Back In Action...

Kind of. I am back from my Disneyland trip and am back to work, when I came back I was sick so now I am about all the way better and it's really nice. I will post some pics and update further when I get a chance.

Much Love,
~M

Something To Look Forward To...

Yay! Finally, it took long enough for there to be something to watch on TV! I have my Tivo all set up for this coming season. Since I'm working mostly at nights during the week I have to make sure all my favorite shows are being recorded. Thank god I will be home tonight to watch Desperate Housewives. I am looking forward to seeing how things have come along 5 years later and all :)

This is another one that I really got into that I am looking forward to watching tonight. It came on last week but Mr. Tivo is my little friend and I get to do laundry tonight and watch what happened! Happy happy!

there is some conflict with tonight so I have to Tivo Amazing Race so that Cisco can watch it with me. I am still wanting to be on this show...soon. I think that I will apply next season! I have to find someone to go with, I don't think Cisco would be able to.
I can't wait to see this tonight too!

got a couple of others that I like, like Survivor! I don't know why they are so fun to watch but they are. I think the only thing I hate about Survivor is what they do on one of the last shows, where they take the torch of the players that were thrown off and put them to rest...WHATEVER!!! Other than that, I like that show a lot!


There is also Saturday Night Live, especially since we have these joker nominees for the presidential race, it's pretty funny.

Well as you can see I don't have much else to blog about!

It's just a wonderful time of year! There is so much to look forward to, at least when it comes to watching TV!

Are You Serious...

The only reason why I ask this is because I always thought of women being more considerate of other people and clearly more tidy. This thought went completely out the window last night while I was working. Now, considering where I work I thought that people would be far better at picking up after themselves, but I was wrong. I worked in women's clothing last night where they have the evening dresses and women's suits, working in this area means that you have to keep tabs on the fitting rooms as well as the sales floor and tending to customers. I didn't think that this would be that big of a deal because I had done it the week before in men's clothing and it was easy, walk in check the dressing room and then sign my name. Piece of cake!

Now the under world of women's dressing rooms is a far different can of worms. I personally am very considerate when I go into a fitting room, I hang up my clothes when I am done and if there is somewhere to put them I place them there. The women that I dealt with last night are under the impression that since I work there and I am getting paid to put clothes away and adhere to their every whim they think that it is ok to leave clothes piled in knots on the fitting room floor, strewn over doors and left hanging by one string. Now I just know there there are some of you out there that are thinking, well it is your job to put the clothes away and make sure the fitting room is kept nice and clean. Yes, it is, but there is also something called common courtesy. When I use the restrooms at work I don't forget to flush the toilet and throw my paper towels on the floor just because I know that there is someone that will come and do it if I don't (and there are people that do this too, I've been unlucky enough to witness it). The least you can do is hang the clothes back on the hanger, hell I'll zip it up and button it, but I shouldn't have to untangle it, figure out where the hanger could have possibly gone all while you are asking me for another size. I just think that is plain wrong. It's pretty bad when men are better at the fitting room game then women. I thought for sure that would be far worse.

It just makes me wonder if they do that s*** at home. Do you leave your clothes in a knotted up mess laying in a pile on the floor? If something falls off the hanger when you are going through your clothes do you just leave it in a pile at the bottom of your closet? The answer is probably not, so why would you do it when you go out to other places. Just because you are somewhere other than home doesn't mean that you should forget about your manners. Now I know there there are some people out there men and women that have no concept of other people in the world and they could care less and that is fine, I can spot those people from a mile away and I deliberately do not help them because I know that they will be very rude and thoughtless throughout the whole process, there for making it not worth my while at all with the exception of leaving me frustrated and pissed off. Now, the ones that surprise me are the ones that are very polite and are a joy to help, then they screw you in the end. I spent an hour helping someone find the perfect dress last night, right fit and everything. When I finished trying to help her, she decided at the register that she didn't want to get the dress and that she would try Sears and then when I went back into her dressing room she left all of the dresses in a pile turned inside out and thrown everywhere. I swear if I could have found her I would have killed her with a hanger.

