Monday, January 31, 2005 08:33 a.m.

Kai is a bit sick. It's one of two things. Either a viral infection or his body adjusting to his baby food. He did have an awful flare up of diaper rash which has now been taken care of. His tummy is topsy turvy and to spare you with the details, i'll just say its not coming out as puke. You get the picture. He's a little better then he was on Friday but we're keeping him well hydrated and well pampered.

Yesterday was brunch at Dukes. It was fantabulous! Of the 17 invited 15 showev up. The food was great! The atmosphere was terrific! The beach was beautiful! and the guests were awesome! Everyone wanted to do it again. Next month in fact. I think we might. After brunch we headed up PCH to go to Malibu Inn. The entire backroom was empty so we had the backroom and two pool tables to ourselves.

So on the way there, we assumed Topanga Canyon was open, so we took it. We were three quarters of the way through and we ran into a barracade of signs saying No Entrance, Flooded, Not a Thru Street, yadda, yadda, yadda. Man, we were 15-minutes away and had to back track all the to the 101 to take Malibu Canyon! Damn it! Exit Las Virgenes..and headed through the canyon. It was sooooo beautiful. The rock formations were stunning. The hills and plant life were green and breathtaking. So worth the backtrack even though we kept everyone waiting fof a half hour. Those canyon drives are so worth it, now if only I could find more reason to head out to Malibu.

I went shopping with Val yesterday afternoon. She was on a show hunt. I would have like a new pair of shoes but after picking up my Chuck Taylors I'm a little dumbfounded on what I would want next. Maybe some Adidas Lady Rom or Spezial. What else would I want: Saucony's, Onitsuka Tiger's and maybe some Jack Purcel's which I just saw that they now sell in brown canvas, very nice. I used to have a black pair of Jack Purcell's and I loved the. They fit like all Converse but very plain and old school. I wouldn't mind another pair. I'm trying hard not buy my bazillionth pair of black Vans. I've had a pair for the last so many years that i'm trying to broaden my horizons a little. Yeah, right!

So, its another glorious day. What to do? What to do? Seeing as though Kai is sick, nothing to overstrenuous. More then likely, i'll be chilling at home, doing some cleaning, giving the doggies some much needed attention and of course playing and caring for the baby. The thing is, its hard to be unsucked from . I watched Gilmore Girls (not bad tv) and now i'm on my second episode of Full House and i'm sure once this ends i'll be able to find a channel with the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. I swear that show is on 10 times a day and like four channels.

Friday, January 28, 2005 09:26 p.m.

Its been a few days but work's been crazy! Although there's been chaos around me I've stayed relatively calm and stress free. That interview I had last week, well I made the cut of the first round and have moved into the second round of interview. I have three more on Tuesday. Wish me luck!

I'm starting to have those fantasies again. The one where I don't have to work in this job. I'm doing something else more exciting, more stimulating, affords me my wildest dreams, makes me happier, keeps my sanity in check, allows me to grow as a person, you know how it goes. Well it's starting. It happens when boredom sets in. And boy has it set in. Im irritable. Im impatient. Im bossy. Amazingly, still no stress. Guess I just don't care. I sit at my dest at times and think, I really don't give a shit. Im over this bullshit. Gotta think positive. Interviews aren't over. Three more to go. I want it. I want it bad. It'll be sooooooo challenging but I so want it.

Kai's tooth has broken through. He's one fussy baby. My sitter told me about this Humphrey's Teething pellets. I need to find and buy some. I'll check Whole Foods tomorrow. If not available i'll be ordering them online. This should be a welcome change for the mench as he hates Orajel with a passion.

T is drunk. Or semi-drunk. He's been drinking Port. His lips are now stained purple and he's scooted the recliner in front of the TV and is playing Halo on X-Box. I want to slip The Manchurian Candidate in the DVD player and fall asleep. Actually I think Sky Captain is still in there. This will be my third night trying to watch it. Maybe I should wait until monday and watch it in the afternoon. I hate when I drag out watching movies cause I get bored of it and don't want to watch it. Okay, Sky Captain first then Manchurian Candidate. I did get through Open Water this evening. It was, eh. At first I thought I was watching porn. The filming is like a documentary so it looks kind of cheap and the acting is just bad. So the movie progressed and it was just, eh.

