A Memorable Dinner

In 2009, I had decided to host Christmas dinner at our house. In fact, it was the first time I had EVER hosted a holiday dinner with my family. Since my kitchen table only seats 4 people, I was a little worried about how I was going to accompany 9 people for dinner. So I called a party rental place. I rented 1 large table and 7 chairs (using 2 of my own at the ends of the table). Now, for dinner. I was really nervous about making dinner because I wanted to make sure it was just perfect. I wanted everyone to enjoy their food. It was really important to me! All was great! The food, the company, all with my family! We had fun taking silly pics,

sharing special moments,

enjoying special family moments,

getting to visit family from another state,

and family close to home.

We even had a special guest (my husband),

Just one memorable dinner that I will never forget!!

Now head on over to Mama Kat's to see the other prompts people are doing.

Bathroom Update....

About a month ago...errr, now that I think about it cause goodness knows these last 3 weeks I've been MIA sure didn't feel like 3 weeks, it had to be longer. Anyways, over a month ago we had decided to re-do our master bath. In fact, I showed you the "Before" picture here. However, if you don't feel like clicking back to see the before, have no fear.....I shall share again. Just for you ;o)

Now again, I had a vision. Don't make fun of the "Before" color. I liked it....at the time, but some thing must come to an end. Which in this case, it did.

BEFORE

AFTER

We still need to get a decorative towel to put here on the towel rack.

Now it matches our bedroom. My husband is happy too cause he couldn't stand laying in bed, which his side of the bed allows him to look right into the bathroom so it pretty much bugged him.

All is good now...now that he doesn't have to stare at a pink bathroom anymore. ;o)

Just When I Thought...

I was back from my break, I go all MIA again for 3 weeks. What's up with that? Well, I have a good excuse, so I think. So, with that, let me count the ways...

1. With the weather here in California being all stormy and rainy lately, I have been really tired. In fact, on my days off, I've been sleeping in until 10-12noon. I KNOW! Fortunately my daughter was on spring break. Otherwise I would have a lot of explaining to do.

2. I know you you've heard it before but yes, tax season and extra days at work equals a busy mommy.

3. We just put our daughter in Karate last week, three days a week. She is so excited! We are too cause this is the first sport we've actually put her in. She's already done three classes but she hasn't received her uniform yet. She does however, have her belt.

4. We took our daughter to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. Super cute movie!

5. We've also been in the planning stages of trying to use up our Southwest Airline voucher. Plus, my boss gave us his points through JetBlue which in turn, allowed us an extra Vegas trip, Baby!! This one we're actually taking our daughter with us though. In fact, we will be heading out there right after tax season! We can't wait! Last time we took her, we took her to see the Blue Man Group, which was an awesome show. This time we are thinking about two shows, one we already saw but thought would be fun for her, Tournament of the Kings and then Cirque du Soleil's Mystere, which we haven't seen. We hear it's really good and wonderful for the whole family.

6. I've also been dealing with the insurance, playing the waiting game also about that accident. It's gone into arbitration and according to my friend who worked at an insurance company before, said that it could take month. Great.

7. THEN, we have been dealing with our dog. I've been having to bath him constantly. You see, when we go somewhere, we have to leave our dog somewhere. So, the only place we can take him is to my in-laws. WELL......that means that he brings back little unwanted pest. FLEAS! It's so bad too! Poor dog. I've tried (almost) every thing. Those sprays for furniture and carpet, then the ones for the pets, then the actually medicine you put in their fur. Did the whole vacuuming thing, bathed him with the flea medicine shampoo but then again, you can't bath him more than once a week with that stuff. It's too much! I'm going crazy over here!!!!

SO......since we will be heading to Reno again coming up, for my BIL wedding, we're setting off....you guessed it...BOMBS!!! I'm sick of it! Once we pick Ozzy back up, he'll of course be at the in-laws house again, I'll wrap him up and run him into the bathroom for another flea bath. HOPEFULLY, that will do the trick. Praying!!!

So, there you have it. That's what has been going on in my neck of the woods. I'll try to be better with updating. I clearly can't promise but I sure will try.

Writing Prompt: What would it take?

I've decided to jump on board this week with Mama Kat's prompts.

I've chosen to go with #2:

What would it take for you to pick up and move?