So please next time you go to the mall or a store, even a Target. Remember to be nice. Like the old video store slogan..."Be Kind Rewind". It's not that you have to do these things, it's just nice sometimes to do something for someone else.

~M

"I Am Not Going To Disneyland In October..."

Cisco wrote this and made me sign it but this of course was right after my mom and I went in October last year, and it was the second trip within a four month period so I was not exactly excited about going with my mom this year. Well when I told my mom that I wasn't going she said that she would take her friend with her. I definitely thought that she would not go at all because she wasn't taking me with her. Well a few months later she told me that she was going to take my brother's girlfriend. At this point I didn't really know her and I was just pissed that of all the people she could have taken that it would be her. I mean I hadn't even met the girl yet and my mom was instant best friends with her...please. Well I have gotten to know her since then and I just love her. She is the best thing that has happened to my brother and we love Disneyland like crazy so it's just a match in heaven. We do have a lot of fun together when we are together so that is good. I just love spending time with her, and I think that by her going my mom may calm down on feeling the need to talk excessively. I was really bummed at the thought that now that I wanted to go I couldn't because of school and now work, but since school is a no go for right now it was just going to be tricky to get the time off of the new job. Well I asked for time off from my new job so that I can go and actually got it, so now it's official I am going to Disneyland in October.

The bet was that I wouldn't go, I can't remember if Cisco and I actually bet anything on it, but my mom keeps reminding me that if I were to go he would pay for the ticket, she said that since she was a witness he can't go back on it...ha ha right? Yeah, well I don't really expect him to pay for the ticket, but if he wanted to give me some money to buy some Pooh crap while I'm there that would be ok too! So yes, I am going even though I signed the napkin saying I wouldn't. I know that the napkin is long gone, but since Cisco knew that I would destroy it he took a picture of it, I thought that I had erased it, apparently not. Damn those digital cameras...what ever happened to the 110 rolls that took years to develop!

~M

TMI...TMI...TMI...

Beware...Too Much Information can be dangerous.

I swear that is how I feel about one of my new co-workers. I guess there is someone like this in every establishment because I remember at Mandalay Bay there was someone like this as well. Wanting to share way too information about themselves. Let's call her A, well A decided to tell me all about her boyfriend today. Now let's keep in mind that I have never worked with this girl before. I guess it may be good that people feel so comforatable around me but I think that I would rather her not feel the need to tell me that she has sex with her well endowed boyfriend everyday and how good he is. She also felt the need to ask me how my sex life was. Now let's remember that when she was telling me this we were on the selling floor. I was surprised that my mouth didn't drop open. I just couldn't believe that she would feel the need to share this information with me. She also is such a lady. She thought it would be a good idea to burp quite loudly while a customer was walking by. Another girl we work with M said that she also farts in a customer's presence. How nice. I thought that my night of TMI would be over at the end of the night, but about 10 minutes before closing she wanted to air her frustration about having to still be there and the store not closing yet, since she wanted to go home and have sex and get something to eat. Gee aren't I stupid I keep forgetting that they fall into the same catagory! It's been a long time since I have had things to write about concerning work and I always get a kick out of other people's work stories. I have ever since I was little because my dad used to come home and tell me all of his, I never met these people but I knew who they were just by the stories he came home with everyday. I guess now I have my own to tell...again.

~M

Has It Really Been That Long...

