climb higher
By Tara Zandra | March 8, 2010
Above are tiny little ’shrooms we saw on our hike today.
We did get out and about and took a horrible hike. Horrible due to lack of signage. Horrible due to overgrown “paths” leading to the constant worry of poison oak. Horrible because it highlighted how unbelievably out of shape I am with the heavy breathing and whatnot (in my defense, both of my children were at least slightly out of breath as well, it was pretty darn steep). Horrible because the campground was so graffitied and destroyed that not only did it dash our hopes of perhaps camping there in the future, but I was actually afraid a tiny bit because it was impossible to know if someone was hiding in the bashed-in concrete building.
On the other hand, I bribed Daisy with playing in the park to not complain during the hike. Darn good thing too since it was really hard. Very steep going up and then more steep going down adding in the overgrown state of the “path” and it was a bit slippery due to the recent rains. Hmm, this paragraph was supposed to be more positive sounding than it is. Oh well.
It wasn’t a long hike in distance, even with the difficulties, it was about 30 minutes up and 45 minutes down. We then went to the park and had lunch where we were stalked by a squirrel. He had no fear of humans and clearly people in the past have fed him. We are vehemently against feeding wild animals so he had no luck with us but that did not stop him from coming back to us again and again. He had both my children on the run who honestly thought they were about to be attacked by the squirrel for their sandwiches. I kept standing up and shooing him away which worked most of the time, but then he came right back over again. Eventually he left for good (once the food was put away) and then we saw the biggest squirrel I have ever seen in my entire life. He was honestly as big as a large rabbit and fat like a groundhog. Clearly he’s been fed more than once by picnicers (boy does that word look wrong) but thankfully he did not come to us.
The rest of the afternoon as spent lazing around and we did skip a dance class. Tomorrow we are skipping another dance class and violin but are not going to Disneyland since there are still two lessons we will be attending tomorrow. Thursday though, we’ll be heading to see our favorite giant mouse.
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cloudy
By Tara Zandra | March 8, 2010
So I was in a bad mood for most of yesterday due to not sleeping well the previous night. Guess what, still didn’t sleep well last night. I even dreamed that a neighbor of mine used the same gardener we do and had the same complaints. I guess I was justifying to myself my desire to let them go and find someone else. Seriously, I could do the crappy job the gardeners do.
Today is cloudy though the sun is starting to peek through. I’m hoping the sun will win because I could sure use it. I’m seriously considering skipping dance and violin this week. I feel the need to be outside, but I hate cold and cloudy so this could be a problem.
Between now and Sunday we have 3 dance classses, 2 voice lessons, 3 booth sales, 1 violin lesson, 1 book club meeting, and 1 park day. Maybe we should chuck what we can and head to Disneyland.
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not quite 8am
By Tara Zandra | March 6, 2010
But Daisy did let me sleep until 7:55am so I’ll take it. We had a lovely family breakfast this morning (scrambled eggs, pancakes, and veggie sausage) then we all headed out to another booth sale. Chris and Daisy hung out in the shopping center and she got to ride the quarter machine horses. The first hour of our sale was kind of slow but it realy picked up that second hour. I did all the troop totals tonight and as a troop we’ve now sold 2,200 boxes of cookies. Tabitha’s contribution to that is 652 boxes (so far). At this point we don’t know if she’ll get to 1000 so we’re trying for 750 which will earn her a full set of camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, mess kit, canteen, camp chair, and headlight of all things). We told her if she gets the camping kit then we’ll take her camping. Today’s rains means tomorrow’s hike is off so she’ll probably go around the neighborhood again with her wagon.
Anyway, after the booth sale was done we went to Taco Bell and then stopped in Hallmark to browse. There was the cutest Easter egg that when you push on the top, it plays the hamster dance. I so could not resist this as I love the hamster dance. Turns out, it drives Chris insane so he’s not a happy camper right now. After Hallmark we stopped at the grocery store. I chose dinner tonight by having each family member pick one thing for dinner. Daisy chose soup, Tabitha chose baked potatoes, I picked roasted zuchinni and Chris chose chili, but changed it to Hawaiian bread when he saw that in the store.
We finally made it home and it was raining ever so slightly. A package from Gymboree came today and it included a daisy umbrella so I had told her she could play outside if it rained. So both girls grabbed their umbrellas and had fun while it rained for all of 10 minutes. They spent the next 15 begging the clouds to pour and then then fun came to an abrupt end when Daisy attempted to close her umbrella and pinched her finger instead.
Afterwards it was a warm bath for the little one, a bit of cleaning for the big one and then DS playing, and Chris and I got some rooms in order as they needed it. My living room was looking smaller and smaller do the encroachment of everything that didn’t even belong in there.
And I think that covers it all.
