The room

As promised - and only a day late! Not too shabby.




And now I need to get ready for my weekly doctor's appointment. Oh the joy.

Finally!

No, no baby yet. But still a fine accomplishment. After almost 2 years we have finally wallpapered Kyle's bedroom. And by 'we' of course I mean Chris. He worked his fine ass off for 2 days this past weekend. I was on hand to sing his praises and um... well that's about it. I might have made him a sandwich.

Chris bought one of the model homes so the house was already filled with some random decorator's choices of wallpapers. Unfortunately for Kyle when we moved in he ended up in the room that had been decorated for a little girl. Teacup wallpaper with a sickeningly sweet tea party border.


How charming. And even though Kyle did not complain, Chris and I have talked about the need to change it and looked at samples dozens of times with nothing ever getting done. But on one of our recent trips to Lowe's we came across this skateboard border and the race to beat the baby was on! We took Kyle back to Lowe's and let him choose between the border with the blue background or the black background (he has many times over the last year requested that we paint or wallpaper his room black. Um, no. You're too young and do not yet have the requisite teenage angst to pull it off!) As you can see he choose wisely.


Yes little girl - look upon your fate!


And here it is! A room fit for a 10 year old boy.


And it works with the blue surfboard/tiki bedding, blue lamp, and blue/orange/green locker style desk he already had in his room. I'll get a picture of the room posted later today. Maybe tomorrow. All this typing has been exhausting.

Nesting

Greetings from Week 2 of my Maternity Leave.* Life here at home is good. I am feeling much better now that I’m not spending my days slumped over my desk in that uncomfortable chair. My back isn’t hurting as much and the sciatic pains have diminished also. And even though I’ve kept busy, I can take things at my own pace and not over-do it. A couple errands completed each day and then I just take it easy. (And yes Chris, the day-timer is coming in fairly handy. Shut up.)

I’ve managed to get quite a bit done around the house in just a week. I’ve gotten caught up on our Flex Spending files for last year and set up the spreadsheet and files for ‘07. I’m just about done with all the pre-washing of baby stuff and her room is almost finished. Just a few more incidentals and we’ll be done. Then I can get to all the fun stuff I was planning for this free time. I need to work on my painting, make some more prints (and mat and ship the ones I’ve printed for Julie) and damn, I haven’t even gotten around to playing any Zelda yet!

I’m getting my hair done this afternoon. And not a moment too soon. This streak down the center of my head has been transformed seemingly overnight from a nice wide suburban street to a major 6 lane super highway. And if you reorient the road so that from forehead to crown is the width of the 6 lane super highway – then all those white stripes up there are the lane dividers. Hmm… must be 6 lanes in each direction. Anyway my hair - it’s growing fast - so off to Tami I go. Must resist the urge to chop it all off!

What else – tomorrow Kyle has an orthodontist appointment, Thursday I have my weekly doctor’s appointment and that’s about it for this week. Then this weekend we are finally going to wallpaper Kyle’s room. No more tea party wallpaper for him! Now there will be skateboards. Very cool. Very blue.

I need get some copies of the pictures taken at my shower. I’ll add that to my to-do list. And I’m thinking about reorganizing the kitchen cupboards. The thought of cleaning the fridge has even popped into my head – but that’s one that I know I can resist.

* Which means I’m in my 37th week of pregnancy. The baby is now considered full term and my due date 19 days away. That’s less than 3 weeks! I guess I should finish packing my hospital bag. We are all starting to feel a little anxious/excited/nervous - although I’m still the only one who is feeling increasingly uncomfortable and getting beat up from the inside. There just isn’t room for the 2 of us in this body. And I was here first so…yeah… lets go baby.

Ask and you shall receive

Wow. Things must be bad when the infrequent readers start complaining about the lack of posts. The pictures off my handsome boy just not cuttin’ it anymore?!

That’s ok. I’ve been meaning to post for a while now but I usually do the internet thing while at work and things here have been rather hectic lately. This is my last week before I start maternity leave. And it has taken me months to get the details of my benefits squared away with our HR dept. My company is based in another country eh? So, they had no plan in place for a California employee seeking disability benefits. Oh it has been fun. If you live in CA and have SDI questions – call me! I can probably answer your question and you won’t even have to wait on hold for 30 minutes first!

Hmm…beside the unnecessary work-related stress (I really shouldn’t have had to do HR’s job for them!) what else has been going on? Not too much. I’m becoming more uncomfortable each day. And I have 5 more weeks to go. I suffer moments of great doubt.

