New Year's Eve

This year Brad and I went wine tasting in Temecula's wine country with a large group of friends. We got there in style, by party bus. I had never before experienced a party bus and it was everything that I anticipated, and more. First off I wish I had a photo of the outside of it, but sadly I do not. It is one of those nice short buses that casino's haul the elderly in except much more risque than those, I imagine or maybe shall I dare say...hope. In the interior of the "party bus" there are strobe lights, lots of music, coolers for your drinks, and a stripper pole, yes that's right a stripper pole. Now I am not a woohoo girl and I am pretty tame, therefore, I did not take a swing around the stripper pole, nor do I drink, so I had a good laugh at those who did. I will not mention any names as to protect the guilty but there was a very tall lad who turned upside down on it and attempted a swing.

Brad, myself, Steve, Kerry, Dave, Scott, Shawna, Kathy, ?, Chris, Brandy, Mandy, Jeff (?), Steve, Katrina, and Tiny

More Christmas Photos

Missy, Terry and kids

Mom and Dad

Shelly, James and boys

Disclaimer ----> Mandy did not come over until late in the evening which is why I have no photos of her and Vivian.

My Christmas Photos

Christmas Eve

Brad playing the Wii

My new sweater

Our house at night

Secret Millionaire

I am in LOVE with a new reality/philanthropy show called "Secret Millionaire". The premise is that each week a multi-millionaire will go 'undercover' to an impoverished area and live on the weekly welfare rate of that particular area. In most cases a little over one hundred dollars, which must pay for housing, food, and any other necessities. They must leave all of their personal materialistic objects behind and immerse themselves in this 'new culture'. They tell the people in the impoverished area that they meet that they are part of a documentary (hence the cameras following them around) about poverty in America and that they would like to know their story and hear about any causes that they participate in. At the end of the week the multi-millionaire must admit to those that they have met their true identities and that in fact they are not poor but millionaires. Then they must allocate at least 100,000.00 dollars of their own money amongst those that they have met (one couple donated 300,000). Of course this comes as a surprise to the unknown recipients and is sure to change their life forever.

With so many television shows out now that focus on unsolved murders and crimes such as CSI, Law & Order, Criminal Minds, ect. it is exciting to watch a program that will make you want to make a change in your community. It also made me take a closer look at myself, am I doing everything I can do to make a difference? I also took a look at everything I take for granted on a daily basis and any frivolous spending habits that I may have, do I really need that fountain soda from McDonald's, everyday?

It airs again tonight at 8pm on FOX and I urge you to watch it. You won't be disappointed, I know I wasn't.

1. Do you like Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, just the name Eggnog sounds gross and yucky.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree? He wraps them. Sometimes Santa would miscalculate and cut the paper too short and then our gifts would have a couple of different types of paper on one gift. That was always fun and interesting. I guess he was tired.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I used to when I was little. I would climb up the tree in our front yard and cut it down. I remember one year I tied it together with a ribbon and tried to sell it in the neighborhood. I don't think anyone except Mom and Dad bought any. I guess the neighbors weren't the kissing type.

5. When do you put up your decorations? I usually am really good about it and I will put them up the day after Thanksgiving as well as fill out my Christmas cards. Not this year though. I was a couple of days late with the decorations due to other home improvement projects and I still haven't even bought cards. Oh well!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Our family doesn't have a holiday meal on Christmas, some years my Dad will buy Tamales and I guess that would have to be my favorite. I also love all of the sweets that are around.

7. What is your favorite Holiday memory as a child? I don't have one memory that would qualify it as being a favorite over any of my other memories. So instead I will say...I have enjoyed St. Nicholas day now and then more so than Christmas day. It was always unique to our family, and it wasn't until high scool when I finally met someone else whose family celebrated it as well. I always enjoyed the little stocking stuffers and I even got my stocking filled just yesterday.
As for Christmas, I of course always loved all of my gifts that I received as a child but incredibly that was not my favorite part. I would have to say I enjoyed the preparation of Christmas. Going to pick out the tree, putting up the lights outside with Dad (think Griswold Christmas, "you can never be tacky on Christmas), and all of Mom's Santa's. I also always enjoyed looking at Christmas lights, except that year we went to Chino and it was a zoo!


9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? My tree is pretty fancy. We don't have any homemade kids ornaments that we have to display. Our tree has white lights, gold and red velvet ribbon, gold swirly stick things sticking out of the branches, and almost all painted glass Santa Clause ornaments.



11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I live in So Cal there is no snow here, especially at the beach where I am at. In fact the temperature has been in the upper 70's low 80's. It is kind of hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it is that warm.

