Happy Halloween!

Since Angie is a princess every day, for Halloween going as a princess would hardly do, so instead her great aunt (and I do mean great, and great!) got her a costume of Angie's most favoritest person ever...

Mickey Mouse!!

If there was ever a Mickey Mouse groupie, it's Angelina. When he comes on the tv she starts squealing like a girl at a teen heartthrob's concert.

Unfortunately, as much as Angie loves Mikey Mouse, she does not like dressing up like him. I tried... several times... to no avail.

Oh well, she looked cute anyway. I, on the other hand, have a disturbing tendency to have a double chin whenever I pose for a picture... sigh...

Today's Quote

"In every crisis there is a message. Crises are nature's way of forcing
change - breaking down old structures, shaking loose negative habits so
that something new and better can take their place." ~Susan L. Taylor

The Prodigal Son...

You all know the story about the prodigal son, or at least the basics. Lenny returns to Miami this week to visit with his family he's not seen in 8 or so years. We also visit with his Nona, Angelina's namesake, who has moved here from Italy. She doesn't speak English, nor do we speak Italian, but Lenny surprised himself on how much he was able to understand and speak. I was impressed.

I've been in a perpetual state of fear since we got here. His father and stepmother's house is beautiful, but it's tile throughout and has four levels. Lots of steps. Angelina loves to climb them and thinks she can walk down them like we do, one step right after the other. Enough to give me heart failure. As a parent I don't think you realize just how childproof your house has become until you visit other people who don't have small children running around. Only one thing has been broken so far, thank goodness.

Zia, Ralph and Laura (not pronounced the usual way, but in a wonderful lilting way... Lau... ra) were just as great as I knew they'd be. They were all very good to me, and Angie, from a distance last year, and even better in person. Laura is a lovely young lady of 16 (17 next month note to self: don't forget). Pretty, involved in sports and you can tell she's Ralph's heart. People like this make me almost wish we had more family around us in Phoenix. Just good good people. Nona was also sweet, but I felt badly that I couldn't really talk to her.

Nono, Lenny's father, gave all three of us haircuts. My heart almost stopped when I saw a 2" curl drop to the cloth around my shoulders. It looks nice. I shall not panic. Ok, maybe a little, but I won't dwell on it. Ok... maybe a little... but it's only hair... I think I was ok, for the most part, until he took the clippers to the back of my neck. I should have known I'm worry, so it's not his fault at all. Welcome to my neurosis.

Anywhoo... we took Angie down to the beach today. I took at least sixty pictures I'd guesstimate. She loved it! We took her shoes and socks off and she wandered around, yelling at the seagulls, digging her toes into the sand, throwing the sand around with her hands, tasting it, just to be sure it didn't taste good and crying when the surf came up to bathe her toes in cold, frothy water. Lenny took some videos. We had a really nice time. I got some awesome pictures. I'd post some, but I don't have the right cable to hook the camera up to my laptop.

All in all, we're having a nice time in Florida. The weather has been overcast and rainy, which for most anyone else would be a bummer, but for us is a nice change from hot and sunny. We miss the rain.

Today's quote

As I worry today about a woman whom I’ve never met, this quote seems appropriate…

What I’m looking for is a blessing that’s not in disguise. – Kitty O’Neill Collins

May God or the Universe or Good Karma or whatever you believe in bring you, and yours, peace and happiness today.

I'll wash your mouth out!

Yesterday I was cleaning Monster-Baby's room and realized that she wasn't helping (shock!). So I went looking for her and found a suspicious shadow lurking behind the sliding shower doors in our bathroom. Who could it be?

I walked around the bathroom "looking" for her, to see what she'd do. When I got little reaction from her I slid open the door and looked inside. There she was holding a bottle of body wash. I pulled the bottle from her hands and picked her up. I asked her if she'd been drinking out of the bottle and... I swear to God... she opened her mouth and a large, perfect bubble came out.

Do all moms get such joy out of their little ones? She constantly facinates me, and she's so funny. Right now she's sitting quietly beside me, her little socked footers squirming as she watches Tigger and Pooh. She has such expressive feet!

Mommy has a foot fetish. Just for baby toes.

I've been a-salt-ed!

No really, it's true. Here's a story from the realm of WTF? I swear, as creative as I think I am, I couldn't make this one up.

One day last week Elizabeth and I were in a class all morning, along with virtually everyone else in our division local to Tempe. When we returned three hours later I noticed that my chair was covered in white specs. I have an embarrassing dandruff problem, so that was my first thought although there really was a lot of it. I went to brush it off and it actually hurt my hand. The white specs were salt, I'd guesstimate about a teaspoonful or more.

I called Elizabeth over and she looked as puzzled as I was. I also think she thought I was just a little bit nuts. I told her that I hadn't eaten anything salty in I don't know how long, and even if I had nothing would have left salt like that all over the seat of my chair. Oddly enough the first thing that crossed my mind was witchcraft. When I mentioned this to Elizabeth I think she thought I was even crazier.

I admit to a certain amount of craziness, it adds to my charm. *wink*

Anyway, she went back to her own chair and immediately called me over to her desk. Sure enough her chair was also heavily sprinkled with salt. I admit that my first reaction was relief. Being harassed at work is so much easier to bear when you're not the only victim.

We checked around and no one else had been a-salt-ed (don't you just love it?!). Pretty crazy huh?

