Beware of the Sugar Bugs!

Iz Has Canday Negless.

Gio went to my bi-annual dental cleaning with me. And I'm so glad he did. One of the things he has always enjoyed is brushing his own teeth. But this mostly entails him sucking the toothpaste off the toothbrush, then he's done. In his mind, toothpaste=dessert.

In my opinion, it just isn't effective dental hygiene to eat while brushing.

"Do you brush your teeth twice a day," asks Mrs. Hygienist.

He nods his head yes.

"Do you let your Mommy help you? she digs a little further.


He nods yes, again, as I roll my eyes and shake my head "No!"

He fails to include all of his resistance to our tandem brushing experience: "No, I can do it myself!"

"Good," says Mrs. Hygienist, as she winds up for the knockout punch. "Because you don't want those sugar bugs to eat your teeth, so you need to let Mommy help you brush."

"Okay," Gio says trembling.

The look on his face: fear. Fear of the sugar bugs, eating his teeth, if he doesn't let me brush. And I would have snapped a picture, but I was restrained in the dental chair. I didn't even know dental restraint was still legal in some states?

Now our tooth brushing experience is joyous. I no longer hear Gio say, "I can brush my own teeth. You don't get a turn!"

And if he does start arguing, I just say, "don't you want me to make sure you get rid of all the sugar bugs?" Which is promptly followed by a head nod.

Where was that dental hygienist two years ago?


The look of complete sugar
satisfaction.


That's what I look for in a necklace: one
that looks and tastes good. They need
to figure out a solution to the soggy string.

Earth Hour: The Results Show

Earth Hour, switch off the lights one hour for Earth, was Saturday night, from 8:30p.m. to 9:30p.m.

Of course, we were late.

We didn't make it home until 9:15 because we had gone to see a musical, Wonderland, at a local children's theatre. Oh, and after the play we had to go to the grocery to fetch dog food, because someone forgot we were out. I'm not naming names, but, let's just say it wasn't me.

We figured since we missed 45 minutes of Earth Hour, we would just leave the lights out for the rest of the night.

"No lights for the rest of the night, wah!" whines Vinny. "Daddy can I use your book light?" asks Vinny the bookworm.

Of course, as I tweeted, Vinny thought, "Earth Hour is just a trick to get us into bed early."

Upon entering the house, we had a few FAILS! with lights coming on. First was the garage door. When it opens the light automatically turns on.

"Ahhhhh!" we scream. "Turn it off!"

Stefan saves the night, by switching the light off in a 20 seconds or less. Phew! That was a close one.

We got into the house and of course someone was hungry. Surprisingly, it wasn't Vinny, the eating machine, but Gio.

"I'm hungryyyyyy," he whines. "I want piiiizzaaaaa."

The lights are off, but the oven is on.

Stefan, being the Eagle Scout that he is, fetches a large candle because he says, and I quote, "you're cheating by using a flashlight(Vinny) and a cell phone(Me) for light."

"They have batteries!" exclaims Stefan .

"Well, my cell phone battery is rechargeable so that hardly counts," I say as I tweet on Twitter.

Gio accidentally switched on a few lights, but he's three, so we didn't send him to time out this year.

Vinny was distraught over all the darkness.

"I'm going to bed," Vinny says.

Right then my husband and I knew without speaking a word to each other, Earth Hour is THE solution to all of our bed time woes.

Now, at our house, every night is Earth Hour, with a slightly different schedule. Lights out at 7:30 p.m. We'll be helping ourselves and the planet.

Extreme LED Sheep Art

My friend sent me this video the other day.

"Do you think they really attached the LED lights to the sheep, or was it just computer generated?" she asks me.

And that's the thing with the Internet, one never really knows if it's fact, fiction or a beautiful combination of both. I like to think of the Internet as Entertainment. Kind of like, TV, only a billion times better.

Earth Hour

"Earth hour what's that?" asks someone.

When: First off it's happening March 28th, at 8:30 pm, no matter what time zone you live in.

How: turn off your lights for one hour or until 9:30 pm.

Why: According to the Earth Hour website, Earth Hour entails the following:

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming

Now if you really want to go crazy you could unplug everything except the refrigerator. But, really, this is about voting for planet earth by switching OFF the lights. Switching off the lights is a vote against global warming.

