Cat in the Box

Cat In A Box @ Yahoo! Video

I love that I am easily entertained. Saw this on the internet and couldn't stop laughing.

Sexy Curves

I've never been great with make-up nor do I buy a lot all the time. I usually only buy when I need new stuff. My favorite thing is mascara, but I hate goopy mascara. I tried this new one yesterday and I LOVE IT! The wand is all curvy and made my lashes pop out. It only comes in black, but that's the color I wear. My eye lashes don't feel weighed down nor do I have tons of goop after one swipe on my eyelashes. If you like mascara, try this. Plus I like the name-Sexy Curves. I lack really any womanly curves so maybe my eyelashes will be my curves!!

Cool Blog

I found this blog on a blog on my sister's blog (does that make sense?). It's so adorable. They give away one prize each day, but at the same time they are promoting new businesses. I love it! Plus the potential to win. What's not to love? Check it out...




http://giveawaytoday.blogspot.com/

Myth #3

This one is sort of a half-myth. Cooking...let's see. Where do I begin? When I lived with my mom in Utah I began to learn how to cook because she was sick and I enjoyed taking care of her. When we moved back to Fresno after she passed away, I pretty much stopped. Cooking for me and a 4 year old was not enjoyable. I'd go to my sister's house and cook with them, but at home not so much. Once I got married, I thought, "Okay. More people-I can maybe cook and enjoy it." Not so much. When I first started to stay home and I did the budget, I tried to figure out where all our money had gone when I was working. I figured we'd have to cancel cell phones, cable, internet, etc. when I stayed home. Nope. Just had to cut back a little bit on our misc. cash. So where did the money go? After some research I realized we were spending approximately $2000 a month on eating out. I worked all day. Why should I cook? We didn't go to McD's or Taco Bell. We would go to Yosemite Ranch, Chevys, Olive Garden, or even Dai Bai Dang. Family of four eating out usually 6 nights a week=most of my paycheck! I was working to feed us. So I decided now that I was staying home , I would cook every night and save us money! LOL I make myself laugh sometimes. Okay so I have cooked a lot more this year than ever in my life. I've mastered the crock pot and have tried numerous new recipes. However, this comes and goes in waves. I did really well the first few months then it fell off between Nov-Jan. Then I started cooking again, planning the weekly menu, and going to the grocery store on a regular basis. Yah-it fell off again. Not sure why this time. The holidays make sense to me but maybe I'm just getting lazy now. So the myth is that "When I stay home I will provide home cooked meals every night for my family and enjoy it!" I do not enjoy planning meals each week. I have a difficult time being creative. Some people have it-some don't . I don't . I plan to be better next year when I go back to work so my paycheck doesn't go down the drain, but it will take a lot of effort on my part! And, No, I haven't cooked one meal in the past 2 weeks. I'm a bad mom/wife!

The Newest Bronco

YAY! Mahkala made 7th grade cheer for next year. She is so excited to cheer for her middle school, Granite Ridge. She was very nervous, even though she didn't need to be, but she went in and gave it all she had. Most of her friends who tried out made it as well, so she is thrilled to cheer next year with many of her good friends from Fugman: Kendall, Kassidy, Maile, Lexie, Alexis, Megan, & Jaylin. Out of 26 girls who made it, 10 are from Fugman. That is awesome. She also made a new friend who just moved into our neighborhood and made it for cheer as well. I hope 7th grade is wonderful and fun for her. GO MAHKALA!!