We had my baby shower last –no wait- 2 weekends ago! (I am behind on things) It was wonderful but exhausting. Everything was beautiful and of course there were fresh flowers on the table – P~ and Aunt Rita did a fabulous job. The food was fantastic. And so many of my friends and family were able to attend - I couldn’t have been happier. Even Dr. Kim made it and I haven’t seen her in a couple years. I told her that under no circumstances was I going to go through such extreme measures again just to see her! My only regret was that I didn’t get to spend more time with the Fresno family contingent that drove up for the shower and then had to turn around and head back home. And unfortunately Sharon was out of town that weekend. But it was still a great party and I am almost done writing out my thank you cards. And the best thing is that I think I’m finally over my cake/cupcake obsession.

I’ve also been spending a lot of time, ink and paper on printing photos with my new printer. The quality is amazing! I’ve filled 2 photo albums with vacations photos that have been languishing on my computer for the last year. I sent a bunch of 8”x10”s of Kyle to my dad. And just this weekend I picked up some 13”x19” photo paper. So, now is the time to look through my Flickr photo stream and if you see something you like – ask and you just might receive!

Maybe I’ll even take some new photos. Kyle’s haircut is growing out fast!

Birthday Boy

Hair cut is next Saturday.

10 years - 10 weeks

Today is Kyle’s birthday. I’ve been a mom for 10 years. And in 10 weeks I’ll be a mom of 2. I will not be doing this again in another 10 years. Or any amount of years for that matter.

Last night I made cupcakes. 2 batches! And besides the 3 we ate (and the second one that Chris snagged) the remaining 32 cupcakes were packed up and sent to school this morning with Kyle. All that work and I got one cupcake. It just doesn’t seem fair.

We decided to buy Kyle a small boom box for his birthday. It was just too pathetic to hear him trying to rock out to his punk mix cd on his tinny dvd player speakers. If you’re gonna kick out the jams mother f@#%er* you gonna need a little bass!
And I bought him a Replacements cd because the kid has some fine musical taste. He loves the Clash (I'm so proud) and I'm going to recommend that he pick us up a copy of London Calling with his birthday cash.

Kyle also has a fondness for classic rock thanks to his dad. He likes the Stones, AC/DC and Guns n Roses. Oh joy. And then he is surprised to find out that I am more than familiar with Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”. Like I haven't been subjected to classic rock for the last 20 years. In fact I’ve seen Ozzy’s butt! Not that I would recommend that to others.

Not too long ago Kyle asked me if I was going to make ‘the Bean’ like punk music too. I explained that you can’t make someone like a genre of music. All you can do is expose them to it and see what happens. I just happened to get lucky with Kyle. And then a horrifying realization hit me – ‘the Bean’ – she’s a girl. And that means there is a high probability of …oh sweet mother of Jesus and the Mary Chain help me - I can hardly bring myself to type the words…Boy Bands!!!

And there are no more cupcakes!


* Regrettably this MC5 number was cut from Kyle’s version of Punk Mix. While I take great pleasure from hearing him sing along to the Circle Jerks and Fear from the back seat – I must draw the line at the obvious cursing. So, no Dead Kennedy’s “Too Drunk to F*ck” for him! I also left off the Suicidal Tendencies “I Saw Your Mommy” because well no.

All my friends are doing it

And by ‘it’ I mean writing about food.

Although I’m sure most of them wouldn’t mind doing what you first thought. Maybe just not with each other. Oh dear, I’ve gone someplace icky. Think happy thoughts. Rainbows and puppies. Think about cupcakes!

Mmm…cupcakes.
I'm ok now. Thanks.

Back to food. We’ve got our favorite Bad Home Cook who seems to be riding high on a string of kitchen successes. And the infamous Sain’t - although lately he seems to post more pictures of babies than his culinary creations. Works for me – those kids are cute. Soon we will add Cynthia to the mix.
Ha! Funny.

I finally managed to get Cynthia over last Saturday afternoon for lunch (which she of course made and it was wonderful), laundry, and artistic endeavors. We didn’t get around to the watercolors but I printed some of my photos and now we are both newly inspired to paint. And we finally got Cynthia set up with her very own Blogger account. I can speak no more about it until she gives me the ok. But I will say that I was quite upset when I saw all the new features for customizing your template that the new version of Blogger provides. Bastards. I had to teach myself code and now it’s all right there for you ‘Johnny-come-lately’s that are just now setting up a new blog. And can I with my ‘I already upgraded to the new version’ account access these new tools? No. Not without having to start from scratch with one of the provided templates that I could then customize thus loosing all the work I’ve already done! Bastards.

(Deep breath)

(One more)

I’m alright. But just to be sure - let’s go back to thinking about cupcakes. I’m going to make some! For Kyle’s birthday on Thursday. And if he can manage to behave himself for the next 2 nights, I’ll make enough for him to take to school for for an in-class party. I don’t want to go into all the trouble he’s gotten himself in during the last 2 weeks. (I just managed to get myself calmed down again) But we did end up canceling his birthday party and he is still grounded. That kid can be more vexing than Blogger!

Crap. Can someone please come check my blood pressure?!

