Saturday, February 25, 2006

Another rainy night in Georgia...

It seems to rain every weekend here in Augusta. :( Today, we were ready for the rain and again travelled to Columbia to visit Edventure, the children's museum. Lauren was a little fussy this time, but we had fun. We had a nice lunch out and travelled home in the rain. Tomorrow there may be sun!

On Thursday night I went out with some of the moms from my Mom's club playgroup and we had a nice dinner out at a Japanese restaurant. Excellent sushi! We laughed a lot and it was really great to get out, especially after the always crazy dance class rush. This Thursday was extra crazy as it was costume fitting and photo time for the annual Roar of Love show. Erin looked very cute as she posed for her photo, so I'm hoping the pictures capture that. Will post here when I get them.

The big news in Rene's world is that he bought a kayak! He doesn't have it yet, but should have it by the time Alex visits at the end of March. He got a shiny red two-seater. Look for photos of Rene floating down the Savannah River or Augusta Canal soon.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Oracle must be hurting for consultants...

Got a form letter the other day asking me if, as a former employee, I'd consider returning to the consulting organization? After recovering from my laughter and tossing it in the trash, I thought, didn't they just lay off lots of folks? Couldn't they have tried to reallocate some of them? Surely some of them were better outfitted to be consultants than I am.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Masters week is coming...

... and I'm getting scared. I hear you should get out of town Masters* week. We'll be here, and school is closed that week. Rene will be taking off the week before as Alex will be here. I hear traffic is crazy that week, plus many of Erin's friends will be gone for the week.

A lot of the local businesses are advertising things like, "Masters week is coming! Time to get your carpet cleaned." A lot of folks rent out there houses for Masters Week. You could get up to 10,000 for a week depending on how many people can sleep at a house and other amenenities. So, we're considering it for next year.

And if we do rent out our house, I'm told the girls rooms should each have a queen bed to make it a better rental and to keep their rooms fairly neutral. Good thing I got the stick on wallie thingies that you can peel off to decorate their rooms and we didn't paint them pink or purple! Renting for the masters also explains why one of our walk in closets has a lock, as well as our pantry.

Hmmm, lots to think of for the coming year. In the meantime, will try to think of ways to keep busy for Masters week.

* For the uninformed Masters refers to the Masters Golf Tournament held each year at the very private Augusta National Golf Club.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

New pet update

Alas, a few hours after putting our new dead mosquito to bed, I found the bowl on the floor along with some tissues. So Josh, we never got to name the mosquito.

Another rainy weekend in Augusta. Sigh.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Our new pet

Erin has decided that she wants to make a dead mosquito her pet. She showed me her new pet as he rested on a tissue in a bowl. She seemed pretty excited about it, so I said what the heck. After all, I don't think he'll shed (and if he does, it won't make nearly the mess that Jake does). The feeding bill should be zero. Erin just made a little bed for her new pet, who does not yet have a name. I predict some tears when someone with a stuffy nose mistakenly grabs the kleenex. Oddly enough, Erin and I had discovered a live lizard in the house a little while ago, and I coaxed him outside.

But seriously, folks, we are considering getting a new pet. We're thinking about getting a goldendoodle puppy. A goldendoodle is a cross between a poodle and a golden retriever: personality of the golden retriever without the shedding. Our friends Barbie and Andy have a goldendoodle and our cousins Tracy, Jimmy, Jaime & Thomas have two golden doodles and they all report good things. To quote Tracy, "There wasn't a man in my family who wanted to say "goldendoodle". They were adamently opposed, but now, they're thrilled."

If you want to see what a goldendoodle looks like, click here.

Cool lunches

Found this great website where the mom posts her vegan lunchboxes for her son. While, I'm not a vegan, I am inspired by her healthy, fun, creative lunches!

Check it out: http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

Monday, February 13, 2006

Weekend update

Friday morning I took Erin to the health department to get her records updated so I could register her for kindergarten in March. Erin had to get three shots. She was very brave! However, she does not want any more shots. Ever.

Erin and Lauren call each other "honey" while they are playing. While Erin was at the health center, she had to go into a room with a nurse to get her vision and hearing checked. Lauren and I waited outside. Lauren kept saying, "Where honey go?" Lauren also says, "What happened?" a lot. If Erin is crying, Lauren will say, "What happened, honey?"

Late Friday afternoon the girls and I went across the street to see Leigh Anne and her kids. While Lauren and I were inside talking to Leigh Ann, Erin played outside with the kids. When I stepped back outside, I heard Erin crying. She must have climbed over the fence to another yard, and was stuck and couldn't get out. The kids were trying to get her to climb back over but she couldn't do it. Finally when we got there and Leigh Ann instructed the older boys to help Erin out, they said, "Oh, come over to the gate." All you had to do was open the gate and walk back in. They must have told her that a mean dog lived at that house. Through her tears Erin told everyone that mean dogs lived next to us in California too. Which is true.

After Erin calmed down, Leigh Ann, Lauren and I went next door to visit Frances. When we came out, Jake was running to me with his leash attached and Erin was standing with Chandler, crying. I guess Erin and Chandler had gone into our house, put Jake's leash on and were going to take him for a walk. What they forgot was that Jake had his pet fence collar on and he got zapped as they walked him. Jake did not want to go on walks with Rene after that! Poor Jake.

