random

Nothing really exciting to blog about, but I have some random things I’ve been thinking about.

I wish I had an English accent. I could listen to a person with a British accent read the phone book for hours. I would like to sound that cool.

I wish U2 and Green Day would do an entire album together.

The weather is perfect, and the trees are starting to get new leaves.

While waiting at the doctor today I realized I had rubber lettuce and bologna in my purse. A pair of socks, a box of raisins and a small collection of cars. Why am I carrying this stuff around with me?

All three of my kids must be in a growth spurt right now. They are seriously eating… A LOT.

And speaking of U2, right now I’m sitting here, taking a break from the daily stuff and watching one of my U2 concert DVDs. Man, I love these guys. I swear they are like a drug. If I’m ever tired or bummed nothing can bring me up again like them. It seems so weird that it’s been like this for sooooo long. 1983. War album. Ever since then, I feel like I have had a soundtrack to my life. Certain songs from different eras can put me back in a time and place so quickly and bring back memories. Like musical scrapbooking.

I’m always so glad that I fell in love with a band that is still going. I STILL have stuff to look forward to. I don’t know if Mike ever thinks about it, but thank goodness he liked U2 girl of Corona del Sol, and I wasn’t given the nickname of Dexys Midnight Runners girl (who??? My point exactly.) instead because the poor guy still has to listen to U2 every. Single. Day. (Or maybe that’s why he took a job where he has to fly back east for weeks at a time. Hmmm.)

One love. Peace out ya'll.

SCORE!!

Hey, have I ever mentioned how much I love Target?

I have to give credit where credit is due here. I 'like' valentines day. I'm usually not crazy about it enough to decorate or anything like that. So the thought of hitting Target for valentine clearance hadn't even occured to me.

Until Maddy called me on Friday morning to ask me to do some personal shopping. She needed more of these treat boxes for Ellie's birthday. Sure, twist my arm I wasn't planning on going that day, but for a friend I'll go to Target. ;)

I found her boxes and then found some other stuff I thought I needed. A red velvet cupcake kit and pink sugar cookie kit, complete with cookie cutter and sprinkles. Plus some melting chocolate, and a couple of silicon baking pans with heart shapes to make muffins or heart shaped brownies or something. All of this was 50% off and super cheap. I figured one of the kits would be a good weekend project for the kids and I to do.

Then as I'm in bed last night I'm starting to obsess with, "Why didn't I get that? Or this?" Sure enough first thing today we end up at Target again. Only today stuff was 75% off. OK, so here is where Maddy comes in. The girl is brilliant. You all know her party making abilities and how Ellie has had the most cool and incredible parties right down to the perfect invitations.

Megan's birthday is in October, but maybe I should get some treat boxes for goodie bags. They'd be cool to have around anyway. They don't say valentine anything on them. Hmm, oh! I need paper plates! 40 cents for 10 paper dinner plates, desert plates, treat boxes... oh, pencils for treat boxes, little pads of paper, drink stirrers, cups.... I went a little crazy. Even the metal tree for birthday cards. Yeah, Megan's party this year is going to be themed around the cupcake and heart designs on the valentines stuff. We're both pretty excited about this. - and the best is it was all under $20.

Plus I got enough treat bags for next year for all three of the kids school parties, and adorable Lego valentines for Matthew. Bring it on. I'm ready for next year.

I love Target. I do. I reeeeally do.

Whew, now that little milestone is over.

First it started with lots of tears and reluctance, along with screams of, "But I can't do this!!!"

Then the same with this one who pleaded and promised that he'd learn to ride his bike when he turned 12 years old. "I promise I'll do it if we can just wait awhile!!!"

So after our history with Megan and Trevor and the trail of tears, I expected Matthew to be the same and wasn't too excited about the idea of teaching another one how to ride a bike. After the track record with the other two, I honestly thought that potty training was easier! Matthew was still cautious, but seemed more excited about learning how to ride his bike without the training wheels.

