(43-227) Love Is In The Air

It's an absolutely, positively, beautiful day in Phoenix today.  The sun is shining; but not yet blistering.  There is a very slight breeze in the air; and we can walk around outside comfortably.  If these aren't signs that Spring break is about to begin; I don't know what is.

My kids and I have been counting down the days until Spring break; and when we arrived at school this morning, it was apparent that we were not the only ones.  The campus was buzzing; and everyone seemed energized with the promise that Spring break brings.  Who woulda thought that I would be as excited about having my kids at home for a week, as I was to be heading down to Daytona Beach, back in the day?  And yet, this is as good if not better!

I volunteered in Kelsie's class, and then met Mari for coffee, where I used my Starbuck's gift card that I'd gotten in my Christmas stocking ~ BONUS!  Mari and I sat and talked leisurely for about an hour and a half; and that was  nothing short of delightful.  I then went for my long, overdue pedicure, at Basic Elements.

I love going to Basic Elements, because I'm able to visit with my friend from swim team, Jenny K; while she does my pedicure.  When all was said and done, my feet looked human again, and my toes were a spectacular shade of green, with white polka dots ~ FUN!!  I wanted to share a picture of my toes with you; but Luis was so appalled by the idea, that I just couldn't go through with posting it.  I think his exact words were "oh great, the chopped up toe or the messed up toe;" and I just about died laughing.  Look it is, what it is.  If you've ever read "The Bumpy Ride " before then you know that my feet are NOT my best feature; but I don't let that stop me.  If you're new to "TBR" email me and I'll provide you with links for a number of posts that detail the various problems with my feet.  Anywho - I've got a sassy new pedicure, and I'm gonna show my toes off - just not on this blog.

But I digress... After my pedicure, I met Luis for lunch; and then picked up the kids from school.  It's now officially spring break ~ WOOHOO!!  
I talked with each of their kids about their day; and my nine year old, Lyndzi had some interesting news to share.   With a big ole smile on her face., Lyndzi told me that Hannah had asked (a boy I'll call) Luke who he liked; and Luke said "Don't tell (a boy I'll call) Tommy (who just happens to be his best friend;) but I like Lyndzi."  The reason that Luke didn't want anyone to tell Tommy, is because Tommy has openly admitted that he loves Lyndzi and plans to marry her.  In fact, his mom even told me that Tommy loves my daughter, and talks about her all of the time.  I knew that Lyndzi was pleased to hear that Luke liked her; because I had been suspecting that she liked him as well; which is REALLY interesting because a couple of months ago they had a lil run in.  Now I'm sad to say that Lyndzi herself, didn't tell me about this incident; I heard about it from her teacher.  One day after lunch, Lyndzi went to her teacher and told her that she thought she was being bullied.  her teacher asked what happened and she told him that Luke had come up to her and said "I wish that your name was Patty, so then I could say to you; Patty, Patty you're a fatty."   Her teacher spoke to Luke, and when he apologized to Lyndzi, she said "That's OK but don't do it again."  I was really proud to hear that she'd stood up for herself; though disappointed that I hadn't heard about this incident from her directly.  Anyway, a few weeks later, I started to hear that Luke wanted to sit next to her at lunch, and his name was being uttered more frequently in our home; so my mama's instinct kicked in.  Guess this proves that old adage about boys teasing and girls when they like them.

Fast forward to today... After Luke told Hannah AND Lyndzi, that he liked her; Hannah immediately spread the news to the other girls and then ya know what happened.  One of the lil girls ran over and shared the news with Tommy.  Lyndzi said that Tommy handled it well, but then at tech lab BOTH of the boys were trying to hug her.  Ahh, it's almost Spring, and thusly, love is in the air.  God help me!
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING

(43-151) Merry Christmas 2010!

