January 31

Madison snoozes on the couch.


What a great way to end the month... with a cold!
Ugh and sniffle.
In the morning I laid on the couch and watched "War of the Worlds, Second Wave".
Yep, it was as good as it sounds.
Jeff and I did some midday shopping today and picked up chicken burritos at Taco Bell.
(Gotta keep a stock pile of those free green sauce packets in the cupboard).
After the kids got home Jeffrey practiced for his oral report due tomorrow and I cooked dinner.
Not a lot else going on because I don't feel so great, so its off to TV, cookies and tea land (NCIS-LA tonight).

January 30

Fresh squeezed juice from the blood oranges we picked from Sensei's house while we were dog sitting.

Today we got some of the money issues ironed out so juggled money around and got things paid that needed it.
We went to Staples to get ink then had some lunch at the Tikka Grill. It's been such a long time since we were there that it was a nice treat.
Then we went across the street to Costco to get Turbo Tax so we can get the taxes in and bought a whole lot of food.
We picked up kids came home then Jeff took the Dynamic Duo to Karate.
I went to the market then picked them up and came home.
At home I cranked up the tunes and cleaned the kitchen, after which we juiced some of the oranges we picked at Sensei's house.
I feel a bit like I'm getting a sore throat so I hope I can shake it off with sleeping in tomorrow.
Off to NCIS-LA and tea and cookie land!

January 29

My dad's old nickel slot machine. I played this constantly as kid!


We spent a lot of time dealing with money issues today.
Not a lot else.
I guess there will always be days like this, nothing to report.
Heading to the couch for NCIS, tea and cookies.

January 28

Edwin Hubble & Vincent Van Gogh all ready to go on display for the book reports due tomorrow.


No school today so no one had to get up early.
Both kids worked on their book reports that are due tomorrow.
They had 6 weeks to prepare them and of course Jeffrey was still working and preparing this afternoon.
Jeff and I listed on eBay and Katherine (who was finished with her report) went to Olivia's house.
Jeff took the kids to Karate, I went to the market then picked them up and brought them home.
I made casserole and cupcakes and Jeff came home early because he wasn't feeling great.
After kids went to bed 3 of us watched another episode of Continuum. Good stuff!

January 27

The sunset we saw while we were at the market, captured on Jeff's cell phone.

Trying to use this 3 day weekend to really relax so we can hit the ground running on Tuesday.
I continued putting the old pictures into my album while Jeff and I watched the Fantastic Voyage.
I had never seen it and it was typical 60's fun complete with Raquel Welch.
We started listing all the signed Star Trek plaques Jeff has been hanging onto.
Feels sad letting them go but we need the money. ***SIGH***
I know we can get them back when Mr. A-Hole decides to give us back our 3/4 of million dollars that he owes us AND that we legally have the right to.
But I digress....
Jeff and I went out briefly to pick up a few things at the market then came home.
He packed and shipped for eBay and I cleaned the kitchen and Katherine cleaned the bathroom.'
I tell you, you gotta love a kid who loves to clean.
"Mom, is it OK if I clean the bathroom every week?"
Um let me think about it-OK.
Off to to tea and cookies TV land.

January 26

Oranges fresh off the tree (lots of them!)

Trying to recuperate from the bad day yesterday.
Jeff and I watched a Next Gen Marathon this afternoon and I sorted through my moms pictures before I was born. Surprisingly I was able to get most of it done this afternoon and only have a little left to work through tomorrow.
I made casserole and oatmeal cookies this evening and we watched another installment of Eureka.

January 25

My birthday gift from Sally... A Timex watch and a scarf.
And can't forget the 2 hilarious birthday cards!

Even though I had a lot of fun getting together with Sally at Starbucks for Hot Chocolate and muffins (in the pouring rain) followed by lunch at Todai (her treat) for my birthday, the rest of the day sucked.
Major issues with eBay and then finding out our next court date is not for another 2 months.
I might as well just shoot myself now and get it over with since life is obviously trying to kill me so I might as well hurry the process along and save some suffering.

***SIGH***

January 24

A Hubbard Squash that a friend gave us.  It's huge.

Not a lot to report on today.
It rained and rained and rained.
Quite a change from last week when it was gorgeous and warm out.
Tonight we watched the season finale of Haven.
Completely disappointed that we have to wait 9 months until we can enjoy it again,
Oh and to find out exactly what happens since it was (as to be expected) quite a cliffhanger.

