[ Monday, May 30, 2005 ]
Oink!This Three-day Memorial weekend was primarily made-up of Matthew's daily basketball games from huge tournament, and lots and lots of good eats. Man, did we eat well this weekend... TOO well. Tell ya about it later.
Hope you had a great weekend too!
yam [11:34 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, May 26, 2005 ]
Open HouseI know I have lots of catching up to do (posting photos and stories from the past few weeks), but tonight was Matthew's school Open House, so here are some photos from tonight. We went over to school to check out what he's been doing in class this year.
Walking to Matthew's class
Matthew's class!
My seat and my body
There's my friend on the computer
Dinosaur skeletons that we made
Classroom art projects
yam [8:58 PM 0 comments ]
[ Wednesday, May 25, 2005 ]
Congrats!I was pretty surprised as well as a lot of people when Carrie won tonight's American Idol. I don't think it's a bad choice no matter who won, I just thought that Bo did better overall and thought he had the bigger following. Congratulations Carrie!
Invasion
I was planning on making a big catch-up blog tonight but found out that our kitchen was invaded by ants! They found Matthew's candy drawer and were all over the place. It's my own fault, as it was an invasion waiting to happen with so much of Matthew's candy lying all over the kitchen. I've been too lazy to sort through all of the candy he's gotten from Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, baseball and basketball game snacks, birthday parties, etc. Ugh. So I spent a good part of the night sorting and throwing out a bunch of candy, spraying and squishing ants. Man, that tired me out.
Tagged (Again!)
D'oh! That Frenchsoda wahine tagged me again for another list of favorites. Bah. OK, here it is...
1) Total Number of films we own on dvd: 32
2) The last film I bought: Phantom Of The Opera (I loved the music but the actor who played the Phantom was lousy. But then again, how can you compare with Michael Crawford?)
3) The last film I watched: Phantom Of The Opera (I just bought it, so I watched it. Go figure)
4) Five films I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (I just love everything about this film!)
Sound Of Music (All time fave movie, and also was my Gracie's favorite)
Incredibles (Pretty darn fun stuff)
When Harry Met Sally (Ugh, every time it's on TV I gotta stop and watch this classic chick-flick... I'm such a romantic slob)
Enter the Dragon (Still the BEST Martial Arts film ever made... Bruce Lee will never die)
OK, let's see, who shall I tag this time? Mouji-boy, the Itinerant dude, Juvin, Gamera, and Ms. Sunflower. Have fun answering those same questions!
yam [11:20 PM 0 comments ] The Birds & the Bees (Thanks to B. for sending this!)
A little boy goes to his father and asks "Daddy, how was I born?"
The father answers: "Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway! Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo.
Then, I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a blessed little Pop-Up appeared and said: You've Got Male!"
yam [10:19 AM 0 comments ] Bo for American Idol!
yam [7:56 AM 0 comments ]
[ Tuesday, May 24, 2005 ]
This is so cute!
yam [2:20 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, May 22, 2005 ]
PoopedWe basically just did the usual stuff this weekend, but I did stay up late last night on a rare Saturday without the kid, so tonight I'm pretty pooped. I'll try again tomorrow night to catch up on the recent photos and stories.
yam [11:02 PM 0 comments ]
[ Friday, May 20, 2005 ]
Happy Friday!Not much to talk about today except for the gorgeous summer weather we're having! It's about 80 right now, expected to reach the mid-80's this weekend for us near the coast. Inland is supposed to be a scorcher with temps in the triple-digit range.!
I'm way behind on posting old photos, so maybe I'll have a chance this weekend.
My cold seems to have been averted, so thank you to that Zircam stuff which seems to have worked, and thanks to everyone who wished me well!
Have a great weekend!
yam [12:40 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, May 19, 2005 ]
Final TwoHey I guessed correctly for only the second time this season as Vonzell said buh-bye last night on American Idol. Unless Bo really messes up next week, I don't see how he can lose. His stage presence is way better than Carrie and he just looks like he really belongs up there. Carrie has an incredible voice, but needs some polish in her presentation and lack of emotional content.
