Crystal's Spa Boutique

My sister finally got back posession of her dog grooming shop in Pollock Pines albeit without any of the furnishings.  The lady who had been buying the business - Sherone,  defaulted on everything including paying her rent to the property owner and got evicted this past Tuesday after much back and forth and a couple of trips to through the court system.  She opened up shop directly across the street with all of Crystal's equipment plus all the personal stuff that my sister had put into the shop such as photo's and plants and such.

I have to give credit to my sister because she has taken the high road throughout the whole process doing everything by the book while I'm sure deep down she'd just have liked to beat the snot out of Sherone.  I know I would have.

She, Jeff and Jeff's nephew Earl went up on Saturday and tore out all the bad water board around the tubs and the rotten steps and then spend the rest of the day installing new water board while Crystal began cleaning the shop.  It was a filthy mess.  We were going to have a painting party but she decided to skip that for now and just washed down the walls.

Mom and I drove up yesterday and brought her a little fridge, a table and two chairs and a rug for the reception area plus we purchased her a couple of beautiful potted plants.  All combined it made the front of the shop very welcoming.

All she has to do to complete her business application is to get the fire department to sign off on Tuesday morning and then she's good to go.  She's already got five appointments scheduled for Tuesday.  While we were up there people kept stopping by to see what was going on and were so happy and excited to see that my sister was coming back.  The majority of past clients didn't have anything complimentary to say about Sharone or the way she ran the business.  I have a feeling that that young lady is going to be in for a rude awakening when Crystal really gets up and running, because even without her shop cards with all her past clients information, I think they will find there way back to my sister.

Anyway sis, congratulations and good luck.

Birthdays

We celebrated this weekend with Elsa who was turning 3 and Pop Pop who turned 60.  On Saturday we headed over to Elsa's for a playdate party with the birthday girl and a handful of her friends.  The kids got to do bubbles, draw with chalk, ride tricycles and play on the playset and climbing bars.  Mary provided lunch, PB&J, 1/2 bananna and fruit chews for the kids and sandwiches and chips  for the parents.  It was supposed to go from 11:30 to 1:30 but the kids were having such a great time playing together that Joey and I didn't get home until almost 3:30.

On Sunday we had a dual family birthday party to celebrate both of their birthdays.  We had finger foods, presents and cake with ice cream and of course the kids (and us adults) played more bubbles.  It was a really nice get together.  They both made out like bandits and I think liked all the different gifts they received.

COOKIES!

Joey and I made chocolate chip cookies this morning thanks to Grandma.  She had bought the premade dough the other day, and Joey and I rolled it into balls.  Since he's become a master playdough ball maker, he had it down in a jiffy turning out perfectly round balls which he placed on the cookie sheet and then immediately smashed down into a pancake, thus making us have to do the process all over again.  He only dropped one ball on the floor so we still managed to get 24 cookies out of the package.  Now they're baking away and Joey is learning just how long 14 minutes truly is as he's waiting in anticipation to be able to pick out exactly the cookie that he wants to eat.

What fun, huh?  We're definately going to have to do this again in the near future.

Pool Time

Well Larry bit the bullet tonight and tested out our pool... 78 degrees on the surface and probably more like 70 in the deeper recesses.  Joey got in and skinny dipped along the first and second steps... this boy really loves his water.  He kept asking if his friends could come over and swim in his water and I of course said yes and then we had to go through a list of his friends that would get to come.  Elsa?  Yes.  Gracie?  Yes.  Sandr?  Yes and on and on.

Then while Daddy continued to do his laps Joey decided he needed to pee pee so he got out.  However he didn't tell me he had to go to the bathroom and my first inkling was when I felt the warm water hitting my back.  I hollered to Larry that, "Your son is peeing on me" and Larry started to yell at him while I started to laugh.  He stopped his stream the instant Larry raised his voice but as soon as he heard me laughing he let it go and finished... on me.  Needless to say we had to have a talk about not only not peeing in the pool, but that it wasn't acceptable to pee on people either.

The whole thing was a little surreal, but it did provide some comic relief.  What can I say, that's my boy.

Mother's Day

I had such a lovely Mother's Day yesterday.  It started out with Joey crawling in bed with us to cuddle... love that, then Larry got up to cook sausages and bacon to take to brunch at his sister's house.  All of his family was there and it was a mini feast.  We had belgian waffles with nuts, three kinds of berries and fresh whipped cream.  Mary had made this wonderful frittata that was really delicious, plus muffins, cinnamon rolls and mimosa's.  I got lots of cards, flowers and a belgian waffler maker like they use in the restaurants.

Then we came back home and Larry got cooking for our own family BBQ.  He made ribs, and tri tips, grilled asparagus and corn on the cobb.  Crystal brought homeade potato salad and a fabulous ice box lemon cake that was probably the best lemon cake I have ever tasted.  We just hung out, cooking and chatting and despite the occasional rain had a really nice time.

I must admit I wasn't the best host as I snuck out of my own party to try to catch a cat nap for an hour.  When I got up Crystal and Larry had cleaned up all the mess and I was left with a clean kitchen and dining area, as well as the rest of the house being tidy as Larry had picked it all up the night before.

