Sorry so quiet, but a very busy week:

Da Kids:

Matt's conferences were Wed so I ended up serving dinner for 5 hours in a hot unairconditioned schools(the newspaper says that SHS needs 9 million dollars worth of repairs-like that will happen). His grades are Guitar A, Photo?, CDC C, Government C, Physics D, English F. I gorunded him for 2weeks or until his grades are up. (He can still turn that stuff in so tomorrow is homework day-I let them pick.) No yelling and screaming, just the facts. His sister of course delights in pushing those buttons with him so about 10 that night, she made some sort of snide comment and he punched her. Since physical contact was made, he is grounded from video games at least until Wed.

Kristen pulled a muscle or so she says. Not acting like she is in pain. She sent me a text message at 4:20 that VB practice was over and could I leave early. No is my response. Her response to that is "i don't feel like waiting". Must. Control. Fist .Of. Death.

Randy emails that he is not ready to come home yet. He is now coming home on Matt's birthday. The Videofest that Matt had planned is postponed due to the grounding and now because his father will have been up for over 24 hours. His father does not handle sleep deprivation.

SO, last night we three musketeers went to Sushi Cafe here in town and Matt got tons of his favorite Japanese foods including Green tea ice cream. I got crispy mushrooms that were filled with crabmeat and spicy tuna. YUM. Very expensive. So on his actual birthday I will make wahtever food he wants. Party will be at a later date.

Now, me. My spider bite is better. Still itchy and my leg is still swollen, but no redness or heat.
I am pretty frustrated with the amount of work my job entails. Iam doing the job of the coordinator but not being compensated that way. The tech fair, while worthwhile, is not library related and I am begining to resent it. So watching the job market right now. If something comes along, I will probably go for it. I am spending 32,000.00 on a degree in library science not instructional technology or being a help desk. I want to do library stuff! OK. vent is over.

Today Matt has bowling at 11 and then we are going to see the Mr. Woodcock movie. Massive cleaning and laundry in between and after.

My first high school football game

Last night I went to my 1st high school football game. Here are my observations:

1. High school football players are skinny
2. Halftime shows are not as good as colleges
3. The announcer does not have a good grasp of the game
4. The referees were obviously paid by the number of flags thrown
5. Obnoxious football parents are alive and well in Colorado.

The reason I went to the game is Matt's drama club was performing during halftime. They basically did a cheer/dance thing. I wish my camera would have worked at the time, but no such luck. I think it sensed the precipitation in the air. I asked Kris to go along so I would have someone to sit with. She invited two friends. We picked 1st friend up and realized I forgot camera. On the way back to get camera, Matt called. His friend Ian had a free ticket but would need a ride home. Could we give him a ride home? Yes, if I switch cars. Go get camera and switch cars. Pick up 2nd friend and go to the game. Pick seats. Kris and pals switch seats a minimum of 30 times. Game starts and none of high school students sit at anytime during game. This annoys obnoxious football parents who yell continuously down in front. Geez, leave them alone, this is their schools' game. All football parents had to do is move higher. Too much effort apparently. Anyway, all they were missing was SHS dropping passing, fumbling, missing tackles and generally stinking. (Matt does not want to go to anymore football games-too painful to watch). Kris and friends were bored almost immediately. Had to have the talk- you do not leave the bleachers without telling me. They found every reason imaginable to leave. I put my foot down when they wanted to go under the bleachers to look for cans. The concession stand only sells bottled drinks. AND THIS IS A HIGH SCHOOL EVENT! I did not want Kris and friends under there when I had no idea who else was under there doing what. I am the evil mother once again.

Doggie Day Care

The kennel now offers premium services. For 8.00 a day, you can have doggie day care where your dog gets to play with other dogs! Sabrina playing with other dogs=disaster, lawsuits, and possible death. They do offer one on one service for that personal touch while being boarded. This costs 30.00 a day

BTW, I have seen it on TV and in the movies, but I have never seen an owner with a dog dressed as a mini-me. When I picked up Sabrina last time at the kennel, there was this woman with whitish hair and a scrunchy. She was carrying a lasa apso dog with the same color scrunchy. Oh my. It was hard not to stare, let alone laugh.

Looks like Sabrina gets her favorite breakfast. Not enough dog food so Kashi for dog again. It is good she loves it-no one else does.

Poor Matt

The oral surgery consult was today. All 4 are impacted in the bone. Bring back memories Mom?
One of them has roots close to the nerve. They need to come out. Worst part is the IV sedation-IV being the the operative word. Dr. stated 5 day recovery period. Matt left there terrified. I am looking at the 1st week of January for the procedure. Kids will still be on Christmas Break. I can not afford it before then. Bill will be about 2000.00. My insurance max is 1000.00. Sad that I have to delay my child's treatment because of insurance but I work for the cheapo school district who gives a pathetic 3% raise and raises insurance premiums by 5%. Kristen mad because this seriously impacts the slim and I do mean slim chance she had of going on a 4 day science excursion to the Everglades and Key West in June. Wait till she finds out the concessions she will be making for Matt's convalesence-limited access to the good TV, putting up with her social being curtailed at least as far as this house goes etc.

Bowling, teenagers and squirrel season and homesickness

Matt joined a bowling league again, this time with kids more his age. I am getting him a bowling ball for his birthday-it has a green swirly design.

Randy is off volunteering for the weekend with the wetlands restoration project so it is just the kids and me. I thought it would be a fun weekend. It would have been minus the teenage attitude X 2. Apparently I am their slave as well as their verbal punching bag. Everything is a drama. The youth at church are going on a hike this afternoon and Matt wants to go, but he spent all day yesterday watching cartoon manga videos on youtube, so if he goes he will not have time for homework and I am supposed to take him shopping for clothes to wear to a homecoming dance.(Many students wear tuxes). BUT, he is not going to the dance. These clothes are for a DRAMA CLUB SKIT. Kristen bought a hair straightener yesterday, apparently an essential item. At 7pm last night she wanted to go practice her volleyball serves, only park that has a net also serves as a drug hangout at night. I say No, she says I am evil. I would rather be an evil mom than no mom despite the fact that they are driving me crazy. BTW, did you know freak is the replacement word for another unacceptable word beginning with F?

Squirrel Hunting-Fall has sprung and so have all the squirrels. Sabrina is spending a good portion of her day racing down the steps to watch a squirrel dart out of range. She then spends the next 30-45 minutes waiting for it come back. Then the process begins again.

Homesickness:
I read a book by Jodi Picoult that takes place in Lancaster. Then I watched the Penn State game and they talked about grilled stickies. I want to come home but no time or money. Well I have the time, but the kids and Randy would kill me(for different reasons).

Must go email my friend who is a die-hard Michigan fan.

Camping

This weekend was spent in Rocky Mountain National Park at the Glaciar Basin campground. Randy insisted it would be a breeze to set up since it was a pull in site. Well, it would have been if there was not a pinetree in the way. We ended up gouging the foot for the one awning pole. Not a real big deal. The weather was cloudy and cool the entire weekend. Saturday we went to Grand Lake, had lunch(K ordered spicy food and was quite amusing to watch as she downed a pitcher of water), we puttered around at the lake while Randy fished and then went back to the campground. The kids loved the fact that Grand Lake had cell phone service. Randy fished some more and the kids and I built a fire. Everyone was so full from lunch that I did not have to cook(score!). Randy agreed to putting up the tent since it was a long weekend. Matt was very happy about this, even retained a decent mood when K announced she was spending the night in the tent also. Kristen has never tent camped and wanted to try it. It lasted 3 hours. At 12:04 am, she came in the camper and said, I'm cold. No big shock there. Sunday, we hung out at the campground until about 4pm listening to the whining since this was funpark day. Thunderstorms, rain and generally not so nice weather. Kristen even took a 3 hour nap in the tent. Went out for dinner(pizza) and then dropped Randy at Lake Estes and the kids and I headed to the funpark. After Kristen's second trip on the bumper boats, she looked kind of green and said my stomach hurts. Ruh-roh. Picked up Randy and headed back to the campground where she promptly fell asleep at 8pm. I contemplated just taking her home, but knew the road from E.P. to home was twistier than the ride to the campground. Today her stomach was not any better so while the rest of us had grilled steak, she had rice. Not happy about not being allowed to have chocolate or icecream. Matt had to do a huge homework assignment for evil government teacher who assigned this to be done over Labor Day Weekend. He got the assignment Friday. Overall, a good weekend. Very evident how necessary it is to unplug them every once in a while.

Matt's no-good, horrible, very bad day

It started out with an argument with me, the evil computer nazi. Then he messed up making his photograph in photography class, then he found out his picture is scheduled to be taken while he is at CDC. Next, he got a government assignment which requires him to take a laptop camping and he ended the day with a trip to the dentist. Good news there is that his brushing is better. Bad news and this is very bad for all of us-he needs his impacted wisdom teeth removed. This same child pulled the needle out of his arm a year ago during an immunization. Call being made to oral surgeon tomorrow morning(Matt started to tear up upon reading the word Surgery on the business card). My poor little boy-I ungrounded him despite the name he called me this morning.

Nothing much to say-my life is boring

Picked Kris up at volleyball, ate dinner, watched TV. Fought with kids to get off of computer. Watched Kristen do homework. Listened to Randy complain about his employer. Same old stuff. Tonight, have to do laundry for camping this weekend. Tomorrow night is back to school night for both kids. Thursday is dentist appt for Matt. Kris has volleyball all week. Randy may be going to California in the next few weeks. Maybe Singapore too, who knows. Kids love when he is gone, because we have food that they like, but he doesn't like fondue. Next fondue will be a cheese one. Based on this post, my life is so incredibly boring. I will have to do something exciting soon that hopefully does not involve kid or husband drama. Hmm, what to do, what to do...Skydiving instructor-Nah, don't like heights. Professional scrapbooker-Nah, have not felt motivated in months. I can't be Susie Homemaker since I have tried this and failed miserably. I think I need a weekend away-Reno and Pittsburgh can not come soon enough.

