Disneyworld 2009

Well, we went on our Disney World vacation, but I have to go through all the pictures before I can post. So, I'll get back to this at a later time.

First Day of School 2009

Here they are, their first day of school 2009-2010. I now have a Junior, a Freshman and a 5th grader; gosh, I remember when I was a fifth grader and I remember how "responsible" I felt, even though I probably REALLY wasn't. But my little one seems so "young and naive." He's a momma's boy (which at times, I love, and others, I feel a little guilty about, because I feel like I've babied him too much.) Oh well, he's probably my last, so why not, right? I say my last, because my body says "no more," but Alan still has hope, so I guess we'll see. Anyway, back to the subject at hand, I get off on these tangents sometimes . . . . . .

The kids going back to school is bittersweet, of course. I love them being home, but a part of me is like "heck yeah!" I get my days back for me!!" Back to the schedules of school, church and lessons.

OD was a bit nervous going to school, because this year he is changing classes, he doesn't have a homeroom like years prior. He's a big boy now. I forgot to ask where they eat their lunches, hmmm, I'll have to ask later. But he has a whole new place they have to line up and go in with their Advisory Teacher. When I picked him up (which I now pick him up 45 minutes later than the other two,) I asked how his first day as a fifth grader went. He said, "it was okay, I found my classes, but I'm still confused of where I'm supposed to go for P.E." (I'm paraphrasing here, so bear with me on my language, or rather, OD's.) Anyway, I told him it would just take time to get into the routine of knowing where his classes were.

Joshie had his first day of high school. He tells Darian, "your friends act like I'm not even there!" I said, "well, were you being annoying? Maybe they were ignoring you because you were being an annoying little brother." He said, "no, I wasn't even talking at all, they just ignored me." I said, "well, just give them some time, they just don't know you, and when they do, they'll love you." How can you not love Joshie and his silly sense of humor, right? He's so darned smart, Alan and I just have to make sure we're on top of this boy, to make sure he's getting things done. We have faith and we know how smart Joshie is, he can do really, really well, when he wants to. He's just lazy, and we need to keep him out of that laziness funk.

Darian is now starting her Junior year, poor, poor girl. I worry about my girl sometimes. She hasn't done so well in school and I know it's hard for her, but she also needs to put forth more effort. I told her if she didn't pass all of her classes this year, she probably wasn't going to graduate with her class. I wasn't telling her to make her feel bad, but it's a fact, and I think she needs to know the gravity of the situation. This is the last ditch effort to get things on track. I'd hate to see her not graduate on time and with her class, but, well, I don't know. I guess it's not the end of the world, it's not like my daughter is sick with a major illness or anything. I love my daughter and want the best for her and want her to be happy and want her to graduate, don't get me wrong, but in the grand scheme of things, of life and death and God and everything, is it REALLY the end of the world if she doesn't? No. I would still love her and help her in whatever she wanted to do. Not every kid is a school kid, not every kid loves school and does well in it. That's just not Darian.

Anyway, here's to a good and hopefully successful school year!!!

Bummer!!

Well today Joshie was supposed to have started his drum lessons. We had an appointment with this guy at 3:00 o'clock, we drive all the way over to Chandler, by Cornerstone, and he's not even home. Ugh, I hate it when that happens. I left a note on his door, and left a message on his phone, for him to call me to reschedule. We'll see what happens. Joshie and I were both bummed out, he was excited to start.
Anyway, he has a book that he's been looking at, trying to read the notes, so hopefully, he can get a bit of a head start in that area.

The Terrorist

Okay, we have a Terrorist in our midst, I'm not even joking. Ha ha, yes I am. The Terrorist just happens to look like a puffy, cute as button, little white dog. Yes, it's little Petey, a.k.a. Pee-Wee, that's my "pet" name for him, pun intended, of course.
He is a Terrorist, because he has dug holes in our yard, dug up flowers, eaten my brand new (with the biggest and most beautiful flowers), Hibiscus plant that my honey bought me. Alan had just planted it in one of the flower pots near the doggie door, so of course, it's the first thing Petey sees when he goes out the door, right? I was out the next morning feeding the dogs and looked over at the Hibiscus plant and thought, "gosh, I wonder why Alan pruned this plant down so much? " Because I had seen Alan that afternoon with the clippers, clipping other plants, so I just assumed he had done it to the new Hibiscus plant too. I was already getting mad at Alan, because the plant looked ugly, it was waaay smaller than earlier, and just looked puny. But as I walked closer to the plant, I noticed that some of the branches were broken and there were leaves in the pot itself that looked really mangled. So of course, then, it hit me. Ugh!! I could have spanked Petey, but he was no where to be found.

