Driving to Disneyland.

It was very slow going, considering my nearly 4 year old in the back seat had asked if we were at Disney when we hadn't yet left the city limits of Tucson. Lovely. Our highest elevation throughout our trip was at 4185 feet.

There were 4 US Border Patrol check points between Tucson and Anaheim. When I asked Alexa what the doggies were "sniffing" around the cars for, she replied cheerfully, "dog food!" Of course.

Upon our arrival, after driving for what felt like 3 days, we checked into the hotel and we drove straight over to Disneyland park. They have a nightly display of fireworks right behind the castle, that was neatly choreographed to the music of many Disney movies. The elaborate display was a good explanation for why their hot dogs cost $6 dollars and single bottles of water cost $3 dollars.

After a good nights rest, we headed back to the park. Here are just a few of my favorite shots.

Oh, and for the record... Alexa took one look at Mickey Mouse and said, "uh-uh". It was not happening. He even made some gestures for her to come to him, and she responded in kind with a loud shrill scream. Tears quickly followed. Eddie turned out to be my best subject by far. Day one is complete, and I'd like to call it a success. Fun was had by all.

Picnik.

This is one of the neatest things I've seen in a long time. I have to admit. I've never even heard of this website until the ever fabulous Mcmommy shared the news with her readers on her new review blog. First of all, it's a simple, easy to use photo editing website. You don't have to have mad skills, you don't have to own photoshop, or paint shop either. It's almost impossible to make mistakes. You can also upload pictures pretty fast. You can cut, crop, fix red eye, add fun effects, text and make photo collages. I jumped on there tonight to check it out, and it's really a lot of fun.

In just under 10 minutes, I made collages and edited a few photos from the ones that I currently had on my computer. Then it allows you to save the pictures right back to your computer, or even to your photobucket account, or facebook. I highly recommend this site. Go check it out for yourself. Here is a sampling of what I did. If I felt any better, I would have done more. This website is really quite cool. Picnik.

Me being crafty.

So, I have my cat carrier all ready to go and fly down to Santiago. My only issue was that it was all hard, plastic and would probably get a bit cold during the flight. So I started looking for some type of pet bed liner type thingy that would make the carrier a bit more cozy for my cat. I found a few cute things at the store. But they were either too small, or way too big. There was nothing that was just right. Then I just decided that I was going to get an old towel and throw it in there.

I honestly didn't like that idea very much. So I decided on making something myself. I have a small creative streak in me, and I can operate a sewing machine. So I headed off to Joann fabric store today and bought some supplies. I didn't have a pattern, I was just going to wing it as I went along. I figured it wouldn't be too difficult since the cat carrier bottom in question is simply rectangular in shape.

Here is what I came up with. I bought a 1 inch thick piece of foam, a little larger than the carrier. I cut it down to size when I got home. I then bought the fabric. One side is a cute purple and black leopard print, the other is a fleece tie dyed purple. It only took me about 1 hour from start to finish. I think it came out pretty cute. And now, my cat can relax in style. Oh and I will be adding puppy pee pads to the carrier. But I'm really in love with the fabric I found today. Here is the top of the bed (liner).

And this is the underside. Of course, it really wouldn't matter which side you use. I just love it. I also bought extra fabric. I think I might make something larger with it, once we get settled in.


I love projects where you can do it yourself. I am especially fond of the super easy ones. And this bed was a cinch to make. What do you think of it?

random-ness

Today I went to a lovely place for lunch. It's called Chopped. They make your salad to order, and cut it up right in front of you. I could tell that it was going to be good when we couldn't even get a parking space out front. The entire lot was full, and people were parking in adjacent lots and walking over just to get in. The line was very long, and every seat in the place was taken. While we stood in line, and while we ordered I kept eyeing the colorful salads that were whisked by me, and marveled at the size of the salads that were being eaten at almost every table. They also serve soups and sandwiches there, and have a few good choices for their kids menu. I pondered how I was going to eat a salad of that proportion. In my lifetime, I have never ever finished any single salad that was placed in front of me, not one that was ordered as a main dish. You see, there is always too much. So I always end up leaving some. Today was different.




I.ate.the.whole.thing. Oh, how yummy it was. I mean, I just couldn't stop. You see, sometimes I have a real problem with salads because the person who prepared it, did not cut the lettuce up in small enough pieces. And this salad had perfectly chopped pieces. It was amazing! I kid you not. I enjoyed it so much. I am actually plotting when to drag any one of my family members back there again. Oh, and to let you in on a little secret, they use a tool called a mezzaluna. It's an arched shaped double cutting thingy. It's soo cool.

