I'm getting ready to head down to Eureka for Christmas with my parents & three brothers & one of my sisters. Tyson is spending Christmas with his dad this year, for the first time. I hope he has a good Christmas! We'll celebrate together when he comes home. The plan is to pick him up on my way back from Eureka - Seth agreed to meet me halfway.

Anyway, I don't know for sure if I'll be online or not while I'm down there, so just in case: Everyone have a Merry Christmas & enjoy your time spent with family & friends!

10 Great Things That To Me Happened This Year:

1. I got to take Tyson on our first ever vacation to Hollywood, where I've wanted to go all my life!
2. I got a raise!
3. I got a piano & a digital camera - both of which I've been wanting for quite some time.
4. Krista & I got to go on the Suicide Memorial Walk together.
5. My sister, Kathy, & I were able to spend her birthday together & had a great time visiting for the whole week!
6. I got two root canals - I know this sounds weird for a great things list, but I discovered sedation dentistry & am no longer afraid to have work done!
7. I had to get tough as a mom, but came out the other side & Tyson is doing better for it!
8. I got the first date thing out of the way, received flowers from a guy & was asked for my phone number by a really cute guy that I liked (never mind that the flowers were from a guy I didn't like that way & the guy I did like stopped calling!)
9. I made some new friends & reconnected with some that I hadn't been in touch with for a while.
10. I finally got my jeep!

I know, I know...I've TOTALLY been neglecting my blog! Honestly, though, there just hasn't been much to report! We had a great time on our Hollywood trip & a nice visit with Sarah & Maya in San Diego for Thanksgiving. The jeep ran great & I was especially grateful for the new tires I got before the trip upon our return - there was snow everywhere & it was all stormy & wet & cold! Kind of a shock after being in 80 degree weather in CA.

Ever since our return, we've just been playing catch-up: on rest, on cleaning, on work, etc. I've really just been focusing on staying on track & getting back to the grind...which is boring...which is why I haven't written anything...

Tyson's basketball practices started once we got back. His coach seems pretty nice, but also like he doesn't take it very seriously at this level, so they have short practices, most of which are warm-ups & stretches. Tyson is definitely one of the top players on the team. He loves the game & wants to stay after to shoot some more & plays basketball every recess & goes to the YMCA with his friends whenever he can to play.

My niece, Heather (my brother's daughter, who's now 16 y/o), found me on myspace & lives here in the valley with her mom, so we got together last weekend & went to pizza & saw Happy Feet at the theater. It was so great seeing her! She's always had a great, easy-going personality & she just has such a good head on her shoulders. I'm so proud of all my nieces that way! Anyway, it made me feel really good that she would look me up & want to spend time with me.

Vacation, Day 3 & 4:

(First, a special thanks to Kathy for taking the time to fix the format on this blog!)

Sorry to leave you hanging yeaterday...I was too exhausted to do anything but lay down at the motel & watch Prison Break & Heroes.

Ok, so yesterday, we caught the shuttle from the motel at 9:15 am & arrived at Universal Studios by 9:30. Unbeknownst to us, the park doesn't open until 10 a.m., but this was fine & allowed us to take a bunch of pictures right outside with the revolving Universal Studios ball. When you first step inside the gates, there are some life-sized bronze/iron statues set up as a camera crew & directors. As I was taking pictures of this, one of them came to life! It was a really excellent performance & fantastic makeup. From there, we explored all the attractions & rides. Our favorites were:
* The Back the the Future ride, where you ride in an 8-seater Delorian & are taken through a very real simulation flying through Hill Valley & the Ice Age, Prehistoric Age & through volcanos.
*The Jurassic Park ride, where you ride a boat through the "jungle" & see all kinds of different dinosaurs, then at the very end, drop down an 84 foot waterfall.
*The Revenge of the Mummy (which we rode 4 times over the last two days), where you ride a roller coaster, plunging through complete darkness, complete with the cockroach-type insects scurrying at your feet. When you screech to a halt, the ride takes you in reverse back over the same roller coaster!

