flexable

Remembered to put the clocks back.
To day we phoned our friends L&C in England to see if we can get a canal holiday organised for our two families to do together. We would need a 9/10 berth boat. We have a brochure from Anglowelsh and the narrowboat we would need would be Classic class, Cathedral name and would be 69ft long!! Our last boat was 50ft and S has rented a boat 69ft long when he went with his pals before I knew him. The last time we went with L&C on the canals was BC (before children) and we had a great time. I hope we can get something arranged. In 2002 we went on the kennet and avon canal and the kids did not really enjoy it but I'm sure if they had company of their own age it would make a great difference. We are trying to be flexable about the date and place to make it easier to find a mutual week and boat that is available. Fingers crossed.

Halloween. Gave out lots of candy, seemed to be more people out than I have seen before. Most kids seem to carry a pillow case to collect their candy in which seems a little greedy looking!
My kids did not go out trick or treating although J, dressed as a nurse, went to several parties and seemed to have a very good time!! Candy ran out about 8:00pm but that was when most trick or treaters seemed to stop for the night. Our pumpkins survived too although there were a couple of pumpkins smashed in the road this morning.

English

I really should try and make a note of ideas that I have for this blog! I'm sure I had a good one and now can't think what it was.
On Fridays another blog I visit has a Dressing Up Game. As it is an English site most of the participants are English although there is a chap in Florida who pops in from time to time and me, English but in California. Therefore the time there is 8:00pm and for me it is my lunchtime and I am at work too. Opps. This week I got to choose the subject and as it's Halloween I suggested Jack Skellington. This suggestion seemed to go down well and for the next 30 minutes there was feverish activity (I guess as I can't see all of the people) until their photos are downloaded on the DUG page. There were some great entries as usual and it is very hard to vote as they are all so creative with the limited time and resouces at hand. Being at work I don't dress up. But I am always laughing at the photos which can be a bit awkward if someone calls the office or drops in to hand me some paperwork!! It brightens my day to be able to join in such a remote but infinitly English activity.

thief of the cat food

We had a raccoon in the garden last night! S had put the cat's food outside as he hates the mess C & C make spreading it all around the floor. Must say I agree really esp. as I tend to walk around barefoot in the kitchen and dry cat food is nasty and sharpe to tread on. Anyways the raccoon was tucking in well, he picked up the food with his front paws and was stuffing in in as fast as he could. Mother cat was in the kitchen and puffed up like a huge furball, her tail like a bottle brush, hissing and being very brave with the glass door between her and the raccoon. The black and white stray (Sylvester) was sitting under the garden table also hissing to no avail, as he too, is another thief of the cat food!
The raccoon was not put off even when I banged on the door to scare him away, he just took a couple of handfuls of food and backed off long enough for me to grab the bowl! Sylvester is trying to get his foot over the threshold but I'm not giving in, two cats are more than enough. After the raccoon had gone, in sauntered my other cat demanding his supper so I put down his Friskies.
He only likes the gravy so I put the rest out for S or the raccoon, whoever gets there first when he is finished.

volunteered

A has to do 10 hours community service to pass his civics class. So he mentioned that he would'nt mind working with kids helping them to read or do homework. So muggins here finds a volunteer network, easy as I had to do some for GScouts, sign him up for SAVY and find a local group. Then I fill in his forms for him, fax them to the group. receive the emails, look through the opportunities they offered, choose one, email back. confirm the time date and place, fill in another permit. Download a map to the place, take time off work to get him there on time. Drive back in peak traffic, not enough time to do anything at home before I have to go and fetch him and all this for 2 hours volunteering. Only 5 more sessions and he'll be finished. and so will I!
Last year I left it to him to organize the 10 hours he needed to pass PE. He didn't do anything so he got an F and had to retake PE this year. What's a mother to do?

Red moon

Not much to say today so, I shall just mention, along with no doubt a million other bloggers that I saw the eclipse this evening.

Wednesdays I take A to karate and we had clear views of the red moon on our way. I thought I was going to be disappointed as it had been cloudy all day here but although there was some huge clouds in the sky, in the east the sky was clearer.

On the way back from picking A up from his class the moon was much higher and completely red and harder to see.

