Have I mentioned...

that I am an ABSOLUTE KOOK for rainbows???

The photo of some cupcakes I made for a friend's birthday recently was requested to be shared on the Edible Rainbow Flickr group...


Well, while I was perusing with technicolor foods I saw this magical Jell-O creation!!!

Another turning point...

Green Day is right....time does grab us by the wrist and directs us where to go. I have a hard time not asking why, but I think that's human. Yesterday was Maggie's last day in elementary school. I'm not sure when schools shifted from 6th grade starting middle school. In my day (uh oh.. did I just really type that like an old fogey?!?!) middle school was 7th and 8th grade.

Do any of you watch Modern Family? If not, you should. I think it's funny for everyone, but most especially if you're a parent. If you've seen the episode where Claire and Phil's middle child, Alex, is graduating 8th grade you'll get this ... totally. Yesterday, Chris walked up to me and gave me a good morning kiss. He stepped back and looked at my now-welled up eyes and said "hey, are you okay?" And I just squeaked out a tiny "yes". Then, with all the humor I could muster I said "Hysterical wife. Hysterical wife. Hysterical wife. Jackpot." ☺ I was welling up because this is the visage I was gazing upon before he walked up to give me that smooch.



This is, of course, in reference to the Modern Family episode "See you Next Fall" where Phil explains Claire is solid, but then falls apart the day after a family milestone and he is left to pick up the pieces. The only problem is... the day after Alex's graduation, he was supposed to go to Vegas with his former male college cheerleader buds. (Insert SNORT LAUGH here) therefore he kept trying to make her fall apart the day of the milestone instead. Heh heh.

I'm happy to say I have been absolutely tear-free today and I even managed to keep it together during yesterday's final 5th grade Survivor party. Yay! I guess I'll have to let you know about tomorrow.......

Life with Flat Stanley

I am missing my friend Flat Stanley. My friend Michelle's youngest son Lewis (8) sent us his Flat Stanley all the way from Balbardie Primary School in Scotland!

For those of you who do not know about Flat Stanley it's a book by Jeff Brown (1964) about a boy who gets flattened by a bulletin board (but doesn't get hurt.. it's a children's story) which allows him to go on great adventures sliding under door cracks and the like. In 1995 the Flat Stanley Project was created by a teacher in Ontario by the name of Dale Hubert. The project encourages letter-writing, literacy and bringing our big world together by having school-aged children around age 8, color and send their Flat Stanley to someone in the world to learn about a new geographic location and community.

Originally the task was designated to our daughter, but the end of school year madness, school play and the like did not seem to lend itself to such an auspicious task. Enter yours truly who does not like to do things by half-measures. Flat Stanley became my shadow and he was tucked away with me at all times for chronicling his adventures. I was sad we didn't get a chance to visit San Francisco and take him to a baseball game, see the Golden Gate bridge or take his photo with other notable landmarks. Seems that our Flat Stanley brought a bit of Scotland's weather and our spring turned back to winter with big rainstorms precluding good photo-ops on his last weekend with us.

I was sad to package everything up and send Flat Stanley back to Scotland. He became part of our family. But all good things must come to an end and Dr. Seuss said "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened". So that is what I will do... look back at our fun times and smile.

Here is a little video tribute I put together of our time with Flat Stanley.

Miles of Smiles

I love driving through town running errands with my co-pilot, Darwin.

Darwin is our Labradoodle ... a big, cocoa colored, curly canine. He's never met a stranger. Well, I should say there are a few individuals for which he took umbrage, but it is very few. He loves to meet new people, push up against their legs and look up over his shoulder to show that he really appreciates the lovin'. We can't walk very long without someone coming up and asking us "what kind of dog is that?" or "may I pet your dog?".

So, too, is the experience while riding in our car. Darwin is a "front seat dog" when he's with either my hubby or I driving alone. If it's the whole family, he's in the back with our daughter hanging out of his respective window. Yesterday I went to the bank for work and asked Darwin if he wanted to go for a ride. Of course, he said yes. Also, my hubby taught him to find and bring us his own collar so he's outfitted for a road trip. How cool is that?! My hubby is awesome and so is Darwin!