I'm so tired. I was working on my laptop for about three hours getting some work stuff out of the way. I'm done and just want to veg out. Maybe I should waste some time on Myspace. I think I may be addicted. I really can't stop. Like i've said before. it's like this weird voyeur thing for me.

Okay, one of the worst smells...Dog Farts! gross, stale, smelly dog farts! Anyone else agree?

Wednesday, January 26, 2005 01:57 p.m.

This is pretty awful, and its literally a few blocks from my house! Read it.

Monday, January 24, 2005 11:42 a.m.


You are "A Dog Named Jesus"

Which Mark Ryden Painting Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Monday, January 24, 2005 08:18 a.m.

I got an extra two hours of sleep after dropping T off at work this morning. Kai went back down which meant I got to as well. My two hour nap was even more wonderful because I locked the dogs out of the bedroom portion of the house. So they got to be completely mental without me getting irritated at them.

Yesterday we went to lunch with Val. We took her down to Back home in Lahaina in Manhattan Beach. It was soooooo good. But I wouldn't expect anything less from the fabulous little restaurant. I even have a bit of leftovers for lunch today.

Yesterday evening while T was taking a cat nap Kai and I visited Barnes and Noble. I had a twenty dollar giftcard and wanted to spend it. I picked up two books for Kai, a grilled cheese book for me and Cottage Living magazine for me. There's an article in this months issue covering Bungalow Heaven in Pasadena! Such a beautiful neighborhood! Such an expensive real estate area! When we lived in Pasadena, Bungalow Heaven was just a few blocks from us.

Today I have a whole day ahead of me. I need to do some work later in the afternoon but today the options are vast. Sometimes I wish I had a friend who didn't work on mondays as well. My friend Jenny should be home today. I'm thinking of giving her a ring and stopping buy for a couple of hours. That would pass a few hours and i'm having a dire need to go to TJ Maxx. I want to look for some new bedding and baskets. Maybe even swing by a Big Lots. I love Big Lots. So much junk to look at.

Saturday, January 22, 2005 08:26 p.m.

My Saturday is coming to an end. Today was wonderful! We woke up very early to go to Millies for breakfast and make it home in time for a Crate and Barrel Delivery. We did some light cleaning, had our console delivered and were able to relax for a little bit before starting the day. We first headed to Jonathan Adler to return our original vase for a new piece of pottery. Once that was squared away we parked at the Beverly Center and strolled Third Street. We checked out a few home accessories stores and bought Kai a cute clock from Zipper. On our way back to the car we stopped at Puppies and Babies cause they had a sale going on. They have definetly expanded on the babies portion since our last visit. The doggies scored some home baked goodies and a wooden toy but Kai didn't get anything. I wanted to buy him a Mr. T-esque shirt but couldn't justify spending thirty dollars on a shirt that would only fit him for the next five minutes. T was kind enought ot let me swing by Loehmanns before heading back to the car. There were quite a few items I wanted but I was tired and it was very crowded. If I have some time on Monday i'll visit the location in Pasadena.

After that we spent the rest of the afternoon at home. This was so nice.

Kai has found a new sound. We call it his dragon voice. It's like this weird raspy, hacking, yelling noise. Its really, really funny. He does it all the time and I don't think he is even aware of it. While in Loemanns he was continuously doing it. Most people were just looking at him all weird. Really, get over it, its a baby, a very small baby discovering his voice. Get over your pompous L.A. selves and laugh a little. Finally, a group of people busted out laughing! Of course this only encouraged the mench to do it even more. I need to save the sound on my phone. Maybe it can be my voicemail recording. That would be hysterical. You call and all you here is hhhhssgggghhhheeeewwwwwwccckkkkk.....that would be great.

Friday, January 21, 2005 05:35 p.m.

I know it's been a few days since I updated everyone on my whereabouts. I've been crazy busy. More then crazy busy, in fact. I had two job interviews for the same position. I've taken on this big transitional project at work. And all the home stuff i've been up to. Plus organizing a brunch at Dukes with a group of my friends.

