Delicious as Pie

Saying Farewell

2012-01-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Delicious Readers, it's time for me to say good-bye. It may not be forever, but for the foreseeable future, I won't be posting on Delicious as Pie.

The reasons are many, but the biggest reasons? I'm not seeing any return on investment, per se. I haven't gotten any new followers in months and reader comments are virtually non-existent. I average 20 readers a day, but after three years, I'd hoped for more.

Delicious as Pie started out as a fun way to build a "platform". A "platform" is the current buzzword in the writing community that means you have a following. You can be famous. An world-renowned expert. Or a blogger with thousands of followers that will buy your book. Agents/editors can't afford to take a chance on a nobody; they want proof that your book will sell many, many copies.

In the beginning, I dreamed that Delicious as Pie would take off and spread its wings across the world. Even through weeks and weeks of feeling like no one was reading, I kept typing away, hoping and praying that somehow my baby blog would be recognized. Then, when I finally finished my first novel, I could tell the book-buying powers-that-be that yes, my book would sell because I have 10,000 followers waiting with baited breath to buy multiple copies.

That dream has dissipated with this morning's fog.

I understand that my humor is a little wonky and that few (if any) of my posts are typo-free. Maybe these are off-putting to readers. Or maybe people just aren't interested in me and my writing. People are busy and my blog doesn't make the cut into their daily lives. And while I can't say the disappointment doesn't sting a little, it's okay.

Honestly, the entire endeavor has become a chore, another thing on my to-do list to avoid. I find myself wondering why I should bother when my end goal never gets any closer. So it's time for a sabbatical.

Thanks for sticking with me, Delicious Readers. I have truly appreciated each and every time you've visited.

Love,

A few photos to share...

2011-12-31T20:08:00.000-08:00

My bday!

Oh no he didn't!! Actually, he did. Hubby gave me a Kindle Fire!

New Year's Eve!

Sunset over the Pacific from Birch Aquarium

Does it get any more gorgeous than this?

Almost gone....

Scott's birthday dessert at Black Angus. Note the other spoon sneaking into the photo. LOL

I read 70 books this year!!!!

2011-12-31T19:52:00.000-08:00

Holy cow, that's alotta books.

Looking back over the ever-lengthening list in the right-hand side bar, I have to say that I enjoyed most of the books, but only truly loved a couple.

What does it take for me to love a book? Truly amazing writing, unique and believable story line and characters that become real, honest-to-goodness people within the first two chapters.

Here's an example of great characterization: About half an hour ago, I finished reading While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin. If I mention too many specifics right now, I'll give away something crucial, so forgive me for not being more verbose. But at one point, upon reading some wonderful news regarding a character, I actually said out loud, "Thank God!" Yes, I praised God for a fictional character. Now if that doesn't represent strong characterization, then I don't know what does.

Okay, so While We're Far Apart is definitely one of my favorites for the year. How else do you explain reading 416 pages in about 32 hours? (Not that it took me 32 straight hours to read it, mind you. I did have to sleep and all. LOL)

I also adore the Rather series by C.A. Belmond and had the pleasure of reading two of them for the first time this year.
As for children's books, one of my very favorites of all time is Love, Ruby Lavender. Seriously, how can you go wrong when the opening scene involves a daytime raid by a grandma and her nine year-old granddaughter on a nearby ranch to rescue three soon-to-be euthanized chickens? Talk about creativity in writing! I love it! (BTW, the author is Deborah Wiles.) Read all her books, you won't be sorry. In fact, you may end up joining me in a daytime raid on her house to demand more, more, more!!!

I just glanced back through my list of Books Read and don't see any others that I feel compelled to write about. So there. Just wait till I get my own novel published. Then all of you Delicious Readers will feel your own deep compulsion to write about how wonderful it is! ROFLOL!

Our 2011 ABC list...

2011-12-31T19:26:00.000-08:00

If you've been reading Delicious as Pie for any length of time at all, you know that I inject creativity into just about everything I do. So when it comes to the annual Christmas letter, I can't just dash of a few paragraphs, can I?

Nope.

Instead I write the D___ Family's ABCs of 2011 (or whatever year we happen to be finishing). Now I can't take complete credit for the ABC's. I have to get the family involved so that if anything significant is forgotten, it's not my fault alone! (LOL)

And so, Delicious Readers, here are the D___ family alphabetical highlights from 2011!!!

Awarded! Scott received 2 Hustle Awards and a Regional Outstanding Engineer Award

Bronze Award (Girl Scouts)—Emma made blankets for Project Linus to earn this award

Confirmed at church in May—Hayley

Disney the Dog (a sheepadoodle) is our newest family member

Emma made Honor Roll and ATC (Above the Crowd) in her first trimester of middle school!

Finding Truth is Kate’s first novel. She finished it in October and is now looking to publish it.

Girl Scouts! Hayley and Emma are both in a multi-level troop which Kate leads.

Hayley started high school this year and loves it! She, too, made the Honor Roll!

In July, Emma went to church camp for a week and Hayley went camping with friends.

January found Kate in Chicago visiting two of her BFFs for a few days

Kate manages the middle school student store

Long drive up north three times this year to spend time with Kate’s family to celebrate brother Will’s 40^th, Matthew’s baptism and Thanksgiving

Music in the house—Hayley continues to delight us with her piano playing

November was National Novel Writers Month—Kate wrote 50K words and Hayley wrote 20K

Oh what joy to find a 100% hypoallergenic dog!

Presidential Award for Academic Excellence—Emma received this award last June

Quite the trip—Hayley spent 5 days in Philly, NYC and DC with her eighth grade class in April

Regarding said trip, Hayley raised almost $800 with her card-making business to help pay for it

Sea kayaking—Scott and Kate tried this in La Jolla Cove. So fun!

TV-Emma made her TV debut while singing with her school choir this year

Upgraded (for free) to the Presidential Suite at the Hollywood Marriott—3200 sq. feet of fancy!

Visitors: Barbara, Ken, Will, Gillian, Sophia, Melanie and Gabrielle

Wicked—Hayley saw her first Broadway show in NYC

Xciting that Disney graduated from Puppy Training 1! (And he, too, made the Honor Roll(over)!(Hahahaha!)

Year’s favorite book (according to Kate): Love, Ruby Lavender

Zowie! We saved thousands of dollars this year by couponing

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-12-31T19:13:00.001-08:00

Can't believe the year is turning over already. Did it just do that like two months ago? LOL

I hope all of you have a deliciously safe, happy and productive 2012!

My Girl Scouts ROCK!

2011-12-23T22:52:00.000-08:00

I am so gosh-darned proud of my Girl Scout troop!

Last week, my scouts combed through their homes for any extra toiletries. With a big ol' tub full of goodies, they filled 20 stockings for the homeless.

Then they spent a few hours at Barnes & Noble gift wrapping people's purchases and made $223!

How awesome is the generous public, right?

Well, I have to let you know how my scouts used their funding. They decided to donate goods to San Diego Youth Services. I took them to the dollar store and armed each of them with $20. My amazing girls bought clothing, toiletries, non-perishable foods, baby items, toys, art supplies and so much more!!

We drove it down to SDYS and let me tell you, the director was so excited! All of the items my girls bought will so totally help all the youth they support.

Take a look...

Oh, and did I mention? My girl spent some time on Monday evening caroling at an assisted living facility.

Now don't you agree? Aren't these girls just the best ever???

Christmas Carma!

2011-12-23T22:22:00.000-08:00

No, not a misspelling there. Just had to take a minute to show you evidence of my fantastic parking karma!

First stop... Target. Got the first spot right after the handicapped spots.

Second stop... Albertson's. Again, right next to the handicapped spot.

Third (and final) stop... Barnes & Noble. Second spot two aisles over from the door.

Gotta love parking karma at Christmas!!

Thank you, Christmas Spirit, for making yourself known!

2011-12-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

You'll remember that last week, I wasn't feeling the holiday hoo-ha.

Well, it took a couple days, but the spirit found me and I've been hoo-ha-ing for Christmas ever since. I think it took a night out with Scott for dinner and some gift shopping to kick start the mood.

Take a peek at the holiday joys of the past week...

Emma sang "Silent Night" at with the church band. (The guy next to her playing the guitar is Billy. He was in our wedding.)

http://youtu.be/AqFvuNHyWH0

Emma also sang in a concert at school. I won't upload the entire thing 'cause unless your her grandma you probably don't care to sit an watch it. (And quite possibly, she doesn't either! LOL) But here's a photo of Em and her "twin", Hannah.

My Girl Scouts sang Christmas carols at an assisted living facility.

My Girls Scouts also raised money by gift-wrapping at Barnes & Noble. They're planning to use the money to buy supplies to donate to a local homeless shelter. They already donated a ton of toiletries from their own homes and divvied them up among 20 Christmas stockings that we're going to hand out this week.

We hosted a cookie exchange today. As near as I can figure it, we had about 25 people and a table full of cookies. Naturally, it didn't occur to me to photograph the cookies (or the people-LOL), so I just snapped this one of some of the remaining cookies...

Disney. Just Disney. He's so darned sweet and adorable that even when he makes me crazy, I love him to death. Today, Hayley was holding him as we were saying goodbye to some party guests and Disney looked over at me and REACHED FOR ME! I am not kidding about that. It was just like a baby reaching for his mama. And it was just about the cutest thing EVER!

I hope that you are having a similarly auspicious beginning to Christmas! (And if you're Jewish, Happy Hanukkah!)

Where art thou, oh Christmas spirit?

2011-12-12T21:58:00.000-08:00

I can't find my Christmas spirit anywhere.

I've looked under the couch. I've looked behind the washing machine. I've peeked in among the stealthily hidden Christmas gifts and in the filled cookie tins and in the branches of the sweet-smelling and ornament-bedecked tree.

No spirit.

It's not dangling from the pretty lights around my desk. It's not hiding inside the cute triangular elf tissue box. It's not curled up inside giant rolls of candy cane wrapping paper.

Christmas spirit, where are you? Only twelve short days remain before Jesus' birthday, yet you elude me. I can't find you, so please, please, please come find me.

Lengthening the "Deliciously Read" column

2011-12-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

I realized a couple weeks ago that I was behind on my reading for the year. Each year, I read right around 70 books and as of the end of November, I was only at 59.

Time to get crackin'!!

So I made a trip to the library to pick up some books, both regular and audio. My neighbor invited me to her book club and I needed that book, as well. (The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck.)

Naturally, it wasn't on the shelf but I did find several books by Elizabeth Berg that I hadn't read before. Yay!

Berg's story lines are, well, rather depressing. Grieving prevails in several of them, be it a death or something else. So I'm not wild about the stories, but Berg's writing is just so beautiful. Lyrical. Magical. She sees things in ways that I can only dream about and I love reading her books because it helps me looks at things in my own world with clarity and distinction.

*sigh* I adore wonderful writing.

Now flip that coin over, please. Let's talk Janet Evanovich.

I adore her stories. They are hysterical and I laugh out loud throughout each of her books. And her characterization! Evanovich is a master!

Her writing, though, is anything but lyrical. It's basic. Fluent, but basic. It's like stepping firmly across concrete, whereas Berg's style makes me feel like I'm gliding across smooth ice.

At any rate....

I've finished several books in the past week and am feeling more confident in achieving my 70(ish)-book goal.

What book have you enjoyed most this year?

Winna! Winna! Winna!

2011-11-29T19:14:00.000-08:00

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am thankful for my Delicious Readers!

2011-11-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers and if you're not from the good ol' US of A, then happy Thursday to you!

Want to hear what I'm thankful for this year? Besides health and family and Delicious Readers ('cause those go without saying)?

1. We're celebrating with my family. Seven adults, five kids, three dogs.
2. Speaking of dogs, I'm thankful for our new puppy, Disney, even if he makes me insane sometimes.
3. I always feel warm and comfy inside when I'm with my mom.
4. My NaNo book is going swimmingly! (When I say swimmingly, I do not include the crawl stroke. I like to think that my plot is *not* crawling along. LOL)
5. Scott is so, so, so, so happy with his job.
6. We will have paid off two credit cards this year.
7. And we are better off financially than we have been in YEARS!
8. Creativity
9. Brownies
10. Patience

What are you thankful for? Click on the word "comment" below and let me know!

100 Things About Me

2011-11-17T23:19:00.000-08:00

1. I still have baby teeth.
2. I adore crackers.
3. Almost as much as I adore the color pink.
4. But it has to be the right shade of pink. None of that rose shade for me. Ick.
5. I'm addicted to my iPhone.
6. And Angry Birds.

7. I'm embarrassed about being addicted to Angry Birds.
8. I'm trying really hard to become a dog person.
9. Some days it works.
10. Other days it doesn't.
11. The verdict is still out on today.
12. I have a Jane Austen action figure.

13. Sometimes I play with her.
14. I don't think 24 crackers is a big enough serving size for Special K Multi-Grain crackers.
15. I am one of those insane mothers who volunteers way too much.
16. I am manager of the middle school student store.
17. I should be over there right now reordering Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
18. I love plants, but hate watering them.
19. I abhor the color orange.
20. I have moved 16 times. I think.
21. I wish laptops never ran out of battery power.
22. For that matter, I wish dogs didn't chew through laptop power cords.
23. I'm very good at avoidance.
24. How else do you explain an exceedingly long blog post when I should be writing 1,667 words for NaNo?
25. I used to not mind cooking.
26. Now I abhor it almost as much as I abhor the color orange.
27. Maybe even more.
28. I love to look at the sidebar on my blog that says where my visitors are from.

29. I don't know where a lot of those places are. Pardes Hanna, Hefa? Not a clue.

30. Google is one of my bestest bffs.
31. My other bffs live all over the country.
32. I don't have a bff here in San Diego.
33. That makes me sad.
34. And sometimes lonely.
35. If I could take one food on a desert island, it would not be chocolate.
36. I can see your mouth hanging open all the way from here because of that shocking statement.
37. You should close it before you swallow a fly. You know, like the old lady in the nursery rhyme.
38. Sometimes I recite Mother Goose because it's fun.