Wow, nearly a month since I have been on here. That's hard to believe! That's quite a dry spell isn't it. Sorry to all of my loyal fans out there. It's been pretty busy around here, with school starting and me having a second job and all. Culinary School is unfortunately being put on hold for right now. I had to put my priorities together and sadly that doesn't include school right now. I was cut down to 3 day's a week at my little office job, so I decided that it would be a good idea to get a second job. I thought that it would be funny to add that into the mix. It's definatley a change of pace and I can honestly say that my feet have been killing me ever since I started this job. I am just so not used to being on my feet for three hours straight let alone 8 hours. This job is great because you even get lunch...however you have to clock out for it. It's ok, it's better than nothing right? It's funny because my uncle has been waiting for calls from the union hall for him to take some work, and it's been really slow there as well. So he's been taking unemployment and hoping that they call him for more that a one day job. He told me that instead of working his ass off for eight hours he would rather not work that one day and take unemployment. I couldn't do that. So when I told him that I was working two jobs and that I didn't have a day off from both on the same day, that if I was off at one I was working at the other he was telling me how depressing that would be. I continued to tell him that I didn't have much of a choice...but it took everything in me to not say, "Don't you think it's more depressing not having a job at all?" I swear I wonder why people don't think about what they say sometimes. I know that some people just can't see the glass as half full but, wouldn't you rather have two part time jobs, regardless of the day's off than to not have any job at all? Oh, well we have all lost hope on this particular family member years ago, so it's just best to keep our mouths shut and avoid confrontation, just hope for the best and be thankful that we are not where he is in his life.

So as I continue my little post before beddy bye and another long day tomorrow, I bid thee fair well and hope that it doesn't take another month for me to write.

~M

Along With The Olympics...Comes the Ridiculous...

Ok, please somebody tell me that this is all a joke and at the end of this year's summer Olympics they will say "April Fools" or something to that extent. I am not an avid Olympic watcher, I sit to some of the events, like swimming and gymnastics. But to sit there and watch a soccer game, no. Or to watch ping pong, uh no. The other morning when Cisco and I were sitting down and drinking our coffee and in an attempt to find some thing interesting on at 7am, which is impossible by the way unless you enjoy infomercials, we came across some of the Olympics...PLAYING BADMINTON. WTF...since when is playing birdie something that you could get a medal at! I think that anything that you could play at a family picnic should not be up for Olympic status. Personally if that is the way things are then they should have marbles or thumb war as an Olympic game. I don't know it's just ridiculous. I also found out that speed walking is in there too, give me a break. In this event they should have all the middle aged women in my neighborhood walking there dogs to see who comes in first, it shouldn't be some 20 year old. I just think that it was better when it was swimming, gymnastics, track and field and the other obvious choices. Maybe that is why I don't get into the Olympics that much anymore, because it's just getting silly now.

~M

Don't Hate Me Cause I'm Marvelous!

There is the title of my memoir, I can't help it if I am :)

I thought that it was a clever little game and since I was tagged to do it, I thought that I would participate!

Here's how you play...Make up your own 6 word memoir title.

1. Write the title to your memoir using 6 words.

2. Post it on your blog.

3. Link the person who tagged you...Yamell :)

4. Tag 5 more blogs.

Uh, let me see who I can think of...

Cisco

Summer

Rusty

Jenny

Sugarcookies

I think that might work. :)

Have Fun...:)

~M

A Dream Materializing...

So I don't think that it is a huge secret that I love baking. It is also no secret that I have been told by several people that I should open my own bakery. So the desire to do this has been getting greater and greater. I was registered to start school at CSN next month and figured while I was doing that I would look into Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School. Well while I was there I started the application process and am now registered there for this fall and will graduate from there in 2009. It is a nine month class, but very intensive. Considering I will be there for 5 hours every night of the week, but I think that I will finally be happy at work, since I will enjoy doing things that interest me. I think that I will eventually have my own business but I will take that step slow, I still have some ways to go with the training and technical parts of things, but it's all very exciting!

I can't wait!

~M

Catching Up On Things...

