M+B=E2O2

Perspective

I came across this website through one of the e lists I'm on.  I really puts how big the world is into perspective.  http://www.geocities.com/iewsys/parkers/index.htm

Hope to do a real blog tonight when Liv goes down..... check back after 9pm pacific........

another one of my quickies

I am stealing a few moments right now upstairs.  We just finished dinner (we rotisserized chicken- and I am sure that is not a word, but I've had fun saying it all day).  It was soooo yummy!   Our new grill came with a rotisserie attachment that we decided to give a try.  very cool and I can't wait to try it with other meats.

I got my mamogram tests back on Friday.  Another BIG NEGITIVE!  Yay!!!  Thanks for  the comments and support!  Real quick before I have to return to Real Life:

Timmy & Laurie- Yes more often than not I have the whole crowd with me.  If my dental appointment is less than an hour I bring them, if it will be longer I schedule it when I know Ben's mom can take the kids.  Ben had the kids for the momogram, and all the kids got to see me get the lump taken out of my elbow.  On a totally different topic, I got your message, sorry to say that the kids computer is off line until further notice.  We've been working on it all weekend to no avail.  we have a wireless router, but it just doesn't seem to be working.  Once my dad gets back to Vegas he's gonna send me something that he swears will work.   I've tried a couple of time to get on webkinz from my computer just to visit Emma and Owens pets, as I am sure they are sad- (LOL) but I haven't been able to access the site for some reason.  I'll let you know when the kids get back on so they can "chat" with Fluffy (that is the bear's name right?).

Jenny- As far as I know typepad and yahoo are not related.  I've never noticed any affiliations anyway.  The TMJ thing is something long overdue for me- this splint thing is the first step that will likely lead to orthodontics.  I have to have several crowns REdone though first- sucks.  My jaw does feel better, though I am very self conscious wearing the splint.  I look lame. 

G-  I've been lurking your blog for a while now- guess I'll have to "come out" LOL.  Yikes 7 times does Not sound fun at all.  How awesome that all was benign!  I think that must be just about the best word ever- benign.  How often do you have to have them done now?  are they yearly once you start doing them?  a very good family friend had a teeny tiny spot on a mammogram that turned out to be cancer- she was just doing a routine screening.  Thankfully because it was so teeny tiny it looks like they got it- along with her breast, but what an ordeal! 

Trish- Hey Funny gal!  I've been enjoying reading your LJ.  You crack me up!  if your ever thinking a day out this way is in order let me know and we can do a playdate.  Ok and so I just have to know what is a cranio-sacral therapist???

medical update long overdue

I know I posted long ago about an odd lump removed from my elbow.  I kept for getting to post that I got the results back finally and it was totally benign.  It was a "venous thrombosis" - a broken blood vessel basically.  and now that I've had an open wound and tender spot on my elbow, I realize just how often I hit the dang thing.  Hopefully I won't knock myself another one!

Also on the medical front was finally officially dx'd with TMJ, which I've known I've had for YEARS, but insurance never covered it and it was  never so bad that intervention was on the top of our list on How To Spend Our Money.  It has gotten a bit worse over the last year or so and we switch to a new dentist, who is Very Thorough.  As of today I have a "Splint" that I am to wear as often as possible- to try and get my jaw tendons back where they should be.  It looks like a teeth bleaching kit on steroids on my bottom teeth.  Big, clear, hard plastic thing that has a big extra bit of plastic in the front for my top two front teeth to sit on since I have an awful overbite.  Looks like someone socked me in the mouth and gave me a fat lip.  It feels weird and my mouth is very fatigued wearing it.  I guess I have to build up to full time wearing.  I pop it out every so often for some relief.  Hopefully sleeping in it will get me more used to it and tomorrow will be a better day.

Oh and since I turned 35 last month- I got to have a mammogram on Wednesday too- That Was Fun.  Should get those results tomorrow. 

Yay! we are connected!

So the Real Phone Tech guy came out today.  I swear he did NOTHING different than me.  He had a fancy smancy phone that he hooked up that told him what number he was calling from.  Other than that- the blue wires went to the red and the white with blue went to the green- JUST LIKE I DID IT.  Freakin Real Phone Tech  smarty pants. 

With the new phone line in came the decision to put our main desktop computer upstairs in the room off our bedroom.  I am sitting here with Olivia  Shhhhh-ing me for typing too loud.   I'm hoping that the typing becomes sort of a white noise for her and that bedtime can now = blog time.  We'll see.  Maybe I just need a newer, quieter keyboard?   

