Princesses abound

Okay - - LAST BLOG about our trip to Disney. We are all bored with it... admit it. The whole happy family thing is so cliche.

Anyhoo... what must be told is out Character dinner with the Disney Princesses. This was the culmination of all of Sara's life goals and dreams... eating dinner and hanging out with all of the Superstars of her life. Literally. We again went to an early meal and had the whole place practically to ourselves.


Sara was adorable. We met Mulan, Arial, Belle, Fairy Godmother (again) and Snow White.

Sara asked Mulan where that silly little dragon was. Mulan told her hes home guarding the palace.

She asked Ariel what it was like to swim in the ocean. Ariel got down on Sara's level and talked with her for about 5 minutes - - talking all about flipping and swimming. Sara's face was lit up. Ariel also talked with Rikki abour being a redhead like her, and proceeded to name all of the Disney redhead. Very cute.

She flipped out when she saw her favorite though... Belle. She was beautiful.
She also stayed and talked with Sara for quite some time.

Cutest thing Sara said? Just like the commercials about 5 years back she looked up at Belle and said "I've been waiting to meet you my WHOLE LIFE".

Snow White was darling and talked just like she did in the movie. It was a trip-- All high pitched and giggly. Monty's eyes lit up... He loves Snow White.

Thats about it. It was fun for the kiddos. It was fun for us.

Another thing that must be told. We made it from the back of Disneyland to the middle of California Adventure in 8 minutes flat to ride the ride "California Soarin'". We literally ran up to the fastpass guy and handed him our tix as he was looking at his watch. We had 30 seconds to spare and out lungs were about to explode. It was totally worth it.

This concludes to Disneyworld blogging...

Surrounded by Disney Characters

We took the girls to the Minnie and Friends breakfast at Disneyland. We made our reservations for 9am when the park opened. I did this so that we could get in 30 minutes early... what I didnt know was that we would be the first (and only) guests at breakfast for a good 30 minutes! I could not believe it. Sara had begged to get in the looooooong lines to meet the characters in the park and I kept telling her to just hang on until we ate with them the next day. Well, my girls were the only ones there so she had ALL the characters to herself. She was literally playing with all the characters! They were all hers. Amber and Rik had fun too - - but this was Sara's moment. Minnie, Chip and Dale, Captain Hook, Wendy, the fairy Godmother Goofy, Pooh, Tigger and more... Sara was overwhelmed - - and overjoyed.





It was one of those moments for me guys...

I gave my daughter something that most 5-6 year old kids dream of.

Sara truly believes in the magic of Disney.

Just like her Momma.

Disneyland

I just realized... I never told you guys about our 2 day adventure in Disneyland!
We went to land the first day and California Adventure the second.
Highlights were...

The girls LOVED Disneyland. We had an excellent time. Amber loved the Indiana Jones Adventure ride. We practically had to sneak Sara through because she was one inch shorter than the ride minimum. We had her hide between Rikki and myself. Rikki's favorite ride was Buzz Lightyears Astroblasters. She had the second lowest score of us all but she loved it nonetheless. Highest astroblaster score?? The MOMMA! Sara loved (and I mean LOVED) Space Mountain. She was hootin' and hollerin' and laughing through the whole thing. I was proud of my 6 year old. They redid Space Mountain last year so it was veeeery cool, and not so bumpy.

My fave ride? Always will be Pirates of the Carribean. Love, love, love it.

Monty loves the Materhorn. He remembers not being able to ride it when he was there last because he was too short... :(

We ate at Blue Bayou which is inside the building that houses the Pirates ride. It's like you are on the pation of a plaintation on the bayou, complete with fireflies. Sara really believes that it was outside and it was dark - - and she (truly) believes that Tinkerbell made it dark in there. I love this age - - where magic still exists.

I will tell you about the character breakfast tomorrow.

Categorizing the AI Men...