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blah
By Tara Zandra | March 5, 2010
Cold blah blah blah Park blah blah Cookie Booth Sale blah blah blah blah
Though my feelings on the day are not blah, there really isn’t much else to say! We did a booth sale outside of an Italian restaurant and after smelling their food for 2 hours I had to go buy something to bring home. I chose garlic knots with marinara sauce and we all enjoyed them once Tabi and I were home. This delayed bedtime though for the kids. I’m really tired and hoping against hope the two ragamuffins sleep in tomorrow morning. Tabitha, I’m not so concerned about as she finally learned the art of sleeping in about 2 years ago. The little one, on the other hand, sometimes sleeps in and sometimes doesn’t after staying up late. She does love her sleep though so as long as she doesn’t dream, I think I can count on her to stay in bed until 8 (I hope).
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avoiding work
By Tara Zandra | March 4, 2010
I owe about 6 emails, need to paint a sign, need to bundle cookies, and need to package cookies for mailing.
Look at me avoid it all!
I’m sitting here shivering and realize that I haven’t really been warm the entire day. I think I’ll grab a blanket to wrap myself in while we watch Survivor.
Talked with Miss Daisy today about our current break from gymnastics; she is not a fan and is upset enough about it that I feel the need to reexamine the situation yet again. I’m trying to find a solution that doesn’t leave me tearing my hair out, but I haven’t found that yet. I wish it could be someone else’s decision instead of it completely resting on my shoulders. At the same time I’m trying to find a workable day camp schedule for Tabitha. She’s only got 2-3 years in day camps before she ages out of them so I’m trying to cram them all in now. She’s also desperately trying to talk me into sleepaway camp. I really don’t want to say yes, but I recognize that my reasons for saying no may be a tad on the irrational side, hence why I’m forcing myself to at least consider it.
The Wee Miss and I also talked about her thoughts and feelings because she’s not the most forthcoming child. I told her how I never know what she wants or needs because she doesn’t express herself. I made sure to let her know that I do not want her to be ignored and that her thoughts are very important. Then she pushed a knife in my heart by saying she feels we don’t have enough family time because I’m either running errands or doing Girl Scouts or because Chris is at work. And just to make sure she twisted the knife a little, she said it with tears in her eyes which is a very big thing for my non-emotional girl. So she decided we’re going to have a family breakfast this weekend which we’ll do Saturday. Also, Chris and Daisy are going to accompany Tabs and I to Saturday’s booth sale since it’s a short one. I told her we have no cookie sales on Sunday so we’ll all do something together that day. Thing is, we need to do a hike for, you guessed it, Girl Scouts. It’s not a troop thing, just something Tabitha needs to plan for working on a badge so it is a family thing, it’s just, Daisy doesn’t like to hike. So I came up with the idea of setting up a scavenger hunt for her for during our hike and I know she’ll like that. I’ll also pack a picnic lunch which she should also enjoy.
She is such an easy kid to parent, but in some ways the very things that make it easy are masquerading and are actually the hard things.
Topics: Life, Delightful D | 1 Comment »
Month 2 (12 Project)
By Tara Zandra | March 3, 2010
This was taken on the last day Miss Daisy was 4 years old. She doesn’t seem 5 even now. The day before her birthday, she decided to practice her “5 skills.” This apparently included clearing her throat when she misspoke. She had a whole list in her head of these 5 skills but declined to share some of them with anyone who lived in our house. Now that she is 5, none of these skills have stayed on though.
We celebrated Daisy’s birthday for many days starting with the day before her birthday at Disneyland, then an overnight stay at the Disneyland Hotel, with more Disney park fun on her birthday. She also got to go to American Girl Place for lunch in the cafe for the first time. Lastly, she had a birthday party with the theme of Fancy Nancy Tea Party. Daisy is absolutely still our little monkey, but she also adores being a princess.
February was a very busy time with lots of Girl Scout activities for Tabitha. Aside from meetings, she had Thinking Day with her troop representing Greece- a country Tabitha is very into at the moment. She also went ice skating and participated in cookie sales. She managed to get halfway to her 1000 box goal in February and continues to work hard to get the rest of the way there. As I am the troop cookie manager, a lot of my time and energy was taken up by cookies and the same goes for Chris. March shows no signs of being any different.
We did manage to have once nice family outing in February by spending time at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. We went on Valentine’s Day which seemed fitting as our family is very loving to one another.
The weather was all over the place with many days stuck inside due to rain and other days clear and warm. There were also many days that were in between. The girls managed to get out and play in the front yard as well as a few park outings for the 3 of us while Chris was at work. We’re trying to do that more often as a way to reconnect with the outside world. I feel that part of our life has been lost over the years with less walks being taken and less time being spent in our own yards. My goal in the coming months is to remedy that situation.
