Entry for May 31, 2007

This is going to be another one of those I have nothing to say blogs. In the end, I end up writing more than I think I have to say. Anyway, we wnt to Yosemnite on Tuesday. It cost twenty dollars a car load, and will be going to twenty five pretty soon. They make a mint on the entrance fees alone. It was an avsolutly beautiful day. It only takes about 2 hours to get there from our house and the drive isnt bad, mostly the foothills once you leave Modesto. At one point, you drive up this road that is so twisty and if you drive off, you will drop straight down. Pretty creepy looking as your going up. This is the newer road, the old one is called Old Preist Grade, and yor praying all the way up and dow. It goes straight up and I dont know how peoplew get down it. There have been a lot of accidents on that road, but we didnt take it. Anyway, the highest point in the park that I saw was 6195 feet. We have high points here at 10,000 feet. We saw Bridel Veil falls, and Half Dome. We also saw some people climbing on another huge rock across from the falls. It was so hard to find them, they looked like ants. I thought I had a pic of them, but I dont, so You get Bridel Veil instead. Awwww. Its very pretty. There is a raft trip you can take for twenty dollars per person, but we didnt know about it in advance and we wernt prepared so that didnt happen for us. Alex and Claire would have fried if they did that. they had no sunblock, or shorts or hats. So no water, they are too white to do that without sunblock. I will have to post the pics in an album. If you ever get to California, you really have to visit Yosemite. It is breathtaking.

I have had all week off till last night. I was so hoping I would get the phone call that said I didnt have to show up. It didnt happen. I am still hoping I get it tonight, I dont want to go in tonight either. John took the kids to lunch today at this Basque place about an hour from here. It is really good and serves so much food you just cant eat it all, unless your a growing boy. After, they went to the Hilmare Cheese factory. I have passed this place so many times, but never stopped in. Next time Im gonna. I wanted to go, but when John woke me up to go, I just couldnt wake up, and told them go without me. I had to sleep. I finally woke up at 4:45. They make huge cheese wheels, Ice cream, anything dairy there. They also have a deli so you can have lunch while you are there. It is a beautiful building, all stone and it looks more like a castle than a cheese store.

Oh, and an update on Delta and Dawn the wayward whales. they finally decided to head on out of our river and back to the ocean. The last time they were seen, they looked very healthy and were swimming west. They were missing their natural food which is called cril, its like a plankton, and the salt water they live in. Their wounds were looking much better also since they hit the salt water. From what I heard, there was a shortage of the food source in the ocean, and thye may have swam up the river looking fort the next best thing, fish. No one really knows why this happens, but it sure stirs them into action to get them back tot he ocean before they get sick and die.

OK, so there I went again, with nothing much to say. the wekend is almost here, hope ya all have a good one.

My kids are home, a question for Em, and whales

Alex and hias friend were scheduled to arrive at 5:40 on Friday. It was supposed to be a non -stop flight from tulsa to Sacramento. Well, they stopped in Alburqurque to refuel, and sat there waiting for another plane to refuel first. Needless to say, they were delayed and finally arrived two hours later. Well, at least they got here. Claire and I went to pick them up while John stayed home to make dinner. Alex put in his meal request of baby backs and chicken, and they were sooooo good. It was a smooth ride home, and we finally got here at around 9:30, ate and then the kids went o Claires to go to sleep. They were two hours ahead of us by two hours ahead of us, and falling asleep at the table. They have already gone to Santa Cruz to show Ivan the ocean, and other things coastal. Poor guy, he never even had seen a real palm tree. I just cant even imagine not seeing some of the stuff he has never seen. Im glad he was able to come out here. He will only have to pay for stuff he wants to buy, Food and bed is proveded, how great is that.

Next subject. Em has a Wednesday thing where you can ask her a question and she will find the answere for you. I was at work the other night, bored to near tears so i started entertaining myself. So I thought of this question for Em. Who names their kid Jeeves? And if you do names your kid Jeeves, do you have dreams of them growing up to be a well dressed man-servant? Lets see if Em can google Jeeves and find out how many parents named there darling new sons Jeeves. I bet she will find my answeres.

