Just checking in

My weekend was fabulous! I got through all our Florida vacation photos from last summer, and then some! I have to take photos of my favorites so I can proudly show them off.

I did go to Greg's baseball game on Saturday. Greg was up first, walked, stole second and on an overthrow, raced home to score! He pitched one inning, didn't earn any runs and struck out 2 batters. that's my guy! Dodgers did not win and have been in a slump. Hopefully tomorrow's game will be the turning point. We need some more wins before the playoffs.

So, for this week. It's busy and we are on the run all week! Tonight we cleaned out Greg's room and just need Toom to get home to move the furniture out. Greg is getting new furniture Wednesday morning!! He's excited. Me to as we can finally get his room back together. Then it's time to start in Evelyn's room.

Wednesday morning I have my last physical therapy session. But I know all the exercises and do them all the time anyways. Greg's furniture arrives. Greg has a game.

Thursday, I have to work the snack bar at the ball field in the evening. Doing BBQ. Hopefully it is a bit cooler.

Friday, we go to the Angels game with Greg's team. Fun!!

Saturday, game and shopping for flooring for the house.

Sunday, Angel game again.

Not a minute to breathe, well maybe a few minutes. And of course, throw work and homework in there. Whew!

Gotta feed the kids dinner before they have a snack fest and eat all the snacks in the house. And feed the dog. No wonder why she keeps looking at me and licking her chops.

Have a super week everyone :)

Daily thought

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book.
— Irish Proverb

Almost there

Oh joy! It is Wednesday. Halfway through the week, and only 2 more days until my wonderful, marvelous scrap weekend. Ahhhh! It's been a long time since I have had uninterrupted time to sit and scrap, and for 3 days straight. Oh joy! I have so much to do and think it's time I concentrate on our Florida vacation from last August. I've got all the photos printed and all the stuff I need (hopefully) and can sit down and jam through that in a day or less.

Of course, Saturday morning, I will be at Greg's game. I don't like to miss the kids events. And I am close enough to home that I can do it. But then, I will make a mad dash back to the hotel to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

We have 24 people attending this weekend. Wow! It grows each time. Time to start looking for a new place where we can expand.

Myself and a few friends started Crops2Remember a little more than a year ago and host scrapbooking weekends locally. We also did a 12 hour crop last November.This will be our 3rd weekend crop. It is so much fun as scrapbooking is something I love to do and I love being able to plan something for other people to attend and enjoy.

I had physical therapy today. My hand strength is coming back. It's up to 20 pounds. After surgery it was only 5 pounds. That's great improvement! It takes anywhere from 3 to 6 months to be back to normal. So, I could have another 4 months recovery ahead of me. But my therapist is pleased with my progress. I have 2 more PT sessions and don't know if I will get any more. But at least I know all the exercises I can do at home. I also have my heat and ice packs. Now if only I could find a nice ultrasound machine like they have. hmmmmm.

Last night we ordered new furniture for Greg. It was not what we had looked at on Saturday, but Greg says he really likes it. I sure hope he does for the next 5 - 10 years. But he has never had any new furniture in his life. It's all been hand me downs. The furniture will be delivered next week so that gives us time to clear out his room again in preparation for the new. At least the painting is all done. After the new furniture arrives we will accessorise and his room will be done. Then it's time to start on Evelyn's. She has been so patient waiting for her turn.

Time to get back to work. As usual, lots to do and the time ticks by way too fast these days.

Enjoy the rest of your week!!

Thank you Everyone

I just want to say thank you to everyone for the birthday cards, e cards and gifts I received yesterday for my birthday. It was a great day.
Typical day, which is just fine with me.
Started with physical therapy for my hand, work and then the after noon dash. Got Evelyn to riding lessons and Greg to the baseball field for his game. We were early so he had time to practice hitting with coach Rob and Drew and more time to play catch. He loves to be there early. As does Evelyn to riding lessons. Evelyn got to ride Jesse. She also got stepped on and swatted with Jesse's tail. But she loves it all no matter what! That is what counts.
My mom brought Evelyn home from riding lessons and got her through the mounds of homework she had. (Thank you!) Tom and I went to dinner while my mom fed the kids and got them to bed.
Tom and I went to Inka Mamma's in Foothill Ranch. I have been wanting to go there for years and finally had the chance. It was soooo good! I had a dish with wheat pasta, onions, peppers, shrimp and cod. Tom had a dish with beef, potatoes and rice. Oh so yummy. I get to finish mine for lunch today and can't wait. Maybe I will just eat lunch now.
Thanks to my dad and Renee I enjoyed a nice hot chai latte at Starbucks this morning. Just the right way to start the day.
I will get out thank you notes next week. Lots to do this week and I'm already feeling stressed.
Have a super week!

