Don't Rain on My Bouncie

Ok -- so, now the forecasts are saying no rain on Saturday.

Why do I let these things get to me? I'm trying to be zen about it, whatever will be, will be. If we have to postpone the party, we will. We've done it before. I was in the hospital on Sofia's second birthday, so we postponed her party to June and it ended up being a fabulous, summer event. So fabulous, in fact, that I briefly considered moving her birthday party to June every year.

And ya know, we always have Disneyland.

I've got a to-do list a mile long, but most of it I can't do until the 2 days before the party. I've got most of the decorations, food is planned and/or ordered, etc.

Now, if I could just lose this pesky sore throat I've been dealing with for 2 days. Sofia's school sent out a health alert pronouncing strep throat being reported within the school. Positive thinking, positive thinking.

Screw you too, Monday

Monday, I will not let you get me.

First, I get to work to hear that the washing machine is going out in our rental and the new tenant has expectations of it being replaced, when it says in the contract that we provide no warranty for certain appliances (washing machine included) and will not replace. So, have to deal with all that business.

Now, I find out it's supposed to RAIN on Saturday. The day of the birthday party. The day of the completely outdoor birthday party. 40% chance of rain.

I'll say it again. Monday - you will not bring me down!

Day o' Partays

So yesterday was busy. Birthday party for Sofia's little boyfriend, then sister in law's surprise 40th birthday party in the evening. At the last minute, we decided to bring Sofia (thanks to a late nap) and she was so excited. As usual, she worked the room the entire night. When we were leaving, everyone kept saying "You're LEAVING?" to her in a genuinely disappointed tone. I tell ya, I could learn a thing or two about mingling from little Miss Thang.

My sister in law was genuinely surprised. This I know because she showed up with no makeup on. Natch, the men had planned the party and their "ruse" to get her there was to "play poker," so she shows up in jeans with no makeup. It never occurred to them, because they are men, that she would not be dressed up for her party. I could tell she was a little embaressed at first, but a few Black Russians later and it didn't seem as though she had a care in the world.

The Brazilian nanny was a smashing success. The boys loved her and didn't even cry when we left. They were saying "Bye Bye" and waving at the window. I thought they would freak when we left w/Sofia, but not. They were quite mesmerized by her. She played games with them, read them stories. etc. When I explained how to use the remote, she told me that her host family does not have television. I was speechless. I think she studied most of the night. Yeah, this one's a keeper.

Today is Baby Loves Disco. I can't wait to see how the boys do. Last time we went, they weren't walking. Yesterday, William was dancing along with Yo Gabba Gabba (my new FAVORITE show, btw - the boys love it ), so I suspect he will be shaking his butt on the dance floor today.

Positive Monday

In light of the fact that I was a complete downer yesterday, I have decided that today's post will only talk about positive things.

(I won't mention that one of the cats shat in my leather boots that I attempted to wear this morning. Fumigation will need to occur before they grace my legs anytime soon. But I won't be talking about that here, today)

I finally entered this decade and have a functional, loaded IPOD. Steve loaded most of my CD's on it, then I downloaded some Britney and Lady Gaga and got in a few good walks this weekend, which always improves my mood. I feel good about that.

On that note, "Sexy Back" is a great song to walk to. I'm just sayin'.

I also feel good that Sofia is getting much better with getting dressed by herself and not always in a horrifying way. Saturday, she put on her tights, leotard and ballet shoes on her own, no small feat. She's also getting much better about picking clothes that actually match.

I feel good about how amazing and sweet William is. He is always wanting to clean. Sofia dropped yogurt on the floor and he was very concerned. Kept saying "Lo lo! Lo lo!" (yogurt) and ran, grabbed wipe and cleaned it himself. He loves to wear all of Sofia's socks, the brighter the better, but primarily the Little Mermaid ones. He *brings* me my shoes or slippers and tries to put them on my feet. When you say "Ni, ni!" He runs into his room and tries to climb in his crib to go to bed or take a nap. I could just eat him up most of the time.