Teenagers: the good and the bad

Matt had his job interview. He was actually nervous. He had to take a test and did not do as well as he would have liked. He now is nervous that he did not get it-the bad.

Last night Kristen HAD to watch the teen choice awards. For those of you unfamiliar with teenage girldom. This is an award show where teenagers vote for their favorities in virtually every category in entertainment including cell phone videos. Kristen giggled uncontrollably and clapped her hands loudly whenever her favorites were mentioned, appeared, or spoke. Who are her favorites you ask?
1.Miley Cyrus
2. Zac Efron
3. Ashley Tisdale
4.Anything to do with high school musical 1 or 2.

Oh yes, the winners got surfboards-the good.

Chores

I had class all day and I wanted the kids to help out a little bit. This is what they had to do:
Take out trash and recycling
Unload and Reload the dishwasher
swiffer the kitchen and entryway
Vacuum Living room

It should have taken them 30 minutes top if they moved slow. My children? It took them 5.5 hours. Matt's comment-I thought we did not have to do anything when we went back to school!
My response-Did you make any of the dirt, did you eat, etc?

Today we HAVE to go get clothes for Kristen(her idea not mine). This is my only day off and I want to go see Becoming Jane. Kristen won't go unless I buy her candy.

Good tasting, bad for you-Jimmy Dean's pancake/sausage on a stick. Kristen and I love 'em and Sabrina goes insane for them. She almost knocked the trashcan over to get to the sticks that had been dropped on the floor and not picked up.

The first week of school

Well the 1st week of school is under their belt. All seems to have gone as smoothly as possible. Lots of long hours for me and the house has suffered. I am in an all day project managemement class today. Matt has a job interview Sunday for a job as an inlinehockey referee. Kris starts volleyball Monday. Matt will be doing drama club and foreign media club. He said Algebra is going to be a struggle. Sorry so short, but life is crazy busy as it will be with two teenagers. Matt's friend Scott is coming over to teach him Karate. Hopefully I will not be getting a call to go the ER.

The worst yard sale ever and it is that time again

This past Saturday the kids and I held the worst yard sale ever. Our street always has tons of traffic-not Saturday. We advertised and this usually brings throngs of yard salers-not Saturday. We don't have a good track record for yard sales and we kept our record intact . It was so incredibly hot-about 90 by 8am, it was horrible to be outside. We sold a few puzzles, got rid of the free tv and microwave and sold a few items of clothing and shoes. I donated the rest of the clothes and will donate all the books to a local library. After the yard sale, Matt's teacher Mrs. Coniway came to pick up the bass. She is not happy and Matt is unhappy. She wants him to stop in and visit and come to all the concerts. Maybe next year it will work out. Who knows. Kristen wanted to go swimming so dropped her at the rec center where she went down the water slides "a million times". After that we went and got the stuff for beef fondue, corn on the cob and ice cream. After that, we watched Wild Hogs. Matt actually went to bed at 9:30, he was so beat.

Today we spent doing last minute school shopping and combined it with Matt practicing driving. He is getting better and better. We need to practice parallel parking. It is 10:20 and both kids are in bed. Kristen has to be at school at 6:45 and Matt has to be there by 7am to pick up the final version of his schedule. He is going to resist big time, but I insist on taking his picture for the 1st day of school. Kris will have her picture taken Tuesday since that is actually the 1st day for her. Tomorrow she is a WEB leader for "the little guys" as she calls them!

The contents of Matt's backpack:
a portfolio binder
a legal pad

The contents of Kristen's backpack:
calculator that does square roots
5 binders
composition book
graph paper
notebook paper
pens-12
pencil-about 50(enough for the 1st week)
3 colors of highlighters
colored pencils
scissors
glue sticks
4 spiral notebooks
folders
erasers
2 sizes of sticky notes

This does not include carrying the flute!

7.5 minutes of free writing

I read on another blog that to get students to concentrate in school they need to download their brains by writing about what is in their heads for 7.5 minutes so I am going to give it a try. Here Goes:
I am very relieved that Matt's issues with his schedule got resolved. He got the CDC classes, he has guitar, photography, US govt, English, Algebra and physics the first semester. It looks like he did not get the afterschool job that he interviewed for. Bummer. Kris was so brave at the doctor when she got three shots yesterday. Looking forward to getting rid of all of the junk at the yard sale this weekend. I want it all gone, gone, gone. Connie is taking on too much and I am feeling her lack of attention to the library side of thing. Today will be the first day that I will spend the entire day in my office this week and also the first day that I will get to take a full lunch hour. What to do, what to do? Probably will go to Borders and get another book to read. It has been 6 minutes. I got a new camera and have even put batteries in it or looked at it. Hopefully tonight. Randy is going camping solo this weekend. I have no desire to go back to the Cameron pass area and I have so much to do . Matt picked out jeans when we got Kristen's new glasses. 4.00 for jeans at walmart. I expect them to hold for maybe one or two washings. I so am looking forward to the new Sams club opening but will probably be another year.

OK, my 7.5 minutes are up. Questions anyone?

Nothing like getting angry to get your house clean

Once again Randy pissed me off royally. Apparently that is the only thing that motivates me to clean. I think I need a new vacuum cleaner. This is the one I think I shall buy.

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=385986&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch%2Eyahoo%2Ecom%2Fsearch%3Fei%3Dutf%2D8%26fr%3Dslv8%2D%26p%3Ddyson%2520animal%2520vacuum

Our weekend in the mountains

I started a big long post about the weekend, but even I was bored. SO, here are the highlights:
The Good:

• Finding parts of Grand Lake we never knew existed
• Great dinner at the backstreet cafe at the Daven-Haven Lodge
• Seeing a glimpse of how the rich lived-boat garages! I want a house that NEEDS a boat garage.
• Seeing a coal powered-steam powered boat on Grand Lake.
• Finding a new campground that Randy and I actually agree on.
• Discovering there is a lot more to Lake Granby that we ever knew about.

The Bad:

Bluebird Motel

The Bear's Den

Glen Cove Restaurant

The Cafe in Granby-don't stop in for lunch after 1pm in a town where going postal means bulldozing your cares away. A little scary!

Now-off to have coffee with one of my best friends from MEMS-Michaela!

Trains

Tonight on my way home, I had to wait for a train. Nothing unusual in this town. I was at the crossing with the gates down and no train. The gates go up after a minute or two and just as traffic begins to proceed across the track, you hear this loud Blare! The train was right there and was right there. Fortunately, the guy hightailed it in reverse and avoided a collision. Heart stopping. Then to further irritate everyone in line, the train kept the crossing tied up for 45 minutes. This kept me from getting home at a decent time which meant hurry and make dinner so Randy could have dinner before his weekly conference call. Because of all this rushing around, dinner was not to Randy's liking and he stormed out to get mcdonald's. He came home and ranted and raved and then joined the conference call. I went back into work. 3 deadlines looming. Lovely evening.

Hairspray

This movie was outstanding. Zac Efron was better in this than High School Musical. I hope the outtakes are on the dvd. It is worth the admission price to see John Travolta and Christopher Walken dance together. Fun times!

New pictures on Flickr

I uploaded the Jackson Lake pictures to Flickr. Take a peek. It is quiet here. I should be taking the time to get some work done, but not motivated in the least. So Matt and Kris, relax-your rooms are safe for another day. Sabrina does not know what to do with herself. She has been stalking a few flies. Freaked out when she saw a long haired black kitty-cat in the next yard. The cat taunted her by strolling across our yard before crossing the street and watching her freak. Major storm here last night. Glad to have the rain, but it is hard on the doggie.

Their bags are packed, they are ready to go

They are leaving on a jet plane! Everything is looking good for their trip tomorrow. Zack is excited to play video games with the gaming master. Kristen is looking forward to beating Heidi and Nana at SPIT(insert maniacal laugh). The computer is going to go through withdrawal without Kristen's constant attention as will Sabrina. Sabrina may have a chance to catch up on sleep. Going to bed soon. 4:30 is going to come mighty early.

My favorite things by Sabrina

1. Riding in the car with the window down going 42 mph so my ears look like the flying nun.

2. Sleeping on furniture(preferably Mommy's bed)

3. Sauerkraut

4. Kristen

5. Central Air

The end of another week

Well another work week is over. Not nearly enough done. Working 10 hours plus another 2 or 3 at home. Randy's Singapore counterparts feel he should be accessible 24/7 which is why he desperately needs to get away. Hopefully the temps will not be as high as predicted. We are camping here:

http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/JacksonLake/

It looks beautiful, hopefully it will be.

Matt applied at Snow Mountain Creamery last night. He would be starting sometime in August if he gets the job. Evenings and weekends. Of course we had to get some icecream then. Kris got chocolate, Matt espresso choc chip and I got Peanut butter fudge. Then we played a game of Pennstateopoly. Very entertaining when you are bone tired and one teenager is laughing at the other one. Kris won. I am sure there is more going on, but can not think of anything.

Law and Order:SVU

What an unexpected surprise to find a TV show teach a very important lesson. The episode on last night focused on teen age drinking. It incorporated elements of social networking as well as some of the harmful effects of alcohol-not just drinking and driving, but the effects on your brain and liver. It also focused on the repercussions for breaking the law in this manner. We watched it with both kids. I hope more parents did the same.

Headed to Reno in October

My director approved Norm and I going to the American Association of School Librarians conference in Reno, NV in Oct. Tremendous speakers and workshops. We are staying at the Circus, Circus casino/hotel. Hopefully Norm and I will be going to the CODI conference in Pittsburgh in November. This is about the library automation system that we have.

