Lots of little things, all rolled up in one

I have a few things I want to share, but don't feel like making them all up into various blog posts, so here we go. 

1.  There's one of those search your name on google with a word things going around.  You put "unfortunately (your name)" in the search.  I usually don't get interesting hits, but this one cracks me up.
"Unfortunately, mamalangs diabolical plan isn’t enough to save her ass from getting killed." (of course, this has my real name, but you get the idea.  Cracks me up.  I wish I could come up with a diabolical plan. (GiST 1...finding funny things out that I didn't know about myself.)

2. Yesterday, when we were leaving the youth center, one of my sons classmates was having a complete meltdown in front of the building.  It involved much yelling, screaming, and eventually her mother throwing her her shoulder and carrying her to car.  I looked over at PB and said "Oh look, she's having one of your meltdowns!"  She chuckled, and then said, "hey, I haven't had one of those in a while.  I'm getting better!"  I should hope so.  You're 10.  I remember those days.  Sometimes I wish I could still just pick her up and carry her off.  (GiST 2...PB finally maturing enough to know when to admit her faults and chuckle over them.)

3. Tonight we went out to eat.  After I put the kids to bed, I wanted to pay a couple of bills (well, I didn't want to, but you know...) and realized I couldn't find my debit card.  A quick call to the restaurant confirmed I left it there.  Thank Goodness. Every Wed I seem to forget something somewhere.  Perhaps I should just stop leaving the house on Wed. (GiST 3...I can get it back tomorrow, and could still pay the bill)

4. This website...Portraits of an Economy, started by Rebecca of Girls Gone Child, will make you cry, chuckle and say uh huh.  (GiST 4... I still have a job, and my husbands job is one of the most secure in the country right now.  We are still okay.  We bought a house with a normal 30 year mortgage, and the houses in our subidivision my take a long time to sell, but they are holding their value...and we don't plan on selling for at least 10-15 years anyway, so we'll be fine by then.)

5. Today my inner biotch came out.  I wasn't mad or cranky or sad, just bitchy.  I could not make my inner monologue come back on.  I know you really wanted to go to the conference in San Diego.  But you have a job, so stop your complaining.  You really want to go?  Pay your own way. (GiST 5...the people that work for me laughed at me a bunch today, making me laugh at myself.  It kept the actually out loud bitchiness to a minimum.)

I'm sure there's more, but this is it for now.  Peace out.
3.

Giveaway alert!

Kerri over at lovely little handmades is hosting her first giveaway.  She's giving away a japanese charm pack...they are SOOOOO cute.  I can just imagine the projects I could  create...it could be hard to choose!  I've enjoyed stalking her work on Flickr through the Sew, Mama, Sew group, and her blog is just as tasty.  You should go visit.

Manic much?

I know, it's been a little light on the posting around here lately.  I'm sorry.  I'm too manic.

I can't seem to find the balance.  I'm either sound asleep constantly, or moving, moving, moving.  There just doesn't seem to be too much time left to just sit, let alone post.  And the bad part is, there's still a long list of things I need to do.  Very long.  Some of them kind of important.

But when I think about those things, I get tired again.  And I pass out.  Then I wake up and go 100 miles and hour, until I can't.  Then I pass out again. 

I know, this too will pass.  It's not just my hubby being gone, but the stress of the economy.  Talk revolves around our budget deficit every day.  We are half expecting the Governor to drop by one day.  Actually, he did drop by one of the State Police Troops recently.  They made an announcement...."The Governor is coming to use the facilities.  Please prepare."  Seriously, you had to be that in depth?  Poor guy, no privacy left.

Okay. that sleep thing again.  Tomorrow is another day.

1. Teaching First Aid/CPR.  I love teaching/training.  And people want to be in this class.
2. Cold medicines
3. A cleaning lady.  I love coming home to a house that is clean.  It makes my soul sing.  And without her?  That manic state would be upped several notches.  I never worry that my toilets aren't clean enough anymore.
4. French Fries with Old Bay Seasoning.
5. My hubby, who doesn't let a day go by without telling me he loves me, even when he's half a world away.

GiST 17/365

1. Bunco
2. Allergy meds
3. My inhaler
4. My son not puking anymore
5. My green machine carpet spot cleaner.

GiST 16/365

1. Stamp Club. Adult conversation, creativity, no children. Ahh
2. Homemade chicken nuggets and french fries
3. my new phone. I still love it
4. My mom. I left my purse at stamp club, and she went and got it and brought it to me.
5. My kids. I just love them so much.

