The doctor and the sailor

Here are a few pictures of the kids and their costumes. First are the PG versions that they wore to school. They are going as a Doctor and a Sailor.

Now this is the more PG 13 version that they wore to take in the hordes of candy that they got.

The only difference in Alex's costume is she is not wearing the leggings and she is now wearing make up and a tattoo. Every sailor has a tattoo, not many have them on their face though.

Michael's on the other hand is a lot different. He went from being Dr. Garrett, to being Dr. Pain and suffering. I think he might have nicked an artery.

This is the fab five. We have Dr. pain and suffering(aka Michael), the happy witch (aka Breeanna), optimus prime (aka Gavin), the unmasked ninja (aka Ethan), and sailor girl (aka Alex)

The Soule/Davis/Garrett family curse

I have believed for a long time that my family when I was growing up had a curse on their vehicles. It seemed like they were always breaking down. So I have massive anxiety about my cars breaking down. So this is how my car experience has been over the last year. My husband left for a six month deployment last October and shortly after I find out that the brakes need to be completely replaced along with a few belts ($$$$). So over a few months I finally get all the repairs done. Then every few months I have to put oil in it because our oil just disappears. So then he gets home and everything is fine for a few months. Then the battery light comes on but this time he is home and he has the car so he gets to deal with it. So he sees that we have a bunch of corrosion on the battery terminals, so he buys a bottle of coke and pours it on. It ate away enough corrosion for the the battery light to turn off. So then about 2 months later the car starts to overheat, for 3 weeks my husband drives around with the heat on full blast because it keeps it from overheating, the only problem with this is that it is already 100 degrees outside but because its working he keeps doing it. I finally get frustrated with it because the heat thing doesn't always work and it dies on us and then we have to let it cool down so we find out it could be the thermostat, which is a really cheap fix and you can do it on your own, he fixes it, it took only an hour. So everything is just fine for a month. I take him to work one day because he is leaving for a week and on my way home the battery light comes on. I freak out because I can't fix things and I really don't want to be stranded. I call my hubby who is getting ready to ship out. He tells me go home, let it cool off and do the coke thing. well it works but this seems like a band aid and not a real fix. So here we are all caught up. Today I take him to work because he is leaving for a month. On the way to work the check engine light comes on, he immediately tells me not to freak out and that it is probably a sensor on the fritz. We get to base and we get out and he kisses me goodbye and all that mooshy crap, and then walks to the boat. He didn't even give the car a second thought. So I drive home setting small goals for the car like, please make it to I-5, and then ok we made it to I-5 now please make it to the 94, ok we made it now please make it to the 805, woohoo we made it now just make it to olympic parkway, oh lord almost home, come on baby, now make it to the next light and then only 2 more lights to go, oh yeah I am home free, now just make it to the parking spot, BINGO, I win. ok so i am home and my hubby tells me that I probably just need to reset the sensor, so turn the car off and when I start it again it will reset and turn off. So I try it and guess what...................he was .......................................................... ...WRONG. Light still on. So is there anyone out there in cyberland that wants to donate money to me and my curse. I accept cash or check. LOL. I should of married a mechanic. Hmm....... I did. If I drove a submarine I would be in great hands. I swear it will be the anxiety from broke down vehicles that will kill me one day. I can deal with a lot of crap but broke down vehicles is not one of them, and I really don't want to hear that I just need to buy a new car because its not a possibility right now unless someone wants to buy it for me. So here it to all the people out their with the same car woe's as me. We just need to learn to fly. Good night.

The sign, the lake and the cliff

Sorry its been so long, school work and life have had me bogged down. So last weekend we took a trip to Lake Martinez with some friends. We had a really good time, it was quiet and relaxing and the best thing was there was no tv or xbox. So on the way to lake Martinez which by the way is in Arizona, we are driving and we start to get close to our destination. Now mind you that I have never been here so Angie tells me that we should be there in about 15 minutes. Well I start to get a little freaked because we are in the middle of nowhere. This place looks like the setting for the movie The hills have eyes and then we pass this sign:

