BoBo - 12/27/2007

Everyone, say hello to Bobo.

Isn't he adorable? Click on him to make him bigger. Last Friday, while Jake was celebrating his birthday at his gradfather's, and David was working, Isabel & I had a girl's night out - which means shopping. While in Old Navy, Isabel discovered a bin full of stuffed animals and found the softest ever green monkey. Isabel and the monkey danced and danced, to the pleasure of store personnel. I asked one clerk "If you can find another green monkey and have him hidden by the register for me, I would really appreciate it." The Old Navy employee did this for me. I purchased some clothes, which they placed atop the green monkey in the shopping bag. Isabel was none the wiser. Kids are SO easy at this age.

Come Christmas morning and in the hubub, I forget green monkey, who was hiding out in my closet. I later find him and hand him to Isabel. She is so excited she hugs and kisses him. "Bobo" and she have been inseparable. He didn't have a name. I asked her what his name was, but she seemed confused by "naming him," so I asked, "Is his name 'Willy?'" "Nooooooo," she replied. "Is his name 'Greeny?'" "Nooooooo," she replied. "Is his name 'Bobo?'" "YES! BOBO!" and she hugged him.

Happy Birthday David - 12/27/2007

Do you all know how hard it is to have a son born 12/21 and a husband on 12/25? Do you? Do you know how hard it is to shop during Christmas?? It is HARD!!




My darling husband was born on Christmas Day.


Poor David. It can't be easy sharing a birthday with THE MAN.

We opened gifts early for him this year. His good friend Niki was in town, so we went to Joe's Crab shack and then back here for prez-nints. (click to see bigger).



Assassin's Creed Game & book, Wheaton Glee Club 100 year embroidered fleece blanket and polo, grill cooking utensils.

Happy (belated) Birthday David!

Happy Birthday Jacob - 12/24/2007

Yes, I know I am a little late posting this. His birthday is on 12/21. It was on a Friday, his last day of school before break.

From David, Isabel and I, he got Sony Acid Music Studio 7. It allows him to create music on our computer. He never smiles, but he kept thanking me all day for buying him this. We also got him a Domokun sweatshirt.

It's a random Japanese cartoon character.

Happy 14th Jacob! You Rock! Now go clean your room. :)

Pupil Pianist - 12/20/2007

This is Jake's school piano recital. They had a show called "Cool Yule" with most of the kids taking piano lessons performing a small holiday piece.



And here he is at home playing a piano rendition of a song from In The Groove 2 (like Dance Dance Revolution) called Hard Core of the North.



Here's the video game with some random people dancing to the song he just played.

Sanjaya! - 12/17/2007

Yes, this is his school picture. A Co-worker said "Hey, it’s Sanjaya!" Oh, it’s ok! It’s not like I am posting naked baby pictu…..










Huh. How'd that get there?

Gonna Find out Who's Naughty or Nice !- 12/13/2007

"Mom," Jake says. "Today, David asked me if I wanted to see if I could figure out what's in our stockings. I told him no way, it's cheating.......then we did it anyway."

This, dear friends, is my husband's wise influence yesterday. He & my son proceeded to touch, shake and manhandle all the gifts in their stockings!

Today, the phone rings at work.

Me: Thank you for calling blah blah blah, can I help you?

David: I can't believe you used industrial packing tape on the presents.

Me: Why are you touching the presents?

David: You taped them all over the place with this stuff!

Me: CAUSE YOU'RE A CHEATER WHO OPENS PRESENTS AND THEN PUTS THEM BACK!

He does. He peels them open and looks at them. WHY? Why do this? Why ruin the surprise? It made me SO mad!

I get home this evening.

Jake: Mom, David was shaking his present all around trying to figure out what it is.

I don't get this. Someone please explain this to me.