Do I sound "eat up" or what? I really do have a life beyond American Idol...LOL

Just for funseys though I have to give you my lowdown on the guys in this competition.
**Let me just say these are my OPIONONS only. I'm just having fun and hope I don't offend anyone on their choices***
Disclaimer inserted... lets move on. ;)

First off, the guy to beat in this season is


Chris Daughtry.

I am a rock girl. Love to see and hear the rock stars that make my heart flutter. Chris is already there. I can close my eyes and swear I hear him on the radio already! Last nights performance wasnt awesome but it was strong... he's sailing right into the top 12.

The other strong guys in this competiton are
Elliot, Ace and Gedeon.
Elliot really has the strongest voice of all the men, but daaaaaang, he's ugly to look at. He also has the "being 95% deaf in one ear" angle going on for him.
Ace. Well... Ace is really pretty to look at, but his falsetto gets on my nerves. (refer to the Joys a rock girl comment above). It's hard for me to listen to him. I will say thathis falsetto is strong and he at least uses it well. His lower register is awesome. I wish he'd use it more.
Gedeon has a niche that he's comfortable in. He uses it well and his voice is strong.

The so-so's are Taylor (gray hair) and Bucky (why the name?)
What was with Taylor's "wind-up dance" he did last night? It hurt!!!
Bucky blinks incessantly. Last week he kicked some country badonkeydonk singing Garth. This week? Eehhhh. It totally cracks me up that he has a twin brother... geez, more than one Bucky?

Gotta GO???
WILL and KEVIN.
Will, bless his heart, is a good little singer, but not a star. His perfect job would be at Disney World. Seriously... he'd do great there!
Kevin, for a 16 year old, is a strong singer - - but goofy as heck to look at and painful to watch. Also, he's not mastered his lisp when singing. I went through years of training to get rid of my lisp... LOL

My predictions?
As long as they don't completly screw up the mens competition is between CHRIS AND ELLIOT.

Alright... have at me people. LOL

AMERICAN IDOL CHATTER

Okay, last night did not suck! I was not threatening to change the channel for once. I was quite bored with Randy, Paula and Simon though. They were so nicey, nicey! What, did Simon get lucky yesterday afternoon before the show? It really makes a girl wonder when he actually told Kelly Picklehead that she did well... PUHLEEZE tell me this will not be just a popularity contest. So - she's cute. So what?

Guys... she was B-O-R-I-N-G. Blah... More blonde straw hair in the face attitude -same mediocre voice and song choice. Maybe Simon was so sweet to Pickle-head because... wait - - this is a rated PG blog.

Divalicious singer of the night??

MANDISA.

Could it be possible that we have found someone who sings Chaka Kahn BETTER than Kahn herself? It's possible.

And what is up with the chicky that HAS to show that little triangle of belly through ALL her shirts... every week... every song... it's getting old.

Funniest comment of the night? Simon told Picklehead that she was actually acting like a little Minx tonight and she said (insert southern white trash drawl) "Wow, I'm a MINK?" The judges dissolved into laughter at the pitiful ditziness of the poor girl. "No, MINX... huge difference"

I really hope the guys do well tonight. And I hope Simon is back to his old cantankerous self. Otherwise... whats the fun in it?

Vacation in La-La Land - Part duex

I've had several people ask for details of our vacation. Let me say I'm sorry first. I have not sat down to blog much because I came home and got sick - - yeeeee-haw. I have decided that I will do smaller blogs about each portion of the trip.

You have already heard about our trip to the beach. (see other post) It was so fun. What you didnt hear about is the car rental fiasco. That will be a whole other blog dearies. You know I won't let the chance go by to rant about that.

So after we spent half the day at the beach we took the kids on up into LA. They were more interested in all the grafitti and razorwire surrounding all things motionless. Sara couldn ot understand. I felt like I needed a bath after it all.

We took then to the tourist spots of Hollywood. Of course, Gromans Chinese Theater was at the top of the list. I warned the girls of the freak-show that may occur there. Sure enough the wierdos were there in force. A guy dressed up like a demon was there as well as a very aged Marilyn Monroe and Elvis. Fat, Vegas years Elvis. Niiice. "Marilyn" had several yippity little dogs with her. I'm not so sure as to why.

