Codename Ivy

Ever get such a blow?

2011-12-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

I am in tears, non-stop tears. I never thought that I'd be crying for this reason. Ever. But here I am tonight in my room crying my eyes out and sniffling like a blubbering idiot.

I have come to find out why I was never told about any school functions or activities. Turns out my 15 year is completely embarrassed of me, his mother. He says kids say stuff about me because I am OLD and wear heels, plus whatever else he said because at that point I couldn't hear anymore as I was trying to catch my breath from such a blow. He acts like if I were in my 60's trying to dress like a 20 year old. I'm 35 dammit I know that's not young but it's not OLD either!! He says he's not embarrassed of me but he is because otherwise he wouldn't beg and plead for me not to go to his school performance. He would tell those assholes to suck it and not beg me not to attend his functions. I guess he wants me to dress in dirty sweats and flip flops like the other mothers do?

I don't know, but I never thought I'd feel as shitty as I feel right now, this moment. Never.

Wow, it's been SO LONG...

2011-09-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it's been so long since my last post. I have had pneumonia and several health set backs in these past months plus my life has been turned upside down in a way. There has been way to many changes in my life that I have felt all Topsy turvey and I am just now adjusting to it.

I have been staying home and my shopping has slowed down drastically. I still shop but I can no longer afford the luxury's that I used to. It makes me sad.

Mr. Man had a change at his company and he now works overnight which throws me off because when I get up to take the boys to school he gets home and takes the bedroom over to sleep and so I have to dress, do my make up and pretty much everything else downstairs. He then has to leave for work just before the boys get out of school (the boys get out at 4pm now) so he can go days without seeing them.

We have just had a bad year so far and I can't wait for it to go away. I am glad that there are only a few months left.

I'm a happy Cheesehead :)

2011-02-08T10:40:00.001-08:00

The Packers won the Superbowl!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I the only one?

2011-01-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

(Style.com)

I saw this picture on The Chloe Conspiracy and I ached. I don't watch Mad Men so it's not because of that, but I LOVE the old glamour of the 40's-early 60's. I see pictures and movies of that era and I long for the hats, gloves and the slinky dresses. I also love that the men look so dapper and well groomed, a huge comparison to today. I myself won't walk out the door without doing my make-up or hair and well, dressed up. I am often teased because I am getting "dressed up" to go to the Home Depot. I'm sorry, but I just can't do it. I see people out and about in sweats (or PJ bottoms) and slippers and I wonder why they do so. Don't they care about their appearance or the image that they are presenting?

Slumming it, for me, is wearing jeans and a t-shirt. For example, on Sunday's to watch the game I wear jeans and my jersey but with heeled boots. I feel so "under dressed". Not for the locale or occasion but for myself. Mr.Man would love it if all I ever wore was jeans, t-shirts and Chucks or Vans. But I can't, it's just not me.

Oh well, it appears I was born in the wrong era.

Way.Too.Much.Rain.

2010-12-20T16:35:00.001-08:00

Missing white lace tank with grey shawl neck pull over sweater.

It's been raining pretty much non-stop for days. I love the cold weather, just not the horrible rain. Squishy and I have been wanting to hit up Disneyland prior to x-mas to see the x-mas decorations there but this rain has ruined all our plans. No we cross our fingers that It stops raining after the New Year so we can go then before school re-starts on the 10th.

I've been shopping here and there around town but most of my shopping has been done online lately. I've added several pairs of shoes to my shoe room (a lot of them actually) and again I am full to the brim and will have to get rid of at least 30 pairs to make room for all my newer ones. I hate doing that as the last time I did it it was really hard as I wanted to keep them all. So either I will have to get creative in my storing or many pairs will have to go. Bummer.

The Mexican stand-off

2010-12-14T18:02:00.000-08:00

So Christmas is 11 days away. Where's our tree or decorations? Nicely stored in their storage boxes. I don't want to do it by myself, and quite frankly I don't want to put everything up by myself as I had for several years. Mr.man did it once (last year) and he thinks that was once too many and therefore he has told me he's not going to this year. So he wants me to do it and I want him to. So the decorations stay in storage.

UPDATE: I pulled out kid 2's california snowman and a few of our animated singing stuffed animals and a penquin pillow. Done. I guess that's the extent of our x-mas cheer this year.

I know it's time to but........

2010-12-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

This Sunday again we went to watch the game with the "club" (feels funny saying that.hahaha). As we were leaving one of the older men from the group says to me "You never wear mommy boots." I reply with yes I do, I'm a mommy and the boots I wear every week are mine. So, mommy boots. Then Mr.man chimes in with "Sexy mommy".

Monday I decided to just go ahead and order the last color of the Dany heels I don't have. I am obsessed with Dany. Not only are they almost 6 inches high (5.8") but they are unbelievably comfortable. I can wear them for hours! I think that these have beat out all my Iman's. Iman used to be my go to shoe for events that I knew I'd be doing tons of walking or long periods of standing but now I can add Dany and Curly (for more casual events).

Yesterday I was asked if I had put my tree up yet. To which I of course replied "Nope". Why is is SO hard for me to decorate for Christmas? I guess we'll see when I finally break down and put it up. Anyways, why does it always have to be me to initiate the process? Why don't the men of the house do it??

New shoes, Chuckies and delicious potato soup

2010-12-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

I FINALLY slept in. Yup, it was well after 8am before I was awaken by a fighting cat and dog :|

Later that morning the mailman delivered the two pairs of Zola heels I was waiting for. YAY!! I love them, but they do not have leather soles like they were described on the site. Also the light gray is not that, it's taupe. Which is fine as it is still a nice color. As you recall I ordered the gray in size 7 and the black pair in 7.5 (since they were sold out in the 7). Well the 7's feel a bit tight and the 7.5's feel perfect. So either they run small or pointy shoes do as a whole. I really don't know.

In the afternoon I was talked into taking kid 2 and squishy to Chuckie Cheese's. We were there for a couple hours and the boys wanted to stay longer but there is only so long an adult can be there before they start going nuts.

By the time we got home it was nearly dinner time and I decided to make my MIL's potato soup. In this weather this soup hits the spot. It is a potato soup with diced green Anaheim chili (I cheat I buy the can of whole green chili and dice them. My MIL roasts, peels, rinses and then dices) which you saute with diced tomato and diced onion, garlic salt and chicken bouillon. Then you add cubed Monterrey cheese in your bowl and yum yum yum.

So now with a full and warm belly I am settling in to watch AMW.

It's December? Really?

2010-12-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

My goodness, only 23 days until Christmas. These days are just flying by, it's crazy.

Help!!!

2010-11-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

I love the colder months (as long as rain is not involved) however every fall/winter my scalp tries to do me in. It gets super dry and the front of my scalp flakes like crazy. It is super embarrassing for as soon as I brush my hair the flakes appear. I have tried all the different dandruff shampoos but I guess since it isn't that it doesn't work.

So does anyone know a remedy that could help???

Thanks.

UPDATE: I was told to try Mayo. So desperate I grabbed my olive oil mayo by Kraft put some in a small bowl. I then stated making parts in my hair and slathered the mayo on my scalp. I let it sit in my hair for a couple hours. I smelled like macaroni salad and I couldn't wait to wash it all out.

Well it worked!! Several days later and all the flakes are gone. YAY!!

Squishy's Blog

2010-11-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

Squishy loves to draw and he decided to start up this blog. He REALLY wants followers and he asked me to spread the word. So even though this blog hardly gets read I am doing what he asked and "spreading the word".

Check it out at:

Random 1.o.1 ( I think it's a double meaning 101 and LOL)

So check it out and he would LOVE for you to follow him. Thanks :)

Lets get caught up shall we.

2010-11-29T10:26:00.001-08:00

Sorry for my lack of posts. I have been either on my death bed (ie:sick) busy or just plain tired and Blah. I really need to make an effort to keep this blog alive.

Well this past week was Thanksgiving and again 100% of the work was on my shoulders. I did all the shopping, prepping, baking (store bought pies and desserts just won't do for my picky men) and all the cooking.

This year I got a bit more creative. Instead of trying to cook everything and time it just right so everything is done cooking at the same time I used my countless crock pots to help keep everything warm (I have 8 crock pots! Why I have so many?!?!?!). I cooked the sides as I normally would, then I tossed them into the crock pots and set them to warm. I cooked the ham in the large roaster again this year and that left my oven free and clear for the turkey. Then when the turkey was done and let it rest I made the gravy my normal way (drippings and apple juice. yum yum). All that was left was the rolls that needed warming up and wa-la! Much easier and less stress and everything was warm and delicious.

After we were all done eating it was time to store the leftovers and clean up. As soon as I said "Now it's time to clean" WHOOSH the boys disappeared and Mr.man pretended to be asleep. I'm not kidding! So again I did it all. I loaded the dishwasher, washed all the crock pots, roaster and other non dish washer safe items by hand, cleaned all the counters etc. As soon as I was done and I sat down on the couch Mr.man "awakens" and says: I don't know why turkey makes people sleepy. I reply with: Whatever, I'm not sleepy. That whole Turkey puts you to sleep is a bunch of crock. I then got up and served myself a slice of cheesecake.

Sad.

Afterwards I went online and saw an e-mail from Nine West announcing their door buster sale. I had received it early in the morning and it was now 7pm. I was excited to see the ZOLA pumps I had been wanting for a while for only $44.50 from their original price of $150. I was sad to see they had every size except for 7 in black. I ended up ordering it in the gray size 7 and in the black size 7.5. I have my fingers crossed that they don't run big. I really wish I'd checked it out early in the morning and I am sure I would have found them both in the size 7. Oh well.

I stayed home on Black Friday and tried to sleep in. That didn't happen but I still just bummed around the house.

Sat. I went out only because I had to fix something at the bank. I was charged a fee that I wasn't supposed to so I had to go in person and duke it out. They apologized and fixed it right away and I ever even had to put up my dukes. Mr.man and Kid 2 went up to the mountains for some fishing that morning. I was invited but fortunately I had the whole bank issue to resolve so I didn't have to join them. Those two are crazy, it was in the 30's up there and they stayed all day!

When I got home I ordered another pair of Jessica Simpsons Dany heels. I already have them in Black and Tan and last week the gray pair arrived. Now they have them on sale for $69.99 so I went ahead and ordered them in the purple plum velvet. I still am not a fan of the crackled silver so I refrained from ordering those as well.

Sunday we went to our usual football hangout pizza place with the Packers Club. (Yes I'm in a football club now. We used to be in it 9 years ago but we recently re-joined) We watched the Packers lose and that set the mood for the rest of the day.

Today the boys are back to school after a whole week off. They were not too happy but they know that in a few weeks their three week x-mas break begins. So they have something to look forward to.

Well I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

whoa.

2010-11-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my anemia and immune system (or better said, lack of an immune system)I have been sick sick sick. In the past week I've been to the dr 3 times and still have one more appointment for Tuesday.

I did however do plenty of online shopping. What else is a girl to do stuck at home pretty much 24/7? I finally bought something from ASOS (okay, four somethings) and I can't wait for their arrival. There's still a few more items I am craving from their site however funds have pretty much dwindled for my personal spending (ie. shoes, shoes, jewelry and um... did I mention shoes?)thanks to this time of year due to tons of family b-days and x-mas shopping. Oh well.

Well I am off to bed. Night night.

Necklace: Baker's
Boots: Frye

The day after.....

2010-11-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

As we all know last night was Halloween. This year I dressed up as a 50's bobby soxer. I have had that costume in my costume boxes (yes, boxes.)for some time now but every year I would skip over it. I finally decided this was the year to wear it.

Kid 1 dressed up as a 50's greaser, Kid 2 as Waldo from where's Waldo and Squishy wanted to be a banana. Yup, a banana.

We went all out the way we do every year and again I could hear the laughing, the screams and the little ones crying that they don't want to complete the long walk to my door.

Every year I get the dozens of grown teenagers that should have stopped trick or treating many years past. It really upsets me because this is a kids holiday and they are there "stealing" the little ones candy. My older boys were told by us that they were now too old to go out for candy and they instead took squishy out to do so.
I don't get it, I feel that if they are old enough to have a girlfriend, a job or a drivers license you have no business trick or treating.

But that wasn't the worst part. I had four grown WOMEN hit my door up trick or treating. WTF??? The first woman came up with her kid and after I gave her kid candy she shoves another bag in my face. I figure she probably has a scared young one at the sidewalk. They leave and I watch them walk over to the neighbors house, no other kid anywhere to be seen. Later again I get another woman come up with her kids and she too shoves a bag towards me. I put a candy in there and say, the other kid was too scared to come up? She says no this is for me. I know I gave her a disapproving look.

Later I had huge bunches come up and in between there there were two older women (seriously, late forties early fifties even) in costume. Again, WTF? Ugh.

This year we had several cops drive through our neighborhood through out the night. I think they were here because for some reason our neighborhood gets "visitors" from other areas. We get dozens of cars park on our street. It gets crazy and I'll open my door to 20+ people at a time sometimes.

I bought tons of candy and this year I ran out of candy at 8pm! (I was giving the little ones 3 pieces and the old ones 1 piece.) Mr man wanted to know if he should go out and get more candy but I told him no, were done this year. I had the boys quickly put all the decor back into the garage and we turned off the lights. Even so we still got door bell rings but we just ignored them.

I hope I don't start hating Halloween.

Back from a good weekend.

2010-10-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

New shoes, a Packers win against the Vikes, a trip to DL and I got to meet one of the best guitar players in history : )

Sat. we went to DL to celebrate kid 2's b-day. It was a wonderful day to have gone. Perfect weather for a trip to DL, cloudy skys and cool with only a bit of light drizzle here and there. Thanks to that weather the park was nearly empty. We got on all of our favorite rides and by 11 am we'd done it all (and on some rides we even got on twice!) We decided to eat lunch and afterwards we decided to get on the Indy ride one more time. As we were about to get onto the jeeps the ride broke down. So there we were for about 15-20 minutes standing there. They finally decided to evacuate the building and as a peace offering they gave us a fastpass for any ride in the park for up to 6 people.

We decided to head over to CA Adventure and use the pass there. By that time the sun had come out and the crowds were arriving by droves. We ended up using our pass to get on Tower of terror. After that ride and a couple others we were headed towards the silly swings when I spot someone who looked familiar. I tell kid 2, "That guy looks familiar, he looks like Slash." Kid 2 is a HUGE and I do mean HUGE fan of his and he tells me "No, that guy is too dark." I assure him it has to be him.

Curiosity got to him and he took off to find him. He comes back beyond excited and screams "It is him!" He told me he went up to him and asked him if he was Slash and that Slash then chuckled and showed him his tattoos. Kid 2 was disappointed he didn't have a camera with him when he spoke to Slash to have taken a pic with him. So he begged me to go with him and ask Slash for a picture.

We left kid 1 and squishy at the swings and we waited at the exit of the ride he was on. When he came out we asked him for the photograph and he was awesome enough to agree to take a pick with the bday boy. Kid 2 was on cloud 9 for the rest of the day (and he still hasn't come down!!). After a few more rides it was now 4pm and we decided to head home.

