Category Archives: gratitude

I’m Thankful…

Just because I don’t seem to have the ooph necessary to write another post for today AND my post for tomorrow while I’m stuck in the air, I’ll give you a small list of things I’m thankful for (in no particular order)…

* I’m thankful for my awesome hubby and the three weeks that I’ll have him all to myself (while he takes vacation days to work from home).

* I’m thankful for the boys who I will miss both this weekend and next while we travel.  Pupster, I hope you enjoy your sleep-away camp and KitKat, I hope you don’t get too freaked out being home alone.

* I’m thankful that I’m able to leave tomorrow to go hang with my friends back in the Duke City!!  Oh, and green chile!!  Did I mention how excited I am to have green chile and sopapillas again???  Garcia’s I’ll see YOU tomorrow for dinner!

* I’m thankful that I no longer have certain people in my life.  It’s amazing just how good it feels.

* And lastly, I’m thankful that I can pre-publish (bwahahah!)

The Day After

Well, I had hoped to do a bit of a recap on the Monk Institute/Herbie Hancock tribute show from last night (well, beyond my um…drunken post, that is), but I just don’t feel like it.  I guess the lesson here is that drinking lots (and lots) of wine in a pretty short amount of time makes for a lazy day after.  Luckily, as the hubby likes to say, good wine doesn’t give you a hangover, only bad wine.  So no, I’m not hung over, I’m just feeling lazy.

What I will post about is how beautiful the skies have been lately.  After all the smoke and smog from the past couple weeks, it’s just the most amazingly clear blue sky.  You know, complete with the wispy, billowy kind of clouds (that I believe are classified as cirrus).  Sadly, the city itself is engulfed in smog (the view from Mulholland is just nasty).  But over here in the SFV, I’m telling you, it’s just beautiful.

Tonight I have night one of Bruuuuce.  We’ll be heading over with our friends (that we hung out with last night as well).  They were able to get us tickets, but we’re not sure where the seats are.  Tomorrow it’s just the hubby and I hanging out in general admission. Can’t say that I’m a fan of GA seats, but then again, I doubt we’d spend all that much time sitting to begin with.

That said, who knows what tomorrow’s blog will bring. But that’s half the fun, right?

Not a Fan of the Civic

I’ve been driving my hubby’s car since last Friday.  He had his brakes done recently and then proceeded to commute to work over the hill (either using Outpost, Laurel or Coldwater — all very, very curvy and hilly roads).  Needless to say, his brakes started smoking because it was all too soon.  Since he really has no other non-hilly or curve-free route to take, that left a car swap.

So yes, that means I’ve been driving the Civic.  I know many folks just lurve their Hondas and their Civics.  But I sure as hell am not one of them.  I feel like I’m driving a cardboard box on roller skates.  I hate being that close to the ground when my car isn’t sporty.  I also hate how empty and noisy it sounds.  So not a fan.

Normally, since I work from home on the my site and various other website, business stuff, I don’t go out much.   Thing is, we can’t swap cars until his brakes have been driven for 200 or so miles (not counting the smoky driving he’s already done).  So I’ve been going out of my way to drive places; Bristol Farms, a CVS miles away, Ralph’s one town over, the cupcake shop in Studio City (more on that later).  Well, the car is officially over 250 miles (his work commute is less than 30 round trip) so I think we can finally switch cars.  Thank God!

This also means that I can finally get the disaster kit stuff for our cars out of my car and package them up for both of our cars.  It took me nearly 4 years to get our disaster kits ready (why I didn’t just buy one of the kits already made, I’ve no idea).  But now we have everything but a bowl for water for the boys (Ikea here I come!).

Now I just need to decide (totally unrelated to my Civic rant) if I want to head on over to the local Stitch n Bitch tonight.  The hubby will be out at the Kelly Willis show tonight, so I’m on my own.  I’m still kind of bummed he never got me a ticket, but he said he’d be “doing business” with her manager and didn’t necessarily want me around for that.  Understanding wife that I am, I guess I can understand that.  So I ask, Stitch n Bitch tonight or just veg out in front of the TV?  So many choices.

That Husband o’ Mine…

This morning, as the hubby was getting ready to leave for work:

him: oh no boys, mama found the picture of my cute real estate lady [as he walks into the office to hand me her business card].

me: this, is going in the trash.  We don’t need it [toss].

him: but what if I need to ask her real estate questions?

me: you won’t.

him: but what if I need to talk to her about real estate?

me: you won’t.

him: what if she says “oh no, this wine is going right to my head?”

me: ???

him: [goofy grin] I love you baby! [smooch]

Yes, my husband is a whacky nut job, but lordy I love him and his crazy antics so!

Big Money, Big Money!

I had a dream last night that I won over $501 at a casino.  So of course, while attending my niece’s regional cheer competition I was just certain I’d win the 50/50 raffle.

Yeah well, I didn’t.

What’s the point of dreaming of winning big then?!  Talk about disappointing.  Well, at least her team won and they’re off to the San Diego state-level championships in November.

It’s 2:30 and I’m Still in My PJs

Ack!!  In my defense, I’ve been busy, busy, busy.  My site had some malaware issues so I’ve been dealing with that over the past couple of days.  Let it be known, I am the beauty, not the brains behind our website and tech-crap is not my strength by any means.  But I can fake it with the best of them!

But really, I’m all sorts of proud because I managed to find the offending image and handle it myself.  Granted, it didn’t involve anything more complex than contacting the ad agency we use regarding the four new ads that all launched on the day our challenges began.  They were then able to isolate which ad it was and wam-o, blam-o it’s fixed and malaware begone!!