We also saw a tremendous flash of lightening which rent the sky asunder (!!) but didn't hear any thunder and disappointedly nothing more was seen or heard. I love a good storm with plenty of lightening and thunder as long as I am safely watching from a warm and cosy indoor place!!

Radio Times

Very sad to hear about John Peel. I used to listen to him when he was on Radio London.
Then recently I discovered Home Truths and started listening to the radio in England on the internet as a way to keep in touch! He will be missed.

Every morning when I get to work I listen to Terry Wogan and have sadly decided I must be a TOG. I am not going to send for a t-shirt or car bumper sticker though!!

In the evening I listen to something on BBC7 while doing my scrapbooking. I find a good radio play or a quiz game very entertaining. I also love some of the oldies like the Navy Lark or Just a Minute and the Clitheroe Kid, they bring back memories of listening to the radio in the office of my parents pub on a Sunday lunchtime, waiting for closing so we could have our Sunday Dinner.

No discipline

Today I had an appointment to see ds councilors and school physiologist. He has had several tests to see if he still needed extra help, but it seems that he passed all the tests even getting a superior mark for reading and will no longer qualify for the teachers aide that he gets in math!!
The physiologist seemed very relieved that I did not make a big fuss and insist he continue with the help. I expect she usually gets mums insisting that their child gets the extra help, but I have always felt that he was not as bad as they said. I told her that the only reason he got put into special aid in the first place was because he spoke English with an English accent and the teacher thought he had a speech impediment. I did not add that the teacher was also v. young and a Filipino(sp) who IMHO could hardly speak English herself and had no discipline in the class that I could see!
Now all we need do is to make sure that A gets all the credit points he needs to leave HS and take the extra math class to pass the math test everyone has to take to graduate. Easier said than done but I will do my best.

team caching

On Sunday morning I felt like going home as I was so cold!! But I soon warmed up with a nice cup of hot tea and one of dh's super breakfasts. We used the camp toaster and it make sll the difference having a hot toasted sandwich for the eggs, bacon and sausages. We had decided to pack up and do some easy caches along the way home but while at the restrooms we met Miss Marbles and ChuckB who were planning their day and invited us to go along with them. MM seemed a little vague and led us astray! She took the wrong turning into little Blair valley desert road but as we had'nt found the cache that was there we were happy. Then at the stagecoach route she didn't know a cache was right by the road so dh showed MM and CB that one and dh found it first! Then we marched up the track she told us to, but that led to a house!! Dh decided to take the lead and talking to MM's ds A, we found out this sort of chaos was par for the course!!
Anyway, I had noticed a trail leading off into the desert in the general direction so we decide that was the way to go, only .75 of a mile to the cache!! The trail was not too well defined, so most of the way we were bush or rather cactus wacking (no cactus were actually wacked!!) We followed a wash up a little valley and while MM and I rested in the shade the others went on, only to find it dead ended with no trail and a steep canyon between us and the cache, still only .17 of a mile away. So we backtracked a little way and dh decided the only way was straight up the hillside and up to the ridge. MM and I thought that was too much for us and said we would wait albeit impatiently at the wash. After some considerable time MM and I decided to backtrack a little more and I marked an arrow in the wash pointing the direction we had gone in case we missed the rest of the team, but we had hardly gone 50 ft when we heard voices and looked up to see the others coming along down the ridge, it was then we noticed the trail up another wash that they were coming down!! They had found the cache and the proper trail was more evident from that end so everyone was happy. Back at the cars a swarm of bees had left their hive and were swarming around a bush, that was pretty scarey but we managed to take a couple of photos of our team before taking our leave to resume our original plan. We found 3 more caches alomg the east side of Blair Valley before having a nice picnic break and a quiet read prior to our journey home. We also did a little bird spotting and I saw a woodpecker!!
Birds seen:
wren
sparrow
dove
raven
phainoplea
woodpecker
2 unid'ed!
Heard:
Owl, probably a great horned
Whip poor will.