39. Then my children tell me that I'm weird and to be quiet, please.
40. I don't feel old enough to have a 14 year old.
41. I think it's funny (and ironic) that I just noticed in #35 above that I typed "dessert" island.
42. If I was stranded on a dessert island, I wouldn't have to bring chocolate, would I?
43. I would like to be stranded on a dessert island.
44. Can prime rib be considered a dessert?
45. Because I would miss that.
46. You know when you watch a movie and the THX surround sound logo comes on and makes that sound they think proves their superior sound?
47. It embarrasses me.
48. I don't know why.
49. I always squirm in my seat when it comes on.
50. I agree with you that that was a totally random thing to share.
51. I agree with you that I should probably take a break here and work on those 1,667 NaNo words.
52. Organizing is fun.
53. Staying organized is not.
54. My desk can attest to my lack of skills in staying organized.
55. I think adverbs are under rated and under appreciated.
56. I'm very persistent.
57. Especially when it comes to Angry Birds.
58. Because I'm addicted to Angry Birds
59. Oh wait. I already said that.
60. I must be running out of things to share.
61. I'm currently craving a Walnut Chicken Salad sandwich from Paradise Bakery.
62. I can't have one, though, because Paradise Bakery is in Vancouver, not San Diego.
63. I just wrote 29 words on my NaNo novel.
64. Yay, me!
65. I'm resisting updating my word count on nano.com.
66. I have a crush on Tom Selleck.

67. And Pierce Brosnan.

68. And Scott D.

69. My biggest pet peeve is when people hang up without saying goodbye. What is that about???
70. At Target today, I put a pair of thong panties on my head like an eye patch.
71. I wanted Hayley to take a photo for all my Delicious Readers, but she refused.
72. I did make her laugh, though.
73. I have amazing carma.
74. Not karma. Carma.
75. That means I usually get amazing parking spots. Even at Target on Christmas Eve. Which is my birthday, btw.
76. I'll be 38. Ouch.
77. The dog verdict from numbers 8 through 10 is in.
78. Today I am not a dog person. Disney the Dog is Can. Tank. Er. Ous.
79. Slimy dog bones falling onto my laptop are not my favorite thing.
80. I have spent the afternoon and evening writing 1,884 words on my NaNo novel.
81. My favorite tv show of all time is Gilmore Girls. It makes me giggle.
82. My goal in life is to amuse people.
83. Sometimes I get confused, though, and annoy people instead.
84. My children will eagerly attest to that.
85. I read very, very, very, very, very fast.
86. I have the weirdest dreams.
87. Once I dreamed that an army of chocolate chip cookies carrying machine guns was marching down the street in front of my house.
88. I am not making that up.
89. I wish I was.
90. Because I'm not sure what it says about my mental health.
91. Three weeks after we started dating, I knew I was going to marry Scott.
92. Apples make me hungry.
93. I have been in over half of the United States.
94. I started writing this post over twelve hours ago.
95. My favorite book of all time is "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.
96. Come on, there have to be four more things about me I can share!
97. But I'm getting really tired.
98. My highest Scrabble score ever is 485.

99. I'm mighty proud of that fact.
100. I scored a 5 (the highest score) on the AP English exam.

"Yelp and the Plumbing Is Free" (A True Story by Kate)

2011-11-16T23:13:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, a happy family of four moved to a new kingdom. And they smiled because no longer would they have to contend with water still struggling from the effects of a volcanic eruption 30 years before. But sadness enveloped the family bank account each month when they saw the effects of the new kingdom's hard water. Clothing wore out quickly. Glassware became etched by water minerals. Filters were needed to create the most basic of necessities--drinking water.

So one day, the happy family called the royal plumber to come provide an estimate for installing a whole cottage water filter. The plumber came and told them it would cost several hundred dollars. That was much more than they expected and too much for their meager budget. When the master of the happy family said as much, the plumber shrugged and asked if he wanted a written estimate. "Yes, please," said the master. The plumber went to his wagon and scratched the cost onto a scroll of parchment.

When he came back, he confessed that he made a mistake and that the actual cost was two hundred dollars less. This was still much more than the happy family thought it should be. The master also got the feeling that the plumber was taking advantage of them, so he sent him on his way.

Now the mistress of the happy family was very disappointed because she had consulted the great wizard Yelp.com and found this particular plumbing company to be the best in the land. So deep was her sadness that she wrote a letter to Wizard Yelp.com telling him of their experience.

Some months passed and the happy family had forgotten about the whole cottage water filter. Then one day, the mistress received a reply from the great wizard Yelp.com. The owner of the plumbing company had heard of her disappointment in his business and felt so badly that he wanted to do whatever it took to earn her good graces. The mistress planned to contact him, but before she got a chance to (for she was very busy with her royal volunteering duties), one of his employees stopped by their royal cottage with his two small children.

The mistress and the gentleman had a lovely chat while all the children romped with the happy family's new puppy. She promised to have her husband call the owner the very next day.

Soon the master and the royal plumber talked. How sorry and forlorn that plumber was at the horrible service his employee had provided the happy family! After explaining how he had hired two new plumbers to help expand his business only to find that they hindered it more than helped, he offered to install the whole cottage water filter free of charge!

The happy family was delighted by the generosity and the strong morals of the royal plumber. The mistress couldn't wait until the water filter was installed so that she could write back to the great wizard Yelp.com and tell him how thrilled she is by the generosity and concern of the royal plumber. His high level of ethics proved to her that her happy family would live happily ever after in a hard water-free cottage.

The End

(P.S. This is an entirely true story. Courtesy Plumbing is installing the whole house water filter FREE OF CHARGE on Saturday!)

Shhh... don't tell anyone that I took TWO naps today...

2011-11-14T22:43:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help it. Really. I tried not to fall asleep this morning while typing my NaNo novel.

Yes, I actually did fall asleep while typing. Scott found me snoozing away, laptop warming my lap and dog warming my side. He closed the computer, moved it and THEN WOKE ME UP!

Horrible man.

No, I'm just kidding about that. He is amazing and I adore him and he was entirely right to wake me up because I had to leave the house ten minutes later. (I drove up to Anaheim to meet a wonderful friend for lunch.)

So then I'm driving home from lunch and (imagine your eyes now following a trinket swaying back and forth in front of your face)... you are getting sleepy... you are getting sleepy...

I was getting very sleepy, so I dug out my leftover chocolate mousse cheesecake (heaven!!!!) and ate that to stay awake. Got home, kissed the kids and said, "I'm going to take a nap."

And I did. I slept for an hour before opening my computer to start playing word catch up. I stared at the last two sentences I typed wondering why they made so little sense. Then it occurred to me. "Ah, I wrote those while falling asleep." ROFLOL

Too bad those sentences didn't really work. I could have used the word count since I've made so little progress this evening too. But it's not for lack of trying. The dog was being insane tonight and it's really hard to concentrate when you have to get up to let him out (and in) over and over and over again.

I finally sent Hayley up to bed, turned off the TV and knocked out several hundred words. Progress!

Tomorrow is mostly wide open so I will be writing (not sleeping!) and by the end of the day, I'll be 50% of the way through NaNo, both in word count and day. Yay!

Happy Birthday, Hayley!!!

2011-11-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, dear Hayley!

Happy Birthday to you!

Well, technically, her birthday was yesterday, but we were celebrating so I couldn't really blog now, could I?

I cannot believe that my little angel is 14!!! She is such an unbelievable person, so compassionate, intelligent, kind-hearted, talented and gorgeous...

Here's my girl last week just before the Homecoming Dance. She went with a group of friends since she's not allowed to date yet.

Opening gifts on her birthday! Scott and I gave our avid reader girl a Nook.

Where's that cake already??

An ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins--white cake with rainbow sherbet

Hayley couldn't decide what special activity we should do on her special day. Ice skating, bowling, browse around a cute town... She eventually decided that a movie was the best option given that the day was rainy and sodden. Let me just say that I was bored silly during "Puss in Boots". I tried desperately to fall asleep to relieve the agony of the boredom. Didn't work though. But the movie wasn't too long and we all went to the bookstore afterwards so Hayley could buy a cover for her Nook.

A fun dinner at Macaroni Grill, then home for cake and xBoxing rounded out a super fun day!

Happy birthday, again, Hayley! I love you!

Scott has the BEST boss...

2011-11-07T16:13:00.000-08:00

The girls received a letter from Scott's boss today...

"Hi Hayley and Emma,

I hope all is well. I wanted to reach out to you personally and say what a wonderful pleasure it is having your dad, Scott, on our sales engineering team. He is bright and passionate about what he does. He is one of the most organized individuals I have ever worked with. And, he has the dedication of ten people with a never-ending tolerance for the crazy work we do. Our customers drive us to the edge of sanity but your dad always engages them with a smile. Your dad is indeed one of the *best* engineers on our team.

Please give your dad a warm hug when you see him next. Also, tell your dad to take the entire family out for pizza and expense it to the company. My treat."

How totally cool is that?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Extreme lap dog

2011-11-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

Quite a difference from the lap dog in my last post!

(Scott snapped this photo outside a Starbucks this morning.)

A baby...

2011-11-06T22:28:00.000-08:00

This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to adopt a baby, but I love it nonetheless!!

A perfect rainy day

2011-11-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

It's a cold (53 degrees) and rainy Sunday in not-so-sunny California and I love it!!!

It's the perfect day to curl up in bed with my laptop and tap, tap, tap away on my NaNo word count. I have a cup of Comfort and Joy tea steaming next to me and a shortbread cookie just waiting to be nibbled.

I'm kind of sleepy, though, so I'm wondering if bed is not the smartest place to write. Guess I'll find out, won't I? LOL

Has it seriously been over a week since I posted?

2011-11-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry, Delicious Readers. I think about you every day and plan to jot down a post for your reading enjoyment. But........ then I get busy.

Uber busy.

Even now, as I try to pen this missive, I had to stop to:

1. Get Tylenol for Emma's migraine (poor angel).
2. Search for said Tylenol (which she must have finished 'cause I couldn't find the bottle)
3. Mash up a tablet form of medicine and stir it in applesauce.
4. Convince Em to actually eat the applesauce.
5. Dry the dog off after he came in from the rain.
6. Wipe down the kitchen counters (Hayley forgot after she did the dishes), and...
7. Grant Emma a few candy corn for good behavior

And that was just in the past four minutes.

Anyhoo....

So I mentioned in my last post about the book fair. It was a great success! We ended up grossing $4000 and earning over $1,200 in books for the library. Isn't that awesome?! The librarian wrote me the nicest thank you note and the assistant library confided to me that she sang my praises to the assistant superintendent. I feel so loved!

This is Disney helping me on Day One of NaNo

November 1 started the annual pilgrimage of novel writers worldwide. We put our lives on hold and write, write, write, write, write until we reach 50,000 words. Oh yeah. It has to be finished within the month of November. And what's the carrot at the end of the stick? Nothing tangible, I'm afraid. Simply pride in our tenacity to wrestle all those words onto paper (or screen) as most of us do now.

If you break it down, 50,000 words in 30 days equals 1,667 words a day.

A. Lot. Of. Words.

But what you want to know is if I'm on top of things, right? Is Blogger Kate on target or has she fallen behind after only four short days?

I am on target, thank you very much. I have another four or five hundred more words to write today. I'm not concerned about them though. They come easily to me right now. (Say a prayer that they'll continue to!) I'm at 6,101 words thus far and my story is cracking me up. I love the random characters that come into the story completely unbidden. And the personalities and appearances of people I'd planned, but have changed because... well, because the characters develop themselves more than I develop them.

I tell ya. If you're not a writer, you're missing out. It is SO. MUCH. FUN!

I can't forget to write about Halloween. Tons of kids stopped by. I adore the little toddlers, barely old enough to walk, much less to eat candy. But their parents are so excited to initiate them into the traditions of trick-or-treating. I remember doing that very same thing with Hayley in her sweet little Hershey's Kiss costume. Emma, at only seven weeks on her first Halloween, wore the cutest pea pod costume! I'll have to find the photos and post them. But not right now. Right now, I just need to blog and post lest I get distracted again!

This year, though, Hayley was a cute witch and Emma was a rock star/famous person. (I know I don't have a photo of Hayley here. She wasn't in her costume long enough for me to get a picture.)

Disney has infiltrated our family and our hearts completely. He is so funny, making us laugh all the time. We love the way he bounds instead of runs, insists on crawling into our laps or between our feet and the way he cocks his head when he doesn't want to mind.

We started puppy classes this week. He knows most of what is being taught and is really there more for socialization with other pups. He's a pretty shy fellow.

We taught Disney how to roll over this week. He can also sit, lay down, "look at me", come, stay, wait, go to kennel (haha) and heel. He's getting the hang of "out" meaning "get out of the kitchen before you trip someone and send them flying into a pan of sizzling oil". He's also doing bee-you-tif-fully with potty training. The only couple accidents he's had this week were teeny little puddles and those were the effects of his excitement at seeing someone come home.

Hayley sang in her first choir concert last week. Naturally, we couldn't distinguish her voice from all the others, but it was still fun to see her up there.

So that, Delicious Readers, is a super-fast snap shot of the past week in the Delicious household. I hope your weeks have been as entertaining and enjoyable!

Brief Bookfair Break

2011-10-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

I've been working like crazy at the middle school book fair all week. Right now, though, I've been granted a reprieve. Someone else is manning the registers and managing the kids so I could come home, eat some lunch and take a breather.

Phew!

Worked out perfectly today since Scott is out of town for the day and it's just not fair to kennel the puppers all day long.

So how is the book fair going? I'm sure you're dying to know. LOL

It is going super, amazingly awesome. In just three days, we've grossed $3000!!!!

And in terms of profit, that means $900 in books for the school library. Do the happy dance with me, Delicious Readers, 'cause that is just plain awesome!

The fair is open today and tomorrow, as well, and I'm hoping to break $5000. Imagine the beautiful damage to be done with $1500 worth of books. *happy sigh*

Adorable Photos of Disney the Dog

2011-10-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

I heard from a couple of you that the photos I posted earlier in the week didn't appear for you. Weird. All looked good on my end and since I don't have the knowledge or patience to figure out the issue, I took new photos.

Of course I took new photos! I new puppy mama and I'm enamored (most of the time) with Disney.

Disney had his first haircut this morning and the sweet thing can actually see now! And hear, too, since he had so much hair in his ears that apparently doesn't need to be there.

This is what he looked like before!

And here are his beautiful black eyes!

Today marks exactly two weeks that he's been with us. I haven't laughed so much in a very long time! He cracks us up all the time with his funny puppy antics and most especially, his three-second attention span.

