Christmas Phase 2

Well, Christmas Phase 1 was a lot better than Christmas phase 2. I hardly took any pictures. Christmas eve was great with church and just spending time at home watching Christmas movies - Elf and Polar Express. Then Christmas morning hit and all was going great and then I got slammed with the blues. I couldn't shake it. I know I have a lot to be thankful for but man I had one big pity party. I think it is just all my family history and current mess that hit me and it becomes more apparent on holidays. Luckily Matt entertained the kids and they had fun playing Runescape which they have all gotten freakishly involved with playing. So today is better and honestly I am glad Christmas is over. I think next year I will need to plan ahead and Matt and I will need to figre out somewhere to go on Christmas if it is just us or do something so I don't fall into the "pit of despair" again.

Christmas Phase 1
So the pre-Christmas phase one was having one of my nieces come over and spend the night. I loved having her over and adding some more estrogen to this male dominated house. I took all the kids to see Night at the Museum which I thought was great and good for the whole family. The bad part about having my niece over was that I had not finished hers and her sister's Christmas gifts yet. So I did her sisters in front of her which was an altered jewelry box from Bare Elements. I used some papers from the Magnolia line and the colors matched her room. Loved how it turned out and I think she liked it too. The real dilemma was how to finish Michaels's fuzzy pink poncho without her seeing so I stayed up late and then hid in my room for a while in the morning. I got it done though but I was pushing it. She really like it and it was exactly what she asked for. I gave them each of their presents at my SIL house. We had Christmas there with Matt's side of the family. The food was so good - thanks Vikkee and it was fun to open our presents.

Look what I found while I was over there! A picture that my husband drew when he was a little boy. My SIL has all kinds of old holiday artwork up around her house (which is a cute idea) and I was looking at this thinking one of my nieces drew it and I see my husbands name at the top. How cute was he to draw Santa and his sleigh. I can't believe she was able to keep it for so long!

All I have to say is WOW what a good movie. My friend Susan and I had the chance to sneak away from all the Christmas stuff left to do and went to see this movie lasy night. First of all this makes me love Will Smith even more. He did such a great job and is there anything he can't do - he does funny movies, action, serious etc. I just hope he doesn't go off the deep end some day(like Tom Cruise) because I would be crushed.

I just can't even begin to explain this movie. It is so simple is some ways but in others it is very profound. They did a great job capturing the "desperateness" of the situation and the inner strength he had to perservere. It stirred up so much emotion in me I had to keep myself from sobbing at the end but Susan had red eyes too so I didn't feel too weird. I grew up with a single Mom and things were rough (okay not standing in the line hoping to get a cot at the homeless shelter rough) but there were times we had to live with other people and my Mom struggled to make ends meet. I remember in elementary school I had to walk from school to an outdoor shopping center and wait for my mother to pick me up when she got off work. Can you imagine a little girl just wandering around a shopping center for hours by herself? I certainly was protected. When I got older I would take a bus and I was a latch key kid. Some of the scenes with the boy in the movie I could really relate too. Looking at other families and wishing I could have a family like that. I think kids who grow up in that situation have to grow up too fast. They carry a lot of their parent's burdens and worries. Sometimes I wonder how my mother did it (even though it sure could have been better and some of that she could have prevented but still single parents have it rough). I just think of my boys. They haven't had to deal with a lot of the stuff I did when I was their age. I hope they never do and I hope I can do that for them.

Anyway - see the movie and tell me what you think!!

