Thought I forgot about you........;)

Why so long in between posts...LIFE!

Last time I posted we had just returned from WDW. This was at the beginning of last summer. So whats been happening:

Kid Front: Tried Beach Volleyball last summer and loved it. Plans on playing again this summer. Played JV volleyball again in 10th grade. Started again. Won MVP at the team banquet. Such a proud mom. Got her permit to drive. It took a little longer than expected but she currently driving me around and giving me lots of grey hair. She should get her license right before school starts. Good timing for me. Her uncle gave her a car. It's not the prettiest but "puff" is a running car and it's all hers. Still playing competitive volleyball and having fun.

Foster Parent front: We had the twins until Nov. '13. It was a fight to let them go as they were just moved to another home. Their social worker is TERRIBLE and she and I did not get along, because I called her out on her job ALOT! However they are doing great. We are in touch with their new foster mom and see them about once a month. They are amazing kids and I was blessed to have them in my home. After the difficulty with the social worker (west county sucks) I took a small break to re-group and decide whether I wanted to continue. The kid and I had a chat and decided that we would continue. So as soon as I turned myself "on" again we had a brother and sister placed with us. Not twins this time but sweet kids. They have been here since Dec. '13 and will probably stay thru July at the earliest. Of course, I hope that their parents get their crap together and can get their kids back, but they are happy here and as the little girl says all the time, she's "safe". Breaks your heart!

Mom Front: Just living life! Taking care of my kid and my fosters. Not really watching my weight as I should but WTF. I am actively trying, well kinda, and hope to have a few lbs shed by the summer. Just for health reasons not for vanity. I've had quite a bit of car issues and wish that I had better finances to buy a new one now, but the plan still remains to wait until the kid is a senior or in college. On the finance front I am doing quite well paying off the bills. I recently noticed that I had made a nice little dent. It's refreshing to know that the belt tightening is working.

Vacation Front: This was the first year we haven't done a turkey or spring break trip. All because our schedules were not synced up this year. So I planned an Aulani trip for July 2014. We are very excited to return to our "home". The kid gets to bring a friend and she is so excited too. Once again I did miles for the airlines and timeshare for the stay so basically the vacation is costing me about $150. Woohoo. I will rent a car again and do all of the touristy things I didn't do last time. We will hike Diamond Head and check out Waikiki and hike to my favorite waterfall. Along with pearl harbor and pineapple. AND this time I'm getting shave ice in Haleiwa. I never do and I should. It's on the things to do list. Plus I rented a cabana like a fancy person. I'm excited about that as well.

The animals are good. Cookie is sleeping next to me and maddie is probably keeping my bed warm. Family and friends are doing well also. I had a cousin who got engaged and another who had a baby boy. We don't see them as often as we should. Attribute it to my laziness. We also had a suite for P!NK and Miley. One paid, one free both fun.

Happy Spring. Next update will probably be after the next aulani trip.

What's new in our world!

My baby has finished her freshman year in High school. It's just going by so fast. She hit a bump at the end of year and learned a valuable lesson about homework and grades. Hopefully she will remember as she enters her sophomore year.

winners get t-shirts!

She finished her club season strong. It was a new club for us and as with all of her club teams, it just gets frustrating that all players aren't in it 100%. We have talked about her needing to move up to a 1's team but even my peanut doesn't have that commitment level, yet. She's more of a 1 1/2 LOL. She is working on it. She is already doing conditioning for HS volleyball and has every intention on making AND playing on varsity next year. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out. To that level she has decided to end her competitive soccer playing. It was a tough decision but in the end I believe it's the right one. She loves volleyball and really likes soccer. I hope that she trys out for HS soccer to keep up her skills but if not, she can just concentrate on homework.

Love these girls. Last comp. soccer game. Go explosion!

We ended the school year with a family vacation to Walt Disney World with Uncle Andrew and his GF Ciara and Aunt Stacey and her family Dan, David and Ashley. It was a fun trip with alot of walking and rides, shows, rain and heat...and oh the humidity!

Dinosaur!

Epcot Mr. Dos XX

Dan, Steph, Ash, Stacey on brokedown test track. David is hidden but there too!

Ciara, Andrew and Tay last night in magic kingdom

A fun time had by all at WDW. I'll go again in another 5 years LOL. Next time for a little longer. Need more time for relaxing inbetween. 3 park days, 1 pool day, 3 park days and I want to see more of florida.

We came home to our little ones that were left behind. That's right, I became a foster parent this past year and while I have had some guests they only stay for a little bit. But currently we have twins that have been with us for over 2 months. They were unable to make the trip with us so they stayed behind with my friend and foster parent. I made it up to them with a new experience for the kids. These kids have never been in school before so they both started 1st grade, albeit late in the year, but they had so much fun! They love going to a classroom each day and made new friends. They really had never been socialized with other kids so it was amazing to see how they grew. Currently they are attending a summer day camp where they can swim, rock climb, ride horses, hike, canoe etc. It's amazing to see their reactions on a daily basis. It's also sad to think that they couldn't experience this at their home. But we keep our fingers crossed that their mommy will do what she needs to do so they can go home. They miss their mommy alot and I want them to be happy. I have come to realize that the kids I take care of are always going to go back to a messed up situation. But that is their life. I can only hope that I show them a glimmer of what can be if you work hard.

