The last few days have been exhausting~

My sister was having a hard time over-coming an infection and had to be hospitalized.  So I helped watch over my mom's house.  It was like grand central station with all the dang phone calls.  I am so glad we decided to take her in though.  She got so much better better in the 4 days she was there and came home last night.

In the last few days I have come to terms with my emotional eating.  I am totally fine with it because everybody loves cookies and pie.  I can make people feel great under the guise of me licking the beaters.  It's really a win-win situation.  I made cookies from a mix that came from The Dollar Store.  My son and the daycare kids said they were the best cookies ever and they kept telling me all day about how I made the best cookies.  I felt like I had cheated and got all these kudos over something I added two ingredients too.

So I decided to make more cookies.  This time "healthy" 5 grain granola whole wheat flour chocolate chip cookies.  Well I swear kids can smell whole wheat from a mile away.  Kiah wouldn't even try them and even his diabetic grandfather said they tasted too healthy.  Granted they were a bit thick I liked them.

I then felt compelled to make a I am Still Stressed So I need More Chocolate But Also Some Vanilla Pie ~

sorry for the crumby camera phone pic - heehee get it crumby

It consisted of a bottom layer of Nutella, then melted chocolate chips, topped with french vanilla pudding and graham cracker crumbs.  I didn't like it much, way too sweet.  My brother liked it though so hey.

I took a class today with Marah Johnson.  I love her classes because I know I will get my moneys worth.  She teaches you how to get more out of your scrapbooking products and everyday products like paper towels.  Totally eco a girl after my own heart.  I know if I take one of her classes I will come home with my hands stained with all sorts of colors.  Just how I like them.  Plus she always has so many fun products to play with.  This is a scrapbook page I made from the left overs from a class of her's I took a couple of months ago.

I don't usually scrapbook pics of myself, but she signed my paper "Dare to Follow Your Dreams" I figured it would be appropriate.

Well I hope you all have a nice Sunday, I can't wait to sleep in for once.

I found this picture while cleaning out my closet today.  It was probably taken in San Diego.  A couple of times when I was a child my dad took me down there to visit my grandma and grandpa.  I don't have a lot of childhood memories.  But I do remember some crazy times in San Diego......

1.)  Being chased down by a flock of geese.
2.)  Losing my favorite necklace in the sand... you know those ones from the 80's where you can link them together by pushing then into each other... it was a major tragedy back then.
3.)  Riding in the back of a taxi cab, when there wasn't any seatbelts.  The driver was driving so crazy and I kept flying everywhere as my dad was yelling profanities at the driver.
4.)  My grandma and grandpa lived on a boat and for some reason didn't have a toilet, so we had to use a bucket.  Another tragic event, I was so scared I was going to fall in.
5.)  Waking up alone on the boat while my dad and grandma went grocery shopping.  But we didn't want to wake you.   Yeah right
6.)  Picking up a bird because I didn't know it was dead.  My dad scared the hell out of me by smacking it out of my hand, spanking me, and yelling  "You're going to get diseases!" over and over again.  
7.)  Driving my grandma and grandpa's old toyota truck home to San Jose in the pouring rain with no wind shield wipers.  He was totally freaking out saying, "We're not going to make it" and I just kept saying, "it's going to be okay daddy."  and it was. 

That ride home made a major impact on my father's life.  After my parent's got a divorce when I was six, we saw each other on and off.  When I got pregnant at 19 he stopped talking to me and we would only see each other maybe once a year.  He would always tell me the story of us driving home in the rain.  My father passed away three years ago.  We had finally started talking only a couple of months before he passed.  While he was in the hospital I stayed there everyday telling him the same thing I told him on that ride home,  "it's going to be okay daddy".  Until it wasn't okay anymore.  I cherish every single memory I have with my father, as crazy as they are because they are all I have now.

"One of the things that men don't understand is that if a guy spends the afternoon with his partner, and they stop and get a sandwich, they joke and kid around, they laugh, they hug - to a woman, that's foreplay"

" Men want to know, what's the right technique for foreplay? Well, part of it is to go for a walk with her, spend some time with her, do things that are sensitive and kind." excerpted from The Sex Encyclopedia by Stefan Bechtel

I like that. I think us women or maybe just me would feel a lot more passionate if we felt more appreciated. The sensitive and kind thing can go a long way.

The last month and a half has been so full of different emotions. My sister Linsey was sick and we were all fearing for the worst. She was basically in kidney failure and there were times when it really looked the worst. She has a very rare genetic disease Ethylmalonic encephalapathy. We thought her symptoms were related to her disease, but it ended up being a different rare disease called Minimal Change. As of right now she is doing good, out of the hospital and in good spirits. I can't believe how your life stands still when someone you love is deathly ill. Now that she is in remission we are trying to make her life as fun as possible. Love you Lin!!