John and I went down to the Wiltern tonight, to see The Pogues. We had pit tickets, because it was John's birthday present. We were front and center, right up against the rail. It was a fun show. A very fun opening band, too. Kind of a Chicano-Irish mix. Which reminded me of a conversation I had with our friend Paul many years ago, pointing out the similarities of the Irish and Mexican cultures. Anyway, it quite nearly brought a tear to my eye watching a handsome young vato play the banjo. They did this really cool thing where they went from a jazzy song to a cumbia, which I can never resist moving to! They even did a Pogues tribute. The whole night was very cool...even when the pit decided it was time to mosh, and I had to start elbowing people away from me.
Tomorrow night (well, actually, that would be tonight), it is Lucinda Williams at the Ventura Theater! Yay!
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Proud hunter
Here, John proudly displays his trapping prowess. I had to convince him not to mount the head as a trophy.
This nice fat gopher ate my hydrangea.
This nice fat gopher ate my hydrangea.
Birthday girls
The girls celebrated their 7th birthdays a few times this month! They got early presents from their Nina and Nino (Vickie and John Norbutas), then they had the family gathering at Round Table Pizza, we shared cupcakes with their class on their birthday, and then we had a tea party with a few of their friends and their mothers at Pamela's Tea Room in Santa Paula last weekend. It was fun!
In their class, they do a daily news / announcement thing where all the kids write any newsworthy notes and at the end of the day, the assigned "newscaster" reads the news out loud. Since it was the girls' birthday, the teacher made two newspapers, and all their classmates shared birthday greetings to them individually. Here is a copy of both pages, side by side (I hung them up on our wall):
I passed it several times, but after a couple of days, one sentiment in the middle of Viviana's page just jumped out at me and it really warmed my heart:
Isn't that just the sweetest thing you ever read? Happy Birthday Little Sister! Awwww!
(You can click on the pictures to make them larger)
In their class, they do a daily news / announcement thing where all the kids write any newsworthy notes and at the end of the day, the assigned "newscaster" reads the news out loud. Since it was the girls' birthday, the teacher made two newspapers, and all their classmates shared birthday greetings to them individually. Here is a copy of both pages, side by side (I hung them up on our wall):
I passed it several times, but after a couple of days, one sentiment in the middle of Viviana's page just jumped out at me and it really warmed my heart:
Isn't that just the sweetest thing you ever read? Happy Birthday Little Sister! Awwww!
(You can click on the pictures to make them larger)
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Baby steps...
Well, we finally moved into the new room. Oh no, will it always be referred to as the "new" room? The entertainment center and the sectional are in. I have Halloween stuff on my mantel. We haven't had a fire yet, it hasn't been cold enough.
We are still dealing with all the construction dust. It is EVERYWHERE! My wine bottles looked they were actually stored in an ancient wine cellar. But, so did my coffeemaker - - not quite the same effect!
John has been crafting some shelving for the media we are so fond of...cds and dvds! He is doing a nice job, too.
The next phase is to really clean the dining room (formerly living room) floor, and move the dinner table into its proper place. Then, we can assemble the new workspace furniture we bought from Staples and set up the computer and peripherals.
In other news, we have two concerts to attend this week. We are going to see The Pogues on Friday night at the Wiltern (John's birthday present), and Lucinda Williams at the Ventura Theater on Saturday. I am really looking forward to both shows. We saw the Black Keys in September, and we took Dylan with us. It was a great show, very high energy. Last Friday, I went down to Largo and met Jennifer for an incredible evening! It was Sean and Sara Watkins (2/3 of Nickel Creek), Jon Brion, Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings, and a few other talented folk who don't mind jumping up on stage and jamming along. They played virtually without a set-list, which makes for a fun experience. At one point, I heard Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" sung by a male in a very country & western style (steel guitar solo included!), which totally changed the whole tone of the song. It was amazing. Being a Friday night, and with Jon Brion in the mix, you get a lot of tangents. To hear Gillian Welch ask the sound booth to raise the echo on her mike and then begin belting out that Jefferson Airplane song "One pill makes you nervous...one pill makes you small..." was just freaky! She is much more of a folky/Americana/old-time country singer, not all psychedelic like that. At one point, I asked Jennifer what time it was, because they had not taken a break and it seemed kind of late, and we almost died to realize it was 1:30 am! They played for almost 4 hours, without a break! Not bad for just $15 plus dinner/drinks.
