Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Okay, I made it! This year I walked with Dave - we walked the five miles in about an hour. Not bad, I guess. My muscles aren't even sore this year, like they were last year. Wow, just a little bit of exercising goes a long way! Thanks to everyone who was able to donate to the cause - your support is much appreciated!

Follow this link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Making Strides Against Breast Cancer - Bay Area

Love, Starla

Back to the same old grind...

Well, that's it. Summer's over. All my vacations for the year are done, I'm back at work, and school starts Monday. Well, it was nice while it lasted. :-)

The trip to Humboldt County was great! My visit with Dad, Sheree, Kevin, & Bobby was nice. Dad, Sheree, and I sat around and played a board game & card games. The board game -- Elvisopoly, what a blast that was! It was cool, it put a cute little twist to Monopoly, which I was never a big fan of before. But having everything Elvis-related made it fun and interesting. And of course getting to visit is nice. But the visit was too short. Due to some packing issues, we didn't head out on the road until late Saturday morning, so I didn't get into town until late Saturday night. I just went straight to Janis', ate dinner, and went to bed, so I didn't go visit Dad & everyone that day. Then Janis and I went to Willow Creek on Sunday, so I only visited my family for a few hours that night.

Janis and I had a great time, though, at her company's annual party in Willow Creek -- horseshoes, badminton, frisbee toss, water volleyball, it was all so much fun & awesome! My first team lost at water volleyball because - well first of all, my team sucked - and second, the other team cheated and didn't rotate players the way they are supposed to and nobody called them on it. But, what could I do, I was a guest there so I certainly wasn't going to be a butt about it. Then in the championship between the two finalist teams, one of the people was busy at horseshoes, so they asked me to take his place. It was a close game, but we won! Then me & my badminton teammate - Janis' boyfriend Lee - won our badminton round & then won the finals round as well. I love winning... :-) But I also love just playing, so it was a blast all day. I'm so glad Janis brought me along.

But, anyway, it ended up that I really only got in one full day of visiting with Dad & everyone on Monday, then half the day on Tuesday until it was time for me to leave at 2:00.

And off I went to camping at Hidden Springs Campground in Myers Flat with Dave, the boys, and Alex's girlfriend Lindsay. We had a good time. But again, not a lot of time for me. I was only there the last half of Tuesday & all day Wednesday. We had great dinners - Alex & Lindsay cooked Tuesday night & Wednesday night and both were absolutely yummy meals! We played a game Tuesday night, went swimming all day Wednesday, roasted marshmallows & made s'mores after dinner, but didn't play any games that night because I wanted to get to bed early so we could head out early enough on Thursday. Well, when I say "went swimming all day", I mean the kids & Dave swam & cruised the river in the raft-boat thing while I stayed on the beach and got a little sun. But then when the water warmed up around 3:30, I finally hopped in. I finally swam some, but by that time everyone else was tired from swimming all day and I was the only one left in the water. :-( Oh, well, it was still a lot of fun! Since I didn't have a lot of time, we didn't go explore at all, but the campground is right along the Avenue of the Giants which is a beautiful drive through the Redwoods. I highly recommend that!

This was by far our favorite camping spot that we've tried in the last three summers, so I think we've decided to keep going to this place whenever we go camping. Plus, being only an hour & 20 minutes away from McKinleyville, it makes visiting my Dad & everyone more convenient. While Dave & the boys are camping, I can go visit Dad for three or four days, and then meet up with Dave & the boys to finish out the last three or four days camping with them. That way Dave & the boys get their long camping trip in that they like, and I get to visit the family but also get in the few days of camping that I prefer. It will allow me to have two of my summer vacation trips packed into one - perfect! :-)

Getting ready for another vacation...

As we are getting ready for our last trip this summer (sigh), let me revisit my summer vacations... Our trip to Washington state was a joy -- I'm so happy I was able to make the trip and start getting to know my beautiful three-month-old baby great nephew Dominic. If you ask me, he takes after his mommy (my niece Valerie) with his adorable chubby face. He is such a good baby, content and alert. He is great with people he doesn't know, too. I just met him, but he was letting me hold him all the time and didn't fuss, whine, or cry. He just laughed, cooed, gurgled -- and farted, oh what a cutie. I can hardly wait to see him again -- I wish it was soon, but probably not until next year.

Mom's visit here was nice as well. Although she didn't feel well much, when she was feeling up we had a great time. We enjoyed the beach at Half Moon Bay, took a trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, went shopping at the Gilroy Outlet Mall, went out to dinner a few nights, and made a few outings to our shopping malls here. It was fun, but too short of a visit -- as always.

