Dinner troubles

Tonight I made, what I thought, was a very good dinner. I am cleaning my oven so it had to be made stove top. I melted butter (sounds good already), sauteed onions, asparagus and eggs. Then I added ham and melted cheese on top. The healthiest things, no. Good for the soul, yes.
So I sit my children down to my concoction and what do I get, crying! Quinten immediately starts with his, "I hate asparagus". Gavin is always very complimentary, raving about how it smells so good and that he is going to want seconds.
We start eating. I took me, oh, 35 seconds to eat everything on my plate. I then try to help my kids eat their food. This was quite helpful, until we got to the vegetable. Quinten needed two spankings to even get him to try his one small piece of asparagus. Then, he "mistakenly" managed to have the asparagus fall out of his mouth. The dog ate it. I have never in my life dropped food out of my mouth. I would have got an ass whooping!! At that time I couldn't handle anymore. I sent Quinten to his room, where he grabbed him new Memory game and threw it all over his room. Yes folks, this one has a temper. I must have freaked Gavin out because he had two pieces of asparagus that had been eaten in record time. I'm glad I impacted one of my children.
So Quinten was ordered, yes ordered, to pick everything up on his bedroom floor and think about his attitude and problems he had at the dinner table.
After his time out I asked him why he got in trouble and he answered, "because I dropped the exparagus out of my mouth and Klyde ate it." I asked him if he dropped the food out of his mouth on purpose and he stated, "Yes". Then he recanted and said it was an "assidunt". Gotta love dinner time!

ARRRR

This year for Christmas I had a semi-theme for David. I have had themes for him in the past, like his Curt Cobain birthday a couple years back. So his year, he is wanting to be a muscle man, so I was nice and bought him a home gym.
The gym was one of those deals you get the day after Thanksgiving, and believe me it's no Boflex. So I bought this gym at Sears for $90, but it comes with weights and the bench. I also bought "The Perfect Push Up". You know the infomercial that looks completely ridiculous? Yea, that one. I bought it as a half way joke because David seems to think he can do 20 push ups in a row after being completely lame with his arms for the last 5 years. Sometimes he even gets a wild hair and tries to get me to do the same. I don't have a problem with not being able to lift my fat ass off the ground in push up position. God made legs to do that. Apparently, David thinks that I should be in as good of shape as when I was 25.
So I bought this push up deal at Rite Aid for $19.99. They didn't have it and I got a raincheck because it really was worth it to me. I checked at the store again before Christmas day to get it so it could be decorated and under the tree. They still didn't have it. So I gifted the raincheck to David to open on Christmas. He has no idea what it was so I had to spell it out for him.
Today, I went again to Rite Aid to pick up this wonderful gift for my husband. This time I was told that they are no longer selling this item and that it was "Seasonal". What? Are you kidding me? Do people only use the Perfect Push Up at Christmas time? Why wouldn't they still be selling it.
I am so irriated I want to call the store and talk to a manager. I have made several trips, wasting my gas to get this practical joke! So, I informed David of the outcome, which he really didn't make that big of a deal about. I guess he was scared that I would be able to do more push ups than him.......

Withdrawl

I have talked about addictions in the past, but I have found that I am going through withdrawls now. This isn't a serious one, so don't worry and call your friends to tell on me.
This morning I got up at about 8, since the kids had such a busy day yesterday, they really slept in. I made my coffee, looked on the computer and printed out some more certificates from Restaurants.com. I made the boy's breakfast and sat with them as they ate. As I did this, I found myself getting increasingly irritated and grumpy Then, all of a sudden, a headache came over me. Not a headache that I am used to either. This was a BAD headache. I am going through withdrawl people. Withdrawl from food.
I know this sounds ridiculous. But, after I had a small roll with a touch of butter, this headache went away a little. Not all of it. As I sit here and type, I am suffering.
I guess that my addiction has consequences. I am going to have to shrink my stomach, yet again, so I can get back into the 25 points allowed to me from the wonderful rules of Weight Watchers.
Now, don't look at me and laugh. Don't point and me and snicker to your friends. Definaltey don't bring it up to and be condesending. My problem is rooted deeper then you know. We all have our issues. Mine, for some reason, has physical consequences.

