My Journey to Family

Wacky Wednesday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:24:00 +0000

So the secret is getting the kids to participate in your neurosis and then it's easier to pretend you're normal. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

(notice how Haven has his hand on Buffy's shoulder. Makes a mother proud.)

Yosemite With An iPhone

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:39:00 +0000

They say the best camera is the one that's always with you. For me it's my iPhone, and my "Best Camera" app that lets me tweak the pics. I'm putting these up in a small size since I'm including so many pictures. Obviously Yosemite is still on my mind. Yosemite in the Fall is mind blowing. Seamus wanted to know if the trees with yellow and red leaves were dead. We had to explain the whole changing season thing. Can't really blame him. I never lived anywhere that had a true "Fall".

This is the house we stayed in.
It made the week so much more enjoyable for all of us.

Yosemite Falls

Half Dome

California's Giant Sequoias

A tree with some yellow stuff growing on it.

Mountain and trees.

Another mountain and more trees.

Again, mountain and trees.

Tunnel View

The deer that let me and Edward get really close to.

The water below Yosemite Falls.

Usually covered in water, but now exposed are
beautiful stones with a view of Yosemite Falls.

Did I mention how much I love my iPhone camera?

This was my favorite Yosemite trip yet. I can't wait to return. Would someone please help me convince Marshall we need to return in the Fall? Where the leaves are pretty colors and the mosquitoes are scarce?

kthxbai

Wacky Wednesday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:34:00 +0000

Did you guys really think we'd go to Yosemite without bringing Cardboard Buffy? Did you think I'd be too embarrassed to carry her around with us and take pictures of her? Psshaw!

BUT... Buffy wasn't the only one to tag along with us... Oh yes! Pocket Edward made an appearance when we were driving the mountain roads in Yosemite.

Watch out, Bambi!!!!!

But then... someone new showed up! Pocket Ahnold. And he didn't want Edward to eat the deer.

And Pocket Ahnold intervened and saved the adorable tick-covered deer.

And you thought Yosemite was just about mountains and trees!

Mountain Lions, Coyotes and Bears, Oh My!

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:33:00 +0000

So guess what? We're in Yosemite National Park! That's right... home of Yosemite Sam. We drove here Sunday. We rented a house inside the park, up in the mountains. We are having a blast. Well except for first night when Marshall went out to take star pictures outside the house and a nearby bear started roaring. Roaring a lot. Thankfully Marshall went right in the house and wasn't eaten.

Oh and we have a mouse in our Yosemite house. He likes to eat our bread. We've named him "Speedy". Seamus wants to find his mouse hole (which he is sure is a little tiny arch shape) and put some cheese in it for the mouse.

And while Marshall brought his fancy cameras, I brought my iPhone! Yes, that's right. I took these with my iPhone camera.

On the drive down into Yosemite Valley

Marshall taking pictures at sunset.

Bridal Veil Falls

El Capitan

Who needs a stinkin' expensive SLR? (not me)

Costumey Goodness

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:20:00 +0000

We had a great time Halloween. Possibly the best Halloween ever. We started at a friend's house for a party and then all the kids and parents went out together in that neighborhood to trick or treat.

Here's our kids in their costumes:

Here's Haven and his "friend" at the Halloween party.

And Marshall's outfit.

And mine? Well my costume was more subtle. You could only see it when I smiled.

I can't for the life of me figure out why my friends at the party kept covering their necks when I was around.

Funny Friday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:03:00 +0000

In honor of Halloween...

You know, people who put outfits on their pets are weird.

Fall Cleaning

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Sunday I cleaned my room and closet. Let me back up a bit to give you perspective.

August 2006 we arrived home from Ethiopia with our infant daughter. For the first 5 months, she slept in our closet. (before you send me hate mail, our closet is the size of a small bedroom) I was exhausted emotionally and physically from the addition of a 3rd child and couldn't really hang my clothes up in the closet without waking her. And so the clutter began. I picked the chair in our bedroom as my clothes depository. Over the last couple of years depression set in. The clutter increased. The pile on my chair got higher. Our daughter moved into her own room and our bedroom-size closet became a dumping ground for more clutter. We could barely walk in it.

April 2009 I gained control of my depression, with some pharmaceutical assistance. I hated the clutter in the closet and bedroom, but sorting through it was a daunting task.

Sunday (without premeditation) I started cleaning, beginning with the chair. The top of the pile was well above the back of the chair as well as piles of clutter on either side and throughout the room. Then I moved on to the closet. I cleaned for TWELVE HOURS. Filled up several bags of clothes and other items for Goodwill.

I'm so relieved to have gotten rid of the clutter. Our bedroom is a sanctuary again. I love our closet again. Everything has a place. And God bless my husband who never said one word about the clutter.

So... you wanna see pictures of our room and closet?