So later when Alan got home, I told him what happened. I told him he should spray the plant with some stuff we have that repels the dogs, so they won't want to chew on the plants. So he grabs the spray and goes outside and comes right back in with this look on his face. I said, "what's wrong?" He said, "there's nothing left to spray." I went outside, and the whole plant, roots and all, was completely ripped out of the pot and was laying on the ground a little ways away, leaves all over the ground. My poor, poor plant. It was so beautiful, I wish I had a picture of it for you all to see. The leaves were so green, the flowers were BIG and really yellow, it was really, really full, it was just a gorgeous plant. But alas, my Pee-wee has ruined it.

So yesterday, Alan got home from work and the kids had been home all day (since I was in LA with Dad and Roy), and when he got home, he noticed the dogs were in the house, unattended. Boys were in the basement playing video games, Darian was in the study room, on the computer. I think Jack was with Darian, but the other two dogs had free range of my house, so who knows what they had been up to. But anyway, Alan's looking outside, way out in the back (if you look down the patio where the BBQ grill is, the grass that's out there), he said he saw Petey with his head all the way in a bag. As he got closer he noticed that he had gotten a bag of Lucky Charms (actually it's the cereal LIKE Lucky Charms, but the ones that come in the big bag, they're cheaper, you know.) Anyway, he has his head completely in this bag of Lucky Charms and is eating and eating and eating. Alan yells his name and he runs away, as fast as an arrow--VROOOOMMMM and hides, oooooooh, he knew he was in trouble. But he must have carried it out the doggie door and went out there in the yard, AND THEN opened it, because the clip that was on it, was out there as well. If he was a little kid (what am I saying? He IS a little kid right?) Anyway, he'd probably be trying to blame someone else, or saying, "I didn't do it, honest." Yeah, right. I have proof that he ate the Lucky Charms. See the little marshmallow in his beard???? Uhuh . . . . . . . EVIDENCE!!!!! Don't let that cute little face fool you, he's a terrorist, I tell ya'!!!!

DBacks/Marlins 7-09

Pitcher Clay Zavada, funny mustache guy.

Watching Marlins hitting practice.

Joshie with a couple of the Rallybacks.

OD with Rallybacks also.

Well, we whomped all over the Marlins this day. Woo hoo-- 8-1!!! This was an awesome game.

Roy My Bro

Getting off the plane in Los Angeles.

Roy stuck in his "babyseat" that
seatbelt held him in super tight, hilarious!

Just a cool sign I saw.

This is where the doctor's office was.

Eating Thai BBQ, sooooo good!!!

This is "Hamburger Fairies," as Roy said. Notice the rainbow flags.

Cool view looking West, out above the ocean.

Coming home.

Well today, Dad, Roy and I went to see this eye doctor in Beverly Hills. Roy has this horrible eye disease and the doctors here in Phoenix have told him that his ONLY option is to have a corneal transplant, he wanted a second opinion, so off we were. The doctor had good news, Roy is a candidate for this procedure and hopefully he will be getting it done soon!

Spending the day with Dad and Roy was super fun and we laughed ALOT, about all kinds of silly stuff. Roy and these one-liners he comes up with, hilarious. Like we had the GPS going and the lady's voice on there is telling us where to go. We started laughing, because Dad and Roy were saying, "what if you go the wrong way?" Then this lady speaking Spanish would come on and say, "Por que vias (sp) oeste, way, pinche' pendejo?" (I know I'm spelling it totally wrong). We were laughing . . . . . you had to be there, with Roy's accent and all.

After Roy's appointment we were driving down Santa Monica and went all the way down past La Cienega, so we were like in West Hollywood. We found a place called "Hamburger Mary's," which Dad called "Dirty Mary's" the whole time. So we walk in and the "hostess," who is this big tall guy, he seats us. And right away I noticed something about the place, but didn't say anything about it to Dad or Roy, they just proceeded to read their menus. But I'm looking around and notice there are only men in the restaurant, and our "hostess" was completely effiminate. Also, in two of the windows were two signs that said, "Vote For Prop 8," and "If You Love Equality . . . . ." So, THEN I asked Dad and Roy, "do you notice anything about this place?" They still didn't get it. So I had to tell them. They kind of froze for a second. Funny. Then we proceed to still read the menus and Roy comes across the "specials" in the middle of the menu. There was something for "Hot Latino Night" notice I said, Latino, not Latin Nights, or Latina Nights, it was Latino. The next one said, "Drag Night," and so on, you get the picture. I thought it was hilarious. But we decided to go across the street and eat Thai BBQ, (which ended up being sooooo good, small hole-in-the-wall place.) But before we left, our waiter came up to us to take our drink order, (which took him a long time in the first place), and I told him that we had changed our minds, which he then proceeds to tell us, in his best feminine voice "well, it's a free country, we can all do what we want!"

