A Little Slice of Life

HONK HONK HONK!!!!!

2012-04-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

Apparently, even though I might believe otherwise, I am not the poster child for proper and polite driving manners.

I was pulling out of the market parking lot the other day, waiting for the traffic to clear so I could turn right. When it looked like I had an opening I pulled out into the far right lane just as someone changed lanes in the intersection and almost plowed into me.

I swerved out of the way.

"HEY" Jeffrey shouted from the back seat... "HEY, did you see that?? Honk at that guy... Why didn't you honk? Did you see him? He almost hit us! HONK HONK HONK!!!!! Why aren't you honking?"

"Jeffrey, calm down. Whoever it was is long gone."

"But you should have honked... That was the perfect time for you to have honked... you ALWAYS honk when someone is being an idiot."

"I do NOT!"

It would be highly inappropriate for me to pass judgement on someone's mental competency when I have not even met them.

"Yes you do.... you always honk one really long time and then you yell at them that they are being an idiot."

Apparently Jeffrey has been driving in a car with some OTHER mother.

Because I would never do that.

Really.

No really.

I swear.

Talent Show Rehearsal Video ~~ Surfin' USA

2012-03-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

The talent show was a success this year.

The only hitch was after the show when the kids went to collect their trophies (everyone gets one) theirs wasn't there. It did show up the next week which made them happy because now they have 3 different trophies each displayed on their shelves.

I did not buy a professionally filmed DVD of the extravaganza this year because, well, ummmmm..... overall the acts were.... well, shall we say, under rehearsed. Two poor little kids got lost in the the middle of their acts and the audience sat holding their breath while each of them struggled to get back on track. Eventually they both did and they got some of the loudest applause of the night, but they weren't moments I want to relive.

Fortunately I recorded my dynamic duo during rehearsal which came out fine. They were far more in sync in the actual show but it wasn't too bad here.

They crew never could get that dang surfboard to stand up.

Friday Night Follies

2012-03-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

Evenings at our house can never be described as boring.
(Or quiet but we already knew that).

Jeffrey at the top of his lungs in the shower (heard from 2 rooms away):

"Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed..." (pause for deep breath)
"She was looking kinda dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead....

OOOOOO YEAH"

Repeat 45 times.

This is what happens when I let him borrow my IPOD.

Disney Sunday #29 ~~ The Enchanted Tiki Room

2012-03-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room opened up June 23, 1963.

It was the parks first air-conditioned attraction.

It was originally sponsored by United Airlines, but changed to Dole soon after.

Dole Whip anyone??

It was slated to be a restaurant where animatronic birds sang to guests as they dined.

The "magic fountain" was intended to be a coffee station and the kitchen was shared with the Tahitian Terrace and Plaza Pavilion. That idea did not pan out.

Since it was under separate ownership than the rest of the park, there was a small admission fee.

Here is one of the early brochures:

A very early picture:

I couldn't pass up this picture of the 60's kids:

This is the terrace before they closed the whole area in:

One of the original uniforms:

Here are some great shots of the original trashcans:

And I love these pictures of Walt with the Barker Bird:

and inside the attraction with some of the bird stars:

And here is a great piece of memorabilia...

The Tiki Room AND the Jungle Cruise together on one album!

LA Natural History Museum Survives the Crew

2012-03-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

It's spring break out here in our neck of the woods.

And in order to keep the natives from climbing the walls we decided on a family outing to the LA Natural History Museum.

The Hall of Dinosaurs has been closed for several years so this has been our first opportunity to get downtown and see them since they re-opened.

Let us start with the first exhibit that hasn't changed since my oldest kids were in pre-school.

This is a picture of Jeffrey before he got warmed up into comedian mode.

Our first stop was the new exhibit area which really showed off how impressive these creatures were.

I wanted to see more of these long necked guys:

They had several walls of bones behind glass:

Sarah models next to a T-Rex head.

Everyone taking a look at bones in the way they were uncovered:

Jeffrey studies a large marine tortoise (turtle?):

This was the upper leg bone of one of the dinosaurs.
(I guess I should have paid more attention to what I was taking pictures of)

A T-Rex foot:

A Carnosaur... I believe it is the same as the dinosaur in the Disney World Ride in Animal Kingdom:

One of the docents let the kids hold some casted T-Rex teeth and she even had some real fossils they got to handle.

A full grown T-Rex and baby:

A close- up of it's head:

These frilled dino heads were SO impressive:

This one was HUGE!!

A Stegosaurus... I couldn't get people to stop cluttering up my picture.

This stained glass was on the ceiling of the rotunda outside the dino gallery:

This extinct animal is related to modern day pigs:

Katherine checks out some of the interactive displays:

Jeff and Jeffrey read about the mammoth:

Sarah studies the remains of one of the earliest humans:

I think Jeffrey was waiting for the polar bear to talk at him:

In the Great Halls were all the taxidermied animals.
I find these both fascinating and a little sad.
The halls are completely dark with the only lights coming from the glass covered displays,
so I really couldn't get very good pictures.
Here is a Grizzly:

The big displays at the end of each room did not have glass and the pictures came out looking more like a painting than real.
This shot is with no flash and lightened in photoshop.

