listening
to 'thriller' in the dark (for extra goosebump factor:)

wondering
what in the heck we will watch tonight since our dvr is brand new and 0% full :

not loving
the nasty little cat who uses it as her warm sleeping spot and decided to barf all over it today. thanks friday, that's just awesome : oh yes and thanks time warner, for replacing it, no questions asked (though i was ready to use my 'ok then, i'm switching to at&t card!' if they didn't :)

actually considering
writing a yelp review for pizzeria ortica on anton in costa mesa (DON'T GO!!!) to save innocent people from going there. it's total crap and to add insult to injury the chef doesn't make changes to his pizzas because they are his works of art. his totally pretentious crappy works of art :) oh and ps the bread came to the table, after a 30 minute wait for it to be 'baked fresh', still frozen :) maybe that's art too :}

disliking
raquel (the girl with the unusually wide muppet mouth from real housewives)
the reptilian skin-shedding summer girls from high school reunion
john edwards for obvious reasons (i am quite sure he is a spy for the red team... he leaves a trail of slime behind him)
oprah claiming that she found pedigree spaniel puppies at the pound on her birthday. whatever, oprah. whhhhhat. EVER

wondering
why people say sick instead of stick... as in 'i will sick my pedigree dog that i found at the pound on my birthday on you'

also hating
quote unquote. and pricepoint. and 'it is what it is' urgh, no, it's not!

also wondering
why all the recipes in my cook book say ", divided" after each ingredient... i get it if the thing is an egg... but sugar? and flour...? hmmm...

feeling
like going to bed early (despite the empty dvr... we have a dvd player for such emergencies:)

just pics

after our busy couple of entirely carefree days :)












chimping in the japanese garden

Sam loves this bonsai forest and wants to grow one for the rats to play in :)

from fall to spring :| it was winter for approximately 2 days :|

why today doesn't suck

i spent the entire day out with Danny and he was so so so lovely to be with. he posed for pictures under the Huntington Beach pier - payment: one chipmunk (who apparently gives wedgies :)

we met Daddy at Ruby's for lunch and got a table with pretty light

we had onion rings and ruby clubs (ruby's have the best turkey/lettuce/tomato/avocado sandwich ever :)

my GPS listened to me today and obeyed :)

we shopped everywhere for crocs and only found one ugly blue pair in a shop i don't like called "Dicks". also they were full price also - who pays full price...? anyway i found them online for $9 with free shipping and 10% off - in his chosen colors, green and orange :)

we got an unexpected check in the mail for the exact amount of 4 august tickets to Cape Cod...

and our tax refunds!!! last year California ran out of money to pay state refunds... so this year i got my return in nice and early before the piggie bank is empty :)

i bought a second battery for my camera (i have been putting it off for 9 months in case i don't love the camera. but i love the camera :)

we are going to the place with, allegedly, the best wood-fired pizza in Orange County tonight.... i reserve the right to hate it but i am excited to try it :)

and for yummy birthday desserts with our ONLY human neighbors (they know who they are :) back later with pictures...

birthday crap

eating
milk chocolate birthday brownie crust (extra butter/under baked naturally)

listening to
barry manilow 'could it be magic?' yes, it is a little bit magical :)

wondering
if a $62 filter is really that much better than a $12 filter.......?

disliking
red ink. it looks so stuffy, fart-faced and republican

so so so happy
to chat with my Mum today. (ps Tarnya, she likes Lady Gaga too :)

also so so so happy
that my disney pass expired today :) along with my guiltfest about refusing to ever use it :)

so so so not
completing a day's community service to get a free day at Disney this year :| no siree bob! i'd rather feed my fingers through a criss cross shredder :| and i have such a nausea-inducing fear of shredders, that's really saying something ;)

wednesday things

sick
of rolling with the punches to get to what's real :|

having
donuts for breakfast tomorrow :) the good-for-you jelly-filled kind, of course :)

taking
a complete mental health break tomorrow. with enough time to drink 3 cups of coffee, catch up on teen mom, have lunch with Aaron and take the boys out at night to experience fine dining in Placentia :) i am even ditching Danny's preschool, and we are going somewhere with no time limits or restrictions or extra little people. please don't rain :|

loving
my little bitty photoworks books. and did i mention... $4?

