Teenagers...AARRGGHHH!

I do not remember ever talking to my parents the way my boys talk to me.
The oldest one is getting much better (now that he is suddenly realizing that living in this world is expensive, and he actually needs me)
But the 15-year old.....well, he needs a reality check.
What am I to do? I don't like him very much tonight.



Oh, and N is having a blast in Hawaii! Can't wait to hear all about it when he comes home next week! Lucky Kid!

Teeth, Bruce and Hawaii

I know, strange title...but that is how my life is lately, strange.

I had a busy week this week,

Monday:
Had that pesky tooth pulled, you know the one with the root canal that wouldn't stop hurting? Well, the dentist said that it shouldn't be hurting anymore, and that if it did, we should pull it because everything else had been done. Big mistake.
Have you ever heard of a "dry socket"?. Long story short, the blood clot didn't form and the air etc was getting to the bone. Heard of PAIN?????? I am still on the pain meds, they don't take the pain away but to be honest, I don't give a crap!

Tuesday:
R and I are so happening.
We went to go see one of our favorite performers:
Bruce Springsteen!!!! Yea! BBBBRRRRUUUUCCCEEEEEE!
(you have to say that in your deepest voice, so it sounds like you are booing him)
This time he was playing with a new band the Seeger Sessions Band. Very different music, I thought of Mary Mia's husband because there were awesome tuba-players!
Here is a link: Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band check it out!
The concert was at the Concord "Sleep Train" Pavilion. Nice place, took forever to get there but was great, if you are going to a concert there, let me know, I will give you some great tips!

Wednesday:
Did I mention the words: Dry Socket? After getting home at 2:30am, getting 5 hours sleep and then going to work, (because I am a good employee like that) I was in bed at 6pm!

Thursday and Friday:
J had baseball games both nights, why do I insist on going to these games when I am in pain and can't "deal" with all of "those" parents? I just left irritated and disgusted, I know it is because of the constant pain, but really, some of thos parents....Don't get me started!

Saturday:
I suddenly realized that N goes to Hawaii on Monday, is he packed? no. Do I have all of the details? no. He is going with 200 or so of his closest friends (graduating seniors of Monterey High) please keep him in your thoughts, let's hope he continues to make good choices.....God help me.

Sunday:
Woke up to vibrating....what?!?
N and R went to The Home Depot and rented a sander...they are sanding the new deck that R finished yesterday....We are totally making the neighbors mad. Oh well. Looks good, I will post pictures soon!(Blogger isn't letting me this morning)
Oh and I won tickets to a prty today on Cannery Row, I guess Bubba Gump's restuarant is celebrating their 10th anniversary and a local radio station is putting on a beach party...free food, drinks and prizes! I will report back later!

That's my week, How was yours?????

Graduation

There are lots of drama stories I could tell about the day my son graduated High School, but all of that really didn't matter the moment I saw him walk onto the football field at Monterey High on June 2, 2006.
I cannot explain the proud feeling that came over me as I watched him march to the famous song.

I had to remind myself to breathe.

He looked so old, like an adult. When did that happen?

As the speaches rolled on, I remembered in my mind the day he started Kindergarten (along with many others that graduated that day) He was so scared. He had a brave look on his face that broke my heart. I wondered to myself, was he showing that brave face now?

It was then I realized, this is it.

He is starting his life, right at this moment. Is he ready?

We can only hope and pray that in the last 18 years, we have done all that we can to teach the morals we wanted to teach, to show him the way of life, to show him everything we wanted to, before he was thrusted into this scary world. I pray that we have.

They announced his name, we all cheered, he did it!

We had a little get together after the graduation, then he went to Sober Grad nite. He had a blast.

Parties all weekend, then Hawaii on June 12th.

Then the real life part comes into play.

Congratulations Nick, we are very proud of you!

My son, the Graduate!

Graduation Day!
More Later...
I am exhausted!

BIRTHDAYS

Today is my birthday...NA na na na na!

I was born on May 29, 1966...figure out what birthday it is.

