Monday, March 30, 2009

Fans

The band did a great job! The crowd was small but fun. B. ended up 'losing' a couple drum sticks during the performance and a lady at the front of the crowd grabbed them off the floor and screamed and held them up like they were a treasure of some kind. Just like a 'real' rock band groupie would. They sounded great, though really, really loud. And not a single word could be understood...bad sound system? Or just too loud in general...not sure. But it was still fun. We were home by 10:30ish and in by 11. B. went to get something to eat with his band mates and was home by 11:30 (I hope - I was asleep so who knows?).

They ended up playing at around 9:20 - B. and his details were a bit off. Thank goodness he texted us around 8:15 to say 'I think we're playing within an hour' or we could have missed it entirely.

My only regret is that they would have had a ton more people there had they played earlier. And we feel it's the right thing to do to buy all those tickets back from people who B. misinformed about the time - so we're out a little $$. This was an expensive concert.

But worth it's price in gold....to see the look on B.'s face as he's doing what he loves most in the world - worth any price to see that.

I don't know what his future holds.....I often wish I could 'see' that far ahead to know how it all turns out. But I think music will always be a part of his life - and if he can make a living doing that, great....

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Missing

If you have any information on this missing Tracy, CA. girl, please contact Tracy Police. Here's a link to the article about Sandra Cantu, last seen Friday afternoon.

http://www.kcbs.com/Search-for-Missing-Tracy-Girl/4102202

Our town has been in the news a lot lately for horrible things.....and now this. Please help us find her and bring her home.

Spring

There are signs of Spring everywhere these days. My absolute favorite time of year...though the projects that pile up over the winter months sometimes seem overwhelming, it's still a great time of year. Here are some signs that warmer days are ahead - colors are out everywhere. And mother nature has her hand in virtually everything around us.

First, these are J.'s pride and joy:

His bulbs are blooming in the backyard - a handful of freesia bulbs planted long ago that remind us every year how much we love bulbs.

And all day yesterday, while we worked on the fence re-construction, she was lingering nearby:




She is building a nest in one of our trees. All day, she would go over the fence to our neighbors' yards and get twigs and leaves and various other materials for her nest. She'd hop back up on the fence and fly into our tree - a beautifully lush, green, full podacarpus - and build. I looked in the tree for her several times but it's so dense, I could never see where she's building. She chose well....she can't be seen when she's in the nest and neither will her babies. She is amazingly calm...she let me walk pretty close to take this picture. And Chloe was out with us most of the day and the dove never seemed concerned about the dog. She was patient and persistent and built right along with us all day.

She is a dove...and I've been hearing her morning call for weeks now. Takes me back to my grandmother's house - a huge screened in room with a giant backyard...and there were always, ALWAYS doves cooing in the morning. I remember fresh squeezed orange juice and then cookies of all kinds. An endless variety of baked goods - my Grammy was an awesome baker. Her house was so fun - we would play and play outside and the doves were always there.

And now there's a dove living and nesting in my very own back yard and she's having babies!

AND we also have Blue Jays making another nest in the tree near the dining room. They are less obvious about their building but they are definitely nesting. They hop in and out of the tree fairly often.

I like that they figure they're safe here. That the yard is peaceful and quiet and lovely. Costco had a pretty bird bath and I'm tempted to add that to our garden for them to have plenty of fresh water.

Gig

We were on our way to Modesto for B.'s gig. Thankfully, he texted J. and we pulled over to read the text ('cuz J.'s phone is password protected like it's a CIA or FBI phone and I couldn't get the password to be 'accepted' without J. doing it.) The text said 'we start at 9:20'....crap. We called and it was actually 9:50 - there are SEVEN bands playing (up from the three we expected) and they are band #4.

We turned around and came home...and then the call came from friends who said they now have six tickets and can't go - it's a work night/school night and they can't go...so we will be buying back the tickets.

I guess we will be going late. I should probably be taking a nap.

I'm disappointed for B. because his good friends won't be there to support his debut. And I'm worried because I doubt he'll be home before midnight and it IS a school night/work night for all of us as well.

Maybe I'll make myself a triple latte.....or some really strong iced tea.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Twilight

I finished Twilight at 2AM this morning. Started reading upon going upstairs after we returned from a birthday party around midnight last night. Couldn't stop reading until I was DONE. Now I'm reading the 2nd book 'New Moon' and can hardly put it down. J. humored me by stopping at Blockbuster on the way back from dinner and Smart & Final to see if by some miracle they had a copy of Twilight available - just released to DVD on the 21st of March. It wasn't available. I may have to go buy it. Now that I've read the book, I'm dying to see the movie.

Heading upstairs for another long night of reading. I'm about 1/4 the way through the second book and with a little effort (and little sleep), I might make it through Book 2 tomorrow. I went upstairs this afternoon to read for a bit and ended up falling asleep - only 5 hours of sleep last night will do that do you...I needed the nap.