Downstairs the kids will have their computer.  We'll likely have to go get another router for it so that we can hook it up to the net too.  They've been really into Webkinz lately  and might just go into withdrawl if they can't get online soon.

Tomorrow my parents are coming to town.  We are celebrating Evan's birthday (it was yesterday) on Saturday.  Should be fun- it is at a indoor Jolly jump/bounce house place.  Same place we had Emma's party actually. 

I was quite sick for the last few days with a nasty cold.  I was really out for most of the weekend.  I am feeling so much better now, though I still have a bit of something in my chest.  I am just hoping the kids don't get it.

Well, I have to restore the downstairs bedroom now.  It  is a mess and I need to get it set up for my parents. 

Peace

iLame

to jenny re: imoron....
apparently I can't comment on your blog from my phone. I managed to C&P the following comment from the comment box that I can type in but not actually post......
****sigh**** technology, sheesh!

frakin frack.... I just typed a long a$$ comment- on my phone- with  my thumbs and tiny keyboard- and now it's gone. 
grrrrrr short version:

• I feel your pain. I pretended I was a phone tech today for the better part of the day- I'm not- Real Phone Tech out tomorrow.
• No internet or phones until then- just my celly- hence the thumb typing.
• I want a powerbook - maybe - can't decide.
• Leo Laporte- have you heard of him?

there was more... but my thumbs are cramping..... [Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]

My Birfday

From jenny & vegiemama's blog

Go to Wikipedia and type in your Birthday Month and day only March 10

List 3 Events that occurred that day  

• 1496 - Christopher Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his second visit to the Western Hemisphere.
• 1814 - Napoleon I of France is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
• 1926 - The first Book-of-the-Month-Club selection is produced.

List 2 important Birth days

• 1957 - Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born Islamic extremist (no so sure I wanted to know this!!)
• 1966 - Edie Brickell, American singer

List 1 Death

• 1948 - Zelda Fitzgerald, American artist, wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (b. 1900))

List a Holiday or Observance. (if any)

• Doctors Day - (Venezuela).

Tag 5 other bloggers --Consider yourself tagged if you've read this!

Call in the Ark

Though we may not live on the East Coast we've had our share of flooding this week.  Saturday, after Ben took our friends to LAX, he took a look at our ancient water softener.  it has been making all sorts of noise the last few weeks, and we've done our best to ignore it.  He was poking around at something when a piece broke off and water shot out full force at our water heater.  I jumped up from whatever I was doing (something on the floor w/ one of the kids) and ran out to see what I hoped wasn't there - water flooding our very cluttered garage floor.  I knew there was a shut off thingy out front, but I thought it was only for the front sprinklers and didn't bother trying it.    It was several minutes before our neighbor helped us out by pointing out said known shut off thingy.  Lucky for us the very same neighbor is quite handy and was able to cap off the pipe until we could get a new softener on Sunday.

Sunday we got the new softener and Monday Ben installed it under the guidance of the same neighbor.  The garage is not quite so messy- Ben put together some shelves we had bought a few weeks back and go everything up off the floor.   I've had the garage door open just a tad to help air it out.  Today I reran the dishwasher (the hard water left them nearly as dirty as they started) and the kids & I cleaned up the downstairs clutter.  Then we went to target for all the usual essentials as well as a bunch of unintended finds.  One such find was several pots of Gerbra Daisy's for our planter under the downstairs bedroom.  As  I was BBQ-ing our dinner I decide to water all the new stuff as well as the 3 dying pots sitting there.  Our hose is wrapped up in a box thingy that I've come to loathe, even though I bought it in the first place.  It is a pain in the ass to get the hose off and it was stuck really good.  I give it a hard jerk and (can you guess where this is going?) the pipe breaks.  ***sigh***  I run out front to turn the water off and wait for Ben to get home to give him the good news.  We're waiting for something to dry  right now.  If all went well, we should have water again soon.

Wish they all could be California Friends

Well, the week is up.  Ben just left with Timmy, Laurie and Emily.  They will get home tonight with a few extra bags, 300+ photos and hopefully some great memories.  Our week was action packed and full of fun.  Monday we spend around here.  We took them to our pier,
played in the pacific and drove up to a local hilltop bearing  a cross that overlooks all of Ventura .
We dined that night at a place called Joe's Crab Shack.  

It used to be a Chart House and a few years back changed over.  The Chart House was a fairly up scale restaurant, that I'd probably not want to take all my kids too.  We've been wondering about Joe's, but had not heard anything about it.  We decided to check the menu since we were in the area and I was quite excited to see that they had a PLAYGROUND out on the patio.  yes a playground.  The patio has a fabulous views of the ocean and the pier.    
We went home, let the kids play and recharge, then heading back to Joe's for dinner.  Food was great, the kids loved the playground and the sunset was spectacular.  Did I mention it had a playground? 