The big day

I was so excited Christmas morning I could barely contain myself. I was awake at 6:45, laying there. I woke David up and started talking about the day and what I couldn't wait for.
Finally, at 7:30-ish, the boys woke up. I could hear Gavin tell Quinten "Look at our stockings, they are full of candy!" That's when I was hoping they would come find us and not just dig into them. I hear footsteps running into our bedroom and Gavin yelling, "Momma, Santa came. There's a grip of presents under the tree". I wonder where he learned how to talk. So, we make our way into the living room and admire the presents that were under the tree. Their faces were adorable.
It was so exciting, in fact, that I didn't even put the coffee on! So after the boys were done, I told David it was our turn. He sat down, with his 10 presents, I sat down with my 3. He started in on how I didn't obey the rules, yada, yada, yada. Of course, I burst into tears, told him to take them back and locked myself in the bathroom. It didn't help with the girly stuff going on, but I really hate when people are ungrateful and it's not fair when someone puts that much effort into something. I was pissed off!
Then we headed to my parents for breakfast and more presents. When we got there, food was served and we had a really good meal. Then more presents! Every Christmas my parents deduct money from our truck payment, which they hold the loan for. It's quite helpful actually.
The boys stayed at Grandma's and David and I head home. I tell him to apologize because he was being rude and told him to change his bad attitude. He did. He told me nice things and won my heart over again. We went home and had our little Christmas, which he saw really wasn't that overboard, realizing that his presents weren't expensive, just packaged individually. We had a nice time.
We got the...I mean, Santa got the boys bunk beds for Christmas, which we found wasn't what we took home from Ikea. Santa must have delivered the wrong thing. He brought one single bed. We were able to put the dresser together, which took 2 hours!
I started making dinner for my parents and family, while David finished cleaning. We had a couple bottles of wine, some really good food and after my parents left, watched Alvin and the Chipmunks.
It started our as a crappy day, but turned out great. I love holidays, eating and lounging. I like receiving gifts, but love giving them. Today I look forward to my best friend and her family coming over and having Christmas with them. It just keeps getting better......

?

I'm not sure what to write,
I'm not sure what to say,
I wish I could say this will be a good day.

I look around and see a mess,
I wonder why there is all this stress?

It's Christmas time and I am thinking,
with all these things , I should be shrinking.
Life is far too short to worry,
but I feel like I am always in a hurry.

I hope things look up for me,
for a pile of things is all I see.
May the day bring laughter and smiles,
so my family and I can enjoy this season for miles!

Prep for Christmas

If you read my blog regularly, you know how much I love this time of the year. But this year is different. I got into it, but not really. There were several things missing, so to speak.
I didn't have a baking/tamale day with Audrey. I didn't have beautiful icicle lights on my house-instead we invested in the energy saving ones that David wanted. I didn't have a lot of room in my living room for all my decorations. I have a fireplace that doesn't allow for the "stockings hung by the chimney with care".
I guess I need to look at the positive. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that Christmas is right around the corner and still feel like I haven't done the necessary things that are required before the day comes. I usually love to bake and lock myself in the kitchen to take care of stress and to feed my need for sugar, but I really didn't this year after getting my first electric bill with my electric range-yikes. I missed the Visalia parade that I loved going to, except last year when David chose to sit by people from Farmersville that he had arrested and that had obvious criminal backgrounds.
What I do love, is that the boys acknowledge that Christmas is Jesus birthday and the fact that Gavin wants to write about it in his kindergarten class. I love that they ask when Santa is coming-everyday! I love making care packages for Gavin's classroom and giving treats to the teachers. These things I love. I guess Christmas isn't for us, it's for the kids. It's passed down from the generations. I wonder when I am gonna want to give it up. I guess Linda was right, I am spoiled.

Things that go "boom" in the night

So I am a big sissy. I get freaked out with noises at night. Primarily I am alone every night when bedtime comes around, but it isn't easy for me to go to sleep. Especially being in this new house. The noises are different and I don't have anyone around here who is friendly enough to go to if something happened.
Every night I watch TV in bed and listen. I try to watch TV until my eyes have a really hard time staying open. I turn the TV off and pull my covers up. Then I seem to wake up. I lay on my pillow with my eyes wide open, listening.
Many years ago, I would wake up in the middle of the night and hear noises and wake up David to go check to see where the noise was coming from. He would sit up in bed, look at me and tell me to do it. He reminded me that I was a police officer and should be able to go check around our little apartment. I would tell him no and make him do it anyway.
Things were okay in Visalia because I lived in a cul-de-sac and everyone knew each other. I felt safe. I knew the cops there and felt comfortable, except when the neighbors had their college parties, but that doesn't have anything to do with being scared, only pissed off.
So David, on his days off, want to be able to put the boys to sleep and hang out together. You know, watch and movie and all the other "married" people stuff. Truth is, I am so tired that when he is home, my head hits the pillow and I am out. I am like a dead person. There is no waking me up. So David is stuck watching his romance movies he puts on for us, like Hitman or Alien vs Predator (yea, I know-way to get me in the mood David) by himself and I am asleep in a moments time.
So regardless how many guns you have in the house and how your yapper dog should keep you feeling secure. The only real security is a 160 pound man laying in bed next to you. So today I will get a good night sleep, so hit me up tomorrow because I will be full of energy!

