The raining has stopped and ever since then, I have been exposing myself so much more in the sun.  This is particularly bad because 1) I don’t invest in the best wrinkle creams, and 2) my skin and SPF don’t seem to get along.  Which is weird because I remember using Bare Escentuals and their mineral powders contain SPF and my face didn’t go crazy and my lips didn’t swell up like that of a clowns (this happened in college when I tried one of those Soft Lips lip balm thingamjingies that had SPF in it – oh the horror!).  Anyways, with the nice weather these days, this means more park playdates with Erynne’s adorable friends from school.  Another bad.  So bad, in fact, that just last week (Friday, to be exact) my bottom lip erupted into a fever blister (imagine clowns lips too!).  I’ll spare you the details but let me tell you, it was bad timing – we didn’t even get to spend a decent Mother’s Day meal out on the town because I didn’t want to show myself to the world.  So yeah.  Looks like I am going to be looking like toast this summer with all the park activities my girl has lined up.  Bless my lips and wrinkles!

You know what I miss?  Besides a Mt. Dew (which I had last night before coming home from class, teeheee!), a good, quality post.  I haven’t done those in so long.  I’ve been going back on some of the things I’ve written over the years and I can’t tell you how my posts have gone bad to horrible to nothing at all.  I won’t apologize for all the ads that you see but I will try my darnest to start partying blogging like it’s 1999 there’s no tomorrow.  Ha ha, okay well.. maybe not that desperately because these fat fingers of mine would never be able to keep up anyways.

And I’ll start today.  Right now.

****

In a few minutes, E will come walking through that door and he’ll wonder why the house isn’t all that tidy.  And I’ll tell him I didn’t want to do anything but bask in my little girl’s birthday glory of having a “lucky day.”  Then he’ll play around with the little girl giving me a few more minutes to blog a good, quality blog before we set off into the sunset for some fun, food and shopping (I did say it was the little girl’s birthday right?).  What to write, what to write.  Too many to list.  Whaaaaat?  Speechless already?  You don’t say.

***

5 years ago today, I gave birth and came face to face with one of the most amazing people I’ve been blessed to know, have and be a part of.  You all know who I’m talking about and *gush*, how I love her so.  I was in her class right before dismissal at noon and I was invited to her little Montessori birthday celebration.  She walked around the earth 5 times to signify her age and we presented a collage of pictures to her classmates, detailing some of the events in her life.  It was so heartwarming, I could have spent all day in that classroom.  Preschoolers are so cute *gush*.  Brings me back to that whole Wordsworth fave poem of mine that contains the lines, “The Child is Father of the Man.”  Yep, I have definitely softened up over the years folks.  Catch me a decade ago and I might have been that one person in the crowd making faces at your kids.  And no, I’m not talking about nice faces.  Uh huh.  Birthday party is tomorrow night with a few of her classmates.  I am having such a blast getting to know the other parents at her school.  And I look forward to the Thursday mornings I volunteer at her school too.

I think I am really ready for another one.  God, you got that?  Hear their prayers.  HAHAHA.

Time’s up folks.  Til we laugh again.

Truly a LMAO moment.  So much so I will share:

Erynne:  Isa…dalawa…tatlo…APPET…lima…

She’s recognizing her ilocana-ness, folks!

Just came back from lunch with one of the moms from school and her twin daughters.  Went to a Mickey D’s that had a play place (of course!) so while the kids were playing, S and I were able to chitchat for a bit.  One of the very things we were talking about was where she could obtain California sex offender reports.  I don’t know about some of you but I know when I’m out at the park, anytime I see someone weird or different (read: an older male who shouldn’t be lingering around parks by himself!), my defenses act up and I just have to wonder if he might be a sex offender who’s been set free.  Call me shallow all you want but hey, crazy things don’t just happen in movies, folks.  In fact, even when I’m at the little girl’s school, anytime I don’t recognize a face or if I see someone who looks shady, you bet I’m keeping an eye on them.  Told S that there was actually a website where you can enter your address and it’ll come up with a map to tell you where a sex offender lives.  In addition, you can even view their photos so you’d be aware of their faces the next time you saw them in your neighborhood.  I tried it once but after seeing one face, I couldn’t view another one.  It was too freaky for me.  However, for the life of me, I can’t remember what site that was.  Maybe someone else out there knows what I’m talking about.  Let me know if you do. 

Me:  Erynne, look at this picture.  (It was a ‘family picture’ with a real, live monkey!).

Erynne:  *silence for about 3 seconds* With a costume?  (She doesn’t know if this is some kind of trick question or not).

