The job front

Well, yesterday I sent out my first resume, and if that wasn't nerve racking enough, getting an interview two hours later certaily was. The interview went well, I'm almost certain he'll be calling me back tomorrow with an offer. Unfortunately, the job is too far, and the working environment is not for me. Stark white walls, narrow white hallways, nothing but white. It just looked very institutional, and while the pay would be good, I'm just not interested. From there I went to pick up Alex from Mollie's, who was gracious enough to keep both kids at a moments notice. What a friend! :) From there we went to Stepping Stone School to tour their facility. My first impression was positive, but the longer I was there, the more I wanted to leave. The classroom was way too small for that many children, and it just didn't feel "warm". Otherwise, it was great, big playground, lots of learning centers, a great cirriculum, etc.
Today proved to be a MUCH better day. We had an appointment with La Petite Academy this morning. I was aprehensive, because it seems like all I hear is negativity towards La Petite...but never specifics. The director was so warm with Alex and the other children. I saw her trying to coax a shy little girl to go play and she was gently rubbing her leg talking softly to her. Stepping Stone did not have anyone visibly as "warm". The rooms are all open, plenty of space, in fact a LOT of space. I was very impressed with their program and attention to detail. The place isn't nearly as new and sparkly as S.S. but it got my vote! Ironically enough, when we left, Alex looked up at me (before I ever said a word) and said "momma, I think I like this place better". :) Need I look further?

So this morning I decided I would call a local surveying company and see if they were hiring. They didn't have an ad posted anywhere, but what the heck, I figured it couldn't hurt to call. I called at 7:50 am hoping to catch the owner early before he got to busy. He was very glad to speak with me and wanted to me to send a resume' asap. I promptly emailed him my resume and within the hour he replied that he wanted to meet with me. Yahoo! So I went in today at 2:00 and met with him, his wife (co-owner) and their right hand man, Johnny. What a great place! I was impressed from the get go. This was the most professional surveyor I've ever run across. The interview lasted a full hour and we covered everything under the sun. As it turns out this position was somehow created just for me. :) When he asked me if I "had" to work 40 hours a week, I knew that this was going to work out. It turns out they are not in need of an 8-5er, they're in need of someone that can work maybe a little less as needed. How perfect! Chuck told me that he thought me coming in was meant to be, and that this sounds like the ideal situation. I couldn't agree more. He didn't offer me the job, but he did tell me that he thought I'd work out great and that they'd call me in a day or two after they had talked to tell me some specifics about when, how much etc. I'm just thrilled! This place is less than 3 miles from home and I never even have to get on the main road. I can drive through the neighborhood to get there, heck I could ride my bike! I will update when I hear more. :)

Sweet Berry Farm

My boys

I have no idea what this face is all about.

My two favorite kids on the hayride

Photo compliments of Miss Ashley

We made a family trip to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls today. www.sweetberryfarm.com Marble Falls is about 45 minutes West of Leander down 1431. What a gorgeous day for a trip through the Hill Counry! The high was 85, and there was not a cloud to be seen. They had all sorts of activities for the family...you could stuff a scarecrow, paint pumpkins, shuck corn with and old time metal crank shucker (I guess that's what it's called), they had scarecrow stuffing, hay rides, a kiddie maze through corn-like fields. They had goats and horses, homemade icecream, and plenty of photo ops. We kept it simple and took a hayride and painted pumpkins. The kids had such a great time, I think we might have to work this in every year and start a family tradition.

All good things must come to an end

I can't believe I'm already having to type this entry. Two years shy of what I thought was the end, I'm going to have to quit my role as stay at home mom. My heart aches and the lump in the back of my throat isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I keep telling myself that I'm such a lucky wife, such a lucky mom, look how far we've come, we have our health, we have each other. Then I'm reminded of everything we're going to miss, and just how much my perfect life is about to change and everything else gets fogged over. I just want time to stand still, even for just a little while. I look at the time I've spent studying during the day and cleaning the house, and I just want to take it all back, I want to close my books, put the mop down and play and dance and sing and cuddle.