Tagged
Oof. I got tagged by Frenchy. Well, at least this was a shorter one of those lists of favorite stuffs. Here goes:
1. Total volume of music files on my computer?
(at work) 1.5 gigs. (I have a lot more on my home PC)
2. The last CD I bought was?
(I think it was) Los Lonely Boys - Los Lonely Boys
3. Song playing right now:
Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
4. Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me (This is a tough one to pick only 5!)
To Where you Are - Josh Groban
E O Mai - Keali'i Reichal
Before Time - Coco Lee (from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
Bring Me To Life - Evanesence
Fragile - Sting
OK, so I guess I'll send these over to Mikazuko, Mouji, Gamera, Hal, and gg. You guys have been tagged! (Man, even that list was hard to come up with!)
*Sniff*
Keeping my fingers crossed that my cold won't get any worse since I have some important events coming up this weekend. I'm trying the Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs this time which is supposed to dramatically reduce the strength and length of my cold. I tried the spray before but it was the grossest feeling, shooting that gel up your nose! Felt like sucking up cold snot, that if not careful would burn your eyes from behind! These cotton swabs are a lot easier to use and much more comfortable. So far, I haven't gotten any worse. Wish me luck.
yam [12:08 PM 0 comments ]
[ Wednesday, May 18, 2005 ]
DamnDamn, damn, damn! I woke up this morning feeling slightly like I was catching a cold, and now this afternoon I'm really starting to feel it in my bones. You know that feeling? Bleah. Now is not the time to get sick. Got too many important things going on for this nonsense. I took my extra vitamin C this morning and some zinc lozenges today. I better stop and get some of that Zicam and see if that will keep me from getting too sick.
yam [2:38 PM 0 comments ] Happy Birfday!
Big Birfday Greetings out to Ms. Mikazuko and Miss K today!
yam [8:36 AM 0 comments ]
[ Tuesday, May 17, 2005 ]
Close CallDown the the last three on American Idol and it was a great show! Tonight each performer sang three songs. A song picked by super-producer Clive Owen, one by each performer and one by each judge. I think Bo was the overwhelming favorite of the evening and now the favorite to become the American Idol. It's going to be really close between Vonzell and Carrie, but I'm going to go make my guess and say that Vonzell is going to go home. She has been on the bottom three many times during the season so I think her following isn't as strong as Carrie.
What do you think?
yam [11:45 PM 0 comments ] Sappy
OK, I know this is a really sappy song, but for some reason, it's stuck in my head right now...
SOMEWHERE OUT THERE (James Ingram and Linda Ronstadt)
Somewhere out there,
Beneath the pale blue night,
Someone's thinking of me,
And loving me tonight.
Somewhere out there,
Someone's saying a prayer,
Then we'll find one another,
In that big somewhere out there.
And even though I know how very far apart we are,
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star,
And when the night will start to sing
A lonesome lullaby,
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the
Same big sky.
Somewhere out there,
If love can see us through,
Then, we'll be together,
Somewhere out there, out where dreams, come true.
Wishful thinking, I suppose...
yam [2:24 PM 0 comments ] Flusterpated and Fahoodled
Today on Yahoo's Most e-mailed stories, they listed some of the most popular words NOT in the dictionary. The top word was "ginormous" which I've heard before and admit that I have used on occasion. You can see it here on the Merriam-Webster site.
They also list previous favorite words which I actually thought were funnier, such as wibble (a trembling of the lower lip just shy of actually crying), shanghaIM (Instant Messaging somebody who's in the process of IM-ing somebody else, causing them to inadvertently type (and possibly send) their message to you... happens to me all the time!), and wurfing (the act of surfing the Internet at work and rationalizing that it is for work purposes... uhh, I never do that).