A bit about me...an interview

A while ago, The Immoral Matriarch started an interview meme. Somewhere along the way, Margalit volunteered to be interviewed, then offered to interview anyone that as interested. One of my favorite bloggers, Bethany Acutally (I've always loved that name. so pretty and feminine) signed up, then offered it up to her readers. And now, I'm participating.

So here goes...
I'm going to steal my first question from margalit because it's a good one! Then I'll make up the rest.

1. You are a military wife, just like me! What do you think the hardest part of being a military family is? This is a tough question. I think it's trying to explain the military life to non-military families. A lot of people don't understand some of the things we have to accept as part of the job. Like night meetings that don't involve extra time off at another point. Or working when it snows, or holidays. It's just part of it, but most civilian jobs don't require the same type of give, without a take to go along with it. The separations suck, too.

2. Your husband is currently deployed. What are some things you're doing to help stay sane till he gets home? Luckily, I have a great support system in place. My mother, mother-in-law and sister-in-law all live nearby, and I have good friends and a very understanding boss. These help, because I can ask for help when I need it. I talk to my husband in some way (IM, Email, Phone) almost every day...we are so lucky to live in the age of the internet. I can't imagine how the women at home during earlier conflicts managed to stay sane with just written letters. I work hard to include my husband, keeping him connected to the kids and I. At Christmas, he watch them open gifts via the webcam. I inadvertently put the computer in a chair, so it was like he was sitting there.

3. How long have you been blogging, and why do you blog? What's your blog raison d'être, if you will? I've been blogging for 2 1/2 years, but I'm just starting to find my voice. I started because I had to register to comment on a blog I liked, so I figured why not. Now I want to change my tagline/name, but haven't gotten there yet. I've always loved to write, and I kept it up because it's a good way for my hubby to check in when he has a few minutes, and find out things he may not have gotten from me during a conversation. I've also enjoyed the community of blogging.

4. Tell me one of your favorite childhood memories. You know, if I told you about my childhood, many people would wonder how I could come up with good memories. But I have a lot of them...simple pleasures like wading in the creek (pronounced crick where I was at) and catching little crawdads, or going out on the boat and feeling the wind. Almost all of my good memories involve my grandparents. But my favorite would have to be the year Santa came to visit me. I wasn't very old (5 maybe?) and he came and woke me up late at night, bearing a present. I later found out it was my uncle, dressed up in the suit just to surprise me. Knowing how much work my mom, my uncle and my cousins put into surprising me makes it even sweeter.

5. Other than being a mom (obviously) what's the best job you ever had, and why? I really enjoy what I'm doing now, for the most part. I work for the State, and serving the public that way can be difficult. When I first started, I didn't get that we were in "Service." I knew about customer service, but public service is different than that even. And I enjoy it. I enjoy knowing that what I do contributes to helping every person in this state get places safely. I'm able to learn new things regularly, and I've been given a lot of opportunities I may not have been given in other jobs. The pay isn't so great, but the benefits and pension keep you there. Luckily, I enjoy where I work, and the people I work with. It feels like a family.


So there you go. A little more about me. Anyone else want to participate? Leave me a comment!

A few of my favorite things....GiST day 15

I took a little break this weekend. I had to. I was so tired, and burn out, I just couldn't face anything that felt remotely like a chore. So I didn't. And I managed to get some stuff done anyway. And I'm feeling better.

Monster's new Scooby Doo Bedding came today. He's so excited. Now I want a week off of work to paint. I wish we could have 12 more hours in every day.

Grace today...not so hard to find.
1. My new phone. I just love playing with it. I especially love the color. No wait, the fact that I can im my hubby with it. Or maybe the feel of it. I don't know, I just know I love it.
2. Friends that make you smile, even when you don't feel like it.
3. I've been frustrated by a relatives unbloggable problem. It's not completely solved, but it's moving in that direction. Lack of drama in the immediate future? priceless.
4. A long weekend, and the ability to sleep in during some of it.
5. My new Ipod that's coming later this week. YAY!


I actually could go on...but I'll save some of the other items for days when I really need them :) I'm back, and I shall begin some serious blogging soon.

Tired (GiST 14/365)

I'm tired. I'm so tired, we had pizza for dinner. So tired, that the remnants of dinner are still sitting there, waiting to be cleaned up. And tonight, the dishes aren't getting done. The trash will be thrown away, and leftovers have been put away, but my bed is calling, and I'm about to succumb to it's siren call.

