Hope4Grace

celebrating my man

2012-01-26T23:17:00.000-06:00

okay so the man comes home tomorrow. his birthday was last Sunday and he was on the road so we're celebrating this weekend. It just hit me, I've spent 16 birthdays with him. HOLY CRAP. I actually have a picture of his 19th birthday where I'm sitting next to him opening his gifts. We were babies, so young. We'd been dating a couple of months. He had been really sick and looked rough, poor guy.

So the question is now, what do you do for someone you've spent 16 birthdays with?

I gotta think of something good cause my guy is 35 this year and it's just too good to pass up, you know ;)

To Be Me

2012-01-26T11:15:00.001-06:00

So I'm working on homework, international marketing... blah. And watching is snow/rain. And watching Four Brothers. I swear my alter ego is from the ghetto cause I just love these damn movies. The soundtrack alone is ipod repeat worthy.

Glutten for Punishment

2012-01-25T21:44:00.003-06:00

Pray for me. Seriously, I need your prayers. This weekend I'm having Prin's 13th birthday party. I'm taking a gaggle of 12/13 year olds snowboarding and then back here for a sleep over. There is apparently no end to the amount of abuse I'm willing to submit myself to.

I can already imagine the sheer noise level gauging at the giggly and excited voices calling my house to RSVP.

Somebody spell me, please................. please!

Oh wait, ;) I have this all set up on the same night that Dave is coming home. Guess I'll have some help afterall.

Yes, I'm evil but misery loves company!

I'm Bored, nothing good will come of this

2012-01-24T22:47:00.000-06:00

So I'm bored. Cause I was a good girl and did all my homework ahead of time. So now I'm here chilling, with a clean kitchen, watching Die Hard movies and I"m bored out of my head. Hmmm, what to do?

So I'll update you, we've had a little snow. Murphy just loves snow. He likes to stick his entire head in a snowdrift so he comes back to the door looking like this....... then about forty times a day I get to towel him off while cursing at him in French. (my new thing, don't feel so guilty about corrupting the wee ones that way)

So this is my driveway in middle of wee little snowstorm we had. On days like this, I drive down to meet the bus. So my kids feel the love. (Plus so they don't hide my cute chonies or something mean like that)

And Duchess, the ham, in her new snowboots that she picked out herself and bought. (Christmas money) She was so proud, I hate them but that really doesn't mean diddly squat huh? The baby will be the one cleaning them not moi! lol.

I'm gonna go chill in front of the fire. It's lonely like me.

I Heart Action

2012-01-23T18:41:00.001-06:00

Romcoms bore me; it can take hours to watch one movie due to all the up and down, errands, snacks, laundry and etc I manage to include in my time. However, I adore sports movies. Hoosiers? Damn fine show! Football movies like Invinsible or Rudy? OMGawd, need the tissues. Miracle or any other ice hockey movie? Yum. Boxing? OMGAWD hello!

I even love baseball movies. Anything but basketball, I just can't get into bb.

I think I'm missing a girl gene somewhere.

That said, I have found that I love reading stories centered abour ice hockey or boxing. So since I was sad, moody and couldn't sleep last night it was game marathon on the cable box at my house.

I really wished I was coordinated enough to ice skate, there's just something about ice hockey. Yum.

Now, trying to get kids interested in traveling to a nearby city to watch a professional hockey team play......... hmmmm, maybe if I dangle a hotel stay with it, they'll get aboard.

Awkward... oh my hell

2012-01-22T18:09:00.001-06:00

So I work out usually in shorts, cause I like having free movement of my legs and frankly tights are too tight. So I've been hunting for ole school legwarmers to wear when I run. Finally found some on a craft site everyone raves about (yeah no free pimping for them b*tches now), see above. Ole School right? Yeah, warm and blah colors. Handmade too. So I bought them and this morning I got an email from them stating that my "order from Stippers-R-Us has shipped"....

OH MY HELL

I can't wait to see what the post office people in this little sweet town think of that crap!

This is What Bored Me Looks Like

2012-01-21T19:04:00.001-06:00

Thanks to my littlest helper who likes to take a million pictures with my phone and then "effect" them therefore eating up all my memory.

I really gotta start painting again.

Pedis, snow and more

2012-01-21T10:03:00.001-06:00

Name that foot.... Yesterday was spent getting Pedis, shopping for snowboarding clothes in the crap weather and just having girl time. What a great day.

Do My Eyes Deceive Me?

2012-01-19T21:25:00.000-06:00

Because I do have some breeding, I'm not going to post the evidence (ala picture) however I have exciting news. Thanks to my new workout plan......... HOLY SHITE: I have a waist.

Stop rolling your eyes. I've NEVER had a waist. EVER. Seriously, I'm like potato shaped for 34 years however when changing tonight, I saw something strange in my mirror. An indention around my middle, one that looked suspiciously like a waist. So I got closer. And then took a picture to send to my girl so she could weigh in on the verdict.

Yep, it's a waist.

And while I am trying to be too class-y and not post it on Blogger, I did text to my husband. Snicker. Show him what's he's missing at home ;)

Internal Monolouge 7,342

2012-01-16T23:59:00.000-06:00

I think we are all aware of my notorious internal monolouge and soundtrack tendencies. Yep, I'm a freak. But an okay with herself freak so bite me. As if I don't have a million songs, stories, daydreams and pervy comments running through my head at any given time.... I just got my greedy little hands on Nickleback's latest song.

Hello luver........

I heart Nickleback.

So since I've not been sleeping all that way (snort), I've started jotting down ideas and random snippets of crap that run through my head......... I have enough materials for 47 books. FUN!

Seriously though, my goal is to find somewhere to volunteer my time soon so I can hoist myself out of my inner monolouge and interact. (sigh, I'd really rather go to the dentist without pain meds) This will be good for me, right?

With all that crap floating around in there, how come it can get lonely in my head?

Tactical Planning Plan A

2012-01-16T20:07:00.001-06:00

So due to the concussion (I think) my insomnia is pretty darn bad. So at 2am this morning while I was reading and chilling by the fire, I heard a noise. Outside on the deck. So I did what I normally do, grab my 9mm, check the safety and chamber then grab the flashlight. (Normally this is totals Dave's job but he b traveling)

I realized quickly that even if I live here forever (doubtful, very doubtful) I'd never buy this house. I love it, it's spacious and gorgeous however it's a tactical nightmare. Too many windows and I hate the floorplan. Doing a sweep through the house is a stressful thing. However, with all the flood lights and sensor stuff outside, the outside part is a breeze.

So yeah, another thing to store in my forever house plan!

And somebody send ambien please.......

Restrictions SUCK

2012-01-14T17:18:00.001-06:00

I am not a good patient. Seriously, I can whine, b*tch, gripe and make a saint completely contemplate strangling me in my sleep when I'm hurt or injured. I'm such a stellar person ;) but for the next two weeks I'm on restrictions cause the doc says I scrambled my brains. Nice. Even though I passed all the nuro testings and everything perfect (yo I'm intelligent didn't ya know?) I can't see straight and with my glasses on, I manage to for short periods keep 20/20. So I'm on emergency only driving. Which means I'm stuck in the house. Huh, I never leave the house anyway.

So why in the world is that suddenly chapping my ass? And Dave ain't helping... now since it's been a couple days, apparently it's okay to laugh at the fact that only I can give myself a concussion with a vehicle. Every phone call ends with "be safe damnit". Nice!

I'm climbing the walls already and I have two weeks to go. This is gonna go badly. Can somebody please send wine......... or RUM! RUM would be awesome. Please.

Concussion

2012-01-13T20:46:00.001-06:00

I fought the jeep cargo door and the jeep cargo door won.

Doc made it official.

Dayumit

I'm A Perv

2012-01-13T00:32:00.001-06:00

Yeah so I'm turning 35 this year.

For just a second can I ask you something?

HOW THE F*CK DID THAT HAPPEN?

Okay I feel better. Cause I don't feel almost 35. I'm thinking I look almost 35 but if you agree with me, I'll spit in your oatmeal so shut it.

Anyway, so I'm bored and can't sleep. All due to a pesky little accident this morning: me, taking trash down the road to our dumpster (cause I live in the freaking BOONIES), jeep rear cargo door slamming down and busting open my head, so I slept pretty much all day to rid myself of the headache. It's better but dang how long will that crap last...... Anyho (typo but I'm keeping it)

I'm trolling my facebook profile, you know my real one not my H4G one........ duh, sorting pictures into different albums and locking old ones so there aren't like 7k pics up there cause that is just wrong you know. (and if you have that many, clean that crap up!)

I come across some old pics in there. When Dave and I were dating..... yeah and I'm totally sitting here drooling thinking dayum that boy is hawt.

And I realize, holy shit he was like 19 at the time and I'm drooling over technically a 19 year old. I'm too old for that shit. right?

I just feel dirty.

Reminder: call Dave tomorrow and tell him how hawt he is.

H4G Body Inventory

2012-01-11T18:40:00.000-06:00

FML.... second day of my new workout. One that Dave and I crafted together cause I hate public gyms, wedgies that have to be picked out in public and any type of machine that requires sitting on. So thanks to the home gym we've built up, I'm making my new years resolution... so far. (let's not count our chickens before they hatch luvers)

Except, as I type this I hurt...... in so many place.

My neck is sore - probably from looking at the ceiling to concentrate on keeping accurate count thus eliminating the need to start over from 1. Also praying that God will keep me from dropping a dumbell on my face (yeah, done that before)

The muscles behind my shoulder blades hurt. Except I can't reach that far or high to rub them.

My chest is sore rather than hurting. Dayum it I'd rather it hurt cause I need to firm up if you get my drift. Shut up, I nursed my kids yo.

My arms are like noodles left to sit overnight in a vat of water. They HURT and this goes from shoulder to wrists. This is cause I'm stubborn and have four different arm exercises with my weights. I suck.

My wrists hurt - punching bag, need I say more?

My lower back is sore and twingy - gonna totally blame this on the damn crunches. I hate crunches like some counties hate liquer licenses. With a passion. But I hate pudgy tummy worse. So there you go.

My ass hurts. (shut up) Gonna blame this firmly on the lunges. Evil sadistic shit those things.

My thighs are good strangely.

My knees hurt. Cause I'm a dumbass who left her knee braces upstairs and was too lazy to go get them once I got started.

My calves burn. Treadmill. But was proud that I advanced past a cute little cupids shuffle pace to a full out run for 7 minutes. Watch me go! I'll be back running before summer (hopefully!)

My ankles and feet are dry as as MOFO and need lotion but are otherwise fine.

Luckily I get a day off from that routine to recoup.

Except tomorrow I'm doing the dance zumba crap on the wii.

By lord, I will stick with this though. I know if I can make it to week three, I'll have that runners high and energy to burn. Just gotta wade through hell to get there first.

I have serious mental issues.

Who volunteers for this shit?

Oh yeah, me.

A Cross, A Fire, A Gun and A Glass of Wine

2012-01-11T00:38:00.001-06:00

So what do ya do when your man is traveling... and you hear noises at night and can't sleep? Well you blog of course. With a big ass glass of strawberry wine (cause I'm class-y yo). Now logically I know it's the deer moving through the yard since it's a full-ish moon, but the paranoia sets in and well, frankly I can't sleep anyway.

So here I sit.

In my log cabin with a ginormous cross hanging off the front (keeps those pesky missionaries away), four flood lights (boonies yo) and my handgun. Now to be safety conscious I'm not gonna give you the number of guns in this house but please be assured when I say that I have enough firepower to take out a small state of idiots.

I'm also a good shot. Ask the woodpecker, oops you can't cause all that was left was his wing. My bad. (a 9mm will do some serious damage to a woodpecker yo)

So here I sit, warming myself by the fire, reading a book, sipping my wine and listening to the damn deer.

I hope somebody somewhere understands the restraint I'm showing in not flipping the safety off and plugging that bastard deer that is eating the last of my green bushes. Cause I need a deer roast, yummy.

But that is totally illegal and I'm a legal beaver (snicker) so here I sit.

Sigh.

Moody

2012-01-11T00:23:00.002-06:00

adele set fire to the rain mp3 download

Family Smamily Time

2012-01-10T12:26:00.001-06:00

Well we are enjoying ourselves and our family time! This week was quite the activity as Dave drug us out of the house for activities. He's currently away on business so we got our fun in while we could!

We bowled. Left handed so Duch wasn't left out. I rock left handed bowling dudes! Me and Prin in our cheesy we havne't washed our hair in days look.

Murphy napping in the midst of what could be the largest pile of doggie toys in the state of Idaho.

Duch watching LSU get stomped last night by Bama. Just a sh ame!!!!!!

Driving on the shoulder on a HIGHWAY to get to the school to pick up a sick kid yesterday. Cattle has the right of way apparently. Had to wash my jeep afterwards, YUCK.

Rocking the Tiger gear.......

Taking meds like a toddler cause she might be 13 but sometimes you just can't tell...

Dinner at Texas Longhorn, our fav just for the name and the fabulous waiter guy who spoils the kids.

Wanted: one mom

Dude, I'm eatting stop........ Prin got the camera rocking.

Piled up on daddy like there isn't enough seats in this house. Notice all the electronics, lol. We suck.

Is That An Echo?

2012-01-09T19:24:00.002-06:00

So up here in the boonies I sit, waiting for the massive amounts of snowfall that has yet to hit us. It's suppose to be here any week, except it changes weekly, lol. We'll see. I'm sure I'll be snowed in shortly so there you go.

But while I'm busy working with my kids, cooking meals, doing laundry, napping with the dog and starting my business. I'm staying busy.

And I'm so thankful for my friends. M and Case you guys rock. You keep me on the chain, you answer my emails and text me to come out of my shell. When you move away you really truly can become isolated very quickly. I"m trying very hard to stay in contact with everyone but I'm not doing a good job I worry.

Sometimes I hear an echo where I used to hear voices. I'm trying not to get lonely.

