Streamers Are Your Friend

You all know I go a little over the top for holidays. Not in an extravagant, spend a lot of money kid of way, but a bit excessive nonetheless. The Leprechauns visit, Santa rides in on his sleigh, the Easter Bunny has a key to the front door, the Tooth Fairy flies in through the windows, and the house is always decorated for the first (and last) day of school. But for birthdays, I get a little bit nutty.

It all started with the Birthday Fairy a few years ago. She would sneak in the night before the kids birthdays and create a bit of mischief with streamers and banners. Eventually she bought some window markers and started writing on the windows and mirrors. The kids know its me now, but they still expect, and anticipate the whole affair. Part of the fun is that they never what I will do with the streamers. One time, I trapped Dylan in his bed with streamers. I have blocked their doors, wrapped their chairs, left streamers hanging through doorways for them to run through, and one year decorated Dylan's Razor for his ride to school.

Mock all you want, but to me, birthdays are special for kids. It is one day a year that is all about them. It is THEIR day! And they love it! This is especially important for Megan whose birthday falls 4 days after Christmas (strike 1). She also shares her birthday with my Mom (strike 2). My Mom always remembers my grandma pulling a Christmas gift out from under the tree and declaring it a birthday gift too. It is a painful experience for her. I will not do this to my daughter. Most years I bust my rear to get Christmas down before the 29th. It didn't happen this year but the house is still all about Megan tomorrow! Of course there are the streamers, banners and window messages...but this year there is a new addition...balloons. I used balloons on chairs, windows and created some barriers in doorways for her to burst through in the morning. Just adding a few balloons made it even more fun (and more work...but every minute was filled with JOY)

Sometimes I wonder if it is time to end the decorating and chaos. Tonight I got my answer. All week we have been making a big deal about Megan's last "day" being 5. We acknowledged that it was her last Monday being 5, her last Tuesday, etc. Today started with Megan racing into my room, declaring "It's my last day being 5!!!!" It was a really nice day. After Church, we celebrated her last Sunday being 5 by going to my Mom's in San Diego for our 6th (and final) Christmas celebration. After a fun day, we drove home. Despite being in jammies and having her teeth brushed, Meg was too amped up to go to sleep in the car. She rested for a while but then declared "I can't go to sleep!". She was so excited for her birthday! I had to stop to get some whipped cream (her request for the topping on her strawberries on top of the waffles that will be sitting on a bed of powdered sugar and next to some bacon and fruit). At 10pm, she skipped through the store with me, giggling about how much fun it will be being 6. As we pulled in the driveway she ever so sweetly said, "Mommy, I would really like it if you decorated the house with streamers tonight!" Sigh....how could I even think about ending this tradition?

So I am here to tell you, streamers are your friend. it is a cheap and easy way to spread some birthday cheer around your house. I wish I could share some pictures of tonight's Birthday Fairy shenanigans, but sadly the MAC died (another story for another day). Friends, it doesn't take a lot of money to make a birthday special for your children. And I am happy to be the Birthday Fairy...even if it means being up 'till 1AM.

In Awe

There are times in my life when i just have to STOP and say THANK YOU! You know who you are and even if you are not reading this, and are not getting any public recognition for what you have done...I thank YOU! Sometimes my life just comes to a standstill and I am in AWE of the generosity and love of our Church. It just amazes me. Thank you to all of you that have done what you can to make life a little easier for one of OUR families in need. Thank you to those who have set THEMSELVES aside and taken care of others. It is YOU who will be rewarded in Heaven. YOU are what it takes this World a better place. Thank you for making me a better person this Christmas.

Merry Six-Mas!

There are many highs and lows of having divorced and remarried families. One of the great things is having a lot of grandparents to choose from when you need a babysitter. There is also the awesomely large family we have. Jon and I both have 4 siblings (blood, half and step combind). Add in all the nieces and nephews and you can imagine how much family we have!

At Christmas, we find ourselves splitting events so that we can fit in all sides of the family. This year, we will have 6 Christmas celebrations.

The first one took place this weekend. We went to San Diego to celebrate with Jon's Mom and sisters family. This was a huge treat as we have never been able to celebrate with his Mom. She came out from indiana to have her first Christmas ever with her 2 children and 5 grandchildren. She loved every minute of it. The kids enjoyed getting to share their joy with her for the first time. It was an awesome brunch and a wonderful day spent with that side of the family.