Whew - I have been so busy!! With good stuff but busy!! Here's a cute pic from Timmy's play performance. That finished up last weekend but another round starts at the end of January so we will see if he wants to do it (I am sure he will). This week was filled with lots of Christmas stuff and I have lots of Christmas stuff still left to do. The boys finished up their week before two weeks off. I think I am more excited then they are - no dreaded homework for me to help them with. They both had their class parties. Santa even paid a visit to Tyler's (don't look at Santa too closely because the more I look at him the scarier he looks to me). Timmy had a rough start to the school year and Matt and I had had it up to hear so we got him moved to another class. He seems to be doing much better and the teacher actually told him she is happy he is in her class - almost made me cry when he said that. Apparently from observing at his class party- she let's boys be boys and goof off and be silly and loud (when apropiate of course like during a party) and then they get it out of their system and are able to calm down when it is time to teach. Last night I attended my first cookie swap that Sylvia threw. She is the queen of parties and it was fun. I LOVE how she decorates her house. I had to ask her a ton of questions about the swap but now I think I got it. I'll be ready for next year! I am came away with a TON of yummy cookies that I will have to share because I don't think we can eat them all. Oh I forgot to mention that I got together with two of my former high school girls (I was their church youth leader for 4 years) this last Thursday. Sam and I played tennis finally and she is SO good. She kicked my butt but it was fun. Then we had lunch with Amanda and caught up on college life and the struggle with which path to take in school. Such a hard decision - so many choices! So glad they still want to hang out with me and we hope to get together with the rest of the girls when they come home.

So here is my to-do list
1. Christmas cards still need to be put together and mailed out. But I got my prints for the house and I am SO excited. That is my Christmas present this year. Now to find the perfect frames. Thanks Shannon for being awesome.
2. I got volunteered to make the decorations for tonight's white elephant swap at our church. Apparently I am good at decorating? So I need to make 4 and I found great deals at Michael's. I'll tell you how much when I post pictures of the finished product. I also have to decorate the room too. Found all this out yesterday.
3. I still need to mail out some gifts - yikes it is getting close!
4. Still need to get some gifts for people here and finished up knitting some gifts.

So much to do - so little time!

"Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you DRAW my sleigh tonight?!" This kid cracks me up. This is exactly the scene I walked into on the way home tonight from one of Timmy's play performances. Tyler is wearing his reindeer antlers from his school performance (which was so cute by the way and it cracks me up that I think any school performance is just as good as a broadway play). He is freeze framing one of his cartoons on tv and drawing the character's expressions. Does he draw better this way? I don't know but I say let the artist be. Note the present in front of him. He keeps wrapping up "presents" for us and putting them under the tree. Sometimes he decides they aren't really presents and takes them back out and opens them himself.

So Christmas is in full swing. Here are some brief notes:

1. Thanks to those that gave me their input on our family photos. I think we decided on one (won't say which one) and our Christmas cards may even be a Montez original design this year. So excited! Can't wait to get that crossed off my to do list.

2. Knitting up some evening bags and trying to finish up my orders. Have not put them online yet to sell. Debating that. Got a request from my neice that her Christmas present be a pink, fuzzy poncho. How can I say no? So I have that project going as well.

3. Participating in a picture a day for a month project. That has been fun but almost forgot one day but I snapped a pic before I went to bed. Hard part will be the journaling and I better start on that before I get too far.

4. Have a cookie swap coming up. Never participated in one and not a very good cook so I have to find a good and easy recipe - any suggestions?

My pictures are DONE! (click on gallery then find our name on list and click enter gallery). The problem is I can't decide which one is my favorite family photo. What do you think? My top favs (the ones that you say WOW and kind of gasp when you first see them) is #17 and #22. Thanks so much to Shannon Montez for the great photography. It's great to have friends with skills!

'Tis the Season! Well, Christmas is officially underway. On Saturday I got together with the Garage Girls and we exchanged our Secret Santa gifts. Look at what I got (plus Suzy gave us a gift certificate that I couldn't spend fast enough)!!

Then I headed over to my SIL with my MIL for our annual Christmas Tea. My SIL attends Twin Lakes church in Aptos and each year they put on a Christmas tea. The decorations are beautiful and the programs puts you right in the Christmas mood. This year they had a great speaker who was full of sass and told it to us like any Southern Lady should. She was from Texas but she reminded me of my grandmother with her Southern ways. What a great reminder that the season is not about all the stuff and stress but about Jesus and loving your family.

