MEDIA BLITZ

Well, ready or not.....controversy or not.........it's here.


Beijing Summer Olympics 2008.



I gotta admit, I'm not a HUGE Olympics fan. There are a couple of events that I will watch avidly....the rest I have no interest in, really. UnAmerican?

I enjoy the floor exercises in Gymnastics.....and I LOVE the high diving competition. LOVE it!! That one's my favorite. Other than that.....blech. Not much I gotta watch. I will be gone for 10 days of the Olympics, anyways....less to have to endure. (I hope I don't miss diving, though....)

Besides that....let's see......am working hard at trying to get some contacts in the Burbank/Hollywood/Malibu area. There's a possibility that I may have an "in" with a TV show that is in the works. I'm sitting back and keeping my fingers crossed there. I just got a text today that someone close to me is in the top two for a new NBC show, and I am a reference for her as a Producer. Hey, the more that I can put out there, the better. Sometimes, you just never know when your lucky number is gonna hit....


Getting ready to head to Seattle, then hit a 7 day cruise to Alaska. I think this is our 5th time there. Might be our 6th....I can't remember. Either way,it should be a nice trip. We have the Grand Suite on the ship. Over 1300 sq. ft. of cabin, our own butler, living room complete with state-of-the-art TV/sound system and DVD library. Besides coming out for spa treatments, I might never need to leave the room.

We will be salmon fishing in Juneau and doing 4 wheeling in Tomcars in Ketchikan. We've done that before, and it was LOADS of fun!! I am hoping it will be equally (if not more) muddy than the last time we went!! We are doing another excursion...but, I can't remember what it is.....hhhhmmmmmmmmm.

Well, just a brief update on up-and-coming events. I gotta get back to my paperwork for Dean.


It's awfully quiet around here. Briana is at work (hostess for Fleming's Steak and Wine House), Dayna left for cheer camp in UC Santa Cruz EARLY this morning and will return on Monday evening.....and Dean is at work. Alyssa and I are here doing laundry and playing on our computers, while listening to music. Time for me to get back to work!!

Gonna make rib eye steak tonight!! YUM!! I did a BANG OUT job on some salmon the other night. I created a recipe that worked out rather well. Put salmon fillets in a large Pyrex dish (had water in the bottom first, so the fish would not stick), topped each one with a pat of butter, then put some of my special dill seasoning on top of each piece. Covered with aluminum foil, and cooked on 350' for about 25-30 minutes. While that was cooking, I put some grape seed oil and a pat of butter in a saute pan. I split some sweet grape tomatoes, cut up some fresh garlic and chopped fresh basil and tossed them all into the oil/butter mix. Sauteed those up until everything was tender. Then, I steamed up some king crab legs and did some drawn butter for them. When the fish was done, I topped it with the tomato/garlic/basil mix, set the steamed crab on the side, and served it all with some angel hair pasta with herbs. It was BOMB!!

Maybe you will have to let me cook for YOU sometime!!! I LOVE cookin'!!


Ask me about my prime rib sometime......or beef wellington!! ;)

Ok....so....here goes nothin'..........

So, I started out my early weekend by trekking down to Hollywood Hills to visit my great aunt and uncle, cousin and second cousin. I visited them there for a couple of hours, and they then proceeded to take me to Chin Chin's in West Hollywood. You can read all about it if you do a search of it on the Internet, but here is a TINY picture of the inside:



They had pretty darned good food! My favorite dish was their cashew shrimp.

I ended up leaving there about 9:15p, and driving to my cousin's home on PCH. She lives OVER the beach, where the waves are constantly crashing. It was nothing short of breath-taking. About a 4,000 sq. ft. house that has been totally renovated. I guess Pamela Anderson was the previous occupant. Amazing views.