While tay went off to oregon with her dad for a vacation, one of the amazing things I got to do this summer was take the kids to a special camp for limb deficient children and their siblings as one of my current foster kids is missing an arm. It was so awesome to see their reaction to meeting other children and adults who are missing parts of their bodies. I spent 4 days in awe of these people and on the verge of happy tears watching the kids do so many things they didn't think they could! After camp, we were so close to Disneyland, that I couldn't pass up taking the kids to their first trip to disney. They loved it but I forgot how hard 6 year olds were in the happiest place on earth! I'm just glad they were like tay and didn't ask for alot of stuff. The one thing my daughter is good at is waiting until the end and hitting me up for one thing. She has gotten more expensive as she's gotten older but it comes with the territory.

Hope you all have a great summer!!

First quarter report 2013

The first quarter of 2013 has been busy. Much busier than I would like but hey, it's keeping me on my toes.

Volleyball is going strong for tay. I am happy we switched clubs but wish that more families on the team would take it seriously. It's super frustrating to see 75% of the girls work their butts off and watch 25% not having a care. What sucks more is the 25% have talent that if they put their minds to it, they would be unstoppable.
School is going well, could be better but not terrible. It's definately eye opening to have her in public school this year.
Soccer is going strong again as well. We are in a holding pattern with soccer and volleyball. She wants to play both but time is not allowing it. Volleyball seems to be winning out but it's not year round. I wish volleyball had a summer league like they do in socal.
We are gettting very close to our WDW trip. Planning is in full swing. My sister is going overboard but it's very cute. I'm sure it will be exciting for her little ones. I love seeing disney thru the eyes of kids.
Tay and I are officially foster parents and while we have gotten many calls, we have only had one child join our home. She is adorable but oh my gosh, I forgot how hard it is to have a little kid again. It is definatley eye opening and heartbreaking at the same time. The hardest thing is working with DCFS. I guess i'll get used to it, but ugh!

Happy Easter to all. Hope the bunny brings you lots of chocolate!

Happy Holidays, how time flies....

Merry Christmas everyone! Tonight I sit at my house and pondered about the year that has just ended. So many wonderful and exciting things happened along with some let downs and incompleted tasks.

We all spend this time reflecting and wondering how we can make a difference in the new year. This time I'm just going to try to enjoy my year. Who cares about all of the little things that make us feel bad. Like not excercising or making bad food choices. Let's all embrace the things that make us happy. So to that end, I'm going to list some of the things that made me smile this year....

My daughter...really enough said!
My friends who have survived cancer and finished chemo/radiation this year.
My friends who are having babies...all boys too. Can't wait until May!
Disney (all things disney)
TV. thats right I said it. It's my cheap entertainment.
Vacations - there are never enough!

I am looking forward to watching tay play volleyball for her new team. She gets to travel this year to a few new places and is looking forward to the challenge. I am hopeful that she will keep up her grades while maintaining her social skills. Maintaing the social doesn't seem to be a challenge to her. :) I am hopeful that tay will try track this spring. Keep up her running for soccer. I am looking forward to our Disneyworld trip in June. We get to travel with Aunts and Uncles and their families.

Finally, I am hopeful the money tree I planted will bear lots of fruit this new year! This past year was a bust. LOL

I wish a happy, healthy new years to you and yours for 2013.

A new beginning..

Since tay started HS, I thought I should start a new adventure. I'm not sharing what it is yet, but hopefully you'll be able to tell soon. Day 1 went well, Day 2 is underfoot. i'm up for this exciting new challenge. Every one think good thoughts!

HIgh School has begun Oh Mmmm Gee!

Well my little boo has started High School this week. It was a very emotional week for her mommy. It's the end of an era of my daughter being with me everyday. But, being the mom that I am I took my vacation this week so I could volunteer at her high school. I think it helped me calm my nerves a bit.

Tay has settled in to high school. She's getting used to the routine. She has her locker squared away and has been hanging out with some soccer friends and some volleyball friends. However, none of them are in her classes. So she must make some new friends. She says she likes her classes so far. She loves her english and spanish teacher. I'm just thankful that her schedule is fine since there are a ton of kids with scheduling issues. I volunteered in the scheduling department and couldn't believe the numbers but they are all getting worked out.

On the plus side, my little freshie tried out for volleyball this week. While I had no concerns that she would make freshman, she was thrilled when the list came out and she made JV!! It was such an honor to make a higher level team. I just hope she can keep up with the skill level that JV will need. So far she is enjoying practice alot. She has a couple of jr. and sophmore girls that she has connected with so all is well.