Love good books!! I feel like I'm teaching myself to read again - to be patient. To really enjoy the words and the structure and the mystery of it all....It's such a joy! And I'm so excited that there are still two books to look forward to when I finish this one!

Earth Hour

I'm blogging in the light of my computer - only. Are you? We are participating in Earth Hour. At 8:30, for one hour, we turned off all the lights in the house. We don't have many on anyway since we (typically - though with the kids, you never know) leave lights on only in rooms we are in at the moment. But we seriously are sitting in the dark. J. is watching TV in the family room (TV is allowed) and I am blogging and/or surfing blogs on my laptop (computers are allowed) in the study.

Hoping you participated, too!

J. and I went out to dinner ALONE and shared a margarita - and had great Mexican food. We got another errand on tomorrow's list 'done' by quickly running into Smart and Final just before it closed to get milk and sugar free vanilla syrup for my latte in the morning. We were OUT and I really missed my vanilla latte this morning.

The boys are out and about. Home any minute and we'll have to quickly tell them to turn the lights off!! B. is heading to the house of a band member that lives out in the country where they can practice all night long. He will spend the night and they will practice tomorrow morning and into the afternoon - the big debut is tomorrow night. Modesto Live - doors open at 6:15 and concert starts at 6:30. We think B.'s group will take the stage by 8ish. There's quite a few people coming - which pleases me. Makes me happy for him and us that we have so many great friends who are taking time out of their busy schedules to be there for B.'s big night. It will be great!

1/2 hour to go. Can we make it? I know we can.

Project

J. has spent the day demolishing an old lattice fence that 'hides' the pool equipment. It was built by our gardener and the lattice never really 'hid' the equipment. We bought a bamboo screen roll from Home Depot years ago and 'added' that behind the lattice. But time and weather and the (same) gardener hitting the lattice with the lawn mower week after week has destroyed the fence. It was very sad looking. So yesterday, we went to Home Depot for the first set of 'fence slats' to try to 'test' and plan what we were going to do.

J. started this morning, made another trip to Home Depot for dozens of slats, more screws, and some cut-up 2x4's to help strengthen the cross beams. He's been out there drilling screws in and bracing up the cross bars for most of the day. The fence looks terrific - before and after shots below. (Technically, the 'before' is the small lattice side that we haven't demolished yet, so you'll see what it was like before). I'm not sure I'm a HUGE fan of the 'reddish' tone of the boards but they'll weather nicely, I think.

I'm so proud of him. Banker by day and handy man on the weekends. He's getting pretty darn handy for a guy approaching (in about six months) the big SIX-O.

Great job honey!! Thanks so much for getting this big 'to do' off our list AND saving us oodles of money by doing it yourself! Next: raised planter boxes for our veggie garden!! I see more power tools in your future!!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Anniversary

We celebrated # 19 yesterday (oh, that reminds me - I have to change my profile to read 'married 19+ years....I'd better do that so I don't forget).

OK, I'm back. Whew! Glad I got that off my list of things to do....

We both took the day off and we headed to a new Casino. It was loads of fun - pretty drive, fun with J., we gambled, we lost, we went to lunch, we gambled some more, we lost some more and then we drove home. It was a nice day. We never made it to Daffodil Hill in Amador County - we just didn't end up having enough time to take that 'long way' home.

J. had to work today (boo hoo) but I enjoyed a nice day of doing nothing - and I had the treat of meeting my friend J. for lunch in Pleasanton. We had a nice visit and great food. Counting the days to our Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman concert - only two weeks!

J. and I are both off tomorrow and we have no firm plans. Not planning to go anywhere other than possibly Costco for some garden stuff. Working around the house, in the yard, etc. The weather is expected to be lovely and we're working on plans to put in raised beds and grow some veggies! That should keep us at Home Depot for a good chunk of the morning tomorrow.

I'm enjoying being off....or at least as 'off' as I can ever be. My Blackberry frequently buzzes to let me know there's a new email or a voicemail or an instant message. I ignore it as best I can - but there are many things happening at work these days and I'd much rather know what's going on vs. returning to find out a bunch of stuff happened that would have been simpler to just take care of right away. So it's a fine line and balance and it takes me a few days to really unwind. Hopefully, tomorrow will do the trick and I can have a nice, relaxing weekend.

I'm reading the first Twilight book - and have the other three here ready to read. I am so 'proud' of myself because I actually borrowed them - saw the set at Costco and resisted the urge to just buy them. Instead, friends at work had them (there are a bunch of us reading them at the moment) so I was able to borrow all of them. I haven't read a really great book in a very long time - and I'm enjoying it. No skimming to get through the 'fluff' faster. No looking ahead a few pages/chapters/to the end. I'm savoring every page and enjoying the process of digesting everything that is revealed page by page. It's great to have that to look forward to. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy reading - read all the time as a kid but these days of 'quick info' have impacted my ability/desire to savor a well written, entertaining, intriguing book! It's been fun - and a good distraction from the never-ending band practices that have been held at our house....at least I can head upstairs to the bedrooms opposite the garage side of the house, curl up with a book and read until the banging/music is over.

