Wednesday, August 31, 2005

2005 VMAs

I'm a few days late, but I've finally gotten around to watching the Video Music Awards on MTV. Usually I live for music award shows, but the last few VMAs have been kinda sucky. With this one I've been fast forwarding through most of it, and the only thing I've found worthy so far was Green Day's performance and a few seconds of appearances from people here and there. Here's my diss list so far:

-Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Diddy, Do Wa Diddy Diddy Dum De Do Da Day whatever you're calling yourself this year. I cannot believe that you need the words to your own song on a teleprompter for a performance! Don't you know the words by now? I never thought he had any talent and I have never been a fan of his. I don't see myself starting anytime soon!

-Message to Jessica Simpson: The whore look has never been in. How can you go from being Ms. Purity to trampsing and trashing yourself all over the place? (For a perfect example of trashiness, please watch the "These Boots Are Made For Walking" video if you haven't already) You can look sexy without looking like a prostitute whore from Hotel Street. I've got one word for you: TUNA! Take it however you want. LOL

-Where's CKY? I think they should have been nominated for the MTV2 award!

-What's with people that have to wear sunglasses at night? Wasn't that the cool thing to do way back in the 80's? "I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can so I can..." OK Corey Hart!

-Beavis and Butthead?! Are you kidding me? Why are you bringing them back? Do the kids watching MTV now even know who they are? (Did I just indirectly say that I was too old to watch MTV?)

-Johnny Knoxville: I love that you can pull off the white pants, because I don't think many men can, BUT please retire that tired pair of Converse shoes and get some new ones. And see the above point regarding sunglasses at night. Take off your glasses so everyone can see how wasted you really are.

-John Norris: Dude, dress your age! You are too old to be doing the party circuit look. You can still be cool and on MTV. See Kurt Loder for details.

-Ricky Martin?! I haven't seen him since his Puerto Rico commercials!

-MTV: You picked Shakira and Kelly Clarkson to perform, but not Gwen? What's up with that?!

Anyway, now that I think about it, I do have a few things on my Hit List:

-Black Eyed Peas!!!

-Green Day still rocks!

-Rocker guys that wear eye liner! LOVE IT! And to quote my daughter, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, "That's hot!" (And no, those are not the people that my daughter picked up the phrase from)

-Missy Elliot, you go girl!

Yup, that's pretty much it so far. I think I'm going to FF through the rest of this so I can delete it and watch some more important things that are going on in the world.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Conversations With A 5 1/2 Yr Old

A lot of the things that come out of children's mouths are incredibly cute! Sometime over the summer, while the kids and I were sitting around watching a skateboarding dvd, I had the pleasure of discussing Tony Hawk with my daughter.

"Mommy, Tony Hawk is so hot!"

(I was a little surprised at her use of the word "hot". She's 5 1/2 for goodness sakes and I have no idea where she picked it up from. It wasn't from myself, her dad or her brother and remember, this child is home with me all day! :) )

"He is? Now what do you mean by hot? Is he cute hot? Or like cool hot?

"Both Mom! He's the cutest and the coolest! He's totally hot!"

"Is he hotter than
Jesse McCartney, your favorite guy?"

(Thinking)"I think they're the same. He's so totally hot!"

"Do you know that he has a son named Riley that's older than your brother?"

(Wide-eyed)"He does? Wow! I didn't know that"

"Yes he does, honey. Riley is 13, I think"

"Wow, that's old!"

I didn't want to tell her that this new "hot" guy of hers was 38 and older than her mom and dad, that he had two more sons, Spencer and Keegan, or that he was engaged to be married again. I think it's cute that she had a crush on an older guy so why burst her bubble? She's so taking after her mom with diggin' skaters and skating, watching skating videos, and having crushes on older men (although I can't say that I have crushes on older men anymore), not to mention the many other ways that we find every day. It's so cute, but also scary that it's almost as if I'm looking into a mirror with her! I told my husband that he should be careful because I got into trouble for kissing boys in kindergarten! Ha ha! It's going to be an interesting school year!

Monday, August 29, 2005

Pics: Aah, The First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school. I can't believe that my son's in 3rd grade and my baby girl is in kindergarten! Where does the time go?




Wednesday, August 24, 2005

It's A Vole, You Say?

