John, The Volunteer

John was awarded the Honorary Service Award from Hickory Elementary School PTA last night. He was recognized for all the volunteer work he does for the school and for the kids sports. I am including his "Bio" that will be included in a program at the District-wide award dinner.

"John Gottschalk is a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, but his heart is here in Torrance where his wife teaches and his children attend school. He has helped out with many Hickory Hoedowns and school beautifications. He spent one weekend repainting the teacher parking lot when the lines and numbers were no longer visible as well as other areas that needed painting. He has been 3rd VP in charge of Health, Safety and Welfare and this will be his second year in charge of the Bike Rodeo.

John has been highly involved in AYSO coaching for 6 years and serving as a referee for 2 years. He is always the dad out there striping the field for his daughter’s team when they have the first game over at Hull, even when he is striping more puddles than grass. He also volunteers his time in the Torrance Little League. He has helped set up and tear down many fields, and is currently on the Board of Directors there."

I am very grateful that we have parents like John around our children, and the fact that I am married to him and get to see him in action all the time, makes me so proud of him.

The Academy Awards

Some people live for the Superbowl, some for March Madness, some the Kentucky Derby - I live for the Academy Awards. Tonight was my night. I thought the awards this year were very well done. I really enjoyed the way they brought out past winners to award the actor and actress awards. I was very touched by many words spoken. I LOVED Sean Penn's words. I thought he was very wise when said "For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone." A.R. Rahman, the composer of the Slumdog Millionaire score, said that he is where he is now because in his life he has had many opportunities to chose between love and hate, and he chose love. I am so happy that Kate Winslet won for a role that came from one of my favorite books ever. I teared up when Heath Ledger won his category, and I cheered for every award Slumdog Millionaire took. If you see only one movie this year, it should be Slumdog Millionaire. If you see one more movie though, go see either The Reader or Revolutionary Road. I loved them both.

As far as the dresses go, loved Natalie Portman's dress as well as Anne Hathaway's. I thought Angelina Jolie looked lovely, as usual.

Another B-day Dinner for Jason

Friday night Grandma and Grandpa Gottschalk were in town and they wanted to celebrate Jason's birthday with him. They picked Jason and Lauren up for a game of mini golf over at Mulligans and then let John and I join them for dinner at Macaroni Grill. That restaurant was Jason's pick because they have his favorite shells and cheese and because you can draw on the tables. (see Lauren's artwork) After a nice dinner, we returned to our house so that the kids could show G-ma and G-pa how their Guitar Hero for Wii works. After a couple songs, we decided G-ma and G-pa would prefer Wii tennis. They are both excellent tennis players so I thought they would enjoy it. Grandma's team won both rounds. Once she played with Jason, and once with Lauren. The evening was a nice one. Thank you Eldon and Diana for a great time.

Using My Christmas Present

(Pictures above - on the subway and at Union Station. Left at Pantages)

Last night we got to use my Christmas present, 4 tickets to Phantom of the Opera at my very favorite theatre - Pantages. This was the first time that the kids got to go to the "real theatre" (meaning anything aside from the local theater). We decided to go all out and make an adventure of it. We started out with a local dinner at Lazy Dog Cafe. Lauren was mortified because we insisted on dressing up for the night, and then went to the restaurant at the mall where she could be seen by real people. I am not sure what her fear is - people will find out she has parents? that she eats? that she owns a skirt? Oh well. Then we drove downtown to Union Station and took the Redline subway to the theatre. We just did not want to deal with any parking issues in Hollywood. The subway lets you out directly across the street from the Pantages so it worked out perfectly. We got there just in time to find our seats, get settled and then the musical started. John and I saw Phantom several pre-children years ago. We were very anxious to see it again and were not disappointed. The kids enjoyed it as well. Jason and I left humming away. The subway was a little more stressful on the return trip. I will just say that not everyone on the subway was a suburbanite out with the family for an adventure. But we made it home. Now we are suffering from post-much-anticipated-event-stress-syndrome. We feel let down and have nothing to look forward to. Well, there is that ski trip in March.

If You Can't Reach Me. . .I'll Be Out Exercising

Mark and Barb dancing to their song.

Valentine's Day is very cruel to the teacher trying to lose a few pounds. The day starts out with all those fabulous chocolate candies that are impossible to pass on. My gift to John also happened to come from Hershey.com, and John made me homemade chocolate raspberry truffles, and that just describes the day before Valentine's Day. For Valentine's Day we went to Mark and Barb's house and were treated to a culinary wonderland. James brought a double cream Bree topped with caramel and candied almonds served with apple slices AND bacon wrapped pan fried scallops to go with the veggie trays for appetizers. Then we had shrimp in mop sauce served with sour dough and/or french bread. The salad was also passed around at this time. Then Mark brought in his Fillet Mignon and Barb brought in her pan baked baby potatoes. Kirsten also made her famous chocolate dessert, I can't remember what it is called but I think it has the word gnosh in it. We had song dedications to our loved ones and played the Newlywed Game. James' parents are in town and their 47 years of marriage proved to be too much for the rest of us. They won, hands down. I did not add up all our minus points, but I am pretty sure that we lost. Now I am suffering from another food hang-over. If you can't reach my, I will be out exercising. Check the gym. We hope that you all had a wonderful day, full of loved ones.

This is What a Decade Looks Like

Yesterday was Jason's birthday. Yes, my baby is 10 years old. Mr. Decisive had a really difficult time deciding what he wanted to do for his birthday, but finally settled on taking his friend, Brian, to see Pink Panther 2 (If you are thinking about seeing this movie DON'T DO IT!). Then we went to a late lunch at Sammy's so that we could get a Messy Sundae. Jason got a new marble track with suspension bridges, a Wii zapper, and money to spend on more video games. All in all, it was a nice day, made even better by the "no school" (thank you Torrance School District).