sunday scribblings-Now and Then

Sunday scribblings is a blog where they give you a writing prompt every week. Here's my entry for this week.

Now and Then
Now...extra long v-neck "sexy" tee
Then...cap sleeve baby tee
Way back then... pastel polo-collar UP

Now..."ugg" style furry boot slipper
Then...flip-flops
Way back then... moccasins

Now...vanilla yogurt w/frozen berries,banana,and flaxseed
Then...pb and j on frozen waffle
Way back then...pnutbutter & graham crackers


Now...1/2caf black coffee w/sugarfree syrup (peppermint,hazelnut, or white choc.)
Then...grande nonfat iced mocha valencia
Way back then...hot chocolate


Now...Pregnancy over 35 and The Peaceful Nursery
Then...Autobiography of a Yogi and Siddhartha
Way back then...Anne of Green Gables


Now...Big Fish
Then...Bridget Jones' Diary
Way back then...Stand by Me

Now...2 slices of pizza
Then...3-4 slices of pizza
Way back then...5+ slices of pizza

Now...daily yoga stretch/meditation
Then...weightlifting
Way back then...Step aerobics

Now...Soleil Moon-Frye as earth mama
Then...Katie Couric as confident, independent woman
Way back then...Soleil Moon-frye as Punky Brewster


Now...Nicole Miller metallic blue frames with zebra pattern earpieces
Then...contacts
Way back then...plastic frames with a gold apple sticker on the corner of the lense

Now...shoulder length angled "posh"-style bob w/fading hilites
Then...long, highlighted blond
Way back then...shoulder length bob/mousy brown

Geo-tracking game

Just for fun...here is a mixed up list of all the places I've lived one year or longer.
Can you put them in order?

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (1 year)
Miami, Florida (8 years)
East Liverpool, Ohio (3 years)
Naples, Florida (1 or 2 years)
Los Angeles, California (2 years)
Kent, Ohio (3 years)
Davie, Florida (3 years-almost)
Fort Myers, Florida (1 year)
Stow, Ohio (13 years)

Notice I did not put my current city as I have only lived here 7 months.
Leave a comment with your guess.
I will post the correct order tomorrow.

Saturday Night Fever

The dishes are done, the floor is swept, the garbage emptied. Luna is dozing with me as I work on my graduate unit class and D. watches the Patriots kick behind downstairs. As I was sudsing up the roasting pan a bit earlier, I realized it was Saturday night. When did Saturday night become an exciting night to do household chores? Not sure, but all I know is I was very happy to have the time and energy to go to bed with clean countertops and an unloaded dishwasher. And curiously, just as excited to watch my coursework DVD professors and take notes for my essay response. on. a. Saturday. night.

weird!

I started thinking about the Saturday nights of yore and came up with several distinct categories.

State 8 Roller Rink Saturday nights (from about August 1984 to 1988)
These consisted of a Saturday afternoon shopping trip to the Gold Circle store in Cuyahoga Falls (these stores were a teeny step up from K-Mart and preceded Target in our area.) You see, every Saturday I wore a new polo shirt (extra long with the collar UP) and a big beaded necklace in the exact same shade. Mint green, butter yellow, you remember those 80's sherbet colors, right? Sometimes I would go with a friend and they would sleepover; other times I went alone. It was just as much fun and there was always someone to couple skate with!


Babysitting nights
These spanned a fifteen-year period beginning in about 1988 and going all the way to 2000. Whoa! I used to sit overnight in high school for a girl in Bath, Ohio most Saturdays. I remember yummy pizza dinners and having their guest room to myself after the little girl went to sleep. In college, I worked for 3-4 local SoFla families sitting weekday afternoons and Saturday nights. Since I rotated families, I worked most Saturdays for them. These kids are now 12-26 years old! aacck! Somehow it never interfered with my social life as in college we usually went out Thursday nights anyway.


Girlie nights
These occurred pretty regularly between 1997-2000 with G and M. M's hubby used to call us witches because we always had something brewing! We would watercolor or do facials, nails or other little projects while we had dinner and of course - wine!
I loved these nights and have not found a replacement for them.


At the end of 2007 Saturday night usually means dinner with friends or a quiet night at home. In 2008 it might be time for a little additional Saturday night "out" time!
What does Saturday night mean for you?

Elements of a Healthy New Year

I don't make New Year's Resolutions; that way they can't be broken. I do, however, take stock in the idea that this last week of the year is a good time for goal-setting and action-taking. In an effort to strengthen our lives, we are starting with strengthening our bodies. Santa brought a huge purple exercise ball and a small (though heavy) medicine ball. We've been having fun tossing it around the living room, training for next year's Halloween pumpkin toss.

Dinner last night was a huge bowl of plain and vanilla yogurt with bananas, blueberries, raspberries and flaxseed paired with two slices of whole wheat toast and peanutbutter and 2 steaming cups of cherry berry herbal tea. We've been snacking on tangerines.