I was like, where the hell is this woman taking me, to some hills have eyes military testing ground with radiation poisoned rock dwelling hillbilly's. So now I am on the look out for eyes peering out from around the rock formations and watching for a fricken tank to run us over because I'm sure the hillbilly's have acquired one just so they could terrorize some unsuspecting travelers with children and no men to protect them around. Oh . . . wait. . . that sounds like us. So its pretty dark by now and we are driving down a two lane paved road with street lights and then of course we turn down, what I like to call "bobs road", dirt and gravel no lights. You know the kind of road that the stupid teenagers always take because it is suppose to be a short cut or it would be a good place to get their boom boom on and then they end up cut into pieces or with some gardening tool jabbed through their bodies, that's the road. So then like any good horror movie, we come to a fork in the road but I cant complain because it has a street light, a very dim yellow hazed street light. So we go right for about 5 seconds and Angie doesn't think its right so she backs up and we go left but then she doesn't think that's right either so we back up again and we go right again. Holy cow, bobs rad right leads us to the Davis's Beast(woohoo we have men). So we get their and our husbands come out to helps us unload and Keith(Angie's husband) starts talking about the lake that is attached to this river and he calls it Crystal lake, now of course flags go up in my brain because I know Crystal lake is the same lake that Jason Voorhees killed all the camp councilors in Friday the 13Th. I know I am such a freak, but I like my horror movies and I have a wild imagination. Ok so obviously no hillbilly reject or hockey mask wearing psycho killed me because I am writing this...................or am I. Lol just kidding, it is me.

The next day we go out on the river/lake and John thinks that he can fly. I have tried to tell him that he can't but he wont listen.

As if pretending he was an airplane wasn't enough.

Keith and John climbed this cliff, it may not look that high but it is pretty high.

Quality guy time!
Keith had enough!!!
Uh Oh!! he's all alone and just realized that there is only one way down!

It only took about 15 minutes to get him to jump, and this is the way he thought was best, which landed him in the water on his back. Angie has the video of it so when I get that I will post it. We had a really good time, the kids fed some raccoons, Dylan went swimming for the first time, the sunsets are beautiful out there. Here are some more picts of our adventure in Arizona
Sunset

Raccoons that think they are dogs

The kids actually getting along

I have more stories from the lake but I will post about it again. For now I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

The princess and the pickle; an adventure at Seaworld

So I am pretty sure Sara probably won't appreciate me posting this one but I couldn't resist. This woman loves pickles and because god smiles on me on this particular day, sea world just happen to have these huge pickles which she in turn wolfed down. That's not why god was smiling on me, he was smiling because she thought it would be fun to burp and blow in my face for the remainder of the day. To make it worse she decided to to put a piece of mint gum in her mouth. So then instead of funky pickle breath she had funky minty pickle breath. So this is payback for breathing on me all day. So now for the rest of the picture and more commentary on our day at sea world.


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So this is the stinky petting pool that you get to touch slimy sea creatures like star fish and sea urchins. Not really my cup of tea but the kids liked it.......I think!!! So the middle picture has our whole group, the only picture that I got of the whole group because I wasn't very good at taking pictures this time. So from left to right....Ethan, Breeanna, Gavin, Sara, Michael, Pat, Keith, Alex, and the elbow behind Keith would be Angie

Now this little guy is Gavin, he is sitting on a rock all by himself because he likes to be alone. All the other kids crammed themselves onto one rock so maybe he just didn't want to be squished

Sara believes because she is part Hispanic that she is immune to the sun. Well the sun decided that it was gonna show her who was boss and decided to fry her forehead and that is why she is wearing the latest in fashion, the shipwreck reef napkin. Now this beautiful accessory comes in one color.......brown, and comes in one fabric........paper, and cost next to nothing. You just have to sell your right arm to be able to afford the food that will get you the stylish head cover. Two thumbs up Sara.

So you would think that after a long day at sea world the kids would be worn out. Well if this picture tells you anything, they are not warn out but they are a bunch of goofballs. Now if I had only taken a picture of the adults to compare, you would of seen some worn out adults

School is for the young

WARNING!!!! Before you sit down and read this, get something to drink and maybe even a snack, this is a long one. ENJOY!!!!!!