Day 7 of the sickies, and La Maestra #2

Alex is now on day 7 of this stinking virus, and I am sooo ready to get my boy back to normal. He came down with a fever on Friday just before we went camping, and had a fever between 100 and 104 up until yesterday. :( He doesn't want to do anything but lay on the couch and watch TV. I took him to storytime today, since his fever has been gone for a day or so, that was a mistake! He didn't pay attention to any of the stories, he just wanted to lay on the ground and act up like a 2 year old. :( It's naptime right now, and he's laying on the couch just snoring away. At the library I found a Laurie Berkner CD, (Alex and I just love her!) so I put it on when we got home thinking that might perk him up, but he ended up falling asleep to it while I danced around the living room. Poor guy. I miss him.

Tomorrow is Spanish class number 2! I'm really looking forward to it, and hoping I can start memorizing some of the students names now that I'm a little more relaxed. Today I met a lady at the library who is a volunteer Spanish teacher also. She teaches Kindergarteners at another school in our district, but our program is exactly the same. We shared some ideas and talked a little about our first class, she was just as nervous as I was, and told me about how difficult it was for her to sleep the night before. I was secretly happy to hear that! Shhh! After talking to all the Spanish teachers at our school I was beginning to think that I was the only one feeling the first class jitters. I talked to several teachers who all told me "oh, they're just first graders, they won't bite!" Well DUH! Anyway, it was just nice to talk to someone who understood. She and I are the only teachers that I know of who are not fluent Spanish speakers, so that was a little comforting as well. I 've been wondering if I'm depriving the kids of the extra knowledge of a fluent teacher, and if they are missing out on too much, but the more I think, the more I realize that these kids are lucky, (and I AM just a volunteer). I'm teaching them the basics of Spanish, and my kiddos should go in to the 2nd grade with the same knowledge of Spanish that the next class has. Strangely enough I never even introduced myself to the lady, and I never got her name, how silly! Luckily, she takes her 3 year old to storytime on Thursdays also, so I'm sure we'll exchange names and numbers in the future.

My first day teaching

I'm only 5 days late updating on my first day of teaching Spanish. My days are completely full, as I knew they would be when I took on all that I have. So I'm taking a break from studying to update on last Friday.

For starters I showed up an hour early at 10:50 instead of 11:50. Fortunately I checked the schedule when I arrived and realized my mistake BEFORE walking in to the class an hour early and completely embarassing myself. As it turns out the hour was just what I needed to calm my nerves, soak up the school environment, and get in to teacher mode. I was able to study my lesson a little longer, lower my heart rate, and focus on relaxing a little more. The first two minutes or so of class is a blurr. I was scared out of my mind (of what, I'm not sure), but those sweet little first graders had a way of putting my nerves at ease and making me feel like I was at home. Within a few minutes, I was at ease, as if I were at home teaching Alex. The kids were attentive, excited and very well behaved. Their interest in learning Spanish made my job so much fun. They are really are cute little people. I hope that I am able to remember all of their names though, my goodness, there are so many names! Luckily a few have the same name so that increases my odds just a bit.
My next class is the day after tomorrow, and this time around I'm not at all nervous, in fact I'm anxious to get back in there and have some more fun. :)

Spanish tomorrow!

Well, this is it, I just went over the lessons I will be teaching tomorrow, for the last time. It's late, I'm tired, and I don't see me improving anymore tonight. Tomorrow is the big test. It will be my first time ever to teach. Yes, I'm nervous, but more anxious than anything. I'm so ready to see if I can do this without cracking!!! I have no idea how hard this is going to be, but I keep reminding myself that these are only first graders and that it doesn't matter how perfect I come across, all that matters is that I teach these kids some Spanish and have some fun.

Lesson 1: Introduction, Why it's important to learn Spanish, where Spanish is spoken, Similarities of Spanish to English, Como te llamas, me llamo, Read Say Hola to Spanish book. Alphabeto, colores. Phew! I hope I fill up the entire 30 minutes. I'm anxious to report back on how it goes, but it probably won't be until Sunday that I get a chance to get back online. I'm checking Ashley out of school early and we're leaving for Inks Lake to go camping shortly after I finish my class tomorrow. It's going to be a busy day, but I will surely reap the rewards while I lounge in the beautiful weather that is heading our way this weekend. I think the high this weekend is in the 80's. A huge change from the 108+ temps we've had the past week.

