Peeking in to say "HI!!"

I'm amazed at how fast time has flown!!!



Life is so busy right now that I barely have time to catch my breath. A lot has been going on - mostly good stuff!



Buddy started his new school last month. He loves it (thank you for all that shared your stories with public vs. private schools). According to him it's "three times better" than his old school. I'm sure after the novelty of the tether ball courts, cafeteria and grass wear off it will be just another school but for now, he's having a blast!!! I'm so thankful I made the move. We are so blessed to have him start a new school with 4 of his best buddies. This made the transition smooth and so easy.




Daughter started her senior year. Yikes!!! She's doing awesome. My girl has definitely grown up. She still has her "teenager" moments but those are few and far between. She took her senior pictures a couple weeks ago. A slap of reality! I really need to accept that she WILL be going away to school next year and she WILL be gone from home. I could cry every time I think of it.

Buddy's soccer season has started up and it looks like it will be one of the best seasons ever! He's got three of his good friends on the team and we are really good. Buddy has scored 2 out of his 3 games. He's really doing well. It's a great team and great parents.

J had his ACL surgery last month and is doing much much better. He's going to physical therapy and is almost to full range of motion - but not quite. He's happy now that it's football season. His fantasy football team is in full force and we've both joined a football pool for the season. That should make things every interesting!

I'm still walking every morning. Still have the goal of 10,000 steps every day. We average 4 -5 times a week and I'm so happy I am still doing it. I think my walking partner and I both need our "walks". This is the time we share, vent, talk about everything to each other. I'm blessed to have my friend and my walking partner. Other wise there is no way I'd roll my behind out of bed at 4:30am every day.

My little blog is now a year old! I can't believe it. I first started on September 4th last year. This was the anniversary of when I was proposed to. Yikes! Can it really be 2 years since?




Sister had taken the Summer off to clear her head and really decide what she wanted to do with her life. She has worked in the entertainment industry for so many years, the hours and drive (she commutes from Ventura County) was really getting to her - mentally and physically. Today she starts a new show for the Disney Channel. She's excited to get back into the swing of things.





Work is so busy but good. We are hiring so it is very very time consuming. Interviewing, hiring, training leaves no time for anything. It will be great when everyone is up and running, until then, I'm doing all the running.





I've missed my little on-line diary. I really miss reading and commenting on my favorite blogs.



Have a wonderful week!!!

How NOT to Write a Cover Letter....

This is what I have been doing for the past 2 weeks. Reading dumb people's lame attempts to get a job.... hmmmm wonder why they are unemployed...


"To Whom It May Concern:

I would like to submit my résumé for consideration for the Lead Customer Service position that you have available. As you will see, I have an extensive background in customer service. Realistically no mater what job a person holds weather dealing with other employees or clients, the service aspect always plays a part. I am not just randomly sending out résumés, looking at XXXX and there products. This seams to be a place that I would really enjoy working. I am moving to Oxnard August 3rd from the Woodland hills area. I would love to set up an interview to see if this would be a good fit for me as well as for National Coatings. I am available to meet at your convince.Thank you for your time and consideration."

Please people, have someone read and re-read anything that is sent out to prospective employers. Be sure to capitalize when appropriate and for goodness sake - don't misspell the person who is doing the hiring's name!!!! I'm Missy - not Missey.

Dear Co-worker....

Dear Co-worker,

It annoys me to no end when I send an e-mail to you and you immediately come into my office and ask "So, what do you want?" I can almost guarantee that as soon as I hit "send" I will hear you coming down the hall in 3.5 seconds only to ask "What are you saying?". I carefully draft my e-mails to you, writing things in the simplest terms possible. Yet, you don't take the time to read through them and try to understand what I am saying or asking.

If I wanted to chit chat, I would have come to your office or picked up the phone and called you. I don't have that time nor do I want to chat with you. I'm sorry if I'm harsh, I'm just tired of this... 9 flipping years....

Signed,



Your irritated co-worker

Bittersweet

Leaving this afternoon for Orange County for Uncle John's memorial and funeral tomorrow. Funerals are bittersweet - it's very sad to say goodbye to your loved one but usually you see relatives that you have not seen in a long time. I can't wait to see my Uncle Sonny (my mom's brother) who is traveling out from Montana. I love this man. Can't wait to see my mom's cousin Janice from Arizona. Adore this lady.

I'm so happy we are all going to be there for my aunt and cousin who have undoubtedly been through the worst week of their life.

Sad that Uncle couldn't win his fight but happy he doesn't have to fight any longer.

Really???

What the heck AARP?? Why did I get this today??? I'm only 40.

