TV take me back

There are two things that I absolutely must have in order to get a good nights sleep - a fan running and some classic TV.  Morgan teases me about the shows I like to watch.  Its either cooking shows or some old rerun of a sitcom.  He doesn't understand how I can watch the same "Golden Girls" episode four times in one week.  Old TV shows take me on a trip down memory lane.  These old shows were the shows I watched as a kid and just by watching them I feel instantly connected to my childhood and the people in it.  These shows take me back to a happy time and I think we could all use a little more happy times.

If I had to come up with one show that reminded me of my mom I couldn't.  I come up with three.  As a kid we watched "Little House on the Prairie" every week.  I was a very sensitive kid back then and every single episode would make me cry.  Each week my mom would ask me what was wrong and every week I told her I was crying because I was bored and wanted to go somewhere.  Who was I kidding, I was to embarrassed to admit a dumb TV show was making me cry.  Then there's "Roseanne".  I remember us watching it all the time and it still to this day makes me laugh.  Yes I own every season on DVD and yes I watch them often, especially when I'm missing Mom.  Lastly there's "The Wonder Years".  My huge crush on Kevin Arnold - mom wont let me forget that one.

One of my first childhood crush's - Kevin Arnold

My dad was big time into cooking.  Every single morning I woke up to a full breakfast with bacon, fried potatoes, biscuits and eggs.  I really don't know how I stayed so skinny.  Even if he had to get up early and go to work he still cooked me this breakfast and left it for me to heat up in the microwave.  Sunday's were especially good.  He and I would cook breakfast together and then sit down to eat and watch reruns of the original "Star Trek".  We did this every week.  Still cant get enough Star Trek! 

My brother Patrick had a big hand in raising me.  He definitely felt a responsibility for me and not because he HAD to, but because he wanted to.  He absolutely refused to let me watch "In Living Color".  He said the Fly Girls were inappropriate for me to watch.  He caught me watching it once, gave me a good talking to and well, he never caught me watching it again.  Whenever I see it on TV I watch at least 5 minutes of it, think if him and get a good laugh and a warmer heart.

The Fly Girls - the reason I was banned from watching

My sis lived in Maryland most of my life.  When I was in college she moved back to Louisville with my young niece Ella for a bit. I used to go over and hang out with them and babysit Ella.  Money was always tight and cable was never a priority.  Ella had one VHS tape of Nickelodeon's "Rugrats".  We must have watched that tape thousands of times.  Cant watch Rugrats without thinking of my sis and sweet little niece.

My step dad, who I affectionately call "The Mike" is a big fan of MASH.  Personally I hate the show but I do watch it whenever I see it on because I know he cant.  After all, my mom hates MASH more than I do and I doubt he's allowed to watch it while she is awake.

When I think of my aunt Linda I think of two shows - "The A Team" - because they had a dog named Murdock and "The Shirt Tales".  Remember "The Shirt Tales" - the cute little cartoon critters.  I remember for my birthday one year Aunt Linda gave me a Digger Shirt Tale character.  It was such an unexpected gift I still remember it vividly.  I remember going over to her house in Milton when she gave it to me.  I remember going into Cousin Mike and Greg's rooms and all the cool posters on the walls.  I'm pretty sure one of them had a Lost Boys poster - which happens to be one of my favorite movies.

The Shirt Tales!

My Aunt Suzanne is the reason I have to sleep with a fan on.  I spent many nights at their place as a kid and there were always fans running.  On particularly hot nights my cousins Mandy, Karla, Hannah, Kristy and I would sleep down stairs on the living room floor with the fans.  Pretty much every night we were scolded for talking to much to late.  The sound of a fan has always reminded me of home and I get that from the Sachleben side. 


For awhile I stayed with my Aunt Vicki and Cousins Aaron, Kevin and Elizabeth (Uncle Dale was away with the Navy).  My mom worked nights and she would drop me off there every evening, I would sleep over, go to school in the morning and then mom would pick me up after school. I remember every day after school sitting down with my little Cousin Elizabeth - she was probably in 2nd grade, me in 8th and watching "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego".  Elizabeth knew every answer to every question on that show.  Even as a kid I could tell Elizabeth was super smart special girl - she still is!  Every morning my Aunt Vicki would make us breakfast and take us to wait for the bus if it was raining or cold.  One rainy morning as we were all piled into her car waiting for the bus to come I had an epiphany - I will drive my kids to school every day, no matter what.  It meant that much.

