The couple that inks together......

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.

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What Every Girl Needs:

Everyone should shack up in a hotel room with their man..... but since I'm a little different, I had luggage, I mean kids and luggage ;).

 Dave finished his assignment in Northern Oklahoma and was on his way home when he got a call. He needed to reroute and head to North Dakota (poor baby is gonna get freaking cold). So after we headed off to treat and play games at the church with some of Princess's friends/parents we all met up at my house to regroup for a trip to the local Haunted Barn.

 Except my phone rang. And he said, get rid of everyone and pack your bags. I got a hotel room in Dallas, be there or be square. And we ain't square in this family peeps. (okay, I'm square normally, but he really brings out the outlaw in me) So we got rid of everyone (they were so cool about it, told me to go to my man) and we packed our crap. Dropped Murphy off at the plush amazingly cool doggie daycare place on our run through Houston and headed North to THE BIG D.

 The best part of our entire trip was getting there an hour ahead of him. We had this amazing room with a parent's suite which gave us our own bedroom and the kids in their own area, HELLO mommy was so on board with that. But seriously, we dropped our bags and ran to the indoor pool. Which means Dave gets there and had to work hard to convince the sweet old man at the front desk to give him our room number and room key. Ummmm the room was in HIS name too, hysterical. Sweet old man was convinced that he was protecting me and the girls, lol. Nice to know he was trying to keep that hot studmuffin out of my room, but really. So finally instead of calling to say he was here, he burst into the poolhouse making my day. The room just lights up when he pops in smiling. Sigh.........

We watched tv, pillow fought all over the place, ate dinner together like a normal family, and just really enjoyed our 24 hours together. I got to snuggle finally and since he's used to close quarters didn't even get mad when I hogged the entire bed, woohoo.

Although in my rush out the door, I forgot my jewelry. The ever-present pearl earrings and my wedding rings. Opps. His response was at dinner when he threatened to loudly tell the hostess to seat us in the back corner since he wasn't there with his wife and he was quite known in this area of town. The turd, luckily we had kids so he couldn't majorly embarrass my arse. I might not get so lucky next time. He's gonna end up tattoo-ing those damn rings to my forehead. Although after 14 years, I'm pretty sure they are already tattoo-ed somewhere up there.....

So then he packed me into my car, and I cried all the way to the Dallas city limits sign.

I'm such a pansy.

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Bringing Sexy Back

After being married for 14 years, can I just say that I'm here to show you what sexy is.....

Murphy inspired, scottie dog jammies.

(not to be worn to Wal-Mart)

I'm bringing sexy back peeps. One set of flannel jammies at a time.....

Forget lace and see through crotchless panties, that b nasty and tasteless!

This is where it's at.

Seriously though, this is where my sweet hubby raises his eyebrows cause he's used to seeing me in mixmatch clothing out of his closet to sleep in.

Sigh, I remember when I used to have hot sleepwear...then kids started coming into my bed in the middle of the night.........Dave and I have doubled our evening wardrobe.

One day those babies are gonna go off to college and it's gonna be like dating all over again. Hmmmm, something to look forward to.

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No Way

Unpacking pictures I came across our engagement photo. Taken a long freaking time ago before Dave headed off to bootcamp. My kids freaked out, lol. I kinda did too..........

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This is Why We Watch PG TV

So I'm at the lake chilling with the inlaws and hanging out. Last night, we all sat in the tv room watching tv while the kids were in Grandma's sunroom making jewelry. My father in law is a huge fan of South Park, apparently my husband is too. I'm not old enough for this show, I've never watched this show. Ever. In this lifetime. At all.

I'll never watch it again because all day long my husband has been pinching me on the neck going "sht", i.e. the method of the Dog Whisperer teaching Cartman to behave. So the entire day he's been attempting to "retrain" me. I've never smacked him so many times in one day, ever. He's getting quite the kick out this. I'm gonna wait till he's asleep and get my revenge.

The lesson learned today? Tv is bad, and I obviously can not be "retrained".

Back later, taking my girls under the dam to go 4x4-ing. Later gators.

