"Don't you forget about me."

Sorry, at time of writing I am honestly reciting the movie in my head. Soundtrack included.

I give you some cousins today. And my brother. With new, shorter hair!

Top is my Jules, she has memorized Easy A with me. And we frequently recite it to each other. Middle is my cousin Micah. She's all around amazing. With gorgeous eyes. And the bottom is little brother and our cousin Carson. Back off girls. The odds of my letting you date them are slim.

Good Genes

If my mom and aunts are any indication, I have years of looking fabulous ahead of me.

Friday Photo

There is only one word for today's photo so I'm not going to blab on and on:

AMAZETABULOUS.

Wow

Growing up I felt like I had a big family. My parents each have three siblings. Then I had all my cousins. It always felt like a lot of people to me.

Then I got married.

I ended up with parents, step-parents, grandparents, four more siblings, over ten aunts and uncle, and close to one hundred cousins.

Hubby has a big family. And that's an understatement. But I like having a ton of family. So today, that's what I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful that I have the chance to go visit my family, even far away. We were able to go visit my grandpa a couple years ago in Alabama. And I'm hoping to swing in for a visit when we go to Florida next year.

I'm thankful for siblings that I love spending time with. And for the fact that my brother and I have become closer as we've grown up. I also love that we have the same hair.

I'm thankful for friends that are part of the family right now. Leon (on the left) and Scott (on the right, grabbing my face) have been part of our lives for over ten years. I've known Leon for more than half my life now. They're just a couple more brothers for me. And I love it.

I'm thankful for my boys. My husband, dad, brother, and Tad. They're always entertaining. Especially last Christmas when they all got lightsabers and started a battle.

And I'm thankful for my sisters. I didn't have a sister growing up even though I had some cousins that were pretty close. And when I met hubby, I was petrified about meeting his sisters. Because I didn't get along with a lot of girls. But I love his sisters. We're close enough that we just drop the "in-law" title. And Beth and I have shouted "sissy" at each other more than once.

I'll finish with the thankful list tomorrow. And the wish list that normally shows up today, will show up Friday. Because, duh, it's Black Friday and you guys will need to know what to buy me...

F is for...

F is for family.

I've already told you about some of the craziness that is my family. But I love that craziness. It keeps things interesting. I don't know if any family laughs as much as mine does. Whether it's my mom's side teasing each other about moments where they're just like my grandma, or my brother and cousin quoting Will Ferrell movies, or Grandpa lying because it's Wednesday - we're insane.

This is the biggest week for family for most people, but especially in my family. We have a house full of people at my grandma's on Christmas Eve for tamales. And I mean, full of people. It's awesome. Then there's Christmas day with my mom's side. There's an insane amount of food (no wonder I gain weight this time of year) and a house full of people again. We usually find some new board game to play and it always ends up being boys against girls. Which isn't always the best idea, because I swear my husband and his brain full of random and useless knowledge puts them at an advantage.

This year is especially awesome because Grandpa is here. It just doesn't feel the same when he isn't here.

F is also for first, as in first married Christmas. Yeah, Tim and I have already had six years of stockings and presents, but this year we're finally married. It probably won't feel much different, but it still is. So that's one more thing to make this year a little more awesome.

So as a side note, I have one other friend who's blogging now. And he's doing his own ABC list. So when are the rest of you going to step up???

Break

I know, I owe you guys a Friday photo, but I don't know what I want to take a picture of. I could take a picture of my teaching bag, but even that would require work that I'm not sure I want to put into this right now.

Can you tell I'm a little lazy right now?

Actually, it's not laziness. My brain hurts. I'm studying for my RICA tomorrow (Reading Instruction Competence Assessment). I have to pass it to get my credential. No pressure or anything... It's my own fault I waited to take it.

Anywho, just wanted to take a break to say that I just love everyone in my life right now. I went to mom's yesterday and was unloading everything that I have to do before we go to Disneyland (this test, another one, a rationale, pick up paperwork for the district, schedule a fingerprint test) and she just went on about how she knows I can do it. That's always nice to hear. Tim's been telling me the same thing about this test. My friend Lauren has been telling me she knows I'll pass. And now my friend Lucy (who's also taking it tomorrow) is telling me she's positive I can do it.