I start a kickboxing class Tues. Jan. 15th and am very excited about that. Also very motivated by D's gift; my first ipod! Isn't this ipod shuffle cute? Wishing you a happy, healthy last week of the year!

Christmas Day

Before

Lu in heaven

Christmas Eve

Home colors

I spent the day happily cleaning around the house; you know all that dusting and and cleaning off the "hot spots" like the table etc. So, a friend is stopping by to hang out tonight before he leaves town to visit his girlfriend's house for the holidays. The candles are lit, the halls are still decked, and the live tree is holding out. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. As I walked through the house after the last dryer load was folded and the dishwasher emptied, I was just enjoying the color schemes throughout the house. Here they are:

Living/Dining room- dark royal blue, dark red, and burnt orange with touches of dark yellow and copper accents

Kitchen- Brighter red, blue, and yellow accents and coffee art (Red trashcan, red striped valance) If there is a theme, it's might develop off the wooden Portuguese painted rooster someday. I have this idea to create a mosaic backsplash with the bright colors. (For winter it has snowman accents-cookie jar and oven towel with red)

Laundry room- sage green and white

1/2 bath downstairs- dark red with orange accents

flooring throughout the first level is dark laminate wood

Master bedroom- dark red bedding/curtains with chocolate brown carpet
(walls are pale yellow)

Master bath- sand and sea (light aqua and sandy brown)

2nd bedroom- currently butter yellow- will be repainting apple green

3rd bedroom-(D's studio) Silver and Red with silver glaze-black accents

up bath- currently purple and green (thinking of ideas for future)

last post today

I think.

Well, Lester and I bonded, then I ate him, and now he's resting in peace. Mostly in my belly, but also in the SimpleHuman trashcan. He was good. very, very good. So were the clams we had for an appetizer. So, thank you Tico Joe. We had a lovely, lovely pre-Christmas holiday dinner tonight by firelight. Sweet dreams, everyone.

Happy Winter Solstice to you...

Spent the day driving around town doing some last minute errands and shopping while listening to Sarah Maclachan's Wintersongs and viewing the world through my brand-new crystal clear high-index, non-reflective lenses! Yup, I got new glasses! whoo-hoo! At 4:56, I was driving down into the valley and there was a gorgeous pink-blue sky with a full-ish white moon. It was one of those perfect moments where everything is in balance and the world seems gorgeous, peaceful, and kind. Here are some snippets of my afternoon...

*hopping the fence (!) to get into my school campus and pick up the gingerbread house thank you cards to send off to my students
*viewing the adoption room full of kitties at the local Petco...all the cages were decked out for Christmas with red, white, and green embroidered hammocks and blankets.
*opening a STACK of cards (yay yay yay!)

For those of you holding your breath waiting for a card from us, relax. We've decided on New Year's cards this year.
Our winter solstice celebration includes the following:
lobster and clams dinner in front of the fire
watching a movie
wrapping some surprises! (hee-hee)

The Story of The Gingerbread Boys and Girls

So, as part of our December curriculum, our class completed an author study of Jan Brett's books, including The Hat, The Mitten, The Gingerbread Baby, The Three Snow Bears, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, and The Christmas Trolls. (Of course, we covered all the winter holidays this month, not just Christmas.) Predictably, The Gingerbread Baby was one of the favorites. As an offshoot of this, we compared and contrasted other stories with gingerbread-centric characters, such as The original Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Cowboy, and The Gingerbread Girl (GM's younger, more cunning sister, who ties the fox's mouth shut with a strand of her shoestring licorice hair.) So, of course, one of our last activities for the year was tasting real gingerbread cookies and brainstorming descriptive sensory words about gingerbread. Later, we would take just one bite of our cookies and graph whether we bit off the head, the arm or the leg. (In Kindergarten, we have creative ways of connecting our Math standards, don't we?) Anyway, in years past, I have always purchased a couple bags of the Pepperidge Farm gingerbread men. Somehow, though enjoyed by the kids, these always fell short of my hopes. This year, I thought I would bake some.

Those of you who know me can guess where this story is heading.

While mom was here at Thanksgiving, she found a box of organic gingerbread cookie mix with a free cookie cutter inside. Having promised my kids we would try the cookies last Monday, I bravely entered the kitchen Sunday evening. I took out the box, reviewed the directions, and realized salvation was mine. The recipe called for molasses. Since we didn't have any, I was off the hook,for twenty-four hours at least. Monday morning, I answered the kids truthfully when asked if we would taste gingerbread that day. "We didn't have any molasses." I explained. I doubt if they know what molasses is, but they accepted my answer. That night, molasses in hand, I mixed up the dough and started looking for the rolling pin. My dough was not looking so good;it seemed too dry. Derek was in Anaheim at a Van Halen concert, so not being able to find the rolling pin was a good reason to stick the bowl of dough in the fridge and go to bed. After all, I reasoned, the dough is good for 24 hours. This time, however, I couldn't just tell the kids, "I couldn't find the rolling pin." So here is what I said:

