Kindy

After Grace's first day of "kindy" (see Pinky's Blog for details) we made orange banana muffins and played Clue Jr. Then while I was searching for ideas for our ever changing homeschool program, I stumbled on this site- we played together for an hour or so and she played alone for another hour- it is a very engaging site.

BrainPOP Jr. - Science, Health, Social Studies, Math, Reading, and Writing Animated Movies for grades K-3

Tonight I really need to enter the contacts from the book fair we did this past weekend, the Chino Family Festival of Books. I was once again reminded of why I love Barefoot Books as I shared them with other families who love reading. They must put something in the water there- everyone was so friendly and genuine. My mom and Grace came along and Shawn too- it was a fun event.

But I am also drawn to doing more research and preparing more for our new little schoolroom. I did Pilates again, 7th time in 2 weeks. My green binder is still working well for my organizational system. It's good for me to take time to note the things I feel positive about. This blog has begun to serve as a time marker; when we wonder "when?" about things we often search back to reference a date or event to refresh our memory and it's such a nice reminder of the good times- it seems I, like most people probably, tend to blog about happy events- sort of like distilling life into memories and moments that I want define us.

And 24 (S3D2) is distracting me in the background.

Geocache 5

Found it today at a local dog park which we want to take Ford back to ASAP. Welcomed a new TB (I Borg, the Duck) into our happy hectic home!

This one was easy, and lots of fun as we leaped perilous concrete crevices and ducked behind perfectly manicured bushes!

The log was in a shambles, and my OCD made me organize it by date align all the little papers nicely, and categorize the other swag.

Well I guess it is official that I have been overdoing it for too long. Yesterday I started feeling nauseous and achy- by evening I felt just exhausted, but I needed to get ready for the fair I was planning on going to with my Barefoot Books today. Plus we painted signs for the garage sale Shawn and Grace were going to do while I was gone. So I stayed up and got everything ready. I went to bed around midnight and Grace came in around 1:40am, and climbed in our bed, not feeling so good herself and I just couldn't get back to sleep, then suddenly I felt "winded", I could barely breathe, and I was sticky hot.

Apparently I experienced a "panic attack"; I should be fine after some rest and possible changes to my "diet & exercise routine"- which always confuses me- which is it rest or exercise? There has been talk of medication, something light, they say- but I just can't seem to bring myself to that yet. I want to try to naturally lower my stress (oh and blood pressure); it's also reccomended that I lose weight (duh!) - maybe I'll find a way to put some Tai Chi back in my schedule, that always helped with the stress and the weight.

It sure is scary getting older- it seems to just happen all the sudden. At least for me- not that I am old, but I miss that feeling in your body of almost invulnerability- being able to stay up all night to cram (or party) and still be fine the next day, being able to eat and drink pretty much whatever with only small weight gain - or none at all if I was exercising. These are things you just don't realize will slip away as quickly as they do.

The worst part is that I let other people down because I didn't take care of myself (if either of you are reading this- I am really sorry!) The old admonition about putting the oxygen mask on yourself first is so true- you are no good to anyone if you don't take care of yourself. And lately I have been no good to anyone, including myself- I could sense that it was coming. I know that if I was in better shape I could handle the stress better, especially because my inability to handle stress generally leads to even more! It's such a vicious cycle.

Shawn went ahead and did the garage sale (partly because we really needed the money, partly because he had put the signs out last night, so there were a few cars in our cul-de-sac when we got home!) And even though he did start much later than we planned- it still went well! And now that we have sold most of the baby stuff, and I am going to be taking it easy and eating better, I will probably finally get pregnant- just when I had decided I was more than happy with just my Grace. But we'll see... we always said it would be a matter of time not numbers, however many kiddos we had between my 29th - 39th birthday was the idea.

Positive healing energy and understanding of my anxiety born "flakiness" lately would be appreciated by all!

Entry for February 14, 2007

While we were working on part 2 of the "cleaning out the garage" saga we came across a bat and ball.

Irony

Funny thing about my devotion to Studio 60 is that we don't even have TV. Our entertainment is derived entirely from Blockbuster Online and the Internet. It is amazing to me how much we have integrated the computer into our living room now that we have one there. We have been either downloading television episodes or comedy clips online or adding it to our Queue. As for Studio 60 we have also been lucky enough to have Shawn's brother Tivo and burn them for us! We discovered this show about producing a television show that is similar to SNL when we had a free night at Harrahs, and a babysitter. They upgraded us to a suite and we ended up staying in the room half the night watching "That 70's Show" and- the second episode of Studio 60. We were hooked.

