The Blog Recap of all Recaps

Okay, so I slipped off the Blogwagon, so what? Everyone falls once in awhile, give a girl a break, sheesh. In getting emails, texts and what-nots of "Hey, what's up with your blog?" "You alive" etc. etc. I have all these blogs in my head but unfortunately they got stuck there. I'm going to categorize and highlight the past monthish. Bare with me here. It may run out of order... I'm not the biggest fan of order :)

*Via Arte
*Pumpkin Carving with Family & Framily
*Halloween Night
*Gratuitous Polly Blog
*YAY she got a job! Oh wait...
*Run for the Hills
*Courtney & Patty say Merry Christmas: Animal Crossing Style
*Gobble Gobble Wobble Wobble
*I stayed up for 24 hours and all I got was this T-Shirt... thumb drive, measuring cups, mini mp3 players, iPod alarm clock, wrapping paper, cat carrier... oh *hahaha*
*AJ can paint which is like Yan can cook but not really even a little bit.

So that whole, grab a blanket, some popcorn and a big drink with a bendy straw, yeah, go do that.

Via Arte

So each year at the Marketplace, companies & people sponsor artists to create in the parking lot, Chalks of Art. They really are amazing. A few of my friends had their squares.

HB aka Jenn

Above, see the ghosties? Alix colored those :)

Darla aka DisneyChica

Trish aka LeFty

A mere wonder what some people can do with some chalk. There were a lot of really neat pieces out and maybe one year, I'll get out here and do one too. For now, I'll stay on this side of the lens.



Pumpkin Carving with Family & Framily

Check my blogs from previous years and there is some mention of pumpkin carving the night before Halloween and moms homemade chili beans and cornbread. For those of you that are new, I'm not really sure when it started but I know I look forward to it just as much as Halloween night itself. This year I decided it was time everyone got together and my mom was a little excited at the idea of meeting all of my friends. So out went the invites... mom says, "okay, what's the count?" My response... 5 chilren, 18 adults *SMILES* She said, okay, 2 crock pots it is. I told her Alix and I would take care of desserts. The Patty even brought over some homemade potato cheese soup...mmm.

Since the weather was touch and go, we set up tables in the garage. It was great. It made me so happy to see everyone laughing and carving and just overall having a great time. *sigh* YAY

Here were the invites :)

Here are a few of our masterpieces :)

All Hallows Night

So I took 2.5 days off this year for Halloween. I hosted Halloween bunco Wednesday the 29th, Pumpkin Carving was the 30th and Halloween... well duh. I hate rushing rushing all the time so this was great! I did alot of cooking and baking and I loved it. So we headed over to mom and dad's around noon and with all 4 of us working we were done by 3:30 and had plenty of time to go find bubbles for the bubble fogger machine. Oh yeah, you read that right, it blows little bubbles with fog in them and when they pop they literally go "poof" and you get to watch the fog dissipate... oooooohhhhh preeeeettty. This actually turned out to be the hit of the night, from 2 yr olds to dads being called away trying to swat the bubbles, hilarious indeed.

This was Alix's 1st Halloween in CA. When asked when is the last time you carved a pumpkin, she honestly couldn't remember which made me a little sad. I mean I love me some Halloween but it's so different in the city, they can't have Christmas trees in most of their apartments. Yes you heard me right, don't get me started on that one. She carved her some major pumpkins. I did 4 this year and wanted to do more but I couldn't find anymore. I was so pumpkin drunk LMAO I'm finally getting faster and more efficient. I hollowed out 2, carved, then rinsed and reapplied... no wait. You know what I mean.
What I've learned so far about this year is it's all so much easier... Happy 1st (of many) Halloween's Lex.

Gratuitous Polly Blog

This little kitten is funny. I've never had a female kitten and they are definitely a lot different than males. She is very princess like. Her full name could easily be: Princess Polly Poofy Tail. We thought she was going to be a long hair but just her tail, it's pretty cute the way she flaunts it around and curls it around her when she's cold. She looks like a squirrel.
She also prefers bags as much as I like them; our recyclable grocery bags, my messenger bag, my lappy bag and especially my gym bag as displayed below. I think her plan was to hide to attack our feet as we walked by but then she got cozy sleepy.

YAY! She got a new job... Oh wait.

So we got to rest easy for a few days because Alix got a new job courtesy of framily. The thing is the only real leads we've had have been through framily only and we are quite thankful for that. Through some major impressive insecurities and basically one big jerk, they had to retract the job offer. So for 24 hours we got to relax about things and feel some ease. That was really nice within itself and even though it didn't work out, it isn't nixed completely, just for now. So keep good thoughts for us.

I struggled the rest of the week. I just liked seeing her so happy. It had been awhile and although near all other parts of our lives are so great this was the last thing we needed. So Thursday night my mom called me to check in and asked if I wanted to help my dad out in the mountains on Saturday, I was still so "bleah" I said sure without even asking what for. Come to find out, it was to chop and load wood. Uh... yikes.

Run for the Hills


So in further findings, there are 4 of us and 3 trucks to fill. *blinks* The boys used the chainsaws for obvious reasons that I am a big klutz and handling something that can cut my leg off in one swoop. I chose to chuck the wood closer to the trucks. We drove and drove and drove and 5000ft above sea level later, we made our first stop. Lots of pine, dries quickly, cuts easily but also burns kinda fast. So we didn't want too much of it. 1 hr and 25 minutes later we had 1 truck full. Moving on down the road...driving... trees pine cones trees... ooh LOOK mini Christmas trees. Pull up *inhale big sniff, mmm Christmas*, walk into a not so clear clearing cut some more pine, load it and move on. Note: There is a super huge fine AND jail time for cutting or even hurting the Christmas trees hence the reason I don't have a Charlie Brown little Christmas tree in my living room right now.

It was cold up there and I was sweating and it felt good. I detoxed all the negative crap that I had been feeling from the week. Something about hauling your ass up and down hills with less oxygen makes you see things a little different. Well that and to watch yourself because poison ivy sneaks up on you. And Damn it all to hell if every furry big ass stripey jumping spider didn't come out to welcome us... oh and the termites. Yummy. *smug face* The maggots of trees.