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I Heart Sundays

Sundays for the last three years have been about church, grocery shopping, and watching tv or yard work unless it was a day with Dave. It was the one day a week the kids and I had to catch up with our house stuff and really get things ready for the next week.

But since the almost two months since we began the next stage of our life (which we refer to as the "footloose and fancy" stage) things are a little different.

Dave works 6 days a week. He's on a set schedule. His alarm goes off at 4:00 am. Then again at 4:05 am and finally he gets up when it goes off at 4:10 am. He packs his gym bag, shower bag, and work clothes. Grabs his lunch we pack the night before and a microwaveable breakfast biscuit. Takes Murphy out then brings him back to snuggle with me. Then he's off to the gym, then off to work. He's home by 6:30 everynight to have dinner, school time, and movie time with the family. We actually get alot of time with him now, and it makes for a happy family all the way around.

But Sundays are the best. He's off every Sunday. We sleep in till 8 then we get up and get our butts in gear for church. Then the day is ours to do what we will.

Today we had the best time at church. We've been attending one branch of a big christian church family but due to the lack of kiddos in Princess' age group we drove a little extra and tried the branch down my Dave's work. Bingo. We met new peeps, the kids had a wonderful time. It was a great time had by all. Then my sweet loving peeps dropped me off at the local mall to try and get my hair updated to no avail. While I was looking into that, they went off to the gun show. Redneck much are we?

But alas, no decent place to get my hair done on a Sunday, even at the mall so boohoo. But my peeps picked me up where Dave promptly drove me to an outdoor store cause he saw something at the gun show that I apparently HAD to have. As in today, right now! Um since I got a beautiful pearl necklace and new study bible for Valentine's Day I couldn't think of anything I needed.

I was wrong. I am now the rightful owner of a sweet Ruger LCP. It is the most amazing lightweight gun for a girl. It seriously weighs about as much as my cell phone. I heart him. And now have enough ammo to stop a herd of elephants. Awww honey, that is true love.

And speaking of true love, pardon me I have to go admire my RV awning he put up to give us some rain protection and check out my brand new shiney TEXAS plates on my car!

May your day be just what you need it to be.....

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Sweet Moments

I sit here waiting on my school board site to load and I am looking across the tiny little table where Dave is sitting writing his papers too. It's been so long since we've been students together. Dueling laptops and school books yet it's the bouncing back and forth of ideas in our various subject: leadership and principles of management for me, biology and chemistry for him....not sure what he was thinking when he scheduled those two for the same semester, lol. I missed this camaraderie so much. It's totally worth all the challenges of our new house **cough, RV, cough**.

It's the differences in two people who are more alike than most couples we know too that hit home. We both love school, we both exceed no matter the cost but our study habits are so very different. Venus loves to listen to punk rock and old school ACDC blaring in her ears or she can't concentrate. Mars has to have it completely quiet and he types so dang loud as he literally pounds his ideas into the keyboard.

Yet here we sit, together.

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Signs of A Good Marriage

When your husband sends the following email out to his entire friends/family network:

Job at the FBI
The FBI had an opening for an asassin.
After all the background checks, interviews
And testing were done, there were 3 finalists;
Two men and a woman.
For the final test, the FBI agents took one of
The men to a large metal door and handed
Him a gun.
'We must know that you will follow your Instructions no matter what the circumstances. Inside the room you will find your wife sitting
In a chair .. . . Kill her!!'
The man said, 'You can't be serious. I could
Never shoot my wife.'
The agent said, 'Then you're not the right man
For this job. Take your wife and go home.'
The second man was given the same instructions.
He took the gun and went into the room. All was
Quiet for a bout 5 minutes.
The man came out with tears in his eyes, 'I tried,
But I can't kill my wife.' The agent said, 'You don't
Have what it takes. Take your wife and go home.' Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the
Same instructions, to kill her husband. She took the
Gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one
After another. They heard screaming, crashing,
Banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was
Quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the
Woman, wiping the sweat from her brow.
'This gun is loaded with blanks' she said. 'I had to
Beat him to death with the chair.' MORAL:
Women are crazy. Don't mess with them

***perhaps I shouldn't have hit "reply all" and commented that if he remembered this, he would live a long time, lol. Opps*****

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He's Coming to the Dark Side!

