This morning, the Bear had another first.

At 10am we were at.....the movie theater!

We were at our local theater's first showing of "The Chronicles of Narnia  -- Prince Caspian".

Around 9:30am we headed out.

Me: Bear? Let's go buddy!
Bear: Why? Now?
Me: Yes. We've got a couple things we need to do.

I parked the car. He kind of looked confused. Our local theater is a HUGE stand-alone structure. You can't tell what it is from the outside. Especially for those who can't read. So we got out of the car and walked up to the ticket area and got in line.

Bear: We're in line?
Me: Yes. We're in line.
Bear: Why?
Me: Because....we're going to watch Narnia. The NEW one!
Bear: We ARE?
Me: Yup. We are. It's going to be your first movie at the theater. Are you excited?
Bear: Yes. Narnia....yeah!

I seriously enjoyed it. I think it was a little long for the Bear, who generally is able to prance around the room here at home when he's watching anything. It was also a bit loud at the onset. I did forewarn him that it would be loud. Took about 20 minutes for him to uncover his ears. Yes. He had his ears covered for quite a while.

But he had fun. I had to take him myself for his first movie. I did that for the Prin. I had to do the same for my little guy.  

It's only 7am here where I live. I JUST found out that the guys from New Kids are going to be performing on the Today Show. On their outdoor stage.

Did any of you already catch it? I've got to set my VCR (hopefully successfully) to catch the moment. I'm busy trying to get the Prin ready for school, which is always a struggle.

But I didn't know if I was the only one who was not aware of the FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE of the group since their break-up.

wa-ah-oh-ah-oh....wa-ah-oh-ah-oh....Hanging tough....

Dear Lady with the rusted out white sedan:

I know you need to get to your destination. But please. Watch where you're going.

It's one thing to make a WIDE right turn. Basically taking up half the other lane, which has oncoming traffic (aka me).  I could see you struggling to make that turn ever so slowly like you didn't have any automatic steering on that tub you call a vehicle. Seeing you, I easily avoided you. 

To actually make the turn without swerving into my lane you might have removed the cigarette crooked in between your clawlike fingers of your left hand. Yes. Using the full force of that left hand WOULD have helped you navigate your vehicle more effectively. No doubt. 

I had no choice in my next move. I had to stop at the intersection where you turned. I had a STOP sign. So you making that left-hand turn into the aisle right behind me was NOT the best choice. Like I said before. I know you had to get to your destination. 

As I checked ahead of me to see if it was clear, I happened to glance at my rearview mirror.  You'd made your left-hand turn behind me. And there you were. Stuck. With your right wheel against the curb of the planter. It was not a successful or complete turn into the aisle. You were stuck blocking both lanes of traffic. Because you HAD to make it to your destination. 

The last thing I saw in my rear-view mirror was you obviously GUNNING your engine because your vehicle lurched up and over the curb. You actually got going. Hooray! So I can only assume you made it to your destination. With your cigarette securely clutched in your left hand. Yes. You made it Wal-Mart safe and sound. 

Hope I never see you on the road again.

Grace 

Today was the Princess' LONG day at school. She stayed for the "afterschool" program. It's only one more hour at school. Not a big deal. But she enjoys it. She's able to kid around with her friends and do other stuff.

I went to the room to get her. I peeked in and she immediately glanced at the door. Her eyes lighted up. She gave a quick wave to her teacher and she danced out of the room. I got the biggest hug ever. We walked over to her classroom so she could grab her backpack. 

Me: How was your day honey?
Prin: Good.
Me: Anything interesting?
Prin: Naw. Just the normal routine.

She went into her classroom, grabbed her backpack, and threw it on.

So, do you have snacks in the car?
No. I don't.

Her demeanor immediately changed. A dark cloud descended upon her. Like lickety-split.

Prin: What? NO snacks?
Me: You still need a snack? We're eating dinner in an hour.
Prin: But I'm SO hungry!
Me: Didn't you pack an adequate afternoon snack?
[silence]
Me: I told you this morning that you were hot lunch and that you needed to pack your snacks. It's not my fault you didn't pack enough. You know how hungry you get.

For the entire ride home she sat with her arms crossed.

Geez louise! She was all sweetness and light one minute and a frowny mess the next. Oh....I can't WAIT until she's a teenager! 

I actually set my VCR to tape the interview with Heather on Nightline tonight but I missed it. I missed it! I taped based upon what it said online. Unfortunately, I forgot that what it says online is an hour AFTER the time I need to tape.

But I looked online and found a webcast for it! Yes. That's what I did at 1:45am. No I haven't been up until now. I went to sleep and ended up waking up for no good reason. But the webcast was a good one. MUCH better than the stunted live interview from The Today Show. 

