My Good King

... when she's sleeping?! Of course, she's adorable many other times as well :) So I got a serious itch to take "real" pictures yesterday (not just pics of our house). I went out for a while to "play" with the camera, but when I got home the itch was still there, so I played around with the camera settings and got a couple of decent pictures of Ashley sleeping. Warning: this part of the post is rather "technical" in nature--so skip it if photography is seriously not your thing! I was very thrilled because the room was very dark and I somehow (don't ask me how, lol!) got this really bright picture of her. I really liked the "blown-out" effect because it emphasizes her and not her surroundings. I hardly retouched it in Photoshop--just returned the shirt to it's "black" color (it somehow turned brown in the pic), sharpened it, and reduced the grain in the shirt. Those are the kind of photos I like--the ones I spend very

I promise I'll stop posting about the remodel after next week. I just can't control myself :) But ... I must say it feels sooooo good to have a "normal" house that we don't have to be embarrased by anymore. Our house was one of the eyesores of the neighborhood (no, really--it was). Now it feels good to drive down our block and park in our driveway. This is the "before" color--yes, VERY orange, I know ;) This is how it looks as of yesterday. I'm not sure the color translates exactly in the photos. It's kind of a very light pine green (the color is called mystic pine). Reminds me of Teena's painting post, lol! And yes, we are planning to get rid of all the hideous bushes/trees in the front yard ... EXCEPT the hydrangea. No one is allowed to destroy my precious hydrangea bush--that is the main reason we bought this house (just kidding, but I do love hydrangeas). This is a close-up view: (and yes, we're aware we need to do some serious land

floating around in my head tonight: wondering if they're killing Sarah off in CSI (hope not); and if they don't, the scene is set for Sarah and Grissom to begin their long-overdue romance hoping I can make it a whole school year without getting one of those calls from a teacher :) --it's more embarrassing when you get the calls and you are a teacher--except her teachers don't know I was a teacher. (Tonight was Back-to-School Night) kind of enjoying the constant company of the workers. It dawned on me today that I'll miss them when they're gone. The first several days they made me extremely nervous, and I made sure to keep the doors locked at all times. When they installed the patio door, needless to say, I couldn't lock them out. I kind of got used to them. And now I actually feel safer with them around. ready for a new cell phone. Mine has so many "issues" it's not funny. thinking I enjoyed watching Lori's videos so much that

I'm fully recovered from yesterday's "grouch attack," thank you for asking ;) I only have ten minutes to blog. Then my "break" is up and I have to kick into "Missionettes Mode." :) So I may not make much sense, as I won't be giving much thought to my sentence construction. Good luck to you! I don't have much time to think about what to blog (I have lots of funny "Carlos" conversations, but I don't have time to recall them.), so I'll blog about the remodel. That sounds easy enough. This is the picture of the patio door I think I showed you before. This is how it looks now that they spackled it (or whatever the correct term is, lol!). It's coming along. This is how our house has looked since they sandblasted it last Friday. Funny story to go with this one. Of course, Ashley is all into her "image" now and so it's easy to poke fun at all the stuff that bothers her (including her parents, lol!) because it tar

So ... this afternoon was a flurry of activity-- the usual activity: homework, dinner (prep, eat, clean up), bedtime routines, etc. Then there were the added activities of Ashley's gymnastics and Youth Group at church. Then, in between all that, there was a visit to my mother-in-law who is in the hospital. I was also bringing my husband dinner and a few other items for my mother-in-law who is in the hospital (he's staying with her overnight). She's okay. She had low sodium, and she's doing much better now. They'll more than likely release her tomorrow or Thursday. So, can we say, "too much on my plate???!!!" I really don't do well when I have too much on my plate. I noticed myself getting really tired by 5:00 p.m. (and we hadn't even left the house yet). So I take Ashley to gymnastics, hurry home to heat up dinner for Carlito, rush to my sister-in-law's house to pick up something for my mother-in-law, rush Ashley to church (right on time--go

