not let this happen again!!

Apparently we made a bit of a boo boo at work on Friday. I think little boss is trying to spread the blame but I don't do anything with out getting her say so first!! I paid a considerable amount to one of our vendors using the big boss's credit card, a thing we do every week, but for some reason lb had not shown bb the check to get his approval. When he took a few friends out to dinner that evening he tried to pay the check using his card, opps, the card was declined, opps. How embarrassing!!
I'm sure he had more than enough cash to cover the bill but that's not the point!!
Anyway he tried to get satisfaction and an apology from the cr card service center but was not pleased with their attitude and cancelled the card.
Lb told me we must not let this happen again!!

the view from there

What a beautiful day in the neighbourhood! Decided to get up early to beat the midday heat and do one of the caches near the top of Black Mountain. I have lived in RP for 14 years and never hiked the area around BM right in my own back yard!! It was noisy at the park with kids playing baseball in the fields below but amazingly quickly we were soon out of earshot and could only hear nature sounds about us. The call of California quail and scrub jay were soon identified. Never completly out of sight of the surrounding houses, we could see the sea glistening 10 miles away to the west, but in front of us the path was clear, a little muddy and leading us easterly towards our destination, Buena Vista cache!!
The rain has made such a difference, many plants were already flowering, ceanothus, mimulas, sunflower, wild onion and clematas to name a few we recognised. We were not the only walkers, we could see another group on a path to the south and a noisy off road biker came up behind us at one point but luckily he was going a different direction, straight up the hill and not along the ridge that we were making for. All too soon it seemed we were nearing the zero mark, surprising me as I thought it would be on the top of the foothill we were on. S found the cache and I signed the logbook and exchanged one of my TBs for another. We sat and enjoyed the beautiful view and watched a pair of red tailed hawks circling above us. Amazing that we were less than 2 miles from our house. This was a perfect cache IMHO! A good distance from the car, lovely scenery, in a place we had not been to before and easy to find when we got to it!! As we were not quite at the top of the ridge, we decide to continue up to the top so we could see the view from there.
On the way back I heard English voices so I called out to S, who was a little ahead of me to stop so I could take a drink of water. As we stopped we said hi and got talking to an English chap taking (or rather bribing) his family up the hill. Fancy bumping into another English family in the middle of BM.

find a cache tomorrow!!

We went geocaching for the first time in ages today but sadly did not find one of the caches we looked for called Under the Mistletoe. It was in a beautiful little canyon in the midst of houses and offices, with a stream flowing along, still quite strongly after the recent rain. In fact you could see that the area had flooded and several trees had been brought down by the torrent that must have flowed through earlier this month. It was a multi cache so we followed the clues and put in the new co-ordinates for the two waypoints and were pretty sure we were in the right place. There were signs that the flood had impacted the area we were searching so to make doublely sure we were in the right place I decrypted the clue. 'About eye level, in the branches of a tree with lots of mistletoe.' Well our tree matched the description and clue but we could not find the cache. I was very disappointed but we decide to carry on and go for one nearer home.
Slither, this one was called and I suspected from the previous logs that snakes would play an important part in the find. It was almost a park and grab but for a very steep embankment which S climbed easily but I could not get up. I tried to go around but could not find another way up without considerable bushwacking, so I contented myself with shouting instructions from the road side, the cache being only 20feet or so up this steep embankment. I called out, 'look out for a snake!' and S found it and tossed it down to me. Clever but only a micro so not big enough for the TB I had. Suddenly I was very fed up with the whole geocaching thing, I signed the log and tossed the snake back up to S. Shall we go on to the other one up here, he asked but I was in a grumpy mood and said I would prefer to go home. So we did. I can't believe how not finding the earlier cache upset me. I must be taking the game too seriously!! It took me 2 hours to get over it!! S said the best way to cure the geo grumps was to get back out there and find a cache tomorrow!!

law abiding member of the community!!