Desert chillies

We went camping in the desert with a group of Geocachers this w/e. It was a great day, perfect desert temps with a cool breeze just taking the heat off. We climbed to the top of Ghost Mountain where in the '30s and '40s a Austrailian lived with his Russian born wife and their 3 children. What a harsh environment to bring up kids in!! It was lovely up there today but that must be an exception, most of the summer the temps are in the 110* range and no water or power. We found 4 caches while up there, even the hardest, which had not been found for 6 months, lucky for us we met todays finders on their way back down the mountain and they gave us the coordinates that they had found the cache at!! We also played a game of geocaching poker and found the 3 caches that needed!! At the camp they had organised a Chillie cookoff and potluck. I chose a v. hot chillie, nearly too hot but v. tasty. We enjoyed the fun at the campfire and chatted to some interesting cachers, some of whom had found 26 to 30 caches that day!! Mad loonies!! A lovely end to the day. It was very cold during the night. It must have been almost down to freezing point both Friday and Saturday night. One of the campers Rotten R had slept in the back of his truck and his sleeping bag had a light coating of frost!! On Sunday morning I felt like going home as I was so cold!! But I soon warmed up and we had a great day, but that's another blog!!

Pumpkin Patch

We used to take the kids to a lovely little pumpkin patch and christmas tree farm by North County Fair, but sadly they sold out and it is now a golf course. Things have changed with pumpkin patches so much, this year, it seems to be going too far away from the simple process of picking a pumpkin to a full all out spend fest on crafts and funfair games. The pumpkin patch we passed on our way to the desert had a couple of climbing walls, a roundabout and merry-go-round at least that I could see from the road. Another further out of town seemed much more traditional with an animal petting area and a maize maze!! Wish my kids were still into going to the pumpkin patch, that is type of patch I'd take them to!

School run

This morning while I was in my son's room getting him awake for the day I heard a very noisy truck coming up the road. It was a fire engine with all the light blazing and flashing but no sirens, luckily it didn't stop outside but I don't know where it went I hope it was a false alurm and no-one was hurt.
Every day I take my son to school the scenery if different. We live quite high up and as we turn towards the west at the top of BM rd the sea can be seen about 10 miles away across some canyons and a golfcourse and many houses newly built in the far distance. We only catch a glimpse of the sea (between the land and the sky as Mr Fawlty would say) if the sun is glinting on it or it is very clear. Today there was a very dramatic sky, huge clouds rumbling across the grey sky and down in the canyons a very white misty clouds with just the top of a few trees appearing above them, very atmospheric.

office goings on

One of my co workers got the sack today. I thought there was something going on when little boss told me to wait a couple of days before paying our health ins, but I thought that it would be someone on the shop floor not in O. So I was really shocked when she put her head round the door of my office and said she had just been laid off! It's really too bad, she is one of the few people round here that I talk too and also gives me her coupon for Michaels' every week!
I have not yet found out why as I try to keep my head down and not be a gossip. I am surprised that the O manager has not said anything. He does not keep secrets and is a very open chap. I guess he will be busier than ever now doing her rounds.
I got into trouble today so I feel lucky that it was not me sacked as I gave the owners cell phone no. to his MIL and got a very cross call from his wife telling me off. Opps!
I felt a little sorry for B (he is little bosses nephew) he had to sit in as a witness to the interview to lay off N. But I have a feeling he will be doing her job in the not so distant future so I hope he feels a little guilty!

The Good Life

I had another day off sick today. I hadn't intended too but when I woke up with an awful headache (violins start playing)that after I saw dh off to work I went back to bed and woke up again about 8:30 so I called work to let them know I was running late and little boss returned my call and said as I still sounded so bad why not take the rest of the day off. So I did. It rained on and off all day so I thought I would pick up A from school to save him from getting soaked as he would not take a jacket this morning. I then realised that I wasn't sure which way he walked home now. He usually takes a shortcut across some posted private land. The school security keep putting up a fence which students and or migrants break through. Anyway I thought I'd wait for him by the fence and it he didn't turn up afte 30 mins I'd go home. After all the rain the path was very muddy and other boys were slipping and sliding down the embankment by the fence. When he appeared I realised he would also track the mud into my car, so feeling very Margoish, I spread newspaper down for him to put his feet on. Made me laugh to think I was becoming like Margo in the Good Life!!