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Better
By Tara Zandra | March 2, 2010
I’m feeling a bit more clear-headed now that I’ve had some sleep. I think you can hear the tired in last night’s post. Chris apparently is not doing so well though. Yesterday I told him I’d take both girls to Tabitha’s dance class so he could get some alone and relaxation time (usually he takes Tabi to dance right after he gets home from work). He told me that was a good thing because he wasn’t feeling well. When I talked to him on my drive home from my evening out, he sounded like he had been asleep though he said he hadn’t. Then when we watched tv last night he seemed really off to me. Come this morning, he’s back in bed and not going to work. I’m not sure what’s wrong as I wasn’t in a conversation mood at 5am. I hope it’s not catchy and passes quickly though.
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why?
By Tara Zandra | March 1, 2010
Why are the writers of Chuck trying to make me hate Superman? Serious bummer way to end my evening. I realized today that I have no time to even feel stressed. I guess it’s a good thing that cookies aren’t stressing me out, but on the other hand, I think I may be so freaking stressed out with everything right now that I can’t even see it. I’ve had a headache for going on 2 weeks now. I try to slow down and do something relaxing and instead I jump right back up thinking about everything that needs to be done. I went out with a friend this evening and had a lovely time, but now I sorta regret all the time I lost on stuff I could have been working on. (Side note: If you ordered cookies from us, your check has been received and cookies will go out Wednesday. I will email you.) Anyway, I just wanted to relax on the couch with Chris while watching Chuck. Instead the show is making me sadder and sadder every week and now I’m going to be in a sad mood. I know it’s a TV show, but it used to be a nice escape.
I need a vacation.
And a nap.
Topics: Life | 1 Comment »
Rainy, but still fun
By Tara Zandra | February 28, 2010
I missed blogging last night because at some point I needed to spend quality time with my husband. I haven’t been giving him any attention due to cookies, more cookies, and even more cookies. He’s doing a lot of the work too so while we’re working together, we’re not being together. Anyway, we had a pretty good day yesterday, despite the off and on downpours. We never got a little rain, it was always a driving rain about 20 minutes an hour.
We all slept in, because it was needed. We slowly got ready for the day and then headed to LA for lunch at the Grilled Cheese Truck. Chris had a melt with brie, pears, and honey; Daisy had macaroni and cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich; Tabitha had provolone, spinach, and avocado. I shared Daisy’s and Tabitha’s sandwiches because I knew neither would finish. Oh, the girls also got tomato soup and we all shared tater tots. Very good food, even if it did cost an extra six bucks because we forgot to bring cash and had to use a no-name ATM.
The truck was parked in front of a store called Japan LA which has cutesy Japanese pop culture stuff like Hello Kitty and the like. It’s stuff right up our alley and we couldn’t wait to see it. Unfortunately, their website promises a much bigger store than is the reality. I was sorely disappointed. I did get tiny cow magnet though and Daisy got a plush Mr. Toast as well as tiny erasers shaped like food (why she likes those, I don’t know). Tabitha picked up a Cannibal Funfair figure which really defies description and a Gloomy Bear toy (also hard to describe). I don’t really know that we’ll be back, but they are hosting an event in a couple weeks that Chris wants to attend and the Grilled Cheese Truck will be back, so we’ll see.
In the evening the girls had a small dance performance. It was low pressure and had almost zero standing around and waiting time which I really appreciate. Needless to say, both my darlings danced wonderfully 
Not all recital costumes are in yet, but Daisy’s class does have their costumes so I can share a picture of her taken before she danced; she is in the starting pose of her dance.
Topics: Life | 2 Comments »
What did you do this evening?
By Tara Zandra | February 26, 2010
Me? I stood with 8 Girl Scouts while they sold cookies. They cheered, they danced, they chanted, and they sold their heinies off! Over 100 boxes sold. I’m beat and in need of food and relaxation. Only 8 more booth sales to go!
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C is for Cookies- and Closed
By Tara Zandra | February 25, 2010
The girls and I delivered some cookies this morning, ran back home to quickly eat lunch and then went out for a nature walk. Good thing I didn’t have to drive far though. We got to our destination, had to unexpectedly pay parking, parked the car, consulted the trail map, walk 200 yards and came upon a “trail closed” sign. No redwood grove for us. We were rather disappointed but the kids cheered up rather easily since there were 5 playgrounds. That’s a lot of playgrounds. They were big too and all in one area next to a lake. While we didn’t get to go on the planned nature walk, we did see mallard ducks, geese, turtles, mud hens, and a crane. Not bad for the city
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Monkey See
By Tara Zandra | February 24, 2010
We tried to beat the rain today and headed to a park for our little monkey to do some climbing. I know I said we weren’t going to go extra places for a couple weeks, but Chris and I are trying to give Daisy many opportunities to put her climbing tendancies to good use. We’re reevaluating our desire to keep Daisy in gymnastics and exploring other options. I took many pics to give an idea of what this park is like as it is very different.
