best of 2009 #20- new guy

#best09 December 20 New person. She came into your life and turned it upside down. He went out of his way to provide incredible customer service. Who is your unsung hero of 2009?

Did he turn our lives upside down? I don’t believe he ever provided us with any kind of service. He does possess those classic good looks of one of those hero-type guys. But to us he’s just Ben. Well, to almost all of us he is just Ben. He is much more than that to Holly and, well, we kind of like that. Actually we like it a lot.

Ben, we are very glad that you showed up into our lives and decided to hang around our crazy, family circus this year.

best of 2009 #19- best car ride

#best09 December 19 Car ride. What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with?

The most memorable, the best car rides are always the ones when my kids are with me in the car. It’s times like these where we get silly or serious and where we reveal more of ourselves which seems to bind us even closer as a family.

Sometimes though it isn’t so idyllic and fun. Unfortunately those are the times where we are usually stressed and harried. Those are the times when I, personally, find myself juggling just too much. I think perhaps this coming year I will try to recognize those moments as the time to slow down, unplug and just listen.

But for this year I am thinking of the best car ride. It was a memorable, silly one. I wrote about it just two months ago. It was the car ride where my girls began planning Mom’s memorial service. No, I’m not dying. But still my girls are beginning the planning now because they want to insure that their Mommy~Dearest gets the proper send off. Thanks girls. It’s good to know that you’ve got my back.Thank you also for making what I imagine will be a silly memory that you all can share for years to come…especially at my memorial.

Thanksgiving glimpses

Breakfast and post-race pumpkin bread that I made is declared by Daniel to be the best ever. My Starbucks barista, Zoë, stated that it is way better than Starbucks’ pumpkin bread. Frankly I was so hungry after running over 6 miles, I would have eaten cardboard pumpkin bread.

Twenty pounds of brine-soaked turkey goodness is ready to be roasted and, in a few hours, to be consumed.

And Ginger is standing by ready for her share of that turkey goodness.

Just as I predicted, everyone hung out in the kitchen waiting for dinner to be ready. It’s all good. We shared memories, laughter and Christmas wish lists.

Finally, dinner waas ready and served. No fancy Martha-Stewart-ish table presentation here. With my circus crowd, buffet style works best.

It just wouldn’t be a family holiday gathering without a little drama/trauma. Thank goodness it is only a little these days. For that I give thanks. Hazel woke up with a cold and after a long day of meeting extended family around the Central Valley, she pretty much had had it and she let us all know that.

It may be a family holiday gathering but some of us had to remain connected with our Tweeps and Friends.

Leftovers packed away, company gone, dishes done, kitchen clean, time to relax and watch “Happy Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown!” It’s the end of a perfect day and for that I give thanks for most of all.

planning the memorial

I’m dying. At least I feel like I am as I lie here struck down very sudden-like with the flu. I should have seen it coming. I mean I was rubbing shoulders (literally) with the masses along the Vegas Strip just to go play cheap blackjack.  I was hugging on so many other bloggers. I found myself on the plane home in a row that was sandwiched between the harried mother of two devil children who all were hacking up a lung and the hapless, college kid who tossed his cookies right there in his seat. BlogHer “Ebola” hit hard post conference according to my sympathetic pal, Kari. So of course it would follow that there would be a SITScation Swine outbreak. I intend to blame all typos on that because I can scarcely see the screen on my laptop. At least THIS time I have an excuse.

Meanwhile, I do feel like I am dying and I’m afraid that my family will be in trouble.

We are THAT family that talks about THOSE things like feminine hygiene products, S-E-X…if it is tabu or awkward, we will discuss it freely. Case in point, just last week two of my girls and I discussed and shared my final wishes with two of their friends. Why? A Lynrd Skynrd song came up on my iPod playlist while we were driving to the Hayward BART station. Of course we would discuss mom’s memorial service. It makes perfect sense! In the car, Holly turns to Danielle and Taylor to inform them that when I die I want “Freebird” playing at my memorial during a slide show of pictures of me living life with the people I love.

Before Danielle and Taylor can even begin to wonder why we were discussing my death and memorial, Holly turrns to me and exclaims, “Mom, that is going to be a REALLY short slide show because we have like NO pictures of you! People are going to think thast you had a sad life if we show the pictures that we do have.”