Om cupcakes om….repeat…

That's beautiful (wipes tear from eye)

So, every week Kyle get a list of spelling words. On Wednesdays, their assignment is to write a sentence using each word. Typically Kyle writes 25 of the shortest sentences he can. Things like:
I cough.

That boy is lazy when it comes to writing. But last night something miraculous happened. Kyle decided his sentences whould have a theme. Then it became a story! And oh what a story it is. Checking homework just got a little more entertaining for Mr. S.

It starts out a little slow but you will be rewarded in the end. Enjoy! (Spelling words are green)


1. There was a dancing baffoon outside.
2. The dancing baffoon skipped.
3. The baffoon was the best hiker.
4. When the baffoon reached the top he flipped.
5. The baffoon landed in a snapping turtles mouth.
6. Then the turtle had to go wee-wee and he raced to go.
7. He tripped, landed head first in the toilet.
8. When he was done he saw a pleasing young lady.
9. He started checking her out.
10. Then the turtle’s friend said “Dare you to ask her out.” So he did.
11. Then the lights dimmed
12. Rubbing his neck he asked her out.
13. She was a redhead with brown stripes down her hair.
14. “You’re wasting your time on me go away” she said to him.
15. He drew a picture of her and traced it.
16. For there first date they stripped wall paper.
17. Then they went tanning on the beach
18. He started smelling her perfume.
19. The turtle started phoning his friend “She’s wearing perfume.”
20. Then they kissed and he fainted.
21. He was breathing hard.
22. “It was so tiring to breath like that” he said.
23. She urged him to kiss her again he fainted
24. That night he scrubbed his forehead.
25. Then she knocked at the door striving to get him to open the door.

I think Kyle's got a future in writing and I see Fabio on the covers!

Buy or Lease?

Kids. They’re like cars right?! You trade one in when you get a new one?

Are you sure?

Damn. Because Kyle is cruisin’ for a bruisin’ as my dad always said.
What is up with the attitude and lip these last couple days? Right when we are planning his birthday party. Not good. I feel far less inclined to spend a whole lot of money on his requested party location when all he does is growl at me to be quiet and yell that he does not have to listen to us. Alrighty then… let me get right on the phone to book the indoor pool at the dive shop for a 3 hour party. No problem mutton head.*

In other happier party news, plans are being made for the baby shower. I was trying to decide between 2 equally nice restaurants and well, you must know by now how I am with making decisions. Ha! So, I emailed the lovely Karen to ask her opinion. The Italian restaurant with the light and airy banquet room and easy parking or the restaurant at the Galleria (one of my favorites) with the windowless party room and mall parking? Well, all she had to do was say “I don’t think the lack of windows will be an issue because it helps people focus more on you.” and the choice was made. You just need to put things in Leo terms. See how easy that is?

And now K and I are engaged in a long email exchange about cupcakes. I really want a cupcake!

*Chris just called the guy at the dive shop a 'mutton head' for putting the party deposit on the wrong credit card after a detailed discussion over which on file card to use.
Mutton head! Who says that?!
Apparently we do. It just seems to work.

Climbing the walls

Look at what Chris and Kyle did yesterday - they built a climbing wall in the garage!





This is only phase 1 - there will be 3 more sections complete with overhangs before it is finished.

Let the bouldering begin!

Obligatory Christmas post

What kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t do a Xmas photo highlights post? Don’t answer that. Just sit back and enjoy the festive goodness that is Kyle getting too much good stuff. Oh how he suffers – just ask him.


A new bike from Chris’ folks. Awesome. There was even a ramp set from Santa waiting for Kyle at home.

In the finest Christmas spirit – here is Kyle asking P for her new ipod. I guess he didn’t get everything he wanted. See suffering mentioned above.

And of course there were presents for “the bean”.

After Kyle was done with elf duties he disappeared until it was time to leave.

Priceless.

But why?!

Don't buy stuff you can't afford.

I know just who to get this for.

Organized

or - You can’t make me.

A couple weeks ago Chris bought me a Day Planner so that I can be just like him! On top of things. That’s funny on so many levels.

And while cleaning out my purse to make room for this new treasure of efficiency, I found an appointment card for the dentist. (I wasn’t that surprised as I had a nagging suspicion that I was due for a cleaning. But I never wrote the info down on my calendar at work so I was unaware it was this month. Wow, I am unorganized. I do need help) So I dutifully noted the date and time in the calendar section of my new organizer. Chris was so proud.

Also not surprising is the fact that I don’t want to go to the dentist. And I’ve spent every day since then complaining about the appointment and shooting hateful looks at the innocent day timer.

At the store, Chris had encouraged me to get the Weekly layout for the calendar section. But I protested and said that my schedule wasn’t busy enough to warrant that level of detail. And I’m used to seeing my month all laid out at one. So I stuck with the monthly layout for the calendar section. And I knew there would be trouble because the weeks start on Monday. And that is wrong. When I take a quick glance at a calendar, Monday should be the second square from the left. Am I wrong? No. Stubborn? Maybe.

