I tried thinking of a Thursday Thirteen, but couldn’t, so my next best thought was to share the predicament I found myself in last week when I returned home from school. I came home, got comfy, and realized my two year old was being far too quite upstairs. Though it was ten pm and I should have assumed she was sleeping, I knew better seeing how hubby was in charge (ha ha, sorry hun). So I attempted to sneak up on her only to learn that not only has she mastered the ancient art of door opening, but that she also decided to follow in Picasso’s footsteps. This is the scene I snuck up on.
A friend of mine and incredible scrapbooker, Nicole, tagged me for this experiment which was originally started by Mary Demuth. “It’s an experiment to see how many degrees we can separate. How many people can one blog potentially reach?”
Here it goes:
10 years ago–1997
This was a big year for me. I was 20, waiting tables at Carrows and translating as a bi-lingual aide at a local school district. I was working 2 jobs for no clear reason, I just loved the income and was taking a brief break from school, so what the heck! I broke up with my first true love and rushed into a relationship with the next Mr. Wonderful. Months later I found out I was pregnant just before learning how NOT wonderful my boyfriend was and got a glimpse at the next adventure coming as a single parent.
20 years ago–1987
I was 10, in 5th grade and had only lived in the Desert for a year so I didn’t have many friends. During the Summers we would always drive a few hours to Kern County to water-ski, fish, swim, and camp for a week. This year in particular we celebrated my Birthday at Lake Isabella. I will never forget the camp site, it wasn’t the place we usually stayed at, but sometimes mom and dad would take us there and we would get so excited because it had a tire swing and jungle gym. I remember getting my 2 favorite outfits that year that I wore until they were rags, 
30 years ago–1977
This is the year I was born so I can’t say much about what I was doing, other than eating, sleeping and pooping. I was the youngest of three, and was born in Torrance, California. I was born the year Elvis died and at the end of the disco era but still learned to appreciate the great music of the times. No pic. for this one, which is probably for the best since I did not photograph well as a baby, lol.
I am tagging Jessica the Rock Chick, and Shelly in an effort to keep this going, but totally understand if you are not interested in participating. Otherwise I look forward to reading yours.
According to an article on Yahoo News J.K. Rowling is suing organizers of a religious ceremony in India for replicating her fictional Hogwart’s Castle. Now mind you, this is a papier mache and canvas castle, so it was never intended to be a landmark. Plus the ceremony to be performed within is a non profit event, but J.K. Rowling somehow believes its use entitles her to $50,000. The story doesn’t go to great length to explain if any names or locations were used any where within the project, just that it was modeled after Hogwarts.
I must say I am completely baffled by the ridiculousness of this lawsuit, and sadly I can only assume it will not be over until after the event deadline has passed, but maybe I have missed crucial details which would explain it all clearly. I do wonder however just how many eager trick-or-treaters Rowling will be dragging into court for replicating Harry Potter’s look this Halloween.
One of the perks of having two kids in a relatively short time frame is that you get to use all of the goodies from the first one. This has come as an extreme advantage since our tiniest one is not so easily subdued most of the time. Therefore this Thursday Thirteen is dedicated to the objects that attempt to entertain little britches through out any given day. Be forewarned the manufacturer of most of these toys are “we suck batteries dry in mere minutes” aka “we keep back ups for our own peace of mind”.
The Snugglie, Guitar and Bath are the big guns that come out when all toys, meals, & means to a nap have been exhausted.
Just two years ago I was starting my oldest daughter down the road of being a girlie-girl by getting her ears pierced. Since then she has grown to love anything prefaced with the word “pre-tty”. That includes allowing me to comb her curly (often matted) hair without much complaint, picking a wardrobe which is primarily pink, and making scented lotions available to her. She lets me change her earrings and seeks out lip gloss whenever mom’s purse isn’t put up high. Today was a new right of passage however as she got her first manicure, complete with butterfly and flower decals.
Yes, we are talking about a two year old here, but she sat through it like the potential princess that she works hard to mimic daily.
Today was also the littlest one’s initiation into the girlie world as she got her first pearls. Before you know it they will both be on their way to the shoe department and perfume counter.
(Shoot over to Boho Rhap for more AWESOME Thursday Thirteen Banners)
They say that life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. This should actually be the theme of my existence since most of the big events in my life, including my husband and two of my children, have happened on a whim without much planning. It occurred to me when trying to think of a Thursday Thirteen that before Summer begins next year many exciting events are on their way. So as Summer is coming to an end I am dedicating this post to the most exciting events that I’m planning on. It remains to be seen which events didn’t make the list.
1. Halloween- I love dressing my kids in ridiculous outfits and walking blocks in the windy outdoors til’ our noses are red and runny and we come home to hand out candy to the miniature ghost’s and princesses.
2. Becoming the parent of only ONE child in diapers as the aging two year old is finally reaching a milestone.
3. Getting my tubes tied (no more birth control, condoms, or calender watching…yippeee)!
4. Going to Las Vegas to celebrate my 5 year anniversary (which is where we tied the knot).
5. Celebrating all of the major first holidays for our newest addition (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter).
6. Traveling through all of the above mentioned holidays not having to serve the miserable grumpy guests who seem offended by holiday cheer (as it would seem I am definitely through waiting tables )
7. Hubby has recently taught me 3 chords on the guitar, so with all hope in less than a year I will actually be able to play a recognizable tune.
