Confession Thursday!

So a few little confessions, can you relate?

I only take out the garbage once a week, I am only one person so it does not fill up quick and if it does, I will cram it in there until trash day, but I have not used my outside trash can in over a year, it is stuck behind my car, bike and other stuff, so I use the neighbors garbage can, is that bad?  I wait till they go to work and I run down and drop it in their can right before the trash man shows up! 

I have not done the dishes since Saturday, I know, GROSS, but I have just lacked motivation and Gracie does not seem to mind!

I am scared to death of the bread aisle at the grocery store, I swear it is haunted.  Often when I am at the store and I am walking down the bread aisle bread will fall off the shelves, I swear!  Can you say CREEPY?  OMG, I was at Stater Brothers tonight and sure enough two loafs of bread fell off the shelf.  I think it is the carb gods that are telling me to just say no to bread.  Don't believe me, ask my Mom, I tell her all the time about my bread aisle frights.

Secretly inside I think that when Gracie gets a hold of my shoes and runs around the house like a mad woman it is hilarious, but I don't tell her that and I act all mad in hopes that she will leave my poor shoes alone, they have enough bite marks in them.

Every night this week after work I have had a nice tall glass of chocolate milk, tonight I had two! Yum! I justify it as I need my calcium.

Lately I have only been watching two shoes, Intervention and Hoarders, not sure why, but I love those shows.  Maybe it's because they make me feel so normal, I think I need an intervention. 

I spilled a little milk on the floor tonight, I did not cry over it, I let Gracie lick it up, she is a great cleaning service.

I made this pasta salad for the reception after Rudy's funeral tomorrow, I may or may not have a little of this tomorrow morning for breakfast, I know disgusting, but it is soooooo good. I also made Jalapeno Dip, but it does not photograph well or serve as a breakfast food!

I went with the one on the Left!

After a lot of thought, careful consideration and suggestions from my readers, I mean really this is serious business I went with the erin condren phone case that was on the left.  Just in case you need a refresher on the choices you can click here to see the dilemma I was facing.  My phone case arrived today and it is just as cute as can be!

Yep, it appears that the picture is currently upside down, I have no idea why!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!
(that is the phone case, not the upside down photo)

Where all of my free time went!

This is how I have been spending my weekends and early Monday and Wednesday mornings!  Nothing better than an early morning with nature, last Wednesday there were two dolphins that spent their morning an arms distance away from us, it was the coolest thing ever.  Enjoy the video, I'm not in it cause I was in the harbor learning how to steer, but it gives you an idea of what I do. 

HIKE HO!

R.I.P. Rudy!

It was a very very sad day today for the staff of the City of Rancho Santa Margarita and for PV Maintenance.  Yesterday late afternoon the City lost one of their most favorite Public Works employee's, Rudy Trujillo.  Rudy and his crew were working out on Antonio in RSM repairing a sidewalk when all of a sudden Rudy's throat started hurting him, he sat down for a minute to rest and he had a massive heart attack and died, he was only 45 years old.  His coworkers called 911 and started CPR right away, he was rushed to the hospital but there was nothing they could do, he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving to the hospital, the Doctor's told his coworkers that he died instantly and there was no way they could of saved him.  It was seriously the saddest thing hearing the news shortly after arriving to work this morning, he was the nicest guy and everyone loved him, lately he had been working more in Aliso Viejo than in RSM so I would see him while out walking Gracie or when running errands, so I would always honk, wave or shout their names.  I ran into him on Tuesday at work and told him that we were so glad to have him back in RSM, little did we know that would be the last time we would see him.  Rudy leaves behind a large family of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews who are all probably still in shock of what happened, this has really gotten to me, just thinking about what Super Dad went through last week and how this could of been our family.   Please send his family and the PV Maintenance crew good thoughts and prayers, they could really use them at this time.   

So, the only picture I have of Rudy (cause it would be weird if I had pictures of him) is from my friend Carrie's blog, she took her family to the City of Aliso Viejo's SnowFest (I will never go, since they stole that event from the City of Laguna Hills, that was my event and all of my ideas they copied and I am still bitter about it) anyways, Rudy was working the event and Carrie happened to capture a picture of him, more like a picture of his backside (see orange arrow above the guy in the red shirt) and this post would be incomplete without a photo, so there you go!  We used to joke with PV that you could see their guys from the moon cause their shirts were so bright, well now I guess Rudy will be able to see the guys from heaven!

