Ten On Tuesday:

 

10 Things You Like to do Alone—

 

1.    Read

2.    Sew

3.    Watch chick flicks

4.    Drive

5.    Exercise    

6.    Shop

7.    Paint (the walls—I'm not an artist in that way)

8.    Listen to my favorite music

9.    Go to a café and drink coffee

10.    Photo shoots (I'm this kind of artist)

 

Wicked!

Another B’day Detail

My Emily just fills my heart with love, joy and all those mushy emotions...



When Scott and I told the girls to change from their play clothes for going out to my b'day dinner, I expected something cute, and I don't know if I actually had any real expectations...



Emily appeared a few minutes later with a beautiful spring dress, green with pink flowers, matching pink shoes and socks and her hair combed beautifully. (She knew the importance of the night!)



We were both so heartwarmed and pleasantly surprised!



This is just one example that you can tell she puts a lot of thought into what others would like.  She's going to go far in life.

(((((( Ten on Tuesday Update: 10 Idols/Heroes When You Were a Kid ))))))

Here's my Ten on Tuesday (a little early for once!)

 

1. Batman
   
2. President John F. Kennedy
   
3. Bobby Kennedy
   
4. Martin Luther King
   
5. My Dad
   
6. My Mom
   
7. Batgirl
   
8. Superman
   
9. Mighty Mouse
   

Mr. Pearson (4^th grade teacher)

But Wait, There’s More!

It's been a great b'day weekend for me, and I might even get a job interview call next week. I took an assessment at Cal State Long Beach last week, for Word and Excel.  The hiring supv. seemed impressed. It doesn't pay anything at all, but they have a tuition waiver, so my Master's Degree would be free except for the cost of books. The salary would cover car insurance and my car payments on the van.  Plus, the position is in HR, so I would see all the job announcements before anyone else, and have a good chance at jobs in the school that actually pay.



My hair looks drastically different, too.  I'm bleached and short-haired.  Not as short as you, but just barely to my neck. It looks great. I can spike it or curl it, whatever I want.



I have an appointment in May to see an orthopedist for my hands/wrists. It seems I have "severe" carpal tunnel and unnal tunnel syndromes in both of my hands.  Other than that, my health seems good--I am quite sure I'm in menopause--the dementia and forgetfulness plus moments of my own personal tropical vacations tell me this. 



Let me see, the house looks like hell, but we're working on it.  Within the next week or so it ought to be livable again.



Scott is still looking for gainful employment. For now, we are ok financially--he got a decent severance package from The Mouse, plus vacation pay for a month, plus his unemployment will kick in within a couple of weeks.  The tax refunds helped too.  So, for now, I'm doing the budget, since he has enough stress with job searching, and we ought to at least get through the summer if we have to do that.



Sarah is doing terrific.  She got straight "a"s and is in the district wide chorus, plus takes her piano lessons happily. She even practices on her own!  She usually finishes her homework within an hour or less, and her teachers all praise her to me whenever they get the chance. (Proud Momma)



Emily is happily rolling along.  Such a different temperament from Sarah--we do our best to not compare, but they sure are different kids!  She does well in school, has a beautiful singing voice already, and may take singing lessons when school starts next year. We had to take her out of gymnastics, but she still does all her moves at school on the playground equipment.  As soon as one of her parents gets employed for money, we'll most likely get her back into gymnastics.  She is in t-Ball, and loves it. She plays pretty well, too, for a 5-yr old!  She giggles every time she comes home or catches a batted ball, or gets someone out.  We get to see her giggling often on game days. 



We seem to have emotionally adopted 2 daughters.  Emily's best friends live on our street.  Kelly and Joyce are terrific little girls, and right in the middle of Sarah & Emily's ages.  They are here nearly every day, and we love them.  They are so well behaved, so funny, and it is just amazingly good/heart warming to hear the laughter of four little girls in the house.  It brings a smile to my heart every time they are here.



Yep--we've been busy, but mostly happily so.



I don't know if that's it, but my hands are going numb, plus I need to get off my butt and finish the playroom/garage project.  So, I hope to see you some time soon, and hear from you again some time sooner.



