life in the 650

What you did is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.  But more importantly, it is just plain wrong.  I have a constitutional right to display that sign on my property (in fact, in case you didn't know, it's the first one!).  By removing my sign, you robbed me of my constitutional rights and proved how intolerant you are of the rights of people whose views differ from yours.  You also demonstrated how off your moral compass is as stealing is immoral --in fact, on the off chance that you identify as "Christian", it's one of the Ten Commandments, #8 to be exact (interesting that a self-proclaimed agnostic would know that one but you apparently do not). You are a sad, pathetic person.

I would like nothing more than to tear down and rip to shreds every "Yes on 8" sign that I see because to me it represents hate, intolerance, and homophobia shrouded in the sanctity of "religion".  But I respect your right to hold and voice your opinions too much, no matter how repugnant they may be to me.  In short, I respect the very right you seek to rob me of. 

Most of all I'm sad that this could happen in such a supposedly tolerant and enlightened area of this country.  You can be opposed to my views, but you do not have the right to stifle my freedom of speech.  DON'T TREAD ON ME!

Respectfully yours (even though you clearly do not respect me or my basic human rights),

A "Real American"

We were watching CNN, and when he heard Obama's name, this is what Jake did:

 

For those of you who can't translate "Jake speak", he's saying "Go Obama!"  I swear, this came without any prompting from us!  I'm so proud :P

He may not be at all interested in going potty like a big boy (we really need to start working on that), but he now has a big boy haircut.  That's right, all those beautiful curls, gone, all gone.  I'm proud of myself, though; I didn't cry.  I wanted to.  But I didn't.  He looks so much older now, like a real big brother.  Handsome, but not like my baby anymore.

 

 

There are plenty of worthy things to blog about right now (like how scary Sarah Palin is), but I can't even think about politics right now without getting pretty darn upset and scared (I really really hope no one buys the typical Republican rhetoric that has been repackaged in this attractive woman with an annoying yet strangely persuasive voice).  So I'm instead going to focus on something that has brought me countless hours of enjoyment and entertainment for the past 18 years which has been repackaged in an attractive and updated way.  That's right, 90210 is back, and I have to admit that even though I'm probably out of their target demographic, I'm hooked!  Is it wrong that a 32 year old (or nearly 32, my birthday is tomorrow) is geeking out on a teen soap opera?

Brandon and Brenda Walsh were introduced to the world about a month after I started high school, and I was a loyal viewer from that first episode.  It totally fed not only my appetite for teen drama but also my obsession with California (which, at that time, I'd never been to).  I watched all through high school, college, and beyond.  It was like I grew up with the kids from West Beverly.  Once Soap Net started showing reruns everyday, I even started DVRing those, and as a result, I've seen the entire series more times than I can remember.

Being such a fan of the original series, I was both excited and a little wary about the new series that debuted this week.  The idea of picking up 8 years later seemed really exciting, but I was pretty sure I'd be disappointed b/c the old series was so familiar and was like an "old friend" -- would the new series really be able to live up to all this?  I can't say for sure after having seen only the premier, but so far so good!  I absolutely love the fact that they brought back Hannah (Andrea's daughter) and Erin (Kelly and David's half sister who is known on the new show as "Silver").  Though I do question the age thing -- I'm not obsessed or anything, so I'm not sure about the exact dates, but I feel like in the original show, Hannah was born long enough after Erin that they would never be in HS at the same time, and certainly not when Erin is supposed to only be a sophomore or junior.  But, maybe I'm wrong, or maybe there'll be a storyline there along the lines of Hannah being super smart and having skipped a grade or two.  Not out of the question given that Andrea, her mom, was the "brain" on the original series.  The other rather inconsistent thing is that "Silver", who was a total platinum blond like Kelly in the original series, now has really dark hair (and the eyebrows to match).  Not sure how a platinum blond turns into a dark dark brunette, but maybe it's supposed to be a dye-job that looks really natural.  Because she lives in BH, so of course a 16 year old platinum blond could go brunette and look really natural, right? 

Jenny Garth is back as Kelly, and the kicker with her is that she has a 4.5 year old son (who is adorable!).  The show didn't address this in the opener, but word is that he's Dylan's which leaves it open for Luke Perry to return.  Which would be awesome!!!  Shannen Doherty is also back as Brenda.  She's supposedly in town only temporarily while she performs in a play, but it looks like they're setting it up for her to decided to move back permanently.  She looks really different, almost Asian; I barely recognized her.  Brandon is supposedly in Belize or Brazil or something, but no mention is made of any of the other original characters in this episode.  It's really disappointing to me that Tori's not back as Donna.  While she was probably my least favorite in the original show, I've since come to like her more through her reality show, and really, it'd just be great if they could've included the Donna character for old time's sake. 