So about the interview. I met with the employee who's position i'm interviewing for. I also interviewed with the Director of the department. I'll know if I made the first cut next week. I'm nervous about it. It will be a lot of work! A LOT OF WORK. But I'm so up for the challenge. I love stimulation. I love the pressure. When I'm at work I enjoy being busy. Don't want to say just yet what I'm applying for. Trust me, I'll be posting it if I get it.

I have a nice long three day weekend, as of four this afternoon, I am officially on my long weekend. No big plans though. Tomorrow we're getting our console delivered from Crate and Barrel. Since our gardners show up at the crack of dawn we'll be heading out for breakfast. Lawn mowers and blowers at seven am is not fun! Since we received Kai's new stroller in the mail we want to go out and be outdoors. No plans yet!

This was our week of mail order deliveries. I recived Kai's new Kidco Stoller, bottle nipple adapter things, ` Panini maker, two cases of baby food and a baby book of first rhymes. Give me more, I say! I love coming hom to boxes stacked at your doorstep. More prezzies please!

I watched The Village last night. It was a'ight. Nothing to good. Mr. Shamalan (or however his last name is spelled) needs to stop relying on that twist. He peaked at the Sixth Sense. He needs to shake it up a bit try another formula. My two cents anyway. I didn't get to watch Hero but T did and he said it was okay.

Other then that my week was uneventful. The most topsy turvy thing I experienced was my allergies acting up. I'm sneezing uncontrollably which is annoying. And its loud sneezing not petite girly sneezing. And the sneezing happens in threes. ahhhhahhhhchew! ah-chew! ahhhhcchhhewwww! oh, oh...i know what I want to do tomorrow. I want to go to the army navy surplus to get a new pair of cammies and a black and a green military sweater. I'll have to remember that when tomorrow rolls around.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005 09:21 a.m.

After picking up T from work yesterday I dyed my hair. Not like you can really tell. I bought a light chestnut brown, in hopes of adding depth and color variation to my exisitng, naturally black hair. I haven't had the chance to really look at my mane, especially outdoors. I'll duck out to the restroom in a few hours and see if I can notice a difference under flourescent lights.

I was able to hem my new pair of True Religions yesterday. I kept them a teeny bit longer then my other pair. I'm wearing them today with my Chuck Taylors and they just skim the ground. Exactly what I wanted! This pair is very comfy and has a little different fit then my other pair, both style and color. Now that I have successfully hemmed my jeans I will probably have to hem T's new pair as well. Oh well, no biggie, saves us some money from having to get them tailored. That's the problem with us short people, you can never find pants that fit lengthwise. Ugh! I'm looking forward to spending time at home after work. I feel like i'm turning into a homebody. Now that the house has been cleaned and clutter has been put away I really am enjoying being at home. Working on my own little sewing projects, cooking, skimming through magazines while indulging in a little Pinot Noir. It really is relaxing. Now I totally get it. All these years I was keeping myself over stressed and delirious. What was I doing? But I have unlocked the secret of relaxing and I want to soak it all in...slowly. Our laundry room leads out to our backyard and I don't like looking at the washer, dryer and cleaning supplies. Yesterday I put up a tension rod and ransacked my fabric bin and found this nice, thin, semi-sheer, cheesecloth like fabric. I through up two panels and what a difference. I even found some fabric to make some tie-backs. I need to sew a loose stictch at the top to secure the curtains in place. It really is a nice way to hide the appliances when guests come over. I noticed that I have a lot of fabric. I need to start using some of it. I used to hit a lot of estate sales in the suburbs of Illinois and would find the most amazing vintage fabric. i bought it and horded the matrial. I'm afraid i'll end up like my mom with containers and containers of material. Once we buy the new couches i'll make some lovely slip covers for some throw pillows as well as some pillows for our bedroom. I also have an entire bolt of barkcloth and about 14-yards of vintage patterned silk in a trunk in my garage. Wow...I need to sew ASAP.