Ok, what else positive? I applied to another city job, hopefully will get called to another exam. It doesn't pay as much as the one before, but more than I make. We'll see. Things are picking up in the office, so it's not as doom and gloom as it was.

Steve has a few lines in the water and we're finally getting the unemployment checks.

What else? What else?

I have Disneyland in April to look forward to and it's already payed for, so don't have to stress on it. Plus I have almost $200 in gift cards to bring with, so I think we're going to be set.

I have Austin in May to look forward to and quite frankly, I cannot wait to see my BFF again. I really, really miss her.

And keeping with my positive theme for today, I'm attending a talk on "Positive Discipline" tonight at the library, then drinks afterwards with a group of women. I'm very much looking forward to it.

This Just In: My Random Oscar Ramblings

I thought Winslet looked drop dead breathtaking. Seriously, that one always gets it right. I love that she's a mom, too. I have had a girl crush on her since Little Children.

I also liked very much that Sean Penn does indeed have a self awareness of his douchey-ness. Seriously, though, he deserved that one. I was very happy he won and the screenwriter as well.

I'm not sure how I feel about Heath Ledger's award, but I haven't seen the performance and probably won't, so probably should not have an opinion.

I thought Hugh did a great job. He's a hot renaissance man, that guy. Yummmmm.

I thought Diane Lane looked fabulous and I need to take some of what she's taking. Cripe!

I also thought Robert D. J. looked incredible, like he'd just returned from a spa.

Most of the ladies looked really gorgeous. Lots of classic glamour, I love that.

Anne Hathoway looked lovely, as did Amy Adams (although I'm not so hot on the necklace. Sofia loved it! ) We have watched Ella Enchanted recently, so Sofia was very happy to see 2 princesses there.

She actually asked at one point, "Where's Cinderella, Mommy?"

I love her, god knows I do, but would it KILL Jennifer Aniston to wear her hair up or do something different than the way she always wears it? I know she's the queen of boho chic, but seriously, mix it up, girl. Don't get me wrong - I love her and would kill to have her hair or body or both, but the long and straight thing is getting old. The whole her and JM vs. Brad and Angelina was a bit tense, them panning to AJ when JA was on stage. Oy, that must suck.

Meryl Streep looked great. She sometimes can be a bit offbeat, but she was really pulled together this time.

I thought Mickey Rourke looked good too. Steve was like "He looks awful!" I was like, "Have you seen Mickey Rourke in the past 5 years? He's looking great, trust me!"

Geez, do I Have Anything Good to Say?

So. I've been having quite a bit of anxiety lately and therefore, not wanting to write.

I think the lack of zoloft in my system is now apparent and I waver between being slightly nervous and wanting to scream most of the time. My financial and housing situation is getting so complicated and television is not even a welcome escape as the economic crisis seems to be the newest celebrity.

I've actually thought about going to my doctor and asking for Wellbutrin, but I do want to try and ride it out.

It just means I am perpetually in a bad mood and in turn, don't feel like writing much. Or doing much of anything, actually. Work is no better. My boss is in a bad way, in a bad mood and there's a dark cloud hanging over the company. If things don't pick up by the end of the first quarter, there could be one more unemployed adult in this family of five.

My computer died over the weekend thanks to some mega raw photo files. I almost lost the article I was working on, but managed to retrieve it somehow.

Today is the speech eval with Green Beret and yet-to-meet doctor Speech. We'll see what they say.

Holy Hannah!

So I'm feeling all proud of myself for getting out and walking at least half of the week. We live down the street from the blufftop coastside trail in our city and the weather has been cooperating, so it's been a win win. Sofia has even accepted that I am going on an exercise walk without her, as long as I leave her Beethoven movie playing while I'm gone (Steve is usually lollygagging in bed during this time.)