I think we've all made a lot of progress in those two weeks... he now does his business outside instead of inside on potty pads. He sits and waits for permission to come inside, he comes when called (unless he's in trouble-haha), he's learning to lay on command and he's getting used to his leash. And car rides? He's amazing! Calm and perfectly happy.

Having said all that, he likes to nip, jump up on people and steal the occasional piece of trash from my waste basket.

We've signed up for puppy classes and a bonus for registering for two classes is a one hour private training session. Monday night, we are there! I can't wait to learn more about puppy psychology and learn how to nip bad behaviors in the bud.

I need this cake for my next birthday!

2011-10-20T23:10:00.001-07:00

Minus the "50th" of course. LOL

I finished my book!

2011-10-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

No, not a book I've been *reading*. The book I was *writing*!

I finished it about 11:30pm on Sunday, just in time for Scott to take the first few chapters with him on his business trip.

What a relief to have it done. A serious load off my shoulders, but only for another 11 days.

What's in 11 days, you ask?

National Novel Writer's Month!!!!!

You know, where insane people like myself take it upon themselves to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November.

Just in case you don't feel like doing the math, that's approximately 1,600 words per day.

And that's a lot of words.

And just a little, itty, bitty amount of time in a month that just happens to be a holiday month. Why? Why? Did the crazy creators of NaNo not realize that people (me) are traveling (driving) long distances (600 miles) to spend time with relatives (awesome)?

Here's my question to you, Delicious Readers. (That last one was rhetoric. LOL)

Who wants to be a beta reader?

If you do, comment and leave your email addy. I'll email ya back with details!

Okay, I am way over stressed

2011-10-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

I'm just gonna type this post as a vent and not worry about grammar or typos. 'Cause, really, I just can't handle small details at the moment.

I love my new iPhone 4S, but I can't get it to sync with iTunes and I don't know what to do. Scott is traveling and I'm on my own with this one. I've looked it up online, found a few cryptic answers, but nothing that will actually help me.

So why does my phone need to be synced right now? Why is it so urgently important? Because, Readers, I have an extraordinarily messy house that needs to be cleaned and I don't want to do it without listening to the book I just downloaded from Audible. Books make the cleaning go so much faster. And I also tend to be more thorough because I'm riveted and don't want to stop!

I don't want to house clean without my story! Wah!

Why do things always happen when the husband is out of town? Like TiVo crashing, the tv going out and new phones going wonky? Not that the TiVo crashed or the tv went out recently. That happened over the summer when Scott was gone.

No, yesterday the smoke alarm started chirping. Time to change the battery. No biggie, right? Unless you're 5'3" and can't even reach the dang thing from the top step of the step stool. I finally hunted down our slightly taller stool and was just barely able to get the battery out. Replacing it? Ha. Didn't have any more 9 volts. Natch. Had to go to the store, then struggle all over again to get the fresh one in.

But I did it. Without calling the very tall high school kid across the street. That was my back up plan. Haha.

And let's talk Disney. Not the company. The dog. The world's most awesome puppy. I'm not complaining. Really. Okay. Maybe I am, just a little. I'm training him to do his business outside instead of on the puppy pads he was trained on by his last owners. He adores being outside so it's never a problem to get him out, but he doesn't always have to go. I get that. I do. But I know as soon as he comes back in and I take my eyes off him that he'll pee in the house. I don't know what to do. I can't just leave him outside. Well, I can and I'm happy to do so, but he wants to be with me all the time. If I'm outside, great. If I come inside, he has to come to.

Puppy training class starts in two weeks. I can't wait 'cause I am not puppy proficient. At least I don't feel like I am, but funny, he totally sees me as the alpha mom. I love it!

Isn't this photo cute? I took it this morning before Em went to school.

The book fair I'm coordinating starts next week, so there's tons of stuff to be done this week. It's all going great and I'm not worried, it's just finding the time to do it all. And I can't neglect to mention the ever needy Student Store I run. I adore this job. It's just a lot of work. And keeping up with what the kids wants? Impossible. Who knew we'd go through four boxes of brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts in less than two weeks? Middle schoolers are unpredictable. But we all knew that, didn't we? LOL.

I got a call last night from the lady who is running the church's annual Pumpkin Patch. She desperately needed help this morning and I just couldn't do it since the exterminator is coming, so I agreed to help tomorrow morning for two hours.

Would someone please stop me from my volunteering mania? I can't seem to stop!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I feel better having let off a little steam. Off to solve the syncing issue.

Disney's Official!

2011-10-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

Disney is now an full-fledged member of our family!

The ultimate decision was so easy to make. Disney is such a good puppy. He doesn't really bark, minds well, doesn't even attempt the stairs and uses his potty pad without being told.

And what's more... he is such a sweet love of a doggie!

I had ten minutes tonight between prepping dinner and running out to pick up Emma from CYT (Christian Youth Theater), so I sat down on the floor to love up Disney. He crawled into my lap. And stayed there. For an entire 50 minutes.

He cuddled up and fell asleep (as did my feet-LOL). It was so wonderful that I told Scott I couldn't possibly move. Not even to go get Emma. (I sent Scott to get her instead.) Finally, finally I had to get up. My rear end just couldn't handle the hardwood floor any longer! Plus, I really needed to make dinner. (Cashew chicken. Yum!)

Hayley snapped some photos with my phone so you all could see...

And here's one of Disney cuddling up with Hayley while she does her homework...

Trial Puppy

2011-10-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe we're doing this, but... we have a Trial Puppy.

Hayley's friend's family adopted Disney, but can't keep him. Seven kids (including a new baby), a traveling husband, an older dog and a puppy have overwhelmed the mom and she just can't do it all. Anyway...

Disney is a sheepadoodle. (I know, I know.) Part sheepdog, part poodle. Both are mostly hypoallergenic and when mixed, the result is 100% hypoallergenic. Yay! He's about seven months old and is well-trained already. Not perfect, but he is still a puppy. :) He should grow to be about 25 pounds. (His paws aren't giant, so that gives up hope. Hahaha.)

We're taking him for just a few days to see how it goes, then we'll make a final decision.

The girls are in seventh heaven, but I'm sure you figured that out by now!

A NEW new record in my couponing career!

2011-10-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

I didn't think it could get much better than my trip to Rite-Aid earlier in the week. But I was wrong.

Really. Really. Wrong.

'Cause check this out...

Free, my dear friends. All free. With a $10 profit.

Yippee!!

(Go to www.southerncalisaver.com for the deets!)

A new record in my couponing career!

2011-10-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

I headed to Rite-Aid today for my weekly couponing adventure. I had little hope that they'd have any of what I wanted in stock, seeing as it's five days into their sale week.

Lo and behold, they had EVERYTHING!

I was flabbergasted!

And by the time I pranced out of Rite-Aid, I was positively giddy!

And here's why, Delicious Readers...

This here is $75 worth of merchandise. After coupons, sales and $17 in Up Rewards, I paid $29.58 out of pocket. That happy little receipt printer then zipped out $26.50 in Up Rewards!

But wait, it gets better... dun dun dun...

I can submit for two $3 rebates. Add $6 to that $26.60 ($32.50) and I just brought home all that stuff for a $3 profit!!!!!!

Woot! Woot! Woot!!!!!!!!

If you want to see how to get the deals, go to www.southerncalisaver.com and click on Rite-Aid. Happy shopping!

Life is Good.

2011-10-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here's why I think so...

1. My cold is getting better. Yay!
2. My parents are visiting. Double yay!
3. Even though we had to take my dad to Urgent Care this morning, he's doing much better. Triple yay!
4. Mom, the girls and I escaped to get pedicures this afternoon. Our toesies are so purdy now!
5. Scott, my amazing and wonderful and incredible husband, got an unexpected raise!! *Gugal yays!*
6. There are about a bizzilion coupon inserts in the paper today. I'm gonna have fun this week!
7. I've been rockin' in Scrabble this week with my mom. I've scored over 400 twice!

And now I have a few free minutes. Scott took the kids on errands. Mom took Dad to his fave restaurant for a beer. And I am home, awaiting a plumber to take a look at a leak in our living room ceiling. (That leads us to another thing that makes me happy... we don't own this house, so I don't have to pay for repairs. *heeheehee*)

Emma's on TV!

2011-09-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

650 choir students from around San Diego, including many from Emma's school, will be singing the National Anthem at tomorrow night's Padres game. As a little teaser, her director asked one of the local news stations to feature them in a segment since they're the only middle school choir attending.

So Emma and I, and a handful of other dedicated/insane parents and students, got to school at 4:45 am. The kids were live three times--once as a teaser and twice as the three choir officers were interviewed and the rest of the kids sang in the background.

Here's the link so you can see my girl a-singing her little heart out... (She's the super-blondie in the first row on the left, just over the shoulder of the last girl interviewed. )

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/on-air/as-seen-on/The_Importance_of_Music_San_Diego-130566003.html

And here's my video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XxSA8AuBr8

Hey, doc. How 'bout I just direct deposit my entire paycheck to you?

2011-09-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of going to the doctor. I'm sick of the bills. I'm sick of the pharmacy.

But most of all... I'm sick of being sick.

What is up with my body lately? Seriously.

Was at Urgent Care last week for pink eye that still hasn't resolved itself, so I had to see an opthamologist today. Let's hope his prescription and expensive eye wash do the trick.

But guess what? I've also been struggling with what I think might be an ear infection. I was going to ask the doc today to take a look at it, but he didn't have the scope thingie to peek into my ear.

The pain isn't bad (mostly), just annoying. And it seems to be focused right in front of my ear at the far edge of my cheek.

So what do I do? Go to Urgent Care again? Wait and see what happens? Redirect Scott's paycheck to the medical center? Start calling the pharmacists my new bffs? LOL

Get ready for next week's banner sales at the drug stores!

2011-09-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

Feel like getting toothpaste, contact solution, eye drops, razors, soap and deodorant for FREE next week?????

Of course you do! 'Cause who can resist FREE!!!!!!

Follow this link to one of my very favorite sites, My Frugal Adventures, to get the lowdown on stores, coupons and drugstore deals for next week.

http://myfrugaladventures.com/2011/09/shop-for-free-cvs-walgreens-and-rite-aid-19/#more-68000

Have fun and enjoy the extra money in your checking account!!

Busy, busy, busy

2011-09-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

So many times throughout the day, I think "I should put that on my blog" or "What a great blog post this will make". Sometimes I even take photos in preparation for a really great post.

Then I get busy. Or distracted. Or exhausted. Or I just can't remember what I was going to write.

Today, therefore, I'm going to give you a mosaic, if you will. A snapshot of my various thoughts and photos from the past week. It won't be great writing. There may even be a lack of transitional sentences. *gasp*

Girl Scouts... We had our very first meeting this past week and it was a BLAST! So much fun, I tell ya! We played a giant board game outside on the driveway, talked about all the great things we want to do as Scouts and made plans for troop government, dues, snacks, etc. Right now I have 9 girls in the troop. How cool is that?!? Woot woot! I'm not sure how the age difference dynamics are going to work, but as long as I keep it low key, we'll be fine.

Student Store... The store at Emma's school that I manage is doing really well. Average as far as sales go, but certain items are flying off the shelves. We can't keep enough kettle corn, baked Cheetos or gummy bears in stock, not to mention the fruit ice we sell. Also available are all kinds of little erasers, pens, school supplies, etc. The sixth graders cannot get enough of the erasers! For the very first time, these kiddos have a couple dollars in their pocket to spend and mom and dad aren't telling them what they can and cannot buy. Of course they want to buy everything they can!

You could look at it like we are providing crap (naughty word, I know, sorry) they don't need. But I prefer to think about it in terms of teaching them how to spend wisely. (Keep in mind that nothing, aside from locks, clothes and yearbooks is over $2.) They'll learn soon enough that maybe the squishy ball they desperately wanted last week wasn't worth the $1.50. Or when it's super hot and they want a fruit ice, they'll wish they hadn't spend their dollar on a hacky sack. Or vice versa. It's all about giving them opportunity to make choices in a safe environment.

I totally love managing the store. I've met some great moms who volunteer to work the windows and gotten to know the school staff pretty well. It does take more time than I anticipated, but that's okay 'cause it's so much fun. And what's more, I feel so good about helping out. Last year, the store raised $15,000 for the ASB! How cool is that?!

Pink Eye... It's been 15 days and I still have it. I. Am. Annoyed. I look like a super-scary monster and people often do a double-take when they look at me. I hate that. Rx #1 didn't work and the verdict is still out on rx #2. I think it's working, but then again, my eyes still look goopy and gross. Better, but not better enough. I've got two more days on the second rx. After that, I'll have to hunt down an opthamologist. I don't have time for this. Seriously.

Cheese Souffle... I made some lovely cheese souffles in my toaster oven the other day. I saw them all puffy and golden through the window. I had my camera all ready to document their cheesy and airy goodness but alas, the darned things fell within seconds of hitting the cooler air. I still took photos... (I really ought to put that recipe on the blog. A project for tomorrow. When I'm not brain dead. And watching Wild Hogs. And thinking about the pastries Scott brought home today from a Swedish bakery.)

I still have more to tell you all about... Emma's bday party, progress on my novel, a really great book I read... but I'm getting tired. Plus, as interested as you are (heeheeheee), you probably don't have another 15 minutes to spend reading Delicious as Pie today. That's okay. I'll save some good stuff for tmro.

Night-night, Delicious Readers. I miss you! (That's code for leave me a comment! I want to know how you're all doing. :))

Black Out: San Diego Style

2011-09-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

Not a good night for those afraid of the dark, but we sure had a blast!

Some friends from down the street came over and we ended up Scrabbling for a couple hours. Their kids, and ours, ran amok for several hours and *gasp* found out what it's like to live without instant technological gratification!

No Kinect? Nope.

No microwave? Nu-huh.

Candles? You got it, kid.

We barbequed dinner instead of making stew as I'd planned and ate cold canned carrots and sliced apples. Delicious! (Scott added bbqed trout to his dinner, as well, and enjoyed it thoroughly.)

Then what do you do when the power's been out for hours and your ice cream's melthing?

You eat it!!!!!

Christine and Charlotte, our visiting friends, ran home to get their ice cream. Sundaes, anyone?

