Car Shopping

Today Ray and I went looking at cars.  I loathe going to car dealerships.  I hate car salesmen.  And yes, salesmen.  I did not see one saleswoman today.  For the most part it wasn’t so bad.  Ray pretty much fends them off really well, except for two places.  One was a Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge dealership and every single employee there accosted us at some point.  The other was a Toyota dealership.  One sales guy followed us around for about 5 minutes while we studiously ignored him.  When he finally left us alone another one came out and proceeded to drive me nuts with his fake laugh.  Ugh.

But I did find some fun stuff to look at.  Forgive the pictures as they were taken with the phone.

I can’t remember where this was.  Honda or Toyota.  But apparently, they have lots of #1 priorities.  How is that possible?

What’s Emma checking out there??  (With my finger in the way)

Oh!  It’s a teeny frog!  The teeny frog almost jumped right on me in his panic to get away from us at first.

 

And lest we forget the all important purchase of the night …

Glee messenger bag at the Borders that’s closing!  30% off and it was the last one.  Yipee!  Car shopping is great!

Oh, No

I just read this article on /Film about Josh Hutcherson wanting to play Peeta in the Hunger Games.  At first I thought, oh yes that would be great.  Better than Alex Pettyfer who (let’s face it people) might be a pretty face but is pretty limited in his acting ability.  And not to mention seriously over exposed already.  Oh yeah, and like 100 years older than Peeta (though so is Jennifer Lawrence who will probably play Katniss).

But then I actually looked at Josh Hutcherson and realized he’s the idiot best friend in Cirque du Freak.  Oh, no no no no no no.  Please, 100 times no.  He’s a cute kid and all but he is not Peeta.  I cannot get behind this. 

Project 365, Week 10

I did not have the heart to get into photography this week.  I was so sick & miserable I just snapped pictures whenever it came into mind.  There wasn’t really much thought put into any of these early in the week!  Hopefully next week will be better!

 3.7.11 - I took a picture of this same plant on our night walk and I still don't know what it is!

3.8.11 – Emma drew me pictures to make me feel better.  Sweet girl!  This is her happy sunrise.

3.9.11 – I would say that being sick makes me want to dress weird, but really I wear these socks all the time.

3.10.11 – They should really come up with a reason why we should be able to buy chocolate eggs filled with sugary goodness year round.  But since they don’t, Easter is my favorite candy holiday!

3.11.11 – Last day of Ballet class.  Emma’s with her two favorite classmates, Sofia & Autumn.

3.12.11 – Set up the futon bed in Ray’s office and immediately afterwards Emma and Ray had to lay down and test it out for comfy-ness.

3.13.11 – Caught this little guy on one of my mom’s freesia’s.  Who can blame him for hanging out here?  They smell so wonderful!

Let’s Talk About TV

I watch entirely too much of it.  But in a weird way.  See I get distracted by books so I generally will put off watching TV until the number of shows on our DVR reaches almost triple digits or I get sick.  For some reason I don’t like to read when I’m sick.  It’s like there is too much effort in holding a book up.  Much easier to lay there staring mindlessly at the TV.  Since I’ve been miserably sick this week I’ve just banged out some TV and I am now only a week behind on my shows.

Let’s discuss what I watch, shall we?

1. Being Human
2. Bones
3. Blue Bloods
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Perfect Couples
6. Traffic Light
7. CSI
8. CSI: NY
9. Castle
10. The Mentalist
11. Top Chef
12. Private Practice
13. Raising Hope
14. Modern Family
15. The Office
16. 30 Rock
17. Shameless
18. The Big Bang Theory
19. The Defenders
20. The Ricky Gervais Show
21. The Vampire Diaries
22. Criminal Minds
23. True Blood
24. Gossip Girl
25. Project Runway
26. Glee
27. Lie To Me
28. Mr. Sunshine
29. Parenthood
30. The Walking Dead
31. Fringe
32. Nurse Jackie
33. Haven
34. Warehouse 13

That’s a lot of shows.  Granted, some of them aren’t on right now and some of them will probably get cancelled this season, but that’s what I watch.  What’s worse is that I’m about a season and a half behind on both Castle & Gossip Girl.  Ugh.  Everytime I think about maybe watching a new show I remember that I hardly watch these ones!