One person can make a difference if we all have the same vision. See you in the dark!

"Wait, how am I ever going to remember to turn off the lights at 8:30 pm?" asks someone.

Simple. Set an alarm on your phone, clock, etc. Remember to vote!

American Idol Michael Sarver Goes Home

Michael Sarver leaves Idol.

Obviously, I am pleased with the decision to send Michael Sarver home on last night's American Idol results show. Missed yesterdays blog, click here

Sarver was in my bottom three, contestants with the least number of votes. But I was very surprised to see Matt Giraud in the bottom three. "Huh?" I can name several people worse than him, though his performance was a bit shaky.

Maybe Matt Giraud needs to get a little more comfortable flaunting his sexuality for the entire world to see, because that is what movie stars and Oprah guests do, right? Especially, since his song choice was, "Let's Get It On." I was going to include the video, but why bother, if the powers that be are going to take it off youtube.com?

New to American Idol this season is the judges Save. The person with the least amount of votes gets one last chance to "sing for survival," before getting booted off the show. Sarver gave it his all, which was a little too much, and to be honest he looked nervous.

While Sarver wasn't my favorite, it's still sad to see him leave the show. He seems like a nice guy. Just not a super star.

American Idol Top 10 Recap

Last night, as I was getting ready to watch American Idol, while simultaneously writing today's blog, I heard a strange sound.

"Poof!"

Yes, poof! is exactly what I heard ,right before I found myself sitting alone, in a room of complete and utter darkness.

"But it's Motown night," I cry. "The top 10 are performing Motown songs. I like Motown. Wah, wah, boo, boo."

I attempted to send a reconciliatory email to the Power Angels, "Boo hoooo, no tivo. I promise never to take electricity for granted again. Now, please give me back my power."

It didn't work. So here I sit scrounging videos off of youtube.com while writing my blog, on an exceptionally slow computer.
All before my scheduled 10:30 AM dental appointment.

Here is my American Idol Top 10 Recap.




Adam Lambert is amazing once again! I loved his clean cut look, very handsome. And his face looked like he was crying, just like I was last night when, "The Lights Went Out In Georgia." Broadway baby.






Allison Iraheta gave a rockin' yet soulful performance of "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone." Definitely the second best performance of the night. She stays.

I could only find the audio of Danny Gokey's performance. I liked it. He's got a great voice with a sexy edge. He stays.

Matt Giraud got it right and honestly in my book who can go wrong with "Let's Get It On." Definitely not his best night, but he stays for sexy swagger alone.







Megan Joy started out weak on "For Once in My Life," but she got better in the second half of the song. She isn't exactly my favorite, but I thought she was better this week than the previous two. And better than some of the others.

Michael Sarver sang "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," and personally I love this song, but not when he sings it. He oversang the song and kind of ruined it for me. Stylistically, it sound like he was going for Jerry Lee Lewis or something. Definitely a weak performance.




m performed "You Can't Hurry Love." I enjoyed his performance more than the last two weeks, but his time is numbered. He stays for now. Though if he starts singing about God, Jesus and Angels he will soar up the Christian charts.




Lil Rounds' performace of "Heatwave," was definitely not her best. Honestly, I am surprised she didn't give a strong performance, and I think this could really hurt her. Lil started out great, but she failed on the chorus. She may go tomorrow night.

Anoop Desai sang "Ooh baby baby," beautifully, which isn't what I look for in a male singer. But he definitely stays. One of the stronger performances of the night, just not my type.




Kris Allen sang "How Sweet It Is," and he surprised me. I thought he gave one of the better performances of the night. He stays.



The best performance of the night was by far Adam Lambert. Then, of course the next strongest was Allison Iraheta. The bottom three for me were Lil Rounds, Michael Sarver and Megan Joy, in that order.

So Internet who do you think is getting voted off tonight? Tivo please don't fail me now. Oh wait, I almost forgot, I'm checking the results on Twitter. Follow me www.twitter.com/wendysurf

And the instructions say...................

FAIL!

The other night, unbeknown to me, we ran out of dishwashing detergent. I almost never put detergent in the dishwasher, when I load it, because, I usually use too much detergent, causing the opening mechanism to jam. The end result is a rock hard rectangle of dish detergent that frequently fails! to dispense.

