Happy Wet New Year!

Happy New Year Folks!

We are getting hammered with rain and wind. But don't be fooled by the sunny sky in this picture. This is the first time the sun has shinned in days! I hope it will last.
We live in the foothills, so our biggest concern is mud and rockslides in the canyon. The canyon is 6 miles of straight down and straight up, crossing the American River from El Dorado County and into Placer County. The canyon is only one of 2 ways out of where we live. The other way is already closed in Lotus. The road there (where Katie practices soccer) is flooded. We had over 6inches come down just last night.
I've heard about the river getting so high that it washed over the canyon bridge. That is amazing to me. I am curious to see how high it has gotten, but I don't want to be one of those stupid people that get themselves into a situation where they have to be rescued.
Dams are having to be opened to release water. Wow, what a storm. I hope this won't be another situation like we saw back in 1997. That was truly awful.
It's not over yet...more rain is forecasted all this week. This is going to get ugly.

BTW- I wrote this post BEFORE I got picture.

Day 3

Day 3

We got up early on the third day. As a guest of the resort, you are invited to enter the park 1 hour before it opens to the public. I would suggest to use the monorail train as your way in early. Trust me- it means less hassle. And less stress at Disneyland is a very good thing.
However, 7am is early for someone like me (and the girls) to be up, dressed, awake, fed and ready to ride! So after some hootin and hollerin, we were on the train and in the park by 7:30am. It turned out to be a very good day as far as the crowds go. It wasn't that packed at all and we rode almost every ride that the happiest place on Earth could offer. Space Mountain was first on the list. We loved it. It turns out the my little Megan is googoo for roller coaster rides. I'm sort of a baby. I don't like things that go in circles, upside down or drops you. Therefore, I skipped The Hollywood Tower of Terror and California Screamin. But hey, I did LOVE Disney's #1 must do and newest attraction: Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. DAMN if it wasn't the coolest ride I've ever been on!!!!
Why? Simply put...the effects. Even standing in line was fun. Skulls that watch you, a well with a rope that says don't pull (so of course you do), rooms with amazing artwork on the ceiling, and a movie that tells you what you might encounter on the ride...and that's just standing in line!
The ride itself is a big greenish brown jeep. Four seats across, four rows deep. Both times we rode this ride, we were in the front row. Very awesome. The first time, Michael got to sit in the drivers seat. The second time, I got to drive. You don't actually drive, but it feels like you do.
The jeep makes engine sounds and rumbles all around. You go through dark caverns and big cavernous spaces where fire rises up around you. However the coolest part is when Harrison Ford is dangling from a rope and wants to land in the jeep. But oh, watch out! Here comes a big round boulder! First we back up a little, then we charge it! Just before we hit, our jeep goes down hill, under the rock. Man, is that cool!!!
Love that ride....LOVE IT!
Okay, where was I? Rides...there is one more I've got to tell you about. Disney has been working on a ride for Monster's Inc. It doesn't open until next month. However, we got in for a sneak preview. It's more of a kids ride. You get in this little taxi and it takes you all around Monstropolis. I was able to take several pictures of the characters along the way. They are much bigger in person than they appear in the photo.
For lunch we had reservations at Ariel's Grotto, which is located in California Adventure. It's another character restaurant. Except this one is not a buffet and the characters are mostly princesses. That was fun. It was a beautiful day and we sat outside right next to the water. Both Megan and Katie did not like the food they ordered. Katie thought the chicken pot pie tasted more like clam soup and Megan complained that her mac & cheese smelled like fish. No problem. Within minutes their lunches were replaced with burgers and fries. Everyone was so friendly and willing to make us happy. Just say the word!
Now I could be wrong- but I think this was the day that we saw the muppet show 3D. That was pretty neat. The theater was beautiful. And in the balcony was those two old guys that always gave Kermit a hard time. In the back, next to the projector was the Swedish chef. He had a cannon! The show really went all out to make you feel like you were really there. At the end, parts of the walls even crumbled and Megan asked "how are they going to fix that?"

