Twisted Noodles

Here Kitty Kitty!

2008-12-18T10:48:00.002-06:00

We had a visitor this morning.

He's such a sweetie. I let him in from the rain and fed him a little bit of tuna, it's all I have because I don't have cats. Then he went in the fireplace, cleaned himself up and after that spent two hours under our tree. He allowed Zuri to pet him, sat on my lap for a bit and then wanted to go outside for a potty break.

I want to keep him, but I can't. First, I'm bad with animals. My kids get fed because they make noise, I've killed about 3 fish because they don't. This is a pretty vocal cat, but my last one ran away, I think because he was super jealous of the new baby. Second, I can't afford him. It's a $300 pet fee, plus he's a stray so who knows how much vet care he's going to need and also, apparently, cats like to eat, so that's another monthly expense that I'm not ready to take on.

So if anyone wants a good sized orange tabby male, about 3-4 years and can get to TX to pick him up, I know a real sweet heart.

WTF

2008-12-13T01:02:00.002-06:00

Yeah, we had one of those moments last night.

Nick, the kids and I stayed up late. I was baking cookies and the kids were wanting a bite. Aaron ended up passing out on the floor. I shook him and told him to go upstairs and get in bed. He wakes up, says, "I have to go pee," and then grabs his toy truck. He walks into the kitchen (I'm worried that he's going to pee in the dumpster part of the truck) and a few seconds later comes out and lays back on the floor to go back to sleep. Nick walks in the kitchen and discovers this:

We're still trying to figure out what he thought he was doing. It had both of us laughing pretty hard and scratching our heads.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T19:33:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Things worked out pretty well this year. Nick's maternal grandmother has been in the hospital for the past few days, but after a few stints being put in and a pacemaker, she's doing pretty good. The in-laws decided at the last minute, after the doctor told them she was going to be fine, to go up to WI to be with the other half of the family. So even though the surprise is spoiled, the rest of it isn't. I had waited until they decided what they were going to do to decide what I was going to do. If they stayed, the kids and I would go to the in-laws for the holiday. If they left, I was going to get food and cook here.

Since they left, I went shopping for a mini-meal for the kids and I. I went to the town 20min away, even though I live about 1/2 a mile from a grocery store because the Wal-Mart over there never has anyone and I figured it'd be less crowded than the HEB behind the house. And I was right. It was so uncrowded, I got a spot right up front and managed to buy everything I needed in less than 30 min. I got a bagged turkey breast (the preseasoned kind that takes only two hours to cook), sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and all the things to make sweet potato casserole. I could have spent all day shopping, making the meal bigger and bigger, but I decided to make it the things I couldn't live without.

I didn't have to start cooking until 11, my meal only took 2 1/2 hours to cook. Unfortunately, it was a lot of peeling and prepwork, but the food turned out awesome. Also, neither of the kids wanted anything. Zuri has a head cold and wasn't hungry and Aaron's meds are keeping him from wanting to eat. Oh well. I stuffed myself silly and then passed out on the couch for 3 hours. Have to keep up with tradition.

At this moment, we're working on potty training. Zuri keeps saying she has to go potty, so she goes to the toilet, sits on it for 2-3min, then gets off and claps. Nothing comes out. But she's proud of herself anyway. I figure I'll let her keep doing it and maybe eventually she'll go. No pressure.

That's all. Have a Happy Day!

All sorts of screwed up

2008-11-24T20:35:00.003-06:00

This summer, while Nick was deployed, Nick's parents let us know they'd be going up to WI to surprise Nick's grandparents for Thanksgiving. Family was coming in from all over the country and Nick's parents told the grandparents they couldn't show, just to surprise them. After Nick returned, he and his cousin started talking about how cool it would be if he could come up there. He asked me if it was okay if he went up and surprised both the grandparents and his parents. I was okay with this, I was planning on taking the kids to LA to spend time with Andrea.

Well, about a month ago, Andrea lets me know her and her husband are getting a divorce. No big deal though, they were splitting the time with the house and the kids and I'd still be able to bring the kids. It would be her week for the house and he wouldn't have a say in what went on while she was there.

Last week, I get an IM from Andrea, telling me the week is off, her husband is being a jerk and has decided that he's not leaving this week and he doesn't want her to have company. I asked her if she'd come here and she said she'd have to see what was going on.

Saturday, Nick left for his grandparents. He met his cousin, aunt and uncle at the airport in Chicago and drove to WI from there. He surprised his grandmother and grandfather, nearly making his grandmother cry. He managed to trick his grandmother into not calling his parents, to keep him from blowing his cover that he was up there already. Back here, we've been working under the excuse that Nick has to work for an inspection that's coming up at and has to stay really late. So my in-laws don't call at all.

Today, I get an IM from Andrea telling me that she's got a job up in TN, where she's moving to, and that she can't come this week. Which totally blows. I'm working on plans for the kids and I for thanksgiving because none of our family will be in town.

And now, Nick's aunt gets a call from his mother. Nick's other grandmother is in the hospital with chest pains. Nick's parents blow their surprise to the rest of the family. Then Nick gets on the phone and blows his part of the surprise to his parents.

So, all the money that's been spent to get family together that hasn't seen each other in 6 years might go to waste and Nick's grandmother is in the hospital. Everyone is stressed out and worried and people might not get to spend the holiday together.

I think this is my shitty luck. Me being in the family has somehow screwed up their luck. I'm hoping that his grandmother is doing well enough by Wednesday so that the in-laws can go up to WI and they can all get together like they planned.

A-Maize-ing -Picture heavy

2008-11-15T22:57:00.002-06:00

Today was an interesting day. We went to Hondo, TX to go through their Corn Maze (like the title? LOL) It was really windy and chilly, but walking through all that corn was surprisingly warm. It only took us about an hour to finish the first half, which is pretty good considering it was the FIL, the MIL, Zuri, Aaron and I. FIL could actually see over the stalks at some point (he's a giant) so we kept the going in circles to a minimum. We had kettle corn, fresh from the popper. It was my first time eating it, so now I'm going to be a snob about it and only eat it fresh, none from a bag! Aaron got to jump on this giant, moon bounce type thing. It was way cooler than a moon bounce because it ddn't have sides, it was just a big pillow of air surrounded by dirt. He also got pulled by a tractor in this barrel train thing. The kids got to pet goats too. This weekend was military appreciation, so we all got in for free. So cool.

After, we came home and the kids painted again. The in-laws had a new fence put up last weekend and they wanted the kids to leave a mark on it, so we did hand prints with their names and the date under and then let them paint the rest themselves.

The kids waiting to go into the maze

Aaron, after grandpa jumped out, scaring the crap out of him

All the corn!!!

Zuri enjoying her kettle corn

Aaron in mid-jump

Zuri playing on the hay

Aaron riding the 'train'

Aaron leaving his mark

Zuri leaving her mark

2008-11-01T18:57:00.003-05:00

Friday we took Aaron to the doctor for his ADHD evaluation. The doctor had given the teacher and me a form each to fill out. Lots of checklists and questions. On my checklist, out of 9, he scored 9 in both hyper activity and attention deficit. You need a 7 to qualify. On the teacher's form, he scored a 5 on attention and a 6 on hyper activity. Our Ped. decided that the scores were qualifying enough. She asked Nick and me how we wanted to handle it. We asked her what her recommendations were and she said that in most cases, medication and counseling worked best. I know most parents won't go to meds except as a last resort, but I trust this Ped. She's the first doctor to listen me with my concerns over Aaron's weight and not assume I'm the one who was doing something wrong and also was the first Ped to listen and suggest he needed speech therapy. She's always had his best interest in mind. So we did the meds. His first time of taking them was this morning. The Ped said it could take a few days to start showing improvement, but today has been a very rare day. Aaron has been calm, he's been able to focus, he hasn't gotten angry, he hasn't thrown a fit. We were at IHop this morning when it took effect. One minute he was bouncing around, kicking the seat, fidgeting and just being 'Aaron'. The next, he was calmly coloring. He ate most of his breakfast, didn't have a fit over the syrup situation and when his milk ran out, instead of getting upset over getting water, he drank it and thanked the waitress. It was amazing.

Thursday I got called to Aaron's school for him biting a girl at PE. He's been in a fight before but that was after another boy pushed him down. This time it was unprovoked. He was dismissed from school early. There was a fall festival that night and I kept him from that. He was also told he wasn't going trick or treating, but after the diagnosis from the Ped, I felt bad keeping him from going.

So Friday night, Aaron, Zuri and I went trick or treating for the first time together. Since we live in apartments, there isn't much going on here. We went to the next neighborhood over and the kids made out like bandits. We went down two streets and probably only went to 15 houses and their buckets were full. We only went for 45 minutes and they got a whole bucket of the good stuff. Toys, non-generic candy, fun-sized candy bars, halloween themed cups and pencils. It was awesome. Aaron loved ringing doorbells and Zuri spent most of the night hiding behind me. The homeowners were so nice and would tell Aaron and Zuri how cute they were. I felt weird being in a different neighborhood, but only one person asked where we were from and when I told her about our apartment complex and this being the first year for the kids, she gave two more handfuls. Also, some college kids outside one of the houses stopped up and asked if they could take a picture of the kids because they were so cute. It was so much fun for them.

After we took the kids, I went to a party that my gym instructor was having. I see these people everyday in Zumba, at the kid's club or in another class but this was our first interaction. Everyone was so nice, the food was awesome and we had a lot of fun. It was my first Halloween party since I was in middle school. We were there for over 4 hours and after people started getting ready to go to clubs but I was so tired, I went home instead. I'm almost wishing we'd stay here until next Halloween so I can go to another party with the gym group, but that's not going to happen. Nick's able to pick out orders in May of '09 so we could be moving as early as June.

And now, some pictures from my Halloween

Me and the kids

Mischelle and I

Everyone at the party

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-29T09:09:00.000-05:00

Finished project

2008-10-28T08:46:00.004-05:00

This is my first completed knitted project using both purl and knit stitches!

It's a dishcloth with the state of South Carolina at the top and 'S C' at the bottom. The colors make it hard to see, but I like how the white made an 'X'.

Boo-ya

2008-10-22T21:36:00.003-05:00

I figured out my password :)

I did a 'data dump' on my computer a few days ago and I couldn't figure out which password/username I'd used to create my google account, so I couldn't get into my blogger account.

Let's see...

My last update was on the 29th of Sept, which is a long time ago. Since then, things have been crazy around here.

Aaron is being tested for behavioral issues. His teacher is amazed about how much he knows, but he can't seem to control himself in class. He's disruptive and even getting into fights in class. Some of the fights have been self defense (another kid pushed him down and he came up swinging) but others have not been prompted by anything. He's learning so fast though, which usually doesn't happen when kids have these behavioral issues, so the doctor is interested in how he's doing at school. Hopefully by the end of the month, we'll have an answer to what's going on. He's also finally gaining weight. This past week, he went over the 30lb mark, which is a huge deal to us.

Zuri is also learning quickly. She is full of surprises. At her 18M check-up, her weight had dropped 3lbs from her 1 year, so when we went in for her 2 year and she had gained over 6lbs, the doctor was really happy. Zuri is the 'good' eater. She'll eat anything and everything put in front of her. She's starting to get a 2 year old attitude, but she does it in such a sassy way, it's hard to get mad at her.

I've been doing really good with my new gym buddy. We've tired a bunch of different classes together and it's been a lot of fun. Our favorite is Zumba. I have no co-ordination, so it's surprising that I'm as good at it as I am. We've also made friends with the other regulars of the class and the instructor. She's having a Halloween party and we're going in costume. It's going to be awesome. I haven't lost any weight in two weeks, but I've been doing a lot of weight lifting in the body pump class, so I'm hoping I've lost fat and gained muscle weight. I've also been working on learning how to knit. I can do the knit stitch, but not the purl. Which means I can make a crap load of scarves and dish clothes, but nothing else.

That's all for now. I know there's more, but my brain is mush...

two weeks worth...

2008-09-29T13:15:00.003-05:00

I think it's been about two weeks since I've been able to update. I've only been able to spend a few moments at a time online, so writing out all that has happened since my last one has been hard to even think about doing. Because this is going to be pretty long, I'll leave out the photos. I'll try and make a photo entry sometime this week and add all the photos, but for now, photo free.

Nick came home on the 16th. It was really weird compared to his last homecoming, which was 5000 people on a ship with thier families meeting them on the pier. Here, it was 20 people with their families meeting them at a hanger. Very anti-climatic. No bands, no screaming throngs of people, no media, nothing. But it was nice in the fact that it only took one hour to get there, collect Nick and get his bags loaded in the car. I think for his last homecoming, we were on the pier for hours. I took Zuri with me to pick him up, but left Aaron at school. I wanted Nick's coming home to be a surprise to him. Zuri was a little hesitant and tried to hide from him, she's seen him on webcam and heard his voice, but the connection that 'this is daddy' wasn't being made. We went and picked Aaron up from school and all he could do was giggle and say 'That's my daddy,' over and over again. He was super excited to see Nick and wouldn't leave him alone the rest of the night.

Wednesday through Friday was spent at home, hanging out and working on unpacking. Also, we had to pack for the weekend that Nick and I planned to spend alone without kids.

Friday, we went up to San Antonio after Aaron got out of school. Nick's parents took us out to dinner for Mexican food and Nick shared stories from the past 6 months. After dinner, Nick and I went downtown to stay the weekend without the kids.