also working on
Danny's baby book at blurb.com. finally. oy, it's very jarring to look at point and shoot baby pictures :| luckily we got a real camera when he was 6 weeks old :)

wondering
how on earth i don't have a single 72mm lens filter to put onto my precious 135mm f2....? i have 77mm, 82mm, 67mm, 58mm and 52mm.... but 72mm? not a one! how strange, i thought 72mm sounded quite generic.... looks like i'll be chatting up those hotties in Calumet tomorrow :)

itching
for brownies. i really think i might be woefully addicted :(

at the zoo


today's toy - a dinosaur grabber

this is Spirit

i L-O-V-E this canary and i want to adopt him. and call him Spirit :)

before school today - gawsh i love them :)

always | sometimes

always:

• on a diet/breaking it
• making/regretting making brownies
• uncomfortable when i see poor spelling
• carrying a camera
• and the beloved iphone (which doubles as a camera in a crisis)
• never calling anyone on it - but i do text :)
  
• never while driving though ;)
  
• pressing on my nose so it doesn't turn up at the end
  
• never without a drink
• or a snack for a small cranky child :)
  
• feeling slightly out of place
• wanting to move to a farm and not have to face anyone for days on end
  
• out of love with really big cities these days
  
• in the midst of some hellish impossibly painful photo project
• prefer black ink to blue ink
• a realist

sometimes:

• like to sleep in really late, till like 8am :)
  
• prefer mexican food to italian food (but it's rare)
• like to wear odd socks (like today:)
• loving patchouli over all other perfumes
  
• organized (but mostly not...)
• into law and order
• loving the beatles more than anything else
  
• take my multivitamins but not everyday as the bottle suggests :)
  
• a total pessimist

stuff

had cinnamon sugar tortilla chips from target for dessert (warning: they are sooo addictive!!)

watched dinosaur movies with Danny who forbade me to so much as hold my iphone so i didn't miss a thing :)

the two worst places on earth according to Sam, age 9:

• school
• a crowded 99 cent store :)
  

made a little picture book of my favorite Cape Cod pictures today

wore Sam's wellington boots to go shopping in the rain

hoping it stops raining tomorrow... for i have a new lens to play with!

made 3 lens cozies

zzzzzz - going to bed xox

things that make me go hmm...

why oh why does my coffee not taste quite so good since they changed the jar from rich red to royal blue...?

while it's kind of the opposite with brownies... i used to only buy items made by Betty Crocker because i figured she was a woman so obviously knew how to bake, but now only Duncan Hines will do... and everyone knows men can't bake :)

wondering whether i should go to medieval times for my birthday and make the kids happy, or go to pizzeria ortica and make my wood-fired, charred crust pizza loving tummy happy... hmmmmm

however much i love Barry Manilow and Barack Obama (and i do i do i do) their daily paragraphy emails are getting a little old... random fun pictures would be so much nicer

how come the week when my inbox is full of offers for free milkshakes and desserts... my printer is out of service :(

it's a seemingly simple task... but i bet all the tea in China i can't make lens cozies today even though i am determined to give it my best shot (heaven forbid i should just buy some:)

how come at target orange pekoe tea was called black tea...? i'm hopelessly confused, i only drink orange pekoe but the box swore up and down it was english tea that you can drink with a splash of milk and a spoonful of sugar :}

i bet my stupid lens shows up at 8:30pm tonight :| never fear, i AM going to the zoo tomorrow - rain or shine :| (please please no rain!! it's a 30% chance right now....)

why do i wake up with a totally stiff neck each morning, instead of just insisting the cat gives me more than a third of my own pillow (for some reason it has turned into his bed at night:)

back later... maybe with test pictures from the lifechanging lens :)

ps it's out for delivery but we all know that means nothing to our UPS man :|

my day

walked
4 miles in an hour. with 2.5 small children. on a really hot day. in a sweater and jeans.... soooo not smart.

met
a honey bear, a millipede, an alligator, a boa constrictor, an anteater, and a hissing cockroach at school (and it was NOT a PTO meeting :)

dined
on delicious burgers with grilled onions and 10,000 jalepenos on top at fuddruckers. they even gave the birthday boy a M&M cookie :)

found
a blood blister on my finger that i have no idea how i got :|

got rid of
one huge tv and bought one smaller tv to put in it's place in what is proving to the longest most painful game of musical televisions ever.... now it would appear the smaller tv is too small and we need one just a little bigger... 37 inches is too big, 26 inches is too small... so we are hoping and praying 32 inches is just right and we can actually settle down and watch it already :)

made
cinnamon rolls, pain au chocolat and chocolate chip cookies in a desperate attempt to fill the void caused by having no brownies left :( nothing compares to brownies :( especially not trader joe's truffle brownies with an extra quarter stick of butter in them



our 10 minutes at the snow yesterday (it was very cold... VERY cold!)

