How Did I Get Here?

Heeeeerrrrrrrreeeeee'ssssss Mackenzie!

2011-05-18T07:18:00.001-07:00

Just minutes after she was born. That's the wonderful, multi-lingual nurse.

Meeting her big brother for the first time.

Finally home, after he first sponge bath.

All dressed up!

I came up with a thought today. Why not celebrate my children's birthdays with a celebratory blog post? Since its Mackenzie's birthday the day I thought of it (today, May 18th) she gets to be the lucky first one, even though she is the second born. So, happy 12th birthday Mackenzie Lynn!
I figured a good place to start is the beginning, so to the beginning we go.
Picture it, Clarksville, TN, 1998......
Mike and I were discussing adding to our family. Joey was almost 2, it seemed like a good time. So, that summer I went off the pill. Now, when you first go off the pill it is suggested still being careful for at least 3 months before really trying to get pregnant. That was the intention, BUT....well things happen and by August I was pregnant. I know some people wait a couple of months before announcing it to the world, but we have never been that way. It was way too good to keep secret for long.
I never really suffered from morning sickness with any of my pregnancies. I would get some gnarly headaches, and had certain food aversions (I still have a hard time eating chicken), but no real nausea. Everything went pretty textbook. About my 5th month I had my first ultrasound. We decided to find out the sex. We didn't with Joey, but now we're "old pros" and the need for surprise was gone for us. Mackenzie wanted to be sure that we could be as sure as possible that a girl was on the way and positioned herself just so for the tech. So sweet of her! It also made it easy on mom because I'd been required to drink 2 liters of water just before my appointment, and like a good girl I had. Only problem, they were running late and I had to sit there in the waiting room holding my already squished bladder for an extra 15 minutes. That was worse than the birth!
Not long after that, in February we were shipped off to Bonn, Germany. We were going to the U.S. embassy that was in the process of shutting down and moving to Berlin. We were an hour and a half from the nearest military installation, so I was prepared to have my daughter in Germany. But I prayed like crazy that I could at least find an English speaking doctor!
My prayers were answered, I actually found an American OB/GYN with a German practice. She was pretty full, but took me on because of my special circumstance (I'm American, already 6 months along, and speak NO German). Dr. Harder-Faigle was awesome! I received two further ultrasounds, and had a fairly easy pregnancy. My only complaints were the occasional gnarly headaches, leg cramps that kept me up at night, and no Taco Bell (my craving of choice). I was able to substitute Taco Bell with European chocolate though, so not a bad trade off really.
In Germany things are a little different. Usually, you chose a doctor/midwife, and then choose a hospital where that doctor/midwife has privileges. Assuming of course they take your insurance. In Germany, being military meant we had "private" insurance (not government provided), being in a remote location meant we could choose whoever we wanted without need for insurance approval. In other words, the red carpet was rolled out. I chose to deliver at Johanniter Krakenhaus. It was the closest to home. Private practice doctors generally do not have hospital privileges, so I would not get to have my doctor there, but she did assure me that it was an excellent hospital.
So my due date came and went and my doctor sent me to the hospital for a non stress test to check that the baby was still ok in the cooker. They gave me meds to start a few contractions, and monitored the baby's heart beat. Everything was good. They then gave me the choice, go ahead and continue with enducing, or go home and wait for nature to take its course. Well, Mackenzie was a little too fond of my ribs, so I chose NOW! They suggested I go home for a couple hours, eat, walk around and see if the medicine they already gave me would start things in motion on their own. We snuck past the neighbors that were watching Joey and did just that. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
When we arrived back at the hospital, they checked me in, got me changed and put me in a labor bed. It was about 8pm when I really started feeling the contractions. About an hour later, they convinced me to get an epidural. Around midnight, the nurse made Mike go across the hall and lay down a little. I wasn't thrilled with that, but since the epidural I was ok, so I decided to get some sleep myself. Around 1am, I woke up with some rather startling pain. I'd had a continuous epidural with Joey, so I really had no idea what "time to push" pains felt like. I sat up and realized I was alone in the room. I didn't want to shout, so I just started saying something like, "Um, hello, it hurts, um, someone might want to check me out." The nurse finally heard me, checked me, then got the doctor. By this time I didn't mind yelling and screaming. I'm not ashamed, child birth hurts darn it!
I was on my third shift of nurses. Every one spoke English, except the one that helped deliver me. Spanish, French, Dutch, German, but not English. Curse me for not taking more French! But, through sign language, and the fact that everything was going smoothly got us all through it. Mackenzie made her debut screaming not long after. And I might add, that she didn't really stop for 5 months!
She weighed in at about 8 1/2 pounds and about 19 inches. All the measurements were metric, so I didn't memorize them, and only have an approximate conversion. But, she was great, 10 fingers, 10 toes, good color and healthy lungs. We named her Mackenzie Lynn (which really confused the Germans).
By German standards I should have stayed in the hospital 5 days. After 2, I was so stir crazy I begged them to let me go. They thought I was crazy, but they discharged us and home we went. I might add that while Mackenzie does have a German birth certificate, she does not have dual citizenship, it takes a little more that being born there to be German. But, she does have a Consular Report of Birth. How many people can say that?

Rants that won't fit on Facebook

2011-05-04T05:23:00.000-07:00

So, I've had some thoughts lately that I tried to post as status updates on Facebook. Somewhere between my iPhone and Facebook, they got lost. Bummer! But these were important rants to me, so after much (a few seconds) of deliberation, I decided to dust off the old blog, get it all out of my system, and post a link on Facebook. Take that status stealing entity in the sky!

Ok, first. This makes me angry:

Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American soldier, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found OBL and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!!

This is one of those, repost if you agree status's going around on Facebook. Before I start, let me state that I claim no political party. I make no public statements for or against any politician. The following is NOT a political statement, just my own thoughts on being logical. So here goes...
1. Obama is not taking credit for the take down of Bin Laden. At least not that I've heard. Other people (the media) may be giving him the credit, but that does not mean he's taking it. If you assume he is just because you don't like him, that's what I call ignorance.
2.Obama never debated over whether or not to pay our troops. Yes the government shutdown may have DELAYED their pay, but if that were the case, they still would have received any back pay owed.
3.Obama is not the SOLE person responsible for the possibility of the government shutdown. It was MANY people on both sides of the aisle in Congress that were responsible. Obama didn't sign off on the budget because of cuts that were being proposed to evil things such as Planned Parenthood. Ok, so they perform abortions. It isn't illegal so now we must punish the evil organization that provides free and/or low cost health screenings for women? I have used Planned Parenthood for that very reason, and for that I am very glad they exist. I'm also glad that Obama stood his ground on those things he felt strongly on. Whether I agree with those things or not, I admire a person who takes a stand when necessary. So if you dislike Obama because he's a democrat, take a good hard look at the republicans that held up the budget before you point the finger at ONE man. If you don't like him because he's black, wake up and smell the decade.
4.This is where my logical argument comes into place. It makes no sense for you to declare that ONE man shouldn't be taking credit for a collective effort and then try to blame the same ONE man for yet another COLLECTIVE effort.
I'm sorry if I offend any of my friends, that is not my intention, but this kind of thing really gets my goat up. All of this is like people who blamed Bush for 9/11. Just please stop to think before you post.

Now, why I never repost those fun messages we all get about everything under the sun, that 98% won't repost. I'm one of the 98%. Here is why:
1.My religious beliefs are my own. I am always comfortable discussing my beliefs with anyone, but I shy away from unsolicited discussion. I'm not afraid, I'm not embarrassed, I just like living my beliefs in my own way. Its very personal.
2.I vigorously support our military. I was an Army wife for 13 years, so I know 1st hand what are soldiers go through. But, to be cliche, I gave at the office. I like to make my appreciation and gratitude known personally to those I know and meet who serve. Again, its very personal.
3.I know several people battling cancer, and a few who have lost the battle, but I don't see how me reposting something on Facebook is going to make the struggle of cancer anymore well known. We all know it sucks, we all know more needs to be done, so quit reposting and do it is my humble opinion. (Unless of course you are yourself battling cancer, then you've already done your work)
4.My family knows how I feel about them, and fathers, daughters, sons, grandparents, 2nd cousins weeks seem a little silly to me. Especially since it seems that there are about 3 weeks a year each.
5.I work with people with special needs. And actually, acceptance isn't as big, as just wanting to live their like with the same rights as everyone else has. But those people that will actually see the reposts and repost the message aren't the ones that need to hear it. And those that need to hear it, most likely aren't going to no matter what. That's what prejudice is all about.
6.I really really really hate anything that has political undertones. I get enough of that from the media. Facebook is for fun.
And to sum it all up, I guess I just like to be original and post my own ideas.

Again, sorry if I offend. These are my feelings and beliefs and I never under any circumstances expect anyone to believe and feel as I do. But sometimes, I just feel the need to explain myself.

Mom of the year?

2010-06-25T06:45:00.000-07:00

Recently a friend of mine told me that she and another "old" friend of mine had decided to vote me mom of the year. I chuckled at her. Its just the kind of thing those two Amys would come up with.

Then I had to ask her how that happened. She told me its because I work awful hours full time at a miserable job (all true) and still find the time/patience to be very involved with what my kids are up to. I laughed even harder then. Really? Me?

But it all got me thinking. While I appreciated the praise (especially coming from 2moms who I greatly respect and admire)I really doubted that their thought process was all that accurate. Sure, I try to help out at the schools where I can, which to me is VERY little, and I REFUSE to be a part of the PTA, which to me is just a click/popularity contest for adults. And yes, I go to all the functions I can Class parties, concerts, games, ceremonies. But to me it all seems like very little. I always feel like I'm not doing enough. My need for sleep tends to keep me from doing the amount I feel like I ought to be doing. Do I spend enough "quality time with my kids? Do I them to enough "fun" places? Is it bad that instead of the shoes they REALLY wanted, I bought the ones I could REALLY afford? Am I teaching them all that I want to teach them? Am I raising well rounded individuals that know the importance of thinking for themselves, but also how to treat everyone with respect (even the bullies)?

So now I wonder is this what all moms go through? Stay at home, working, single, married, grown up kids, little kids, new moms, old hands, one child, many children? I know I still had the same concerns back when I was able to be at home with my kids. Am I just being neurotic? Am I just hard on myself? Or am I really not nearly as good a mom as some people seem to think? Its all almost enough to make one's head want to explode.

Mom of the year? I don't know, despite the Amys' declaration, I'm saying the jury's still out on this one.

Slacker's Anonymous

2010-06-03T12:10:00.001-07:00

Hello, my name is Brenda and I'm a slacker. And a procrastinator. And sometimes I write out a whole blog only to delete because it seems frivolous, or whiny, or preachy, or just doesn't meet my expectations of myself. This is why I could never be a writer. I am WAY too hard on myself. In school I never wrote a rough draft. If I did I'd never get a paper done. A lot of times if I did write a rough draft I would end up not even turning the paper in because I would agonize about every last little thing. Fortunately by college, I was confident enough in my grammatical skills to just shoot from the hip, hit spell check and turn it in. I allowed myself one read through to make sure spell check didn't miss anything, then it got turned in. More often than not it I got an A. Once I even got singled out. That time I'm pretty sure it is because I made a very good argument. But I digress....its about time I posted a new blog!
I don't do family updates very often because nothing really changes around here. Kids go to school, I go to work. In between there I'm constantly doing laundry, trying to attend as many of the kid's events as I can, and of course I try to get some sleep. Luckily for me, Wes does most of the cooking, and the kids to do a lot of the cleaning, so I have time for sleep. I'm going to hate it when Wes goes back to work because I'll be back on cooking duty more often. But while things don't change much here, there are things to report. We'll go youngest to oldest just to make it easy.
Joel: Successfully finished out kindergarten! With flying colors I might add. Kindergarten awards are different from higher grades. His teacher gave out "candy awards" for the class. Each child got one, using a type of candy to describe an aspect of each child's personality. For example, the class flirt got Kisses, the class giggler got a Snickers. Joel got the 100 Grand award for being the class mathematician. His reading skills are so much improved, he loves pointing out all the words he knows on signs, books, magazines, and on tv. He's still obsessed with Mario and I have to limit his DS time or he'd sit on it all day. Some progress has been made with his toileting issues and I feel like we might finally be getting over a HUGE hurtle there.
Mackenzie: Is off to middle school! She had a very successful year academically and I can't wait to see what she has yet to accomplish. She's looking forward to playing softball in the fall. I'm a little disappointed in the league here, but not everyone can have a program like Kirkland American, and she's really excited about it. She recently celebrated her 11th birthday, but while she looks 8 years old, she can sometimes have the attitude of a 16 year old! She is completely boy crazy. I try to discourage as much as I can without it turning into encouragement. We'll see how that goes in the land of pre-teens this fall. Joey's band teacher really wanted her to be in the band (figuring musical ability ran in the family) but she decided not to. I hardly see her these days. She got a new bike for her birthday so she's off around the neighborhood all day. I usually have to send Joey after her because I still think she's too young for her own cell phone.
Joey: High school? Really?? Oh lord its scary being a parent of a high schooler! But exciting. I don't know who's more jazzed about marching band: him or me. Probably him since I'm the one that has to come up with the fees. But, I'm pretty stoked. I can't wait to go to football games and watch him play, and they are going to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in NYC this year. Mark your calendars, I expect you ALL to be watching. His class schedule is tough, but I'm confident in his ability to make it. He's very focused and motivated about what he wants out of high school and after. I wish I'd been that way. I also wish I could take the credit. But I've never pressured about college. I've only expected him to do the best he can and do things he is passionate about. His artistic ability amazes me. Although everyone else in the family gets to keep samples of his work, but not me. He's got a really cool circle of friends beyond the neighborhood kids that he's developed this year. They're all very down to earth, not too clicky or judgemental and I just love that he has that. This past year he's just grown up so much that I'm just bursting with pride at the young man he is becoming. I am so blessed to have 3 such great kids!
Briana: Is now living with us. Long story short, mom had to move, and has been staying with grandma, and she doesn't like it there, so she's been staying with us. She was going to move here permanently this summer anyway. She wants to go to Summerville high school. She's been playing softball this fall for the first time and shows a lot of potential. Her team is tied for first place, and if it ever stops raining long enough to dry out the field, they could have the play off to decide. She actually spends most of her time at Wes's sister's to be with her cousin. But I know Wes loves having her here. And she's really good at tag team teasing her dad with me, so I've really enjoyed it as well.
Russell: Sore subject, but we still see him every other weekend or so. It is what it is.
Wes: Had back surgery in April and is doing very well. The surgery has helped a lot, but he is looking forward to not having to wear the brace anymore. But for now he's happy that the staples are out. He should start physical therapy at the end of the month.
Me: Well, I already covered me. I could mentioned that due to the nature of my job, I've become an obsessive reader. Normally an average novel would last me a couple months. Now I'm lucky if I get 2 weeks out of one. That's about it, unless you want to hear my rant on shopping at Wal-Mart. What? No takers? Oh well.

Aunt Judy wasn't kidding

2010-03-12T00:25:00.001-08:00

I love my aunt Judy. Actually, everyone loves my aunt Judy, she's just got that sparkle. Whenever we went to aunt Judy's she cooked enough food to feed an army. Little did I know this was just a survival tactic. It wasn't for our benefit, it was more about he teenage boys. She used to go on and on about how hard it was to keep those boys fed. Jimmy, the oldest was a bean pole, Billy was beefier, but by no means overweight. These boys reportedly inhaled food constantly like they were about to be shipped off to Ethiopia. To tell you the truth, I never paid much attention. I mean, they're boys, what did I care about how much they ate? I just remember all the talk about it.
Now I know how she feels and I only have to feed one teenage boy. It's like the boy turned 13 and overnight developed a tape worm. I can't keep this boy fed. I try to stock the freezer with things he can heat up and snack on between meals (hot pockets, chicken nuggets, pizza rolls) and he still eats dinner like he hasn't seen food in a week. And where does it all go? I have no idea. He's a bean pole like Jimmy. Just keeps getting taller.
Here's an example:
Tonight I made homemade macaroni and cheese. Usually, I make it in a 9x9" dish. But, knowing how my son eats, I made a double batch in my 13x9" dish. Not even a 1/4 of it is left. And he still ate dessert! Is there an assitance program for families with teenage boys? Kinda like WIC. you know where I can get things like milk and cheese? Because I think I need it more now that when I had it for these kids and myself when I was pregnant and they were little.

Two months? Really?

2010-03-05T23:41:00.000-08:00

Holy wow, its been a while, and I'm pretty sure that my sister is angry with my lack of posts.
I've been going through a lot of personal, lets not share with the entire world wide web kind of stuff, so its been hard to come up with those little things that go well in a blog.
I've been dreaming lately of a really nice vacation somewhere sunny and pampering and beautiful and interesting. But, bnot until atleast next year. Other priorities that need to be addressed first. But, they're nice dreams.
Work has been mellow lately. Yeah, I still hear some lovely words from some residents, but that's just par for the course. I've also learned to just nod my head and deal with my boss, and to just let go of the frustrations over the way the place is run. It makes for a slightly less stressfull work environment. Ok, I'm lying, I do not get a long at all with one of our new employees, but fortunately the way our schedules are, I actually work with her less than anybody else on my shift. It's just weird not getting along with someone, I get along with everyone. I'm an easy going kind of gal.
The kids are doing great. Joey is gearing up for lots of band stuff this spring. The state band festival is soon, and that is their big thing for the year. He's all set for his classes for freshman year, he even got in the honors science that combines bio and chem into one year, so it frees up a credit for sophmore year. You need a teacher reccomendation for that, and he didn't think he'd get it. So we're excited about that. He also got into the one and only AP class they offer freshman year. Geography, teacher reccomendation also required.
Mackenzie also just signed up for her 6th grade classes. She was passed on to the middle school GATE classes, and is ging to try dance, steel drum band, foreign language, and pre engineering for her electives. She's on the math team for her school, and the district competition is coming up in April. She actually voluntarily gave up all of her other after school activities to focus on this.
Joel. Well, Joel has always been my challenge. On one hand, he seems the one child that learns a thing the first time he's told/taught, and hardly ever has to be reminded about things. On the other hand, he's a little too ingenious with how to get around the rules. He's been having some regression issues here and there, so its a battle sometimes, but he sure makes life interesting. He absolutely idolizes Joey. He's got lots of new friends in the neighborhood, so he doesn't feel left out anymore when his brother and sister are out playing with their friends. Sorry, Joey doesn't "play". he "hangs out" with his friends.
Wes is waiting to hear about his worker's comp on two levels. He's decided to go for the surgery, we're just waiting for approval from worker's comp. And were waiting to see how much if any compensation he's entitled to since he's been out of work. At the very least, he'll be reimbursed for travel expenses for all the doctor's visits and what not. Right now its a waiting game.
Oh, and Sassy has been attending dog training at PetSmart. She's doing pretty well, but still has hyperactive issues, and attention issues. Yes, I think our dog is ADHD.
Pictures soon, I promise, just need to get them onto the computer first.

