Another week gone...

Where does the time go? Last week flew by, and although I had intentions of blogging my free time was spent elsewhere.

Some exciting news: Riley has decided to start taking naps again. She takes a nap at school 3 days a week but not at home since she was two. So here we are 2 weeks away from her 4Th birthday and she back to napping. I am not a fool; this wont last, but it is certainly pleasant.

Father's Day has been postponed to Monday night. My parents were out of town all weekend and will return this afternoon. Brett (Riley's Daddy) was racing Sat & Sun, we did visit him at the track but its so loud and busy; I'm looking forward to a relaxing evening with the whole family. I'm will be making a ham for dinner and after we will exchange gifts.

I promise to post some pic's first thing in the morning.

Not Me.....Never.

This Mom of the year would never feed her daughter Spanish rice and pre-cooked packaged chicken for dinner, because she blew off grocery shopping for a champagne brunch that lasted 4 hours. Needless to say the Mom in question was way to lazy/ tipsy to be cooking a full meal. Not me.

Not me......I did NOT lie to the blood bank people. I know that one was bad, but they call every other day and I was running low on patience, so I said I was MIA because I was outta the country getting tattoos. That should buy me a month.

Lets get this straight I did not screen all my calls this week... OK I did but for good reason, I was running especially low on patience (again) and didn't want to loose me cool and say some really mean things to person(s) exercising unusual amounts of ignorance.

No I did not suggest to Riley that we get another rotten hamster because I felt sorry for lonely old Wilbert sitting alone in his pink palace.

Lastly, No I did not lose a very important file at the office.. Its here somewhere, but seriously where I have looked everywhere........Not me, I don't lose anything. Shit.. where is it?

Flashback Friday

Riley's first trip to the beach on her first birthday.....Sooooo it happened to be a in MAUI... I'm not a big fan of southern CA beaches, but Mommy loves her some Maui, and so does Riley.
Only one more month until her 4th birthday... Its all been a blur (tear, sniff sniff)

Why is this kid so happy being dirty? Just the thought of having that much sand on my legs makes me want to throw-up in my mouth a lil bit. I swear shes not my kid.. LOL

Happy Birthday Spanky

Today is Spankys 11th birthday... He has only been a member of the fam for 2 years, and just so you know he is the best damn cat ever! Mostly because he acts like a dog and runs with a pack of dogs. I am NOT a cat person, but Spanky is special (in so many ways). This is his favorite place to sleep and he seems a little disturbed that I woke him to take another stupid pic. I know hes Special! So hapee Birfday Spaaaankeeey (as Riley would say)

Brown baggin it!

Today is the 45Th brown bag lunch I have eaten, with the exception of a few networking and lunch meetings (they were free and mandatory).
On April 6 I deiced that I was no longer going to go out for lunch. My main goal was to control the quality of food I was eating and an added benefit was saving a little money. My brown bag lunch program was not bad at all, I actually prefer it. I ended up saving about $120 a month (@ approx 3 meals a week), but the bad news I gained a few pounds. errrrrr... I guess my cooking is just that good. LOL My original goal was achieved, I did improve the quality of food; however, with the limited grease/ fat intake; you would think loosing a few lbs would be easy?? Guess not. Any who its something I will continue, because I do feel better. Now I vow to increase the intensity of my exercise program.

June Gloom

I spent most of the day in the house wearing a sweater due to June gloom..... I wish it would rain already.. "shit or get off the pot" as my Grandma would say. (wonder where I get it from???)
I did mange to make a healthy but tasty pot of Potato cheese soup. If you are looking for a heavy creamy flavor this is not the soup for you, but for 185 calories per serving not bad.

• 3 med potatoes (about 1 lb.) peeled and quartered
• 1 small onion finely minced
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups fat free milk
• 2 Tbsp. tub-style margarine
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, minced
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper (I used black pepper, too lazy to go to the store)
• 3/4 cup of shredded cheese

1. Bring potatoes, onion water and salt to a boil in a med sauce pan.
2. Reduce heat cover and simmer until potatoes are tender. Do not drain.
3. Mash slightly, stir in milk.
4. In a small bowl blend butter, flour, parsley and pepper. Stir into potato mixture.
5. Cook and stir over a med heat until mixture becomes bubbly and thickened.
6. Remove from heat add cheese.