I found out what's been digging up our yard.
It turns out that we're not the only ones. I found an article about it in this morning's edition of the Sacramento Bee. Moles, voles, whatever...it's all the same to me. They're all rodents and it's digging up my front yard and leaving dirt mounds behind. Initially, it was only one or two dirt mounds. Now the dirt mounds are multiplying and they have begun working their way across the yard, tearing up what little front yard we have. We bought a stake that you put into the ground that's supposed to be a deterrent. It runs on batteries and makes a high pitched annoying "eeeeeee" sound, but so far it hasn't worked. The last time we went to Osh, Hubby bought one of those gas bombs, where you light the fuse, drop it in a tunnel, and bury it with dirt and the noxious fumes are either supposed to kill them or drive them away (if the process doesn't kill you first!). Unfortunately, with work and just the usual business, he hasn't found the time to give it a try.

[Sidenote: I e-mailed him at work with a link to the article before I started my post. Just got a response from him that said, "Gassing starts tonight! I hope it turns out better than Bill Murray in Caddyshack" HAHA What timing!]

You know, at first I was opposed to killing them, especially since we thought it was a little innocent mole (My daughter watches Franklin so I couldn't kill Mr. Mole!), but after reading the article and then doing some additional research I found out that they are just like mice and all they do is eat, breed and multiply so good riddance! Bleh! I hate rodents!

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

When Does It Stop Becoming Stress and Start Becoming Age?

Not too long ago, I freaked out because I had a white hair on my head. Not an entire lock of them, not even a tiny patch but just one. It's only the 4th one I've had ever, with the last one being a few years ago which I chalked up to stress because we were dealing with moving and stressful house decisions. In fact, I think I've chalked them all up to stress so far because I only get them less than once in a blue moon. So when does it stop becoming about stress and start becoming because of the fact that I'm getting old? The first one that I had ever gotten was when I was in elementary school...maybe because of stress or some freak hormonal growing up thing. I think I was about 9 or 10 and I showed my mom where we had a "Hmm, that's strange" kind of moment and laughed at the thought of a 9 year old having stress before she plucked it out. The second one I got when I had first moved in with my then boyfriend/now husband to Baltimore, which is understandable because it was my first move away from home, not to mention the fact that it was far away, and the fact that it was also my first long term & serious relationship. The 3rd was during the aforementioned stressful house situation, and I kind of freaked out but not too much because of again, stress! With this last one, I don't know if it's because I'm not in my 20's anymore, or because I noticed a couple of new wrinkles in my face, but I freaked out. I mean FREAKED like I was ready to cry! I plucked it out and immediately called my husband at work.

(almost in tears) "Honey, I had a white hair! I'm oldddddd!"

(I could hear him trying to suppress the laughter, but the huge smile was coming through the phone)

"What? You did? What did you do?"

"I pulled it out! What do you think I did?! When did I become olddddd? Do I look old?"

"What?! Whatever!"

"Thanks alot babe! I'm old and you don't care!"

"Stace, you're not old. You look fine! You're beautiful and I love you"

(aah, how sweet of him, but I wasn't buying it because darnit I had just pulled out a WHITE hair!)

So after a bit more whining, I let him go back to work and lamented the fact that a two inch strand of my hair had turned white and was trying to ruin my life. It turned out that I had to think about it for two whole weeks before realizing I had been under a lot of stress this time too, especially with Dad being in the hospital recently. That brought a little relief, but sooner or later I will have white hair upon white hair, and I don't know how I'm going to handle it. Call me vain, say it's just hair, or what have you but it's a big fear of mine. A box of hair dye will only go so far until you start looking like the old wrinkly lady that's obviously dying her hair. (sigh) I don't want to get old! What to do, what to do...

Monday, August 22, 2005

Message to Consuella

Hi Consuella,
Not sure if you have been getting the e-mails that I've sent you, but I've misplaced my address book and need your address and phone number and Sam's as well. :) You can e-mail it to the family frontiernet account. Thanks a bunch in advance!

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Damn You, West Nile!