I thought my appointment was today. And because I want to be just like Chris, I opened the day planner before I shoved it back into my purse this morning. Of course Chris had stuck the postcard the dentist office always sends as a reminder in there. So I read it. And it said Tuesday, Dec 19th in big bold letters. Tuesday?! My appointment isn’t until tomorrow?? That’s messing me up. I got ready under the assumption that my appointment was this afternoon. I’m packing floss people.

And now I have to buy the damn weekly inserts for that damn organizer I don’t have the discipline to check on a daily basis. Damn. And that evil Chris is smiling with smug satisfaction right now. I can feel it.

For Chris(tmas)

Charlie Brown Christmas - Performed by the Cast of Scrubs

Buckle up Charlize

Julie the Puppet Master

I just got off the phone with Julie and she’s got me jumping. Again.
I mentioned that my legs were achy and she said I needed to drink Nettle tea. So when I finish this post, I’m off to the health food store. (Last week she had me buying eucalyptus oil for my sore jaw and damn if my jaw isn’t better) And she wants another post. I sure hope she doesn’t decide to abuse this newfound power. I am not sending her money!

So, as I do every Monday morning, I checked my weekly update for week 17. It said the baby was now 5 inches long – about the size of an onion. I forwarded the info to Chris and teased him a bit about onions (I love them and he’s not such a fan. Last week we had an avocado!). But later in the morning I happened to notice the ruler on my desk. 5 inches. That’s pretty big. So I measured my coffee cup and it’s only a hair over 4 ½ inches! And I promptly began to hyperventilate. There is something the size of a coffee cup in my gut!!! All the fruits and the one crustacean were no problem (what the hell is a cumquat anyways?!). But this cup on my desk is huge. No wonder I had to loosen the elastic in my pants this morning.

I happened to be on the phone with Chris at the time and while barely suppressing his amusement he told me to calm down, take a deep breath, etc. My, isn’t he helpful. It’s easy to be calm when you don’t have a matricidal mug growing inside you.

Baby needs a new pair of shoes

Well not really. He needs a new t-shirt.
The one he is wearing is 22 years old!


Go Tigers!

Ante partum depression

You would have thought is was PRE-partum but no. I looked it up.

My in-laws have voiced their concern that I’m not very excited about being pregnant. Well duh.

Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned my desire to lie down in traffic whenever P called to see how I was doing.

Don’t get me wrong – I am happy to be pregnant. I’m thrilled. Really.
It’s just that 3 long months of feeling like total crap made it a little hard to put on my happy face. Within the first month I had outgrown all my pants. Nothing says ‘fun’ like having to go to the mall to buy stretchy pants while feeling faint and nauseous. Good times.
And I am now completely sick of food since I need to eat something every couple hours or I will drop dead. Mention another chicken sandwich to me and I’ll throw a stapler at your head.

So, it is obvious I am not having that “I love being pregnant” experience other women mention with a blissful look in their eyes. Those women… well, I want to kick them in the shin. Hard.

But I’m coming around. Things are getting better now that I’m in my second trimester. I can make brief forays out of the house. I only envision naps in bed. I’ve come to terms with maternity clothing (well, it’s more of a tenuous détente but it’s a start). I am thoroughly enjoying going through the baby name books and shouting out the worst names I can find to poor Chris who is just trying to read his book in peace.

Unfortunately I still don’t have the energy to do the dishes. Sorry baby.

What to do… what to do….

You want a post. I want to read my book – which would normally take a lot less energy on my part. But the book? It's all the way over there. Next to my desk. In my bag. On the floor. And the keyboard? Well, it’s right here under my fingertips. Aren’t you lucky?!

Now…what can I tell you?
I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. And my soon to be replaced doctor sided with Chris and told me that I was in fact not dying! But could he tell me why I have this horrible pain in my jaw? No! Quack.

But it was a quick appointment and I didn’t have to get undressed which pleased me greatly. We got to hear the baby’s heartbeat again. Which actually was quite reassuring because once I stopped feeling like absolute crap 24/7 – well, how am I supposed to know that everything is still progressing as it should? I seem to be much more paranoid this time around. Fun for me. I got another lab slip for another blood test. Joy. And I am now pre-registered at the hospital for the big day. So, we can check that off the to-do list.

In First Born news – Kyle decided to join the school band. We are now the proud renters of an Alto Saxophone. It was that or the clarinet. An easy choice cause you gotta admit the sax player in the Muppet Band was one cool dude.



I’m going to get my cello re-strung and a new bow. Then we be jammin’! Wait till you hear our version of Hot Crossed Buns!!

FYI

Just so you know - I will not be posting pictures of my belly on this or any other website. So stop asking!

So, what else has been going on? Not much. But I have been feeling better this week. I even watered my plants. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to spend some time not only out of my chair, but out of the house this weekend!