While in Hawaii I purchased the new Interpol CD Antics. I am really enjoying it. I noticed everymorning when I come into work and get started on my routine. i pull out my headphones open the Interpol folder and listen to the song Evil over and over again. Its a highly addictive track. Now to get the CD back from the person I loaned it to. then I can listen to the song over and over in my car. Funny how I listen to that song everyday but I have that new Kelly Clarkson song stuck in my head, since you've been gone. I saw the video on VH1 yesterday and the song keeps ringing in the background of my mind. I must say Ms. Clarkson is looking fantastic. I need to hunt down her trainer. She's not to thin, looks like she's lost a lot of her baby fat but was able to retain her curves. Looks fabulous!

Monday, January 17, 2005 08:20 p.m.

I found this article interesting.

Monday, January 17, 2005 01:17 p.m.

I bought my black low top Chuck Taylors today. I'm actually sitting at home wearing them now. You know, breaking them in. Kai is obsessed with the shoe laces. I can feel him pulling on them as I type. Kai has some chuck taylors as well. Black hi-tops. I found them at Ross for four dollars! What a steal!

I had to go to Target this morning to pick up a tube of Butt Paste for my mom. I know sounds weird but its really a diaper rash ointment. She saw something on TV about the stuff. Its really more then diapere rash ointment you can use it as lotion, on blemishes everything really. She said Wal-Mart was sold out so I had to pick her up a tube. I quote my mother, i'm going to use it on my face in hopes it will become as smooth as an ass. Yep, totally my mom!

Sunday, January 16, 2005 07:05 p.m.

Today was a beautiful Sunday! Sunny, warm and relaxing. I knew on Tuesday that I wanted to spend Sunday out of the house. As usual we didn't plan anything. After making a to big breakfast, feeding Kai and vacuuming the house we decided to check out some home stores on 3rd street and hit the Jonathan Adler store.

The second pay period of the month is kind of our play money. When we cme back from Hawaii we ordered the Plantation console table from Crate and Barrel, since it matches the dining room table and buffet. It was on sale so we took advantage of that. So now we're on the quest for a coffee table. Can you believe four years and no coffee table, so this is a huge treat. Okay, Saturday after work we hit Cost Plus to look for a coffee table. They have this line called Suraut or something and its kind of an immitation line of the Planation line at CandB. Lo and behold a coffee table for a fraction of the price of the Plantation line. Yep we bought it. Nordstrom Rack is next door to Cost Plus. I couldn't resist! I schleped the baby and T up the elevator so I could check out the goods. I converted T and now he like Nordstrom Rack as well. I kinda like it better then the regular Nordstrom. T didn't find anything he totally loved. Normally he looks for Ben Sherman's cause they are dirt cheap there, but nothing caught his eye. I bought two C and C California long tanks. While T stood in line for me I found these purses Nordstrom sold at the real store which are total imitation of the Luella Bartley Giselle. You see I had my eye on the green and the white ones and they had the green at the Rack. I snatched it up. Can you believe they had the small and the big there. Since I already have an orange Kelly bag in the small size I opted for the big Green and the best part is it was priced under ten dollars! I left a happy girl.

After breakfast we headed for Melrose. Getting off the 134 at Forest Lawn was nuts. The flower sellers were out there in full force. The totally bombarded the car in front of me knocking on their windows trying to get their attention. I was shocked by this behavior. Nobody has the right to knock on your car windows. Knowing T's temper and since of personal space I knew he would be tempted to pull over and throw down right there at the freeway exact. I sat quietly secretly praying nobody touched, breathed, or entered the invisible private square surrounding my X5. We were in luck. It was like we were invisible and we went totally ignored. whew.....I didn't want to bail T out of jail. Not today anyway. We were excited to visit the Jonathan Adler store. We've been wanting to buy one of his pieces for a bit and we knew that if we ever bought a console table we wanted a cluster or trio of some his stuff. Today we bought our first piece. I can't wait for the console table. Slowly our living room is falling into place. The big purchases will be the couches. No loveseats, no club/chairs just sofas. Hopefully we will be able to get the painting down this spring. God, I love home improvement projects! After Jonathan Adler store, we checked out the half-off store at Madison then crossed over to Fred Segal. Madison had some great shoes on sale however, i bought shoes at the Sacks going out of business store so I was a little tapped out in the shoe department. the only shoes I do want are some low top black Chuck Taylors. My vans are dying so I need a back up pair. I gurantee even though I buy the chucks I will end up buying another pair of vans. In the last 15 years or so I've always had at least one pair of the same black old school vans in my closet so this ewill be no different.

