9 Words Women Use

This was getting passed around e-mail and I got a big kick out of it! Some of you may have already seen it but for those of you who haven't........here it is.
I know I have used quite a few of them.......

(1) FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) FIVE MINUTES: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) NOTHING: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) GO AHEAD: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) LOUD SIGH: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) THAT'S OKAY: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) THANKS: A woman is thanking you, do not question or Faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' ... that will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) WHATEVER: Is a women's way of saying *#@! YOU!

(9) DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, I GOT IT: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Back to School

Okay! So I made it through the week! As everybody knows, the kids started back to school last Monday. It just took me forever to finally post. None of my kids were excited about going back to school. Although, they could've got that from me since I was not looking forward to it at all either. I'm one of those weird moms who likes to have her kids home with her. Sometimes I consider homeschooling them all but then reality kicks in and I change my mind. There's also the fact that I'm not a morning person. I enjoy getting up whenever I feel like it. And my kids had gotten used to sleeping in this summer. Such bliss! This weekend they were up at 6:30am! See what school has done to them! So this year was a big milestone for us. First of all, Tanessa went back to the public school system, into 8th grade, after being homeschooled for almost 3 years. She was so nervous, yet excited at the same time. She kept in touch with her closest friends over the years, so socially she was fine. (Note: I say she was fine. Not me. I am terrified at the thought of the possible effect some of those "public school hoodlums" could have on my kid. But she is a very independent child who doesn't care what other people do or think. Let's pray she remains that way for the years to come!) Academically, she has transitioned pretty well, I think. Except for the homework. She takes FOREVER!! It drives me nuts. This is something we've always struggled with. Except for the fact that she doesn't care for "school" in general, I think she is happy to be back at school. Ali, not such a big milestone. Still in public school, still gets out at the same time, knows her teacher (I used to baby-sit his little girl), best friend in class........not a whole lot has changed. She went into third grade with Mr. Lassen for her teacher and Tayah is in her class.........AGAIN! I keep telling Marcie they can never move or my kids would be lost!














As for Spencer, he started kindergarten. That's right my last "baby" is now in school! He actually wasn't very excited which made me a little nervous. And he was very bummed that he was not in the same class as his best bud, Trey. I kept telling him that he would be fine and make new friends in his class and he would still see Trey on the playground. But we got there on the first day and he did great! I did great, too! I was sure that I would be the one crying (as it does not take much) but amazingly enough I held it together. Spencer is really liking school now. On the second day of school, he said to me, "Mom, I know where my class is, I don't need you to walk me there. I can do it myself." I said that I needed to walk him to school (for me) and maybe the second week. So on Friday on the way to school, he says, "Mom, is this week over?" I told him yes and he says, "Yay, next week I get to go all by myself!" I guess I should be proud that I have raised independent kids, but I have to tell you, it hurts a little.....


























What am I going to do with a nice, quiet house all to myself? Well, I had already thought about that and concluded that I might get a little bored with no kids around. And I sure as heck did not want to get a job outside the home. And leave my comfort zone? No way! So, I borrowed someone else's kid to fill my time with. I am doing child care for a couple that work at Wallace Middle School. Actually, they are both Tanessa's teachers this year. (another reason, she was not too nervous) The baby's name is Brady and he is 41/2 months old. He's a cute kid. We are still getting used to eachother and trying to come up with a schedule that works. But it does make my days fly by.......and it gives me a reason not to have my house spotless! On the first day of school, after dropping the kids off, Dave and I went to breakfast with Kenny and Marcie. It was great! In fact Marcie and I are going to start going out to breakfast every Monday. Except we're not going to make it a habit to let our husbands tag along! Plus, on Wednesday, we started walking for an hour everyday with the babies. I think I'm going to have a very enjoyable year!

