Penny and Who? plus two

Sick Day

2010-01-19T11:11:00.001-08:00

The kids and I took a sick day today. It's pooring down rain, Kiah has a very stuffy nose and Taj's ear is bothering him. I called in sick to work and we are laying low to rest up and recoup so they don't get any worse. The fake fire dvd is playing on the tv and I'm sipping on my coffee well into the afternoon. I'm going to catch up on chores today and maybe cut Taj's hair. I love sick days.

Family Night

2009-10-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

We've started a new tradition in our household. It's family night!!!!! Yesterday was the first one and it went swimmingly. I've attempted to do similar things in the past but it never really worked into the routine well and the kids would rather have a friend over or go to a friends house than spend time with their boring old mom. Sundays seemed the obvious day to do it but things always come up, weather it be friends or family in town, work or one of the kids activities. I thought Monday night would be a great solution because I usually have Sun and Mon off and we can relax and do fun things in a clean and tidy house. I won't be distracted by things that need to get done.

The kids are growing up so fast and I find myself in regret every day for the time I've missed while being a single parent and working all the time( if I'm not at work I'm working around the house). I see them a lot but I feel checked out, like I'm going through the motions. Were around each other but I'm not engaging with them enough. So instead of going another day regretting the time I don't spend with them, I decided to just set aside one day after school where I'm just there with them. Not on the phone not cleaning the house not on the computer, but present. I had to remind myself that their still here now living with me and we have some more years left before they leave me and go to college. Stop regretting and do something!!!!

The first family night went like this. I went to the library before I picked them up and got a book that I can read aloud to them. Bedknob and broomstick was the choice. I also got a movie we could all watch together. Summer of the Monkeys. The kid's got home, I annouced family night. Kiah was really bummed because she's signed up for a photography class at the boys and girls club on Mondays. I told her "sorry honey but family night is more important than photography" Once I told Taj that I got some of the pillsburry easy bake halloween cookies that I have never bought and would never let them have, he was very excited for family night to begin. The kids did their homework while I baked the cookies, emptied the dishwasher and made chilli and cornbread. Kiah tried to turn the TV on to watch netflix and I stopped her and diverted her to the halloween decorations while we waited for Taj to finish his homework. We then watched the movie together, then I read aloud to them and before I knew it, it was bed time. Quite simple but we were together the whole time. I think it will make us closer as a family if we can do this no matter what!!!! At least once a week. The key is that we are spending the eavening TOGETHER!

Next family night I think we'll cook something yummy together and maybe play a board game. I know it sounds exciting but you can't come. It's family night.

Balloons and Boxes

2009-01-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

When we started packing for our move to CA the kids rediscovered their love for boxes. They will stay busy for hours whith a pile of boxes. However I could not spare any of my boxes because I needed them for packing. I had to make them take down their box town so I could finish packing and promised them they could have them when we unpacked. It was great they were in box heaven when we did finally move into the house. For a several days they were busy constructing a town and a rockband complete with guitars and a drum set. I wish I had taken a picture of it. I didn't think about it until yesterday when I was disassembling it for the recycling bin. There was lots of packing and colored electrical tape used for guitar straps and decoration. They have no idea what I have done to their creations. Where does one keep a cardboard set of instruments?

The other simple pleasure they have recently rediscovered is the ballon. Taj bought a balloon kit that teaches you how to make balloon animals and lots of other balloon creations. The kids spent several days constructing hats, poodles, flowers and so on. They even made up their own creations. I even contemplated hiring them out for parties! But I again was asking myself "Where does one put all of these lovely creations?" I then popped them all and put them in the garbage. I know I'm evil. They have been laying around in a box for at least three weeks so their time was over.

My point to all this is this. Kids, no matter the age be it 1 or 11 have more fun whith open ended creative play than they do with any expensive noisy toy you can buy them. Even if they end up in the garbage when we are tired of finding them strewn about the house. So if you are having company and you want to keep your kids busy and quiet in the other room your list of supplies is as follows. boxes, packing tape, markers, pillows and blankets, ballons. put some food in there too and you wont see them for days.

Do I hear an Amen?