Today was a full day. The workers put in our patio door ... sooooooooo excited to have this door!!! The pictures look much less than impressive b/c I didn't take time to play around with them in Photoshop (CSI: Miami is on so I'm glued to the T.V, plus I have a huge load of laundry to fold still). I'm so thrilled to have this door that, good pic or not, I have to share. Like I said, we've never done anything like this before, so every little thing excites me beyond belief :-D They worked on it all day, having to break out a rather large section of the wall, take out a window and door, and move our electrical outlet and porch light. And as you can tell, they have to finish tomorrow. This is the view from the inside: This is the view from the outside: It was strange to have them in my house. But apparently, in deference to my "feminine ears," they decided to refrain from using their Spanish cuss words. That was nice :) Plus our washer is on the blink (has bee

So as I mentioned several posts ago, we are having some much needed work done around our house--first the termite tenting, then a block wall so we can finally enjoy some privacy in our backyard :), and next they are going to paint the exterior. So today they're sandblasting to prep for painting. Believe me when I say a paint job is l-o-n-g overdue. So here are some pics: Prepping for sandblasting. I'm going to be trapped in my house for about an hour. I guess that gives me more time to blog, huh? ;) This is our new block wall. Very boring, definitely not my first choice in a fence, but because all the neighbors around us put in block wall fences, it was just the most logical solution to keep a uniform look. I'm soooo happy to have it. You can't put a price on privacy. When they finished putting up the block wall, they also put cement in front of it, and one of the men let Ashley and Carlos put their handprint, names and date in the cement. I'm soooo excited about t

I usually make Ashley take her lunch three days out of the week (she "gets" to buy on the other two days, even though she doesn't actually eat the food--part of the whole "fit in with the crowd" issue) . I was having a SERIOUSLY hard time getting her to bring her lunch, and it occurred to me one day that if she took "fancier" sandwiches, she might not fight it so much. So ... I started making Chicken Salad and getting various toppings (she likes the jars of roasted peppers, pepperoncinis, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, etc.) as well as buying bolillos or other fancier sandwich breads. That went over well. It went over so well that her friends would ask for a taste, and rave about how yummy the sandwich was. They were actually jealous of Ashley's lunch (yeah! now she won't be the "geek" who brings her lunch; she'll be the girl who brings cool lunches--mission accomplished and then some!) . One of her friends I know rather well, because

Warning: LOTS of photos. I had such a hard time choosing photos. My "baby" and I left for San Diego--Starbucks in hand ;)--around 10:00 a.m Saturday. Our first stop was the hotel to "freshen up" for our Afternoon High Tea. Here are some pics at the Tea Shoppe. You can see it's a very "cutesy," cozy place. We were served a delicious, filling lunch of various tea sanwiches, scones, fruit, quiche, and dessert. Here are some pics at the Tea Shoppe. The Tea Shoppe just happens to be in a quaint, little shopping area. So we had to check it out. Here are some pics of the shopping area. Sunday we went to Sea World for a couple of hours (we have passes till the end of the year). I didn't take my camera inside, so I just took a picture of Ashley in the parking lot. I will admit, I am a crazy mom and I told her to sit on the roof of the car so I could get a good shot of the "Journey to Atlantis" ride in the background ... she was very happy to com

because I found out yesterday afternoon that a teacher I worked with for six years died of cancer on Thursday. We weren't even close; she was just "always there," if you will. She was the one who told me about the job opening at that school when I subbed in her class one day. I am surprised it has affected me so much. Like I said, we weren't close at all. I knew she had been battling cancer, but they were continuing chemotherapy, and she told the office she would return in November. It's just sticking in my brain. Yesterday we were at Disneyland and it occured to me as we were leaving that she will never get to come here anymore. The Lord quickly reminded me that she is having WAY more fun in heaven with Him than we just did at Disneyland. But still ... I think I'm sad at the finality of it. That I won't see her strolling the hallways at the school; I won't hear her voice; I won't hear her laugh; I won't get to hear her sarcastic, dry sense of

My weekend started on a wonderful note as my Mom's group met for the first time this semester. We start with an icebreaker (which I usually DETEST, but she has some really fun ones) , enjoy a nice, casual brunch as we chat and catch up on each other's lives, have a speaker (this time it was on phonemic awareness--different than phonics), and sometimes do a craft. SOOO fun! So relaxing. Our theme this year is "Precious Jewels," taken from Proverbs 31:10, to remind us that we are precious jewels! I like it! Tomorrow morning, Ashley and I will head to San Diego to spend some "girl time" together. We will begin our weekend with a "high tea" at the Cobblestone x Cottage x Tea x Shoppe , do some scrapbooking at the hotel, swim at their jacuzzi, attend church on Sunday morning, and finish off our weekend at Sea World (we have passes till the end of this year). At least that's what I have planned. Of course, we can change our minds at any time! If she