A girl can dream right?!

Neglect

I know… I know… my plants are dying too.

But really – I’ve got nothing. I haven’t done anything for the last 2 months. You probably think I am exaggerating. I wish. I get up, go to work and sit at my desk, go home and sit in my chair, and then go to bed. It’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it is down right depressing. On the weekends I just sit in my chair all day. It sucks.
And I think about posting but I assume you don’t want to hear me whine about how I don’t feel good and none of my clothes fit.

So, what can I tell you? Well, I learned that it talks 20 minutes for the water you just drank to reach your bladder. Yep, your life is more complete now.

I’ve been reading another book about Russia. This one is about Vladimir Putin and it is doing a very nice job of pissing me off! Jerk. I also read Lamb: The Gospel Aaccording to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. And that book I enjoyed mightily. Laugh out loud funny until the end. I won’t spoil it for you.

And I’m not feeling good right now so I’m off to eat lunch #1.

I want to verse you

It's a classis battle - the brothers Gibb vs. those mop-topped Beatles.























And the winner is:


And two thumbs up to the Sain't for the beautiful flowers!

No – you da ho!

This is our house in Idaho. Nice ain't it?! We've never actually seen the house we just have a couple pictures. Trusting aren’t we? ‘Sure we built your house – here’s a picture. No, you don’t need to come all the way to Idaho; we’ll take care of everything.’ Ok then.
But we make a mortgage payment each month and we receive a rent check from some Property Mgmt Group so yeah, we are Idahoan slumlords. Cool.

I have more to post but I need to upload a couple pictures from my camera first. Hopefully I can maintain this almost human feeling for awhile longer. In the meantime, check out the latest post from the Sain’t on the Heidleberg Project. Very cool. And Paris Hilton is educational – I will now rule at donkey trivia.

.hot dogs.

.hot dogs.
Originally uploaded by tEdGuY49.

Not just 'hot dogs' people - Genie's Wienies!

This is a photo taken by one of my flickr contacts tEdGuY49, who I'm pretty sure was put on this earth to drive around Michigan and take pictures for my enjoyment. Which sounds like as good a reason as any to exist right?

Anyways, yesterday he posted this photo of Genie's Wienies in Detroit and my heart was filled with happiness (which looks like rainbows, unicorns and matches in the shape of hotdogs). But my happiness was short lived. Someone made a comment that there was an article on Genie’s Wieners (it’s just fun to say isn’t it?!) in the Detroit Free Press that day so I looked it up. And now I curse the internet. Genie’s Wienies is closing at 6pm on September 3rd! Sadness fills my heart (see: deserted wasteland with no coneys, chili-fries or matchbooks full of happy hotdogs in sight!). I sent an email to Sain’t to get us some plane tickets right away but I think he is ignoring me.

I had to buy a six-pack of Vernor’s to cheer myself up.

It's a boy!

My old roommate Clem (named changed because it’s funny) and his beautiful wife had a baby boy on Aug 10th, Max. I am so happy for them.
Here he is in the arms of his lovely Aunt Julie.


I met Clem in a painting class at the local college a million years ago. He had a Kurt Vonnegut book sticking out of a Guatemalan bag and I knew he would have to be my friend. Little did I know that Clem was a package deal. I got his whole family! I’ve vacationed with his brother, worked for his father and claimed his sister as my own.

Julie rocks. Look at her! She is the best right-hand man a girl could have. And she wants to cook for you! But she can’t right now because she is moving at the end of the month. Moving sucks. You should send her food. Better yet – send her brownies! Wait. Send me brownies!

What other news have I got? Let’s see…
Sain’t kissed a girl. But he doesn’t want to talk about it, so don’t ask.
Kyle started 4th grade today. He is in desperate need of another haircut. Hippy.
I’m pregnant. I can say that cause nobody is out there.
Chris has 2 boats for sale. You should buy one.

So, not too much going on around here. I could really use some brownies.

How did I get here?

As Sain’t Christopher posted last week – he’s lived in San Francisco for 16 years now. That means that I’ve been in California almost 15 years. Ouch. Remind me sometime to tell you why I hate math.

I got the idea to move to California in 1990 while my aunt from Sacramento was visiting my folks. Hmm…California... Nothing was going on in Detroit so why stay? What cool city is near Sacramento? Hey, I’ll go to San Francisco! Why not?! Sounds like fun.
Surprisingly, the Sain’t didn’t tell me I was nuts for wanting to move across the country on a whim. (At least not to my face) In fact he was going to drive out with me and then fly home – a vacation of sorts. But it didn’t take long for him to decide to move to San Francisco too!
Now you might be inclined to say I am the reason we are both here in CA – but that would be wrong! I didn’t have a plan. I’m not sure what I would have done if left to my own devices. But the Sain’t is an industrious sort and once his decision was made he immediately started doing research - and this was before you could just Google ‘I want to move to San Francisco!’ He did all the leg work. He went out there first and found us a place to live and got a job. 2 weeks after he left, I packed my stuff, said my good-byes and got the hell out of Detroit.