I have no new pictures

2009-12-31T05:19:00.000-08:00

They're all on my iPhone, and blogger doesn't like my iPhone. Facebook does, so you can see pictures there.
We had a great holiday here. No snow, but that's part of the reason I like it here. The kids are now off visiting the PA grandparents and having a great time. I think Joey was actually able to fill himself up at their "open house" yesterday. He really does make it sound like we don't feed him.

The newest stage of making me feel old comes next week when we sit down with his guidance counselor to plan out highschool so Joey can achieve his college goals. It sounds kid of daunting, but really its just about making sure he takes the classes he needs in order to go to the college he wants, and if he knows, get a head start towards his chosen field of study. Joey does know, he wants to be an architect.

Mackenzie unbeknowst to me entered a writing contest at school and won 2nd place! Her piece is now being sent to the district finals.

Joel is loving kindergarten, but is still working out the kinks as far as getting along with others goes. He often becomes upset when other kids aren't on task and forgets to keep his hands to himself. But, he's a little sponge and is absorbing so much.

Tonight is New Year's and I'd love to say I have fabulous plans with Wes, but I have to work. I've applied for some other positions and I hope one will work out. I'm tired of this crazy schedule of mine! But Happy New Year everyone!

I now pronounce you...

2009-12-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

Joel's latest bout of Joel-ness: If you kiss someone 3 times you are now married. He and I have been hitched several times this week.

What goes on in my head...

2009-11-18T05:47:00.000-08:00

I'm having one of those moments where I miss my old nom de plume blog. I'm a pretty easy going person, I usually don't take things too personally. The reason is that I find an ear I can trust and talk my anger out so I can get over it and let it go. The trouble is everyone I know is asleep when I'm awake. So my next step would have been my old blog, but the server I used no longer exists. Putting it here opens me up to attack and possibly hurting other's feelings. It's very frustrating. Sometimes I wish I could be one of those people that doesn't care what other people think!

Asking for help

2009-11-08T05:15:00.000-08:00

I think I have a hero complex. I just HAVE to try to help/save people. Without going into too much detail, here is my latest cause:
A boy who perhaps did not grow up in the best environment, who also has the added issue of being bi-polar. He has anger and authority issues and has been kicked out of several schools. And the word NO is not something he knows how to hear. Me and my hero complex won't give up on him where others have.
Here is what I need help with:
intervention ideas
home schooling options
therapy possibilities
anything else that anyone can suggest. But, remember, I am on a seriously limited budget.
Anything anyone has as far as ideas will be greatly appreciated. If you can't or don't want to comment here, please email or call me.
Thank You!!!

Oh blah dee oh blah da

2009-10-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

Life goes on....
It's been a while since I last typed out a bog. No particular reason, except there isn't much to report.
Everyone is doing great. THe flu that seems to be affecting nearly everyone we know has so far skipped us. (knock on wood) Although, it is going around my building at work, so we'll see.
The kids are doing great at school. Joel had a rough start but has settled into the swing of things and is doing very well in kindergarten. Mackenzie just ended her first kickball season, with the next one staring in a few weeks. She is also giving chorus another try this year. Fortunately her friend down the street participates in the same activites, so her grandma and I split the carpool for those things. Its also nice that they have each other for homework help this year. It also helps that she has Joey to go to for math help, I'm useless there. Joey is doing great. He's very into his art class and is submitting a project to be displayed at the Coastal Carolina Fair. Since it takes longer to cool down here, the fairs aren't held until this time of year. He recently got to sit with the marching band during a highschool football game in order to get to know the section he'd be in and ask questions and decide if marching band is something he is interested in. He is very excited to give it a try next year.
I still hate my job, but I show up and do what I can. I hold out hope that the economy will turn around and I will no longer be competing with over qualified people for the few jobs that are out there. For now I'm grateful for what I have.
In other news, Mackenzie has a boyfriend, which I try to neither encourage or discourage too much. They've already broken up and got back together once. Its all very 5th grade. Joey has several girls he texts with back and forth, but as he says, they're "just friends". That's fine by me. Oh, and Joel has his first official non family sleep over a few weeks ago. One of Mackenzie's class mates has a little brother that is also a class mate of Joel's. Their brave mother took on having both of them sleeping over the same night. Actually she said it was great because Bobby for once wasn't bothering Mackenzie & Alexis because he ahd Joel there. She said because she didn't have to play referee she was able to get stuff done around the house. Me, I went out for Mexican food with Joey & Wes. Can't say I'm an over achiever!

Take your drama elsewhere!

2009-10-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

Just one of those things that make me go grrr....some people just suck!

Wes, Joey, and I in celebration of being without the picky eaters of the house went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. While we are waiting for food, a couple walks in the door. He headed towards the "bar", she kinda pouted after him talking VERY loudly on her phone. After a minute or two, she walked more into the center of the restaurant (its pretty small) in order to share her conversation better with the rest of us.
Now what I think happened is her companion asked her to get off the phone. Next thing you know, she's yelling at the guy, throwing out F bombs and all other forms of foul language, telling him if he doesn't do her bidding (I guess this restaurant was beneath her) and take her home, she was gonna call her family and they'd come get her and "F" him up.
She was finally asked to leave. About 5 minutes later he left with his take out. Seriously, she couldn't sit around and wait a few minutes for take out!
So, we're on the way home, pull into our development, and there she is, standing on the side walk, still hollering on her phone.
Joey's friend lives next door to the boyfriend, and I guess she starts all this drama quite often. Take me here, take me there. Give me this, give me that. High maintenance, spoiled rotten, plain old trash.

Fall is here!

2009-10-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

Fall has always been my favorite season. I think its the colors. But fall in South Carolina is just awesome! The storms seem to lay off a bit (even though it is still hurricane season) and the weather is just gorgeous! The nights get cool enough that the air doesn't need to be run anymore, but its sunny and crisp in the mornings, but still enjoy 80 degree weather in the afternoon. Then by sundown it is nice and cool again.
You're jealous, you can admit it, its okay.

Pictures from WA

2009-09-20T05:15:00.000-07:00

Wes was a littlecamera happy, so I'm paring it down just a bit.
First, here I am with my new dark brown hair (and Wes too)

Some wedding photos:

The boys in their tuxes

Check out Mackenzie's hair!

Brittany with all the "little" girls

Javier with the "little" boys

Saying their vows

The newly weds

And now some of the sights:

Pike Place Market

Russell enjoying his chili dog

Wes & Russell at the zoo entrance

The boys with their cousins

It was a great trip! Wish we could have stayed a little longer, lots of faces I didn't get to see! Oh well, next time.

Accomplished!

2009-09-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

I actually accomplished things on my list! No really, I did! It was my Seattle wish list and not my chore list, but check marks are check marks, right? That and even a couple of extras. I feel very fulfilled!

Slurpee...check
Jack in the Box...check
Favorite coffee stand and seeing Emily the best barista in the world...check
Zoo...check
Spud...check
Pike Place and the piers...check
See's candy...check
Papa Murphy's...check

On top of that I got to see lots of family, get my hair done by Debbie (I'm a brunette now), mani, pedi, and face waxed at my favorite nail salon, a couple of visits to the casino, an Orange Julius, and we did have one day sunny enough to get a good view of Mt. Ranier. All in all a great trip! Pictures coming soon!

Home Sweet Home

2009-08-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we head out for a mini vacay back to Washington!
I'm so excited, I haven't been home in over a year, and I miss it. Yes, I've taken up permanent residence here is SC, but Seattle will always be home!
The reason we're heading out west? My niece Brittany is getting married! I'm still not convinced she's even legally old enough to do so, but any excuse to hit the great Pac West.
So, here is a list of things I hope to accomplish while back in my home state for 4 whole days:
1. Slurpee!!!
2. Visit my favorite coffee stand in Arlington, and hopefully say hi to my barista if she still works there!
3. Jack in the Box!
4. Spud's!
5. Downtown, the pier, Pike Place, and all that.
6. The zoo!
7. Slurpee!
8. Papa Murphy's!!!
9. Kayak Point or Camano Island state park, which ever.
10. I know its a long shot and not very likely, but a visit to the islands would rock!
11. Friends, friends, friends
12. Slurpee!
13. See's Candy!
14. oh, and 1 more Slurpee!
Just hope I can fit it all in.

Stop Growing, NOW!!!!

2009-08-18T05:17:00.001-07:00

So, everybody got home safe and sound from their adventurous summer. What I failed to mention is that my kids were not returned to me the way I left them! Joey grew at least an inch. Joel about 1/2 and inch. Joey is wearing a size 10 men's shoe, and is almost his dad's height. Oh, and his voice is cracking. Joel is completely out of the "T" sizes and wearing big boy sizes. His feet jumped a size or 2 as well. Mackenzie is pretty much the same. But she is an enigma, she really just doesn't have huge growth spurts.
To make matters worse, they all started school Monday. Really, the house was just way too quiet without Joel. And coming home from work with the house completely empty this morning was just weird! But I have to face the facts. My babies are growing up, and I must learn to deal with it. But man, where did the time go?

The whole bus stop gang

Joey being 13 now, didn't want his mother trailing him to the bus stop with a camera looking like a crazy lady. Go figure!

Home Sweet Home

2009-08-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

After being gone most of the summer, the kids are finally home! Kind of, but I'll get to that. We also have a new resident. Russell is officially living with us, as Wes was just made his legal guardian. School starts Monday, but we are mostly prepared. Just one or two last minute things to get.
The kids got in to Charlotte late Friday night, so we stayed the night with Penny and Zack so we wouldn't be pulling in at 1 am. We all slept in a bit, and got on the road around 1. Just before Penny left to get Keith from the Columbia airport, finally home from Iraq.
One of my favorite Joel quotes so far: I was getting him settled in the back seat, and he is just yammering away about his trip. As I'm shutting the door, I guess he said "hey mommy" but I didn't heart. And I'm still trying to get myself in the car and get settled. So he says to Wes, "She NEVER listens to me!" That and he was making sure that eeveryone knew that nobody could play with his new DS but him!
On the way out we made a quick stop at Jack in the Box. Charlotte actually has the closest ones, and I desperately needed an Oreo Cookie shake and some fries!
Once we got home Saturday afternoon, we worked on unpacking and cleaning out closets and drawers, trying to make room for Russell's things. After that, the kids were out the door to find their friends. They missed me so much that both Joey & Mackenzie spent the night with friends last night!
Welcome home!
Oh, and Teri...
Joey says Joel started crying Friday night because he missed you SO much, and he's called me Aunt Teri several times already.

SCHOOL!

2009-08-06T05:15:00.000-07:00

I registered the kids for school today, and I have to say I'm excited! No Rachel, not because I'm ready to get rid of them. I'm actually a little sad that they've been gone all summer and will start school almost immediately when they get back. I'm excited FOR them. No, really.
Joey is starting his *gasp* LAST year of middle school. He got into the advance art class (which he is SO excited about) and advanced band. And because the French teacher is no longer teaching at the school, he is taking Spanish instead. He can't wait to start testing it out on his cousins, not to mention testing out what he already knows with his teacher.
Mackenzie is starting her **another gasp** LAST year of elementary school. And she finally made it into GATE (gifted and talented enrichment program), even better, she will be in the same class as her best friend Blythe (see here).
Joel is starting ***one more gasp*** KINDERGARTEN! This is especially exciting for him as he is the only of my kids to not have attended pre-school and/or PreK. So it is really his FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
I'm so excited I could almost cry! My babies are growing up!

Domestic Partnership

2009-08-03T05:52:00.001-07:00

I was recently shopping for car insurance. Mine expired in July, so I was doing my yearly price check. On one site, as I was filling out their questioneer, they asked about marital status. Apparantly you are a higher risk being divorced over being married, but that is for another post. Anyway, one of the options on this particular site was "domestic partnership". I liked that, because I am neither single, nor married. Calling Wes my boyfriend sounds oh so very 11th grade. Especially after living together for a year. So I asked myself, do we qualify? I mean, most of the time, domestic patnership is a label given to same sex relationships. But, if I am living with, and commited to a person, isn't that precisely what we are, domestic partners? We share a house, bills, a blended family, chores, stress, money woes, pets, and all that other stuff. The only difference from us and a married couple is that we haven't made a public statement in front of friends and family, and clergy or legal authority that we will love honor cherish till death so us part. I don't want to down size marriage here. We are very careful not to present ourselves as married, because we aren't. We might be one day, but for now, we aren't.
But, just because we aren't married, does that mean we shouldn't be considered when it comes to certain things that are preserved for immediate family only, or for discounts that occur when you are married? So that has me thinking about the whole same sex marriage debate. I know I'm stepping into some murky waters here, but have to say, if two people love each other and want to get married, who am I to say they can't? How does it insult my marriage or relationship if two men wnat the same right to marry the one they love as I am? If a church has an issue, that's fine, then the church can chose not to officiate over the marriage, but where does a democratic government of a country that holds equal rights as one of its biggest concerns get off telling a same sex couple that the LAW does not allow them to share the same legal rights as other commited couples?
I'm just saying, if I ought to be able to use the domestic partnership title, why can't someone else get married?

If we were Jewish....

2009-07-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

Joey would be a man. But we're not so he is just another 13 year old boy. But on this day I'm still having a rough time coming to terms with the idea that I am the mother of a 13 year old. But what a great 13 year old I have! Joey came into the world making my life a little miserable, having weighed in at 10 lbs 8 0z. No, I did not have a C-section. I did however pledge my love to the man who gave me my epidural. Joey's was a well attended birth. He had mom (of course) and even waited for dad to come home from Turkey before making his appearance. Also there were Grandma Marci and Aunt Teri. Stopping in to visit were Anne and Brian, Uncle Ernie, Brittany, and Grandpa Larry. As hard as bringing him into the world may have been, he was a piece of cake after that. Aside from some breast feeding issues at first, we was the best baby ever! He slept through the night within the first couple of weeks. At 3 weeks old, he traveled by car from Seattle to Ft. Campbell, Ky. He went through a terrible 2's stage, but by the time he hit 3 had worked it all out.
As time has gone by we've learned so much about Joey. He is very empathetic and caring. He is artistic and musical. He has played piano, trumpet and French horn. He's very smart, though convincing other's of that was a challenge at first. He doesn't test well, so he's always had to proove himself the hard way. Being the oldest he's had to become more responsible than most of his peers at his age, but responsible he is. He is easy going, and puts up with a younger and sister and brother who worship him maybe a little too much sometimes. Overall, he's just such a great kid, and I feel so blessed to have him as MY kid.

In Memorium

2009-07-27T04:57:00.000-07:00

George died July 22nd, 2009, sometime around 1-2 pm. She was 15, and survived by many family members that loved her, others that tolerated her. George was contrary right from the bieginning. Starting with her name. We were assured by the veterinarian she was a he, so we name "him" George. Then, he turned out to be she, but the name still stuck. Geoge came into my life as a 2 week old abandon kitten September of 1994. She was my first baby. I had to mix her formula and feed her every 4 hours through an eye dropper. Then I even had to wipe her behind. Those first few weeks she slept in whatever shirt I had been wearing that day. During the day, she pent most of her time under my shirt close to my belly. As time went by George became a bit rebelious, choosing to eat the dog food over her own. She got quite fat. She didn't like too many people, she tolerated Mike and I for the most part, and I think she even frew fond of my dad. Although she seemed mean, she was protective. Out other cat, Tahli was challenged mentally, and not very good at sticking up for himself. When one of our dogs got a little overly frisky with Tahli, George came to his recsue, only to growl and hiss at him when he tried to thank her. George was a world traveler, having been born in Turkey, and lived in Tennessee, Germany, Washington, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. Not to mention all the car and plane trips it took to get to those places. In the last few years, she lost a lot of her weight. This last year she got very thin, and the last week she was barely skin and bones. She was a pain in the butt a lot of the time, but nevertheless, she was family and we will all miss her. Most of all me.
A big thank you to Pet Rest in Goose Creek, SC for taking such great care of departed pets, most off all George. They were so nice, and thoughtful. They even sent me a memorial card. Rest in peace George.
**Regretably, I have no pictures of George on this computer. Once I track down some of my photo discs, I will post for those of you who did not get to meet her.

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-07-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

In honor of my 9th 25th birthday, I'm going to take a page from someone else's book, and give everyone one little known fact for every year of my life. I've done this a few times before, so I will try not to repeat myself, but if I do, it just means I'm not that interesting.

