friday night likes

nice, easy-going, non-competitive, just-for-the-fun-of-it soccer classes with nice, easy-going moms (on the only no-homework day that isn't a weekend because weekends are too precious to waste a second of)

finding the bathroom partly demo-ed upon arriving home (hurray for new floors!)

datenight with the hubbie - the best veggie burritos and tea party trash talking around :) cute too :)

stopping for a tub of Dreyers dulce de leche icecream and a movie from the redbox (especially when it's a free movie with the magic code 'breakroom' :)

99 cent store selling my beloved Martha Stewart spooky silhouettes - our house is soooo much spookier now! though the kittens are obsessed with pouncing on the mice silhouettes :|

the new air purifier: seriously how did i live without this magical little device?! i can breathe again and the house no longer smells like we have five cats :)

peanut butter and chocolate chips melted together - my kind of homemade soup

surprise bonuses in paychecks

free day at the Palm Desert zoo (or the Autry museum at Griffith Park - i can't decide which one to go to)

Barack Obama

mint perfume, mint tea, mint shampoo, mint conditioner, mint pillow mist and mint peace potion on the hottest day of the year (is it my imagination or is it getting hotter and hotter every single day? either that or i have a raging fever....)

it being the end of the longest week in history!!!

MJ, Rio and room moms

obsessing
over wall color and vanities and floor tiles and pretty fluffy towels - for we are having a very special visitor :)

needing
to buy the Michael Jackson trial iphone app - i am a little bit obsessed with that also :|

loving
Trader Joe's buccaneer joe's, it's just pirate booty in a much cheaper, much larger bag which is a very good/bad thing :)

not loving
Trader Joe's lemon and ginger cookie icecream. it sounds magical, right? but it just tastes like boring old sorbet to me (so why waste the calories??!)

wishing
one 14 mile walk didn't result in blisters that take an entire w-e-e-k (and special bandaids) to heal :(

also wishing
razor blades weren't so darned sharp (note to self: never grab toothbrush in the dark but accidentally grab a razor blade instead :| big mistake.... HUGE! (and a bloody mess too....)

wondering
who names their child Ransom...? or Sin for that matter? you really should need to pass some kind of kindness test to have children...

also wondering
why rooms at Rio Suites are only $12 this Winter??! how can it be so cheap...? is it that scary to stay there...? i want to go and find out!

making
the veggiest pizza everrrr for dinner - so soooo good and surely slimming with all those veggies on it...?

waiting for
the new air purifier to arrive. our old air purifier died last week and i just seem to be unable to breathe without it cleaning and hepa filtering the air :)

stalking
sperm donor websites :| they are completely fascinating! for $415 you can have a blond haired, blue eyed gentleman's baby... but if you only have $145, you'll have to settle for a red haired, green eyed, rather short offspring :| you can even pick if the sperm donor is religiously inclined and whether or not they like cats and dogs - so much easier than getting to know people and having to weed through losers who hate cats ;)

thanking
my lucky stars i don't have to be the room mom :| i am just not that responsible (for free anyway :)

begging
for it to PLEASE BE WEEKEND already. this is officially the longest, most drawn out week ever :| and it's only Thursday!!

frogs, cats and cubs

drowning
far too many cadbury freddo frogs in far too many cups of coffee tonight - it's just one of those must-have-chocolate nights :|

wishing
we had a Channel 4 America channel here instead of farty old BBC America - we neeeeeed embarrassing bodies!!! and ps how come they have TV doctors like this in England:

and we are stuck with this fear-mongering, supercilious little git: (ignore the smurf) NOT FAIR!!!


listening
to deepest darkest 1980s R.E.M. and wondering just w-h-o exactly is going to come along and continue writing the soundtrack of my life now R.E.M. have quit on me - quitters!!!

loving
Sam's new school so much more than his old school - they had coffee and deeply fudgy brownies at the Back to School night - and Kenny G too because being a middle school parent means you're officially into that kind of thing ;) and psst: i was kind of into it :)

recoiling
in horror that the average age of apples sold in supermarkets is 14 months old! gasp - isn't that horrible??!

wishing
the laundry would fold itself ALREADY - blah, i don't know how people with more than 2 children cope... i can't make that many little piles of shorts/teeshirts/fitted sheets (and i don't want to!!! it's work - how i hate it, i'd much rather play!)

hoping
it wasn't the last episode of Flipping Out last week.... but i think it was.... because they brought back that awful Sarah :( i miss Flipping Out already! though i don't miss Gage... or that awful Sarah.... just Jeff :) and Jenni :) and all the adorable fluffy pets!

