Merry Christmas to all...

and to all a good night! :)

Bring Him Home, Santa (tear jearker)

Gas cheese!

I actually had my camera with me this time!! Too good to be true.:) This was taken last Saturday. It's a gas station a few exits south of us. Our gas prices have caught up with this one, so I am sure it's even a penny or so less. This is California, right? I didn't miss something & we moved to another state. We are still in the state that adds on an additional tax to gas, right?!! In no way am I complaining. It's just hard to believe it's less than what it was 4 years years & over $2 (nearing $3) less than what it was almost 6 months ago!

I WANT S-N-O-W!!!!!!!!!!!

Obviously that & rain are waaaay too much to ask for around this place. :( Mornings & evenings/nights have gotten chilly but the day time temps are still in the 70's-90's. Seems the start of the week is in the 90's & by the end we drop to the 70's. The 10 forecast on weather.com predicts showers on a few random days, but I wouldn't place money on it. I'll believe it when I actually see it. The chance of rain is something like 30%. I'm sure the mountains will see some snow. The closest mountains are about 3 hours away. We could possibly see their snow & pretend it was here. What a tease!!

Gas has been at $2.18/$2.12 (credit/cash for regular).

I'm getting excited to start to decorate for the holidays & to bake some goodies. I picked up a few magazines this weekend for inspiration. I'm not feeling so inspired in the card making department this year. I have gotten into making my own cards for events. The bug hasn't bitten me yet so I bought pre-made cards the other day as back-up. I'm hoping to be able to return them.

Long over due...

I'm so excited!! The kids & I were on base this morning for one a doctors appointment. I paid $1.95 for gas!!!!!!!!! I had to do a double take when I saw the price. I think in town here it is about $2.25. At least that is what it was yesterday. Everyday it seems to go down some. I don't think I have ever paid under $2 since moving here 4 years ago. It's amazing that only a few months ago (June/July), ok almost 6 months ago, it was about $4.50/gallon for regular gas & there were predictions that it would be $6 by labor day. I really wish I had my camera with me today. I would so have taken a picture of the price sign.

So what have we been up to? Lots, I guess. I have also been super tired lately, but I will get to that reasoning later. I promise you will find it humorous. If you don't get at least 1 chuckle out of it then you need to go see a Proctologist to have the stick removed. The Pilot has been home close to 2.5 months now. We've been busy with house projects. I have to catch up on the house blog. We took a car trip to Texas for my brother's wedding. Both kiddies were in it. Mr Independent was the ring bearer & Princess was the flower girl. She slacked a little on her duties & Mr Independent, of course, hammed it up at the last second... followed by a severe meltdown & face plant mid-ceremony. I think I was the only one who laughed while everyone else gasped. Hey - he's my child & I know how he works. I can laugh. ;) We had a semi-eventful ride to & from. It was 20 hours each way. We did it in 2 days there & 2 days back. Not highly recommended. Driving isn't recomended either, but for the cost of 7 nights in 4 different hotels, food & gas it was cheaper than 3 plane tickets. Since we drove very close to the border of Mexico we passed through many border patrol stops. We have them here in California. In fact we have one not too far from our house. Never once been stopped. What happens in Arizona?? We get stopped. Stopped for what you ask? Smuggling humans. I about laughed when I heard that. I wanted to ask them where the heck we were hiding extra bodies in a very packed down 2 door vehicle with 2 adults & 2 kids with all their toys & snacks strewn across the back floor/seats. So we had to get them & us out of the car so the dog could sniff. It took longer to get them out of the car than for the dog to inspect. I think he had an alterior motive. When he got to my side he tried to hop in & eat something I had been snacking on. Mr Independent counted something like 18 trains on our trip to Texas. I think we stopped counting on the way back. We alsocounted towers. Yes the ride to Texas is boring. Oh, & those with potty-trained toddlers (or children with small bladders. Texas isn't very friendly towards them. There are hardly any rest stops & when there is one there is like 100 miles to the next one. Of course Mr Independent would have to go when there wasn't one around. We had to pull over & moon the lovely state several times. On the way back we did not get stopped by border patrol but we did have to hold our breath while going through one. Mr Independent is very much into police men & knows that they help people. Well he sees the border patrol & calls them policemen & goes on to say how they help people. He didn't stop there. He continued onto say how he needed help. I had to quickly tell him that he was fine & did not need to tell them. All we needed at that point was to get pulled again because they thought we were kidnapping some chilld.

Ok, so here is why I am super tired. I have tape worm growing in me (insert sarcasm). Refer to the post below this one (Riddle). I had my first doctors appointment today. She did an ultrasound. This one is very different from Mr Independent & Princess. This one has decided that my insides are it's own personal moon bounce & he/she really enjoys doing the macarena. I hope in the end (s)he doesn't get too comfy & decide to over sleep.

Um, heck, why not... since this post is getting semi-long & if you have made it this far I might as well through in a couple silly kid stories. Mr Independent is getting to the stage of life where he's such a hoot. The other day he started saying that he loved me. He was going on & on & I asked him if he loved daddy. He said he did. So I suggested he go tell daddy. Well he goes up to daddy & the Pilot asks him if he had something to tell him. Mr Independent shakes his head 'yes' & then says "I love mommy." One other for the road... Princess has discovered my bath stuff box. She enjoys taking the things out & lining them up. I asked her if she was opening a beauty shop. Well I guess Mr Independent can't say 'beauty' too well because he started running around yelling "Boobie shop".

Ok kids, that's all for now. I have a few pictures to post & will do so later.

Picture Riddle

Some of you all may have received this by e-mail.

We're still here

This past month has gone by fast! We've been working a lot on the house. We all spent about a week sick. All four of us. Fun stuff I tell you. I should have some good stuff to post in the house blog soon. I would post what I have now, but I'd rather just do one post for each project. Gas has been dropping like crazy. Down to $3.31/$3.25 for regular. I can't even tell you the last time gas was that price in the past 4 years.

The kids had their Halloween party for the MOMS group yesterday. Mr Independent was a pilot - again. I think this is the last year he will be able to wear that costume. Princess (or Ms Personality) was a cupcake fairy. I just re-used her birthday outfit & added wings.Otherwise it's been pretty quiet around here.

Mr Independent & cold turkey

Mr Independent has gone cold turkey with the potty training thing. No more pull-ups in this house. At least not for a bit longer when it's Princess' turn. Mr I has been wearing big boy undies during the day for about a week now. We've even ventured out on errands that were not so quick (who knew looking at flooring could take hours upon hours) & he's not had an accident. The past few nights I have been sending him to bed in his big boy plastic underwear. He's done pretty good with those, too. He had an accident the other night but he got up & changed himself. So now he's talking non-stop about going to school. I told him that if he wanted to go to school (a topic this summer) he had to be able to wear big boy undies all the time. YAY!!

Put on a pair of Depends...

Hilarious video... Had to share!


The Pilot is back. We're catching up on family time. :)

Maine

Mmmm, lobster. :) I wonder how long of a plane ride it is.

3am...

Is way too early to be up - WIDE awake with no hope of falling back to sleep. I tried for an hour, got up & since then I have had breakfast (1 cup of tea & now I feel like I have had 10), done 2 loads of laundry, put away some other laundry, took a long shower & now I am going to finish some chair cushions I started for out back. Yeh, it's going to be a long day with no hope of a nap in my future. No, I normally do not have issues sleeping. I'm just too excited for the days events. Will blog about them later. Knock on wood that things continue as planned (well being wide awake at 3am was not planned). I wonder if I have anything DVR'd to catch up on. Now would be the time to do so since the kids are still sleeping (thank goodness!).

It's been a week!

What a week! Gas is down to $3.76/$3.79. I did get gas on base Sunday morning. I *THINK* it was $3.75. I say "*THINK*" because it was 4:30am. I wasn't planning on sharing the story tonight because I am feeling a little under the weather & just want to go to bed, but while I am here I can do a quick fill-in & add details later on. Oh, before I forget, the Pilot finally mailed me back my thumb drive. So one day, hopefully soon, pictures from our trip & Princess' birthday will be blogged about.

