Insurance

So I am becoming accainted with my Home Owner's Policy and learned some really amazing things that makes me think maybe I am not living it up the way I should.

My house is covered if...

Wind, hail, or lightning damage my self-propelled missiles or spacecraft.

Anything damaged by riot of civil commotion.

Freezing damages my pier, wharf, or dock.

$200 worth of my gold bullion.

Should the house or part thereof fall into a suddenly appearing sink-hole.


My house is not covered if...

Taken verbatim
War, including undeclared war, civil war,
insurrection, rebellion, revolution, warlike act
by a military force or military personnel,
destruction or seizure or use for a military
purpose, and including any consequence of
any of these. Discharge of a nuclear weapon
will be deemed a warlike act even if
accidental.

Nuclear hazard

Earthquakes, associated with or without volcanic eruption. And any eruption in any 72 hour period will be considerd one eruption.

So with my space craft, I am going to take my self-propelled missile, not nuclear by the way, to my warf for launch. All these things were, of course, purchased with the bullion. From the wharf I will protect my house from Volcanic eruption, nuclear blast, and those rouge military units that might be trying to commandeer my sweet stuff. I have time to do all this since I don't have to worry about the earth suddenly opening up to swallow my house anymore. Also, I don't worry anymore about civil unrest, wind, hail, or lightning damaging my all-powerful self-propelled missile. Hey, would Molotov Cocktails count as self-propelled missiles? Because that is something actually attainable. I think I will ask next time I talk to them.

Also, one last thing they don't cover, I think. One of the things that I need fixed in the house.

Spending fast

45 has become a magical number around here for me. Dan's deployment is supposed to be 450 days so 45 is 10%. On my countdown donut that I have on the computer we hit the 10% mark recently. At 10% is when the donut legend changed from "A long, long way to go," to "Still a long, long way to go." That's progress. As pathetic as it sounds, soon I hit the longest I have ever been continously away from Dan. We were apart for almost four months last year but he came home one weekend a month.

So back on subject. The magical 45. 45 days is 10% . The next 45 days will get me to 20%. In 45 days we have 3 paychecks. In these 45 days, I am on a spending fast. Absolutely no unneedful spending. It is the commissary and gas for the next three paychecks. The only loopholes will be, I will be going out tomorrow to get the last of the stuff the kids want for their Valentine's parties. DD wants to buy this year and Innie wants to make. I had already gotten everything to make when DD decided she really wanted some Hello Kitty Valentine's. At this stage, I am with the time saver for a few dollars. So anything that the children "need" for school is on the exception list. Anything that brakes and can't wait will go onto the exception list. Like today I discovered shingle damage on the roof from the storms. I am not going to wait on that one, either.

We will also be cutting back on the out to eat, and how much I pay for babysitting. Once a month we go out to eat at Appleby's on the kid free night to check off one more month down and one less to go until Daddy comes back. We also work really hard on our table manners and behaving in a restaurant. We started it this last summer on the first Monday of the month, Manners Monday. But alliteration went out the door for free kids meals on Tuesday. So that stays. On the other days, there will be fast food at the maximum of once a week.

I have been having a lot of FRG meetings lately and just a lot of things taking me away from the kids. So that will change also. I will only get a sitter at maximum once a week. Although, this week I already have her booked for twice but that was before I made these new goals. Once for going out with girls on Valentine's Day and the other time for going to the cannery, I'll be spending money there but food storage doesn't go in the shopping category, it's all food.

So my 45 days has already started. I know its weird but I can't say when it started or when its over by exact date since I linked it to Dan's deployment. There is this thing called OpSec. It means keep your mouth shut about where your husband is, when he went out, when he is coming home. Loose lips and all that. So just know that it has already begun.

So far so good. No real temptation yet. Tomorrow when I go to Target will be the real test. Can I get out of there with just Hello Kitty? I'll let you know.

One last thing, the point. I am not just trying to torture myself. We have been working really hard to get out of debt and another milestone is just around the corner if I put in the effort. Some of you may know of the added financial benefits of being deployed and I am not going to blow it on purses and itunes. When Dan gets home all that money goes away. I don't want to be in any habit that makes life difficult for us when his pay goes back to normal. In fact, I want to have put so much into debt that it will be like we have gotten a huge raise, purely off of the obligations that we have paid off. And we want to take two really cool vacations. One when he comes home for R&R and then other when he comes home.

Two Schools of Thought

I have been thinking of all the things dividing us as a people lately. Everything has so many sides, so many angles. However, some things are just black and white, right and wrong. I have taken stock of those most divisive of things a made a list and decided to tell you where I am on the issue. I decided no more PC-Cristtin. You will know where I stand on the most important issues facing us right now.

Lid up or Lid down
I don't mean the seat. There is not two schools for this one, that is always down. That is a lazy man issue. I mean the lid. I am a firm, lid down person. I don't want to see the inside of the bowl when I walk into the room nor have anything fall in accidentally.

American or Japanese
No apoligies here, I am Japanese. Although, one of my cars I think was made in Korea. The other vechicle was made in America but it is Japanese. We have had a good share of cars over the years and there is one kind which has yet to let us down. In fact, it has saved us a lot of physical harm. In the form of a severe winter storm in which we rolled the truck in a ditch and niether of us was injured and the only damage to the truck was cosmetic. We will not look back, we are Japanesee.

McDonalds or Wendys
Come on people, really. Wendys. Except I do have a soft spot for McDonalds breakfast. But Wendys doesn't have breakfast so they are not in competition. Mmm, sausage egg Mcmuffin. I think I'll pick one up tomorrow, Super Saturday. Anyway, their burgers are not in the same category, at all. And we are cheap so we feed the whole family off the dollar menu for like 10 bucks.

Yeah for War or Boo for War
Just kidding, you are not kidding a thing out of me.

Red or Blue
Red all the way. I don't mean politics. I mean U of U vs. BYU. For the few of you who might not know of this rivalry in Utah, its big. My dad, husband, two siblings, and a sister-in-law all went to the U. I was getting ready to get started there but Dan gratuated and it was time to move. If I were to have any regrets in my life, it would be that I didn't get a chance to go to the U, only be a rabid U fan. Go Utes.

Sarcasm or Playing it Straight.
Oh yeah, sarcasm. Lets just say its my signature item. Dan can't do it. Every now and then he tries it and I never get it, his tone is all wrong. Recently Innie made a sarcastic comment to DD in the car, not the one I blogged about a few weeks ago, a new and better one. I just about swelled with pride that I had passed on such a trait. A trait that has given me hours of enjoyment mostly at the expense of others but still enjoyment just the same. It helps keep me sane in this world.

Running or Walking
Ick, Ick. I hate running. If I want to wear my pants out or start a fire, I guess I'll run but I would rather die. I speed walk the track at the Y very often, I can hang with that. But the second you make me run, blah. Dan is one of those running weirdos, always trying to get me to do it. He won't run for months and then go out and run six miles or more like whatever. Sicko. I would rather swim a mile than run it. And I can. Just so you know, a mile in the pool is 70 lengths.

Bus or Car Rider
No brainer, bus. I don't have to wait in a crazy line for 15 minutes in the morning just to drop them off at school in the morning or wait for 25-30 in the afternoon to pick them up. No thanks. The bus stop is literally the front of my house. Sometimes I don't even leave my house, just push them out the door. Some moms do the whole, oh I just can't put them on the bus. Well, look down on me all you want. In that 3 hours or more a week that I save I could watch a lot of TV, do a fair bit of shopping, nap until 3 minutes before the bus drops them off. Nevermind, the whole not killing Bug in the process of trying to keep him happy in the car that long everyday. Bus, Bus, Bus, yeah!

Now it doesn't matter if you are an R or a D, Red State Blue state the true issue of our time can be summed up in these four words...

Mayonaise or Miracle Whip
This is the most divisive issue of our day. I am a mayo. The first time that had Miracle Whip, by accident, I thought the turkey was rancid. I am not kidding I checked the turkey, checked the bread, before I went to the Mayo to find the offender for that awful taste. That is when I learned of the evil that had been unleashed on the country. Most people don't know any better being that they have been raised on this abomination. At least there is one area I can thank my parents for looking out for me on.

