Chris, Legal Department, Sunnyvale office

Author Archive

Teaching Mom Power

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

muddychamps
I think it’s really important for moms of girls to show them how powerful their moms are. I try my best to do this in a variety of ways: working outside the home, volunteering for the kids’ sporting activities (i.e. team mom) and giving back to our community. But I also think it’s important to show them that we moms are physically powerful too. I work hard to stay fit and am always out doing active things like boating, hiking, backpacking, etc. (Carrying all the things you need to survive in the woods on your own back gives you a truly amazing sense of power.)

But my latest physical endeavor had a different spin. It showed physical strength, commitment and just plain silliness. I recently joined forces with my daughter’s soccer coach to compete in a Muddy Buddy race. (more…)

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Swamp Monster

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Regular YodelingMamas readers know the story of my rescued chiweenie (half Chihuahua, half wiener dog), Ahi Wasabi. For those of you who don’t, she was rescued from the pound. They were going to put her down because she was too scared to be adopted. After a year and a half with our family, she thinks she’s an eleven-pound black labrador. She hunts for gophers, hikes long miles, goes to the beach, boats, camps and generally lives a super-exciting doggy lifestyle.

dogahi

Well…this weekend we were up in the mountains hiking when she rolled in something really stinky. I’ve given her three baths and she still smells horrible! So bad that we’ve taken to calling her “Stinky Pete”. And on our walk this morning, I caught her trying to dive onto a dead slug. How quickly she’s gone from being too scared to be adopted to being too smelly to be cuddled.

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Mom vs Monkey

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Last night I was helping my dyslexic 10-year-old daughter get herself organized for upcoming spelling tests. She groups the words together so that they make logical sense to her (and obviously not to me!).

monkey

I wrote up several practice templates like this: (more…)

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A Little Scare….

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I found a tumor on my yellow lab, Daisy Mae.

daisy mae

She is six years old which is an age at which dogs could get fatty tumors. But this one felt a little different from the tumors on my previous dogs. So I brought her over to the vet and had him take a look. (more…)

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Thankful Thoughts

Monday, November 16th, 2009

I am going to use the month of Thanksgiving to try every day to think of something I am thankful for in my life. Even more than just thinking about it, I want to consider why that particular thing is important to me and what I can do to pass forward that thankful feeling I get each day. This might sound corny, but in my very busy life I often miss the little things.

I am warming up today and have already thought of my first “Thankful Thought”. (more…)

Posted in Family time, Place: Sunnyvale | 1 Comment »

Meat Muffins

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Don’t you hate when you get in a rut with your dinners? You have the same old thing all the time because it is easy and brainless to make in the chaos of the evening…..spaghetti, burritos, tacos, taco salad, BBQ chicken, burgers, etc… Lately I have been tired of the same old dinners, so I have been trying some knew things. Last week it was Shredded BBQ sandwiches in the crock pot with coleslaw, pesto tomatoes and corn on the cob.

meat muffins

This week, it was meat muffins! (Please note that as a vegetarian, this disgusts me!). (more…)

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Giving Back

Monday, October 19th, 2009

One of my extracurricular activities involves the American Heart Walk put on by the American Heart Association. Once a year my whole family raises money and does the heart walk on a Sunday in September.

heartwalk

We do it to honor my father who had a heart transplant 12 years ago and the donor family who unselfishly donated the heart of their loved one. This year’s walk was this past weekend. Although we didn’t raise as much as we have in past years (I think the economy really had an effect), we did raise over $1000 dollars! We figure it’s the least we can do as a “thank you” for our good fortune. My Dad’s good fortune at getting a new heart and living with it, healthfully, for the last 12 years is something to be thankful for!

(more…)

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Back To School

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

First day of school jitters. Kids have them. Mom’s have them. Actually I think I may call it, “first day of school dread.” Kids have it. Mom’s have it for sure!

Both my kids – 13 and 9 – started school this week. And that means my work load has increased 10 fold. You think I am exaggerating, but I am not.

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Posted in Parenthood, Place: San Francisco | 1 Comment »

Doggy Lottery: We’re All Winners

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Once upon a time there was a little black dog that had a really rough beginning. No one knows for sure what happened but it must have been really bad because by the time she ended up at the Animal Shelter she was 6 months old and she was terrified.

black dog

She was so terrified that the Shelter folks made the difficult decision that she would NOT be eligible for adoption. Who would want a little dog that was shaking uncontrollably in the back of the cage? She was scheduled to be euthanized.
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Posted in Family time, Place: Sunnyvale | 1 Comment »