The truck is dead! Long live the truck!

That's right folks, we got another truck! 1996 Dodge Dakota cub cab V6, exterior is a little rusty, banged up, interior is clean though. A/C, automatic door locks & windows, cruise control, tilt steering, faux wood paneling... AND we got it for at least $1,000 bucks *below* Kelly Blue Book! [note: when going to buy truck that you really want, make sure to bring along lots of little girls; adding in one that's a little carsick is not a bad thing either. Definitely helps to sway the nice man selling said truck in your direction!]

{sigh} I am seriously, stupidly in love with this truck. And mi familia is as well! Spark said "it's like riding in a limo" and Boo is simply beside herself for the same "little girls who like to drive big trucks" reasons that i am! The Wife was smiley as well. Possibly because she thinks she might one day be allowed to drive it but... no worries though, she looks hot sitting shotgun!

BTW, lest anyone think this newest purchase equals scratching the Boo art sale/raffle, we are sooooo still on with that, details to follow but rest assured the "Pimp-Our-Truck Art Sale Raffle" will be kicking off soon!

Happy Birthdayyyyyyyyyy

To the Wifeyyyyyyyyyyy! Right. Despite some random insecurities pour moi, Birthday festivities were AWESOME! We {heart} this place. So nice and accommodating and just plain awesome! Plus, they TOTALLY had the chocolate fondue. we like. :-)

TBD

K. so yesterday when we were driving home the Big Girl (Boo) kept repeating this really funny phrase that consisted of two words; which was HILARIOUS and which i determined to copy here into my little on-line journaling of most of my "significant" life events but which I right this second, cannot, for the life of me remember!!!!! Arg. It was hilarious though. trust me.

K. in other news, I'm cranky right this second for a really silly reason. I point out that my reason is silly because i like to acknowledge the *very few* times I myself start down the path of irrational/crazy partly because I believe self-knowledge is the key to greater understanding/satisfaction and partly because it allows me to feel even more justified in pointing out this type of behavior in my nearest and dearest!

Now then, back to the cranky. I am cranky because I'm trying to set up this dinner thing for The Wife who is having a birthday (she has one every year) and I thought I was doing pretty well until this morning:

The Wife: I'm excited about Sunday!
Me: Really?
TW: Yes! I love fondue. Especially the chocolate!
Me: [long pause] uh. hm. I don't think they have chocolate. They have a bunch of really tasty sounding cheese things....
TH: Oh, every restaurant that does fondue has a dessert fondue. They'll have chocolate.
Me: [having just read the menu the previous eve] uh.... I don't think they do. Are you going to be disappointed if they don't?
TH: [smiling] They will.

Then i get to work and I look at the evite thingey and I see that included in the "yes" response from The Wife's Ex (who I only invited because I was feeling all "large and expansive and comfortably married" -- last time I give in to that emotion!) the following: "And, let's not forget chocolate fondue. There will be chocolate at this bday party, yes!?"

crap.

maybe i can find/borrow that chocolate fountain we had at our wedding.... :-)

And now, because it has actually "been so long"...

I'm going to trot in here acting like nothing has happened and we're all good/just spoke last week-ish and give you my current "raison d'annoyance" which is this:

What up with kid's gummie vitamins not having iron (or calcium for that matter??! I mean I know what up -- I read on "The Internets" something about the gummie-ness of the gummie vitamins, not being conducive to containing certain of the required minerals for a completely balanced supplement, HOWEVER, I would still like to demand a certain number of apologies from the makers of those vitamins for fooling me into thinking they were, in fact, addressing ALL my growing girl's dietary supplemental needs when in fact they were only setting me up to look like an idiot/supremely irresponsible parent in the dr. office when my Big Big Girls' bloodtest came back with a big ole "(slightly) anemic" stamped all over it! O.K. sure, it is entirely possible I could address this issue through actually paying attention to the ingredients list on said supplements/including leafy greens (or any greens actually) in my child's diet, but dammit, I am an American and I demand a single pill option that will fix all of this so I don't have to think about it!!!! Seriously, is that so wrong?

Two things...