Tuesday we headed south for Los Angeles.  Our first stop was the Grove Mall where the American Girl store lives.  Emily received spending money for the store and had come along with her AG doll Samantha.  Emma left the story with a New Molly Doll, some accessories and a birthday party kit.  The doll was pricey, but it is beautifully made and I like that the AG originates from historical fiction.  We have two Molly books that I look forward to reading to her.  

We ate lunch at The Grove and headed to Hollywood.  We checked out the hand prints at Grouman's  and watched some street performers.

   

Next we headed up the hill to a look out spot where you get a great view of the city and the Hollywood sign.

Only Tim Laurie and Ben went up to the actual spot.  You have to climb stairs on the hillside to get up to the spot, so I stayed and entertained the kids so they could go up and we wouldn't have to worry about losing anyone over the side of the hill.  By now it was near 5pm so we heading further south to our old 'hood and said a quick hello to our neighbors.  We then hit the Dodger game.
 

We  had Dodger dogs for dinner thanks to G (my neighbor who works there) and enjoyed the first 6 innings of the game.  A few sweatshirts and hats later we were back in the car.   (after a 20 minute search for it's whereabouts)LOL!Next we headed further south to Anaheim and got to Disneyland in time to see the fireworks.  We got our hotel rooms and got to bed- our next adventure was but  a few  hours away.

We spent all of Wednesday at Disney.  I won't give the blow by blow, but will say that we had a great time.  Emily managed to get herself picked for Jedi training which was very cool for her- her dad is a bit of a Star Wars fan so battling Vader and the Dark Side came easy for her.

Owen really wanted to get picked too- but he  was just too short and wasn't seen.

Next time we go to Disney he will be in a Star Wars shirt and he'll have one of his light sabers.   While he was disappointed, he didn't cry or pout so I was really proud of him. He paid attention to training- he's been going over the battle non stop here at home.  "Activate, hit the left shoulder, now the right, now the left leg, now the head, Deactivate!" 

We drove home late and all passed out.  Thursday was a lazy day here at home.  Ben took Tim to Fry's- and they also were on a secret mission.  Tuesday is Laurie's birthday so they went and got a cake and Tim got Laurie a new camera at Fry's.  They dropped the goods off at Ben's mom's house for Friday night.  We BBQ'd try tip- YUM!!

Friday we had hoped to have a beach day- but the wind really didn't cooperate.  It was a cold ocean wind that mad the look of the day deceiving.  We remained hopeful however and went to the  harbor.  We lunched at a favorite Pizza place then went to the Channel Islands National Park Building.

Gampy keeps his Fish & Game boat there so we got a tour of the boat before wandered around the National Park Building.   

We decided it was just too chilly to play in the water and headed home.  We rested up for a bit then went to dinner at  Gammy  and Gampy's house.  Bobbie had some of her spaghetti sauce and we had another great meal.  Bobbie and I distracted Laure while the cake was brought out and lit.

She had no idea so it was very cool.

 

We spent the late evening chatting in the living room,  waiting for my slide show to "render".  I put all the pictures from both cameras into a quick sideshow with music.  The "rendering" park took an hour to complete though!  We then had to watch the 20 min show once it was done.  I didn't really want the night to end- that would mean the morning would have to come and they'd have to leave. 

I love having friends like them. From the moment they arrived our friendship had just sort of picked up where it left off- as if the last 7 years apart had not passed.   Owen and Emily had love spats through out the week-  they were too funny.  All in all the kids got on great and seemed to have a good time together.    Emily had a nasty sounding cough throughout her trip- but it didn't slow her down during the day!  Poor thing in the night though.  She  just hacked away.

Next time we see them it will be on our trip out to Philly.  I want to take Emma to her birthplace someday.  We just need to give Olivia a few years under her belt.  No way could I manage a long  flight  with her anytime soon. 

It was a great week with great friends and wonderful memories made.

 

Friends Here!

Our friends have arrived (should be here in the next half hour from LAX)!  We have much planned in the next week, so again, I won't be blogging much if at all.

Go take a look at our family photo page, I just uploaded some Easter pics.......

Happy Week my blogging friends.

PS Evan just got a bunch of hairs cut off-  add a little grain to the picture, put him in some 70's duds and you'd never know it was 2007!

A recent conversation with Owen

Owen:  Mom, God is in our heart right?

Me:  Yes, God is always in your heart honey.

O:  (smiling) Well then we left God at home!!!

M:  Why do you say that?

O:  Because home is where the heart is.