So now, its 30-minutes to Charmed and and hour and a half to Desperate Housewives. I want to get some checks written for my mid-month bills, hop in the shower, have another glass of wine and chill next to my brand new coffee table.

Saturday, January 15, 2005 02:52 p.m.

I need a giant kick in the ass of motivation. I'm going through the motions of work. Doing what I have to do but i'm not really as focused as I normally am. I'm normally extra speedy and gung ho but today i'm just doing what I should be doing with no extra umpf. I'm looking forward to the weekend. The weather has finally cleared up. It's sunny outside. I see the sunshine peaking through the slats of the blinds. The golden rays illuminating each little edge. I'm aching to run outside and stroll old town like the 100s of people out there right now. I stepped out for a few mintues today to pick up lunch. I stopped into Gap Kids to see if there were any good clearance children items. I then stepped into the regular Gap. Nothing I totally loved. I'm not a huge fan of the Gap. Everything seems so....so...processed. I don't know if that's the best way to describe it. You see, it's like Starbucks to me. One on every corner. If you buy something cool from the Gap so did a million other souls. I'll buy basic from the Gap, on sale only. I will never, ever, ever buy anything in a print, only solids for me. I don't know...just not a Gap fan. Same with Old Navy, solid colored basics for me and that's it. I don't have a complex about showing up at a party with a matching outfit with another partygoer, but I do have a complex about un-originality. Huge difference.

On a different note, I need a vacation. I know, I just got back from Hawaii. Yes, its a vacation but its not a vacation. Can visiting family really be considered a vacation? It's really hard work. Making an appearance at the crucial, obligatory family gatherings. The obligatory friend visits. You get the idea. Not much of a vacation. I want a real vacation. A desitnation I select. Doing things I want to do. Visitng sites I read about in books. Sipping wine with exotic locals. Awww.......I'm hoping I'll be able to do one of those soon. Its been a few years since we went to Europe so I think we're due another trip. We've talked about it and what we need is for T to accrue some vacation hours and some money tucked away in the bank. When tax refund time rolls around and we're not in dire need of the money i'll stash it away in a vacation fund.

Friday, January 14, 2005 10:57 p.m.

I have a commitment issue wiht online purchases. I can spend an hour on a site fill up my shopping cart and not go through with the purchase. I'll sit there and stare at my order, do a second run through of my order. Delete items. Add them back in. Call T to make sure i'm making the right purchase. Call T again ask if he wants or needs anything. Close the browser. Start all over again. After about three or four rounds of this I might make a purchase. Perfect example, it took me about a month to buy a stroller. When I finally did make the purchase, yesterday, I bought what I think is a great stroller. I can't wait to get the item! Tonight I've been lingering on the Drugstore.com Web site. My cart is full with things like, Burt Bee's lip shimmer, to Method hand soap and Throat Coat tea. I am determined to make this purchase tonight. I need to find the will to hit the check out button.

Since getting the doggies back from the kennel they have been extra sweet. Especially Oscar. He's being very sweet and looking really cook. Since he lost some weight while being kenneled he looks younger, if that's possible with a dog.

For the last few hours I've been watching The Osbournes marathon on MTV. Every single commercail break there's an advertisement for Jamster. It's so stupid. You text message this number for lame and cheese screen savers, wall paper and ringtones for your cell. They are so dumb! I'm sure they are racking in the dough from all the suckers who think this is the coolest thing in the world. I wonder where most of there business comes from? Exactly what part of the US is buying this shit. The guy who came up with this will be living it up in his mansion next door to the Girls Gone Wild creator! Ahhh! I don't bother with extra crap for my cell. I use the wallpaper it came with, I don't need a screen saver cause I don't stare at my phone all freakin' day and I use the ringtones that come with the phone. I really don't need to have Destiny's Child blaring in polyphonic glory from my phone. The simple chimes are enough for me. The most pizazz my phone has is the color display. A phone is a phone is a phone regardless if you lug it around with you all day.