8. Christmas- need I say more?
9. Finishing my BA (after taking 12 years, it is about time),
10. Trading in this:
for this:
(probably more like wishful thinking, but surely with in a year it should be possible)
11. Taking leaps and bounds toward fixing little man’s crooked teeth 
12. Starting my credential Program in June
13. Last but not least…if my schedule permits, I will be teaching in a class of my own by August 2008
A friend of mine came up with a great idea to have those of us in our mom’s group get together with clothes and toys our kids had outgrown and swap them. She had seen this on a show, and thought it would work well for our group. The idea was to have snacks, chit chat, and swap out our kids boring stuff for new stuff. Then anything that was left over would be donated to charity. Needless to say it was rather brilliant.
We had nine mom’s who gathered items their children were no longer interested in or could no longer fit, which left a large selection to pick through. It was ideal for the moms and kids as we were given an opportunity to get rid of the unused collections gathering dust, and the kids felt like they had all new toys to play with. The true beauty of it being a swap, is that you were not adding to an already crowded toy box or closet, simple trading it. I believe just about everyone walked away with some cute picks for there little one’s or family members, and the enormous bundle of left overs was taken to the local homeless shelter.
I wanted to blog about this because when I tried looking up ideas before hosting, I came up empty handed. Personally this event saved me a bundle since my daughter gathered a small wardrobe for the winter. Plus I was able to get some stuff out of the house and organize the toy box which was packed to the top. The entire event was a win win as about ten enormous bags of suitable children’s clothes and toys were taken to children in need. Hopefully this will be an idea which spreads.
For any of you wondering why I have been MIA, I have just been completely overwhelmed with school, family, multiple state exams coming back to back, and house stuff. Oddly enough I don’t think I excel at any of the above, which has left me questioning the following…”if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear, does it still make a sound?”or likewise “if you clean your house but no one visits to witness it, was it ever really so?” Here is a photo of my kitchen & living room before and after cleaning this weekend:
Now here is a photo today:
It baffles me how quickly this happens, but even more puzzling is how I fail to notice the tornado until it has passed. I have stopped to blog once or twice amongst the storms, however it ceases to seem entertaining. Therefore if I continue to go MIA, it is truly an attempt on my part to spare you of the less-than-entertaining aspects of a mediocre housewives monotonous day.
The last couple of days have been very stressful and frustrating for both hubby and I. When pressure builds up at work it takes a toll on both of us, but it would seem the pressure has been stacking up on both of our jobs (though mine is at home and school currently). As a result, last night Damien thought we should go out. Now this isn’t something we do often, in fact it is our second date this year, so you can imagine my excitement when he suggested we leave the desert.
To begin, my mother came over and took the kids home with her so I didn’t even have to tote them all out, which left me plenty of time to get ready. Might I add that as much as I love my children, the second they were out the door I got all giddy like a teenager going on her first date. I rushed off bought a new outfit, came home and curled my hair, then put on perfume and make-up(none of the above were noticed by dh, but oh well, I felt good about it 
). Then my date came home from work and we were on our way. BTW, I have been challenged by my blogger husband to give the night it’s full justice, so let me set the scene for you.
The sun was going down,
and we had set our sights on spending the evening at Victoria Gardens, 
as it offered dining, shopping, and a movie theater to meet any of our needs. More specifically we were headed to the 
for drinks and dinner.
When we arrived there was a nearly two hour wait to be seated, so as we headed over to get drinks while we waited, we somehow ended up with two seats at the bar which offered full dining. We ordered extremely rich pasta dishes which broke all rules of the diets we have been following, and chased them with a margarita and Heineken. We were surrounded by dozens of rowdy guest’s watching sports on the wide screen’s behind the bar, and had a full view of more beer on tap than you have ever seen. You may have had to be there to get just how fun this was, but maybe you just have to have kids to know that being in a place you could never (realistically) bring them is somewhat thrilling.
We finished dinner and considered many options of relocation, but decided to go see a movie. I should mention that although we only had two drinks, we are pathetic light weights who rarely drink and needed to go snore it off, so it was of little consequence that the movie we chose was awful (not that I expected much from Balls of Fury anyways, lol). We then went and shared an Apple Pie Caramel Apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co. (yummm)
We concluded the night by finding a bench and chit chatting, then we walked back to the car (holding hands no less). The night was romantic, spontaneous, and fun. Dh gets an A+
I have never enjoyed hanging around negative people. Y’know the ones that complain about everything, and never see the light at the end of the tunnel. Luckily I married a man who is just the opposite. He sees something positive in just about everything. Though this has periodically bugged me, in the end it has always been the best approach. Lately however I feel as if I am turning into one of “those” people. I see injustice in everything, I complain constantly, and stories that have nothing to do with me in the slightest have started to invoke anger from me.
In fact, almost every word out of my mouth turns negative. If you could see my list of draft blogs that have been started as a rant and never posted you would see what I am talking about. Unfortunately for the people around me I can’t hit the delete button and take back the complaints pouring out of my mouth. I am not completely sure how to get back on a track where I can see how blessed I am in every scenario, but I hope it happens before I alienate everyone around me. I am even negative about my negativity, lol, the cycle is never ending.
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