1. I share my birthday with a great uncle, and a great friend I've known since junior high, so be sure to wish Rachel a happy birthday as well.
2. I hated having a summer birthday growing up because a) I was younger than nearly everyone else in my class and b) everyone was on vacation around my birthday.
3. I think the worst birthday I ever spent was my 16th. I was at camp and the night before it had rained (big surprise in Washington, I know). I was on a biking trip and when it rained we slept under tarps. My sleeping bag ended up under the one and only hole in the tarp. The wet woke me up about 3 am and I ended up sitting under a tree to keep dry and reading abook until everyone else got up too.
4. Going with milestones, my 21st birthday wasn't much better. I was pregnant during one of the hottest summers in Washington. It was my due date and no sign that the baby was coming any time soon.
5. I honestly don't remember what I did for my 18th birthday.
6. One birthday I remember taking a few friends to a movie. I think it was my 11th, and they wouldn't let Kristi Hewitt in for the jumior price because she was so tall.
7. One person tried to throw me a surprise party once, it didn't go well. It was a total surprise, but it back fired a bit when I came home after work and a stop at the commissary while living in Turkey. My arms were full of groceries and I couldn't get to my key. I knocked on the door knowing someone was home, but no one asnswered. I ended up dropping the groceries all over the hallway in order to get to my key. I was pretty upset once I got inside and everyone yelled SURPRISE!
8. One year I went to Wild Waves with Mikiko and got one of the worst sun burns ever!
9. Enough about past birthdays...I'm snobby about how a sandwich is made. The spread of choice be it peanut butter, mayo, jelly, butter, whatever should reach all corners of the bread, and any other ingredients (cheese, lunch meat) should be staked neatly, not just thrown on there.
10. I think one of my main objections to house work is I hate putting all that effort into something and not even getting a chance to enjoy it before it is all undone.
11. I hate to cook, but put on a fantastic Thanksgiving. This comes from often times being away from family for the holiday, and having friends over instead. I always made the Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable. Everyone else brought other side dishes or dessert.
12. Wes thinks I'm a hippie. I don't know about that, but in ways I guess I am a "free spirit". I would have loved to have been alive for and gone to Woodstock!
13. I've always wanted to live in New York City. Probably not permanently, but I think I would enjoy the apartment life, the culture, the little whole in the wall places you can find in NYC.
14.I have a serious celebrity crush on Colin Firth. I don't know why, I don't know what started it, but it is there.
15. Before Colin I was all about Tom Hanks, ever since Splash. I watched him on Bosom Buddies, but it wasn't until Splash that I had the crush.
>>>I'm beginning to think its a dark curly hair thing<<<<
16. My first word was water, then I'd learn boat, so everytime we crossed Lake Washington when I was little I would go nuts over the Water! Boat!
17. I loved going to Husky games with my dad. With my thermos of hot chocolate, a bag of apples from the UW Crew, and my garbage bag rain poncho.
18. I miss the Kingdome! Yeah, Safeco field is awesome, and I love it, and Quest field is great too, but I still miss the Kingdome.
19. I have an affinity for a lot of the old southern homes out here. One of these days I plan on getting up with the sun and going around to take some pictures of them. Its one of the things I've come to love about this area.
20. One of my pet peeves is when people take advantage of my non confrontational manner. I like to keep the peace, and I'm ok being the bigger person, but taking advantage of that is a quick way to make me confrontational. Maybe.
21. When I lived in New Jersey, I played BINGO almost every Saturday night at the fire house. I loved it. I had many colored dobbers, I could play several boards at a time, and I even had a couple of good luck charms on my table.
22. You know those T-shirts that say, "I'm BIG in Europe". That's me. Europeans love me. Or atleast I always seemed to have a social life while living in Europe. Not so much in the states. Does that make me un-American.
23. Speaking of un-American, I don't like Apple Pie or hot dogs.
24. I'm really freaked out about Joey turning 13 this year.
25. I'm really freaked out about Joel starting school this year.
26. I love maps. I love planning out routes, looking for cool places to stop, finding a short cut, or a scenic route.
27. Every time I move to a new place, I go out and "get lost" so I can find my way back again. Its the best way to get to know your way around a new area.
28. I am a choco-holic, BUT I don't care for chocolate ice cream that much.
29. I would love to visit Price Edward Island one day. I think I've read the Anne of Green Gables series about 4 times through now.
30. Two places I don't think I could ever live: California and/or Texas.
31. I miss Jack in the Box. What I wouldn't do for a Sourdough Jack and an Oreo shake! And Slurpees! How can there not be 7-11's around here?!
32. The last time I lived in Washington, I visited a coffe stand almost every morning, but I don't drink coffee. I would get a hot white chocolate or a strawberry Italian soda. Emily was the best barista ever!
33. I think Wes and I will keep Krispy Kreme in business just on our own habit.
34. I hate working a flexible schedule. I've adjusted to 3rd shift but the flex schedule is kiling me!

Date Nights

2009-06-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

With the kids off visiting their grandparents, Wes and I have been trying to work some "quality" time into our schedules. I had the weekend off 2 weeks ago. We met up with Wes's friend Mike and his wife Sierra.
The plan was to go out on Mike's little boat to a restaurant out on the harbor, but rain cancelled those plans. But, by the time we met up, the rain was gone (of course). We met up at a sports bar so Mike could watch the last couple innings of the Yankees/Mets game. I was ok with that since I like to see the Yankees lose, and Mike is a Mets fan. We got some appetizers, I had crab cakes that were really good. Then we went ahead and went to the restaurant we had planned, but by land instead of by sea. Its actually on the tributary, not the harobour, but it was cool to sit there on the dock and enjoy the weather. We saw some dolphins and pelicans in the water and they had a guy singing John Mellancamp songs. I had some She-Crab soup and warm crab dip. So it was crab night. After dinner we went to see The Hangover. Hilarious movie! The movie theater was pretty cool. Its called Cinnebarre. They've taken out every other row of seats in the theater so waiters can walk through and bring you things like beer, pizza, milkshakes, yes even popcorn. I've decided I can only wear flip flops when we go out with Mike and Sierra. You might recall what happened to my little red shoes when we once went to their house (the dog chewed them up). Then the last time we went out, my shoes fell apart, the soles just completely came off. This time I stepped in gum. Forget flip flops, I'll just go bare foot.
Briana and Russell spent last week with us. Its kind of blur to me, I was asleep most of the week. One of those weeks where it just seemed no matter how much sleep I got, it wasn't enough. But we had some fun playing guitar hero and watching some old movies.
Friday night Wes and I wanted to go out and see Transformers. I even got all dressed up for it. We don't get out much, so I figured why not wear a dress? All of Summerville seemed to have the same idea because all the evening showings at both theaters were sold out. We tried again Saturday afternoon. We were going to go to the "cheap" theater because they have matinee prices, but they were sold out all afternoon up until the last showing at 10:20. So, we went ahead to the other theater, we were determined at this point! Its a long movie, but worth all the trouble. Very good especially for a sequel. We highly reccomend it. That'll probably be our last movie until Harry Potter comes out in July. Then I'm sure Wes will want to go see GI Joe. Boys and their toys and all that.
Besides that, life without the kids is almost too quiet. We miss them. We especially missed the part where Joel cut his own hair. I'm kind of glad Grandma and Grandpa got to deal with that one. But they are having a great time being spoinled by all the Bakers and Kindigs. They come home this Friday for a few days before they head off to Washington for the rest of the summer before school starts August 17th.
Speaking of school, Mackenzie's teacher pleaded her case and got her enrolled in the GATE (gifted) program for next year. She's very excited because her friend Blythe (see below) is also in GATE. I'm trying not to dwell on the fact that Joel starts school this year, or that Joey officially becomes a teenager at the end of July. I feel old enough already without those reminders!

Summer Projects

2009-06-16T06:13:00.001-07:00

With the empty house for most of the summer, and therefore no excuse (other than work) for not getting stuff done, I've decided to make a to do list. Thanks to Rachel for the idea. So, this will be my main list with detail, and I'll post a smaller check list to the side. So, in no particular order, here we go:
~do "something" about my bedroom
this means pretty much what it says, my room (our room, whatever) has become the catch all room. Also, there are still boxes of Wes's stuff that hasn't been unpacked, mostly because we ran out of closet and drawer space by the time he got it all over here.
~go through the junk piles throughout the house
this is seperate from the giant junk pile that is my room. This is all the magazines, flyers, stuff from school and what not that has piled up in several places throughout the house.
~Get stuff off to Goodwill.
I have a ton of stuff from Joel & Macenzie ready to go (Joey's stuff stays for Joel's later use), and it is time for me to go through my things again.
~super clean all rooms
Just that, take the fine tooth comb, tooth brush, white gloves to each individula room. Spring Cleaning if you will.
~Clean out front and back gardens
While I don't have big plans to plant anything something must be done about the weeds. Yay, weed pulling, my favorite!
~Wash the outside of all the windows.
Still figuring out a way to do that for the upstairs windows with no ladder and a house with sucky water pressure
~House train Gillian
We've been coralling her in the kitchen, but with the kids gone and unable to instigate her hyper puppy issues, I'm hoping to get a chance to teach her what is chew toy and what is not, to stay downstairs, and to quit running around like a mad dog.
~Organize Stamp & Scrapbook stuff
~Go through photos
I have all the family photos and had promised to scan and share. I have alwasys intended to do so, just never really been up to undertaking the task. But, I've started on this one already.
~Actually do some scrapbooking
~Find a new job
This has been on going for a couple months now, not going well
~Figure out what to do about Joey's school issues
Long story, but will keep you posted
~Blog more
~Finally write that novel
this one is a joke, really
So, remember to bug me about all this, but keep in mind, I'm still working and while the kids being gone takes away an excuse for not getting stuff done, it also gives me more to do as someone has to do their chores while their gone.

The Cutest Thing Ever!

2009-06-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

You may recall that a girl down the street invited Mackenzie to go to the Taylor Swift concert with her. Well, her name is Blythe. We've tried a couple of times to have her sleep over, but she can't. Blythe is a diabetic. She has to have her blood sugar checked in the middle of the night and her mom just isn't ready to let her handle that on her own. She also has to wear a monitor at all times. It looks kind of like she's got a cell phone or something under her shirt. Anyway, one day she was over here along with another neighbor, Angelina. The three girls were having some fun with my stamps. The next thing I know they had made these:

So they could all be like Blythe (on the right, showing off the REAL monitor. How cute is that?

I'm in trouble

2009-06-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

I talked to my sister today and she got on my case about not blogging. So here I go. I had tried to post a video of Joey singing karaoke, but it wouldn't load. This weekend he's going to get it up on his youtube account and I'll post the link, along with his band concert. How did it come about that Joey was singing karaoke? No, we didn't take him to a bar (althoug it was somewhat close). At the campground where Wes' family has a permanent site, they host karaoke on the "big" weekends. And Joey was the only brave one of our group. He sang Mambo #5, and the karaoke host was very impressed with how he did. He (the host) was sure with his age and shy demeanor that Joey would need some back up help, but he didn't, he did great. Better than some of the adults, although a lot of them were pretty plastered. I also made him do the Chicken Dance with me:

He also got up and did the Cha Cha Slide, I was busy taking the pictures this time:

What about Mackenzie? She was hanging out at the camper with Briana, and keeping an eye on Joel, who doesn't like loud music. But she did celebrate a birthday. Yep, I am now the mother of 2 kids of double digit age. 10 years old, where did the time go? I still remember when she didn't have hair. Of course, she was 3 before she had any, so it isn't as hard as you might think. We had dinner out at Applebees and they embarrassed her immensely by singing to her. Here she is opening one of her presents, she was so excited over what she got, I couldn't get it in the picture:

As for Joel, he just seems to make himself scarce whenever the camera's out. But here's one from a month ago of him doing the limbo in his pajama;s (sounds like a song title!):

The kids are gearing up for the end of school next week and their impending trip to PA to see Mike's family. Then they'll be off for a visit with my family. So with the anticipated absence of the kids most of the summer, we went out and spent an insane amount of money to see UP in 3D. Joel actually did pretty well. He got a bit antsy about halfway through, but I pulled him onto my lap and he sat through the rest just fine, until he had to use the bathroom. I made him tough it out though. Oh, and warning if you haven't seen it, the beginning is a tear jerker, but all together a great family movie. I don't know what I'll do without them all summer, it'll be way too quiet around here, that and I'll have to do the dishes.

Weekend Getaway

2009-05-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

I managed to have a long weekend this past weekend. My regular days off were Wednesday and Thursday and I managed to get Friday and Saturday off as comp time for working holidays. I got errands done (laundry and a trip to the meat market) and I also got some pampering (Highlights and a trim). I spent some quality time with Joel, and even got to go to Wes' niece's softball game.
Friday evening we set off for Lake Marion. We got settled and spent the evening in. Saturday I actually got up kind of early, took a walk with the kids and spent some time at the playground. After lunch Lauren and Angie arrived. The kids and I headed for the pool, soon after joined by Lauren and Angie. Then it was time for Wes and I to head to Darlington for the race.
It was a great race! Lots of excitement, lead changes, crashes and even one inferno. We paqrked in someone's backyard for cheaper than the lot price and they gave us a short cut to the track. The other advantage was the house being on the side street so the traffic out wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. After a stop at a Waffle House, we rolled back into the camper at about 3 am.
Sunday after sleeping in, we spent the day down at the lake shore taking rides on the jet ski. Wes and I rode up by the Nature Preserve. Too bad I didn't have my camera. The cypress trees and herrons were gorgeous.
Then it was time to pack up and head home in time for me to catch a nap before work. Wes went to pick up Gillian from his mom's house only to find she'd jumped the fence. Dang dog. Jo called Monday afternoon to say she'd come bacvk, so after dinner Mackenzie and I went and got her. Don't know what I'm going to do with that dog!

Joel issues

2009-05-05T06:37:00.001-07:00

I don't know if it is regression, or wanting attention or what, but Joel has been driving me nuts lately! He's been throwing a fit at every single little thing. He sneaks into the kitchen, takes a bite out of something then puts it back. Or he'll gorge himself on whatever junk he can get his hands on. He is banned from the computer because he keeps treating it like a drum set. But unless I keep it in my sight at all times, he will sneak onto that too. I'm now missing my space bar and my N key. Oh, and the receiver for the wireless mouse? He broke that off in the USB port! He is just driving me insane! And I have to somehow get him ready for kindergarden in the fall. The one good thing? We are totally out of pull ups, even at night. Now I just have to work on the thumb and the blankie, oh and the latent toddler behavior he's been exhibiting.

Now I'm missing my own important days

2009-05-04T18:46:00.000-07:00

I used to be really good at remembering birthdays and anniversaries. I really did. Now I'm horrible about it. And now I'm even forgetting my own. It was my "blog"iversary in February and I missed it. Well, please feel free to send all belated well wishes and gifts, I'll still accept them.

Happiness Is...

2009-05-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

Going to Costco. No, really. I haven't been in so long and there is something very comforting about having 100 rolls of toilet paper and a 5 gallon jug of shampoo.

Fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The nearest Krispy Kreme happens to be down the street from Costco, so of course we had to go, and wouldn't you know, fresh doughnuts were marching down the conveyer belt when we walked in.

Requesting time off from work and actually getting it approved. Ok, so it took them two months to approve, but never the less.

Using said time off to get out of town. Not a huge outing, just heading to the lake with the kids. But on Saturday Wes and I are making a detour to Darlington for the NASCAR race. Don't worry, the kids will be with Wes' sister while we're gone.

Getting caught up on laundry. And I don't have to start agin until Wednesday. A whole two days of not doing laundry!

Your daughter going to her first concert. A friend of Mackenzie's, and a neighbor of ours had tickets to the Taylor Swift concert and invited Mackenzie to go along. I told her at first she couldn't go, but only because I wanted to go. But go she did and she had a great time.

Getting a long overdue manicure and pedicure.

Chicken bowls from Kyoto. Seriously, I've never had anything like it. Kyoto is a local Teriyaki place and they make these chicken and rice bowls that are awesome by themselves, but then they give you this sauce to put on it and it becomes the best thing you've ever eaten.

Behind the times

2009-04-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

A lot has been going on around here. Spring has hit in full force and the weather has been gorgeous (aside from a tornado and a flood watch). In Washington you knew spring was coming by the tulips, daffodils and crocuses. Here its the azaleas. And they are everywhere. Kind of like Tulips in Mt Vernon. We went to the Azalea festival last weekend, a big street fair. We had to leave before we hit the rides though, it started to rain and people here are wusses about a little rain.
We also have a new puppy. Wes the big softy that he is brought her home after a co worker had brought in a litter that had been abandoned on his door step. Briana got to name her and named her Sassy. She is very cute and the house training is coming along.
It was again report card time, and as usual the kids did very well. I also got brave and spoke at Mackenzie's career day. Joey's band participated in a state competition, something like the Abbotsford festival for those that remember my band days. For a middle school band, I have been quite impressed with them.
Work continues to be work. Although they've recently let someone from my shift and my building go so that has given me an opportunity for more responsibility. BUT since the letting go of said person I have been looking for a different job. The politics in this job are a bit more than I can take. The supervisors play favorites with no real criteria and even thought I seem to fit the bill, I don't like the game. That and I am really struggling with the schedule. So, wish me luck on finding a real 9-5.
I have pictures posted on facebook from the last month or so, and I will post some here soon.
Happy Easter to all!

I did the macarena with a ninja riding a motorbike because I'm sexy and I do what I want

2009-03-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Wes:
I kicked my science teacher sliding down a hill because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Joey:
I did the macarena with a llama sliding down a hillbecause I'm sexy and do what I want.
Mackenzie:
I jumped on a spoon in line at the bank because I can.
Joel:
I loved a snowman under your bed because big bird said to and he's my leader.

