Patricia Danielle

im not sure when it happened because i dont like to buy non-functional items.
i make trips to target and the grocery store, all in the name of ‘need’.
i dont collect anything.
i dont have a bunch of ’things’.
i usually get caught up in buying books and shoes and tank tops.
but not cluttery things.
and certainly not stuffed animals.
but apparently somethings changed.
because, now, everytime i see a new colorful cuddly little creature…..i want to smush and hug and love and snuggle with it.
i freak out like a 3 year old at grocery stores when i see the hug bin of them.
and now that its close to valentines day….well, they are everwhere.
its like a walking happiness world!

note……i bought my own teddy bear for valentines day, however, it kept the company of the flowers, ring, candy, and oranges that my valentine gave me.

not necessarily in reference to timothy, but this statement is true. i just dont. and so im not going to.

when gina told me about steven’s new roommate, timothy, she said he was cute like toby mcguire. i wasnt really sure what that kind of ‘cute’ meant, but once i met him i kind of got it. hes really personable and i must say, he fits in quite well with us. kind of like he was meant to be part of the story from the beginning, we were just waiting to write him in. and written in he was.

i remember meeting him the first time at their house. when i walked into the house and the USC football game wasnt on the TV he sat in front of, i already had him in a ‘box’.  when i found out he worked for playboy….or sirius…whichever, the box changed shape a bit, but there was still a box.

you see, boys all fit into a box. a friend box. a family box. a marriage box. or a trash box. after 4 times with timothy, hes now in the friend box…the ‘myspace’ friend box. and the emailing me from …….@playboy.com friend box. oh, and kind of the family box, too. anyone who lives with my best friend’s fiance is family for sure.

honestly, he really never had a chance not to be.

this morning in cycle class, we turned up the tention and started to climb, to “scaryland.” the background music was a techno version of the inspector-gadget theme song. 

it all went something like this:

instructor: “uh, oh. we’re going to scaryland. we have to ride really fast so that twinkie man wont get us. he’ll make us eat lots of twinkies.”

i smile…and am not motivated in the least, i dont like twinkies…..when the music changes beat a bit:

 instructor: “uh oh, ice-cream land. there are men chasing us with cones of ice cream. ice cream and cookies. faster faster.”

and i chuckle. im not a big ice-cream fan……id rather eat the cone alone without it…..so chase me mr ice cream guy, i dont care……..then the instructor looks at me:

instructor: “do you guys know where we are now? marshmallow land. and some of them are even dipped in chocolate!!!”

ok. this land of goodies is for ME. and if she thinks that going faster through marshmallow land is possible for me, she doesnt know anything about patricia 0 neal. marshmallows are my favorite food. if going to a cycle class at 545am gets me to marshmallow land, then im IN! and im not slowing down as we’re passing through. thats for sure.

of course, it wasn’t nearly as fun as we went downhill…..thats when had to peddle hard to get to protein-shake and yogurt land. ugh.

i spent new years in glamis. again. it was my 3rd trip in 5 years. it was also the 3rd time that i spent time before the trip agonizing over going. ive often said that i really dont want to do anything, until after i have already done it. this year was no different. i even left a day after i had made plans to leave. pushing back to saturday seemed like it would still give me plenty of time.

 

that is until the first time i got on on a quad, following 6th in a group of 9 lead by josh. the same josh i wish i liked…like that. but dont. instead i hug and love on him and smile every time he looks at me. im in major love with how he is. just not with him. we went on ride after ride and ended new year’s eve night wrapped up in a bunch of sleeping bags at 1013pm watching Sweet Home Alabama.

at mid-night, with only one of us even close to being coherent, the glamis night blew up with lights and sounds like a bagdhad war zone.  josh unzipped the side of the trailer window and nudged me to take a look. i rolled over heard the ‘happy new year’ and drifted back to the land of 27 year olds who take a sleeping pill before going to bed at 10pm on new years eve.

my sole purpose for rising this morning was to see kylee experience her first day of kindergarten. all dressed and ready for work in my four inch black heels, i met up with kylee, her mom and dad, and my sister jenna for the big occasion. 

kindergarten. geez. im in love with this child. i just want to eat her every time i see her. she came dressed in capris and a tank. hair half up and half down (a compromise with her mom) and brand new shoes, thanks to aunti jen. we met ms. moncavyo and slowly paced through the classroom setup.

after we colored some “family activity” sheet, kylee asked me to push her on the swings. since i may as well be named “aunti of course” i walked over to the swings with her. the swing area and its wood chip contents is probably not what MICHAEL SHANNON was thinking of when he dreamed up the shoes I was wearing. nonetheless, i pushed.

