If you want to view, paradise...

Ok. I told you we went to the Science Museum. Don't you think that since it's a SCIENCE museum, smart people would work there?

Now that I have a stroller I can't use stairs or escalators, and this museum is a huge three story place. To always trek back to the same elevator is a pain in the ass. There must be more than one. So in the lobby I go up to the guy working the gate entrance, I point to the lobby elevator and say, "Excuse me, is that the only elevator in the building?" The worker goes, "No. There's one on every floor."

Stop.
Collaborate and listen.

If you don't understand what's wrong with that sentence stop reading this post. One on every floor? Hello? You don't have to be an engineer to figure out that there is one elevator shaft and it opens onto each floor. ONE... ELEVATOR...SHAFT. Not three separate elevators, - one. Ugh.

What we need in this world is the WONKAvator to take us anywhere we'd like to go. Then the workers won't be so puzzled...

Fountains of poo

Man I'm tired. The kid and I went shopping. There are HUGE 4th of July sales. Unbelieveable. I love having gift cards, especially now that I don't have any money. It's as if I have cash, when I really don't. Then again, I love to open packages, a bunch of tiny little gifts on Christmas morning is the best. I don't care if there's a cookie inside, it's just fun to open!

Speaking of cookies, or tossing them, I fed the baby "real food" for the first time - they say to wait til their like 6 months old, he's only a week shy so I thought I'd give it a try. Hello, not a good idea. He was sitting on the ground and suddenly a fountain of poo was spewing out of the back of his pants. His little bowels just didn't agree with rice cereal I guess. Oh well. We'll have to try again next week....

You got the look

Well I finally changed the look of the blog. And now you can post comments "anonymously." For all of you who don't want to be known. You know who you are....

Home on the range

Look at this ad.
Is that price outrageous or what?? It's cute, it's OLD... these are selling points? Redickulous. This is why I can't find a new home to move into.

Time to make the donuts

Today we took the 10-year-old to the California Science Center. Apparently that's what it's called now. When I was a kid it was called the Museum of Science and Industry and it was tiny and had mucho Eames exhibits. I loved it then - but NOW it's totally awesome. It's a three story monster, filled with exciting exhibits for kids and adults.

After a full day of "getting our learn on," we took the kid to dinner at Kyle's favorite noodle house. He claims it's the BEST NOODLES ON EARTH. They were pretty damn good. Just by chance, I even saw *someone* who reads this blog there!

The day then ended with even more education, as we took the 10-year-old to Krispy Kreme so she could see how donuts are made. She's from the Big Island and told us all the "good stuff" is on Oahu. Seeing as how there's not that much there either, she wanted to see everything she could.

The donuts impressed her, however, I think she was scared off by the kid in front of her - who was screaming incessantly: "Here they come, right now....HERE..COME...THE..DONUTS!!!!!!!!" Good lord. When we left I asked the 10-year-old if she liked it, and she said, "I liked it alot, but I think THAT KID REALLY liked it. Ha - yeah, that's an understatement.

Hi, I'm Tom!

I saw Paycheck and 50 First Dates this weekend. Thank you NETFLIX.

Paycheck starred one Mr. Ben AffLACK. The movie was basically a poor man's MacGyver.

50 First Dates, on the other hand, was great. Although the ending seemed depressing. In fact, both movies were about memory loss, how weird is that? My favorite "repetitive" movie of all time? Groundhog Day. Phil? Phil Connors?

the kids are alright

People wonder why - when you have a kid, you don't see your child-less friends anymore. Not only is it because your old friends don't wanna hang around poop and crying, but also because your child is your priority. And nothing makes it more clear when something bad happens.

Yesterday I put my son on the bed which I never do and I still can't figure out why I decided to. He was really tired, and fell asleep, so I left him. I came back 15 minutes later and he had pulled the pillow over his face. Mind you - I had the pillows way far away but this kid is strong for 5 months old, and somehow he grabbed a hold of it. I grabbed the pillow and shook him and yelled his name, nothing. He was breathing but wouldn't wake up, so I called the doctor, and as I was on the phone he woke up extrememly irritate that I woke him up from his apparently deep sleep. Still I took him in to see the doctor. Luckily it all worked out, but still it was a horrifying experience.

Before I was even thinking of having kids a "friend" of mine said I'd be a bad mother - because I said wanted my kid be the best. Somehow she equated success as being overly pushy or something. We were in our 20's and she didn't know me very well anyway. That's how I look at it. Still it was a rude thing to say. I don't think you can be a bad mother unless you try really really hard. Your instincts kick in when they're born and they are a natural part of you.

