Jumping on Beds..........

This Makes Me Happy!

 Who needs new CHA products when you have cute little embellishment makers right here at home???

Cam made me this happy little picture and I scrapped it right away......it was just the cutest sun and clouds I have ever seen!!!  

She is such a fun loving gal!! 

We have been busy bees all day organizing and cleaning!  We have new neighbors and we learned a tip from them....to add a cinnamon air freshener to our air filter system...unfortunately, it took 3 trips to Home Depot to get what we needed....actually 2 trips and one waiting to happen!  We have been cleaning and then made the mistake of resting and now we have run out of gas!  But, I just ate a Hostess Chocolate Cupcake!!! YUM! and now I am ready to get back to work!  

We had a baseball scare today!!!  Mannie left his beloved mitt at the park this morning!!  Thankfully, we went back and found it......but I learned something new about him today......his glove is VERY important to him!! and it is 20 years old.....given to him by a coach at UCLA....it is from Japan......I never knew all this stuff about him....I felt bad for him, I could see the panic in his face.....and with the upcoming trip to PR, I could see him envisioning trying to play with a new mitt....I could see it was as if he had lost his Teddy bear or favorite blankie!!!   

But all is good and back to normal here....glove is back in his bat bag.....safe as can be!!  PHEW!

Interesting to learn new things about people you know so well.

Well.....back to work.  Computer and cupcake break officially over!!

Happy Saturday!

Friday is a Good Day!

I love Friday!!! 

So happy today is Friday!!

We have nothing overly exciting planned for the weekend and I am happy about that! 

I scrapped over the last week or so....3 LO's.
 

My favorite is the travel one because it brings back great memories of our summer trip to the cabin.  

I love to travel!!  Although I don't like to fly and I am already having panic attacks about our upcoming trip.....we have to switch flights and that is like the biggest nightmare for a person who has a major flying phobia! But somehow I will get thru it.....most likely clutching onto the kids and praying over and over again......I am not a good example for them....I know, I need to be better....so they won't have a fear.....but so far, they love to fly so I am okay.  

Then a little Cam love...
 

and my two goof balls....these 2 crack each other up all the time.....the source is usually some kind of potty talk....I can hear them whispering and laughing.  They are funny together. 
Have a great weekend!!! Yay Friday!!!  

On my "List"!

Someday, I will have this awesome piece of technology.......

Anyone else excited? 

Happy to have a date with Mannie again today!!  

Not much else to report.....a very unexciting week......trying to get some chores done this week.

Have  a good day!

CHA

Suzy invited Laura and I to check out CHA with her yesterday! We had a great time! CHA was definitely more mellow....less crowds than had been 2 years ago when I last attended. We had a lot of laughs and it was fun to have the day to hang with friends and see all the pretty projects!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Gingerbread Boy

 Another wacky day of weather here!

Everyone had school so Mannie and I got to have another date this week!! We went out to breakfast at Cinnamon Productions!  We sat and chatted and discussed things we would like to see in Puerto Rico.  Then we got some groceries.  

Cami told us that one of the classes at preschool came thru her room looking for the gingerbread boy!  My kids never got that experience that they can remember so I thought we could easily do that here!  I still had a box of gingerbread mix from Trader Joe's.....so first we all mixed and got it ready for the oven.  Then the kids played upstairs for a little while as the G boy cooked in the oven.

Then  Mannie read the kids the story while I secretly placed notes around the house and I took the G boy out of the oven and decorated him!
 

After, Mannie came downstairs while the kids went back to playing.  He "opened the oven to peek on the G boy" and unfortunately, the G boy jumped out of the pan and ran away!!!!!
   

So the kids hunted around the house and found the little notes I hid.  

Teddy tried to eat him...
 

Cami's dinosaur tried...
 

Mamma Bear tried.....
 

and finally Cara's dog tried......OMG! At this moment, Cara  got so mad!  She realized it was us that hid the notes....how could we try to BLAME her dog??????   We lied to them!!!!  I told her to chill and just go along for the little ones....
 

Anyway.....they caught the G Boy just in time as he almost made it out the front door!!! Phew!!
 

The house smells of gingerbread!!!

I miss Christmas!!! 

.............and why does my daughter have to grow older and lose her young childhood magic???  :(

Anyway.....Mannie took them to the dentist now as I write this..fingers crossed!

Have a good night!

My girl.....growing up......time is just flying by like the wind!!
 

Mr. Thrifty

 I was cracking up last night when I found Mannie taping up his slippers! 

OMG!!!  The man was TAPING his slippers!!!

Taping!!!

I am a shopaholic.....he is taping his slippers.......how we have managed to stay happily married for 11 years is a mystery!

I would like say that we balance each other out....I have said it....but really, we are still at our opposite ends of the spending spectrum after all these years.

I can say that I have loosened him up.

and I can say that he is the voice of reason when it comes to the spending. 