speaking of fluffy pets... Mr Bumps loves helping Danny with his homework


Mr Bumps when he was much much much much much smaller, taking on fearsome Friday :)


latest smile - you could drive a double decker bus through that gap now :)

last night's scout meeting - cutest (and nicest) cubs ever!!!

green tea, red apples and a lavender scented life

thinking
i am most definitely deathly allergic to green tea. which is a shame because i just bought 200 softgels of green tea extract :| they make me so sick and shaky and carsick even when i am not even near the car :|

wondering
how come they don't sell Zoflora here?????! one tiny bottle makes about 10 big bottles of the most awesome smelling antibacterial lavender disinfectant that can kill the stinkiest litter box stinks and makes icky-left-in-the-washer-ovenight laundry smell heavenly again and it makes floors shiny and fragrant for days. honestly, i should just import an entire container of it and make an infomercial and sell it for $19.99 for two bottles, plus undisclosed ridiculously high shipping and handling costs ;)

loving
the wonderful apple orchard we stumbled upon yesterday in deepest loveliest Julian, California (thanks to yelp, we would NEVER have found such a hidden gem - Raven Hill really is the best) it had 45 rows of the rosiest, juiciest red apple trees, scratch-my-tummy farm dogs and a slightly eccentric/lovely Irish owner named Paddy, who had a feather in his bowler hat and very very Irish blue eyes (honestly, does it get any better than that?!)

NOT butchering
said apples to pieces to make into pies, but enjoying them "baked by the sun" as Paddy said :)

loving
my hubbie for driving 4 nauseating windy-road hours to indulge my apple-loving heart xoxoxo

yesterday was this kind of day (the kind you remember for a loooong time and dream about on an urghh-it's-monday morning such as today)


even the golden delicious were indeed delicious (usually i won't eat 'delicious' apples because they are too full of themselves - i will decide if they are delicious or not;)

things that make no sense

people who don't love Elvis and the Beatles or claim to be too young to know them - were these people raised by wolves in caves without eight track players shaped like large shiny eggs??! clearly the answer to that is "sadly, yes" :|

people who don't love bananas (these people usually have shifty eyeballs and three cornered faces and are not to be trusted)

people who don't love pizza :| because that's a serious serious character flaw ;)

the new Missoni collection at Target - i'm just not that into zigzag striped polyester, i guess :)

the "eff" word - i hate it :| however i admit to loving the real word (gasp) when used to express negative feelings (cursing to express positive feelings is just crass)

the red flashing lock-with-a-line-through-it inside our car that actually tells thieves the car is unlocked - i am not sure it serves any purpose other than to make Toyotas easier to steal :|

the new Mozza in Newport Beach not accepting reservations - i do NOT wait in line for food, no matter how delectable it may be ;)

food trucks: wait in line - and then eat standing up - outdoors - to buy overpriced, overhyped food? nosireebob!

Brad Pitt still dissing Jennifer Aniston after all these years: i don't doubt for one second that she is duller than dishwater, but honestly if he tells everyone one more time how happy he is, i might just stop believing him ;)

things that make perfect sense:

his reward for reading "Go Dog Go" all by himself - a dinosaur encased in an erupting volcano


David Beckham and boys (best Dad EVER!) at the most overwhelming/most exhausting happiest place on earth on Saturday... curiously he doesn't look that happy ;)


dancing dinosaurs (at least i think they are dancing....)

Paul Simon, Trader Joe and Bank of America biatches

living off
ginger cats and coffee today. i am living proof that's it's possible!! (but not necessarily recommended if you plan on doing anything other than just watching TV and feeling weak, but restless, all day....)

patting myself on the back
that i actually turned a tedious chore into something vaguely educational - i had Danny put 15 ginger cats into 15 little snack bags to make sure the box actually contained 15 servings of 15 cats (and the real reason: to stop me eating all 225 in one sitting...) and you know what... the box actually contained 16 servings! how i love Trader Joe - he's so kind and nice! but clearly it's HIS fault i can't lose a lick of weight :|

loving
Paul Simon's performance of The Sound of Silence on Sunday... i wish he'd sung 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' too... but it was so perfect and so beautiful and i loved it

looking forward
an entirely free day (my favorite kind of day:) i need something called hoodia and green tea extract and those round cotton pad thingies for cleansing the skin and a small can of sliced olives :) and to go to the bank.... ick

hating
AT&T and bank representatives who call me "ma'am" :| it's a long story involving an accidental $1600 payment which should have been $15 (could i have got it more wrong...? note to self: never do online banking while in a tizzy) and their inability to EVER give it back. in good news we don't have to pay our phone bill again until 2019 :|

delighting
in filling in every detail of the customer service survey from the bank - they just asked how helpful their representative was ;) oh yes, i told them!!! big mistake Willie Mae.... HUGE!!!!!!!!!

off to deliver children to school and luxuriate in a day of inane housewifelyness :)

Megan and Weasel looking all cute for their adoption event

leaving them in a cage looking abandoned and afraid was really really hard - maybe we should just adopt them....? everyone wants colorful, fluffy, spring-y kittens... these girls are too shy, too hissy, too gothic and too black for the average person wandering through Tustin Ranch :| and the thought of just anyone taking my babies home and then getting angry with them because they pee in on their bed or something trivial like that, gives me hives......