Well not HOME, but shopping.I bought two pairs of gorgeous sky high pumps (my specialty)and a gorgeous coat.

Sunday night we went to the Packers club meeting place and watch the nail biting, edge of your seat, I am going bald from pulling my hair out Packers/Vikings game. Last year I was cheering for the Vikes, however after Bretts last stunt I have woken up and again given my whole heart to the Pack. After a miracle, the Packers won and all was well.

So that was my weekend. I hope this next weekend is just as fun. We have a Halloween party to attend on Sat. I love this holiday! Candy and costumes, YAY!

Time just seems to fly by

2010-10-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since my last post but I guess the most significant is that my health is worse, not better. I had new tests done last week and I just got the results today. My illness seems to be taking a huge toll on my health which is what probably has brought on this "funk" I have been in now for a LONG time.

So I will have to try to do everything they tell me to do to get healthier (pills pills and more pills. Yuck)and get back to my old self.

I just hope I don't balloon up a million pounds again :(

Running errands for others

2010-09-15T18:05:00.001-07:00

Why is it that Mr.man always "lends" me out to others to run their errands? Does he think that I am at home sitting on the couch twiddling my thumbs thinking "Oh how I wish Mr.man would call me and ask me to run around town getting information on rentals for his co-worker".

And me being me, I went out and did that for him. hmmff.

Earlier in the day I fixed my dishwasher. That stupid dishwasher has been giving me problems for months. Finally today I took that darn thing apart and found the problem, fixed it and put it back together and wha-la, fixed!

Now, after dinner is done, I can relax. I think I've earned it.

Shoes: Marni

I'm am really tired of this.

2010-09-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in a funk. A serious funk. I have no clue why I feel this way. It's not a sickie, it's just a I don't feel like doing anything, everything sucks kind of funk. Even shopping is ho-hum. It takes a lot out of me to get dressed and my outfits lack creativity.

This weekend was no different. Yesterday I could have stayed in bed all day, but I had to drop a package off at the post office so I got up to so. However as soon as I got back home I crawled back in bed and watched movies off of Netflix.

Today I slept in until 11am and I got up and ready to go to the local pizza place for the Packers game. I wanted to just watch it at home, but Mr.man wanted to go there because the Packers fan club meets there and he wants to be a part of it again. It was fun, and I am glad I went.

Now at home I am again ready for bed. I hope I get out of this self inflicted funk soon because I can't stand myself right now.

:(

I still got sunburned

2010-09-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

This Labor Day weekend we went to Mission Beach in San Diego. It was cold and grey but being that the weather was like that the beach wasn't crowded. It was lovely. We kept ourselves busy with the shops and with the beach itself.

Mr.man and the boys actually got in the 50 degree water and used their boogie boards. I was a chicken but and didn't get in the water. Every time they got out of the water I would point out their purple fingers, toes and lips. But they didn't care, they were having too much fun.

We saw dolphins and other sea creatures up close. It was a really nice mini-vacation.

I must be Soupa strong : )

2010-09-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided to wash some dishes by hand. While washing a tall glass I broke it. Not the "oops it slipped" kind of breaking the glass but the "my hand was inside the glass washing it and it broke" kind. I was twisting my wrist washing the inside and "crack!" it breaks, stabbing me in two places. My hand and the sink got all red with my gushing blood. I quickly grabbed some paper towels and they would be soaked in a matter of seconds.

My boys were freaking out and they were running around like chickens with their heads cut off collecting gauze and cloth tape so I could wrap my hand.

After they wrapped my hand (and I looked as if I were a boxer) they relaxed. A couple hours later I figured it was okay to take it off and let the wounds air dry. Big mistake! Blood started gushing again. I decided to wrap it again and just go to Urgent Care. Turns out they were a bit deep so in went some stitches.

Serves me right and I have learned my lesson. I need to leave the dish washing to the machine.

THESE are my new favorite shoes!

2010-08-31T14:52:00.001-07:00

They are called Curly and are by Aldo. I ordered my usual size up as Aldo shoes tend to run small. I am really glad I ordered these.

Comfortable, comfortable, comfortable! No joke. These are one of the pairs that arrived Thursday. I wore them out for the first time Sat and was on my feet for hours on end walking all over the place. I slipped them on at 10am and took them off at 9pm. My feet felt fine ALL day.

Since then I have already worn them another two days! Yesterday I wore a different pair of shoes. I already had on a different pair today also but at last minute I went and changed back into these.

**Next subject**

These past few days I have been having really bad pelvic pains, chills and just plain madness going on. Mr.man dragged me to the Dr. and turns out I have am infection (great :/ ). I was prescribed some sort of antibiotics and for some odd reason they make me very very sleepy. I am a wuss when it comes to pills. It seems any and every prescription makes me want to sleep 72 hours straight. Blah.

What makes it worse is Mr.man wants to drag me here and there going to home improvement stores and hardware stores which in turn make me even more drowsy.

I just can't wait until his vacation is over so I can have a few hours to myself. 24/7 with Mr.man gets maddening after a few days. I just have to get through another week and a half.

*plops to floor in despair*

The only thing that keeps me going is the UPS man will be dropping off a little something for me today.

Not ready for this.

2010-08-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

The weather has just been screwy. Super hot day, with horrible thunderstorms. Yesterday we got off easy but today.... Not so lucky.

They fixed my garage door today and he finished about 20 minutes before I had to leave to pick my boys up from their school. I looked up and saw that the clouds were becoming grey and black and ran off and closed the sunroof and windows of my older car.

I then jumped in my newer car and went on my way. As soon as I started driving the rain drops started falling. Huge rain drops but they were few and far between. By the time I reached the boys school the rain started coming down hard. On top of that there was a violent wind going on. It was a scary site not only hearing the horrible rain and wind but the thunder and lightning was loud and sounded like it was really close.

I get a call from the boys saying that they were not being released until they saw a parents vehicle. So I had to turn around and drive into the schools parking lot. While doing so a branch flew in my path and missed me by inches. While waiting for the boys to reach my car the hail started. At first it was just regular sized hail. However as soon as the boys were safe in my car the golf balls started falling. The sound of the hail hitting my car was terrifying and I thought that for certain my windows were going to shatter. I start driving home and the main street I take was completely flooded. I try detours and they too are flooded. I don't want to get stuck and stranded in high rising waters and try my best to find a safe way home.

When I finally make it through and get to my neighborhood the golf balls are still falling. Fortunately they were a bit slushy so my car didn't get damaged. I drove into my garage as the door was rising and as soon as I cleared it I closed the door behind me.

That weather lasted for about an hour straight. It was horrible.

I am just glad its over and we are all okay and my cars are okay as well.

I received three packages today containing four pairs of shoes. Oh how I love getting new shoes :) They make a girl happy and make everything all better.

I can't wait until this week is over.

2010-08-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

Monday, My car gets trapped in garage.
Tuesday, 112* Uh, need I say more?
Wednesday, 113* humid, thunderstorms and upstairs A/C decides to not want to work. And in the morning I discovered that someone had helped them selves to my hands free blue tooth kit in my older car. Thank you lovely neighbors. Thank you.

The ONLY good things to look forward to?

Thursday, I am expecting three deliveries. Yay!

Friday, Game show taping.

Sat., Farmer's market for some more sun dried tomato tapenade and yummy pita chips.

What else???? Ah yes the best of all, no four day trip with the evil shoe thieves. I am glad I was able to talk Mr.man out of this trip. I think that that many days together would result in my snapping and committing murder and ending up on that one show "snapped".

No outfit pics since it's been yucky hot I haven't been wearing "real" clothes. Just loose fitting jersey dresses I got at F21 2yrs ago or so. Snore.

My car is being held hostage

2010-08-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last night mr.man comes into the house and says, The garage door is broken. I ask him what happened and as it turns out the torsion springs broke. Joy.

So now my car is trapped in the garage. Good times. Good times :/

It was hot but it was fun

2010-08-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was sister 2's baby shower. It was Luau themed and the guests were all too wear Hawaiian wear. I found an old Hawaiian dress in my closet and I set out to find Mr.man a Hawaiian shirt. None were to be found. Anywhere. So I ended up getting him some Hawaiian print swimming trunks. I just had the boys wear shorts and flip flops.

They had the party at my bil's brothers house. He has a gorgeous grotto like pool that is to be envied. That is my dream pool and had I let Mr.man put the pool in when we first bought the house four years ago I could have had one too. But now... We have to wait.

It was terribly hot and as soon as we got there I found the best table with the most shade and sat there. I sat there and I didn't want to move. People kept asking me to come over here or over there and I would graciously decline. No one was going to get me in that awful sun.

There was SO MUCH FOOD! They had a whole roast pig, Kabobs and they had their usual 30+ item Filipino buffet. I was hoping for Pancit but no one made it this time. The kabobs were delicious and the dessert table..... well lets just say I have probably gained 10lbs just from that.

Her sister in laws are wonderfully creative and the decorated the party marvelously. The center pieces, the buffet tables, the dessert tables were gorgeous. I should have taken pictures.

I didn't bother buying my sister a gift and instead just wrote her a check. I know it's kind of tacky, but I figured 1)she's my sis, 2)this way she could use it on anything and the best reason of all 3) it was one of my hello kitty checks so all's good : )

We all had a good time (even my boy's as they enjoyed the pool the entire evening)and I got to come home with ton's of souvenirs and gifts.

Closing shop

2010-08-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

My little store will be closing in a couple days (Aug.23rd) So check it out.

A fun weekend and an odd Monday

2010-08-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend was fun as Sat I spent it shopping (and came home with lots of Fall goodies) and on Sunday we went bowling and out to dinner. I had a good time both days with no complaints (other than the awful heat).

This morning started off alright. Today was the first day of school and though the boys pretended to complain I could tell they were excited to go back. Later in the morning I went to pick up my mail. After I closed my mail box I hear a small voice say "Hey, you! That's my mail box" I turn around and see a small 4 or 5 yr old and a 2 or 3 yr old in their front yard across the street from the mail box. They both say "hey you that's my mail box" a couple times (the younger of the two mimicking his older brother)as I walk away not responding to them. Then I hear "Hey you That's our mailbox you bastard" and the little one repeats the sentence. I turn around and say "What did you say? Did you just call me a bastard? I am telling your mother!" I start walking back towards their house. The older of the two says,"I was saying it to the other person" I look around and there is no one else out. I tell him "there is no one else out here and you shouldn't be saying that word. Ever." He goes and hides behind his family vehicle and the younger one follows suit. I decide to let it drop and I go home. I can not believe the mouths on these kinder. Who are they learning this vocabulary from? Geesh.

After I picked the older two up from school (squishy gets out at 2:30 and since kid 1 and 2 are in high school they get out at 3:30) I took them out for an early dinner. It was shortly after 4 when we arrived at the restaurant. They told me about all the new changes to the school rules and curriculum and about their teachers.

I had been waiting for a package and Mr.UPS man finally arrived at 7:40. He again didn't ring the doorbell and at 8:00 I checked the door and there my package was. My jaw dropped to the floor with it's condition. The box looked like an accordion, it was so beat up. I open it up and the shoe boxes too are all mangled. I don't get it. How can they be so freakin careless? GRRR....

Oh well, what can I do?

Turn off the ringer........

2010-08-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

So what is it with those "bill collectors" that they don't believe a person that they have a WRONG NUMBER. They believe they know it all and therefore know more than you, the person who owns the phone number. I tell them, No, sorry there is NO Edgar Martinez at this number. They say, well this is the number in our system. I then say, Well it's wrong as the is no Edgar at this number, never was and never will be as I have never even met an Edgar in my life. I then hang up. Yet they call every HALF HOUR. They call, and call and call. F it. I turn off my ringers. We never use the land line anyways and everyone calls us on our cell phones. They have been calling on a blocked number so I can't figure out where they are calling from nor can I report them to anyone.

Anyways......

This afternoon was the boys orientation. The longest waste of time. We had to sit through two hours of blah blah blah (all stuff we already knew) and then they finally gave everyone their schedules. As soon as schedules were in hands we rushed home to watch Project Runway. So I'll see you later : )

Back at home : )

2010-08-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

"Home Sweet Home" is the saying right? Oh how true it is. We came home a few days early because we had a few things to take care of. My oldest had to get outpatient surgery on his big toes today. Plus on Thursday we have to go to the boys school and pick up their new schedules.

I can't believe summer vacation is pretty much over. It seems to have flown by but yet it hasn't gone by fast enough. They say this is the coolest summer we have had. Granted we have only had about a week of over 100 degree days versus the normal 4 months. I however can't wait for fall. I miss my tights. I know, weird.

Well I am all unpacked and now I have tons of laundry to do, so Later :)

My weekend

2010-07-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

The Happy couple

My Dad and Aunt

Sat was my aunt's wedding. It was nice and I had a good time. My Mom did not, but I did my best to ignore her. My grandfather passed away in 1991 so my dad was asked to dance the father daughter dance with my aunt. It was a sad but sweet dance.

Sun we spent the day in the high desert at my in laws house. I thought we were only going to be there for a couple hours but it turned into an all day thing. I was glad when we were finally home as ,like always, conversations turn into discussions which then turn into arguments. I stay out of it and just let Mr.man and his mom and sometimes his grandma get into it. How is that normal?

Monday I bummed around in my PJ's until 2pm and I planned to spend the day like that but I needed to go out and buy a couple things so I finally gave in and dressed.

Tuesday I received three packages! Oh happy day!

As our vacation is getting closer I am stressing out trying to figure out what to do with our pets. I have hired our neighbors kids to feed the four outdoor dogs, but what am I going to do with the cat and my indoor dog? I really don't want to give the boys full access to my home while we are gone, I don't want to put them into boarding and we can't take them with us. Oh my gosh, I forgot about the fish, turtles, snake and the bird. What are we going to do????

I have three days to figure this all out. Help!

Half the world was there.

2010-07-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Like I had mentioned before, on Thursday we went to Disneyland. We wanted to go last week but the weather was horrible. Thursday the high was of 79/80 and we decided to head out there and spend a nice day having fun.

Well I guess everyone had the same idea as the place was terribly crowded. Every ride had 60 minute + wait times and trying to walk was an incredibly hard task. After only three hours we gave up. I told the boys not to worry as the off season would soon be here and our short wait times would return.

I really didn't want to go home so we went for a bit of shopping. Well I had said I was going to go for a bit of "browsing" but it ended up being a bit of shopping. Hehehe.

Getting ready

2010-07-21T21:49:00.001-07:00

I have several things coming up. I have a wedding to attend this Sat. On the 30th I am taking my neighbors 11 year old to Disneyland. On the 31st I have a quincenera for Mr.mans cousin plus Mr.mans half sister is probably coming that weekend. Then on the 2nd we are going on a two week vacation. Then the last week of August we are off to Vegas. Let's not forget Oceanside on Labor day.

We have bought our new suitcases, gotten our hair done/cut and bought new clothes. We also bought an above ground pool Sunday a few hours after Mr.man came home. The boys are super tan from swimming these past few days and are almost as dark as their dad now. Tomorrow we are off to DL as the temps have dropped quite a bit.

I have been busy busy busy and I can't wait until it is all over. However, I will have fun through it all.

