A Day at Laguna Beach

I had a really nice day at Laguna beach. I took some random shots of things I thought were cool-looking, and of course the ever-famous toes-buried-in-the-sand picture. I also tried to get a shot of the last of my sunburn. Because I know you care.

Had a teriyaki chicken sand (the "sand" part is just for you Hole) for lunch at Hennessey's Tavern. Scrumptious.

Teaser Pictures

Teaser beach pics, I mainly used my good camera, so you'll have to wait.

Beach-Bound

Well, I'm supposed to be beach-bound today, that is if I can walk. My calves are worse today than they were yesterday! My sunburn is turning brown now, so I'm allowed back in the sun. HA. I'll post lots of pics later, K?

Midnight Margarita

A little midnight margarita in a Tupperware cup. Whatever works, right? Then I did a little skinny dippin'; albeit alone, but still fun! Yeehaw! LOL. I know, I need help.

Louie goes swimming.

Lou-bear went swimming today. He did not like it. It was pretty funny, though.

Sixteen Hours

OMG. I cannot walk. My body hates me. Sixteen hours at Disneyland almost killed me. Blisters, more sunburn, and MY CALVES. If I walk, I cry, if I flex my foot, I scream and fly onto the roof. Next vacation will require no walking. I feel so OLD.

Oh, and I'm going back to Disneyland on Monday. (Shakes head in hands.) I have been in bed most of the day, and now I seriously need to go find coffee.

Bengal BBQ & Hair Frizz

My hair is frizzing into oblivion, and for lunch we had Bengal BBQ hot and spicy skewers which were YUMMY. I was surprised because Disney food generally sucks. Waiting now to get on "Soarin' over California" with our "Fast Pass".

Thunder Mountain

Wheee!

Fun but it's fricking HOT.

My Beloved Space Mountain

Space Mt. Rocks!

Embracing my inner child.

Getting ready for Disneyland Resort! Yes, I am 8 years old. You have to embrace your inner child sometimes. Yup, I'm taking the Crackberry. Shut up.

Peeping Landscapers

I'm a little cranky, or so I'm told. The air-conditioning broke, and I hurt my toe the day before Disneyland. Mother of hell. Then there were the neighbor's Mexican landscapers staring down at me swimming when I was here alone. It's a good thing I took 8 years of Spanish. I said a few things and they smiled and shaped right up. LOL. Then I took his picture. Don't mess with CrazyDogMama.

More advice from Dr. Juice.

Also advice from Dr. Juice. To kill the sunburn pain. I am lucky, though, it will go in as a tan for me. Which rocks.

Dr. Juice

Taking Dr. Juice's advice with the Aloe. We're off to Disneyland tomorrow!

Lobstered

CRAP. I lobstered myself. Going to have to stay in the shade today. Oh well, guess I'll have to sip margaritas and play on the Crackberry. It's a tough life here. I have to be careful with the tequila, because it is truth serum for me, and I'm already TMI girl. Plus, it makes me do other questionable things.

Come on in, the water's fine!

Maxin' the relaxin'.

In order to keep from sizzling myself, I'm taking a break from the sun and sitting at the home bar playing on the laptop with a margarita. I wish this was my life EVERY DAY.

Biagio's pizza to the rescue.

Even vacations for me have a dark side. (Bet you've never heard that before from someone on vacation.) My poor grandpa who is in a Demetia home here, fell yesterday and we got a call. My mom and I went down to the hospital at 8pm last night. He is OK, but it was very hard to see him.

On a lighter note, California speed limits are higher than Washington's, and I feel like Mario freakin' Andretti when I drive.

I did get to go pick up some of my favorite pizza last night (YUM) but Mr. Cuervo had to be put on hold. Such is life.

Pure Bliss

Took a most refreshing swim and now it is nappy time in the sun, suckers!

Arrival

CrazyDogMama has ARRIVED! Um, sorry about more icky feet pics, but the first thing I had to do was stick them in the pool. And here is my buddy Jose Cuervo, although a tad early to start with the margaritas. I'll wait an hour. LOL.