Do you think this tree will fit on our house?! Today we cut down our Christmas tree which is a tradition for us. I realized though that we have have other traditions like - getting out of the car and checking out one or two farms deciding we don't like it and get back in the car to go to another one, being indecisive about what tree to cut down so we end up walking up and down hills and end up way to far away from our car, not securing the tree tight enough on the roof of our car so we drive nervously down the freeway and usually we have to pull over and fix it before it flys off, never being able to get the tree perfectly straight in the holder (this usually creates a big debate year after year with my husband on what the definition of "straight" is) and last but not least having half of a strand of lights burn out after I put them on the very pokey tree!

Bag with Bling!

So here is the 2nd version of the knitted evening bag. I added beads at the bottom to give it some bling. This was after I took it to the Los Altos boutique and it got rejected. Which I don't really understand because she had had some knitted bags in there but she said these were more of a jewelry satchel instead of an evening bag. Now with its new look, I still don't think I can bring it back there to try again. I can't bear getting rejected twice. I did get more orders at work though and I may post it on online and see if I can get any more takers. I htink mostly I like knowing that someone other than family is actually like what I have knitted. At least that is how I felt when I was selling scarves several years ago. I loved to think that maybe one day I would run into a stranger on the street that was wearing a Kent original around her neck.

So with the long weekend I got some knitting done. I had this idea to make drawstring purses that would be good for holiday parties. I am hoping to sell some and maybe give some as gifts. The yarn is actually more metallic than the photo shows. I still need to make the drawstrings for the red one. I am hoping I can sell them at the boutique near my work that I have sold scarves at before. How much do you think I could get for them (think shish-shi (how do you even spell that?!) store and I would have to give the owner 1/2 the price). For my knitting friends - if you are interested I can email you the pattern I made up. :-)

In scrapbooking, I am still working on the perpetual calendar (idea from Simple Scrapbooks mag Nove/Dec issue). I also did a layout for one of Suzy's contests at the garage.

Love the time to be creative!!

Okay - I need to blow all the dust off my blog. Gees- sorry it has been so long since I posted. Here is a visual diary of all that has been going on...

This is me with frozen pea packs on my cheeks. This was after I got all 4 of my wisdom teeth out. This is when it was still painful but I could just lay on the couch. This was when Matt thought I looked funny so he took a picture. But it wasn't funny anymore later when none of my pain killers would work and I could not eat or sleep and was about in the worse pain I have ever been in for 4 days. See I found out after the surgery that I have strongbones - yeah no osteoporosis for me but bad if you get teeth pulled because it hurts in a special way. On top of that I got an infection so about a week later I was finally feeling like a normal human being once the antibiotics kicked in. But my teeth and jaws still ache but manageable.



Here are some pics after I became a human being again. Tyler loves doing crafts so we made these out of sculpey and gave one to each family that came to our house for Thanksgiving.



And here we are at Thanksgiving which was at our house. Matt did another awesome job of cooking. I decided this year to take pictures from a different perspective - the filling your plates and eating to your heat's content perspective because really isn't this how it really is at Thanksgiving.

I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving and I sure would like to hear from you all - drop me a comment why don't you?

Oh and I have to just plug my friend's photography business - Shannon Montez photography. It's a long story but we have known each other for a long time and I FINALLY got to have a photo shoot with her. So happy!!! We ended up at the Rosecrucian Museum which may seem like an odd choice (my husband's) but we found some cool spots with some neat architecture. YEAH I am so glad to have that done! Now I will not have to look at old Sear's protraits on my wall for very much longer!

Layout from the corn maze. Look at me - actually posting a layout that is not from a year ago!

