Poor Pup!

This is what happens when I decide that everyone needs fresh air:

We pack up the car, grab the kids, shove them into their car seats and head out. Today, I decided that along with freeing my husband to work on the master bathroom, we would also get the dog some good exercise.




THE POOR LITTLE THING! This is what Lexi deemed fun for the two of them....





They Ran back and forth across the Avila Barn lawn,

over and over and over again...and when the dog laid down exhausted, she would drag him until he started running again....now that is a good damn dog!







They are both in bed for the night and it is only 7:30!

I feel so accomplished!

Lexi's First Celebrity Encounter

Lexi was so excited about meeting the "teddy bear". Just thought I would share her quick experience with Fire Safty Icon, Smokey the Bear.

Doesn't she look terrified?

Ruben just may be one of the best dads ever...Sometimes he can just pull it all off.

Happy Birthday Conlan!

Welcome to the Family Conlan James! As I mentioned in a post a bit ago, my sister gave birth last Monday and we all waited on pins and needles to find out what she was going to have. Baby Boy Conlan James came into the world weighing 6lbs, 7oz. He was 18 ½ inches long and ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! My sister had been very set on having a girl so, I have visions of lots of dresses and hair clips in this poor boy’s future. I have even been told that as his gender was announced, my mother caught on camera a sheer look of disappointment on Jesseca’s face. I’d love to see that one.

To be honest, I think now that she has him home and named and set up in his handsome little bassinet, she couldn’t be happier that he is a he. Because, when you are working on 3 hours of sleep a night, two children under two during the day, and all the fun that comes with nursing, well, learning the tricks of the trade with a new gender is just one more thing that does not need to go into the works.

I remember flipping out about having a boy after having a girl! That was not a cool game to play. Its no big deal now but when you throw hormones out of whack, put your body through the most excruciating workout its ever experienced and then take away all sleep there after, its not nice to throw new plumbing into the game. It was a miracle I never got peed on. I am still not sure how that happened.

An even bigger miracle is that Lexi did not KILL Mateo in his first week of life. She really wanted to, I know. She would slip back and forth between cuddling him and trying to smash his skull in with her sippy cup. It’s an amazing thing, that soft head that babies are born with. Its like nature knew that older siblings would not be receptive to this new adventure called baby brother.


I hope that Jess and Denver experience better luck with Haiden and Conlan than I did with my two little ragamuffins. Congrats, you guys!

Little Miss Owies!

My daughter is the ultimate optimist. Almost so much so that she gets angry about it. Every morning I ask her how her head is (see previous post for more explanation) and she tells me, No owie! All better!”

She says this almost angry, like I should know this by now, but every time some one so much as touches her head, she starts crying like they just seriously accosted her. I think at this point she just knows she can milk it for all its worth because she keeps reminding me that daddy hit her on the head with his elbow, “like this,” and then demonstrates an almost wrestler like move when in reality, her father was working on our bathroom and she was right next to him and when he put his arm down, it lightly tapped her head. But the owie she got on the driveway? “All better!”

She is also now completely terrified of the driveway and I can’t say I blame her. I’m a little scared of that thing, too! Every morning, she recaps the events of falling, hitting her head and dropping her “logurt” (yogurt) on the grass. It was quite traumatic and she is grieving the loss of that cotton candy flavored shrek gogurt that laid in the grass for three days. Every time we go up or down the walk, one of us has to carry her or hold her hand and she is always celebratory of the fact that we didn’t fall down and get hurt. I never knew that a toddler’s memory could withstand a week but I guess it can!

Are you kidding me?

Tuesday was one of those stupid days that left me believing that the Universe has a sense of humor and its laughing is directed at me.

My sister had a baby on Monday, Yea! I’ll talk about that later because its special and great in its own way but doesn’t belong here. After the baby was born, she started having seizures and was admitted to the ICU. I had been told that they needed help at the hospital since her husband couldn’t be at the ICU with her and in mother-baby with the baby so, I was in a hurry to get to work, get done what I needed and get over to the hospital to help out. So I was very clear. I need to get to the hospital today. The Universe listened.