Don't spoil the fun, and keep it going............. Type out the sentence you end up with in the comment box. Then copy and paste this to your blog (or facebook) with the Title being the sentence that you ended up with.
Pick the month you were born:
January-------I kicked
February------I loved
March--------I karate chopped
April----------I licked
May----------I jumped on
June----------I smelled
July-----------I did the Macarena With
August--------I had lunch with
September----I danced with
October-------I sang to
November-----I yelled at
December-----I ran over
Pick the day (number) you were born on:
1-------a birdbath
2-------a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a snowman
6-------a gangster
7-------my mobile phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10-------my neighbor
11-------my science teacher
12-------a banana
13-------a fireman
14-------a stuffed animal
15-------a goat
16--- ----a pickle
17-------your mom
18-------a spoon
19------ - a smurf
20-------a baseball bat
21-------a ninja
22-------Chuck Norris
23-------a noodle
24-------a squirrel
25-------a football player
26-------my sister
27-------my brother
28-------an iPod
29-------a surfer
30-------a homeless guy
31-------a llama
What is the last number of the year you were born:
1--------- In my car
2 --------- On your car
3 ----------- In a hole
4 ----------- Under your bed
5 ----------- Riding a Motorcycle
6 --------- sliding down a hill
7 --------- in an elevator
8---------- at the dinner table
9 -------- In line at the bank
0 -------- in your bathroom
Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White---------because I'm cool like that
Black---------because that's how I roll.
Pink-----------because I'm NOT crazy.
Red-----------because the voices told me to.
Blue-----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want
Green---------because I think I need some serious help.
Purple---------because I'm AWESOME!
Gray----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
Yellow--------Orange--------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Brown---------because I can.
Other----------because I'm a Ninja!
None----------because I can't control myself!

I'm not ignoring you, I promise!

2009-03-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

You would think after 4 1/2 months I would be used to my schedule. Not so much. I'm good for about the first 2 weeks of my revovling schedule, then the last 2 weeks I turn to mush. I have a hard time getting to sleep when I first get home in the mornings, so when I get up when the kids get home I drag around making dinner and getting little things done until about 7, then I no longer have the energy to even lift my head up. It gets to the point where I'm almost too tired to even sleep. So I go to work tired, and drag my way through somehow, then when the consumers get up in the morning I get re-energized by the goings on and hyperactivity and hussle in general that I'm now too amped to sleep when I get home. Its a vicious cycle.

Then my schedule repeats itself, I get 2 days off in a row and I'm able to get back on track. But during those two weeks of zombie-hood, I get nothing extra done. I barely get to the grocery store. Little things like logging on to the internet just kind of slide down the proverbial ladder of importance.

I say I can't wait for next fall when Joel will be in school and I can apply for a day position, but I'm not sure that will solve my issues either. I think the root is not having a "regular" schedule. Work 4 days, 2 off, work 3, 1 off, work 4, 2 off, work 4, 1 off. It messes with my inner clock. My body can't adjust to a month long inner calender. Weekly yes, monthly, no. I could give up weekends if I could just have the same 2 days off back to back each week. But I guess that makes too much sense. As much as I like my job and what I do, and as much as I know right now is not a time to be looking for another job, I think I need to look for another job. No I'm not going to quit first. I will probably soldier through until the fall regardless, but at that time it might be time for me to try and find banking hours somewhere. If such a job exists.

Oh well, life sucks, right? I've survived so far, I can make it.

Mysterious fevers and things you thought only existed on tv

2009-03-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

There is a mysterious fever going through members of our household. What is strange is it is a symptomless fever. No runny nose, aches, pains, nothing. A slight headache and being a bit tired. That's it. Joel's had it twice now, Mackenzie and I each had it once. I am almost out of Children's Tylenol now.
You know on those kids sitcoms back in the day, like Saved by the Bell and Head of the class, there was always a team of smart kids that then battled other schools in knowledge tournaments? We never had that in my schools that I'm aware of. I figured it was something made up for television to show competition outside of sports. Anyway, it exists. Here its called quiz bowl, and Joey was selected for his school's team. They didn't win, but they made a fairly decent showing. He was pretty excited about being a part of it. Just thought I'd share.
Mackenzie and a friend in her class are so far ahead in math, her teacher has let them move ahead on their own. But she didn't test into the gifted and talented program. I don't get it. Tests are stupid, and I've always thought so.

Secrets of Southern Cooking

2009-03-12T11:51:00.001-07:00

I've mastered southern cooking, or atleast the fundamentals behind it. Lots of meat deep fried or babecued, rice and anything else mushy and tasteless on the side (collards, black eyed peas, cream corn, potatoes, beans) and then layer everything in salt and pepper. Oh, and smother it in butter.
Seriously, has no one around here heard of cholesterol or seasoning? You can start simpple with some oregano or cilantro. And ovens are good for more than cakes and pies, I promise!

Run for the hills, I might be creative!

2009-03-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Idea provided by Rachel:
This is open to anyone who reads my blog!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by yours truly!!

I get to chose what it is, and make it just for YOU!!

However, this offer does have some restrictions and limitations

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (although I'm hoping you do!)

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It will be done this year. (before December 31, 2009!)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. I'm not super good at any one thing, but I will put my heart and soul into it.

There is one little catch. You must re-post this on YOUR blog, facebook, or whatever you use to contact the masses and make the same offer to the first 5 people who respond on your blog entry, thereby continuing the fun! (Keep it local if you would like, however you want to do it is fine.)

The first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they will be posting this on their blog will win a special something made by me!

Be sure to post a picture of your handmade prize when you get it!

Should be a fun and interesting little experiment and I am hoping that God will use it as a blessing too. :)

ANother note: This would mean that all you floaters out there that read but don't comment MUST comment this time, otherwise, how do I know who you are?

Sad Day

2009-03-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

Wes's dog Zeus has been sick for a while. They took him to a vet. At first they thought parasite, but did more tests and found a mass in his stomach. He was on meds, but in the last he week stopped eating.
Wes had to put him to sleep to day. I don't think it would have been so hard, but it came on so suddenly, and in the end he was just wasting away. Because he's a rottweiler, our landlords vetoed us having him here with us, but Wes went to see him at his mom's whenever he could. He was a big 'ol sweet teddy bear of a dog, and we'll all miss him. It was especially hard on Briana since she grew up with Zeus.
Sorry for the downer, but I though it was worth mentioning.

It must be in the water

2009-02-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

When I found out I was pregnant with Joey I was working at the Child Development Center in Turkey. What was funny was 3 other women found out they were pregnant, all within 2 weeks of each other. We couldn't blame the water because no one drank the tap water there (think Mexico) and not all of us drank the same brand of bottled. But when the one male working at the center found out his wife was pregnant, we all turned out heads to our cook.
What's the point? Just one of those weird things about working with a bunch of women. In my building, we have 3 ladies pregnant right now. One of them on my shift. Its making the rest of us a little paranoid though, most of us consider our baby making days over. Some are in the clear (by age or design or surgery) but some of us, not so much. We are about to resort to wearing garlic around our necks just in case.
In other news...
I experienced another local tradition yesterday. The meat market. We got about a months worth of meat in one day. It was totally cheap and fresh, but buying it in bulk that way meant breaking it up into servicable sizes once we got home. Elbow deep in raw meat is always fun. Now I just need to come up with recipes for all this stuff!
Joel takes a little too much after me sometimes. If he can't do things the way he has it in his head to do, he blows a gasket. Example: The other night we ate dinner a little late, so he was finishing up his dessert right before bedtime. He put his bowl in the sink then came out to me to get a kiss and hug goodnight (he always insists on both). He'd left the lights on in the kitchen, so I made him go back to turn them off. He did, whining the whole way. I assume its because I actually made him do something. No, on his way back he yelled at me, "I wanted to turn off the light AFTER my hug and kiss!" He does the same thing in the mornings sometimes. If I don't have to wake him up to take Joey to school, he gets dressed before he comes downstairs, but if we take Joey to school, he has to eat breakfast first. Sometimes I try to buy a few minutes and ask him to get dressed first. You'd think I was asking him to step on nails all the way up the stairs!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

2009-02-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

Just some bits and pieces from the last few days. Saturday night we did Chinese. I made the pork fried rice, Wes tackled the egg rolls. Later that evening, Wes and Mackenzie were battling on Guitar Hero. After a sudden death play off....Mackenzie won.

He said she said

2009-02-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

I apologize in advance for this post. This is not what I want my blog to be about, but I feel I can't sit here and take what has been thrown at me.
I have never used this blog as a forum to launch a smear campaign against people. Yes, I've complained about my job and my supervisors, but I didn't name names and I'm pretty sure nobody even associated with them read my blog. I don't set out to humiliate people. My other reason is that I know I'm not perfect. I know that before I say things about other people I need to look at myself.
Yes, there are things about me that could change for the better. I have the tendency to put things off until the last second, and those things that I think will be unpleasant for me I will put off until even longer because I stupidly hope they will go away. This is why I have avoided doing this, because it is a pointless game of back and forth. You did this, I did that. Please world see that I am the better person because of what has been done to me.
I don't blame my life on other people. I never have. I suppose some people could see it that way because of things I've said in frustration in the past, but I take responsibility for my life. I'm the one that got married in stead of going to college. I'm the one that had kids early instead of going to college. I'm the one that chose to stay home with my kids as much as I could instead of working all the time. Sometimes I had to work, other times I was able to stay home. I agree that in staying home the majority of housework should have been on me, but I also admit that I suck at it. I'm good at being a mom, but I'm no good at being a house wife.
For the record, from the time I got married, here is my job history:
In Turkey there were few jobs available for military family members, even less for a 19 year old just out of high school with little job experience. But I put in my applications and waited. And waited. In the meantime I volunteered once a week at the vet clinic. I did real work there. I assisted in exams, cleaned up messes, gave shots, got scratched, scrubbed cages. Then a job at the child development center became available. Then I got pregnant. About that time my hours at the cdc were diminished, and my choices for child birth in the area did not appeal to me. My sister offered to pay to babysit her kids, and my mom offered up her spare room, and Ft Lewis had an excellent Labor & Delivery ward. So, I went back to Washington, this was a mutual decision.
After Joey was born we moved to Ft. Campbell. I spent my days with a new born and unpacking and setting up our house. When Joey was 9 months old it became apparent that we needed a second income, so I went and found work. Another daycare center. After a few months internal issues at that day care center made it a volatile place to work. I developed stress related medical issues, so I gave my notice and found a new job. I was only without work for a week. Then we moved to Germany. Again a place with few jobs for spouses. Even less than in Turkey. No cdc, no commissary, no px. But I had another baby on the way, so I would be busy enough. But I was offered a job at an international preschool. My kids were able to go for free since I worked there. It was across the street form out apartment, and I really liked being a teacher. It was a great job. When the director saw me during a visit back to Germany a couple of years ago, she tried to offer me the same job again, so I think I was good at it. I worked there right up until we moved again. In New Jersey it was now apparent that any job I could get would not offset the cost of child care. We would have to pay before and after school care for Joey, and full time care for Mackenzie. But when Mackenzie was able to go to full time preschool that was subsidized (free), I got a part time job. I was still there to see them off to school, and there when they got home. It was a great situation. Then came Joel. I didn't work when Joel was young. Well, except for when I was in Washington while Mike was in Drill Sergeant school. And then I worked part time and only because my parents were able to look after my kids. But I stayed home the whole time we were in Columbia because that is what made the most sense. We couldn't afford all the child care expenses that would be necessary if I worked, and because of Mike's schedule, alternative work schedules (like 2nd or 3rd shift) were not an option either. So I chose to stay home. To say I was lazy is an insult not just to me, but to all stay at home moms. I felt blessed that I was able to stay home and take care of my kids. Yes maybe my house wasn't spotless, and maybe we ate frozen foods more often than not, but my kids were well cared for. I saw them off to school, helped with homework, volunteered at the school, drove everyone to dr's appointments, sports, and other activities. Not to mention I was going to school at the time, pulling off a 4.0 gpa. I have always been my children's primary care giver and I am proud of that.
What I'm getting at is, people should get their facts straight before they try to diminish what I have done with my life. And those that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I don't blame my life circumstances on anyone else, I am not a victim. If other people want to be victims, that is fine, but to say that I am the cause of where your life is gives me a lot more power than I actually possess.

I can only do one thing at once

2009-02-10T18:51:00.000-08:00

I used to be good at meal planning, I think I mentioned that, but I suck at it now. I think it is because my budget works differently, so I need to adjust according to that, but haven't figured out how yet.
I had caught up on laundry, then I got sick and decided to take the weekend off. Now I'm behind again, but also had to go back to work, so I'm not catching up either.
The state provides an opportunity as an employee for me to purchase budget life insurance for my kids, but the system thinks they're already covered. I don't know how that's possible, but now I have to figure that out too.
Joey is trying out for baseball. If he makes the team, he needs a physical, so I'm going to have to figure out the whole medical insurance thing.
I was out of cat litter. A pet store near me has a deal where I can refill a pre purchased bucket for x amount of dollars. I should have known they close at 6 on Sundays. I forgot to go yesterday, what with trying to slepp enough to be able to go back to work last night, but I finally made it out there tonight. After the cat pooped on the floor.
The nurses at work swear that a certain consumer's meds haven't been altered, but then why out of no where is she up ALL night and ALL day for a week straight now?
With Joey possibly playing baseball, Mackenzie really wants to play soccer again. The going rate is $80 to register. That doesn't count equipment. And Joey would like to do Little League if he doesn't make the school team, another $80. And Joel has (seriously) said he wants to play football next fall. (all together now) Another $80.
After taking care of the cat, and helping Joey walk the dog (he's having issues, so we're going through a sort of training program) I forgot to feed the fish. So, I guess I can really only take care of 3 animals at a time. Thank goodness Mackenzie has to guinea pigs care under control.
Moral of the story:
Mom's aren't allowed sick leave.

UTI's and URI's otherwise entitled Brenda goes to the doctor

2009-02-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

Between losing and gaining medical insurance a couple of times in the past couple years, I haven't been the most frequent visitor of medical centers for myself. But I was having some "potty" issues and finally decided to give my new insurance a work out. Now, I've had a bit of a cold for a couple of days too, but its a cold, we just have to wait those out right? Right. So, I go in, get my vitals done, give a urine sample and wait for the doctor to give me 2 minutes, write me scrip and send me home. I had the great fortune of seeing a Nurse Practioner that believes in spending more than 2 minutes with a patient. She took one look at me and said we're gonna take a look at that cold too.
So, I walked out of the doctor's office diagnosed with a UTI (urinary tract infection), URI (upper respitory infection), bronchitis, and an ear infection. I got to have a cortizone shot in my butt, nose spray for my nose and a fun antibiotic that doesn't have a generic equivalent yet.
Remind me not to complain the next time one of my kids breaks a bone.

Happy Birthday Joel!!!

2009-02-05T19:25:00.000-08:00

So my baby turned 5 today. I've been sick the last few days, so it wasn't a big extravaganza, but the great thing about 5 year olds - they don't need it. We went to McDonald's for dinner (some place that at one point wasn't all that out of the ordinary, but lately is) and actually went inside (which hardly ever happens) and played "at the park" as the kids call it (which we NEVER do except on road trips.) I did manage to get a cake made, but didn't grease the pan well enough, so it was stuck to the bottom. I started to write "Happy Birthday Joel" with one of those gel pens you get from the super market, but ran out before I got to the Joel. But, I had some left over white icing. I added a little milk to it, the nuked it for about 10 seconds (it had been in the fridge), put some in a ziplock, cut a corner off and used it to write the Joel. So all's well that ends well. Enjoy the pics.

Not wanting to add to my list...

2009-02-02T16:16:00.000-08:00

But I'm going to try to blog more. I say this today, and it will probably be a month until I blog again. So today was a pretty basic day. I'm surrounded by laundry, but making headway. This week I'm trying to catch up enough to do laundry twice a week. The hope is that this will cut down the size of the loads and the amount of time spent sorting, drying, folding, and putting away. Good luck to me.
I was also behind on my meal planning, so there was nothing for dinner tonight. And we were out of bread. Mackenzie and I headed out to grab something to eat, and this is what we came home to:

I woke them up to say that dinner was here, but they are both still asleep on the couch.
Speaking of laundry, the drier has gone off, back to the folding board.

Apparantly I don't blog enough

2009-02-01T18:33:00.001-08:00

I've received a complaint that it is too long between blogs. Now I'm in a pickle. My life is boring. Really, nothing happens around here. And I'm usually asleep when the kids do anything blog worthy. But, I'll give it a try...
Joel doesn't like it when Wes and I hug each other. Or maybe its just that he doesn't like being left out. Every time we hug, he wedges himself in between us, taking turns as to which on of us he grans onto. He gets really mad when we see him coming and "close the gap". Then he'll start slapping one of us on the rump until we let him in.
Joey had his first official band concert. Ok, his first official one here. Being a former band nerd myself, I am quite prepared for middle school level band playing. The rhythm section is usually off and there are usually quite a few sqeeks from various instruments that aren't quite finding the right note. Not to mention middle school bands tend to be "top" heavy. Lots of wind intruments, lots of trumpets, very little bass section. I must say, I was very impressed. They were quite good. I'm in the process of securing a copy of the recording from Joey's teachers, so I will try to post the video.
Mackenzie is her usual self, although her attitude is getting to new levels. She employs the foot stomp more often than she used to, and the range of her whining seems to go up with age. I'd rather hoped it would be the opposite. She's already planning her birhtday...in May, and for anyone that wants to know, she wants earrings. I told her that was actually a quite reasonable request. She seemed shocked to hear that.
Me, well I go to work, I sleep, then I work around here. Then I do it all over again. But that's the story of many people's lives. My biggest project right now is staying on top of the laundry and finding new and simple things to make for dinner. I miss having the internet at work. I seem to have more down time there than at home. Although not so much last night. They all seem to be on a similar cycle with their behavior, and last night was the night too be throwing fits and seeing things that aren't there. Its one of those frustrating things about an insitutional surrounding. When your child is on medication of any kind, it is the parent's job to monitor behavior. In the case of where I work, we HSA's are the closest thing, we are the day to day care providers, and the only information anyone takes from us is on a little worksheet where we right down who's sleeping, whose hallucinating, etc. No one ever asks us to ellaborate, then the doctors adjust medications without telling us and we have to wonder why someone is acting funny. Oh well, c'est la ville.