Now, I won't apologize if anyone if offended by my bluntness. Just your narrow mindedness for not aggreeing with me.

All sorts of fun here in TN

Super Tuesday went out with a bang.

All four of us sleeping in the basement all night long. Me, finally falling alseep on the couch around 1am just giving up on any chance of being able to sleep in my own bed. At 8:30 was when I had the kids get their blankets, pillows, and sleeping bags. They went to sleep within the next 1/2 hour, under severe threat to go to sleep you have school tomorrow. I watched some stuff on the DVR while I checked the weather every 15 minutes or so. By 1am I think we had had 3 tornado warnings. Nothing touched down here but anyone watching the news knows the rest of the state was not so lucky. The last tornado warning that I was aware of last night was at a crossing between a main road and the interest a few miles from my house. This was the closest I have ever been to being aware of a tornado.

I say that because years ago we lived a few blocks from where the SLC tornado finished but we didn't know about it until it was over. When the wind started going crazy I went outside to see what all the fuss was about. A few years in ND have taken that curiousity out of me.

Also, as I was drifting of to the sounds of some newsperson who has made it up the ladder to be their go-to person for all-night weather info, I become aware of some slight rhythmic sound in the basement. Almost like a faint dripping sound. I am awake now, dripping sound? Oh yeah, dripping in two places in a closet in my basement. Not just any closet, the closet with the electircal circuit breakers and all my satellite cables. This is not good. I put a couple of buckets under them after removing the boxes they had been dripping on and lay back down.

So after my few hours of sleeping badly on the couch the children started to wake up before 7 am. Why do they do that? Aren't they tired from sleeping on the floor and staying up late? Don't they know how to sleep in? I went up to my bed to catch another 1/2 hour before it was time to start getting the kids ready for school. Just as I am getting comfy, Dan calls. I won't complain about that one, I just didn't go back to sleep.

Get the kids off to school, eat breakfast, back to bed. I dreamt the whole time that DD was trying to wake me up or that I was outside as a tornado sky blew in (slightly yellow or green in color) and was trying to save the trash can from blowing away. Then an hour into my sleep, also bad sleep because it is very windy, the FRG leader calls to ask us to call our people and check on them. I called all my local people and only got one at home. And now I am awake and I know its time to give up on catching up on sleep.

And just for kicks. Yesterday, I woke up with that I am getting sick feeling. I have been doing my Zicam since but one thing I have learned... If you feel like you are getting sick and want to speed up the process spend the night on the couch.

Lets go out on a high note. I saw on the news today a man being arrested for driving on the freeway with his 16 month old daughter not strapped in the back seat. She was just having a good ole time in the back seat jumping castle. But he wasn't completely irresponsible. He remembered to strap something in the front seat, his case of beer. Yeah, that's right, the man put a seat belt on his beer and not his daughter.

Can anyone tell me why spellcheck won't work. I really need it to wrok.

Household Government

So we are all being bombarded by politics this year. I have even recieved a call from Hillary herself. My sister answered the phone, so I didn't get a chance to talk. But she called from the other room, "Its Hillary Clinton!" Wow, my first politcal phone call. Her people have since called again trying to get me to vote tomorrow for her. I won't go into the dynamics of my politics but sorry, Hillary, it will not be you. In fact, I still haven't even figured out if I am registered to vote yet, leaving a little late, aren't I?

So all this politics got me thinking about the politics of my family. The more I thought about it the more I realized that we here at Haddorkus are set up pretty similar to the US government. We have three branches of government, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Dan heads up the executive branch. I make up the legislative branch. Once in a while both branches team up to make the judicial branch to best argue, I mean discuss the proper way to govern the people, population 5.

Now as the legislative branch I make the law, enforcing it falls to the judicial which is us both. Veto power recides with the executive body but as with our government I have the power to override the veto by a 2/3 majority. That means 2/3 of an hour spend complaining, I mean explaining how my way really is better.

Lately, the executive branch has been too wrapped up in foriegn affairs to notice what the legislative branch is up to. Laws have been changed, revoked, and basically thrown out the window. But as the judicial branch is now in shambles, there is no one around to rein the legislator in. Absolute power corupts absolutely.

As for voting, we welcome any change or chance for debate. But as of yet, we have all ran unopposed. And there have always been landslide victories. However, it is not because of voter apathy that that has happened here. Its the simple fact that there are two voters in the house. When the rest of the population becomes of legal age to vote it has been predicted that they will vote with their feet and leave the country. Most likely to start their own, the little ingrates.

So for right now in the little Republic of Haddorkus, I am the supreme ruler. The executive branch will be wrapped up in foreign affairs for some time to come and the population has no avenue of recourse. So maybe we are not so much a democracy anymore. Maybe it was more like a coup and the President is in exile and won't be able to work out a new powersharing deal until sometime next year. Oh, this is fun. I could keep on going and going in my dorky governmental analogies.

What did I do?

Bug needed a haircut. One problem, Dan has to hold his head so that I can try to not cut his head with my scissors. That haircut is hard to do with a squirmy Bug. Innie needed a haircut too but he's nine, birthday yesterday, he'll sit still. Although he got the Dan special, 4 on top and 2 on the sides (with Dan its a 1, gotta keep in regs), too. But with Bug, all he got was a shave, 4 all over. As I put him to bed, I am singing him a song, looking at this boy, thinking, When is the last time I could see his forehead? Then I look again and I am seeing a boy. Where is my little Bug? These pictures are taken six months apart. I shaved off my little boy. What have I done?

Funny story about the song, though. I am trying to sing him, Teach Me to Walk in the Light. He goes, you don't need to teach me that. I can do that, walking in the light is easy.

Oh man, what did I do? Why, why? Please tell me.

My Right Girl

Conversation between Bug and I today while I made lunch:

He is rambling about being a Daddy when he stops, "When will I be a Daddy?"

"When you get married."

"When do I get married?"

"When you meet the right girl."

"How do I know she's the right girl?"

"Heavenly Father will tell you."

"You're my right girl."

I then, of course, have to go over and kiss him on the cheek.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"To show my love."

"How do you show love?" Yes, it is one of those conversations where everything leads to another question.

"By giving kisses, hugs, being nice, and doing nice things."

"I know how to show love, I can pull out my heart."

"Or you can give kisses, etc, etc."

"Yeah, but only on the weekend."

Weird saving post thing

I started a post on Jan 17. I tried to upload some pictures to it and blogger wouldn't let me so I just kept the saved draft until I could get back to trying again. Well, a lot of craziness later and I decided to try again on the whole uploading the picture. And it all worked out since now I had a way to put up a better quality of picture.

So I finish the post and publish it. I then look on the blog to see how it looks before signing off. Its not there. That's weird, where is it? I go back to the edit post page and there it is and it is showing that it is published, I click on it and it is there all published. Alright, I go back to the blog and it is still not showing up. I scroll down to the list and it is there but it was put in on the day that I started the post, the 17, not the day I finished it. Why would anyone want it that way?

Who is going to scroll down five or more posts to see if there is something new? It is so bizarre. So my new post is a few post down on Jan. 17 under Sanity Scrapbooking. So I guess no more saving posts and coming back to them later.

Our Prophet

My sister, who lives in Utah, just called me to tell me that the Prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my church, Gordon Bitner Hinckley just passed away. She actually had a hard time getting through the phone lines to call me since it seems all the Utahans are sharing this information with their family outside the state. He had a very long, very productive life, he was born in 1910. It still seems shocking to me that he is gone. I, like everyone else in the Church, loved this man. The first time I went to General Conference and saw him, I felt his amazing spirit from across the Tabernacle. A few years later, at the conference center, I had the same experience when he came in. I was surrounded by thousands of people but the whole feel of the room changed when he came in and I knew that he had been called to be our Prophet.

Years ago, Dan and I read his biography and it is astounding the things he was apart of. It gave me such an appreciation for him by reading about his life. He was called to be the Prophet when I was in High School. I feel like a member of the family has passed. I am so sad. I know that we will have a new Prophet soon, and the Church will move forward without so much a glitch, but I will miss him and hearing his great conference talks. I am just glad he is with his wife again.