I called my Wiccan friend and asked her what she thought. She told me that salt was used as a purifying agent, something you'd use to cleanse an area prior to casting a spell. Or used to dispel negative energy.

So our final conclusion was that either someone was trying to dispel our negative energy, or that someone thinks we're slugs and would melt on contact. Really, what other message could they be trying to convey? Had it been a not so subtle jab about my dandruff problem, they'd not have included Elizabeth who isn't similarly afflicted.

This is where my old friend irony drops in.

Two days after the a-salt, Elizabeth had a belt shred in her car on her way home, causing her to loser her power steering and scaring the heck out of her.

In my case, I've had two car accidents this week. On Wednesday I ran over a metal plate in a construction zone that flipped up, damaged my car and shredded my tire and Friday morning I was rear-ended on the way to work. I'm fine, no worries. The car wasn't badly damaged and the guy's insurance will cover the repairs.

Here's the fun part. I know enough about magic and karma to know two important things... First, if you expel negative energy to cast a dark spell part of that energy will be returned to you in kind. Karma is a bitch - what comes around goes around. Secondly, for witchcraft to truly affect you, you have to believe in it. Elizabeth doesn't believe, so she's safe enough. I believe, actually, but I'm also confident in the the resulting backlash.

So, if there was witchcraft involved, the witch will be having car troubles soon and I will get a small, perhaps not so secret, delight in seeing that happen.

Really, it's just too funny. :)

Financial Accounting and you...

I started back to college this fall. With any luck I'll be done in about two years. It's been hard, juggling work, family and school, but I'm determined to do it. I'm fortunate enough that my company will reimburse me for tuition and books too, so long as I make a C or better.

My plan is to make all A's, of course. Anything less and I would be disappointed in myself. Lenny suggested I was too worried about it, to which I replied, "my blood type is A positive".

So anyway, last Sunday my husband sits down and asks if he can help me with my homework. So I plunked my accounting book on his lap and said "sure!".

He looked at the problem - general ledger entries to determine asset accounts - and says "well you just have to put this into a spreadsheet, right?"

"Well sort-of," I reply with a smile.

"Here are the instructions right here," he says pointing proudly at the Instructions. I just looked at him.

"It's not that hard, right, you just have to put the numbers into the spreadsheet and it does the rest, right?"

My eye starts to twitch, "uh, not exactly, you have to figure out what the numbers are first". I wasn't sure how else to describe it.

"Oh, well that's way above me," he says handing me the book back. I guess the laugh was worth the temporary frustration. :)

I read a good quote this week, although I confess I don't recall who it was attributed to... "If you're going to look back and laugh at it some day, you may as well laugh now." I really like that, it's so true!

Above I bring you... Angie's impression of Mommy.

To Do List

I took a time management class today. They told us to figure out our goals and write them down. So here we go...

Things to do: (In no particular order)

1. Buy a giant Laser for the roof of my car. Or buy a Monster Truck capable of running over jerks on the road who cut me off every day.

2. Win the Lottery. That way I won't be the person who spends the least amount of time with Angie.

3. Finish college. Yes, even if I accomplish #2.

4. Lose another 25 pounds to add to the 35 I've already lost this year. And keep it off! Dress inappropriately, just because I can pull it off. ;)

5. Talk less. Complain less. Save my breath for important things and convey them in a positive manner whenever possible. If you wouldn't write it and sign it, don't say it.

6. Inspire people to go beyond the expected. Go beyond the expected as often as possible to help that goal by example.

7. Be a good Mom. Be a good Wife. Be a good daugther, niece, granddaughter. Be a good co-worker, employee and boss. Be a good person.

8. Be less frustrated when the world doesn't keep up with me, when I can't keep up with the world, when there's injustice and when things don't conform to the way I want/expect them to be.

9. Be a published author during my life.

10. Realize that I can't do it all, but I can do my best.

No pressure, eh?

That's me, by the way, not Angie in that picture. :)

Get Back

Ok, I really like this song. I know we had Madonna when I was young, but I don't think it was anything like all these teeny-bopper rock starts we have now.

Catch "Get Back" by Demi Lovato here

Why the Bubble Popped

Here's a link to a very interesting video about the current economic crisis and how we got here.

Celebrate the Ta-Tas!

If you haven't noticed, it's Breast Cancer Awareness month. As you probably know, breast cancer awareness is important to me. Just because my experience was good does not mean I want anyone else to go through it.

Anyways, I was at the store yesterday and everything is popping up pink! I saw breast cancer awareness dog toys, pudding, cups, cookies and kitchen utensils. Lenny had a good time pointing out that the kitchen utensils were made from silicone... "get it, silicone, har har har".

So, here's you friendly reminder to do routine breast exams and schedule those mammograms you've been putting off!

Some cute breast cancer shirts.

Hit and run

My little precious child has a mischievous side, if you didn't already know. I'm sure I have no idea where she got it from...

Anyway, I was innocently sitting on the floor while she pushed her toy wagon around. After a bit of a struggle, she got the wagon turned around and headed right for me. She ran right into me and I said "Uuuhh!" and fell over. So as any concerned citizen would, she came around to check on her victim, but then she laughed, swooped down, grabbed the glasses off my face and ran off. Little brat!

So I am the victim of a hit and run/mugging! My own daughter! I told my husband about it and he suggested that she learned this behavior from watching tv. He may have a point... I blame Mickey Mouse.