Many of you may disagree with that statement but hear me out. Trying to start college after being out of school for 10 years and being an adult, not pretending to be an adult. But actually having to deal with life with out parents protecting you is frustrating. First I filled out an application online and on the application they give you an option to opt out of putting your social security number on the application, so I did. I don't just throw my social security number out there into cyber space on a whim. I figured if they offered that option then it wasn't a big deal. Well let me tell you......it was the worst thing I could of done, it damn near took an act of congress to get it added to my file. So then I because I opted out of that my scores for my placement test were not on the new file that they made for me so I had to somehow get my scores from one file to another. Sounds like it would be simple, well in the world of the admissions office nothing is simple. There is paperwork that has to be filled out and will take 6 weeks to process but to do that they need a copy of my social security card. I am not a organized person and so I don't have one at the moment because I know I would just lose it. So instead of following their long and drawn out process I have my very dear friend call the counseling office for me(because they are the ones who deal with the placement scores) and she proceeds to tell them that admissions messed up my file and that they said that my scores should be transferred from my old id number to my new one but that if it hadn't happened in a few days to call the counseling office and they could take care of it for me. Guess what. . . . with in 5 minutes it was all taken care of. Now it was just a waiting game to register for classes. Which by the way is the dumbest set up I have ever seen. Registration started on the 7th of July and I was able to register on the 18th. Can you guess the amount of choices I had. I ended up getting the math class that I have to take but really not looking forward to and had to wait list for the psychology class and sociology class I wanted. So now I am constantly checking to see if I have moved up on any of the wait list and after a few weeks I end up getting my Psych class, which I am stoked about but I probably won't get the sociology class so I decide to add political science. So I wait a few more weeks for the books to be posted. The list wasn't posted until the 9th of august and classes start on the 25th bu people using financial aid are not allowed to buy theirs until the 18th. For me that is cutting it kinda close. Well I decide to just buy mine at a online used bookstore because it was cheaper than buying them through the school. So i am able to buy my political science and my psychology book but I cant buy the math book anywhere but from the college because they actually write the math book. So i go online and look for it and it says it out of stock so Sara calls the school bookstore to find out when it will be in and how much it will cost. Well its only gonna cost 140 bucks, only are they crazy, 140 bucks for a book that I am dreading. They are high but anyway, then they tell her that its not due to come in until the 21st of august and they can't guarantee that it will actually get there on that day. So all I can say is " thank you San Diego Community college book store for being on top of it and making life that much easier.....NOT". So now I am just waiting to see if financial aid is gonna give me any money to help with school costs. So I call to check on my application and they tell me because I failed to mark 1 box on my application that they hadn't processed it yet. 1 box asking if I would have a diploma before I started the semester. Now they sent me reminders that I needed to bring in some form of verification of high school graduation, which I did 2 weeks prior to talking to them but never did I received anything saying I missed a box and I need to answer that one question. Its gotta be a common error because they ask like 300 questions. Irrelevant questions if you ask me like...... What is the highest level of education that my mother completed, personally I like to use this standard answer NOYDB (None Of Your Damn Business) but they for some reason didn't have that as a choice. I'm surprised they didn't ask my bra size and color of underwear. So I went online and fixed that one question and now I am back to playing the waiting game. But Sara's husband got his financial aid award letter today and they awarded him a nice piece of paper that told him that he made too much money. So in other words he made just enough not to qualify for there help because programs like this are not made to help most people and I am just gonna leave it at that because that is another rant that I could go on about and I don't want to offend anyone with my personal views. So because our family's have almost the same income I have no hope of getting financial aid unless I somehow slip through the cracks, which we can only hope for. So all in all this has been one nightmare after another and not just for me. Obviously my luck has rubbed off on Sara who made the Deans list last semester because she pulled a 4.0. But financial aid has put her on academic probation because last winter she had taken to classes and dropped them because winter term is only 4 or 6 weeks long, and a normal semester is 16 weeks long so its like taking a class in fast forward and with the husbands gone it was almost impossible for her to keep up with school work and her children. but she retook both classes and got an A in them both. So because of that she has lost her financial aid for a full year. She is attempting to appeal it but this school isn't very timely with anything. It just seems stupid that you can be put on academic probation and pull a 4.0. So now that is why I say school is for the young because the young are naive enough to put up with all this crap without putting up a fight and us older people don't put up with anyone's shit. The one thing I have learned over time is to hear someone out before you attempt to respond to them because sometimes when crabby old bitches that work in the admissions office don't take a minute to listen to what you have to say they can in turn make the problem much worse than it was. So instead of telling me that you know what you are doing because you have worked here a long time in the snottiest tone you could muster, you should just listen to a person and give them the respect that you want in return because I am 30 years old and my mama raised me to have manners and to treat people with respect and I follow that rule always............well that is until you piss me off and then only the lord can help you. So if you are a crotchety old hag that works in an admissions office for so long that you know everything including how to read peoples mind, then just maybe you should get a life and find a job that suits you better, like a grave digger or a you could work at the DMV where people expect that behavior. Ok I went off on a little rant there, I am done now. I just want to let everyone know that I kept my cool but still managed to finally get my point across to someone who would listen(not the wicked witch of the SDCCD admissions office) with the help of Sara. Thanks Sara!!!