Surprisingly he met the bike riding challenge a little better than the other two. There were a couple of tears, but it was only because he fell off once, but he shook it off pretty quick.

Could it really be this easy this time around? (Of course it was for me since I was just the one taking pictures and Mike was the one running back and forth.) But after a couple of times down the street we had a new bike riding pro!! Not only was he so happy about staying upright, but he’d see how fast he could go, and how quickly he could stop so he could admire the skid mark behind him. Even the one time he forgot to use the brakes and ended up in a bush didn’t seem to extinguish his determination to go faster next time! Yessss. The last one out of the three!

Bike riding freedom!

OHMYGOSH.

Hello hello......

Happy early valentines day. Normally I'm not that mushy about valentines day anymore. I mean Mike and I have had 20 of them together now. 20!! Holy cow. But being that he was home this week, and my mom willing to watch the kids for an evening, we had a date night.

We went out for dinner and then to see: U2 3D at IMAX.

Oh my gosh. Chills, goosebumps and happy watery eyes. I mean I got to see the sweat on Edge's forehead. (Yes, that is a very good thing.) This is pretty much what I invision heaven to be like. Front row seats at a U2 show. Complete with digital sound. Mmm mmmmm. I still ADORE these guys. :)

Look, I gotta go, yeah I'm running out of change....

Like.....WHOA!!!

Yeah, I've been a bad blogger. I don't know, why. Partly I haven't been feeling it lately, and partly because I have been using my laptop more and the photos are downloaded into my other computer. I wouldn't want to have to walk ALL THE WAY into another room to actually post from that computer now would I? ;)

Here I am on the laptop again though.... so no photos today. I will get better about that again. I promise. I don't know why I haven't even been feeling the blogging thing. I like it. I especially love when I go back a year or two and see what I was writing about then. That is what makes this so fun.

A lot of my normal things I haven't been feeling much of lately. Scrapping, blogging, etc. I can't put my finger on it. I noticed that a lot of other people have been this way lately too. Have you noticed the major scrap people (Tara, CZ?) have all blogged about how they don't enjoy it anymore? It freaks me out a bit I have to admit. Because I love both of them.

I know I'm not quitting. I still love the process, and read blogs and 2Peas to keep up with CHA and all of the new stuff coming out. I think I'm just --- tired.

So, I was telling Lisa a story about something that happened yesterday and it had me thinking. Serendipity, crossing paths, and how small this world really is.

Mike and I were walking to the park yesterday a couple of streets away from our house. A woman pulls up behind us and says, "Do you guys live around here?" It took me a second to realize who this person was. When she's not in her element at school I couldn't figure out why she looked so familiar. - It was Matthew's teacher.

Long story short, she lives in our neighborhood and... on our old street!! Only she lives across the road that goes through the subdivision. Not like it's a big road, but it separates the two different builders in here. She has small kids, and there is a park that is on this street.

How it took this long for us to figure this out is weird. We've both been in this neighborhood for 6 years now and we had to have crossed paths a million times and not known it. Hey, she even drives a volkswagen which I am SURE I have given the 'cool, I miss my volkswagen' nod to if she drove by me.

The world really is a small place. There are so many times that in my own life I know I have crossed paths with people that ended up being a big part of my life.

The biggest example is Mike. Yep... at my first job at Peter Piper Pizza I remember when he'd come in with a friend of his. He worked at the University Theater where they had to dress up in costumes for work. Mike and his friend wore black and white striped jailbird costumes. I remember them coming in to where I worked. One would come up and order the pizza, and the other would go play video games. (That would be mike) But wouldn't it have been something to see him and know what was going to be in the future? Doo doo doo dooo...

Then, to end up parking next to him on the first day of our senior year in high school. The first full year that Mike had started going to the high school that I had been going to. (He transferred from another school when his family moved to chandler.)

doo doo doo dooo....

