Digging This Song

I was listening to a radio station here this past week and this song came on. It's a little funky but I love the beat.

Almost a Month??

Wow, I just realized it's been almost a month since I posted last!

Yea, a lot of stuff going on.

Softball, softball and more softball. My oldest did not make all-stars, but then again she didn't want to, so she didn't try as hard either.

I'm still involved in all-stars however though, as I am the uniform coordinator. I also decided to run for Secretary for the board next year (oh, but NO more uniforms, no way)

99% of the time I love bein on this softball board. The other 1% I fucking hate it. You get people who are on the board, but feel that they need to put their nose into everything by providing an opinion, yet do nothing to help the situation. That's the part I hate.

On a lighter note, I had my birthday about 2 weeks ago. It was nice, got to go out to dinner with some friends.

Now that my job on the softball board is almost over (until I take over as secretary in August), I can focus on repainting my living room and bonus room and redecorating some of the things in the living room as well.

Oh, and work on the changes I was talking about earlier.

New Look

My oldest got glasses this past week. She definitely likes them, as you can see. :)

Stay tuned for a new look on this blog soon.

Tomorrow we are heading off to Hawaii!! I am so excited! We finally told the girls on Sunday. We had been keeping it a secret from them for over a year and a half. All this time they thought we were going to Catalina. Part of the reason for that was because, in the recent years, every time we made plans for a vacation, something always happened and it never materialized.

We were supposed to go to Florida about 2 years ago, to see my great-uncle, but he got very ill and we didn't go. We were supposed to go up to Washington, but then my husband's ship decided not to pull into that port, so that got cancelled. We were supposed to go up to San Francisco a while back, but that's when I started having panic attacks, so that never materialized either.

This time, we've got the tickets, we've got the hotel, we've got the car rental, hubby has the time off, panic attacks have subsided, I think we're good to go! :)

Just A Ride

A beautiful mermaid posted a link to this for me to watch after I had commented that I had had a particularly horrid and stressful week. It is something that I watch frequently when I've had a bad day to remind me that it is, "Just A Ride" and this too will pass.

Thank you so much McCabe!!

............

This is my life this week.

The softball fields.

My house is a mess.

As much as I love helping out on the softball board, I'll be happy when this week is done.

So I can get back to my house and family.

Crochet, crochet, crochet

These are two of my lastest creations that I've been working on and I have them up at my etsy store: www.coronadoorange.etsy.com

I feel like I have become a crocheting fool!

I'm also working on a blanket, another scarf, a bolero jacket for the youngest and I made a headband last night for the oldest (pictures later).

I also found a pattern for a yummy summer blanket too.

I also feel like I am collecting yarn. I just love the colors and the textures!!

My mom taught me to crochet when I was young and it is something I've always loved doing. It actually relaxes me too.

Of course because of the energy I've been placing on crocheting things, my scrapbooking hobby has fell wayside, to my dismay. I'm hoping to set aside one day a week to sit down and start creating pages again.

I've also been noticing a lot of yummy beautiful fabrics lately too and my yearning for sewing has been wanting to come out.

And with spring right around the corner, my yearn for wanting to photograph things comes out too!

It's times like these where I wish I didn't have to work, even though I do love working where I work.

It's times like these that I seriously need to clone myself, because I do love sleep and won't give that up.

Coronado Orange

My beautiful friend, Stacy, urged me to "put myself out there" and sell my creations. So I took a wild leap and starting crocheting at night when I was watching TV and I started making things. Right now, I have just made some beanie hats and scarves, but I keep finding patterns of things I want to make. And I have accumulated totes and totes of yarn. (I can't help it, Michaels keeps having amazing sales on yarns).

Crocheting is something that I've always loved to do. I started crocheting probably somewhere between 4th and 6th grade. My mom used to crochet and I asked her to teach me. Now this was a feat for my mom, seeing as I'm left handed and she was right handed. But somehow I caught on and learned.

Throughout my life I've mostly made blankets for people. I have made lots of baby blankets, and a few adult blankets too. One year I made a Grateful Dead blanket for my husband. That was a feat in itself, because I had to create the design from scratch and make it in a month. He was out to sea then and I didn't want him to see it, as it was a Christmas present.