1) Happy Birthday, Dearest-Angel-put-on-this-planet-to-keep-me-sane-friend-o-mine, Abby-tail! Happy being 40! It's the Year of the Blanket so you know it's gonna be good!

2)Welcome to the world little AiDen Trujillo! Aka: "Chika"



K. So, DB and the Missus-San had their baby girl yesterday. 7lbs. 5 oz. He called to share and the following conversation ensued:

Chick: Yay! What's her name?
New Dad: Aiden.
Chick: Awww!
New Dad: Yeah. We like it. I guess it means two things, it's like a compound name "Ai" is Love of others" or something like that and "Den" means "gift from ancestors"
Chick: Oooo! Cool. Sounds kind of "american" too. Aiden.
New Dad: Yeah, people keep telling me it sounds like a boy's name. but those are girl's names here.
Chick: Yeah, well Everyone kept saying the Boo's name was a boy's name...
New Dad: Oh yeah?
Chick: Yup. people are stupid. She's your baby. You name her whatever the hell you want!
New Dad: Heh. O.K.
Chick: Who are these people anyway?? How dare anyone tell you anything about what you decided to name your Baby????!
New Dad: Eh. Just people. Whatever.
Chick: Does she have a nickname yet?
New Dad: Yeah. "Chika."
Chick: "Chicka"?
New Dad: Yup. Means "smart" or "wise" or something like that.
Chick: Her name is "Aiden Trujillo", "Chicka" for short?
New Dad: Yup.
Chick: You know you picked the most Chola sounding Japanese Baby girl names on the planet, right?
New Dad: Shut up.

:-)

It's been so long....

[Chorus]How long has it been??
[Chick] It's been so long since i updated this thing, i forgot me freaking password! [queue canned laughter]

Eh. I blame it on the IE scare.

So, let's see. Long week-end was grand. Made mostly notable by the fact that I survived the website luanch form hell (although given that the LAST site I launched was a complete and utter debacle combined with the fact that my manager was an [content edited per ratings review] I think this one actually went o.k. Glad to be on this side of it though. Seriously. If i wanted something to obsess about that was causing constant stress, life-re-evaluation and thoughts of random panic, i'd start dating again! [ba-dum, bump!] Sorry. I'm waiting for food so i think i'm a wee bit punchy. weeek-end=good. love hanging with the girls. We went on a massive fabric buying adventure and spent waaaayyyyyy too much money on the world's most comfy fabric. It is destined to be made into blankets; two of which already exist and the third of which will hopefully happen tonight. Yay!

What else? Birthday coming up. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about it. 42 doesn't seem like a "big year' in the grand scheme of things but i still like that i'm on the "wrong side of forty"... Makes me feel like "I've got stories to tell" and should be working in some diner somewhere calling everyone hon.... Actually. You know what. i never made a formal resolution so i think that's it. From now on you are all "hon." That is unless you're "Toots". I'll leave it to ya'all to figure out the difference. :-)

A moment of silence, please...

{sigh}Friends, Family, people who've never met me but still like reading this (nowadays-infrequently-updated blog), it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you all that The Truck/my love/my heart/my symbol of independence/bestower of "lesbian-cred"/(not so)sub-conscious link to my middle-of-the-country homeland/practically last remaining icon of the decade plus that defined the life I'm so fortunate to be benefiting from right this second -- that Truck has gone to meet it's mechanical maker. 12 years ago the truck carried me and my baby out of what seemed to be a hopeless situation and into a future filled with possibility. It assisted with innumerable moved, hosted picnics and playdates, provided protection form snows, rain and even too much sun. When everyone else was going digital, the truck boasted a cassette deck which tore its way through dozens of mix tapes composed by myself to help indoctrinate the girls in the ways of the truly gifted of the musical demagogues (Meatloaf, Dolly, Lyle, Tom and George). That truck survived desert heat, blizzards, my erratic driving and total lack of depth perception to carry me and my babies safely through the better part of the last decade and I will miss it soooo much (this is assuming I don't decide to hold a bake sale of something to raise the roughly 2,000 bucks it would take to replace the -- none "compressing" engine.... {sniff}

Anyway. Happy Holidays folks. Hope everyone is happy and healthy in the coming year and that you are all blessed with every kind of wonderful goodness. I heart you all and look forward to communing with each and every one of you as we all march on. We'll just have to plan our communing around the bart/bus schedules, is all. At least until I learn how to stay on a bike for more than thirteen seconds. :-)

Eek!