On the way rushing out of the house, I was walking with Lexi down the walk to the driveway and the sprinklers were going and the A$$ that used to have our house waxed part of the driveway so its especially dangerous (thank you, jerk!). Well, I slipped and my right knee bent in a way that it has never bent before and Lexi fell, face first into the side of the garage. Ten minutes later, soaking wet from the sprinklers, and we were headed to the Emergency room. I am quite clear that it looked like my husband beat the crap out of us but in all reality it was my own battle with balance that landed us there and I got to tell nurse after nurse and doctor after doctor what a klutz I am.

After x rays and CT scans, here’s what we found out. I had torn my LCL in my right knee, damaged my cartilage and had overall sprainage. I’ll be on crutches (and boy do they suck hard) for a long time. Poor little Lexi has a concussion and we got to be admitted to the hospital for observation.

Ta Da! Did you miss it? This was the Universe giving me the time at the hospital that I had asked for. Wasn’t that nice?!?

And the best part? We were in room 210, the baby was in room 203. We were THAT close! My parents had a one stop shop to visit us all. Thank you very much Universe for your divine greatness in giving what a person really needs.

Just as a recap for you all, I wanted my house remodeled, I got a flood so my house had to be rebuilt entirely on the inside. I wanted to get to the hospital, so I get my butt whooped by the pavement. Let’s see what we’re given next, shall we?

Ouch!

I know I haven’t provided much in the last week or so that was worth reading; I am terribly sorry that I am so boring. Last night was a dozy, though so here you go!
__________________________________


Yesterday Lexi and I decided we would do make-overs and to do them, we needed to go to the store and get nail polish and bobby pins and the like. I’m telling you, she is as girly as a two year old can get! While at the store, we go through the shaving and wax aisle and I see the red container that will haunt my vagina for eternity. Looking at it, I think, “I should do this! I should try it and ooh! Look! It even has shapes you can do! That would be neat!”

I have always believed that every woman should experience her own bikini waxing at least once in her life to truly know how it feels. Let me tell you in advance, if you feel the same way, I recommend going to a professional for that experience. It would have to be better than my own encounter!

So, with everything for make-overs and this red container in the cart, we bee line over to the next open cashier and pray she doesn’t judge me. She goes through each item and then stops at the wax. Looks it over and says, “I’ve always wondered about these things – let me know how it goes, k?” <-- That, right there is how you know I live in California. Only a place this liberal would have people who say things like that OUT LOUD.

Lexi and I go home and we do our hair 30 different ways and wash or faces and soak our hands and feet and paint our nails and then, when my husband gets home, I enlist his help with the little red jar. Seeing as I know me and am clear that I will not be able to do this to myself, I plan on having him slather the stuff on and rip it off. This could be just what we need to spice things up a bit. You never know. (<-- Don’t judge me! I know you all have thought of doing similar things!)

So we read the instructions, pick a shape and hit the bedroom to set this whole endeavor in motion. Somewhere in the instructions it reads that you are supposed to do small patches at a time. We both missed that one. Before I know it, my vagina, butt cheeks, even my legs are glued together with a sticky wax. We wait for it to get to be the right texture and then he pulls a tiny bit! Ouch! Ok! THIS IS NOT HAPPENING! I decide this is a bad, bad idea! I hit the shower, NOT COMING OFF! I get vegetable oil from the kitchen, NOT COMING OFF! We try lotion, razors, scissors, house hold cleaning products, NOT COMING OFF!

I am so close to tears now! Each little patch hurts like no tomorrow and I have officially embarrassed myself in front of my husband like NEVER before. We go back to the bedroom and decide we need a plan of action. He thinks we should leave it on and let it fall off naturally as it will but we at least need to create holes where there should be holes. Two hours of ripping chunk after chunk of hair off and we are barely making a dent. I am pretty sure my vagina has never been so mad at me. I go back to the shower, thinking if I can get a bit off, maybe it will be a bit easier. No luck, the hot water melts the wax again and seals my EVERYTHING closed. This is going to be a LONG night. Finally, my husband suggests taking a towel and my hair dryer and putting them to action.

I grab a Dora the Explorer beach towel, apply it to my nether regions and turn the blow dryer up to full heat. I feel the wax melting onto my skin again and my blow dryer over heats. I sit there, picking all this yucky red stuff out of my nails until the wax cools and then I pull. OUCH! Ok. Maybe, I can do this. My dryer clicks back on and after a series of 8 heatings and towel pullings, I officially broke my hair dryer and still have large clumps of wax left in the most sensitive areas EVER. I am fairly cetain now that all that hair is wired into the bone down there. I spent the next hour and a half ripping little remaining chunks out and begging for mercy.