With flash and no photoshop:

I took these hippos for Emily!
(Wish you were with us!)

And then it was into the Hall of Gems.
WOW there was so much to look at.

And so it starts....
"Jeffrey go stand with the meteorite..."
This causes massive amounts of giggling:

And it becomes contagious and this is what I get when I try to get 3 of them to stand still long enough for one decent shot...
Alex of course is behaving himself.

More meteorites.... with no accompanying goofiness:

A view of one of the display walls:

Here are a few of the displays up close.
Of course the pictures do them no justice because the flash either washed them out or no flash left them in the dark.

There was SO much to look at:

This is one of the world's largest flawless crystal balls:

In the gem vault.. I love opals!

I was trying to get a picture of Katherine while we waited for the boys.
"Smile Katherine"
She smiles then immediately gets distracted before I could click .... LOOK A SQUIRREL!

We took a ride on the huge antique elevator which creaked and groaned to the point I was glad we made it safely to the 2nd floor. It came complete with an elevator operator.

And then came the bug zoo.
A really big wolf spider.
***SHUDDER***

But the WORST was this tarantula which was bigger than Alex's hand.

Wait.........
What's this?
Is everybody actually standing and smiling for the camera nicely without any fooling around?

Out the window you could see the Colosseum... USC's football stadium.

This little Musk Rat was SO cute and fuzzy:

Trying to fit a dinosaur back together:

I knew that previous picture was good too good to last:
***SIGH***
Thank you crazy-eyed child.

Around the corner from the discovery center (still on the 2nd floor) was a place you could see the paleontologists work:

Downstairs by the exit there was a giant mega-mouth shark preserved in a tank.
There was also a coelacanth (which Jeffrey immediately knew how to pronounce), but I couldn't get a good picture of it.

We moved onto the Science Museum across the park and spent about an hour checking out the exhibits after we spent a small fortune at the on-site McDonald's where Jeff stole Katherine's Little Pony Happy Meal Toy and threatened to make Alex carry it around on his shoulder for the rest of the day:

Sarah and Alex demonstrate the infrared screens:

Alex listens to sound waves through different sized pipes:

This was SO cool.....
One person sits on one side of the room:

And another sits WAAAAY across on the other side and you can whisper and hear what the other person is saying.

Trying out the musical instruments:
(Well goofing off AND trying out the musical instruments)

Figuring out which car is the most aerodynamic:

Outside we saw the original entrance to the museum.
"Los Angeles County Historical and Arts Museum" it reads.
Right now you can't go in this way but it was very pretty.
The stained glass in the ceiling I showed earlier was just inside of this entrance.

My crew heads into the rose garden.
Look how nice and well behaved they are pretending to be.

Me: "Lemme take a quick picture of the museum from back here"
Sarah: "Woo-Hoo!"
Me: ***SIGH***

OK, that's better.

And before we get back to our car we passed some seriously huge Rubber Trees.

So that was our day.
We had a really great time and I think the kids might have actually learned a thing or two.
At the very least they didn't spend the day glued to the TV or bickering.

Way Back When

2012-02-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

Kids don't understand that certain things in their life that they take for granted are not inalienable rights, but instead are given to them as favors and can be taken away if grantor of said favors deems it no longer in their best interest to continue giving of themselves.

For instance, like being driven to school instead of having to walk.

Overheard this morning:

"Mom, did you know that you used to be able to buy a hamburger for only 10¢?"

"Really? Wow that was a good deal."

"But it was a very, very long time ago. WAAAAAAY way back when."

"And exactly how "way back when" are you talking about?"

"Like when you were a kid."

If we weren't on the freeway at that very moment I would have pulled over and made him walk.

You know like I had to do when I was a kid.

20 miles.

In the snow.

Uphill.

Both ways.

Talent Show Mania

2012-02-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. The talent show is upon us.

And, so as not to break with tradition, I did not find out until Monday that the try-outs are next Tuesday.

So I have next-to-no-time to get the dynamic duo to learn a routine well enough to show the try-out committee.

Last night was our first "rehearsal". I use that term loosely because the first 15 minutes consisted of a lot of bitching and whining about who was going to stand in the front, which way they were going to start the first move and wondering how much longer this was going to take. That last part was mine.

The following is a list of notes and helpful suggestions from the peanut gallery:

J: Katherine keeps stepping on my feet.
K: Its not my fault your feet are so big.

K: Jeffrey keeps hitting me in the face when he makes his turn.
J: Its not my fault your face is so big.
K: What does THAT mean?
J: Nothing in particular.
K: MOM!

J: I'm not doing that move. It makes me look like a girl.
K: Its not just the move that does that.
J: MOM!

K: I can't start like that. I'm not left handed.
Me: That has nothing to do with which direction you start in.
K: It doesn't? Oh Ok.
Me (silently) Are we through yet?

Jeff (from his office): Now you know how I feel when I'm teaching them at the dojo twice a week.

It's a wonder he hasn't used a karate chop on one of them in the past year.

