Missing a good friend already

Today is a sad day for me. I have a good friend at my company, we'll just call her Miss C., today is her last day and I'm going to miss her terribly. Granted she is going on to something bigger and better, an advance in her career that is amazing and which she totally deserves but.....

I'm still here and she makes my time at the office bearable when things get un-bearable. It's not like I'll never see her or talk to her again but it will be different somehow.....Mostly because she isn't in the thick of it anymore, she is done dealing with all the things about this place that drove both of us crazy on a consistant basis.

Have you ever had a person in your life that is just good, honorable, beautiful inside and out? Miss C is all those things and occasional more. She is my best snarky pal, we just have fun together.

I'm not a fem-nazi by any measure but I sincerely hold the belief that women are the core to our society, we are what makes the world go'round, in a way that isn't easily put into pretty words. Helen Reddy did a great job however in her song "I am woman"...



Miss C is this song..... She leads and teachs in action, not just words. She is an amazing single mom with a daughter that is not surprisingly one of the best teenagers I've ever had the pleasure to know. She believes in people and has a true desire to see them succeed.

This is Miss C holding her flowers esnt by a friend on her last day...she will be greatly missed!



At least now we have an excuse to get together more often.....

Winter at 3 months

Sorry this is a late one.... Where does the time go? Oh yes I worked for 13 straight days, that's where it went!

Back to the matter at hand... our beautiful granddaughter is a month older.... Babies are like Chia pets.... give them a little fluid and they just grow at an amazing rate!



It was hard to get a still photo this month because she is very committed to putting her hands in her mouth every moment she is awake. The problem being she hasn't figured out that her hands can go UP to her mouth and prefers the method of taking her mouth DOWN to her hands which usually hang out in the middle of her chest.... makes for great shots of the top of her curly little head!

It happens so fast

they just grow up before your eyes! I thought this was a cutie picture....

Did you know.....

I love superfluous information......... so here are asome fun facts for you!

1. Pac-Man, Namco's 1979 arcade game, was originally called "Puck Man". The name was changed when they realized that vandals could easily scratch out part of the letter "P".
2. Don Mac Lean's song "American Pie" was written about Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper), who all died in the same plane crash.
3. Dolphins can look in different directions with each eye. They can sleep with one eye open.
4. God is not mentioned once in the book of Esther.
5. In 1863, Paul Hubert of Bordeaux, France, was sentenced to life in jail for murder. After 21 years, it was discovered that he was convicted of murdering himself.
6. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

And for the bonus point....Does anyone know that past tense for the word "dare'... try before you google it!

Happy reading

Chicago Mom's Blog - Saving a marriage

I was surfing the blogs and came across a great post titled "How to Save your Marriage"

http://svmomblog.typepad.com/nyc_moms/2008/08/how-to-save-you.html

It's a great read with some excellent advice. While I don't agree with everything the author says.... there's some real jewels of information that apply to the everyday workings of a relationship..... Enjoy!

Church of Oprah?.... She's full of Poo!

I found this youtube video rather distrubing. I've never been overly fond of Oprah but this video really tops it off for me....

San Diego Day 1 -Visting Jonathan

Oscar and I have been very excited about this weekend because we are in San Diego visiting with our youngest son Jonathan, who is stationed on the USS Comstock LSD 45, at this link you can read a little about the ship http://www.comstock.navy.mil/site%20pages/history.aspx

We have had a great time so far. After breakfast we took a cab into base, we couldn't get a pass for the car it's a long story, and took a tour of his ship.




I haven't figured out how to add captions on the slide show so you know what everything is but here are the highlights!
Oscar and Jonathan with the ship in the back... it's a big ship!
There are pics of the hold where they store the L-CAC's and huge yellow forklifts that are rated over 6000lbs.
The bunks where they sleep, with Oscar standing next to it so you can appreciate just who small the space is! Also theres one with white straps... they put those up so you don't fall out of the rack whiel sleeping.
The galley where they feed all 400+ personnel (sometimes 800 when the Marines are on board), 3 times a day and they are less then 100 seats!
On the main upper deck... I forget the real term, Jonathan and I posed under the ship crest.
The motorcycles in the hold belong to the CO & XO... very cool!
You can see the cavernous hold from a few different angles and decks on the ship. Along with the massive cranes... it's was very interesting.
There was a station to sign in, there's a pic of Oscar & Jonathan doing that.

We also got to see where he actually works everyday but because of it's classified nature, I wasn't allowed to take any pics in there. We met a few of his friends on ship and co-worker Tinga.

Mostly it is just nice to spend time with my son...... I miss him a ton!

Today we are off to Sea World... more on that tomorrow.

Farmer Joe's Corn

The corn is ready to harvest after a long wait. Joe planted these lovelies as seeds and has diligently watered and cared for them all summer long... his first crop! He even named a few of the plants. The big bummer was when the water was left running for a few hours one evening by accident and over half the stalks fell over. So at 9pm, with one small flashlight Becca, Joe and I set about saving them. With some twine...okay a lot of twine and ingenuity we got them set straight again!

The corn is so sweet.... now what to do with 37 ears of corn all ready to pick the same week?

Winter video

New camera for my birthday so I thought I'd try it out the video feature on Winter. She had lots to say and I obviously needs lots of practice centering and holding it steady!

Hard to believe she is almost 3 months old already.....

