Beach Photos

This weekend, we stayed with my cousin Landis and his wife Kat at their place in Richmond, just outside of San Francisco. To kill some time before dinner, we took a walk with the kids along the Bay Trail and enjoyed the sights along the way. The kids loved playing in the sand at the beach. Mike and I captured some cute shots there.

Our Freaky Fun Weekend

We went to San Francisco this weekend to take part in the Bay to Breakers 12K. The infamous road race was in it's 97th year. It is a wild and crazy event that is notoriously San Franciscan, complete with costumed runners and "uncostumed" ones, too (a.k.a. naked participants). Seriously. Our first sighting of a nudist, was actually a bouncing male spectator near the start. A weird sight for sure and we found it kind of hard not to stare. As the race progressed and we saw more flesh, we got mostly used to it. Not to mention that all of the streakers (that we witnessed) were older men who really should have kept their clothes on in my humble opinion. Oh well.

We ran as a family and were fully clothed, thank you. In fact, we all dressed up in costume: me as Wonder Woman, Mike in drag (just kidding, really as a cow), Lucas as a lion and Emily as Elmo.

Mike, my seriously strong husband, pushed the kids in a double jogging stroller for the entire 7.5 miles, even up a really steep San Francisco hill. And he didn't complain once. What a guy!! He and the kids were huge fan pleasers, too. Everyone was yelling "Hey cow!" and "moo" and telling the kids (who were just along for the ride, mind you;-) that they were doing great. Even giving them high fives. And me, nothing, except one drunk guy who beckoned me with a "Hey Super Girl!" I even went to slap a five to a person that had just given one to my husband and they pulled their hand down just before we connected. I was overshadowed by a cow and a couple cute kiddos. Perhaps next time I will push the stroller and get more support.

We saw some interesting sights, like a straight looking guy on our train into town wearing pink hotpants and a fuzzy, cropped sweater and a care bear headpiece (he was going to the race). A team of people dressed as salmon walking the opposite way of the racers (swimming upstream). A masked Hillary and Obama arm in arm waving at the crowd. And a shocking "Save the Boobs" float that was promoting breast cancer awareness.

Tonight, I received my race photos and noticed that a naked guy and I finished at the same time. Great, weird naked guy stole the thunder in my finishers photo, too. Dang it!

All in all it was a great time, despite the 2 hour bus ordeal where the driver got lost, being cold and exhausted and unable to nap afterwards like I always used to do following hard races. It makes a difference doing these things post kids.

A Little About Me

Where was I 10 years ago?

I was 21 years old and just about to graduate from college. I was pretty unsure about the future: I had no idea what I would do after graduation (no job lined up, not sure where to live as my parents were out of state, yet the boyfriend, Michael, was back home). I also had a nagging fear that I would be one credit short and unable to graduate.

5 things on my "to-do" list...

• Become more like Jesus and follow more fervently after him
  
• Get cracking and more serious with my marathon training
  
• Enjoy life more
  
• Keep the house cleaner
  
• Get to bed at a better hour so I am not tired ALL of the time
  

Snacks I enjoy

• granola bars
  
• yogurt
  
• dried fruit
• chocolate
• a cup of coffee, heavy on the sugar and cream
  
• teddy grahams or goldfish crackers (stolen from the kids;-)
  
• fresh baked goods
  

Five things I'd do if I were a billionaire...

• Pay off debt.
• Give generously to the church and other charitable organizations.
• Buy a minivan for me so we can all fit easier and an Evolution for Michael so he's not working on his dumb car all the time.
  
• Pay for my family and Michael's to move out here. We miss them so!
  
• Travel around the world (Italy, cruise to some exotic islands, maybe even live in different places for a while just to try them out).
  

5 bad habits...

• Craig's List
• Anger
• Pride
• Talking at inappropriate times or too much
  
• Saying idiotic things (mostly being accidentally rude, foot in mouth type stuff)
  

Places I've lived...

• Chicago, IL
  
• Casselberry, FL
  
• Orlando, FL
• Tallahassee, FL
• Roseville, CA
  

Jobs I've had...

• Fifi's Poodle Palace-I washed dogs, painted their toenails, put bows in their hair and perfumed them, too. Seriously! First job.
  
• Retail (County Seat, Circuit City, Petite Sophisticate)
• Food (Angel's Diner, Barnies Coffee)
  
• Cumulus Broadcasting-My college internship. I was the promotions assistant. The job rocked!! I got to do parades and other events, live broadcasts, even helped out with a morning show once.
  
• American Real Estate and Financial Services-Marketing Assistant. First job out of college. I was told that I was so good at making copies! That made me proud;-).
  
