Blackberries, I phones and a DSI, huh??

Well, we got hubby his new phone. And as though his blackberry he uses for work weren't enough technology for him he wanted and got an i phone. He loves it and loves all the applications for it. I am not a technology person at all. I only carry a cell phone when I'm out and about (away from home) and then in my mind I only have it with me for emergencies, to keep me connected to my family if we're apart and to make any "hey honey, do we have any..." calls to home. I never even liked the computer till we got our new Mac.  Now this thing is so easy to use I can't help myself!

My brother is a huge technology person as is my dad. They always have the latest and greatest gadgets. Bug is turning into one of them; she asked for and got a Nintendo DSI for her birthday. I had to write down what the heck it was to go buy the thing. I have a great car (a nice, big SUV) but I still don't use all the gadgets it came with... who cares if I push the special button for the garage to open or I just push the garage door opener? A button is a button right? I still write directions down so I don't use a navigation system; I can't stand to hear that sugary sweet lady telling me to 'turn left in 300 feet, turn left in 200 feet...' 

      Now, if anyone ever came up with a gadget for say, changing diapers, I'd be on board! 

The girls and I have grocery shopping to do today and some laundry. Oh, who am I kidding, if you know me, you know I ALWAYS have laundry to do, I'm pretty sure it breeds by itself! Anyway, our local fair just started so we will probably go this weekend, maybe Saturday afternoon. We love the fair. The animals, the exhibits, the crafts and Bug and I love to see who grew the biggest pumpkin in the valley or who won for cake decorating. The only part that we don't do a lot of is the ride section. I just never feel real safe with my kids riding those things but they do love the big slide! 

I'll let you know how our Fair day goes!  Should be great, hmm, there's no technology there, right?! 

The Result of a Clean Room

So Bug and I cleaned her room all day yesterday and I even had the great idea of moving some furniture around for a change. One of the pieces moved was her bed. I thought it would easier for her to make her bed if it wasn't up against her wall. Well, that part worked great but as bedtime approached she began to say she was scared to sleep that way because she couldn't see down the hall towards our room. We tucked her in, assured her it was fine (which sounds something like," c'mon, Bug, you're fine there's nothing to be afraid of, just go to sleep!") she even had a nightlight. Needless to say I layed down with her in her comfortable yet small twin bed. It was cool in her room with her window open and so nice because the room was completely clean and pretty! I dozed off!

At about 11pm hubby came in wondering where I was. I finally got to leave miniature land and head off to our California King size bed where the nearest person to me is about a mile away... the only way to sleep. ZZZZ

About 2 hours later Bug came in to our room and asked why Buglette's room door was open (we never leave it open, better chance she'll stay asleep) so of course hubby and I panicked and ran down the hall only to see Buglette sound asleep. Bug's window being open must've allowed a breeze to open Buglette's door. Suffice it to say, I didn't sleep well the rest of the night... all because Mom had the great idea of changing a nine-year-old's bedroom around. Take my advice, when they are used to life 'just so' don't go messing it up! 

Dinner tonight is grilled salmon, mashed potatoes, vegetables and salad and then off to the mall to get hubby and new cell phone. His died about a week and half ago and since he can't live without his cell connected to his head we need to hurry! I love you, honey but I tell ya, you're worse than a chick...

A Sonic Skater Slips and Slides

We just went to dinner at Sonic because I've been cleaning Bug's room all day and when I say clean I mean all the drawers, closet, desk, everywhere! We're getting ready for back to school. She's been assigned to be with me all day as well. We were able to get quite a bit done while Buglette took her nap. Anyway, hubby came home and dinner wasn't ready due to the day's activities and the girls and I didn't look any better either so off to Sonic we went to eat in the car. 

We had ordered and were just sitting there waiting, listening to our Christian radio station when we heard a THUMP and then a bit of a splash. One of the Sonic car hops  on skates ran into the back of our car and dumped his tray everywhere. He just sort of, lost control.  He was fine, the car was fine but his food and drinks had seen better days and I'm sure his ego took some bruising.  I can still hear the THUMP in my head and my family trying to stifle laughter! Why does this stuff always happen to us? Oh well, it wasn't like I ran into the car on skates... 