So we went promptly over to Williams Sonoma and purchased one. Well, actually my mom got one from that store. I bought mine from Crate and Barrel. Mine came with a wood chopping block. I love it. I want a salad right now.

We did a little shopping. And my kids stayed with their loving Aunt. Today was a glorious day. A fabulous salad, topped with kid free time is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Oh, and did I mention that dh is coming home?? We are soo psyched about this, I can't stand it. I miss him so much. He will be getting here on Saturday.

Oh and please forgive the quality of the pictures, they were all taken from my cell phone. Here is one of me and my babes from this morning. The thing that gets me in this picture, is how long Alexa looks. Her legs, her whole self. She looks huge to me. Just huge. She's only 2 1/2.

Took my daughter to the vet today.

Actually, it wasn't because she needed shots or anything. I took her along, because I was silly in my thinking. I was just plain wrong when I thought she might behave herself. Oh how wrong I can be.


My cat, who is 15 lbs plus his new carrier (not weighed), were very heavy. He sat in the car and meowed the entire ride to the vets office. I am thankful that we didn't have a longer ride. My sister was kind enough to watch Eddie for me. If I would have known that my two year old sweetie pie (read: STINKER) was going to act like an actual terrible two year old, I would have begged and pleaded until my eyes bled, or thrown large amounts of cash at my sister if that didn't work left her at home.



Most times, well just about every time when I split up the children, they each behave better. I think they egg each other on. To act like little wild animals. I wish I were kidding. But they do tend to be somewhat normal when they are not together. And Alexa especially. Oh. Except today. Except when I take Corona to the vet to get checked up, and for some shots. You see, this isn't a normal thing we do. Corona never goes in the car for a ride, and we rarely take him anywhere outside the home. He's a cat, not a dog. So I guess it makes sense that he stays home and lounges around.


Well this whole idea of cat in the new carrier and in the car just sent "miss thing" over the edge. She was extremely worried about him in the car. All the meowing had her asking me every two seconds if he was ok. She was singing to him, talking to him, and telling him, and I quote: "Iss OK, mommy's here, iss ok Kuh-oh-nah." All the way to the vet.



So Corona got a bit nervous and peed in the carrier. Fab. The next thing I know, they are asking me to take him out. um.... nuh 'uh. Nope. You got a hose? I told them what had happened, and said I wasn't doing it. They brought a towel, and we drug him out of his cage. (oh that sounds so bad) But you know what I mean. We had to pull him out. And then they took my carrier and hosed it down for me, then brought it back. I toweled him off, and then got some paper towels and washed off his paws and tail.


At this time, miss thing is bouncing off the wood stool there in the vets exam room. She's singing dancing, and chasing the cat around. The cat is trying to hide. Unfortunately he found that there was absolutely nowhere to run. He cowered in the corner. I tried to get her to sit. She kept opening the doors. The cat tried to run out.


And then one of the nice veterinary assistants came in and gave her a bag of goodies. Some crayons, stickers, coloring book and two lollipops. I allowed her to eat one, hoping it would keep her busy. Wouldn't you know it, she can climb the exam table and swing from it while eating the lollipop. Yup, sure can. And the table. I couldn't imagine, nor did I want to, the germs. I pried her hands off, sternly told her to sit, while I dug through my purse for the sanitizing gel. No quicker can I turn around that she is at it again. And oops! The lollipop falls to the ground. I fly to grab it in one lightning quick motion. As you know kids, they would pick that bad boy back up and replace in mouth without a hesitation. Um, I beat her to it, and quickly threw it away. She was sad.


Her sadness was quickly replaced with intrigue as the doctor entered the room. "Why is that man doing that? What is he doing mommy?" He took Corona out of the room briefly, but then brought him back. "Why is he taking our kitty cat mommy? Is he gonna bing him back to us?" I answered all her questions, yet tried to pay attention to his questions, and ask some of my own. It was interesting to say the least.



Alexa dug through the bag. She grabbed the second lollipop. Earlier she had stated that she was going to take that one home for Eddie. Aww, how sweet, I thought. She began to look at the lollipop, she thought about her options and she told me, "Mommy, I'm going to hold this for Eddie. I'm just going to hold it." And she played and jumped around, she told me, "I can see duh man right dere!" And I told her, "he can see you too sweetie!" I don't think he had any children. Just a guess. He might have. He might not like children, but to me, I think he could have acted like he liked children a bit more. And people usually do, especially around some sweet faced baby girl. The guy, seemed not to care very much for her interruptions. She spoke again, "I'm going to open this for Eddie." I told her not to. She forcefully told me, "But I WANT to!" But she couldn't get into it by herself. She then said, "I'm going to bite this for Eddie." And she began to bite on the outside of the wrapper.