He brings me down to reality on a daily basis when  I come to him with my grandiose ideas.....p.s....grandiose = expensive.

I think Mannie should be writing a column for a newspaper...."Ask Mr. Thrifty".  

This guy managed to use the bottle of cologne I gave him in 1996 for 11 years.

He can keep a tube of toothpaste that I would have given up on...for another month. 

Almost out of hand soap?? Not at the Adams house.....just add a little water in that bottle and you are good for another week!

He IS Mr. Thrifty.

The thing is.....I admire the guy.....I respect him and adore him.  I wish I could be 1/2 as thrifty as he is....although don't tell him that.

That all being said though....you can bet your best pair of slippers that next time I am getting the 3rd degree about some "unreasonable" purchase.....the old "Duct Tape Slipper" defense is being used for sure.  I can hear it now......"This coming from the man who tapes his slippers together!!!"

Cats and Dogs here...

 It is raining, it's pouring.....the old man is snoring!

Hope you are having a terrific day!

Well....we are enjoying a rain storm here in Cali.....should be here all week.  Of course, we can enjoy since we are in no danger of a mud slide here.....hopefully other areas can enjoy the rain.  It is thundering, hailing and pouring buckets here right now.

Mannie and I had a date today.  

I am happy that the rain allows us to have more "us" time together....thank you rain gods!!  I have been feeling a need to hang out and chat with him lately....he has been very busy with work so the rain gives him a break.  We had a really nice time hanging out!  

My good deed a day isn't working out so well.....yesterday, I couldn't think of anything....so as Mannie and I sat eating a bagel today, I told him I wasn't doing what I set out to do and he said, "You did do a good deed yesterday, you helped me with office paperwork!"....well, that wasn't exactly what I was aiming for....so I am still doubling up but I am glad that he appreciated my efforts anyway.

Today we hit  Target and I picked up some cute items in the dollar section...I am making a goodie bag for a "girl" patient in the hospital.....who is this mystery girl? I don't know but I want to drop it off and let the nurses decide who to give it to.... if they even allow that sort of thing but I will find out.  It is just a little plastic bag with a heart pillow, a journal and crayons.  I was going to make a card and have the kids make cards too.  

Hot cocoa for teachers and bagels for fire fighters are on my list as well.  I think the teachers around here could use some hot cocoa....tensions over possible paycuts are looming.

Echo.....I loved the paying for dinner idea....what a treat.  Joann, I checked the UPS thing out at the UPS store and he hadn't heard about it....said they have actually stopped shipments to Haiti but I may try to call the main UPS.  The man at the store actually told me to just donate to the Red Cross.

Anyway.....hope you are having fun......anymore ideas?  Trying to keep things down to a minimum price and more of a quick thing rather than donating an entire day of my time kinda thing.....although that would be very rewarding I am sure!  

I was thinking that bringing blankets to homeless people or tarps for that matter would be amazing during this crazy monsoon here.

Anyway, nothing exciting to report.....just an ordinary day here at home.

Stay warm and dry!  

A Fun Day in LA

 Well.....I did it....I did not turn on my computer yesterday.....although, I did watch the Golden Globes last night.....and I didn't talk to anyone on the phone. 

I consider that a successful mission.  Golden Globes were okay, I didn't see the before stuff which is actually the best part for me since I usually have not even seen any of the movies.  I thought Reese Witherspoon looked amazing!!! 

We had an adventurous day......and by adventurous, I mean, we left the house and explored! 

I feel lucky to live so close to LA.....I know I have said this before but living on the east coast and seeing all these cool places my whole life and then getting to see them in person is amazing.  We took the kids to an old western town where they used to shoot movies.  It was a small town but so cool to me anyway and in a beautiful location set in the Santa Monica mountains.  We saw some guys there with a microphone taping creaking noises on the old boards....I guess for sound effects in some movie.  As we were leaving, a girl all dressed up in a gorgeous dress was arriving with a little entourage to take pictures for something....it was a neat spot to people watch. 
  

Not only that but we went on a little walk thru the mountains.  Cami was collecting rocks along the way....or should I say boulders.  I explained to her that one does not collect boulders when out on a hike or one might exhaust herself too soon. 
  

It rained on us.  The sound of the rain falling on the tin roof in this house was gorgeous! 
 

We played in the leaves....
 

Then I tried to convince Mannie to take a drive over to the Beverly Hills area to see some Golden Globe action but we ended up at UCLA.  
 The kids have actually never gotten a tour of campus....which made me wonder what they must think about UCLA.....Mannie playing on the alumni team....it was neat that they could finally understand that it is actually a REAL place with buildings and that Daddy actually lived there and learned stuff there.  It let me explain the notion of going to college in a more understandable way.

We got some donuts and hot chocolate because everyone was cold.
   

We got a new layer of clothes for those who were the coldest. 
 

