Vacation Property

It's not like I live in the country or way out in the boon docks. I live in a suburb in Southern California, 25 miles South of Los Angeles in Orange County. Now mind you, I do live in a hilly community smack dab between a smallish mountain range and a creek which is a city term for a wash with lots of pine trees around it. Since we moved in, about 16 years ago, the hills around us have been filling up with new construction, therefore, the animals have been on the move and wandering more and more into the communities.

We have had mating ducks in our backyard (not a pretty sight I may add) hoards of squirrels besides my grandsons, a plethora of possums...yuk! and stinky skunks. A few month ago, I don't know why, but a particular skunk was wreaking havoc on the neighborhood and skunking anyone and everything in it's path. Seemed like you had to put on your gas mask when you left the house in the morning. And Coyotes everywhere!

But raccoons, those wascally creatures are particularly a pain in the ass. Every year we get a family who takes vacation in our yard. They are a bundle of fun to watch with all their acrobatics, but they cause lots of damage. And then the other night, Raquel and I saw this in our yard....a gigantic humongous lone raccoon...




So we slowly opened the sliding patio door to shoe it away and this is what it did...




He started to walk towards us as we screamed and ran back into the house. He wondered around the yard for awhile as if he was looking for vacation property and then he just plunked himself down and proceeded to clean himself. After about 30 minutes, he got his lazy ass up and started moving towards the trees. We came out again and threw rocks in his direction only to scare him ( he was eating the cats food) where he turned his head towards us, gave us the stink eye and moseyed over the neighbor fence. Can't wait for summer...that's when all the fun starts. I'm just Sayin'

Flashback Fridays/Backseat of a Caddy

Back when I was about, oh I don't know, maybe 9ish and my brother was 11ish, we were sitting in the back seat of my dads huge Condillac fighting. I don't know where we were going, but the whole family was in that car and we were going somewhere as a family and we were gonna have fun...damm it! That was usually the tone of our family outings. My brother was picking on me as usual and I was whining. I'm not a whiner in general, but I never defended myself either because I was afraid I'd get in trouble. He was poking me and pretend smacking my head and anything else just to annoy me. My dad driving, my mother shot gun
and two loud obnoxious kids in the back, probably in our family outing clothes on our way to some place where I'm sure me and my brother had to act decent to each other and be polite.

Well, in situations like this I usually would hear "stop that" or "knock it off" and the traditional, "don't make me turn this car around, cuz I will", nope, didn't hear that one either. What I heard was "well, hit him back",
Well, it was like telling me it was Christmas all over again. I now had a reason to hit my brother, a defense and better than that I was ordered to hit him. So, as told to the family in the ensuing years to come, I doubled up my fist, swung my arm back and belted him right in the stomach, in which he promptly started to cry and whine about how it wasn't fair because mom had told bunny to hit him and that if he had permission it would then be a fair fight....blah, blah, blah. I vaguely remember doing this and what I do remember is being scared after because I knew there was a payback coming. We continued to bicker and give each other the stink eye all the way to our destination, but If these two kids were mine I might have kicked them out of the car and floored it outta there or at least thought about doing it.



Update: I wrote this entry because at the time, there was a news report of a woman back east who was so upset with her children fighting in the car....she dropped them off on the curb and instructed them to find their way home. There was a lot of debate about it. I for one, never had this problem since my daughters are 15 years apart. I have two only children.
I'm just sayin"

LIZ

RIP Elizabeth Taylor

2 Events

Two events fell upon us this weekend, not to mention that Saturday morning, jumped in my car to take care of errands before said events, to find a dead car....hence, a dead battery.
So after some choreography and some smart quick thinking and footwork, it only set me back 1 1/2 hours.

Event #1...A Major FFA Award Banquet which Raquel was a happy reciprocate of. Apparently all her hard work in the organization has been taken notice and therefore...an award was bestowed her

Oh yeah, Alex got one too. And just in case you were wondering...YES, they are back together and NO, that is not event #2

Event #2. My youngest Grandsquirel's Birthday Party. He turned 5 and his parents decided to hold the party at our neighborhood Red Robin. Here's DJ, the birthday boy!

with Raquel and Meredith, my two beautiful daughters.

and Ethan and Franklin of course!

Grandpa and Nana, those crazy old folks

with silly Uncle Trevor, My son in law Frank, Uncle George and Lexi all having a great time.

Next week, 2 more major events...My father in laws Birthday and most importantly...my hair appointment...going brunette. I'm Just Sayin'

It Happened

Well People, it's happened, the inevitable, the thing we've been waiting for, for 13 years. The event that has set me aback and forcing me to grow up. Time waits for no one and this one is beginning to come to some harsh realization....


Raquel had applied to three colleges, accepted to all three and today, casually, almost nonchalantly she just happened to mention that she's made up her mind and "oh yeah mom, I accepted to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, school begins Sept 19th".

I knew this was coming, she said she had to think about it for a while. One school was 30 minutes away, another, an 8 hour drive up north, way up north and the 3rd, on the coast of California, about a 4 hour drive. We didn't push her, we listened to her pros and cons on all of them and I figured it would take her a while to make up her mind, being that deciding on what kind of sandwich she should make is a major decision.

I was thrown, caught off balance and now, my head is spinning. It's happening and now that it's real, this summer is gonna go by like lightning and I'm thinkin'...should I be doing something? I am totally depending on friends and family....and that includes you all.
I know some of you have gone through this and I could use a few pointers....so...enlighten me, scold me, tell me, encourage me...do what you want...I'm pretty sure I'll survive, but it doesn't feel like it right now.....I'm Just Sayin'

It's Rednesday in the Kitchen

~Just a few photos of my red accents in my kitchen...I'm just a little obsessed~



I love the way these canisters create a red glow in the morning when I open my blinds

Everybody has a red hen...don't they?

The top of my kitchen hutch.
I also collect Black Americana.

Having red appliances makes me happy...

..but so do my polka dot fireking ware that I've been collecting for years

and for all you red fanatics out there....BEHOLD...

A Red ceiling...yup, when I asked the hubster to paint it red...no questions asked, because he knows better than to second guess my red obsession and besides...he likes it.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Rednesday....I am

I'm Just Sayin'

What the Hell Happened?

I was in the process of changing up my blog look and something went wrong. Checked out Graphic Fairy to take a peek and settled on a barnyard motif, so instead of copy and pasting
a code, her blog instructed a easier way to do it. It was pretty easy and there was a step by step visual aid to help but when I was finished, EVERYTHING on my blog was different.

I'm not blaming the process, it's probably me, but for the life of me, I can't seem to change it back or even fix the damn thing. So what I'm basically saying is I'm screwed. I will work on it at a slow pace and continue to take my meds so that I don't throw a brick through the monitor and hopefully I'll win.

In the mean time enjoy my Picasso type blog

Some of this, some of that

Just a sneak peak of what I've been up to...busy busy busy!


Some decorative candles

yarn Christmas Tree and whimsical Bee Hive

and a very frenchy serving tray.....

There is a whole lot more, but I don't wanna give it all away...just yet.

Enjoy!!

Question..

Why would any female want to be either with or hang out with Charlie Sheen? Come on ladies...and I use that term loosely, honestly, I'm pretty sure you can do better. Even YOU, you porn actress and I use the term actress loosely, can find someone WAY better than this
ego maniacal self destructive selfish drug addict....I'm just sayin'

What a Catch!