Soccer is going well. We are still developing with all the new players and haven't won a game this season, but it's still preseason and we are playing gold and silver teams to our little bronze. I was very proud of my girl last sunday. She is a mid and had a shot and took it. Scored the only goal for her team in the game and the only goal her team made in the tournament. Her coach was shocked and impressed too. She really stepped up and had a great game. I had gotten her a jamba juice before and told the guy to put some energy in it...I should have paid attention to what he added. It clearly helped.

My job is getting ready to start our 50th year of education! We are having a blowout bbq party next week. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. Another school year beginning. I love seeing the kids until about mid september..then I'm looking forward to june LOL

Have a great School year!

Slacker, I am

Happy Summer! Long time between updates. Life is busy around here. So let's see where did we leave off.... High School: So after many sleepless night, we have chosen a local Charter high school for tay. She got into 2 privates and got transfers into 2 publics. The privates did not give me enough financial aid to continue to allow me to eat. LOL So we chose public. The school is transitioning from a public to a charter this year. So far so good. I have joined the operations committee at her new school and am helping to make decisions on the basic running of the school. It's been very informational for me. Tay has already gotten involved in sports at school. Yes they start very early. While try outs aren't until August, she is practicing twice a week for volleyball.

Volleyball: Tay had a great season this year with competitive volleyball. Her team finished 20th overall out of 184 teams. It was such a confidence booster. She really came into her own in vb this year. While she still struggles playing the position she wants (middle) due to her height disadvantage, she did her best. It does look like she'll be playing back row in high school. Which is fine with her.



Soccer: A season that struggled a little last year. Tay lost her spirit in the spring. However it's a new year and she is trying to work with a relatively new team. They lost 5 players and picked up 7 new ones. It's definately challenging to figure it out. Her coach is starting to recognize that teamwork and trust extended beyond the soccer field. Something we've been saying all along. Hopefully these team fun dinners and events will help the girls build that trust they need. It would be nice if we had a back-up goalie too though....We had a terrbile tournament in Santa Maria but it was great for team building and trust. After the tournament tay and I along with another girl and her mom went to the dunes to play around before we drove home.

Middle School: Tay ended middle school with a fabulous graduation and

Jag sports award

dinner/dance. We are very proud that tay won the conveted sports award. Not only does she get a plaque for the house but her name will be placed on a perpetual plaque at school. Always leaving our mark somewhere! She had a good crowd come and watch her graduate too. Including her Grandma and Grandpa from Palm Springs. It was so thoughtful of them to travel up for this event.

I felt like a bad hostess though to all my family and friends. They all travelled for her event and since I was one of the committee members, I was dealing with so many issues that day. We had a little dramz behind the scenes but the event overall went off without a hitch.

For the summer, I am keeping my kid busy with a JOB...thats right a JOB. So between vacations and camps she is working. She's not making any money but she is getting practical experience that she can use in the future. This will most likely be her last "camp" summer anyways. So far so good. They tell me she is working hard and they enjoy having her around. She has already secured employement for next summer..of which she'll be paid a smaill stipend. It's as a Jr. counselor so she half camper half counselor. It still gives her the luxury to come and go. The following year she would have to be available for the better part of the summer and truly get paid. Which at that point she would need it to pay for her gas. Oh, I just can't believe how old my child is getting. Well she's not a child anymore. She's my height, beautiful young woman. UGH! Now that she's heading into highschool I have to worry about the worst thing...BOYS! Crap. On the vacation front, I am getting ready to book our next trip. I can't believe it's almost 11 months away. We are headed to the world with my brother and sister and their families. It will be nice to spend some quality time with my siblings and niece and nephew. I am booking a 2 bedroom condo thru my time share. So we will all drive each other crazy LOL. I haven't been to a park with little kids in a LONG time. I hope my patience holds out. The good thing about the world is there is alcohol everywhere and I'm not driving. HA! After we finish our disney trip, tay and I will head down to port canaveral for a week long cruise on the new fantasy ship. I can't wait to test out the new ship. Hopefully my finances will stay on track. I have managed to make some major financial adjustments. Now to use them to their best advantage. Still working out some plans but it looks like I could make some major dents in my finances and still take care of everything else. That would be nice. I'd really like to go back to europe with tay before she graduates high school. We shall see. I'm also worried about the college debt so I'd like to get as ahead of the game as possible. I also have a lofty goal to drop some pounds. It seems I always have this goal but i've decided to do it slow and sure. I'd like to drop 20lbs a year over the next 4 years. That will put me at a weight I can date at LOL. No vacations for us this summer. Tay just got back from a trip with her dad to see her gma/pa in so cal but otherwise we are just working and trying to get ready for high school. I'll take a day here and there but otherwise, nada. I hope you all have a great summer. Get out and get sun. Enjoy the weather!

