Memories: Diane - Part 1

I have a story to tell. In fact, it's one of my profound memories growing up. This will actually be a story in parts.

Now, the reason I wanted to write and share this is because this morning driving to work I was listening to my Smooth Jazz channel. I really love Smooth Jazz! I listen to all sorts of music to heavy metal, rock, pop, Enigma & Enya (what category do they fall under?) but NOT, and I mean a capital NOT, Rap! Now, I have found that some of my favorite artist have jumped on board with this whole "featuring" so-n-so, such as Kanye West and 'lil Wayne. Eck! You'll never find me purchasing their music. Can you really call that music? In my opinion, NO! But that's my opinion and I'm entitled to it, so there.

Anyways......

So, I was listening to my Smooth Jazz and this music always takes me back to my childhood and makes me think of all the memories of growing up and certain occasions. Well, the song I was listening to reminded me of my mom's best friend back in the day. In fact, I choked up and nearly started to cry. Her name was Diane. This is where my story begins.

My mom had recently moved back and my parent's remarried. Then, when my mom was looking for work since she quit her other job when she came back. I think this was around 1982. She was told of a lady named Diane who was in construction and that my mom went to meet her about working together. Diane lived in the same town as us and had 1 step-daughter, Wendy (who I became best friend's with), a son and then was also pregnant with her soon-to-be 2nd son.

I can't remember how everything played out since I was only 8 yrs old at the time. All I know is my mom and Diane started working together. They would clean the model homes for a builder in one of the expensive areas and also started working for the N. California home builder, Seeno. Well, because they did their job so well, the owner of the builder in the expensive area asked if they would clean their vacation home in Clear Lake, CA. They could stay there and enjoy the amenities of the vacation home for the weekend while they cleaned. They were on board! So was I and Diane's step-daughter, Wendy since we were old enough at the time to help clean.

We would spend a weekend each summer somewhere around 1985-1989 going to Clear Lake to clean this vacation home. It sat right on the lake too. Also on the property grounds was a guest house which was a 2-bdrm, 1 bath plus a loft. This would be mine and Wendy's to clean while our mom's cleaned the main house.

Wendy and I would stay up til all hours of the night snooping around in this guest house. One of the things I thought was interesting was, the owners were rich people yet they shopped at Kmart. I thought that was kind of funny at the time. Now that I am older, perhaps that's one of the reasons why they were so rich. They didn't need the biggest and best of things.

During one of our many late nights, I let Wendy put Sun-In in my hair. I don't even think they make that stuff anymore. I just remember going out on the lake the next day spending all my time in the sun that the stuff really lightened my hair. I thought it was cool too!! LOL

One time when we were driving to the Clear Lake for our weekend, I remember we stopped at an A&W in Calistoga. We were getting something to eat or drink. Don't remember. We had some tortilla chips and the jalapeno cheese dip. Yum! Diane would seriously take a huge dip into that dip and I was like "Come on, you're gonna eat it all" and she said she would just buy more. Well, a couple weeks ago my husband was eating some tortilla chips and the jalapeno cheese dip and thought of that incident cause I had previously told him about it.

During these days in Clear Lake, my mom, Diane, Wendy and I would have a blast! We would go to this one particular pizza place every time. It was so good! We even saw the movie Cobra with Sylvester Stallon there at one of the little theatres in town. Good times!

So many memories that I think of all the time, wishing there were some way I could recreate them, but I can't. The thought of that puts a lump in my throat and I just want to cry sometimes.

To be continued.....

Part 2 to come.

Idiot On Wheels!

I would really like to know what goes on in a guy's head to make him think that spinning his tires with smoke billowing for a good minute at 11pm at night, is so darn friggen cool. I mean really! These are things that I think they may be thinking at such times:

1. They think that girls think that it's a turn on.
Answer: Wrong. We think you're an idiot to do that!

2. They think that it makes them and their vehicle look like way cool.
Answer: Wrong. We think you're an idiot and it would be funny if you wrecked your car too!