There are so many more examples of times our lives crossed paths before we actually met each other. I mean, Phoenix is a pretty big area, so it isn't like I'm talking about a few square miles. The University Theater was in Tempe, miles away from where I worked. And still miles away from the high school where we ended up meeting. What was it about this paricular pizza place?

Even a group of friends. I can even apply it to them. Look, how many times did I probably stand next to Lisa, Maddy, Beth, Shanna, Michelle or Kaelene at Scrapbooks ETC before it took another entirely different event for us to meet. What if Maddy never said, "Hey come to Sonic with us for slushies!!" What if Lisa hadn't sit down right next to me (after both of us almost bailed for not wanting to go meet new people!) I must have looked like a crazy person carrying my pizza box of all of my scrap belongings (Oh those were the days before multiple carts! Haha!) back and forth across the parking lot. Should I go? No. Ok, I'll go. No. I can do this at home. No, I'll go... ugh... just go already.

Granted, that was a scrap related event, but still, two of those people weren't even there that night, (Beth made an appearance to take pictures) and after Maddy kidnapped me I didn't know if I'd ever be able to get in touch with Lisa again. (After finding out that we were long lost sisters after all.... who needs therapy when you have somebody else who has the same issues, right? Haha!)

I just find this whole thing facsinating really. You never know that somebody you see on any seemingly mundane day may end up being a part of your life later on. Sometimes it takes several times for paths to cross, but eventually we collide. - and you are glad that you did.

Maybe if I stop actually saying something outloud or writing something down, the opposite won't happen. Maybe this year is going to be like the Bizarro World episode of Seinfeld.

I haven't given up on my photo of the day. I still have been taking them, but I have to admit to being a bit frustrated with my camera right now. When I was up at Lisa's house in December, I was stupid and spilled a soda. Of course, my first response was to save the paper on the table, not realizing that my camera was sitting on top of my purse on the floor. Yep, of all places for the soda to drip down, it went RIGHT on my camera. And of course, it was a regular one, chock full of sugar, so even though I thought I wiped it down quickly, some got into the flash thingie. So the flash doesn't come up.

Even if I don't need the flash, sometimes the camera will click at me and it says ERROR. Which means I have to turn it on and off until it feels like taking a picture. Which is very frustrating when you are trying to get pictures of anything that might be moving. Look for A LOT of still life photos this year! Haha! At least until I can take it in to see if it can be saved.

My camera and I aren't friendly together right now, which means that posting my photo a day has suffered.

Today is a beautiful day though. It has been raining all day. From what I have heard it is supposed to be like this all day and into tomorrow. It is a perfect day for staying inside. Which is also making me clean up my scrap room and maybe..... even get back into doing some scrapping later.

Happy weekend! Now I have to give up my computer to one of the kids who needs it to play webkinz. You would think that isn't an emergency, but aparently he needs to FEED his elephant. Just a minor emergency.

Remember the Poseidon Adventure?

** a little trivia for you too.... the original was partially filmed on the Queen Mary, so believe it or not this all ties together perfectly with my earlier post. ;)

So... back to the Poseidon Adventure.

The ship is happily going on, going across the ocean. Everybody is happy (on an even keel) and then BAM out of nowhere that rogue 800 foot wave comes along and hits the ship turning it upside down. This is when I stop watching because :

a) the acting is so bad in this movie

b) I can't handle Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons or Shelley Winters. Let alone in ONE film. (But I do love Leslie Neilson, even though his part isn't funny like you'd expect from the cool guy in Airplane!)

c) I only watch it to catch a glimpse of the Queen Mary.

How does this go with my other post? Well, remember that whole even keel thing? Yeah, personal growth and all that is still on an even keel. I still know you can't make somebody like you, toxic relationships are bad, etc.

