What a weekend!!!

There I was, just walking down the street -- singing doo wah diddy diddy dum diddy do. No, just kidding, that song just jumped in my head now as I was writing that.

So, anyway, I was walking with Nick and Chris, then started to goof off like a dork, and down I went - my shoe clipped the ground and before I knew it I fell face first. My knee hurt, but I didn't feel any pain at all anywhere else. I just knew something happened because I could see my head bounce off the asphalt. That's never a good sign, right? I didn't know for sure what to think until I touched my teeth and felt that almost half of my front tooth was just gone and all that was left was a jagged, sharp remainder. I knew it was going to be chipped but I'd never seen anybody's tooth chipped so much, so I totally freaked out. It just felt gone. We found an on-call dentist, though, and he fixed the tooth up. Thank goodness. I feel pretty lucky that nothing else got hurt. I could have broken a hand, arm, or ankle, or even hurt my head. I'm thankful it was just my tooth & knee. I mean, how do you chip a tooth so badly by hitting the asphalt and not scrape up your face? I don't know, me and my big front teeth. LOL

Today I'm feeling it. My knee of course is completely skinned, and it hurts. It's swollen a little, and looks like it might be bruising up now as well. The rest of me has no physical marks or scrapes at all, but my arms and shoulders are aching. I don't know if that was from the fall or a combination of the fall and then the stress of my freak-out afterward.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my niece Krystol :-)
Our birthdays are only two days apart - mine on the 9th and hers on the 11th. I think I'm five years older than she is. If I remember right, I had just turned five when she was born. If that's correct, that means she turned 28 today.
But if anyone should ask, I'm 29... hehehe

Politics As Usual

My Political Rant...
Okay, this is my first (and hopefully only) political blog. I am not a Republican. I am not a Democrat. I am non-Partisan. But a few things have me just feeling like I need to rant for a minute...

I can see how it would be upsetting if your nominee doesn't win the Presidential election. But liberals seem to be really crazy and downright nasty about it. Some are calling the people who voted for Bush "greedy" or saying they voted on the basis of their excessive incomes. Others are calling them "white trash religious hicks" (nice). You can't have it both ways, though -- I mean, you can't be both a "white trash hick" and have an excessive income. I don't know many rich people living in the trailer parks, do you?

For those of you thinking that having Bush as our President makes us more of a target for terrorism, please never fear... terrorists hate us, no matter who our President. Our President wasn't waging war in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other country when the terrorists attacked us on September 11, 2001. That was not something new that the terrorists just threw together because we had a Bush in the White House. The terrorists had been planning that attack for many years - while Clinton was still President - before finally carrying out their plans and flying those planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and God knows where else that other plane was headed before crashing into the field in Pennsylvania. So, please don't try to say that what we do "causes" these people to become terrorists. You either have it in you to hate for no reason whatsoever with such hatred that it clouds your sanity, or you don't. You either are a terrorist or you aren't. It's very simple. There is no complicated reasoning for these people cutting off heads and flying planes into buildings and blowing up naval boats & US embassies - there is just plain and simple hatred.

I do think that at least some of the 59 million people who voted for Bush didn't vote "for" Bush as much as vote "against" Kerry. Even for those who were not pleased with Bush, Kerry was just not the person they wanted as our President. And so, thankfully, he didn't win.

How about those who say they want to move to Canada because of this? Geez, are they for real? So, I have a question: why aren't they going? This is a free country, you can move to Canada if you want. And if you hate America so much now, what's keeping you here? I don't understand it.

And I don't mean this to be a bag on Democrats. There are some good, decent, and pretty darn cool Democratic people out there. It's the liberals that are giving them a bad name. Their bringing the party down. All of my rants about Democrats are really referring to liberal Democrats. I do believe the liberals are spewing all of this crap. Isn't it a shame there isn't something they can think of to accuse Bush of "stealing" the election this time around? Maybe the liberals will think of something.

In the mean time, let's hope for the best for the next four years. Let's be a United Country, instead of this divided one that the liberals seem to want to turn us into. And maybe in four years there will be a Democratic nominee that the rest of us feel is worth voting for. :-)

I made it!!

Wow, five miles sure doesn't seem as far as I thought it would be! Saturday, October 23rd was the day for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I totally thought I would be catching a ride with the van around the third mile or so, but I made it the whole five miles no problem! My friend Marti came with me, and we had a good time walking around and talking the whole way. It was awesome that she could come. And she did a great job with pledges, too -- even though she doesn't work for the company I do, she joined the team to walk with me, and she had the highest amount pledged for the walk! Go Marti! :-)

Anyway, I had a great time, but boy was I tuckered out when I got home - and a little bit the next day as well. It rained just about the whole way, too, but I was prepared for that with my raincoat so I didn't get too wet. Besides, it was for a good cause and it was well worth it!

What's New...