A day having the lake beat us up

We went out on Angie's and Keiths boat this week end and like usual we had a great time. The lake seemed to be holding a grudge though because it was beating us up left and right but that could be because we are clueless when it comes to trying knee board, wake board or be pulled on a tube while a crazed maniac is at the wheel.

This is john on the wake board for one of the first few times. This is really entertaining watching him get sucker punched by the lake.

So when I mentioned a crazed maniac at the wheel, I bet you all thought I was talking about Keith. Ha Ha Ha, you were all wrong, I was talking about Angie. The above video is what happens to you when you piss her off (just kidding Angie). Did you see the air they got, it was almost like they grew wings and flew.

This is my daughter entertaining herself. She is such a interesting little girl. Turn your volume up so you can her her giggling under there. She is so funny sometimes.

Michael tried so hard to get up on the wake board and even though it was only for a few seconds, we were very proud of him.

These are just some random pictures I liked from that day. I'm not sure why Alex is in the splits position. Michael is extremely concentrated on not being eaten by the lake. John is just up to his old tricks and picking on the girls. I know there are no pictures of me but that's because I don't think John knows how to work my camera but Angie has a few very flattering ones of me so I will post them when I get her to send them to me. Until next time, keep smiling because it can always get worse.

The kiss

I have this love for art that portrays people kissing, the following pictures are just a few of my favorites. The first one is a fomous Time magazine cover. The last one is a painting called ......... you guessed it '' The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt. My friends all know that the salior one is my all time favorite.

Angie took me down to Seaport Village on saturday and I saw the coolest thing in the world. This is what I saw.

This is the coolest thing by far in San Diego. I have lived here for 4 years and had no idea that this existed just miles away from me. This statue along with the other pictures I have shown in this blog are to me the feeling of true feelings, love and longing and loss. A feeling of true and honest emotion. I look at these pictures and a flood of memory's hit me starting with the last kiss before deployment, the waiting and longing for another kiss, the fear that there won't be another, the feeling of that magical first kiss from when they return and then the fear that you will have to relive the process over and over again like most of us have to. A kiss is sometime better that saying I love you or I need you. But not just any kiss, its that kiss filled with urgency, by urgency I mean that feeling of if I don't get my lips on his I am going to explode but then when your lips connect you can all the sudden breath again and sometimes that's when the tears start to fall. You all the sudden feel whole again and you don't want to let go because you never want that feeling to end even though you know you have to. I may sound crazy to you all but I am sure there is at least one person out there who gets what I am saying. So that is what these images do for me.

Naturally boring museum

Ok so Angie and I took the kids to the natural history museum. Sara was suppose to go with us with her kids but luckly for her she got sick that morning. The kids had a good time but they don't know any better but it was not good. This museum's idea of natural history is water conservation. I'm not say that water conservation isn't important but I didn't go to a museum to have it displayed to me. THe shark was one of the coolest things they had. All I can say is don't waste your money.

Just for Gavin

This is for Gavin. I have a little friend who loves giraffe's so i took this picture for him. I hope you like it Gavin.

Ode to stinky pits

So I am sure most of us have heard of famous statues like the Thinker, the Venus De Milo,the Discus Thrower, David. Well I have found another....... To me it is called "Ode to stinky pits"

Now I didnt stop to read what this statue actually was suppose to represent because honestly I didnt care. I think it is self explanatory. Now I know art is suppose to be expressive and interpative but this one make me want to go put deoderant on. Does he think he is sexy in this pose or the smell of his funky armpit sooth his ever so fragile state of mind. What does this particular statue tell you. Art is suppose to make you feel something. So what does this make you feel.........SUPERSTAR.......

