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.

Luau

Thursday afternoon we went to Paradise Cove for a luau. Hubby had been told by several people that this was one of the best luaus around. So we went all out. We went and got the "deluxe package", which included us being able to sit down front, having our dinner served to us, getting our pictures, extra drinks, better leis, etc...

The oldest took this of me, when it was nearing sunset..

This luau had lots of activities for the girls as well, which was wonderful because they enjoyed it SOOO much! They got to get "tattoos"....

The guy who is doing the youngest's tattoo was ended up being the guy who was the fire twirler guy (I'm sure there is a name for it, I just can't think of it at the moment)..... which made this moment all the more better, because that part of the show was her favorite part.

Hubby got the super deluxe drink, which was quite tasty!

As you can see, I got to partake in some of the activities too and got to be all dressed up. :)

Hubby and me....
Here are my girls in all their beauty as well.

And of course I had to get a "tattoo" too.

One of the things the girls wanted to do was have a hula lesson. Well, it turns out that one of the activities at the Paraside Cove luau was to have a little hula lesson. So we got the girls out there to do it. They had SOOOOOO much fun!!Here are my girls just before sunset..
Here is my youngest's favorite part. The guy who twirls the fire. Not so bad on the eyes too, eh?

Yes, I did take pictures of the girl dancers too........

Aloha!!

Aloha!

Greetings from Hawaii!

We just finished Day 2 of our weeklong adventure on Oahu.

I finally am able to get on the internet after a few glitches, I was going through withdrawls, LOL!!

This is our view from our hotel room. We are on Waikiki Beach.

We went for a walk on Pearl Harbor Naval Base.

As much as we can, we have the top down on our rental car.....

Day 2 took us over to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. It is something that I have always wanted to see. Both hubby and I were very choked up on this entire tour. Because hubby is in the Navy, this is an especially import piece of American History to us.

As you can see, you can see the USS Arizona in the water.

This is the air tower at Hickam Field on Ford Island. This air tower was the one that was hit on the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The tower has remained as it was that fateful day.

Tomorrow we are going to do some more sightseeing and then to a luau.

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!!

Giveaway

Head on over to my friend, Michelle's blog, One Crafty Mama!!

She is having a Giveaway over at her blog from my shop on Tuesday!

You have to go to her blog though to participate!

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

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.

My redhead

*****************This picture was on the front page of Etsy last Friday! :)********************

I was taking pictures of my oldest for my etsy shop, Coronado Orange and then I was playing around in photoshop with them. She loved this picture so much she put it on her
"myspace".

You know how you have that "awkward phase" in junior high? Well, I think she is finally past that stage. Of course it helps tremendously that she has an aunt who spoils her and takes her to one of the best salons to get her hair done too. And then add in the fact that we love to watch America's Next Top Model, and voila!, she loves to pose. :)

Junior high has not always been the funnest place for her, but I'm hoping as we near the last 1/2 of it, she seems to be doing much better there. She is incredibly nervous to start high school next year. I just hope the confidence she seems to be having lately will cross over to help her transition to high school.

Here, where we live, her school is a K-8, where the "junior highers" are separated by the lower grades, however they still are basically all with the same kids.

So come next year she will be integrated with kids who come from all different schools too. While it's nice that they get to stay with their classmates for so long, it's almost like it's putting off that "intergration factor" when you merge with other schools.

Anyway, I just also wanted to show off my oldest today. :)

Roses

This is a closeup of one of the roses hubby gave me for Valentine's Day.

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.

Yummy

Nothing says Southern California like a sno-cone on a warm day in February.

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.....

Ornaments

I belong to an email moms group and we have been together since our kids were babies.

10 years ago we started a yearly tradition of exchanging ornaments. One person each year is in charge of organizing it, picking the names and letting us all know who our "secret santa" is. Then we pick out an ornament (or other decoration) for that person and mail it to them. Then, after a date is picked in December, we all go to a chat room (it used to be AOL, but too many of us were having problems, so we went to chatzy.com this year) and open our presents on that night.

This is one of my favorite things to do each year. Some of the years our chats get so hilarious and funny, we are laughing our butts off and our family is just looking at us like we are so weird!

I am so looking forward to the day when I will have gotten an ornament from every single member of our group and that I have given an ornament to each on of my friends.

We are a special bunch of gals, inasmuch as we all come from different backgrounds, different lifestyles, and different parts of the country. We all came together because our children were born that same year. And now, while we do still talk about our children, our discussions are more about us and our lives and sharing it with each other.

These are the ornaments I got this year. I love them!!

Trying VERY Hard Here.....

4 years ago on December 19th, was probably the worst day in my life. That whole week was probably the worst week in my life.

When my mom died.

Christmas? Yea, not so much fun AT ALL.

But I vowed that I would not let her death ruin future Christmases for me, considering it IS my favorite holiday.

I LOVE decorating the house, both inside and out. I LOVE getting presents for people. I love MAKING presents for people. I love to see the look on their eyes, or hear it in their voice when I get them something that they wanted, or didn't expect or love.

I LOVE the whole month leading up to Christmas. I LOVE baking Christmas goodies. I love getting the Christmas cards out. I LOVE receiving Christmas cards and find out how loved ones are doing and what they did this year. I LOVE waking up Christmas morning and seeing the anticipation on my girls faces for when they can come out and see what Santa brought them.