Sunday morning

For some reason I was really exited about church today. I laid all my clothes out the night before and set my alarm to make sure that I got to the first service on time.
I sat in the front because my Mom was singing in the choir and my Dad was a shepard in the performance.
During one of the songs that the congregation sang, Quinten grabbed my butt and said, "Your booty is hangin' out". With little boys you just can't be too sure so I told him to keep his hand to himself and to stop touching my rear end.
After church was over, we went into the family center for donuts. The boys grabbed their donut and sat down and my Mom approached me. She said, "Melissa, did you know you have a huge hole in the back of your pants?". Come again? I know I wasn't just standing in the front row of church, so everyone was behind me with my ass sticking out!! I made my way to the wall, to cover up this unfortunate sight. I felt it and sure enough I had a huge hole in my pants, right by the pocket.
For the first time, in about three years, I was actually wearing a shirt that came to the waist and a crop type jacket. There was no covering my hole.
I buttoned my jacket around my waist and wore it as a skirt, as I ran to the car. I took the pants back to the Rack, where they exchanged them for me.
You know I have done a lot of things in my life to get a rise out of people, but none have been indecent exposure type things. I will have to make a point, even though it isn't the happiest sight, to look at my butt before I leave the house.

Visalia Day

Today was Audrey's birthday so I wanted to go to Visalia to see her and to see David's parents, who the boys hadn't seen for about 3 weeks.
I woke up at 8 this morning, but I get off to a slow start, especially since it's Saturday. I called Audrey and made sure she would be home so I could go see her. Then I called David's Mom to make sure they would be home also.
So I got in the car at 11:30. I got to the Lomeli's at about 12:30, which was because I was stuck behind a motorcycle gang of 50 motorcyles going 65 in the fast lane. That bugs me so bad, if you are traveling slower then the speed limit, get in the slow lane you retard!
I dropped the boys off and was on my way to Audrey's. She wasn't ready and Mike wasn't home to watch the kids. After everything was said and done, we ate lunch at 3. It was very much worth it. We went to Strings, my favorite Italian restaurant. It's amazing how much I can eat at one time. I got her a couple packs of utensils for a present, which I am glad she didn't take offence to. Every time I have eaten at Audrey's there never seems to be enough forks or knives, or whatever. This way everyone can match and there isn't any rust!
We went back to Audrey's and hung out. Got the kids ice cream cones and laughed at how messy they got in 10 minutes.
I left Audrey's and headed to Sonja and Cindi's. Apparently Sonja had got in an argument with her son before I got there and was locked up in her room. I sat and talked to Cindi and the boys played with Zach and Zoe for about half an hour.
Finally, it was time to head home at 6:30. We got on the freeway and the boys slept. They had a very exciting day. First thing Gavin asked when we got home. "When can we do that again?". Poor thing, he misses his little friends and I guess I miss mine too.

Today

I had the greatest day today!! I got up, yada, yada, yada-the normal things, coffee, etc. I text messaged my friend Aiesha and told her that I was definitely going to Macy's today. She wrote back and said she wanted to do lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. That sounded good to me. So at noon we met up and talked over all you can eat food! Can't go wrong with that, huh?
After lunch I hit Macy's. Got a couple really cute pairs of shoes. By the way it's Macy's Friends and Family sale right now, which means they give you 20% off your purchase, and the clearance shoes were 20% off already-pretty good deal...... Then I stopped by the MAC counter and purchased some eye products. I have really been into eye make up these days.
Got home, talked to David for 20 minutes. He went to work, I went to get Gavin from school. I brought him home and they cleaned up their playroom and room so they could get a "treat". The treat was going to the movie Bolt. We got there and saw the movie, which in my opinion was kinda boring. I could have seriously fallen asleep in the theatre.
We then went to sushi and had Gavin's favorite miso soup. Then we drove to Clovis and drove around the neighborhood at Alluvial and Willow. It was way better then Christmas tree lane. It is a whole subdivision that is decorated and it was beautiful. We blasted the heater and opened the windows and pointed at all the cool stuff. The boys loved it. They had horse drawn carriages and lots of families walking around. I really wan to walk it with David and a hot Starbucks!
Then, lastly, we came home and ate the rest of Gavin's gingerbread house that he made at school. It was a wonderful day. What can be better then hanging out, shopping and going on a date with two adorable little boys! I hope I have a lot more days like these.