Sorry my posts have been kind of few and far between lately. As soon as everything calms down I will return to my normal routine.

: )

This heat is awful.

2010-07-17T17:54:00.001-07:00

Everyday this week the temps have been over 106 degrees. It's humid and gross and the air just feels thick and difficult to breathe. I haven't really wanted to go out at all but today I had to. The boys are on their last three weeks of summer vacation and I need to start getting them ready for school. Squishy has been bugging me to go get him his new school shirts. He doesn't want to wear the official school t-shirts he wants to wear the polo shirts(they are letting the kids wear plain solid color polo shirts if they do not wish to wear the official t-shirts). We went to our small local mall and he came home with ten new shirts. He got one in every color available in his size. He still needs his new jeans and a pair of shoes and the older two still need everything. These last three weeks will fly by, I know it. I really should get everything done by the end of next week since we might be heading off for a two week vacation starting Aug. 2nd.

I received two packages today (yay fed-ex and USPS who deliver on Sat.) so now I have three new additions to my shoeroom. Wednesday I will be receiving four more pairs and another pair will be arriving around that day as well. Woo-hoo! have shoes to look forward to : )

Dress: Dolce&Gabbana
Necklace: F21
Belt: Target
Shoes: BEBE

I saw it happen...

2010-07-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

This morning I was up early and did some early morning online shoe shopping. I purchased 4 pairs and can't wait to get them. I am still waiting for two pairs that I bought on ebay from some store in studio city. According to them they shipped on the 6th. Which means I should have received them the latest the 8th or 9th. However, nothing. Their delivery conformation still says electronic info received. I am not happy with these people at all and will most likely give a neutral or even a negative feedback to them. I am also waiting for a pair I ordered on Tuesday plus one last pre-order. I can't wait to get them all!

Today I was talked into going to the small water park. It sounded good as the temps were ridiculously HOT. While there a thunderstorm started in the distance. I had a good view of the hills and mountains. All of a sudden I see a huge lightning bolt hit a hill and a few minutes later I see flames. The flames got bigger and I could see them spread quickly. They made everyone get out of the pool while the thunderstorm raged on and I decided now was good a time as any to just head home.

This water park is about a 20-25 minute drive (depending on traffic and on lights)the entire drive home was a bit scary as the winds picked up and they Sky's got grey. I was dodging tree branches and even patio umbrellas and shades. They were flying out of peoples back yards!

I was glad to finally get home and go indoors where not only did I feel safe, but OMG the A/C was glorious. I went up to take a quick shower and that's when I noticed the sun burn. Oh, it's a bad one. Aloe is my friend at the moment.

This heat and my sunburn has changed my mind about heading to DL tomorrow. We were supposed to meet some friends there but I have already let them know we wont be showing up after all. We have decided to go on Sunday or possibly Monday instead.

Okay, I am off to spread some more aloe on my shoulders. Ouch.

Oh boy, are they mad.....

2010-07-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

Today was the boys registration. As soon as we walked into the building there were uniforms hanging on the wall. The boys look at them in horror as at that very second they realized that the "rumor" was true. They will start wearing uniforms this year. I am a sick twisted individual as when I saw their faces I started laughing. HARD. Bad mommy.

Yesterday I received another pre-order (shoes pictured) and at first all was well. I wore them around the house for a bit and when I took them off I noticed that they were cracked and peeling. Horrible. I contacted their customer service dept and they offered me a 30% refund to keep them. However I can't see myself wearing them in that condition.

So back they went and at least they will give me a full refund as they usually deduct a return shipping fee from returns. Oh well, maybe I will re-order them after I receive my refund and give them a second shot. Maybe.

More than a week later.

2010-07-13T13:39:00.001-07:00

Mr.man is in AZ for the week and he wanted us to go with him. We however declined. It is so HOT out there that we were not looking forward to it. Fortunately the boys have their registration this week at school so that was our excuse to stay.

Last Friday Mr.man and kid 2 went on a fishing trip so the other two boys and I went to Disneyland. They caught a few catfish, we caught traffic.

Sat. was spent shopping. Sunday was as well.

Yesterday was the best day of all. I spent the entire day in bed watching all of season 1 of Ugly Betty (my guilty pleasure). I still can't believe I did so. The boys thought I was sick since I spent the day in my bedroom and were shocked to find out that I was just being a couch (or bed) potato. I only went out to get us some lunch and when I opened the door for the UPS driver.

Now today the older two boys are at their school doing volunteer work. They are not too happy about it but I told them they had to do it. It's only for three hours so it shouldn't be too bad. Plus I get them out of the house : )

This has been the most relaxing summer vacation I have had. Good times!

Wait this is for Justine,

Good times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (hehe ;D )

Been busy....

2010-07-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

Will be back soon : )

Magazines make me mad sometimes.

2010-07-03T16:30:00.001-07:00

It is really frustrating and maddening sometimes. I am flipping through a fashion magazine and there I see an outfit that looks familiar. I think hmm, I have that. I then remember that it's more like HAD. As just last month or so I dropped that item along with many others off at my Local thrift store. Ugh.

OR

You see something on a spread but then you find their whats hot and whats not section and there they claim an item that they had featured in a spread, in their opinion, is included in the NOT section. WTF?!?

It's reasons like that that I wear what I want and don't really care whether it's in or Not. I don't follow rules (the fashion ones anyways) and I am a rebel and if I feel like wearing a cocktail dress while shopping at Target, then I will do so. hehehe.

Friday was fun!!

2010-07-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

Squishy and I went to DL. It was so much fun!! If it weren't that we both got really tired we probably would have stayed there until closing. He already has told me he wants to go back as soon as possible. I told him maybe on Thursday or Friday. He wants it to be just him and me again. We'll see.

Takes me back

2010-07-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched So You Think You Could Dance. I hadn't watched it for about a year. I noticed there were several differences since my last time watching the show. It was explained to me that Mary Murphy had been replaced and that now they had a top 10 instead of 20 and they all danced with all stars from years previous. I was excited to see Twitch as one of the all stars (I love him!!!). I was told his performance with Alex was going to be awesome. OMG!! It was Freakin" AWESOME!!!! I replayed it over and over it was SO good!

It made me think back to my jr and high school days and Dancing in competitions. I miss it. We normally danced contemporary, jazz and ballet. Hip hop routines were not the norm back them (early 90's). We would do a hip hop routine here and there for basketball halftimes or pep rallies but we never did one for competitions. We were invited to perform with Micheal Jackson for the super bowl half time in Pasadena and I was invited to perform for the opening ceremony of the World Cup 94. I was a CA Allstar and I always had fun and I had dreams of becoming a choreographer/dancer but that never happened. Now there is no way I could in any way dance the way I used to. Oh well, C'est la vie.

We had had plans to go to DL today. But like always plans get ruined. I was asked if I could watch the neighbors kids today and I reluctantly agreed. I then made plans to go tomorrow. However, I forgot, 1) We had been invited to the local water park, 2)Mr.man's sisters may be arriving (he still hasn't let me know whether they are or not) and now 3) My mom and sister 2 want to come for a visit.

Kid 1 and 2 don't want to go tomorrow as they would rather go to the water park but squishy and I would prefer DL. We might end up splitting up tomorrow and I'll tell my mom and sis to come some other time and as far as mr.mans sisters, he's off on Fridays now so he could take care of that himself. I will lock all my "goods" up so sticky fingers don't take what isn't theirs.

Problem solved (maybe).

I am so over this heat...

2010-06-30T18:30:00.001-07:00

It's hot. So freakin' hot that I am afraid to go outdoors for any reason. Plus the sun is incredibly bright and with my sensitivity to the sun the brightness seems amplified. I keep hearing on the news that we are having cooler than normal temps this summer. Which I know is true but I just wish it were even cooler or that the sun would go on a long vacation. Anyways.....

Today was spent indoors watching movies and playing board games. Sort of an indoor picnic. The day went by quickly and well after 5pm I remembered that I still needed to drop off the defective receiver at a UPS drop off. I quickly jumped in my car and drove to to two locations and they were both closed. I should have called first, but I didn't so now I have to do that tomorrow. Too bad I don't have anything getting delivered tomorrow otherwise I'd just hand it to the driver.

Shoes: Steve Madden Annton (The cognac pair are still on pre-order until next month)

Those peppers were SPICY.....

2010-06-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days. You know the ones, where everything goes wrong no matter what you do. Our HD receiver went bad the other day and they had one air mailed to us. So as soon as I received the new one I went ahead and switched them out. After I had everything plugged in I switched the receiver on. After it's long and timely process of "first time booting" a screen comes up that this receiver is not authorized. I figured all I needed to do was switch out the smart card from our old to new and it now said the smart card was not authorized. Ugh!! So I call them and after the whole automated process I was finally connected to a human being. Twenty minutes after that my receiver was working.

Later Kid 1 wanted to watch tv in the family room and he then lets out a scream that channels are missing. I look at him like he's crazy and he starts naming off half a dozen channels that were not coming up. I told him call them then. I call them, again do the whole automated process and as soon as a human answered I gave him my info and I tossed my phone to Kid 1. Thirty minutes later that problem was fixed.

I have to ship back the old receiver and after I had it all boxed up and ready to tape up I start looking for my packing tape. I looked through my shipping drawer and no tape. So I look through the tool drawer, nope. I search every drawer and come up empty handed. Now I am pissed because I had three brand new rolls and an open one. I hadn't used any in months so they should all be there. I question everyone, but I didn't do it and not me had struck again.

I gave up on that and just decided to forget it.

Late evening mr.man wanted something to snack on. Which them made me crave some stuffed jalapenos. I had none of the ingredients so I rushed off to the closest grocery store. I was the only female in the entire store. I got what I needed plus two rolls of packing tape.

While loading my purchases into my trunk this man nearly gave me a heart attack as he popped out of nowhere to beg for money. He had a whole script obviously memorized and tried to give me the whole cause I'm a black man guilt trip but after what seemed like forever another man came up and asked if I was okay. I said yes, thank you and managed to quickly jump in my car and get away from there.

I get home and I start telling mr.man what happened and he looks up at me with this annoyed face and makes a hand movement like get on with it or hurry up your taking to long. I tell him never mind but them I turn around and tell him he's a jerk and that I hate when he does that to me.

So I go and make the peppers. They must have know I was pissed off as they ended up being demonically spicy. I couldn't even eat one. Sad as I went through all that and couldn't even enjoy a single one. Bummer.

The train has arrived

2010-06-28T20:00:00.001-07:00

I spent the day waiting for the UPS man. By two he still wasn't here and Kid 2 wanted me to take him to Wal*mart so he can buy a few things for his tackle box. I said yes on one condition. I was going to go to other stores first.

I needed to buy some sandals that I could use at Disneyland. I am NOT a flats person and other than my Tuks, Doc's, Vans and chucks I don't really wear flats. The other day I wore my Blowfish flats to DL. I realized that day that they were thrashed and really other than to be worn maybe around the house they were no longer presentable. So I needed to buy some decent sandals but I didn't want to spend too much on them, so I stopped off at Ross to see if I found an acceptable pair.

I found these for $12.99

I also ended up buying 8 new dresses. Went in for a pair of sandals and I came out with 8 dresses. Funny.

The UPS man finally arrived after 7pm and he dropped off not only the bed, but one of my pre-orders also arrived.

Mr.man right away opened the box and had me take a picture of him with the front piece of the bed. He then sent it to his half sister via text. He them left the room and says did you see what I got him? I screamed out, well unless you reimburse me, that is what I bought him. So he corrected himself (I actually would prefer to be reimbursed)and when he hung up he told me that she might come down this weekend to pick it up. So we might have visitors this weekend.

I'm tired and I'm ready for bed.

2010-06-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

Tired, oh so tired.

This morning I almost backed out and didn't go to Disneyland. I got up after 7am and I wasn't sure about not only going on a Sat., but a Sat. during the summer months. I got up, went to Squishy's room and asked if he still wanted to go. He said yes, jumped up and was ready in about 10 minutes. Kid 1 and 2 took a bit longer but they too wanted to go.

We were out the door at 7:40am and we got to the parking structure shortly after 9am. While walking to the trams I spotted an old friend and we rushed to catch up to them. We talked for a bit while waiting for the tram and I was shocked to find out that a mutual friend was several months pregnant. Wow, I had no clue as I haven't seen her since Nov. or so.

We had to go to the ticket booth to re-new our passes and this time I opted for the Deluxe passes so we could go all summer long and most Sat's. Kid 1 wasn't happy when they handed us our new passes without having to take a new photo. They used the pictures from March 2009 and back then he had short hair thanks to his alopecia. He wanted a new photo with his normal hair style. I was too hoping for a new photo as I too wasn't happy with my picture. In March 09 when we took the picture it was really cold and I was wearing a big bulky wool coat. They really should have taken new pictures as the boys look alot older and more mature than those pictures from well over a year. Oh well.

We did have a bit of bad luck as rides were breaking down (temporally) left and right. We never ended up going on Space Mountain. I was thinking about going to that World of Color show, but it was SO crowded that I felt I wouldn't enjoy the show so we just went home.

Now home, and watching the news I see a report of an incident that happened at that Electric Daisy "rave" that my old bff is at today. Scary stuff. I sent her a text asking her if she was okay and she hasn't responded. I re-played the report to scan it to see if I saw her in the background but I couldn't tell in all the madness and it seemed that every female was wearing tutu's. So I guess I'll have to wait until she either responds to my e-mail or when she comes to return my corset.

Okay, I am beyond tired so I am off to bed. Night night.

I hurt my shoes.

2010-06-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Today squishy and I went out on the town (hehehe). One of the places we went to was Target. On the way out I stepped on a rock and stumbled a bit. I checked my shoe right away and sure enough, there it was, a chip on the side of the sole. I had damaged my new "I had been waiting a lifetime for" DANY sandals. I wanted to cry right then and there. Fortunately it didn't get the leather part just the sole so I was able to touch up the spot and you can't really tell anymore.

I just found out my in-laws are thinking about picking up the old bed on Sat. OH NO!! I had plans to escape to the magical land called Disneyland that day. I really really hope they come on Sunday instead (and that my mom-in-law brings the right tamales this time as I have been craving them for over two weeks now). Fingers crossed.

Necklace: SV Vera Wang
Romper: LC
Shoes: Jessica Simpson DANY (can you believe they already have tons on Ebay!)

Funny how shoes can make a girl gitty.

2010-06-23T18:03:00.001-07:00

These two pairs arrived today (along with two others). I was so happy it took all I had not to jump up and down with excitement and look like a fool in front of not only the UPS driver, but in front of the neighbors boys as well. My boys are used to my quirkiness (yes, that's what it's called okay) so acting like a fool over shoes in front of them is no big deal.

Oh I know I often say I am in love with a certain pair of shoes, but I mean it with these. Okay I mean it with all the shoes I claim to love, I'm not a monogamist when it comes to shoes. Should I move to Utah? Hehehe.

So today was an ordinary day. I was asked to watch the neighbors kids today. Which was fine because I was a bit tired from last nights game. Which by the way my Angels won. Hehehe. Mr.man is a Dodgers fan and was one of the VERY few Dodger blue in the stands. I told him he better watch it because the rally monkey was going to beat him up for wearing those colors to his stadium. It was a long really uneventful game in my opinion and I was worried for a while there, but fortunately my Angels pulled through and beat the Dodgers.