Our mini-vacation

So, just how much can you squeeze into 2 days? We decided that since Dave has not had much time off and the kids are getting ready to head back to school, we should get out and go somewhere. Dave took a shift off and we made a last minute plan. The only catch was this: we only had 2 days and we didn't want to spend all the money that he had just made working all that overtime. What can you do in less that 48 hours on a budget? Well, we left Wednesday morning and headed down to L.A. First stop, the L.A. Zoo. Very affordable. We had a good time. I'm kinda glad we were only there half day because it is a lot of walking. And it happened to be pretty warm and muggy that day. The kids had fun. It was Ali and Spencer's first time to a zoo (besides CALM, of course). Spencer's favorite was the elephants and the alligators. Ali liked the monkeys and the river otters the best. For the rest of us, it was the gorillas. Hands down. First of all, they were the only ones that were acting anywhere near how they might really act in the wild. There was a family in one habitat. A dad, a mom, and a 3 year old baby girl. They were so fun to watch. The dad was a huge silverback. He was very bossy! And the baby was just like any baby. Wait till dad looks away, then quick do something you know you're not supposed to. It was really neat! After the zoo closed, we went to dinner in Hollywood somewhere. Pretty sure we were nowhere near the stars! Then we headed to the Griffith Observatory. I haven't been there since I was a kid and I remember loving it. Plus it was only minutes from the zoo, and again very affordable. Except it took forever to get there because John Cougar Mellencamp was doing a concert at the Greek Theater, which happens to be on the way to the observatory. The observatory was really cool. The kids were so excited about the view from the hill and the Hollywood sign. I think they enjoyed the educational aspect of it to.......I will keep telling myself that. We paid to go see the 30 minute show which was awesome-until they threw in the whole Big Bang theory. Can people really be so stupid? Long ago there was just a huge mass of energy and then from some unkown cause comes a big explosion and then poof, everything just is?! Wow! That is out there. Although I got a kick out of it at the end when the speaker said that new evidence has come up that makes their theory incomplete. Duh! Just another proof that God does know what He's doing. By the time we left there, it was late and our hotel was 45 minutes away in Redondo Beach. We get there to check in and they say if we want to wait 20 more minutes they'll have a room ready with a "harbor view". I said sure. Dummy! I missed out on 20 minutes of extra sleep. The "harbor view" was a buch of boat's masses. Couldn't even see water. Next morning went to an old 50's style cafe (my favorite era-wish I could've lived back then). They had a penny gumball machine. I was so excited! I gave the kids a handful of pennies. Seriously, when do you see anything for a penny these days? That was definitely the highlight of breakfast because the food was not very yummy. Then we went to the pier. It is a really cool, u-shaped pier with lots of shops and restaurants. Dave took Spencer, yep, you guessed it . Fishing. Us girls walked around, yep, you guessed again. Shopping. They also have a boardwalk under the pier. And there is this really cool bike path that stretches forever along the beach. Maybe next time we'll have time to try that out. We met back up with the boys, had lunch, then headed to the beach. The kids had a blast. Tanessa took her turn at boogie boarding, although I think she spent more time getting tossed by the waves than actually on her board. Ali got really brave in the ocean. Even she got tossed by a big wave. She didn't cry, but she was covered in sand. Spencer actually went in up to his waist and had a good time chasing the waves. Then running from them. I sat in the sand and watched and took pictures. I was already chilly from the breeze, there was no way I was getting wet. Dave, however, braved the cold water and played with the kids. When they were all good and dirty and freezing, we showered them off, put dry clothes on, and went out for dinner at the El Toritos on the pier. I like Mexican food. A lot. But I always forget until it's too late that I don't like their Mexican food. But we had a table with an awesome ocean view so that was nice. That made the food not as bad. Anyways, we got gas and headed home. Didn't get home until after midnight. That made our whole trip a total of 38 hours! But it was great. We had a blast!

Fun in the Sun

Last Saturday we went to the lake for a couple hours with the Bushlings. Zach and Kenny were out diving so the kids and I kept Marcie and her kids company. They had a blast. It makes me almost feel guilty. We have this great lake up here to take advantage of and we hardly ever go. My kids love playing in the sand and swimming in the water. I don't care for the sand or swimming in the water or sitting in the sun or the good ol' Lake Isabella wind. But maybe I should suck it up for my kids' sake. Ali is finally getting brave in the water. She used to not swim in the lake because she was freaked out by the thought of the fish. I don't care to swim in the lake because I, too, do not care for the thought of the fish or perhaps a dead body that's been lost for ages surfacing by me. I know, I know. Completely irrational, but seriously, those are thoughts that go through my head. And I grew up here, never had those crazy thoughts when I was younger. So, the last time we were on the boat, I ask Ali if the reason she won't go in the water is the fish. She sheepishly says yes. I admit that I, her own mother, don't care for the fish. I left out the part about dead bodies-don't want to freak her out more. I tell her I just keep my legs moving to make sure no fish get too close. She ponders this for awhile. Then when we met up with Tisha, I bite the bullet and jump in the water. This gives Ali some confidence and she asks if she can come in with me and try it out. I say sure, if you want to. She clings to me like there is no tomorrow, then eventually swims off on her own. How proud I am-of both of us! Anyway, back to my original story. So, Ali puts on her life jacket and goes out into the lake swimming with Tayah. They had so much fun. Then they built sandcastles and played in the sand. Spencer is still not so brave in the water. He would only go to his knees. Until Marcie sat Jayda down in the water (she loved it) and says to Spencer, "Pretty soon Jayda will pass you up." So Spencer ventures out to his waist and says, "Ha! Beat that Jayda!" Wow, Spencer, you daredevil! Well, we all got good laugh. But even he had fun playing in the sand.