I have a follower! Sorry, blogger just updated it's interface and now all of a sudden, I have "1 follower". Anyway... moving on...


I'm tired of work. Actually i like work. I'm tired of working. I'm soooooo glad that i'm seeing the end of this particular development tunnel so I can finally get back to living La Vida Comfy!

{blah} Sorry. i thought I had stuff to say but it turns out what I really have is the ennui.... I'll write more later, maybe after the super fun BBQ's chickie B-day party that's happening tomorrow.....

Our forefathers would be proud....

O.K. so maybe it doesn't match some of the other major inroads made earlier this century (or even most of the "minor" ones) But I'm happy dammit! I'm happy to FINALLY be able to walk out of a freaking movie theatre without having to act all supportive about my little girl's desire to grow up to be a (Caucasian) dancer or a (Caucasian) princess or even a (Caucasian) tough Girl who gets to run around blowing up things..... I get that this is "just a movie" but it's also a moment in time where I'm not explaining why "all the people in the town are Peach" or why they used a "Black actor's voice" but made him "light with red hair"... Seriously, it's not even all that much of a stretch. Same storyline as most of the other princess movies, Same cast of "crazy characters" -- It's Disney so, it's by default pretty to look at, just so many different shades of people all pretty without being ridiculous. I dunno, maybe it's because other stuff is sort of kicking my butt right now... but I just really liked having a moment of relaxed enjoyment without having think/worry/wonder why something so basic as portraying diversity always seems like such a big deal....

Happy turkey Day!

What i'm thankful for:

1) that one of my main supports both at work and in The Life made it safely though massive, intensive bi-lateral, outpatient surgery and is now recouping nicely in a way that makes him unable to do anything but address MY concerns about my stupid work project.

2) That my Wife is staying married to me despite the cranky, stressey, uncommunicative, mood-swinging moments brought on by aforementioned stupid work project.

3) that legally my kids can't leave either no matter how much aforementioned silliness around aforementioned S-project may make them want to.....

{sigh} K. enough of that. I am actually really thankful that i have a job. A very lovely job that is accommodating and kid-schedule friendly and where wonderful people abound who make me happy just cause they exist. I'm happy my friends are healthy and (relatively) happy and that families (and dogs) are intact and thriving. I'm thankful that my brothers and mom are doing well especially given "the economic climate." I am thankful that my Wife continues to be such an amazing font of support and assurance and information (and that she continues to allow me access to her 'pert little figur and killer smile!!) I am happy/thrilled that she (The Wife) has a new job to look forward to and the assurance of the few quality people at her old job that she was valued and will be missed. I'm thankful my babies are healthy, (relatively) happy and a freaking joy to be around every single minute of every single day. I'm thankful i have such great friends who combine supportive with understanding with butt-kicking in all the right proportions according to highly changeable situational "needs".... Hell, I'm even sort of thankful my dogs like each other so much as it would be sad to have to figure out how to raise them separately!

Good hair

Also wanted to mention that i had a very fun date last night with my very good friend Mizz Tail. We went to see Good Hair which was a (IMHO) very good movie -- nuanced, sweet, factually correct (mostly), culturally interesting, thought/conversation inducing etc. etc. -- but which also marked the first time in well over a year that i've gone with an adult to see an adult movie sort of kind of when it was still topical! I am so proud of myself. What with that and the walk I managed to cajole my BBQ into taking with me this week-end, I'm feeling quite on top of my "get out and hang out with those people you say you like" new year's resolution... Sure, I'm kickstarting it a wee squeach late but whaddaya want??? I've been busy. We got a puppy! Sheesh...

yay!

I would first like to say that I am just so happy/thrilled that The Wife has landed a fancy-pants new position with a cool-seeming company that is mere minutes away from mine own work place (hint, hint, lunch anyone?)