So we ate cold burritos, chips and had lots of electrolytes. The boys met guys about horses or something like that and I held it the entire time, we're talking like 8 hours. It was fun. I got to wear gloves that were about 3 sizes too big so once in awhile when I was tossing logs my glove would go flying off or if George went to grab a piece from me when we were passing in lines, he would pull it half way off. It was funny. I got to see a lot of leaves fall, some of the season of itself giving way to winter and once again, I was truly feeling like "it just wasn't meant to be for now."

The Indians have a lot of land near the sequoias and have since developed since last I had visited. They even had a gas station/store/subway setup as you go in/come out of the hills. I vowed we would stop on the way back. My dad happily stopped and I got to PEE! I got a sandywich from subway and it was super yummy. I always forget, no tax, so the price is the price. I got a little bit of headache on the way home but the food seemed to fix that problem.

I never got as sore as I thought I would. Thankfully, that coulda jacked me up! The boys found some serious oak at the last stop and I couldn't move those pieces, hell it took 2 of them to lift one piece if that says anything. I just ran through the road killing spiders, those damn things are speedy and I think on crack. Overall, I woke up the next day feeling a lot better. Yay for some good hard work.

Courtney & Patty say Merry (early) Christmas: Animal Crossing Style!


Meet Willow in the Town of Crayola!

I think these girls like me or something. I'm thoroughly enjoying this game, it's so cute. I like shaking the trees and finding bells. I also like picking weeds, these ones don't make me itchy. THANKS AGAIN GIRLS!

Gobble Gobble Wobble Wobble

I still have trouble grasping that the year is almost over. Thanksgiving is here and as I look around I'm thankful for everyone that I have been blessed to surround myself with. Lucky in love and life and it's filled with laughter.

This also marks, Alix's first Turkey Day away from home. As much as her "MA" drives her nuts, I knew this would still be tough. We got up late, started the pies a little late and had some "discrepancies" about foil lmao (always funny a week later). All for not of course because they came out fine and were eaten heartily.

The yam/sweet potato thingies were different, it wasn't near as formal from what I can tell but overall it went well and she will be home for Christmas even though my mom wasn't very happy to hear that lol

So we ate, turkey, ham, mashed taters, corn, gravy, stuffing and rolls, there was also cranberry "sauce" and those orange things but I opted out of those :) We also had a grueling game of Ticket to Ride Marklin and by round 3 Alix had declared she quits because supposedly we made it impossible for her to complete her routes but ended up almost lapping us. *RIIGGHHTT*

I stayed up for 24 hours and all I got was this T-Shirt... thumb drive, measuring cups, mini mp3 players, iPod alarm clock, wrapping paper, cat carrier... oh *hahaha*

So I enjoy the Tulare Outlets, it's a nice little drive north. I heard on the radio they were opening midnight Thanksgiving night! Assuming I didn't HAVE to have something from Best Buy that might be an option. Can't tell till we get the ads and see what everyone else wanted to do. Since Qrt was working, Patty was going to ride with us so they wouldn't have 2 cars out and Darla wanted to go because she had never been out for Black Friday before and neither had Alix. No one could set where and when we were going, we just knew at some point we were going to meet up. Alix and I tried to go home to get some sleep but we ended up tickling and laughing in bed so we got up, got dressed, sent some txts out and headed to Tulare. Our plan was to be back around 3:am when Qrt got off work. Turns out time flies when you're shopping in the middle of the night. Next thing we know we're heading back to Bako and it's already 2:30am. We meet Qrt at Patty's house, then decide to go to Best Buy and sit in the cars until everyone goes in and not even bother standing in line. We played "would you rather" through our car windows and next thing we know, it's time to head in. Best Buy is so good at gettin' their shit organized vs. some other stores that let people get trampled to death.
We were in and out by 6:15 and headed to Target, got a few things wandered aimlessly, got in line and then headed to Michael's to do the same. Courtney & Patty caught up with us then, Darla called Nessa to see if she wanted to meet us for breakfast around 9:am. Grumpily she agreed :)

As we were waiting for our table and Nessa, some guy walked up and shook hands with Alix and said hi to Darla. Turns out, it was Vanessas' bosses lol So we joked with them for awhile, they got seated... then we got seated some what next to them, go figure. We were fairly quiet, ate our food and then I was ready for bed. Next thing we know, the waitress is telling us our breakfast has been paid for... awww Nice Vanessa bosses :)

So we headed home, lugged our stuff upstairs, changed into comfy pj's and crashed out. That was the night we didn't go to sleep and shopped it all away.

AJ can paint which is like Yan can cook but not really even a little bit.

So there are various galleries around town, most of them in the district of 19th street. This one is a little further out and is in the Chain Younger Building. They wanted artists to paint ornaments, 1 large or 4 small with a 40% comission. Sure I'm game, sign me up. So here is what I came up with.

Here are some sketches of what they will kinda look like.

Here is the work area, POM glasses worked really well to hold them in place for drying and painting.

This is the "Blank Canvas"

Here is the snow drying, it took a lot longer than I thought. Oops.

Here are all 4 finished and ready to go :)

The lead of the Christmas 4x4's -- Santa

The Penguin

The Turtle

And the Reindeer

So I was pretty happy with them. You always "wish" for more time but the girls at the gallery seemed to really like them, so YAY.

Back Blog - Should be dated 11-4-08

Time to Put my Homework Answers to Good Use

I happily woke up early voting morning. I was there about 5 till 7 and wasn’t too surprised by the line but I was hoping I would make it to work on time. It moved fairly fast and I was inside by 7:10 am and done by 7:25am even as snail moving as the people were. I know they are volunteers but good grief people.

Anyway, I opted for the paper ballot so I could speedily fill in my bubbles and get my hard earned sticker… and maybe even a free starbucks later. Color Me Mine is also allowing you to paint for free if you have your sticker.