"You see, boys and girls, I was so excited about the gingerbread, that I opened the oven door to peek and they all jumped out! They started running around the house and Luna was chasing them and then they ran up the Christmas tree and pretended to be ornaments. She chased them up and ate them all up!" The students' bewildered faces proved that they were eating this up. "Is that real?" asked Firma*, one of my more precocious students. "Do you think it's real?" I volleyed, with a gleeful twinkle in my eye. "Yes!" they all shouted. That night, I relayed the story to my baker-husband, and pleaded with him to help me "fix" the dough. He agreed, and then went out to finish up some shopping. As is the norm on most weeknights, I was cozy in bed with a good book when he returned at 10ish. "Oh, what about the gingerbread?" I said. He gave me an exasperated look, but said, "Come on, I'll help you. Let's do it," even though he was tired from the rock concert the night before. "But you're the baker..." I pleaded, "can't you just whip them up?" I knew I wasn't being fair. He said nothing, but when I got up the next morning 24 little men were waiting in the kitchen. I made it up to him when I shared his heroic action with the students later that day.

"Mr. Luna heard what happened and he felt so bad for you that he made ANOTHER batch of gingerbread, and he wouldn't let me peek." Cheers to you, Mr. Luna. and thanks. Next year I'll stick to store-bought.**

*names changed to protect the precocious
**or make a practice batch. I will be baking this week, homemade cinnamon rolls from my gramma's recipe. I'll start very early in the morning.

There's something living in my refrigerator...

Dear Tico Joe,

I am feeling a bit conflicted. When D. arrived home last night he reported that we would be having a fresh lobster dinner tonight, (Thank you!) I was excited. "Yum", I thought to my sleepy self, I haven't had lobster in quite some time. I remembered a trip to New Hampshire with J., where I tried it for the first time (at the age of 16).
Then I went to sleep. It was only this morning, when I descended to feed "the Lu", that I saw the empty shipping boxes, the lobster pot sitting innocently on the counter, and the directions.

That's when I realized the lobsters were behind the tall silver doors of the icebox, trapped and still...ALIVE!

Enter conflicted feeling.

You see, unlike you and D., I grew up in Ohio, surrounded by mid-western states and Great Lakes, NOT oceans. I have NO clambake experience. This is all new to me. I will certainly enjoy the lobster dinner---what a treat! I'll just step out for some last minute shopping while it is being prepared. Wish you were here to enjoy it with us. Happy holidays to you and all the blogreading public. Stay tuned for a cute gingerbread man story later today.

If you take me to the movies...

I remember going to movies 2-3 times a month when I was a teenager. Matinees cost about $3.75 and there were dollar theaters too. In Bolivia, I would pay 3 bolivianos for a double feature and sit in the town square theater watching two movies at a time. I average 2-3 movies a YEAR in the theater now. Yesterday was one of those times. We went to see "I Am Legend"; a matinee feature of course. We can't afford the evening showings. Well, we could barely afford the $9.00 matinee ticket without gaping! Our two entrances cost the equivalent of a month of Netflix! (This is roughly the cost of 6 movies at our rate of viewing.) We certainly enjoy having unlimited rentals from Netflix! But this was one of those movies we didn't want to wait to see. For my part, I love movies set in the future that show daily life at that time. I can overlook the sci-fi or phantasmagoric elements for a peek into the main character's kitchen cupboards or daily routine. In this, Legend provided. I thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal of a surviving military scientist in post-virulent NY and his efforts to find a cure for The Dark Seekers. Now, of course, I have several new-ish movies of interest to see. The top three of these include:
Sweeney Todd, The demon barber rock-opera type Tim Burton showpiece
Atonement
and
August Rush

only wednesday?

What do you do when...
there is a fire drill and one student refuses to come out of the bathroom
it's 7:30 p.m. and you can easily sleep all night
you forget you live in *chilly* socal and wear a skirt to school with bare legs
your new student comes with a dose of nostalgia for all those *special* students of years gone by...have a been bragging about a dream class?
it's only wednesday and you could swear you've worked an entire week


answer:
come home, wrap Hannukah gifts for the neighbor's kids, light the tree, sip some peppermint mocha( 4 packs on sale at Target),share a potato-egg omelet with my sweets, take a bubble bath, play with the kitty, make plans for the 3 week vaca!

This week's baby related news:
2 pregnancies announced, two babies born within the past two weeks (one we knew about and another friends' surprise), 1 baby arriving in the next two weeks.

Total 2007 babies: 21
so far for 2008: 3

Christmas Meme-

from the blog of dandelion mama:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Whatever is in the closet! My goal is to use what I have, reuse or create in any way possible to avoid actually spending money on more paper.

2. Real tree or artificial? This year we found a real tree- my first ever. It smells wonderful, and is so soft to touch.

3. When do you put up the tree? The first weekend in December.

4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Day, or when it's falling apart, whichever comes first.

5. Favorite gift received as a child? Where do I begin? Amazing play kitchen with working sink made by parents? Amazing huge Victorian dollhouse made by parents? humongous jar of pickles? Everything was amazing.

6. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope.

7. Hardest person to buy for? husband
8. Easiest person to buy for? Lu

9. Worst Christmas gift ever received? don't know?

10. Mail or email Christmas card? mail!

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Sort of all year, depends what I find. (I like to make some.)

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Absolutely! Especially when you receive something others would enjoy more than you. (Think teacher gifts and small cousins!)

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? candy canes

15. Lights on the tree? wheat lights yes.

16. Favorite Christmas song? all of them. The First Noel, Silver Bells, Winter Wonderland, Silent Night are faves

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Both. Sometimes we spend it at family, recently it’s been at home. There are good things about both ways. We’ll be home this year, and I think it will finally make our new house feel like home.

18. Can you name Santa’s reindeer? Can’t you? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blizten and Rudolph

19. Angel on top or a star? An angel

20. What do you leave out for Santa? We'll just have to see. Maybe some mint chocolate Bailey's?

The halls are decked...

Holiday Cheer

Weekend To-Do List
1. Mail 1 Hannukah box (it's not too late; there are still a few days of Hannukah left!)
2. Pick out our tree. We are getting a real tree, this year. (My first ever) I have always been happy with the trusty vintage silver tree my mom used to use in the 60's, but I guess we need to "christen" the house on it's first holiday.
3. Decorate said tree.
4. Look at gas logs for the fireplace. (Apparently, the fireplace in our place has never been used; it is wood-burning and gas too. We are choosing to go with gas.)
5. crochet a scarf. (I am a knitter, if I am anything. Just ask my mom about my finger-crochet technique)
I'm sure the weekend will be peppered with mundane chores and dismal errands (especially if the weather keeps up but the funny thing is, I'm starting to acclimate to California winters. (If that sounds like an oxymoron to you, today's low temp. was 40 degrees with icy rain. yuck, but actually cozy for spending the day in kindergarten.

Almost winter...

Despite the wild weather and war, the energy crisis and global warming, I find myself in a definitively holiday-type mood. I don't even mind the early nightfall. Tonight, for example, I find myself enjoying a cup of hot tea and a generous square of moist gingerbread for dinner. (For dinner, you say?) Well, yes. For dinner. There is no tree up yet; that is scheduled for Saturday, but the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and the mantel/mantle is lit with a curling strand of light-studded greenery and three stocking hangers. I stayed at school til 6 pm tonight, til it was dark as night, putsying around my classroom and just enjoying it. So nice to know it's only a five minute drive home. It makes it much more attractive to stay later. (And so productive!)
In one week get ready for the casitaluna version of the 12 days of Christmas. yay!

weekend pix

I don't know hwy some of these are coming out sideways. Enjoy!

Holiday guests

We here at CasaLuna have been enjoying the company of my folks. We were able to share a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner, a trip to Disneyland for lunch with our San Diego cousins, and a trip to the local Hart park last weekend. Hart park is a hidden treasure in the hills of Newhall. It features farm animals and two deer- John Deere and Jane Doe. There is a pretty uphill walk past the bison pasture to "La Casa de los Vientos", a Spanish style mansion built by silent film star William S. Hart in the 1920's. Tours of the home are free. Hart was also an author and dog-lover. There is a dog bedroom in the mansion with beds for each of his great danes, and a dog cemetery partway down the hill. Today more adventures are in store, as we head south a few minutes out of our beloved valley to Sylmar to visit the Nethercutt museum, a private classic car and music collection open to the public by reservation (but free). Later mom and I will visit the local teacher supply store (first visit, if you can believe it), and tomorrow afternoon, a highlight of the trip will be an organ concert given by Hector Olivera in LA at the First Congregational Church. They head out of town early Monday morning, about a month too soon. It's been wonderful sharing our CA life and hometown, both of which they adore. Pix to come!

27-2007

Hey there blog=world. I've been reflecting recently on the whole blogging phenonemon. How there are so many sub-groups of bloggers. The group I read the most are the SAHM (stay at home moms) and the crafty-bloggers (scrapbookers, knitters, and such). Some of them have begun to add advertisements to their blogs and others have begun to attach codenames to their friends and loved ones names for privacy's sake. It is interesting, to be sure. So many of the blogs I read are snapshots of moments or ideas in people's lives. Others have specific purposes, such as blogs about specific places or people.
Personally, I enjoy blogging because it provides a place to share, and the people who read are interested in being shared with. At the same time, I remember that blogs are searchable and not private. I enjoy the blog format, but it feels somewhat limiting to me in some ways. So, for those friends who mostly keep up with me via the blog, call or email sometime!

Do you hear what I hear?

