Thankful Thursday

It has been awhile since I did one of these.  How easy it is to forget to give thanks. 

After a day like today, when I have been feeling down and focusing far too much on all the things I don't have, it is important for me to take the time to give thanks for what I do have.

I am thankful that 21 years ago I went to a New Year's Eve party and met my best friend.  We have been inseparable ever since.  21 years.  Sheesh.  Now I feel old :) Happy Anniversary Joe!

I am thankful for my family.

I am thankful for our health.  My husband is healthy.  My sister and family are healthy.  My Dad and brother are healthy.  My kidney disease has been in remission for over three years.  My nephrologist tells me this in itself is remarkable.  I am so thankful.

I am thankful to have a job.

I am thankful for my husband.

On Monday when we were in Chinatown we did a lot of window shopping. No buying.  Just looking.  While we were browsing in Old St. Mary's church giftshop there were a couple of things that I was admiring.  While I wasn't looking, Joe purchased two of them for me(he's sneaky, because I had no idea).  He said they were for my birthday, since he wasn't able to get me a present this year.
The first was this wooden church.  (I collect churches).   I had been admiring this one for several minutes before setting it down and moving on to something else.

It's a prayer box.   The bottom comes out and you write your prayers on a small piece of paper and roll it up and put it inside.  I love it!

The second item was this glass ornament.  Traditionally, we buy a Christmas ornament every year.  This year, since we lost our tree and I wasn't feeling much of the Christmas spirit, we didn't purchase one.  Joe saw me looking at this one and he decided we should keep up our tradition.  And it was 50 percent off because it was after Christmas.  Awesome!  I think it's the perfect ornament for us this year.

Lastly, I am thankful that the year 2009 is coming to and end.  It wasn't a great year for us.

2010 will bring better things.

Today was a wonderful day.

O.K., the end of our day wasn't wonderful, but three quarters of the day was darn near perfect. :)

Last night Kayce texted me and asked if we wanted to meet in downtown San Francisco for lunch, since they had to go to the Chinese Consulate to get their Visas for travel.  Well of course we did!

We saw Lisa and family off on their ski trip(we are house/dog sitting while they are gone) in the morning, then headed into China Town for some Dim Sum.

After some issues with parking(this will come up again later), we met up with Kayce and family at the restaurant.  The first one we tried was way crowded, so we headed up the street a short ways to find one that wasn't.

I can't even remember the name of the place we ate at, but it was dee-lish!  An hour or so later of good food, good conversation, and good friendship,  we parted ways so that Kayce could get back on the road to their house.

Joe and I decided to do a little window shopping in China Town before heading back to our car.  I guess I should say now that we opted to park on the street, at a meter because we weren't planning on staying long and it was very close to the restaurant.  We were parked completely legally.  This will become important later on.

Anyway, we walked up and down the streets of China Town for a little while, looking in the windows and enjoying the atmosphere.

If you squint and look very closely, you can see the Bay Bridge back there.  Such a a beautiful view!

(All of these photos from my phone because I forgot to put the battery in the camera that Lisa lent me)

We saw this in one of the store windows

So pretty!

And this, which was way cool.

 On the way back to our car we saw this church.  I was instantly enamored with it and asked Joe if we could go inside.  We checked our watches and decided we had enough time for a quick visit.

It's Old St. Mary's Church and I love it.  It is so beautiful.

We took a coupe of pictures inside. It was beautifully decorated for Chirstmas

We lit a candle and sat for a few minutes in the church enjoying the peacefulness before Joe said we should get back to the car.

This is where the story goes awry. You knew it was going to, didn't you?

We left the church and started walking back to our car.  It was several blocks away.  After a couple of blocks I had to pee.  You're probably asking yourself why didn't I pee while we were at the church?  That's a good question.  The answer is that I have been having some problems with my bladder and I can't exactly  dictate when I have to go. But suddenly I had to go right that second. Yes, I do intend on asking my doctor about it when we get home.  But that doesn't help me now.

Anyway, we start looking for a bathroom, all the while keeping an eye on the time so we could get back to the car on time.

I don't know if you have experience with downtown San Francisco, or Chinatown in particular, but they won't just let you use the restroom anywhere.  Nope.  You have to be a customer.  And we didn't exactly have time to stop and eat at a restaurant. Finally Joe stopped into a tea shop and begged them to let me use their restroom because by this time I was desperate. They said yes, but they made him buy a tea! This was fine by me as by this time I had to go bad.

By the time we found the tea place and I used the restroom we had only a few minutes left to get to our car.

Except our car was still 3 blocks away.  We hurried as fast as we could up several large hills to try and get to our car on time.

When we got to the spot we had parked our car, guess what?

Yup.  You guessed it.  It wasn't there.  We were only(are you ready for this?)

Nine.  Minutes.  Late.


And our car was gone.  Here's where the story gets even better.  Joe immediately called the number on the sign to see where our car had gone.