Danny - the human bookworm :)

after school - love him :)

slave labor or homeschooling? assembling little bags of cookies for his mother's diet plan :)

Kings, Queens and Ziggy Stardust

loving
Macy's for the first time e-v-e-r.... they have the Ralph Lauren sheets - and on sale too :| and Eastern King was actually in stock in the land of the California King!! and in snow white with no zen-killing checks, stripes or dots :| also of note at South Coast Plaza today: they had a little test drive circuit set up in the car park where you could take any Toyota for a spin. now that's a wonderful idea! i would most likely have fallen for an adorable little white Prius, given half a chance ;)

listening
to Regina Spektor who i do really like... but her mispronunciation of "better" as "betto" somewhat mars my listening pleasure :(

now listening
to "Starman" by David Bowie instead - phew: better, not "betto" ;)

wondering
why SJP would buy a Honda Odyssey.... honestly, that new Ziggy Stardust thunderbolt looking Odyssey is just plain horrible - i really hope she has the older shaped one (or fellow minivan-moms will just feel tragically sorry for her :)
i totally need to submit these pics to totally looks like


also wondering
if Gwyneth Paltrow could be any more horrible - there's just something about that woman i do NOT like :| ok, i admit it... there is more than one thing ;)

going
to sleep with an ice-pack under my pillow tonight. Dr Oz swears up and down it's the same as sleeping with a chillow. just watch, i bet on Monday's show he will wring his hands in glee, as he announces with great joy that sleeping with an ice-pack causes cancer ;)

off to bed to watch a movie and luxuriate in our new damask/stripe free linens :)

ABFFs (almost best feline friends) since the foster cats showed up, these two have realized how much they actually don't hate about one another ;)

Disneyland palm trees

his favorite store

his reward for reading a book all by himself

it's a mean looking car with very yellow teeth, but ohhh how he loves it :)

we had a hailstorm (and it was totally awesome!!)

there was even a thunderstorm and rain (and it was totally awesome... while it lasted.... then it stopped... and the sun came back out....)

at the Nixon library's World Trade Center tribute...

at the adoption event... this sweet pup Tootsie didn't get adopted.... if our house wasn't overrun with 10,0000 antisocial animals, he would sooo be sleeping here tonight :(

you know what's totally awesome....

COUPONS that you can print at home!!

i love them - they bring value to life! today i went to Target for nice mouthwash - the non-alcohol kind that you can keep in your mouth while you apply deodorant or quickly clean the countertops :) it was $4.79 (up and up brand) but with the sale price and my magic target printable coupon - $2.15!!! now that's cool :)

also cool, tidy cats litter... on sale from $8.39 to 6.99 before my printable $2 coupon! and with the kitty litter i got some free cat treats called 'party mix' (maybe a party is just what my cats need to help them get along!) and with the free cat treats a coupon for a can of Friskies :| uhuh! i couldn't believe my luck!! over $10 of cat paraphernalia for five dollars!

my other bargain of the day: lean cuisine frozen meals - i LOVE frozen dinners, they are the only way i can eat that little food without feeling completely deprived and malnourished :) i got 6 veggie dinners on sale, plus i had a $1 coupon (i know big deal... hardly worth printing) BUUUT with when you buy 6 lean cuisines you get SKINNY COWS free - a $4 value!

other coupons of interest that i just printed, not that i am obsessed or anything:

• 75c off goldfish bread... how i dream of finding this bread! i want to try it sooo bad... in my wildest imagination i hope it makes smiling goldfish shaped sandwiches... i'll be sooo disappointed if it's just square, but orange and cheesy :(
• $1 off Colgate - i saw in the clearance end cap, a multipack of Colgate for $2.00 so you better believe i'm going back tonight to scoop them up! you can never have too much toothpaste, that's what i always say....
  
