Two of my fave things... my girls and making chocolates!
Amy and Ally took a short trip and took some photos... I took a few off the computer for myself.
I've been baking and making up a storm the last week. I made at least 30 boxes of chocolates and I still have a little more to go... I told Ally that I have a sickness in that I can't stop making food. She said she has a sickness in that she can't stop eating food. Ha!
Our Christmas shopping is pretty much done except for the stocking stuffers. Ally is off school for two weeks, and I am off work for all of next week. I am so looking forward to being off work, but not traveling. My BFF is coming in to town for a two days and we already have plans for massages, a limo ride, and attending Lamb's Players. Can't wait!
We were horsing around while taking some photos for our annual Christmas letter...
Out of 30 photos, we came up with about 7 that we liked.
Our Christmas decorations are up and gift lists are being prepared. I am really looking forward to having a week off with no plans. Ally and I are in a skit on Christmas Eve at the church. We are having a full blown Christmas Eve service and then a scaled back one on Christmas Day. Since Christmas falls on a Sunday, I imagine many people have plans that don't include church. Sad, since it is CHRIST'S BIRTHDAY! Maybe the kids will actually get up to open presents before noon since they know we will have church. HA!
It's been C-O-L-D -- well, cold for here anyway. Chris got the frost off the car today and warmed it up for me today. Hooray! I can't complain since he's outside at the border all night, and he said it was 36 degrees the other night! I would just sit in the truck all night with the heater on and yell threats out my window to people trying to sneak across the border.
We are going to Del Mar today to the movies at the luxury cinema where they have recliners for seats and call buttons for service. Fun!
We drove to Sedona to spend Thanksgiving with friends. We truly have much to be thankful for! Had a great time -- here is a photo of Chris (and his friend, Steve) on a hike. I am not a hiker, and that's definitely not my idea of a vacation.
Here we are at some shops in Sedona.
We stopped and watched six javelinas in a driveway at night. I spotted them lurking about. No one else saw any during our trip, even though we hunted for them!
Chris got an award for his four years working with Customs and the helicopter detail. Sorry to see that fun job end, but we got some gift certificates for a restaurant and the movies!
I saw the surgeon and now I have to force The Claw to move for the next six weeks or I will be sent to physical therapy, and we all know they make you howl. So I am trying to be diligent to get the movement back in my finger. I can type now, although the M and the N are a little difficult because my finger does not want to bend.
Goodbye November and hello Christmas season! This weekend we plan to put up our decorations.
We had a couple more passes to Knott's to use up by the end of this month, so I took a day off work and Chris and I went by ourselves. Turned out that Veteran's get in free this month, so we didn't even use the passes. We rode some rollercoasters, ate Mrs. Knott's famous fried chicken, and had a lot of fun. I drove back in a ton of traffic... people getting ready for the three day weekend I guess. We gave the passes to a friend who has never been there.
I screamed the entire time on this -- The X-celerator. Seventeen seconds of sheer panic.
The Boomerang... goes frontwards and backwards.
These swings were a lot of fun... 300 feet in the air!
Lots to get done for our trip to Arizona next weekend. Tonight I'm making a practice scallop corn casserole. It's supposed to rain again this weekend. Hope all the rain comes down before we travel.
I never get tired of looking at these -- this was taken at Knott's Berry Farm, also.
Had a quiet Halloween -- this is me on the step scaring people. The Charger game was on, and I was listening to it in the background. It was very scary! We lost in overtime. So many mistakes in that game... even the cats can't watch, they prefer to check out the treaters. We had about 80 treaters and gave out our usual full size candy bars -- Hershey's, Resees, and Kit-Kats. Yum!
Ally was a three hole punch. I don't know where she gets her crazy from!
Amy got her license back. She hasn't driven in six months. Finally she can drive herself to school and meetings. Which means less running around for me. Yes!
Here's the senior page I made for Ally to go in her yearbook. The parents of seniors can submit one (for a fee, of course!). Wow, she will graduate in about seven months.
Finally got the pin out of my finger. It hurt when they pulled it out, contrary to what others had been telling me! I can barely bend the finger at all, and it is shriveled and useless. I go back in four weeks to see how much of a droop it will have and see how the movement is coming.
No wonder it hurt!
I took The Claw and rebandaged it... thinking about making a tree ornament out of it.
The surgeon said I can play volleyball right away as long as I splint it. I was so happy at first, but now I am thinking how in the world can I hit a ball with that finger. I am thinking I will stick to serves and bumps for awhile. I am grateful to finally have it off -- I can get it wet starting tomorrow and hopefully my little movement exercises will start helping. That finger still stands straight up while typing and driving! Good thing it's the pointer finger!
Got the Odyssey back with a new transmission. So nice, I can't even hear or feel the car shifting gears. Also got the Civic back from repairs from when the girls got backed into. I'm sick of dealing with cars and doctors...
We are in full swing with college paperwork and scholarship applications for Ally. Such an ordeal -- and all of this is just for one college.
Ally and I are off to get massages today -- using my Massage Envy membership. Mine is "free" (with monthly dues), and additional ones are $50. Just don't touch the claw finger!
We drove to Phoenix last week to visit Grand Canyon University where Ally is planning on getting her nursing education for nurse practitioner. It is a small, Christian college near downtown Phoenix. Ally spent one night in the dorms. We made fun of their mascot which is an antelope. The mascot is named Thunder, and you give the 'Lopes Up sign to show your spirit (see photo)...
We lost third gear coming back into San Diego. Didn't know what was going on at the time, but barely made made it over the mountains. The van is getting a new transmission... $3,400 -- the most we have ever paid for a car repair. However, I will say we have had the van for almost six years and never had to repair anything, besides the normal wear and tear. And it was two years old when we got it. Since it's a Honda, our mechanic says we should get at least another two hundred thousand miles on the engine. And well, I don't want any car payments, so we did it.
