Much Ado about the Season

There's nothing like the holiday season to keep yourself busy or learn to master the wonderful (and anxious) art of procrastination. As hectic as our lives seem to be, they do get filled by even more business during all of the holiday joy. Here are just a few things we've done (this weekend alone) recently...
Saturday night, we went to the Newport Harbor Boat Parade. They were celebrating 100 years! OMGosh! That's a whole heck of a lot. We almost left... we were getting burnt out and freezing, too. The parade was supposed to start at 6:30p.m., and at 8:10... we were still sitting there, watching the water and "normal" boats passing to and fro... Then, miraculously, around 8:20, just when we were pondering the thoughts that it just might not happen (other people had already left), we saw the Harbor Police's blue lights and their announcement gliding our way. Woohoo! And the party lights were on! It was wonderful, it was spectacular! This is just a pic of a boat (pre-parade) gliding along the water in the dark (I loved the reflection on the water...).
Who says palm trees and snow don't mix? Only in Southern California can you behold these two wonderful sights at the same time... It was a little colder (and much rainier) last week. Our local mountains got approximately 1-2 feet of snow. Even where I live (much lower to sea level), we had a slight dusting in our hills. We finally turned on the heater, as we had ice when we woke up in the morning... Oh! my poor garden!
And this was yesterday, on the way to my mom's house! Someone kidnapped Santa and stuffed him in a trunk! Poor Stacy! I am always handing her the camera while I drive, so she can snap pics of things I just find totally amazing (or something I think is worth it to hang onto the memory)...

On Friday, we went to get pics with Santa. Jr figured out that he would be taking pics until he was 35, because I said he had to get pics with Santa until Marissa (age 3 1/2) is 18!!! lol! Then we were at a band banquet (can't seem to upload the pics... so SORRY!) and enjoyed good food, Jr was dj-ing, Renee was dancing (Marissa was "shaking her boot-tay"), and they did a gift exchange.
I took sloppy joes and my butter rolls (formed into slider-type rolls) for a main dish. Thanks to a wonderful friend (Thanks again, Jenn!), I was able to keep my hot meal hot for 7 hours, from the drive at our house, out to Los Angeles, then waiting for the party to start. Let's just say... the plug converters in a cigarette lighter and a crock pot are AWESOME things!

Going back to procrastination... I did take some pics of some cards I made... but following that line of thinking, I'll put it in another post... a little later... Toodles for now! lisa

Talking, Talking...

It's Aunt Chris's Birthday! Congrats and I'm glad you made it there! Have a Happy One and enjoy your "time laid-back".

Today Miss Marissa has talked about nothing but: 1) "the animals" 2) Grandma's house and 3) "Maagett's" (pronounced with an "awe" sound - being Margaret's) House. Ugh! Not to say that any of these things are awful... just to hear it over and over and over and over... You get the picture...

First off... "the animals" is the movie Barnyard, which she saw the other day, but had to "give back." Though the movie was somewhat stupid in parts, it held humor, even for the adults... I laughed my @ off! LOL! Uh, however, if you watch it... you just need to remember this is fiction. There is nowhere in the world where there are male cows. And even then, male cows wouldn't have udders. Just wash that away from your mind, and you can probably enjoy the movie.

Secondly, she's been asking since Saturday about Grandma's house. She wants to go pick up Stacy and Rey. She also asks to see "Jakie," "Uncle Dosh" (Josh) and ... get this one... gotta love it... "Auntie 'Ic" (Auntie Vic). I just love the way she can't pronounce certain consonants just yet. It all comes out so cute and endearing. It's just SOOOO cute! But we'll be going there today, to meet up with everyone and have dinner.

As for "Maagett's" house... I've had to tell her over and over again. "They aren't home!" Every time we are in the car, or going to be in the car. She wants to see everyone. She individually names off everyone in their family, including "Peter Pan" (Pete - the dad). I tell her after she's named a person. "He [or she] is not home. They went to their Grandma's house." And I mean everyone, including their wonderful dog, Annie. After going through the whole list, Marissa says a disappointed "Oh....!"

