All I want for Christmas is Combat Boots!

Ok, so I've been derelict in my blogging duties. Which isn't a terrible sin... but, since this is how I access everyone elses blogs.. I have been missing all of your posts too! Sorry about the tree picture Catherine, hopefully Scott didn't think you weren't keeping everyone informed.

Soooo... Matt finally told me what he wants for Christmas.. so I had to go shopping today.. Ugh! HOWEVER... while shopping I saw something that I've wanted ever since I was in High School. Dr. Marten's Combat Boots! Oh they looked so very cool and so very combatty! Yes, I did secretly want to be punk. But I knew dad would throw a fit if I got a mohawk or some other cool haircut, and he'd never buy me the boots. Come to think of it, maybe I should tell him what I wanted to do, but didn't for his sake.. it may score back some of the points I lost back then for all my bad choices... Hmmm... I'll have to think about that one... And yes, I know I'm 38 and combat boots don't look nearly as cool on a 38 year old as they do on a 17 year old. It may not be a look I can pull off anymore.. nevertheless I WANT THEM!

I need new shoes and I had Riley with me. I picked out a cute pair of Dr. Marten's Mary Janes, but kept drifting over to gaze at the boots. Finally I decided, what the heck I'll just try them on... oh... they felt just like I'd always dreamed they would feel... very cool. But I knew I should be practical and buy the shoes. Riley wasn't any help either. She thought they looked like Lara Croft boots and wanted me to get them too. In the end I went with the more practical choice.

When I got home I told Matt all about my dilemma to which he answered, "You're 38." Which in my mind meant, " You're too old for combat boots and you'd look like an idiot." As if anyone but me would know! It's not like I'd be tucking my pants into them! I gave him all my best arguments.. it's been an unfulfilled, life-long dream, if there were a natural disaster they could save his life. Seriously... picture it... natural disaster, mud, broken glass, sharp shards of metal (yes, Terminators COULD rule the world someday), broken concrete and re-bar everywhere. And there I'd be in my combat boots saving my family by carrying them one by one across the rugged terrain to safety. I could kick the crap out of any would-be looters or marauders... and just think... if I ever get that Desert Eagle .50 canon of a pistol... just think how utterly cool I would look. hehe. No one would mess with us.

So, sadly I still have no combat boots. But someday I will own a pair, even if I'm 70. Damn practicality anyway!

That SNL...

I've been giggling my butt off all day at a music video I saw on SNL recently. The next thing you know I'm on YouTube and Hulu looking up all sorts of hilarity. My day was oh so productive.. oh well. Sometimes you just need a good laugh. Andy Samberg cracks me up man.

Vampires...

Well I took Riley to see Twilight last night. She "just had to see it", because "everyone in school has ALREADY seen it!" Not that I minded seeing it myself of course, it just gave me another excuse. hehe. So we called my niece Arianne and invited her to come with us.

Now normally if Riley sees a movie that is from a book she has already read, we are subjected to at least 3 days of railing on the liberties taken by the movie studios. She gets all mad when they change things from the book, leave them out, or add things that didn't exist to begin with. So I warned her not to expect too much (I've only let her read the 1st 2 books) and to just enjoy the good parts and ignore the others.

When the movie was over I was waiting for the complaining, I asked her what she thought and she... loved it! She thinks it might be the best movie she's ever seen. Oh dear.. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that she thought Edward and Carlisle were "really hot". Does she even know what being "hot" means? I hope not. I'm getting the feeling that there will be a request for a Twilight poster in the near future. .... so it has begun...

It won't be long now before Matt starts mounting a display of various shotguns and pistols in the front hall to intimidate young boys. He may even call my dad for tips.

I'm just hoping to have 5 years before the boy-crazy gene kicks in. Please.. 16 years old.. that's all I ask. That's not too much right? Well I do have hope, she's in 6th grade and so far has no crushes on boys at school. If I compare that to myself, who began with crushes and tackling Kenyon Virchow to kiss him in Kindergarten, then I think at least she may not be as bad as I was. One can hope right?

Halloween...

