My Afflation

borrowed from @daniellesque Where did you begin 2008? Crashing on a friend's couch in Pasadena. But I got a homemade breakfast that day. What was your status by Valentine's Day? Single and in my own apartment. Were you in school (anytime this year)? Yes, I started University of Phoenix. Did you have to go to the hospital? Only for Josh and his broken arm Did you have any encounters with the police? thankfully, no Where did you go on vacation? I took a few weekend trips to the Bay Area, but no real vacation What did you purchase that was over $500? My Honda Fit Did you know anybody who got married? Yes, my downstairs neighbors. Did you know anybody who passed away? No. Death free year in my immediate circle. Did you move anywhere? From Pasadena to Long Beach. What sporting events did you attend? Vans Downtown Showdown . Skateboarding is a sport, right?

They aren't good thoughts. They aren't uplifting, nor inspiring, nor especially good for my self-esteem. I think that is why I have been hating the drive to Vegas and this whole season. It gives me too much time to think and reflect. And leaves me in a lot pain , which is always a mood-lifter for me. I've been canceling on people lately because of the pain and depression, feeling more and more anti-social. I really don't want to be the life of the party, but can someone drag me out once it in a while? Self-reflection is NOT what I need right now. It leads to drinking , and drinking leads to anxiety , and anxiety attacks , and that whole scenario is just bad. But if you insist on being an enabler, I'm just about out of Bailey's and completely out of everything else.

You Feel Misunderstood By Your Family You feel a bit overwhelmed by and resentful of your family right now. This is a good moment for you to take some time away from them. You feel like your family is prone to too many arguments and instability. You never feel like things can be completely peaceful. It's sometimes hard for your family to understand who you are now. You've changed a lot, and they have trouble accepting the new you. You are honest and very outspoken with your family. You sometimes hurt feelings by saying things they don't want to hear. How Do You Really Feel About Your Family?

I don't know what it is about this week, this month. Around Thanksgiving I was looking forward to Christmas, and now that it has arrived, not so much. I'm ready to go into hermit mode. I am tired of the kids asking for things that they *know* I can't afford. Yes, me, not Santa. I'm not sure if my daughter still believes in Santa, but she certainly believes in her Amazon Wish List. And Josh! Since being in Vegas he has called for money, more money (ok, it's so he can buy Christmas gifts for everyone else but he could have put *SOME* effort into earning his allowance!) my external HDD or lots of DVDs to burn stuff from my brother, and FINALLY, once to find out if I was coming tonight. And could I bring ... I forget what. Joy hasn't bothered to call once, but that's ok. She's 6 and I don't recall wanting to talk to my parents when I was with my grandmother either. I guess the true source of my sense of Grinchiness is my complete and utter inability

So if you are like me and occasionally (though Josh will say constantly) text while driving, you might want to try Dial2Do . You have your hands-free headset, right? And of course, the line that convinced me .... "post updates to your TWITTER or JAIKU stream". Not that I have an addiction or anything...

If you didn't catch my tweets pimping @CynicalDad , you have to watch and listen to this all the way through. It's HI-LARIOUS! And the chick's voice, I dig it. Er, I really like it. She's phenomenal cuz you know, I don't think there was much studio editing the way there is for all the pop divas. Her voice kinda reminds me of Etta James... but anyways, I present Paloma Faith and Josh Weller for your listening and viewing pleasure.