The last sad thing about this to me is on the selfish level. When my sister told me, I could only think of Dan and telling him and having no way to get a hold of him except by email, was very distressing to me. Nothing seems real to me until Dan and I have talked about it and now I don't have that anymore. I hate this. Not being able to call your own husband is very stressful. Alright, no more boo-hoo from me. Lets focus and remember how awesome President Hinckley was.

Its Raining

I definitely had one of those weeks. If Spaz and Spaz II weren't enough I can honestly say that last Sunday through Thursday were actually alright when you compare it to just Friday and Saturday. I didn't think it would get worse but 2 1/2 hours at the DMV will do that to a person and then the 5 hour ER trip the next day, come on, was that really necessary? It wasn't that big of a deal, Bug has Strep, I just knew that we couldn't wait until Tuesday to see the Doctor.

So I have not had my wallet returned. I have to have a military ID but to get a military ID I need a picture ID, so I had to get a new driver's license first. I still had my North Dakota one, I didn't want to get rid of it. So that part was fun, it involved faxing stuff to the DMV in TN from the DMV in ND, but as always the person I dealt with in Bismarck was very nice and enjoyed my sad story like everyone else. So I went to the DMV at about lunchtime, first mistake. I was afraid to go during Bug's preschool for fear that I wouldn't be done when it was time for him to get out. So I waited until he was done, had a friend take him and started the fun. The parking lot was full so I thought I better eat first. Little did she know, that this seemingly innocuous act would change the fate of the rest of the weekend. All she knew was that she was hungry and that she hadn't eaten. So I grabbed some food and went back.

And hour and a half later I was finally called. I produced all the documents that I was instructed to bring and told that they weren't enough, I needed a picture ID. As it happens, I actually brought one, just on a whim, my passport. They did not tell me to bring it. They said birth certificate and two bills proving my address would be enough. I was relieved that I had brought my passport, I saw it next to my birth certificate and thought, what the heck? The DMV lady told me good thinking because she wouldn't had to turn me away. Then about five minutes later she did since I only had a credit card with me. They only accept cash or check. Another thing no one told me. In this day and age, no one said, by the way, we are still in the early 90's here and don't accept the form of payment everyone in America is using. When they answer the phone it should be, "Hello, DMV, we don't accept credit or debit, how may I help you?" She agreed to let me just go and get something and come right back to her, no waiting. It just so happens that I live about three minutes from the DMV so I ran home and got cash from the emergency envelope. Two more questions: What if I didn't live close? My city is not big in population but it is big in size, it can take 30 minutes to get from one side to another. Also, I don't have a debit card, lost remember, I couldn't get cash. What if I didn't keep emergency cash?

So I survived the DMV, with a license in hand, ugly, of course. I survived the weirdos I was sitting by. One E-5 (rank in military) going on and on about his job and getting ready for his fourth deployment. Giving tutorials to the civilian sitting next to him on brigades, companies, units, etc, etc. An Army wife sitting across from them joining the conversation about how that guy and her husband got into the Army off their GED, because they couldn't get in before when standards were higher. What? Keep that to yourself. Then they played the do you know game off a couple that she knew in his unit, one of the largest units on the post, but couldn't remember their last name. Maybe you know them, Pam and Arnold? She looks like...He looks like...What? I was dying. When they finally called my number I almost cried.

Then onto post to obtain a military ID. My friend who had Bug was now going to get the other two off the bus and take them to her house. Now that I had a picture ID, I could get a visitor's pass onto post and then go to the office that I needed to get the ID. The line was long but I wasn't worried I still had one hour and fifteen minutes from when another friend told me the office closed. As I am waiting in this line I am starting to doubt this closing time and decide to call her to double check. She says she'll call and get back to me. She calls and says it closes at 1545, I look at the clock it is 1550. Really? Yeah, that sounds about right. I get the pass anyway and they agree to make it for ten days. I go home in defeat.

That night Bug sleeps with me half the night with a fever but no other symptoms. This is the third time in as many weeks that he has had a fever but nothing else wrong. He just whines in his sleep letting me have none. The next afternoon, he comes to me with "my mouth hurts really bad" and he will barely open it for me. Well, this at least is something I can do. Ship off the other two to yet another friends house, I have a few deployed wife friends, invaluable. And take him in. At the desk they ask me for my ID, I start to panic. I have a TN ID, I can't take that. Okay, I have my husbands orders, a POA, as I start to ramble the filing cabinet that I had brought with me. He must have notice the panic because he is telling me to calm down and that it will be alright they will deal with me in admissions. Now for the second time in as many days I start to cry. The first time was Friday at the gym when I realized I had missed Dan's call. I hadn't heard from him in a longer time frame than normal and was clinging to the phone only to not have the call go through when he actually did call. I was exhausted, stressed, and really wanting to be at home able to call Dan on the phone and just vent. And I felt really stupid, I hate crying in public. Never mind, the weak appearance. My face turns bright red and stays that way for so long that long after I have stopped crying someone will ask me what's the matter and start me up all over again.

I left my house for the ER at 5:30p.m., we all got home at 10:30p.m. Kids in bed in about fifteen minutes with the severest threat of their life that if they wake me up in the morning, they will not be happy. So no church, yesterday. And I really needed to talk to my Bishop about getting my recommend replaced since I actually have child care for this Saturday and really really wanted to get to the Temple. [insert scream here]

So today the kids are off. We are going to go have some fun now. I am going to take them to the movies and get popcorn, just like Jen said. Here's to this week. I have to get my other ID this week and my deployment car replaced still. But I am sure that this week will in no way be as pathetic as last. It just can't. Right?

You all feel much better about your lives right about now, huh?

Just for fun, the one thing I didn't tell you guys about yet, was also this week one of our toilets broke. I got to learn how to snake a toilet!

Spaz II

Make sure you read Spaz post before this one...

So if I weren't enough of a retard. I went on post tonight for a FRG meeting. I took the kids to the day care place where they watch the kids for free for FRG meetings. Of course, I was running late. I left my bag in the car and just grabbed my keys, phone (I never let it out of my hand for a second, what if Dan calls?), and my wallet (just in case they checked ID).

I hurry and drop them off and run off to the meeting place. I am a few minutes late so I grab my bag and then my stuff. I get out of the car to start putting all that stuff into the bag. Keys into little pocket of bag. Phone on vibrate in jeans pocket(What if Dan calls?) and wallet...must of fallen out and slipped down the side...wallet...nope. I am sure its there, I am late. I'll go to the meeting and search the car later. Meeting over, search car...wallet? Nope. Alright, I dropped it at the CDC, I'll go there and get it. I am doing good, no panic here. CDC people, seen my wallet? Nope. Alright, not feeling so great anymore. I make the kids search the parking lot where I parked earlier while I search the car again. Nope.

Well, nothing to do here. Time to go home. I have to leave post with no military ID, which means I have no way to get back on. I would need my sponsor, Dan, to get me back on so that he could take me to the office that hands out the new ones. I start to cry before I leave post as I realize that I was going to the Temple next Saturday, Super Saturday. I can't get back on post to take them to SS or to the Temple, since my Temple recommend was in there, also. I am now driving through the gate. I even slowed down. Once I leave, I don't know what to do. I can't get back on but the only hope I have is in a Power of Attorney back home. Its 7:30p.m. anyway, what I am going to do, sleep in the car with the kids until the office opens and refuse to leave the post until I have a new one? I guess we could have slept at a friend's house, not sent the kids to school, and sent someone else to my house for the POA. That sounds reasonable, right? I haven't gone round the bend yet, have I?

Dan has been gone three weeks, that's it. 21 days and I am the total Spaz Queen. Are we in for it or what?

Spaz

Okay, so I know when I am stressed that I forget things. I mean a lot of things. Important things, appointments, keys, phones, pants. Alright, I haven't forgotten my pants yet, but it could happen. I normally figure out I have too much going on and that I am in over my head when I start forgetting things. I am an organizer, multi-tasker, on top of it, color-coder person. When things get forgotten, I am out of place. The thing I didn't think to count on for the beginning of the deployment was that I would be a spaz.

Examples from the past three days. I fell up the stairs carrying some binders and of course, a platter of black bean hummus. I was in the shower when I put some face wash in my hands and promptly rubbed it in my hair. It has peroxide in it, I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop on that one. I have a massive bruise on the side of my right hand, with no clue how I got it. I was taking Bug to school and drove to Innie and DD's school, they take the bus, I never take them to school. I caught one of my pot holders on fire.