Just as I turned into our road I noticed ahead of me, police lights flashing, oh dear I thought, what's happening, we never see the police down our road.
As I got nearer, I realised the police had pulled over a van, very like ours and they had stopped just two doors down from our house, being a nosey neighbour I looked again and Heaven's above, IT is our van, my poor husband, what has he done and how very embaressing!! I must admit I was half laughing but with some trepidation as I scuttled very swiftly into the garage and brought the door down behind me with some speed!! I did'nt dare tell the kids as I did not want them standing outside watching their poor dad getting a ticket or making things worse for him.
So I went into the kitchen and started to make the tea. Some ten minutes later S came in, he had not noticed when I had passed by so didn't realise at first that I had seen anything but he was still rather shaken but more with relief as he had managed to get away without a ticket, this time!! I told him I seen the police car and asked what he had done. The police had followed him all the way from the second set of lights before home because he had not come to a full stop before turning right on a red light. Then after stopping S it had seemed like a long time before the cop got out of his car to come over to let him know what the problem was, S had even got out his book to read, although he confessed he had read the same paragraph over and over!!
Anyway the very kind policeman just gave S a written warning as S expressed some doubt over his understanding of the 'turning on red' rules and was such an upstanding, taxpaying, law abiding member of the community!! Thanks goodness for that. The fine could have been as much as $300.

Aviator

Went to see the Aviator this evening. It was very well done. When I first heard of this I thought that Leo was a bit young to play the part but he was amazingly well cast! The actress that played Kate Hepburn was very good too, had Kate's voice and mannerisms down to a Tee. The special effects were well done too except the sea movement didn't look realistic but I guess that's a bit picky, comparing a movie with peecee games with water movement that are available.
I think that if you did not know some of the history behind the story it might be a bit confusing and the movie is quite long but if you like old fashioned movie glamour and airplanes, I would throughly recommend seeing this movie.
There was a preview of a new Orlando Bloom movie coming soon, Kingdom of Heaven, another epic!! Hope OB is not such a wimp in this one!!

Breakathon

My son's Karate School is doing a Breakathon in aid of the Tsunamie victims. A breakathon is when each participant breaks planks of wood in return for a donation. The kids all have to provide their own wood, so A went to Home Depot for his. Home Depot normally charge 50c for each cut but when the guy found out what it was for he waived the charge.
A does not normally join in with this type of event but even he felt that he needed to do something for this catastrophie so I was pleased to be able to go along and give him my support. He had never broken wood before and was a bit nervous but the whole event was done very well and no one made to feel self consious. When we arrived they had all the kids sitting to one side and gave them a pep talk and got them all fired up in a controlled way. Then there was a demontration of wood breaking by hand and feet. Then Mr Thompson the main instructor had a pile of 5 bricks that he was going to break with his hand, the bricks are the ones used to line the edge of a flower bed, about 2 inches thick and 3ft long. He started to approach the bricks then stopped and asked if anyone would pay the charity more money if he added another brick, to make 6 in all, someone offered $20 and he put another one on, he looked around again and said were there any more offers and someone offered $100 for another row!!
Then he said he had never done 8 bricks before and someone offered $200!!Yeah. It was a great show, the room went completely silent as he contemplated the task before him and then suddenly, crash he somehow pushed his hand through all the bricks, every one cheered!!
The school had raised over $7000 and still had the adult classes to participate.
The instructors were very encouraging to all the kids and sorted them into 4 groups. A's instructor was surprised to learn that this was his first time. A used his left foot and broke the wood at his first attempt!! Yay!! Then the instructor said he should use his other foot for more of a challenge and again A's foot went straight through!! The next time round A broke the wood another way and was very pleased with the result!! We went home after that very happy with the evenings work. Lots of money raised for a very worthwhile cause!!

This is Coco, one of the two cats that I love at the moment. He is very like Pippin but a bit bigger! 

Lost cat

We had a lady come into the office today with a flyer about her lost cat. I'm such a softy, I could feel myself tearing up as I offered to post the flyer on the staff notice board. The cat's name is Pip and as soon as I saw that I told her that I had had a cat called Pip or Pippin too. He looked nothing like my Pippin but it still made me sad to think of this poor lost kitty.
We had to leave my Pippin in England when we moved to California as it was too expensive for us, at the time, to bring him with us. S's dad found a home for him with the daughter of a friend of his and Pippin was a very loved member of their family for quite a few more years.
Cats seem to dig very deep holes in our hearts. I have to stop now as I'm getting teary eyed again just remembering all the lovely cats I've loved over the years.