I have 6 days to get them relatively good at this.
If I don't throttle them in the mean time.
Wish me luck.

Here is their routine from 2 years ago... They've grown so much (sniff sniff).

Search Terms From the Twilight Zone

2012-01-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

Because I tend to be nosy (just ask anyone) I occasionally check out who is visiting my blog.

I have traffic counters that tell me what city or country viewers come from and also how they got here. Such as links I posted, if they were just browsing Blogger, or if they typed in certain key words.

The most popular searchs that land people here are: "are mermaids real?" "real mermaids found" "photos (or videos) of real mermaids".

Yep, you read that right. REAL mermaids.

This is because I have a Disney post chronicling the Submarine Voyage at Disneyland and it features pictures of the "real" mermaids who used to sit in the lagoon and wave at the people as they passed by.

Apparently there are hundreds of people out there in Google Search-land that think there is proof of living mermaids right here on the internet. And the 5000+ hits on my blog post prove it.

But I also have other off the wall terms that have brought people to my little corner of the world.

Just from the last week I found the following items listed on the "how they got here" page:

The Future (of what and why was my blog ranked second on the search results? Do I know more than I think I do? Should I go and buy lottery tickets? I need to know!)

Spring break adventure stories nude (OK I did write a post titled "Spring Break Adventures" but nowhere did I include the word NUDE or any pictures featuring anyone or anything NUDE. I did go back and check it out though just to be sure)

If kids were cats (I'd need more litter boxes)

Summer pictures; love on the beach (I did post a whole bunch of summer beach pictures but it was more goofballs on the beach as opposed to love)

Weird but true facts about losing weight (lots of weird but true around here, but not much about losing weight... even though I am trying)

Flying Saucer Girl (Obviously they were looking for that picture of me in the sexy little astronaut uniform)

Japanese Porn (I have a entry entitled Sushi Porn, so I guess it's sort of the same thing)

My Pony My Friend (well alrighty then...)

Situations where you would never give up or never surrender (seriously.. I cant make this stuff up)

INDIen ceaf vilige Disney pic (not sure how Google got them routed around to the pictures of the Indian Village Disney Chiefs, but apparently they figured it out.. on the plus side, they DID spell Disney right)

Jeffrey plays video games (even though this is a well known fact, I am unclear as to the reasons behind this search)

Rear end accidents at autopia Disney Photos (I thought I destroyed all those... who told?)

The list could go on for quite a bit longer but as you can see there is no end to the off the wall things people search for. And for some reason some of those searches land people here. I hope some stay and have a look around, even if it wasn't what they were looking for... We enjoy the company!

A really bad, awful, terribly horrible day

2012-01-29T18:53:00.000-08:00

There is nothing subtle about Jeffrey.

I guess if you read this with any regularity you would know that.

Last Friday I picked him up from school (Katherine had gone to Gabby's for a sleepover). When he got into the car he announced that this had the been the worst day of his life. It was so bad in fact that he didnt even know if could talk about it.

That sentiment of course did not last long.

He said the day started out with great promise as it was Friday and the class has hot chocolate every Friday morning. With the enthusiasm this causes, you might think he didn't have hot chocolate as a dessert choice every night at home.

But that's beside the point.

So his morning of great promise went straight downhill when *somehow* his cup got knocked over before he got even 2 drinks and went all over the desk, into his lap and onto the floor. He had to spend the whole time he would have been drinking nirvana by soaking up the mess with paper towels.

"AND THEN" (he said so loud that I winced)..... "the worst possible thing happened.... I was sitting there minding my own business quietly doing my math,"

(I refrained from verifying the authenticity of exactly what he meant by *quiet*)

"When my teacher came by my chair and stopped to answer someone's question. You know there isn't very much room between the chairs right? And you know that my teacher is, ummm.... well she is bigger than the space between the chairs right?" (This was his attempt to be polite) "So when she finished answering the question and turned around she knocked me clean out of my chair with her butt. (pause) Everyone laughed at me. (pause) I was mortified. (pause) I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN SHOW MY FACE BACK IN CLASS AGAIN!"

Nice try kid. You still have to go to school.

I was also trying very hard not to laugh out loud.

"MOM! Its not funny!"

"I'm sorry, you're right it's not. I imagine your teacher was a bit embarrassed too."

"Are you kidding? She yelled at me for fooling around. I don't think she even felt the impact.
My life is over."

"Would it help if you had something yummy when you got home and then you can play Little Big Planet?"

"I guess so. But I think I may be scarred for life."

As I said, subtlety is not one of his defining characteristics... but he does provide quite a bit of comic relief to my day.

Details, Details

2011-12-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

Today was a shopping day. It's getting a little too close to Christmas and I have a little too little done for my tastes.

Sarah decided she was going to come with me and before we left I laid out EXACTLY what I was going to do to Jeff and told him I would call him at some point in my travels so he knew what time to expect me home. If I dont do this he will call and ask if I got lost or fell into a black hole because he can never understand how shopping can take so long.

He is one of these "pick something and buy it" guys. No patience to look around.

He is also pretty sick and has had a fever off and on for 3 days so he is grouchy and out of sorts anyway.