Beetle bugs and blouses

It's 8:30am and my girls are still asleep so here I sit. Bug and I stayed up late last night and Buglette got up fussing at 1am so they must be tired. But I will need to get us all on our regular schedules again because school starts in two weeks for Bug. The girls are in bed by 8-8:30 and then hubby and I follow no later than 10. The girls and I are up at 6:30am getting ready for school and the day. But since it's been summer I've let them fudge on bedtimes; no more, Mama's gonna crack the whip!

Hubby is back to work after his month-long vacation (see 'Staycation') and life is returning to normal around here. I love having him home but boy, it's harder to keep my house clean with him here! He's even great around the house but of course, doesn't clean the way I do so it never feels really clean unless I do it! I'm not complaining but I can tell you all the truth! 

We went to Disneyland for two days to end our staycation this past week. We met my mother-in-law and hubby's brother there on the second day. We stayed at the Hilton which was very nice. Buglette still has a very difficult time sleeping away from home so none of us slept well. Then to do two days at Disney with not not enough rest is difficult at best but we had fun and made the best of it. 

Anything funny happen while we were there you ask... well, of course, it is us after all! We were waiting for our shuttle to the park out in front of our hotel and were chatting with a nice family when a huge (I mean Huge) flying beetle (could it sting? I assumed so) flew into my blouse. Now, if you know me, there's never a lot of, shall we say extra room in any of my blouses due to a few large occupants, so how this thing got down there I'll never understand. But it scared me to death. Hubby was still chatting up our shuttle companions as I did the funky chicken. Oh, did I mention I had like, a ten dollar coffee from the hotel's Starbucks in my hand? So there I am dancing around with this thing in front of our sort-of posh hotel with strangers watching (not to mention my incredibly concerned hubby; read: sarcastically) and my ten-buck coffee goes flying. Beetle-bug of course, disappears, I have left a lovely skinny vanilla latte all over the Hilton's walkway, I am still grossed out by my blouse's visitor and now I have an audience. Just one of my days.

Hey, if you're reading this, leave me a message of what you would like me to write about! Let me know who you are also! 

 

A Project may be in the Works...

Ok, so it's 6:30am and I've been up since 4am after giving Buglette a bottle. She's getting over a cold and teething those four molars so I'm not denying her anything. Usually at 4am if she woke I would allow her to fuss herself back to sleep a bit. But I'm on a medication that has been keeping me up at night (a story for another time) so I couldn't go back to sleep and here I sit. Why I feel like blogging right now is a mystery to me. But I have my coffee and some peace and quiet for now. I'm a VERY seasonal person (I guess that would be described as doing seasonal things in their proper season) so for right now my coffee is from Kauai, HI (Trader Joe's) and my creamer is coconut cream Coffee Mate. Hey, it's summer so there's no way I could have like, Cinnamon Hazelnut now with a heady French Roast. Am I the only one this makes total sense to? Those flavors are reserved for Fall and Winter and when the Pumpkin Pie Spice, Peppermint, and Gingerbread creamers come out! But my favorite from Starbuck's ANY time of year is a grande skinny vanilla latte with protein. Just thought was very important for you to know.

Anyway, at about midnight last night I finished my book I was reading, Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. I enjoyed it immensely but like I said before, could have done without her cursing and some of the sexual imagery. Not that I'm a prude but there just didn't seem to be a point to it. But the book itself and her writing I enjoyed very much. I completely understand where she was coming from! I too have been sort of 'in a rut', not feeling like I'm really doing much of anything with my life right now. Don't get me wrong, I love being a stay-at-home mom and wife and have for NINE YEARS now (oh, did I just yell that?) but sometimes I feel like I'm not living up to my potential. With my girls being the ages they are this is the only place I need to be but I was getting 'antsy'. So, this blog has sort of been a bit of a saving grace thing for me. And even if no one ever reads it, so what? It's getting me through another dish, another diaper. And I think that's what Julie needed too. Something to get her through the next day as a secretary in NYC getting ready to turn 30 (right now, putting on a suit to catch the subway, ok, let's be more glamorous here, a TAXI, for a ride into Manhattan to work till it's time for lunch at, let's say Dean and Deluca only to go back to work for a few hours until it's time to head back to my Upper East Side apartment where I can throw on sweats, grab a glass of wine and some take-out and enjoy the view all without dishes and diapers sounds pretty good to me). The Project (either read the book or go see the movie so we can chat about this, please) did that for her as well. This is going to be my Project. Who knows, 'blog' may become 'book' after all.

