Those People

For the next week, we are "those people".

Those people that you get stuck behind on a two lane, windy Coastal highway with very few passing lanes.

We are borrowing my parent's 34 foot RV for a road trip to California. Our plans include two days in San Diego to visit family, the San Diego Zoo and the Wildlife Park. Santa Cruz to play at the Boardwalk. Los Angeles for a day at Universal Studios and then a stop on Hollywood Blvd. San Francisco for the Exploratorium, Fisherman's Warf and Pier 39. Then to Mendocino for a full-of-pictures day at a Botanical Garden. We'll have a few other stops along the way, but the RV will be home-sweet-home.

To be honest, we really aren't "those people" because Jamie doesn't drive like he's in a 34' RV. Here's to safe travels and a fun Spring Break!

Eating the goods & bads

Jamie and I have been pretty good about following the nutrition program for the P90X program we are doing. We've been weighing and measuring foods, mostly. We've been writing down what we eat, mostly. And we've been eating healthy, mostly. Even when we've gone out to eat, we looked up the nutritional information of the menu and chosen wisely.

One thing that we both really like, and were already eating, is fresh fruits and berries. I think we've eaten 100lbs of strawberries in the past month alone. And, I eat yogurt almost every day for the probiotics.

The other day, I had a homemade pear & low-fat granola muffin, strawberries & blackberries and yogurt. It was perfect.

This morning, however, I had 5 teenage girls that wanted Cinnabon for breakfast. Jamie bought them a box of minis and when I was getting everything ready, including another basket of strawberries, I couldn't help myself and ate a Cinnabon.

A full of fat and calories Cinnabon mini.

And it was FAN-tab-u-lous!

I feel terrible for eating it, but the thing was singing (SINGING) to me and I just couldn't help it. The girls' metabolism won't even notice the fact that they each had two or three minis, but mine is screaming at me right now. And as soon as they are done taking over my living room, I'll be joining Tony Horton (P90X founder) for an hour of Kenpo and abs.

Lucky me.

Culture Fair

Culture Fair = stress for 8th Graders and their parents.

Culture Fair is the first major project that the 8th Grade students at Highland Park had to do. It was a project that they had a couple of months to research and complete; most all of it being done at home. And, most all of it being done in the last couple of days of course. Which was a bit more of a stresser for parents than the students I think! But, whewww, Culture Fair is now complete. Well...there a speeches in class next week, but that's the easy part right?

The students' project boards were shown to the public last night. There were a lot of students proud of their work and boards. And, of course, some that weren't. But most of them looked great!

Here is Makena and her board - her project was life in the 1930's. She did the history of the 1930's and then her personal aspect was of her great-grandmother (my Gram) who was born in 1931. Oh, and Hailee is here showing her Czechoslovakian Potato Ball that goes with her project.

And me...showing my relief that all went well.

Makena did a lot of work and we are proud of what she did. She also learned a lot about how things have change in the past 80 years of life.

Organizing - Part 2

Organize kitchen - check.

Organized bedroom and the spare room/junk room/guest room/craft room - work in progress.

Because both of these room have so much stuff in them, it's more like a re-decorating project.

It purged the bedroom closet last weekend. I filled up an entire xl garbage bag full of clothes and shoes for our garage sale this summer! (I'm thinking that means I get to buy new clothes now.) But there is so much more work to be done.

About 8 years ago, Jamie told me that we could get a new bedroom set. We still have yet to agree on what we want, and most of the time it's not a priority. But, I've been on the "search" again. I think that I'll just have to order the bed that I want, have it delivered and work forward from there. It's kind of like the artwork in our house. We haven't really agreed on that either, so I've just been slowly replacing them with what I want. (And I'm really liking how it's working so far!)

So, the first thing changed in the bedroom is the artwork hanging above our bed.

I had canvases made and I love them! They are going to look FAN-tastic with a new bed too.

The spare room/junk room/guest room/craft room, now that's a never-ending project. It used to be Jamie's office too. There is a futon for guests. There is a long dresser from the bedroom set, which holds misc clothing, scrapbooking paper & items and misc photos. There is a bookshelf which also holds scrapbooking items and albums. There is a little craft cart which holds everything needed for my Simpixty notecards. And the closet is full of office supplies, Relay items, suitcases, and large filing cabinet and I don't know what else.

Pretty much...it's a junk room, a catch-all, and it's driving me crazy. What is also driving me crazy is Jamie working from the living room. So, I've decided to put back in a small desk and shelving unit. This will get rid of the furniture that is in there now, other than the futon, and also give Jamie a desk to use until he decides to either rent or buy an office. This will also give me a space to work on my craft stuff. And, when we have guests, everything can be put away.

As I said, it's a work in progress. I'm hoping to have things done in the next couple of months though, so I'd better get to shopping!