I added thinly sliced mushrooms and additional salt because I'm a rebel. It was filling lunch on a cloudy day.

*Recipe courtesy of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Cookbook

X-Mas Eve 2007

This a pic of Riley playing on Xmas eve 9:00pm. We just got home from my Grandmas house and finished unwrapping Riley's Dad's new air compressor, that Santa left him. Look at that flawless face. Brett and were reading her a story in her room and talking about the presents Santa was going to leave her in the morning. I was so excited because this was the first year she would was really excited about Xmas. Then it happened the dogs got into a fight right there in her room, I pulled them apart and assumed it was done. Riley walked towards me and at that very second one of the dogs lunged at the other and got Riley right in the face. I have never been so scared in my life. Her face was cut so deep that it didn't even bleed. With an ice pack in hand we raced to Kaiser Fontana.



My mom meet us there and its a good thing because I got a little woozy watching the Surgeon clean and stitch up her face. It took about 100 stitches and she was on her way home. I am so grateful for the Cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Kiran who interrupted his night to help with us.



Needless to say Xmas was ruined and had to be postponed a few days. This pic was 2 days after. Scary Huh? I was (still am) upset with myself for letting the dogs in her room that night. I felt like a failure as a parent, that I couldn't protect her from my own dogs.


Below: 6 months post. Dr. Kiran meet with us every 3 months for the first year and advised me to use silicone patches over scar to lessen its appearance. At 6 months it really started to bubble-up and the patches seemed to help.

Here is 1 1/2 later and I am beyond impressed with the progress. I thank Dr. Kiran every time I see him. At about 4 1/2 we will go back and decide weather to leave it be, or cut it out and start over with a much thinner straight line. In hopes that it will completely fade as she grows.

(Today)

I wanted to post this because even the friendliest dog can end up biting a child. Roxy was always so aware of Riley and would never intentionally hurt her. Accidents happen but that doesn't make me feel any better about the situation. I still feel guilty when she mentions the scar or the incident and when other people notice it. (happens less and less now)

Free Bunnies... Going going gone!

I put a "FREE Bunnies" sign out front in hopes of getting rid of a few of the 8 little bunnies, who have been torturing my yard. I also found a home for the adult male, last week, so we wont have any more accidents.
My mail carrier of all people was the first knock at the door, he took two. (Yeah Me) Then I went to the grocery store, which took longer than expected...... but by the time I got back, my Bro-in-law found all the bunnies new homes. Hey Omar if being a fire fighter isn't rewarding anymore, I think bunny salesman pusher might be your gig.

Perfect the bunnies are gone that's one less thing I have to worry about, since my 4 year old has been acting more like a two year old all day. She is truly making me question my parenting abilities. Why does she follow directions, eat her dinner, clean up her room and not talk back to her dad? I ask/tell her the exact same things and she turns into an unruly little snot! Ehhhhh. The house is disgustingly dirty and I have lost my motivation to finish cleaning it. I feel so guilty saying this, but today I don't enjoy being a Mommy!

Oh would you look at the time.... Just one more hour until Sassy's bedtime. Come 8:30 I will be dancing like I won the freakin Lotery. (Sassy what we called Riley, when she was in my womb. That kid has been high maintenance since conception.)

Flashback Saturday

Riley (age 2) trying to be just like Daddy.

Its Friday...

This is my little angel at age 6mo and 1 year old, helping me in the office. For those of you who didn't know, Riley went to work with me everyday for her first 2 years of life. For the most part she was very helpful; I taught her to send faxes (pre-programed #'s) She would hand me papers out of the printer (with minor damage). We frequented some of the nicest restaurants in Riverside and they all knew her by name. Everyone in the building loved her being there, even if she ran down the halls screaming. I got to use the carpool lane there and back! I miss having her around but boy do I get allot of work done with out her. I am so thankful my boss was gracious enough to let me do this, because of him I never had to worry about who was watching my sunshine.