We do have some earthquake damage. *sigh*

Passing Magic Mountain

We'll be there in an hour or so. We're dead. Need sleep.

Pics include some lake near the Grapevine, and Magic Mt. which I loved as a teen, but have been informed by Juice and Hole that the late 30's and crazy rollercoasters don't pair as well as expected. Noted.

Redding, CA

Cough, cough, just hit Redding and you can see and smell smoke from the California fires.

Here are some more awesome pics because there is nothing else to do. I know how much you love my feet. Everyone does. LOL.

I've got night shift, so later, dues.

Exciting Road Pics

SUPER exciting road pics. Don't worry, things will get more interesting once I hit the margaritas. After we arrive, that is, no drinking and driving here.

Just hit Salem, OR.

Here is the best little trooper (Lou-dog) in the world, being super good, and super cute. Also pictured is a much-needed Carl's Jr. break! I haven't had Carl's Jr. Since like, 1987. MMMMMMMM! So very tasty, I must say. My table was the top of the dog crate. I am creative, but doesn't that suit a "CrazyDogMama" perfectly?

We just hit Salem, Oregon. We're coming up on my favorite part of the trip soon, which is the Mt. Shasta area. It is so pretty in the Summer, and they have the BEST rest stops. LOL.

Forced Narcissism

Yes, I am goofing off and photographing it per usual. We just left and I'm trying to expend some energy because I'm all hyped up and cooped up in a minivan, now.

Also, my blogging is going to seem narcissistic on this trip because I've been warned that if I post anyone else's picture, I won't live. Pussies. No sense of adventure.

First Road Trip Pic

Behold the first road trip pic! It doesn't get any more exciting than this, does it? We have the cooler filled to the brim with the very necessary "Starbucks Double Shots" and "Rockstar Lattes".

Do I know how to travel, or what? I didn't get beef jerky, though. I will at the first stop though, because I'll need protein. There is no such thing as "eating healthy on a road trip", unless you are one of those responsible/sensible types, but no such types exist in my world. This is all about caffeine, fast food and hauling ass. Are you with me?

Two hours of sleep isn't bad, right?

Insomnia bodes well on road trips, though. I stayed up until about 2 am and woke up at 4 am. I think I'm too excited. I'm almost done packing, but I'm having trouble with that. I'm taking my laptop, but that will have to be packed last. Obviously. I've got to get Magadog to the kennel by 8 am or something crazy like that. I didn't eat all day yesterday except for my coffee, and then I had a Totino's Party Pizza at around midnight. How sad is that?  I actually like them, go figure. I'm a little antsy, so bear with me. I'll start taking pics once I'm on the road, right now I just got out of the shower and I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So many things to do!

OMG Packing Sucks!

Packing. When did packing get so complicated and stressful? I keep changing my mind about everything and *apparently* I have too much stuff. My mom is freaking out that we won't have enough room in her MINIVAN. Really, mom? But it's 2 whole weeks! It is a bit ridiculous that this is stressing me out, but I need certain things, or the trip will not be all that it can be. Damnit. I'm also trying to load my iPod and it only holds so many songs, and it's a road trip, so this is necessary. I need a beer or something. It will be OK Cheryl; it will be OK. Breathe.

Taking you with me virtually!

I am officially on vacation! From here on out, I could post at any given time. I am going to take you with me virtually, like it or not. I'm not promising the best blogging EVER, but I'll try. This is very exciting for me. Not only am I on vacation, but I have a Crackberry for the first time on a road trip and will be able to document everything for nostalgic moments later when I'm stuck at my desk, or my little house of solitude in the mountains. It will give me something to do to pass the time, and of course forever capture those fun and/or hilarious moments that will no doubt come! OK, let's go!

Getting Amped Up

I'm leaving tomorrow and NOT PACKED. So, what do I do? Get a triple espresso. (My favorite coffee stand here in Sultan.) That will help me calm down. HA. Going to have to do a half day at work, or I'll never get everything done.