That first move didn’t stick. I was back in Michigan within the month. And for a guy. When I finally left Detroit again in the fall of 1991, we (me and the guy) moved to southern California. Of course me and the guy didn’t last. And I’m not going to list all my moves up and down the state, but I somehow ended up in Sacramento. Imagine that. And the Sain’t has remained right were I left him. So, who can you blame?

Happy Anniversary Christopher. And thanks!

But you are worth the effort

I have been trying to cut back on my caffeine intake this week. I’m sure there was a perfectly good reason for doing this but I’m too tired to remember what it was. I'm too tired to do much of anything.

I’ve wanted to post a new entry all week, but eh, typing. It’s such an effort. Actually I don’t have to worry about the typing; I can’t even organize my scattered thoughts into cohesive sentences.
Hmm, I was able to pull out “cohesive” so maybe all is not lost.

Last Wednesday I took Kyle to the dentist because he cracked a tooth while on vacation. It was a rather pointless trip as the cracked tooth is a baby-tooth that was already loose, but I am one of those concerned and caring mothers so off we went. And it was worth the trip across town just to see the look of newfound respect on the dentist’s face when Kyle told him he cracked his tooth surfing in Malibu. That’s right, Kyle is that cool. So then the dentist gets all excited and asks him what kind of board he was riding etc. Funny.

Of course I volunteered to pop Kyle in the jaw to ‘help’ knock the tooth out. Remember my ‘smack down’ reputation! But I’m afraid I might have light-heartedly offered my services one to many times; I think I saw a CPS van circling the neighborhood last night.

Some people have no sense of humor at all.

Fort Bragg revisited

Aahhh. Another lovely weekend camping in Fort Bragg. This time we stayed in Pomo Campground at the south end of town. And this is good for you because it means we were nowhere near McKerricher State Park – so no repeat ocean shots. In fact, I think I only took one picture of the ocean.
Hmm, what are those 254 photos of anyways?

On Saturday, while Chris was diving, Kyle and I went down to Noyo Harbor and roamed around with the cameras. Kyle was quite pleased to find a bunch of seagulls eating fish heads. Gee, can’t wait to download his photos.


And Sunday morning Kyle and I went to Jug Handle State Reserve. But instead of hitting the beach, we hiked back into the woods in search of the Pygmy Forest. Well, we didn’t make it the 2.5 miles inland to the tiny trees – we should have packed provisions. Maybe I'll sign Kyle up for the Boy Scouts. That boy likes to hike. And one of us should know how to recognize poison oak. It’s just not a skill I learned on the streets of Detroit. The best I can do is to tell him not to touch anything green - ha!


The rest of the weekend was spent at the campground just kickin’ back.


Perfect. And now we are home and no one is itchy so I guess my ‘Don’t touch anything’ strategy worked. Although it could have been the thick layer of dirt that protected Kyle. I’m afraid to look in the bathtub after last night’s bath. I’m sure it will take a big strong man to scrub that ring away. Hi Chris!
Thanks for taking us camping.

The eagle has landed

Kyle is home. He’s very tan and at least 5 inches taller.

Uh...

Well. I’m so tired I can’t think of anything else. Apparently what they say about the elderly is true – you sleep less as you age. And now I officially feel old. After a late night of fun fun fun birthday revelry*, my plan was to sleep in nice and late Sunday morning. Only I couldn’t do it. I tried. But it was not working and I finally admitted defeat and got up with less than the minimum 8 hours of sleep. And then I spent the rest of the day on the verge of a nap. And I don’t do naps. At least young me never did. You’ve seen those old people – the ones who get up at 4:30 in the morning and then nap all day in their rocking chairs? That is going to be me. And I will have officially become my dad when I start falling asleep on the toilet!

Last night I couldn’t sleep at all. I tossed. I turned. I got up at 4:20 and did some yoga. I must have finally fallen asleep because when Chris woke me up to kiss me goodbye - as he does every morning at 6:10am - he’s lucky I didn’t pop him in the nose!

So. I’m tired. And the coffee seems to be broken. And I’m feeling snug from the extended forward folds done in the dark. This must be why a number of old people are so irritable. “Hey! Keep the racket down you whipper-snappers!”

And I mean it!

Cranky Old Lady (formerly elfini)



* I had a lovely birthday dinner on Saturday night. Even the legendary Sain’t was there! Chris and Cynthia prepared the food and it was fabulous. The wine was flowing, the conversation lively and I couldn’t have been happier! And I managed to get one great shot with my new lens


Of course there are more on Flickr. But be kind, it’s going to take some practice to get the hang of the 50mm f/1.8. And I’ll tell you about the experiments with the new Lensbaby after I take a nap under my desk.