Back to why I was getting gas at 4:30am on base Sunday. Saturday night was going as normal. Mr Independent & I were excited to watch Cops after Princess went to bed. Hey, he's into it & I turn it into an educational mother-son moment. The 3 of us were finishing up dinner & it was about 6:30pm. Mr Independent was sitting in his seat behaving & suddenly fell out. Blood everywhere! So I get him dressed, take Princess to the neighbors house & head to the local civilian ER. We get there at about 7pm (take note of times). 8pm & the Triage nurse finally calls us back. She asks questions, takes his temp, & takes his weight. We go back to the waiting room. Then the desk checks us in. Isn't that a little out of order? It wasn't too crowded when we got there. 9pm rolls around & I am getting a little antsy & Mr Independent is sleeping & bleeding on me. 9:30 I ask the lady at the desk when we would be seen. See tells me to ask the Triage nurse. Mr Independent is sleeping & I am not going to risk losing my seat & having to hold him to go ask. I figured that by 10 we'd be seen. 10pm comes & the lady next to me (totally normal person) said she would save my seat for me. So I go ask the nurse & she tells me that she has no clue. So basically the only way to get seen at the ER is if you arrive in an ambulance. I figure I waited this long I might as well stay because my luck we'd be the next back. 10:30pm & the loonies start trickling in. Sorry, not my thing. I'm peeved by now & covered in blood spots. I also didn't want to keep my neighbors up any longer having to watch Lily. So I pick Robbie up & told them that we were leaving. I get home, get Lily & head to the base ER - where I should have just went in the first place! What an amazing experience (not the right word for the circumstances) compared to the 1st ER. It was still a long night. Oh! Didn't mention why Mr Independent was bleeding. His lip went into his mouth as he fell. His bottom teeth went into the inner bottom lip & the top tooth went through the outer part. He ended up needing 3 stitches. Mainly cosmetic so the lip would heal to the lip & the skin to the skin instead of lip to skin. We didn't get home until 5:30am! Ate a little breakfast & then went to bed. I was worried Princess wouldn't let me sleep but she was out until 2pm. I guess waddling around the ER at 2am wore her out.

Fast forward to today...

Mr Independent got his stitches taken out. He did amazingly well for someone his age having scissors come towards his mouth after being sewn back together by a big scary needle. It healed very nicely. I'm sure as he grows it will become less noticeable. His appointment was during walk in hours & something was telling me to get Princess looked at while we were there. I didn't because I figured she was just teething. She woke up yesterday congested & snotty - her usual signs of teething. She wouldn't take a nap this afternoon & was totally crabby. Worse than her all time worse teething crabbiness. She wouldn't sleep, she didn't want to be rocked, & would you put her on the floor she'd flop around like a fish throwing her pacifier. So I called the pediatrician & got her a rather (lucky) quick appointment. Turns out the poor baby has an ear infection. We've made it over 220 days with out the Pilot & have only a handful left... the kids just couldn't wait & have given me a run for my money this week, lol.

Ok, well I need to pry the rice crispy haunted house that Mr Independent & I made tonight out of his hands. This momma needs to get to bed & not have to chase a sugar high toddler around.

Gas: Friday, 9/5/08

AM: $3.74/$3.79
PM: $3.73/$3.79... Why they couldn't lower the credit card price by 1 cent, I don't know... Tomorrow (Sunday) I will be filling up on base. Should be a tad cheaper there.

Waiting game

Just sitting here trying to kill some time before I have to load the kids into the car. There is a meeting to go to tonight... hopefully one with some answers to some questions that a few of us have. Oh, yeh, just reminded. Still have to get Mr Independent dressed. It's a little too hot here for the outfit he put on... a fleece pull-over jacket. It's just about evening time here & still in the 90's. Anyways, totally pointless entry. I just wanted to say that I really like that Yankee Candle has made scratch & sniff for some of their scents in the catalog. I <3 the fall scents! Can't get passed page 2 - Autumn Gold. Not big on the food scents, unless it involves apples. They are having a buy 2 large jars, get 1 large jar free sale. This could be dangerous...

Ready for daddy to be home!

Flight suit... check
Va Tech beenie... check
superman belt... check

Re: E-mail to the Pilot (disclaimer)

I've caught wind that some might have thought that the child duct taped to the wall in the picture was one of mine. I wrote about it in "this" entry. The child in that picture is NOT any of mine.

One more tonight...

Another song that gets me choked up...

Nothing much

Gas is still the same price today. The kids & I are having brunch tomorrow with some of the other wives. Mmmm, I <3 brunch. Not much to write about tonight, but I just wanted to share the above song/video (SheDaisy - Come Home Soon). I haven't heard it in a while. The Pilot reminded me of it tonight in an email. I've listened to it several times since then.

August 28th Gas update

Down 2 cents yesterday - $3.82/$3.76.

Gas prices

I really wish I had thought of this sooner. It would have been interesting to report on the gas prices as they change here. Gas prices are constantly changing here. They never seem to stay still for very long. They went up fast & just as fast are dropping. Between June & July they were around $4.50-something a gallon for regular. When the kids & I got back from our trip they had dropped about 25 cents. Last week I did a happy dance because I paid $3.99/$3.93 (credit card/cash prices) a gallon. It was finally under $4/gallon!!! YIPPIE! Last night they are down another 15 cents - $3.84/$3.78/gallon for regular. Wonderful news because it was being predicted that gas (if it kept rising) would have reached $6/gallon by Labor day weekend (this weekend). Should be interesting to see how much prices will go up for the weekend. Even going down the street to the grocery store yesterday I saw another gas station with regular gas at $3.76 (same price there for cash or credit). I think I will start documenting this roller coaster.

To-do lists

We're down to only a small handful of weeks left until the Pilot comes home. I made myself a to-do list. I was actually ahead of my time line that I allowed myself to have "off" last week to focus on school work. Well during that week I added to my list thanks to a decorating show mom told me about. Now I am on a mission to recreate the "budget" make over on an even smaller budget. I will have to blog about it when it's complete. I've decided that everything does not have to be perfect for when he comes home. I've already done a lot. It's near impossible to have things perfect with 2 little ones and dogs living here. I'm only driving myself batty. I'm going to concentrate on the major items and continue to work on the smaller things while he's back to work. I don't want to be working up the minute we leave to get him. I want to take that week before to relax. I took out the banner that I made for last time. I need to add to it to include the dates of this deployment. It's things like that, light cleaning & food shopping that I want to spend that last week doing. I do need to prepare my donation bag. The Vets are coming September 2nd. As I come across an item I have just been tossing it into the loft area.

The kids are getting excited for daddy to come home. Mr Independent takes a paper ring of the chain every night... "one night closer to daddy is home". Princess found a picture of the Pilot, pointed to it & said "daddy". That really surprised me. I think the dogs sense something is going on because they are under my feet all the time.

Well, back to my list...

I know, I know...

I've been bad at writing the past few months. Our trip just threw it all off.
I guess I can start from there & just give a shorten version of everything. Oh, and I am changing Tootie's name to Mr. Independent.

The trip...
The kids & I had a pretty good flight back to Virginia. We were there for about 2 days before the kids & I and Auntie H (aunt to the kids by (soon to be) marriage). drove up to New Jersey. Hehehe... boy was I sneaky on this one! Auntie H thought we were just going on a weekend trip for her to meet some of the family she hadn't met yet. Oh, I'm good! So our first day up there we trot off to a shoe store so I could find some shoes for a new sun dress I got. Well stupid GPS drops us off in the ghetto on part of a bridge where there is no exit. Apparently back in the day the factory that was there was also named DSW. Not only did Auntie H have her 1st true experience of *THE* ghetto, but also a brief tour of PA. Don't worry, I got her out in 1 piece. :) She knows that was one of the best car rides of her life,lol. ;) The next day we spend the morning to meet up with Aunt C (my aunt) and cousin J (cousin to Aunt C & my mom) for lunch (this is where my sneakiness comes into play). We go to cousin J's house to pick her up for lunch. Also this time Auntie H thinks Aunt C (I hope everyone is able to follow this) had a meeting at church. So we get to the restaurant &... SURPRISE!!!! We managed to get Auntie H up to New Jersey for a surprise bridal shower. I wasn't going to believe it was possible until I had her in the state of New Jersey. :) It was very nice. We had it at a tea house. There were yummy tea sandwiches, tea, punch, little desserts & of course - cake! Auntie H went back to VA the next day & the kids & I stayed for 2 weeks. We did all kinds of things while we were in NJ & I got to visit with friends (from high school) & family that we don't get to see very often. It was nice. Took the kids on a train ride, to Sesame Place, to the shore/board walk & had Princess' 1st birthday. I wish I could post pictures from that trip but the computer is refusing to read the burned CD. The pictures are on the CD because I can open them on other computers. I am waiting for the Pilot to mail back my large thumb drive so I can put the pictures on that.
Then we drove back to VA for about another 2 days. Traveling is exhausting!
We then flew to Florida. Spent a couple days with my grandparents (mom's parents) and then a couple days in Orlando. We took Mr Independent & Princess to Sea World. They had breakfast with the Sesame Street characters & saw a Sesame Street show. This started their obsession with Sesame Street (could be a lot worse, could be that purple dino.). We also took them to the Shamu show. Mr Independent calls him "Shoemoo". A few times he called him "Mooshoe". I had to explain to him that "Mooshoe" was something you eat (??) & "Shamu/Shoemoo" was the whale in the pool.
Then back to VA for 3 more weeks. Those 3 weeks involves a little less travel... thank goodness! I was wiped out by then. It was nice to spend time with family. :)

So since then we have been back about month. Not sure where this past month has gone & I am not going to question it. We about a month out from this deployment being over with. Thank goodness! I am so done with this one. I have my laundry list of things I need to get done during this time & I am only adding to it because my brain is buzzing with ideas. I gave myself a time line to get things done in & I have done pretty good at staying ahead. To the point that I took this past week off from the list to finish up some school work. I had to take 1 more class to get my Arizona license (loooong story as to why I have to get a license in a state I will never teach in). I am officially done with the class tomorrow. Another BIG thank goodness!! I had a teacher who seemed to be more focused on APA than any other teacher I have had. APA is not my strong area. I've also been pretty focused on the Olympics. I love to watch swimming & gymnastics. I also got into the diving. I'm ready for them to be over with only because it's seriously interfering with my sleep. All the stuff I want to watch is on late at night - like goes on past 11pm & midnight!! This momma can't do that anymore... but the Olympics are addicting. Phelps anyone??!