"Oh no!" exclaims Stefan as he runs to the dishwasher.

I look up to see the dishwasher foaming at the mouth.

I say to myself, "that thing cannot break tonight, it's only three years old."

Then I say a quick prayer to the Dishwashing Repair Angels, "to promise to start being good if they let my dishwasher live."

"I only used a tiny amount," swears Stefan. "We were out of regular dishwashing detergent. I thought it would be okay."

"Ha ha ha ha he he he he ho ho ho," I can't stop laughing.

I would have even rolled around on the floor laughing, because it was so funny, but I didn't want to get all foamy. Besides, I was overcome with joy that the dishwasher wasn't broken and he was cleaning the mess.

Invisible Trash Cans and Cloaking Devices

I phoned the the "Pick Up Your Dog's Pile" Police today. I needed some clarification on how the whole pick up the poop thing works.

And quite frankly, I wanted to know why they were wasting so much money making the trash cans invisible. Besides, we can still see the poop, peeps. Let's spend the money on sheltering the homeless or education.

Even buying executive bonuses would be better than having to look at all those poop bags in broad daylight. "Boo, hiss!" screams the audience.

"So, is there a cloaking device around the trash can, therefore, making it impossible to see the trash can?" I ask the PUYDP Police.

"No ma'am," says the officer. "Why would you ask such a silly question?"

"Oh never mind," I say and hang up the phone.

Call Me "Nadia" (The Dog)

The other night we were eating dinner.

"Call me Nadia," says Gio.

"Okay," I say.

"No, you forgot to call me Nadia," he lectures me.

"Nadia," I say to him.

Then he proceeded to lick his plate clean just like Nadia the Dog does every time she eats.

I turn to my oldest son and say, "Wow, he got me really good that time."

"Yes, he did," agrees Vinny.

Birthing A Rock Star

White boy CAN dance.

The other day I was feeling great.

"Hey, every one is staring at me," I say to myself. "I must look as good as I feel."

But then I noticed they weren't quite looking at me. No, they were looking down and to my right. That's about when I remembered I wasn't alone, but in the company of a true Blues Brother.


Oh well, if I can't be a rock star myself, then I suppose the next best thing is hanging out with one.


Who knew a 3 year old could
play a bugle? Not me obviously.
Had I knew, I wouldn't have gotten
him a bugle. Duh!


Every rock star must have a
guitar shirt!

I Was Wrong Fort Ord Dunes State Park Rocks!

Line up el quatro.

What was I thinking? Wilco Tango Surfspot! There is a legitimate surf spot, Fort Ord Dunes State Park, minutes from my house by car. I was about to write the place off, all because I can't take my dog there.

"Woof?" asks Nadia the Dog.

"It's not so bad, you can walk on the roads and a few of the trails that don't go down to the beach," I say to Nadia the dog.

"Woof, Woof!" exclaims Nadia the Dog.

Not only that, but I can ride there on my bike in less than 30 minutes from my house. And get this, I can get to the beach almost solely on bike trails.

Seriously, for years I have been wondering if the world comes to an end, and I can no longer drive, how on Goddess's Blue Earth will I go surfing? Now I know.

Have surf racks for bike, will surf! Yiiipppeee! Um, when did Gwen Stefani start surfing??? I hope she's not just trying to look like a surfer.

For some people the best part of surfing is riding around with a surfboard, which waves like a flag, on the roof of their car. Personally, I only put my board on the roof when absolutely necessary and I whine about it a lot.

"Stefan don't strap the board down so tight that you put pressure dings in it, please," I say. And that's how it starts, but the whining gets worse from there.


Floatin' to the next section.



Bird's eye view from the bluff.


Cutting back to the wash.


Jesus asks, "I can has massage?"

Jesus Saves and so do the Beatles

I'm a fan of Jesus, though I can't take credit for the graffiti. He is all about unconditionally loving people, even total losers, like me. I prefer loser over sinner. But they are just words.

Also, Jesus is big on forgiveness and healing people with his hands. Sounds like a great way of life to me. I wonder if it will ever catch on? I hope so, and soon, smarn it.