MacGyver is one of my favorite shows ever.  It sucks that it is not currently on any network - that I know of.  Its pretty much the best show of all time.  I remember many nights at my Aunt Judy's house, laying on the floor in the living room in front of the TV with my Cousin Jennifer.  I think we probably both had a secret crush on MacGyver but that's another story. If I find myself in a sticky situation I do think "What would MacGyver do?"  and then I envision Jennifer and I flaring our nostrils - yes, good times.

Sexy Stud - Just look at that hair

Lastly - Can't watch Hee Haw without thinking of and missing my Grandpa Woody and I cant hear the word "Nickelodeon" without thinking of and missing my Grandma Juanita.  I remember spending the night with them one night and I wanted to watch that show on Nickelodeon called "Salute your Shorts."  In the opening song they say "fart".  Well,  fart was not an acceptable word at my Maw Maw and Paw Paws and Nickelodeon was forever banned.  Makes me wonder what they would think about Spongebob?

"Camp Anawanna I hold you in my heart, and when I think about you, it makes me wanna fart"

Morgan may not understand why I like to watch old shows, I really don't expect him to.  For me its not about the shows its about the people I watched them with.  Its about going back in time and feeling like I'm "home" whether home is 3,000 miles away or a lifetime away - I feel better, my heart is happy and that's really all that matters anyway.

Starbucks, Cars and the demise of Beetlejuice

Tuesday of last week started off pretty rough for me.  I woke up with the chills, all over body ache and a back that was killing me.  I thought maybe it was just a little payback for having such a good weekend but after 3 days of that I realized it was more than a one night thing and I had definitely caught some kind of bug.  Good news - I was feeling great by Saturday and ready to enjoy the weekend.  Unfortunately for Morgan Saturday was the day this dreaded bug would catch up with him and he was pretty miserable all night.  He woke up this morning feeling better, but not great.  He decided to spend the day resting at home and I decided to take advantage of him being home and use his babysitting services.

Piper spent the day at home with daddy and Avrie and I ventured out for a little fun.  Avrie is almost 4 years old and she never had a haircut.  Poor things hair barely grows and I have been hesitant to take any of it off, she doesn't have much to spare.  What little hair she has is always a mess - I compare her to Nick Nolte, Morgan says Beetlejuice.  Today was the day to get her first haircut.  My hopes were that cutting it would help it to grow faster...hopefully.  I couldn't see paying big bucks to trim her little amount of hair so I went to the local Super Cuts hoping for a quick, cute, cheap haircut. 

Wouldn't you know it the only person available to cut her hair was this big tall dude with piercings everywhere. I don't mind the piercings and all that but I was worried Avrie would.  I convinced her to get in the barber chair and she sat there still as could be - I don't know if she was scared stiff of the hair stylist or what, but she never moved for the 2 minutes it took to trim her hair.  I swear it really only took 2 minutes.  Apparently a 2 minute childrens haircut at Super Cuts cost $16.  I can't see how they can justify that but whatever, at least we got another first out of the way and she didn't have a bad experience.  She looks pretty cute too!

After Beetlejuice was destroyed forever we met up with my friend Stephanie and her 3 year old Isabella to see the new Cars movie.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed with it.  It also couldn't keep the attention of either of the kids.  About a half hour in Avrie asked to leave, she wanted to play with daddy instead.  I think the girls enjoyed playing together during a bathroom break than at any point during the movie. We suffered through the whole thing, Avrie told me not to buy that one on DVD and that was that. 

Once we got out of the movie I wanted to treat Avrie to one more thing before we headed home so I introduced her to the most wonderful thing called a Strawberries 'n' Cream frappuchino from Starbucks.  It was love at first sip - she definitely takes after me on this one.  We headed home to see what kind of day daddy and Piper had.  It was sweet to see how Avrie and Piper greeted each other, it was pretty obvious they had missed each other.  That made the day away seem so much sweeter and I had a pretty good time too!

New haircut

New haircut back view - she did have a little more of a mullet thing going

I can tell they missed each other by how well they are playing together



Still enjoying each others company, not many screams and crys this afternoon



Honeymoon -vs- Not a Wedding Reception

When Morgan and I decided to get married, it didn't take much discussion between the two of us to decide against the traditional big wedding/reception/honeymoon.  For me, the main reason I did not want a big wedding was because I just knew there was no way all of my family would be able to fly to California for it.  Even if they would have been able to I would never have been able to plan a huge celebration knowing that my brother couldn't attend.  It just wouldn't be right.

So we flew to Vegas where we met up with my sister from Maryland and had a quick, simple ceremony at a cute little chapel.  And that's all she wrote.  Flew home, broke the news to everyone and basically continued on with our lives.  Yeah we missed out on having a honeymoon, getting all the gifts, the big party with our friends.  But honestly the only way I feel like I missed out was getting to wear the big beautiful dress and all that goes with it. 