I know this is getting long & your butt is probably numb so I will end with updates on the kids...

Mr Independent... "I got it", "I ok", "I do it", & "I help" are phrases you will frequently hear out of his mouth, hence the name change. He's a sweet little boy, though. I'm working on getting him back to taking naps. I need that hour or 2. It's even better if Princess is asleep at that time, too. He experienced his 1st noticeable earth quake not too long ago. It was the biggest one I have felt since living here. It was a 5.2 or 5.4. The kids & I were out & about & stumbled across a store I decided to check out. I was asking the owner about something when all of a sudden the whole store started swaying back & forth. You could feel & see it! Then the ground rumbled for a while. Mr Independent stood there looking for my reaction with his eyes bugging out. I think because he saw me calm he was fine with it. We got outside & he pointed up & said "no more". He thought it was a helicopter flying over that made the building shake. We have one that flys pretty low over us & things in the house shake. I saw the connection. I explained to him that it was the ground. So he pointed to the ground & said "No more". He's talking up a storm now, too. I want to get him enrolled into a program of some sort. All the ones around here are pretty expensive. There is a Mommy & Me preschool program on base that I am going to check out.

Princess... She's getting so big! Her hair is lightening up & curls at the ends sometimes. She is the worlds messiest eater. I need to find her full rain gear. For some reason food tastes better if you run it through your hair 1st. This past week she's started taking an interest in letting go, standing for a few seconds (longer & longer each time) & has even taken a few steps. I have been rushing her to do this, but now I want her to wait until daddy is home. I'm thinking it will be right around the time he comes home that she will take off. This is much later then when Mr Independent started walking. He was taking off by his 1st birthday but he was also a late talker. She has a pretty good collection of words. She is definitely the talker of the family. She loves the phone & shoes, too. That's my girl!! She can say "no", "more", "dog(gy)", "mama", "book", "train", "mil(k)", & a few other words I am blanking on. I found a baby picture of the Pilot. Princess is the spitting image of him. It's scary. I wish I could find a picture of her in the same pose because it's all the same - the hair, the face, the smile, skin color & even the butt (which is cropped out).

An e-mail to the Pilot

You owe me... you owe me BIG!! I'm going to figure out how many days you end up being gone. For that many days you will take the kids so I can shower in peace. Cheaper then sending me on a solo vacation. Your daughter is a climber now. I believe I have already mentioned that, probably in an e-mail yesterday. Today, while I was taking my not so peaceful, rushed shower I watched her climb onto the toilet seat. Then she proceeded to continue her climb up onto the lid to shout out the bathroom window. I'm attaching a picture of what I might have to start doing to her.

MWA

Love,
Wifey

Been a while

The kids & I just got back into town this week. Tonight I thought I would sit down & update my blogs & load the 800 (no joke) pictures I took. We had dinner early & the kids even fell asleep early. Knock on wood that they stay asleep. So I totally forgot that for some reason the lap top refuses to read burned discs. No pictures to post. :( I'll write about the trip later.

Where did the month go?

May has flown by. That's my only excuse for not keeping up with this. I've had a ton to write about just no energy by the end of the day. May has been jammed packed with going to the Science museum (they have a baby/toddler section) where the kids saw their first Imax (Dolphins) to visiting with family to squadron & MOMS group activities. We also hit a milestone this month... 50% done with this deployment!! All down hill from here. The second half always seems to go faster than the first. Well the first half of this deployment flew by, the second half should be a world-wind. I know it will be. The next few months will be like May, packed with things to do that their will be no time to think about time. The kids & I are getting packed up to go back East to visit family & friends in a few days. Which has led to writing this blog. First excitement is the surprise I have for Tootie. I got him a rolling Thomas the Tank Engine book bag. I filled it up with goodies for the plane ride. I'm not giving it to him until we get to the airport. My second excitement are these fabulous space bags I got from the Container store. They are currently having a travel sale. I bought 2 sets of the carry on size bags and 2 sets of the suitcase size bags.

I fit the kids clothes into the 4 carry on size bags. I didn't think about writing down what all I fit in there, but it was a lot. I was trying to limit us to a week and a half of clothes plus pj's & other necessities. I ended up packing more than that. What can I say??! It's hard to choose & limited the number of cute little girl dresses. That's up there with trying to limit which shoes I am bringing! It wasn't until I started packing my bags that I was taking note what I fit into the suitcase size bags. I used 3 of the 4 so far. One of them was used in the kids suitcase. That one has a sleeping bag, 2 blankets & a thin baby blanket. This is what's all going in the kids suitcase; which is the size of a carry-on.

That's 4 carry-on size space bags, 1 suitcase size space bag, 2 - 1 gallon ziploc bags with room to spare!! Feel'n my excitement yet?? Oh it gets better! Here's my suitcase so far. It's only packed with clothes - yes all clothes & yet there is still a ton room left. Two suitcase size bags & 2 - 1 gallon ziploc bags. The first photo is just of 1 suitcase space bag & how much room it doesn't take up.




suitcase size bag #1: 2 dress shirts, 5 casual shirts, 4 t-shirts, 4 tank tops, 1 cardigan, 1 cover up sun dress, 1 pair of pj's (top & pant bottoms).
suitcase size bag #2: 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 pair of capri jeans, 1 pair of lounge pants, 1 sun dress, 1 bathing suit set, with a little more room to spare!!
There is a "do not fill past this line" note on the bag, so I know I didn't over pack them.
Back to my packing....

Princess

I can't believe that she's turning 1 next month!! Growing up too fast. I've started planning her birthday. The theme is cupcakes. I'm making the cards & favors.

Sleep...

What is it & where can I get some?!

Through the eyes of a 2 year old, this is the world...

Tootie was using the camera the other day (supervised, of course). He was so cute pretending to know what he was doing. Well he knew what he was doing but he was just aiming & clicking away. This is one of my favorite pictures he took.

I've had the following cartoon for over 2 months now. I've been meaning to mail it to the Pilot. So finally today I tore it out & scanned it into an e-mail for him. This would so only happen in my dreams, but it still reminds me of him. He's a bit of a remote control freak. He's the king of the remote & then Tootie is next in line. The 2 year old is next in line, not the wifey! Silly boys!

What a GREAT day!

Things have been pretty busy around here the past few weeks. Not in a bad way. More or less we've managed to stay so busy that the days have run together but flown by. I've been working around the house trying to get things done & even attempted to plant a little in the back (semi-failed attempt, but that's another post). I've also put a ton of projects on my plate. Tootie was sick the past week. Poor guy!

I started today off full of excited nerves. The kids & I had or 1st video teleconference (VTC) with the Pilot. It was so wonderful to see him. Last deployment there was only 1 VTC & we were out of town for it. It sounds like they are going to try to do VTC's once a month. The Pilot is doing good. He's doing a lot of flying. It was weird at first. You are in a conference room with 2 LARGE tv's. You see your SO on 1 & you are on the other. Why do you even need to see yourself?! We got to talk for 10 minutes. The 10 minutes flew by. Princess babbled a little, showed daddy what a big girl she is getting to be & even tried to eat the microphone a few times. Tootie wasn't too sure what to make of the situation for the first 8 minutes. He slowly started talking just in time to say good bye. I think next time will go over better now that he knows what was going on.

I can't believe Princess will be 10 months in a couple days!! 34% done, another week flew by & the month will be over before we know it. Hope the next few months fly by just as fast.

Feel'n old

This post has nothing to do with age or aching bones. Maybe just maturity in interests. I've noticed recently that my tastes in magazines is changing. I've always enjoyed my decorating magazines & have recently gotten into a particular crafting magazine. I receive Southern Living because I am a consultant. I'm not as excited to get my Cosmo's & other girly magazines in the mail as I used to be. I still read them but not as quickly as my "grown-up" magazines. I still enjoy a good rag mag here & there. I mainly get those for trips for amusement purposes. I'm thinking Cosmo may become one of those amusement on trips magazines. Here's the real kicker... I got super excited over a subscription invitation for the Martha Stewart magazine. I don't care much for the lady. Her voice & way of talking drives me nuts, but I have her show on almost daily. Mainly as noise but if something sounds interesting I will pay attention. I've frequently "borrowed" some ideas from her.