I never thought hitting this age would feel like it does,
this one is hitting me hard for some reason. I don't feel "old" or
anything, but I am kind of sad that so many years have past so quickly.
(Kind of like watching your children grow right before your eyes)

So Anyway, think about me today, and if you want, you can drop off my
present at the house. JK

Have a good day, and while you are thinking of me, don't forget to remember all of the veterans that we honor this Memorial Day (which, for your information was started in 1966!).

Happy Memorial Day (& Happy Birthday to me!) See ya!

Prom Night

N went to the Prom this month.
Here is one of my favorite pictures from that night. I used this picture in his graduation announcements.
(Did I mention that my baby is graduating in less than 7 days????) Can you say, "Stress?". (Not him, me!)

Handsome young man! Don't you think?

Catch up on May events...

O.K., this is the story, we got a call from the fire dept. that our son was on the ambulance and they were going to transport him to the hospital. At that time, they didn't know what happened to him, did a ball or bat hit him? or was it a fist?

You guessed it. It was a fist. Unbelievable.

After what seemed to be the longest drive possible, I met the ambulance at the door.

N was in a daze. You can see that in the picture. Here is the long story short:
All the kids on the baseball team have Nicknames. One kid is called Red, one Riff Raff, one Dick and one is called Beaner. They have had these Nicknames for over 5 years or so. So anyway, there was a discussion about whether or not the grass at the field was cut differently. (why? I don't know, must of been a slow gossip day or something). N didn't agree with one of the kids and called him stupid. OK he said, "Oh, stupid Beaner" (He could of easily said: "Oh, stupid Joey". but he used his nickname. So Joey gets mad (N wasn't the only one saying this but was the closest.) Joey said, I am going to punch you (which often comes out of his mouth) and N said something like, "Ya right" and then N bent down to pick up a ball and Joey "sucker punched" him right in the jaw.
N hit the ground (on his head) and was passed out for over 2 minutes! The coach didn't know what to do (idiot) and the kids called 911. (Thank goodness we have taught our kids to do that because the coach didn't have a clue)
Anyway, Joey was arrested for Assault & Battery. He is 18. He went to jail and his grandfather got him out on bail. The DA eventually dropped the charges.
N had a CT scan and X-rays and was diagnosed with a concussion.
It was one of the most scariest moments of motherhood.
N and I both had tears in our eyes when we rolled past the snack bar and saw half of the baseball team waiting to see if he was OK. N felt the support and at that moment I knew everything would be OK.
N was suspended for 2 days for saying a racial slur (Yep, they pulled the "race card". ) and Joey was suspended for 5 days, missed two games and you guessed it, was STILL ON THE TEAM. (I guess it is OK to hit one of your team mates so hard he was sent to the hospital, get arrested (of course if you are a starter) and you can still stay on the team.) Good example the coach is.
We met with the Principal and the Vice Principal, that was a joke. The Principal said."We are lucky this wasn't a serious injury", I told him, "If he were dead, we would be having a totally different conversation". I asked the VP what was the policy for a violent act? Oh there is none. I told him that that had to change. Immediately.Then he told me, "parents don't change policy" Oh really?
After that joke of a meeting, I called the Superintendent. Met with him, Oh and guess what? They are changing the policy. SO THERE!(Don't underestimate the power of parents)
Oh, and the "altercation" was in the local paper, on the sports page! There have been letters to the editor, and I can't go to the grocery store and not hear someone talking about it. Small town.
I am just waiting until graduation to vent (outloud). I want N to have a good week. (One more week until graduation!)
N is doing fine now, the bruise has faded but his feelings still are hurt that his "friend" would do this to him and not feel any remorse. Lesson learned. (I hope)
It is hard to watch your children learn these lessons, you want to be there at all times for them. But you know you cant. You have to trust that you have done a good job teaching them.

Miracle

Baby Boy is doing great. He is off of all the tubes and wires and might go home tonight!
I wanted to share a couple of my favorite pics I took when I witnessed one of the greatest miracles of all.

Birth

I witnessed a birth yesterday.

It was one of the most amazing days of my life!(and exhausting!)

My friend was in labor for 19 hours, gave birth to a baby boy.

He wasn't breathing when he arrived, the nurses and doctors did amazing things to save his precious life.

