We have a pre-schooler
It's official. Carly has graduated from Transition and is now an official pre-school student. She starts her new class on Tuesday. The Moms will be there the first day and then on Thursday, we drop off at 9AM and then pick up at noon. Not sure what I'll do with those 3 hours to myself but I'll enjoy it. I can't believe how big Carly is. It's very exciting to see all the kids in the new classroom with their new teacher Judie. We have 3 new kids in the class which makes it an even 8, 4 boys and 4 girls. That's nice to be even considering it's been Carly and Marni as the token girls for so long.
Carly and her diploma.
Carly had her first ballet lesson today. She did a lot of watching but I know she'll get it. She did the same thing when we started at My Gym. Until she "knows" what she's doing, she tends to watch. Still, she did the activities. Renee and I were in there for about half of the class then we left the girls alone. But Carly had seemed to have a good time and is already looking forward to next week. Here's a photo, even if it's a little blurry.
It's been a few days...
since I've posted anything. It's been a crazy 4 or 5 days.
I was up in Ventura with Paula for 1 1/2 days on a scrapping junket. We had a nice time at my parents place where we were able to spread out all over the living room. Goodness knows we brought enough stuff to scrap for a year. While I was loading my considerable amount of junk into the car, Carly even commented "Mommy, you sure have a lot of scrapbooking stuff." Ain't that the truth, and yet Paula brought more, if that's possible. We did get stuff done. I finished up the album for Alli and the entire 2005 year in review album from the Donna Downey class. Okay, minus one page since I forget to print the one page of photos. That'll take about another 20 minutes. I started to do the album for Carly's teachers but I need the photos before I get to far. I'll get them tomorrow at school. And I did one LO. Paula got, I think, 10 pages done. A satisfying weekend all around. AND we got to sleep in without kids waking up. Bonus!!
We had two events with our newly formed Havurah. On Friday night, there was a family service so we all got together for the service and then dinner afterwards. That was really nice because Gregg finally got to meet everyone. Last Wednesday night, the girls got together at El Torito for some girls night out chatting and drinks. It's a nice group of women (thank you Michelle for inviting me to join) and we're talking of doing a girls weekend in Vegas. That could be wild, but fun. I'm looking forward to having family time. An outlet where we can socialize as a family with other families. The fact that we're all connected through the temple is nice too, even if it's between the two campuses. It's still a common bond. So far so good.
Hmm, what else? Okay, big news for MY Los Angeles Kings. Luc Robitaille scored a hat trick on Thursday night to become the all time leading goal scorer in Kings history. He surpassed my beloved Marcel Dionne. Good for Luc. So well deserved and he truly is the King of Kings. Can't wait for the celebration when I know Marcel will be there. YAY for Luc. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy who couldn't love this team and city more. It's a huge milestone for him, on his way to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I don't talk much hockey here, but couldn't forget this.
Enough for now. Got to unload my scrapbook stuff from the car and go to bed. It's Carly's last week of Transition before she officially goes to Pre-School. OH, and we start ballet lessons on Wednesday. Camera is already charging up!
Added a few blogs to the list
I've added a few blog links to my list. One is Carol Wingert. I just love her. She and Tena Springer teach the famous Day To Create workshops that I've gone to in the past but couldn't go last week. What a lovely lady and she's just joined the blog world. Also Karen Burniston who I think I got hooked into from Missy. I took a class of Karen's at CKU last year and while the class was a bit frantic and didn't completely care for her style, I find her blog quite enjoyable. Also Alissa. A former Foxy who I checked out the other day again. She's just kooky and fun. And an oldie and a goodie, I'd recommend my good friend Irene. I've known Irene for 10 years since I started in flute choir and she's one of my closest friends. She's also one of my most eclectic friends with what she reads, her music, her stories. Very entertaining.
Okay, off to blog surf.
More Getting To Know You Tag questions
Stole this from Wendy who got it from Ali Edwards. I guess I've always liked filling out forms.
Four jobs you have had in your life:
Runner/Messenger at an accounting firm
2 weeks at the college bookstore
TV Production - Script Coordinator, Script/Production Supervisor
Associate Director - full time for the past 10 years
Four movies you would watch over and over:
Cinema Paradiso
Grease
Star Wars
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
Four places you have lived:
New York, NY
Santa Barbara, CA
Los Angeles (Brentwood), CA
Woodland Hills, CA
Four TV shows you love to watch:
Survivor
The Amazing Race
McLeod's Daughters
ER
Four places you have been on vacation:
Australia
Israel
all over Europe
Park City, UT
Four websites I visit daily:
Foxycroppers.com
JewishScrappers.com
my blog (and then link to my friend's blogs)
ebay.com (recently since I've been selling stuff)
Four of my favorite foods:
sushi
pizza
edamame
creme brulee
Four places I would rather be right now:
Australia
anywhere scrapping
I'll work on the other two.
