Anniversary Celebration in SD

We had a great time in San Diego last weekend with Julie and Carlton Jones.  Thanks to my good friend, Cameron, we stayed at a posh resort on Coronado for cheap!  It was so fun and we ate the ENTIRE time!  Our big dinner was at the Ruth's Chris on the bay.  It was delicious and romantic.  I also got my S'mores Mocha fix at Hash House a Go-Go.  Yummy!!  We did some shopping and unintentional sight-seeing.  (Got lost and ended up taking a "shortcut" through Balboa Park.  Beautiful detour!!)  We didn't have near enough time to do all of the things listed on Ralph's detailed itinerary, the most regretful of which was lacking the time (and stomach space) for Chuao Chocolatier.  Oh, well!  Next time!

Man! I KNEW this would happen!

Well, folks, it's that time of life where you just throw up your hands and say, "Why not?"  Actually, this is something we've wanted for a long time and due to lengthy health-related issues I won't bore you with, didn't actually think it would be possible.  But here it is.  Up in my Kool-Aid.  In my grill.  Harshing my mellow.  Actually, harshing my mellow in an AWESOME way!  Ralph and I are having a baby!  Yes, FINALLY!  =P  You are welcome to follow the little alien's progress by watching "it" float eerily about the upper, left corner of my page.  Yes, we are HAPPY!!  Logan is BURSTING and the family is nothing but supportive!  Please feel free to repeatedly congratulate us.  Love to feel the love!  I'll be back soon, but I will try not to bore you all to death with all the mundane details of the experience.  You'll be able to read all about that in my tell-all memoirs.  *wink* *wink*

Historicity (LOVE that word! Thanks, T.D.!)

Twelve years ago today, I married an awesome young man.  He still makes me laugh with abandon and he loves me just the way I am.  Faults and wonders and all!  I won't expound on the ups and downs, but there have been plenty and we're like my Grandma Lucy says.  We "take a lickin' and keep on tickin'"!!  I love you, Babe!  You're perfect for me and I know I'm a lucky, lucky girl...  You're the best!!

Hearing the "Hallelujah Chorus" Ringing in My Ears

This month marks the anniversary of me and my two oldest friends on the planet.  I have known my friend, Bonnie, longer than any of my other friends, period.  At the time we met, we were the only girls our age in Truth Tabernacle, the church we both ended up being reared in and home to the school we both graduated from 14 years after we first met.  She is the "middle" friend of us three girls in age, and we've got many, many great memories.  Her and husband, Matt, have been married for 13 years this month.  My other friend, Amanda, I met a couple of years later.  Now there were three girls "our age" at Truth Tabernacle.  We all got on fabulously and Amanda lived with her family in my same neighborhood for years.  My big sis, Stacy, and I had lots of adventures with the Gregg kiddos growing up.  Amanda and husband, Erik, have been married for 15 years this month.  As life would turn out, I've been married the least amount of time of the 3 of us.  Twelve years tomorrow to Ralph, the most wonderful man on planet Earth.  We are also the only couple with a child.  One child.  Logan.  Our pride and joy!  We are so ecstatic to soon be joined in our adventures of parenting by another of my childhood friends!  Amanda and Erik are expecting a "mini-me" next Spring!  CONGRATULATIONS, you two!  We are very happy for you and your families!  And a big CONGRATULATIONS to Bonnie and Amanda for the many years of wedded bliss!  I love you girls and I honestly couldn't be more proud to have you both as my friends for life.  Whether you like it or not!  =D  Love you!  And LOVE YOU, RALPHIE!  You're the best thing that ever happened to me.  Thank you for loving me!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today is my Pastor and his lovely wife's 9th wedding anniversary.  You both are incredible people and I'm looking forward to us all heading out for the weekend!  Stay classy, San Diego! Love the pic!  True art! (Where's Noah? ;-D)

Wickedly Fabulous

I so empathize with Elphaba Thropp, especially of late.  So hated and misunderstood.  hehe...  (I'm really dark lately, so sorry for that, folks! Bear with me, because I hear that JOY comes in the morning...)  I listen to this song full BLAST in my car on a frequent basis.  So much so that I had not realized that even my little musically-inclined offspring had memorized the words!  He sings it beautifully!  =D  Hope you all enjoy this, a clip of my favorite part of Wicked.  Sans the "pitchy-ness", of course.