I Love Hotels

2009-01-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

The kids have been wining about missing out on all the snow in Seattle so we took an overnight trip up to the closest snow park around (Mt Pinos Nordic Base). It took us 2.5 hours to get there. The kids had fun sledding for a few hours and then we headed to the hotel just in time for check in. The hotel was affordable and fabulouse. They have movie rentals, cable, clean and comfortable rooms, wifi and FREE BREAKFAST! I love a hotel with free breakfast. We checked out on Sat and headed back up the mountain for more sledding. The snow was compact and icy but all in all I think the kids had fun.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-18T08:27:00.001-08:00

finally !

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2008-10-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

The kids and I had fun making these cup cakes for Kiah's class. Actually the kids did everything. I just stood there and read the recipe to them and kind of directed them. But I didn't touch anything until the icing. Kiah and I did the icing.

Some Recent Pictures

2008-10-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

Kiah continues to look foward to riding lessons every week
This is what whe have now instead of a snake. They are so cute!

Kiah's birthday party was a blast

Neigh to Premarin! Spread the word

2008-09-19T22:23:00.000-07:00

The following video's are very disturbing! I've seen animal cruelty video's before but It's been awhile and I had forgotten how sick it makes me feel. Literally like throwing up! Anyone who buys these products are just as guilty as the ones who torture and slaughter them! It's happening now, every day! How and why! Let's be smart consumers and do our best to find out where our animal byproducts are coming from. If you eat meat/dairy/eggs then be very selective when chosing which one you buy. There are very few producers who take the time to care about the animals. Do your homework. Don't turn the other cheek. You might be eating sadness. Maybe that's why American's are all depressed. For the most part I am very deliberate and carefull about the products I buy but I am just as guilty as the next person by occasionally grabbing whatever out of convinience. Not without some guilt. No More! I will never! Now get busy. You have some homework to do. I'll let you know what I find out. I already know that Organic Valley is good. But don't be fooled by Organic. Some have gotten too big and commercial. I could go on and on about this so I'll stop now so you can watch the damn video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjVuseclfxY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAFoWXROyAc

The Panda Fun Run

2008-09-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

The biggest fundraiser of the year for Virginia Peterson Elementary!
This is a chance for the kids to have some fun while getting fit and raising money for their school.
Here is how you can help!
Over the next two weeks Taj and Kiah will be collecting donations for the fun run. These donations will be flat rate donations. No per lap pledges. Which is a good thing because last year Kiah ran the most laps in her whole school! Suggested donation is $5 or $10.

Each group of students will run, walk or jog for 20 minutes. The student who does the most laps in their class recieves a T-shirt. The class with the most donations will recieve an ice cream party.

The donations will go toward assemblies, field trips, playground equipment and classroom enhancements.

The Kids love to win prizes!

-everyone who participates recieves a gold medal

-each student who brings in 25-49.99 dollars recieves a frisbee.

-50 or more recieve a t shirt and frisbee

- Grand Prize! The top 9 students school wide who bring in the most donations will be picked up by limosine and go out for a pizza lunch with the principal. They will also recieve a frizbee and t-shirt. WOW!

Payment Options

1. Make checks payable to Virginia Peterson PTA
Mail To: Taj and Kiah
363 tanglewood Dr
Paso Robles 93446
-or-
2. Click on the handy dandy donate button in the top right corner of this page and pay it directly into my Pay Pal account.

The kids will turn in their donations on Friday September 26th and will run on October third.
I will be volunteering at this event so I will take lots of pictures to post.

TIP OF THE DAY

2008-09-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

It's time to pick your package for school pictures.

Do not. I said do not! order pictures to send out to everyone you know. School pictures usually suck and they aren't cheap my friends.

Order just one class picture and one or two 3x5's. If they are absolutely darling then you can always order more, but you really only need them for memories and to see the progression from year to year.

I spent exactly $12.oo and I'm getting 1 class, 2 3x5's and 4 wallets.

PLENTY!

Unless you want

-a special(purple)colored back ground for just 3 dollars

-touch ups for just 6 dollars

-your childs name printed directly on the picture for just 5 dollars

Add the biggest package which is 62 dollars multiply it by two kids and you have spent well over 150.

You get the point

note: Penny's tip's may only apply to those who are chronically broke

Baby Momma

2008-09-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen Baby Momma yet stop what your doing and go rent it Now!

