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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thankful

Each year I try to sit back on or around Thanksgiving and think about all that I am thankful for. A few days ago a dear friend of mine lost his father. It was a very unexpected death and my heart is so sad for him. He's an amazing person and I hate to see him going through such a tough thing. In light of those circumstances, everything has been put into perspective for me... more so than usual.

Every day I try to tell atleast one person how thankful I am that they are part of my life. I've been trying to get better about telling people I love them. Sometimes the words "i love you" can seem so scary depending on who you are saying them to. The truth is, I love every single person that is in my life. I love them with all of my heart and soul. I hope you all know that. I enjoy doing things for people because it is a physical/tangible way to show someone I care.

I would like to list everything I am thankful for but that would make this the longest blog ever! What I ask of you this Thanksgiving is that you take a moment and tell atleast one person you love them. You never know what tomorrow holds. And to my friend.. I love you more than you know and you are in my prayers. Stay strong.

Friday, November 21, 2008

I've been swooped..

There I was standing in the plastic storage bin aisle of Target, minding my own business, when I was swooped. I was trying to decide which under-the-bed storage bin to purchase when I noticed the exact same ones I already have at home. Perfect! they will match. So I pick one up to verify dimensons.

All of a sudden this woman rushes down the aisle with her son tagging along. She bends down to look at the lids and says to her son "Yep Johnny* , these are the right ones". In one swift move she swoops down and grabs ALL of the lids on the shelf and took off. Not a single lid, speck of dust, chipped piece of plastic was left. Seriously??? Who does that? Clearly I was looking at the same storage bin that she was! What good is a storage bin without a lid? I was super annoyed at this point. I checked all of the other lids and not one of them was the right size. Thankfully someone that worked there was close by and they were able to find a lid for me. People never cease to amaze me.

In a place like Target it is hard to stay annoyed or angry. There's always some type of shiny object to distract you from the storage lid snatchers. Oh please, oh please, oh please, people of Ramona.... vote to have Target come to town! Think how many jobs a shopping center woud provide for the community. Plus if people are already out and about shopping in town they are likely to cruise main street, grab lunch, maybe buy some stuff from the locals. Oh a girl can dream. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about it. Heck.. who am I fooling? they are already up!

* Names were changed to protect the innocent (or cuz I couldnt remember his name).

Thursday, November 20, 2008

ER!

OK I know.. 3 blogs in one night.. I am out of control! I just had to share my OMG moment of the night. So here I am watching ER and this girl pops up on the screen.. "OMG Its Emily Rose"!! I went to college with her at Vanguard. Isn't that just insane? She was an amazing actress in college and I knew she would do great things. And she was always the nicest person. Her, my other friend Shannon, myself and a couple roommates used to have "dance parties" in our rooms. Just dance around like big nerds to music and crack up laughing. I haven't talked to her in years but I am so proud of her! This is the last season of ER but what a foot in the door! Check her out.. she's the blonde on the right. She also landed a role on Brothers and Sisters .......
I attached her bio to her name. Check it out.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

"Truvy:What are you colors?
Shelby:Blush and bashfull!
M'Lynn:Her colors are pink and pink.
Shelby:My colors are blush and bashfull
M'Lynn: That sanctuary looks like it's been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol
Shelby: I like Pink. Pink is my signature color."

The above exchange between ladies from "Steel Magnolias" seems so fitting for the baby shower we just had for Jessica. The day went better than I had ever expected. Jessica does so much for others and she deserved the absolute best. By-golly I think we pulled it off this time! I was blessed to have help from her mom and sister in laws. The deal was to plan it and not tell jess any of the details... but frankly.. that is impossible for me. We've been best friends for 13 yrs now. She is literally the other half of my brain! I HAVE to call her and bounce ideas off of her, have her listen as I talk through an idea. I think she was still surprised with what she saw.

The day was perfect. Even the part where I made up a game. I had a basic idea about what I wanted to do for the game but hadn't figured out the logistics. So about 5 minutes before we started I thought of the idea. The teams got so into it they thought of team names that incorporated the baby shower theme!!! We had the "Sugar Mamas" " Sugar Babies" and "Spice Girls". I loved it.

