Keeping Up + Catching Up.

Hey y'all! Sorry I have been MIA. Things are gettin' busy around here! First it was school, then all the things that follow soon after. PTA, Girl Scouts, soccer, nursery school and CCD next week. To that I add my house things, some of which are old things that I just have not gotten around to finishing and some new that are way overdue. Those I try to work on during the day when the kids are at school but have not made much progress, it actually seems like I have made bigger messes. This is because I start, then don't finish right away [generally weeks or months later, I am ashamed].

Case in point. My mother came last Friday to stay the weekend with us. I had started on my bedroom by unloading the contents of my closet [because we are full up in my house and have no extra bedrooms and my closet is the supreme dumping ground + my office + home to all the supplies that are not bathroom related] into my bedroom and when I surprisingly did not finish the same day, I just had to stack it up and push it all against walls and on top of dressers and such. Not what you want your mother to find. Not at all. Anyway, when she discovered it I convinced her that I had already made good progress and that I had a method to what surely looked like junk and madness. My mother wanted to help me with it, bless her heart. Thank the Lord that we didn't have time for that. We had other business to get to.

Like going out to dinner together, just me and my mom on Friday night. It was such a treat, I'm telling you. We had the best time. I can't remember the last time we did something like that but I will tell you it won't be the last! I felt a tiny bit guilty leaving Tony at home with the kids but he is such a good sport and it was so great to get out and have special alone time with my mom. Our favorite drinks and scrumptious food was excellent X 10! It was a beautiful night and she even drove and put the top down for me. We rode to the restaurant all blowy and carefree. Sweet.

Thanks mom for being here.

Saturday night was Tony's company party that comes along every other year. We got there early this time. Typically we are arriving just as dinner is being served and we miss the hors d'oeuvres and the cocktail hour beforehand. Being early felt good, less rush and fuss. Easy. We sat at a big round table for ten with some of Tony's work people that I most adore and had a great dinner. Everyone was buzzing with the big question. Who was performing? The theme of the evening was hot August nights and I honestly think it may have been the hottest night of the whole summer, and so darn humid to boot. It was pretty much a sweaty sweat fest. But we were all in the same sweaty boat so that commiseration + the anticipation of the night made it a little less painful to suffer.

Additional evidence to the theme were the beautiful classic cars parked all around the venue [tucked away deeply inside the grounds of Cal State Stanislaus]. I guess Neil Diamond sang a song about hot August nights, so the biggest rumor was that it was going to be him. I was happy with that because I will tell you that I do like Neil Diamond. And I will wave my Neil flag proudly. Big surprise coming, read on.

Mystery entertainment revealed: Are you ready for this? No, seriously, are you freaking ready for this? Jay FREAKING Leno! No kidding! For a good hour, maybe more, the stand up comedy of Jay FREAKING Leno! I am still in complete freak out shock about it. No videotaping please, but take all the photos you want! Me and Tracy from Alabama got up and got close, it was still hard to get a good one because it was dusk/becoming dark and I don't take photos with flash [because everybody knows flash is bad]. I had forgotten just how ridiculously funny he is and poor Jay was sweating his heart out in layers of hot suit clothes, God bless him.



After Leno, we danced to a good band. Yep, it was a Neil Diamond cover band and it was a whole lot of fun. You know how much I like to dance. And with one [or four] drinks behind me, I'm certain I looked like a crazy person. Anyway. It was fun.

The littlest princess has just requested the honor of my presence for a game of princess monopoly. I'm Pocahontas, she's Snow White. She is going to be the banker this time and she just handed me the stack of 2's and gave herself the stack of 5's. Looks like she'll be winning. After the game, I will try to talk her into accompanying me to Costco and Target. It's Sarah's birthday and I have to pick up a few things.

Hello Friday, you arrived just in time! My girl is 8!