That hot sexy man that I have shared my life with for 12 years now is slowly but surely coming over to the dark side. Can I just say that there are fewer things in life as satisfactory than woo-ing someone over to your side of things.

Every Saturday morning (that I'm not a complete slacker and sleep till 1) we field day our house. In normal peep terms, we clean the holy crap out of it.

So after a leisure sleep in till 8, we got up and had a big breakfast. Then I sat down to make everyone's list. Then sit them out on the countertop next to the bell. Everytime the kids finish a chore, they ding and The Man or I go check it to make sure they are done. Then they check it off and move on.

So Duchess's list had some of these chores:
- clean your bedroom
- strip your sheets
- tidy your bathroom
- put shoes in everyone's closet

Princess, similar except she has recently graduated to cleaning the bathroom:
- both bathrooms
- strip your sheets
- tidy livingroom
- vacuum

The Man's list:
- wash dog
- rearrange basement in prep for inspection
- tidy garage

My intention was to clean the kitchen, sweep/mop everything, remake beds and then clean all the windows.

Instead after stepping outside and coming back in, the girls were hysterical with laughter and informed me that "Daddy made your list momma".

Huh?

This from the same man, who regularly eats (yes you read that right), eats the list whenever I dare to leave him one when it's not field day.

So I carefully ventured over and checked my "list"

Mom:
- Dry dog
- assist in rearranging the basement
- assist in tidying the garage
- clean out your nasty car

Like I said, I'm totally drawing him over to the darkside........so very tasty!

And in retailation I added just another little chore to his list......

- Service the wife

And unlike his first impression, I'm planning on making him rearrange my bedroom. Every last piece of furniture and picture.......sigh

The whims of a wife

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Sigh.....Memories

We were stationed in Texas, it was a nasty dry heat as we lived closer to the border of Mexico than I would have liked. It was the worst duty station ever, except I made some great friends, but the damn bugs, OMG, the bugs. Anywho.....being in Texas, The Man had started listening to some local Texas bands.

When two tickets floated our way, we threw our children to the neighbors and headed out.

It was fantastic. This was the best song to hear live.

However, I must tell you if you've never danced in an open air concert hall along the beach in South Texas , with sprinkling rain and a hot stud in skin tight blue jeans, a cowboy hat who benched 350 and had arms arms the size of small cannons....

Well you're just missing out.

Just one of the many memories I plan on taking with him into old age, cause you know 32 is right around the corner and I'm soooooo not fitting in those tight jeans anymore, I'm not in my 20's and I must admit that I wouldn't trade a day of the journey.

What is your favorite concert?

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Not Done Yet....

I'm exhausted, weary and about ready to beat my head on the wall but I'm still here.

What the hell ever possessed me to take accounting 2 along with pyschology?

Week 2 is over. I had two pysch papers, a 19 question set of stocks/bonds homework, a math quiz, six discussion questions and had to proof three student's papers.

Wanta know about the evolution of gender roles? Ask me. I'll email you my paper. I got 100%. Curious about the use of hindsight bias in everyday life? Ditto..... Need to know whether your current stocks were presented to you correctly (cause you can actually have a stated rate of 8% interest growth and then receive anything beneath it, did you know that?) Have a question about the difference between contributed capital and retained earnings? I'm your girl, got a 95% on that b*tch.

So the cost of the above?

Another patch of gray hair, I haven't shaved my legs in WEEKS. My children can know give you a rundown on the various brain functions (they quiz me) and I waited till today to shop for Thanksgiving.

Work is hectic but good.

So we're hosting Thanksgiving dinner (or supper for those of us from the South) for friends and my beloved mommy. We'll have a full house. The house that is currently filthy. I have to scrub bathrooms and then move outward. I did manage to pick up all the butts that scattered across my backyard when the wind caught my buttcan. Cause hello.....white trash.