Lets play a little game called "catch up"

I know, I know... it's been a couple, maybe going on a few weeks since I last wrote to you all - my loyal dedicated fans. LOL Things have been busy around here. Tonight is the first night that I have had a few quiet hours to myself. I'm working on a project for the Pilot so I figured it was a good time to catch up on here. Princess didn't take an afternoon nap so she was out by 6:40pm & Tootie, strangely enough, followed shortly after her. The dogs even went to bed early! I know I should be there, too, but I have a few things I need to get moving on. So, what have we been up to you ask??! Lets see...

My parents arrived on March 15th & stayed a week. That was the night I had my O' Wives get together & we all met Jimmy Fallon. I haven't written since then. Tootie participated in 4 different egg hunts through out the week. My MOMS club had one. The Easter bunny was there & Tootie wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. He climbed my leg saying "no mommy, no mommy" over & over. Not going to force it on the child. Then we had a squadron get together. We got him to give the Easter bunny a high five. He saw Princess sitting on the bunny's lap & she didn't get scared, so the bunny must be o.k. While we were there the bunny came to the house & hid a few eggs. At 2 he has a pretty good egg collecting system down. Put the basket down & fill your arms full of eggs. Place them in the basket & go get more. On Easter Sunday we went down to the in-laws for the day. We all went to Hotel Del for brunch & the last egg hunt. It was a pretty good day although the Santa Ana winds kicked my allergies into full gear.

Oh! We also went to Disneyland. That was a blast. Tons of rides Tootie could ride on & even Princess rode a few. We'll be going back!

Since then I have torn the garage apart... well my half, to purge & organize. Having 2 little helpers has slowed the process down but I think I am doing pretty good. Once I get that all put back together I can move onto my scrapbooks & the garden.

Every Tuesday certain museums down at Balboa Park are free. I took Tootie to the train museum. Trains are his latest obsession. The museum isn't the largest place but we some how managed to spend over 2 hours looking around. It was pretty neat! Balboa Park in general was pretty cool. We'll definitely need to explore it some more.

We finally have a park close by. Can't walk to it, but it's a 2 minute drive. It's been there for a couple years now, but it's been all fenced up. Something with permit issues. Anyways, it's pretty nice. There is a little rock fountain area that the kids can run threw & 2 separate play areas for the kids (under 5 & over 5). Of course Tootie enjoyed playing more in the older kids area. There is a slide that is about 10' up in the area. That was his favorite. He liked to fly down it. He wouldn't land so gracefully but he'd get up & say "I ok" & go some more. He's such a hoot.

I had a wonderful birthday this year. The Pilot got me an iPod Touch & some beautiful flowers. A couple of the girls from the squadron that live up here & I went out for a dance class & then dinner. It was really a great night. This past weekend SIL & her daughter drove down & we all met up at the in-laws. We had a yummy birthday dinner of chicken curry & cheese cake for dessert. Saturday we (SIL, niece & me) drove up to California Adventure. Afterwards we went to dinner.

Well that's about all of it in a nutshell. I need to get back to work on this project & then go to bed.

More pictures from last night...

Just checked my e-mail & there were a few more from last night in there waiting for me to open up!

I still have to brag about my pretty cupcakes in the other blog, but I need to head to bead for some beauty rest. We're taking the kids to Disneyland.

This is how we (California) Roll & Jimmy Fallon

Yesterday we had our monthly squadron OW/SC meeting. Eight of us met up at the Yard House at the Irvine Spectrum for dinner and then a comedy show. The Temecula crowd (3 of us) drove the farthest. Just over an hour. We cut through base to hop on the 5 because there just is no easy way for us to get to that highway. We picked up another wife along the way. Dinner was good. We didn't have to wait too long for a table. The girls introduced me to a new drink (well new for me) called Cider Beer. It was pretty good & easy to drink. It bubbled & tasted almost like champagne. Very interesting. I went bold for dinner. I ordered the California Roll. It's crab sushi. My extent of sushi tasting has been limited to some sort of shrimp roll at the local Japanese steak house. I will not try the fish sushi or anything that has not been cooked. It came out in 1 HUGE roll. It was very tasty. I couldn't eat the whole thing myself, but I am glad I ordered it because it hit the spot. Another wife & I split that & a brownie dessert topped with mint chocolate chip ice cream.I took a picture of the California Roll.

The green stuff is avocado. The top layer is the crab & the bottom layer is white rice. The brown stuff on the plate is soy sauce. Not sure what the red dots are/were, but they were spicy!

Afterwards we all hopped across the way to see a comedy show. The headliner was Owen Benjamin. There were 2 other comedians who opened the show. I can't remember their names. Tells you how big of an impression they left on me. I think their jokes I think would have been better suited for a much younger audience. They got a few laughs, just none really from us. I thought they were actually kinda annoying & I was hoping the whole show wasn't going to be like that. Owen Benjamin was great. He's an amazing piano/keyboard player, too. There was a surprise guest that knocked us all off our feet... Jimmy Fallon!!! They both performed separately & then did a duet together that was absolutely hilarious. Afterwards we were all waiting for everyone in the group to go & get out of the bathroom. We convinced the CO's wife to go up to the security desk & ask if we could meet Jimmy. I walked up with her & it turned out the guy sitting there was the owner. We explained who we were & why were there & asked if we could meet him & possibly get our picture taken with Jimmy. The guy was totally nice & humored us. After the place cleared out we were taken back into the show room. Jimmy was really nice. He shook each of our hands & asked us all our names. He posed for a few pictures & signed some of our receipts. I'm waiting to get pictures from others, but I will leave you all with this one. This was the icing on a great night.

Should be folding laudry...

But I HAD to share a story from today. The kids & I made a trip down to base today to stop by ITT. That's MWR for you Navy people. I needed to pick up Disneyland tickets for us. To make the trip worth our time we also went over to the exchange for lunch & a little browsing. I needed to get a couple items. I stopped by the purses to see what they had. Tootie ran straight for the Coach bags, pointed to one & proceeded to tell me that it was "cute". Expensive taste at the ripe old age of 2. Oh boy!

I heard from the Pilot today. He had some exciting news. He was transitioning from nights to days when they switched him back to nights. They want him to lead flights when for their mission. How exciting! I'm very proud of him. :) He deserves this.

Well I need to go do a few more things before I can go to sleep tonight. Tomorrow will be an early start with a late ending & busy-ness in between. I do have some cupcakes to brag about in the other blog, but I will have to post those later this weekend.

Technicolor yawn

That was another name given to me for a few posts back when describing a bodily function.

All seems to be heading towards the better here. Princess has had two good sleep-full nights & no fever. Bodily functions have returned to functioning properly. Less graphic way for me to describe it. Tootie is back to being his normal wild man-self. All in time for grandpa & grandma H to come visit them.

Not much has been going on here. Just catching up on what I got behind with while the kids were sick. Oh! Tootie is going through a phase I absolutely love and am embracing. Don't think all parents are totally thrilled about this phase, but I am. He's starting to pick out what he wants to wear. I'm loving the combinations he's coming up with. Nothing totally wild yet. Yesterday I had him in a shirt & a pair of shorts. We went to get Princess up & dressed. I asked him to pick clothes out for her. He likes doing that, too. Anyways, he came across his Halloween costume (flight suit). Off went the shorts & on went the flight suit. He wore it the majority of the day - every where we went. A few days before that he had on a mismatched pair of shorts, t-shirt, & his safari hat from his pretend box. His current obsession are gloves. Rubber gloves, dish gloves, ski gloves, work gloves... He only wears 1, though. Here is is outfit this morning...

It's gardener day so I had to get up early to pick up toys & doggy presents. I was hoping Tootie would stay asleep so I could go back to sleep after I was done. No such luck. He wanted to come out & help me. He's into helping now. He always has, but now he insists on helping. In that picture he was walking around with the hat over his face. My child... the Michael Jackson bank robber. Later on a glove was added to the attire.

Pooped out...

Exhaustion hit today. Tootie seems to be doing better. He hasn't thrown up in 24 hours & no runs. I thought Princess was better, too, but I was wrong. She has the runs now, which I am hoping is a good things. That seemed to be the tail end of it for Tootie. She's also running a little fever & just wants to be cuddled. She's at least taken an interest in food today. I'm just totally wiped out. Bed early tonight for all of us! My parents are flying in next weekend for a visit. It's going to be a busy week here!

What a day!