Suffice it to say, I'm glad my kid is alive this morning, and he proved it by letting out a big burp. That's my boy.

Press on

I saw this ice cream sandwich maker online. I am a gadget freak, and I don't know if this is necessary, since I usually just make them by hand. However, it reminds me of a musubi maker, and I tend to use that a lot, so who knows.

Last night I felt like eating coffee ice cream so I made some with my new ice cream maker. Then I added some Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered toffee. It came out pretty good. Click here for the recipe...

M-I-C...see you real soon...

Today we took the baby to Disneyland for his first time, it was cool cause Disney has an awesome "Baby Care Center" where moms can go to breastfeed in private. They had very cute MINI toddler toilets too. I was a bit stressed out by the crowds and the heat, but I relieved my stress by lying on the floor of the Mark Twain Steam Ship and taking a nap. I felt like a hobo.

The only down thing was my mom lost her glasses and it was totally like when Marcia lost Mr. Brady's drawings on the boat and he had to present a Yogi Bear poster. If you have no idea what that last sentence meant, then you weren't born in the 70's.

Speaking of being born in the 70's we went with a 10 year old girl, and when we were in line on Star Tours she says to me, "What is this ride?", and I said, "It's a ride based on the movie Star Wars." Blank...stare. Me: "You know...STAR WARS?" As if saying it louder was going to get through to her. Her response to me: "Never saw it."

Dude.

I just then realized that she was a mere ten years old and hello - born in 1994. 1994!! Good lord I'm old. All day my cousin kept saying, "I think they sped this ride up." My response? "They didn't speed up a damn thing, you're in your 30's that's what happened."

"You look like "BABEraham Lincoln."

So with summer here you know what that means. Bad television. The only thing I have been watching on tivo is crappy reality tv, and the first on the list is Bravo's BLOW OUT, starring Jonathan Antin.

Love that show. I guess I love/hate workplace reality tv because it reminds me of my office and the stupid ass sh*t that goes on there. There were times when I felt like I was living one of those lame shows, except there were no cameras.

The antagonists on these shows always claim that they aren't "portrayed" correctly. Gimme a break. If you're an a-hole you are, and no amount of editing can change that.

So tonight's ep contained a cameo by the one and only Notorious C.H.O. Yeah baby. And she looked pretty damn good. Nice hair too. I guess Jonathan's haircuts are worth $500 a pop.

Right.

Lounge-ing around

My Auntie bought the baby a Pottery Barn Kids Chesapeake Lounge Chair. It is too cute. Sure we have to wait a few years for him to be able to use it, but it's cool cause...it's MINI!

I had to really hunt to find a picture of it on the store's website, no that's not my kid, it's some random one posing for the store's promo.

It's DA BOMBe

Why haven't I been posting? My in-laws were here all week, and man was it fun. I really appreciated them being here and I hope they come back soon. Maybe it's just the fact that I was able to speak to other adults...Also, I've been busy teaching myself dreamweaver! Now I can put all my crafty projects together.

So this weekend I finished the Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe, and wow, was it spectactular when we cut it open! It was darn tasty too, if I do say so myself.

If you wanna check out my other craft projects - go to my new webpage - HERE!

Papa don't preach

If you have a father or are a father...

Happy father's day!

Mrs. Ritchie if you're nasty
Esther sings..."Like A Virgin." I like how Madonna changed her name to Esther. I don't care if it is for religious reasons, that's comedy.

Bombe it.
No time to blog.
I can only tell you that for Father's Day I am in charge of desserts and I am making my own version of a Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe as seen on Martha Stewart Living.

Here is a picture of steps 1 and 2 - I lined a metal bowl with plastic wrap, then spread lime sherbet to about 1/2" thick around the bowl, followed by a thinner layer of vanilla ice cream.

If all goes well, when we cut into this thing, it will look like a slice of watermelon.

Step 3 comes tomorrow, hopefully I'll remember to take a picture and post it....

Working out
Oh yeah. The new season of Newlyweds is on. I love it. The first episode she hires her best friend to be her assistant, bad idea. How can she pay a friend to "assist" her? Seems like trouble.

Speaking of jobs, there's this guy at my office who is a total wank. Today a friend of mine told me that the Wank said, "Jenn has made it quite clear that she doesn't like me." HA. I don't know why that made me laugh out loud. Maybe cause I was glad he understood me.