12. White lights or multi-colored lights? For the tree definately white. For outside the house either or. I especially like just white or green and red. I am soooo tired of the icicle lights, everyone has them, over it already.
An interesting side note...When I was a little girls I asked, "Dad why do some people only put up blue lights for Christmas?" Response from Pops, "Well they are not for Christmas, they are for Hannukah. The Jewish people put up blue lights in recognition of the festival of lights." That made enough sense to me, all of the Hannukah decorations are blue. I believed this story well into my twenties, I think I even have Brad believing it.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was a child probably anything that was Barbie. I do remember a munchi chi which I just had to have as well as cabbage patch kid dolls. As an adult probably the vacume Brad got for me, just kidding.

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with Brad and remembering that it is a season of giving, even if it is just a smile to an overwhelmed/underpaid cashier at Walmart. (I really don't do enough of it)

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Again I enjoy anything sweet. Growing up my friends mom would make carmel popcorn balls that I loved and I don't even particularly care for popcorn or carmel, weird.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? As stated above, St. Nick's day and the prepartaion of Christmas.

17. What tops your tree? An angel, sometimes I wonder, does it look like the angel has a tree coming out of her?...but I think she is beautiful.


18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving, I always feel awkward when people buy me things, even Brad. I know I am weird.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? hmmm I am not sure about that one, there are a lot of good Christmas tunes. As for my favorite funny Christmas songs, South Parks "I am a Lonely Jew at Christmas", Cheech and Chongs "Santa and his old Lady" would have to top the list, and Adam Sandlers the "Chanukah Song" is humourous as well.

20. Candy Canes? Not a huge fan.


21. Favorite Christmas movie? I LOVE Christmas movies, some favorites are, A Christmas Story, Elf, Home Alone (just the first one), Santa Clause, Jingle all the Way, It is a Charlie Brown Christmas, and I am sure others. I have never like the animated claymation ones like Rudolph and the scary elves and Yettie. Eww nightmares.

22. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Yes, Christmas stuff out at Halloween time is a bit too much. My sister, Shelly, was telling me how she is going to wait until Dec. 17th to put out her Christams stuff and take it down after the Wise Men have come on Jan. 6th. She even signed a petition to the stores. I am not sure about all of that, I like having my tree up to enjoy all month long.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season.

It would only happen to me....

So the past couple of weeks I have been quite domestic, I assume it is because the holidays are here. First I started painting the bonus room/office last week, I started with a nice neutral base color and then I painted large squares (two shades of brown) on one wall. It was while I was touching up each squarethat my dashing and daring husband announced that I was "anal retentive". I am okay with this and truly it does not bother me. I happen to have some great looking squares because of this little quality. Despite this I still helped Brad install the baseboards and we have started the crown molding. My goal is to make this my scrapbook room/computer room. I hope to have a large U shaped desk around the entire room with many drawers and cabinets built in to organize all of my scrapbook paraphanelia.
Next I painted our very large front door and the shutters. I finished up this project today and I am hoping that my HOA does not notice that the door and shutters are now black versus the hunter green they once were in their hayday. I vehemnetly despise hunter green especially the faded hunter green that was previously on my door. I just could not force myself to repaint it that awful color. I am sure some of you out there love it, I however do not, and to each their own. I just hope that the HOA inspection guys also prefer my new color and don't even notice that it isn't green anymore. Rather they are impressed with the anal retentive style of painting on my door and shutters.
Finally, I am getting to why it would only happen to me. Since the front porch was looking so clean and polished I decided to put down fresh mulch in the flower beds (the mulch is black too). When I ripped open my first bag and dug my hands in I came up with not only mulch but lots of tiny fire ants. Ouch! I hadn't been bit by one of those little suckers since South Carolina. I spread out that bag and on bag two I decided to just dump the mulch out and then I would spread it from there, hence to avoid an armful on fire ants. All was well and then when I went to grab another scoopful there was a tiny little fury thing in the pile. I dropped my handful to the ground moved some mulch around with the toe of my shoe and low and behold there was a little stiff dead mouse. YUCK! How many people buy mulch from Home Depot bring it home begin to spread it and find a dead mouse? For those of you who do not know, my encounters with wild life, dead or alive seem to be a common occurence. Which Brad likes to exclaim "could only happen to you".

Since we just celebrated Thanksgiving I would like to express my thank's to the genius' at OceanSpray who developed the jellied canned cranberry sauce. This is by far my favorite food of the holiday. I look forward to it every year and it never disappoints. I do believe I am the only one in my family who partakes of this gourmet feast, which just leaves me ever the more thankful because that simply means more jellied cranberry sauce for moi. Oh thank you OceanSpray for this delectable treat!