However, I don't seem to be forgetting anything too important. So I still have that. I may be a spaz but I still have my mental capacities. Just not my physical capacities? Is this better?

Sanity Scrapbooking

I go to a friend's house about once a week. Sometimes, we have to cancel on each other but the goal is to get together on Tuesdays or Thursdays and Scrapbook for a couple of hours. With both our men gone it has become a little more important than it was when we started it at our last post. We were at Fort Lee together and that's when we started scrapbooking and then we both came here and kept up the tradition after all the moving craziness was done. Our husbands were actually supposed to go to Iraq together, and they left at the same time, if you remember Dan was gone all summer for training for that deployment. Dan got taken off that mission but her husband still went. So our husbands might not be together anymore but we still need our sanity scrapbooking.

Also, we have a couple of kids the same age. Our oldest are the same and my youngest is the same age as her middle one, so we can get together and the kids can play, too.

So I wanted to show off the work I accomplished last week. Two pages for our extended family books. You know all those pictures everyone sends you at Christmas time and stuff, well, I love them and use them. I have a book for Dan's siblings and a book for my siblings. Today was the Christmas pictures we got this year from Dan's sisters. I finally got a new printer/scanner since we had to get one since upgrading to Vista. Yeah! I've been wanting one, just haven't had the justification. The pictures on the old one were low quality, that's why I wanted a new one. Everything else works just fine, copy, scan, etc, that's why I hadn't been able to get a new one. The printer would work with vista just not the scanner. A scanner is one of those things you do not miss until it is gone. Man, I missed it.

So anyway, here's is my work. I did do two more pages but they are for FRG, I am now the FRG Historian, which is fancy talk for Scrapbooker. I was thinking that I will keep the FRG pages off the blog, none of you will know those people and sometimes there are pictures of people's kids.

Enjoy...

I just wish I knew what to do for my 12 x 12 pages. Wouldn't that be cool if there was a 12 x 12 printer and scanner? Is there one out there that I don't know about and that Dan would definitely not want me to know about? Taking pictures of pages is always so bad. If you use the flash it reflects off the pictures and if you don't the picture it is all dark. I tried to do this post before I had the new printer and took pictures of the pages. There were either fuzzy or dark. So I held a lamp in my hand while I tried to take a picture of the page. Like I really needed another reminder of how I am not coordinated. But the pictures still didn't turn out that good. Any suggestions for how to post my 12 x 12 pages?

The Metaphor

Such an interesting dream I had the other night. I love the way the brain works. This dream was the perfect metaphor for my life right now and you will all see why. There will be no need for explanation.

I am going through a medical procedure. Actually it is prep-work for a medical procedure. Dan is with me, holding my hand and being all supportive. As I am doing this, I am wondering, why am I doing this? I ask Dan, and he says that he thinks it will help. You think? What is it going to help? I don't know, maybe your headaches. Wait, I am going to let doctors to something to me and we are not sure why? Well, okay. And of course we are not in a doctor's office it appears to be the beach. I am also fine with that.

So the prep-work is done and Dan and I take a stroll down the beach. We are just talking and waiting for the procedure to begin. I am getting nervous and holding onto Dan a little tighter. He just keeps talking. Then a couple of doctors come to get me and say it is time to start. They start leading me to the area where it will be done. I turn around to make sure Dan is coming with me. Dan is no where on the beach. The doctors take me to the room by myself.

I woke up. It was time for the alarm to go off. Time to get the kids ready for school. Time to start another day by myself.

Super Saturday

The first Super Saturday. It was really cool. I actually didn't take them for the whole time since the older two have swim lessons on Saturday mornings. I am going to try and see if for next time if I can take them during the week so they can go for the whole time 9-5. As it was they only went 12-4:30. So I still got a decent break.

So what did I do with this new wonderful freedom? I went shopping. Spent $9. At a scrapbooking store at least, nothing useful. I ate out for lunch. Then went home to do some work on the kitchen that I had been promising myself that I would get done. I am now at the point where it is only a hundred little jobs to get done and then I might actually be done renovating the kitchen. Then onto the living room, yeah!

Anyway, so all the mighty work I got done in the kitchen. It was awesome. I replaced a switch cover since I removed it from painting sometime during the Christmas break AND I pulled off some painters tape. Two things, yeah baby.

So with all that work done of course I put in a picture....

I did clean the house a little. The missionaries where coming over for dinner. We luckily have Sister missionaries so if you feed the Sisters you can feed the Elders at the same time. So I had five missionaries to feed. I pulled up from picking up the kids the same time they did. You gotta love the crock pot.

So I have got much bigger plans for the next SS in two weeks, Nashville about an hour away. That's where our Temple is, haven't been since June. And they have a huge mall that I have never been to. So no kitchen just fun. Maybe I'll work on the kitchen this week. Ha Ha Ha

What we have been doing

Well, we have been trying to keep busy here and by all appearances, have been succeeding. The kids went back to school on Monday and I have been so busy this week. There was so much that Dan didn't get around to doing and with his abrupt departure just didn't get to do so that To Do list fell to me. I didn't feel like dragging the kids along on those kind of errands so I waited u//ntil the kids went back to tackle THE LIST. (I will explain the // marks at the end of the post just look to see how many there are and that one I just used doesn't count.)

So I am back. I took a quick 15 minute break to go cower in the basement for our tornado watch. That was fun. Our satellite TV was out but another deployed wife friend that I had just been talking to on the phone called me to say,"We're supposed to be taking cover, just so you know." She even called me when the watch expired, that was so cool. I think I just heard a siren too, that would be a first, for any of the places we have lived. And this is the third place we have lived that gets tornadoes.

Anyway, back to our crazy week, which the above fits so perfectly. Dan didn't get all his legal stuff taken care of, so I have been doing that, almost done. I signed up the kids for a child care program the Army has for deployed spouses for free. It is so awesome. A Friday night a month, for four hours and two Saturdays a month for eight hours. That required me to go to three separate locations and a few hours worth of waiting but I think it is worth it. I am not sure// but with all the paperwork I signed Innie might be promised to enlist when he turns eighteen. I am a little nervous for the first one this Satu//rday. Bug has to go to a younger one than the other two so he will be by himself for the whole day, at least until he turns 5 this summer. And I have never had them in day care before if you don't count the hour or so they go to the Y. But it doesn't matter, they are still going so Momma can keep her sanity.

With all the running around this week came another first. I put Bug into the after care at preschool for three hours. So he was there for six hours. He was mad at me when I picked him up because he didn't want to leave. So I guess he'll be fine at the other care. The woman who does the after care found out from him that his Daddy// was deployed. He even said the country correctly and everything. So she asked him what he did there. I think expecting him to say, "He flies Helicopters." A lot of guys here do. Dan doesn't. We've never explained his job really// to the kids because a.) its too complicated for kid speak b.) we just didn't and c.) he ended u//p not even doing the job he is trained for over there. So when she told me his answer I had a good laugh. "What does your Daddy do there?" Bug,"He saves the world."

Another thing I have been keeping busy with is some weird deployment nesting phase. I have been cleaning and organizing the house like a pregnant woman possessed. My bedroom perfect, that cabinet in my room that Dan hung with push pins? Rehung with screws in the studs, thank you very much. I even dusted. Me. Kids rooms, done. All those little things they ferret away and hide like little squirrels preparing for winter taken care of. I even started on my pictures. My pictures are now all organized chronologically or in the case of our Studio pics in an album all in sleeves dated and within easy reach. I even put Dan's missions pictures in a tu//pperware drawer ready for him to organize when he gets home. The garage, I can park the car in it now, and I do. And my manic energy isn't gone or wasted, so far I have hit the gym or worked out four times this week. One day I went hiking instead of going to the gym. I am a little sore though.

I am pushing myself into bed by 10:30 so I can start to get on a normal sleep pattern. My hardest thing with Dan gone is going to bed by myself. I stay in the basement watching TV until I just fall asleep or realize how bad I am going to hate life tomorrow unless I go to bed now and it could be 1am.

So wish me luck for this Saturday, as of right now I have no idea what I am going to do with eight hours to myself. I think I'll try to hit the temple. Its so crazy, eight hours.

