Jack got a new video camera for Christmas and he already wrote, produced, cast, shot and edited his first movie. It involves a hamster wearing a cape. And hamster sized props. And it came out pretty funny. It is only 3 minutes…..so go on…. See what the next Felini did in his early years. He will sign autographs via mail for a small fee. Just sayin.
Things to notice:
His production company is called "Clearly Confused"
No hamsters were harmed in the making.
My house doesn’t lean to the left…the tripod wasn’t locked all the way.
The talent hired for the voice of Super Hammie also does a mean Mr. Bill.
Super Hammie had an issue with emptying seeds from his mouth at all the wrong moments. Like when he is defeating a really bad guy.
Jack would love to know what you think! Leave the poor kid a comment k?
This jewel of a sign was found during a recent field trip. And it has left me wondering what exactly is OUTRAGEOUSLY FEMININE attire. I mean I consider a cute pink top, or maybe a little satin with a bow or maybe a rhinestone thrown in is FEMININE attire. But OUTRAGEOUSLY feminine? What is that exactly? It is bit like a challenge don’t you think? Like an extreme fashion sport. You think you are feminine? Oh I will show you FEM-IN-INE!!! It will have to remain a mystery for now, because the store was closed. Perhaps they were getting ready for their Semi-Annual Insanely Productive and Beneficial Winter Season Sale. That Janet, always loved her adjectives.
What? She took her kids on another ‘field trip’? Yup. I like to get the most out of the winter break…so I try to do one thing a day with the kids. And today we drove about 50 miles to the town of Temecula. It is an old cowboy town. And thanks to the surge in the local winery businesses surrounding the town in the past 20 years it has now has become a wonderful day trip location. Antiques, historical buildings and great BBQ and burgers on nearly every corner. I once heard the place described by another Orange County native as “California’s version of the Napa Valley”. Um, Napa Valley IS ALREADY in California, genius. But having lived near the real Napa Valley in the past, I will say it is very similar in climate and terrain. For my next visit, I think I will ditch the kids with grandma and take my husband to tour a winery I think. Ya know, a grown-up field trip. Maybe you can meet me there?
Photo Notes: Jack filming the best antique tool store ever. 2. Jack posing in front of the Hotel Palomar sign (and yup, it is still a hotel) 3. Tucker looking too cool waiting on his burger at Mad Madelines.
I wish you a Happy New Year! Hell, have a Happy New You while I am at it.
Well here it is folks, the expected post about New Year Resolutions. All the cool kids are doing it- so I figured I better join in too. I am a sucker for blogger peer pressure. So here is my motto "Resolutions-Just say no". Its catchy no? Feel free to use it. See, I am a big fan of self-betterment. I make an honest attempt to be ‘better’ every day. And by better I might mean I try extra hard to fold the clothes when the dryer beeps and not re-run it about 7 times before I fold. But I also think we should be nice to ourselves and not make deadlines or ultimatums either. I think it is great to want to look/feel/act better…but should we proclaim it to all, and feel the guilt when not accomplished by the time the year ends? I say no way. So I have some resolutions that are sorta on-going. Ones I made with myself YEARS ago that I am still working on. Yeah losing those 20 lbs that follow me every where is one, but another is being selective about who I call a friend. Another big one is to NOT feel guilty if I can’t fix all the problems of my family/friends/world. I may never achieve any of these resolutions well enough to move on to others. So they just sorta live with me everyday. And everyday I work on them. I am a work in progress…under construction….so please excuse the mess while I renovate. Myself.
Watson’s has been right where it stands for over 100 years. It is still a working drug store with a pharmacy as well as a wonderful diner. Offering a wide aray of long forgotten sodas and shake combinations. My grandparents came to Watson’s, my parents came to Watson’s and today I took my boys to Watson’s. Just feels right.
And for those of you who hate to watch videos (it is only 3 minites), here some favorite pics. This wasn’t a full blown field trip- just a little lunch and a quick walk around Orange Circle (or Orange Plaza for the historians reading) through the antique shops and silly stores. Including a stop in the Army-Navy Surplus store. Just because you can never do enough firearm and camo shopping with your kids I say.
His first Blue Cream Frostie Soda! And he loved it!