It's very quiet in the boonies especially when I'm not blaring music.

With possible huge changes yet again on the horizon, I'm so thankful to my momma and my girls for making sure that I'm getting that interaction I need.

You guys just rock.

And don't worry, I have met one friend here who is determined to not let me rot in my house. She's a hoot and frankly a little scary cause she's one of those perpetually happy people. ;) No drugs needed, lol.

I'm thankful for my support system. Even if you guys don't understand our life, you offer support and reassurance.

This is a crazy life we lead but it's one where God is in charge and will remain in charge so if we move often or make choices like the husband working in one state while we remain in another, you don't judge. You support. You understand that we don't make these changes lightly, it's done based on prayer and what is best for the family. It's not easy.

I repeat, it's not easy. It's not easy being so far from family. It's not easy to not be able to drop in on our loved ones or just show up at my friends house for a glass of wine and some whine. It's not easy.

But you understand that. You understand that I follow my guy. You understand that I pray for guidance daily so that God will give me the strength to be strong and do what I need to do for my family. You understand that Dave strives hard in his career to provide for us. You understand that the last four years have been about his busting his arse to build a career that puts money into the college fund for my kids and allows me to stay at home with them while seeking to start my own business. You understand.

You get a cookie for that.

Because I have enough people who judge and frankly, I try really hard not to judge others.

I get a cookie for that shit!

So for you out there who do nothing except love me and my family no matter what...........

A glass of wine without the whine. Peace, love and no crabs. I love ya'll more than my luggage, and I think we all know how much love and use my luggage gets.

So Mom, M, and Case............ I love you

Friday night in the boonies

2012-01-06T22:03:00.000-06:00

What we do on Friday nights ....

Throw a Prayer Our Way

2012-01-06T17:22:00.000-06:00

Just when you think you're on the path you'll stay on, the Lord smiles and says "yo, watch this though! I gots something for you..." and so there is some uncertainity in front of us. But it's not a bad uncertainity, it's just a curveball. One we didn't see coming.

So while we are awaiting news and details, throw a prayer our way.

We aren't asking for a certain outcome, just that our walk on faith will lead us exactly where the Lord wants us.

Cause when the Lord makes the way, it is smoother than a knife through hot butter baby.

So yeah for all my loud trashy mouth (and thoughts), I walk on faith!

Ding Dings and Beavers, Lord Help Me

2012-01-03T14:56:00.001-06:00

So this has been quite the enlightened weekend up in this mug. Besides being sick as crap, I also had my hands full with everyone home for the holidays. I do so love this family bonding time. (Not to mention, the extra dishes, laundry, and shortage of hot water ;)....

So we managed to put together the combo table which includes a pool side, an air hockey side, a ping pong side and the other side, who the hell knows. I can't figure it out.

So we've had quite the ping pong tourney going on here. It's like that scene from Forrest Gump, except much less coordinated and patriotic. I can't tell you how many breast hits I've had in the past week. Dave has a wicked backhand. Crap. I have a bruise dude!

But even better, in the height of line ref-ing with Duchess it happened. Princess snapped a perfect snap and that little plastic ping pong ball went straight........

"OH gawd you hit my ding ding"......

Oh yeah baby, she popped him a good one. After the girls crawled up off the floor gasping for air.... and I managed to pick my jaw up off the floor. I tried to recover with a nice speeach about how boys and girls have different body parts just to be informed, duh mom we know that. Unfortunately, it seems that the children now have a new nickname for male body parts. Sweet Mary mother of Jesus, my house.

Thanks to my mother, the girls already refer freely to the hoochie hoochie area and now we have ding ding. I guess I should just be happy that he's tried so hard to reform his sailor speech (ummm him, not me) so we didn't end up with something a little more lewd, crude and cough*male*cough.

But to round out the night, we were all downstairs in kid land trying to get our evening routine wrapped up. See, I help them lay out school clothes, oversee nightly lotion, teeth and etc routines then kiss them then Dave prays with them and tucks them in. Since they were babies, if we are all home this is a nightly thing. So Dave is sprawled over Prin's bed while she and I go back and forth trying to match up a cute outfit to match her new boots when she whips out a tshirt from Texas. Her idea to wear a long sleeved shirt underneath was cool, even if Dave argued that grunge was dead. But it was the shirt that was the problem. Back home there is a huge gas station with a cartoon beaver as it's character. The sayings on billboards are always "cheeky" and it's a huge joke. BUT in Idaho, having my kid wear a shirt that screams on the back "Power to the Beaver" ain't good.

She wasn't getting it, so Dave pipes up....

"A really ugly inappropriate nickname for the hoochie hoochie is beaver"

OMGAWD, I'm gonna kill him. Yeah, she's 13 now but damn really?

She thought this was hysterical and quite offensive and frankly I tried to beat his arse with a dirty sock about the head and shoulders but she finally gave up on the shirt.

So from the house of ding dings and beavers to yours.........

Happy New Year.

I can only imagine what this year will bring with a start like this!

Ringing the New Year!

2012-01-01T17:33:00.002-06:00

Sicker than a dog! Jesuit, it's nasty up in this booger. My tummy is revolting, dang meds and Dave has the sinus crud he's sharing, so it's just a nasty ordeal all the way around.

But Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace, Love, and Aces

Everybody has secrets...

2011-12-29T22:12:00.000-06:00

It's true, everyone has secrets. Some you tell to your closer friends, some to only your spouse or BFF, and some you tell noone.

I've been busted.

My secret has been exposed. Sorta.

It recently came out.

And then it was Dave that busted me so it was even worse!

But then in a quiet, ashamed voice so quiet I had to strain to hear him, he admitted that he shared the same secret.

Floored.

How could we be together so long and I not know this about him???????????????

So now, we are together in our ashamed, closeted secret......

We're Maroon 5 fans.

Seriously, this is a HUGE problem.

See, he's all Texas and Old School country and I'm all alternative and loud ass rebel music.

Nowhere in this mix does MAROON 5 fall.

We're just so ashamed.

Worse, in our mutual admiration we know all the words and we *gasp* dance to that shit.

So now you know. My deep closeted secret.

And so help me, if you call me out on it in public.......

I'll call you a bitch-ass liar. Loudly.

Excuse me, I gotta get my Moves Like Jagger strut on.

I'm Taking The Remote

2011-12-28T22:04:00.001-06:00

Not sure how (but I have my ideas) but my kids have become huge fans of Toddlers and Tiaras.

WTF?

Oh hell to the no.

I'm locking that mess out on the remote stat!

This is Our Normal

2011-12-28T13:30:00.001-06:00

So we went on a little roadtrip.... to the farking mall. Cause when you live in the boonies, you have to drive about 80 miles to get to a mall. Poor Dave! But they wanted to spend some of their Christmas money at stores there so here we went. But it's a long drive, and honestly I put my ipod in and jammed all the way there alternating between reading and napping. Cause he's the driver yo. And well the kids? They take after their momma.

Including the constant red ears in every single picture. Hi Duch, eatting Mexican food. Yummy.

This is surely a patented "teen" look she's giving her sister.

Oh look, I wore makeup (but the hat kinda nixes that out huh?)

We might have pitstopped at a huge surplus place. Fun! Cause you should always stock up on the necesscities in the event of WWIII.

This says it all.

Strolling ....

2011-12-28T00:25:00.000-06:00

There are times when the house is quiet and I'm working away when I have my music on shuffle. It's rare but occasionally I get hit by a bus. You never see it coming but it's those brief little walks down memory lane.

Every memory I have is somehow tied to a song. I think it's pretty clear now that I'm a huge music junkie and my tastes are wide and varied. My ipod is an eclectic jumble of things that make me happy and probably looks like itunes threw up to anyone else. I don't care, it makes me happy.

So I'm sitting here humming along minding my own business when a song comes on. It brings tears to my eyes. And since I'm a step or two on memory lane, I just switch over to the playlist set aside for those moments. It's a audio scrapbook of my life to date.

The highs.

The lows.

The possible wrong turns that turned out to be necessary.

The amazing blessings that make my heart soar.

But I think it's good to briefly touch base with what made you the way you are. So while I won't waller around in there, I will stroll through briefly. Just enough to get a smile on my lips.

Tonights stroll was an instant throwback to a roadtrip I wasn't suppose to be on, one that I'd have gotten strangled for and looking back, one that I learned a big ole lesson on. It wasn't often that I threw caution to the wind back in the old days (yeah, hard to believe right?) but before I found my voice I walked a very straight and narrow line. Except there were a few little hopping skippy steps I may have missed. This was one. That song brings back the smell of asphalt in the air, the feel of a hot sticky night so unbearable we had all the windows down and had every limb possible sticking out the windows trying to catch a breeze even if it meant fighting off the bugs. Bon Jovi was blaring and we were sanging and the world was frozen for a little while. No worries, no stress, no drama.... just being.

God I love that song.

It's a good one for strolling.........

Do I need to explain this?

2011-12-27T21:38:00.001-06:00

I'm tenacious sometimes lol

Christmas 2011 ~ Griswald Style

2011-12-25T19:46:00.001-06:00

So the holiday season is in full swing here in Griswald land! We are thrilled and blessed to be spending the entire holiday together, no waiting on Dave to fly in and me having help with every step of the process. I am getting a little spoiled that way, but I like having a full time partner again. I think he's kinda digging it tooo......

So without too much ado, here's a breakdown on the last few days.

Sleepy Santa passing out the goodies. Since we wanted to make the 10 am church service that means up and at it early this morning. I can't remember a Christmas when Dave had to get everyone up and literally drag us all into the livingroom for presents. :) Having older kids rock! And having so much family that bless my kids with gifts made this quite the ordeal. The tree threw up all over my house good grief.

The duckie is back! Slippers and houserobes were a must for my girls in this weather. Plus a gentle reminder that we do have a full time guy in the house so no naked streaking after showers. We b a bunch of nuts around here.

Prin got her an ipod touch and frankly the kid was bouncing off the ways. So excited for her latest big girl deal. Plus since it was also her birthday and she's now a TEEN, 13 to be exact, we got all the stuff she needs to make her room TEENy. Pics later from that end, Dave is hanging stuff in there as we speak.

Not sure where she got this tutu but it's the most adorable thing ever and we had to bribe her NOT to wear it to church. The kid racked up on toys. Mainly because she still loves to play and before we moved, she donated so much of her toys to the local Goodwill or church. Big hearted kids get rewards!

The teen and Murphy checking out the new bedding for the new teen room. You can also see the cool telescope my mom got them this year. We have so many stars and constallations visable on top of our mountain!!!

Santa brought them an activity table for the gameroom but otherwise between us and the family, my kids were spoilt rotten. Good lord.

All the kids! Murphy got a new rubber chicken. He found it yesterday before I wrapped it, literally dragging the Petco bag out of hiding and around the house trying to get me to open it. So when I boxed and wrapped it, he then started dragging around his wrapped present, lol. Smart booger. But it was a hit!

And since it is colder than crap here (-2 this morning) and still dark (beware coyotes), Prin taking the boy out also requires a parent with a pistol going out too. Never realized that living so far in the boonies would require me to have a handgun on my hip anytime I'm in the yard, mercy!

So last night, we celebrated the kids' 13th and it was a blast. She wanted a GF cake and in all my articulate nature, I decorated it accordingly.

Sissy got her a hoodie, Daddy got her a gorgeous necklace with a Murphy dog charm and I got her a Twilight book, now that she's PG 13 official. She is so excited. That book is glued to her hands. So glad I held off on letting her read it till now.

With all the excitement, Murphy was feeling left out. He was pouting all snuggled up to the couch. Poor boy. He hates when the kids get something and he gets nothing. Spoilt rotten dog.

The beautiful plant given by a new friend here in Idaho, well I'm struggling to keep it alive. It's tougher than it seems, I swear. My next degree after my MBA is def gonna be in raising plants I think.

So when you have a long day and your tummy hurts and you have a guy like Dave, you get treated to dinner out at the little local diner rather than cooking. The rents (no makeup, so shut it).

Friday was a full day of parental shopping. Just me and him. We had a blast. And I conned him into trying on a hat but he's a ball cap kinda of guy now I guess. I'm totally saving this pic though, yummy.

When it's daylight, we all take turns walking the boy. So Prin gets a little of the snow action too. She's 9 now and my big girl gets to take on some Murphy action.

Did I mention she's 9? I need to post her bday pics too. We celebrated hers on the 19th and my baby just keeps growing! Here's family scrabble night. We try to have board games one night a week. She is really good at scrabble, dang it.

So after presents were opened it was time to head into town for church. It's about an hours drive into the big TOWN (hey, it's the closest walmart so it's town, lol). My babies all prettied up and ready to worship.

I dressed up too. Forgetting the snow on the ground, I brought out the big guns, my hell on heels. I made it into church fine holding onto Prin for dear life but coming out of church, I got the bride style carry from Dave. It was slick and I of course wore the wrong shoes. But I looked nice!!!!!!!

See, nice. Actual makeup and slightly fixed hair. Don't fall over in shock. Wait till I put in my purple streaks for the upcoming LSU BCS game!

View along the ride to church. This is one of the ranges that the kids will snowboard this year, their PE class has them signed up for lessons. This could be interesting.....

When I came in to start Christmas dinner this is what I found. I'm thinking Dave got tired of the squacking chicken. I gave the kid back his toy. Bless his heart, he's so mistreated.

And mommy's christmas? Besides some awesome sweats from Victoria's Secret (I love those sweats, I have like four pairs on the pants, I live in them!) I gots a little tv/dvd combo for the kitchen. I spend so much time in there cooking now so I have soemthing to keep me entertained. Nice. Thanks to my peeps for spoiling the mommy!

So now it's time to get the dressing out of the oven and check my ham!

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. Please remember that Jesus is our reason for the season!!!!!!

Timeless

2011-12-22T12:42:00.000-06:00

So as usual, I'm running behind on blogging about life events up in this mug, but today is special. While we never celebrate it.... today fourteen years ago, Dave and I were married in a tiny little Oklahoma church. He was in the Navy and we'd been engaged for some time but it was on this day a long time ago that we made it official.