Topics: Life, Delightful D | 1 Comment »
12 Project
By Tara Zandra | February 23, 2010
A few weeks ago I read this post which also linked to this post. Essentially it’s a project where you take a family picture once a month, jot down a few things about the month, the family, each individual, whatever. At the the end of the year, you get it all put together in a photo book. How the photo is taken doesn’t matter. Whether it’s asking someone else to take it, using a self-timer, or even holding the camera at arms length in front of you.
I am so in love with this idea. I don’t have a family photo for January in the most technical sense, but we did do a photo on New Year’s Eve. For February we did take a photo specifically for this project. Since I have recently fixed a small part of my blog, I can once again share photos directly in my posts. So here is my first entry for the 12 Project. I will add February’s at the end of the month.
January 2010
This photo was taken just before midnight; just before we officially entered January 2010. January always brings excitement to our house as Tabitha’s birthday is January 30. She turned 11 this year which simultaneously seems young and old. Her party was an arts and crafts theme with 16 guests. For her actual birthday we all went to Disneyland as has been the custom since she turned 2.
Tabitha started private Jazz dance lessons in January in hopes of joining the Jazz competition team in the fall. She decided to stop gymnastics, though the decision was not an easy one. She continues violin and Girl Scouts. She also enjoys writing the Park Day Gazette for our Park Group.
Daisy continues to entertain us with her antics. It is impossible to get angry with that child. Her facial expressions are varied and effective. She fiercely loves her sister, but she also pushes her around. More than once Daisy has had to be reprimanded for pushing or hitting her sister. She never causes actual pain, but it is still an act that we work hard to curtail.
Our family spent the month recovering from the previous few months’ craziness. As such we only went on a few outings. We hiked in Solstice Canyon in Malibu and also visited an exhibit at the Discovery Science Center. Other than that, we kept close to home. Chris and I both started a workout regime with a goal of better health. We attempted more walks around the neighborhood, but endless rain made that difficult. Daisy also made it difficult as she does not enjoy walking.
All in all though, it was a pretty good start to a new year.
Topics: Life, 12 Project | 1 Comment »
forgot
By Tara Zandra | February 22, 2010
It’s late and I forgot about blogging so here’s a quickie.
Dulce de Leche Girl Scout cookies crumbled in chocolate ice cream, topped with bananas, hot chocolate sauce, and whipped cream= really tasty idea!
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yay for evolution
By Tara Zandra | February 21, 2010
You never realize how much you use that opposable thumb until it’s out of commision. All I did was hyper-extend my left thumb so it’s not like it’s a big deal. But, I continued to use it because there wasn’t much choice since I was bundling cookies which meant a lot of ribbon tying (seriously- over 5 hours of cookie bundling) and that necessarily used my thumb. Eventually it got purple and refused to let me use it at all to the extent that I could not pick up my glass of Diet Coke with my left hand. Once I was finally able to not use it for a while, it calmed down and now I can feel a little pain, but I can use it again. I’ll try not to overdue it and hopefully after sleeping all night it will be fine in the morning.
I was going to post the rest of Daisy’s pictures tonight, but I don’t want to sit at the computer longer than I have to. My back and shoulders are killing me thanks to the previously mentioned cookie bundling. Did I mention the 5 hours part?
The only other thing we did today was go to Olive Garden for lunch with my in-laws and now we’re about to watch Amazing Race. Oh, I also took a steaming bath to ease my muscles.
I look forward to tomorrow. I told Tabitha and Daisy we need to take 2-3 solid weeks of having a normal day, meaning no errands or Disneyland, or skipping rope in the front yard for hours on end. We really need to get some good lesson time in. I really do enjoy that type of interaction with the girls so it should be some good time spent together
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I thought
By Tara Zandra | February 20, 2010
Today was Thinking Day for Girl Scouts. It’s a day where we celebrate Girl Scouting in other countries. Each troop chooses a different country to represent and sets up a booth with displays and activities relating their chosen country. Our girls chose Greece and made columns to go on the easy-up, a poster of the Greek Gods, as well as a Welcome to Greece sign written in Greek. The girls were outfitted in their peplos and our activity was writing ones name in Greek on a bookmark. We forgot to take into account Daisy Girl Scouts and how tedious it would be to explain that activity to 5 and 6 year olds. We basically had to go through their names letter by letter. Tabitha had a great time and the girls all looked good in their peplos.
