My first Black Friday

I did it! I survived Black Friday and my Christmas shopping is done! Yes!
There were very few lines, except at Kohl's - my first stop. And since they were so organized, it wasn't that big of a deal and the line went super fast. When we left the store my mom asked, "Where next?" I said "Target, but I am a little scared to go there." We mapped out a plan and hit all my stores. Much to my surprise, I didn't have to wait in any lines anywhere else all day. I even went shopping today and the lines weren't that bad. I guess the economy is worse than I thought. Oh well. I took advantage of the deals. I only bought stuff that was on sale and that was on my list from hours of scouring through holiday ads. I must admit that I did have a huge adrenaline rush shopping on Friday. I don't get those too much anymore so I didn't really know how to react. It was tons of fun. What's going to be more fun is seeing Diana open presents on Christmas. She is fully informed about Santa Claus and while I shopped on Friday, she went around the store with Gramma V and made her list for Santa Claus. (Thanks, once again, to Gramma V who came to the rescue and allowed me to shop for my little one...and my big one).

Multi-tasking at its finest

I hope Matt doesn't get tossed from any more games in his career because it's really hard to text him updates, watch the game and take pictures all at the same time. It'd be one thing if the game hadn't been so close tonight but it was a thriller so when I did remember that I was supposed to be texting him, it had to be really fast at a timeout or something.
The girls ended up losing 73-69, but gave a valiant effort. They never got down by more than 7 for most of the second half and it felt a lot closer than that. The game was tied 61-61 with 6:40 to go and Fresno then went on an 11-0 run to pull ahead with about 2:30 to go. I thought it was over for sure. I packed up my camera (which was running out of battery and no good to me anyway) and moved away from the baseline. I talked to a "fan" for the final minutes and watched as Solano cut it to four points with 38 seconds left. That was all they wrote though. Like I said, it was a great effort. We should've beat Fresno. Missed opportunities. We caught them on a bad night though because they must have missed 15 layups and they only shot about 10 threes. But it's another learning experience...you watch film and learn.
It was nice to have Gramma V, Au Bob and Uncle Chris at the game tonight! Chris was getting a kick out of the Fresno coach during the game...he's quite theatrical and had Chris in hysterics. :)

Our weekend...where to start

We had lots planned for this past weekend and while we got it all accomplished, there are stories to tell.
We woke up at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday morning as Matt and I were running a 5k in the Davis Turkey Trot. We slowly got Diana up but since Gramma V was coming over that morning we knew she could sleep in a little. They would later meet us at the race.
Matt and I did a great job in the race. We ran together the whole way and he provided me some much needed encouragement over the last 400 meters. It was a great day for running as there was plenty of fog to keep us cool. We kicked butt.
Matt had to jet outta there because he had a game later that night to prepare for.
Mom, Diana and I stayed around to cheer for my sister who was running in the 10K. We had fun walking around Davis, lingering around the farmer's market (I highly recommend it, it's every Saturday all year long, rain or shine), playing in the parks and just enjoying one another's company.
We made our way over to the finish line to cheer Au Bob on over the last home stretch and she did great!
Later on, Diana did the 200 meter kids run (no, I didn't bring my camera...Yes, I am lame). She ran with Gramma V and had so much fun. She truly loves to run. All day long yesterday she was bragging about how fast she ran in her race and had to show us by running around the house. When I can, I will take a photo of her with her number and her finisher's ribbon. I hope she loves running for a long time. We may be on to something here!
After a quick bite to eat and a nap, Gramma V was back at the house to watch Diana for the rest of the night as I headed up to Santa Rosa to cheer on Solano in their fourth game of the season. Very long story short: We lost, Matt got ejected because he got two technicals. First time ever! That's OK...he's learned a lot from it. But, he can't coach in the game on Tuesday night so that kinda sucks.
Anyway, it was a good weekend.
We are all very excited about a short week this week (Diana and Matt have two days of work, I have two and a Half (hopefully)).