Here are some fun pics from Halloween. At my work a bunch of us got dressed up. One of my co-workers "Batgirl" gave me the idea of being "Miss Understood" right when I was leaving work the night before so I rushed to put it together. It was fun. My boss is "Lucy" which was perfect for her because she has many Lucy moments.

Then is was off to watch the boys in their school parade and trick or treat down Lincoln Ave to all the stores after they got out. This year we went with Matt's cousins Josh and Cheryl and their kids Megan and Brett. After dinner, there was more trick or treating around Willow Glen. There are a couple of streets that go all out and our fav is one where there is bunch of teenage boys that dress up in scary masks. They have their whole front yard decorated and they stand really still only moving slightly. They don't jump out or yell which I am not sure why they don't (but glad at the same time). I think it is more the anticipation that they might or the realization that what you thought was a fake statue was real when it turned it's head to look at you that makes it so great. So the kids loaded up on candy and Mom and Dad confiscate pieces every once in a while!

I have to post pictures of our family trip to the corn maze last Sunday but just had to blog about my recent SF trip. Janna, my 2nd oldest friend (longevity not age) came out again for a conference. We have been fortunate that the last 5 years she has had an expense paid trip from Maryland to SF and we have been able to see each other. How great to catch up with old friends. I have known her since 7th grade and really not much has changed in how we interact! She loves adventure so we hit Chinatown and got Dim Sum (which was on her list to do) on Tuesday. This was new for me but my friend Amy recommended Golden Moutain on Broadway and Grant. YUMMY! I let Janna pick since she knew what she was doing and I loved it all. Basically people walk around with carts of bamboo containers that hold all kinds of things like dumplings, noodle creations and desserts! We stuffed ourselves. Then we shopped in Chinatown which we both love to do. I went nuts - really what was I thinking?! I bought 3 purses!! And the sad part is as I was driving home I was looking at one and then it hit me - that is the ugliest purse I have ever seen! I just got so caught up in having fun (and of course Janna was no help). I LOVE the third purse I got and it is so me and the 2nd will be cute for Christmas parties or my other work events (it's a little beaded evening bag).

Wednesday I drove up there after work and we went to dinner (with her husband Chris) and went to go see Beach Blanket Babylon. I had heard so much about this show from co-workers and thought it would be a good "new" thing to do with out of town quests. Well, Janna said it was a "hoot" (not sure what that means) but I think it is the type of show that if you were REALLY gay you would love it. I don't even know how to describe it. Kind of a vaudeville act with lots of singing, innuendos and really garish wigs and hats. The elderly ladies in front of us got a kick out of it if that is saying anything. So it reaches the demographic of gay and elderly. That's San Francisco for you - there is something bizarre for everyone!!

So my friend Sylvia saw my blog on apple picking and she decided to take her family there as well. Then to make it more fun we had our own challenge to scrap our visits to Gizdich Ranch!

You'll think I'm off the wall but you have to click on this link. Too funny or maybe I think it is funny because I am too white and nerdy....

Just some things that are happening at the garage!

Just a little something to get you in the mood for the season! :-)

BAS Anniversary Crop - Suzy had her anniversary crop last Sunday and the Garage Girls were onhand to celebrate, scrap and show off our new t-shirts. Suzy and I picked these out and I worked with contact I have to order and print 'What happens in the Garage stays in the Garage" on them. That's kind of her saying and it can mean a whole bunch of things - her shop is called the garage because it literally is a garage and they have crops there so one of the meanings is you can say whatever you want during the crops but it isn't a gossip fest. Anyway, I don't know what other offical meanings it has but it's catchy and that's the point.

We actaully had the crop at my work's East Bay office's training room so I was the key girl and I opened, helped set up, tear down and lock up. Whew! It was more work that I thought but I created some cute altered items that I unfortunately cannot post yet because they are presents for people but stay tuned!

