My sister just made me laugh on the phone. She generally does as we have a similar sense of humor and are both practical people.

She apparently broke up with her boyfriend yesterday with the line,

” Stick a fork in me, I’m done!”

He didn’t reply. He knew better.

It finally came around in the calendar , three nights away floating in the Pacific off the west coast of the USA and Mexico. Just me and the hubby. Never done before without the kids BUT  it will be repeated!!

What fun we had! Boarded the Carnival fun ship at 2 pm after grandma arrived and started filling the kids up with sugar…bye! We left from Long Beach right alongside the Queen Mary. A little bubbles to toast us on our way before we even left the parking structure , wheeee , through the check in process and onto the cruise ship.

A floating hotel with 2400 guests and even more with staff. We opted for the inside room as it was the cheapest and when you are running away , it doesn’t matter about the view! There was a queen bed and a pretend window with drapes to give the illusion of not being in the cheap seats. That actually helped with my claustrophobia.

We had endless food , cocktails, conversations with strangers at dinner , danced to bands, laughed at a Columbian comedian, drank mimosas, went on a winery tour, drank tequila and actually talked to each other! None of the above  usually happen in our noisy , kid full house.

It was bliss.

I left the ship with a heavy heart and headed home. The minute we walked in and were greeted with hugs and kisses from the littles , I knew it is where I am supposed to be.

Doesn’t mean I’m not planning the next trip without them though!

I have 3 wonderful , adventurous, rambunctious boys.

This photo depicts my 6 year old , middle boy,  who is a daredevil extreme.

I heard a voice calmly but determinedly calling ” could someone help me please?” I step out to see this. Shouting for him not to move , and a quick assessment of no threat to life  , I did what any mom should do…..grabbed my smartphone out of my pocket and took the shot.

This is so typical of the middling that I’m more amused than fazed when these types of incidents occur.

Should be a keeper as a memory to share with a future wife and grandchildren! I can see me now, chortling and my old fingers pointing at this saying ” when your daddy was a little boy..,,” yes, that is what I’m looking forward to in the years to come.

Memories.

We are heading out on a cruise soon and these are bag tags I embroidered , and a custom shirt I designed and ordered from etsy.com

Looking forward to being on the high seas ! Ahoy matey.

Potty training a 2 year old girl this week. Thank heavens for smartphones and kindles.

This is the view I’ve had whilst sitting on the floor getting a cramp in my back and struggling back up after 15 minutes of cheering, checking my facebook ,reading a chapter of my book, encouragement, offering m and m’s in exchange for just a little peepee.

We have big girl panties for her to wear, but only moments after the potty resistant 15 minutes, are soaking wet and it doesn’t phase her.

The boys were easier to train, aiming at Cheerios in the toilet bowl and sinking them with streams of yellow glory.

It was heard coming from the bathroom one morning ” make an X” and as I peeked in I saw them both standing at the toilet bowl peeing so that their wee crossed over each other ….making the letter X. You don’t see that on Sesame Street. Today’s letter brought to you by peepee.

I will be glad to have her out of her diapers soon. Patience will pay off in the next few months as will the warmer weather coming and being able to run naked in the back yard….her , not me 😜.

I held a Christmas party this past year and we showed the Disney movie “Frozen”  outside with all of the party essentials.

I confess I did spend a long time online , looking up themed , cute concepts for the night, including purchasing five pounds of blue candy melts and proceeded to dip anything that didn’t move in melted chocolate.

I bought a 6 feet high Anna and Elsa cut out for photo ops , anything that was blue , white or snowflakes was purchased and hung, draped or placed strategically around the patio. Even the towels in the bathroom were embroidered by myself with Frozen quotes.

Hot chocolate, hot cider and blue cocktails were prepared .

I knew all the songs by heart in case I was called upon to lead a singalong .

We had about 50 guests turn up and appeared to all have a great time!