So, this morning, I'm having a great walk and cut through the bluff to get to the coastside trail. A few weeks ago, some friends and I saw a snake on the trail which scared the bejeezus out of one of them, but didn't phase me much. I'm deathly afraid of snails, but snakes, notsomuch.

In the distance, I see a wheat colored cat. Now, I'm near sighted, so I sensed that it looked a little big for a cat, but not too big. It looked like it didn't quite know where to go, then disappeared into the brush. I remember thinking "Geez, it's a good thing we don't have to worry about mountain lions out here..." and quickened my step as I cut through the bluff. I did get a weird feeling, but shook it off.

And then, a friend sent me this...the street in question is a few blocks from ME:

MY CITY HERE – A possible mountain lion sighting was reported Wednesday afternoon near the Coastside Trail in My City, police said.

Police were notified of the sighting at the west end of XYAZ Street around 12:30 p.m. and called in the California Department of Fish and Game.

A search was conducted but the mountain lion was not located, police said.

Fish and Game officials urge anyone confronted by a mountain lion to face the animal, make noise and try to appear larger. They also advise throwing objects at the animal and fighting back in the event of an attack.

Mountain lions are most active at dawn, dusk and at night. However, Fish and Game officials point out that the animals are “solitary and elusive” creatures and tend to avoid humans.

***

Of course, all I'm thinking about is how this is going to affect my new workout regimen...

Weight Watchers Breakfast Sandwiches

In my quest to lose some of this ridiculous weight I'm dragging around, I'm trying to eat mostly Weight Watchers meals, salads and fruit. I don't have time to think very much about what I'm eating, so convenience is key for me right now.

I'd like to share my favorite item of the moment. The Weight Watchers Breakfast Sandwiches are the bomb. Seriously, they are yummy and only 4 points!! I have the freezer at work stocked with them.

Interview Questions

So Katie Couric is going to interview Sarah Palin...

She put up a post at NYC Moms Blog, asking for input on questions. Very interesting...

Katie Couric Due to Interview Sarah Palin

New friends

Bunco rocks. I didn't win any money, but made some new friends and got a pretty good buzz. Great group of ladies, zero pretense lots of smack talking. Good times.

I love Jott!

I am the post it queen. Honestly, my desk is littered with them. At first glance they appear to be the incoherent scribblings of a crazy person (something I actually have some real experience with) but in actuality, they are in fact, the glue that holds my life together. In the daily comings and goings of life, there isn't always pen and paper handy to catch these gems that pop in and quickly out of my head.

A few months ago, I discovered something that has literally changed my life. It's called JOTT. It's a free service that allows you to call a phone number, speak your message and then receive an email, text or blog post. As most of my profound and valuable thinking occurs when I'm driving, this has become a great help for me to remember the minutae of life that usually slips out of my memory unless I have pad or paper. I simply call the #, tell Jott "Send birthday card" and when I arrive at work or home, there is an email saying "Send birthday card" and a text if I want it as well (although I don't usually use this option - not a big texter)

It really has helped to perpetuate the illusion that I have my act together, so it's A-Ok in my book. I love JOTT!

Playdates and House Stuff

So my head is swimming in preparation for all this involved in getting our house on the market.

Spoke to my boss today about a timeline. Met with the lender again this morning, getting started on the pre approval process (to buy after we sell).

I did decide we are going to stay in the house while it's on the market. There's no telling how long it will take and we can't afford to throw the amount of money necessary on interim housing, especially without knowing what the interim will be. We will simply have to have restricted hours or by appointment only - not my first choice, but really the only thing that is going to work.

Fortunately, most weekdays we are all gone at work, so shouldn't be an issue. We will be getting rid of most of our existing stuff, living in a staged house. I am a bit nervous about this aspect - but trying not to stress out too much. I figure with the money I am saving on interim housing, I can splurge, have it painted, etc. and have it professionally cleaned weekly, which will take much of the stress off of me.