Busy Day
Well, we finally went back to the Dr. today. Mostly it was what we expected. At 41 years old, we can pretty much say all my eggs are bad. That's an awfully depressing thought but sadly, it seems to be the truth. Okay, maybe not 100% but until we find the *one* good one, well who knows what would freeze over. Actually, Dr. P explained something in terms that were so easy and Gregg finally "got" that biological clock ticking thing. Essentially, eggs start to decline at 35, and then at 37 1/2 they decline rapidly exponentially. Lovely. Sorry for anyone in that age range who's thinking about kids. It's not pretty, believe me. I'm living it first hand. So after much discussion, we're left with a few options. A - do nothing (not quite ready for that yet) B - donor egg or C - adopt. IVF isn't really an option again because we can pretty much count on the same outcome. I stim'd great but basically all 12 eggs were abnormal so not worth even trying. The best option is donor eggs which is something we have to think about and do a lot of research before going forward. The success rate is much higher than IVF at my age so that's a plus but it wouldn't be my egg. Something to think about. We'll start to look at egg donor sites and see what we come up with and how we feel and then make our decision from there. Oh yeah, and the financial considerations as well. It'll cost about the same which isn't a really pleasant thought either. Of course, adoption is also an option. So we've got a lot to figure out and digest before we move forward with anything. I think I'm still in shock that ALL my eggs are bad. Pathetic isn't it?
I know we're lucky, grateful and blessed that we have beautiful Carly. She's awesome in every way. I just never pictured my family as only 1 child. But maybe that's all that's meant to be. I'm not ready to give up on more kids just yet.
Oh yeah, one more
Now THIS is my kind of celebrity spotting. And the only one's I'll actually talk to. Here's me and Donna Downey!
DDD pictures
As promised here are some photos of our wonderful day yesterday with Donna Downey. Here's a photo of the LOVE altered letters.
And here's the idea envelope album. I don't have the words on the cover yet and you can see how the cardstock pulls out so you can write ideas on it for future reference.
And finally, here's the manila envelope album. I've only done 3 LO's for it but it's going to be so awesome.
And I forgot to mention that I lost my voice yesterday somewhere around 4PM. It's still completely gone. In fact, probably worse. I was hoping for a little bit this morning that would eventually fade away but nothing. Good for Gregg so he doesn't have to listen to me all day long. Carly's been whispering to me all day thinking I'm whispering to her. I hope it's on the upswing tomorrow. This is annoying. Glad I only got one phone call today. So if it appears that I'm screening my calls or I don't call you back right away tomorrow, don't be offended.
What an AWESOME DAY!
Well, I teased you with a picture of my planner that I altered for the Donna Downey online class. Today, Lisa, Kari, Melissa and I drove down to Scrapbook Oasis in Irvine for our big Donna Downey Day! OMG, it was fantastic! We did three awesome projects (photos to come). We did altered wood letters with the word "LOVE". We picked our own papers, added photos and they look fabulous. We did a small chipboard album with an accordian spine and envelopes (yes regular envelopes). It's an idea book and you can stash several papers within the envelopes for inspiration. And the third project is another chipboard album with 20 small manila envelopes with an insert card in it. Each envelope represents an event or holiday throughout the year. I've done 3 events so far, have photos printed for 2 more. I'll do the others and then I'll have all of 2005 done in one mini-album. It's fast, easy and looks awesome.
Donna is without a doubt, one of the funnest (I know, bad English) and funniest persons out there. Between having our chipboard covers "cook" under our "assets" and then her presentation on how to use the hand drill. How you hold the "balls gently with no pressure" was hysterical. (thanks Lisa for reminding me to write that down) She was kind enough to take photos with everyone, sign books, and chat with everyone in the room. She's such a fun and inspiring person. She's already made me excited for the next online project. And she's also teaching at CKU in Provo which I'm really hoping to make it to in May. I know which class I'm signing up for already.
Of course, we still missed the DTC with Carol and Tena and I still feel like I missed something. I'll have to email both of them because I really missed them and their awesome day too. Grrr. Hate when two GREAT things happen at the same time. I've never felt so "torn" about conflicts like this before, and especially when it was a win-win choice. Anyway, we had a fantastic day and any Foxy's who read this who went to DTC, please know that I wish I was there and hope you also had a wonderful, inspiring day.
I'm SO excited
At this time tomorrow, I'll be in Irvine with Lisa, Kari and Melissa taking an all day scrapbooking class with Donna Downey! Woo-Hoo! She's Lisa's idol and she's pretty much swayed us over to her side of the adoration. Donna online teaches the class that I signed up for (#2 on my 2006 goals list) and she's so awesome. She's been nice enough to answer a few emails, as if she doesn't have enough to do and her projects are so cool. I did the first week's project of altering my calendar and I like how it turned out. Here it is.