Six more months until we have to go back

It's not like everyone looks forward to going to the dentist. There's the scraping, the possible drilling, the smell of the place, the anticipation of wondering if the dentist is going to tell you if you have any cavities.
I have taken really good care of my teeth over the last seven years so I haven't had any cavities in that time. I actually like going to the dentist. (sick, I know). We recently changed dentists here in town - to one that is a little more family friendly and he's right around the corner from our house. We could walk there if we wanted to.
Diana went with me to my first cleaning a couple weeks ago and watched from a chair. She had no clue what was going on, she just sat there and checked it all out. She was a little more familiar with the place when we went this week and didn't hesitate to walk back to the chair where she would be examined. Once we got back there though, that was it.
Usually if Diana doesn't want to do something, she will tell me in a low voice, "Mommy, I'm all done" or "Mommy, I don't want to."
This was a VERY vocal "MOMMY, I'M ALL DONE!" And this was before anything had even happened. The hygienst had barely introduced herself to us.
She tried to show Diana the awesome stuffed animals with teeth but she wasn't having it. She sprayed water on the carpet from one of her many tools (OK, D laughed at that, but that was about all). It wasn't a pretty sight. We ended up giving up on the whole teeth cleaning thing, but we did have to hold her down a little so the dentist could look at her teeth. She got over it. I wasn't happy though when the hygienist gave her two..no, three...Disney Princess stickers and a Halloween toothbrush to match her Halloween socks.
Hopefully in six months, when she's four, she will be a little more understanding that this is what we all have to do - the dentist rocks!
P.S. She had no cavities, by the way...obviously.

Funny Diana Quote of the Week: As I was putting my running clothes on tonight, I was very excited to sport my new Solano women's basketball sleeveless t-shirt. I have plenty of SCC women's basketball shirts, but this one CAME sleeveless. This isn't me cutting off sleeves. I put it on and Diana says "Mommy, that's a basketball shirt. You can't wear a basketball shirt to run in. You have to wear a running shirt."
I said "No, hun, this is a running shirt. I always wear shirts like this to run in."
She replies "No, Mommy. That's a basketball shirt. It has a basketball on it. You have to get one with runners on it."
I found a shirt that Matt got when he ran his 10K a while back and put it on...all was right in the world.

Opening Weekend

Basketball season has officially begun. Unfortunately, Matt's team lost their opener on Friday night though they played really well (I had to give some feedback so Matt made me watch film on Saturday morning before he left for the gym). I was very impressed with the team's hustle and heart. They played really hard and seemed to just be really nervous.
We won tonight...We beat Siskiyous who we lost to twice last year, including a playoff game. It was an AWESOME game. We got down big early but the girls fought back hard and showed lots of fight. They are so much fun to watch. Matt has some players on his team that are really flashy and dazzled the crowd. Oh, the crowd. Well, Matt's team was the first to play a game in the renovated gym so there was a couple hundred people at the game. It was so much fun! They were really into it and cheered the girls and booed the refs.
The starters threw t-shirts into the crowd during pre-game warmups, then Au Bob and I threw more into the crowd later in the second half (I am such a good wife).
I am putting a picture on here from after the game (If you want to see photos from the game, you can check my SmugMug site later in the week).
As is tradition for the past two years, Diana and Gramma V practiced their shooting afterwards. Diana also practiced with Au Bob and me for a little bit. She has everyone fooled because everyone was calling her a "baller." I just looked at them crazy because she NEVER shoots baskets at home when Matt or I try to play basketball with her.

Funny Little Diana

Diana is almost 3 1/2 and she's quite the little chatter box. Her vocabulary is growing and she says some things sometimes that make us absolutely crack up. Here's sampling. If I think of more in the next couple days, I will add them:

I was explaining to Diana one day about scouting and how Matt goes to watch his opponents play against other teams. He writes down their plays, sees what defenses they run, etc. I told her one night that he was in Sacramento scouting. She said "Mommy, only Au Bob and Uncle Chris can live in Sacramento!"

One morning Diana and I got ready for our day before Matt and we started to make our way downstairs to make breakfast. Diana yelled back "Daddy, we'll meet you downstairs!"

The other day, we were driving home from preschool and John Mayer's "Say" came on the radio. All of a sudden, I hear a little voice coming from the back of the car singing right along with the radio. Diana was singing the chorus right on with the radio. I couldn't believe it. She says "Mommy, sing with me!" I wanted to sing with her, but I wanted to hear her too. Such a dilemma!