Lennon and Paul McCartney must have been channeling a little Jesus on "All You Need Is Love." Thank goodness it's all connected, most likely by love.

American Idol the Loser Is Not Saved

Wilco Tango Idol! Huh?!

I need to do some research on who the American Idol voters are exactly, because, personally, I think they are collectively off their rocker.

Alexis Grace got the boot last night. The judges did not save her. I myself said in the blog yesterday her performance was weak. But Hello! Megan Joy was not weak she was bad, and she continued on with corny from the week before, in my opinion.

Also, the judges threw Megan Joy a lot of pity for her flu, and that probably swayed voters. But she was also bad last week, while she was healthy. In sickness and in health, this isn't marriage, voters, this is Idol.

I'm a little surprised the judges didn't save Alexis. But last week after she performed, "Dirty Diana, the judges did cut her down like they were clear cutting a forest.

The most talented don't always stay on Idol. This is something I'll have to learn to accept if I'm going to continue watching American Idol. But to see Alexis Grace not make the top 5 or 6 is disappointing.

American Idol Top 11

This week American Idol goes country as the top 11 perform songs by members of the Grand Ole Opry, the longest, running live radio show.

Adam Lambert's U2/Cult esque version of "Ring of Fire," rocked. Sorry Cash lovers Adams' version is way sexier than the man in black's version. Hot! Hot! Hot!

Yes, Randy Travis, guys can have man purses and wear nail polish and make up, too. Welcome to the 21st century. If Adam isn't too weird for America, he's taking the whole thing.

Michael Sarver got the job done on, "Ain't Going Down Til the Sun Comes Up." One of the reasons I like country is it's fun, and he made it fun. He made me want get up and dance. ( I would have if I wasn't so tired) The country genre fits him like a glove. He stays.

Allison Iraheta rocked the country song, "Blame It On Your Heart." She made it fun and enunciated the words to the song. I couldn't understand her last week, so that was a huge improvement.

Kris Allen sang "Make You Feel My Love," and made me think, "boy band." He sang fine, but just kind of boring. "Zzzzzzzz." He doesn't have star power, in my opinion, but he stays for now, because I have a feeling the people voting, love boy band.

Lil Rounds sang Martina McBride's "Independence Day." I thought Lil (see that wasn't hard Simon) gave an emotional performance. NAILED! it. Every great country song tells a story that evokes strong emotions, for someone who doesn't really know country, she captured the essence of it.

"Yo Simon, Lil Rounds ain't little." Go big, girl!

Scott MacIntyre performed "Wild Angels," by Martina McBride. I can totally see him in the Christian genre, but performance wise, I'm not feeling. He's a bit flat, and turned out an uninspiring performance. Scott stop singing with your brain and sing with your heart.

Alexis Grace sang Dolly Parton's, "Jolene." She didn't have the confidence she had last week on "Dirty Diana," which is sad because I thought she rocked that song.

Her performance was weak, but hopefully, not so weak she'll get the boot. Alexis needs to forget about what the judges say and be her naughty little self. Be all you can be, don't tone it down, baby.

Danny Gokey performed Carrie Underwood's, "Jesus Take the Wheel." What can I say? He gave an emotional performance, brought tears to my eyes, but it did start out a little too poppy for me. Regardless, he still knocked it out of the park on the second half. He stays. Dude, lose the safari jacket, paaalease.


Anoop Desai sang Willie Nelson's "You Were Always On My Mind,." Wow, when he opens up his voice, he's amazing. But he needs to feel more. Last week I thought he should go, but I'm glad he's still around. He stays for sure.

Megan Joy performed "I Go Out Walking After Midnight," she was pretty good until she sang off tune. She seems so self conscious about her dancing, rightly so, that it's messing with her singing. Girl, please, get a choreographer IF you stay. Notice the big IF. She could get a handicap for the flu and her looks, though.

I had to listen to Matt Giraud's version of Carrie Underwood's, "So Small," twice. His performance was on the Gospel side of things and very soulful, but something was missing for me. However, still a great version of the song. He stays.

So who goes? Who knows?

The bottom three for me were: Megan Joy, Scott MacIntyre, Kris Allen ranked from weakest to weaker to weak.

Will the judges have to do a save tonight? What do you think?

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

When my son was in kindergarten, I got to be the class leprechaun.