When I heard that Rob Estes was playing the dad who moves his kids from Kansas to BH to become the principal of West Beverly, I was really excited.  I loved him in Silk Stalkings.  Apparently he was also in Melrose Place, but I never watched that show.  Sadly, he looks so so old in this show.  He's not nearly as hot as he was back in the day.  But I guess that was over 10 years ago!   I was, however, pleasantly surprised to see Lori Loughlin of "Full House" fame playing his wife; she, of course, still looks great.  I'm also loving Jessica Walter as the stereotypical Beverly Hills grandma. She was great as the alcohol-drenched Lucille Bluth in "Arrested Development", and her character on this show is very similar.   

The new show is decidedly edgier than the original, though most of the dialogue is pretty banal.  And the Wilsons are definitely not the Walshes.  It's certainly not amazing or even quality, TV.  But for this original 90210 fan, it is definitely worthwhile TV just for the nostalgia element.  Now if they could just get Tori and Luke on board! 

 

 

We managed to hit the last day of the county fair on Sunday, and Jake had a lot of fun.  After checking out the quilts and knitting displays (my request, of course), we headed over to the livestock buildings.

 As we headed out of the livestock exhibits, we found some toy tractors that Jake had lots of fun playing with (notice that his outfit depicts barns and farm animals -- very apropos).  After that we headed over to the kiddie ride area where Jake was very brave and went on a car and swing ride all by himself (and even had fun!).  He insisted on going on the ferris wheel, and I think the height scared him a bit, but he hung in there and we managed to get through it without having to ask to be let off.  I think by the end he was even enjoying it!

We ended our fair time with a pony ride for Jake.  This year he did all by himself without me having to walk next to him.  He seemed to enjoy his pony ride the most of anything at the fair.

 

After we'd had our fill of rides, we headed over to Bay Meadows to watch the horse races.  Sadly, this was supposedly the last day of racing before they tear it down.  We didn't stick around for the very last race, and we didn't even make any bets.  I'll miss having a flat track five minutes away.

As I was getting off the freeway on my way home from work this afternoon, some a-hole in a black Acura cut me off.  I was able to avoid an accident, but as any good red-blooded American would be, I was PISSED.   So, being the mature adult that I am, I followed him a little too closely and repeatedly flipped him off (which I'm pretty sure he didn't even notice) until I got stuck waiting for some pedestrians to cross at an intersection and lost him.  Imagine my delight, no, my sheer glee, when I saw a cop pull him over for yet another dangerous move which I'm assuming was failure to make a complete stop at a stop sign since he rolled through every stop I saw.  The sad thing is that the cop was right there at the stop sign.  He wasn't hiding or in an unmarked car.  He was right there, out in the open.  So in addition to being an a-hole behind the wheel, this guy's obviously a complete idiot as well.  The best part was being able to watch him as he waited for the cop to come to his car; I prolonged this magnificent moment by making sure to come to a nice long and complete stop.

Don't you just love it when jerks actually get what they deserve?   

Here's the photo mosaic of Caden's smiles I've been meaning to post since before he was 2 months old!  Already a month behind, and I haven't even started back to work yet...sigh.

 

If there's anything a new mother doesn't get enough of, it's time to herself.  That and sleep.  No matter how wonderful and helpful your husband is, no matter how supportive your friends and family are, there just always seems to be something that Mommy, and only Mommy, must do.  Until today, the only time I'd been away from the baby for any appreciable amount of time was for a few quick trips to the grocery store.  But today I took advantage of hubby's work-from-home day, left the baby with him, brought my gift cards from before Jake was born and my first Mother's Day present from Jake (yes, that makes the gift cards well over 2 years old -- like I said, mothers of young children just do not get time to themselves very often!), and went for a nice long massage!  It was heaven.  And I didn't even let myself worry about how the boys were doing at home without me.  Even better, I booked my next two massages to make sure that I'd take some "me time" in the future.  I figure that after I go back to work, I'm definitely going to need some relaxation!

And best of all, Daddy and Caden did wonderfully without me and my milk factories.  In fact, Cade finally took his first bottle, much to my relief.  I was really beginning to worry about getting him onto a bottle before I have to go back to work as he had vehemently protested all previous attempts.  But he apparently drank 4oz after only about 5 minutes of resisting!  And when I came home, all was calm and right with the world.  Now that's a great gift!

Last Thursday, we went to Cade's very first baseball game.  And the Giants even won!

Like a good big brother, Jake has been showing "Babycade" (it's all one word to Jake) how to do lots of things.  Of course, a lot of them are mischievious...

Like picking up the sprinkler and spraying all the adults with it instead of running through it as we had intended...

And how to get Fluff all over yourself and your booster seat (though the mouth is so cute, it's priceless)...

But some of them have been good things...

Like how to ride a horse at the playgound...

And how to Grandpa to do silly things like lay on the lounge and kick his feet...

And how to play soccer (OK, "play" soccer might be a bit of stretch, but it was only his first lesson)... And best of all, how to sleep in a "big boy bed"!!!

Now if we could only get the potty training down!