We proceeded around all the cement squares where stars have left their mark. Sara kept saying "this place creeps me out Mommy". I could not figure out why so I take her to see Julie Andrews square and explain that these were the hands of Mary Poppins! Wow is what I expected. A shocked smirk is what I got. Okay, fine kiddo, not easily impressed, huh? I took her to see C-3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars. She was still yucked out. Same with Shirley Temple, who is beloved at our house. The 6 yr old was determined not to be excited. So I pulled out the big guns and showed her Donald Ducks square. Her eyes were huge as she examined the large webbed duck feet. "Finally!" I thought. She then turns to me and says "Mom, can we go?"

Geez.

Fast forward two day. We were at a character breakfast with Minnie Mouse and all her friends. Sara is chewing on her Micky Mouse shaped waffles and looks at me solemnly and says "It sure is a shame about that Donald Duck". now, mind you - - we have seen many a Disney character by now. I had NO IDEA what she was talking about... So I take the bait. "Honey, what are you talking about?" "You know, that he's DEAD"

WHAT?

"Babydoll, Donald Duck is not dead. Why would you think Donald is dead?"

"Because - - you know Mommy - -his feet" Yeaaaaaaah, I still have no clue. She then says "You know - at the funeral home we were at with the feet."

Click! OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH. "You mean the Chinese Theater!!! Honey he was not BURIED there! That was not a cemetary! Thats where they left their mark."

"Ooooooooh" she says. The instant look of relief smears all over her face. Then she says "Kind of like the grafitti?"

How do I explain to my daughter the difference when I have been telling them how aweful it was that people would spray grafitti on things that were not theirs.

Anyhoo, other things that happened that night? They did not turn the lights on around the freakin Hollywood sign. HELLO? Who's the schmuck that's supposed to flip that light switch? I was really sad that my girls did not get to see it all lit up.

We also saw a real, live movie premier, complete with the red carpet, paparazzi and bling a plenty. It's for a comedy called "Seat Fillers". I know nothing about it, but we saw 2 stars that we knew of - Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child and Jada Pinkett-Smith. We walked around the Kodak theater where they were already getting ready for the Oscar's, which was cool. Overall, it was a fun evening.

Next vacation blog entry? Disneyland, day one.

An open letter to those who vote on American Idol

America...

WHY did you vote for Chicken Little?? He's a goofy little booger, and the only reason why he's there is because he freaking looks like such a Napolean Dynamite reject. People, he actually sang "I heard it through the grapevine" and he did not do it well.

Come on...

This concludes my rant for the night... Please resume regular programming.

WHY GOD, WHY?

Why the backtracking? Lately, Jin always tries to put a new pullup on after she goes potty. I have laid down the big girl panties rule - - no more pullups. She cries and cries - - and a week and a half ago we were in big girl panty heaven. I guess I have to get rid of the emergency pullups. Dang-it.

All of a sudden she is begging for "baa-baa's" as well. 3 1/2 and she wants a bottle.
And the word "no" sends her into a deluge of tears. I have done the trick of redirecting until I am blue in the face. It's. Not. working.
Baby is killin' me.

Do you think it's because we were gone for 5 days and she stayed at her grandma's?

(the picture is totally unrelated, however, this is the look I get when I tell her "NO")

I've been googled.

A friend of mine emailed me with this link. She googled me - - why? I don't really know. I did not even ask! This was so long ago. Am I forever imortalized? I fugyred they would take this off the website...

And could my hair be any worse? Geez.

Enjoy the flashback...

http://newsok.com/gimmethemike

American Idol comments

I have to admit - - tonight was the first time I have sat down to see American Idol this season.

That being said...

Is cutesy Miss Pickler's brain pickled? She's giving us plenty to "Talk about"

My best friend says she's adorable. "She was raised on a farm... her grandpa raised her cause her mom died and daddy's in jail." I have 4 words for that...

EVERYONE HAS AN ANGLE.

Especially on that show! Don't believe it all America! There is a reason they have such high ratings!