Western Pacific Rattlesnake

Yikes! I went to get the mail yesterday and who do I see but this rattlesnake. You can tell it is a juvenile because it only has two buttons. It didn't coil up or shake its tail at me or Brutus. You can see a lizard tail sticking out of its mouth. By the time I had called Brad and asked him what to do, got the camera, and then a shovel, the little fella had already moved on.
So from now on I will be sure to watch where I step now knowing he is out there and won't be sticking my hands into any plants to pull weeds anytime soon.

It's official I have entered the age of technology...dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.....
So this is my new cell phone, yeah I know, pretty crazy that I just now got my first cell phone ever and my 13 year old neice has had one for like 3 years. I just hated the concept of someone always being able to get a hold of you. If I am not home, call back, now there's a nifty concept. Anyhow, I am one of the few people in this world apparently that holds those sentiments and after last week Brad thought it important that I get a cell phone. So I caved and I did, at least it is a cute purple one. Also it was free for the phone and just 9 bucks a month for the coverage. Can't beat that! Can you? I don't even know. Lets see if I can figure out how to use it.

Juliet Fire

We are very lucky! Now this was way too close for comfort. When Brad and I were heading into town on Tuesday all we could see was smoke and the ominous red glow from the flames coming from what appeared to be our house. I remember saying "Thats our house, our house is on fire!" Thankfully, I was wrong, but that is one of the worst experiences I have had yet in my life. It was a total feeling of helplessness as I sat from my car and watched what I thought was everything I had accumulated going up in flames. Also, what was so difficult was not knowing what was going on. Questions such as where was the fire exactly, had it destroyed homes yet, will they be able to keep it contained, they all raced through my head. I just sat there thinking I wish I had my wedding photo album, my wedding dress, my pictures, my jewelry, things from my childhood, and Brad's family heirlooms. I also remember thinking I hope they save my home but I hope that no one gets hurt trying to do so. That thought scared me, thinking that saving my stuff, my house, may cause another to be put in harms way. I understand how scary it is for their wives, and their families to not know for sure whether or not their fireman would be returning home after work. I know this is their job, I know that this is what they train to do, but I still did not want that burden on my shoulders. Luckily, only one fireman was hurt fighting this fire, I cannot express my feelings of gratitude enough.

The "Juliet" fire has already burned 4,000 acres is now 75% contained. The cause of the fire is still unkown, but it started in an area known as Juliet training area aboard Camp Pendleton, however the base commander is insisting that there was no live fire training this time. You see last week there was another fire in virtually the same area, it too started in the training area. That time though winds were low and the fire did not spread as fast and the firemen on the ground and in the air were able to extinguish it relatively quickly. That fire was started by 'live fire'. During last weeks fire I had packed my personal belongings prepared to be evacuated. At that time ash was coming down like snow, covering the lawns, and the cars in the neighborhood. I thought that was too close for comfort. After that fire was extinguished crews aboard the base widened the firebreak between my neighborhood and the base. Had they not widened that line (which the fire did jump adjacent to our street) who knows what would have happened. "A barren strip of earth was all that stood between hundreds of homes and a fast-moving wildfire hungry for fuel.The dirt barrier worked. Officials say the 300-foot-wide fire break, along with aerial water drops and weakened Santa Ana winds, allowed firefighters on Monday to keep a leash on a wildfire that flirted with the backyards of Oceanside and Camp Pendleton homes. A nearby fire crew was able to fight the flare-up, pulling hoses through backyards on Cockatoo and Nanday courts (my street)and saving all the homes that were threatened."
It seems as if we are safe for now. Parts of base housing are still under a mandatory evacuation. There are still firemen working the areas already burned. They have been spraying down the smoldering ashes and turning the earth with shovels. There are still some helicopters making water drops but not in our vicinity. Brad and I were very lucky this time, and I continue to count my blessings.

Juliet Fire Oct 13th 2008

Oceanside, CA

My birthday was smoking hot this year. Yesterday the 13th Brad and I were at my folks house, I had an orthodontic appointment. We received word at 3:30 that our house had been mandatorily evactuated. We got to O'Side an hour and 15 minutes later. They had us pushed back about 1.5 miles at a park (I run passed it on my jogs) and would not let us in to get any personal effects. Thank God I had Brutus with us. I cannot imagine if I hadn't! Then we left to get a car charger (our phone had died) and when we came back they had us pushed back about 3.5 miles (I almost can run that far ;> ). But there was no news, we had no idea what to do. Then Mandy called and said she could still get our answering machine when she called our house. Thank goodness, at least we knew the house was still standing. So about every half hour we were calling to see if we would get the machine or not. All night we did. We stayed with our good friends (the Wild Animal Park buddies) last night. They were so gracious to let us stay with the dog and make us breakfast. (I am thankful for my good friends).