We gave my boss an approximate timeline of having the house semi empty-ish by July 15th. Hopefully to market by August. We shall see, we shall see.

Reading over the loan app is so daunting, I can't even tell you. I'm in the business and it's overwhelming me.

The twins' playdate yesterday was really nice, I'm glad I went. It was in a very posh neighborhood about 20 minutes south of me (and when I say posh, I mean 3 million dollar homes). The woman had a park like yard (15 sq ft lot -- looked it up -- one of the perks of my biz) and could not have been nicer. She had her nanny in attendance, as did a few of the other mothers - if that gives you any indication of the dynamic. That said, they were all incredibly sweet and welcoming, particularly the hostess.

As I had only corresponded via email with the hostess, I was curious as to the correct pronunciation of her name - Ja'Nien. JA-NEE-YEN? JA-NYUHNN? I spent almost too much time than I'd care to admit pondering this one.

I was picturing an exotic, sophisticated brunette, but was greeted by a perky, short blonde named "JA-NEEN" from L.A. Ohhhhh. Janine. Alrighty then!

The boys did well, considering this was their first attempt at socializing with babies their own age. The mostly gnoshed on cheerios and goldfish, then climbed atop two baby lawn chairs. Climbing is their new favorite pasttime.

There were a few women there who live closer to me and also had 3 year olds in addition to their twins. They all encouraged me to bring Sofia to the next playdate, so I may. I'm not sure I want to take that on as she's been such a pill lately, but we'll see. I'm definitey glad I went and will go again. It's a perfect day and a perfect time, so can't ask for much more than that.

My Husband the Packrat

I just spent the last 6 days with some sort of awful, gastrointestinal yukkiness that I can only liken to dysentary, coupled with near 100 degree heat (sans a/c) and one of the most ragingest UTI's I've ever had (and I've had a few). I checked my urinanalysis results online (love that!) but think I need a degree to decipher. I did play dr. Google and methinks it's pretty clear I have an infection, so good thing I went in when I did. From the likes of the virulence with which it attacked all that entered my digestive tract, I'd say it was something nasty. The full results of the culture should be back this week.

So today - whew - the weather has cooled somewhat, the antibiotics are kicking in and things are starting to resemble normalness.

All that is going through my mind at this point is the Wonder Pets anthem (the phone! the phone is ring-ing). It is stuck in my head like some sort of mommy-fog-brain mantra. My hot face is sunburnt to the color of a Gala apple (thanks to walking in a parade in the midday sun while taking Cipro) and I've yet to have dinner at 9 p.m. but I just took a shower and am looking forward to a good week.

We ventured out to Gilroy today to check out homes today. Steve seems to think that we could move there and he'd be closer to work, I could do the SAHM thing, etc. Well, yeah, Gilroy is off the table. It's way too rural, way too middle of nowhere and way too pit-like for my liking. I think Steve is bummed out that I didn't like it, but I can't live somewhere like that. Especially staying home. The more I think about it, the more I realize the smart thing is to buy here and stay working 3 days. I think that would afford me the greatest amount of overall balance and make sense for both our jobs.

So then Steve tells me I can go ahead and get the storage unit and he'll start taking stuff over this week. I remind him that we need to pare down, have the garage sale, then debrix box, THEN decide what size storage unit we are getting. He proceeds to tell me we don't need a debris box, we don't have that much debris. I point to the garage (which is approximately 1000 square feet filled to the gills with his crap). We then start to argue about whether or not he will be keeping the contents of said garage.

He says he's not getting rid of any of the useless old furniture, video tapes (seriously? video tapes?), a rolltop desk, a round coffee table and any number of useless things that are taking up space that we don't have. I told him we are not spending $ to store garbage. Harsh words, I know, but COME ON!! When I said we were getting a storage unit, I meant for our house belongings. That stuff is not following us to the new house. It just can't. It's all about the kids now, not saving videos of Eric Clapton from 1982.

