Things I love about summertime...

Warm nights
Swimming
The sound of crickets in the evening
Not feeling rushed about anything
Lazy afternoons
Sleeping in (somewhat)
No school/work
Memories of summers past (Lake Berryessa, anyone?)
Barbequing with friends
Enjoying a glass of wine on the patio

I have some plans that will prevent me from updating my blog as regularly, but I am still around. Summer plans call!

A major Toy Sweep around here!

So I am off work for a while, yay elementary school schedule! I have been doing some major cleaning and reorganizing. Today I did the freezer, fridge, and pantry, and then I tackled the playroom. Normally I do this about every other month to get rid of knick knacks from parties, prizes, and such, but today I was on a mission!
I went into the playroom and cleaned it out with a vengeance! If I stepped on it? Gone. If I couldn't find what went with it? Gone. If I asked if they stilll wanted it and got no answer? Gone. I felt more motivated as I filled the goodwill and/or garbage bags. If I was tired of looking at it? Gone.
I actually had an EMPTY drawer when I was finished. It felt great.
There is still a major amount of random toys left. A blue plastic beetle that for some reason my kids love to leave places to scare me. Some naked Barbies, hotwheels, plastic horses, pigs, and cows. Baby dolls, again sans, clothing....
It is amazing to me how much this stuff adds up!
I feel so good! Tomorrow? Our "inboxes", you know, the stuff you put somewhere to read/file later? I will keep you posted on my mission to keep our house clutter free!

About my dad!

Hi everyone! Since it is Father's Day on Sunday, I wanted to let you know a few things about my dad. Here are some random tidbits:

He was born and raised in The Netherlands and moved to southern Cal when he was eighteen.

He met my mom at the local community college's international students club.

He doesn't sweat the small stuff. I like to think that I got this trait from him.

He is a shameless flirt! I have always found this so amusing. :)

He is extremely generous, patient, and is a truly happy and kind human being.

I was his first child and when I was born he thought I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

EVERY time I see him he looks so dang happy to see me, as if it's been years! Although most of the time it's only been a few days.

He helped invent a "wine machine" that uses NMR technology to see if a bottle of wine is still good.

He is the smartest person I know.

Because of this, he doesn't see any rhyme or reason to being "fashionable" or always trying to say things in a politically correct manner.

He has the best stories!

Social graces are just not that big a deal to him, which has either embarrassed me, or made me laugh, countless times in my life.

When I was about ten years old, I was in love with visiting San Francisco. So, he took our whole family to hang out at Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 almost every weekend over that summer.

He plays with my kids. And I mean, really gets right down on the ground and enters their fantasy world as they know it. He does this every time he is with them, even if he is exhausted.

He took two pre-teen and teenage soccer teams to Europe, TWICE.

I get many emails from kids he used to coach back in the day (they are now men, by the way) telling me how much they appreciate that my dad was kind, caring, and never degraded them, or made them feel bad in any way.

When he did coach, he always treated his WHOLE team to lunch at McDonald's when they had away games, much to my mother's chagrin!

Best of all, he loves me and my kids, unconditionally, with all his heart. I love him too, so much!
Happy Father's Day, Dad!

This cream is for wrinkles!

So I am getting ready to go out and I put my face cream on and dear five yr old daughter reaches for it. I take it from her.
Here is how the rest of that went:

Me: This cream is for grown-ups.
Her: Why is it just for grown-ups?
Me: It's to help hide wrinkles.
Her: What does a wrinkle look like?
Me: Like this, see? When I smile? You can see the wrinkles.
Her: You don't need to smile mom, I can see them even when you don't smile.

sigh......

364 more days, but whose counting?

Dear God, I am going to be forty on my next birthday!!! How did that happen? Where did the time go? I still feel so young! (Well, on most days...) I am pretty happy about where I am in life. I have a job that I love, love, love...it's the one place where I feel like I truly know what I'm doing!
My family is great, even though I am always posting about how they drive me insane, which they do, but such is life.
We are all currently blessed with good health, and when I say that I mean my entire extended family. This is truly just amazing to me. Just means we have good genes I guess.
This post is just to acknowledge and appreciate all that I have, especially since my mid-life crisis has kicked in. Does this mean I am going to buy a sports car? No, it means that I am going to try to accept ALL social invitations that I can handle and go out and have fun as much as possible. I see senior discount days are about ten years away for me, so I plan to live it up until then! Not saying I plan to dig a hole in the backyard and just lay in it at that time, but life is short, and you only go around once!
That is all! Happy Birthday to me, I totally rock! :)

A plea for help from all you stylish bloggers!

Hello everyone! My birthday is coming up and I have decided that I need a new book/messenger/hobo bag to lug my work stuff around in. I need ideas for cute bag choices! I went to "Nordy's" but got overwhelmed by the choices and the prices. Any ideas from you would be greatly appreciated! This is what I need:

Something that I can look at day after day without getting tired of it. I.e. nothing too bright or loud.

A bag that is going to get abused and dirty! I throw my bag around and it goes with me everywhere at work. I am not easy on my stuff.

A bag that can hold my lunch, my purse, and my other paperwork junk.

I am looking to spend no more than $200.00

Any ideas? please help! Thanks blog sisters! (and brothers, if there are any who read this)

Am awaiting your comments, ideas starting, now!

Tonight's walk with the kids, CPS worthy

So, every night I promise the kids a walk with the dog after dinner, IF THEY BEHAVE. Sorry to shout, anyways...each night has been wonderful, the kids are looking at bugs, they pick dandelions, we go up to the levy. It has been so nice, until tonight! I had to do the old, "I'm turning around right now if you don't stop fighting with each other!" threat several times, but yes they were idle threats, as I was not about to just stay in the house with them in that mood.

As we are walking down one of the busier streets, dear son takes off running like there is no tomorrow and as I chase him dear daughter starts crying saying I am just leaving her behind....
I couldn't win! At one point I had to strong arm both of them back into the jog stroller and at that moment at least a million cars drove by to see me at my finest parenting moment. Sigh....

We are finally on our way back to the house when both kids have decided the push the jog stroller, one on each side. I praise them for their cooperation and problem solving skills. This is when dear son puts his arm around dear daughter and says, "You're my best friend!" I was like, "awww, that is so precious!" Record scratch sound! Dear daughter pulls away from him, causing him to fall, and says, "We are not friends, you are my brother, and that is family not friends!" (Blahhhh!) I actually said to myself, "I hate being a parent sometimes!"
Sorry, just needed to vent, unlike my last post! ha ha. Thanks for listening.