After thinking about this for a bit, it reminded me of that comedian Rich Hall who was very popular back in the 80's (I actually saw him at someone's wedding... Remember that, Gamera?) and he came up with the term "Sniglets" which are basically the same thing. He even published many books of his vocabularianisms.
yam [12:31 PM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, May 16, 2005 ]
Don't we make a nice couple?
yam [11:57 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, May 15, 2005 ]
Weekend.. Where did it go?I took lots of photos again as usual, but don't have the time to process them yet, and it's getting late so I'll just give the quickie wrap-up now.
Friday night was Matthew's baseball game. Oy was that a long and excrutiating game (more on that later). Saturday morning, bright an early at 8 I played nearly two hours of full court basketball (and had a pretty good day!. After that we volunteered at Matthew's school carnival (it was a darn good one) and we spent most of the afternoon there.
Saturday night we were off to Dodger Stadium on tickets I bought before the season. Bah, they didn't play well and lost, but we had fun just getting out.
Today we drove all the way out to Camarillo (took more than 2 hours to drive) for Zack's 8th birthday party at a lasertag place, and I even participated in a couple of games.
And tonight I cried my eyes out over Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and the Firefighter father of three boys, who lost his wife to Leukemia. His boys are so young and soooo cute! It really touched me as I could relate to his situation very closely.
Yeah, that's a lot. I'm pooped.
yam [11:47 PM 0 comments ]
[ Friday, May 13, 2005 ]
Ahhh, Ahhhh, Ahhhhhh.....Chooooooo! Dang, this nice warm spring weather (along with all that rain we've gotten this year) has brought out all the allergans into the air and my nose is paying the price. Fortunately I had one tablet of generic Claritin left in my desk and that's helped a lot. That Claritin really works a lot better for me than Benedryl, which only semi-dries me up, not to mention makes me very light-headed and dizzy. I'm already sort of a light-headed and dizzy (make that ditzy) person, so I don't need any more drug-induced spacey-ness.
That name-brand stuff is pretty expensive (about a doller a piece), so I buy the generics at one of the local drug stores (Sav-On, CVS, etc.). Today I looked on Costco's site and noticed that they sell a generic version and it's really cheap! They also have the real stuff, at a pretty good discount too, if you have to have the name-brand. I might have to get some the next time I go there.
yam [1:01 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, May 12, 2005 ]
Getting Down To The WireI was too tired to make an entry last night but I did catch American Idol (of course) along with Mouji-boy (the SF Idol!) online as usual. We were really speculating different scenarios based on last weeks very shaky performances by three of the four finalists. But finally, the one we've been complaining about for weeks, Anthony Federov has been eliminated.
I actually thought he did fairly well last week, but I think all those weeks of poor performances finally caught up with him. So now it's down to just three contestants left! It's going to be really tough to pick a winner, because I don't see anyone as being clearly ahead, but if I was to bet my guess would go to Bo.
Spingtime!
Ahh, I think the rains are FINALLY over and we're now into beautiful spring weather around here! Last night Matthew got back into the game (baseball) and had a very quiet performance, but at least he was out there trying his best. Whew. And, I made sure that we talked before and after the game about why he had to miss the last two games and what he had to avoid doing so that it won't happen again.
yam [8:39 AM 0 comments ]
[ Tuesday, May 10, 2005 ]
Tradewinds CallingWe already have our reservations to fly to Oahu next month (Wow, it's next month already!) but I still haven't made any plans for what to do when we get there. I want to go to the big island for a couple of days, so I still need to make hotel reservations and inter-island flight plans.
I'd appreciate it if anyone can give me some suggestions (Leave a comment or e-mail) for places to stay and things to do and see on the island of Hawaii. I'm sure we'll go see the volcano, but what else is there? If it was just me, as an adult, I would just go there and do nothing for the entire week and relax, but with the kid, we need to do something fun and interesting. The rest of the time, I know lots of fun things to do on Oahu, not to mention hooking up with a bunch of friends!