Walgreens is taking over my city

Currently we have three and now they are building a 4th. The good news is they are tearing down a strip club to build the 4th one, but how many Walgreens can one medium sized city support? I would much rather have other retail go in there. Maybe a CVS or Medicine Shoppe? Other than grocery store pharmacies, Walgreens is it in this city.

Movies, 42mph,volunteering,

We recently saw Ratatouille(wait for the dvd) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix(race to your closest theater and see this one-it is that good!)

The dog likes to ride in the truck-with the window open-going 42mph, Any slower and it gets ugly.

Matt helped out at the St. Vrain State Park this morning. He and Randy volunteer there once a month. Apparently the moose is still hanging out there.

Really, I can not think of anything else to say. It is warm again here, but then again it is summer. Off to play with some more Web 2.0 tools.Stay tuned.

OK, i have updated a few things

On the right side of the the blog is a flicker thingy where I have some random pictures loaded. 12 I think. I will try to update more later. I also have something called twitter there also. I can type in comments as to what I am doing and you can follow my comments by clicking on it. These are both considered Web 2.0 tools and I am dabbling a little bit. Flickr is not new but twitter is.(relatively).

Happy Independence Day

It is hard to believe it is the 4th of July already. Sabrina is so ready for it to be over. The nightly fireworks have her nerves rather frazzled. The big show is tonight. We usually can see them from Kristen's window, but I am thinking Randy and I might actually venture a little closer tonight. He is fishing this morning and the kids and I will be venturing to the pool by 1pm. It is slightly cooler today but still has a forecast of 90 degrees. Thanks to Dad for the reminder about 1776! I purchased it last night at Borders as well as several items. Upon walking in that store I immediately see about 200.00 worth of books I want, yet my son can not find a single book that peaks his interest. He can not be my child. He eventually did settle for some viking warrior tale but not before the mandatory argument of why I won't buy Manga books. While I totally understand the genre of graphic novels, I want him to be reading traditional novels as well. After the pool we will grill hamburger and hotdogs and hopefully have a relaxing evening. It all hinges on the camper repair and the everchanging mood of the teenagers.

Camping at North Michigan Lake

This past weekend we camped at No Michigan Lake. This is located near Chambers lake for lack of a better point of reference. It is in the middle of prime moose country thus Randy's attraction to the area. We had been there previously but obviously not in the throes of bug season. Randy had literally been travelling up until we left for camping. Things don't tend to go as smoothly when this happens. This time was no exception. We got to a KOA store near the turn off and got out to purchase some things we forgot. When we opened the camper door a screw or something fell out. Got to the site and the kids basically sat back to watch Randy set up. I got a key stuck in a lock. Finally we were set up and had dinner.
Randy went down to the lake to fish while I did the dishes and listened to the whine begin. It was extremely buggy. Despite spraying repeatedly with off, the kids got bitten in excess of 13 times each. Not happy campers-literally. They both discovered the joy(?) of chopping wood over the course of the weekend. Went to dump the tank and the valve on the blackwater tank(the one for the toilet) stuck. Randy has decided to try and replace the valve on the 4th of July. Great. I will not be celebrating the holiday in the same manner.

Best Buy and Michaels

Kristen wanted to go to these two stores. While waiting for her to make her selection(HP 3), I sat in the most comfortable chairs ever made. They were pseudo suede and oh so comfortable. If they would have been blue, they would be in my livingroom tonight. Kristen got more beads, but when I asked her if she would like to take an actual jewelry making class, she refused. GRRRR

This is more than I should have to do

This past week was the Technology in Education conference at Copper Mountain(TIE). My boss and I were scheduled to do a presentation on the Technology Fair that was held in March. Totally her idea-I hate presentations and I hate being high in the mountains-I never feel well). She put the whole presentation together( I feel a little bad about that). Anyway, one of the reasons I did not want to go is my cheapo department encourages people to go, but will not pay for lodging. My boss has a friend with a condo in Frisco(about 10 minutes away) and said we could stay there as. in. together. 24/7 with my boss for a week? No-way. I went up Tuesday for the keynote who was outstanding. Will Richardson-buy his book if you are interested in Web 2.0 or the interactive web. Anyway, since the presentation was 8:30 am on Friday, I said I would come back up Thurs night. Ok fine. I found someone else to use my registration for the other days. Thurs at 3 pm she calls me ands says "just so you know..", her friends who owned the condo and their children showed up for the weekend and my boss's husband would be bringing an aero bed for me to sleep on. and in case I pick up any vibes, her friends pretty much hate each other and are staying together for the kids. I have never met any of these people and these new dynamics were way too much. I chose the hotel route. Boss not happy but knew I would do this once I found out. She actually considered not telling me. I got up to Copper Mt, we practiced until 10pm and then I went back to the hotel. Everything worked out, but I am pretty beat.

The house is a mess, kids doing as little as they can get away with. Randy tolerates it until he can't find something and then it is a disaster of national proportions. No money for a maid. Randy weekly sends an email that should get him fired, but hopefully that will stop now that his smarmy "friend" doesn't have the "numbers" to offer him a job and Randy can say goodbye to his current employer. Next week he will be travelling to SLC and the following weekend we go camping. That should go swimmingly since Randy will be tired and stressed and he handles neither one at all.

Summer school is a cake walk. They watched Pale Rider for two hours yesterday. I am guessing that ties into Westward expansion. Am debating checking with the teacher/principal.

Matt is going to the movies with a friend tonight. Kristen is jealous. I have tried and tried and TRIED to get her together with her friends. It just never seems to work out. I hate that I have to work in the summer, but it can not be helped. Maybe I will take one day off next week and they can both have friends over. I feel like such a loser mom right now. The intense heat does not help. Lately it has been at least 95 degrees every day.

Randy's cousin sent us a care package! Thanks Donna! She was so grateful for lunch and us showing her and her then boyfriend around RMNP that she sent us tastykakes and OTC. Scalloped oysters for dinner tonight. I said then boyfriend because while in Jackson Hole, THEY GOT MARRIED! They got married on a deck and I am sure it overlooked the Tetons. How great.
Got to go use the inhaler again. Thanks Copper Mountain.

Matt's 1st day of summer school...

Went well. He loved it. Teacher is entertaining. Not exactly the reaction I was going for. Tomorrow I head to Copper Mountain for a conference. Kristen wanted to go shopping....for something pink. She got shampoo and conditioner. I got a new Catherine Coulter book. It is not pink.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers!

Randy started the day by going fishing and then watched the Nascar Race. His new favorite driver won. Matt watched the race with him. Kris and I went to see Nancy Drew. We then went to Ragazzi's for dinner. Kristen ordered Mountain Dew which was a huge mistake. Kristen on caffeine and sugar do not work for her. She turns into "silly obnoxious girl". She and Randy just left to go fishing. Matt stayed here to help with laundry. Tomorrow is the first day of summer school, so I guess you can call him "irritated boy". Temp hit 97 degrees at DIA. I thank God every summer for Central Air.

Ocean's 13

Great movie. Well worth seeing(as if any movie with George Clooney and Brad Pitt could be bad!). Lots of plot nuances that make Oceans 11 and Oceans 12 pre-requisites though. Matt thought was the best Ocean's movie. I would have really liked to see Julia Roberts in them again, but other than that, I concur.

The Ren Fair

Yesterday Matt helped Randy in the morning at a local state park planting trees, etc. Kris and I planted flowers in the pots out front. Then we went to Colorado's Renaissance Faire. It is about 1.25 hours away. It was so much fun! The food was great! We sampled turkey legs, soft pretzels, cookies, lemonade, ice tea and this great strawberry shaved ice served in an orange half. The shows were great. Kristen got her hair braided with gold flowers. Thank goodness I took pictures as soon as she was done, because the flowers were missing by the time we got home. That turkey. Matt got a wooden sword and got to "battle".(Maybe making this not a forbidden fruit type of thing will lessen its appeal in his teenage brain). Kristen got a royal pain t-shirt. I just got good memories and sore legs. This was so much better than The Renaissance Faire I went to in Pennysylvania. Most visitors dressed in period costumes and you could even rent them. Next time, we might do that. Going to the outdoor pool this afternoon and then Oceans 13 after dinner. Tomorrow, I have to be at work at 6:30 am

What I did on my summer vacation

Since this is basically it for me....
We left to go camping right after work on 6/1/2007. We camped at Westlake in the Red Feather Lakes. Randy was a grump Friday night which made the rest of us want to turn around and go home. The rest of the weekend was better. Randy and Matt are so alike that they are CONSTANTLY pushing each other's buttons.

Monday-Went to the movies. Matt and a friend saw Spidey while Kristen and I saw Gracie. If you do not cry in that movie, it means you are not human. Friday night M/K and I went to the go kart track.

Tuesday-Randy left for a rush trip to Lexington, KY and the kids and I hung out.

Wednesday-watched a couple of movies-Deja Vue with Denzel Washington is outstanding. Kris went to the rec center to swim for a few hours. oH and the microwave spazzed and now we have a burnt mark on the inside which renders it unusable. Burned through to the metal.

Thursday-I decided to try a new recipe. Boston creme cupcakes. 1st problem, it says melt chocolate in the microwave. I could use the camper one since it is taking up half the driveway at the moment, but too much trouble. Use choc frosting. Bigger problem. I slice the cupcakes like I am supposed to, but my illogical mind does not pay attention to where I put the lids for each cupcake so you guessed it- i get done filling them and am missing two lids. GRRR. Immediately, called Kristen down to eat the evidence. She is still laughing at me. She says you never make cupcakes mom and when you do you mess it up. Nice Kid. Not sure what the rest of the week holds other than 2 must attend meetings, but I am making the most of it.

Let's catch up.

Well not sure how much I have told you so just skip over the stuff you know...

We leave tomorrow to go camping in the Red Feather Lakes region. Randy plans to fish his brains out. Canoe is going.