(Speaking of white trash, the rednecks with the 14 broke down vehicles and dirty little nakid kids and the dog that bit Duchess, MOVED last week. Yep, in the middle of the night. Nothing left but beer cans and dog turds in that front yard. It's a beautiful thing peeps!)

Among other news I haven't made the time to share. My photo-elusive step-dad is at his hunting camp for the season. He's killed 7. His limit is 4. This is why he's my hero. If you own it, they can't force you to follow no stinking laws! Go dad go. I need some Gluten Free deer sausage! Now if only he'd hit up those cemetaries and get me some iron fencing for my yard. Sigh.

Nanny made it safely home. I miss her already. I can't wait for her next visit. Gonna take more time off and spoil her rotten.

We are deep frying our turkey this year. The Man is prepping his contraption that will accomplish this now. In the past 1.5 hours, we've made great strides on Thanksgiving supper for tomorrow.

Since I wasn't smart enough to buy a house with a double oven......we're batch cooking.

Regular not Gluten Free dressing (stuffing to you yanks) is in the oven. This is my only consection to everyone else, I'm a giver that way. The birds are marinating. The eggs are boiled and ready for deviling, cause I can devil like you wouldn't believe (the secret is bacon!) The sweet potatoes are ready and in the fridge. The GF version of CG's beloved carrot cake is in process, having already been vetted by this family earlier this week. Yum! I'm prepping the GF pie crust as well.

My slaves, I mean my kids have passed out on the couch. Good little kitchen soldiers. The Man has even cleaned the garage for the holiday occassion. OMGosh, just have to share this: the reason I think he caved and cleaned it is not because company is coming. It's because I'm incapacitated currently due to a garage accident.

So I wear high heels every workday. No exceptions. Rain? Snow? yep, even then. I'm talented like that. So the other day we rushed home after karate and peeps, I just had to get inside and run out the backdoor and hide for a smoke. It had been that kind of day. So I was herding kids and as usual, dragging my briefcase, purse, lunchbox, my coat, their coats and keys, cause The Man has this horrible habit of locking the door between the house and garage. Geez. So instead of backing in like I normally do, I nosed in and packed up like the mule that I am. Coming running around the trunk of the car, heading for the home stetch I stepped in one of the many stacks of crap along the garage wall. Landing my high heel in a plastic kids' bike helmet. My heel actually stuck in the top of it throwing me off balance and I skidded a few steps before pitching backwards. I threw everything and landed on my butt, pulling a groin muscle in the process.

Me = not happy camper....... hence my garage got cleaned today.

The only thing exciting that happened this week otherwise was Murphy eating my carpet. But that's another story, for next time. More to come.......

Happy happy Thanksgiving peeps. Count your blessings!

And forgive my purge, but I promise to make more time!!!

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He's My Man...

This is the guy I've been driving nuts for 12 years. I'm a little attached to him. Why? Cause he gets me.....while others are scratching their heads...he gets me and likes what he gets. So, in honor of that (well mostly) I did a little interview with him, but I couldn't think of smart questions cause I'm blonde this month.
But first, I wanted to touch base with my favs.......this is the "you're cute and I think I'll keep you" look, I usually get this after I've said something completely stupid or inappropriate, I do that alot.
This is the challenge look. It's the "oh yeah" look that I get when I tell him how things will be or what I "want/need" for him to do. This is usually followed up by:
The "death" stare. This is my "you're in deep crap and I'm gonna throw out your shoes" look. It's after this look that I usually allow him free access to http://www.cabelas.com/. That's a very scary site, not for the faint of heart, so don't click it if you're not brave.

But mostly, I just adore him.

Especially since I'm a complete and utter dork and he likes me anyway.

****this video was heavily edited to take out the completely inappropriate things he said but then realized that my mother, his mother and my Aunt Cindy read this blog. Opps.... *****

It doesn't hurt that he feeds my shoe fetish either. I mentioned in passing that I needed new boots. So these babies are on their way to my house via my favorite boot store. Woohoo.

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A Hunting He Will Go

on top of the mountain.......and this is why he'll never let me leave Utah.......sigh

However studly he is though....well......

I started it by asking Duchess if she wanted to see Daddy all decked out hunting deer. She mendered over and after a quick peek, she grabbed the camera and stared hard.

Then went straight over to The Man who was napping on the couch. Fresh from the woods, still smeared with weeds, anti bug spray and crap.

Daddy, why are you wearing makeup?

He sat straight up and quickly began the long process of explaining the purpose of greasepaint. Very manly, camo colored greasepaint......also worn by NFL players......blah blah blah

She listened and listened and listened.....then turned to me:

Mommy, daddy was getting his game face on....with his makeup......

She's got you babe.....

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Sweet Nothings....

I wasn't feeling hot yesterday, sneaky gluten crept into my dinner somehow the night before. But by dinner, I was feeling okay. So we headed out to run errands and decided to try Outback's GF menu.

It was actually a menu. Wow. I had three pages of choices. The wait staff was very knowledgable about GF as well.

However, when they put the bread down on the table, The Man tried to have the waitress take it back, cause I couldn't eat it.

I argued with him, that I was now GF forever, so it made more sense to get over it and for him and the kids to enjoy regular bread products when we dine out. Then I pointed out that he could take the girls to eat anywhere and I would stay at home and relax.

This pissed him off like crazy!

I kept telling him, it won't hurt you to have dinner just you and your girls, thinking that he wasn't into to going solo parent with them.

Nope.

He goes, no but it hurts me to leave you behind.

Sniff, sniff...

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Hostage......Send help and chocolate!

I'm sorry that I've neglected my two readers! hi guys! But The Man is to blame. He has kidnapped me and is holding me hostage. He's making me work like a dog.

We've decided to really kick it up a notch on our back yard. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of the process as he hid my camera. Yeah, you seriously read that right. Not only did he hide my camera several times (cause I'm sneaky and on my union approved bathroom breaks, I would find it) he also got tough military type on my lazy arse.

It started this morning, early. Yesterday he rented a tiller. I went about making a lovely (GF=Gluten Free) GF ziti dinner with a beautiful salad and banana GF bread for dessert. All the while waving from the kitchen window while The Man made the children pull weeds. He actually bought them work gloves, how very medievil of him. But after dinner, he handed me a very ugly blue pair and set my butt to work. Luckily it got dark after 15 minutes so I caught a break.

But at 7 a.m. this morning, I got a finger between my two favorite ribs and a terse, "Get moving" from Mr. Motivated. Seems he actually expected me to work. After a quick breakfast, we set out.

I was color coordinated and very cute, cause you should always garden looking your best. But I forgot sunscreen on my face so I'm beet red now. Great! Luck came calling at 11 when Princess and Duchess got invited to a play date. Sweet, I graciously offered to drive them over, (hee hee).

The Man looked at his watch and said "If you're not back here by noon, you better find someone else to buy your shoes" Oh crap, he was serious about this whole helping thing. Huh...... So I barely made it but at 11:58 a.m. I pulled back in with a big ole gas station fountain Dr. Pepper and a happy smile. That didn't last. In 102 degrees, nether did my drink. Crap........

And when I complained?

This is the look I got......The Man rarely does not give into my charm, but today was definately one of those days. Damn!
Do you know how distracting it is pulling weeds when you look over and see this? Ummm, hi! I'm Hope4Grace, could we grab a coffee, drink or tea together? Yeah, he didn't even look up. Dang his hard working self.......and it doesn't help that he is very good at tuning me out.
OMG, hey how about a freebie? Hello? Hunkie? Sweet Jesus, it's the hat and the arms.....OMG. He looked up with an evil smile too fast for my camera and drooling self to catch. Then pointed back at my pile and weeds. Then he hid the camera again...........Damn.
So once we were mostly weed free. Out came the rented Tiller. This thing was seriously bad arsed. The Man is pretty big but this thing was shaking his self around like he was a light weight sissy boy. Not an easy task at all.