A few noticeable items worth mentioning while standing in line. I was “reading” the news on TV the previous night while I was at the gym and the election officials were saying how no election propaganda is allowed within 100ft of polling area. This includes signs, bumper stickers and clothing. Really? Bumper stickers? You’re going to have your volunteers who don’t know a P from a B go check the parking lot… whatever. It is “asked” you abide by these rules. So item 1 that is mentionable: as I walk up and see all the cars in the parking lot I see McCain, Yes on 8 stickers on about 8 cars… leave it to the Republicans to break this rule. I mean after all, they do litter their signs everywhere. I say litter because you’re suppose to have permission to place your signs… out on a corner of a dirt field isn’t convincing me you know the land owner or around the parks.

Which brings me to a tangent. When you place these signs and take your child to a park and they ask, “Mommy what is that yellow sign with people on it for?” You just granted your child their first lesson in Hate. *thumbs up* good job moron. Whether you put the sign up for Yes on 8 or are opposed (thank you for seeing that all humans should be treated equally) now the person who is opposed also has to teach their child that people are mean and dislike what they do not understand… way to take a little piece of their childhood away. Way to make this world even uglier by saying “your God” doesn’t approve of this and if “your God” teaches you to hate then you can keep him.

Mentioning #2: Complaining people. My only comment to you is, you can’t complain if you aren’t willing to get off your fat ass and do it yourself. Try volunteering, I dare you. I’ve done plenty of it and not just to say I’ve done it but because I want a better understanding of my fellow humans. I’ve worked in churches (shut up it didn’t burn down), with animals, coaching girls, served homeless people, wrapped presents to raise money for charities, worked at special Olympics… and so on. But I get the lady who bitches that the site managers name isn’t written on the paper out front or she doesn’t have access to the restroom or I’m sorry as she said, “the baffrooom.” *blinks* Moving on… #3 don’t let one person tell me I can fill out my ballot anywhere over there and then a guy tell me that isn’t allowed. Then when I stand line, I hear another lady (different from the one who told me) you can fill it out anywhere. *shakes head* Silly people.

So that was my voting experience, not complaining so much as mentioning some things that made me laugh a little bit. I wonder what else is going on out there in voting land.

Oh and one more thing, on the radio they were saying this town in New Hampshire only had 21 people in it and they were all done voting by 7:15am. Obama won, 16 to 5 :)

The Pumpkin People Have Spoken

In my adventures online searching for pumpkin patterns, I came across this really cool site. They even had presidential patterns, huh, who knew? Anyway, I can completely stamp my approval of this site as Democratic Friendly :)

It's worth the $5 (or whatever you choose to donate),

Check it out: http://www.zombiepumpkins.com

I like to think good ideas spawn from other good ideas. You take something you like and make it your own. You don’t copy it but make it something good, something you love, something that is… well… you.

Songs inspire me a lot, movies do as well but sometimes it’s a leaf in the wind or a smile from a passing stranger or the way rain might land on my hand while I’m walking into a store.

Today’s bloggie inspiration comes from Ladybugs. As children, more so, little girls tend to spend their time daydreaming of this and that and what better way to be whisked off to the land of faeries then to play in the garden. I always enjoyed being outside when I was young. My mom always has kept a beautiful landscape and it’s fun to get lost in the flowers. I’m not sure what the little flowers were in the corner but I always looked for ladybugs. I wanted a collection of them since I believed they brought me good luck. I would spend hours and hours looking for them but when it came down to it they seemed to disappear. I would also exhaust myself to a pointwhere I would fall a sleep in the grass in the shade of the trees. When I would wake up…ladybugs. A few on my shirt, my feet and enjoying the flowers just as I had.

This is, of course, a life lesson. Sometimes people search and search for their one true love or their ideal house or insert biggest desire here --> <--. What the lady bugs teach us is: Good things will come to you when you are at your most peaceful state of mind.

Surprise #2

The return of Spin. So he asked me about a month ago if it would be a good idea to surprise Lex. Hells YEAH! So I gave him some weekends and about a week later he gave me an iteniery. I should have planned it so he was at the surprise party but oh well, this was just as good. I left work early and met him at the airport.

I had some serious nostagia building as I sat there in anticipation of his arrival. It had been since February since I was last there... wow how time flies and I'm even more grateful that we don't have to do that anymore. The idea of being away from her makes my eyes water and my heart ache.

We pulled up to the apartment and she wasn't home yet. So I had to park on the other side in hopes she wouldn't see my car. I txt her as if I were still at work wondering why she hadn't come online yet. She txt back that she had wrote the time down wrong and would be home soon. We sat there waiting and about 15 minutes Polly ran toward the door to let us known she was home. She walked in with her head down and Spin said, "it's about time you got home." She jumped again (poor girl), looked from him to me and said "fu**ers" but I guess we deserved that. :)

She was glad to have her bestest friend here. I'm not sure there is too much she misses from the East coast in the way of company she kept but I know she misses her Spin :)

We had a great 5 days but it sure did go fast and luckily we're already talking about "next time."

The lists of what Polly likes and doesn't like.


Likes:
Mashed Potatoes
Cheetos
Pickles
Chicken
Tuna
Cereal Milk
Corn
Green Beans
Ranch Dip
Cooked Carrots
Caramel Bugles
Pretzels
Ice Cream (any flavor)
Dr. Pepper
Limeade
Shredded Cheese
French Fries
Hamburger Meat
Hot Dogs
Dino Chicken Nuggets
Cake
Cheesecake
Olives
Doritos
Chicken Noodle Soup
Pasta

Dislikes:
Ruffles Chips


I know I'm missing some stuff but this cat will try anything! We don't feed her this crap regularly, most of the time we'll look down and she's eating bits off our plates or we drop something on the ground and she beats us to it when we try to pick it up. Some of the real oddity stuff I tried to give her as a detourant so she'd stop wanting what was on our plates, turns out, kittens like pickles. *shrugs* who knew?

The funny thing was she wouldn't eat the ruffle chip... weird but at least we got something on the dislike list now. LOL

Surprise!

So a few weeks back I thought it would be fun to throw a surprise party for Alix. A part II if you will, to her "Happy 1st Birthday in California" Birthday. So I started asking the framily when a good night would work out and the 3rd seemed like a good consensus and she wouldn't expect it being almost a week after her birthday :)

The story was this, Patty & Courtney were going out of town to "get away" from the problems of life for a night but Jake the dog needed his Valley Fever pills around 7:30pm. I spent previous evenings at Patty's dropping stuff off and even took an extended lunch to make a Pokeball cake. Yay to Patty for finishing it off :)

Friday after work, I was going to Patty's to get "instructions" for Jake and then I would be home. I actually ran to the bank, grabbed some balloons and decorations and headed to Patty's to frost the cake.