Me at Oso Flaco Lake Dunes entrance

Marching on..

March is here and it's time to start finding out about high school. It's the strangest thing to me to not know where or what to do about high school. The pressure to make a decision that I can't make because nobody has gotten back to me is super frustrating.

Here's the run down:
Applied at 2 private school, neither of which I can afford to send my child too. Keeping my fingers crossed that one or both will say yes and give me lots and lots of financial assistance. Now here's the kicker...one school definately has a much better rep than the other but my little sporty spice may not be able to play sports all 4 years at that school and since we will be tapped out paying tuition she won't be able to continue to play competitive sports outside of school.
One school will give us an snswer this weekend, one we won't find out until middle to late april.
In the middle of all this, I have turned in a lottery request for a charter high school that is on the way to my work from our house. It would be convenient and I believe that she will be successful there, but it's a brand new charter school (converting from an established public high school) and we are waiting and waiting for a timeline on the lottery. This is totally unknown when they will get around to enrollment. I have emailed and left messages and no response. It's super frustrating. Not one returned phone call does not sit well with me.
I also applied for a transfer to a local(to my work) public high school. Good school, relatively safe as far as public goes and close to work. I missed their freshman orientation, which sucks, but I know many people who's kids are attending this school and they have many positive things to say. I did email the principal, but once again, no response to my email.
on April 1st I'll be able to request a transfer out of my district to another public school. I did email a vice principal at our local HS to find out about a freshman orientation, information on the school etc. and NO return phone call.

I'd love to say the non responsive public high school are just because their public, but in all fairness I left a message for one of the private schools to check on some paperwork and NEVER receive a return phone call or email either. Eventually their list was updated online and my question was answered but I was never told to check online.

This whole process is SUPER FRUSTRATING. I can only hope that whatever happens it will be fine for tay. She will get the grades she needs to go to USD, her preferred school as of today LOL.

updates in the new year...

Another year and my updates are few and far between. Oh well.

So lets go:

Christmas and New Years were mellow and fun. A little let down after spending thanksgiving in Hawaii. All I did during my time off was search for flights back while seeing no dinero in the bank account.

In January we returned to work and school. It's now time to get ready to welcome a new group of students for the 12-13 school year and I'm pleased to say that we are quite busy. Double the applicants for the next year. Everything is buzzing around the school. The building is coming along. There are doors on it now! I'm still quite hopeful that tay will have some classes in the new middle school before she graduates.

January is the start of a very busy season for taylor. Tay is currently writing her biggest project to date. A term paper on Cerebral Palsy. She is very interested in the subject which is helping keep her focused. She also started up soccer again, getting ready for state cup. Her first game isn't until March, but it's the knock out phase. You must keep winning to stay in the race. She also started up volleyball again. This time with a new club.


I'm pleased to report that her new team is doing quite well this season. They are an area team and have placed first at each of their 2 tournaments. Meanwhile, they played in a non-league tournament and came in 3rd. She has really connected with her team and I can only hope they continue on playing some great volleyball.

We have just finished the application process for high school for tay. We have applied to only one private school and turned in our lottery request for the local charter high school. Keep your fingers crossed or she's going to a crappy hs in our city. At least they have good football, some years.

No big trips coming up. Saving up for HS and all! We are planning a quick trip to Disney in March and a trip to Reno for Volleyball in April. Otherwise it looks to be a very mellow 2012.

Happy Valentines Day!

Finally...Aulani Vacation Arrives WooHoo!!!

Who: Me, Tay and Tori (her first visit) When: Thanksgiving week.

Long Flight overGirls Got Lei's upon Arrival

Snorkle PoolMain Pool with Ewa Tower in background

Hot Tub overlooking the lagoonFrom the beach

Sharks! J/KEnd 1st night in the hot tub

Character BreakfastPineapple Time!

Look at those nuts!They finished under 1 hr in the rain!

Lazy RiverStarlight Hui

watching with friendsArizona Memorial Museum

Tori getting rushedTay can fit in this bunk

End of Bowfin sub tour Scenic overlook

Just another day at the pool Our pool view

Tidepool at sunset menehuene trail

Turkey Day! Birthday Bfast view AMA AMA

Grand Villa wouldn't upload. I'll try on another page.

Aloha..and other things

Gearing up for winter around here. It's been cold for cali and I miss the warmth so we are going to head off to hawaii for some sun and fun. I am very much looking forward to vacation but until then I need to get some crap done around my "hoarders style" house. Well that's how I feel anyways. I'm starting to amass quite the collection of plastic, paper etc. Things that need to be recycled, thrown out, cleaned up in general. We've just been going going going for so long that sometimes I just want to chill out and relax and not do those basic housekeeping tasks. BUT this weekend is it! I need to get some crap done. ( I needed to restate for my own help LOL).

