Roughley Manor...

It is the middle of July--so it must be scrap booking retreat time! Every summer Cathy, my super fantastic scrap booking consultant goes out of her way to find just the right place to invite all of us die-hard scrappers to for a three day weekend getaway. We have gone up to Big Bear in the past and had a great time, but this year she found us a wonderful new Bed & Breakfast called, The Roughley Manor.

This gem is located up in the high desert of 29 Palms, about 50 minutes from Palm Springs and 15 minutes from Joshua Tree National Park. Unlike the stucco and shingle roofed homes in the area, this was a home plucked right out of the east coast--stone covered, wood floors, and lovely detailed woodwork all over--isn't it just beautiful?

During dinner the first night, the owners served us a fabulous meal, and then told us a fascinating story of how the inn came to be. It is too long to post here but if you ever have a chance to google the Crozer family from Pennsylvania (they were prominent and wealthy benefactors) and their daughter left it all to be with her true love, a soldier, to make a life in the desert of California, you will find it a very good read. Every stone on the house was hand picked from the surrounding land--and all the detail work is original. It is up there where old Hollywood stars used to have their vacation homes. Truly interesting!

Anyway, if you are looking for fabulous food, a bed so comfy I wish I had found a way to bring it home with me, and hosts that were friendly, inviting, and available, you must check out The Roughly Manor! (Karen and Elizabeth--we missed you!) Oh yes--and I scrapped 34 pages in my book too! Yippee!

Changing lanes....

It is only 10 pm, and my eyelids are heavy with the weight of the days activities --begging me to let them close.  Long gone are the days where i could get my kids to sleep and then i'd look forward to the next 3 hours or so to energetically tackle all the things i had to set aside earlier. Now, I find the tides turning:  my kids are the ones eager to stay up later, with the energy I vaguely remember having, and i am the one longing for my blankie and pillow.  I don't even feel the desire to correct my grammar here.  Odd, but I never realized how subtle the lane changing would come. My babies are only ten, but they are such real people already.  Without much urging I find them assuming responsibilities--which is a relief because I am looking to release just as many.   I'd like to write more on this but I fear I may need tucking in by my kids here soon, as days seem to be passing like years.  It reminds me of the wonderful book, "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch.  If you have read it to your kids, then you should now read it to your folks.  Let them know you will always be there.  Have your kids sit and listen while you do this --teach them how to be adults who care, by being adults who care.  Read it while you can.

Remember...

to smile.  Smiles are contagious.

We were walking through the mall and Niko slid his hand into mine and said, "That lady just gave me an angry look."  I looked back at her and saw her back walking away.  "She may have been upset about something, and your eyes may have just been in her path of thought.  Next time, smile.  She probably wants to smile but needs inspiration.  Smiles are contagious.  She, or whomever it is, will have a hard time resisting smiling in return.  "

The Truth About Love....

I had been promising my son we'd give his room a fresh coat of paint for a few months now. We finally decided on a cool skateboarder gray and then went about clearing out his room. On the top shelf of his desk sat this balloon to the right--and I couldn't believe it. I had noticed

it up there over time in passing, but didn't really think about it until that day last week. I gave this to Niko last year for Valentines Day, along with a whole bunch of chocolate. It has been sitting there, fully inflated for over a year and a half! I remember telling him I had filled it with all my love. There was a point, about a month after V Day, when Lauren's deflated and I said, "Should we pop it?" He said, "No! Mommy, it's filled with your love!" I smiled and leaned down to his adorable face and gently placed my hand on his heart, "Mommy's love is in here too. The balloon may lose it's shape but my love will always fit perfectly right in here." I could see he liked what i had said but still wanted to keep his miracle balloon, so I put right back up there--until last week. It was finally starting to lose it's shape, so together we decided to let it go. Now, I wish we hadn't though! My love is indeed in his heart and he knows it, but this amazing balloon was a kinda cool reminder to have around.

So pretty....

I made some time early this summer to get my flower garden going again. The purple pretty's above are the crowning glory to the fountain in my courtyard. I love to listen to the trickeling sound of water, especially on a hot and sticky day like today. Juan reset the sprinklers for the lawn so the brown patches will fade away. Soon, I am going to find just the right foliage for the new pots I bought for out there too, and by the end of summer, I will smile again like I used to, when I drive up and see the lush greens and vivid purples and oranges of summer jumping out to say, "Welcome Home!"