He comes off of the respirator this morning, his mom can finally hold him and feed him.

Please keep this 7 lb 15 oz little boy in your prayers.
More later..
~K ~

Posts Brewing...

Lots of posts brewing...I will post them all this weekend. Seems like the kids are always on the computer when I have time to write.
Lots going on around here..went to go visit my Mom in NV, N had a trip to the hospital via ambulance, N 's graduation announcements went out in the mail, Monterey High baseball team won league and their first CCS game....more this weekend (with pictures) ...Stay tuned!
~K ~

Aaron has a birthday!

The baby of the family is a Teen!
A turned 13 today...for dinner We all went to Chili's




A had a great time!








My great-nephew was full of energy...








N & J had attitudes...as usual.












And me & R endured!


We missed my mom, but all in all a great evening. If I only had a kitchen, I could of made a cake!

Not Anonymous Anymore

I always knew that writing on the blog made it available to whomever wanted to read it.
Today, I commented on a blog of a dear friend who had some sort of a stroke the other day. (alansrecovery.blogspot.com)
After I hit "Publish" I realized...whoopsie...now others can read this.
Then, I realized I haven't written anything I regret or haven't told most people in my life.
SO ...who cares, bring them on.
Maybe they will "figure me out" after all!
Welcome!

Baseball Photos

"N" age: 18
Varsity- Monterey High School
2006












"J" age: 15 1/2
Junior Varsity- Monterey High School
2006

Old Kitchen Photo Found!

This is an old picture of the "before" Kitchen. Notice the disgusting OLD cabinets circa 1951. What you can't see clearly is the bumpy "wood" grain. When we first bought the house, the kitchen was dark brown. The first thing I did was paint it white. Funny that now I want it dark brown again.

Senior Appreciation Game

Saturday was the "big" game...J 's team played at 12:30 and won! (First time up to bat he hit a double and the crowd went wild!)

When we walked into the field, there were posters of all the Seniors. My heart skipped a beat when I saw my son up there on that board!


Moms (who wouldn't normally give me the time of day) were surrounding me, telling me what a handsome son I had and what a cute baby he was.

I was so proud!

Of course I agreed with them and my chest stuck out a little bit more as I went to my seat. As I watched J play his game, there was excitement all around. Green and gold balloons on the home (Monterey) team side and red and white balloons on the visitors (Carmel) side. After the JV team won, the contests started. To my surprise, N was chosen to participate in all three.
The Homerun Derby (Both teams had 4 representatives to take turns hitting the ball out of the park) Carmel won that one.
The Relay (Both teams had 6 reps (two teams of 3) to throw the ball from the outfield fence -240 ft- to 2nd base and then to the catcher) Nick was the guy at 2nd base. Monterey won that one.
Finally The Base Running The guys were timed running the bases. One time Nick made it in 7.2 seconds and the next time he had a slow time of 9 seconds (he hit the "wall") .
Then they announced that all of the senior parents were to meet on the side of the field. I quickly put my lipstick on and nervously went to the field with R and met N there. We walked onto the field to the pitcher's mound and were announced one by one. My heart was beating as they read the following statement we wrote:
"Ni ~We are so proud to be your parents! You have worked hard and have achieved so much, in academics and sportsmanship. We smile everytime we think of the person you have become. You have proved that hard work and perseverance can bring you all of your dreams. May all your dreams come true! We love you, Love Mom and Dad~"

When we got to home plate, another player gave me a yellow rose.
Very sweet.
As we stood there with our son, I realized that this was the beginning of the activities toward graduation. I also realized that I am not done with this boy/man and I still have a ton of parenting to do! This time flew by quickly. I cannot say that enough. Just yesterday he was learning to walk, and now he is ready to fly.

Kitchen Remodel...When Will It End?

The kitchen remodel project has been going on for about three weeks now. I am so over it!

It is terrible living out of a mock kitchen in the living room! Eating all dinners out or from the microwave. There are only so many things you can make in the microwave until you get sick of it!
We are living off of Chicken from Costco, chimichangas, pot pies and other TV dinners from the microwave and if I have one more sandwich from a fast food restaurant I will scream. (That goes for pizza too!) Anyhoo..Here are some progress pictures I took last weekend. Since then there has been more progress, I will take some more pics later today after we get home from another day of baseball.