• Laser Institute of America-Marketing Coordinator. Got to travel around the country to do various trade shows and conferences.
  
• Campus Crusade for Christ-Marketing Manager and eventually Event Planning Manager which I loved!! Great place to work.
  

Watch What You Read

We returned our library books today. The large stack included a board book that Emily threw up on during a coughing fit in her bed recently (she now has asthema like her brother--JOY!). I cleaned it up as best as I could with wipes and Lysol. I told the librarian about it and said that I was prepared to buy the puked upon book. She looked it over and determined that it didn't appear damaged.

So...all of you locals, don't let your kids cuddle too much with the library book "Hugs." If you see it on the rack, maybe pass it on by...

We also let Lucas read his library books while pooping on the potty. Wasn't there a Seinfeld where George took a book into the restroom and the was forced to buy it/couldn't return it? Hmmmm...

The Haps

Today my butt hurts. We did squats yesterday and I am feeling it. I love (and hate) the pain!! Our new, somewhat lofty goal is to try getting up one morning at 5:30 am to work out, and hopefully one evening and weekend morning, too. I also want to get in 3 runs per week, one of them being a long run. I am really going need to start getting serious about this if I want to be able to complete the CIM (California International Marathon) with my sister in December and not walk (er...limp) away injured like I did last time. These workout goals are pretty lofty as we have had weeks go by with no gym workouts together and me only getting a run or two in, but I hope that we succeed. Maybe more exercise will help me not feel so darn tired all of the time. Such a catch-22, though, because I often feel too tired to be motivated to exercise.

We are planning on doing The Bay to Breakers 12K in San Francisco in a few weeks. It is a very unique event where most runners dress up in costume (and some even illegally don their birthday suits). I plan to be Wonder Woman and I think that Mike will be running as a cow.

Oh and we had a new roommate move in this weekend. Jeanette is Michael's age, sweet, quiet and great with kids. In fact, she now teaches at a Montessori school and was previously a nanny. Lucas was kissing her at dinner on the night that she moved in which is really quick for him to be won over. I think that it will be a really great thing for us and her.

Road Rash

Lucas was practicing on his big boy bike yesterday, a two wheeler with training wheels that our neighbor, Blake, gave him. He was doing great and looked like such a big kid riding it. Before I helped him climb on, I told him that we really need to get him a helmet. Of course, those were famous last words.

I suggested that he turn around in our neighbors driveway to head home. He did so, but went over the curb, lost his balance and flew from the bike, hitting his head and face on the street. I watched it happen from a few feet away. I heard the sickening thump of my child's skull connecting with the road. He started screaming and I ran to him and scooped him up in my arms. I was too scared to look at his face, for fear that he had knocked out a tooth or scraped up his handsome cheeks. I just held my screaming son to me and walked home, leaving the bike in a heap behind.

Emily was across the street in our driveway when it happened and walked into the street to help her brother. "Lukie, Lukie" she called walking across the street with her arms out. I hustled over to her to get her to safety.

I took Lucas home and realized that he was screaming now for his bike and his shoe that he apparently lost when he fell. I set him down to retrieve his things and was so relieved to see that some splotchy road rash was the only injury that he suffered. His mouth and teeth were intact and there was no blood on his face. Praise God!

And today one of the first things that we did was to buy him that darn helmet that I have been putting off.

Like a Sailor

My boy started cussin' tonight. It was bound to happen. I just didn't expect it until middle school or so. A drop of butter fell from his bread onto the plate and he said, "CRAP."

I wasn't sure if I had heard him right.

"What did you say, Lucas?"

"CRAP!!"

Yep, I heard him loud and clear that time.

"Where did you learn that word?"

"Grandpa."

So I will let Grandpa take credit for teaching my little boy to swear, but really he probably picked up crap from me. I do let the occasional crap or worse slip out accidentally.

And Speaking of That...

Emily went poopy in the potty today!! I don't want to get my hopes up, but maybe she will train early. She has been going pee pee periodically for a couple months, too. What a big girl!! It helps that she always wants to do what her big brother does.

All Because of a Coat

We met Michael for lunch yesterday at a KFC near his office. The man in front of me in line was wearing a Miami Hurricanes jacket. The Hurricanes were another arch rival of my college football team, the Florida State Seminoles.

It is always neat to meet someone from back home, too, so I said something about his jacket. We struck up an easy conversation about Florida and college football rivalries. He told us that he was in town for a Lutheran Pastors Conference.

"Oh, my best friend grew up Lutheran. In fact, her mother, Carol, works for a Lutheran office in Orlando."

"Carol, you know Carol?! I grew up with Carol in Fort Lauderdale. She used to be a dental hygienist and worked on my teeth."

What a fun small world experience!

So Carol...