Daily thought

He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass.
— George Herbert

Good Night Everybody

It's 8:00 pm on Friday. What are you doing? Me, well, I'm getting ready for bed. I'm beat. It's been quite a day and tomorrow have lot's to do. Tom and Evelyn are on their way, and probably already at their camping location. I don't remember where it is, somewhere near Ortega Highway, but the long way.
We took Greg's friend home not too long ago. Now Greg is making popcorn and found the Ducks game on tv. (Go Ducks!!! It's awesome to hear you are finally winnning, now just keep it up....please!)
I'm signing out of cyper space and getting my jams on, curl up on the couch with my book while Greg watches the game. Then it's to bed, very soon. I may just fall asleep on the couch.
Happy Weekend and Go Ducks!!

Friday.....finally

Yippee! And the state report is done! Next on the agenda is Greg's city report. He was assigned Brea.

Thursday morning I was up at 4:20 am as I had to drive to Westlake Village for a meeting. I was on the road at 5:04 am in order to get through Los Angeles before the traffic. I pulled off on Las Virgines Rd. in Calabasas and was at Starbucks at 6:20 am. Not bad at all! I located some Starbucks before my trek. Luckily the 2 hour meeting was only 1 hour. Picked up my "new benefits package" and had brunch with some co-workers, was on the road again by 11:30. I got home around 1:20 to find out the electricity was out. Instead of checking email I took K for a walk and chilled out. I was exhausted but not enough time for a nap.

After school Evelyn and I worked on finishing up her state report. She was a trooper. After completing her other homework we were all done by 7 pm. Evelyn was sure she was going to be up late working on the report.

I crawled into bed early and was alseep around 9:00. I slept so good too!

I had another doctor appointment for my hand this morning. He kept me on limited work with limited use of my right hand. It still hurts when I use it too much. Range of motion is getting better, but my wrist still hurts.

Evelyn and Tom are headed out for another camping adventure this weekend. Greg has a game 10 am Saturday. After that we will hang out at Eric's and swim if it is nice. Baby is here any day now. Evelyn and I are wishing for a girl. But we will all be surprised. Evelyn and Greg are so excited to have another cousin here soon!!!

Greg's coach is putting together a team for a Memorial Day tournament. He asked Greg and Greg is just so excited! Greg keeps asking me if I signed him up and what the schedule is. I keep telling Greg that he has to ask his coach for all the details.

Well, that's all for now. It's time for lunch and a much needed computer break.

Have a safe and happy weekend.............Hopefully baby will be here soon and I'll have tons of baby pix to post.

Just a ramble because I want to

There is nothing that a venti iced chai latte can't cure on a nice hot Spring day. Well, not quite everything. But it sure helps. And then a nice telephone call from my dad. Makes a great day. :)

Got the electric shock treatment at physical therapy again. Have not had that for a long time, since before surgery. But nothing tops the nerve conductive survey, when you get shocked multiple times. Yowza. But the heat, ultrasoud, massage and exercises, that all helps.

Just had to share. Now back to work. Tons to do. I need ice. Iced tea, iced chai, ice for my hand. Oh, ice cream!

Evelyn gets to lope today at riding lessons. She's excited. Me too, because I want to ride too.

The weekend

We had great weekend. It was hot!
Tom had to go into work early on Saturday for inventory. No fun. But the kids and I slept in. Me, 8:00, the kids, around 8:30. Ahhh! Greg didn't have to be at the field until 11:15. I dashed around dusting and cleaning the house and doing laundry. Jumped in the shower and left a nice clean house when we left for the ball field. Greg likes to be at the field early. He likes to watch the other games and also so he can play catch with Drew. I also think he gets a bit antsy before the game and likes to make sure he is there on time.
While Greg was warming up, Evelyn and I did the rounds to see who was playing and see who we could chat with.

Game time and it was hot! Dodgers were up first and we got one run in the first inning. Greg pitched the first inning. Angels got one run. Game was going along good. Greg played 3rd and 1st the rest of the game. Had some outstanding plays in the field. Struck out once, walked and hit. I think it was about the 3rd or 4th inning. Dodgers were ahead, bases loaded, Garrett was up........inside the park Grand Slam!!! Whoo-Hoo!! That clinched the win for the Dodgers and the final score was 13 - 9. Way to go Dodgers!

After the game the kids and I made a Henry's run. I started feeling very tired, managed to load up the cart with snacks for school, ice cream, and also came home with shrimp and 3 lobster tails, oh and 4 huge artichokes. The plan was to cook lobster tails and artichokes for dinner and and have some ice cold shrimp. The neighbors were over and all the kids went in the sprinklers. I started feeling worse then and had to sit down. Couldn't even put away the groceries. Couldn't even cook dinner. I ended up going to bed around 6 and dozed on and off for several hours. Ended up sleeping until 8 the next morning. Don't know what hit me but it sure knocked me out.