Patella Expands - 12/06/2007

This weekend, David is sitting in the loft, playing Call of Duty 4 on-line. It's late and I am laying on the couch in the loft. I could go to bed, the bedroom door is 5 feet away. But I don't see David much except on the weekends, so I feel bad going to bed (he's a night owl). I compromise and lay on the upstairs couch with a blanket and pillow.

David's got his head set on and is talking to the guys on-line that he is playing with. I slip in and out of consciousness. Then I hear:

"Damn it. Negroes killed me!"

Huh??

I pop open an eye. I look at him and say "Honey?!? Why the heck are you saying 'Negroes' on-line?"

David stops, stares, and then starts laughing, hard. "I just got it!," he exclaims. He says it again to me: "Negroes." and then he spells it out: K. N. E. E. G. R. O. W. S. Knee Grows. One of the guys he is playing with has the screen name of Knee Grows.

And it took David a couple of hours to figure it out.

David's screen name? Lard Tub.

Touched - 12/01/2007

I was talking with Tampa-Sister today. I just called her to see what was up with her & hers. We discussed kids, potty training (kill me now), home sales, and got around to Christmas. I told her that this year, we decided that financially, we were not prepared to buy gifts for the 13 or so people on his side and the 10 or so on my side. This is not counting us and the kids, AND the fact that both David and Jacob have December birthdays. It's too much. I also told her about my paring down the Christmas card sending.

She said she and her mom (my step-mom) were talking about me this week. About how I am so good at seeking people out, seeing how they are, taking care of people, knowing what they need and being there for them. She said the way I am is a gift from God. That most people are not blessed with it and I should not let others ruin it for me. She knows people don't appreciate things much or say so, but she said she & her mom were discussing how special I am and wondering how the heck I do it. I was getting a lump in my throat and thanking her. I especially liked her "Don't let others ruin it for you" thing, because it is so true. Wanting validation and not getting it is a tough and embittering thing. Expecting people to validate what you do can set you up for huge disappointments. I am just trying not setting myself up for more, but I am also not letting myself become embittered (I hope). I want a shiny, happy world full of 1800's values, I suppose.


"Touched," Buffy Season 7, Episode 20

Business in the Front - 11/07/07

For the past few months, I've had odd encounters with some neighbors. I use the term loosely, because they don't live on my street. They live on one of the streets that my street intersects. This street is the "back" way to the Wal-Mart that's less than a mile away, hidden (for now) by trees. I use the "back way" only when I go to Wal-Mart. In going this way, I often pass by the Burnt Orange Hummer House. (The Hummer's orange, not the house). Often-times I pass the Hummer itself driving on the street. The driver, I can't tell if it's a he or a she, emphatically WAVES at me. Full-on spaztic "HEY THERE" waving. I have no idea who they are. We have never met, never spoken. *I* think they are confusing me with another Silver Jeep like mine whose owner lives somewhere in this neighborhood and I have seen a few times. I'll lamely wave and kind-of shrug. Sometimes, I'll drive by their house, and the lady of the house waves enthusiastically at me as I drive by. I smile and wave back. No clue who they are.

David and I are driving the back way from Wal-Mart one day and it reminds me to tell him about Hummer people. Right as I start to say "Oh, yea. There's these people in a Hummer...." the Hummer drives by and arms wave happily. I wave and finish my story with a "See?? See?? Who are they?" David doesn't know them either.

This Saturday, as I come back from buying something I am sure we needed, I pass by Hummer House. Never again shall it be called "Hummer House," because...as I drove by and waved back at the man riding the lawn mower, all I could think was...."Business in the Front, Party in the Back."



The man possessed the most perfect, most fantastic, most mulletastical mullet EVER. Pin straight LONG black hair, stopping right at his lower back. Oh, yes indeed there is a party in the back. Spikey short hair up front, for those board meetings.

Mullet Mansion man and I, waving emphatically back, will share that memory forever.

Ghosts of Halloweens Past - 10/24/2007

Back before I had Isabel, and when Jake was younger, I was very much a hands-on Halloween person. We were involved in Cub Scouts and I was a Den Leader for over 5 years. We went to a lot of parties and camp-outs and I went all-out on Jake (and my) costumes.

