Dr. Phil and Train Wrecks

Because I have the most wonderful and caring husband in the world, he arranged for us to go to a taping of the Dr. Phil show today. They said that we had to be there between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning. The show gets taped in Hollywood about 75 miles away and after 6 years of living in California, I had never been to Hollywood (gasp). So we drop Jack off at daycare at 5:30 (thank you Pat for taking him so early!) and head there. We think that 2 hours to get there should be good. But however, this is LA and the rule is that you must not average more than 20 miles an hour ever.

We also chose the day to go to LA when there was a deadly Metro train crash. Some stupid idiot who thought that he would kill himself by parking his SUV on the train tracks, but instead jumped out at the last minute thereby saving himself. But ended up killing at least 10 and probably more and injuring hundreds more. Seriously, this crash was horrible and I truly hope that they charge that stupid idiot with all those people's murder. Those poor people were just on their way to work and then this happens. You just never know when the next instant is going to change your life forever like that.

Anyway, back to Dr. Phil. So because of the train crash and well LA being LA (yes I hate LA) we did not show up at Paramount Studios until 8:35. And well, yes Jim and I are also idiots. We show up at the parking garage and the attendant is there to gather $5 from us for parking and lo and behold neither one of us has any cash! I had a $1 bill and we were seriously scrounging through the change drawer to pay for the stupid parking. We hardly ever carry cash with us these days since ATM is everywhere. That will teach us huh!

So we get parked and of course it is raining. That means that I will have "rained on hair" for national tv (yay!). We run across the street and get all signed in. They take our cell phones away from us (who knew?) and say we can get them back after the show. Then we are ushered into the audience waiting area for about 30 minutes. Guess we didn't have to rush after all. And at this point, we have no idea what the topic of the show is going to be. I went to the restroom and of course they have like 4 stalls and there is a line out the door. Then when I got inside the bathroom, it felt so like junior high. All the women were primping in front of the mirror. I swear I had flashbacks to junior high dances and all the girls in the bathroom getting ready.

Then we get seated in the studio and of course we get the very back row on the right side of the studio. But it was cool - it looked just like on tv. Go figure. Then the people come out whose job it is to get the audience all revved up. And oh yeah did I also mention that the studio is like 60 degrees! I mean my teeth were chattering.

So then the show starts, and the topic is In-Law Intervention. It was about this family where the two mothers in law are actually totally witches but with the b. They were constant fighting and it was actually pretty funny in a few places and very interesting. It was pretty fun experience all in all.

Then we went to the Chinese Mann Theatre and walked the hall of fame. Saw the stars on the sidewalk, had some lunch and headed home. Pretty fun day. But my heart goes out to those poor people on the train and their families.

In the Jack news department - Jack has a pretty bad diaper rash. He has been relatively lucky regarding the diaper rashes until this one. But the poor little thing was screaming everytime he would go pee pee in this diaper. And the diaper rash stuff I have is not cutting it. I think I need to go get some Butt Paste (yes it really is called that for those not in the know about such stuff.)

So that was my day and yay I get to go back to work tomorrow.

Wonderful Sunday morning

For those that are stuck in blizzards and under feet of snow, I am really sorry and you may not want to read further. But here in sunny California, it actually is sunny and oh so beautiful. So I got Jack out today and we took a walk down the sidewalk. He was walking with his little hippo walker and I was snapping pictures like yes the mad mom I am with camera.

Then we came back after walking down the sidewalk and back and I put Jack in the stroller and off we went to walk around the neighborhood for about 30 minutes. I love days like this you just feel so alive. Jack being his friendly little self waved at just about anything including sign posts, houses, cars and the occassional neighbor we saw. He is also saying hi when he waves. It doesn't matter if the sign post waves back or says hi, he is still very friendly to it.

All this fresh air and sunshine (again I am sorry for those in the blizzard) has got me in gear to get out backyard completed. We have this half acre lot with this huge backyard that is just begging to be Jack's personal play heaven, but at the moment it is just dirt and about 2 weeks ago it was mud city. We want to put a pool in someday, but right now with Jack so little, it scares me having a pool. You hear about toddlers drowning all the time in the family pool and I just don't want to take the risk quite yet. But we do plan to put one of those really cool jungle gym things. The one with a fort, slide, swings, and climbing wall. It makes the swing set that I grew up with look pretty pathetic. We also want to build a sand pit underneath it so it will double as a sand box and a soft place to land when he falls. Yes I know it is inevitable. But I really can't wait for those days to watch him out there playing. And of course, I will be the mad mom with camera when it does happen.

out for a Sunday morning walk with my hippo.

