New Year's

I once heard that where you are when Midnight strikes is a prediction of how your year will go.

Ok, since I am a woman of great intelligence, I have lived by this for, like, the last 5 years. So here is it New Year's Eve and I have no big plans.

Know what? WHO CARES?!

My year will go exactly the way it's supposed to. It won't matter if I am picking $1 million dollars off a money tree. That won't help my financial situation. (Unless it's MY tree!)

If I am not with the love of my life, I will not be cursed and doomed in love for 2009.

If my kids are happy at exactly 12 AM, does that guarantee they will be good for a whole year?

Yeah, I didn't think so. Wishful thinking though!

I was raised as a princess. Not just any princess, mind you. I was the princess in the tower, who had her brave knight to rescue her. Who, once rescued, would never have a bad day. Ever.

Divorce was possibly the best thing that ever happened to me. Sad, yes. Complicated, yes. But, it taught me that there is no magical easy answer to anything!

Reality check! :)

I have learned to stand on my own two feet. I am raising 4 kids BY MYSELF. I do not get every other weekend to relax and regroup for the coming 2 weeks. I do not get child support to ease the financial burden. I have no family or church financial backing either.

So, yea Janine. You did it!

My New Year's Resolution? STOP stressing about things I cannot control. Hating my ex-husband will not make him take the kids. Envisioning him dying is not going to get him child support.

(Yes, I know there's a reserved cactus chair in hell with my name on it...)

Complaining is not going to make things easier. There is no White Horse waiting. I need to build my own. Or like the one I have....a 1997 green one with 177,988 miles on it...LOL!

Here's to a NEW year! A NEW chance! Happy New Year everyone! Make it count!

Back to Our Cali Trip!

First, I have to comment on all the water and trees California has. I have lived in Utah for somewhere around 17 years now. But, no matter how long I have been here, I cannot forget the trees and water of Florida.

Water fascinates me. So do bridges. I even did a whole project on Bridges when I was in 6th grade. (Nerd, I know...) This is a bridge over the Sacramento River in Old Sac.


It's SO pretty!

Notice the trees? lol





The Golden Gate. WOW! I know I already posted a pic of this, but you GOTTA respect that bridge. It's beautiful and majestic. We were driving through the mountains one minute and the next, we rounded a corner and this is what we saw:





I LOVE IT!






This was taken from the Fisherman's Wharf area.

The next day before the rain moved in...






Mmmmmmmmmm, Fisherman's Wharf. The seafood was AMAZING. Coastal people just do not realize how much yummier seafood is BEFORE it's frozen and shipped to us landlocked saps.


The Oakland Bay Bridge. (Or just Bay Bridge to the locals.) It was spooky. If I didn't shave my arms, the hair woulda been standing up. We drove on the lower level, and it was almost reverent. Remember the earthquake in 1989? I was trying to explain to my kids how safe it is now and how much engineering genius went behind making it the "Machine that moves."


Then:








Now:









Yes, that's Aunt Debbie's sweet red Mustang in front of us!

Before we left the Bay area, we walked all over. The Marinas and the sound of the waves breaking on the shore just took me back. I cannot remember the last time I was SO relaxed. I could definitely go back and live where there are bodies of water other than the Great Salt Lake.

Here is my crazy son, Ty, chasing the seagulls. It was funny at first, but birds are EVERYwhere there, so it quickly became obnoxious!










Obnoxious? Ricky THRIVES off obnoxious! lol So, Ricky and Justin joined in on the seagull chasing.









My kids were as fascinated with the water as I was. Poor Aunt Debbie. I think she yelled to them 437 times to STAY OUT OF THE WATER! And another 264 times: DON'T GET YOUR SHOES WET!

Post Christmas

I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas! Ours was VERY fun and we are extremely blessed! I actually got up Christmas morning and showered. My kids woke me up at 3 a.m. trying to "be quiet." I sent them all back to bed, but I am sure they didn't sleep.

Once I had a few cups of coffee in me, I decided we could do presents. lol

My girls had lots of reactions like this one, but I didn't even think about getting out the video camera!

OH MY GOSH!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!

Jimmy and his kids came over later. It was fun until Jimmy found the Nerf gun.

This dart is actually in motion...towards ME!

Oh sorry Janine!

Um, DUH!

Poor girl is trying to play a game. Geez, Jimmy!

I guess someone else had the dart gun, so Jimmy found another way to torture our kids...

Merry Christmas 2008! Bring on the NEW YEAR!

I Left My Heart...

In San Fransisco....

The Golden Gate.

Isn't it pretty??

Wow. What a trip! I have hundreds of pics that I can share. They loved the plane ride. There was a 3 hour delay, but once we got on board, it was SO cute to see how much everything about the plane excited them.

This is them before we left. We had to board the plane in the freezing cold snow.

We left in a blizzard and came home to the aftermath of a couple storms. Ricky and I both are SICK of shovelling. It accumulated pretty high. :(

We LOVED California. Sacramento was gorgeous, and it was my speed of town. Not too quick, but hip enough that I didn't look like a pierced up freak. :)

Here are some highlights: I have LOTS I will share:

This was in Old Sacramento at the train museum. WAY FUN! We learned a lot about trains and had some fun while we were there:

This is the whole crew: Aunt Debbie, Ricky, Taylor, Tori, Tyler, Andie and Justin.

They were posing in front of trains.

Then, we drove into San Fransisco from Sacramento and went to the Exploratorium. That has to be the coolest place I think I have ever been! It's a totally interactive science and art place.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/

Check it out. Everyone needs to go at least once. We had a blast learning!