I've wanted to see this movie when it was in the theatres but never made it. I've been anxiously awaiting it's arrival at the video store. It came out today and I reserved it at Redbox to be sure that it wasn't out of stock.

I was not disappointed at all. Usually all the funny parts are in the previews but I was laughing all the way through. So were the kids.

Steve Martin, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey and Sigourney Weaver are all in it and Amy Poehler definitely steals the show. The birthing coach reminds me of the priest in princess bride.

Funny five times

http://trailers.redbox.com/BabyMama.aspx

A Little Snippet

2008-09-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Two conversations I had today.

Conversation with Taj:

Taj: I have an official new friend.

Me: Really that's great!

Taj: Apparently he thinks I'm funny.

This is the conversation I had with Kiah, let me fill you in a little first.

Kiah's legal first name is JahPenda and I have to write her whole legal name on all official paper work (school, doctors, daycare). I always tell them and or write on the paper that she goes by ONE of her middle names (Kiah). Apparently her teacher didn't get the memo because the first week of school Kiah's folder came home with the name JahPenda Ajahna on it. So I put a sticky note over it that kindly said that she goes by Kiah. She never got that either because KIAH TOOK IT OFF! She said she want's to go by JahPenda. Her teacher asked her if she wanted to go by JahPenda and she said YES! I noticed that she was still writing Kiah on her schoolwork, so I let her know that the teacher wasn't going to know whose paper it was if she's going by JahPenda but writing Kiah on her paper.

We had this conversation today while I was helping her with homework.

Me: Kiah, you spelled your name wrong on your paper.

Kiah: No I didn't

Me: Yes you spelled it J-a-penda, but it's spelled J-a-h-Penda. Why don't you just go by Kiah?

Kiah: No Mom!

Me: Do your friends at school call you JahPenda?

Kiah: Yes.

Nuff Said. Theres not turning back now

Meet JahPenda

Another Mouse

2008-09-04T21:31:00.001-07:00

This one had a happy ending

Day at the beach

2008-09-02T09:13:00.001-07:00

Groper in the park

2008-09-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

The other night while Kiah and I were walking the dogs in the park there was a guy walking past us. I said hi just to be friendly and as he passed he reched back and touched my butt! I couldn't believe what had happened! I was stunned for a moment with no reaction accept for to reach back and cover my rear with my hand. I don't know why I didn't instantly fly off the handle and scream at him. My sister would have laid into him and caused a huge rukus if it were her. I was just frozen. By the time I was ready to yell at him he was to far away. So we continued our walk to the corner store. Kiah had no idea what had happened. Well....... I was outside the store with the dogs while Kiah was inside picking out a treat when a guy walked up. It looked like the same guy but I wasn't sure because it had been kinda dark in the park and I didn't get a good look at him. Well when he passed me he bushed against me and bumped my shoulder. Clearly on purpose. Again I was frozen. I shot him a dirty look and he looked at me like "hey baby". I felt disgusted and violated. I kept thinking about what I wanted to say if I saw him again. A few minutes later he came walking around the building and came up and asked me if my dogs were nice. Finally I said. Get away from me! Don't Talk to Me! You were in the park weren't you. He said No. I knew it was him. I told him "You had plenty of room to walk by me you didn't need to brush against me like that!" I'm with my daughter! Don't touch me again! He started to argue but he just walked away. So Kiah came out and we continued on our walk. I was in a hurry to get home because there were guys walking around all over the place and I felt really vulnerable. Then the night got even weirder. A guy pulled up in his driveway and when he got out he said sorry because he kinda cut us off when he pulled in. I said "It's ok" and kept walking. He started asking about the dogs and I talked to him about them for a second. He seemed like a friendly guy. Nice truck, nice house, married with a kid. Seems safe right? I told him that we were new to the area and that this was our first and last walk after dark. He asked what happened and I told him. He asked where my husband was and I like an idiot said not here. Kiah piped in and said"He's in Seattle" Big mistake. He asked where we lived and I told him the street. He asked for the house number and I played dumb and said I couldn't remember. Kiah started describing the house to him. I quickly said goodbye because it was getting weird. We got home and as soon as we shut the door kiah said "Mommy that guy just drove by" What! I quickly locked the door and tried to forget about it. We checked the mouse trap and if you've read the previous post you know what happened there. Anyway I was on the phone with my mom and Bud trying to figure out what to do with the mouse and my doorbell rings. Who'se there? No answer. Whose there? again no answer. Kiah looks out the window and says "mom it's that guy" she seems to think we made a new friend. I've since set her straight on this and let her know that we told him too much information and we should never do that again. Anyway he told me that he found the guy from the park and talked to him. Okayyyy. Did you know him? "No" Then he started rambling about how his wife was jelouse that he left to deal with this asking him if he liked me and such. Weird Weird Weird! I just shut the door and locked the whole house down tight. Unbelievably it doesn't stop there. Later when we returned from setting the mouse free he was walking down the sidewalk toward our house. This time he had his 2 year old on his shoulders and was walking his dog. It was 10: 30 at night! I started to back out of my driveway to avoid him but he was right there at my window. I cracked the window and told him we were just leaving to take Zoey my moms dog home. We drove around a little and then went home and haven't seen him since. Hopefully he will stay away. I have to say this was the strangest night I've ever experienced between the mouse and the wierdo's. I'm glad it's over.