It's been a really wild ride that is no where done and I'm thankful for my man, my marriage and my life.

So happy anniversary baby, I love ya and think you're hot so really what is there else to say?

(See I could say stuff about naked and etc but I reframed, proud much?)

My kid, middle school choir

2011-12-22T12:25:00.001-06:00

Since there is no Spanish, no computer science, and no art.... She got choir. Time in bucket is all I can say here. But here we went

I was wrong

2011-12-20T22:36:00.001-06:00

Not only forgiven but forgotten... Sweet Jesus, the Yummiest sound on earth.... The slight vibrations upstairs from him beating the shit out of the punching bag in the workout room downstairs. Lord have mercy.....

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Three things

2011-12-20T21:43:00.001-06:00

If my husband is talking shit, he's happy. It's when he's serious that you run, and run fast. But sometimes in the middle of a story or something the Smartass comments get to me. For example tonight, I'm trying to soak in the tub and read. He comes in and wants to chat. We chat, he moves the curtain to try and perv a peek and manages to spill my drink in the tub.

In frustration, I ask him.... Name three things u love about me quick, hurry....

He didn't miss a beat...

Supper, Sex, and Silence

I'm gonna hide all his socks and underware, trade his good pillows for the kids and then .... Have a headache for a week!

Or just laugh and dose his ass with bath water. Good lord but he makes me nuts.

Too bad I'm so easy, he went to get me a fountain soda so all is forgiven. I sux.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Makes My Heart Hurt

2011-12-19T10:51:00.001-06:00

It's times like these that I'm reminded that I DO have a heart.

It's a tough morning for me, not me personally but because my heart is bleeding for someone that was close to me once, someone that I care about even if I can't be close friends with, someone that is a friend just in a different sense of the word.

She lost her husband last night to a work accident.

All I can be thankful for is that the family was together the morning before, attending church together and spending those little moments that seem so small and unimportant but really are everything.

It reminds me of how much I have to be thankful for, how much my life is a blessing straight from God and to cherise each and every one of these little moments.

I have no idea what this family will do, all I can do is send my prayers, thoughts, and messages of love.

Still my heart is bleeding this morning for them, the children involved and the woman left to stand alone.

Take a minute to say an unspoken prayer for my friend, she is facing hell right now and needs them badly.

Well I Can't Call Them Back, Ever

2011-12-17T00:36:00.000-06:00

So while Dave was doing some urgent business travel this past week, the kids were in school... and I was having trouble with the satelite. So I called and they promised to send a tech to the house from the nearest large city 52 miles away... (not be confused with the walmart city 35 miles away) and he'd be here between 12 and 2.

So at 11am after cleaning out the pellet stoves (ashes dudes, lots of ashes) I needed a shower badly. Now because this house was apparently built for some rich guys grad student kids there are four bedrooms and NO master. So my bathroom is across the hall from my bedroom. And apparently from the front door (huge window in that bastard) you can see straight down the hall.

And who sees where I'm going with this?

Yeah, so thankfully all the satelite guy saw was me in a sports bra and boxer shorts while towel drying my hair but still......... ummmm hello. I have a built in doorbell as Murphy has figured out that the road leading to our house is OUR ROAD and thusly goes insane anytime someone pulls up, but he was distracted by trying to lick the water off the side of the shower and somehow missed the whole, satelite dude is standing at the door while I practically streak through my house.

The poor guy, he never looked me in the eye. All I can say is.........

F me!

Dave took it alot better than I thought, he's hanging some type of sheers on all the main floor open glass this weekend apparently. For some distortion at least he says. Cause living in the middle of nowhere on the side of a freaking mountain apparently guarantees you NO PRIVACY.

Sigh.

I hope my satelite never screws up cause that's one place I will not be calling back out.

Dead hookers and syringes

2011-12-13T22:02:00.002-06:00

Dead hookers and syringes - the name of my new band. So today was fun. (Sarcasm people)

I managed to get a little work done and then the kids off to school, Dave off for a last minute flight to deal with some shite going down at one of his sites and then BAM. No power. For seven hours. No internet, no lights and NO FARKING HEAT. My phone was fully charged but it's a droid so that bastard won't stay charged that long (I blame angry birds). So I had to baby my phone.

At first it wasn't a biggie. I did some school work until my laptop died. I thought about going to town for a soda and snack, except couldn't figure out how to open the garage door manually. I suck at manually things. Then Murphy and I had a staring contest. Then I used precious cell phone battery to harass the power company. Then I found out the entire town is out of power due to an incompetant line worker, I hope he gets no Christmas bonus.

I started getting bored. I painted my toe nails. I walked Murphy. As the house started getting cold, I fought him for the right to lay and read in the one spot of sunlight streaming through on the livingroom carpet. He won. He has more teeth than me. I then coax him into snuggling with me under my blankets while mentally going through my kitchen looking for something to eat. When your cold and wearing two sets of clothes, you don't want to eat anything cold so that pretty much left out everything. Murphy started looking yummy but then I remembered the organic peanut butter. Yummy, we ate half a jar. He likes it too, except it gets stuck in his beard.

I tried to take a nap, but the damn woodpecker was back. Yes, cause living in a log cabin is just apparently Disneyland for woodpeckers. So in my cold, starving state I took my pistol outside and shot at him as he was flying away. I kid you not. Cold and starving with no sugar in the house is not a good mood for me. Didn't help that his evil twin was back hammering outside my bedroom an hour later. Sigh......

I finally get power, I do a little work. I turn in a 15 page research paper on the culture impact of international organizations on organizational culture. Yeah, it took so long to write because it's like knock out meds, prescription strength. The kids come home as house is heating back up. We made mexican, it was yummy.

Prin and I managed to knock out the math homework, ALOT of homework in Idaho dayum. Duchess and Prin also got to watch the Grinch.

Then Dave called. Hotels.com screwed him out of his hotel and there was literally NO available room in a tri-city area. He's looking, I'm looking and finally he called and tells me found a room. In wife mode (which is where I'm doing twelve other things and absent-mindedly talking to him) I ask if it was a good deal.... his respond...

Yeah, the sign outfront might as well say "rooms come with a dead hooker and syringe"....

After I cleaned all the coke zero off my screen, and managed to stop coughing... I reminded him to A: don't shower there (think NORMAN) and B: don't change clothes there and finally C: do not get under the covers for any reason.

Poor guy.

But that is seriously my new catch phrase and when I start my own band, that there's the new name.

Dead hookers and syringes.

Excuse me while I drool

2011-12-10T14:23:00.001-06:00

This Week: Catchup Yo

2011-12-09T17:07:00.001-06:00

So we Christmas shopped for Dave, Prin busted up her knuckles good trying out punching bags. Seems somebody needs her own set of pink boxing gloves. Dang girl was all about it.

We tried the local eatting spot. It was YUMMY. Homecooked food! Yes, when you have as much homework as my kids have here, sometimes you just gotta eat out. This is the ONLY eatting place in 35 miles. Forget drivethru, they've never heard of it.

Duchess is having a Christmas pageant next week. Sniff, my baby is growing up so fast. Doesn't she look stunning. I'm kinda proud that it only took four stores and we managed to put together an outfit that looks like it was sold together. Sweet!

Every kid should get this greeting when they get off the bus and walk .3 miles down to their house. Murphy is so excited every single day to see them!

Speaking of Murphy, he's in trouble for eatting my Christmas deocrations that blink. He's apparently hypmotized into a trance where eatting decorative shit is okay.

The kid stole my favorite jeans. Turd. All the bling jeans in the world and she wants my LEVI's.

Meet my hawt and sexy snow boots. I anticipate alot of use of them this season.

I heat the truck and drive them to the end of our road each school morning. Cause damn, it's the least I can do right? It was ONE degree outside when this was snapped. My babies waiting on the big yeller bus.

Evidence that at one point he was busted THINKING about eatting my shit.

Just Me, the Dog, and the Deer

2011-12-08T19:12:00.000-06:00

So the kids are in school quite a bit during regular school week, so once the bright yellow bus pulls away and the sun rises over the extremely tall mountain to my east.... well it's just me, Murphy and the local deer. There are about seven that like to hang out between my and my neighbors (who aren't full time residents) and the road. It's quiet as a church mouse... normally. Except this morning, the cows down the valley were raising hell. And being a canyon really, every moo was echo-ed about seven times. It was hysterical and I'm pretty sure Murphy and I wasted about an hour sitting outside on the deck being amused. We are so strange creatures. I swear that dog smiles. He doesn't talk yet so don't call anyone.

But I was a productive beast today. I finished unpacking the downstairs boxes and got them all put away. I cleaned both pellet stoves and lugged the 40 lbs bags to fill them up. I vaccummed the whole house. I did about seventeen loads of laundry and put in said rooms. I made all beds. I recruited for three hours. I shaved my legs. I cleaned the toliets and tubs. I made a bbq brisket. I scrubbed the stairs. I listened to a ton of inappropriate music. I went to town and mailed Boo's birthday present. I got a fountain coke (yummy!) and I dropped by the school to help out with the preparations for Duchesses' upcoming Christmas pageant. I visited with her new teacher for a progress update. I also did not get the nap I wanted. Oh well, tomorrow I'm so sleeping in. Cause the kids have Fridays off yo. I will b lazy if it kills me.

But man I do so enjoy that quiet time all to myself. It's yummy.

Soooooooo I now have great wireless internet and satelite but I haven't turned the tv on so I couldn't tell you how that is working out, lol. Plus I moved the tv downstairs into the family room of this place so there is NO TV on the main floor at all. WOW, I love it.

Oh and the highlight of my day: learning that the school serves chicken baked steak. WTF? That just sounds gross. But I rock so I made bacon wrapped asparagus and mashed Idaho taters with my bbq brisket..... so bow down and give me my due! Oh and apple crisp is bubbling in the oven....... I kick the school lunch's butt. Hands down. (and frankly if I didn't, someone should take away my extremely cute kitchen and kick my ass)

Still breathing....

2011-12-07T17:26:00.001-06:00

Just swamped. Be back tomorrow, swears

Effort

2011-12-06T08:08:00.001-06:00

So we have a four day school week. Seriously different. We've done traditional obviously, also year round and even lately a stagered schedule but its our first short week schedule. The babies are a little tired. We get up later than in Texas but that extra long learning day at school is wiping the floor with them. Poor babies. This is that sweet moment when I just gaze at them before turning on LMFAO full blast in surround sound. We b rocking this house in T-minus 4 and counting.

Is this illegal?

2011-12-04T20:37:00.001-06:00

Child labor laws?

Obviously not my doing....

2011-12-04T00:12:00.001-06:00

Huge day. LSU kicked some Georgia ass to win the SEC. Geaux boys! And we girls went into town, 30 miles away to grocery shop. I'm whipped. We got home and unloaded just in time for Prin to head over to a friends. Yeah that was fast huh? Not even a week here and she's all the rage. I decorated the house and Duch helped me attack the tree without injury not counting multiple stabbings and scratches. Then while doing my homework, Prin comes home and proceeds to do my hair. Regardless of what she says, I'm too old for the bow. But I do kinda feel like Barbie tonight.

Peace out from the snowy mountains of Idaho.

Life in Idaho

2011-12-02T12:09:00.000-06:00

Well we're settling in nicely, I think. Okay that is a total lie: I'm not settled in at all, lol. I have the main floor pretty put together but there are still crap to hang on the walls and boxes to figure out where it'll go. I'm behind on laundry. The kids need curtains hung and I've yet to find my curtains for my bedroom. But we did pull a cool parent move: we gave the kids the whole lower level. True they have to deal with parents coming through to the storage area and laundry but the rest is kid city. They have a huge livingroom with their own wood stove to keep it toasty, they also have the huge tv down there (mental note: get bean bags stat), they have their own rooms and a shared bathroom. I swore I'd never do that but ummm I kinda like having a kid free zone. Does that make me a sucky parent? Please remember that I have a almost 13 and almost 9 year old and they are both girls. So sue me, the main floor livingroom is kid free. There is no tv even. GASP. Dave and I decided that between the wall to wall windows and the fireplace there is plenty to look at. Plus we read like some people take zanex so it works for us. And if you are a zanex taker, sorry.

Anyway, so my bedroom is all set up on the main floor. Except I'm living out of boxes. The guest room is nothing but a sea of boxes since we shitcanned the cheap ass bookcases. I have cases of books that need a home. Need bookshelves stat. Thinking of seeing if there is someone local who can build me some. Since Dave won't buy me a table saw. Sigh. I'm so mistreated, no power tools for me. Anyway, it's cold as hell here. Seriously, frigid and the locals are running around without a jacket while I"m looking like the Stay Puff marshmellow girl at the post office.

The post office, that's another funny story. Yesterday I went into town to get my keys and see about my mail. They greeted me by name at the door. My first time there. Seems everyone in town knows us and they've never met us but since nobody ever moves here, we stand out. lol. Holy crap that was creepy. AND the liquor store didn't open until the afternoon so there was no rum in my future. Crapola. Monday I'm so getting my little bottle of rum. And since there is no Sonic in 30 mile radius, I've made friends with the lady at the only gas station in town. They are suitable fountain drinks. It gives me a reason to leave the house. So I check the mail and get a fountain coke everyday. That is my extent of leaving the house. Proud? Go me.

Tomorrow the kids and I have a trip into the big city planned though as we need to hit up the Sams and buy our bulk crapola. It's fun times I tell you!!!!!

Okay, I have work to do and Prin is having a friend over for the day. Yeah, remember they have a four day school week here. And already a friend over, holy crap she is on top of things. Oh yeah, and Duchess is pouting since she doesn't have a friend lined up yet to come over. Kill me now. Looks like I'll be playing Clue with her for the next four hours to keep her happy.

Later.

We are here....