I was driving to the bank feeling a bit melancholy because this is the final two weeks of work for me and I won't be doing this anymore. Well, I was lost in my own thoughts at a stop light when I noticed a woman pull up along side me very slowly... she was smiling ear to ear at Darwin with his happy face out of the window soaking up all of the smells rushing into his nose. Just seeing her happy smile lifted my spirits and made my morning brighter. It gives me such joy to see how much joy Darwin imparts on our world with his mere existence and foppish doggy grin. It reminded me of one of my favorite dog quotes by Milan Kundera:

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace."


So I thank my dearest curly son for his ability to bring peace and joy to all in his path and for giving me glimpses of paradise along the way.

Baby Steps

I'm growing up too fast. Wait, not me, my daughter. Today was her first school dance. At our school, the last Middle school dance (school is K-8) welcomes 5th graders as they get ready to enter 6th. This event has been the talk of the year. I have heard this dance discussed, ad nauseum, since August 28th, 2010.

Now the day is finally here. I offered to help chaperone the event and show up 30 minutes before the dance is to start. I had to bring something to M in her class and as I pass the girls and boys bathrooms each are filled with respective 5th grade boys and girls primping for the dance. The bell rings and students are to line up to enter the dance in the Multipurpose Room (MPR). All I can tell you is the area surrounding the kids was absolutely electric. The 5th graders were filled with so much energy. As I survey the crowd, they look as if they will absolutely burst from the anticipation. Also, the air is thick with the precipitate of different Axe cologne scents which settles into the back of my throat.

Once inside, it's dark. The strobe lights and colorful disco lights are going and the music is pumping. Who's got the 8-0-8? LVCS has got it in spades, baby! A 3pm dance doesn't seem as threatening as a dance held at night, but nevertheless as I look around I'm prepared to go Bobby Boucher (aka The Waterboy) on any boy that dares get too cheeky with my M.

I was just hoping there would be no kerfuffle and that no one would cry. SUCCESS! I worked concessions with another parent for a while.... we ran out of sodas about 1 hour into the 2 hour dance. When I replied we only had water, you'd think I had told the kids we only had bottles marked poison. M&M's, Corn Nuts, Skittles... almost all of the inventory was gone by the end of the night. I sort of felt badly for the parents of the kids who had made several trips to the snack bar... sorry for your neon-vibrating sugared up kid! By the way, is it normal for me to still see that strobe light flickering a few hours post dance? ACK!

My M had a GREAT time. A few times I caught glimpses of her up on the speakers dancing in front of the DJ with her friends. Joie de Vivre! She was quite giddy because 3 boys asked her to dance. I am not as giddy, but respect the excitement. It's times like this I miss my mom a lot. Though I dare she might have admonished me for letting M go at all. So, I feel like maybe I'm growing up alright, after all.

Things on my to-do list before the next school dance as I fear the queue of dance partners will only increase henceforth...... continue to build upper body strength and book an appointment the gun range to perfect my dead-eye.

Whooooooooo!

I love my silly and super fun hubby.
I walked into the kitchen to prepare our daughter's lunch as he was preparing her breakfast. ☺

Craft Hope: project 12

I've always enjoyed being crafty and I have a deep love for charity work especially benefiting children. I'm especially soft in the heart for orphans. I lost both my parents when I was young (dad when I was 18 and mom when I was 20). Of course, I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have had a wonderful life with both of them as long as I did. Compared to some of the very young orphaned children in this world, my life was easy.

I saw a TRULY inspirational video yesterday about Maggie Doyne of BlinkNow in Huffington Post's Greatest Person of the Day feature. When she was 18 and college-bound she decided to take one year off and set out in the world to see if she could effect some change. This young lady made me so proud and she's not even MY daughter. Her story touched my heart and I plan to donate to her charity. She's a living, vibrant example about how each one of us has the power to do something amazing in our world and effect real change in our community called Earth. I encourage you to read the story and watch the video if you have a chance. It brought tears to my eyes and put wind in my sails.

When I saw the call for Craft Hope's project 12 both my daughter and I knew we wanted to participate. What girl doesn't love to make a friendship bracelet? It's a small enough project with simple, cost effective materials and easy enough to do anywhere. It's been a great bonding time for my daughter and I. I appreciate how she gets that there is more than just her in this world and that she can do a kindly thing for a stranger in need. I call her my little Bodhisattva.

The deadline for turning in the bracelets is June 15th so we're in the final push to make more, more more!

We have a handful so far which were made with great love and intention.