Sometimes I get ideas in my head but have a hard time executing them. Fortunately they turn out better that I expect(usually). The cupcakes were not at all what I had wanted to do but they were adorable. I have gotten so many compliments on them. Here are some pics from the day:















Official

Back in my last blog I mentioned the ideas of everyone at work getting together and makng bunches of cookies for our fire stations. I was so fired up at the idea I couldn't even sleep that day! I am still super fired up! The best part is that everyone at work is totally on board for it! so the "official" name is (another drum roll please)

(1st annual) "MVICC Christmas Cookie Capers"

I will be the Caper Commander for North county and I designated my friend Staci as the Caper Commander of South county. Before I could make a sign up sheet people were asking where they could sign up to help! So I developed this: ( see if you can actually read what the cartoon says! funny stuff)




The excitement of everyone else makes me want to run out into a green field with my arms wide open bursting into song singing " the hills are alive with the sound of cookies"... ok so it doesn't have as much ring to it as the original version but you get the point. :)


Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Uncontained Excitement

I may be biting off more than I can chew with a new project I thought of yesterday. Most days, on my way home from work, I listen to KSON. Cliff, Morgan, Tanner and Tori (aka Cliff & Co.) crack me up! They are extremely entertaining. There's non-stop laughter during my 45min drive home. I am sure some people think I am crazy and wonder what in the world could be so funny... especially when they see me in the car by myself. anyway.. Yesterday Morgan was talking about Operation Baking Gals. An organization that bakes cookies and sends them overseas to our Military. HELLO!! Can we say organization after my own heart? We all know how much I L-O-V-EEEEEEEEE to bake! So I got home and looked up the website. I am seriously considering signing up. I love how KSON supports our Military 1000%. It doesn't matter whether we agree with the war or not, our men and women are over there fighting for our country. Regardless of our political views, we need to support them.

Being part of the fire service I have realized that people in a public service career really have a thankless job. Although I fully support our military, I wish people on the home front would support our Fire Service and Law Enforcement more. When was the last time we heard our national anthem dedicated to those who step in front of bullets, cut people out of cars, and run towards flames while the rest of the world runs away from them. Sometimes it makes me sad to think that large fires like we had in 2007 and 2003 push people to finally say thanks to those FireFighters and Police officers. Usually what we get is newspaper articles about what we did wrong during those . Its tough on our hearts and it makes us say " but what about everything we did that was right".

wow ok.. bunny trail.. back to the project. So anyway, thinking about this stuff yesterday morning got me thinking about Christmas. Last year I designed a Christmas Card and sent it out from the Dispatch Center(ECC) to all of our stations and cooperating agencies. It came equipt with a picture of all the dispatchers. This year I want to do something different, more personal.

SOO (drum roll please) I am organizing a HUGE cookie thing(catchy title to follow shortly). The plan is to have all of the dispatchers from Cal Fire and US Forest Service make cookies or donate supplies for cookies. One part of the plan includes making a bunch of sugar cookies and inviting the kids of our ECC Staff to decorate them the Saturday before Christmas. We will divide the stations among dispatchers and we will hand deliver the plates of goodies to all of our fire stations a few days before Christmas. Our dispatcher center, for those of you that don't know, is interagency with Cal Fire and US Forest Service. Our stations span across Southern California from Orange County all the way down to the Imperial County line. Take a look at a map of Southern California to check out how enormous that really is. Off the top of my head, we will be delivering to some 60-75 fire stations...possibly more. Talk about an enormous project. The few people I talked to this morning are totally on board with the idea! I am so excited I can't even stand it! I have a little over a month to get organized.

With my BFF, Jessica's, baby shower coming up this weekend I am trying not to get ahead of myself and go crazy with planning. One project at a time! I love doing this kind of stuff. I think I need to simmer down just a little though. I need to get some sleep before work tonight ;)

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Clarity



Nothing brings more clarity to ones mind than sitting on the beach, listening to music on your iPod and watching the waves crash to the shore. I spent a small portion of my morning hanging out on Carlsbad State Beach. The wind was whipping and the sand was blowing but it was a great place to sit and clear my head. I am not a huge fan of seagulls so the only thing that kept me from relaxing 100% was the fear that a seagull would fly over and douse me with bird doo. Yuck.

It rained my whole way home so by the time I got here I was ready for a hot cup of coffee and to light my most favorite fall/winter candle. Spruce & Citrus. It smells exactly like a Christmas Tree. I would like to carry it around with me everywhere so could I smell it all day long. My purse isn't quite big enough for that and hanging the candle on a string and putting it around my neck may be considered a bit much to people. Wait until you smell it though.. you may change your mind.

Today has done wonders for the things that were weighing on my mind. The beach was exactly what I needed. Eventhough it was really cold. I even got a good laugh when I watched a surfer trying to be cool but ended up hitting himself in the face with a surfboard. No worries, he wasn't hurt. He just got a little bop to the noggin. I couldn't help but laugh. Mostly because I could see myself doing the same thing... if I was a surfer.











Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Voting Confessions

Here's a confession for you.. I didn't vote yesterday. I am sure some of you just passed out reading that. My dad probably being the first. But before you get all huffy about it, let me explain.

I watched both Presidential and Vice Presidential debates and through out the months I have been totally undecided. I liked and disliked things about both candidates. The way McCain bashed Obama in some of his speeches was undermining and childish in my opinion. To me Obama was more respectful towards McCain. Both stood on issues that I agreed and disagree with. However, on occasion I felt Obama was somewhat of a schmoozer (sp?).

