random thoughts

So I cannot believe that I have been ignoring this blog. John has been on me to make sure that I am writing, but would prefer that I do it for money. Yup, like there is all those jobs out there just waiting for me to fill columns worth of funny in their magazines/newspapers. Um, to put this politely, no. There is not.

However, I do agree with him that writing is a much better use of my time that watching re-runs of last seasons "Jersey Shore" or the reunion show of "Housewives of New Jersey", with all that antics that brings to mind.

We are back at the school year. We tried to take school to the beach and let the dog roam, but honestly, she just figures out that she (meaning the dog) can go as far as she likes and not be supervised at all. I get too nervous letting her out of my sight, and thus school was a wash yesterday. I would like to think that maybe, next time we take school to the beach, we will remember that the dog doesn't mind being on her leash all that much, once she has run about for a bit. I also realized that too much chicken jerky loses its hold over my dog. ack.

So to re-cap - we were going to go on the boat in Oct. but now John is heading over to Jordan for a couple of 5 wks. courses as a teacher of live transmission work (electricity) and he should be done in late Dec./early Jan. where we will either go and meet up with him and do the touristy things that people do over there in Amman (Jerash, the red sea, the dead sea, Jerusalem and Petra) OR we will just wait for him here and take off on the boat sometime after that.

Leo and Teresa are both back on the swim team for College area swim team (CAST) and he is now at level 2 and she is now at level 3. He is in 6th, and she is in 5th (as far as telling the general public). Math is going all right, reading is going all right. We want more science in our lives and more history and social studies. At least that is what I got from the conversation that the kids had with me yesterday on school. I am thinking that both of them are doing well in wanting Leo to sing and Teresa to do more ballet.

And of course, I need to start a new outline on my book and actually do some writing on it. Yup, right after I go to yoga. uh-huh.

Thoughts on food

So, I guess first of all, I need to say, wow, has it been this long since I've blogged? About a month ago, I decided to actually read the book that I got out of the library on the benefits of vinegar in the diet (yes, I know. There are bound to be lots of books on whatever in the diet being good for you and a miracle and will help you lose weight, give you better orgasms and more than likely scratch your ass for you) and I decided to implement it. Wow. Couldn't ask for a better "perk-my-ears-up-in-the-morning" than hot water with 2 TBS of vinegar and 2 tsp of honey in the morning.

There is a part of me that cringes from the taste of this drink. AS in my stomach wants to move to another body cringe. Something happens that occasionally happens when I drink red wine, when I drink this vinegar glop. Sort of a feeling in my lower stomach and soon enough I feel much better.

I have been doing this for a month now. I think (not sure, really not sure) that I might have been able to drop a couple of lbs. (of which I probably need to drop 15 of this couple of lbs. friends) but over all, maybe it is just breaking my addiction to the taste of coffee/decaf. That can't be a bad thing, right? It is making me drink more water, again, a good thing. When I eat something bad for me (like the 2 jr. scoops of Baskin/Robbins that I tried to lovingly/slowly/mindfully eat the other day) at least it is not ending up in big zits on my face. Again, I guess it is good for alkalizing your blood. Anyways, trying to eat better is making me want to cook more...

which brings me to the true subject of this particular post - making my own pizza. Can I, daughter of the worst cook in the world, learn to make a pizza crust and make my own pizza. Oh yeah. First I need to buy a pizza stone. ack. Adventures in cooking, right?

Little league, ballet, swim team, oh my!

So I was thinking today that it was great that A) Leo was starting swim practice, again, this afternoon after being off for little league baseball season, and B) that the kids were out of the house from 4 - 7 M-W-F because their sections do not overlap. Its been quiet this past 3 hrs. Cool.

They are both still losing teeth and the gig was up, what with Teresa figuring out who the tooth fairy was. So I just handed her a dollar the other day. But it was waaaay more fun when the tooth fairy was eagerly anticipated. Leo dropped a tooth at the swim meet (he was not competing) last Sunday, and Teresa told me that she has another loose tooth on the bottom.

T is continuing ballet over the summer at the next level 2A, and will dance through September. Leo finishes singing this week and I'm not sure if we can afford a week of theater camp but I am looking into it. they both are participating in a camp in July for developing their sailing skills, which that cost an arm and a leg. But at least some of the activity is slowing down for summer.

What's cool about this summer is that Gwyn and Julie move back in July and my dad's house is selling and he should be in San Diego sometime at the end of July. Yay.

Now if I could just finish up the school year with the kids. I am doing separate drills with Leo and probably need to order the next level of MathUSee. aaaahhhhhh! No really. Aaaaaaayyyy!

politics and crap like that

I haven't posted in a loooong time but here I am again. The political climate in the U.S. is very divisive at this time. Many people are just jumping to conclusions, calling everyone who does not agree with them names, and worse, no one is even trying to be cooperative with each other as this seems to be a sign of weakness. Wow. I am hoping leaving the country in Oct. lets me leave all this argumentative media behind and look for the stillness that is outside our country and culture.