Princess woke up throwing up. Great, now she has *THE* bug. Tootie has a few red bumps on him now, too. Had a chicken pox scare. Even if you have had the vaccine you can still get a mild case. San Diego had a measle out break, but we haven't been down that way really. The bumps still look the same tonight as they did this morning. I'm now leaning more towards a rash due to the flu. Breakfast this morning was dry cheerios & toast. Then we ventured out to the store to stock up on Jello, gator aide for Tootie & Pedialyte for Princess. Lunch was Jello & crackers. I went a little wild with dinner & we had baked potatoes & more Jello. LOL Princess barely ate anything today. She was happy with her liquid diet.

I came across a great find today while we were out. There were a few yard sales going on in the neighborhood. Driving out I saw a table & chair set. I have been looking for something for out back on the patio. I've been hoping to come across something that I like that also didn't cost an arm & a leg. We have a tall table out there now with chairs. That's under the covered part of out patio. I wanted a table to go out on the part that is not covered. I decided to go to the store first & then grab some money out of the ATM. If the table was there on my way home then it was meant to be. It was still there!! So I pulled the car over & checked it out. It's a Pier 1 dining room table that has a glass top & wrought iron legs. There are 5 chairs that are wrought iron with wicker backs & seats. I was expecting the owner to say price well over $100. I didn't want to spend more then $100. $70 for the whole set is what they wanted. SOLD! I know you couldn't buy 1 of the chairs at Pier 1 for $70. I'm still on the hunt for the vanity chair that I want. I'll stumble across it one day...

Power of the Letter - John Adams

Power of the Letter

I was on the USPS website last week ordering some flat rate boxes & custom forms. There is a banner up for John Adams. You can pick out a free greeting card. It's to encourage hand written letters. You can even load up to 2 photos on the card. They will print it out for free, send it to you for free with an envelope & stamp (to mail it to someone)... all for FREE. I ordered mine Wednesday & got it in the mail today.

Just wanted to share this freebie with you all! :)

Vomit, hurl, puke, throw-up, up-chuck...

What ever you call I can't deal with it. Give me blood, guts, baby spit-up & other bodily function & I can handle those. Tootie started throwing up yesterday. He fell asleep on the couch late morning time. I figured he had just exhausted himself from me having to wrestle him down to get a splinter out of his hand. He woke up around lunch time & I asked him what he wanted to eat. As I was about to go make it round 1 started. Sparing you all the details he spent the rest of the day on the couch napping next to a large tupperware bowl. Thank goodness this child can follow directions. Spared me from having a bigger mess to clean up. I can handle baby spit up but as soon as it starts smelling horrible & is chunky, that's the end for me. He lost everything he ate yesterday, but did good through the night. Much better than his teething sister who was up just about every hour. Tootie woke up this morning asking for oatmeal. I made him his oatmeal & he also requested cheese & marshmallows. LOL The marshmallows are hidden in my baking cabinet. His memory is way too good because it's been a while since he's seen those. I don't normally give him marshmallows to snack on much less for breakfast, but this morning I wanted to see if they stayed down. Might as well let him eat what he wants if it's going to come back up, right? ;) He ate all but 1 bite of the cheese, a couple marshmallows & few spoonfuls of oatmeal. He seemed ok & was even running around like normal. He barely ate lunch but I chalked that up to him being a busy boy. All good, right? Later this afternoon he fell asleep on the living room floor playing with Princess. I went about getting some things done. Princess eventually decided to take a nap, so I took advantage of the time to take a little nap myself. Tootie eventually woke up & crawled up on the couch with me. That right there should have told me something was up. I made us dinner & he sat on my lap to eat when his lunch made a lovely reappearance all over me. I was slightly traumatized. Needless to say he learned how to hug the toilet tonight. Oh & yes, we now have it coming out of both ends. Poor boy. Looks like the stomach flu finally caught up to him. I hope Princess doesn't have her turn.

Military wife

**I did not write this. It was e-mailed to me. This is for those of you who have said to me "Oh I could never be away from my husband. I just love him too much".**

I AM A MILITARY WIFE! My husband is currently deployed; he'll be gone for a while, and so far I am getting by. I long for the day of his return. I am a military wife. I hold no formal recognition with the powers that be; I am at the bottom of the chain. I hold only a Military ID card; I am a dependent. The man I love may face unspeakable dangers, and I am at the mercy of those who possess this recognition for news. I understand this and accept this. I am a military wife. I have promised to be here for him upon his return, no matter how long he is away. People may say I am insane for making such a commitment with no guarantees, but I hold onto our promises and have faith that he will come home safe to me. I know full well that my love for him fuels him in the worst of times. I am a military wife. I hope every day that he will be able to call because a simple 30-second phone call can bring the greatest spectrum of emotions-- smiling with tears in my eyes from so much joy and pain. Our relationship is based on a brief communication where 'I love you and I'm okay' speaks more than volumes and gives me the strength to keep going. I am a military wife. I take no moment spent together for granted. I hold onto every touch, caress, kiss, every word. I have memorized the feel of his skin, his smell, the sound of his voice, and I play it over and over in my mind so that I will not forget. I cry myself to sleep some nights because missing him hurts so badly, but wake up the next morning, brush myself off, and start a new day. I am a military wife.

Hair magic

Yes mom, it involved bleach... just not my whole head this time. :) Ignore the pile of clothes off to the side. My favorite color is PINK!

Oooooooohhhh yyyyyeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

Momma's get a new 'do'. Not a cut, but I do need to get the back cut. It's driving me nuts. Just a dye job done by moi. It's pretty crafty so I might just post the results in my other blog when I get done. For some of you it's nothing new (those who I went to VVA with or knew me then), but it's been a while since I have done something funky. ;) I've been itching for a while to do this. Even told Pilot what I want to do a while back. I'm just now getting around to it, lol. I'm so giddy right now. I can't wait for 30 more minutes to pass so I can wash & dry my hair.

It was wishful thinking...

While I was typing the last entry Princess woke up. I got her back to sleep, but now Tootie is up & having a huge fit. Ugh... I guess at least it's now & not when I am asleep. Although it will probably happen then, too.

What a weekend

A miracle happened tonight!!! I had both kids in bed & out by 8pm. This has never happened!! This will be Tootie's 3rd or 4th time this WHOLE month where he has gone to bed in his own bed. This is the 1st time this month where he was out by 8pm... the bed time I shoot for. He's a night owl & goes until 10:30pm. If every other night is like this I am totally fine with no naps. Problem is, is if he falls asleep in the car for even 10 minutes, that's all he needs to keep the engine going until 10:30. So I enjoyed half of my dinner in piece & quiet. That's a first! I also got to work on the our Microsoft Money program that Pilot left me to figure out. He started, but this is a newer version that I had to load & set up. I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I got the statements loaded & that's about it, lol. I couldn't totally fry my brain. I do have other things to get done before I can go to bed. I bet it's wishful thinking that both kids could sleep through the night tonight, lol. Yeh, in my dreams.

So this weekend...

Last week started off pretty bad. I had a ton of laundry to catch up on & ended up with the washer/dryer issues. Got the problem solved & the laundry done (now it's time to start the process over again, lol). The week got better as it went on. It rained off & on & it was too wet for Tootie to go out back or to the park. Finally Friday I just had to get us all out. I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch & so that Tootie could run around the indoor play area. Afterwards we went to the mall. The kids needed a few "in between" things. Princess out grew her 3-6 month pj's finally. Yes, I know, she's 8 months... I bake 'em small. She only had a few 6-12 months pj's that had feet. It's still too cold here at night to put her in her sacks. Tootie's play pants have now become high waters, so he needed few 'hold him over until he porks up' pants. He's too tall for the 12-18 month pants, but the waist fits him nicely. He does have a couple pair of 2T jeans with the adjustable waist, but those still migrate south.

Saturday a friend & I decided to go check out some auditions for a reality show. It was very last minute & more or less it was something to get us out of the house. The auditions were for military spouses. Round 1 was a group interview & round 2 was an individual interview. Neither one of us expected to make it past round 1. Our lives really aren't *THAT* interesting. I guess we were wrong. We made it to round 2. We went home afterwards not expecting anything to come of it, but that it would be neat if we got picked for round 3. Round 3 is a test shot to see how you do with camera's all up in your business. My friend got a call that night from some other girls that they got a call during dinner saying they were going to get a call back the next day. We were kinda bummed we didn't get a call, but something in the back of my mind told me that story was fishy. 1) Interviews were going until 7pm... how would they call during dinner if interviews weren't over. 2) How were they able to review 2 sets of tapes that quickly?? Hmmm...

