Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

We rang in the new year in Hawaii!!! And it was awesome! Had an awesome dinner at Duke's with an ocean front table and then we watched fireworks from our hotel balcony when the clock struck midnight. We lucked out that our hotel was situated in front of the island's big fireworks display. Good times!

We spent Christmas in Sanger at the Louie and Berts. Our annual White Elephant exchange was actually exciting this year. A ton of steals took place and believe it or not I actually ended up with a good present! I got a pretty red cashmere scarf and a make-up kit (way better than the breathalizer kit I got a few years back). Penny wore Grandma Linda's pretty pink and black Christmas dress with the beautiful coat that Rhonda got her for her birthday. She looked like a Christmas angel. Penny and her bff aka her cousin, Jaxon had a great time playing with Rocky, the dog, outside, which was warmer than normal this year!

He wanted Roscoe's, a movie (Creed), and dinner at Tam O'Shanter.  Low key is what he got!

So this morning I overslept which never happens. What did I wake up to? A phone call from my daughter's school informing that LA Public Schools had received a credible bomb threat and even though the school was private they were following the city's recommendation to close while LAPD search each school. You better believe I woke up quickly! I am not even sure where to start except to say that I am horrified that someone or some group would threaten the lives of children at school. I know. I know. Children are harmed all over the world each day. What does that say about humanity? When did it ever become okay to threaten children? On the anniversary week of Sandy Hook I am glad our district took this threat seriously. Apparently the same threat was made in NY to their public schools and they deemed the threat a hoax. I would rather the leaders of my city be safe than sorry. I had to stay home from work and all I could think of is what other parents of the 700,000 c...

I love the celebrations they do at The Girl's school. Today was Christmas Hat Day. We discovered that we didn't have any Christmas hats but rather, we had a cute cupcake hat, made by none other than our pal, Rhonda. I figured it was close enough. She is after all, my little sugar plum.

While we were at Disneyland Sunday, we discovered a celebration for Dick Van Dyke celebrating his 90th Birthday!  I just love, love, love Mary Poppins. I first watched it when I was 3 years old. So I feel like I've know him for a long time! Chim Chiminy! 

Everything in life changes whether we like it or not. Even The Happiest Place on Earth isn't immune.  On January 10th, The Big Thunder Barbaque is closing down because of Star Wars Land.  It's sad to see it go. Hubs booked us a reservation during The Girl's birthday celebration and I had my first and last experience with the fun.  It was Daddy and The Girl's second visit.  As with all things Disney, it was charming. Lots of food, entertainment, singing, dancing and lots of desserts. I was full but hubs I think booked the place just to eat desserts and this was the last time ever we'd get to try one so we stuffed ourselves silly with ice cream and cookie.  Good thing we got to walk afterward!

We recently stayed at a Marriott Hotel for my daughter's birthday. After a long day at Disneyland we came back to our room to lounge and watch TV. While we were lounging we hear a knock on our door and low and behold there is a hotel employee with a big bunch of balloons and a small package.  After the delivery person left hubs brings the balloons over to the girl and they progress to open the package. Out falls a ton of candy! What a great and unexpected surprise! A little bit more magic in an already magical day!

As I was planning "The Girl's" birthday weekend at Disneyland, it occurred to me that I have never taken her to the Bibiddi Bobbiddi Boutique a.k.a. a little girl beauty salon within Disneyland. My daughter doesn't like anyone touching her hair, hence the messed up mop she has most of the time full of snarls but she does like princesses. So I took a chance and booked an appointment. I made an appointment for after breakfast so at least I knew her belly would be full for a while. She was eager to try the experience of course. She even picked out her own hair style however, when they started combing her hair her little smile left. There were tugs and pulls and I have to give her credit, she didn't cry until a few tears at the end. She was a real trouper I have to say. Luckily, she loved the end result and she even wanted to take pictures which is something I had to add onto our package. Once I saw the cute Cinderella carriage and photo place I readily agreed ...