further still 

Heeling over 

Tall Ships 

The California 

pirates

Had a wonderful day today. a group of 12 of us went sailing in a 44ft yacht. The weather was perfect and almost as soon as we were out of the shelter of Pt Loma we saw some dolphins which was exciting. We made our way, tacking, about 3 miles offshore towards La Jolla. As we approached Mission Bay we had decided it was time to turn and run back to base, then the skipper noticed some tour boats and we followed the direction they were heading and saw a water spout from a whale and it's fluke!! We followed the whales for quite a way seeing several spouts of water and a couple of full side views of the whale, very exciting. Then the tour boats broke off and went back and our little flotilla of watchers set offf in their various directions, moments later we saw another whale, this time off our port side much closer. Everyone was ready to go home now so it was decided to turn into San Diego harbour channel. Arno took the helm and we were heeling right over on each tack it was very exciting and scarey but S always tells me that the boat won't tip over as once it gets past a certain point the boat heads up to wind and loses wind from the sails!! But at the time it's easy to forget that!! Then the channel narrows ans S took over to tack back and forth. As we looked towards San Diego we could see some 'Tall Ships' and Square Riggers' S took us close and we could see that they were having a mock battle with cannons firing and some of the crew dressed as pirates and period costume, great fun. I am going to try and post some photos.

a twinkie

We watched TROY this evening. It is quiet good, the special effects are almost as good as LOTR and ofcourse it has Orlando Bloom in it, so worth watching just to see how he does.
The character that he plays is the one who starts the war and is such a wimp but he does slightly redeem himself at the end where he shows how good he is with a bow and arrow.
OB plays the part well.

Brad Pitt's character is Achillies and is very strong and manly but I could'nt help but giggle to myself, remembering a limerick I'd read earlier in the day on a website where readers can add lines to make up a Limerick, I don't know if this is one person's work or several!:

Brad Pitt has a tiny wee dinkie
Unfit for pursuits that are kinky
It's perky and pink
It does make you think
That his trousers have eaten a twinkie

We could not manage dessert!

It is S's birthday today, rather an important one which he has not been looking forward to.
J gave him a card with scales indicating dirt on one side, age on the other. S didn't get is so we had to explain it to him! I gave him a card with things that have been invented since he was born pictured on it. A would have bought him a card but he didn't have enough money for it, which made me feel guilty. I should have made sure he had some money. He never asks for money normally being happy with us paying for his online gaming subs and not much else. We don't give him an allowance or pocket money.
Then we went out for a meal at Rock Bottom in La Jolla, going in two cars as J wanted to go somewhere else afterwards. We soon got separated as I drive to the speed limit and J does not.
J was sensible though and called ahead to make a reservation. Somehow I managed to get there first, J got off at the wrong exit!! As we pulled into the parking lot, the car in front stopped and a woman got out and rushed into the restaurant, ha ha, I thought. she thinks she's going to beat us to a table!! When we got in we were more or less taken straight to our table and the woman's party was still waiting! neener neener!! RB was very busy, amazingly so for a Weds. night!
J thought our waiter was cute! He was efficient and helpful too.
I ordered the beer battered mahi tacos. They came with a horrid looking sloppy black bean sauce and rice which I did not eat and the fish was wrapped in a corn tortilla, I thought the menu said flour tortilla, so as I am not keen on corn I only ate one and just ate the fish in the other two, probably better for me and my 'diet'.
J had the grilled mahi mahi and ate it all. A had a portabello mushroom burger and fries and the birthday boy had pub tips which is beef in a tasty sauce, he also enjoyed 2 pints of RB Raj IPA!!
We could not manage dessert!

ohh ahhh

J arrived home safe and sound today!! So relieved to have her home, we thought she might be back last night but they decided to go straight to bf's apartment as it was so late and the weather so foggy.
J had lots to tell us and loads of photos to share. I invited bf to stay for dinner but he said he had a lot to do at home. Before he went, A lit a few of the rockets and bangers to celebrate their safe return, the sparklers were very pretty and the bangers very loud!!
It reminded us of firework night as the smell of the fireworks wafted across the garden.
J invited Katie round to chat about her adventures and she had dinner with us instead!!

A drove himself to Karate for the first time so that saved us a trip, so nice that he is getting some independance, he did have a little trouble reversing out of the parking space but at least he didn't hit anything!!

lovely day

I had a lovely day today, starting with having my breakfast served to me in bed!! What a treat!
Full English Breakfast of bacon, sausage, tomato, two eggs and toast. Only problem was the cat would not leave me alone!! First I gave him a little piece of sausage, but although he sniffed it, that was not what he wanted, so then I gave him a bit of bacon, yes that was it, he was happy after two more pieces and settled down to let me finish my breccy in peace!
I stayed in bed until 12, watching a movie and then some travel progs on the TV.