Fancy Nails

Here are my new fancy nails, and I am as I type, I'm also getting fancy toes. Some things in life are good. THEN, I'm heading over to Juice's house for nacho night, starring Hole and Amy. Good times! They are starting the foot massage, gotta go!

Sorry, not sorry.

The only thing that was TOO BIG (I love it when I'm smaller than I realized) were the shorts that came with the blue hoodie. No biggie! To tell you the truth, the swim dress fits, but I could have actually bought a smaller size. I'm having a heart attack over that!

Anyway, if you had seen me setting up to take these pictures, you would have died laughing. I hope you appreciate the creativity here, people. LOL. I do realize that you were all on pins and needles waiting for me to update you on this. Oh, and for all my male readers, sorry not sorry. Can I post something for you guys? Something about cars? Lingerie?

Got my new eyeballs.

My new glasses came in today and I LOVE them! They aren't too different from my last ones except that they were more expensive and a little darker red, and Christian Dior instead of Lulu Guinness. I can see now! I just got off work and am running to grab a bite, then go tanning, then going to target to get some vacation supplies, then to Costco to get an additional memory card for my camera. These are all very important things. I will be in the poor house in approximately 2 weeks, but oh well, what the hell else is new?

They told me my package will arrive today or tomorrow, but I don't know if I believe them. The Post Office that it is sitting at is an hour away, or I would just go get it. (They would be closed by the time I got there.) Only me. This would only happen to me. You know it will arrive 30 seconds before I leave, right? If it is there when I get home, I will be shocked. But happy! I am really frothing at the bit (does anyone say that anymore?) because I don't know if everything will fit, and if I don't have a bathing suit, well, it could get interesting because I am GOING swimming. Period. I'm sure I'll be updating you about it sometime later tonight because blogging is addictive and obsessive. I don't know why some of you don't do it. It's fun, really! Even if no one is reading or listening, which is not so different from actual life. I'm way chattier online than in person. If you've ever watched "Dead Like Me" (the former Showtime series) the main character Georgia (George) is ME personified. Seriously. Deadpan humor, sarcastic, pessimistic, cynical, a smartass and generally not a happy person who likes to cuss occasionally. I look thrilled, don't I?

Earthquake in CA

Have you heard about the nice earthquake in Southern California? Just a few miles from where I will be traveling in a few days. Neat, huh? Chino Hills had a 5.4, which is not a huge quake, but in a populated area like LA, you'll rock and roll. Some friends I have there said it was long and pretty jolting, with tons of aftershocks. No reports of any major damage or casualties. My positive and optimistic outlook thinks it could be a precursory earthquake. I guess I'll find out. They closed down the rides at Disneyland for inspection. This is what really concerns me. I'm going there. and it BETTER be open! Stupid earthquakes.

Good Morning Internet

I need coffee. Stat. Did my 3 am thing again, but just laid there counting ceiling bumps. It was too cozy, and the dogs were snoring. Didn't want to wake the darlings up. Pfft.

I was packing in my head. You know how you lay there and think "OK, I need to remember to bring this and this and that, and OMG, don't forget THAT! Maybe it's just me. My cute new clothes are supposed to arrive sometime today (Yay!) so it will be like Christmas in the CrazyDogMama household tonight. I may take pics. I'm praying they all fit, you know how ordering online is risky. I may need to call my therapist after trying on the bathing suit. I have not purchased one in over 10 years. I could be horrified and pass out. Don't expect pics of me in it unless you want to send me a fifth of tequila first. LOL.

I'm taking my video camera even though it is a dinosaur. It's digital, but its big, not cute like the new ones. HEY! Something to add to my Amazon Wishlist! Maybe I'll post some video clips if I am properly persuaded. I love electronic toys! (Shut up, you know what I mean.)

A Walk

I took a nice walk outside today on a break and snapped this very familiar pose of myself. Perhaps someday you will see the other half of my head, or maybe an arm. Happy Monday. Bah.