Hugs o love,

Charmaine

Hippo Birdy 2 ME!!

Hey there!

 

My Birthday arrived this past Friday, the 13^th of April. Thank you to all who sent cards and even prezzies to me for my day! A lot of people showed me quite lovely thoughtfulness, even though I am a terrible birthday rememberer. I even have one of those "birthday reminder" thingies on my calendars (as well as from American Greetings and BlueMountain). So I am especially grateful when someone remembers my birthday.

My dear littlest daughter gave me a wrist pin cushion to replace one she accidentally broke last week. It is adorable. My oldest daughter gave me a darling apron and matching oven mitt—a gold color with a chicken on it. My dh gave me Wicked tickets!! We go next Sunday afternoon, and will have great seats!! This excites me a great deal!

One of the dearest presents I received was help in the form of 4 little girls (Sarah, Emily, Joyce and Kelly--my two "adopted" daughters from across the street and Em's best friends).  They worked very industriously and happily emptying the playroom into the garage and then sorting all the "stuff" into categories.



We did like the organizers on the show Mission Imposs---Organization, and put up signs for "Toss" "Keep" and "Donate"--When we got all that done, there were lots of extra little parts and partial games that needed sorting.  The girls sorted toys, games, books, crafts and extras into separate categories on the garage floor.  Meanwhile, Scott put the family room home theater back together and we actually have room to walk around that room, the dining room and OUR BEDROOM!!! again!!!



Back to the playroom...you may recall my angst about that room. Long story short, this is the 4th incarnation of that d&&m room and I'm thinking it may stay arranged this next configuration for a long time, simply because I'm tired of re-doing and re-doing and then re-doing it again.  I have made the statement before, and I'll make it again.  If the room cannot stay neat and tidy with toys put away at the end of the day, anything on the floor by 7:pm will be thrown into the trash.  I'm trying hard to get over the fact that the toys were expensive and other things were sacrificed (like buying new underwear for me) so the girls could have them.



But anyway, I am so thankful for the girls' hard work. And believe me, it took all five of us!  I may visit Target this afternoon for 4 gift cards.



I must also write about the restaurant where we ate dinner on Friday for my birthday. The restaurant is called Wood Ranch, and if you know of one near you, you really ought to try it. Baby back ribs that melted in your mouth--tri tips that just delighted the taste buds.  they had delicious eye-candy salads (and wait staff, too, heh heh heh), and the desserts looked awesome. Since it was my birthday our server brought me a hot fudge sundae.  It was so very good.  The restaurant was a little noisy, but not so much that we couldn't hear each other. 



They also had unbelievably superb mojitos, too! (that though always makes me smile!).



Then, last night, close friends invited us to dinner at their house.  Their oldest daughter used to babysit our daughters, and now sometimes their son does.  They treated us to a great meal, (a gift card to one of our favorite other restaurants, too!), delicious non-chocolate cake and the grownups played a dice game while the kids watched a movie and played video games.   This was one of those "great time was had by all" nights.



Californians don't usually have weekly card/game nights, but a few of us are trying to implement them.  My mom's family was raised in Ohio and they did it, and since most of the family moved to California, Wednesday nights became "Card Night" at Uncle Tony's.  That is still one of my favorite memories of my family growing up.



So we've talked about arranging a night during the week that's open to whoever wants to come over and play either cards, darts, dice, bunko, or some board game.  It will be lots of fun once our house is all put back together.



More about all of us soon, I hope.

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Memories from High School

Hmm...that was so long ago, I wonder if I can recall more than five, but here's my HS try...

1. MB kissing me
2. Getting hurt while playing softball and not being able to stand up straight
3. Early morning PE classes when the air was cold (October) and clear and I could see my beloved mountains so clear I felt I could almost touch them.
4. Mark Nicholson
5. Steve Walsh
6. Riding around in Peggy's blue '56 Chevy
7. UCRiverside, Gabe Bustamante, and "Our House" (my sweetest memory of HS)
8. After concerts when the woodwinds and brass players would just jam--Great gasps they were good!
9. Dave Feree copying my homework every morning
10. SW calling me "Girlie Girl" right after graduation and picking me up and swirling me around a few times. Now THAT is a great memory!