I'm getting a new tattoo for my birthday in a few weeks. I need to think about what I want. I was going to get my "Kai" tattoo since it is the only thing I know for sure and will probably be the cheapest thing for me to get done. I would ideally like to get my forearm completed but I don't have enough time to solidfy my religious image that I want. I know what I want but it needs to be drawn to my specification which will take some time. I want to stick with something simple for my birthday and then maybe get a new piece from Tiffany. T's been bugging me about what I want so I need to tell him pronto.

It's just after 11pm, why am I still awake. I really want to curl up in bed with my Harry Potter book and fall asleep with my glasses on and book in hand.

Thursday, January 13, 2005 05:39 p.m.

In-N-Out is simply the best! I hadn't had a cheeseburger in weeks and today I was craving one. After picking up Kai we headed straight for the In-n-out on Harvey Drive in Eagle Rock. I just had a cheeseburger, nothing else. It was simply delicioso. I think that one cheeseburger will satisfy me for a while, meaning I won't need to eat another artery clogging burger for weeks. I'm a happy girl right now.

I'm starting to get back into my groove. And if we can keep the house in tip top shape I can probably start integrating some extra curricular activities into my routine. First thing I want to do is sew a nice long curtain to hide the washer and dryer in the laundry area. I put up a curtain rod so its just waiting for a curtain now. Once it warms up I'll paint the den. I'm thinking of going with either an olivey, or pumpkiny type of color. I can't quite decide, but definetly in an earth tone. If I had my way I would paint the kitchen, dining room, living room and den all the same color soft yellow as the bathroom, but that's not that interesting but it would all be so nice and comfy and warm.

Kai is doing so well with his mushed up baby food. I do need to go to the market and buy a few more jars of food. So far he's only tried carrots and squash. Tomorrow till be sweet peas. I'm refraining from food as everything I have read said you put them on the fruit first and veggies will be difficult. I do enjoy feeding him every evening. Its fun and messy and he really enjoys sitting up in his highchair. The sitter is having a ball feeding him as well. He makes a lot of funny noises for her and she loves it.

Old Town Sacks is officially closedl. The just makred everything down to ninty-five percent yesterday. $900 Marc Jacods boots were selling for $44...what a steal! I bought everything i needed and wanted, i'm happy.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 07:13 p.m.

My headcold is totally gone. I'm left with a hacking cough and a and a lower somewhat raspy voice. I used to wish my voice would stay like this. Not so much cause i like the lower voice but in my mind I sing much better this way. Whether or not I really do sing better may be debated by some but I think I sound better! T is getting better as well. The only one that came out of our disease house scott free was Kai.

Because T broke out in a grody rash he completely OCD'd out and cleaned. He cleaned like a maniac. When I got home today I walked into the house and immediately yelled.....EEEWWWW, what's that SMELL??? I sniffed around, made a confused faced. Sniffed a bit more and then it hit me. I blurted out. The house is clean! That's what the smell is CLEAN. I busted out laughing. T busted out laughing. I go so used to the stale smell of the house that CLEAN smelled weird to me. How disgusting is that?

So three more days and the Sacks in Old Town closes its doors. I made my second visit to Sacks today. I bought a pair of $335 Prada mary janes for $60. I also bought some Isaac Mizrahi flats, a Joomi Joolz skirt and swimsuit. I want to buy a few more pairs of shoes on Thursday when my paycheck actually hits my bank. A pair of Prada heels and Kate Spade heels. If they are gone by Thursday it wasn't meant to be.

Monday, January 10, 2005 11:20 a.m.

My house is from 1928. Signs of wear and need for improvement is now becoming evident with all this constant rain! *Wahhhhhh* More investigation needed but I want the rain to stop.

Monday, January 10, 2005 08:27 a.m.

