Pet Peeves

I really don't have the patience for drivers who insist on site-seeing while you need to be somewhere. And inevitably they need to be driving S---L---O---W---L---Y in front of you. This happened to me yesterday. I was on my way home to get the kids from school and in front of me is a driver from Tennessee who wanted to take in the sites of EVERY strip mall on the street. He'd brake for everything so he could crane his neck to see what the mall had. GET OFF THE ROAD!

I really lack the patience for drivers who can't merge onto a freeway or can't change lanes without some big ordeal and nearly causing an accident. What is so difficult about merging onto a freeway AT freeway speed? Why must you get onto the freeway doing WELL below freeway speed and then freak out when cars pass you or honk at you because obviously you can't drive? And those changing lanes at the very last minute just irritate me. You clearly can see the sign that the interchange is one mile ahead. WHY must you wait until the very last fly-off-the-road-second to merge in front of cars tightly packed together? Oh and then be sure to come flying up to merge into a tightly packed line of cars and slam on your brakes. That certainly helps matters.

Let's not even discuss the rain factor. It's water people, not the great flood. If you can't drive the speed limit when it's perfectly safe to do so on the road, DON'T DRIVE IN THE FAST LANE - MOVE OVER! And what is with drivers who don't want to pass the big trucks when it's raining? Again, it's just water, not the end of the world.

So today - I had the site-seeing driver who didn't know how to merge onto the freeway, cut off a diesel and slow down to do so clearly afraid to drive in the rain. Why are these people allowed to have control of a vehicle?

School Awards

Noah got an Attendance Award for the last trimester. Kelsey got an award for helping out her teacher.

Jordan had a small awards ceremony in her class today. She got several awards today (the pictures are kind of dark):

Alphabet Champion (recognizes all her upper and lower case letters and their sounds)


Number Queen (recognizes numbers 0-30 in any order)


Homework Hero (turning in all her homework every week)


Word Wizard (knowing the mandatory kindergarten words by sight).

Softball Saturday

The first Saturday game was rained out so technically today was Jordan's first game day. She did great! Kelsey helped the team out on the field and in the dugout.

Good News?

I applied for a supervisory position within the company I work for. I figured I would get the courtesy phone call (aka brush off) for the job because I'm a bit tempered (thanks dad!). Anyway I received an email from HR saying that my resume lacked information and if I did indeed have that experience/knowledge, to update my resume. Is that a good sign?

In any event I updated my resume because I do indeed have the experience/knowledge that was requested (and didn't realize my resume didn't have that information on it). I emailed HR back letting them know my resume had been updated.

Fingers crossed.....

We're going to be MILLIONAIRES!

From:"lord_lugard02"

Subject:DEAR PEREZ
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 03:59:02 +0000 (GMT)

From The Desk of Barrister Lord Lugard

Chamber of commerce

No: 35 Allen Avenue

Festac Lagos Nigeria

Email: llugard7@yahoofr

Dear Perez,

I am barrister Lord Lugard a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney to Tony Perez, a national of your country, who used to work with shell Development Company in Nigeria. Here in after shall be referred to as my client. On the 21st of April 2003, my client, his wife and their threechildren were involved in a car accident along Owerri express road. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several Enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives this has also proved unsuccessful.After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Finance Company where these huge deposits were lodged. Where the deceased had an account valued at about 12.6 million dollars as the Finance company has issued a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within the next ten official working days.Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 3 years now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of this account valued at 12.6 million dollars can be paid to you and then you and I can share the money. I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make.All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through.I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me as soon as possible on my private email address (llugard7@yahoo.fr)

I wait your urgent response in other for us to move forward.Best Regards,Barrister Lord Lugard (ESQ)

Kelsey isn't feeling well.

Sometimes I wonder if she fakes it to stay home. But I thought only Noah could make himself throwup on command? So Kelsey is home from school and Jordan thinks she can escape the horrible imprisonment of school as well and says "mommy I feel warm, can I go to Mamo's too?" No, you are going to school!

Jordan has practice tonight. Of which she cries she doesn't want to go, but she was so eager to play. Hopefully Mamo won't have issues with her at practice (I'm meeting them at the field). Kelsey has practice tonight too. But if she's too sick to go to school, she's too sick to practice. There's another girl vying for the catcher's position so Kelsey is missing out on her chances to shine for her coaches.

Noah - we're still waiting to hear from AYSO for him to play spring soccer. The games don't start until 3/18 so we have some time yet.

Rained Out!

Jordan had a game Saturday. The sun was shining when we woke up, when we got ready. Anthony was upset because we decided not to go riding. The forecast did say rain and snow, no matter how sunny it was in Riverside.

