Wednesday, January 26, 2011

when to be quiet

i am known in my circle as the person who is going to tell you.  this means that there is an unspoken rule, 'don't ask me, if you don't want to know'.  now i am not cruel and i do not necessarily express my opinion if i am not asked for it but when i am asked when do i remain silent?  a recently divorced girl friend asked me about a guy she met online and i didn't hesitate to tell her, this particular person was a bad idea.  now don't get me wrong, i am sure he is nice, but i am a firm believer that if you divorce someone there is a reason and you shouldn't start dating his clone (looked similar with similar personality traits).  so i told her.  but i have another girlfriend who is currently experiencing a medical crisis during a pregnancy and i truly love J, but when asked my opinion i kept it to myself.  i felt that this situation it wasn't my place to influence.  so my question, did i let her down?  i hope not, but all the same, somethings are just not your business.

Monday, January 24, 2011

is it fall?

before
after
now i know that most of the northeast is suffering under some kind of arctic blast but out here in california we are unseasonably warm.  now dont get me wrong, we have had some cold weather, we actually had 3 feet of snow the week of thanksgiving (which resulted in a 5 day power loss and some very creative cooking strategies for the big day) but now we are sitting in the 40's and 50's daily and spent our weekend raking and burning.  now this usually gets done in september and october and believe me i did my fair share then, but the early snows caught us all unaware and the trees hadnt finished dropping their leaves.  so after two weeks of good weather
that allowed all the leaves on the ground to dry, we spent saturday finishing the yard clean up.  although i am grateful for some sunshine i am worried about the lack of rain and snow.  so now that everything is finished, bring it on mother nature.

Friday, January 21, 2011

fabulous friday!

i love friday!  i know everyone loves friday,  but i am not sure that they love friday for the same reasons.  it's not because its the end of the work week, as i don't work outside of my home.  it's not because i want to go out and party on friday nights, as i am no longer 20 or single.  the truth is i love friday because my girls love friday, they wake up happy, they have a great attitude in the morning while they get ready for school and they always hug me on their way out the door.  just the mere words, "it's friday" holds promise for them, no homework, no chores, friday is the gateway to the weekend and around here that means fun.  sleepovers, dinners with friends, playing outside, or just having a jammie day.  their enthusiasm for friday is downright contagious and apparently i've caught the bug.  friday is fabulous!

Monday, January 17, 2011

leash training

aisy, gilli and i did some leash training with harley down at the school today. this is something that requires persistence and patience both of which we exercised in abundance.   we were less than successful.  however, we did teach him something...




                                                                        how to drink out of the drinking fountain.


















we were pretty impressed that he could master the fountain so we had a little play time.





guess we'll have to try again with the leash training.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

party planning

i am the mother of 4 so this is not my first rodeo when it comes to party planning, however i realized the other day that this is the last 7 year old birthday that i will plan.  my baby turns 7 at the end of this month and although her first birthday i had the realization that i would never have a 1 year old again, i brushed it aside and didnt think about it again. but for me 7 isnt a baby anymore.  this is when they truly start making some of their independent choices, like soccer vs dance, this friend vs this friend, chocolate vs vanilla, anyway you get my meaning.  the crux of all this rambling is that i feel like this birthday party should be special so i have been giving it a great deal of thought.  gilli would like a sledding party and so we discussed all the ways that we can make that great it will be a bust if we dont get some snow in the next 2 weeks. so we had to have an alternative and her idea was to have her little girl friends come over and we would have a baby doll party.  her friends can bring their favorite dolls and we will fabric paint some baby t shirts and they can have a fashion show and a tea party.  if by chance we get some snow we are thinking a snowman theme for the cake and we will do sledding, and have hot cocoa.  any ideas would be welcome for the tea party cake.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

the rest of the zoo

quick update on our leash training.  'sigh'  harley totally has the heel and sit commands down.  but is not so good with the turning and only comes when there are treats involved.  of course, this means that i am constantly running around with milk bones in my pocket.