2011-11-27T23:44:00.001-06:00

I had the tween and the dog. At one point I put her in the car equilvent of a corner but otherwise 1600 miles of jamming out. We got here and promptly I fell on ice and busted my ankle. Bagged snow is useful, who knew

Chasing the sunset

2011-11-26T23:38:00.001-06:00

We made pueblo and we crashed. We have the two vehicle train going west and north. I started my day on a tank top and its now 19 degrees. Duck a fudge. Cold. Tomorrow we head to Idapimp.

On the road again

2011-11-25T20:46:00.000-06:00

Well we are officially three days behind on move. Thanks to moving company. But we are Idaho bound. Two adults, two cars, two kids, one dog. God help us

Awe

2011-11-20T14:52:00.000-06:00

Sometimes life slows down to a creepy crawl. In the middle of utter chaos, it's almost like someone threw the slow-mo switch. Today in the middle of cleaning out my fridge I had a moment. I thought about the upcoming move and how I was equally excited and mourning. I'm excited to go be with Dave on his ground and I'm mourning what I feel like I'm leaving behind. Except I'm not leaving the good stuff behind. God is so good to me.

My momma may not be in the same state with them this time next week but she's there. I can literally feel her in the same room with me when I talk to her. She's there! That's enough. She's the reason I am how I am today, she gave me the tools to be who I be. (So blame her if you have a problem with that, lol)

My bestie, BA will not physically be in the same state as well but nobody has the same stupid sense of humor as me. Nobody else likes to sit their ass in the same chair and watch tv together while talking shit and trading insults on facebook, like her. I've learned this leason with two other dear besties that to this day are urgently important in my life so I'm just gonna take her with me.

My work was a journey I so needed. But I made connections there I'll take with me and the peace that the journey brought will be with me.

This morning I sat across from Duch and had two typical Duchess conversations. 1. We need to google barrior islands because she is fascinated by them and wants to know how many are in the US. Ummm I have no clue. 2. Did I know there are a million different "nicknames" for the toliet. This kid is hysterically smart and she truely is a unique cat. I love that about her.

Prin is happy a little lark in the woods with her daddy and Don-Don hunting. She texts me about every hour to see what I'm doing without her. I may not be physically there, but I'm with her. Get the connection yet.......

And Dave, well we talked earlier about a number of random things and just hearing the smiling pride in his voice being there with his firstborn on her first hunting trip just brings this all into focus.

He's missed alot of firsts in their lives but previously that was out of our hands. Now, by working his ass off and making his own scheduling flexible and US MOVING to where his job is......... he's not gonna miss anymore firsts.

I'm in awe of how blessed my life is.

I'm picky about the people I let into my life and even pickier about the people that get to stay in my life but there is reason.

I'm honing in on the important, the necessary and the rest is static that I don't need. I'm just embracing my blessings today.

And trying to figure out how I've missed that rotted onion decomposing in the back of the veggie drawer of the fridge, nasty!

Break time....

2011-11-19T19:23:00.001-06:00

The house is clean, kinda. Okay the oven is immaculate (I'm so not cooking it in now Damn that wad work). The stovetop looks new. The bathrooms are sparkling. This is all after spending the night with BA watching a studly sparkly guy woo and finally sex up the emo girl and spawn a baby destined for a werewolf. Yummy.

So now it's me and Duch. Prin and Dave are at the hunting camp. They be back later, just in time for move.

And I'm currently waiting on my toes to dry. Dark grey polish, how Goth of me. And I'm doing it sitting in BA's confuse reclined. Dinner is cooked and I'm waiting on her ass to drag in here from work. I'm a great friend.... Scratch that shit I'm not doing the dishes. But B leaves for Oregon to spend thanksgiving with fam and I'm leaving the state Wed. So I'm getting my bfffff time when I can.

This reminds me, I'm totally scheduling trips to go hang out and paint my toes at my other bffffs house cause this is kinda cool.

Peace out

Phase 1 Complete

2011-11-19T09:18:00.000-06:00

Liquid Goo Phase complete. Otherwise known as complete my last day at work and withdraw the children from school phase. Yesterday was busy and I was running around like a mad cow trying to get everything as up to date and under control as possible for my guys. Then the food was delivered and the potluck sides put out but before everyone started eating, I left. The goodbye were so hard. I wasn't done there, I still had things to accomplish for them and I really will miss my family there! I cried and prayed the whole way home thanking God for giving me that opportunity because after my former job, I needed to have that family experience. I needed to see that I could fit in and work somewhere that I loved and was happy to jump out of my car each morning. It was a huge blessing. One that I will treasure!!!!

Then it was straight home to clean my raccoon eyes and head to the schools. It took less than an hour to withdraw both kids from their respective schools. I was so pleased that they were both adamant that they wished I would reconsider and leave the girls, lol. My babies will be missed. Their grades are great and they are happy kids that fit in well wherever they go, got to love them Military Brats!

I managed to get me some B time to snuggle with Boo on the couch watching preschooler shows (I literally felt my IQ dropping, wow those shows suck) and then it was off to the airport to pick up Dave.

Dave flew in to "help" with the move.

Dave probably flew in to ascertain that my sentimental ass actually leaves the state of Texas on time. I can't blame him, lol. Except, since Princess is happily tucked in at the hunting camp for her first season with Pepaw.... that is where he is headed this morning, lol. He's off to hunt till Monday with her and I'll get most of the ground work done here before we joins me for the final push. The movers get here Wednesday. Watch us get busy up in this mug!!!!!!!!!!!

So gotta scrub this house and finish laundry and drag all the boxes out of attic. Time to get this place ready for the packers cause all I'm doing is emptying the trash. My guy is a stud. And what better way to ensure I leave Texas on time than to have someone else pack my ass up. I'm just saying.

Cross your fingers and hope that the automatic oven cleaner works like a charm cause otherwise I'll spend the rest of my day inside the belly of that nasty beast. Damn Prin and her sloppy baking habits. Damn me and lack of notice till just now of the gross ass oven. Sigh.

Later peeps, I got to go buy some rubber gloves and a sonic drink. Oh and some rum for later. Cause all the rum is gone.

It's a tough job but somebody had to do it

2011-11-17T23:07:00.001-06:00

The kid had plans. The kid leaves in morning for hunting camp. Her first year hunting with her own gun.... Handed down three generations. So I sucked it up and shopped for her gear.... Cause we are Dang near the same size.... I know cause lazy butt kid wore my new levi jeans to the ballgame... Sigh.

The Shit Storm is Coming

2011-11-16T18:08:00.000-06:00

Well tomorrow is my last full day at work. I'm not ready, they are not ready. But it is whatever the hell it is. So the mover called today and generally ducked up my plans for the next two well thought out plans. OMGawd, they're gonna kill me. They are picking up my crap on the 23rd, that's next Wed right? And delivering them to Idaho home on the 26th, that is a week from Sat right? HOLY SHIT.

And why is the RUM gone? I need some rum to process this shite. So I'm gonna take a deeeeeep breath and then make a list. And another list, and yet another list. Oh sweet peas the lists that will be going on over here. Good grief.

Pray for me. I needs it badly yo.

There are some things that are just wrong!!!!

2011-11-15T17:55:00.000-06:00

So I just got a call from my bestie...... "get your ass in the bathroom...... tornado". So there starts my evening. Except we get the all clear and we're all stacked up in the dining room eatting deli roasted chicken, quick mashed tators, and coleslaw then Duchess disappears to the bathroom.

She is yelling at me from three rooms away......... she wants her book.

On the toliet.

And sitting next to her, a plate of chicken.

I took the chicken away.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww

Really child?

I don't know which proper, manner lecture this falls under but I gotta find one! Stat!

Thou Shalt Not Piss Me Off-fa-fa

2011-11-14T18:50:00.000-06:00

I am not a patient person. I'm also not a good person, a friendly person or even on a good day, a thoughtful person. I try really hard to always put things into perspective but there are things that really light my fire, to be fair I'll just give you the short list of things not to do to me:
1. put down my kids (this includes, smack talking, being rude, and etc)
2. ignore my kids (unless you don't care for us then go ahead and ignore us, makes life easier but if you are part of their life, act it)
3. talk crap about my marriage (Dave was completely right when he told me that most people look from the outside in and don't understand our life and how we do things, so what you don't understand... leave alone)
4. be malicious and spiteful (this will get you cut off and cut out of my life with a speedy ax chop, and I will sleep like a baby afterwards)
5. expect things of me when you offer nothing in return (yep, this is a big one! I'll bend over backwards for people but if you EXPECT something from me then you'll be sorely mistaken.)

I'm not a doormat. I'm also not the maid to clean up messes left by others.

That said, tonight I'm seething mad at somebody that was thoughtless and rude. I'd like to think that normally I'd turn the other cheek but right now I'm thinking of ways to curb my pissiness. Oh and I'm about to defriend me like a million people on fb too cause that ain't helping none either.

So I will not be snarky and send an ugly email.
So I will not be snarky and post an ugly "up - your- ass" post
So I will turn off computer because I'm having trouble with not being snarky.

Yep, it's time to unplug the electronics in the house until I can trust myself again.

Stupid people suck

Catch Up....

2011-11-11T22:32:00.000-06:00

Well I'm in the middle of a much needed break. Roadtripping again, but this one is just for me. I'm sitting in my Nanny's house beside the fireplace all toasty and hopped up on cough meds. Perfect combination. It's my last trip to Louisiana before our move to Idaho and it's tugging at my heart pretty hard. I know I could never live here but I do like being so close. Maybe one day in the future we'll live near enough again so I can just jump in the jeep and drive over whenever the urge hits.

But since I can't sleep yet, perfect time to play catch up. Trip down memory lane real quick to hit the high notes of the last month. Life has been pretty crazy but that is nothing new around here.

Prin has decided to get back into the piano. She is "reteaching" herself the steps from her previous lessons and once we settle in Idaho, will be ready to land another instructor. She is also angling for a drum set for Christmas. Help me!

My girl B had a birthday! Yeah B. Dave happen to be here that weekend and took us all out to dinner, kids, us, and her mom, then liquored me and B up, then paid for it all. My man has a solid heart of gold and if someone is important to me, that is all he needs to know. It's gonna be hard leaving my B, but like with my other bffs... I'm not leaving her but taking her with me. Damn I have me some seriously good core friends. They truly lift me up and I love them all. (sentimental H4G brought to you tonight by some seriously awesome shit my doc prescribed for my cough, hello!)

My girl, Prin, chilling. So if the dishes are done, the homework is done and Dancing with the Stars is not on tv.......... this is where she is found. Talking on the house phone with her bff (also, B's daughter). I'm so glad I have Vontage, I'm gonna have to keep one line for the kids and get my office a seperate line. Geez.

Since Prin is doing so good on driving, yo she mastered paralell parking last month..... sweet, Duchess got her chance to get behind the wheel. Dave is all about his girls and while he isn't home much right now, that will change once we get up to him in Idaho. I can't wait to see what mischief comes next.

Big news....... my mother was with me in jail. So long story short, I finally got around to legally changing my first name. It's been a sore spot with me for years and I have "gone by" my middle name since longer than I can remember. So to do so in the State of TEXAS (all caps, by state decree yo) you have to be fingerprinted. That was fun. At the jail, my mom got the biggest kick out of that shit. But then we went and stood before the judge and officially got my name changed. :)

Is my almost teen not the cutest dang thing you've ever seen? She has an apron fetish. Very southern proper of her.

Someone sent me this and I seriously fell out of my chair reading it. In a meeting, and then I snorted. Not so good for the professional reputation. Worse, nobody blinked. Apparently they are completely used to me and my behavior. I am seriously gonna miss my job and my coworkers. Sigh.

We had a huge company bbq recently and I found the bestest bbq sauce on earth. Seriously, order some of this shit and be in awe. I'm in love. Yummy doesn't even begin to describe the ribs that were marinated in this stuff. It's very old school so you heat it up and mix in a little Sweet Baby Rays with it and boom, love at first bite.

My Duchess. Who is not really looking like much of a baby anymore. Now if only I could get her to quite baby talking. Good lord, I have spoiled the "baby" of the family.

The man I adore and crave. If you ever wonder how on earth this guy has put up with my crazy for 15 years, here's your first clue. He has a great sense of humor and has no problem calling me on my shit. I love him and there is the fact that I want to rub up against him any time he's in the vacinity. (ummm yeah cough meds, remember)

Brought to you without makeup, my mom bought all us girls footie jammies for our Idaho trip. Mine were tinkerbell, until Princ stole them. We now wear the same size and she is taking all the good crap!

Um yeah, it's "wife porm", this is seriously the hottest damn picture I've ever seen. My stud, those arms, that gun.........yum. Damn cough meds. Could only be better with an LSU hat.

My girl Prin. We recently had a scare with her health. My kiddo is a healthy, year round softball playing, 6 pack ab carrying 12 year old. Well one with hyper thyroid too. We went in for routine stuff and her thyroid popped in the blood work. Twice. So off to a specialist we go. They have ruled out Graves but we are still looking at quarterly check ups to keep an eye on her levels. Last visit was a miracle, her levels were normal! Yah!!!!!

She was just happy not to have to give more blood, or do another ultrasound on her "butterfly thingy in my throat".

And leaving you with this...... since Prin stole mine, momma found me the perfect pair of footie jammies. Pink with black skull/cross bones on them. Yeah baby. That's so hot stuff right now!

More to come soon. Next week I finish out my last week at work and then move into hunting week at the camp with the kids. Hoping Prin gets her first deer this year!!!!!!!!!!!