Idol
Bo stole the show tonight, with two great performances! Carrie was perfect with her country song, but off on the R&B song. Vonzell was way off on the first song (she cried because she knew she sucked) but she did much better on her soul song, although not great. Anthony was OK on both of his performances. I still think Anthony should go, but it's going to be tough to choose the loser. But. I'll stay with my choice of saying Anthony should go (but I think Vonzell is shaky).
yam [9:05 PM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, May 09, 2005 ]
Weekend UpdateWe had a fairly quiet weekend for a change, since all of Matthew's activities were cancelled, one due to the Mother's Day holiday, the other due to his Dad laying down the law on his behavior.
Starting with Friday night, we had a little unexpected adventure due to a flaw in the design of my car's fuel system. We drove to our favorite local hole-in-the-wall restaurant for dinner and I took the one remaining parking spot. This happened before, when my gas tank was at a very low level and I parked my car at a moderate incline with the nose of my car down and once again, my car wouldn't start. I knew what it was right away. We were only about a half mile from home, so we walked back and fortunately found my neighbor outside and he gave us a ride back to the restaurant with my full gas can (used for the lawnmower) in hand. Whew.
Saturday morning we got up early to get to Matthew's haircut appointment, then had a nice breakfast at Hofs Hut. Man, I haven't been there in years! Matthew really enjoyed the French toast and egg breakfast. We took a quick trip up to the cemetery to visit his mom and lay some roses on her gravesite for Mother's Day. Gosh, this is always such a tough time for him and us. We try to talk a little bit about his mom and how good she was, but I know I should do even more for him on this special holiday.
Well, since Matthew was grounded from playing baseball for multiple incidents of poor choices at school, I put him to work on the yard, cleaning up leaves and rocks along the side of the house, as I was doing yardwork on the front yard. I give him credit for working pretty hard. I made sure that he understood that he missed his game and had to work hard in the yard because he wasn't using good judgment on his behavior at school. I continue to reinforce how he should try harder to act more appropriately, otherwise he will have to pay the consequences. I think he took it quite well, and hopefully he will learn from that. We spent the rest of the day shopping for Mother's Day gifts and cards for his grandmas.
Sunday we did more errands and chores around the house, but mostly took it easy. Sunday evening my parents came over and we took them out to dinner at this really nice Thai restaurant. My Mom and Dad seemed to really enjoy it. I made a big "oops" though, when the bill came and I realized that I left my wallet at home. D'oh! So, my Dad ended up having to pay for dinner! Ack. We came back home and gave my mom her Mother's Day presents (I got her some books to read, some roses, and some fancy Japanese seasoned seaweed, and Matthew bought her a necklace), made some fresh strawberry shortcake and watched the rest of the Dodger game on TV (she's a big fan!)
That was our weekend.
Until next time....
yam [11:40 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, May 08, 2005 ]
Happy Mother's Day!
yam [11:16 PM 0 comments ]
[ Friday, May 06, 2005 ]
PunishmentAs most of you know, my 7-1/2 year old kid has been a bit of a pain recently. He got in trouble for throwing rocks at school last week, then a couple of days later went and did it again, and then a day later got in trouble by playing hide-and-seek in someone else's class, totally disrupting it. So as punishment, he got grounded from his last baseball game, and again tomorrow's game.
I don't think he's going through anything in his little mind, other than trying to push his limits and doing whatever he feels like. I want him to realize that he has to make better decisions, or pay the consequences. And just to make him understand what he's missing, I told him that he has to help me with some yard work tomorrow since he's not playing ball. I haven't quite figured out what he can do yet, that's not too difficult for him. Mouji suggested that I make him pick up tiny rocks all over the yard and put them in a bucket (like he did when he got in trouble at school) because it would drive him crazy! Hmm, that's a thought. Anyone have any other suggestions for punishment?
Oh, and BTW, Matthew lost another tooth yesterday, and the tooth fairy showed up right on time last night! ;-)
yam [1:51 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, May 05, 2005 ]
From Jay Leno.."Hey, what do you think about Paula Abdul and the recent accusations about her? She Bangs, She Bangs, She Bangs!"