Other attractions we enjoyed were the Terminator 2: 3D re-enactment & the Shrek 3D Torture Chamber inside Farquaad's castle. In the Shrek one, the seats actually move while you watch the movie, so you're riding horses & flying through the air with the characters, as well as being sneezed on by Donkey & feeling "spiders" at your feet. Today, we watched a live production of some scenes from the movie Waterworld. The set was amazing & the special effects were really cool, too!

There were so many things to see & do & we got some really great pictures! Yesterday, we also went on the City Walk outside the Studios & ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, where Tyson bought a hat & T-shirt with his dog-sitting & yard work money that he'd saved for this trip.

Prior to the trip, I'd called the motel & asked about parking, to find out (to my utter dismay!) that it costs $20 per day to park at the motel in addition to the cost of the room. I paid this the first day when we checked in, then decided to check out some on-street parking in Hollywood per Sarah's suggestion. I moved the jeep yesterday morning & was worried about it being towed or stolen throughout the day, then was too afraid to walk down to check on it when we got back last night after dark. Besides, like Tyson said, if I waited till morning, we'd at least have one more night of happiness if something did happen to it! So, I got up this morning & walked down to check on it before we left for Universal Studios & it was still there, so I decided to leave it in the same spot again. If all goes well as of tomorrow, that saved me $60 on this trip! Yeesh!

The plan for tomorrow is to get up & walk back down to Hollywood Blvd & revisit the Walk of Fame before checking out at noon & heading down to San Diego to see Sarah & Maya, where we'll spend Thanksgiving & head back toward home on Friday morning. The last stop we'll make is in Sacramento, where we'll break up the drive home Friday night.

Vacation, Day 2:

Phew! What a day! We got up & had breakfast at our motel, got all packed up & took off at 9:30 a.m. The drive was incredibly boring, since most of it was flat land or open hills, although this was broken up by some olive trees & orange trees. I was just so surprised that there's so much empty space in California! It was also really foggy until we were about an hour away from LA, when it got SO nice that I stripped down to my tank top & zipped down my window in the jeep. This was especially nice, since it's been pretty cold & icky in Ashland lately. Our motel is right off the freeway & we arrived right on time, just before 3 p.m. We checked in, then went for a walk to Hollywood Blvd, where EVERYTHING is, and it's only a few blocks away! We walked up & down the Walk of Fame, looking at the stars on the sidewalk, then went to the Chinese Theater, where all the stars have put their hand & foot prints along with their autographs on the sidewalk. We took a ton of pictures (which I've sent to most of you) & went to the Wax Museum & Guiness World Records, teaking a break to get dinner at a Mexican place in the Hollywood mall, then stopped by Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. It's just so crazy & different here. We are thoroughly enjoying all the sights & the streetperformers. On the way home, a guy on the street tried to sell us an ipod & Tyson thought that was a cool experience, too. Well, that's all for now. I'm ready to settle in & rest up for tomorrow...We signed up for the shuttle from the motel to Universal Studios at 9:15 a.m., returning at 7:30 p.m., at which point I plan to catch my Monday shows: Prison Break & Heroes! Will try to post more tomorrow evening.

Vacation, Day 1:

We'er heeeerrreee! To our room at the Comfort Inn, that is. We got up this morning &, after a call from Sarah & then another from Krista, managed to get everything packed & out the door & on the road by 10 am. We arrived at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield right at 3 pm. The factory wasn't operating as usual, since it was a weekend, but we still got to see some workers doing a special Christmas order & were able to score on 8 lbs of "Belly Flops", the over/undersized Jelly Bellies that don't make the cut. I thought this would be a nice treat to share w/ people at work when I get back home. We went to the workout room here & are getting ready to jump in the hot tub. It's outdoors, but it's acutally a really nice, warm evening out, so I think that'll be nice. Tyson's on the bed watching Fairly Odd Parents & sampling Jelly Bellies. I'm getting ready to download some pics from the tour & I'll try to upload to this blog post, but if I can't, I will email to y'all indiviually. Tomorrow, HOLLYWOOD!!

