A Dream...

I've had many dreams in my life. Writing has always been its centerpiece, but there others. I hide them mostly, but one has slipped past my zipped lips. As most of you know I love travel. No, rather I LOOOOVVVVEEEE travel. I miss the days of packing a suitcase, slipping it in the trunk, throwing the ice chest in the backseat and heading down the open highway. Do you remember those times? Essentially it was BK...Before Kids.

Traveling with young children is like solving a Rubik's Cube without pulling the stickers from the cube or prying the cube apart. My sister-in-law can solve the silly thing in 5 minutes...no matter how long it takes us to mess it up....we hate her....Just Kidding!!! You spend what amounts to half a day packing and repacking the car until you manage to fit everything, including the kitchen sink, into the trunk of a Toyota Tercel. Even Master Packers crack under the pressure of traveling with small children.

When I traveled for the first time without my family...a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. No worrying about anyone else, but myself. So incredibly worth it. I will never forget that trip. Traveling with just hubby to Italy was an incredible adventure I will never forget. It was fun and I was able to soak in the history of the world. Standing in places such as the Pantheon, the Colosseum or the Sistine Chapel....it changes you. Studying the incredible precision in which Michelangelo's David was created. It takes your breath away.

My main dream is to travel all over the world, taking pictures and soaking in the Earth's culture....however hubby and I are planning a new dream. Someday, we will travel all over North America, experiencing the incredible beauty there is to see all over the US and Canada together. After we get the kids through college we'll put away for something a little more selfish...a motorhome. No plans of where we will travel. We'll simply pull out a map and go....complete and total freedom. We'll travel some spring,all summer, and return sometime in the fall. An adventure of epic proportions. We have a few friends who are thinking of doing the same thing. It could be fun.

So my question is....if you could go anywhere...see anything in North America...what would it be? I'm taking notes!!!

Ready for Some R & R

It's not going to be dull...it never is.

I fully expect some singing...more 80's songs than you can think of. Perhaps the boys will treat us to another rendition of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"


There may be some dancing...


However, I may have to do this


Especially if we have visitors.

All in all, it will be a fun time...a much needed time to laugh and smile.









Party on Bill!
Party on Ted

Really?! Are you serious?!

Are there really people like this in the world?!

I've heard of them and always believed them to be fictional...something created to make Jerry Springer or Judge Judy popular.

I've come to the conclusion: I was wrong.

This major accident...and by major I mean no lasting damage to my car, no damage to my children or the children in the other car. In fact, there's not even a scratch where our cars touched. Simply a dull mark on my otherwise normally shiny car...well, if I took the time to wash it that is.

New Year's Eve...yes, I was headed to the Spurs game, the one I had hoped my husband could take the kids to as I had no desire to go. our fenders touched, we stopped exchanged information and left from there. I've got no cell phone and therefore was unable to call the police. She had a cell phone, but had no desire to call them. So we left it to our insurance companies.

At first reporting the accident my insurance company claims person didn't take my side. They simply waited for the facts to come in first. Sounds fair to me. I'd hope they would be objective like that. I reported my side of the story to her and they asked that I take it to their appraiser to take photos of the car. The look on the appraiser's face when he couldn't find any damage was priceless.

The next morning my phone rang...on the other end...the woman who hit my car. She was angry and told me she was suing me and taking em to court. I got a little worried and discussed the matter with my insurance company. The sweet woman in claims called the other woman's insurance company and told her to stop calling me. Any communication needed to go through the insurance company.

So what happened next? She called me again this afternoon angry and completely upset. She attempted to bully me into calling her so she could get my address to subpoena me and take me to court. She claimed her children were all injured. She claimed to think I was a good samaritan at first accepting what I had done wrong. And now she realized what a horrible person I was.

Guess what I'm going to buy this weekend?

A digital voice recorder.

Why?!

To record each and every message this woman leaves claiming I injured her children.

My question?

If the children were all injured why did she not tell her insurance company when she filed her claim? Why didn't she call the police at the scene if she had a cell phone and I didn't? if I sideswiped her vehicle trying to cut her off...where is the damage to my car? Just a thought.

What was that saying about when you give a person enough rope?

Hmmm.....Just checking.

Aloha Monday!!!!

Tomorrow I look forward to my day off....although my day off may seem a bit different this week. I'm heading into work. I've got my resorts to visit with. We have the Spirit of Aloha Tour Bus coming through and we, the Resort Desk reservations team will be greeted by the resorts and flanked by lovely hula dancers as we talk about our island paradise we sell everyday. I'm looking forward to getting to talk to each representative to find out things such as the rooms, restaurants, amenities, pools, luaus, and all the other important facts that make hawaiian a dream for vacation goers. To be honest, I am excited. The travel nerd inside of me is waking me up early to get a chance to see the wonderful photos and learn the inside information about the resorts. So, my dear friends, if monday gets you down...why don't you join me on a staycation in your mind to the incredible Hawaiian Islands? Just a thought!!

Frustrated & Angry

I had a great day at work. Plenty of reservations to give me excellent stats for today. I was having a great time and I was looking forward to a nice relaxing evening with the kids and my insurance company calls. The woman who hit my car with hers on New Year's Eve told my insurance company I sideswiped her as I tried to cut her off. Huh-What?!?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!?! She ran into me...I never changed lanes!!!! How did I hit her when I was in my own lane?!?!? Yet another reason why you should never talk on your cell phone like she was doing. Now I have to take my car into the appraiser for them to inspect my vehicle...Oh I can help them...Any one see any damage? All I see was some dirt moved away from my fender. Until then I will work hard on letting go of my anger and frustration....The truth will come out in the end...I hope!