We checked out the amazing student center....omg....school is way more high tech and amazing for kids these days.....they had a HUGE, I mean HUGE big screen t.v. in this lounge area so we stopped there for a little bit to check out some of the playoff games.  
 

I witnessed a kid stealing from the UCLA store.....I could have stopped him too but I didn't want to hurt him since I wasn't 100% sure he was stealing....a kid ran by me with a heap of sweatshirts in his arms....a girl was chasing him but she didn't say anything like, "Stop that kid or help" so I wasn't sure exactly what he was doing......but he ran right by me, practically into me....so I could have either grabbed him or tripped him but I didn't.  So, I felt a little bad about that.

We checked out the Athletic museum....wow, UCLA sure has won alot of awards!!
   

We checked out the baseball section so I had to get a pic of Mannie....

One with Mannie's hero......incidently, Charlie and Coach share the same birthday and yes, we did have a mini discussion on how to incorporate John Wooden's name into Charlie's....but we didn't.
 

 Anyway, then we walked back to Westwood where we had parked and ate dinner at a place called Enzo's....a little pizza joint.  

Then we made it home in time to shower, get cozy and watch the Golden Globes. 

I did do something good for someone else.....my goal for this week is to do something good each day for just $10.  

Yesterday, we presented a homeless man a Subway gift card at dinner time.....he was so happy!!!  

Today, I am not sure......it is getting late.....I wanted to get $10 worth of bagels and bring them over to the fire department.  But maybe I will do that tomorrow.  That means I have to think of something else for today. 

I have decided that since I cannot help the earthquake victims, I can help or do nice things for those people who help others everyday.....that is my contribution to the world....for this week anyway.  

If you have any simple ideas....please throw them my way.  I still have 5 more days to fill up. 

Anyway, we had a really fun day yesterday and I can honestly say (to elude to my Sat. night post) that happiness is a choice.....I was such a grump on Sat. and I could have made the choice to snap out of it and I didn't.  Focusing on fun and then with a little good deed really did make yesterday special.  

What is Important

 What is important in your life?

Important to me.....my husband and kids.....our families......friends......God is wrapped up in all of that of course.

But there is more to life than the little world we set up for ourselves......there are people trying to dig out from under a building right now as I type this...or maybe giving up hope of a rescue or on humanity or themselves.  

There are so many bigger things going on in our world and we get so caught up in our little day to day things.  I am sure this post sounds very Oprahish of me right now.....I am not being Oprah....I am not lecturing.....I am saying that I need to remember this for myself....if you reading this and feel somewhat of a sting reading this, then maybe there is something in your life right now that you have put WAY too much importance in worrying over and maybe you need to rethink something.....reading this may annoy you and think I am trying to tell you something.....I am not.  

I am trying to say this......

I spent the entire day being affected in a negative way about 3 different situations today(I am sorry but too personal to write about)....but all those negative feelings and emotions that I felt got me no where.....and it didn't contribute to the world in anyway whatsoever....I didn't contribute to this world in a positive way today......tomorrow, I will wake up and contribute something positive to this world...by first starting my day without outside influences affecting my mood.....then by actively pursuing the day with love and happiness in my heart for all.  I will do something fun with my family and spend some mental energy thinking of a way to make someone's day special or to help someone in need. 

I will thank God for this day as usual.....not only for this day but the people in my life who make it special (if you are reading this, then you are on that list)...and for this earth we get to live on....the beauty.....I will be thankful for my health and safety. I will pray for others......and then as I said I will actively pursue a way to enjoy this day....not bring anyone else's life down.

I encourage you all to do the same......again not being Oprah......but sometimes, I think we all need a little reminder......I got mine today so I am passing it on to you........ENJOY life.......Appreciate those around you.......spread happiness not unhappiness.  

I may cut us all off from civilization for a day to get a break from television and computers and phones.

I leave you with the photo above of balloons........balloons are just Happy!! Dont' you agree? 

Be happy!

Friday!!!

 I scrapped another LO yesterday and today as I was looking at a few blogs....sort of like reading the paper for some people....for me reading a few blogs to get the day going......anyway, I came across Julie's blog and I couldn't believe it!  

That is why I love blogging.....there is always someone out there feeling what you are feeling.....I was thinking about all the laundry i was up to my eyeballs in, so I decided that would make a fun LO and then I go over to Julie's blog and see she is talking about laundry too....funny!!  And btw, I also just mailed my family's presents on Monday.....yes, I never made it to the post office that week before Christmas!!!  But I have to say, it felt so good to finally get those boxes out of the house because everytime I walked by them, I felt bad that they didn't make it to my family before Christmas!!

Anyway, that is all for today, just sharing my LO.

I am so happy it is Friday!  I am ready for some family time.....no plans which could be either good or bad depending on the motivation level of all 5 of us.

Hope you have a fun weekend.