What to talk about

I would hate for you to think that I have been reduced to talking about the weather - as if nothing else is going on in my life.
Unfortunately that’s an accurate assessment. It's been too damn hot to do much of anything except sit indoors with the air-conditioning draining your bank account. But I’ve managed to keep busy. The laundry is done. And there is this:



Go there. And when you have finished viewing the last essay, the air will be crisp again and the leaves will be falling...

Sweet Relief

I left the house this morning expecting to walk out into a furnace on pre-heat but instead was hit by a cool delta breeze. Oh my god. I swear I almost wept with joy!

If you didn’t know already, Sacramento and the Central Valley have been in the midst of a hellish heat wave. I think there have been at least 10 heat-related deaths in the last week. And there is nothing funny about that. To make matters worse it's not just hot during the day; it’s been a 24/7 kind of hot. When we got home from Santa Cruz last Sunday it was 93 degrees at 9:30 at night! So wrong.

Ya’ know what else is wrong? Barring this heat wave with it’s round the clock misery; during a typical Sacramento summer, 5pm is the hottest part of the day. Not noon. Not even 2pm. 5pm. Right when you are leaving work and have to pick up the kids, or go grocery shopping, or breath…

But today’s high is only 96! Saturday 93 and Sunday 92!!!

No one should be this excited about 92 degrees.

But it’s older than I’ve ever been!

And it keeps happening to me!

That’s right – it’s going to be my birthday and I’m giving dirt a run for its money. I’m turning 40 on the 30th. That’s this Sunday if you don’t have a calendar handy. You should come by and help me celebrate. To accommodate everyone’s schedules, I have been forced to have a party on both Saturday and Sunday. How I suffer for the people I love. Pick an evening or show up for both celebrations – there will be food, wine, cake (or Bananas Foster if Cynthia really cares) and of course me! What more could you ask for?! Oh don’t worry, the extreme Leo vibes will settle back down to acceptable levels next week.

And to make sure I come back down to terra firma sufficiently, Kyle will be home next week! He’s been visiting relatives in Malibu since the 17th. Yeah, he suffers even more that I do. And please don’t make the erroneous assumption that I miss the little bugger. Cause I don’t. Twitch. I haven’t had to get up early and drive him across town to Summer Camp. Twitch. Haven’t had to stand over him with a stick to get him to brush his teeth. Ok, Chris hasn’t had to do that. But still. Twitch. No Kyle popping up 20 minutes after his bed-time to get another hug. Twitch twitch twitch.

Ahem. Well. Yes. Back to me. I’m having a birthday!
And then Kyle will come home.* And then we’ll go camping again in Fort Bragg. Sounds good.

*Shall we take bets on how many days before I’m annoyed as hell with him again? Hours??

Losing my happy place

Blogger is pissing me off. Again I have a post all ready to go and can't upload any pictures. Ugh.

Can…almost…reach…my…toes….

In most areas of my life I am quite flexible and adaptable. It even says so on my performance review. But every now and then I hit a speed bump in my ‘go with the flow’ attitude. This usually involves someone else rearranging things in a room. And sure, I might end up really liking it the new way – but the initial change causes me great distress. Weird.

I also seem to react out of character when plans are suddenly changed. For example when we decided mere hours ago to go to Santa Cruz this weekend. If you had heard me hesitating you would have thought I was being shipped off to Beirut. Yeah, my husband is so evil, making me spend the weekend at the beach where the high will be 83 degrees instead of staying home indoors all weekend trying to avoid another case of heat stroke because it going to hit 108!

“But you’ll go diving with Trent on Saturday and be gone the whole day! And then you’ll have to clean gear. And you’ll be tired and want to take a nap”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to convince my mom to go shopping. Or you could come with me, take the car, and then cruise around all the galleries in Carmel.”

“Alone?”

Do you want to smack me yet?! I don’t blame you. It’s some form of temporary insanity caused by the sudden switching of gears in my head. My brain tightens up and says 'but you had plans! Only dead fish go with the flow!'
Um, right.
Thankfully with a little time I loosen up and start to think clearly again. I can postpone my hair appointment. And would I really have gotten any painting done this weekend? Perhaps. But I wouldn’t have taken any pictures if we stayed at home. But in Santa Cruz… Oh come on. Now you’re the one whining!!

The Scenic Route Down Mexico Way

“Well, that was a superb meal. I’m so glad you could join us this evening. Would you care for an after-dinner drink? Wonderful. Shall we move to the den?

Oh look, someone left the projector and screen out… Hey! Would you like to see the slides from out vacation?

What?! You have an early meeting? You need to take the babysitter home? Your 12 hour antihistamine just wore off? Well, sure. I understand. Some other time maybe…”

But while you’re putting on your coats, let me show you the highlights. Really, it will only take a minute. ”


We flew to San Diego and then spent the day at the San Diego Zoo.
I didn’t take many photos because Chris and I went last year and I took a picture of every animal in the place! I could pull out that album if you want to take a look – no? Ok. Back to the trip.