This was awesome, I got home and coaxed the girl up with dinner and a possible movie. As we were leaving, Patty even sent a txt saying the key was under the mat. So I walked up and got the key and opened the 1st door, had to fake that I forgot the other key and walk past Alix like I was going back to the car. She tried the door and said, oh it's open, walked in, said: Ohh it smells like Patty, turned the light on and everyone jumped out and yelled surprise and she jumped too! Oops :)

We had a great evening just hanging with the framily and eating taco salads. Thanks girls, it meant mucho mucho to her and Happy 1st CA Birthday babe, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did planning it.

The Pokeball Cake

Karma-logical



I was suppose to blog about this last week but well, I got busy people. I had a surprise party to throw (that's another blog). Alix and I were riding in the car and she was commenting on wanting to ask for some extra money as a cushion from her parents but she didn't do it because she was afraid of my Karmalogical thinking. *blinks* I have a "way" of thinking. heehee This word made me laugh pretty hard.



If you think about it, Karma works a lot like that scientific theory "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." It's like the hippies way of science or something. She said she didn't want to ask for it because she was afraid of what would happen.


Karma is logical, whether you believe in it or not, it's real. If you do something bad it is only fair that something bad be done to you. The interesting thing, it may not be done directly to you but to someone you care about. So in a roundy way, it does affect you because now you have to watch someone you love and care for, suffer or go through whatever the universe sees fit.

So someone took my picture to hang on a wall, maybe that part of their house catches on fire... you never know really. Do not mess with which you can not reason.

Karmalogical: The events that lead up in order to a reaction caused by an earlier good or bad action.

Should I be Mad or Honored?

So I went to pick up some pieces from the Bakersfield Musuem of Art today and some photos from the Kern County Fair. No problems at the BMoA and then I get to the fair. The woman tells me they are in the boxes under the counter in Alphabetical order. So I get into the last box and see 1...2...3... &... Where is my Red Sox pic? The one I got a 2nd place for... So I start over from the beginning and go through the whole box. Nothing. I go to the 1st box, nothing, 2nd box, nothing. I ask the lady if there is a separate box for B&W's or if they were anywhere else... no. She proceeds to check them herself, confirm what I had found, nothing. She walks back behind her counter and says, this is why you can't wait so long to pick up your photos, they just boxed up what was left and brought them over here.

*blinks* So hold up, did she just blame me for not coming to get my photos and them getting lost? Did she just state that 1 week is "so long?" Because they just released them last week. A few years ago I left them there (by accident) for like 3 months and those people had no problem pulling them out for me. She was rattling on about something else and I just walked out.

I was the saddest little kid ever. That was my favorite pic, the only one that placed. The one that won Viewer's favorite at the America the Beautiful show at the Gallery... and now it's gone. Yeah I know I can have it reprinted but that's not the point. That bitch didn't care even enough to lie to me and say "maybe someone grabbed it by accident or I'll take your name down and maybe it will turn up and I'm really sorry." But no, I get the lady who is a jerk.

On the other hand, did someone like my pic so much they just had to steal it? *giggles* now that part is kinda funny.

*shrugs* Well anyway, I hope it was worth it for whomever took it, Karmalogical Justice is naughty naughty. *big smiles*

I broke my money maker.


I would like to file this under: Things that really Fuckin’ HURT!

I was doing my normal, unscrew the cap, attach the sample to the machine run of mill kind of thing this AM when all of the sudden I felt the worst pinching throbbing pain in my thumb! I looked down to see blood dripping off my thumb. Apparently, on one of the bombs (stainless steel cylinders) as I was screwing the attachment piece on, there was some metal that had been sheered and was sticking up like a metal splinter basically, so as I turned my thumb, it sliced right across it.

So then I sit down to type after I Nurse Betty my thumb (Pokemon reference) and realize that thumb is the “zero button” thumb on the 10 key that is about 93% of my job… oh great.

Dinner at Olive Garden

So one hopes that the family will be accepting of the other half. I'm not just speaking of Gay couples but in any situation. Once again, I've been dropped in to the amazing setting of my life. My parents in great form, offered to take us, some of the extended family and friends out for dinner... on their tab. *smiles* So Alix picked Olive Garden, those never ending pasta bowl comercials really are tempting.

We got the big table in the middle under the fake grapes, it was pretty fun. We ordered drinks, appeitizers, food food and more food. It was so super yummy. Then it was back to the parents house for birthday cake and... presents.

Since we went to the beach last week, we asked to borrow my moms bike for Alix. My parents then got the idea to buy her a bike for her birthday. My dad called and asked me with her sitting right next to me in the car. I did my best to contain my YES THAT'S A GREAT IDEA! It was cute when they wheeled it out, she had the biggest smile on her face :) She got some great gift cards as well to some of her favorite stores.

It's funny how even after my 31 years walking the Earth, my parents continue to teach me so much about them and how loving and wonderful they can be. I mean, I know they are cool. I get it, I appreciate them so very much but it really makes me happy that get just how happy I am and are so welcoming to the newer aspects of my life. Not just in love but my life overall.

Beach Birthday Weekend

So Monday the 29th was the girls 28th Birthday :) Awww. My Aunt & Uncle got a trailer at the beginning of summer and had just so perfectly happened to plan on camping at the beach the weekend of Alix’s birthday. So we asked if we could set up a tent in their campground to which they insisted we stay inside with them since there was plenty of room… um OKAY!

We left after work on Friday and rolled into Morro Bay about 8:30pm. We stopped by Round Table first to get a pizza for a late dinner. MMMM. We watched some TV then headed to sleep with our big flannel blankets since it was so cold. Saturday we woke up about 10:30 (yay for sleeping in), had egg and (super crispy, oops) bacon burritos. Dragged our butts a little, took a shower and headed out about 1:30pm to show the girl around. I took her into SLO. Now as most of us Central Cal kids know, Morro Bay is known for its fog. True to form, it was cooler and foggy but as soon as we got on the freeway the sun was shinning through and it was WARM. We pulled into SLO, dug out some change for the parking meter and I showed her some of my fav shops. We bought some fun stuff and next thing we knew it was 3:40pm and we were suppose to be back at camp by 4:30pm. Oops. So we left to find BevMo and Old Navy. Bought some cool shirts and some alcohol to enjoy for the evening, then headed back and got in about 6:00pm to the smell of Tri-Tip on the grill…mmm. We also had, garlic bread, salad and baked potatoes.