Saturday Morning, we went to San Marcus to the outlets for shopping. We bought some things for the kids, some things for me and Nick some sunglasses. I really love the outlets because I was getting normally expensive things for very cheap. Nick even bought me a bracelet that was 70% off retail as a gift, it's flowers and pink and I have a thing for pink and flowers. That night, we went out for sushi at a sushi bar downtown called Sushi Zushi. They'd won 'best of the best' 6 years in a row, so we were expecting it to be awesome, but it wasn't even good. We went home pretty disappointed in our food, our service and the atmosphere. the only thing that the restaurant had going for it was they wore cool shirts with funky sayings on them.

Sunday, we went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. I'm terrified of heights, so roller coasters get my blood going. I actually did really well on the coasters, better than usual (no threatening to vomit or calling for my mommy) but the drop ride (Slingshot) caused me to threaten Nick with bodily harm if we ever did it again. Not cool. They had different themed areas through out the park and one was 'The Boardwalk' where they had the older rides like the ferris wheel. We rode one ride called 'Frisbee' and both of us nearly threw up. Not good considering we were in a giant circle, spinning around; the vomit would have landed on us, or the poor kids sitting across from us.

After we got back from the park, we went to Mi Tierra, the best Mexican food I've ever had and I've had a LOT of Mexican food. It's world famous and according to our waiter, Bette Midler, Lyle Lovett, Carlos Santana and George Lopez have all eaten there. They also have awesome margaritas. I had a large strawberry, a 'swirl' and a prickly pear, all of which were insanely good. I think it's hard to decide which was the best part, the atmosphere, the waitstaff, the roaming mariachi bands, the food or the drinks. It was all great and we plan on going back.

Monday, we went and picked the kids up and came back home. We spent the rest of the week chilling at home, doing some shopping and just enjoying being a family again.

I also made a new friend this past week. Aaron's schoolmate's mom and I got to talking outside of the school on Thursday. I was wearing my gym clothes and said something about going to work out and next thing I knew, we were at the gym together, laughing at each other. She got a little dizzy and we spent about an hour or so in the bathroom talking about ourselves and our families. We made plans and got together again on Friday at the gym. We did my first class together, Body Pump and even though I tipped over and broke a nail, it was still a lot of fun. We left the class extremely sore but working out plans for the next week on what we'd do together.

Friday night it was back to San Antonio. We went out to Mexican for dinner again with Nick's parents. I told you, we eat a lot of Mexican food down here.

Saturday, we went to Sea World. Nick, his parents, the kids and I. Aaron was disappointed because he wasn't big enough to ride any rides, but he did have fun at the kids net area and loved sliding down the slides after climbing to the top. We made sure to see the 'Shamu' show, which didn't go over very well with Zuri because we sat in the splash zone and that water is FREEZING. I believe she now has an unnatural aversion to killer whale tails.

Sunday we had a BBQ at the in-laws where Nick grilled some of the most perfect ribs ever consumed. They were just awesome. Nick's aunts, uncle, cousin, grandparents and some family friends all came out. Nick's birthday recently passed so his High School best friend brought him a present; a painting of Yankee's Stadium. It's pretty big so we're still trying to find a place to hang it.

Today, I met up at the gym again with my friend. We did the body flow class, a combination of Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates. Since the body pump on Friday, we have both been so sore walking was an issue, so the body flow really stretched us out and loosened up our muscles.

And to end it all on a high note:

I haven't been to the gym in nearly a month. With Nick back, we've been eating a lot of junk food and I was really worried about weighing myself because I figured I'd gained all the weight I've lost and then some. Nope. I maintained my weight loss. Didn't gain anything in a month. That has me really encouraged and happy. Now that I have a gym buddy, I feel like I can lose even more.

Bringing you up to speed

2008-09-15T14:45:00.007-05:00

I know it's been a while since I've blogged and also a while since I've read anyone else's blog. Sorry about that. We had to evacuate for the hurricane and I've also had a ton of things on my plate since Nick is coming home soon.

Getting ready for a return from deployment is nearly as stressful as getting ready to send them on deployment. I've had to turn on a cell phone, clean out the cars, clean the whole house, find an outfit to wear and do some 'personal maintenance' that I've been neglecting for the last few months. I also have a baby blanket needs to be done in the next month and plans for another one plus a matching stuffed animal and a scarf that I'm hoping to be able to give as a Christmas gift. Good thing I'm learning to type while crocheting so I can still maintain a level of activity on the social site I frequent and on the crochet/knitting forum that I like to use for ideas.

I'm hoping to get updated on reading some other blogs in the near future (maybe after things have settled down) because I really miss hearing about how my friends are doing (ps, if you know my number, just call me, I can talk and clean at the same time, but can't type and clean at the same time.).

And for you random strangers who read this... Sorry I'm not more entertaining. Next time, I'll juggle flaming bowling balls while covered in honey, standing over an ant hill. Get your cameras ready :)

Dolphin Pee

2008-09-06T18:32:00.005-05:00

I took the kids to the TX State Aquarium today. They had a lot of fun running around looking at all the fish. We also watched the dolphin show (again). We sat in the very front row, in the center. I've seen this show maybe 10 times and every time they tell you 'If you're in the blue row, you might get wet.' I've always sat in the blue row, and I've never gotten wet. Today was different though, we got soaked. One of the dolphins splashed us three times. Zuri loved the water and was licking it off her hands. I made the mistake of saying; 'Yummy, Dolphin Pee' and Aaron freaked out. I guess Dolphin Pee is nasty. Hehe.

I didn't bring my camera because they haven't changed the exhibits since the last time we went. BIG mistake. On the way down to see the underwater dolphin exhibit, we caught them playing with a large cat. About the size of a bobcat, but with spots. When they noticed we were watching, they told us it was an African Serval. So beautiful. I can't believe I missed out on getting a picture of one.

*photo was found on photobucket.

Finished it!

2008-09-01T16:55:00.003-05:00

For a month, I've been working on an afghan for Andrea. It's the largest project I've ever crocheted and I am so happy to say that it is done! I can't wait to send it to her so she can see it. I also learned a lot while working on it. Nick's aunt taught me how to join blocks with a crochet stitch instead of a whip stitch and I also learned a few new stitches.

It's been a really fun project and I'm going to start a new one, a baby blanket, as soon as the yarn comes in that I've ordered.

Here's the finished project:

Saturday, Planes, Trains, Tigers and bears... What?

2008-09-01T16:39:00.002-05:00

Saturday, we kept the kids really busy. First was a trip to downtown San Antonio to visit the Children's Museum. Right now, they have a big exhibit on trains and Aaron was super excited to go. He got to 'drive' a train, fly in a plane, see fish and be in a bubble.

Zuri just had fun chasing after him and running up and down the stairs, but she did enjoy being in the conductor's seat of the train.

After the museum, we went to the Rainforest Cafe. It's a 3 story restaurant with waterfalls, fake flowers and anima-tronic animals. The one in San Antonio is the only one with the Panda Bears, so it was cool to hear them and see them during dinner. Also, every 15-20 minutes, there was a 'thunder storm' where the lights would flicker and thunder would sound. The food was also awesomely good but more than we could eat. We treated the kids and got each of them a rainbow Icee. Zuri's was almost as big as she was.

Friday, for the Birds!

2008-08-30T17:17:00.003-05:00

We're up in San Antonio this weekend. The kids love it here. Mostly because the Grandma caters to their every whim and the Grandpa bakes homemade cookies.

This time, Grandma had a craft project waiting for the kids. Painting wooden bird houses. They both did a great job and we're planning on hanging them in the back yard after adding a little seed to them. This is Zuri's first craft project and she enjoyed it a lot. Aaron has done a few other things but I think this painting one was his favorite.

A few pictures for you all to enjoy

Zuri, ready to paint-

Aaron saying 'hi'-

Masterpieces in progress-

The finished project-

Zuri's

Aaron's

Kindergarden

2008-08-28T17:15:00.003-05:00

Monday was Aaron's first day of Kindergarden. We missed orientation so we had no clue where his class was or who his teacher was (they did registration two weeks prior to the first day and orientation was the friday before, very last minute). Aaron was less than excited. I think he thought we were going back to Head Start and wasn't having that. He and Zuri also refused to sleep the night before so they were both very cranky when I took him to class. It didn't help that he wouldn't be riding the bus this year, we live too close to the school. Riding the bus was by far one of the best things for him. I guess when we move, we'll have to get a place far away from school to make him eligible for the bus.

I did good. I saw a few mommies crying after dropping of their kids, but I managed to keep it together. Aaron had an okay first few days, the second was hard on the teacher because she wasn't used to Aaron's 'spirit' and actually brought up putting him into pre-K this year because he's not adjusted. I shot that down, considering he's either at or above the level of the rest of the kids in his class, pre-K would hold him back and make him hate school even more. Together we decided we'd get some evaluations done and that we'd wait to do anything considering they're going to start a new Kindergarden class because all the current ones have 24-25 students and there's only one teacher.

The first two days were bad because I had no idea how much lunch was (they didn't send the information home until the first day... something that should have been given out at registration), I had no idea when school started and when it ended, I didn't even know how the drop off stuff works. But I found out lunch is $1.30 (HOLY CRAP!), school was from 8 to 3 and the drop off is a free for all except for kindergarden and pre-k, we're expected to walk our kids in, they're not allowed to go anywhere without an adult (a plan I like).

So, here are a few pictures of Aaron on his first day. And yes, they do have 'uniforms', royal blue or hunter green polos, jeans only with a 5 pocket maximum, shirts tucked in, belts, and shoes can't be open toed, without a back or a combination of red and black. Yeah, it's kinda weird.

Aaron on the couch, trying to hide:

Letting me take a full picture after fighting me:

In the car:

In class. Yes, he sucks his thumb and plays with his hair:

Craft Closet

2008-08-23T19:46:00.003-05:00

Today, after the inlaws came and went, I decided to tackle my newest project. I was going to save it for during the week while Aaron was at school, but I couldn't stop thinking about how cool the results would be, so I jumped on it now. I also managed to sweat out two gallons of sweat while working on it, so I'm counting today as a gym day! All of the things I needed to do this were downstairs and where I was doing it was upstairs, so about 40+ trips up and down the stairs, I think I have buns of steels and legs of jelly.

So, here it is, my newest 'renovation' in this apartment...

Before:

After:

Later, I plan on buying a 48"X20" table that will fit up against the wall and a folding chair to keep up here. I'm going to use the landing as a craft area. I think the total cost of the project was $40, but that was because I needed some of the smaller bins. I probably could have done without the black and white ones, but they were really pretty and just the right size. I even found a place for all the uniforms, jackets, prom dresses, christmas decorations, christmas trees and random christmas kitty.

So, this is it, Lisa's Crafting Closet! All the junk from 3 rubbermaid containers, one storage ottoman and countless boxes all over the house, shoved into a closet and made to look reasonably pretty!

Oh the HORROR!

2008-08-20T15:32:00.002-05:00

I like to let Zuri shower with me, it's quick and easy. Today, I took her up the the shower, let her get in first and worked on my eyebrows while she played in the water. I get in, wash my hair and happen to look in the corner

HOLY SHIT!

That's a spider, it's a spider, a spider... OMG it's a spider. I toss Zuri out of the shower, dripping wet. For some reason, I continue to wash, rather quickly, but keeping my eye on the devil with 8 legs. (My plan is to finish my shower, then seal off the bathroom, never to open it again. He can have it). I'm just about done and he starts running at me! I start screaming and crying and jump out. I run to my closet, grab a shoe, open the shower stall and throw the shoe at him. It grazes his legs and I throw it again. And again and again, until SUCCESS, he does the 'curl up and die'. I have soap on my face, so I rinse it off real quick and go to really squish him, so I can flush him, and he jumps up and runs back to the corner. I'm screaming 'Why won't you die??' and crying again. Aaron comes in, wants to see what's going on, but I'm convinced it's a baby eating spider and scream for him to get away (Way to go mom, he already has a fear of bugs.). I run downstairs, grab my weed killer (it's the only thing in the house that says 'killer' on it, so it's my only option) and run back upstairs... Remember, I'm naked.

I then begin to drown him in weed killer. Not just one or two squirts, but I empty out the whole bottle on him. He is now legs up, floating in a sea of Round Up. Not convinced he's dead, I shut the shower door, stuff a towel under it, just in case and shut the bathroom door, stuffing a towel under it. He's fooled me once, not going to happen again.

After all this, I come down stairs to check and see what kind he is, convinced that because of his size (with leg span, about the size of a silver dollar) he is highly venomous and I just saved us all from a painful death.

He's a grass spider. According to Wiki 'They are harmless spiders.'

* the photo is not of my spider, it's off the internet. Hopefully, my spider is dead.

Wordless Wednesday; Bad Hair Day

2008-08-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

Another one!

2008-08-19T13:37:00.004-05:00

I won another blog giveaway! Thanks to Who's the Boss? (www.whosthebossblog.com) for my cool box of stuff!

And what a great box of stuff! Here's what I got:

1 organic Pistachi-Oh Weil bar

2 samples of Taster's choice instant coffee

4 DentaBurst teeth cleaner samples

1 package of Weight Watchers Peanut Butter Cups

1 bag of Soap nuts www.laundrytree.com

1 free pair of underwear from HerRoom www.herroom.com

1 Fresh Wave All Natural Odor Neutralizing Spray

1 Fresh Wave All Natural Odor Neutralizing Crystals

1 Bottle of Emerita Embody Skin Conditioning Massage Oil

1 Sample pack of Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn

1 Box of merci European Chocolate

1 manicure set from cafemom www.cafemom.com

1 internet password organizer from InnoventionLab

Book: Sin in the Second City, Madams, Ministers, Playboys and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott

1 Laptop skin

1 DVD with an episode of The Closer and an episode of Saving Grace

1 book: blogher Heros

2 packs of wine charms

And last, a box from Greenopolis www.greenopolis.com for recycling the used Fluorescent blubs. You can go to www.thinkgreenfromhome.com to get one yourself.

now I just got to try to hold off on devouring the box of chocolates... wish me luck!