Before and after the festivities, we got the cookies to all the parents so now there are only 1000 boxes of cookies in my garage- 500 belong to Tabitha and her sales and the other half are for our upcoming booth sales. If you ordered cookies from Tabi, I’ll be sending out emails tomorrow for payment and delivery info. Check your facebook messages sometime tomorrow or Monday.
After all Girl Scout related activites, we grabbed lunch at El Pollo Loco and then game home for a bit of necessary clean-up time. Then off we went to the movies! Chris took Tabitha to see Percy Jackson and I took Daisy to see the Chipmunks (you can guessed who pulled the short straw in that). 10-minutes into the movie and the child says she’s done and wants to leave @@ I asked her to stick it out a little longer because I knew what was bothering her about the first scenes and didn’t think there’d be any more action like that. For the most part I was right and she did enjoy everytime a chipmunk, or chipette, sang and danced. However, seeing this movie reminded me why I don’t take my kids to kid movies. Do we really need wedgies, bullying, a man getting hit in the family jewels, fart jokes, and shaking “what your mama gave you” in order to make kids laugh? Honestly my 5 year old thought the funniest part was when one character said “Hey look! Is that a Jonas Brother?” She didn’t laugh once at the other crap and I don’t really think the older kid would have either (not that she was remotely interested in seeing the chipmunks because of how creepy they are). Anyway, it’s hard to refuse Daisy anything, which is why we saw the movie, but I think I’ll go back to my regular ways and not take them to what I know is low class garbage. On the other hand, I loved “Something About Mary” and really want to see “Old Dogs” so who am I to talk?
I’d like to think I can lounge around all day tomorrow and essentially do whatever, but there are cookies to be sorted and emails to send so I have a feeling my wishes are simply that- wishes.
Topics: Life | 1 Comment »
cookies and peplos
By Tara Zandra | February 19, 2010
Today Chris and I loaded almost 2000 boxes of cookies into two cars then came home and unloaded almost 2000 boxes of cookies into the garage.
I sewed 3 peplos this evening. And now I’m sewing the last 2 peplos before I can crash.
That is all.
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a time to play
By Tara Zandra | February 18, 2010
The girls spent the majority of the day in the front yard. I know they were making towns for ants that included first a drought, then a flood, then they moved onto mudpies. They weren’t even playing together, it was a case of monkey see-monkey do with the little one being the monkey. Tabitha attempted to demonstrate the art of jumping rope to Daisy and as it hit the ground, the rope snapped in two. So we headed to Toys R Us to pick out new jump ropes for the girls. There may have also been a side trip to Jamba Juice. Once back home, they went right back to the front yard for a few more hours.
I spent my day being mad about the sinus headache from hell. It started around noon yesterday and copious amounts of drugs are having no effect on it. Aside from that, I worked on the peplos and got it down to a speedy 20 minutes a piece. I have more to do but they will wait until tomorrow evening. Of course leaving them to the last minute guarantees something will go hideously wrong.
Topics: Life, The Kiddies | 1 Comment »
feel the magic
By Tara Zandra | February 17, 2010
The girls and I spent the day at Disneyland today. We didn’t bother rushing to get their by opening and we were rather relaxed as we strolled the park. We stayed 4.5 hours but only did about 5 or 6 attractions. I think we’ll do it again in a couple weeks.
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5 minutes = over an hour
By Tara Zandra | February 16, 2010
My quick project was anything but- good thing I didn’t wait until any later. I got the one peplos done and now I can learn from my mistakes It is easy and the future ones should be much faster but I was having machine issues that lead to frustration which never helps.
I did not sleep well last night for the second night in a row. So I decided caffeine was in order and it wouldn’t be a strictly raw day. Then later I wasn’t thinking and accepted an offer of cheese and when I realized it, I kind of threw in the towel and just ate whatever. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Tabitha helped out at a Brownie meeting this afternoon in order to earn her Junior Aide award. She also provided snack which goes towards a requirement of a different badge. We also spent some time talking about her bronze award because what she envisions is rather vague and not quite possible due to her age. Her troop wants to help an animal shelter in some way, but volunteers need to be 12 and they are not. So Tabitha wasn’t feeling good about their project which led to our talk. Thankfully we made some headway and came up with good ideas so she’s feeling much better about it all now.
Then this evening Tabitha had a voice lesson because she wants to do a theater audition next month and it’s for a musical. I know she can act, not sure if she can sing, so we’ll see if she gets anything or not.
Can’t say I’m in the blogging mood very much tonight so I’ll just sign off and waste some time on the web.
Topics: Life, Teriffic T | No Comments »
another one bites the dust
By Tara Zandra | February 15, 2010
The girls and I went to a mall today and the Hallmark is closing. When we went to a different mall last week, we found the American Greetings closing. Though it was nice to get a good deal on a few Webk!nz, I’d much rather they both stayed open. It’s so depressing to see all the empty businesses.