Hahahaha!
yam [11:38 PM 0 comments ]
Happy Boys' Day!
Happy Cinco De Mayo!
Happy Birthday, Zack!
Happy Holocaust Remembrance Day!
(hmm, that last one didn't come out right)
yam [3:21 PM 0 comments ]
[ Wednesday, May 04, 2005 ]
Fit To Be TiedMan, I was pretty pissed-off today when I got yet another call from Matthew's teacher today, telling me that he got in trouble again at school. This time it was for being disruptive in someone else class as he was supposed to be going to his "friendship club" (special class to help him with his social skills). I was ready to really whoop on him, but after lots of lecturing, passing down more punishment (taking away another baseball game) and more admonishment, I calmed down. I realize that the punishment should equal the crime, so I backed off on what my initial thought of punitive action was going to be. Sigh, this has certainly been a tough time in my parenting life.
AI AI YAI!
So, I guess I underestimated the popularity of Anthony on American Idol, as he survived and Scott was dumped. I think Scott's overly smug attitude last night is what ultimately did him in. But, once again, I think Anthony will be the next to go.
yam [11:01 PM 0 comments ]
[ Tuesday, May 03, 2005 ]
Weekend Update
My first cake!
Uploaded the weekend photos and stories HERE.
AI Tonight
So, what did you think of tonight's performances on American Idol? I think it was clear to everyone that Anthony was by far the worst performer of the evening. Even Scott had a pretty good performance. Tonight, each of the 5 remaining contestants got to sing 2 songs, but I don't think anyone had 2 "great" performances, although I'd say Bo was the most consistent. So I voted for him tonight. We'll see if America comes to their senses or not.
yam [11:59 PM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, May 02, 2005 ]
Darn, it's getting late already. But I've been working on the weekend photos and stories all night. It looks like I'm not going to finish until tomorrow.
Bad Boy, Bad Boy, Wacha Gonna Do?
In other news, I came home to a bit of a downer tonight, after Matthew's piano lessons. He didn't tell me, but there was a message from his teacher on our answering machine that he got in trouble at school today throwing rocks at a building and was sent to the principal's office. That's the second time within a week that he's gotten in trouble for throwing rocks. Last week it was throwing them at a ball in a tree and he was forced to miss recess and pickup trash. Geez, what do I hafta do to get it into his head that he can't do those things? On Friday I got a note about his poor behavior in class that I had to sign and return today.
And all this was after he had a really good weekend, with lots of fun things that he likes to do, lots of attention from me, yadda, yadda, yadda. Sigh. So, as I promised him, he's grounded from his baseball game tomorrow, taken away his Pokemon cards and taken away other privileges he has. Man, this is getting old. I'll have to call his teacher tomorrow to find out what else I can do.
Relief
But, there was one good bit of news today. I went to my follow-up doctor appointment this morning (took out stitches from three places on my body), and the results of my skin biopsy came in and they said I only have this localized allergic reaction to my BP meds that caused that rash on my face. I'll have to contact my regular doc to see about changing that medication. I currently have this long strip of tape on my face to help the hole in my cheek heal up better, but it looks like a big piece of correction tape. I had to retell the same story (and same joke!) at least a half dozen times at work today.
Of course, I know that if I lose some weight, get in better shape I probably wouldn't even need the drugs. Bleah
I'm tarred of this stuff. Back tomorrow.
yam [11:21 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, May 01, 2005 ]
Getting ready to perform on stage!
Weekend Update (coming soon)
Ohh, another full weekend for us, with everything being for da kid this weekend. Baseball game (he's out of his funk now, yay!), spaghetti dinner fundraiser, basketball practice, music recital, baking a "thunder cake" were the highlights of the weekend. I promise that later on Monday night I'll have all the pics and stories posted here, so check back then, OK?
yam [11:43 PM 0 comments ]