Today was the last day of school for both kids. Matt insisted he is passing everything. He owes 10.00 for a lab fee so I have to go pay that tomorrow. The dreaded lists for the kids start tomorrow.

Yesterday was Kristen's field trip to Elitch's. She rode the one roller coaster 11 times. She was asleep by 8.

Matt and I saw Pirates on Memorial Day

Kristen got a cell phone for her birthday and then we went shopping. We made grilled shrimp for dinner.

Times have changed and my brain dead children

I bought Trivial pursuit poptarts at the store today. The perfect food. It educates while it fills my children with sugar.

Kristen bought yet another teen magazine(or I bought). Instead of the headline who Zac(from high school musical for those unaccustomed to the teen idol crowd) is dating, the headline is who Zac is texting.

Matt was putting groceries away and could not figure out how to put an oversize box of cheerios away. Kristen told him to turn it and he still could not figure it out. Scary.

Someone thought that the measuring spoons should now be kept with the oversize bowls. Their logic is definitely not my logic.

Kristen seems to have developed an itchy reaction to something. Randy thinks it is Sabrina(gulp). Time will tell.

What's Happening?

Hey it is me, Sabrina here.

I have not posted for about a year because I can never get computer time. Those kids are hogging it when Mom is not on it. Personally, I do not see the attraction. They should be spending time playing with me. In Kristen's defense, she does "play" with me. I prefer a good game of fetch;Kristen prefers grabbing me from behind and pulling me onto her lap and then reclining so I have no chance of getting away. They think I have a limited vocabulary so they often torment me with my favorite words. I am not making much progress with the reclamation of the furniture. It is soooooooo comfortable, I fall asleep instantly and do not get off before they get home. Yesterday morning, the evil one caught me on the love seat( perfect name since I do love it) and chased me off. Stinkin ratbastard.

Teenagers in the house means lots of yelling. Matt seems to do everything possible to irritate the evil one. Will Kristen never learn that rolling her eyes and not listening to Mom is really not the way to get what she wants. All she has to do is sit at Mom's feet and cry and moan? Mom hates whining and usually gives me what I want to shut me up.

Yesterday was exciting. The power was off so Mom had to open windows and a fly came in. The hunt was on. I trapped it in the blinds and I took me about 4 hours to rid the house of the pesky fly.

I am starving right now and trying to look my cutest. MOm says I can wait a minute. Can anyone tell me what a minute is? Anyone, anyone.

Kristen's confirmation day

The day Kristen has been dreading has arrived. She is being confirmed this morning. What this means to the rest of us is getting up earlier and being showered and dressed and to the church by 9:30. It also means no fishing for Randy. He will deal.

What it means for Kristen other than the obvious-confessing her faith in God, reaffirming her baptism, etc, is confronting one of her biggest fears. She has to read the essay she wrote based on a verse of scripture in front of the congregation. Despite the fact that she knows most of these people and none of them will judge her for any mistakes she makes, this is a huge terrifying ordeal for my little girl. I have tried to reason with her, pointed out to her that God won't give her anything she can not handle, pointed out that she has had much worse trauma(starting at TRMS for example). Nothing worked....until I resorted to bribery. We are going to Olive Garden for lunch(she was told she had to pick something other than McD), and promised her she could get that Chocolate Lasagne desert. She perked right up with that. Chocolate-the supreme motivator.

She has two momentous Sunday's in a row. IN 7 DAYS MY BABY TURNS 13. I can not deal.

Well Kristen now has two new pairs of shoes. They are very similar to each other, but far dressier than crocs and sneakers. Not as dressy as I would have liked, but I can not take any more shopping with her.

Really bad rain/t-storms/hail last night. We did not get the worst of it. The flash flooding was terrible in other parts of the front range. At least two people died- a 3 yr old and a teenager.

No word on a job for Matt yet.

Happy Mother's Day

Randy gave me a pink fishing rod(told him that was the only way I would go fishing) and earbuds with comfortable ear pieces for my ipod. We will be grilling burgers and having homemade potato salad for dinner. This was my choice. Any decent restaurant around here has lines and noise and screaming children. I can listen to screaming children virtually any time. Since I have been so negative about motherhood in general lately, I decided to list what I love about each of mine.

Matthew

1. his creativity- I helped him make a Who Shot JFK version of CLUE for a class project
2. his " i don't care what you think" attitude-this may help him avoid the whole drug/alcohol scene.
3. his charm-he can always make me laugh even if I am so angry I do not want to laugh
4. his fun loving attitude-if it isn't fun, why do it? (There ARE reasons Matt!)

Kristen

1. her tender heart-she feels deeply her friends pain(her brother is not included in this)
2. her childlike innocence-she is growing up before my eyes, but I love the fact that she still will play with sidewalk chalk and playdoh
3. her desire to succeed in school-I love the fact that for the most part, I do not have to think about her homework. I am grateful God blessed me with Matt, but also that he only gave me one like him!
4. her fun-loving attitude-she also likes to have fun but in a more physical way than Matt.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Last night

After Kristen's dental appointment, she and I went shopping. Yes, this is the beginning of the dreaded confirmation shopping. She also needed band concert clothes. She found white pin stripe pants after rejecting virtually every other pair of pants,skirts, etc in the store. She also found a pair of black pants for the concert. She rejected every black shirt in the store and tried a few white shirt combinations, but even most of those were rejected. I want function and cheapness. She wants Paris Hiltonesque style. Finally we left with only the two pairs of pants. What I really want to know is when does shopping with your teenage daughter become fun again? Anyone, anyone out there in internet land please answer this sanity saving question. This morning she comes down wearing a black shirt. GRRRR. Amazing what happens when you clean your room. Speaking of rooms, they both have until the weekend and then I clean with trashbags. My new motto for room cleaning will be show no mercy. I wonder how much it costs to rent a dumpster.

Mom, I mailed your mother's day card and it is the best card ever. I think you will agree.

Matt, Matt, Matt

Matt has this obsession with knives. He has always been fascinated by sword fights,etc. Today Randy find a like new letter-opener in his bed. Matt of course states he found this on the way home. Could not have happened. So of course they get into it over dinner. Matt accuses Randy of stealing his stuff(bad move Matt). Randy tells Matt he owes him 4.00 for his spaghetti dinner and Matt will not get behind the wheel until he loses the attitude, gets the room somewhat cleaned up and gets a job. Matt stormed out and slammed the door(headed to church to run the soundboard). Randy went after him and made him shut it nicely. When he comes home, he will be applying for a job at Kmart online. They are hiring. And to think I said I had a boring weekend. Thanks for making my life exciting in a not so good way, Matt.

Now onto the financial woes: The federal govt issued a check to us for over $17,000.00. Unfortunately it is wrong. I got my paperwork for repayment of the student loan. It says with interest I will owe over 45,000.00. I do not think that number is correct. Will have to double check on that. Payments start 8/16. I have to mail them to Wilkes barre.

I found out today that a second middle school in my district is cutting the media clerk position(assistant). This is a very disturbing trend. I do not feel I can take this lying down. I feel as though I need to address the school board. C, get ready to prepare B for this.

$1000.00 poorer

Last weekend was the TV and this week was a canoe. Quite dicey getting it home from Bass Pro shops. We also now have digital cable so we can take advantage of the High definition TV. Matt showed me how to use the remote to change channels. A few new channels(two new cartoon channels. Just what we need). It is a shame the weather was not nice enough to take out the canoe. BTW, we now have 1 bass in the freezer and 12 trout. I need to find a new recipe. Getting tired of the lemon/butter baked version. Kristen and Matt both worked on projects and Randy fished. My life is just a little boring today.

The weekend

Matt finished his paper
Matt drove for 15 minutes(he was driving with Randy until he blew through a red light-the cars in front of me went was his reasoning(banging head against a wall here)
Matt went fishing with Randy
Matt caught a fish

Randy went fishing and caught 3 fish
Randy burnt himself to a crisp
Randy went canoe shopping and came home with a 32 inch Sanyo tv

Kristen mowed the lawn(with many tears I am told)
Kristen watched Cadet Kelly on the new TV
Kristen beat Mom at 2 games of Uno

Holli cleaned the house
Holli worked on but did not complete laundry
Holli started scrapbooking again (with Kristen's help)

Sabrina hid from the vacuum cleaner
Sabrina recovered with living room floor with dog hair
Sabrina "played" with the pit bull next door(she likes it as long as the fence separates them.
Sabrina falls asleep immediately when she puts on her head on the window sill of the bay window.

The latest

Today we received a check for $2400.00 from the state of Colorado. They saw the tax return with 0 income and are refunding us. Now Numskull accountant will have to amend the amendment. Randy's appt is 9am on Thursday.

Matt a good portion of the day working on his research paper contrasting Ninjas and Samarais.

I spent this same amount of time cleaning the downstairs. Vacuum got clogged 12 times. Dog has crew cut in her future. Still have to do the kitchen and the DR table, but I am headed outside to enjoy this beautiful evening. It was 77 today and tomorrow should be 85!

Tax update and Sabrina's pack

The taxes are still not resolved. Numbskull acct office called back and said earliest they could give Randy an appt was next Thursday. Not sure if he made an appointment or not. We are not sure what to do anymore. The taxes are still not filed. This has to be fixed and soon.

Someone once told me that dogs lean on people to claim them as members of their pack. Sabrina's pack includes:
All of us
Any person who pets her
the sofa
the loveseat
the recliner
the stove
the dining room chairs
the speakers
the sliding glass door
the speakers
you get the idea

My brilliant dog has mostly inanimate objects in her pack

Dodged a bullet

While the rest of the front range was hit with spring snow storms, tornados, sleet, and other freaky weather, all we got was torrential downpours for the entire day. I can not remember the last time it rained for an entire day. By the end of the weekend we may hit 80 degrees. Colorado is just freaky.

Randy picked up our taxes yesterday and of course they were wrong. So back he goes again to day to get them to do it right.