A's birthday

Today is my son's 17th birthday. He had his 'party' at Dave and Buster's last Friday with 4 of his pals. I think they had a great time, it's like a Chucki Cheese for adults with plenty of games and simulators for them to play on. He got money from his gp's so went shopping for computer and xbox games with his dad on Sunday. Dad also got him a new joystick so he is ready when a new Halo comes out and he gets a space ship or some such to fly!! (on the virtual world he lives in 24/7) Today he has to go to school on his birthday although he has asked twice to be let off. I woke him at the usual time and initially forgot(bad mother) that today was the actual day. When I remembered I went back in to give him another poke and wished him Happy birthday and gave him my presi., the first 3 starwars movies boxed set etc. etc. He went to school quite happily and we promised to watch the first cd tonight which we did. Only as he had only just seen it at school (in civics?)he fell asleep. Dad and I enjoyed it and we are all set to watch the second one tuesday night..
He's a great kid and no trouble. I love my baby. Where have the days and years gone?

two unrelated events

First it has rained here for the first time for 181 days breaking the record for the last longest time without rain by 1 day! Yet it was hardly much more than a sprinkle where I live, in other places it caused mud slides and flooding. Never rains but it pours!!.

I certainly look forward to a few days rain after almost 6 months of sunny days. Although it doesn't feel like that long to me as we had rain for 2 weeks while on holiday in England in August!!

Second, I got accosted in Albertson's supermarket by a strange man with a young baby sitting in the cart he was pushing! 'S'cuse me Ma'm,' I heard but ignored but he was persistant and followed me along the milk aisle, 'Ma'm' I couldn't avoid him any longer and turned towards him. "Where did you get your purse?' he asked!! I thought it a very curious question to ask but told him that I got it from the Childrens Hospital Thrift shop in Poway. After one or two more questions I managed to get away but it was a little weird and I was glad to get out of the shop.
I don't normaly go to Albertsons but I only needed a couple of things and it was handy by Target where I had just been to get my son a few new t-shirts.

Sick day

I had a day off sick today. I have caught dh's cold and I have all the symptoms that he had. Now I feel guilty as I did not give much sympathy to dh but I expect to get plenty myself!!

Dd's boyfriend is back in port and thank goodness he phoned today
or all our lives would have been misery!

I was a bit short with dd when she phoned from work with her "I'm bored" all the time. It annoys me as she is lucky to have a job where she can sit and just be polite to the clients and read a book or do homework or a crossword puzzle inbetween times. She really has no idea what it is to be bored. Anyway she put the phone down on me!!

My printer

I have a super top of the line, well almost, printer that always seems to find ways to frustrate my creativity. Today I was trying to print on a transparency which by the way are quite expensive and although I had only printed something the day before, the printer nozzles seem to dry up and all I got was a pale printing, which could hardly be seen. So then I cleaned and did whatever was needed by the printer to clean it up and get it going again, then I printed my journalling.
I was pleased with the result until I was placing it on my page when I noticed a typo!! Why couldn't I have noticed it when I proof read it I don't know!!
So I had to redo it again. This time I'm pleased to say I can't find fault with it.

Also dh has put winzip back on my pc so I can start to collect my favourite fonts again as I lost them all in the rebuild that followed my pc getting more memory!!

I need a new iron, grumble, grumble.

Apparantly, when the iron is left to switch it's self off to often it causes the thingy to whatsit etc etc and long lecture from dh later it transpires that my iron is dead and because TPTB don't like just anyone taking the high voltage iron apart there are special screws in it to prevent him from fixing it for me! blast! That means I have to buy a new one when I can least afford too and who wants to pay nearly $100 for something that makes you work over a hot steaming ironing board?? I am thinking I might get a Singer Magic Steam Press instead, that's nearly $200 but I think it's a lot less work and my dd might even like to use it, for a couple minutes, it's a lot of money for something I hate and we have had a big expense this month(don't ask) and it is also ds birthday, Oh what to do?

Procrastination

I was sorry to hear the news about Chris Reeve today. He was a man of Steel in real life as in the movies too. We have lost a strong spokesman for stem cell research.

I also heard today of the devastation caused by flooding to Palm Canyon in Anza Borrego Desert last month. Some folks on a mb I go to posted some before and after pics and it was very dramatic and showed an area that I am very familiar with. In fact I have a photo of my ds playing in the oasis under the waterfall that is no more. We are going camping near there this month, I am not sure I want to go see the devestation for myself, it will be very upsetting.