The gig is on Sunday - and yes, I will go. Though I think we're going to take two cars so J. can call me when he has a better idea of when B.'s group is actually playing. I want to see the show I've been hearing performed in our garage for weeks LIVE - but I don't want stand through multiple 'opening' bands. I just want the 'main event' - Party Machine (I have no idea how they came up with that name)....sounds like a 70's disco group....not a 'punk rock' band...which is what we think they are.....we're not actually sure....

Will let you know if they're a 'hit'.

Monday, March 23, 2009

David

David Letterman FINALLY (FINNNNAAAALLLYYYY) married his long time (over TWENTY YEARS) girlfriend in Montana last week. I am so glad to hear that. Julia Roberts was just on his show last week and she razzed him about his 'unmarried' status....maybe it finally 'worked' 'cuz he and his son's mama tied the knot in a civil ceremony. I've loved him for years - always watch his show (vs. the other guy) if I'm up that late and frequently tape it - and his transformation since becoming a dad is something that I've enjoyed more than I can describe. He is so in love with his son and so surprised at the intensity of his feelings as a parent - and it has softened him so much. Made him so much more 'real' in so many ways. He described it to Julia as some kind of kinetic 'charge' from within and she said 'it just splits you wide open'. That it does.

I thought 'I can't wait to see where you are in 10 or 15 years when Harry is turning 15 or 20 - 'cuz the kid you're so in love with now is going to be a completely different deal'.

And yet, he'll love him just the same....like I do mine. And I do.

I drove H. to a friend's house for a study group - and surprised him by handing him the car key (after grabbing his driver's permit out of the drawer in the study). He declined 'cuz he has a headache. There was something about him on the drive over - he's beyond handsome these days and has that same, mischievous grin that he was born with that pretty much leaves the recipient of the smile wrapped around his little finger. He's funny and amusing and sweet. When he's not being everything opposite of that. Today was a 'sweet H.' day and those don't happen much these days. So I enjoyed the ride over and missed him on the way back.

The great thing about spending virtually all day yesterday cooking is plenty of leftovers for tonight! I love NOT cooking any night of the week but ESPECIALLY on Mondays! Maybe I'm onto a trick I know some people do: cook a lot of stuff on the weekend to have ready during the week. I might have to give that a try...

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Band

Note to self: if ever raising kids again, remember that by definition, drummers host more band rehearsals than any other instrument. The effort and logistics required to pack up a drum kit and various boom stands, cymbals, pedals, etc. usually results in band practice being at the drummer's house - which in this case is OUR house.

We're on the third hosting THIS WEEK. We've fed the entire band dinner twice this week - resulting in me going through an entire week's food budget for two meals. They are here again today, arriving just at lunch time (how convenient) and I resisted the urge to feed them a meal AGAIN. They were in luck, though, because I'm making a 3 course dinner to take to a work friend who's recovering from surgery (we all take turns and she has had dinner delivered to her house for the past three weeks and will for as long as she needs the help) and I had a 'failure' dessert cake - it actually tasted great but it didn't release from the bundt pan well so it was a 'reject'. Added some sliced strawberries and whip cream and the kids devoured that for 'lunch'. It was already in the house and paid for.

Can't really complain about the hosting - they are all very nice kids and a pleasure to have around. They have their first official 'paid' gig a week from tonight - tickets printed with their band name on it and everything - so they will practice every spare minute this week....I see more dinners in our future this week. The hardest part of the rehearsal is the damn dog. She barks NON STOP with the sharpest, shrillest bark you can imagine. She makes me CRAZY. Absolutely CRAZY. Her shrill bark comes out of nowhere and it startles me EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I have mountains of work-work to do and am also cooking for tonight. Dinner is Pasta Carbonara, salad, garlic bread and dessert. Will make the identical dishes for us for dinner as well. I have made this dish before with great success so I'm confident I can throw it together. Will be in the kitchen momentarily chopping onions, crushing garlic and chopping fresh parsley. It's a process....I keep reminding myself that every time I think of just ordering pizza for her family and mine. It will be fine...

J. and I are taking off Weds-Friday this week to celebrate our anniversary. We plan to head to Placerville and check out a new casino that just opened - and see the daffodils in bloom on the drive there, hopefully. Thursday, J. has to go in to the city for a 'big' meeting but we will be home on Friday, hopefully working in the garden, if weather permits. We want to see the new Julia Roberts movie Duplicity - I want to see it and J. will humor me and go with me. It will be a nice break from work - even nicer because I'm off from the 10th through the 17th of April as well for Spring Break. No plans other than hanging around the house. Looked into going to Disneyland but decided to not spend the money. We still have to pay for the rest of the Mexico condo expense.....and we're trying to save up for that vs. using savings. So no Disneyland trip for us.