Summer evening...

Boy, was it hot today or what?  I still feel sticky--and I've been indoors with the air blowing on me for two hours.  It's that layer of sweat from earlier in the day that never got to evaporate completely--it is an invisible sheen over my whole body.  I probably taste like salt!  Ewwww!!

Hee hee...well, with summer burning down on us (and the rest of the country) I thought BBQ-ing

hot dogs and smore's were in order.  I'd rather eat a fresh piece of salmon, but tonight dinner is for the kids.    I threw in some Van Camp's Pork n Beans,  and threw out all nurition, and we were good to go!  

Afterward, we turned on the pool light, the waterfall, and the bubbles in the jacuzzi. We put on our swimsuits--and now, the sweat of the day is off of us and is presently floating around somewhere in our pool.    :>

Making Strides....

Niko played his second Satellite tournament this past week. This is a jump up from the Jr. Novice tournaments he has been playing in for the past few months. We drove all the way to La Habra (which he thought was La Harda!) and he played two days in a row in blistering heat. I hid under my umbrella and paced the courts while he learned on his feet. I have to keep my distance because he tends to blame me or his Dad when he makes an error (we are working on the maturity issue), but we know when he wins, he wins on his own. Our son is just getting this concept. It is just he and the ball out there and nobody can do it for him, either way. Hopefully someday he will get past this and we will be able to actually see the matches he plays in their entirety. This past week, he made a big stride and brought home his first Satellite trophy--he made runner up! It did his confidence good and I told him, okay, you are getting a good grasp of how this is done. Now you will learn to go on the tennis website and schedule your own matches as well. I thought he'd be hesitant but he actually embraced the idea! Hmmm...maybe we made some progress this past week as parents as well.... who knows, maybe we'll actually get to see him play soon!

Book Review (kinda)...

Summertime is the only time of the year when I read to my kids like I did when they were younger.  We have time, and Niko says, "I love how you make the different voices of all the characters, Mommy.  It makes the story really interesting!"  Truthfully, I'd read to them all the time if they hadn't needed to learn for themselves.  

So, we climb up onto the big bed, make sure all the lights are on in the room (my eyes aren't what they used to be), find where we left off, and away we go into the land of imagination...

This time we chose the much touted, "Lightening Thief"  by Rick Riordan.  We've only gotten three chapters into the suspense of it all, but so far, we have cracked up at the humor, been frightened by the unknown, and (something I truly love) we have been challenged with new vocabulary words and the art of understanding many story lines all going at once.  This is the first in a whole series of books about Percy Jackson, a fictional 12 year old boy who is really the son of Zeuss, and the first movie is coming out in the first part of 2010.  It looks exciting!  If you enjoy mythology, good vs evil, and well written books based in a realistic world, you might give this one a go!

South Dakota

Can you guess where we went on vacation last week? Yep! Mt. Rushmore! If you want to go see cool history, meet friendly people, and have an affordable and family friendly good time, Rapid City, South Dakota is the trip for you!

As you can see we took a lot of photos (actually about 80 but these are a good sampling). I didn't get them in order so I'll just highlight as they go down the side here.

The first was taken atop Iron Mountain --The monument is off in the distance. It was spectacular!

The house is where Laura Ingalls Wilder's sister, Carrie, taught school for years, and the green field with the rolls of hay--well, that is pretty much the view as you drive anywhere in on the plains there. Just green, clean and lovely. So much land!

Next, I saw this in a store and thought good Ole Abe had it jsut right! Read it --you may just agree!

The kids had a blast at the Dakota's largest indoor waterpark, Watiki!

The Badlands! Created by a volcano. So cool--and it just suddenly appears in the middle of all those rolling green hills. Unbelievable! Actually, this place was bad for me--about 10 minutes after this picture was taken, I began heaving. We had to leave, and I continued to be sick for the next week. Ugh!

Walls' was fun. It is famous because it offered free ice water during the Great Depression to those traveling from the dust bowl out to california looking for jobs. The history in there is quite interesting.

Okay. See this giant bowl? Well, my crazy kids went down it over and over and over until Lauren got dizzy. Niko loved it and aasked me (begged actually) to go with him. Being the cool mom I am (and a bit of a pushover) I consented. There is a big sign at the top that says, "Do not go down backwards." Niko turned to me and said, "I have two words for you mom: Be SCARED!"