Apple picking! I have been wanting to go apple picking for years! So we finally took the boys and went last Sunday to Gizdich ranch in Watsonsille. You can pick all kids of fruit at this farm, but you can only pick apples in September. It was fun to see all the little apple trees and figure out which apple was which (there are A LOT of different types). So when we got home I made my first homemade apple pie (my Mormon friends would be so proud!). It was delicious and so easy (okay not entirely homemade - the crust was pre made). Before the pie, Matt and I cooked Indian curry from a recipe I got from Take home chef (a tv show). It took a long time to prepare and cook but I must say it was YUMMY! So now as I type this I realize that Matt will be home soon and I have no idea what to make for dinner!!

Thought I would post a pic of my tennis group! Here are some of us with our tennis instructor Mark. My friend Susan (in the pink) decided to give our church tennis program a try and I thought I'd tag along and try it out too (this was over a year ago). I LOVE it and am so glad I did. Not only do I get some excercise but I am learning a new sport, get to be competitive and get to hang out with some great gals. Even though the courts are at my church, over half the people do not go to our church and kind of found out about us by accident or were told by a friend. I love that - meeting new people and getting to know them! We have so much fun playing and it cracks me up to see people's personalities come out on the court. We are even playing other tennis clubs now and Susan and I just create and ordered spiffy new shirts for us to wear so we will look cute on the courts!

Wow - I better catch up on some blogging! These pics are from Labor Day weekend when Matt and I, our family, his parents and his sister's family all went up to the Burney Falls area (about 5 hours from SJ). We also went to Mt. Lassen National Park. It was awesome. It is non active volcanic park and I would say it is right up there with Yosemite. The boys and men tried to fish some and we also checked out Burney Falls. It was so nice to get away and make some fun family memories.

Here is another one for the garage. Love my nephew's "stand up straight" hair!

New stuff is up at the Garage. I love the challenge to do layouts each month.

On the needles

This is my latest knitting project. Hopefully it will turn out like the picture! This magazine had some cool patterns in it so I hope to be able to try some other ones after I am done with this one.

First day of school, First day of notes


The boys started their new school on Wednesday. I love the picture of Tyler I took. Look at that face! I did take one of Timmy but it is blurry (we were running late and being rushed so I'll have to reshoot his). So Matt and I thought everything went well the first day, until about 8:00 that night when Timmy decides to tell us he got a note sent home that we had to sign. What!! Your first day! Come on - already this is starting?? I actually wish I could have saved the note because the teacher made him fill it out himself and his answers will be really funny in say 10 years or so when he is an adult or if it wasn't my kid. She was trying to use reverse psychology or something because it was fill in the blanks and it said something like "Because I did not behave correctly, now I do not know how to do _____". So of course my son wrote in "...now I do not know how to do NOTHING!" So someday I will laugh about that because it is just his personality. Sure hope he has a strong teacher this year that has been teaching for a while. Good luck Mrs Swank - you are going to have to be pretty clever to keep my "I know everything" kid in line.

I got to visit my friend Sylvia's new baby girl- Danika! I even got to hold her! She is such a little peanut and I loved having her curled up on my chest. Sylvia is always making something cute for someone so I thought I would make something for her and the baby. Michelle gave me the Baby Bolero pattern from the One Skein book (which I ended up buying later because it had so many cute projects in it). I can't remember the name of the yarn but it was so nice to work with and soft. I figured out that I finished the sweater at the exact moment Danika was being born! I also made a Baby Keepsakes tin for her which I got the idea from Stephanie's blog. I saw hers and had to make one! I'll post more projects later - I am knitting a t-shirt and I finished up my layouts for Bay Area Scrappers! So lots to post!

D-O-N-E-!!