So I guess that today would be a good time to catch everyone up on the happenings of Miss M., and my mom is doing just fine by the way. So Ciso and I went to California for a whole week! I was so excited, I can't remember the last time I was gone from this bloody state for a complete week. So I guess I will do a semi-play by play. The first picture that I put up was from our tasting at Gloria Ferrer. I'll write more about that later though. I think I will write about the first place that we stayed at, which I wrote about on the first day. The Langham Pasadena.From what Cisco was telling me this place used to be a Ritz Carlton. It was so nice, I did not want to leave, but the second day we headed up North towards San Francisco. We drove along the PCH and I could have sworn that I asked Cisco if this was a straight road and not really curvy. I also was under the impression that he confirmed that yes, the road was in fact straight. No, it wasn't. It was all curvy and pukey. It was a beautiful drive, I do wish that I could have enjoyed it more. I really enjoyed when we stopped to go to the bathroom or to eat, or to just get gas. That was the high light of the PCH for me. Anytime that we got to stop. :) So along one of the stops we were at a beach and saw a ton of Elephant Seals.I could not believe how many of them there were. Some of them were fighting, some of them were swimming in the water which I thought was really neat. They were just jumping around in the water and swimming around with eachother. It was so cold outside. I could not believe how cold it was, I did not pack for this trip. I packed shorts and t-shirts. I thought for sure that it was going to be hot, hello, it's California. I thought that it might get chilly once we got to San Francisco but not until then. Boy was I wrong. Cisco was so cold here. I had my jacket on so I was ok. This little piece of beach didn't have anyone on it. It was windy and freezing. We walked down there and Cisco had shorts and his little thin t-shirt on, so when I wanted to keep taking pictures he told me to hurry because of how cold he was. I did not think that I would get any good pictures, but I got this really good one of him and a couple of black and whites. After this it was back on the road again. I swear all that day we just drove, which was great, because I love driving, minus the curvy roads. I guess it was good that we went that way though, because we would have never seen half of the things that we did if we didn't go that way.The next stop after going through Carmel was Half Moon Bay. I thought that this place was going to be more built up and touristy than it actually was. I had yet another surprise waiting for me there, Cisco made reservations at the Ritz there also. It was so beautiful. I wanted to stay there for the rest of the weekend. I had no interest in going to Mammoth after that stay.This place had a giant fire pit and it overlooked the ocean. I think it stayed light out a little while until about 9pm, which surprised me. I just loved that place and wished that we had more time so that we could walk around and look at the grounds more and possibly go for a walk on the beach. I wouldn't mind going back for the whole weekend again sometime.San Francisco here we come! Too bad that we couldn't go into the city and hang out for a while. I love walking around San Francisco, we went to breakfast and then headed out from there. I was one happy camper that morning. It was going to be straight highway from there. But, after breakfast I was a gonner. I think I slept for most of the drive to Sonoma though. When we got to the hotel in Sonoma it was so hot when we got out of the car. Such a shock to what we have been feeling when getting out of the car for the past two days. It made me happy that I was wearing a t-shirt. Not that I had anything else to wear. We went into the hotel to check in, change and then hit the vinyards. We didn't get there in time for the tour which was a total bummer, because I wanted to go through the caves so badly. But we did a tasting, which wasn't even really a tasting, we pretty much just bought a glass of Sparkling Wine and sat on the balcony and drank it. It was nice though, it was a beautiful view from that balcony.So that was a good start to a some what short tasting day. The next place that we went to was Gundlach Bundschu.I think that this winery had some great wines. We bought a couple of bottles before we left. I cannot believe how hot it was there. I was definatly needing some water while we were doing these wine tastings. It was nice to just drive around and enjoy the scenery and enjoy the wine and enjoy eachother. This was so great because it was time alone doing something that we both enjoy. So this day was so exciting for me, because it just showed me what was to come on this trip. The next place and the last for the day was Matanzas Creek WineryCisco was telling me that Matanzas is a word meaning massacre so he was interested to find out what the story was behind that. If I remember correctly the guy that was giving us our tasting was saying that it is because they used to kill animals here, the natives that lived on the land a long time ago. I think Cisco thought that they were killing people or something. This was a beautiful winery. It had tons of Lavender all over the place growing, inside of the