Tay has completed her try-outs and for the first year of trying out for different clubs I was both frustrated and pleased with the process. I had several people tell me that I need to be patient and wait for the phone calls but I was so used to them calling that night. It was very frustrating. I know now that when it's time to find out about high schools, I'll be a big stress ball too. Tay has picked a team that I know she will grow on and luckily 2 of her teammates from last year are also on the team. She is very happy about that. Now I just have to figure out how to pay for VB, property taxes and still have money for vacation. I sure hope that money tree in the back yard is fruitful this year.

School is going. Conferences just happened and I was pleased with the outcomes. We had a conference with one teacher that was hard, but hopefully will help both of them (teacher and student) work together better. Although, I was already let down by the teacher this week. Sometimes I don't understand who is the adult and who is the teen?

I will post some pics from our hawaiian getaway when we return. Aulani looks amazing. I can't wait to check it out in person.

Last year in Middle school really feels like preparing for college

So another long awaited update......

School has started up and sports are in full swing. We have not been getting home until after 8pm nightly. It's exhausting, truly!
Soccer is going well. For her 1st year in competitve they aren't doing too bad. We lost to a team that I'd hoped they'd beat but only so I could smirk at someone. Probably why we lost, my bad karma. This should have been our year at school volleyball, but our team just can't communicate. We have some great skilled players who just don't trust each other. It's too bad. But comp clinics are going great. Tay has been doing clinics at UC Berkeley and loving learning from college players. They run a great clinic. She has also been taking some weekend clinics with her old club and another club she is interested in. It's going to be a good tryout weekend. Tryouts for VB are on the same day as our last soccer game. And while tay was not going to do bball, her math teacher is coaching and has talked her into playing. I'm a little bummed as I was looking forward to going home right after school.

School is going well so far. We had the "talk" about taking school seriously. She really wants to go to private school for high school and she needed to pull up some grades. They weren't bad, but she just needed to be stronger. So far so good. Everyone is impressed, but we've also learned our lessons and told her we're proud but it needs to continue. I'm even more impressed with her time management skills. She gets started on homework as soon as she has a free moment and continues with out wanting to watch tv or go play. The only bothersome thing..which is totally teen, is the skype. First kids couldn't use the phone to call their friends, only text. Now they want to skype their friends, not call or text. Soon phones will be obselete. UGH!

We are knee deep into the private high school application period at this time. Narrowing down our choices to a couple of local schools. Hopefully one or both will love to have my adorable child. If not, I'm screwed. I can't send her to either of her home high schools. So I have to put my eggs in the transfer basket and hope it comes thru. I'm staying super positive that she will get into one of the high schools AND they will give me enough financial assistance to send her there.

On the homefront....
My health concious lifestyle is meandering along. This week has been off a little due to a side trip to disney, but I am keeping my eyes open and owning my lazyness. The cats are still fighting and driving me crazy.

On the vacation front.....
While tay was on a school trip, her mom, uncle, and great aunt took a trip down to the house of mouse. It was so fun to go without kids but also with my two favorite adults. I love spending time with my aunt without our kids and any opportunity to spend time with my brother is amazing. Our next trip is to Aulani on Oahu. We are looking forward to going back to hawaii. I will post lots of pics of that trip in the future.

That's all for now. Enjoy your fall!

Where did summer go?