In the past 12 years or so, I haven't crocheted much because other things just because life had gotten in the way and I have to watch how long I do it or my arm will start hurting.

So now I only do it at night when I'm watching TV.

I get inspired by colors and textures of yarn I see and patterns I want to try out.

I do plan on putting other things in my Etsy Shop as the inspirations come.

But for now, I have what you see in my Etsy Shop, Coronado Orange.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I just realized that it's been forever since I posted on here!

I have been so incredibly busy these days!

We had a wonderful Christmas and it was the best seeing my sister again. Even though we only live about 2 1/2 hours away (on a good traffic day), because we both have busy lives (she's a 1st grade teacher), we can't always get together as often as we'd like.

When she asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I couldn't really think of anything at first. Then I told her jewelry and I told her I had wanted a necklace from my friend, Stacy. She designs her own necklaces and has a store: BellaWish. I was SO pleasantly surprised when I opened my present from her and found this beautiful necklace inside!

Her necklaces inspired me to start creating again and she urged me to open up an etsy store of my own. I am working on that right now and I will let you know when it's ready.

My oldest is playing soccer on the All-Star team and so we are busy with practices and tournaments for that. Here she is this past weekend during one of the games (She's the one in red):

So, along with that, softball is getting ready to start up again, and since I'm on the board, I'm busy right now with that too.

And you know, I think January should be declared "National Organization Month", because every magazine has articles on organization, all the stores are selling totes and everyone seems to be in that mode after the holidays.

I know I am. I have a list on my refrigerator of what I have to do around the house and in what order I'm getting it done to make it most effective. I'm over 1/2 way done with the list, thank goodness. I figure as long as I get it done by the end of thise month, I'm good. :)

I've also been looking at other blogs and my friend Michelle, posted about a giveaway she had found on her friend's site: The Secret is In The Sauce, who wanted to let people know about a giveaway. These camera straps are absolutely adorable!! If I don't win one, I'm for sure going to buy one, so I'll get one either way!!

*SHEY* {B} Camera Straps and Slip Covers

So that's about it so far.

My time is up for now, so I need to get moving on the next item on my list.....

A First...

Okay, so I'm at Michaels on Sunday, doing some craft shopping (actually I was buying frames, because I'm switching out all the frames I have) and so I go to my car and open up the door.

All of the sudden I'm having severe pain in my right hand and I'm like, "OWWWWW!!!" So I shook my hand because I think I felt something on it and this BIG BLACK THING gets shooken off my hand onto the seat on the inside of the car. I'm thinking, "HOLY SHIT, I just got bit by a Black Widow spider!" And then the thing flies off. Yikes!! No, I did not get bit by a spider, I got STUNG by a bee! (Oh yea, and I was screaming about it and there was a car next to me, but did they do anything? Oh, no....they just drove off!)

Okay, now for all of you out there who are saying, "Okay, big whoop, you got stung by a bee".......well, I'm 40 years old and this was the VERY FIRST TIME I have EVER gotten STUNG by a bee!!! So it's a little traumatic for me, give me some leeway here people.

So automatic reaction happens and I squeeze it and the little stinger that it had popped out. Whew! But of course that freaks me out too! So I start searching through my car for the first aid kits. Yes you read that correctly, KITS. Plural. I think I have like 2 or 3 in there. Hey, I just haven't gotten around to condensing them into one. And you'd think that with all the first aid kits I had in there there would be SOMETHING for insect stings. Was there? Oh no, of course not.

So I have this "cleansing wipe" where I got stung on the inside of my hand, and I'm getting ready to call hubby when I see that he's calling me. So I answer the phone and start going off on how I got stung, and then I had to remind him that I had NEVER been stung before. (hey people, I suffer from anxiety, so I'm freaking out a little, worrying that I'm allergic or something). And THEN I start cursing, dropping the F-bomb everywhere because I'm FORTY YEARS OLD and I've gone THIS long without being stung, WHY NOW? So not only am I in intense pain, but I'm pissed. I'm pissed that this stupid ass bee stung me and ruined my perfectly good record of never have been stung.