I am done!! Done with my event that is!! What an event it was!! So many things got messed up that I really am feeling very critical about it. So I guess I will just vent and move on! Let's see where do I start - with some of the 2nd round of award redos coming in wrong, or the SAG union picketing our event with a giant inflatable rat outside of the hotel, or the banquet people setting up for tables of 10 instead of 8 which would have thrown off my whole list of reserved seating for 400 people (but I threw a fit - it was their fault anyway - the diagram the hotel made for me was set for tables of 8 - look at your own stuff guys!) or the lighting guy breaking two of my awards the day of the event or the guest speaker's horrible speech (which I had read beforehand and begged my boss to have our president talk to him and change it - sorry but a owner of a National Ad agency should NOT confess to 400 people that he had a mid life crisis, got divorced and then found the love of his life and then say how one of our top managers had his heart broken by his first love etc etc when the guy's wife is right there!! hello? I don't know about you but I wouldn't want my husband previous love of his life brought up at all let alone in front of 400 people. Oh and somehow this was all tied to his theme - perserverance??? Also if you are speaking to a bunch of KFC managers why are you talking about football legends the whole time!!! Either talk about something restaurant related or at least music related since that was our theme. All I have to say is YIKES!!! Ok - I am getting worked up again!! It's over - it's over - that is what I have to keep telling myself.

So I move one and what do I have on my to do list:

Get the boys ready for school - which starts next Wednesday. I feel like they had a cruddy summer. Sorry boys! Now I gotta get things ready like clean out all of last years school papers, get uniforms and haircuts for them.

Finish up my layouts for Bay Area Scrappers. They are actually done but I just have to post them and drive over to Suzy's and hand them off. Doing those layouts was a bright spot for me.

Visit my friend Sylvia and her new baby girl!! I made some goodies for her but will have to post them after my visit .

So I promise I won't gripe about work anymore and next time I will post fun stuff like layouts, what I am knitting etc...

What else could go wrong???

Okay - so my big event is a week away. It's crunch time. Time to finalize everything and take care of the little stuff. Suddenly, last week, all heck seems to be breaking loose - Wednesday we get a call from our hotel and the remodel they thought was going to be done by our event is now delayed due to parts that were backordered. So we lost 1/3 of our foyer space that is replaced with scaffolding disguised with black drape. So that was bad but we can handle it and it will just be a little tight for our cocktail party for 400 people. Then Monday hits and we get the news that one of our big wigs miscalculated some figures which meant about 20 out of the 200 awards we already had ordered and received had to be redone! Can they be ready by Tuesday? We sure hope so! Then my boss got a call today that our DJ who was working from 3pm - 1am has Vertigo and is in the hospital (which is ironic since one of the songs we are using in our event is U2's Vertigo). I know a lot of other things could go wrong but at this point would I really be surprised?? Will Imake it through 'till the event is over?!

Reconnecting...


So if you have been reading this blog you know that things have been hectic and stressful. So this week was my first week back on my regular schedule of working Monday-Wednesday. I realized this week how off kilter I was. I also realized there are certain things that I need that make me feel grounded and "normal" These are:

Being with my kids and giving them some fun - the summers are always hard during my event planning time but boy do I feel better when I can say to the boys - "Let's do anything you want to do" and we take off and go have some fun!

Doing something creative - it is amazing how much I need to have some kind of creative outlet whether it be knitting, scrapbooking or blogging! On Stephanie's blog she was recently talking about scrapbooking and how it is her outlet and it totally reminded me of one of the important reasons why I scrapbook. Through the whole process of creating layouts (touching and cutting paper, arranging photos, journaling etc.) there is a recharging of my soul and it inspires me. I would also throw tennis into this category.

Connecting with friends - Wow I have been out of the loop on this one recently! But this week I was able to hang out with Shannon and take our kids to the park and go swimming. So not only did I do something that the kids loved but I got to do a lot of talking with a girlfriend and that is a blessing! Somehow talking with girlfriends (serious talking not chit chatting) relieves stress for me. I am always someone who cuts to the chase with friendships. I am not the surface kind of girl and I realized I had been neglecting some friends around me. I have two girlfriends from church that I have been meeting every other week at Starbucks for the last 4 years but we haven't met in a long time and I need to start that back up again.