So we took a visit to Bowers Museum in Santa Ana today. And saw a bunch of old stuff. Of course I could have done without the exhibit on death and burial rituals with graphic videos playing every time I turned a corner. “No mommy doesn’t know why they are dancing with the dead baby”…just not something I ever thought I would have to say. But the Quilt exhibit was neat as were all the ancient Chinese artifacts. Such a lovely peaceful place to visit. Museums are like my church. They recharge me.
My mom went with us. (I know, I know we look a lot alike) And as you can see Tucker got dressed up for the day in his new Tie T-Shirt from Santa. And Jack is still wearing his new flannel-with EVERYTHING. And EVERYday. I wonder if Kurt Cobain’s mom had the same complaint. Of course she was probably more concerned about the HEROIN and not so much his fashion sense.
(I promised to use my giant camera while my other P&S is in the shop. So this is an overload of photos to make up for the last few days)
An update to my camera trauma. I made it to the glorious Canon factory this morning, soon after they opened. Took a number and told my sad tale the girl at the counter. She said it would be ready for pick up in A WEEK. So since I have no photos of today’s events I will have to describe. First, my boys got their haircut at a new place today. This place was more suited for toddlers than my boys who think they are in high school. Complete with the rainbow sign and playhouse on the inside. But there they were sitting in a booster chair with a fisher-price themed cape around them, while the Little Einsteins played on a near by TV. In the end their hair looked great. But when Jack was asked if he wanted a lollypop he just smiled and replied ‘naw, I’m good.’ That little event was followed by a visit to PCH Dog in Orange. Which is a photo worthy eating experience. The menu is printed on a surf board and the guy serving me was about as nice as the soup-nazi. Tucker had a chili dog. Or the chili dog had him. Hard to tell- but when he was finished there was plenty of chili on his face, clothes and HAIR.
So there you have it. My day. Sans photos. Don’t worry- tomorrow I am gonna use my ginormous camera. I simply can’t function without someway to share the comedy of my life. Now what did I do before blogging?
I am starting to make plans for a little get-together, happening sometime next Summer I think. Just a gathering of OC (and near) Bloggers. We will share ideas, have a cocktail, meet each other face to face, have another cocktail and make each other laugh. BlogHer and BlissDom are great….and I wish I could attend both of them. But I have a real interest to build a local network of fellow ‘online journalists’. I am currently contacting hotels and venues to see if I can find a generous (and wise) location that wishes to donate their space in exchange for some positive bloggy mojo and reviews. I am also hoping to find local OC companies that wish to help sponsor the event. Nothing like generating good internet karma for pennies on the dollar! Could be good for everyone involved. So if you know anyone that might be able to donate or help, please let me know!!!
A few days ago Jack borrowed my most beloved possession. My Canon SD950 IS camera. He wanted to shoot a video of Tucker standing on his head and singing ‘Single Ladies’ (Beyonce’)…so it seemed like a good reason to me. And he came back and said the words no camera mother wants to hear ‘I dropped it’. I really didn’t think too much about it. I mean this camera has a titanium case (for reals) and it basically lives in my not-treated-gently purse everyday so I didn’t check it right then. So Christmas morning came around and low and behold…it is broken. Stuck in ISO200 and blowing out all the photos. In layman’s terms..the photos were all ruined. But I was too busy to stress and grabbed my professional (read: BIG) camera for the rest of the day. So today when I actually sat down to see what was wrong, and discovered it was really and truly broken. I CRIED. Not my proudest moment. But my cameras are so so important to me. I can barely function without them. The Canon repair factory place isn’t open until Monday. I plan to be waiting at the door when they open. Until then I will be in a fetal position, begging my children not to do anything cute or funny or camera worthy until I can get it fixed. And I will be praying I can afford the cost of the repairs as well.
Until then, I think I might be on a little bloggy break. Cuz I really am that upset. {insert eye roll here} I know it is just a THING. But to me- it is how I see the world. How I live.Perhaps this is some lesson to be learned?