winery they sold lavender and soaps and shampoo's that were made with the lavender that grows on that property. I thought that it was really neat. Since the winery's close around 4 or 5pm that was the last one that we visited that day. There wasn't much to do where we stayed, I think that night we tried to go to a movie, but the guy that told me where to go was totally wrong and instead we went back to the hotel, which was fine with me. It had been a long day. The next day we woke up early and headed out to Napa Valley. We ate breakfast and then tried to go to Domaine Chandon, but we had just missed the tour so we decided that we wouid go back there later. So we headed out and went to Mumm Napa ValleyI just loved going here because it was almost like a private tour, it was only us and one other couple. We walked around and I had not known how that made Sparkling Wine before so they were so descriptive on how the process was done, there were windows everywhere so that you could see what was going on. I loved the tasting that we did also. I didn't want to leave there. It was nice. While we were waiting for the tour to start I found this book that gave all the winery's in Napa and in Sonoma, which was a better map and book than I got from the visitors center that morning, that thing sucked. Cisco made reservations for us to go on a tour of Cakebread CellarsI liked this winery also, hell, I think that I liked all of them. By the time we finished that tasting, I was pretty toasted, and it was hot and I didn't have any water...you know what that means...Warning, warning, sick, sick, sick! But luckily that didn't happen, I found some water and drank the hell out of some. The guy that gave us our tasting was so informative, he was going to school to be a somminer (I don't know how to spell it) so he knew so many things! It was great.I was ready to leave, but Cisco found some friends when we were leaving, so when he came back to the car he had a big bag of tamales with him, he bought 12 of them! I couldn't figure out why we needed so many, but holy crap they were so good, we were so hungry. We drove down the street to see what other winery we could fit in before it was time to call it quits for the day and he drove into Grgich Hills for a tasting. They had some really good wine and a great tasting...uh, atleast that is what I remember. While Cisco was deciding about a bottle of wine and cashing out I decided to go back to the car. I was just about done for the day, I was pretty buzzed from all of our adventures from the day.But just when we thought that we were done for the day, we remembered that the last tour for Domaine Chandon was at 5pm and it was about 4:30 so we thought that we would go and check it out.We signed up for the tasting and for the tour. I didn't stay for the entire tasting. This place had huge slide open doors, and it was about 90 degrees outside so the air that they had on was off shot by the open windows, and I couldn't take it any longer. I had Cisco finish off my glasses and I snagged a bottle of water and took off to cool down and sit down while we waited for the tour to start, which totally sucked, so anyone that is interested, don't go to that one. I'm really glad that we went to Mumm first because it gave some great information and you walked around in more places and saw the way things were done better. Chandon only showed a video in a different part of the place. I love this picture that I took, there is a wall with empty sparkling wine bottles with some light behind it and it curves. It was one of the things that I did to recover from the excess of wine :) One of the exciting things that did happen on that crappy tour though was the fact that in the middle of our tour the wine maker was walking through and stopped to talk to us for a while. It was really neat to see the person that makes it happen. It was great. Later that night we went back to the hotel and then dinner. I talked to someone that actually knew where the movie theater was so we went and saw two for one, it was so easy to sneak into a movie there. Then our little trip in Sonoma / Napa was over and it was off to Mammoth. I have never been up to Mammoth before, it is really nice, it's really high up and there is no air up there. We stayed with my parents outside in a tent on a blow up mattress. It was no Ritz, but it's ok. We had a good time there and took some really great pictures, it was so close to this waterfall, that's all you listened to while you were sleeping. It was really nice. We didn't do much up there, I didn't go hiking or anything because I had a really hard time breathing, so I stayed with the kids, my mom and my brothers girlfriend Lisa. We had fun.Up in Mammoth they have bears up there, so one of the big rules is that you can't have any food or ice coolers laying around because the bears will come into your camp area and go through your things. Anthony forgot to take his backpack into the trailer one night so the next day we found his pack with a tear in it and the food that was in it was gone.Anthony chopping wood in the modern way that only he could.Anthony and Miss O just hanging out.It was a wonderful trip and I was so glad that we went, eventhough we were broke when we came home. It was a great and wonderful experience, we got to spend lots of time with the kids and family so it was great.