I just love my friends and family. It's nice to know that they all believe in me. And they aren't afraid to say so.

So forgive me if I don't get a photo up today. Studying is getting top priority.

That, and Plant Tycoon. It's such a low-maintenance game that I can play it while I study. Gotta have some fun...

My day

No fun stories for you tonight. Just lettin' you know how my day was.

It was good. The end.

Juuuust kidding. It sucked. The end.

Okay yeah, I'm kidding again. I totally didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Sucks that I didn't start getting my body used to early mornings again. Ugh... not looking forward to waking up Monday. Anyway, finally dragged my butt out of bed and took a shower. Did my hair in my cute braids (I lurve them) and went to my grandma's house.

This is my mom's mom, grandma Karen. Every Friday, my aunt Kathy goes over and they make an awesome lunch that aunt Kathy takes to my uncle and his coworkers. So I visited last week and thought I'd stop by again today. It might help that grandma feeds us when we're there... So I hung out with everyone (my youngest cousin was there too, she's funny). We caught up on everything. Grandma told me about her doctor's appointment (she broke her arm a few weeks ago, but she's healing quite nicely). Kathy talked about the antics of her children (three birth, two step - it's a full house). I talked about Tim passing his test and me starting school again.

Okay random interruption. My aunt Kathy totally robbed the cradle with her second marriage. Okay, maybe not totally, but my uncle Gil is closer to Tim's age than he is to Kathy's. So they totally get along like best friends. I try to convince Tim to call him "uncle Gil" just to weird him out. So Tim ran into Gil and the kids at a sports store this week and apparently Gil was gushing when he got home (they haven't hung out in a while, but they used to all the time when I watched Kathy's kids). So when I walked into grandma's today, Kathy said, "Gil said he saw Tim this week. It was all he could talk about all day." I laughed and said, "Yeah, they're totally gay for each other." We cracked ourselves up. Okay, continuing with my day...

Just chatted at grandma's. Filled each other in on things we didn't know about. Then Kathy and my cousin left. I stuck with grandma for a bit and found out my mom had the day off. Grandma was going to stop by to see which paint looked better in the bathroom (that my mom just repainted recently, but that's another story) so I decided I would go to mom's instead of coming home to roast in my hot apartment.

Went to mom's. We caught up on stuff, talked about some issues that I needed an update on, discussed what her plans are for the house now that my brother and I are both out. Grandma finally came by and agreed with us that the darker paint was better. Then mom and I ran errands. She really had the errands, but asked if I wanted to go. So I did. We went to Home Depot to get more paint and then mom got a hankering to go to the nursery nearby. Okay, my mom is dangerous at nurseries. She loves her yard and could easily spend hours looking at all the plants, flowers, fountains and whatnot at this nursery. So I helped her pick out some plants for some new pots (which she didn't even have yet) and she even bought me some new plants in the process. I made sure they're low maintenance because I have not had good luck with the plants I do have. While we were there my master teacher called me...

Oh. My. God. This woman sounds so fun and cute! I'm so excited for Monday now! We chatted for a bit, decided what time I should go in on Monday, and I just love her already. So yeah, definitely excited for this semester.

Anyway, check out of the nursery and head for the grocery store. Well, since my mom loves being a mom she of course bought me some groceries while we were there. Yay for mom! Because my PG&E bill for the month had me a little worried... We picked up some late lunch from the prepared foods while we were there. And bought the planters she had already bought plants for. I gotta say, even though I don't live there anymore, I am damn proud of my mom's house and its potential. She puts a lot of work into it and it shows. So bought our stuff, and headed home. Ate our super late lunch and then my brother showed up. We got to visit with him for a while. Then my mom started to paint and I decided I should probably get home before Tim so I could put the groceries away.

Came home, put groceries away, sweated and cursed the heat, then Tim came home. And we've mostly been vegging. We actually sat in the bedroom and talked about our days for an hour (it's at least five degrees cooler in there) then came out here and vegged. I made dinner (Tim helped) and now we're continuing the vegging.