No, I didn't shrink myself, wear a tiny green suit, or pass out four leaf clovers.



But I did get to mess up the room by turning over chairs, blocking aisles and making a mess of things. That part was fun.



But the best part was watching the kids faces when they came in from recess.



"What happened?" many of them asked. "Oh my gosh!" some screeched.



Of course, there was the one kid who said, "some one's parent did this."



But I swore it was the crazy leprechaun, which by the way is a second grade spelling word. And thanks to my second grader, I now know how to spell l-e-p-r-e-c-h-a-u-n.

icanhascheezburger.com

This is from the website icanhascheezburger.com. When I saw this picture I laughed so hard I was snorting. It hurt so good because I was laughing, but it was slightly painful, too. Comedy S&M.

Plus, Stefan reads all the captions out loud in his hilarious "i can has cheezburger" voice, which makes me laugh even harder.

There are loads and loads of funny captioned pictures on icanhascheezburger.com. And if you don't think the caption is funny, you can WRITE! your own caption, when in another life you have nothing else to do.

All the photos and phonetically spelled captions are user generated. So if ur luuking fur uh hobbi, yu cann summit a foto n capshun n mahbe ull be pict.

Or just check out icanhascheezburger.com and LOL! Or follow icanhascheezburger on Twitter for some daily comedic relief.



"Let's go to the website, now," says Stefan.

"No, I can't take anymore laughing," I plead. "My head hurts. Oh, okay."

I'd rather die laughing, than crying.

Booty Parlor Party

These days a woman doesn't have to sell Tupperware, Avon or Pampered Chef to make a little extra cash. Yes, these days a women can sell sexiness and all the lovely trappings that go with it via Booty Parlor Party (get the play on words? beauty parlor!).

"I don't want to have to cook!" says the bootician at a recent Booty Parlor Party I attended, on why she doesn't sell Pampered Chef.

"Amen!" I say.

I wonder is there something I can sell so I never have to to cook, either? Oh yeah, that would require having a wife, probably. Can I get one of those? I have always thought parenting would me be much easier if there were three or four parents instead of just the two of us.

Then we wouldn't have to lock the kids out of our bedroom.

"Wait, they're getting the key," I tell Stefan.

Fortunately, Stefan thinks quickly on his back and tells 'em, "Go watch TV," right before they stick the key in the lock. What you haven't seen the movie "Woman on Top?"

At least, the word "TV" immediately stops the lock from turning, so we can finish our little game. I'm not talking about Sony Playstation 3 or Nintendo Wii, Internet.

When I got home from the Booty Party, Gio asks me, "Did you have fun at the pirates' booty party?" Of course, he thought this was hilarious.

"Yes, I loved the pirates' booty party," I tell him, knowing he's thinking of cheddar popcorn, while my mind is in the gutter.

There wasn't any pole dancing at the party. But there was food and alcohol, with drinks like Sex on the Beach, and Pink Panties. I didn't drink, but I got a serious sugar high from the Better Than Sex chocolate cake.

So high I had to ask the hostess and possible future bootician, "is there alcohol in this cake?"

"No," she answered.

To which my friend told me, "you can stop acting drunk now."

Yeah, I'm a feather weight.

The party wasn't all freaky like I thought it would be, but there was plenty of touching and feeling up of the products. It wasn't all toys, the products ranged from bronzing skin creams to edible body decorating chocolate. There was also sexy lingerie, including vibrating panties with remote control(that works up to 20 feet away). Then there were the toys, highly advanced computerized toys and wild animals, such as rabbits.

With Booty Parlor Parties, sex can be nice or naughty or a little of both, and it smells good, too. Very important!

My only complaint about the toy products is, there were no plug ins. Sorry, but I prefer my power to come from PG&E not Duracell. The energizer bunny does not keep going and going and going.

Luckily, my friend had a solution I could feel good about. "Just go to Costco and buy a box of batteries."

I was impressed with their range of toys. One particular toy was even disguised as lipstick. Yes, vibrating lipstick, Internet. Very clever, indeed.

"Be careful when you go into Mama's purse." At least now I know what the secret compartment is for!

The next party is scheduled for April 3rd, all I can say is, I may have to become a bootician just to afford going to the bi-monthly parties.