My Mommy...

I've been sitting here at work today, trying to work but finding it hard. My mama is at the hospital for something that we don't know anything about yet, and we all know that when I can't concentrate at home or at work I usually blog about it to help me feel better.

I came into work yesterday and she was telling me that she had some bad pain in her chest around her ribs, but on the right side of her chest and back. So we both assumed that it was gas, because with the way she describing it sounded exactly like what I have had before, a pain that just takes your breath away. Well after a couple of hours of her feeling like this I was convinced that it was not pesky gas bothering her. She nearly cried when she would try to sit down and she couldn't be moved without being in pain. So later on in the after noon Rick told her that he was going to take her to the hospital to get checked out, since the winner of a doctor that they have told him that he would have to bring her in on Monday because that was the earliest appointment that they had (I hate doctors, and their receptionists). So they went. I called later that evening to see if they found anything out and Rick said that they think that she may have a blood clot in or around her lungs, because of the pain and pressure when breathing. I was really worried then, just hoping that if that was what it was that they found out for sure very quickly so that they could do something about it. Later that night Rick called back and said that it wasn't a blood clot and that her tests all came back normal, she was on morphine and they were going to keep her for the night and then do a stress test in the morning on her heart and see what that came back as.

So now it's the next day, and my mama called me to say hello and to tell me that she is feeling a little bit better, she still has the pressure on her chest and they did the stress test, but they have not come back with the results yet.

So now it is just a waiting game to see what those tests have brought back. Hopefully it's nothing bad and she will be coming home tonight.

~M

Wishing to Be Well...

I am so sick right now. I want to go home and finish work. There has been a lot going on, but I don't think that I am up to it right this minute to get everyone caught up on all the vacationing I have been doing. While I was at summer camp with the kids I caught a cold and it just seems to be getting worse. So when I am up to it I will post some pictures and some commentary.

~M

Vacation...Day One...

We got started at about 10 am with driving to California for our little vacation. It was so nice to kiss the kids good bye and give huggies to the doggies and then be on the road. The thought of not being in town for an entire week is just too exiting. We got into Pasadena around 2 pm and went walking around Old Town like usual. At around 4 pm we decided to go looking for our hotel for the night. There were no reservations anywhere so we were just going to get the cheepest place that we could, but that was still half decent, like a Marriot or Ramada or something. We went driving around and ended up in this neighborhood with all these really nice houses. I was drooling at these things. So while we were driving around Cisco was saying how he was lost and wasn't sure where he was. I was really surprised because I have never known him to get lost anywhere in California...NEVER. So I was telling him to go back to where he came from and that I could tell him how to get back to where we were from there. Instead he went into the opening of this really nice hotel and said that he needed to turn around. I was telling him quite urgently where to make a U turn, but he didn't. Then I asked him what he was doing, he said that he was going to ask for directions. I was totally mortified and officially started freaking out, I told him that we could find our own ways back to where we started and that he needed to move around and get out of this parking lot. I didn't want these people to come up to our car and try to scoot us out and then turn around and tell them that we just needed directions. So then he took his seat belt off and told me that this was where we were going to be spending the night. I was so totally surprised. He was teasing me later, saying that I was getting all nervous about being somewhere that we just didn't fit...I started laughing but I was thinking that same thing. Yeah, I would fit in there only if I was working there. This place is so nice. I guess that not too long ago it was a Ritz Carlton, but they sold it to this other place. I have never heard of this place but it is really nice...what is even better is that it has pink accents. I LOVE IT! When we were having a drink at this place in Old Town earlier we were talking about if we should head up to San Francisco or just stay in Pasadena. Cisco was saying that if we stayed in Pasadena and woke up early that we could take the day and enjoy the views of the coast and the driving, since I have not been further up the coast than Santa Barbara. But now it all fits together...tricky, tricky.