So when we finish at the other restaurant we have to pass by Hamburger Mary's once again to get our car from the parking lot next door. So I had them stand under the sign and I took their picture, Roy REALLY didn't want to, but Dad made him. As Roy looks up, he says, "I guess we should have known from those, what kind of place this was." So we all look up and there are about eight rainbow flags posted on the roof on this place. We just laughed and walked to our car. You can see some of the flags in the picture of them in front of the restaurant.

So we proceed down the freeway, which we were cutting it super close getting to the airport. But I think God had to be with us this entire day, first of all with the good news with Roy, then there was absolutely no traffic while we were driving to the airport (which is highly unusual for LA, right?) So we get to the Hertz place to return the car and there is a man walking up to us and he says, "If you don't need a receipt and you're in a hurry you can just leave the keys in the car and go." So we were like, "heck yeah we're in a hurry," and he heard us and said, "You guys in a rush to get to the airport?" We told him we were and he said, "get back in the car and I'll take you." So we did and he took us to the airport, super quick. We would have had to wait for the bus to take us to the airport, find our gate and walk to it. But this way, he just dropped us off right in front and we were able to go inside, print our boarding passes (which Alan had graciously gotten for us, all we had to do was re-print them, thank you Honey!) We went through security, which, again, God is good, there was one person in front of us. How often does THAT happen, right? So we get to the gate with at least 25 minutes to spare. Wow!! God was definitely with us this day.

Thank you Lord for all that you did for us this day, all that you provided, and all the Grace and Mercy you showed all of us today. I know everything good comes from You and without you, we couldn't do any of the wonderful things we do each and every day. You provide the breath of life, the compassion, love and mercy that we have for all people we come in contact with. Thank you Lord, for the doctor that saw my brother and that he saw he was able to help him, thank you!!!! Thank you for a wonderful day!!!!!!! Amen.

Santana In Vegas

Can't wait!!!! We bought tickets to see Santana in Vegas Woo hoo!!!! He will be awesome. Sept. 14, can't come soon enough.

Getting Ready for Halloween

Well, a few days ago OD comes to me with two lists on two pieces of paper. One said "Thriller Michael Jackson," and the other said, "Motown 25." So he proceeds to tell me that he wants to be the latter and telling me all about all the things he's going to need to "be him." The list tells me there's a black sequin jacket, the sequin shirt, glove, sparkly socks, black shoes, and a black hat. So today, OD and I went to Savers (this is the first place we went also, LUCKY!!!) and we found a kids' black suit jacket and some black pants, which have to be altered, shorter to show off those sparkly socks I'm going to make for him. The costume is going to be really cute. I ordered some white gloves off of eBay and the swarovski crystals already, which I gotta glue onto the tops of the glove only, (thank goodness). I went to Joann's and bought the sparkly "costume" fabric to make him a shirt to go under the jacket, and at Joann's they had the sequins (3-row) for $4.99/yd. I was like, what the heck??? So I put it down and we headed to SAS, he wasn't too happy about that, but I was ecstatic. I found the same size, actually cuter looking sequins for .$99/yd., plus, I found 4" silver sequins for his slouchy socks, which was the same price as the other, I couldn't believe what a deal I got, woo hoo!!! Now I gotta get into my craft room and organize it, or at the very least, clean it, so I can have a little bit of workspace. It's a disaster from me buying presents and wrapping them, and such, and just leaving stuff out, not putting anything away. Bad, bad girl. Anyway, Joshie hasn't decided what he wants to be yet, so we're still working on that.
While I was at Joann's today, I looked through the patterns and found a super cute Queen of Hearts, so that's what Miss D is gonna be. I'm trying to talk Joshie into being the Mad Hatter (the Johnny Depp one, of course), but he's really against it right now. We'll see.