Another topic? Im off work till Wednesday night. Oh yes. I love having days off. Doesnt everyone. Ok, I just have to tell you what happened at our little bake sale we had at work. the organiser didnt get confermation from very many people to bring goodies to sell and she was pretty worried there wouldnt be enough for all three shifts plus the Traffic center. Wrong. There was so much stuff, she couldnt put all of it out at the same time. She figured we would make around maybe 5 or 6 hundred dollars, and that would have been good. Wrong again, very wrong. We raised $1147.99. Yes, you read that right. And Frito Lay will match every dollar of that. Cool, I think.

Last topic. have you heard of Delta and Dawn? they are the mother and baby Humback whales that took a wrong turn and swam 9o miles up the Sacramento River. This is a fresh water river, and not good for the whales. It has been about two weeks since they were discoverd, and they arent doing very well. This is so sad. there are boats and people trying to get them to swim back down the river, they get tot he Rio Vista bridge then stop and start swimming north again. There are fire boats spraying water in their direction to get them to turn around, they hae banged on pipes on boats to heard them down the river. No matter what they do to get eh whalesoff the river, they just wont go under the bridge. There are whale specialists here to try to get them back to safety, but nothing seems to be working. This is th second time we have had a whale in the Sac river. The last time was twenty years ago, wehn Humphry the Humback came to town. he was here for 26 days, when he finaly swam down the river to the ocean to safety. I dont know if these two are ever going to go back. Its exciting, but they need to go back, or they will die.

Ok, That is my five minutes of talking, or writing. So im off for now. See ya all later.

Entry for May 24, 2007

My son is coming home again tomorrow again for a week. he is bringing one of his friends from school and I just cant wait. His friend has never seen the ocean, which to me just seems strange. I really dont remember if I have blogged this already, cus i have really been scattered this week. Anyway, I get to see my baby again. then I get to see my big baby and Tania and my grandbabies in July. I cant wait.

So, its 10:30. I have been waiting for a call from work telling me I dont have to come in, but it looks like Its not happening this week. Crap. I dont want to go in today. I suppose better just hope for being able to go home early.

I really dont have anything to talk about. The weekend is here and then I wont be going back to work till wednesday night. We will be taking the kids to Yosemite. It is really pretty there. Its only about maybe an hour or two away. We are also taking them to lunch at the place John takes the boys when they come home. Its a Basque place about an hour away from here. beleive it or not, they look forward to the lunch thing.

Well, see ya later. Have a great weekend.

Cancer Research Bake sale

I just dont know how to thank all of you. If it werent for you, I would have to write a check to make my goal. Anyway, a breast cancer survivor at work, who I really adore by the way, organised a bake sale. I commited to bake some goodies for this event, so I went overboard a little. I decided i had to make sure there was something to sell. I really am a spaz so many times. Its part of my personality though, so i accept it. Anyway, I made a double batch of peanut butter/chocolate chip/oatmeal cookies. A regular batch of chocolate chip cookies, but this recipe is already huge, and a double batch of carrot cake cup cakes. Needless to say, I was up late. I didnt get to bed until 2:30 PM. I was delerious by that time. Eleven is my latest I can stay up without going a little looney. So today and tomarrow is the sale and all this cash will also be donated to the cause, which will be matched by Frito Lay. I also donated a set of placemats to be raffled off. I really want o make a record amount for our site. I dont know what we raised last year, but i want to beat it. When everything is complete i will be on here in big bold letters letting you know how we did.

I do have a question. did one of you donate in Ambers name for 10.00? Her name is on there twice, but she only donated once. this is a puzzler.

Also, I have been trying to remember to remind you. Have you had a Mammogram this year. I just made another appointment. I canceled twice, but not this time. If you have a history in your family or you are over 40, and some of us are, you need to make the appointment and go.

Thats all Im gonna say today. I want to write about the whales that are in the Sacramento river, but I will do that another time.

this link will take you to the relay for life page if you want to donate to the relay for life.

http://www.acsevents.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=192212&lis=1&kntae192212...