Thanks to the flash on my camera you can clearly see what we could barely see...

This is the view from our balcony. Normally above that house, you'd see cars on the freeway and the lights of a shopping center--mostly the Office Depot sign emblazoned in red. LOL

Taking care of the dishes Little House style

You scream, I scream, we all scream for (melting) ice cream!

Hayley pulled out all our tea light candles and put them in paper coffee cups to make awesome little lanterns. Charlotte's watching, entranced. Although we're not sure if she's entranced by candle light or her hero, Hayley. LOL

Emma had the great idea to make popcorn the old fashioned way... without a microwave! The kids have never had popcorn made a in a pot and we four adults hadn't had it since childhood. Oh my gracious, it was AMAZING! Adios, microwave popcorn!

Scott enjoyed his dinner on the patio--it was too hot to stay inside.

Emma, Charlotte and Hayley stargazing... definitely not an easy thing to do when the lights of San Diego reflect into the atmosphere.

Right after I took the stargazing photos, Charlotte's older sister, Natalie, arrived with her dad, Dave. We hung out for another couple hours, then Natalie stayed to spend the night. Her family was kind enough to give us two bags of ice so we filled our cooler and stashed the milk, oj, mayo, cheese, etc. (I still ended up throwing out the milk and mayo since they were in the power-less fridge for seven hours. Better safe than sorry, right?)

All of us slept downstairs since upstairs was about three bazillion degrees. The girls slept on the couches while Scott and I commandeered the guest room bed. We brushed our teeth by candlelight, went to the bathroom in the dark and fell asleep in dark, dark, darkness.

Power came on about 1:20 am. The bathroom light had been left on and Scott and I saw the light come on. We both thought one of the girls got up. Then it occurred to me that no, the power was on! Yippee!

But due to the uncertainly of when the power would return, the superintendent cancelled school today. It's a Southern California snow day! The girls and I ran a couple errands. And I actually remembered to take pix for all you Delicious Readers out there!

No refrigerated treats at Starbucks! They had to throw everything away. Lucky for me, though, they'd gotten a shipment of milk in this morning. Thank goodness!

Trader Joe's donated all their perishables last night. What you see in this photo is the vestiges of their early morning shipment. I scored the last gallon of 2% milk. (Not what we normally drink, but better than whole, right?)

I thought the shelves at Ralph's would be completely clear of water, but not so much. I bought several gallons since our neighborhood is on a water boil order.

Thank goodness for power because I had to look up the specifications of a water boil order. I knew about boiling water before drinking it, but what about showers, washing dishes and um... hand washing?

Here's the low down...

short showers are fine, but keep your eyes and mouth shut
using the dishwasher is fine since the water gets hot enough to kill all bacteria
when hand washing dishes, let them soak in a bleach/water bath for a few minutes

And washing your hands? Hot water, soap, scrub, dry... and then use hand sanitizer!

I have ten girls coming over tomorrow for a birthday party sleepover. I sure hope the boil water order is lifted by then.

All in all, though, this whole thing is quite an adventure. I've enjoyed the diversion immensely!

Deliciously Birthdayed!

2011-09-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

My Emma-Girl turned 11 years old yesterday!

I cannot believe it. The other day she was this itty-bitty squishy of a baby and now she's in middle school!!!

We had dinner at Olive Garden. Did you know they no longer sing or provide free desserts? Apparently, too many people complained that it was annoying. (I can understand the signing being annoying, but free dessert? It's should be a God-given right!) Anyway, we had a great server and she made a little dessert plate from Andes Candies... including the candle!

Is it time yet? I've been waiting all day! I've been waiting for 364 days! Can I open them yet? Mommmmmmmmm, when can I open them?

Both sets of grandparents joined the celebration via Skype. Here's Hayley with Grandma Barbara.

Here's Grandma Sue and Grandpa Dick.

And then there was pie. Chocolate cream pie made by the birthday girl herself. Es muy deliciouso!

Funny, Funny, Funny...

2011-09-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

We went out to Red Robin for dinner tonight and while we waited (endlessly, it seemed) for our food, I reached into my purse and pulled out a game that I'd torn from Real Simple Family... "10 Dinner Chat Topics"

And here, my Delicious Readers, are some of my family's answers. They are just hysterical!

1. Name five things you would take to a desert island?

Hayley: helicopter, airplane, ship, cell phone, snacks
Emma: dessert, private jet, extra fuel, a runway for the airplane, people to work the runway
Scott: ice cream machine, cow for milk, Mom (heehee), multi-tool, sunscreen (Emma wanted to know how he would purify the milk. I want to know how Mr. Lactose Intolerant is going to eat all that ice cream without taking a b-load of lactose pills with him.)
Kate: lots and lots of books; my iPhone with a solar charger; Daddy (heehee again); my bed and all its accessories (meaning blankets, sheets and pillows); Coke

2. You can go get anyone from the past and bring him or her to the present for one hour. Whom would you bring and what would you do with that person?

Hayley: Dolly Madison. She loved oyster-flavored ice cream. I'd give her normal flavors like chocolate to see what she thinks!
Kate: Jesus. I'd ask him how to help people get along.
Scott: Abraham Lincoln. I'd take him boogey boarding. (This is a reference to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.) Hayley then said, "Would you really want to see that much of Abraham Lincoln?" Hahahahahahhahahahhahahahaha!)

3. If parents could switch places with kids for a day or kids switch places with parents, what would you do?

Emma: put Tabasco on your tongue (She's referring to a method of discipline in our household.)
Hayley: bury all the dishes in the house in mud and make you clean them all
Kate: I'd go to the beach and play all day! Boogey-board and build sand castles and not ever think about the time or getting home to make dinner or checking sunscreen on kids' shoulders or worrying about sharks.

4. You can't time travel, but you can send one object back in time to anyone you want. What would you send and whom would you send it to?

Hayley: I'd go back to when Mom was a little girl and kept dropping the milk. I'd give her a wagon to carry it in!" (She's referring to when my mom would send me up to the corner store for milk. Without fail, my little arms would get tired and I'd drop the gallon within feet of the same spot. Every time. Sweet Hayley wanted to give me a wagon! Ahahahahaha! I love it!) (Hayley also wanted to send my novel-in-progress to Jane Austen to get her opinion on it. How funny is that?)
Emma: I'd send a Get Out of Jail Free pass to Rosa Parks. (Okaaaaayyyyy then. I don't know where she comes up with this stuff, but yay, Emma!!!! LOL)

Girl Scouts... a wonderful dichotomy of fun and stress

2011-09-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

This past year of Girl Scouts was not ideal, to say the least. So this year, I'm taking matters into my own hands!

I'm starting a multi-level troop.

A multi-level troop is one in which there is more than one level of girls... I'll have Juniors (4th & 5th graders), Cadettes (6th-8th graders) and Seniors (9th-10th graders). Heaven help me when it comes time to plan badges, right? LOL

Today, though, was the first hurdle in the GS year: the Parent Meeting. It went great! I have a co-leader (on paper) and a treasurer! Hooray! I won't have to handle the money stuff. Yippee!

As of right now, I have seven girls in the troop. I desperately want more, especially in the Senior category. Poor Hayley is the only Senior and she needs buddies. I need to find out about other Girl Scouts the local high schools. She can't possibly be the only one.

Did you know that Girl Scouts is about to start is 100th year?!!!! How cool is that? 100 years of helping girls reach their potential. I love it.

I'm wondering just to manage a GS troop, manage the student store at the middle school and run the book fairs (also at the middle school). I haven't even had the opportunity to sign up to help at the high school yet!

What fun it all is! Although yesterday I was in crisis mode for a bit about GS. That was *not* so fun. But a trip to the farmer's market shook me out of my obsessing and everything was all better. The awesome parent meeting proved it. :)

Day One: Success!

2011-08-31T22:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not talking about the new school year here. I'm talkin' 'bout the Student Store I manage at one of the girls' schools.

Phew!

It's taken quite a bit of coordination and prep work to order new supplies, set everything up. double check deliveries, create a volunteer schedule and design a bulletin board.

But you know what?

I've loved every minute of it. It's so, so, so fun!

And the students adore the store. They've been asking since school started last week when the store would open and always groaned when I told them not until today. Even the principal moaned! Haha.

I couldn't open sooner for two reasons... 1) my food order didn't come until yesterday and 2) parents seem to be a bit more reticent to volunteer these days. Volunteering is down across the board. I'm hoping that means that more parents are working again. (Wouldn't that be awesome?)

We did an awesome business today, with long lines of excited kids handing over their dollars for school supplies, trinkets and (relatively healthy) snack foods.

And here's on of the greatest parts of my Manager job... seeing my sixth-grader greet me with big smiles, hugs and kisses. She's so proud to have me there! And I'm so grateful for the opportunity. What a blessed mama I am!

Come see my bee-you-tee-ful cards!

2011-08-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

My handmade card collection depleted earlier this summer when I presented several sets to teachers for end of year gifts. Time to make new ones!

Perfecting timing, too, because visiting One-of-the-Besties Melanie loves making cards as much as I do.

We scouted out a fantastic little stamp shop nearby and spent... um.... many, many beads on cute paper, necessary pens, unique stamps, etc.

Some of the ones in the photo below we did together. Others, I've done before or since her visit.

These two cards required a new technique for both Mel and I.
Sooooo worth it because the insides are adorable!!!!

Inside the birdie card

Inky Antics has created honeycomb paper to glue inside cards so that when you open them up, the honeycomb stretches into shape! Naturally, they sell coordinating stamps which, as you can see, are so high on the cuteness scale that it's totally worth pulling out the ol' Amex card for.

Here's the link if you're interested in checking it out yourself... http://www.inkyantics.com/honeypop.htm

Inside the elephant card

I just put together a packet of cutie cards for Scott's mom--a belated bday gift, if you will. He sent her a new version of Norton Anti-Virus. LOL Needed and appreciated, no doubt, but not very birthday-ish!

My fingers are itching to get back up to my craft corner and create more cards, but since school is now in session and the girls are out of the house for several hours a day, my focus must be on finishing up this latest round of edits on my novel. I've been working on that at least a couple hours a day and if I ever get my sleep schedule regulated so that I sleep enough during the night and don't have to fortify during the day, I'll get even further with those edits.

And if you feel the need to order any cards.... heeeheeeheeee.... just let me know!

"But wait! There's more!"

2011-08-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Scott came home from meetings today with food enough to warrant a call to our friends down the street... "Come over and take some of this food!"

18 cookies, 4 kinds of bread, 2 giant containers of OJ, chicken salad, a full box of microwave popcorn and apples.

6 bags of chips, lunch meat, 2 bottles of Sprite, 3 bottles of water and enough lettuce to feed Scott for the next two weeks. (He eats *great* quantities of lettuce every day, btw.)

Fruit salad, 5 candy bars, apple juice and 2 partial bottles of soda, not to mention the 4 2-liters not pictured.

You can imagine that I'm not kidding when I say it took the better part of an hour to repackage it all and figure out how to get it in my fridge. LOL

But wait! There's more! (Do I sound like a Ginsu commercial yet? Hahahahaha!)

So Scott dashed in with all this food and dashed right back out to meet the business associates for dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

Three hours later, my super-duper amazing husband waltzed back in with yet more food... the second half of his Porterhouse and a Chocolate Thunder from Down Under.

He is a good, good man.

But wait! There's still more! (A little useless trivia for ya...Did you know that those annoying Ginsu ads actually sold between two and three million sets in just six years, earning its place as the marketing icon for infomercials ever since.)

Just a few minutes ago, Scott looks at me and says, "Oh, yeah. I forgot to bring home the Dove ice cream bars. I'll have to go get those tomorrow." I'll help you remember, Darling!

PHOTOS! PHOTOS! PHOTOS AT LAST!

2011-08-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Awesome friend Melanie and her daughter, the Great Gaberdini, visited us here in Sunny San Diego for a whole week! And we had the best time ever. Seriously. The. Best.Time. Ever.

There are sooooo many photos I want to share with you. In the end, I had to pick and choose and even then, it took me hours to adjust and size just those. I figure individual slide shows are the best bet to display them. I tried to include little tidbit-y stories in the captions for ya.

San Diego Zoo

Hollywood!

We have no photos to prove it, but we saw Rodeo Drive as well. Sort of. Kind of. Well, really the entire experience turned into a giant disaster.

Scott came with us up to LA, but he drove separately since he had to be back in town for meetings on Friday. We drove all that way just fine. Him behind, me in the lead. We made it to Rodeo Drive and drove the length of it. We were turning left to look for parking when I made it through a light and he didn't. I parked in the closest garage and called him. But my phone was dead. The battery was fine, but the signal? Dissolved into thin air.

He didn't know where we were. We didn't know where he was. And we couldn't call each other! His signal was just as dead as mine. And everybody else's who was on the AT&T Network in that part of town.

I'll abridge the story now and just tell you that by the time we all hooked up again, there was no time left for Rodeo Drive to be awed by our presence. *sigh*

And later that night... as the bellman unloaded our things into the Presidential Suite, he told us that lots of celebrities stay in this particular room, Sean Penn being the most recent. Hayley, my usually reserved girl, grabbed the camera and flipped the dial to video. She said to this poor bellman, "My friends will never believe. Would you say that again, please?" And he did! I just shook my head. You can never tell what exactly will be important enough for that girl to break out of her shell.

More fun photos!

Banner day at the beach!

2011-08-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

One of my very best besties, Melanie, is visiting with her daughter. Today we took them to the beach and they LOVED it!

Ten year-old, Gabby, has never seen the Pacific and had no idea what a boogie board is. Well, we cured her of that one. The girl simply adores boogie boarding. Check it out...

While Melanie and I stood ankle-deep in the icy Pacific waters watching Emma and Gabby ride the waves, a very large group of people came to the edge of the water. Three people stepped in about knee deep and the woman in the center was immersed and baptized!

After a bit of convincing, I got Melanie to try her hand at riding the waves. I don't blame her for being hesitant--the water should have had ice cubes bobbing about, it was so cold. But I got her on a board and her reaction? "That's so fun!"

A couple hours later, we saw a wedding! We tried to get a photo, but couldn't. I think the camera battery died or something. We got a *ton* of other photos, but it's getting late so I'm not going to take the time to adjust the color, resize, save as and import. I'll get them up soon though.