It's been so long, so this will be a long story short, unlike my usual fashion...

Tyson: He & I have had some issues resulting in new rules & boundaries, but I think we have made at least a temporary breakthrough. Hasn't been easy, and I know we'll have a rough road ahead, but he's a great kid & I love him lots, so it's worth it!

Dating: no more! I think I'd already made up my mind about this by the time I met this guy for coffee, so the poor guy really never had a chance, even though he was a sweetheart.

Hollywood: We leave Saturday morning!!

Well, Tyson loves his new school - he's already made some really good friends & is actually staying over with one of them tonight after they finish roller skating. He says that his new school is giving him confidence. My reply to that was that every parent wants their kid to have confidence, because people with confidence don't settle for less than they deserve & will go on to be successful!

Since Tyson's sleeping over, I'm planning to go out with Kristin tonight. It's been quite a while since we did anything, so we figured we'd go shake it loose a little. I have kind of a blind date tomorrow with a guy I've been getting to know online...Don't worry - I'm meeting him in a public place for a cup of coffee, which I thought would be a nice casual way to get to know someone without that "first date" pressure. I've decided that, after this, I am really not interested in dating. I think that I can meet enough people through hanging out with friends & doing things with Tyson's new school & that sort of thing that I don't have to worry about putting more pressure on myself just because I think it's time. I also think that I keep sabatoging these "dates" in my mind before they happen because I've decided that I prefer fantasy to reality when it comes to men. Hopefully, one of these days, I'll meet someone who fulfills the fantasy & if not, that's ok too.

Halloween was fun. My friend, Lisa, was supposed to be Morticia Addams & I was to be Gomez, but she got sick for a couple days & had to miss work, so I dressed up as Morticia. For some reason, I've been unable to post pics to this blog the last few times that I tried, so I won't bother. Tyson was a basketball player. Kathy helped me get a Michael Jordan jersey from Ebay & he wore an afro wig with basketball shorts & his Jordans. We took his friend, Kane, trick-or-treating with us. He kinda slowed us down by introducing himself to everyone he met (he was being silly & telling them all that he was "Webster"), but Tyson had fun & still scored big on the candy (aka the Devil)!

I've been looking into trading in the jeep again. I'm trying to get into something with better gas mileage before we take our trip to Hollywood in a couple of weeks. I don't know if I mentioned this, but since we'll be so close, I'm planning to drive over to San Diego when we check out of our Hollywood motel & stay with Sarah & Maya for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure what Seth's plans are for Christmas yet, but this is technically his year to have Tyson & he mentioned a while back that he did want him, so I may end up driving down to Eureka for Christmas, which would be nice since I usually try to be there for Thanksgiving & won't make it this year.

Last Sunday, Ty & I went over to Seth's dad's house for his little sister, Emily's, 18th birthday party. It wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be & I know it was really nice for Tyson to get to see his other family.

Anyway, I suppose I'd better get ready to go out...BTW, Dad, if you're back from Oklahoma, drop me a line when you have time & tell me how the visit went, ok?

And, Kathy, I am still having problems with the side bar...weird...Maybe you can look into that when you get a chance? What would I do without you?

And, Debbie - thanks for stopping by! Don't be a stranger! And tell that husband of yours to write me already!

I'm BAAAaaack... I know, it's been too long, but hopefully y'all can find it in your hearts to forgive me!

Wow, there's so much to post about, where to begin...? I guess I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...On the weekend of the 14th (my big brother, Joe's, birthday!), Tyson & I drove up to Eugene to stay with the Dawsons. He was out of school & I took the day off work on Friday so that we could take our time & got there Friday afternoon. We met Travis & Keri (Dustin's bro & sis-in-law, who I also went to school with) and Dustin's Aunt & Uncle & cousin, Colton, along with Ed & Alex & their kids, who came up from Eagle Point, at a pizza place in Eugene that has an indoor carousel. The next morning, I watched Jake & they took Tyson to the Ducks' game. We had a potluck/party that night & another of our high school friends, Dennis, came over & we all had a great time hanging out together. The following morning was the Out of the Darkness Walk for suicide awareness & prevention in Portland, so Krista & I got up at 5:30 a.m. & drove to the walk. Neither of us was feeling great (espcially me, as I was puking on the way up from drinking too much the night before), but we were really glad that we did it...This was my second year & Krista's first. It's funny - last year, it was on Shannon's birthday (I blogged about it, if you want to read it in my archives), and this year it was the day before. It was really crappy weather & we were soaked, but it was worth it & so nice to have eachother there this year instead of doing it all by myself.