Birthday

So, it was my birthday yesterday. I was expecting, as I always do, a parade in my honor, a television broadcast and all the hoopla letting everyone know that I am the queen. It didn't happen, if you were wondering. I go up with the kids, while my wonderful husband slept in. I made myself a pumpkin pie latte, read the newspaper, and watched some TV with the kids. David woke up after awhile and came to bless our little family with his lazy presence.
After a bit David told me that I needed to go talk to Gavin about his mis-behaving. I walked into the playroom and Gavin and Quinten were sitting by their table yelling "Happy Birthday!". They had a present on their table which they told me to open.
I opened the present to find a waffle maker. I asked for this gift, but knew that it was a hint also. I didn't give in.
We sat down and ate. They ate cereal, I had French toast-Yum!! We got ready, David took Gavin to school and I cleaned the house because we were having company for dinner.
We basically didn't do anything all day. I sat around the house, bored. David helped clean, but not be nice. To make sure that is friends didn't think we were slobs. As a stay at home Mom and keeper of the house, I tried not to take offence to this.
As a family we picked up Gavin and went to Chapala Grill for lunch/snack, since none of us had lunch. It was really good by the way. When we got home, David told me to open a compartment in the car to "get something". When I opened it, I found a small box. Inside the box was a pair of small diamond earrings. They were just what I wanted. Hence the "wonderful husband" title that he received earlier.
We got home, got the BBQ heated up and I started making dinner. We had tri-tip, potato skins and asparagus. It was super good. I was very impressed with myself. I had a couple bottles of wine ready, but they don't drink wine, or beer for that matter. Don't get me wrong, overdoing it isn't a good thing. But when you are me, a glass (or two) of wine at dinner with strangers is much needed. So I went about dinner being completely sober. Yikes.
It was a long evening. The boys were high maintenance, which is out of character, but okay in this situation. David talked "shop talk" and every so often I put in my two cents, but I just wasn't on my game. In fact, I wasn't even on the field. I was standing outside with my bottled water.
I have to be honest. My favorite part of the night was when David and I crawled into bed and watched Ghost Hunters. It was just us. That was the best gift all day!

Special Surprise?

I wanted to do something nice for David today for some reason. So what as my choice? Painting the bathroom. I have wanted to paint the bathroom for the longest, but David tells me, "No, not today", blah, blah, blah.
This morning I taped it all off, which I thought would be the hard part. David even went into the bathroom and didn't even notice. How do you not see blue tape against white walls? Anyway, after he left for work, I started. I grabbed a brown color from the cupboard that we used for the laundry room. I wanted a really dark brown, but I didn't feel like running to Lowe's, so this would do.
So I painted while the boys sat and watched Jim Carrey's 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. Quinten has been under the weather lately so I didn't want him to go overboard. Laying around was perfect for him.
I finished half the bathroom and came to realize that there wasn't gonna be enough paint to finish. I painted the trim and the large walls, but didn't get to the wall behind the bathtub or the high parts, like behind the cabinet.
So I guess I surprised him in the fact that he will have to redo my surprise. He will love that! The fact that we are having company on Wednesday, is even better. This way I know it will really be a priority. So, surprise David, you got work to do......

Easy?

So, while at Ikea, I got some curtains for our bedroom. They were cheap, like $20 and they were brownish so I thought I would give them a shot. I wanted to make the bedroom darker for David to sleep and yes, it would have been nice of me to put these curtains up in the summer when it's bright outside, but let's focus here! My friend who was with us, said they were really easy to do, so I got 'um.
Today, I decided to put them up. I got them out of the rapper, but that was the easiest part of this story. I ironed them, following the directions. As I did this, I noticed that the material of the curtains is linen. Whoever has dealt with linen knows that ironing is a waste of time.
I measured and cut and ironed the double sided tape on. The bad part? There was only enough tape for one of the layers. So one of layers is hanging there, looking completely lame.
So I haul out the sewing basket to look for something to help me out. Nothing. I slaved over what to do with my retarded curtains.
Finally I decided to just sew the freaking things. I got out the sewing machine, which was covered with a nasty layer of dust, and prepped it for this project. I didn't change the bobbin because I am lazy, so the top layer is white and the bottom, black.
I finally got those bad boys up. They look awkward at best, but they serve their purpose. Maybe the sight of them will encourage me to decorate the room!