Things around the War of the Roses seem to have subsided a bit - thank goodness. Their report cards arrived yesterday and were far from stellar. B.'s in particular. The kid admitted to J. that he just stopped trying in a bunch of classes 'cuz he figured it didn't matter anymore - guess he figured 'why bother' because he's 'only going to a two year college'? WTF? J. reminded him there's something called 'pride in your work' and your GPA - and it will be on your high school transcripts FOREVER - so it's best to do the best you can instead of just giving up. What a crock. The kid pisses me off.....

His Selective Service registration confirmation arrived in the mail along with the abysmal report card....I didn't know they still made 18 year old boys register, but they do. I'm starting to think a career (or at least a few years) in the armed forces might do him a world of good. He needs someone to knock some sense into his thick head and perhaps boot camp, etc. would accomplish that. We'll see. I remain mute at this point - stunned into silence and unable to think of a single, positive thing to say these days.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

59 1/2

Today is the day my hubby turns 59 1/2. THIS is the day we've been waiting for - the day he can start making withdrawals from his retirement accounts without incurring the dreaded 'penalty' for taking money out before you're 'close' to retirement. We've been dreaming of this day for years...and it's finally here! The glee we've been anticipating is upon us....

And now that it's here, we're not withdrawing a dime. Nada. Zip. Not a penny. True, a good reason is the recent implosion of the financial markets and a significant portion of our savings having disappeared into the cosmos somewhere (along with zillions of other people in our country/world). But truthfully, there's nothing we need or want that we don't already have or couldn't get if we really wanted it. That's a pretty nice feeling.

Our 19th wedding anniversary is next week - and this time next year, we just may withdraw a bit to celebrate our 20th in some 'grand' way. I've got a bauble (or two) in mind and perhaps, if our savings recovers a bit, we'll feel 'ok' to take out a little bit this time next year for a 'splurge'. We'll see about that.

For now, we hold tight and continue to sock money away monthly - and adjust our retirement goals to accommodate the 'new' economy.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

War of the Roses

Remember that movie? A married couple go at each other in an attempt to get one (or the other) to leave the house as their marriage is dissolving? Ever seen it?

I've seen it - and I actually don't recall much of the movie itself - just the absurdity of the battle and the title of the film that kind of sticks with you. Like you knew you'd need it at some point.

That's what this week has been at our house. War of the Roses. Only here, it's 'War of the Kids' - a tale of two boys who can get so pissed off at each other for the stupidest things....and then escalate into more stupid stuff just because.

I'm not going into too much detail - I'll save that for my 'tell-all' book when one or both of them ends up famous. But H. did something stupid that affected B. And B. has his 'opinion' about what is the appropriate level of punishment that H. should suffer for the issue. And we've been battling about that all week. ALL WEEK. It's been like a mine field in this house - just waiting for the next thing that will put one of them over the edge...and the next thing always happens. ALWAYS...because they are teens and they are boys and they do stupid things. Often. It's just the way it is. It is what it is.

It was one of those weeks when there's just too much testosterone in this house for my liking...and yet, there's nowhere to go. Sure, I can go upstairs and close the bedroom door - but the battle rages on outside the door. There's no escape....and then J. does his best to distract me...to snap me out of that realization that there is NOWHERE FOR ME TO GO....and I think 'are you out of your mind? YOU have the same equipment they do and THAT makes you a man and I'VE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF MEN FOR THE MOMENT - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!'

And that stark realization that since it appears (still) that B. is intending to stay home and go to LPC for a couple years, we have TWO MORE YEARS of this crap to endure. Wow. I hope I make it.

A teen boy lived in our 'old' house - the condo. And I remember thinking when we first looked at that house 'how can one kid tear up a room so much'? And now I know. And I'm not saying that B. got 'physical' with an object - or with his brother. He didn't. But he IS physical - doors are opened roughly. Drawers are slammed. B. doesn't just ENTER a room - he PLOWS THROUGH a room - and more-so when he's pissed. Neither of them are careful with things. They are just boys - blundering, sweaty, angst-filled boys. And the home is starting to show the wear and tear of two boys.

And so is their mother.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Cook

In my never-ending efforts to do better at getting dinner on the table at a reasonable hour, I've discovered a cool website - a simple Google search for 'menu planner' yielded www.mealsmatter.org - EXACTLY what I've been looking for.