Obviously, I am slacking on the blog. Let's face it the sole purpose is to blog the vacation fun...life is not as exciting.
This summer has flown by. We normally vacation during the school year because I work during the summer and it's actually my busy season. It's quite hard to find time to take off during the summer. This summer I had to find time. I was going to max out on my available vacation time and I am not the person who will lose out. I was able to eek out 2 weeks of time off early in the summer. One week was a staycation. Just hung out at the house. I had high hope of super cleaning and organizing but I think I needed to just chillax. The second week off was to go with the cousins to look at colleges in southern california. It was a fun trip and we got to see some friends down in sc. Lot's of great schools but OMG so expensive. My tay needs to buck up her grades so she can get some $$ off tuition. It was a great experience for tay at her age. I recommend anyone with kids close to entering HS go with a senior to look at college. It will really put into perspective what is necessary for your younger child to succeed at in HS.
Tay spent her summer hanging out at home in the beginning and volunteering at a local summer camp at the end. She went to volleyball camp with a bunch of friends for a week in the middle. She has been having a great time working at camp. She has been doing such a good job that the camp director actually told me she is hired as a CIT for next year. I'm so proud that she took the inititive to volunteer and she was so excited when he offered her a job. It's not a paying job but it will look good on her resume. Everyone needs to start somewhere!
Tay is also in high gear for soccer. They have started their tourments and are doing well for a small team. She is having fun but it is very busy. I recently realized that we will have no weekends free from Labor day to Halloween. Thats ok though, it's good for tay and it gets my fat ass off the couch!
Speaking of fat asses...yes I'm still large and in charge. I really don't want to have this body size but I am quite simply not motivated. Well thats not quite true. We came back from vacation in july and I refused to go to the grocery store. I was quite pissed that a week and a half before I had spent quite a bit of money on food and it just went to waste. Our schedules didn't get us home to have time to cook. I came back from vacay and thru out probably $100 of fresh food that went bad. I was so angry that I told tay we are eating what is left in our house. No grocery for us until it was gone. Well I am proud (or embarrased) to say we did it. Cleaned out our house and I only had to buy milk.
Our fridge was so bare I could clean the entire thing and put everything left on one shelf. Sad but true. After my fridge cleaning tay and I headed to safeway to restock. She was actually happy to go to the store, a chore she normally hates. I had a huge list and a big intention to cook. Not just cook packages, but really cook. BUT my biggest intention was for me to go carb free. I have done the carb free before and it was easy and great. Without even trying I lost almost 30lbs just eating white flour fee. I also pared down my non natural sugar too.
So after spending too much money and buying very little crap (tay needs snack stuff) I came home and started cooking. 1st thing was to make tay homemade chicken strips. Which she hated, of course. I'm can't eat because of the light breading so now what do I do with them? I can't throw out perfectly good food, but neither of us are going to eat so i'm perplexed. They will sit in the fridge while I decide.
2nd thing was parmesean crusted zucchini which was awesome! I was so in awe, I decided to attempt a burgandy sauce with mushroom to go over my steak I was grilling later. It didn't go as well as I hoped and I did have to add a teaspoon of white flour to get it thicker. BUT it was good. I also roasted some potatoes. However I didn't start cooking until late as I was fighting a migraine and my neighbors invited us over for smores while i was deep in my cooking. So day 1 was a bust on my white flour/refined sugar. I didn't eat too much but I did have some. and BTW smores rock. I haven't had them in a while but man they were good! I came home from the neighbors and ate my steak and mushrooms. YUMMY.
So today I start again. This morning I fried up some bacon and made a crustless quiche for breakfast. I threw some fresh tomatoes and sour cream over it and had a wonderful breakfast. Made with no white flour or refined sugar. For lunch I'll have left over steak/potatoes and zucchini and for dinner maybe the final or maybe I'll grill some chicken or maybe a salad? Who knows but I have enough for anything. Keep your fingers crossed that I will be able to keep myself full without the useless crap that keeps my gut big.
Hope your summer ends on a high note! I look forward to a new year, which will be tays final year at my school. We have alot of highschools to look at and lots to do to find the right place for her. Wish us luck.

Been a while, but summer is here!

So it's been a while since I've been on, getting the end of the school year finished up. So here's my updates....

tay has ended 7th grade. It was a rough year but she made it through. She has accepted that school is just going to get harder..just as life does..and really wants to go to a specific private high school so she is going to be working hard towards that goal next year. I can't believe that I have to start applying for high school for her next year. Crazy!

She finished out her volleyball season and had a great time. She does love the competitive sport but wishes that her team was more competitive. There were some new girls on the team and they never quite got that competitive edge to them. I was disappointed and expressed it to the coach. It is quite expensive to play these sports and you just want to see the team as a whole building up towards something. Tay did improve quite a bit and while she is not the tallest kid..she loves playing the net and has an awesome jump. She is also quite the libero. We are on the fence for next year, but I'll probably have her try out for more than just her reqular team. Just to see what is out there.

She recently tried out for a comptetitive soccer team and made it. It is very exciting for her as soccer is her first love. I like this team because they play local teams only. No extended travel. Plus they are offering a free soccer camp over the summer. Mommy loves her freebies! This soccer team will play all the way thru december so this ought to keep us quite busy.

She is also looking at going to a few camps but we will see how the money tree shakes down. Right now the fruit is not in season. LOL.

We have adopted a new cat, renamed from baby girl to cookie, and she is driving me crazy. She is so mean to my cat and she misses the litter box ALOT! I have to remember that she was not treated very well at her last home but she's working my last nerve. I am trying to break her this weekend and it isn't going very well. I have moved the litter box outside and sent her out to do her business. Keep your fingers crossed she doesn't have an accident tonight. Oh and did I mention she has no teeth and has to eat soft food. UGH! Such a softie, I know.

Job is going well. Just completed my 14th year and got my super 14 award at this years graduation ceremony. This year I helped the parents organize graduation and got a taste of whats to come next year. I think I might spend the whole year crying. oh well. Due to my lack of vacation last summer I MUST take time off this summer even though I am broke. So I will spend some time organizing my house and hopefully have a garage sale later in the summer. I will also be travelling to so cal with my cousin and aunt to look at colleges for her. From malibu to san Diego. Although I think my aunt is more interested in disneyland. How to explain I don't have the $$ for disney. Still working on that!