So Sunday was another rainy day. According to the weather man it was suppose to be the last rainy day for at least the week. My friend called me up to see what I was up to that day. My plans were just to stay in & get a head on cleaning. Her plans were to just stay in her pj's. Boy were we both way off. I was about to hop in the shower when she called & said I had to get over to her house ASAP to help her clean because they wanted to test shoot us in an hour & half... HOUR & HALF... WHAT??!!!! So I took the quickest shower of my life, got dressed, grabbed my make-up in a bag, threw clothes on Tootie, grabbed clothes for Princess, got her in her seat & ran out the door. We decided that we would have an indoor picnic since we couldn't go outside. I think we built it up more than it was. Really worked our nerves up. You eventually forget the camera is there. That is until you look up & it's right there. Oh boy, what have we gotten ourselves into??!! They shot for 20 minutes & have to edit it to 2-3 minutes. We were one out of 14 people picked from 75 for a test shoot. They will narrow the group down to 5 or 6 for the show. We should maybe know by early next week. I have no clue what I will do if I get picked. Good thing it's not camera's in your house 24/7. I would go nuts.

And the donut of misery tells me today is...

the 10% done mark! Woohoo!! Only 90% more to go... yipee.

Interesting weekend. Will have to update tomorrow.

Found this online

Comments

I have it set so anyone can comment now. You don't have to be a member... BUT all comments go through me first before they appear. There for if you are a random weirdo - don't bother commenting.

Wow, it's already Thursday!

Thank-goodness, too!! Last night I was thinking it was only Tuesday. I think the holiday Monday through me off. It was a great surprise when SIL informed me it was Wednesday. What a week it has been!! It's been cold & rainy all week. Tootie hasn't been able to go outside or to the park to play. We are all climbing the walls. There is an indoor park somewhere around here. In Old Town, I think. I just can't remember where exactly (never been to it) or the name. I'm going to have to try & figure this one out. Tootie needs to get some energy out. Monday - I think it was Monday (could have very well been Sunday still), I went to do the laundry. All was good for the first couple loads (I procrastinated). Then one load was still wet like it hadn't been spun enough. I threw it in the dryer & the dryer would go for about 30 seconds sounding like it was struggling & then die. I called the neighbor over to check it out. We problem solved the dryer & got it working again. It was my robe weighing it down. That thing weighs a ton soaking wet. The neighbor, Bob (Tootie LOVES saying... ok, yelling, his name - BOB, BOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBB, lol) calls the other neighbor, Chuck about the washer. Chuck is a retired SEARS repair man. We picked a good neighborhood to live in. Retired, helpful, kind & caring neighbors. It was late so I just told Chuck that we could just figure it out the next day. Ok, so this all did happen Monday. I remember now. No mail Monday, but the mail did come while Chuck was fixing the washer the next day. Tootie likes to help me get the mail. Ok, so Chuck comes over & takes the washer apart thinking it's the motor. Nope, not the motor, but there was a balled up baby sock staring at us. Not only was it a baby sock, but a VA Tech baby sock that has been MIA for a few weeks now. It migrated to the outside of the tub & eventually spun itself into a ball. Now that the sock has been rescued the washer is back to doing it's job & the laundry is finally done.

This week has kind of blurred by. I've been trying to get a lot done around the house in between chasing a 2 year old around that doesn't nap anymore & a teething baby who doesn't want to sleep at night anymore. Life is just great on no sleep. I'm hoping Princess' lack of sleep is due to her top tooth pop'n out. She's been a great sleeper up until this week. It all started with her waking up a couple times during the night to last night where she stayed up until late & then was up just about every hour. I need to drop her mattress today. She's starting to pull herself up on things - one being her mattress. Tootie is doing really good with the potty training. He had his pull-up on this morning & went with out being reminded. YAY!! Go Toot-toot. He's a handful during the day but at night he's been doing the cutest things & it makes me forget about the terrorizing he did earlier in the day. Last night I was folding some clothes & he decided that he wanted to help. He shook the clothes out, laid them out & attempted to fold them the way I was folding. His clothes ended up in a ball, but he was so proud of himself that I just let him continue helping.

Well Princess might actually be tired now. Off to drop her mattress & convince her that sleep is a good thing!

Knight Rider

Watched the new movie tonight. Didn't really care for it. I was actually disappointed. It didn't excite me one bit. Nothing can replace the 1980's t.v. show.

Not for the easily offended or young...(there's your warning)

Got this in an e-mail. Left me laughing...

Another week down

This weekend was pretty eventful. Nothing super exciting, just busy. I must have had a moment of insanity or a super burst of energy on Friday. I took the kids out shopping. We went to 4 stores looking for curtains and other items. I know, 4 stores is nothing.... well you try it with a baby & a toddler. I'm lucky, they aren't that bad to take shopping. It's just exhausting. Each visit to a store goes something like this... Try to find a parking spot that is either close to the front of the store (less hauling of the kids to get a cart) or one that is near a cart corral. I prefer ones that are closest to the cart corrals. Pull in spot, hop out, hunt down a cart & bring it back to the care. Get Princess & her car seat out (which feels like it weighs like a ton of bricks), put her in the merchandise part), push cart to other side of vehicle, get Tootie out, put him in the seat & head into the store. Tootie doesn't last very long in the seat. He wants out to help push the cart. Put him back in. Repeat about 10 or so times. Head to check out counter. Head back to the car, put bags in car (if there are any), lift Tootie out of the seat & put him back into his car seat & buckle. Push cart to other side of car & repeat for Princess. Go return cart. Do this for each store & it adds up.

Our first stop Friday was to Home Goods Store. L-O-V-E this store!! If you see something in this store you have to buy it right then & there because there is a good chance it will be gone soon & they won't be getting more in. I stopped in to see if I could find some curtains & I needed to get a gift (good gift store, btw). Oh, let me back up & fill you all in on the curtain drama. I'm in the process of hanging curtains back up down stairs in an attempt to curb the gas bill (& the electric bill during the summer). I have these 2 panels in the dinning room that I got about a year & half ago from Target. I only bought 2 because at that time we were in a different house & only had 1 window in the dining room. These curtains totally fit my style. They are Thomas O'Brien Vintage Modern. Well now I need 2 more & can't find them (even e-mailed the main Target people). Ok, so Home Goods Store... their curtain selection on Friday was small, but I fell in love with a set of curtains. Not only were they gorgeous but the price was fabulous. Two panels for $39.99, regularly $75. I needed 4 panels for the dining room, so I picked up 2 sets & another set in a different color for the living room. Then we hopped over to Target & got new rods for the dining room & a few other things. We didn't have anything at home that was small enough for the area. Tootie fell asleep in the cart. He's never done that before. It was actually kind of cute. Off to Linens N' Things in hopes of finding a insulated/thermal curtain for the sliding glass doors. No luck. I need to dig through the garage & see if we have the curtain that was up when we bought the house. It's not my favorite curtain, but it's better than nothing at this point. Our last stop was to Jo-Anns. I bought some fabric & embellishments to make the vanity skirt.

Saturday I got to work on my vanity some more. I didn't get very far on it this weekend. I tried the new curtains out but they were too big & too long. I decided to return them (Sunday). I liked them sooooo much that I could have made them work somewhere else in the house... that was until I saw on the label that they were dry clean only. Between 2 kids & 2 dogs the curtains would have ended up all snotted up with various other stains. I sadly packed them back up. A friends little girl had her 2nd birthday party today (Saturday), so we went to that. Tootie had a blast!! He chased their dogs around, played with the other little children & bounced in the bouncy. He passed out in the car before we even made it onto the highway. I like those kinds of parties!

Today was more errands. I decided to return the curtains today & go back to Target rather than tomorrow. Besides going to the park tomorrow I need to stay in & clean. I also needed to go to the commissary to pick up a few items we were low on. I did a second trip to Target because I discovered that I had Target specific coupons for diapers. Princess was down to her last diaper. I time these things good, lol. ;) Oh!! Tootie fell asleep in the Target shopping cart again. I think Target makes him sleepy.

My point to hashing out all these details? I'm exhausted! I have had my fill of going out to the stores for a while. We are good on food, diapers & the dogs have a new bag of food. No need to go back out until that moment of insanity hits again. We'll stick to going to MOMS events & the park.

We must be nearing a full moon. Tootie has been extra wacky & the both of them tonight were a nightmare. They were in rare form. I think it mostly had to do with them being tired. I woke Princess up from her nap to feed her dinner. Tootie was tired & hungry. So they fed off of each others crying even though they both had food in front of them. I bought Princess a bunch of stage 3 foods to start once we finish up the last little bit of Stage 2. Stage 2 doesn't seem to do her much even when mixed with cereal. She's ready - or at least likes to think she is - for table food. She enjoys feeding herself Cheerios & crackers. Anyways, they both, after what seemed like an eternity, calmed down & ate. Then it was bath time & off to bed. Another night Tootie didn't fight about going to bed... again, another day he didn't take a (good) nap. I'm not ready for the naps to go, but if it gets him to go to bed at a decent time (8pm) then I can't complain too much.

