Saturday, 9 Jun -- New boots

Got a new pair of boots on sale at K-Mart today. I've always wanted ankle boots, and the fact that these zip up make it easier to put on, despite the boots not being a wide size.

Friday, 8 Jun -- Root beer

Here's the 16-ounce can of root beer I plan to enjoy this weekend, with pizza :-9 It's a brand I've never had before, but I've had a taste and it's pretty delicious!

Thursday, 7 Jun -- Peace Lily

Giant peace lily in the Oaks Mall near work. I had no idea they could get that big!

Wednesday, 6 Jun -- No not park?

Our parking lot at work gets filled up full sometimes, esp since I work in the building that hosts most of the training rooms. So the days when lots of big classes get scheduled, are the days when the rest of us have trouble finding parking. Signs like these were posted in the parking lot to deter illegal parking. Except... read carefully and notice what the second red line says. Hmmm... wonder if these signs were discounted on account of the typo? ;-)

Tuesday, 5 Jun -- Squirrel

Here's a shot of a squirrel sniffing around the grass in our backyard for some food. We see quite a few of the large brown critters in our yard, quite frequently. Can't really see it on this one, but most of them are brown with a white circle around their necks-- priest squirrels? Or white-collar squirrels?

Monday, 4 Jun -- Sleeping mustached Todd

Todd sleeping peacefully. Above his lip is some sort of strange infection (probably fungal?) that developed this morning. Makes him look like Charlie Chaplin :-D

Sunday, 3 Jun -- Sidewalk chalk

Some sidewalk art created by kids in our apartment complex, on the sidewalk leading to the building where we live.

Saturday, 2 Jun -- Blue screen of death

It is very rare that you get the "blue screen of death" on Windows XP. Me, with my "reverse Midas touch" when it comes to computers, managed to pull it off TWICE today. You can click on the image to get the larger sized version and read what the screen actually said on my Dell laptop.

Friday, 1 Jun -- Achoo! inducing plants

When I was little, I used to think these weeds weren't weeds, I liked the pretty yellow flowers of the plant. It was only later in life, post-Army, that I realized that this was amongst the plants that release pollen and trigger my hay fever every spring.

Thursday, 31 May -- Fireman Todd

Here's Todd at the 99-Cent Only store, trying on a fireman's helmet as we shopped for miscellaneous items:

Wednesday, 30 May -- Easy Street

Street sign on the way home, in Simi Valley (where I got off the freeway to do some shopping and get some gas at a newly-opened Exxon station). Easy life, anyone? ;-)

Tuesday, 29 May -- Baby Blues

I love this Baby Blues comic strip from February this year. Gotta love the great divide between parents and non-parents! :-D

Might have to click on it to view the larger image.

Monday, 28 May -- Baseball in the backyard

Todd and Daddy play baseball in the backyard. Here's Todd running to catch the ball that Daddy will hit-- this photo was snapped just a fraction of a second before he took a tumble onto the grass-- you can see the beginnings of his fall in this shot.

Sunday, 27 May -- Todd plays drums

Todd bangs on his new favorite toy-- a drumset! with great glee :-D

Saturday, 26 May -- Todd's birthday party

Todd and his birthday cake at the restaurant after the park festivities. Who could resist that face!?

Friday, 25 May -- Shopping car(t)

Todd "drives" the shopping cart at Ralph's, where we were looking for some birthday party items.

Thursday, 24 May -- Army recruiting car

Spied this car in the parking lot of the Rite Aid where we went to get ice cream. All the "U.S. Army" logos stood out, and then the government license plate caught my eye. Looks like it's the car used by the local Army recruiters! Recognize the brown star logo from the T-shirt Todd was wearing when throwing up a "gang symbol"?

Wednesday, 23 May -- Inside Chili's restaurant

No, we didn't park illegally. Here we are seated at our table at Chili's. Me, Todd-- and the infamous plush turtle again! :-D And of course, Todd's wearing one of his cheesiest big grins ever!