By the time we left for Jordan's game, it was drizzling. Arrive at the field with it pouring rain. Did I mention the field is 5 minutes from our house? lol

So no game and no riding. Maybe next week.

Strawberry Shortcake

Remember her? Jordan is on this kick where everything is about Strawberry Shortcake. Birthday ideas! lol

New edition of getting to know your friends

Welcome to the 2006 beginning of the year edition of getting to know your Friends. What you do is copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste it
onto a new e-mail that you'll send. Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to a whole bunch of people including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends, if you did not know them already.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds - of course!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Wallace & Gromit
4. What is your favorite TV show? Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, ER, Law & Order, Related
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Oatmeal if I'm being good - or a supreme croissant from Jack in the Box

6. Favorite cuisine? Mexican
7. What is your middle name? Lynn
8. What food do you dislike? cooked spinach
9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? No Doubt greatest hits CD is currently in my car
10. What do you want for Christmas? my children to be excited and happy

11. Favorite sandwich? avocado and turkey croissant (Carrows makes a good one!)
12. What characteristics do you despise? lying, omission, playing stupid, lack of common sense
13. Favorite item of clothing? my levi's
14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be? I would like to tour Europe, go to Vancouver BC
15. What color is your bathroom? taupish brown

16. Favorite brand of clothing? I'm not brand loyal except for my levi's
17. Where would you retire to? I would like to retire and stay in CA, but that probably won't happen.
18. What was your most memorable birthday? hmmmmmmmm - I would say 4/7/2000 - I left the hospital that day with my newest baby girl
19. Favorite sport to watch? football
20. Furthest place you are sending this? South Africa

21. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? Jill
22. Person you expect to send it back first? Beth
23. Favorite saying these days? I'm still stuck on the "blah, blah, blah" thing
24. When is your birthday? 4/7
25. Are you a morning person or a night person? I'm becoming more of a morning person than I used to be

26. Pets? German Shepard/Chow named Misty, Yorkie named Peanut, Chinchilla named Sugar, and two goldfish
27. What did you want to be when you were little? A teacher but I realized I lacked the patience. Then I wanted to become a CPA and eventually take over the IRS (but I hated accounting lol)
28. How are you today? A little tired, but today is a great day. Sun is shining, little freeway traffic, no worries!
29. What is your favorite candy? Twix bars, Snickers, or Gummy Bears
30. What is your favorite flower? roses or lilies

31. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Saturday? lol A specific date would be 6/7 because that's going to be my 8 year anniversary!
32. Where do you want to be right now? home with my kids

Customer Service at it's best!

I don't know if it's because I speak English or if it's because I seem to come across in a foreign language or it's the way I'm phrasing my words.

I'm trying to make a car payment:

Me: Yes, my account number is #### and I would like to make a payment for an electronic debit from my checking account for March 2. You should have my checking account information on file since I just did a similar payment for February 2.

Auto Loan Customer Service Rep: So you would like to set up recurring payments?

Me: No, I would like to do a one time payment of my account please.

Auto Loan Customer Service Rep: Well I don't see record of you having done this before and we'll have to send you an application for recurring payments. When we receive your filled out application, we will process it and then start your automatic payments for you.

Me: I'm sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. I do not want to set up recurring payments. I would like to do a one time payment like I did for the February 2 payment for March 2 by electronic debit from my checking account of which you have the information.

Auto Loan Customer Service Rep: Let me transfer you to online bill pay.

I actually spoke to FOUR different customer service reps before they got it right.

Me calling my auto insurance company:

Me: Yes, my policy number is ####. I would like to discontinue the automatic payment option with XYZ bank as that account is no longer valid and I would like to set up a payment using the new account information that I will provide to you today.

Insurance Rep: I'm sorry, but to discontinue the automatic payment option in place, you need to make a payment of $440, the amount due.

Me: Yes, I realize that. Would that come out of the new account on the 21st as that is my regular payment date?

Insurance Rep: I'm sorry, but I cannot take the automatic payment option off unless you make the payment in full.

Me: Ok, I intend to make the payment you are requesting from the new account. I just want to be sure you are able to discontinue the existing automatic payment option if I do this as I don't want to pay $440 twice.

Insurance Rep: I'm sorry, but if you can't make the payment in full, I can't take off your automatic payment option.

Is it just me????? I finally got him to understand that I WAS indeed going to pay the payment right then and there on the phone, but geesh! You know, I don't mind if the US companies want to outsource, but man, train these people!

Friday Five - No thinking allowed!

