24 Hours of Scrapbooking

This weekend my friend, Alison, and I attended the first ever Designs and Such all-night scrapfest. It was at the Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite. I had never been there before but I loved that place. It had ice skating, snowmobiling, campfires, indoor pool, etc. Not that I did that stuff on this trip. Aly and I, and about 20 other ladies, were in a conference room scrapbooking from 4pm Friday-5 pm Saturday. I exaggerate a bit because we went to bed a midnight but kept going the next day. I got 15-20 pages done! I scrapped lake trips and kept working on my cousin book (Kala's cousins). I finished Austin's pages....4 more cousins to go. Eric brought the girls up to ice skate and go sledding on Sat for the day. I hope they do it again next year because I will definitely go.

Tour of California

On Tuesday my dad called and asked if we wanted to go watch the Amgen Tour of California with him the next day. I'm not a major biking fan so I wasn't too motivated to go, but then he told me he was in the VIP tent. He knows how to win me over! He sponsored the event so he invited me and Eric to join him at the finish line. Eric & I showed up a few hours before the end and enjoyed some food and relaxation. Luckily it quit raining yesterday and was a nice, warm day. My sister, Kim, and her husband came too as well as dad, Kathi, and some of Kathi's family. It was kind of exciting to see all the people who came out to watch. The bikers arrived around 3:45ish and man they flew by. It was so loud with all the cow bells and yelling, but fun at the same time. I personally didn't see Lance Armstrong but he was in the pack somewhere. I tried to get pictures as they flew by but it was not that easy....sorry that pic is kind of blurry. We left during the awards ceremony and at that point we did get to see Lance's car drive away. He tried to wave hi to me but I was busy talking to my husband. He'll have to wait until the next Tour of California-sorry Lance! Side Note-my sister and I are holding up #1 in one of the pics because we are my dad's favorite out of all of us

Mardi Gras

Mahkala had her last cotillion on Friday, February 13th. The theme was Mardi Gras. Mahkala, Breana, and Chloe wore cute masks that I bought at the Rio in Vegas last month. Mahkala learned many dances over the past 5 months: Cha Cha, Waltz, Fox Trot, and more. She had fun, but she is happy that it is over!! No more having to use manners-LOL

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was Kala's Valentine's party for her class, which, as roommom, I'm in charge of. We made it nice and simple.....pizza, chips, soda, and dessert. The kids passed out their valentines to each other and pigged out. It was nice & relaxing. They are at that age where they don't care much about crafts, games, and stuff like that. They enjoy hanging out with their friends and not having to work!! I hope everyone has a happy Valentine's Day.

This week has been a small reminder of what it would be like to have another baby. My response to that is NO THANK YOU! Soy Sauce is wearing me out. I love her so much and she is, knock on wood, a good dog. She loves to cuddle while she sleeps, eats like it's her last meal, enjoys tug-of-war, and has very sharp teeth. I didn't get to spend this much time with Brownie when he was a puppy because I was working (perhaps there in lies the reason he is how he is), but Soy Sauce and I have spent numerous hours together this week. She went with me to the bank drive-thru, In-N-Out, to pick up Kala from school, and even to buy Kala's cotillion dress. I stood outside the store. I've begun the process of crate training her but since she's so small I'm starting at just one hour. So far she's done pretty well. Most the time when I come home from an errand or Kala's gymnastics, she's stretching and yawning so I believe I've woken her up upon my return. She loves Brownie. I'll let him in and they'll fight, playfully, over toys. She'll snap at him and try to bite/wrestle him. It's very funny. Brownie does great with her. The main issue is is he's running around he might step on her because of their size difference. Once she gets bigger, they'll do great. We can't leave her in the back yard alone yet because we need to clean it up. There are bits of chewed up balls, hose, and other items Brownie graced his presence upon over the months. She'll choke on that stuff. Eric said he'd work on that this weekend while I'm visiting my sister, Sally, and her family. I'm ready for a few days of rest but I'll miss Eric!!

Parent Reality Check For Me

As a parent I have unlimited issues I need to attempt to teach Mahkala about. There's the whole drinking, drinking & driving, relationships, sex, drugs, peer pressure, grades, future, behavior, politeness, etc, etc. I try to have conversations with her about certain issues when I feel the time is right. Having taught high school for five years, I quickly realized (or remembered perhaps) just how much 9th graders know. So I attempt to rewind a few years from 9th to 6th and think about what Kala might be learning without me knowing about it. SHe's told me some of her friends say bad words and she knows what words are inappropriate to say. Well needless to say, my world was turned upside down yesterday based on the following conversation....

Setting-our living room 7ish pm, watching Wheel of Fortune/Entertainment Tonight (i like to flip channels).

Me: "Wow-I can't believe Chris Brown beat up his girlfriend. THat whole thing is crazy"

Mahkala "Chris Brown beat up Rhianna?"

Me: "Well that's what the news reported and he turned himself in and was arrested"

Mahkala "Well maybe he was drunk"

At this point I'm stunned Eric & I look at each other and just pause for a few seconds.

Me: "Um do you think in that situation then it's okay if he beats her up?"