John Birthday Weekend

Today John wanted to continue to celebrate his birthday weekend. Yesterday we went to the bar around the corner and had a few drinks with a couple people he works with. This is a bar he is more familiar with than I am, and people there knew him. It is also a kareoke bar. Let me tell you this, I like to sing and sometimes i can even carry a tune. But not in a bar, nope not gonna happen. But John did. And after a few too many drinks, he thought he was pretty good. I cant and wont even go into all the funny stuff we saw there. Some people, really think they are good, or maybe they just have the balls to get up there and sing. I dont know.

So we still had to pick up our wine from our wine club. I thought for sure after all the booze that John consumed last night, no way in hell was he gonna want to go to the wineries. I figured wrong. Damn. I really didnt want to go, but I had to go cus it was his birthday and I remembered he got me a spa day for mine. Crap. We got there and one of the wineries was having a barrell tasting, and when they do this, you have to purchase a glass to participate. We did, and started to taste. As john was doing the tasting, I was taking pics of the Piaza. I dont want to put all the pics on this page, but i will put some of them on.

Anyway, there was a live two man band, and lunch for 10.00. It was pretty good too, as was the band. I got a new necklace/choker type thing. It just wraps around your neck and hangs in the front. Its a stiff wire with an amber flower on one end, and three leaves on trhe other. I bought one bottle of my favorite Almond sparkling wine and John got three more wines for his collection. the weather was perfect, I think it stayed in the high 80's all day with a little breeze. We went to hungry hunter for dinner on the way home. It was a good day. Tomorrow is John actual birthday, so I dont know what we are going to do. Actually, I would like to just stay home, I like it here. We will see. Ok, so I am going to go transfer some pics to my flicker so I can show you some of the piazza.

A mural behind a rack of wine Looking down the row of wineries

My favorite winery John and the Boitano wine maker

She was pouring at Boitano Wine barrels at the winery

See ya all later.

Really long relay for life addy

this link will take you to the relay for life page if you want to donate to the relay for life.

http://www.acsevents.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=192212&lis=1&kntae192212...

I checked it and it works. If you would like to support me in my walk, you can go to the home page and it will give you trail you need to do that. I know this is very forward of me to post this, but it is important. I only asked my family to support me with 5.00. If you are offended by this, please dont write some horrible comment to me, just go to another page and come back another day if you want to. Thanks again so very much.

If you decide to go to the page, you can enter Lisa as my name and frito lay as the team.

I Remembered

Hi, wow can you beleive this! two blogs in a row. I think. yes, i did post yesterday, and here i am again. I remembered what it was I wanted to say. It only took 24 hours this time. I usually dont remember at all.

OK, first off. You see the Pink Ribbon up there in my little picture spot? As you all know, i would think, this is Breast Cancer walk research time. There is a Relay for Life scheduled here in Modesto for June 23 and 24. My friend Rosa had signed up to walk and asked if I would sponser her. Of cource i would, that is what friends do. Frito lay is setting up a booth and donating water and supplies to help support the walkers. We have quite a few survivers and we need to try and lower that number to zero. So the other day i was talking to the lady that is really at the head of organising the walk at Frito Lay. She needed some supplies for posters, and i have a bunch of paints and supplies, so I gave them to her. She is organising a bake sale to help raise money for the cause, and I am going to contributre to this by making cookies and carrot cake cupcakes. i also donated a set of placemats to be raffled off. I feel a need to help my fellow sisters stay alive ands beat this demon that is thrust on us without any warning. Then I decided to go ahead and sign up to walk the walk. you never know, the little bit of money i raise may just be the little bit that helps find a cure. How hard can it be. I am really excited about this though. I feel like i am making a difference in some way. I need to make a difference, It makes me feel good. I will let you know how it goes, how much money i raised in the end, and the total from Frito lay. I have to give them props here. Frito lay matches every donation from its employees. if we raise 40,000, they will match it. This is a very good thing.

Now to more mundane things. Are British accents more beleiveable than American accents? I have wondered this for a while. So many of our commercials are with these British people. there is that gum, and for some reason i cant remember all of them. Then the other night im watching something, and here comes a Sunchips ad. What? What is this? Are we going all British in Frito Lay also. Yes, the announcer is again British. This must be the latest in announcing, be British. Nothing wrong with that, It just makes me wonder.