If you're a crafty sort or want to revisit making friendship bracelets, please consider contributing toward this wonderful outreach project - Craft Hope: project 12.

Blessings

I'm taking my own advice today and counting my blessings. When our daughter can't sleep sometimes I tell her "count your blessings" instead of counting sheep. I do this a lot on a regular basis, but lately I've felt a crushing weight on me. The month of May was wonderful, but peppered with strange and upsetting potholes in the road of life.

A couple weeks ago I returned from a fantastic family trip to Disneyland. A trip there restores my inner child and sense of magic. So I return to work on a Tuesday and have some small talk with my boss who then says "I can't afford to keep you." That was quite a blow to the gut. Business has been dicey due to the economy and effects of the recent quake/tsunami in Japan on a pass-through customer of ours. There had been talk of reducing everyone's salaries a few months prior so I was prepared for that or offering to go part-time, but I wasn't prepared to be the one to be cut loose, not after 8 years of loyalty and experience. I wasn't prepared to know that I would be eventually handing all of my hard work over to a temp who is staying instead of me. Basically I've been experiencing the Kübler-Ross stages at the top and half of every hour, sometimes even within 10 minutes. It's like riding a roller coaster.

I am no stranger to being laid off. I was laid off in 2003 which allowed me to find this job at 35% of my old dotcom salary. It gave me flexibility and freedom to work and nurture our then 3-year old. Eventually, I worked from home which came at a time just as she was entering Kindergarten. Now that she is on the verge of entering middle school I find myself at another impasse. Oddly, I'm having a more concentrated reaction to this layoff than the one in 2003. I'm almost 40 and know that my next work effort needs to nourish my soul as well as our bank account. Call it an existential crisis or "midlife crisis" (ew, wait, let's not), but if I have to work I know it needs to be something I will truly enjoy and that will give back to the community somehow.

So, I find myself noodling, taking any and all suggestions and advice from wonderful friends on my future and trusting that everything happens for the greater good. Still, there are times when I feel as if I'm the lowest common denominator. My boss told me my work is great and that was not his reasoning and I said "I know my work is good", because I do. I'm a hard worker and have been for 8 years totally unsupervised. I'm sure a lot of people would take advantage of a home-gig, but I'm always accountable for myself.

As I noodle about the future, I remind myself to count my blessings. I reflect each day on the things that really matter in life. Here is a partial list:

• The nightly ritual my hubby and I have when we read in bed before falling asleep - foot, calf and back massage.
• My hubby's preternaturally soft feet.
• The way our daughter makes me feel as if I can do anything in the world, successfully.
  
• Snuggling with our daughter.
• How supportive my husband is during this tumultuous time. He is my rock, my True North and makes me feel safe.
  
• The way our dog Darwin rubs himself along the sides of our bed so it feels like a shark is circling us and I get all anxious and giddy thinking he may jump up for a smooch.
• The down-alternative mattress topper we bought a couple weeks ago that gives us a scooshy soft bed because our really nice pillow top mattress is 10 years old and hardened due to being encased in a hermetically sealed anti-dust mite casing. No more waking up with a sore back and hips!
  
• Good friends. The kind that make you laugh, and break bread with and the ones you think are distant, but really shine through with words of wisdom at just the right time.
• The way my hubby gets up in the morning and makes sure my extra blanket is pulled up over me so I don't get cold when he leaves the bed.
• The way Nature always presents me with beautiful glimpses of wonder to remind me I am small, but if I open my heart and mind I will see amazingly incredible things.
• Recently chaperoning a field trip and some school events where I was able to take photos and share with parents that couldn't be there.
  
• Making people laugh or smile.
• How ironically content and safe I feel when our daughter wraps her arms around me to give comfort.
  
• Rainbows. Yes, as a child of the 80's I still love rainbows. I saw one after work the day I found out I was being laid off. I was a Trader Joe's and just finished getting dinner fixings. I saw the rainbow and it made me smile and then I cried because Nature showed me something beautiful to remind me.

I Can't Unsee That

Disneyland is one of my happiest places. Then there's the underbelly of Disneyland... the sallow, gritty and ridiculous. Things that I like to say "cannot be unseen".

I will preface by saying I don't think I'm better than anyone else, but then again, in some cases, I might have better judgement/inner monologue.

With that said here are a few things I saw at Disneyland this past weekend and cannot unsee and which I now share with you. Enjoy!

