the trip to manchester

trying

not to eat dinner. sigh. i ate a stupid, ridiculous, digustingly large lunch at the souplantation. it's just not fair - the one we went to today had much softer brownies than the one by our house (where they are like hockey pucks) but it probably is fair in some ways ;)

listening
to Amy Winehouse (because dead equals instantly fascinating - i should have been an undertaker ;)

and
the Doors 'riders on the storm'. for two reasons: he's dead also and we had a storm today :) with rain and grey clouds and everything! twas awesome. however, it just didn't last long enough

attempting
to make a vacation road trip playlist. not called "i hear dead people" but "songs that remind me of Manchester because that's where we're going but not THE Manchester with Harvey Nichols and John Lewis - no, the little one-eyed beach town that probably has an Ace Hardware and that's it ;)" riders on the storm reminds me of Paris so it clearly doesn't belong :|

including, however...
bitter sweet symphony. and true faith. and how soon is now?

although... kind of hating
the fact that all these songs last too long :( life is too precious to spend on epic songs that last hours. the average REM song last 3.8 minutes just as it should be :)

watching
this Baccara dance routine over and over and over. i cannot believe 28 people dislike it, those 28 people are SO LAME!


noticing
life is actually less horrible if i wear Jo Malone fresh mint cologne. i think i am somewhat addicted - i so want to attend Celebrity Rehab and help Steven Adler beat the hell out of Amy Fisher, while singing "you know where you are? you're in the jungle baby! you're gonna die!!". i hate her/love him :)

wishing
an aerial map of the Malibu country mart wasn't burnt onto my screen thanks to the red fox. it's coming to something when the blue E is more reliable than the red fox :|

weekend pics:
Friday morning kindy playdate with the awesomest nicest kids ever :)

Friday night

saturday morning in Yorba Linda (the land of gracious living no less:)

saturday night at Huntington Beach


Danny's (and Weasel's) latest obsession: beyblades and a pizza pan :)

sunday morning: Crystal Cove (my new favorite beach that i love soooooo much i neeeeeed a parking pass - oh yes!)

really cool things

Sam helped his grandparents on the weekend at their yard sale and while there a lady stopped by looking for 5th graders becoming 6th graders to go to a marketing thingie (what are the odds... he is 5th going into 6th!) anyway he had to watch a movie trailer and give feedback on it then they paid him $100! with which he bought video games for his new birthday xbox :) he was delighted with his crisp hundred dollar bill (what 10 year old wouldn't be?!)

gave away our lcd tv which didn't turn on anymore on craigs list, and i couldn't figure out for the life of me why anyone would want it... especially two sharp dressed men in a Lincoln Navigator :) anyway they were realtors needing it for staging a home! duh!!!! makes total sense!!

Aaron saw an old man drop a wad of cash and caught up with him to give it back. i love good, good people who do the right thing! especially ones i am lucky enough to be married to :) (he still gives me that butterfly feeling after 15 years :)

we have entirely quit diet coke - i didn't think this was even possible in a month of sundays:| last week we shared one and the overwhelming fizz and strangely bitter taste were so unappealing. who are we - we don't like diet coke anymore???!

made chocolate chip cookie dough brownies for our dinner guests last night - they were ridiculously sugary and heavy and wonderful :) the kids played for hours, didn't bicker at all, and we got to visit with the grown-ups till 9 o'clock!! it was heaven! also: Danny fell out of a tree and despite bleeding from a hole in the back of his head (i had to clench my teeth and pull my hair just to be able to look at it), didn't require stitches, just an ice pack, a large well-timed brownie, and lots of band aids (it was a very good night!)

all the kids loooved this toy which Danny got as a reward for swallowing whole tablets last week (what a week it was.... he's all better, minus the multiple band aids and head wound...)

found the Brookstone boogie board on amazon on sale! Sam is (shhhhh, not a word...) getting this from his English Grandma on his birthday :)

speaking of... there is a chance, that she might come to visit in the fall!! and maybe even with my sister and her little boy who we haven't seen since he was in a pram (and now he's 4 feet tall!) if they come, we are soooo renting the Mandalay beach house again!!!

Sam is sitting by the door today to take delivery of his brand new xbox (gawd love amazon and it's overnight free shipping) his birthday is next weekend but we will be in a beach house with no TV (arrgh) so he can play with it for the week before :)

got my new camera yesterday - it's sooooo wonderful and intuitive. and what's even more wonderful - with my amazon points it was only $360 :| (we buy EVERYTHING at amazon - even cat food!)

my sweet little pretend baby is walking at last! and he is coming back in a month, to ease the loss of both my boys being in full time school :(

having a kindy playdate today - i have missed the nice mommies and kids so much :)

this time next week we will be in Big Sur! only my most favorite (northerly) place on earth!!

and the next day hurtling down the Seward slides in San Francisco!! and continuing our highway one adventure all the way to Mendocino - my second most favorite (northerly) place on earth!