So since you're reading this, and I'm not dead, it's pretty safe to say that I'm not allergic to bee stings. Not that I want to go out and get stung ever again......

My Chi-Chi's are good to go

I had a mammogram done last week. It was my very first one. Not the most comfortable thing, but certainly not THAT uncomfortable, at least for me.

Yesterday I got a call from Mammography saying that I needed to come in for an additional look. Uh-oh. My heart immediately started racing. Another look? Why? What do they see that they need to take an additional look?

Well, apparently for the bigger breasted gals, sometimes there is a lot of "density" there and they need to zoom in on it.

So this morning I went back down there. When I get in the room, I have to put the little cape on to "cover me up". While I'm waiting, I see my mammogram up on the light box from last week and they have a certain area highlighted. Uh-oh. Does this mean they found something suspicious? Immediately my heart starts racing again and I'm on the verge of an anxiety attack. But I calm myself down and relax and try to reassure myself that there is nothing to get worried about before they even tell me anything.

So after they squeeze my right one in a vice (that's pretty much what it is, in my opinion), the tech tells me to sit and wait. After a few minutes go by the doctor comes in and tells me that everything is alright. There were just a few calcifications spots they wanted to look at.

Oh my goodness.....You mean I'm alright? It's okay?? Are you absolutely SURE, doctor??

Damn......

And yes, I know I didn't really have extensive tests done, and I know it's considered common to come back for an additional look so they can be sure, but this was my first one and to have to come back a 2nd time, did get a little worrisome for me.

Of course now it makes me want to proudly display them. (well, covered up anyway) LOL!!

See world? They are okay!

And if you knew me growing up, I was not one to display them more than they already were.

Blast From The Past

Living in Southern California often means that you make a trip down to Tijuana at least once in your life. (Some a LOT more than others).

In 1993 friends of ours came down and we went down to TJ to party. This was my one and only time I ever went there. And for some reason you have to take these group shots while you're down there.
Yes, I had an absolute blast down there, but that was 15 years ago. I have no desire to go back now...

And apparently going down to TJ is something my family does, because here is a picture of my grandma and my grandpa John down there in 1946.......



My grandma went back down there again in 1959, to marry her 2nd husband.

Then my mom went down there to marry my father in 1967.

At least hubby and I stayed up here to get married.............

I've Been Tagged

My friend, Michelle tagged me on her blog.

What to Do:

Go to your photo files, pick the 6th folder and the 6th picture and post it! Then tag 5 of your unsuspecting friends!

My oldest folder is from 2005. This picture is of my youngest on Easter morning enjoying a chocolate egg, yummy!!! She has such intense eyes! She gets them from her Daddy, although when my mom was alive, she swore she had my eyes. I think she has her Daddy's though too.

So now I'm tagging: Stacie, McCabe, My Sassy Friend, Sueberry, and if Di had a blog, I would tag her. :)

***************************************
Tag your it!
Please consider yourself tagged!
If you play along please leave a comment so I can come over and
see what you came up with!

I Need To Get My Rollerskates Out

...because apparently I need them to help me get around faster.

SO busy today!!

But then again, Tuesdays usually are for me.

It's my "Monday" at work (I don't work on the "real" Monday, as that's my ME day), the girls have school, then I have to rush to get them home from school so the oldest can get ready for soccer practice. Then, this evening, my youngest's teacher had an individual "Open House" for her class, as she wasn't able to do it last week with the rest of the school.

So, of course, I'm short on time, so my oldest's coach keeps them late, in the meantime, I have groceries in the car that I'm hoping aren't going to melt in this horrid heat we've been having this week.

I race her home, don't even get a chance to eat dinner with family, so I grab a piece of bread and head on back to the school.

My youngest's teacher had our kids' names spelled out vertically and wanted us to write something about them using each letter of their name.

Now, I love my youngest's name, but when it came to using those letters to start describing her, I'm thinking, "Dang, why did I give her THIS name???" I did manage to write some descriptives of her though.

Then I had to race back home to help the youngest with her homework, get her into bed, read to her (I've always read to my girls, starting when they are wee ones) and tucked her into bed.

