I caught Jared red-handed

Shut it. Maybe he'll be the next Collier Strong from Project Runway okay? At least he's not applying it on himself.

Note to self: Hide these from Doug.

Recipe Review--edited

The Daily Bite fans have been asked to review their favorite recipe. So, I'm going to steal their pictures of liquid gold (or buttermilk syrup if you want to be all "technical") and tell you all to throw your rice cakes out the window and just EAT IT.

So, here's what you do for the most FANTASTIC topping to pancakes, waffles, or french toast--maybe even vanilla ice cream:
Go here

Okay, now that I've given you the recipe, go make it. DO IT. I'm telling you this syrup is WAAAAAAYYY better then maple. And, if you're like me you'll need to make it for dinner because I can't handle eating spoonfuls of that stuff in the morning. Yes, I said spoonfuls.

That site also has a ton of other great recipes I've tried. The fajitas are fantastic, and so are their spicey honey chicken and french dip sandwiches.

Now go out there and make some buttermilk syrup!!

I've changed my mind about Peoria.

This is Anthem. It's 20 miles north of Phoenix. It's a golf course community with a little water park in the center of town. It has a gaggle of parks, and one of them even has a fishing lake! How cool is that! Oh, AND it has an outlet malll. The town itself is 4 miles long and most of the homes are 6 years old or less. This is soooo my kind of place. Except...I don't golf. But who CARES!! It has a waterpark! And a fishing lake! And a gaggle of parks!!

I just realized my new profile pic looks kind of scary--like I'm about to hunt you down or something. I'll leave it up for now. Maybe it'll scare off any icky stalkers--not to be confused with my regular stalkers. (People, I know you read even though you don't leave comments. I'm okay with that, I do it too.)

Packing is a pain in my big white booty.

Some of you may know from my earlier post how completely unorganized and scatterbrained I can be. I literally do NOT know how to put things together in a clean, organized way. Luckily for me, my good friend Donnie came out this weekend. She's freakishly good at cleaning and organizing, and she worked her magic on the kids' room. We packed up their closet, with the exception of a few clothing items to get them through the next two weeks. We also tackled the toy chests, under the beds, the dresser, the games, and all but one little corner in their room. I'm embarrassed to say that it took just over 5 hours to complete the process. The room was such a disaster, that when she moved the dresser, clothes were literally stuck to the walls. So,here's the before shot. (Note: everything has been pushed to the center of the room. This is NOT how the room normally looks. I needed to point that out. Child protective services would crap themselves. It's my blog, and I can say crap.)







And here's where we put all the junk. Notice it's all put back in a clean, organized way.



Donnie decided we must reward ourselves with pedis and manis, so we headed off to the spa the next morning. Although, I have to say I'm soooo not used to being pampered, and the ladies at the spa thought it was hilarious when I was giggling as my feet were being scrubbed. It tickles. Shut up. It DOES!


The worst part of the spa experience? Getting something taken care of that I've been neglecting for 30 years. My eyebrows. I've always tried to cover them up with my glasses or bangs, but sadly it was time to conform to society and wax them. They're not quite as thin as they look in the picture. Donnie said she could hear me yelping in pain at the front of the spa.

My little movie review.

I'm all for dark movies, but this was REALLY dark. Heath Ledger was amazing. His portrayal of the Joker was perfectly creepy and sadistic. If this was the last movie he made, he sure went out with a bang. The role of the Joker has been rewritten, and no one can possibly reprise it. Heath Ledger IS the Joker. It's sad to think a talent of that callibur has passed away. I know I'll always have so much respect for him now that I have seen how truely brilliant he was.