No problem there--I was terrified!! And as luck would have it, we got turned around in the bowl and shot out of the tunnel BACKWARDS!! The picture just beyond is the four of our feet as we toppled out of the slide doing a backwards somersault--and I smacked my head on the bottom of the pool! Ugh!

Next is a sign we never see in California but we saw everywhere there! A little unsettling.

The next few pics are from the tour we took of Big Thunderhead Mine. This tour guide lived his entire life in the tiny town of Keystone and was without a doubt the most entertaining host ever! We learned they mined by candlelight and it took decades to chip away and dynamite even 100 feet of tunnel through the granite!

My kids loved this day! I sat back on the bus and felt so peaceful with the rain drops coming down as we coasted through the enchanting Black Hills National Forest--and my kids, they have such a great time together when nobody is looking!

Our timing was perfect up at the monument--we climbed over 250 steps to the base of the big heads, snapped photos, read the history, and it was a gorgeous day throughout. Just as we were boarding our bus to leave it began to sprinkle--and as you can see here, the other side of the mountain had hail! EVery time we stopped though, the clouds would part and we got to see everything without effort. We went go-kart racing (dad loves this whenever we can!) and then we went to Deadwood too (Lauren said, "Unless you like alcohol, gambling and smoking you won't like Deadwood for very long. The history was interesting but this place isn't for us."

Mt. Rushmore was more accessible than I thought, more awesome in person, and somehow a bit smaller than I imagined. All in all, we learned a lot, and had fun too! Two thumbs up!

Who Knew?

Juan and I went out last night.  We got in the car and he said, "Any ideas where to go?"  We tossed around a couple of choices and then I remembered the new shops near Disneyland.  "How bout the new Anaheim Gardenwalk?"  "Oh yeah.  Let's try it."  

Don't know if any of you have had the chance to go yet (it is located on Ball Rd just south of Harbor).  It has 5 levels of stores and restaurants, and even a live band.  The parking structure is adjacent and it all feels very new and safe.  We opted to have dinner at the new Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant, and we really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere.  You see movie memorabilia everywhere and the staff is very friendly and service was prompt.  AFterward, we discovered they have a multi-plex up on the top level.  Our timing was good so we chose a movie and went inside.  That is where the real fun began...

First, the marquee shows you how many seats are left for each showing, and also there is a 21+

before the listing of a few shows but not before all of the titles.   Odd, but okay.  We walk in and it didn't have all the bright kaleidoscope of colors all the Edwards or Regal theatres have.  It was very calm, like a brand new model home.  We made our way to the front of the line and asked for two tickets to see the new Johnny Depp film about John Dillinger.  She said, "May I please see your ID's?"  It was an R rated film because of all the gangster violence, but I didn't bring my purse and really didn't think I'd need it.  Juan showed her his, and then she looked at me.  "I'm old enough-really."  I said this with a smile, and almost considered leaning in closer so she could see all my age-related wrinkles when she said, "I'm sorry.  You'll have to go to the Customer Service desk."  --and without another moment of consideration, dismissed us with a 

finger pointing very seriously to the left.  I almost cracked up.

Feeling like we were being sent to the principals office, we walked over to the grown up behind the other counter and said, "She sent us over here.  All we want to do is see a movie."  Not to be deterred, he asked for me ID , and when I repeated my story, he said, "Well, you won't be able to buy a beer to drink  during the movie, and you'll have to wear this red wristband."  I thought maybe for a moment that I was on candid camera.  Then, when I looked down at my new wristband, I knew this was for real.  "This is the 21 and over theatre.  We have to be very careful that only adults enter because we allow alcohol in there.  It is the only theatre of it's kind right now and the state is very serious about the regulations."  At that point, I wasn't sure I wanted to go into that kind of theatre, but he handed us our tickets and we were off down a long quiet private hall.  

There were about 5 of these theaters on this side of the cineplex---and boy was security tight!

Like castle guards, every door had an movie employee, all standing guard.  We stopped to get a bag of Peanut M & M's for Juan and I was stunned at the assortment of beverages--alcohol in kind of beer bottle you can imagine!  We don't drink but if we did it would be hard not to find something we liked.  Anyway, the door opened to the theater and we were both hit instantly with a whoosh of new car leather smell.  It smelled so good!  We rounded the corner, and we couldn't believe it--every single seat was a black leather, wide seated recliner!  Had we just walked into someone's private home theater?  A little lightheaded, we sat down, made ourselves comfortable, and  proceeded to enjoy the movie--in the quietest theater we have ever been in!  It was better than being in the comfort of our own home.  Truly unbelievable--and I'd suggest you go try it out, but I am still not sure I wasn't being Punk'd!