So a decent day. Relaxing and not boring. Good for my last day of vacation, even if I wasn't productive. Whatev. Productivity is overrated.

Shout out, and some randomness

So Tim and I went to see our wedding photographer today, Mariano, to approve our album. And I totally found out Mariano reads my blog. So shout out to Mariano!!! BTW, if you haven't checked out his site, go down to my section of links that starts with "I heart." And he's right there, Mariano - Photography. Check out his blog for updates of his work. I really do heart him and his work.

So anywho, my mother-in-law decided she was going to take everyone out as a kind of back to school thing. This is a big production. Because there's her and her husband, her four kids, her kid-in-law (me, duh), and her six grandchildren. So we went to Chuck E. Cheese. Thrills... NOT. We went to the one near my apartment, and sorry if I sound snobbish, but that one in particular tends to be a little ghetto. I haven't been in... twenty years or so? Something like that, so I knew it would be semi-interesting.

So highlight was that we didn't have to pay for dinner (always good when you're currently paycheck to paycheck) and I got to see all my nieces and nephews. That almost never happens. My newest niece, Willow, is only two and a half months. So stinkin' cute! And she smiles for me. I like to think I'm her favorite. Her brother, Talan, used to hate everyone that wasn't his mom or grandma. I'm not kidding, he would scream bloody murder if me or Tim or anyone else picked him up. Thankfully he's over that, so we actually managed to have fun with him. Then there's Beth's four, who are like my own anyway, so of course we had fun.

They have one of those photo booths that isn't actually a photo booth. It takes your picture and then "sketches" it so you end up with what looks like a drawing. Beth and I got Tad and took a picture. Then Beth said, "It looks like he has two mommies." So the lesbian jokes continued for a couple minutes. We do that a lot, I'm not sure Tim is too comfortable with it, haha. Then Tim and I took one with Tad that turned out super cute, except that Tim's shirt matched the background so he looks like a floating head. I'd post, but I don't have a scanner. Then we laughed and started calling them our ghetto family portraits.

So the real ghettoness? Beth went outside for a smoke and this group of four guys came by. Surprisingly didn't call her stupid names that are meant to be endearing (I could write a blog about those, wait, maybe I will!), but they were obviously talking about fighting with someone. Aaaand one pulls a gun from his waistband, messes with it, and sticks it down in his sock.

Yeah.

Of course Tim scolded Beth for not going inside and calling the cops. I would have done the same thing. But Beth has unfortunately dated these types and always tries not to get involved because of the whole "retaliation" thing they always have going.

But thankfully the night ended uneventfully. The kids added up all the tickets they (and we) won, bought cheesy toys and candy, and everyone headed home.

One more random thing for today... Tim passed his test for his radiography license!!! He wanted to throw up when it was all said and done. We're both super relieved. Now he can start looking for a "real" job as he puts it. And we can start a real savings for our house. Yay!!!

So if anyone wants to take us out for a celebratory beer, give us a call. We're in.

More family stories

Time for round two! I may find these more amusing than you do, but I'm going to write it all out anyway.

We went to Alabama last summer. My mom, my brother, Glenda and her kids, Brenda, and me. There was a family reunion and we were the "ones from California." There were lots of little things going on during the trip.

When we got into Alabama we rented a van and drove down to Greenville (where grandpa lives). Seven people and all their luggage (packed for almost a week) crammed into a van. But it worked. I think one of my butt cheeks went numb at one point, but we were good. We played movie quote games to kill time. We commented on how dark and woodsy it was on the route we took. Which prompted Micah to laugh about what her dad told them before they left. He told Glenda, "No shortcuts. You saw The Hills Have Eyes. You know what will happen." We got a good laugh out of that.

Then there were the hundred trips to Wal-Mart. I'm not kidding. We went three times in one day. I thought the greeters would be on a first name basis with us by the end of the trip.

On one trip we decided to go find some alcohol. Grandpa doesn't just not drink, he disapproves of it. So we couldn't drink at his house. But mom, Glenda, Micah and I were staying at a hotel so we could have alcohol. Brenda was jealous (she stayed at grandpa's) so she got a bottle of wine during one of our trips. And had my brother sneak it into the house in his backpack. We were laughing so hard. Especially when she told us the next day that she hid in her room and drank the whole bottle already. Then she had to sneak it out to the trash. I almost peed my pants laughing right there.