I successfully got out most of the wax, enough to go to the bathroom successfully. My entire vagina and surrounding area is more raw than the worst case of diaper rash you have ever seen.

I am quite sure that my vagina will never forgive me for this!

A new one to remember

“To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.” - Helen Rowland

My fingers are about to FALL OFF!

It is freezing in my office today. I do not know if the chief engineer believes that because it is sunny and warm outside it must be insanely cold inside or what. The only thing I can tell you is that my entire body is covered in goose bumps and it sucks! The only thing more miserable than being this cold is being this cold and going into the restroom where I expose my naked rear end to the frigid air and then to the toilet seat that is colder than the inside of my freezer! It is COLD!

I think I may have to flick snow flakes off of my eyelashes and it is the middle of JULY!

My Heart Hurts

My children are away. They are staying with Grandparents until the Aerosmith concert has passed and all is safe and right with this world again. But, in the mean time, I am missing them like a bag lady misses her cart! The world is not right and I should shout it from the roof tops until SOMEONE RETURNS MY CART, I mean children!

It is absolutely amazing how the two creatures on this earth who could make me writhe in misery the most are the two that I find heaven in watching sleep. How can they huddle with their butts up in the air and their arms and legs tucked underneath? How is it that they manage to tweak their necks that far over and still sleep like all is perfect and peaceful? I pull their covers over their goose-bumped bodies and watch them with their simple dreamy smiles and I KNOW this heaven.

Of course, its then that they wake up and start screaming. Lexi does more of whiney nasally thing and Mateo screams like someone just chopped off a very useful body part, but its screaming all the same. That is when I hug them both close, as though they need soothing and silly me! Who was I kidding? These children want nothing of the sort! All they want is to kick and arch their backs and SCREAM as though I am some sort of criminal coming to get them. If you ever want to know what this really feels like, go to the nearest sorority house wearing a black mask and threaten to steal underwear from the drawers. Its kind of like that! A lot of screaming and squirming and kicking!

Still, these two that have me apologizing for every meal I make that is not EXACTLY cheddar cheese or cookies, are the people in life I love the very most and when they return, while “Walk This Way” is still ringing in my ears, I will give them each a gigantic sniff, a quick kiss and release them before all hell breaks loose!

July 20th, 2007

So, today is my 6th wedding anniversary.

For six years now my husband has put up with the good, the bad, the pretty, the pretty ugly, the crazy and the even crazier!

He has dealt with the melt downs and the excitements, the weight loss, weight gain, diets and gorging.

We have butted heads over having children and then how to raise them, what house to buy, what remodeling to do, where to work, and everything else.

He has suffered through all this and still wants to share a bed with me and for that, I say THANKS HONEY!


Now on to the seven year itch…wish us luck!

The Best Invention Ever!

I have got to get me one of these!!!!

Click on the Image for better view

My Best Friend's Wedding

Since the sixth grade, I have called one girl my best friend. She has stuck by me through the good, the bad, and the annoying. Even when we both moved far, far away, she was still just a call away and we always pick up like no time is lost. We have been through it all!

She is finally getting married. We have dreamed of her wedding for a long, long time. The grooms may trade out but the rest pretty much stays the same. I have been looking forward to the day when she gets married since I got married and now that she is, it just so happens that she picked the same day as my brother in law to get married. Could I be any more annoyed?

I don’t even LIKE my brother in law! We get along about 5 days of the year and the rest is just a nuisance. Like the scratching feeling of getting tattooed across your forehead.

He has been engaged for what feels like forever and he is a total Groomzilla.

I didn’t even know they existed but they must because he is one!

I am not even part of the freaking wedding party and I have to wear a certain dress to attend the gosh darn event! I threatened to not wear the dress and he threatened for me not to go to the wedding and my darling husband could take a different date. One that would wear the dress. And my husband stood by that decision. Trying to be the bigger person, I bought the dress. PS, its hideous on real people! Everyone who has to wear it hates it! I say we stage a revolt.