meet Milo, the honey bear. the lady claims he is terrifying and vicious but with a face like that... surely not!

setting preferences

littler tvs to bigger tvs (we found this out the hard way when we got a big one... now we miss the small one. which is at good will now :|)

george's greying hair to brad's greying hair

brownies to cupcakes

superwalmart to supertarget

land's end to eddie bauer

julius to sock monkey (dear small paul: bigger kids than 5T love monkeys too!!!)

looking at snow to being in snow

ditto with the rain :) i want to go to the zoo!!!!!!!!!!!

oprah to ellen (and i pretty much hate oprah so it doesn't say much about ellen... jumping into paula's seat - how very dare she! and i hate how she dances the same everyday... SO not cool)

mr ups to mr fed-ex (especially T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W!!!)

apples to oranges

this adorable little fuji instant camera to my iphone camera (Melissa thank you - i LOOOOVE it!!!! it hasn't left my side yet and i feel so amelie and cool, taking wide pictures of clouds that look like teddy bears, with it... ie. i loooove it:)

the smell of chef boyardee to the smell of chicken noodle soup nuking in the morning (marginally...)

michaels to joanns

hoodies to sweaters

furry boots to furry crocs

winter to summer (despite the rain, i like the softbox skies)

jet blue to virgin america

three day weekends to two day weekends :|

back later with pics from Aaron's big birthday bash :) love you xoxoxo

weekend

found a dog (and realllllllly wanted to keep him - he begged and everything....)


hosted a very gripping hungry hungry hippos tournament


donated 4 - count'em - four tvs to good will (it's turn off the tv week at school - we take it very seriously around here :)

shopped for essentials like rat food, furry boots, coffee, mascara, water guns and cereal (i cannot look at corn pops without thinking of porn cops, is it just me???)


and cheese too :)


and a really awesome new toaster that actually burns 4 slices of toast at once - it's sooo cool!

Aaron got a birthday bicycle and rode it home from the store (ok... not really, we were out on a date and i was madly craving burnt mexican food so he rode it for a minute then we drove around looking for blackened chicken tacos:)


they love the Obama sculpture!


and i love pretty much a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g small paul

friday

did taxes. three times - to make absolutely sure they were absolutely right. then noticed turbotax had charged me three times even though i didn't file them three times... argh :(

got caught in the rain three times... it's official, the rain really really really sucks :(

tried to rescue three little white dogs running in traffic outside school... only managed to get one into my car, animal control caught the other two... but what the heck is with the crappy stuff coming in threes today....?

got two deliveries: hungry hungry hippos and a tumbling mat... but no third delivery of a 135mm f2L :(

looking foward sooo much to an entire childfree/husbandful saturday and remembering what it feels like to be human again :) thanks Grandma :)

questions that don't require answers

how come
it only rains torrentially at 10:12am and 1:38pm when i have to stand outside school waiting for the magic door to be opened (at a different time every single day, depending on the teacher's mood that day???)

why does
everyone fear the dmv in deepest santa ana, when i got in and out (which reminds me, i'm starving...) in 5 minutes flat and was home before my appointment was even supposed to start...? and the nice man even said i had a pretty smile (which is total BS) he wasn't all scary like the men in calumet and he didn't even have halitosis :)

what kind of person
actually CUTS WITH SCISSORS the stray eyebrow hairs that are too tall for their eyebrows right before getting their drivers licence picture taken and then makes a fatal mistake and cuts them completely bald and has to ransack every bathroom drawer looking for a brow pencil to sketch the hairs back in...? uhuh... that would be me :( and i am no eyebrow artist :| oh and ps... the eyebrow pencil was in the kitchen because that makes perfect sense too :|

why oh why
does my straight face line thingie not work anymore??! Corey since you asked where it is, it doesn't work anymore...???! it is under the backspace (plus shift) if and when it works... asshole line thingie

how is it
that i only just discovered high school reunion and the bitchy lame awesomeness that it brings to my life and it's in season three already??!

what is with
people who put @ before people's names....? ??? not even to replace 'at', just @name? it's odd

who on earth
saw fit to use a totally out of focus pic on the front of the new mini boden catalog...? i should send johnnie a note :) ps i want pretty much everything inside mini boden spring 2010 despite that fuzzy picture ;)

wednesday in pictures

spotted at target (but still no girl:)

words that apparently feature repeatedly in my blog in alphabetical wordle order :)


one reason i'm cooler than lady gaga - she actually uses her pop-up flash (gasp...)