R.I.P. Rudy, we will miss you!

Some Kind of Wonderful!

G-dog and I did exactly what we planned to do all weekend long, absolutely NOTHING!  It was a beautiful thing, we stayed home all weekend, wore comfy clothes (me, not Gracie) and watched mindless television as it poured outside.  There was hot chocolate drinking for me and napping for G! 

Ya, there was a lot of hot chocolate flowing throughout the weekend!

Can you say dumb dog?  Seriously, Gracie has a nice plush bed made by her Aunt Kathy and she chose to sleep on a dirty beach towel that we were using to wipe our wet feet before coming into the house, oh well to each their own.

Family Friday Recap!

Family Friday, just a quick recap of the family on this FAB Friday! 

First off, my favorite brother in law Mike was featured here on DesignMilk.com, not exactly sure what the site is but I can tell you it is about architecture and some of his designs are on there! 

Way to go Mike! 

Second, Super Dad gave us a scare this morning (he is ok), turns out Super Dad was on a business trip and was staying in Minden, Nevada, apparently he was not feeling well all day yesterday and around 11:00pm decided he needed to go to the hospital, well he could not find the hospital so he called 911 to get directions (sounds kind of funny, but totally legit), he walked into the hospital, told them he needed an EKG, cause he thought his heart was beating irregularly, sure enough his heart was out of whack, they knocked him out, shocked his heart and sent him back to the hotel, actually one of the male nurses took him back to the hotel, cause they would not let him drive himself back (that was really nice).  This is the short version of the story, he was smart enough to recognize there was a problem, took himself to the hospital, they took great care of him and we are all so thankful he is ok!  Super Mom on the other hand is super sick with a horrible cold, so between the two of them last night they were a complete disaster. 

Thirdly, little Miss. Mari is ready to catch some Leprechaun's tonight with the trap she made at school, hopefully they will leave her some chocolate coins tonight.

Fourthly, I accomplished everything on my to do list today and I am all set to enjoy this wet and rainy weekend all snuggled up on my couch, I am so excited to do absolutely nothing!  If you are in the mood to go nothing as well, please feel free to come on over to the la casa de mudry.

Fifthly, I have no updates on Ryan & Shannon, they are probably busy unpacking and getting settled in their new place, so I am sure all is well with them! :)

But, most importantly, we are all so glad Super Dad is ok and he will be coming home tonight!

Officially the WEEKEND!

As of 7:31pm today my weekend has officially started, woohoo!  Not sure if I have ever mentioned it, but I seriously love working a 9/80 schedule, there is nothing better than having every other Friday off!  I have to admit that it does make for some mighty long days at the community center and dealing with the public, but it is seriously awesome that I no longer have to use my precious time off to go and do the un-fun things like go to the Dentist or to get my car serviced, now I can do all of those things on my Friday off and bank all of paid time off to do something fun, maybe I should use some of my free time to find someone to do fun things with, hmmm?  Anyways, I am off tomorrow and I am sooo looking forward to this wet and rainy weekend so much so that I plan to get all of the errands and chores that need to be done tackled tomorrow, so I can curl up on the couch and watch movies all weekend long.  I plan on wearing sweats all weekend, eating my weight in food, having a warm pot of soup on the stove, maybe worked on my blog book (the first attempt was a bust), have every warm and cozy blanket out and the heater on keeping Gracie and I warm and toasty!  So, in order to complete the items listed above I must take care of the items below, this is what my Friday will look like tomorrow!

-Gym (see above; eating my weight in food)

-Facial (everyone needs a lil pampering)

-Gracie to the Vet for a shot (she is gonna hate me)

-Drop my taxes off (come on BIG money)

-Target

-Trader Joe's

-Mission Mall

-Pet Store (Gracie will kill me if we were to run out of food)

-Redbox (see above; watching movies all weekend long)

-Clean the house (don't want to think about what needs to get done while enjoying my food & movies)

-Shower (will most likely need one after everything above is completed)

-Dinner & Drinks with friends (they might appreciate the shower!)