Rita is on her way

We woke up this morning, got ready for school, and just as we were about to leave I check my email and find out that school has been cancelled. Apparently, all the schools South of us are packed with evacuees, and they will be needing the Elementary schools as well. It was so fun to stop the kids that were riding their bikes and walking to school to tell them there is no school today. One boy didn't beleive me, he says "you're pulling my leg, right?" I said nope, I'm serious, go check it out for yourself, the parking lot is empty. That's all he needed to hear, he and his buddy screamed at the top of their lungs and turned around to go home. I think it's great that they are opening up the schools for shelters, what perfect sense that makes! It's a good thing Rita is hitting over the weekend, maybe the kids will be able to return to school on Monday.
So this morning in celebration of no school we went out to breakfast with Angie, Aubree and Jared. The girls really wanted Day Light Donughts, so we made a quick stop and picked some up, then we headed to an "adult" restaurant as we called it. There's a little mom and pop barbeque place over on 1431 that serves all kinds of yummy breakfast plates, so we decided to check it out. We were able to get a table on the back patio and let the kids run free, while we ate our breakfasts. It was so nice, and the girls were just thrilled to be on this little adventure during school hours.

How annoying~

I just typed up a Looong post about Hurrican Rita, and it got lost. What a friggin bummer, that took me 20 minutes!!! I will summarize...Mark is out of town, Rita was expected to hit us hard, no flashlight, went to walmart, empty shelves, crazy people, bought in to the chaos, freaked out a bit, didn't sleep lastnight, missed my husband, forgot picture day, the gas stations were out of gas, missed my husband, it's now bed time, we're safe, the storm is not going to hit us, I have no reason to not sleep well tonight but I betcha I don't...still miss my husband.

Espanol

Well, I did it. I officially committed myself to teaching Spanish. I haven't decided if I've completely lost my mind or not, but I'm sure I'll know on day 1 of classes. I'm not sure why a class of first graders frightens me as much as it does...more than likely because I only know basic Spanish and I have not been given any curriculum info. as of yet. So yeah, I'm a little nervous. lol What I do know is that I will be teaching 1st graders for 30 minutes one day per week. I'm trying to focus on what Mark told me the other day "You could do anything for 30 minutes, shoot, you could be a trapeze artist for 30 minutes a week." He's right, I can do this, and that's why I volunteered. I think it will be really good for me, and if anything, it will freshen up some of my Spanish, and that's always a good thing when you live in Texas.
I have to admit, I am a little aprehensive about the program though. It's strictly a volunteer program, and like most volunteer programs, there is a shortage of volunteers. The program only has enough people to teach Kinder through 2nd grade...the same problem they had last year. I am concerned that the Spanish we teach will be lost after the 2nd grade. The next Spanish they are REQUIRED to have is in High School, and they could wait until their Jounior year to take it. That is a HUGE gap! If we were teaching 3rd - 5th only, as opposed to the lower grades, the children would be more likely to choose Spanish as an elective in Middle School, since the material would be so fresh. I don't know, maybe I'm thinking too much about this, maybe exposing them to a foreign language at such a young age will open their mind to something as simple as realizing that the world is bigger than Leander, Texas, and this will allow their minds to grow in ways I can't even really comprehend. Whatever the case may be, I'm excited and anxious to get started in a few weeks. How am I ever going to remember 20 kids names!!?