Sure sometimes I feel guilty that I am honest with my feelings, but at least I never lied to the guy's face. And sometimes I change my mind about people. I believe people can change, and so can my perception of them. However this dude, forget it. Let's just say he has the comedic timing of David Brent.

Speaking of idiots at work, last night I watched BBC's The Office Season Two!(again). And my favorite quote was in the outtakes when Tim says, "Here's why I can't stand him... because of all the bands, in the past 50 years of great music, do you know what his favorite is? ........Mike and the Mechanics."

This has been a long, "speaking of" post....

Mini watermelon
Yep. This watermelon is the size of a cantaloupe. And it was delish!

And they will never tear us apart...
You're kidding me with this. According to www.realitynewsonline.com - yeah I read it - otherwise I'd have to watch these horrid shows myself! The winner of the new Mark Burnett (Survivor) reality series about becoming a rock star gets to sing lead for....INXS.

INXS is nothing without Michael Hutchence.

Zip Pac
Wow. I've got over 20,000 hits on this blog. Now that's something!

My in-laws are here for vacation. They asked me what I wanted from Hawaii. I said one can Coffee Glazed Macadamia Nuts. Kyle said, his favorite food, Zippy's Chili.

Now they make little Zippy's combos that come with MINI packages of rice! Aw...how sweet!

Pop!
If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, customer service is important to me. Maybe it's because when I was in retail, even though I was a wee high school student, I took my job seriously and I did it well. I'm sure it had to do with the fact that it was a record store, so I knew my product. Also I think it's my Mom's doing. She always writes letters to companies. It must have rubbed off.

So if there is something wrong with a product, yes, I do take the time to write to the company and tell them. People have told me that it's a waste of time, but heck, they need to know if something's not right.

So here's the story, everytime Kyle goes to Staples Center for a Laker game, I make him buy me a bag of caramel popcorn - I am telling you this is the best caramel popcorn I have ever tasted. It is produced by Popcornopolis in Universal Citywalk, I'd go there if I could, but the baby doesn't like to travel.


After Game One of the NBA finals, Kyle came home with my bag of popcorn. This time it was stale. Not just a little stale, very stale. Since this was the first time in ALL the times I've had it, I decided to drop them an email to see if the bags at Staples Center were fresh. If not, I'd trek on over to City Walk from now on, if I had to. The customer service replied quickly and said they'd replace it and even send samples. I didn't expect anything really, so imagine my surprise when I opened my front door yesterday and found this - a big ol box of 4 cones of popcorn! Yippee!

Popcornopolis is a great company. And as Kyle said, "I must say, that is some damn good caramel popcorn." Go get some!

Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?
So today I thought about going back to work, and I felt sad about leaving my little boy all alone. I think I'll drown my sorrows in this mini Dr. Pepper....

One eyed Willie
Why am I sitting here watching Goonies on cable? Cause I can.

...And cause Kyle isn't home to tell me to just put in the dvd.

Use it to sit in the patch and wait for the Great Pumpkin
Years ago, when I had a minute of spare time, I used to make crafts and sell them at craft shows. Those days are long gone, but I still have the urge to make things for no apparent reason except to fill my free time. Now that I'm stuck home all day the urge is bigger than ever. So as I said earlier, I thought up an idea to start making my Christmas gifts. Well yesterday I got a fire in me and I sewed 8 blankies. If you are on my Christmas list, and don't want to know what you are getting...close your eyes...



Anyway, I made all of those yesterday and now my back hurts. I haven't sewed in a while. Kyle said they just look like big ol pieces of fabric. Oh no my friend, look closer, it's a big ol piece of fabric... but with flannel on the back! So not only does it look pretty, it keeps you warm too. And I sewed the edges twice, resulting in a nice detail...and a bad back.

He's kind of right, it's boring. So I need to think of something, like a nice presentation, maybe a little carrying bag. Anyway, I'm calling these things "blankies" - for use when you watch tv, ride in the car, or take a nap. I need a nap right now.

Money changes everything
When it comes to saving money, I am a freak! I have to have the lowest possible discount. Now that my outings mainly consist of going to the supermarket, I am telling you it's like a challenge.

Every Wednesday the major supermarkets send out flyers for specials for that week. Mostly because of the strike, the markets are now doing this 10 for $10 special, essentially saying the items are marked down to $1. I sit down and plan our meals around what's on sale, then I go club card in hand, plus coupons and get my "shop" on.