Pastor Jim (I think that was his name??) in Tampa is visiting Sacramento, happened to run into your daughter's best friend at a KFC and says "Hi." If he is single, I think that you should consider marrying him!;-). Pretty coincidental.

Surprise Dinner Guests

The authorities paid me a visit again. This time they made a house call right in the middle of dinner.

Instead of it being a California Highway Patrolman racing after me on the freeway, it was the Roseville Fire Department, 3 firefighters and their shiny red truck all in our front yard.

We heard the truck rumble up and I hoped aloud that it might be UPS delivering a surprise package. WooHoo, what could it be?

Michael said that he thought it sounded like a bigger truck than UPS, maybe a even fire truck.

And Lucas excitedly chimed in, "Maybe the fire truck is coming to rescue me!" From what, we will never know? Hey, my dinner wasn't that bad;-).

Michael got up, looked out the window and confirmed that it was a fire truck. No package for me, but still kind of exciting. What is going on? My thoughts immediately flashed to the girls that I had corrected 30 minutes or so earlier for laying in the middle cul-du-sac (eating popsicles and lying in the road--so smart). "Girls, that is not a safe thing for you to do." I prayed that they had not foolishly laid back in the street and gotten hit.

We all jumped up to peer out and see what was going on and were shocked to see the uniforms coming out of the truck and heading up our driveway. What the?

They had received a call from a neighbor in the neighborhood behind us reporting smoke in our backyard. They had even given our address. Hmmm, no smoke back there and I hadn't even burned dinner. Weird. I wondered how neighbors behind us would know our street address, but shrugged it off.

I put it all together just now, hours later. I think that those girls played a prank on us to get back at me for scolding them. They called 911 and reported a disturbance at our house. Would a couple of 7-year-old girls do such a thing? I made lots of prank calls when I was a kid, but never one like that!

They both seem like sassy girls with little adult supervision or respect for authority. They walk around the neighborhood like they own the place, even sometimes peering in our windows, picking our landscaping (flowers) and playing in our front yard. I've corrected them before about these things and wonder sometimes if I am being a mean, crabby woman. The kind that yells at the kids to stay out of her flower beds, but I don't know, I feel like they should know better. I teach my kids to stay out of people's yards. It is not polite to trespass. And come on, we have flowers and pretty things in our yard to make it look nice and to enjoy. Not so that the neighbor kids can wear flowers in their hair and play flower girls by littering the rose petals all over the sidewalk. Pick your own darn landscaping! But I digress...

Well, if nothing else, the surprise fire department visit provided us with some dinnertime excitement! Lucas loved seeing his heroes come to our house.

Now what to do about the sassafras potential pranksters? Making a false 911 call is a pretty serious offense!!

Busted

I got pulled over and ticketed today for the first time since my college years. I was doing 80 in a 65. I had no idea what the speed limit was, but 80 seemed like a pretty good freeway speed to me. I was mostly keeping up with traffic, there just happened to not be a lot of traffic around when I was caught. Darn it.

And the stinky thing is, I was going to pick up another great Craig's List deal. I was saving $100 from buying it at the store new. I don't know what my ticket will cost me, but I would guess more than $100. Not such a deal after all.

On a positive note, the seller took pity on me and cut the price by 20 bucks and I got a message from Classmates.com today that they will be refunding me my $15.

On Dating

Here is a conversation that I had with my 3 year old last night:

Lucas: Bye Mama, I'm going on a date with Mary.
Me: What?! Mary who?
Lucas: She has a little lamb.
Me: Is the lamb coming on the date?
Lucas: Yes!

Sheesh! Kids are dating younger and younger these days. I couldn't help but smile that he wants to go out with a nursery rhyme. Not too baaaaaaaaaaaad. Could have been someone like Mary, Mary quite contrary or the little girl with the little curl.

Working Girl

As of May 2, I will officially join the work force again. Very part time, just one morning per week, but it still counts for something. I will be working in our church office as an administrative assistant--helping do the weekly bulletin, making reminder calls, keeping the church calendar, helping to plan events, etc. I am pretty excited as it will be nice to get out of the house for a few hours per week, be around other adults, and help out with our income, too. Serving my church is an added bonus. And I think that my new boss, our Pastor Brad, will be a good guy to work with.

I just received a social security statement and it was weird to see $0, no income for 2006. I wish that I got a paycheck for being a stay at home mom. It would be a fat one for changing all of those dirty diapers, making 3 meals per day, keeping the house mostly clean, playing with the kids, driving them to school and the doctors office, keeping up with laundry, dishes, etc. It is by far the hardest job that I have ever had, and sometime so thankless. But I wouldn't have it any other way!