My brother and Carson (Micah's brother, Glenda's son) spontaneously burst out into song or scenes from Will Ferrell movies. They do it all the time. But in Alabama they were cracking us up. Whenever we went anywhere we had to cram eight people into the van because we took grandpa with us. Yes, eight people in a van for seven. Carson sat on the floor. So one of their random songs was about how "Mexican" we are by putting too many people in the van. I wish we could have recorded them singing it. They ad lib everything. They should have a TV show.

I was constantly trying to steal Micah's peanut butter m&m's. Constantly. We had a little war going, it was great.

Oh, and I have to mention the GINORMOUS cockroaches! Yeah. Grossness. But Brenda totally freaked out about them. And we laughed. In fact, one night she screamed bloody murder and scolded Nick and Carson for not "coming to her rescue." Yeah, we teased her relentlessly for that one...

At the reunion we met cousins I didn't know I had. I loved them. And my cousin Angie gets a couple honorable mentions here...

Angie was reading the last Harry Potter book. Just sitting there, not paying attention to anything else, nose to the book. Micah and I had finished it and she looked at me and said, "How mean would it be if we walked by and talked about how depressed we are that Harry died?" I laughed, but there's no way we would actually do it.

Then later, Angie's mom was talking to my mom. I walked over and Angie was standing there. She looked at me and said, "Y'all are from California?" In her adorable Southern twang. I nodded and she got this look like she was meeting someone who's been to outer space and asked, "What's it like?" I died right there at the cuteness. I tell her on myspace all the time that she needs to convince her mom that they need to visit. It's looking like that may be a possibility next summer. Yay!

So Alabama was an interesting time for my family. There are tons more stories to tell (like the video store that was also a tanning salon), but this is what you get today.

Look for part three coming another day.

My family

So this has come up in discussion more than once. I think there are a total of four "normal" people in my family. This includes both sides. And only the generation of my parents. As far as my cousins go... well, more of us are normal I guess.


I think.


Hell, I don't know! Maybe we're all nuts! haha


My mom's parents are split now. But they have four daughters together. Four girls growing up together = insanity. They still tell stories about growing up. Like when Kathy (the youngest) was always picked on. Or they would make her do things by threatening to not play Barbies with her. Brenda (the oldest) was always the goody two shoes. They still laugh about that. My mom was the next oldest, and as far as I know she was the one who was the most normal. Although I'm sure there are stories I haven't been told... Glenda was next and she was the tomboy. If you messed with her sisters, Glenda would seriously hurt you. And I already mentioned Kathy. She was totally mommy's girl.


My grandpa told me a story about the girls growing up. He had a rule that only three boys at a time could visit. The way he tells it, three boys would come and visit on the porch, then hop on their bikes and leave. A few minutes later three different boys would show up and visit for a while. Meanwhile the first group would be riding around waiting for it to be "their turn" again. I died laughing when grandpa told me that. Of course my mom claims not to remember it. But I believe it. My mom and aunts were quite the popular ones in high school. The boys looooved them.


Then there's my dad's side.


For starters, my grandma's house is totally haunted. Which deserves a blog of it's own one day. (Note to self: blog about grandma's.) But grandma Ophie and grandpa Felix have four kids too. First was my uncle Tim, then dad, then Judie, then Sam.


Wanna hear something funny? My uncle Tim married my aunt Glenda. So their kids are my double cousins. And we totally look like siblings ourselves.


So uncle Tim and my dad were the interesting ones (not to mention possibly the most sane) in the family. And being boys, they did some stupid stuff as kids. My personal favorite it throwing darts at each other. Well, not at each other. But they used to sit across from each other against walls, then throw darts to see who could get closest to the head without actually hitting each other.


Okay, maybe they weren't sane then, but they are now. I promise.


Dad told me that his friends had a van and that one night they stole some oranges from an orchard and loaded the back of the van. Then proceeded to ride around throwing oranges. And laughing when they exploded in the street. Boys are dumb.