Not only is it a 'calendar' kind of thing for creating weekly menus, it also has a recipe search engine - you click on things you have on hand or ingredients you'd like to make something with, pick other criteria (under 30 minute meals are a favorite with me) and it will find recipes for you. If you choose to add a recipe to your planner, you can then automatically get a shopping list which includes all the ingredients you need to make what you've selected. AND you can edit the list to delete things you already have (for example, 3 tsp. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, etc.) so you know exactly what you need to buy.

The next feature I'm going to update is a 'pantry' section where I can enter what we have on hand and it will keep track of it for me....yes, I'll have to learn to update it as we use things - but that will be a small price to pay for knowing what is IN the pantry at any given moment. It's sort of the black hole of the kitchen...and getting that under control will greatly ease my dinner stress AND save money.

I've made two recipes so far - and while I can't say they were huge hits, they were both pretty good and were consumed by 75% of the people in the house. H. ate frozen waffles tonight - and he was at a friends house last night. So he didn't care for the enchiladas I made tonight - they had black beans, chopped zucchini, corn, beef and cheese. They would have been terrific but the recipe called for wheat tortillas - and J. bought 'wraps' instead of tortillas - so they were too big. And sort of turned 'gummy'. They were OK - just not great. We'll use corn next time - corn would have been delicious!

We've got menus planned for the week and ingredients on hand. I have a Board meeting tomorrow night so the boys will have frozen pizza - it's easy and I know they'll eat it. And it's cheaper than ordering pizza which is what we usually do on Board nights.

This entire effort was prompted by last week's less than stellar eating out multiple nights - I was frantically working away on my big state report thing and we resorted to Subway, Taco Bell and pizza. Leftovers or salads the other nights. I was getting home late and was too tired to cook - so we did 'fast food'. Oh well.

I'm also following a new 'food guideline' - 15/6. If you get the monthly Costco magazine, you might have read the article. Try to not exceed 15 grams of sugar and 6 servings of carbs in a day. The carbs aren't too hard to adhere to. But the sugar is incredibly hard - and it's not because I'm having to stop eating a bunch of sweets. There is that to consider, of course - the basket of candy on my desk that people come in to much on throughout the day is hard to resist - but so much easier today when I realized that ONE TUBE of the candy called SMARTIES (kind of like tiny sweet tarts) has 13 grams of sugar. So ONE TUBE of those is my entire sugar allotment for the day. And the juice I bought? With acai berry and antioxidants? One 8 oz. glass has 35 grams of sugar - over TWO DAYS worth of sugar grams in one small glass. Wow. It's really made me aware of sugar. 1/2 a banana? 11 grams. It's just made me think - and consequently, I'm eating differently/better.

I'm also realizing that I'm not eating 'cuz I'm hungry, necessarily. Maybe thirsty? Maybe not wanting to do something I need to/should be doing? It's sort of an avoidance thing more than a hunger thing. So I have to work on that. Hopefully, it will get easier as my body (and mind) adjust to consuming more meaningful food at more meaningful times.

Today was a slow, groggy day...the time change does this to me every year. I never think an hour's sleep difference can make such a huge difference - but it was really hard getting up and walking out to the car to get to work and it was still dark outside. I hate that. It was nice to have more daylight at the end of the day - we had planned to walk and didn't wedge that in tonight - but we will. But oh, the loss of an hour kills me annually. It's enough to make me want to move to Arizona or Hawaii where people know not to mess with the clocks.

We had a nice weekend piddling around. Church on Sunday. Errands, laundry, tidying, some yard work. And I napped BOTH DAYS - trying to catch up on the past two weeks of working 20 straight days...I was really tired.

Spring is looming - the potted plants on the patio were dry enough to require a hose watering for the first time in months. Things are budding and blooming and we've started trying to clean up from the winter months - pulling weeds, starting to prune shrubs a bit. We also need to rebuild our pool equipment fence - the lattice fence that was there is not surviving the wet weather (nor the gardener's crew hitting it with the lawn mower on a regular basis) and it won't make it through the summer. I'm also going to try to put in a couple raised beds finally - but I'm having trouble finding places in the yard that get full sun. The best place is in the middle of the pool deck - and I don't really want to do that. But I might.

Am hoping to take 1/2 day off on Wednesday - have a meeting in the far east side of our county, which puts me about a 1/2 hour into the drive to Jackson - so I might go up there for the afternoon. We'll see. I told my boss 'either I'll go to Jackson for an afternoon or go home and take a nap - either would be completely lovely.'