Another yucky, rainy day. We really did need the rain but now I think we need some dry weather. Tomorrow should be the last day of the storm. In weather like this I am so grateful that T no longer works in Torrance. I would have probably begged him call in and work from home. I'm a complete wimp when it comes to driving in bad weather. Regular mild rain I can handle. Heavy constant rain, hail, snow sleet, high winds etc...I can't. I used to but not anymore. You see when we were living in Chicago we decided to go to Gurnee Mills one wet weekend. Getting there was fine coming back, well, about a quarter mile to the tool booth the car in front of me stops, we begin to slow but don't necessarilcy get a chance because the car behind us doesn't slow and plows directly into us. To top that off the car behind him plows into him which pushes us further and directly into the car in front of us. Now car number one, Ford Explorer, my car Toyota Celica, car behind me Ford F-150 and the next another F-150. Needless to say we went CRUNCH! The insurance company considered the car a total loss and we were out a car and T was in physical therapy for about a month. I became paranoid in the car unless I was driving. How sucky is that!

Anyway, many parts of southern california is flooded. Thank God nowhere in my immediate vicinity. We do have a wash a little bit behind our house and we checked it out yesterday. Normally it's flat, and nice but yesterday tons of raging brown water. I keep thinking everything seems to be in turmoil nowadays. It freaks me out. I'm a worrier and tend to think of the worst. I guess I brought that on on my own, you know, one to many disaster movies! Bad, Amber! I guess i'll be sticking to sappy Lifetime Docudramas.

T broke out in a nasty rash yesterday. He had this once before yet couldn't pin point exactly the cause. We ran down the list of foods he had eaten in the last 36-48 hours and nothing unusual. The rash is bad so we went out bought a new vacuum came home and immediately started in on some cleaning. Now, don't get the wrong idea our house isn't filthy. A bit of a mess since coming back from Hawaii. This was our first weekend to do any cleaning. First Kai's room, then the living room including vacuuming the furniture. Today I will be working on the den, dining room and bedroom including vacuuming the mattress. While cleaning Kai's room I removed the desk in his room and installed this great grid system shelving stuff I got from Costco. I set it up so he had a bunch of cubby holes and a toy bin. His room still lacks wall hangings on the main wall but he does have some. I'm thinking of buying some Blik for the wall. I'm not really into Winnie the Pooh, bears, frogs yadda, yadda, yadda. I like more graphic images and these would be perfect. Four years of art school has taught me well.

The Mench ate carrots for the first time yesterday. He totally dug it! I should have been prepared for what I saw this morning but I wasn't. ORANGE BABY POO! Wow! what a sight. Since he's now been introduced to baby food I guess I should be ready to see the rainbow. I think i'll refrain from warning T and let him be surprised by the electric orange joy in Kai's diaper. *Wink*

Saturday, January 8, 2005 08:47 a.m.

First the tsuname. Then funky weather patterns. And now this. What is this world coming to?

Saturday, January 8, 2005 07:36 a.m.

I have a really bad head cold. My sinus' are completely out of control. It started yesterday: first a mild sore throat, then a hacking cough, then my sinus' started aching, then I became severly light headed. I left work on time. Picked up the kiddo and headed home. I ate something small and took, what was suppose to be a nap at five forty five. I awoke this morning at six twenty and here I am back at work. I'm still feeling sick and dizzy. I had to drive to work in awful rain. I drove very slow to work but still got here in ample time.

I have some quality things I need to take care of today. Im so not in the mood but I really have no choice. My mind is frazzled and i'm sweating, not a good sign. I have to stick it out today. Saturday is much to easy of a day to go home.

California is on a severe weather watch with expected heavy rain and flooding. I hope my backyard doens't fill up like a swimming pool! I have yet to experience heavy rain living in my house. I guess while we were in Hawaii CA was hard hit with rain so I don't know if my yard filled up. We'll see what happens.

Wednesday, January 5, 2005 09:31 p.m.

Tonight was a brand spanking new Project Runway! Yippee! Project Runway has filled my Blow Out void. Thank Goodness.