The next drama in the tax saga

They called Randy back and said they efiled and it was rejected because one of our social security numbers was rejected as previously submitted. Huge panic all day that we were victims of idenitity theft. The Numbskulls then said the amended tax return would have to be mailed and it was not ready for us to pick it up. Randy eventually called the IRS and was told not a SS # problem, but the efiled without income or deductions listed. Say what???? Isn't that the whole purpose of fileing a tax return? Then they efiled again and it was rejected for some other reason that I can not remember. The line got silent when Randy called them back and told them this. SUPPOSEDLY, our tax return will be ready this morning. Randy will go pick it up and go over it with a fine tooth comb. Stay tuned....

Our crazy busy life

Let's see to catch you all up(all 2 of you who read or care about this blog):

• Took Matt driving last weekend-did well unless we followed cars. He does not get that just because the light is green, you might have to reduce your speed. He needs more experience driving in traffic(so hopefully today Jack (daniels) and I will be taking him out again.
• Our taxes-we still don't know. Our good for nothing accountant efiled them but could not tell us whether we owed-how much, etc,etc. Said they would not be ready for pickup until Thursday(4/19). Randy went Friday and the office was closed. If you know Randy, you can guess what happened.
• Randy has expanded his fish repouirtoie to bass. Very tasty. We now have one bass(who died a painful death in the cooler Friday evening) and about 10 trout in the freezer. Randy is fishing today for more bass.
• Matt's conferences were this week-passing all classes except Math. I gave him an incentive to pass all classes C or better. Matt and mom secret.
• Matt's unity class held a car wash yesterday. Then he and I went to the Longmont Symphony concert. He chose a wolf t shirt and shorts. Walking in, he made the comment, I guess maybe I should have dressed nicer. My little boy is growing up.
• Kristen is fine. Keeps getting a recurring cold. Running low grade fever this weekend.
• Matt wants to know if he can have a motorcycle for his 17th birthday.BAHAHAHAHAHA
• I am fine as is Sabrina. Nothing too exciting there.
• Making potato salad for a potluck lunch after church
• Went out with the girls Tuesday after work. Had two Singapore slings-my new favorite drink.

I wanted a snow day

Well no snow, not even a flake. So much for the 6-12 inches. Two all day meetings got cancelled in anticipation of this blizzard. DIA cancelled flights in anticipation. Stupid, stupid people. Castle rock and south will get some snow but for us on the northern front range-NADA.

Still working on cleaning up the house after the trip. Laundry is not progressing quickly. I have finished two books-Leavimg Microsoft to change the world and Shopaholic and Baby. I am currently reading Crunch Time, Motor Mouth and the most recent Robert B. Parker book.

I did not get out of jury duty, so I am trying to get stuff done at work in anticipation of this. I am about to give up. I feel under appreciated in the work arena right now. I really needed this snow day. Oh well, maybe I can find a quiet place in the office to work or least do something that might make me feel like a librarian. My attitude is not the best. I think maybe Randy and I need to go out. We shall see. He has had gout since before we got home and it is slowly getting better but not completely there. Kristen, matt and I all came home with colds. Kris stayed home one day from school.

Kris will be taking honors science next year and Matt's social studies teacher has recommended him for honors government next year. That grade is up to a C. Now only pesky math and science. His mp3 player broke a while ago(has not mattered since music was supposedly taken away), but told him I would buy him a new one if he passes all his classes.

This weekend I want to do more driving with him and take him to apply for summer jobs to pay for summer school. If he passes all his classes this time and passes the makeup final for math last semester, he will only have to attend one summer school session and we might be able to go to Hawaii in July.

Spring break is almost over

Well, Spring break week is almost over. It has been a fun staying with Heidi and Zack in Damasus. We toured Mount Vernon, spent 2 nights at the beach where we watched and listened to the waves come rolling in. Water temp was 42 degrees so not much swimming in the ocean. All three kids had fun swimming in the pool though. I beat Kristen at a game of pool. We ate great food while here. Matt even ate octopus sushi(EWWWW). I got together with my college roomate for lunch and caught up a little bit. The weather was not always cooperative, but it was still a lot of fun and gave everyone a much needed break. Back to Colorado today and work/school on Monday.

Day one of Spring Break

We went to Mt. Vernon today. I have not been there in 30 years. Everyone had a good time. We took a 40 minute cruise on the Potomac and walked around. Line was too long to go in the house. We went a on a walking tour of the slave areas. The interactive visitor center was loads of fun. Everyone is pretty tired. Kristen is helping Heidi make all kinds of things to take to the beach in addition to beef pot pie for dinner.

Happy Birthday Randy!

Today is Randy's 49th birthday! To celebrate, I am taking him out to lunch at a French restaurant in Niwot.(I have to attend another school board meeting in the evening ).

I did however make the standard birthday cake(chocolate with peanut butter icing). I have learned to make a double batch of icing since the kids tend to ice the cake skimpily so there is more icing for them which they will fight to the death over. They are eating other somewhat healthy things for breakfast, but there is just no beating this icing. 3 cups of 10X sugar, a tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup of milk and a cup of peanut butter=children actually agreeing on a food group. Priceless!

BTW, Matt's new favorite word is "discern". He uses it repeatedly trying to set the record for the most uses in a day.

Land lines

Last night around 10pm we discovered our main phone line was not working. For how long who knows. We almost never use it. Everyone I care about has my cell phone #. Randy flipped out(no big surprise there). He can not stand it when something does not work. We placed a work order with Qwest and it will probably be fixed today. The only people who will not be able to contact us because of their refusal to use the technology that the rest of the planet has embraced are Randy's parents. They have his cell phone number but tend to not want to call it. Depending on the cost to get this fixed, maybe they will be forced to. I personally don't see the need for it any longer

I am taking today off to do laundry, etc and get ready for my trip. After watching some of the kids fashion choices lately, I will be packing for them. Camo socks were just not meant to be worn with shorts.

It has been a while

Crazy busy here. Life has been on hold while I wrote a grant. (this process normally takes 2-3 months). I did it in 9 days. House is a wreck. Out of food as usual. Eating out way too much. Today we have bowling, our tax appt, haircuts. Tomorrow the kids have a game night at church. Monday I am taking off, but will probably do some volunteer work in a library. Wednesday is Randy's birthday as you probably know. I will be baking a cake Tuesday night. Wed I will take him out for lunch since there is a school board meeting. The girls from Trailridge who won the grand champion prize at the teen tech fair are being recognized and my director says I should introduce them. Great. My only hope is laryngitis. Anyone know how to bring this on? Hard to believe we leave a week from today. Need to clean up and start packing. Borders is having 25% off for educators, so will probably head over there. Need to charge my ipod, etc.

This week

Another busy week. Spent more time working than I wanted to. My boss and I are writing a grant that will benefit another department that is under my boss. The people that will directly benefit are not being very helpful in providing information. Very frustrating that the people who should have buy in are putting no effort into this while Connie and I are working weekends and evenings to meet the 3/23 deadline. Today she and I are going to a CAL(Colorado Association of Libraries) networking events. It is lunch at an Irish restaurant. Should be fun.

I worked on the grant until 11:30 Friday night after meeting my family for dinner. There was a Sangria induced nap inbetween. Saturday the kids had bowling(Kris did great, Matt not so much). We did a basic cleanup downstairs and then went to Gateway for the go karts for a few hours. Then onto the grocery store and I actually cooked dinner. We had the exciting meal of Hamburgers, fresh veggies and buttered noodles. The nice thing was the burgers were cooked on the grill. 1st cookout of the season(it is actually summer here). Goes along with our summer like temps. 77 yesterday. A/C has been running for several days. Kids have been wearing shorts to school for a few days. There was a scary moment Thursday morning when it began snowing, but then warmed up again. It seems everytime I hold a library meeting at Matt's school, it snows in some form.

Things may be turning around for Matt. He had to do this brochure on a biome for science and the teacher told him she is not giving it back. She told him it is the most creative she has ever seen and wants to keep it as an example for other students when she teaches that unit again. GO MATT. He got an hour of internet back a day as a reward.

Last night Kris and I went shopping. I bought a few new things. I need to take her and get her a new bathing suit for when we go to the beach. Kristen's confirmation class is going to see Amazing Grace tonight. I bought Casino Royale so when I get back from Denver, we will probably watch that.

The Concert

I gave Randy concert tickets to a combo Asleep at the Wheel/Ray Price/Merle Haggard/Willie Nelson for Valentine's day. Tonight was the big night. It is a night I will never forget. I made a new friend. His name is Bruce. Bruce and his girlfriend Mary were given tickets by Bruce's daughter and included a DD(designated driver for you non white-trash, rednecks). Apparently the daughter dropped them off early so they could get started with their buzz. Bruce was a large gentleman with long stringy hair and 3 teeth. I do believe that beer is his main source of nutrients. Anyway. Apparently, one of Bruce's buddies came along but paid for the expensive seats way down on the floor. His nickname is UGLY. So every 45 minutes or so, Bruce is yellings"UGS" to get the attention of his friend. Bruce also shared that his heart's desire was to share weed with Willie in Willie's bus. Great. Bruce had a box of Marlboros that did not have smokes that could be bought in a 7-11. But the real kicker, is the horseradish party hosted by UGS. Apparently the highlight of Bruce's social season is this horseradish party where all the men dig it up and all the women peel it. Bruce apparently passes out after this, because I doubt he does anything sober. My guess is that they either smoke it or distill it. I will never think about horseradish in the same way. At one point Bruce was rubbing my arm, saying it was ok if my leg rubbed up against his. NO-IT-IS-NOT-OK.
BTW, the concert was really pretty good, better than I expected.

