It's been a while...

Well, It's been a long while since the last time I came here to post anything. Let's just say, I've been really busy.

Today, we went for a short walk that should have taken about an hour. As it turns out, we had a three and a half hour walk around our beautiful lake. It was the Lollygaggers first time walking all the way around, and I admit, I was sure I would have to share in the task of carrying her home. To my surprise, she was full of energy the entire time.

I, on the other hand, flopped on the couch as soon as we got home and I haven't moved since.

We took pictures on out three hour tour and I thought I should share. So, here they are:


Aaaaahhh, the Lake, the Trees, the Hills.

...and the Ducks.

We have Thistle growing wild all over the Lake.

We thought this was like a mini Stonehenge, what's your take?

I know this looks like a bunch of worms, but it's not. It's grass of some sort growing in the water.

This was something new. We were just at this spot the other day and it wasn't here. Glad it was. It makes a good picture.

There are loads of these hornets nesting in the ground. It's best to have shoes on while strolling at the lake.

These trees have been in the water for several years now. With the fire hazards on our mountain, you would think they would have been removed by now.

...and here she is. Wasn't it just yesterday she could barely hang from bars like this? Now she's climbing on the top of the bars.

Well, it was good to catch up a bit. I suppose I'll need to whip out the 'ol Girl Scout Pledge and promise to post more often.

Fine.

On my honor, I will try to do my dutym to serve God and my Country, and uphold the Girl Scout laws.

Is that how it goes?

Predicting the Future?

A few blogs ago, I mentioned I can almost predict the future. I can't, really, but on occasion some really weird things tend to happen to me.

For Example: While in the middle of a conversation with a co-worker I stood up and walked toward the wall where the phone was. I reached for the phone but didn't answer it. I just stood there with my hand on the handset waiting for the second ring. But it didn't. So, naturally, I returned to my co-worker having never stopped my yakking. He blinked once, then interrupted, asking "what the hell was that about?"

"The Phone was ringing" I replied. At that moment, the phone started to ring again. So, once again I went to answer it. The phone conversation was brief and when I hung up I realized my co-worker was eyeing me with interest. He told me it never rang. We argued about it for a minute then let it go.

A few days later the same co-worker came into the projection-room-turned-office to chat with me about programing what we call SmartPhrases. It's a part of the software we had been training. During our conversation I distinctly heard water; as in bursting from a pipe, or pouring from a tap. I mentioned what I had heard and we both paused to have another listen. Nothing.

We resumed our conversation and within minutes it happened. He knocked over a carafe of water which splashed across the desk top, and ran off into my purse on the floor where I had put it earlier.

He turned to me with a stunned look on his face and said one word only. "Witch."

So there you have it. I can almost predict the future.

Murray in the morning

My cat Murray has a way of pestering me first thing in the morning. He stands on me, touches my face, walks on my chest, meows in my ears, and even attempts to lay down on my head. He will insist that I get up out of bed and feed him, and will do anything he can to get the point across. He's relentless.

I love my fat cat, Murray.

One day I discovered this clip on YouTube.com and could hardly believe my eyes. It was Murray and me in the morning! Except, it's a cartoon created by a guy named Simon.

Here, have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q

How could this Simon guy have known?

Maybe I should keep the curtins closed.

Wanna knuckle sandwich?

Wanna knuckle sandwich?

That's the question posed to me by the Lollygagger one fine Sunday afternoon. Wanna knuckle sandwich, mommy?

After having teased her with that same statement for the past few years it just seemed natural she would parrot the remark. Who knew she would actually punch me in the mouth!

Wanna knuckle sandwich mommy? WHAM!

I'm tellin' ya, I saw stars. As each star popped before my eyes I wrestled with the notion that I should give her a tasty little sandwich of her own. But, being the grown-up, I refrained. Besides, she already has a loose tooth and I wouldn't want to be held responsible for knocking it out.

Lucky for her, daddy was there and witnessed the whole thing. He got her out of my reach so fast, her head snapped back from the G-Force of it. He ever so calmly explained how much that hurt poor mommy and that she is never, never to dole out knuckle sandwiches to anyone ever again.

She gave a sincere apology and wandered off.