So if you don't hear from me for the next few days, know that I'll make up for it after Mel and Gabs fly home on Wednesday. Then you'll probably hear too much from me! LOL

Drugstore deals are rockin' this week!

2011-07-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

Lotsa FREE stuff today!

Walgreen's

Crayola Washable Markers = FREE

Complete Multipurpose Solution = FREE

Kids Smart Hi DHA-Omega-3 Fish Oil 30 ct=FREE

Goody Colour Collection Snap Clip 6 ct = FREE

Allegra 24 Hour Allergy Relief 5 ct - ($2 money-maker after coupon and mail-in rebate!)

CVS

2L Coke - FREE

Skinny Cow candy - FREE

Bic Soleil razor cartridges - FREE

Rite-Aid

Oral B battery toothbrush - FREE after mail-in rebate

Dawn - $.49

The other things in the photo were all great deals when combing sales and coupons. If you want to see exactly how to get these fantastic prices, go to www.myfrugaladventures.com or www.southerncalisavers.com.

To be honest, sometimes it's a bit of a challenge to find the sale items if you don't go during the first day or two of the sale. And for that reason, I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to go shopping this morning. I usually can't go Sunday mornings because church takes priority, but today we chose to do a family devotional instead. That freed up some time and off I went to Find. Those. Deals!

Here's another super-awesome, can't miss deal for ya... If you have a Ralph's nearby, you can get FREE toothpaste! Crest toothpaste (the regular variety) is on sale for $1.00. But... buying two of them triggers a Catalina coupon (those ones that spit out at the register after you pay) for $2.00 off your next Ralph's purchase! (The normal purchase price for the toothpaste is $3.49 or so. When you spend $6 or more on Crest, you get the Catalina. Lucky for us, though, the Ralph's deal and the Catalina deal are overlapping so we get FREE, FREE, FREE toothpaste.) I've done it a couple times already and can't wait to donate them!

Oh, and if you take a look in your Proctor and Gamble coupon insert in your Sunday paper, you'll see a Crest toothpaste coupon. Ralph's doubles coupons up to $1, so in the end... you'll spend $1 for two full-size tubes and get $2 back! Woohoo!

Longest Drive EVER!

2011-07-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

Seriously, we have driven across entire large states in less time than it took us to get home from northern LA today.

It sucked. Big time.

The drive should have taken no more than 4 traffic-free hours, but this is LA we're talking about, so there's no such thing. We expected *some* slowing.

We did not expect stop and go for more than TWO HOURS.

And it could have gone on for another three or four hours had we not detoured to another freeway. I figured it would be just as bad everywhere, but it was actually fair to midland.

By this point, though, we'd been in the car more than three hours so we stopped for a snack. In the only place we could. A total ghetto. I was so relieved when we pulled back into the stop and go of the freeway. (Don't hear that too often, do you? LOL)

At some point later, after more slowing of traffic, patience and blood sugar, we found a Target to peruse. Emma needed some anti-itch cream for her wicked looking bug bits and I wanted to check out the toy clearance section. (AWESOME deals! I'll post on that tomorrow.)

We pulled into our driveway about 9:20pm, almost nine hours after we left camp. I know Emma loved camp and all, but honestly? Next year, she's gonna have to go to a camp a bit closer.

Now my filthy, exhausted, camped-out daughters are showered, comfy and tucked into their very own beds.

I am not very far behind. Nighty-night.

The colors of God's robe

2011-07-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Scott and I stopped in San Juan Capistrano the other day on our way home from dropping off the girls. He needed a decaf Americano, one inch of cold soy and three honeys, please.

As we waited for his coffee, I turned to look out the window. This is what I saw...

It's the San Juan Capistrano Mission, built in 1776.

Aside from the odd Victorian you might see in a dedicated park, there is little in Southern California to indicate civilization before say, the 1950's. So to stumble upon a rambling mission from 235 years ago... it's a sight to behold.

Naturally, I wanted to go investigate, but given the day and time (8pm on a Sunday evening), the gates were locked up and the tour guides were settled comfortably in their easy chairs back home.

We were rooted to the corner, though, where we took the photo above. We just couldn't leave the show God was putting on for us... I think He must have been showing us the colors of His robe.

Simply breathtaking.

I've stressed myself passed the point of writing that darned novel

2011-07-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

Since my sweet kiddos were in camp last week and are at camp/camping this week, I set myself a goal:

Finish writing the novel.

It's written, so it's just editing. And rewriting. Lots and lots of editing and rewriting. Because, you know, a writer is never, ever satisfied with her work.

I decided that my first chapter must be burned. It's horrible. It makes me want to gag. I can't even bear to read it I dislike it so much.

Alrighty then. Time to write a new Chapter One.

Except I'm stuck. In a very deep lake of molasses. I can barely write and when I do inch forward a bit, any progress is immediately sucked away into the thick pull of the molasses.

I'm starting to stress myself out about this and that is the anti-point of having four days all to yourself. I'm supposed to be relaxing and enjoying myself, not finding every possible excuse to avoid the novel.

So here are my options as I see them...

1. Push through it and write horrible, hideous prose in hopes that as I write, the words walk into a sea of color and light and beauty.
2. Let myself off the hook. Feel guilty. Not get this novel done before November rolls around with the promise of another National Novel Writer's Month (NaNo) and another 50,000 word novel. (Wait till you hear my idea for the next novel. I'm totally psyched about it! I want to finish Finding Truth so that I can start working on the adventures of a... well, I can't tell you yet, but just you wait. You're gonna love it!)

Option one looks like the winner to me. If I can just get into the NaNo mindset and not edit as I write. Say a prayer for me. After all, this is Christian fiction. I think prayer might be the best way to get through the molasses swamp.

Alone is a good thing, right?

2011-07-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

Usually, I adore Alone Time. What mother doesn't, right?

And next week, I'll have three plus days of total, uninterrupted Alone Time.

I should be ecstatic, but I'm not. I'm completely bummed out.

Completely.

Both kids will be away (one camping with friends, the other at camp). Scott and I planned some fun things to do around his work schedule. Work is work, has to be done. But the kids would be gone!

Then a business trip got scheduled. No prob, I'll just go along. He'll be right here in CA and we have a free round-trip ticket on Southwest just begging to be used.

Alas. No frequent-flyer seats remained on any flights we could make work and since the trip is next week, ticket prices are outrageous. $400 for an hour and a half flight that's usually about $100.

And so I'll be alone. It wouldn't be so bad except for two things...

Number 1: My sister lives just an hour and a half or so from where I'd be and we'd planned to meet for lunch one day. I only get to see her once or twice a year and I really, really wanted to see her!

Number 2: Despite the fact that the kids are on summer break, I've had a lot of alone time lately. That's what happens when you join the Insomniacs of America club. I'm bored of being alone and I want company!!!!

Are you wondering about getting together with friends? That would be nice, wouldn't it? Making friends takes time. Sometimes a lot of time. *sigh*

I adore my husband and all, but if he ever wants...

2011-07-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

anything related to peaches again, he's gonna have to do it himself.

What on God's peach-colored earth is she talking about? you're now asking yourself.

I'm in the process of making peach butter for Scott. This is the first and last time it will ever happen.

Peaches are so gross. They're slimy when you peel them, mushy on their bruises and just wicked looking around the pit.

All illusions of my ever willingly eating a peach are now OVER!

Ever since last winter when I bought a book on microwave canning, I've been looking forward to summer so I could prepare and can Scott-friendly jams and butters.

I started with apricots. Each and every one of them was moldy inside. *shudder* Absolutely revolting.

And then this peach experience? Horrible.

I think I'll stick to pears and applesauce.

But I really, really want to make Scott-friendly jam. I'm sure you know how crazy-expensive pure fruit spreads are. The grocery bill ratchets up a notch every morning when the man puts a quarter-jar-full on his cream of buckwheat.

Here's an idea. Maybe I should start with frozen fruit. It's supposedly almost rivals fresh fruit in freshness, right? I'll have to do a little price research and see if it's worth trying.

Thoughts, Delicious Readers?

Oh my gracious. I can't believe I've started watching this show.

2011-07-19T01:52:00.000-07:00

Say Yes to the Dress on TLC.

It's bad. So very, very bad.

But I like to see the wedding gowns, although with the bridal couture these days, I'm not sure why.

Like all reality shows, it's all about the drama. Of course the producers won't profile the "typical" brides. You know, the ones who stick to their budgets, aren't sick with cancer, don't have a fiance in Iraq or aren't beauty queens.

I think this is the $11K dress.
Beautiful, but come on already!

I don't judge people regardless of their.. ahem... situations, but I must admit it's really hard to concentrate on the brides' and bridal consultants' worthy qualities.

Scott and I were watching an episode last night in which the bride-to-be wasn't even engaged yet! She was just really, really excited. Her boyfriend knew she was coming to try on dresses, so he met her in the fitting room and proposed.

When asked why he'd waited so long to pop the question, he said, "She's an amazing woman and she's worth an amazing ring. I had to save up for it." Very cool. I totally appreciate his candor.

Then this bride picks out an $11,000 dress to which she can't Say No! She knows it's too much money and she can't really afford it. She knows that it's the equivalent to the down payment on a house. But she buys it anyway.

Scott and I just shook our heads. How is their marriage going to last? Here's her boyfriend saving for years to buy her the perfect (and modest) ring and she goes and buys a crazy expensive dress that she totally can't afford! Um... a couple with such polar opposite views in finances is in for a big ol' challenge.

Um, where's the other part of the bodice?

Then there was another bride who cried and pouted until her fiance gave in and let her buy a third wedding dress. Yes, you read correctly. She has three wedding dresses for one wedding. Hello!

The morals in this show are hideous! Selfishness? Check. Obsession? Check. Wastefulness? Double check.

I really need to stop watching it. But... it is kind of fun to watch with the girls. We like to talk about the dresses (what is with the current mermaid-style fad? Ick!) and wonder aloud at the insanity of the women profiled. At least I know my girls understand the morals and values Scott and I have been teaching them from Day One. And that makes me happy.

The perfect San Diego beach

2011-07-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

Coronado... ah, Coronado.

The hours I spent on that beach while growing up came rushing at me faster than the fantastic waves drumming up onto the perfect golden shore.

See the Hotel Del way, way, way in the background?

This beach is the polar opposite of the one we went to last week. It's expansive and clean, spacious and comfortable. So much room to spread out and run back and forth between the water and our camp. We could see the Coronado Islands in the distance, little crabs scuttling on the sand, live sand dollars imperceptibly digging their way into the sand.

Yes, there really is this much space! And we got the best
parking spot ever, just in front of that house with the
square tower.

And what made it even better?

Brand-spanking new boogie boards!

The four of us, plus a Hayley friend, sprayed on the sunscreen then flew into the knee-numbing water.

Yes, it was icy. Frankly, I'm surprised there weren't ice cubes sloshing about in the waves.

We ignored the cold, jumped on the boards and rode those frigid waves all the way back into shore.

IT WAS AWESOME!

We laughed and shouted and hooted and then promptly scraped our knees falling off into the sand.

Family fun doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Unless you count burying the youngest in a deep hole of sand, walking the beach holding the hand of my honey and stopping for ice cream on the way home. Ahhhh... what a great day.

Who said cooking was all about the food?

2011-07-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

What fun!

Adoption Orientation

2011-07-15T03:12:00.000-07:00

It took forever to get here, but tonight was finally the adoption orientation at the center we'd like to use.

Emma, just a couple days old

I want to say that it was awesome and eye-opening and all that good stuff, but honestly, I knew pretty much everything the director spent three hours explaining.

The seminar was more on the definition and advantages of "open adoption" and while I knew that subject would be the main focus of the evening, I'd hoped there would be a decent amount of conversation regarding the next steps in the adoption process.

Basically, the next step is short and sweet and warranted less than 60 seconds of class time. We fill out a very brief questionnaire regarding the baby we'd like to adopt (age, race, etc.), our own ages, contact info and how long we've been married and why we want to adopt.

Okay, then. Easy enough.

Once the director reads through our info, she'll let us know if she can work with us or not. You see, she only works with about 20 couples at a time so that 1) the couple doesn't feel like a number in the great adoption journey and 2) so that it generally won't take longer than 12 months to adopt. And in choosing who to work with, she needs to create a varied portfolio of possible parents for the infants in question.

To be more specific, she doesn't want to offer up five couples that have similar characteristics, backgrounds, current children, etc. And I totally get that. It makes me nervous nonetheless. What if she has four other couples just like Scott and I? Then she will be honest and tell us that she won't be able to help us adopt in a decent amount of time.

I respect that. Makes me nervous, but I respect that.

Here's something Scott and I giggled about after the meeting. Naturally, each of the six couples had to introduce themselves and mention how long they'd been married. Here's the breakdown...

Two years: one couple
Three years: two couples
Four years: one couple
Five years: one couple
SIXTEEN YEARS: us

We felt so OLD! Sheesh!

At any rate, Scott and I got a quick bite to eat after the meeting and filled out the info sheet. I'll fax it back to the director tomorrow. If she can work with us, we'll discuss the next step with her... a two-hour meeting to make sure we're really ready to adopt.

And isn't that the question of the year? Seriously. One minute, I'm 100% on board, can't wait to get started. The next minute? I'm thinking maybe it's the wrong decision and we should forget the whole thing. Five minutes later, I've completely changed my mind again and can't live without more children in my life.

Hayley holding her brand-new sissy

I keep praying that God will send us a big neon sign (lit, please) telling us exactly what to do. I close my eyes every single night with a blank chalk board in my mind, just waiting for him to write the correct answer. Maybe I should imagine a stone tablet instead. Or line up imaginary bushes in the shapes of "yes" and "no" for God to set afire.

You know, 95% of the time, I am the most patient person on Planet Earth. The other 5%? I'm pacing back and forth, waiting waiting waiting not-so-patiently, for God to tell me exactly what to do.

Here's what my mind keeps going back to... Scott and I met the summer after my freshman year of college. I was 18. We started dating and within three weeks (yes, three weeks), we both knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we would get married and spend our lives together. We knew. It was as clear as if God said, "Kate, you're a girl." Yes, God. I am a girl. That's an uncontestable fact. "Kate and Scott, you will get married." Yes, God. That, too, is uncontestable.

When I was very first pregnant with Emma, I knew she was a girl. And I knew my labor would be three hours. I knew it within the deepest part of my being.

