Sunday, January 28, 2007

Yesterday

This is the weekend that Dana is here visiting the boys. They were out all day yesterday, leaving me at loose ends and bored by 9AM. So I emailed my friend Faythe with my plight and she came to the rescue. We went to the yarn store where I got supplies for a hat that I wanted to make. Faythe was generous with her time and expertise and before I knew it I was crocheting a hat! We did take a break to go to Sonnenberg's Meat Market and Cassano's Italian Deli and do a little shopping. It was my first time to both places and I was impressed with them both. I bought some sausage meat, bread and meatballs, I'm looking forward to trying them soon. Anyway, later in the evening I watched figure skating, and also ripped out my hat and started over with a smaller hook. I am trying to follow the pattern with no modifications, and I had been using a larger hook than what was called for.

So today my exciting plans are:

1) Return a library book.
2) Buy a new comb.
3) Do a little grocery shopping.
4) Go to ShopKo for no reason in particular.
5) Come home and work on my hat.

Don't you wish you were me, do you think you could possibly handle such heart-stopping excitement? I think not.

Happy Sunday to you.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Peer Pressured

Faythe didn't even know she was peer pressuring me when she blogged about getting a pizza from Benneditos last night. Well, she was, so of course we had to get one too. My kids and I can never agree on pizza, and the past pizzas we have had at Benneditos were good but almost too good with way over the top flavor that had me burping garlic the next day. But the one we got tonight is the best. Margarita is her name. No meat, just cheese, basil and fresh tomatoes. Even Leo liked it. Plus because it had no meat it was one of the less expensive pizzas on the menu. It was a real winner tonight, unlike most of the people on American Idol. Yes I am talking to you, Ian Benardo!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

My Comb!

This might sound odd, but I have had the same comb since I was a teenager. My mom bought if for me from her hairdresser when I was about 15. That means that I have had my comb for 30 years. It is kind of small, it has an odd shaped handle that looks like the end of a bone, therefore I call it the Bone Comb. I have kept it for so long because it is one of the few combs that doesn't break my fine hair. On the handle is the name Rembrandt and Made In Germany. It is a really good comb.

So imagine my shock when I go in my bathroom to use it the other day and find this:




TWO BROKEN TEETH!!

Now, I know that I did not break those teeth. I asked both my children and neither one will cop to it. I know that Dolly hangs out by the sink in there, but I can't imagine a cat breaking off two teeth of a comb. AND the broken teeth are nowhere to be found, what's up with that?

So, now what do I do? It's not that big of a comb, 2 teeth make a big difference. Do I try to find another one on the internet? Do I just suck it up and buy some inferior comb? I do not know which way to turn. all I can say for sure is that it's The End Of An Era.

The Bone Comb will remain in the drawer until I have the courage to part with it.

UPDATE! Max found a comb tooth on the floor of my bathroom.
That's all. Not much of an update, is it?

Saturday, January 20, 2007

A Fun Snow Day

So this morning after oohing and ahhing over the snow it was time to get to work, so I shovelled the stairs while the boys had a snowball fight (duh). Then we had to go up to the Y to Target and PetSmart, where we bought 80 (!) cans of cat food. While we were out there we had lunch at this mexican place called Azteca. I had heard some good and some not as good things about that place, but it was good enough. It reminded me of El Indio at the Del Monte Center in Monterey, and also of El Torito on Cannery Row. Max had his camera, which always ends up being fun. Here is a silly little video of us at the restaurant:



After we got home, Leo and I took a walk through our neighborhood and over to the bluff to see the valley. It's cool how snow seems to make everything monochromatic.




I love my neighborhood!

Wow.

It is early Saturday morning and I am sitting here in my office with a cup of coffee looking out the window at the heavy snowfall we are getting right now. I am so glad that I don't work today so I can just sit here and enjoy the snow rather than having to drive in it. It is so beautiful, the flakes are big and fluffy and there are a lot of them! This is the most snow we have had this winter.



As always, I gauge everything by the tree outside my bedroom window. I love how every single twig has snow piled on it.

If you live in this area, I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Here Is An Interesting Development

In about a week, my ex-husband will be coming up here for several days to see the kids, who have made it clear to both their parents that Dad Will Be Staying With Us. Which means that Dana and I will be under the same roof for the first time in over nine years. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just really really weird. I plan on laying low and giving them lots of time together, hopefully they will all go out and do some fun things together. A lot.

Pray for me to think before I speak.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Flu TV

I am finally over the flu I have had for too many days. All I did was sleep and watch TV. Four days worth of TV. Here are the highlights.

