test

Yep, I failed it. 57 out of 100. Brandi got a 97.5 out of 100, not sure what MG got, but it was an "A". I suck!

Playing in the waves

On our first day there, we walked on the beach. Brandi was thrilled about the sand and the waves. She loves the open water! So if you look at the pictures, you can see how she is wading in the water.




oops! I guess she didn't see how big that one was!!!!

It's only water, right?! It was a lot of fun!

Mexico pictures

So we were off to Mexico, very tired, but got there, stopped and got some yummy food! More pics to come later. (I'm pacing myself, lol!)

Random Questions

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
No
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
When my daughter graduated high school, June 14th
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
yes
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT?
Subway Club, yummy!
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
yes
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I hope so.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
what? me?
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
sure, although I'd have to work up my nerve
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL?
Lucky Charms.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Sometimes
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
emotionally? yes. physically, not so much
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM?
right now? cherry garcia!!!
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
honesty and values
15. RED OR PINK?
red on it's own, but I like pink with green!
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I've gained weight, don't understand why, and I procrastinate.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
All those people who have affected my life in a positive way and guided me during tough times, most recently, Buddy.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO BLOG THIS ?
duh, of course
19. WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Black cordoroys and I'm bare foot!
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
dinner, sloppy joes and chips with dip.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
the televison
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE?
cyan
23. FAVOURITE SMELLS?
um, a fresh rainshower, flowers in bloom, the smell of autumn, my Moms house
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Curtis
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHOS BLOG THIS WAS ON?
yes
26. FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Basketball
27. HAIR COLOUR?
brown
28. EYE COLOUR?
brown
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No
30. FAVOURITE FOOD?
spaghetti
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
happy endings
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The DiVinci Code
33. WHAT COLOUR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
black
34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
summer
35. HUGS OR KISSES?
hugs and kisses
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Debbi and Nikki
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Diane
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Just finished one at lunch today, Nora Roberts, Mysterious
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
MacBook
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
The DiVinci Code
42. FAVOURITE SOUND?
My kids laughter and giggles!
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
the Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
US Virgin Islands
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Maybe,
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Hammond, Indiana
47. WHAT SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU LIKE?
I would like to be able to help people.

Ouch

Okay, so I took the test, I know I did terrible. It wasn't multiple choice at all, oral and translate into spanish. I really bombed it. There were 30-40 questions, 9 of them I didn't even answer, I know I missed some that I did. I'll be lucky if I get a "D". That's what I get for not studying. My hardwood floors look great though!

Back to school, my first test!

Oh crap! I'm taking a spanish class in school and tonight is my first test. I'm so nervous, I haven't studied as much as I would've liked, we've been putting in wood floors upstairs. They look great, but it's a learning experience. So all weekend we worked on them. I hope I do ok on the test. I know some, but there is so much I don't know. I have been around spanish speakers for 5 years and I've picked up very little. I feel like the class is going too fast for me. We'll see what happens. MaryGail and Brandi are taking it too. I know Brandi will test fine, MaryGail probably studied more that I did. Wish me luck!

Our condo

The view out back~

Captain Jack Sparrow

More to come, just LOVE this shot!

Graduation pics

Wordless Post

Cabo Wabo

Wow, what a great club. I wish I could get better pictures of the club itself. Everything is decorated, lots of Van Halen memoribilia and photos. We're going back tonight, maybe I can get more photos then. Fortunately they didn't try to card Brandi, she's only 17 and needs to be 18 to get in. We just walked past security, no problems. If she were a boy, that would've been different. There are so many americans at the club, very very few mexicans except for some employees. They keep the place clean and the bouncers keep it tame

Snorkling and Kayaking

The water was cold, 2 weeks ago it was 78 degrees, on our kayak trip it was 67 degrees, burrrr. It was really windy and we had to work to keep from flipping the kayak over in the swells and waves. The guides call them the divorce kayaks, instead of ocean kayaks, cause people have to communicate and work together. Brandi and I did great, we got to see a ocean rock garden, but I couldn't take pictures cause we needed to continue to paddle so not to end up in the coral reefs/rocks. Those reefs are sharp, I have cuts on my hand from snorkling and the current carrying me too close to the reef.