January 23

One of the candy toys we have for sale.
(That's Godzilla getting his tail bitten by a giant caterpillar, perhaps the predecessor of Mothra)

The weather is going from gorgeous So Cal to Oh Crap I Forgot It's Winter.
Alex is out early all week because of finals so there was a whole lot of extra driving.
When we weren't driving we were sorting through Japanese candy toys to get listed on eBay.
The Dynamic Duo went to Karate and I picked them up, brought them home and made some soup for dinner.
Oh and I can't forget. I also listened to them bicker constantly.
I had to bite my tongue not to say "Would you two just SHUT UP!"
I try to set a good example but sometimes the best I can do is go in my room and close the door. That lasts all of 2 minutes before I have to do something else but at least I avoided an emotional outburst long enough to come back and tell them simply if they didn't stop the fighting they were going straight to bed.
"BUT MOM!! He/She started it and said BLAH BLAH BLAH and then I said (very nicely) blah blah blah and then he/she said BLAH BLAH BLAH AGAIN... and that wasn't nice so I was coming to tell you about it when you came in and I didn't get a chance to".
Yep, pretty much sums it up.

January 22

Mya & Maddie... the cuties we were dog sitting!


One of those nothing to see here, please move along days!

January 21

My cakes! Look how clever Jeff is with the numbers... not that I'm 48 or anything, but if I was it would be VERY clever indeed!

No school today so it felt like a Sunday.
Until the trash trucks came rumbling by at 7 freakin' o'30.
UGH!
The handyman came around and finally finished fixing the bathroom sink.
That only took 6 months.
I did the kid pick up rounds... got Jeffrey from Sawyers, Katherine from Gabby's and did one last doggie check up where we picked 2 big bags of oranges off their tree.
Tonight Jeff brought home 2 small birthday cakes and since everyone was home I got the "Happy Birthday Song" treatment. The cakes were yummy!
We watched another installment of the new show "Continuum".

January 20

These are the beautiful flowers that Em brought me yesterday!

Once you hit my age, birthday's aren't quite as exciting as they used to be.
Because I am 157 years older than I was yesterday. At least that's what it feels like.

Because Em was trying to go get the cheapest flight possible, she had to fly home at 10 this morning which meant we got to spend less than an hour together before we had to leave for the airport.
We got her to Burbank in plenty of time then turned around and drove home, stopping to check on the doggies on the way.
After I took a shower, Jeff and I returned the weight set we bought at Costco because it smelled SO bad (like chemicals) and it wasn't getting any better. After that we went across the street and had a birthday lunch (just the two of us) at Genki Sushi. YUMMMMMM!
At home I sorted through pictures, Jeff relaxed on the couch and we watched our weekly bad sci-fi movie "Tasmanian Devil".
In the evening we took Jeffrey to Sawyers house, went to the market and did a dog check before heading home where I could make some more oatmeal cookies.

Now it's time for another episode of Revolution (and tea and cookies).
It was a great birthday!!!

January 19

Look who showed up at my door this afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's Emily coming to see me for my birthday!!!!!!!!!


This was the most surprised I think I have been in forever!
Em flew all the way from Seattle just to visit me for one day!!
Is that cool or what???

She arrived just as we were leaving to go pick up Jeffrey (how lucky was it that she didn't miss us?).
We all drove over to get him then we headed over to Sensei Mel's house to check on his dogs. We stopped at the market on the way home and once here, I made casserole and all of us sat around and watched the Ellen DVD present that Em sent.

We stayed up as late as we could talking and having a good time until she passed out since she had been up since 2 AM. Jeff and I watched another installment of Revolution (I had tea and cookies) and then off to bed.

January 18

Since Sarah was going to be gone on my birthday, she gave me my present early (on the left) and Emily sent the one on the right!

I drove this morning.. I hate that dang 6:50 alarm!
Em called this morning and we had a nice long talk. I miss her SO much!
We finally had the car towed to the mechanic who confirmed it was the starter.
$300+ later and we now have 2 cars again.
We went to pick it up at 5 but they were running late so me, Jeff and Jeffrey got to hang out in the waiting room for almost an hour while the finished.
We dropped Jeffrey off at his friends house where I go to see their 3 weeks old puppies.
OH MY GOSH! I want one! They are SO cute!
Then we went and checked on Sensei's dogs for him since he is out of town with his family for 4 days.
Its extra quiet at home tonight because Sarah is gone for 3 nights, Jeffrey is at Mason's and Katherine is at Gabby's!
Only Alex who hibernates in his room is home with us.
It's like we're all alone.. WEIRD!