Whew! I've finally finished Photoshopping the horrendous pictures we took on Halloween. You can see them at http://www.frandsenfamily.com/

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If you didn't already know, I've been suffering from Digital SLR breakdown. I thought it wouldn't be too big of a deal. I could always use my compact digital and my old film SLR.. right? Ummm.. wrong.. the compact unfortunately just can' match the big one for clear, sharp, spectacular shots.. and the film camera would have been a good backup if I'd only listened to the little voice in my head that said.. "that film is too old.. buy some new film". To which I said.. "Oh, it'll be ok.. it's professional film!" As if being professional film somehow makes it magic film, that isn't subject to the ravages of time and warm temperatures. Big mistake!

I brought home my film pictures and they were grainy, washed out and basically BLAH! I've spent days trying to photoshop some sort of life into them. The result is they are somewhat less washed out, although the colors are very odd.

What a waste!! I'm seriously temped to make the girls dress up one more time when I get my good camera back. Those costumes were so cute, and so much #@$% hard work that the anal side of me just really needs to commemorate them in spectacular, sharp, full color!! Ugh. I'm very irritated.

But you can look at them as long as you don't tar & feather me for the hideousness of the quality of the shots. The subjects of course are fabulous as always.

Long time no see...

By not posting in such a long time I have saved you all from a lengthy list of profanity in regards to dang crappy sleeves and the idiot who first came up with the idea of attaching sleeves to shirts. Also the fact that satin and organza fray like a house on fire, which is making it necessary to basically glue ALL cut edges on the whole stinking thing. All you ladies with sergers are now laughing at me.

And to add insult to injury my fancy camera went south on our trip to California. So it's at the Nikon repair place for the next 2 weeks. So I'll have to rely on my old film SLR and a compact digital camera to capture the magnificence of all my hard work. This angers me greatly.

The upside.. my niece will be here to help me get these things finished. I may torture her by having her work on the wig.. hehe. ALSO.. she'll be here to help get the kids ready for the school Halloween parade! Yay! Our new school is a bit weird, they don't let the kids come to school all done up. They give you 15 minutes after lunch to get them in their costumes and make up done before the parade. And when you have TWO kids with extensive make up and fake eyelashes.. 15 minutes isn't NEARLY enough! Not to mention... who is going to save me some good seats in the auditorium to watch said parade? So.. I'm very glad my niece will be here to help me.

Ok... back to sewing.. ugh.

California

Last weekend we went to California to visit Leisel & Daryl & the little cousins Mia & Bruce. Thank you to Leisel and Daryl for their spectacular hospitality and 5 star accomodations! The girls had a ball. Mia's room was trashed within the first 10 minutes of arrival. It looked like a Barbie convention blew up in there.

Leisel makes a mean Quesadilla. I had requests for them for the first few days after we got home.

We went to Disneyland with Leisel, Mia & Bruce for 2 days (thanks again K&J and Leisel & Daryl). That of course was a ball. Poor Leisel got stuck going on a lot of kiddie rides with Olivia and Bruce while Matt and I gorged ourselves on "big kid" rides with Riley, Sammy & Mia.

I have to say my all-time favorite rides for the trip were Space Mountain and California Screamin. It's hard to scream in a "wow-this-is-fun-and-not-at-all-scary" way so that you don't scare the kid you're sitting next to even more than they already are. For example.. on Space Mountain while Mia is squeezing my hand with all her might.. I'm trying to scream in a "woo-hoo.. how fun way, instead of the Holy S**t way that I'm actually feeling. I figure the last thing the poor kid needs is to hear her Aunt screaming like she's just seen the seven horses of the apocalypse waiting for us at the end of the ride, with Freddy Kreuger, Jason & Leather-face standing by as backup.

We spent another day just hanging out with Leisel & Daryl at their house. Pardon me, at thier spectacular home with all the most up to date computer, gaming and theater gadgets one could ever hope for, thanks to Daryl and his ninja-like wiring and electronics skills.

Then we went to Manhattan Beach pier and just let the kids play. The trip was over way too soon for me. I found myself wishing we had a couple more days just to hang with Leisel & Daryl, but I guess you can't play forever.

Pictures of the trip are on our frandsenfamily.com website.

Updated frandsenfamily.com

I've finally put some new galleries up on www.frandsenfamily.com. The password is listed in the link on on the right side of this blog.