Is it all hype and promotional marketing for the sluggish retail market or is Christmas spirit spreading a little early this year? Are people buying in to the early retail decorating and marketing or is it just that we need a little more holiday spirit for a little longer due to the current state of affairs (real estate market, war in iraq etc.) Some stores such as Nordstrom's have held off with the marketing push and will not decorate their stores until today, saying "they like to celebrate one holiday at a time". Others put holiday decorations up right after Halloween. I am looking at Thanksgiving a little differently this year. Am I just that much more grateful, or is it because it signals the start of a six to eight week season of light and love? I rose at 4:30 a.m. today and penned letters to the three people I am sharing the day with today. Then I came downstairs and tiptoed slippershod out to the garage in search of a christmas box or two. Before I could stop myself, I had hung the stockings with care, switched out the halloween kitty fingertip towel in the guest bath for a stack of fancy snowman guest paper towels, and switched out the cafe au lait tealights for the sugar cinnamon ones to cast that festive glow. I strung the mantel with teardrop lights woven into a strand of greenery, feeling a sense of secretive joy. We plan to stay home this holiday, put up a real tree (my first!), hang hand-crocheted ornaments made by my paternal grandmother and the new family angel we first put up last year. We plan to bask in familial love, and hopefully spread some around the community. I am very excited about the arrival of this holiday season, and I am happy that tonight the neighbors will click on their holiday lights as is their tradition on Thanksgiving night, and that love begins to dominate, at least for a while. May your holiday seasons be full of love and light. Happy Thanksgiving.

10,20,30 meme

What were you doing 10, 20, and 30 years ago?

10 years ago, I was living in Miami teaching first grade ~

20 years ago, I was a freshman in high school, playing the drums in marching band~

30 years ago, I was in preschool in Kent, Ohio at the University Lab School preschool~
I will try to add pix soon.


Thinking forward and backward, I am feeling like I am definitely at that certain midpoint of my life...whoa!
Maybe I'll stick to thinking about what a great day it is TODAY!

I tag: J,K,M,G and E

St. Clare

Apparently, the namesake of our little valley is also the patron saint of good weather. No wonder! Wikipedia also lists her as the patron saint of television writers. Hmmm. Have a great Monday!

Gobble Gobble

At my new school, all the parent/teacher conferences are held in the cafeteria. It's great. I had imagined the resulting din would be unbearable; but there was no real noise issue at all. It really felt like a community having all this going on at once.
The pace was just right; time for exchange and information sharing. Everyone showed up and everyone was on time, if not a few minutes early! What a wonderful experience!

I finished up before lunch and after some coworkers and I took a colleague out for a birthday lunch (lunch out is a rare treat for teachers!), I spent a leisurely few hours in my classroom, doing all those things there is never time to do. It was wonderful.

We have the entire week off for Fall break next week, and since we have just sent report cards and conferenced, it is a natural transition time as well. I took down the fall displays and put up the winter ones. The student work folders that had cutouts of leaves and pumpkins are now an energetic red with snowmen on them. I realize there is a paradox here; making such a big deal about snowflakes and snowmen in a place that received exactly one snowfall last year (and it melted almost on contact) But holidays are often untouchable at school anymore, so we are left with seasonal symbols to mark the changing time of year. I'm fine with this.

I am planning two big themes for the last month before winter break:
an author study of Jan Brett and a gingerbread related theme. Due to the literary
contribution of The Gingerbread Man, this is allowable, though arguably Christmas related. We will creat gingerbread people glyphs, graphs, and recipes. We will
read and compare versions of the original story such as The Gingerbread Baby, by (who else) Jan Brett, and a newer favorite, The Gingerbread Cowboy. And of course, at the end of all this there will be gingerbread to eat. YAY!



Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

but tomorrow's wednesday!

Wow- nearly 1/2 way through the week? how did that happen? So what made your day great today? For me, it was my students. comment on...

farmer's market lunch

Bear with me as I continue to utilize this blog as a sort of "to do" list.
I am currently enjoying a little sunshine out on the patio. It is a sunny 70 degree afternoon (a great relief after yesterday's overcast and cloudy/chilly day). I have a plate full of sliced pommelo (chinese grapefruit), slices of persimmon, and yellow tomatoes accompanied by two medium sized chunks of french bread and 3 tiny pieces of brownie. I am drinking a merlot spritzer (the spritz part being blood orange italian soda from target). After all, isn't that what days off are all about?

So far this morning, I have:
*submitted my response paper for graduate unit class #!
*played with Lu (she has loads of energy in the morning)
*emptied half a dozen boxes in the garage
and
*watered the camelia, the lavender, the hydrangea(another heirloom cutting which hasn't taken yet), and the lilac

After lunch, I will
*clean up the kitchen/clean out refrigerator
*work on tasks for graduate unit class #2 (microsoft word/excel/powerpoint course)
*exercise at the park

Hope your Monday is swell...

heirloom lilac and a cat nap

Had a leisurely Sunday; omelets at The Egg Plantation (101 to choose from) w/A and N, then a stop at the farmer's market for pommelos and persimmons, followed by a trip to the Tigerlily Rescue Cat adoption room at Petco and a stop at Target for those essentials (who said toffee flavored hot chocolate and a 4 pack of Starbuck's peppermint mocha drinks are not essentials?)
Home for a viewing of the first DVD I've ever bought myself "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (a Tar-jzay bargain at $6.50) and a milestone nap w/the Lu. I say milestone because she has never, and I repeat never, napped lying along my side like this. Perhaps she's trying to convince us that we are fine being a one-cat family? Have a wonderful evening. Among our plans:
toasted ham and cheese sandwiches, a game of scrabble, and finishing up two netflix movies to mail back later this week.