The other big news is that there have been some issues at Tyson's school & I wasn't very happy with his teacher, for several reasons which I won't go into right now. Tyson wanted to change schools & go here in town, but I've been playing the devil's advocate & giving him a couple of weeks to decide, even though it would make my life much easier, too. We went on Friday to tour the local school with the principal & were both really impressed by what we saw & the teachers & environment there. The final decision was up to Tyson & he wants to start on Monday. We went back to his old school to clean out his desk & say goodbye to his classmates & teachers & that's when he did get a little sad, but he still wants to go through with the change. I think it will be nice, because where he was going, there are mostly rich kids with two parents, & I think Tyson thought we were poor (which we are not! I can always pay my bills, even if I have to juggle some) & abnormal for having a single parent family. It will also make the transportation/work issue MUCH easier. As far as Tyson's grades go, I still haven't received a report card, but his teacher said that he should have no problem of attaining his goal of straight A's. He's definitely smart enough; it's just a matter of whether or not he applies himself & turns in his homework. This year, he's really made that a priority, so I wouldn't be surprised if he is getting straight A's. Hopefully, I'll find out for sure soon...

By the way, Happy Belated Birthday to my dad on the 19th, who is currently in Oklahoma, visiting relatives, and Happy Upcoming Birthday to my big sister, Laura on the 31st (yep, Halloween!), who is currently trying to recouperate from gall-stones! Love you guys!

Eventually, I really will sit down & blog so everyone is up-to-date, but in the meantime, here's some filler:

5 Best of TV This Season (Sorry, couldn't come up with the whole 10!)

1) Grey's Anatomy (Now McSteamy joins McDreamy - yummy! Only bad part is, where does that leave my darling Finn?)
2) Prison Break (they've been teasing me, but new episodes are back Oct. 23rd. As much as I love Michal Schofield, I must admit that I am tiring of the intense looks that the camera holds, then fades to commercial...)
3) Heroes (LOVE this show!!!! Was a big surprise & has great characters!)
4) My Name is Earl (Just good humor)
5) What About Brian (Not my usual style, but just got sucked in, so now I stay up for it.)

Mondays & Thursdays are MY nights - if I watch any other TV, it's usually stuff like Wheel of Fortune or Family Feud, Simpsons, Friends or That 70's Show.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TWYLA!!!!!!

Still not much to post, but I do feel that it's my duty to keep my readers abreast of current events in my life...

I got my digital camera & have been reading up on it more than doing any experimenting, yet. I can't wait until the leaves start to change colors - I'll take the camera to Lithia Park. The colors there are absolutely fantastic!

I went to dinner with Kristin & Loren (yep - finally asked how to spell it) last night at the Outback Steakhouse. I've never been there before, since I don't like red meat, but MAN, their chicken & veggies are to die for! The Bloomin' Onion appetizer is really yummy, too. I ordered a strawberry margerita, which was good, but Kristin got their Wallabe Darned or something like that, which is a frozen peachy drink & it was delicious! It was Loren's birthday. We're planning to get together today so that Loren can play some basketball with Tyson & then we'll have dinner & rent a movie.