I found this fascinating quote today: We had to go in this morning. Too bad there were 12-18 inches of snow in my driveway/parking lot so I wasn’t driving myself! BM came to get me (adore the man!) and we had the branch open by about 9:30am. Not too bad. However, we only had six clients in six hours, so they sent us home at 2pm. Sarah, The Third Degree , Dec 2008 You should read the whole article.

pointed me towards this awesome little app. Get your own personalized Santa to read your kids wishlist to them :) Here's the one I made for Joy: Joy's Santa Message

Truthfully, I know about the Star Wars one because of Tim . I think I saw the He-Man/She-Ra one, I wasn't allowed to watch the Pee Wee Herman one, and I never heard of the Pac-Man one. How about you guys? (Disclosure: this was sent to me by someone else who had the time to do the research on "forgotten" Christmas specials. I thought it was good enough to pass along)   1. " The Star Wars Holiday Special " (1978 - CBS): On the planet of Kashyyyk, Chewie’s family anxiously awaits the return of Han Solo and Chewie for the celebration of ‘Life Day.’ The duo must battle their way through Imperial forces to join the party. *Key moment: Princess Leia performing the "Life Day" theme song to the tune of the original Star Wars’ score. 2. " He-Man & She-Ra Christmas Special"   (1985): Two children unwittingly get caught up in the battle between good and evil when Skeletor believes that the spread of their Christmas spirit is the only

I knew it was bad, I didn't think it was that bad. I arrived in Vegas last night about 8:30/9:00 PM. Kids pass out hugs, we bring in the stuff and my then my dad takes a look at me. Says, "What happened to your face?"  Wonderful. It's not like I had black eyes (ok, I have the racoon look going on), but still. It was dim in the house, not even full lights and one was really bad, bright red, even in the dark. I guess it was noticeable. I guess I should be glad he didn't call me Rudolph. That's the name of one of the puppies that woke me .

I got this meme from Mary Lutz. I wasn't tagged, but I thought it would be fun to do anyway. 1. Open the 4th picture folder on your computer. 2. Open the 4th picture and post it on your blog. 3. Explain the picture. 4. Tag 4 people to do the same!   This is Noel. Well, the child is my daughter Joy. Noel is the guinea pig. And my couch is clean. Wow. But back to the picture, this was the morning after we adopted Noel in January 2008 . Joy was so happy to have a guinea pig to add to her menagerie. This is as close to sleeping with the GP that she ever got.   I tag: Shadejinx jasperblu killregrets divacowgirl

How to determine your "Star Wars" name: For your new first name: 1. Take the first 3 letters of your 1st name and add 2. the first 2 letters of your last name For your new last name: 3. Then take the first 2 letters of your Mom's maiden name and add 4. the first 3 letters of the city you were born How to determine your Star Wars honorific name and title: 1. take the last three letters of your last name and reverse them. 2. add the name of the first car you drove/owned 3. insert the word "of" 4. tack on the name of the last medication you took. With Love, Annho Talos, D'na Toyota of Advil

The sun was covered by dark clouds, the wind was blowing, and we were at sea level. BUT honey, it was COLD outside! It hadn't been when we left the house for gymnastics, so despite having her snowsuit (time for a new one I think) we didn't have a jacket. In these pics she's wearing her leotard, covered by a long sleeve tee and a snowsuit. Pants wouldn't fit. And she hates wearing socks if she doesn't have to. After being miserable on the snow, we went to the bouncy stuff, and then back to the snow where she proceeded to bean me in the eye with a snowball. After that we went shopping in the Village and warmed up with some tasty churros. All-in-all a good Saturday.

Dayngrous Discourse: There's Always Room for More Love When Dayngr first asked Do you have a little extra room in your heart this holiday season for a 3 and 4 year old? I had a snarky comeback . But then something told me to click on the link (I had missed her first tweet about it). Boy, did I feel like a heel. So, before you make my mistake, Daynger is asking for some Christmas cards to be sent to her children. They love receiving mail. You can read all about it on the Daynger Zone . So, to make two kids VERY happy, all you have to is send one more Christmas card this season. With love, Annette

So I'm watching "The Starter Wife" (that darn insomnia) and this clip just got to me because it's so TRUE!!! This balancing act is about to topple me far, far, far down. Enjoy, have a laugh, and get some insight into the life of a single, working mom. Even though you never see her kid.