All the while getting lunches ready for tomorrow, making a sandwich for myself to eat for dinner.

Hubby did make dinner and ran the dishwasher, so I was very grateful for that.

And tomorrow? A little less stressful, but not much.

Oh, and yesterday I made appointments for a mammogram (this will be my first, but I've heard that breastfeeding is more painful than a mammogram, so I'm hoping that's a good thing for me, since I did the breastfeeding thing with each girls for 18 months each), and I also have to get a bone scan because my stupid right foot doesn't want to cooperate and is causing me pain. Yea, I found out that they inject me with something to make my bones "glow" under the scan so they can see it better.

Nice.

Having A Little Bit Of Fun......

.........telling my oldest a little bit about my "early days", if that's what you want to call them. LOL!!

We had just finished watching Project Runway where the designers had to design certain genres of music for the other designers. So we were talking about rock 'n roll and such and I told my oldest about how I had danced on a table once, danced in a DJ booth and at one time I wanted to be a cage dancer. No.....not a STRIPPER, but a cage dancer. Hey, it sounded like fun then. I never did it though.

I always get a kick out of telling her a little bit about my past. She's always like, "EWWWWW, MOM, I CANNOT picture you doing THAT!!!" Teehee!!

I actually do not consider myself to have a wild past. I know too many people who were way more wild than me. Yes, sometimes we were wild, and sometimes I look back on that and think, "Holy Cow, were were SO lucky to survive that! Imagine what COULD have happened"

And while I do tell her some things, there are plenty of other things I'd rather not say, but when the time comes and she asks me, I will have to ponder on what I do tell her. I don't like having "skeletons in the closet". There were too many of those in my family.

I do want her to focus on her education, which she does seem to be doing, very well at the moment. I just need to make sure she continues that when she gets in high school.

I was an Honor Roll student in high school, and had I applied myself more, I probably could have been near the top of my class. But high school became more than just education for me. It was a time where I had fun as well. And I need to teach her the balance in that. And we always talk about WHEN she's going to college, not if.

Work In Progress

That's me.

I went to the doctor's a few days ago for refills on my blood pressure medication.

Yes, I have high blood pressure, and it sucks sometimes.

It's hereditary for me, so no matter how much weight I lose, I'll have it.

So because it's a yearly thing, I have to get blood work done to make sure everything is functioning okay inside.

Good news, my glucose levels are fabulous (which is a good thing because I had gestational diabetes with both of my girls).

My thyroid levels are great.

All the other numbers came back fabulous.

Except one.

Yes, that darned cholesterol.

It came back a little high.

I'm not on medication for it, thank goodness, but she's giving me six months to get it down with diet.

Well............I've done it before.

Granted I did have help with cholesterol medication before, but I followed that way of eating so well, I lost weight as well.

So I pulled out paperwork that I have that lists what foods I can eat that are recommended for keeping a low cholesterol diet.

I'm getting back on track, because I am choosing to do this so I can lower my cholesterol, lose the weight.......AGAIN.......and keep it off.

Last time I did this I was SOOOOOOOO good!!!

Then I went and started having panic attacks.

Oh joy.

Now that I'm through the panic attacks (for the majority of it, I still get anxiety, but with the help of therapy - which I highly recommend to anyone - I can recognize them and work through them), and healed, for the most part, in regards to my mom's death, I can work on this for me.

Yea, so that's it.

I'm a constant work in progress, I guess....................

1st Day of School

Tuesday was their first day of school.

Yea me! LOL!!!

Every single year I always take the same pictures of them going to school. Even when the oldest was just going to school.

Here is my youngest in her "Mitchie" outfit (Camp Rock movie). She LOVES this outfit and so it was fitting she picked it for her first day of school outfit.


Wow, I can't believe she's in 1st grade. She is now the age that my oldest was when I got pregnant with her. I can't believe THAT much time has already gone by!!!
And here is my oldest. Her top is from Hollister, "of course". I'm telling you, I felt like SUCH a "MOM" when I took her shopping there last week. It's one of the HIP stores to shop at (meaning expensive, of course), but she usually finds stuff in the clearance section, because even though she loves their stuff, even she thinks it's expensive.
She still loves her hair too. (Thanks Aunt!!)