So I'm waiting to get that same kind of impermeable and crystal clear message from God that adoption is the right choice for our family.

Any time now, God. Any time...

And the reason I can't focus on anything for more than three and a half seconds is...

2011-07-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

not my fault!!!!!

Really, it's not! I thought it was just me being moody. Distracted. Interested in too many things. Guilted into too many other things.

But there's a real, live, actual reason why focusing and I are not BFFs.

My medication!!!!!

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh," you say. "Now it all makes sense."

Yes, yes it does all make sense now and while I am pleased to know that my flightiness is not my fault, it does not please me one bit that I still have to find a way to work with it.

For example... my novel. I open it up. I scroll through it for perhaps 47 seconds. I walk away.

Card-making. I find a design to emulate. I flip through my small-ish collection of over-priced but super-cute paper. I spread out several pieces on my desk. I walk away.

Laundry. I walk into the guest room (aka clean laundry dump room). I fold three wash clothes precisely. (Because my linen cabinet is friendly with Martha Stewart's linen cabinet, I like everything to be exact. Just in case Martha ever comes on the Linen Line.) I shake out a shirt or two of Scott's. I walk away.

Even when I'm in the bookstore, I get... bored. *gasp* *shudder* *shielding of the face in horror* I know. It's terrible, isn't it?

But despite the lack of focus and the mild restless leg syndrome, my mood has stabilized and I'm sleeping relatively normally. (Yay!!!!!!!!) The benefits of the meds out muscle the annoyances and I will befriend my unfortunate focal-less-ness.

What was I saying again? (LOL)

A So Cal Classic...

2011-07-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

The Bougainvillea

Hi, Hy!

2011-07-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hydrangeas outside my front door

When couponing makes me crazy...

2011-07-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

Rite-Aid has a deal on Compound W this week. Normally, it's $18.99, but it's on sale for $10.99. Then there's a $2.00 off coupon on coupons.com. PLUS, there's a $10 mail-in rebate. So in the end, it's a $1 money-maker.

Pretty cool, especially considering Scott just told me last night he'd like me to pick up some Compound W. (http://www.riteaid.com/stores/weekly_ad/detail_item.jsf?tnumber=T43163&circularId=2663&page=3&region=westfrdy)

So I printed the coupon. Except my printer decided not to work and on some sites, you can only print the coupon once. So according to the site, I'd printed it and couldn't print another. ARGH!!!!!

Annoying, but not the end of the world. I hopped on the kids' laptop and tried to print it from there. More problems. So I got on Scott's laptop. Even more problems! I was pulling my hair out.

All for a flipping $2 coupon.

I know, I know. At some point, it's just not worth it any more. But before I went to Rite-Aid this evening, I tried once more on Scott's computer and... SUCCESS! I got my coupon.

Not that I could use it or anything. Rite-Aid was out of the product. Natch. And the dumb Rite-Aid employees were absolutely no help. I had to go back and forth from the aisle (in the back of the store) to the front counter FIVE times trying to get the right product.

I finally just got a rain check. Rain check number three. Since, of course, they were out of the other two things on my list.

Target, too, was out of all four things I was super-couponing. Now I'll have to go to the Super Target 12 miles away. Big inventory means bigger chance of success.

Oh, and while I'm talking about Target, guess what??? My local Target is putting in a big ol' grocery section! I can't wait!!!!!!

October 9th is the expected completion date. Guess who'll be first in line at 8am that day? LOL

Um... what happened to the beach????

2011-07-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, we've been back in San Diego for exactly a year now and it took us that long to go the beach and play!

Pathetic, I know, but we had a good excuse for not going last year... sharks and sting rays populated the shallow waters off the beaches. They normally don't do that here. So, you know, we kinda avoided the water. No Jaws replays for us.

(Although I did have a dream a couple nights ago that we were at the beach. Hayley was four and Emma was one. I was playing on the sand with them while Scott swam in the ocean. I looked up to check on him and saw dolphins jumping out of the water. I pointed them out to the girls and as soon as they saw the dolphins, I saw killer whales breeching! They came closer and closer to shore and the waves came in like a tsunami. I grabbed the girls and ran, but lost hold of Hayley. Scott was right there, though, and grabbed her. We ran and ran and ran. And were all safe. The end.)

Annnyyyywayyyy......

It took us a while to actually get to the beach since I didn't have a bathing suit that actually fit and had to go out and buy one. (Went to Sears up the street and found a cute Land's End tankini for 60% off. Woot woot!) We came home, packed a picnic dinner (yes, it was that late) and jumped in the car thinking, "It's so late now. There's sure to be plenty of parking."

Haha. Joke's on us. We finally found an itty-bitty spot four blocks away and I executed a perfect parallel park, thank you very much. Grabbing our gear, we walked to the sand.

And the beach was almost completely gone! And I'm not talking about all the people covering it. I mean, the beach was literally almost GONE! What was once a 50 yard-wide beach is now maybe 35 feet! And the tide wasn't even all the way in! We have absolutely no idea why the water now comes so far up the beach.

The Coast Guard blocked off a ten foot swatch running parallel to the boardwalk, so that minimized space even more. And there were people everywhere.

See the spaces of sand in the photo? I know they look decent-sized, but they're not even close too being big enough for our small beach blanket. And we could only open two of our three chairs! Crazy!

Not that the space issue mattered much since the girls immediately headed five feet in front of us and started to dig a big hole. Yup, the water was that close. And getting closer! In the two hours we were there, we had to move our stuff backwards several feet three times. (Thankfully, people started heading home shortly after we got there.) By 6:30, there was no more beach behind us and we had to go.

It was actually really funny when that last wave almost overtook our little camp. Scott and I were both reading and I glanced up to check on the kiddos. I saw the wave racing just inches in front of our blanket and in a split second, I snatched it up and grabbed both bags saving all our things from certain sandy ruin! (Not really, but it sounds good. LOL!) So I saved all our stuff, but poor Scott got a face full of sand from when I yanked the blanket so hard! *cough cough cough sneeze* Poor guy!

Scott and the kiddos played in the water for a while. We only have one boogie board and it's sized for maybe a four year-old. But they were still trying to ride those waves! It was awesome to watch them.

So here's the other thing that took Scott and I by surprise at this first visit to the beach in almost 10 years. The trash. It was gross. People just dumped things and didn't care about picking up. Corn cobs. Chip bags. Broken toys. Lost sandals.

The trash piled up in the seaweed, sank in the girls' sand hole, jostled in and out of the waves. I just cannot believe that people are so crass and rude that no one cares about how horrible it looked and smelled.

I happily give credit where credit is due, though. Two teenagers came by and picked up a bunch of trash along the area we sat. I don't know if the trash belonged to them/their group, but I certainly applaud their good will. Scott and I took a turn, too, picking up garbage with the girls' sand shovels. After about 10 minutes, though, we got grossed out, tossed what we'd collected in the buckets and thoroughly rinsed everything off.

We'll be trying a different beach next time. What a shame this one has disintegrated and deteriorated. But, I'm optimistic. It just means that we have to explore other beaches we ordinarily wouldn't. :)

So whaddya think about the new look?

2011-07-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm still tinkering with it, but I'm liking it so far. What do you think?

I'd like to remove the blue vertical stripes since I think they detract from the effect, but I had to email the creator of the background to see if it's possible. I'm lovin' the flower background. Cute!!

Not too much else goin' on around in the Delicious household today. Scott and I washed the windows outside. Ooohhhhhhh, exciting! *insert sarcasm here* LOL We used that Windex on a Pole stuff and I'm not wild about the results. Verrrrryyyyy streaky. The stuff has sheeting action--it's not supposed to streak!

Harumph.

At least the dirt rinsed off and the windows do look cleaner.

Tomorrow, the insides shall be conquered! Oh, joy.

Or maybe we'll go to the beach and the windows will wait another day.

Happy Cow Appreciation Day!

2011-07-08T20:58:00.001-07:00

Ack! Our train got held up!

2011-07-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

We were bumping along in the ore cars when bandits
attacked the train!

He demanded money!

Then his gang appeared. We quivered in our seats.

Our trusty sheriff wouldn't let anything happen to us. He had the whole situation under control.

The outlaws fought over who'd get the money and ended up in a shoot out among themselves!

Their not-so-intelligent leader was the only bandit left standing.

Never fear! The sheriff took special care of him and we were saved!

These smiles are proof that our Sheriff is one-of-a-kind and that our journey ended safe and sound!

Woot! Woot! Got tons of stuff for free at CVS today!

2011-07-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

I'm quite pleased with myself on this one...

16 oz. bag of Skittles
Herbal Essences mousse
Aussie hair spray
2 Oral B cross action toothbrushes
1 18ct box Tampax
1 Hershey's Air Delight
5 2L jugs of Coke

Paid $5.62 (incl. $1.62 tax) out of pocket (after coupons and last week's Extra Care Bucks) and received $5 back in Extra Care Bucks for next week!

I could have paid $1 less, but the cashier refused a coupon she should have taken. I chose not to make a big deal out of it simply because its', well, it's A DOLLAR! Frankly, not worth my time to fight with her on it.

Yipteedoo for great sales and coupons!

Deep-fried butter? I don't THINK so.

2011-07-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

We went to the Del Mar/San Diego County Fair today and I did not like it. Not one little bit.

For one thing, the overwhelming smell of deep-fried food was just too.... too... too... nauseating. I mean, deep-fried butter? Deep-fried Oreos? Deep-fried Pop Tarts? Deep-fried Kool Aid? Just the thought of all of it made me want to run far, far away.

And chocolate-covered bacon? PUH-lease.

We did not buy any food or drink there. No way. No how. We practically had to sell one of the kids to one of the scary carnies in order to pay for just the rides.

Hold onto your rickety ride seats, Readers, because rides cost between $4 and $7 each.

EACH!! For one ride! For one person!

I bought $20 worth of tickets and said, "This is it. Choose carefully."

And the carny games? I practically cried as I set a tenner in the dude's hand, knowing my hopeful and excited daughters would not win a three-foot Angry Bird.

I'm curious to know what the average family pays during a day at the fair. We spent $110 in three hours, including parking ($10) and admission ($40). So goes our entertainment budget for the next couple weeks...

But you know what? While all four of us agree that we have no desire to go back next year, Scott and I are so glad that the girls got to experience it. The smells of the livestock on display, the run-away pig dressed in a pink tu-tu (I'm not kidding! LOL), rows and rows of ginormous turkey legs ready for the next tempted tourist, the overwhelming colors and lights of countless games...

(Photos are from http://www.sdfair.com/index.php?fuseaction=info.media_photos)

Conversation with Emma

2011-07-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

She was allowed five minutes on the computer to put dodo birds in her sister's ZooTycoon zoo.

"Emma, time's up."
Silence.
"Emma, it doesn't take that long to put dodo birds in a zoo."
"Mom, I have to give them the correct biome."

Anyone else hear the "duhhhhh" in her sentence?

Photos! Photos! Photos! Come and see the photos!

2011-06-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

Me and my BFM (Best Friend Mom)

My parents are so goofy

The gang just after Matthew's baptism

Hayley and Emma are giving Murphy a bath

The World's Most Patient Dog

The girls *adore* Murphy and will do anything for him!

Awwwwwww!

"Look, Mom!" said Hayley. "It's our new baby!"

Every time we leave their house, we beg Mom and Dad to let us take Murphy.
Who wouldn't want this adorable doggie? (I'm not a dog person and even I want to keep him!)

Coupon Dealios!

2011-06-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

Watch out stores, I'm back in action!

I've made the rounds to CVS, Target and Rite-Aid over the past couple days and boy howdy! I've come home a couple dollars plus a bunch of items richer!

This bunch o' almost free stuff is from Rite-Aid. Out of pocket, including tax? $4.14! There's also a full rebate on the Got2B hair spray, so I'll get $4.99 cash back in a few weeks! Profit!

Woot woot!

I didn't take a pic of the CVS stuff. I came home with an 18 ct. box of tampons and three 2.6 oz. canisters of Pringles all for FREE-O!!! (I did have to pay tax, though. Natch.)

I've opted to delete Walgreen's from my weekly rounds of couponing. Number one... the store's just out of the way. It's not far, per say, about five miles or so. It's just not in a direction I ever go, so it's not like I can combine it with other errands. Number two... They are always, always out of what's on sale. One of the checkers told me that a woman comes in on Sunday mornings and gets whatever she can for free. She donates everything to charity, which is awesome, but it'd be nice if she left more for the rest of the populous of our neck of the woods. (Walgreens doesn't have a huge presence here in San Diego like Rite-Aid and CVS do, so it's not like I can just try another.)

Right now, I'm heading out to Ralph's. I did a big shop yesterday and got some great deals, but they're having a BIG sale from 1-9pm. Raspberries are FREE with this coupon (.50/1 printable coupon). I've also got a couple coupons for Johnsonville brats, so a full pack will be $1.49 or so. Yay!

Back from the Dead

2011-06-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

I'd like to erase the past two weeks. They have not been fun. At. All.

First the sinus infection which wiped me out. The antibiotics gifted me with a full set of side effects. The side effects then bred a secondary infection and more side effects.

Ugh. Ouch. Wah!!!!!

I don't like this one itty-bitty bit. Two weeks of my life were sucked into the Sick Zone never to be seen again.

Alas.

Now I'm back in the (mostly) Healthy Zone and feel like posting again! (Really, no one wanted to hear what I've had to say over the past two weeks. Trust me on that one.)

So waaayyyy back before I received the "Go Directly to Sick Zone" card, the fam and I spent several days up north with mi familia. My 7 year-old nephew, Matthew, was baptized and I am his GODMOTHER! Yippee!!! I've never been asked to be a godmother before and I feel very honored now!

Emma, photographer of the event, caught some awesome shots...

Cool, huh?

I have lots more to say and share, but ya'll will have to wait until after I pay some bills and make a few phone calls. TTYL!

Perking up!

2011-06-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's 4:49pm and I haven't been asleep since 11am. Yay! I even have a decent amount of energy. So much so that I took the girls out for an hour... since it is the first day of summer, I decided we needed some ice cream.

Yummy yum yum!

And in 8 minutes, we'll leave for the airport to pick up Dear Husband! He's been camping in Idaho (sort of) with my bro for the past week. The reason I say "sort of" camping is because they actually only camped for two days.