Dumpster Diving: The highlight of my day

2008-08-16T17:48:00.002-05:00

No, not the highlight because it's the best thing to happen all day, but it sure was the funniest.

I took the trash to the dumpster and also brought my mail to drop off on the way back. I threw in the bag, threw in a pizza box I had with me then threw in, OH SHIT, the mail! I stood there and just stared at my nasty mail. Settling in at the bottom of the dumpster. I couldn't just leave it there, it would bother me for months, knowing 6 signed checks were just chilling somewhere, waiting to be found. Two things went my way at least. I threw it far enough it went nearly to the other side where the other sliding door was and they had just emptied the dumpster this morning, so at least it hadn't landed on a baby diaper or something equally disgusting. I walked over to the other door, slid it open and reached in and was able to grab all but one letter. For this one, I had to bend over and reeeeeeach. Nope, still not good. I was about 1/2 an inch too far away. So I leaned my weight on the edge of the door and see-sawed myself in the dumpster. I'm sure people driving by found it funny to see my giant ass hanging out of the dumpster, feet kicking while I tried to grab that last letter. I finally managed to grab it without touching massive amounts of my skin to the bottom of the dumpster, just the tips of my fingers. I mailed off the letters, covered in strange slimy stuff and then went home and took a HOT shower. Yucky.

The good thing that happened to me today was that my clothes that I ordered a while back came in. I ordered 2 pairs of pants and 5 shirts from American Eagle because Nick loves them and said they were awesome. I measured myself before I bought and according to my measurements, I'd fit in the largest sizes they carry (not too bad, considering they only go up to 18). The whole time I've been waiting, I've been worried they won't fit. That they'll be too tight and I'll have to send them back. I got them this morning and with the exception of one of the pants, they fit perfectly. The pants that didn't fit were able to be buttoned and sat right on my thighs, but the part around my waist was too tight. I have to lose about 5-10lbs to get them to feel right. I'm hoping I can do that before Nick gets home, I wanted to pick him up in the pants with one of the shirts. It's a really cute outfit.

Ho-hum

2008-08-15T19:02:00.003-05:00

I haven't done anything in a few days besides surveys, so it's nice to get back to what my blog was made for.

I signed Aaron up for school on the 12th. It was actually pretty easy and quick because we missed the regular sign up date and went when no one else was there. He's not excited about school. When I ask him if he wants to go, he yells 'NO' at me. I think once he gets there, he'll like it as much as he liked Head Start. Well, I hope so. Doesn't matter if he likes it or not. He's going.

Zuri's learning new words every day. Today, she worked on 'spaghetti' and calling her brother downstairs when I call him. Spaghetti comes out like 'C-E-e' and Aaron is 'Anan', so she's doing pretty good with it.

I've missed the gym all week. Normally, I wake up and want to go. I can't wait to go. But this week, every day of the week I've decided that going is the last thing I want to do. I know, I should suck it up and go, but I just can't seem to force myself. I have managed to get dressed for the gym everyday, but I'll start cleaning the house, consider the gym and decided not to go again.

Some sad news, one of my favorite sites is closing down. Maya's Mom is shutting it's doors. Many people are pissed about it. I'm a little sad, but considering the people I care about I'll never lose touch with, I'll live.

Nick's NALO flight was approved, so as long as they don't break down in Greece, he'll be home planned. I'm happy. I can't wait. I get a foot run when he returns! Yay!

So, that's my boring week. Sorry nothing blew up or anything more interesting happened. maybe next week! I have been cooking every day lately, so the chances of me catching the kitchen on fire had gone up two times.

Thursday Thirteen

2008-08-14T13:37:00.002-05:00

Thirteen Things about Lisa


My first Thursday 13 will be my 13 favorite books!  In no particular order:

1)Lord of the Flies by William Golding. We read this book in 11th grade and I've loved it ever since. Thank you Mr. Ford for making us read it. I knew there was a reason I liked you as a teacher (well, besides you being hot)

2)The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. This was my first King novel. I read it in 7th grade. Probably now, it wouldn't be in a Jr. High school, probably because it says the word 'penis' more than a conservative southern school would like it to, but it's the book that made me love Stephen King as an author.

3)The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This is out of the 'norm' from what I read, but I loved it just the same. It's a sad book that'll make you cry, but also has happy moments that'll make you cry as well.

4)The Stand by Stephen King. Another King book that I absolutely couldn't put down. It's a monster of a book, but it's so addicting I read it straight through only stopping to eat and sleep. Then I picked it up a few weeks later and read it again. If you've seen the movie but didn't like it, still read the book. It's so much better than the movie.

5)Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett. This is probably the funniest book I've ever read. I love the humor in it, the use of footnotes and just the overall way the book was written. Just don't loan it out, you'll never get it back.

6)A Child Called 'it' by Dave Pelzer. This book will make you cry. It'll make you question humanity and have you saying 'why' quite often. It's a really good book if you're able to handle extremely sad things. I had to read it in spurts, never all at once.

7)Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen This is an emotional book for me as well. I love how it bounces back from present to past but manages to do it without losing the reader. Very well written

8)Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Japanese Culture? Of course I'd love it. It's also a beautifully written book, full of emotion.

9)Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Okay, what woman WOULDN'T love a book about a chocolate factory? Actually, my love of this book goes back to watching the movie every year as a family when it came on TV. It's one of my most favorite movies, so the book is of course up there in the rankings.

10)I am America (And so Can You) by Stephen Colbert. This book is funny if you're a follower of the show. And since I refuse to miss an episode, I loved it.

11)Hate Mail From Cheerleaders by Rick Reilly I first fell in love with this comlumnist while reading the last page of DHs Sports Illustrateds

12)The Host by Stephanie Meyer I just got this book and already it's a favorite. I love how it's written and the story line. Glad it's a hard copy cause I can see myself reading it over and over again.

13)Homecoming by Cynthia Voight I've had this book since I was about 10. The same copy. It's well worn and very much loved. The spine is falling apart from the 100s of times I've read it. A 'sad at times book with plenty' of good moments kinda book

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


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Couples Survey

2008-08-13T17:07:00.003-05:00

I stole this Couples Survey from Homeslice:

[1] What are your middle names? Marie and Allen. I think my first name/middle name combo is the lamest ever.
[2] How long have you been together? Since about May of 2002
[3] How long did you know each other before you started dating? Only a few weeks. We worked together and he asked me out after a while.
[4] Who asked whom out? He asked me out. Wait, I might have told him he could take me out... I can't remember.
[5] How old are each of you? He's 26 and I'm 26.
[6] What are your astrological signs? Aries and Virgo (I had to look his up, I don't remember all the signs)
[7] When was your first kiss? I honestly can't remember. I don't keep track of that sort of thing
[8] Who’s mother do you see the most? Right now, his, but before we moved to TX we were seeing mine at least once a month.
[9]Who’s father? Always his. My dad has never come to visit us.
[10] Do you have any children together? two
[11] What about pets? No, pets run away. It's because of me.
[12] Do you have a song? All Along the Watchtower. It was the first song that played on the radio when we got out of the court house after getting married.
[13] Which bill is the hardest on you as a couple? The electric. Mostly because we kinda argue over it. I want to conserve electric by cutting the a/c off more, but he's all about the comfort.
[14] Who pays the bills? I write the checks, it comes out of our bank account, but he's the one with the drive.
[15] Who drives and who sits shotgun? Depends on our mood and where we're going. If we're in S.A., he drives. I get lost and freaked out in big cities. I drive around CC a lot though.
[16] Did you go to the same school? Not the same High School, but we did go to the same 'A' school in the Navy, at the same time but didn't know each other then. We even had a few mutual friends, just never met each other.
[17] Are you from the same hometown? No, I'm S.C. and he's T.X.
[18] Do you live in the same town now? Right now? No. He lives in Bahrain and I live in the US, so we're not even in the same country.
[19] Who is the smartest? Depends on what we're talking about. I think we're about equal though. Usually we scored the same on tests we took together in the military.
[20] Who is the most sensitive? I think we're probably equal. I show it more often, but he's a softy. He just likes to try and hide it.
[21] Where do you eat out at most as a couple? As a couple? No where. We take the kids to just about everywhere we go.
[22] Where do you shop the most as a couple? HEB, it's so romantic in the dairy aisle.
[23] Where is the furthest you have traveled as a couple? Dallas TX from CC Tx. But, in a work trip while we were dating we both got sent to Key West FLA at the same time. That was pretty cool... A paid vacation with a little work during the nights.
[24] Who has the best group of friends? Hmmm, IDK. He has more friends than I but I'm closer to my few friends than he is to his
[25] Who has the craziest exes? Him. Well, I think anyone who calls a pregnant woman and asks for her man is insane.
[26] Who has the worst temper? We're equal on that.
[27] Who does the cooking? I cook and bake, he grills. I probably do the most cooking, but usually when he cooks it's for hours at a time slow grilling something, so it probably evens out in the end.
[28] Who is more social? Me. Though, he's better at socializing than I am. We go some where and he schmoozes better than I do, but I spend more time in the long run talking to the friends I already have.
[29] Who is the neat-freak? I think it depends on what you're talking about us cleaning. If it's keeping up with the laundry and folding it, he is. I'm more obsessed with organizing everything. When we get ready to clean really good, I'm always the one getting told to 'sit down, it's good enough'
[30] Who is the most affectionate? He is
[31] Who is the most stubborn? He is.
[32] Who hogs the bed? He does... butthead.
[33] Who wakes up earlier? He does, but only be cause he works and I don't
[34] Where was your first date? Bennigans
[35] Who said I Love You first? I can't remember.
[36] Who has the bigger family? I do, but he's closer to his family than I am to mine.
[37] Do you give/get flowers often? I never give flowers, but he sends them to me sometimes for no reason, but I'll also not get them when I expect them, like for birthdays and anniversaries. He likes to keep me guessing.
[38] How do you spend the holidays? Lately with his family because they're so close, but we're supposed to move in the next year, so who knows.
[39] Do you have cute little names for each other? Yeah, a few. Well, I have them for him. I used to call him 'bunny' and 'applejacks'. Don't ask. It's stupid.

Twice as Nice

2008-08-11T13:11:00.002-05:00

I have gotten two notes from fellow bloggers telling me I 'had to check out their blog'. Okay, well I did and I'm really happy to see that they've given me this awesome award.

Aaaaaaaaawe! Thanks Dawn and MLC's Mom for giving me this award!

According to the rules, this is what I'm supposed to do next:

Choose 5 other bloggers that you feel are “Kick Ass Bloggers”

Let them know that they have received an award
Link back to both the person who awarded you and also http://www.mammadawg.com/
Visit the Kick Ass Blogger Club HQ , to get codes click here and it will take you to KABC HQ, sign Mr. Linky then pass it on!

Now, picking 5 is hard for me to do. If you look down the side of my blog, I have a few blogs that I really like to regularly read. I personally think ALL my friends have kick-ass blogs, but I'm very partial to them. And also, a few of them have already received multiple awards. So, I'll try and pick 5 that I haven't seen awarded anywhere else and hope for the best.

These ladies all jot down some pretty kick ass thought an ideas.

Back!

2008-08-10T17:14:00.004-05:00

Wow, we had a busy weekend. I went to the in-laws with the hopes of cleaning out some of my MIL's stuff. She's a pack rat. We cleaned out her china cabinet and threw away a full trash bag of stuff. I mean, who needs a used spongebob table cloth from my son's 2nd birthday party?

Besides trashing the junk, we went shopping for Aaron's school clothes, went to the movies, played in the sun in the back yard and spent some time with Nick's grandparents, both of which are 85.

The school clothes thing sucked. Aaron is in Kindergarden and they have 'uniforms'. Which, I'm okay with. Except for Aaron, finding these damn polos is next to impossible. He wears a toddler size, still. We actually got three at the children's place in a size 24months. Yeah, he's that small. I was only able to find 3 in his size and had to get two more from wal-mart in a size 4/5. They hand all the way down to his knees, but since we have to tuck it in, it shouldn't be an issue.

We saw the movie 'Space Chimps' on Saturday. Aaron was enthralled with the movie and really enjoyed it. Zuri on the other hand was only there for the sodas and the candy. Other than that she tried running down the aisle, which resulted in a lost shoe. Good thing the theater wasn't crowded. Glad we went a few weeks after it hit the theater.

Saturday afternoon, my swimsuit that we ordered arrived and I tried it on by going in the back yard with the kids, playing (er, Laying) in the kiddy pool. We also had a sprinkler going so that we could get wet and the lawn could get watered at the same time. I decided to skip the sun block on me and have actually acquired a decent tan. I'm shocked, normally I look like I've spent all day in an oven after an hour of sunlight, but I think waiting until after 3 helped out a lot.

Every Saturday that we're in town, we go out to breakfast with Nick's grandparents. It's become a tradition and it's a yummy one at that. We also try and go Bingo every once in a while, so Saturday night my Mother-in-law, Nick's grandmother and I all went out to play. Unfortunately all I accomplished was crocheting 10 rows in an afghan I'm working on. Nick's grandmother usually wins something, but if I go, no one wins. I'm cursed. I'm giving up Bingo forever.