2002 - I am pretty sure I shocked many a Cub Scout parents when I showed up in this get-up. BUT!!! I bought a super-ling cape & pretty much kept my lower half covered the entire time. Jake went as Harry Potter, but I have no pictures on computer. I need to scan some.

2003 - I went all-out this year. We went camping for Halloween with the scouts. Here's what I did.

Click on it to make it bigger. Jake was a dresser! His head is the lamp! There are clothes and underwear hanging from his drawers! Me? I am a bag of groceries! I totally rocked this costume.

2003 - I was pregnant with Isabel. I made the most awesome costume ever....and I can't find the picture!!!! I made an oven out of a box covered in white contact paper. I put knobs on it, I made burners and put a toy pan on the burner. I made a clock. I made a door, with clear door...that opened! And when you opened the door, I was wearing a T-shirt that said "Bun." Get it?? BUN in the OVEN?? I loved that costume. I have searched high & low for those pictures and cannot find them. Waahhhh.

Jake? He was....




A head.....on a platter.....on a table! He won prizes!

I wish I had a better copy. Maybe I can scan the one I have so you can see the dead rats and animals on the gold plate.

2004 - I had Isabel and was TIRED, so I did not dress up, but I did work on Jake's costume.

He has small cereal boxes glued to his shirt. They have knives stuck in them and red paint around the knives. He was....A CEREAL KILLER!




This next picture is not from Halloween, but I thought was cute. It was for our Cub Scout Blue & Gold Ceremony. The theme was the Circus, and being the Den Leader extraordinaire, I went all out.

2005 & Jake was kind-of over costumes. He got a store-bought costume and *I* discovered E-Bay, where I got Isabel's Fairy Costume.

2006 - Jake did not want to go out but I made him. LOL He HAD to take his little sister around. He was Napoleon Dynamite and Isabel was Red Riding Hood.

He slides into home...and he's SAFE! - 10/15/2007

We're in the kitchen and Jake's complaining about one of his teachers, who is apparently tone-sensitive ("she's always telling us to stop yelling, but we're not yelling"), cranky and 100 years old. "She's like....50, mom!" (Fifty is like....12 years away for me, dude.) He proceeds to explain how she has these wicked big arms that flap when she waves her arms, while yelling at kids to stop yelling. I flippantly say "Yea, big like mine," and proceed to jiggle my own arm fat. He says "No, her arm fat is WAY bigger than your arm...." He stops, mid-sentence. "You have no arm fat mom. None." Pause. ................ "Nice save, huh mom?"

"Toootally," I say.

Flying Pastries? 09/13/2007

Isabel cracks me up. She loves getting "High Fives," only she never remembers it's called "High Five!" When she feels she has done something cool, she comes up to you, put up her hand and says "High Pie!!" We all now "high pie" all the time. We tried correcting her a few times, but we kind-of like "high pie-ing," so we think we'll keep it.

Why We Fight - 08/29/2007

Ever feel rut-like, In a rut, rut-a-licious? (I was going to say rutted, but that's really not polite in some circles).

Monday through Friday, work work work. It's all so exhausting. Then to have to come home and start dinner, pick up after the kids (and sometimes the husband) gets to be a monotony I don't enjoy. It's a fight with monotony every day.

Last night, sitting on the overstuffed arm chair with the ottoman, reading a book, Isabel sits in my lap and leans back on my chest to watch tv. With my right hand holding my book, I place my left arm loosely around her front. She grabs my arm with both of hers and hugs it tightly against her body, leaning her head on my arm. Holding on to it for dear life, she then plants two perfect kisses on my arm. I am mush. This is why we fight.

Intervention - 08/09/2007

My daughter Isabel......has a Gummy Bear Vitamin Addiction.