The only bummer is that this wonderful day conflicted with the Foxy's Day to Create with Carol Wingert and Tena Sprenger. I've taken the past two workshops and they've been fantastic. Plus, Carol and Tena are truly the nicest women in the world. I'm really going to miss out and miss them. But the way this all went down, it wasn't pretty and there wasn't a choice. The whole scheduling thing got messed up. Anyway, I hope and plan on making it to the next Carol and Tena day. I still can't believe I'm missing them tomorrow but at the same time, Donna is a once in a lifetime chance so we're all over that. Can't wait!!
A Dozen Lists
Got this off of Toni’s blog. I love lists. Here goes one more…
A Dozen Lists!
Twelve Movies (in no particular order):
1. Cinema Paradiso
2. Gone With the Wind
3. Singin’ in the Rain
4. Star Wars
5. Finding Nemo
6. Grease
7. The Princess Bride
8. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
9. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (the original one)
10. The Sound of Music
11. West Side Story
12. Sleepless in Seattle
Eleven Good Bands/Artists (in no particular order)
1. Billy Joel
2. Garth Brooks
3. Dixie Chicks
4. Toby Keith
5. Matchbox 20
6. Genesis
7. JoDee Messina
8. Pat Benatar
9. Kelly Clarkson
10. Jimmy Buffett
11. James Taylor
Ten Things About Me
1. I’ve played the flute since I was 10 years old (I now have a piccolo, C flute, alto and bass)
2. I love (read obsessed with) Scrapbooking
3. I’ve been an LA Kings hockey fan since 1974
4. I love Broadway and movie musicals
5. I’ve been lucky enough to travel pretty much all over the world
6. I would live in Australia if I could
7. I broke my leg when I was 2 years old by tripping on a carpet
8. I think I’m the only person who didn’t like going to UCSB. (Great education but the rest I wasn’t thrilled with)
9. I was engaged once before (thank goodness I wised up)
10. I love getting massages and facials (although it’s been too long for both)
Nine Good Friends (in no particular order)
1. Marla
2. Caz
3. Chapin
4. Lisa
5. Kari
6. Paula
7. Debbie
8. Irene
9. Robin
Eight Favorite Foods/Drinks
1. Sushi
2. Pizza
3. Chocolate (most kinds especially Guylain, Violet Crumbles and Hershey Kisses)
4. Egg Nog Lattes
5. Gelato at Oliva
6. Bloody Mary
7. Ice cold beer
8. Spinach dip
Seven Things I Wear Daily
1. Bra & underwear
2. Earrings
3. Watch
4. Makeup
5. Shoes
6. Wedding Ring
7. Perfume
Six Things I Hate
1. People who smoke (can I put that in all 6 spots??)
2. Bad drivers (I live in the wrong city, I know)
3. People who can’t spell
4. Tuna Fish (as in the can)
5. Stupid Producers who can’t make a decision
6. People who think they're always right
Five Things I Do Daily
1. Kiss my DH and DD
2. Kiss my dogs
3. Talk to my Mom
4. Check my email
5. Read the Foxy MB (often more than once a day)
Four Shows I Watch
1. Survivor
2. The Amazing Race
3. ER
4. McLeod’s Daughters
Three Places I've Lived
1. New York City
2. Santa Barbara, CA
3. Burbank, CA
Two Things I Want
1. To have a little bit of work coming up (and hopefully get some opportunities to be a Booth AD)
2. To be pregnant and have another kid
One Person I Want to See Right Now
1. Caz
It's time to build the Ark!
OMG! I can't ever remember rain coming down this hard. It's like a wall of water, all at angles. And it's unbelievably windy too. Holy Cow! All I can say is I'm glad I'm not working on the Rose Parade this year. Yes, I'd be safe and dry in a truck but it's unbelievable to have to be outside for any reason right now. (Of course, I need to go to Target later) In fact, our little Havarah get together was postponed because of the weather. Where would all those kids go? So now, what am I going to do with 48 mini-cheesecakes?
I think it's time to officially put down my list of goals for this year. I don't think it'll be 10 but let's see what I come up with.
1 - I need to lose at least 10 pounds. We'll start that tomorrow and see how we do. Then, if I'm lucky, I can lose a few more. I'm not good at exercising so I won't even go there.
2 - I signed up for this awesome online class with Donna Downey (who I'm taking a class from at Scrapbook Oasis next weekend. Woo-Hoo!) I'm determined to keep up with the weekly projects. I'm going to do the first week's today. I'm so excited. Which leads to #3...
3 - Scrap more. I need to start motivating to scrap more at home. Even 20 minutes a day would make a difference. I'll get a lot more done and maybe even catch up a little bit on the backlog. The 20 minutes includes cleaning up my perpetually clutter scrap table. Okay, Ginger's swaps don't help that cause much but that's okay.