And finally for the most of the really exciting. Have any of you heard of the tanning lotions? Dove has one, and I bought it. Even though it is perfect tanning weather here, i dont go in it. I really have a problem with looking like a peice of tanned leather. So I bought this lotion and I have been applying it daily. it actually works. its very slow, and thats ok. Im not turning orange, and that is perfect. Im turning tan, and keeping my skin healthy. I like it.

So that is enough for now. go rest your eyes. I cant beleive i remembered this. Im off now.

New blog, oh goodie

When i am driving to work, sitting in my car, thinking ofd nothing more than getting to come home, I also think of these really great blog topics. there I am, composing these fabulous award winning blogs. laughing at the words i have put on this screen. then i realise, I am still in my car, driving down the dark streets, no lappy in site. So that is what is going on with me. I am topicless for my blogs. So what do I write about?

I could write about dancing with the stars. That is an easy subject. I have actually been voting these last few weeks. I just couldnt be a part of letting billy ray go any further than he already had. I cant beleive this, I just lost part of my blog when I hit the enter key to end the whole topic of dancing. Anyway, so now I am going to retype this in short form. they are all good, I like apollo and leila. Hope Ian goes home, even though i like him too. Now, lets try this again.

next subject. This weekend is john birthday. this last weekend he totally pissed me off. No, i wont go into it, lets just say talking is an issue. he wanted to go pick up our wine from the wine club we belong to this weekend. hmmmmmm, I dont think i feel like it. In fact, i think i want to give him what he gave me for my birthday. wait, let me think. what did i get. think think think. do you remember if i blogged that. right now, i dont think so. he may get what he got me. I will have to go back and see, dont want to make any mistakes here, now do i.

Im venting here, can you tell. I really dont have anything to say. sometimes I just need to get on here and communicate.even if it is nothing really big. ok, so that is it for now. see ya all later.

My Flowers

This is a pic of the flowers my number two son sent me for mothers day. It is the first time he has ever sent me flowers. I love love love them. My mothers day was pretty much the same as it always is. Like any other day, except I got flowers and i got to talk to both of my babies.

I kind of hate to end the communication from my last blog, it was so much fun. I will do it again though. Amber suggested we use that for saturdays puter party. I think that will be fun. Dont forget to log on saturday for the puter party and turn on your cams if you have em. this is all I have for now.

Maybe I will check in tomarrow if I can think of something new to say. In the meantime, dont work too hard, have a good day, and smile at a stranger just to see if they smile back.

Come on over and see what I stole from Amber this time

Get Your Own Chat Box! Go Large!

Friday Stuff

Hi everyone that decides to read this. First off, in case I dont get back here by our big day on Sunday, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL MY LADY FRIENDS. Even if you dont have those two legged kids running your house and life, you more than likley have the four legged kind of kids. So go celebrate on Sunday. Go to brunch, have a mimosa, go to the movies, relax, have fun. Its your day, take advantage of it. For some of us, this may just be our biggest day of the year. So enjoy.

Last night I did get called off. I was so happy. I was just about to make my lunch, when the phone rang. It was the crewer at work, and she gave me the good news, your decrewed. Yippee. I know, this is getting to be a routine for me. Good. I figure for all the OT I have done in my lifetime, if I dont work 5 days a week, I dont care. No one but my mom cared that I was working 60 hours a week for a very long time. So now, if I only work 25 or 30, good for me.

On my blog yesterday I said I would like to have a puter party. I think that would be fun, and i have been thinking how we could do it. I couldnt leave out our friend accross the pond, Amber, so I think this would have to happen on a Saturday or Sunday. For me, I would prefer Saturday. I know this is a little inconvienent, as this is the day we do our house work, errands etc. So this is what I am planning for now. Next Saturday, sometime around noon or 1 pm, pacific time, we can start logging on. Make sure if you want to join in the puter party, to show yourself as visible on your messanger. If you have a cam, turn it on too. If next Saturday isnt good for you, let me know. Or we can plan this again some other time. Amber, if you wont be available at all, if your leaving town, let me know. Then I can make a change to the day. I think this will be fun. Let me know what you think.

