Here's to new beginnings

Having gone through some pretty life changing events, I've decided my New Year's resolution is going to be of new beginnings. Gone are the days of resolving to lose weight and all that other ordinary stuff. This year, I'm all about starting off fresh. Belive it or not, I've never resolved for a new start. Now don't worry, I'm not leaving Torg and running away, I just have a whole new outlook on things. I'm thankful for what I have, not dwelling on what I don't have. Working towards major goals (no, really, stop laughing now). I've been in school for about 4 years now, wading through prerequisites, and it seems to have been never-ending...until now. Although I have not applied for nursing school yet (which I probably should have done by now) come hell or high water, I'll be in a nursing program in the fall. And, even though I'll be working my ass off, I will be a time management master and making time for everyone in my life. I feel that I've neglected some pretty close relationships in the past year(s) and recent happenings (although they may seem unfortuante) have actually been a blessing in disguise. All of you know who you are and I can never thank you enough for your support...but I can sure buy you a cocktail! It's fairly late but I'll rest and we'll be in touch. I heart you guys!

Event of the Year

So the party was last month, but blogging about it was not to be avoided.
Danny's 5th birthday party was (by 5 year-old standards) the coolest party ever.
Not to mention by mom-and-dad standards...only because it was so stress-free, oh and there was beer!
My mom and I brought Danny to the bowling alley a little before noon on 10/21 where we proceeded to check out the inventory of smaller shoes. Considering 16 out of the 18 kids I invited were confirmed, I thought this to be the best course of action. Then after minimal decorating (so close to Halloween, the place was decked out in spooky spiderwebs and ghosts) made the job even easier. We brought in some coloring books and stuff to keep kids busy in case they didn't want to bowl and their parents didn't have a grand in quarters for video games. Then I ordered the pizza (thanks Bob Dog, oops, I mean Blue Dog).
After that it was all downhill, lots of kids, parents got beer, cake was a hit, who didn't have fun! Certainly these guys did:

Anyhow, he got way too many toys but he loves 'em so we made room. And, I might add once more, the cake was pretty cool.


If you look close, the table was set up in front of their pro shop area, and thru the window you can see a sign that says "Get Hammered" and that's exactly what a couple of Torg's childless friends did. Luckily all of the parents were able to get their own kids safely home ;o)
Oh, and Leah and Jezica looked so cute pretending to 'not' help Danny blow his candles out. I couldn't 'not' post this one...
Speaking of all these wonderful photos... I cannot, in good faith take credit for these. I all but threw my camera at Amanda at the last minute and proceeded to help Danny open his gifts. Considering Amanda had 2 out of 3 of her own children to look after at the party, I owe her big-time thanks for that one. What a friend!! Thanks Amanda!!

The first snowman of the year

Okay, so he's no Frosty, but the boys were so excited for the first snow, they had to put on some boots and gloves and get out there!
He's sporting a canvas fishing hat and the only carrot I had left in the crisper, which is sorta broken. Well, there he is in all his muddy glory, our first snowman. With any luck, we'll be able to showcase a bigger, whiter one with the next snow.

