I just spent the week at the office installing a new computer system. This means also transferring data from the old system and training the new front office assistant on the new system as well as the old one, since that needs to stay until we are paid on old invoices. What a crazy week.

On top of that, I am having the kitchen cabinets redone so my son had to stay home to make sure that went well. He didn't like the house arrest sentence. Poor guy. The cabinets are looking good and I am very excited that they are finally being done after 3 years of planning. (Hope to get the bathroom cabinets done too!)

Was planning on playing golf this afternoon but I felt sorry for my son being cooped up all week so I gave up my spot for him. (Bad thing about golf- only 4 in a group. Since my other son's GF is going, one of us has to sit out- so it's me this weekend.)

Guess I'll  stay home a work on the new dental assisting program that I am developing. We hope to start a school at our office practice to train DA's. It's to retrain people who want to change careers in this poor economic environment we have today and go into the health field. Anyone in San Diego who might be interested in a quick (4-6 weeks) unique program (partial online, 1 day a week classroom and on the job training) to train as a dental assistant, should contact me.

I've been away so long. Been busy. Been crazy. Getting my youngest through SAT's for college. Getting my middle son through college and he is now graduated with a BS in Accounting. Yeah!!!!!!
Oldest is now a 3rd year dental student in Arizona so he has 2 years to go and then he can start practicing.

It's very hot here in San Diego this week. We are in the middle of a heat wave but it should break in a couple of days and we will go  back to our mild summer weather- 70's and 80's.

Our family took up golf a couple of months ago and it's going well for the kids...not so well for me or my husband. I know what I have to do but my body won't execute the moves.  My kids keep correcting my stance, my swing, my follow through.  I know in my mind what I should be doing but my body can't do it. This is the most frustrating sport.

However, we did spend last week watching Tiger Woods and his surprise opponent, Rocco Mediate at the US Golf Open here in Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. It was fantastic. They say that there were about 45,000 spectators every day and about 300,000 over the course of the tournament. We were lucky to get some VIP tickets for the tournament and had a great time. It was inspiring and I did play a better round of golf on Sunday than I have in the past but still not good enough yet. Have to keep trying!

Well have to end here. I'm having my kitchen cabinets refaced so I have workers all over the place. Wish me luck.

Well, it's a rainy day here in SoCal. After the wildfires, this is not always a great thing but we do need the rain. We are so parched that wildfires are a constant threat.  The areas that are burnt out have to deal with the threat of mudslides now. There are free sandbags for those who need them. Wrapped straw rolls are being used everywhere to keep the water and mud in check. It's one thing after another.

Enough complaining today.

I finally have my Christmas tree up. For those of you who don't know me personally, I have a 12 foot artificial tree that I put up each year. One of my pet peeves is the growing of trees just to cut them down to decorate at Christmas. Also the fire hazard is of concern. But I know the wonderful smell of pine in the house during the season is nice too. We all have our favorites.

Hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season!

The title says it all. Almost 4 years to the day after the huge Cedar fire here in San Diego. we are burning again. This time it is larger and homes are burning everywhere from the desert to the beaches. I know- how is that possible?  The winds from the Santa Ana condition (hot, windy weather from the desert) fueled fires that was sparked by downed power lines and the like. My family and my siblings' families and my parents were all evacuated for 24 hours. We are home now but are on alert in case of another evacuation. The fires are not out, yet. They are just finally able to battle them since the winds have died down a bit. Well, I'm very tired now. Haven't had much sleep in the last 2 days. I was up all night for the last couple of nights watching for news about evacuations and fires that may be spreading to our neighborhood.  I'm going to go take a nap and refuel (bad choice of words) in case I have to run again.

Well- I just got back from a long weekend in San Francisco. It's been about 10 years since I last visited SF and it has changed!

The shopping mall on Market (I think that's the street) near the O'Farrel cable car station has become enormous. It is anchored by Norstrom's and Bloomingdale's and it is 4 stories of stores and a lower level with the great foodcourt.  It was really beautiful.

Of course the cable cars were fun to travel on - but now it's $5 each way- ouch! An all day pass is $11 so that's a bargain if you are planning on going around to the different sites all day long.

Fisherman's Wharf has also changed. It's been updated and quite a few more upscale restaurants and shops have been added to the usual little giftshops that were always there.  It was more fun than I remember the last time I was there.

But getting to SF with the airline restrictions was really a pain. Here is my gripe for the day. I fully support and appreciate the added security that we have at the airports today. But each airport is different and there still needs to be more standardization. The luggage limits on size and weight is somewhat of a pain and some airports don't care while others are ridiculous about them. With food service no longer existing on flights, we have to bring our own food onto the flight. But we aren't allowed to bring in food through the security checkpoint. So that means we are held hostage in the airport to buy the overpriced stuff that the few restaurants offer near the gates. $10 for a sandwich is ridiculous. You have to buy the drinks or bottled water there also because there is no way you can bring a drink through security. No wonder I hate to travel by air nowadays. I drive wherever I can.

All in all, SF was wonderful. The weather was perfect and clear. The hotel was not great so I won't be staying there again. From now on Hilton all the way- no more experimenting with hotels.  There was even a "Love Parade" while we were there. Strange ...  but it was SF afterall.

I can't believe that it's been so long since I posted an entry. My excuses are: computer went haywire and I had to delete and reload everything. That took some time and I am still restoring stuff.

Next excuse, I've been trying to get my new website up and running. I have an ebook store going online soon and some internet marketing stuff that I am making available to my friends and associates.  If you want to check out what is up at this time check out VengeanceMarketing.com/estuffshop.
The prices that you see may not correct yet- I have to lower them. Most of the ebooks and software will be below $10.
It is the beginnings of a great website that will give free marketing information and free downloads as well as memberships to sites and ebooks for sale. I also will be working to set up an affiliate opportunity for my ebook store. So if anyone needs to raise money for themselves or a non-profit that they are involved in, such as a school, team, other group or charity, let me know and I will help you out.

My good friend sent me this today and I thought it was very funny. I hope you enjoy it.

Well, the summer is over!  Well, it's over because school has started but weather-wise it is not nearly over.  I has been SO hot here that I have had to use the A/C for at least the last 4 days. I usually try not to turn on the A/C since 1) it costs a fortune to run now a days with electric rates the way they are and 2) the electric company is always asking us to conserve energy.  However, with the humidity from the hurricanes that have passed near by and the heat of 100 degrees plus (very unusual since we're normally around 80 here) it has been unbearable for the last few days. The weather is suppose to cool over the next few days so I hope we get back to normal soon.

A funny postscript to this story. I was wondering why our bedroom was not cooling down and the A/C seem to be running non stop all day.  Finally, after 4 days of this, my husband went into the attic to check the unit there and found that the A/C ducts had gapped away at one point and we were cooling the attic! Well, that explains the massive electric bills from last year when we had the A/C on. I can't wait to get the new bill this month. At least we found the problem and now my bedroom is again cooler.

I am waiting for my new kitchen cabinets right now. They are being built and sometime this month, I will have the pleasure of living with a noisy, dusty kitchen, while they install them.  I haven't had new cabinets since we remodeled our home about 12 years ago. The cabinets we had put in then were oak (they were in style back then) and have worked very well. However, since they were custom cabinets and were made in California, the varnish they used was not very water resistant. That is due to the laws regarding use of certain chemicals in California. If I had bought cabinets that were pre-made in another state, they could have used a stronger varnish that would have lasted longer. As my brother says, the other states don't mind if their workers grow an extra arm. It only means that the employees can work faster with 3 arms! Here in California, the government wants only 2 armed citizens.   Anyway- I digress.  I chose to put in cabinets that have a synthetic veneer instead of wood. The veneers are so good today that it had the color and texture of wood and even close up, you really can't tell the difference. This veneer should last for a very long time and should not suffer the water damage from drippy fingers that my wood cabinets had. I can't wait for my new kitchen. Of course, new cabinets always mean better tasting food, right?