As simple as it sounds for some, others I'm sure not....like me!

In fact, this was a topic this passed Sunday. You see, I love California. Maybe not so much the people that reside here but the weather is perfect, the landscapes are gorgeous and well, honestly, my family lives here. With as much of a family person I am, I find it difficult to move away from them. I think the fact that only agreeing to move to the next town over should prove that.

My husband on the other hand, would pack up and move to another state if he could. He can not stand California. To be perfectly honest, he can't stand the people here. He despises the fact of what is going on here on so many levels. I have to agree with him 100%, but that is for another day and another topic.

We both were born and raised here but truly have different ideas of places to live. He would like to move to Colorado. Why is beyond me {No offense to those who live there}. I personally think we, Californians have got it made here. Like I said, the weather is absolutely PER.FECT! If I want to go to the mountains, it's only an hour or more away, depending on which location you choose. If you want snow, it's a couple hours away. If you want the river, it's down the street from me. If you want the ocean, it's 50 minutes away. If you want the city, it's only 50 minutes away. If you want wine country, that's about an hour away. It's sunny most of the year. Average temp is 70 or higher. What more could you ask for?

Also, when I can get pictures like this....

How could I EVER want to pack up and move?

Especially when I can get photos like these...

With my dad,



with my mom,



and my brother.



Randoms of my dad



and even ones with my mom and daughter.



PRICELESS!

Honestly, it would take a death to get me to move.

What Comes Around, Goes Around

I work at a CPA firm. With that said, this time of year there is no such thing as "vacations" or "holidays".

A couple weeks ago on Monday, it was President's Day. I worked. In casual clothes at least, but I still had to work.

As I was approaching the usual entrance of the parking garage, I noticed the gate opened, so I pulled in. Just as I was pulling in, I noticed the second gate further down was closed. Just as it was registering in my head that I couldn't go any further and was going to have to eventually back up and go around the building to the other entrance, SMACK! I got hit from behind.

I instantly looked in my rear view mirror. Just then I saw the passenger, a woman, throwing her arms up, looking in my direction because she was clearly upset. Thinking she was upset with me, I threw my car in park, unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the car. The guy driving, her husband, got out of his car, I say "You hit me!" I guess trying to claim my innocence. The guy trying to calm me down as I continue to say "Well, she's getting all upset" and he reassured me that she was upset with him for hitting me, so I calmed down. Then he accepts blame and says "It's my fault. I couldn't stop!" Whatever. Accidents happen.

So then I started to go through the normal procedures of asking him for his insurance info. He obliged but then says with worry, "I can't afford this. I have a buddy that works at a auto body, could you just take it to him and he'll take care of it". Nice try buddy! "I would have to talk with my husband but in the meantime, I need your insurance info." He says ok and continues to his car to gather his stuff. Just then, he says "I don't have any of my stuff with me." So, in an attempt to gain his sincerity for the situation, he calls his insurance company and puts it on speaker so I know he isn't faking. I get his info and all is good.

The next day, on my day off, I call his insurance company to get the ball rolling. Two days later I get a call back from his insurance wanting to get my recorded statement. Once the recording was over, the adjuster states that at this point, it's my word against his. Now I start to wonder what the heck this guy said. Just then the adjuster says "He says that you pulled right into the driveway of the parking garage and noticed the second gate closed so you backed up and hit him." WHAT???? "Whoooooaaaaaa, THAT IS FALSE! What a liar!!"

I then called my insurance and filed a claim cause clearly, I was going to need someone to back me up at this point. My insurance told me I would have to pay my $500 deductible to get my car fixed but the insurances would have to go into arbitration. Meanwhile, my husband and I are beyond furious because this guy was placing fault on me.

Then....

This weekend I got smart! "There has to be cameras at my building", I tell my husband. "There just has to be". So yesterday while at work, I contact the building management which then gave me securities contact info. I talked with the security director and sure enough, CAUGHT ON TAPE! The security director viewed the accident and said "It is clear that you were actually still moving forward when he hit you. It looked like he was trying to hurry in the turning lane, thinking you were going to keep moving forward and that's when he hit you." RIGHT ON! He clearly started my Monday off fabulous!

Since learning this wonderful information, I have since contacted both insurances and looks like all with work out the way it should!