But other than that, we did have a lovely time. We went after lunch as I told Tabitha I had 4 priorities for her today- working on more thank you notes, violin theory/practice, book club work, and preparing for a meeting tomorrow. She worked in a timely manner so I was able to agree to Daisy’s request to go to a mall with a play area. Tabitha sat with me and did some brain teaser puzzles from a card set I got her this weekend and Daisy played for about half an hour. We browsed Gymboree and got a couple items at the Disney Store before seeing the store closing sign at the Hallmark.
Once home, we had about an hour before Chris took Tabi to dance and then Daisy and I ran to the fabric store for a quick purchase for a Girl Scout project I’m working on. The dinner fairy did not arrive and I was in a downcast mood so we decided to go out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant. It was okay, but not sure it was what I was looking for. Though they do have non-chicken tortilla soup which both Tabitha and I really enjoy so it wasn’t a bad choice by any means.
After dinner and a stop at the grocery store, we came home and the whole family worked to get the living room and dining room back to order. Now they can stay that way. There was too much stuff that had been piling up that didn’t really have a home, like the girls valentines and goody bags and whatnot. It’s really good to be back to normal. It made it possible for me to start my sewing project but since it is beyond quick and easy (literally a 5 minute job, just times 10), I’m putting it off until tomorrow.
Because procrastination always works out for me.
Topics: Life | 1 Comment »
Fabu heart day
By Tara Zandra | February 14, 2010
We had a wonderful day today! First we stopped at Krispy Kreme, which wasn’t that great due to a family that had little desire to control their kids. Two out of three of them fell on me so I’m not just being nitpicky, Thankfully they left soon after we sat down because the only open table was right near them (I wonder why?).
Then it was off to the Natural History Museum! We toured a few of the halls and checked out the gift shop before heading outside to eat at another gourmet truck. It was BBQ, but their online menu said they had a veggie burger, and the sign at the museum said they had veggie options. But all they had was mac and cheese so we said forget and walked to Chipotle instead! We then went to Daisy’s all-time favorite area for some rock climbing. Tabitha climbed rocks for a bit but she spent most of her time among the giant tree roots in her own world. We had wanted to letterbox in the rose garden, but it was closed so we’ll save that for another time. When the rock area was invaded by two other families, we went inside the Science Center and browsed the shop. Daisy picked out another plush germ (Sore Throat), and Tabitha got a jelly fish yo-yo thing. Then we went back to the Museum shop and Tabitha bought a venus flytrap and Daisy got some weird rubbery thing that lights up and makes her happy but I could not even begin to tell you what it is.
We then went to Whole Foods which seemed like a good idea, but took forever to get to and cost about 3x what I was hoping for. I wanted to go there because it’s hard for me to eat raw foods if I’m away from home so I wanted to pick up two pre-packaged raw food entrees for a couple days this week when I’ll be out. $21 for the both of them. Not going to do that again, that’s for sure! I will figure something else out for food on-the-go days.
Since we’ve been home we ate the chips, salsa, and guac that I made last night and then everyone played for a bit. As soon as we get the big kid to bed it’s Amazing Race time!
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Sooo fancy
By Tara Zandra | February 13, 2010
The party was a hit! But I’m dead tired so details will have to wait.
I did want to quickly mention that apparently I’m buying the right things. When I was at Target the other night I picked up Season 3 of Psych. The checkout clerk mentioned how much she loves the show. Then I went to the grocery store and the cashier was really looking at everything I was purchasing and then told me I had some good stuff and asked what I was making, lol.
And finally, I made salsa in my processor tonight for the first time in eons. My old one was too small and had a crack on the bottom that made it difficult to do liquids. But in the new one? Fabulous!
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another Valentine’s party
By Tara Zandra | February 12, 2010
Today was our Valentine’s party with our park group. The weather cooperated by giving us upper 60s instead of dreary and cold. We had 19 kids total who started out decorating bags. Then they passed their Valentines out to everyone’s bags. Next was the potluck, followed by the art show, a scavenger hunt, and then ending with good, old-fashioned run around and play time. The kids had a fabulous time, the mom who organized it all did a fantastic job, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.
By the time we got home, it was 2:30 so the girls and I did some serious relaxing before Chris got home. After dinner, I took Tabitha to a friend’s house to stay the night and then did the grocery shopping. I went to Target to pick up a couple Valentine gifts for the girls and all the Valentine stuff has been relegated to half of one aisle. Apparently Target has not time for procrastinators- or, you know, busy people who may not have time to buy earlier than 2 days before the holiday! Sheesh! I only ended up with a Valentine Magic 8-ball for Tabi and a Valentine book for Daisy.