She's being all practical and cute right now with the "Well, I mean it's good and everything but I think we're still going to have to figure out how to manage the Boo schedule since it'll probably be awhile before I'll be allowed to work a more flexible schedule..." As IF. As if I'm going to segue from concerned to sensible without even a few minutes devoted to sheer, unabridged delightedness. Whom, might I ask, does she think she's married to?? Forget the potential rearranging of a schedule or two. Wifey got a new job! She is no longer going to be stifled and annoyed (well not in the same way anyway) and berated by her passive-aggressive boss over ridiculous butt-covering crap! she will be rolling into a pretty part of a pretty town and working in an environment which is interesting (at least for now) and in which folks seem to actually talk to one another. She will be able to learn new things and develop even more fantastic coding skills and finally, have a chance to stop with the constant worrying about "finding a job in this economy" because that. part. is. done! I am thrilled. Thrilled, I tell yas. I love you baby. Seriously, Couldn't have happened to a better goil!

"The amount of Effort matches the amount of Desire"

My lovely friend Mizz Tail used this phrase yesterday whilst she was "breaking something down for me" and I just thought it was lovely. not just lovely sounding but really clarifying as well. I'm sad for her because her Pooch is not feeling well and she is down about it. I hope things get better fast as I simply cannot have one of my very best-est buddies feeling sad mere moments before the best day of the year! There's also this new study which i think further bolters my point (DST = why????!) if you think i'm just being curmudgeonly...

Beyond that, things are going o.k. i'm hating this project we're working on at work but mostly because it's a freaking lot to do/think about, not because it's going badly or anything. I just kind of want a break from obsessing about it all the time is all.... ah well. that extra hour of sleep will help i think. Halloween parties at the Bees will help as well! Yay! now i'm happy agian.

"Mommy, i have an eraser in my nose and it hurts."

This is the phrase my 6 year old used as she strolled into the bathroom minutes before i was supposed to take her to school this morning. I glanced her direction, saw no eraser and thought "Hm. maybe 'eraser' is code for dried mucus or something. Possibly a term she picked up at school." Then, being the exemplary type of parent I am, I ignored her mostly. Kept brushing my teeth. Asked her somewhat distractedly where she got the eraser from. How it got in her nose, etc. All the while, flossing the teeth, wondering about the demands of the day ahead.... "From the pencil." she said. She was "playing with the eraser. it came off the end", so she put it in her nose. "now it hurts." This, folks, was the point at which I started paying attention.
I sat her down. Examined the nostril in question and saw.. an eraser. A pink one. in her nose. Queue minor freak-out. "Omigawd, are you o.k???? An eraser?? Where'd you get that from?? Why in your nose???! K. Wait. Sit, just sit. don't touch it [scrambling through cosmetics bag looking for tweezers] does it hurt??" [she nods having already answered these particular questions but humoring me because it would seem i am FINALLY trying to be useful] Find the tweezer, silently thank god for my "collector/hoarding" ways, channel the Milton-Bradley old-school game "Operation" et viola, one pencil eraser extracted from one tiny nostril without even a small visit to the emergency room! Yay for me!/God. Why did it take me so freaking long to respond??? Useless. i am useless. And, quite clearly, not equipped to raise a "normal" child.....

And then there was pink...

O.K. so, those of you in the know, know that i'm always messing with my kids' hair. Not in any sort of "political" or "I wish you'd brush your hair more often!" kind of way because, seriously, who would i have to become to really start caring about stuff like that??? but more in a, "so you wanna be a rockstar, eh...." kind of way. So, this week-end me and the Big Big Girl were sitting around discussing hair facts and hair boredom (and "passing for straight/boring now that i'm married/in a 'respectable' job/profession") and decided it was high time she repaid the coiffure favor by helping me make my head a little more interesting to look at. Then, being decided and after doing a tiny bit of research, we took a little trip to the local beauty supply and got us some hair (mostly brown, some pink), sat ourselves down on the stoop, did some twisting and waxing et viola! A mere 45 minutes later we had Me with large, fluffy doll-like hair. Very fluffy. The predominant theme was locks without all the twisting. I gotta say, I love it! Even the Big Big Girl approves. the Little Big Girl is withholding comment but i think that's more because she was gone all week-end at some massive sleep-over birthday Hannah Montana princess party than because she actually formed any lasting opinions. I'm not entirely sure how the Wife feels but I do know she's at least still willing to kiss/snuggle me so... probably the best i can hope for at this point!