I'm tired, and PB is tired, and that isn't a good combo. She didn't have a good night last night. She worked herself into a stomach/head ache again last night, and was up until 11 pm. I was trying to get to bed early, but obviously, that didn't happen. I admit, these spells try my patience. I know she misses her father, and I get it, I really do. But it frustrates me that she isn't using any of the techniques we've given her (and we've give her a ton of them.) I finally managed to get her calmed down enough to fall asleep, and then a bit later I finally got to go to bed. But then woke up an hour early to hear the wind threatening to take us away.

The office was hot as a jungle today, and I've been in a fog all day. By the time we were home tonight, all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and go to sleep. I managed to order dinner, make the cookies for Monster's school party tomorrow, and bathe the kids and put them to bed. In there, PB and I had a little tiff. I reminded her that just because she was tired, I wasn't going to tolerate her arguing, backtalking or yelling a me. I suggested she might just want to go to bed. After her shower, she came down and apologized to me for pitching a fit. That was a sign that she's starting to get it, and starting to really mature.

I've fought the tireds all day, and I worked hard to set aside the tireds during bed time. I hugged, kissed, tickled and wrestled them into bed, laughing all the way. That's a good way to end this Love Thursday...remembering the joy in that love.

1. Talking to my hubby on the phone, even if shortly, today.
2. Tickles and giggles with my kidlins.
3. A yummy breakfast potluck at work today.
4. Tomorrow is Friday.
5. Getting a great deal on webkinz for my kids, so they are getting two each for Valentine's Day.

GiST 13/365

1. My Hot tub
2. weather warm enough to enjoy the hot tub
3. my mom helping the kids with their valentines
4. SUNSHINE...did I mention the sun? It shone today.
5. Chick-Fil-A with a lot of coupons, so dinner for 3 was $3.24

GiST 12/365

1. trashy tv so I can feel so much better about myself
2. warm weather
3. a good picture of me (I'm getting better honey)
4. WaiKiKi Meatballs (made by my MIL...yummmy)
5. Monster earning student of the day in Martial Arts class.

GiST 11/365

1. Yummy grilled chicken wings. I'm so glad I actually cooked a good meal again.
2. Giggling with my children during dinner
3. Good music
4. Good books
5. The internet.

GiST 10/365

1. That I love my husband, and am still IN LOVE with my husband, even after over 12 years together and several military TDYs and deployments.
2. That my husband loves me and is still IN LOVE with me, still.
3. That my husband thinks I'm gorgeous and sexy.
4. That I'm learning to accept his compliments.
5. It was a beautiful day, and my car is clean.

GiST 9/365

1. People who do nice things for the family of our service men and women. We had dinner at the Delaware Military Academy tonight. The PTA parents brought covered dishes to serve, and then they actually served us. They had a movie and crafts for the children. The students helped serve, and just struck me as good kids. It was a very nice time (even though I got us lost and we went way out of our way and so were late :))

2. Enjoying the time with my MIL and SIL and Monster.

3. Monster being so stinking cute.

4. Mystery Case Files game for the DS.

5. Laptops

This one's for my husband

GiST 8/365

1. Buying ice cream for dinner with my little man (what a cheap date...$3.00 for two big dishes. Yummy)
2. Looking through the pictures of the last year that I finally had printed, and finding out that I'm actually an okay photographer.
3. Warm weather for the next week.
4. Laughing with my children over silly stuff in the car.
5. Rediscovering songs I've forgotten about, and finding out I still love them.

GiST 7/365

1. Making one whole week of this exercise!
2. My son calling me out when I wasn't really listening to him.
3. The cleaning lady comes tomorrow...yay, clean bathrooms!
4. My Monster finally trying to learn his letters.
5. Bollywood dancing at our FRG meeting tonight. It was different and fun!

As easy as ABC? Not so much.

Monster is about half way through kindergarten, and he's in danger of failing.  Why, you ask?  Because he hasn't learned his letters by site, and isn't doing well with sounds.  The boy can tell you that 50-39 is 11 without blinking, can tell elaborate stories, and do a 100 piece puzzle in no time.  But he doesn't want to learn to read.  Learning to read means that he isn't a baby anymore.  And he loves being the baby.

I've tried everything over the last 3 years to get him to learn his letters.  No go.  It took me 3 months to get him to learn how to write his name, and finally, after many days of refusing to try, he wrote it.  Perfectly.  (Now he writes it wrong, because he likes it better that way.  ARGH)  When it was time to potty train him, he sat on the toilet for 15-20minutes, stood up and peed on my floor.  All the time, every time.  For almost a year.  Then one morning he comes in, says he has to go, goes in the toilet, and that's it.  He's trained.  So I get it, it has to be his idea.

Last week I sat him down and explained to him that if he didn't start trying, he was going to have to stay in Kindergarten next year, without all of his friends.  He's learned at least 5 new lower case letters in as many days.  He's spelling out words in the books we're reading.  He's searching out the letter of the day with enthusiasm.  He's excited.