Obsess: to haunt or excessively preoccupy the mind of

I tend to be a little on the obsessive side, and for that reason lose sleep for many varied reasons. Lately, the dark circles under my eyes have become quite pronounced due to my lack of sleep. I think I'm a lot like my dad, the late Rev. Rene Mendoza, as far as being a worrier is concerned. (That's why my friends call me "Whiskers"! Haha...)  I obsess about my weight.  I obsess about my hair.  I obsess about my son’s weight.  I also happen to, yes, obsess about his hair.  I obsess about minute details that nobody else seems to care about.  It's a little embarrassing, actually.  It’s a sickness, really, as the few friends I have left will tell you.  I obsess about things I have absolutely no control over.  I obsess about people I feel wronged by, then hear they feel the same way about me.  Then I obsess about who should confront whom, or if well enough should be left alone.  Then I start to forget the offense when it’ll rear its ugly head in the form of an email from an angry sister of an “ex-friend”.  It’s ludicrous, really.  I obsess about how friends, who promised on their own lives our friendship could never end.  I know people are human, including myself, but I obsess about the lack of mercy shown by those who have been given, and continue to receive, much mercy themselves.  I obsess about daughters who don’t have enough respect for their parents to give them (and their friend who vented to them) the benefit of the doubt or even question the ranting to said parent(s).  Instead, I find myself obsessing about how the same daughter, at the apparent urging of her husband, would print those very private emails off and give them to her father-in-law, behind her own parent’s back.  I obsess about how her father-in-law would accept said emails of MY rant, essentially accepting material known to be stolen, then use said emails to annihilate our few friends left by reading very limited portions of the emails. (Which, when taken out of context, sound much, much worse than actually were written, plus my apology to the parent was never brought up in these closed-door defamations...) Those friends have been encouraged to not "taint" their ministry by associating with us because "lots" of people are talking?!?  "Lots" of people, like who?  Like the ministry who should be praying, not talking?  I obsess about how my wonderful husband did not ask for ANY of this.  I obsess over the utter betrayal and under-handed techniques employed by people who profess to be lovers of God.  I obsess about how family members would turn their backs on us, based on egregious, blown-up extractions of what was supposed to be a private email conversation.  I obsess with how one  or many may actually be convinced my husband and I have any desire, much less the propensity, to hurt them after everything we have been through together.  Obviously, I’ve become quite obsessed and I apologize to those of you who may be very lost reading this.  It sometimes feels good to rant, as many, if not all, of you may do from time to time.  The problem is, when I ranted about what I still feel are quite valid feelings to a friend, my thoughts and discussion were stolen and are being used for character assassination against me AND my husband, who has truly been the victim here.  Yes, I’ve become quite obsessed with preserving a wonderful legacy of hard work, perseverance, and loyalty the McCorkles once held in our former parish that goes back further than ALL of the people there now.  Say about me what you will.  Some of the versions of “truth” I’ve heard and that have reached my family members all the way to Fresno, are quite hurtful.  I cannot change that.  I don’t obsess nearly as much about that.  It’s the fact that my husband is being lumped in with my absurdity that hurts and blows me away.  If you are TRULY hurt, why didn’t you do what it says in Matthew 18?  I guess I have a different Bible or something, but I REALLY, REALLY wish you would have come to ME first, instead of making the leap to naming us heathens, not worthy of your social graces or those of the people you have charge over.  If you were so hurt, WHY, oh, why didn’t you come to me and address your pain?  I would have quickly and whole-heartedly apologized for the pain I caused, but the pain you have caused as a result so much more outweighs my private thoughts. We have tried to clear up any and all discrepancies, but you won't hear it , so I'm reduced to airing all the dirty laundry for the world to see in hopes you may read.  I wonder what we would find out if your private thoughts, rantings, and vents about people you have to deal with were laid bare for the world to see and judge?

FB, MySpace, and Other Such "Evils"

After a long stint on Facebook and sometimes MySpace, I have closed those accounts and decided to start blogging again instead. I hope that I will again get some readers and I welcome comments and suggestions! Eventually I will be blogging almost solely on the subject of the Disneyland Resort. I doth think myself an expert on that particular subject matter and hope I can provide lots of tips and goodies to the readers out there!

I'm currently working on a post that will shed some light (just enough to give me peace of mind) on what I've been up to lately. Then, it's onward and upward!

I look forward to your feedback, suggestions, and encouragement!

Wazzzzzuuuuuuupppppp????

Well, it's been a while, to say the least, but here I be! Just wanted to let all you peeps know that I'm alive and well! I also have a more recent picture of my renovated self. Thanks to all of you who have egged me on to post! I'll try to do more on here soon!

Meanwhile, here is the much-requested pic! Me, after at least 100 pounds weight loss. I'm almost my former self! yay! (I still don't take good pictures and here I was dressed for work, name tag and all! lol! Oh, well!)

I'll be back soon! Maybe...