Hey- if you're reading this post, please take the time to tag me. I will respond to all tags. Thanks.

It's amazing that it's time to go back to school for my kids. I spent a couple of hours yesterday at my youngest son's school getting him ready for school. Had to help him get his schedule, books, (Yes, he can do this himself but I have to write the checks as you will see) and pay for a year book (they cost about $80 now!!!). New this year, he is driving to school so I had to pay for a parking permit. Well, I don't have to get dressed to drive him to school in the morning but of course, I still have to get up to make sure he gets breakfast and gets out the door in time. Although he is driving himself this year, he actually has to leave a little earlier. He needs to worry about the traffic jam that builds up on the street leading to the school parking lot.

My middle son just confessed that he jumped into the pool with his cell phone in his pocket about 2 weeks ago. I wondered why his phone had a new sticker on it. Well, he paid for a new one and tried to hide the other one from me. Good thing he has a job this summer because the phones we have cost a bundle. Why do kids think that moms won't find things out? Everytime they try to  hide something from us, we eventually find out. Hopefully, it's nothing too serious that they are hiding. So far, no police have showed up at my doorstep, so that's a good thing! Usually it something stupid like the cell phone thing or that they  bought something that is in bad taste (at least as far as I am concerned). As long as it's minor, I can  live with it.

So summer is almost over. It goes so fast, I can't believe it. Hope your summer went well!

Las Vegas was a blast! It was also a heat blast - at 105 F. But when you only go from air conditioned hotel to air conditioned car and then to air conditioned hotel/casino/restaurant and then back again- it isn't too bad.

I was in Las Vegas to attend the ASD marketing show. I go every year to check out new merchandise and products etc. It's a nice excuse for a short vacation.  My husband found these cool desk top moving led message signs that he will be using in his office.

If you've ever been to Las Vegas, you'll remember the old Circus Circus. Well, that old hotel is going to be torn down sometime in the near future. We always go to the Adventuredome when we go to LV. This is an amusement park that they built in a pink glass dome that is placed over their parking structure. It's pretty big and has a water log type ride (in which you will get soaked), a crazy roller coaster and a great laser tag arena. We always buy the all day pass which pays for itself after 3 games of laser tag.  Then they have other various attractions like bumper cars, some 4d movies, min. golf, arcade and midway games etc. It's really a fun place to spend a few hours in a cool airconditioned indoor amusement park. I will be sorry to see it go when they tear down Circus Circus. Hopefully, they will rebuild it somewhere else.

Of course, you always have to check out Bellagio. the MGM hotel, the Wynn Hotel and others. There is a great GameWorks on the Strip that is open REALLY late and they have a all you can play card after midnight.  If you like bowling, there is a fairly new hotel called South Plaza (I think that's it's name- it used to be called South Coast) on the far end of the Strip that has a great bowling alley. They have $1 games after midnight so you can bring a group of people and play 4 or 5 games for hours and it will only cost a few dollars.

OK- I guess I can ask the Las Vegas tourist association for my check now.

Everyone go to Las Vegas. What happens there - stays there (yea- you wish!)

Went to a preview of the new movie, Stardust. I was very pleasantly surprised. I hadn't heard a lot of press about the movie which stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro and Claire Danes. I don't want to give anything away but Michelle Pfeiffer is an ugly evil witch - no type casting there. Robert DeNiro plays a character that you will never guess and Claire Danes is a star. No, literally a star! You know the ones in the sky. Everyone laughed through the movie and clapped at the end of it. It was definitely worth seeing.

I am going  to Las Vegas in a couple of days for 4 days away from home. A short vacation but I am looking forward to it. I believe the weather is hot and muggy (storms in the area) but when I am in Las Vegas, I don't worry about the heat. I go from a/c hotel to a/c car to a/c hotel or restaurant. That's just the way it is there.  We want to check out the "Bodies" exhibit. It shows preserved human bodies in all levels of disection. Check out the website http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/

Well, back again soon. Have a good weekend.