The second pic is a planting I brought by hand from PA and my father-in-law planted it in the back. It is from a lilac passed from my great-grandmother to my grandmother to my aunt to me. It's sprouting! This is definitely a good thing!
pix won't post right now.

IT's not too late ladies....

to chase your man and ask HIM out! Celebrate Sadie Hawkins day (usually celebrated the Saturday after Nov. 9) though the famous Li'l Abner strip came out Nov. 15, 1937 and the first SH Day was the year after. We celebrated at our house!

I invited D. to a date across the street at the neighborhood spa for a dip. With the temp. in the mid-fifties it wasn't too bad.
Empty too. Happy SH Day!

Happy Saturday! (anyone else have a 3 day weekend?)

Here is a snapshot of the weekend thus far:

Friday afternoon:
4:25 pm- bring in garbage and recycling bins, break down more empty boxes in garage and refill recycle bin immediately for next week's pick-up
4:45 pm - get mail, chat w/neighbor, send scholastic book order, find molding halloween jack-o-lantern on front porch
(it is not alone; there are SWARMS of tiny black flying annoyances everywhere) Garbage day was, mind you, TODAY.
5:00 pm- turn on news; clean out school bags and open box from :reusable bags: (yay girls, your bags are going out today!)
5:49 pm-D. calls and is 1/2 hour away so I call my folks; we decide to SKYPE*
5:55-6:07 pm- try to figure out how to hide my forehead wrinkles from my webcam while skyping; dad suggests applying duct tape overnight (:)
6:30 pm-D. arrives. We decide to go jogging at the park
7:15 pm-we order pizza from Ameci's and get cozy to watch "The Good Shepherd" This is a 2 hr and 48 min. flick, people.
7:32 pm-I decide to start some laundry
8:11 pm- actually start the movie
9:54 pm-I beg to go to bed instead of watching the last hour.

Saturday morning;
8:08 am-feed Lu; turn on dryer (for clothes from last night's laundry :)
8:25 am-drink coffee and read the Children's Books special section on the NY Times website
8:32 am- become reinspired to submit some writing
8:40 am- check out L.A. Land blog at the LA Times site, then watch audioslideshow on foreclosure in Georgia :(
8:44 am-start writing this post
Rest of the Day:
*organize garage and closets (I actually consider this fun!)
*organize photos currently spread out in guest room (guest countdown: 10 days!)
*work on graduate classwork
*post office
*water garden
*more laundry
*something fun? order holiday cards? go to library?
Hope yours is fun! Feel free to send me a play by play on the comments!

Happy Birthday this weekend to G and J!
*www.skype.com talk and see friends and family via internet using your webcam~ it's free!

positive energy

just sending out a bolt of energy to anyone who wants a little extra today!
Have a great Tuesday~then let me know what made your day great! (Fishing for comments again, I know!) Also, feel free to take an exclamation point if you'd like! I have plenty! (heehee)

Sunday Dinner

I am attempting to cook more these days. Try this easy, delicious crock-pot recipe:

White Bean and Sausage Soup

1 pkg. Knorr leek soup and recipe mix
1 lb. red fat kielbasa or sausage (we use turkey)
2 cans (16 oz. each) white kidney beans, rinsed
6 oz. Swiss chard (we used red chard)
Serve w/grated parmesan
Mix soups with 6 cups water
Add kielbasa and beans
Cover and cook low for 7-9 hours
Remove sausage and cut diagonal slices.
Add slices and chard and cook 10 minutes more
Sprinkle grated parmesan and serve with crusty bread!
Enjoy!

And the winner is...

E. from www.watchusgo.blogspot.com
She guessed a $44 coupon savings and our coupon total was $47 that trip.
She wins this:


It folds up into a tiny bag that hooks inside your purse! A great substitute for those annoying ubiquitous plastic bags, especially when you're stopping in for a few items! The "Easter bunny" brought me one last year and it's awesome!

(pick yellow or green)
G. also wins one just for playing (twice) and because it's her birthday next week!
So girls, pick your color!

P.S. Our total savings (including store specials) was $114. This includes several "free" items like a container of kitty treats that we got free with a coupon. The game works by listing what's on special and then using your coupons on those same cheaper items. (I think.) Check it out at www.thegrocerygame.com

If you like the bags above, check out this link for more eco-friendly bags and bottles:

http://www.reusablebags.com/

photo credit: from website

The Cat Doctor

"Get me outta here!"
here is where we went this afternoon.
www.catdoctor.com

Lu and I that is.
Lu was not impressed.
I was.

Our new vet Dr. J is wonderful. The office is all cats all the time.
And Lu was just as hissy and growly as you'd expect her to be.
Which is why the following may surprise you.
We are considering adding two rescue kittens to the R. mix.
or not.
It's fun to think about anyway. But may be just too torturous for our lu.