On the personal front...I'm still fat. I own it and I would love for a magic pill cause this eating right and excercising thing is really not working for me. I never really got back into the gym after my injury. I do walk while tay is at soccer and log in every good and bad thing I eat. I have good days and bad. I know it's a mind set and while I wish I was in better shape, I have very little incentive mentally to get off my ass and do something about it. Oh except for living longer blah blah blah.

We are still on for our hawaiian vacation this fall. I guess thats another reason to drop some poundage. I'm ready to go back to hawaii. it's been a while and I've missed it. I'm excited over the hawaii property. It'll be nice to be able to get last minute airfare and free hotel.

That's it for now. Hope you all have a great summer.

Back from Vacation and had a whale of a good time!

Just back from our land and sea disney vacation this past spring break and I already wish I was going right back again. Tay and I had a great time and the best part was no rushing thru airports and long transfers. We just drove to socal disney, something we do anyways and from disneyland it was a quick trip (with stops) to the port. It was so lovely to see that boat in the harbor.

Here's the rundown with limited pics ( I forgot my camera and relied on my iphone)

We left our home and my booboo kitty in the dark of night with all intentions on being early into the park. Tay slept the whole way down, lucky girl. It was a pretty uneventful drive with a couple of cars swerving at times. I like driving in the middle of the night, less traffic and no whiny kid. I stopped for gas/coffee at magic mountain around 6am and got to disneyland around 7am. A nice traffic free drive. We were staying at the Villas at Grand California, DVC's new addition to the Grand California Hotel. I gave my bags to the bellhop and moved our car to the free guest parking across the street. I decided to take a quick 20 min cat nap since the park didn't open until 8am. Tay was wide awake now and let me get a quick "zzzz". We headed over to DL and walked right in at 7:55am. I was trying to get something to eat quickly but nothing opened until 8am. In retrospect it was a good decision as our first ride was space mountain and it left me a tad queasy. I have noticed that the rollercoaster rides are now leaving me feeling ugh when I get off of them. It's a bummer but I'm sure comes with my old age. I think thats why my favorite ride is toy story mania now. Mellow shooting game..aahhh

Tay and I had finished out all of the main rides and headed over to California Adventure right as they opened.

As we were waiting in line for Screamin' tays dad called to let us know they had arrived. Tays dad, stepmom and stepbrother were meeting us down in DL. They had to leave later as R made it into the science fair the night before. We did a couple of more rides at CA Adventure then headed over to meet up with dads fam in DL.

First ride was Matterhorn. R was very excited! We padded around both parks until our room was available. Downside of DVC at DL is they clean those rooms last and they are NOT available until after 4pm! We got the call at 4:05 that the room was ready. We headed over, had the bags delivered and got in our suits to head to the pool. Did I mention that it was freakishly hot on friday. R stayed in the room while the adults and tay headed to the pool for swimming and cocktails, shirley temple for the kid. It was nice to relax before heading over to the park again. We went back around and split off..I came back to the room at 10pm while the rest went to ride space mountain. Our room at the VGC was beautiful. A balcony overlooking World of Color so I sat in the room watching the show while getting ready for the next day. We had early entry to the park at 7am. Up early saturday morning to hit the park running. We had a big day saturday. Hit all the non fastpass rides in the morning then did the plaza character breakfast.

Then off to ca adventure to get our fast passes for world of color. Tays dad had never been to Ca Adventure and R hadn't been to DL since he was 6 so he barely remembered. It was fun to see the park with newbies. I love their excitement and enthusiasm. Once again we took a break in the middle of the afternoon. It wasn't warm enough to swim on saturday but J and I took a cat nap. Tays dad headed off to watch the muppets and then we were supposed to meet up with him to watch aladdin. Unfortunately he had R's ticket on him. After a little begging the lovely ladies at the gate allowed us to enter the park w/o a ticket for R. Tays dad did not have a phone but luckily tay got her had stamped from CA Adventure. PHEW! Needless to say R's mom collected his ticket and kept it with her. After Aladdin we went to ESPN zone to have a nice relaxing dinner with many drinks. I love vacation! We headed back to CA to watch world of color and then once again called it a night. Another early entry day on sunday and they we were going on a BOAT!

Sunday we all did early entry to get some final rides at DL. After that tays dad and his fam left us to head out to the boat while tay and I headed to CA Adv. to do some final rides. I wanted to ride Toy Story and Tay wanted to do screamin' . We finished in just enough time to get back to the room and check out at 10:59am! The night before tay had fallen with her phone in her hand and completely destroyed it. On top of some underwire issues I was having, we decided to pack the car and head out to do some errands before the boat.