We are preparing to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary this year.  I am still quite shocked at how fast the time went by, but I guess its a good thing that we continue to enjoy each others company and we havent made each other nuts yet.  (Anybody who knows Morgan will understand what a big deal that last part is!)  I know that in the blink of an eye it will be our 10 year anniversary and I really want to do something special to commemorate.  Here's my dilemma.  The way I see it we have two options for our 10 year anniversary- either have that honeymoon or have a late "not a wedding" reception. 

Taking a trip together, alone for a week sounds really great.  Maybe a cruise, maybe just rent a house in Tahoe, whatever.  But then there is the matter of who will take care of the girls?  Who will take care of the critters?  Who will take care of me when I start missing said girls and critters?  We so seldom get any alone time this might be the thing to do. Or not....

Then theres the "Not A Wedding Reception"  idea.  Rent a nice dining hall - I have always loved Wedgewood in Rohnert Park and throw the reception we would have thrown if we would have had a wedding.  I could go get myself that big beautiful dress, granted it wouldn't be white and couldn't be to "wedding-ish" but same concept.  We could celebrate with all our friends, enjoy all the festivities and then be home with our girls the next day. 

With just over a year until our 10th anniversary, we really need to decide what we are going to do and start planning accordingly.  Part of thinks a nice quiet break alone is what we need the other part wants to celebrate this great accomplishment with my friends and family.  We still have a little time to decide and well, I guess what we don't do for the 10th we can do for the 15th or 20th.  Yes Morgan - I said 15th or 20th that's right your stuck with me!

Perfectly Perfect Weekend

If I had to pick one word to describe this weekend I think I would pick perfect.  Friday was spent at home with the girls, where they spent most of the day fighting over my lap.  Lately my lap has been prime real estate and they aren't happy sharing.  Pushing, shoving, screaming you name it - whatever it takes to get the spot.  The instant that one would get up to do something the other would come over as fast as possible to steal their spot.  It was like watching two race horses jockey for first place but the first place was my lap.  It was a rough day full of screaming and tantrums but my patience was rewarded with both the girls being asleep in their beds by 5:30.  AWESOME!  Only problem was Morgan and I stayed up WAY to late and well, kids that go to bed early wake up early.  Wish we would have remembered that Friday night!

Saturday started rough with the lack of sleep on our part and more than enough on the girls part.  Morgan took Avrie with him to the dumps so Piper and I could go grocery shopping alone.  It took some pretty good talking to convince Avrie it would be fun to go to the dumps with daddy.  She did come home really excited about the big tractors she saw moving all the garbage around.  She also found one of Pipey's toys in the garbage and felt like Superman for saving it for her.  Wonder what she would have thought about the dumps in Guerneville where there are tons of peacocks hanging out?  Those peacocks always seemed so out of place to me - here in the midst of all this garbage are these big beautiful birds.  I'm sure there is some kind of philosophical message there somewhere but that's all too deep for me these days.

Pipey and I had a good time grocery shopping just the two of us - its nice to get a little one on one time with the girls whenever possible.  We came back home and started getting things ready for the fireworks in Bodega Bay.  We loaded the spare futon mattress in the back of Morgan's truck, threw in lots of blankets, pillows and a cooler packed with goodies and we were on our way.  The fireworks weren't supposed to start until 9, we got there at 7 in hopes of getting a good spot and it was already almost full.  I cant believe how many people were there, it was nuts!  It was so easy to tell the locals from non-locals.  Locals were comfortably dressed in sweaters, hats, scarves, and Uggs and the non locals were freezing their butts off in shorts and t-shirts.  Guess they don't realize how cold Bodega Bay gets at night.  We were comfy and cozy in the back of the truck, it was pretty great.

All day Avrie kept asking "How much longer till the fireworks?"  Once the fireworks started it was "How much longer till the fireworks are over?"  Gotta love kids, they want what they want now and once they get it they are over it.  Wait - I know some adults like that too!  It took Pipey a bit to get over the sound of the fireworks but once the shock of it was over she seemed to enjoy it.  It was a long drive home - what should have taken 10 minutes took about an hour.  For me it felt like about 3 hours - I had to pee so bad I could hardly stand it, lol! Overall the fireworks in Bodega Bay were awesome as usual, I even heard some folks commenting that they were better than the ones in Santa Rosa.