4 - Keep saving money for that digital SLR I seem to be drooling for this year. I'm trying to purge and sell stuff on ebay and Amazon.com so hopefully that'll add to the fund and maybe in a few months I can treat myself.
5 - Get some work. I haven't worked since September because of all my medical issues but no one has been calling me either. I need to earn some money around here.
6 - Be better at my email correspondance. For all the time I sit on my butt on this computer, I should write one email a day to those folks who are on my list. They include friends from high school, camp, school, etc. I've got to do better in keeping in touch.
7 - Try not to be so hard on myself, but that'll be the toughest one. I always get frustrated with myself and feel stupid when I lose something, something goes wrong, we're running late, etc.. In fact, I must've said it out loud because Carly said "Mommy's stupid" last night when we were goofing around. I've got to watch what I say when I get in those moods. And hopefully, not be in those moods so often.
That might be it for the moment. Of course, I need to tell those that I love that I love them more often but hopefully, they all know how I feel about them. I try to tell them and show them as often as possible. I'll try to think of a few more to get to 10. Or maybe I should stick with 7 and see how I do.
Hanukkah - Day 8!!
FINALLY, IT'S OVER!! The festival of presents is over! Okay, I will admit I loved Hanukkah this year because Carly really understood the concept of pressies and opening them. But she got A LOT of toys and ate A LOT of gelt. Enough. On the big finale night, let's see, what did she get? From Grandma Cookie & Grandpa Lee, she got a Thomas tool kit. Walking around with the hammer was fun. From Grandpa Alan and Marie, she got a book with a CD that sings the songs and "Big Bear Little Bear" book with a matching polar bear mommy and baby stuffed animal. From us, she got a Dora Fairy Tales book (which she had to "read" and flip through before she opened any other presents), a Princess cell phone (fake but makes lots of noise) and a baby crib for her dollies. Well, let's talk about drop everything and play with that. Between dressing and undressing Dora today in the clothes from yesterday, and then putting her in the crib and feeding her about 10 bottles of milk, this is a huge hit. So much so that she insisted that the dolly crib, with Dora in her PJ's, be set right next to her as she sleeps in her Princess sleeping bag (from Night 1) Now, comes the great project of weeding out the old and finding places for the new. And putting all the Hanukkah decorations and encoutrement away tonight so that she doesn't think that there's more Hanukkah tomorrow.
This is one pretty much says it all for Hanukkah 2005. The dollhouse, the doll crib, the Princess sleeping bag bed and blanket on top, hugging Snoopy on one side, the Clifford the Big Red Dog backpack on the other. What you can't see is that she's clutching two of the dolls from the dollhouse aptly named Carly (with red curly hair) and Cammy (dark blonde with ponytails)
Well, there's a little more Hanukkah tomorrow (it is the last DAY after all). We're going to our first Havarah get together and the kids are doing a book exchange. I hope the Havarah thing works out. I'd really like to have more family activities with other families. Michelle asked us to join this new group that they started so even though a lot of the families know each other, not all do so it could be nice. I hope so anyway. Everyone seems nice from the first organizational meeting at Jerry's a few weeks ago. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Made my second batch of mini-cheesecakes in 2 days. Yummy but get them out of my frig. Diet starts on Tuesday.
Didn't do anything today on the first day of the new year. Nothing exciting anyway. I spent about 3 hours going through the endless show binders and condensed them down from about 30-35 binders to about 13. Dumped TONS of paper. Kept the basic info from what I need from shows. Adios with the rest. At least there's some shelf space now in the office. Still more crap to get rid of but this was a huge start.
Hanukkah - Day 7 and HAPPY NEW YEAR
Happy New Year one and all! I hope that 2006 is a happy, healthy one for all of us.
Hanukkah Day 7. Oh the festival of toys continues. Last night from Alan and Marie, Carly got a bug catching kit. A jar with holes in it and a magnifying glass. Okay, it's the first one that's a little off but up until that one, they've been doing great. They're allowed one miss out of 8. From us, Carly got some clothes for her Dora doll and Dora Candyland. We can't wait to play that with her. Hopefully, she'll have the patience and get it. We went to Marla and Mike's for a New Year's party. We left around 10:45P which was expected. We didn't think we'd last until midnight and sure enough, around 10:30P, Carly was getting tired and said "I want to go home". She was asleep before we got to the freeway. Anyway, Auntie Marla gave Carly some Sleeping Beauty pajamas which are really cute. The big hit was the Princess tea set. Carly loved it and all the girls at the party played with it for hours. I think we have all the pieces except for the top of the teapot. Luckily, not critical to the playing part. It was a huge hit.
Carly wants everyone to know that her favorite color is blue. She tells us that all the time when she sees things that are blue. "It's my favorite" she says.
Happy 2006!