What I found interesting watching Heather on the computer in her office. On the computer in her kitchen. On the laptop in her kitchen. How many computers to the Armstrongs have? I know its a real situation in many homes. It was just funny to see it. But I do love all those HUGE flatscreen monitors. 

It was nice to finally see an interview longer than 60 seconds. An interview that used various elements of what was taped. No cutting the segments into 5 second snippets. 

Anyway, I sometimes mess up on taping shows. My example above is proof of my blunders. We don't have a DVD recorder. We don't have a digital recorder via our cable provider. I rely on my trusty VCR. But it's only trusty when I set it correctly. HA! There is the rub, eh?

So I will watch episodes that I've missed online. Yes. I use my laptop to watch things I've missed. I adore Some channel sites have great quality. Some even have HD! Lost is one of the shows that you can wee in high-def. But even ABC's regular video stream is of a good high quality. Life on NBC and Battlestar Galactica on Sci-Fi also have great quality. But what's funny is that Eureka, which is also on Sci-Fi, doesn't have the same quality. Such inconsistency from one site. 

But I'm seriously so glad that there are a bunch of shows available to watch online. So when it's slow when I'm working then I can open up a website and start an episode I haven't seen. I just started doing but it's SUCH a nice option. 

Now do you watch shows online? Any favorites that might be out of the ordinary? 

The Princess is practically finished with second grade. Next Tuesday is her last day in the classroom. On Wednesday, the school will attend their annual pool party at one of the local park pools. Parents have a choice of letting their kids attend or not.  

And now that the the Prin school year is coming to a close, the Hubs is actively looking for a new job. In the city where my parents live. Yes. Seriously. He's willing to move. Over 300 miles away.

He's been sending his resume out for just a couple weeks now. There's one place that's called him but he hasn't spoken to them directly yet. We're hopeful that he'll find something in the next couple of months. 

I mean now is the ideal time for him to find a new job. There won't be any school until August for the kids. So we'll be pretty free to move. I mean, my two part-time jobs are from home. LOVE THE INTERNET! So I'm not tied to any location. Just as long as I've got a reliable high-speed internet connection then I can get my work done. 

So the first obstacle is the job search. We want the Hubs to have a job BEFORE we move. Anyone know a company looking for a Financial Analyst? Anyone? Anyone?

I may keep both of my part-time jobs but then again I may be "forced" to find a job outside the house. My current part-time jobs pay me part-time pay. A lot less monthly income than what I received from my full-time work-from-home job. It all really depends on what the Hubs finds. But I've been a senior accountant, a general accountant, a technical recruiter, and a project manager for acctg software installs -- lots of Excel, Word, Oracle AP & GL experience as well. I've digressed into too many details...sorry.

The next stepping stone would be us selling this house. Our beautiful house. We've lived here over 3 years and we love the place. We love our neighborhood. We love our neighbors. I'll miss this house if and when we ever move. I think someone will fall in love with house once we put it on the market. And yet I'm still nervous at the potential of putting the house on the market in this day and age. In the current state of the housing market. It just makes me nervous. Wouldn't YOU be nervous to put your house on the market now? Argh! 

But it would be so cool if the Hubs was offered a job in the next couple of weeks. We'd put our house on the market [nervous laugh] and we'd try to live with my folks for free for a little bit. Then we'd rent a small place. After about a year we'll look into buying a place. We don't want to be forced to buy something right off the bat. I hate being pressured about that. I want to look in a leisurely manner. As leisurely as we can. I adore looking at houses. I enjoy trying to picture how a place will work for us. Try to imagine how we'd change things. Yes. I find that fun. 

But that's the big plan right now. Do you have any big summer plans? 

Today was Mother's Day. A quiet day in our house. I got to sleep in today. And I slept in yesterday as well. Woohoo!

The kids and the Hubs gave me my gift after breakfast. A breakfast that the Hubs put together. The Prin helped the Bear decorate a card for me. It's so cute how he draws people. He drew a picture of the two of us -- just my Bear and me. Too cute. The Prin put together a more elaborate hand-made card. She loves doing art stuff. I treasure the cards they make me!

But we actually celebrated the event last night. We went out to dinner. There was NO way I was going out for breakfast today. It's always SO busy on Mother's Day. I wasn't going to get up early and mess with crowds. No way. No how. That would get me all riled up. We went out to the Macaroni Grill near the mall. We've only gone there a couple times in the 4 years we've lived here, so it was a nice change. 