“Well, that is because I’M the one always behind the camera. Maybe I need to start taking a ton of “MySpace” pictures like you kids do. Or maybe you guys should start taking pictures of me. You DO have cameras that I bought you.“

“Wait! You have your camera, mom. I’ll take some pictures now.”

“Now?”

“Sure, right now.”

And so began the “Mom’s Memorial Photo Shoot” while I drove along the 580 interstate. Let me just say that I love having my picture being taken while I am driving. Here is the result of that photo shoot.

Okay, we’re off to a good start…

Um…

Okay, enough with MY photoshoot! But wait, Holly wants to get one more.

Perfect! My family is now ready to prepare for my memorial.

fit for princesses…and princes too!

I had a chance, thanks to MomCentral and Feld Entertainment, to treat four of my favorite princesses to Disney Princesses on Ice.

l. to r. Abby, Holly, Abby's friends Danielle and Taylor- all super fans of the Disney Princesses

And, what I’m just now getting around to telling you all about this great offer? But I have an excuse, no matter how lame it might seem. There was that jury duty gig that kept me busy and drained day after day and then Holly and Hazel moving out of the Big Top and then when I should have come straight home this past Wednesday night and blogged about I was distracted by the birth of my best friend’s very first grandchild.

You have to admit he is a delightful distraction. Sorry, but I just had to be there when he was born in the early hours of Thursday morning.

But I digress…What I’m supposed to be doing is sharing with you all a great offer to see the show yourself if you live in the Bay Area and it isn’t too late. The show continues at the Oracle Oakland Arena through October 18 and then will open in San Jose at the HP Pavillion October 21 through the 25th and then moves on to Sacramento’s Arco Arena October 28 through November 1. See? It’s not to late for you too to catch some Disney Princess Magic! And Lucky for you I have a coupon code to share. Purchase a 4-pack of tickets for only $44 by logging onto www.ticketmaster.com and entering the coupon code: MOM.** It is an amazing, delightful show featuring some of the Disney Princess favorites. Oh and the guys selling concessions in the stands are pretty friendly, cute and happen to work for the Disney Ice Show. I learned this thanks to my girls’ smiling and flirting with them.

Thanks again MomCentral, Feld Entertainment and, of course, the Disney Princesses for a great night of good, clean fun with my girls!

mixing sand in a jar = marriage

Love is the eternal force of life. Love is the force that allows us to face fear and uncertainty with courage. But although you will be sharing one life, never forget that you are two seperate people. Cherish and affirm your differences. Love each other. Keep your commitment primary. Together you will laugh and cry, be sick and well, be happy and angry, share and grow. Grow sometimes together, sometimes separately. To symbolize the importance within the marriage and the joining of two lives into one entity, three colors of sand will now be layered into a base.

We begin with a layer of neutral sand which symbolizes that the marriage is grounded.

Then we layer the individual colors. This symbolizes that the marriage is based on strength of the individuals.

And now we combine the colors, which symbolizes two lives joined as one together forever.

One of many moving moments this weekend was this part of my sister in law, Toni and brother in law, Jesse’s wedding ceremony. How perfect it was to include sand at a beach side wedding. How perfectly this defined what a marriage is as it starts, grows, thrives and continues on through the years.

You can see more, lots more (but really only a tiny glimpse) of this weekend family celebration of ours right here…the beautiful bride, the joyful groom, the wedding party, the family from near and far, friends who gathered as well as one shot of  “the paparazzi” flying overhead. Just know that there is A LOT of pictures of those circus clowns of mine…what can I say, I love taking their pictures.

to the sea of love

That’s where the Big Top is headed this weekend!

Bill’s sister, Toni, is getting married! It’s exciting times this weekend in the life of our family. The whole clan will be gathering by the sea to celebrate Toni and Jesse’s big day, Daniel’s walk down the aaisle with the all important job as the ring-bearer and Bill presiding over the exchanging of vows…yes, Bill is an ordained minister and can perform weddings…we figure it is one way to offset the cost of the potential numerous weddings in our family circus’  future.

But in all seriousness, we couldn’t be more happy and excited for Toni and Jesse and look forward to a fun weekend with them by the sea. From the web site, the resort looks wonderful.

The only drawback is there is apparently no wi-fi….wha-aaaat?! How will I ever survive?

