Marvelously Moody......

We were out to dinner tonight and during conversation Rafe tells us that when he grows up he'd like to get an owl for a pet (he's a bit Harry Potter obsessed). I told him he wouldn't like having an owl because he doesn't like pets that eat other pets...owls eat mice/rats. He thought about it for a minute and then agreed that no, he thought it would make him sad to have to feed his rats to it. I was in a teasing mood and said "this is why I don't have a bunny. Jarrad would eat it." Rafe got very indignant and told Jarrad "if you're going to go around eating our pets, I think I'm going to get an electric eel!"

Not his most hilarious, but it tickled me anyway!

I started going to water aerobics classes about a year and a half ago. I completely LOVE them! I have, however, taken extended periods off from time to time for various reasons. My last vacation from them ended a couple of weeks ago. It was the longest ever. I was out of commission for about 4 months due to my back being completely screwed. I know something like that should HELP my back, but it wasn't. It seemed to be making things worse so I stopped until I felt better...which took FOREVER!

Two weeks ago I started back to class. I knew that the instructor (Brendan) had a serious degenerative knee issue and was on a waiting list for a cadaver bone that would be a match for him. Turns out he got the call for his new bone the day before I returned. So the gym has replaced him for the next 8 weeks. They couldn't find anyone to take all of his classes though so they divided it up between 3 different instructors. Classes are Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday...each instructor is in charge of one of those days.

The Tuesday and Thursday instructors are awesome. My only complaint is that they don't get in the water with us the way Brendan does. No biggie though. The workouts they do are awesome...different from Brendan, but actually even better in some ways. The Friday person...sucks. She has tried to turn it into a water latin dancing class. This works about as well as you can imagine it does. We get pretty much NO workout and it's nearly impossible to do the moves in the water. The moves we CAN do are not exercise at all. It's like standing there and wiggling a little. UGH! SO frustrating! I am SO limited in my workout ability due to my back issues. The water aerobics is something I can do (Yay!!!). It just sucks that I'm wasting my time in this Friday class and being so limited when I'm all geared up for a good workout. I don't want to stop going though because I don't want to get out of the habit. I'm SUCH a creature of habit/routine that if I can get myself to do something like this, I really have to stick with it religiously or I'll quickly put it aside. Something tells me I'm not going to like Friday mornings much for awhile...grrr.

DINNERS

1. Potato Tortilla Roll-ups, spanish rice, salad (from last week)
2. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes with horseradish, wax beans
3. Cheesy Turkey&Broccoli&Rice, caesar salad, garlic bread
4. Grilled Flank Steak, Bacon Tater Bake, peas & carrots
5. Scalloped Potatoes with Ham, green beans, rolls, fresh fruit salad (Grandpa's Birthday)
6. Hamburger Casserole, salad, crescent rolls
7. Jarrad cooks


DESSERTS

1. Raspberry Truffle Brownies (from last week)
2. Deep, Dark Mocha Torte (from last week)
3. Cherry Pie (Grandpa's Birthday)

DINNERS
1. Crescent Beef Burritos, red beans & rice, spanish salad (from last week)
2. Spiced Italian Porkchops, butter and herb angel hair, broccoli (from last week)
3. Manwiches, Friday Night Potato Wedges (like Irish Nachos)
4. Potato Tortilla Roll-ups, spanish rice, spanish salad
5. Goulash, green beans, rolls
6. Swiss Chicken and Green Bean Bake, salad, pineapple
7. Jarrad plans and cooks once a week

DESSERTS
1. Raspberry Truffle Brownies
2. Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Deep Dark Mocha Torte

Having mentioned that I am an INSANE menu planner, my friend Michelle has requested that I post my menus. I'm only too happy to oblige. I am obsessed with my menus. Menu-making day is my favorite day of the week! (Tuesdays btw)

I'm such an anal planner that I actually plan every meal right down to Rafe's lunches. Now..we don't always STICK to this menu (surprisingly often we do though). So when we don't use something, it just remains on the list for the next week. I won't share all the lunch stuff..it's boring. I'll just share the 7 dinners and 3 desserts that are on the list each week. If anything ever sounds interesting, don't hesitate to request recipes. Just don't be disappointed that we're not the healthiest eaters out there.