And speaking of my boss, he went to Napa this weekend to receive an award. I mentioned v. Sattui winery and asked if he went there, would he please bring me two bottles of white zinfandel. I was emphatic that I didn't want him to make a special trip there - but if he somehow ended up there, we love that wine and it's only available at the winery. So this morning, he emails me and says 'please come see me and bring your car keys'. And I thought 'uh oh - why do I need my car keys?'. Of course, I quickly remembered and was so excited. Went over with money to pay him back - and he closed the door to his office, told me about his weekend. I started to hand him the money - and he said (sternly) 'put your money away - I'm not taking it'. I said 'but I didn't want you to buy me wine - I just wanted you to pick some wine up for me'. And he said 'I know - but I want to do this for you. Marianne (his wife) and I both want to do this - I want you to have the wine from me. And I want you to know that I'm incredibly proud of you. You are doing a really great job'. I know I blushed - I felt it - and I said 'I really wouldn't have survived and made it to this point without your help - truly. You deserve all the praise - and thank you so much for taking on the challenge of a new CBO and for giving me this incredible opportunity - I'm really lucky to be here and really grateful to you for hiring me and sticking with me through thick and thin'. He said 'it's been my privilege'. It was nice...

And I warned him 'of course, you still have 3 more months here so you'll have to hear all this schmaltz from me again at some point'. And he said 'that's fine'. And we went to his car and got the wine, transferred it to my car and returned to our respective offices.

He made my day/week/month/year. And I'm truly so grateful to him.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Follower

I've added a gadget...and want your help in confirming that there are folks out there reading. I know you're out there 'cuz some of you have been kind enough to comment now and then...but for those who don't comment, I direct you down to the bottom of the page - and ask you to please consider 'following' this blog. It's easy - just click on the link and sign in - there are several sign ins that work....hopefully you already have a sign on for Google or Yahoo.

If you don't, won't you please consider getting one? It's easy, quick, and if you get a Google log in, you can comment and I'll KNOW you're out there.

Hope you will 'follow'. I love writing and I love having visitors - and I'd love to know you're out there....

Try it! It won't hurt - I promise. I won't see or know anything about you other than it will confirm there are people out there reading....and I'd love that! I DO LOVE KNOWING PEOPLE ARE OUT THERE.....

Trainee

My friend J. called me at work this afternoon - a rare and wonderful treat to hear her voice at the end of the line....instead of a vendor wanting something...or a co-worker wanting something...or a family member wanting something (meaning my kids...my sweet hubby J. can call me anytime and his calls also made my morning/afternoon/day on a regular basis). It was so great to hear her say 'Hi, it's me'...and I knew exactly who it was....

She was calling to give me the TERRIFICALLY AWESOME news that she got a new job - returning her to the working masses who leave the comfort of their home office and trek to an office with lots of other people. She's been working at home the past few months or so - and while it started off OK, I know she's really missed being with people. She hated working at home - loved being home but not the working at home part. She missed being with people - and I know what she means. I work at home now and then (like last weekend when the kids were absolute PITAs about me trying to work at home instead of ruining their plans by daring to request quiet) and I don't think it would work for me long term, either. I don't think I'm disciplined enough - I'm easily distracted and around home, there are so many other things I'd rather be doing. When I'm at work, in my office, I'm a pretty focused maniac and can plow through record amounts of 'stuff' throughout the day. But at home, my mind-set is just not work-related. And I too, miss people. So I know (sort of) what she means....and I'm so thrilled for her that she's going to be back in the workforce with an office and everything! Kudos to her - in this economy, landing a plum job like the one she landed is fantastic - and no surprise to anyone who knows her. She's a gem...and they are rare and wonderful.

We were chatting about our kids - her daughter just got her driver's license. And since H. recently secured his driver's permit, we compared notes on driving with teens. Which neither of us have actually done - because we are so alike in so many ways...(well, we're alike in many, many ways except for the Mayo/Miracle Whip thing - she loves Miracle Whip and in fact, confessed that until she was an adult, she didn't know Mayo even existed. Her family only had Miracle Whip. All the time. I reassured her after she emailed me her MW confession after my post that I still love her...though it's a bit shocking to realize that I thought I knew her and now know you never really do know ANYONE, do you?). So, back to the story - we haven't actually driven with our teen drivers because we're both such control freaks that we can't dare to ride in the car with them. Because, you know, they don't drive like us. At all. They aren't us.

We are both trying to reassure our teens that it's nothing personal. And we laughed because we KNOW that our kids are well aware of our phobias regarding riding in the car when we're not personally behind the wheel - because we both torture our husbands on a fairly regular basis - constantly grabbing the arm rest, or that 'handle' thing that's over the door - PROOF that car makers know EXACTLY how hard it is for some people to ride in cars with other people when other people are DRIVING.

My hubby J. has never had an accident - ever. But riding with him is pretty hard for me. No reason it should be - except I am apparently a complete and total control freak and can't handle that he doesn't slow down when I would (and he should); or take his foot off the gas when I would (and he should); etc. [I could list dozens of things he does (or doesn't) do that he should (or shouldn't) but I know you know what I mean]. I'm better - the kind of 'better' that is created by riding in the car with someone for 20 1/2 years and learning tricks like looking out the window. Or closing my eyes and 'drifting off' into my own world.