Labor Day weekend

We had such a wonderful weekend at dads, it was really one of the best times we've had out there all summer. Most of the weekend was spent soaking up the sun and cruising the boat up and down the lake. Ashely sure has improved with her wakeboarding, she can now go over the wake! Next summer I just know she'll be jumping like a pro! ;) It doesn't seem like that long ago when miss Ash wouldn't do anything that didn't allow her to have two feet firmly planted on the ground. Now there's nothing that she won't at least try. We are so proud of our girl! Mr. Alex has been watching Sissy very closely. He's so lucky that he has such a talented big sister to look up to. After begging to wakeboard all summer, Nana broke out the kiddie skis for Alex. I didn't expect much, in fact I expected Alex to chicken out and not even attempt it, but much to my surprise, our bitty three year old skied this weekend. Nana stayed in the water with him, giving him detailed instructions, while Mark, Ashley and I rode in the boat. Momma driving the boat was definitely not the best idea. Once I pulled him up, I don't think I looked forward at all! Thank goodness nothing was in my way (or was there, haha). Every bone in my body was shaking thinking about what could possibly happen to such a little guy. He's a big boy though, he does fine in a life vest and can now even swim without one. Alex stayed in a semi-squatting position the whole time, with water slashing up in his face. He would turn his head to take a breath and then look back forward again. He was absolutely adorable! Once he'd had enough he signaled me with a thumbs down. This was the first time I think I'd ever seen him give a thumbs down! He's been riding on the back of the boat in a float with Ashley all summer and the only hand signals he's given is a thumbs up to go faster. So I slowed the boat down, with Alex gradually lowering in to the water (along with my heart rate). We were all so proud of him, even the lady across the lake was yelling for him. :) There's no such thing as a skiing toddler, I think that's pretty much an oxymoron, so it's official, we have a big boy now. I'm not sure how I feel about that one!

Hurricane Katrina

Mark and I avoided facing the reality of the hurricane as long as we could. Wednesday night we finally agreed to watch some media coverage, for the first time. It was just as we suspected, horrific and devastating. We both felt an overwhelming desire to help, as I'm sure all Americans have. We have no money to give, so we have decided to open up our home. We are well aware of the risks and will take every measure necessary to ensure that our family is safe. We are nervous, yet anxious to do what we can to help. The devastation is just awful. It's so, so sad. A couple from New Orleans just left dads, they came to talk to them about keeping their dogs until they get settled in a rental with a back yard. The dogs are currently at a kennel. Dad and Ruthie offered up the apartment to them. It was so sad to hear all that they have been through, the wife had a hard time composing herself when she spoke about all they had been through. They've stayed at 6 different hotels in the past week, and were almost in to an apartment, when they backed out. The apartment personel knew their situation and still they demanded 3 months of rent UP FRONT, IN CASH. That REALLY ticks me off. Those people need to be reported. Anyway, they couple will be calling sometime tomorrow to let dad and Ruthie know what they decide to do. I'm trying to stay away from all the news reports and articles, it's just too much to absorb right now.

Pictures From Ashley's Birthday Party

Lyndsy, Kelcey, Kelly, Ashley, Aubree and Savannah (Ciara is off hiding somewhere)

Ashley's Birthday Bash

My sweet baby turned 9 years old yesterday. It's hard to believe it's been 9 years since we first met. 9 years since I held that precious baby in my arms for the first time. She was the beginning of this beautiful chapter of my life, that continues to flourish every day.

We had her birthday party at The Embassy Suites Hotel this weekend. I told her she could invite 5 friends, but somehow we ended up with 6. :) Here's the invitation I made:

As soon as we arrived at the Embassy, we got changed and jumped in the pool for a bit. Grandma wasn't scheduled to pick up Alex for a few hours, so we had 7 girls, and 3 year old Alex, who just learned to swim a few months ago. Whew, what was I thinking!? 9 year old girls are at the stage where they love their independance, yet still thrive on adult approval to some extent. This equates to 7 girls clear across the pool yelling "MRS. JAMIE, MRS. JAMIE, WATCH THIS, WATCH THIS!!", which would normally be fine if I didn't have a 3 year old who's swimming abilities out weigh his intelligence. The girls had a blast, momma came close to loosing her mind. Thankfully, our pizza arrived and we had an excuse to leave. After cake, pizza, and presents Grams and Pops took Alex home with them for the night THANKYOUVERYMUCH, and we headed off to the mall. I didn't tell the girls what we had planned, it was a complete surprise. We arrived at the food court and I handed each girl an envelope with their name written on the outside. Inside each person had a name tag:

a Scavenger Hunt Sheet. (I'll add that on to the end of this entry) Ashley's envelope had some money for a few of the items on the list, and a map of the mall. We decided that they should all stick together as opposed to splitting up in to teams because girls this age can be a little over competitive, and the last thing we needed was for them to be divided. That turned out to be an AWESOME decision. They worked so well together, no one was left out and everyone participated. It really turned out to be a great time for the girls. Mark and I tagged along behind them keeping our mouths shut as much as possible.
From there we went to Wendy's and ordered 9 Frosty's. What a time we had a Wendy's! Thankfully, the place was empty, had it not been, it would have been shortly after our arrival. Mark and I really let loose and let the girls have fun, which is not typical of us. Normally, we're the semi-uptight-stressed-to-the-max parents telling the kids to keep their voices down, mind their manners, and to wipe their chins, so for us, this was a pretty big deal. I have some great pictures from Wendy's, I'll post those later. Ok, so by now it's around 9:00 PM, so we head back to the hotel, where Mark proceeds to fall face first in to the pillow. Poor guy was beat! He played hard with the girls. At one point he had 4-5 girls hanging off him as he walked across the Wendy's parking lot. As Ruthie put it..he really shined that night. :) I was proud. Back to the room...the girls sat in a circle and did a craft where they decorated door knob hangars with foam letters and shapes, while pigging out on popcorn and yes, more junk. Oh man, those poor parents who actually sent toothbrushes, haha, I'm just crossing my fingers that I'm not the cause of any emergency dental work over the next week. We had cookies, gummy worms, chocolate, pop rocks, wax bottles, chewy sweet tarts and even more junk. It was heavenly.
After the sugar rushes peaked we did mud masks and nails. By the time we were done it was 11:30 and believe it or not the girls were ASKING to go to bed. NO, that's really no joke, they were ALL exhausted. We've found the secret to NOT staying up all night, WEAR THEM OUT and give them wayyyy too much sugar! We were in bed and sleeping by midnight. I never even saw the end of Saturday Night Live.

The next morning we did the free full made to order breakfast, where the girls pigged out on everything their little hearts desired...including soda...but shhh, don't tell. We ended the party by letting the girls run a muck in the hotel, they went from elavator to elevator, and floor to floor reaking havoc on the other hotel guests, which was fine by me, I wasn't with them. Muaaahaaahaa!!! We were packed up and on the road by 11:30, on the way back to sweet freedom. Ash had an awesome time, no fights, surprisingly everyone got along and made the best of it. I'm not sure if it was the closed quarters that forced them to get along, or the fact that I threatened their lives before we ever left the house. I told them that I would send anyone home that made fun of, left out, or caused trouble with any of the other girls. Poor Ash, I'm sure she LOVED hearing that speech. :) I will post pictures tomorrow, it's way late and I'm running on empty.

Ashley’s Birthday Scavenger Hunt

*Work together as a team to solve each clue to find out what items you need to complete this birthday mission. You may need to refer to a map of the mall to find your way. A $ next to the clue means you will need money, honey! You won’t have much, so shop wisely.

1. All young girls love to shop here and not just one or TOO of you. Go in this store and ask for a bag to carry your loot.

2. I am a plastic eating implement consisting of a small shallow bowl with a relatively long handle.

3. I am flat and round and you will find me where food is sold. You eat off of me and throw me away when I get old.

4. I am on all clothes when they are new, but discarded before worn.

5. I am born of a bud in the spring. In autumn, I turn brown and fall to the ground.

6. $ Shiny and round am I. 4 of me make a dollar.

7. I am made from paper and square, not round. When you are done with me, you flush me down.

8. $ I am chewed, but not swallowed. I am always sweet and sometimes hollow. You can find me in a machine.

9. $ You love me with milk when mom cooks me right. Bring me back without any bites. Make sure to get one of me for each person on your team!