I asked my soon to be 4-year-old what she wanted for her birthday and she said "I want to go to a hotel with a pool." How very "Breakfast At Tiffany's" of you I thought. Since I love that movie and I love my daughter, I was motivated to fulfill her wish. So with a few clicks of a mouse I booked a weekend stay at the Marriott in Anaheim so we could have a long weekend at Disneyland. What you need to know about that request is that my daughter loved, loved, loved that we stayed in a hotel room for my 40th birthday. The two of us even stayed a few extra days after daddy left just to lounge and relax at the hotel. There was food and swimming involved. When my girlfriend got married recently, the girl and I once again stayed in a hotel with a pool. We once again enjoyed food and swimming. So what her request really meant to me was that she has a good memory for a 4-year-old but boy, is her request ever my style! For some reason, I just love hotels. I think...

Today, we went to the girl's 4-year check up. If she stays on her 95% growing spurt, the doctor estimates she will be 5'8 when she grows up! She is in the 70% for weight. But the best news was that the doctor was amazed at what she already knows and was very impressed with her knowledge thus far. Too bad she will have another year of pre-school due to her birthday being in December the doctor says. Suffice to say, the girl is growing as she should and learning what she should. No new immunizations. I guess she doesn't need anymore until she is about to go to Kindergarten. When asked if she rather get a shot or a breathing mask for her flu shot she chose the shot which I think further impressed the doctor at her reasoning skills.

I've got a toddler and a dog who love their snacks. Moses knows exactly where his treat drawer is and has been standing in front of it every single time he wants a treat which is a lot. If I don't give him a treat, he will progress to "herd" me into submission aka he will follow me all around our tiny house and and get in my way until I go in the general direction of his treat drawer. The girl, every 20 minutes without fail announces in one way, shape or form that she wants a snack. Every. 20 minutes. So between the dog and the girl, they are driving me bonkers with the word "treat." The girl will progress to herd me until I go to her treat drawer and progress to list everything that is available for her to eat. If I dare say something that isn't a snack she will proudly, without concern, let me know that she does not consider that a snack. "Oh really?" Frankly, I am beginning to hate the word "treat." I've become a mom cow ...

After an extensive decorating job for the girl's Little Mermaid party, I was not that excited to then have to deck the house out for Christmas but alas, it was almost getting to the mid-month range which seemed really late in my decorating book. Thankfully, some gust of creativity swept over me and I started to drag out the big Christmas tubs of decorations from the garage. I had energy to decorate but not to get the tree so Daddy took the girl and Moses out to the Christmas Tree Lot to pick out a tree. I must say, that for being alone with our two children he managed to get a quite pretty tree! I've amassed quite a few ornaments in my "classic old style" Christmas theme to provide full coverage of the tree hubs picked out. Here are the results!

The girl's teacher asked me if it would be okay if they had a piñata for her birthday. Okay? She loves them? Especially since she had a Little Mermaid one for her birthday the week birthday. What child doesn't like beating something with a stick? lol. Here is a picture of the girl before the piñata was filled with goodies.

I don’t like what I am seeing in the world right now. It has always been depressing to read the news but with social media always in my face, I feel even more sad about the state of humanity. Is it that more bad things are happening or am I just reading more about them? Furthermore, it is not just the depressing headlines across the world that have me down but my encounters with the public in my daily life. Every, single, day, I put my blinker on to show my need to change lanes, only to find the car behind me speed up so I can’t get over.  Everyday I nearly get run over as I walk my dog because people can’t stop at a stop light (really what is the rush?).  Every time I go to the grocery store I nearly get run over in the parking lot because people can’t stop for a pedestrian trying to get into a store. WTH people? Why are you rushing so much?   Everywhere I turn it seems like people are focused on themselves. It is like the world has turned into one gigantic ME-party...

Guess who had a Little Mermaid themed birthday party? For once, in the history of Decembers in California it was completely sunny and warm and not cold and raining which was much appreciated since I had 45 guests over to the house for the party. With themed food, a fully decorated house, 3 art/craft stations and a piñata it was a good party! The girl's cousins and 14 friends came over to help celebrate. We had a beautiful cake from the cuban bakery, Porto's which, I couldn't bring myself to cut so hubby did. It was a fun afternoon but oh, the set up, the food making and the clean up were enough to poop me out and I feel certain I never want to see scotch tape again...darn, Christmas is gonna force my hand with that resolve!

YaYa and NoNo brought Clayton ad Jaxon down to help The Girl celebrate her 4th Bithday Party. She loves seeing her cousins, often referring to them as her brothers. Along with the cousins came gifts from other family members. Jaxon assisted in the openings. Fun and streaks had by all.