I really appreciate any help I can get from good guys that wouldn't mind spending time with Tyson. I feel like, if I can have positive male role models in his life, I won't be concerned with hooking up with one, myself. My friend, Susan, played a part in this decision with a wise statement she made at work, in reference to my concerns about Tyson being so desperate for me to bring a man into his life & my thoughts that having a man around might make parenting easier: "Amanda, men don't want to discipline your son. They just want to get in your pants." Now, I'm sure that there are some good guys out there (maybe even some that aren't already married) but, for the most part, this statement rings true. I've also deduced that men tend to be very shallow & go for skinny blondes, neither of which would describe me. And if a guy can't appreciate all of the wonderful qualities that I have because they're too hung up on the physical aspect of things, I have no problem continuing to be a single mom. So I am now officially back on the wagon & focusing my efforts on recruiting the good guys that I know to be a part of Tyson's life.

I haven't been doing a whole lot. This time of the year is mostly devoted to getting back into school-mode, although this year has been a lot less stressful, since Tyson decided to skip football.

He's getting to the age, now, where he always wants to be hanging out with his friends (thank goodness I like his friends, too!), so they're either over here or he's gone. This weekend we had Kane & Tristan stay the night on Friday, so we got pizza and a movie, then he went to stay the night at Tristan's last night. I just had to call him on his cell phone to see when he's planning on coming home. I've spent the whole weekend cleaning my apartment, which actually has been pretty nice, but now I don't have anything else to clean! I even cleaned Tyson's room, which I never do, because I want him to do it. I did go to the mall today to cash in on some coupons I have & ran into my step-sister, Julie, whom I haven't seen for at least 11 years!

My sister, Kathy, has tagged me, so I guess if I'm a good sister, I'll comply...

The rules of the tag are:
List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets.
Tag 5 friends and list them.
Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people.

1. I love kids, but only have one. I guess that's kinda weird, but if you know me & the set of circumstances of my last marriage, you'll most likely understand.
2. I'm a tomboy, but I love to shop & dress up.
3. I don't like cheese, seafood or fish, red meat and many, many other foods!
4. I love to sing (I know, weird, huh?) The only problem is that I actually prefer large, anonymous crowds to smaller, personal ones including friends & family. I've been trying really hard to overcome this, though, because the opportunity to perform with friend & fam presents itself more often.
5. I try to be a very open-minded, non-judgemental person (because I know that I don't like to be judged!), so I think people tend to think of me as a liberated, free-spirited type, but I'm actually pretty old-fashioned, especially when it comes to romance.

Tyson & I went up to Eugene last weekend to see Krista & Dustin's new place. We had a BBQ on Saturday & Cindy & Lee came (Shannon's little sister) with Dan (Shannon's dad). Dustin & Travis were at a Duck's game, so Krista & I hung out, then Kerri came over & we all made a cake for her little boy's 3rd birthday. Thought I'd share a pic that I snagged from Krista's myspace. It was great, as always, seeing everyone, but it made me a little lonely when I came back home...

Oops! I guess I was a day behind. Grey's Anatomy won't be on until tomorrow - Thursday. Wishful thinking on my part...

I suppose it's been long enough that my public is thirsty for more (naturally)! All right, well...Tyson is enjoying school, even though he went in expecting not to. He says that now that last year's 5th graders are gone, he just might be the best basketball player in the school. We're still having issues with transportation, but at least he has a cell phone, now, so that we can communicate if he's stuck somewhere. My date for Saturday got cancelled (thank goodness!) since he had to pack & move. We haven't rescheduled yet & I think I'm going to try to blow him off - it's just too awkward. I really did like the guy I met camping & we had a couple of (very short & frustrating!) calls over the weekend, but I don't know where that will go, if anywhere. I'm back to being ok with being single for now, anyway. I plan to go up to Eugene this weekend for a BBQ at Krista's. I haven't been there since Ty was just a baby, so it'll be cool to go back. I've had a lot of fun in that town & it'll be nice to see Krista & Dustin's new place.

I booked a trip to Hollywood for Tyson & me. It will be the week before Thanksgiving, so that I'll only have to take three days' vacation & I'll get 10 consecutive days off! I'm SO excited & so is Tyson. At bedtime, he's like, "Mom, tell me again about Hollywood!" It's so cute to see him excited about something again! It seems like he's always "cool" & "bored" anymore, and I know it's just going to get worse! I'm grateful that he has made friends with two boys in the complex that have single moms, too. They also like to skateboard & they both have good relationships with their moms. Kane called his mom to ask if he could come to the skate park with us the other day & I heard him say, "Thank you, Mom. Thank you SO much! I really appreciate it!" That was refreshing!