Last night was round 2. We went to La Canada to have our annual pre-Christmas dinner/trivia party with my Dad and brother's families. This was out 20th year of doing this! We exchange a few gifts and my dad makes a trivia game about all the years events. I came in third which stunk BUT I did win a picture frame and some Altoids which are both very useful for me. We were expected at 5. We left early to avoid traffic and were subsequently a bit early. We took advantage of the daylight by driving all though the hills where I grew up. We saw my grandmas old house, the tree where my grandpa had his car accident, some enormous houses and a few spots the kids wanted to see (the hospital where I was born and the pizza place where we would go after games...which is now a skateboard shop) It was a good night!

On Christmas Eve, we will celebrate at my grandma's house with the rest of the Fazzi family. This year we are breaking tradition and going out to dinner in the Newport Harbor. The theory is, that saves cleanup time and we get more time to enjoy the gifts before the kids get too tired.

Christmas morning we have our own celebration at home with just the 4 of us. Nothing out of this world, but we open Santa's gifts and exchange amongst ourselves. It is just a nice morning to stay in our jammies and be together.

Late in the day we go to Jon's Dad's house for dinner and gift exchange (whoever decided to draw names at this event is a saint as his 3 sisters each have 3 kids! To many to shop for!) My mother-in-law always gets the most fabulous tamales. And in addition to dessert, there is always something special for the 3 birthday girls on Dec. 24th, 25th and 29th.

And a few days after Christmas we go to my Mom's to combind her and Megan's birthdays with Christmas with her and my siblings. The past few years my sister has flown home from New York to be with us which is awesome. She comes in on Sunday!!! We do a fun thing at my Mom's where instead of exchanging gifts, we do an ornament exchange. Each year we pick a theme for the following year. Every person brings a wrapped ornament. They go in a pile and then we each get to pick one. This year our theme is Angels.

It may seem like a lot to some, however it is what we are used to. We run around all season seeing everyone and then crash on New Years Day! So this year, we wish you a Merry Six-Mas!

Taking The Plunge

I went back and took another 3 1/2 inches off my hair. I feel much better about things now.



Megan followed suit.

Regrets

I made a mistake. I hate my hair. I do not like my haircut. I wish I had gone short. My first $100 winnings in Vegas is going toward taking it all off at a salon. If I come back with the same cut, you know the tables were not good to me in Vegas.

What A Week!!

'Tis the Season to be Busy!

Wednesday night was the HCS Christmas performance at FCC. The kids did a great job! Dylan played Simeon in the speaking portion and did it flawlessly. He has an amazing memory. Tonight he recited all the verses of Luke telling of the coming of Jesus as told in the Peanuts movie. Just whipped them out of nowhere. He is gifted in that department. At the recital, Megan sang her heart out. She refused to look at us and smile. She would smile when her teacher told her to, but for us, she refused. I know she had a great time though! She loves performing as much as her brother.






Megan sings "Baby Jesus We Love You"



The other kids are singing. Dylan is entertaining the crowd!


Saturday night I took the kids to dinner at Daddy's work and then the Metrolink Train Toy Drive. The train pulls in decorated with thousands of lights. They do a little show including singing reindeer. So cute! We donate toys to the Irvine firefighters Spark of Love Toy Drive.

The firefighters handed out hats and candy canes. The second picture is my grandmas attempt at taking a picture of me and the kids. Beautiful angle don't you think?




This afternoon we went to the HB Art Center to help with the preparations for the HB Rose Parade Float. I wanted the kids to be able to say "I decorated that!" when the float goes by. We chopped papaya that is being used to decorate the coral at the front of the float. Yeah, we did that! So fun. They also cut a few flowers that were then put into a blender and bagged up to be used in some unknown spot.




From there we walked Downtown and sat in our usual spot for the HB Christmas Parade. We ate a picnic on the sidewalk which was gross but still...tradition is tradition. The lady next to me overheard me talking to the kids and determined we were an FCC family. She is too! You never know who is watching! Thankfully my kiddos were on perfect behavior.

After the parade we froze our rears off at the pier watching the little show they do. We stay for the snowflake lighting, enduring the show is the cost of admission. It was a beautiful night. But the wind was biting cold. My toes are still trying to warm up.





It was a fun night!