Being a Christian, most people would expect me to vote and to vote for McCain who stood against issues such as abortion. People say it is my responsibility. Let me ask you this though: If I am undecided on which candidate to vote for and it is my "responsibility" to vote.. is it right to do "rock, paper scissors" or flip a coin to choose who to vote for? Is that really the responsible way of handling things? It was also a very historical election but is it right to vote just because it is historical? For me, I believe I made the right decision on not voting. My heart was not in the right place and I wouldn't have been able to stand 100% behind my decision.

I have mixed feelings on Obama winning. In some ways I think it is a good change for the USA. We have made leaps and bounds when it comes to racism and I think that shows in the results of the votes. I believe it was time for a non-white person or a woman to be President and/or Vice President. In other ways I am wondering how Obama will change things and if our economy will really get better.

I think people forget that 4 and 8 yrs ago Bush seemed like the cure-all to many people. Most people stood behind the war in Iraq shortly after 9/11 but as time went on people became bitter and resented the fact that our troops are still over there. Think of the tremendous pressure put on the President of the United States. Bush was far from perfect, as we all are. Obama is also far from perfect. He will make decisions that none of us like but I also believe he may make some changes we will like. Atleast that is the hope I have.

So here's the thing.. whether you like it or not, Obama is the new President-Elect of our amazing country. If you believe in our country, believe in our president... whether you voted for him or not doesn't matter. Stand as one country together. Fight to keep the freedom we have worked so hard to obtain. Be gracious and keep an open mind.

Even at this moment, knowing the results, I am not sure who I would have voted for. So there you have it folks.. the confession of a non-voter.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Festivities

Let's just say I have been a bit behind on the blog lately. So much has gone one. Last week seemed to fly by. I actually had all 3 of my days off and of course, I was sick. I got a bit of a cold sometime early last week. This is a very rare experience for me. I think my last cold was literally 5 years ago. When I returned to work on saturday I was super congested and friends out in the field kept texting " what's wrong with you".. Thanks for noticing. I am mostly back to normal now.
Wednesday I mostly just hung out at home but I did muster the energy to finally carve my pumpkin. I love how it turned out. It had a small resemblence to "Bob the Tomato" fron Veggie Tales though. not on purpose..



I was hurting for some BFF time with Jessica so she lovingly invited me up to her place on Thursday to hang out. She let me sit on her couch with a blankie and just veg out. We took the kids outside at the end of the evening and I got a kick out of watching them ride their bikes down the driveway. Jessica and her pregnant self drew a "road" with sidewalk chalk down their driveway turning it into the LaTour speedway.


It was all fun and games but my energy and the way I was feeling starting going down hill. As I left the LaTour's I felt like I had been run over by a truck. So I just came home and slept.


Finally Halloween was here and I couldn't wait. I had procrastinated on buying candy and it resulted in getting second best candies. I mean, twizzlers? YUCKY. Others love them but I am Red Vines girl 100%. The rest like Nerds, M & M's, Baby Ruth are all classics and I was able to obtain some of those. I raced down the hill to get supplies for the Goodie bags I was making for all the kids. I found things like cracker jacks, boxes of animal crackers, play dough, pencils, stickers, and glow sticks for all of my little ones. I loved having all of them come over and show off their costumes. I've always wanted to be a fun aunt and make holidays and occasions special. Unfortunately Alissa and Justen were at their mom's so they couldn't stop by. I did get to see them in their costumes a week earlier when they stopped by my work after their school carnival. I have yet to give them their treat bags though.. can we say slacker?




In a moment of nostalgia I picked up some small treat bags. Way back when; my Grandma Ferguson used to get these little white treat bags and fill them with candy for all the neighbor kids. A day or two before Halloween we would spend a few hours putting 3 or 4 pieces of candy in hundreds of these bags. Kids used to line up at her door to get these treats! I only got a bag of 40 though. Much to my dismay I only had about 5 Trick or Treaters come to my door. There are a ton of little kids in my complex and I was hoping they would make a lap around here before or after conquering the Main Street festivities. And a side note to my family: I didn't not stand outside my door yelling " I have candy" to the neighbor kids like I threatened. My candy handing out time was limited because we were celebrating my Dad's bday. So.. I packed up all my candy and treat bags and headed to Jimmy and Jessica's. I was sure they would get more kids there.. not so much. Maybe only another 5 or so.. in which Jessica and I raced to the door in hopes to be the one to hand out our candy.

It was a good week eventhough I was plagued with a rare illnesss. I know many christians don't celebrate halloween because it is deemed an "evil" holiday. But when I thought about it.. having a "harvest party" with costumes, games, and candy is STILL a form of celebrating. You are just calling it something different. I highly doubt most of the kids running up and down main street know the real history behind halloween. I doubt most adult know as well. Take a look at the link.. its kind of an interesting story.