Saturday was also mine and Nick's Anniversary. 4 years on the 9th. He ordered me a jewelry box as a gift, which should be here in a few weeks. It's handmade in an Asian style (he actually met the guy who makes them, he sells them in the exchange on the Bahrain base and other military bases) and will have my name engraved in to it. It's decorated with mother of pearl butterflies and has gilding on it. It's really pretty ( I got to see a picture of it at least)

Speaking of Nick, he had a good scare on Friday at work. There is a big-wig going to Bahrain sometime soon and they had to prep the base for him. That meant moving lots of random things. One of them was jet blast shields. Nick was in the crew that was unloading them from the truck to their new home. The shields are solid concrete and weigh aprox. 5 tons. They have to be lifted by crane. According to Nick, he was directing the shield and one of the rings that hold it to the crane snapped. The shield tipped, Nick noticed and ran. The shield landed about a foot or two behind him. Scared the crap out of him and everyone watching. Luckily, he's okay, I'll just have to send him new underwear.

Videos.

2008-08-05T19:27:00.002-05:00

Nick asked me to take some video of Zuri talking. When he left, she was only saying 'mommy, daddy' and a few other words. Now, she's saying 'cookies, butterfly, cheese, drink, Dora,' and a whole bunch of other words.

We're both freaking out over this. I know, she's on par with all other children her age, but Aaron was our first and he didn't talk until he was three. Needless to say, we're overly excited and convinced she's a genius.

So, for your viewing pleasure, the two videos I made for Nick:

(please excuse the bangs, we're working on growing them properly)

Quirky Meme

2008-08-03T16:09:00.004-05:00

Homeslice tagged me in her blog to do this 'quirky meme' I love a good meme, so I'll give it a try!

The Rules
* Link to the person who tagged you.
* Mention the rules.
* Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
* Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
* Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment to let them know that they’ve been tagged.

1) I really hate the shape of my toes. I've considered getting surgery to correct the look of them. It's something I kinda obsess over. Some of them look like ET's head and neck when he extends it.

2) I can't turn down free stuff. If my mother in law is getting rid of something and offers it to me, I have to take it. I know I may never use it, but I'll hold onto it for a few months to years then give it to Goodwill.

3) I sometimes buy the books of 'fill it ins' just to do the number ones. Usually, they are 6 number puzzles in the whole book and I'll do those then throw the book away. It's the same for crossword puzzle books, I only do the ones that take up two pages.

4) I like all my nails to be the same length. If one of them breaks, I'll cut them all down the same size. It drives me crazy to see someone with one long nail and the rest short.

5) I have a writing implement obsession. When I go to places like Staples and Office Depot, I actually get a giddy, high feeling over the pens and pencils. Sometimes, I even giggle with glee because I can't wait to buy something.

6) I feel compelled to buy things in pink. Just things for myself. Purses, wallets, pens, hair clips, if it's in pink, I have to get it in pink. My last three cell phones have been pink and I've actually not bought one that I wanted just because they didn't make it in pink.

And I shall now tag:

(sorry if any of you have been tagged before, but since you haven't done it yet, I'm tagging you on mine)

Guitar Heroine

2008-08-03T13:54:00.002-05:00

Cause becoming a rock and roll legend is hard work.

2 woo-hoos for the price of one!

2008-07-31T18:39:00.003-05:00

I entered a blog giveaway (okay, so I've entered a few.) and actually won! Yay. So, Thank you Dawn, I got my prize today! I can't wait to read the book and the bath/body stuff smells yummy.

I weighed myself at the gym today...

Are you ready?

You won't believe it!

Cause I sure as hell couldn't!

I lost 6 lbs in the last two weeks! I'm super excited. With the exception of the 7Up I drank while sick, I haven't had anything but water and skim milk to drink the last two weeks. I know, I gained 6lbs while I was hanging out with Andrea (gee, thanks Taco Bell) but I'm now back to my pre-vacation weight!

Catching up; gym, crying, roads, hotels and margaritas.

2008-07-29T18:35:00.003-05:00

I did my gym thing today. Yay me! I spent my hour on the elliptical and when I got off, I felt as though I was floating on a cloud. It was such a weird feeling that I actually said "Weeeee" out loud to a room full of women working out. That got a few giggles and we all started talking. Apparently gym ladies are all wanting to talk, but don't want to be the first to say something. I've realized that if I set the machine at an hour and say to myself 'Self, you only have to do half an hour' when I get to that half hour mark, my self says back to me 'Fuck that! I'm going the full hour!' I'm an inspiration to myself.

I got my yarn for the afghan that I'm wanting to make for Andrea. It's a similar pattern to the other one I was working on, but the colors match her house. Claret, forest green, dark taupe and light taupe. Already I can see it's going to be hard to give to her. The colors work so well together and the stitches just seem to fall off my hook. I'm putting the kids' afghan off until I finish this one. I also priced the yarn for the baby blanket I'm wanting to make for Nick's best friend and his wife. Over $50. That kinda took me by surprise, because the yarn I need for Andrea's is way less, and they're the same price. The baby blanket is going to be a LOT of work. But I'm excited to do it. I made one for my cousin and she loves it so much it hangs in her daughter's room, not allowed to leave the wall.

Another thing that I've started to notice about me, I get emotional when i work out. Sometimes it's a scene on TV or a thought that pops in my head, but many times I find myself trying not to cry. Even a song can do it to me. And I don't listen to sad music! I have to really work at it to keep myself from blubbering like an idiot on the elliptical or the weights. I don't think other people will understand what's wrong. Cause I sure as hell don't.

I'm pissed at the city right now. Before the hurricane last week, for the past month or so, they've been re-doing the drainage on our road. A good thing, we live in an area where the roads flood even after a moderate rain. Anyway, the drainage was laid about 3 or 4 days before the hurricane and they just left. The road is torn up and they leave it like that. The heavy rains from the hurricane washed the sand/gravel mixture they used to cover the drains away and now the westbound part of our road is 1/3 gone. If you don't want to risk driving into the ditch, you have to drive in the east bound lane. I really, really hope they fix it before school starts. There is an Elementary school down the road and I can see a bus hitting the eroded part of the road and ending up in a 3 foot ditch. Even the trucks that deliver to the nursery on our street have to drive carefully or they'll lose their load of trees to those monster ditches.

Nick's departure date got pushed back from the 1st to the 8th. We had made plans to stay at the Mariott on the Riverwalk on the weekend of the 12th, but have to push back the plans because if the Navy plane takes a crap on them, we won't be able to to make the reservations in time. I called the hotel and tried to get new reservations for the following weekend, but unfortunately, all the military rated room are gone. That's pretty much the only way we can afford the place. Fortunately, the Mariott has another hotel just two blocks away that has rooms avaliable and we'll be staying there. There's a 'world famous' restuarant somewhere in the area, Mi Tierra, and we've made plans to visit it. The sell margaritas by the liter. Woohoo! I love me some margaritas!

Aaaah!

2008-07-27T20:51:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I called my in-laws early in the morning. I asked them to come up and take the kids to the aquarium. Since I was sick, the house was messier than I could stand and cleaning with kids in the house is a soul crushing endeavor. They came at 9 am and kept the kids for nearly 5 hours, allowing me to clean the house, child free and to do the grocery shopping, child free.

I actually LIKE cleaning my house. I know that sounds insane and I probably do need therapy, but if the kids are gone (or even if it's just Zuri, asleep in her room while Aaron is at school) I can crank up the iTunes and sing along while I do that deep down cleaning that every house needs. I pledged all the wood in the house, moved all the furniture and vacuumed/steam cleaned under it. I even added Downy to the steam cleaner and now my carpet feels like a soft, fluffy cloud.

Shopping with kids is a test of wills. Does Aaron have the will power to scream from International foods all the way to Baking or will he give out before we even hit Canned goods? Can I resist the urges to push the Buggy full of kids into the Deli area and run the other way? When the cashier says that a screaming, crying Zuri is so cute and she'd take her off my hands, how hard will it be for me to not jump up and down, clapping and yelling 'Yippy!'? I can shop with kids. I can get in and out of the store in 45 minutes or less, getting 90% of what we need. The only problem is that I spend a crap load of money. Some on junk. I start throwing random items in the cart, walking through the store like a mombie (mom zombie...), trying not to cry as I get LOOKS from other people. Other times, the crap load of money is spent because I want to get out of there so fast, I don't price compare. Who gives a shit if peanut butter A is 33¢ an ounce and B is 23¢ an ounce, I don't have time to read that! Just give me the brand that's closest to the beginning of the aisle so I don't have to waste time going all the way down.

This time, I spent an hour and a half shopping. And got everything we need. For two weeks. With the exception of milk and fresh fruit/veggies, I don't have to step foot in H.E.B. for the next 25 days (I know that's longer than two weeks, but b/c the in-laws had the kids, I went a week early and still have food left from last trip). I even spent less than usual. Cause my brain actually remembered the coupons, I got some buy 2 get 1 free deals and I price compared everything. It went so well, I'm actually considering a babysitter when I need to do the shopping. I figure $15 is worth the serenity in the store.

ICK. afghan?

2008-07-26T17:05:00.003-05:00

Yay, I'm finally feeling 'human' again. Last night was the first time in a few meals that I've eaten something besides crackers. I've been hanging on the couch, or at the computer, crocheting while I wait to no longer be sick.

What have I been crocheting? Why, the ugliest afghan ever known to man. Basically, I've taken all the crappy scrap yarn that I have and am weaving it into a fugly afghan.

Okay, it doesn't look THAT bad yet, but it'll get worse. This is only the center strip. I'm out of the green and the yellow. I think the next two stripes will be red, brown, pink, blue, rainbow and maybe a different yellow if I have enough. It's for the kids. Yep, it's pretty ugly so far and it'll only get worse, but at least I won't have the rubbermaid container full of yarn anymore. It'll all be woven in a giant, ugly square and hanging off the back of my couch.

It's good practice. Nick's best friend is having a baby in Oct (the due date is actually Z's birthday) and I've been 'tricked' into making an afghan for Andrea. Since I haven't finished a project in about 3 years, I need something to re-teach me. It's actually been going pretty good. Reading the pattern has been hard, but if I take it slow and write it out long-hand, it actually makes sense. Also, by my count, I've only dropped 4 stitches. Which is good, earlier attempts that I've tried have had a dropped stitch a row, which makes my squares look like triangles.

Nick has discovered that saying the word 'yarn' out loud is fun. So when we're on the computer together, talking over the internet, I'll hear him say 'Yarn' every once in a while. He's like, twelve or something.

Speaking of Nick, he got an offer to go TFO (temporary flight orders). Basically, he'll be flying along when they're using his equipment to catch any issues before they hit the ground. Kinda in-flight troubleshooting. He's excited about it. It means he gets to go to school in P.cola FLA (which he loved last time he was there) and gets to hang out with the aircrew in flight suits. Also means more pay if he meets monthly flight hour requirements, but that's way down the road. He has to pass the classes first.

Sick and fishie ramblings.

2008-07-24T18:09:00.002-05:00

We survived the storm yesterday. Yay. We're actually drying out quite nicely.

I've missed the gym the past two days. Yesterday because the potential floods and the tornado warnings in our area and today because I woke up feeling like I was going to throw up. This is not the typing of a happy mommy. I'm not sure where, but I've caught a bug from somewhere. All I've been able to eat today is saltines and drink 7Up. The thought of anything else makes me sick. I'm also super tired. Like, don't even want to get out of bed tired, want to lay on the computer desk while I type this tired. So tired that I got books in the mail and they are still sitting in a pile, not read, not shelved. For those of you who know of my obsession with my books, you know this is bad. I've been using my new phone (Yay) to keep up with things on the web. It's good for something. I managed to get a nap for about 2hrs while Zuri napped and Aaron was mesmerized by the TV. He keeps asking to go to the Aquarium and I plan on taking him tomorrow if I'm feeling better.

He wanted to go yesterday and cried when I told him we had to wait for the hurricane to come through. He didn't understand the storm thing, we've driven in rain before, so I had to tell him that because of the Hurricane, they had to take the fishies out and make them safe. We wouldn't want anything to happen to the Fishies. That seemed to work for yesterday and 'mommy is sick' worked for today. But he keeps talking about 'the big bridge' and going to the aquarium.

I plan on dosing myself with NyQuil tonight so I can sleep like the dead and manage tomorrow like I need to.

Well Hello Dolly!

2008-07-22T13:14:00.003-05:00

We're waiting. Dolly is coming and we're ready for her. She's only going to be a Cat 1 when she hits the coast of Tx, which isn't bad. We're at the northern tip of the storm. I've been asked by a few people if we're evacuating, but since just north of us, about 10 miles north, it's no longer a hurricane warning, it's a tropical storm warning, we're staying right here. I have moved my car out from under it's customary tree, just in case. And we have plenty of water, just in case. A good amount of canned goods, some cash and a car full of gas. What more could you want?

People aren't even freaking out yet. I got gas and the lot was empty, even though the station was 10¢ lower than usual. The grocery store beside my house isn't more crowded than usual and people are going to and from work like it's nothing.

I went to the gym again today. For some reason, I wasn't feeling well and nearly tossed my Raisin Bran Crunch all over the elliptical, but I managed to hold it down and finish my usual workout, even though it wasn't as 'intense' as it normally is.

We're on the downward slope of Nick's deployment. Only 6 weeks to go. He's started making plans over what he wants to do with his two weeks of leave when he returns. One of our plans was to go to the Mall of America and spend a week or so up there. Instead of that, we've decided to pay on our truck and get some of it taken care of, and stay in San Antonio on the Riverwalk instead. Nick was cruising the hotel sites and found one he liked a lot. He inquired online about military discount and it's the BEST we've ever heard of. 50% off! He booked it without bothering to ask me because the deal was awesome. We probably won't get a room overlooking the walk, but who cares? We're getting the Mariott for the rate of the Motel Six! We also plan on going to San Marcus to the Outlet mall for our little shopping trip. Nick has lost about 30lbs and needs new clothes and will also need new shoes. Might as well get them cheap.