How Do You Know?

How do you know your hubby loves you?

I know because when I am asleep when he gets home late from work...he takes off my socks, while I'm sleeping, tucks my feet under the covers nice and cozy like and then puts my socks in the laundry bag, before kissing me goodnight on the forehead and whispering "I'm home sweetie."

Sigh!!!

Testing Wings...

I've never had a hard time watching my kids grow up. I've enjoyed them spreading their wings, but in the past 24 hours something has happened. Nothing bad, it's just simple realization. Next week is my oldest's 15th birthday.

Now, let it be said I love watching my kids grow and tunr into the fabulous people they are.

I love waking her up at 5am to get ready for seminary and driving her so early in the morning. We get a chance to talk.

I love it when she arrives home from a church dance and she recounts the events with friends and the young men who've asked her to dance.

I love watching her abilities as an artist grow. Her talent at first was a fun thing to watch grow. She is very humble about her abilities and finds herself continually surprised by remarks from her teacher and a request to put her art into a district wide art competition...for her self portrait. I've only seen a tiny picture of it on her cell phone, but it was amazing. I can't wait to see it in person.

In just one year, my beautiful girl will be getting her driver's license and start dating some of the incredible young men in the area and turning into a Laurel.

I realize now what little precious time I have left with not only her, but my other two as well.

My Baby & Manu

LOOK HERE!!!
In an effort to share with my family I am putting this video from Molly's latest win with the Spurs. She came home with the tickets today. She's intent on finding someone to give them to as we won't be going since it is Sunday. Molly is the one to the right of Mr Gnobli. I appreciated him spending time with the kids and reiterating how important their studies are,

Here We Go Again...

Oh yeah...I am dead serious. In a completely different contest Miss Molly has done it again. In the San Antonio area, all of the 7th Graders were given a math packet about a month or so to finish. It was filled with a ton of problems to get them thinking. Unfortunately, Molly is some sort of math Rain Man and finished her packet right away. The rest of the time when her classmates struggled to finish the packet she helped her classmates learn how to find the answers. On the due date the packets were to be gathered and graded. For the school who had the highest scores a surprise was in store. The school with the highest score would then gather the students who had attained perfect scores together to celebrate in a way they never expected.

Today she came home to share the news:

"Mom! The principal came onto the loudspeaker and told us if she read our name we were to go to the cafeteria immediately. We didn't know what was going on, but she said my name...so I went. And guess what?!?! Inside the cafeteria was Manu Gnobli of the San Antonio Spurs."

He spent some time with the winners and told them a bit about them a bit about himself and then quizzed them with some fun problems. He took the time to sign autographs for each of the kids and give them each 4 tickets to a Spurs game. Afterwards, we all got together and got out picture taken with him.

"Dude...he's tall" were her parting words.

She also explained that we wouldn't be going to the game since it was on Sunday. She'd already made up her mind.

She's on lucky girl.

And I'm one lucky Mom.

Out with a bang....Or rather a CRASH!!!

You know those years...the ones that are so fabulous you can't seem to let go of them. The only way to let the year go is in a very special way...and boy did we do it up in true style!!!

It started three weeks ago. Molly was called into the principals office at school. A girl had been claiming Molly had made fun of her....Bullying is a capital offense here in Texas you know.

Fortunately, she was not called in for a repeat performance. Instead she was given the news that she had been chosen as the newest inductee to the Whataburger Winner's Circle. Whataburger is a fast food restaurant that is beyond big here in Texas. They like to support the kids here in San Antonio, and all over the state, by issuing a contest in which all children from the San Antonio who receive straight A's and good citizenship and celebrate their achievements with a night out. Molly had won.

That day she had come home with the news that she had won a night spending the evening at a San Antonio Spurs home game. We all cheered for Molly in winning her night out. Silently I prayed Hubby would have the day off to take her as I am not a fan of basketball. I've never enjoyed the sport and fully believe nothing will change that.

Of course, with a severely tightened budget I worried about the parking fees as well as buying food at the arena...my worries were for nothing. Molly, soon brought home part of her award....4 tickets to the game...a parking pass...and a promise of a meal voucher for 4 Whataburger meals. THANK YOU WHATABURGER!!!

As with the following of all my luck this year hubby did not in fact receive the day off on game day, aka New Year's Eve. And so I was to take the kids to the game.

On game day....following my luck for the past year it was no surprise when a woman hit my car while we were driving to the arena. Oh yea...I am serious. There truly was no serious damage. By the looks of her car this was a common occurrence. She simply added a bit of my paint to her collection. After exchanging formalities we departed to the game.

Arriving an hour ahead of time Molly was escorted down to the court for her picture to be taken. She was brought back to us within a few minutes and we headed to our seats....and about 20 minutes before the game...Molly was welcomed officially by Whataburger and the Spurs.


Once in a lifetime...that's for sure. We celebrated the end to a really interesting year with emotions and actions we would prefer to never have gone through, BUT at the same time...we wouldn't be who we are and where we are without what we had truly gone through. However, the lessons I've learned and the beautiful changes happening are for another post.

Until then....Do you smell that?!

It's a new year...happy 2010 everyone!!!