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, I will try to update the blog from my couch!

Stay dry!

Gracie Goes to School, BIG Fail!

For all of my FACEBOOK pals, you may or may not of seen my status update on Saturday that said

"Took Gracie to obedience class today, let's just say she was a holy terror and you will get to read about it in the paper on Friday! AWESOME!"  Well, most of that is true, Gracie was a holy terror, we did make it in to the paper, but it came out today and thank goodness there was not any mention of her horrible no good behavior!  Let's just say that the obedience instructor does not believe in pinch collars (you know the one with spikes on it, well, I do!), so her leash was hooked to her regular oh so cute cupcake collar and the instructor used treats and a clicker for the training.  Well, my cute little Gracie is not as dumb as she looks, she knew that her pinch collar was out of service for the hour and boy oh boy did I get worked over.  Gracie is also totally food driven and will do anything for a morsel of food, so I am sure she was in dog heaven when the treats came out.  Everyone had a bag of treats and the dog would get rewarded every time they followed a command, lets just say all of the dogs did really well except for Gracie, Gracie would wait for the other dogs to do their sit or stay and as soon as the treat was released she would dive bomb the treat and beat the other dogs to it.  OMG!  BAD DOG!   When Gracie was not stealing treats she was dragging me all over the park, drinking all of the water the instructor brought, stepping in the water bowl, tearing apart the toys that were brought to class and at one point found the bag where all of the treats came from and practically got her head stuck in it, can you say embarrassing?  The best part was is that I think I totally jinx myself, before class started I was thinking Gracie will do great, she is almost 4 years old and we will be in class with puppies, HA, who was I kidding, I had the worst dog there!  And yes, the Orange County Register was out there snapping pictures of the class and lil Miss. Trouble!

http://www.ocregister.com/news/dog-344361-clicker-class.html

 Erin Mudry, a Community Services coordinator for the city of Rancho Santa Margarita, works with her dog Gracie during Saturday's obedience class. Mudry said she wanted to check on how well the class was received by participants. "They all seemed to like it," she said.

Can you say horrible picture of me? OMG, the camera adds 10lbs. right? And that posture, not good!

I see your treats!

 Oh and just in case you all thought this was a one time bad dog experience, check out what she did to her bed yesterday!

The mess she left after tearing off the cover of her bed and chewing up the foam insert.

The foam insert looks like a shark got it!

All photo's of the obedience class were taken by the OC Register.

Just for the Record

Great news folks, I survived last week!  I know my faithful readers have probably been worried sick about me after my last post and since I have not been back to blogging since my near mental breakdown on Wednesday!  Just for the record, I rounded out my week like this...

Friday afternoon in my office!  My brother keeps telling me to stop blogging about work, he thinks I am going to get fired, I say pish posh, I have got stories to tell!

My friend Carrie attended the baby shower that we worked together putting these little thank you notes together for over the weekend, her sister Monica found the ribbon and assembled them on Friday, I think they turned out great!  I stole kindly borrowed the picture from Carrie's blog.

I am in the process of bringing the red suit out of retirement, I have not completely come out of retirement but I needed a new swimsuit so in the spirit of modified swim lesson retirement I hit up Sport Chalet over the weekend and bought myself a new suit.  As you can see there is only a little bit of red on it representing my semi-retired swim instructor status.

I also needed the suit so I could take a swim test this weekend for my new hobby, kind of funny the swim instructor taking a swim test, but not to worry, I passed with flying colors.

Ryan and Shannon moved today, kind of a last minute decision due to the wet and rainy weather forcasted for next weekend (their scheduled move in day), so Grammy & Grampy babysat our sweet little Caroline.  She was still there when I got there for dinner so I got to finally see her in action.

Please ignore the crazy aunt noises I was making in the background, I could not control it! Be sure to turn your monitor so you can see my wrong direction video.

I finally put away all of my Christmas gifts, yes, I know it is March, I have been busy!  I got the clarisonic Mia this year and I finally charged it and I am going to use it tonight, I cannot wait, I am hoping I am on my way to clear skin, wish me luck!

