Where is Everybody? It's Time for Vacation Photos!

Hey Everyone, are you caught up in the winter doldrums? Watching the snow melt isn't as rewarding as watching your skin tan, or the ice in your drink melt.


Nice View Huh?

We had a great time! I wish I could stay longer, all that Resting and that Relaxing and that Reading and that Resting and that Relaxing. Whoo, it was a great time. The temperature was in the 80's, breezy, never too hot, with the water temperature as warm and relaxing as a child's wading pool.

Seriously, I've not had time to blog since my return. It takes so long to catch up with housework, work related work, and family obligations that blogging is something that has to suffer at this time.

We made friends - in between cocktails and pool lounging.

This little guy traveled with his owner everywhere on this scooter. I tried to engage him in light conversation, he did not speak a lick of English.

But he enjoyed the greatest beef taco's EVER with me.

This is my husband who hung out with a band of pirate pelicans - they stole this little slip of a boat and filled it with their "recycled treasures". Yeah, uh, huh, they did. Still Dan bonded with them.

Isn't he handsome?

Some of the friends we made were not so "friendly".

I got a cool tattoo....made of henna. Already washed off, but I was cool while on vacation!

Doesn't my ankle look tanner? I did, I swear!, but now I'm fading.

While vacation calm and relaxation has faded and the memories are still lingering in my mind, I'm back to the norm.

Hope all you readers will be back soon too!

Word for Today: Scaramouch

Scaramouch
1: a cowardly buffoon. 2: a rascal or scamp.

In our office we have a “word a day” desk calendar, and because I love words and the use of words in a well written phrase or sentence, I often find myself enamored with the calendar.
Duh.
(not a well written phrase or sentence)

Today’s word is Scaramouch.

Now use it in a sentence. I’ll give you one from Queen’s hit song “Bohemian Rhapsody”. “I see a little silhouette of a man /Scaramouche, Scaramouche will you do the fandango?”

To those of you who rock on to Queen hits, did you even KNOW that it was scaramouche? I sure didn’t. What the hell did YOU think it was? I’m interested in finding out. You know, how we often don’t know the lyrics to a song, and kinda just guess what they sound like? Scaramouche sounded Frenchie to me…I caulked it up to a mustachioed man of evil thought one, who could Fandago of course.

What does that got to do with ANYthing you might ask? Well,

I’m B-A-A-CK!

Yep, home from vaca a full week and didn’t even check in. What a scaramouch I am. I will of course be posting about my R&R vacation, complete with snaps, but I’m still playing catch up with all that I’ve had to catch up to. I hope you all enjoyed my guest post gals, I appreciate them so much (Glad to return the favor Robin and Sarah, just ask me anytime!) Later surfer dudes.

Happy 31st Birthday Sarah!

I had dreamt about her. She had dark hair (curls) and dark eyes and looked a little like me but was better than me in every way; she was my daughter, my first born.
So, I had better think of a really great, super fantastic name, a girly one, and no one could talk me into a boy’s name because I simply wasn’t carrying a boy!

I had always liked the name Sarah, it reminded me of this really cool girl I met as a teenaged gawky girl (me not Sarah) up in Michigan on vacation with my family. She was really cool and nice, had long hair and a wonderful complexion. She was popular with the boys and the girls, a trait I longed to emulate. Everybody liked Sarah. Sarah, meaning “lady” or “princess” in Hebrew, yep, it seemed the perfect name for my darling baby girl to be. I’d pat my belly, and think of her, of the relationship we’d have, and how she would be at one, and two, and twenty-two.

It was a fairly easy pregnancy. I never really lost my girlish figure during this pregnancy; of course I was very young by today’s standards, just 19, about to give birth. I had about 10 more days to go, when suddenly I felt the contractions. I waited until about midnight, packed my bag and we went off to the hospital. A “glorious” 30 hours later, she was born, February 4th very early in the morning. I was very tired, this was way back in the days when “natural childbirth” was popular and it was frowned upon if you took any type of pain relief. Creepy frowners. When I looked at that doctor holding the nekked baby Sarah up for me to view, I saw my hips, my chin and all that hair!!! This was indeed the baby who haunted by dreams. My princess, my Sarah.
So, all you first borns out there know how hard the lives you have until the sibs start consuming some of the focus from first-time mom, now don’t you. Well, Sarah was perfect in every way; she was quick to learn, was very curious and had a large capacity for retaining any and all information. (Still does) She was like raising a daughter/sister/friend right from the very beginning. When the siblings did come, one right after the other, she took them in stride, knowing that she was in charge, higher up on the kid ladder in this family, and the siblings just followed along. Born leader, she excelled at most everything she attempted (YOU did, except for tumbling, and tap dancing, I’ll give you that) although I never think she ever thought she really did succeed. Shy to the core, it takes a lot of effort for her to stand up for herself and to meet new people. She was always referred to as mom’s clone, which didn’t help much, as most kids are embarrassed by their mom, and because I’m outgoing and such a goof, she had something to be embarrassed about sometimes, no most times. (love you baby) Today is her birthday, I miss my baby girl, the one who haunted my dreams, and early life. I’ll miss this day, as right now I’m vacationing in Mexico, and this was typed last week, when a teary eyed mom wished you well. Hope your birthday is Great! Happy Birthday Princess!