Fish on the Hook

2011-11-08T21:41:00.000-06:00

I was recently reminded of a story from the "dating years". To this day, this story makes me want to smack him upside the back of his head. But for the record, when you're fishing with your guy and you've got a "thing" about touching live fish stuck on your hook......... there is actually little fish grabber thingys that you can use to hold the slippery bastards while removing the hook. That would have been nice to know before I kill the damn fish trying multiple things to do to get his ass off my hook... you know things like dragging him over rocks when I thought Dave wasn't looking, or stepping on his tail and yanking real hard (again when I hoped Dave wasn't looking), or even just whipping your damn rod around like a crazy woman in frustration before said laughing dork ( I mean Dave ) comes over with said handy tool. That poor fish hopefully has a CASTLE and a huge lazyboy chair up in Heaven cause I put his little nasty butt through hell over that whole hook thing before he gave up the ghost. I might have cried a little too over that afterwards, I felt kinda bad.

But the point of that............. well, this week I'm the damn fish. Work has it's hook in me and I'm fighting like crazy trying to get off and they are dragging my butt over the rocks. Bless their hearts. There is no replacement authorized for me till Jan. So every project, every deadline has all been moved up to be completed by me before I leave. They are totally wigging.

I feel them. I've been here before. Poor damn fish.

I'm gonna miss the hell of that place and those people.

My My My....

2011-11-06T14:12:00.000-06:00

Now this sure does make my heart sing..........

pistol annies hell on heels mp3 download

We B Moving

2011-11-02T22:49:00.000-05:00

Well it's official. I wanted to wait until it was completely official but it's now that time. Dave's promotion means less travel and less travel means more time in Idaho twiddling his thumbs at night in the apartment he shares with a coworker. The same coworker who's family lives in another state and is in the process of beginning a move as well. The same coworker who has two teenaged boys living with him. So this means that Dave pulled the card: so we b moving. I follow his lead so here we goooooooooooooo.

Idaho. Now if you know me, then I bet money I know what you're thinking. Yeah, I swore that I'd never come back to Utah after getting the hell out of crazy ville dodge BUT it's a state away. And, I've learned many lessons since then so I'm taking this self-realization, my tattoo and dyed hair, rum and coke drinking, cig smoking, Jesus loving, southern girl baptist self right on up there. And I'm gonna work it baby!

In the boonies, this new town of ours is tiny and far removed from city life and I can't wait. While on my vacation, we got a house, signed the contract (hence the sneak a peek pic on the main page), we've contracted the movers and I gave notice at work. Giving notice about damn near killed me, can I just say.

It's now an all out free for all trying to get crap to the point to where we can go.

The kids are excited. They are ready for a move and while they will miss their friends/schools they are making the steps needed to "take them with us" via phone calls, internet and etc. Not to mention, scheduling trips this summer for "play dates" lol.

It's with a very sad heart that I'm leaving my job here though. I love my work, I love the people I work with and I will spend the next two weeks busting my butt to get them ready for life after me. My boss is an oak and is bending over backwards to make sure I can squeeze in dr appts and kids' school stuff as needed while I try and get the office ready for life after me. They have my ego all swollen and puffy but I know that they'll be just fine. I just have to make sure to leave them with a big ole "SOP" on how to do things until my replacement gets authorized. Then whoever takes over after me will have a starting place. It's more than I had. I kinda feel like I'm losing a family made up of all older, crazy uncles but dang I can already tell I'm gonna get misty eyed when it's time to hand over my keys and badge. Crap!

So now that it's all out here, I can post all along the way.

So here we go.............

We survived Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T09:49:00.000-05:00

The move is in full swing, more on that soon.....but we made time for fun

Be back tomorrow, been whelmed

2011-11-01T23:25:00.001-05:00

We B Shooters

2011-10-18T21:17:00.000-05:00

So the H4G people are avid gun nuts. (Have you guessed that yet?) And this past week, we got to play with our guns in TWO different states. Cause we rock like that yo!

So let's compare Dave's gun club with mine...... Idaho verses Texas.

His club is different from anything I've seen. On the outskirts of his work town, this club is built by the NRA and takes donations only (except just opened membership for $20 a year). It's pretty basic but really cool. We didn't have a rifle with us, so it was handguns only.

And boy do I love watching the man shoot handguns.

They have steel targets set up that go "ping" and fall down when you hit them. Sweet, talk about instant gratification! I love it. While I miss the paper/cardboard people cut outs that give you ideas about your grouping, this was fun!

Especially when you realize that your eyesight is getting so bad that you have to wear your glasses to shoot. Even better when you realize that after 34 years, you're left eye dominant (this explains the switch hitting success of my softball career). So Dave experimented. He taped up my sunglasses where I can only see out of my left eye. I shot left handed for the first time and hit everything I pointed the gun at. It was pretty insane. Not sure if I'll keep shooting left handed but def need to practice more. For defensive shooting though, I grab with my right so best not to mess with it too much.

Then here he is playing with his rifle at my gun club in Texas. Better physical set-up. Expensive as hell and you have to be approved and recommended by a board member to get in (which I did, cause I work with one) but the end result is the same.

Happy shooters!

Trip info and pics coming soon! I'm home and everyone has the stomach plague. Yuck

What is this sleep thing?

2011-10-14T23:46:00.001-05:00

So interesting thing about our trip, the little hot springs area Dave found for our getaway is right next to a set of train tracks. Trains run about every 30 minutes.

That sound brings a smile to my face everytime. It reminds me of growing up at my Nannys house, right next to the tracks. How every night growing up, I laid in my bef listening to the train go through my hometown.

It's a comforting sound, which has to explain how I slept like a rock for 10 hours last night. I never sleep like that. Ever. Trains plus Dave, well its the best sleep incentive on earth for me.

I woke up starving with NO bags under my eyes for the first time in forever. I'll take it!

More from trip, part 1

2011-10-14T10:06:00.001-05:00

So far, I've seen his place here and met his coworkers. Had a great evening in a fun built for six, found a cute little town to checkout. Now traveling thru a small valley to get to next mountain, crazy but they actually live in the mountains. Not just seeing them in the distance.

Check in.... Idaho

2011-10-13T23:22:00.001-05:00

Middle of no where but beautiful country and enjoying the company. We haven't even turned on the radio! Enjoying my time with Dave. I needed this.

From the road......

2011-10-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

This blog will be brought to you via the road for the next week: I is taking a road trip. So be prepared for some Griswald stories (which is the usual for any thing that has to do with me). Hopefully my mom and the girls will be taking pics and noting their own stories of the Mom-less week that they'll be having here too!

Stay tuned for adventures into hell.

I'm Mommy

2011-10-10T22:39:00.000-05:00

My kids haven't really lost anyone close to them since they were babies. The one death in the family of someone they knew was a beloved older great-uncle who was well on in his years and did not come as a surprise. This could be a blessing that they've yet to experience this or maybe not really, as it hasn't given them the ability to really process death.

Prin came home today with a story that just broke my heart. A girl from her league team lost her mom this past weekend. The girl was the one who found her, according to the teachers who must not have realized that their 7th graders have ears. The mom had taken the girl and a friend to the beach and wasn't feeling good so went to sit out in the car for a few. The girl found her mom dead. Everyone found out when the girls dad came in today to withdraw her from school and begin her mom to where he lives.

Prin seems fine and I watched her closely all night for any kind of reaction. It was the smallest little tells but they were there. She popped up to say hi when I was in the tub, she followed me outside in the dark when I was out there taking the trash out. She should have been asleep but 20 minutes ago she came in here to "get a drink of water" and see what I was doing.

So I took her and crawled up in her bed. We snuggled and I started telling (re-telling really) stories of how funny she was as a kid. My oldest, my first born. From the age of six months to a year, Dave was deployed and I had her all to myself for those huge milestones. Crawling, talking, teething, standing and walking. And in typical Prin style not one of those incidents came about normally. She was my constant companion and we were a tight pair but boy did that kid give me a run for my money. We both laughed until we cried. And when I held her hand while she prayed, she snuggled under my chin just like she did when she was small enough for me to rock to sleep each night.

She also broke my heart cause when I kissed her forehead and leaned over to click off her bedside light, she whispered "I'm okay Mommy, I just love you". She never calls me mommy. It's been YEARS since she's done that and it instantly cracked me. I just hugged her and reminded her that I was healthy and not going anywhere.

It's moments like this that remind me that those precious little babies that we were given to grow with and raise, are still there......... still buried inside those messy, constantly eating, laundry making tweens and pre-tweens that they are today.

And I'll always be mommy when they need me.

Just like my mom is to me.

The couple that inks together......

2011-10-09T20:45:00.000-05:00

So I finished my tattoo this weekend. The Dave Dave Guy I Crave was in town thanks to some AMA training and we got him every night and all weekend. I'm completely spoiled now. :) I got the cajun tie in I wanted and the girlie flourishes to finish it off. I'm totally in love with my wrist now! Yes please! And even better, my guy went with me. I think he got a kick out of seeing me in the chair staring at the ceiling like I was getting a pedicure instead of a tattoo. For someone who is a complete wimp when it comes to pain, I actually maintain very well when getting a tattoo. Would have never put money on that one.

So I was able to intro Dave to my tattoo guy, Joe. Joe is a piece of work and frankly after interviewing damn near every place in town, he's the only one I'd let touch me with a tattoo gun. He's funny as hell and very OCD about his work. I like it. In fact, we had to go eat and shop for an extra hour before we could get started because his tools were in the steralizer still. Sure, no prob! So this was me right after before he slathered it up and wrapped it. The idiot behind me was so out of it and I'm pretty sure it was due to his frequent trips to the restroom.

The highlight of the night was when we walked in. Joe knows me by name and everyone else looked down their nose at the "prissy" girl (snort) but when Dave walked in behind me, the place froze. In his polo shirt, clean cut self appearance... he really does look like a cop. And stands like a military guy and his poker face is awesomely hawt... I digress. Joe and Dave got on like a house on fire and when he changed shirts to get his tat, everyone sighed collectively, snicker. I take it that a sleeveless shirt that showed his other tat removes the smell of cop from him. Riiiiiiight.

So Dave has been ready to get his Navy tat. He wanted to let time pass before he got it but it was always his plan. He told Joe what he wanted and boom. it was time. And I about wet my pants, that farker is MASSIVE. Joe's excuse was that Dave has massive arms hence the need for a massive tattoo on said arm but dayum baby. NASA (if there was still a real NASA, thanks OBAMA) could read that muther from outer space. It was a kick to watch him get it though cause I've never been present when he was inked.

But after giving ten years of his life to the Navy, well I guess one way to honor that is a MASSIVE FARKING TATTOO.

Now if we could stop touching each other's left arm/wrist where we have fresh ink, this would be better.

The High Road

2011-10-08T10:01:00.000-05:00

There are times when I struggle to take the high road! (Surprised much?) So when there are times/things when ten years ago I would have climbed somebody like a tree but now, I breathe and try really hard to wait until I get my anger under control before I act or speak. It's seriously the hardest thing I've ever done. I literally have to take my tongue out and wrap it around my head a couple times and stand on the tip. It can still be touch or go from there though.

But knowing that I'm the first and biggest example that my kids have and see on a daily basis, that reminds me to take the high road.

This week I took the high road and it wasn't easy.

The girls had a tournement this weekend. The first couple games were good but the last two were a diaster. Good Lord it was horrible. But we wrapped up the weekend with a fun family day and then Monday I got an email. The coaches sent an email via the team mom. A generic email to all the parents that as of that day the team was disbanded. No reasons were given and gossip was running rampid.

But regardless of the fact that they broke the hearts of a bunch of little girls and left the parents to break the news to them with no notice, my kids' first words about it when I sat her down after school that day was about the money "wasted" on all the gear and etc. That adorable kid of mine wasn't worried about her, but about taxing mom and dad. I adore this kid.

I was so angry. You do something like that to my kid and then nothing...... no explanation. They left my kid and the other kids thinking that what happen went something like this: you sucked the last day of the tournament, we had several big ole coaches meetings with the kids about how they needed to try something new training wise. Then went over each and every bad move, missed move and etc with each kid in a big ole circle. Then dissolved the team. So in my head, I'm thinking great you just told the kids that they played badly for two games and you're quitting them.

Not good form.

SO while alot of other players are looking at other teams and trying out for other teams, my kid wants to just play/practice till spring. Frankly, I think this is a great move. We'll practice with a local team that is above her age level so she can still challenge herself but we're off the tournements for awhile. We're all a little gun-shy around here now.

When sitting down and logically discussing this with her, getting her wants/wishes and thoughts on it all, she wanted to know WHY. Well since I couldn't tell her, I tried not to lie and what little I knew (not good for kiddos ears) I brushed over for my 12 year old. However, I was amazed to what this child mentally shake it off and tell me that it's cool mom, we'll take the high road.

:)

VSU - Vaginal Support Unit

2011-10-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

This is my B! B is my partner in crime and she is pretty damn cool. When I moved to Texas, I realized that due to the nomadic lifestyle that my family lives, making true friends are a rare commodity. Thusly I embraced my true longdistance military girls I've kept throughout my moves. They are my rock, my happy place! So I've been more more guarded about letting people close to me.

But B busted her way right around that wall I've built proving to me that God brings you the most amazing things even when you have been beaten down. She doesn't replace those special friends of my heart, like my Purse-shoe-loving photographer girl, my lifeline Coach boot wearing Okie turned perpetual Cali perfectly coiled and dressed girl. Nope she is the final addition to the trifecta that is H4G Team of Masterminds For World Domination.

So when my girl wanted to go and get her first tattoo (the last of us trifecta to have one), B decided in true B fashion to go big or go home. So what do you do when your girl wants to go get that bad boy done.

Well you go with her. And then you do whatever is needed.......

Like holding her hand

Remind her that after the first five minutes, you'll hit the plateau where the pain merges together and becomes almost the new normal.

Taking pictures with her phone so you can show her the progress.........

Use her phone to take stupid pictures of yourself................

What you want see is the picture of is when they went on her side and I had her in a headlock with her legs pinned between mine. I was hunched over her, helping the tattoo-ist keep her side still and in place while she had a death grip on the back of my jeans prompting a perma wedgie. Ouch.

But she got'er done baby! And I was a good VSU damnit!