The Cat's Out of the Bag

Well Mahkala now knows about our surprise trip next month. We, Kala & I, are going to the Bahamas to the Atlantis Resort. I am beyond excited! As long as I can make the flight, I'm set to go. Where did this all begin? Well, oddly enough, I first saw The Atlantis Resort in a Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen movie when Mahkala was about 4 years old. I thought "Wow. That would be a wonderful family trip!" I always swore one day we would go there. I figured maybe when she was a teen and I had married my millionaire husband (these were pre-Eric days). So I kept this thought in the back of my mind for future reference. So as we planned our family trip for this past January we went back and forth...Hawaii, Walt Disney World, Mexico, Atlantis? Out of the country was out because getting all the passports in time wasn't a possibility. Did I really want to spend a week doing Disney stuff? Nah-so we chose Hawaii which was wonderful. But I kept thinking "I want to go to the Atlantis. I want one more trip before I go back to work and can't take off excessive amounts of time and probably shouldn't pull Kala out of junior high." So I talked to Eric about it and the plan began. My travel agent came back with numbers for Walt Disney World and Atlantis. They weren't that much different. Plus I figured if I'm going to spend that much $ to ride the teacups I can do it here in Anaheim. The next step was getting Kala's passport. It was a bit frustrating since court papers weren't as tight as we thought they were but it all worked out and I was able to get her a passport (long story). So the trip was planned. I want Eric to come but he's very busy in the summer and can barely get a day off, let alone 7. We'll miss him but we understand. And really I'm going to be on the beach 24/7 anyway so he would have gotten bored!! At this point Mahkala still doesn't know about the trip. She thought we were getting the passport just in case we wanted to go somewhere. So then I go the the Atlantis website to checkout all the activities, fees, food, etc that they have and what do my wandering eyes see!?! The Jonas Brothers are holding a concert at the hotel on May 9th. WHAT THE HECK!?!?! I thought I might as well see...called my travel agent...she calls me back saying she has 2 tickets for us to go to the concert! Holy cow. So we go May 6-12 and Kala gets to watch the Jonas Brothers Concert at our hotel. I kept trying to figure out how to surprise her with the news. Last week in New Mexico, both my bro-in-law, Jeff, and sister, Susan, asked me about the trip in front of Kala. So needless to say, she now knows about the trip but I kept the concert part a secret. I arranged for Kala to be on independent study from school so she's not technically absent and since the 6th graders are about to do a country report, her teacher said she could do the Bahamas since we'll be there. And yes I'll admit I wasn't sure if the Bahamas was a "country" so I googled it! Lastly this morning on the way to school I told Kala I know something that will ease her nerves (today is the junior high cheer tryouts and she's beyond nervous-more about that another blog). So I told her we were going to see the J.B. (Jonas Bro.) in the Bahamas at our hotel. She kept saying, "At our hotel? In the Bahamas?" She was stunned but once it kicked in she was ecstatic. I let her focus on that all morning and brag to her friends so she'd quit thinking about tryouts. I'm nervous enough for the both of us. Now the cat is out of the bag, what an odd idiom, and Kala is so happy. I started tanning so I don't blind all the other guests but I burned myself the first day. Hopefully I'll be somewhat tan before we go in 3 weeks. I'm anxious about the flight but I have my "happy pills" to keep me going. It'll be about the same as Hawaii but it's still flying. I am very excited and can't wait to share our trip. We are going before summer hits because I don't want to be there during hurricane season (: Check out the website...it's a wonderful place and, yes, I'm rubbing it in a bit!!! Miley Cyrus is also performing there but we'll miss it by 4 days but I think Kala prefers the J.B. but either way she'll have a blast.


www.atlantis.com

I'm trying to make the link work but it won't!!

Spring Break

Mahkala & I just returned from New Mexico. We left last Saturday to visit my sister, Susan, and her family. I would love to give you a wonderfully detailed blog, however I am still recovering from the stomach flu I got while I was there. I only got in 3 days of bonding before it hit. I was in bed pretty much the rest of the time and it wasn't pretty. Luckily Mahkala had her Auntie Susan and cousins to play with because I was worth nothing. I got sick Tuesday night after we ate fondue at The Melting Pot. As I type this I still cannot think about that place without getting a sick feeling. And no it's not food poisoning and NO I'm not pregnant! I still have yet to eat an entire meal. I did lost 4 lbs. though. I'm sad it took half the time I was there plus I didn't get to see my friend, Sara, again. I didn't want to get her or her kids sick. We drove there-14 hours! On the way home we split it into two days because I was still feeling sick and knew I couldn't make it. It's a good thing I did because I was sick again last night (I'll spare the details) and even a few more times once we got back to Fresno. I hope I feel better soon because I hate not being hungry or able to eat anything. So to summarize my trip to my sister's go to her blog....she took all my pics off my camera and did about 4 blogs of when we were there

http://6turners.blogspot.com/

or you can click on The Turner Family on the right side of my blog. Sorry but I'm still feeling sick and am in my bathrobe and am ignoring my still packed suitcases. For me that is HUGE! I don't go to bed or rest until I am unpacked. It drives Eric crazy sometimes but that's just me.