Anyway, so, I get the invitation to my best friend’s wedding and its on the same day! At the same time! And that means I get to be completely miserable in a dress that I hate while I miss a moment that I have been looking forward to for almost FOREVER because if I even sneak out for a minute to say hi, my in laws will never forgive me. Never!

He did this on purpose, I know he did. Just to make my life more miserable.

Link to the dress: http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_detail.jsp?stid=2813&prodgroup=110

Sniffle, sniffle

I’ve got this minor little cold. Its sucking the life out of me but I’m going to call it minor anyway.

Its one of those where you feel like all the junk inside your face is trying to push one of your eyeballs out.

You know, that kind.

So, I’m sitting at my desk sniffling and trying to pay attention to work but, let’s face it. I DO NOT WANT TO! I want to curl up in my bed and sip tea, eat spicy food and watch smut. Or better yet, sleep! But no, I am at work for at least the next three hours so, I get to actually DO stuff, all the while sniffling and sneezing and trying to hold my left eyeball in place.

Grrr…when I get home, there better be a cozy spot on the couch with my name on it.

A Crown to Wear in Shame

So, I am fairly certain that I will never be able to look my next door neighbors in the eye again. There is a kind of humility that can only come of people seeing you in a way that requires an amazing intamacy being forced on a person. This kind of humility occured for me last night.

It is hotter than the hinges of Hell where I live. Honestly, at 11:00 at night, it must've still been in the high 90's. I was laying in bed with my husband when he rolled over and asked, "Did you lock your car?"

Having the recent string of break-in's in the neighborhood, I tried to remember...shit, I don't think I even rolled up the windows from this afternoon. I would need to do that if I planned on seeing my car ever again.

I slipped out of bed in my t-shirt and underwear and walked boldly out my front door, assured that no one in my neighborhood would awake at this time of night.

I was wrong.

There, staring at me like I was a rare, thought to be extinct creature, were my neighbors.

Shit!

Here I am half naked, having gotten all the way out to the car before they made a noise, I still had to get back into the house and I had already been spotted. Now, I got to rush my white rear end across the lawn and back to the safety of my house, knowing full well that they could just sit there and stare at my glow-in-the-dark whiteness ripple and as ran.

I am pretty sure this qualifies me as the queen of white trash for the neighborhood, as if I hadn't already won that award.

Thank you very much; my acceptance speech is still in the works.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

You never know quite what to expect with my father. I swear, you would think I would know him well enough by now but, no...he comes out of no where with a one of these...

The other night, I was at a meeting and Ruben was at a meeting and my parents were watching the kids. Now, I expect for them to wrestle and eat ice cream but I would have never guessed what was I would walk into when I went to pick the kids up. Let me paint you a picture. I open the door to see Lexi sitting in front of the TV with "Pa-pa" watching commercials eating raisins, no big deal until she opens her mouth and then...

Out of the mouth of my 2 1/2 year old comes, "Ooohhh! Nice Rack! Pa-pa, you see the nice rack?" My daughter might be the world's first ever toddler sexist pig. Thank you very much! That's about as acceptable as it was when she started telling everyone, "kiss my ass" about six months ago.

Can you believe these things come out of such a sweet looking little girl?












Nope, me either...

It was great while it lasted

OH MY GOD! Wait for it, wait for it...I cannot believe it, could it be true? Yep, I think so - I am completely content with my home life! I believe this may be the first time EVER that I can't say I want anything! Let me go through my check list:

Marriage - Check
House - Check
Daughter - Check
Son - Check
Dog - Check

I think I'm good...wow! Kinda cool!

I want some ice cream, damn! That was short lived...

The Little Guy

Well, he has officially been here a week and he is still alive so, that being a miracle in itsself, I think it is time to introduce the newest addition to our family, TOBIN JAMES, aslo known as Toby. Toby is our adorable toy poodle puppy who is 2 1/2 months old and is just about the best dog I have ever had! He is already learing to sit and fetch and a whole week of him being home alone during the day and he has not destroyed anything! This is fantastic! I think this puppy may even rub off on the spousal unit...I better not hold my breath of that one. But anyway, here he is!