Still, riding with other people driving is very hard for me - and so I declined when H. asked me if he could drive. We went to the pharmacy the other evening to pick up his prescriptions related to the nose/face injury he sustained last weekend - it was literally close enough to walk - he walks there with friends all the time but I was tired and it was getting dark so we drove. He came with me because he wanted ice cream (or so he said) but when we were in the car he said 'oh, I should have driven'. And so I had to break it to him - right there, in the car, just the two of us - I had to confirm something his brother has known a long time - I won't ride in the car with him when he's driving. I tried it with B. a few times and decided that training new driver's is not something I'm cut out for. So I stopped. Better to just torture J. - who is used to it and who is an excellent driver, one not even slightly inclined to listen to anything I say - than to torture a young, impressionable, nervous, new driver - who might try to actually incorporate all my concerns and concentrate so hard on making me NOT nervous that they won't be paying attention to driving. So I don't drive with teens. Period.

My friend J. and I are so much alike....guess that's why we're still in touch after YEARS of not working together anymore.
Many other friends from those days have come and gone - but she and I stick like glue. I love that about her ....and about us.

She and I are driving to Santa Rosa together for a concert in a few weeks - and I'm sitting here wondering 'who's going to drive'? We've ridden together before and I drove - and she didn't seem nervous - but I never would have imagined she LOVED a bread spread that I won't let within 10 feet of me or my sandwich. And I'm well aware that I don't actually really know her as well as I thought I did. So for all I know, she has to take a Valium before getting in the car with me....

:-)

Monday, March 02, 2009

Facebook

I've finally started updating my Facebook...have received a few invites and just spent a bit of time 'finding' friends and asking them to add me as a friend. Hope they will.

I'm REFUSING to do any other 'networks'. Got a request from an acquaintance on "Linked In" (something like that) and I'm not registering for that in order to 'accept the invitation'...I just don't have the time (and more than that, the patience) to set up another 'network' of friends. So if you want to reach me, it's Facebook or nothing.

This morning, my hubby posted on my aunt's Facebook 'wall' - to let her know that I've finally reached the point in my political evolution that I was yelling at the TV this morning during the 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos'. He had Karl Rove on - I was so shocked and disappointed...I mean, what is up with that?? HE was the only Republican available to offer that perspective? The man lies. A lot. He's in contempt of Congress, for crying out loud. He's refused to cooperate with a Congressional subpoena - but he's on 'This Week'? What's up with that? I threatened to send George a nasty email stating that if he EVER had that asshole on the program again, I would boycott his program FOREVER. Which would be hard to do since it's on every single Sunday morning and we watch it if we're here; record it if we're not.

J. was kind of proud of me...and amused since I'm always admonishing him to keep his comments to a minimum...we have a lot of 'talk' shows on and he can get pretty 'involved' - and I'm always reminding him 'J., it's just a TV show. Dial it back, babe'. This morning, it was his turn.

Thank goodness Katrina Vanden Heuvel was also on and she gave Rove what for! Sort of made it worth it....though it was still hard for me to stomach Rove on that program....

George, you really should know better.

J. said 'he wants people on there who get a good debate going'. I said 'but he can't possibly want people on there that are going to piss off his audience so much that we won't watch his show anymore. He's walking a very fine line here bringing that guy on the show'.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Pogo

Within minutes of returning home from working, H. returned home via the mom of a friend. There was an incident with a pogo stick - three teenage boys, tossing the stick, throwing the 'bouncy' end down and having it bounce back up. H. took a hit to his lip and nose - and bled a lot! The mom said there's blood all over the street. They took him inside to lie down, gave him a towel and ice and then decided to bring him home via car. He's not really sure what happened - can't really recall how it hit him...but the evidence of the hit are pretty obvious. His nose is huge and his upper lip is pretty swollen.

J. took him to the ER - just to be safe. The nose is badly bruised and very swollen - and he has a cut on the inside of his upper lip. He looks like he's been in a bad fight. Poor kid.

He will possibly be home tomorrow putting ice on his face.

A pogo stick! Who would have ever thought teens would be messing around with a pogo stick!

Kids....

Gadgets

I borrowed a Pampered Chef apple corer/slicer gadget from a co-worker to make the apple crisp. We have one of those but I had no idea where it was and since we still have a couple boxes labeled 'miscellaneous kitchen' up in the rafters of the garage, I figure now was not the time to go through all that to look for it. So I borrowed one.

I bolted it to the table because our kitchen has no 'pull-out' cutting boards. Perhaps we were too far past the design phase to ask for them - so we make do. J. helped me set it up....and we tried our first apple, which ended up going from a 4-5 inch round circumference to 2-3 inches - the 'peeling' blade cut into the 'meat' of the apple and wasted a bunch.