This Christmas will be one that I won't quickly forget.  First off, it is the Christmas of my 43rd year; and I can say with all certainty, that I KNOW, it won't be my last.  Second, this Christmas eve marks the night that we discovered that Nicky is allergic to shrimp.  Talk about guilt.  We were invited to the home of Jenny and (SMF) David's, friend Lisa, for Christmas eve.  Jenny told me that Lisa would be making Tamales and she was going to make a seafood stuffed shells dish.  Jenny asked me to bring appetizers; so Luis made his world class, Guacamole and I brought some Hummus, Crab and roasted artichoke spread and garlic & herb cheese, accompanied by sesame bread sticks, pita chips and Naan.  We didn't eat dinner until about 930 or so; and there weren't that many things that Nicky and Kelsie would eat.  I had encouraged them both to try Jenny's shells; and Nicky took a bite and said that he liked it.  I asked if he wanted more and he said yes.  I served him another shell and after about two bites, he told me that his mouth was itching.  He wasn't interested in eating anymore, and he seemed quite concerned about how he was feeling.  We went into the bathroom so that I could get a good look at him, and his lips had started to swell and he was getting a red rash around his mouth; which soon spread to his cheeks and neck.  I immediately asked Jenny for some Benadryl.  I gave Nicky four meltaways, and watched him very closely.  We decided that it was best to go home; so we thanked our hosts, wished everyone a Merry Christmas and bid them a good night.

All the way home I felt incredibly guilty about Nicky's allergic reaction to the shrimp.  I KNOW that there was no way that I could have known that this would happen; but because I had urged him to try the dish; I felt like it was my fault.  Nicky (kindhearted soul that he is,) assured me that it wasn't my fault and swore that he was starting to feel better; and by the time we arrived home, the swelling had gone down and the redness was gone.  My guilt; however, remained well into Christmas day.

I started receiving texts at 6am this morning; but thankfully I managed to get back to sleep.  I slept in until 9, then made my way downstairs to turn the tree on and put up a pot of coffee.  My family slept in till just after ten.  Crazy, huh?  WHAT kids sleep that late on Christmas morning?  Well, I guess tired ones who took four Benadryl meltaways do; and thankfully, the girls did as well.  I greeted my clan, and we made our way downstairs to open presents.  Although the presents were few in number, everyone got exactly what they'd wanted.  AND, I must say that everyone's stockings rocked. 

Growing up I always had a Christmas tree; and we had stockings as well, but I suppose for appearances only; because it wasn't until I lived with my friend Big V, after college that I learned how delightful a filled stocking could be.  I LOVE finding things for everyone's stockings and so this year, I told the kids that they would each be given $2 so that they could buy something to put in my stocking.  I explained that it would be a good opportunity for them to have to be thoughtful, gift givers and it would be a great way for them to  experience shopping. I told them that they didn't have to buy anything for Luis' stocking, because I would; and I have to say that Luis and the kids did a fantastic job.  I received a Reese's peanut butter cup, a mini bag of coffee, sugar free mints, 2 different sets of ribbon for scrapbooking, slim Jims (YES, I said Slim Jims) and a $25 Starbucks gift certificate.  I'm so proud of my family; they truly rose to the occasion.

Going along with the theme of keeping our Christmas simple; we had planned to go to Lake Pleasant in the afternoon with Jenny, David and family; but yesterday, when trying to buy some wood for a campfire, we had heard that there was a no burn restriction for our county.  It turned out that we wouldn't be able to make a campfire at the lake; which meant that we'd be unable to remain there in the evening, because it would be too cold without a fire.  We altered our plans slightly and went out to the lake for a couple of hours.  It was a beautiful day to be at the lake.  It was peaceful, quite and a perfect way to enjoy the day.  The kids threw stones into the lake and enjoyed the outdoors; and Luis and I chatted with David and Jenny as we took in the scenery.  We came back to our house and grilled, as we'd planned to do at the lake; and the kids were even able to have their Smores.

I'm always so amazed at how quickly Christmas passes; after all of the time and planning that has gone into it. In some ways, I wish that we could go through Christmas in slow motion; but this is real life so we don't have that option. Instead, we just have to enjoy the moments that we can; capture as many on film as possible AND commit them to memory, as I have today.
I hope that you were all able to enjoy EVERY moment of your celebration; as I did mine.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING      

(43-117) A Helping Hand

I finally went back to the gym today.  No need to read that line again; I'll repeat, I FINALLY WENT BACK TO THE GYM TODAY; hallelujah!!  It was a long time coming; but I did it; AND, I'm going back tomorrow.

After the gym, my dear friend, Lesa G and I had coffee at Starbucks, and caught up.  Following Starbucks, I went to Sam's Club, and when I tried to start my minivan; it was dead.

I called Luis to ask if we had jumper cables in the minivan, and he told me where to find them.  Then just as I was removing them from their location, it started to rain.  I had to laugh; I mean for the amount of times we actually get rain in Peoria, Arizona; for it to rain right then and there, I found ironic.