Now the only thing on the chair is the afghan my Grandmother made for herself when she was alive. (her favorite color was purple too)

(ignore the suitcases under the bed)

(can you spot the weapon?)

Marshall (with his dad's help) finally hung up my slayer scythe.

Well that concludes the tour. So tell me... How many of you thought my bedroom walls were purple? *wink*

Wacky Wednesday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0000

One of my all time favorite books is "Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairies" by Terry Jones (Monty Python) and Brian Froud.

The premise of the book is that a young girl (Lady Cottington) sees fairies. In her effort to provide proof of fairies to others, she not only documents the encounters in her diary, she presses the fairies into the pages, like one would do with flowers.

(excerpt)

July 6th 1895. Nanna wuldnt bleive me. Ettie wuldnt bleive me. Auntie Mercy wuldnt bleive me. But I got one. Now theyv got to bleive me.

Aug 10th 1896. I new ther was faereys behind the potting shed. So I went and sat very still with my book open on my lap and the faereys was curius and inkwizitf and they all came round to look at me and one landed on my book and I went SNAP! I banged the book shut and I cort the faerey it is a reelly bewtiful one. I like it best.

Joanna (one of my best friends) and I used to laugh so hard in college when we were reading this book. Joanna and I talked about how hilarious it would be to get one of the pressed fairies tattooed on our butts like we sat on her. And that would be the ideal place on my body to get a pressed fairy if my butt didn't have dimples. I'm not going to lie. I've got no shame. It's dimply. Instead I figured some day I'd get a pressed fairy tattoo on my back as if I leaned back and accidentally squished her.

Well, this past Monday, an idea that was 14 years in the making finally came to fruition... and while my back is a little sore now, I absolutely LOVE her.

Werewolves Attract

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:09:00 +0000

Remember when I had second thoughts about naming our new bunny "Lucian" because we already had a cat named "Lupin" and they sound very similar? (also both names are from werewolves) Well, we let our snake decide and Lucian was the name. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. I mean we have 6 inside cats. I didn't figure there would be an occasion where I'd have to use both of their names in a sentence. I figured wrong.

Lupin and Lucian are best friends and inseparable. They love to play, sleep, cuddle and groom each other. If Lupin is napping with another kitty, Lucian will jump on the couch and nip the other cat, making them jump off so he can steal their space and cuddle with Lupin.

Behold the cuteness...

Now I just need to keep them separated during the full moon.

Funny Friday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:17:00 +0000

Kitteh vs. Big Doggy

What Kind Of Baby?

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Seamus' birthmom Alexa is due to give birth to a baby girl next month. She is in a committed relationship with her boyfriend of 4 years and they plan to raise the baby together.

Our kids know about the soon-to-arrive half sister of Seamus. Seamus and I have talked many times and he loves to ask questions about that baby in Miss Alexa's tummy.

Seamus: "Mama, what kind of baby is in Miss Alexa's tummy?"

Me: "A girl."

Seamus: "No, what KIND of baby?"

Me: "A GIRL."

Seamus: "NO. What KIND of baby?"

Me: "A werewolf."

Seamus: *eye roll* "No, Mama, what KIND of baby?"

Me: "A vampire?"

Seamus: *sigh* "No Mama, will the baby be chocolate like Marlie? vanilla like Haven? or peanut butter like me?"

Me: "Oooooo... I guess the baby will be peanut butter like you."

Seamus: "YAY!!!!!!!! The baby will be peanut butter like me!!!!"

Wacky Wednesday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0000

My grandmother recently was placed in a nursing care facility due to her failing health. My sister and brother went to Allentown to help clean out her condo and get it ready to sell. While going through papers, my sister found this post card among my grandmother's things.

*shock* Yeah I thought the same thing. Except the date on the postcard is 1901, which is before Hitler's regime took over Germany. And a little search on google educated me to the fact that the swastika has been around for 3000 years. Apparently it was a very positive symbol until Hitler used it and changed its meaning.

Still... kinda creepy. And definitely wacky.

Funny Friday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0000

It was faked, but it's so funny, I just gotta share it.

Homemade Fireworks Gone Wrong

My Submission

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:25:00 +0000

Consider this my submission for the Mother Of The Year Award.

Funny Friday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:06:00 +0000

I know, I know. I've been total lamespice this week, not writing in my blog. I've had a huge amount of stress, very painful days this week and have lost a best friend. Hard to be motivated to write when that happens. Especially when you're drunk. (kidding. kind of.)

But... I need to at least get this post out there. It's Friday, dadgummit! And I'm going to bring the funny!

How Terminator SHOULD HAVE Ended!

Funny Friday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:32:00 +0000

When Blood Diamond meets Labyrinth

BLOOD LABYRINTH

American Canadian Idol!

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0000

If you were to ask me who the one person I'd like to meet and get an autograph from, I'd say Nathan Fillion. Even Marshall has a mancrush on him.