I ended the day babysitting for my good friend JoAnna so she and her hubby could go out to dinner and catch a musical performance.  I had the best time hanging with her three boys, ages 8, 5 and 4.  We watched a movie, and had gun fights... three against one and I got the gun that didn't have any bullets but it was still a lot of fun.

All in all it was a really nice day and I enjoyed spending the time with all my family.  I appreciated how Larry took charge and I didn't have to do practically anything... it was a really nice gift.

Date Night

Larry and I took a little time for ourselves last Friday and planned, and actually executed, a date night... I can't even tell you the last time we did this.  We dropped Joey off with Grammie and Pop Pop around 3:00 and lucky little guy that he is not only did he have his grandparents to play with, but his cousin Elsa too.  Knowing he was in capable hands allowed us to head out for some couple time without having to worry at all about his well being.

We drove into El Dorado Hills since that's where the Regal Cinema is and since I had pre-bought tickets at Costco for that theatre.  We decided to see How to Train your Dragon (which Larry and Joey had already seen but Larry said he wouldn't mind seeing it again).  Our show didn't start for over an hour, so we moseyed on over to the adjacent restaurants and decided to get a bite for dinner.  We chose this lovely little Mexican cantina that neither of us had been to before and actually got to sit out on the enclosed terrace.  It was really lovely.  I had fish tacos that reminded me of the ones we'd had in Mexico and Larry had the Tamales.  Neither of us could completely finish our plates the portions were so generous.

It was really nice to be able to just sit down and have a conversation with my husband without any interruptions for a change.  We got to talk about his school, what's been going on at his job, my plans for my two mom's group, Joey of course and just life in general.  It was a really sweet time.

Then we headed over to the movies and got to sit in the dark together, holding hands and watch the 3-D love story... I teased Larry afterwards that it was the perfect movie for us as it was animated and in 3-D for him and had a love story in the mix for me.  We both really liked it alot and might just have to add it to our movie collection.

After the movie we headed back home to pick up Joey and had an opportunity to hang out with his parents for a little while, which also was very nice.  When we got there Joey was all cuddled up on the couch with Grammie, under a lap comforter, reading together.  It was so sweet.  We are both so gratefull that Joey gets to have special time with all of his grandparents.  I know I still treasure the time I got to spend with my grandparents, especially Grandma Hill, and am happy to know that Joey will have those kinds of memories too.

All in all it was a very successful date night and I'm looking forward to the next one... I was smart enough to buy a few movie tickets (lol).

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

Yesterday Joey and I headed out to Hagen Park to meet up with some of our friends for a Cinco de Mayo celebration.  There were six of us moms and nine kids altogether and we had a really nice time hanging out in the glorious sunshine.

The kids got to do bubbles, play on the playground (the swings being the big hit of the day), play emergency spy games, build mounds with their shovels and buckets out of the tanbark and last but not least, break open the pinata.  It was a string pinata so no bats were involved, but the kids loved taking turns pulling the strings and even after the special string was pulled that released the candy, they still wanted to continue pulling the strings until there were none left attached.  The candy and toys rained down on the ground and it was so cute to watch them want to dive in and get some but each unsure if they were "allowed" so they held back until all us moms hollered "go for it, get some goodies".  It was interesting to watch what they all picked.  Joey went for the suckers and some gum (which I made him put back since he likes to swallow it), then sweeties, and last a boucy ball.  Later it was sweet to watch him offer up his bounty to some of the other kids without any prompting from anyone else.

As for me, I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in quite a while and the opportunity to catch up on what everyone else had been up to.  It was nice to swap stories, share parenting oops and get some sound advice from others who had been exactly where I am now.  I'm so fortunate to have my mommy groups and to be able to create the friendships that I have.

Gardening with Grandma

Today was so perfect outside, a light wind, around 70 degrees at 10:00 in the morning, and Joey and Grandma spent the time together in the backyard gardening.  It was so cute to watch the two of them together, digging in the planters, placing the plants we'd bought over the weekend.  A lilly, some geraniums, an african daisy, plus some alyssium.  It really will add just the right touch of spring to our otherwise green backyard.

I even got my hands a little dirty as I helped finish off the planting when mom was ready for a break.  Joey's favorite part of course was digging in the dirt, moving it from one container to another, and basically spilling have of what he was shoveling onto the patio. 

In the end, we all ended up having a nice morning, got a little dirty in the process and built up our appetites for a hearty lunch.  A picture perfect day.

Making the most of the funky weather

This weather has been giving us fits... sunny one moment, hailing the next.  I never seem to be able to follow through on our play dates and Joe gets plumb stir crazy.  So last week I decided to make the most of it and when it was sunny, he got to swim in his baby pool.  Playing with his boats and his water can - basically having a splish splashing blast. 

When it was raining, I put him in his raincoat and boots and let him have puddle play once the worst of the storm had passed.  As it turned out it was Thursday, garbage day in our neck of the woods, and our neighbors cans made the perfect dam to create quite a deep puddle so Joey could stomp and splash until to his hearts content.  He even got to run through another neighbors sprinklers since they were going off.

I decided if I can't beat the weather, then we might as well make the most of it.  Joey seemed to agree as he had a blast with the assortment of playtime activities we came up with.