Long day of shopping.

Miss-D, Grandma-Libby, and I went shopping today. It was supposed to be a little half-day excursion, but turned into 7.5 hours of shopping (with a break for lunch, and then another break for coffee and cupcakes!).

We got all the things we needed for the littles' birthday tomorrow, as well as a major Costco run and some other little here-and-there errands.

Daddy-J surprised us when we got home with some yummy chili and cornbread. And then he was off to the Jazz game with a buddy while Grandma-Libby, Grampa Irv, and I put together a big present for the littles, wrapped some little presents, and baked the cakes (to be frosted tomorrow).

I'm pooped!

I've succumbed to the vampires!

Oh dear! I avoided the Harry Potter mania for a long time... finally read the first book and absolutely hated it. Seriously, I thought the writing was dreadful, the plot predictable, and just couldn't find one redeeming thing about it. Never did read the second or subsequent books.

Now I've been avoiding the Twilight vampire thing for a few years. Everyone I know has read the series. I just wasn't interested.

Of course, then I get my Kindle, and one night I'm avoiding reading something serious (Tell Them You're One of Us) and go surfing for a light, easy read. I stumbled on Twilight, read the "sample" first chapter and I was hooked.

I just finished the third one last night, and I'm hankering to read the fourth so I can have it over and done with. The writing? It's ok. Not great, but certainly not terrible. The second and third books could have used a really good edit, especially compared to the first.

The characters are somewhat annoying. But they are appealing in their annoyingness. Suffice it to say that I will finish the fourth book and then hopefully Stephanie Meyers won't write any more! If she does, I'll probably read that too!

I am really enjoying this light reading... I've read way too much heavy stuff and non-fiction this year (and I have NOT kept up with my Shelfari list down at the bottom, which is at least a year out of date -- maybe that will be an update project for the Thanksgiving holiday!).

Now to see the first two movies and figure out if I like the books better as a movie?!

There is no escaping the Disney Princess machine!

Those who know me (is there anyone who doesn't know me who reads this blog?) know that I am not a fan of Disney. Even less so of the Disney Princesses. My aversion to all things Disney princess started when I saw Disney's The Little Mermaid for the first time and saw how Disney took a cautionary feminist tale about not longing for things that aren't good for you and the terrible price to be paid for trying to change who you are into a rom-com! *sigh*

Anyway, I have three little girls (*duh!*) and although we have not had a television during their short lifetimes and we have gone out of our way to stay away from Disney princesses where possible, I have learned that it is just about impossible to raise three girls in the US without having some level of exposure to the Disney Princess machine. I am, strangely enough, actually ok with this.

None of my girls is obsessed with the Disney princesses, or princesses in general either. It is a healthy part of their fantasy life, but they are just as likely to pretend they are dogs or horses or a mama and baby as a princess.

All of this is a long lead-in to my current dilemma, which is that M-Moo and K-Wiggles have asked for two birthday cakes this year. M-Moo wants Ariel and K-Wiggles wants Sleeping Beauty. I find this somewhat humorous, as they have never seen the Sleeping Beauty movie and they've seen The Little Mermaid maybe a handful of times. They have no idea what the storylines to these movies are, or any of the other characters.

They just see these beautiful dolls with sparkly clothes and that's what they want for a birthday cake! So today and tomorrow I am off to see what Michaels and any other cake-decorating store I can think of has for Ariel and Aurora cake-decorating accessories. Wish me luck!

Shhhh... advance birthday info...

I spent some time this week working on birthday gifts for M-Moo and K-Wiggles, who are turning 4 this Sunday (ack!).

Daddy-J and I decided on a Lego theme. I got them some Legos earlier this summer and they seemed to be a hit, but we don't have a place to really do them, nor do we have enough to really build anything cool.

So I ordered a bazillion and one Legos and Daddy-J and I are building a Lego table (well, it will be multi-purpose, but its first purpose will be Legos) out of some storage units from Ikea.

I am excited to see what the girls will build with Legos. And I am excited to see the Lego table (and all its storage!) come together.

Clearing the Decks!

I got some very important, but very delayed, legal work done today. It's been all ready to go for over a month and I have just had the devil of a time trying to find the time to actually get it filed and sent off like I needed to.

I don't know how I end up getting so busy that I can't get a simple thing done for a friend. Ugh. I don't know if it's sheer procrastination, avoidance, laziness, or just being busy (that can't POSSIBLY be it!).

Anyway, I am always battling being behind on everything I need and want to get done. Maybe everybody always feels that way.

Today was a good day in the battle to get things done! Let's see if I can keep up some momentum here!

Vaccinations

I have no intention of starting a debate (how could I here... no one comments ;-), but M-Moo and K-Wiggles got a few vaccinations at their 4-year checkup today. They were very brave, but the shots were owie and they were not happy. *sigh*

I had a nice long chat with our family doc, and we worked out my vaccine philosophy a long time ago. The end result seems to be that at 4, my girls are mostly un-vaccinated, but we are now starting a program to (mostly) catch them up over the next year or so.