30 minutes after this was taken. He broke it. Yep, you read it right. He broke the rented tiller. Go back up....see the handles.....they are solid metal right? well The Man hit a mud puddle and had to manhandle it out of there. He broke a handle off......

So I was finally sent inside to "clean up briefly" so we could take the tiller back and grab some stupid garden rakes to finish the job by hand.......OMG. Do you see what he did to me......and he was totally watching me so I was trying to be sneaky, cause I found the camera again....... Notice the sweat and the nasty hair and the red face and the cute outfit.......I had one cute black capris too with the sweetest little black sneakers......

So we pulled up to the rental place and The Man disappeared inside. I was told to stay outside and look mean. No problemo. The little sissy boy man came outside and looked at the handle and goes "No way, that is impossible......" Enter me with a pissy rant about how my yard isn't done. He went back inside. The owner comes outside and three other guys come to stand around and look at the Tiller. Yep, they just stood and looked....at The Man.......then at the tiller. I wanted to brag at that point, but I kept my mouth shut.

The owner assured us it wouldn't be charged to us since obviously the tiller was defective cause surely there is NO way someone could break metal and rip a handle off. The Man just smiled. We stopped and bought rakes.....but I got some flowers and stuff too..........sweet. The Man was feeling very generous with my sweaty self.

Then he took me to pick up our girls and go home.........to work some more.

Princess was sunburnt and went to bed, lucky ducky.........I mean poor baby. Duchess spent an hour in the tub and then read her book. Me? I got raking duty......Except......
Then I got to watch The Man bury our drains french style..........Now that it's bedtime.....There is a shower in my future and after looking at these pics again, I'm gonna go scrub that Man's back. He deserves it........Hard slave driver that he is........

I think I have a thing for him when he's all bossy and in control...........Damn.

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Puke & Rally

Today was a normal cram filled work day but since I forgot my lunch I made plans to run home to heat up a GF freezer dinner. Yep, they make those. Expensive but hey if you have to spend your kids' college fund to have some quick food in the house, so be it. When The Man and I stocked up last week, we included three such freezer dinners for just such an occassion.

Turns out, The Man and Princess had just arrived home so they pulled me out one and had it ready by the time I got there. They'd left at 330 this morning to go deer scouting in the woods some 45 minutes from our house. Fun times, glad they let me and Duchess sleep in. Snore.

Anyway, so while curled up on the couch listening to their adventures in scouting and learning to spit sunflower seeds, I ate my lunch.

It was the worst tasting crap I've ever eaten in my life.

After three bites, I mentioned to The Man that it was terrible and after eating the chicken out of it, I was gonna have a quick salad. Cause I live on salads. I wish that were a joke. No. It's not.
The Man grinned (yawning the whole time, cause he was sleep lacking) and pointed out that it wasn't chicken.

Excuse me? Not chicken? Than what the Fark is it?

The box says and I quote "Organic tofu rice bowl"

HOLY CRAP!

It shouldn't surprise you that I gagged and spit the entire contents of my mouth back into the bowl right in front of them both. Then made my way to a salad.

I turned around and The Man is chewing thoughtfully. OMG

What are you eating?

"I wanted to see if it's as bad as you said it was"

I sent him straight to bed, but I'm pretty sure he brushed his teeth first.

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Idiots......

It was said in passing.........and it wasn't personal, so I shouldn't take it personal. But dang it, when a civilian, who has never served their country other than paying taxes, comments on the military, it's usually wrong.

"At least in the Navy, you never had to worry about him not coming home alive"

WTF?

After sharing a piece of my mind, I sat down and went back to work on a project. But I kept thinking about it.

They have no clue........just because the Navy tends to be ship bound doesn't mean there aren't risks and danger involved......

I remember the night I got a call that he was chemically burned while training a young kid on some equipment. The kid messed with something he shouldn't have and The Man pushed him out of the way when it burst and took the burn. Six weeks later when he walked off that ship still wearing bandages, my heart stopped beating. Until he smiled.

There was the deployment that I got a call telling me that he volunteered for an off boat mission in an area where they were trying to peace keep and would be back in a week. A WEEK. I can't remember anything about that week, except that he finally called.