He told them the make and the model and the license plate number and they checked the yard and then they checked with the tow truck and do you know what they told us?

That they hadn't towed our car and it was likely it had been stolen and they were sending a police car out to us so we could file a police report.  Click!

Cue hysterical crying(from me).  I mean I was hyperventilating.  Seriously freaking.  Out.

Thankfully Joe kept his calm and talked me down off the ledge.  So we stood out on the street in Chinatown in the cold with me crying and Joe trying to calm me down while we waited for the police to come.

Fun times.

After waiting 10 minutes for the police to show up, Joe's phone rang. (Did I mention that my phone had died at this point?  I didn't?  Well it had.  Things just kept getting better and better).  It was the towing company.  They had located our car.  It was still on the back of the flatbed they had towed it on.  Why they had told us it wasn't on the truck, I don't know.

I have never been so happy to find out my car had been towed in my entire life.

We hailed a taxi and told him we needed to go to the tow yard.  He knew exactly where to take us.  Shocking.

I can't even talk about how much it cost to get our car out.  It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it.  But it was a lot, and we had to call my sister to help us and there will be no birthday presents for me so that we can pay her back.

But hey, at least our car wasn't stolen!  AND we got to have lunch with some wonderful friends, and the day was darn near perfect until the very end.  I'm just gonna try and forget about that part and focus on all the fun we had before that tiny little snafu happened.

And Kayce, Mike, Jake, and Jake's friend(dang it if I can't remember his  name!), thank you so much for the inviting us to have lunch with you.  We had the best time, as always!

P.S.  After we got our car and were headed on our way back to Scott and Lisa's house Joe turned to me and said "You know, we probably would have made it back in time if we hadn't stopped at that church".  Thanks honey.

We got our car towed because I stopped and lit a candle at a church.  Nice.

38 months and Merry Christmas

We've had a wonderful Christmas and are having a great time in San Francisco, as always.  My camera broke on Christmas Eve and it was too late to ask Santa for  a new one so the only pictures I have to share are from my phone.   I'll have to wait and steal them from my sister or my Dad.

We took the dogs and the kids for a walk at Crissy Field yesterday.  It was freezing.  Of course you know I use that term in a I-grew-up-in-CA-and-50 degrees-is-cold-for-me kind of way.

O.K., I just checked and the temp was around 53 degrees, so I suppose "freezing" isn't the right term.  I was really cold in this picture, okay?

 Grace got this collage art set from Santa and I made this pig to honor our 38th LID-aversary.  The wings represent when I think we might actually get to celebrate Christmas with our kid. Heh.

We have a ton more fun planned ahead of us, as Lisa and Scott are leaving us in charge for the night tonight and then everyone but myself and Joe are leaving on Sunday and we'll have the house to ourselves and keep an eye on the animals and the house while they're gone for a week.

So if I don't get a chance to check back in, I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year's!

Disneyland Part 1

We visited Disneyland last week one last time before the New Year.   It was crowded and we didn't stay long.  Rode "It's a Small World" and looked at the decorations and came home.  We just love the Christmas decoration at Disneyland at this time of year.

 I took far too many pictures inside "Small World"


It's just so festive!

These are in no particular order either :)





Dopey.  Sadly, my actual ears look very similar to these.


Tree in Toontown.  Love how colorful it is.


Santa had a big long line but poor Mrs. Clause was standing out front looking lonely so I took pity on her and stopped to pose for a picture.  She insisted we say "Cookies" instead of "Cheese" because Santa prefers cookies over cheese.  Heh.



I have a nasty head cold this weekend so I have gotten nothing accomplished.  I have so much to do before leaving for my sister's house on Wednesday and no motivation to do it.  The sinus pain and pressure is horrible. I can only hope it passes quickly.  I keep telling myself it's better to get the sickness out of the way before Christmas.  Still not fun.

Part 2 of Disneyland is below this post

Disneyland Part 2

Goofy.  I heart Goofy.  Had to cut Joe out of this one.


Main Street

I had to have a picture with Pluto.  I was mad because Joe cut his cute antlers off and he said "It's hard to take a picture of you because you get mad if your boobs are in it!"  Heh.  He's right.


New Orlean's Square has our favorite decorations every year.


There is a new store in New Orlean's Square that has a shop dedicated to "The Frog Princess"  I loved these lanterns.


Beautiful lighting at the entrance and exits


The Mickey that is on the "C" on the CA Adventure words

Fun in San Francisco Part 2 (Update)

On Saturday we headed out to Fort Funtson, AKA dog paradise.


Dogs can run freely without their leashes and their humans can enjoy the breathtaking views of the bluffs and the ocean.