Anyway, I guess I should get on the transcription I have, so that I can watch Grey's Anatomy tonight. Season premiere next Thursday!

I'm back from the coast & back to the grind. Camping was a blast. We got up there around 10:30 or so on Friday night & were prepared to fall into bed (we stayed in one of the cabins with Krista & Dustin & Alex & Ed with all of their kids), but heard music by the fire when we arrived, so of course, we stayed up for a while & visited. I sang with Dustin & Travis's dad & a couple of other guys. Another one of our high school friends was there that I just saw last summer for the first time in like 12 years, but I never saw him again after the first night...Bizarre! Anwyay, the guys all took Tyson fishing at 2:30 am, until Krista & I decided to go rescue them from the river in the jeep, which proceeded to piss off the rest of the campers. I guesss they thought we were out joyriding. We heard about it the entire rest of the weekend.

On Saturday, we went down to the river & played some volleyball, then I decided to take Tyson into town to see his dad & eat some breakfast at the restaurant where he works, so we went into town for a while. That night was much more mellow, since I think most of the campers had downed more than their share of alcoholic beverages the first night.

The third day was the best, even though we had run out of water & the generator was busted. The guys all played football, then everyone went down to the river together. Tyson was getting bored, with no boys his age to hang out with, so I ended up taking him down to stay the night with his dad.

A friend of Travis's had also come down to camp with his little girl, so I spent a lot of the weekend hanging out & getting to know him. I think he's a really nice guy & hope that I'll get to talk to him again. I'm actually almost dreading this date on Saturday now, and I know that's bad & that I should keep my options open, since I never did the whole dating thing before, but it's hard to think that way when you meet someone that you really click with. (At least I think so...) Anyway, I'm trying to just get back into routine & all that jazz. I took Tyson in for his first day of school today to find out that it doesn't start until tomorrow. As I dropped him off at home, I said, "Well, then, let's try this again tomorrow, shall we?"

I leave for the big camping trip after work tomorrow! I'm really excited, because I know I'll be with a lot of great people & we'll have a blast! I'm also excited because this will be the first time I've been camping since the divorce!

I also have some more exciting news: I have a real, bona-fide date with a guy who seems normal enough & comes highly recommended by the husband of a friend. I thought it was really nice that he called me, himself, to ask me out, instead of relying on our mutual friend to set it up, which would have been easy enough to do. I'm not going to get all crazy about it, though. I'm just thrilled that I'll have this first date thing behind me so I can relax a little! We're going out next weekend, so I'll provide more details on this guy then.

I suppose it's been long enough, since I'm getting prompted by Kathy again...It's just that not much has been going on!

Tyson is back, as you know, so my social life disappears & it's all about running him & his friends to the skate park or back & forth to eachothers' houses. We're trying to cram it all in before summer's over & get back into routine for school at the same time. We did some school clothes shopping last weekend, despite Ty's adamant protests.

I don't know if I posted about this before, but our wonderful cat, Domino, went MIA just a couple of days before Tyson left for his dad's & has still not returned. Against my better judgement, we have recently acquired two kittens from a co-worker. We are also dog-sitting for one of the docs while he's on vacation & Tyson is making $10 a day for a week. This dog is very sweet & is no trouble at all, so I second Tyson's question: "You mean you're letting me borrow your dog for a week & I'm getting paid on top of it?"

I've heard nothing more on the jeep, so I'm going to go in & talk to a friend who works at Suburu to see what he can tell me, if anything.

We are going camping w/ the Dawsons this weekend & it should prove to be a blast. I really can't wait! And then Ty will start school on the 6th & it'll be back to the grind, as usual. This is probably one of the more boring posts in my blog, but just remember, you asked for it!