They drove for two days to get to the campsite, camped for two days and are driving back for two days. The weather bested their camping plans, so they packed up early. I get it. I wouldn't want to camp in the cold, wet weather either. (Jess, you KNOW what I'm talkin' about!!!)

But it seems kind of a bummer to spend so much money on gas (bro's big, honkin' truck towing a Jeep gets a whopping 10 mpg), camping fees and all, to turn around and have to pay much more than anticipated in hotel and restaurant costs.

But at least hubby is coming home! But then he leaves again right away for an overnighter. But then he's home again! But then he's gone for a whole week. But after that? I have no idea. *sigh*

I'll just enjoy him while he's here! Good thing I'm perking up... *wink wink* LOL!

Uh.

2011-06-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

Sick. Urgent Care. Sinus infection.

Husband camping.

Helpful daughters.

Exhausted. Blank mind.

Gone with the Wind. All four hours.

Tomorrow will be better. I hope.

Hayley's an official high schooler!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-06-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

She was officially promoted this past Thursday in front of 500 other students and twice as many parents and other various family members. Everyone clapped, but Scott and I... we cheered and shouted and laughed. We're so very, very proud...

Our graduate!!!

Hayley, Olivia and Esther

Hayley and the school principal

Shaking hands with a school board member

I need a baby.

2011-06-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

Good thing we're adopting.

This is our new little friend, John Paul, JP for short.

10 year olds ballroom dancing. Can't get much cuter than this...

2011-06-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

Part of the 6th grade curriculum is ballroom dancing. Go figure. (I guess not all is lost in public school eduction!)

After practicing for 6 weeks, the kids performed at their Friday morning assembly. You have to watch this. It's So. Darned. Cute. I just can't stand it.

Emma is, of course, in joyful blue polka dot dress (complete with crinoline! hahaha!) (I think her partner likes her, btw. I love it!)

Proud Mama Alert!! Proud Mama Alert!! Proud Mama Alert!!

2011-06-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big day in the Delicious household! Emma was officially promoted to the 6th grade! Wahoo!!!

And before 105 kiddos in the graduating class of her elementary school received their diplomas, the teachers presented awards. And guess which one Emma received??

The Presidential Award for Academic Excellence! The certificate is signed by Obama and everything. Ooooh, she's excited by that.

Standing up in front of a huge, applauding crowd

We had no idea whatsoever that she'd be receiving an award. And when I heard this particular one was for academic excellence, I honestly didn't peg her for it. Not that she doesn't do fantastic on everything in school, but with the homework issue and all... I just didn't expect it.

The award is about more than just academic excellence, though. The recipient must also be involved in service projects, music and a number of other facets of well-roundedness. And that would be my all-around great girl.

I'm so proud!!!

And my Hayley-girl... well, she just blew us away at her award ceremony. Scott and I received an invitation to the ceremony, so we knew she'd been getting something. We just didn't know what.

How excited were we to hear our girl's name called THREE times! She received awards for: Honor Society; Academic Excellence in Science and Academic Excellence in Language Arts.

Sorry this photo isn't great. Hard to get great shots from across an auditorium. :)

Go, Hayley, Go!!!!!!!!

We'll be up and out early Thursday morning for Hayley's promotion ceremony and then we'll officially have a HIGH SCHOOLER!!!

Holy moly. That's all I have to say. Holy moly.

Oh wait. I do I have more to say. (Of course I do. Hello!?! This is the one place where I can chatter away. Hahaha.)

My girls are awesome and amazing. So there.

The Fish Bully and other tales

2011-05-31T23:21:00.000-07:00

At 9pm, I was dead on my feet. Barely had enough energy to don my pj's and brush my pearly whites.

Yet here I am, two hours later. Wide. Awake.

My current book (Jane Austen Was My Best Friend) is not particularly entertaining, so I decided to open up Delicious as Pie and ramble a bit.

You might be wondering about my title. "Fish Bully?" you ask. "What on earth are you talking about?"

I am talking about the bully in our fish tank. He's a territorial little creature and seems to enjoy scaring the other fishies away. For the longest time, I thought that he and another fish just liked to play chase 'cause that's what they'd do all day.

Then we got more fish. And he's chased them right to the bottom of the tank and inside the blue turreted castle. "Hhhhmmmm," we said.

And so Fish Bully got grounded. He had to spend the afternoon in a glass bowl in the kitchen while we scrutinized the other fishies. Sure enough, once he was gone, they all came out of hiding.

Did you know fish can die from stress? So it's important to keep them happy. How to do that when there's a bully in the tank... I think Fish Bully might have to say adios.

I couldn't get a good photo of Skello,
so I found this one online.

The new fish that Emma picked out (and named Skello) is transparent. Pretty funky, really. Especially when you really look at his insides. You can imagine the chorus of "Eeewwww! Gross!" when I pointed out that you can see his poop before it comes out.

Hayley's new fish is Chubbers. I don't know why.

And Scott picked out a tiny crab that eats the food that collects on the rocks at the bottom of the tank. We're calling him Pince William. Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! (I tried to get the girls to name of their fish Kate (to go with Pince William, of course), but they flatly refused. Silly girls.)

Aw, man!

2011-05-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting with bated breath all week for a blouse that I ordered from ModCloth to arrive. Let me tell you... I fell so deeply in love with this blouse that I actually paid FULL PRICE for it. That's sayin' a lot!

The FedEx man rang the doorbell a few minutes ago and was barely back in his truck before I swung open the door, grabbed the box from the porch, ripped open the package and ripped off my t-shirt to try on my brand-new gorgeous blouse!

The color is perfect. A delicate peachy-pink. Lace accents. Sheer, capped sleeves. Empire waist. So romantic. *happy sigh*

It doesn't fit.

No matter what size I get, it will never fit.

It was not made fit any woman with breasts that actually poke out. I fill up a nice-sized bra cup, thank you very much, but I'm not overly-busty. But when I slipped the blouse over my head and finagled it over my boobies, I couldn't even begin to zip it up the back.

The length is actually much shorter than I anticipated and the width of the shirt (once it flairs out from the empire waist) is giant. Think hip length maternity top. Except without room for actual boobs.

And now, alas, I must gently fold it into its packaging and send it with a sad wave back to ModCloth. I shall be brave, lest my tears blur the return address label. (Is my overly dramatic prose entertaining you yet? I'm certainly entertaining myself. LOL)

So this is what it feels like when you get up early...

2011-05-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 5:45 this morning for no apparent reason. Just wide awake. I read for half an hour, then got up and made pancakes from scratch for the girls. Then I did the dishes, made their lunches and got Hayley out the door before I got in the shower.

At 8:00am, I dropped Emma off at school and went to do errands. Back home by 9:15 and I'm feeling productive!

Now I've got some household paperwork to catch up on. Since the fam was here, I avoided all non-imperative chores in order to spend more time playing Scrabble with my mom. (We are Scrabble fiends, I tell ya!)

The house is in pretty good order since I cleaned/straightened up yesterday. So I'm left to my own devices...

Let's see.. make cards, work on my novel, adoption research, a little bit of everything.... hmmmm......

Guess who's adopting!

2011-05-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

This is me adoring one day-old Emma.

We are! We are! We are! And we can't wait to get the party started! We're going to adopt a newborn from right here in the States.

Well, technically the party's already started with oodles and oodles of research. Agency vs. independent. Finances. Lawyers. References. Interviews. Home study. The list goes on and on. Good thing I love researching, isn't it? LOL

I've signed up for informational meetings at agencies nearby. One isn't until July and that seems forever away. But there's plenty to do in the meantime...

professional photos
writing the Dear Birth Mother letter
the home study
checking references/ratings of lawyers, social workers and agencies

Fun-O!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So if anyone has any advice to share, I would love to hear it. And please, please, please keep our future baby and its very special birth mama in your prayers. Thanks!

Confirmation!

2011-05-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

Isn't she gorgeous???

Hayley, my amazing 13 year-old, confirmed her faith at church this morning!

This much-anticipated event warranted visits from my parents (Barbara & Ken), my sister (Gillian), niece (Sophia) and brother (Will).

Gillian and Will are Hayley's godparents, so it was extra important that they come and celebrate her transition into a validated church "adult". And Grandma and Grandad? They're such huge parts of our lives that it was absolutely imperative that they come. (Even though they were here just two weeks ago! LOL)

During the service this morning, Hayley and the other eight confirmands had to read their faith statements in front of the congregation. What fun it was to listen their stories, how each one of them has internalized Jesus.

Hayley's statement almost brought me to tears. Here's the video... And just in case the sound quality isn't up to par, I'm including her text below.

So many things have made up my faith life so far. Not only people, but events and so much more. One of the people who has helped and guided me is my dad; he leads by example, which is what I want to do. Whenever we pass by somebody on the street who is cold or homeless, he gives them some extra change or stops and prays for them. Once he gave his favorite pair of gloves to a man who was freezing in the snow. I felt bad for my dad, you know, losing his gloves and all and then I felt bad for not being happy for the person who wasn’t cold anymore. Same with giving to the poor, like donating to Good Will. I always feel sad when we give away things with memories attached and then I remember what God wants us to do: He wants us to share and to give and to feel good about it. This is a struggle for me sometimes, which makes it hard having parents who are so amazing at giving.

My mom is also very influential in my faith life. I can have conversations with her about God and how others treat Him and the difference between what we believe and what others do. They are really in depth. It’s easy to see some things when she explains it the first time and sometimes I have no clue and so we talk about it. Sometimes, well every time really, we bunny trail away, going in all sorts of directions that teach me new things and that make me look at life in a different way. When I received my first communion, she wrote in the cover of my Bible. “Don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.” This was an easy-to understand version of Galatians 6:9 which says, “So let us not be tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we reap the harvest.”

I think about this a lot. God is pleased when we do good works and will reward us when we get to Heaven. My favorite thing my mom has done that really reminds me of this was when she adopted our elderly neighbor as sort of a second mother. So, even if she isn’t my real grandmother, she feels like one. My mom took care of her from before we even moved in to the day we moved out. In return, she took care of us too. And even though we live two states away now, my mom was talking to her on the phone when I wrote this.

Looking at my mom and dad, who are always giving and caring, I see real life examples of what it really means to do good, even when it’s not easy or convenient. In return, I see them being given to and cared for by other people. What goes around really does come around.

The other day in confirmation class, Pastor Bohdan talked about Jesus’ death and resurrection. He said that Jesus died for us—somebody died in our place. It really made me think about what Jesus means to me. I had never thought about it like that. It really put what He did into perspective.

To me, Jesus is like a best friend. Somebody who I can not only rely on but who I can talk to. I like how when you pray, it’s not like talking, where you get an immediate response in words. It really feels like He listens. You can ask a best friend for help and you can thank a best friend and isn’t that exactly what you should do with Jesus?

The first time I really came to realize what He means to me was at the Rock and Worship Road Show 2010. The Rock and Worship Road Show is a concert where a bunch of Christian bands get together and put on an amazing concert. I don’t remember what exactly happened that made me realize how much God means to me—it might have been the event as a whole. I loved how so many Christians can come together and just sing. And pray. So many people praising one God. Our God. It was amazing.

In my church life, I hope to be just like my parents, helping and caring and following Christ so fully. I also want to be an example to anybody who will watch, like giving money to the poor, or buying coffee for the person behind me. Maybe I’ll even save the rainforest! I don’t know how many people have told me that actions speak louder than words. I intend to prove them right. I know that with the help and support of not only my family, but my friends too, I can spread God’s love and make the world a better place—one tree, one smile, one kindness, one prayer at a time.

You tearing up yet? *sniff sniff*

And here's the gang...

Emma, Hayley and Sophia

Barbara, Ken and Hayley

Hayley when she saw the flowers Scott and I gave her!

Aunt Gillian and Hayley

Emma, Me and Hayley

Scott, Me, Hayley, Will, Emma, Ken, Sophia, Barbara, Gillian

Will and Hayley

Scott and Hayley

I'm so proud of my girl. But you couldn't tell, could ya?

9:00 and all's well!

2011-05-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Scott's tucking in the Em-Pie. Hayley just took herself off to bed. Mom and Dad, back again (yay!), are tucking themselves in as well. Maybe when Scott comes back down, we can catch up on a show on TiVo.

Only 14 more days of school left for the kiddos! Can you believe it? This year has gone by even faster than all the others. My mind (and the strangely cold and wet weather) keep telling me it's only January. The calendar, however, begs to differ, as does the continuous onslaught of summer camp brochures.

So what to do with three looming months of summer, two arguing daughters and one peace-seeking mama?

Hhhhmmm...

Well, first off, almost as soon as they leave their respective schools for the last time, we're hopping in the car to spend a few days up with my family. Nephew Matthew is getting baptized and I am Godmother! I can't tell you how excited I am about that. I've never been asked to be a Godmother before, even though I hoped and prayed several times that I would be. Now that I am, though, I'm gonna be the best Godmother ever!

Then home for a few days before Hayley starts Leadership-in-Training camp. A couple weeks after that, Emma's got a day camp, then hopefully we'll head up to the mountains to camp with our awesome friends, the Larmon family.

But before I get too far ahead of myself in time, this weekend right in front of us promises to be crazy-busy and super fun-filled! Emma is bridging from Junior Girl Scouts to Cadettes in a big council-wide ceremony-of-sorts. Hundreds of girls and their families will attend to all walk across a beautiful and historic bridge together. At the middle, they switch from the Jr. vests to their Cadette vests and they become officially older in the Girl Scout world!

At the same time as this is going on, my sister, Gillian, and her bouncy daughter, Sophia, will land in San Diego. (Fortunately the airport is 5 minutes away from the bridge, so Scott will just hop in the car to get them.) A couple hours later, my brother, Will, flies in.

You're probably wondering why my entire family is converging in San Diego this weekend. Because, my Delicious Readers, my beautiful and amazing daughter, Hayley, is getting Confirmed!!!!

Gillian and Will are her godparents and Grandma and Granddad are, well, Grandma and Granddad. It's imperative that they're here!

So we're gearing up for a full house, tons of laughs and one very grateful that Confirmation classes are over 13 year-old. I'll post photos as soon as I can!

How to dispel anger...

2011-05-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

... or at least tame it a little...

I came home this afternoon absolutely livid about something. I really wish I could tell you what, but due to possible readership, I cannot.