The underwater shots are greenish because of the wind stirring things up. The fish are amazing, they swim right near you and you can reach out to touch them, although they move out of reach. It was amazing.

Saturday stuff

So today we played in the pool and went horseback riding on the beach, too much fun. View pictures below.

The horseback riding tour we took said on the invoice "no galloping". Well, it was only Brandi and I and our guide. So we galloped through the water on the beach, it was so much fun, and leg work! Brandi's horse was afraid of the water, so I'd use my horse to manuever between the beach and the water and push toward the water. It was funny. Our horses were in competition with one another, when hers would start to take off, mine would hurry to catch up, it was funny.

Photos, of sort

Spanish

I forgot to mention that everything on the internet, as far as instructions, is in Spanish! Glad I blog alot, other wise I'd not know what it says!

We're in Mexico!

Brandi and I are in Mexico! We have wireless internet, yea!!!!

So getting here was interesting. First, we had to wake up early, well, I had to wake up early, Brandi stayed up all night at project graduation. So we took our morning showers, and packed the car. Heather drove us to the airport. So far, our trip was going okay.

We got our boarding passes, checked our luggage and headed to our gate at Oakland International Airport. Our flight was headed to Phoenix and then a connecting flight 41 minutes later to Cabo. I figured it wouldn't be so bad of a wait, maybe we would be able to get some lunch or a snack or Starbucks!

So as we're waiting for our plane, the announcement comes that it's delayed about 20 minutes. Now I start to worry, what if we miss our flight? The announcement then says if we have connecting flights, they will rebook us on the next available flight. This would not work, I have transportation arranged. Oh crap!

So we wait, and wait for our plane to land, we are all sitting impatiently and I think everyone has checked at the desk about what can be done. The answer is always the same, they'll see what can be done once we arrive in Phoenix.

Finally the plane lands and passengers disembark. The the announcement comes that they will be attempting to save time, so they are loading us passengers a little differently. Rows 13 (that's us) and back who are capable of walking up and down stairs will be loaded from the rear of the aircraft. We exit the terminal and walk outside on the tar mack to our plane. This was kinda cool. I took pictures, (but I don't have the cable for my camera) We get onboard and the pilot informs us he is going to make up sometime flying but that we are still going to be late.

We get to Phoenix Airport and head straight to our gate, we basically run. As we arrive, we are informed they have moved our flight to a different gate. It's on the opposite side of the airport. I'm so tired of this! But we head that way, at a very fast pase. The the announcement is heard, final boarding call for flight 340, all passengers have two minutes to board before our seats are released to other passengers. Brandi starts running! I figure I'm gonna kill myself getting there so I jog. Brandi is there talking to them, I'm still too far away, she's pointing my way. I have no idea what she's saying, but I can tell you this, the look on her face says there is no way she's letting them give up our seats!

I get there, can't breathe, but I'm there. I tell them our flight was delayed, then the captain announced the wrong gate to us. She said not to worry, they'll reopen the door for us. (yes,, they were going to leave). Then the magic question, what about our luggage? She said not to worry, they are going to load it before taking off.

So we get to our seats, last ones aboard! The announcement on the plane is that we are just waiting for some luggage and then we'll be backing out and taking off. Thank goodness!

So our luggage arrives and we head to take off. I honestly thought we were going to crash. The plane was swaying side to side. I've never felt anything like that before.

Fast forward to the turbelent landing at Cabo. Geez, it was like a roller coaster ride! But we made it.

We filled out the papers and got through customs. Went past all the creeps in the airport to outside. Our friendly Daniel from Worldmark was there, everything would be fine now.

So here we are, it's beautiful here. And we going to go out and have fun today!!!