He has a dictionary.  It's one of those kids first picture book kind of things.  He loves it now.  His teacher would prefer him to read along with us in regular books, so that he can learn his site words.  So we're compromising.  One regular short book during neb treatments, and then the two of us read some words in the dictionary.

Last night, I made a big production out of the letters he wasn't getting, but in a good way.  He was struggling with r, so I kept telling him "ARRRGH, why can't you get the hooked letter right?  It's hooked like my pirate hook.  Arrrrrrgh."  Today, he remembers R.  Today, for the first time, he remembered i and j.  Three letters last night.  When we are spelling out words, I see him thinking about the letters he doesn't know, saying the alphabet in his head, trying to jog the letter out.

I'm still hopeful that we'll progress quickly and he'll catch up, sort of like potty training and writing his name.  Because the boy is smart, and if he gets held back, that poor teacher next year will need some medication, and an early retirement.  A bored Monster is not a good thing.

GiST 7/365

1. A good friend and employee, all rolled up in one
2. An oil change done by friendly, competent people
3. Finally ordering prints of the family portrait
4. Yummy Chicken Salad for lunch
5. Monster laughing almost uncontrollably while we were working on his letters.

I almost always feel like I should end these posts with "priceless."...lol

GiST 6/365

1. My MIL cooking dinner for us on Tuesday nights.
2.Monster's awesome Martial Arts teacher - we were there early, so he let him take class with the bigger kids, and then just continued the class into oe big, long class. Monster thought he was hot stuff.
3. Having my lunch already made for tomorrow.
4. No activities tomorrow night.
5. The beauty of snow (even if I hate having to leave my house in it.)

Did you watch for the football, or the ads?

Did you watch the Superbowl? If so, did you watch for the football, or the ads? I watched. In previous years, I used my hubby as an "excuse, except for the year the Colts won. I'm actually more of the come and go than sit down and watch type, but I love to catch the commercials.

A few of my favorites this year...the Nextel Commercials. I liked the one with the truant school child, but I love the one with the Roadies running the airport. I also liked commercial with the Tin Man about green energy. Those are the only two I remember seeing, as I was apparently too involved in the internet to really pay attention.

Since the game didn't have my team, my hubbies team, or even a sort of local team playing, I really didn't care too much about the outcome. I think that made a not too exciting game even less exciting for me. But the ending, it was amazing. I usually end up rooting for the underdogs, so I was a little disappointed that the Cardinals lost. Then I watched the Office and laughed my butt off at the CPR skit.

What was your favorite advertisement?

a mini-vacation

Today was my day off.  I slept in a little and took PB straight to school instead of to the youth center first, and then took Monster to Target to get new shoes.  Took him to the youth center, and then I had the day free.  I scheduled a massage for today, and it was heaven.  She hit the right spots, and at the end told me I had a lot of large knots that needed to be worked out.  I could tell.

Tomorrow it's bag to the grind of work again.  It's a busy week, and PB is going camping with girl scouts this weekend, so that makes it even busier.  But she loves camping with her group, and I enjoy my time with Monster alone.  I just have to make it to Friday now...lol.

GiST 5/365

1. Ibuprofen
2. Massages
3. Tae Kwon Do
4. My kids cooperating and doing what I asked of them
5. My bed - soft and warm

My 400th post, our 3 year house-iversary, and other misc stuff.

So this is my 400th post.  Woo hoo!  The scary part of that is that I participated in blog 365, and managed to blog almost the whole time.  That means the time before was scarce.  Yuck.

Today was our 3 year house-iversary.  When we moved into this house three years ago, we agreed that we celebrate our house every year.  We chose our first home-cooked meal to be one that we could enjoy every year.  Steak, some shrimp, mushrooms, mashed potatoes and corn.  We thank God for our house, for the blessings we've been given.  It was a little bittersweet with Bug and Daddy not here, but we enjoyed our good food, and talked about the great house we live in. 

I received my swaparooni box yesterday, and I love the items in it.  I'm killing the bottle of dishwashin soap, and we used the sparkler candles on the little cake we had tonight.

I usually don't watch much TV, and I don't think I've ever seen an episode of the office before.  But the part where they were in CPR Class had me rolling.  I teach First Aid/CPR at work, and we use the Staying Alive and Another One Bites The Dust songs to help people find the rythm. 

I'm getting a massage tomorrow.  I can't wait...my shoulders and neck have been so stiff, and I'm in need of a little TLC.

That's all folks.  Those are also my 5 grace items :)