The wedding ring

Ok this is a gonna be a short blog but I just need to vent a little bit. I have been married for almost 13 years, and so is my wedding/engagement ring. Well John has been talking about upgrading my diamond for a few years now but I just never wanted him to spend the money on it when there was absolutly nothing wrong with mine. It may have not been the biggest one but it was my ring. It was the first real piece of jewelry he ever bought me and he did it on his own. It means alot to me. So now I am pretty sure that he will try to fix it and make it "bigger and better" than it was before. I know he is only trying to be sweet but it was sentimental to me the way it was. On top of it all, I really hate not having it on but I can't wear it in the state its in now, first of all it looks stupid without the stone and second, its really sharp now and I really don't want to end up disfiguring myself in my sleep and end up having to hide my face behind one of those phantom of the opera masks. So this is what my ring looks like now. I'm so sad

Date night brings attack of the killer tomatoes

My friend Sara asked me if I would go to a play with her that she had to go to for her drama class. I was actually looking forward to going. We decided on Romeo and Juliet which is my favorite Shakespeare play. So she comes to pick me up and we decide that we are gonna grab something to eat at one of the cafe's near the theater. There is a lot of construction going on around the theater so the only place to eat was this snack shack that had mini bottles of sod for 3 buck and what they called half a sandwich and salad combo thing for 6.95. First of all there is no way that the sandwich was half a sandwich, it was more like a third of a sandwich and the salad, well let me tell you about the salad of torture. It had lettuce, broccoli, corn and cherry tomatoes. So anyone who knows me knows that I will not eat broccoli or tomatoes but Sara will so I gave them to her. She absolutely loved the broccoli (even though she shouldn't eat it). Then she moves on to the tomato. I am minding my own business attempting to eat this so called food and BAM! All the sudden I am blinded in one eye. I realize I have just been attacked by a killer tomato with its juice squirting attack that obviously has a targeting system because beside it squirting all over my face and hair, it managed to fly over the top of my glasses and into my eye. Now mind you my eye is stinging like crazy by this point but Sara and I are laughing so hard that we can't even breath. I wish she had taking a picture of my reaction because that would have been one of those priceless moments. So after the exploding tomato we go find our seats which by the way could not of been more uncomfortable. They had us stuffed in there like sardines. Absolutely no room to breath. Sara had casper with her hair whipping attack next to her and I had the dark knight with the man purse and his glass bottle of high class water next to me. 1 row in front of us was a man who obviously has no friends and will talk to just hear himself talk to anyone who will listen ( he was fun to listen to). So the play starts and it is awesome. For most of the play romeo had his back to us and we could see him flexing his butt muscles in those skintight leggings, and I'm not being gross but you couldn't help but take notice of the continuous flexing. So anyway we get to the intermission and thankfully casper and her friend move back a row to some empty seats to where her hair whipping attack won't effect Sara but now we cant look back at all because the dress she was wearing was a tidbit short and she had no secrets (if you get my meaning). Then the dark knight and his man purse and expensive bottle of water moved away from me (thank you lord), he wiggled a lot. We watch the rest of the play and it was great and I think that our evening is coming to an end. So we are walking back to the car and I realize that Sara is walking a little faster and then she speeds up more and more and I look at her with a your killing me look and she informs me that she doesn't like it when people walk behind her, so I decide instead of having to break into a sprint , I would pull over and pretend to need to tie my shoe but secretly I just needed to catch my breath. She takes me home and with a farewell and no goodnight kiss(because we weren't really on a date for all the slow to catch on people out there). That was my night out. thank you Sara I had a great time!!!

Like father like daughter

I have always know that my children look alot like their father but this is ridiculouse. These two pictures show how much she looks like him, all the way down to the hair lines. Even their facial expressions are the same. To me that is just crazy. I know what you are all thinking.....Is that really john spending time in the outdoors willingly. Yes it is and he had a good time and no I didn't force him to go. I made it very clear that he could stay home if he wanted to . . . . be single. He actually enjoys going out on the lake now. As long as he gets to follow it by a day of just playing video games. So they are both on a kneeboard being pulled by a boat. You may think that this would be easy. Well its not......for some of us. You start in the water laying on the board and after the boat starts going you have to then pull your self up to a sitting position on your knees all while making sure you dont dip the front of the board down into the water because if you do that you end up face first in the water. But when you start feeling confident, this is what it looks like

And when your confident and young, this is what it looks like.