10. You will find me at the bookstore waiting to hold your place. You slide me in your novels and I don’t take up much space. You can sometimes find me free if you ask, but in case you need to buy me, take some cash.

Radijazz Pictures

I Thought We Were Past This Stage!

This is what happens when momma spends 15 minutes on the phone with a friend, neglecting her poor lonely child.

I snapped these pictures just minutes after getting off the phone with an incompetant dental assistant, and needless to say, I was NOT in a good mood. I was looking for Alex to round him up so we could go to Radijazz. We were already running late. I didn't find him in the TP'd bathroom, so I went upstairs to find picture #1. We used the rice in a lesson earlier that morning, and apparently Alex really enjoyed himself. I found him in his mess, and I was not happy. I was doing they typical reprimanding when I went to put his socks on. (The innocent socks lying on the floor in the first picture) I picked them up not realizing that I had just activated a booby trap. Alex had filled his socks with rice. Lovely. At this point, I could no longer scold him, my brain was on overload, so I broke down in to laughter. I think laughter for a mommy can be compared to passing out. It's the minds way of protecting itself from things it doesn't need to experience. So I'm laughing, while Alex is looking up at me with complete confusion. When he realizes it's safe, he follows suite and while pointing at me, nervously laughs out"Haha, you're laughing, you're laughing, that means you're not mad anymore, Huh Huh, huh huh". My poor son.

Alex-isms

I've decided that my memory is far to unreliable to remember all that I need it to, so this will be my spot to jot down all those precious Alex-isms that make us laugh each day.

Gui-ana - any of various large herbivorous typically dark-colored tropical American lizards aka: Iguana
Ex: "Momma, where is my guiana that Koltin gave me?"
Sadly enough, this is one of those words that my poor son will say incorrectly until he goes to school and the teacher corrects him. And on that day, I will cry. There are very few of these words, but the ones we have are way to precious to give up this early. :)

Aga-Cadabra - a magical charm or incantation
aka: Abracadabra
Ex: Alex asks momma for a cookie. Mom: "What's the magic word?" Alex: "Aga-Cadabra!"

Updated January 3, 2006:

Breath-ust - the first meal of the day, otherwise known as Breakfast.

Buh-zan-ya - Layered italian dish consisting of cheeses, flat noodles and tomato sauce otherwise known as Lasagna.

Buh-sketti - another italian dish consisting of sauce and noodles, aka: Spagetti
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Botched Pet names

Hemry - The name of our second pet Guinea Pig.
aka: HeNry

Tachi - The name of our kitty who owns the upper half of our home. This name morphed from Chachi to Tachi and sometimes chach...I have no idea how this happened.
aka: Chelsea

Fumbuhwina - Our pet rat.
aka: Thumbelina

Is it REALLY over?

Please say it's not over, please tell me that last nights episode of Six Feet Under really isn't the LAST LAST episode. No producer REALLY means it the first time they say it's over, right? Friends and The Sopranos didn't leave us. Can't it just be like another one of those painfully funny scenes where Ruth comes close to killing George, or Brenda performs acts of incest, and we all wake up and everything is fine? Nate dying was enough, now we have to say goodbye to them all? I don't wanna.


Six Feet Under Obituaries-
Copied from www.hbo.com

Ruth O'Connor Fisher
Ruth Fisher was born in Pasadena in 1946 and died at Good Samaritan Hospital of Glendale on Wednesday. She graduated from Pasadena High School in 1963 and stayed home to raise three children before opening the Four Paws Pet Retreat in Topanga Canyon twenty years ago. She is survived by her loving companion George Sibley, her sister Sarah O'Connor, her son David Fisher of Los Angeles and her daughter Claire Fisher of New York City. Ruth will also be missed by her four cherished grandchildren - Maya Fisher, Willa Chenowith, and Anthony and Durrell Charles-Fisher. Viewing will be held on Saturday, March 15th at 2 p.m. at Fisher & Sons Funeral Home at 2302 W. 25th Street in Los Angeles. Private burial to follow.

