Stellan

For those of us following Stellan's progress, here is an update:

+ and -

**NEW** Jewish Women's Group Forming NOW in the Temecula Valley

UPDATE -- LOCATION CHANGE! The November meeting will NOT be at Cafe Bravo. Please contact me at (951)536-3607 or jgrossmanesq@yahoo.com for details of new meeting location.

Women's Rosh Chodesh Group

The first meeting of my brand new Jewish women's group will be next Monday (10/19) at 7 p.m. at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (Albertsons & Home Depot shopping center on the corner of Margarita & Hwy 79S/Temecula Parkway.) Please RSVP so we'll know to expect you. For very last minute RSVPs, questions, directions etc use the Daily Temecula batphone: (951)536-3607.

I would love for this group to be like "girls' night out" but with a Jewish & educational/spiritual twist. It is not affiliated with any group, stream of Judaism, or congregation, and it is open to all women who self-identify as Jews. Cost is $0 though bring money to buy a coffee and one of Coffee Bean's yummy desserts. Can't wait to see you:-)

And while your calendar is out....write in Tues Nov 17 for the following month's meeting -- 7 p.m. at the new Cafe Bravo on Margarita near the Temecula/Murrieta border

Our Day in Pictures

7:45 a.m. Before school is the best time for music practice. Eva even has a piano lesson before school one day a week. Starting the day with music really wakes up their brains.



9:30 a.m. Jane goes to a co-op preschool twice a week.



10:40 a.m. Kris Sutton at The Charleston cuts my hair. She specializes in cute short hair but she does it all. If you see a woman in the Temecula Valley with cute short hair, ask her who cuts it. Chances are, it's Kris. Today the salon was hosting a trunk show by local fitness guru Michelle Rotell.



11:08 a.m. Even though their corporate headquarters bans a display of my Daily Temecula promotional postcards in the Temecula store, I still enjoy the occasional "boga" tea from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I bumped into a friend who introduced me to some other women and we chatted before I realized I was very, very late. I tend to lose track of time.



11:45 a.m. I love the fantastic women in my writer's group. We have started meeting at Eclectic Books in Murrieta, which is a delightful independently owned used and new bookstore. My current obsession is their display of local Collective artist Katinka Clementsmith's "Bad Tinka" paintings. It might be weird that I think this slightly disturbing painting ("My Dead Bird") would be perfect in my girls' room.

One of us bought a drink at the new Sonic Drive-Thru near Eclectic and they hung the cherry stem over the edge for her. They say they always do this.



1:23 p.m. My kids call the various banks we visit "The Cookie Bank," "The Lollipop Bank, etc. This is "The Stairs Bank."



1:49 p.m. Plum tuckered out.



3:22 p.m. It's always very festive at the gathering spot where many parents wait to meet their kids after school. Jane refused to wear a sweater or shoes.





3:40 p.m. The world as seen through the eyes of a three year old:







4:25 p.m. Jane hid American Girl Mia and in retaliation Eva crumpled Jane's ghost footprint art project. Or so they say.



5:18 p.m. Happy hour with Halloween candy instead of the usual cheese & crackers:



5:43 p.m. We got a package! Jane is going snow tubing at Lake Arrowhead for the first time this winter so we bought her these cute lavender snow boots and squall jacket. Eva is going to New York this winter and needs a new coat but (sob!) she told me she wants a long coat with buttons. No juvenile puffy jacket for her. She is going to do Lincoln Center in style.



6:04 p.m. I have to drag the girls home in the dark most days. This afternoon they were playing in our neighbors' backyard on the trampoline and other super fun play equipment. Look how dark it is, yet they were irate that I made them come home.





6:20 p.m. "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share."



6:25 p.m. Most evenings we have the trifecta of cats: Frankie (white "cow cat"), Sidekick (black tuxedo cat), and Peppy (orange tabby) all sleeping happily in our bedroom while the girls get ready for dinner and bed.





6:55 p.m. I bought these slippers like four years ago at Target. I even throw them in the washing machine. Don't they look cozy? Just the thing for a night of reality TV.

Oh for Goodness Sakes

"C & H Sugar is now following you on Twitter."



I sent a tweet about a sale on flour and sugar at Stater Bros ("lowest prices of the year!") and this came the next day.

Big Brother definitely IS watching me.

Simple Woman's Daybook for Monday, November 2, 2009

FOR TODAY, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009...

Outside my window...we have mushrooms. They are supposedly a sign of good lawn health.



Welcome to the shire.



Our homeowner's association requires us to grow a standard grass lawn in the front yard. A couple of months ago we took delivery of a ginormous truckload of organic compost, and slowly but surely, we are seeing progress in the health of the soil. Scott laid down seed and here are the first wispy new patches:



I am in love with the Dutch white clover Scott planted to help heal the soil in our backyard. I wish we could plant it in the front too. Midwestern farmers plant it in between crops to help restore the earth. I was skeptical at first but now I'm a convert. Isn't it the cutest?