I LOVE the ornament exchange that my email moms group does at this time and how we almost always end up having a crazy chat conversation on the computer and laughing.

I LOVE going to look at Christmas lights. I love how the house is so warm and toasty during this time (that is when it's not 85 degrees outside).

4 years ago, I couldn't wait for Christmas to be over. Instead of the excitement leading up to Christmas that last week, I was wishing it would be over as soon as possible. Oh, I tried my best to put up the best front I could that morning for my girls, trying to smile and be happy, but it just wasn't there. And it wasn't there for my sister. We were both faced with the wrapped presents that were under the tree for us from our mom. And the presents that were under there from us for our mom. We did get through it, with the help of hubby, who suggested we each other's presents that we had given to mom the night before, that way they wouldn't be sitting there Christmas morning.

This year circumstances are really testing my love for Christmas again.

Last week we had some heavy rains, and not that we haven't had heavier rains prior to this time, but this time we thought we had it all covered. A new roof, new rain gutters, we thought we were set.

Well, apparently the rain gutter guy didn't install the downspout in the proper positioning, because with as much water that came through the one downspout, it has seeped into the oldest's bedroom and totally ruined her carpet.

So the bonus I got for being Employee of the Year? Now has to pay for a new carpet. We have contacted the contractor who installed it and he, so far has said that he is not responsible for it.

He has yet to talk to me though.

I will be calling him in the next couple of days and try to get him to understand that he is responsible and should do the right thing and pay for it, to avoid going to small claims court.

So in the meantime, hubby has pulled up the carpet to get ready for the new carpet. The oldest did a fabulous job emptying her room for that. It's amazing the nooks and crannies I can find in this house to store her "room".

So he pulls up the carpet and what does he find? Linoleum. Linoleum??!! In a bedroom??!!! WTF?! But then we're thinking okay, maybe that's not such a bad thing. It probably protected the slab.

So hubby goes in there (after putting fans and heaters in there to dry it out) and finds the linoleum loose. So he starts pulling up a few of the tiles.

Yes, water under there!

So now he has to pull up the whole floor (carpet tacks around the edges and everything) so we can dry out the slab. Which pushes back the installation of the carpet by quite a few days.

Because you don't want to put new carpet on a damp slab or an seemingly dry slab, you've got to wait until a few days after that.

When did all of this start you ask?

December 18th & 19th.

The same time my mom had her stroke and died, 4 years ago.

So of course it's bringing back all the feelings of dread and doom and despair I had 4 years ago.

I'm fighting like hell to try and keep my spirits up and push forward to have a wonderful Christmas.

I told hubby last night that I don't want to know all the details anymore. Just let me know when the room will be ready for the carpet.

I want to be in denial on this one.

My Teenager

While taking the "calendar" pictures below, I wanted to take a single picture of my oldest in this "theme" (May). This is my absolute favorite one of her that I have taken in a while.

Calendar Pictures

Okay, so I decided to do a calenday for my MIL for Christmas. I wanted to just go through pictures throughout the year and put them on the corresponding month. The eldest wanted to "dress up" for each month and do a "year of pictures" in a day. She was SO excited to do it, so we did the photo shoot today. I thought I'd share with you their "year in pictures" and the theme she wanted to do for each month. I loved her ideas, they were so cute. :)

Here is January......

February........

March........

April..........

May.............

June..............

July...........

August...........

September.....

October..........

November..............

December.............

Latest Project

I don't know why, but everytime around the holidays I get inspired to start new craft projects. I was at Michaels the other day and they had some yarn on sale for ridiculously low prices, so of course I had to buy some. I do have some patterns that I am working on with it. Yesterday in my youngest's class, one of her friends had this hat on that was SO cute. My youngest said she wanted one like that and I told her I could make one. The pattern I had wasn't exactly like it and I do have to tweak it a little bit for the next one, but I did this last night for her so she could wear it to school today. :)

Conjunction, Junction....

.....what's your function?

Yes, I can hear you all singing that song in your head. :)

I now call myself a "Conjuction Mom".

That's because my children don't call me "Mom" anymore.

It's "And Mom!"

Or "But Mom!"

My little one is famous for calling me "And Mom". She does it ALL the time now. It's not, "Mom!", it's "And Mom!" Like she has some conversation going in her head and she wants to continue it out loud to me and I'm adding to it.

The "But Mom!" has been there for a while, and of course that's them disputing something I've said.

I'm now just waiting for the "Or Mom!" phrase to come out of their mouths. I don't know how they'll use it, but I'm sure they'll figure out a way. Maybe the oldest will use it when she's trying to "counter- offer" something to me.

Body Shots

Okay, apparently Body Shots is not just drinking alcohol off of someone's body anymore.

My oldest told me today that there were guys in the bathroom doing "body shots" today. She asked me if I knew what that was. I totally thought I knew what I was talking about when I told her and she was like, "No mom, that couldn't be it, because they were doing it in the boys' bathroom and one guy came out with bruises."

So I just went and looked it up in the Urban Dictionary, and this is what is says for Defintion #6:

"when two or more people, usually males, get together to fight. the fighting is not malicious but usually between two buddies/friends/acquaintances. the only area hit is the body from the waist up and neck down (torso) and arms. hence, the term body shots. plural is the most common use of this noun."

Nice.

So there's your newest lesson (and mine too, apparently) in the teenage drama that's going on.

Sigh......