I got to spend some time with my sister Kerry & niece Stephanie, too. Steph has grown up to be a funny & witty person -- she cracked me up so much, it seemed like my cheeks hurt all the time. I wish I could have spent more time visiting with Valerie, too, but I didn't spend that many days up north and so we just didn't get much of a chance. Maybe - hopefully - we'll get the opportunity on our next visit.

Now we are getting ready for our final trip this summer -- our drive to Humboldt County. I'll be visiting my Dad, brothers Kevin & Bobby, sister Sheree, and my friend Janis, while Dave will be camping with the boys. Then I'll meet up with them for the last two nights of camping and then - bam! - the new school year starts the week after we get back. Geez what a busy busy summer! Hope everyone is enjoying theirs... take care! I will let everyone know when I have pictures posted.

Another Hurricane?!

Yet another hurricane for Florida?! My friend Jeanie lives there -- goodness knows why they want to stay! Well, my prayers are with her & Wade and everyone else in Florida and the other states to be hit with Dennis... Love, Starla

Disneyland was a blast!!

We just got back the other day from our trip to Anaheim. We had a great time! We went to Disneyland all day on Tuesday - wow, that was a lot of walking, but it was fun! We loved Splash Mountain, the Matterhorn Bobsleds, and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Actually, we went on quite a few rides that were pretty cool, but those were our favorites. I was so bummed to miss Space Mountain, as they are redoing it and won't have it open again until July. That was my favorite ride when Dad took me there years and years and years ago.

On Wednesday, we drove to Hollywood and went to Universal Studios. That was a lot of fun, too. The studio tour is always fun. We only went on a few rides, but they were awesome. Jurassic Park and the Revenge of the Mummy rides are excellent! Intense and scary, but so much fun! Wednesday night we went to the Medieval Times themed restaurant, which was pretty cool. It was definitely entertaining.

Then Thursday we went to Disney's California Adventure park. I think we were pretty tired by then, because we sort of took it easy - but still went on a few rides. California Screamin' is a heck of a lot of fun, and Soarin' over California was really awesome. And I have to say that the Grizzly River Run was really fun -- and wet!!! It tops Great America's Rip Roarin' Rapids, definitely!

Now I'm looking forward to my trip with Dave to Washington state to visit with my mom, sister, & nieces -- and especially my new grand-nephew Dominic. I can't wait to see him. I finally have some pictures, and he is the cutest baby boy ever! I only get to visit for a few days, but I'm still so excited because we're bringing my mom back down here to visit for a few weeks, then we get to go back up with her and spend one more day with everyone again before we fly back here, on a flight which my sister, niece, and her friend will be taking with us to visit with us for a week.

Oh, but my summer plans don't stop there, no no no...
A couple of weeks after that, I will be driving up north to see my Dad, brothers, & other sister in No. Cal. I always look forward to that trip because I don't get to see everyone very often, plus I get to hang with my best friend Janis. On my way back home, I'll be stopping off at a campground where Dave & the boys will be and stay with them a couple of nights. Busy busy summer!!! Okay, so I let you get back to your normal and probably more interesting life... :-)

Welcome, Domenic!!!!

My niece Valerie had her baby boy! He was born either late night Monday 5/9/05, or early morning Tuesday 5/10/05. I'm not sure how long he was born before my sister called me at 12:30 Tuesday morning, so I'm not yet positive of the birthdate. He's a healthy baby boy - 8 lbs 1 oz at birth, 19 1/2 inches long - I can't wait to see pics & see him in person!!!!

So far so good...

Not to jinx it, but so far so good in the new place. Renting is not the optimal housing situation for us, but we can't afford to buy in these parts. So we'll see what the future brings in that regard...
But for now, this house is working out well. We've had a good month of rain here since we moved in, and thank goodness no leaks in the house. The next door neighbors are the epitome of your typical white trash: mullets galore, oil stains running down the driveway, a home-made wall built up in front of the garage/side yard fence area, and of course about five cars parked on the street that Mr. mullet man works on for most of the night (midnight & later in some cases). But even so, it's so much better here - I am not stressed out when it rains, we are warm all day and all night without having to crank the heater up, and our water & PG&E bills are much lower.

So, enough about the new place. I have a webcam that I run when I am on Yahoo, so just click on "view my webcam" when you see me online on Yahoo! Cool, huh? My niece Valerie is due in a couple of weeks, so I'm excited about that. I don't live by her, so I won't get to see her and the baby until July. I'm looking forward to that visit! My sister Sheree's birthday is tomorrow - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHEREE!!!! I will see you in August! Let's see, I guess that is it. I hope this finds everyone happy & healthy. Send me a quick hello or something -- keep in touch!

