One more thing...

So Happy Monday. Today's weather sucks! I finished up the Walmart post and decided to add on another tidbit from my day. So today I leave the house looking and feeling fresh and cute. Yikes...that did not last long. I have the luxury of working 2 miles from home and therefore get to go home on my lunch break to relax. Relaxing was not in the cards for Miss Erin today! Not only do I get caught in storm hell on the way back to the office but the rain is pelting my back. Nevermind that I do have an umbrella but that is just covering my face and hair (thank goodness...minimal frizzing) meanwhile the whole length of my backside is exposed to the rain. I get back into the office and leave it to me to wear a sweater with lambs wool in it. So what happens you ask? Well, not only are my pants soaked and the back of my knees soaking but now there is a pungent smell coming from my sweater!!! Quite hilarious once I start thinking about it. Coworkers were quite understanding but I almost lost it when my boss emailed me a message with a heading that read "You Stink"!!! I thought that was the perfect way to end my day. Sitting in my chair, soaked in water...left to smolder in stankness! hee hee!!!!!

I Hate Walmart.....

But DAMN do they have some deals! So for the past 3 years, our "Outdoor Furniture" has consisted of a $30.00 lightweight table we bought from Rite Aid and 4 plastic chairs that we need to replace every year. This year I promised myself that I would indulge in a proper outdoor dining set. And by golly...one just happed to appeared to me while a recent visit to Walmart. A few weeks ago I HAD to go to there even though I loathe it to buy a camera for my mom, and damn it they have good deals! Well while I was in that hell hole, I happened to see this patio set that had 8 pieces for only $198.00! How is that possible Walmart? How do you sell your inventory for so cheap? I would like to know. So being the cheapie that I am I drag Nick to Walmart yesterday to buy this $198.00 box of joy. Well only after we arrive did I realize that it was "Sunday at Walmart" day...oh holy crap...
Kids everywhere, not on leashes, carts filled every possible aisle. I felt my blood pressure rising just entering through the doors. Every language you can imagine is spoken at Walmart, it is amazing. So I find my patio set, and then set out to pay for it. Let's just say the longest possible line is always the one you are in, right?SoI finally get to the cashier and tell her I want to buy a patio set. Then came the Big Wait. Waiting for someone to come and take it down from the towering wall 0' crap. 25 minutes later I had resorted to the childish rant of "I HATE this place!!" Nick had just taken up residence on a far better quality patio set than I had just purchased. He was just silent and irritated. Nothing like spending almost an hour in a place that makes your lips curl. So to make a very long and boring story short, we finally wrangled a patio set, hecka cheap too might I add, and ended up just scooting the boxes into the garage because we both did not want to even look at it being that it had just come from Walmart. Nothing against it's workers, employees etc. It is just a bargain mecca and therefore every possible weirdo has to enter the store. Geez...at least my patio will look fab this year and not an ounce of plastic in sight! YAY!

Day 2 at the Beach House:

February 18th, mom's birthday weekend. Everyone is having a wonderful time. Lots of sunshine, laughs and cocktails. Maggie has been relatively well behaved, and by relatively I mean 3/4 naughty and 1/4 sleepy from all the naughty things she has been up to! Day 1 consisted of knocking Nana down into the ocean and then rolling over her to run and attack an unassuming fluffy mutt who was minding his own business.

Todays activities included Nick and I walking her 1/8 of a mile down the sidewalk of Steamer Lane and having to bring her back since she wanted to fight every dog she saw. I felt like I was lifting weights all day by the way I had to hold her back on her leash. We are very limited to where we can take her due to rambunctious behavior. Geez who would have thought that 1 little red dog could be so misbehaved, but then again, this was the doggy who was the "bully' of her obedience training class.

Mom on the other hand is having a great 55th birthday and that is the most important thing. In fact, as I was thinking about the subject matter of this blog, she was pleasantly napping on one of the balconies, book in her lap and sunflower seeds speckling the chaise lounge around her. That spells happiness to me!

Sprinkle, Sprinkle...