I took my final for my class last night, and I think I did pretty well. I am just glad it is over.
Well, I was just dropping by to leave an update...I need to get some lunch and get back to work. Keep in touch!
~Lisa
We are still dealing with all the construction dust. It is EVERYWHERE! My wine bottles looked they were actually stored in an ancient wine cellar. But, so did my coffeemaker - - not quite the same effect!
John has been crafting some shelving for the media we are so fond of...cds and dvds! He is doing a nice job, too.
The next phase is to really clean the dining room (formerly living room) floor, and move the dinner table into its proper place. Then, we can assemble the new workspace furniture we bought from Staples and set up the computer and peripherals.
In other news, we have two concerts to attend this week. We are going to see The Pogues on Friday night at the Wiltern (John's birthday present), and Lucinda Williams at the Ventura Theater on Saturday. I am really looking forward to both shows. We saw the Black Keys in September, and we took Dylan with us. It was a great show, very high energy. Last Friday, I went down to Largo and met Jennifer for an incredible evening! It was Sean and Sara Watkins (2/3 of Nickel Creek), Jon Brion, Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings, and a few other talented folk who don't mind jumping up on stage and jamming along. They played virtually without a set-list, which makes for a fun experience. At one point, I heard Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" sung by a male in a very country & western style (steel guitar solo included!), which totally changed the whole tone of the song. It was amazing. Being a Friday night, and with Jon Brion in the mix, you get a lot of tangents. To hear Gillian Welch ask the sound booth to raise the echo on her mike and then begin belting out that Jefferson Airplane song "One pill makes you nervous...one pill makes you small..." was just freaky! She is much more of a folky/Americana/old-time country singer, not all psychedelic like that. At one point, I asked Jennifer what time it was, because they had not taken a break and it seemed kind of late, and we almost died to realize it was 1:30 am! They played for almost 4 hours, without a break! Not bad for just $15 plus dinner/drinks.
I took my final for my class last night, and I think I did pretty well. I am just glad it is over.
Well, I was just dropping by to leave an update...I need to get some lunch and get back to work. Keep in touch!
~Lisa
Thursday, October 05, 2006
so...freakin'...tired...
It's October 5th and I am so very tired. Even my bones are tired. My sleep patterns are completely out of whack, and I'm not even sure I can pinpoint what the problem is. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep.
The girls had their 7th birthday on the 2nd. We went out to Round Table Pizza with family on Sunday the 1st. I will post some photos in a bit. I had school on Monday, so we celebrated a day early.
I am so ready for this class to be over! The teacher is pretty flippy-dippy in his approach, so he zooms all over the place and then gets lost and what he was trying to do doesn't work out correctly and he has to back-track...ugh, it gets very confusing!
I am considering a career change. That would be a huge move for me. Still, I was able to flex hours on Monday and take the girls to the doctor at a moment's notice (ear infections again, both of them), and I surely wouldn't have that at a new job. But the prospect of retiring with paid medical is just too lucrative to not consider. I have a few weeks to make a decision. I may go through the interview process just for practice anyway. That way, I wouldn't have to make a decision until I was actually offered the job. It would also be rotating shifts, which is not very enticing. That would really throw a wrench in my box office duties.
Hmmmm...I wonder if that's one of the things on my mind, throwing my sleep out of whack! Maybe I will make a cup of chamomile and read a book now.
~Lisa
The girls had their 7th birthday on the 2nd. We went out to Round Table Pizza with family on Sunday the 1st. I will post some photos in a bit. I had school on Monday, so we celebrated a day early.
I am so ready for this class to be over! The teacher is pretty flippy-dippy in his approach, so he zooms all over the place and then gets lost and what he was trying to do doesn't work out correctly and he has to back-track...ugh, it gets very confusing!
I am considering a career change. That would be a huge move for me. Still, I was able to flex hours on Monday and take the girls to the doctor at a moment's notice (ear infections again, both of them), and I surely wouldn't have that at a new job. But the prospect of retiring with paid medical is just too lucrative to not consider. I have a few weeks to make a decision. I may go through the interview process just for practice anyway. That way, I wouldn't have to make a decision until I was actually offered the job. It would also be rotating shifts, which is not very enticing. That would really throw a wrench in my box office duties.
Hmmmm...I wonder if that's one of the things on my mind, throwing my sleep out of whack! Maybe I will make a cup of chamomile and read a book now.
~Lisa
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