After the first 2 stores I call him and tell him I'm on my way to Home Depot to get the Christmas tree and then will stop at the market to pick him up him something to drink. I also start to tell him about a few of the things I've gotten so far.

He interrupts me and says "I don't want to hear all the details... just get everything done and come home".

I hung up and stuck my tongue out at the phone. Very mature I know.

Sarah and I got to Home Depot and start looking for a tree... She holds one up and I look at it, then I hold it up and she looks at it. We trade opinions until we find the perfect one. Not like when I take Jeff and he wants the first tree we pull out of the pile. We pay for it, stuff it into the back of the van and head for the market. We hurry through some quick shopping to get stuff so I can make cookies and other yummies this week, as well as the requested drink. As we are pulling out of the parking lot my phone rings.

I am greeted with a very dejected voice on the other end: "Exactly one hour and a minute ago you said you were coming home."

"Exactly one hour and a minute ago I said I was going to get a tree and go to the market... now I am 5 minutes from home."

"Oh OK...sorry.. I must have missed that part".

No kidding!

See what happens when you don't want to hear all the details?

Disney Sunday #28 ~~ The House of the Future

2011-12-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

The House of the Future opened in Disneyland in 1957 right next to the Circorama.
It was one of 2 free attractions sponsored by Monsanto. Hall of Chemistry being the other.
It was a walk through tour of a 1280 sq ft house filled with plastic furnishings and polyester clothes. It also boasted new and exciting modern appliances like dishwashers, microwaves and intercoms. It was made from eight prefabricated plastic sections with large windows and anchored onto a concrete earthquake proof foundation. The house consisted of a middle square (kitchen and bathroom) with 4 "wings" (master bedroom, children's room, dining room and living room).

It lasted 10 years until Monsanto went on to sponsor Adventure thru Inner Space. The house was so indestructible that the one day demolition ended up taking two weeks because the wrecking ball could not damage it. It had to be cut apart with hack saws. Some of the support pilings are still visible in Neptune's Grotto and the landscape, waterfalls and walkways are still there.

This is Disney's publicity shot:

This is the floor plan:

The next few shots are of construction:

I love these 2 with the castle in the background:

Opening day complete with band:

Some shots of the exterior:

I love how empty things were back then:

Dressed up for Christmas:

Interior promotion pictures:

Love the TV:

And when you got tired of being inside in the future, you could come outside to your very own geodesic patio dome:

Love You, Mean It ~~ A Tribute to a Beautiful Soul.

2011-12-07T15:59:00.000-08:00

I lost a friend very unexpectedly this week. Not that any of us at my age (mid 40's) EXPECTS to lose someone. And not that that person was expecting it either. But its just so much of a shock when things like this happen that your brain can't quite wrap itself around the fact that a person can up and die and leave behind a family, friends and so many unrealized hopes and dreams and then life and everyone they left behind has to go on without them.

The circumstances of my friends death are not entirely clear yet. She was having some health issues and had been in and out of the hospital over the past week. But there didn't seem to be any indication that things couldn't be fixed. Until they couldn't. And she was gone. Just like that. Here one day, gone the next.

She left behind several young adult children who are of course much more devastated than I am. They have lost their mother. The one who was supposed to be there to guide them through the still difficult years of youth. To hold her children's babies, to soothe them when they are crying, and to watch them grow into adults as she grew into old age.

How many times can I yell at the universe that life isn't fair? Asking why a life has to be cut short when there was so much more to do? Surely the sole purpose of my friend's life was not a lesson for the rest us that if we don't get our shit together the same thing could happen to us. She was much more than that.

As I go back and read the things that she had been writing about recently, I realized I was not going to find any clues that she knew this was coming. If any of us knew tragedy was on the horizon we would certainly change the way we were living our last moments. Get our ducks in a row, heal old wounds, take that vacation we've been putting off, buy ourselves that pair of shoes we've been eyeing. Because we would know that life was indeed shorter than we think and we better enjoy what we have and fix whats broken right now because no matter who you are, we all come with an expiration date. And the thought we always have tomorrow to do or fix what we want may not come.

My heart is beyond sad. She and I shared a lot in common. We both had oldest sons named Chris. Who both went into the Air Force to become crew chiefs for F-16 fighter jets. They both had sons (our first grandchildren) within a year of each other. We also both had 2 daughters of similar ages. We were both remarried with step kids (I had 2, she had one). And we both loved to write and maintained a blog (Hers: http://delswife-stories.blogspot.com/).

She was a much better writer than I was. So much more funny and the words seemed to roll off her fingers with much less effort than it took me. She loved Disney as much as I do and in an ironic twist, she died on Walt's birthday. She wrote REAL trip reports (not just a bunch of pictures strung together with a few words) that kept you laughing out loud and coming back for more. Her first report seen here without the original pictures as they got lost a few years back and she never got around to fixing them: http://www.abbycandlesmi.com/delswife_trip_report.pdf was what started some of her popularity. I met many people and good friends because of her and I cannot express the how grateful I am for her to have touched my life.