Emma, who was with me when this particular incident occurred, gave me a hug when we got home. Then she put her sticky, Otter-Pop-colored hands on my cheeks and tilted my head down so she could look me right in the eyes.

"Mom, I know why you're so angry and I understand. You are handling it really well. If I was you right now, [it] wouldn't be pretty. You are my role model."

And I felt a little better.

The most touching part of Mother's Day

2011-05-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

Remember Neighbor Gloria? She lived two houses up from us in Vancouver. Gloria, at 89, is the healthiest older woman her doctors have ever seen. She's been through a heart attack, a hysterectomy, breast cancer and several other horrendous ailments, but you can't stop that woman. She still mows and edges her own lawn, for goodness' sakes!

Gloria, bless her heart, is completely deaf. She has a hearing aid (probably from the 1970s) and it helps. Minimally. So you have to shout to be heard. And naturally, she shouts since that's the only way she can hear herself. Our lengthy conversations often left me heading for the medicine cabinet for Tylenol.

Sweet Gloria is your classic elderly shut-in. She doesn't drive anymore and while she does have family nearby, they ignore her unless they want money. They've already bled her dry--she's living on next to nothing. That makes me livid! She's got so much to offer, so much love to share. Her family just isn't interested.

So she shared that love with us. She babysat Emma on occasion, took care of the house when we left town, helped when we were sick and generally treated us like the family she should have.

We, in turn, took care of her, too. I drove her to the store, the dentist and the doctor's. We got her prescriptions and lunched at Olive Garden. I brought her to the movies on a Girl's Night once. She couldn't hear a thing, but she got out of the house.

Scott helped around her house, fixing the VCR, pulling up tree roots, etc. He reminds her of her late husband and she never hesitates to tell me how much she loves Scott and appreciates all he does. I'm not a jealous person, but sometimes I felt sad that he got all the glory from her.

It broke my heart and Gloria's when we moved. I asked the other neighbors to take care of her, but no one has. I feel so, so, so badly for leaving her.

But I call her when I can, send her gifts and write little notes. I think about her every single day.

She sent me a Mother's Day card. It says, "For a Daughter who's Loved so much". Inside she wrote, "I miss you as my daughter".

There, just then, I felt that I've done something right with my life.

It's shocking, I know.

2011-05-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

As my long-time readers know, I am not a fan of the vegetable. Nor the fruit.

Yet I found myself utterly delighted by a farmer's market the other day. So delighted, in fact, that we left to find an ATM, then came back to peruse and taste-test and discuss the merits of white carrots vs. orange and light red beets vs. dark red.

And even more shocking than the fact that I felt genuine excitement over buying produce is the fact that I'm genuinely excited to eat it!

You can all close your agape mouths now. LOL

We ate the green beans Saturday night and they were so fresh and delicious. The asparagus (part of my Mother's Day meal) was the best I've ever had here in California. (Michigan asparagus puts the CA variety to shame, sorry to say.)

We gobbled up chicken Caesar salad tonight for dinner and the lettuce actually had taste. Yum! Scott, Hayley and I cleared our plates in just a few short minutes. Emma? Well, we're slowly fostering a friendship between between Emma and lettuce. She did eat a small-ish piece without a fight. Granted, she wrapped it around a crouton and dipped it thoroughly in dressing. LOL

Tomorrow night Hayley has her second to last ever Confirmation class (!!!!), so dinner has to be early and fast. I'm thinking the corn is a good bet.

Go figure. Me? President of the Vegetable Haters of America club actually enjoying vegetables. (Don't tell them! It'll be our little Delicious secret!)

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

2011-05-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't forget you Delicious readers. I just got busy. Supa supa busy.

Mom and Dad were here for a full week and I kept them running. I think I wore them out... LOL

We celebrated Mom's birthday on Tuesday with lunch at El Torito--her fave! A trip to the quilt store, several games of Scrabble, a steak dinner and a luscious chocolate cake rounded out the day. I think she enjoyed it!

Hotel del Coronado

Scott had a company-wide holiday on Monday and what a treat that was! While the kidlets studied hard at school, we grown-ups drove down to the Hotel del Coronado for lunch. Then Scott and I went on a long walk on the beach. It was positively delicious, I tell ya.

Yesterday, an unexpected treat fell onto our dinner table. Actually, it practically crashed our table to the ground!

I dropped Mom and Dad off at Dad's favorite restaurant for an afternoon drink. Mom called me about an hour later, telling me to come about 3:30 since the owner of the restaurant (an old friend) was providing dinner for us to take home!

Wait! It gets better! Here's what he ordered for us... a prime rib roast big enough to feed six of us, baked potatoes with the works, sauteed mushrooms, garlic bread, a huge antipasto salad and a medium pizza. Can you believe it? That's a TON of food to provide completely free of charge!

So here's a huge Delicious shout-out to Richie at Filippi's Pizza Grotto! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! The meal tasted heavenly!

Haha! I've been trying to finish this email for about three hours now. In those three hours, I've...

Reheated and eaten leftover pizza
Read three chapters of Nancy Drew to Emma
Helped Emma on her GS Bronze Award project (she made a Project Linus flyers)
Hiked around the neighborhood taping said flyers on mailboxes
Did a load of laundry
Straightened up the downstairs
Emptied and loaded the dishwasher

I do believe that any other news must wait until the morrow, Delicious Readers. Later!

I can't wait for the Royal Wedding!

2011-04-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

Friday, 2am Pacific time.

My parents will be visiting and Mom and I will be awake and giddy by wedding time! Hhhmmm... I might have to make something wedding-ish to snack on.

Let's see... I could go the simple route and buy a simple packet of McVitie's biscuits. Yum-o!

Prince William asked the McVitie's biscuit company to create a chocolate biscuit cake for the wedding. It won't be the only cake, of course. That honor went to Leicestershire-based cake designer Fiona Cairns. There isn't a photo of the prototype (natch), but if you feel like checking out the royal frosting flowers you can go here... http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/

And Kate's dress... closely guarded secret! I've read much speculation--some say it will have similarities to Diana's dress (gorgeous in the '80s, not so much now). Others say it won't be anything like it, but she might wear the tiara that Diana wore. Most agree that jewelry will be minimal.

Oooohhhh... this is so exciting!

I just had a marketing thought for the grocery stores/bakeries... wouldn't it be a great idea for them to bake super-mini wedding cakes? How many of us romantic women would splurge? I would, totally!

Happy, hoppy Easter!

2011-04-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day to count our blessings! Here's what I'm thankful for today...

** Delicious caveat: That I'm grateful for food, shelter, health and family goes without saying.**

1. I spent the day yesterday driving up to LA and seeing wonderful friends. I came back safe and sound around 10pm and filled eggs and baskets with my hubby.

2. Our daughters were well behaved for Daddy all day yesterday.

3. Also all day yesterday, Hayley felt well. That's saying something these days. (We haven't yet figured out what's going on with her, poor angel.)

4. I just put Orange Rolls in the oven, so Emma will have a good morning regardless of the fact that we have to actually leave the house at quarter to six this morning. (Hayley's Confirmation group is leading the Sunrise service.)

There's plenty more to be grateful for, but now it's time to pull the rolls out of the oven, wake the girls and bunny hop into the shower. Let's pray I don't fall asleep doing any of that. LOL

Have a blessed day!

Just The Right Dress

2011-04-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

You'd think it was Prom or something. But it's not. I've still got some time to save up both the money and my "over-my-dead-body" comments regarding prom dresses.

Instead, it's graduation dresses. For both daughters.

Hayley's grad dress will double as a Confirmation dress. Given that it's Confirmation and all, I wanted it to be white. Do you have any idea the challenges in finding a modest white dress these days?

Holy cow.

I saw sexy. And very, very, short. Sleeveless. Backless. Practically boob-less in some cases. I saw floor-length. Wedding appropriate. Skin-tight and hideously accessorized. And with price tags that I'd need to sell the silver for.

Sheesh.

My patient computer and I spent hours looking at dresses. I couldn't imagine why it had to be so hard.

Now you might be wondering where Hayley is in all this. She didn't seem to care all that much. I tried to involve her, even tried to take her shopping last Saturday. But she didn't feel like it. Hhhmmm... a teenage girl who doesn't feel like shopping..... Hhhmmm...

On Tuesday night, I stumbled upon *insert gasp of surprise* an appropriate white dress that Hayley might actually like!! And it was in my budget! After making sure she approved, I ordered it immediately. Here's a pic...

In case you can't see it too well, here's the link where you can magnify it: http://www.ae.com/web/browse/product.jspcatId=cat1320034&productId=1396_9528&showId=1396_9528_106

One girl down and one to go.

Emma can't wait to get a special dress for her fifth grade promotion. All the girls are getting something extra fancy. Or so says Emma. I'm taking that with a grain of salt, but I am willing to get her a new dress for the occasion.

She browsed around at jcpenney.com and fell in love with this one:

It is gorgeous. But not quite right, don't you agree? First communion if you're Catholic? Definitely. 5th grade graduation? Definitely not.

Now here's the one Hayley and I voted for, but Emma instantly nixed. Bummer.

No worries, though. She and I are going to the mall tomorrow to look around. Maybe we'll find something we both love. (Besides Auntie Anne's pretzels, that is. LOL)

What a crummy weekend.

2011-04-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

I was about to say I want either a do-over or to erase it from my memory completely. But then I thought that if I got a do-over, I'd have to actually do it over again. There's one unavoidable part that would have to be done again and it was sucky enough the first time.

I hurt someone deeply yesterday. I didn't want to; of course not. The situation had to happen, but it ripped my heart out. Trust me, I agonized for weeks over this and it physically hurt me to say what I had to say.

Sometimes, there are no alternatives. And that makes me sad.

And before all that bad bologna (thank goodness for Oscar Meyer and their theme song--otherwise no one would ever know how to spell bologna, right?) went down, my youngest provided Scott and I with a preview of the netherworld.

For a full hour.

And within that hour... we grounded her for a full week. And she lost all computer privileges. And we couldn't go to the aquarium as we'd planned. And... well... you can imagine from there.

Then comes today. Started out with some bummer, hurt-my-feelings news. But......... it got better at church and when we had lunch at Chili's (my fave!) with friends.

Then the day totally tanked.

Scott and I took the girls to this amazing place with acres and acres and acres and acres of runnunculous in full bloom. I've been looking forward to this since we moved back to San Diego. And what happened?

The girls fought.

And whined.

And fought.

And fought.

And fought.

Now mind you, that was in the first 20 minutes. Minute 21? We left. We packed them in the car and drove straight home.

And Scott yelled.

And I scolded. Severely. And sent them to their rooms. And then went to the grocery store.

No fun.

NO FUN AT ALL!!!!

Tomorrow better be better, that's all I have to say. Well, no that's not true. I have lots to say; otherwise I wouldn't have a blog, right? LOL

In which Kate returns her official Mama badge and runs away screaming expletives

2011-04-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

Seriously.

F*&^*&*()()*^&^%$$###@$%^^&**(()(*&^%$#@@$%^&*

Seriously.

I am SO done with my 10 year old.

In fact, maybe I won't return my official Mama badge. I'll just return Emma.

If any one of my four blog readers can explain the ten year-old mind and provide me with an in-depth manual on how to handle her, I might reconsider.

MIGHT being the operative word.

So here's what I'm up against...

1. She's a tornado. She whirls around the house, active and busy. And in her wake? Trash. Shoes. Paper. Lunch box. Chapstick. Jewelry. Blankets. A stupid blue rollie chair I wish I'd never bought. Bathing suit. You get the picture.

And it never occurs to her to pick anything up. I truly believe that it's not that she's being lazy, but this is just her personality. Her room is a wreck. She leaves clothes on the bathroom floor. Even her seat in the car is generally trashed.

I know this sounds completely typical. And generally I can handle it. But when you consider that Hayley likes everything in it's place, Emma is just the polar opposite.

2. Her handwriting is scribble scrabble. It's horrible. And she just doesn't care. Not in the least. She can write very nicely if she tries. But she can't be bothered. Why? Why? Quite frankly, I'm embarrassed by her handwriting and she is going to be spending a lot of time this summer learning how to write all over again. 'Cause I'm sick of the chicken scratches.

3. If someone slowly pulled my fingernails out one by one with a strong pair of pliers, it would be preferable to getting Em to do her homework. Again, it's not that she can't do it. It's that she can't stay focused. Then she whines that she wants to be like the girls at school that get everything done in class and have no homework. If she would just focus, she'd have so much more time to play!!!

I've recently instated a 60 minute homework rule. If it's not done in 60 minutes, it doesn't get done. And she has to turn it in unfinished. Oh, she doesn't like that one bit. I'm not seeing any repercussions at school, though, so I don't know that it's making a difference. But my sanity is benefiting. I cannot continue to sit there next to her and say, "Emma, focus" "Emma, work" "Emma, math"...

ARGH I'm getting upset just thinking about this!

4. Why can't the kid just spend 20 minutes a day practicing her violin? Huh? Why? How is it so hard to stand there and play a few songs, go over a few of the rough parts, and replay the songs? But again, she can't focus. Apparently the air is too fascinating and she must play with it. I spend between $120 and $150 every single month for her lessons and I feel like it's all wasted. I've talked to her music teacher and she has very little to say about it. I don't know what to do.

I was talking to Scott on the phone earlier and expressing my frustration over Emma's non-existent violin efforts. I was not sugar-coating it. Of course, she heard me talking. And I didn't care. She was pissed. She ran upstairs saying, "I don't want to be around someone who treats me like crap!"

Yup, she really said that. Needless to say, there were consequences.

Maybe she just needs a healthy dose of reality instead of mollycoddling. I admit, I praise her way too much. And as I told Scott, I'm done doing that. Praising her is fine, but I'm not going to applaud her half-hearted attempts at... music, homework, whatever. She wants to use the "c" word? Fine. Crap is crap and I'm done trying to find things in the crap to praise.

So, Delicious Readers... advice? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top?

Look what I did!

2011-04-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

I actually finished a knitting project that's not a prayer shawl! I've advanced in my knitting acumen! Yay!

This is a baby afgan for an itty-bitty named Rori Rae, born just last week. I'll have to mail it out soon, but in the meantime, I just keep oogling it. I can't believe I actually created something so beautiful!