Happiness is...

Is there a better way to end a bad day?

Proud New Owners of...

...our very own Wii Fit!!!!After we received a phone tip from a friend, we literally rolled out of bed and into our car on a quest for the elusive Wii Fit. (There's a reason no pictures of me were taken :) ) We got to the Target and entered through the bat cave entrance which allowed us to enter right by the electronics and prevent me from being distracted by the other lovely things that Target has to offer. We stood in line and worried that we might have been too late since there were only a few Wii Fits visible.
Then they rolled out a cart full of Wii Fits and piled them behind the counter. We were guaranteed to get one! I alerted our informant that she could release the hostage she was holding for us at another store (farther away) because we were going to accomplish our mission at a closer location. I then began sending alerts to others including Queen B and the KFujs while the hubby waited in line.
We have now arrived home after a brunch at In-N-Out where I am blogging and the hubby is playing Wii Fit. He's leaving soon to be out of town until Friday, so I figured it was only fair to let him play now before I monopolize it for the next 5 days. ;)

When the lights go out...

Most normal people replace a light bulb when it burns out. Others wait until they all burn out. :)


This light is in our bedroom, on our ceiling fan. I sorta like the dimmer lighting in the bedroom. I'll get around to replacing them when they all burn out...maybe :)

Quaking and Shaking

Yes, there was a pretty good earthquake in Chino Hills today (details can be found here), yes, I live in Chino, and yes, everything is fine. Just like the fires in October, as soon as everyone hears that something happened in Chino, I start getting phone calls and emails. Thanks to everyone for your concern, but 3 things fell off of shelves, nothing broke, and the furries seemed unaffected by the whole event. It probably helped that my cleaning ladies were here for their monthly visit and the furries weren't alone without humans to "protect".

I was riding in the car with Rachel on our way to lunch when the quake hit. Neither of us knew what it was, but it felt sorta like Rachel's rear tires slid like we were on ice or in sand or something. We shrugged it off and figure it was just a pot hole or something.

We got to the restaurant and Kevin called Rach to see if she was ok, which is when we found out that it was an earthquake. I also pointed out that we were on an overpass over a rather large wash when we had the "tire issue". When I found out that it was centered in Chino Hills, I busted out Mr. Pearl to request that the hubby go home to check on our furry critters as I feared that something might have fallen over and trapped them or that they'd be panicked and scared. He BBM'd back that he was already on his way and I went back to my lunch.

Then it occurred to me that he had immediately left to check on the furries, but hadn't called or BBM'd me!!! Of course, as is typical after a quake, all of the phone lines were jammed. (This is further reason that everyone should have a BlackBerry or a Smartphone that can send email at the very least!) Allegedly, KT made a call to her mom DURING the quake...talk about quick reflexes!

I'm not irrational or illogical though - the brownie point that the hubby earned for going home to check on the "kids" cancelled out the minus point for not checking on me first. :)

Where there is smoke...

There are cupcakes?


Allow me to explain...

As is a fairly regular occurrence for me, I baked cupcakes for work last night. I started the oven to preheat and turned my back from the oven to create the batter. (It's really tough: open box, dump contents into bowl, add 1 cup of water, 1/3 cup oil, and 3 eggs, beat).

When I turned around to grab the cupcake pans, I gasped and yelled for the hubby. Why you ask? Because smoke was pouring out of the oven and filling the kitchen and dining room.

I quickly shut off the oven and then opened it, expecting to find something burning. Nope, no flames, just more smoke.

This is about the time that the hubby confesses that it's probably the drippings burning from the last time he broiled something. He used the cookie sheet without edges rather than the broil pan, so everything ran off the edges.

We then attempted to let the oven self clean (which I've never done before) and apparently the fact that it smoked even more and had to be stopped was to be expected.

I ended up taking my batter over to my aunt's and using her double oven. Now I just need to clean the oven....yuck!

(Note: Further proof that we share a brain, Queen B has the original post with this name.)

New Kolbow Family Tradition

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this up, but below are 2 links to video that document parts of the 1st Annual Kolbow Family Fireworks Extravaganza. Footage includes special guest, LilDahl.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

BTW, the Champ and I have declared next year a competition between the Dahl and Evans sisters. Expect more fireworks, more video, and more entertainment by LilDahl!