So, of course we will be going soon. I just have to finish up what I was doing and finish making my portion of the meal. Toodles for now! lisa

Random Acts of Kindness

As some of you know... there are only things that happen to me. It is plain and simple. I am one of the few percentage that is bound to get the adverse side effect or the 1 in 100 that statistically, gets the odd thing! Trust me, it sucks!

Random acts of kindness are something that each one of us, as a decent human, being perform on a regular basis. It makes us feel good. It makes us a good citizen and a good person, on a whole. However, for those that "things just happen to", those random acts of kindness often backfire! And it usually happens to me...

Yesterday, while sitting in traffic (taking my older girls to my mom's), Stacy spotted a little pick-up (driving next to us) with a full-size wallet on the rear bumper. Me, being the "do-gooder" that I can be (sometimes), honked my horn at the little old lady driving it. She looked up, startled, and Stacy and I started pointing to the rear bumper and shouting. I doubt she heard us... maybe she can read lips... after all, in all of this heat (yes, yesterday was cooler, but we're now kind of spoiled), everyone's windows (including the truck's) were rolled up. The lady acknowledged us, stopped her vehicle, as traffic began moving [she was now holding up traffic] and then proceeded to drive. After she caught up with us, she pulled into a parking lot.

Stacy sat up in her seat (yes... she was wearing a safety belt!) and watched, as traffic inched again. She turned back around with a look of disbelief on her face. "OMG!" she said. "What?" I asked her. "She locked in keys in the car!" Hmmm... should we go back and let her use the cell phone? Stacy told me she probably has a cell phone. I reminded her that if the woman locked her keys in the car, and her wallet was on the bumper, she probably left the cell phone in the car! YIKES! I quickly asked Stacy if there were other people and cars in the parking lot, to which she replied, "Yes." Thank goodness! I would let someone else handle it.

You see... even though I try to do good, chances are... that lady would have been very angry and placed her anger on me. As it were, the wallet had appeared to be staying complacently on her rear bumper, and had I not made a big deal out of it, she probably wouldn't have pulled over, gotten out of her car, left the car running, and automatically locked her keys in. It's all my fault! LOL!

Actually, it was rather comical. Stacy even felt bad. Rey thought it was hilarious and would only "happen to you, Mom!" Gee thanks!

A couple of weeks ago, we were coming back from somewhere. It was dark. The neighbor's front door was wide open. There were no cars in the driveway and no lights on in the house. Complete darkness.

I tried to call the house number, but had the wrong number. I tried to call the cell, but had the wrong number there, too. So, I walked quickly up to the Head of the Neighborhood Watch and told him the situation. He rushed down, did not go in, but called from the walkway... No one answered. So he called the police.

The police quickly arrived (a miracle here... I guess they really have upped the amount on the force!) with 5 patrol cars. They walked up, flashlights in hand. After a couple of minutes, an angry person came out of the house, talking on the phone. It was the niece of the neighbor.

She was very angry with me and informed me she did not like police. I explained, which I shouldn't have had to... The front door was open, no cars were around, no one was answering. She told me she had been home all day, that her car was in the garage, that the air conditioning was broken... I told her there have been a number of break-ins and I would never have forgiven myself if the house was empty and I didn't do something about my neighbor's house.

"Whatever!" she told me and called me a list of names. Ummm... hello! Does she not know there are windows and back doors to open? (None of which were opened, so I'm not sure I believe her...)

When the neighbor came back, I talked to her about it. Her niece had never mentioned me, but did mention the police incident, telling her that she was "asleep" when they came in. Hmm... uh, you sleep with the front door open? Yeah right!

Like I said, things often backfire on me... lol! Sometimes it's funny (like with the little old lady... Hey! I'm not being mean. I'm sure she got help right away). And sometimes it's anger-inducing. But eventually, things end up fine... I hope...

Well, that's my bit for yesterday (a day late)... I was WAY too tired from over 4 hours of traffic-driving... Toodles for now! lisa