The boat will be my haven of peace. Until the 1st storm, that is.... lol

Thanksgiving with Granpa (or my Daddy)

Well, this is the 1st holiday without my mom. Since she has not cooked for the holidays in well over 20 yrs, I was not missing her as much as I thought I would. My dad (i.e. gramps) came down from LB and managed to have a good holiday with us. We went to my cousin Vero's house for dinner (in which I am trying to be on time now, she said she wanted us sitting down at dinner at 1 PM, I arrived at 12:15 PM, only to find that I surprised her still in her pj's and needing a shower still, Sorry about that Vero!) and Joan's for desert. I think my dad had fun, but honestly, he would have gotten so much more out of everything if he knew sign language. That way I could have signed for him, and he would have been able to participate in the conversation.

Can I suggest that to him without getting his goat? We'll see...

John went to Baja Thurs. night and should be back Monday morning. Swell coming in so fast, that they (he & Cooley) decided to NOT take the boat. Took Kit Kat, and now I miss them both.

sigh.

Disneyland = Migraines

Well, we survived going to Disneyland for the weekend. As we were leaving on Sat. morning at 7, I got a call en route from Laura, who was meeting us at the Disneyland Hotel. Yes, the original one (the hotel and laura). She sounded horrible and was complaining of a headache. Since I travel no where without a supply of advil (the only thing that cuts a migraine for me), I assured her that help was on the way.

It was only as I was turning onto disneyland way that I realized that I had majorly screwed up! I had told my dad by email that I was going to meet him at the Matterhorn at 9. Yet, I had his ticket. Thank goodness that he thought the matterhorn was a hotel. So he had all ready emailed me to say that he would meet me by the main gate. At 9.

I got to the hotel at 8:45, ran up to give Laura some advil, ran back down to grab as many things as possible from the car (I had hit CostCo for so many snacks that you would think I was packing for Central America trip all over again), ran back up with some water and crackers so that the advil wouldn't upset her stomach. And then realized that it was 9:30 and my dad was just sitting out there. By his lonely old self. At the main gate. ugh.

So I left the kids with Laura and MacKenzie (henceforth referred to as Kenzie), ran to the monorail, got off at Tomorrowland at a jog, ran to the front gate, found my father(at 9:50, 50 min. later than I meant to), walked as sedately as needed for my 79 yr. old father, all the while, worrying for my poor friend was sick and stuck in an hotel room with 3 active kids between the ages of 9 & 10. Got to the room with said father in tow, found out that Laura had taken the advil, had barfed while I was gone but was a tad bit better but not enough to go into disneyland, realized that it would make Laura better, faster, if I just got everyone out of the room (OK I am going on what I would have wanted at this juncture and I can assure you I would have been willing to send my kids into d-land with almost anyone at that point), and got the kids into d-land with dad in tow again (how much could that have been for him, i wonder??).

We had a lovely time with Vera, Brian and Glenn for a couple of hours before we heard from Laura, back from the dead, and we met up with her. Had a great time with all of them. Dad had to leave at 5 (he is after all unused to all these people bumping into him and walking all that way) so we upgraded him to an annual pass so that we can all meet up there for future trips, in the uncrowded weekdays, and he went off on his own, home. Lost the deBolts at 7 when they left us there. We went back to the hotel for a snack and back for some night time fun rides. Missed the Halloween Fireworks, that are supposed to be awesome but you need to actually get your place to stand or sit or kneel in about an hour ahead of time, something that we were not willing to do. Thank goodness Laura can go on the whiplashy rides, as I cannot.

Sunday found us there having a blast again. Did I mention that it was really crowded both days? I was being bumped and jostled at every step. I managed to find a t-shirt that I loved with Tinkerbell on it, a t-shirt for Leo with Grumpy on it that I really loved, and Teresa managed to buy a robotic type Pluto that she really loved (OK, I don't love that, but it was a good 2 out of 3). Got our 2 day park hopper tix upgraded to annual passes, got the tobins over to the John Wayne airport in time for their flight (does in time mean 2 hrs. early?) and headed home. Got home to take a nap (did I mention that I slept in the same bed as Teresa the massive sweaty but cute girl and Leo the active leg thumper boy?), got up and hobbled out to the car to start unpacking (hobbled? Did I mention that my hips and feet were complaining at the loudest possible volume that your body parts can?), managed to get a lot of stuff out of cute honda before suddenly being hit by a migraine.

Migraine only managed to be a problem for a few minutes, as kids were in bed by 8:30 and we were in bed and asleep by 9:30. Woke up at 7 AM this morning, much improved.

Do I regret going to D-land because of the sore hips, feet and migraine? I will have to make sure that I get regular snacks when we go next, make it only one day at a time, make it during less crowded time periods (middle of the week), and try to do yoga regularly until then, and lose some weight and get more exercise. Yup, doing d-land will make me try harder to be better to my body. Who would have thought that would be the result of a 2 day trip there? tee hee

Are we legal yet?

Due to forgetting to pick up some ink cartridges in time, I ended up waiting until the 5th of Oct. before I filed our paperwork for GG Learning Academy (Get a Grip) for the year. We have now been Homeschooling officially (but not legally, oops I mean that legally we are a Private School not homeschoolers, since homeschooling does not officially exist in California) for 5 years now. It seems like yesterday when I enrolled Leo in First grade in our private school. Wow. All that learning. All that fun.

Later this month, we are going to have one heck of a week. I really mean that. Learning is so much fun!