The Teen Tech Fair

Well, it is finally over. A few loose ends to tie up, but it was held last night and was a huge success. We had 56 entries from 9 schools and for a first time effort, it was overwhelming success. I have never seen the director of my department smile like that. I thought he was going to dislocate his jaw. We had over 200 people show up. The superintendent as well as several school board members. The entries ranged from digital art(mostly summited by the art teacher from my former school), to power point presentations to websites, to instructional videos, etc. The prizes for students were monetary for groups, and ipods for individual entrants. There was also a grand champion prize of 280.00. Kristen's school had one entry-a promotional video for the elective teachers and it won 1st prize for middle school and also grandchampion so these three 12 year old girls split 480.00. Awesome. Axel is now my friend for life. The newspaper was there as well as the local TV channel who videotaped it for broadcast after spring break. So there you have it. I started this whole thing 1/23/2007, so a mere 6 weeks later, we have fulfilled my director's dream, showcased the school distrit in a positive light. After the whole thing was over, 5 of us went to Outback to celebrate(I never got a chance to eat) and the director picked up the tab for me to eat and several rounds of drinks. My day started at 7:30 and ended at 10:30 that night. Not bad for a 15 hour day. I made my department look like stars. I really feel like I have accomplished something and made a difference.

Weekend

Friday night: Dropped Kris at church to go to youth quake and Randy, Matt and I went out to Mexican restaurant. Most unflavorful Mexican food ever.

Sat-Matt did bowling and did great. Went over to Connie's house to work on the Teen Tech Fair. I will be so ready for this thing to be finished. Bill(her boss)has acknowledged several times the work we have put in on it. Sat night, Randy, Matt and I went to Ankor restaurant for Cambodian food. very good and large portions

Today-Picked Kris up after church and Matt and I went to see Wild Hogs. Very funny. Off to grocery store shortly. Then watching Grease and then more work, work, work.

So much for embracing anonymity

I had this whole long post typed about my evening last night and somehow bumped the wrong key and wiped it out. Ok here goes again:

For the past month I have been working on a teen technology fair. It is the district's 1st attempt at this and a dream of the director(my boss's boss). Last night was the school board proclamation that next week is Teen Technology Week. Connie and Bill the director were going to be speaking. I said I would go as a show of support- after all this is my project. I have lost countless hours of sleep, had many mini-nervous breakdowns, etc. First there were mind-numbing bond committee reports, followed by coma inducing financial reports(how anyone can find this stuff interesting is beyond me). Finally it was time for the proclamation. Connie and Bill went up to the podium(everyone has to speak into the mic there for the TV audience(all 5 of them). Bill motioned me to come up.(uh oh, this was a bad sign). He whispered to me that he wanted Connie to introduce me to the board(I already knew three personally) and wanted to give me credit for all the work I had done. Ok, kind of nice, but since I still had not spoken I was still somewhat anonymous. They then started asking questions which Connie did not have answers for. So I had to speak. No longer anonymous. Thank goodness I had changed into something nicer than what I wore to work.

I wanna be a boy!

Apparently Sabrina has decided she wants to be a boy dog. We went for a walk last night and she practiced. Every time she would pee to mark territory, she practiced lifting her leg. Quite unsuccessfully, I may add. At least she did not do fake limping this time. And then later, all brain cells apparently liquidized. Matt was sitting on the loveseat watching Criminal Minds and the dog came down and started barking at him. Stupid dog.

Not much happening

Things seem to be progressing for R. to move to a different company. Time will tell. Weather has been warmer, but way too windy. Kristen has morphed into an 8th grader-Heidi you probably know what this means. In case you have forgotten what this means:

• minimum of 20 eyerolls a day
• comments such as "what do you think I was doing?
• "why do I have to do everything around here?"
• You expect me to do ____(translates to not enough time for text messages, email, or playing my nintendo ds

BTW, Sabrina will someday drown in her water bowl. She has yet to learn that if she puts her entire snout all the way in the water, both nostrils will begin to fill with water. Stupid dog.

Sabrina, Matt, and the washing machine

Sabrina's new favorite snack is ice cubes. Lately she has not been wanting her food until she is sure no one has anything better.

Matt and Deb are no longer together. I had him drive home from the dentist and he made me nervous since he was not braking soon enough. (Stop laughing Mom)

Hopefully by the time I get home tonight, the washing machine will have a new timer and will work.

The two best quotes I heard yesterday:
Adolescence is a disease for which there is no cure.
Grandchildren are your reward for not killing your children.

Rainbow laundry,status of Randy's job and the Washer Repair guy and Kristen

We spent our afternoon at Rainbow laundry doing 6 loads of laundry. Kristen found it fun, Matt was annoyed we had to be there. Join the club. The tv only got the spanish channel. (channel buttons were missing). about 2 hours later we headed for home.

Saturday night we went to the worst production of Charlie Brown ever put on. Not sure what was missing but something major was.

Today the washer repair man came to save us, except he will probably be saving us on Thursday or Friday. After 69.00, he determined it was the timer. Has to be ordered(shocker). Actually, it was to me. I expected his truck to be stocked with everything my washing machine needs. The whole thing will be about 245.00, but still cheaper than a new washer. At the exact moment of his arrival, Kristen got up to stay with the dog and twisted her ankle. It started swelling and she could not put weight on it, so off she and I go to Kaiser. I gave Randy instructions on dinner since Matt had to leave early which he promptly ignored since it did not directly affect him. Matt still had plenty of time to eat. So tonight after Matt is back from sound system practice, he and I will go grocery shopping. Tomorrow evening is back at Rainbow laundry. Broken appliances, fill in the expletetive.

Randy's job:
His company is making some bonehead decisions and Friday, the same day as the washer demise, his key person in Asia quit. So Randy took it upon himself to inform the CEO of everything that is wrong with the company. They are on a two day break for an Asian holiday so I expect him to be fired tomorrow night. He insists this one guy has guaranteed him a job with a competitor, but we shall see. He is having lunch with this guy on Friday.

Hopefully, my boss will be back tomorrow, because I am done with being the boss and dealing with staff members petty(at least they are petty to me) problems at work. Doing two jobs this past week was difficult at best.

A beautiful day

The sun is shining, the hellacious winds have stopped, temps above freezing. A beautiful day in the neighborhood.

We just got back from bowling. Kris did great, Matt not so much. Leaving shortly for a hair appt.

Then mountains of laundry at the 'mat. Good thing is I should have tons o time to read.

Then going to see you are a good man charlie brown at SHS.

Tomorrow is church, maybe a movie, maybe more bowling. Definitely shopping.

Monday, don't know other than washer man is coming between 2-4 pm.

And Randy thought it was going to be the TV

For months now, the TV in the Living Room has not had the color green. We have gotten used to pink grass, etc. The TV screen also narrows to a single line every other day or so. I am the hold out until it does not work at all.

This morning I decided to do a load of laundry. The washer filled and then stopped. Apparently that is all it is willing to do. I thought I would help out by emptying the washer with a small bucket and getting all the clothes out before he worked on it. I made a huge mess. Then I find out, he does not have to pull the back off, but the front. Oops

I told the kids I would take them to see the SHS version of Charlie Brown. Changed my mind when the hurricane force winds have settled in this area for the entire day and evening. That mixed with yet another snowshower makes it a good night to stay home.

Do you know someone painfully thin person(has to be) has come up with cheescake filling in a tub where you can just eat with a spoon. Talk about evil.

Valentines Day

Valentines Day was a little different here. The kids gave me flowers. Randy gave me another gift card to Borders-always a plus and a gift card to starbucks. He and I went out for lunch which we almost never do and I can not recall doing it for VD ever. Kids had hair appts that night, so we had pizza for dinner. Would not have wanted to go out anyway since we got another 2-3 inches of snow. I got Randy tickets to a willie nelson/merle haggard/Ray price/asleep at the wheel concert. Kristen got three flowers-all from girlfriends.

Potzilla

Check out this link:
http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=64749

Historical vs the beach

While planning a trip to the east coast to visit relatives, the kids were given a choice: a two trip to the beach or seeing the treasures of King Tut.
Matt: I have seen mummies before and the only thing that sets him apart is that he died young and was wealthy. I don't get many opportunities to go to the beach.
Kristen-School related stuff or the beach? Seriously? You are wanting an answer to this question? Can we get one of those double rooms? Will the hotel have a totally cool pool? How long will it take to get there?

The beach it is.

If she doesn't see it, it has not happened

Sabrina-If she does not see you put food in her bowl, you have not done it. Nevermind she hears you do it and she smells it.

Kristen-had 3 detentions for forgetting a paper. She is now researching ancient romans in school.

Matt-He is on new medication. He takes 4 small capsules before school. He is not happy because the pills are the colors of his school's crosstown rival. Deal. He was presented with three options and chose this one. The other one was taking an extra dose of the same thing at lunch and the 3rd choice was a medication that could impair liver function and which would require blood tests monthly. The big news is that Matt has a new girlfriend. Her name is DEb and she is in his social studies class. So far progressing slowly. She has invited him to a dance and her b-day party in March.

I don't feel like thinking up a cute title

Last night I came to dinner already made. That's right Randy made dinner. Chili. It was great and I was glad not to have to cook.

Matt is selling cookie dough for orchestra. I want to buy 70.00 worth. Matt and Kristen each want their own tub. The flavor choices are:
Snickerdoodle
Extreme Chocolate made with Reese's Pieces
White Chocolate macadamia
Lemon Cranberry
Peanut Butter
Chunky Chocolate
Triple Crown(basically choc chip with white choc, dark choc and milk choc)
Sugar
Night and Day(dark choc cookie dough with white choc chip)
Key Lime White Choc
HOney Raisin oatmeal.
Each sells for 14.99. Want to help support the orchestra?

Each Saturday we go to the bowling alley for their league. They have the best french fries and fried mushrooms. And yes we have them for breakfast. Yummmmmmmmmm.

Kristen is out front playing basketball with the dog. Expect a quick game.