So after I got changed and put some make up on we went to Macy's and walked around and then went to the Yard House to watch the Lakers / Celtics game. It was a great game. I had a lot of fun. So then when we got back to the room I decided to blog about it since Cisco gave me his grand permission....thanks honey. :)
Tomorrow we will be on our way to San Francisco. I can't wait to get there. Maybe I will update with day two tomorrow!

~M

Conquering Quickbooks...

So on Rick's urging, I contacted the accountant so that they could come and set our office up with Quickbooks. Now I guess he doesn't remember when I asked him to do this at the beginning of my career here at our little office. So now I am stuck with inputting information from the beginning of the year. I guess that he wasn't smart enough to do this in January, so now I am stuck putting information in from January 1. Yep, that's right all of our invoices, all of our checks that we wrote, all our deposits, and payroll. I could just kill him right now. Now this is on top of everything else that I have to do, billings, etc. I nearly cried yesterday when he asked me to look for something and I couldn't find it quick enough. I am thinking about not answering the phone today...just to get more of this crap done. But only two more day's until vacation, so that is the good thing that I can look forward to.

~M

And It's Only The Beginning...

So now it is summer break for the kids. I love them and all, but I don't think that being around them 24 hours a day is good for anyone. They get on eachothers nerves at times and mine as well. They have been coming to work with me for this past week and I have had about my fill of all day and all night with Miss O and Mr. A. Sometimes I am under the impression that they do things on purpose to get under my skin, but it's probably just me.

I don't like when they go out of town for a week at a time, but then again when they are normally here I have about 7 hours without them because they are in school. I think they need a little space as well as me. I always think about how nice it was going to be for them to be out of school because then I don't have to rush back and forth from work to school or the house to make sure they are alright, but now...

I don't want to leave them at the house alone because I don't trust them. They make huge messes and think that it is alright to eat a whole bag of Pringles and Twizzlers for lunch, and then when I come home and get on their case they look confused. I don't know if the look of confusion is from needing to hit the bathroom from all of the sugar or that they genuinely don't think they did anything wrong.

I know for sure that little walks to 7-11 or around the corner are in the near future at lunch breaks though, just to get out of the house. Everyone should know by now that I dislike the heat so much that I curse it, but I think that I will have to endure some of it just to keep my sanity.

Just feelin' a little frustrated right now and felt the need to share...:)

~M

I Think I May Be Dying...

That's it...I quit. No more Kickboxing classes on Monday's. I usually go on Thursday's, which is good I am now used to the tempo and know what this guy that is the teacher is going to do. The woman that taught this class yesterday is just pure evil. My knees hurt so bad from this little session yesterday. :( But it's all good. I can now fit into my clothes and them be a little big on me. I actually did two classes yesterday. I did the kickboxing and then Zumba ( I think that is how it is spelled ), I had so much fun doing this class. It's like a whole bunch of dancing set to some really awesome music. I will definately be doing that again. So far since I last weighed myself at the beginning of the week I have lost 6 pounds. I had stopped working out for a while so I gained the 5 pounds that I had lost right back on, but I have lost it and I think at the end of the week I will weigh myself again at the gym. I don't trust the scale at home. I think it lies and tries to make me feel bad. :)

~M

Happiness Is...

A bubble bath with candles and champagne...

Perhaps a warm "gun" ( for all those Beatle fans out there )...

Being loved by my kids...

Being loved by my man...

Having a job...

Feeling good about myself physically for the first time in a long time...

Knowing it's the season for vacations...

Lulu and Kipper...

My gym membership, lol...

Flowers...

The Sun...

The Moon...

Thunderstorms on a summer afternoon...

Naps on Sunday...