Mr.man wanted to go to the game again tonight but I told him to go without me since
1. I had the neighbors kids until just after 5 and the game starts at 7:05. So theres no way we'd get there prior to the first pitch.
2. I wanted to dance around in my new shoes for a bit longer : ) (boogie woogie oogie)

Squishy wants to go to the water park tomorrow or go see Toy Story 3. However since I plan on spending lots and lots of money on Sat. for Disneyland and I dropped a huge heap of cash on Mr.mans nephews new thomas the train bed (I wasn't thinking straight when I bought it. I blame the insomnia), I told him I would think about it. I could use my credit cards but I really don't like using them at all. I don't like owing money.

Well I am off to make dinner and get ready to watch my Angels beat Mr.man's Dodger again. Woo-Hoo!!!

Shoes: My NEW Jessica Simpson DANY platforms

He loves his trains.

2010-06-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Fathers day) the boys baked him a cake and we gave him his gifts. Then we put him to work. He had to reinforce the bed frame of our new cheaply made bed. He racked his brain and he figured something out. The end result works perfect and you can't tell it was "made at home". I painted the new extra frame legs to match the color of the bed and it came out okay. Not bad at all and now when we sit on the bed the frame doesn't bend or budge at all.

This is how the frame was

This is our homemade add ons

Now our bed is done!

We still have our other bed in the room and I joke around with Mr.man that since they both fit perfectly in our room and we still have tons of space that we should keep it and have his and hers beds. hehe A'la I love Lucy. But he already gave it to his mom for her spare bedroom. However, until she makes her way down here to pick it up, we will have two beds in the room.

Today was just an ordinary day.I have been staying home and taking it "easy", but somehow (thank you Mr. Internet) I've still been doing alot of shopping. All shoes. Tons of shoes.

Today I received two of my pre-orders and on Weds. I'll receive my Dany's and two cheapies I ordered from UrbanOG.com. I still have two pre-orders left to ship out.

I have decided to go ahead and get the season passes for Disneyland again. This time I didn't get one for Mr.man (still angry) anyways he doesn't really like that place. This is our first time going in the summer months. If all goes as planned we will be going there on Sat. Fingers crossed.

Mr.mans nephews 2nd bday is coming up next month I believe. I heard the kid loves Thomas the train and I decided to buy him the Toddler bed. I can't believe how expensive that toddler bed is. Anyways, I hope the kid appreciates it. I overheard mr.man saying she was going to throw his party down here, I hope it's true, because I don't feel like making the eight+ hour drive to give it to the kid. I was thinking of just having it shipped to his apartment but;
1) I don't know their new address
2) I don't remember the kid's actual b-day
3) I want to see the kids face when he opens it up
4) I want the kid to know it's from me.

So now I wait until the b-day party.

Of all days to be sick, why did it have to be today.

2010-06-19T21:18:00.001-07:00

I felt it coming Friday. However I was hoping it was just that I was tired from the night before. We had gone to the neighbors house to watch the Lakers game. However it wasn't a planned event so I had taken an early bath and when I got out Mr.man told me to get ready because the neighbor had called and invited us over. I wrapped my hair in a bun and we went. They had the AC full blast and I don't know if it was because my hair was still quite wet or what but I was freezing. Then after the game we were all moved to the patio for a bbq. We were there really late, outdoors. So I didn't think twice when I woke up late the following morning and was still super tired.

I went to bed last night and I woke up at noon. NOON!! I had my cousins party in an hour and it was at least an hour and a half drive. Plus my hair needed to be straightened and so on. I tried getting out of bed but I felt nauseous and light headed so I stayed in bed. I sent my aunt a text and let her know I wouldn't be making it.

She ended up sending me a few pics from the party and it looked like SO much fun. I am really upset that I had to miss it. Turns out that my parents never showed as well. My sisters didn't go either, but they never go to any of my dad's side of the family parties. I don't know why. I like them, and they are not bad people. Oh well.

I hope I feel better tomorrow as it is Father's day and I don't want to be a downer.

Fingers crossed.

Just being a bum since I hate the sun and heat

2010-06-16T18:18:00.001-07:00

The wonderful cooler weather that was around last week officially left Sunday. It's just been HOT HOT HOT. TOO HOT and bright and sunny. So I have spent the last three days at home with all the window shades closed (which means I've been staying out of the formal rooms and office)and just been staying in the dark, cool air conditioned family room reading books.

They brought the new bed (the right one this time and what a difference)Tuesday night and early this morning I cancelled the rest of the bedroom set.

I received a package today which has added 4 new pairs to my shoe room and I also ordered Jessica Simpson's DANY in both black and tan this morning. Yup, they are now in stock at her website. I am still waiting for 4 of my preorders one of which says it's being processed for shipping. Yay, hopefully it arrives quickly.

I kind of regret getting the boys back into their gas powered RC trucks. I forgot how expensive it was. Those things are so sensitive and they burn through fuel and glow plugs like nothing. Maybe it's just my boys are too aggressive with them that parts keep breaking and they keep needing me to re-place them for them. And by replace I mean drive them to the hobby shop and pay for the parts. I am done. One already needs another glow plug, they are almost out of their second gallon of fuel and another one needs a new fly wheel. Umm, they need to wait or hit Mr.man up now. They haven't a penny left from their money (Kid 2 does have money in the kitty fund but that's for his cat)and they no longer have their lawn mowing jobs so there is no way they can earn any money any time soon.

I am seriously considering getting the season passes for Disney again, but the sun hasn't made me wanna go all the way out there and well spend a day in the sun standing in lines. I have never really gone during "summer" as I am kind of thinking the place will be crazy mad crowded. Who knows, maybe next week.

I will have to go out tomorrow though. I need to dye my hair, get my nails done and buy a gift for my cousin. I was looking forward to it early on but now as the day is almost here I am kind of feeling blah about it.

I really need to get out of this "slump" as even I am sick of my whiny self.

Did we really need this new bedroom set?

2010-06-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

This morning I again had a 10am appt with someone else who wanted to purchase the 25 pairs of shoes. She showed up and giggled with excitement as she loaded her purchases into the trunk of her car. I said thank you and I hope you enjoy them and went back home.

As soon as I got home Mr.man ambushed me and said lets go to the furniture store and look at bedroom furniture. I tell him I love my old bedroom set. He's sick of it and he doesn't care that I have grown up with this set and it means alot to me.

So we go to a few and I finally agree to a set. I choose the color I want from a board with 3" squares in a variety of colors. They say they would deliver the bed the same day since they had it in the warehouse and to expect them at 6pm. The rest of the set would arrive next weekend since I special ordered an armoire and had them tweek the dressers and nightstands.

They arrive well after 7pm and as soon as I saw the Headboard I freaked. It was not the color I chose and it was just horrible. It was a reddish, hot pink mess. The staining on the wood was uneven and splotchy and ugly. I tell Mr.man and he goes it looks the same to me. It just looks different to you because you saw it on a small square sample. I tell him it is definitely not the color and the bed is a piece of crap. The quality is shit. I tell him look at the frame it doesn't even have any cross beams for support! He gets mad and says that the color you chose. I got pissed and say "this is just like the carpet! And what happened, I proved you and the damn builder and everyone wrong!" He says fine what do you want me to do? I tell him tell them that is not what I picked and to take that piece of shit back. After a long argument and my storming off he finally told them the problem. Or like he told them "my wife's problem" I told them the problem and they tried to play me like I was an idiot or just a plain bitch. So this is what happened. They left this one here and on Tuesday they will bring the headboards back in their three darkest colors and I will then tell them which one to leave. They are going to charge us another $40 delivery fee (jerks)but you know what I am going to do? The bed is paid for so I'll keep the damn thing. However weds morning I am going to cancel the rest of the set. We haven't paid for any of it yet, the contract I signed was just for the bed as that was what they were delivering. So they can keep the rest of their shit. I will order the rest of the set elsewhere.

Just look at this mess!

Do you see what I mean??

The outfit I wore today made no sense, kinda like my day.

2010-06-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

I was stood up. I sat at the Chevron fro 20 minutes waiting for the person who was supposed to come buy those 25 pairs of shoes off of me. They were supposed to meet me there at 10am at 10:15 I called them to see if they were still coming. No answer. I left a voicemail and went right back home. Good thing is that the Chevron is just a hop skip and a jump from my house, so no fuel wasted, just my time.

After that squishy and I went over to what has become kind of a Sat morning ritual. The farmers market. Kid 2 was asleep and kid 1 said he wanted to stay home. So it was just squishy and I.

I didn't find anything today (I did buy another book as I have already finished the two from last week.)but I made a mistake of telling a vendor I liked a necklace she was selling. This is the first time I have seen her stand. I looked around and there was one sloppy mess of kinda okayness that caught my eye. I told her that it was interesting and she had it on my neck in two seconds flat. She asked me if I was a model because I looked like one. I said no. She goes oh my it looks stunning on you and it goes with your outfit.

Once around my neck it looked, well, ugly. I didn't care for it anymore. She then quickly put the bracelet on me. I told her they were nice but I was out of cash and didn't have enough. I take them off and try to walk away. She then goes I'll take a check. I tell her I don't carry my checkbook. She says are you sure you don't have enough. I tell her no she then says do you live near by? I tell her let me call my husband and see if he can buy it for me. She goes is he here? I tell her no he should be at home. I grab my phone and dial my voicemail and walk away. Sheesh.

Unfortunately on the way back she comes up behind me and says did you get a hold of your husband? I tell her yes, but hes already left out of town. She then asks me how much do you have? I pulled out some money I had in my pocket (no way I was going to pull out my wallet) and I happened to have a twenty and some change. She goes that's all you have? I tell her yes and try to walk away but she follows. Hmm, 20 that's pushing it (she wanted $45) I tell her yup, sorry, and again try to walk away. Maybe if you had $25. I tell her nope, all I have is this. She then comes up with the great idea of you can pay me that and next week pay me the rest. I tell her no, I don't like owing money. She goes you can mail me a check. I make a face. Maybe you have some money in your car? I tell her let me go check. She says yes do that. For a second I thought she was going to follow me all the way to my car. Fortunately she didn't.

After that I went to the thrift and antique stores and squishy got a few things and then we went home.

At almost 3pm my old bff texts me to invite me over to her house for a party. I ask her right now? She answers , yeah if you want to. her daughters wanted to see the boys. I answered let me ask the boys. Back when their mom and I were bff's her two older daughters and my older two boys were inseparable. They always wanted to be together. I replied with "is it a bday party?" and didn't get a response.

I asked the boys and they were curious and so off we went. I was surprised to still remember where she lived as I'd only been to her house once 2 yrs ago when she had just rented the place.

It turned out to be a b-day party for her youngest daughter. I felt odd and out of place. So we stayed there until about 6. The whole time while we were there her oldest kept asking about my oldest. She wanted his cell phone number, she wanted to know if he had a facebook she also wanted to know if he had a girl friend. I told her he did have a girlfriend and that they wouldn't get their cell phones back until school started back up again and that they didn't have facebooks. Fortunately the boys didn't contradict me. They nodded with my responses. I had heard the giggles and the girls with all their girl friends saying he was so cute blah blah blah and kid 1 likes fair skinned, tall, blonde or light brown haired girls I knew and I could tell he wasn't interested in any of the bunch. Plus he is crushing hard on this one girl at his school. They are actually kind of like best friends which worries me that she might not be crushing on him and only see him as a friend. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Anyways I gave her their e-mail addresses and that was that.

While getting out of my car in my garage my phone rang. It was the neighbor letting me know that they might be cancelling the BBQ they were having tomorrow. They called him in to work and he didn't know if he'd be able to get out of it. I told him no problem and to let me know when he had a definite answer.

Next I was reading a magazine when an earthquake hit. Turns out it was a 4.8 centered pretty close to where I live. No damage this time (I think, I haven't checked my shoe room yet) and I just sat on my couch magazine in hand while it went on.

So like I said, My day made no sense.

Necklace: Vintage
Sweater: F21
Top:Fiasca
Jeans: F21 skinny's
Shoes: Cheapies from UrbanOG.com

Out with the old, in with lots of NEW!!!!!

2010-06-11T19:20:00.001-07:00

It is almost the middle of June but yet it feels a bit like fall or winter. It's a cool 65 degrees (actually probably cooler by now)the skies are greyish and the clouds are hiding the evil sun. I am loving it. A few days of hot temps and I am so over them that I welcome these wonderful glorious cool sun free days.

Anyways, I have bought tons of new cheapie shoes from Steve Madden and UrbanOG.com in the last few weeks. I ran out of room of where to store them (even with all my "stolen" shoes slots being empty). So in order to fit all my new ones I had to re-arrange here and there and I pulled out 25 pairs of shoes (some were new and some are used) that I no longer want or care to keep. I put them up on craigslist as a lot and someones supposed to meet me in the morning for them.

There are still 8 pairs on order so I am still going to have to figure something out to fit those in. Whatever, I'll come to it when I come to it. Four of those pairs will probably be in on Monday or Tuesday. Two pairs of the 5 that were on pre-order should have already shipped out last week but for some reason they haven't. One of those 5 arrived yesterday. Another has a date of 6/22 and the last one a ship date of 7/6.

So I'll be getting lots of packages in the coming days.

Today I took the boys to Chuckies just as promised. I purchased 150 tokens and with their report cards they each got 15 tokens free. Kid 1 took his 15 and left to do his thing. Squishy and Bernie (neighbor kid) left with their 15 each and took off. A few minutes later they come begging for more. So I gave them each 15. It was a repetitive cycle and in less than an hour than had gone through all the tokens. Just them two. 180 tokens between the two! Then they had the nerve to ask me to buy them more. I said nope. Kid 1 never even got any extra tokens after his original 15 from his report card. I had them count up their tickets and they ended up with 574 between the two. They traded them for a bag of cotton candy, a few plastic lizards and a small toy car.

We went to run one last errand for Mr.man and we went straight home. Not shortly after they were starving again and we just made tuna salad sandwiches.

Bernie was picked up at 5pm and his mom let me know that her oldest had called her to let her know they were having too much fun and that they were going to stay a bit longer at the lake.

At 7pm Mr.man calls me to tell me that they had been trying to call her to let her know that they were stuck in major traffic. They were due to get back at around 7-7:30 but the freeway was completely stalled and they didn't expect to get home until 9pm or so. I called her and I too got her voice mail so I forwarded the message.

I just finished watching District nine. It's my second time trying to watch it. Last time after 20 or so minutes I turned it off. Kid 1 wanted to watch it so we put it back on. I left the room for about 30 minutes and when I got back I sat to watch the movie. It got better. It's not awesome, but if you could get past the first 30 minutes of Blah blah it's not too bad.

Well I am ready for the weekend and I hope the weather stays this way.

Back to normal?

2010-06-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

It was easier to get out of bed this morning. When I came downstairs there was a package at the landing. One of my pre-orders had arrived. Yay! That's a nice thing to wake up to.