We ended up deciding to go to Moonshadows Blue Lounge (you can read all about Moonshadows and it's history with stars on the Internet, too). We visited it one day before the 2nd anniversary of Mel Gibson's run in with the law there. Here's the only picture of the Blue Lounge that I could find on the Internet:




VERY exclusive patio lounge, hanging over the Pacific Ocean. We closed the place down, and I had too much vodka. I ended up spending the night at my cousins house, with her husband and 4 other of my cousins. Shenanigan's were had at my expense...and I will leave it at that.... lol


After deciding to leave the house about 1pm on Friday, I headed down to Costa Mesa. I stayed in my old stomping grounds. Checked into my hotel, and did some paperwork, and took a 3 hour nap. Went out for a late dinner, then came back in for more work. Stayed up late working, and got up about 8:30am the next morning. Met up with another cousin of mine from Ladera Ranch (close to Irvine), and her best friend. They came and picked me up at the hotel around 11:30-12,and we went to Newport Beach for lunch. They brought me back to my car afterwards, and I followed them to my cousins house to watch some old movies. Unfortunately, my body go the best of me, and I fell asleep. All I knew was that I was watching a movie about nuns and an all-girls Catholic school....only to wake up and find that they all had sex changes and were in Japan!!! (The first movie had ended, and they started a second movie....all while I slept. I felt AWFUL!) My cousin showed my out to her new garden, and I got to admire her green thumb. I went back to my hotel room about 6:30, finished up my paperwork, and went to bed around midnight. Woke up around 8:30-9am....grabbed some hot tea, did a small amount of work.....packed up, and headed home, much to my chagrin.

I have to say, I miss southern California TERRIBLY.....and the weather there sure as heck beat the 95'+ we were having here in the valley.

I shall have to make the trek down there again in the near future.....


Thank you ALL, for the AMAZING memories!



And Nate and "B".......I WILL get you back for attacking me with the fishing pole!!

Ahhh...the joys of Southern California

Yes....I am visiting down here again...... Have been here less than 24 hours, and have had a BLAST so far!!

Will write about it later....am going to hop in the shower and take a MUCH needed nap!!

:)

BIRTHDAY, BIRTHDAY, BIRTHDAY!!!

It's official!

Dayna turned 14 years old today.

Wow. I remember yesterday and today (14 years ago), like it was....well.....YESTERDAY!


My two previous labor and deliveries (Briana and Alyssa) had gone MUCH different than Dayna's. With Briana, I had gone from 97-182 pounds, as I was deathly ill with toxemia. Both labors were induced. I was induced at 6:30am with Briana, and about 7am with Alyssa. Both took me STRIAGHT into the "transition" (final) stage of labor. Transition is made to be the most difficut, yet hardest stage of labor. With Briana, it lasted 12 hours. With Alyssa.....10 1/2. I pushed for over 2 hours with Briana (6lbs 7oz), with Alyssa, 1.5 hours (8lbs 7oz). So, TECHNICALLY, I had yet to experience a "true" labor.

July 23, 1994. I feel what "seems" to be labor contractions. I continued working around the house, kinda keeping an eye on them. They would last for a bit....then go away. Wasn't sure if it was "real" labor. Had a glass of wine (one of the things they recommend). If the contractions STOP after a glass, then it's false labor. If they continue....then......GAME ON!!! Well.....they continued. I called Dean at work, and tell him that it appears that I am in labor. He has his niece Dennise come to the house to watch Briana (almost 6) and Alyssa (17 months), while we decide to walk around the mall. They say walking aids in the labor and delivery....and...well.....it's JULY in Fresno.....so, it was air conditioned. We walked and walked and walked (I think that's why I HATE walking now). And slowly, but surely......the contractions stopped. By 6pm, I was crying, as I no longer was having any labor.

Dean decides to ask Dennise to spend the night, "JUST in case....".

July 24, 1994.....3am.

I wake up like a BOLT out of bed. Not sure what woke me up...but I lay there for a few minutes, trying to get back to sleep. Several minutes pass, and my stomach starts contracting......TIGHTLY. I grab a watch, and start a lukewarm bath. Theory of the doctor's (at that time) was to take a bath to see if contractions continue....but, to watch how closely they are. I hop in the tub.