If I were to whittle away at this list and watch only the ones I could not live without … it would be:

1. Bones
2. Criminal Minds
3. Shameless
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Modern Family
6. Glee
7. Top Chef

But really, I’m not going to do that.  I figure I’ll catch up during the summer when there’s not much else on.  Though, I’ve got a lot of book reading planned so who knows?

What’s your favorite TV show?  Anyone out there watch more than I do??

Goodbye

My grandmother passed away this morning.  She was almost 93 years old.  She’d been sick for some time now and we went up to see her just a couple of weeks ago.  I am grateful that Emma knew her ‘Amo’ Grandma and I hope, despite how young she is she remembers her when she gets older.

I have the best memories of my grandparents’ house, running around like wild things, playing in the ‘forest’, watching out for the black widows my Dad assured us were around somewhere.  One of my favorite memories of my grandparents was them taking us to this little pond to go fishing.  Grandma was the coolest because she didn’t think it was gross to hook a worm.  She did it the best.

Grandma & Grandpa at their wedding.  October 18, 1942.

I love you Grandma.  I hope you are resting peacefully with Grandpa now.  Sweet dreams.

Let’s See How This Goes

A week or so ago my Notie Natalie tagged me in this 7 facts bloggie thing.  I’ve told y’all about Natalie before.  She has the greatest blog name ever – My Blog is Boring and it’s completely not boring.  If you haven’t checked her out you should.  You can also check out her featured post on FTLOB.  So I decided to do it because it’s a … wait for it … list!  *squee*

 

The Rules:

1.  Copy the 7 Facts picture (above - the one with the sunflowers) and paste it in your blog.

2.  Thank the person who tagged you.  Share the bloggy love and link back to their blog.

3.  Share 7 Facts about yourself.

4.  Pass the love to 15 other bloggers.

Here goes!

 

1. I have no marketable skills.  Mostly I was a really good waitress.  I could handle any number of tables you threw at me, all at once or in spurts.  Seriously.  A lot of tables.  And I made really good money, was hardly ever stiffed.  Which is really surprising because I was not a smiley, cheery waitress.  Especially when it came to cocktail hour.  Then I was just a bitch and people ate it up and tipped me even more.  I fell into a corporate job when I decided I needed to grow up and get out of the restaurant business before I died of alcohol poisoning (no that isn’t an exaggeration).  There really is no way in hell I’ll be able to repeat that ‘getting a corporate job’ business. 

 

2. I really miss waiting tables sometimes.  Mostly, I miss the people I got to know when I was waiting tables at The Brit.  I had some of the best times there, both on and off work.  The greatest people came in there when I worked there.  I had the best regulars who after awhile I didn’t even call them ‘regulars’ they were just my friends.

 

3. I used to dance Hawaiian, Tahitian & Polynesian.  I have some trophies and ribbons from competitions.  My sister and I would go to our lessons at ‘Auntie Gerry’s’ house in this little enclosed patio she had.  She taught us a lot and she was fantastic.  I don’t remember why I stopped, but sometimes I think I should start up again.  Then I remember the costumes and my giant belly and think it’s best not to subject people to that horror.

 

4. I was a Girl Scout from 1st grade all the way though to my senior year in high school.  Then I was a girl scout leader for a couple of years afterwards.  I LOVED Girl Scouts, still do.  I think Girl Scouts had a huge reason why I am the person I am today.  I’m hoping Emma will love it as much as I did.

 

5. I love me some video games.  I haven’t played them very much recently because I’ve been reading so much, but I love ‘em.  Especially Mario and Zelda or hack and slash games.  Games like Halo and Call of Duty stress me out too much.  I’m always afraid of walking around a corner & getting shot or someone sneaking up behind me.  Plus I suck at controlling my characters in those games.  Too many things to do.

 

6. I still have my ‘blankie’ and sleep with it every night!  

 

7. I love to go camping, but haven’t been in years.  Years and years.  I have the greatest memories of camping with Girl Scouts, with friends and family.  I love camping food, sleeping on the ground, the smell of the campfire, I love everything about it.  Well, except maybe porta-potties.

 

So there it is people!  And here’s the bloggers I’m tagging!  Just 10 for me!