Ugh

I think it's my turn to battle what ever is going around. I woke up with a sore through that went up into my ears. Hopefully it's something easily solved by hot tea. I don't think yesterday's weather helped much. For the past week it's been in the 70's & 80's. Yesterday it was raining all day long & cold! I went outside & I swear I saw a snow flake. The mountains around us got snow. I checked weather.com & t said the temp for the area was 35 degrees but felt like 24 degrees. Yep, it sure did. That's a 40 degree difference from the day before. What a shock to ones body. It's back to being sunny today. I just saw the gardener go down the side walk. Crazy guy is wearing a short sleeve shirt. I"m sure it will warm up later but I saw his breathe!! Our back yard is covered in frost & our "lake" area (part of the yard that puddles up when it rains) is frozen over. According to weather.com it's 41 degrees. It'll get into the 60's today & through the weekend; dipping down into the 30's at night. Gotta love the desert weather!

Tootie & I enjoyed a steak & mashed potatoes dinner last night. It was pretty good. Princess dined on crackers & carrots mixed with rice cereal. She's like her big brother... LOVES food! No problem letting you know she's hungry & gets super excited when she sees it. The Pilot got to call last night!!! YAY! It was good to hear from him (finally). They have a phone they can call from for free. You just can't make super long phone calls. Which isn't a problem for us. Neither one of us are huge phone talkers. It was just nice to hear his voice. I guess they have a list of phone numbers to connect to (switches) over here then from there they call who ever they are wanting to talk to. I guess he's been trying the list but it's been it's a matter of getting someone to pick up the call & connect it.

So today the kids & I are going to venture out. Our gas bill has been outrageous. It's been just under triple our normal bill. We have a carbon monoxide detector (yes it's working). It hasn't gone off so I doubt there is a leak. I think it's just been so cold here that the heat kicks in. I have it set for 64 at night & 68 during the day. I don't think that's high. We get drafts by the doors & windows. I need to go get curtains to hang back up. Linens n things has some insulated curtains. Hopefully that helps. I want to get those for the sliding glass door. Maybe I can find some matching shorter ones for the window next to it. No clue what to do for the kitchen. I don't really feel a draft in there. I might try some window insulator for that. Test it out there & if it's not too much of a PITA to put up I may it try it on other windows. Target has some super cute ones I want for the dining room. They are black & white. I hope they go because our furniture is dark brown. Does it really matter what color furniture is? Our other colors are a light khaki, blue & green accents. I have green ones up now, but need 2 more of the same & can't find them (they are a few years old).

Any one know if the musical "Wicked" will be put on DVD like "Rent" was? I want to see it & I think Tootie would enjoy it, too. He LOVES the commercials for it. He sings & dances to it. He caught onto the tunes pretty quickly & accurately. I need to video tape him the next time the commercial comes on. He's too young to take to the theatre. I would take him in a heart beat if they would allow him. He wouldn't be THAT crying kid there. He's be THAT kid that sings, dances & claps. I'll have to check the website. Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring him the CD.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

I got this in an e-mail today. I'm still laughing. I had to share. It's called "3 things to fear..."
Chelsea Clinton recently discussed current events with a U.S. soldier.

She asked if, as an American fighting man, anything scared him .


He told her there were only three things he feared:


1) Osama





2) Obama





3) & Yo Mama!

What to title this post

Some of the titles that describe today are...

It must have only been a 24 hour bug.
A potty training milestone.
The many hoops CA wants me to jump through just to get my teaching license.
Meatloaf cupcakes (so maybe this one belongs in the other blog, but there is nothing special about it).
We have a new addition to the family.
Early Valentine's surprise.
It's in the 70's & sunny here. (Rubbing that one in especially for my family & friends on the East coast.)

Tootie woke up feeling better today. He was back to his normal busy self. Tootie surprised me this morning. When he got up he used the potty!! I felt his diaper & it was dry. He stayed dry all night. I've been trying to convince him for the past week that when he wakes up he needs to go to the bathroom. YAY! We ended up going to the Valentine's party. I was going to make & bring red velvet cupcakes. Since he was sick yesterday I didn't get to run out to the store & there just wasn't enough time to do it this morning. We went to the store on the way & just grabbed some tasty V-day cookies. The party was nice. Robbie got to play with some of the other children in the MOMS group. I had a surprise for him afterwards. Which brings me to...

The new addition in the family. There is a yahoo group called Freecycle. You can post things that you want to get rid of (for free) & things you are in need of. Last night I came across a posting for a Beta fish. The lady's kids were basically abusing it & she had to lock the poor fish up in her bathroom. After the party I drove to this lady's house to pick the fish up. I asked her how often he needed to be fed. She replied twice a day but that she's been doing it when she remembered because she kept it in the bathroom. Poor fish was in nasty water & kept in a sand bucket. So on the way home I stopped at a pet store. I had the lady give him some fresh water & I got him a new tank & some supplies. He perked up with the new water. I think he's enjoying his new home.

I got the most wonderful early Valentine's surprise today. Technically it's the 14th already in Iraq. They are 11 hours ahead of us. Tulips... lots of them & another flower that is purple (I forget the name). I can't wait until my flowers are in full bloom!

For dinner tonight I made meatloaf cupcakes. No special recipe. I just used my cupcake tin to make individual size. We're barely into week 2 & left overs everyday are getting to be a bit much. I froze the extra. There is enough for another dinner & lunch. I also made gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans & biscuits. It was a good dinner.

It's getting late & I am wiped out. I'll have to save the teaching license issue for another thread. I can outline it better there. I basically have to get a license from either Arizona or Virginia first before I can apply for a California license. Um, ok. This is all because my degree is from out of state. I'm hoping to get the VA license because it would be more beneficial to me in the long run. Then I can get my Cali license step 1. After I pass the CSET & CTEL I can get a full license. As soon as I can get my hands on one I will take a $7000 jump on the pay scale. Hopefully VA will cooperate with me & not be a PITA!

Oh, by the way... have I mentioned it's been in the 70's & sunny here??!!

Learning about pay backs

Princess is catching up to her big brother. Before she started moving around he would take her pacifiers and blankets from her. Ok, so he still does it to this day. For some reason a pink and purple pacifier is better than his. I'm trying to break him of his love for that thing, but it's been a process. He is good about only using it if he's tired or having a melt down. Well today we were all on the couch & she kept grabbing for the pacifier & pulling out of his mouth. Then she would pull his blanket away from him. He had 5, he could have spared 1. At first he was annoyed, but then it became a game to him. She'd take one of the items & he would take it back from her. This went on for about 10 minutes. They were both laughing hysterically. He's in big trouble when she figures out how to walk & chase after him!

Poor Tootie. He's succumb to what ever is going around the area. Poor guy. I feel bad for him. He's been pretty healthy up to this point. He's only had 1 ear infection up to this point. Last night he felt a little warm. I thought maybe it was just from his crying fit. He was still warm this morning & all day long. He wasn't himself at all today. No running around outside. No cli9mbing on the counters to dump out my sugar (not that there is any left!) or to cook himself a "bey" (bagel). He spent most of the day in my lap or laying on the couch. He took cat naps here & there. I think he spent maybe 10 minutes outside. We're laying in bed right now with American Idol on. It's one of the few shows he will sit down & pay attention to (that & Thomas the train). He loves music. He's passed out snoring right now. I'm debating whether to take him in to the doctors tomorrow or wait it out another day. I'll see how he is in the morning. We have a Valentine's Day party to go to tomorrow. We may not make that. I was going to make cupcakes, but we didn't go out today to pick up the supplies. If we go I might just pick up some cookies. At this rate, though, I think we may just take it easy & stay in tomorrow. He said a whole slew of words today. Lots of talking (in between the whining).

I'm excited for Big Brother 9 to start tonight!!

I'm a bad "bad mommy" & the cookies won

Tootie out lasted me. Crying it out does not work for him because he can last all night long. He's laying on the couch next to me cuddling up with his blankets. I popped a few cookies in the oven for us to share before bed.

Calgon take me away...

I don't even think Calgon can come to the rescue at this point. Is it a full moon? I mean seriously?!!! No, it's not. Full moon isn't even until the 20th. Hopefully today was just a fluke, even a case of the Monday's. Tootie & Princess were tag teaming. There were very few moments today where both were happy. Either he was crying about something or she was. Tootie saw time out a few times today. He started the morning off by throwing his breakfast around, smashing crackers up & throwing those, too. Off to time out! Well he fell asleep. No big deal. It was during Princess' morning nap. This all meant I can shower in peace today... & before lunch time! Maybe even squeeze in a little nap myself (there goes the wishful thinking again). I got as far as the shower & getting comfortable in bed when Princess woke up. I think we were all tired this morning. Tootie woke up some time around 3am, then Princess at 4:30am. Then she was wide awake at 6:45am. So by 7 we were all back up. I went to bed waaaaaay late last night. I was trying to figure out how to get video off the camera & on to the computer (involved locating software). Before I knew it it was after midnight. Tootie woke up & wanted a "nack" (snack). It was lunch time so I convinced him to wait a little bit. Here comes his cute moment of the day (about the only one he had)... the oven beeps that the timer is up. Before I knew it Tootie comes running in yelling "ready" over & over. I asked him if lunch is ready & he said yes. The boy must have been hungry because he talked! He pulled another stunt while I was trying to calm Princess down. He decided to scale the counters & pour out all my sugar. Here's the "damage" shot & the part of the vacuum that collects everything that is sucked up. All that white stuff is sugar.