My mullet baby

I don't have any pictures to show yet because I am still trying to figure out if I can get the right angle on her hair for you to be able to tell but Diana got a hair cut the other day.
This wasn't the kind we paid for. Some little girl decided that she wanted to get a head start on her cosmetology career by practicing on my daughter. I got a call mid-morning from KinderCare on Monday saying that the teacher turned her back for one second and when she turned around, one of the little girls was cutting Diana's hair. They were cutting magazines with the scissors and the girl decided that magazines = boring and hair = fun!
The school is taking action against the teacher because she wasn't paying close enough attention to the class...ya think? When I went to pick up Diana after school that day, the director of the school was extremely apologetic. I understand these things happen. What kid hasn't either cut their own hair with scissors or cut someone else's hair? But when you look at the area where Diana's hair was (for lack of a better word) slaughtered, she looks like she has a mullet. It's kinda funny. I can't do much with it because the girl cut a good chuck of it off. I don't know that my hair lady would be able to do much either and she's a miracle worker.
So, the last couple days, I have just been playing with the area where there used to be long golden locks. It's just short now...waiting to grow back. My poor lopsided child.
Of course, it was no big deal to Diana. She did tell me the name of the girl who cut her hair and the teacher who was in the class at the time not supervising.
Today, when I went to pick up Diana, one of the girls who I see every day said to me "I apologized to Diana." I didn't know what she was talking about because I never knew her name. I said "Oh, you must be ..." She got kind of embarassed and said "Yes." I said "It's OK, accidents happen." I was way too nice. All this time, I thought that girl was like 5 or 6 and just in the class in the mornings before they took her to her school. She looks WAY old! It really surprised me that she was the one who cut D's hair. I might have to go back to the director and ask more questions. If this girl is older, there's no way she should be in a class with 3 and 4 year olds. Just more drama at K'Care!

Patience really is a virtue

The only thing I remember about being 3 years old is my sister being born. I don't remember anything else. But I can only imagine that it wasn't all fun times.
I love my Diana - more than anything. I love her laugh, I love her smile. I love that she talks my ear off whenever we are in the same room or in the car together. I love that out of the blue, she calls me "Maimey" sometimes...I don't know why, but it's cute, so I let her do it.
I love that before she gets out of her bath at night, she takes one of her little people (her fishies, her little guy she calls Diego, or her Flounder squirt toy), puts one of them in a cup with water, covers them up with a wash cloth and says good night to them. And that in the morning, when she goes to the bathroom, she says good morning to them.
I love that when she gets tired at night and has some M&Ms for a special treat, she is absolutely bonkers and so funny. I love that she talks to herself in bed at night for 90 minutes before she finally falls asleep.
I love that she is so sweet and innocent one minute and the next minute she's wreaking havoc on my nerves.
It all comes with the territory. I can let it get to me, or I can have patience and just remember that the good times we have together far outweigh the trying times.
Diana is super independent. My mom says "This is what you wanted..." And she's right (aren't all our moms right?). This is what I wanted when I was pregnant with her. Diana doesn't understand how we can give her all this love and all these physical things like toys and books, etc. and still have to say no to some things and set limits.
It's hard on all of us.
The word I keep telling myself is patience. As long as I have patience with her and every situation, we do OK. We were patient when she waited a while to talk, when she waited a while to walk and when she waited a while to go pee pee in the toilet and we will be patient with every other situation that comes up in her life for the rest of time.
She's worth it!

Halloween

As Diana gets older, Halloween gets more fun. I am sure that when she hits 9, 10 and 11 and we try and talk her out of trick or treating, she's not going to be a happy camper. But as a 3 year old, it's all fun.
She doesn't eat candy, never really has except the occasional M&M for a reward, so she had no idea that she could actually eat the candy she got from total strangers when we got home. After every house she went up to, she came back to me in the street and said, "Mommy, I got MORE candy! This time it was brown."
Our neighborhood kinda sucks because there were only about 15 houses that were actually open to having kids come up. Some people left their porch lights on, but weren't answering the door. Who does that? That's just cruel.
I compared our neighborhood last night to the bad 1985 in Back to the Future II except without the war-zone feeling. You know? It was dark and dreary and empty. There were only about 15 kids out in the street trick or treating and it just didn't feel festive at all. But we had fun nonetheless.
It was especially fun because I was dressed as Snow White and Matt was Spider-Man. And if you think that I am putting any photos of either of us dressed up, you are sorely mistaken. We both looked awesome, but this IS the internet, people!
Just keep in mind that I am now a size 10 and looked super hot as Snow White and Matt had the full on Spidey outfit with hood and covers for his sneaks. We rocked and Diana thought it was super awesome!
UPDATE: I am giving in. My husband might either a)kill me; b) divorce me for posting this photo of him, but isn't it the cutest ever?