So what are the things that you do to reconnect and stay grounded? I'd love to hear from those that read this blog!

Matt holding the tournament chip I won!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...
because they won't let you leave Vegas!

I have been home from Vegas for almost a week now but we have been having a heat wave here in the Bay Area and sitting at the computer and sweating wasn't appealing plus I have been really busy. Anyway, here is the breakdown of what happened. We got to Vegas Sunday night and checked into the Rio which is where they are holding the WSOP (World Series of Poker) and is held from late June to mid August. We then went to the room where all the events were being held so we could play some of the satelites (one table tournaments where the winner gets chips into one of WSOP events). I should have just stopped playing after I tell you this story because it is the best I did the whole time I was there. So I sit down at my satelite table and we are waiting for it to fill up and one of the guys calls over a professional poker player to join us. "Oh No" I was thinking because the last thing I want to see at my table is a pro. They already are either rich enough to buy into all the WSOP events themselves or they are sponsored so I feel like "let the little guys have a chance and don't play in the satellites." Anyway it was a British guy that has been on TV and his name is Simon "Aces" T. So we get going and to make a long story short it comes down to the pro, another man and me! I was so excited I couldn't believe it - I was so close to winning! So the other guy starts talking to us about "chopping" (instead of playing to the end you divide up the winnings with whoever is left). So I told him no twice because I really wanted that tournament chip and I couldn't get that if we ended with three players. The next hand I get is Q 9 off suit and I am 2nd to act so I go all in. The guy I said no to twice calls me and he has A 4 so I think am done for and how dumb of me that I didn't take the deal. Well on the river there is a 9 and I won! The other guy didn't realize I had won and that he was knocked out until the pro told him. Then I felt really bad! But I got my tournament chip (we spilt two) and I got to play with a pro at my table - all the things I wanted to accomplish in Vegas and I had only been there two hours! I ended up giving my chip to Matt who also won a satelite so he would have enough to play in the WSOP Omaha event the next day (aren't I a nice wife?!). He got to play with Carlos Mortensen at his table (another pro) but he got knocked out after a couple of hours. Then the following day, he and his cousin Josh played in one of the WSOP No Limit events which they won seats for by accruing points playing online. Matt lasted several hours and Josh lasted about nine hours but neither made the money. Maybe next year will be their year! It was fun seeing all the different players - it was like who's who in the poker world. After they got knocked out, we spent most of our time at the Mirage because they have a great poker room there with one table tournaments that Matt won a couple of and no limit tables. So if he won, I lost and vice versa so we stayed about even. Anyway, when it was time to go on Wednesday (our flight was leaving at 4:00pm) we were waiting to board and they canceled our flight due to mechanical failure! Our whole flight got reassigned (after we waited in line for an hour) to two different flights - one leaving at 6:30 and one leaving at 8:00. They couldn't even fly us into San Jose (our original destination) but rerouted us to San Francisco where we would be bused back to San Jose. We were assigned the later flight and figured we would go back to the Strip instead of waiting at the airport for three hours. So we go back and meet up with his cousin at the Bellagio and then walk around a while. We head back to the airport at7:00pm and find out our 2nd flight has been delayed until midnight!! We were so mad! Not only are we delayed 8 hours, but now we will get in San Francisco at 1:00 am and our trip is still not over because we will have to ride buses down to the San Jose airport which will be shut down by that time and try to find cabs at a dead airport. Lovely!! What was even worse is that his cousin was flying out that same night on a different airline at 9:00pm and we had been teasing him about having to leave that late. His flight had also been delayed an hour and a half and he still beat us home! Finally we got to bed at 2:30 am and then had to wake up and both be at work in the morning. Least the boys had a great time while we were gone with their Nana and Papa and didn't even notice we were late. Boy when you go to Vegas for a couple of days you feel like you have been there a week and I was so glad to get home but not glad that we brought the Vegas heat with us!