Wow, time flies, huh??
After we took these pictures, we were off to school and then yea, I was free!!! LOL!!

Actually I don't get my first "me" day until Thursday. I am very much looking forward to it! :) I love my girls with all my heart, but I do enjoy my "me" time. :)

Countdown to School

Enjoying her last days of summer vacation.

I am enjoying it as well.

As much as I can't wait for them to go back to school, I have enjoyed the laid back atmosphere that is about to end.

We don't sleep in every morning, as I do still have to work, but on the days I don't and we don't have to get up, boy is it nice to sleep in until 8:30 a.m. Yes, you read it right, that's about the longest I even like sleeping in. Because too much after that I feel like my day has already gone.

Next week will start the cycle of getting lunches ready, getting everyone in bed on time, getting to school on time, picking them up from school, helping out at school, etc.

The girls already started soccer practice so we're already doing that. Although next week the oldest will start softball practice as well. I'm going to work on going to the gym more while the oldest one is at practice too, at least the softball practice, because the gym is right around the corner.

But ahhh......I will enjoy this last week.

The Calmness

Ahhhhhhh........life in California.

I took this picture one day on my way up to my friend's house. I just love driving up this street with all the palm trees on either side.

Life is calm and mellow right now.

Of course soon it won't be.

Soccer practice has already started, softball practice will start soon and then throw the big thing back in there...........school.

I will actually be glad when school starts up for the girls again. I will have my routine again, working while the girls are in school. Of course I will have the added pressure of getting their lunches ready, in bed on time, schoolwork done, to name just a few.

So I will revel in the calmness of now while I still have it.

I Miss It

I totally miss All-Stars.

Is that weird or what??!!!

We had to commit to every single day (sans a few here and there) and every weekend for two months.

VERY hectic.

But I miss it.

I know..........

I'm weird.............

The Secret Keeper

Starting back probably in high school, and probably earlier, people have told me things.

Confidential things.

Things that no one else knows about.

And according to me, they won't know. At least not from me.

It wasn't until just recently that I realized that I have become somewhat of a "Secret Keeper". Lately people seem to feel that they can talk to me and tell me things. Or vent, or whatever.

I was talking to one person about this a few weeks ago and aloud wondered why they come to me and tell me things.

This other person, who was venting and talking about things said, "You're approachable".

See, I've never really thought of myself as approachable.

Growing up I always felt like the person in the background. Second fiddle.

Although I certainly know that back in high school and beyond, after drinking, I certainly would approach people. Alcohol seems to do that to people.

Ahhh, you know, sometimes I do miss drinking. It's been years since I had a drink.

Part of the reason is because I have high blood pressure and it's certainly not good to drink.

Also, because I remember one of my friends, who had a little one, was drinking and got quite tipsy and was around her and I swore that I would not be like that around my children.

And considering the fact that I was with them almost 24/7 in the beginning, AND breastfeeding, there certainly wasn't the opportunity to drink or the desire. Oh sure, every once in a while, like at a New Year's party, or a Tupperware party I would have a drink or two, but the last time I got drunk was the night before I got married. (Hey, it was an AFTERNOON wedding, so it was okay, and it wasn't like I was having second thoughts or anything, it was just a night out with the girls).

But now? Sure, I wouldn't mind one every now and then.

Anyway, back to present day.

Lately, with all the wonderful therapy I have gotten in helping me deal with my mom's death and how it affected me, I feel back to "ME", you know? Like I found myself again. I found my confident self again, and my "social" self again too.

Being on the softball board, I have met so many nice, good people. People that I probably wouldn't have crossed paths with, had I not get involved. And maybe it's because I don't have an "agenda" by being on the board that I can listen, without judgement to people.

And by being called "approachable", I take that as a compliment.

I take that as coming full circle and being "me" again.

I certainly feel so much more relaxed about myself and a lot of things.

So I'll be the Secret Keeper. And I'll listen. And I won't tell anyone. It's not my place to tell.

I'll be your friend.