The Home Depot moved in the spot where our old KMart was...And now we practically live there!

R and I designed the cabinet layout and we did a pretty good job if I must say so myself! I am trying to find some "before" pictures...The old cabinets were terrible, original from 1951 when the house was built. When the kitchen is complete, we will have more counter space and new appliances...After 17 years in this house, it is about time!

Notice the new crown molding and new lighting! I know that the paint color looks dark, but I am telling you, it looks great!

Here is a sample of the tile for the counter and the backsplash. (Granite counters are way out of our budget, granite counter=$2,400 vs tile counter=$300) I am so lucky that R is so handy! We are saving so much money on labor! Of course his back is killing him, I noticed he is taking more pain pills lately... I hope he doesn't over do it too much.

The boys have been helping a lot also, I think they actually are learning life-long lessons about the electrical, painting procedures,cabinet hanging, tile and flooring. They are really proud of their work!

I will post updated pics later...

~K ~

Life Goes On

The depressing rain has stopped for today.
(Take whatever meaning comes to you)

Life goes on.

I sat in the pouring rain yesterday afternoon and watched N 's team play a muddy baseball game at North Monterey County (Castroville area). As it was miserable sitting there with a leaking umbrella (I just bought it, I am taking that sucker back!) but it fit with what I was feeling so I didn't really mind. The umpire finally called the game in the 4th inning. It was starting to get really dangerous for the kids, but the other coach wanted to keep going, he was a real jerk about it. Whatever. The umpire stuck to his guns and called the game. I guess the big deal was that the game had to be finished in Monterey on their home field. Varsity sports get really ugly. People take it so seriously. Unbelievable.

In a couple of weeks, there is a fundraiser game in Monterey against Carmel. It is also called the Senior Appreciation game. I guess they call the parents onto the field with their son, its a big deal.
I won't have my mom in the stands to cheer for me so I am hoping that maybe Stacey will come *hint hint* and I am going to force my little sister to come so I can have someone to clap for us!! J 's team will play that day too...It will be something to look forward to.

A has a game today in Seaside (my least favorite place) I hope I get through it OK. The field is across the street of where my grandfather was murdered in 1989. (A really long story, which I will post about later, but the long story short is that a 14-year old boy took my grandfathers life without any guilt. He did go to the California Youth Authority until he turned 24 years old but then when he got out he proceeded to kill a innocent guy who worked at a Taco shop in Seaside and then his girlfriend who was found buried in a shallow grave on the former Fort Ord, she was about 6 months pregnant...like I said, it is a really long story and the details are awful, someday I will get it all down)
So anyway, it is really hard to go to the baseball games at that field, when I am constantly looking across the street at my grandparents old house.

Like I said before, Life goes on.

Then J has a double header in Monterey starting at 3:30. Another long day of baseball, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love watching them play!

Let's hope that the weather holds up!

Next Post: Kitchen remodel in progress...Life as we know it is gone..Living off of cereal and microwave meals...What an adventure.

Mom Left CA Today

She left today.
In tears with a huge truck following my sister's truck.
I can't really talk about it without crying myself. I had to go home from work today because I couldn't see the computer monitor through the tears.
She made it to NV safe and sound and is probably exhausted.
I am not quite sure who I am without her around.
I feel like someone has died. It is a deep saddness.
I hope it will get better, right now it sucks.
~Kim~

Family Secrets

I just got off of the phone with my older sister. She told her landlord stuff about me and Ralph...this is a small peninsula. After she told me what she told him about us (a HUGE secret by the way), I calmly asked his name. Not only do we know him, he works for the same company that Ralph does. AAAAGGGHHHHHH
Ralph is so mad.
He was going to drive the moving truck to NV on Saturday for her and Mom (loaded with all of the things that didn't fit in the other two trucks) and then fly back home that night (on our dime). I doubt that will happen now. He hasn't said anything, but I know that conversation is coming soon. I hope she has a plan B.