"wow look how far I walked so far"

walking down the sidewalk is fun

oops got a little bit off track. Jack discovers that the hippo walker doesn't work too well on the grass.

"ooh must examine bark pieces and sidewalk cracks"

Time to go home

"The difference between you and me is that I make these look gooood"

My little slugger

Playing in the doggie drawer is fun

Playing with the doggie leashes which makes the dogs go crazy because they think they are going for a walk when those come out.

Gotta love the rolled up jeans

My little allstar

New Pictures

" Its about time you and I came to an agreement about that camera"

"see my snazzy new yellow shirt"

"my favorite dump truck"

Concentrating very hard

You know you are in California when...

I recently received this in my email from my mother who knows how much I love California (not). I would love to leave this state but there are forces beyond my control keeping us here at least for the next few years. But I was reading Erin's site and seeing her pictures of the snow there and made me kind of miss the seasons that the rest of the country has. So I thought I would post this and let me tell you that it is sooo true, yes it is funny, but unfortunately it is true.

You know you are in California when

1. Your coworker has 8 body piercing's and none are visible.
2. You make over $300,000 and still can't afford a house.
3. You take a bus and are shocked at two people carrying on a conversation in English.
4. Your child's 3rd-grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Flower.
5. You can't remember . . . . is pot illegal?
6. You've been to a baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor.
7. You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown, and you can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian.
8. You can't remember . . is pot illegal?
9. A really great parking space can totally move you to tears.
10. Gas costs $1.00 per gallon more than anywhere else in the U.S. (I paid $1.89 yesterday and thought that was a bargain.)
11. Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney really IS George Clooney.
12. Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment.
13. You can't remember . . . .is pot illegal?
14. It's barely sprinkling rain and there's a report on every news station: "STORM WATCH."
15. You pass an elementary school playground and the children are all
busy with their cells or pagers.
16. It's barely sprinkling rain outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid all the weather-related accidents.
17. HEY!!!! Is pot illegal????
18. Both you AND your dog have therapists.
19. The Terminator is your governor.
20. If you drive illegally, they take your driver's license. If you're here illegally, they want to give you one.

What a weird day

Today was just a plain weird day, no other way to explain it. The day started off by finding out that I had no daycare at 7:00 this morning. Mam had to take her mother to the hospital and I really hope that everything worked out okay with that today. My backup daycare is my friend Janet who is about 20 miles out of my way, but she's somebody I trust with Jack. However, she was not available today. So I was faced with a dilemma. I called my boss on his cell phone and explained my problem and he told me that I could bring the boy into the office. Now for those who have 10 month olds, you all know how easy (NOT) to do anything with them around, let alone get any work done. But since the entire office has been out sick this week, I really needed to go in - baby and all. So Jack and I went in and he was actually a lot better than I thought he was. He sat in his stroller for a couple hours and played with post-it notes, file folders, and anything else he could get his hands on from my desk. Then he actually fell asleep and took a nap for about an hour and after he woke up, I decided I had enough and left about 2 hours early.

The other thing that happened this morning as I was trying to decide how to solve my daycare problem was the cat decided to bring a LIVE gopher into the house. We have a doggie/kitty door installed mainly for the dogs to come and go as they want so I don't have to watch for the 10 second "sign" that they need to do their business and if I missed it, well they would do their business inside. So the doggie door has helped in that regard. However, it has now opened up the possibilities of having all kinds of critters in our house. So I am in the kitchen trying to feed Jack and I look up and see something move across the family room floor and yes it was a gopher who was absolutely terrified. I never thought that gophers could have expressions, but this one had an expression of terror. Kinda sad. The cat was playing with him and batting him all over the place. Then he proceeded to kill the poor gopher right there in front of my eyes (nice) and thought he would have a tasty treat. Well after running all over the house after the damn cat with the gopher in its mouth, I finally was able to grab the feline with said gopher in mouth and threw them out the door. So yes there was a murder in my family room this morning. Gross Gross Gross.

And for those who have been on the look out for new pictures, yes I do have new pictures. They were taken this morning when Jack was sleeping. He looked so precious, I couldn't resist. Enjoy.