The Beginning of DIY

Ok, so now that we have moved back home there is much work left to do that, quite frankly, I have no interest in doing but, alas, it needs to be done so we don’t permanently live with concrete floors in the bathrooms and laundry rooms and well, so it doesn’t feel quite so much like camping!

My husband seems almost excited about these projects. You should see him! He is a superhero with a wrench, or whatever you call those things! We (I use the term “we” very loosely – you are better off reading “he”) started demolishing the master bathroom so that we could put in all the new pretty stuff that is patiently waiting in the garage and he was tearing out the cabinets bare handed!! Without one sign of butt crack!!! If that isn’t amazing I don’t know what is. So, this weekend, I think we can start painting and there is rumor of the new cabinets going in…I ‘m sure that, if given enough time without the kids this weekend, my husband could maybe even start thinking about the shower stall that has me completely stumped.







Man on a mission

Blood, Sweat, and Tears, People!!!

So, my dear husband seems to think that in order to write about something as monumental as our house and the fiasco we have been living that I must first, inform you, the readers of the disaster of January 14th, 2007.

Every once in a while, as though I enjoy things like being pinched or tortured in some small way, my husband will convince me that we should go up to visit his parents. I am not too particularly fond of these visits as you can almost read across my in laws’ foreheads, “We despise her!” when I walk into that home but, as a good wife, we go, anyway. Well, one of the first weekends in January, we went up to do just that. We spent a lovely time there eating three day old food that sat out uncovered on the stove that, even when fresh, I am fairly certain that I could not distinguish exactly what it was. I have my in laws to thank for my children’s complete immunity to food poison.

Any way, shortly into our drive home, we get a call from our neighbor to expect a disaster when we returned. Apparently, while we were away, the temperature dropped down to 12 degrees! In California!! And when our zillion year old copper pipes burst in the ceiling and thawed, they poured water all through the blown in insulation, brought the ceiling down and ruined everything from ceiling to wood floors along with all the belongings in between! Our neighbor (who should apply for sainthood, as far as I’m concerned) saw water pouring down our driveway from our garage door and decided it was a good idea to check in on us. It was then that he saw what was happening and turned our water off at the valve.

We made a u-turn, left the kids with the in laws, and headed home to discover the house was torn apart. Immediately, we tried to call the “24 hour Emergency Hotline” for our insurance, but wouldn’t you know, they were closed for the weekend and then the holiday. After 40 messages, we heard back from the insurance agent from hell that it could be about 2 weeks before they got an adjuster out there. Fabulous! The adjuster was rude, to put it nicely – really, I wanted to stick a boot up his rear end and see if maybe that would change his disposition for the better but thought best to do otherwise.

Weeks after going through every piece of everything we had and documenting it with description, price, photo and online price, we found out that our adjuster would no longer be working with us and had not submitted anything…Thanks so much, jerk! Now I really wish I had stuck that boot where it didn’t belong!

Though we had contractors to do most of the work, it really felt like we did everything ourselves, from clearing the place out to taking down the old fireplace and door jams to putting new light fixtures and switch plates in. I’m pretty sure my dear husband and I almost got divorced during the process of picking out new flooring and paint colors but, no, we’re still married. The total clean up must’ve been about 5 ½ months because we are just starting to move back in. I’ll throw in some pictures to horrify you all later. And the house we stayed while this all happened? Well, that’s a whole other story!

Best Quote EVER!!!

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have." - From the newest Harry Potter Movie.

As always, its a must go see!

She will win Wolfgang Puck's Heart

My daughter is a complete nutcase!

I guess all two and a half year olds are but I just can do nothing but sit back and laugh at this girl some nights.

She has developed a taste for unique foods like feta cheese and spinach; she prefers these things to ice cream. What the heck is wrong with this girl?

The night before last, I heard her walking through the house and then some whining in her room but ignored her because, quite frankly, I was tired and she didn’t have her face thisclose to my face so, I didn’t think she needed me but, when I got up, I discovered that this little goober had gone to the kitchen opened the fridge that she swears she cannot open and gotten Mediterranean olives, taken them back to her room and had been sitting there in the dark eating them like a closet foodie! She must’ve whined when she knocked them over because when I walked into her room that morning I just saw olives and pits splattered all across the floor and the happy (stinky-breathed) little girl was sound asleep in her bed with olive skin on her right cheek.