The King of Pop...

By now, we have all seen a montage of pictures, and a hashing and a rehashing of this man's life; both personal and professional, and his death; both personal and professional.   The one thing I got about his personal life was:  he was a good father that raised sweet, unaffected, kind and centered children.  The one thing I got about his professional life was:  he worked incredibly hard for all of us for nearly 50 years, and even though he tried to meet the demands of an insatiable public, he just got tired living that life.  Very tired.

In 1989, I was working at Paramount Studios as a page.  Our job was to work the shows with live audiences.  That particular day, I was assigned to the "Arsenio Hall Show" and the guest that night was a young 30 year old singing phenom named Michael Jackson.  He had been famous so long, there wasn't anyone who didn't know him or one of his songs.  The street just outside the soundstage was lined with screaming adoring adolescents (and a whole army of security too!).  As luck would have it, I was standing right there as his limo pulled up along side the stage (late, but still in time for the show) and as his driver opened his door a smiling, energetic, happy to be there, Michael stepped out.  I gotta tell ya, he was just like you see on all the clips--he looked me right in the eye, nodded his head, and said with a smile, "Hello." It was the softest and sweetest voice, almost childlike.  He was 6 years older than me, yet I felt like I could have been the elder.  The fans screamed on the street, and he turned to wave.  He turned back and with a nod, signaled he was ready to go...

His performance that night was pure entertainment.  He loved his talent as much as we did.

What I saw, in person, was his persona backstage--just a nice regular guy that could turn it on

for the audience with the snap of his fingers.  His talent was undeniable even by his harshest critics.  I won't comment on the controversial stuff because I wasn't there and don't know one way or the other, but for one night in 1989, I was there, and Michael Jackson indeed lived up to--no, surpassed-- the title, "King of Pop!"

It Feels So Good to Feel So Good...

It started with an upset stomach.  Then an ache around the base of my skull spread like a tight ribbon encircling the back of my head and meeting at the top of my head, pounding out the tune of my heartbeat.  Soon my forehead and temples joined the onslaught, and before I knew it, I was vomiting.  Heaving, actually.  Saw the yummy salmon from the night before, the red tomato from my fresh salad, and a whole slew of morsels now not so appetizing in this form.  I continued to throw up for the entire night, next morning, and then once that was gone, my body refused to relax.

Alarms were going off all over me, as my every muscle was sure it had been pummeled by a baseball bat, and why wasn't I doing anything about it?  Every single day, I'd wake up and the same migraine, and neck ache, and upset tummy.  It went on and on.  That was a solid week ago This morning, I woke up, and I still could not move my neck.  Doc says she thinks I must have torn the muscles at the base of my neck during my trip to the dark side.   Muscles take a long time to heal, and I have a life I need to tend to.  I should not have been driving today, but I had to work--or try to work, so I did.  Shame on me, I know.  Aaron, our mailman, and my good friend, said, "You ain't never gone get them muscles healed if you don't be givin your body some time to rest."  I was reminded of his words over and over again throughout the day, as I 

glanced down at the coaster my water bottle stood on--it was a present he brought me back from the Bahamas.  No matter how down I am, I can still see the good in most moments.  But did I rest?  No.  I answered the phone and helped a customer.  Then my friend, Eileen, called. We were going to meet for a birthday dinner tonight, but I just couldn't see being able to sit without being in pain.  She suggested IBUPROFIN.  I have never been one to medicate, and was trying Tylenol but to no avail.   A week of intense pain is a long time, and she assured me it is great for muscles.  We rarely get sick, so I never learned this tid bit of golden help.  Eileen, from the bottom of my heart--THANK YOU!!!!!  I still have a bit of the remnants of pain above my right eye, and I still cannot turn my head all the way either way, but the ability to swallow, to see, and to breathe without feeling my own heartbeat pound in my temples is back!  I can touch my neck without it feeling bruised too.   I was able to take an afternoon nap, and turn my body (albeit cautiously) and sink into the bed however I wanted to.  I passed out and woke up feeling free.  What a difference!  It feels so good to feel so good!