I love snow

Sabrina here. They think I don't know how to use the computer. Who do they think really emails all those pictures of animals? I love snow. I didn't use to, but I love, love, love it. It is 10 degrees outside(they think I don't know how to read either)which makes the snow crunchy on top and soft and melty when it is in my mouth. I don't really mind the cold until my mouth is numb from the snow or until my runny nose has frozen to my lip. Then I know it is time to go in and rub my cold wet face on what ever skin mom has exposed. Mom is hoping for a snowday since the high will be 7. I just have to figure out how to bring snow in without melting it. Mom tends to want to brush all my snow collections off and then all my efforts are wasted.

Hunger strike is over

It lasted about 4 hours. BTW, in case anyone cares...we are supposed to get 5-10 inches of snow overnight. We can't win. We are so close to onstreet parking.

It sucks to be Matt

Matt's grades came today. He had F's in Social Studies, Math and German. He has had music,internet,video games taken away from him for the semester. He has to sit and do some sort of homework for an hour every day. The Bass lessons are gone. I will have to arrange for the bass to be picked up. Randy wants him pulled from Orchestra, don't know that I agree with that. He is one unhappy dude. The comments have ranged from "I will be leaving on Monday"-don't know what is special about Monday to You are not my family anymore, to I am on a hunger strike. His point is we are killing him. NO, don't think so. He has an evaluation on 2/7 with a psychiatrist for a medication adjustment.

Snow again

We are now 7 for 7. 7 weeks straight it has snow. Kristen made the comment, it will never melt. Matt's response? No lawnmowing. Today is bowling and shopping for Kristen and me. Matt and Randy will be going to run some model trains. No food in the house so I plan to get fried mushrooms and coffee at the bowling alley for breakfast. Matt had a lean cuisine meal, Kristen had pizza rolls. My boss has yet another funeral in Louisiana next week, so I will be quite busy this week. I also have a presentation in front of 16 principals, Connie's boss, and the asst superintendent. Once that is over, the rest of the week will be a piece of cake. Of course my most important question for this type of event is what to wear, what to wear!

In honor of Valentines day

I changed the template. If you don't like it, don't worry, it will disappear eventually.

Musings

Matt had his 5th schedule change this semester(which started after Martin Luther King day). Hopefully this latest one is a keeper.

The dog is mesmerized by headlights-I think she believes she is on stage or something.

Kristen is doing well in school. Her report card showed one A and the rest B's. Still waiting for Matt's.

Matt's orchestra festival is Monday night. Today Kristen's new school plays her old school in b-ball.

The temps are getting warmer. Should have tons of meltage going on in the next two days before the temps drop by the weekend. For the 1st time in 6 weeks there is no storm forecast for the weekend.

Kristen is having a change in teachers. Her English teacher is going to a different school mid year. She will meet her new teacher today.

Finally watched the last of the movies I rented weeks ago. Little Miss Sunshine was extremely funny. I think that is the only Academy Award nominee I have seen.

Hopefully we will be back to a 4 burner stove tonight.

Bored yet?

Snow again.

No, this is not 1/14/07 entry reposted. We woke up to yet another snowfall. This one apparently is 2-6 inches. We have 1.5 inches at 8:16 am. Joy. But the good news is Randy is home and can take charge of the snow removal once again. We had snow flurries yesterday and silly me thought we would get lucky for once this season. Oh well, we are not as bad off as the plains. They had blizzard conditions yesterday.

Sigh

The house is a wreck, I have to pick Randy up today and snow is on the way again and my son picks this morning to share about his life. So what do I do. Spend the time with Matt of course! Kristen wants to go to a kids night out at the rec center tonight so easy to motivate her, Matt and me not so easy!

Off to more cleaning!

Matt and the coffee table

Matt called me at work on Thursday stating the coffee table spontaneously fell apart. The glass cracked and broke and 2 pegs broke off. He thought the glass might still be able to be used. No, not if it was in pieces. The table was old(it was David's). Later I found out it had help from Matt's size 13 workboots that were resting on it.

Anyway-Here is the link to what I want to replace it with.

http://www.afwonline.com/ic280frm.asp?prodno=T353-O&COMBO1=3001&FurnType=OccTbl

Snow again

We woke up to snow again. Supposed to get 1-3 inches. Well we have that already and it is only 8:30. Kristen's confirmation fundraiser/dinner is supposed to be tonight. I hope they postpone it. Kristen made a room for the dog in her closet. Why the dog needs her own bedroom escapes me. The dog bed is in there as well as animal posters and a nightlight. Where did the dog sleep last night? With me. She better get used to her new room, because the constant sighing is getting old.

BRRRRRRR

It is so cold here. I have the heat cranked and still can't get warm. It is 5 right now and feels it. The kids and I went to see Night in the Museum. Totally cool movie. Matt and I loved it and K liked it more than she thought she would. K is now doing surgery on ducky's wing. Tomorrow is the confirmation fund raiser. Got K a white shirt at the mall. She wanted to do mucho more shopping but I wanted to get home before the temps dropped below 0. Making mac and cheese for dinner and maybe an apple spice cake. The cooking magazine came the other day. Thanks Mom. Planning on watching the Eagles game tonight. Fortunately, I won't have to stay up as late as you eastcoasterites to see it. Anytime you want me to ship snow and ice east let me know. Glad you checked out this totally boring post?

Storms

Yesterday we had 115 mph winds-yes that is level 3 hurricane. Western schools and roads in my district were closed. You open the car door and you better have a good grip or you can start looking for it in another county. We are expecting another storm Thursday into Friday. 10-12 more inches of the white, fluffy stuff. Joy. As if we don't have enough.

Now the impending storm at Matt's school. He comes home yesterday and says he had a schedule change. The orchestra class is too large so they split it. He is scheduled to have that 2nd period instead of first. Well he had English 2nd. So now he is scheduled to have that awful English teacher that I had him removed from in October. I don't think so. An email has been sent to be followed up by a phone call this morning. Let's take him out of a class where he has achieved some success and put him back in the class with the teacher who wants to fail him. Good move, geniuses.

Btw, Kristen's field trip got cancelled for today. They were supposed to go t to the Denver Science Museum, but only 10 kids turned in their money. 10 out of 120. Hmmm. Maybe parents did not get the message that it wasn't free or couldn't afford to pay.

Matt did use his best buy gift card for a game and accessories to his nintendo ds

Grocery shopping and snow

We cleared the driveway and sidewalks. 7 inches. Thank goodness for snowblowers. M/K both got to try their hand at it. Temp was 0 at 7:30 am. And there is another storm forecast for next Friday. Anyone want to do a houseswap? Anyone, anyone?

Grocery shopping was typical of R being gone
10 cans of spaghetti o's
2 boxes of ramen
ingredients for taco salad
mac/cheese
cookie crisp cereal-2 boxes
peanut butter choc ricecakes
2 boxes of icecream cones
stauffer's lasagne
tortilla chips
oranges/bananas(obviously my contribution)
mountain dew regular
milk
yogurt
2 large containers of OJ in fancy bottles-They were on sale Mom. Really? 7.00 per bottle is a sale? Ok. Whatever, let me out of this shopping nightmare. Onto Blockbuster for more fun.
There was not a movie made that my two kids can agree on, so a mere 29.95 later we are home.

Matt's comments-spaghetti o's are loaded with nutrition. Seriously?

Snow Day!

Yeah! We have a snow day. On top of the 2 plus feet of snow remaining from the blizzard, we are getting 6 more today. Not sure why school closed, but glad it did. Randy is on his way to Singapore(should land in a few hours) so the kiddos and puppy and I are just chillin. Kristen had 2 bagels for breakfast, Matt had ramen wanna be and I am having scrapple. Yummers. Enjoy the unseasonably warm weather, because it is not like that here. Doggie is quite annoyed that her nap scheduled has pretty much gone away!

Happy New Year

Happy 2007 everyone! We spent our typical New Years Eve with a seafood dinner and a game of Monopoly. I went out first followed quickly by Kristen and then the battle began in earnest. Matt and Randy playing Monopoly is not for the weak of heart.

Kristen went over to her friend kayla's house three times since we were home to work on a project for an elective class. I think Kayla's mom is far more concerned about this project than either girl.

Matt seems like he is moving on from Jen. The breakup was inevitable but she could have been a lot nicer about it. Matt was great until she found someone better. I think it was an eye opening experience for him. I took him to see Eragon to get his mind off his problems. Pretty good.

Today we moved the rolltop desk and all its contents down to the basement and moved the one computer desk into the dining room in its place. We did this so Randy had room to work in his office. He has taken back the compaq laptop and now I have the desktop up here. Kristen is ecstatic. I am ecstatic since this will open my work programs which the laptop would not. Now I do not have to drag my work laptop home every single night. It is 10:53 and still doing laundry that is needed for tomorrow.

Sad news: Randy's camping friend Gary died from liver cancer yesterday morning. Holli's coworker Sharon's father died this morning and Holli's boss is stuck in Texas due to the storms. It looks to be a busy week. Randy anticipates a trip to Singapore as early as this weekend.

Plans for tomorrow night: gift card redemption after homework. Weather was an issue and coordinating schedules. They chose sledding with friends yesterday over shopping. Today was all about keeping promise made to husband.

Poor matt

His girlfriend of 3 months broke up with him last night. Fortunately teenage hearts heal quickly. Looks like the snow is over for us. Kristen is going to a friends house to work on a project and matt wants to go to best buy. Other than that, more laundry etc. Kristen has been experimenting with the makeup. She wanted to know what the dog would look like with mascara. Fortunately she came to her senses before I had to take makeup away for a year.

Christmas Day at the Magic Kingdom

After checking out of the hotel, we headed to the beach one last time. Saw a herd of dolphins swimming up the coast. Totally cool. Next onto Disneyland-Kristen was waiting for this the entire week.