Trip

On Saturday, David and I went to San Fransisco Saturday for the weekend. We left around 11, partly because it was really foggy and partly because David didn't get home until about 5am. We left and I was unusually clam, which normally isn't me. We stopped at Starbucks, my favorite for a road trip, stopped at the bank and on the road we went. I drove to Los Banos because David was still waking up and didn't want to drive before he was wide awake. I woke him up alright. He hates it when I drive.
We stopped in Los Banos at Jack in the Box, where we met up with our friends Matt and Jenn. They live in the bay and were on their way back from Fresno. We ate and visited for a few and off we went to San Fransisco.
We got there in pretty good time. We stayed at the Hilton, at Union Square. It was nice until they told us that parking was $50 a night. We got to our room and looked outside to see a parking garage outside for $25 a night! Whatever.
We quickly got out of the room and went to Union Square. I really wanted to ride the cable car, but for some reason David was not about the cable cars. We went to Macy's to find that they had crappy sales just like Fresno. We went to Guess, Bloomingdales and walked around. Matt and Jenn met up with us and we rode the R train to the wharf. We ate there and David had his first experience with scotch. We are not the scotch types so as much as David liked it, it isn't gonna be under the tree for Christmas.
Sunday we got up and drove to Alameda, where Matt and Jenn live. We saw their house and went to breakfast at a chicken and waffle place. I took my picture with Barack Obama, who apparently lived at this particular restaurant.
Then we went to Ikea, where we bought the boys a bunk bed and dresser for Christmas. We managed to spend $700 there. That is always nice, huh?
On the way home, I talked David into stopping at the Coach outlet. Normally I am all about Dooney and Burke, but since all the rich people carry Coach, I wanted one. We found that everyone felt like this because there was a line outside. They were only letting a a dozen or so people in at a time. I found a purse and wallet. They will be my Christmas gift. I love it. David thinks it is too big, but I say you gotta have a purse the same size as your ass.
So we got home around 8pm because we found it was extremely foggy on the 152 and there were two accidents on 99 that kept the traffic at a little more then a stand still.
We had a great time. I always love to have time with David to reconnect and talk in a quiet atmosphere. I am so glad that I have him in my life. He is and always will be my favorite!

Red Door China Bistro

So, since I really love food, I talked David into trying something new. He hates new, but I guess I was pretty convincing because he said yes.
We went to The Red Door China Bistro at Friant and Fort Washington. We had received a mailer last week or something and it looked really good and I was sure that it was worth our time and money.
I got there and the outside looked really neat. The fountains were flowing and the water was illuminated with colored lights changing through all different shades. The outside dining area was beautifully decorated with, what else, an Asian theme. We didn't eat outside, it's to freaking cold, but would have if the weather permitted.
I walked inside and they have a nicely stocked bar to the left, where there were several men flirting with the female bartender.
I waited there to be greeted and waited some more. It took about 5 minutes before I was acknowledged. I must look homeless or poor because this happens to me fairly often. Anyway, there aren't a lot of people there so it made me a little nervous.
We sat down and were greeted by our server. She was about the sweetest little thing I have ever encountered. She was on top of it.
They give you a salad as an appetizer. Just like Mexican food you get chips and salsa. I have never been given salad at Chinese, but I gave it a shot and it was great. They had small chunks of deep fried chicken on a bed of lettuce with tomatoes and a gingery salad dressing. Yum, I ate the whole damn thing. David then decided to try it and agreed that it was good.
We ordered David's stand by: broccoli beef, my favorite: double pan fried noodles and the free entree (with our coupon) kung pao chicken. Let's just say this, it was better then P.F. Changs. David told the chef, who had come out to talk to the customers, that this was his new favorite resturaunt. That is huge coming from my picky husband.
Now mind you, had our kids been on their best behavior, we would have had a better time, but oh well. They were crawling on the sofa's and using thier "play voices". I had enough by the time it was over, but since the food was so good, it made up for the devil's we had sitting with us.
So, if you are over in the area, go to this place. It would be a great date place. It's got a good wine selection, bar and the food is great!!