After we stuffed ourselves, we headed outside to enjoy the cool weather and make SMORES! This was fun since we had to use a wire hanger and when you would try to turn the marshmallow it would stay in place. This didn’t slow the yumminess down at all. Earlier in the day we were at Rocky Mtn. Chocolate Factory and I had bought a caramel marshmallow to make a special smore. I tore it in half to make 2 and have enough to share. So I was trying to be careful because I didn’t want the caramel to drip off, then I turned to pick up the graham cracker and I forgot to break it. So I turned to look at the marshmallow and spin it, it was getting soft fast and I was trying to hurry. I reached back for the cracker and turned back around and I LOST IT! IT SLID OFF IN 1 WHOLE SECOND! *curses* So now I only had one more half to try and get it right but at least this time I had the crackers ready. Perfection, nailed it! I had a piece of chocolate on the top and bottom as well and it was super yummy! We passed it around so everyone could have a bite lol. We played cards for a little bit, then went inside because the fog was getting too wet. We watched Hancock, then some Saturday Night Live and fell a sleep for the night.

Next morning we got up, loaded the GPS’s up, went into Morro Bay so she could see that cute little town. We fed the seal’s and looked at some yucky fishies. Headed to Pismo to meet the family for Pizza at Klondike’s. We walked out on the pier first and found a geocache, it was pretty cool. My aunt and uncle were now hooked, so we walked back in to town and found another one by our favorite ice cream place. Then down the road we found a TB hotel and did a 3 for 3 exchange. Now we were all hungry for pizza. I showed Alix my Ms. Pac Man skills and we had a really good evening. We found one more nano geocache down the road from Klondike’s and then headed back to the campsite. Grabbed some cheesecake on the way, watched some tv and called it a night.

I guess no one is ever really ready to go home from vacation but we were missing Polly a lot. We woke up, packed our stuff up, had some random snacks for breakfast and headed into Pismo one more time to do a little more window shopping and grab some lunch. Decided it was time to hit the open road and rolled into town about 5:30pm.

The neatest part about the weekend was looking at the beaches/towns through fresh eyes. I forget while these places are like my backyard and I know they are always there for me to enjoy, they are very much new to Alix. She is already finding her favoritey places and I love to see her smile when she sees something new. I’m looking forward to many many more new adventures for the both of us.

I hope you had a really special 1st California Birthday luv… Happy Birthday sweetheart.

I have a nice Boss

So I'm sitting here working and my tumbly decided it was time to be grumbly. So I went to heat up some food that my girl packed for my lunch. I was in the middle of eating when my boss walked up and asked if I wanted anything from the Mexican food place we go to often. I pointed at my food and said no thanks I'm good. He persisted with, are you sure you don't want anything for later? I decided to be good and again say no thanks, I have soup for later. He then said, well I'll be in and out tomorrow but remind me that I owe you lunch.

*smiles* It's just nice sometimes. I think I already know what I'm going to have :)

The Days that just Finished and the Week Ahead.

*phew* Alright, so I spent the last 5 days overhauling the house. Now everything has a place, is organized and feels much much better. Who knew 2 people could have so much stuff :) Everything seems so much more open now, it's weird. I've been hanging more of my stuff up and that's kinda fun to see everywhere, it's like a shrine to myself but not as egotisical as it might sound. *giggles*

We had 2 days in a row of Framily time and it was great but it never seems long enough. We all find the funniest conversations to have, some of us seem to find the fastest ways to *insert both feet* into our own mouths and somehow or another new nicknames, words or sayings are invented.

The Girls' birthday is in 7 whole days! Woohoo. In 4 days we leave for the beach but I'm very much ahead of myself. Today I finish the laundry and put a few things away in the hope chest. Then I'm going to work on Geocaching stuff for the beach. Tomorrow we are off to the Great Kern County Fair with the family :) I'm excited to show Alix our hokey little fair. Wednesday I will start laundry and packing for said beach trip. Thursday we finish up any last minute packing/geocaching. I have to do some shopping in there at some point. Then Friday after work, it's off to the Beach for 3 nights... YAY!!!

For now, I'm hustling and bustling at work so I don't leave a mess to come back to a mess, cause that just sucks. So now that I'm done with lunch, BACK TO WORK! *cracks whip* (No ideas Patty *heehee*)

I'm enjoying my day just wearing a little happiness on my sleeve. :)

Positively Positive List o' Things to Do This Week

So it's been awhile since I've blogged. Well for me anyway. I'm keeping a positive outlook hour by hour, day by day, week by week and so on and so forth. I figure I can't control it all the time but if I'm making a vallant effort then the happpy fairy is bound to surround me and I'm okay with that. I have a lot on my mind. Not in a bad way but of things I'd like to accomplish in the next couple weeks. So I thought to keep you all posted on what's going on with me(us) that I'd make the list. And it will allow me to look it over on my time without it burdening my dreams. My own pensive if you will.

*Rearrange the Dining Room for easier gaming access.
*Set the extra room to be a workable space.
*Get more pics up on the walls
*Rearrange the IKEA shelves in the kitchen
*Get the laundry put away
*Re-evaluate the bedroom
*Think Birthday presents
*Make Halloween Aprons
*Geocaching Beach Weekend
*Work on Halloween Invitations
*Decide what to make for the "Look what I can do" potluck.

That's what I have for now... Good Night!

