Paddling or Lack of Paddling!

Paddling season started a few months ago and up until a month ago I was out there on the water paddling with the best of them but then life happened, I put my house up for sale, I was gone ALL.OF.THE.TIME, I was shuttling Gracie to and from the Sheriff's house and my hip started really bothering me so I quit the team.  Yep, I am a quitter but for my sanity I needed to drop something from my life and paddling it was and I feel sooooo much better.  I kinda dropped off without saying a word to anyone except our coaches, I just did not know what to say so I said nothing.  Our first race of the season was last weekend in San Diego and it was nice to see and talk to everyone.  Due to two separate practice times a lot of people did not realize I was even gone but for the few who did they all started speculating as to why I was not there and of course they figured I was either pregnant or engaged and planning a wedding and a few wanted to start a rumor that I was getting a boob job, AWESOME!  Well, I had to break it to them that none of the above were true and that I just had a lot going on and that my poor old hip that has been through the ringer was the biggest reason of all and that being in pain all of the time is very exhausting and I did not want to deal with it.  The Sheriff is still paddling and I like to think of myself as the support staff on race day for him, not sure how I am the support staff since he drives us and shelps all of our stuff from the car to the beach and gets our tent all set up, but whatever I am going to call myself support staff.  

This is the shoreline before the races started, it was such a nice day in San Diego.

This is what Mr. Pie thought of it all, he is not too fond of the beach and water.

The Sheriff getting all pumped for his race, they hulied aka flipped aka went swimming!

Mr. Pie the non water loving child saw this and joined in on the fun, I was so glad to see him out on the water enjoying himself!  Best part was he did not complain that he had no dry clothes, we never bring his swim trunks because he never goes in the water so of course there was not a change of clothes for him, I was kind of anticipating a freak out but it did not happen, the only thing he said to me was that I only wanted him to go into the water so that he would have to take a bath when he got home, like it was some sort of evil plan that I had come up with because I am so mean and make him bathe on a regular basis.  Ummm, no sorry buddy, I just wanted you to have fun and bathing is optional but if you want to sit in sandy pants by all means go for it!

This past weekend there was a race in Santa Barbara, we headed out late because I had to work until 4:15pm, we stopped at our midway point at "The Oaks" in Thousand Oaks and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, Mr. Pie showed off his amazing talents and I tried to get the picture to look like a metal mustache. 

We got an early start to our day, this picture is from last year but we looked about the same this year minus the bike helmet and second paddle, we do not travel light.

Like I said above I quit the team a month ago or so I thought, I somehow found myself sitting in seat 5 in the boat below with a bunch of novice ladies.  It was really windy, a crazy beach launch and mid race huli that sent us swimming in the 58 degree water but a lot of fun.  Thankfully I packed extra clothes, borrowed the Sheriff's long sleeve jersey and a paddle from Sheila and I was off to the races.

Mr. Pie is the team dog sitter!  Sammie the Golden Retriever just turned a year old and a great reminder as to why I DO NOT want a puppy.  Mr. Pie took great care of her the whole day and made off with $10.  

Sammie last year!  Oh so cute but I am oh so glad she is not mine.

After the day was over we headed downtown for an early dinner before we headed home.  I never order wine out, but last night I needed a glass, it was oh so good.  My beloved Ben & Jerry's went out of business, I was so bummed, it was the only reason I dragged the Sheriff and Mr. Pie that way to eat because I wanted my Coffee, Coffee, BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ ice cream.  So we settled for a trendy overpriced ice cream shop McConnell's it was pretty good but not the same as Ben & Jerry's.

This sign made me laugh, I love how they think sprinkles are distant relative of unicorn's! 

And Mr. Pie, he makes friends everywhere he goes!

I hope you had a good weekend too, it is now time to head back to the work week, boo!

Birthday Girl!

My sweet bundle of trouble is turning seven this week, I can hardly believe that I have survive seven years with her (these have been the seven hardest years of my LIFE) and every year I celebrate that I have managed to keep her alive another year.  Gracie is really a good dog but boy howdy does she have a naughty streak that runs deep inside her.  I am very thankful that she is a naughty dog vs. a mean dog but man I think she is trying to kill me or break me mentally on a regular basis.  Gracie has no fear of danger, she would play on the freeway if I let her but if there is anything that might help her (like medication for her currently infected ears) she will act like I am trying to attack her and try and bite me as I medicate her.  The Sheriff has been taking care of her a lot lately and of course she is pretty much a perfect angel for him, then again it could be the ecollar that is helping with the good behavior.  It makes me beyond crazy that she is so good for him, but I have come to the conclusion that she needed a strong male leader and she now has what she has needed, only seven years too late for my sanity.  If I wanted to be really nit-picky I would also tell you that if Mr. Pie is around she will not come into the house unless he comes with, yep a 10 year old trumps me as well.  All in all she is a fun dog, some days I wish she would stop acting like a puppy ALL.OF.THE.TIME but then again I would miss it and how on earth would I be able to tell if something was wrong with her if I did not have the wild puppy behavior going on on a daily basis.   Now to celebrate all of the stress, chewed shoes, games of chase me, I have something I should not and near heart attacks that dog has given me, I am going to drink a bottle of wine all by myself.  

See why she makes me crazy?  She has crazy eyes!!

Watch the Water!

May is National Water Safety Month!  Every year I preach about pool safety and even talk about our pool incident a couple years ago and what we are doing to make sure that never happens again!  In the last three days three toddlers in Orange County have fallen victim to their parent’s lack of pool protection, two of them are currently hospitalized (condition unknown) and one died last night.  This is absolutely ridiculous, what is it going to take for parents of young children to figure out that pools are a death trap if you do not have barriers in place?  Each and every one of these incidents was preventable but yet is still happening.  Time to wake up people and ditch the “it will never happen to us attitude” because eventually it will.  

Life Lately!

I have been suffering from blogger block lately so it has been all quiet on the blogging front lately plus  you throw in some other stuff,  add in the fact that I have not really been home much lately due to the fact that mi casa has now been officially on the market for 13 days and……pretty much zero action has occurred that pretty much gives no time for blogging and that I pretty much have one prized possession (my laptop) and I have to hide it everyday before I go to work so that inhibits the fingertips from tapping away as well.

So a quick recap of what has been going on….like I said above 13 days of very little action on the condo which I guess is a good thing because I have no where to go at this point and looking at apartments is depressing when you see how much rent is without a dog and then you throw in a dog and they charge a monthly pet rent (what the hell?) and then it is even more depressing and then you throw in the pet deposit and you darn near want to shoot yourself and then after all of those depressing things you realize that your dog is too big to live there and then you think what am I going to do next along with listening to people telling you are are crazy to not have a place lined up and BLAH BLAH BLAH and ya, I am going to be homeless with a dog, GO ME!  Perhaps it is time to revisit why I want to sell my place again.

My most favorite nephew Cole turned 10 years old, wow double digits 13 days ago as well, I was a bit preoccupied to wish him a Happy Birthday publicly but I was sure to sit in traffic both Friday and Saturday for hours in order to make his birthday great!  Mr. Pie was invited to Cole's Laser Tag sleepover party and if I was to do anything right in Mr. Pie's mind it was to get him to that party on time.  Ya well Traffic = 1 and On Time = 0, oh well I tried!  The kids had a great time, they partied till 2 am and then were up at 6 am, my sister deserves a gold medal for that party.

The best picture I could get of everyone!  

The Birthday Boy blowing out his candles.

Caroline and Pancake!

And just in case you need a pick me up like I do, here are some cute babes that do not care if you are their soon to be homeless auntie…

my brother took this picture - ADORABLE!!