I am married to a packrat. A packrat in serious denial. This is going to take some wifely finessing of the highest level. I must go plan my strategy now.

Slice of Life - Day 3 - Rest in Peace, Uncle Rudy

So, my uncle died. He was 85. Uncle Rudy was a "paisan" in the truest sense of the word. He was Pumatese, but you'd think he was Tuscani, the way he liked to brag. Looking back on their wedding photo, he looked exactly like a depression era mobster, complete with greased back hair and skinny, drawn on mustache.

His parents came from the "old country" and he was their only child. Despite their frugal lifestyle (they wore clothing with holes in them, I was always told by my grandmother as she tried to drill into me how cheap they were) they showered him with attention, ultimately resulting in a cocky, conceited, selfish person.

His wife is my great aunt (grandmother's sister.) My grandmother and her sister were very close and basically raised my brother and I as a team in those early days. My grandmother always (for lack of a better term)talked a lot of shit about good old Uncle Rudy. Cheap, controlling and selfish were words she used, but maybe not as nicely. She was particularly disgusted by the fact that his elderly, perverted father came to live with them and repeatedly tried to molest my aunt. This is the kind of thing I heard growing up.

We spent most days at my aunt's house growing up while my grandma worked so I got to know Rudy quite well. There was always an air of resentment towards my brother and I. He was very jealous, didn't like my aunt having family or her own to tend to. He needed to be the center of attention at all times. I was very young, but even then picked up on the tension that our presence brought to their marriage. One of the most vivid Rudy stories was how he didn't let his wife invite her sisters (my grandmother and their other sister) to the wedding because he considered them "too wild." (My grandma married 5 times, the other sister a few times, so he may not have been too far off the mark in all actuality ) my grandmother being of the "screw you" variety, decided to show up to the wedding. Her and Peggy (other sis) crashed the wedding. I always loved that story. It pretty much summed up my grandma.

There was no love lost between he and my grandma, but for all their shit talking, whenever they were around each other, they talked like they were old chums, chatting much longer than was necessary - even kind of flirting at times. I suspect there was a sexual tension between them and that while he thought he was "better" than my grandma and she thought he was an asshole, grandma was secretly a bit jealous that her sister had married "so well" - at least financially.

In the end, age softened him as age tends to do and grew to tolerate him over the years. He adored Steve and loved my kids - always going out his way to be complimentary. In a strange way, I think he was proud of me (although he'd never admit it) and approved of Steve and the life that I led. Considering he thought of my father as a "pinko" (which he probably was ) and was a proud Republican and NRA member (hunter) I think he was happy to see me living the American dream, I suppose. I know there were a few years there - ohhh, late 80's to maybe mid '90's - where the jury was still out on how my life was going to turn out.

He loved Sofia and she was fond of him as well. As superficial as this sounds, I think he liked her because she looked Italian. He actually held her on his lap and read her a story one time. I never saw him do that with his own grandchildren!! He also liked the twins, laughed at them and commented how cute they were. The last time I saw him was Christmas Eve.

I'm really sad he's gone, which surprises me. I'm also sad for my aunt who will now be alone for the first time in over 50 years. Lots to think about for her son; assisted living, hiring someone to live with her? etc. I wish I had a bigger house, I'd take her in. She took care of me as a kid, I figure I owe her. My brother has been helping her out quite a bit (he lives closer) I wish there was more I could do.

Rudy was a tough one, for sure. In the past 2 years, he'd been battling lymphoma. At the age of 82 went through agressive chemo and radiation. He was cancer free the last time I'd heard. In the end, he died from congestive heart failure. My aunt was a fabulous cook, but no shortage of fat and salt in the typical Italian cooking diet. Rest in peace, Uncle Rudy. I just know you are hanging out with your "paisans" who have departed before you, probably enjoying a nice glass of cabernet.