We'll keep you posted!

Happy Halloween!

This was by far the least "stressful" school Halloween ever. No costumes, no parties, just a nice "cauldron" of popcorn, pretzels and playdough from a group of room moms.
The only "trick" was that I lost my voice! So the whole morning was whispering! And something funny is, when you whisper to kids, they whisper back! So, it was a quiet morning. I got "some" voice back after recess (and lots of tea) so that was good.


Here are some 'pumpkin toss' pix from our costume party last weekend. I harbor a little guilt about using food for fun instead of nutrition but I 'let it go'. Now I'm in training with a medicine ball for next year. d. and I went as league bowlers "Tony and Rita". The tops were a wedding gift.

Good Sunday to you!

Well, we've swept the dirt off the patio and washed down the table and chairs; there was a lot of residue from the fires last week. Thank goodness that's all. We've come across folks who had major smoke damage to windows and doors, who can't use their water for any human contact, and who are basically starting from scratch.

Last night we boosted our spirits at a friend's costume party; believe it or not the first one we've attended together in the 4 years since we started dating. We were a fifties bowling league couple, with "Tony" and "Rita" embroidered on our matching bowler tops. The party was fun; about twelve of us. The hostess' nephew (a reluctant blue m and m) broke the witch pinata (with a little help from his yellow m and m dad).
We decorated medium sized white pumpkins with markers for the pumpkin toss. Let's just say I ended up on my back in the driveway at one point with a pumpkin cradled on my belly and no we did not win! But I'm in training for next year's event.

Today we just had a lunch of grilled veggie burgers with corn salsa and are ready to attack the grocery store with our "grocery game" coupons. Any guesses as to how much we will save with our coupons today? Put your guess in the comments section. The closest guess will win an eco-friendly grocery related prize! (FOR REAL!) Can you tell I'm jonesing for comments people??? Have a great day!

99 posts

The Eros complex is an underground prix-fixe community of the future. There is an airport accessible by an underground elevator system, a full shopping mall, and neighborhoods of apartment, condo, and townhomes in several price ranges. There is also a full health club and gymnasium for all residents. The elevator system also connects to a Disney-esque European village above ground. Homes are pre-sold to visitors, and many are invited to "free" preview weekends to see if they are a "match" for the community. We stayed in the "Pineoak" division condos. We enjoyed exploring Eros, with its hotel like lobbies and lounges, and its huge health club with a wall of picture windows for viewing. A row of men in loose fitting cotton pants practiced a form of tai-chi or other Eastern exercises (perhaps from India?) while chatting in their native tongue. Others performed leg lifts in captain's chairs that were suspended from the 50 foot high ceilings. A eucalyptus scented steam room beckoned from another side of the hallway. Outside the Pineoak condo, wooded mountain landscapes were visible from the carved balcony; ten or twelve buildings were set in at different heights on a hillside. (keep in mind this is all underground.) We could see an older woman peeking out from her balcony below. Soon it was time to leave. Our party found the airport elevator. My three year old son and I went back for something. We found our way to the gym and the center lobby of Eros, but the airport elevator was nowhere to be seen. We turned down a side hallway and soon found ourselves in a maze of twisty storefronts from the mall side of this underground "paradise". Two men in corduroy jackets rested in hammocks in the narrow organ store, waiting for customers. They perked up at the sight of us but sagged when we asked for directions. We walked through the store thinking we would end up at a new hallway but instead found ourselves 'stuck' in a warehouse sized bookstore. We exited a side door and ended up in a maze of rooms. In the first room, women of all sizes, ages, and races were having their hair braided into tiny braids. In the second, women (with hair already braided) were lying in salon chairs receiving some sort of color treatments. As we moved through the dozen rooms, we realized with a sickening reality what was happening here. The last room had women checking themselves out in mirrors, smoothing long, blond straightened hair(with tiny bows) and perfecting makeup. They all had the same body shape. They were all...Barbie. It was a Barbie salon. I grabbed my son's hand and we tore back through all the "treatment" rooms screaming- get out get out, they're going to turn you into Barbie!!!!!" We didn't stick around to see if they left. We raced back from where we had come and found ourselves in a small hallway near the main lobby. A sixty-something gentleman with a V-shaped gray goatee stood up from behind an office partition. He welcomed us and said, "I'm going to show you something most first time visitors do not get to see." He began by telling us about the four varieties of succulents in a landscaped wall. Then we made our way into a private "club style" sitting room and private bedroom with a TV and one window. "Most of the units are not furnished in this style," he explained. "This is a perk of signing up early." It was
a nice room, to be sure, though small-ish and decorated in men's burgundy stripes with hints navy blue. Nothing light or flowery. Part 1 of the dream stops here.

(You did realize this was my dream, right?)