It was another rainy Saturday in Augusta. We all went to see the new Curious George movie. It was Lauren's first time in a movie theater, and will be her only visit to the movie theater for a while. Mommy & Lauren had to leave half way through the movie since Lauren was more interested in climbing around the chairs and looking at all the people around us. I liked the first half of the movie! :)

Sunday was sunny, but cold (well, cold for Augusta!) I took Erin and Chandler (girl across the street) ice skating. Chandler (who's 8, I think) did great. Erin started out with spaghetti legs, but she kept trying. She did better by the end. By then she had "al dente" spaghetti legs. We came home and watched a little Olympic speed skating on TV.

This afternoon is the mom's club Valentine's party. I see sugar in our future!

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Evening at the art gallery

On Thursday evening I attended an event at the Broad Strokes Gallery. My neighbor, Frances Wells sent us the invitation as some of her work was being shown there. I was very impressed with Frances' work!

Rene had gone to the gallery earlier in the evening and I went with our neighbor Leigh Ann after I returned from taking the girls to dance class. (Actually, it's just Erin who had dance class, and Lauren and I wait in the chaotic waiting room. Lauren insists on wearing a ballet outfit and of course her ballet slippers which barely leave her feet these days.)

Here's a link to info about Frances and some of her work.

Rene and I decided to buy one of Frances' paintings. She emailed me a photo of a painting that is similar, but not exactly the one we got. Here it is:

Friday, February 10, 2006

Safety net for former PeopleSoft employees

I just read the comment from the last post. I had gotten some emails about people I knew who were let go. It's very sad. I got this email yesterday, if it's of help to anyone.

The Safety Net is a fund endowed by PeopleSoft founder
and CEO Dave Duffield and his wife Cheryl to give
financial assistance to former PeopleSoft employees
who were laid off because of the Oracle acquisition in
December of 2004. If you are a former PeoplePerson
and have been laid off, you may qualify for a gift of
up to $10,000. To find out the grant criteria and
application info, go to their website:
http://www.thesafetynet.net/

Also, remember to join the PeopleSoft Alumni Network at http://www.psftalumni.net/ as well as the PeopleSoft_People at Yahoo Groups for job leads and update your information at linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/

Good luck to all.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Thinking of Oracle today...

I see today in the news that Oracle is planning to layoff 1000 people after their Siebel takeover. It was about a year ago that as a former PeopleSoft employee newly working for Oracle that I was contemplating whether I would be let go. After a few months of sitting around doing nothing and thinking "How long can they pay me for doing nothing?" I was not let go and started to work on an Oracle product.

I'm sure there are some nervous folks today in the halls of the Pleasanton offices. Thinking of you and hope you make it through!

Monday, February 06, 2006

Good news, bad news

The good news is thanks to cousin Carolyn, we have a CD of the Unicorn Song ('green alligators and long necked geese...") to play in the car to break the routine of the Wiggles. So I don't always have Wiggles songs going through my head.

The bad news is that I can't get the Unicorn Song out of my head!

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Barney Live!

Yes, I know you're jealous. We got to see Barney live on stage on Saturday. Erin really enjoyed it. Lauren thought it was OK, but she was tired and fighting a cold. Rene tolerated it. It wasn't bad. Lauren's favorite part was the bubble machine on the ceiling that cranked out bubbles before the show and during intermission. Erin liked to sing along with the songs. We had barely gotten Lauren strapped in her car seat and she was asleep.

Today is superbowl Sunday, so Rene will get to control the tv later today. That's a football game, right? :)

Friday, February 03, 2006

Hooray for me!

Down a total of 11.2 pounds. Yeehah!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Shower and other updates

Well we finally have a functioning shower. The shower dudes came on Monday, and today we took our first shower in the mast bath. Whoo hoo. Kind of a let down after all that waiting, but I'm glad it's over. Now we have to get the hole in the ceiling repaired.

My Uncle John came to visit on Sunday on his way from New Jersey to Florida. Unfortunately, it was raining, but we took him to Rhineharts "Beyond Casual" Oyster Bar for some crayfish and other delicacies. He stayed over Sunday night and continued on his way on Monday morning. He left us a message that he arrived safely in Naples, Florida. Have fun, Uncle John!

Lauren is talking more and more each week. "Don't like it." "Don't want it." "Where Erin go?" And most recently, "N dat, Mommy?" Translation: "What's that, Mommy?" She calls Erin "honey" a lot, probably because that's what Erin calls Lauren when they are playing. She also says "O right" (all right) and "OK" a lot. "O right, mommy. OK, mommy."

One day Lauren was crying in the car and Erin said, "Now, Lauren, calm down. Take a deep breath." Hmm, I wonder where she got that from?

Yesterday we had our Mom's club over to our house for the weekly playgroup. Including my kids and a newborn, there were 11 kids. We survived. I had prepared Erin quite a bit on how to behave with guests in the house. She did great. Lauren wasn't so happy about people touching her stuff.

Now that the bathroom is done, we're trying to get someone to help us trim the bushes and clear some of the leaves from the back yard. I think this will be another long search. One guy came (from company that does some of the neighbors' yards) and he never gave me an estimate, despite repeated calls. Blah!

Saturday looks like rain, so despite Rene's protests, we may go see Barney Live onstage. Double whoo hoo!