It's raining, I have a pile of washing to do and a pile of ironing. I have to go grocery shopping as we are running out of milk and I have our accounts to finish. But I still had a lovely day.

shaking

I have booked my flight to England with Virgin Atlantic. I have'nt flown with them before but as I am going alone I do not wasnt any hassle changing planes or doing some obscure cross country flight in order to save a few quids. When I found the website the first thing that grabbed my attention was the fact there was a special offer on for travel to Old Blighty, so I looked no further and clicked on the link. I don't know why but I get all shakey when I am about to spend vast amounts of money over the intramanet and this time was no exception. I got S to double check the dates and times as even though they give you a whole ten minutes to change your mind if you click the wrong date or destination I did not want to make any mistakes.
So old Blighty here I come!! I still have'nt stopped shaking!!

Capricorn after all.

We took down the Christmas tree and all the other decorations today. We always try to keep to the traditional twelfth night otherwise know as Epiphany for doing this chore. We all worked together, even A helped by taking the things down in the office. I did the tree and the stairs and S did everything else including all the lights. Then I slipped away to cook the dinner, making sure that my contribution in this evenings activities included the meal!! I cooked a taco turkey bake which was very tasty. After A & S put the tree outside S did all the vacuuming!! S loves to vacuum although he makes a big deal out of doing it for me!! He does a much better job of it than I do. After I do it I always find somewhere I've missed but he is very thorough, he is a Capricorn after all.

finding reality difficult

As I mentioned before J is away on a trip with her bf in Missouri. She is being very good and phoning us everyday, sometimes twice, to let us know how she is. I think she is missing a certain amount of independence as she is stuck with doing what bf wants to do. He is in the Navy and does not get to see his bro often so they are doing a lot of 'guy' things. She told me they spent the day fishing after walking for what seemed like 5 miles and ending up almost back at where they left the truck before finding the 'right' place! Last night bf spent the evening playing pool with his mates and although J joined in for a while she said she was 'lonely' sitting at a table watching them. Poor dear is finding reality difficult!

everywhere

I got home after work and grocery shopping today to find that S had got a nice roaring fire going, the tea made and an old John Wayne movie on the box. I quickly made our dinner and we sat in front of the TV to eat it, a thing we rarely do. A asked if he could take his dinner upstairs, normally not allowed but we consented, in the circumstances we could not refuse!!
So we sat and watched Santa Fe (black& white) followed by She tied a yellow ribbon (colour).
It was a nice relaxing evening, the scenary in the movies was breathtaking, made me want to visit that area. I bet there are a few caches out there, in fact in the movie at one point I saw a cairn by the trail and thought it looked like a cache could have been under it!!
I see good hiding places everywhere.

no chocolate?

I was chatting in my fav chat room, only chat room really, today and I think I have promised to give up chocolate until my hols in August! What was I thinking?!A couple of the others were sharing their NY resolutions and hopes for this year and suddenly we were saying how much weight we could, should or would lose and what we can give up. After the excesses of the holiday I feel I should at least try to exercide more and eat more wisely. I'm going to start by having smaller portions and having a slimfast bar for lunch, no soda or crisps and (boo hoo) no chocolate.
Shame really as we went to the English shop this w/e and bought some crunchies and flakes as a special treat and I did'nt get to eat mine.

hair cut

One of todays important tasks was to take A to get his hair cut. But while waiting for him to get ready S thought he would cut the grass. The mower is kept locked in the shed and S could not find the key but he did find the STICKER!! Someone, probably me, had put the form with the sticker on in the key rack, where we keep the keys to the house, shed and the cars, with the view to dealing with it later (procratination strikes again)and the sticker had dropped off and fallen in with the other stuff that invariably gets tossed in the key rack's basket. No one had noticed that the sticker had not been attached to the van's plates and it had sat there undisturbed until today!! S still didn;t find the key to the shed so he had to take the door off by it's hinges!! The grass got mown and A was finally ready to get his hair cut and the sticker is in it's rightful place. Hooray for a happy ending!! Still have a $10 fine to pay but that's better than $80!!

HNY

Happy New Year. Can't seem to settle to anything today. I am a master at procrastination, even when it's something I want to do, like my scrapbooking. I sit at my desk reading email and visiting my favourite sites, I am surrounded by all my scrapbooking stuff, my photos are just crying out to be cropped and matted and yet I don't get on with it.
One of my resolutions must be to not procrastinate!!
When I am back at work I will regret that I have not made the most of my time off this holiday.