By the way, OD has informed me that he HAS to get a tan to be the "Motown Michael," I just laughed and said, "well, we can use some makeup too." He says to me very seriously, "no, I think it would be better if I just got a darker tan." Silly kid.

Disneyworld

TEN DAYS 'TIL DISNEYWORLD!!! THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT!!! WOO HOO!!! I hope I can find some ears like these . . . . . ha ha ha ha ha.

MICHAEL JACKSON MEMORIAL

Today was the memorial for Michael Jackson, it was sad, funny, poignant and such a tribute to the man that touched so many people's lives. His casket was sooo beautiful, I have never seen such a beautiful casket. It had so many red roses on the top with greenery, it was an amazing sight. His brothers were pall bearers and they each wore their black suits with white shirts and yellow ties, and each had a red rose in their lapel and the topper was that they each wore a sequined glove, I thought that was a nice touch. The family was in black Escalades and black Range Rovers, the funeral procession was really, really long. Finally, they made it to the Staples' Center in L.A. The brothers brought the casket into the "stage area" and no one really knew that his body was going to be there (that's what was said after, when they were doing the commentary about the memorial, after it was over.) Anyway, Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz sang, (she was a bit pitchy, if I may say so.) There were people that got up and talked and said what Michael had meant to them, such as Barry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, who each called him their "little brother," it was sad. It was funny to hear some of the funny stories as well. Like Magic Johnson said he was over at Michael's house one day and the chef came to ask them what they wanted for dinner and Magic said, "I'll have the grilled chicken," thinking he should get the "healthy choice." Then a little bit later they brought him his chicken and brought Michael a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Magic was like, "what? I ordered this, and you got KFC?" So they had a good laugh about that and sat and ate Michael's bucket of chicken together. Brooke Shields painted Michael as funny and laughing and playing practical jokes all the time. They had alot in common, contradicting what all the tabloids and magazines said about them. They both started working as young people. She kid Michael and said, "you're a slacker, I started working when I was 11 months old!" It was cute. There were so many wonderful things said about him. Him being the consumate entertainer, a humanitarian, a lover of mankind (always). I truly believe Michael Jackson loved people and only ever wanted what we all take for granted, which is normalcy. He never had that. Never in his life was he never not famous. Since the age of 9 he had been in the public eye, and was mobbed wherever he went. What kind of life must that have been? To live in a bubble, and a fantasy life, a life where you can't do anything without someone looking at you and either questioning, or ridiculing you for something, I can't imagine. There's a video on YouTube, where these people shut down this grocery store for MJ, because he wanted to know what it was like to go grocery shopping, he had never done that before. They got people like his nanny, and people that worked for him, and put them in disguises and had them act like they were "shoppers." They would take his cart and make him believe he lost it and things like that. It all seemed pretty cool for him, and he seemed to be loving it, picking up jars and packages and reading the labels and such. Such a small thing, trivial to most of us, but to him it was the neatest thing. His brother Marlon spoke, very tearfully, at the very end, and he said he was in a record store one day and he was in back of this man who had on a really wrinkled, dirty looking shirt and really bucky teeth, holding a whole stack of CDs. He said, "Michael, what are you doing here?" Michael turned around and said, "how did you know it was me?" He said, "Michael, you are my brother, I know you, I know your body language, the way you move, and those shoes, you wear them all the time!" Everyone just laughed. No matter what his disguise was, his brother always knew it was him. That's family for you. But I thought of, how sad, sad that this man had to wear disguises just to go and sit on a park bench at Disneyland and watch people, watch them without them watching and mobbing him. He could be himself, even ironically, when he wasn't himself. Crazy. At the very end, little Paris Katherine spoke up and said that Michael was the best Daddy ever and that she loved him very much and she starts sobbing. How utterly sad. The only parent these kids have known, and now he's gone. I'm not sure how I feel about who they should go to. I kinda think, that Debbie Rowe should just stay away, after all, she sold her kids off to Michael, so why should she get them back? Katherine seems like the best alternative, although she's no spring chicken. But I'm sure she has help around the house, that can help with the kids. I've heard they're close to her and, of course, those were Michael's wishes. Anyway, I've babbled long enough. Michael will never die, he will live on in our lives through his music. I've picked it up again, and my kids are getting really into it as well, it's nice to hear it playing throughout the house. Funny, the kids and I were learning the "Thriller" dance last night, Darian and OD gave up, but Joshie and I persevered and got it!!! Maybe you'll see it on YouTube one of these days. Now, I gotta work on that Moonwalk!!!