Oh! Em!! Gee!!!

(aka another online expression i don't hate so terribly much:)

anyway this is like the best-day-everrrrr!!!!

first a magic coupon for a free mini photobook and it actually works :| i made a little book of Sam's 9th birthday for $4 - shipped!!! now all i need to do is balance it by making one for Danny's birthday too :)

also: i bought my (and excuse my profane language but there really is no more appropriate word ...) boner lens - the 135mmL f2.0. it's in the mail!! on mr ups's truck with a red birthday bow on it as i type!!! how on earth will i sleep??! how will i refrain from stalking him day and night until he brings it? i just KNOW he will take it home for a few days as he does with everything i am waiting on baited breath for, and i will be overcome with anxiety and end up resorting to throwing myself in front of his truck to force him to stop... oh man, i just cannot wait! i need to pee constantly with excitement!!

also... i found a memory card at the zoo! it was all dusty and beaten up but i cleaned and polished it (as per the mice on the mouse organ) and then glanced through the pictures, un-nosily, strictly to see if i could find some clues about it's owner :) well, the pics are all so cute and were all taken by a sweet old Grandpa who takes his grandchildren pretty much all over OC :) anyway in one of the pics he was on a preschool trip to the pumpkin patch (i tell you, the man's a saint - field trips to tanaka farms pumpkin patch are THE WORST!) with his granddaughter and she was wearing a teeshirt from the preschool by Danny's.... sooo, i am going to print the picture and take it with the memory card to her preschool... seriously i should be on CSI with my skills :) and i bet they don't even say thank you - that's what pisses me off most about people... i should really quit being nice ;)

ok going to work on the damned baby book. i have soooo many pictures, the book's going to be so hard to keep to under a thousand pages and i foresee lots of cussing :)

"le sigh"

another annoying pretentious eyeroll-worthy expression i despise avec une passione!! but here, it kind of works however annoyingly well...

because it's 4am and i am up and at 'em. and so is a cat digging foreverrrr in the litter box. and a dog trip trapping around, anxious to go for a walk even though it's pouring with rain outside. it's 4 a freaking m, guys : go back to bed already!!!!

why am i up at 4am... because my 'baby' is 5 years old and realized, while looking through his older brother's comprehensive journal of his first four years, that he does not have a baby book of his own :( not a single solitary book with details of the day he was born or a funny anecdote about his first taste of carrots or a picture of his first ride on an airplane :( i am officially the worst mom ever :( and i intend to fix it forthwith.

with pictures like this one from early 2006 when he actually ate food other than dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets and pb&js

first toys

how he slept

first shoes (blue suede of course)



my first mother's day with him



and learning to fly with the big birds :)

first slinkie (oh how he loves slinkies!)



first temper tantrum



the short time in a kid's life where they are NOT afraid of humungous Disney beasts

first words

first tooth

le big sigh indeed... this is all from month one of my flickr archive. must focus : more coffee...

dreaming of
a summer birthday party for Sam on martha's vineyard with bicycles and whicker picnic baskets filled with bread, soft cheese and cupcakes (hyperventilating/nail-biting just a little at the photographic possibilities if the planets were to align just so for this)

listening to
lady gaga - sorry Tarnya :( i gave her up for 24 entire hours and life was just too dreary without the happy dancing puppet... it rained nonstop in fact :)

googling
the yellow wiggle to see what on earth happened to him (he got poorly and quit, apparently...)

a little cross
that a can of diet coke only half fills my diet coke glass - it just does not compute :

wanting
to go to the zoo tomorrow. rain, you can go away now, i want my life back ;)

hoping
i can get runway into the 600s tonight!! i paused it at 518 (to rest my carpal tunnels) with no planes crashed yet :)

reading his baby book (he loves it:)


perfect weather for sea serpents