What kind of sick joke is this??? : )

Uncle John

This weekend my Uncle John lost his battle to alcoholism. Such an awful disease. He's been fighting this fight for as long as I can remember. We so badly wanted him to beat this disease but in the end beat him - it took hold of his life, became his life and eventually ended his life.

Uncle John - my aunt's husband

Uncle John - my cousin's dad

My cousin that got married two weeks to the day her dad passed away.

Uncle John was a powerful, very smart man. He loved the sun and loved to fish at their home in Mexico. He swam everyday and did the LA Times crossword puzzle sitting out by their pool. He always smelled of Coppertone and loved to BBQ. This was the Uncle John I knew. Not the Uncle John that spent his last days/months/years suffering from the final stages of alcoholism.

We will bury him this Friday. His years of suffering, fighting, hurting, and battling are over.

Currently I'm....

• Hopping on the Flckr bandwagon and uploading all my pictures to Flickr. I have everything on Shutterfly right now so it will be a time consuming project but I'll be so happy once I get it all done.


• Making an appointment for J to see an orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday.... when will men realize they aren't young anymore and their poor bodies aren't the same as they once were. He messed up his knee BIG time last night playing basketball. Poor guy is hobbling around on crutches with a big A knee brace on....


• Drooling over this recipe. I just bought a box of Nilla Wafers on a whim. Now I know what I'll be using them for!
• Signing Daughter up for her the ACT test in September and her next round of SAT testing in October... So hard for me to grasp that she is a Senior and that she's going to be graduating this year!!!

• Making appointments for manicure and pedicure for tomorrow. I received so many gift certificates for my birthday - time to put them to use!


• Staring at my Google Reader with more than 1,000+ posts that need to be read...
• Unsubscribing to a lot of blogs I thought I would read, but have not. I need to get them off the reader so the bolded blogs stop driving me crazy....
• Debating whether or not I want to walk in the morning....

Miss Missy What Have You Been Up To??

Thanks for all the encouraging words to get me back into the blogging groove. : )





So.... what have I been up to??? A lot! I've been so busy with work, life, kids, family, etc.

Still walking and have been at it again continuously - my goal is 10,000 steps a day. Yesterday I walked 15,120 steps. Woo Hoo!!!

My sister threw me a wonderful surprise birthday party at the beach. I'm truly blessed with a wonderful family and lovely friends. It was an amazing day mixed with new friends and old friends. My sister and I with our friend K - she was my first friend when I first moved here from Texas - I was a wee 8 years old!!

J and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on June 29th. I can not believe it has been a year!!!

Buddy won the raffle one night at his baseball league's All Star play offs - a whopping $70 bucks! The grin never left my little man's face. So precious. "This is the best day ever - I wish I had a time machine and I'd go back and relive it"...

Daughter is almost done with her college summer school class. She's such a good girl!

Gave notice to Buddy's school that he would not be coming back next school year... I'm completely at peace with my decision and feel very good about it. Thanks to all that helped me with the pros and cons!!!! Buddy has totally embraced the idea - when we drive by he says "there's my new school" (with a big smile)


Work has been so so so busy I have had barely any time to catch up on my favorite blogs. My googlereader seriously is out of control. I think I need to unsubscribe to a few... dozen.

I'm having a serious love affair with a new pair of shoes (Unlisted Modern Style)I got for a steal! Macy's had them on clearance from $59 to $29.40 with an add'l 30% and then an add'l 10% off that so I paid under $20 for my new babies. I've been on the search for a new pair of black heels. I love these AND they are comfortable. What else could a girl asked for??

Who, What, When, How

Who: Me
What: Need to find motivation to blog again. I am so busy with everything - life, work, friends, family, etc. - yet I feel nothing is exciting enough to blog about... I guess I'm in a bit of a blogging slump right now
When: Soon. I miss keeping my on-line diary up to date.
How: ????

Happy Birthday To Me

She's pretty, isn't she? I splurged at bit... but got a good deal at the Coach Outlet ; )

Let me catch you up....

Life has been so crazy busy the past few weeks. I'll try and catch you up on what is going on in my not-so-exciting life.

• Spent 2 days in Vegas for work. Blah
  
• Buddy is now officially a 4th grader


• Daughter is now officially a senior (holy crap!)


• I'm officially "sporty" - I mean 40 (holy crap x a million)


• Received new and improved Roomba - thanks iRobot.com!


• Sporting a new Trailblazer

• Buddy will be going to the new school (read: public) in the fall


• Daughter's fashion show was HIlarious.... a total bust. Bless her little heart. I only have one photo to show... she was mortified/I was entertained.

• Buddy lost his boogie board (in the ocean) at his beach party and I suddenly became a lifeguard. I went running into the ocean in my clothes to rescue my baby! He's a swimmer but not a strong swimmer and especially not in waves. Yes, I'm THAT mom


• Walking partner is on vacation.... so am I from exercise : ) I've been bad!!!