By 4:30am, I was hollering into Dean (SAWING logs) that they were under 7 minutes apart. He told me to wake him when they were 5 minutes apart, and he would take a shower. 5:15 rolls around, and they are 5 mintues apart. I get out of the tub, wake him up, and tell him it's time to take a shower. I begin to curl my hair. (A girl's goota look GOOD while/after she's given birth.....right?!?!?!)

Dean takes QUICK showers.

Before he could even get OUT of the shower, they are now 3 minutes apart. I take breaks inbetween curls to get on my hands and knees on the floor, and work through the contractions. Dean now tells me that it's time to go, forget about the hair. I infom him that it really doesn't matter, because "I'M HAVING THIS BABY RIGHT HERE!!!". He looks at me and says, "OH NO YOU'RE NOT!!". He goes out to the living room, and gets Dennise. Each one of them take an elbow, and force me down both flights of our stairs, to get me into the car. I remember telling Dean that it's early enough in the morning, don't even BOTHER stopping at stop signs or red signals, or I was going to have the baby IN THE CAR!!! He didn't pay much attention to my ranting.

I could see the hospital. I kept breathing through my contractions.

We got to the hospital, they popped me into a room, PRONTO, and checked me out. I had dialated to a "7" (out of 10). I was THRILLED!! I had NEVER dialated that far before without being induced!! I was VERY happy.

.......Until Mary Poppins the nurse burst my bubble and told me I was TOO far along to be given any drugs. Suddenly, I was not so happy. I had signed up for those drugs almost as SOON as I had found out that I was pregnant!! I had ALWAYS had drugs during delivery, for God's sake!

This was NOT good.

Well....much to my surprise, they rushed me into delivery, got everything prepped, and by the time it came to push.......I pushed for less than 10 minutes, and there she was. I had ALWAYS had a LARGE group of people there for my deliveries, and a couple barely made it....and a few missed it. Luckily, Dean's mom was there. She was there for Alyssa's birth, also. As far as I know, those were the only two births (besides her OWN deliveries) that she was there for. I was honored.

My little Dayna Lynn was brought into this world at a little after 7:30am, July 24th, 1994 at 7lbs 8oz. She was the easiest one to deliver....and I quit when it finally got easy.


So...today she had a fabulous day. She said it was the best birthday she's had yet. She and her sisters went shopping today with her "loot". She got a BUNCH of new clothes. I brought her home a beautiful bouquet. She chose to eat dinner at Flemming's, and one of my best friends was our server. The dinner was nothing short of perfect.


She's downstairs now, in her jammies, playing Mario on the old Nintendo. That's her and her sister's new addiction.


I love my baby girl. Her personality is SO much like mine. WATCH OUT BOYS!! lol


I love all of my girls. Why God decided to bless me as much as He has.....I will NEVER comprehend.


Happy Birthday, my little Nina. May your 14th year be full of fun, surprises, friends, and memories. May you have as much joy as what you have brought to my life.

Times are difficult....

I have kept in VERY light touch with a few of you....and told you that we've been struggling here for the last 2 weeks. Well, today we got verification of some horrible news that we had really been praying against.

Dean's middle brother Gary, has officially been diagnosed with stage 3a lung cancer. He was seen here in Fresno a couple of weeks ago, and the diagnosed himat that time. He went for a second opinion this week at UCLA, with the lead lung cancer specialist there. Today he had a broncoscopy and biopsy of lymph nodes. I got a phone call about 2 hours ago that he was out of surgery, but still under.

They found the cancerous nodule on his right lung that they knew of....and also found cancer in lymph nodes by the affected lung. They took samples of the other lung and lymph nodes around it...but, we won't have results until next week (Wednesday). The doctor was optomistic before today's procedure, and had scheduled for surgery next Thursday to remove the cancer on his lung. However, due to the findings that he has affected lymph nodes, surgery has been cancelled, as it is not an option now. He was diagnosed as stage 3a today....awaiting tests on the other lung. If tests on the other lung come back positive for cancer, he will have stage 3b...minimum. If you are curious about life expectancy rates for stage 3a lung cancer, please look it up on Google, as it's not something I wish to put in writing.