Keith Dwayne Charles
Keith Charles, founder of Charles Security Company, was born in 1968 in San Diego. He died suddenly at work on Tuesday morning. Keith attended West Point Military Academy, graduating with a degree in Criminology in 1989. He served the city of Los Angeles as a member of the LAPD for nine years before joining the security industry. He leaves behind his devoted husband David Fisher and loving sons Durrell and Anthony Charles-Fisher, his grandson Matthew, his sister Karla Charles and his niece Taylor Benoit of Carlsbad. Keith is pre-deceased by his parents Roderick and Lucille Charles of San Diego. Memorial service will be held on Sunday, February 18th at 2 p.m. at Fisher & Sons Funeral Home at 2302 W. 25th Street in Los Angeles.

David James Fisher
Born January 20, 1969. Died at the age of 75 in Echo Park. He was proud owner and operator of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home of Los Angeles for over forty years. After retiring in 2034, he went on to perform in dozens of local theater productions, including Weill and Brecht's "Threepenny Opera," Rossini's "The Barber of Seville," and as Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." David leaves behind his partner Raoul Martinez, his beloved sons Durrell and Anthony Charles-Fisher, his sister Claire Fisher and his three precious grandchildren Matthew, Keith, and Katie. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Southern California Opera Association

Hector Federico Diaz
Died at the age of 75 while vacationing with his wife in Puerto Rico. Federico graduated from Cyprus College in 1997 with a degree in Mortuary Science. He worked as a restorative artist for several years before becoming part owner of Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home on 25th Street. In 2005, Federico opened the Diaz Family Mortuary on DeLongpre Avenue in Hollywood, where he served the community for 35 years before retiring. Pre-deceased by his parents Mauricio and Lilia Diaz of Los Angeles. He was married to his beloved wife Vanessa for 54 years and leaves behind his cherished sons Julio and Augusto and his three grandchildren: Emily, Celestina and Vincent. Memorial service will be held at Diaz Family Mortuary on Saturday, February 16th at 11:00 a.m. Funeral mass will be held at 9:30 a.m. the following day at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Atwater Village.

Brenda Chenowith
Brenda Chenowith was born July 19, 1969 and died at the age of 82 at home. She earned her Masters Degree in Social Work at California State University of Los Angeles and a PhD in Theories of Human Behavior at University of Southern California. Brenda wrote several books about the role of the gifted child in family development. She is considered to be one of the most distinguished scholars in that field of study, adding several courses to the Social Work curriculum at USC. She developed research methodologies to conclusively prove the link between deviant human behavior and fetal alcohol exposure. As a child, Brenda was the subject of the book "Charlotte Light and Dark" by Gareth Feinberg, PhD. Brenda will be dearly missed by her beloved children Maya Fisher, Willa Chenowith, and Forrest Nathanson, her loving husband Daniel Nathanson, and her brother William Chenowith of Malibu. Private services will be held Wednesday March 9th at Deep Creek Nature Preserve. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a charity of your choice.

Claire Simone Fisher
1983 - 2085Born March 13, 1983. Died February 11, 2085 in Manhattan. Claire grew up in Los Angeles and studied art at LAC-Arts College. She worked as an advertising and fashion photographer and photojournalist for nearly fifty years, creating several memorable covers for Washington Post magazine, W, and The Face. Claire often exhibited her work in New York and London art galleries and in a time when nearly everyone else in her field had turned to digital scanning and computer-driven imaging, she continued to use a silver-based photographic process. Claire began teaching photography as a faculty member at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2018, earning tenure in 2028. She's pre-deceased by her beloved husband Ted Fairwell.