• I'm caught in the vicious cycle. I know I'll have more energy if I exercise but I'm too damn tired to exercise....


• How cute is Duncan sleeping with Daughter? They were both sacked out - didn't even hear me take the picture.

That's it for now.

I can't think of a fun title....

It's going to be a very busy weekend and an even busier next week.

Tonight we will probably do our usual movie night to see Kung Fu Panda. This movie looks so incredibly cute.

Tomorrow -

Hair appointment cut and color and not a minute too soon. My roots are wanting to come out to play.

We also have Buddy's end of the season baseball party. I think it will be fun. It's not the usual pizza party but a picnic and baseball game (kids vs. parents).

Sunday -

Church

Fashion Show - Daughter was asked to do this by our wedding photographer. It was all fine and dandy a month or two but now that it's here she's sooo not into it. It will be cute [insert teenage eye roll here].

Sometime this weekend I have to fit in laundry, grocery shopping, manicure, pedicure, clean and packing.... I have to go to Vegas Monday and Tuesday for work. So not looking forward to it but it's part of the ol' job.

Wednesday is Buddy's end of the school beach party.

Thursday is the last day of school. My friend and I are surprising our boys with a secret mom/son day trip. Taking the Amtrack to Santa Barbara for the day.

Friday I will be celebrating a milestone birthday.... and it's Friday the 13th I hope that doesn't mean anything. Thank goodness I'm not stupidstitious.

10,000 Steps

Many websites recommend we walk 10,000 steps a day for long term health and reduced chronic disease risk. 12,000 - 15,000 steps For successful, sustained weight loss.
And to build aerobic fitness make 3,000 or more of your daily steps fast.

So, yesterday I bought a pedometer. It's a great little tool that senses your body motion and counts your footsteps. I've heard that wearing a pedometer and recording your daily steps and distance is a great motivating tool. My walking partner and I have gotten a little bored with our daily walk. So we decided to add to it. We added another mile and two more inclines. Now, instead of walking at 5:00am we are starting at 4:45am. Who the heck am I? I'm a crazy walking woman!! Our walk is now 5 miles long with 5 good inclines.

When we finished our walk this morning I was already at over 9,900 steps. I love this little tool. As of right now (12:59pm) I'm at 11, 299 steps. (yes, I'm wearing it at work - yes, I know that's dorky).

Go get one. They are cheap under $20 and a good way to help keep you motivated.

I Hate Buying Milk!

Why Missy? Milk is so good for you?

Actually, I love milk but I hate seeing the expiration date.

It really makes you realize how fast time is flying by doesn't it? We are already half way through 2008! How did we get to June so quickly??

It hit me this weekend when I bought milk how quickly next week is creeping up and what that brings...

Let's just say - "Sporty" is the new Forty

SATC

I received a text from my friend K this morning....

"Did you know that there is an off site meeting today? Carrie Bradshw is speaking at 'Edwards' Air Force Base" this meant "Take a long lunch today and let's go see Sex and the City at Edwards Theater". Back in the day when she and I worked for the Government we would have totally done this. Actually we did... twice. We went to see Phenomenon with John Travolta (this movie makes me bawl every time I see it) and Batman (can't remember if it was 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, ...)

We had such a good time working together. We worked hard but we also had a lot of fun. We often would still the engineer's Cushman and take a cruise around the base.

Or have margaritas at lunch and come back a little tipsy.

We had a lot of fun....

But getting back to my original thought - I never really got into SATC. I didn't have HBO when it was all the rage and would catch an episode every now and then when it was in syndication. But never was bit by the Carrie or Miranda bug. I liked it but never made it a point to remember when it was on so I wouldn't miss an episode.

Do I have to turn in my "girl card"? I hope not...

Needless to say - even though I'm not a huge fan - I'd go see this in a heart beat with K. But not during work, I've grown soft with age.

Missyllaneous Thoughts

So busy with work, life, everything. So here is a post about a little bit of everything....

• Walking everyday and still enjoying it. I didn't walk on Saturday and was a complete blob all day. I felt terrible. Not sure if I did I not walk because I was lethargic or was lethargic because I didn't walk. Determined it was the latter so I got up early Sunday and did my incline walk. I was a little crampy during the walk but I did feel better. Monday I did the walk again and had no problems.
  


• Have fallen in love with our friends M&K. I've known M since he and I were in high school and our boys have gone to school together since Kindergarten but didn't really get to know each other until our boys were on the same baseball team. I've always adored K but have come to really cherish her and our friendship. We have so much in common namely our love for our kids. I've actually found someone who dotes, oohs and ahhs over their child the way I do Buddy. Weee! The men definitely have a BROmance going on. They love coaching baseball together, the Lakers, cars, their boys, their wives, etc. It's truly a beautiful relationship.