Gary, Patty, Dennise, and Dean could sure use a WHOLE lot of prayer right now. They are all taking this VERY hard...as to be expected.


I don't even feel like going into anything else right now. I will side-note that my fibromyalgia has cme out of remission, as of the last 7-10 days, and I am strugglig to battle it.


Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.

It's simply amazing.....

I wanted to jot down a quickie blog this morning,letting you all know that I am in the process now of going through 300 of my photos from our Baltic trip. (I have been unsuccessful in uploading 650 more....and I still have some from my "little" camera that have yet to be played with....)

Anyways, I wanted to find a picture of someone surround by a pile of pictures (or something to that effect), and the above picture came up in a related search. Dunno how the search words I put in, resulted in this catastrophe of a picture....but, find it amusing.

I AM going through some of these pics. Will post some here, and will come back (hopefully today) with a link for "pictures in the rough" that I am working on/dealing with. I think one of my issues is the second upload is too large fr shutterfly to handle in one fell swoop....so, I will have to break them down into multiple "books", so to speak. I take a lot of pictures of what I see around me....scattered with a few that contain family members and misc. people in various countries. You MIGHT even find me in a couple of pics! Although, it's almost like playing "Where's Waldo"...lol


I the meantime, got short notice that it looks like we will be hopping on another cruise next month. Looks like we will be going back to Alaska. Briana won't be able to join us, due to school conflicts, so this will be the first time traveling without her. It was bound to start happening sooner or later....just seemed to come awfully fast....and hits rather hard. I keep you updated.

Hope to catch up with you later on today!!

Forgive me, for I have been.....

..........terribly preoccupied.


After trying NUMEROUS times to upload the BAZILLION photos from my trip (Shutterfly HATES me by now...), I have decided that the pics that I took with my Canon Rebel XT was set to take pics in GYNORMOUS sizes....and now, I have to resize all 700 pictures. (OMG!) I have a few uploaded from another disk (about 300). I'll scan through those and see if there's anything worthy of sharing. ;)


Left Friday (later than I had hoped for) evening, and headed for Hollywood.

Lemme back up.


Last Wednesday, Dean was supposed to go o the heart hospital to get his heart shocked back into rhythm. Well, they decided Tuesday night that the hospital would not have proper staffing to do the procedure. (It takes about 6 nurses and a doctor to be there when it happens.) So, they scheduled it for Friday...the day I was to leave for Hollywood for a party. Scheduled it for 12:30, to be exact. The doctor was 2 hours late. Anyhow, I watched Dean go "under" at 2:35, and was escorted out of the room once he was "asleep". I called the girls and my mom from the waiting room to let them know he was under. I couldn't even finish the call with my mom, before the doc came out and said that everything had gone well. It took one shock, and his heart was back to normal pace. They are watching him closely to make sure that it stays in rhythm. Doc seems to think that it will, but, cautioned that if it gets off course again, they may need to consider a pacemaker. That being said, Dean recovered and was sent home about 5pm. I got him situated at home, and he encouraged me to get on the road, that he was doing fine. I had to go out to pick up my mom and sister, and then take them to my aunt's house, as they would be riding down with her the next day.

Took the girls (Alyssa and Dayna to stay at the Renaissance in Hollywood. It's connected to the Hollywood/Highland shopping mall and the Kodak Theater. We got down there LATE on Friday night, but, just in time to enjoy a LUXURIOUS shabu-shabu dinner at my fav Hollywood restaurant. Woke up late the next morning, had the hotel hold our bags while we shopped. Shopped, we did!! And....shopped some more..... Had a late breakfast/early lunch at a crepe place....watched a movie at the Chinese Theater.....and shopped some more. After all of the days festivities, we went to our party. Had a GREAT time there!! The weather was absolutely PERFECT!! Towards the end of the party, I walked the kids down the street and showed them where Morgan Fairchild (WHO?!?) and Keanu Reeves lives. (I should have added....the party was for my great-aunt and uncle, who live in the Hollywood hills, with the backlot of Universal Studios only 5 houses down.) Showed them the backlot, where a movie was being filmed. They had a GREAT time....as did I. :) That night, we drove down to Orange County, got into our hotel room and crashed, as it was LATE.