Blog game

Normally I get these types of things in emails but instead I found it on a blog.... it seemed to be a fun game.... Copy and paste the questions and answer on your blog. Then leave me a comment and let me know where I can read your responses. Invite others if you’d like!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 4:32am - Yes it's a stupid hour to be awake!
2. Diamonds or pearl ? Diamonds of course
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Mummy - ummm good but busy with the graphics.
4. What is your favorite TV show? I have many... Grey Anatomy, Closer, Saving Grace, Boston legal to name a few
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Coffee w/ chocolate Unjury, banana & egg w/ cheese but this takes me about an hour to eat.
6. What is your middle name? Allison
7. What food do you dislike? raw onions and raw fish.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? CD? I make my own of songs Oscar has on the computer
9. What kind of car do you drive? the land yacht - Suburban
10. Favorite sandwich? Grilled PB&J
11. What characteristic do you despise? Snotty
12. Favorite item of clothing? A new long denim dress
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Australia Oh wait I am going there!
14. Where would you retire to? Costa Rica most likely
15. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Turning 40 last year Pizza & beer with friends.
16. Furthest place you are sending this? Good Question! I'm guessing Australia since I know a friend there reads this blog.
17. Person you expect to send it back first? Probably no one... who else has an hour with nothing ot do but me!
18. When is your birthday? Jul 31st
19. Morning person or a night person? Morning..did you see my answer in #1?
20. What is your shoe size? 7.5 to 8
21. Pets? Of my own, just jack the dog...but we have 2 guests dogs for now.
22. Any exciting news you’d like to share with us? Nothing.... seriously nothing.....
23. What did you want to be when you were little? a Truck driver.. I know it's weird to many episodes of BJ and the Bear.
24. How are you today? ok, I guess.Darn pain in my side is bothersome as usual
25. What is your favorite flower? Don't have just one.... I like spring bouquets.
26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to seeing? Whatever the next holiday is that I get to have off work!
27. What are you listening to right now? The garbage truck as it rolls down the street and Winter crying downstairs.
28. What was the last thing you ate? Raisin toast with peanut butter at bedtime.
29. Do you wish on stars? Nope
30. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red
31. How is the weather right now? Sunny and warm
32. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Becca
33. Favorite soft drink? No soda for me thanks....
34. Favorite restaurant? I wish I could find a new Chinese place I loved.....
35. Favorite color? I like all kinds of colors but I'm partial to pink/purple/red in clothing.
36. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies... I loved Barbies.
37. Summer or winter? Winter
38. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate any day of the week!
39. Coffee or tea? Coffee
40. Do you want your friends to email you back? Yes!
41. When was the last time you cried? Monday at work out of sheer frustration with my boss.
42. What is under your bed? Shoes and storage of winter clothes.
43. What did you do last night? Picked up friends from the airport and played with Winter.
44. What are you afraid of? Death of one of my kids.
45. Salty or sweet? Sweet
46. How many keys on your key ring? 2 car & office
47. How many years at your current job? 18 months.
48. Favorite day of the week? Saturday - I get to lounge around the house and puts in the garden.
49. Do you make friends easily? friends - no, acquaintances- yes
50. How many people will you send this to? At least 5 people read my blog...lol
52. How many will respond? not sure… Let’s find out…. Leave a comment if you played along!

A break from Starbucks?

It's hard to imagine but Starbucks is giving us a break on our afternoon caffeine fix!

You can read teh details here http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,397624,00.html

To sum it up.... if you go in after 2pm AND take your receipt for a morning purchase of coffee, then you get your afternoon iced drink for a whopping $2... this is exciting for me.... it means I can afford to have my fix twice a day...Whoo-hoo!

Snoozing......

Remember that post about all the things I had to do this week... well yesterday afternoon I needed a break as did Winter, so "The Girls" took a nap. We both had a much better attitude when we woke up!

Oscar is doing okay.... he seemed better on Thursday than he was yesterday. There wasn't much pain while he was at the hospital but its been a bit bothersome since he got home. Overall, he is doing good, takes lots of 20 minute naps throughout the day.

My birthday on Thursday was very nice.... Oscar & Becca bought me a digital camera... point & shoot Kodak easy share... it's purple and super easy to use, I'm very excited about that! I've been dropping a ton of not so subtle hints for the last couple of months about wanting a digital camera! I also received two figures for my precious moment's collection... I love those things. And a toddy maker... I'm gonna do a whole post on that thing... it makes a killer cup of coffee! Winter brought me Starbucks and flowers at the office Thursday.... We ended up at Sushi Cafe for dinner one of my fav restaurants... they have the best Miso in Sacramento. It was a fun & quiet celebration of my 41 years on this earth. On Sunday, I'll figure out how to download pics from my camera so you can see the celebration!

This weekend will see the end of the moving.... finally! Just a need to get everything out of boxes now!?! Everyone has been putting in some long days to get this accomplished, so I'm glad the hard part is over! The upside is we see a lot of Winter because the best help we can give Suz & Justin is to entertain her while they move stuff.

Gearing up for baby shower now. I did some prep work yesterday while Oscar napped and the orzo pasta salad was a disaster! I'm one of those cooks that does a pinch of this, snip of that... "Oh I wonder how that will taste in here".... the answer to the last thought... not good! I used a raspberry walnut vinaigrette on it.... Yuck. I ended up tossing the whole thing! It doesn't happen often but when I make a bad call on an ingredient it's a doozy!