Maybe I should just let it go?

Facebook friend invite - Sue from Colorado

Many years ago when I was in middle school I dated a boy. Ok thats a far fetch... I kissed my cousin's cousin.. there was no dating, my gosh I was 12. Hey - don't judge me with the cousin's cousin relationship, it was a small town so this was actually an acceptable distance for kissing.

Anyway, I told Jennifer my best friend 2 faced friend about my boy toy fling, she promptly told her friend, that person told her friend.. well you get the jist.

I was teased beyond belief, called many bad names and I am pretty sure that at some point, I lost my cool and threw someone into the side of a locker. The teasing seemed to go on forever, even after 7th grade. I thought that the incident didn't affect my life.. I'm thinking it may have subconsiously.

After 7th grade, I resented Sue....she was a short, big mouth, mean spirited girl. I stayed away from her and her circle of friends. Limited my contact and tried to forget how she made me feel.

Maybe I should let it go? I mean its been over 30 years since that altercation with her. I mean she was mature enough to request my friendship, maybe I should reciprocate and move on? We can all get along right? Remember, it was over 30 years ago - I should move on and forgive. I really should but sadly, its not my style. Maybe she doesn't remember what she did to me, maybe she was horrible to so many people she can't keep track of who she tormented?

DENIED.... screw you.

I think I may still hold a grudge..

Christmas 2010

We had a great 2010 in Oceanside, had some great visitors and some nice laughs. Most of the laughs were at my family’s expense but once in a while we were able to gang up on other innocent bystanders. I love to laugh through life.

We were very lucky this year. As we (Chuck, Rachael, Carly and myself) were able to go back to NY twice in 2010, once in February and again in July. Nick couldn’t go as he decided to go to Mexico for the summer to save Sea Turtles and collect their eggs for research. The turtles had other plans and never showed up in the 6 weeks he was there. Non the less, Nick was able to survive in grand old Mexico and learned the fine art of ignoring people while he was there.

Rachael is in her 2nd year of college working on her goal of becoming a nurse. She still works at the YMCA as a lifeguard and also nanny sits for a lady a couple times a week. She decided to get her own apartment with all her new found money. Easy come, easy go.

Carly is now 13 and is in 8th grade. She and I went white water rafting in May with her Girl Scout troop. It really was pretty amazing and we hope to be able to do it again next year.

We finally had some family pictures taken after Rachael complained we did not have any. A friend of mine took them on December 5, 2010 while most of you were buried enjoying the winterwonderland. For the record, nobody cried.

As always we hope you have a wonderful Merry Christmas filled with Hope, Faith and Love.

Chuck, Kandee, Nick, Rachael and Carly

Why we don't take many Family photos

As you all know, I am cheap frugal. I ordered some Christmas cards, ran out of them, ran out of stamps and decided that this whole "internet" thing might work to my advantage. So I refusal to spend my, I mean our money on more stamps as I had already sent cards to most of the important people on my Christmas list.

About 8 months ago, Rachael asked me how come we never had any family photos taken of us? I shot her a glare and said "are you serious"? Believe me, I tried, tried to get my spawns lovely children to take a nice picture together... This is what I ended up with last year before someone (me) ended up crying.

I warned the spawns I was going to upload these pictures anyway so - there you have it... Why we don't have family pictures taken!

We all suffer as one....

My friend Stacey and I have been walking.. Well, we mostly talk but we do manage to put one foot in front of the other. Walking and talking - we decided it might not be safe to try and chew gum at the same time so for now, we just walk and talk. Its free, cheap therapy.

Here in O'side, they have a the "Turkey Trot". Its a quick 5K walk/run/trot around the town on Thanksgiving Day. Last year, I thought about it on Thanksgiving Day and decided that I should sign up for it. It can't be that hard right? I'm pretty sure I can do a darn good waddle..

So, I signed my whole family up witout their knowledge.. They received a notice via e-mail that they were registered. Yup, figured that a family that suffers together stays together...

Dear First, Middle and Baby

My parents had four children, my sister Kelley, my brother Stephen (whom died when he was a baby), my brother John and myself. After my parents died 19 weeks apart, it was time to clean out the house for the new habitants, my brother John his family.

The following article was cut out of the newspaper sometime in the 1970's. It was in my room under the glass on top of my dresser ever since I can remember. I looked at it daily while getting my clothes out of the drawers always thinking that we were all so special. The article is now yellowed and torn, but now that I have three children of my own, I realize that the story pretty much remains the same.....

