Little Miss Sunshine......

When I saw this picture I took of you, I couldn't help but think of the Morton Salt girl.

I absolutely LOVE this bright yellow umbrella!!! I'm "yellow" with envy.....

Miss J you are stunning! I hope you had a happy, Happy, HAPPY birthday with us girls.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms I know.

This is a picture of me and my mom. She was a new mom. 18, young and beautiful! I was bald! I had a Charlie Brown head. Those who know me, have heard me refer to myself as having a "Charlie Brown head". Here's proof.

I was a young mom too. My biological clock started ticking very, very young. I admit it. I can remember visting my mom, shortly after being married in 1985. One of her renters had just had a baby boy and I made the mistake of holding him. He was so tiny and completely adorable. I just had to have one. As it turned out, I not only got one, I got three!

It was Winter 1986. On a trip to Disneyland, I found myself totally in awe of my surroundings. Not the theme park itself, but of all those little ones. Those cute little bundles. I even found myself noticing every female with a belly. I wanted so badly to be a mommy. After all, we had been married for over a year! The clock was ticking...Ticking....TICKING!

Rewind to age 15, I had already started collecting baby-related things for my cedar Hope Chest. Blue satin baby booties - Can you believe it? BLUE. NOT Pink or even Yellow. BLUE! Who knew... Baby bottles, pacifiers, bibs...Crazy? Yes, maybe. But, I guess, I'm just a collector at heart. Yeah, that's it.

Back to early Spring 1987. We were young - teens of the 80's. The song of the day was by Lou Gramm - Midnight Blue. I remember us singing - "It's either Cherry Red, or Midnight Blue". I handed Phillip the "stick" and I waited in the bathroom. In just a few minutes, he announced we were DEFINATELY MIDNIGHT BLUE! At age 18, I was officially preggo! WE were PREGNANT!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms I know!!!

Water....

That word conjures up a number of things.

Water. A cool drink on a hot summer day. The snorkeling playground in Maui. A nice relaxing bath.

Water. It has an alter-ego. The mischievous one that sneaks into your (my) home when you (me) aren't looking (busy making OTHER parts of your home better). It makes its surprise entrance when you don't expect it. It wreaks havoc.

Water. Dripping. Leaking. Leaching. Somewhere in the wet-wall in the kitchen. The same wall that becomes the floor that becomes the ceiling in the soon-to-be master suite. Somewhere.

Water. It can only be found by tearing into and dissecting your home. First, the exterior wet-wall in the kitchen. Then, the ceiling beneath the wet-wall. Finally, the removal of the kitchen cabinets/counters so the pipe in the floor in-between up and down can be repaired.

Water. Thanks alot! I wasn't ready for you. Yes, the kitchen was on the list to remodel. We planned to gut-it-to-the-studs, but that was still a ways off. I finally finished the "in-the-meantime" repainting of the kitchen and cabinets. I was even picking out curtains. But now, we'll be in limbo. Somewhere in between, because we aren't ready to re-do the kitchen yet! But maybe....I'll put in my new, used sink.....


Water. Glad your here, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd stay in the pipes!

Do you know where YOUR cel phone is?

I think we have been using our cel phones so much in the last few years that they are now an extension of our brain and a staple in our daily lives. I find myself yelling at "idiots" to "get off your phone!" while they are driving - they cut me off, change lanes without signaling, run stop signs, go too slow. I, too, am guilty of being on my phone more than I probably should, but I like to think that I'm not an idiot - most days anyway.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I've read while driving, eat and drink while driving, and I've even put on mascara while driving. Mostly, when I'm driving slow, but still behind the wheel. Am I an idiot for doing so? Probably. More like yes. BUT, that aside, I stand fast about NOT driving if on the rare ocassion I've had anything to drink AND I absolutely NEVER drink in public if I know I have to drive somewhere.

So anyway, that brings me to this....in the last month, I have found two, yes, two cel phones at my local post office. When I first see the phone, I look around to see if anyone is around "looking" for the phone. Then, I take the phone and scroll to the "last call received". I press redial. Twice now, I've been able to locate the owners. Even though I feel a little weird "taking" someone else's phone, I DON'T trust leaving it there unattended for fear that someone else will take it for the wrong reasons.