(note: I am a die-hard 20+ year user of Canon and only Canon products. And this is my first repair needed. Yeah, seriously. I love me some Canon)
Christmas came. Christmas went…and I am exhausted. This year it was my moms turn to host the family party. But with my dad gone and her back hurting I of course helped to make it happen. And it is a lot of work to have a sit down BANQUET for 26 people. Bringing over tables, chairs, moving furniture, getting decorations down etc. And of course cooking, cooking, shopping and cleaning. There was the china to get out and the silver to polish and all the other details. And it was worth it. I love to see my family…and for reasons I can never put my finger on, we RARELY get together through out the year. It is something that both bothers me and baffles me. I mean- we all really like each other. All we do is laugh and have a great time…..but we do it about once a year. Maybe I am the only one who likes it so much? And today I promised to help my mom get her house back in order. And of course there is my obsession of DE-Christmasing my own home. I have a strong motto of ‘no Christmas-after Christmas’….so down came the trees, the stockings and all the rest. Now I am going to take a hot bath and bribe my kids not to kill each other for about 30 mins so I can relax.
(Photo: Tucker got a PSP (handheld game thing) from grandma and was thrilled. Jack told grandma he didn’t want one, so he got some other things. All great stuff, but pretty soon he was playing on Tucker’s new PSP and asking if he could save all his money to get his own. And today Tucker took his OWN $136.00 from his birthday/Christmas money, called his dad at work to take him to the store and he bought Jack a PSP of his own. (I kicked in the balance with my Christmas money)….talk about sweet….I just love how my boys love each other. Now that is a Christmas miracle.
Sure, we all know that once upon a time it was not only acceptable to smoke, it was considered GLAMOROUS. Of course that was long before things like medical studies and cancer research. But what surprises me about this ad (and hundreds of others I have found), is that there was a time when giving a carton of cigarettes was EVER an acceptable GIFT for CHRISTMAS. Just seems, so bizarre. According to this ad it was ‘Modern’. I think any gift you can buy at a gas station- should be immediately given more thought. And look at that special Christmas packaging too! You don’t even have to buy a gift tag! Just borrow a ball-point from the gas station attendant and fill in the name! How convenient!
(Hey, the G.I.R.L. Party is going on RIGHT NOW. Scroll down for details and a very unglamorous video of me. yeah, Bonus.)
So glad you could make it!!! Welcome to the December Glamorous In Real Life party. Have no idea what I am talking about? Check out this first. Remember it is B.Y.O.P. (bring your own post)…so drop them off with Mr. Linky below. You might wanna give him your keys too. Nik has brought an amazing cider cocktail…and lets just say you will be feeling GLAMOROUS after only one! Enjoy the video I put out. It really sums up the glamour of my holiday season. Don’t forget to click around and see what others brought to the party too…there are some pretty ‘glamorous’ bloggers out there this time of year.
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In riveting front page news; I finally cut big ol’ bangs.
And as promised- here is a photo.
And I am not a hunchback or suffering from early osteoporosis….I am bending down. Since my photographer is considerably shorter than me. But his rates are reasonable and I can usually trade a photo session for a PB&J or extra dessert.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, this is the same look I give at dinner parties when I am politely listening to a bullsh*t story by someone’s drunk husband and I am thinking ‘yeah right, like that EVER happened’. Except I usually do it standing totally upright, depending on the number of martini’s in me.
We went looking at a Christmas light spectacle near our home tonight. Streets and streets of insane people who not only decorate every single thing on and around their homes, some also serve hot chocolate, have live bands and put out chairs for you to sit and enjoy. We walked several blocks, taking in the sheer effort and cost of it all. It is simply wonderful. One house in particular is a favorite every year. It makes no attempt for cohesive design or color story. It does not keep to a ‘Snowman’ or “Santa only’ theme. It is simply…every single swinging thing they own that may or may not be related to Christmas brought out into their front yard. Last year it included a lit up cut-out of George Bush. And this year had a Statue of Liberty (they are patriotic folk). Take a look at the photo….a snowman playing the drums ten feet away from an LED baby Jesus. It is AWESOME.
(BTW: My friend Suzanne took a picture of this SAME house earlier in the week. And I must have stood in the same SPOT. Great minds ya know….Check it out here.)
While we don’t live in this crazy neighborhood, we do live on a street where every house is quite elaborately decorated. Everyone except US. This year I just didn’t feel like it. My girlfriend up the street told me someone asked if we were out of town. She just told them yes. Guess it was easier than explaining that we are just LAZY.
And how about some live action. A home light show coordinated to music….now this is an Orange County Christmas for sure! (only about 20 seconds)
He sparkles. He shines. He is quite simply a ball of JOY.
It is heartbreaking he is growing up-but I knew this was the gig when I took it. You make em, you fall in love and slowly they grow up and becoming something you just can’t imagine as you are sitting the hospital room holding him for the first time; A MAN. Well, I have a few years before that officially happens. So until then I plan to hold on tight.