Oh, and I can't forget that Judie confessed to throwing hot dogs at the hookers downtown. Because, ya know, they just wanted a weiner.


Oh yeah, mom hit dad the first time she met him. Because she thought he was talking bad about one of her sisters.


And my parents are actually high school sweethearts. They started dating... junior year? But mom broke up with dad on Valentine's Day. Maybe that's where I get my evilness... then she dated some goofy lookin' guy until she got back together with my dad.


And my aunt Glenda used to date my stepfather-in-law. Yup. They broke up right after I was born. Scariest part? There's a picture somewhere of him holding me as a baby. I was so weirded out when I found out they used to date.


Somehow, between my parents and my six aunts and uncle, I think half of my hometown knows me. In high school I was always afraid to try and get away with stuff because someone they know might be around.


So that's a little about my family. And those are all old stories. I have newer ones that I'll share another time. They're so much better when they're told though. I don't know if you can really appreciate them fully unless you hear them told by the people who were involved.


I can't wait to have kids and add to the craziness. Someday.

My grandma's house

My grandma's house is haunted.


I don't know if anyone knows for sure when it started. But here's my best attempt at explaining what I know.


This is the house my dad's family grew up in. Grandma and Grandpa got it built for them. It was their first house. The kids grew up in it, all of us grandkids have spent time in it. So there's no story about a burial ground or previous owners. Sorry.


The first story I heard about was a photo. I wish I had it to scan in here, but I don't. They periodically lose it over there. Then it resurfaces and I never get a copy. Next time I swear I'm going to. Anyway, the photo is taken one Christmas eve. I don't think I was born yet. So let's just call it 1980. Give or take a year. The picture is of my mom, dad, and uncle Tim sitting together. When you walk into the house the whole wall to your left is covered with 12"x12" mirrors. They're sitting so you can kind of see the mirrors on the left of the picture. Well, in the picture, right in the mirror, you can see a face. Not like a reflection of someone, a face that doesn't look like anyone we know. It's not the flash, it's not a reflection, I've taken pictures in that spot to try and make it happen again. I've played with the lights, nothing. There is just a face of someone/something in that photo. To my knowledge it has never showed up in another photo. And like I said, I've tried.


All four of the kids (my dad and his siblings) have had the same experience. They wake up, at night or during a nap, and feel pressure on their chest. Only on their chest, like someone is sitting on it. This isn't a constant occurance, but it has happened more than once to all of them. Then it will suddenly go away. I'm not sure if it has happened randomly while they are awake. I know for sure when they are sleeping though. Not the most convincing evidence ever for ya, but I had to share.


Then there's grandma and my late great aunt's story. I never got to hear aunt Sylvia tell it, but my grandma isn't the hysterical type to make crap up so I'll believe her anyway. When the house was still relatively new, Grandpa's sister, Sylvia, and her husband, Raymond (we call him Bert), came to visit a lot. The four were close. So aunt Sylvia came over one day and she and grandma dyed her hair. Grandpa and uncle Bert went off on some errand while they did this. The story goes that aunt Sylvia went to the bathroom to rinse her hair and while her head was in the sink she felt someone come in the bathroom. She picked her head up and no one was there. But she was sure someone had come in. So she yelled for my grandma. Grandma comes in and Sylvia starts to tell her what she felt and they both stopped talking and felt uncomfortable. Grandma said that she felt like someone was in there too. So they started to get scared. But when they turned to the door they were frozen. They just couldn't move. Grandma said it felt like the were glued to their spot. They were both crying and finally Grandma grabbed my aunt Sylvia's hand and forced herself to run out the door. She said it was really hard to run, but they ran out the back door into the back yard. They were fine, but they started feeling like someone was trying to push or pull them back into the house. They were still crying and didn't know what to do so they ran out front and sat on the curb. Sat there and cried until Grandpa and uncle Bert came home. They went in the house and there was nothing wrong. They haven't felt anything else like that in the house, but Grandma still can tell you all about it.


Then there was another great aunt (I think she's my great aunt) who stayed at the house while she was in town one time.