Right now I’m working on tea cakes for Daisy’s party tomorrow. It’s a William-Sonoma pan/mold and recipe and so far, I really like! I have a lot to do tomorrow, but for the first time since having parties for my kids, I’m not in the least bit stressed and am actually looking forward to it! Will wonders never cease?
Topics: Life, The Kiddies, Homeschooling | No Comments »
The pics are done!
By Tara Zandra | February 11, 2010
That wasn’t so bad afterall, only took me about an hour to get all the pictures done. I will be putting up another picture page in a couple days that will include our room at They Disneyland Hotel (recently remodeled and gorgeous!), our day at American Girl Place, and her party that is still coming up. I probably won’t include too many from her party since I never put other children on my website, but I’ll get some pics of the decorations and stuff before kids show up.
Basically we went to Disneyland the day before Daisy’s birthday at opening which was 10:00am. The weather was decent with the sun going in and out but it never got really cold. We rode all of Daisy’s favorites: Peter Pan, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Thunder Mountain (twice), Gadget’s Go Coaster (twice), Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and the Carousel. Plus she spent time playing in Toontown. We then headed over to the hotel to check in and eat lunch. Then the girls wanted to go swimming so Chris took them in. The pool is themed to Neverland so the slide is in Skull Rock and there’s a pirate ship and Tinkerbell. All of it was very cute. I took pictures and then settled in with my book.
After a bit they had to admit they were freezing so we hurried back the room to get changed. We then went into California Adventure where Daisy rode a new ride called Mulholland Madness (it’s themed after driving in CA, hence the Mulholland name). It’s a wild mouse type coaster and Daisy is just now tall enough so she was very excited. She loved it! Of course we had to go on it twice too We hung out a bit longer but the temp was quickly dropping so we decided it was time to leave.
Since Daisy isn’t really into eating out and could not have cared less where we went, we opted out of a big dinner and simply went to Del Taco which suited her just fine. When we got back to the hotel, she wanted to play so we let her for about 45 minutes. Chris took that time to go on the computer and Tabitha and I went for a long walk around the hotel grounds and a little bit into Downtown Disney for some browsing.
The rest of the night wasn’t so good with Tabitha not falling asleep until past 11pm and therefore Chris and I were once again stuck in a hotel bathroom.
Next day was Daisy’s actual birthday! She opened her presents and spent the day telling us she now felt 17. We went back into Disneyland where I took tons of posed photos of the kid and then we rode a few rides before calling it a day. We made a stop at the candy shop so Daisy could pick out a special cupcake. I had brought a candle so we lit it and sang to her.
Once home, it was time for the dollhouse! Once it sunk in what she was seeing, Daisy really seemed to enjoy playing with it. She was pleased with her bear family and looks forward to getting more furniture. It is currently sitting in the living room and I don’t know that it has anywhere else to go.
The End!
Topics: Life, Delightful D | 1 Comment »
photos
By Tara Zandra | February 11, 2010
Working on Daisy’s photos.
This is gonna take awhile- stay tuned!
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pre-valentines
By Tara Zandra | February 10, 2010
We got into the Valentine spirit today as Daisy attended a Valentine’s party. They decorated cookies and doorknob hangers, had pizza, and played in a generally raucous way. She had a great time as did Tabitha and I since Tabi got to play with the other older siblings and I got to talk to friends.
After the party we went to the book store and then Michaels to prepare for the Valentine’s party with our park group as well as Daisy’s birthday party. What I learned is that feather boas are expensive. Good thing Daisy’s guest list is small! LOL We also had to hit Target where Daisy used her last Target gift card on some Zhu Zhu pet items. We came home for about an hour and a half and by then, Chris was home.
Off to Goodwill to look for a teapot for the birthday party. We found one at the first place we looked, so that was fortuitous. Next we ate at Baja Fresh, then Target again because Tabitha decided she wanted a Valentine’s Day shirt. We also got her knee socks that will look very cute with her denim skirt. We had two more stops and then finally home.
Both girls worked on Valentine cards for awhile and then Chris read Daisy her new book, “The Lorax.” Tabitha asked to stay up 10 minutes later than normal as she is rather involved with the latest Percy Jackson book right now. She cannot wait for the movie to come out and mentions it almost daily.
And now, time for Psych
Topics: Life | 1 Comment »
procrastination wins!
By Tara Zandra | February 9, 2010
Yeah, I’m not doing the pictures right now. I had a rough day (the word rough being relative, of course) and I’ve pretty much done nothing of worth for the last 3 hours or so. I plan to continue that until bed.
I’m officially over the rain. It’s so dreadfully dark and dreary and I think that really contributed to the problems of the day. It wasn’t just me either. Neither child did particularly well today including Daisy coming out of dance crying telling me she was done and wanted to leave.
But, as they say, tomorrow is another day. I’m sure it will be better even if not brighter with mroe rain.