As soon as I was up and dressed the errands began. I had to make a few calls for Mr.man and then I had to go look through 7 year old files and find certain paperwork. JOY!! I found them, faxed them and then made copies and mailed those out and last but not least, re-filed the originals and done.

The boys wanted lunch so we went to Red Robin's. After that we went grocery shopping. While doing so Mr.man calls to find out on my progress. I let him know it was all taken care of (thank you very much.) and was now doing the grocery shopping. He then asks me to buy him several items for his fishing trip tomorrow. (I know, AGAIN) This time kid 2 and a neighbor kid are the only ones tagging along. So we had to get a second basket to purchase his requested items.

After all the groceries were put away I was thinking of heading out to this other Farmers Market held Thursday nights. However I got a call from the neighbor and I guess her boys are spending the night. One of her boys is the one going fishing and her younger one will be spending the day with me. I told them we would go to chuck-e-cheese's. I don't know what time they will coming over so I told the boys that their rooms and bathrooms had better be clean as they are having guests for the night. So I don't want to feel rushed at the farmers market so I skipped it all together. Next week I'll check it out.

I'm off to make dinner. Yum Yum.

I'm almost back to myself again.

2010-06-09T18:08:00.001-07:00

My big mistake? I stopped taking my pills last Sat. By Sunday I felt worn out but I thought it was just from running all over town doing this and that and going from boring store to boring store in 100+ degree weather. Monday I was still super tired and I had a hard time getting up. It was still really hot so I stayed indoors all day and ordered some cheap shoes from UrbanOg.com. Which by the way should arrive tomorrow. Tuesday it was even harder to get up and when I had to run a couple errands for the boys and Mr.man (I am so over the Hobby shops, bike shops and tackle stores. Completely and utterly s.i.c.k. of them) I was a walking almost falling asleep zombie. This morning again I wanted to wake up but I just couldn't get my self up until 11am. That's when I realized that no matter how much I hate these horrible pills they need to taken. Daily, no matter what. I feel better right now since I took them earlier but still a bit drowsy. I hope that after tomorrows dose I will be to a 100% all better Ivy. I do not want to waste my summer sleeping through it.

I did some shopping and also met a customer

2010-06-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

I loved the farmers market so much last week that I decided to again make a trip down there today. I am glad I did. This time kid 2 joined me along with squishy. Kid 1 stayed home to mow the lawn and do a few chores to pay off his recent massive hobby shop bill. It's called learning responsibility.

My new Victorian tea party hat.

As soon as we started browsing the market I saw a stand with wonderful Victorian hats. She had dozens of them in a variety of colors. The reason it grabbed my attention is that my cousins bridal shower is tea party themed and we are all asked to wear a hat and they will be giving out special prizes for those of us brave enough to show up wearing one. They were beautiful. Even though I had just recently purchased another hat just for that purpose (and I already owned a hat that could have worked but being that the party is mid June I don't know if I will be wearing black), this hat was just a hundred times better. Best part? She was only asking $5! I quickly snatched one up (and believe me I was in such a stupor that I was tempted to come home with one in every color).

Original hat purchased for Tea party.

Black hat purchased last summer

Next I found a stand selling homemade jewelery and I found a bracelet that wanted to go home with me. I could have made it myself as I have seen the materials at Micheal's, but I paid her $25 for her hard work and to support the local "arts". Plus she was a super friendly woman. I also bought a pretty neutral colored clutch. It also came with a shoulder strap in case I'd prefer to wear it that way instead.

I bought two books and that was it for me, but I did find some Green Bay Packers pot holder/ towel sets that Mr.man would have loved. They would have been perfect for his football Sundays grill days. However I just bought him his fathers day gift a few days ago and I am still mad at him so I don't think he deserved any more gifts. So I passed on the pot holders.

I was looking for this pink dog tent I saw last week. I decided to go ahead and get it for my little girls but the woman was not there this week. Hopefully shes there next week.

Kid 2 bought a set of 12 skeleton keys pre-1950's for $10. They are really old and a bit rusty but super cool. There are some really strange shaped ones and some normal ones. He is like me, he loves history and he loves owning pieces of it.

Squishy bought a small bag of bouncy balls for a quarter.

We then walked down the other end of the street and visited the thrift and antique stores. At the first thrift store I found the coolest shoes. They fit me and I had to have them. They were missing their laces, but who cares. They were marked $5 but they had a 50% off sale so I got them for $2.50. They were brand spanking new and still had the original price tag of $9.00 from get this, July 1976!! The brand is Pedwin and I believe them to be mens as they are marked size 6. I believe them to be from 1976 because the tag has 7-76 in the top right corner. There is no store name on the sticker. But there is a union label stamped in the shoe. (When I got home I carefully peeled the tag off and stuck it on a binder.Hopefully it'll stay safe. I'll take a pic of it later and add on this post.)

We then went to the antique stores (there are 4 of them all in a row) and didn't really find anything special. While there a woman admired my necklace. I was wearing the bow necklace today. I told her it was mine and that I actually had a few for sale.She said she'd love one and I gave her my phone number and figured she was all talk.

We went to the other two thrift stores and walked out empty handed.

After that we went to Carl's Jr for lunch. We went there because the boys had won free meal coupons at their school carnival. With full belly's we headed home.

Later I received a call from an unknown number. I answered it and was I surprised to find out it was the woman from earlier. I gave her directions and in no time she was at my door. I showed her the bow necklace and I showed her the second icicle necklace. I also told her I had a few more on my etsy. She liked both and she purchased both of them. So now I only have one icicle necklace and one bow necklace left to sell along with the heart and the double chain one. I gave her the sale price and knocked off an extra $5 since I wasn't shipping them to her. I didn't really make anything off those two since the "materials" for those two were more expensive than the materials on the other two. I just wish the ones on etsy would sell so I could end that already.

Anyways, the rest of the day was spent watching movies. We finally subscribed to Netflix and it's kinda cool being able to watch movies instantly on tv via the
ps3.

Outfit pictures not yet posted

Necklace: Codename Ivy bow necklace
Top: Rampage
Shorts: Spacegirls
Shoes: Gucci Iman t-strap (my FAVORITE walking shoes. I try to wear these any time I know I will be doing alot of walking. I can walk miles in these babies without getting tired feet. The triple strap ones do start hurting after a few hours.)

Where are my tamales

2010-06-04T15:44:00.001-07:00

My mom in law had said she would be coming over in the morning to bring the boys their gifts. She also said she would be bringing us some tamales. I was super excited about the tamales. I don't know how to make them (as a matter of fact no one on my side of the family does I don't think Spaniards make tamales, I think it's a Mexican thing)and I have been craving them lately.

She finally arrived at around 11:30. I was greatly disappointed when she hands me the bag of tamales and they are the weird ones. The filling was green sliced chile's and cheese. Boo. I wanted the ones with the red sauce and beef or pork. Those are the good ones. Well at least she didn't bring the sweet ones with raisins.

So it was the last day of school for the boys. It was an all day Carnival. They had snow cones, nachos, popcorn and a BBQ. They had dozens of game booths and tons of prizes. The boys said it was a really good time and since the food and snacks were unlimited kid 2 had five snow cones!! I really love this school and I am glad that they were finally able to get into it.

My mom in law left shortly after the boys got home and I couldn't wait for her to leave. She had brought her mom and her brother and they are loud! They were having discussions that sound more like arguments about stupidness. Loud loud loud.

Also I had a few dresses and a jumpsuit I had bought for her (she always asks me to keep an eye out for this or that)for her AZ family reunion in July. So I took her to my shoe room so she could see them and try them on. Her mom followed us in and she goes oh you have a store in your house. And she just starts going through my coats and shoes and goes oh everything you have is too small you need to carry larger sizes. I tell her I am not a store. All of this is for me so it's only in my size. Silly woman still didn't get it. My new item to hunt for my mom in law is a pair of black wedges with a 3" heel maybe 4" in a size 8. So lets see if I find some she might like.

After they left we went to Red Robins for dinner and BACK to the hobby shop for one last thing (fingers crossed). On the way home we stopped off at another Hobby shop that had just opened in a shopping center a few blocks from our house. They browsed around and comparison shopped and then we finally went back home.

We spent the rest of the evening watching movies. Good Times.

Necklace: Talulabelles (for some reason it turned my neck green :( will be changing chain out on it soon)
Top: H&M
Skirt: Saks
Shoes: Gucci Iman

They are now off to high school!

2010-06-04T08:31:00.001-07:00

THURSDAY

I feel SO O.L.D. OLD!!! My babies will be starting high school come fall and my squishy starts middle school then as well. When I went to school we were in elementary through sixth grade and we were in "Junior high" (not middle school, it was called junior high.)through 9th grade. But the year when I moved on to 10th grade was when they started converting the "format". By the time I was a junior in high school, the new "middle school" system was in place and the 9th graders had invaded the high school. Funny how things change and I guess that's why I feel so old. I feel like those grandparents who talk about penny candy (I still remember .25 cent single scoops of Thrifty ice cream!!) Okay, OLD.

So at first I hadn't invited anyone to the boys graduation. Not only was it on a Thursday but it started at 5pm and since all our family members live far I figured they wouldn't want to make the drive. However, in the morning my mom in law called but I didn't answer because i was busy at the moment. I figured Mr.man had told her so I decided to just text everyone a pic of the invitation. My mom texted back that she'd be here.

Later Mr.man called and said his mom had called him to find out what time it was starting. I told him 5pm but we had to be there by 4pm, so tell her to be here at 3-3:30. He said "okay I'll tell her" and that was that.

My mom calls me at 2pm to tell me she wouldn't be able to make it after all. Then at 3pm my mom in law calls and says "the graduation is today?" I say "Yes." She then goes on to tell me that Mr.man had told her that it was on Friday. I told her she must have Miss-understood. She was out in the middle of LA and I told her there was no way she'd make it now because we had to leave at 4pm. About 10 minutes after we hung up Mr.man calls me and also says "The ceremony is today?" I tell him uh yeah, we have been talking about it all week and every time we talked about it we have said "when they graduate on THURSDAY". He then tells me he's in Santa Barbara and he won't be getting home until midnight or so. I asked why on earth did you go there? He tells me he went there then so he could take Friday off for the boys ceremony. I call him a dumb ass and he says he can't believe this. I also tell him, the invitation has been up in the butlers pantry for three weeks and it clearly says "Thursday June 3rd". He said I guess we'll celebrate tomorrow. He also thought that since they graduated yesterday school was over. I told him no Friday is the last day of school and they are having a school carnival all day.

ugh. Dork.

So at 4pm the boys and I head for their school. At 5pm the ceremony started and by 5:40 it was done and over with. What made me laugh was when the "MC" says this is our largest 8th grade class in school history. There are 60 8th graders in the entire school! Wow.

My horoscope did say plans would not work out as planned and to go with the flow. So that's what I did. Went with the flow. The only thing that kinda sorta stressed me out was picking shoes to wear. You know, since I have absolutely nothing to wear : )

Necklaces: codename ivy and vintage
dress: Calvin Klein
Shoes: YSL

My lovely new necklace

2010-06-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

My blender went up in smoke last night. We got it as a wedding gift from Mr.man's grandmother. I have another one I bought when we moved to this house 3 yrs ago but for some reason I really don't like it at all. So I would always use my oldie but goodie. I decided that I would go out and find a replacement for it today.

I went to several places in town and I still didn't come home with one. I guess what it was is that I was looking for an exact replica of the old blender and there isn't one to be found. I will try again later and this time I won't be so picky I guess.

Through out my blender shopping experience I received many and I do mean MANY compliments on my new Farmer's Market necklace. They all asked me where I got it and I happily told them where I found this gorgeous item. So the lady might just get a few customers next weekend thanks to me : )

The hobby shop called me about kid 1's T-Maxx. They had just started the pre-check before the tune up when they discovered one of the servers was malfunctioning. So add an additional $32 for that. I just hope they don't find any other major thing wrong with it as Kid 1 is at $0 dollar status as it is and all this is coming out of my pocket. He will be washing my cars for a long time. hehe.

I am waiting for the UPS man and he should be here shortly as he averages a 2:30-4pm arrival time. I am only receiving 1 of the pairs today as the other two were a pre-order for June 8th. I am still waiting for another pre-order I made a LONG time ago with a ship date of June 9th. I can't wait. I will be going through my shoe room and pull out several pairs of shoes that I don't think I'll ever get around to wearing. Maybe....

Necklace: Farmer's Market find
Dress: Love21
Shoes: Stuart Weitzman

What have I done for the past 5 days (get ready for a long and I mean LONG post) plus a rant.

2010-05-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Friday the boys went to school and Mr.Man was off. He's off until Weds.!! So on Friday we got every thing ready and he loaded his car and in the afternoon he was on his way with Kid 2 to our campsite. I stayed behind because I had committed myself to watch the neighbors kids the following day. However late evening she called me to let me know she'd managed to get the day off after all. My new shoes also came in that afternoon.

SAT.

Top: Halston
Skirt: Dolce&Gabbana
Shoes: Steve Madden
Necklace: Vintage

Let's see, what was done on Sat. Well kid 1 needed something else for his T-Maxx. I told him the hobby shop wouldn't open until around 11 but being that he thinks he's smarter than me he claimed it opened at 9. Just to prove him wrong at 9:30 we drove all the way into town.

Of course I was right and the shop wasn't going to open until 10:30. I then decided to go shopping. I went to my favorite vintage jewelry store and I didn't leave empty handed. After that we went to the Farmers market. It has been going on for quite some time but this was the very first time I'd gone.

I ended up finding a gorgeous necklace (actually a few) and I just had to have it. I might go back in the coming weeks and snatch up all the others I liked.

After that we went to the Hobby shop and he got what he needed and we headed home. I thought I'd finished my shopping day but I ended up ordering three more pairs of shoes before the day was over.

I had told Mr.man that I would head out there that afternoon/evening but I changed my mind and I called him to let him know I'd be arriving early morning.

SUN.

So early at the butt crack of dawn we left to meet up with the rest of the family. It was nice, cool, practically empty and peaceful. Wildlife was seen here and there and Kid 2 was lucky as always at fishing.

IN THE AFTERNOON:

Yes, this is people taking over campground space #6.

However as the day progressed it became unbearable. Each campsite has a "patio" area with 2 picnic tables, a grill and a gutting station surrounded by trees and a flat bare area for tents with a cabin like bathroom shower area between every two campsites. What happened is people started arriving and they couldn't find anywhere to set up that they started setting up in the wooded area in our and everyone elses campsite. They even tried setting up in our "patio" area!

There is a small swimming area near the campground side of the lake with the rest set up fr fishing. (The other side of the lake is the side with the larger swimming area and for boats and for wave runners etc.) It is clearly marked as to where the swimming area is with rope and buoys. However when the swimming area got crowded people started swimming in the fishing sides (my kid pointed out that almost everyone was swimming in street clothes!). They kept getting tangled in the fishing line and all the fishers had to re-cast constantly. It was annoying.