Michael did try the knee board also unfortunatley those videos are on my other computer that is in need of repair but I do have a few pictures of him trying it out.

So that is fun fun fun in the California sun. Hope you all enjoyed the video's. Have a beautiful Day!!!

My pet peeves

Anybody who knows me, knows that have a few very specific pet peeves. They are as follows...(just remember I have friends who do these things so don't get offended). People who drive with their rat size dogs on their laps, people talking on the phone while they drive and STUPID people. I know that last one is not all that specific but I will hit on that one in a minute. Even though these are pet peeves of mine it does not mean that I am not guilty of participating in these activities from time to time. So I hate it when people have their rats on their laps but it just so happens that I was guilty of this the other day. I was taking my dog to the vet. So I put him in the back seat like we always do. Well he decides as I am driving down the road that he wants to be in the front, so he gets into the front passenger seat. I start yelling at him to get back in the back, he decides this is a perfect time to try to sit in my lap and give me kisses. Mind you this is a 55 lb Siberian husky. Now just picture driving by somebody who has that dog in their lap. Oh my gosh I have just become one of my pet peeves times 5.

Now my next pet peeve I really don't have to worry about anymore because the state of California took care of that for me. No more talking on the phone while driving unless its in hands free mode. This does not mean to put it on speaker and hold it in your hand while driving. wink wink....you know who you are.

My last one is just plain old fashion stupid people. There will always be stupid people in this world but if they could just stay away from me, then I will be just fine. My stupid people story is just about a women who wants to get her starbucks coffee and do her grocery shopping but come to find out to work at this particular coffee stand you don't have to have one bit of common sense. So I go to Vons(grocery store), I am just there to pick up a few lurch items for the kids, I immediately stop at the starbucks that they have inside the vons, like I always do. I order a venti iced white chocolate mocha no whip cream, like I always do. The lady precedes to tell me that they are out of ice and they need to run in the back to get some. So I said ok I will just grab the things I need and come back after I check out. I have no problem with it. So I get done and I go over to the counter and there is a new lady there and I ask if they have the ice yet. She tells me she has no idea whats going on or where the other lady went and that they don't have any ice. So I see the other lady coming back so i wait a few seconds but low and behold she isn't holding any ice. They don't have any. My problem with this is the coffee stand is right next to the cooler that vons keeps ice in. Now I know that they are probably suppose to get it from the back but seriously to say that you have to ice and I am standing next to tons of bagged ice is ridiculous to me. So I left those stupid people to try to figure out their dilemma themselves.

That is it for my pet peeve rants of the week. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Friends in my world

So these lovely people to the left are Betty, Ashley, Matt, and Rick. I have known them for 6 years. We met in Virginia, then moved to California with in 6 months of each other and now they are in Japan. Even though there is a huge time difference, Betty and I talk at least 4 times a week. Thank god she has a San Diego phone number. I have a ton of pictures of us together but they are all on my computer that isn't working right now.






These goofballs to the left are Angie, Ethan, Gavin, Sara, Brandon, Renee and Keith in the back. We have known them all for about a year. The ladies in this picture helped me survive the 6 month deployment. They are playing rock band , we all stayed up until 2 in the morning on this particular evening pretending to be a rock band. We all had a blast. I have video but I don't want to embarrass anyone. I may change my mind later, like when I move out of state.








Here they are again the only difference being that for some reason Brandon thinks he is captain Morgan. But Keith made that feeling go away real quick with his own creation of a special drink that he had us all try We were not all smiles after that. Some of us had to extract the liquid from our tummy's. Not telling who, you know who you are. Just so you all know, john is at all of these gatherings but he seems to always the one behind the camera. I think he does it on purpose.





For any of my friends who read this and are not on here, I am working on it. I have very few pictures at my disposal right now but you are all in my hearts. (Mike and Julie, Norma and Ben, Mike and Jess, Jodi and John,).