• Over the weekend we met our wonderful friends at the Ventura Harbor for dinner and a little fun at the arcade. The boys had a great time!And so did the big boys... total bromance....




• The garden is coming along quite nicely.

I haven't been down to look but word has it that these little flowers have turned into little baby tomatoes... So excited!!!

• Gas is out of control!!! I snapped these picture 6 days apart. $.12 cents in 6 days?? Crazy! These prices look so much better than

these prices
Not because of the actual cost but the pricing structure. I love patterns and love math and things that make sense. I drives me crazy when the prices do not go up in even incriments. That does not make any sense! Does this bug anyone else?

• Sister got one of these.....So jealous but so happy for her. She's worked in the film industry for over 15 years and until recently she's been happy or content with her job. She's worked on several films and television shows but I've seen her become less and less happy with her work situation. She was commuting everyday from Ventura to LA. It was taking a toll on her and her health. So she has decided to take a break from all that craziness and go back to school. More specifically, photography classes. For as long as I could remember, she's always had a camera in her hand taking pictures of everything. So I suggested that she do something she loves, get involved in the photography community. And she took her big sister's advice. I am so living vicariously through her! I'm excited for her. I see the spark in her eyes again, it has been a long time since she was happy.

• Saw Indiana Jones over the weekend. My advice.... save your money and wait for it to come out on DVD. I don't want to give away any secrets but rid-i-cu-lous is all I have to say about that.

• Work e-mail has been down since Monday. It has been the BIGGEST hassle not having e-mail. We can send out but cannot receive. As of 4:04pm we just started receiving mail. I can only imagine what my in-box will look like tomorrow.

• Buddy's baseball season is almost over. I'm so sad to see it end. I love being at the baseball field. We have 2 more games to go. I will miss cheering at the games with these ladies.

• A girl I went to school with is a teacher at the "new" school we are looking at. Not only is she a teacher there - she is a 4th grade teacher. Meaning Buddy would have her has his teacher next year if we decide to move him there. We have a meeting set up to go and visit with her and the school on Monday. This should be a big deciding factor.

• We have decided to down grade J's Silverado truck and upgrade my SUV. I like that idea. We'll be on the hunt for a new car this weekend. Trailblazer is the front runner at this moment.
  

Tomorrow is Friday and I'm thrilled. WEEE!!! Happy Friday!

Weekend Update

Work is still crazy busy but I love when I feel productive and get things done.

The weekend was great!

Friday - we bbq'd and watched the Lakers win!! Woo Hoo! Now they just have to do the same thing tonight. GO LAKERS!

Saturday - I got up early and did my incline walk up the hills. I love that walk. It's tough but a great workout and I have a beautiful view of Ventura once I reach the top.

I had received an e-mail that Victoria Secret's Annual Sale was going on so my sister and I went to check it out. I love VS sales.
Sadly, the sale was on-line only. So my gift certificate will have to wait until next month....

Buddy had a game that evening so I piddled (my dad's word) around the house until game time. He did great and we won! We went to dinner with a few of our friends after the game.

Buddy had been wanting to see "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". I had yet to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe so I thought I'd be lost if I didn't see the first one. Saturday night after dinner we had popcorn and put the DVD in. It was a good movie. I admit I fell asleep during parts but got the jist of it.

Sunday - we visited a new church. It's a newer church and smaller than I am used to but I really liked it. I've been wanting to get Buddy more involved in kid's activities at a church - especially if we move him to a public school. Our friends are heavily active in this church so we thought we'd give it a try. All three of us liked it and are going back this Sunday.

After church we picked up the pottery the kids made on Mother's Day. They turned out great! I need to take a picture of Buddy's claw thingy but Daughter's pasta bowl turned out great! I love it!

Before

After

The picture really doesn't do it justice but it's beautiful.

Our house was blazing hot on Sunday so we decided to find refuge in the movie theater and saw "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". It was really good. I'm so happy I saw the first one otherwise I would have been completely lost.

On the way home we stopped by the prospective school. He's too cute... his interest was peaked when I mentioned they had hot lunch every day and on Tues/Thurs they had a salad bar. It's definitely up for discussion and not out of the question. This morning Buddy told me he'd like to visit and see how the classes and teachers are. So we'll see.

In sad news.... Roomba stopped working.... he has to go back to Santa's workshop to be fixed...

Duncan does not miss him. But I do.

**Random question - what the heck is up with Shutterfly's links??????**

**Random excitement - I love that I can change my weemee's outfit to match what I'm wearing today. Duncan is not with my in my purse but I can pretend**