Not much new here, but, boy, what is going on around the earth? Hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions?! What a mess Mother Nature is bringing us! Not only do I have my friend in Florida to be concerned about with all the hurricanes over there, but my mom & sister, as well as two of my nieces, live up in Washington state. They don't live super close to Mt. St. Helens, but I guess it's close enough for me to still worry a little. Of course, I'm just a worrywart anyway! :-)

Well, this is just mainly to send out a hello to everyone, as there isn't anything new going on these days to mention. Chris is still playing bass clarinet in advanced band and he's on the volleyball team at his school, Alex is still in tech and ROTC at his school and he and Lindsay are still as cute a couple as ever, and Nick is still playing the baritone in intermediate band. We couldn't get pictures bought this year - a bunch of oops on my part - but I'm working on maybe getting some done at Sears for their school pics instead.

Again, I just want to send out another congratulations to my niece, Valerie. I wish you a healthy pregnancy, and yes I will cross my fingers for a boy since that is what she wants (but, really, I'm happy no matter what it turns out to be - a baby is a baby, cute and cuddly and I get to hold him or her a lot whenever we visit)! :-D I'm so excited! :-)

Happy Birthday, Nick & Chris!!

I just wanted to send out a happy birthday to the twins, Nick & Chris! Fourteen years old already?!!!! Wow, where does the time go?

The Latest News

About a week ago I considered complaining about our strange, out-of-the-blue, hot-hot weather we've been having the last couple of weeks, but then felt very silly about that when I took into consideration that I have an old friend living in Florida facing the possibility of having yet a third hurricane hit her state.

Then it hit me -- almost literally, in fact -- an earthquake in my backyard (I'm not exaggerating here; seriously, the epicenter was less than a mile from my house). And then I remembered that the weather does strange things right before earthquakes, and that explained a little bit. Not to say that hot weather is strange in these parts -- far from it. But the whole summer has been nice and warm and not too hot, and then all of a sudden in September we started getting very heavy, almost unbearably hot, 3-digit degree weather. It may have been a small earthquake (only a 3.4), but when it's that close it sure as hell feels like none other you've ever been through.

Now there's the very latest news -- my niece Valerie is pregnant!! As Dave would say, they know what causes that now. haha :-) Seriously, though, I'm so excited for her, but it does just make me wish even more than usual that we lived closer to each other!! This is the most recent picture of my nieces (from left to right) Stephanie & Valerie. Congratulations, Valerie!! We all love you!


Alright, I guess that's all the news for now. Keep in touch!

End of Summer!!

WOW, it's been a while since I updated on here! Well, it's been a busy summer, even without the kids here. I've been working longer hours, and there was that four or five days I was out of town visiting all my family again -- this time the whole group, I was very excited! For a couple of pictures, see below and go check a couple others out on MY OTHER WEBSITE. :-)

I'm happy to say we picked the boys up over the weekend. It's nice to have them back. School starts next week for Alex and the week after for Chris & Nick. They'll miss the freedom they've had over the summer and this week. :-(
Alex has been off hanging out with friends every day and the other two have been playing computer games all day long every day. Once school starts, they are going to be busy with homework and not able to spend as much time doing fun stuff such as that. I just hope they keep their grades up so they can have free time to at least have a little fun on their days here.

Quick Update

The kids have been at their mom's for a little over a week now, and they are missed terribly!!!! Alex's girlfriend Lindsay came over on his birthday, and we all went to dinner and had a nice time. She seems very sweet. At least they got to hang out a little bit together before he had to leave for the summer. Work is kinda weird right now, as catching up on my work after vacation is always quite hectic. In addition, my boss has announced that he is moving on to pursue other opportunities elsewhere. So our department is in for some changes, and it's a little unnerving when change happens in such a way. We'll see how it works out in the next few months... In the mean time, Dave and I will be heading up to McKinleyville to visit Dad & the whole family in a couple of weeks, so we are looking forward to that! Just a few days off, but it will be a nice getaway! Until next time...

Happy Birthday, Alex!!

Today is Alex's birthday -- he's 16 years old now (oh joy!)!!! :-) I know he's bored to death hanging out here instead of out with his friends (especially today), but he'll enjoy the key lime pie later on today!
The boys leave to their mom's for the rest of the summer in a few days, and I will miss them all. So, boys, I've added you to my mailing list for the Blogger website. That way whenever I add a log, you'll get an email. If you want to look at the entire blogger website and see what I've written in the past too, there is a link to it at the bottom of every email.
It's called What's Going On...
In the mean time, keep in touch while you are gone! ;-)

CAMPING

Wow, what an exhausting vacation! We took the kids camping last Thursday, at Lake McClure, and we just got back today. Although there is a lot of sitting back and relaxing while camping, it sure seems like work! You've got cooking, grilling, swimming, hiking/walking the trails, the hot hot weather, it all just wears you out. Well, it all just wears me out, anyway. :-)
Oh, I almost forgot... the deer were not afraid of people at all! They came right up to our campsite and just stared at us. They were so skinny that we fed them some corn tortillas -- boy, did they enjoy that!! They even came up and ate them out of our hands. Now that was exciting! Didn't see any bears or other scary animals such as that (thank goodness), but there were plenty of coyotes heard at night. We even saw a buzzard that hung around on the rocks and trees by our campsite. It was a really fun experience!