BUT a wave has hit my little personal ship of life. A rogue wave has come along and swept my little boat upside down. Long story, but I can't help but laugh a little after feeling like I had become so 'self aware' just a week or so ago! Life is funny. Really. Did I jinx things by actually hitting "publish post" after writing about finding balance and even keels?!?!? Honestly, answer that because I am actually superstitious enough to wonder. Like waiting for the proverbial 'other foot to drop.'

Life should be like the lifeboats. Which are totally made out of unsinkable material. (So why isn't the entire ship made out of the same materials as the lifeboats? Cruise humor thanks to some comedian on a Princess cruise.) You might get knocked around on rough water but you aren't going to sink.

I promise that I am not going for pessimist of the year, I just kind of have to find some humor in the irony. :) And soon..... yep, I'll be back and even again.

Piper isn't having a good day.

I know it appears I have slacked on the photo of a day right now. I have been doing it, but I haven't put them all in the computer yet. So I'll have a mass posting on the weekend or something.

Right now I can't get into the room to load them anyway. I'm stuck on the floor with the laptop. My 59 lb puppy is drugged, drooling and has her head on my leg. There is no moving her now. Today was her day for surgery. Let's just say there won't be any Piper puppies in the future. She's one of a kind, sterile, zip, nada.

The poor thing, she looks so sore. She is melllllllow. She walked into the kitchen island a couple of times while I was putting groceries away and kept walking around like a 'just given birth and has an episiotomy the size of the grand canyon' mother does in the hospital. (Sorry Shanna!) ;)

I finally figured out that she didn't know where to land for the time being. She didn't even want her pillow which Megan brought downstairs for her. Apparently she needed company and somebody to scratch behind her ear until she fell back asleep. Now she's drooling and snoring. I wonder if I could get some of that? I haven't slept well in weeks!

on an even keel

What does the Queen Mary have to do with this post? Well, for one, Mike and I love the old liners, (hence the QM travel poster in my living room and other liners around the house) but I couldn't find a picture when the ship was being built. Because my theme of the day is finally feeling like I'm on an even keel.

Can you ever actually feel when the pendulum has swung back to where everything feels just right? I try to be positive about a lot of things in my life, I admit I wasn't always like that. In fact I used to be quite the pessimist. But children, and getting older changed that. Now I try to not take anything for granted, and to sound all life artist-ish and the queen of self aware, to find the joy in the little everyday things. It has made me a better person.

One of my favorite quotes is:

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances." - Martha Washington

This has been a poignant quote this past week as I have removed myself from a situation that I knew was toxic and all I heard was how bad everything in one person's (name withheld) life seemed to be all the time. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. The fact is, everybody has problems, just some people don't air it all. I think that comes with maturity. Let's just say that like Oprah said about loving her 40s, I love the mid to late 30s because so many life things make more sense. It's like the light bulb starts to glow brighter, and it makes me almost look forward to my 40s and above as I'm sure you become more comfortable with yourself and realize what truly is important. You realize the difference between an acquaintance and true friends. That you get what you give in a relationship. With anybody. You can't just take, take, take. And the best - finally understanding that you can't make everybody like you. The people who love you, love you unconditionally.

I'm really not trying to be all cheesy, but this has been a totally reflective week. Burdens that I had last week are gone, and since then I have felt like a totally new person....and happy. I mean truly happy. The best is when Mike and I went out for lunch last week and I felt like a different person, like I was walking on air. Topped with a great night at the end of the week with some close friends.

I'm sure that the pendulum will swing back and more things will come up that will be less than ideal. That's life and I expect it, but the hard parts that we have been through are the things that have made me who I am and made me appreciate what I have. There were times I was a real bitch when things were bad, and I admit I never thought I'd make it through it, but looking back I'm glad for the experience.

Honestly, I am the luckiest person on earth. - and right now enjoying being on an even keel. :)

cheer day!

and two little boys on the bleachers.