You Left Me Alone

April 2, 2001 was the worst day of my life. I lost my mom and doubt I'll ever be that sad again. I don't like to fixate on the day of her death, but rather enjoy April 15th each year-her birthday. However, I can't pass the day and pretend as though it never happened. Without thinking about it, I have emotions and thoughts of her. I am a very unemotional person-not that I'm dead inside or anything. I know people who cry all the time, but I rarely do except when I think about my mom. She was the best mom ever. I have so many memories of her that sometimes it hurts and I wish more than anything she could just be here. Anyone who knew her could attest to her fairness, goodness, and her giving personality. My mom had struggles like any other person and I watched her work through those. Her strength is amazing to me. She endured a lot over the years yet she always persevered. Even at the end of a long battle w/breast cancer, she stayed positive and kept the faith going. Some of my best memories are when I lived with her in Utah and Kala got to spend tons of time with her "Bopi." Kala loved my mom like a second mom-which she was to Kala. Mahkala was 3 1/2 when my mom died, but she clearly remembers sitting on her bed eating eggos dipped in my mom's hot chocolate (still one of her favorite breakfast choices), watching movies, or going to the doctor with my mom when she got shots and Kala would get a band-aid too. My mom loved her grandchildren so much. She used to laugh when Mahkala would throw temper tantrums and bang on her door and yell, "Little Pig. Little Pig..let me out!" I was so frustrated and bothered by Kala's behavior but my mom simply replied, "Karma." I know I deserve a lot for what I put my mom through and sometimes I know she's laughing in heaven as we all attempt to raise our children. How my mom managed to raise 6 children is beyond me....Kala takes so much energy as is. She did so much for all of us that at times I try to fathom how she did it but I can't: soccer games, mutual, dragging us to church every week year after year, getting us to school (usually 3 diff. schools), baking goodies for parties, throwing b-day parties, making costumes, taking me to gymnastics practice & meets, making sure we didn't kill each other, dinners, dealing with us when school wasn't in, halloween parties, gingerbread houses, etc. She truly was an amazing person. She was giving, caring, patient, humble, forgiving, and friendly. To this day if I meet someone who knew my parents, they will praise how wonderful my mom was. I was in Save Mart once about a year after my mom died and when I paid the woman asked me if my mom was Mary Ellen. She was guessing since I was "Maxwell." Once I told her yes, she just gushed about how she loved my mom and what a great person she was. I had to run to the car because I didn't want to cry in public. After my mom passed away, one of my sisters revealed that she left each one of her 6 kids and 8 (at that time) grandkids a journal. I lived with her and had no idea she made those. I think she hid them under her bed. Well let the tears flow again. I keep this near my bed. She filled my journal with report cards, pictures, letters I had written her, and pages and pages of daily entries she wrote to me when she was sick. To leave something so precious to her children is something I will always treasure. Kala keeps hers next to her bed as well. She calls it her "Bopi book" She loves to read the entries from my mom and laugh at the silly things she'd say and do when she was 2. I've written in it a few times but I'm not as good as my mom was. I love that I have many mementos of my mom around my house....artwork, pictures, furniture, etc. Eric knows these are things I probably won't ever give up! My mom taught me so many things. Not by lecturing me but by living her life that way. I wish all the time that my mom was around so we could go to lunch to talk about things, go to the movies, shop, have dinners, lie in bed, etc. There are so many times when I feel I need my mom when things get a difficult. I'm very lucky to have 3 wonderful, older sisters who I can turn to as well as some of my mom's friends who I still communicate with. No one can ever replace my mom, but I'm grateful to have other strong women in my life who knew my mom as well, if not better, than me. We have a joke with the 3 sisters that sometimes when we cry if we are sad about my mom we say "You left me alone." When the cancer came back my mom held on for almost a year and a half. Well for the most part my mom continued on in a somewhat normal manner and lived her life. However the last week was the time she needed all of us and we took care of her. Everyone in my family, including my mom's mom and sisters came to Utah to help. There were times that week when I was blow drying my hair and I'd just start crying. Since I blow dry my hair upside down I had mascara up on my forehead after that. We laugh about it but we'd still cry. Well last night I sent an email to all my siblings with a picture Eric sent me. He's in Utah and he took beautiful roses to my mom's grave. He knows I wish I could visit more. He is a wonderful husband and I know my mom would agree. So thank you bebe (eric) for that. I love you. Just a coupld wonderful memories of my mom:
-shopping trips to San Diego/San Fran.
-Hawaii in the summer
-Parties
-Mother's Day 2000
-traveling to oroville with her just the two of us
-Madame Alexander dolls
-buying her Mary Engelbreit stuff
-giggling about Steven in Utah
-baking
-visiting her in the BYU bookstore
-watching her play with kala in the morning while I got ready for school
-arguing with her (not always fun but that's the dynamic of a daughter/mother relationship)
-our all girls cruise to bermuda
-sleeping with her when i was sad or lonely
-lying with her exactly 8 yrs ago today on her bed just praying a miracle would happen and when it didn't knowing she is no longer in pain and in a better place (even though I'm VERY selfish and still want her here)
I miss her more than I can explain but I'm grateful I had her for 22 years and strive to be like her. My favorite quote ever is from a book I bought her for Mother's Day one year.
"Not only when did I become a mother was then that I learned to be a daughter." So true.