I do have AAA but I know that it usually takes a while for them to get to you. I had just purchased milk and chicken; which I didn't want to go bad and thankfully, I had parked close to the tire center entrance; so I walked over to see if someone there might be able to help me. I explained that my car wouldn't start and that I had jumper cables, and I asked if someone could help me out.  The gentleman couldn't have been nicer; and he immediately came out to help me.  I popped the hood so he could see where my battery was located; and then he pulled his car over.  There was a car parked on either side of me, as well as in front of me; but fortunately the cables were long enough to reach from my car to his.   As soon as he started to hook up the cables, the rain started coming down a lot stronger; and again I had to laugh because behind my car and to the side of my car, there were beautiful blue skies; yet right over my car; POURING RAIN.

In no time at all, my car was up and running.  I offered the man a tip of the couple of dollars that I had in my purse; but he told me that they were supposed to do anything that they can to help; and they weren't permitted to accept tips.  I thanked him profusely, wished him a Happy Thanksgiving, and got on my way.

I am so pleased that I have a tale of kindness and cooperation to report, since all too often I am telling you about situations that have gone wrong or customer service agents who weren't up to par.  How refreshing to be able to say that there was a well trained, gracious man, working in the Sam's tire center today and he didn't think twice about lending me a helping hand.  
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING   

(43-53) Full day, Full heart...

Whew!  Today was a BUSY one; but a VERY good one at that.  I asked Lyndzi to run some errands with me, but she wasn't really that interested until I sweetened the deal with an offer of pumpkin loaf from Starbucks.  Lyndzi had a change of heart and shortly after we were on our way, she told me that she was glad that she decided to join me; regardless of the pumpkin loaf, and that was music to my ears.   We adjusted our To DO list slightly, and decided to take some time to enjoy each others company.

From Starbucks we went to the mall so that I could have my diamond re-set.  We dropped the ring off, and ran back home, because I had forgotten my cell.  Just as we were getting ready to go back to the mall, Kelsie started screaming from the bathroom, "ANTS!"  OY!  I HATE ants!!  AND for some reasonwe always seem to get an out break of them at a time that Luis isn't  home.  I tried spraying the ants with some Lysol - all purpose cleaner; just to try and immobilize them, and while I was trying to find their outlet, Nicky informed me that their were a ton of ants in his bathroom as well.  OH DEAR GOD!  Nicky and I both combatted the ants to the best of our ability; and then I called in the big guns!  Luis advised me that we had a really strong ant spray in our back yard and that once I'd spray it, the problem would be solved instantaneously.  Thankfully Luis was right.

Once the ant situation was under control, I went back to the mall to pick up my ring; and it was BEAUTIFUL!  Exactly what I wanted!  And so I decided to get the bonus, diamond ring sized as well.
After the mall I stopped at Trader Joe's because I was expecting company at 2.  I picked up some cheeses and grapes and headed back home.

While I was on vacation in Puerto Vallarta this past May, I happened to receive comments on my blog from 2 ladies who both lived in the Phoenix area, and had both found me through "Scrapbooking from the Inside Out."  It seemed that I had a lot in common with both ladies and so I emailed them privately to introduce myself and thank them for their comments.  Julie and I had the opportunity to get together a few months ago; and I think we clicked immediately.  Joni and I were going to be meeting for the first time today, but with all of the parallels in our lives; right down to the name of our dogs; I feel like she's an old friend; and Julie and Joni know each other, but were going to be meeting for the first time today.

It  definitely didn't seem like this was the first time that Joni and I or Julie and Joni had met.  Both ladies quickly got to work on lays out and although I felt like a fish out of water, I pulled out a photo and some paper and got to work.  The ladies were only here for 4 hours and I actually got 2 lay outs done, which (if you know me;) is monumental.
It felt really good to be creative in a means other than writing; and I think I may need to try scrapbooking again more regularly.

Once my friends left, my entire family headed back to the mall to pick up the bonus ring, and I must say that  Capri Jewelers was 2 for 2.  The ring was stunning!!
We grabbed some dinner, went to Kohl's to get Kelsie new sneakers; came back home, I finished my 2nd lay out; and HERE I AM.

Well, no one will ever be able to accuse me of wasting a minute.  My day was full and so is my heart.  I had some special time with my oldest daughter, I got my long awaited ring, I enjoyed the company of some amazing, new friends, preserved some memories, spent time with my family; and wrote.  Life is GOOD!
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING