The Millers Take San Diego Day One: Wednesday Road Trip

One Wednesday Matt, Ben, and I hit the road to spend some time with Matt's family. Bev and Carl came down from the Sacramento area and stayed for two days in San Diego and two days in Dana Point, and they were so kind and generous as to get a room for us in San Diego so we could stay with them. On Wednesday afternoon Ben and I picked Matt up from work and headed south. Ben was not super excited about the two hour drive. His lack of enthusiasm manifested itself in two hours of screaming, with little ten second breaks here and there. So fun. Because Ben's dinner time came and went in the car and we weren't sure what dinner plans were going to be upon arrival, I fed Ben in the car on the way down. That gave us a five minute break from the screaming, so that was good.

When we got to the hotel (which was very nice), we waited for the family in the lobby as Ben entertained just about everyone who walked by (except for a business guy on his bluetooth, who probably could not have been distracted by a T-rex). When the family arrived and we were able to get into our room, unload, and take a breath, we went to dinner at the Yard House. Great food, great company, and the Laker game for Ben.

Happy guy


Apparently he's a Lakers fan

We got Ben to bed when we got back to the hotel around 9:00 (two hours past his bedtime...but he was a champ) then went to Bev and Carl's room next door to watch a movie. Matt and I were so tired we went back to our room and crashed around 9:45. We party hard.

View from our hotel room

Ben's crib

Totally baby safe room

To be continued...

Sad.

I found out yesterday that a friend of mine from high school died this week. She was the best kind of person. She was sweet, funny, caring...I can't think of one bad thing about her. But I suppose that often happens when someone passes, doesn't it? Well, she was still an amazing person. Smart, but not stuck up about it. Sweet, but not in that saccharine way that gives you a headache. A bit shy, but still quite kind and friendly. I haven't heard from her in several years, so the pain isn't that sharp stabbing kind. It's the dull kind that sneaks up on you and makes you a little numb, but not numb enough to not hurt.

Yesterday when I found out I sat on my couch, not sure what to do. Ben was, miraculously, still napping. I didn't want to do anything. I couldn't watch TV, waste time on the computer, have a snack. None of my usual after-work winding down activities sounded appealing. So I pulled out the yearbooks. I started with sixth grade and worked my way up to my senior year. Nostalgia is a funny thing. It's this strange mixture of memories and forgotten moments and people. All the boys and popular people that wrote...people that I felt like I lived and died to have write something wonderful and welcoming. My best friends...only one of which I can now say I'm close to. The others have changed. A couple of people that I spent seemingly every waking moment with, now reduced to Facebook friends that spent a couple of messages catching up on the years we lost track of each other. Teachers that I despised because other people made fun of them, so I bought it. But a lot of happy memories, too. Sleepovers and laughing and calling boys then hanging up when they answered.

In the midst of car problems, work problems, trying to pack with extremely limited time, and actor drama, I got lost in my past. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, yet. But I miss Karyn, and I'm sad that she passed away before we could at least become Facebook friends that read status updates and look at pictures.

Dear Orange County Shoppers,

I know that you believe the American Express black card in your wallet makes you a better person than me. But I feel like that might not be true. So when I'm pushing my child in his stroller through the mall, if you cut in front of it while you're talking on your platinum cell phone, I feel like maybe you shouldn't give me a dirty look when I can't stop fast enough and accidentally nick you in the ankle. Also, when I'm trying to back my Corolla, which is sandwiched between two SUVs the size of Texas, out of a parking spot seemingly intended for a Schwinn bicycle, maybe you shouldn't honk at me ferociously and give me the finger. It's bad manners, and it doesn't make be fall to my knees in humble apologies.

yours truly,

Shannon

Whew, What a Weekend

I know there are plenty of you who follow this little blog not for me and my witty commentaries, but for my super cute progeny. But now you have to listen to more of my non-Ben rantings. But I promise if you stick with me I will reward you in the end.

This weekend has been, to use a wee bit of understatement, a bit of a whirlwind. You've already heard a big chunk of it. Eye hives, birthday parties in Riverside, flat tires, and car shopping. But we've also been busy little bees with other things as well. On Friday evening our friends Tim and Shauna came over to watch the monkey while we had a much needed date night. We had dinner and participated in a good old fashioned Barnes and Noble date, where we find books and, like good little nerds, find a comfy chair and read. Since Ben's arrival we have not been able to participate in one of our favorite pastimes. Barnes and Noble with Ben is less a relaxing reading time and more of a "Ben, you can't pull all the books of the shelves here," and "Ben, what did you just pick up off the floor? Don't put it in your--no! Open your mouth, Ben," kind of a time. So it was nice to actually sit and read in peace.

You know most of Saturday. The birthday party in Riverside, the flat tire, the evening of Mad Men. Sunday Matt had someone cover for him at church so he could take care of the tire. What a good husband. :) Of course it turns out that our car came with premium tires; that's good. So it only cost a billion dollars to replace one. While Matt was off taking care of the car I went into super-spring-cleaning mode and gutted the closet and dresser (did I mention that on Friday I sorted the mountain of mail and other random papers that were consuming our apartment?). The trend continued into today. I went to Target and got organizational bins and such to finish our closet and tackle Ben's (aka our storage unit). Confession: I have always dreamed of having a label maker. I think it would be the best and worst thing ever to be placed into my hands. Everything would be labeled. Everything. Back to today...I also found a super cute "B" and a super cute photo thingy in the dollar bin. Score. So, armed with containers and a sharpie, I set to work on the hall closet and Ben's closet. The hall closet was overflowing with random soaps and manicure supplies that have been accumulating over the last ten years worth of birthdays and Christmases. It was with a tear and a sigh that I finally relinquished my hotel shampoo, etc. collection to the trash. There were just too many of them, and definitely too many coconut ones. So the hall closet and bathroom cabinet are cleaned out and organized. Then I tackled Ben's closet. All of his old clothes are sorted, boxed, labeled, and shelved in an organized manner, and all of the other random miscellany that has found its way there has been duly sorted and carefully placed as well.

While Ben was napping, Matt was geeking out on the computer, and I was studying, we got invited to our friends Joe and Pam Morgan's house for a get-together. So we finished off our memorial day weekend with some swimming, a great meal, and great company.

Normally the night before I return to work from a long weekend I'm all sad and whatnot. But this evening I'm just fine. Probably because I'm only working for two days this week, and then it's off to San Diego and Dana Point. That is, of course, if we still have at least one working car.

Super cute picture thingy (although the color is off)


Super cute "B" hanging on B's door


There is cheese in his hair because the wind blew his plate off the table and it landed on his head.

He really enjoyed his beans, cheese, and chicken.

Updates

1. The tire is fixed. We now have one working car and a lighter wallet (figuratively speaking--of course we don't have actual money in our wallets. real money doesn't actually exist anymore.).

2. Ben has learned how to wave. Funniest thing ever. His wave is actually more the sign for "yes," but we'll take it.

3. We are currently watching the first season of Mad Men. I am really getting a good picture of how lucky I am to be born in the time that I was. Great great show.

4. Apparently I'm all granola now. I have reusable grocery bags (the trick, of course, is remembering to put them back in the car and actually, you know, reuse them), I shop at Henry's...but let's not get carried away. The Millers are proud sponsors of Huggies.

5. This weekend we went to the birthday party of our dear friend Karen. We had a GREAT time catching up, and I got to snuggle with Ben's future wife, Delaney. Ben had a great time touching the other babies' hair (what would life be like if adults greeted one another like that?) and mauling the dog.

6. I still have eye hives. I went to the doctor on Friday and he confirmed it. He asked if I needed a refill of my unicorn tears, and I explained the price and Kaiser's "we won't pay for crap unless one of our super special doctors prescribed it" policy. So he gave me two bottles (that's $200 worth of unicorn tears for FREE) and told me to get my primary care doctor at Kaiser to write me a prescription for it, which I'd already thought of doing. Except I got a letter the other day saying my doctor was no longer with Kaiser, so I have to pick a new one. But at least for now I have a month's supply of unicorn tears.

7. We got Ben a little portable feeding seat for our world tour this summer. So tonight we barbecued and ate out on our little patio FINALLY and strapped Ben into his new chair. He seemed to do well. It was really nice eating outside, even with the view of the freeway and the liquor store.

8. We got waffle mix from Henry's and tomorrow Matt's making homemade waffles. I'm really excited. I grew up with Eggos, so the real deal is totally worth the blog.

9. I got peer-pressured into watching So You Think You Can Dance. So we'll see how that goes this summer.

10. I cleaned out the closet and dresser. This is a big deal. When I was pregnant I put all my most frequently worn clothes in the top drawer because that's all I could reach. I never really re-organized the dresser, and the closet is, well, like any other woman's closet I suppose. So I cleaned them today. You should be really impressed by this.

Alright--that's enough.

I Said I Wasn't Bored

So we're in the process of buying a new car because our trusty Corolla Jose felt he didn't need a catalytic converter (whatever that is--all I know is it's freakin' expensive). Because the registration's expired and he could get towed, we can't drive him. So we've been a one-horse family for a few days. My mom drove me to and from work for a couple of days, and yesterday I drove Matt to and from work because I was off work (we'll discuss that later). This weekend Matt was on the schedule to play at church. The car situation made this tricky--his pick-up and drop-off times were supposed to be during Ben's naps. I don't know if I've mentioned this eight million times, but Ben is a complete nightmare when he doesn't get his sleep. Anyhow...back to the original story. So Ben and I dropped Matt off at church around 3:45. When we got home, Ben cried for about 45 minutes because he felt like 40 minutes was just fine for an afternoon nap (I didn't agree). I wasn't sure we'd go to church at all, but after one and a half rounds of Baby Einstein and a hearty dinner, he was doing much better. So I decided to go for it. As soon as I left the parking lot I knew something was wrong. But we live adjacent to a freeway, and all the curbs are red. So I had to drive a little ways to get to a parking lot, by which time I knew I had a flat. Sure enough, I did. Of course I don't know how to change a tire (that's why I have a husband), and of course said husband was minutes away from going on stage at church. So I called him, called AAA, and tried to entertain the monkey in the parking lot while we waited. Jim from A&B Towing came and we were home fairly soon.

So now we have zero working cars, I still have hives in my eyes and still need unicorn tears, Ben's exploring the house in his diaper while I type, and I just smelled something ripe. I'm going to go change the monkey's diaper, give him his bath, feed him, and put him to bed a wee bit early because it's kind of been a stressful week.

Now I really have to go because he's redecorating the house with the bills.

Because Life Shouldn't Be Boring

The last few days have been fairly eventful. So many things have changed and unchanged and whatnot it's a little challenging to keep track. But I will attempt to update you.

1. Remember my fun list? Well, the June 12 trip to Knott's is out. I'm bummed because I had my mom and Ben join me on the last one to have baby fun because I knew I'd be going back in June to have grown-up fun. AND my bestie Erin was going to meet up with me there and we were going to make Knott's rue the day. But now there will be no rue-ing. Apparently one teacher has to stay behind to babysit the kids who didn't earn enough service points to go, and since apparently my homeroom had the largest number of kids who were too lazy to earn the points, apparently I have to stay behind. Guess who will be rue-ing the day now? They will suffer for this.

2. Just a couple of hours after I found out I would not be going to Knott's on June 12 I received a call from one of my wonderful friends asking me to be in our church's next play thingy, Funny Bone. It's a night of funny scenes and songs. We've done it before, and it's always super good; our church has a ridiculously talented drama team. I was on it for many years, but I quit this year because it's a big time commitment (lots of slumber parties and meetings) and in the last couple of years there has been very little actual performing. Since I had a newborn, it just wasn't going to be worth it to me. So I was a little surprised but very excited to get the call. It's been a year and a half since I've acted, and I'm getting antsy. The coincidence? The show is June 12-13. I'm acting and directing, which is very exciting. There has been a good smattering of drama already, but I can handle it. I can. I will not get frustrated. This is for fun.

3. I took the CSET. I'm pretty sure I passed. Now I'm studying American History.

4. The registration on our car expired a while back. I got it smogged, but it failed because the check engine light was on. We really haven't had the time or money to get it checked and fixed, so we paid the registration and have just been in limbo. I got pulled over the other day and got a ticket. The lady said she could tow me, but she felt bad about our situation and said she wouldn't, but I can't drive the car anymore because another officer could pull me over and tow the car on the spot. So that afternoon I took the car in, and my mom is now taking me to and from work (an uncomfortable flashback to high school). So we heard back from the car place yesterday; $2100 to fix it just enough to pass smog. That's about the worth of my car at this point. So we're right where we were less than a year ago, pretty much needing to buy a new car. Do we have the money? Kind of, but not really. Fortunately we have two long weekends starting tomorrow where we only need one car, so we have a little bit of time to make our decision and figure out what we're going to do. In the meantime, please pray for us, that we make the right decision and that I don't freak out. Also, that in acqiring a new car payment (and we finally have to start making payments on my student loans) we can still afford groceries and diapers. I have COMPLETE faith in God in this...and financially we're probably fine. But it's stressful. And I hate the car-buying process.

5. I am pleased at the outcome of American Idol. This may be the first year I buy the album of the winner. And maybe even a few other finalists.

6. The season finale of Lost was out of control.

Okay, I think that's everything.