Online shopping

One of my very favorite things to do is shop online. I don't have to deal with people AND I can do it from the comfort of my own home! Recently, I've been on Amazon.com a lot.

I don't usually buy books; I like to borrow them from the library. I do tho like to highlight or underline things in some books, therefore I have to buy them. My most recent purchase is the Digital Photography box set from Scott Kelby. I borrowed it from the library, but they wouldn't let me renew it (or write in it), so I broke down and bought it for myself. It was worth it tho.


The other little goodie in the above picture is my new memory card holder. It safely holds 8 memory cards. It's waterproof and shatterproof. It perfectly fits my old memory cards just as well as the two new ones that I also ordered from Amazon.com.

The best part - they all shipped together and I didn't have to pay for shipping!

All about Amber

Yeah - an entire post about ME! I know...how exciting right?!?

Just wanted to share a couple of things that you may or may not know about ME.

• I am right handed.
• I remember Mount St. Helens blowing up. It was just a couple of days before my 5th birthday. I remember collecting ash with the neighbor kids. I remember people wearing face masks because they were worried about getting sick. I remember that I was not one of them; apparently my mom wasn't either.
• It's very difficult for me to sit still for long periods of time. I usually can't sit through an entire movie.
• In 5th grade, I was dared to put my arm in the center part of the fold-up lunch table. My arm got stuck, the lunchroom was evacuated 911 was called. The fire department had to use a chainsaw to cut the table in half so that my arm would not have to be broken. I, of course, thought they were going to cut my arm and screamed/cried like crazy. I still remember that the green sweatshirt made a funny noise when I moved. I also still remember all of the other kids faces peering at me through the lunchroom windows.
• My parents are divorced; which gave me two other wonderful parents and additional family.
• I got a job when I was 14; a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant. I worked there for four years and ate enough Chinese food to last me the rest of my life.
• I've had my heart broken.
• I used to drive an orange Yugo.
• I like to clean with bleach and a toothbrush.
• I have a younger sister. And, I'll admit, I was the better behaved child. (My mom told me so.)
• There are so many things going on in my head that my mouth usually can't keep up.
• I was in three car accidents from 16 to 18 years old. Two of them were in my High School parking lot. One of them was very embarrassing and ended up with me being taken away in an ambulance.
• I like to vacuum my house every day. If it's been more than two days, I start to feel like I can't breathe.
• I often say 'finner' instead of 'finger' and I pronounce 'knife' how it is spelled - 'k-nife'. I also like to say 'fragile' how it sounds - either 'frag-Ile' or 'fragil-ee'.
• I tend to exaggerate...a little. Actually, I do it so often that I have to point out when I'm not exaggerating.
• I don't like feet; they gross me out. I can't stand to be touched by someone else's feet and I don't enjoy my feet being touched. BUT, I can kiss babies feet all day.
• I still have nightmares about forgetting my locker combination in High School.
• I like beer. Good beer that is. (Okay, you might know that about me.)
• I get pissed off almost every time I drive. I think other drivers drive slow on purpose. I think most pedestrians are thoughtless people. And I can't figure out how our society got so lazy that we can't turn on blinkers.
• I met my very best friend, Dylona, in 7th grade band class. She liked me even though I had poofy hair, a retainer and wore yellow shoes. (Who wouldn't right?)
• I'd much rather read a book than sit and watch tv. I'd much rather poke my eyes out than watch reality tv.
• I have three tattoos and want two more. I got my first one when I was 18; my very best friend was with me.
• I used to want to be an author. I have written (long) short-stories but have never shared them and don't plan to. I had to share one for my Senior Project and still hate that to this day.
• I don't usually care what other people think of me, but I am very hard on myself. I'm still working on that though.
• I never wanted to have children, but Makena was the best gift I have ever been given.
• I can't eat a banana without gagging. A good reason why I don't eat them very often.
• I judge people. I know it's not a good thing to do, but I still do it. I most often do it at the grocery store.
• I played the clarinet for six years and the oboe for two. I hated every day of it.
• I became a cheerleader to get out of being in the band. I hated every day of it.
• I have a phobia of public bathrooms. But, it could be a phobia of any other bathroom than my own.
• I am a germ-a-phobe. (See above) Some days are worse than others and I have no explanation for that.
• I like pigs. I have a lot of them. The first pig I ever bought is a little caricature called 'Al Ca-pig' - he has a little tie, hat and gun so that he looks like Al Capone.
• My middle name is Lee.
• I like things done a certain way (my way) so I tend to do things myself. I've learned that this is not a good thing as far as cleaning the house is concerned.
• I am happiest when I'm with my family.

I didn't realize that there was so much to tell. Apparently, I like to talk about ME more than I thought!