off to our playdate - back later with pics from the "new camera" :)

free days and flipping out

spending
the day with just Danny as Sam is having his friend over. where to go... what to do... the possibilities are endless! so what does Danny suggest... he wants to watch Sam and his friend play :|

being
mauled to death by Weasel the very curious kitten. but she is so adorable and purry, i just can't tell her no :(

wishing
Blackjack wasn't suddenly - at just 7 years old - an old man :( he has a rickety knee and is not allowed to go to the dog park/beach for at least FOURTEEN WEEKS until it heals :( he can't even go for a walk around the block or chase bumble bees in the yard - nothing at all or it could fracture and require a huuuuge surgery :( try explaining all this to Blackjack: he just wags his tail and sneezes twice which means he thinks he is going for a walk :(

however.... absolutely loving
the new vet we found on yelp. i think she might just love dogs even more than me (inconceivable! but true!) she is amazing and kind and NICE too - she has seen us twice in the past 24 hours. cost: not a penny because she knew instantly what the problem was. how many vets are that honest and don't subject dogs to unnecessary tests and exams to justify charging an arm and a leg? (answer: none. our last vet visit was $600- for running a ton of tests that resulted in diagnosis: unknown)

loving
the new Costco i found this morning that was much less hellish than Tustin Ranch Costco. and it had cheap gas :) and the salad i actually like to eat :) and california rolls :) and NO lines :) it's official: i'm never going back to Tustin Ranch Costco again ;)

hoping
Legoland doesn't totally suck on friday. i admit... i hate theme parks so much, i am totally dreading it with a passion. plus my knee is really sore and i just know i'm going to hit it really hard on something and blurt out a 15 syllable curse word in front of small catholic children. i really should rest it ;) (how come Blackjack gets 14 weeks rest and i don't??!)

hoping
my new camera arrives before then, so i can test it out before vacation ;)

kind of hating
Gage in Flipping Out - he is SO unbelievably dull. and he looks like Kenneth from 30 Rock except he isn't adorably naive and silly :( honestly, i don't know what Jeffrey Lewis sees in him. at least Ryan was cute ;)

after months of wanting to cut his hair... i am finally starting to loooove it (and want to copy his look too :)

i love this beach




Weasel, the amazing flying kitten :)

creeks, cats and cupcakes

drinking
pomegranate juice. i love it. this is the point where someone tells me it's a) going to kill me eventually or b) made from endangered monkey blood and i have to try to X out of my latest addiction

loving
greek yogurt with honey - it's a taste sensation! and probably also falls into category a) or b)

despairing
over my inability to remember if my skin is 'fair' or 'light' - i always get it wrong and end up looking patchy and too dark/too light :|

waiting
(impatiently) for my new camera. oh yeah!! it's like being 4 years old again and hoping each day my long awaited miniature maclaren baby buggy will arrive from the catalogue :)

wishing
two aleve would hurry up do the trick and cure my horribly stiff neck and simmering brain. i have a sinking feeling that i may have contracted strep throat from a small child in my household...

loving
that netflix on demand movie thing - it's so cool! last night we watched confessions of a superhero about the lookalikes on Hollywood Blvd. though i'm still confused on how much one should tip to avoid being beaten up by them - $1 seems dangerous, $5 too spendy (spoken like a total cheapskate :)

hating
documentaries like Food Inc. though having not eaten meat for a year, i have far less guilt these days (and i don't miss it:)

scenes from art camp



who needs my little pony when you have my little rattie :) it was bathtime for Jerry who had a bad case of buck grease ;)

but after three shampoos in dish soap, he was snow white again and smelling like french lavender :)



doesn't he look stunning?!


at the creek today. i fell and cut my knee and it doesn't look anything like as sore on the outside as it feels on the inside (don't you hate that??!)





our plasticene creations (except the lego man who was our model :) (the cats were our models for thing four and five :)


Bumps' new bed




Courage, the cowardly foster cat, bumps into Friday :| (drops camera and dashes to rescue Courage:)

dissecting the day

woke up with a small, flush-faced child in my bed with a ridiculously high fever - twas 103 last night at the ER and there is no sign of it letting up :( diagnosis: a highly contagious case of strep throat and a very down-in-the-mouth little boy who missed his sculpture class today :(

begged him to pleeease take his medication and not hack it all back up... he threw up (OF COURSE) so we guessed that the original 320 mg minus the 100ish mg all over the kitchen floor would just have to do - sigh

googled "how to get children to keep medicine down"

answer: a spoonful of sugar (honestly... that's what it said!)

tried it with the amoxicillin and it worked! i wouldn't exactly say in the most delightful way... but it stayed down ;) Mary Poppins was like the best nanny EVER!