• 50 cents off in the cafe - it's only $1.50 for popcorn and soda, the perfect afterschool treat for young and old alike! we are soooo going after school!
• $1 off $3 up and up item - this is my favorite coupon (they sometimes give it out with receipts too) because if you find something already on sale (the mouthwash for example) it makes the item sooo cheap, you'd be a fool not to buy it ;)
  
• (squeamish people/men, please do not read) 75c off 'feminine products' ahem, sorry if too much information :| they give these coupons out like candy, i have literally 100 of them and under all our sinks there are a plethora of feminine hygiene items, thanks to buying something around the $1-2 price every time i shop. ha! i will never pay full price for feminine hygiene items ever again!!! (it will be just my luck to instantly go into menopause now my stocks are so high...)

and that concludes my super helpful couponing post :) also of note swag grabber which has printable coupons but i much prefer Target because swag grabber has coupons for places like Mellow Mushroom and Winn Dixie that we don't have in boring old California :| buuuut, we DO have Marla from the OC Register, my most favorite awesome frugal person ever, who i would love to be friends with, because she seems soooo nice and down-to-earth and she loves the 99 cent store also: oc deals :)

off to school with a song in my heart over all my bargains (it's sad, i know ;)

Ralph Lauren, big TVs and one million hateful moms

searching:
for Ralph Lauren king sheets online in cream or white with no stripes or checks - not that i'm picky or nuthin' :) i wish Costco sold Eastern king sheets and not just dumbass California king (hmmm, though what a great excuse to take a trip out of state....... i wonder if AZ is easternly enough....)

buying:
cereal online - there is something seriously wrong with the world when a huge box can be delivered to my house overnight and it's still cheaper than the local Albertsons :|

making:
a perfect soundtrack for our perfect beach house vacation - i want to go today!!! enough with this back to school crap :(

wanting:
a 60 inch television for the den (or bigger!!!)

not wanting:
to walk today. i bet it's going to be 95 degrees which doesn't even sound that hot but it's soooo sweaty out there! you can't wear sunblock because it drips into your eyes and blinds you while crossing the street. and forget sunglasses - they fog up instantly. i miss Summer and it's cool days - fall is ridiculously hot here and it's so unfair - you can't even consider buying a Halloween costume that is fully enclosed or furry :( it's just not fair and it's not right either :|

watching
my way through the Dance Moms marathon - oh deary deary deary me :)

wondering
if hateful stick-up-their-ass women like these are the reason "kids can be so mean" :| this is the reason i am:
a) not religious
b) not in a mother's group
c) a 'mum' not a 'mom'
seriously :|


pictures from the weekend

peanut butter, chocolate and obsessions

finally taking
a deeeeep breath :| the first week of middle school and first grade is over (and it was exhausting/teeth clenching/stress-inducing/overwhelming) it's like watching your kid step onto a tight rope with no net, and no matter how hard you try to keep your balance on their behalf, and hope for ideal conditions, you just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best :|

completely adoring
Danny's new thmile (soo sooooo cute and soooo perfect for first day pictures)

desperately trying
to not think about peanut butter and chocolate together in little cracker sandwiches... this week i taste-tested some ahhhhmazing nutella/peanut butter cracker sandwich thingies and now i can think of nothing else, day and night :| i have carefully tried to recreate them but nothing comes close to the awesomeness of those real, mass-manufactured, over-processed cracker sandwiches :)

desperately seeking
the perfect San Diego hotel. i want to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado but the yelp reviews are 3.5/5.......... and yelp is kind of like our hopeless thermometer, you have to minus 2 to give a true reading ;)

curiously wanting
to go to Knotts Berry Farm tonight - and it's 7pm!!!

also really wishing
i could go to Vegas and buy a hedgehog and call him Mr Pricklepants - they are on sale at Pet Kingdom this week for only $149.99! but since i am scared to even take a starburst through the CA checkpoint, i am sure i couldn't possible smuggle a hedgehog successfully :(

also really really wishing
i could cook.... but it's just so much easier to a) eat breakfast all day b) go out to eat

repeatedly playing
'it happened today' even though nothing much happened today ;) i did get red AND green grapes at the 99 cent store and a new basketball net but it hardly warrants REM writing a song about it ;)

kind of obsessing
over flax seed and green tea

somewhat disliking
Mrs Robinson :| i watched The Graduate for the first time last night, and had to turn it off after 15 minutes because she made me mad :| also: i never knew Art Garfunkel didn't co-write with Paul Simon... which doesn't explain why i like Simon and Garfunkel so much more than Paul Simon...

off to play basketball with Danny and then ultimately decide 7pm is far far too late to go to a theme park ;) xoxox

off to middle school :)

off to first grade :)

the flag ceremony

Mr Bumps thinks back to school is for the birds (me too)

we finally found a basketball hoop on craigs list for FREE!! yay for free bargains!!! and kind people :)

Courage after hiding in the fireplace - he is supposed to be black and white :|

Megan, the 'good' kitty who loves to pose

Weasel, the 'bad' kitty, who can destroy plants hidden behind shutters :)

our beach treasures from this summer (sob)

playing with the baby before school

sweetest little baby ever