I wish I could reach out and ease the pain her family must be going through. Because if I am as sad as am, nothing but a casual acquaintance who spent just a small portion of my life interacting with her, I cannot imagine the depth to the sorrow of the people who spent daily lives with her, knowing her, loving her... having her enrich their lives with her humor, kindness and ability to see the best in people and in life no matter what the circumstances.

All I can say is:
Robin... you will be missed more than you ever imagined possible.
There will be a emptiness where you used to be that no one else will ever be able to fill in quite the same way that you did.

Love You , Mean It
LYMI

Disney Sunday #27 ~~ Dumbo the Flying Elephant

2011-11-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

Back in the saddle again!!

This time on Dumbo!

Originally this ride was based on the alcohol induced pink elephants from the movie with the working title of "10 Pink Elephants on Parade" going so far as to having the original ride vehicles painted pink.

Walt objected saying he didn't want his guests riding on something themed to a hallucination and ordered them to be repainted grey.

Here is a picture of the original concept art:

The original ears moved which as you can imagine created all sorts of mechanical problems so new molds were made without hinges. You can see the older version in this picture:

Timothy Mouse stands in the center twirling around. He originally held a training whip until this was later replaced with a feather. It has since changed back to the whip.

Here's a good early shot with the Skyway station being built in the background.

A good black and white aerial shot:

I had a hard time finding older shots in color:

Love this one... with girls all dressed up!

Glad to see you all again!!
Have a great Sunday and stayed tuned!!

Horn Tuskers

2011-11-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in your life when you realize you take certain knowledge for granted.
There are things you figure everyone knows so it's a bit of a reality check when you discover not everyone is as well informed as you are.

Katherine: Today was Colonial Day so we made dolls out of things like they did in the old days.
Me: Really, what did you make them out of?
Katherine: Out of the horn of a tusker something or other...
Me: A what?
Katherine (sensing the disbelief in my voice) : Ummm maybe I got that wrong maybe it was a tusk of a horny something..
Me: I don't think that's right either...
Katherine: Well I forget what Ms Sendejas said.. or maybe I wasn't paying attention (SHOCKER) but is was definitely out of some kind of growth from some kind of animal.
Me: Why don't you just show me what you made....
She brings out the doll
Me: Katherine... these are CORN HUSKS... they cover corn while it is growing... You peel it off before you eat it and it gets hard and turns this light tan color. This does not come from an animal.
Katherine: OOOOOHHHHhhhhhh... I thought you peeled it off some kind of growth that some animal had growing out of its face... like a unicorn or something.
Me: Face palm.

Way Back Wednesday ~ Vintage Star Trek Toy Commercials

2011-09-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

So many times the geek in me comes out but I can't help it!
Not only do I love vintage stuff, but vintage Star Trek stuff is even better!
Enjoy these old commercials!

Bet you didn't know that Vulcans were so good at doing laundry!

Saturday in the Car Park

2011-09-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

I was at Costco the other day, picking up our weekly supply of Family Size items, herding the kids around and trying to get done as quickly as possible.

We made it into the parking lot and I was feeling pretty good about how well everything had gone.
I didn't lose anyone, I didn't have to yell at anyone, I didn't drop a 25 pound bag of flour on the floor and then have to pretend it wasn't me. Just overall a good shopping trip.

We were about half way down one of the parking aisles when I realized I couldn't remember where I parked.
I stopped so fast Katherine ran right into me.

"OW MOM!"

I tried to say I was using it as a real world example of what momentum was... you know, any opportunity is a teaching opportunity I always say.

No the kids didn't buy it either.

Not wanting to let on that I had been overcome with sudden onset Alzheimer's I tried to act nonchalant and began digging for my keys.

"Mom, did you forget where we parked?"

Nothing gets past Jeffrey.

"No, did you?"

I was trying to remember something about where I parked. Was I going up or down? Was I parked near tree? A sign? The basket return?

And I tell my kids to pay attention.

The lot was a giant ocean and my car was lost, adrift on the current.

I found my keys and performed the classic "Hold them over your head and hope you see some lights flashing or hear horns honking" routine.

Nothing.

This is when I realized there had been a lady creeping along next to me apparently waiting to score my spot.

This didn't make her happy so she floored it up the aisle and out of sight.

"Hey mom I think that lady was waving at you."

Yeah, the one finger wave. My favorite.

I turned around and realized that a parade of other cars had formed behind me.

I crossed through the parked cars pretending that I suddenly remembered where I was.

Two cars took off at top speed and tried to beat each other around to other aisle.

A-HA! There it is! I saw it!

I rushed forward, clicking "open" on my key ring and grabbed the back handle of the door only to have my fingers bend backwards, break a nail and realize this was not my van.

Why do so many people drive blue Honda minivans out here?

Another line of cars had begun to form and the kids were looking at me and I was becoming a stressed mess.
I waved the cars away "NO. NO I'm not leaving, just came to the car get to get something, I'm going back inside".

"Why do we have to go back in?" Jeffrey wanted to know. "I thought we were done? Mom? Mom?"

Now my only choice is trudge up and down the aisles and I'm annoyed because I'm sweating all over my clean shirt, my groceries are going to be a melted mess by the time I get them home and the kids now know for sure that their mother is not perfect.