Also we had set up a shade and our five chairs near the beach right where the swimming area and fishing area connect so that way I could keep an eye on the swimmers and keep an eye on the cast poles while Mr.man and kid 2 wandered the lake with their second poles. Anyways, kid 1 and squishy where hungry so I went up to turn on our portable propane grill so we could make some hot dogs. While up there I had a clear view of our shade and poles. I notice two men walk up to the poles and stand directly in front of them looking all around acting suspicious. So I go down and sit at the chair closest to the pole and stare at them. I was just waiting for them to make their move so I could pounce on them. I was already in a foul mood and I guess I just wanted to fight. One of them finally notice me staring at them and he walked over to the other guy and said lets go, I guess were not getting ourselves new poles in Spanish. (excuse my bad Spanish spelling) "no se nos eseron nuestras kanas nuevas"

Yea, there was alot worse (like someone helped themselves to our ice chest of drinks) and it was like everyone in CA was there in that little side of the lake. I couldn't take it anymore and I told Mr.man I was heading home before I lost it. He too was frustrated and we decided to just pack everything up and just head home. As soon as we took our stuff out of the picnic area it was invaded. We then put our chairs and shade away on the beach and we weren't even done putting the shade away when people had already set up. I am NOT exaggerating at all.

This had been my first time there and with this experience I would never go again. Mr.man and Kid 2 have been there many time and they swear to me it had never ever been like that. It has always been empty with only a few other fisherman.

When we were leaving we noticed that they had closed the entrance because it was full, however there were cars parked all along the street and lookout area and they were climbing down into the lake. OMG.

I was glad to be home and I will NEVER go back during a holiday. NEVER.

When we went to the fishing tournament in April (different lake) it was a different experiance. Yes there were a lot of people there as well but it was just different. I actually relaxed and had a good time. I still came home tired but it was a good time all in all (and that trip involved the in-laws!)

MON.

Dress: Derick Heart
Shoes: Steve Madden
Belt & Necklace: Vintage

We took it easy Monday morning but at around noon we all went out. We had to go back to the hobby shop to drop of Kid 1's truck for a tune-up and to find out why it wasn't starting anymore. While there I bought Mr.man an early Father's day gift.

Next we went out to get the older two new dress clothes and shoes for their graduation on Thursday. We also got squishy some so he'd be set for my aunt's wedding in July and My cousin's in August.

After that we went to our closest Best Buy because Mr.man wanted to get a new game.They didn't have it in stock but they found it for us at another one nearby and they put it on hold. I ended up buying a cd.

By then we were starving and we made a pit stop at In-n-Out and stuffed our faces.

We went to the other Best Buy, browsed around and purchased the game. We saw a pet store and we decided to browse that as well. Big mistake. I wanted to come home with three new puppies. It hurt so bad when I had to walk out of there without a single adorable pup.

By now it was 6pm and Mr.man couldn't wait to get home and play his new game. While he did that I was upstairs watching tv.

TUES.

Dress: Love21
Shoes: Bakers
Belt & Necklace: Vintage

Mr.man is still off and the boys went back to school. We only went out for lunch and Mr.man is changing the brakes in his car. Thanks to the birthday present I gave him he is having an easy time accomplishing this task.

I was asked to drive the neighbors kids to their golf lesson and now that everyone is home and that favor has been done I plan to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. YAY!!

Thursday waiting for the rain

2010-05-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

The forecasters have been saying it was going to rain yesterday and today. The rain never showed yesterday and I doubt it will show today.

Squishy had a performance this morning. The elementary kids Put on a play. They sang songs about the ocean and environment and they put on skits about saving the planet. They have really been pushing the subject all year that I am getting kind of tired of it (and I am an avid recycler! I throw a fit whenever I find recyclables in the garbage can at home and own more reusable canvas shopping bags than any one person should).

Afterwards I headed home. I almost went into town for a bit of browsing, but yeah, I don't browse so home it was. When I got home I did a bit of laundry and started making a list for the weekend. We are going camping (JOY :\ ) so I need to get myself organized so we don't end up forgetting anything. This was sprung on me last minute (just like all the plans Mr.man makes) I found out about it on Sunday when I overheard Mr.man talking to one of his friends about it. Typical.

This warm weather has got me craving cold meals. So I am going to start preparing some ceviche tonight for tomorrow.

Good times!!

I saw some Kors wedges online earlier and I REALLY want them (and their on sale!!!!) but I don't know if I should get them. Eek!!

Necklace: Vintage
Top: Mossimo
Thermal: G.A.S.
Shorts: F21
Shoes: Miss Sixty

Not a bit of shopping

2010-05-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY May 26

So in order to minimize my closet cleanouts I an staying away from stores. I am about ready to break as this just staying at home stuff is getting boring. Yeah, I keep myself entertained with the dogs and the kitten, catching up on old shows that were on my DVR and such but I miss stores!! Unfortunately I have no restraint and if I go in a store I buy what I like.

Anyways, the older two boys were on their 8th grade field trip to Knott's. I really didn't want them to go as I don't like the boys going to amusement parks without me. I am always worring that they get lost, hurt or whatever and I am not nearby.

So when squishy got out of school he and I went to Chuckie's. We were there for quite a while and left when it was time to pick the older two up.

Tunic dress: F21
Leggings: Apt.9
Shoes: Marni

**UPDATE** Title is now a lie as I have just bought a pair of shoes online. Oh no..Bad Ivy.
;D

He wanted a cat

2010-05-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

I felt like Chinese for lunch. I decided to try a Chinese buffet that I had never been to. I was greatly disappointed. I tried a little of everything but everything was bland or had an odd taste to it. They didn't have broccoli beef they had broccoli chicken. Their kung pao had no peanuts and it wasn't even spicy. Their orange chicken didn't look anything like orange chicken. Ugh. I left it all in my plate. The only thing that was half way decent was the egg roll. I will most definitely never go there again.

When the boys got out of school we went to the hobby shop. Kid 1 had to buy some fuel for his T-Maxx. From there I drove Kid 2 to the pet store for some more kitty litter. I also had him buy another small bag of kitty food. He was pissed off and his eyes were like daggers when I told him his cat was his sole responsibility and therefore he would be paying for all of the kitty's necessity's on his own. He was fuming but he wheeled the shopping cart to the register and paid it himself. As we were putting the items in the trunk he goes "Now I only have a dollar and some change left!" I then replied, you wanted a kitten.

I asked the boys if there was anywhere else they wanted to go to and Kid 1 and Squishy both said no and that they wanted to head home. Kid 2 sulked. I asked him if there was anywhere else he wanted to go and he gave me the look of death and said No.

I had told him that if he got the kitten he would be solely responsible for him. He agreed and now he's realizing that pets are expensive and a lot of work and he is probably regretting it now. Life lesson right?

necklace: Codenameivy
Top: H&M
Skirt: F21
Shoes: Micheal Kors

A busy weekend

2010-05-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

Worn on Sat

Dress: Cynthia Rowley
Shoes: Bakers

Worn on Sunday

Top: Tadashi
Jeans: True Religion
Shoes: Gucci

Worn today

Dress: Theory
Shoes: Bakers
Necklace: Vintage Jewelry

It was a busy one indeed. Sat. I attended a cousins party and we had to be at the airport at 9 pm to pick Mr.man up. I had him drive home as I was tired of driving. We got home close to 11pm and went straight to bed.

Sunday morning we had to be up really early to go to Mr.mans company "Open House". There were alot of activities that were scheduled to be done outdoors but we had to move them indoors into the reception area, conference room, break room and even in the hallways. Why? It started raining on us. Fortunately the grills were under ez-ups so the rain didn't ruin the BBQ. By 2pm all was over there and we had to rush over to my aunts bridal shower.

We still needed her gift so we stopped off at Bed Bath and Beyond on the way there. We arrived at 4pm and I was told everyone thought I was going to be a no show. Turns out none of my sisters planned to attend. My dad was extremely happy that we showed up. We played all the games, Mr.man got a gift for letting us use him as the bride on one of the games. Unfortunately we ran out of time and we were unable to finish his T.P. wedding dress. My mom's team won first place. It was fun and I am glad Mr.man was such a good sport about it.

As soon as all the gifts had been opened we headed home. Not too long after my dad called and asked if we could swing by his house because he wanted to give Kid 1 a new model car he'd gotten for him. We then headed in that direction. We hadn't intended to stay too long but every time we made our way to the door they'd start a new conversation. Finally I told my dad that we really needed to get going because the boys needed to go to school the following morning.

Today was mostly spent here at home. I did go out and run a few errands but nothing major.

Wow, even more had to go.

2010-05-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

This morning I started on a task. A task that has been happening a bit too frequent for my taste. The task? Closet clean out. Yup, AGAIN. Wow it is really getting harder every single time. It must be done so I got to work.

I pulled every single dress and top out of my closet and weeded out. After many many hours I ended up pulling 114 pieces out. I called my neighbor and she took 20 items. Now I am contemplating getting up early and holding a yard sale. Hmmm. I hate putting signs up, so we'll see.

This afternoon I got a text from my old best friend. She is going to something called the Electric Carnival. I had no clue what she was talking about so I googled it. It is like a giant outdoor rave, at least that's what I gathered from my search. Anyways she is going and she is going to wear a tutu and wanted to know if I could lend her a top. I said yes and I let her borrow a black lace corset. It was her first time coming to this house and she got lost trying to find it.

We talked for a while and she gave me a gift (an acrylic paint set) and she went on her way.

So know I am here contemplating whether or not to have the yard sale. Oh, whom I kidding. I have to much to do tomorrow.

Dress: BCBGMAXAZRIA
Shoes: Bakers

No friend for lunch

2010-05-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

My friend stood me up. Well not really, they did let me know last night that they wouldn't be coming out here after all. They got stuck taking the mother in law to the Dr. for her check up after her hysterectomy.

Squishy had a field trip to Olevera Street in L.A. as part of their Spanish class but he wasn't feeling well and he begged me to stay home so he wouldn't have to feel sick in the middle of L.A. Being that I am a pushover when squishy gives me his goo goo eyes I agreed.

We were home most of the morning just being a couple of lazies. He started feeling better so after the older two boys got home we headed off to do some shopping. We browsed and we shopped and we ate. I saw so many items that I just wanted to bring home but funds were scarce so I ended up leaving at least 6 items on hold here and there as I decided what would take my money. They have so many beautiful things there it's mind numbing (Dior, Gucci, D&G, YSL, DvF, Barneys and saks.....) and also quite sad when you fall in love with an item but funds don't allow it. Hmmff!!

Oh well. I am now at home and I am really tired. So now it's time to relax.

This weather is crazy

2010-05-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it barely made it to 60 degrees, today however, high 80's. This is just crazy. But I have to look at the bright side and remember the terrible high temps we had last year and shrug this weird weather off.

Today I decided to wear this dress. I don't know if it the combination of eyelet material with lace or the design of the dress itself, but I feel as I should either be in Mexico or in an old west saloon. HAHA

Also, I've had these shoes for a LONG time now and they used to look sky high to me, but now they seem quite low. Funny how 4" heels are like flats to me. Serious.

Today I finally put the lock on my shoe room door. I have been procrastinating because I am unsure how Mr.man will take it, but I decided to take advantage that he's in Kentucky and just get it over with. It took me less than 10 minutes to switch them out. The only thing is I was way off on the color. For some reason I thought our fixtures were brushed nickel but it turns out they are chrome. How can I have been such a dork? It's not like we just moved in. We bought this house over three years ago so how could I not know that?? Oh well, it's on and I am too lazy to exchange (especially since I had spare keys made for it).

I was asked to watch the neighbors kids today so I wasn't able to do anything special but that's okay. I just kept myself busy doing odd jobs here and there around the house. I even cleaned my fish tank!

I had a package arrive today. I am semi disappointed because the color is WAY off. I ended up ordering the shoes that I wanted at Nordstroms a month or so ago. The ones with the pen mark and the snarky shoe salesman. GRRR. Anyways, I ordered them from Steve Madden directly and like I said I received them today. These are definitely not the same color as the ones from Nordstroms. This time I wanted the sweet light blush, but the blush pair I received is a dark brownish with a pinkish hue. This is so frustrating. I have decided to just go ahead and keep them and consider it an omen that I am not to have a light colored suede shoe.

A coupon code for Heels.com

2010-05-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail from Heels.com for a Friends with benefits code for $10 off of $50. The code is exclusive to me but I am able to share with everyone. You see every time my specific code is used I am entered to a drawing for a mystery prize. I say mystery because I didn't see what exactly they are giving away. So if you want here is my code and it expires on June 9th at 11:59pm. They have free shipping and I have never been charged tax, so a great deal is bound to be found.

kexolumotizahak

: )

No more roots.

2010-05-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

This morning I had an appointment to get my hair dyed. I was crossing my fingers that the stylist wouldn't notice my split ends' split ends. I have known for some time that my hair needed to be trimmed bad. A couple months ago I did get a few inches cut off but it wasn't enough.

The stylist noticed them right away and insisted that I cut at least 6 inches off. After a long back and forth I finally agreed to the cut. She says 6 inches, but I can swear that it was more like 8 inches. My hair is just between my shoulder blades now. This is the shortest I've had it in a long time. My hair does look 100% better health wise and texture wise, but I am going to miss my long locks. Hopefully it grows back quick.

When I got home I walked over to the mailbox to pick up today's mail. Just as I was reaching the mailbox I stumbled and just barely saved myself from falling flat on my ass. As soon as I had my footing I scanned the area to see if anyone had seen my comical stumble and other than a black car that drove past there was also a gardener working just across the street. OMG! I hope I was descent on the way down. After all that I look down to see what was the cause of my near fall and it was a stupid large piece of bark that had found its way onto the sidewalk. Ugh! I was so mad and embarrassed that I kicked the bark back into the planter.

Later I received a phone call from one of my closest friends from high school. They are coming down to my area on Thursday and they wanted to know if we could meet for lunch. I agreed and so now I have new plans for that day. I was originally going to head out to Desert Premium Outlets and hit up the stores there but now I might just go ahead and do that tomorrow or Friday instead.

I still need to the bridal shower gift but they're registered at Bed bath and beyond so I can always just get it on my way out there Sunday and they gift wrap for free when you buy a registry gift in store so it will be easy peasy. Yup.

You know, this is a scam. You buy a shower gift and then you buy a wedding gift. Hmm, they end up getting at least two gifts from everyone. I wish I had been brighter when we got married. We didn't have a shower, just the reception. Plus she has got people paying for everything. We dumb kids payed for almost everything on our own. My parents paid for the drinks, his parents paid for the pictures (Sears, which by the way lost our "roll" so we really don't have any wedding pics), Mr.man paid for the reception hall and chipped in a bit here and there and I paid for everything else. I emptied my bank account. I had a nice chunk of cash that I had been saving for a while for a new car thanks to my dad's super generous allowance and money my mom gave me for cleaning the house all the time plus my paychecks from my part-time job. Gone. Oh well, at least I can say I paid for my wedding and that I wasn't a mooch. I always joke around with Mr.man that I bought him. Heehee.

Necklaces: New York and Company and F21
Dress: H&M
Shoes: Steve Madden
Belt: F21

A new picture to hang.