One last thing, I wanted to share my pain of this new computer by inserting those // every time you saw one of those was every time I accidentally touched the mouse pad with one of my thumbs and it caused the cursor to move somewhere else in the post. So I would have to stop and search for where the mysterious cursor had gone and fix all the typing I had continued to do and move it back down and start again. And I am getting much better and keeping my hands up than I used to. So much so that my elbows hurt now. I like having a laptop but that mouse pad, which I never use by the way, it slowly driving me crazy.

I think the post is long enough now, to find out how many of you truly love me to read the whole thing.

Old Electronics and Recalled Chinese Jewelry?

I read the most thought provoking thing in the Nat-Geo today. I only read four magazines religiously and the National Geographic is one of them. I read it cover to cover every month and this months magazine has some articles on recycling. I am not a recycler. I am not an environmentalist in any sense of the word. But it has been on my mind lately. We live in a city that does not have recycling bins that go with the garbage bins, we just moved from on post housing where they gave you a trash can sized recycling bin. All you had to do was rinse or break down and put it in the can. No separating, no hassle. I like no hassle recycling. Now if I want to recycle I have to sort on my own and take it to a recycling place on my own. I think there is one on post I can use, I am not sure.

Anyway, my bad habits are not the point. This article was about e-waste. All the computers, printers, cell phones that the rich nations are constantly upgrading. We are talking over a million and a half tons of it in 2005. It will probably start growing much larger as the new HD becomes standard next year and all our analog TVs won't get signals anymore. We have to buy new TVs next year? That's crazy. Not that I don't want one, I don't want to be forced to get one. Out of all this e-waste way less than 25% is getting recycled. Bad things happen to this stuff when it gets thrown away. A lot gets just stored by us pack rat Americans.

Here's the worst part. Some that gets recycled or donated to charities for resell are ending up in the third world where they are mined for parts. Just the copper wiring in a computer is valuable. Here's the catch, it is surrounded by plastic tubing. How are these "miners" getting at it? By burning off the plastic. Releasing extremely harmful gases into the air while they are inhaling it themselves. A lot of carcinogens. A lot of children doing this. There was a picture of one man in India melting down circuit boards to get off the lead and other metals in his own homemade smelter. What was his smelter? His kitchen pots that the family will later cook dinner on.

Here's where it comes back to bite us besides the pollution factor. A Chemist from Ohio bought a bunch of that cheapo kiddie Chinese jewelry and ran some tests on it. Not only did it have high traces of lead in it that we have been hearing so much about in the news lately but there was an abnormal amount of copper and tin in there. Not normal for jewelry. Can anyone guess what kind of metal they are using to make this jewelry? Metal burned off circuit boards from our computers that we have thrown away. This lead issue is not just Chinese negligence that we can just pass off, we started this cycle. If we don't recycle our stuff the responsible way where there is oversight and regulations someone else is going to recycle it. Back to our lungs, our children, and our foreign aid packages as all these third world countries start getting even more sick.

Soap box put away now. By the way, Dan was always the one who had to listen to my rants on the evils of the world. He is now safe from me on the other side of the world. Now its your turn, because I am not keeping it in or ranting at Dan when I only get to talk to him for ten minutes at a time. Sorry.

It has begun

We knew it was coming and it came. In a manner in which we were not fond of but what can you do? When you are told you are going to be delayed a couple of days and instead show up to work the day before you were supposed to leave and told, "Go home, get your bags, your leaving in two hours." Yeah, not what we wanted.

Dan came home packed those last few things he hadn't. Said one last family prayer and he was gone again in ten minutes. For the children anyway. I got to take him alone since my sister was still at my house from Christmas. I stayed for long as they would let me and for as long as I could see Dan in those buses they had crammed them into to take them to the plane.

I have already heard from him twice on the phone and one email. He is fine but tired.

Day full one was good. Worked out at the Y. Took the kids back a few hours later to swim with friends, she let me take off and do some clearance shopping. Stayed up till 1 am though, playing with my new ipod nano and I am not so good and going to bed alone at the beginning.

Day full two, eh. Still in my pajamas. I have done some cleaning. A lot of reading, I got five books for Christmas, yeah. Haven't even brushed my hair. DD had some weird non-descript illness, aches and a fever. Whatever.

I did find online on some other military blogs the donut of misery (some say hope). An excel thing that calculates how many days they have been gone, how many left, minutes, weeks, etc. I put in Dan's info. We have no idea when he'll be home, 2009 is a long way out to plan ahead but I just put it in for 450 days which is 15 months exactly. Just to ballpark it. I'll have to put it on when it actually shows something. Right now it says 0% done and fresh off the jet. So right now I'll keep my donut of misery to myself. I'll share it when it starts seeming like a Donut of Hope.

It has begun.

Six Things

I am pretty much skipping over Christmas, it was the same as everyone else's too much food, too many presents. But good all the same. Maybe pictures in a couple days.

So the six things is going around and I thought I'd give it a try. But I think this will be kind of hard for me now. Six things you might not know about me after me running my mouth off on this blog for over a year? I'll give it a whirl.

1. In elementary and one year in junior high, I "played" the violin. Quotation are used because I was very bad and could never get the hang of it. For some reason after I played it always felt like I had rosin in my mouth (rosin is a powder used on the bow). I hated that. Did I not keep my mouth closed while I played?

2. I've had my car broken into three times. Once someone forced their way in and stole stuff, CD player, organizer, that sort of stuff, but they left my CDs. They actually opened my CD holder and looked in it and then dropped it. My thief was a musical snob and didn't care for my type of music, whatever. Another time is my is my fault, I left my purse in the truck while I ran inside "real quick." I came back just two minutes later and my purse was gone. The last time is pretty much the same as the first. I still had my planner in there and two cell phones. I didn't learn my lesson from the first time. I have since, nothing gets left in the car and I always lock. The three times were in a 18 month period with two cars and all in Salt Lake City.

3. I have fake cried to men to get out of trouble. Another three times thing. Once at the LA county fair when my friends and I were spitting over the ski lift thingy that takes you around the fairgrounds. We got caught and they wanted to kick us out, bring on the waterworks and we were told to not do it again. Once when I got caught ditching school and was given Saturday school detention. I cried to my counselor that I just couldn't go to Saturday school (if my mom found out she'd take away my car) he gave me a few detentions in the office after school which I told my mom I had sectional practice those days. She seemed to have forgotten that I was section leader and therefor in charge of calling sectional practices. The other time was when I got caught shoving a paper clip into a electrical outlet during band in junior high. I cried to my band teacher and I didn't even get detention. A boy did it later that year in another class of mine and he got suspended. There are a lot of men out there who cannot handle a little girl crying and I looked like a little girl up until last year I think. Although crying did not get me out of my first speeding ticket, I was really crying. But I was also going 49 in a school zone, no hard feelings, Mr. Policeman.

4. Thanks to Gilmore Girls I love watching bad movies and TV. Dan and I will go to the video store for recommendations on the worst movie the clerk has ever seen. It normally takes a while for them to believe that we actually want to spend money on a bad movie. We love making fun of them. Our two favorite bad movies: Reign of Fire and Battlefield Earth. On TV we look for those made for TV disaster movies with some has been actor in the starring role, those are guaranteed enjoyable hours.

5. My shower curtain drives me crazy. I just recently bought a new liner and for some reason it doesn't stay down like the last one did. It billows up and touches me, yuck. Shaving is a joke. I am driven to distraction trying to get this thing to be still.

6. I keep tally marks on my books, so I'll know how many times I've read them. When I started doing it I had already read some of them a lot so I just under guessed and wrote in those marks. I have read Pride and Prejudice six times, Persuasion five, those are accurate marks. I had to guesstimate on Harry Potter but I have five on that one as well.

I tag no one, because I don't think I know anyone who hasn't already done it or who would do it even if tagged.

Partied Out

We are officially partied out and we still have two more to go to tomorrow and three next week. Christmas Party number three for me and three for Dan and that doesn't even count the Birthday parties. And we cut out the school program last night, it was all too much. Start times were just too close together we knew we were never going to make it happen. Watching a couple hundred kids, who I don't know and don't give a crap about sing We wish you a Merry Christmas five times in a row while one kid crosses his eyes and another picks his nose. Nah, cross that off.