Call From The Teacher

It's the third day of school, the phone rings, it's your childs 4th grade teacher calling to inform you of an "incident" that happened with your oh-so-sweet 8 year old. I have to admit, when Ashley's teacher announced who she was my heart began to pound, despite knowing that my Ashley could never do harm, ESPECIALLY on the third day of school. Well, I was right, my Ashley did no REAL harm, per se. This year Ashley has the "privelage" of being outside in the portables with all the other 4th graders. Oh wait, I'm not supposed to use the term "portable", I'm supposed to say "cottage". Kind of like repacing "mobil home" with manufactured home dontcha know. ;) Same thing, different word, whatever. Anywho, my point is, the kids are using new bathrooms this year, and apparently, my Ashley hasn't quite figured out that the girls bathrooms are on the opposite side of the hall from last year. She walked in on two of her classmates using the urinals. :( Poor thing, I can't even begin to imagine the horror of being a 4th grader having to back to class with these boys. Thankfully, after quizzing her, I discovered that no boy parts were revealed during the mishap. Apparently, Ash was pretty distressed over the incident and had a hard time getting over it in class. Mrs. Ellsworth said she just looked so sad. My poor baby. I hate not being able to fix this. We decided that instead of being upset about it, we were going to laugh, and that's what we did. I reminded her of how funny this will be to look back on, she reluctantly agreed and laughed along with me.

It reminds of the time back in 3rd grade when Ryan Stephenson barfed on my shoe. I was sooo embarassed, I thought the world was coming to an end and no one would ever like me again. Ok, so only a little bit got on my shoe, but what's the difference. ;)

Jamie is

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie, lets see...I have to dig waaay down deep to get creative these days, unless you're asking me to find a solution to a carpool dilema, or how to get dried oatmeal (aka: cement) off the kitchen light fixture . The definition of Jamie these days is momma. And when the voices stop, I'm sometimes referred to as "hot" momma, but those are moments are few and far between. Despite the teetering negativity in the preceeding statements, I'm actually a very happy wife and mom to my two darling children. Ashley, my sweet natured, over achieving adult pleaser is in the 4th grade and will be turning 9 next week, and Alex, my rip roarin', hell raisin' love bug is 3.75 and enjoying every minute of his raging toddler-hood. I'm a stay at home mom, and love my job dearly. I just started homeschooling my preschooler, and counting down the time I have left at home with him. (I mean that in only a good way) I only have 2 precious years left and I'm dreading the day I hand him over to Kindergarten and slowly begin the act of corrupting his precious mind. ;)
My husband, Mark is the love of my life, and the person I look up to more than anyone in my life. We've been married almost 6 years now, and just this year, he adopted our daughter, Ashley, with whom he's been daddy to since she was just 2 years old. He has completed my life in so many, many ways, I could never express how special he is to me.

Zoo today and summer stuff

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We have 2 weeks left of summer, I can hardly believe have fast it has flown by! My goals for the summer were:

1. To get on a better schedule, as far as house work goes
2. Get Ashley set up with a typing program
3. Go over all of Ashley's multipication facts to reinforce them
4. Spend lots and lots of time with the kids
5. Get a mini-preschool area set up for Alex in the playroom

I've accomplished most of them! I still have not ordered Ashley's typing program. I NEED TO DO THAT! She is so anxious to learn to type, and I really do need see to it that she starts soon, while she's so interested. We are almost through with all the multipication tables, and she's doing just fine with that. The preschool is a brain child of mine, that WILL get done before school starts in 2 weeks. I have the plan, and most everything I need to get started. For paint, I'm going to do bright colors, one on each wall...red, blue, yellow, and orange. On the blue wall I will put the big tree wall hanging and the picket fence. It's going to be so cute, and I have so many ideas on how to use the tree for different themes throughout the year. Mark is making me a book display. Those pick-a-book stands are so expensive! Mine will not be nearly as nice, but it will still function like I want it to. I want Alex to be able to SEE the front of his books instead of me stacking them in a cabinet. I bought some whiteboard paper, and a big board and created my own whiteboard. It's 4x2 and cost me a whopping $8 to make! I'm so proud of that one! Anyway, I have tons of stuff in my head, I just need make it happen, and I will have plenty of time next week to make sure I get it done. The kids are going to my dads to visit for a few days. Imagine that...ME HOME ALONE! EEK! I have NEVER been alone for an entire day!

Today we're going to the zoo. The Austin Zoo is not really a "zoo", it's really an animal rescue that specializes in zoo type animals. It's not very big, but perfect for little guys like Alex. We're going with a group of friends that Alex gets along well with, so that should be fun!