New Sugarland Song "Take Me For A Ride"

Did I ever mention I LOVE! Sugarland? Once or twice, right? One of my missions in life is to convince everyone in the world, to listen beyond Jennifer Nettles twang.

I don't even like country, though I admit, I have been listening to a country radio station lately. And I have to say in the last 2-3 weeks, the Country station has only played 2 Sugarland songs. In my mind, this absence of Sugarland on a country radio station, proves Sugarland isn't all that country.

I think they're a little like Donny and Marie, without all the teeth. Remember, "I'm a little bit country and I'm a little bit rock and roll?"

Anyways, I don't hear the twang (not that it would bother me) in this song, which I assume will be on their next album. That's the great thing about the Internet, people can listen to live recordings of songs that aren't yet available on a CD or even at Itunes, from their favorite artists. Until the record label pulls the video off YouTube, that is. In fact, I hope it's still here, right now.

So here it is another fun, hooky Sugarland song, about "sex, the whole family can enjoy!" Hey, she said it not me, but that sounds like my kind of metaphorical music.

Bear Dancing in the Woods

I didn't know bears could dance, did you?" I ask Gio.

"Yes," answers Gio. "Look at me I'm dancing like the bear," he says laughing.

Wow, what an opportunity for my son, learning to dance from a bear in the woods, right in the comfort of our own home. Gotta love technology and thank heavens Gio has a Digital Mom.

(I just hope they never figure out where I locked up the real non-tech savvy Mommy.)

"Help, help, someone let me out of this closet," says a real Mommy somewhere, but no one hears her. "Oh well, at least I have Internet in here."

American Idol Season 8 Lucky 13

Now that American Idol is down to its 13, make that 11, finalists, I'm making the commitment to watch it faithfully or at least tivo-ly. I can watch a two hour episode in practically an hour with the help of my rectangular friend, Tivo.

When it comes to patience I don't have much. Especially with TV. Yes, the Internet has spoiled me. Everything is available now. Whatever I want.

The Now Internet phenomenon is making me more impatient. But fortunately, I have kids, and a husband, and a job, and surfing and my bike which help me unplug from the matrix, so I can have a real life.

"Phew!"

Back to American Idol. I think at least eight or nine of the performers are really good this season. Maybe the other four or five just had a bad night, I don't know since I just started watching it. I've only watched the previous American Idol season, so I'm a bit of a newbie.

I wasn't surprised Jasmine and Jorge got the boot on last night's show. They were in the bottom third of all the performances, in my opinion.

Jorge made it far, but not enough.


Jasmine gave an uninspired performance.
Just a little too rote.

Though, personally, I thought Anoop's performance of "Beat It," should have been the one to beat it. He needed to step it up to match Michael Jackson on "Beat It," and, if anything, he was too toned down.

Now that I know the results, I might even watch the show on Tivo. Maybe. I got the results off Twiiter just before 8 o'clock. But I never really watch the results show anyways. I typically watch the results show in 15 minutes or less, thanks to, you guessed it, Tivo. But for the rest of the season I will probably just get the results off Twitter. I love Twitter. Tweet.

Besides, it isn't quite as emotional getting the information off Twitter. When I watch the show and the people get voted off, even if they deserve to be eliminated, I feel sad for them. And I find myself crying.

"Boo, hoo."

I'm wondering Internet, who did you think was going to get voted off the show last night and why? Was it fair? And what is Paula on?

RV

Could this be a library patron's earthly belongings?

No, this isn't a movie review. But RV is funny and the lovely Kristen Chenoweth is in it. Singing, even.

This is about a trend I've noticed lately.

Someone yells, "What's this trend you speak of?"

The trend I've been noticing is people living in, not houses or apartments, but vans and RVs. I have seen several older RVs around town. RVs that look as if they are from the 70s era.

Yesterday, I started following a homeless guy on twitter, who just tweeted people are living out of RVs in Walmart parking lots. I thought so. Well, not the Walmart parking lot part.

I spotted a homeless RV at the library the other day. As we were walking out of the library. There was a man and his daughter and maybe the guys' brother walking out a long side us. They looked a bit askew. I'm an official eavesdropper, so I listened in on their conversation.