Yes up until this very moment my children have thought of me as a combination of Einstein and the virgin Mary... a genius without faults.

It's true and you cant tell me otherwise.

Suddenly all the way at the end of one of the aisles that I swear I have never driven down in my life, I spot the blue boat. I rush forward, click my keys, hear the honk and feel the joy of a kid on Christmas morning.

I load the kids in, load the groceries in and then some jerk honks at me because I'm taking too long.

I hurry into the drivers seat, back out, pretend Im not driving a minivan and pass him like I'm on the Indy Speedway.

"Hey mom.. that guy was waving at you too."

Yeah, I know... There seems to be a lot of that going on lately.

Saturday Ramblings

2011-08-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

My life this week has been a series of unfortunate spills by the animals of the house.

It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't keep stepping in it.

I haven't figured out exactly what has set them off, but I suspect it was the week long visit by Grandma.

She pretends to like the animals. As long as they stay as far away from her as possible.

Unfortunately, as with most animals, ours know who don't like them and it just makes them all the more friendly to said individuals.

This display of friendship sends Grandma into hysterics, waving her arms or kicking at them with her feet, all the while shouting "JEFF! HELP! Get over here" at the top of her lungs.

She is now safely back in Vegas and our life is SLOWLY returning to normal as we are slip back into the school year routine. Which essentially means I will remember what day of the week it is when I wake up in the morning.

Today is Saturday so I get several hours by myself on the computer while Jeff and Alex beat each other up in Karate, Katherine is at Gabby's and Jeffrey pops in out to ask me deep philosophical questions.

Like "Are people bald because they wore a hat too much and it rubbed all the hair off?" or "If I asked my teacher for the whole years homework right now, could I do it all over the weekend and then play video games after school because my homework was all finished until Jr High?" and the last one "If the number 2 pencil is the best one to use, why don't we call it number 1?"

I wonder if he sits around and thinks these things up just to make me stop and have to think about what he saying.

So I.m back to eBay-land for the time being, but if anyone needs any Simpsons figures, vintage items or Disney memorabilia, feel free to stop by our store!

J & M Sales Emporium

Way too early for coherent thought.....

2011-08-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Who put 7 AM so early in the morning?

Honestly, would it kill someone to move it closer to the afternoon?

The dog is still sleeping, why can't I?

Oh right, I had to get up and schlep the crew to their institutions of learning.

Summer is over and I am forced to get reacquainted with the wee hours of the morning.

I suppose it will facilitate my getting more work done. I'm trying to figure out if that's a good thing or not.

Overall, I think the kids are happy to be back into the swing of things.

Well perhaps not Alex. He has been dreading this year since last April.

His class schedule is as follows:

~ Math Analysis Honors (which I assume is more than sitting around and analyzing 1 + 1 = 2)
~ AP English (which required he read Grapes of Wrath over the summer. Yesterday his homework was to pick out themes of the book and he wanted to know if he could include "boring" and "unnecessary" without getting himself into trouble. I told him probably not).
~ AP Computer Science (He's going to learn how to program in Java... I told him I could probably help him with that since I am quite familiar with several types of Java including Breakfast Blend and French Vanilla. He did not find my humor especially helpful.)
~ AP Physics (Scares me just typing the words)
~ AP US History (I told him to study the states over the summer, but did he listen... NOOOoooo... what is his first test today? Name all the states. See mom knows what she's talking about some of the time.)
~ AP Spanish 4 (Me llamo Paco...Et tu, como te llamas? See I'm bilingual.)

Alex pretty much figures this is the end of his life as he knows it and that he will never leave his room except to go to school and occasionally use the bathroom.

I told him I would keep dinner warm and slip it under his door around 6 PM every night so not to worry.

Good to see all of you again!

Now off to eBay land!

Summer Fun at the California Science Center & Griffith Park Observatory

2011-08-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

As I feared, I have had no time over this summer to do much on my blog.

SOON the kids will be back in school and I will be able to get back to regularly scheduled programming!

But in the mean time I am trying to keep up with picture trip reports.

On Thursday I took the troops downtown to see the science center.

I think Alex was 3 the last time we visited.

The cast of characters included:

Me (well you knew that since I took all the pictures)

4 of my own personal kids:

Sarah (We picked her up on the way there)

Alex (He needed a break from all that tiring Black Ops he's been forced to endure these past weeks)

The Partners in Crime, Jeffrey & Katherine

and The Twins, Jacob and Olivia who are spending most of their summer with us.