Lake Day

Yeah! Our family finally had our first (and possibly our last) lake day yesterday. My poor hubby has had only 3 days off since mid June and now he's back at work for another 8. But at least we got to go and play for one day. The day before that, we got things done around the house and yard because simply put: I am not amazingly talented like Karrie and there are things around the yard that I just need my husband for:). Well, the kids had Vacation Bible School until noon, so by the time we picked them up and got out on the boat it was after 1pm. Which, according to Lake Isabella time, is pretty windy. But we still managed to get some wake boarding in for Dave and Tanessa. Tanessa just loves wake boarding. She did very well. She got up every time and did fine until she came to "the bump" otherwise known as the wake. Then she would get nervous. Ali got to do her favorite thing which was zip around on the tube. We forced Spencer to go on the tube with Dave, even though he cried at the beginning. But I promised him I would go super slow and he actually seemed to be enjoying it until we hit some major waves. Then he was done. But later he said, "well, actually, I did kinda like it." When asked if he wanted to go another round, he passed. There's still hope for him, though, because when Ali was younger she was terrified of the tube, too. However the day was not lost for him because he got to do his favorite thing: fish. He was so excited about that. Even though Dave forgot to bring his tackle box. So we dropped him off at the dock to go home and get it and the rest of us putted around the lake chasing ducks. He never did catch any fish yesterday, even though the fish finder said there were tons right under us. But he had stimulating fish talk with his dad (something about treble hooks and catching trout, not catfish) and made a new friend (Pablo, his worm). We met up with our friends Tisha and Josh who were out on their boat for a little while. Dave had Spencer and their daughter, Brenna, on our boat fishing, Josh had the rest of the girls (Tanessa, Jordyn, and Ali) on his boat tubing, and Tisha and I floated in the middle of the lake enjoying the peace and quiet. It was a very fun day and the best thing is, the kids were exhausted and slept wonderfully. I love summer!

Soccer Camp

Ali and Spencer just finished a week of British soccer camp. They went for 5 days, 3 hours a night. They absolutely loved it and had a ball! (no pun intended) They got to do fun drills and games and scrimmages. And of course, who would not enjoy listening to the coaches from England talk? My kids just love soccer. It is their favorite thing to do all year long. Even Tanessa, who chose not to do soccer camp because none of her friends were doing it this year. Pre-teens!(I can still say that for 6 more weeks!) But Marcie rather enjoyed her having free time to entertain Jayda so that us moms could chat.....I mean watch soccer! Spencer's favorite game was called Scooby-Doo, where are you? He really liked Coach Lee but said that his favorite was Coach Laura. Something about her being pretty....... Even though she was only with the little kids for one whole day. Ali's favorite game was Austin Powers and she couldn't decide if her favorite coach was Coach Laura or Coach Tony. Towards the end she decided on Coach Tony......I hope that wasn't based on looks, too! The coaches combine all the bigger kids, then divide them up into teams (or countries) and they compete all week, earning points and trying to win the gold cup ( a soccer ball on a cone). Ali was on team USA and her team color was white. She scored several goals throughout the week for her team. But in the end, Mexico ended up winning. Anyway, the kids had a great time and were bummed to see the week come to an end. Now, they can't wait for the official season to begin!

Thunderstorms and the Big Flood

While everyone else was panicking about the impending flood in Lake Isabella, here's what my kids were doing: some kind of rain song and dance hoping for more rain to play in. The day of the first flood, we only got a few drops of rain here in town. But at the first drop, my kids got out their gear in anticipation of lots of rain. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the actual flood (see Marcie's blog for pics) because I was basically forbidden to go anywhere near it! Dave was working and working for the fire department, he had a heads up on the flood. So, he calls and tells me that the water is going to hit town in 15 minutes and he wants us to stay home. He tells me he knows me and how much I like disaster (what's that supposed to mean, anyway?) so I better not go driving around looking for it. Then why did he even call? I never would have known if he didn't say anything. Naturally, at this point, I'm curious and it's torturing me that I can't leave home. By the way, he didn't call the next two days so when my neighbor with the scanner gave me the heads up, I got to go be a looky-loo. I did, however, make sure to stay as far away from any emergency personnel so that I could not get ratted out!