Currently on my annoyance list

Normally I'm not one too easily annoyed, but lately I have a very low tolerance for people who judge others. I can understand having beliefs about what is wrong and what is right and all. What I can't understand is why someone would attack another person for not believing exactly what they believe. I recently had to delete one of my myspace "friends" because I just couldn't stomach the mess that they were posting. Said person is a vegan and pagan. Personally, I eat animals and animal products, but I don't judge those who do. I expect people to treat me with the same respect I treat them and not push their ideals on me. Hey, if I wanted to change, I would. We are all who we are and should just accept it as simply that.
I posted a bulletin on myspace about people judging others, but I doubt the people who it was directed toward got it. They are so wrapped up in convincing everyone else that meat is murder and ruining the earth that they have lost sight of others feelings and thoughts. Make no mistake, I am not personally offended by those that choose to eat something different or what higher power (if any) they believe in, it's just that it gets annoying after awhile. Some of the stuff that was being posted is just plain gross. Hey, I know where my meat comes from, but if I wanted to see that stuff, I would buy a farm and slaughter my own animals. That's the beauty of living in a civilized society, other people can do that for me and I can pick up a pack of chicken at Safeway. I'd rather not know how it got there. Call it naive or ignorant, but I have a computer and I can research for myself if I really wanted to, it's not classified information. Speaking of this information, not all of it is true anyhow. If you find it on vegansrock.com, I am willing to bet that it's a little biased.
Then there is the religion issue. People who know me know not to go there. I believe in God and I go to church, end of story. Don't give me some philosophical argument over how you can "prove" that Jesus told men to rape and murder women or some shit like that. Just because you don't believe it's true does not mean that you have to make it into some sort of conspiracy theory movie. And don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm some sort of uber Christian that's out to save the world and make everyone believe in God. I have never in my life given someone a church lecture, or even given unsolicited information. Come on people, it's not like I'm a serial killer, I just go to church. I've done it my whole life (okay there were a few years in my teens and early twenties when I rebelled, but pretty much my whole life), you liked me just fine before you found out, why change your opinion of me now?
SO I know this whole post has been pretty bitchy, so on a lighter note, both Danny and I are doing fantastic in school. Danny has overcome his adjustment issues, and I'm sitting on a nice big fat A for now.

Hip Hoppin'

So it seems that I have been all over the pop/hip hop scene lately. Usually I stick to old school (read: stuff from my jr. high/high school days) but for some reason I have been dancing around the house to the new stuff. One of my favorite-ist right now is Mr. Kanye West. Now I am not saying this is mind-blowing musical genius stuff, but he sure does have a great booty-shaking beat on "Stronger". A close second is Rhianna's "Umbrella", which by the way, has been covered in a softer more cotton candy version by Mandy Moore.

Funny how songs catch other artists like that. Case in point: Faith Hill and Tim McGraw covered Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" at their concert in early August (the one from Grey's Anatomy, go ahead, look it up, I dare ya! You know it, trust me). Ok, back to the subject of dancing around my house with a hairbrush as a microphone, the great Justin Timberlake has also got me going with his SexyBack and all.


Of course you couldn't get out of this without reading about what makes my "just plain tired of it" ramblings, but you're this far into it, so might as well just go ahead and wade through it. The Duchess is on the top of this list right now. Sorry Fergie, this big girl just might break down in tears if I have to hear that song one more time. It's time to know when to give up when a song is played out. Write some new stuff, it's not that hard! And of course, she is a huge part of the pop scene, and while I'm loving "Gimme More" right now, can we get Britney off of CNN for pete's sake? It's not like she's bombing Iraq. People lose custody of their kids all the time! It's not like she'll lose 'em forever, the judicial system is just whipping her into shape. Look at Courtney Love, she didn't get half the coverage when she was going thru it with Frances Bean, and she was a gazillion times worse than Britney. She seems to be coming around, though.


Okay, well perhaps it's natural that music just makes us happy, but I'm glad it's affecting me this way at the moment. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to load up my imaginary iPod with all of my favorite songs and hit the gym.

First day of school, first week of school

So I finally got around to posting pictures of Danny's first day of school and they are hilarious! I've posted them in order, so I will let them do the talking:

So needless to say he was not too happy to hear that Torg and I wouldn't be staying at school with him. He's doing better now in his 3rd week. The adjustment period was something, but I think he's going to do just fine.
As for me, I just finished my first week of school. Microbiology is all I've got on my plate at the moment. And I scored a perfect 20 out of 20 on my first quiz. Boo Yah!

Talk about a blast from the past

I was going through all of my old e-mails from when my computer was broken and I came across that beauty over there. Leave it up to Robin (or rather Robin's mom who found these in the old Volvo we grew up with) to send over the cutest pictures from our teens. I remember the clothes and stuff, but for the life of me I cannot figure out where we took these photos. Obviously a photo booth, Robin seems to remember either the Fairfield Mall or Scandia. I can totally remember going to either of these just for fun. The mall is well, the mall, but Scandia is a miniature golf course/mini raceway/batting cages/bumper boat/arcade/pizza parlor that still to this day keeps me entertained for hours on end (even though I haven't been in years). The other girl is Jennifer Desaulniers (I think it's a French name, although Miss Jennifer was not French in any way) who was a great friend of ours in junior high along with Sheryl Campos, both of whom we lost track and I miss dearly. Well, that's what I looked like circa 1991-ish. Kinda cute, huh?