The Busy Season



So begins the process of cooling down... weather wise, not me. :) September always brings a lot of cake. Many birthdays, events and such. This Saturday is the kickoff, so to speak. Saturday we head up to Berkeley to see Dave Mattews Band at the Greek theatre on campus, it's an outdoor venue, they allow blankets on the grass (where we'll be) and snacks, so YAY for that. We'll do a little geocaching of course and then Monday night starts the Lesbian football league. So I will be there with some kind of yummy side dish and dessert :)

Next Saturday is Kurt's BirthdayCon which includes a full day of gaming, friends and food. 3 very vital things to livng a happy well rounded life. I'm hoping to play Puerto Rico, Princes of Florence and Settlers. I love those games. To kick off that morning though, we have a CITO event for Geocaching. So we get to pick up trash from the messy people at the park, plant (and find some new caches) and just enjoy some geeky company. That is also the drop for the fair at Southside camera... yay for the fair being right around the corner.

The 20th we hang at the 'rents for the "Look What I Can do Potluck/Swimmie/Wii game night." This is based on the fact that we are basically at Color Me Mine every Saturday night in our PJ's to paint because it's free and we can all afford that. So we're going to bring dishes, desserts, drinks on things we've made at color me mine.

The last weekend of the month finds us at the beach with my aunt and uncle for 3 or 4 days. Celebrating Alix's birthday at one of our favoritey places. A year ago, we were at our other favorite spot, Fenway Park!

So those are some highlights for the month and THEN... It's October! and that dear kiddies means Halloween month woohoo!

Sometimes things are just hard


If I could sing so magnificently you could forget that pain even existed in the world, I would;
If I could hug you in the most perfect way to relieve your grief, I would;
If I could look so deep into your eyes that your tears filled my eyes, I would;
If I could touch you so the rush of relief was such pure joy; I would;
If I can help you in any way, even it’s just to make you smile; I always will… this is my promise to you as your friend.

Look where our coin is... somewhere in Belgium :) It's kinda cool. The funny part is, now I have to use babelfish to translate the comments people use. How exciting, I hope it stays over there for awhile before coming back to the states.

Your ordinary average rectangle cake...

Turned into a pirate chest cake of goodness!

Monday is my HB's birthday (although she did change it to October 13th but that's another blog). This girl loves her some Halloween, Pirates and Faery's. I know, quite a combo, a girl after my own heart really. LOL I saw this cake in one of my many fantabulous books and knew at some point I had to make it for Jenn. So hope you had a very merry unbirthday HB (Halloween Buddy for those of you that don't know).

This is Jack. As in "I'm gonna Jack you up!" I'm glad I opted for Converse today and not bare feet like yesterday.

Here is my 1st project for Halloween-- Giant Spider Sacks YAY!!!

Here is a closer view of the bricks.

This is the platter near completion... I have to carve bricks on the far right and the top red strip. YES I said carve, I'm using a small metal tool to carve them out by hand.

Sadly, for the most part, people really suck.

I'm not sure why that title makes me smile. Well I have a sorta idea, I mean, afterall, I did come up with it. The trick is to read the blog and see if you can figure out why. Dear blog followers, this does not necessarily pertain to you because for the most part, you are my friends whom I associate with daily, some by email only and then there are the rest of you that may just find me on a blog roll. I'll just leave it at that.

How many of you can say you have a friend who will jab their plastic fork in someone's eye for you or throw chewed gum in a mean persons' path or write checks their asses most certainly can't cash or make a voodoo doll that, if you knew this girl, you'd know that shit would work OR someone who would love you so deep that you finally see you shouldn't put so much stock in people who don't really care about you at all? Any of you... just one true friend that in your time of need would know this kind of humor/love is what you needed most?

I walk around this world and people are mean. They treat one anothers partners badly, I'm not just saying Gay people or Straight people, it's equal opportunity shittiness all around here kids. Never in my life have I been more firm of a believer in surrounding myself with good people... in heart, body, mind and soul. It rubs your soul and if you've surrounded yourself with liars, malicious intentioned, selfish people what do you think you'll become... how long before you don't even realize you are a horrible person that... sucks. And if you read this and you're getting mad or angry, you know what that feeling means? You're guilty and the truth hurts people, deal with it and don't blame others.

There is some bad bad juju out there people...

Makes me feel so lucky to realize I can confidiently look at my framily and know that I am surrounded by good intentions.

Polly wants to help us look at Halloween Magazines :)

This is my "I'm a grumpy face today" cake.

You handed me an Olive Branch but I wanted a Forest.

Hours later, things are put into a completely different perspective. There is some major truth behind the sayings take some time before you say what's on your mind (at the time) because things said in haste can NOT be taken back. Nor are they forgotten. We all have our times of selfishness. We may not realize it at the time but it is what it is and when you get to a point where you can reflect at yourself and say, "wow, I just made that completely about me and that really wasn't the point at all." Own it, say your sorry and you can probably say you are growing in a good direction. When you stop blaming people around you, stop dwelling on what others are doing, with true, deep, heart felt intentions of being a better person, this is when you can feel better about yourself as a person. The rest will naturally fall into place within a short time. I guess the major problem is like most everything else in life, we want results now, we want it fixed yesterday, we just want it better with as little work as possible. But are you really going to value it if it's just handed to you? *food for thought*

Last night I took a very generous, heartfelt gesture and turned it into something it wasn't. Maybe I was tired or maybe I was just being selfish... I'm weighing heavily toward the latter of the two. The point is, sometimes when something is presented to you try not to overanalyize what was just handed to you but go with it. Welcome what it is, a geniune offer on a compromise that is a step toward things falling into place. Otherwise, you may find that the short time it could take to help things along just gets further and further away and the olive branch is burned into a pile of ashes.

Thank you for my Olive Branch, I promise not to disregard it in such a manner again.

500th Post :)



So this is my 500th post. *thinks* pretty cool really. I've spent some good times and not so good times blogging about this and that over many years. I write here because it's a place for me to see where I've come from and how I got "here." Depending on where that is at the time. This is where I keep track of myself and my feelings. I don't want to forget things and constantly learn from myself. Allow myself to grow and just... be.

I had an idea today. The neat thing about ideas is they can not die, maybe lost but if you believe in them, they will live on forever, especially if you put them in writing. Today my idea is in regards to how I feel about Alix. It's a simple idea but it makes me smile really big.