1. Workin for the man. This handsome canine was sniffing around parked stroller areas around Pirates of the Caribbean. I had to resist the urge to run up and snuggle him, as I was missing our dog Darwin terribly. I guess this is a sign of the times..... made me sad and wistful for the times when my parents took me back in the 1970's and 1980's.





2. You wanna be startin' something? A dad wearing a "pop star" LED light up sequin glove and texting. Though, I have to say .. maybe he was embracing his inner MJ... maybe he was fun. Nope, he was constantly having to yell at his two kids to keep up and had a very serious look on his face. The juxtaposition of the stern dad and whimsical fun glove were at odds. Also, it was kinda funny watching him yell at his son and beckon him with a flashing LED finger "Eddie, get over here!!!" Kinda cool, but didn't stick the landing.


3. Blackfoot tribe. EEEEW! There are so many reasons this is wrong I don't even need to tell you. I know the Land is pressure washed every night, but DANG. Do you even know how many people throw up, dump garbage, kids wipe boogers all over... not even funny. Not only is this eeky.... but look at the bottom of their feet. GROSS! I hope they showered before getting into their beds. BLECH!


4. Mickey Man? I'm all for whimsy... trust me! I'm fine with dressing up for Halloween or special parties, but this was just halfway between crazy and regular that it made me turn my head and snap the shutter. The front of the red shorts (which you cannot see) had big puffy white balls in front. This was just another paradox... normal or dressing up? It made me giggle with glee, but then kinda go "oooh" and wonder should I be worried?




5. Don't jack the Bugaboo. I've never actually seen this before. This man took a wheel of his stroller (not sure if it was a high end one.. my guess is yes as I don't recall our Graco having removable wheels of that caliber, but it WAS 11 years ago.. maybe the kids today have better). He toted this thing onto Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I don't know... I don't trust EVERYONE at Disneyland, but I can't imagine a stroller getting jacked. Maybe he had cause. Again, one of those things that made me sad about the state of the world today.

Shutterbug-mania

Mother's Day is bittersweet for me. I lost my mom in 1992 just a few weeks before turning 21. She did not get to meet her fabulous granddaughter (now 11). In ways my daughter has filled up a part of my heart left vacant by mom's passing.

My wonderful husband has made each Mother's Day absolutely fantastic for me. It's the little niceties that I appreciate.. getting to sleep in, he does the dishes and cooking. It's a really big treat to me.

This year my gift came early.... hubby is just as bad at hiding surprises as I am. It's a struggle each Christmas to wait. Friday night marked the end of a very long and trying week.... work-wise, health-wise (Darwin had some vet stuff and meds as well as girl child - allergy related sinus/chest infection + bronchitis), dropped a 25fl oz glass bottle of vinegar on my big toe (bye bye toenail in time for summer!), and some other glorious bits of life in technicolor. Just like Auntie Mame needed Christmas before Christmas, hubby thought I needed Mother's Day NOW. I opened a long-coveted (3yrs or more) digital SLR camera.

Now... everything and everyone is a photo-target. Darwin looks at me with disdain as I creep closer to him for a photo. I'm certain he thinks I've developed a "growth". Flowers, clouds, food, family, friends. CLICK CLICK CLICK! I can't help it. I was practically born with a camera in my hands. My dad was an amateur photographer with his own darkroom in the basement of his parents house... this is no surprise.

I thank my wonderful hubby for such a wondrous gift as well as his support, love and generosity, my daughter for her sweetness and light and our Darwin for his foppish adorableness and patience.

There will be no cheese served with your whine!

(Thoughts from a Community Center registration line)

Ah summer registration time in our fair city, it's a heady time. Spring break has all but come and gone which means summer is right around the corner and it's time to think about how to keep your little darlings happy and not stuck in front of the boob tube for 10 weeks.

Our city has a fine Parks & Recreation program - Livermore Parks & Recreation Department. LARPD decided to do something different for early bird registration this year. Instead of opening registration on midnight via online (or, I guess, in person?) they held an early bird registration at the Robert Livermore Community Center (RLCC) from 9am - 12-pm today. It's also the same day that Camp Shelly camping registration opens. Hubby and I usually divide and conquer on this day. He goes to register for camping, I drop off Lil Bit at her Junior Ranger program, we meet at registration and then have lunch.