Dear First Born:
I've always loved you best because you were our first miracle. You were the genesis of a marriage and the fullfillment of our young love.
You substained us through the hamburger years, the first apartment (furnished in Early Poverty), our first mode of transportation (a beaten up station wagon) and a 7-inch TV we paid on for 36 months.
You were new, had unused grandparents and enough clothes for a set of triplets. You were the original model for a mom and dad who were trying to work the bugs out. You got the strained lamb, the open safety pins and the three hour naps.
You were the beginning...

Dear Middle child:
I've always loved you best because you drew a tough spot in the family and it made you stronger for it.
You cried less, had more patience, wore faded hand-me-downs and never in your life did anything first. But it only made you more special. You were the one we relaxed with and realized a dog could kiss you and you wouldn't get sick. You could cross the street by yourself long before you were old enough to get married and you helped us understand the world would not collapse if you went to bed with dirty feet.
You were the child of our busy ambitious years. Without you we would never survived the job changes and the tedium routine that is marriage.

Dear The Baby;
I've always loved you best because while endings are generally sad, you are such a joy. You readily accepted the milk-stained bibs, the lower bunk, the cracked baseball bat, the baby book that had nothing written on it except a recipe for graham cracker pie crust that someone had jammed between the pages.
You are the one we held on to so tightly, You are the link with our past, a reason for tomorrow. You darkened our hair, quicken our steps, square our shoulders, restore our vision and give us the sense of humor that security, maturity and durability can't provide.
When your hairline takes on the shape of Lake Erie and your own children tower over you, you will still be our baby. - A Mother

Up until the time my mother died (I was 38), when she introduced me to someone new she always referred to me as her "baby".

I love you Mom, wish we could have grown old together.

Lovin' the Sea Turtles

My son Nick has always been a tree hugger. He has always been interested in the sea and nature so much that we've had to tape the spine of one of his nature books once or twice due to constant viewing.
Next week he leaves for a two month trip to the beaches of Mexico. He will be an internship at the Sea Turtle at San Cristobal Beach. Apparently the beach is 12 kilomiles north of Cabo San Lucas. He has to "work" at night, collecting the eggs and tagging Olive Ridley and Leatherback turtles.
Nick is excited and I of course am nervous. Everyone has heard the stories of Mexico and the druglord issues but there really is not to much I can do other than lock him in a room and never let him spread his wings. Nick is doing what he has always wanted to do.. I'm proud of him and love that he will be doing what he has always dreamed of.

And the clock strikes 12

When the microwave oven first came out many, many years ago, my father would watch the clock tick backwards while waiting for the clock to stop
10, 9, 8, 7 ,6, 5, 4, 3, 2..........1
Then he would say he just wasted x amount of minutes of his life that he would never get back.
My mom on the other hand had a clock on the oven that she put a piece of tape over that said.
"Time stands still for no one".
After she died, I inherited her jewerely box. In the box was a cheapo digital watch that was still working. I kept it in the box and would pull it out once in a while, breath a sigh of relief that it was in fact still working.
I remember the day the watch stopped, it was a very sad day for me. I still have the watch but I could not bear to put a new battery in it.

Phew, I need a vacation from their vacation.

Finally I can find my sanity - ok well that is a lie, I haven't had my sanity in a very long time but I can now enjoy the normalicy of my insane life.
Nancy, Fast Eddie, Melissa, Rod, Kaleb and Gavin left over the weekend.
The gang started arriving on the 17th and stayed through the 24th. We packed alot of fun into their vacation. We all sat poolside with our Margarita glasses on Sunday. Lucky for us Adam and Julie were able to come in from Denver for the day.

Monday was beach day here in Oceanside


Tuesday was a trip up to Disneyland where although it was a gloomy day, we had an amazing time One thing I learned about Disney in the rain is that you don't have to wait long for the rides. The longest we waited was 10 minutes for any of the rides including Space Mountain which I overwhelming enjoyed which made me want to hurl, next was the Star Wars trip where I sat on the aisle seat, lowered my sunglasses and closed my eyes due to the Space Mountain ride). Check out the driver Gavin's eyes.