Write down the first answers that pop into your head:

1 thing that's on your mind right now
finances

2 songs you like
Everytime I Close My Eyes by Babyface
I'm Just a Girl by No Doubt

3 things that make you angry
people who don't know how to merge onto the freeway
incompetent employees
having to repeat myself

4 things that make you happy
my kids
chocolate
my husband
relaxing in the desert
(not necessarily in this order lol)

5 people who have made a big impact on your life
my husband
my dad
a former high school teacher
a coworker
my kids

Peanut Update

He's doing better in his crate more quickly than I had expected. I've started training him with the command "quiet" so he knows not to whine or bark. It's going well. Of course last night when I tried to use it after putting him in his area, it didn't work too well. More time is needed.

He goes into his crate at 10pm in the garage. Not the most ideal but when he learns the "quiet" command, then he can be in the room. I can sleep through the wimpering but Anthony can't. He doesn't wimper in the garage though which is weird. And he hasn't been wimpering in our room when we get home for the day - he's patiently waiting at his gate for us, not barking any more. That's always a good sign. But I think until he's fully ready, he knows we are in the room and will wimper. In the garage, he starts barking about 4am to be let out for a potty break, then he goes back in until 6am when we all get up for school/work. I've noticed just the last few days his potty breaks are becoming more "regular" and he's showing more signs of wanting to be outside to do his business which is good. He still has the puppy pads in his day area and at last he's only using those instead of going everywhere lol.

Kelsey's Softball Team

Uniforms are paid. A parent suggested we get a team banner. Most parents don't mind. $85 / 12 girls..... no big deal right? Remember the difficult parent? Yep, she wants to do a full fundraiser for her share of $7. *sigh* Games start 2/28. When exactly would we do a fundraiser? Not to mention if it's only going to cost the parents $7 each, most will pay rather than spend 8 hours washing cars!

College

Brandi started college on Monday. I really hope she enjoys it. I know the first two years of general ed (again) always suck, but she'll make new friends, enjoy her college experience, etc. Not to mention it gives her time to figure out what she wants to do/be later.

I'm so proud of her!

Practice

Man was it cold last night. Ok those "bitches" who live in "really cold" weather will probably laugh at me as I sat last night freezing in 50F weather at softball practice last night.

I took Peanut to practice so he could work off some energy. I have to get some new pics of him up soon. He was so cute in his little red sweater lol. Of course he stayed snuggled in my jacket because it was so cold.

The coach for Kelsey's team is normally a baseball coach - coached for 9 years. Some of the moves, while I understand why he wants the girls to learn that way, go against everything Kelsey was taught for the past two years. So after practice I commented to him. Kelsey knows how to overrun 1st base, round it and be ready to run or dive back if necessary. Yes, she can dive to base and she can slide to base as well. I had her slide last night and she did. Then a few other girls tried it and they are learning but not quite there and could have hurt themselves. Coach Shelly had to step up to get them to stop.

I think part of it is when you are on a team and have to try out and you have a LOT of girls coming from a lower division moving up, the skill levels are different. The coach may realize it but doesn't see WHAT the girls know first. For many of the girls on the team, they are coming from an 8-under team or it's a first time play or they've come from Little League baseball. Kelsey has played with the region's softball teams since she was 6. She's learned quite a bit and now her new coach wants to try to teach her differently. I explained to Coach Shelly that Kelsey may have a tough time learning Coach Bill's way because of her previous training.

The good news is that Coach Bill is going to let Kelsey be a catcher which is what she wants to do. She asked him last night if she was the only catcher - and so far, she is. But he hasn't really been working with the catchers/pitchers yet. He's getting the girls caught up on fielding and hitting first. But no other girl has stepped up yet to say she wants to catch too.

Their team is the Alley Cats and they are black and orange. Anthony was "why those colors, can't you change them?" I ordered the uniforms but the coach picked the colors and already submitted them to the region so that's what I had to go with. So I tried with the least amount of orange possible lol. They'll have black shorts with their numbers in orange, black jersey with their name, number and team name in orange and the logo white/grey/with little orange on a black background. It's just so "halloween" those colors.

Happy Valentine's Day

I put a card and the new Jamie Foxx CD Unpredictable in his truck last night for him to find today. He loved the CD. We had recorded the show on TV too. Very good show!

Are we ready for Softball?

It's here - softball..... I don't know if I'm ready for the amount of time it takes. lol Kelsey has practice this week 2 days: Wed 7-9pm and Thu 5-7pm. Jordan's practice is usually Tue and Thu but I'm not sure if there is practice today with it being Valentine's Day and all. I suppose I should call the coach.

Jordan starts Saturday but she'll miss her first game because we are going riding. We gave her a choice and she rather ride than play. Hopefully the weather holds. It's supposed to start cooling down and maybe even some rain by Sunday.