In 30 years

Here's what I've learned about myself:

~I'll never be completely comfortable in my own skin.
~I'll always be self-conscious, and it's not something I'll ever "grow out of"
~I have a wild side which, no matter how hard I try to stifle it and be as conservative as my parents, will always seem rear it's head.
~Patience is one of my biggest struggles.
~I'm always more concerned about what other people think of me, than what I think of myself.
~I'm a follower
~The history of the world is my passion.
~Sushi isn't really gross.
~Classic rock is far better than rap.
~If I could have any talent of my choosing, it would be singing.
~The gospel actually DOES make sense.
~The study of medicine isn't gross at all. In fact, it's fascinating.
~I'll never have a lot of friends. A handfull of good ones is all I need.
~I'm stronger than I thought I was.
~Sometimes I just gotta dance.
~I'll always be disorganized, and the thought of organization gives me a panic attack.
~I'm intuitive
~I'm needy, and constantly searching for approval.
~I do not hide anything. My life is an open book.
~I am not beauty-savvy. I do not know how to apply make-up correctly, or style my hair.
~I have no "decorating sense"
~I LOVE food.
~Big bugs make me scream.
~Being married and a mother is not what I expected it to be.
~I must go back to Europe.
~I love science fiction.
~I don't have a crafty bone in my body.
~I'm kind of lazy, and I could sit around all day and to nothing if I really wanted to.
~I'm obsessed with the Olympics, and I cannot miss ANYTHING.
~Music can literally move me to tears.
~I'll always be interested in the supernatural.
~My family feels incomplete.
~I'm very compassionate.
~I don't feel like an adult, even though I'm 30.

This list will be interesting to reflect on in 10 years.

Doug's taking me to see "The Dark Knight" tonight, and then we'll drive to Valencia to go to dinner at Fridays. I'm looking forward to their Jack Daniel's steak and shrimp. The kids both made me cute little birthday cards. They were so sweet this morning!

I want this house.

I want it bad. It's so flipping cute, and I love the colors. In fact, I want it so bad it's all I can think about. So, I guess that's why I'm blogging about it. The outside's just as cute as the inside. I'll give you all a hint, it's in Peoria; which is about 10 miles northwest of Phoenix. It's $50 a month more than we're paying for our apartment. Cute right?

We're outta here!

It's time to tell you all the news, which many of you already know. Doug got transferred to Phoenix. Now, to many of you Phoenix may sound like the depths of hell since the summers last six months or so. But to us, it may be a new life, with an actual HOUSE with a YARD, and a GARAGE. We are so sick of living in the meth capitol of the state, where the crime rate is well above the national average.

Since we've lived here:
~ we've heard gunshots twice in our apartment complex.
~ We've heard death threats made to other tenants at 3am.
~Jared's school was put on lockdown 3 times within a 2 month period, which means an assault or burglary was made in the neighborhood with the criminal on the loose.
~ Our neighbor tried to start a fight with us when we asked him to turn down his stereo at 11:00 at night.
~I clean other people's lint out of the communal dryer.
~The pool is literally cloudy.
~The city built a TON of section 8 housing out here for the LA scumbags to relocate to.
~My car was backed into, and now they are blaming ME, and claiming injury.
~The murder rate statistics are just about 14 times higher than the Phoenix suburb we'll be moving to.
~Directly across the street from my in laws, a man was shot in the face with a shotgun.
~The schools here are among the worst in the state.

I'm soooo ready for a change. I'll definitely sweat my butt off in AZ, but I'll take the heat any day for a better life for the kids.

We leave in less than 30 days. Hallelujah!!

Oh boy.

A couple days ago I passed by the kids' bedroom and overheard this:

Jared: "It's okay Jade, it happens to EVERYBODY! You'll be fine Jade, I promise"
Jade: (runs out of the room in tears) "Mooooom, am I really going to turn into a boy?"

Jared's in his room laughing hysterically, of course.

A setback

Sunday night I had the best time, and now I kind of feel like crap. Doug and I were invited out to "Howl at the Moon". It's a dueling piano bar in Hollywood where they play anything from The Beatles, to Guns and Roses--whatever is requested. The audience participates and it's a really GREAT time. They actually get a full band going after about 9 or so. I told Doug I wouldn't drink. He really wanted me to-- I guess my sobriety is a killjoy of sorts. I swore to myself I wouldn't. As soon as I got there and smelled the place I caved under pressure. A few rum and cokes later I found myself and a few other 30-something moms rocking out on stage to "Pour Some Sugar On Me". Luckily for me, the proof that I can shake my groove thang was hindered by the crappy video quality of Doug's phone. I wonder if it's possible to have that much fun while sober. *Sigh*. Probably not.