So another story...during the entire hour we waited for the lighting, there was this guy watching us. I actually thought he was watching Dylan. He was right in my line of sight when I looked at the kids. I kept catching him staring at us. At one point he moved a bit in front of us and continued to look over his shoulder at us. I was very aware of him. So after the lighting, I took the sandwiches and cookies we had not eaten on our picnic and gave them to the homeless man that was sitting next to us during the show. When I stood up from the man, creepo was standing right in my face. He said...and I quote..."I do not want this to sound strange, but I have never seen such an amazing hunk of woman and family." WHAT? Hunk of woman? That's new. I smiled and said thank you. He was blocking our path. He said "don't be shy about it. You are obviously a good Mom and I enjoyed watching you and your children tonight". OK, still creepy but at least I am no longer a piece of meat. I said "Thank you. We try to shine from the inside out." That's when he leaned in close and said "Oh you do shine. Very brightly." I quickly stammered "Merry Christmas" (no longer smiling at him) and pulled the kids the other way. They were protesting that they had to go to the bathroom but I was taking the long way there for sure. The way that walked past a few dozen HB police officers. Take a look at these pictures, you can see him in the background looking at us. Needless to say I was looking over my shoulder the whole walk to the car! truth be told, I checked my rearview mirror the whole way home too.

(See him blurred in the background looking right at us??)


Now look right between the kids. There he is again. He just couldn't stop looking at us. (shiver)

AND Finally...This my friends is the face of someone who is happy to be done with her Vision class! It is also the picture I am asking Dr. Accetta to use on the cover of his next brochure advertising wrinkle cream and chemical peels. Maybe I'll give him one of my belly too! Just so he has a good sample for this Liposuction campaign.

Comments

So as you know I have not been good about commenting on your Blogs lately. I would like to thank you all for continuing to grace me with your support while I seemingly shunned you. It is not that I have not been reading your Blogs, I have. But to comment I have to sign in, then it redirects me to my Blog, then I have to click back over to yours. This is a process I had little patience for in the 2 minutes I had allotted to Blog reading during the torture week they call "finals". Then there is the fact that as time went on, there was more and more I need to type to catch up with everything. This required more time, which i didn't have, so I would continue saying nothing. So today I start a-new. I do have a lot of nuggets I would like to share about Blog posts past, but I think this is the best way to go. There are a few things, however there are a few things that cannot go unnoticed:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMILA! May your teens years be as fun as your childhood!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI 35 is such a magical number! (I am trying to spin it for you!)

My husbands post on fall warmed my heart!

Diane-looks like a wonderful trip to Disneyland. Sorry I didn't get to "meet" you. Hopefully next time. Hey, Maybe KT and I can take a Road Trip sometime!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY CURTIS! Hope it was filled with love, laughter and of course a night of Karaoke!

Awesome job on the Triathlon Sarah! You are very studly! And I totally laughed at your description of the swimming experience. I think I would have been the same!

Don, where did you find that Star Wars jacket and did they have kids sizes?


Heidi, that is an AMAZING picture of Hope.

Kristi-I am so glad you got a pass out of your crazy day! You certainly sounded stressed when I talked to you, and it was only 2pm. Hope your week got better!

Bad Hair Day

Help! I have been having a bad hair day. No, scratch that, I have been having a bad hair life. I have really bad hair. I have no interest in having to style it, I have no fancy do, I have nothing. It is either down or in a pony tail. I can't even do my hair for a fancy event if I want to.

So I got a gift certificate for a haircut and highlights from a fancy salon. I have not been in a salon since my wedding 9 years ago. I hate sitting in chairs. I hate people I don't know telling me what would look good on me. I have the bright lights showing every one of my gazillion freckles. Salons give me nightmares. But I am going anyway. Any suggestions for what I should do? I am not a flip through a magazine and find the celebrity hairstyle I like type of person. Suggestions welcome and wanted. PLEASE HELP MY HAIR!!!

A Bit Of Everything

FYI-If you need exactly 1 square foot of fake grass, it will take exactly 5 Ace Hardware employees to figure out how to cut it.

FYI-If you are without cable, internet and phone service, save yourself some time, don't call Time Warner, jump off a bridge instead.

As an Undergrad, my motto was if you study drunk, take the test drunk...I got a 4.0
I am curious, in Graduate School, if I study in my jammies, should I wear jammies to my finals?

We saw Bolt last week. It was the best $12 nap I have had in a long time. I highly recommend it! Go to the 3-D theatre. The glasses cover your eyes and the kids don't even know you are alseep!