Or there's the story that still gives me nightmares. When he called me from the ship one night during a brief underway. His voice thick and low, to tell me he loved me and would always love me and kiss the babies for him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know something was wrong but I put on a happy face and coo-ed at him and sent him back to work. Then I took the phone outside and sat for hours smoking ciggie after ciggie until he called the next morning. Seems there was a problem with a piece of equipment that they lower from a man sized hole in the bottom of the ship, seems that it was stuck and water was flooding the room too fast for the pumps to pull water. Problem was, they really needed this equipment to work. So they locked (please read that again, LOCKED) my husband and one of his kids, and his LT in the room. It was either fix it or just let the room flood. So behind a locked and sealed door, they worked until the water was neck high before they finally manhandled the gear into place and the pumps could dry the room.

Over ten years, you collect those war stories up and put them away safe where you can use them to reassure yourself that yes, you've had worse times. And this too shall pass.

Military life is dangerous for everyone. Pilots are at risk, people who work on the flight deck are at risk, hell even cooks in the galley are at risk.

Broad general conclusions by idiots really piss me off.....

Pardon me, while I go put my soapbox away.

Be back this afternoon.....

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Be Still My Heart!

The Man and I have been rowing this boat together for twelve years. Seriously, by now we truly know each other. Which is why it's so easy for him to light my fire. He is the only person on this earth that can make my happy perky self go from normal to "I'm gonna set you on fire" mad in 60 seconds. So the other night when we had one of our rare disagreements, well that was fine by me. Snotty looks and self righteousness work for me. (Don't judge, I'm being honest here, I do so enjoy me some self righteous moments)

It lasted two hours and then we went to bed, barely speaking without our feet touching. I hate that, I always sleep better when our feet are snuggling in bed. I vaguely remember him getting up when his alarm went off, as we have two alarms, set an hour apart. I also vaguely remember him leaning over my side of the bed, digging me out of the covers and giving me a hug and a kiss, telling me to have a nice day.

It wasn't until I was in the shower that the vaguely hit me. I turned and looked out my shower to my vanity. There sitting on my vanity is the first picture I ever took of The Man. It was our first time ever going anywhere together. He was 19, wearing his cowboy hat and laughing over something I'd said (cause he actually thinks I'm hysterical! Who knew such a person existed?) He wasn't just laughing, his eyes were twinkling and scrunched at the corners. I love that face.

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the shower wall and the smell of his aftershave hit me upside the head. Yep, he shaved that morning and the heat from the shower made it "The Man Sauna".

Argument over......

Damn I'm getting too easy in my old age. Years ago, I could have milked it for all it was worth.

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Scouting...

As Fridays go.....this one was not the usual woohoo, let's chill in our yard and relax. Nope, The Man drew a deer in the state drawing. Which means, scouting. Since we are new to this beautiful state, he is going off word of mouth and maps. So we were out looking for deer. Do you ever go scout deer? No? You should......it's fun. Luckily my camera was in my bag, cause as soon as I pulled into the garage, he drug me kicking and screaming to the jeep for a trip. In my work clothes.....but there was Dr. Pepper on ice so I gave in. Plus he brought my book. I love this man to the very bottom of my SOUL.
About two hours into our drive, where we pulled over one for an emergency run through McD's (cause their french fries are the only thing I can eat from there and I was starving) I put my book down and noticed that Duchess had given up the effort. Napping sounded nice. Princess was behind me reading Charlotte's web.
2 hours and 14 minutes into the trip, I started asking "are we there yet", all I got was a smoke break. Sweet. But then seconds later on the road, we spotted our turn off. Off the man highway into the elements. Wow, and what elements they were......
We drove and drove and drove. Passed several Ward get togethers with RV's and such and then the road began to narrow to one lane, the overgrowth was rapid and the signs stated federal land, i.e. hunting land........I had another Dr. Pepper.
Look how utterly happy my man is. He is just tickled pink to be out there. Ahhhhh, smoke break please.