Visit Back Home

I had a great week-long visit back home (McKinleyville, CA) last week. I stayed with my friend Janis at her apartment, and we had a nice quiet time just hanging out. I got to see my sis, Sheree, who lost weight on the same I diet I'm on and looks great! And of course, I saw my brothers and played board games & yahtzee and visited with my dad. I'm looking forward to my next trip there in July, when I get to see everyone again and also see my mom & other sis & nieces when they travel down to Humboldt from Washington.
In the mean time, Dave and I are getting everything together in preparation for our camping trip with the kids coming up at the end of this week. Busy busy busy!! :-)

Road Trip

One more week! I'm taking a road trip to go visit my friends & family in Humboldt County for Memorial Day Weekend. It's been almost a year since my last visit and it will be nice to spend some time up there again.

Spring is in the Air

Oh, what beautiful weather we're having!! It was that whole "April showers bring May flowers" scenario in the last couple of weeks, but it has been beautiful, sunny, and WARM (okay, more like HOT) ever since Saturday!!! Gotta love this non-Humboldt County summery weather! Well, for a little while anyway. Until I get too hot to breathe. (LOL) Okay, bye for now...

Bad Luck, or Good Fortune?

Today while driving home from picking up the kids at their mom's apartment in Richmond, my front passenger tire blew out on the freeway. It took me what seemed like forever to figure out that the bumpy ride was being caused by my car and not by the road, then I panicked and pulled over one lane -- however, being the total lame chick that I am, it was to the left, as I was not quite realizing what exactly was wrong. So then I finally realized that it was one of my tires because I had finally slowed down enough to feel the very hard, slow thump-thump-thumps. And by that time everyone else on the freeway saw what was going on and slowed down to get way the hell away from my dumb ass, so I had a clear path to the right shoulder from the far left lane.

So, should I consider this bad luck that this happened? I did at first, but now I think that I prefer to think of it as good fortune: I was fortunate that, although I did panic at first, the car did not lose control and so I was able to (finally) safely pull over to the right shoulder; it was good fortune that this happened along the section of freeway where the right shoulder is fairly wide and we could wait safely for the tow truck to come put my spare tire on (yes, I know, but unfortunately I have forgotten how to change a tire and put on a spare); and I feel it was good fortune that the weather was beautiful and sunny, so we could enjoy the long, slow ride home with our windows rolled down (as, yes, it was long and slow because I did not drive faster than 50 miles per hour with that spare tire on the whole way). Needless to say, we are happy that we are all safe and sound. It's been a long and crazy day, and I am all tuckered out.

Stay safe and God Bless...

Beautiful Weather

The weather has been so enjoyable this last week. Sun every day, nice wonderful warm breeze blowing slightly. I've enjoyed the warm afternoons after work all week and sitting outside in the sun over the weekend. If this keeps up, I might actually get some color before summer. :-)

Home Alone

The kids were at their mom's all last week for "ski week" vacation, and Dave was out of town (in L.A.) on a business trip. So, I got to hang out all by myself for a few days. It was nice to relax in the peace and quiet for a little while. I just relaxed after work and watched some TV shows, and slept on the couch. It was great. I even got to watch a "chick flick." :-)

Dave and Busters

Dave and Busters is a really cool arcade/restaurant/bar -- they are all over the U.S., and here we have one at the Great Mall in Milpitas. We took the kids there last week and really enjoyed ourselves. Great food, good atmosphere, fun games, we had a blast!

Our New Diet

Dave and I started eating low-carb meals in August 2003. We are following the Atkins diet, but not so strictly. We stay away from pastas, rice, potatoes, and that type of starchy food. We have cut way down on our sugar intake. We try to eat and drink all sugar-free, but some of the stuff we eat inevitably still has a few grams of sugar. But, we have done pretty well. We still eat fairly low amounts of carbohydrates, and each of us has seen great results. We feel better and look better. So far, Dave has lost about 29 lbs and I have lost about 24 lbs. So we are very excited about our new way of eating and living. Check my family homepage out for some low-carb recipes that we enjoy!! :-)

House Remodeling

Well, not really remodeling, as we don't own the house. But we moved stuff around. Since we had that last leaking issue a couple of months ago, all of our furniture has been moved out of our big family room. Now that the roof is supposedly fixed (again), we have moved the computers into the big family room, keeping the TV and couch in the front living room. I like it better this way, although it would be nice if we didn't have the panic of losing everything to roof leaks and carpet flooding forcing us to move the furniture in the first place. Ah, well, what can you do? Not enough money for a down payment in this expensive part of the United States. We just have to be patient for a little while longer...
:-)