Well I've procrastinated enough today, what I really should be doing is my household accounts instead of blogging, but I've already put off doing the accounts for 4 months so another day wont hurt!!

TV wastes my time

I was full of good intentions today until I sat down to watch Midsummer Murders on TV and that did for me. I got nothing more done in my scrapbooks. I did manage to get a bit of ironing done but forgot that I had a load in the washer which needed drying. So when I put the ironing board away I realised I still had all my stuff to iron. See, it was the TV made me forget to take the washing out of the washer and put it into the dryer. That's my excuse and I sticking with it.

Also my dd had a rare evening home with us and we spent some time twisting her hair in muslim strips to make it curly the old fasioned way. I just hope she does not end up with a knotted mess in the morning

I have not taken the clothes out of the dryer now, so that will make the ironing harder on Monday. I hope there is something on the telly to watch while I iron.

Be Bop Deluxe

Dh is trying to record his ancient LPs on the computer and make them MP3 \'s. So now we have had to listen to the same tracke at full volume for at least 5 times as something is making it cut off at 15 mins or so! So now I am sidke of Be Bop Delux and could also stranglel dh!! I am trying to work on a thank you gift for a secret sister swap I am in on a message board I go to a lot and it is a bit off putting. Dh is also snapping at everyone as his new toy is not working and he is getting fustrated!!
So that's making everyone tense. A has gone off to his friends and J went to bed. I'm writing my blog and then I'm going to bed too. Hope it gets a bit quieter soon.

TNC to the rescue

I am trying to catch up my scrapbook with all the photos from a holiday 2 years ago. I am not good at remembering names of places and this holiday was taken on a canal boat and all the bridges and locks look the same to me now!! But gradually things remind me of roughly where a piccy was taken. So then I remembered a fav website of some folks who have been having adventures on the canals for as long as we have! I went to the site and had a great time looking at their photos and comparing them to mine and I was able to place at least 3 of my pics using their log and photos. Thanks to the Tuesday Night Club and the great records of the many canal trips that they have taken!! I always think that I have taken more photos than I have. I try to take as many as possible and thanks to digital it is easier now. But it is hard to take pics when you're maneuvering into a lock or opening the gates!! The photographer for the TNC seems to always remember to get a shot of the name of the town or a signpost for a pub that they are going to and that helps keep things in order. Next time I will try to remember these tips and take more pics of place names as well as the scenery.

unexpected curry

I was going to blog about my teaching ds A how to cook. But instead due to my dd J being stood up by her friend we went out for a curry..

J had spent most of the day looking forward to her evening with her girlfriend and a good couple of hours getting dressed up but 15 minutes before she was due to go, the friend cancelled. J was very miserable and I could foresee a grim evening ahead for everyone! So dh suggested that we all went out instead. Yeah! things started looking a little brighter. We had asked J where she was planning to eat and therefore knew that it had to be an Indian Restaurant.

We went to our favourite, which luckily is not too far. I had Boti Kabab, lamb, J had Chicken Tikka Masala, dh had a hot Chicken curry and A had a mixed Tandori Grill. We had a v. tasty starter of various Bhaji's and Samosa, Nan and rice.

J drove home and we had an eclectic music selection, alternating between Country and Heavy Rock and ending with J's favourit, Rascal Flats, everyone enjoyed the variety and a pleasent evening was had by all.

And best of all I did'nt have to cook or wash-up!!

TGIF tomorrow!

Our accounting program has been broken all of September but at last the IT guy got round to sending it off to be fixed and has reinstalled it. It's taken me a while to post all the stuff and balance the checks and I am sure a few errors will creep out of the books during this month, but for now I'm all caught up and waiting for the little boss to close the month.

I spent a pleaseant time in my fav. chat room talking to folks from Florida and various parts of England and we got to talking about the Red Arrows. I remember seeing them a few times in England. I am almost sure I saw them during an airshow in Coventry for RR. Also during a trip through Lincolnshire, we drove by their base and saw them there.
But mostly I've seen them like everyone else, on the telly!

First of any?

Gosh, this is harder than I thought! I am sitting here at work in San Diego, listening to Lulu on BBC Radio 2. Feeling rather homesick for England and a holiday on the English canals, after reading what a great time some bloggers had last w/e on the Wey Navigation!