Lollygaggers daddy on the other hand, had his back to me for the better part of an hour. I suspect he was refraining from bursting out laughing.

I live with brats; good thing I love them anyway.

A tough work life!

MY NEW JOB

So, I took the job and started last Monday. Here's how my week went:
Monday: Started at 10:00 a.m., met some new friends and saw some old friends.
Tuesday: Started at 9:00 a.m., went to a meeting, had lunch, went home.
Wednesday: Met my co-worker at 8:45 a.m., drove to Indio, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and Riverside. Had lunch during a meeting that had nothing to do with our jobs. Went home by 3:00 p.m.
Thursday: Went to Wildomar and Temecula, sat in on a meeting, went home.
Friday: Had a call-in meeting from home that lasted 1 hour.

Whew, I'm tired!

So far, so good. I think I like my job.

Meno... pause

Last week I received a text message from my older sister. She wrote, "I've just been missing you a lot lately."

Rather than feeling as though I've been missed, I got a feeling that she was sad. Sometimes I can be rather intuitive and surprise myself, and other times I only think I'm rather intuitive and be more wrong than I could have been had I simply made things up to suit the moment. In fact, sometimes I can almost predict the future! Well, not really, but I have a great story I'll tell later.

Anyway, in this case, I was right. She was feeling the blues.

I was aware she's been suffering a case of peri-menopause for the past year, and not feeling too good about it, but didn't know she was feeling depressed about it. I hope it's not a sign of things to come because I'm just starting the whole "hot flash" thing, and it isn't pretty. In fact, it's enough to drive a woman to madness...

As with my poor sister, it's an off and on thing: I sit on the couch under a blanket that's tucked up under my chin. For good measure, I have on a sweater and a pair of thick socks to help combat the freezing temperatures in the house that, for some odd reason, I'm the only one who feels. Without warning, I'm instantly overcome with heat, which makes me break into a sweat on my chest and the back of my neck. But through the hot flash, my nose is cold.

In the middle of the night, I wake up feeling like I'll be sick from the overwhelming heat. I peel off whatever it is I'm wearing and lash out at my poor husband for having the nerve to touch me with a hand that is, without question, at least 90*. Then, just when I'm sure I'll spontaneously combust, I'm suddenly cold again and want to crawl into the microwave for an instant shot of heat. At that moment, I don't even care that I could blow up in the microwave.

...hmm, I guess it is a sign of things to come. See; crazy talk.

Here. This sums it all up:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/29358/the_end_of_crazy_frog/


I'll send this to her to see if it correlates with what she's been going through.

What about you? Any correlation or are you lucky enough to be symptom free and too young to care?

Let us now "pause" for a moment of silence for the idiot frog in the microwave.

Our Morning Tradition

We have a tradition in our home that started roughly four years ago.


Each morning, when I leave for work, the Lollygagger and her daddy stand on the porch or in the garage and wait. They wait for me to reverse down the drive way and roll my window down.

Together, they shout out two things:


1) LOVE YOU!


and

2) Whatever random thought that comes to mind at that moment.

Sometimes, they shout things like "YOU'RE A PRETTY FLOWER" or "COME HOME WITH A MILLION BUCKS" or "DOGS ARE LIKE CUPCAKES"

Anything random. The more random, the more fun they seem to have with it.

I've enjoyed their crazy morning ritual since the day it started, and have come to expect it each morning. It just seems to start my day off right.

Last week, there was an unexpected break in the tradition. The Lollygagger was busy eating, dressing, getting her hair brushed, and trying to watch her favorite show, Imagination Movers, all at the same time.

I pulled away from the house and found myself missing their shout of LOVE YOU, and their random statement of affection (at least that's what I take it as).

My day was not the same. In fact, it was awful. It never improved until the afternoon when I called the Lollygagger's daddy on his cell phone. He had already picked her up from school, so I got to talk to her and told her that I missed her. We had a nice, but brief conversation about her school day.

When it was time to hang up the phone, she shouted and unsolicited LOVE YOU, which racked my eardrum and left me a happy momma with a ringing in my left ear.

Isn't it amazing how something so small can make such a huge difference in your day life?



LOVE YOU!!!