"I'm going back to the library to use the Internet," said one guy to the other. I'll see you back there."

Then the Father and daughter got in an ancient looking RV and drove away. Excuse me, but how many people drive around town in an RV? Especially with gas prices on the rise, again. Wait, are they going down? And where is "there," I wonder?

I probably wouldn't have thought much of it, but the other day when we were at the park, I noticed another Donna Summer era RV. My first impression was, "that is some one's home." We did a lap around the park, and came back to play on the playground.

There were four kids there ranging from age 8 to 2. Gio had his bike, I didn't have mine, so I got on his little bike and did a lap around the small playground.

The kids all thought this was hilarious, and the oldest girl thought to herself, "if that lady can ride that tiny bike than so can I.

"Can I ride the bike?" she asks.

"Sure," I say.

Of course, all the other kids wanted to ride the bike, too. But they didn't have helmets.

"If you go get helmets you can ride the bike," I say in my safety just killed all the fun voice. "Do you have helmets?"

"Yes, we do," answers the 8 year old girl. "But they're in storage."

Then she proceeded to tell me what I already knew.

"We live in a twenty foot RV," she says. "We used to be on the other side of town, but we moved over here because my Dad's been low on work."

"Are the four of you brothers and sisters?" asks my Mom.

"Yes, but there are six of us. The other two are in the RV."

My Mom was shocked to hear this, but I wasn't. It was just confirmation.

The girl also told us they were being home schooled. They were the some of the nicest kids I had ever met. They were kind and generous with each other. No squabbling or bickering. They all played well with my son.

I was impressed. They had fallen on hard economic times, but they were coping. Tragic isn't living in an RV. Murder-suicide is.

I'm not sure how 8 people live in a 20 foot RV, especially since I think my 1600 square foot home is about the right size for my family of four.

The other day I was talking to an acquaintance, "I'm moving," she says.

"Oh where to?" I ask.

"Oh I got a new van," she says. So, I'm moving all my stuff to the new van."

"You mean you got a new van," I say searching for clarification. The answer sounded like she was actually living in her van, something I had suspected for months. But I didn't pursue a straight answer. I didn't want to go there.

I remember having a conversation with a friend back in December when the economy started to purge and cleanse itself, taking everyone's money with it.

"I don't really know anyone that's been effected by the economy," says my friend.

"Yeah, me neither," I say, but in the back of my mind I was thinking, "not yet." However, not yet, has arrived.

Now, I know several people who are getting their hours cut back. And just two days ago the library parking lot was packed in the middle of the day. Perhaps, the library was filled with people looking for jobs on the Internet?

"Has the library been busier during the week than usual?" I asked a librarian.

"Yes, when the economy goes down more people use the library," says the librarian. "People use the library for job searching on the Internet, free movies, books, magazines and music."

Yes, I go to the library a lot, but it isn't a new money saving habit for me. No, it's a an old tattered and worn habit. Free books, people! In fact, everything is free except the book fines.

Just two days ago, another friend texted me, "7 people just got laid off at my company."


The following week, she was the next one to go.

Yeah, financially times are hard. But I also see people being more resourceful with what they have, or should I say, don't have. In some ways, times like these bring people closer together. And were all getting a good look at the results that capitalistic greed and war mongering bring.

Peace and harmony are just around the corner. Let's all take a deep breath and quit watching the news. Remember, the news focuses on negativity.

The old financial model, where an elite few prosper, had to crumble for the new model of economic equality to come forth. And it's coming, it's coming. I can see it, off in the near distant future of say 2010. In the meantime, all we can do is breathe.

"Breathe in one, two, three, four, pause one, two, Breathe out, one, two, three, four, pause, one, two."

The idea behind all this breathing, is it gets you in the moment in your body and out of fear. Someone once told me fear stands for false evidence appearing real. And if we are going somewhere in a handbasket, then, at least, we're all going together. I love a party.

Fort Ord Dunes State Park vs Carmel Beach

View to North from Fort Ord Dunes State Park.


View to the South from Fort Ord Dunes Park.


Fancy Sign.

The other day, my friend and I rode our bikes to a new state park in Fort Ord.

"Let's go to the new beach," says my friend.

"I only have an hour, let's not," I say. I had to go pick up Gio by 12, and I needed to shower before hand.