Back to square one. I was doing so well.

I am back!!

I've been going through blogger withdrawals, but I've been too lazy to post. But no more!

Last week we went up to Big Bear for a family camp out. Doug's brother Zach is deploying to Iraq in few weeks, and this was the one thing he really wanted to do. It was fun I suppose. The first day we were there we sat our butts around the campground and got eaten by mosquitoes. (I posted a picture of my lovely bites so you could all feel sorry for me. The swelling in my ankle has gone down considerably, but it sure was nasty looking wasn't it?)I think we were too lazy and too hot to hike. That night, we put the kids to bed around 9, and the adults decided to play cards. Wouldn't you just know a flipping BLACK BEAR was going through the trash cans only a few yards away from us and our sleeping babies? Yeeeaaah. We scared it off, only to have him come back a few minutes later. This time when we scared him off, he ran towards MY tent. Right behind it in fact. I don't think I mentioned to you all that Doug actually had to work those three days, and he WASN'T THERE. Luckily the bear was frightened enough to run off into the woods and we didn't see him again that night. As you can imagine I was freaking out. Just a little. After I saw how close he was to my tent I decided I'd better go to bed with my sleeping children and somehow protect them (with my fists?) from the bear who I was sure would come back and maul us all. I immediately put my purse in the car which had gum and chap stick in it, just to make sure he had no reason to bother us. I was still scared though, and I think I prayed myself to sleep!

The next day we went to the lake and had a great time. No one got sunburned even! How cool is that! Anyway, that was the gist of my week. Oh, and it looks like we'll be moving to AZ in the next month. I'll post more about that later.

Our 4th

Yesterday we went up to Bakersfield as we usually do for the 4th. My grandparents are up there, and my parents drove up from Flagstaff to be with all of us. It was bittersweet. I'm still trying to cope, and I'm pretty down today.

My grandfather is in really bad shape. He has a slew of lung problems, one of which was MRSA pneumonia. He's free and clear of that now, but he also has a type of non-contagious tuberculosis that is literally making him fight for air. Last week my grandmother fell down some stairs and broke her femur. She ended up needing surgery, and right now she's in convalescent care until she can move around by herself. She's undergoing a TON of physical therapy so she can get out of there and go home--but once she's there, we don't know how she'll move around since their home is a bungalow-style one with steps leading up to the house. The same night she fell, my grandfather went into respiratory distress, called the paramedics, and we later found out he suffered a pretty major heart attack. So...he was in ICU, and grandma was in the hospital for her leg all on the same day. Last week was pretty rough.

Yesterday, as per tradition we all headed up to the house, packed our swimwear, and bought some really cool fireworks to set off. When we arrived, the second I saw grandpa I wanted to embrace him and cry. He was feeble and shaky, and there was no spark in his eyes. He looked defeated, sad, and helpless. I realized the time I have been dreading since I was a little girl was near. This was the man who proudly flew the American flag every 4th of July from the pole he cemented into his driveway. He's the Marine who paraded around his living room - old rifle in hand as he watched the Marine Corps band on an Independence Day TV special. He's the proud Korean War veteran sharpshooter who would have gladly died for his country. He's the bravest man I know, who gave up 30 years of smoking the day he finished the Book of Mormon. He's the loving grandfather who took us to the beach in the summer when we were little, and spoiled us rotten for an entire week out of every year. The funny thing is, he's not even biologically my grandfather. He's my "step-dad's" father, whom I've known since I was three. I've never known a life without him and I've always secretly wished I was blood related -- most of the time I forgot I wasn't.

It was hard to see him broken yesterday, and I've had a really hard time accepting what's inevitably going to happen. Both of my grandparents are so dear to me, and I honestly can't imagine what life will be like without them. It's time to start imagining though, because I know the time is near. I don't want to talk about the fireworks or the BBQ or all the swimming we did yesterday. None of that matters at all. I just wanted to share a little with you about my dear sweet grandfather. Last night as we left, I asked him to call me if there was anything he needed. His only reply was "just visit". I think he knows too.