My plan was to arrive late to the ship for 2 reasons...1. I didn't want to hit another 24 hour period for parking, save myself 12 bucks! and 2. I wanted to carry my bags on straight to my room. This was selfish as I just didn't want to pack my bags to protect breakables. Thank goodness for a stop at Macy's and AT&T. We arrived at the port at 2pm. Perfecto! No lines, no waiting, just picked up our Key to the World card and headed on board. Straight to our room. Dropped the bags and went to go find everyone. Found tays dad making sure his lifejacket was proper. Even thought you don't need to wear it to the drill he wanted to check them out. Below is a video of how he felt about us making fun of him.

I went to the disboards meet but briefly. Met my dinner companion and some other nice people. We stayed up on deck for the sailaway party for a sailway that didn't happen right away! I went down to my room to unpack after the party and an hour later found us still in port for some unknown reason. We met up with tays dad, j and r for the show and then dinner that night. Once again I found myself in a new situation. The bumpy sea was messing with me. This was new to me. It took a day to get my "sea legs" but thankfully they arrived. It was pretty bumpy that night however it rocked me to sleep! The next day was a sea day and a little chilly so I did alot of inside things in the morning. Trivia, DVC meeting, more trivia. Later in the afternoon, I took tay to the sports deck to play capture the flag and as usual she made fast friends. That night at dinner was the last night we saw tay. She was off with her middle school BFF's she had made. Tuesday we arrived in Cabo, a little late and lots of long lines for tenders but it was no sweat for me as I had no intention of leaving the boat!

The view from our SPH room on the boat in Cabo. It was gorgeous this day. I put on my suit and headed up to the pool to find a mecca of chairs and just a few people. A true luxury on a packed cruise ship. I spent my day at the pool, to only leave to refill my drink or grab a snack. Tay was off with friends. This pattern repeated itself on wednesday in Puerto Vallarta. My view was not so great this day as they were doing maint. outside my window most of the day. Thankfully since I was at the pool I didn't care. They had extended our day in PV that morning to a 10pm onboard. Had I known this in advance I would have done some research and planned an authentic dinner of the ship but no internet met dinner onboard. Tay went off with her dad and fam to go ziplining for the day. She came back tired and cranky. She didn't have alot to say about ziplining. But I found out later that if there was no hiking involved it would have been more fun. Talk about lazy kids.

Sea day on thursday and pirate night. Now at this point in the vacation I started to get a sore throat. Thinking nothing of it, just overdoing drinking talking etc. Little did I know....

Friday we were in cabo again and I had heard that many people were staying on the ship which prompted me to leave and walk around for a bit. Tay and I headed out with the Hughes Clan to check out cabo. It was pretty hot and the kids were kinda whiny, but it was pretty. We ended up getting a beer and some snacks at CaboWabo, some cough drops at the pharmacia and then went back to the ship. We saw a seal/sea lion playing in the water as we headed back to the ship.

Such an awesome boat! I went back up to the pool deck and right back into my tanning mode. As usual I have noticed that my age is making my skin burn instead of tan right away, but I did get a great tan for a week. I should have gone to the tanning booth before but oh well. On our way out of Cabo we saw whales. Below is a video and If you can look beyond my crappy iphone skills and my reflection in the window you will see what they were doing for a while alongside the boat. It was awesome!
It became super windy that afternoon..I mean SUPER windy. Everything blowing everywhere so my tanning was over :( In fact most of the outdoor deck activities were over. It was so cold and windy as we headed back to LA. Saturday was more of the same. At one point Pat, Nolan and I went to the front of the ship and watch nolan waving in the wind. Hysterical! This was the last night and I made tay come to dinner for a bit. She was waiting for her friend to finish and once they were both done they headed off to edge for the final night. We relaxed and finished up dinner. I went back to the room to pack up for the next day and then headed down to pub night with kim. My favorite night on the ship. If I were not upon the sea..... My cold had come on full force now and I was regretting not getting antibiotics in mexico. The next morning we headed down to breakfast with our luggage for our last meal on the wonder.

Tay and her shipboard BFF! They were sad to leave each other at the end but she lives close so there is hope they will have a playdate!

Since Tay and I had our bags we could leave anytime we decided. So after breakfast we headed off the ship. Tays dad had not been called and we actually walked off briefly with the hughes but got seperated at immigration. There was a small line to show your passport and then we walked out of the port, saying goodbye to the ship and hello to our very dirty car in the lot. It took a little time to get out of the parking lot then we were on our way home. Tay slept for about 4 hours in the car. Which was nice because I didn't look forward to the "are we there yet" and "i'm hungry" utterances.

All in all a fabulous vacation. So great that we rebooked for next spring break. I doubt we will do disneyland too but we'll see. Maybe next year we'll stop and do universal studios. I haven't been there in a LONG time. Long time to plan. Fun things to do. And once again a reminder that I used my disney time share to pay for this vacation. My cash out of pocket for the whole trip including gas/parking was under $500. That's a great deal for 10 days! If any of you are considering DVC, don't forget to say my name! Pay it forward. Our next vacay will be a trip to our new home resort on the island on oahu later this year. Cya later!