A week in review: (trying to blog with snorville at me feet, no we do not have a new bulldog, just my husband. He woke up from a nap with Ruby, walked out to the living room to get something from his backpack and fell asleep. His body is half on the carpet and half on the tile).

Ruby is in ice skating on Thursdays. It is classic to see her out there on the ice, bike helmet and flappy gloves. She is very nervous to fall. This week she decided to go in knee pads. I was wondering why she was going even slower than ever. One mom said that the knee pads may be too tight. Sure enough, she could not bend her legs in them.

Last Thursday Phill called to say he was being taking to the doctor by his captain, they were 90% sure he had the MRSA virus. Oh what a horrible week that unfolded for my husband. They put him on an anti-biotic that not only turned his pee orange, it pretty much laid him out flat for a week. Which pretty much resulted in Ruby and I stepping over his snoring body (if wondering about his snoring see one of my first posts), in the living room. The sore was on his neck, and was also super painful. On Monday the results were negative for MRSA, but the concluded it was probably a spider bite. Heck of a spider bite.

Last Friday night Ruby and I took Jeena to a dance at her school. I love special needs dances, they really are the greatest. We try to make it to a few a year. My signature line when dancing with a group of downs syndrome boys is, "Don't tell my husband." Never fails to be a crown pleaser. At the dance Ruby won a cake at the cake walk. It was one of her proudest moments. She also won 2 tickets to Sea World. Thus the pride she felt when her Sea World saved the whale.

On the same day as the whale watching day, my girls and I made a QUICK turnaround and headed to The Tea House on Los Rios. A former place of employment for both of us Mandys. Oh, the scones. Happy Birthday Hana!



Yesterday was a whirl wind of a day. I met my dear friend Melissa for a paddle. She took the SUP and I was in the kayak. Paddle boards are so much more fun than kayaks. But we chatted around the island, Melissa is a natural paddler-she was an outrigger. Yes Courtney, the crew we have always dreamed of being on in SD. Anywho, that meant I had to paddle like crazy to keep up with her. I did manage to fall out of my kayak upon dismount. We ate at Tutor and Spunky's and shared sandwiches (later that day she called to say she had the stomach flu...I am waiting for mine to kick in.) As soon as we got home, I decided we would carpool buddy with Phill up to a drs. appt. in LA. El Segundo, to be exact. A place I had heard in the news but meant nothing to me as far as local. I fell in love with it. The streets are a cross between Corona del Mar and middle America. So cute. And only a few blocks from the ocean, Manhatten beach. The only sad part is that the city is surrounded by HUGE water, oil and sewage plants.
I love having a little pal as my kid. She wanted nothing more than to so walk around a plant nursery we had driven by. Which is a dream day for me. We spent over 2 hours walking the rows of the most amazing nursery ever, International Garden Center. Trying to link this I just found out it is a Master Garden Nursery, which makes sense. They had more varieties of flowers than I thought possible. I can't think of a better partner, she skipped around and smelled the flowers while I read her their names in latin and showed her the interesting parts of each plant. After a while she was saying things like, "this is so interesting, don't you think mom?", "isn't this fabulous", "look at the leaves, so special." After that we ran around on the beach and then drove the streets looking at houses we loved. Can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon. Yep, that was one long drs appt. We ate dinner at The Habit (like the one in Ventura). I found a worm in my salad, I tried to plow through it--being a gardener and all, but I couldn't. Stopped by the liquor store to say hi to Harmie and Habby then home. Yep, that was one long day! Today we have not left the house.

I'm a whale watcher...

This was an exciting week in this neck of the woods, a whale swam into the harbor. On Wednesday morning Phill called me at 7am, he said, "Get your paddle board and head to the harbor right now!" I was not even out of bed yet, although Ruby had been awake for an hour. I have no idea what she was doing during that time, except she came up with 4 dresses on. There was no way I was taking Ruby on a paddle board with me to see a whale, she is wild on that thing. So I grabbed my friend Erica and the three of us headed to the Scoop Deck for our favorite, Harbor Special Bagel (cream cheese, tomato, red onion, lemon pepper and avocado on an everything). We had no idea where the whale would be, but got news from the bagel girl that the whale was beaching itself at Baby Beach (this is where our church meets, we paddle and spend a lot of time). The girl suggested not taking Ruby since it was probably going to die. Yea right, we raced over as fast as we could. Upon arrival there was every news truck, three helicopters, and maybe 50 people on the beach. My goal was an interview. Which did result in a stranger almost baby sitting Ruby. I think she was rather annoyed with me. Especially, when she told me that I need to wipe Ruby's nose and "Ummm, your kid is in the water."

The whale was laying about 30-50 feet from the shore and coming up for air every few minutes. It was amazing to see. Slowly our group arrived and we set up camp, while the rest of the world showed up too. There were hundreds of people there by 10am. We laughed to think all of us could just drop everything and watch a whale do nothing. And yet, we stayed and watched, Lilly, for about 3 hours. But we got to see Sea World come cut the rope that was stuck on her. We also some some dork walk up and almost paddle board on top of her. Side note: yesterday I saw this moron out paddling and I yelled, "hey, your the guy who almost ran over the whale. Ha! You're famous now buddy." He thought it was no big deal since he had paddled by her before.

Later the news said she had left the harbor and headed north.