Oh well, I’m sure I will be tweeting.

zing zang zoom bullets

As I posted earlier this month, part of myt family had the opportunity to attend the opening of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Zing Zang Zoom Circus at the Oracle Arena in Oakland thanks to MomCentral and Feld Entertainment. Yes we received our tickets in exchange for my promoting this event here, but I have to say given how much fun we had attending Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Over the Top Circus last year, I would have gladly paid for the tickets because what else can a family of four do for $44 these days…go to Disneyland?…attend a Giants or A’s game?…dinner at ::::shudder:::: Chuck E Cheese? Still I am thankful for this opportunity and the wonderful reception we received from everyone. If you live in Northern California it is not too late to take advantage of this great family fun offer. I hope you do and I hope that you will have as much fun and make as many great memories as we did again at the circus.

• The best way to guarantee that you will feel exceptionally large is to pose in a picture between two young ladies who are dancers and who happen to be size zero.

• Still looking at this picture, when I block out the tiny dancers, I am thrilled with how I look today. The Shredhead movement rocks!
• Another thought comes to mind when I look at this picture, look at the smile on Daniel’s face. Look at it! It’s priceless.
• Before the show, we had the opportunity to meet some of the cast members of Zing Zang Zoom, including the Zingmaster, Alex Ramos. When he introduced himself, Alex pointed out that he grew up in Richmond, California so he was so excited to come home and perform. He also shared that just a little more than a year ago, he was performing as a magician at kids’ birthday parties so this was truly a dream come true for him. I couldn’t help but feel proud of this local boy.

• Daniel asked Alex, the Zingmaster, for his autograph and it was so sweet to see how genuinely surprised and honored he was as he signed Daniel’s hat.
• Speaking of that hat, it made the rounds at our table.

• Bill really looked the part when he put the hat on

• We had such a wonderful, magical good time. Don’t believe me? Well, check out this picture:

• Between every act, little man would look back at me with that big, wide, happy smile on his face. Oh yeah, it was indeed a magical, awesome night!

• You can see more Zing Zang Zoom here.

re-discovering the laws of gravity

Gravity is indeed one of the laws of nature that no one is immune to. For those of us who are afraid of heights it is a good thing that gravity works. I’m glad that it is there. I’m truly thankful for it. But I have to admit that I don’t necessarily care for the more personal physical reminders that gravity works. It happens. I know that. I accept it. I just don’t like to be reminded of it…especially while sharing a sweet tender moment with my little boy. You can read more about that tender moment when Daniel pointed out to me that gravity does indeed work over at ModMomsClub.

As for us, we are looking forward to gravity-defying amazing feats at Ringling Brother’s Zing Zang Zoom tonight thanks to MomCentral. It’s not too late, Northern California families, to take advantage of this great family fun offer.

just like a circus…

…because it is!

Thanks to a comment made by a family member a few years back about what seems to be the constant activity and chaos in my household, I often joke that my family is nothing but a circus with me the master juggler. The family member I believe didn’t necessarily mean for it to be a compliment since she is the type of person who craves an ordered, clean, well-lighted, QUIET place in her life. No matter, I took it for the truth. What else would a family with 8 people under one roof be, right? What can I say, ever since I was a little kid attending my very first Ringling Brothers Circus, I was hooked on the busy, colorful, joyful atmosphere that is a circus.

And thanks to my friends at MomCentral,  I have a fun, family offer to share with all of you.

Come experience the all-new Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
playing the ORACLE Arena & HP Pavilion at San Jose with your
family!
A SPECIAL OFFER FOR YOU!
Purchase a 4-pack of tickets for only $44 by logging onto
www.ticketmaster.com and entering the coupon code: MOM.**

Show Dates:
Oakland
ORACLE Arena
August 12th: 7:30pm
August 13th: 7:30pm
August 14th: 7:30pm
August 15th: 11:00am, 3:00pm, 7:00pm
August 16th: 1:00pm, 5:00pm

San Jose
HP Pavilion at San Jose
August 19th: 7:30pm
August 20th: 7:30pm
August 21st: 7:30pm
August 22nd: 11:00am, 3:00pm, 7:00pm
August 23rd: 11:00am, 3:00pm, 7:00pm

*Use promo code MOM when purchasing tickets at Arena Box Offices, Ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Enter code in the “MC Promotion Box” on Ticketmaster. Minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each. Not valid on VIP, Front Row and Circus Celebrity seats or combinable with other offers. Service charge, facility fee and handling fees may apply.