Preparing for Vacation

I think a part of me is sad for this vacation because I will be staying at my grandma's house, and the reality of her death will probably set in when I arrive. There are so many memories there, and my poor grandfather is down the street in a Dementia home, which also saddens me. He doesn't remember who I am, and he was such a great grandpa, always playing with me and telling me stories. They were a huge part of my childhood. It also may be the last time I get to spend time at the house/pool because my mom has to sell it eventually. So, that is probably contributing to my funk. I'm trying to think positive; that they would both love the fact that I am enjoying it and want to be there, and that I will have fun. Laguna beach is close by, Disneyland is 20 minutes away, and my favorite Pizza Place "Biagio's" is awaiting my return.

I spent all day today grooming the dumb dogs. I am completely exhausted. That really takes it out of me. It took SIX hours, and the hair/mess clean-up is just as bad. I actually have a blister on my thumb from the grooming scissors. It is one more thing to cross off of my "to do list before vacation" though. I went to see the Pet Lodge where poor Magadog will have to stay, and I was really impressed with it. It is clean, and the people are super nice. It is a huge, beautiful facility (Paradise Pet Lodge) so I have great confidence they will take good care of her. I worry about these things; these dogs are my kids. At this point I don't know who is luckier, Maggie getting to stay at doggie Club Med, or Louie who gets to get dunked in the pool in Cali.

So, have I rambled on long enough about stuff you don't care about? I'm tired, but I still need to make dinner (at 8 pm) and clean my office. My office is a disaster. It is usually all tidy and organized, but since inheriting all my dad's cookbooks, and a bunch of pictures and whatnot, I just haven't found room for everything, and the office is the catch-all. I may be trying to do too much in one day, but I really need to get it done. There is some stuff I need to find to take on vacation and everything is just chaos. Well, I better get to it.

Just lock me up and throw away the key.

It is less than a week before I go on a nice vacation, and I'm in a funk. What the hell is wrong with me? I mean, WTF? I'm excited and all that, but all of a sudden, I'm all down. I hate it. I think I am completely and utterly hopeless. I don't even know why I'm blogging this.

What is it with 3 am?

3 am is apparently CrazyDogMama time. Maybe I don't have insomnia, maybe I'm just nocturnal. Like a bat. Almost every single night I wake up at 3 am. There is not a whole lot to do at 3 am. It is so quiet here out in the sticks. I usually just lay here in bed and grab the Crackberry or think, but sometimes I just have to get up. Some say 3 am is the "witching hour" or "dead time", the time when the dark world is supposed to be at its peak. All the weird stuff that has ever happened to ME, has happened in broad daylight, never at 3 am; although it is auspicious that I wake up at 3 am on the dot every night, don't you think?

I've tried counting sheep, but it makes me giggle because my sheep are retarded. Sometimes they try to jump together and run into each other in mid-air, sometimes they are wearing Superman capes and sometimes they trip and fly INTO the fence. I know, just when you thought my blog couldn't get any weirder. I really hate taking sleeping pills. Even when I'm depressed and want to escape the world, when I wake up it feels like someone hit me over the head with a baseball bat. No good.

Too bad some of you don't live closer with the same 3 am problem, we could hang out and do stuff! You know you want to.

He's going to give himself a concussion.

When Louie eats, he bashes his little doghead against the cabinets. I thought I would share.

I now have peeps.

Crackberry.com, it exists. Awesome!

Rough Night

I was all excited thinking about vacation and playing on the computer, but then I got a little sleepy and crawled into bed. It was a rough night from then on, and the morning has been a little sucky too. I'm sorry I can't really explain, but I am temporarily what I call "stalled". If that makes any sense. It is going to be a short day for me so perhaps I'll log on later. Thanks for understanding. Here is a good quote:

“The pain of your past is the preparation for your future. If you ever get that realization, if you ever can lay hold of that revelation, it will change you forever."

9 More Days

Until beach, sand, waves and sunshine! Are you jealous? I need this vacation in a bad way. A very bad way. I hope it goes well, you know my life.

A million billion things to do.