DINNERS

1. Hot Chicken Salad, green beans, croissants
2. Snake Alley Noodles, stir-fry veggies, egg rolls
3. Lasagna, salad, garlic bread
4. Crescent Beef Burritos, red beans & rice, Salsa Salad
5. Ham Dijon Pasta, salad, homemade mini cheese biscuits
6. Broiled Orange Roughy, long grain and wild rice, broccoli
7. Spiced Italian Pork Chops, angel hair with butter and herbs, peas & carrots

DESSERTS

1. Fudge
2. Marbled Chocolate Bars
3. Ice Cream


As far as desserts go...sometimes something will stay on the list for a LONG time if I don't get around to making it, but most of the time it's pretty high turnover. Once I make something, I only allow 3 days to eat it or it starts getting stale so I throw it out. This does make for a lot of waste, but I really love having a bite of something sweet at the end of dinner. It's like my turn-off switch for eating for the day. I also just love to make desserts..haha.

I've all, but given up my Livejournal as anything more than reading material on a couple of friend's lives. I feel like rambling a bit in it today though..even though I haven't got much to ramble about. Maybe a good update will inspire me to start posting again.

The last couple of years I've written long look-backs at the prior year when the new year rolls around. This year I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. 2008 just seemed like such a wasted year to me. We spent the entire year just waiting for something to happen....and we're still waiting. I could write about things like my child starting Kindergarten, that my girlfriends have finally started getting together to do things on a regular basis and how fun that is, or the addition of a silly little dog to our family. Those are positive, share-worthy things. However...those are not the things that mark 2008 for me. It's this business (or lack thereof) that this year is all about. We've been so close to having an investor so many times now just to have them decide that it looks TOO good on paper to be true. That's what happened with Richard Branson....or at least that's what we assume happened. He called Jarrad personally to tell him that he had a few loose ends on another project to tie up, but that he was VERY interested in going into business with him. That's the last we heard MONTHS ago. That's the same thing that happened with 4 or 5 other investors this year. We are currently hoping like crazy that's not what's happening with the person Jarrad's currently in talks with. Hopefully there's just been a delay in communication because of the holidays. I have to admit things are starting to feel disturbingly familiar though.

It's taken 4 months, but our little dog is FINALLY housebroken! At least...good enough. I still don't trust him completely in that arena, but he has finally at least gotten the idea that he's not supposed to go in the house. It took him FOREVER for that concept to take hold. As a result, he's getting to spend a lot more time in the house with us and is shaping up to be a really enjoyable little guy. Now if we could only stop him from being nippy with Rafe, he'd be perfect! He's actually quite a smart little thing in areas that don't have to do with potty. He learned to "sit" in about an hour and has been doing it consistantly for months. He also learned his household boundary with only a couple of days of reminding. We don't like him to have full run of the place. I don't want him in the cat's sand box or rooting around under beds. So he's only allowed to be in the living room and kitchen. He does great with it. And he's so funny! He's so incredibly stange and ugly that it's adorable. He's stopped looking much like a Chihuaua and more like some sort of bizarre cattle dog. We're starting to think he's not so much a Chihuaua mix as perhaps a descendant of a Chihuaua mix. For one thing...he's about 5 times the size of a large chihuaua and he's nowhere near done growing. He's way too long which makes us wonder if there's dachsund in there somewhere, but his legs are SUPER long and shorter in the front than in the back, which makes him constantly look a little scared since his back naturally arches in a way that makes him look like he's tucking his butt under. It doesn't help that he skitters everywhere he goes on little delicate feet that don't match his bulkier body. He's a very solid little guy with a super deep..almost italian greyhoundish chest and a thick neck. The only part of him that looks a little Chihuauaish is the eyes that are slightly bulgy, but they're powder blue. His fur looks Queensland Heelerish. He's just so very odd....a true Heinz 57, we're thinking.

Well..I'm done rambling for today. Hopefully now that I've broken the ice again, I'll feel more like sharing the little stuff.

This story is much funnier written in conversation form, but I'll set the stage for it first. A couple of days ago while I was fixing dinner, Rafe was playing that he was a fix-it man. He had a toy screwdriver and was going around the house "fixing" things. Sometimes he really cracks me up...the ideas he comes up with and the way he phrases things. So this is absolutely verbatim...

Rafe: Alright Ma'am. I've fixed your bookshelf. What else can I do for you?
Me: Oh...you've fixed almost everything in here. How about fixing everything in your room?
Rafe: (in a sharp tone) Ma'am!! I do NOT live here! I am a fixing man and I have my own house!
Me: Okay. Why don't you go into my son's room and fix his bed?

After the "fixing".....

Rafe: It's fixed Ma'am. Now what?
Me: I think you've fixed everything. It's time for you to go home to your wife and kids.
Rafe: Oh..I don't have a wife. I do have some kids.
Me: Oh? How did you get kids without a wife?
Rafe: Well...I had a girlfriend once and she owned some kids. It was really sad...she left.
Me: What happened?
Rafe: (in a very sad voice) It turns out she only loved me for my socks. It was over when I changed them.
Me (when I had finished laughing): And why did she leave you her kids?
Rafe: (without even cracking a smile) She didn't like their socks either.