So I'm watching and pondering a post that I have had in mind since yesterday. Because, you know, something has to change. I asked Tim to bring my scale over, he did. I got on it this morning (dripping wet as you're supposed to) and my fear was confirmed. I'm back up to 180#. I'm at least 30# overweight for my frame and height. There, I said it. My real weight. And I want to get my real weight back to 150#. Preferably between 135 and 145, that's where I felt healthiest and strongest, but 150# is doable too. That's about where I was when I was running the daycare. I am going to get rid of these rolls! Or figure out someway to move all my fat to my bustline. (Like that's ever going to happen). For the record, with both pregnancies I never got above 165#. So for me to be at 180 first thing in the morning, is ... distressing. Mainly because of all the weight-related diseases that run in my family. Diabetes. Heart diseases. High blood pressure. I want to live to

First of all, what is a white elephant? White elephant gifts are traditionally gifts considered extremely tacky, or that do not fit the tastes of the recipient, and that are given by a friend or close relative (such as a mother-in-law) and therefore cannot be returned or exchanged at the store without potentially offending the giver. The thought behind a white elephant gift exchange is to give everyone a chance to rid themselves of these tacky gifts--and invariably gaining a new one! -- WikiHow The Rules Select who will open a gift first.  Decisions, decisions... Have the next person choose and open a gift. Now this is where it gets interesting. The person has a choice of whether to keep the gift they opened, or to "steal" an already opened gift from a previous person. If they steal a gift, they take that gift and give their unwanted gift to the person they stole from. That person then gets the option of stealing from someone else, and this continues until somebody decides t

Ever have one of those days where you just want to curl into a ball and hide from the world? Well, that was me Saturday afternoon. I didn't plan on it being that way. In fact, I had all sorts of plans for being productive and useful and "getting things done" that just didn't happen. First, I had left some flexibility in my schedule just in case I got to go to the  "ALL 80's ALL DAY Skate event at Quiksilver in Huntington Beach with Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi & more" courtesy of Rock Da Mullet . I thought Josh would want to go -- mom got clarification, Josh wants to go to skate events where he actually gets to skate some -- and the timing was all off. I guess that worked out, because, can you imagine me having a full-blown, out-of-the-blue anxiety attack at a skate event??? Me neither, and I don't want to! I should have noticed that something was off because I was disoriented and tired all day long. I mean really tired and disoriented, but maybe

It was replaced by Scrabble Beta on Facebook , but now I can play Scrabulous (excuse me Lexulous ) all over again! They finally impleted and even ported over all of my email games. Now I just have to figure out how to nudge people to sign up and play again. Let the games begin! (at least it's a safe addiction to have ...)

Your task for the week, should you choose to accept it, is to perform at least one random act of kindness. Now, generally I try to follow Matt 6:1-4 1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. But Jyl and Carissa have an awesome idea for spreading some Holiday Cheer: Identify and perform at least one random of act of kindness this week (December 2 through 9). Post about the experience in written, picture, and/or video format(s).

I wish I could post some pictures with this, but I only took some of the tiny Cornish game hens. I fit four into the roasting pan that we usually use for the turkey. Overall, it was a good, calm, quiet Thanksgiving. Totally out of character for me, but not in a bad way. AND I got to go Black Friday shopping with my mom, something we have never done before. Luckily we avoided being trampled or shot. The Menu: Cornish Game Hens Candied Yams Mashed Potatoes Roast Vegetables (corn, red potatoes, fresh green beans, crookneck squash) Wheat Rolls Cranberry Sauce No stuffing, but we had so many other starches we all agreed that stuffing was overkill. We ate late for thanksgiving, closer to 6 than 3, but in the meantime we watched Wall*E, the kids fought intermittently, I had a Mike's or two and settled into having a small Thanksgiving. And even though I could never live in Lancaster , going to my mom's always restores my spirit a little. So yes, Annette, it was