Textbooks suck!

So I went to purchase textbooks for my microbiology class that starts on Monday. One lab workbook and one textbook. Shouldn't be that bad, right? Especially since I get a $200 book voucher from EOPS. Wrong! The workbook alone was $105!!! Holy cow! Thank goodness the instructor marks the textbook (read: the expensive one) as optional since that one is over $190! At least I only have one more class left, otherwise, I'd be in the poor house, even with the voucher!

Oh, and just for fun, I'm a Simpson character:

Farewell summer...sniff sniff

Needless to say, I am not thrilled that summer is officially over. Every year it seems shorter and shorter, there is just not enough beach time in a day! Well, better late than never, but we managed to get a couple of great vacations in over the past couple of months. There was the trip to Rockford, Il for cousin Cindy's wedding and to hang out with the family. I tell you, there is nothing better than hanging out in the country with the fam at my father-in-law's. There's the pond, the nighttime fires (roasting marshmallows making "smush" as Danny calls s'mores) and picking raspberries. We even made some raspberry vodka yum!

That up there is Danny driving 'the tractor' with Grampa. Aden (cousin) is riding in the cart and Gramma Judy is making sure all 3 boys are obeying the safety rules (Dan is my father-in-law and he is just as much a kid as either of the two you see there). Some might say it's just a bunch of grass, but the country is very seductive. I have never seen lightning bugs in my life (hello, California girl here!) and I was informed by Cousin Cindy, that they are not referred to as fireflies in the midwest, but lightning bugs. So, anyhow, they are fun to catch in a jar and if you smash 'em between your fingers, it's like glow-in-the-dark paint. Gross, I know, but I had to be initiated into their childhood.

So that was just the start of it. among the several bech trips we had, there was the ever popular Vegas Vacation. We may not exactly be the Griswolds, but we make do. Everyone seems to think we are crazy for going to Vegas with a kid, that's probably because they've never experienced the sweet wave pool/beach/lagoon at Mandalay Bay. Oh, and the awesome Spice Market Buffet at Aladdin-I mean Planet Hollywood-it just wouldn't be Vegas if it weren't constantly changing. Unfortunately, I am too busy easting whenever I am in the buffet to take pictures, but take my word for it, it's sweet. I have however, enclosed some photos of Danny in the pool at Mandalay Bay.







Goodbye summer, I'll miss you. Until next year.

Maybe we can get some snowdays up on the mountain since Danny can ski now. Just gotta make it thru fall.

My Big Boy

This photo is courtesy of my friend Amanda's blog, she's a very talented photographer. This big guy started soccer last week and had another game tonight. Hopefully this game goes a bit better than Saturday's where he sat a cried almost the whole time. I don't think he quite gets the idea just yet. Oh well, he'll learn...it's not like I know a ton about soccer or anything.
In addition to his new soccer career, Danny will be starting a new school career next Tuesday. He will start kindergarten at Sierra House Elementary. I hear rumors that his teacher will be Allison Riegal (whom he's had as a Kid's Quest teacher at church, and he loves dearly) from a reliable source. That's definitely a bonus because she understands his "selective hearing" disorder. I call it that because he doesn't have ADD, his ears work just fine, yet sometimes you have to say thing many, many times before he will respond. In my mother's great words "It's like talking to the wall". I have to admit, however, this little wall is getting better at listening and following directions. I must be doing something right. That's part of the growing process. Learn and grow.

It's gonna blow!