Today we met with a new process (someone had told me it's been attempted before?) which, admittedly, was rather klugy. All of the tables for various programs were around the conference room with one central line for registration. Hubby got in line shortly after 9am and I took over around 9:20am. I stood in line and finished registration at 12:22pm. Yes, 3 hours. Was it the most efficient? No. Was it time I would have preferred doing something else? Yes. Was it time taken out of my day to do something for my child? Yes. Is it easier to stay up until midnight and register my kid at 12:01am? Yes. Hey, guess what? That's being a parent. That's taking one for the team.

All I could hear were complaints about how long it was taking, how stupid the concept was, ad nauseum. I tell you what bugged me most... the older gentleman with the accent behind me who took off his sweatshirt and thwacked me in the head with it.... later he kept bumping into me or hitting me with the sweatshirt (now around his shoulders). I finally turned fast with my patented "Andie bag swing" and "accidentally" bumped him with it... I apologized and motioned with my hands, as well as asked for him to "please give me a little space". I mean, we were going to be in that line for at least 2 hours, I didn't want to marry him. Also, no matter how much you crowd me, we're not getting anywhere faster!!!

The woman behind me started complaining about her aching back 20 minutes into the wait. She kept huffing and puffing and muttering things in the way someone does in order to start a conversation and complain. I kept my nose down in my Kindle. A guy behind her took the bait and I heard her say "normally I'm an honest person, but I feel like I should just run up and cut in line and push someone out of the way". Really, lady? Really?

Keep in mind the doof she was speaking to had just literally reamed LARPD staff a new one because he couldn't bear the wait. Turns out the person he spoke to was the person in charge of setting it up this year. I actually talked to her a bit before I went in, lovely woman. Hey, here's the thing Turkey Tech (I forget what college shirt he had on), nothing ventured nothing gained. Someone had an idea to try to make something better, tried it, it didn't work out great. Remember that time you tried wearing a fanny pack or tried taking a "shortcut" and ended up lost? So, too, many great things are happy accidents. Penicillin, for example. Also, Thomas Edison said I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

It was clear to me by the slight panic stricken look in LARPD-shirted docents eyes that this was not the plan they had in mind. Let's also bear in mind, this is THEIR Saturday too. People don't set out to screw up other people's lives only to be shamed and yelled at in a public place when they can do absolutely nothing about the situation until next year.
Another woman behind me called RLCC front office (literally the next room over) FROM LINE in order to complain. Really?

Here's what I think:

• We live in a city where our Parks Dept offers a pretty amazing variety of classes, camps and the like at reasonable prices. I don't remember these things having grown up in Stockton.
• If you're in line, presumably you have the funds to support your local Parks Department in order to keep your child entertained during summer. Be thankful you have the means to do this.
  
• Registering displeasure at a process is acceptable, but yelling at someone creating a spectacle is NEVER acceptable. This is a fellow human being, after all who wasn't bent on destroying your Saturday morning watching baseball on the tube with your hand down your pants.
  
• How many of the complainers in line have ever been to Disneyland, or waited on line for a pro sports game, or a concert or a theater show????
  

Was I thrilled about standing for 3 hours (1hr 15 minutes of which I KNEW the camp I was signing Lil Bit up for was already full.. so I was waiting in line to get on a waiting list for camp) on a Saturday morning? Notsomuch. Was I content to do such because it was for something my kid would enjoy? Yes.

I had my new BFF Tina Fey with me making me chuckle and guffaw every few sentences (read Bossypants, so funny!) It helped that Chris brought me a water and gave me a bathroom break, but with some social skills anyone can have that. In a queue you have to learn to build rapport with your queue-mates. The lady in front of me needed to get her little kids some snacks. Was I happy to hold her place? Absolutely. We're queue-folk, baby... I got your back.

Here's what I also had with me... perspective. If THIS is the worst experience one could hope for, we should all be so lucky. There are a lot of worse "worses", people!!!!

So here's my perspective - it was worse than a mammogram, but better than a root canal. Maybe it's years of being a long-suffering Cubs fan, but in my opinion..... there's always next year to get things right.