So now I’m sitting here after finally managing to inhale some hot dogs (gotta love those Hebrew FF hotdogs and Wonder light buns – yum!) and taking a moment for myself before I jump back into work related stuff.  But first, I must get out of these PJs (they’re really not all that comfortable, even as they get bigger as I get smaller, so I’m thinking it might be time to ditch them), put on some real clothes (you know, yoga pants and a tee) and head on over to ‘bucky’s to pick me up a non-fat, pumpkin spice latte!

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Mi Casa is Bueno, but that Casa is Mucho Bueno*

I love our apartment. I love our street and neighborhood. I love the wall I painted and think it really helps to make the place look not so much like an apartment and more like a home.

I love and appreciate our landlords (though there are some other challenges like their crazy, psycho, 95ish mother that lives next door, but that’s a completely different story for another day). And I’m just thrilled that after listening to our bathroom faucet leak for nearly a month, it’s finally fixed – though how the hot water and cold water switched sides I have no idea (and it does take a little getting used to).

You might remember a while back I was coveting both my neighbor’s and my landlord’s current remodels. Well, remodeling is still going on and while I’m glad it’s not me having to go through upheaval for this whole time, we are affected daily. Everything in our house is covered in dust. Sadly, that includes electronics like amplifiers, printer/copiers and computers. Needless to say, it’s freaking the hubby out a bit.

So instead of complaining about the dust, the noise and the constant dog barking, I’ve decided to work on manifesting us a new home! I’ve even found the house and it’s in our same neighborhood even. No mind you, it doesn’t have to be this house (there’s another one in the Arroyo that I’m keeping my eye on as well), but I do love this one and always have since it first went on the market shortly after moving to this area.

So let’s do it, let’s bring this baby home!

new house

* PS – I don’t speak Spanish so please forgive my bastardized Spanish in the title

I’m Doing It…

I’m learning to knit.  I broke down and ran out to not one, but three different stores today to pick up knitting supplies.  The first store (Joann’s) I picked up large, chunky yarn and big’ol needles, but sadly it was too dark and chunky for me to see what I was doing.

Then I ran out to a local little shop hoping to get some different yarn and an opinion on what I was doing.  I was doing it wrong, was what I was doing.  So I picked up some $7 wool (nothing inexpensive in this store, boy howdy – at least it was on sale) and practice with the gal helping.  Then I decided that chunky was still too difficult for me to see clearly since it’s all uneven, so I packed up and headed out again.

This time I hit up Michael’s.  I decided I just wanted basic, inexpensive yarn.  So I picked up a heathered oatmeal, medium worsted skein and a new set of size 8 needles (as the wrapper suggested).  And now, I seem to be doing much better with my double cast-on.  It moves smoother and I can definitely see my stitches more clearly.

I’ll just keep practicing with this.  I have a feeling I might be pulling things too tight though, we’ll see once I learn the knit stitch.  I also found someone local (gotta love MeetUp) that is up for meeting with me tomorrow to work with me a bit.  I’ll use my chunky stuff for when I’m ready to finally break down and knit a scarf.

I’m quite excited.  Thankfully, an online friend pointing me in the direction of KnittingHelp.com where they have how-to videos.  For some reason, I find watching how to be much easier than reading how.  I do have to say, a friend told me to start cheap, but um, I’m not so sure this is much of an inexpensive beginning.

Okay, off to cast-on some more and then try my hand at knitting and then maybe purling.  This is just so freakin’ cool!

Practicing Gratitude

After having spent a wonderful, if not hot, extended weekend with the hubby, I’m thinking it’s time to show some gratitude (and maybe a little meditation later).

* I am so happy and grateful for my awesome husband and boys. They may sometimes seem to drive me crazy, but really, they’re the best.

* I am so happy and grateful for the change in the weather. Over the next couple days, it will be 10-20 degrees cooler!! I’m SO happy ’bout that. And of course, I’m thrilled to be sleeping in something cooler than 85 in the bedroom.

* I’m so happy and grateful for my work and my upcoming endeavors. Things are really moving along and I’m loving it!

* I’m so happy and grateful for my friends. I love being able to visit with them or being able to just pick up the phone to chat. It’s great knowing that we’re each others’ support systems. It’s good to know where to turn when you need support.

* I’m so happy and grateful that things are financially going along well. Of course, I’m open to anything that the Universe wishes to provide us with, knowing it’s for the good of all involved.

* I’m also so happy and grateful for the killer bargains I’ve gotten over the past couple of days. So much so that I just had to share them with others.

* Overall, I’m just so happy and grateful to just Be.

Gaiam’s 10 DVD Workout Package – It’s a Killer Deal!

A friend pointed this out to me earlier today in her blog. This really is a great deal (and I *heart* Leslie Sansone!)

Toned and Healthy DVD Set

Ten DVDs on a variety of healthy lifestyle topics, like walking, yoga, weight loss and sleep solutions.

Assorted kit; contents may vary. DVDs that may be included are: Leslie Sansone Short Cuts 1 & 2, Leslie Sansone You Can do Yoga, Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds Abs, Leslie Sansone Ab Buster, Leslie Sansone Short Cuts 3, Leslie Sansone Walking Collection, Leslie Sansone Walking Collection 2, Health Solutions for Sleep Multimedia Kit, Health Solutions for Stress Kit, Yoga for Weight Loss DVD collection. ”

It’s listed at $28.99 – on clearance from $214! Take an additional $10 off with this code: CS88 (for $10 off $15 or more)

With shipping it came to $26.32 for me.