Don't you dare ask me who Nathan Fillion is! Ok, if you don't know who he is, he's an actor.

He was the bad guy (Caleb) in the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

He was Captain Hammer in the hilarious Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.

He was Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the Firefly Series.

In fact, if you want to find out who he is, rent the Firefly series. It's only 14 episodes, but it's 14 episodes of AWESOME. And after that, you can watch the Firefly movie (Serenity) which takes place after the end of the series.

Currently Nathan Fillion is starring in Castle on ABC playing Richard Castle, a murder mystery author who shadows a police detective for research on his new book, which he's basing his main character after.

In the series, he talks about the book he's writing, called "Heat Wave". Well they actually made it into a real book, which was released on Tuesday. It's totally written up as if Richard Castle is a real author. They even have a trailer for the book release.

What's even crazier is that Nathan Fillion was actually doing a "Richard Castle" book signing event the day of the book release. Where, you ask? Oh, at my local Borders Bookstore. *thud*

Tuesday morning at 10am Borders started handing out bracelets with the purchase of the book. The bracelet would ensure you would have a place in the book signing line. So I showed up at Borders at 5:30am. Uh huh. So it turns out no one was there when I got there. In fact people didn't start to line up until 9:30am. I could've slept in and shown up at 9:30 and still had the same spot in line. *shakes head*

ANYWAY, I went home with my book & bracelet and somehow tried to function. Oh yeah, I forgot to say I only slept an hour and 1/2 the night before.

The book signing was at 8pm, so I showed up at 6pm to get a good place in line. There were already about 40 people in line in front of me. Good thing I got there early though because by the time the book signing started, there were hundreds of people there, and Borders had sold out of all their copies of the book, including the displays.

We weren't allowed to take posed pics with him, which I understand since it would take a lot longer, but we were allowed to take pics of him ourselves.

He was awesome and gracious and funny and really cool to his fans. I got to talk to him for about 30 seconds while he signed my book, since they moved us through the line so quickly. He made up his own special handshake a while back, so after he signed my book I asked if we could do that. He immediately put his hand up and we did the hand thing. SO cool.

After the hand gesture thing, I said "Thank you. You made my... (and then I tried to think of what to say while he looked me in the eye, waiting my answer. I'm thinking 'day'? I can't say he made my day, that's lame. 'month'? that's lame too. I could see I had taken way too much time pausing in the middle of my sentence so I said, "... life."

Seriously. "you made my life"??? Whatever cool points I had before that, were completely gone after that fangirl brainfart.

Anyway, I can die happy now. I met, touched (in a perfectly appropriate way!) and got the autograph of my FAVORITE ACTOR.

Now how my body feels now after waiting in line for 6 and 1/2 hours (total) is a completely different story.

Wacky Wednesday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

On Monday I told you about my tooth break & repair adventure. But what I didn't mention is that I brought my iPhone with me into the dentist chair so I could take pictures and live tweet the event. And people say I'm addicted to Twitter. Psshaw!

Anyway, here are my feet in the chair, waiting for the dentist to start. I know, I know. You guys are probably shocked I'm wearing purple nail polish on my toes.

The next two pics are what I call "Sneaky Patient Cam".

Oh yes. I'm what you call a dentist's worse nightmare. But it totally FUN!

Best Giggle Ever!

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Marshall and Seamus love to do this. Seamus has the BEST. LAUGH. EVER. (especially when Marshall shakes him)

This time Marshall put my iPhone on his chest so he could get it on video. Enjoy!

The Shaking Giggle from Journey to Family on Vimeo.

Don't Sing and Drive

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

The other day I was driving on the freeway, with 3 kids in tow, while listening to the radio at a decent volume level. A song that I really liked came on the radio and I started singing loudly. ("Save A Prayer" by Duran Duran if you MUST know and yes I'm stuck in the 80's when it comes to music)

While I was singing, all of the sudden it felt like a bunch of tiny rocks were in my mouth. I spit one out, glancing at it and it was white. Still wasn't sure what it was. But my tooth was feeling kind of weird. As soon as I pulled off the freeway, I stopped and checked my teeth in the rearview mirror. This is what I saw.

My tooth! Just broke off! While I was SINGING IN THE CAR. What the heck? I mean, if my tooth was going to break off, why couldn't I have been eating something like a jawbreaker to make it worth it? But singing?

I called my dentist who fit me in the very next day to assess the damage. He said that something had cracked my tooth prior to the driving/singing episode. Maybe it was a jawbreaker after all. (kidding Dr. Kaufman, I don't eat jawbreakers. Anymore. Lately.)