We love Northern California don't we? The sunshine, the beautiful scenery, the ocean, the mountains... we tend to be spoiled. We are spoiled civilians. We don't have to worry about shoveling our driveways after a snow or invest in chains just to drive to work everyday. Which explains how many of Californians do not know how to drive in adverse weather conditions. Take for example yesterdays freeway debacle and the countless tiny fender benders. Face it... people do NOT know how to drive safely and defensively in the rain. Either people drive WAY to cautiously and cause back up and slow downs or they drive like bats out of hell and undoubtedly are the cause of ridiculous accidents. In fact, on my way home last night I passed 2, count them...2, rear end accidents on the side of the road. Obviously someone was following too close and was not paying attention. Maybe the fast action of his or her (probably HIS!) windshield wipers prevented him from making a conscious decision to abstain from investigating someones tiny bumper sticker. Either way someone's insurance is going to raise and those same people will be angry when they call me to explain how such a thing should happen to them. "Why should my insurance double because I hit someones fender?" Well, the answer is clear: "You should have thought about that before tailgating Dum Dum!" Are people just so important and busy they cannot afford to slow down and take time out for safety? Apparently not. Here is an example of a normal rainy day situation:

drop...drop....sprinkle...sprinkle...CRASH!

Someone gets rear ended or worse. All it takes is a few precious drops of water that we so desperatly needed this year and suddenly everyone needs to go into what I refer to as "Idiot Mode". My friend Autum called yesterday and gave me this precious gem: "It is a good thing California does not get much snow otherwise there would be a lot less people" I found that statement to be quite true.

It is just condensation. It falls from the sky in liquid form. Yet it manages to turn Californians into complete panic mode.

It baffles me. Even so, I wish you all good luck and happy and safe driving. Especially the commuters.

Maggie's Spoiled Days

My Dog Maggie is a Chow/ Golden Retriever mix and she is the cutest little puffball ever! This is a day in her life:

- She wakes up in her warm bed right next to her Mommy's.
- Once awake, realizes that the cat has not been chased in 6-7 hours and proceeds to do so, causing Mommy and Daddy to wake, this usually happens about 5 am.
- After being yelled at, she drags herself to the sofa in the family room and jumps up followed by a mid morning nap.
- Mom and Dad get ready for work and kiss her on the nose before leaving the house. Leaving her unattended in the house.
- A few hours of tormenting the cat go by and after yet another restful snooze, the Mommy comes home on her lunch break to feed and let Maggie out for Potty and then back into the house for snuggles and pets before Mommy leaves yet again to go back to work.
- Soon after, Nana comes by to pick her up and take her for a 3 mile walk on the trail to chase after other dogs who are far less fortunate than herself and bark and run without a leash to confine her.
-She gets away with bloody murder at Nana's since there are no rules and dinner usually consists of kibble topped with warm soup or other delicious confections.
- Finally mommy comes to pick her up and take her happy ass back home where she tops off the evening on Mommy's bed while she reads. Lots of snuggles and pets follow this.
-Blissful slumber follows until the next day arrives full of possibilities and a lot more naps!

1986

I was nine and I had my first reoccurring flying dream: I was wearing a white eyelet nightgown in the backyard in the middle of the night. Running around the perimeter of our small yard trying to get up enough speed to take off. I had tried countless times and had crashed into the fence several occasions. Except once. I ran and ran and finally felt my toes lift gently off of the cool grass. I felt my stomach tighten, even as I was sleeping.
I looked down at my feet as my nightgown grazed the neighbor’s fence. I was flying! And the sensation was so real and incredible that when I woke up, I almost had to make sure I was lying down.

17 years later, I bought a convertible and felt that same sensation all over again. The wind whipped through my hair, my face was warm from the sun, and as I peaked at the top of Vasco road the perfect song came on. I will always remember that feeling. I felt like I could do anything. Like I could fly.

Now, in the year leading up to my thirtieth birthday, I am frantically trying to recapture that feeling. The feeling of lifting off instead of falling down. Why is it that as we get older things look downward instead of flying upwards? Our breasts droop, our time gets shorter, days fly by endlessly. How? Last night I had the same dream, the same one I did when I was nine. Which is why I started this whole idea in my head. I find it quite interesting that at this pivotal time in my life, I am reverting back to childhood dreams and images. How I wish to be so young and spread my wings and sail through the sky. Feeling the evening sky on my face. The tops of fences whisking under my feet.

Just a thought...