I say - - whatever... it's totally an angle she's working. Yeah, she may have grew up out in the middle of nowhere, but unless she's amish, I guarantee that she still grew up going to the mall every weekend with her buddies, singing Mmmm-bop and wanting to be Brittney Spears. For someone so "sheltered and naive" she sure looks an aweful lot like a California Barbie doll. Trust me, I saw plenty of them this last week. She's better really show up in the next few weeks. The thing that ticks me off is that shes so cutesy-cutesy that she will stick around for a while. At least cutesy Carrie Underoo's could wail... and she took the show. No, I really am a Underwood fan - - even if I liked Bo more consistantly.

Who has the most talent of all the women??
MANDISA. She was awesome - - even if her song was kind of strange for her.

Who's faking till she makes it?
Paris. Now she's cute... but geez, could you pick a more boring song? She needs help - - she could be awesome!

side note - -
Monty laughs at me because I totally agree with Simon Cowell. I say it and then he says it - - sometimes verbatim. I just lack the accent.


Just dont forget guys... ultimately, it's Simon who picks the winner. Don't let them fool ya.

Sheeeeeeeeee's Baaaaack!

I typed out a new blog, highlighting a few parts of our trip, hit publish and LOST THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' THING!

Can I cry now?

Our first day we drove down to Laguna Beach, my FAVE Southern Cali beach. The weather was perfect... There is so much to tell...

I will have to do more tomorrow. I am SOOOO tired and SOOOO pissed about the blogloss that took place... LOL


Here is a few pics from Laguna Beach. It was such a pretty day, and the beach was almost empty. It was a perfect "first beach" experience for the girls. I think they are hooked.







Favorite souvenir that I had to drag home?

The Wal-mart sack FULL of seashells that Sara Bear lovingly sought out on the beach. They all look the same... but not to her. She was hilarious.

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears...

So Joy, you've gotten into an incredible fight with your husband today, made up, lost your keys - never to be found, and did not pack until 10:30 tonight...

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NEXT??

"I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!"
_______________________________________

Off we go to Disneyland! See you on Monday!

Oh, and dont try to come over and raid the fridge... my Dad is house sitting for us while we are gone! :)

SNOW DAY BLOWS!

***UPDATE***
THE HOUSE IS SPOTLESS, THE BAGS ARE PACKED AND DINNER IS COOKING. MOMMA IS PRAYING FOR SCHOOL TO BE BACK IN TOMORROW THOUGH...

Do you remember the night before a snow day when we were kids? We would get to stay up until the 10 pm news and watch the little ticker at the bottom of the screen to see if our mean ole Principle closed school.

No do you remember how excited we were when your school was on the list of closings?

I remember jumping around and doing a little happy dance. I remember my Mom, on the other hand, groaning and rolling her eyes.

Forward to today, I stumble out of my bedroom - - head straight to the microwave where Monty has put my tea, and turn around to see my cheeky little newbie teenager staring at me. My eyes proceed to pop out of my head. My mind was reeling - - I was thinking "oooh she missed the bus, her Dad'll kill her now!" She saw the eye popping action and proceeds to quickly tell me that school is closed today because of the ice before I go to screaming... No school - - snow day. Parents, take a moment to let the full meaning of this statement sink in. No school - - snow day.

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? It's not bad outside! Freaking Wussies at the school! Why - - when I was in school it had to be terrible - - no electricity and no heat bad, for the school to close down. Don't believe me? Ask Ali at http://www.alisblog1.blogspot.com or Tracy at http://tracyfreeman.blogspot.com . We all went to school together. They can comiserate with me. Things were different back then. (Does this sound familier? Do you remember your parents sayign hte SAME things?)

Okay, okay, enough grinching about snow day.

Here is the great part. I assume that my children think that since they did not have to go to school today that they will get to sit around and do nothing but make a mess of the house...

Muaaaa aaahh ahhh ahhhha ahhhh... (evil laugh)

We are going to have a shiny house today!!!

Let the cleaning BEGIN!!!

CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!

ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!