By that evening, we were all very tired. We had not gone back to the room even once. We didn't even eat dinner. I was so full still from lunch. Michael went out later and bought warm salty pretzels & popcorn. We watched the fireworks from our room and I was in bed by 8:30.

And that was the end of Day 3.

*footnote: I can't wait until I'm done writing about this trip!!

Day 2

Day 2
We got our wake up call at 7am. Megan was excited to hear Mickey Mouse's voice on the other end. "It's time to get up, I'm so glad you're here!" Within seconds, the girls were bright eyed and ready for a fun first day in Disneyland.

GOOFY'S KITCHEN
This was probably my favorite event of the entire trip. Goofy's kitchen is located within our resort, but I think anyone can make a reservation and eat here. If you come to Disneyland you should definitely make this a must do! Expect it to cost you $100.00. We had food vouchers, so luckily it was included in our total package. Disney calls this "character dining".
Several characters will come around to your table and sign your autograph book, pose for a picture and either talk with you or play with you. The picture above shows Goofy being...well, GOOFY! He took her fork and swirled her waffle around in syrup until it was good and messy. Then he tried to feed it to her, making sure it got all over her nose and chin. It was funny.
We also saw other characters such as Alice in Wonderland, Chip & Dale, Donald Duck, Pluto, Max and Wendy.
Goofy's kitchen is a buffet. I was surprised to see so many unusual foods for breakfast. Peanut butter and Jelly pizza, Mickey mouse shaped chicken nuggets & hot dogs. Luckily there were some safer choices for me, such as spiral cut ham, eggs and tons of fruit. They even had my favorites- dried mango, apricots, cranberries & fresh pineapple. Katie was thrilled with the idea of dessert for breakfast. She ate pudding and gummy worms. Yikes! Hey- it's our vacation, so I let her.
Something very interesting happened while we were getting our food.
Katie was standing next to Goofy who was holding a large pan of dishes. Alice came up to him and grabbed the dishpan. She said "you can't put those dishes out Goofy, they haven't been washed yet."
But Goofy wasn't letting go. Katie looked like she didn't know what to do. Here was Alice and Goofy fighting! They tugged on the pan until it fell out of their hands and dishes went everywhere. It made a loud crashing noise and everyone stopped to see what was happening. Goofy started motioning for all the kids to come help him clean up. Then he started banging the dishes together and soon everyone was doing it too. The whole thing turned into a fun interactive show for the kids. Goofy began bouncing the stacks of real dishes up and down in their holders and banging some together to make noise. But when Katie tried to do this he slapped her hand away. She laughed.
We spent well over an hour there. It was a lot of fun.
Let's see...what did we do the rest of the day? Well, we did some shopping (mostly looking) in the Downtown Disney stores and of course went into Disneyland. I don't think we did to many rides. I think we did do the Matterhorn. Yes, we did. That was the day I had to keep going back to the room to change clothes because the weather kept changing. We wanted to ride Space Mountain, but it was not running when we went by it. So we got some fast passes for later. We went over to California Adventure so we could watch Pixar's Block Party Bash. Megan and & I had fun dancing to the song "Celebration" as we waved to all the Pixar characters. Katie didn't want to dance and honestly felt a little silly. So one of the dancers came over to her to try and cheer her up. Didn't work. Katie crossed her arms and got more grumpy. At one point of the parade, I think it was Buzz Lightyear...threw a bunch of little balls into the crowd. Megan retrieved balls, some yellow and some blue. Later I noticed that she only had one yellow ball. I asked her what she did with the rest. She said that she gave them away to other kids who didn't get one. What a darling.
We came back to our resort to have dinner at Hook's Point. That was a very nice upscale restaurant. I can't believe how easy it was to get in. We didn't have a reservation, but we got in with no waiting at all. I was impressed with how wonderful the service was. Everyone I noticed who worked for the resort and the parks were very nice. I might even write a letter to the head honchos to let them know how pleasant our vacation was.
Anyway, while we were waiting for our food, we all started playing table soccer with that ball Megan had from the parade. More than once, it fell on the ground. One time it fell right as the manager was walking by. He picked it up and started pretending that he was going to keep it. Megan started going after him and he turned around with a big smile. He reached out his hand to give it back, but the ball disappeared! We all laughed as he performed his best magic tricks of the disappearing ball. Such spontaneous fun!
We all loved our dinner. I especially enjoyed the grilled salmon. YUMMY! Katie had a delicious looking cheesecake for desert. By the time we were done, I was beat tired. Michael wanted to go back and ride Space Mountain. I urged him to take all four passes and have fun. The girls really wanted to go in the hot tub anyway. So that's what we did. Michael rode Space Mountain 4 times while everyone else who was there for the ride waited 90 minutes or more. Fast passes do take a little planning, but are so worth it! As long as you have a park hopper ticket, you can get a fast pass for any ride. In case you are still unsure how fast passes work, let me explain it to you.
There are machines at every ride that offers fast pass. You put your park hopper ticket into the machine like an atm card. The machine gives you a fast pass ticket with a time window on it, let's say 3:10-4:20. You must return during that window of time to use the fast pass ticket. There is a separate line for fast passes. This way you don't have to stand in a line for an hour. Trick is, you can only get ONE fast pass at a time. So don't think you can go around and get tons of fast passes. It doesn't work that way. One hopper, one fast pass good until that window of time is over. It actually worked out great! Michael had 4 fast passes because me and the girls did not use ours. If you don't end up needing your fast pass, you can give them away. We did that a couple times and people were appreciative.