Well I survived the week. I think my mental capacity is a little damaged though! I had about the most stressful day yesterday and it all revolved around envelopes for our event's invitation (darn I should have brought one home to post). Anyway it is a long story but someone was supposed to have these envelopes ready for us and they didn't so we were scrambling last minute, got some and then found out they were not the right ones and we miraculously got some more that were not supposed to arrive until Monday. Then to top it all off I get on the internet and find the original envelopes we wanted in the first place but our printer said he couldn't find them! Just goes to show that I should have just done it myself from the start! So on top of that chaos was a whole pile of work and me and my boss running around. It was quite comical. Thank God we have a good relationship and she is so great at not taking the stress out on me which I have had bosses in the past that would reduce me to tears. It is actually quite amazing and I hope some of that will rub off on me! So we were running around - literally - shoving papers at each other, forgetting what we were trying to say, throwing our hands in the air etc etc. At one point our HR Director thought it would be funny to play a joke and he came into our office to say the envelopes we finally got do not fit our invitation. That put my boss over the edge and she starts laughing hysterically to the point where the Director backs out of our office with a confused look on his face and walks away leaving her still laughing. I really was nervous at a point until she calmed down. So that was my day and now I am off to.....

Vegas baby! The ultimate stress relived and I don't even party or drink! But I do play poker and now I will get to play poker all day long (provided I still have chips in front of me). This is our second time going with my husband's cousin and they are playing in a WSOP event (World Series of Poker). It is a complicated thing and I could take a couple of paragraphs to explain but don't want to bore you. Anyway they accumulated points together on a poker website and split one of the event seats (not the main event though). All three of us are also going to try and win a satellite into other events (sorry more poker lingo). We are talking strategy and hopefully I can remember all the details of what to do in different situations. Anyway I hope one of us wins and if it is Matt or I, I won't have to go back to my job!! Wishful thinking huh? But at least I will get a break and hopefully recharge my batteries!

A little freaked out!

I haven't blogged in a while and it may not happen this week so I will ramble a little bit so that I can say I blogged! I am a little freaked out! Why do you ask? Well, about this time for the last 10 years I embark on a feverish, rampage of work called Top Ten. It is an event that my department (only three of us) does every year for about 400 attendees and about 200 awards are given out. It is like the Academy awards and a wedding rolled into one and you have about a month to plan. We get the contest results tomorrow so everything will start. So that would freak me out anyways but bad news came yesterday, my co-worker's (one of the three) Dad died. Really sad and really sudden. So she is in UT for I don't know how long and I am sure very upset. So that makes me freak out even more because it will be little 'ole me during hell week and also covering her job. It's not the type of work that anyone could fill in while she is gone. Help!!

Ok- breath.....

It always helps to look on the bright side right?

So I'll think about my new little nephew that I got to hold yesterday who has a so much hair that it won't lay down and sticks straight up.

The movie Nanny McPhee tha I had put off watching forever because who wants to look at an ugly Emma Thompson, right? But it was great and I cried at the end while my boys looked at me like I was crazy. It had some great lines in it! Very cute!!

And I WON"T try to obsess over my computer that is NOT working and a printer that refuses to work with it. Opps - better go back to breathing and looking on the bright side!

I haven't posted any of my knitting in a while because I have been stuck on a lace knitting project that is taking FOREVER! This shrug I actually made months ago and just have not worn or posted. I have this thing about knitting things for myself and usually end up ripping it out, not finishing it or giving it away. Last Sunday, I finally wore it out in public. I went to my favorite yarn shop not even realizing I was wearing this and the owner, Jan, totally spotted it and could name the pattern and yarn I used (she's good!). Thanks goodness I bought it all at her store. I guess she helped validate my knitting (or in this case crocheting) abilities and maybe I will be braver at wearing my projects in public!