So we arrived bright and early, er, wait.... I mean in time for lunch at the California Science Center which shares real estate with the Colosseum (where many of the 1984 Olympic games were held) and The Natural History Museum:

First stop.... a picture in front of a SR-71 Blackbird:

For some reason the dry ice fog didn't show up when I took the picture:

The kids were fascinated with how small the Apollo capsules were:

Jeffrey listening to the Doppler effect:

Katherine and Olivia looking at the satellite exhibit:

The crew playing virtual soccer:

Alex trying out the ping pong ball machine:

Jacob trying his hand at it:

Sarah checking out some information on the wall:

All 4 of them trying to pick up balls with different types of bird beaks:

Jeffery & Jacob take a ride on a snowmobile:

Katherine, Jacob and Olivia check out the frozen wall:

Sarah and the girls find some dessert bugs and lizards:

Waiting to get splashed by the flash flood:

Alex showing Jeffrey how one of the machines work:

Smashing their hands in the ocean depth pressure machine:

Checking out the 2 story deep salt water tanks:

The kids loved watching the divers feed the fish:

Katherine looking into the under water periscope:

Getting some close up looks at the fish:

We were first in line when they opened up the touch tank:

Jeffrey and Jacob head for the 3rd floor:

Planes from the next door Air & Space museum are on display here while the other museum is being renovated:

Because we didn't do enough already today, we stopped at the Griffith Park Observatory:

Somehow we got inside, despite the contradictory signs:

The boys checking out the "Big Picture" from the new viewing platform:

Katherine and Jacob looking at Meteorites:

Jeffrey sits with Griffith J Griffith and demonstrates how little sky is actually shown on the "Big Picture" wall.

The planets shown in correct proportion:

View of the Hollywood Sign from the lower observation deck:

The gang's all here!

All in all we had a really great day!!

Summer Beach Pictures

2011-07-31T19:59:00.004-07:00

I have been taking my camera to the beach every week and have come up with great shots.

We go to the Point Dume area of Zuma Beach off Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

It's about 30 minutes from our house.

This is a compilation of shots from the past few weeks.

This is a sunset from our front yard last week.

Katherine loves the waves and has no fear.....

Though after taking this shot, maybe she should rethink her bravery...

Jeffrey is fishing with seaweed, and Katherine takes another spill

More frolicking

Jeffrey enjoying the moment

Jeffrey as the Sorcerer in "Commanding the Waters"

Katherine trying her hand at controlling the waves...
Either that or she's trying for Master of Silly Walks

A few waves pictures.. I must have taken 100 of them

4 of them out in the waves

LOOK! Out there...........

It's dolphins!!

Jeffrey was racing with them up and down the beach

The boys were thrilled they were so close to shore.

Here the boys were enjoying the way the sand felt on their feet

And here they come looking like they just had their nails done

Katherine spent a lot of time panning for sand crabs

Here everyone is trying to count how many were in the bucket

Jeffrey looks shocked he found some in his bucket

Here the girls were trying to divide them all up so everyone had the same number

Sarah takes a look

The kids spend a lot of time digging holes while we are on the beach

Jacob and Jeffrey would dig to China if they could

Jeffrey testing the depth of this hole

A collaborative effort well done

Everyone got themselves into the hole today

Katherine and Olivia spend a lot of time building sand castles

They are never very big, but they have fun making them

Always the ham

Jeffrey shows off his amazing 10 year old physique

Charles Atlas.. watch out!!

Katherine finds digging holes to be a tiring experience

In their best effort yet, Jacob relaxes at the bottom of their masterpiece

Jeffrey brings the water to demonstrate the built in tunnel they created

Alex enjoys the relative quiet

Sarah snoozes in the sun

The seagulls seems to have a lot of yelling to do.
Of course after they ate Olivia's sandwich, there shouldn't be too much for them to complain about

I caught this one taking off

Pelicans.. a lot of them!

The lifeguard is surfing in his boat

One day, I promise I'm going to own a beautiful house on the beach
Of course I better be in shape if it's one of these because the hike down the mountain is a killer!

Lifeguard station #3

Kayakers

These last photos were of the little kids from the family who was sitting near us.
They were so cute and really enjoying themselves

Updates on life.....

2011-07-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

I was just marveling the other day that I had actually hit 10,000 views on my blog.

I took a look a few minutes ago and I had soared past 11,000.

YAY!!!!

Life continues to chug forward this summer. I've been able to go to the beach every week and lo and behold my legs aren't snow white anymore. Not that it will last but it's nice while it here.

I'm faithfully keeping up with my trip countdown blog because having something to look forward to (even if it's a year away) adds a little spring to my step.

I still don't have much time to sit and do the fun blog stuff I want to do for this blog. The other blog requires looking for pictures in my online albums, pasting them in and VOILA! It's done. Easy, fast and efficient. At least something in my life is!

It's 4 weeks until school starts but only 3 weeks until Grandma arrives.

Ooooo Rah!

I have a goal to take off 10 pounds in the next 3 weeks just so I don't feel quite so fat when she gets here. I was thinner than I am now last time I saw her. And believe me, it's no stretch to have Grandma say "You look like you've put on some weight.. are you going to gym like me? I go every day. I may have some of my bigger clothes to lend you until you lose the weight again, if you like."

NO thanks.. I'll pass on that fun.

I am going to post my summer pictures in the next day or two so keep an eye out for those!

See you soon!!

Reality... when did this happen?

2011-07-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

OK. Cold hard reality of the situation is that I am simply not going to be able to keep up with this blog the way I want to during this summer.

My computer is basically a timeshare while the kids are home.

I get time when others are willing to share.