I had problems downloading the new operating system from Apple onto my iPad, so I was without it for two days. I almost died of withdrawal. Got it working again yesterday and almost took it to bed with me, I was so happy to have it working again.
The pin is coming out of the claw in seven days! It will have been six weeks, and I can't wait!
I need to get out my fall decorations... lagging behind -- as I seem to be doing in all areas of my life right now.
Well, my volleyball induced injury did not heal, so I had to have surgery to place a wire pin into my finger for five to six weeks. That is what I blame my lack of blog updates on. Kinda hard to type, but getting used to it now. The bone did not move back into place, so it is being forced back into place now. Hopefully the pin will help reduce the droop at the end of my finger as well. I wasn't totally under -- just a local and a sedative -- when the pin was put it, but I don't remember the surgery and, other than puking up the pain meds and having to switch to another, it hasn't been too bad. I still ice it every day, but I've only taken one pain pill in the last week. Ally came with me to have the bandage changed... I was surprised how big the pin was... EW! We call it "The Claw," and his life in photos has been being posted to Facebook.
Ally's summer lifeguard job at Knott's Soak City has ended. She is so glad, but I know she's going to miss that paycheck! Chris's job with the helicopter detail is ending at the end of this month. There are lots of areas he can get involved in with Homeland Security... ATV's, boats, even horses! Amy's "unfortunate incident" has been reduced to a Wet Reckless which means less fines, no jail time, no community service, and a three month class instead of nine. Something happened with the toxology report, and the toxologist was sick, so they offered her a deal. Her public defender said he had never seen this before, so we snatched it up.
Summer is over -- I am ready for some cooler weather!
I came to work in the office of Mr. D's almost five years ago. I was loving staying at home, but not loving the lack of extra cash! So I made a couple phone calls to friends I knew owned their own businesses and ended up running the office at Mr. D's. My friend Don owns this small business which does painting and general contracting. There are so many perks to working here. Just to list a few... Don is Christian, the office is ten minutes from my house, no traffic, work part time, wear jeans to work, so flexible (just make up the hours whenever I need time off), good pay, I am on my own a good part of each week, and the list goes on.
I do get asked about once a week if I am Mrs. D to which I answer emphatically, NO!
(I am Mrs. C people! Get with the program.)
Okay, I don't say the last part, but I think it.
We do some painting at Knott's Soak City here in San Diego, and every year we have our company picnic there for employees and their families. We had a about 80 attend this year. It's "free" food and fun for the families. Our kid's each bring a couple friends for free, too. It was about 100 degrees Saturday, but we didn't notice!
The bad sports news is that I broke another finger playing volleyball and am out for two months. Boo! I broke a piece off the top of my first knuckle of the pointer finger on my right hand. Splinted for now, but the finger end will probably droop a little forever.
The good sports news is that Chris and I went to see the Padres play the Mets. We had great seats, six rows behind the Mets dugout. The Padres lost -- it was a good game though! The game even went to extra innings. So weird -- we don't go to ball games that often, but when we do it seems like 90 percent of the time they go to extra innings.
The dreaded foam finger! We love them, Chris hates them. But I got on the big screen with them!
I actually took apart our dryer and put on a new upper felt seal, because clothes were getting caught due to a worn out seal. If you know us, you know we can rarely fix anything ourselves. Thanks to the internet -- ALL is possible! Here's a photo of my work drying -- see my professional clamps... ha ha! I probably saved $70 in labor costs.
Last week I had to take a trip to Coronado for work for just an afternoon... but what a view from the condo we were working in! Love Coronado:)
I love my kitties. People probably get tired of me posting pics of my cats on Facebook, but I swear I'm not a lonely cat lady.
We have two cats and they are about 12 years old. We got them from my friend, Lory, when her cat had a litter. They are brothers. Tigger is the striped tabby, and Cuddles is the gray one.
Cuddles is a fairly ordinary cat, no offense to Cuddles. He is a boy, but is so skinny, light on his feet, and always defers to Tigger. We have joked that he is gay. Once in awhile, when he's had enough, he will start a fight with Tigger, but most of the time he's mellow. He will also find bubble wrap and carry it out to the living room if there is any to be found.
But for the most part, Tigger is the one with all the personality. Our girls were young when we got the cats. The cats have no fear of people, because they have been played with, dressed up, pushed in strollers -- you name it -- since they were kittens. Tigger will still ride around in a laundry basket while being pushed around the floor. He will lay in Chris's arms, on his back, and let his tummy be rubbed. Tigger goes "hunting" everyday. He goes upstairs and brings down socks, pants, any clothing he can carry or drag, and leaves it as a gift on the floor downstairs. He especially does this if someone leaves the house. When Chris goes to work, Tigger has been known to go upstairs and bring down up to 15 pieces of clothing, one at a time. Clean laundry, dirty laundry -- it doesn't matter -- and Amy always has clothes all over her floor, so he has a constant supply. And he meows while bringing stuff down -- which sounds quite weird with a mouth full of clothes.
It's all nice and cute, unless we walk in the empty house with someone and there are dirty undies on the floor. Yes, he can open our sliding closet doors to get to the laundry. He has also been known to unzip my gym bag and get out my gym clothes and towels if he is desperate.
I also just found out he likes to eat ice cubes. He sleeps with his face in any stinky shoes that are lying about. He weighs about five pounds more than Cuddles, and He is so cute, I just keep taking pics! I took these this week.
Tigger on a hunting spree...
Cat fight... (this is only the middle part of the fight)