Me:  Costume?  What costume?  *bursting into laughter as Erynne points to the monkey* Nooooo, that’s her son!

Erynne:  *pauses some more but still staring at the picture with a confused expression amidst my laughter* (I think she was trying to figure out where she could get a monkey costume herself HAHAHA) Then why is he wearing a costume?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Too bad I didn’t capture it on video.

This truly made my day.  Thank you Liv!

Nice and quiet in my neck of the woods.  Nothing special planned for today except chill and sit in front of the TV (maybe get around to researching that motorcycle accident attorney I’ve been hearing so much about).  Strange that I’ve been in front of the TV a lot more than usual but I quite like it.  It’s raining outside so there’s really no where I’d like to go except plant myself in front of the TV and nurse this stomach bug I seem to be getting.  Erynne’s already got it, throwing up all over a department store yesterday after we went out for breakfast and then again later on in the night and twice more this morning.  She’s even got the runs and had two accidents already this morning.  My poor baby.  She even missed a major birthday party for two of her classmates yesterday — and we’d been counting down for this for weeks. I felt so sad and bad.

I’ll probably keep her at home with me tomorrow.  Hope the weather clears up.  And our tummies too!  Happy Sunday y’all.

Okay, I know I was just bashing those UGG boots that you see practically everyone and their mamas wearing all over town.  But I am beating myself over and over again for not buying the chocolate pair I saw on sale last week for Erynne.  And to think they were already in my hand but I still put them back on the clearance rack because I just couldn’t justify paying so much for a pair of boots for a little girl.  Yes, I did say clearance — but they were still a pretty price.  So much for Black Friday.  I doubt I could find that good of a deal, but more importantly, that’s too long to wait.  Lesson?  When in doubt, BUY!

Full-time school?  Half-time school?  I’ve been back and forth on this for a few days now.  If I go full-time school, we’re talking major sacrifices at home and the little girl.  If I go half-time, my heart will break.  How do you choose?  When I started all this school stuff, it was under the condition that my girl comes first and everything else second.  Now, however, my focus has shifted and it saddens me.  Do I put myself first this time?  Or continue putting my girl first?  What’s a happy medium?  That when she’s in first grade, I’ll have the whole day to continue with school but in the meantime, I can only do half-time?

I know.. there are bigger problems in the world right now.  Trivial or not, I foresee some really good wrinkle cream in my future.

I am such a dingaling.  For a while, I couldn’t even remember my password and username to get this entry going.  Granted it’s been a month since I’ve logged in and attempted an entry, could this memory loss really be attributed to childbirth?  I have used that excuse so many times, I’m beginning to wonder if maybe there’s really something wrong with me.  Surely it’s not old age — I still feel like I’m in my 20′s.  Ha.

Have a few minutes to spare before I head off to class.  Trying to be as productive as possible these last two weeks of school (yes, I think this is being productive haha!) — yep yep, two more weeks and I’ll be able to kiss another semester goodbye.  So far, I’ve only enrolled in one class for next semester and with Erynne in school half of the day everyday of the week, I just may find a job.  Of course, nothing full-time.  Just something that will match Erynne’s schedule at school.  While being at home all these years has been nice and sweet, I realized I am a better person when I’m a part of society — not that I’m discrediting how important my job is to Erynne, oh no.  But she’s growing and not having another child to care for, I don’t mind being out there again.  I miss it actually.  Plus, I smile a lot more when I’m doing something for myself — and I can’t tell you how much the husband likes that .

Erynne’s ballet/pre-tap class starts tomorrow.  It’ll be for an hour (which gives me time to run errands and make a stop at Costco for adult diapers for one of our residents).  She’s so excited — we bought her leotards, shoes and tights yesterday.  This morning, I made her try everything on.  Then my heart felt a little tug — my little Ernie is turning into a young lady already, no joke.  Did I tell you at her young age of 4, she loves wearing shoes with heels?  Without fail, each time we find ourselves in the shoe section of any store, her focus is on shoes with heels.  She also never leaves home without a bag (she has 6, last time I counted).  Yesterday, at H&M (yes, I went back again hahaha), she had 3 bags on her shoulders and was ready to pay at the cashier’s counter only for her dad to tell her she could only choose one.  I didn’t stick around to hear the bickering but by the time it was our turn at the cashier’s counter, Erynne was still pushing for another bag (she even tried to whisper it so it could be “our” secret, the sneaky kid!).  This morning, while out shopping for some shoes, she found a pair of silver wedge-sandaled mini-heels, held on to them for dear life and said, “Okay, we’re done, I found my shoes, these are mine, mine, mine.  Time to go!”

That’s my Ernie.