I have truly lost my mind! We have a west nile problem here in Northern Cal and all the hype and media attention surrounding it has made me totally paranoid and crazy. Not that all of this hype is unwarranted. There's a lot of dead birds that have been found around the area that were infected with the virus. They have also found horses infected with west nile, and now farmers have to inoculate the horses as preventative measures. Horses! Why do horses have a vaccine and not humans? The problem has gotten so bad, that they are now doing aerial and ground spraying in the area to kill the adult mosquitoes. Anyway, with all of this going on I am convinced that I constantly have the west nile virus. Every mosquito bite or any insect bite that itches, it's west nile. Recently my neck hurt, so it must mean that I have meningitis from the west nile virus. I had a headache...west nile! My allergies were acting up which gave me a case of the itchies, but it has to be west nile, since a rash is one of the symptoms. Not that I had a rash, mind you, but I itched and therefore had the virus! It was hot out and I was having trouble breathing, but it wasn't my asthma...it's west nile! Yes, this is my sick and twisted train of thought lately. You know, I could stub my toe and still blame the west nile virus, because it caused me to walk funny in the first place in order for me to stub my toe! Every paranoid delusional thought that I have about the virus, I share with my husband and of course he laughs at me because I am being ridiculous. Last night I told him, "you know, one of these days I will REALLY have the west nile virus, and you'll be sorry!" I was only half joking, but what's that all about?! Am I really that paranoid and retarded that I have to actually dare the virus to infect me? And if I did ever get infected, would I think it was funny to say, "see I told you so"? So in an effort to solve my mosquito problem/paranoia, I picked up a keychain that emits a sound to drive away mosquitoes. The problem is that the sound that it emits is not only irritating to mosquitoes, but to EVERYONE! It makes an annoying "eeeeeeee" sound that is high pitched, but not exactly inaudible. I've only used it once because it's so irritating and has sat in my purse since. We have OFF bug sprays, but I'm not exactly thrilled with having chemicals on my skin almost 24/7. I bought some organic bug balm from the Co-op one of the last few times that we were there. It's easy to use where you just rub it on and smooth it in (says it's good for the skin), but it leaves you smelling like a citronella candle. Bleh! Not exactly an attractive scent! So now I'm back to square one, scratching, paranoid and wondering if it's because of the west nile virus. Hmm...is paranoia a symptom of the virus?

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Matcha Green Tea Blast!

I am so addicted to this! I swear I have atleast 3 of these a week! Mmm mmm good!

Thursday, August 04, 2005

To Have and to Hold

"Do you know what today is....it's our anniversary. It's our anniversary...."

Yes, today is our 9th year wedding anniversary. Nine years ago we were married by Bode Uale in a beautiful botanical garden in Hawaii and had a luau style reception complete with hula dancers courtesy of...oh my god I can't remember his name! How can I forget him? He was like the Hawaiian godfather of caterers that even invited us to one of his luaus in Waikiki so that we could sample the food, watch the entertainment and see what everything was like before having us commit to anything. I'll have to dig out our wedding pictures and see if looking at him jogs my memory. Anyway, that entire day went by so fast. Was it because of the day itself, sharing it with our family and friends or because of the white zinfandel I consumed the previous night and at the reception? Hmm... Regardless, it was beautiful and fun, and forever ours to cherish. We're celebrating as a family tonight and going out for dinner. I haven't decided between the Cheesecake Factory or the Elephant Bar yet. We also bought a 52" widescreen tv as our anniversary gift. WOO HOO! Can't wait to watch the world series on it! Ooh, or have movie nights! :)

Where does the time go? I was looking through some old pictures of the kids and amazed at how fast they've grown. My baby girl is now 5 and starting kindergarten at the end of next month! My son starts the 3rd grade and will be 8 in September! (sigh) It's so easy to take time for granted and get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. Sometimes you forget to breathe in each moment and savor every detail, and before you know it a lot of time has passed. I think I'm going to try to savor more and live in each moment as it comes.

Anyway, enjoy your day all! Enjoy life!

Monday, August 01, 2005

OH Hell to the NO!

My neighbor is a fucking nut! I'm in my bedroom when I hear these strange noises followed by "FUCK!" and some shouting coming from somewhere outside. At first I thought my back neighbor was working on his yard again or doing something with the fence and got hurt, so I rushed over to the window and didn't see anything. The noises continued so I went over to the side window where I saw my neighbor wielding an axe through the fence swinging it around at the bees and yelling at them because they're stinging him! I don't know whether he was just drunk, smoking crack, or what the hell was going on with him, but I stood there watching like it was a train wreck! At first it looked like he and his bar-fuck-now-live-in lady friend were having domestics because it looked like he was looking in the windows, holding the axe and trying to get her to let him in the house. Then he starts chasing bees around with it and yelling at them because they're stinging him in self defense! WTF! I wanted to go and get the camera so I could film him being an idiot (and have something to show the authorities should he become a threat to us), but somehow I couldn't step away from the window! HAHA Yes folks, that is trash at its finest!

The Sh*t Is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

I never leave home without my camera. After all, you never know what you may come across. Like this:


What I didn't get a picture of was his two friends on the opposite corner with a microphone, headset and video camera on a tripod. After I snapped the pic, he mimed to me that they were filming but I didn't care. I wasn't the foolio in the 97+ degree heat with the banana suit on just to see people's reactions. Does he realize that he is dressed more of like a penis that broke through a condom? I wonder if he managed to beg for enough money to pay for his dignity. HAHA