Modem Woes on the Verizon

James installed a new wireless modem from Verizon earlier this week. However, we have had nthing but problems with it. And Verizon has not been much help. Well tonight he finally got the internet up and running on each of our laptops. Yay! So I hope to get back into blogging again tomorrow. Until then.

The Penance of Potty Training

I Said I Would Do What?!

Have you ever woken up in the morning like business as usual, only to suddenly remember something that you had said or done the night before? Well that is exactly what happened to me yesterday morning when I woke up. (Usually in your twenties, it is the realization of something you don't remember doing or saying the night before.)

Monday night, I was talking to my sister Joan who lives in Carlsbad. She was talking about a half marathon on April 26th in La Jolla that she was going to start training for. She also added that our other two sisters, Jill and Cynthia, were also going to do the race. Afterwards, they would go to La Costa Spa. Okay, now that sounds like a plan! So I inquired if the race could be walked, and if so, I might be interested. Joan said, "Really?" I said, "Sure!" We talked about training schedules, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So fast forward to Tuesday morning. I woke up, and hobbled to the bathroom. I got to the bathroom door and it hit me. I said I would do what?! . . . Oh no! What did I do? (Now mind you, this hasn't happened to me since my twenties.)

For those who know me, it is no secret that I am not in the greatest of shape. So it would atually be a good thing but defiitely would be work on my part. I realized that I would definitely need some support. Well, I mentioned to James at dinner last night. "Honey, I opened my big, fat mouth." You would think that my poor husband would be used to this statement by now. I went on to tell him about my conversation with Joan. To my pleasant surprise, he said that he also might be interested. I began to think that this would be pretty fun.

This morning, Joan and I exchanged some e-mails. She sent me the link to her training schedule. But, they do not have a half marathon walk. They do have a 5K walk though. Five kilometers is only 3.11 miles. This prompted me to ask Alyssa and Amanda if they would like to do the 5K. And they said yes! James doesn't think his work schedule would allow him to train for a half marathon. So he decided on the 5K as well.

So James, Amanda, Alyssa,and I will do the La Jolla Shores 5K on Sunday, April 26th. I filled out the entry forms and will mail the payment tomorrow. Now how cool is that!

In Other News . . .

Alyssa had a water polo game against Lompoc today. They won 15-0. Alyssa had 3 assists. I guess assists are not recorded in the stats for water polo. Justina had choir practice after school. They are practicing to go sing for the Marian retirement home during Catholic Schools Week. And Amanda went trap shooting tonight with her friend out at the Santa Maria Gun Club.

The New Year's Resolution poll ends at 11:59 p.m. P.S.T. on Friday, January 16th. Now about the poll. It was set up where voters could write in what their "other" choice was. However, some jack ass started hijacking the poll and writing in sophomoric comments. So I removed that ability to write the other choice there. But you can still use the Comment feature for the poll. After you vote, look at the bottom of the poll box and click on "Comments". By the way, all comments are moderated.

That's all for now. Until the next time, take care and God bless. :)

Oh Yeah! It's a Date!

Tonight, James and I went out for dinner and a movie. Yes, a date! We ordered pizza, and Amanda and Alyssa watched Justina and Abby. Why on Tuesday though? Why not on the weekend? Well, we are usually too busy on the weekend. And why not Tuesday!

We first stopped by Edwards Cinema and picked up our tickets for the 7:50 show. Then we walked to Applebee's for dinner. The dinner was good. We didn't have to rush through it or cut up any one's meat or nag anyone about table manners. Although James did get on me about eating with my toes, but that's a whole new blog post entirely.

After dinner, we walked back over to the theater and sat through a marathon of trailers and commercials, including three consecutive video reminders to turn off our cell phones. Jeez! We saw the Clint Eastwood flick Gran Torino. Now James and I really like Clint Eastwood movies, with the exception of Million Dollar Baby. (I cannot in good conscience support it's pro-euthanasia message.) Truthfully, I am hard pressed though to remember the last movie that I've seen in a theater that was rated anything above PG. Actually, I take that back. It was a year ago in December - The Pursuit of Happyness.

As rough and tough as his character is in this film, you become endeared to him immediately. The movie is rated R for language and violence. Unlike many of Eastwood's movies, the violence is not as prevalent throughout the movie. The language though is, but personally, I wasn't offended by it because it truly was in context with the whole movie. In other words, there were no gratuitous four letter bombs; all the salty language totally fit the main character in the film. Despite it's R rating, James and I both said that we would have no qualms about our 17- and 15-year-old daughters seeing the film.

I really can't recommend the movie enough. We truly enjoyed it. And we truly enjoyed each other's company. And I think I heard somewhere that sort of thing was important in a marriage . . . was it Oprah? Dr. Phil? Wait, it'll come to me . . .

Ringing in 2009 with the 12 of 12

A few years back, when they still did their Rosary Army podcast, Greg and Jennifer Willits introduced their audience to the "12 of 12". Greg had a roommate in college who started this idea of taking 12 pictures of your day on the 12th day of the month. The idea caught on among a segment of their following. Now I have never done a full twelve pictures, maybe five at the most. I usually get sidetracked, forget my camera, don't remember that it is the twelfth of the month, or I have to keep Abby from maiming one of her siblings.

This morning, Rob Williams of the Tupelo Geek Blog reminded me through Facebook that it was the twelfth of the month. I thought. "Hey! That's material for my blog." Gee, thanks Rob! Check out Rob's January's 12 of 12 .

So without further adieu, here is my 12 of 12:

Abby woke up . . .

And then she got dressed.