watched Ryan and Tatum over breakfast of ginger cats and coffee: i admit it, i really really love Tatum O'Neal's soft velvety voice and i want to go to a voice coach who will teach me to talk like that

dropped Sam off for his sculpture class and drove to the beach with Danny, who then decided he was too lifeless to play under the pier and walk to Ruby's for a chocolate peanut butter milkshake (my magic cure-all prescription for every bad thing in the world)

drove towards home at which point Danny decided he did want to go to the beach (grr...)

went to the Irvine Spectrum instead to Nordstrom and Cheesecake Factory for lunch

had a very mediocre salad (with horrible beetroot! and horrible cabbage too!! they both tasted like radioactive dirt/catholic school lunches to me...) they did play Wichita Lineman though, so i gave them one star ;)

watched the valet staff juggle luxury cars for an hour

watched as an ambulance swooshed in to pick up a small sobbing boy - very curious....

went to Brookstone where Aaron tried this chair and i pondered buying this boogie board thing for Sam for his birthday

played with an iPad and it kind of grew on me (but i didn't buy it;)

avoided Anthropologie at all costs - since i was already financially in knots trying to justify buying an iPad :)

went home and made awful veggie juice drinks... it just seems so wasteful with people starving all over the world... all that leftover pulp could feed 5000 people surely!

hated all the drinks and poured them down the drain and felt even MORE wasteful and spoilt :(

looked at oceanfront hotels in Malibu and Pacific Grove. measured the distance between Pacific Grove and San Francisco - it's 121 miles and 2 hours 10 minutes* - which is the perfect distance to drive after breakfast, stopping to pick up a picnic lunch on the way to Golden Gate Park :) how on earth did we survive without google maps???! it's just soooooo wonderfully helpful for a planner such as myself.
*ps on foot it would take 1 day 14 hours... we are soooo driving!)

F5ed canon.com for the googlenth time and saw that my camera is ready!!!

sped to Canon to pick it up then to Walmart to return that stupid bloody suicidal juice machine

hung out with hubbie for a bit in the "TR" (Tustin Ranch that is - center of the universe) and felt sorry for exasperated parents with sobbing children (our children are officially too old to sob in public! we survived!!!)

had extra crunchy peanut butter oatmeal for dinner :)

wondered if Dr Drew will EVER stop talking about Casey Anthony - arghhh!!! she's a lying skank whore - we get it ;)

listened to Sarah Maclachlan but had to turn it off because she reminds me of sad animal commercials :(

replaced her with New Order who made me miss Manchester and rainy days and diesel fumes and perfectly overcast skies and Mulberry. i have one of those purses somewhere, must dig it out and pretend to be English :)

bought new vacation crocs at amazon in size 11 for Sam (who acts his age and his shoe size :) and in size 3 for Danny :) they were on sale - i love when i buy something and it has a big surprise discount:)

pondered if Stockton is so cheap to stay in because it's such a bad place (surely it can't be good... Pacific Grove and Malibu weren't this cheap ;)

off to bed to watch Flipping Out (he simply MUST fire Sarah and Zoila this season!! they drive me absolutely crazy!!! i like Jenny. and Jett... where is Jett anyway?)

tuesday blues

needing
to print a family picture. but can i find one that i like? not a chance of it :|

feeling
ridiculously exhausted/depleted/worn down/emotionally bankrupt :|

missing
my camera. what's the point in getting up in the morning if you can't take pretty pictures...? exactly :(

thinking
i need a datenight with Sam - it's been forever and ever

wishing
Danny would feel better already - he's floppy and flushed and 100 degrees. this week he is going to art camp which he loves, but i feel so anxious and guilty handing him over (does this parenting thing ever ever ever get easier...?)

recovering
from having kale/apple/carrot/spinach/ginger juice for lunch. in hindsight... given that it contained all those awful raw veggies... i guess it wasn't that horrible... sigh

pondering
if $444 is really too much to spend on that juicer/blender thingie at Costco... especially since i despise countertop appliances with a passion and don't even own a coffee maker for that reason. and i don't really like the juice either.... double sigh

needing
a vacation. and by vacation i mean a trip to a beautiful place that lasts longer than one night. that requires the actual unpacking of clothes and the actual setting out of toiletries. that is quiet and comfortable and has enough beds that we don't need to share with a small child. on a quiet beach that we can listen to at night. under a midnight blue starry sky :)

watching
that boring Ryan and Tatum show to see if Tatum O'Neal is actually mean in real life, like she was when she played the psychomom who made Carrie leave her shoes outside, resulting in their theft in Sex and the City (it's been over 7 years... clearly i just can't forgive and forget... Mikhail Baryshnikov either - i'm sure he's very nice in real life... but in my head, not so much ;) i am shocked that her house is so ordinary. and that i have probably driven by Ryan O'Neal's house a gazillion times... and that Ryan O'Neal didn't adopt BOTH the homeless dogs :( how could he send the nice big dog back???

suffering
from achey sunburned shoulders from rowing around Balboa's islands this weekend. but it was fun :) and we had a picnic :) and cold aloe spray from the fridge feels heavenly :)

Weasel

Megan (who loves to model:)


the big brothers