I had a few rotting bananas in my kitchen today. So I made banana nut bread. Im not a big fan of this bread, but john likes it and I hate to throw the bananas away. I really love zucini bread. Oh yum, thast is soooooo good. If you have never had it, it has nutmeg and cinnamon in it and it is yummy. I have some frozen zucs in myfreezer, I may just make that next weekend. I like to bake, if someone will eat it. There usually is no problem finding someone to eat whatever i want to make.

OK, so I am getting hungry. John is down at El rosel with his friend having a beer. I think Im gonna walk on down there andlet him buy me dinner. He will be so happy. We are going to brunch on Sunday. It should be good. Tomorrow I ma going out with my girl friends again. I am looking forward to this. we need friend time. Ok, so this is me signing off. Have a great weekend.

Thursday Things

Im just calling this Thursday things, cus I dont know if I have 13. These are just things on my mind today.

1. Why the freaking hell cant drivers use their stupid turn signals, its not like they have to do a lot to use them. maybe flick their wrist a little. They drive down the street going about 15 mph, and breaking at every driveway and street, but no freaking turn signal. This really bugs me.

2. My bras were Bali. I looked, but I cant remember what style, and Im already laying here in bed, so that is all I know.

3. I want to have a group chat one night and maybe even a group cam night. We could all settle in front of our puters and grab our drink of preference and have a puter party. wouldnt that be fun.

4. The baby doves i wrote about a while back, well, they died. they fell out of the nest during a really windy day. I was sad, but I figure the parents may came back and nest here again one day.

5. The placemats i thought were sold, the lady had to back out. Oh well, no biggie. Im in no big rush to sell anything. I have plenty of time.

6. My youngest son, Alex will have his associats this friday. He will then be off for a month, and then he will start his bachlors. It seems like not so long ago I was watching him pick up his diploma from High school.

7. Lost only has two or three more episodes left this season. they are going to end the show in two more seasons. It has gone so all over the place, they have lost viewers. hahahahaha, get it lost viewers.

8. they finally kicked off Billy Rey from Dancing with the stars. Its about time. now the real compatition starts. I think its going to come down to Leila and Appolo. Joey will be in the top also.

9. I hope i get called off tonight. I dont really want to go to work. I could use another three day weekend.

10. I woke up with a killer headache last night. I took two excedrin migrane. I waited, nothing happened. then i took an imitrex and waited some more. I was getting nausiated and was beginnig to think it was here to stay. It finally went away. Thank God.

11. Modesto was voted worst place to live by some magazine. I cant remembe which one. dont beleive it. i like it here. I hate those things that rate cities and such. there goes our property values.

12. I dont think Im gonna make it to 13. My brain is empty. tired and empty. so this is my thursday 11. have a great weekend.

13. I had to come back and do an edit, so i added this just so I could have 13. it was hard, and this one is sorta a cheat, but i did it.

Its really hot out here

Hi anyone who wants to read this. I dont know about where you live, but I think our summer is really here now. This is how fast it happens here. Last week, it rained here and it got cold, really cold, I had to wear a coat cold. It snowed at 5000 feet in the mountains, we have big mountains here. Then on Saturday the wind blew in and blew everything away. It was again cold, but I was inside. The weather people said it woulkd only blow for about six hours, but it kept up all day and into Sunday. Now here it is, Monday and it is hot. Turn on the fans, get out the shorts and keep the water cold cus I get thirsty. I dont drink a lot of soda. When its hot, water is my drink of choice.

I went bra shopping today. For some of you this may be a little TMI. But this is funny, I think. I tried on a couple Playtex styles, and promptly took them off. They made my boobs look like what are now called the Madonna look. Remember her pointy boob thing. OMG. Mine were never that pointy, and never will be in the future. It was just funny looking. You could poke an eye out with those.

Ok, Im out of anything to say. Well, for now anyway. So I am going to put a poll on here to see what you like to cool your thirst with. Let me know. Im just curious.