Ants are back!

And so is the baby powder...the worst part is that I have 3 weeks until my cleaning lady comes.

I Do Not Have a Green Thumb

There's a reason I buy cheap plants...


Although I did manage to keep these little suckers alive for over a month!

Do Not Try This At Home!

While on house arrest (for medical reasons, not legal) I've taken to sitting on an exercise ball to give my couch a break and maintain/improve core strength since I can't do crunches. My mom came over today and asked about the ball.

Conversation went like this:
Mom: Aren't you afraid you'll fall off and hit your head?
Me: Mom, are you serious? It's practically impossible to fall off while sitting on this.
Mom: It looks risky.
Me: Mom, come on, try it.

And so she did...

She preferred holding on for safety...
And she fell off. Literally fell backwards.
I swear I didn't make this up!!! The hubby (yes, that's him with one sock on - his foot itched) and my sister both were witnesses!!!

Whose fridge is this?

I'll give you a clue, it's not mine (I eat WAY too much!):



P.S. Lots of Gatorade for you Kim :)

Utter Grossness!

There is dirt and ash everywhere from the wind and fire this week. My mom, aunt, and I are having a house cleaning party tomorrow. Some before photos:

Backyard - Before

I understand that my backyard is small and is really a side yard, however we're going to turn it into a nice little patio complete with BBQ with a little patch of (artificial) grass for our little dog. Trust me when I say that the front yard and park across the street made this small sacrifice completely worth it!

These are the before photos. Construction began today - actually it was demolition and grading today. I'll take photos of the progress as it gets completed.

Jury Duty

Remember how I got that jury summons for the week I was in the Dominican? Remember how I postponed it until July 2nd which I was certain was going to be a slow week at work? Remember how I ended up moving June 2nd? Well, it turns out that Chino is in San Bernardino County which means I am ineligible to serve jury duty in Riverside County. I'm heartbroken...really. :)

This led me to count the number of dwellings (houses, apartments, townhouses), cities, and counties I've lived in...ready?

Dwellings- 7 (9)
Morning Canyon house
Bramford Court house
DiamondGate townhouse
(Pasadena condo - Dad's - on occasion)
(Victorville house - Dad's - on occasion)
Corona apartment
Lake Elsinore house
Moreno Valley house
Chino townhouse (technically)

Cities - 5
Diamond Bar
Corona
Lake Elsinore
Moreno Valley
Chino

Counties - 3
Los Angeles
Riverside
San Bernardino

Ok, your turn!

Pressure!!

I want to live up to the excellent blogging of Kim1Champ and Queen B, but feel somewhat limited in topics. Blogging about work is a no no, and that is a good 50% of my entire existance. My commute is no longer unrealistic and there are a few other topics that I can't write about as this is a public blog...

So that leaves me with housebreaking my dog for the third time. Here's a tip...don't get a puppy if there's any chance you'll be moving in the next 5 years. My dog is going to be 3 in September and he's lived in 3 houses with a significant amount of time spent visiting at my aunt and uncle's. The only place he's 100% housebroken is at my aunt's. At home he's 100% pee on pads and about 10% poop on puppy pads. My dog is smart, smart dogs tend to be stubborn. He knows what he's doing when he refuses to go pee in the garage like we want him to in the new house, and he knows what he's doing when he poops in various locations throughout the new house. Case in point - today I come home from work and find to poop deposits. One is smack in the middle of my new area rug, and the other is inches away from the puppy pads that we are slowly inching to the garage door. The fact that the dog figured out which room was the kitchen and wanted to pee there indicates that he is fairly intelligent for a dog. The fact that he REFUSES to pee in the garage indicates that he is stubborn.

I'm off until Monday so I will be using the next 4 days to train the little poop head - wish me luck!

Queen B, can I send my little poop head up to spend some time with your little angels? 14 hours is quite the impressive feat!

Oh and in case anyone is wondering, my cat found his litter box in the garage and started using it promptly the day we moved in.

Laundry

My loving husband, who is off every other Friday thanks to his 9/80 work schedule, typically does the laundry in our house - generally just clothes and towels. (He also cooks and takes care of our furries - the dog and cat). I am responsible for purchasing all necessary household items and I ALWAYS ask if he needs anything before I go shopping - this will be important later on. (I generally dislike shopping and tend to shop only when necessary.)

Being the wonderful husband that he is, the last load of laundry was just completed when he offered to run to Panda Express to pick up lunch (quite the Saturday tradition for us). I said that I would take it out, since I needed to wash all of the new bedding I got for our bedroom.

Since we are 99.9% not moving, I've begun the (re)decorating of our house. It's a bit of a hodge-podge right now and I'm going for a calming and neutral mix of blues and browns. Last weekend I used all of my LNT gift cards and purchased a mountain of new bedding in slate blue and chocolate brown.

But I digress...

I strip the old bedding from our bed and decide to wash the mattress pad first. I stick it in the washer and reach for the liquid detergent...empty. I sigh and pull out the drawer for my back up supply of powder that I know is there because I switched to liquid shortly after buying the washer and didn't bother to finish the powder. I saved it for an emergency such as this, or so I tell the pack-rat in myself. I reach for the fabric softener - the blue one that's a special scent -you know, one of the blue, purple, or pink ones - empty. I reach for the boring April Fresh bottle - also empty. I start laughing. While my darling husband does not return the milk carton to the fridge empty, apparently he is guilty in the laundry arena. Not wanting to postpone the start of this load, I hold both empty bottles upside down in hopes of getting just enough fabric softener to fill up the cup to "MIN".

It's my lucky day!!!! By combining both the April Fresh and special blue scent (I forget exactly what the combo of scents are - they just smell good!) I get just enough to start the load. YAY!!!

The husband returns and I ask him if he knew the bottles were empty. Our conversation goes something like this:
Wife: Did you know the detergent and fabric softener bottles were empty?
Husband: Yes, that's why I told you we needed more (true statement).
Wife: Why didn't you throw the bottles away then?
Husband: I thought you might be able to get a little bit more out of each bottle.
Wife: (I can't really argue since that is exactly what I just did.) Why didn't you tell me we needed more then?
Husband: I just did.

If my husband were the light that comes on when your car is low on gas, he would turn on right as the last drop of gas was being used. I love him!

Saturday Update

Last night I worked until 7 and then went to the gym on my way home...how's that for dedication? Happily I was able to keep the RPMs on the bike above 90 for the duration of my ride (the first 15 minutes of Nanny 911), then I walked on the treadmill at a pretty good incline for 10 minutes, then crunches until my sides and tummy about caught on fire they were burning so bad. Then I thought I'd give the elliptical a ride since I couldn't find the machine Matt's mom calls "The Nasty" (she's the wonderful woman who wears bike shorts under her skirts so her thighs don't rub together). Gleefully I found that I was able to survive much longer than I did the prior Friday. LAT has clearly done his job. I'm down a size in jeans and I had to buy new workout pants because my initial batch have started to slide down while I work out (and I'm not trying to show off my underwear).

Funny story...my aunt (who is both blonde AND left-handed) stops to get gas today in her fairly new car with both my uncle and my mom in the car with her. They pull up to the pump so that it is on the driver's side (normal for most cars, but not this one). My uncle reminds her that the tank is on the other side, so what does she do? Turn the car around? Well sort of, she flips a u-turn around the island and pulls up to the other side of the same pump, still on the driver's side of the car. I wish I had a visual...hopefully that made sense.

We went and cancelled the purchasing agreement of the "new" house today. I also found a bunch of furniture at Pier 1 that we'll be going to buy tomorrow. I'll be posting a lot of the hand-me-downs and Ikea stuff on Craigs List tonight/tomorrow as well. I'm going to "re-decorate" pretty much every room. We've only been there 2 years, but it was all decorated for the most part with a bunch of cheap stuff in sort of a hodge-podge of styles. Everything is going to be shades of blue and brown...except for our master bath which I painted gray(currently with black rugs that allow my cat to camoflauge)....that will be gray and navy. I've kicked/stepped on the cat so many times that I just can't keep the black rugs anymore.