3. They think the skid marks it makes in the street are cool cause they left their "mark".
Answer: Wrong again. All it's does is piss off the neighbors.

4. They think the sound and smoke they make is cool and funny.
Answer: Again, Wrong! All it does is piss us off cause if my child wakes up and loses sleep with having to go to school the next morning because you guys are so stupid and think you're so cool to be so obnoxious by doing that in your vehicle, it would only serve you right to wreck your truck driving it like that.

Yes, we had some lame-o guy in our neighborhood last night acting like this. Meanwhile, he had all the neighbors out to see what idiot was doing this. My husband told me to grab my camera in case he wrecked. By the time I got out there with the camera, the guy was gone.


I guess I should look at it in a positive way....

1. After 5 yrs of living here, we finally met one of our neighbors we've never met before.

2. There is one neighbor that sits in his car in his driveway every morning and always waves to us. Well, for the past month or so we haven't seen him. In fact, his car isn't even backed in the way he usually has it. Then I saw his wife doing the yard work which is something he does. I started to get worried so I checked the obituaries. I know, morbid but I didn't want to pry. Just figure it out on my own. Well, fortunately nothing turned up. Then last night when we finally met our one neighbor (who lives across the street from the one we got concerned about), we asked him what happened. He's okay, just in rehab. I'm just glad he's okay!!

Beginners Luck!

This weekend we went over to our friend's house for dinner and to play poker. As long as we have been friends, I believe this was the first time we actually went out to dinner with them. We really had a nice time. They have two boys and then my daughter. They are like bff's too.

So, as the evening went on, we got a game of poker started. Of course, my friend's oldest and my daughter wanted to play along with us adults. My friend's son has played before with my friend's but my daughter hasn't. She's actually likes to play blackjack. I know, you're all probably thinking "What the heck are they teaching poker and blackjack to their 6 yr old kids?" I don't know what my friend's excuse is but with us, remember, we love Vegas! I personally think it's funny watching my child trying to do the whole "poker face" type of look but at the same time, is this really appropriate?! I guess there are worse things.

Anyway, we figured my husband can help our daughter along until she kind of gets the hang of the game. We first start off with a few hands of Texas Hold'em and then we move onto 5 Card Stud, Deuces Wild. After a good several hands with my husband helping her out, she felt she was ready to play on her own. This is how the next hand played out....

My friend (the husband) deals the hand. There are six of us playing. We all look at our hands and decide which to discard for new cards. My daughter may like to play the whole "poker face" but she is not so good with her reactions. Once she got her replacement cards, she was all like "Oh yeah!".

Meanwhile, I get my replacement cards and I am really please with my hand. 4 of a kind. My daughter was being all cocky saying "Oh yeah, I have a good hand". I kept saying "It better be real good cause I don't think you're winning this one sweety." With a slight guilt feeling cause I don't want to hurt her feelings if she loses.

Everyone placed their bet or folded. We asked our daughter, "Are you betting?" She says yes, and I said "Are you sure cause I don't think you'll win this." She was absolutely sure! There was no changing her mind. She was confident. I matched her bet and raised her. She matched my raise. It was time to show our cards.....

WHAT??!!! My child had four 7's and a deuce to make the fifth 7. My child had 5 of a kind????!!!

Remember, this was her very FIRST hand on her own!! LOL! My child kicked my rear! Talk about beginners luck!

This was a first....

A funny story I just have to share with you all.

So, on Wednesday I picked my noodle up from my husband's job and head home. We were driving on the freeway and I had the window down. I don't have a convertible either. Regular window rolled down. When it's nice outside, I like to drive with it down. Even if it's hot, window must be down with a slight hint of A/C. Just a slight hint cause it give me a headache with the window up and the A/C hitting me.