Kitty Heaven

I'm sorry to say that our cat TC is no longer with us. His kidneys failed and we had to take him in to the vet. He was put to sleep while in my arms and buried at my parents house next to my dog Shadow, my other cat Smoke, my Mom's cat Blackie and my brothers dog Amber. I am grateful to have had him for the last 12 years, and he was part of our HGTV Christmas special last year.

I'm gonna miss him!

Life, Busy and what next?

Here's the scoop:

My cat TC is not doing well at all. He's so skinny, hasn't eaten food in 4 days, going on 5 days today. He is so old, we've had him 12 years and they said he was 5-7 years old when we got him. So I know it is his time, just feel really awful watching him dwindle to nothing.

Another sad/angry thing, yesterday my daughter Casey called me after school. Her sister was at graduation practice until 4 pm. Someone had come by and keyed the side of her car. They wrote f*ck u b*tch. I couldn't believe my ears, has Brandi not endured enough? I was so furious! I called the vice principals office (he was on the field with the kids). The secretary told me to file a police report and call back in the morning. So Casey met the Sebastopol Police officer at the car and they took photos and filed a report. Curtis drove to the school to be there for Brandi. I talked to the vice principal this morning and the cameras they use don't "watch" that part of the parking lot. He was so sorry, felt extremely bad that something like this would happen to Brandi. We spent 2 hours last night buffing the paint, finally got the image gone along with the top coat of enamel. Better to have a paint fade than read what was written.

We pulled out the carpets in our bedroom Sunday. Can you say disgusting? I thought my dogs had been peeing on the carpet and they were the culprits. After moving bedroom furniture, and seeing the pee stained padding and subflooring in areas my dogs can't get to, I realized it was the previous owners labrador that was the culprit. The more I tried to shampoo the carpets, the more I brought the smell and stains to the surface. So it wasn't my dogs as much as the pre existing condition. So my room is subflooring and smells hella better!!! We are getting hardwood floors, already picked them out and put a few down to see how it will look, it's gonna be great! Just hope it goes down well! Hubby is gonna do that or start it while Brandi and I are in Mexico.

Guess what I got for our little trip to mexico?



Don't want something to happen to my Canon Digital Rebel SLR, have it stolen or damaged. So I am bringing this one. AND guess what? It's waterproof, I can take photos underwater of all the stuff we see snorkling and whatever else we do! Woo Hoo!

I'm so excited to have some great photos to be able to scrapbook! Underwater photos should be fun! I'll post some here if I have internet available. I am looking forward to this trip!

Congratulations Justin!

You Did It!!!

Technology High School
Class of 2007

Copy, paste and play :)

This is from my blog friend Toners!


The game is SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Here are the rules: * Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.* They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! * If you can't think of anything, skip it. * You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.


Your Name: Brenda

1. Famous Singer/Band: Garth Brooks or Brooks and Dunn

2. 4 letter word: Book

3. Street: Brookwood

4. Color: Blue

5. Gifts/Presents: Balloons

6. Vehicle: Buick

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Bubble Gum

8. Boy Name: (my brothers:)Bob, Bill, Bruce & Bret

9. Girl Name: Belinda (the newspaper misprinted my birth announcement!)

10. Movie Title: Babe

11. Drink: Beer (yuck!)

12. Occupation: Barista

13. Celebrity: Brook Shields

14. Magazine: Better Homes & Garden

15. U.S. City: Brooklyn

16. Pro Sports Teams: Cincinatti Bengals or Boston Red Soxs

17. Fruit: Banana

18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Broke down car

19. Something You Throw Away: bacon grease

20. Things You Shout: Bravo!!!

21. Cartoon Character: Bugs Bunny

Collection of . . .

"If you could own the world's largest collection of anything, what would it be?"

Todays challenge was about collecting things. Well, scrapbooking supplies are collecting in my scraproom. I have lots of beanie babies packed away, with the baseball cards and postage stamps. Let's not forget the cherished teddies, or the stuffed animals in plastic bags in the attic. How about all the post cards in the suitcase in the garage?

So to answer the question, how about not having a huge collection of things. How about having a reasonable amount of just enough? I think I'm a pack rat!