January 17

My transplanted orchid cactus', one succulent and a spider plant that had been in the same pot for 20+ years and nothing but a HUGE rootball and two tiny plants. Everyone is happy now.

SO basically it's same thing, different day.
Made some homemade mac n cheese which the kids love but even though there's nothing bad in it, you don't realize how heavy it is until you've eaten two bowls then feel like you can't get off the sofa for an hour after you're finished.
Not that I would eat two bowls or anything.
Tonight we watched NCIS-LA which back from winter hiatus.

January 16

We use this vintage napkin holder on the dining room table... I just love it!

Drove the kids to school today, came home and guess what? Listed on eBay!
Cut Jeff's hair in the afternoon and did the whole take kids to Karate, wait, then drive them home again routine. It'll be nice when we have 2 cars again.
It'll also be nice when I can figure something else to cook besides casserole or chicken.
Though I hear no complaints from the eaters. (Well except when I serve Katherine chicken..then there's lots of complaining.)

January 15

Mickey Mugs for coffee and evening tea!

Basic day.... listing on eBay.
Would love to have more to report but sadly, life is pretty mundane right now.
Waiting on our lawyer to get a court date so we can drag Senor Scumbutt back in front of the judge.
Hawaii 5-0 is back on so we watched that instead of Eureka.
Last night we watched a new show called Continuum and really enjoyed it.

January 14

Kitty snoozes.

Today I pulled the short straw and had to get up before 7 AM to drive the Dynamic Duo and Captain Quiet to school.
Spent the middle part of the day checking all those video games and sorting them out into lots to sell.
I also picked the kids up from school, took them to Karate and while waiting to pick them up again I took Alex to use a gift card and buy a game with his Christmas money at Game Stop.
Once I got everyone home I spent the time trying to figure out how I am going to get money together to pay a dentist so I can stop having a toothache.
I haven't figured anything out yet.

January 13

Caught Jeffrey reading on the couch

Sunday... Bad sci-fi movie day.
And today's movie was REALLY bad.
Terrible as a matter of fact. Something about a superstorm that had to get (as Jeff put it) the award for the biggest disregard to laws of nature we have ever seen.
I love B disaster movies but this one rated more of an F than anything else.
Other than that, after I picked up Jeffrey from Sawyer's and Katherine from Gabby's, I cleaned the kitchen and did laundry and baked cookies.
And tried to keep warm in this dang So California house that is not designed for these stupid cold winter days.

January 12

Am I cool or what?

It is officially below freezing right now and it's only 9:22 PM.
The weather report says it's only going to get down to 34 degrees.
They need to re-think that.
This afternoon we watched another bad sy-fy movie called "Metal Tornado".
We recorded another two to watch tomorrow.
Ahhhhhh, the weekend!
Both of the dynamic duo are again out at friends houses tonight.
Another quiet evening watching Eureka for us!
And tea and cookies for me!

January 11

Meanwhile in Legoville...

Today is Friday so it can't be all bad.
I got to sleep in, another plus.
Jeffrey went to a sleepover with Mason and Katherine went to a sleepover birthday party at Courtney's house so it was extra quiet tonight.
More Eureka in the evening!

January 10

When they were young and sweet.

Today, simply stated:
The fact that the dynamic duo made it through the day in one piece is what I consider to be a win on my part.
That is all.

January 9

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes... Made to keep the dynamic duo away from my oatmeal cookies that are necessary for my ritual tea drinking and TV watching routine in the evening.

Today: nothing of note. Same routine, different day.
Took the kids to school, Ebay, pictures, shower, Costco to buy a set of weights so Jeff can use his personal training abilities on my sorry rear, retrieve kids from school, take kids to karate,  go to market, pick kids up, come home.

Not sure if my life can get any more exciting.

We did watch NCIS-LA tonight and that had a few exciting moments.
Waa-hoo.

January 8

Katherine poses with Ally, the laser eyed cat showing off the "hair bow" she created on her head.

EBay, photos and cooking.
Same stuff different day.
I have been enjoying some old Don Knotts movies in the evening while doing my pictures.
Watched The Ghost & Mr. Chicken and am working my way through The Reluctant Astronaut.
The kids claim they aren't interested but always end up sitting and watching with me.
The weather has been gorgeous but apparently its going to get REALLY cold in a few days.
I'm ready for spring and summer now please.