Megan had a little cheer camp today at the high school. They had practice today, and then later this week the little girls get to do cheers with the big cheerleaders during a basketball game. It is such a cute little program! I was so happy to pick Megan up and see how excited she was.

Last night was a much needed girl's night. The usual girls came over for a surprise baby shower for Shanna, and a pre birthday surprise for Lisa. Since Lisa lives in Prescott and we haven't been able to attack her yard and ding dong ditch. ;) It was such a fun night resulting in my stomach hurting from laughing so hard. We always have a lot of fun.

It's Friday!

It's FRIDAY! (Guess who left her car outside last night? I think the kids were glad though, it made a perfect opportunity for a smiley face, and a POTD.)

Tonight is a girl's night. I can't wait! A lot of good company, and food.

Have a great weekend!

POTD

This is the first thing I see as I come into my house from the garage. It is a wall that divides the kitchen from the hallway. This is two of two wreaths that I have. I know I said I loved wreaths, but they aren't all over the place. This one was just lucky enough to be photographed shortly after my door wreath.

The framed thing above is a present from Maddy. She's so artistic! Not only did she make the glass in her backyard kiln out of beach sand she brought back from the Carribbean, she also whittled the wood for the frame out of an old redwood tree from a recent visit to Oregon. I believe the black color comes from the ink of the large squid that she wrestled aboard the fishing boat in Mexico. I told you the girls had skills that makes Martha Stewart look like a crafting chump. ;)

Seriously, of all of the little nooks and places to put pictures up, this is one of my favorite little areas of my home.

As far as other things going on right now, I'm still trying to reclaim my house after the holidays. This has been the first week of the kids being back at school after their vacation, and we are all trying to get used to not being able to sleep in anymore. :)

POTD of my new favorite place.

Mmm. Lunch.

http://forefatherssteaks.com/

Unfortunatley this isn't a picture of my new resolution to eat healthier. Because hiding behind that beautiful salad is the best cheesesteak I've had since being back east. Hot cheesey and beefy heaven on a bun. - And guess what!? I declare today no calorie day! ;)

Believe it or not, that salad is another craving in itself. From what I understand the owner makes a house dressing with italian and pizza sauce. I know it sounds funny, but once I had it I could seriously drink it with a straw.

My parents introduced me to this place. It has to be my newest addiction. It's a good thing that it isn't exactly around the corner from me, so I have a bit of a drive to get there. Which is a good thing considering I'd be there everyday. But ooooh I am wanting to head that way right now.

You're Fired!

This is my picture of the day. No, I didn't take it, but I have been laughing about this all day so it deserves a spot on the blog.

:)

I always get confused on what season it is. While the rest of the country is in winter, we are in fall. - Or it takes this many months for the leaves to actually fall off of the trees.

This is just a tree that I pass everyday. For some reason, every year it holds on to its leaves longer than the rest around it. It's the stubborn tree.

technology is good.

Yes!!!

That is one good sight...right there.

I never knew how much flight aware would become a daily part of my life. It's great having a GPS system to track the DH. Whether he's working or coming home. ;)

I took a picture yesterday for my photo of the day thingie, but haven't posted it yet. I want to find out a way to put it in a slideshow, so I don't have to have the photo as part of a daily post. Hopefully that makes sense. "Tech support" should be rested enough tomorrow morning to see if he can fix that for me. ;)

Ever since Christmas when Megan got a webkinz, I have been kicked off of my computer in my office.

I haven't minded too much because I also have my laptop in the family room near a comfy chair so I can hang out on the computer there during a downtime of the day. - Or usually at night after the kids are in bed.

I woke up from a little nap and found him all 'chillaxing' with my laptop playing Zack & Cody on the Disney Channel website. I just thought he looked so cute. All of five years old and navigating a website. He knows where the favorites are, and finds the one with the Disney Channel icon. The rest is easy.

Matthew on safari at Costco

Today we cross the mountanous landscape of gallon size mayonaise jars and 50 pound boxes of laundry detergent in search of the rare and illustrious kirklandius aqua bottleus.