Catch up

2009-01-27T05:48:00.000-08:00

I've been on blogging hiatus. Mostly because when something is truly bugging me, I avoid my blog in order to keep myself from whining on it. I'm still having issues with the management at my job. The charge person on my shift is great, no problems there. We have almost identical schedules, so we probably work together more than any other two people on our shift and we have a good repore and work well together. I don't have authority issues, and I think I take direction pretty well, but when someone dictates to me that I have plenty of time to add this that and the other thing to my duties, and I try to explain to that person that what is being asked while not impossible will require back up from the other 2 shifts, and said person cuts me off without letting me finish a sentence, I get a little irked. Disrespect bothers me to no end. I may be the new person, but this woman has been absent for most of my tenure at my job, so to shut me down like I'm lazy and looking for an out was almost it for me. Good thing the economy sucks, or I might have walked away. Said person is the supervisor for my building and I think she has lost touch with reality, and what it is like to be in our (the human services assitants) shoes. Then there is our area supervisor. She is the one who does the interviewing and hiring, and does the schedules, approves leave and what not. She has said out loud that she will not be approving any leave for third shift for the foreseeable future. It's not like we are all asking for blocks of long term leave here, we just want to take our holiday comp time. One day here and there. If you aren't going to give me comp time, then pay me double time for working on a holiday. Scratch that, EVERY holiday since November. I'm living up to my end of the bargain as far as what is expected of me in my employment, they need to live up to theirs. Ok, and this is nit picky, but neither one of these people can write out a coherent sentence. No, I mean it, every time I have to read something either one of them has written, I have to go over 3 or 4 times. I don't have a full college education, but I learned most of my writing skills in highschool, and that is a requirement for any position held at the center.
In other news.....
Wes had a birthday on January 11th. Here's his "cake":

He wanted brownies instead of a cake.

Also, the kids got their report cards and both did really well. Mackenzie came home with all A's and perfect attendance. Joey once again missed two A's by one point each, but I'm still proud. Mackenzie's school has started an after school sports program for A/B honor roll students. It's very intense: kick ball and cheerleading. She did cheerleading last trimester, so she is trying kick ball this time. Joey wants to play baseball for his school this spring. He's looking forward to that starting in a couple months. For now we're braving the cold weather we've been having, but have so far warded off the snow. Thank goodness for small favors! Joel continues to do his own thing. He sleeps in, even though I wake him up most mornings to drive Joey to school, wakes me up for breakfast, then passes his time on nick.com or playing the Wii until his brother and sister get home and he can go outside.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2009-01-27T05:40:00.000-08:00

One of my new recipes. The kids weren't big fans, but then again, they cringe at anything new. Wes and I loved it, and Joey said it was "pretty" good. I also did tuna melts the other day, but didn't have batteries for my camera yet, so next time. I put a little too much chicken, so it was more stew than soup. I had been multi tasking (really this time!) and had asked Wes to cube up the chicken for me. I swear I said it was too much for the soup and that we could save half for later, but he must have missed that. Oh well, it was super yummy anyway.

Is it all just a hoax?

2009-01-20T16:59:00.001-08:00

My kids had an extended holiday weekend, today was a teacher work day. Ok, but at about 1pm, I got an automated call from Joey's school saying that school was letting out 2 hours early today due to impending inclement weather (it MIGHT snow). Um, wasn't there no school today? But, there are 30 kids running around outside, so now. So lets talk about this snow thing. First of all, the traditional snow panic is in effect. Everyone is lining up at the store for milk, bread, and batteries. I've seen about 5 snowflakes so far. It may still hit some time overnight, just in time for me to drive home in, yay! I'm not worried about driving myself, but all the other crazies out on the road have me worried. Then again, it may do absolutely nothing. Either way, it's extremely cold out there. Can I call out sick?

I used to....

2009-01-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

There was a time before I was a single mom that I did meal planning, and was a much more careful shopper. I was pretty good at it. Well, I'm taking a page from Rachel's book and starting to do that again. I've started with ivillage.com. I've gone there before for many different things. They have messages boards for just about every woman's issue/concern/interest you can think of. So now I'm going to them for recipe ideas. I'm a decent cook, but I don't enjoy cooking. I like it when I can pull something off that's a hit with everyone, but I never expect it. And I certainly am no good at coming up with new ideas. If it were left up to me we'd have spaghetti, sloppy joes, grilled chicken, and grilled pork chops with the occasional steak thrown in over and over. But I'm making a new effort! And I figure by posting it, Rachel and I and anyone else that wants to join in my new resolve can help each other out, share cool recipes we've found. Kind of like a work out buddy, but we're we aren't professional chefs but still need variety buddies. At least I hope, lol.

I did it!

2009-01-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

See? I did it! Thanks Rachel for the offer, I didn't want to bother you with a house full of sick kids, so I gave it one more try on my own. If this hadn't worked, then I was gonna bother you. Thanks so much for the offer though!

Memories part 3

2009-01-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

Here is a crowd pleaser! How many hours did I waste sitting in a Denny's drinking a Coke? And eating mozzarella sticks? And trying to develop a taste for coffee (wasn't gonna happen). It was the meeting point, the hangout, the round up at the end of the night. And sometimes even the hideout. Or just the place to sit and laugh about the night's adverntures (like tp'ing someone's house....), or the place to go when you've been on a plane for several hours and your friends tagged along with your parents to meet you at the airport and you're pregnant and starving. I miss Denny's, we don't have any out here, but we do have Waffle House. Not quite the same, but still a good place to go at the end of the night.

I feel like an idiot

2009-01-15T10:59:00.000-08:00

Ok, feeling like an idiot isn't new for me. Happens quite often actually. But, I've been trying to change my blog background and no matter how carefully I follow the directions, I just can't do it. I mean, obviously I changed it, but that's because I went with one of blogger's templates. I want a cool, colorful, fun to look at background and I just can't seem to get it right. The thing is, I kind of "get" html and its purpose and what not. I don't "speak" it, but I get it. I understand what is being asked of me when I'm changing it, but everytime I click save, then view, what I get is no where near what I was going for. Now my head hurts. I guess I'll have to try again tomorrow.

Tagged by Melanie... 29 random things about me

2009-01-14T15:05:00.000-08:00

1. I love Abba music
2. I can be extremely moody. By moody I don't mena bitchy (which, that can be one of my moods) but that my mood can change at the drop of a hat.
3. I've lived in 3 different countries, 4 states, 10 towns, and 12 different houses.
4. I still have the stuffed animal my grandma gave me when I was a baby.
5. I love to dance around my living room when no one is watching.
6. I'm addicted to Coke.
7. I hate coffee.
8. I'm a slob but...
9. My drawers and closets and cupboards HAVE to be organized or I go nuts.
10. I'm very obsessive about how my laundry gets done, and how its folded and put away (see #9).
11. I know a smattering of 4 different languages (besides English), but couldn't carry on a conversation in any of them.
12. I put almost everything off to the last possible second.
13. I don't ski, I don't rock climb, and I'm not a big fan of snow but...
14. I miss the mountains.
15. I feel totally superior that in the midst of all the Twilight craze I can say that not only do I know where Forks is, I've been there...more than once.
16. I like the work I do at my job, but I'm becoming disillusioned with the management at my job.
17. I've held 13 different jobs since I turned 18.
18. Someone recently told me I'm artistic, but I couldn't disagree more.
19. I'm addicted to solitare, I even downloaded it to my phone.
20. I'm a master at procrastination.
21. I really hate shopping at Wal Mart
22. I LOVE Target, but have to shop at Wal Mart these days.
23. I'm looking more forward to the Daytona 500 than the Super Bowl.
24. I'm terrified by the fact that as of July 31st I will be the mother of a teenager.
25. I have a serious weakness for chocolate - of any kind.
26. I haven't checked my email in over a month.
27. I used to be able to nap on demand, but can't now that I could really use it.
28. The one thing I was always good at in school was spelling.
29. I think math is evil.
Ok, so I tag Rachel, Amy (that's 2 now), and we'll see if we can rouse Danielle.

Creeque Alley

2009-01-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

I got tagged by Rachel so here it is.
Let's see what your music has to say about you...
Here are the rules:
1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS
1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? Welcome Me - Indigo Girls
2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Fatihfully - Journey
3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? Treat Me Right - Pat Benetar
4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? Happy New Year - Abba
5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? You an Me of the 10,000 Wars - Indigo Girls
6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Janie's Got a Gun - Aerosmith
7) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? It's the End of the World - REM
8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
9) WHAT IS 2+2? Get a Job - The Silhouettes
10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? On and On and On - Abba
11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? WHeel in the Sky - Journey
13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Buttons - The Pussycat Dolls
14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys - Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
15) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You - Heart
16) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? Armageddon It - Def Leppard
17) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Our Last Summer - Abba
18) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? California Dreamin' - The Mama's and the Papa's
19) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Rocket - Def Leppard
20) WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? Crazy - Patsy Cline
21) HOW WILL YOU DIE? Lights - Journey
22) WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? Material Girl - Madonna
23) WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? Dog & Butterfly - Heart
24) WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? You Really Got Me - The Kinks
25) WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? Picture - Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow
26) WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST? Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
27) DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU? Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
28) IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Magic - Olivia Newton-John
29) WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? Tainted Love - Soft Cell
30) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS NOTE AS? Creeque Alley - The Mama's & The Papa's I am tagging: 1) Amy 2) Melanie 3) Brittany
Don't worry, I'm posting this on Facebook as well

A lesson learned

2009-01-14T13:46:00.000-08:00

So a couple of days ago, one of these was in front of my house. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
I believe it was last Friday. I was in the garage when Joey comes up to me and tells me there is a fire in the woods behind my house. At first I'm thinking, a bunch of tween boys, one of them thought they'd try a camp fire that got out of hand. I turned the corner of the house, and oh boy had it got out of hand! Some of Joey's friends had tried putting it out. I'm yelling for them to get out of the woods, and knowing most of them have cell phones, asked if anyone had called 911. They hadn't, but as I was headed inside to call myself, here comes the fire truck. Apparantly most of the neighborhood had seen the smoke. Where had I been? I hadn't seen a thing and it was directly behind MY house!
A fire extinguisher wasn't enough, so they actually had to pull out a hose. Thankfully it only took about 30 minutes for them to declare that it was out and they were leaving. They didn't investigate or anything. I think they assumed that the bunch of kids standing around had done it.
Here's my problem, 2 days earlier it had been super windy, and it has been pretty dry lately. If it had been then that this fire had been started, we're talking houses here.
One of the older teenage girls in the neighborhood asked around and the concensus was that it was a boy that does not hang out with Joey's crowd that had been back there. So, the lesson for that day was 1) if there is a fire in the woods, quit trying to put it out and call the professionals, and 2) if you see this kid anywhere near my house again, I am to be informed immediately.
Wes had been working late that day so he missed the excitement and thought I was messing with him when I texted him to tell him the fire department was here. Until I sent him the picture.

Memories part 2

2009-01-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

Mine was blue, but here she is, my not always trusty, kinda rusty (not really) little highschool car.
Being a priveleaged teen with her own car came with some obligations. Like saving as many friends as I could from riding the bus to school. Or being soley in charge of getting everyone including me home before curfew.
It had a suprising load capacity. I'm pretty sure I exceeded the human capacity more than once. And I used to load useful things to, like my trunk when I worked at camp one summer.
Say what you want about the old girl, but chances are, if you knew me back in highschool, she was your ride home at least once!

One more thing

2008-12-29T08:18:00.000-08:00

Wes and I being completely kid free and tired of eating left overs decided to treat ourselves to dinner out last night. There is a tiny Mexican restaurant near us that he's had lunch at a couple times. They (according to him) have an outstanding lunch buffet. Now, I'm a little picky about Mexican food. I'm a bit spoiled there thanks to my extended family from south of the border. I don't do Tex Mex, and I will pick apart most mexican restaurants for how unauthentic they are. There by spoiling the experience for myself and anyone with me. But, we took the chance and went to El Rosarito. I felt very at home. The servers spoke with the familar accent and even told us what it was we'd like best. The only thing missing was telling me I needed to eat more. The carne asada was perfect and I already know what I'll get the next time. Its not quite the home cooked tacos and enchiladas I'm used to, but its pretty close. It even came with screaming in Spanish in the kitchen. Come visit me and I'll take you. I'm just sorry we didn't think about it when mom and dad were here.

Memories

2008-12-29T07:33:00.000-08:00

Maybe its the Holidays, I don't know, but little memories have been coming back to me lately. So I thought I'd share one every now and then. Mostly I look at it as good blog material. So today I'm going with one of mine and Tarrah's favorite things from back when...
Tin Roof Sundae Ice Cream.

We must have gone through a ton of this stuff over the years. Man I miss that young metabolism!
We would eat right out of the carton, usually in front of a great classic movie like Dirty Dancing, Top Gun, or Footloose.
Ah....memories

Christmas and other stuff

2008-12-29T07:11:00.000-08:00

So first off, for Christmas, Santa (ok, me) ordered cable and internet for the house. This all got installed Saturday. After a couple glitches, we are all up and running. Oh wait, I still have to exchange the DVR, ours is defective, but they will exchange it, I just have to take it to the local office. But, the internet is up and running and the idea of getting online no longer makes my head hurt or back ache. What? You mean I don't have to sit the lap top on the back of the couch anymore? Crazy!
So, Christmas. My mom and dad drove up from Florida after spending a week cruising the Bahamas. They got in early evening the Saturday before Christmas. We met for dinner and gave the tour of the house before my parents fled to their hotel room and I had to go off to work. While I was trying to sleep off work Sunday afternoon, Wes took my parents and the kids to downtown Charleston to see the Battery and the old Slave Market. I had Monday and Tuesday off. Monday my mom and I went shopping mostly for Christmas Eve Dinner supplies. Then I napped (I hadn't slept since working all night) while my mom genourously made dinner for all 9 of us, as she did every night she was here. Tuesday my dad and I took the kids (minus Russell who wasn't feeling well) to the aquarium while my mom stayed behind to get a jump on Christmas eve dinner.
Christmas eve my mom commandeered a feast for 13. We had Wes' mom and sister and brother in law and their daughter for dinner and gift exchange. There was more than enough food, and thanks to thinking of letting the kids eat first, we managed to sit everyone at the table in shifts.
I worked Christmas eve and got home about 7:30 Christmas morning. The kids started getting up not long after I got home, but we had to wait for mom and dad to arrive and for Wes to drag himself out of bed. The kids stayed up until 2 am, making it hard for Santa to arrive and for Wes to go to bed at a decent hour.
The biggest hits this year were the Twilight poster for Mackenzie, the Mario pajamas for Joel, Russell got an Xbox 360 from his mom, and a Dora blanket for Briana. Oh yes, and Guitar Hero World tour for Joey.
On opening the poster, Mackenzie after seeing what it was, dropped the poster, fell to the floor, and started to make crying noises. I was a bit put off. So my mom asked here what was wrong. She said, I'm just so happy, I love it so much! If I'd have known that, I could have spent a lot less money on Christmas!
Mom and dad had to head out right after present opening to drive down to Orlando and catch their flight home. It was only a little late. I think they were trekking throught the snow from tho top of their driveway by midnight. Teri & Ernie picked them up form the airport, but didn't dare drive into their LONG drive way, so everyone walked from the top of the drive to the house in about 2 feet of snow. I should also mention that my mom had no jacket and was wearing sandals.
I have pictures, but in the interest of saving time, I'm going to just say, check them out on my facebook. If you aren't on my facebook, then its time you were!

Sorry about the weather...

2008-12-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

Really I am. Is it my fault that some weird front has been holding off all those storm systems the rest of US has had to deal with the last couple days? And can I further help it that the same system has the temp holding at about 80* here? Nope, not my fault.

Rachel's idea...should get me of the hook for a few days at least!

2008-12-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

So, I got this from Rachel's blog. Since I've been absent for a while, I thought I'd copy cat as well. So, things I've done will be in italics
1. Started your own blog Pretty sure that's what this is
2. Slept under the stars All the time at camp, and wihtout the aid of a tent
3. Played in a band Highschool band counts, right?
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower Again, camp. The San Juans are a great place to watch these....if its clear out.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis It was on my tire in Clarksville, I wasn't gonna run over it, so I had to move it.
10. Sang a solo Well, not sang, but I fugured palying one in band was close enough
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - close once, been to the base, but they'd already sold the allowed number of tickets that day.
18. Grown your own vegetables I'm counting the bean plant we had at the preschool I worked at.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - sick of work is sick, right?(I agree with Rachel on this one)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run - But I stole home once. That was pretty cool.
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors Incidentally, we were stationed in Germany in the region where some of my family is from.
35. Seen an Amish community Thanks to in laws from Amish country
36. Taught yourself a new language I'm counting Turkish and German since I didn't take formal lessons. Yes, I'm not fluent, but I learned enough to get around.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke Very badly
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa - I'm counting this since I was in African waters for about 20 minutes once.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted I'm counting this because my cousin did transpose photos into a painting for my mom.
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud I'm from Washington, is there anything but?
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie Does my car being in a movie count? We were paid for it.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business I'm counting Avon and Stampin' Up darn it!
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason Just this week Wes brought me a rose
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy It's hard to a call Buppy a a toy, but close enough
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt Not a traditional quilt, but Tarrah and I once pieced together cut up pices of jeans and made a quilt. I wonder what happened to that?
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - But my kids have
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - excuse my language, but HELL NO!
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper A german newspaper, but still
85. Read the entire Bible A constant work in progress. I think that if you take the different bible studies I've done, I've come close, but never cover to cover.
86. Visited the White House You can't get inside anymore, but I've been at the gate
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating Do fish count?
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous Waylon Jennings, Cuba Gooding Jr, Keifer Sutherland, President Clinton
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby Only a couple
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit Does my divorce count?
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day
So, I'd love to see YOUR answers, email them to me if you don't have a blog!