Around 5pm we drove to the border and entered Mexico. Kyle, always the drama queen, bemoaned the fact that he was now a ‘foreigner’. My that boy can carry on. We headed west with the border fence on our right and Tijuana on the left. The first thing we learned in Mexico was this handy home security technique: to keep people off your property, cement shards of glass to the top of the wall like this:


I’m thinking of doing this to our back wall at home. They are building a Jr. High right behind our house! But I will keep it classy and only use Merlot and expensive micro-brew beer bottles. I don’t think the city would have a problem with that do you?

Our vacation destination was Chris’s partner’s condo 6 miles south of Rosarito. On the south end of town we were greeted by Jesus Muy Grande:


That Dude was huge! He was lit from below at night and had a blinking light on his head that we could see from our balcony. Very comforting.
And speaking of our balcony, here is the view from my side of the bed:


Not a bad way to start the day eh?!
Here is the view to the south:


And the north:


And here is Chris doing his impersonation of Michael Jackson and trying to dangle Kyle over the balcony:


Funny.
And what about this- There was a circus in town and as we drove through Rosarito one morning we saw the animals walking down the street.


Was it an actual parade? Were they just exercising the animals? Is so, the lions in the cage-on-wheels didn’t seem to be benefiting much. They were the carnivore caboose.
In contrast was this lazy herd of cows


We found this door in a building that had a café and half a dozen artist studios. Here is the top of the door:

Postus Interuptus

Sorry about the interuption. Here is the rest of the door.


And here is one of my favorite signs!


Sounds like my kind of place (wink wink nudge nudge)

And while I fawned over all the Frida Kahlo items I saw in the shops, I'm not clear about her affiliation with this dental office.


And since I am a fount of interesting information, I can tell you that the hand earring she is wearing in that painting was a gift from Pablo Picasso. Neat huh?!

So... when we weren’t going into all the funky little shops and art galleries


or riding ATV’s on the beach


or visiting Ensenada for a day


We slept in, ate great food, played many games of Life, and of course there was a lot of this:


Some things never change. And Cartoon Network would be one of them.

One Year Anniversary

Pointing to a yellow t-shirt at the bottom of the drawer, a t-shirt so bright it out-shines the sun.

Chris: “Should I wear this? I would be safe in intersections.”

Me: “Sure. Because I’ll be pushing you into intersections!”

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?

I’m back! And after 6 days on non-stop Kyle, I can’t even begin to express how pleased I am to be back at work. Who would guess that this is my happy place?! And you would probably assume that after missing 4 days of work I would be spending several more days just playing catch-up. But you would be wrong. It’s 10:30 and I’m done. And that includes entering the expense report data, talking to the Saint, and catching up on all the snark at Go Fug Yourself. This means I’ll have the rest of the week to compose my epic Mexico post. ¡Con fotografias!

Hasta luego.

A picture is worth a thousand words

We had a lovely time in Santa Cruz this past weekend. Not only did we get to see Chris’s folks, but also his aunt and uncle, cousin and her family and then some. We spent both afternoons at the beach. Kyle got a new skim board and Chris’ dad was the last to get out of the water on Saturday. And of course we ate too much. The only thing that wasn’t perfect was the fact that both Chris and I had to work on Monday. Oh well, I can’t complain – we are leaving tomorrow for 5 days south of the border.

¿Dónde está el baño? Ok, I’m ready.

I’ve been spending most of my time on Flickr this past week. In addition to adding photos; I started to explore. Wow. You better have a jumbo bag of breadcrumbs and a hydration system because you could get lost out there. I’ve added favorites, made contacts and joined a few groups. I found this guy in Detroit and somehow has access to abandoned buildings! Oh the beauty of urban sprawl. I told Chris that these were the pictures I wanted to be taking. I think I mentioned that I was getting a bit burned out on taking ocean shots. My surrounding weren’t inspiring me and I was feeling frustrated. And then I found the Utata group. They have projects and I am so excited about them. In addition to weekend projects there are the Iron Photographer Projects. They give you 3 elements that you need to include in the shot. The latest elements for IP-06 are 1- round object, 2 – shot through a window, and 3- the color red. So, while walking around the block I found this.
I am quite pleased with the photos I took this weekend. Santa Cruz sprawl will just have to do. Before we left on Sunday afternoon, Kyle and I went for a walk and let him use my old camera. He took some great shots. I’ll try to post some when we get back.

And the 4th was a blast - HA! No pictures, but a wonderful dinner with Cynthia - thanks again chickie! Let's climb next weekend. And then have abalone. And more Bananas Foster!! Damn, that girl can cook.

Have a great week. I’ll be taking more pictures, nursing Coronas and trying not to get burned.