FYI-Sometimes your fuel tank is like a chocolate shake. That was the way the nice man put it when he told me there's nothing wrong with my car. It was way over my head.

FYI-I am up to date on my Blog reading but have no time to comment. There is a lot to say about the nuggets you all have given me lately. Be patient. I will get to you!

I am done Christmas shopping AND wrapping but still need to buy something for Meg's birthday. It is 4 days after Christmas so it's best to lump it with the rest spending. This is late for me. I am usually done by Halloween. I am slipping people. Slipping.

In Sunday school today, I caught a certain someone sticking her tongue out at a girl she had just tattled on for doing the same offensive act. And she was really mad I caught her! If you think this is your child, you are probably right!

FYI-I FINALLY lost that toenail! Now I can get a pedicure. And a haircut. A wax. A facial. Everything revolves around a pedicure.

Anyone know where I can buy loose tea?

FYI-Red crayon VS. Laundry in the dryer...always bet on the crayon. BUT W-D40 takes the race because it will remove said crayon. However you will stink for weeks.

I also had an unfortunate incident with a sharpie today. It might have involved a small child. It was ugly.

That's all the time I can afford right now. You people will get sick of me when I go on Christmas break!

Thoughts On Last Night

Last night our Church put on a night of worship. It was exactly what I needed. I needed to take a break from the restless and sick week I have had. I needed to be surrounded by love and joy. It was a perfect evening.

Kristi, Jeff, Robbie, Jennifer and Heidi did amazing on vocals. Don was rockin' the keys (is that the right term?) I don't know any of the other musicians but they were all awesome! I loved the way the choir was used. And it was as if they looked at my list of favorite worship songs and decided to just do those! All my faves were sung last night! The best part of the night was the end when "You Are Good" was sung. That is our family's worship song. The kids use my lipstick as microphones, I tun up the volume all the way and we sing it loud and proud! I have a really great gospel choir version. I wish the kids had been able to be there.

I have been fighting a cold all week. I cough every time I try to talk. But I was singing my heart out last night. I think this was a great way to spend a friday night. Much better than sitting on the couch, watching brainless TV and eating TJ's chips. Thank you FCC for doing this. Let's do it again soon.

PS...not to be forgotten are Billy who was doing something very fancy with a bunch of buttons, and CT who I am sure was somewhere with a clipboard making sure everything was running smoothly. Well done boys.

Quote Of The Day

Me: "Megan, here is your cell phone. Your friend called while you were at school " (as I hand her a pearler bead phone she made)

Megan: "Great! I'll just text her back!"

She's 5 people. 5.

Lakeshore Rocks!

Earlier this year we took a break from the kids agents and managers and the endless drive to LA for auditions and photoshoots. One place we didn't give the boot to was Lakeshore. I highly suggest you all get your kids on their list. They only use local children for their catalogs. They also own Toys To Grow On which is also shot with local children. They do not pay anything you can put in a college account but they do give each child $50 gift certificate to their stores.

Dylan shot for them the other day. With his $50 we were able to go to the outlet store (right next door to the shoot) and buy 3 new games, a ball, an excavation kit and something else I can't remember right now. nonetheless, We got $100 in merchandise for free ($50 plus the outlet prices).

Dylan did awesome. Seeing him in there I was asking myself why we stopped going on auditions. The kid is a natural performer. Megan wroks the camera better, but this kid has stage presence. In fact, he has a speaking part in the HCS Christmas show coming up. He is really excited that he might even get to carry baby Jesus across the stage as he delivers his speech. He is a natural performer and I couldn't be more proud of him.

So I got a bit nostalgic and almost called his agent to say we're back in...then this happened...
TRAFFIC! I hate traffic! It took us 1 1/2 hours to get home from the shoot, and it was only in Long Beach. And sitting in LA traffic everyday for auditions sucked. So I am reminded why we took a break and thankful for the occassional bone Lakeshore throws is. Sign your kids up. It's worth it!

Free Clothes

I have been saving a box of clothes in my garage since losing weight. I was waiting for a good cause to give them to someone. When someone posted on freecycle that her sister lost everything in the fire and had nothing for herself and two daughters I thought I had my cause. But the lady never showed up for the clothes. So on my porch sits a box of size 8-10 pants and large shirts. Some of the stuff was barely worn since I bought it as interim clothes as I was losing weight (I started bigger than that). If you know of someone who is in need of clothing in this size, let me know. I would like it to go to good use.