Alix, when I think about us and how we've become closer over the past months I realize many things but mostly this; the universe had an idea for me before I first opened my eyes and that idea was you. You've been my friend since before I was born, the universe set it up for us that way and when we finally came together after all those years, it was just like you were away for a really really long time and we've finally been given the chance to catch up and grow together from here on.

You are so incredibly special and I'm so very thankful for you. I love the idea of you... and even more... us.

Meet Audrey's New Partner

So Sunday was an annual event at my parents' house. Most all of my moms siblings come to visit along with their children and their children about this time of year. Only 2 of the 8 kids weren't there, my 2 aunts that live out of the state.

We walked in and not so surprising to me my mom immediately introduced Alix as my new partner. I took this in stride as I know my mom and if she truly believes in something then everyone must know it and be okay with it, there is no arguing that point. She is very opinionated and isn't shy about it. She bestowed that gift to me and I couldn't be luckier for it. However, as much as I didn't bat an eye at it, Alix said she was quite taken a back with some form of her mouth dropping open a bit. I was in the process of hugging while she was shaking hands so I didn't truly get to enjoy her facial expression.

I had a moment of pure pride in my mother and happiness in my heart as I heard those words escape her mouth. I couldn't think of a better way for that to have gone. Welcome to the family baby girl.

The Snarky Cover Letter

To whom it may or may not concern:

I have applied for 18 jobs, gone on 6 interviews and now work 15 hours at a book store where my supervisor thinks he is the end all of all things concerning anything in the written form from the beginning of time. I currently make $8.00 an hour and while enjoying a local carnival I realized the monkey's that dance by the vendors make better money than I do and they only have to work a few nights a week and not even every week. Not that I have anything against monkeys but I never thought I'd be envious of free room and board with all the bananas you can eat for free. You have to admit, it's tempting but I digress.

For the love of all that is holy, give me a shot and I'll impress you down to your socks. At this point I have nothing else to lose so I thought I'd just be brutally honest and hope that you can respect that. Thank you and have a great day.

Thank you for reading most of this,
Alix R.


Alix asked my "professional" opinion on what to put on a cover letter for a job she is applying for. The above was my answer. I mean basically they hire some cheesehead who doesn't know jack shit so they can pay them nothing or hire family so why the fuck not have a little fun right? The worst that happens is they think you're damn funny and you get a cool boss with a kick ass sense of humor.

After she was done laughing hysterically, she told me I should blog it, so "wah-la!" :)

The One Where My God Daughter Grew Up...

So my bestest friend of 17 years (holy shit that's a long time) moved to Oklahoma in January of this year and with her went my God Daughter, Kaley Ann. Kaley is and probably will be the closest thing I ever have to a child. I cared for her a lot the first 2 years of her life so we have an extremely special bond. She spent a lot of time with me over the years growing up as well. Kristin did very well with her as a single mommy and worked very hard to get where she is. Kaley is now 11 years old.... 12 in September. Well this is their first trip back into town and they will be here for a month. I'm looking forward to spending some time with them.

I was informed this AM that my 11-YEAR OLD GOD DAUGHTER HAD HER FIRST KISS! *falls down* WTF!!! I thought I'd get a few more years! (Kurt you may want to look into home schooling Em and Maddy, shelter them, it's okay, I swear). Apparently "Miss I'm not as sneaky as I thought I was" was at the public pool and this boy she has liked for a long time, Donivan, was there as well. Kristin and Chris were driving by and Kristin noticed them, then her daughter and THAT BOY lean in to give each other a quick peck. Kristin said she went crazy a little. It made her pretty sad, later once she calmed down, that her baby girl was growing up so fast and I have to say I feel the same way. After all these talks she'd had and all these things Kaley had become apart of, she thought she was leading her on the right path. Kristin's fear is that she will end up pregnant at an early age and I can't say I blame her. The cycle of that happening statisically is pretty high and seeing as how they live in smalltown, USA with nothing else to do... well you see where I'm going.

I look forward to seeing where this goes, apparently he left for IOWA while she is out her in CA but I might have to suggest Kristin get some IM spy software because that kid is on IM a lot and I don't think Kristin realizes just how much.

*shudders* stinky boys

One Year Later...

So through some very swirling, life altering, mind expanding events, here I am a year later living with Alix from Boston, MA. We reside in a cute little 2 bd, 2 b apartment in a middle class area.

I am a partner to a very nurturing girl who loves me with all of her heart. She takes better care of me than I could have ever imagined. She drags her butt outta bed every morning to make me breakfast and pack my lunch. We love to collaborate in the kitchen on dinners and that is SO much fun. She gives me so many hugs in a day I never have to ask for one. We get addicted to the same games, shows and hobbies. She is so reassuring that I am left with no other choice but to believe I Really CAN Do Anything. I've been able to see how talented she is and even help her bring out a side I don't think she even realized she had.

I am grateful for her and may I break a toe if I'm ever unappreciative of the many things she does for me daily and the gifts she bestowes upon my soul.

I love you Alix. Happy Anniversary :)

A few things from the past week.

So right now I kinda feel like Lois Lane sitting at her old wooden desk on a brother typewriter, trying to hunt and peck to type out some words for the Daily Planet. Sitting there with some weight of wonder on my shoulders. It's kinda surreal. I have a lot of good news but it is all shadowed by the loss of our little kitten kid.

I need to share though, it makes moving on a little easier even if I don't really want to. So I've decided I will summarize the past weekend and couple of days at home.

Saturday evening at the newest of galleries downtown I had submitted a few pieces which I had mentioned in a previous blog. One piece of source was in reference to Moby Dick. This piece which I called "Road Trip." Was actually of one of my very good friends mother who passed last year. When she first showed me the pic I knew I wanted to try it. I needed a challenge and more importantly I thought Courtney would love it. So I didn't have it ready for her birthday but I thought I could have it ready for the America show. It's a picture of her mom in a car parked near the beach... road tripping is pretty American if you ask me. So as I walked in the gallery I was pretty nervous and she wasn't there yet. It was actually about 30 minutes before they came. They walked in and we all chatted and I sat there with my heart fluttering. After a bit her and Patty walked around and then she was standing there... starring at it. She turned around with a huge smile and I finally felt relief. She loved it, to which I handed her the actual pic and we hugged and told her that was her late birthday present. *throws hands up Yay*

I also entered two photographs from Fenway park. My favoritey one, the one I've also put on a platter at Color Me Mine, I blew up and framed in black and white. And GET THIS... it got Viewers Favorite... by one vote :) *claps, YAY for me* People were even talking about it behind me... yikes!

