner or do dishes; where I can walk from my front door to the water, I can wear a bathing suit and cut-offs at a restaurant, it’s balmy and warm but not hot, it smells good, it sounds nice… and I can recharge.

Oh, and it’s cheap, too, since we’re fantasizing. And there’s a very large Barne & Noble within walking distance, too.

Yup, sounds about right.

Not like I have this overly stressful life or anything; more or less, just the typical day to day stuff. Once I get the kidlets off to school and The Man off to work, my days are mostly my own. In truth, I feel like I’m rather wasteful of them. I feel like I’m not living them to their potential. I could be doing so many things to improve my environment, my talents, my mind. I could be baking bread, crocheting afghans, writing my book, reading that stack of books sitting next to my bed both on my nitestand and in a basket, going through the mounds of stuff in my children’s closets… and yet, here I sit, happily typing away, whiling away, wasting (?) away…

Why is it that I have to constantly be doing something in order to feel productive? What is it about me as a person that feels like unless my house is completely clean, my books are all read, my closets all organized, I’m somehow an epic failure? Because the truth is, none of those things are happening. My house is in a constant state of clutter/mess. My closets are scary. My books are mostly unread. Things are not getting baked, afghans are not getting crocheted, my book is not getting written. If I really feel that unless I’m doing things like I mentioned above, then I’m failing at life in general? And if I really feel that way, why am I not doing these things?

That has ever been the big question of my life. I am constantly waiting to feel like doing something besides doing nothing. I am constantly waiting to find the motivation to move.

Wait, wait… what did I just say???? I’m waiting to get the motivation to MOVE? Really? REALLY? I really just said that.

Holy crap. What is WRONG with me?

3 down 97 to go!

i’d be a stalker, but it takes too much energy

I blame the shoes.

There was this lady walking down the street in these absolutely KILLER shoes (for those of you not in the know, I loooove me some shoes). Anyway, I watched her make her way across the street, admiring her shoes, and I had to wonder where she got them, if she had more like them, and what she was like. Would we be friends, in another time and place, bonding over a mutual love of shoes? Or was she one of those that wore them because she had to, for work, not because she wanted to? Did she like coffee? Books? Going out? Was she married? Kids? What kind of shows did she like? Did she even like TV? How about movies? Music? Did she own a car, and hate to drive, like me? Or was she a driver who hated her car?

Yeah, all these thoughts whirled through my head as she crossed the cross walk right in front of my car. I felt like parking and getting out and following her, but that clearly wasn’t a very feasible thing, not to mention… crazy. And I was kinda tired from the past few nites of not sleeping very well. Not that I’d have done it even if I’d been bright eyed and bushy-tailed; do you know how much it costs to park in downtown San Diego?? And then there’s all the walking… and making sure she doesn’t see me because then it would totally freak her out, thus negating the entire “let’s get to know each other” thing.

Entirely too much work. I don’t even like to sweep and mop my house, and that requires a lot less energy than stalking some random person who I don’t even know, probably never will, and might not even like even if I did know her. Much easier to stalk your friends. At least then you can pretend you thought you were supposed to hang out if they catch you, and you already know a lot about them so you know going in if they’re stalk-worthy or not from the get-go. Plus, they would have a lot more tolerance for your kooky ways than some random lady on the street would, and you can play the “quirky friend” card for a long, long time. As long as you don’t get too flaky, and stalk them when you’re really supposed to be hanging out, or hanging out when it’s clearly stalking time. That can totally put a damper on the whole friendship/stalker thing.

Not that I have personal experience with this or anything…

2 down, 98 to go!

100 days of blogging, redux

Soooo a few blog entries ago I made some crazy commitment to blog for 100 days in a row. I think I did it for, like, three days and then my monitor died and it was bloggus interruptus. Then we got a new monitor, and instead of rushing straight to the computer to explain… I kinda procrastinated (SHOCKING, I know) and before I knew it… two months and some change went by. Kinda lame sauce of me, but that’s what happened.

I still want to do it, though. I think I NEED to do it.

I really need to do something to get back into writing, even if all that something is is writing on a blog that nobody really reads. I like writing, and I think I’m decent at it, but I can FEEL my skills atrophying the more I neglect it. I can FEEL myself losing that skill that I once worked so hard to hone and develop. It’s not like I have so many skills that I excel at that I can let one slip by the wayside, know what I mean?

So here I am, trying again.

Consider this blog one, day one.

1 down, 99 to go!