In other reality tv news, the countdown has begun for my mindless shows: Not-so Newlyweds, The Ashlee Simpson show (For some reason, the spelling of ASHLEE really, really bugs me. I like ASHELY much better) and The Osbournes. Now when will Laguna Beach 2 start? I'm such an MTV reality show junkie. It's mindless and I love it.

We picked up the incredibly cute doggies today. I really, really missed them. The seemed to have missed us a lot too. Unfortunately, the doggies were a little rowdy. Normally we have them share a kennel but they fought pretty often and the vet wanted them separated for their own safety. The doggies are now completely up-to-date on all vaccinations and have received a clean bill of health. When we got home Kai was so excited to see the doggies and vice versa. He immediately allowed Daisy to kiss him. Which sounds cute until you realize that Kai allows Daisy to lick in his mouth. Eeeeewwwwwww. When this happens, we scold Daisy while Kai shoots us a very mischevious grin. The minute we look away and slyly glance back Kai is staring at Daisy with his mouth open trying to lure her back in. Sneaky Mench!

Prior to our trip to Hawaii Kai had only been spoon fed rice cereal. Once we arrived in Hawaii Kai began to regularly eat poi. He seemed to really dig the poi, much more then his boring old rice cereal. The Hanalei Poi is so ono (a word I have never used in my adult life) that I may be compelled to order a few (although pricey) containers. For me and my baby. Or to save a bit of money on shipping (due to weight) I could order some powdered poi.

Kai's Christmas Day photo:

Monday, January 3, 2005 11:26 p.m.

Last day in hawaii! Frantically packing, doing laundry and wondering just how we are going to carry all this stuff!

I'm tired. I miss my dogs. I miss my house. Strangely enough, I wouldn't mind extending my stay in Hawaii for another few days. My trip has been stress-free, relaxing, cleansing and peaceful. I want to stay longer. I'm facing a dilemma.

Saturday, January 1, 2005 09:24 a.m.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It's 2005! Whew......Time really does fly. Im not a resolution making type of person but I really do want to make this the best year ever! I want to set goal for myself, realistic ones, and I want to accomplish them. In 2005 I want to:
Set aside at least 30-minutes a day for quality time for the dogs sans Kai
Allow Kai more alone downtime
Spend at lest an hour of educational-type, quality time with Kai
Eat out less
Designate a date night at least once every two months with my husband sans baby
Suck it up and try eating a salad
Pay off my GM credit card
Paint the living room and den

That is all I can think of now but I'm sure i'll be adding more in the coming days. I really need to right this down in my calendar so I am reminded of it, frequently.

My parent's had a New Years Eve party last night. Nothing big, mainly relatives. Lots-o-food: homemade chow fun, sesame/mochiko chicken, macaroni salad, meat jun, chrispy gau gee, rice (of course, what hawaii get together wouldn't have rice?) and yummy coco puffs from Liliha Bakery for desert. The firecrackers/works were blazing, and yes we did have a permit for this, and somewhere near midnight my cousin D showed (after being MIA for a few hours) with a massive amount of those super long red, extremely noisy, set off at midnight firecrackers. I cringed cause i hate the noise. Too loud. I understand the firecracker thingy is a Chinese good luck tradition. Being a first time parent coupled with being overly paranoid I stood beside Kai's crib at that fateful hour when all hell and all noise breaks loose. Some tossing and turning and complaining but that was about it. Hmmm....who would have thunk it?

Meterologist said it was going to S.T.O.R.M. last night. It didn't. It was damn humid, I took it as a sign of what's to come. Living in chicago I learned that unusual humidity was a sign of a storm of some sort. My normally sleek, straight, orderly hair frizzed. My the time I went to bed I had a semi-knotted mini-puff ball. But no rain or wind as we all expected. This morning is another story. It's been rainy all morning, not small rain but big rain. The back yard is experiencing it's normal drainage problem and we are accumulating a lot of water. My dad said to expect it to flood. He and my uncle bought some pumps to drain the water so it doesn't flood the patio. This should be interesting!

I hope everyone had a FANTASTIC 2004 and wishing you all a FABULOUS 2005!