Vegas Baby!

When Jon and I were roommates we went to see Swingers. A few days later I offered him to create an e-mail name on my AOL account. It was the mid 90's, we were just catching onto this Internet thing and I had just gotten a computer as a college graduation gift. (Side note, I wrote Legal briefs on a Brother word processor on which I could only see 2 lines of text at a time for 4 years. I could have used this gift a bit earlier!). Anyhow, Since we had just seen Swingers and Jon had been using the key phrase "You're so money" for days, he picked the name jonmoney. Ring a bell?

A few years later we were dating and going to visit his parents for Thanksgiving. On an extended layover in Vegas I had blackjack on my mind, but Jon decided to get me drunk and propose. Or was it propose then get me drunk. Either way, he got down on one knee in the middle of the casino and begged me to be his wife. I said yes, yadda, yadda, yadda.

We have been back to Vegas twice since then. Once when I was pregnant with Dylan and once when he was very young. For YEARS I have been itching to get back there again. So we decided for our first ever escape from the insane asylum called my house, we would go to Vegas. I have been secretly saving money for about 1 1/2 years to try to plan a disco party for our 35th birthdays in January. We decided to do this instead. We'll spend the same amount of money, and we might find some disco music somewhere in town, but it will be better because we really need a vacation...alone.

So my awesome mother-in-law is coming in town to stay with the kids for our adventure in Sin City (we will be sinless I hope). I have booked everything. Rooms at the MGM Grand (the scene of the blackjack vs. engagement ring experience), 2 Cirque Du Soleil's in one night, Penn and Teller the next night,drinks with my cousin, spa services, and of course I have left some free time for BLACKJACK!!! I am very excited. And nervous. I leave my grandma a 1 page note every Wednesday to get her through 3 hours with the kids until Jon gets home. I am going to need to buy a ream of paper to make all the lists for those 3 days! We are going right after finals and coming home in time for the Drive Through Nativity. Squeezing it in when we can!

On a completely different note, when we came home tonight at 9:00pm, it was 83 degrees. It is so windy my home is shaking. Last week when it did this Dylan and I were awake all night. Literally.

Again I digress, as I type this I am finishing a bottle of great almond champagne from Trader Joe's which only cost $6. We were celebrating Jon's work accomplishments and the end of an an amazingly long work week (I think he worked 3 13 hour days in a row). I made some appetizers and put in a movie. The night is ending with me turning off the movie after about 20 minutes and me drinking the champagne on the couch, watching Boston Legal, listening to Jon snore nearby. Next time we'll save the celebration until his day off!

Disclaimer!

My husband wants me to disclose that I did not write the previous post. He is afraid you will all think badly of me for all the naughty words.. It wasn't me people.

Over 30?

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways

yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ's usually talked over the beginning and @#*% it all up! We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!
Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no on screen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there e was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire. Imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,

The over 30 Crowd

Total Randomness

It is amazing how many random thoughts can pop into your mind during a traffic filled drive to Tarzana. Where is Tarzana? Nowhere near where I live. But it is near Reseda. Name the movie. It is an all time favorite of mine. Here's a hint. Reseda vs. Encino.

Reseda is also the scene of a crime I commitment in Jr. High. It is where I was when I lied to my parents to cover up for my brother. A cover up I maintained until well into my 20's. And to this day, my parents do not believe the real set of events. They cling to the story as proof I was a horrible girl, flouncing around in Reseda. But I wasn't, and my ungrateful brother pretends he doesn't even remember the night. Terd.

I am wearing a belt for the first time in years. Exactly 6 years actually. The last one was a maternity belt when I was ginormous with Megan. This one is not as big. Or as stretchy. And it's pretty!

'Tis the season to spend too much money at Target. Speaking of which, they are out of bags today. They have the size for a pack of gum and the size for a bicycle...nothing in between. I guess I know where everyone was on Veterans Day!

Serafina sprained her shoulder. She's on an anti-inflammatory. That brings hed medicine count to 7. Just keeping you all up to date.

A few days ago I forgot to wash the conditioner out of my hair. I didn't realize until I was drying it with exactly 2 minutes until I had to be in the car. It ended up being the best hair day I have had in years. I even got 2 compliments. Interesting.