Sunday I felt groggy all day. I did get to Michaels for some beads for some bracelets I wanted to make. After church, Greg went with Garrett and his family to go swimming. Evelyn went to her friends to go swimming. I got my nails done and wanted to fall asleep in the chair.

For dinner, Tom bbq'd some steaks while I steamed the artichokes and lobster. We ate out on the patio as it was so nice. Kaydee enjoyed some steak and was lucky to get fed from the table. She conveniently sat as close as she could get to the meat plate. Smart dog she is.

I didn't make it to bed early like I had planned too, but did make 4 bracelets. I think they turned out pretty cool. I'll post some pictures here later.

Off to physical therapy now. Then have tons of work to do before the kids get home. Riding lessons today, game Tuesday, practice Thursday, and of course throw in homework, finishing up the state report and studying lines for the OC play. Just another typical week here.

Have a super week!

And the Klutz of the Day Award goes to...........

Me, yep that's right, me! Well, what did I do you wonder........I really don't know how it happened, but here is what happened

I was getting ready to do my load of laundry for the day. I went into Evelyn's room to get her hamper. As I was gathering clothes from the floor, I noticed a cup of water on her book case. I chucked the clothes into the hamper, grabbed the cup of water, grabbed the hamper and began walking out of her room. As I was nearing the door, I tripped, tumbled over the hamper, spilling water on the door, me and all over the hall and I somehow made it over the hamper and landed flat on my hand, the hand, the healing hand. Youcha! I also heard a rip and my toe was caught in the cuff of my pants. I wiped down the door and walls with a sweatshirt that had spilled from the hamper, blotted up the water on the floor, put the clothes back in the hamper and then saw my pants. :( The bottom part is almost all the way ripped off.

This is what I think happened. The cuffs of my pants are folded up and attached with this flappy thing that buttons. Kinds of like a strap. I think as I was maneuvering around things in Evelyn's room, my foot or toe caught somewhere on the other leg of my pants thus causing my fall. I think I can salvage the pants. Just cut the other leg the same length as the ripped one and put in a new hem. Wa-la! New springy cropped pants.

Now my hand. It hurts. Hurts. It has been hurting anyways. This stabbing burning sensation on my wrist just under my hand. Ok in the morning but as the day goes on it gets worse and worse. So much so that the other night it made me cry and I had to pop some more Aleve. I have physical therapy today in a little over an hour and will discuss it then. I go back to the surgeon for another check up next Friday. The area at my incision is still very sensitive and does not like to touch things.

So, now that I have recovered, and changed my pants, I humbly give myself this award. Wont be the last time something like this happens, and for sure not the first. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. And yes, I do all my own stunts. I'm here 24/7 too.

Have a safe and fun weekend!

Mustard

Go check out my Tasty Reviews blog for a review of this new sandwich shop.

If I didn't mention this before, I decided I had to have yet another blog. One about food. who does not like food. I wanted to share restaurants I have enjoyed, recipes, other food blogs and tasty food things. It got off to a slow start. But if you like it, post me a comment, or if you have something you would like to review, let me know. Only positive comments. And it does not have to be right here in the OC.

Stay tuned for a recipe I created the other week. The family loves it too. That's what counts!!

Dodgers Baseball

As you can see by the scores, Dodgers are having a good season. Although they have lost some games the team is really coming together to work as a team. As the season progresses more and more guys are hitting and good hits too. Greg has hit a few triples, doubles and of course singles. The pitches are getting better. Greg is getting more confidence in his pitching and now that he has the accuracy down, he needs to work on his speed. He can pitch them fast at home when he is pitching to Tom. But at the game, it's a different story. He has hit one batter and has gotten hit himself. I think almost every pitcher has hit a batter and almost every batter has gotten hit.

I have been keeping score almost every game. If it's not the official book, then it's the pitch count form or the teams book. There was one game when I did not have to do a thing. I did get lots of pictures but kept bugging our score keeper and the other score keeper to see what inning it was, how many outs, what the score was. Oh vey. I better keep to keeping score so I know what's going on.

So, as I promised quite some time ago, here are some pictures. And the scores are updated. Like I also mentioned earlier, this Saturday we have to finish up the game against the Yankees that ended in a tie and then play the regular game. I will update later in the weekend.

GO DODGERS

well, picutres will be here soon. Greg and Erik built a town for Butterscotch, Greg's hamster. Now I got the report the the hamster has gone behind the dresser. Yikes. Keep the dog away and the door closed so Ms. Sassy Buterscotch does not get anywere else.