The comic show was also the same night and Alix had some cute little pics in there. We stopped by there first to look around and I took pics of her stuff up on the walls since she had to work. There was some pretty cool stuff up there. I'll be posting pics soon but I'm at work right now and the camera is at home :)

Monday night we pretty much sat at home and I loved on Polly. You can tell the kid is not used to being alone. She follows us everywhere, has to know what we're doing, eating, grabbing, etc. I let her eat some ice cream and popcorn with me, then she passed out in my arms... it was nice.

Last night I wanted to focus on something else so Alix and I spent a couple hours drafting a Multi-Cache based on the game Clue. It was pretty fun and it will take a lot of work but we think it will be worth it once it's done. A classic, who done-it in Bakersfield. We made up characters, weapons and places in Bakersfield it could have occurred.

Not much else really, just trudging through this week... seeing as how our 1 year anniversary is this weekend :) So what's going on in your world?

Ashling Born 2007ish - July 14th 2008

Today we had to put Miss Ashling to sleep. She has always been small and kinda sickly and we noticed that she had been getting worse. Sadly, yesterday I noticed she could hardly walk. Alix took her in and the diagnosis was bad... either Feline Leukemia or AIDS to which either only gave her a few short months to live. Basically, her living would be for our benefit not hers. We are living with the notion that she got spoiled and spent her last days with a loving family since he said that she was most likely born this way and no one caught it until now. We fostered her in her dying days and I can't see how that is a bad. She could have spent her last days stuck living in cages till someone finally saw what we did this past week. So for that I am grateful that we got to meet and love such a sweet little kat.

Polly will miss her a lot but (as tears stream down my face) I know I'm pretty devasted...

*enjoy chasing mice in the fields little one, you can run free like you couldn't here anymore...*

Moby Dick

A timeless classic..blah blah blah. You know the story, boy gets a boat, boy goes finishing, boy gets made to look like an ass in front of his friends because big fish gets away and flips boy the bird, boy will die to get revenge on the fish. You hear it every day, sometimes twice. Yes... this is me... being funny. *chuckles* Laugh already, geez, tough crowd.

Anyway, it's a timeless analogy used to describe difficult times or personal challenges in ones life. A particular painting was this very thing for me. I'm not sure what to think of it but maybe I've been starring at it too long for the past couple of weeks. I've taken pictures of my process with it but I won't blog that till after the opening on Saturday. If you want to see them before I blog them, then you'll have to get off your ass and go to the "Amercia the Beautiful" opening at the Underground Gallery & Studio on 19Th street. 5-8pm I have 3 in this show: painting on canvas and 2 photos. I'm pretty excited to see them amongst other artists. I also dropped 2 for Alix and then another 2 at the Comic Show at The Empty Space. Opening is also Saturday, 4-7pm I will be at both for a little while, flying solo, as sadly, the girl works till close that night. I want to take pics of our stuff hanging so she can at least see where her stuff is on the walls of each gallery. I'm pretty proud of her. :)

My fear is I suck and that's okay as long as it makes me happy and I am pretty damn happy. *shrugs* so I'm just going with it :) Hope to see you there...

4 Day Weekend the Hard Way

So I thought I was excited for my 3 day weekend. When in reality, I didn't enjoy my 4 day weekend very much :( Don't get me wrong, Friday was great... Saturday was fine but Sunday and Monday weren't so nice to me.

I have some kind of stomach bug. Food nor water want to go in or stay in. I slept like 18+ hours and continued to be tired. I am at work today but I still don't feel 100%. I'm more like 79%. I'm hoping for a dramatic increase tomorrow. Somewhere in the range of 90% would be great but I'm not putting any money on it. I'm just glad I've survived the day in general.

Off to finish putting stuff together for the art drops tonight :)

I'm like the Hockey Family, are you like the Hockey Family, I'm like the Hockey Family.

So I went to visit the girl at the bookstore today with some of our friends. Denise and Jenn have and at times, still work there so of course they have their favorite books. Denise has that kids section laid out. She was determined to show me this one book in particular because she said it reminded her of me and how she hopes to be one day.

I wasn't sure how to interpret that. *grins*

It opens up with Baby Hockey, Baby Hockey is holding a red balloon and it goes something like this;

'I have a red balloon, do you have a red balloon, I have a red balloon.' Turn the page and it shows the big red balloon popping. Baby Hockey is looking at the string he is left holding. Next page shows baby Hockey again proudly holding the string and saying 'I have a string, do you have a string, I have a string.'

So the entire book is of each of the Hockey Family Members and something they have and something happens to it and they still find some kind of positive out of it. I was pretty pleased that Denise thought of me when she read this book and that she hoped to be that way some day.

That was a pretty nice compliment *smiles*

The One Where the Year is Half Over

*throws confetti* Can you believe 1/2 of 2008 is officially over today? We are sailing through another year. Have you completed any of your New Years Resolutions? Do you even remember them? *giggles*

Today is a good segway into the rest of the year. There is still time, plenty of time, to get to some of those forgotten resolutions. My art isn't coming along as fast as I like but you can't rush it. The more I plan to get it done, the farther away from it I want to be. I'm still getting to it, just not in the fashion I had imagined.

From my eyes I can see that life isn't worth a lick of salt if you can't share it with the one your heart desires. I'm excited to wake up each day to see what is in store for us. Even if that means we sit on the couch watching Blue Dragon or Law & Order sharing a bowl of rainbow sherbet and laughing at the antics of our kittenkids. Don't waste your days waiting for something that isn't going to come... people won't change from what they are comfortable with and know... I'm glad I became uncomfortable and don't fear the unknown. I'm stronger than I thought and that is something I can be proud of.

There was a time I thought I'd hold regrets with my decisions, I guess my only true regret is not being more honest with myself sooner. *shrugs* but that is that and this is now and I love me some now :)

So in looking back on my "half yearly" mark. I'm pretty fucking great. *big smiles*

What about you?