Here we are drinking from the toilet:

Some bratty teenage kid gave me a dollar to do it...

The whole point was to prove that people's perception would lead them to certain decisions.

Justin, Ricky and Tyler playing with the mirrored water.

This is the kids' Aunt Debbie. She is the COOLEST lady in the whole world.

She was showing us how to sneak through the rocks in this display. This one actually shows you your score of how quietly (or loudly) you sneak through the loose rocks.

I posted her pic, because she BLEW everyone away. I scored somewhere near 30, and that was considered good.

Debbie's score?

2.28

Virtually silent. She is a sneaky sneaky....lol!

This is the "Holiday" season.

WHY, oh WHY do we stress ourselves out to show people how much we "love them?"

Is that iPod Nano really going to show my beautiful son Ricky how much I love him?

My beautiful, complicated son. I love that kid more than anything.

Tonight, I was in the kitchen when he asked me to help him on the computer. I dropped the bench to my kitchen table on my foot, and it took everything I had not to cuss or cry! BUT: I didn't!

Next thing I know, Ricky is standing there. He put his arms around my waist, hugged me tight and asked if I was ok.

Open the flood gates...

Now, had this been last night, he probably would have laughed. Last night, the sweet, sassy twin terrors were bathing their favorite fur-babies. Then, the handle on the Cold water broke, and the water was on almost full blast. OOPS!

The landlord was awesome. He came out and made it so I can use it until he gets it fixed perfect. Anyway, the boys were on their best behavior...until he was out of the driveway.

Then, the chasing ensued and Tyler ended up running into the doorframe. We were all laughing, but he was really crying!

DANG!

Well, today his foot is black and blue all over the top, all over the last 2 toes AND down the side. His 2 end toes are broken for sure... LOL!

Poor, beautiful Ricky. He felt so bad. Now, this is neat because Ricky has not felt remorse for ANYthing over the last 3 years. So, somewhere, somehow, something clicked.

I am the happiest Mom ever. Not that I wanted Tyler to run into the doorframe or me drop a bench on my foot to find out my oldest had a heart...

But, point of all this is:

I didn't have to buy Ricky an iPod Nano for him to be a good person. I love him and he knows it. He loves us and I know it!

My Grinch-ette heart is swelling....

I am STILL a Grinch

I am STILL a Grinch. But, I'm a Grinch with a heart who feels like an ass. I stumbled upon this blog page tonight, and I know it's for a reason:

http://kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/

I spent a long time on this baby girl's page, and her battles took me back to the days when Baby Ricky was in NICU. Of course, Ricky's battles were nothing compared to this baby's.

So, since you all know that I'm a bratty brat now, I want everyone to do something for me. PLEASE pray for this little girl. Reading this family's blog just makes me tear up and I want this baby to get better.

God, Heavenly Father, Abba, Buddah, Alla:

Whoever or Whatever you want to call Him, please just spend 5 seconds to ask Him to bless this baby girl, Kayleigh, and her family.

I am the Grinch-ette

I love Christmas. I have just had a bit too much alone time.

Jimmy is supportive, don't get me wrong. But, Jimmy has his own house and his own 2 kids to take care of. I am tired of all my responsibilities. To be relieved of them every other weekend, like a normal divorced parent, would be wonderful. To have support from family with no hesitation or strings attached, would be wonderful.

I am tired of wrapping alone, stuffing stockings alone, making kids go to bed alone, doing school projects alone. Worse, I am tired of not having something to look forward to in the near future, such as every other weekend alone. Or once a month alone. Even though I am engaged, I still feel I need to spend some alone time with my fiancee. This is why marriages go wrong: the couple loses touch with each other. Dang, mine has not even started yet!

Today, I am the Grinch-ette. I am NOT happy.

Dogs or KIDS?

I love my kids. I really, really do! They are sweet, fun, and their little giggles kill me.

But, every rose has it's thorn. My kids fight, beg, whine, cry, throw tantrums, throw attitude and they COST A TON!

Dogs. Dogs are the most agreeable creature on the earth. If I am having a bad day, my Scooter or Ruger know. They know well enough when I'm mad too, so they go away. Or, they stick their adorable little faces in mine and give me a kiss. They come snuggle with me while I cry, read, watch TV or anything I do. They adore me! I remember when my kids thought I was the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Sure, Ruger and Scooter have had a tiff or 2. But, they growl, stick up their fur, show their teeth and it's over. No hurt feelings. No crying. Well, maybe a yelp or two...lol. Yeah, Ruger whines. He whines when he knows I am in the garage and he thinks he is alone. Neither dog gives me attitude. That is for sure!

My dogs beg. They don't beg though by asking, "Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?" or however many times they beg until I finally scream at them and/or give them what they want. And IF I scream at my dogs, they still love me without me having to buy them Littlest Pet Shops or doughnuts.

Of course, dogs cannot tell me they love me. They can show me, but I cannot hear sweet little voices. Dogs cannot make funny faces like my kids can. Dogs do not play "Make Me Laugh."

Remember playing that as a kid when you were supposed to be sleeping? he he he

Does anyone else's kids play "Guess the Twin" or "Real or Fake" through the heater vents?

I cannot even begin to describe the noises I overhear. My kids think I can't hear them...

Finally, NO dog is this cute when they are sleeping:

For the Record: My new Rat is NOT Chinese! Rat terriers are AMERICAN. MADE IN U.S.A.