Since living here I have always gone to EZ Lube. It was truly EZ when it was in the Target parking lot because I could kill two birds yadda yadda yadda. But then they tore it down which forced me to go to Jiffy Lube because it is not so EZ to go to EZ Lube when the only other location is on the other side of town. So I make the move to Jiffy Lube which is fine because it is by the new Smart N Final. So again, two birds...
So last week, I run a few errands on the other side of town and hit Jiffy Lube on the way home WAY overdue for my oil change. I get home to a message on my machine from EZ Lube. As a thank you for my loyalty, they are offering me an oil change at 50% off. CRAP! I was just on their side of town. I was literally JUST at Jiffy Lube! Do they have a tracking device on me? Why didn't they call my cell. Why did I just pay full price somewhere else? Why why why????

If it is still dark out, go outside and look at the moon. it is AMAZING tonight! I looked at it the whole way home from Tarzana. Did you think of the movie yet???

I also think it is amazing that the songs my kids were born too are both #9 on their CD's. That means my OB is so precise with her surgeries that she performs them in perfect time. And their songs fit their personalities perfectly. It's cosmic. Dylan's song is How Sweet It Is by James Taylor and Megan's is In The Long Run by The Eagles. When they were younger we used to dance around the house to their songs for hours. Now we only get to it every few months but they both still think it is really cool!

So one time we were dancing to Megan's song and just let the CD play. That's when it happened. I can still clearly remember the moment I first saw the Dylan dance. It came out of nowhere at the first notes of Heartache Tonight. It is truly a sight to behold. Everyone should experience the Dylan dance once in their lives.

Speaking of music...I have the FISH at the end of my pre-programmed selections for a reason. I go there last. I go there last because I feel horrible turning off a worship song. I feel so bad cutting someone off in the middle of their praises. But there are just some songs that are not my style. Or I don't know them. Either way, I only go to the FISH when there is nothing on the other 11 stations. And I hold my breath as I push the buttons. I am usually pretty safe at night because it is usually John Tesh just giving us some top 10 list, so I turn it off right away (no offense but his lists bore me). Which leads me to wonder, why do I even hit the button if I know that I will most likely turn it off?

Megan is a name we picked randomly just because we liked it. Dylan actually picked it out of our list of names. I always knew that Megan is a variant of Margaret but I had never put something really cool together. My Mom's name is Margaret. She goes by Peggie which is possibly why it took me 6 years to make the connection. Anyhow, Megan and Margaret mean "pearl" which happens to be the ring I have always remembered my mom to wear. AND ....... they share a birthday. Again...Cosmic.

Today I held my breath and looked at the eye...an actual eye. I hate medical stuff on live people. I love forensics...can look at dead bodies all day...but the live ones gross me out! Tonight I looked through a thingy and saw the back of the eye. It is gross to think about but it wasn't half bad to look at. I still think medicine is for someone much stronger than me, however now I think I can get through this program without vomit ting on my vision professor.

One final thought...can deodorant actually make you smell? I got a free deodorant with a coupon. it is not an "off" brand, but it not the same brand I usually wear. And for some reason I feel like I stink every day. Maybe I am just not used to the smell. But I think I stink even though I shower and clean my pits daily. Someone please tell me if I stink OK???!!!

Was that RANDOM enough for you???

WAIT! A few more thoughts. In the background I am catcing up on DVR. James Taylor is playing on a show. That's the CD Dylan was born to. Hmmm...

AND...can you name my movi yet????

By The Light Of The Moon...

...I try to sleep. But it doesn't happen.

12:15am-I crawl into bed. Fall asleep watching Chelsea Lately

1:32am-Boy child crawls into bed claiming a scary dream

2:13am-Girl child crawls into bed claiming a scary dream. I am sensing they are playing me for a fool.

2:38am-White dog barks to go pee. After discovering it is raining she starts playing. I am forced to go out in the cold wet grass to drag her in. I return to my bed only to discover the creatures have moved themselves into the small hole I was sleeping in. I have a choice of sleeping at the bottom of the bed or finding another place to go. I opt to sleep in D's bed.

3:09am-Cute dog barks to go pee. Seriously...you couldn't go half an hour ago? He is not fond of the rain. Stands at the door hesitating. Tired of waiting for him to stop being a wimp, I push him out into the rain. He does his business and I go back to Dylan's bed.

4:23-White dog wakes me up while trying to jump up into bed with me. What??!!!