One of the coolest things about me working is that Mike is going to take off Friday mornings to be with the kids. This way they won't have to go to a sitter and they will get some extra quality time with their daddy, which is so important.

Touchy Situation

Today I purchased the deal of the week from a lady selling her son's clothes on Craigs List. I tell you, I love that site. We also sold a loveseat on it today and I keep walking around the house trying to find more to get rid of. One of these days, Mike is going to come home and we will have no more bed...

Anyway, back to my find...I bought Lucas a ton of his new size clothes (3T) from her for just $15. It included 16 shirts, 1 shorts outfit, 3 pairs of pants, 2 sets of pjs, and a pair of shoes. All for the same amount that classmates.com took from me. See blog below. Pretty great bargain.

When the woman that blessed us with such a great deal answered the door, I noticed that she had a black eye. A pretty obvious one. I automatically jumped in my head to the conclusion that someone hit her and assumed that it was her husband--that bastard!! I didn't know what to really think, if I should say anything, etc. I don't know her at all. You don't want to assume... she could be in a martial arts class, or be a klutz and bumped into something, or.... You don't want to seem like you don't care either. I said nothing about it. And did the only thing that I could think of that was appropriate and might help her. I prayed for her safety and for God to bless her for helping us out so much. Was there anything else that I could have/should have done?

Disgruntled

I HATE being foolish with money. It is especially hard when money is so tight. Well, we just noticed an automatic withdrawl in our bank account from Classmates.com. I had joined 3 months ago for $15 to get in contact with a dear friend whom I had lost touch with over the years. She was even in my wedding, so I thought that $15 was a good price for finding her. I would not have joined had it been more than that. We can't afford frivolous purchases these days.

Anyway, apparently Classmates has a little disclaimer when you join that you will automatically be billed when you expire. So, I received no reminder, nothing. They just went into my account and stole my money. And that $15 though it doesn't seem like a lot was half of what we had left to last us all week.

I pleaded with them tonight via email to give me my money back. I asked for a manager to contact me. We'll see how they handle it. If they don't refund me, I will certainly never give them business again. I am fuming over this.

And that friend, that I joined for...she never wrote me back.

More Sleep Inhibitors

• That darn nightingale that sings it's stinkin' head off at midnight, 4 am, etc. How can you silence a songbird?
  
• The police helicopter that circled and buzzed our cul-du-sac and general area for 15 or so minutes during nap time recently and then blared an alarming message: "Attention on the ground...there have been a string of burglaries in the area...the suspects are traveling on foot...Keep your doors locked."
  
• The new flannel sheets on our bed that are too hot.
• And the old roommate's alarm that would go off starting at 4 am and then he would snooze it 3-4 times (or longer on weekends or during the early evening hours).
  

Not So Refreshing Honesty

This evening we took a meal to Lucas' teacher who had surgery this week. I loaded the food in the front seat and went to the back to strap Lucas into his car seat.

Lucas: Ooooo, Mommy. There is a stinky smell. Is that YOU?
Me: (Horrified as I hadn't gotten a shower yet) Um, no. It's the dinner that we are taking to your teacher.

Great, my dinner had a stinky smell. Just what an unshowered dinner donor wants to hear.

Photo Shoot

The weather was beautiful yesterday and we were outside enjoying a lovely spring morning. I often have a hard time remembering to take pictures of the kids (the camera is never around when I see a good opportunity and I don't want to miss the moment to leave and find it). I took advantage of the pretty lighting, landscaping and cute kids and snapped quite a few. Most of them turned out well. Emily does pretty great with the camera. Maybe she doesn't even really realize what I am doing (as she is so unused to me taking her picture). Lucas is fairly uncooperative. He wants to "ham it up" instead of acting normal or asks to see the picture while I am taking it. The pose of him looking up in the air was his idea. And the shot of the kids by the bushes is a favorite spot of Emily's to hide.

On a similar note, Emily now loves to play hide and seek, a game that Lucas and I have been playing for months. Emily used to just stand there and look at me, giving away wherever I was hiding. Dang her. They don't have the game quite down, though, because they always tell or show me where they are hiding. Come find me in the closet mommy!

Emily Unplugged

Brownielocks

I had a Goldilocks moment today. No I did not break into someone's house, eat their porridge all up and then take a nap in their bed.

I broke my son's guitar/drum set stool while sitting on it and reading him a book. Sure, it felt a little wobbly and unstable, but I'm pretty light and thought that it would be ok. Then Emily needed comforting and I picked her up and cuddled her on my lap. Next thing you know, PLOP, I fell on my butt onto the floor.

So, now I feel like a big oaf and my boy has no more cool stool (though we have 4 other stools in the house). I guess that I should avoid sitting on them.