This is all you get of me though:


I put photos on my SmugMug from our trip to Cool Patch Pumpkins (sorry for the delay) so check those out. I am really happy with them.
Two more weeks until basketball season starts. Matt's media guide is off to the printer and should be back to us on Friday. I am really excited about it this year. It's going to be really nice!

Cheap Entertainment

The last few weeks, after I put Diana to bed, Matt and I have turned the television to mute and turned up the sound on the monitor downstairs. Sad? Pathetic? Yes. Highly entertaining? Yes.
Our daughter is hilarious! She sits up in her bed for an hour and a half and just chats away reliving her whole day and telling all her buddies about everything that went on.
This week, we had to take away her buddies because of some behavior problems at preschool. But tonight, she got Baby back and just talked and talked to her for over an hour. Earlier in the week, that wasn't the case. Diana definitely wasn't in the mood to just sit up in her bed and talk to "herself" before falling asleep.
It was nice to hear her talking to her friend again and telling Baby how Miss Mary and Kyle wear Crocs to preschool but not Harry. :)

Cheese please

Let me preface this story by saying, I know, I know...it's been a while. The busy times aren't over, but they have settled down a little bit. One more month till the season starts and things will really slow down. For now, here's a story to keep this blog a little fresh.

When I was pregnant with Diana I craved cheese. I've actually always loved cheese - and still do - but for the sake of this entry, I will refer to me, pregnant and cheese. Matt was actually worried about my love for cheese when I was pregnant. Even though he didn't come with me to the initial meeting at Kaiser when they spend three hours telling you everything you CAN'T eat but don't tell you what you CAN eat, he was worried about cheese.
About a year ago, Diana went to the grocery store with me and we got her a piece of cheese at the deli. I think they must have asked her if she wanted a cookie and I said "No, but she can have some cheese."
So now everytime we go to the grocery store, Diana has to have a piece of cheese to snack on. And the girl will remind me all throughout the store that we have to stop and get cheese before we leave.
"Mommy, I want cheese."
"I know, D, but we have a couple more things to get then we'll head to the deli."
Two minutes later...
"Mommy, I want a piece of cheese."
"Yeah, D, I know. Almost there, hon."
Etc...You get the point.
The other night we had to stop at the store to pick up some things after work and school. After a while, Diana got hungry and realized she wanted some cheese.
After walking up and down several aisles with her reminding me that she wanted cheese - and other moms looking at us with the "How cute" expression on their faces - we finally arrived at the deli.
Swamped! There were four people in line ahead of us and only two people working behind the counter. Seriously?
I leaned down to Diana and said "Sweetie, there's a lot of people in line ahead of us, let's just go home and make dinner."
Huge mistake! Colossal!
Tears start flowing down the face and she starts crying so hard that no sound is coming out of her mouth.
"OK, OK. My bad! We'll wait!"
Just like that all is right in the world again. The tears magically disappear and the man in line ahead of us diverts his attention away from us and back to placing his order (sidebar: why is it that people stare at a mom and a kid in the store like we are some kind of freak show? Do they feel sorry for me because they think I am a single mom? Look at the bling people!)
Anyway, Diana finally got her cheese. But I ordered a half pound so the deli people weren't annoyed by the random mom who just stopped by for one piece of free cheese.
As we were heading to the checkout line, Diana was chowing on her piece of cheese but still wanted to push her "shopper in training" cart at the same time.
I had to draw the line and no tantrum was going to stop me this time.
Diana collapsed on the ground all princess-like - cheese still in hand - and yelled "I want to push it!" I just kept walking, hunched over the "shopper in training" cart to the checkout line.
She got over it real quick, we paid for the groceries and headed home. Next time I am pregnant, I am going to stick to eating veggies all the time. There's never a line there!

Crazy time for the Borcherts

This week begins a crazy month for us. Tonight, Matt and I attended the Solano College Hall of Fame banquet in Fairfield. And since Gramma V is out of town on vacation, we had to enlist in a family friend to watch Miss Diana for the evening. Apparently, they had a blast! Diana was a little shy when the babysitter came over but turned into Chatty Cathy once we left. There was even a little switcheroo when the babysitter left and her mom took over for the last hour and a half and Diana just went with it.
They played trains, practiced letters on her white board...delved into a little bit of everything. Grandma Jennifer, as Mom Babysitter likes to be called, was loving to listen to Diana on the monitor after she put her to bed. Diana usually winds herself down by talking to her buddies for about an hour and a half and tonight was no different. She talked about her babysitter and everything they did. Matt and I just cracked up listening to Grandma Jennifer tell us all about their fun. Matt was a little worried how Diana would react to having a babysitter since she hasn't had one in a really long time, but she did great! I am a very proud Momma!
Anyway, this is a crazy month...I am headed to Orlando for a work function this weekend. My half marathon training concludes and the race is in three weeks. I can see the finish line, so to speak. Matt's basketball season is a little over a month away. I have deadlines to meet for various projects and I am trying to keep my sanity through it all.