Mahkala (I think at this point she realizes what she said wasn't quite right) "No, but maybe Chris didn't like the last video she did with Justin TImberlake"

Once again I'm dumbfounded. In my head I'm thinking "I've so failed as a parent!"

Me: "mahkala do you really think it's okay in any of those situations? It's never okay to....and I go on to explain that no matter what there's nothing that justifies beating up or abusing your girlfriend/wife

Mahkala "okay i can't believe that. i'm so deleting his songs off my ipod"

And the evening went on.
Now I wasn't there and I don't know what happened other than what has been reported on the news but the fact is I couldn't believe Kala said that. I know we've never had that actual conversation because I never felt the need to. She sees that Eric & I treat each other well and she's never seen an abusive relationship. It scares me that she attempted to justify it. I know I need to talk to her more even about things that I assume she'll never have to experience. Those talks are never fun but I know they are very necessary. On another note in a way it was good for Kala to hear that because she said "Chris Brown seemed like such a nice person" and it gave me the chance to explain to her that that's usually the type of people that act that way. I was shocked as well and in the past never had to worry about her listening to his music, but it goes to show you just never know. I always welcome advice from other parents w/daughters. Oh and Eric voiced his opinion too but he has to write his own blog if he wants to share it!!!!
No parent-of-the-year award for me this year ):

Who Likes Soy Sauce?

After all the other posts I did on Brownie and how horrible he was as a puppy. Well guess what? I went and got another lab! This time black though...not chocolate. As you saw in a previous post, I was wanting a golden retriever. But after talking to my vet and other retriever owners, I decided to go with the lab. THey are good pets, but I decided to grab a lab. I knew I wanted black or golden so Brownie and the new puppy would look different. I checked out tons of ads in the paper and even the same breeder that Brownie came from. I decided against it because of price and I wasn't impressed with the litters they had (plus look what I got with a pure-bred Brownie). I found a guy 5 minutes from my house who had 1 black lab girl left. The vet said a girl was better with a boy because of the whole alpha male thing. Men! So I went and saw her and of course I had to get her....6 1/2 weeks old...adorable....loving....and playful. We paid for her but got her 4 days later because we had already planned our 1st anniversary weekend away this past weekend. I told Eric I'd behave and not ask to go home early to get her and for the most part I did behave. We picked her up today and she's sooooooooo cute. She's doing pretty well so far with the potty training thing. She was so scared to leave at first because she had been with her mom, dad, and brothers/sisters since she was born. She has quickly adjusted and loves laying in my lap. She's sleeping right next to me on the bed right now. We'll see how she does her first night in her crate. I'm not anticipating a lot of sleep. I'd let her sleep with me, but Eric's not a big fan. As far as her name goes when I found out we were going to get her I started to make a list of different girl names for a black dog: onyx, cauldron, batter (like brownie batter), jayd, jaden, oreo, cupcake, and soy sauce. I wanted a name that dealt with food to match Brownie. Too bad I didn't get two puppies at once. I wouldn've named one Louis and the other Vitton. Soy Sauce stuck with me. I think it's hilarious, cute, and original. So that's why she's soy sauce. Brownie was kind of crazy at first when we introduced them, but after he got used to her smell he started to calm down. We let both of them in the house and gave them each a bone and they relaxed together. It'll take some time but they'll be bestest friends.

Fly vs. Fish

I came home today to a wonderful treat. My Hawaii scrapbook had arrived!! I do regular scrapbooking, but sometimes I like to do digital when I have tons of pictures. I did that for our honeymoon-a digital and a regular one. Anyway, I've used Snapfish for all my scrapbooks and was never totally happy. The last one I did had fair picture quality and was just okay. I tried Shutterfly for the first time for the Hawaii one and I LOVE it. The quality is so beautiful and clear. It's like night and day between the two books. I'm not saying Snapfish is horrible, but I am only using Shutterfly from now on for my digital scrapbooks. I wish I could post it, but I don't know how.

Puppy For Sale?

I want a golden retriever puppy! Anyone know anybody who breeds them or sells them? I can't find any nearby for less than $2000. Sorry we paid $900 for Brownie and look what we got-not going that route this time.

Super Bowl-Champion Style

Eric has been a long time Steelers fan since the 70's. So naturally yesterday was like the best day since our wedding for him! Maybe those are my words, but whatever. Kala tends to always bet on the other team against Eric-not sure why but I think she enjoys the rivalry of it. IT's very cute to watch them argue, most of the time, during the football season. Well they were planning a bet for the past few weeks once we knew who was in the Super Bowl. They finally agreed yesterday morning with my help I might add. If Kala's team won, Cardinals, Eric would have to paint his fingernails maroon & white and wear it for a week to work and tell everyone the cardinals rule. If Eric's team won, Steelers, Kala had to wear black or gold shirts to school w/pigtails and black & gold ribbons to school for the the entire week and tell everyone steelers rule. She can't wear Steelers stuff because it's against the dress code to wear sports team. Well for those of you who care about the game you know it was a close one. We watched at my dad's house and I thought Eric was going to have a heart attack. Steelers won at the last minute and Kala went off to school wearing her black shirt w/ribbons in her hair. Tomorrow-gold shirt!! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy football season is over. I get my husband back on Sundays now. Finally!