We were able to get back into our house this am, they were checking i'd's to make sure we lived on the right part of the street. Our street to the North they weren't allowing people back home yet. Needless to say we were all pretty stressed out. Unfortunatley we are not out of the woods yet. We have our important irreplacebles packed next to the front door waiting in case we have to be evacuated again. Hopefully, the winds will not shift.

We are very grateful. This year for my birthday I got a house still standing. I am very grateful to all the firefighters and police men who kept my house safe.

My digital camera broke so this is the best I can do with the photos for the time being. Once I get my 35's developed I will try to post. You can also follow the links.

http://www.10news.com/video/17711262/index.html

at minute 1 is our neighborhood. The men walking along the fire break is right behind our neighborhood on Alexandrine Ct.

http://www.10news.com/video/17711262/index.html

At minute 2:39 the news man is on our street, and the video is from our street.

http://maps.google.com/ This is a map of our neighborhood. We are on Nanday. The empty area behind our house is a nature preserve. Thank God it didn't travel down the preserve, this is what we are afraid will ignite still. Everything else is already burnt.

It was/is massive.

This is taken on College Blvd. The area up in smoke is right behind our neighborhood, Wilmont Ranch.

The evacuated area shown on the map is our neighborhood.

Local news report
OCEANSIDE -- Mandatory evacuation orders remained in effect for all city of Oceanside residents who were forced to evacuate during the Juliet Fire despite earlier official reports to the contrary.
Early Tuesday morning, the American Red Cross announced that city of Oceanside residents who took emergency overnight shelter at El Camino High School could return home, along with other evacuated city residents who sought private shelter. But city spokeswoman Kathy Baker later said that only some residents have been allowed to return home to recover necessities but then must leave again.
The Juliet Fire charred about 3,000 acres in the southeastern sections of Camp Pendleton and was about 25 percent contained early Tuesday, fire officials said.
In addition to city of Oceanside residents, the fire forced the evacuation of thousands of people from base housing. Those evacuation orders remained in effect, according to base officials.
The blaze also prompted the closure of three schools today in the Oceanside Unified School District -- Del Rio, Libby and Reynolds elementary schools, according to OUSD's Web site.
The blaze -- the second to erupt on the grounds of the Marine Corps base in less than a week -- began spreading amid dry, moderately breezy conditions about 3 p.m. Monday, according to CalFire.
As of 3:20 a.m. Tuesday, the fire had spread to about 3,000 acres with no structural loss or injuries, according to base officials. CalFire officials said early Tuesday that the blaze was 25 percent contained.
The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
Authorities cleared all residents out of several base housing developments around Vandegrift Boulevard and from more than 1,000 homes in Oceanside's Wilmont Estates (us) neighborhood, near Papagallo Drive, and the Pilgrim Creek district, in the area of Luiseno Park.
The city used a "reverse 911" telephone system to notify those in threatened areas. Oceanside residents were instructed to go to an American Red Cross evacuation center set up at El Camino High School. Military families were encouraged to go to the Stuart Mesa Housing Office on base.
Last week's blaze broke out Wednesday afternoon and blackened about 1,500 acres in a remote part of the base, resulting in no structural damage and requiring no evacuations.

Beach Buddies

Alyssa and Maddison, my friends girls

Brad riding the white

Eric, surf friend

Wild Animal Park
Sep 1st 2008

Brad and I along with our good friends Brandy & Eric and their two girls spent the day at the beach and then the Wild Animal Park. The park allows active duty military a free pass and since our friends are "members" I also got in for free. Pretty cool. We always have a good time with them and I am glad they invited us to tag along.

Love my Sister !

Missy had business in San Diego this week and on her way home she came up to Oceanside and met me for lunch. It was a nice visit and the first time any on my sisters have come to any of my houses.

Thanks Missy, it meant a lot to me!

Padres Game, 2nd August 2008

For our eleven year wedding anniversary Brad and I celebrated by going to a Padres game with some friends. They played th SF Giants, both teams suck, neither has a batting average over .300 but the Padres sucked more and lost 0-2. The game was very fast over in less than two hours and there wasn't much action but it didn't really matter, we had a good time anyway.

Sea World, San Diego, Cali

Del Mar Beach, Camp Pendleton Cali

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I'm in the big leagues now, Cal King Baby

The old bed and matress we had was a queen that my parents bought for me my senior year of high school. While the bed itself is still in great condition, I think Brad and I have been married long enough to know that the night time snuggles have lost some of its appeal. More importantly it was time for a new mattress and since we had to spend the money anyways I thought that is was high time that Brad's feet don't hang off of the edge. Now I am excited to get the rest of the furniture to go with it.