Plus a few other things. ;) This was our exciting trip to Costco today. I don't know why Matthew got himself dressed in safari gear today. He even has khaki cargo shorts on that you can't see in the picture, - but the fact that I told him to go get dressed and he listened was enough for me to overlook fashion choices that he made.

Now that I think of it, there must have been something going on because Megan came downstairs dressed like J Lo. I must have missed that today was 'dress as some sort of character day.'

As much as I love having the kids home for vacation, I forget how much I really do hate needing to take all three with me when we need to go to Costco. They don't seem to understand that if you want beef jerky, you can get it in smaller amounts at the grocery store. Then some sort of argument follows with, "But I promise to eat all 5 pounds of it! It won't go to waste!" Along with the bag of 50 rolls and the vat of applesauce.

maybe someday when they are teenagers and are eating nonstop, but for now we'll stick to our Costco staples.

It’s funny that June mentioned in my last post that she missed seeing pictures. I got super lazy about posting them for awhile. Then I see on Karla’s blog a little challenge she’s doing this year. It is based on this:

http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

I actually did this last year even though I never posted a photo on my blog everyday, but I took some sort of picture every day. (Usually frustrating my family at some point when they'd have to wait for me or be the subject of a photo!)

Even though I’ve already technically missed a day, I’ll see how long I can keep this going this year. I like that it doesn’t always have to be a fancy or artistic photo. I carry my camera around with me constantly (except today, grr, but that’s a whole different story.)

I love wreaths. This is the one that is currently on my front door. They are cherry blossoms. Sure, not exactly fall or even winter-ish, but I love it and I wasn't ready to change it yet. I'm sure this will change at some point this year. I usually end up with at least three a year.

So why I forgot my camera today.

I took the kids to the zoo, since they are still on winter break and we all needed a day out of the house. Today was perfect. The weather was ideal. I even had my camera with me but decided to leave it behind because I wanted today to be one of those days where I was involved in what we were doing and not worrying about taking pictures.

Of course, the zoo was almost empty. I don't know why more people weren't out, but at least 100 times today I thought to myself, "Dang, I wish I had my camera!" Even the animals were active today. And not that I am a great photographer by any means but I feel like I'm always seeing shots in my mind. Thanks to Mr. Castelli and years of photography in high school for planting that seed. Sometimes it can make you crazy!

happy new year!

It's January!

The holidays went pretty well, and I loved them, but I honestly have to say that I'm glad that the world will be somewhat back to normal. With the exception of today, still. I hate not knowing who is open, what the holiday hours are and all that. So starting tomorrow.... I'm looking forward to a normal existence again.

The kids and I stayed up until midnight last night. Mike was home for a few days, but had to leave for the airport late last night. At midnight we went outside expecting to make a little noise but nobody on our street was out. I heard some fireworks in the distance, and some cars honking, but that was about it. I remind the kids every year that there isn't that much excitement other than they know they get to stay up late. Matthew came outside and said, "This is boring."

The kids are still home from school for winter vacation. We have been to a couple of movies, had a lot of park time when Mike was home, and tomorrow we're probably going to the zoo. It has been so nice having them home and having everybody under one roof.

I'm excited about the new year. 2007 was trying at times, (to say the least!) and I'm sure the new year will have some as well, but there are some things that are finally coming to fruition in 08.

I need to go back through my blog from the past year, but I think we may have hit a family record with medical situations this year. I believe Mike was the only one who required any help from E257! One ambulance ride, one E.R. trip (non ambulance ride), three hospital stays and two surgeries. I know it seems like a strange thing to keep track of, but with peanut allergies, motrin allergies, breathing trouble and all that, it's just one of those things we've kept track of over the years. ;)

Hopefully the only one this new year will be Piper, when she goes in to have her girly bits taken care of this month.

Happy new year!