5:30-on the nose...sub line calls to see if I can work today. NO!!!!!!!!!

6 o'something (I have no decided to stop looking at the clock) boy child discovers I am gone and comes to sleep in his bed with me.

6 o'2 minutes later girl child makes the same discovery. I am now squished in a twin bed between these monsters.

6 o'snuggle time, I remember that this won't last forever. Someday the dogs will be in heaven and the kids won't want to snuggle me anymore. Then I will be left with nothing but my snoring husband to keep me awake.

And you all wonder why I am EXHAUSTED!

Dirty Disco Mommy

I had such and awesome time at the Muddy Buddy. It is by ar the best race I have ever done. I LOVED the biking. The running was tolerable but the biking was AWESOME! My only complaint...all those darn people going so slow down the hills in front of me. Release the brakes people!!!

I had set the alarm for 4:30 then remembered that I needed to shave before the race. So 4am it was! We got there by 5:45. We wasted some time until the costume contest. Despite out best Egyptian dance across the stage, we did not take the prize. A very unPC Border Patrol agent and his partner in a sombrero and blanket won. They were a ton of fun.

At 7:00 it was time to line up. The waves were broken down by ages, the combined age of you and your partner. I am not saying that my partner is old, but she does mark a different category in the age bracket then I do. So we were in wave 12...12 of 13! YIKES! So after a LONG wait, we finally got going around 8:15. That was a seriously long wait. We met some fun people in our wave, had a few snacks, went potty a few times, and even got a few sprinkles on us.

After each leg of the race, you transition from biking to running or vice verca. Theoretically when you run into a transition station, your bike should be there waiting for you. I never had a bike. In fact, I always had to wait more than 3 minutes for my partner to get there with the bike. This means I ran faster than she biked. She was scared of the riding. But she did awesome and I am proud of her.

We finished 9th in our division (out of 58), which I think is awesome. Our time was 59:25 which I am sure we could shave down by 6 minutes if she can get over her fear next year. At the end of the day I felt it was so much easier than the Mud Run, she thought it was more challenging than the Mud Run. Hmmmm....

The HIGHLIGHT of the day for me was coming around a curve and hearing someone cheering for me! Sarah B was there to support her husband but managed to find me on the course and give me a bit of support! It was an awesome feeling to hear my name coming from the crowd!!

We ended the day with a few beers in the beer garden, some laughs about our crazy family, and an awesome meal at Don Joses. Cheers! Enjoy the pics. (There's more at jonmoney.blogspot.com)

Before the race


After the mud pit



An awesome picture taken by Sarah B. (pirated from her website!) This was my reaction to hearing my name in the crowd! THANK YOU SARAH!!!

The view from on top of one of the mountains


This reminds me of something you would see in a movie about some dorky college boys who are trying to get some girls. They are watching this scene from the bushes thinking they have found heaven. It is a bunch of muddy women hosing each other off! Sure, there are men there too but that doesn't fit so well in the scene.


Must finish with a beer!!! (Check out my shirt...that was totally unintentional)

Halloween '08

This year we did the usual.
Pre-Halloween visit to the Costa Mesa Haunted House (Megan actually got out of the car this year)
Halloween fundraiser benefiting CASA a So Coast Plaza
Halloween night dinner at BJ's downtown followed by Main St Festivities
Trick-Or-Treating around our neighborhood then rushing home to give out candy.
Daddy falling alseep in the couch at 8pm
That's a typical Halloween for the Michell's

I only LOOK sweet and innocent!

Sometimes something that looks easy, is really the hardest thing you have ever encountered in your life. Meet the Slate & Stylus. My NEMESIS!



2 hours at the table, not one sentence completed correctly. This sucks.

By the way, I had a shirt that said that in high school. I wore it all the time. It was true.

One other note, in this picture, it isn't even being used the right way. See, it's hard!

Randomness

Here's some random thoughts for the day:

I think it is suspicious that KT has lived 1/4 mile away from me for 4 months and I have never seen her house. I think about crashing through the door everytime I drive by coming home from school. But it is 9pm and I don't think she would appreciate that.

Quote of the day: "Mom, why is your tummy all shrivilled up like that?"
Anyone have the number for Dr. 90210?

My goal is to make it from Halloween to My Birthday without gaining 1 lb. OK...I can gain one, as long as it is one each in my girls. They need help.