...my son yells while placing a blue wiffle ball on top of my computer tower before bolting off in the opposite direction...apparently it is some sort of explosive device (to him perhaps, but it a memory erasing device for me as I have forgotten my witty title for my blog). As I sit here at my "new" computer that is conveniently located in my living room. So much for the "computer room" we have set up. It is now the "new-super-computer-that-lives-with-the-spoiled-guitars-and-their-friends" room. Not that I have a problem with the guitars having their own bedroom or anything. I think that my problem would be that I am displaced from my own home office while the husband locks himself away and plays Halo or whatever god-awful super-computer game that is not suitable for children and therefore must be relocated to another room. Or maybe I'm just going through an adjustment period. On the upside, it's nice to not have to wait until the non-childfriendly game to end before I can check my e-mail or pay my bills. Or maybe it's just that I have a computer at all because in the 2+ months it has taken to figure out what sort of motherboard or video card goes into this new super-computer and by what means to get it there, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to poach the neighbor's computer or sit at the library or sneak glances at my bank balance at work was going to be a permanent solution to not having a computer. In a way, this whole computer debacle has impacted my life in a way that is completely unnecessary and a little bit ridiculous. You would think I had another child or something. After all it's not rocket science (well, I must admit that building a computer is not the easiest task in the world, but I prefer to let Dell or HP do that for me) and should not take such a toll on your life. For instance, preparing to take a trip to good ol' Rockford, IL (Torg's family resides there), I was attempting to call the airline (whose name shall remain nameless as some people really love this airline) to ask about something or other and I was on hold for nearly 40 minutes before I finally gave up. The thing that gets me is that the whole time I'm on hold the guy on the message is saying "in a hurry? log on to our website at (I told you I wouldn't name the airline and I'm sticking to it) for instant access, print boarding passes..." and on he went in that fashion for 40 frickin' minutes. Like I would be on hold for that long if I had a computer that worked. I'd just as soon walk to the library and log on, it probably would have saved some time.
That said, I am still working on installing my photoshop and Kodak as well as trying to figure out how to get my photos off of the old hard drive which still resides in the super-computer. So, needless to say, no photos for now. Now if I could only figure out how to play Halo...

stupid broken computer

I think that the title says it all...our 5 year old super-computer finally bit the dust. The thing that sucks is that we just figured this out last week. We've been living for almost a month without a computer trying to figure out what was wrong with the damn thing only to find out that it's dead, as in not fixable. Sucko. Anyhow, we have parts on order and are rebuilding (hopefully) next week. Come to think of it, I don't have a clue why I keep saying "we" seeing that Torg is the one who figured out, ordered and will be rebuilding said dead pc. All I can do is sit and bitch. Oh, and poach the neighbor's computer like I'm doing right now. Soryy, guys, no pictures, they would be on the hard drive that Torg is trying to save, maybe I'll have some next week. For now, I'm alive and the computer's not, that's why this blog took over a mont to post...ttfn.

School's out for summer

Oh how I wish it was out forever! Well, at least I can listen to the Ramones and pretend, right? Come Tuesday, however, I will officially be free to do whatever I want (if I'm not working and I can find a sitter, okay, not whatever I want, but I won't have to be on school on Tuesday and Thursday nights until 9:30!) Then microbiology in the fall and perhaps a little more Spanish just for fun. Yes, I said fun, if you know Nancy Barclay, Spanish is fun, alright?!

Okay, Carole, stop talking about school already, summer, foucus, summer! I am in the initial stages of planning bbq/movie nights, so if any of you would like to attend and have suggestions, let me know. It will be a kid-friendly ordeal and possibly once a week. I will also be going to farmer's market on Tuesday mornings so if anyone wants to park here and walk over, hit me up! That will be all for today, wish me luck on the finals.

Here we go...

Well, there goes my last excuse. I am gearing up for finals and the school card is expiring. No time like the present to entertain my friends with my most exciting life (right). I was given a push (thanks Jaime) by a great friend and I know she's right. It's time to give something back. Of all the friends who post blogs and entertain us on almost a daily basis, I need to offer a little entertainment of my own. Don't expect to see my pole dancing pictures, though, you don't get to see those for free. Instead, here's one of Sara and I. She's gone to pursue a career and I miss her bunches. I'm thinking road trip here real soon.