Ahhh, not that I have thoroughly bored you...here's the end of the day 2: Watching Disney TV and eating chocolate cake (that's right, you heard me!) chocolate cake that Michael brought back for me...and I didn't get sick!! Yippee!!

Day 1

If you're getting tired of hearing about Disneyland and worry that one more story will force you to do something drastic...such as dropping a bowling ball on your foot while drinking a pina colada because you've always wanted to see if you could do that without spraying it out your nose...then you may want to click the "next blog" button right now.

Get ready for 5 days of Disney rehash. It's not that I want to bore you to death (which I probably will) but rather, I want to have it all written down and preserved for future reference. Here goes.

Day 1
We left the house at 8am, which was 2 hours later than I wanted to get out. We made about 4 stops and one memory lane. Check in time for our hotel was 4pm. We wanted to be there by then so we could get into the park asap. Unfortunately that didn't happen. It took much longer to get through LA and into Anaheim than we estimated.
We pulled up at 5, checked in and settled into our room on the 9th floor. There are 3 buildings to the original Disneyland Resort. Our building was named "Bonita."
By 6:30 we were trekking our way through Downtown Disney in hot pursuit of the main gate.
We spent the next few hours mostly in Tomorrowland. We did Star Tours (has not changed a bit), Buzz Lightyear's Astroblaster (interactive ride like being in a video game), ate hamburgers and danced to a Latin singer. By this time it was almost 9:30. We headed back toward the center (the castle) and found tons of people all crammed into large areas surrounded by ropes. Anyone who was not in the ropes where ushered to keep walking. So that is how we watched the big fireworks show (I forget what they really called it). It was hard to watch it that way. but I think we caught most of it. Some of the fireworks were so bright that it looked like daylight. It also appeared that they were shooting them off from all over the park. It was cool. The voice of Julie Andrews narrated a history of Disneyland. At the end Tinkerbell was sent down a zipline from the top of the Matterhorn to the Castle, followed by fake snow blown out of every speaker/light tower. The workers call it "snowps" because it's actually small soap bubbles. Don't breath it in!
It was crazy getting out of the park.
We got back to the room and crashed.

The Shepherds and the Angels

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom
his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and a baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all these things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2:8-20

The Reason for the Season

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:1-7

Disney Pictures

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Disneyland

That's right folks. The time is finally here. Months of planning have all come down to this.