I really want to order one of those erin condren iphone cases, but I am struggling on which one to get, I think they are all so cute, but I just cannot make up my mind!  PLEASE HELP!

I really like the one on the left or one of these minus the last name on mine.

Again the one on the left, or....

Again the one on the left!

Please help me decide, I cannot make such a life altering decision without you!  If you do not like any of them, please go here and look at the other options!  Oh and please don't look at the price, I know they are ubber expensive, but in my defense I have a gift card (thank Katie)!

That is all for now!  Gracie is snoring and that is an indicator that it is time for me to go to bed too!  I have to be at the beach at 6:00am to get my hike ho on (fancy outrigger talk), hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Gonna Go Howl at the Moon!

I don't even know where to start, OMG, I know the full moon was last night, but it is still making people crazy!  Let's just say I worked hard all day meaning work really kicked my b u t t, I was swamped the whole day putting out fires here and there, solving everyone's problems, being ultra cheerful and nice till it gave me a headache, etc. 

Here is a quick rundown of the day......

-Start off the day with another FREAKIN email from a pain in the behind instructor, who shall remain nameless but she has the same name as my four legged pal and every time time I think of her I want to say "ALOHA" as in goodbye and never contact me again!

-I answer the Community Center phone all cheerful and happy and I hear someone on the other end practically yelling at me cause she needs to make a FREE tax appointment and we only return her calls while she is at work and how is she going to make an appointment if she does not have access to a phone during the day.  Thought #,1 umm, well you are calling me during the day, so I think you have a phone.  I grab the appointment book and tell her I have a few questions I need to ask her, she gets pissed and tells me she is going to get fired for being on the phone. Thought #2, umm, why don't you call to make your appointment during your lunch break, actually that thought came out of my mouth.  She hangs up on me!  Thought #3, well I guess making that appointment was not as important as you thought, it was lovely chatting with you!

-Lady calls all upset cause she cannot seem to register for the Zumba Gold class online.  I talk her off the ledge and tell her it will be ok!  I look up her account and she has added herself to her household three times (I hope those are not individual personalities or this is gonna be a long phone call).  I cave and totally break the work rules and tell her I will register her over the phone a HUGE no no!  I go to register her and she is still logged in online.  I tell her to log out, but we now have to wait 30 minutes for our system to recognize that she is offline, I tell her I will call her back in 30 minutes to figure it out.  I forget to call her back and go to lunch (oops), I panic cause I forgot to call her back (I am all about customer service these days), so I race back to my desk and call her, she does not answer, I leave a message.  She calls me back and our secretary puts her in my voicemail, ahhhhhhh! I call her back again, I now have her on the phone, I am all ready to break the rules, I go through the registration process only to discover the ding dong logged back in online and I cannot access her account, ARE YOU KIDDING ME LADY!  I finally convince her to listen to me and I walk her through the online registration process and we say our goodbye's.

-The afternoon/evening gets really busy really quickly, we have computer classes, free photography class, a Jewish holiday celebration, Sheriff Explorers and a pet vaccination clinic all going on and I need to make taxi vouchers AGAIN.  It was crazy!

-Today was the first day of our computer class, it was full with 17 students and 6 on the waiting list.  All I have to say about that clientele that sign up for our computer classes is that they are odd.  Well, some lady who was on the waiting list came in to take the class, I kindly explained to her that she was on the waiting list and a spot had NOT opened up so she would be unable to take the class.  She did not believe me and insisted that she was going to take the class, I told her again "NO, you will not be taking the class".  At the same time a lady who was enrolled in the class was asking where it was and as I was telling her waitlist lady started heading towards the room like she was going to sneak in.  OMG!  So, I followed her, making sure she did not go in the room, she walked to the end of the hallway and hid behind a tree, like I could not see her and was waiting for me to leave.  Well, I stood guard at the door to the computer room and she finally gave up and went home. Ok lady, do we really need to act like we are 8 years old.