The countdown to the "Sanctuary"

One of Matt's players walked into the renovated gym for the first time last week so we could take team pictures and called it her sanctuary. She loved it. I loved it. It's wonderful. The lighting is the same as before (here's me speaking photography language now) but it's lighter in there now because the floor is a little whiter (probably because it's newer). The first thing I thought when I walked in was "team spirit." There is a big ole Falcon painted at half court, the words "Solano Falcons" on the actual floor near the hash marks and it's just big, blue and beautiful in there. The bleachers are awesome and when they are pushed in, one has "SCC" painted on it and the other has "Falcons" painted on it.
The team - and Matt - have waited a very long time and been delayed a lot as to when they are actually going to get in the gym and get to practice in there. The date has finally been set, Oct. 6. Hopefully I am not jinxing anything by posting this. I figure I write enough about me and Diana that I need to give a Matt update every now and then. So, he will be very happy to finally be in his gym on Monday and practice with his team on a regulation floor instead of at Solano Athletic Club where they have been practicing since school started. :)

A horse is a horse, of course!

What a great Sunday!
After starting the morning with an 8-mile run (geez, that's a long way), I got some rest before heading out to Suisun Valley to take some pictures of my co-worker Adrienne and her horse, Rainy. I also took some photos of Adrienne's mom with her horse. Click on my SmugMug link to the left to see a few and check back later in the week as I still have about 75 to edit. Enjoy!

Not busy enough

I need to do more crafts and activities with Diana at nights and on the weekends. I have been better at reading my parenting magazines lately as they have some great ideas in them for stuff to keep toddlers busy around the house.
Most of the projects have to do with recycling things around your house and I ran across a great one the other day. It involves hair bands (we have a ton of those), an empty toilet paper roll (I'm sure I could find one of those) and a toddler (got one of those!).
We keep all of Diana's hair products in her step stool in her bathroom. It's a mess of colorful rubber bands, hair brushes, combs, hair, scrunchies, etc. So disorganized and kinda gross. Something had to be done. So, I finished off a roll of toilet paper today and opened the new cloth hair bands (not rubber, those are horrible) I bought for Diana this past weekend. She had a ton of fun wrapping the hair bands on the empty roll.

So, this is where we will store her hair bands from now on. We cleaned up the rest of her step stool and it's super organized now. Her brush even fits inside the toilet paper roll.

When Matt got home tonight, she immediately ran to the top of the stairs and said "Daddy, we put my hair ties on the toilet paper." I have never seen him more confused! It was hilarious!
I plan on making a list of things Diana does at KinderCare that she seems to enjoy so we can do them at home on the weekends - painting, washing her Barbie in a tub, cutting magazines and gluing, etc.
It's sorta like a New Year's Resolution, I guess. Oh, and I am looking into dance classes for her as well.

An out of town date night

I was so excited when Orshi asked me last week if Matt and I wanted to go to the Stanford-San Jose State football game. I immediately said yes and then when she said it was AT Stanford, it was a double yes. Matt said that he would like to go as well and when Orshi found tickets for only 10 bucks on StubHub...well, we couldn't pass on the opportunity.
I was pretty excited all day but got even more excited as we got closer to campus about an hour before kickoff. There were thousands of people in the parking lot (er, tree groves) at Stanford tailgaiting and having a great time. It was an atmosphere I have not experienced much.
See, I have never been to a college football game, technically. When I played basketball at Solano, we worked Cal football games as security. While I did get to work the USC section one night and hear the two fight songs ALL DAY LONG, it's just the same as cheering and really getting in to the whole atmosphere. Plus, I didn't really have an appreciation for college sports like I do now.
So, seeing the tailgaiting and hearing Orshi yell at her fellow San Jose State rowdies out the window of my car made the experience of attending my first "real" college football game so exciting.
I could go into details about the whole game, but there's no need. The student section was packed, I got to hear some of the Stanford fight song throughout the night (they were on the opposite side of the stadium from us), I learned how bad San Jose State people really do HATE Stanford from the alums sitting behind us and I got to see a Stanford come-from-behind win (much to the chagrin of my husband and friends). It was an awesome day!
Go Cardinal!