Tell me we are not beginning all sorts of complexes here!

Funniest Thing Ever!!!

I had to bring this in because it is just that funny...

A guy who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Taser for their anniversary submitted this:

------
Last weekend at Larry's Pistol & Pawn Shop I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Toni. What I came across was a 100,000-volt pocket/purse-sized taser. The effects of the taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on an assailant. The idea is to allow my wife -- who would never consider a gun --adequate time to retreat to safety. WAY TOO COOL!!

Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded in two triple-a batteries and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. But then I read (yes, 'read') that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I'd get the blue arch of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs and I'd know it was working. Awesome!!! (Actually, I have yet to explain to Toni what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave).

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-a batteries, right?!! There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh and blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat.

But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong? So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and taser in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

So, I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, "don't do it," reasoning that a one-second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one-second burst just for the heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION @!@$$!%!@*!!! I'm pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, and body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again.

I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs. You should know, if you ever feel compelled to "mug" yourself with a taser, that there is no such thing as a one-second burst when you zap yourself. You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. SON-OF-A-... that hurt like hell!!! A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected what little wits I had left, sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. How did they up get there??? My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs.

I'm still looking for my testicles!!
I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return.

Still in shock,

Earl

This is Old but, I brought it over anyway...

Its sunny, Friday, and I've finished doing everything I needed to do for the day…I want to go home! Waahhaa!!! Ok, now that I'm done bitching about that…Here's whats going on with me lately, in case you all cared...
I am getting ready to celebrate Mateo's first birthday, it feels like he was just born but, the kid is HUGE so I know that can't be true. Bummer. Someone should tell him he's not allowed to grow up because he doesn't listen to me, I'm just his mom.

All my friends seem to be moving away. It took a lot of time to let new ones in and now that I did, they are moving on to bigger and better things. Joey and Kate moved to the Bay – I'm happy that they get to be somewhere better and can move up in their lives but it sucks because they were supposed to stay until we moved back up there…whenever that happens. See how self centered I am!?! And pretty shortly, Kendra and Cole will be moving to North Carolina for Cole to get his Masters at Duke which rocks because its an amazing opportunity but I'm already trying to figure out the easiest way to get there (hwy 46 to 99 to 58 to 15 to 40 and its an even 2447 miles on the 40)

And then there is the house… Forgive me but I wish that house would have burned down instead of flooded. At least then they couldn't look at our damaged stuff and say it should be dusted off and reused. Now, we get to look over the torn apart place over and over again and look at it piece by piece as they tell us they will give us a fraction of what each thing is worth. I hate them. I hate that this happened and I'm having a hard time over looking it all to see the bright side! Grrr… that's it for now.

Like Anyone Cares

Was I dork all along? No seriously! I always felt out of place in school and then in college, and now in the real world, I am finally finding my place with amazing friends and great coworkers and I'm left wondering about those awkward times. Was a I dork and I didn't get it? There are so many people out there that were geeks and just owned it but I never did. I was friends with everyone…I think! Stacy Wilson, you tell me! You were queen of the popular and I always thought of you as a good friend. Was that in my head? Did I bounce between cliques because I was denying the inner geek or did I bounce because I honestly could have gone anywhere.

And in college, as a Sigma Kappa, Alissa, you tell me. Did I EVER fit in there? Gosh! As much as I loved my times there with everyone, and I felt I fit in better there than any where else I always felt out of place.
So, write to me on this one. Its ok what ever you say. Whether you burn me or not. Was I a dork? What the hell group did I/ do I belong in?!?

Drum Roll Please...

The word is out! Mateo's God parents will be Elena and Omar Martinez. Ruben has yet to pick the date of the baptism but it will be somewhere near Mateo's first birthday. Let me tell you, picking was not easy. There were many great people to look at but we knew we made the right decision the moment we asked Nena and were met with a response loud and clear, "oh my God! Yes! OHHHHH!!!!!!" I have a ton of confidence in these two and I know they can care for our little guy so well! I know that if anything were to happen to Ruben and I that Omar would teach Mateo everything he needs to know about soccer and all things boy and Elena would teach him everything he needs to know about forming his own opinions, treating girls the way they should and dressing to kill! I have the greatest confidence that these two will give this little guy room to grow but not too much to wander.