Today, Sunday there was  the first annual "Party in the Park"  at the Tomales Community Park.  This is the best little park and close to our house.  The girls and I spend a lot of time in this park alone and with play dates and it was nice to get the whole family there.  It was fun for the most part - very crowded and I only ran into one person I knew (Hi Danielle!)  Seems like there weren't alot of locals there but proceeds all went to the park so that's all that matters really. Avrie decided she wanted to get her face painted - she picked hearts.  She was sitting on my lap getting it done and the lady asked her"  Should we paint one on your mommy's face too?"  The lady then looked at me and said "Are you her mom. sorry?'"  I didn't really know how to take that but we both got hearts painted anyway.  We had some decent paella from Bros BBQ in Petaluma - but I must admit it was no wear close to as good as Dan Bells.  Like, not even in the same ballpark.

 After the party we headed to town so Morgan could pick up a part for his boat and then took Avrie and Pipey for some ice cream.  Pretty awesome day, pretty awesome weekend.  Tomorrow Morgan is taking the boat out fishing with a buddy and the girls are planning our usual quiet Monday.  Probably wont get out of our pj's, watch some movies, play with the goats.  Great ending to a great weekend.  I feel so lucky to have been able to spend the weekend with my hubby and girls, laughing, learning and making memories.  Really makes me wish every weekend could be a three day weekend!

Waiting for the fireworks to start

All bundled up for the Bodega Bay cold

Our view of the bay for the fireworks

Avrie sitting on the recycled deer at the party in the park.  Made of all recycled and found objects - and it can move on its own!

Face painting - I have a matching set

For better or for worse

In the almost eleven years that Morgan and I have been together we have lived in a lot of places.  From my tiny shack in Dillon Beach to Bodega Bay, to Marshall, to Bodega, to Santa Rosa, to Guerneville and then to Valley Ford, we have covered a pretty good chunk of land.  For me, Valley Ford has always felt like home.  I think alot of it has to do with the fact that this is where I had my restaurant and this is where I lived when I first moved to CA.  To me, Valley Ford is home..  I know the people here- either in person or by word of mouth.  I know the back roads like the back of my hand and for me, the spirit of these lands is what really draws me in.  Rolling hills filled with grazing sheep, beef cows and dairys - whats not to love? 

The house that we now live in, used to be inhabited by a good friend of mine named Janet.  I remember coming over here for the first time a few years ago to help her get ready for a barn party.  I was sitting on the porch shucking corn and I thought to myself " This would be an awesome spot to raise a family."  Keep in mind this was many years before Morgan and I contemplated having kids.  Years go by, Morgan and I buy a one bedroom house in  Guerneville and are living "Happily Ever After".  And then there was Avrie.  I never wanted kids.  I dont know why, but I just didnt want to go that route.  But.....eventually you start to imagine the pitter patter of little feet and can't imagine your life without that sound.  After a full year of trying to get to the point of possibly hearing that sound - we finally got pregnant and well, that was that.  The older Avrie got, the less comfortable our little one bedroom house got.  I put the word out that we were looking to move into a bigger place and before we knew it, word came that Janet's old place - the place I thought would be great to raise a family in - was for rent.  It didnt take much convincing on my behalf to convince Morgan we needed to get out of Guernville and get into Janet's old place in Valley ford.

So, we packed up and moved. From Guerneville to Valley Ford - we were country again!  Yay!  We went from a tiny one bedroom place on a 1/4 acre to a three bedroom place on about 600 acres ( I think...) To make it even better this 600 acres is a working beef cow ranch.  We get all the joys of looking out the windows to see cows but dont have to deal with any of the headache.  Avrie LOVES playing in the hay barn, but we arent responsible for putting the hay in, we just get to enjoy it.  Across the way is a sheep ranch - oh what - yes we can stare at as many sheep as we want.  Across the road from us are some dairy cows.  Throw that all together with the random deer, turkeys, bobcats, quail etc that we encounter - its pretty easy to see why this is such an awesome spot.

We live in an extremely old house - old carpet, old appliances, old fireplace - thats what makes me love it.  If the girls spill a little juice on the carpet, big deal - clean it up and move on. Carpets older than dirt anyways who cares.  There has been so much "life" in this place over the years that it just, well, makes it liveable.  I love that we have enough land that we can have goats, sheep, cats and a dog.  Pretty much anything the girls want we can do.  If  I need to go chasing sheep in nothing but my bathrobe, nobody will notice and if they do they will probably just be thinking to themselves " Been there, done that."  Whatever happens I LOVE this place, I LOVE what it stand for and I LOVE what lives inside it..  I wouldnt have it any other way cause this really is my home, for better or for worse.