Note from the author: focus on the darling baby of mine and not the nifty 70's hair or the cool glasses.

My Mother, Vacationer and Cake Decorator!

Hello all, I’m Sarah, and for those of you who don’t know me, I can usually be found here. Since my mother is probably sunning herself by the pool in Mexico right now, I thought I’d share a birthday memory with you.

It has been on my mind because tomorrow is my birthday and my mother will be in Mexico, not making me a birthday cake. I know! How dare she! When I was growing up, my mother always made my birthday cakes. From scratch. No boxed cakes for us.
Part of our birthday treat was to go to the cake decorating store and pick out items to adorn this homemade confection. For my fourth birthday, I wanted a Cinderella theme. I chose a large Cinderella, complete with missing glass slipper (plastic and not to scale) a horse drawn white carriage and a large clock face to represent midnight. In my almost four year old mind it was awesome!
My birthday was approaching, and my mom gets sick. I mean really sick, like a 103 degrees temperature sick. Being the trooper that she was, she still made me a 13X9 chocolate cake…which in her weakened state she dropped half on the floor. She then made ANOTHER cake (from scratch) and pieced it together with the other mangled pieces that survived the fall, into one large double decker chocolate cake. She lathered all of this with home made chocolate icing and bright blue sprinkles (blue being my all time favorite color). My precious Cinderella paraphernalia joined the blue sprinkles. To this day, I remember it as my most favorite birthday cake.


Don’t you think she did a good job?

Thanks Sarah, for the guest post, being that you are the guest of honor this week! Happy Birthday Baby! Yeah, um, I don't think we had enough of those blue sprinkles to do the entire cake! Isn't funny how you remember that cake as so special, and I remember being so upset I ruined your big day/cake. I remember tears and cursing and you are all grins. By the way, you haven't changed a bit!

For Porn, and Other Stuff Too

Photo by monstersandcritics.com

Hi! I am Robin, Jackee’s friend from the great and wonderful WWW. Although I won’t be walking Casper or taking in the mail, I am delighted to be virtual house sitting here at Runs With Scissors as a guest poster while our sweet Jackee is sunning her lovely self in Mexico, margarita in hand…

Among other things my kiddo can discuss with his future therapist, I love to sing the songs from Avenue Q in the car. The tunes are upbeat and kid-friendly sounding but the lyrics are definitely R rated, or at least PG13. My favorite song, by my favorite character, Trekkie Monster, is called The Internet is for Porn. While this may be true for plenty of people, we here in blog land can definitely make a case for all the other wonderful things the internet is indeed for.

First off, the obvious…Blogs! I didn’t know was a blog even was until about a year and a half ago. One of my friends emailed me about her friend who was starting a blog and to go check it out. Check it out, I did – and I was hooked. I started my own blog about a year ago – and although I only post a few times a month, I read much more. I check in (almost) daily and stay in the loop on the lives of my few real-life friends who write blogs, but also my new and wonderful blog friends, too. I crave their stories and words and wonder what has happened when they do not post. The community here always amazes me!
If you check out my blog, you will see I write about my family a lot. What does that have to do with the internet, you ask. Everything, it so happens. I met my husband on jdate.com. The current 5280 (Denver lifestyle mag) has an article about the woes of online dating that makes it sound like a big, scary world. But I was obviously very lucky. True love, just a click away - too cheesy to be true but amazingly it worked for me! Photo by:Ventana Photography

On my blog, I also dedicate quite a few posts to Stuff You Can Buy. Either in the form of product review, or I want (fill in the blank), or help me choose – material goods are good blog fodder and a huge online time waster for me. I am one of those people who needs to know all the options before making a decision (do they make a pill for this?!) and the wealth of info online is very helpful for this quirk. Recently I spent 3 hours (Micah’s longest nap, ever!) looking at diaper bags and reviews. I also love to look at home décor sites and blogs and virtual shop, although those purchases are not in my near future.

So, Jackee – thanks for being my internet buddy and letting me share some of my random thoughts with your readers. Have fun in Mexico, and have a marg for me!!!
Thanks Robin...does that mean that Casper is home without food and water too? Robin is one of the many blog friends I have met, while lurking around, reading other peoples thoughts and the happenings in thier lives. She recently added to her wonderful family, with baby Micah, and personally, I love seeing his sweet happy face when she graces her blog with his photos. Thanks again Robin, see you soon.