Anyway, Dan had three work parties this week. We only had to go to two of them. One for his section, one for his unit, and one for his battalion (each one is bigger than the first one). Birthday Party and Ward Party tomorrow. Earlier this week was DD's B-day party (just with the family) and the Relief Society Christmas Thing (I at least got to play my horn for that one). I actually didn't mess up too bad either. Not bad for the last time I played was last Christmas.

Next week the kids have their class Christmas parties all on the same day and of course I signed up for stuff for all of them. No baking, though. Plate, napkins, store cookies, and money. And presents for all.

I'm feeling a little over-whelmed. I still haven't mailed my Christmas cards. I started working on them in October like a good little girl, like I do every year. The only thing holding me back now is DD's pictures, I get them on Monday. Those who don't get individual wallets of the kids, I still haven't even sent those out. I'm not going to get them out 'til Monday or Tuesday, is that too late? Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.

Immunizations, my foot

I sit here typing from Day 3 of quarantine. No everyone calm down, it is not the Shauntee Virus, geek check to all Heroes fans out there. Its the Pox. Not small or monkey, just chicken. In what Web MD refers to as a breakout infection (a person who has been immunized against it but gets it anyway), Innie has a small case of the Pox. Tuesday he kind of had a fever and a sore throat, we drugged him up and sent him to bed and thought nothing of it. The next morning it appeared he had a cold sore in his lip. I laid down the law for him, no sharing any one's cups, don't touch a lot of people, and wash your hands a lot more. As I am giving him his eye drops for his pinkeye infection he is getting over, nice right, I notice a bump on his forehead, still ignore it. We are now at the door rushing to be on time for the bus stop and getting Bug to preschool. Innie comes up to me and lifts up his shirt, "Its real itchy right here." He points to this general area of spots. I lift up his whole shirt and there they are in all their glory. Back and belly.

Well, no school for Innie. I get the other two to school. Call a nurse, she informs me that we all don't have to go into quarantine since they have had they immunizations and Dan and I have already had it. But they don't want to see us at the doctor's office to confirm that its the pox, thank you very much. "Oh, you'll be able to tell for sure in the next couple of days. Just bring him in if it looks like he is getting an infection."

Now DD is the school courier pigeon and I am a de facto home-schooler. We work on stuff that the school sends home during the day and I try to keep him busy besides that. We have done a little extra stuff, like studying the latest map from National Geographic that is about dinosaurs and making times table charts to hang on the wall of the craft room by where the kids do their homework. Other than those few burst of creative learning that we have had, its lots of legos and TV.

Yesterday, in DD package was get well cards from Innie's whole class. They were so cute. Some were funny. Innie remarked at one kid calling him his BFF, "that kid called me mean two days ago and now he thinks we are best friends, that's funny." He called him mean because Innie noticed that he had a sandwich in his lunch and most days he has other stuff, how rude of Innie. The best was the story a girl put in about when she had the pox and her sister teased her by always saying. "Boc, Boc" to her, she didn't think it was funny. We loved the idea and have been bocking at him ever since.

There was a lot of admonitions to not scratch, which I found interesting. Either a lot of kids have had it and know or the teacher said something. And why have so many kids had it, haven't they been given the shot too? Does this thing not work at all? Dan and I are so paranoid every time we see the other two scratch we are lifting up their shirt to see what they were scratching and we have been like groomer monkeys on each other, "Do you see anything?" Every itch makes me jumpy. Its the Pox, I tell you, the Pox. Although, we haven't had to deal with that much with Innie. He has been so good. I am pretty sure this is a light case but still I haven't seen him scratching once and he always comes to me and tells me where it is itching and waits patiently for the lotion to take affect. Such a weird little angel boy.

Here is the picture of Innie holding all his get well cards that we put in his Thank you card he sent back to school with the mule, DD, today.

Thanksgiving Pictures

After dinner nap? Not quite, these two didn't even make it to dinner. Bug didn't even wake up when it was time to eat. My sister picked him up and put him back down and barely even a stir or a whimper came out of that little guy. He went on to sleep another hour and a half on that couch with us all around not even trying to be quiet. Bright side, no "Eat that" threats through out all Thanksgiving dinner. No complaints about no wanting to. Thanksgiving dinner was wolfed down in quiet gorging, the way the founders intended it.

Later that night, here they are in time-out for ripping a curtain rod out of the wall in their cousin's room while they acted like rabid monkeys.

The kids with my Dad, AKA Ukki to the kids. The next Monday as they left for school and the day he left back for SLC. Bug got over his old-person prejudice long enough to admit that he was going to miss him and complain about him having to go home at all.

Randomness

I have some random questions I need some answers to. I have had them floating in my head forever now while I was in the kitchen, going oh, I'll put that in the blog. So instead of any orderly fashion or anything that makes sense I am just going to throw it out there to get it out of my skull.

Why are they billing episode 11 of Heroes as a Finale? Aren't seasons supposed to be 22 episodes long? Does anyone know something I don't? After the horribleness of last season and having to say goodbye to Gilmore my new obsession is Heroes. Its on season 2, they aren't deserting me too?

I called Dan on Nov 5 and left him a voicemail, he claimed to have never received it. I was all attitude at him about it and like whatever. Then when he was standing right next to me on Nov 11 his phone beeps out of his pocket out of nowhere. Its my voicemail. Where was it? What kind of adventures did it have during it 7 days of traveling from my phone to Dan's? Did it get stuck in someone else's phone before it realized it shouldn't be there? Or worse did it get stuck in someone? Yuck. Should I not think about a lost voicemail this much?

I picked up my Dad from the airport last Friday before Thanksgiving. I brought Bug with me so Dan could put the house back in some semblance of order before we got there. After we got him and we had been in the car with Ukki (grandfather in Finnish) for about 30 minutes Bug says, "If I think Ukki is old and creepy, I am gonna have to run away." When we finally got to our house, Bug informs me and Ukki that, "I don't think he is creepy." Does that mean he still thinks he is old? And where did my four year old get the idea of running away?

Why is the month before deployment so awful? Poor Dan. If he wants to do something that doesn't include me I want to freak out. "You are leaving for 15 months, don't you want to be with me?" Its like being pregnant, I am so psycho. The poor man can't spend every minute before he leaves with me but I feel like following him to the bathroom. I have a meeting to go to tonight and all I can think about is the time its taking away. I can't cram 15 months into one but can't seem to stop trying to.

We are still not done with the kitchen. But all the steam is gone. We are doing finishing work now but the list is still really long. And we keep running into those problems that you don't plan on like the laundry doors don't fit now that the floor is higher, so we have to get new doors. Now our goal is to just get it done before Christmas and Dan leaving.

There, I hope you enjoyed it being spewed at you all at once, now to the meeting I don't want to leave Dan for, what I baby I am becoming.

Renovation Madness

I am now officially going crazy. We are three days behind schedule on the kitchen and out of town family descends for Thanksgiving tomorrow. TOMORROW? What were we thinking doing this the weekend before my Dad comes? We thought we could get the tiling done on Monday. We laid the last tile last night at 9:30 p.m. We still haven't grouted. Or sealed. Or finished painting the cabinets. Or finished taking off the wallpaper on the top half of the wall. Or painted the bottom half. Or put anything remotely back in its place.

Right now we are eating in the craft room off of my craft table. The kitchen is in the living room which is completely filled up and the kids haven't step foot in the kitchen since last Thursday. They just stand in the doorway and play that sick car game, "Are we there yet?" "Can we come in yet?" NO! I will tell you, stop asking, stop asking, please make them stop asking. We finally decided last night to do a formal ribbon cutting ceremony for them for when they can come back into the kitchen since they are so dying to come in.

Meanwhile, in the past week I have only posted twice. Showered, I am ashamed to say how little I have showered. Been sleeping six hours, I am a solid 8-9 hours girl (very cranky person). Not eating well, have not worked out at all. Haven't been able to get the primer off my hands and arms for 24 hours. Don't think I have brushed my hair today. Stop using full sentence a while ago.

My Dad comes tomorrow and we will not be done, I have accepted it. My KY sister and her boys are also coming too. The thing that is really started to bug me though is... you know that when family comes you clean more for them than you ever do for your own family? When am I going to do that? The washer and dryer are in my living room. I spend a good part of Tuesday at a friends house doing laundry, the only break I've had besides Sunday. I haven't done any house cleaning.