Oh! Also, wanted to give a little shout-out to the fantastically fun crew I got to hang with this past Thursday at some random PJA fundraising dinner. (That's right folks, I'm finally embracing my progressive Jewish Side!) the dinner itself was quite lovely, the company was awesome and one of the speakers, Ruth Messinger, was brilliant. Really. I want to be her when/if I grow up. Or at least just get really close to people who are really close to her so I can continue staring at her without her thinking it's creepy. :-)

One other thing i wanted to mention whilst avoiding diving into API definitions and contextual field labeling (blah...)

I love my Spark. Her school was out on Friday and we had THE best time ever! Seriously. I'd been promising her all summer that i would take her to China town and so, after a brief stop off at the place that pays my bills, we escaped into the world to do some touristy type siteseeing. Awesome! She was especially captivated by the red paper lanterns. The nice lady at the noodle bar was captivated by the sheer quantities of chow mein my Little Big Girl was able to eat. Seriously. She was sort of in awe. kept saying "She eat alot!" and giving her extra stuff (like egg rolls and potstickers and plastic monkeys. Not sure why the monkey but hey, when in ChiTown....) We also stopped in to have a peek at the Rose Window in Grace Cathedral. Have to say, the Spark was not all that impressed by the stained glass but she was all over the Friar paintings/carved gargoyle people. We had to leave suddenly though because she started asking what all the imagery was for and I didn't have a nice little succinct answer for her vis a vis 2000 years of inductive Christianity and the creation of massive (expensive) edifices supported by colonized riches. It was pretty though.

Jealous!!!

Me that is. Of Mistah L-L and his getting to spend the day with the fantastic-ness that is da Boo. Mizz Boo had the day off from school on Monday and the L-L totally stepped up (finally) to his God-Uncle duties and took her out on the town to celebrate the big 1-2. Judging by the photographic evidence.....



It would appear that they had a good time. :-)

FYI: please note that the controversy happening in the image above centers on a certain someone getting a chair and the other animals being jealous.... Hm. life lesson pour moi or just random coincidence... you decide.

First and foremost....

How freaking cute is this???!!!!


k. sorry. moving on....

something pithy goes in here...

So, i'm sort of an awkward mental place right now because it's my year one wedding anniversary and while I am DELIGHTED to have managed to remain kept for a span of time that is twice the going rate in Hollywood, I am also at work where the wife is not and I'm really feeling more "overwhelmed with work project" than all "inspirational notes for posterity" right now. i mean I will be excited -- we have a whole situation planned for the eve and I am beyond happy and content with the life and the Wife.... Basically, i feel like i need to put something here as a placeholder for the date, though so that when i do come back with all the sappy stuff (probably tomorrow), you, the readership will hopefully not think that I am completely lame/forgot the largeness of today!

In other news, Happy Birthday to my beautiful Baby brother who may or may not be turning 39 as we speak! The Wife thinks they're the same age but i'm really not sure. i sort of stopped counting after i hit 16. Suffice it to say, i know he's close enough in age to have witnessed at least two of my high school years so for that reason alone, I need to keep him happy/in my camp!

66!

You know what's easy? My life.

You know what's hard? Walking 60 freaking miles over a three day span without
1) dying
2) giving up and
3) being the world's biggest grouchy-pants after completing the ordeal and being suddenly surrounded by hundreds of happy, still-having-all-their-toenails-supporter-types who want you to remain standing so you can tell them "all about it!"

BBQ, you are an incredible, inspirational, amazing athlete and i am sooo thrilled you let me continue to bask in your reflected glory. Also, so in awe/proud that you came in 66th out of 1000+ walkers!!! You're a rock star. I {heart} you!