(Crickets)

2011-09-28T17:17:00.000-05:00

That sound you heard about an hour ago was the sound of utter silence. And if you know me, then you probably think if I was in that silence I must have knocked myself unconcious. But alas, no. That was me sitting across from my new doctor, stunned. I'm GF for a reason. I have celiac spru disease which has no cure (yet but I'm sure they'll be using gene splitting soon right?) and I live Gluten Free out of necessity. I struggled for years trying to figure out what was constantly wrong with me, why my normal was so unlike everyone else's. After a long awkward journey, an intern sitting in on a regular doctor appointment accidently diagnosed me. It was crazy. It was completely insane but completely right. So myit family rallied around me and we jumped in with both feet. Cause it's how we roll, one for all and all that crazy mess. We turned my house into a GF zone after a couple bad attempts of removing gluten from my diet. I even use gluten free shampoo/conditioner now, so it's a pretty life changing thing. I had to change the way I ate and it was the most difficult thing I'd had to do at that point. But over the last three and half years, I've mastered the art of being GF and my normal is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay different now.

That said, since I left Utah I've only been to one new doc. She was not a good match for me. See after I had my girlie parts removal surgery (different subject) in late 09, my system went nuts. I had low everything. Pulse? Blood sugar? Blood pressure? all low. Sleep? Non-existant for months upon months. And when we first moved to Texas, she argued that even though I'd been through umpteen docs and tests and years of drama to get a diagnosis she wouldn't treat me without me seeing her specialist and starting the process over. I don't think so.

So I was gun-shy. Except, I've been having trouble with my tummy lately so I was a good girl and started asking total strangers for referrals. Someone picking up Gluten Free Bisquick at Walmart? Who's your doctor? Buying Gluten Free sandwiches at Jason's? Who's your doctor? Finally found one in my little town here, shocker. A local doc has ALOT of celiac patients and it took eight weeks to get an appointment with him.

I LOVE HIM. We sat down and went through all my medical history and wrapped it up with a candid talk about my routine and mainteance on tummy issues. He's about the most intuitive person I've ever met. He asked questions noone ever asked and I realized that he is very familiar with my lifestyle and how I live with my stomach stuff. It was an extremely joyful moment!

We worked through all my supplements, sleeping habits. He read me the riot act over my smoking then winked at me and said, there I can keep my license now. Then he encouraged me to drop a few things out of my schedule so that I can regulate the amount of stress in my life. (Sorry doc but I"m not putting off my MBA, no way). Then it was sleeping, he told me to chart my sleeping habits cause I was honest and told him that without any aids, I'd trained myself to get at least four-five hours of sleep a night. So I'm a work in progress.

But the silence, those deafening crickets.............. when we finished up and got ready to leave he simply shook his head at my file and told me "You've dodged alot of bullets healthwise young lady, yet here you are happy and healthy. You did that, not a doctor. But I'll try to help you the best I can"

I cried a little in my car over that one. I can't remember the last time someone looked at me and saw the sum of every hurdle behind the smiles and smart ass mouth. It put a little extra something in my step, because I didn't do that........God did that. He's got my back. Since I was a toddler was wasn't ever suppose to walk unassisted to this very moment, he's had my back!

Now I'm gonna go take my kids to church, cause he's got their backs too!

To Do: Or Else!

2011-09-25T12:57:00.000-05:00

get homework done today for entire week
brick up path by door
get rid of nasty ugly slimy bug thing stuck in back door
finish cleaning bathrooms
finish cleaning laundry
get floors done
help Prin get ahead of science vocab
read with Duchess

Now to get off my arse

I earned this........

2011-09-24T22:32:00.000-05:00

I'm totally gonna add a little something, something to my Sonic cup tonight. Good grief what a day. It started out great, and while completely nuts it's ending on a high note but really? DAYUM.

I actually got to sleep in. Although I went to bed late cause I was reading the Survivors Club per Dave. See he's determined that I have to read this book, to be prepared for whatever. And since I'm flying out to see him next month, it came into discussion that I'd not gotten past the proulouge. Mainly because in the prolouge it was all about surviving water safety training at a military facility by the author. Ummm, I hate deep water. I don't swim where I can't see the bottom cause JAWS is in there waiting just for me. He likes B+ blood I'm sure of this fact. So why tempt him, you know. I don't even like to swim underwater in a pool where I can see the bottom, forget putting my face in the water to swim too. I've mastered swimming fast without having to do this either. Hell, I barely wash my hair in the tub either. So yeah imagine reading that part of the book about a simulated helicopter crash UNDER WATER and having to get to the surface.

SCREW THAT. But I'm off topic here. I woke up 10 till 9 this morning before the alarm went off thanks to Dave. I had one of those nightmares where you wake up frantic, sweat soaked, gasping for air and scared shitless. I did verify that I hadn't wet myself, yah me! Because that sweet adorable stud I married booked my flights to come see him. And when I noticed the seating he chose it went something like this:

-Dude did you PICK those seats? BTW thanks for the direct flights.
>Yes
-By the potty? really?
>No, five rows from the emergency exit in the rear of the plane
-WTF?
>Safest place on plane in event of a crash. Also wear sensible shoes, they are a must to quickly escape in event of cabin fire. Didn't you read the Survivor's Club yet?
-CANCEL THE FLIGHT, I"M NOT GOING
>??????????????
-Seriously?
> Very
- OMG

So I felt obligated to read that part of the damn book. And it was pretty eyeopening. Everything it says NOT to do during airplane travel.... I do. The few times I fly. I wear cute, nonsenible shoes and then shuck them off immediately. I leave the seatbelt loose cause I hate tight shit on my tummy. I put in my ipod immediately so I don't have to talk to people. I ignore all safety briefings cause really who wants to listen to that crap. I sleep until someone pokes me to get the hell out of their way cause dumbshit, we've landed.

Apparently, I'm a 0% chance of survival in an airplane crash. And I fly very very soon. So I would not be one of the 95% of people that overall survive an actual crash or fire. Great. I'm gonna buy a lotto ticket right before I fly now too. But seriously, I stayed up late last night reading that damn book. Then had a dream about said damn book.

So my day was frantic from the start. With reason apparently, but you can bet your ass that I'll be wearing the right shoes, sitting in the right seat, studying that safety shit like I'm preping for a final when I fly soon.

We got up and quickly hit the local heaven in a hole in the wall donut shop where you can get kolaches and if you don't know what they are, I'll pray for you. The kids stuffed their faces then it was time for momma's Sonic run. We were off. Grabbing girls along the way as it was my turn to carpool, we headed to our new fav ballpark for a sat morning practice. Three hours of dirt, sweat and gossip with the moms. Love it.

I brought them home, fed them through a window and we all hit the hay for a big ole nap. Except my nap went for three hours and it was wonderful. I could write some really hawt lyrics to a good nap!

But the fun really began when I drug myself out of bed. Started by cleaning out my vehicles. I have two with me. Dave has his personal and his work truck in Idaho with him. Now I love having two of my own. When one is down or needs oil changed or what have you, I don't have to count on anyone to help me out. I'm very self-sufficient like that yo. But the jeep has been giving me grief and I have travel tournement coming. I hate packing equipment/kids/supplies in my car for a road trip so I cracked the hood, borrowed some jumper cables and had at it. No dice. Using my car, I jumped the jeep but it wouldn't keep a charge. So I struggled alot and finally got the battery out and into my car. This is where I called Dave and bragged about getting that huge monster out by myself just to have him tell me that is a really light battery. Stop raining on my parade babe!

I have Kay with me this weekend as B is working and it really feels natural to have this kid with me. It's like I have three kids instead of two. Love it. So we hit up her house for more clothes for the weekend and I need to grab a new battery for the jeep. Now my goal is to get to walmart and get what I need and get out. Right............

Wrong. I get there and my battery is under warranty. So they have to put in a super duper charger to test it for sure. It takes an hour. Well I'm a multi-tasker. So since there is no wait, I have them take my car to change the oil. And me and all the kids head into walmart where I start shopping for groceries and stuff and they start off watching fish (hear this, I will not have fish in my house again. After crying my butt off over wiki, I just can't do it again) but they could stand there and watch them for hours. So off I go. Except before I even got to the grocery section, I'd been paged three times. Turns out my break light was out. Yes, fix it. Then I got three aisles and called again. The CAR BATTERY was bad and going dead too. Could someone please look up the odds of this shit? Please........ So yes, replace it and thank you Lord it's under warranty too. So I finally get to grocery shop and doing it with an 8 year old and two tweens is rough stuff. I sound like a drill instructor........Fall in, fall in, fall in. Yes, we do formation when we pass other people cause I hate those people who let their kids block aisles and stuff. Not cool people, take control are don't bred please.

Two hours later..........yeah you read that right. TWO HOURS LATER. I had a $12 core charge only for one battery and 50% prorate on the other and a shiney car with fresh oil and a trunk full of groceries and one new waffle maker. We love waffles dude.

I got home just in time to rush inside and dive over the loveseat to catch LSU make their second score. I was a bad mom and made the kids bring in groceries so I could at least listen to my boys play. Then I whipped up some waffles!

So all in all, this day has rode me hard and put me up wet but LSU is winning, I have new batteries and a purty car. Full belly and my house is semi clean.

Life is blessed.

My tongue is tired

2011-09-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow my goal is to talk to noone at work. Cause I have spent most of today on the phone at various times with too many people at work. Then came home and talked to four of the most important people in my life (except Mae dang it, gotta call you tomorrow girl) for most of the evening. I've gotten crap done on my school but I do tend to clean house or do laundry while I chat so everything is sparkley clean! Yah! Things are moving at warp speed as usual and tomorrow is due a big ole update. Till then, I'm gonna go rest my poor talked out tongue. Nite ya'll.

Old As Shit... Is Me

2011-09-18T21:16:00.000-05:00

So my kid is in 7th grade. So my kid is almost 13. She has a Christmas birthday so California says start a year behind... I say GOD BLESS THEM. Cause I got to put this off for a year. So this weekend was my kids' first boy/girl school dance. Dave and me be old as shit.

Dave managed to sweep back into town from Idaho, just in time too. So we were able to be there for the primping, the dress up and the drop off. Then we grilled her and sweet B, my bff, who managed to sneak into said dance with her camera and keep a close eye on our kids.

Drop off. We were told to "look nice" cause hello, everyone will be there! And were they ever. Lined up outside the school, clusters of boys, gaggles of girls, all clutching their $5 cover charge and ready to go through the police and school officials on hand to do the "dress check". This town is serious about their kids yo.

So for the first time, Prin left my house in mascara and lipstick. Cause that is what Dad and I decided was appropriate for almost 13 year olds in our house. I curled her hair and lent her my jewelry and my bad ass softball player looked like quite the little girl when she left my house with B's daughter. Good Lord, it freaked me out seeing those girls all dolled up. I'm used to seeing them sweaty, covered in dirt and stained uniforms.

But here's Prin before hand. Notice the camo shirt, lol. There's my kid....

Me and my baby! Dave and I went to dinner during dance and deconstructed this picture on my phone. She has my cheeks, my forehead, my eyes and the rest is totally him.

The angels in action! Lord help us all!

For the record, I'm so freaking proud of my girl for behaving like a lady and having a good clean fun time. Mostly though I'm proud of Dave for not freaking the duck out and losing his mind over the whole ordeal. Daddy was present, front and center, walked her to the door making sure everyone saw her with her daddy and then let me gently steer him back to his truck. Bless his heart, as tough as it was for me.... it had to be killing him.

He took one look at the "finished" Prin before we left the house and reminded her that he not only bought her first diapers but wiped her butt the first time and had the pictures to prove it. LOL. Poor prin.

Apparently I AM a girl, who knew

2011-09-15T21:26:00.000-05:00

There are times that I don't really feel feminine. I think alot of it has to do with the amount of "guy" things I do for fun or do out of necessity but other than mascara, my face hasn't even seen real makeup in a long long time. (Not counting when B does my eye makeup, then I kinda feel like everyone is staring and pointing at the hooker lady with the hooker eyes, which everyone assures me looks great, hmmmm).

But yesterday at work, I was reminded that yep, I'm still very much a girl. I work in a technical field and in an office full of men. I work in a building with maybe 7 women out of almost 200 people that come through daily. In my department, I'm the ONLY female. This works out great for 99.999999999% of the time. I get the nicest bathroom all to myself and my office is the only one that smells nice. Nobody flinches when I drop an f-bomb and they tack Ms. to the front of my name cause it's a southern respect kind of thing (plus I guess I look old as hell).

However, being in a technical field, alot of equipment comes through our warehouses and since they moved a portion of the warehouse into a space that shares the main wall with our offices, we now have bugs. As in cockroaches. Those farkers are breeding like we're handing out gov cheese up in that place. AND I DON"T DO BUGS! Yeah, I am not a fan of anything buggy boo like at all. I can handle the office mouse that hangs around occassionally but hello, no bugs.

In my office I have cabinets for IT equipment and etc. There is alot of them and one in particular is my fav. An older tall filing cabinet with about 14 drawers that is perfect for chargers, cords and etc. It's the phone cabinet. And when I needed to test a handset, I just reached over and from memory pulled open the drawer and reached in.

Came out with a huge cockroach.

Oh Hell to the NO.

I screamed like somebody was trying to snatch the winning lottery ticket from my hand. There are apparently no good descriptions for the pitch of that scream either. The corporate safety guy who was camped out down across the hall in my conference room with his NOISE REDUCTION HEADPHONES ON, heard me. The HR guy from Dallas in the office next door was scared through a wall and dropped his phone. Both came running. And stared as I held this big ass MF-ing half alive, half dead THING in my hand.... still screaming.

Now the guys that I work with on a daily basis? Never moved. One kept typing away on his keyboard, another was walking by and without looking goes "blood?" and then kept going, and the last one was on his phone and goes "first aid kit? No? ok, anyway...." and continued his conversation. I'd say they know me pretty well. My boss merely banged on the adjorning wall of our offices and told me to turn down my crappy music. Nice!