"We're halfway there," she says. "Come on! We'll ride for 15 minutes and if we aren't really close, we'll turn back."

We managed to ride to Fort Ord Dunes State Park in roughly 20 minutes, but it was hard because every time we saw a new trail my A.D.D. friend would ask, "I wonder where that goes?"

One of the first things I noticed when we got to the state park was a NO DOGS sign. Great all we need is another beach with a dog ban.

Which is why Carmel Beach is the winner of the two. No dogs allowed is an instant deal breaker for me. It isn't just because I can let my dog run free off leash at Carmel Beach. The other reason I love going to Carmel Beach is to watch all the the dogs in pure play mode. They are thoroughly entertaining.


"I got the ball! I got the ball!"


"Come one throw it! Just try to get it passed
me. I dare you!"


"Do de do."


Footloose and fancy free.


"I wonder when my people are coming back?"


Seaweed moguls.


"I might as well take a nap, since
he's gonna surf all morning."


"Don't even think of putting this picture in
your blog. I don't want to be famous. Parents!"

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Okay I admit there are things I watch only because I have kids.

However, the first time I saw Yo Gabba Gabba, I was with two hysterical teenagers.

"You've got to see this," say the teenagers laughing. "Yo Gabba Gabba!" they scream.

Teenagers think this is hilarious, toddlers and bigger kids groove on the beat. I think I'm a little bit of both.

"There's a party in my tummy, ooooh, yummy, yummy," I sing.

"Mommy I want to see another Yo Gabba Gabba," pleads Gio. "Click on it, I like that one."

Either way it's befitting a Monday, and will get your groove on. Don't forget to say, "Yo Gabba Gabba." A little louder, I can't hear you.



"There's a party in my tummy!"


This video features the Yo Gabba Gabba cheer.

Daylight Savings is Here!

Wow! Daylight savings has arrived without me counting it down for the last four weeks. The angels are singing.

Did you know it's Daylight Savings, honey?" I ask Stefan.

"Are you kidding me?" he asks in surprise.

Now, everyday will contain a little more light for fun activities such as surfing, bike riding and walking on the beach.

"Yay!"

I wasn't anticipating the spring ahead time change, and I just lost an hour in the day. I'm now left wondering, why, oh, why did I stay up so late last night? Which can only mean one thing, I'm late for church.

"Wah!"

Happy Daylight Savings!

North Monterey County

One of my favorites things about surfing, besides riding waves, is being out in nature will the frolicking sea life. These shots were all taken from the land, but are nearly as close as any surfing close encounter a surfer typically enjoys.

Though sometimes the sea creatures get too close for comfort. Like the time a sea otter climbed on to my friend's surfboard and started chewing on his traction pad.

"This tastes just like star fish," comments the sea otter. "Chewy."



As far as, sea lions go, not only do I not want them near me, but I feel nervous if they so much as look my way. Sea lions have been known to single out a surfer, follow him for 30-40 minutes, until the surfer has no choice but to get out of the water. No surfer wants to play the mating game with a large sea lion. Besides, they have bad breath.

"Listerine, what's that?" asks the sea lion. "I only gargle with salt water."

I love watching the pelicans surf and dive bomb for fish. And it isn't so bad getting pooped on by bird in the ocean. One splash of salt water and I'm clean as a baby's bottom. The birds are great, but one time we had to get out of the water because there were literally 1000s of birds, flying low and fishing for lunch.

"Yikes!" bubble the fish being hunted under water.



I've had fish jump out of the water, slapping my face, fortunately not landing in my mouth. No, Sashimi for me, thank you.

I've even jumped off my surfboard to find a harbor seal between my legs. We were both equally surprised. I could tell by the startled look on the harbor seal's face when she came up to investigate the creature who landed on her.

"Humans, are always on my back," barks the seal.



I've ridden waves with dolphins and seals. One summer, we surfed with the same harbor seal every night. He always gave me plenty of room on a wave, surfing several feet behind me. Then, at the end of every wave, we paddled back out to the line up, to catch another wave together.

"The best thing about life is sharing it with friends," nods the harbor seal.

Life out on the sea is a home away from home for me, and nothing short of pure magic. Thank you Mama Ocean!