Diggin' a hole


The waves were huge that day








Take note of Joe's hair in this picture. It's the last you'll be seeing of it for some time  :0


********UPDATED*********  Sorry to leave you all hanging on the state of Joe's hair.  I got a new e-mail address but Blogger won't let me switch my notifications to the new one.  I am beyond annoyed with them right now.  In fact, I am beyond annoyed with all things G**gle(Is it my imagination or do they own EVERYTHING?  Flickr, my e-mail account, Blogger, etc.). They need to make it easier to change the settings on your accounts.  Just saying.

Anyway, Joe shaved his head this weekend.  As in totally, completely bald.  Even finished it off with a razor.  He asked me not to post any pictures yet and I have to respect that(seeing as though he pretty much lets me spill anything else I want to here).  As soon as he's ready I'll show you guys.  I have a thing for bald guys, so it's all good.  And it's just hair.  If he changes his mind it'll grow back.

Oh, my new e-mail address is scrappermg(at)att(dot)net. So the same as the last one but with "att" at the end instead of "cox".  I know I sent out an e-mail with my new gmail address and it's still valid, but this will be my primary e-mail address.

Fun in San Francisco

I figure it's too late to post Thanksgiving pictures now, but we did do a couple of other things while we were in San Francisco that were fun so I thought I'd share those.

We (read: Lisa and I) took the kids ice skating in Union Square.  It was so much fun!  Surprisingly I am a pretty good ice skater and I didn't fall even once.  If  you know me, you know this is kind of a big deal. I fall down on solid ground almost daily, let alone slippery ice.  :)



Grace is also quite a good ice skater and after one time holding Lisa's hand, she was zipping around and around all by herself.  And not even near the railing.


Love this picture:


Doing a spin with Mommy


It was quite crowded but surprisingly warm for S.F.




Macy's all decked out for Christmas




All of us.  The other boys(men) hung out on the side cheering us on.


It was so much fun!  I think we'll go back at Christmastime too.

Part 2 coming soon

I have posted this in years past and it always cracks me up.
Maybe it will help me with the serious lack of Christmas spirit I have been feeling lately.

Somehow we lost the box with our artificial Christmas tree in it when we moved. Also in the box was the Angel Topper that we used to have on our Christmas tree when I was growing up. My Dad gave it to me after my Mom died and it has graced our tree for 13 years since she has been gone.

The fact that it is probably gone for good makes me want to curl up in a ball on the floor and cry. Oh wait. I already did that the day I realized the box was not in either of the only 2 places it could be. We’re not even going to get a tree this year because I can’t bear the thought of replacing it and you can’t have a tree without a tree topper. You just can’t.

We’re listening to continuous Christmas music at my job. It either makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside or makes me want to pierce my eardrums with a pair of sharp scissors. It depends on my mood.

Some of the older Christmas songs make me downright melancholy. Anything from the "It's Christmas Time Charlie Brown" soundtrack makes me want to cry. And Away in a Manger. As well as any song by Josh Groban. Okay they ALL make me sad. I don’t know why that is.




We finally got the internet hooked up at our house again.

Surprisingly, I found that I am not as eager as I thought I would be to jump back on the computer 24/7 like I used to.

There are so many things I can get done when I’m not chained to the computer.

Like read books. And make Christmas crafts. And send out Christmas cards. And watch cheesy movies and play board games with my husband.

I’m sure I’ll re-join the land of the internets soon but for right now I’m just not feeling it.



********UPDATE******** My husband found the Angel Tree topper.  Not the tree, just the topper. I am so happy!!

M.I.A.

We don't have internet at home right now. It is a pain in the you-know-what. Yesterday Joe set us up with dial up until we can get the problem fixed.

I am nowhere near patient enough for dial up. I would rather just go without until we can get our wireless hooked up again. So I will probably continue to be M.I.A.

I have been feeling down. Things are still really hard. I'm starting to wonder if they will ever get better. We are contemplating some major life changes and I am scared and anxious. I don't like change. Actually I despise it.

But what we're doing right now isn't working and without some major change I don't know how much longer we can go on.

All of it makes me so very tired.



Thus ends the downer portion of this post.


It's not all bad. We had a lovely Thanksgiving up in S.F. with my sister and family.

We went to see "Wicked". I loved it. I love me a musical(sorry M3! ;). I've been blaring the songs in the car ever since.

We also went ice skating. And not only did I not kill myself, I didn't fall down even once. That had to be some kind of Thanksgiving miracle. Although the weekend wasn't completely injury free. I did fall down my sister's steep and narrow basement stairs while playing hide-and-seek with the kids. My back is still sore from that one.

Last night we went to a friend's birthday party and got to catch up with a lot of people I haven't seen in long time. It was fun. We need to get out more.

I can't believe it's Christmas. I know, I say that every year but this year it just snuck up on me. We aren't doing presents this year and I'm not even sure I will put up our tree. I did put up a few lights on our porch. I think that will be as much Christmas spirit as I can muster this year.

Lastly, my friend Kayce got her referral for a beautiful baby girl. I haven't been so excited over a referral since my niece's! She is precious. Congrats Kayce! We are so very happy for you all!!