We finally figured out what this trub (tree + shrub) is: a quince. I am not sure exactly what we'll do with them once they're ripe. From what I've read, they seem to be popular in England, which isn't the first place that jumps to mind when I think of delicious mouth-watering fruit.



I am thinking...about a family who started out as neighbors and have become our friends. Their middle school age son is having a health crisis and we hope their situation improves very soon.

I am thankful for...friends...family...health...abundance...food...warmth...kids 'n' cats...we have so much and as I begin my birthday month I find myself drawn back to basics, especially the wonderful friends we have made since moving to Temecula six years ago. I am experiencing life on a deeper, richer level going into my forties than I could have imagined in my twenties. Other than wrinkles, it just keeps getting better and better.

From the kitchen...I cooked up this Halloween costume for Eva:



I was pretty proud of the final product, even though I accidentally broke the back half trying to poke holes in the shoulders for her to wear it like a sandwich board.

I am creating...a novel! In 30 days! It's NaNoWriMo time. I have wanted to do this for a few years now and finally I am taking a stab at it. Want to join me? You can find me as JulietG in the Riverside network on the NaNoWriMo site.

One of my favorite things...is my new Scentsy plug-in! This thing brings me so much freakin' joy it's not even funny. It's amazing what the little things in life can do to really lift your spirits. My friend Jen's friend Vera started selling Scentsy and Jen invited me to a party the weekend of Sitscation. I couldn't be at the party but on Jen's recommendation I placed an order sight unseen (or smell unsmelled, I guess.)

I got my order last week, and all I can say is, I LOVE SCENTSY! Give this a try! I figured, "Oh, someone else is selling some different type of candle, whatever, I like candles, I'll buy a few."

No. This is something truly different in candle technology (now is the time for Scott to run screaming from the room.) There is no wick, no votive, nothing but a miniature lightbulb to warm the scented melt. You plug it in like a night light. I have been scenting our house with "Home Sweet Home" all weekend and walking into the house from outside makes me happy.

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Busy is our way of life this time of year. It's all good stuff, though, from music lessons and playdates to preschool and homework, coffee with friends, get-togethers at synagogue and with neighbors. These are happy, busy times indeed.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing:



Happy Halloween!

Have a wonderful week!
Juliet

This weekly journal feature is an idea from The Simple Woman's Daybook blog. Please visit her to check out other Daybookers.

Just Add Zeros

Several years ago at a board of directors training, a woman who has lots of experience on boards both big and small gave us a great piece of advice.

"People are people," she said. "Boards are all the same. The issues are all the same. The best way to handle a big problem is the same best solution for a small problem. Just add zeros."

I was thinking about this the other day when I heard United States House of Representatives member Zoe Lofgren interviewed on the radio.

She's spearheading this big ethics investigation, and she brokers all kinds of power deals, but I know her as the lady who had a vacation home next to our house in Capitola (we were "townies" who lived there year round.)

My parents knew she was a lawyer. "Our daughter is flunking out of law school. Any advice?"

She advised me to buy all the canned study guides (the ones the professors tell you are horrible.)

Mom asked her whether I should get a bookstand since I'd had a big rant about how "only nerds" sit in their assigned seats (just asking to be called on) and the cool people sat in the back row, outside the seating chart grid. The most hardcore nerds had bookstands they'd ostentatiously unfold at their (second or third row) desks at the beginning of each class.

(I really did almost flunk out of law school many, many times, probably because I never learned to study correctly until it was almost too late. I remember actually feeling really offended that I had to study, like it was an affront to my personal decision of how to use my time. Luckily I learned better before the Bar exam since the California test is hard. I still have NO idea how I passed.)

If I recall, Zoe was neutral (or confused?) on the whole bookstand issue.

And now, as I see her walking the halls of power, I think, "Wow, she's this cool lady but she's just a lady." Don't be too caught up in titles or offices. People are people. Just add zeros.

Cookie Factory

That's not a pizza; it's a chocolate chip cookie.

Here is our kitchen table costume factory. Bits dressed as a kitty cat for her preschool parade. Her tail (white marabou safety pinned to the inside of her shorts) is a little worse for the wear so I need to come up with a better replacement before the Real Deal tomorrow.

Eva's school banned Halloween and swapped it for Storybook Character Day, which used to be a charming holiday to encourage reading held every year on Dr Seuss's birthday. Luckily her costume is a chocolate chip cookie, which fits well with the classic children's book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

I wanted her to wear it sandwich board-style, but I broke the back half of it trying to poke holes through the shoulders. (Oops! Damn styrofoam.) Now she has to wear it around her neck like a giant Flava Flav clock necklace.

Bits wanted to be a hamburger (same concept as the cookie but with smaller light "seeds" instead of chocolate chips, plus condiments hanging out of the sides) but luckily she changed her mind and went with kitty cat. (I think it was the lure of face painting that convinced her. She never passes up an opportunity to have her face painted.)