The first phone, I took to the hospital emergency room and gave it to the friend of the owner (the friend was a local ambulance driver and I had to wait in the parking lot until the patient was unloaded)

The second phone, I discreetly hid under a beautiful, pink dogwood tree on the corner next to the post office. I'm sure the passing traffic wondered what in the heck was a grown woman doing crouched under that tree.

So, today, my mom called me at work. She said she had been trying to call me all day! I told her my phone must be on silent. I went to get my phone from my purse phone pocket and it was GONE!!! Uh OH! Where was my phone? I looked everywhere! When I got home tonight and looked even more EVERYWHERE!!! It was nowhere.

I got the house phone and dialed my #. With the house phone on speakerphone, I went into every room. Outside on the back patio. Upstairs on the back porch. In my Jeep. In the house garage. In the laundry room. NO PHONE. Oh my gosh, I had lost my phone!

When I found the first phone, I decided to add some phone numbers in my directory. I listed the obvious one first - I.C.E - in case of emergency #. Second, I added IF FOUND - my work #. Third, I added EMERGENCY - Phillip's cel #. Now, everytime Phillip calls me, my screen says EMERGENCY!!! Hopefully, not, but funny!

ALL those numbers and no one had called me ALL DAY to return my phone to me. I was so bummed. What about Karma? Pay it forward? What goes around, comes around?

Then, it donned on me! Yesterday, I drove Phillip's Outlander and parked it down in the shop garage. So, with the house phone in hand, I hiked down to the shop and listened for my familiar ringtone.

There it was! Ever so faint...my Nightmare Before Christmas melody!!!! Yay. I found my phone. On the passengers seat! 10 missed calls today. 3 voice messages! But NO messages from someone telling me where my phone was.....

Lazy Dazy....

Can you say Yawn????

Kyle bought himself a Wii game system yesterday. He and his friend, Bud, stayed up til the wee hours playing.

Wonka is Kyle's room-mate and I think he stayed up all night too - watching them and learning how to play. He clearly didn't get a good nights sleep!

Or, maybe he was just plain bored with my improptu "photo shoot".

Or, maybe he was just enjoying the nice, warm weather that was teasing us today.

Look at him posing, like he's the king or something. I swear, he has so much personality. I think he thinks he's a human! Wonka, you crack me up!

It's late, go to bed already. You can play Wii Grand Theft Cat tomorrow!

Time Just Keeps Flying By....but at least it's Friday!

I can't believe it's already MAY. And the 2nd to boot! Time just keeps flying by. Before you know it, it'll be Christmas.....Oh, please. Not so fast....

Someone once shared a theory with me about why time seems to go by faster as you get older. Remember, how long those summer vacations seemed to last when you were a kid? And, now, summer is over before your bones have even had a chance to thaw out from the LONG, COLD winter? Well, the theory I heard is this... READY?

When you are 5 years old, you have only lived for 5 years. Therefore, one year equates to only 1/5th of your life so far - pretty big chunk of time. BUT, when you are say, 40, a year equates to 1/40th of your life - a lot smaller chunk. Therefore, the time goes by faster and faster each year because the fractional portion becomes smaller and smaller.

Makes sense, doesn't it? At least it does to me.

Kind of like a huge chunk of chocolate. At age 1, I get the whole piece. It takes me forever to eat it - doesn't help that at age 1 I only have two tiny teeth on the bottom...but, it tastes SO good and lasts a long, long time. I make a huge, sticky mess of my hands and face and clothes and everything surrounding me, but that's a choco-holic-in-training.

Then, at age 40, I can only eat 1/40th of the chocolate. It's a much smaller piece so it goes away much faster. I've become much more adept at keeping the chocolate where it's supposed to be, but I admit it dissappears MUCH faster now - in true choco-holic-master form.

Then, when I'm, say 80, the piece is a microscopic 1/80th size, I can hardly see it without my thick coke bottle lens glasses, I can hardly hold onto it with my arthritic hands and it lasts but only a milli-second. Fair? Maybe not, but it's only a theory. Right?

***photo is my birthday gift from Judy. The sun is FINALLY shining today, so into the sun it goes to get some lovin'.