2010-05-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up feeling great so I figured it was now or never for cleaning my bathroom. It was all dusty and the mirrors were all streaky so it was well overdue for a clean-up. After I was done with that I proceeded to dust and clean my bedroom. While doing so I got a call from the school district. They were calling me so I could go pick up squishys winning artwork that had been hanging in their offices since last May. They just selected new winners this year so now the artwork was ready to go home. They had it professionally matted and put it in a nice frame for display.

So I went ahead and got dressed and headed out to pick up squishys "Bug". That was the name he gave it. "Bug".

After I had the artwork safe in my trunk I decided to go to the vintage jewelry store. They have so many nice and beautiful things it's hard to narrow it down to a single piece. I did end up buying a few items. I was now ready to head home, purchases in hand.

Good times...

Tomorrow I will be going to get my hair dyed and I might just go and get my nails done as well. I have two parties to attend this weekend, one on Sat (which I am still iffy on if I'll attend since Mr.man is due to return that day) and the other on Sun. So I want to get a heads up on that. I still need to buy gifts and you know how I get when I have to buy gifts. Fortunately Sun's party host has set up a registry, so that one will be easy.

Wow, I needed that.

2010-05-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

After dropping Mr.man off at the airport I went out for much needed retail therapy. I had tried going out for some yesterday by visiting my local F21. As soon as I walked in I noticed something different. It was nearly empty. It was like if they got rid of more than half their product. Turn out they did. They are no longer going to carry many of their in house labels and the shoe dept. was anemic. Sad. I still came home with two necklaces and four tops and a single skirt.

But today I was in shoppers heaven. Going store to store browsing, trying items on and purchasing items I couldn't live without. After a few hours I had spent almost all my money and it was time to go. The boys were good as they didn't complain once. They too came home with a few items.

I am back to my old self and I think these new pills are working. I hope that I stay this way for a long time. *fingers crossed*

What was I thinking when I bought this?

2010-05-15T10:21:00.001-07:00

Carolina Herrera Fall 2007

When did I ever think I would wear this? Was I going to be a present for someone? Hmmm....

I saw this from her runway and I thought Oh, it is so pretty. Just look at the back of that dress! As you all know, bows, ruffles, flowers and anything shiny and sparkly are a magnet to me. They draw me in, make me blind and momentarily STUPID.

As soon as I saw it for sale online I ordered it so fast that I never really paid attention to the price tag. And oh, that price tag was insane.

When the dress arrived I had a kid put it away for me and never opened the package until MANY months later. By then it was far to late to return. I remember going through one of my much needed closet clean outs and finding the package stuffed on a shelf far in a corner. "What's this?" I thought as I pulled it out and opened it up. OMG! It was the Carolina Herrera dress purchased a year before. But what's this? The bows, they are not made out of fabric, they are made out of plastic! These look like actual factual bows you'd put on a gift. A GIFT!! When was I planning to wrap myself up and give myself away? Hadn't I already done so on my wedding day? (hahaha)

What made it even worse was that it no longer fit me back then, so I couldn't even try it on. I was so upset, I hung it up in my closet and left it there kind of as a reminder to my stupidity.

I was going to go shopping today....

2010-05-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

However, Mr.man just found out yesterday that he is off to Kentucky for a week. His flight leaves Sunday at noon and he wants me to drop him off at the airport. So instead of making two trips out that way (today and then tomorrow), I will just take one more day of rest. But, tomorrow after I say Bye-bye to Mr.man, the boys and I are off shopping. Woo-Hoo!!

I have high hopes of finding lots of wonderful goodies. I haven't been shopping for so long that I hope I haven't forgotten how ;D

No furlough for them

2010-05-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

The entire school district is on a five day weekend thanks to furloughs. They won't resume classes until Tuesday. However, that is not the case at my boys school and they are pissed. They don't see why they have to go to school when everyone else is off. They also have their science inquiry fair going on as we speak. It was mandatory so there was no way out of it, for them. I didn't feel like staying there for 2 hrs+ so I just dropped them off and at 7:30 will be picking them up.

I was asked to watch the neighbors kids today. So I had them at home with pretty much all day. We watched movies and played with the new kitty and time flew by fast.

Now I wait until it's time to go back and get my boys.

Oh pick me Chloe!!

2010-05-12T16:46:00.000-07:00

Chloe at See Chloe Shop and The Chloe Conspiracy is holding a giveaway in honor of her new site. She will be raffling a $100 gift card to Shopbop and I really, really would love to win it. It would most definitely get me out of my present funk. I don't seem to have any luck on these giveaways so I will not only be crossing my fingers. I will be crossing my toes, legs, eyes and whatever else I manage to.

Good luck to you as well : )

Another Codename Ivy creation.

2010-05-12T15:56:00.001-07:00

I have made this necklace for myself today. Since I am feeling a bit better and didn't want to just do nothing I quickly whipped this one up. I like it and I am now wearing it with today's outfit : )

Don't forget to visit my Etsy store. I am having a 25% off sale and I am offering an extra 10% off on the sale price for you, my readers. Just let me know which one you wish to purchase by sending me a message via Etsy and I will reduce the price for you. Just let me know you read about it on my blog.

I'm feeling better.

2010-05-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

Look ma, I'm dressed!

Ha!

Well I still have a bad headache and feel a bit nauseous (especially after taking my pills) but I am up and around and the elephant and porcupine have both moved out. So today I am actually wearing real clothes. Yay!!

I guess all of last weeks drama and stress really kicked my immune systems butt. I really try not to stress out about things and I always try to follow the "In one ear, out the other" philosophy, but I just couldn't. So my health took a toll.

I am a sick girl. I know I have made references here and there about my illness but I still don't like saying the word. I found out I had it April 07 and that and 08 were BAD years. I was given a steroid and I ballooned 60 POUNDS in two months and my health didn't improve. I stopped taking it and after a few months I was feeling a lot better and lost half of the extra weight (of which about 30 is still sticking around and refuses to go away). 2009 started off as a good year as I did get sick here and there but not to the excess of these past six months or so.

I am in denial as I have YET to tell anyone other than my kids, Mr.man and one of my sisters. I DON'T like talking about it, but I felt I should at least in a round about way tell you why I am always getting sick. I am hoping that one day I will be told "Just kidding!" and we all have a good laugh and life goes on without any more sickies. I don't doubt that I end up deleting this post later today full of remorse for even having posted it in the first place.

So anyways, changing the subject now.

I will be going out later this afternoon as our refrigerator is bare as is our pantry. Seems no one else in this family (Hmmhm, Mr.Man) knows their way to a grocery store so it is up to me to do so. So now that my appetite is coming back I need FOOD!!

I am hoping to go out for a huge shopping spree this Sat. Fingers crossed.

Oh you spammers are getting sneakier

2010-05-11T08:35:00.001-07:00

(click on picture to enlarge)

At first glance this comment looks innocent enough right? However see the hidden link? Yup, I scroll over it and it is a link to porn sites or whatever else. At first they were all in ?Chinese? but lately the comment will be in English.

So I know comment moderation is lame, but I am doing it to spare us all of these spammers. I still don't know why I am targeted, as my blog has nothing to do with sex.

Oh well..

This is one bad sickie

2010-05-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

A really bad one. Mr.man swears he's dragging me to the hospital if I don't get better by tomorrow.

I feel a tad bit better, but I am still having difficulty staying awake for long periods of time. I feel as if an elephant is sitting on my chest, a porcupine is settled in my throat and a woodpecker is in my head.

So I have spent the past four days in a variety of Pj's and socks. The bed hasn't loosened it's grip on me as of yet as while I type this I am having difficulty keeping my eyes open. So I am going to go back to sleep and cross my fingers that when I wake up I am better. I want to go out shopping!!

Wow, again.

2010-05-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a blur. I went to bed Thurs. night and I awoke Friday evening. I was out and no one could fully awaken me. I guess I would mumble something incoherent here and there but I was out. I awoke well after 5pm, stumbled around, visited the bathroom then I crawled (yes! I really crawled) back to bed. I have a feeling this came about thanks to the stress and drama of earlier in the week. I am feeling a bit better, but still not 100%. I know that if I lay back in bed I will again sleep for hours. I am going to try to stay up as much as possible. Wish me luck.

My mom never got her cake

2010-05-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

My mom was supposed to come for a visit today and take Squishy out for his belated b-day. She was unable to make it over the weekend and decided that since the boys got out early from school today she would take us all out to celebrate his b-day. Now when she said she was coming today I right away realized that she would be coming down here on her own b-day. So I ordered a cake for her to surprise her when she arrived. Well this morning I was on my way to the bakery when I get a call from my mom letting me know that she would not be coming down after all because my sisters all wanted to take her out for lunch and for some shopping. I said that's fine and wished her a happy b-day and that was that.

When the boys got out of school I called my mom and they sang her happy b-day. She apologized to squishy for not coming down and squishy said it was fine. Kid 1 then blurts out "Now you won't get your cake!" My mom asked what he meant by that and I told her how I was planning to surprise her. She felt bad and I told her not to worry as the cake was not going to waste.

The boys were bummed because they had wanted to go back to Chuckies. I was kinda glad because I wasn't feeling well for company as my sickies have a grip on me. After almost two hours of seeing mopey faces I said lets go to Chuckies then. I had told them we would be there for only an hour and that's it. They agreed.

After close to TWO hours I finally dragged all three boys out of that place. I definitely deserve an award or something for being as sick as I am (I spent the entire time at a table resting my head.) staying there for that long.

I expect a kick ass mothers day!!

I'm off to get some cake.

Dress: Catherine Malandrino
Shoes: Bebe

A do nothing Wed.

2010-05-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Off of my high from yesterday (my free "bday lunch") I am now again sad. I know that this isn't right, my situation. I shouldn't be this bummed over shoes, because really they are just shoes right? (NO NO NO NO) However I think what upsets me more is that I was called selfish, spoiled and self centered. I know I am a tad bit shallow and I own up to that, but never ever had I thought of myself as selfish and self centered. I know that they need money or that they are having a hard time with their family situation, but why be so sneaky and go behind my back and take without asking. If they had asked for items I would have told them yes and I would have pulled out countless items to donate to their cause. But to just take, be it with his permission or not, really makes me feel violated and insignificant. I would have probably given them over 50 pairs or so (of course my designer ones would not have been included) of new or nearly new decent pairs of shoes.

I am going to be the "bigger man" as I had been advised and just drop it. I am still obviously pissed off with them all, but it's just not worth my stressing out and getting sick over it. I will eventually re-stock my shoe room with those lovely lovely designers, granted that now with my pittiful new "allowance" it will take me a long time to do so.

I did go out and buy a lock for my shoeroom, so at least no one will ever go in there again without my supervision.

Dress: H&M
Shoes: Steve Madden Caryssa
Necklaces: vintage gold chain belt, vintage black bead strand

It's not my b-day.......

2010-05-04T20:14:00.001-07:00

This morning I finally broke down and washed my newer car. I have been putting it off for far to long. I spent an hour and a half washing every nook and cranny and drying it completely. When I was done I was sore, tired and my hands were sliced. I always slice my hand up washing the inside of my wheels. I hate brake dust. UGH. After my shower I got ready for my day.

Today I wanted some shrimp enchiladas. So I went to Acapulco for some. Towards the end of my meal I see a crowd of waiters and waitresses walk towards me. Then without warning they start singing Happy B-day TO ME! Yes, ME! I quickly look around the room for a familiar face or maybe even a camera because obviously someone was pulling a prank on me. I then start laughing hard when they say "happy birthday Panchita". When they finish their serenade I tell them that they had made a mistake as it wasn't my b-day nor was my name Panchita. They let me know that they sing Panchita to females and Panchito to males. They also said that a gentleman asked them to sing to me for my b-day. ??? I ask who and she said he'd already left. Curious....

Well they let me keep my dessert and when I had finished I sat...and waited....for my check. My waitress was nowhere to be found. I waited for at least 15 minutes and a busboy walked by and I asked him for a box. I was hoping that that would give a waiter a clue about my check. Nope. Another 5 or so minutes went by and finally a manager walks by. I flag him down and I ask for my check. He says okay and off he went. He then walks back to my table and informs me that my checks already been taken care of, even the tip. I look at him with a puzzled look and say "are you sure??" He assures me all is paid for and tells me have a good day. WEIRD. So off I went.

I have absolutely no idea what happened. Who sent me a birthday song and dessert and who took care of my check, even leaving a tip? WHO?

I guess I'll never know.

Necklace: Codename Ivy
Dress: Vince
Shoes: Baker's Darlene (now on clearance!! I hate when that happens)

It's the end of the world as I know it.

2010-05-03T17:19:00.001-07:00

All was good. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and all was good with the world. I took a bath, put on this pretty dress and went downstairs to my shoe room for my Fendi double platform maryjanes. I look for them in their usual location and I nearly faint as I see that all my Fendis were "missing". WHAT?? I look to my left and all my Louboutins are gone as well. OMG. Now I am hyperventilating. I then scan my room and four YSL are gone along with two GUCCI and my Marni's. ALL GONE. I don't get it. I felt like I were in a freaky twilight zone. I call Mr.man and hysterically recount my morning and he calmly tells me what had happened and I screamed in his ear "NO FREAKING WAY. HOW COULD YOU ALLOW THAT. WHY WASN'T I TOLD." and tons more explitive words. ^%@#!$**II^%^!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So long story short, if murder was legal, there would be four less people walking on this earth.

I plan to get them ALL back. Oh yea, I do. (I hope.)

I'm off to cry some more.

Squishy's Birthday!!

2010-05-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

It's squishy's 11th b-day today. Wow, 11 years old. It still feels like he was just born. Well no matter what he'll always be my "baby".

Just like the other two boys, squishy hates store bought b-day cakes so I had to bake him a cake myself. We are now on our way to Chuck-e-Cheeses. Here's hoping it's not a madhouse.

Later!!

Dress: F21
Shoes: F21
Necklace: Codenameivy

What a boring start to the weekend.

2010-05-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks to me. I am in such a funk it's not even funny. My monthly visitor finally decided to show up last night (two weeks late) and I am nauseous, I have a headache and feel lightheaded. Not to forget the bloating beyond belief and the CRAMPS!! Geesh. Sucks being a girl sometimes.

So I am here in the dark curled up with a pillow and a bottle of midol by my side.

I'll probably be here all weekend. Bummer.

Let's see, Friday.

2010-05-01T11:01:00.001-07:00

Friday was spent taking kids to and from school. I was asked at the last minute to watch the neighbors boys because their dad had to go to the hospital. So I was running back and forth since the neighbors kids were on minimum day schedule and one got out at 11:55, and the other at 12:50. My boys got out at 2:30.

When they were finally picked up by their parents I found out that the dad has kidney stones. OUCH!!

Squishy made us dinner. He made us some tuna noodles. It turned quite well as the pasta was perfectly al dente'.

Weeding was done as planned on Thurs.

2010-04-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

So Thursday morning just as I said I pulled weeds. Lots and lots of weeds. I pulled all the weeds in the wrap around planter around the front of the house. It was the perfect weather as the sun stayed away for the most part and it was cool and breezy.
When my hands gave out I figured I had done my part and went back indoors and got ready for the rest of the day.

Dress: Theory
Shoes: Harajuku Lovers "Lyra"

What a busy day.