Redevelopment Agencies, the Forty Niners and You

If you ask me I think redevelopment agencies SHOULD be cut right now. In case no one has noticed, the state of California is in a major budget crisis. Governor Brown is slashing non-necessary spending and I, for one, applaud him. That means the precious Forty Niners stadium plans might not receive $40M that was "promised them" to help defray costs building a fancy schmancy new stadium in Santa Clara. (See article)

Never mind that the residents of Santa Clara County voted DOWN subsidizing said stadium with their tax dollars and expect the money to come from the State of California. Never mind that they are all boo-hooing "but it was prooooomised to us BEFORE the budget crisis" and are scurrying to change the verbiage in the plans to make that point blatantly evident. Never mind that currently there is no public transit to said proposed stadium thereby creating MORE traffic and more dependency on fossil fuels. Never mind average people like yours truly can't afford the price tag to an NFL game (or rather don't want to because I have groceries and a mortgage to pay). Never mind the the industry itself is so bloated with money.. why don't the players and owners pay for it?!!?

Never mind that redevelopment money should be going toward the good of ALL California residents specifically our children by way of money toward the schools. If you don't like kids how about improving highway potholes? Who hasn't hit one of those little beauties while motoring down the 580 or 680 and thought their car was going to bottom out? Certainly if we MUST spend our state money on redevelopment, wouldn't it be better if it benefited all of us and not just a handful?

We have, as a society, lost our freaking minds. People moan about health care reform and taxes and the price of gas, but godforbid we don't provide a swank stadium for some overpaid "athletes". Sure you can say "but sports are a way of getting our mind off of the current state of affairs." You might even say that it helps us rally behind something together. Yes, I'm all for a united front and easing the burden of reality and heck, I even watched the Super Bowl this year for the first time in probably two decades. Before you poo-poo me, let me say I grew UP on football. As a child I lived with an AVID ... nay, RABID 49er fan. Not my dad, my mom. She was INSANE. However, I'm pretty sure even she (a staunch Republican) would be taking the same stance as I am were she still alive. Hey.. if The Stick was good enough for Joe Montana, why not for David Carr? At least Joe gave the Niners 4 Super Bowl wins and took them to 11 Championships. Just sayin'....

I hope Governor Brown doesn't give in and I'm sure if we good people of California can't cough up the $40M.. they'll find a way to fund it. I hope for the sake of propriety the whole project is put of indefinitely. What's wrong with what they currently have?

If you're still thinking of yelling at me for being un-American and anti-football (neither of which I am), allow me to put it to you like this.....

Let's say you're at the grocery store and you're in the check out line behind someone paying for their groceries with WIC food stamps. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with someone getting help when they are down. However, say later in the week you saw that same person at the mall buying expensive makeup at the MAC counter. Flash forward another week and you see them getting a mani/pedi WITH the spa treatment and nail decorations! How about later you see them getting an expensive haircut/color? I bet by now you'd be pretty upset wouldn't you? How could they afford all of that unnecessary and expensive cosmetic crap when WE are paying for those food stamps!?!?
Exactly.

Creativity!

I've been working little at a time on a new blanket for Maggie. I've interspersed it with some socks, a knit along hat with friends and my Rainy Day Fingerless Gloves.

The blanket is to replace her original "Mommy Blanket" aka MB which was somehow gotten to and destroyed by the neighborhood kids during play :o(

Rather than recreate the old one from a pattern I purchased, I decided to create a unique pattern just for Maggie so it's 100% Mommy created.

Oh yes, when I was sick this past weekend I got creative in my beady way and made some earrings. I know, I know... I just really have a hard time "sitting still". :o)

Atta boy!

I think it's fair to say that this time around as dog owners we're more confident and competent. Not only that but I think our boy Darwin is exceptionally bright. I think President Obama and family would enjoy a labradoodle!

Anyhoo, Chris has been working on newspaper retrieval and Darwin's been doing quite well for a couple of weeks. Here's our boy looking rather proud methinks!

Obamacupcakes!

Per my previous post, here is our version of the Obamacupcakes!
Thanks again to Vanessa and Alpha+Mom!

Wow.. for more ode to Obama-cupcakes.. check this blog out!

Inauguration Day

I have a feeling of profound patriotic pride today. So much so, that I proudly put our flag out.

It is a historical day in many ways. Maggie wanted to stay home from school to watch Barack Obama be sworn in as the 44th President. Thankfully her teacher put the broadcast on in class - yay!

I have alot of hope for the future and as I work I can see the flag billowing in the wind outside of my office and I smile.