now on to something that was brought to my attention.  i need to introduce you to the human inhabitants of the zoo.
j, my husband of 12 years, we met in korea while serving in the army.  he is a big guy, and by that i don't mean fat, i mean big, big arms, big chest, big shoulders.  he makes friends everywhere he goes and truthfully it is just hard not to like him. at least the at home him, as he is a sergeant for the dept of corrections and i would imagine that jay is not so nice.


joey, is my 11 year old tween.  she is blond, beautiful and completely an out of the box thinker.  she is artistic and has the best imagination.  she paints, she sings, she writes stories.  she is also athletic, basketball and softball are her  sports. joey is friends with everyone, she is like her dad in that you cant help but like her.  she is one of the most compassionate children i have ever encountered.











aisy, is a dancer.  she has been dancing for 6 years and since she is only 9 that means more than half of her life.  she is a beautiful, brunette, quick witted and incredibly sensitive.  she can be shy, sometimes moody and she can be very driven.  she does amazing in school but she is the most concrete thinker, everything is black and white, there are no shades of gray is aisy's world


gilli, she is the baby of our family, soon to be 7 and in the 2nd grade.  quite frankly she is bright.  she started kindergarten a year early and has done very well in school.  but if i had to describe her in one word, gilli is a pistol.  she has a mouth on her and unfortunately she inherited my birth defect, her brain-to-mouth filter is non functioning.  kids think of her as honest, but grown-ups tend to think of her as a smart ass.  she also dances but she doesn't take it quite as seriously as her sister, for her its just fun. did i mention that she's a red head?








now you have met the all of the family that lives in our home.  i do have a grown daughter, b, and a granddaughter, a, that live elsewhere and you will undoubtedly hear about them from time to time. both are amazing, b, is a graduate of UT, a professional nanny that has worked for some very wealthy people in NYC, well traveled and a fabulous mom. a, is a 13 month old baby genius (she is starting to use a pottie chair already so that qualifies, right?).  also within a one mile radius of us, lives my folks (across the street) and my sister, her husband and their 4 children so they no doubt will enter into this at some point.

happy saturday!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

the game is a foot

"the game is a foot" or should i say "the game is on four feet" harley and i are going to start leash training. now don't get me wrong, harley has been on a leash for most of the last 3 months however we are starting official obedience training. we were brought to this point by the fact that harley doesn't want to come when i call him. he wants to do what he wants to do! the problem is that harley has a great sad face (and as we all know by the fact that fitz lives in my house, i am a sucker for the sad face) so he seems to get away with a lot. due to the fact that i am hardly a tough disciplinarian i decided to look up obedience training on the web and came up with a great site that breaks it down for you into steps that even i think i can follow. i have also watched my fair share of the dog whisperer although i don't have Cesar's innate abilities some of his tips seem to be working for me. i will post about harley and my progress here and let you know about some of our pitfalls as well.

http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

meet the zoo















meet the zoo.
bandit, 12 year old, black lab/? mix, he is the most beloved member of the family and definitely the king of the castle.
mischief, 5 year old, rescue kitty, we got her from the shelter when she was a kitten. she gets into trouble regularly hence her name.
fitz, 18 mo old, rescue kitty, that came home one day from the grocery store (i have 3 little girls at home and they have the best sad faces ever).
tango, 9 year old, cockatiel, who can say pretty bird, and whistle songs, but chooses instead to do medleys of his own choosing that appear to most to be unrecognizable.
so as not to offend any of the fish population we do have a rather large gold fish in my 6 year old's room, but his name changes at her whim and the only interaction i have with it, is that i feed it every night at bedtime and clean it when it gets too green in the tank. and last but not least...
harley, our 4 month old ?/? mix, that we rescued at 5 weeks old. the speculation has been that he is everything from a lab/shepherd to a bernese mountain dog.

so now that you met the zoo come back and visit us again soon!