We are leaving for vacation in T minus 3 days and guess what...

MY CHILDREN ARE DRIVING ME C-R-A-Z-Y!

Do you love me? Do ya? Do ya?
Then say a prayer for me. I am about to embark on a trip to Disneyland with very hyper and excited girls. Geez, I am about Disney Princessed out and yet I am about to go have a dining experience with a whole slew of them. I'll be puking chiffon and satin.

(Those of you who know me know that I can't wait and that I totally dig Disney, but the kiddos are driving me berzerk)


LOL, you know what else is funny? My kids don't even know what the phrase "Calgon take me away" means. I guess it goes up on the commercial slogan shelf with "Wheres the beef?" and "HELP! I've fallen and I can't get up".

I've gotta go paint my toes - -

ATTENTION! AMBER AUDREY KETCH IS A TEENAGER!

As of today, my Meemer Sue is a big, bad teenager ladies and gentlemen...

More to come on that topic tomorrow...

Valentine's Blather

Okay, okay!
I've had three people email me asking about Valentine's!
Geez oh, Pete. I was even accused by a dear friend whom I shall not name (Tracy) that I am part of one of the sappiest married couples she know. Wow... I guess so!
LOL
I would much rather be the sappiest than the unhappiest...

Some of you can remember when that was a reality in my life.

Soooo, VD.

I didn't get roses, or any flowers for that matter. My husband didn't take me to dinner.
We had Goulash for dinner at home... with the kids... that I had to cook.

-----

So are you wondering where i buried my husband??? How did I manage to get the blood stains off my shirt?

YA DON"T HAVE TO WONDER!

I got diamonds. Lots of them.
You see, I have a theory.
A man cannot go wrong with diamonds. He just can't!
It certainly was not a very expensive gift. We are not talking solitares and lots of carats. But neverless a nice ring.
One that reminds me of a family heirloom that got stolen several years back. Not gawdy... just perfect.

Well, you judge for yourself.


This guy is the best. He know me better than anyone. And he knows just what to do to make me smile...

Gimpy Jin

Today as we were walking out of church our youngest daughter Jin fell and scraped her knee. A total drama-fest began at that moment. It was... oh, I dunno - 40 below outside and there were, like... 125 mph straight line winds (I dont know where she gets this flair for the dramatic.) Anyway, her shoe fell off at which point she had only 1 useable foot so over she fell!

The wind was so bad and it was so cold that I scooped her up and ran (in boots with 2 1/2 inch heels)to the van. I grab the baby wipes that were in the car only to find that they were FROZEN. I warm it up in my hand and clean off the dirt and blood while my husbands cell phone is ringing, the girls are arguing, Sara is asking me 10 questions and Jin is screaming bloody murder. Both sliding doors are open, making the van a virtual wind tunnel and I scream at everyone to sit down and shut up. This is ALL in the church parking lot...

I remembered that I had some antibiotic ointment in the diaperbag that I keep in the van for emergencies. So I go digging while Jin is accessing the deepest recesses of her vocal ability and people are staring at me in the lot. I guess they thought I was a baby beater. I find the ointment and guess what??? FROZEN. It took 2 minutes to thaw it enough to use it on her knee.

The screaming ensues...

She cried all the way to the hospital to see Monty's dad, freaked out when we got there because she thought we took her there for her knee and cried all the way through the freaking visit with Tom. We left the hospital early due to Princess Moodiness and her pity party and went to eat. She perked up and was happy for a while but when we got home, this 3 year old got on the couch and stayed there for about 2 more hours. Now, she is limping around the house like she broke it. This picture looks funny, but trust me, it's not broke people. It's hilarious. It is barely scraped and only a very little blood came out. While we were at the hospital I put some bandages on it. Poor little gimp.

It's very offical looking.

I am so glad I have girls. They really are the best. Drama and all...

I THINK WE ARE ALMOST THERE!

