WEEKEND WARRIOR

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Today I bought a bunch of new plants and repositioned a bunch of beds in our landscaping. I got a 5' tall cactus. Yes that is ' and not ". My tailbone hurts. And I got a sunburn. My fingers even hurt.

Becca came with me to shop for plants and supplies. She will always come to Home Depot with anyone who wants to go, no matter how dull the shopping list, because she knows it is the home of the Home Depot Dog. They're just Vienna Beef franks but she thinks they are the world's best food.

ICU UCME2

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Sarah drew Becca.

Becca drew... a genetic mix of Sarah, myself, and a horse.

MAGICAL ME

Friday, May 23, 2008

So the kindergarteners put on some entertainment for us last week. They can mess up all they want and it's still just cute. Here's a song from the program... if you're one of those grandparent types, you can see the WHOLE program at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7865973507181014686&hl=en

REMEMBER IT LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Briana's Bat Mitzvah in 4 minutes - with a little jellyfish break. I'm reminded how beautiful my friend Melissa is inside and out, what a great job she did pulling this together, how much their family loves each other - and what a cool chick Briana is.

Especially compared to Melissa and me at that age! Melissa and I went to each others' Bat Mitzvahs - I remember riding up and down on the elevator at the Top of the 7s hotel in Clayton for entertainment during it - of course during Briana's nobody dared leave lest we miss the awesome DJ for even a minute. And I found a photo of Melissa with my other friends at my Bat Mitzvah the other day - hmmm you know what, I think we were "late bloomers." Fortunately I would rather be an interesting 43-year-old than an interesting 13-year-old cuz that's what I got.

Looking at this makes me excited for Sarah's. Even though I'm scared out of my wits. And I am old enough to have a Bat Mitzvah age daughter. Well in 2 years anyway. And it's going to be hard to top the jellyfish.

Music: Don't Stop Believing by Journey (a Briana favorite)

DON'T WORRY, WE MADE IT BACK

Monday, May 19, 2008

TALENTED AIN'T THEY?

Friday, May 16, 2008

Sarah's drawings, Becca's math. Becca can ADD! This is crazy - since when do kindergarteners learn to add? And Sarah is a more talented artist than I ever was.

ZOMBIE

Thursday, May 15, 2008

OK if anyone knows of some experiment that pays people a lot of money to study what stress does to the human body, let me know, because I think I could easily be a subject.

Last week I only worked 70 hours and I felt like I was working part time. That's stupid.

So I did get hypnotized by my friend Chuck. What is really odd about this:

• Who the hell gets hypnotized? This is so West Coast.
• Chuck is a board certified hypnotherapist. Who on earth sits on this board? I bet if I told anyone at the AMA this, they would laugh till they vomited.
• It's hard to keep your concentration when someone you know is saying "now think about your eyelids. feeeeel them relaahhhhhxing. they are sooooo heaaaavyyyy."
• Now sometimes at the weirdest moments, Chuck's voice pops into my head and tells me to do things. I don't remember a lot of the session, but it's funny how at some random moment I will hear Chuck say: "now get up and walk around. See how much better you feel when you jusssstttt... take a breaaaaak."

I'm going to start posting things now... here's something I think my friend Melissa sent me. Or my sister-in-law Linda. Or I got it along with a Viagra ad in my spam folder. Whatever - it reminded me of Becca.

HOGWARTS CALIFORNIA

Saturday, May 03, 2008

So just a few days after the discovery of bats - there was much commotion over a snake.

Don was painting our fence and I was gardening - and there it was, curled up by the air conditioners. Beeeehhhhh. I blurted out "SNAKE!!!" Which I believe is what 50% of people probably say first (other option is a swear word)

The snake picked up its tail and shook it. Which did not make me feel too good. Beeehhh open toed shoes. (don't know why open toed shoes + gardening)

By then Archie and Eddie had heard me say SNAKE and came to see what I was up to. They were quite happy, I believe they thought I said "STEAK!!!" Being a city slicker and not really knowing what kind of snake this was, what with all the tail shaking and everything, I ushered them into the house, where the kids were playing.

Upon hearing that there could be a poisonous snake in the yard - their instinct was to go out there and take a look? I worry about their long-term survival. After scolding them for bad thinking and commanding they stay inside, I went to get Don.

Who was also wearing open-toed shoes (don't know why open toed shoes + painting)

He grabbed a broom and went to see the snake and scolded ME for bad thinking and commanded me to stay inside. Hey! I'm 43. I can hang out with the snake, right?!

No, I got yelled at again.

A few minutes later, I went to check to see if Don wanted closed-toed shoes. Because I'm Jewish, and in an emergency, it's important to be properly dressed. I mean, if I have to call 911, what's the first thing the firemen are going to say to me...

Don had the broom in the air ninja-style. The air conditioning pads, lawn mower, and trash cans were lined up like Stonehenge. I thought better of asking anything and went back inside.

Sarah was already Googling the snake, which Don thought was a baby rattlesnake because of its size and all that tail-shaking. But come to find out it's an alameda whipsnake. A threatened species.

By the time we found THAT out, it had been decapitated and flung onto the slope outside our fence. We all feel a little guilty now. But how does one know?!?

Well, it's a learning experience. I am hoping for some eye of newt to pop up soon, then we can take the snake carcass and make a potion at dusk with the bats or something... I'll have to go to Cauldrons R Us for some supplies...