Aaron starts school on the 25th of August. I don't know how he's going to take it. He's really good with routine. You get him on one, and he won't stray from it. But breaking a new routine in is really hard. I look forward to him going back, he had a lot of fun these last 2 years at HeadStart, but I'm also worried the new teacher won't understand him. That she'll think he's a 'problem kid' instead of understanding that he needs a little more direction in the beginning but once it's established, he's a really happy kid. I can see me having to pick him up early a bit in the beginning. Luckily, we've met with his principal and she understands that though Aaron is no longer 'special needs' (he was discharged from speech therapy at the end of last year), he still might need some social adjusting that other kids developed while he was working on speech. We'll see I guess.

Sunday Scribblings #120~ Ghosts

2008-07-20T12:01:00.000-05:00

Sunday Scribblings

When I was in High School, I hung out with some interesting people. One of my favorites and probably one that I was closest to was 'J'. J was a fun, hippie chick that wore 'vintage' clothes, listened to the oldies and drove a volvo named Bob. She lived in the center of our small town, about two streets off of Main St. Sophomore to Senior year I spent a lot of time at her house. Sleep overs, after school hanging out and at one time, before prom, a 'work out' session every Tuesday and Thursday.

One night, we and a few other friends decided to go to the old graveyard and hang out, trying to scare each other. These are the types of graves that are long forgotten. Leaves covering all the burial plots, all the headstones cracked. It's at the very end of a road, secluded from every thing, surrounded by trees. The place ghost stories begin. At one point, someone started telling scary stores. Nothing really major, just the 'bump in the night' stories older kids tell to their younger siblings to creep them out before a big sleep over. We all giggled nervously but enjoyed the thrill of the scare. After a while, we realized it was getting late and it was time to go home.

Walking to the car, one of our friends screamed and fell to the ground. We all turned to look but when we saw her face and the expression of horror followed by 'Something grabbed my foot', we ran for the car. Leaving our poor friend near tears on the ground. There were about 5 of us, besides the fallen, and you could probably hear our screams clear across town, the guys included. There was a hip high fence surrounding the graveyard. A few of us slowed only to climb it. I vividly remember one of the girls jumping it like she was an Olympic huddler, never slowing. We get to the car, throw open the driver's side doors, which are closest to the graveyard. It's a bottleneck as we all try to get in at the same time, nearly crying as we are trying to get away. 'J', the driver, gets in and starts the car. Without waiting for the rest of us, she pulls off. One of the guys slides across the roof, landing beside the car, wrenching open the passenger door and jumps in on the move. This is the stuff of movies.

Somehow, we all (well, except for the one we left behind in the graveyard) manage to get in the car. We go about half a block before our fear subsides and we realize 'screaming chick' isn't in the car with us. We go back to get her and find her standing on the side of the road, furious at us. The trees in the graveyard were as unkempt as the headstones and some of the roots had pushed up. Once she calmed down enough to look, she realized her foot was twisted up in some roots, not the skeletal hand of death pulling her to hell.

I know now there was no ghost. No boogie man waiting to grab us, but back then it was the closest thing to a ghost we had come to. When we retold the story, we'd leave out the roots. We'd go to other grave yards and supposed haunted spots around time late at night, trying to find a real ghost, trying to get the crap scared out of us. Nothing marginally as close to as scary as that ever happened to us again.

WHY??? Oh, and I've found Nemo.

2008-07-18T21:17:00.002-05:00

Today, I got a phone call from my in-laws at 3:30.

MIL: We're almost there!

Me: Almost where?

MIL: To your house! We're at exit 30. (my exit is 4)

Me:What? I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow!

MIL: No, G[FIL] told you we were coming today, we left at noon.

Me: Fuck.

Okay, I checked my messenger, and this is the message my FIL gave me:

WE ARE AT THE END OF OUR WITS WITH HIM. WE WILL TRY AND LEAVE HERE AROUND 12 NOON. WE WILL CALL YOU WHEN WE LEAVE. LOVE G

Do you see any where in there where it said "Coming on Friday?" "Coming tomorrow?" No, I don't either.

So I did the DIL scramble. Hiding shit in corners, cleaning stuff that hasn't been cleaned in weeks and putting the porn away. (kidding about the last, our porn is carefully hidden already.)

Besides that, I got to go to the gym again today. For some reason, I was pumped. I flew through my workout, high on endorphins. It was probably the best workout I've had in a while.

Until I stepped on the scale.

I knew when Andrea was here I was eating too much junk. Since I left her house nearly 2 weeks ago, I've gained 5 lbs. That puts be back really bad. For the next six weeks, I can't slack off. Doesn't help that the MIL wants all of us to go to Splashtown when Nick gets home. I CANNOT look like a whale in my butterfly/black swimsuit! I just can't. So it's exercising and dieting to the extreme. The only think I'll drink for the next 6 weeks is water and the occasional gatorade when I get my workout headaches. No junk food, no sweets, nothing that makes me happy. No Fast Food. It's all evil.

Aaron came home today, that's why the in-laws were visiting. Dropping his butt off. They just can't hang. He comes running in the house with a spatula. The story is that one day while helping gramma with the dishes, he dried a spatula and it looked like the one Spongebob uses, and he begged her for it. The MIL, of course, gave in. So now, my son's new favorite toy is a silver spatula.

He's going through a Nemo phase. He's obsessed with the movie. Wants to watch it all the time. I keep buying copies because he keeps screwing them up. I finally got smart though. I downloaded it to iTunes. I'm going to burn a copy and let him keep it in his DVD player until it's so scratched up it can't be used anymore then burn it again. That'll save me a few bucks.

Gym again, Phone too

2008-07-17T14:43:00.003-05:00

I went to the gym again today. yay me! Unfortunately, I wore the wrong socks and now have a giant blister on the arch of my foot. It's about the same size of my entire pinky finger. I could feel it coming on, but didn't stop to fix it because the only fix would have been going home and putting on new socks. I guess I'll just have to suffer through tomorrow.

I ordered a new phone because when Nick comes back, he'll want his old one and my old one sucks. I've been looking at the Blackberry, the Blackberry Pearl and the Palm Centro. Andrea got the Pearl while I was at her house and I played with it a little and really liked it. Instead of ordering it, I ordered the Palm. Sprint has a policy where you order a phone and if you don't like it, you can return it in two weeks and get a new one. I was worried the Palm would be too wide and the keys too small, but it's actually really easy to use. Also, it has the added plus of a stylus. And it's pink! I've been playing with it, seeing how easy it is to access things on it and since it's pretty easy, I think I'll keep it. At first, it seems like a lot of phone. But lately, I've realized I'm pretty forgetful and I have phone numbers, addresses, passwords, account numbers, birthdays and appointment date/times all over the place. I'm flipping through books, digging in drawers and looking at old calendars trying to remember all that I have going on in my life and my friends/family's life. I figure a phone that is also a PDA type device is the way to go. I'm not planning on throwing out all my paperwork, just in case something happens to the Palm, but I'm not going to have to dig anymore. So that's a new step in getting me more organized before Aaron goes to school next year.

A boring entry...

2008-07-16T18:13:00.004-05:00

I went to the gym today for the first time in a month. Wow. Though I did the same workout that I was doing before, and I actually completed it, I still feel like I'm dying. It's amazing what a month of slacking off can do to you. I did feel really good when the trainer came by and said "Looking skinnier!" Even though I know she's probably lying, it still feels nice to hear it.

Aaron is still at the in-laws. I did get an IM from them though. They can't do it. He's too much work. My MIL conceded that taking care of Aaron was way too much work and she's admitted that she now knows why my house isn't looking like a museum all the time and why I'm always burned out. I think that means I win. Yay, points for me!

Zuri has throughly surprised me. Today while looking at her Dora ball, I pointed to the butterflies on it and asked "What are these?" Thinking I'd have to tell her, just wanting to try and add a word. "Beeflies" she said to me, all excited. Okay, so not exactly what I was looking for, but DAMN close! I started laughing and bounced the ball off her head and she looked at me and said "Sorry!" I think she was telling me to say I was sorry, so I apologized while trying not to giggle at her.

I got to wear my new shoes when I went to the gym. Those are some damn comfortable shoes! I'm always worried about spending money on things like that because they feel really good in the store, but when I get them home and wear them out, my feet will hurt. Not this time. They felt awesome.

Nick got off the boat last night. He said it was the worst boat he's ever been on. I guess when you're used to the 'roominess' of a carrier, all other ships can seem cramped. They also didn't have the coffin lockers (Lockers that are located under the mattress and you open it like the lid to a coffin and keep your belongings in there) and the beds were stacked 4 high instead of 3 high, like on a carrier. Another issue, the 'big' lockers were all occupied. A few Marines had left the ship to go to Iraq and instead of finding somewhere else to secure their belongings, they left them on the ship, so no one else had lockers. Many of the guys were living out of bags for the week. Not a big deal, unless you think of how small and cramped everything is. And, of course, because they didn't have lockers, they had to worry about thieves. Nick didn't know they wouldn't have locker space and he brought his electronics from the hotel with him. He had to carry his laptop and iPod everywhere he went. Even with that, someone still managed to swipe his iPod. A little pissed at that, but there's nothing we can do other than fill out a report and maybe it'll show up.

That's all. Just a boring ass entry.

Sad

2008-07-14T10:24:00.003-05:00

Andrea left today so I'm a little sad. But, on a happy note, I have 8 wine coolers, 2 bottles of liquor, 1/2 of a pie, a freezer full of 'slush', a tattoo and VERY red (we re-dyed it, Red Hot) hair to remember her by.

Unfortunately, her leaving means I have to go back to losing weight. Oh well, I guess I'll be throwing the pie in the trash and putting the alcohol away for now.

New Tattoo!

2008-07-11T16:58:00.003-05:00

Andrea and I got tattoos!

We've been discussing matching tattoos for a few weeks now, but could never settle on something we both liked and a location for it. Finally, we settled on a Japanese Kanji for friend on our foot, right in front of the ankle bone.

A few pics of us getting them done.

Guy drawing the tattoo:

Andrea waiting:

Getting it done:

Me, actually reading the paperwork (there is a warning that the tattoo is permanent. Der.):

Mine getting done:

Finished result:

And yes, it is the true kanji, we didn't pick it out at the parlor, we got it off a kanji website and I have a painting in my room that has it on it. So it doesn't mean 'bitch ass americans' or something else silly.

Friday Feast #196 (#3)

2008-07-11T15:10:00.003-05:00

Friday Feast!

Appetizer

When was the last time you had your hair cut/trimmed?

About a week and a half ago. I got layers put in it.

Soup

Name one thing you miss about being a child.

Innocence. Believing just because I could.

Salad

Pick one: butter, margarine, olive oil.

Butter. Yep, it's fatty as hell, but it has the best flavor.

Main Course

If you could learn another language, which one would you pick, and why?

I have two choices. Japanese because I've always wanted to travel to Japan and knowing the language would make it so much more fun than not knowing and German because my mom is from Germany and I've always wanted to go and see the country.

Dessert

Finish this sentence: In 5 years I expect to be…

Still chugging along. I don't have any expectations for my life other than trying to learn from my mistakes and trying to be a better person, have my kids be better people and to make my life better as I grow older. I guess that means all I expect to be in 5 years is better than I am now.

The Toilet (da-da dum [scary music here])

2008-07-11T11:29:00.002-05:00

About two months ago, my bathroom toilet got clogged. I tried the plunger, reaching in there, the hot water method and draino. Since none of that worked, it became clear that Aaron had thrown something in there. Of course, it could have been Zuri, but since Aaron has always had a fascination with the toilet and putting things in it, I'll blame him. Three weeks ago, I asked my FIL to come down and take the toilet apart to get what ever was in there out. After five minutes in the bathroom, he comes down and tells me the valve is broken and we need the water shut off so change it. I call the apartment complex and since our water is connected to the whole building, they have to shut it off and do the work, but won't fix the toilet because it's probably a toy meaning 'Not our issue'. I went to Andrea's the next weekend, still with a broken toilet. She's remodeled her house and knows how to install toilets, so when I told her of my issue, she volunteered to help me after we get the valve replaced.

The first thing we do Monday morning after returning Sunday is put in a work order for the toilet. The hot maintenance guy comes and turns off the water, fixing the valve in a few minutes. After he leaves, Andrea and I go to Home Depot and buy what we need to fix the toilet. New wax rings and bolts because the ones on it are so rusted, they might break when we go to take them off.

Last night was the first chance we had to take down the toilet. We set it up all nice and neat. Towels to catch any water that leaks, a wet vac to suck the water out of the toilet, new bolts and new wax ring. It looked like it'd be an easy task, maybe 30 minutes worth of work. Of course, someone hates us and instead it took over 3 hours.

First, the bolts just spun. There was only enough room for one to work in the bathroom, so Andrea was squished in the corner with wrenches, ratchets and screw drivers, trying to get the nuts off. She was eventually victorious, and threw the hardware across the room in celebration. Of course, some jackass decided that caulking the toilet to the floor was a good idea. So we spent about 15 minutes cutting the toilet free of the floor. Once it was free, we pulled it up and away from the hole. We expected a bit of water/poo to come at our feet, but nothing came out. At least we knew the clog was in the toilet and not in the pipes. Unfortunately, the clog wasn't where we could see it and just pull it out. Andrea got a coat hanger and pushed it up in the hole, trying to see if anything popped out. Nothing. She asked me if I had anything more flexible. I brought her the dryer brush. She snaked it into the toilet, but when she went to pull it out, it was caught. A few jerks and it came free, sending a spray of poop in the air. Andrea shrieked "Is that GRANOLA???" which had me nearly peeing my pants. Since the brush wasn't working we were a little discouraged. For some reason, and I'm not sure why, we maneuvered the toilet into the shower stall. And turned the water on. Oh, and did I mention, the window is open and while we're doing this, asses in the air, people are walking by, looking in my window.