I am going nuts trying to get everything ready for vacation. I forgot how much prep there is when you are going to be gone more than a few days. Errands! Cleaning! Shopping! I will take pics of some of the cute new clothes I got as soon as they arrive. I got some online for a GREAT deal. I got a lavender tank top, a turquoise terrycloth lounger, a black swim dress, and I even got a beach bag! Here are the catalog pics, what do you think?

Driving to Work

Wet hair, classic CrazyDogMama look, thrilled, half asleep. Nothing new.

Phone call at 5 am.

When the phone rings that early, I jump 3 feet in the air. The first thought that enters my head is "OMG, who is dead or in the hospital?" I rubbed the goo out of my eyes so that I could read the caller ID and made out the name "Illinois". Illinois? Not Dave Smith or John Doe, but Illinois. I told Illinois to go to hell and to call back at a decent hour. Besides, I'm waiting for a call from Florida.

Inverted Nipple?

Nothing of interest has happened today. Nothing good, nothing bad. I worked. I had a burrito and a water at Taco Time for lunch for $1.99. I'm going over to my mom's tonight. I'm really tired. I'm not particularly cranky, but I'm not smiley either. Just nothingness. Boring. I may drink a glass of wine at my mom's, which could possibly stimulate a more exciting blog post later.

Juice: I was thinking. I have seen you naked before, and I do not remember any inverted nipple. Is this new, or did I miss it? I may need confirmation. No, I'm not a lesbian.

I'm copying Juice.

I am supposed to list 6 random things about myself. I don't have anything as exciting as Annie's inverted nipple, but I'll give it a shot.

1. I like to play with my dog's ears. When they lay in my lap, I'm constantly fiddling with their ears. It is fuzzy goodness.

2. I HAVE to sleep on my stomach. All sprawled out. I do not delicately lay on my side like a lady should, no, not me.

3. I like the movie Legally Blonde. (Shut it.) The reason I like it is because I love how she is nice to everyone, and everyone likes her or ends up liking her. I want to be like that.

4. I cannot name all the Presidents and I don't care. I could learn it quickly because I have a photographic memory, but I don't want to. History was my least favorite subject in school, but I am constantly reading current events.

5. I hate wearing turtlenecks, I feel like I am going to choke.

6. I get irritated beyond belief if someone turns off or changes a song before it completely finishes.

The countdown and other stuff.

TWELVE days, people, TWELVE days until I am on vacation! Pray a meteor doesn’t hit or something before I go, I feel like I’ve been crawling around in the desert and now I’m getting close to the oasis; dehydrated and moaning. Dang, I won’t know how to act on vacation.

Question for Juice (or anyone who might know): How do you post pics on Blogger with your Blackberry? If I take pics with my phone, I can access them, and it says, “uploading pic”, but it never actually does. FRUSTRATING. I may just have to wait to post pics until I get back. I don’t have that kind of patience. If anyone has the magic, let me know.

About this morning’s post: Sometimes when I look at myself in the mirror, I don’t recognize my own face. It is really strange. How I see myself without the mirror is different than the actual reflection. I like the me in my head better. I’ve changed a lot in the last 10 years, physically, mentally and emotionally. You could say it is natural maturation, but it’s more than that. It is more like a complete metamorphosis, or at least it feels like it. Everything I said I wouldn’t let happen, happened, even down to having a “desk job”. I remember telling myself I would never sit at a damn desk all day! HA. I also said I would never get fat, I would never get married young, blah, blah, blah. It goes to show you, you just CANNOT predict these things. But now that I’m here, now what? Anyway, I’m going all over the place with this post. I need to collect my thoughts and re-group.

Mirror Mirror

Do you ever look in the mirror and say, "What happened to you?". If you don't, consider yourself very, very lucky. I am thankful for my life, don't get me wrong, but nothing has really turned out the way I thought it would. There are good things in my life, and there are bad, but mostly I'm asking myself, how did I get here?

Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

No more garage sales. I'm done. Made some good money, but I can't sit and swat flies anymore. People are just strange, some of the things they say while shopping in a garage sale crack me up. Louie complained about the altered feeding schedule. FYI, no more ghost activity as of yet.

Um...