One last thing, the kids are also neglected. We get them to school, hot lunch all week. They leave, we're in the kitchen. They come home, we're in the kitchen. They go to bed, we're in the kitchen. They sit at the little opening just to talk to us while we work. How sad.

Thanks for reading my rant. My back hurts, my arms hurt, my knees hurt. When will the madness end? Not today, break over, back to painting I go.

Three Kiddo Stories

Here are some of those things that kids do and say. There is one for each of my kids for the last couple of days.

Innie... 8 years old (turns 9 in Feb.)

We are driving in the truck at night and for some reason DD wants to book that Innie has even though neither of them can read it since it is so dark. Also, for some reason Innie won't give it to her and is relishing in the noises he is making his sister make. And now DD is complaining because he's not doing anything with the book so why won't he just let her have it? So I finally put my two cents in, "If you can't think of anything to do with it why not let your sister have it?" He responds in a very sweet, too sweet tone, "I can hug the book." DD starts to cry. I have officially taught one of my children sarcasm. Actually at that moment I turned to Dan and said, "I'm so proud."

DD... age 6 (turns 7 next month)

We are in day two of kitchen renovation, this is yesterday, and its time to mix some mortar for the subfloor. Dan brings out the mixer bit that fixes onto a drill, it is a huge beater thing that looks just like a hand mixer's little beaters. DD's eyes get huge and she jumps all over us, "Can I be the one to lick that when you're done?"

Bug... age 4 (turned 4 in July)

Background info, he is a Daddy's boy, I mean Daddy's boy. I am so low on the totem these days its not even funny. I used to pick him up and ask,"Are you my Buddy-Buddy?" He would always say yes and hug me. Then Dan left for the summer and since he has come back I am nothing. And I am more than a little jealous. All day long its just me and him, we do all sorts of fun things. I am so much more of a relaxed and better mom these days than I ever was when I had three pre-schoolers. I take him to the gas station and let him help me pump. Before I had a strict "you all stay in the car and you're going to not fight, kick, scream if you know what's good for you" policy. I don't spoil him but lets just say we might be border line with our youngest.
So we again are driving in the car and they are all acting up and I issue my vague, "Knock it off or you'll be busted," threat because I can't think of anything to take away off the cuff. So Dan says, "Lets bust their heads." We then threaten to bust everything from arms, legs, butts, eyeballs, and brains. When we stop we realize Bug is chanting in the back, "Kill Mom, Kill Mom." over and over again. I go, "Hey what's that about?" He says, "You were gonna bust my brains." My reply, "Well, Daddy wanted to bust your eyeballs." I thought I had him with this one since Bug prays everyday that we not poke each other in the eyeballs, we are not sure why. My smile was triumphant when he chanted, "Kill Dad..." but it quickly faded because the whole thing he said was, "Kill Dad, I mean Snuggle Dad, Snuggle Dad." I am back on the bottom.

One of those days

As I am typing this with only my right hand and my left hand pinky and ring finger it will take me awhile to explain my day, especially with all this back spacing I am doing.

1. Started out easy enough. Doctor's appt. for me with Bug able to do a "Daddy Work Day." The other two did it when Dan was in the AF and now Bug is finally old enough to behave himself for a couple hours in a work environment. He was so excited to go to work.












2. I go to the Doctors to get some warts frozen, hence the gimpy typing. And some weird thing on my ankle. The doctor decided that cauterization was a better route than freezing. He burns my ankle without lidocaine and it sucked so when he asked if I wanted to do my fingers without, I decided why be a hero? I used drugs when the kids were born, I can use some now. Four needle sticks later on each side of the finger and all of a sudden I am feeling nauseous. The doctor starts asking me a question but he voice is strange, like a out of tune radio. Then I am getting dizzy but I am sitting down already. He then starts to burn the first wart, and I realize I can barely hear him at all anymore so time to speak up. "I'm feeling really dizzy and I can't really hear you." He instantly gets me on the bed and calls the nurse for some IV. He's talking to me and asking me questions but sometimes I can't answer. I thought that I held on but the doctor told me later than I was out for almost a minute. Man, I haven't passed out in almost ten years.


3. "Daddy work day" cut short by Dan having to pick me up and take me home after my IV is done. The bright side, Dan got the rest of the day off. I now have a headache and take a nap.


4. When I wake up and get up and about the kids have all written me notes and put them in the mail box for me. Notes like "One thing I love about Mom is..." The kind of things that make you love being a momma.


5. I get ready just in time for my first FRG meeting, a spouse group through Dan's work. Dan, of course, had to take me to my car at the hospital first. While at the meeting at Starbucks somehow I poured Hot Chocolate in my hair and almost reversed into one of the other women. I think I might have volunteered for some committee job, too.


6. I came home to find a whole pizza in the sink. Dan made dinner and decided to let them eat it in the basement in front of the TV, a rare treat. He opens the basement door holding the pizza on plates to find the basement completely dark. Sometimes the kids turn off the lights for spooky TV watching. He steps on the first step to find it is already occupied. While trying not to squish Innie to death he sort jumps and runs down the steps while the pizza goes flying all down the stairs and a little on the walls. Dinner was delayed to wait for the second pizza to cook. But they still got to eat downstairs.



Its only 8:30 p.m. I am exhausted.

Trunk or Treat

Well, we headed out to the Trunk or Treat Saturday at the Farm. Our Stake owns a farm, it is so cool. We do lots of activities there. They have a pavilion, barn, bathrooms, and tons of space. The kids had lots of fun, too much candy. Especially since Dan and I will be eating it while the kids are in bed.

The one downside, the costumes. Once again the kids wanted to be some obscure thing that no one had heard of. I didn't even know what they were talking about when they said they wanted to do people from Pucca, a Korean cartoon they like. Innie said he wanted to be Avio, DD wanted to be Pucca, and Bug was all excited to be Garu. Who? What is a Garu? What happened to the days when I knew all the words to the Dora show?

Oh right, that's what happened. I knew all the words to Blue's Clues, Dora, and way too many other things. And would find myself singing them on my own time. So I pulled back, put the parental locks on the TV to TV-PG and above so they can only watch 7 and below and took back my life.

So now here I am a little while later watching Pucca on purpose to make sketches for their costumes when I realize, I made an excellent choice. My world of news and books and "Momma shows" is just fine.

Here is a pictures of Pucca, Garu, and Avio...

Dan and I are the bad guys, the ninjas they fight all the time. I forgot to get a picture. So more pictures coming after Halloween.

But here is a link to YouTube to show you some Pucca, if you just watch the opening credits you see all the characters. The opening credits is all you need to see to get the gist of the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOfg1HOMv1M




I tried and I tried to embed but I guess I am still clueless. I could not get it to work. I will remain low-tech forever.

Sunday Haiku

Sunday nap ruined
By an hourly beeping watch
Left on Daniel's wrist.

First Quarter is Over

Just a quick Mom brag. First quarter just ended and both kids made honor roll. Innie made AB honor roll. DD made Principal's Honor Roll, all A's, and Perfect Attendence. We went to the awards ceremonies and the best thing was watching their faces as they realized that we were there to see them. I love that look.

I am so happy

Yesterday, Dan and I had a date. It revolved around a Hail and Farewell, that's a work function for you non-military people, but what do I care it had no kids. When it was over it was too late to see a movie, our date stand-by and besides there is nothing out right now. So we did our other standby, Home Depot. We walk around and dream about all the things that we want to do to the house. Except we have actually moved into planning phase! The other day there was a pallet sale at a tile outlet store and we bought enough tile to do the kitchen and both bathrooms for about $1500 less than it should have been. So we went to the Depot to find out about the tiling class. We are clueless about tiling but we are still determined to do it ourselves for the fun, the exasperation of it all, and, oh, its so much cheaper. Talk about saving another $1500 on installation. That is one reason I am so happy. We should get started next weekend on the tile in the kitchen.

Here's the tile...