M&Ms in the bath tub

It's been nearly three months that Diana has been potty trained and the teachers at KinderCare told us to give it "a few months" before she would start to go No. 2 in the toilet. We encouraged her to go No. 2 when we thought she was going to go in her underwear, but she really showed no interest. Which was fine. Hey, there are things I am not comfortable doing that I don't want to do. On the other hand, there are things I am not comfortable doing that I MUST do (that's a whole other blog post).

I digress. To make a long blog post short, Diana went No. 2 in the toilet last night. On her own free will, she came into the bathroom while I was getting her bath ready and announced that she had to go. I didn't think anything of it so she sat down and then I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was "concentrating" a little harder than normal. I looked away to give her a little privacy and then sure enough...

I will spare the fine details so if you want to know the fine details, I will be more than happy to email you. I don't think it's necessary to post it here. We proceeded to have a party in the bathroom that concluded with Daddy bringing M&Ms into the bathroom. Diana ate them in the bath tub and she then paraded around the house saying "I went poopy in the toilet! I'm a big girl!"

Hallelujah!

Happy Grandparents Day

I just noticed on the calendar the other day that today is Grandparents Day. I am very disappointed in myself that I didn't notice earlier in the week so I could properly prepare myself for this extremely important day, but Diana and I more than made up for it today. I got a ton of my scrapbooking supplies out and we did some crafts...or "craps" as it sounds when Diana says it. Diana made some cards for all the grandparents so they can be expecting them in the mail this week. She did them all by herself...I had absolutely nothing to do with them. I just sat there and watched football while she made them.

Oh, Diana, you are so funny

I don't know where it comes from, but all of a sudden, Diana has got adult humor. Tonight, while I was washing my face and she was going back and forth from her room to my room playing and changing out of her school clothes, she stopped to watch me wash my face. (She's intrigued by me washing my face and Matt taking his contacts out).
She asked "Mommy, what doing?"
"Washing my face, hon."
She looked at me, tilted her head a little and said "Again?"
All I could do was laugh out loud. It was too funny. That was just the start.

As I was getting her bath ready later in the night and she was supposed to be getting out of her clothes, I walked into her room to find her sitting in her bed, lining up all her "buddies" against her pillow.
"Diana, whatcha doin'?"
"I'm lining them up, Mommy."
I noticed that one of her small ducks, who we call New Duck No. 2, was off to the side of the bed looking very sad to not be with his other companions.
"Well, what about New Duck No. 2, D?"
Without a hesitation, as if she had already put thought into it, she replies with...
"There's not enough space for New Duck No. 2, Mommy."
Again, I had to laugh out loud and then go downstairs to tell Matt. He proceeded to double over in laughter.
I came back up to find Diana putting New Duck No. 2 in a space in between the other buddies.
"I found some space, Mommy."

Too precious, had to share!

A cool new site for moms

My friends Dana and John (and their cutie son, JJ) moved to Washington, D.C., not long ago after John accepted a job with USA Today. Dana was content with being a stay-at-home mom but when an opportunity arose for her to earn some money and still be at home 90 percent of the time, she jumped on it.
She was recently hired by momslikeme.com, which I have come to find out is a great new web site for moms. I have been trying to go on and post to keep some topics fresh but it's been hard what with my training for the half marathon and all. I sent out an email to all the moms I know so hopefully they will sign up and we can share advice and keep in contact with each other's lives. The site is cool because it's broken down by region so I am linked on to the San Francisco part of the site, though, I believe, I can visit other parts and post comments, etc.

Please, please...if you get a chance, go to the site and check it out. It's free and what mom doesn't need some other friendly moms from around the country to share with?

On another note: RIP Matt Garcia. The Fairfield City Councilman was brutally shot on Monday night in a drive-by in Fairfield. He was 22 years old and things like this should not happen to someone who was trying to make a difference in the community where he was born and raised. I wasn't going to post anything here about it but I want to encourage readers (aka Michelle) to visit the Daily Republic and The Reporter's web sites to read the coverage in today's newspapers. The coverage and accompanying photos are excellent. To log on to the Daily Republic, use my username: asportgirl@yahoo.com; password: borchert.

Stop the Violence!