Ramblin' Wreck of My Mind

I wanted to write
my mind needs a brain dump
I paid bills instead.

my horrible attempt at haiku

__________________________________________

Spring Break is here!! Hooray! We'll have some time to play! Oh wait. No, tomorrow is that b'day party the girls are going to attend, plus I need to be home and practice my Excel and Word skills and try to finish the laundry.
Tuesday? No, that is when I have my JOB INTERVIEW, and it will exhaust me, since I haven't been on an interview for oh, 15 years. Who'd a thunk I'd have to obtain employment at my age?

Wednesday? well, maybe, but not likely.

Thursday? It's possible...nothing concrete planned (yet).

Friday? Well that's my BIRTHDAY, and besides, Emily has her Daisy troop meeting at 5:pm.

Well, that's the plan for next week.

Bills, severance pay, friends, feeling like I really want to climb into a cave, menopause, not writing to those who are important to me and to whom I am indebted for so much support especially over the past few years (I'm not naming names, but if you've seen me and said "hello" or you've sent an email to me in since 2003, then this means you), pipes leaking, showers leaking, wall cracking, new carpet damaged, bedroom carpet damaged another time, petty little people with no control over their own lives trying to control me, back pain, ankle pain, hand pain, upcoming possible wrist surgery on both hands, just a few of the things on my mind lately that crowd out any creativity for writing. I'm having a LIFE!

Plus, I've just been a bad friend to a lot of people who don't deserve it. Denise--especially--I owe you a huge letter, let alone an email response from New Year's. I'm not mad, just going mad.

On the plus side, and the things I'm so thankful for, my daughters are 90% healthy and happy, my dog is good and my hair looks great! As soon as that picture gets uploaded, I'll post it.

To briefly catch up...

• being unemployed and looking for jobs sucks,
• Walt Disney World was fabulous,
• Our Sarah got straight "A's" on her last report card, got accepted to the all-district chorus for 4th - 6th graders,
• Everyone seems to adore our Emily
• Scott is getting wayyyy too comfortable being home during the day.
• I want to run away and have some true alone time (ironic, I told a girlfriend of mine that I wanted to go up to Colorado for awhile, and she said she'd go with me...and I had even said I wanted to GO ALONE)
• Disney employment is over and done for the time being, so don't look for Disney Christmas gifts this year.
• Meet the Robinson's is out; we loved it; everyone who saw it that we knew said they loved it; critics panned it. Go figure.
• contemplated divorce for awhile; can't afford it now.
  
• We might be able to squeak by throughout the summer financially if unemployment benefits kick in and we really count pennies. So, even if we had planned to come see you, or travel anywhere really nice, we will be home, and can welcome you to visit us. Sorry, no freebies to Disneyland anymore. We have transformed from Cast Members to Out Casts. (there is a great deal of "gallows humor" going around in our household)
• It's now 1:am on Monday the 9th of April, 4 days before my next birthday, and what on earth am I doing still awake I ask.
  
• I miss my dad so very much. I miss my mom even more. Have had "issues" and wanted to talk with them for their wise advice but realized they aren't reachable by phone anymore. Can't seem to get them out of my mind at all, even with all of the above happening.
  

So, good night all you princes and princesses of your home, as well as you kings and queens of your domiciles. Hugs to you, please know that I think of you often and hold you near and dear to my heart.

I know I'm forgetting something, but since I'm forgetting it, don't look here for it. Maybe it's been dropped under my desk. I'll go look...

Ten

10 things I love about springtime:

1. Fresh strawberries
2. hydrangeas
3. Cala Lillies
4. baby birds
5. The hummingbird nest with little, tiny eggs in my back yard tree
6. my birthday
7. my own increased energy level
8. warm but not smotheringly hot weather
9. the kids laughing as they play and ride their bikes
10. color! greens, pinks, lavenders, yellows and all the pretty spring clothes replacing the drab black beige and brown winter clothes.