The damage isn't bad at all but that isn't the point. He lied and I can't stand a liar! Plus, I'm still paying on this car and I really don't want it to look like this.

Perhaps he was afraid his insurance was going to go up, and granted, I'm sure it would. However, he lied and if I was an insuance company, I wouldn't want to protect someone that is going to lie in such situations. I personally would drop him as an insurer and I wouldn't be surprised if that happens to him.

Moral of the story....Don't lie cause what comes around, goes around. It always catches up to you!

One Of The Reasons....

One of the reasons why I haven't been blogging as much as I had is, besides the fact that we are always going somewhere but because our computer we've had for 7 years now was just that...OLD!

It would bog down, not respond when I try and click on something, or just plain take forever to load pages or pictures up. It got to the point that I actually dreaded getting on the computer. So I didn't!

Weeks, then months would pass and I would spit out a post here and there. My desire for getting on the computer lessened. I would walk passed the computer room, glace at the computer and just keep going. No urge. No desire. "Keep walking" I told myself. No purpose cause all the computer would do is raise my blood pressure. So I did just that....kept walking!

As the weeks were passing by, post ideas would pop in my head but since the desire wasn't there, I just purged those ideas.

Sure, I would get on the little netbook but I never like blogging on that thing. The screen is naturally much smaller than the desktop, then when I would type stuff, the cursor (for whatever reason) would jump to an earlier sentence and I would be typing something within another sentence, which would make me so mad. Then loading pictures just meant more work. Plus the mouse was never plugged in so using my finger meant even more work for this impatient blogger.

Then 2 weeks ago, I attempted the desktop computer. I was looking up something, maybe on Napster or something and I managed to be on for a little while but then the hard drive fan started running high and just as I moved the mouse, that's when it froze up on me for the last time.....and when I say the last time, I mean, I had HAD it with the computer. I started getting mad. Slamming the mouse on the mouse pad.

Then, as I was having my little tantrum, my husband comes in and says "What, do you want to go to Best Buy and buy a new one?" Oh those magical words! Trust me......I was quick to say "YES!"

So now, as I sit here in my computer room, I am loving my new computer. A computer that no longer bogs down on me, freezes up, doesn't "not" respond or take forever to rotate my pictures that I've loaded from my camera. Ya know, it doesn't even take 10 minutes to load up after turning it on. WOW....WHAT A CONCEPT!

So get ready readers. I will be gracing this wonderful blogosphere with my posts again....whether you all like it or not!

Back in business, people.....

Trips...

If you've been following me for some time, you should know that we like to travel in this family. Whether it be your small weekend trip or a week or two long getaway. We love it either way! Although, it IS mostly weekend trips that we take cause it allows us not getaway without asking for the time off.

As parents, it's proves to be difficult sometimes to get away....just the two of us. I'm sure those of you who are parents, can relate.

Sometimes my husband and I getaway once a year away but then sometimes, not at all. However, this year we are going to get 2 trip without the Noodle! How excited we are!

Don't get me wrong, I of all people enjoy taking my daughter places with us. In fact, I have declined getaway trip because I will miss my baby girl. I just enjoy her with us. BUT....I know it is very healthy for us parents to have our "special time together.

So, coming up next weekend is....


{via}

This is a weekend trip that is drivable (3 hours) at least. We are actually going up there for a friend and her dad's birthday. It's been a year since we've been there but not by ourselves so we are really excited!

Then, coming in June for our 10 year wedding anniversary, we are heading to our annual place....none other than Vegas, Baby!

My husband and I really look forward to our annual trip here! Each time we go, we try and stay at a different place that we haven't stayed either. Makes it fun and "new" for us, since we have stayed at a bunch of the hotels there. Also, since Vegas is always building new hotels, there is always somewhere new to stay anyways. Should be fun!!!

Then, to top it off....my boss decided to give my husband and I his Jetblue points which is enough for two roundtrip tickets to Vegas or somewhere on this side of the country. So we are checking places out so we can take our daughter. Kind of thinking maybe San Diego, since we've never been.

Needless to say, we have lots to look forward to! Can't wait :O)

Six Word Saturday!

It's Been A Quick Three Weeks!

Indeed it has been!

So much has happened too!

Update posts to come!

~~~

Now head on over to Cate's to see what others are saying.