The next day I went out for a paddle around the harbor by myself. As I rounded the corner of the far side of the island, I saw all the news crews and cameras were rolling. Yep, it is one thing to stand on the shore and see a whale it is another to stand on a board (that is slippery because your husband used mayonnaise to clean the tar off the top) in the cold ocean and begin to think a 30 foot whale may pop up next to you at anytime. My legs were shaking to the point of almost falling down. But I was right in front of the news camera, so I just sucked in and hope someone saw me. Later I learned she was on the other side of the jetty, where she died the next day. Which was super sad. Yet, in Ruby’s mind—Lilly was freed by Sea World on Wednesday. If you can click on the picture of me and Erica, Ruby is taking the picture you can see her in the sunglasses, I think she took the one of herself too.

Fat Tuesday-Bloggers post by midnight tomorrow!

Well, after a lot of thinking, maybe not too much prayer, but lots of thinking, I have decided what I will give up for lent. Last year I gave up Facebook. Which turned out to be super refreshing. This year I have decided to give up the internet in general, unless it is work related or mapquest. So my idle Google searches, keeping up on way too many blogs and Facebook will be given up. Oh, and that includes hulu and fancast. So my goal of watching all 72 episodes of The Bob Newhart show will have to be put on hold.
Phill asked me to use the time to create something beautiful to show you all when I return. He even said he would give me an envelope with money in to so I can go buy fabric. So farewell my dear friend Nie Nie, I will be praying for you. Sweet Daisy Love, I will be praying for you each day too. Ree, I can't wait to hear about your phone calls with Jim or Mike or whatever your brother's name is. La la la la, please keep your blog going on-consider the C's. Walking Lazy, I can't wait to see what you have created for Easter in your home. You're posts are the reason I started this blog. My One little Thing friend, I hope your blog is fixed by Easter, it really needs spiced up. And I look forward to Peeking into your life Amy, post Easter. Lulupatina, let's just get together to play ASAP. Fogarty Ranch, I know we will be seeing each other a lot during this time, but I do expect a new post and possibly a new song by Easter. Finally, to the Blessed Nest...I promise to come down to see the new little one in your nest before Easter.
Over the years I have found the act of giving something up for Lent, super powerful. I have given up the typical- lattes, fried foods, etc. i have tried to add things into my lenten routine to make it more positive, daily prayer, jogging and who knows what else. It is a way to remind me daily that Easter is coming and the journey Christ took to the cross. Preparing for Christmas is easy, as there are reminders of Christ's birth at every turn. Yet gearing my heart for Easter is not as easy for me. So Lent must be observed. I do not consider my time on the 'interweb' as something negative, but I do realize how much time I spend staring at this little silver box instead of praying, reading, creating and engaging with Ruby. If anyone wants to join me in this discipline, let me know and we can keep each other accountable and encourage each other for these 40 days, via email or phone.

Quatchi, Miga and Mukmuk

These little friends are the 2010 Olympic mascots! Yes, they are the official ones. Sent to us by cousin Sue, who lives in Vancouver. They arrived yesterday afternoon and so far they have eaten every meal with us and have been part of all our games. The real furry one is my favorite. We will be lining these little guys up tomorrow night for the opening ceremonies. Obviously this year has opened up a whole new cheering dynamic for me—US, Korea and Switzerland. I sure will be busy.

We are Swiss.

Tonight I got a text from my sister, Angie. It said, "Call me, we are Swiss." I had no idea what she was talking about. To be honest, I thought it was a term for being drunk. When she answered she said my mom’s cousin, Carolyn, had found some old paperwork in an antique dresser. It had our maternal grandmothers ancestry on it. It said we came from Switzerland. I started screaming, "We're Swiss! We're Swiss!" You see we have always wondered where we are from. There are a lot of countries thrown out here and there by my parents: Welsh (that is what I told my in-laws I was when they pressed me for a lineage while Phill and I were dating), Irish, Scottish, some type of Native American. But now I have something in writing from an old armoire. And doesn’t Swiss sound right? I have always loved the Swiss. Vieve, can tell you. I have.

And isn’t this what we all have wanted all along? A treasure from an old dresser (oh, to take this to Antique Roadshow). But there is more, according to this paperwork (Angie is sending me copies to verify) one of these ancestors signed the...wait for it...Declaration of Independence! Oh yea! Livingston, Mr. Philip Livingston. And there was something else about fighting with George Washington. Wish I would have that piece of information when Phill’s parents asked. I know this is all sounds pretty far fetched and too good to believe, but I will have the evidence soon enough. Soon enough. So now my dear Ruby is not only Korean-Welsh, she is now Korean-Welsh-Swiss. PTL!

Pneumonia

Well Ruby has pneumonia we went to the doctor this morning. It is the saddest thing. I find myself walking into the kitchen and trying not to cry. Her cough is super bad. Yet all her spunk and character is still there. She still managed a meltdown over sunglasses at CVS. She worked in a Strawberry Shortcake water color. Sewed a mini pillow and had the energy for a short bike ride. While she was riding I was walking in front of her and she says, “Mommy your bottom moves when you walk.” I respond, “Ok, thank you.” She says, “Actually Mom it moves side to side.” Again I respond, “Thank you Ruby now ride on ahead.” “No Mom, I am going to stay back here and watch it.”

Thank you Vieve and Cami. Cami, I am going to be thinking of someone for you that in not Natalie. Vieve, I have always said that you are Samantha Brown. As a matter of fact her hair would be a great cut for you.