I'm in an odd place today. I shouldn't be stressed, but I feel a little anxious. I'm down because this Thanksgiving, like last year's, is not what I envisioned. I guess it helps some that I didn't plan ANY vision for this year. That's a lie. I had envisioned a cozy dinner at my mom's place with my kids, my nieces, my sister, and a few displaced friends. Because I always find some extra people to feed during the holidays. It's what I was raised to do. I was hoping that a good friend from Oregon would be able to make it down. He's been having a hard time and, well, misery loves company, right? Long story short, he can't make it. My sister made other plans, my nieces will be at their father's and all other family members are either in OR, Northern CA or NV and not traveling. I'm not even sure my dad celebrates Thanksgiving with his new family. We weren't invited last year and I haven't heard from him this year either. This is the

Chenille Scarf You are bidding on a chenille scarf made from Lion Brand Chenille Thick and Quick , available in 30 colors. The winning bidder will actually have their choice of color, this is just a sample. Here is how the auction works: Please leave a comment with: your bid name and a way to contact you. The bidding will end sometime on Wednesday 11/19 and the winning bid will be announced via Twitter. You do NOT need a twitter account to qualify! You will be notified via email as well. The winning bidder will then need to pay directly to the paypal account set up on the GNO-cares page , in order to have the item shipped. Also visit Mommygossip-GNO to see other items to bid on. Opening bid is $15. Please bid in at least $1 increments.

Cheesepuppet over at grass|dirt|corn tagged me. She tweeted me, not sure if she's left a comment yet :) Rules:   Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. I manage to get myself into all sorts of interesting predicaments. And if I didn't plan on running for President someday I would probably blog about them. Instead, a select few know about them because I can't seem to keep my mouth shut no matter what. Me? Keep a secret? Not about my life, that's for sure. I'm an open book, you just have to know the right questions. I actually like my job at Disney. It's the first job that I have enjoyed coming to. It's very frustrating, but I can't grow my hair past my shoulders. For 2 years I wore braids and my hair finally got to sho

  I can't wait!! I am so stoked despite possible bad press since this is a prequel. But the last one left me wanting more. I will admit that I am more of TNG fan than the Original , Voyager , DS9 , or Enterprise (though I am reminded that back in the day, on my very first personal web site, I had a prominent Star Trek badge. I was such a geek)   And that is your daily dose of geek from me. Keep your eyes out for more Star Trek trivia and fandom.

On Tuesday I had a chiro appt and a lot of my pain can be attributed to lousy sleep and sleeping positions, and sleep pressure, in this case, meaning the pressure that is applied to various parts of my body while I sleep. My two most recent chiropractors have told me to stop side-sleeping, and I'm trying, really I am. But ever since I was a child I have always ended up side-sleeping. I consciously make the effort to fall asleep on my back, but I am so restless (probably due to the stress and what-not) that I can't stay still. I don't "knock out" like I used to (if I ever did). So, I basically need a sleep positioner in adult size. Or a mattress that I can sink in to. I'm trying to convince my chiropractor to write me an Rx for a new mattress. the one I have isn't that great and the Memory Foam knock off mattress pad isn't thick enough. I am now contemplating a down baffle bed for support and comfort.   The good news is, I don't have fibro

Ok, so my photos won't fit in Sugar's comments , so I am posting my entry here. The Rules: Okay, so here's how we'll play this game. I'm going to give you a few tasks and questions to be answered. You will answer and display in the comments section. Easy enough, right? These are your scavenger hunt items: 1) A picture of you in the 90s when we were all first making out to singing Kissed By a Rose. 2) A Lego creation. It can be your own, one that your kid made, or one that you find on line. My engineer-in-training four year old will be much obliged if you can include directions and moving parts. 3) Your favorite song from the new Soul album. You can find the videos down there... down at the bottom of the blog... we're scrolling, we're scrolling, we're THERE! There it is! Which one do you just want to hear over and over? That's it. Just those little items. You have until Sunday, November 16th to get those in. Not too long, so don't