On Christmas Eve Scott brought us 4 episodes we hadn't seen. After everyone left, while we wrapped Grace's gifts, we watched all of them- staying up until almost 4:00- even though we had family coming for brunch! We are both just in love with the writing and concept. And Matthew Perry's portrayal of "Matt" almost completely eradicates Chandler from your mind immediately. We just realized that the Studio Chairman is the guy from Wings- classic all time favorite of mine. Okay I know for someone who doesn't have TV I sure am a junkie... I guess I just prefer my entertainment sans marketing!

Treasure!

Our fourth (and my favorite yet) geocaching grab led us on a nice brisk hike in the hills that we see every day- Happy Hill Love was the backdrop as we braved the chill in the wind (and my paranoia); grasping the GPS, we trotted back and forth on the dirt roads of Temecula's lovely landscape.

The cache was quickly found and we retrieved our target- Smoochy, his Travel Bug firmly intact. Grace was thrilled to welcome him into our home and introduce him to all the other snuggle bugs around our happy home.

My Flickr photo Set has more captions, with local history and other items of interest.

Or watch the photoshow highlights by clicking here. (http://www.photoshow.net/watch/ef6QX6nc )

Studio 60

A tribute to a wonderful television program IMHO.

Oh and at the end of this clip the coolest fictional, yet up to the minute, and totally apropos, song ever... (you may have to turn up your speakers!) click here for lyrics

Entry for February 10, 2007

I first heard of Senator Barack Hussein Obama from the opening comedian (Rajiv Satyal) for Kevin Nealon, at the Irvine Improv. Shawn's brother and his wife took us (it was their Christmas gift to us- love those gifts that keep on coming!) last weekend.

Rajiv was of course poking fun at the Senator's name- how could a black man, who's first name sounds like Iraq, middle name is the same as Sadam's, and last name rhymes with Osama ever become president? Everyone laughed, but there was a touch of underlying tension for a moment as our collective minds dwelled on those unfortunate connections.

And now it is official that Mr. Obama will be making an attempt to do just that. Vying for the Democratic nomination is our potential first female president, Hillary. Two choices that seem as far as you can get from out current Texas "Good Ol' Boy", Bush. I was interested to read this lightly critical opinion of possible President Obama from Ezra Klein.

And what will the Republicans do?

Check out all my PINK links above to research an answer for this poll- if you don't already have an opinion.

[the poll was a Y360 feature where this entry was originally posted, below are the results]

Who would you nominate for the Dem's?

The Senator from New York, who grew up in Illinois- 2

The Senator from Illinois, who grew up internationally-1

Completed the third!

A very quick find, and clever hide- Vanishing Breed was the name of this Geocache hunt that led us to Superman's dressing room, back in the day. We had started out on Sunday planning to walk to this one which looked to be out behind our house. Photos here!

A valuable geocaching lesson was learned about bearing and overview maps! We had to turn around as our walk led us in a big circle out to the front of our neighborhood. We took Ford who was unleashed and he couldn't cross the very busy street.

So today after hunting again unsuccessfully for the final on the Independence Day Multi- our second geocaching adventure, we took Chicken to gymnastics and grabbed this one on the way home.

Entry for Feb 8th, 2007

Ok so I started this big long retrospective of our first 10 years together, and since I only got through the first 5 years: I haven't been blogging, waiting to complete and put that memory filled essay up for all to read- silly huh?

Shawn had an interview at Bay Alarm today while Grace and I cleaned out the garage ("before" picture above- "after" picture to come!) to prepare for a garage sale. Oh such the suburban life!

Uh-oh! I think they just went for a walk in the "backyard's backyard"-

"There they go, I must hasten after them- for I am their Leader" (the other thing that always graced the walls of my parents bedroom when I was growing up- for the first thing you'll have to read my comment on Mel's blog).

Oh good they haven't left- they are trying to fix the yellow flashlight for Me! They have theirs (Grace's pink hello kitty & Shawn's Mag lite!)- I get the cheap 2-for-a-dollar, emergency - batteries-are-always-dead-when-you-need-'em plastic jobby. But... I also get 2 very dear souls who are willing to put new ones in so we can all get our daily family walk in- even though it's 8:00.

Well we're out of batteries- so Grace brought me the green latern. And we're off!

Garage Clean Up:

Click here for First Break photo

Click here for Finished for the Day Photo

Second Attempt on our Second Cache Hunt

Are we lost?
Originally uploaded by barefootin.

We went back yesterday to try and find that treasure that now includes a much coveted Travel Bug! We searched high and low (and gathered a whole grocery bag full of trash- cache in, trash out!) and still couldn't find it!

After a short playtime in the sand we went home to see if Shawn was done working so he could help us- no luck! We are going to try and walk over today again- this one is supposed to be easy! The faded second waypoint may be the problem. I went ahead and looked at the logs of past cachers and with a new clue we may be in luck!