All is well and Butterscotch is now cruising through the house in the Barbie car. And I forgot to introduce Ms. Sassy Butterscotch. Greg went to the pet store with me over Spring Break. I came home with dog food, bird food, fish food and a happy Greg with his new little pet. This is a fun one. She loves to be out and does well with Greg. He takes good care of her too. But she is a noisy little night owl, chewing on the side of her cage. Now, picture time.

Greg playing 3rd. Tanner pitching
Play at 3rd
Ready at 3rd
Watching from the dug out. Go #11!!
Pre batting chat with Coach Rob
Swing!
Pitching
Pitching

These are from another game. Or maybe even 2. Already have a lot of baseball pictures.

Team in the dugout.
Saying the Pledge before the game.
Check out that tongue. I sure hope he does not bite it one day.
Now the mouth is wide open as the pitch is about the leave the hand.

Colors and Spring

I love Spring an I love colorful flowers in the yard. When my hand was feeling better I bougt a lot of colorful flowers and planted them throughout the yard. One day while I was enjoying all the colors, I shot some picutres of all the color. Some of the flowers are wet and I love the way the droplets of water look on the leaves or the flower. Also had to get a photo of the nice green grass and my trusty fica tree that has been around for forever. Just playing around with my camera. I had a lot of free time.

Big Bear

I am way behind on my postings. Plus I need more pictures on the blog.

One of the things we did over Spring Break was to go to Big Bear. We went to the inner tube slide area, rode tubes for about an hour, went downtown Big Bear and walked around a bit, had lunch and visited the Sweet Shop for some candy. Then back for more tubing.

Greg and Evelyn would race to the moving sidewalk, dash down the hill and race back up again. There were many wipe outs! But it was all fun. I went down with the kids a few times, all of us on tubes, holding hands. One Major wipe out that way. At the end of the day, I found a nice spot to sit and chill out on my tube, soaking up the sun, while the kids built a snow man and tried to pelt me with snow balls.



Enjoy the pix!



Greg and Evelyn always ran to get to the moving sidewalk to get back up the hill
Look out below
Almost a wipe out
Come on Evelyn, let's go, have to get back up that hill before everyone else is up there
Stopping for a moment for a posed picture
Oops, lost Greg
Tom is close behind. No wipe outs for him

Sea Pals

Hey, go check this out: www.seapals.blogspot.com

cool, eh?

I learned about this from my Fiska Friend Cheryl. (www.fiskateers.com)


Can't wait till they are in the stores. I know the kids will be all over them like Webkins. Shhhh, I love webkins too.

First week back

Well, it's been a long week. My first week back at work. I am tired. My hand is tired. Trying to keep on top of it all is tiring. But it is Friday and I almost have made it through the week. All I can say is TGIF!

This morning I took Greg to the Dr. for a well check. He had other complaints but the dr. could not find anything wrong. So, Greg and I are to keep a diary for 2 weeks to keep track of what he eats, what he does, if he has a headache or other complaint and for how long....... Then we are to call the dr. back to discuss what has happened during those 2 weeks. Basically, Greg complains of something almost every day. Some things more often than others. So, to make sure nothing was going on, I made a doctor's appointment for him.

I took Greg to school so he could participate in the jog-a-thon and maybe be there in time for his social studies test. Even though the kids are out at noon today I wanted Greg to go to school. Then, me, I made a bee line for Starbucks. The last one I had was Easter. I needed a "venti non fat chai latte, extra hot please" in the worst way. Oh, also got a blueberry oat bar. Didn't need that but it looked so good sitting there in the case. Oh, and it was good. So was my vnfclehp. Very good. Nice and hot too. Thank you!!

Now, it's back here at the computer to work. I have my eye on the clock so I won't forget the kids at school.

Both are having a friend over after school. It will be a fun afternoon. Me, I have to try to get some more work done. Then try to finish up some things around the house. Really want to get Greg's room done. Have to clean up my stuff in the garage. Have to have to have to.........May not get to it, but that is ok. I try not to put a lot of pressure on myself to get things done anymore. I should drag out some of the scrap projects I started and try to finish. Should, maybe, will see.

For this weekend........well, Greg has a game Saturday afternoon. Has to finish up one game and then start the regular scheduled game. It will be almost a double header and a long afternoon. Pizza after the game :) We need to get a new vacuum. I sucked up a sock the other week and the vacuum does not suck anymore. I have been borrowing the neighbors. Thanks Traci and Janet! Not a good thing when you have a vacuum that won't suck and there is dog hair and who knows what on the floors tracked in by the shedding dog and not shedding kids.

On a sad note, my friend Tara moved to AZ this week. I didn't get to go over and say good bye. But I did see her on Sunday. I pray for a safe trip to AZ and that the closing on both houses goes as planned. I look forward to a trip to AZ to visit!

Well, that's all folks for now. Ta Ta for now and TGIF!! Have a safe and fun weekend!