thats when the competition started. in kindergarten. the little girl next to kylee started in on “iiiiiiiiiii can push myself. iiiiiiiiiiii dont need anyone to push me.” i wanted to tell her “you may not NEED anyone to push you, but if you keep acting like a pink princess sparkly shoe BRAT, people are going to feel compelled to do so of their own accord!” but i didnt.

while we were strolling through the room, we came accross what kylee said was a mouse. too bad it was 10 times bigger than a mouse and commonly referred to as a RAT. at which time her mother notified her “when they ask you who wants to take it home during christmas time, DO NOT VOLUNTEER.” she just kind of looked up at us as we all stood there, heads nodding in agreement.

ms. moncavyo raised her voice and asked the kids to get in a line behind her. the kids lined up like the good little soldiers that society is forming them to be, and took directions well as she told them to wave goodbye to their mom and dad as the train chugged by us. click click of cameras…..wave wave of little hands…and “goodbye mom and dad” from ms. moncavyo. all us tall people slowly turned, walked through the class, and out the door.

the future of america is currently listening to ms. moncavyo state the rules of kindergarten. AKA: All we ever really needed to know……

 

i have one super close cousin. amanda. amanda and i grew up together in a way since shes only 2 years older that i am. i remember inheriting her my-little-pony house and all the ponies when she out grew it a couple of years before i discovered it. i remember getting our cabbage patch dolls after our parents faught the holiday traffic together for hours. and i remember when i found out she was pregnant a tiny bit before her wedding. i cried because i was so happy for her and so excited for me! this would have never been my normal reaction. had it been anyone else, i would have been appalled and then eventually made myself warm up to the idea.

she has the best stories about her kids. and i believe them all because i have experienced those two and i am in love with them. i would take them as my own if she’d let me. dont think i havent asked. my favorite thing about her now is watching her as a mom. she’s a great mom. she reminds me of my mom with all the ideas and creativity and nurturing that she has/does. shes just good at it.

today she told me about her house the “funny farm:”

“Saturday, I had bathed Sadie outside and I’m washing Hazel in the sink.  Next thing I know the kids had gotten into the sidewalk PAINT…. and painted each other with Lime Green Paint.  So the kids come running through the house, with Sadie chasing them (After she rolled in the sand while still wet) and down the hall they go.  I grab Hazel out of the sink to stop them standing at the end of the hall with a wet rat dog watching my lime green kids being chased by my wet/muddy dog….. All while the cat chases the rabbit, all at once, all in the same hall!!  I just started laughing and said, ‘oh my gosh, I officially live in a funny farm.’  What a mess it was!  All I could do was send them all outside to hose them off.  All this is to say,  enjoy your young years :)!!”

This is officially me, enjoying my young years!

i took one of the boys, the non spastic one, to kylee’s 5th bday party on sunday.

he spent the day drinking 2 liters of coke and getting interrogated by the family. especially my sister. though, he felt fine to do the same back. she let loose about a lot of stuff that i had never directly heard from her. all stuff that makes me cringe.

kylee and her cousin, both 5 years old, got barbie skates for their bday. have you ever watched little kids ride skates around for the first time ever? its really wobbly…or it was, until my uncle told them that in order to stop, they just have to use their toes and lean forward. from that point on, the girls just walked around onthe toes of their barbie skates. well, unless they were on the grass, then they were in all four wheels.

then there was the 20 min lecture about how i should be investing in real estate. how im thrrowing money away because im not getting any tax write-offs on my rent. and all the excuses and reasons i had to share with them as to why i havent bought a house somewhere…..too indecisive…..dont exactly know where i want to live…….still hoping to marry a really rich guy who has a house….well, it didnt matter to my uncle and his mother in law.

i drenched my chicken sandwich in ketchup and devoured my cupcake (im a great date!) then chased the kids around and spent some time talking to some family members i havent seen in over a year.

the next day i got the official “approval” from everyone about the boy. i had to reassure everyone that i still havent decided myself.

then i wrote the following email to my cousin after she sent me an email saying “So what’s  the deal with the friend?  He was really, really nice.  Seemed like a great guy.”:

here are his. i guessed right the first time. it’s SO obvious…. of course it’s number 2!

i spent my 27th birthday at disneyland. a great day. the weather was perfect. the lines were short. and time spent with friends was just so perfect.

this pic is from a new ride at disneyland. when we asked the lady at the front of the line what the ride was, she said:

“its like the haunted mansion and you shoot targets.”

sure enough, thats exactly what it was. this is a picture of shannon and i “shooting tagets.”