We left the toilet in the shower for about 30 minutes, water running in it. We were going to take a photo of one of us on it like we were using it, shower water running with shampoo in our hair, but since no one wants to see either of us naked, we'll leave that up to your imagination.

While the shower is running on the toilet, we discuss our options. It's decided that we'll just buy another toilet. Fuck it. This one is obviously screwed up, can't be fixed and not worth the effort. The only issue, how to get it down stairs. We both discuss the mental image of us carrying the poopy toilet downstairs, one of us slipping and both of us ending up at the bottom of the stairs, covered in toilet water, having to call 911 because we've both broken our lets. Not a great way to meet doctors. Another option was to throw it out the second story window, letting it smash on the sidewalk, splattering the surrounding buildings with poo water. This was a serious option until we realized it wouldn't fit through the window. So we had to figure out something else.

Finally, it was decided that we'd get a toilet auger and go in there and try to push it out from the bottom (I know most people would have thought of this first, but since I'm sure it's a toy, probably a ball, we knew it wouldn't work just to go in and try to pull it out.) Andrea bought an auger and went to work on it. Going in from the top didn't give us anything, so we flipped the toilet over in the shower stall and went in from the bottom. One pull delivered us a plastic bag that had treats in it from Aaron's end of the year party at school. We celebrated and figured that was all. We righted the toilet in the shower, filled the tank with water and flushed it. The water was still moving slowly, but we figured it was because there was no seal to create a vacuum. So we (for some reason) flipped the toilet BACK over, putting it upside down in the shower again and started spraying it with bathroom cleaner.

Now that we had a clean toilet, we went to move it out of the shower. Andrea got in behind and I went to the front. We cleared the lip of the shower stall and went to set it down on the floor, still upside down. As we were lowering it, we heard a bouncing sound. A little yellow ball fell out of the bowl of the toilet and bounced clear. Besides a few scratches from the auger, it looked new. At that moment, we felt justified in removing the whole toilet. The constant spinning of the toilet freed the ball, something the auger wouldn't have been able to get out.

Andrea set the new wax ring and the new bolts. We both grabbed the toilet, put it gently back on the hole and Andrea started bolting it back down. On the second bolt, she heard a 'pop' but kept tightening. She said, 'It's done!', went to move the ratchet and the whole bolt assembly came out with it. The thing that holds the bolts to the floor was broken. Of course.

So now, I have a functioning toilet. We did a leak check, it's fine. Instead of lifting the whole toilet and trying to fix the bolt, Andrea just pushed it back into place, making it kinda hold the toilet, but kinda not hold the toilet. So if you ever come to visit, don't shake the upstairs toilet. You can use it, just don't push on it. Or rock back and forth on it. I don't know how well that'll hold, I'm just hoping it'll make it until we move out.

Neither of us have laughed so hard in a long time. Andrea said that was the most fun she's ever had changing out a toilet. It's the most fun I've had in the bathroom. Though, now, I have to buy a new dryer brush. I'm SO not using that one again.

Just a little housekeeping

2008-07-10T18:29:00.003-05:00

Andrea and I have been so busy! Separately, we get nothing done but a little laundry and a few dishes. But together, we can move mountains. Sometimes the thought comes to me, 'She didn't come here, all the way from Louisiana, to help me re-organize my house.' But when I try to suggest something else, she says she's having fun, so we keep at it.

We have hung shelves in the living room for decoration:

Shelves in the laundry room for function:

And worked on an art project for my living room because the wall looked so bare:

We even got the fireplace cleaned off, so that if I wanted to, I could enjoy a nice fire (which will never happen.):

It's really nice to have a super organized house. I always get plans and ideas but never have the drive to carry them out. The kids always distract me, or the project seems too big to tackle alone. While Andrea is here, we get an idea and work on it and while we're trying to finish that end up doing 90 other things.

So, if you ever need to clean out your house, ever need to re-organize a closet, invite a good friend over to help you do it. Having someone to laugh with can make even the most disgusting task (we're changing out a toilet later on tonight) seem like a lot of fun.

What? It's been 4 whole days?

2008-07-07T19:55:00.004-05:00

It's been about 5 days since I've written anything. At first, I was because I was busy, then, Thursday afternoon, Andrea's neighbor was working on their back yard and somehow took out the whole neighborhood's internet. So besides bootlegging off of local businesses, we were internet-(and CABLE!!)-less for the rest of my time there.

I'm back in Corpus with Andrea. And now able to give a little bit of an update...

Wednesday night, we had to bring some paperwork and medicine to Andrea's uncle. He lives in Mississippi. Before we could go, we had to drive to her mother's house on the other side of N.O. and pick up some things. of course, we get distracted in N.O. and try to fine Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's house. It's somewhere in the French Quarter and Andrea even knew the street name. We cruised it twice and could not find a house that was celeb. worthy. We ended up asking and found out the cross street, but by then, we had given up and went to find Marie Laveau's grave. Andrea's husband gave us a graveyard name that he found on the internet, but we couldn't find it. Instead, we decided to walk through a random graveyard and take pictures of the grave-sites. Right before dark. It was extremely creepy and I noticed on our return walk, we were much faster and much quieter than when we first came through.

We were going to return to N.O. on Friday with a google map of both places, but when we found out there was going to be a festival downtown and many streets were to be roped off, we changed our minds. N.O. is hard enough to navigate when all the streets are open, we'd probably drive into the river if we tried. Instead, we had a BBQ at her house and made lots of food. Once it got dark, we took the kids out front and shot fireworks. It was Aaron and my first time playing with them. I did hold a sparkler, so be proud. We only had one mishap, one of the fireworks miss-fired and went sideways instead of up, right at us. We all screamed, the kids ran but no one was hurt. After a few moments, even Aaron was ready to light more.

Saturday was our driving day. We got a horribly late start because Andrea's husband is trying out a new job and he had to work until 5. Even with a lunch stop and many "I have to go POOP"s from Aaron, we managed to get to my in-laws in nine hours.

Sunday, we all work up and went out to breakfast with Nick's grandparents. It's a tradition. Every Sunday, wake up early, go to Rolando's for breakfast tacos and then go shopping. because Andrea had never been to San Antonio, we took her to The Market downtown. It's basically a fancy flea market. You can get anything there and it's a lot of fun to look around and see all the pretty things from Mexico.

After shopping, Andrea, Zuri and I left for Corpus. Aaron will be staying with my in-laws for two weeks to give me a break and he can play in their yard, which we don't have. On the way down, we stopped to take a photo of the Ghostbuster's car. Yes, a car that looks just like the car from the movie. The house it's in front of seems to be abandoned and also has a hearse in front of it, but it's there, right off I-37. The good news for me, Andrea was just as excited to see it as I was and got out to take the pictures while I sat with the car running just incase the owner of the house really was there and was a crazy with a gun.

When we got to my house, I gave Andrea the grand tour and instead of going to bed like we should (only 3-4 hours of sleep a night for the past week) we got the brilliant idea to clean out all my closets. Four bags for Goodwill and three trash bags later, I now have very clean closets.

This morning, we woke up and went shopping then out to lunch at Jason's Deli. While sitting there eating our GIANT spuds we made plans on how to better organize my house. We bought shelves, baskets, a filing cabinet and plastic bins. Since about two this afternoon, we've been hanging shelves, re-arranging sofas, moving pictures and cleaning out my computer desk. It's been six hours and my house looks crazy good. At first I felt guilty for Andrea helping me do all this around my house. But it turns out she really enjoys sorting through other's junk and getting free stuff out of it. Kinda like yard sale shopping without spending any money. As of now, I've given her a computer, an alarm clock, PS2 games for her kids, bunches of clothes and other little random stuff.

Tomorrow, we plan on making wall art for the new blank wall in my living room. I'm thinking of going to Hobby Lobby, cutting fabric and mounting it to a wooden frame I'll make. I'm so picky about art, this might be the only way I can find something I like.

Tree Guys and Trampoline.

2008-07-02T22:10:00.003-05:00

For some reason, when we're together, Andrea and I can't have a normal evening. The past 3 nights have had a lot of interesting things happening in them, so much going on that I've had problems keeping up with the photos and my blogging!

On Monday, Andrea had some men come out to her house to start clearing out the trees so they can level their yard. Their home is in a flood zone and in order to make it safer for them and a place they can live in, they have a lot of yard work to do. So, Tree Guy and Chubby Tree Guy came over at night and started cutting down the trees. After they left, after dark had set in, Andrea and I went to the Daiquiri shop, where it was $6 large (32oz) drinks. We each got one, planning on going home, chilling at the house, sipping our drinks. Well, her older two kids were up. One is 12 and the other is 14. Andrea is the type of mom who has one of those relationships with her kids where she can talk to them and they can talk to her. Nothing is out of bounds, as long as you're showing her respect. 32oz of Daiquiri and an hour and a half later, Andrea and I were hyper, but not drunk. Did I mention it was around 2 a.m.?

For some reason, one of us got the brilliant idea to jump on the trampoline. Probably me. The boys came out with us and jumped as well. Then they got the camera. Great...

After that, the boys thought they'd teach us how to dance. We have no rhythm. But I have a recorder, and I got Andrea dancing... Making an ass of herself.

Okay, enough of that.

On Tuesday, Tree Guy and Chubby Tree Guy came back. I forgot to mention earlier that there is an unwritten rule around here. When people do work on your house, you buy them beer. Not that Tree Guy needed it, he came to work every day pretty toasty. At least they were the cheapest in the phone book.

Tree guy insisted on scaring the shit out of us. By climbing 60 feet up in the air and hanging upside down and other freaky shit.

He also insisted on Andrea cutting down the tree. I decided to hold the camera, especially when he told me to get on the rope and help pull the tree down. Umm, no. You're getting paid, not me.

Last photo, a pic of Andrea, posing with Tree Man.

You would think it'd end there. But no, not when we're together. At midnight, Andrea, her sons and I decided to get Taco Bell. When we get to the intercom, none of us, but Andrea has a clue what we want. She orders food for a platoon and then turns to me. I put mine in as well. She asks her sons what they want and we get the usual, "Ummm, I don't know" and Andrea yells at them, "What do you fucking want??" I think I heard the guy in Taco Bell laughing. The boys order, and we pull around, only to have both of them say they want more. Damn teenagers. So we get to the window and add onto our order. Taco Bell guy is of course, trying not to fall over he's laughing so hard.

Ten minutes later, pulling into the driveway, Andrea realizes she didn't get her drink. Instead of doing the 'normal' thing, and drinking the damn drinks we have already in the fridge, we decide to drive all the way back and get her drink. Because you need Pepsi with Taco Bell. (That's according to Andrea).

Pulling off the interstate, Andrea screams "Is that my tree guy???" And it was! Walking across the street, with a bagged beer in hand, is drunken Tree Guy. We roll down the window, scream "Tree Guy!!!!" and his lanky ass comes running up to us. With blood on his nose. According to him, he was sitting on the side of the road, drinking his beer, when a dog ran up, bit him on the nose, and ran off. Awe, tree guy, don't lie. You fell down. You drunk mo-fo.

We did get our drink. And Taco Bell Guy was laughing his ass of at us, but I think it was more so because drunken Tree Guy was sitting on our hood yelling "Everything is bigger in Texas". They even gave me a free lemonade. We dropped drunken Tree Guy off at the side of the road (he lives in a motel... a real winner that one) and went home for our Taco Bell feast.

Yum.

Photo Journal, New Orleans

2008-07-01T11:42:00.003-05:00

Andrea and I went to N.O. on Sunday. Mostly because the N.O. you see at night is very different from the one during the day. The night is full of drunken debauchery, and the day is full of culture. It's hard to pick a favorite. While I went mostly to take photos of the buildings, I managed to get a few of the atmosphere:

We also went and took photos of two large catholic churchs

St Joseph:

St Louis Cathedral:

While in St Louis, we managed to set off the alarm. It actually happened when we opened the door to the sanctuary. I call it the heathen alarm. They must have known.

A nun working the gift shop told us that it did that randomly and by opening the door, we couldn't have set it off. That made us feel only a little better. Finally we found our courage and actually went in. The inside is just as beautiful as the outside

The Sanctuary:

I took a few random photos of the buildings as we walked around. I really do love how the buildings look. There is a lot of detail work in them, even the 'common' buildings.

Random Buildings:

New Do!

2008-06-28T20:26:00.002-05:00

After going red yesterday, Andrea took me to get my hair cut. I'm not very big on the hair cut thing. Usually, I go in, give the stylist 'free range' with my hair and end up losing 4 inches and getting long layers. Something I've grown tired of. Andrea told me (and her husband did as well) that if these guys couldn't find something cute to do with my hair, no one could. After about 15 minutes of playing with my hair, the stylist decided lots of layers (the shortest being about 3 inches, the longest keeping the length I already had in my hair) and he would teach me how to bring out the waves. I'm really big into my waves, I like how it looks. So he taught me how to diffuse my hair and put waves in it. Which I LOVE. Here are a few pics:

The Front:

The Back:

Andrea and I together:

Aaron has a love for making funny faces. He and Andrea had a 'face off'

Aaron's:

Andrea's:

I think Andrea won. Aaron screamed 'Monster' when he saw it.