 

1. confessions of a book whore

2. the only slightly-cranky waitress

3. hyperbole and a half

4. it’s just …. whatever ….

5. jamie’s bookshelf 

6. my kids make me laugh …

7. the blunt truth

8. the lab

9. the meanest mom

10. today is a gift

Why My Husband is Rad

Did anyone know that registering for Kindergarten was such a pain the ass?  You should have told me.  Really, that was rude of you.

Maybe it's just in our area.  Apparently, the elementary school that we live .5 miles away from is the most coveted of public elementary schools around so people will drive their kids in from other districts, lie, cheat and steal in order to get their kid a spot here.

You would think that living .5 miles it would be no big deal for us to get Emma registered.  You would be wrong.  First, I have to navigate the packet of paperwork I have to fill out and have ready and waiting on registration day.  Then on Tuesday night I have to camp out at the school to be at least one of 80 people ready at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning to get a date and time stamp for registration.  Yes, I will be spending the night in front of the school.  To register.  For Kindergarten. 

Our first and hopefully only hiccup was proof of a negative TB test.  When Emma had her 4 year check up the doctor told us that we could do the TB test then and it would be good for her kindergarten registration.  We got it done in June and they require a TB test 18 months before entering school.  June 2010 to August 2011 = 14 months < 18 months, right?  I thought so.

Thanks to JeNae's suggestion I went in to the school office today with all my paperwork to make sure everything was in order.  I was informed everything was great except the TB test.  The TB test needed to be done within 6 months.  The secretary then paraphrased the paperwork for me in a way that completely got me thinking I was an idiot and couldn't read because I swore I had read over that form 8 times to make sure I had all my stuff ready.

For those of you in the know, for about the entire month of February Emma was fighting an infection and it sucked.  She was on antibiotics for 20 out of the 28 days of February and halfway through that she had to get a booster shot of antibiotics to try to get rid of the infection.  The shot is very painful and is mixed with kind of a numbing agent because it is so painful.  Emma HATED it and ever since then has been super afraid of needles.  We had to get a flu shot this last week and that sucked big time.  The idea of taking Emma in to get another TB test just about had me in tears.

But that's not really the worst part.  This is the worst:  Emma is standing by the counter with me, not really paying attention.  The school nurse checks over the immunizations and asks about the TB shot.  The secretary says 'she's going to get another one.'  The nurse says, okay and leans down to Emma and says 'You're going to have a long needle do a long poke and make a little bubble in your arm.  It's not so bad!'  Instantly, Emma is hysterical with tears.  I said to the nurse, 'Could you please not do that?!  She's really afraid of needles!'

I swear, I wanted to do physical harm to this woman.  Why would you say that to a 4 year old child?!  There are adults who don't want to hear they have to get a long needle poked into their arm!  I was in disbelief.  But I knew Emma was going to go to this school and I didn't want her forever remembered as the kid whose mom killed the school nurse.  I think that would probably go on her permanent record.

So I took 15 minutes to console her and get her off to preschool where she finally stopped crying, but I could see she was completely stressed about the shot.  When I got home I checked the paperwork again and this is what it says:

• 'Also, Santa Clara County requires that all new Kindergarten students have documentation of a TB test given no more than 18 months before entering school. (All other students coming from out of Santa Clara County) must show proof of a TB test no more than 6 months before entering the district.

That is exactly how it is typed out, boldface and all.  Emma has never lived anywhere outside of Santa Clara County.  So she should qualify as an 18 monther.  I gathered the paperwork again and asked Ray to go over to the school and please try to fix this.

Basically what they tell him is that the test must be taken within 18 months of entering a mandatory grade level and since Kindergarten is considered optional it doesn't count so it must be within 18 months of her entering 1st grade.  What????  That doesn't even make sense!  And that is NOT what it says on the paperwork.  They say that the paperwork comes from the district so they themselves don't have any say in how things should be worded.  Ray tells them that he wants confirmation from the district that Emma has to get another TB shot.  If she does, not problem we'll go get it, but if she doesn't then we're not going to get her poked unnecessarily.  About an hour later the school calls and leaves a message on his voicemail telling him that Emma's TB shot is fine and we don't need to get another one.  He saved the voicemail.

And that, my friends, is why my husband is rad.