Disneyland :)...

Cisco...

Olivia...

Anthony...

I don't always wake up in the morning and think about the sweet fuzzy things that accompany our lives day to day let alone think much about them at all in the length of the day. But for some strange reason I woke up in a particularly good mood this morning, which is highly unusual. I'm usually all business and dread going to work. But on this particular morning I noticed something in the mirror as I was staring at myself...I'm losing weight. I could finally tell and was so excited. I have been working very hard the past week or so to lose 10 pounds, it's a little bet / deal that Cisco and I have going, before we go on vacation in a week. I've been running at least a mile and a half 4 to 5 days a week at the gym and have gone to a couple of Kickboxing classes. So I've been noticing changes, but it didn't really hit me hard until this morning. I mean I actually considered wearing a tank top and jeans with nothing over the tank top, but then thought better of it...not ready for that yet, confidence wise at least. So it's just a good day all around. It will be even better as soon as I eat something, cause I am starving, but otherwise I thought I would share in my happiness.

~M

A Cake and An Animal Orgy...

So it was Olivia's 10th birthday this past Sunday and it was nice and low key. Olivia and her little friend went to see Indiana Jones and then we all went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Later we came back to the house to have the cake that I made with some Ice Cream. Overall I was quite happy with how the cake turned out. Instead of the strawberry filling I put buttercream and coconut. It was good. This cake took me 3 hours to decorate, from start to finish. I applied some pink pearl dust to the pink accents and I think that I pulled it off pretty good. I just dabbed it on where I wrote happy birthday because I didn't want to smear the writing that I had previously done. I was pretty tired after the whole cake thing. I didn't think that I would want to try some but I did and as always, found places for improvement. Everyone else thought the cake was flawless and tasted great, and I did too, but as usual the person making it always finds the little things that could be better and I guess that is always a good thing.

In about a week or so when the kids are on vacation I will do another cake but not using fondant, only buttercream so that I can try some piping techniques. It will be quiet so I will be able to do it without interruption.

Later on that night when Cisco and I went upstairs after getting the girls settled we found my babies doing the unimaginable. I have a firm belief that animals come to life when everyone else is asleep or away (like in Toy Story), so I think that these nasty little things got caught in mid Orgy. And I thought things were pretty normal around our house. I hope this is only with my babies and no one else's. :)

~M

Cake Walk...

So it is that time of year again, Olivia's birthday. This year I am happy to inform you that I am actually involved. I guess it's good news. I wish I had the easy part that her aunts have, shopping for the stuff and doing the running around. But, last year Olivia had asked me to make her cake so that is my sole responsibility. After several run throughs and several ideas that just didn't pan out. I have come up with this little creation...which was thankfully approved by her majesty, you should note that there are 10 little hearts at the top which I am planning on putting the candles in, I was quite worried. I think I spent a whole at least 2 whole days worth of time on this cake and the conception...EVERYTHING!!! It has been quite an experience I must say that though.

Usually Olivia plans her big day with her aunts, everything from the theme to the party favors and the cake. They get the cake and do everything and then Cisco and I just show up. But this year Olivia wanted a sleep over with her girlfriends at the house and for me to do the cake. I was quite excited that I was going to be involved. Olivia asked if I would make little cakes for her class and without thinking about all the man hours that I would have to spend on them I said yes. So two days ago I started making the cakes and last night I began decorating them so that we could take them to school today. I think I spent 7 hours doing them last night, just to decorate them. I nearly dropped some of them, but I saved them. I swear if I would have dropped them I would have needed therapy.So by the time I finished I piped O's on the top for "Olivia" and some dots and applied the fondant. I was quite proud of this little feat. Now I only have to do the cake for Sunday and I am finished. I can say that without a shadow of a doubt that if I see any sugary dessert any time soon I will turn and toss my cookies. I have two days to rest from the kitchen which is nice, in that time I can clean the house and prepare it for an invasion of girls.

~M