It was awefully quiet all of a sudden this morning. I could not find my Jinny Jin so I began to look for her. I walked into my bathroom to find her sitting on the potty. She did not say a thing - - just went! Stupidly, I asked "whatcha doin'?", Like it was not obvious... She said , "uh, Mommy, me poopy potty". Its getting better each day.

PRAISE THE POTTY GODS! I THINK WE ARE FINALLY TRAINED!

You have no idea how relieved I am about this. This child of mine was the most stubborn booger-face about potty training. Seriously, you have no idea! i know we may have a few accidents here and there, but we are over the hump.

Yeaaaah! Happy Friday!

Whatcha been doing Joy?

Oh, thanks for asking!

I've been sitting at the hospital.

For days.

Here's the story.

You see, my father-in-law Tom got a combo pacemaker/defibulator put in (his 2nd) before Christmas. He went back out of California for work and noticed that his skin was red and puffy around the incision. Withouth being totally gross I will skip to the part where he had to get an emergency flight home and go straight tot he hospital for them to remove the pacemaker/defib.

They went in through the original incision to remove it - - no problem, right? WRONG.
As they were removing the leads from his heart, one of them would not budge. And they did not want to tug obviously, because what would be worse would be to tear the heart.

Cue the open heart surgeon.

For one little lead, he had to completly crack him open... Awful.
The one little lead was infected. Badly. Thank God they decided to open him up.

My teenage daughters have been a flutter of tears. Especially Rikki, who is so sensitive and worrisome. She was so scared for her Pappy. Monty had to take her up there at 8 am the day of the surgery for Pappy to reassure her that he was going to be okay.
He is recovering nicely now in the hospital.
Thank God.

The funny thing is, he and I have always been "civil" with each other but thats it. He didnt like me for years 2-4 of my marriage to his son, and I really didnt like him for not liking me. He wanted Monty to date (and hopefully marry) a girl he went to highschool with named Lisa. He even called me Lisa from time to time. Are you wondering why I didnt like him? Wondering why I didn't smack him?
But he has mellowed over the years. He's more laid back and I think he realizes that I am here to stay after 11 years with his son. Well, I don't know if it's because I provided 4 of his grandchildren, or what but he has changed toward me. He actually is sweet to me and compliments me. He will even introduce me to people as his daughter-in-law... huge change. He even told me the other day that he thought I was the best of all of Monty's old girlfriends to choose from... uh, thanks... I think.

He finally realizes how much I take care of his wife while he is gone and how much I love his rotten son.

So that's it... that's what we have been up to. Oh, I am inserting a pic of Tom, Kathy and the girls from Christmas.

Oh, BTW, he is doing much better now. Going home this weekend.

WHITE TRASH WITH A RECORDING CONTRACT

Dearest Ms. Spears. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? This girl is truly driving me batty. I think she is "trying" to piss the world off - - I swear.

Her latest debacle happened today when she was "fleeing from the paparazzi". This was her statement.

"Today I had a horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi while I was with my baby. Because of a recent incident when I was trapped in my car without my baby by a throng of paparazzi, I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in danger. I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of harm's way, but the paparazzi continued to stalk us, and took photos of us which were sold to the media. I love my child and would do anything to protect him."

So do you believe her? EVEN if that should be the case and she had this horrifying experience, what is more harmful here? Just a MINOR fender bender would seriously harm and quite possibly kill that precious little boy. The airbag could deploy and he's gone. His little neck could be snapped. Don't make me go on...

And from what was said, there was a male bodyguard with her in the car. What was he doing?? Picking his nose? So they are making a quick get-away... why didnt she hand the keys to HIM and get in the back seat with her son and proceed to buckle him into the car seat that probably cost her $350.00. Has her bleach soaked into her rattling little brain?

You can take the girl out of the back woods, put her on the Disney Channel, "slut"ify her as a young adult, airbrush the heck out of her, give her a bunch of crappy pap to sing, give her bajillions of $$$ and you know what? You just can't take the back woods out of that hillbilly, white trash, nasty Ms. Spears.

Whoooooh.

Okay, Im going to climb off my soap box now.
Have a nice evening all... I am going to go watch the American Idol rejects.