She loves Gummy Bears, so we bought her vitamins in Gummy Bear shapes. She can get 2-4 a day. She usually plays us; she'll ask David for some, and then later she'll ask me for some. We have to coordinate our Gummy Bear dole-age.

Today David calls me at work laughing. This morning he let Isabel pick the gummy bears herself from the jar. She reached in and grabbed about 5-6 of them. David tells her "No, no, baby, you only get two." In that moment, her little bear-addicted brain made a split-second decision....



She shoved her entire fist with all 5-6 gummys in her mouth and ran.

Origin - 06/21/2007

Once upon a time, about 7-8 years ago, there was this rather large forum. The forum was something I stumbled upon one day doing a Google Search on Buffy. The forum had people like me! People who totally loved Buffy & Angel (and Roswell etc.). There were present episode discussions, past episode discussions, fan writing, fan sightings. It was a beautiful thing.

So, 7-8 years ago, I started conversing with a group of people, and we ended up exchanging e-mail addresses. For some reason that I cannot remember now cause I am old & decrepit, we called ourselves the Mafia Chicks. Never mind that there were 7 girls and one guy. I think we were trying to put a hit out on someone, I don't know. There are 2 in California, 1 in New Jersey, 1 in Maryland, 1 (now) in Connecticut, 1 in Florida (me) and the two over there; Australia and Denmark. We ranged in age from 13 to 29.

Fast forward 7 years. Our high school girl is 20, us older ones are...older. :) We *still* e-mail each other. There have been split-ups, three babies, way more weight than I care to admit, new jobs, graduations (college and high school) and tons of Christmas cards being sent across the country and around the world. I've met two of the girls up in DC back in 2002. The man of the group has met the NJ girl, the girl from Denmark and even flew to Australia and met the Aussie chick. And this week, he met me. :)

Spur of the moment, last minute thing, he decided to vacation in Florida and ended up about 30 miles from my house. He came over yesterday and was a gracious guest, bringing taffy and a Blockbuster gift card (with way too much on it Michael!) I had laid out some ground beef for some quick Hamburger Helper and thought "Oh No! What am I going to cook?" I still had some of the peppers that Jake's grandpa grew in his garden, so I made stuffed red, yellow and green peppers. They were good; ground beef, onions, rice, tomato sauce, garlic & mozzarella. Mmmmm. I gave him the tour of the house, including "his guest room," and saw pictures of his Australian trip. We discussed the three other B's (not Buffy): beach, books and business.
It was SO COOL to finally meet the male Mafia Chick.

Him - 06/13/2007

Three "Him's" to be exact.

• I'm driving home from work today on a brand new stretch on road. There are two northbound lanes. It is POURING rain. I, knowing how the streets flood here, am in the left lane behind a man who is unfortunately riding a Harley in the pouring rain. On the right, is a Toyota Avalon, whose driver is really not so bright. He or she is speeding in the downpour. Motorcycle Man and I, in the left lane, notice that up ahead, the right lane is completely flooded out and has in fact come over to our lane. He puts his hand down to signal he is slowing down, but no need, as I had started to slow down as well. Toyota Avalon person? Not so much. This Einstein goes barreling through the small lake in front of him/her, and then decides to slam on the brakes....but not before completely drenching motorcycle man. I said "Ooooooooooh. Idiot." aloud as I saw the tsunami hit. Motorcycle guy was not too happy. He stared down Toyota Avalon person. The rest of the 2 mile ride was spent driving really slow, as motorcycle man kept trying to get beside Toyota person to give him a piece of his....finger and boot, actually, but Toyota person kept slowing down to not be next to him. So, we went really slow up to the point where the right lane becomes a "right turn only" lane and Toyota person had to merge with us. Toyota person let me and another truck pass before they merged. Toyota person was probably too afraid of what motorcycle guy would do. I *so* wished I had a nice XXXL t-shirt in my Jeep. I would have jumped out at the light and handed it to him to change. He was drenched, poor Him.