On another note, thank you all so very much for leaving comments on yesterdays soap box. I think the saddest part of it is, my daughter is getting used to having things like this happen to her. She is handling it very well, which makes it that much harder on me. But I wanted to thank you for all the comments and hugs!

Soap box

Tonight I went to my daughters high school awards presentation. I knew she was getting the Doyle Scholarship, and she was honored with that. What happened next is unforgivable, they announces the scholarships for all the seniors in drama. A long introduction to how much these seniors have given, how hard they work to juggle their busy schedules. Then I look an see a tear of pride on my daughters cheek. Begin the announcement of names, continue right past my daughters name and finish up without even mentioning her. Oh my God! How can this happen? I am sitting, my cheeks flaming, my temper boiling just under the surface. I look to my daughter and see even more tears. Only these are not pride, I cannot begin to try to put into words what I saw. So many thoughts are hurling through my mind. The biggest being, I don't understand. How is it that the daughter whose whole life is consumed by the theatre, get overlooked. This is so wrong. It can not be undone. I walk to the stage (yes, while the drama instructor is still on the stage hugging her departing seniors. I make a quick decision to not embarrass my daughter even more by approaching the stage,, but rather wait until the end of the presentation to those seniors and wait for the teacher to exit the stage. I take the seat next to her and tell her with so much pain and anger that I have a daughter in the audience crying, because she was not recognized. How could this happen? She has tried so hard to please and do anything and everything to gain approval by her teacher. I said to the teacher that I don't care if there is a personality conflict, or if you don't have that kind of relationship with my daughter, this is wrong. I get up and walk back to be with my daughter. I felt like I was abandoning her, leaving her there to address something so sensative. I sat without saying a word, what could I say? We applause to the next group of scholarship recipients, without really knowing what they are getting and why.

I love my daughter, she is amazing. I wish somehow I could protect her from all the shit she gets served, and all the praise and recognition she doesn't get. As a parent, I can say you are wonderful. But that's my job, even if I know she's more than just wonderful. When she doesn't get it from the people who should give it to her, how does that feel?

The teacher came to the audience from the rear of the theatre and asked Brandi to come to the hallway. She apologized for forgetting. She said she'd make it up to her. I'm sorry, but I can't forgive you. You hurt my baby girl, do you know how I feel? Do you know what she feels? I can't forgive you. I'll continue to not make a scene, but I won't forgive. I let you show her you're trying to make it right, but I can't forgive you.

Songs I love right now...

Carrie Underwood-Before he Cheats
Dixie Chicks-Top of the World
Regina Spektor-Fidelity
Trisha Yearwood-Georgia Rain
Anna Nalick-Breathe

There are so many, but these are the ones I like right now. Most are old ones, but that's okay, at least I didn't mention my teenage songs from bands like the Monkees and singers like David Cassidy and his hot little brother Shawn! Wow, talk about being old. The good news is, guys like Sean Connery are old and from my generation (and before) but are still handsome!

Doing Laundry

I don't particularly like doing laundry, but my daughters dog certainly has taken advantage of the opportunity. Yes, the dog has jumped into the dryer while I pull out clothes to fold them. She'd be happy to have her own little doggie electric blanket!

Apple Empanada's, by Casey

Dough

3 cups flour
4 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup lard or shortening
3/4 cup water
1 egg

Filling

8 c. sliced apples
2 c. sugar
2 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. butter

Make Dough:

Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and a pinch of salt together. Cut in the lard with a pastry cutter or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk egg and mix into water. Mix the water and egg into the flour mixture and knead until dough forms. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Make Filling:

Bring all ingredients to boil for 45 minutes until apples are soft. Add cornstarch in 1/2 cup water to thicken. Add butter, cool before making empanadas.

MAKE THE EMPANADAS:

Lightly flour a surface and roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 4-inch circles for small empanadas, 5-inch for medium ones or 6-inch for large ones. BAKE AT 350 DEGREES FOR 18-24 MINUTES