The computer is in Alex's room and he uses it to hide from the reality of the upcoming school year. 5 AP classes + Honors something else I don't remember. He is frantically trying to spend as much time killing zombies and improving his prestige level in Black OPs because he knows once school starts he will be lucky if he gets an hour a week away from schoolwork.

Then Jeffrey begs (add whines and rolls around on the ground) to play a new game Alex came up with called Minecraft and it can only be played on this computer. So we allow him 45 minutes to an hour a day to dig in the dirt so he can collect rocks and loot and whatever else he unearths to build a house. I cannot for the life of me understand why the boys find this so exciting.

Then I have to list on eBay. It takes me a lot more time than I would like it to, to take pictures, process pictures, upload pictures, write the auctions, fine tune the auctions and get them listed. By the time I am through doing that I either dont feel like sitting around here anymore or I have 2 boys hanging over my shoulder wondering when I'm going to be finished so whoever is faster can slide into the chair to play their games. This also makes it hard to use the bathroom when I'm listing because if I don't choose exactly the right moment when no one is paying attention, I will find my chair occupied when I return.

AND I've found this new passion of keeping my trip countdown blog so whenever I have a moment and feel like blogging I tend to go there.

But I promise that I will keep doing what I can here and once school starts again in a month I will be back to posting some of the regular features.

Thank you all for bearing with me... and stop by the trip countdown for some really great photos!!!

Disney Sunday ~~ New Trip Countdown Blog!

2011-07-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

Join me in anticipation.
OK I have a year but you gotta start somewhere right???

WDW 2012 ~~ Here we come!

The Thought Process of a 10 Year Old

2011-07-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

I was confronted today with the realization that kids are in their own world and do not necessarily use this wonderful thing we humans are supposed to be blessed with called "thought process".

I can't count how many times I have said "Does that make any sense? Use your brain and think it through!".

But a kid would have to realize that they AREN'T thinking it through in the first place and since mine are 10 and 11, that's just not going to happen.

This afternoon I was taking a moment and reading on the couch while Jeffrey & Katherine and Jacob & Olivia were outside soaking each other with Nerf water guns.

They had only been out there for maybe 5 minutes when Katherine and Olivia came stomping inside.

"What's wrong?" I asked (not REALLY wanting to know because it might mean I had to get up and referee).

Katherine immediately began explaining: "I accidentally" (read: on purpose) " shot Jeffrey in the ear with water and when I tried to tell him I didn't mean to, he told me I did it on purpose, and when I told him I didn't" (read" I did but don't want to admit it) "he told me to SHUT UP". And we don't want to play anymore anyway."

And off they went into the bedroom to sit their wet behinds on the floor after I have told them 100 times not to...

But I digress.

Fast forward 15 minutes and in come Jeffrey and Jacob, laughing and giggling.

As they are hurrying through I ask "Jeffrey... did you tell Katherine to shut up?"

"OK, no problem" Jeffrey calls out and hurries even faster towards his room.

Wait, what?

"Jeffrey?!?"

He pops his head around the corner... "Yes?"

"What did you think I just said?"

"You told me to "go tell Katherine to shut-up". But I haven't done it yet."

Seriously son?

In what reality did you wake up in this morning?

"Jeffrey do you honestly think I would tell you to tell your sister to shut up?"

"Well I don't know... maybe... she can get pretty loud and I know if I get tired of it, then you must get tired of it too. I figured I was doing you a favor because this way you didn't have to get up and go tell her yourself."

OK, I was wrong.

He did think it through.

Just not the way I hoped he would.

You were saying what?

2011-07-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

This has been one of those weeks.

I have a lot them so when one shows up I shouldn't be surprised.

I know I need a vacation from my life when I find myself doing things that if I were calm and stress free wouldn't happen. The type of things that make Jeff close his eyes, shake his head and wonder what he got himself into by marrying someone like me.

This morning I got up from the couch, walked into the kitchen to see what time it was, went back into the living room sat down and realized I hadn't actually been paying any attention and had to go back check again.

Then I took a shower, got out and started to wrap my hair in a towel and realized I didn't rinse the shampoo out of my hair.

I try to tell myself that at least I haven't answered the door naked so that must count for something right?
AND I haven't lost any credit cards, my Costco card or locked my keys in the car anytime in the last month so I'm doing good right?

RIGHT??

The apple must not fall far from the tree because today Sarah called and said she was all moved into her new larger apartment but she forgot to call the electric company and tell them she needed power. She said the power was on when she moved in over the weekend but when she woke up this morning, it had been turned off. So she was walking around in a sweltering hot sauna and she kept trying to turn the lights on every time she went into a different room. And on top of that her cell phone was dying so she went and plugged it into the charger, waited, then couldn't figure out why the power indicator went down instead of up.

Yep... like mother like daughter.

I eventually got a hold of the power company for her since her cell phone had about 5 minutes left on it and talked them into turning the power on same day. I convinced them she might otherwise die of heat exhaustion.

So my goal is to make enough money in the next few months to send me (OK and the rest of the crew too) on vacation. My brain just needs something to look forward too. And I think a nice 2 week stay in central Florida just might do the trick.