• David calls tonight to say his battery is acting up and he needed to go buy a new one. I told him to check the auto parts store to see if they could just recharge it. He asks me which auto parts store, as there are 2 right next to each other. Here's how this conversation went:

Me: It's the one next to the Indian place that used to be a Pizza Hut.

Him: What?? You want me to go get the battery checked at the Indian place??

Me: Are you MENTAL??

After I hung up the phone, the hilarity of this conversation finally struck me, and I started giggling, then outright laughing to myself. What could he have possibly heard over that cell phone?

• My son Jake placed his nightly call from the road to me. They are at Camp Lejune (Military base) and are having a ball. He got to sit in the cockpit of an Osprey today and toyed with a glass...something. Some kind of navigation system that is all touch screen and fancy. He was all excited. Then he says "Grandpa wants to talk to you." Oh-oh, I say to myself. What has he done? Alex (my ex-father-in-law) proceeds to tell me what a joy Jacob is and to thank me for letting him spend these 2 weeks on the trip with him. Alex has two grandkids with him; Jake and Jake's cousin Maddy. They are about the same age and as different as night and day; and not just because they are male & female. Maddy is outgoing, exuberant; Jake is introspective and thoughtful (as in he ponders & mulls things over before making up his mind). Alex laughed as he explained how Maddy pushes Jake's buttons because he is so serious. He also says that as they were in an Atomic museum, Jake saw a really neat item. Alex asked him if he wanted it. Jake turned the piece over, saw the price and said "No, it's too expensive," and set it down. Maddy walks over, looks at the price and says "I want it," and walks off through the store with it in hand. Alex told Jake "Don't you worry about cost. Only worry about if you want it." So Jake eventually conceded. Alex said "You raised him good, girl." and I was so proud. This is gold coming from him.

Trash - 05/26/2007

Ok. Seriously. This happened. I will explain more and post some pictures when I am not so tired, but I HAD to tell you this story.

David, the kids and I went to the Central Florida Spring Gathering today at Hontoon Island; a letterboxing event. We had a great time. In fact, people are still having a good time, as some are camping there in cabins or tents over the weekend.

We did a hike, just the 4 of us. It's about 3 miles, round-trip. On our way to the "end" of the trail (one-way), I notice a very thin lady in a bikini, squatting down in front of a toddler girl. I think "She's helping her daughter with something"....only I realize the lady's bikini bottoms are around her ankles.

I stop in my tracks, and turn my 13 year old son and myself around; we stand there just waiting. David and our daughter were further behind us, as a 3 year old has teeny little legs and takes longer to catch up.

I turn around to see the lady and the girl leave to our right. As we start to walk towards where she was, a British couple that had passed us earlier and were making their way back, start saying to us "Mind your step. Walk to your far right" while the husband is asking "Did you see that?" We all stop together to talk. It seems they came upon her from the other side....and she was not just peeing.

There was a clearing there, right next to the river. Her husband/boyfriend pulled his boat to the clearing, she hopped off the boat with her toddler, left her "gift", went back on the boat and took off.

The British couple were disgusted, as were we, at what this lady had just done. She did not even cover it or bury it, or even hide in the bushes. STRAIGHT on the trail.

We covered our noses and looked away as we walked by. The thought of it made David and my son want to puke. I did not EVEN point out to the two of them that a "used" paper towel was also dropped on the way to the river.

For Real.

Isabel's Map - 04/25/2007

Our little girl loves puzzles. My husband loves maps. What better gift for Isabel than the US Map Puzzle her grandparents got her.

The first video is grainy. It was too big for YouTube so I had to compress it. Then....the batteries died. I ran upstairs for new batteries and came back down to catch her finishing up the puzzle. The second video is clearer. She's blowing raspberries, by the way. Enjoy!

Revelations - 04/15/2007

We're trying to find a church we can attend. We've really slacked on that aspect, mostly because of our schedules and David's late nights. We were going to go last week, but we felt rather lame going to a new church for the first time on Easter Sunday. We didn't want to be those people that go on Easter Sunday, Christmas Eve and ...that's all I can think of.