My Cinco De Mayo

Of cource, I woke up too early this morning. 630 is no time for my eyes to be opening. But they did, so I got up, made coffee, and went back to bed and waited for it to create its dark liquid gold. I just couldnt get myself to do anything in the order I needed to this morning. I kept getting side tracked, and doing this, when i should have done that. I did get some stuff done though. After the shower, get dressed comb hair thing, I asked John about having my sister over for dinner. He was going to make a boatlaod of food, and it was sooo good, later about that. So then I forgot to do what I was going to do(which was braid my hair) and started on clearing the table to take pics of the most recent placemats. I did this, then went to download them. For some reason, the photo transfer thing on my desktop puter wouldnt work. ACCCK. I get so upset when things dont work right. I then loaded the pics to my lappy, but I was still upset about the desktop, I needed it to work. So I called the Costco service that came with my puters for help. All I had to do was reset back to a past time, cant remember what the correct term is, but it worked. Then I asked her to help me fix something I did to my lappy, and now that is fixed too. I love this service.

My sister arrived while I was on the phone, and was hungry. John was in the kitchen preparing all the ingredients for tonights meal. OMG! it was so good. My sister and I went out to breakfast, John wasnt hungry. When we got back, I made a key lime pie. I have never made or even tasted a key lime pie, but I will be making it again. Talk about a mouth full of good. YUM. We played a few games of upwords, then switched to Connect Four. What fun. I forgot how fun that game was. While we were playing, John was still doing the dinner thing, and making us Pomegranet Margeritas. Yes, you read it right, and they were good. Everything was good today.

So now onto the fab meal that John made. He bought a piece of pork, I think it was pork but or something. A very cheap cut, but that is what the recipe called for. BTW, these are from Bobby Flay, on the food network. He did a dry rub of different seasonings on half of the meat, then an enchalada sauce on the other half. Both were cooked slowly in the oven for about three hours at 300 degrees. He also made the sauce, nothing was from a can today, except for the beans. You just cant make beans for two without eating them for a week. He also made a dish called green rice. It is rice with a cooked green chile ground up in it. Then, to top it off, instead of having store bought tortillas, he went over to the El Rosel Restraunt around the corner and asked to buy some fresh. He had to wait while they made them, and they were warm when he brought them home. But the whole meal was very good.

I made coffee to have with my pie, so I am sorta rushing right now, can you tell. I still cant get straight today. I dont know how Im gonna sleep tonight. I better go. OH, that pic on top is the set I sold. I think they turned out very nice.

My Friday Entry

I have sold my first set of placemats. I am pretty jazzed about that. One of the ladies at work bought them for her mom. I made them for another lady, but I dont think she wantes them, so the other lady can have them. I also donated a set to a lady at work who is doing a Bake/raffle for Run for the cure. I figure that is free advdertising, and you have to do stuff like that sometimes. I dont mind, if it helps keep our sister alive a little longer.

It has been raining here. It got cold, even snowed in the mountains. People had to chain up. I had to wear a coat. last weekend it was 90 degrees, now its in the 50's. This is rediculous.

The queen is here The Queen is here. Woo Hoo. maybe she should travel a little more. this big whoppin deal cus she left her house and neighborhood is sorta silly. But this is the kind of thing we do. We like to make a fuss over famous people. And the fussier the famous people, the more we seem to like it.

Now to TV. I am sorta in a tiff here. When Sanjaya was on AI for way too long, the whole nation acted like a major wrong was being done. Why wasnt he voted off, who was keeping him there. OMG! what if he won, what would we do, what would we do. finally he was voted off and the nation breathed a sigh of relief. Now I am watching Dancing with the stars. I watch every season. Every season there are performers that need to go as soon as they hit the floor. They usually leave early in the season. There always saeems to be someone that stays on longer than is necessary. This season it is Billy Rey Cyrus. HE NEEDS TO GO. I have never voted, so I really shouldnt complain, but how on earth is that two left footed person still there. This week, John Ratsonberger was voted off. he is miles ahead of Billy. I was really shocked. that lady, I cant remembder her name right now, you know Pauls wife, finally got voted off. Thank God.didnt like her either. I really like watching Appolo ONO and Joey Fatone.

OK, I think my five minute blog time is up. I am off to read what you have to say. Have a great weekend.