Work really sucks it out of you

2008-12-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

I've noticed its been a while. Time flies when you sleep all day. In my defense, I work all night. I had a pretty good schedule going at first. I was up and alert by the time everyone was home from work/school. That gave me time to get things done around the house, cook dinner and spend some quality time with the kids and Wes before heaing off to work again. Not so much this past week or so. I've just been exhausted. I get up to make dinner, trudge through that and fall asleep on the couch again until the kids go to bed. Pathetic I know.
I've been working a brutal schedule though. 4 days on, 1 day off for the past 2 weeks and I think its caught up to me. My schedule revolves on a 28 day calendar. The first 2 weeks are pretty well spaced, but the last 2 are rough. So, I'm hoping as the new period starts this week, I'll adjust better to the last 2 weeks this month.
Nothing too alarming is going on. Joey graduated from a cast to a brace last week. He's in that for about another month. But, he can take it off when he's just sitting around (not often, as outside is still the place to be around here) and most important, he can take it off to shower. And while he showers, I can spray the brace with Febreeze. Man those things stink up fast!
Mackenzie has her first chorus concert tomorrow. She's looking forward to it, but she isn't sure she wants to continue after this. Her chorus teacher seems to think that chorus is life and that a bunch of 8-10 year olds should want nothing more than to practice twice a week, in spite of everything else. She may give it a go as a class option once she's in middle school thought.
Joey's first band concert is also coming up soon. Oddly, they chose to wait until after Christmas to do that. My highschool band teacher would have loved that. He hated the need for Christmas concerts, almost as much as pep band.
Wes is almost done with his probabtion period at work. He's looking forward to a possible raise and benefits kicking in by the end of the month. He's also given notice at his 2nd job. With Christmas shopping almost done, he figures the tiny amount he gets from there can be given up. I quite agree.
We will have a full house for Christmas. Russell and Briana will be with us the first part of their school break, going back to their mom's Christmas afternoon. My kids will be with us until then as well, going to Mike's at the same time. My parents are leaving on a cruise tonight, and when they return, they're driving up here from Florida to spend Christmas with us. With the big crowd we're already having, we're going to host Christmas Eve dinner here for Wes' family. I think I may have gone a little insane with that thought. But, with tv trays and folding chairs borowed from here and there, it should work out alright.
One more announcement for those that aren't related to me and don't know...my beautiful niece Brittany is getting married! Since this is no small event, The kids and I and perhaps even Wes will be trekking back across the country this summer for the wedding. I'm not sure which was scarier, wedding invites from the kids I used to babysit, or this. Man I'm getting old!

Oh yeah, I have kids!

2008-11-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

It occured to me that I haven't mentioned what the kids are up to in a while. Well, they are doing what they do.
Joey made A/B honor roll. His arm is in a cast now, and hopefully that will come off the first week of December. That first week in a just asplint was rough because the ER had wrapped the ace bandage all the way to the tips of his fingers, so his whole right arm was pretty useless. But, the cast leaves him able to use his fingers and the top half of his hand, so he's able to do his own homework now. (I swear I didn't really do his homework for him, but I did write for him when it was necessary)Other than that, he's just been doing his thing. Hanging out with his friends and what not. One thing we around here found amusing the other day, Joey managed to pull off a one liner! The thing about Joey - he can't tell a joke. He tends to explain to people why its funny. Or he'll repeat it so many times it loses any humor very fast. But the other day he pulled off a great one liner, and I was so proud! I know, maybe my priorities are off, but it was a great moment.
Mackenzie also made the honor roll. She was a bit dissapointed though because she had one B and missed the A by one percentage point. And it was in reading, usually her best subject. She's also been singing in the school chorus. They had a concert at a local grocery store on Tuesday and they sounded great. All girls of course. She's also been participating in an after4 school program for those kids that make honor roll. They have kickball and cheer leading. This semester she went with cheerleading, but she says next time she wants to do kickball.
Joel is Joel as always. His latest obsession in Pokemon, he's been watching are 3 Pokemon videos endlessly, but I guess its better than Barney. He says he wants Transformers for Christmas. That and every video game ever made. He gives me a list everyday. Some of them I'm pretty sure don't exist.
They will be spending Thanksgiving with their dad this year. They're pretty excited, as they're grandma and grandpa Kindig will be joining them.
That's about it. That is if we can put off anymore trips to the emergency room for a while. Then again, we usually keep those down to 3 or 4 a year, so I should be good for another month or so.

All I want for Christmas

2008-11-13T19:09:00.001-08:00

This is going to sound weird, but all I want for Christmas is scrubs. You know, the cute shirts that nurses wear. That is actually the suggested outfit of choice for where I work. I don't need the pants, I prefer to wear jeans. Holds me in better, lol. And so everyone knows the first few days actually in my building with the consumers, staying up all night have gone fairly well. I think I've found my niche. I like it. Yeah ok, most of them sleep all night, but I am there if they wake up (which some of them do fairly regularly) and I am there to get them ready for the day in the morning. I have had some "fun" moments. I got cursed out for being an uppity white woman. I should mention there are only 2 white consumers in the building I work in, and I am the only white staff person besides the nurse in my building. My co workers were a bit worried about how I'd react to being cursed out and called out for being the white woman. I just looked the other way while I cracked a smile. I mean, I am white after all, can't change that. One of them even took the time to make sure I didn't take it personally. I told her that I'm not that sensitive, and like I said up there, I told her, I AM white. She laughed at me. I also almost got hit with a dry mop last night. That was fun, I got to right up my first aggressive behavior report. In the midst of all this, my supervisor was on the phone off and on all night because her grandbaby was about ot be born. Never a dull moment. The one down side is that I have to iron. I hate to iron. Fortunately, they rotate "chores" so I'll only have to do it every few days or so. Speaking of work, I'm running late for it now.
I almost forgot, I've informed the kids that outbursts and whining of any kind will no longer be tolerated. Unless of course they are also diagnosed with schizo affective disorder or ptsd. Then we'll see. No, it didn't work. They are still kids after all.

Do NOT adjust your screen!

2008-11-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

It's a little fuzzy, but the number on the right is the price I paid this weekend for regular gasoline. That's right, less than $2. Ok, like one tenth of a cent less, but still less! Unfortunately for me, this was up in Columbia, and those prices haven't quite reached my area yet, but they are steadily going in that direction. I thought I'd never see the day. The day I got this excited about low gas prices that is.

2008-11-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

There seems no appropriate title for this. Aunt Dorothy passed away Thursday afternoon. My mom says she went peacefully, and that is a blessing. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and thoughts.

Hodgepodge

2008-11-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

So, crazy days around here. I started my new job this week. Yay for work that you get paid for!! I'm in training, or as they call it, "orientation" this week from 8:30-5, Monday I start working 3rd shift. So, Joey decided Sunday night would be the most opportune moment to break his arm. Last week, no problem to take the time during the day to get to an orthopdist, next week, still no problem, I'll be working nights, so still home during the day. But no, he had to break it THIS week. This has produced a new set of headaches. Being the procrastinator that I am, I haven't changed the kids' insurance region, that and the lady at admitting was being difficult about our not having proof of insurance, despite my being able to provide her with all the pertinent information. So, we were referred to a local orthopedist, but it turns out they are not tricare approved, so I'm back at square on with that. Now I have to track down an approved doctor to put a stinking hard cast on my son's arm (he's in a temporary fiberglass cast for now). He's being a trooper and his teacher's are being very supportive (he of course broke his writing arm).
Today was election day, and I sincerely hope everybody voted. I did. After standing in line for FOUR hours. No really, FOUR hours! In a way I was proud of myself, and of the turnout. In another it seemed a bit futile. I voted (at least for president) democrat in a VERY republican state. But, I figure what the heck. You never know. Then I got home, less than 20 minutes after I cast my ballot to find out they've already declared the state as a win for John McCain. How is that possible? The amount of time I stood in line was average for the state, so I just don't see how its possible. I really hate the electoral college. But, that is enough about politics. All polls are closed, so its over for the year. Now we just have to live with the results. Did I mention FOUR hours???!!!!
On a last note, I want to impose on those that don't already know my Aunt Dorothy. Please send your good thoughts and prayers her way. She has been battling cancer for years and it seems she is soon to lose the battle. At this point I think the best to wish for is a peaceful end for Aunt Dorothy and of course her family and friends. Aunt Dorothy is the mother of 7, grandmother of 8, and great grandmother of 3. She has always had a very strong faith in her church (LDS) and is one of the kindest people I will ever have the privelage of knowing. I'm sorry I can't be there with her at this time, but I love her and miss her.

Halloween a palooza

2008-11-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

Another Halloween for the books. This is Joey's next to last year trick or treating. He had a friend over and got to venture off on his own this year. Wes had to work, so we had Russell and Brianna over to help out. Russell handed out candy while I took Mackenzie & Joel around, Brianna tagged along. Joel ran through the whole neighborhood from house to house. And after each house he shoouted, "look mommy, I got candy!" Joey carved his own pumpkin this year and did a great job. Hi is the one with the skull and spider web. Mackenzie stenciled out hers, but left it to me to carve, hers is the cat. Joel picked out the design he wanted and Wes did the honors. All in all they turned out pretty good. Enjoy the pics!

Enjoying hot chocolate after the chilly night!

Good for prosperity, or just plain mean?

2008-10-29T12:01:00.001-07:00

I'm gonna go with pretty funny actually. It may be mean, but c'mon its pretty funny too. I guess boys will be boys....

And I swear, he grabbed the newspaper himself. I just went to check on him because he'd been in there so long, well no wonder since he's found a good "thinking spot"!

Say hello to my little friend...

2008-10-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

I know they're dark, but I wasn't about to open the sliding door, and using the flash scared him off. This is our "pet" raccoon. If Gillian leaves any leftover food this little scoundrel comes up and helps him (or her) self to it. I'm taking suggestions for names. All pets need a name right?

I miss fall

2008-10-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

I waswatching the local weather report last night, well listening and ~~playing solitare on my phone~~ multi-taksing and overheard a suggestion to get out the exrtra blanket. What? You mean its going to turn cold just like that? Overnight and we'll get highs in the 50's?
So I turned my full attention to the tv and saw the weekly outlook. Lows at night in the high 40's/low 50's, highs during the day in the mid to upper 70's. With a couple of days in the low 70's. I thought that was summer! Southerners are wimps!

More fun from the south

2008-10-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

Those are peanuts, and the are being BOILED. Seriously, they do that all the time here. Sometimes there's even a little hut like a coffee stand that sells the things. You can't find roasted peanuts here, its boiled or raw. So, fruit stands sell fresh, raw peanuts, then ou boil them in some really salty water. The taste the same as roasted, but they're squishy. I don't really care for them, but the kids love them. Guess I'm too much of Yankee on that one.

On another note, I added a new link over there >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I've been keeping up with it through Rachel. As a matter of fact Rachel sent me the original story that sparked this woman's blog. For those of you that missed the whole Mom sells Pokemon cards snuck into the grocery cart on ebay go here to read the original story that sparked the interest in her blog. Its a bit long, but worth it. And just remember, this was at one time a "description of item" on ebay. For real, she ended up selling the pokemon cards for $154 or something like that.

Off With Their Hair!

2008-10-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend was all about hair cuts. Russell arrived Friday evening and announced he needed a hair cut. He just gets a buzz so this is a service Wes usually supplies about once a month. So on Saturday, Russell got buzzed in the garage. Joel saw what was going on and decided he wanted a hair cut just like Russell's. I let him sit on it for a few minutes, make sure he was determined. Well he was, so we said goodbye to his hair.

Doesn't he look excited?
About half way through the buzzing, he decided he was done and wanted to get down.

Don't worry, the red marks aren't blood, he got into the markers...again.
So, we gave him a break. He looked horrible, but he said he was tired and wanted to rest, so he went up and took a nap. After dinner he grudgingly agreed to let us finish cutting his hair. He still wasn't happy about it, but it had to be finished.

I hate it, but it'll grow back. Hopefully he has it out of his system.

Since Joel went for a buzz, I decided the other two and myself could probably use a trim as well, so this afternoon we headed to Great Clips. Nothing too drastic there, just some healthy trimming. Although I do feel sorry for the lady that got Joey because I know what a pain his hair is.

I know, huge difference, right? But atleast I actually took pictures!

I heart the US Post Office

2008-10-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

The Post Office delivered a letter to me today. Here's a hint: By this time next month I'll have cable and maybe even my own internet connection!
Why? Because I'll be getting a paycheck!!
I got my confirmation letter from the Department of Disabilities today. It'll be third shift (which kind of sucks) and a rotating schedule (which also kind of sucks) but in the ling run, there is job security. The benefits are good and the pay is decent and I can apply for other positions as they become available. That and this is the kind of thing that I was studying for. Maybe it'll give me the push to get back into school and finish my degree. Who knows, stranger things have happened. For now I'm just glad to know I'll sonn be getting a pay check.

The ? of Y

2008-10-08T21:06:00.001-07:00

I haven't had this computer very long. It was a splurge I allowed with last year's tax refund. So just a few months really, but already, my Y is giving me headaches. If i forget to pound on it every time I use it, the Y just doesn't compute. If you've chatted with me online recently, or gotten an email, or even read one of my blogs I forgot to proof before posting one might think I have very poor spelling skills. But really, spelling was the one subject I actually excelled in. As a matter of fact, I think it should be a college course. Mostly because I think with some people it didn't stick during elementary school, and of those some, there are those that forget that spell check does exist. Anyway, my point is that Pat I'd like to buy a sometimes vowel. I realize in the land of Wheel of Fortune you treat Y as a consonant, but in this case, I really need a new Y.

Busy busy busy

2008-10-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy few days. I woke up Saturday, before noon I might add determined to clean my house. REALLY clean it. Since I'd attacked the living room earlier in the week, it was onto the dining room. I cleaned the table, legs and all, and the little decorative dirt catcher/groove around the top. I scrubbed the chair seats, shined my spoon collection (yay vinegar again! - awesome stuff), then I dusted everything, put candles in my candle holders, re organized the shelves, and totally cleaned the floor. Since it wasn't even dinner time yet, I moved on to the kitchen and did the same in there. The stove top was rough, but again, yeah vinegar! The kids tackled the breakfast/sun room, which we use as the train/pet room. We solved our crowding problem by leaving only one type of train set out, putting the rest away to be switched out later on. Much less clutter. The dog crate now has a nice view of the back porch and guinea pigs' things aren't strewn all about the floor. I had intended to tackle the master bedroom on Sunday, but after a trip to WalMart, I wasn't up for it.
On Friday I added a new member to our family:

This Sponge Bob Fish (named by Joel). We decided to go with a Betta this time, the tend to last longer than you 20 cent gold fish. And they're prettier.
Also on Friday I had a follow up interview with a company that is considering employing me. And another interview Monday with the SC Department of Disabilities. Both went well, and I'm just waiting on the final call withing the next couple of weeks. I am torn, but that is for another blog.
Also on Monday was the start of the local fire prevention week. Close to all of the area Fire and Rescue departments (including the Navy and Air Force and Coast Guard bases) get all the toys and trucks out and parade sirens, lights and all down the main drag of town, ending up at the Lowes where the all park so everyone can go check it all out. Its pretty cool.
We first took the kids to Wes' mom's house. Her house is parallel to the main drag, only seperated by an iron rail fence. We were able to stand on the fence and wave at the trucks going by. Then we went to Lowes and got a closer look. Afterwards we treated ourselves to dinner out at Ryan's. For those of you unfamiliar with the south its a Golden Coral-ish place, all you can eat buffet and steak house.

When it rains....well, you know

2008-10-02T16:13:00.001-07:00

So I've been sending out resumes, filling out applications and other useful job hunting activities since before I moved here. That would be July.
The most I'd scored so far was testing and an interview with a temp angency. So today, I'm going about my usual day. Took a nap after the older kids got off to school, and until Joel woke up. Got him his breakfast, popped in a video. Yes, I could do more with my time, but in the morning I just know it isn't going to happen, so why bother? After my video, Joel popped in one of his and I was contemplating getting lunch ready for Joel & Wes when my phone rang.
I've got an interview on Monday. Get off the phone and started heading for the bathroom to put my hair up, and the phone rang.
The temp angency is setting my up with an interview.
Got lunch made, sent Wes back to work, got the laundry started when....the phone rang. I did a phone interview and then got another face to face set up for tomorrow.
What the heck people????

R.I.P. Cute Red Shoes

2008-10-01T18:26:00.001-07:00

These were my red shoes. I LOVED these red shoes. They went really well with my striped jeans. I've never been one to have red shoes, but I saw these at Target and had to have them.
My cute red shoes have died. I mourn them greatly. They are survived by the striped jeans they went with so well, and a pair of feet that will miss them very much.
The details of their death are a bit disturbing, so if you have a weak stomach, you may not want to read on. Mike and Sierra are friends of Wes'. He has known them since middle school. They have 3 kids each the same age as my 3. They are very nice people that didn't used to have a dog. They also have a very nice house with wood floors that I didn't want to scuff up with my cute red shoes. So, being a thoughtful guest, I left them by the door when I went in. Looking back I can say there was a lack of other shoes by the door, but I figured they were put away in another place. This was a very neat house. One of those houses that makes you wonder what the kids do all day becuase there is little evidence of them. Not that its one of those cold museum like places. Just very neat and clutter free. Kind of how I wish my house could be.
Anyway, the dog murdered my cute red shoes. No one noticed until it was too late. They were gone.

********Just so everyone knows, they felt REALLY bad and even tried to slip me some cash for my cute red shoes. I wouldn't take it, but apparently they somehow snuck it into Wes' shirt pocket. And because I got them I Target, they are replaceble.