Who knew, there is a thing called the Red Book, which holds the current recommended vaccine schedule, as well as a "catch-up" schedule for those who are late on vaccines (we are late on purpose, I suppose some may be late by accident!).

Anyway, it turns out that by delaying vaccinations, kids need far fewer vaccinations total than if you do them all on the originally recommended schedule. Bonus for us!

M-Moo had a bit of a fever reaction, and K-Wiggles had a bit of a redness-and-swelling reaction. Normal, I think, for the vaccines they had (a combo DTaP-IPV-HIB on one side and a seasonal flu on the other side).

It will be good to have them caught up on vaccines soon (at least on the ones we want to get).

I did find the adult booster recommendations and I am out-of-date on some vaccines and there are some new ones recommended for adults that I have not had. So I will talk with our doc about those at my checkup next month.

The fun never ends!

Family Visits

My auntie Penny (my mother's only sister) came to visit last month. She lives in Portugal, but she was in the States visiting friends in Phoenix. My mom flew her up to Salt Lake to visit. Mom and my sister Nina flew to Salt Lake as well and we spent a fun weekend catching up.

I have only terrible photos to show for it... so you only get one:

(extra credit if you're not related to me but can identify all four women in this photo!).

Twin Moms in Vegas

At the beginning of October, I went to Las Vegas with a group of twin moms from all around the country. We get together once a year, for a long weekend of talking, drinking, eating, and not a whole lot else! It's a great getaway and I am so lucky to have all these fantastic twin moms (whose twins are all older than mine) to get ideas from, talk to (online), and commiserate with.

Thank you ladies!

Meditation.

One of the tracks at my CLE today was "self-care." Good track for lawyers (not sure how it advances my legal education, but whatever!). I took my Kindle with me today, and honestly, I used it a lot.

But the last three hours of the day were interesting. I went to a seminar taught by a judge I used to work for and his wife that was all about meditation. The first hour they talked about meditation, what it is, how they came to it, how they practice it, that kind of stuff.

The last two hours, though, they did a guided meditation, which was really interesting. Being an atheist, I have trouble with some of the "woo-woo" spirituality aspects of the meditations we did. But in general I would like to find some way to incorporate meditation into my daily life.

They suggest sitting 5 minutes less than you can when you start. Of course, I haven't figured out a few things like: (1) how do you know how long you can sit? and (2) how do you know how long that is when you're meditating... set an alarm?

I'm hoping to find some time to do this, maybe in the new year. I am sure I will report on it here!

CLE -- Ugh!

I am a lawyer (yeah, I know, you know!). This means that every two years, I have to report my Continuing Legal Education credits. I am supposed to have 24 credits every two years. At least twelve of those credits have to be "live" (not reading or doing online courses or what-have-you).

Last cycle (two years ago), I missed the entire cycle and had zero credits. I finally made them all up, but it was after the cycle was over, it cost me a fortune, and it was so not fun.

Of course, this cycle, it's November and I have zero credits. So lucky me, I am spending my evening and all day tomorrow at the Utah Bar Association's Fall Forum. For the low-low-price of $179, I get 9.5 hours of CLE credit.

Perusing the offerings at the Fall Forum (there are 4 break-out tracks) it doesn't look too bad. Not how I'd like to spend my Thursday night and all day Friday, but c'est la vie.

My new Kindle!

For my birthday this year, I got one of these:



I am, and always have been, a voracious reader. Now that my kids are getting older and I'm getting more of a steady routine to my day (HAH!), I get some more time to read.

The Kindle is amazing! It is light, portable, and holds hundreds of books. And the books are cheaper to buy in e-book form than in hardback or paperback. And I can order them wirelessly... the Kindle has its own built-in "WhisperNet" that doesn't have to connect to a wifi hot spot or computer or anything. And when I buy a book, it takes about 60 seconds to download onto my Kindle. And I can "sample" books and read the first chapter or so before deciding if I want to buy it.

Ok, I could go on and on and on... but I won't. Suffice it to say I love my Kindle.

Oh, and The Help was a great book!

Denver Broncos!

I am a Denver Broncos fan (most of you probably already know that!). I have been a Broncos fan pretty much since the day I became a football fan. My step-dad who taught me all about football got me started when I lived in Rye, Colorado, a tiny town southwest of Pueblo. There's not a lot to do in Rye, and high school football is the town religion. Somewhere I have a yearbook with photos of me in the marching band and as a photographer on the sidelines of the football games!

Anyway, in all my years living in Colorado (4) and in right next door in Utah (17), I have never been to a Denver Broncos football game. (I did once go to Mile High Stadium to see the USFL Denver Gold play -- well, really we all went to see Alabama give a concert after the game!).

When Daddy-J bought the franchise in Denver, he wondered if he could finagle some Broncos tickets from one of the TV stations, radio stations, and/or newspapers he advertises with out there (little known fact: companies that advertise big dollars get big schwag from TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers).

I told him I would be impressed if/when that happened. So this summer, he announced that he had scored us 4 tickets to the Fox Suite at Invesco Field at Mile High to watch the Broncos play the Steelers on Monday Night Football.

Now I admit that MNF is not what it once was... ESPN at 6:30p.m. HELLOOOO?! Whatever. It's still super cool!

So this weekend we traveled to Denver. I spent the day Monday at the mall (of all places!) and had a lovely facial, makeover, and did some shopping. Then we headed to the field... After a little cockup with our VIP parking, we did a little tailgating with some friends and headed on up to the suite.

The food was fantastic. The company was amazing (love our friends from KDVR!). The football was incredible. Sadly, my Broncos lost to the Steelers (that guy Palomalu is amazing... everywhere on the field at once!). But it was truly a thrill for me to be able to go to the game and see everything live. I was definitely in awe (just ask the other people in the suite who kept trying to be nice and talk to me while I stared at the field for 3 hours! LOL!).

Here are some pictures:

Sickies get Mama

I got the sickies yesterday. Sadly, we were flying to Denver because we're going to see the Broncos game. I woke up not feeling well. I threw up *blech*. I threw some things in a bag so we could leave for the airport. We finally got to our hotel in Denver at about 2:00 and I slept all afternoon, woke up at 6:30, went to dinner, ate a little, came back to the hotel, went right back to sleep and slept through the night. I'm feeling better today, but still feeling groggy and just *ugh*.

Be thankful there are no pictures with this post!

New Fireplaces Done!

I wrote a few days ago about how the new fireplaces were finished on Friday. I cleaned like a madwoman to get rid of all the construction dust and detritus!

Here are some pics...

the upstairs fireplace:




the downstairs fireplace:





My dining room -- just had to throw that in as I thought it looked nice after I cleaned everything up!




And for comparison... two pictures from before we moved in (this was after we bought the house but before closing... the furniture is all the previous owners').

Miss D's first karate tournament.

Miss D went to her first Karate tournament today. She was a champ! She performed her entire form (taikiokoshodon -- sorry, no idea how to spell that!). She also performed two self-defense drills -- Halting Ram and Orientation Drill into Halting Ram.

Here's a video of her self-defense drills:








and here's a video of her receiving her second-place medal for self-defense:






and here is my proud orange-belt girl with her medal!

Today...

... my new fireplaces were finished.

... I swept and mopped and polished my great room floors.

... I wanted to kill K-Wiggles.

... I made baby-back ribs in the slow cooker -- yummy.

... my kids cleaned the whole downstairs, all by themselves... and did a good job.

... I watched a strangely funny movie -- The Maiden Heist.

... I got my great room all put back together (first time since April 1!).

Pictures tomorrow.

This'n'That

K-Wiggles is doing much better. "Thank you" to all who sent positive thoughts her way. She is a little hoarse, which is to be expected, but not really coughing that much, and no sign of fever at all. We have only one more dose of steroids to get through (she hates them!). The cool room at night (window cracked, it hasn't been super cold here) is definitely helping in the sleep department.

I survived my Utah Supreme Court oral argument today. It went well and I am hopeful that our position will prevail. It could be many months before we know the outcome though.

I am ready for a day of "chillin'" with my girlies tomorrow. And then I am very excited about going to Denver on Sunday to experience my very first real-live NFL Football game. I have been a Denver fan since before John Elway came to play there (and yes, that's a very long time!). Look for us in the Fox suite at Mile High (ok, ok, Invesco Field at Mile High, ack!) on this Monday night's game of Steelers vs. Broncos! Let's hope my Broncos can put on a good birthday show and bounce back from that nasty loss to the Ravens last week.

No pictures for this post, but I do have some on the point-n-shoot that I need to upload and share. Maybe tomorrow!

One girl up, another goes down.

M-Moo is feeling much bettear after 5-6 days of fever and gunky cough. Now poor K-Wiggles has got the fever and a scary-sounding dry cough. I'm up early this morning, listening to her breathe in my bed while she sleeps, trying to decide whether to take her in. I'm scared by how fast things can go downhill in little kids, and I'm here alone becase Daddy-J took an early flight to Denver this morning. Decisions, decisions.

UPDATE: 7:15 p.m. Turns out it was croup and pneumonia. K-Wiggles is now on steroids and an antibiotic for a few days. We will see how tonight goes... the nights are supposed to be the worst with croup. Good news is, definitely not flu.

More Pumpkin-Carving Pics

Exactly what the title says... a few more pictures of our pumpkin-carving project.

Halloween Fun!

We had a low-key Halloween here at Casa Llamedos. As it was a Saturday, we all slept in late, had a yummy breakfast, ran some errands, and then took a nap before the evening festivities.

Here are some pictures from our day...

Hanging at the house pre-trick-or-treating.


Pumpkin carving w/ G'Pa Larry.

Our trick-or-treating gang.

NaBloPoMo 2009

This time last year, I did the National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). See the start of it here. It really got me in the habit of posting. I kept with it through December and January and then kinda dropped it. My posting definitely dropped off. So I decided to do NaBloPoMo again this year to get back in the habit of daily posting. It will certainly be a challenge!

Anyone else in blogland care to join me?