We went to a church of my choosing, about a mile from the house. We missed the 9:00 a.m. service and so went to the 11:00 a.m. one. It POURED. Buckets. We're all dolled up. David's in a nice shirt and tie, I'm in a new shirt and cute red skirt (Anne Taylor) and heels. Isabel's in a cute red & white dress. Jake has new jeans, a nice shirt. As we arrive, I notice what everyone else is wearing; shorts, flip flops, jeans and tank tops. I was a little aghast.

I grew up Pentecostal. Yes, that's right. Pentecostal. We worshiped and we worshiped loudly. We sang, we moved to the music, we yelled "Amen Brother!" a lot. It was fun. My church was a small one; about 300 strong. Half the church was the pastor's own family. I felt like part of a family. We dressed appropriately. We were allowed to wear pants and cut our hair (much to the contrary of the popular belief that Pentecostals always wear skirts and never cut their hair. The Pastor's wife had a very short cut hair. Shorter than a bob). We could wear jeans, shorts whatever....just NOT to church. Church was a place where you respected and revered the Lord. Dressing like you're going to the club, or just came back from the beach was not acceptable. Yes, I know the Lord is happy that you are just there to worship. He is. Your clothes do not matter. But after a while of church going, you should want to dress nice for church. That's my opinion anyway.

Now, I go to bigger churches, for instance, Northland. Wonderful church...but so darned big, they have satellite feeds to various cities. We went a few times, but I felt like cattle. I felt absolutely no connection there. You had to join "groups" to get to know people. As much as I would love that, I have two kids and a husband who works screwy hours. We stopped going to Northland.
This church today was also non-denominational like Northland. I cannot go to a church where everything is calm and quiet. I can't. I go to visit churches where they have psalm books and the members don't even have to open them, because they sing the same 20-30 ones over and over. Solemn, quiet, soprano. I can't do solemn and quiet. I need to REJOICE LOUDLY. David, on the other hand, is used to the calm & quiet churches. Therein lies our dilemma. The churches I want to go to are too loud for him; his choices put me to sleep.

We walked into the church in the pouring rain. Looks like a converted warehouse. Isabel went to the daycare center (nicely decorated and equipped) without a peep. She loved it and they did not have to call us out to get her at all, which is a first. We got a program and sat all the way in the back (expecting someone to get us to come pick up Isabel.) A man in a green striped polo, jeans and a headset wrapped around his ear, came up to greet us. His name was David.....and he was the pastor. In jeans and a polo.

Once he left, my David said "I have never seen that before. A Pastor wearing jeans and a polo to preach." My David then proceeded to take off his tie, and place it in my purse.

The music was AWESOME. There's this acoustic guitar player who needs to have a record deal already. He was great. The sermon was good. I was not bored, I followed what he said. Jake even paid attention and said he liked it. We left to a bright, windy afternoon, with Isabel very content.

I told David we could try a few more churches to see if anything "clicks." He gets to pick next week. We'll see where he chooses and if it's a fit.

Him - 04/04/2007

Sorry I have not posted in a bit. I have something to blog about, but I sort-of kind-of want to wait until I do. I want to see if anything changes before I post the blog. My husband is sad (at something else, not me) and I am mad that he is sad. Me mad is not fun, so I want to behave and see if I am overreacting. The protective rabid dog in me wants to act all mean, but I must breathe and take his lead. He is one calm, passive dude. Maybe that's why we are so good together. We balance. I am super-hyper-emotional-loud and he is calm-cool-almost-too-calm quiet man. We make each other even.

AND CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME POTTY TRAIN THIS GIRL!! SHE JUST PEED ON THE FLOOR! Gah! Not even a "Pee pee" or "potty" just peed on the floor and continued playing. She's 3. Dude! GAHHHHH.