Later, I will bake cupcakes and decorate them for today's occasion thanks to the idea of my friend Vanessa who is a super blogophile and always finds the neatest things!

Caveat Emptor!!!!

I usually vote with my feet. If I don't like service or product I won't go back. After alll, we work hard for our money. We don't have a magic money tree growing in our backyard (as much as I wish I did).

This is the first time in my life where I've had such poor service, lack of goods. apparent apathy and obfuscation from a company I feel compelled to warn others.
DO NOT SHOP AT SAHALIE!

Chris ordered my Christmas pressies from them on December 12th. He got one smaller item but not until after Christmas. As for the other two... one was "staged for shipping" from December 26th until January 7th when it finally shipped. We are still waiting for USPS to deliver. Did I mention their shipping fees were userous? The last item has been "on the docks" for about two weeks now with no promise of ship date. He called Monday the 12th and asked it be shipped overnight immediately. They said they would.

Thursday the 15th he called and it was still "staged" and no shipping info. Additionally they kept telling Chris they don't have a way to track a package. WHAT?!? When he finally spoke to a manager they said they weren't sure it was even in stock anymore since it had gone on sale since the order over a month ago. Apparently a call to the warehouse to see if something is in stock is sort of a difficult task for a company that sells goods and ships "since 1972". The sad thing is the amount of apathy and lack of motivation the customer service people had toward us. No one was willing to think outside of the box or take it upon themselves to research further. They simply said "sorry that's the way it is".

The other thing they told him was that they were overwhelmed this holiday season and caught off guard. I'm sorry but in this economy a smallish company should be GRATEFUL for the business and be prepared to serve their customers at 110%.


My poor hubby was fraught my Christmas pressie was not only late but apparently never shipping. I told him to cancel it because it was not worth this daily aggravation. So there it is. Sahalie stinks. If you like anything in Sahalie, simply look it up because I found other items on other sites. BTW, he ordered my replacement gift last night and this morning got a shipment notification. How hard is that?



So if you value your dollar, want good products at decent prices without being gouged on shipping (not that you'll ever GET the item anyway) then DO NOT SHOP AT SAHALIE.

Happy New Year!

Well, I've let quite a while pass between postings. Let's see a bit has happened. My 37th birthday, Christmas, New Year's, we got a new puppy!

So let's focus on the furry one. It all happened so fast one November afternoon. One minute we were walking past a neighbors house and their German Boxer was outside and I admired her mentioning a dog would be great save for my horrible newly developed dog allergies. The dad mentioned a friend of his is severely allergic to dogs and has labradoodles.

Next thing you know I'm on Google searching labradoodles and found a bunch of sites, but was drawn to one in particular, Brasken Kennels. We weren't actually thinking about a new puppy until Spring of 2009, but Kristen and Brandon happened to have one puppy left from a recent litter. So in an effort to ascertain if we were truly going to have no allergy problems, we planned a visit down there to play and get a sniff test.

Kristen and Brandon were just the nicest folks. Right away you can tell they are "good people" and care about their pups and the parents. We got to play with a pup from their very first litter, Jack and he was our litmus test. I got in there and took a big whiff into the nape of his neck and I made sure to touch my eyes and nose without washing my hands just to see if I'd have a reaction. To our happy surprise neither Maggie or I had a problem! That's when we met him.... Orange Collar Boy.

Let me just say there is truly nothing cuter than seeing 6 week old puppies bounding toward you in their clumsy roly poly way. Orange wasn't as overtly friendly as a few... he wasn't the alpha but he wasn't a pushover either. He played with us for a while and when it was time for us to go, he waddled over to the fence to give us a sniff goodbye when none of the other puppies had. Ahhhhh true love had smote us!

Well, two weeks later we left Disneyland.. one of the first times I've ever seen Maggie EAGER to leave Disneyland and head home.... all because we were on our way back up to get our pup whom we lovingly named Darwin.

Darwin has given us alot of joy and we're so excited to be dog owners once more. It's a blast having a puppy and watching him grow and grow. Add to that Chris and I have dicussed (though not definitively yet) that a sibling for Darwin might be a good idea down the road. Never say never!

Here are a few photos of our Darwin.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

One of the best reads ever! This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to everyone .. especially if you are a dog owner. It's touching, funny and poignant.

Mr. Charles Alexander

This man moved me to tears. This is what it's all about.