5 fun filled days of rides, shows, food, shopping, and more.

The last time we went to Disneyland was 6 years ago for Megan's 4th birthday. It was decorated for Christmas then and we loved it so much that we knew Christmas time was the best season for the Happiest Place on Earth.

However, this will be the first time we stay in the Hotel, use a park hopper & fast pass tickets. We booked this trip over the summer through our travel agent. I'm excited about Goofy's Kitchen and Downtown Disney. You heard me right! I'm actually looking forward to food and shopping! For someone who hates to eat and shop...it's truly amazing. We are also planning on taking in this one of a kind place.
I haven't done a bit of Christmas shopping (but Santa has) because I KNOW I will want to buy stuff there. I'm packing light to make room. Oh, and I sure hope the pool is heated!

The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the long ride down there. Since we are not flying, the drive will take 7 hours.

We all have our eyes set on something. I want to see Star Tours and hop on Space Mountain. Megan is ready for Tower of Terror and the Aladin/Princess Jasmine show. MB can't wait to check out the ESPN store and take in a show at The House of Blues. I think Katie just wants to do it all!

I'll tell you all about it next week. Bye ya'all!

Quote

"It's hard to understand that life is simple."

Half Asleep Poem

In the night
when the crickets take flight
I sneak upon the ground

the snakes do hiss
and butterflies kiss
as I move myself around

my dreams do fly
in the moonlit sky
to flutter and to flop

in the muddy pond
I made with my wand
just like the nights dew drop.


Author's Note:
This happens to me often. I wake up with words floating around in my head. The last few months (or more) I've been ignoring them. I guess I've just been to lazy to get up and write them down. But today, in the darkness of the dawn, I fumbled out of bed and reached into my desk for a pad of paper and a pen. Then I went back to bed looking for my land of fiction. I wrote these words (exactly as they appear here) sloppily with my eyes shut. Half asleep, I barely knew what my left hand was doing.
Am I returning to writing? Did I ever leave it?

A Tanning Bed First

Today I did something I've never done before.

I got a tan the unnatural way...I went to a tanning salon.

I know, I know...it's not healthy. Tanning makes you get premature wrinkles. Tanning causes skin cancer.

Why did I feel the need to do this?

Because I've always wondered what it was like to lay in a tanning bed. Honest. Besides, I had a coupon.

Just like getting a pedicure or having your hair done, I was in the mood for a little pampering today. So I stopped in California Tan to check it out. I didn't really plan on doing the session today, I just wanted some info. I thought you had to have an appointment, but I was wrong. The lady asked if I wanted to go ahead and try it.
I said, "Now?"
"Sure now, or you can come back later."

There wasn't anyone else in the place, as far as I could tell. There were six little rooms, each one just big enough to fit a large size tanning bed, a fan and a chair to set your things on.

Well, Okay- I guess I could do this now...why not?
I glanced around the sitting room and noticed a sale sign that read, "Swimwear 40% Off!" And then it hit me...I didn't bring a swimsuit!
I informed the saleswoman my concern, but she quickly waved it off and told me that I didn't need to wear anything or that my bra and panties would work fine.
Well, okay then.

But I was still not sure. Maybe if they have a cute suit on sale...
I walked over to the sales rack and quickly found a red 2 piece that was my size. I asked if I could try it on. Of course. She lead me to furthest room and told me exactly what to do. Just rub the lotion all over yourself and lye down on the bed. Pull the top down as far as you can. Make sure to use the little glasses to protect your eyes. When you're ready, hit the little red button to begin your session.

I thanked her and made sure to lock the door.
In no time at all I was laying on a warm bed of glass and listening to the sounds of classical music.
I decided not to wear anything.

It only lasted 10 minutes, but it felt like Heaven!

I can't wait to go back on Thursday. This time, I'll bring a suit. The red one I tried on was to big in the butt.