As the evening was coming to an end I heard two ladies chatting about my efforts and the decor to which one replied ‘” yes, but you know she is a Pinterest freak?”

I wasn’t , and am still unsure as to how to take that comment. Am I clever or weird? PHAT and SICK are now positive terms, is FREAK?

I find it very pinteresting.

I had the pleasure of meeting a very strong mother, wife, and cancer fighting lady this past week ,and she is one tough and amazing woman! You may have seen her tell her story on the Ellen Degeneres show a little while back. I saw it on YouTube as we don’t have cable.

Read her story at:

http://www.fightlikesarah.com/

She is a young local lady who has five children , and a very lovely , soft spoken husband , fighting a very persistent cancer and being both honest and humorous about it whilst she must be so very scared. She is the type of person that makes you stop and think about priorities and family, or just stop and think.

We have been following her on Facebook for a while now and had the honor of spending a fun filled New Years Eve with her and her friends at a fundraiser. She was exactly as I pictured but much softer. When you hear ‘fight’, you think tough as nails. No, this lady is elegant, loving,  gentle, and has a deep spirit.

https://www.facebook.com/fightingcancerwithsarah

I encourage you to visit her page and drop her a word of encouragement.

I’m happy to have met her , and I wish her all the very best with her treatments , she WILL fight like Sarah.

August 6th 2015 update :

It is with a heavy heart , that I inform you of Sarah’s passing last week. She fought so hard against the disease that is triple negative breast cancer and for her family . She leaves behind 5 children and a doting , heartbroken husband , Andrew.

RIP Sarah Friend Amento ❤️

Happy New Year , welcome to 2015!

Feel any different? I don’t ,but I will. I have an internal refresh button and I intend on hitting it first thing tomorrow morning. All in good time. There’s a cold bottle of prosecco in the fridge and a chicken pie with mashed potatoes to be consumed today.

All of the Christmas cookies and chocolate are gone, okay by gone I mean late night munching in bed with a cup of coffee. Couldn’t just trash them, that’d be a sin that I’d never get over. I’d also probably have sneaked them back out and eaten them anyways.

We did  a massive trip to Costco to buy ‘healthier ‘ options. No chips, cookies or white bread .Egg whites and spinach is what’s for breakfast. I love thick white bread toasted and dripping with Irish butter. It shows …..on my hips, thighs and butt!

The song ‘All about the base’ ‘Baby got back’ yup , that’s written about my derrière. I have a Kardashian sized rear and no money or pretty face to back it up   . Luckily no rap singer or foul mouthed Lord wannabe husband either.  Mine says I look fine. Thanks lover, but I have gained a few and nothing fits.

One weight gain bonus is the boobs , I have gained 2 sizes. Alas that will be the first to leave also. But they can be bought !

I have a beautiful walk in closet full of clothes that currently do not fit me  BUT I can save myself a fortune in shopping for bigger clothes just by changing my diet. Can’t hurt to try.

I AM very comfortable in my skin, just not in my jeans !

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 18 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

I just just love Christmas, no make that the whole of December!

Cookies, fudge, gingerbread, cooler temperatures ( not cold, it’s Southern California) , hot chocolate, late night gift shopping online but most of all….our elf, Elvan , appears!!!

He amuses the children every morning with his antics, hiding in the tree, flour angels, bringing treats , etc.

This of course is only limited by my imagination , and whether or not I even remember to change his location.  I usually have my shower and am settling down in bed when my last waking thought is the Elf. I jolt upright, stumble down the stairs ,and scramble my brain to think of a new place to stage him.

Being as organized as I am, you would think I would have  plan for the 24 days we do this, but this year I don’t. So throw him in a jar and put the lid on, yup that’ll get a laugh! If I forget , I can always claim that one of the children must have made him sad and so he stayed put. Guilt the toddlers??

Sure.

Here are a sample of what our Elvan gets up to .

if you are unfamiliar with the concept check out http://www.elfontheshelf.com

Goodnight, and yes,  he is in a new place tonight !