I’ll close by saying that Lost seriously has disturbing sounds coming from it. I don’t want to turn my headphones up loud, but the sounds of agony are not pleasant. At least my music is soothing. I’m listening to a playlist we made by buying songs from the show Chuck. We haven’t even completed season 1, but it’s still a great playlist so far
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one of those days
By Tara Zandra | February 8, 2010
But in a good way
For whatever reason I slept really well last night and woke up in a good mood, despite the dreams of mice and rats in the house. I read blogs, did yoga, sat with Daisy, had hot tea and a banana, stared at the blue sky, and then welcomed Tabitha to the world of the awake.
From there we had a regular day with lessons, laundry, a trip to the grocery, a fort was built for Daisy, she read to me, I read to her, both girls spent time in the front yard digging in dirt/hula hooping/drawing with chalk. Tabitha chose a lovely soup for dinner called Chipotle Potato Soup with Frizzled Leeks. Spicy but very, very good. I used the crock pot and my beloved Cuisinart.
Right I’m waiting for the Kings to beat the Ducks and then we can send Tabitha off to bed and the grown-ups can watch Chuck!
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waiting for Tuesday
By Tara Zandra | February 7, 2010
At this point I’m actually looking forward to when Lost is on so I can get Daisy’s pictures up.
Today marked the 5th, and final, day of celebrating Daisy’s birthday. We ended with a trip to the American Girl Place. It was a girls’ day being that it was myself, Daisy, Tabitha, and my MIL. We started off with a nice lunch which culminated with a cake for both girls. I wasn’t initially going to do the cake since I just did it last year for Tabitha’s birthday, but Tabitha really wanted it so I went ahead and ordered it.
After the food, we did a little shopping. As a gift to both girls, my MIL had promised them matching outfits to their dolls. Daisy chose PJs which she is currently wearing to bed and looks quite adorable Tabitha chose a dress to match her new doll, Lanie and then just another random Lanie outfit for the doll herself. I had also promised both girls a small accessories set and they each chose pets. Of course, you can never buy just what you go for so my MIL was rather generous with the girls as they both came home with a few more items.
Ideally I’d like to get Tabitha all of Lanie’s stuff over the course of the year. I can do a few things for the Easter basket and then put the rest away for next Christmas. Using the catalog I added it all up and the total isn’t that bad, really. The main thing is the camper which is pricey and huge. The size will be a serious issue and I’m not sure I can talk Chris into it (I’m sure he’s reading this and shaking his head ‘no’). But we’ll see as it would be an excellent Santa gift.
Anyway, once home the three of us relaxed and then had to head out again to pick up Chris who had spent the afternoon with his dad. We then made a quick stop at the grocery store and when we got home I promptly started preparing dinner. I had asked Tabitha what we should have for dinner because my plan was to have her cook it. She chose rice, chili, and strawberries. Since the rice just goes in a steamer and the chili is canned, it seemed pointless to ask her to prepare anything. I’ll try again on Tuesday.
Topics: Life, Delightful D, Teriffic T, The Kiddies | No Comments »
I got nothing
By Tara Zandra | February 6, 2010
Tomorrow should be a better day.
‘Night.
Topics: Life | No Comments »
halfway
By Tara Zandra | February 5, 2010
We were putting in our troop’s cookie orders this evening so it was our first chance to tally up Tabitha’s sales. She is halfway to her goal with just shy of 500 boxes of cookies! She still needs another 500 and it won’t be easy, but she is determined. Our troop has a lot of booth sales scheduled and she plans to go around the neighborhood this weekend. Once we have the cookies in hand, she load them into a wagon and go around the neighborhood again. I don’t know that she’ll hit 1000, but she’s going to come darn close and she is quite happy about that.
Today started off with book club but no park due to rain. We went to Target for Daisy to spend her gift card and then met my MIL for lunch. We then went to a McDonald’s to play, but Daisy wasn’t having any fun so we bought the girls small sundaes and headed to Toys R Us so Daisy could spend her other gift card. Then we went back to Target so Tabi could use some of her gift cards and finally we made it home.
Waiting for us here were boxes of decorations for Daisy’s party. Everything is adorable and I cannot wait for her tea party Tabitha took over the laptop, I settled at the desktop, Chris played video games in the living room and Daisy played with all her new toys. Eventually I joined Chris in playing Karaoke Revolution with Daisy watching. Tabitha was making High School Musical videos with her Barbies and they were pretty funny to watch. We’re thinking we’ll get her set up in the dining room with better lighting and have her redo one of them and then I’ll post them to YouTube for fun.
Eventually we got the little one off to bed, after a quick game of Candyland, and then Tabitha, Chris and I worked on the cookie orders.
Topics: Life, The Kiddies | 1 Comment »