Peanut did a little better

He cried and whimpered and barked, but it wasn't as bad as the night before (although I'm sure Anthony would say differently). I put his crate in his "day area" so he could get used to it during the day time. He hates the crate at night though. But this morning when I put him in his day area, he went in his crate no big deal. I guess he just doesn't like be shut in. And I can't keep him in his day area at night with the crate open behind a gate because he cries, whimpers and barks as if he were in the crate anyway.

He seemed to go a longer time during the night because I didn't hear him until 4 this morning. But his bed stinks so washing that today for any accidents we didn't get to avoid. I tried enticing him into the cage with treats lol. Hopefully that will continue to work. He's been doing better about potty breaks OUTSIDE which is nice. Less to clean up that way.

Monday - I'm tired

We decided - probably a little late - to crate train Peanut. He's been in his little crate two nights now and both nights he barked, wimpered, BARKED, wimpered, and BARKED some more. Yapped is more like it lol.

I for some odd reason can fall asleep with him doing this next to my head. Anthony cannot. So Peanut was moved to the living room. Then the garage. 12:30 am I'm up and take Peanut out for a potty break (Brandi just getting in from the basketball game). Put him back to bed and he barks, wimpers, and BARKS some more. *sigh* off to bed I go.

4am - the alarms go off for Anthony to get up for work. He doesn't hear them, I do. I wake him and he's upset because he's tired (Peanut kept him up barking). I swear this went on for about an hour though I know it didn't lol. Anthony brings Peanut in and puts him in his cornered off area in the bathroom which just leads to more wimpering, barking, whining and BARKING. Just before 5am I'm outside with him for a potty break (he's gonna learn to hold his bladder longer than 4 hours right?).

5am and he wants to play. I put him on the floor with a stuffed animal and he plays while I try to go back to sleep (knowing my alarm is going to go off at 6am). 5:15am BARKING.... 5:20am BARKING... 5:30am BARKING UGH! I'm tired, I want to sleep! lol He finally comes up on the bed with me and settles down and sleeps. Just as he falls asleep and myself too - the alarm goes off! UGH!

And Peanut is as tired as he can be because he was up almost all night yapping. Poor little guy.

On a brighter note - we introduced him to Misty our german shepard/chow mix. Misty is HUGE compared to Peanut! She did fairly well and Anthony seems to think it's because Misty knows Peanut is so small. She did get tired of his yapping fairly quick though. We took the dogs for a walk to the park and let them run a bit. Misty got off the leash and was bounding around the park. There were some teens and some younger kids with them (not less than 5years old) and one girl SCREAMED (I mean really SCREAMED) and started running, a few other girls followed suit. I screamed back not to run (or Misty would chase). If they didn't run, Misty wouldn't even bother them. What a walk lol. I was hoping Peanut would have wasted a LOT of his energy and sleep through the night, but no such luck.

Maybe tonight will be a better night. We put the crate in his day area while we are at work. This will let him get used to his crate too while knowing it won't be shut while he goes in and out of it. I hope this goes faster than I'm thinking it will.

Kids and Sports

We signed up Noah for soccer. He's on the wait list so we wait. Usually team coaches call about 7-10 days before the games start which isn't until 3/18. Guess we just continue to wait......

Jordan and Kelsey are both starting softball. Jordan's first game is next Saturday the 18th! Kelsey starts on the 28th. I'm looking forward to the games and such, but not so sure about the hectic schedules yet.

There's a child on Kelsey's team we were hoping to not be on the same team. No such luck. Her parents are difficult to handle to put it mildly. So I'm in charge of ordering uniforms ($42 btw) and the mother is upset because she doesn't want to pay the cost (I checked several styles and this was the cheapest and includes jersey with team name and logo on front, number and girls name on back; shorts with the girls number and socks). So now I have to get individual costing for her for every piece of the uniform and let her piece part it together herself. The shorts will be black with the girl's number on them and she says her daughter has black shorts. Her daughter will be the only one in black shorts without her number. I don't know, but at age 10, you'd think the daughter would be a bit self-conscious about that wouldn't you? And then she doesn't want the socks because she already has that color (saves her $3.50 btw).

Friday Five

1. Link to your local news source: I listen to KFI a lot.
2. Link to your favorite dessert: Banana Creme Pie - yum!
3. Link to a band that you like: No Doubt
4. Link us to a good book: Catcher in the Rye
5. Link to your favorite Muppet: Fozzie Bear

yseultautumnfiredancer

Welcome to my blog. This is a place for me to share news about me and my family with friends and family members who don't live so close.

If you are wondering where the name came from - I am using a pagan name. Create one yourself!