The kids loved the fact that they could color on the table -- since it's covered with big white art paper. I also had a bunch of colored paper and stickers and twist-up crayons in my bag. The Prin and I played hang-man while we waited for our table.  The Bear put stickers on his own paper. Of course, the Bear also chatted with the senior citizen couple that was sitting next to us in the waiting area. Actually, the Hubs and the Bear got up off the bench so this couple could sit down. So the Bear felt it was okay to chat with the couple. He was talking about his stickers before he put them on the paper on my lap. It was nice to see the Bear speak kindly to these folks. I'm glad he was able to put a smile on their faces. 

Anyway, we had a nice dinner. The kids had typical restaurant food -- mac&cheese and pizza. The Hubs and I were able to order stuff we don't normally get -- chicken & eggplant parmagiana. YUM! I actually had the house chardonnay. And I ended up getting tipsy. Yup! Me. They leave the huge bottle of wine at the table on the honor system. So I was in control of how much wine I drank. I did indulge. No wonder I slept in today. [he-he-he] It was a good time for all.

But I did observe something strange. Well, strange to me. There were couples in the waiting area of the restaurant in formal attire. Some local high school was having PROM last night. And they were eating dinner at Macaroni Grill. Huh? I know that if I was going to prom that I would KILL my date if he brought me to a chain restaurant. KILL! You know how much work and anguish it takes to select a prom dress? And getting ready? Talk about stress. Geez! But there were at least 8 couples at the restaurant. I just had to shake my head. It was kind of like when we lived in San Diego and we saw limos drive up to the Home Town Buffet. A buffet place! In a formal dress? Uh...not the best scenario. There are nice restaurants in the city. Acacia. Ventana Room. Bistro Zin. Soleil. Actual RESTAURANTS. 

Where did you eat for your prom? A local chain? A fancy-shmancy restaurant?  

See my new masthead photo? That is not something that is one of the blog-city provided photos.

What you see above is a picture of our flowers. Our flowers when they were in first bloom. Bright. Vibrant. Don't they look like happy flowers?

Alas...this flowers are no more. Gone. Gone. Gone. The bunnies waged their war. And the bunnies won. But I wanted y'all to see the beautiful flowers that used to be in our front yard.

The Bear and I would count how many flowers had opened up each morning after we dropped the Princess off at school. The Bear would also count the buds that were just growing as well. It was a good time.

But that time is gone. Gone forever. That wisp of a few weeks. Time that won't be recreated. Because those flowers are gone.

The Bear and I went and purchased more flowers for our front yard. Lantana.

The Hubs and I don't particularly enjoy the look of lantana....but the bunnies that live in our neighborhood definitely do not like to eat it. 

Special Features: The green fruits can be poisonous and the sharp prickles and hairy leaves produce allergic reactions in many people. Lantana has also been known to cause substantial changes in soil chemistry and structure, effecting native plant growth.

That was a little blurb I found online about lantana. The bunnies probably don't eat the lantana that's all over the public areas in our neighborhood because of the allergic reaction that's possible. Ahhh....  

The bunnies certainly DID enjoy eating our daisy-ish flower plants. This morning? The bunnies were SO pissed that they tore the plants out of the ground. The plants were eaten all the way down to the nub. SERIOUSLY! No leaves or flowers left. Just some stumps jutting out through the soil cluster. Down to the nub....

Like I said the Bear and I headed out to the local home improvement store and got some lantana. They only had the only yellow OR the yellow/orange mix flowering lantana. No purple! DANG IT! But we purchased 3 six-inch pots that had 2 plants each. So I ended up separating the plants out and got put them into 6 separate locations. Locations that previously had our daisies. Ho-hum. 

I wonder what the Hubs will say when he gets home this afternoon. I wonder if he'll even notice? I'm sure he'll notice over the weekend as we tend to play out front with the kids. But I wonder if he'll see the change as he drives in? We'll see! 

My flowers...my flowers!

Those darn bunny rabbits have been ravaging my daisies again. I don't know what strain of daisy we've got but it seems to be a favorite of the bunnies in our neighborhood. We recently noticed that the buds were being bitten off. They were separated right under the flower bud. Each morning we'd see buds all on the rocks around each plant. 

Thankfully I do have some plants in a couple pots. THESE daisies are safe. I've been watering them daily and putting the plants up on a ledge before the sun sets each day. So those bunnies CANNOT reach these particular daisies. 

I think the Hubs and I are going to have to relent and buy some lantana. The bunnies don't eat the lantana. And the lantana are hardy, desert plants so they should flourish with no problem. I mean, the public areas in our neighborhood have lantana flowering abundantly. 

I'm pretty crushed about the realization that we won't be able to grow the daisies in the yard. Only in the elevated potted planters. [sigh] It's very disappointing.