Is it ironic that the minute I start trying to plan a Vegas get-a-way, only to be stonewalled by calendar, work and school issues, I hear 45 ads a day for Vegas?

I love the Goodwill. I got two pairs of Old Navy pants with the tags still on and a black shirt for $13.

I am so overworked I am staring to make mistakes. This is not like me. I am seriously slipping. I sent a CD of photos to be printed. Only I DIDN'T send a CD of photos. I never actually burned the CD. I just took out a CD, labeled it, packaged it up and off it went to the photo lab. Duh! It was nice of them to call and remind me to burn some images on the new one I send them!

I was outted by my brother last night. I was trying to see how long I could go through the program I am in before someone connected me to Dr. Fazzi (My step-mom who runs part of my program). My brother had to blab to someone he works with that his "little sister" is also taking the braille class right now. So in class last night she asked me if I was "Vince's little sister". 3 people around heard us talking and suddenly it was just like high school again. "She's Vince's little sister." "You are? We love Vince!!" I will FOREVER be "Vince's little sister"! I made it 5 weeks. And then they realized that meant I am connected to the boss. I won't have any friends in class now! Nice.

One of my professors said the other day "The definition of intellegence is holding two opposing thoughts at the same time". She broke it down like this...it's about getting outside of your own head and gaining a new perspective. Listen to both sides, think about what each is saying, process it, talk about it, debate it, weigh it with morality, THEN when you make a decision it is an intellegent one. It may still be the same decision you had a gut reaction to. OR you may find that sometimes what you thought you believed doesn't align with some of the other things you beleive. You might change your mind. Either way, you have now made an intellegent decision! Obviously in Religion and Politics this could be very useful. When she was talking about this I was reminded of sitting in my sister's graduation form a very liberal college a few years ago. The Keynote Speaker was John McCain. We were fully prepared for the protesters and media coverage at this event. What I was not prepared for was the complete lack of respect from some of the audience members. There were some that stood with their backs turned to him. OK, not to bad. The ones that I was bothered by were the ones who sat with ipods on, talking on their cell phones, or having loud conversations with their friends while he was speaking. That to me is not an intellegent way to make a point. I think the more intellegent thing to do would be to LISTEN to what he said. Actually listen. Think about it, weigh it, talk about it, debate it, etc. How can you have an intellegent respone to anything your opposing view says when you don't actually listen? I am not endorsing McCain here. Just using this as an example of what she was talking about. Sometimes you have to shut up and listen. THEN you can make your point with INTELLEGENCE!!! That was deep for me huh?

On a lighter note...I am addicted to hansens Diet Creamy Rootbeer. No carbs, calories, asperatime or sugar. While reading the side of the can to research what it DOES have in it...the can flew from my hand, hit the batroom door and sprayed everywhere. Nice.

Which leads me to this...why can't politicians change theuir mind? I have certainly made some bad choices in the past, hung out with some truly awful people. But I have changed. I have changed my views on a lot of things as I've grown, toothpaste, abortion, salad dressing, homosexuality, favorite flavor Hansens (it used to be black cherry), etc. etc. Why aren't politicians allowed to change their minds as they grow?

And on an even better note, as I was typing this my mother-in-law called to say she booked a flight to CA to watch my kids for 3 days so Jon and I can have a get-a-way to VEGAS!!! YES!! YEEE HAW!!!!

Life is good!

Silly Boys

I tried to get a nice photo of my boys together. This is what I ended up with. BOYS!!!

I Suck!!!

I do not work at 'C' level. I am a "get an A, never a B" sort of girl. I do not expect this of my children, however I DO expect it of myself! I know I have been out of the school game for 10 years but I still work ahead of schedule and expect a lot of myself. So I was not happy after my midterm last week. It was a medical exam and I just cannot wrap myself around thet type of stuff. I had read the mterials, done the assignemnts and studied for hours. This is a lot more than I can say for anything I did for my pre-law degree from 10 years ago. Anyhow, I was extremely disappointed to get my grade. 78/100. I do NOT work at C+ level. I was ticked. BUT today life took a turn for the better when the grades were posted for the whole class. I was third people. Third in the class. Which leads me to say this...I suck! BUT so does everyone else!!

It's Over-Part 2

This weekend I cleaned out Dylan's drawers. Part of this process included throwing out all the underware from the movies Cars and Toy Story. They were replaced with plain white tightie whities. Sniff sniff. He's a big boy now!