I didn't care, I just wanted to finish up, get the cat back in the cage, hand over lots of money and get this little girl out of there. She was getting a little out of hand. A little.


Well, my cat is fine. I think he has the necessary documentation to fly. I will be checking again to make sure. My daughter chewed on the lollipop and cracked it in too many places for it to be worthwhile to my son, so I threw it away. I threw it away in hopes to never think about it again. Until of course we picked him up. Alexa quickly exclaimed, "we got you a push pop Eddie!" And he asked for it, right away. When I gave him the bad news, he cried. I felt so bad.


And as I am getting ready for bed, I am making a mental note to never, ever take a small child to the vet again. It was pretty tough. I'm glad it's over.

My Corona.

Don't let this second picture fool you, he loves this hat. He's the kind of cat that really enjoys dressing up. Or at least he doesn't fight me. He is pretty mellow as far as cats go. If you haven't heard me talk about my kitty before, please see this post.

You can either read the previous post, or take my short version of the long story. I now have my beloved cat in my possession once again. He was being looked after by some kind people. I am leaving the states on April 7 to return to Chile.

My brother who had offered to watch over my cat for me, has since reneged on his word. A very very long story there. And maybe another day. But since he has gone back on his word, I no longer have anyone to care for my cat.

I just checked into the prices to take him along to Chile. I did not originally want to take him there with us. I felt that the plane ride would be too much for him. But now I am rethinking it. They would place him in the belly or cargo area of the plane and he would be there from the beginning of our trip which originates in Tucson at 3:05 pm, then flies to Dallas. We change planes in Dallas and then fly to Santiago. We should arrive there around 8:30 am. So it's quite the flight.

I just don't really have any other options. I love my cat, and I honestly felt bad about leaving him behind with strangers when I first moved away. I left him partly because I didn't want to put him through the flight. But now I am thinking that if I take him along, it would be better for him to be with me. In a home where he is loved. I think he can handle it.

OK, is there anybody out there who is experienced in this department? Has anyone taken their pet on a long ride? Anybody know someone who has? Any comments and feedback about this will be soo appreciated. I just want to know that I am doing the right thing.

My babies.

I think I may have mentioned that I took the kids to Target to get their pictures taken. They actually caught quite a few cute smiles. As I have looked over the pictures, I realize that my babies are not so little anymore. My first born is fast approaching 4. And my little girl just says the most amazing things every day.

For instance, today she barked out a string of orders to my father after they came in from outside. It went a little something like this: "Tito, you have to go outside and close the door on my playhouse, I left it open. And you have to close the windows too. You need to put the lid on my sandbox, it needs to be covered up. And bring my bucket and shovel inside. I want you to wash it in the sink with soap and water, so I can play with it inside."

I might not have believed it, but when I arrived home from running errands today, my mother handed me this typed up piece of paper. She wrote down every word so that she wouldn't forget everything Alexa had said. My dad was pretty surprised. I had to laugh. She sounds a little bossy. But you know what? Her grandpa took care of it. He closed the door to her playhouse, and closed the windows, covered her sandbox, and got her bucket & shovel and washed them off for her too. On the 18th of this month, she will be 2 and 1/2. Phew. Looks like someone is already taking charge!

Here are a few pictures from the photo session.

Something wrong?

I've often wondered if there is something wrong with my son. And by wrong, I mean some sort of behavioral thing. He is soo bad on soo many days I can barely breathe. He won't listen to one single thing I say. Honestly. For me, he is the worst. He acts without a care in the world, he behaves as if there are no consequences. And that is not the case. I have to remove him from his sister sometimes, as he jumps right on her. He is in the hallway right now crying, because he kicked his sister in the head/face.

I don't know what could be the problem. Maybe he just needs organized activities, or preschool. He never behaved better than when he used to go to daycare. I miss it so. I only began to have problems when we took him out. I think he gets bored. I also have no idea why he would act like a totally different kid when other people are taking care of him.

This has even proven true once again, as I have recently taken him to a new baby sitter's home. She told me that he was good. Not a word that I would use to describe my son. Because every single day is a chore with him. He does not pick up his toys, he does not stop doing something (anything) bad that he is currently in the middle of doing. He will repeat an act over and over again.

He is strong willed, and highly energetic. I don't know what to do with him. The days that I don't have something planned for us are immensely difficult. He irritates everyone in the house. It's sad to say, but it's true.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent. He is having a few difficult moments presently. And Eddie just told me, "Uncle Pat was mean to me." Unfortunately, my nearly 4 year old is not old enough to understand his own behavior or how it affects others. What he does understand, is when a family member is changing their behavior towards him. And his feelings were hurt.