I am shocked at myself because I did something I had specifically planned NOT to do. I bought a dog.

We've always planned on getting a dog at some point. Jarrad LOVES dogs. Rafe LOVES dogs. Me? Not so much. I was fine with it though because I figured it would be Jarrad's and Rafe's and I wouldn't have to be incredibly involved except to give it a pat on the head now and then and a bite to eat. We were going to get a big dog once we had a yard because I'm not a fan of little dogs...don't like dogs in the house, etc. etc.

Friday, I had to run by the store in the afternoon and since it was right beside the pet store, Rafe and I stopped in just for the fun of looking at all the animals. We do this often. I've never even been TEMPTED by a puppy. However, amongst the dozen or so gorgeous pure-bred puppies, there was this itty bitty Chihuaua/Terrier mix. He was white with little tan freckles all over, his ears stood straight up and were so tall that they folded over backwards at the tips, his little legs were almost too long for his body, and his BRIGHT blue eyes were a bit on the wall-eyed side which gave him the appearance of being a bit retarded...or crazy. I don't much like dogs and I absolutely can't STAND Chihuauas, but I fell completely in love with this little guy at first sight. I cried all the way home because I wisely didn't buy him. After agonizing about it all night and most of Saturday, we decided Saturday afternoon to go see if he was still there and if he was, it would be a sign that he was meant for me. He was still there! SO...we've named him Sinatra in honor of his unusual blue eyes. And he's not Jarrad and Rafe's dog (although they really like him too)...He's MINE! He's not a dog. He's just MINE.

I have rarely been as happy as I was to get this little guy. I've never really loved a dog before, but I can't imagine life without him now. He's absolutely wonderful and I LOVE having him! He's even proving easy to train. And to top it all off...my cat who hates EVERY animal...likes him just fine....accepted him immediately. This is a cat who has terrorized every other animal it's come into contact with. I really feel like he was meant for this family. And he's small enough that it's not even a big deal that we're in an apartment. I am just SO in LOVE!

I am SOOOO not looking forward to tomorrow. It starts with a trip to Fresno to get the results of an ultrasound Rafe had done yesterday. I just know they're going to tell us that he needs surgery and I don't know how I'm going to deal with that. He has a hard enough time with the easy doctor's appointments. He was terrified and cried off and on just having an ultrasound done...completely painless. I can't imagine what it will be like for him to have to have an IV. Ughhhh....

After Rafe's appointment, we have to come back to Visalia where I have a dentist's appointment. I hadn't been to the dentist in 17 years until last week. I thought I had chipped a tooth, but when I went in it was just tartar buildup. GROSS!! Anyway...I had x-rays done fully expecting to hear horrendous things, but apparently I either have really good teeth or really good hygiene habits. I have no cavities in all this time. However, I do have some buildup since I haven't had a cleaning in so long. Because of that, I have to have something called a "deep cleaning". They did half of my mouth last week. YIKES! That was SOOOO incredibly unpleasant. I think they gave me 30 shots before they ever started the machine that does the deep cleaning. Even with all those shots (OW!) and nitrous oxide, that was SOOO painful! I have to have the other half of my mouth done tomorrow. I'm DREADING it!!! You can bet from now on I'll go have the cleanings done every 6 months like I'm supposed to. Anything to avoid that "deep cleaning" again!

Rafe has been on a roll lately with cracking us up. I realized I should be recording some of these things that make me giggle. So when I remember to, I'll share here. He had two moments yesterday I felt worth sharing.

1. Rafe had his first dramatic teen moment yesterday. Since he's only 5, I'm dreading the future a bit. We were standing in line at the checkout at the grocery store when Rafe looks over the top of the basket at the magazine rack and says "Hey Mom...hand me that money magazine." I look over and he's referring to a copy of Forbes Investment. I told him "no..you don't need that. It's for adults." His normal response would have been to whine or cry a little or use "you're hurting my feelings" to try to get his way. Not today. Today, he looks at me very seriously and says "fine. Don't buy it for me. But you should know you're ruining my life".

2. Jarrad and I had our old yearbooks out so I could remind him who Angela Hill was since she and I have been talking over Myspace this week. While we were looking at one book together, Rafe grabbed another and started flipping through, occasionally asking me who people were. All of a sudden Rafe gets VERY excited and says "Mom! Look! It's George Lopez!" I looked to see who he was talking about and it was a picture of Hector Villicana. Jarrad and I both started cracking up and I told Rafe "no no...that's Hector. You know him! He's Alyssa's husband." Rafe looks very impressed and says "wow...I didn't even know I'd played with George Lopez!". Think we watch too much TV??