Halloween is tomorrow, and I think we are ready. Scott was craving something sweet last night but refused to open up our bags of Halloween candy. I bought those bags weeks ago and can't believe we still have them intact. ("In the immortal words of Cake, 'He's going the distance,'" he said.)

Next project: pumpkin carving.

Says It All

Posing on the House Party red carpet at the SITS meet-and-greet and cocktail party on Friday night. Note my black tights. Many girls were in black tights, which we all commented have the power to transform any outfit from seasons ago to 2009 (or from summer to winter, in the case of one woman in a converted pool wrap in Greek goddess-like filmy white.) My tights? Stirrups, just like 1986 all over again.

I'm re-energized about blogging but so very tired today, because I had a FANTASTIC weekend in Las Vegas at SITSCation.



The conference was at the Venetian/Palazzo, which is GINORMOUS and has every restaurant with every Top Chef restaurauteur around. The casino itself does have a funky odor, which we narrowed down to cigarette smoke unsuccessfully masked with floral air freshener. On the whole, though, two big thumbs up to the Venetian/Palazzo, especially for their lovely outdoor pool garden, where I enjoyed my morning croissant and tea. It is very top secret and we felt like VIPs.

You can't come back from a blogging conference and not blog, but since I'm glassy eyed, I'll just tell you one story. If you don't know me, read this story and you will, because it pretty much says it all.

I roomed with Mom and Rachel, and as we were getting ready to leave our Venetian suite, I noticed that my purse, which I'd left unzipped on the desk, had tilted over and a bunch of items had fallen out into the trash can.

My driver's license, my American Express card ("Don't dump your purse contents into the trash without it!"), my auto club card, and so on. My room key, a piece of paper with my roomie Rachel's cell phone number written on it (so I could be locked out of the room AND not have a way to contact my roomie. Even my mishaps have irony.)

Luckily I noticed it had happened and fished everything out. But all weekend long I set things down and walked away from them (cell phones, notes, pens, glasses of wine -- memo to Tiffany & Heather in planning SITSCation 2010: personalized drink clings or charms!)

I realized I do this all the time. Have I always been this way, or am I in the beginning years of senility now that I'm one month from my 40th birthday?

So want to know me? See the disheveled looking lady trying to fish her coupons out of a trash can or begging the mailman to open the locked mailbox so she can get the library book she accidentally mailed while on the phone with the library asking them to please check their drop-box for the utility bill and mortgage payment? Give me a friendly wave or bring me a Diet Coke to calm my spirits. Thank you.

TSA Lady Totally Lied?

This blogger posted about a heart-wrenching incident of TSA abuse which apparently is a lie.

Wow. I'm amazed that three days after TSA posted CCTV footage catching her in a big lie, that she is keeping her original blog post up.

And I'm amazed that she had to lie to come up with something bad about TSA. Isn't there enough true crap to say about them? They've broken and stolen items from us several times (which we've always dutifully reported and documented with zero follow-up.)

So basically, they do often suck and I'm sure the TSA agents had attitude with this blogger and she got mad. She suffers from anxiety and knowing she was about to fly probably wasn't helping matters.

But boy! Take down that post. And apologize for lying to your readers. And does anyone else think it's weird that TSA has a blog?

Ziploc an S.C. Johnson Brand

When I was in college, the It's a Pita company was bought by English muffin giant Thomas, and they switched from packaging their pitas in a single plastic bag with twist tie to a plastic tray inside a plastic bag secured with a plastic date-stamp closure.

I wrote to Thomas to complain about their packaging and they sent me a bunch of coupons.

When Eva was a baby, we got a bum package of Huggies. (Yeah, I know some people hate Huggies and there are even folks who call them "Crappies," but the problem wasn't with blowouts or absorption.) Every single diaper in the 72-pack was missing a closure on one side.

I called the company and they sent me a voucher for a replacement pack plus a bunch of coupons.

Now we are in the social media networking age, and savvy companies are working it.

Last week I tweeted about the beautiful black Nanette Lepore cocktail dress I bought at Tangerine and the next day, Nanette Lepore was "following" me on Twitter.

So here's an experiment. I believe I got a defective package of Ziploc sandwich baggies from Costco. The THIRD baggie in one week ripped along the side seam, just as I was (gently) reaching in to grab a delicious handful of post-workout cashews 'n' raisins.

I didn't scoop them up because they fell onto the damp 24 Hour Fitness locker room floor, though I admit when Bitsy got a bad bag last week, I made her eat the pretzels that fell on the sidewalk, because honestly, is that really the grimiest thing that happened to her that day? Probably not.

So let's see if I get some Ziploc swag, like maybe a Ziploc ball cap or flyswatter or windbreaker.

Oh, I even have pictures!

Just a normal, regular baggie, right?



Wrong!



Costco would probably take the box back even though most of the first (of three) packages has been used. They take everything back. No questions asked. But this is more interesting. Let us watch, and wait...