So every Tuesday I participate in GNO on Twitter . A few of my guy friends have finally realized that they cannot tear me away from tweeting furiously with other women, especially @ sugarjones , @r ogbark , @ kitrona , and @ jyl_mommygossip . This week's Topic is Thanksgiving . We'll be exchanging recipes, talking traditions, and giving back. So even if you don't tweet think about donating to the Virtual Food Drive. Even $5 helps. Take part in the GNO Gives Back fundraiser. You may donate from November 4-21. We will collect the donations and send one large amount to FeedingAmerica.org . Technorati Tags: thanksgiving , charity , virtual food drive

I am always in pain because it's a fact of my life now. I can deal with the dull, low throbbing. That I can ignore and get on with my life with generally no problem. Then there are days when I hurt everywhere. I wake up in pain. Most often in my back, but lately my back, neck, shoulders, hips, and sometimes hands just HURT! And that much thoracic pain usually causes my IBS to act up. What a way to start the morning. Every morning. And Lord please, the days when my IBS acts up when I am commuting. THAT'S THE WORST, the most mortifyinghorribleembarrasing moments of my life, mainly because I think I have gotten off scott-free for the day. And then, BAM! make a run for the bathroom, the nearest bathroom, any bathroom.   A lot of my stress and high anxiety are caused by my chronic pain and vice versa. A never-ending cycle (not to be confused with the Never-Ending Story ). My chronic pain could be a symptom of clinical depression, but I haven't been diagnosed as s

Love @CoachDeb

Ok, so the official start of fall was Sept. 22 but in SoCal that's still summer. And up until a few days ago the weather was definitely NOT autumnal. And it was hotter in the Valley where I work. So today, it rained in the morning and stayed cloudy and cool all day long. My son made reference to how he missed Oregon and I was finally prompted to make potato soup. And so starts Autumn in the Holland household. Josh couldn't wait to dig in. Let me know if you want the recipe. Technorati Tags: potato soup , Autumn , Fall , weather Recipe : Ingredients 1 lb. potatoes cut into 1/2" cubes 2 cups water 3 cups milk 1/4 cup butter 3/4 cup celery (about 2-3 stalks) 2-3 medium carrots 1/2 cup chopped onion (or 1/2 tsp. onion powder in a pinch) 1/4 lb. bacon, about 10-12 slices (at least that's what I use) and/or sausage -- i use turkey bacon and sausage, already cooked and fit my one pot style of cooking. 3Tbs all-purpose flour salt and pepper to taste

I just love the roll in the picture above. You get a good mix of dark and light, and it's all completely natural. Yes, I sometimes take pictures when I drive. With my camera, not my cameraphone. I love things I can operate with one hand. I also love clouds, and cloud formations. This is what L.A. (really Long Beach) looks like in Autumn when it is trying to decide if it will rain or not. Lovely clouds...

My sister has been asking for this recipe for 10 years. What's the big deal you ask? My sister doesn't eat fish. But after having this a few months before I moved to Oregon, she was hooked. I'd like to think it's the only fish she eats. It can't be that bad, right? My son at the time was 4 was has liked this recipe since he was 2. DISCLAIMER: I am one of those cooks who after a while does things from memory and to taste. So there are no measurements in this one. I am also a huge fan of one pan cooking. Ingredients: Salmon fillet (enough to feed you and yours) Olive Oil or butter carrots (baby to sprinkle around the salmon) tomato (sliced) Onion (chopped) Lemon Pepper 13x9 pan Grease your pan with some of the butter or oil, heat the oven to 350°F. Place salmon in middle of pan. Spread a little butter/oil over the top, sprinkle with lemon pepper. Cover with tomato and onion. Place carrots around salmon. Bake for 30-45 minutes o

One of the gals I follow on twitter, @ShannonNelson , has a week to raise $995 for Breast Cancer Awareness. You can donate on her site using the PayPal button. In her own words: As I mentioned in an earlier post, this month my focus is on raising money for the Breast Cancer Research Fund through the Total Beauty-Total Cure campaign . I’ve now included a Paypal button in my sidebar where you can make a direct donation into the Total Cure pool that in the first week of November will be compiled and sent to BCRF. I would truly love to raise $1000 this month. I plan to do this between auctioning off some awesome beauty products and asking you, my readers, for donations. Even if you can only give $1, it is $1 closer to a cure. If you know someone who has been touched by breast cancer–you know that no amount is too small to contribute to the cause. Of course, I also plan to make a donation as well. So donate $1. It truly will help.

