Happy Thanksgiving

From my house to yours, have a wonderful, laughter-filled and grateful Thanksgiving Day.

The Greenbelt at Midnight

When we first moved to our great little CA town, we bought a small but cute house across the street from a beautiful greenbelt. We loved it for lots of reasons, but mostly because it was really like having a park right in your backyard, and you didn't have to take care of it! It was a really nice place to live, and the greenbelt was a place where families could go, ride their bikes, play with their kids, walk the dog - you get the picture.

One night at about 3am, Layla, our chocolate lab, woke me up crying to go outside. This was unusual for her, so I knew I couldn't ignore it. And since we were trying to grow some new grass in the backyard, I quickly put the lease on her, grabbed a bag and headed out to the greenbelt. Our front door at the time was really squeaky, and although normally the King can't be roused by an earthquake, apparently the squeak of the door alarmed him, and he got up to find that not only was I gone, but the front door was wide open.

As I stood there waiting for Layla, I turned to see the King crossing the street and heading in my direction. I was surprised to see him coming, and even more surprised when I looked more closely at him as he asked me "What the heck are you doing out here?"

My response was one I'll never forget, and I'm sure he won't either.

"Honey, that is the least of your worries. BECAUSE YOU'RE NAKED!"

I swear on a stack of bibles that this is a true story.

Improvement!

In July, we adopted a mutt. We met her at Matt's baseball game, she had been abandoned and she just seemed like a good fit for our family.

We brought her home on the condition that if she didn't get along with Cali, our four year old black lab, she'd have to go back to her foster home.

When she came in the door, she had total "little dog" complex. She barked and growled at Cali as if to say "I'm small, but mighty. Don't get in my way." And Cali, being a lab, let her push her around.

We named her Fergie, mostly because it is so cute to hear Matt say it - it sounds more like "Foorgie" and we love it. Fergie appears to be part Jack Russell and part daschund. She has a really cute face, and as time as gone on, she and Cali have developed an understanding.

Here is proof of this understanding - and this folks, is about as close as they'll get.

Cure for Hiccups

Poor Grace has had the hiccups for two days. We tried it all: holding her breath, scaring her, drinking while bent over, eating a spoon full of peanut butter upside down.........nothing worked.

So I googled "getting rid of hiccups" and one of the suggestions was to hold your arms out like a "T" and take five deep breaths.

It worked!

Consider this my handy tip for the day.

My Current Conflict

Blog land - please help me out with some advice.

Olivia, 11, is an amazing athlete. She is really, really good. So good that sometimes when I watch her play a sport I am so proud I could cry. Moms out there, you know how I feel.

Our regular soccer season just ended and kids can try out for a "Select" soccer team of kids who are skilled and want their soccer season to extend for a ridiculous amount of time - like until next June. Olivia is one of those kids. She was chosen last year for a select team and learned an incredible amount, although it was a huge time commitment both for her and our whole family.

This year, after much deliberation, she put her name in once again. It was a really hard decision since she also plays softball all year and loves that too, but she wanted to do it so we put in her application.

Last night I got the call that she had made a select team. Hooray! This is exciting news!

But there is a small problem.

The assistant coach of the team who chose her is the dad of a kid that was extremely, extremely mean all year last year to Olivia's best friend (different schools so Liv doesn't have too much contact with this girl). And the kid knows that Liv and her friend are the best of friends - and we know that because at a soccer game recently, this girl wouldn't shake hands with Olivia at the end of the game - she actually pulled her hand away when they went through in the line. It probably didn't help that this kid's team had lost and Liv had scored the only goal to beat them. Whatever.

So I just cringed when this coach called to congratulate Liv for making the team and told me who he was. And when I told Olivia she cried - hard. Her words were "I was just hoping for something better." Ugh. To have made a team of elite players and be so disappointed just kills me.

So what do I do? Get her off the team (which might be impossible)? Tell her to make the best of it? Let her quit altogether?

Help!

I Love Walmart

When the economy really started tanking, and gas prices soared, I took a good hard look at what I was spending on food. To be honest, I never really looked that hard at the prices of the things I generally bought every week. But realizing that I had less and less to spend thanks to gas and everything in general being so much more expensive, I started to look and to really pay attention.

And then a new Super Walmart opened not too far from me - maybe a 10 minute drive away.

OH MY GOD! Exactly the same items that I had paid $2.50 at my local grocery store were $1.75 at Walmart. One one item! That is huge!!!!! What astonished me is that these things weren't on sale at Walmart - that was just the regular price. There are many many items that are priced so much cheaper than at a regular grocery store. The savings can be huge.

So I became a convert. I shop for food at Walmart each and every week. I will admit that sometimes the produce grosses me out. If there is even ONE fly around the fruit, I'm out. I just can't do it. I've joked that my rule is that flies are okay around produce with a hard skin.......potatoes, carrots, wrapped lettuce - I'm good. Peaches, tomatoes, pears - no can do if there are any flying things around them.

So this is my announcement for the day. If you have a nice Walmart close by, go there to shop. If your Walmart is like the one near my sister Jenna's house where there is a good chance you could be shot while you are in there, reconsider. Or the one near where my father in law lives where it is totally fine to SMOKE in the Walmart, don't go.

But otherwise, run, don't even walk, and give Walmart a try.

My Spectacular Fall

Last week I had an accident.

I was in a hurry to get to school to pick up the cherubs. Of course, because I was in a hurry, I had to park about a mile and a half from school. Perfect.

So I was walking - fast. And in front of me there was a man. With a toupe. A really really really bad toupe. Like the worst toupe you have ever seen.

I just don't understand toupes. I know you don't want to be bald, but don't you realize that wearing a toupe only calls attention to the fact that you ARE bald, and are covering that fact up with a very bad hunk of fur? Men out there - this is not a good idea.

So I was walking, minding my own business and slightly obsessing about the horrificness of the toupe on the gentleman in front of me.

And then it happened. I fell.

My foot hit a small grouping of rocks on the sidewalk, and I lost all control of my limbs. I mean all control. On a small bunch of rocks.

On my way down I screamed "What the hell!" And then I hit the ground. Hard.

But being the extremely self conscious gal that I am, right after I screamed "What the hell?" I also screamed "Nobody better have seen this!" and hopped onto my feet in about two milliseconds. Really fast. Miraculously, there was not a soul in sight. Not even toupe guy. No one. There really is a god.

As I continued my walk to school I assessed the damage to myself. My palms were ripped open, my elbow was already showing signs of a bruise, and we won't even get into my ego. But the worst part was my neck. One minute after "the fall" it was already bad. Very bad.

Upon arriving at school and seeing everyone I knew, I calmly said "I just fell. Do you have any Advil?" Thank goodness my friend Lori was there to rescue me. And everyone gathered 'round to make sure I was ok. I was laughing on the outside, but you know how humiliating a good fall can be.

I came home and spent three hours with the heating pad laying on the floor. All is well now, but man, it hurt. Falls suck.