So once the safety guy from Dallas grabbed said roach and calmly walked out the office with it, things went back to normal.

Except, now everytime I open a drawer or cabinet in my office........ I leave it open and LOOK VERY CAREFULLY before putting my hand in. Which wouldn't be so funny except I have caught everyone one of my coworkers doing the same damn thing in their offices too today, lol.

Orkin will be onsite tomorrow or I"m going on strike!

I do not do windows, coffee runs or cockroaches.

I'm a girl damnit.

Contents Under Pressure

2011-09-13T22:22:00.000-05:00

I'm a wee bit stressed. Who I am freaking kidding, I'm like a shaken up hot can of coke that is about three seconds from taking your hand off when it explodes! Worse part, I've just turned in my test with what I'd put money on is the best damn argument I've done in my life and nobody but my professor will ever know. Crap. So that is done and the list is still lengthy. I really tend to do my best work under pressure. Although if you know me at all, you know that I'm under pressure 99.9% of the time. There is always a long and lengthy list of things that need my attention be it my babies, their scheduling (I'm STILL behind on dental cleanings damnit) of appointments, tournaments, school functions, lessons, friend get togethers, birthday parties they need to attend, and etc. Or my school, or my work (lord not going there as there is always a long list that I never seem to get to there), or things for Dave or shit sometimes just things for me (like remembering to shave my hairy ass legs before wearing shorts out in public, nice one!). The things that irrate me the most are the stupid stuff, like forgetting to put deo on the grocery list thus necessatating yet another run to Wal-Mart which is a guaranteed $100 right there (if you can walk in and get one thing without remembering 30 others you need, very nicely pull your bottom lip over your head and shut up, cause I can't, lol). I do that constantly. Tonight I reminded myself three times that I need gas and to get a new tire asap. Yep, on the way home I kept saying to the kids over the radio, "what IS that noise" well my car not only blinks a pretty little orange symbol at you but also flashing how many miles till empty and when it's damn near dead from thirst it'll start "dinging" at you. Yep, in the morning I HAVE to stop for gas or I'll be in the morning conference call via the side of the highway. Could someone please call me at 6:50 am and remind my ass to GET GAS.

Yeah, funny thing. I have yet to figure out how to carve stress from my life. I just don't have the bandwidth to do it without something big going without and I refuse to allow that so here we be. So I'm once again forced to try and find stress releases.......... smoking still helps (dont' bother even going there peeps, I already know), zumba landed me back in my knee brace for the last week so no help there, running helps but frankly I have yet to find any time this week and when I can go late at night there's that whole leaving the kids alone while they sleep thing (AINT gonna happen) and I'm truly scared that one of these backwoods Texans coming off the swing shift sleepy will plow my ass over on the side of the road so nope. Baths help but I"m starting to look like a prune, very ashy for a white girl! Yeah, running out of suggestions. Lately I just start thanking God for every tiny little blessing I have until I forget what I was stressing about. Come to think of it, should have tried that first. So if you pass me and my lips are moving, I'm destressing, leave me be.

Ponderings from a Long Meeting

2011-09-12T20:42:00.000-05:00

So when you're required to sit in a meeting (okay, be in a meeting via conference call) during which your part was at the beginning and the very end, the middle kinda stretches out into blah...................................................................................................................................

So it was during these moments that me and a few of my counterparts in other cities were in a group IM which usually has a weekly theme. This week's theme was not picked by me, it was "lessons learned". Wow, how about some deep shit on a Monday peeps. Two weeks ago was mine and it was "ways to use the word goat in a curse word", much more creative and entertaining I think. Since it was a group of professional women, it was even funnier than it sounds. snicker. I'm a bad influence.

Except it started out serious but quickly went into "don't fry eggs naked" kind of stuff. But the serious stuff, yeah that kinda sits with you too.

Things like:

-Listen with your heart not your head- hmmm okay, true enough.
-no such thing as too late- actually yeah there is, like as in oh I don't know... too late for a wedding, too late for putting the winning lotto numbers in before the drawing. etc.
-words mean nothing if there is no action behind them- ouch....
-the early bird gets the worm- sometimes, but sometimes that only refers to garage sales and Black Friday loot

Yeah, apparently I'm Debbie Downer, lol. I was once really optimistic, crap guess that went the way of the birds huh?

Does life make you bitter? Do we lose all our optimism? Or is that just called "growing up"?

Hmmmmm, now I've purged all the serious thoughts from my head I'm gonna go eat cookies and watch Sookie try and choose between Bill and Eric.

(Dude, that girl needs to just Viking up!)

Last two weeks in review.. cause I'm lazy

2011-09-11T19:51:00.000-05:00

So as usual around here, it's been slam packed with busy! Dave came in, we had a tournament where Prin slammed her first triple and RBI-ed. Duchess got caught on cam singing (she sings all the time but it's like trying to catch a UFO on film). So yeah, the whole last two weeks condensed like some soup concentrate for your viewing pleasure, via pics. Repeat: I'm lazy and I have school work.

The sushi eater was in town. Seriously it kills me to sit across from him while he's eating raw fish but I think that is half the appeal for him. I paid extra and my shit was cooked yo! Although he did order me a pina colda and it wasn't even noon technically, I'm such a bad person, but they didn't serve Coke.

The kid wants to attend her first boy/girl dance, so she is all about helpful! Dayum you 7th grade decision makers, I'm not ready for school dances! So far it's a 2 hour ordeal and she can go per Dave, but no dress, no date and well I'm just looking for a reason to crash this thing.

It's FOOTBALL season, and I'm all pimped out in my LSU gear. Geaux tigers geaux! It's an epic event in my house, the kids and I represent on game days! Being in this far corner of Texas where I can be in La in literally 20 minutes makes it more Tiger country than Aggie country so if you are a Texas Football Fan, Bite me!

Duchess working her way through snacks at the fields. The kid brought all her zui zui pets to the game about 2 hours from home, so it was "rat" city but the other kids (not the players but the group of siblings) where in HEAVEN. She's very industrious. I'm really proud that it didn't occur to her to "rent" them out though.

So we all gathered and hit the local steak house, seatting a softball party of 33 please. Yeah, kids, parents and etc... it was madness. Hysterical madness but fun to hang with the other parents. Yeah you read that right, I was in a forced socializing situation. BA ordered a damn margarita, I shouldn't have stuck with coke, I should have joined her. Oh and the peanut fight ended in a draw.

There's my baby behind the plate. Blows my mind that the kid wound up being a catcher. I never saw that coming and neither did Billy, her other coach. But there she is, getting more and more aggressive behind the plate. Hell, this game she had the ball and literally chased a runner back to third to avoid a steal home. Go tiger go!

The coolest part is when she throws that helmet off and jams after a ball.......lol.

There's BA and her drink! Boo and Duchess at the "tiny tot only" table behind her, lol.

At one point, they ended up playing in 40 mph winds, driving sheets of rain and cold cold temp drops. Thanks to that tropical storm! I wound up taking Duch to the jeep and watched from the safety of the heater vent. Dave represented at the field side.

Kel pitching, the kid rocks and Prin covering second. These girls are trouble with a capital T together, love it!

Dave doing the no-no finger thing hanging at B's. He kicked our ass soundly in cards. The punk. Yeah honey, you're a punk.

But he's the punk that got out in the back yard and used our set up to throw balls at his catcher daughter. Who was stopping balls with her body, no glove. Dayum, that scares me but it's part of the catcher drills.

Duchess and the neighbor girl finally catching the bus without the "moms" standing watch. So I hid behind the roses and keep an eye out until she boards...........cause I'm a stalker mom.

This weekend I took Kel, Prin and Duch to the mall then dinner. I really love the time with these kids, they amuse the utter crap out of me. And they got applause after doing a line dance beside the table, lol.

Ummm after practice they were tormenting the local Wal-Mart. Sorry Mom!

Dude, Duchess sings! I fooled her into thinking I was facebooking on my phone, lol but I recorded the whole song, it's on the Vid page of this blog, lol.

I even hung my own flag. After borrowing a drill charger, drill bit and then finally his drill from my neighbor. Took forever but I got it!

I took the tweens to church too, good lord. At least my kid wore a dressy shirt, lol.

Duch still wears dresses everyday to Dave's relief. Prin is like me though, you ain't gonna jack her into a dress unless somebody is wedding or burying.

And the only pic of us from date night. I was running on 7 hours of sleep for 2.5 days at this point and this was around midnight when we stopped at walmart to grocery shop before heading home. Cause we be party animals up in this beeeach.

See I looked nice early before we left! Does anyone else have to take pics of their outfits and send to their friends for "approval" cause I leave the house looking like a hot mess if Case, M, or BA one don't voice some opinion. Somebody come take my "girl" card please.

Date Nite Recap

2011-09-09T21:36:00.000-05:00

So Dave was in for a long long weekend for Labour Day. It was great. The kids got lots of daddy time and we had some parents time, nice. I even took 1.5 days off work to guarantee that time too! So he got in just in time to see the kids in from school then off to softball practice we went. Friday we put the kids on the bus and had a whole day together! Then pick my arse up off the floor the guy had arranged for friends to watch the kids overnight and we went on a real date. As in get dressed up, had dinner, hit the country club date. It's been YEARS! I'm not sure what prompted this action but I'll take it!

We played pool, we ran into a coworker and his date, we all played pool, then we danced! He hasn't really twirled me across a dance floor and grinned at me like that in a while, it's hard to connect like that when you are surrounded by careers, kids and life huh? But it was pretty damn good. At 11, we left and giggled our way through grocery shopping at Walmart before finally getting home and crashing. It was great.

We left when they stopped playing country and started playing ICE ICE BABY, and a Richard Gere lookalike with long white hair was burning up the dance floor! OMGawd, my eyes!

True I needed an ice pack the next morning, damn bum knee I forgot to wear my brace! But it was great.

Nice to feel like I'm "dating" my husband sometimes.

Banner Day - Results

2011-09-08T20:50:00.000-05:00

Apparently my kids' school rocks. Not only did Prin turn in those tests but she already has grades. On the science work that was done last minute under the threat of a whip and duct tape: a 97. The English got extended one day and the history test a whooping 78. Her response, "well I passed but I crapped out". She told her teacher she just didn't study much and it was her fault, his response.... "duh". Love it.

Now excuse us, after a full day of work stress, softball practice and homework, we're all going to bed RIGHT NOW.

Peace.

Banner Day

2011-09-07T21:52:00.000-05:00

This day can just wank it! Seriously, I'm ready for my book (ohhh new JR Ward book is in my greedy little hands), bath and a glass of wine. Too bad it ain't gonna happen cause of the tween. She is grating my last nerve! But I wuv her..............

So tonight is a typical Wed night. I commute home jamming out to my music in traffic, grab Duch from after-school (I miss my nanny damn it), get home, throw everything down, fix a soda and review homework and paper folders (yeah cause mid week is the perfect day for papers to come home right?). Then normally, we eat quickly and if it's my turn to carpool the kids, I grab my friends kids and drop tweens off at youth and little ones at awanas then hit up errands like groceries, gassing cars, etc.

Except today, roadblocks like I'm driving in Tulsa, the city of perpetual construction! Dayum. Prin got busted taking pics with her buddies and posting them via her friends smartphone on facebook during pe (busted by her mom who is her fb friend, duh) and while that may seem trival, it's just not cool in this house where school is first and foremost about the grades little missy! Then she whips out some science work and very calmly announces that all 8 pages of questions are due tomorrow. Then after trying to fib and whine her way out of it admits that the shit was given to them Friday but she didn't want to do it on her weekend off. Ex-squeeze me? Duck that crap. She also has some english due and a history test.

Fed'em sandwiches, loaded up the car........ then promptly sent Duch back inside for her awanas shirt and book to find that she has lost her brand new never used awanas book. Ummmm no. So we trashed her room, no book. We left emptyhanded. Grabbed friends kids (I can now brag that I can buckle in a carseat in under 34 seconds) and get to church. We were only 7 minutes late, cause I have to do the speed limit when I have precious cargo.

Dropped tweens off at their building in the rear of the property, dropped Duch off at tnt class with a reminder not to talk anyone to death and parked to walk in Boo who is four and my bff. Except Boo wanted me to stay and go to cubbies with her. After finally prying Boo off my leg and running for the hall, I round the corner and promptly fall into the old off duty cop with a huge gun holstered to his leg. Awkward. Untangled self, apologized and complimented his piece (really nice custom grip!) and ran for the parking lot like the hounds of hell were on my heels. Boo is dangerous. A few tears and I'm ready to sign over my life insurance to her, it's scary.

So now we're home and after re-cleaning her room, Duch found her awanas book in a play backpack. Clothes laid out, she run through the H4G economy carwash (aka faster shower on earth) and into bed. But not before she ate half my dinner, damn shouldn't have put that sausage in my omelet.

So I'm left with Prin. Her punishment was simple: I made her post on her facebook account that she is grounded from fb for a week. Public humiliation for one? Yes please. Then I changed the password. Cause I'm smart like that yo! Then to be safe, I took her laptop. Ha! And then changed the password on my laptop, louder ha!

So I"m ready for bed needing some serious sleep yet here I sit. Watching the tween yawn and drool over the science work........ "only 2 more questions mom" yep and then there's the english babe and the history study guide. Ya Mule Ya. See, she won't be going to bed until it's all done. And she'll be getting up usual time in the morning. And after school, she has running practice with her team. So lesson will be learned the hard way, through little sleep and some serious exercise. :) Mom is always right kiddo.

I can't count the times she said tonight "I'm never doing this crap again" under her breath.

Well pumpkin, that is the point, now isn't it?

Wow, out of the mouth of my tween* kinda

2011-09-06T17:29:00.000-05:00

So Prin wrote a diamante poem today for school and I found it in her packet..... it's about me and Dave.