By the way, dinner last night was Dr. Praeger's California Veggie burgers on whole wheat buns (Trader Joe's again) with salad and not-fried sweet-potato fries. That reminds me, I need to pull a chicken out of the freezer to thaw for tonight's dinner. Till then!     

"Staycation"

Hi everyone; although I guess there is no one really... but it's only been 18 hours I've been doing this so no worries, yet. 

Summer for us this year so far has been a bit odd... Buglette (14 months old) is a bit of a wild child, happy but into everything and all over the place. We used our timeshare in Palm Springs in July (I know, hot, hot, hot, it was 118 the day we arrived, I kid you not) and after those 4 days we were due to head to Yosemite in our truck and fifth-wheel for some 'camping' (this is as close to true camping as I will go). Well, needless to say Buglette began to teethe getting in four molars all at once. So, Yosemite is on hold for now!

Instead we are home having, what I suppose is all the rage in this stellar economy, a 'staycation'! We are home for the most part and then we will be taking some fun day trips to local fun spots. Buglette can stay on her schedule while she's teething, Bug (9 years) can still have a fun summer and Hubby and I can get some 'rest time' in as well. We will be heading to Disneyland, a few museums, our local fair and the beach and mountains. That's what's great about So Cal, lots of fun and geographical locals within two hours of each other. 

Before Buglette, we were the type of family who took our three-month-old on a truck and trailer trip for two weeks to South Dakota then a few months later on a five-hour plane ride to Pennsylvania and NYC to visit family. We have never hesitated to do anything for a great vacation so this is quite unusual for us! Oh well! Maybe next year we'll be off again! 

The girls and I got up this AM and had honeywheat pancakes and clementine oranges for breakfast outside in the back while Hubby slept in. The girls then played in the sandbox and on the swingset and took baths before Buglette went down for her nap.  The pancakes were from a really good Krusteaze mix (hey, it's easy and I never claimed to be supermom).  Hubby and Bug are going to see G-Force, the kid's movie today which he has agreed to take her to because, in his words, 'at least there are lasers in it'. I will be cleaning (yay) and maybe even finishing up the book I've been reading, Julie and Julia just like the movie coming out in a week about Julie who cooks through Julia Child's French cookbook in a year. It's good but the language is a bit much. So, for today, I absolutely must get this exciting day off and running... it is my vacation after all.    Mama Mindi

anyone interested??

As a stay-at-home mom and wife sometimes my life can be a little dull (to me) or a little harried to downright crazy. My husband is a great hubby and a great daddy to our two daughters 9 year old Bug and her 14 month-old little sister Buglette. Of course, for their safety, I will use these nicknames for them in this forum! Hubby and I just turned 36 and I've been at home since Bug was born. I enjoy it but boy, some days can be just downright boring. You'd think that with Buglette's arrival 'boring' would be out the door but we still have our days. A little about me?? Well, I married my high school sweetheart at 19 and we spent the next 8 years in the USMC (he signed on the dotted line, I married into it) and then he joined law enforcement (which will remain unnamed for this forum). All the while I worked as a nurse in several doctor's officers, a preschool teacher, in a decorating shop and went to school to (can you believe it?) five different colleges. I love to read and write (hence this blog), scrapbook, garden (although this summer's garden isn't quite hitting it's stride yet), be with my family, am busy in our church and I workout out our local gym only because I have to. We moved to our new house last year and are finally feeling settled here and in our new town. I won't explain all this drudgery every day but felt like I needed to get some 'pleasantries' out of the way! The real adventure begins tomorrow! Stay with me....!