January 7

As expected I did not want to get out of bed this morning.
But I did.
And was greeted with a windshield frozen solid that required the old "pitcher of hot water" trick. Not sure why our neighbors haven't figured this one out. The other morning I heard them out there scraping away at 7 in the morning.
I got everyone to school without incident and we were allowed a quiet house to resume eBay selling.
We found all the boxes of old game systems in the garage and started matching up cords, power supplies and controllers so they can be sold off. We've got PS 1s, PS 2s, Gamecubes, N64, SNES.
I also caught pick up duty and as soon as I got them home it was off again to take them and Jeff to Karate.
Van is still out of commission so we are having to be creative in getting the crew around.
I did a Costco run and came back to the dojo to pick the kids up and bring them home for dinner.
While I got leftover spaghetti ready, all I heard from the dining room / homework zone was a whole lotta NO homework going on.

MOM... Katherine is smiling at me for NO reason! (THIS is the thing he chooses to complain about)
MOM... I can't figure out how to work out this triangles ratio thingy, can you come show me how (um, no)
MOM!!! (No one here by that name, move along please)

We are finishing up Eureka Season 3.0 and today I bought season 3.5 so we won't have to wait to see what happens.

January 6

Meanwhile on the back of the couch:

Last day before the kids go back to school.
I made pancakes for breakfast and everyone was happy. Until they realized we only had flavored syrup and and then griping began. Had I known the maple/cinnamon & vanilla/spice syrup was going to taste disgusting, I never would have bought it. So it wasn't really my fault.
Jeffrey spent his day playing minecraft for 110 hours.
Jeff and I spent it relaxing watching TV. I, of course, continued on with my picture sorting.
We watched the rest of really a bad Sy-Fy movie about Zombies starring Levar Burton who dies about 3/4 of the way through. Actually almost everyone dies (or kills themselves). These zombies were the most agile I have ever seen. They climbed up the side of the Golden Gate Bridge, even the ones missing an arm or leg. They even swam across the water to attack and kill everyone trying to take refuge on Alcatraz. Smart zombies.
Then we went back to NCIS. Believable plots and more likable characters.
Gotta get to bed early tonight. No more sleeping in until 9 AM. That damn alarm will drag me out of sweet slumber before 7 AM. UGH UGH UGH.

January 5

Spent more time today with my photos.
This is apparently a major project.
Erin & Kevin came for a visit and everyone watched the 2nd Indiana Jones movie.
I never liked this one of the series... I think it's too gorey and doesn't have the lightheartedness the other ones had. Katherine said "EW Gross!" about 100 times.
Then later after the older ones went home, Jeff watched Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon while I wandered in out making dinner and cutting Jeffrey & Alex's hair.
Jeffrey no longer looks like a surfer dude and Alex no longer looks like Ringo Starr.
We finished up our wild day by watching another episode of Eureka with Sarah.
We are working out way through the series because Sarah had only seen season 5.
I absolutely LOVED this show and I send a big SCREW YOU to SyFy for ending their most popular show simply because it was too expensive to continue making.
At least for the time being I've got Warehouse 13, Haven and Alphas.
Also loving Grimm and Walking Dead on other channels.

January 4

Here have a cookie.
Jeff said I made enough for the whole neighborhood today.
Oatmeal raisin spice and chocolate chip. A couple dozen of each.
The kids had already gotten to them by the time I took the picture.

Court didn't go as well as we wanted to today. It didn't go badly but it was just kind of neutral.
Another "gotta wait until more paperwork is filed" kind of day.
So in frustration I baked.

More picture sorting while watching NCIS and lots of packing things that sold on eBay.
Not a lot of exciting things going on. In a holding pattern until the kids go back to school on Monday.

January 3

Scraggles carefully studies the ceiling.
Today was a better day than yesterday.
We went to the valley and got boxes and packing supplies so things sold on eBay could be shipped.
We had a nice lunch, just the two of us at Todai.
Spent the rest of the afternoon listing things for sale and then after Jeff left for the dojo I continued my effort to organize old photographs while watching old NCIS reruns.

January 2

Today sucked.
And here the van sits, un-starting in front of our house.
The rent was paid, the bills were paid and food was in the fridge.
And there was some leftover cash in the bank.
Well crap we can't have THAT now can we?
Friday we'll have the old girl towed to the mechanic (because it would have been too easy to tow it directly from where she died yesterday at the bank).
We also have a court date on Friday to further our collection of what Mr Smith owes us.
Keeping our fingers crossed.

January 1

Leo is as unimpressed with the New Year as he was with the decorations bestowed upon him by the children.
Here's to a better year than last one.