In the news............
I AM still alive --- incredibly busy with life. Maggie and I have had a ton of rehearsals for The Promised Land over the last two weeks. Run-throughs start next week and then the show begins; it's actually easier when the show begins b/c it's a weekend commitment. Sharing this experience with Maggie has been so much fun; the rest of the family has all of our show songs ringing in their heads.

Sean got picked for kid pitch again this season. We are looking forward to seeing how much he has grown since last year. Yet another bat has appeared in the equipment bag; it's a little bit of de-ja-vu. Practice starts soon; me & my camera can't wait for opening day.

Maggie's first viola concert is tomorrow AM. She is so excited that she earned a spot in the front row. Of course, the occasion required a shopping trip and she looks so grown up. She loves to practice and isn't half bad actually.

Amanda's latest obsession -- learning to read. She is trying to read anything she can get her hands on. It's so cool to finally have a kid who LIKES to practice reading. She loves school. We are so glad that she had a bonus year. She is hoping to find her teacher on the ski slopes this weekend.

Ian --- he is almost 4! Next week I submit my final preschool registration paperwork. We have been there since Fall 2001 (when Amanda was born!) and we will officially be finished June 2009. It's been a loooooong stay and a wonderful experience, but I am counting down the tuition payments.

We are heading to the mountains this weekend. We will be joined by our Best Man and his family. With our recent storms, the conditions are great so it should be a blast.
That's the lastest edition of our news. Now if you need something to do in between these blog posts go check out lolcats.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Here's a little taste of a SoCal Christmas -- tree decorating, boat parade, Disneyland, etc.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Time for another installment of LOVE Thursday; it's been a while.
I LOVE being organized and the clean fresh feeling of put-away Christmas decorations (you aren't imagining it; the bottom three large containers are all lights for Clark) and an organized garage. Aaaaahhhhhhhh............

Isn't there some saying about 'things' happen in threes. Well, can I just take a TWO and call it close enough........

Friday night during my CM workshop I had turned on the stove to warm a little glaze for my dessert. Well, I got busy doing something else and forgot about it. Minutes later, smoke was pouring out of my newly, remodeled kitchen. I was moments away from a fire I'm sure b/c the glaze was completely black and smoldering. Pot went into the trash after it cooled.

And today, I smelled something burning this morning. Dh informed me that it was probably the waffles; however, nothing was in the toaster and it was unplugged. Hmmmmm. Later this evening around 7pm, we couldn't get our living room TV to come on. Weird; it was fine earlier. Hmmmmmmm, strange. Guess it's dead; it looked like the little power/channel disk on the top was stuck down so we figured we would need to start shopping for a new one. Dh is quietly happy I'm sure. Fast forward to 9:30pm after bedtime routine, I came downstairs to the tv popping every two seconds and smell of something burning. Dh thinks it was the 'power trying to kick on' with the stuck disk thing but I don't care. Had I gone to bed and not come to down to wade through more laundry we would have had an electrical fire.

SO the installation of smoke detectors is now on the TOP of the to-do list. They have been in the garage forever. (I know it is BAD that we don't have them but they got taken down when we had the ceilings done.)

In the meantime, I promise not to leave the house with the dryer on.

Comedy. Watching your 44yo husband try to learn how to put his contact lenses in. Pure comedy.

I told him I was going to video him and put it on YouTube, but he didn't think I was funny.

So here goes my 1st post of 2008 ------
started the year off right with a roadtrip to AZ last week. It was so wonderful and relaxing. I still played 'wife' to Sandee by meal planning and grocery shopping while she worked but it was so nice to just have no commitments or obligations. We vegged on random television shows in the evenings......making us realize that 1) we want to stay healthy and not weigh 800lbs. individually or collectively and 2) I could easily be considered 'schlumpy' or 'drowning in Mom wear' on the show What Not to Wear.

So what better way to end our visit than with a trip to the outlet mall in search of NON-Mom wear. I kept saying 'what not to wear' special or no? each time I came out of a dressing room. I purchased a pair of tan cords, a denim skirt, a versatile blouse/top (what word do I use that doesn't make me sound old?), and a pair of Bass flats that are soooooooooo comfortable, yet stylish. AND I didn't spend a thousand dollars doing it; all totalled it was less than $100.

Now I just need a makever for my hair! Please!