Happy birthday to my blue-eyed baby. Mommy loves you.
(photo note: you can read about the scar on his belly from the longest night of my life…HERE.)
Well, we made our annual gingerbread house last night. It took 10 minutes to explain how it is not really bread, and another 10 minutes explaining why you can’t eat it. And this is the first year we were able to get our picture BEFORE it collapsed. And you wanna know why? The answer to all things my friends- HOT GLUE. I just hot glued that sucker together and then let the kids go to town eating decorating with candy. When they were finished they called me to see it. And in true tasteless funny form Jack had added a little sign out front of the Casa de Ginger. He added a “FORECLOSURE” sign. So apparently, I have not done a very good job shielding them from the realities of the down turn economy.
(Note: For any of you facing foreclosure on your home, I hope this post does not offend in anyway. We Massura’s have a twisted way of dealing with stressful times. And since drinking heavily is not really an option for a 10 year old, I think this kind of thing is probably only slightly healthier. Hope you understand.)
I prefer to think of Godiva Chocolates as really being named Go-Diva Chocolates. Like a little affirmation from a box of taste heaven. And boy was I excited to break into this beauty my husband brought me.I opened the box eagerly awaiting a taste sensation. But jeez-louise Godiva people, was it really necessary to put the NUTRITION (or lack there of) FACTS right on top? Here I was forgoing LUNCH to be able to enjoy a few morsels guilt free and instead I am hit smack in the face with the fact that 3 of these beauties are 200 calories and 13 grams of FAT. Pure FAT. Perhaps I shall cut out the middle man and just smear these puppies right on my thighs.
(oh I ate 2 instead of 3. Who says I can’t diet? That counts for something doesn’t it? And it was worth EVERY calorie. Bikinis are over-rated anyway)
By all suspension of logic, the dynamic ad team (you know them as Bob & Mike) decided to go with a BALD woman to advertise a blow dryer for HAIR. The concept was something about how owning a blow dryer is fun even if you were BALD. Huh? Really? I mean- I have had a lot of blow dryers in my day- and well, none of them have been particularly ‘FUN’. Perhaps I am using them wrong? During the concept meeting, when Mike mentioned finding a bald model, Bob replied with “yes, but be sure she is attractive” and then the room erupted in laughter- since it was known that attractiveness is traded for CREEPY when you are a bald model. Of course this may have been her one and only modeling job. Well, except for that bit part in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and later her print work in the “Fun Wigs for You!” catalog. But the best part of this Ad, has to be the passive tag line being used by Panasonic this year; “Panasonic.Just slightly ahead of our time”. Well, at least they are honest. They played around with “Way ahead of our time” and “Insanely ahead of our time”, but after R&D took a look at the product line, and realized they weren’t ahead of anything, they recommended to stick with the passive ’slightly’. It is a bit like saying “we are sorta-kinda-pretty-much-almost-but-not-really-better-than-the-next-guy”. Bob and Mike have nailed it again. Hard to believe Panasonic isn’t a world leader in fun hair care products by now.
***Lots more in the AdTalk Series! See button on the right side of screen! Read them all, tell a friend!
I do not ever recall believing in Santa. I must have at some point…but not at any age I can REMEMEBER. Which is really very strange since I have an uncanny ability to remember oh EVERYTHING about my childhood. But when I think back…I can not remember ever thinking Santa was real. I always seemed to know it was my mom who shopped, wrapped and hid the presents. And Mom, I always found the hiding place.
Today I was thinking how really great it would be, if there really was a Santa. A real guy who could bring me a new iphone, or wireless printer or the Canon 50D. No questions asked. No strings attached. Oh sure I might have to go sit on his lap for a few minutes once a year, but frankly it seems like a good deal to me. Heck, I have sat on laps for less. This year, I had to laugh when Tucker suggested a new laptop as his Christmas gift, and when I said "Um, honey that is too expensive to ask for" he looked me square in the eye and said "don’t worry Mom, I will ask SANTA for it-so you don’t have to buy it". Oh boy, I wish it was that easy. But I see now how magical it can be to believe in something so simple as Santa. And how heartbreaking it can be when you wake up and realize he isn’t real.
I wish you a Happy New Year! Hell, have a Happy New You while I am at it.