Ahhhhhh

After Party Mess

This is the downstairs room. It's the playroom for several reasons. First reason...my kids rooms are to small to contain all these toys. Second reason...so they will have a room to mess up and I don't have to look at it. Third reason...there doesn't need to be a third reason.

My Loser Mommy Moment

Have you ever had one of those "loser mommy moments"?

You know what I'm talking about?

If you are a new mom, you might not. You need more time to really make some big mistakes. However, if you're lucky you'll have a kid like my Megan, and she will forgive you because she loves you.

Remember last weekend? I got blasted at a party. Really hammered. So damn drunk, that I got sick (very sick). For the first time in my life, I felt the unfortunate effects of a two day hangover.

Now, I understand that getting drunk and hungover for the first time at a ripe old age of 34 doesn't make me a bad mommy. However, consider that the next day was Dec. 4th and Megan's 10th birthday. Also consider that daddy and Katie were off in Sacramento, knee deep in soccer mud and I lay crashed in bed with a splitting headache. This left Megan on her own for her birthday. I didn't fix her breakfast, lunch or dinner. She watched tv and made easy mac n cheese. She didn't mind. She felt bad for ME, cause mommy was sick.

Yep...big loser mommy moment.

But I love my girls and even though I am not perfect, I am human.

Tonight we made up for it. Megan is having a sleepover birthday party. She is having a great time with her friends. Pizza, cake and video games.

I"m sharing this experience with you, so be nice. Someday you will make a serious lack of judgment as a parent. It's inevitable.

Arnold is Funny

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was back at work, "feeling fine" Wednesday after spending a few hours at a Sacramento hospital due to a rapid heartbeat.

Margita Thompson, the governor's press secretary, said the rapid heartbeat was brought on by a case of the stomach flu.

"In 1997, Gov. Schwarzenegger underwent surgery to repair a hereditary valve dysfunction," she said in a statement.

"Occasional rapid heartbeat is common following this type of surgery."

"At midnight, I went to the hospital because I had an irregular heartbeat," he said at an hourlong Capitol ceremony to unveil the official state portrait of former Gov. Gray Davis.

"I just do this every so often to show that Republicans do have a heart. No, in all seriousness, the doctor said everything is fine. I just got a little bit too excited over the fact that I'm going to see Gray Davis' portrait today."

What charisma! Gotta love this guy!

Hate My Cats

Yeah, really...I hate those messy bags of nothing.

Do you remember how much I loved my kittens?

Well, they got bigger and now they are seriously stressing me out. I don't get it...I made sure they were liter trained, but yet they insist on crapping all over the place and knocking down everything they can. I so hate them now!!!

To make matters worse, I think one of them is pregnant.

That's it. From now on the garage door is staying up and hopefully they won't come home. I know that sounds cruel, especially since I know that if I don't see them again it's because a coyote got 'em, but man...I just don't care.

They totally destroyed my beloved childhood baby carriage. That was the only thing I had left from when I was a kid. It was very special to me and they ruined it.

Cats suck.

After the Storm

I'm having fun with my new camera. The difference is amazing! Here's a shot a took from my front door the other day. For more interesting photos, click on over to "Kodak Moments".

Water Not in The Pipes

So last night (and all day) rain fell from the sky.

Ironic that water was everywhere except in our pipes. I called around and discovered that it wasn't just us. In fact, the entire town was "out of water".

This happened around 9pm. Just as we were all getting to sleep, the main bathroom toilet started making horrific gurgling sounds.
I went in to see what was happening and found that the water was attempting to come back on. But instead of water, all we were getting was air. In my half asleep state, I got an idea.
I'll just fill up the tank with some reserve water from the kitchen and that will make it shut up, right? WRONG.

Bubble, bubble, bubble.

Finally I woke up and figured out the "oh yeah, stupid" sure fire way to bring silence to the house.

I turned off the incoming water valve to the tank. DUHHH!!!!

Luckily, by morning all was well and water was flowing freely through the tap again.

Lesson Learned:
You don't know what you got til it's gone...or in the wrong place.