I've been tagged by Sugar over at Living - In Theory so I guess I will fill y'all in on six things that you never knew and probably never wanted to know. I used to hate country music, but now I like it. A lot. Ok, not all country. Rascal Flatts , I <3 them. And when I am feeling goofy or needing a pick me up, Big and Rich . I love their philosophy of MuzikMafia . And one of my girlfriends introduced me to Gretchen Wilson. I <3 her too. So, a girl from the ghetto gets down to country. Go figure. In person, I'm naturally quiet, subdued, and introverted. A lot of my RL friends are, shall we say, overwhelmed by how much output I have online considering I let other people carry the conversation in person. Go figure. I really do know how to clean house. No, really, I do. Quit laughing. In fact, I am so good that for a couple of terms in college I was a housekeeper for this little old lady out in Imperial Beach . But I'm not sure what's happened the

Here are the dogs waiting patiently with me as I wait for AAA, again. A little over a month ago I had to call AAA to come unlock my car. Last night was a little more dramatic. I thought I was being a good doggie mommy when I got home and it was about 90 degrees in the house. HOT! I changed as quickly as possible into a T-shirt, board shorts and Teva's (love my Teva's, but that's another story), grabbed leashes and away we went. The dogs get so excited when I grab the leashes. And even more so when I told them to go to the car instead of "Front" (front means you have to pee and poop out front and just get a walk. Car means "Yay! We're going somewhere and get to SMELL things!") So, we head out to the beach. I chose the board shorts because they have a pocket I can keep my keys and phone in. Apparently about 5 minutes in, or sometime after I locked my car (this time I clearly remember having keys in hand!) my keys fell out into the soft sand from a ho

Ok, so I'm going to be lame and just link some of my more interesting travel posts here :) You can also search for more stories. Roadtrip with Jes. Phase 1  this was a roadtrip with a girlfriend, her three kids, and not the best planning :) The photos from the trip can be seen on photobucket . We got some truly amazing sunrise photos coming up through the Grapevine. Oh yeah, the trip was from Portland to SoCal and a week later we did the return trip Photo Friday - ok, not really a blog post, but the topic was travel. This was taken on a roadtrip to Las Vegas with 2 kids.  SoCal to Grand Junction Last year's trip to Vegas And this little exercise has made me realize that though I love to blog, and I love to travel, I haven't blogged much about travelling!! Either that or I need to go back and really do my labels. But if you want to take a look at the photos of all the places I have been recently: Pier 39 Crystal Cove in Laguna Beach Roadtrip from Cali back to Portland Co

Ok, this is a bit narcissistic, but for off the cuff, pretty darn good. Especially considering the reply .  

by Tee Morris Love mystery? Fantasy? Film noir? How about Philip Marlowe or David Eddings? If you can say yes to any of these questions, run, don't walk, to get a copy of The Case of the Pitcher's Pendant: A Billibub Baddings Mystery . It's the perfect mix of all the above. Tee Morris flows in his use of metaphor and imagery of the 1920's. If you have listened to the podcast of The Case of the Singing Sword you can almost hear Tee narrating his latest Billibub offering. Enjoy the mix of baseball and fantasy metaphors that flow together seamlessly. Billi's character development, as well as that of the supporting cast is credible. No need to suspend (much) belief when reading. I could go on, but I'm afraid of giving out spoilers. If you don't mind mixing your genres, this is an enchanting and entertaining read.

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret Too funny. And it's not even an April Fool's thing.