Well we caught the mouse

2008-08-31T00:51:00.000-07:00

Yes we caught the mouse and of course it wasn't dead! I couldn't look at it. I was hoping it would just hurry up and die so that I could get rid of it and not have to think about it anymore. Well that is until I catch the next one. The next one will be with a not kill mouse trap thank you very much. Kiah was having a fit crying and pleading. "Please don't let it die" She was soooooo upset. It was pinned right behind its head and over its rear end. It was not dying and Kiah was getting increasingly upset. "it's squeeking mommy!" I told her if we let it out it would suffer because its hurt so we should put it in a box and put it in the freezer so it will just go to sleep. It's supposed to be the most humane way to kill a mouse. Well at this point my goal was to make Kiah happy. I put the mouse and trap in a shoe box and brought it outside and accross the street. I opened the trap and it snapped back down on the poor thing again. I opened it again and he was free but his back legs were dragging. We got it back in the box and discussed the options again. Freezer or field. She wanted to feed it first. We gave it some peanut butter and it ate. Awhile later we took the box and let the mouse free in an open field. Whew. Happy daughter. Mouse far from the house. Mission accomplished. Today we will buying the no kill traps.

In other news. I WAS GROPED IN THE PARK LAST NIGHT! It's a long story. I'll write about it later tonight. Now we are off to the beach.

I have a gardener!!!

2008-08-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

Meet My Gardener

I am so thrilled that I don't have to mow the lawn anymore. My yard is small compared to my old yard in Seattle but it will still be nice to have a gardener do it for me. I got a great deal on this one. She insists on mowing my lawn for me even if I cant pay her. She even begs to mow the lawn when it doesn't need it.

I also have a mouse. Yes a mouse. I have seen it three times now. The first time was a few days ago. I didn't know it was a mouse then. I saw something flit across the floor out of the corner of my eye. I told myself it was just a shadow, It surely was not a mouse. It was all too familiar. You see I saw this before at my sisters house in NY. I wasn't sure it was a mouse then either but found out quickly that it was. Only my mouse didn't show itself until a week later. I went to pour my second cup of coffee this morning and the little bugger ran accross the counter and shoved it's fat self behind the stove. I screamed of course. The kids were like "what! what!" I told them what I saw and this is what Taj said. "COOL!" No it's not cool! It's unsettling is what it is. Kiah apparently thought it was cool too because she didn't want to go with my mom to babysit her cousins. She wanted to stay here so she could see the mouse. I told her it might be dead or half dead when she saw it and she doesn't seem to care. Maybe it's because she feeds her cornsnake dead mice every week. But those are much much smaller. I figured out that it was coming from under the kitchen sink. It had left signs such as a chewed up sponge and droppings. I cleared it out and I had also pulled the stove out but it had already gotten away. We left the house for awhile to get some stain for Taj's bed and when we returned I opened the cupboard and said " mousey were home!" then it jetted across the back of the cupboard and of course I screamed. I didn't really think it would be there or come out. Something creepy about a mouse loose. I am not usually a screamer but they just catch you off guard. I just know this mouse has a name and I just know it's Gus because he's FAT. I'll let you know when I catch GUS GUS and friends. Maybe their here to help me like Cinderella.

Maybe I'll keep him.