The next reason is actually because of Wal-mart. I don't think I have ever typed or said that sentence before. We went there next to buy the last couple of things we needed for the kids costumes, Trunk or Treat tonight. And Dan decided he had to have some OJ, some sort of Flu-mist craving. So I went to the dairy just to check if maybe just maybe they might have it. Stores start carrying it in October but the Commissary had already let me down so I was nervous. But Wal-mart didn't let me down, which on some level, they almost always do which is why I try to go to Target but I needed some sewing notions and I had a gift card. Anyway, I ramble.

They had it, EGG NOG. I am not a happy holiday season type person. I get the after Halloween blues but Egg Nog is the one thing that can always brighten me up. It is that one holiday thing that comes with no expectations, just buy me and I will give you high-caloric bliss. So I did. I bought a quart, no sense in going crazy, I am still trying to lose weight. But now I can do my two favorite things, just take a glass of egg nog watered down with a little skim milk or when I really want to just let loose an Egg Nog shake, Nog mixed in with Vanilla Ice Cream. And I just happen to have Vanilla in the freezer, I love when everything aligns for my benefit.

I am so happy.

Side-note, I just spell-checked, the computer doesn't have Nog in their database but it does have Snog. Why is that?

Dan's Blog

Dan and Bug were laying on the bed today and Bug informed him that, "When you get old we gotta get rid of you." Which is good for me, I have been wanted to exchanged Dan for a younger model for a while now. Bad luck for Dan though.

On an unrelated topic, Dan has been bitten by the blog bug. And the only cure is to stop reading over my shoulder and get his own. So he did. He also though it would be good for the deployment and all that. Whatever.

So his blog, if anyone is interested in checking it out it is on bloggger at bahdabeedah.

http://www.bahdabeedah.blogspot.com/

Dan has already explained his name on his first post so you have to go there to find out. Interested?

Sunday Haiku

The longest day is
Staying home on a Sunday
With three kids with coughs.

Happy Anniversary

Happy 10th Daniel. Yesterday 10 years ago Dan and I went on our first date. Training Table for dinner, then a Haunted House (my first one), and then we drove to Mount Olympus (also another first).

A few days before this I asked Dan after work if he wanted to "hang out." We went to his apartment and watch Clueless, when it was over we just kept talking, let the video rewind itself and ignored the TV for the next few hours. We talked the rest of the night. I actually mean that. I got home at 7 a.m., my roommate was not happy. She was my older sister.

Dan had a date that next night, one of about three after his mission. At work the next day he asked me what he should do on the date. I played all the sly moves. "Well, that depends on what message you want to send her. Do you like her?" His answer, "No, I didn't really mean to ask her out, I just asked if she wanted to drive together to Stake conference and she made it sound like a date." That answer satisfied me to give him some excellent advice which follows. Dan, "Should I take her to a Haunted House?" Me, "Oh no, she'll be all over you, grab your hand when she gets scared and all that." Dan, "Right, I better not do that." Me, "Right, just dinner and Stake conference, just keep it friendly and short." And he did.

The next day he asked me to go out the following Wednesday. Dan,"What would you like to do?" Me, "I've never been to a Haunted House before." Dan didn't catch on to what I had done until we had been married about three years and I told the story to a bunch of friends. And, yes, I was all over him every time I got scared.

Dan proposed two weeks later.

What kids really think.

To escape the quiet jail of our house during fall break we did finally go to my sister's in KY. We had a great time by the way. See pictures below of our trip to the Nashville Zoo. It was so nice to be loud in a house again. What wasn't fun was being called home by Dan to "come take care of me, I'm sick." I am not a nice nurse. I'll do it. Make chicken noodle. Take you to the doctor. Make the bed. But it is a given that I will be cranky while I do it. No one would ever pull a Florence Nightengale syndrome on me, that's for sure. And of course, he got me sick.

Anyway, the point. What kids think. While I am at my sister's, my kids and their cousins are playing in a room and I can hear them having a kid conversation. Here's how it goes...

DD, "My Mom is 29. My Dad is 32."

9 year old nephew, "My mom is like 38."

DD, "Whoa!!"

Newphew, "My Dad is 40.

DD, "That's impossible!!"

Remember when 40 was impossible? My father was 41 when I was born so 40 was always just old not impossible. But now siblings are this age or knocking at it. To my daughter though, it is impossible. My sister and brother in law got a kick out of being a whoa and an impossible.

Danisms

Just to start off, Dan says some awesome things. I wanted to share some of my favorites with you. This is not to embarrass him, it is for everyone to enjoy, including me. Dan is so much fun to have around. He is the classic example of speaking before you think. He never says these things with harmful intent they just sound so awful when they first come out.

So here are the top five:

5. Dan thinks that we need to give the children more chores now that they are getting older. More helping to clean the house and that sort of thing. I responded with that I understood that they should help more but it was hard as a housewife to let them since it feel like if I let them clean the house I am letting them do my job and then what do I do? His response, "Just think of all the deep cleaning that you could do."

4. Everyone who knows me knows I don't wear shorts but moving to the south has made me rethink that rule. However, I don't even have any. So one day I raided Dan's drawers looking for shorts and actually found a pair that fit. I was very excited to find a pair that fit and attributed this success to my recent weight loss. So I called Dan on the phone to crow about it, he asked, "What shorts?" I then explained the blue ones, the ones he doesn't wear often, his response, "Oh yeah, they're way too huge."

3. When we were living in the great white north we got caught in a wind storm and eventually rolled the truck into a ditch. With the truck on its side and me dangling in the air, Dan says, "Well, what do we do now?" Me, "Call 911," His response, "But its not an emergency."

2. One day Dan and I were just talking and we got to talking about DD and when she grows up. Dan started to say things like what if DD grows up and this happens and what if that happens. He was thinking about DD in junior high but didn't say he was thinking of her at this age when he says, "What if she grows up and is X lbs?" The X lbs he stated just happened to be what I weighed at the time.

And...

1. We were in the bathroom getting ready for bed one night. I am about 7-8 months pregnant with DD. I am looking at the toilet and thinking I then say to Dan, "How do really obese people fit on toilets?" His response, "You fit just fine dear."

Fall Break?

I had never heard of such a thing but yet here we are enjoying fall break, sort of. I have the kids but not Dan. He is on 12 hour shift graveyards, last week and this. Man, it is not fun. Last week it wasn't so bad, just keeping Bug in the basement and quiet and Dan would wake up around the time Innie and DD got home from school. But all three quiet on vacation until 4p.m.?

And now Dan has taken to sleeping in the basement since it has no windows and is so dark and cool. He sleeps better, he has been overheating during the day since we have been in the high 80s and 90s here. ARGGH!! So now all three quiet while we are above him.

I could send them upstairs to their rooms but we don't keep toys in their rooms, the toy area, of course is in the basement. I decided to just get out of town for a few days since we only see Dan for about two hours a day anyway. So off to see my sister in KY, but my nephew now has an infection. Man alive, fall break rules. He's on antibiotics now so maybe not all is lost we still might be able to head out tomorrow or the next day.

So now we just wait and be quiet. Just knowing that Dan will go to normal work next week. And they will be going on block leave in November for like all of November before the deployment. We are not sure if Dan will be able to take all of November off, he doesn't have that much leave and with joining the unit late there is some training he needs to get caught up on. But at least two weeks, we hope.

Well, Fall Break. Never heard of it, sounded fun. Now I am not so sure. Tip-toeing around the house, getting ready for a deployment, can't go to my sister's, did I leave anything else out of my pathetic life? Any be quiet tips? I can only stay at the Y so long in the mornings.

Our First Project

When we bought our home we knew we bought a house that needed a little love. Our carpet is gross. The kitchen is awful, that is the first to go. The basement we call the Brady den, even though our house was built in 1994, we still haven't quite figured that one out. But we have started at least. You can see a little the two colors happening on my kitchen wall, the white and the tan. The tan is actually wallpaper glue that I am still working on, one slow strip at a time. The white is actually wall that I have found. The wallpaper in the kitchen is this tiny-blue flowered monstroity that I can bear to look at anymore. I have to post a picture before I tear it all down.

Anyway the point of this picture is our first mini-project down. Our laundry area. It had only one shelf, an unpainted unreachable thing for my 5 foot 4 inch frame anyway. Dan put up some shelves and I actually got to organized my cleaning products and make it look pretty. Now I can open my doors and just gaze at the prettiness. One down, we haven't counted how many to go.