So anyways, as I'm on the freeway I come to a split going from one freeway to another, I all of a sudden feel a SPLAT on my face, left temple area. I yell out "AHH!" and then feel my face with my hand. It was slightly wet. I had a feeling it was a bug but couldn't find any evidence of it. I look at my hand and it just look like water. I then start to look around in my hair, clothes and then my rear view mirror to see if I see anything. NOTHING!

I get home and go straight to the bathroom and look and search for a possible bug. I don't see anything until........."Ewwww, it's in my hair. Look baby, it's butt exploded. Oh gross, it exploded on my face. Disgusting!!! hahahaha."

I've been hit by little pebbles before while driving but this is a first for a bug....Gross!

My FFF!

It's that time again for Fabulous Foto Friday! I hope you all will join in. If you like taking pictures, then this is just the thing for you. Check here for the rules.

This week I honestly thought that I was going to have to open the vault to produce some pictures for this weeks Fabulous Foto Friday. To my surprise, I thought I would just take a quick look at my camera to see if I had anything worthy and was delighted that "Why, yes I do!!"

This past weekend I had gone over to my parent's house to visit as my aunt from Hawaii and my grandpa from Sonoma was out who I don't get to see very often at all. So we had gone to dinner and we all enjoyed the company. It was a lovely time!

(This picture is of my aunt, my cutie, my mom and my grandpa.)

While over my parent's house, I went in their backyard (It's a gardener's dream. It's absolutely gorgeous out there!) cause all the flowers were in bloom. I had to take advantage and get a few shots. I have more but I don't want to overwhelm you with flowers. That can end up being too boring at times. :o)

While my cutie pie was on spring break, I met up with one of my BFF's and got the kids together to play. We decided to go to the city park. Here are a few shots from that day.

Okay, now it's your turn!

If you already did yours, enter your name below in Mr. Linky so everyone can stop by and see what you have to share. Thanks for joining!!!!

Fabulous Foto Friday!

Welcome everyone!! It's that time again for Fabulous Foto Friday! If you weren't here last week, that's alright! My philosophy is "the more the merrier"!! So, I would love for you to join in :o)

So, here are the rules:

1. Post a special picture that you took during the week. If you have more than one that you want to post, that would be great also. It can be any kind of picture (i.e. funny, silly, weird, artsy, fun, whatever).

2. Write about what the picture is about and what it means to you.

3. Come back later and sign your name on Mr. Linky to share so we all can make our way to your blog and see your wonderful picture(s).

4. Be sure to comment on the person above you. If you want to comment on more than one person, I'd love that and I'm sure they would too! The more comments, the better :o)

I look forward to seeing what everyone has come up with to share!!

The inevitable end...

That's what my husband and I are feeling about his job right now. We need prayers. If you are the praying type, we would so greatly appreciate it if you can keep us in your prayers. I have faith and have been praying and hope that something positive will soon come of this.

My husband didn't sleep good last night. He works in a mall. In that mall were four major store anchors; Macy's, Sears, Mervyns and Gottschalks. We've already lost Mervyns. Yesterday we just got word that as of July 15th, we will be losing Gottschalks. This is why....they're going out of business. Anyone that knows this mall knows that it's already pathetic and slow. This hit will only make it worse.

Not only that, and to keep from saying too much cause my husband doesn't like his business all over the internet, there is a lot of inside issues (i.e. backstabbing) going on in the job that is proving who is friend and who is foe. My husband has continually looked for a job to get him out of the situation he is in and that has proved to be quite the challenge since no one is hiring due to the economy.

I have faith that God will direct us in the right direction. Whatever that may be. I am praying we can get by until things improve in this country. I just can't help but to stress a little. I still am not stressing that much at this point. Again, we have until July 15th until Gottschalks closes. Hopefully the economy will pick up by then and hopefully get another retailer to occupy either Mervyns space or Gottschalks space. Highly doubtful but I'll remain optimistic or just have pure faith in God that we can survive this.