-Next up, crazy hat lady comes up the front counter.  Just so you know what we are dealing with, crazy hat lady is a very tall and round black woman with a tad bit of psycho in her.  She has come looking for the free pencils we used to have that were left over from when the city took over the community center over three years ago.  She was angry that I could not find them, so much so I had to use my alias "Cynthia" when she demanded my name! 

Those are just a few examples of the gems I got to deal with today, in the mean time the phone rang a million times, 17 of my instructors were thorns in my side, our receptionist went missing several times and I almost cried, but the good news is I had a good day, the public did not let me down with their ridiculousness and when I got home I had this waiting for me.......

Now I am tired and it is time for bed, but no need to worry, I will get to do all of this again tomorrow!  I am starting my day off with a bloody mary, maybe that will help take the edge off! NIGHT!

Weekend Wrap-Up!

Another great weekend has come to an end, here is the weekend wrap-up!  I helped my friend Carrie make little thank you type notes for a baby shower she is helping host for her cousin Christina and they turned out great, I will post the final product next weekend after the shower.

Gracie and I enjoyed the warm weather this morning and headed over to Starbucks!  Have I mentioned I have totally fallen off the wagon with my Starbucks addiction?  Yep, totally off the wagon and enjoying every savory moment of my morning Starbucks run!  Gracie enjoys it too, on the weekends she gets a cup of ice and I let her lick the inside of my cup!

Big chunk of ice in her mouth!

Gracie, lovin life!

I bought Gracie a new bed for her crate and this is how she thanked me! :/  The zipper only survived 20 minutes before being destroyed, I took the $35 that I paid for the bed out of her allowance, she is now looking for a job to support her chewing habit.

I cleaned up my garage today, only a few things needed to be put away, you know stuff like Christmas decorations that have been sitting out for a few months now!  I don't think I ever introduced my crazy painted garage to my blog friends, I think it was pre-blogging days when I did this. It all started with a day of being bored, a garage that needed paint and the need for a project.  It took a couple weeks, but it was so worth it.  I met a ton of my neighbors, was asked out on a date (clearly the guy had blinders on and did not see the red flags about me), I declined the date, cause the guy was weird, maybe that is why he did not see any red flags as he stood in my garage and I painted away, was the talk of the hood and I have never seen so many people drive by and practically come to a screeching halt to see what was going on in there.  Let's just say, when I go to sell my place, the garage will only be shown to serious buyers! 

Went over to the McCray's for water play, scooter riding, good times with friends and dinner!  I only took one picture and it was of the littlest McCray, boy is he cute!  Thanks for dinner guys, it was great spending time with you.

I think it's Time....

To replace my dishwashing brush

and the 6 lightbulbs that were burnt out in my house!  Goodness, it has been a productive Saturday, great bike ride this morning, returns made, grocery shopping complete and some rest & relaxation.

Thursday Randoms!

Busy week, so you get bullet points!

- This is the view I had on my way to work on Tuesday after a day of cold rainy weather....

Snow on the Saddleback Mountains, it lasted a day but it was sure pretty!

- Gracie does this every morning before our walk....

Holds her leash in her mouth and waits for me, so sweet.

- Found this oh so delicious sounding soup.....

Going to make this tomorrow night, anyone want to come over for dinner?

• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 lb 95% lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup finely diced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 cans (14.5 oz each) cans petite diced tomatoes
• 1 3/4 cups tomato sauce
• 2 cups reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
• salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot or dutch oven, brown ground meat on high heat and season with salt. Drain fat if any, reduce heat to medium-low, then add peppers, onions and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes on low heat.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, marjoram and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Serve about 1 1/3 cups of soup in each bowl and top with 1/2 cup cooked brown rice.

- Walked out of the back door at work and saw this hearse parked in the lot with the best license plate ever.....

It's kind of hard to read but it says PICKUUP!

- Remembered that tomorrow will be my three year anniversary with the City of RSM, I think that calls for at least a pin, pen or maybe a city coffee mug!  What do you think?

- Came home from work today and found this.....

Curtis the dog walker left $10 on my counter, he felt that since he only came four days this week I should not pay him for a full week, he crazy!  It is more like, he has been walking Gracie for three years without a pay raise, Curtis take the money and run!