Anyways, calgon can't help me tonight. I'm too tired to sit in the tub. I thought about maybe making a couple cookies, but that even sounds like too much work right now. I think I might just go to bed early & make up for lost sleep. Princess is out. She goes to bed easily. Not Tootie, though. He's upstairs pounding on his door crying "mum... mummummum... MUUUUM". I need to stick to my guns & play mean mom. He needs to learn that "mum" doesn't play those games & won't take 7 months of this.

One week down...

And only a couple dozen plus some to go. If this pace continues this will be all done & over with before we know it.

(Semi) Heaven

On thing I do not have to worry about during this deployment is taking care of the yard (front & back). The Pilot hired the neighbors gardener to do ours while he's gone. Today is their first day on the job. They mowed, weed whacked, blow & raked. I think they will also do all or some of taking care of the beds. I know the head guy puts fertilizer down. Speaking of, I really need to go out later when it warms up & cut the rose blooms off to put in a vase. I always wanted rose bushes. Now we have like 10 (no exaggeration). A few in the front & a bunch in the back; all different. I can't stand them, lol. They are pretty, but too much work for someone with out a green thumb. If we didn't have an automatic sprinkler system (very common out here) I would never water them. I want to rip out the ones in the front & replace them with something else. Can you replant rose bushes?? I have a few ideas, but I am not sure if they are good plants/flowers for out front. Need to research since spring is arriving soon. There are some drive thru nursery's around the area. I went to one 2 summers ago. I got a ton of Lavender & a few other items. I might do that again. I really like the lavender I planted in our last place. Easy to care for. I didn't do anything last summer because I wanted to see what all we had going on here.

Oh, where I was originally going with this post. What would be the ultimate whip cream & cherry on top to the gardener? I poop picker upper! A good friend of mine & a fellow pilot's wifey passed along a gift certificate for a free trial. Her dog won it in a Halloween costume contest. They had no use for it since they moved clear across the country a short few weeks later. I so need to call & try them out. I also get coupons in the mail for another (?? Maybe the same) company. I can schedule them to come right before the gardeners get here. I picked up yesterday evening before it got dark, but I am sure there was a few presents out there this morning from last night & early this morning. I'm sorry, but with 2 little ones, it being cold here in the am & not to mention too early, I am not going to pick poo up before they get here. That would be an awesome trick to teach the dogs to do. I'll let you all know if I figure that one out, lol.

I've labeled this weekend as "cleaning out the fridge". In other words I am not cooking. I think we have enough left overs to get us through. Wednesday night I did home made fried chicken, mashed potatoes & green beans. Last night was a ham steak with our secret sauce/seasoning & left over egg noodles. Tonight I will have Tootie help make a pizza.

Speaking of Tootie, he's becoming such a little man. Well he always has been, but it's just getting out of control. Besides helping me cook, I discovered that he can also set the table. Now it's not the best job & I wouldn't have him do it if we were having guests over, but for everydayness, it was pretty good. He knew to put a napkin at each of our spots & that a set of silverware (well we only needed a fork that night) needed to be at each spot, too. Another chore to add to his list!

Off to start the day. My goal today is to finish getting our bedroom put totally back together. I need to go through my clothes & see what I can get rid off.

Breakfast for dinner

That's what we had for dinner for tonight. I made eggs, sausage & biscuits.

I mailed the Pilot a Valentines box today. I some how crammed a ton of things into one of those flat rate boxes. I was very proud how much I got in there & still could close it all the way. There is a new box coming out in March. Here are the stats: Dimensions: 12x12x6, Domestic rate: $12.95, APO/FPO rate: $10.95. The lady at the post office wasn't even aware of this new box yet.

There's not much to talk about today. I'm considering going back to teaching at least part time next school year. Hopefully in the same classroom I had last school year. I think I have to make a decision very soon. I'm also thinking about maybe taking on a tutoring job while the Pilot is gone. Just something to pass time with & get me out of the house. Well see what happens. I filled out an application for the tutoring. Thursday I am interviewing a nanny if I go back. I need to come up with a list of questions for her.

The Pilot

He's made it to his final destination safely. He says there are some internet issues they are working out. I will work on getting his e-mail address to everyone. Just don't expect a quick reply.

I eat like a kid... I will admit it, too!

I was trying to think the other day of what I ate while the Pilot was away on his last deployment. Honestly, I'm not sure. I could come up with a few meals, but how did I survive the 7 months. It's not that I can't cook. I can. I just cook differently when he's gone. I have certain meals I enjoy that he really doesn't care for much. Two I can think of are Chicken Paprikas (a Hungarian meal) & meatloaf. I get my fill while he's gone & I am good to go for a while. Last deployment Tootie was 2 months to 9 months. Well now he's 2 & eats what ever we eat. The Pilot always says I eat like a kid, too. I can do hot dogs & beans or breakfast for dinner. I live this up while he's gone, too. Why should I could this big meal? It's just me & a toddler. I can only eat left overs of a certain meal for so long. Tonight I made Mac & Cheese Lasagna. Tootie inhaled his. I like quick & easy meals. He also enjoyed helping me make it. I let him pour, stir & sprinkle. We have enough left overs for 2 meals. So maybe lunch tomorrow & dinner Wednesday night? I do know that on Friday is going to be pizza night. So I have 3 nights left in between to come up with something.

I started attempting to do taxes tonight. I have a feeling I am still missing a piece of paper work or 2. I might leave it be until the weekend. That gives the mailman the next few days to deliver the stragglers. This is my first attempt at doing taxes completely myself. Things are completely different this year than in the past. We have a new dependant (easy) & we now own a house (giving me a headache on top of the investments). Another note to self... don't try doing the taxes while the kids are up running around & screeching. That could be part of the headache.

We officially survived one weekend of this deployment. Only a hundred billion more to go. Ok, that was a HUGE exaggeration. I was talking to a friend the other day & mentioned how the number of weeks he will be gone seem easier to grasp than the number of months. The weeks number is like 3 times bigger than the months. I think it's because each week I can cross off seems to make the number go down faster then being able to cross off a month at a time. So far the days seem to be speeding by. Well at least the hours in each day. I have a count down for the whole thing but it's a drag at this point to look at. Not really worth looking at until we get to the half way mark. So to make that time go faster I am making a list of other items to count down along the way. Just like marking the weeks off, I can mark off the countdowns & see that list gets smaller. Some of you might not get the point of this, but I know a few of you do. You do what ever you can to keep your head up.

The dogs have been pretty good so far. I just can't wait for it to get warm again. Then I can leave the back door open & then can go in & out as they wish. For now they are just driving me nuts wanting in & out every 5 minutes (& that's not an exaggeration either!). I working on getting the kids back on a schedule. I have a daytime one,but while the Pilot was home there wasn't much of one. Tootie would have that time to hang out with his daddy & Princess just hung out downstairs until we went to bed (she'd fall asleep before that). Tootie is fine with or with out one. I'm doing it mainly for my sanity. I'm trying to get dinner on the table for us at a decent time. When the Pilot was home we tended to eat later because he wouldn't get home from work until after 6:30. I want Tootie to have some down time or play time (anything!) after he eats & before he goes to bed. So I'm thinking baths around 7/7:30pm, story time & bed by 8/8:30.

It's getting late here. I have a little cleaning I need to do before I go to bed. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Our (non) super bowl party

I will out right admit that I only watch maybe 5 minutes of the super bowl. Instead I took the opportunity to catch up on some shows we had DVR'd. I did, how ever, have some finger foods for Tootie & I to eat. I made wings & we had grapes, crackers, cheese & for dessert we had red velvet cupcakes I made earlier in the day. We had our own party of sorts.

What a rainy day it's been. In fact it's still raining. Lately it's been raining all weekend & then the week days are sunny & warm. Today Tootie took the opportunity to let himself out in the back yard to do a little dance in the puddles & then run around like a mad man. It was a hilarious sight to see. I let him run himself tired & then bribed him back in with a warm bath (much better then the cold rain). I need to get him a cute rain coat & rain boots set.

Predicting

I should really get a job predicting dates. I predicted when Princess would arrive to the exact date. I did this pretty early on, too. I predicted when the Pilot would deploy with out even realizing other details involved. I'm good!! What can I say. Don't ask me to predict for you. These things just kinda came to me.

Well off to bed. I'm living on about 3 hours of sleep at the moment. The kids past out around 8pm so I've had a relaxing few hours to myself.