Weekend Hijinks

2008-09-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my living room area rug:

As you can probably see, its in pretty rough shape. Its been in rough shape for some time now. When I say some time, I'm speaking in years. Its one of those things you don't really notice at first, then when you do notice, its a bit out of control. Then, if you are like me, the thought of attacking it is pretty daunting. If I had a steam cleaner, I may have gone after it, but since I don't, the idea of scrubbing at the thing had me considering dumping it and getting a new one. Aha! But I don't have the $$ for that, so I've just been ignoring it.
So Saturday night, Joey and I are on the rug playing a board game. One of the pieces had something sticky spilled on it, so I got a Lysol wipe to clean it off. Then on a whim I tried it on one of the spots on the rug. It came up pretty easily. Hmmm, maybe this thing won't be so hard to get presentable after all. So after I won the game, I hauled out my bucket and scrub brush, and with a little vinegar and water and elbow grease, and two days here is how it looked Sunday night:

If you can't see a difference, don't tell me, I don't want to know!

On a lighter note....a few weeks ago, the boys (Russell and Joey) thought it would be funny to mess with Joel while he was sleeping. So, they got out markers and drew on his face.

Because isn't it fun to prank a 4 year old??? So, I promised revenge.
I'd kind of forgotten about it. Then Wes and I were at Wal Mart Saturday afternoon, and what do they have on a front display? Silly String! I swear it was his idea, but man we had fun. Waiting until they went to sleep to hatch our revenge.

Russel woke up

Joey didn't

And we made them clean it up in the morning themselves. We're such great role models!

I am such a dwts geek!

2008-09-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

So one of my favorite shows is back on. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Dancing with the Stars! And I already have a favorite. Who knew I'd be pulling for Brooke Burke? I tend to veer away from the models, but she is REALLY good. I should hate her on pricipal for having 4 kids and not looking like it. But, she gets points for her partner. David Hough is my "if I were a cougar" fantasy boyfriend. So you can see just how good they are, here they are from week 2.

Another Reason to just LOVE South Carolina

2008-09-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

I knew about the fire ants, the roaches, the termites, the mosquitos, the lizards and other creepy crawlies. And while they are annoying, I can live with all those. I'm also aware that no matter where you go, there will be spiders. Just a fact of life. But no one told me about these:

Seriously, why didn't anyone tell me about these? They're called banana spiders because their bodies are long and yellow. According to my research, they don't bite and aren't the least bit poisonous, but that doesn't endear them to me at all! We went by Wes' mom's house the other night, and of course she had a nice juicy one in her front yard, right next to the walk way. This would have been a time that ignorance is bliss would definately have applied. I didn't see the thing going in, I didn't need it pointed out on the way out. I tried to retreat back into the house, then was reminded that my car was the other direction. It took me three attempts before I could dash past the thing, and even then I was starting to hyperventilate. So far we haven't seen any around our house yet, but then again, I'm not looking.

Information Overload

2008-09-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

I hate and love election time.

I love it because the whole country gets in a buzz. People talk about important issues, and all of a sudden each issue is so easily fixed.

I hate it because the whole coutry gets in a buzz. People talk about important issues, and all of a sudden each issue is so easily fixed.

Every four years I get less and less likely to pay attention to what is going on. My brain just can't take it. Some people get so fired up about things, that even when I agree with them I feel like I'm being baggered. By the media, by the candidates, by people in general. It just gets overwhelming. Its hard to filter the information put out there, hard to decide what is a reliable source, who's telling the truth, who's lying. Then there's the sick feeling I get in my stomach over the mud slinging. It seems people think the only way they can get elected is to make grandiose promises, and then tell me all the reasons why their opponent is the worst human being on the planet. But they are clever, the put up a front of respect while still getting the jabs in. Sugar coated to the core.

The election 8 years ago was a doozy for it. To make matters worse, I was over seas and never got my absetee ballot. The whole process may make me crazy, but I still want to stand and be heard. Still pretty sure my write in vote didn't count. But this year I'm ready, I'm reregistered here in SC, no absetee ballot for me. I'm going to brave the polls, just to be sure. Now I just have to wade through all the muck and postering to find some core value that sits well with me. Sometimes I think we as voters have a harder job than those running for office. I just don't think there is such a thing as an impartial report anymore. Well, except for SNL. You can always count on them to just laugh at the whole thing. That settles it, I'm voting for Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey!

I heart Jon Stewart

2008-09-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe not heart, but when I come across a clip like this, I can't help it. I'm not trying to make a big political statement here, but when I saw this clip I was so completely amused, I had to post it. The idea that Sarah Palin should appeal to me (a female "swing" vote) just because she's a woman bothers me more than I can say. So of course this clip says it all for me:

But I'm not tired!

2008-09-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

So, what parent doesn't know this story?
Joel rarely takes naps anymore. He does get cranky during the day, but if he naps, he's up ALL night. So, I put up with crankiness most of the time in order to have a quieter evening.
But today was one of those days he really needed a nap. I tried to talk him into going up to bed by himself, but no, he wasn't tired. I decided not to fight him, it was only 4 more hours till bed time. I could make it. Dinner usually perks him up enough to make it through to bedtime. So, I left the room for a few minutes, came back and you can see up there what I found.
This is in the living room with the NASCAR race on the tv, and 4 other kids right there doing various nooise making activities. Nope, he wasn't tired one bit.

I like to ride my bicycle

2008-09-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

About a month before we moved, Teri bought Joey a new bicycle. He had taken to riding the bike trail to the office in the mornings and the one had was in bad shape, so Teri bought him a new one. Mackenzie had a cute little pink bike, but we left it behind, it really was too small for her. Joel only had toddler rides.

One of Joey's favorite things is biking around the neighborhood. It seems all the kids around her have bikes. Except for Mackenzie and Joel. They've both been begging me for new bikes. It just isn't in the budget right now, but I had promised as soon as I get a job and we get all caught up, we'd go to Wal Mart and get bikes.

Earlier this week a helmet arrived UPS for Joel, the next day a helmet for Mackenzie. The day after that, a bike showed up for Mackenzie, and finally yesterday, Joel's arrived. Could it be Santa Claus out of season? Nope, just a very generous Aunt Teri and Uncle Ernie.

Except for yesterday evening while TS Fran blew through (hardly more that a rain storm I might add)Mackenzie and Joel have been on those bikes! They are the best things ever as far as they are concerned. Mackenzie's is a magenta Hannah Montana bike, Joel's a blue and green Mongoose, decked out like a BMX complete with trick stands on the front wheels.

Now I want one!

Thank you Aunt Teri & Uncle Ernie for the great gifts!

Did I Mention?

2008-09-02T18:47:00.001-07:00

~The second day of school, Joey was put in a whole new set of classes. It's a program called GATE, Summerville's version of accelerated/gifted/highly capable . He kept his electives (band and art) but switched to all new core (the 3 r's and what not) classes.
-------On one hand I'm glad, I think this will suit him better. On the other, I've heard differing opinions about the program, so I guess we'll wait and see. He seems to like it so far, and being in the GATE program he gets to take a pre engineering class and make a skateboard.
~I now live in a hurricane zone. It may not be the Carribbean or the Gulf Coast, but apparantly hurricanes don't discriminate over which side of Florida it hits.
~I'm about to experience my first hurricane. Hana is headed straight for us. I'm kind of going with the flow on this one. Letting Wes lead the way as far as panic and whether I should grab the kids and run for the hills or not. So far she's not supposed to go above cat. 1, so we'll probably tough it out here. But if she even hints at going beyond that, there will be some lucky relatives that should expect a visit from us.
~Teenage boys eat a lot of food.
~Some little kids and some side walk chalks makes for some great entertainment! Thanks to my neighbor across the street for providing the fun!
~South Carolna has some messed up regulations concerning motor vehicles and their licensing. Apparantly it is still expected to pay a fee for the privelage of owning a car in the state of SC. In other words, personal propert tax, which you must pay before you can register it. AND in order to get a Driver's Lisence, you have to surrender every form of ID known to man. But I didn't have to take a test. So, for the first time since I got my lisence at 16, I no longer carry a valid Washington Driver's Lisence. Kind of sad actually :((
~My sister and her kids (and some others) sent the kids a really super huge card to say how much they missed them. The kids loved it. Thank you Brittany for the 1,000 pounds of confetti enclosed with it. So you're watned they now want to return the favor (not my idea, I swear!)
~Adult boys eat a lot of food.
~I actually watched a good amount of the DNC. First time for everything. Now, can I sit through any of the RNC?
~I can live without cable (I know!) Well, we've hooked up some rabbit ears, so now that I know I won't miss Survivor (a family tradition) or Dancing with the Stars, I'll be fine and oxygen won't be required. I do miss the Discovery Channel though.
~We seem to have made a truce with the wireless signal we're pirating. It's been fairly predictable....as long as we keep the laptop on the back of the couch, next to the window, but that's better than the garage.
~Animals eat a lot of food.
~And, still no one wants to hire a mother of three with a ton of experience in many arenas, but without a piece of paper that says I paid a fortune to learn things that have nothing to do with the job I'm doing (and that I hadn't learned on my own anyway) But I'm still hopeful! :))
**I almost forgot, Joey has a girlfriend. I'm trying not to panic.

First Day of School

2008-08-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

The time of year we dread as a child, but relish as a parent has come and gone. The first day of school! It started very early this year. Mackenzie catches the bus at 6:45, Joey at 7:25. It's about the same time for Joey, but 2 hours early for Mackenzie, but she faced it like a trouper!
Mackenzie is not a morning person (a trait she inherited from me)so I bought her a Disney Princess alarm clock thinking if she could press a snooze button, it might help. Just in case I went up at about 10 after 6 to make sure she was getting up. She set her alarm alright, but forgot to actually turn it on! Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
The school district was no help with bus stops. We just got a list of what time the bus would be in each development. They said to just look out where the other kids were going. Thanks. But, fortunately Mackenzie got the scoop from her new friends which happen to be our neighbors (and one of them is even in her class), so she was set. Joey on the other hand was not so lucky. We had to wait until we spotted someone else come out of their house and walk off. His bus stop isn't the same. But we managed, everyone got off to school and home just fine.
Mackenzie doesn't have much to report yet. These first couple days are just get to know you and the school days. But, she didn't have anything to complain about either. That's always good. Joey is adjusting to a longer school session, and 2 more classes than in Washington. They seperate the English class into seperate Writing and Reading classes. He likes all of his teachers so far, and for once has a good mix of male and female teachers. His school is trying out single gender classes this year, but he is not part of the test group, but if things go well, next year the whole school will be single gender classes for the core classes (math, reaing science, etc.) He got extra electives this year so on top of band (where he will pick up the French Horn again, his band teacher LOVED hearing that)he is also taking an art class this semester and a high school credit keyboarding class next semester. He said the lunch schedule was a bit confusing, but he has it down now. On top of that, every other day he switches his 1st and last period classes. (one day he goes to his Reading 1st, Social Studies last, next day Soc. Studies 1st, Reading last) I'm beginning to wonder if they can make things more complicated for 11-14 year olds.
Joel barely noticed they were gone until about 2, which was less than an hour before Mackenzie got home, lol. He is planning a race when the kids get home tomorrow. He wants a finish line with sand in it.
We were threatened with Hurricane Fran this week, but she turned into a Tropical storm and took a sharp left turn from Florida, so we only got a little bit of on and off rain. Darn it! There's always next year. Or next week. You never know around here.
I got bit pretty good by a fire ant while cutting the grass last weekend. It was pretty bad, Cortisone wasn't even really helping. It just barely started to heal. It was so bad Wes tried to tell me it must be a spider bite. Not funny. Fortunately I saw the bugger biting me, so he's lucky this time. Those are sleeping on the couch words!

Here's a story, of a lovely lady...

2008-08-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we're one kids shy of the Brady Bunch, but when Wes' niece Lauren is with us, we are, and she even sets the boy/girl ratio to rights. But seriously, 5 kids is a lot! Did you know that? How the heck did those kids live with 3 to a room, all the time? So everybody knows the break down: Wes' kids, Russell and Brianna are 13 (almost 14) and 12. Mine are 12, 9, and 4. Then there is the size differences. Honestly ,if you lined these kids up on the staircase by height like the Brady Bunch, it would be a different order. Oh, and I don't have an Alice. I guess that makes me Alice, but I definately don't get paid. The amazing thing is, I'm actually keeping up on housework! Well, for me anyway. The dish washer gets ran everyday, the kitchen and dining room floors are swept and mopped everyday, and I actually keep on top of the laundry and the litter box. Oh yeah, and I've been cooking! My kids are a bit thrown by this event. It also seems a bit odd that I do most of the cooking, since Wes is a cook. Then again, I'm the one at home. I even baked a wheat free cake the other day. I had Joey get my camera out for me while I was icing it, so I could take a picture, but forgot all about it and just started cutting the thing up and serving it. Then I saw my camera on the table when I sat down to eat my piece. Ooops.
Beyond the Brady Bunch factor, I am assimilating to being back in the south. I'm still not used to the bugs, but I do love coming across the lizards. I like lizards, they eat bugs. The heat has been going down. Funny how your state of mind changes as necessary. In Washington 86 is a super hot day. Here, I said to myself, "Wow, its pretty cool today." I'm going next week to get my South Carolina plates and driver's license. I shop at Piggly Wiggly, though I refuse to buy, make, or eat grits. I guess that makes me a Yankee. i never considered myself one. I mean, when the civil war was going on, Washington wasn't a state. And my family tree existed in Virginia (a southern state) and Germany (another country). Oh well, not like I'm the only one around here. Thank you Air Force and Navy bases!
The kids start school this week. Mackenzie already has a circle of friends from the neighborhood. The greatest day of her life since being here was when, last Monday, three little girls rang our doorbell and asked if the little girl that lived here could come out and play. Joey I have no doubt will make friends once he gets to school, but boys his age are too cool to ring doorbells. But, he enjoys riding his bike around, and takes Gillian for a walk everyday.
Joel has a couple od little guys that he's played with outside a couple times when they're out with their older siblings, but at 4, it's not nearly as exciting.
Since we don't have cable and haven't caught a lot of the Olympics, we've been playing our own Olympics on the Wii with Mario & Sonic. My arms are getting quite buff.
Now if I could only get a job......

Buzz Kill

2008-08-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

I've been in a perpetual state of tense lately. Part stress, part worry, and part being plain old pissed off. So, I've found it hard to put up with the weak wireless signal that one of my neighbors provides me long enough to punch something out and post. That and I have nothing but gloom and doom to report. Mostly because I'm very negative right now. I'm also afraid that if I get going, I will "go off" and because I know within my good sense that would be a bad idea, I've been avoiding the opportunity to test my restraint. So, there you have it. Can I go and have a bucket of margaritas now?

The New Digs

2008-07-31T16:51:00.000-07:00

We had a bit of a time finding a place to fit us all that we could afford. We had a line on one and were in the qualifying process while traveling. Once we got here, we had to work out a couple of kinks, but 2 days later, we were moving in.
The kids got to spend a week in Washington after I left, then my mom flew them to Pennsylvania to spend some time with their other grand parents. They got to visit Dutch Wonderland and Hershey Park (or Chocolate world as Joel called it) while there. They then drove down to Columbia, SC where Mike is in school to visit him for a couple of days before driving them this way to me.
We've had Wes' kids with us since we moved in, and I think they were glad for the extra company. Everyone is getting along well, but man 5 kids are a lot! Leftovers are a thing of the past (yes, I've been cooking dinner!)
So, for to satisfy everyone's curiosity, here are some pics of the house. Please excuse the lack of pictures on the walls, unpacked boxes and evidence of children. We're still a work in progress here.

It looks small, but as you will see, looks can be deceiving.

The view from the front door. What? It has an upstairs???!!! Crazy!

Living Room

The door to the far right is to the master bath, the door at the right of the dining room is to the master bedroom.

Dining Room

Master Bedroom

The master bath. There is a partition door in the center that seperates the commode from the shower area so we have a "powder room" for guests.

Kitchen

The breakfast nook, which we use to hold all of Joel's trains, and the pets.

Kids' bath at the top of the stairs, the boys' room is to the right, girls' to the left

The boys' room (it was already blue)

The girl's room - with Joey, Mackenzie, Russel, & Joel horsing around

Joey, Brianna, & Russel

Mackenzie & Russell

Joel playing the Wii

Still Alive and Kicking

2008-07-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

To catch eveyone up.....
On July 9th with a 24' rental truck loaded with all my wordly goods (kids' things too), my car towed behind with 2 guinea pigs and a dog, cat in the cab of the truck, I set out on my latest adventure. My travel partner (aka Wes) and I headed east to where the kids and I would be calling home. Summerville, SC. The first thing we learned as we drove throught the Cascades was that this trip was gonna take longer than we expected. I'd driven across country with a car, with a mini van towing a trailer following an RV, with an 16' truck. But apparantly a 24' truck towing a small SUV is a whole other ball of wax. Climbing to the summit we hit the out of contol speed of 25 mph. Yes folks, we were cruising! Not to mention the engine started over heating so we had to stop for a while at the summit to let it cool off. For those of you that have ever driven between Washington and any point east of the Rockies, the cascades were only the beginning. We had set our sites for Butte Montana for that first night. We made it to Kellog Idaho.

Other than the miscalculations on time, the drive went smoothly. The animals were all taking the trip fairly well and we didn't have any problems finding hotels that were pet friendly. Wes enjoyed Montana. He says if he ever wins the lottery he wants to build a summer home there. We did manage two tourist type stops. No trip through South Dakota is complete without a stop at Wall Drug. And we had lunch at a place called Al's Oasis. Apparantly its up there with Wall Drug. Here are a few pictures I took along the way:

5 Things I love about Clarksville, TN

2008-06-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

Continuing on my theme of things I love about places I've lived, it's time to move back state side. So, come on down to rocky top with me...