Another interesting bit, when Andrea and I got in the car the odometer read 666.6. Of course, we just had to take a picture of it! Cause we're dorky like that.

I'm a red head!

2008-06-28T08:53:00.002-05:00

Okay, not really. But for a little while I am.

I got Andrea to dye my hair yesterday. We took pictures, but they aren't a good representation of what my hair looks like. Its actually much darker than the photo. Nearly purple it's so red. But I like it. What do you think?

Before:

After:

Tastes Like Armpit, Don't It?

2008-06-27T15:34:00.002-05:00

Andrea and I got away from the kids last night by going out to dinner. I have been craving a shrimp po' boy from last time when I came, so we went to Times Bar and Grill. Awesome place. It's a small franchise and this branch is located in an old train station. Halfway through our meal, a train rumbled by.

We picked the perfect night to go out. Ladies night! We weren't planning on drinking, but after our meal we sat down at the bar and decided to have a free drink. I asked for a dreamsicle flavored drink. Well, the bartender has Thursdays off and the substitute has no clue how to tend bar. Basically, she filled a tea glass up with vanilla vodka and splashed some orange flavoring over it. I was tipsy after one and really close to wasted after two.

As we were sitting at the bar, a 'regular' was sitting next to us, eating cajun flavored trail mix. The bartender dumped out the mix and added some more to the glass while the getting-drunker-by-the-minute man protested. He said he was enjoying eating the crumbs, even if some of them tasted like arm pit...

What?

Apparently, our surprise at what he said meant 'interested' to him and he spent about 10 minutes trying to get us to taste the 'armpit crunchies.' Andrea sniffed one of them and he thought she ate it. That's when he said the words "Tastes like armpits, don't it?" Umm, no. Like she's going to eat something that tastes like armpits.

4.5 Defining Moments

2008-06-27T09:46:00.002-05:00

Some friends and I decided to take Uppercase Woman's blog challenge. The challenge? The 5 most defining moments of your life.

Since I can't put these in order of most importance, I'll keep them chronological. I guess that's the easiest way.

1) My Parents Divorce.

Usually, this would be a cause of much sadness in a child. I was 14 when it happened and was relieved. I wasn't stupid, I could see things weren't working. And they took it out on us. When my dad finally told us our mom was leaving for good he broke down and cried. So did my sisters. I on the other hand sat stone-faced. I knew it was coming and the only reason I wanted to cry was because I was happy. I was tired of all the yelling and all the anger in our house. My parents didn't love each other and even at my young age, I could tell. In all the years they were married, I can't remember seeing them kiss. Holding hands and touching was forced. I wouldn't be surprised if they only did have sex three times, each resulting in the conceiving of a child.

As much as this event made me happy, it quickly turned things bad in our house. Because of all the anger my dad had towards my mom for leaving, he would go into 'rages'. And take that out on us. I remember him telling me and my little sister that if he killed himself, it was because of us. It was horrible living with him. I began to resent my mother for leaving. Not for leaving us, but for leaving us with him. My older sister really did hate my mom. Started telling my dad stories about her, saying she moved in with her boyfriend and that's why she left my dad, to be with a boyfriend. She lived in her car at the time. That's how bad she wanted to get away from him. She lived in a car in the Summer in South Carolina. But my dad believed my sister and told us that my mom was a whore and many other things that weren't true. it was a really fucked up time in my life and I still have issues because of it all.

2)A Story About a Boy and a Girl

Once upon a time, there was a girl who really liked a boy named 'J'. She flirted with 'J' every chance she got. 'J' had a best friend named 'A' who was also friends with the girl. One night, at an overnight party for Civil Air Patrol, which both 'J' and 'A' were in along with the girl, one of the younger cadets decided that playing hide and seek on their instructors 50 acre farm would be fun. Being safety minded, the oldest at the party, the girl, suggested they pair up so that if something happened while they were in the woods, there would be someone who would know about it and could get help. The girl, knowing that if she went off with 'J' she might say something stupid or do something dumb to screw up their chance of a relationship chose to hide with 'A'. 'A' took her choice as a sign and the moment they were hidden, started trying to kiss her. The girl freaked out a bit, told him to stop, which made him mad at her. He pushed her down and started pulling off her clothes. The girl was mortified because if she screamed or made any loud noises, the 'Seekers', a pair of 12 yr old boys, would know where they were and would find them, possibly seeing what was happening. Instead, she slapped at him and then kept saying his name and that she would tell if he didn't stop. Something worked and he stopped. She told him that she wouldn't tell anyone what happened as long as he stayed away from her. When they went back to the house and were asked why they were both so dirty, she told the instructor that they had tripped and fallen down one of the hills, getting dirty. She could tell that he knew better, but didn't say anything to her about it.

The story should have ended there and probably wouldn't have been such a large part of my life if it had. But it didn't. 'A' spent the next week telling all of our mutual friends, 'J' included that we had sex and that it was bad. He told everyone that we both knew that I was a slut and that i had thrown myself at him. It took his little sister asking me what happened, nearly a month later for me to tell the truth. 'A' came on to me, when I told him no, he tried to rape me and when I put a stop to that, his ego was so hurt he decided to hurt me. We both had a lot of mutual friends, so believed me, some believe him. By this time, I was dating 'J'. When I told him the truth he got mad, threatened his friend, then they did that 'buddy-buddy' thing and made up weeks later. I on the other hand had a really hard time with it. For years after, I had nightmares. It took me a while before I could sleep in the same bed with another guy without waking up screaming. I also felt guilty for not telling anyone when it happened. About a year later, 'A' did something similar to another girl and again, people believed what he said. I still feel guilty about it and I still have nightmares about it. I think in a large part, it was the betrayal by a supposed friend that hurt the most. If it had been a stranger, I would have probably been able to handle it better.

3) Joining The Navy

I'm not going to lie, I cried when I took the oath. It was a huge thing to me. I had signed the paperwork when I was 17 and needed my dad's permission. He asked me "What are you going to do if I say no?" His girlfriend looked at him and said "She'll do it when she's 18 and hate you for the rest of her life all because you wanted her to wait 3 months". Which was right.

The Navy was the first thing in my life I did that made since. I had wanted to be in the military for as long as I could have dreams to be an adult. I loved the Navy. I felt like I belonged and what I was doing was for the greater good. The military is a family. Imagine having over 100 thousand brothers and sisters, all who would risk their lives to save you. It was the family I was missing in my life.

I cried when I realized I would be getting out as well. Nick was in and I didn't want my kids to have parents constantly leaving. If I stayed in as well, Nick and I would be on alternating sea to shore rotations, one of us leaving every year or so for six months at a time. I didn't want to do that to my kids. So I got out.

4) Having Kids.

Yep, it's true, 'Having a Baby changes everything'. I never really wanted kids. But not wanting them doesn't keep you from getting pregnant. Now that I have them, I wouldn't give them back (well, except during the temper-tantrums. Ask me then and my answer might change) I've never been a party person, so having kids didn't change my social life that much. But it has changed just about every other part of my life. I realize it's not all about me anymore, my life is about my kids and their needs before it's about mine. I also enjoy watching them change and grow. This is an ongoing thing, which provides loads of entertainment.

5) To be written later

I'm only 26. While many things have happened in my life already, there have only been four that I would consider 'defining'. I could use my #5 for 'getting married' but I don't see my husband as a definition of me, more like an extension of me.

I think I'll save this one for when my kids get married or go off to college.

Friday Feast #195 (My #2)

2008-06-27T09:20:00.002-05:00

Friday feast time.

Appetizer

What is the weather like today where you live?

Where I live, it's a high of 91 with chance of thunderstorms. Were I'm staying, it's pretty much the same. The TX/LA part of the gulf is weird like that, they have just about the same type of weather, even though it's a 9 hour drive through them.

Soup

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you?

Right now? A 0. I'm a SAHM right now, so a career is the last thing on my mind.

Salad

What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds, curtains, shutters, etc.?

We have blinds and curtains. We live in an apartment and I hate the damn blinds. The kids are always tearing them up. Once we get a house, no more blinds. Especially not in kids' rooms.

Main Course

Name something that instantly cheers you up.

The song 'Hey Ya'. Sorry, but no one can be sad listening to that funky beat. Oh, and kittens. Kittens cheer me up. My daughter screaming "mommie" as loud as she can because I know that means she wants a hug. And my son, saying he wants a snuggle.

Well, that's 4 somethings.

Dessert

How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning?

Not at all. During the school year, I set the alarm to right when I need to get up and as soon as it goes off, I jump up and take a shower. During the summer, No alarm, so no snooze.

Friday Feast #194 (#1 for Me)

2008-06-25T17:37:00.003-05:00

Cathy sent a link to a blog prompt called 'Friday Feast' The prompt is on Feast 194, but since I've just started, this is my first.

Appetizer

If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose?

I would love to live in Asia. Backpacking through Asia, seeing all the different cultures, all the different people would be amazing. Of course, I'd probably spend more than a fair amount of time in Japan, it being one of my dream countries to visit. But I'd also love to see China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, The Philippines and all the other countries of the area. Asia has some of the most beautiful scenery, and some of the most interesting history. It'd be nice to see it first hand.

Soup

Which browser do you use to surf the Internet?

Mostly Safari, but when things don't function properly on it, I'll switch to Firefox.

Salad

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country?

I'd like to think I'm a 5. I know a lot, but would probably have to be prompted to remember it. I'd probably rock a multiple choice quiz, but fail the essay portion.

Main Course

Finish this sentence: Love is…

Eternal. Even when someone breaks your heart, you still love them. But you're so angry at yourself for being fooled, for being hurt that you turn that love into a negative feeling. If you didn't love them so much, you could never feel that anger towards them.

Dessert

Have you ever been in or near a tornado?

No, but I've been in a hurricane and an earthquake. About 2 years ago, a tornado passed right by my dad's house. The house I'd lived in for 10 yrs of my life, on the land I had know for since I was two. It's amazing the selective damage a tornado can do.

Bowling!

2008-06-24T23:56:00.003-05:00

Tonight, Andrea and I got the great idea to go bowling. Neither of us are very good. I haven't bowled in years (nick is an expert bowler from his childhood days and I don't want to compete with that). While picking out the perfect ball (which took about 15 min.) I told Andrea the story of Nick's Best Friend who lost his finger in a freak bowling accident. According to Best Friend, the ball got stuck to his finger and when he threw it, popped his ring finger right off, at the knuckle. After that, all small-holed balls were described as 'the nub' and were feared by us.

Here are a few pics from the night.

We're so awesome.

At the end of the night, Andrea ended up beating me by less than 10 points. BUT, she got 2 strikes and I only got one, so I was more consistent in my suckiness than she was.

Afterwards, we went to get daiquiris. I have to admit, I love Louisiana. Many other states have drive through alcohol shops. They give you the daiquiris in a sealed cup that you open when you get home. Get pulled over with the seal broken and it's a driving with an open container. Not Louisiana. It's a Styrofoam cup with a lid on it. And a place with a straw. The only rule in LA is that the straw cannot be in the lid if you get pulled over. But anyone can pop off the lid and take a few gulps from it. And that's why I love LA. Like any state in the union, driving while drinking is frowned upon, but here, they only make it a little inconvenient. I wonder what the stats on the DUIs and DWIs is.

Hello from Slidell!

2008-06-24T16:32:00.002-05:00

Hi! So, as some of you know, I got to Slidell okay. The drive was longer than I remember. It's only 9 hrs but I took nearly 10. Last time, I did it in 8. One thing that didn't help is that the kids wanted to take an hour to eat their lunch. An hour. For 1/2 a pack of french fries in the McDonalds Happy Meal! Towards the end of their meal, I was laying with my head on the table, taking a nap. Also, there was construction on I-10 in Houston. A normally 3 lane road taken down to just one. We were crawling.

Add to that the fact there was a wreck on the other side of the interstate at one point and everyone had to stop to look, plus the 50 horses that people were riding, that again, everyone had to look, it took an hour and a half longer than I had planned.

Three of Andrea's six kids, the older three, are staying with family, so the house is realitively empty. And also, we're able to go places. Her van only holds 8, so with all the kids here, we're taking two cars. Yesterday, my first full day here, we decided to go to the mall. I've been needing some new tennis shoes and since I can't make decisions on my own, Andrea helped me pick them out.

Also, we found another shoe store that was having a great sale and I picked up some cute red heels for only $7.

And, I've been wanting a pair of sunglasses, but since I hate my nose, I had Andrea there to help me out.

Who doesn't love 'buy one get one free'?

We've decided that living far apart is probably a good thing, we both spend way too much money when we're together.

Today, we just took the kids to the park and let them play for a few hours. Also, we stopped and bought them a kiddy pool and a sprinkler to keep them entertained while they're outside.

We don't really have plans to do much during the week. We have 5 kids here and Ray (her DH) doesn't get home until late, so there's not a lot we can do. But this weekend, we have plans to go out drinking and to go to the French Quarter in New Orleans so I can take pictures. I'm so doing the touristy thing. We're also hoping to meet up with Cajungal from Maya's Mom. She lives about an hour from Andrea and they've never met. Should be fun to meet someone I've been talking to for so long.

Well, that's all in the way of an update. Sorry we're not more exciting. Hopefully, I'll have more pictures later to post and more exciting stuff, but for now we're being boring and just enjoying each other's company.