Part 2 of the dream has to do with things in my classroom etc., so I won't go into it except to say that in the dream one end of my classroom opens onto not one but TWO public library entrances (one city run and one county) and somehow my kids just started going in and bringing hundreds of books from both (it is unclear whether they checked them out or just brought them out) and proceeded to mix them up. The library worker came to the adjoining door of the county library and said, " You do realized that this could jeapordize your borrowing privileges forever!"

For me, this would be a nightmare! At this point, I started to want to wake up.
By the way, this is a typical night of dreaming for me, hence the post label below.

a little bit of normalcy?!?

Back to school today. The kids were understandably tired after five days in a row at home (last Friday was a pupil-free day). I am wiped out too. Luckily, I didn't hear any horror stories at work as far as staff/students as victims of the fires. Many area school districts are still out of school due to all these events. Things are still a little weird and it's good to be back in a bit of a routine.

So...looking forward...Halloween is in one week. Lu is excited. Can't you tell? Thanks for voting in the latest poll. I know I forgot about blizzards and if you were in a typhoon just vote under the hurricane section. 8 days left to vote! So far, I can tell most of my readers are in Florida!

P.S., if you were at my wedding, go ahead and vote for "struck by lightning". close enough. Have a good day. My plans for the remainder of the day include:

stuffed peppers/broccoli and salad for dinner
watch pirates of the caribbean = dead man's chest
watch lady in the water
can you tell i'm behind in netflix?

My day V. Lu's Day

the window shot shows the smoke from the "Magic" fire yesterday afternoon. It's taken from the master bedroom window.

Wildfires-day 3

If life was normal, I'd be arriving at Lombardi Ranch with a busload of excited Kindergartners to see the pumpkin patch right about now.* Instead, I sit in bed with a cup of Joe (the real Joe left before sunrise today, and I'm quite sure coffee won't be an adequate substitute). Lu is beside me, she's been a little clingy these past few days. In the hall is a n overnight bag, a firebox with documents, a box of framed photos, and my childhood teddy bear. Downstairs waits Lu's carrier, and a few boxes of photo albums in the garage, just in case. At this point, none of the wildfires threaten us directly. But that fear sits just below the belly. Yesterday, while walking around the house imagining everything gone, there were surprisingly few things I felt I needed to rescue. The new movie title "Things we Lost in the Fire" kept echoing through my mind. I realized I didn't honestly feel sad about the potential of losing "things". New fires keep erupting in our little valley; the last two were contained almost as soon as they began, though not before destroying mobile homes in their way. Currently, there are 3 big ones here, with several other terrible blazes around Southern California. We ventured out to find something to eat last night, and we could see flames from the so-called "Magic" fire across town. There has been no school this week. I wonder how my kids are; how much of the media frenzy has entered their tiny heads. What do the people around them teach them in times like this.

In reading various websites the past few days, I have seen many viewpoints. The overlying one seems to be faith and acceptance. Others feel that people who live in such vulnerable areas deserve whatever happens. Hmmm. One thing I know for sure. The firefighters are tired. And they just keep going. Wow. From this little bed in this little home in this little valley ~thank you. Though hundreds of homes are lost, thousands of lives changed forever, there are little blessings hiding somewhere in this inferno. Thoughts and prayers to everyone.

Here are some links with interesting photos and video:

www.scvtalk.com
www.hometownstation.com

*How do I tell them it's not there anymore? one local link says it was hard hit by the Buckweed Blaze.

NEW-natural disaster poll

You can vote for more than one. I've started things off...hmmm. Can you tell what's on my mind?
Poll closes Nov. 1 at 11:01 PM

The Buckweed Blaze

Here is the 10 pm update on the city website. School is cancelled today. So far, we won't need to evacuate.

www.santa-clarita.com

“BUCKWEED FIRE”


10% CONTAINMENT OF THE FIRE


12,500 ACRES BURNED (updated to 25,000 as of 7:17 am)


25 LOST HOMES AND STRUCTURES


400 L.A. CO. FIRE PERSONNEL RESPONDING TO THE BUCK WEED FIRE (600 BY TOMORROW A.M.) (680)


EXPECT PERSONNEL INVOLVED FOR 5-7 DAYS


A TOTAL OF 500-800 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN EVACUATED THUS FAR IN THE SANTA CLARITA VALLEY.

currently

sorry about the sideways pix-it's upright in iphoto.

A snapshot of our weekend

breezy, sunny, cool but not cold.
cleaning, laundry, grilling out,
world series
closet/drawer cleaning
boys head to Las Vegas tomorrow
my Sunday = coursework + schoolwork.

This week:
field trip to the pumpkin patch!

Last week:
amazing art gallery opening
(see link below)

www.amundart.com

Update~~Pumpkin Poll closed

And the winner is...PUMPKIN PIE! The traditional favorite. Thanks to all who participated. Look for a new poll soon! In the meantime, here's what we've been up to:

(photos of the day for 10/11 to 10/17) plus a few bonus ones! Thanks so much to everyone for your birthday wishes, calls, emails, ecards, etc! We feel so loved! 35 is going to be a fantastic year! WE love you!