2010-04-28T20:15:00.001-07:00

Wow, I feel tired. Today started off okay and easy breezy, but then at around 9:30 Mr.man called and needed a HUGE favor. So of course I was asked to accomplish said task for him. So I set off on the quest and I do him the favor. I get back home with just enough time to eat a quick snack and I finish the necklaces before I have to head out and get the boys.

After the boys had been picked up I was handed two essays that needed to be typed. Oh but these were not short little essays. These were super long and they took me a while to type since I was doing them on my regular laptop instead of the laptop in my shoe room or my PC upstairs. I had this one on my lap and so it was hard to copy over the reports since I had to hold them in my hand just to read them. Halfway through I just called a kid to just come dictate the report to me. Doing that helped me finish quicker.

I then noticed the time and I remembered that tonight is Baskin Robbins .31 cent scoop night and so I called the boys and off we went. We were almost to the front of the line so we didn't have to wait too long. I normally don't like ice cream. I don't crave it. Ever. However, when it comes to Baskin Robbins cherry jubilee I seem to forget my dislike for the cold cream concoction that people refer to as ice cream and just think, mmm... Cherries and a sugar cone. Yum yum. I know it's weird but whatever. It's like squishy hates mustard but yet he loves it in his sandwiches. See? Point made.

So we got home and I was about to start dinner. I check the dishwasher for some tongs and what do I see? Dirty dishes! But wait, I had personally turned the machine on this morning when I noticed that the dishes were dirty. I was upset because I had clearly asked Kid 1 to turn it on last night before I went upstairs and he went to bed.

I asked Kid 1 if he had turned the machine on last night. He said yes. Hmmm. Darn it, I think our machine is wanting to kick the bucket! It's only three years old and supposedly it was top of the line (so we were told by the builder when we upgraded all the appliances). I then washed every single dish that was not only in the dishwasher but the sink as well by hand. Not fun. NOT FUN AT ALL.

So afterwards I finally started dinner.

After dinner there I go and wash all of the dishes again.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but to me it leaves me aching and makes all my bones pop. Crick crack creek. That's me with every movement.

Anyways......

Looks like tomorrow I will be spending it outdoors pulling weeds. It really upsets me that having three healthy strong boys not a one will pull weeds. I ask them to and they just make some noise of some sort and wander away. I have been asking them for a few weeks and yet nothing. I really need to get firmer and not do things for them if they can't be nice enough to do things for me.

Yay!! The bow necklaces are done!

2010-04-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have finally completed the bow necklaces. I will be posting pics up later tonight and I will be listing them on Etsy then as well.

I really like this new bow fabric. It is so light and airy it is exactly how I had first envisioned it. I am really glad to have finally finished a task. I often leave many projects half completed (umm, like the whole "I'M GOING TO TAKE PICTURES OF ALL MY SHOES AND MAKE A REFERENCE BOOK FOR MYSELF" adventure which is more like a quarter finished. hmmf.).

Later!!

Good Morning!!

2010-04-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

Early this morning the boys woke me up so I could take them to Subways for the free breakfast. So I got up and pulled on some jeans and a sweater and drove them there. We were lucky as the line wasn't that long when we got there. However a short time later the line grew a lot. No big whoop for us as we were already in line.

The breakfast sandwich wasn't half bad. By the time we finished eating it was time to head for school. When we arrived I saw them setting up the tables for the catered breakfast from McDonald's and remembered that they were getting McDonald's every morning this week and the next at their school because of the STAR testing. I asked the boys why on earth did they make me take them to Subways if they were getting McDonald's anyways. They said because they love to eat. Haha :/

So today I plan to alter a dress I bought at a vintage thrift store a while back. I like the print and the colors and I know this is the perfect "springy" dress. If and ONLY if I remove the puffy 3/4 sleeves (yuk). I really hope I can make it into a sleeveless. I have never taken a sewing class so when I mess around on my Handy dandy sewing machine I really am messing around.

So fingers crossed and here I go.

Oh yes, I am wearing white. Umm, so far the stress level is mid grade and I am trying REALLY hard to not mess this dress up. So uh, I'll probably be starving and dehydrated in a few hours. Yup.

***UPDATE***
Kid 2 has just ruined my dress. He borrowed my paints to paint his project board. He comes near me, brush in hand, and accidentally smears green paint on me!! UGH!! I cried. Really, I did.

And here is the completed project. I was able to convert it to a sleeveless and the result was good. I didn't mess up and I am proud of my self. I know the dress is a bit old fashioned but I really liked it for some reason.

Did some shopping today

2010-04-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

I went out for a few hours and did some much needed shopping. I also went to Target and of course no Zac Posen. I REALLY hate that Target. I have to drive a bit further out to one of the Super Targets to maybe find it. I can not wait for them to build the Super Target near my house. It's only going to be like a mile away. Yay!! It was supposed to be built this year, but they still haven't broken ground. Boo.

My three hour shopping trip flew by and it was then time to go get the boys.

When I got home I put all my new purchases away and then I was asked to make meatloaf for dinner. The boys love that stuff. Me, not so much. Oh well.

I am just happy I received my new shoes today. They are gorgeous and I am happy with them thus far. I still have two pairs I am waiting for. They were pre-order so I'll be receiving one mid May and another mid June. Oh the waiting is awful!!

What did I do on Sunday?

2010-04-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

I fortunately felt better come Sunday and was spending a relaxing day at home.

However around 2pm or so Mr.man came indoors and asked me to do him a favor. I asked him what it was he wanted and he told me the neighbor had her baby on Friday and that they were throwing her a BBQ. We were invited and I was asked to make some Spanish rice. Uhh, I make it, but it's a 50/50 chance that it'll come out safe to eat. So I asked him to ask them if I could just make some macaroni salad instead. They said yes so I got to the kitchen and made some macaroni salad.

As soon as I was done we went over and ate and ate and ate. The food was good and they had some kick-ass guacamole. I had to get the recipe. Later though it got boring. I wanted to head home but I felt it would be rude so I stayed there until Mr.man was ready to go.

My first pair of heels

2010-04-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

These were my first pair of heels.

Okay technically my second pair because my mom in law bought me some white heels for me to wear when she discovered my wearing of black steel toe 14 eye doc's with my wedding dress. However, I wore those white heels for all of a minute and got rid of them right away that I don't count those at all.

Now these I bought in 1997. I had to buy them because Mr.mans company x-mas party was semi-formal and I was expected to wear heels. I remember thinking they were super high and amazingly even with my messed up ankles (I messed up my ankles at a dance competition my senior year and had to wear braces) I didn't stumble and walked with ease.

I remember my mom and my mom in law exclaiming that I shouldn't be wearing such high high heels and that I was going to fall because of my bad ankles that I think I started wearing them more often (or just around them) to piss them off. Hehehe.

Even so I didn't really start wearing heels daily until 2000. That's when I put my Doc's into retirement (I still own quite a few of them. I sold a lot of them but kept my fave's) and started my shoe collection. At that time my ankles still hadn't healed and my ankles were still weak. I didn't care I wore them daily and the heel height just kept on creeping up and up. Eventually my ankles healed however I think that they healed incorrectly for if I wear flats I lose my balance and fall or my ankle, heel and calf hurt really bad after a while but in heels (unless a strap hurts my toesies)I am perfectly balanced and can walk longer distances. CRAZY.

Another weird thing is that my foot shrank. I used to be a 7 1/2 in high school then I went up to an 8, 8 1/2 but in 2002 my foot shrank to a size 7. Sometimes even 6 1/2 in some shoes!! Weird right?

Anyways, these were my first pair and I used to think they were sky high but now any heel lower than 4.75" is too low for my taste. 5"+ is A OK with me : )

Today was not a good day

2010-04-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

pain wise.

Yes it was a really bad day. I am all swollen and EVERY bone and joint hurts. BAD. That's not the worst part, I am also having trouble communicating verbally. I am calling the Fridge an Oven and just crap like that. The words I want to come out are not and instead jibberish is coming out. It is frustrating. My hands are not working either. What I mean by that is that I try to pick something up and after five attempts i sometimes finally accomplish the task. Even typing this is a huge task. I keep typing double letters or the wrong letters all together.

Waahh!!!

Today was sister 2s' bday and I didn't go out and celebrate with her because I just can't be around them when I am like this. I don't like people seeing me like this at all.

I hope tomorrow's better.

Shoes: Jessica Simpson Bailey

Why is it.....

2010-04-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

that I get TONS of spam comments. I don't get it why the Chinese (I am assuming that it's in Chinese)send me fake comments with hidden links.

I hate having to do the comment moderation ordeal, but if I didn't this blog would be full of spammers.

*sighs*

I am still achey

2010-04-23T15:45:00.001-07:00

So today the weather improved. I, however, did not. I am still achey and just plain "drained" of energy. Again I just stayed home and did, well nothing. Okay, not nothing. I did add three necklaces onto my ETSY. So if you are interested in buying one check it out. Also if you are interested in the bow necklace let me know. I am still on the hunt for the similar ribbon I used on the ones I made for Justine and I. As soon as I feel up to it I will head out to a fabric store and look for the ribbon.

Shoes: Steve Madden Carlinn in Midnight

I feel BLAH today.

2010-04-22T12:58:00.001-07:00

I think I'm getting sick. All my bones and joints hurt, my head hurts and even my right ear hurts. I feel three times my age at the moment.

I had an outfit all picked out for today but I never got around to changing into it. Instead I pulled on some old Levis, some pink with grey suede lace up vans, a pink t-shirt with the Ford Mustang horse on it with "I want a pony" written underneath (I miss my 68 Mustang Coupe *sighs*, to go back 5 years and never sell it) and a Fox Ind. zip up hooded sweater. I did put on some make-up and I just pulled my hair back. When I was all done I laid my achy self on the bottom of the staircase. I fell asleep. Can you believe that, I FELL ASLEEP on the staircase!!

Seriously I really hope it's just the gloomy weather messing with me, not a sickey coming on.

Blah!!

These are available for sale. Codename Ivy Necklaces

2010-04-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

(pearls are removable)

Let me know if you're interested in any of them.
I am planning to put them up on Etsy in the next couple weeks.

I soon will be making three more of the bow necklaces Justine at Fetching Fashions has been wearing lately. I just need to find the ribbon again. As soon as I do so I will be putting them up for sale as well.

A shopping filled morning.

2010-04-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

So this morning I got ready early so I could head out to Nordstroms. I wanted the Steve Madden Caryssa Pump. I had been checking them out on the Steve madden website since they pre-order. I wanted them in a cocoa like color. You know, brownish. Well I ended up finding them at Nordstrom and several other sites in the color I was looking for. I click on the pic and the color name is Blush. However, blush is pink right? I look at the same shoe at Steve Maddens site and yup there they look pink. So again I go on the Nordstroms site and they look brown. I am so freakin confused I decided to just go and check them out in person. They had them in stock at my nearest Nordstroms so there I went.

As soon as I saw them I saw that they were indeed in pink. They still were not bad looking so I decided to get them anyways. I ask the salesman to hold a pair in my size and that I would be right back to try them on and purchase.

I next went to F21 and I guess I am spoiled with my huge local store that this one was lacking and I just left empty handed.

I browse a few stores before entering H&M. I found the Garden dress in BLUE!! Yes blue and it was quite lovely and it was in my size!! I next notice that there were 7 of them in the creme color. One was in my size. I was excited and decided I would purchase both. I found a few other items and headed straight for the fitting room. Of course I would try the garden dresses first right. I was so utterly disappointed as it was super tight around my boobs. They got flattened and that's not good. I tried the creme one on and had the same result. So I asked the attendant to get me the dress in the bigger sizes. I tried them on and they were better around my boobs but the dress then made me look 50lbs heavier. I was so depressed as the blue one.... Oh it was just lovely.

Oh well, I still left with two dresses and four tops. So not a total loss.

I next went back to Nordstroms and as soon as I walked in I was drawn in by a beautiful Marc Jacobs bag. In white. I tell myself, Ivy, you need a white bag. Really you do. So I grab it and find a mirror. Oh... It was wonderful. I then tell myself, Ivy, do you really need a white bag? You see how you get with white. You hyperventilate and are a wreck. Ugh. So I walk around the entire store, bag on my arm. Every time I passed a mirror I see my reflection and I love it. I swear security was probably following me around the whole time because of it. However finally I decided to just wait. I put it back and almost grabbed it and ran to the nearest register but I had self control. Yes I did and I am proud of myself.

Next I go back to the shoe department and I ask to try the shoes on. I try them on and they fit great. I then notice that the right shoe has not only a pen mark, but it was as if a sticky finger kid had gotten a hold of the shoe. It was damaged. I tell the guy to please get me another pair and he tells me it's his last one in my size and that this had been the display. So I show him why I wanted another pair and he says"It's suede so it's not going to look perfect." I tell him I know about suede, I do own lots of suede shoes. However, this is a pen mark. He then says "I don't think it's pen, there's no pens in the shoe dept." Are you freakin kidding me?? So then he goes and says let me clean it. So I wait 15 minutes while he cleans it and it drys. He comes out and says "the mark is gone. The shoe is perfect and looks like new." He brings it back and there (although lighter) was the pen mark. Still there. Plus those little dark sticky like stains were also there. I tell him no. That shoe is damaged and he says It looks good and this is one of our best sellers so it will sell quick. So I get up and say, well sell it then, but I am not buying a damaged shoe.

I leave and I am miserable. I really wanted that shoe. I'll just order it online I guess.

On the way home I stop off at Kohls and I find three more of those circle necklaces and I decided to buy them. I'll go get more chains and more ribbon and maybe I can sell them on Etsy or here.

Anyways.....

These are the new necklaces I made for myself last night. I wore the one in the first picture today.

Coat: Calvin Klein
Top: Kensie
Jeans: True Religion Billy Big T
Boots: Aldo Hendsbee

I wore my new Jessica Simpson Sabina sandals

2010-04-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, I wore them today. I also re-wore my chandelier necklace today but with out the layered necklace. I have to say it looks nice plain. I am loving it and the compliments I've gotten so far make me happy.

I had to stay home and do even more laundry. Who knew a family of five could produce so much freakin dirty clothes. It's madness. Especially since I am constantly washing the either clean clothes that they threw back into their hampers or clothing that hasn't fit them in years.

I think that this weekend I am going to go through the boys clothing a pull out everything that either doesn't fit them or they just don't want.

So just a short time ago Mr.man made a comment to the likes of "when we go to Vegas in August" in passing I asked "What do you mean when we go to Vegas in August???" He then tells me "I had already told you." To which I reply "When?" He goes "about two months ago" I then say "Uh, no. You commented on how your half sisters were considering going to Vegas for their b-day. Never once did you say-WE ARE GOING TO VEGAS. Never." Well wasn't I knocked to the floor when I also find out our rooms were already reserved. Plans made and I was utterly clueless thanks to Mr.man. He ALWAYS does things like this to me. He tells everyone in the whole freakin world but somehow omits me. Then since he's told a gazillion people he -in his mind- has told me as well. UGH!!!

Top: Cheapie from Marshall's (Heart Soul)
Jeans: True Religion
Shoes: Jessica Simpson Sabina
Bracelet: F21 (Similar)
Necklace: Codename Ivy