So sorry I haven't posted for a week. Is anyone even reading this anymore, lol! Sooooo busy with school starting and my Wednesday night church class starting. I feel like I haven't been able to catch my breath ... trying to catch up on housework that got put off during the summer 'cause we were too busy having fun ;) ... trying to work on establishing a routine so our days go more smoothly ... trying to be consistent in working out and having regular quiet time. ... planning our 2nd Annual "Mother-Daughter" Weekend :) just me and my Ashley ... PTA stuff ... working on breathing in between all that, lol! in short--overwhelmed. And now for some "good stuff" We had our first church class tonight and it was SO MUCH FUN!! I wanted to start off the year with something that would create energy and get them excited about coming for the rest of the year. We are working on Visual Arts, so each week we get to do a craft. The girls had a blast, and I had so much f

A layout I created of Ashley just for fun. I hope she does dare to be unique as she gets older. Click here for credits.

First Day of School: Exciting (new experiences, fresh start, more "me" time) and sad (I missed my kids today) at the same time. These are pics of them. Ashley's last year of middle school. Carlos is starting first grade. Funny story about the Skechers. We went to Ross to go through the torture of "winter clothes" shopping for Ashley, and Carlos saw these Skechers. "I need Skechers, mommy." "What?" (I actually thought I heard wrong--how could my six-year-old know about Skechers?). "These shoes, mommy. They're Skechers. I need them for school." "How do you know about Skechers?" "From T.V. I need them because my feet won't be smelly in them." (Where he got that idea I'll never know!) They were on sale so I bought him his first Skechers. I have to scrap this story so he'll have a good laugh when he's older. Many more new beginnings as well ... New year for my Mom's group I belong to. We

Since I began staying home a few years ago, I have REALLY looked forward to school starting so I could have some "me" time during the day and stick to a cleaning/home-making schedule without constant interruptions. But I've had so much fun this summer with the kids, and I've sooooo enjoyed waking up around 7:30, that I have to admit I am actually dreading Wednesday. I'm just not ready to feel the clock ticking while I'm still in bed. I'm not ready for the after-school routines, the busy schedule, and frankly I'm going to miss them. But, the flip side of the "school" coin is that I will once again have many more hours to keep the house up, run errands (without the whining!), and have "me" time. Wednesday (their first day of school) I'm really looking forward to going grocery shopping sans kids . I make myself some tea or coffee in a mug, drive to the store, and listen to praise music on my MP3 player as I shop. That's my

We went to my nephew's birthday party today. It was your typical Filipino gathering: LOTS of delicious food, smiles and laughter, and people everywhere, lol! The kids had a lot of fun--there were so many of your typical birthday party games. It struck me today that kids play these same games at hundreds of parties during their childhood and they never get tired of them. I love that. For some odd reason, it was a comforting thought. My very nice husband is the "grill maester," and being the kind brother he is, he stood outside in this sweltering heat for a few hours to barbecue all the YUMMY meat for his sister (and us!). What a nice guy, huh? This is some of the food. Hope you don't drool too much, Teena :) First we have ... pancit, a traditional Filipino noodle dish. I LOVE the way my sisters-in-law make it. This is the YUMMY meat. LOVE this stuff! And then we had some ceviche (not Filipino obviously!) and Chinese Chicken Salad. And another thing I love about Filipin

Went to a "Missionettes Mini Retreat" today. Sooo fun, sooo relaxing, and so much accomplished. Diana hosted it at Furmin Park (sp?) from a house there overlooking the ocean ... right next door to the amazing lighthouse. We had a yummy breakfast .... fruits, muffins, bagels, fruit salad, etc. and this was the view as we ate our lovely breakfast and lunch. Pretty cool, huh?! I think this year we will be more organized and cohesive. It's a lovely, fun bunch of ladies with some great ideas. I'm so excited for the year to start! I wanted to take a bunch more pictures, but time would not allow. Well, let me re-phrase that: I did have time while everyone was eating (that would have been a nice shot as well), but I was too busy enjoying the conversations at my table to get up and miss out on some good conversation by taking pictures. Oh well.