1. Wal * Mart This was probably the one time that I didn't hate visitng the Wal Mart. Seriously, no matter where I've lived, I've been anti Wal Mart. Its hard to explain, but I get a head ache just thinking about going to Wal Mart. Not in Clarksville though. Maybe it was the cool house next to the Wal Mart that looked like the Munsters house, but nicer.

2. Proximity to other cool places. We were only a days drive from places like Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, Chatanooga, we even got to Orlando in a day's drive. An extra long day, but still. Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Bristol, the Smokies. We didn't necessarily visit all these places, but the fact that they weren't that far was nice to know.

3. A small town that isn't small. Clarksville was one of those towns that had small town charm without being too Mayberry. We didn't all know each other, but everyone treated each other like we did. It wasn't the big city, but still had everything you might want or need as far as shopping and entertainment. Even a good size University (Austin Peay). I never felt out of place or like I was missing something.

4. Fireflies. The first time I saw fireflies was during my brief visit to meet Mike's parents in Pennsylvania right before we got married. But it was so cool to me to sit on our front porch and watch the fireflies in the field across the street. I never did try to catch any, but that's ok, I like the way the look flying around better anyway.

5. The Grand Ole Opry. Ok, its in Nashville, but only an hour away, and its a must see if in the area. We managed to go twice. And while we didn't have any "big" stars show up, it was still a very cool thing to experience. The informality of it all, not big production. Just country music singers getting up and doing what they love to do.

Determined Much?

2008-06-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning as I dropped the older kids off at Teri's house. Joel wanted to stay too, but he had to go to his babysitter's house. So, he wanted to know if he could stay at her house that night. I said I would ask, and he was ok with that. When I picked him up after work yesterday, he asked me if he could stay at Teri's again. I'd forgotten to ask, so I called her. She said it would be ok, but not until she got home. We went home and did a few things around the house until she called. She had a meeting to go to, but Ernie's cousin would watch him until she got home. So I took him over there. He was happily playing outside on the play eqipment when I left.

This morning I learned what happened after that. Not long after I left he decided he wanted to come home. Ernie offered to drive him, but no, he wanted to walk. He wasn't going to tak no for an answer. Ernie walked with him. As they neared the end of the drive, Teri was coming home. That didn't deter him. He was walking home!

They made it almost halfway to my house when he finally told Ernie that he wanted to go back to their house, and to call Aunt Teri to pick them up. Fortunately Ernie was a good sport and considered it good excercise.

Warning: bragging mom post ahead!

2008-06-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

With the end of the school year, its time to bring up the accomplishments of my kids. For a change we'll start from youngest to oldest this time.
Joel is becoming quite the little chatter box. He needs to know how old anyone is when he meets them. He's full of questions, and answers as well. According to him he will be starting school tomorrow (everthing with time is either today, tomorrow or in ten minutes) and he will be going to his purple school. Sounds cool to me!

Mackenzie ended school on the same note she started it. She's an excellent student that is not just praised for her abilities, but also for her compassion for other's in her class. She is the first to help when someone needs it. But can I get her to help with the dishes? Her reading level keeps going up. By the time she's in middle school I'm sure she'll be reading at a college level, lol. She just finished the last book in the Harry Potter series. Her fear of water has all but dissappeared and she's become quite the fish, thanks to all the practice she gets in her Aunt Teri's pool. She also finished her last year in Brownies. She recieved a ton of badges and was bridged into Juniors. Here's some pictures from her awards dinner:

Joey finished his first year of middle school with a bang. He made honor roll and was also accepted into the highly capable program for English & Social Studies. We were delighted with his first concert playing the French Horn. Little did he know he was following in his mom's footsteps when he chose to switch to the French Horn that his mom once played it as well. He is also spending as much time as he can in Aunt Teri's pool. He's also started riding his bike with his aunt and cousins from their house to the office in Marysville in the mornings. (Don't worry folks, there is a bike trail, seperate from the road almost the whole way). He doesn't even mind getting up early and having to hang out in the office all day to do it.

Mackenzie and Joey have also been learning some of the ropes at the office this summer. Learning how to work the fax machine, make copies, file and even fill out job records. I can even pull them away from the computer to get them to help out. Again, so happy to help there, but doing the dishes???? That's ok, I've accepted my role as the evil mom/slave driver.

5 things I love about Turkey

2008-06-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

In no particular order, as always...

1. Ephesus. This is an extraordinary place. It has some of the best restored Greek/Roman (this city housed both cultures in each of their primes) ruins in the world. It also has great biblical history (Revelations, Ephesians). The house where the Virgin Mary
is believed to have lived out her later life is nearby, as well as the cave of the 7 sleepers.
Go here for their story.
Ephesus is also close to Kushadasi, a wonderful resort area. Cruise ships dock here, there are beaches, clubs, stores, a carnival, cobblestone streets, outdoor pubs, street venders, and tons of scenic beauty.

2. Pamukale. When I went here the first time, it reminded me of parts of Yellowstone. The difference here, you are allowed to walk on the hills. The white is caused by chalk deposits in the water. You can find out more here.

3. Culture, culture, culture. Those little things that make it unique. The "circumcision" parties are a trip. Close to a combination of a bris and a barmitzvah, when a boy turns 7 he is circumsized. Before the act he is dressed in princly clothes and paraded around town in a convertible with a caravan of friends and family members in the backs of trucks banging drums and blowing horns. After the act there is a huge party that will sometimes go on for days. Families will go into years of debt to "keep up with the Jones'" for these parties. Or election time. Election time brings parades of people shouting in the streets proclaiming their candidate. They will walk in hordes for hours around the city tooting horns, shouting and chanting with banners and flags. Bayramis were great because for us Americans it was a free long holiday. The downside is that during the winter Bayrami (holy holidays) everything is closed from sundown to sun up, oh and the about to be sacrificed sheep can be heard on the balcanies of apartment buildings all over. Now I know the meaning of the Silence of the Lambs. I could go on and on, but for a better take on these fun little cultural things that make Turkey well, Turkey check this book.

4. The places I didn't get to see but wish I did. Like Istanbul
, Dyarbikar, Ankara, Pergamum
. And the list goes on.

5. Ekmek. Turkish word for bread, it was about 10 cents a loaf and you had to get it fresh every morning because after a day it was then only good for hammering nails into the cement walls. But when it was fresh, it was SO good. Along the same lines, when you ran out of gas (propane) you put your empty bottle outside of your apartment and your kapaci (door man/janitor) would exchange it for you and bring it back. Trash also went on the doorstep, picked up and disposed of by the faithful kapaci. Out of bottled water? (and you went through a lot, not even the local drank the tap water) Put your empty bottles out and your kapaci took care of that too. But, don't leave your shoes inn the hallway, they will run away.

5 things I love about Bonn, Germany

2008-06-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

1. Rheinaue Park.
I liken this park to Cental Park in NYC. The park is huge and has several facets to it. It is on the Rhein river, but away from downtown. It has restaurants, beir gartens, playgrounds, ball fields, trails, ponds, gardens, and meadows. They hold several big festivals there every year and one Saturday a month is the flohmarkt (flea market). That is always fun, because there is no charge to set up a "booth" so this is where people come to have their "garage sales". After experiencing my first flohmarkt, I tended to avoid the park on flohmarkt Saturdays. A little too chaotic for me. My favorite festival was Rhein en Flamen. This isn't unique to Bonn, it is a festival held up and down the entire Rhein River, but at Rheinaue they set up a carnival with rides, concerts, and fireworks. We lived right on the edge of the park, so it was so easy for us to enjoy these things. Mike's favorite was always the BierFest. Bier stands from around the world were set up all over the main meadow, and you got to keep the glasses.

2. Public Transportation
It was so easy to get around in Bonn, actually in all of Germany for that matter. Trains and buses within the cities were very accessible and not tough to figure out. And to travel from city to city, even country to country was simple. The only time we didn't travel by train was to the south of Spain, and to Italy when we had a serious time constraint to catch our cruise ship. Even when we flew back to the states for a visit, we took the train to the airport. We had the bag toss down to a science. I was in charge of getting the kids and personal items (carry ons, stroller) on board. Then, I'd haul the bags out of the dorrway as Mike threw them in. The trains wait for no one, so it an important skill to have down.
3. Deichman's Shoes
No photo for this one, but this was like Payless in Germany, but better! Don't get me wrong, I love Payless, but this place had top quality shoes for super cheap. I still have several pairs purchased there. It was also great for kid's shoes. At the preschool the kids went to, they were required to have house shoes and boots. Well, the PX being what it was, slippers for little kids was hard to find. Boots too, and I had no time to oder anything online. When I was told I needed house shoes for Joey, I asked around about where to get them. Our Irish friend told me about Deichman's. He gave me some rudimentary directions. It was located off the Theatreplatz in the downtown shopping area. There are no streets in the shopping district, its all plazas and alleys. But, I needed the house shoes. So, one afternoon I loaded up Mackenzie in her stroller, got on the bus and headed out. I could not find the store! After a couple of hours wandering aimlessley, I finally sat down and tried to calm myself. I decided I would go back to the fruit stands I'd passed, get some fruit and just go home. As I was walking back to where the fruit stands were, there it was. I must have walked past it a hundred times! But, I got the house shoes and boots as well. And lots of excercise!

4. Getrankemarkts
The drink stores. These are stores set up specifically for beverages of all kinds. Beer, soda, water, wine, alcohol. They have it all. The beauty is the recycling system. You pay a pfand, or a small fee per case or vessel of beverage. When you return the empties, plastic or glass, you get a refund. The grocery stores do this as well, but they don't have near the selection.
5. Recycling.
Germany made recycling easy. Outside of your apartment building were several containers. You had your paper/plastic container, your metals container, your compost container, and then your trash container. These are huge dumpsters. All you had to do was seperate inside, then put it in the correct bin. And honestly, you didn't have to seperate a whole lot. I realize Washington is good at this, but not every state is. In Tennessee, we had to drive our recyclable materials to the processing place ourselves. And the only processers around were for paper and aluminum. South Carolina, same thing. Oh, and how could I forget Spurmule? That is big trash day. Once a quarter, the city would post the dates for each neighborhood's spurmule day. People then would put out the unwanted furniture, appliances and what not. Then, the public at large had a day to "browse" the neighbor hood for finds before the city picked it up and depending on the condition, toss or reuse what was left on the sidewalks. How cool is that?

Introducing.....

2008-06-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here is Wes, very happy that I snuck a shot of him in between capturing cars, drivers, the track and what not. He and I are both a bit camera shy, so it is very rare to get one of us on our own. We usually have no problem taking a picture together. I guess we both figure the other person will take any attention to the way personally look in a picture.

Here "we" are at the all star race. For those of you living in the Seattle area, that is the sun shining in our faces.

So, this is Wes. Actually its John Wesley, but he's never gone by his first name and even often forgets that his legal name is John. The kids joke with him all the time saying they'll just call him John, but after the moment, they always forget. Anyway, I figured it was time those who haven't met him yet got to know a little bit about this crazy guy that I'm moving across the country for.

I wonder if I should just put his vital stats up here as if he were a profile I was doing for an athelete or something. But, that seems so impersonal. So I guess I'll try to stay more personal. When I first met him the first thing that struck me, to be a little shallow, he's tall. Not super duper tall, but taller than me. Often times I feel a bit like an amazon. I never considerd myself that tall. I'm no WNBA player or super model, but I tend to feel like I'm one of the taller people in a room. Then again, I can reach things on the high shelves. The second thing I noticed was an interesting contrast between being shy, but not being a wall flower either. He wasn't afraid to talk to me, a stranger, but he also wasn't going to presume to get very personal right off. As a matter of fact, I think I did most of the talking (I know, hard to believe).

What seems to be hard for a lot of people to grasp is that our relationship developed over the phone and over IM. I guess some people think that something like this leaves too many unanswered questions, too many places to "hide". BUT, while we have spent a majority of the time that we've known each other over the phone, we've each also had the chance to observe each other in our natural environments. We've each met the immediate family. I've met his friends. Not so much mine, but that's because most of mine live in other state's. And when he did come to visit me here, I didn't want to overwhelm him. He was already meeting my kids and my family in one trip, didn't want to over do it.

The thing about getting to know each other over the phone over a long period of time is, we really did get to know each other. We talked and talked and talked. We talked about ourselves, our former relationships, our childhoods, good things, bad things, silly things. A couple of times I even pulled out the good 'ol Book of Questions. We shared music over the phone, played name that tune. He has no appreciation for They Might Be Giants, but neither did I at first, so there's time for that. They're even a bit much for Joey. He kind of rolled my eyes at me the first time he heard me sing along to Birdhouse in Your Soul.

So what is there to know about him? He's sweet, stubborn, loyal, hard working, he snores, when he blows his knows it sounds like a cartoon. He's a Redskins fan, not really into baseball, but he tries to follow the Mariners for my sake. He's into NASCAR and convinced me to give it a try. He's a Jeff Gordon fan, but generally likes any of the Joe Gibb's racers for the Redskins association. (Joe Gibbs is the former head coach for the Redskins, he owns a NASCAR team) He plays basketball, but doesn't follow it as closely since Michael Jordan retired. Speaking of, he wears Jordans. He's searching for a pair of retro Jordans that he REALLY wants. I tried to get them for Christmas, but alas, I came up empty. He likes to dance, and can even find the beat. He likes country music, but not exclusively. He complains about the weather unless it is 72* with a light breeze, so that means all the time. He has 2 kids. Russell isn't his, but he is his. He's the only dad he's known, and he isn't treated any differently than his daughter. Brianna is the same age as Joey. I still haven't met them. Just wasn't in the cards the times that I've been out there. That and there are ex wife issues. He makes me laugh, knows how to act like a kid still, but also knows when not to act like a kid. He likes to sleep. Everyone does, I know, but he really likes to sleep. He's also a pain to wake up. Unless its a radio blasting in his ear for more than a minute, he won't hear it. Believe me, I've tried calling in the mornings, I know better now.

Last but not least, he loves me, and that proves he has good taste. :-)

I can finally watch the video!!

2008-06-11T23:09:00.000-07:00

My little camera that took this video saves them as a file that my media player can't read. I was getting all kinds of frustrated trying to show it to the kids and not being able to. Yes, I could play it on my camera, but it doesn't have sound, and that was the whole point. But it occured to me last night to try and post it here, and whaddya know, it worked!

Places to See in Europe

2008-06-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take my favorite 5 things in a new direction. I thought why not go with a theme? I figure this could keep me going for a while. I'm starting today with my 5 favorite places in Europe. Not in an attempt to brag about it or seem ultra wordly, but because I think it is a place everyone should try to see in their lifetime. Most of us can trace our roots there, and while Western Europe is just as modern and techno as the US, they still seem to keep the small town feel even in the big cities. I look at pictures of cities in Asia and that isn't necessarily the case, but then again, I haven't been to Asia (yet) so its hard to say. But, I digress, in no particular order:

1. Bonn, Germany I figure this is a good place to start since this is where I lived the longest during my 2 stays in Europe. This was the closest I felt to home in my years being an army wife. The feel is very similar to the northwest. My favorite things about Bonn I think will do for another blog. But, it is a nice city to visit in europe because it isn't as touristy, but still has a lot to offer as far as sight seeing. It's close to more popular cities like Koln (Cologne) and Dusseldorf. (excuse my lack of umlaut [the two little dots above letters}) This was the capital of Western Germany during the cold war years, so there is a very international feel still there with some embassies still there that couldn't afford to move to Berlin, plus it has a large UN outpost there as well. This also means it is not hard to find someone that speaks English if you're in a jam.

2. Western Turkey. Is this the Bahama's? Is it southern Cali? Or maybe the coast of Mexico? Nope, this is Cesme Turkey, and isn't it gorgeous? It is also an inexpensive resort area. It's one of many places I reccomend and love about western Turkey. I think Turkey will need its own top 5 as well. But there are beaches, cities, ancient ruins and natural wonders to behold. And contrary to what many might believe, they love Americans! Really.

3. Paris. For me it was impossible to be in Europe and not go to Paris. Ever since I saw Gigi the first time as a little girl (Thank Heaven!) I wanted to see Paris. And it didn't dissapoint. Notre Dame is just as imposing as you would think. The Eiffel tower may not be worth the ride to the top for the price (much like the space needle) but just standing in the park and taking it in is worthwhile. The walk up the Champs E'llyses up to the Arc du Triumph, the little cafe's and pattisseries, the parks everywhere. Palaces, architecture, the Louvre. And if you can afford it, shopping galore. Je t'aime Paris!

4. Santorini, Greece. This place had me in awe. It was a port call on a cruise we took while living in Germany. We chose to explore the surrounding volcanoes rather than the inhabited island, but even just looking at it from where we were anchored was fascinating. I really would love to visit there again, get to the top and just marvel at the way this rocky, volcanic island became such a wonder.

5. Amsterdam. I had a hard time deciding how to round out this top 5. But, I went with Amsterdam because it has it all. Canals like Venice, great architecture, city life, the red light district however odd to us westerners, its still a bit interesting to see. Museums (the maritime museum was one of Joey's favorites in all of Europe) and of course the Anne Frank house. I've read a lot about Anne Frank, seen every movie version of her story, but being in that Annex where she lived in secret was an experience unlike any other. We almost didn't make it. We were only in Amsterdam overnight. We went by the first afternoon we were there and the line to get in was down the block, around the corner, and down that block. We decided to try again in the morning, but we also had a train to catch. When we got there in the morning, before it even opened, the line wasn't as bad as the day before, but still long, but we decided to atleast try and get in before we had to catch the train. What we found is that once the doors opened, we didn't have to wait at all, we made it inside in about 5 minutes and had plenty of time to explore the house and the museum. Extrodinary.
Yes, I know there are other places not on this list that I saw that I think other's should see if they can, but this is a top 5 not 100, and I had to draw the line somewhere.