To begin, I hate crowds, Randy hates crowds, Matt did not want to be there because of his fear of rollercoasters. So what do we do, go to the place where dreams come true(only if those dreams do not include going on rides with out a 75 minute wait) on the busiest, most crowded day of the year! Make sense to you? The reason for doing this? Food. We could be guaranteed that we could get food. Anyway, after a 20 minute wait to get into the employee parking lot(Simba-long walk through downtown disney. Rode the monorail to tomorrow land. Did autotopia and a star wars type simulation there. Moved onto frontier land where we road the mark twain ship(only adult ride with no line). Did the thunder mountain railroad rollercoaster. It looked tame. Wrong. Matt looked extremely angry the whole time. Kristen was ecstatic. My neck hurt by the time we got off. Next off to Pirates of the Carribbean. Relatively short wait. They modified the ride to include things from the movies. Good changes. This was my favorite and Matt's. Next waited about an hour for Indiana Jones ride. They made changes too, but not for the better. Definitely not worth it. Ended up eating mediocre mexican food in California Adventure before leaving to head up to a hotel in Ontario to get a headstart on traffic for the trip home the next day.

Whale watching cruise II, California Adventure and what Californians do on Christmas Eve

Whale Watch: We dragged ourselves out of bed by 7am(this is harder than you would think) and tried the whale watch again with our handy dandy whale check vouchers. Please read prev blog entry if you do not know what I am talking about. This time we saw a pod of dolphins. They were having fun in the wake of the boat. I hopefully got one good picture. Beautiful day for it.D.L. Drove through Laguna Beach. This is a place I would like to come back to. For a family beach trip, I would want to stay in Dana Point. For a trip with just me and Kris or some other girls, Laguna Beach is the ticket. Much too artsy for the boys.

got to Disney land and survived the maze to the parking garage. Did California Adventure today. It was nice. Kris and I did a water ride, we all did the Ferris Wheel. Did the muppet 3-d show. Pretty good.

What Californians do for Christmas eve: They go to Denny's! Who would have thought it!

Seaworld

Yesterday was Seaworld and we are all tired of being together day. Randy was the most irritable but we all had our moments. The Shamu show was new. According to my friend karen, the previous one was 10 years old. Randy got some good footage and pictures. We pet a dolphin, so all the crucial shows, went into a few exhibits. Super crowded. Everyone in San Diego was there apparently. Stopped at the Fish Market for dinner. Randy's boss highly recommends this place. Matt got a huge bucket of clams. Randy got swordfish, Kris got a shrimp caesar salad, and I got mahi-mahi. Everyone had a good meal except me. The Mahi-mahi did not give up without a fight. We then went in search of laundry det. The dispenser in the hotel has none. I know they have it, but won't refill it. 7-11 comes through again. Did one load of laundry last night. Just enough to get by.

Whale watch and dinner

Yesterday we did a whale watch from Dana Point. Dana Point is where I wish we would have stayed. Next time. No whales or dolphins. Just sea lions sleeping on a buoy. Seas were really rough so I guess all the critters were down deep. R. says if we can get up early enough, we might try again tomorrow morning before California adventure. today is Seaworld. Last night we met my internet friend Karen in Santa Ana. Apparently we were all trying to meet at a restaurant that did not exist. Ended up eating at Pat and Oscars which is lower price Italian. Really good. None of the 4 kids had a good time. To be expected, but it is not always about them. Our kids were better behaved but they were older.

San Diego Wild Animal Park

Yesterday we travelled down to San Diego Wild Animal Park. Huge facility. Animals in more natural habitats. Lots of babies.They are a breeding facility so no major surprise there. Started out with a train ride out to all the large enclosures. Saw a silly baby elephant who was showing off. Lions, a sumatran tiger, lots of birds and monekeys, apes, all different kinds of African and asian hoofed species. Saw an elephant show and a bird show. Everyone liked this one better than the San Diego zoo except Matt. Kristen bought a stuffed lion. So now the count is up to three that she is sleeping with. The froggy pillow, the hardrock cafe bear and now the lion.

Today we are going on a whale watching cruise and then meeting my friend Karen at a Mexican restaurant in Santa Ana.

Huntingdon Beach and the Ducks

Randy felt he had to conduct some business, so Kris and I hung out at the pool. When he was finally done, we headed to Huntingdon Beach for some fun in the sand. Actually found some decent shells which I am sure the kids will fight over. Went to the Huntingdon Pier and had dinner at the end of it at a restaurant called Ruby's. Another 50's diner! This state is liviing in the past! After that we headed to the Honda Center previously known as Arrowhead pond to see the Anaheim Ducks crush the Dallas Stars. We were in the second highest row of the arena. Good view for the most part. Matt had a great time. Usual assortment of fights, annoying fans trying to convert LA King fans into Duck fans, etc,etc. Oh, I finally got to try an INN and Out burger. Former Californiaites claim these things are the best thing on the planet. Not so. McDonalds on a bad day is far better. Don't need to experience it again. Today we will be going to the San Diego Wiild Animal Park and walmart for things I forgot.

San Diego Zoo and Hard Rock Cafe

12/19/2006:
We went down to the San Diego zoo for the day. Lots of fun and walking. Kristen exhibited her non rule breaking traits by refusing to walk on the moving walkways. It said stand so she was going to stand. Randy taunted her by walking back and forth. Beautiful weather continues. Randy got some great shots of animals and some of the kids. After the zoo, we went to Hard Rock Cafe in downtown San Diego. Food was good and Kristen got another bear for her collection. Matt got a long sleeved tshirt and I got a lemon martini. Got back to the hotel and finished Christmas cards and postcards. Did a load of laundry much to the dismay of the staff. Virtually the entire hotel is a constuction zone.

The beach

Yesterday we went to the beach. But first there was breakfast. Went to a 50's diner called Tommy. Blue plastic furniture. Really cute. Expensive.$47. Started out going on the beach briefly at Screppy's restaurant just to take a family picture. We discovered the surfliner train that runs along the coast runs about every 20 minutes. Randy took one of many pictures of that. Since we had to pay .50 for every half hour, we moved onto to San Clemente State Park. There is a rock out in the distance that has sea lions. Randy got some pictures of that. My camera could not get close enough. Went down on the beach where Kris and I waded in the water while Matt and Randy walked up the coast. The storm from the other day cleaned up the beach pretty well from shells, so Matt found it boring. Moved onto the San Clemente pier, after a hellacious walk up a path. The walk was straight up a cliff. Did not make me happy. Randy and Matt had to race each other. Way too much testosterone there. I digress. back to the pier. Beautiful area of town. Nice family beach. Kristen and I spent more time on our new hobby watching surfer dudes. These guys make tremendous eye candy. Even Kristn was checking them out. Ate "lunch" at a restaurant on the pier. Since breakfast was huge, this was supposed to be a light lunch. Matt got fish tacos, Kris got a calimari sandwich and Randy and I got salads. Both of these salads came in the size of containers you see at Olive garden for an entire table. I ate a 4th of my spinach bacon salad and Randy ate 3/4 of his chicken casear salad. Kristen finished his. Did a little shopping. Bought a tshirt, mousepad with the San Cl. pier on it, lip balm and sunglasses for Kristen. Back to the hotel so Kris could swim and we could all veg out. Ordered in for dinner. That's about it. The S.D zoo and hardrock cafe today. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

Beaver, Utah to San Clemente, CA

We woke up to snow in Beaver and drove through an hour of varying stages of the white stuff. Road crews more concerned with plowing the shoulder than the actual road. Made good time after that. Randy hates Nevada and this trip reiterated that to him. He has vowed never to stop in Nevada again. A. No rest stops. B. crowded and poor traffic directions. We stopped in a McD. parking lot and ended up eating food we brought. Arrived in the Los Angeles Basin around 1:30 and got to the hotel at 3pm. No traffic at all on any road here. Almost surreal. Hotel is ok, not great, but ok. Matt says the pool is a ghetto pool. Kristen and I both have colds and she has a scraped foot and knee from the foggy pool in Utah. We drove up the coast to try to fin d a nice restaurant. Ended up at Denny's. It was an adobe building, but inside was a 50's diner motif! After that the fun began. We could only turn right out of the parking lot.(not the way we came). We ended up going into the innards of Dana Point and then into the innards of San Juan Capistrano(very quaint town) in search of Interstate 5. We never did find the ramp to 5 South, but did end up back on the Pacific Coast Highway and made our way back to the hotel. Kids went in the ghetto pool for a little and now we are all back in the hotel room for the night. It is 8:15 local time and I am ready for bed.

Beaver, Utah

We left the house at 8:03 am and arrived here at the Comfort suites at 5:15pm. We made great time. Very little traffic problems. Had Dinner at the timberline restaurant across the highway. Discovered that Utah does not like tomatoes and they consider salad dressing a side dish. Very nice room with free wireless. Kids are in the pool swimming. Off to San Clemente in the morning.

Well, we are off....

It is 10pm and we are pretty much ready to go in the morning. Some stuff is in the 'rango, but most of the big stuff still needs to go. We are leaving around 8am and hope to be clear of the state by noon. Everyone seems to be doing ok other than all the stress getting ready for a trip.

Graduation/California/Matt

Graduation: There is so much to say about this, but I still feel overwhelmed. The time flew by, despite all the worry, work and stress. Hard to believe it is over.

California: Why was I so stupid to think I could do Graduation, California and Christmas in the same two week time period! Wrapping last of the gifts tonight. Kristen and Matt had a blast playing with the Zacks gift. I actually managed to wrap at least one of them without setting it off. Have to ship them all off tomorrow.

Matt: This kid is going to be the death of me. Not taking notes in science so expected result is achieved on tests(expected by everyone except matt), slacking in English so grade dropping there also. I think I need to begin planning on summer school for him. Looks like Kristen will have the relatives all to herself.