One would think that the adult in this situation would adjust and try to be a little understanding. Try to remember that this little person, though irritating in the moment, is only a child. Instead of just being curt, and pushing the child out the door, or telling him to go away. Because that child is getting on his nerves. One would think. That did not happen in this case. And this is not the first time.

The last time I broached this subject with Eddie's pediatrician he gave me a bunch of forms to look through and papers with tons of questions to evaluate him. All of the questions did not apply to my son. They were all geared towards a school aged child. I haven't brought the subject up again, Eddie is still pretty much the same. And I still wonder if he might have some sort of ADD, ADHD, or something of the like. My dh says he is just a really hyper and active boy. One that needs a lot of exercise and play time.

I wonder about each and every one of my friends who are mothers of boys. I wonder if they too think that their sons are insanely difficult. Because, that's the best way I can put it. I think about it, very often.

my new look.

Whadd'ya think? I honestly believe it was time to spruce things up around here. I gave my friend Ragan a call. Well, not really. It didn't happen like that at all. But since she is so friendly, I like to think that we are friends. After all, she is responsible for the previous look of my blog before today, as well as this current new makeover. If you too, would like a new look for your blog, head on over to Blogger Boutique. You won't be disappointed!

Today we went over to Target to get the kids pictures taken. I've actually made several attempts at photographing my own children. Eddie is the one who gives me the most trouble. He won't sit still. He runs away, he turns his head, he is just uncooperative in general. I don't know why dressing him up and taking him to Target makes him behave better. But it does. He listens, and smiles pretty much on cue. The pictures came out very nicely. It's hard sometimes when they actually do smile and look adorable. It makes mommy want to spend more money on all the cute shots. Thankfully though, I had a 50% off coupon, and it all worked out. I can't wait to get them back.

Not much else to share. Daddy is coming home in 18 days. The kids and I are all very excited. Trying to finish packing up all of the stuff I accumulated in the time since I have arrived here. So far, it doesn't all fit in the suitcases! I have to ship more boxes. Note to self: Go to post office and pick up flat rate boxes.

Just stuff.

Have you ever accidentally published a blog post that wasn't meant to be? Yeah, well I've done that too. As a matter of fact, I just did it. Ooops. I am crazy like that. I'm so over my son not wanting to go to bed on time. By 9:30 pm and he still isn't asleep, I'm ready to light myself on fire.

I just finished a bag of Hostess white powder donuts. Honestly there were too many in there to count. It wasn't a whole bag. But I probably shouldn't have had them. I couldn't stop. They were truly yummy.

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen tonight. The results too were yummy. My family refers to this dish as "hamburger soup", simply for the reason that the main ingredient is ground beef. If you like soup, potatoes, carrots, corn or green beans, then you might like my soup. My family does.

I bought some space saver bags. You know the kind you see on the tv infomercials? Well I thought that I would give them a try. They actually do work! They don't come out nearly as flat as the tv claims that they do, but they do shrink down considerably in size, and yes, you can fit quite a large number of items in one medium size bag. In my bag I have 10 shirts, 1 sweater, 3 flannel footed pjs for the kids, a scarf, pair of mittens 2 pair of socks and 4 kids shirts. Here is what the before and after look like.

Also wanted to mention that I went to the largest mall in Arizona last week. I actually wept when I saw it. It's g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s! It's called Fashion Square, and is located in Scottsdale, AZ. It's roughly 2 hours from us here in Tucson. Though I really didn't time it, that's what our GPS navigator told me. We went there to visit one of the larger Dillard's stores. They were having one of their "additional 40%" off sales. And if you know me, then you know I am all over that. It was worth the trip, as we made a side stop at the IKEA store there in Tempe. Also a really cool place. Oh, and to any of you wondering if I found the missing shoe from the mis-sized pair that I bought the other day, well sadly, I did not. I did however find another pair that pleases me almost as much.

OK. So we had a lovely California club from this place called Paradise Bakery, and it was delicious. Then my mother snaps a blurry pic of me with my mouth full. Oh, and no. I didn't get pictures of the things I bought. Maybe I can make another post out of it. Tonight is just random stuff. Not to mention I missed Greys Anatomy, again. So I have to watch it now. When I get around to thinking about it. Oh and like I said before, the kid who is about to turn 4 has been giving me grief about falling asleep. I will be a happier woman once he is in his own bed once again. He does much better in his own bed. Time to run, it's finally quiet in here.