So Thursday I head off to the local Ralphs, which, HELLO, have black shopping carts...love it. Sorry, the designer in me can't overlook such a detail. (Remember, I'm the one who won't buy a product if a bad font is used...) Anyway, because of double coupons and the $1 sale I got most of my items for free. My mother in law, who's from Hawaii, was shocked that our markets give double coupons. I was shocked that they didn't! Does anyone know if California the only state that does this? I had no idea. That is so sad, everyone should get double coupons!!

At the bottom of the receipt there is always a print out of your total savings. I am usually very happy with myself and proudly show Kyle the receipt, which is followed by a passive glance and a quick "shrug". But this time, ohhh this time, I actually got a response from him, he said, and I quote, "Wow." This time my total bill was $92.53 but I only paid $48.51. So that means I got 50% off, whoohoo! Yep, I saved $44.02. Give me props dammit.

We are the world
Well I went to my office party today, it was at my boss's house. It was a lot of fun and I realized that I do miss some of those people. Of course the party had a THEME, hello, since we do themed architecture, we theme out everything. So the party's theme was "World Festival" or something to that effect. Anyway, everyone was assigned a foreign country and had to provide food from there. Guess what I was assigned - Hawaii. Cause everyone knows THAT'S a foreign country....

Whatever. I made Spam Musubi, I know some people are afraid of Spam but this is the best way to eat it. And mine is damn good if I do say so myself. I also made a Chocolate Haupia Pie. While I personally don't like coconut, it was Hawaiian enough so whatever.

There was some damn good food there, Philipino pork, Greek lamb, Tamales, Spaetzle, and our personal fave Chilaquiles, good lord that was good. It's sort of weird to have all those different types of food in your stomach tho.

There were tons of kids there. It was a free for all for them, I think it was all the sugar. It's weird to be one of the parents now. I used to be one of the ones sitting on the side going "Shut those kids up!" Uh, wait, I still do that. HA.

You know what the best part was? No, not my co-workers impromptu band they set up in the living room - it was the mini Sierra Mists! I have been looking for those baby half cans of soda FOREVER. I remember drinking those in the 70's but they stopped making them a long time ago. I guess it's cause America started super sizing everything. It's hard for me to drink a full can of soda so there are perfect!

Anyway, they are the cutest thing ever and the hostess told me she got them at Target. Get thee to Target and buy them up - they are so cute!!

It's just sew, sew...
I went to the craft store today for the first time in a long time. I used to go there every weekend. So I'm standing in line with the baby and it's inevitable that someone will start talking to you if you have a kid in a stroller. So the woman behind me says, "Oh what a cute boy, he must be 2 months old." Hrrmmph! The nerve!! Just because my husband and I are short, our kid has to suffer, poor thing. So I corrected her and I said, "No, he's FIVE months old."

I think something was wrong with the lady, seriously, cause she kept talking to herself and told me her kid's name was Madeline....twice. Whatever. Then she said, "What did you do before you had your baby?" And I said, "I used to be an architect..." at the end of that sentence I trailed off. Why did I say "used to?" That is the cardinal sin they tell you not to say, in all the baby books. Because it's not as if you stop being what you are, you're just on hiatus.

Anyway, that got me thinking about my hobbies. Since I'm not working, I have started all my crafts again. But I realized, I get bored easily, one hobby just won't do it. Not only am I doing a friends baby announcements, but I am doing Rusty's wedding invitations, scrapbooking all my baby's pictures, I drew up plans of my grandmother's apartment to make sure her furniture fits,(she's moving a few blocks away, but that's another blog for another day,) and I'm back to baking every other day. And STILL I'm bored.

So I decided this weekend I am going back to sewing. I'm going to start sewing all my christmas gifts right now. Hopefully that will quell this overwhelming need to be constantly doing something. Oh and taking care of the kid, of course.

I'm off to get my sew on....

Grandpa....
So last night I stayed up and watch Grease on cable. Kyle was like, "We have the dvd why are you watching this thing with the commercials.." Why? I dunno - when movies come on tv I can't turn them off.

Speaking of old movies, have you heard they are making a sequel to 16 Candles? Oh yes, Farmer Ted is coming back, and Molly Ringwald has signed on as well. I just saw her on Martha Stewart making cookies, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway - it's called...are you ready....36 CANDLES. Ha - 20 years later I guess. Crazy. But you know I'll be watching it...