1) "Pollyanna" -- Hayley Mills finest moment, along with "The Parent Trap". I usually cry at the end but my kids were making fun of her paralyzing accident, particularly the line where Nancy basically says the good thing about being paralyzed is that now we can all eat steak and ice cream every day. Wow, I didn't realize that Pollyanna had to become a paraplegic so that I could eat steak, not to mention ice cream!

2) "The Princess Bride" -- We all enjoyed this one. I hadn't seen it in quite a while. Highly recommended.

3) "Under The Tuscan Sun" -- Hey, I'm a chick, this is a chick flick. Okay?

4) "Drunken Kung Fu" -- I was intrigued by the title, but it turned out to be a soap opera, I think. It was hard to tell because it was dubbed from Chinese into a different Asian language, perhaps Korean. It was odd, and not very entertaining since I fell asleep shortly after putting it on. When I woke up, Leo was watching it, which cracked me up.

5) "Living with Ed" -- It's a new show on HGTV about Ed Begley Jr. and his superficial wife. Ed took a tour of Jay Leno's car collection, which was very cool. Max walked in and said, "I thought this show was called Living with ED!", which was very funny.

So anyway, those are the higlights of the last four days. I am so glad to be feeling better!


Thanks, Pollyanna!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Tuesday Evening Express Lane--10 Items Or Less

1) I had one of those "it just doesn't get any better than this" moments the other day. It happened late last week during lunchtime. I was: a) sitting in my new car, b) watching it snow outside, c) eating tots from Taco Time, and d) listening to "Pick Up The Pieces" by Average White Band. Need I say more?

2) The toothbrush that my dentist recently gave me is the best non-motorized toothbrush I have ever used. I can really feel it getting between my teeth! It's a Colgate brand toothbrush, that's all I know.

3) The litter that we are currently using in the cat box is not our regular one, it's scented. So instead of smelling nothing, now we smell poop and perfume, it's gross! I may have to get a new litter box to get rid of the stink.

4) If you want to laugh, here is a website for you. We found some good Engrish at the Dollar Store, here it is:





We had to buy them, they were so funny, and they were only a dollar.

5) It is one thing to say you are going to eat at home more, but it is another thing entirely to do it.

6) That being said, I lost another 1.4 lbs this week at Jenny Craig and now I am 27 pounds down!

7) I taught Leo how to play rummy, we have been enjoying it a lot.

8) A big THANK YOU goes out to my sister Susan Lynn for the New Year's cookies. We decided that next year we can do without the holly and would like more of the chocolate cookies with the white chips, and also more lemon bars.

OK I think that's it.

Friday, January 05, 2007

My Kids Keep Growing!

And unfortunately they have grown to the point where they no longer fit in my car. And seeing as this situation was not going to remedy itself, after all, Leo is getting taller all the time, my destiny became clear. There was going to be a new car in our future. After much internet browsing, three words became the criteria for a new car--Sliding Rear Seat. For all the luxurious options and space that new cars have, almost all of them are sorely lacking in rear leg room. And I wanted a back seat that 6'2" Max could be comfy in. Thankfully the one car that fit the bill was made by a brand I have been loyal to in the past--Toyota. So we went to the car lot and got us a RAV4! It is a base model so it's pretty no-frills, but it's still super nice. And it gets better gas mileage than my Subaru that I traded in. Best of all, nobody is fighting over the front seat and bitterly complaining when they have to sit in the back. For that alone it was worth every penny, believe me. Or as my mom would say, believe you me.



See you on the road!

Monday, January 01, 2007

New Year's Eve and Day

Well we were real party animals last night! At about 11pm I started to bake a cake FROM SCRATCH. The last time I baked a cake from scratch I don't even think I had any kids yet. But I do have kids now, and if it hadn't been for the gift card for Williams Sonoma they gave me for Christmas and the high-end cake pans I bought with it, I am sure that baking a cake would not have been on the agenda. It was supposed to be a Goodbye 2006 cake but it took so long to make that it became a Hello 2007 cake. We finally had some around 1 am and then watched the 80's classic "Revenge of the Nerds" on TV. I told you we were party animals!

So now it is 2007 and my kitchen looks like an explosion at the bakery. I finished taking down Christmas instead of cleaning up after last night, but now I'm just plain stalling. Which brings me to my first New Years Resolution--Quit Stalling! Actually, the big resolution I am going for is to Cook More Meals At Home. If I do just that one, all the minor resolutions will fall into place, those being Spend Less Money and Eat Healthier.

Well I'm going to quit stalling now and go clean up the kitchen so I can make something for dinner. Viva la resolution!