I heard someone call my name. No one was there. Then, the bathroom light came on. BY ITSELF. I think I need to stop watching "A Haunting" every week, and/or get some sleep. Or get my Bible out. Either I'm going completely insane, or some crazy shit just happened. Shut up. I know what you're thinking. I can hear from here. If anything else freaky happens, I'm moving. End of story.

Garage Sale

Garage sales are lots of work. I sat a lot, but I had to be chatty, and that to me is exhausting. All my neighbors decided to come over and camp out and talk my ear off, and honestly, I'm not much for small talk. I'm way too intense for small talk. I do it to be nice, but I don't really enjoy it. I'm so tired I can't even nap. I tried, but I just laid there with my eyeballs open. Now I'm hungry.

All my pics today are boring. Strangers don't seem to appreciate their picture taken. Go figure. I did take some nice pics the other day, but I'm too tired to upload them right now. I have to do this all over again tomorrow. Hope I do as well as I did today, I made some bank!

First weirdo of the day.

I'm having a garage sale, and this guy drove his car by, screeched to a halt, RAN over to the recliner for sale, pushed on the arm rests twice and RAN back to his car and drove away.

WTF? He was too quick in his little flip flops to get a picture of him, sorry Hole. I was way too mesmerized by the whole thing. LOL!

Flirting at the Sultan Bakery

So, I have to tell you about dinner last night. I'll shorten the story because I don't feel like typing that much, but here goes. My mom was there and is crazy like me, and loud because she needs a hearing aid. (I'm not allowed to post pics of her, I promised, but I'm going to talk about her, and she can't do anything about it.) The first thing that happened was I was feeling cheeky, and that usually presents a story. We were at the Sultan Bakery, and you have to go up to the counter and order dinner, then sit down and wait for them to bring it to you. (Real fancy-like.) I was in line behind a guy by himself, about my age, maybe older. He ordered a big platter meal and two cokes. Because of the two cokes, the cashier thought we were together and said, "Together on the ticket?" I piped up with "Oh no, we're not together." Then the cheekiness kicked in and I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Unless you want to be." He looked at me, smiled and then turned 4 sheets of red and stuttered. (I love it when men do that. LOL) He said, "Oh, um, that would be great, but my wife would probably get mad." I giggled and told him I was just messing with him and that my husband would be pissy about it too. He laughed. (Shut up, I can't help it.)

OK, then I went and sat down after having my fun. The conversation over dinner was pretty funny. Since the guy from the counter decided to sit right next to us, he heard every word. (Super.) He even interjected into the conversation several times. He had a good sense of humor, and you have to remember this is a small town and everyone talks to everyone.

After we left and got into the car, this is the conversation my mother and I had:

Mom: That guy was flirting with you.
Me: No, he wasn't, I embarrassed him at the counter.
Mom: So? He was flirting with you.
Me: He is married mom, and knows I am too, he wasn't flirting, I just broke the ice and you and I were acting like maniacs.
Mom: (laughing) That doesn't change the fact that he was flirting with you.
Me: OMG, mom, will you stop with that? It's SULTAN, everybody talks.
Mom: No, they don't, he couldn't take his eyes off of you.
Me: (shaking my head) I spilled Au Jus sauce all down the front of me, of course he was looking at me, I'm a freak.
Mom: That's not the reason he was looking at you. Did you notice he was finished with his dinner long before us and still sat there?
Me: We're not talking about this anymore.
Mom: Oh look, here he comes!
Me: MOTHER!
Mom: (laughing)

Mood: Stable

For now. I have been having major anxiety about some stuff this week, and today is the first day I feel OK. I've hurled my dinner up the last 4 nights in a row because of it, and it is just ridiculous. (I'm not bulimic, I'm not pregnant, and I don't have the flu. It's anxiety) So, I'm STARVING, but a little afraid to eat. I'm going to try a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and see how I do with that.

I got off work early today, YAY! I have a super exciting weekend planned of making money by selling my stuff, but hey, sitting around playing on the internet doesn't actually sound that bad. Maybe I'll take some pictures of the weirdos that come by. We get some doozies around here, let me tell you.