Woke up late the next day, and went into Disneyland and had lunch, straight away. The crowds were MINIMAL...which was perfect! The girls had me in a rental wheelchair, so we got front access to most lines. We were next to board on Indiana Jones...and it broke down. So, they wrote out a Fast Pass that granted immediate boarding to any ride (except Nemo or the new Toy Story ride in California Adventures). So, that was basically of no use to us, unless we left the park. Most Disneyland rides are set up to benefit those who are in wheelchairs/disabled (as long as things are running smoothly...you get on MUCH quicker than standing in line), whereas ALL of the ride lines at California Adventures are "wheelchair accessible"...so, an immediate boarding pass for rides over there is a GREAT "plus". Anyways...on with our day at Disneyland. We had a nice time riding various rides, and then hopped on Splash Mountain. We waited a LONG time in the disabled line for this ride, which is vary unusual. We rode the ride....got SOAKING wet, and then turned the corner to disembark....and the ride broke down before we could get to the "dock". We were stuck in a position where there was nowhere to step off, except into rushing waters. They evacuate the ENTIRE mountain, and we were stuck there for about another hour, before they were able to get the log moved up onto the ramp. Yet another hand-written Fast Pass....lol. After battling that, I was pretty pooped out, and we had reservations at Blue Bayou. Unfortunately, they couldn't get us in for dinner until 9:50pm. It was now about 7:30pm. I went up to the front host and explained how I was exhausted, and wondering if they might be able to get us into dinner earlier than anticipated. He checked with the Lead, and they had us seated within 5 minutes. Had a FABULOUS dinner, and headed to the tram to get to our car. We were getting ready to hop on a tram, when we were told that the particular station we were boarding at, was closed, and we would need to move to the next station, which was VERY packed with people waiting for a tram. So, like cattle, we MOOved ((enter chuckle)) down to the other station. We were standing there (me with a terribly aching back), and I watch people start boarding the tram we were just asked to leave. I walked to the Supervisor who had just moved us, and explained the situation, and my frustration. She apologized, stating that she had been trying to close that station, and the Transportation Team was not listening. She asked how many were in my party, and if I had any small children with me. Then told me to hold one moment, and she started talking on her earpiece. Before I knew it, there was a gentleman in front of us, escorting us through the crowd to a private SUV. He drove us all of the way TO my car! I mean....RIGHT to it in the parking structure! Talked to us the whole time...and it was not only FUN...but, enlightening, also. Of course, all of the people we walked past in the tram line were wondering who the heck WE were!! lol Good times....

Too much fun. The girls and I made an Executive Decision, and decided to stay an extra night. :)


Next day, up late, and went shopping at The Block in Orange. I should say, more specifically, the girls and I had a great time shopping at Off 5th!! Then headed in to California Adventures and ate in the "Backlot". Had some hot dogs and I had a beer. It was GREAT! Rode Monsters, Inc....(pass on it)....then was talked into riding Tower of Terror (for the first time). I had been on the one in Florida....YEARS ago....and swore that was enough for me. But, I felt it was time to face my fear and get it over with! IT WAS GREAT!! Can't do it twice in a row like the kids do...but, I am looking forward to doing it again! Bought the picture, just to prove that I DID IT!! Ended the evening, and headed back to the room to sleep.


This morning....slept in AGAIN...lol....and had another late breakfast/lunch at a great little restaurant called Cowgirl Cafe. Sounds more like it belongs in Clovis than Costa Mesa!! They had great french toast and sirloin patty! :)

So....here I am, back at home, catching up on everything, and scheming for my next trip down south!!

I think the girls took a TON of pics and videos on our trip....I'm SURE Dayna will upload them to YouTube. You can find her videos under her YouTube screen name "dkumpe".

Catch ya soon!!

xoxo