Avrie Appreciation Day

Overall Morgan and I have been pretty lucky to have such good kids. From birth they have both been laid back, calm and easy to get along with.  Most of the time...all kids have fits here and there but I think compared to most kids, my girls are way below the norm. When I was pregnant with Piper everyone kept telling me that she was going to be super difficult because there was just no way that I would get two easy kids in a row. Well,  I did!  Up until about two weeks ago...

About two weeks ago Avrie started to get a major attitude and in my opinion a bad behavior problem.  She went from getting one time out a month to about 5 a day.  Yes, 5 in a day - and they weren't the easy, sit her in the time out chair and wait 3 minutes kind of time outs. These were the ones where a 3 minute time out lasted about an hour.  Not fun.  She started kicking, hitting, throwing things, and even screamed the dreaded "I hate you" to me several times.  This behavior concerned me because it just wasn't like her.  I've watched enough Nanny 911 to know that kids usually act this way for a reason.

I started thinking about our daily routines, the daily conversations, everything that could give me a clue to why she could possibly be acting so badly.  It didn't take too long to figure it out.  Almost every time Avrie would ask for something, for me to color with her, for a snack, whatever - my usual response was something along the lines of "In a minute",  "After I...", "Let me finish this.."  You can see where I'm going.  Piper is at an age where she needs alot of attention, I think I might have forgotten about the part where Avrie needs alot of attention too.  Of course she's going to act up, its the only time she gets direct, uninterrupted attention from me.

Obviously this is not okay.  I need Avrie to know that she is as important to us as Piper is.  She needs our attention in an equal way, period.  So,  today we made arrangements to take Piper to the babysitter so Morgan and I could spend the day alone with Avrie.  We took her to see the new Kung Fu Panda movie - where she got to pick whatever snacks she wanted.  We went to the pet store so she could pet all the kitties, look at all the fish and tweet at all the birds.  We took her to the goat farm to see her new pet goats, went for Pizza and then grocery shopping.  She was allowed to pick a special treat at the grocery and she picked a 2 lb container of fresh blueberries.  Sort of reminded me of myself as a kid where I always wanted a head of cauliflower.  It was a fun day.

During the movie Avrie leaned over and whispered to me that the last time we went to a movie together Pipey was in my tummy.  Scary that she remembered that but even scarier - that day at the movies when I was prego with Piper was the last time Morgan and I had done anything with just Avrie.  That's sad to me and I am definitely going to make an effort to have more alone time with the kids.  Its important to do no matter how busy we are, and lets face it - we're never that busy. 

Having fun on the way to drop Piper off

With one of the full sized dwarf goats - just the right size for Avrie

Me holding one of our new goats.  It was like holding a puppy so cuddly

Tuckered out after a day of fun with mommy and daddy

"Sigh" School days

I am not one of those people that looks back on my high school years and thinks of them as the best times of my life.  I was painfully shy, socially awkward, had little self confidence and was just plain uncomfortable in my skin.  I wasn't involved in many after school activities - school sponsored or otherwise, went to very few dances, ball games, parties etc.  I had a few close friends that I could count on and hang out with.  Without them I probably wouldn't have any memories of high school at all.  I remember when I graduated high school I had basically no idea what I wanted to do in life, or even what kind of life I wanted to have. 




High School Graduation with one of my lifelong best friends Jessica

 Without any real plan I signed up for classes at the University of Louisville and just decided I would figure things out as I went.  I made new friends, tried new things, made some mistakes, had a few accomplishments and here I am, living in California - married with two kids.  Didn't see that one coming. 




Me at Kindergarten Graduation.  My mom made my dress along with a matching one for my Cabbage Patch doll

 With so many graduations going on right now it got me thinking.  What one piece of advice would I pass on to the new high school graduates?  What one thing was instrumental to my success as an adult. For me it was the willingness to take chances and try new things.  I had a pretty nice life in Kentucky when I got the offer to move to California.  I didn't need to run away from anything, I loved my friends and my family and had it pretty good. My heart told me to stay in Kentucky but my brain just kept telling me "You will never have this opportunity again".  So, as I've said before, Fat Cat and I boarded a plane to San Francisco and the rest is history.  Sure in my college years I made some mistakes - okay, maybe more than some.  (All my friends from college are getting a good laugh right now.)  But all of those mistakes made me who I am today, each one a lesson learned.  I am very happy with my life now and I owe it all to being willing to take a chance and see what happens.  I urge all you high school graduates to do the same - you never know where one little opportunity might get you, just be sure it doesn't get you in jail!



Senior prom with 2 more lifelong friends - Amanda and Jamie