And, We're Done

Whew, that was a long freaking month!! It rained so much, making it difficult to really get moving going. We finally finished and now, of course, it's sunny and beautiful. That's okay, at least we're out of that place once and for all. We still have a ton of unpacking and sorting to do here at the new place. Which reminds me, I guess I better get back to it. All my love to my family & friends...
Starla

Moving, Part Two

Well, two more weeks until we are supposed to be out of the house. We really lucked out and found a house within three days of our landlord's notice. It's still a four bedroom house, although it is smaller in actual size. We started moving in over this last weekend, and we have most of our furniture over here now. We have so much crap, though, I don't know what we're going to do with it all -- we'll have to go through everything and decide what goes to storage and what gets tossed. So, anyway, the new house is small, but cute. It's close to Alex's high school and not too far away from the twins' middle school. It turns out the house is only about six houses down from Lindsay (Alex's girlfriend), which is convenient when you consider how much time we spent driving her home. And it's a little bit closer to the office where I work as well, so that's great. Um, yeah, I guess that's about all there is for now... :-)

Moving

Well, as you probably know, we have been very anxious to get out of this hole that some might call a house. Leaks, faulty wiring, broken appliances, a landlord who never fixes anything, it's all had us really wishing we could just find a new place and move. The only thing that has kept us from looking for a place is that Cingular Wireless bought out AT&T last year and we were just waiting until the reorganization completed so we knew whether Dave would be relocated or whether he even still has a job after it's completed. That still has not happened yet. It's still up in the air.

However, our landlord has decided to renovate this house and sell it or something, so he gave us a 30-day notice to vacate. What a jerk, gosh I cannot stand him. Anyway, we are having to move very soon. We have been looking for the last couple of days, and I have looked at three houses for rent so far. All of them are smaller than this one, and about the same in age I'd guess (built-in painted-white cabinetry must have been all the rage back in the day). I just hope we can stay in the same area and something works out soon so we can just put this place behind us. Although I really feel like this is "home," I think ultimately we'll be happier & better off living in a different house, no matter how much smaller.

Weight Loss Results

Okay, so we started a low-carb diet in August of 2003. I don't know if I ever posted our results. Dave lost about 30 pounds within the first three months. At that point, he plateaued and didn't lose much more. I lost about 12 pounds in the first two weeks, plateaued, and then lost another 12 pounds within the next four months. I lost 24 pounds total. I went from 144 pounds down to 120 pounds. I kept it off until just after Thanksgiving & Christmas 2004, around which time I gained about 5 pounds back. So, now I'm trying to get back on the low-carb diet to lose the weight I found. :-)

Dave found out he has high cholesterol last summer, so he has had to eat low fat, low cholesterol food. He usually eats nonfat, and he isn't really worrying about carbs. After all, what could he eat - cardboard? LOL... Anyway, I don't think he has lost weight from that, though, but he hasn't been back to the doctor yet to find out about his cholesterol yet. I hope it's going down.

I'm wishing all of you the best in health and happiness!! Love, Starla

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. I know it's been quite some time since I have updated my blog, but it's been a busy time. Thanksgiving, Christmas, trying to figure out summer vacation for this year, plus I've been working many hours overtime.

Chris stayed with us for Thanksgiving, and he helped his dad cook the turkey - we had it deep-fried, which may not be healthy, but it's much quicker than traditional and it is so juicy and flavorful. Chris also made the best sweet potato dish I've ever had - it was a Bobby Flay recipe from The Food Network. I tried a baked cranberry sauce recipe with bourbon (also a Bobby Flay recipe), and it was excellent. I also made the usual bourbon smashed sweet potatoes, (a Rachel Ray recipe) which are pretty good as well, plus I made an Alton Brown recipe, chipotle smashed sweet potatoes, this year for the first time. Those were delicious as well. I've decided you can never have too many sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner -- or for Christmas dinner either, as we made the same dishes then too. The kids stayed with us through Christmas Eve, then their mother picked them up early Christmas morning for the rest of their school vacation, so we had our Christmas on Christmas Eve.

As for summer vaction, we are thinking either camping for a few days again or heading to Disneyland for a change this summer. I haven't decided yet, I'm trying to find a way to make a trip for five to Disneyland as inexpensive as possible but still fun. If we choose camping again, I only want to go for a few days, because it can get quite expensive, plus very tiring. :-)

NOW to the overtime at work: we had someone quit a few weeks ago without notice (that I am aware of), and so we've been left shorthanded. In addition, two people were scheduled for vacation at the same time, and so we were left REALLY shorthanded then. So I've been working ten to twelve hour days at work doing someone else's job while trying to keep up on at least parts of my regular job. Very stressful right now, but we'll see how things go.

I guess that is the gist of it. I am looking forward to summer when school is out and we can go on vacation and take a couple of trips and visit all my family. I'm really looking forward to seeing Valerie and getting to meet the new baby after he is born. :-)