You'll notice that my bottom teeth are crooked. Hasn't bothered me too much. When I got my braces off and had to sleep with those awful retainers at night, I asked my mom how long I had to wear them to keep my teeth straight. Her answer? "Forever". So that's when I decided that crooked teeth weren't so bad afterall. Lots of perfectly nice people have crooked teeth! It adds character. Individuality.

Now my dentist... he is a perfectionist to the 100th degree. That isn't always a good thing, but when it comes to someone working on your teeth, this is what you WANT. You want a dentist who seeks perfection when it comes to things like rebuilding your tooth.

But he didn't just rebuild my one tooth. Oh no! He decided to shave down and reshape three other teeth on either side of my broken tooth, to improve the overall view of the teeth together. Plus as my old teeth were straight up and straight across, so he gave me slight rounded edges which is supposed to look more feminine. (no one had informed me that I had boy teeth! Sure glad that's all been sorted out now)

Oh, so you want to see the finished result?

Again, here is the "Before" with the chipped tooth.

And HERE is the after!

My dentist made the entire bottom row of teeth look better than they had before my tooth chipped! If you're in the L.A. area and you don't have a dentist, email me and I'll give you his info. I'm telling you. *whispers* perfectionist.

Thank you Dr. Kaufman for saving me from years of ridicule, for giving me an even prettier smile than I had before, and most importantly...

Thank you for giving me the ability say my S's again without a lisp.

I can't wait to get back on the freeway and sing again!

Funny Friday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:38:00 +0000

Michael Jackson's "Beat It", Mariachi-Style

Tiny Giant

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Saturday we drove to the Flemish Giant breeder to pick up our new baby bunny. Even though he is only 6 weeks old, he's already the size of an average adult rabbit. (except with HUGE ears and HUGE feet)

We are totally enjoying our new Lucian, who has his own room (formerly guest bathroom) in the house. He loves hopping around and exploring the house (video to come). Though it doesn't take him long to tire himself out! And that's when I get to cuddle him.

Here he is on my desk. (beer bottle for size comparison... he did not drink the beer)

Here is his Daddy, held by the breeder. Yep. Definitely a male.

Marshall holding him. Look at the size of those feet!

Here he is all tired out and snoozing in my arms.

Ok but if you want to see the cutest thing EVER, watch the video! Don't watch if you can't handle the cuteness!

Funny Friday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:24:00 +0000

And I thought my cat was weird for drinking with his paw.

Wacky Wednesday

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Look how much joy I brought my mom 35 years ago today.

A Brand New Day

journeytofamily@me.com (JourneytoFamily) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

I had a hard week last week with the death of my giant bunny Hagrid. The operator I talked to when I requested the dead animal pickup (it's illegal to bury animals in our backyards here) informed me that it was indeed the fires that was causing coyotes, mountain lions and even bears to come out of the hills and into the residential areas. He said they were warning people in our area to bring our pets in at night. Unfortunately I did not get word of us until the day after Hagrid was killed. I think I took it harder because of how violent his end was. And I really did love him. Marshall was a little surprised at how hard it hit me. My mood for a few days was low. Really low. Obviously I didn't blog the rest of the week. I wasn't in a Wacky mood on Wednesday, a blogging mood on Thursday or a Funny mood on Friday. I just couldn't seem to shake the sadness from me.

I had always told Marshall that if we ever got another giant bunny, I wanted to start with a baby so we could really bond together. And I know the last thing in the world Marshall wants is another pet, but he told me last week that we should get a baby Flemish Giant bunny.

That man loves me. He really does.

There's only one Flemish Giant breeder that I know of in the L.A. area, and that is the breeder we got Hagrid from. I went to her website and saw that she had decided to retire from breeding rabbits. She was selling off all her rabbits as pets and had one baby bunny left.

I emailed her to tell her what happened to Hagrid. I was crazy with anxiety, waiting for her to respond to see if that one baby bunny was still available. I got an email from her the next day telling me how sorry she was for Hagrid's loss. She said she had been sick a few days and had a number of emails to get through, to see if that last baby bunny was available. She didn't want to promise him to two people. So I waited another day.

The following day she emailed me to tell me the baby bunny was mine. I can't even tell you what that did for my mood. Marshall was surprised at the turn around as well. Some people need to grieve the loss of a pet before they can heal enough to get a new pet. I've always needed a new pet right away, to help me heal from the loss of a pet.

Anyway, here he is:

He's 7 weeks old and we'll pick him up on Saturday.

We had trouble agreeing on what his name should be. Lucian or Wolverine. So we did what any normal family would do, and we let our snake decide on the name. Yes. yes we did. We figured we'd write each name on the back of a mouse and see which one the snake chose first, and THAT would be the name of our new bunny. Cause we're kind of demented like that. Ok not "we", just ME.

So if you want to know the new baby bunny's name, watch the video. If you can't stand the site of snakes, DON'T WATCH. If you don't watch, no worries. You'll just have to get used to disappointment.