Tuesday, 22 May -- Chili's No Parking

Sign inside the waiting area of Chili's restaurant in Goleta. I can think of a few public places where it would be quite appropriate in actual parking spots!!

Monday, 21 May -- Chili Cookoff ACHN team

More from the Chili Cookoff-- the College Hire Network had a booth, and the theme was "Bubba Gump Chili"-- as you can see, some of them dressed up as characters from Forrest Gump-- here I am with Lt. Dan (AJ), Forrest (Kevin) and Jenny (Piper).

Second pic is a closeup of the funny haircut that Kevin obtained in order to properly play Forrest Gump.

Sunday, 20 May -- Happy Birthday, Todd!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Todd! Here's a shot of Mommy and her newly-turned-3-year-old with his cache of presents and his little birthday cake. Fun little family celebration in the back patio!

Saturday, 19 May -- Gas prices

A tribute to the wonderfully high cost of living here in Santa Barbara-- gas is no exception. Here's the filling station down the road from our apartment displaying today's sky-high prices.

EDIT: LOL, I just noticed that the dollar portion of bottom price (for the super unleaded gas) looks a little different from the rest. Do you see it? Someone put the "3" on backwards and upside-down, tee hee!

Friday, 18 May -- Jester CEO

Chili cookoff at work today. This year's theme was Cajun (last year was Cinco de Mayo). Here I am with a statue of the company's original founder and CEO-- dressed in colorful jester garb.

Thursday, 17 May -- Turtle

Todd's stuffed sea turtle (aka honu) from Hawaii, a present from his aunt and uncle who vacation there regularly. Here he is, peeking out at the viewer from inside the laundry basket I pack with clothes and other essentials every weekend for our stay in SB.

Wednesday, 16 May -- SUV parking

A glowing example of why I loathe SUVs, and even more than that-- drivers who don't know how to park properly. Kudos to this guy for lining up the parking spot divider exactly underneath the middle of his SUV :-P

Tuesday, 15 May -- Sprawl-Mart

This person is obviously against Super Wal-Mart. I can't say I agree with some of their labor practices, but man, you can't beat the great prices you find on everyday items there. I'm not sure I'm ready to thin out my wallet just to make a political statement...

Monday, 14 May -- Digital Camera

This is our new camera (well, sort of new-- it's about a month old now), a Fuji FinePix A360. We're happy with it so far. It's a bit of a battery hog, but it isn't too bad. It's been quite useful in taking a lot of the pictures that have been posted on this blog so far. And just as I posted a photo of my phone, snapped with the camera, I snapped this picture of the camera, using my phone :-) Turnabout? Meta-photography?

Sunday, 13 May -- Mother's Day

Me and Todd outside of Zaffiro's after we finished a nice Mother's Day lunch there. It was sunny and warm, so I could dress up a little :-)

Saturday, 12 May -- Basket Head

My son is a basket case. Enough said ;-)

Friday, 11 May -- Retro-spam

This was one of Allan's purchases after today's weekly grocery shopping trip. We love Spam. So it was natural to restock our shelves of it when we ran out, and when it's on sale. But this was no ordinary Spam can-- this can was adorned with the retro design in honor of Spam's anniversary. Blast from the past!

Thursday, 10 May -- Plastic or glass?

Continuing on with the bachelor weekend theme-- this was one of the few remaining bottles (I grabbed it out of the fridge) from the big box. The guy that brought them over is from Reno, Nevada, where apparently they aren't allowed to have glass beer bottles. So plastic it is (the label itself reads: "insulating plastic bottle"). I kinda liked it, actually-- the resealable screw-top cap was a BIG plus!

Wednesday, 9 May -- Empty beer box

This empty box is part of the remnants of Allan's bachelor weekend. He had some former students over, and as you can see, the box was promptly emptied. I'm sure its contents are no mystery ;-)

Tuesday, 8 May -- Self portrait

Self-portrait taken today with my camera phone.

Monday, 7 May -- Chocolate face

This is what happens when Todd grabs a hold of one of his chocolate Easter Eggs when you have your back turned. There was more where he ate it-- on the walls, on his pillow, on his stuffed toy...

Sunday, 6 May -- Washing Windows

This weekend was spent doing some spring cleaning. The most time-consuming chore? Washing windows. When Todd spied what Mommy was up to, he clamored to help, as little kids always do. Here he is, wiping a sponge on one of the glass doors of the sunroom. That's not so much a grimace as squinting in the sun-- he really DID enjoy helping wash windows!

Saturday, 5 May -- Yummy dessert

Decadent desserts: an Apple Chimi from Acapulco's in Orange, CA. Sliced apples cooked with a cinnamon-sprinkled tortilla, topped with a pecan-coated scoop of ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel-Kahlua sauce. And the bubbles? That's the effects of the continued sizzling after it arrived at our table. Are you drooling yet? I sure am... :-9

Friday, 4 May -- Ferris Wheel

The view from inside our cage atop the Ferris Wheel at California Adventure Park. Any guesses as to what the object circled in pink is?
Yup, that's right-- it's a barf bag :-D

Thursday, 3 May -- California Adventure

Greetings from California Adventure Park, home of everything California! Don't you just love basking in that warm California sun?

Wednesday, 2 May -- Birthday presents

Happy Birthday! Here are presents from my British friends. Mostly Tatty Teddy stuff, as we don't get the little guy here in the US. And of course, Helly's favorite animal-- froggies! :-D

Tuesday, 1 May -- Kissing Koi

Continuing on with the sea-life theme, here's some real fish-- koi at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino, CA. I love the timing of the photo snap-- looks like these 2 fishes are kissing! :-*

Monday, 30 Apr -- Finding Nemo

This pic is similar in theme to the one I took of plush Gromit holding his DVD. Here's another family favorite-- "Finding Nemo". And surrounding the DVD? A turtle (like the ones who accompanied the fish in the EAC), a shark ("fish are friends, not food!") and of course, Nemo (or is it Marlin?) himself!

Sunday, 29 Apr -- Sleeping on the floor

This is Toddy last night. He ended up rolling off the bed and onto the blanket that happened to be folded up on the floor next to his side of the bed. Good thing the bed's low to the ground, the floor is carpeted, and the blanket was there to cushion it all! The kid slept right through it all, too!

Saturday, 28 Apr -- Gas pump TV

You get 2 images today, but I count them as one because they are 2 pics of the same thing-- TV screens on every pump at Shell stations. As soon as you begin pumping gas, they flicker to life and provide you with some entertainment-- mostly in the form of advertisements for various products and upcoming TV shows on ABC.

Friday, 27 Apr -- Gangsta Todd

Todd throwing up a gang symbol? Sure looks like it, doesn't it? No, we'd merely taught him how to hold up 3 fingers to show how old he'll be on his next birthday-- coming up soon. Oh, and that brown T-shirt he's wearing? That's Mommy's "U.S. Army" t-shirt :-D

Thursday, 26 Apr -- Dogs on a leash

So... do you wonder who's keeping whom in line? ;-)

Wednesday, 25 Apr -- Cheese sauce

How NOT to make cheese sauce: trying to melt cheese and milk in a saucepan. This is the clumpy, curdled end result of Allan's failed attempt. Well, at least we learned what NOT to do, for future reference! :-D

Tuesday, 24 Apr -- 101 Freeway

The 101 Freeway that runs North-South along the California coast, is dotted with these signs every so often. I see this particular one a lot, as it's on the southbound route between Santa Barbara and Ventura. Although I was never assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, I do like the military association of these signs :-)

Monday, 23 Apr -- Lisa's birthday present

I cheated a bit today, and had to ask Lisa to snap a photo of this for me. It's a picture of my birthday gift to her this year-- a copy of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". It arrived in her mailbox today, and it also happens to be my all-time favorite book. The movie adaptation isn't too bad, either!