Mom
helpful, academic
working, caring, loving
maid, chauffer, skilled
fishing, hunting, shooting
strong, mathematical
Dad

So the top part is me? Damn I got all the sweet characteristics. Nice! Guess my kid does see me as something other than Rosie the Robot Maid.

I am totally giving her extra dessert for this one!

Dave didn't do too badly either, it's a well known fact in my house that I don't do math without a huge complicated calculator. ;)

The past two days might have done me in........

2011-09-03T23:01:00.000-05:00

I had shopping day with husband to get on top of the kids' stuff. I had a date night with husband. I had four hours of sleep before it was time to get up and drive to a tourney where we played four tough games over fourteen hours. We are finally home. Tomorrow, news and more news.......and pics and more pics. Tonight.... I'm waiting on my midnight whataburger run (without bun of course) and then I'm going to crash and sleep like the dead until it's time for the late morning service.

I have bags under my eyes bigger than my purse and that shit is saying something cause my purse is ginormous!

I'm a tasteless but happy girl

2011-09-02T13:49:00.001-05:00

So Dave Was At Home When I Pulled In Tonight

2011-09-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

Dave's in for the long labor day weekend. And finally listened to me: he didn't waste time with a boring t-shirt from god knows where he was on assignment. This time I got "babe, found a tasteless shirt for you this morning at the airport!"

I can't wait to wear this b*tch! Woot!

So we got a tropical storm brewing (hello hurricane party by B's pool!), a tournement out of town, a bbq with friends, shopping for new bras (long story, to be told later) and more.......

It's gonna be a "labor" weekend for sure!

This sums up my life....

2011-08-31T09:15:00.000-05:00

(Even though we are no longer military, it doesn't really feel any different in the civie world when your man is a road warrior)

A military wife is mostly girl. But there are times, such as when her

husband is away and she is mowing the lawn or fixing a youngster's

bike, that she begins to suspect she is also boy. She usually comes

in three sizes: petite, plump and pregnant. During the early years of

her marriage it is often hard to determine which size is her normal

one. She has babies all over the world and measures time in terms of

places as other women do in years. "It was in England that the

children had the chicken pox...In was in Texas, Paul was promoted..."

At least one of her babies was born or a transfer was accomplished

while she was alone. This causes her to suspect a secret pact between

her husband and the military providing for a man to be overseas or on

temporary duty at times such as these.A military wife is

international. She may be a Kansas farm girl, a French mademoiselle,

a Japanese doll, or a German fraulein. When discussing service

problems, they all speak the same language.She can be a great

actress. To heartbroken children at transfer time, she gives an

Academy Award performance: "New Mexico is going to be such fun! I

hear they have Indian reservations...and tarantulas...and

rattlesnakes." But her heart is breaking with theirs. She wonders if

this is worth the sacrifice. An ideal military wife has the patience

of an angel, the flexibility of putty, the wisdom of a scholar and

the stamina of a horse. If she dislikes money, it helps. She is

sentimental, carrying her memories with her in an old footlocker. One

might say she is a bigamist, sharing her husband with a demanding

entity called "duty." When duty calls, she becomes No. 2 wife. Until

she accepts this fact, her life can be miserable. She is above all a

woman who married a man who offered her the permanency of a gypsy,

the miseries of loneliness, the frustration of conformity and the

security of love. Sitting among her packing boxes with squabbling

children nearby, she is sometimes willing to chuck it all in until

she hears the firm step and cheerful voice of the lug who gave her

all this. Then she is happy to be...his military wife

Music is My Drug

2011-08-29T23:10:00.000-05:00

I have a serious music problem. I live my entire life to a soundtrack. If you're talking to me, I'm probably thinking the lyrics of a song that either goes with what you're saying or else some that relate to what I think of what you're saying.

Cause I've noticed that very few people actually say what they are thinking. You know they are pondering, you can see it cross their eyes but what comes out their mouth usually doesn't match their eyes. I think it's called a "filter", I apparently don't have one of those. Ebay?

Anyway, tonight I've rediscovered my love for Foo Fighters and stumbled across Breaking Benjamin (seriously, check out "Forget It"). Totally just wasted 15 minutes of sleep time while I'm waiting for my ipod to update with some Hinder too.

Cause heaven help me if I don't have my ipod charged and loaded tomorrow.

Shhhh.... I'm one of those that wears their hair down in their face so I can hide my earbuds. If I walk past you in Walmart and don't have my kids with me.... and I ignore you.... don't take it personal, I'm jamming out.

It's me, not you.

I blame the fact that I have very few people to actually talk to. At work, I talk at people. At home, I talk at people (kiddos) unless it's about disney channel or school gossip then we actually converse it seems (I speak tween and pre-tween, do you?) but otherwise nobody actually talks TO me. Or WITH me.

I spend way too much time with my internal monolouge. ;) I have a song for that too.

My Kid, the Red Power Ranger

2011-08-28T13:50:00.000-05:00

This morning before church we headed to the fields for some catching practice. It was early and under 80 degrees outside........HEAVEN. But her new catching gear really does make her look like the red ranger, lol. Best part, how excited she gets after a good play and "breaks it down"

I don't think I can deny that she's my kid, lol

What the tweens do...

2011-08-27T20:31:00.002-05:00

My house is dance dance everynight. It's how we stay in fighting form

#12's Got A Little Swagger

2011-08-27T00:19:00.000-05:00

We had a tourney last weekend, not too far from home. Alot closer to Cajun country than we are down here on the border in Texas. It was hot and I do mean freaking HOT. But best part about the tourney's? The team, they really have become a family. We all spend so much time together and it's just amazing to watch these girls grow each time. #12 is my Princess and the girl has gotten a little swagger in her walk. It's freaking adorable. The confidence I see in this kid just blows my mind. She's got game and she can bring it. I've waited a long time to see my kid blossom like this. The rest of the "family", worth their weight in gold. I just adore them! The moms are cool as cat shit and the support this team gets is amazing to me. Very much a blessing!

This would be my girl running home.... stealing home in fact. She went in head first with her arms stretched out in front of her body at an angle. Slid right in between the pitchers feet. The ball went wild, Prin came off that bag and the pitcher ran to cover home. She blocked home which is technically illegal but eh, Prin just went down and through. Close call but she was SAFE! My heart stopped beating for the entire play. Whew! Thank gosh for those helmets.

Up to bat.... it cracks me up. She takes the plate like she's just admiring the view. But when the ball is right, she pulls that elbow close to her chest, pops those hips and the foot digs and BOOM. My baby got her first full slam to center field on this hit. She was almost to second when the center fielder dove in the grass and caught it. We still cheered like it was a grand slam!!!!!! The kid has come so far since March when she picked up her first glove. The other times at bat during the four games, she bunt, struck-out once, hit a line drive to short stop and walked. Never a dull moment.

The girls wear in-field face masks. Makes them all look like Hannibal Lector but it protects them from the ball. These girls throw hard and fast plus they are hitting off 50 plus miles per hour pitches so to save noses, eye sockets, teeth and etc, they wear those funny masks. This pic, 5 seconds later she caught a fly ball at second and shut down a very tough inning where the #1 ranked team had already ran up 9 runs on us. She was grinning ear to ear. When she's not catching, she plays second and left field. Second usually gets the least action so it was fun to watch her play there and get that out.

In between a long stretch of games, I took some players and we went exploring in the town after a quick lunch (which consisted of getting thrown out of Wendy's when some ball players had a water fight in the restroom). It was HOT but we found water!

And of course we got some planking in........... cause who doesn't make time for that right?

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to do this but eh, they were quick about it. Smile for the camera! Tell me that the sky isn't just gorgeous! It was a perfect day for ball.

Ask Duchess who was my partner in crime the whole weekend. This is the first touney I've been to where you couldn't bring in coolers and/or snacks for the players. You had to buy everything on site. Wrong. I have never stuffed so much cold stuff in my sports bra, my chair bags, my purse, Duch's shorts, etc....... ever. We b smugglers ya'll.

We have this upcoming weekend off and we are really excited to have some down time. Labor Day weekend will see us deep in the heart of Texas though!

Obviously bored

2011-08-26T15:09:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting here bored. A pic taken for Dave led to some editing. I need a lot of editing obviously. Found a tool to erase wrinkles too. I may become the Garbo of my family... Hiding out in seclusion just releasing retouched pics from time to time as proof I'm still causing trouble and breathing.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Fun times....

2011-08-24T19:36:00.001-05:00

What u don't randomly jump and choke out your husband?

2011-08-24T10:26:00.001-05:00

testing.... attempting launch of mobile blogging, standby for stupid autotext posting

First Day for my babies

2011-08-24T10:19:00.001-05:00

Momma's Night Out

2011-08-20T22:34:00.000-05:00

So recently, I took a momma's night off. I.E. - I was H4G (oops, totally just typed my real name verses my pen name before I caught that), not the mom or the wife or the worker, nope.... I was just me. My girl, B, and me went out to a concert. I havent' done this in AGES. Seriously, I can't remember the last time. My only concession to going out was to allow B to do my eye makeup, the rest was normal for me. Except, I wore some boots in the middle of August in Texas. And unless you think like me that may seem unusual........ one boot had my smokes/lighter/id in it and the other had my ruger LCP. I literally go everywhere armed to the teeth. Momma didn't raise no fool!

So we played a little pool! We chilled in a corner booth! We hung out on the smoke deck where I got to say hey to the headliner of the concert as he strolled by. He was nice! And I love his music but haven't seen him play in about six years so it was fun.

B and me are similiar in that we are walking advertisements for 1. married so don't even talk to us and 2. we b beetches so move out of our way. This worked out into front row positions for us. That and the help of my boot to shove one drunk person out of our way when he thought to chill right in front of us. I pulled the distraction move: I started talking to the old lady next to me and then after ascertaining his location directly in front of B out of the corner of my eye, I planted my boot in the middle of his back and pushed hard, then continued my conversation without interruption. Never saw it coming, or going. But he moved his dumb ass out of her way.

See what a problem this could have been for the ENTIRE concert? Problem solved.

Headliner was great. Sang all my favs! But it was so freaking loud and I'm apparently too old for this mess, took two days before my hearing was normal again. Oh well.

I haven't stayed up that late outside my own house in quite some time but it was totally cool. I can't wait till he comes back to town! I kinda like the occassional ME time.

And to prove what a complete dork I am, does anyone else take a picture of their outfit in the bathroom mirror and then send it to their husband?

It's Official

2011-08-16T21:46:00.000-05:00

I just pressed submit on my first test. It's official, I'm an MBA student now. I'm only taking one class this term and I am so thankful that I was smart enough to do that with all the other stuff I juggle. Kinda exciting though to get all my first week's stuff done and then close that book. Whew! Now I can go do laundry, paint my toes, do the dishes, lay out clothes for tomorrow and change about 7 light bulbs that blew today. Good grief. All aboard the crazy train beeches!

Psssst: Dave turn your shite in and get some sleep. (Cause while we're in the same program, taking the same damn term, luckily I changed my teacher so we aren't having to share the same exact class. Cause that would just be awkward. :(

Peace, Love and Lizzards!

Self reminder

2011-08-16T09:01:00.000-05:00

Anger does no good. There is always a reason and some growth from every situation....... so I have to figure out what I need to learn from this.

And then have a good cry.

And a glass of wine.

I need an assistant (read: helper b*tch)

2011-08-15T23:00:00.000-05:00

There is very little down time in my day these days. So in the tub earlier I made a short list of things I HAVE to do tonight/tomorrow. And promptly came to the conclusion that I need an admin, who can preferrably cook in a pinch (GF of course), oh and will do a load of laundry when there are no towels, yeah and make quick trips to the store when there is NO toliet paper in the house, and who can multitask for example: listen to one kid practice the piano, while making dinner with the other kid AND write up some essays for my class that just started this week. Then there's the little things like take my new computer and organize my docs/pictures into new usable folders. OH and most importantly, make some kick arse playlists for my itunes cause I'm dying here with 5k songs and nothing sorted. It'd be super helpful if my sheets got washed, the clean clothes on the bench in my room miracliously got put away before they wrinkle so bad they must be re-washed. My shoes need wiping down and organized by color (not kidding, I have a shoe thing... shut up).

A really good admin who'll know me well enough to go through my Facebook and "hide" all the people who post sad, depressing or boring crap leaving me only things that'll give me a laugh, like funny thoughts, griswald-moments (my fav) and family pics. Side note: it's my goal to only put that kind of stuff on facebook from now on.

Then there is the organizing of my house, cause the clutter and frank dis-organization of this place just sucks donkey.... stuff.

Oh and someone who'll rub Murphy's belly and toss a toy around with him when I'm doing a million other things but feel guilty about not showing my boy some attention.

Basically, I'm thinking a clone would be the cheaper most efficient way to go here.

Have they successfully mastered that cloning thing?

Cause maybe'll I'll just clone Dave and walk around with a smile on my face all day.

Coon-Asses, they’re not just for breakfast anymore

2011-08-15T11:39:00.000-05:00

So Dave is heading to Canada for a week of travel soon, hence the frantic scramble to get his passport shite lined out recently. I recently "confessed" that location shirts just don't do it for me. Not even as sleep shirts. I want funky shirts...... like the one he got me when he was laid over in Amsterdam once, that beeach said "Good girls go to Heaven, Bad girls go to Amsterdam", I wore it will it was a rag. So in lieu of his usual gift when he travels somewhere new, I asked him to hunt me down a shirt in the spirit of Candian/US rivalry. Something along the lines of "I only like maple leaves in my sweet, sticky bbq sauce". Apparently they don't make those, so can some of my Canadian friends find me a good funky shirt? Or maybe I'll just make my own, although I like his suggestion too.... "Coon-Asses, they’re not just for breakfast anymore".

It's Launched!

2011-08-14T17:16:00.001-05:00

New format and blog launched. Insomnia can actually be productive! Some areas aren't online yet but I'll work on it through out the next month or so and get the new areas up and running. Till then, look around! Take your shoes off and get comfy, but if you spill anything I'm not cleaning that crap up.

H4G