2008-06-21T15:03:00.001-05:00

Today, my in-laws came and took the kids swimming. Two years ago, Aaron was all about the water. During the summer, I'd take him two or three times a week and he'd have so much fun. Last year, we only went once and he screamed and cried the whole time. This year, it started out the same. Screaming and crying. But after about thirty minutes of forcing him in the water, he was splashing and playing like his old self.

Zuri on the other hand hasn't allowed her near drowning last March (she fell in my Dad's pond) put a damper on her love for the water. As soon as she saw the pool she was excited and couldn't wait to play. Also, we got her counting to three and then jumping in.

A few pictures from the day:

Aaron waiting to get in the pool

Zuri with Grandpa

Aaron swimming

Zuri relaxing in her floaty

In other news:

Nick is past the halfway mark of his deployment to Bahrain. Today, the OIC (Officer in Charge) asked Nick to be grill master for the command BBQ they were having. This is a big deal to Nick, he loves to grill and getting to cook for 100 of his co-workers makes him super excited. He also got to meet Hinder last week (he has pictures, but the wi-fi signal isn't allowing us to file transfer)which was really exciting for him. He's enjoying what he does out there. It's a lot of work, but that's why he joined the Navy, to work. Also, he's lost over 30lbs so far. Sitting in over 100 degree weather all day will do that to you. Practically melts the fat right off you.

I leave tomorrow morning for Slidell. It's a 9 hour drive with two kids. Sounds like fun. I was originally only going to be gone for one week, but since my MIL is quitting her job on the 3rd, I figured I'd wait until then to come back. The plan is to drop Aaron off with her for two weeks, giving me a break of sorts and allowing him to have time as the 'only child', something that he's been missing since his sister came along.

That's all for now. I hope to stay caught up with my friends while I'm gone.

26 Things, Photos From A-Z

2008-06-20T14:41:00.002-05:00

I'm doing a photo challenge type blog with a few of my friends. The challenge is to take photos of things, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet.

So, here's my entry:

A is for Aaron

B is for Buddha Statue

C is for Candle

D is for Doll

E is for Envelopes

F is for Fan

G is for Guitar

H is for Hat

I is for Ice Cream Sandwich

J is for Juice

K is for Knives

L is for Lamp

M is for Magazines

N is for New York Yankees

O is for Ottoman

P is for Piggy Bank

Q is for Q-Tips

R is for Ring

S is for Soccer Ball

T is for Tokens

U is for Umbrellas

V is for Vase

W is for Watch

X is for X-Mas Kitty (I know, it's stretching it.)

Y is for Yukata

Z is for Zuri

My husband finds me boring

2008-06-20T09:31:00.002-05:00

After being gone for 3 months and talking everyday, N. has decided I'm 'boring' and that he doesn't want to talk to me but ever other day, at the most.

Wow. I find that funny. I told him in the beginning when he was super excited about the fact we could talk via messenger this deployment that it'd get boring. That we'd run out of things to talk about. He blew me off, saying 'We love each other, we should talk everyday and we can do a web cam to keep it interesting.' The daily chats are fine, if you're exciting. But I'm not. Somedays, I take the kids places and have cute stories to tell him but most days, we chill here or we go out to the park and nothing interesting happens. I can't help that, I can't make funny things happen. I can't fill my life with drama.

But N. thinks I should. I guess we're here for his entertainment, his amusement. After 40 minutes of sitting on the computer, staring at each other on web cam, he announces "Okay, I'm not talking to you anymore, you're boring. Ping me if anything interesting happens."

I'm thinking it's going to be a while before I send out that next ping.

It has begun.

2008-06-19T10:43:00.004-05:00

Z has been carrying around a toy with a handle like a purse for a while now. She's been putting stuff inside it and treating it like it's her purse. Really cute. I gave her one of my old purses, just to see what she'd so with it. Then, she grabbed a toy cell phone a pretended to talk on it. I thought it was really cute, monkey see, monkey do.

Day 26; The gym and the aquarium

2008-06-18T18:19:00.002-05:00

I got to the gym again today. A was actually good at the kid's place and behaved like the perfect little gentleman he should be. (yeah, right). Since I'm going to Slidell, LA in less than a week, I have to get my gym time in now. Even if I wanted to transfer my membership while I'm there, I can't. There are no Gold's in all of L.A.. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some sort of physical activity going on while I'm there. Probably will mostly be walking with the kids at the part and shopping, but that's still better than sitting on my ass.

After we did the gym thing, we did the aquarium thing. I paid for the membership so we're going to be going a lot this summer. One of the perks is that you don't have to wait in line. They scan your card and give you a parking token and you're on your way. Well, not today for me. I get to the counter and there's only one chick working and she's trying to sign someone up for membership. I waited 5 min. Doesn't sound too long, except when you have an anxious 5 yr old screaming 'I wanna see the fishies!!!' So, I went in the 'commoner's line'. And she tried to refuse to help me. Said I had to stand in the members line. I told her that was ridiculous because one of the 'benefits' to the membership is not having to wait, but people who were walking in the door were getting to go right in, while I had to stand in line. I asked 'Is it really a big deal to scan me here instead of there?' They had a scanner, so I don't see the difference. Finally, the other chick scanned me in and gave me a parking token. If the regular line was busy, I could understand it, but there was no one in line and all they were doing was giggling about the hottie who walked in before me. I want my perks damn it! I don't want to wait 15 min while some old dude and his wife discuss whether they should add their college age son on the membership or not, whether it's worth the extra $15 to put his name on there. Especially not with a 5 yr old who'd been promised the aquarium for a week now and damn it, mommy better deliver.

A longer intro about me

2008-06-18T16:54:00.002-05:00

This is a more 'formal' introduction to me. Mostly because I realize some people who don't yet know me might happen upon my blog and want to know about me.

I'm a 26 yr old mother of 2 and wife to one. My kids are 5 and 1 1/2. My husband is in the Navy and we've been together for 6 1/2 yrs now. No pets, but that's because they either die or run away.

I am a SAHM which to some people sounds peachy, but when you realize I spend 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week with my kids, it doesn't sound that great. Yes, I love them very much, but sometimes, I'd like to speak to someone who doesn't scream at me when spongebob doesn't magically appear on the TV. Being that my husband is military, I have a limited amount of time with him and his help with the kids is based on whether or not he's in town.

I maintain what little sanity I have by playing games online and talking to friends and family via instant messenger.

I started my online social interaction on a 'mommy site'. Which is actually, if you're a mom, a good place to start. You can get advice, give help to new moms if you're a veteran and someone's always posting something to brighten your day. Lately though, I feel like doing more with my online writing and that's why I started my blog. It is also a way for me to keep up with friends who are either no longer on the site or who don't have time to get on as much but still want to know what's going on.

Another bit of information about me...

I'm over weight. I'm trying to fix this. In April I got a gym membership to Gold's Gym and have been working really hard to lose the extra pounds. So far, Since I started, I've lost 15 pounds total. Hopefully, by the time my gym membership is up (two yrs) I'll have lost the weight I want to lose and will once again be able to wear the clothes I like.

Instead of feeding this into my journal on the parenting site I was on, I plan on keeping these separate. But I will be bringing some things from other there to here, mostly so I can keep the things I really want together in one place. Mostly my 'gym journal' but maybe a few other things. So if you see any duplicates, that's why.

Startin' a 'Blog-thingy'

2008-06-18T09:09:00.001-05:00

Well, this is my first official blog post. Sure, I've 'blogged' on myspace and kept a journal on www.mayasmom.com, but this is my first attempt at real blogging.

The hardest part is picking a name. Who knew? I sat at my computer for about 20 minutes trying to think of something interesting, but still me. I've developed an online persona known to many as Noodleio. Nicknamed 'noodles', 'noods', and 'the noodle'. Since many people have come to know (and love... well tolerate) me as 'noodle', I thought putting that in my blog title would be a good idea.

And so now, I give you 'Twisted Noodles', because sometimes what comes out of my head is a little off.

Day 25; Weight Loss and a Heart Attack (MM)

2008-06-13T17:10:00.001-05:00

I got to the gym again today. I managed to get a full workout in without any interruptions. Yay.

Then, I went to pick Z up from the kids' center. I walked in, expecting her to be watching TV. She wasn't. And she wasn't playing with the babies by the tables. And she wasn't hiding in the bathroom. The care giver looked up in the slide and called Z's name, saying "mama's here" Nothing. I started to get a little freaked. They take IDs and make sure your child doesn't just walk out, but the older kids are constantly opening and closing the 1/2 door to the waiting area and a baby could just sneak out and get out the main door. I'm about 5 seconds from yelling at them when one of them crawls up into the slide and finds Z, sitting in the bend, chilling. We got her to go down the slide and all was well. I was really surprised she even went up there, she's very adamant about her feet not getting too far off the ground. And she's also scared of all the big kids climbing everywhere.

Oh, I've also lost MORE weight. I'm down 15lbs from when N left :) Yay!

Day 24; Waiting list

2008-06-11T17:12:00.000-05:00

I kept A from school today and took him with me and Z to the gym. i get there and in the entrance to the kids' area, there is a line. A waiting list to put them in child care! I wait about 15min and get them in there, jazzed up to get on with my workout.

I stretch and get on the bike for my warm up. About 8 min into it, the child care lady comes to get me, A is flipping out. Since he's learned how to talk, we haven't had this issue, but something set him off. And he was having a major melt down. Screaming, trying to climb over the door, crying "Why did you leave me?" over and over again. I have no clue what happened, but he reverted big time. I got him calmed down and we went out to lunch.

I don't know how I'm going to make this work during the summer until my MIL can come and take him to her house. School is over on Friday and MIL can't/won't take Aaron until mid-July. That's nearly a month of trying to find something to keep him occupied at the child care center.

Day 23; feeling good and swimsuit body (or close enough)

2008-06-04T17:14:00.000-05:00

I went to the gym again today. Yay. Only Wednesday and I've gone 3 days this week. I've been having really good workouts. Feeling good, having energy after. Yesterday, I was cleaning upstairs when I'd normally be sitting on the couch, watching TV. In fact, outside of what I've been watching in bed to help me fall asleep at night, I've probably only watch an hour of TV a day at the most. Instead, I've been reorganizing pantries, cleaning out drawers and digging through closets. I already have 3 bags of stuff to donate and have thrown out 2 bags of trash. Another weird thing, I get full really quick now. Before, I would be able to eat two sushi rolls and still be hungry. Now, one fills me up and I'm still not all that hungry when dinner time comes. One piece of Pizza is all I need as well. I remember when I was eating a 1/2 a large pizza all by myself and drinking 2 cups of soda with it. EW, I was so gross. Because I don't want to screw up my progress, my brain actually tells me to stop eating, before I feel like I'm going to pop.

Speaking of progress...

I got my body fat done today. I've lost nearly 2% body fat! Yay. Also, I realized that while I've only lost 7 lbs since I've started working out, I've actually lost 10lbs since Nick left. 3lbs melted off while I was doing all that family crap the first month. So I'm counting this as my 10lb mark. My long term goal is 150. Hopefully before my gym membership is up, a 2 yr membership, I'll be down to that. Right now, my short term goal is 180. I want to be 180 before it's too cold to wear a swim suit anymore, which is around OCT down here. Not that I think I'll wear a swim suit. But it'd be nice to have the option.

Day 22; Mindless TV and Boobies

2008-06-03T17:16:00.000-05:00

Feel the burn baby! I had a great day at the gym today. I think I'm going to keep using the ellipticals with the TVs in them. I hardly notice the time passing while I'm watching Spongebob. Mindless TV keeps my brain distracted.

I treated myself to new workout pants and sports bras. I noticed my boobies are jiggling way too much and it's probably because my sports bras are falling apart, not because they're so big. Also, the only thing that I've noticed to get smaller has been my chest! How sucky is that? I know, it's one of the first places the fat comes from, but I'm not all that big to begin with. I was hoping as I lost weight I'd be able to keep some of my post baby size, but it looks like if I get skinny again, I'll be back to pre-teen boy tits :(. Not fair. Oh well, I guess If I get small enough, I can get some fake ones put in. I'm not opposed to plastic surgery if you've worked hard to get yourself looking better but nature needs a little help. I'm only opposed to taking the easy way out and getting stuff stapled, tucked, sucked or cut off just because you don't wanna try.

Day 21; Weight loss and Coupons

2008-06-02T17:17:00.001-05:00

I lost almost 2 more lbs! In the last 2 weeks, even with missing a whole week of the gym, I lost nearly 2 lbs! I was scared to get on the scale, but figured the plus sign in my gym journal would be a motivator to work harder this week. Instead, I got a different kind of motivation! I'm losing even while being lazy, so imagine what I can do when I'm actually working out! Since the great house hunt is over, I can commit fully to my work out and maybe lose a good amount before N gets home. Yay!

I also had to go upstairs to do my cardio. There are only 2 Elliptical machines in the Lady's area, so I had to hunt down a new one. The one's upstairs have their own TVs on them! I watched Sponge Bob while listening to my iPod. There wasn't much else on and since I know nearly every episode, I could practically say the words along with it. Thanks A! I wasn't even tired when I was done and I burned more calories than ever in 30 min! A great, great day at the gym.

I also went to the post office afterwards, to mail Leesmommy some coupons. Because she's military and stationed overseas, she is allowed to use expired coupons at the commissary for up to 6 months after they've expired! Want to help out a military family? Send them the coupons you don't use out of your Sunday paper (really, what's a few more snips?) or the coupons that expired while you weren't looking. Sending them to one person in a large package is cheap, I just sent about 100 coupons or more priority and it only cost $5. That person can take them to spousal meetings and distribute them among the shoppers. If you need an address, ask in the military spouses group, I'm sure a few of them will gladly volunteer their addresses.