As we were trying to figure out if we were doing anything wrong in the set up of the 'gadget', J. calmly says 'well, let me go get ours'. I thought he was referring to a(nother) gadget that I think we have - also from Pampered Chef - that cores apples - a tube-like thing that you push down on top of the apple and it removes the core in one swoop. But no - he was talking about OUR Pampered Chef corer/slicer gadget! Still in the box it came in, WITH directions (which was the key thing). I exclaimed 'where did you find that?' He replied 'it's been above the washer in the laundry room'. Right...sure...that makes sense. Storing it above the place where we wash clothes!!?? My bad. No wonder we couldn't find it. Thank goodness he's the laundry king and saw it one day when he was tinkering around in the laundry room (which he does quite often 'cuz there's 10 loads of laundry every week and he does them all - bless his heart!).

We quickly realized, upon perusing the directions, that we were in fact setting it up correctly - I had purchased some small granny smith apples at the grocery store for tartness (Fuji's are very sweet) and they worked on the contraption PERFECTLY. So I peeled and sliced all of those and J. hand-peeled and sliced some Fuji's and we mixed them all together and it came out PERFECT! It was really good - the boys were sad there were no leftovers and I hadn't let them 'test' it for me because I was worried there wouldn't be enough. There was just the right amount so that worked out fine.

On other notes:

H. is missing a field trip tomorrow because he has a 'below C' average in one of his classes - it's below a C by .74%. Upon first hearing this, our reaction was 'oh come on! Give the kid a break'. But upon perusing the grade book online, it quickly became clear that there was PLENTY of room for the kid to find that ONE POINT he needed to get up to a "C". He has a 'homework' grade that would be in the range of "H" (if "F" is failing) - so you get the picture. Lack of effort is what killed that field trip - not an overly-zealous teacher. So he's going to attend school tomorrow and for the classes that others are on the field trip for, he will attend the support room and work on 'worksheets'. He's disappointed and so are we - but for different reasons.

B. got transferred to another SaveMart on the north side of town - we're not sure what prompted this switch. He was never 'told' - and only noticed when he checked his schedule for this week (starting today) and it had a different store number noted. He asked the store manager and he advised that yes, in fact, 'you have been transferred - they need clerks and we have plenty'. I'm sure there's more to the story that we don't know about - and I am concerned about that. I'm reasonably sure B. is not getting 'along' with his manager [not the store manager - B. likes him and it seems to be mutual] and therefore, she decided to move him out of the store. But he seems fine about it - happy even. He does strongly dislike his manager and has had many 'issues' - including having worked some time that should have been paid at a higher rate only that never happened. Just one thing after another - so I don't think he minds too much that he's going to be at another store. And as long as he's fine with it, so am I.

Also, B.'s band has a 'gig' - an actual 'gig'. AND they aren't the 'opening' band - they have other bands opening FOR THEM. Wow! We are going to buy a bunch of tickets and offering them to friends in town who will hopefully go....

Our front lawn got 'forked' on Friday night - J. caught them in the act, so he found a 1/2 full giant box of plastic forks scattered on the lawn/driveway that they dropped as they were making their get away. It was irritating but so much 'better' than the toilet paper alternative. We're not sure why H. got 'forked' - he's grounded at the moment given our realization that he has an "H" for the homework component of his grade in at least one class (I can't bring myself to look at the rest of the grades yet - possibly tonight, after dinner, with my 'Sunday evening glass of wine' in hand). So they may have been irritated at him not being able to go 'out' on Friday.

I am working at home this weekend - which you'd think would be a good thing. I have my work laptop and various reports, papers, etc. on the dining room table. And the kids gave me no end of grief yesterday about my request to please not watch TV in the family room. There's no door for me to shut in the dining room - it's the best place to work when I have a lot of 'stuff' that I need to have at hand - and room to spread out. It really pissed me off and kind of 'hurt' my feelings to hear them complain loudly all day 'why is she working in the dining room'...'why can't she work in the study'....I had a couple moments when I was ready to pack up and go to a 5 star hotel (which means I would have to drive an hour away since we only have 'motels' in town)...or ready to march over to these complaining kids and remind them that my income pays for 50% of this house; my income is what makes owning this house possible; my income is needed to support them and our household. Damn kids. It pissed me off.

Today, I'm going to just go into my office for the majority of the day - which I would have done anyway. I can't do file uploads into the State school reporting software from home - and I can't print reports from home. So going in was always part of the equation today - but it still sticks in my craw that I feel that is the 'better' option. Save myself the headache and heartache of listening to them complain bitterly about not being able to watch TV downstairs.

Time to get dressed and run a couple quick errands - including stopping at SB for iced tea to get me through the long 'work day'.

March

I'm starting to think maybe I will just do a monthly post and call it what it is - whatever month we're in.  Here we are winding dow...