Wednesday was Tidepool day in LaJolla


Thursday we took in a baseball game at Angel Stadium. The game turned from baseball to hockey due to a fight in the stands in the 8th innning. . Friday was our day of rest where Rod hunted lizards to throw in our bearded dragon's cage. Rod thought the dragon would eat the small lizards but they ended up laying on top of each other soaking up the sun. Gavin who is 8 decided he should top his vacation off with a tramp stamp to match mine.

I personally think that we all had a great time, although everyone has their own version. Who knows, maybe by the time they left they were all thinking that the plane could not get off the runway soon enough for them to get back to NY. Everyone has "their side" to the story...

Who knew a bunny could be so spoiled?

When I was young, I always had pets. We grew up on 50 acres so there was never a shortage of animals running around the place. I had my share of chickens (50 of them - 4H project which is a totally different post), mice (10 at once, individual cages - thanks Aunt Chris), guinea pigs, horses, cows, snakes, hawks, salamanders - you name it we had it. One of my favorite pets when I was about 10 was my bunny named Nadine.
Now that I'm a mom and have our land isn't so "spacious", my kids don't have quite as many animals but we do have a variety of them. Our menagerie consists of Stella the 100lb black lab, Mallory our cat, Eloise our hedgehog, the Bearded Dragon (nameless) and our rabbit Yankee. Yankee is about a year old now and he definitely has quite the personality. Generally he gets let out everyday to run in the backyard as we have a 6' fence that he can not get out of. He has the whole backyard to hang loose in and that's pretty much what he does all day long.

The cage we had Yankee in was not to shabby, just a basic cage that was left over from our Guinea Pigs - Nester and Thunder Thighs.


The other day, I mentioned we should build Yankee a cage for outside since I was tired of moving his cage around and the shavings were pretty much a disaster in the house. Chuck is a Union Carpenter so I knew it would not be a problem for him to whip something up. This is what the man came up with. The cage is huge, about 5' high, 4 foot long, a hutch to the left and the bottom has a ramp extending up to the top "floor" that he bolts upstairs without skipping a beat.






My son Nick is ready for a car, I told him to tell his dad that Yankee needed a car and we would see what see what Yankee ended up with.

Dream big Nick and we will see what Yankee ends up driving.

April 1 - why do you only come once a year?

Why not laugh, smile, pull a prank or tell a funny joke every day? My daily goal in life is to laugh - laugh through life. I’d rather laugh than cry besides, I’m pretty ugly when I cry.

We've all heard the cliché "laughter is the best medicine". When I was sick it was easier for me to laugh than take my crappy chemo but I did both. Since then, I have not stopped laughing. The only problem is now that I am getting older, sometimes I pee my pants. That too, makes me laugh.

A few years ago when I moved to California and was friendless, I had to make an effort to find friends. I needed cool/fun/exciting friends like Wacko Judy and Crazy Ange who I had to leave in NY. I thought I was pretty cool but apparently not everyone was willing to take that risk. After ruling out a few Stepford Wives in the area I took a chance and became friends with Carly's Girl Scout leaders.

The "leaders" had a "Bunko" group and soon enough I weaseled my way into their hearts and was able to secure an invite. Another friend was also invited to the open enrollment Bunko session. At the end of the night I had made the cut, she was sent packing - just like American Idol (well, that’s a stretch but she definitely did not get a second invite).

Actually, that was my first and ONLY Bunko experience as the group soon disbanded. After all the scheming, how could it be that our little group was so f*ck9d up, we could not even commit to bunko once a month? Was I going to let this new found friendship faultier? Heck no, I worked hard to infiltrate the click, I knew I had to take action. Thus the name changed from Bunko and became "Funko" (inserted the “f”) and times we even change that “f” to a "d" for Drunko. On Tuesday, it was Drunko night for me at Funko.

One of the ladies offered to drive and pick us up for the Happy Hour festivities, I quickly accepted. Generally, I am the designated driver so this was such a treat for me. We went to happy hour and had $5 Margaritas while playing lots and lots of pool. Of course the real pool sharks got a bit torched but honestly we did not even care. I'm not sure I even heard any of their grumblings over the whoohooo that projected several times from my mouth.

The night was filled with laughing, smiling and bitching. We’ve learned to laugh at our problems because we know everyone else is.

Maybe Billy Joel had a point....."I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints........the sinners are much more fun”?

One thing about my Bunko/Funko/Drunko friends is I can bitch at them, steal their food and then make them go to the bathroom with me. To others in bar they may all look like a bunch of bitches but they are my bitches.