Today is Monday and that means the sheets get washed. Abby helped me strip my bed, and then jumped on it to even out any lumps in the mattress. Yes, it is wholly inappropriate for her to be jumping on the bed. But I can't ever get enough of Abby's giggles.

I made Justina's lunch - PB&J on whole-grain, soup, peas, pistachios, and a water bottle. Sometimes, I get it made in the morning before school. But a lot of times, I just make it and then take it up there.

Abby walked her sissy's lunch up to the school office.

Then we took the truck in to get smogged at Orcutt 76 in Old Town Orcutt. It didn't pass. Apparently, after replacing the O2 sensor, we were suppose to drive it for about 40 miles before the smog test. So I guess we will drive it around and create some more emissions before the next smog test. While the truck was being smogged, Abby and I walked across the street to Kay's Ocutt Country Kitchen and had lunch.

While Abby took a nap, I prepared some fleece for my Primary 4-H Project meeting. They made no-sew fleece blankets with fringe that is knotted. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of that activity. I think it's time to set that idea aside for awhile.

I picked up Justina from school. When she saw the camera, she instantly posed. But she was a little confused because I never took her picture when picking her up from school before.

Justina has this one guinea pig who loves to play with his water bottle until the shavings in the pan is mush. Unfortunately, it means additional cage cleaning. (That is rust on the pan. Honestly.)

I held my Primary 4-H Project meeting at Giavanni's Pasta & Pizza, a few blocks from our house in Orcutt. It worked out better because we can use their meeting room and there are enough tables to spread out the fleece for the blankets. So the family ate dinner there tonight. There's Alyssa in the green t-shirt, Amanda next to her, James, and then Abby. Justina was helping one of the 4-H members at another table with their blanket.

When I got home, James and I made the beds. Nothing says I love you more than clean sheets! Okay, maybe that's stretching just a bit. But I consider it a small act of love nonetheless.



Each night before they go to bed, Abby and Justina pile into ours and we say bedtime prayers.

Well there it is. My 12 of 12. This took a little planning on my part. I had to coordinate it with my to-do list and normal routine. It was a lot of fun. And with the twelfth day being sort of in the middle of the month, it is a great little way to break up the monotony of everyday life. Or better yet, maybe the monotony is broken up by finding simple little joys in everyday things.

Simple Little Saturday

Today was very simple, with very little going on. Amanda left with friends. And Alyssa was still at her Confirmation retreat. Justina did have a basketball game this morning. So James, Abby, and I went. It is interesting to watch a group of third grade girls play basketball. Their quarters are five minutes long. And the baskets a lowered (to what height I don't know for certain) and the free throw line is moved closer. Now, I have to say, objectively of course, that Justina is actually a good, little, scrappy player. And she has a couple othe girls that are also pretty good. As a team though they have yet to win a game. The final score today was 13-4. But they do improve every week, and that's what makes children's sports fun.

About the New Poll Widget . . .

You may have noticed a different poll widget than I have used in the past. I am pretty excited about this. When you click on Other as an option, you can actually write in what your other response is. You can also comment on the poll itself. There is a link to post your comment at the bottom of the poll box, after you have voted. (All comments are moderated before posted.) After the poll closes, I can post the results in the form of a geeky pie chart. And I know a couple accountants in the family who maight get extra excited over that. Eh!

That's all for now. Until the next time, take care and God bless. :)

Back from Hiatus

Well I am back from hiatus, vacation, sabbatical, whatever you want to call it. I mentioned in a post a few days ago that Cat's Daily Purls may be moving to a new site. Why, you might ask if you cared? Because I need a change. I need to spice things up a bit. The possibility is still there. However, escrow may be a little bit longer than I thought. First, I need to see what changes I can make here. So I am building my own blog template.

Building my own template has proven to be far more challenging than I thought. I certainly didn't think it would be an easy button task. But it is much more involved than I imagined, thanks to HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language (or as I affectionately call it, Hell To My Life). On several occasions I have mentioned that I am computer illiterate. Well imagine being knocked out with a tranquilizing dart and relocated from California to a remote area of Greenland, where no one speaks a spit of English. HTML is the Greenlandic I must learn in order to survive. How does one say, "What do you mean this isn't whale blubber I'm eating? "

NEW POLL!!!

In the meantime, there is a new poll, What is your New Year resolution in 2009? I am now using Poll Daddy to create my polls. The neat thing about this change is that voters can write in their own comments when voting other. And unlike with the Blogger polls, I can save them instead of deleting them when they close. I would love to hear what you think about the new poll setup. This poll will close Friday, January 16, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. P.S.T.

In Other News . . .

Justina returned to school from Christmas break this Monday. Amanda and Alyssa returned on Tuesday. Today, James had the day off. So this morning, we dropped the truck off at the Dodge dealership to have the O2 sensor replaced in order to get it smogged. We registered Abby for preschool for next fall and then went to Kay's for breakfast. After that, James and Abby went home. I went out to do errands. A whole list of errands! A list that I wouldn't have accomplished so efficiently with a three-year-old in tow. I'm talking the UPS Store, the dry cleaners (to pick up and have my pants marked for alterations), Babies R Us for training pants, the bank, Walgreens, gas, and pick up kids from school. WOW! And yes, I am easily excited.

Alyssa went on an overnight Confirmation retreat. She will be back tomorrow evening. And James and Justina had a 4-H Shooting Sports project meeting tonight at the Santa Maria Gun Club. It was trap tonight, but Justina didn't get to shoot because she forgot to pack the shells. Oh well, hopefully it's a lesson learned.

Well that's all for now. Until the next time, take care and God bless. :)

In Blogger Escrow

This blog may be moving to a new home. Stay tuned.