We finally got to the area where I took over driving and he began scouting. There is nothing hotter than a man in the elements, comfortable with nature and totally confident in his abilities. I'm a perve.
Spot the hunk? Anyone want to play? This is the point where I had to use zoom as he wandered a little too far from me and I was getting nervous. But you know how scouting is. The kids got out and kicked rocks, played with some rolli-pollys and avoided the fresh deer poo in the road. I just watched for recently broke out of prision people, cause that is my fear........I was armed. We always carry in the woods and such as snakes and things are frequent sights. So I was the guard on duty. I like to think I'm setting a good example for my girls. Protect yourself at any cost, do not wait on anyone to do it for you. Plus the gun matched my belt.........sweet.
We did pass some visitors along the way........ummm hi, a little far from home aren't you? Cause we were up high in the mountains at this point. I shared my Dr. Pepper and we were able to pass in peace. Duchess and Princess were dropping trail mix out the window at this point, cause they were worried that the poor thing would go hungry.
At this point, I decided it was time to turn around. I left work early on a Friday for this? Seriously, somebody needs to take better care of their beef! How rude. The Man was pleased because we'd already seen several deer at this point.
Did I mention that I was in my work clothes? Pointed toe high heels at that? Well I was....Aren't they awesome, I do love a good shoe. Oh and I was driving? Well I was 4x4-ing most of the time. The road was crap. But at one point, I'm in 3rd, 4x4-ing over this horrible ravine and The Man is in the passenger seat and he just blurts out, "this is totally why I married you!" Ahhhhh, then he goes, "wish you'd do this more often" so I slammed on the breaks and we got out and had us a "come to Jesus" over the fact that I can be classy and still a redneck. He just laughed and pushed me back inside the jeep.

We made it back out to civilization and the girls and I insisted on using a regular bathroom so we stopped at this cute little log cabin to potty and refuel........except I couldn't have anything in the store, so I had three ciggies and another Dr. Pepper.
Then we stopped at a park we found too, to work out the kinks.......except the kink took my camera and took a million pics of me.....the ones of my butt, you will never see. Thank you very much.
On the way home, we amused ourselves the best we could........The Man was in the zone. He was hungry and was determined to find a place where I could eat too.......
Duchess ignored us and played her Disney game.......between the giggles and beeps off that game, some Flogging Molly on the radio and Princess snoring, who could read?
Welcome to The Boonies........

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19 Again...

Just to let you know, this past weekend, I rocked it like a 19 year old again. And I'm still paying for it now. My hips hurt from shaking my stuff all night long. My feet hurt from jumping up and down all night long. My arms hurt from having them waving over my head all night long and The Man is sporting some seriously baggy eyes for having to keep up with my bad self, getting four hours of sleep and then going to work. Poor baby. I slept in.



We went to see Flogging Molly.



I'm in love. I already was slightly in love with two of their CD's in rotation in my car and one in the house, but now I'm ready to sign on as a groupie and drag my family from show to show if they'd let me carry bags or something.



However, that being said...........



Let's examine my very very sheltered existence first. See turns out I'm really as modest, prudish and unworldly as I thought I was. We went with another couple. They are awesome and we were having a blast. But once we pulled up to the event, we realized it wasn't going to be us and 15 other people in a little venue. Nope, they packed this place. Who knew.....especially here in the boonies of Utah. Woohoo....... But as we got out and got at the very end of line. I started worrying outloud. There were alot of stoners, punkers and skinheads in the crowd. Plus alot of older people and some normal looking people like me. For God's sake, Internet, I dressed up and wore jewelry and full on makeup. People were moving out of my way all night, like royalty had come to town.......not cause I was royalty, but probably so they didn't get any NORMAL germs on them. I was like Bigfoot, a rare sighting.



So we grabbed our tickets from will-call, once again showing what a normal adult I am. Everyone else was in the huge line to buy at the door. Hello, I saved $5 a ticket and bought online. Hmmmm. Freak that I am. Then we split into gender based lines for pat down. At that point, I really wanted to crawl back to the truck, but Cec wasn't having it. She was making me be tough. So I fluffed my hair and adjusted my cleavage, the show would go on......



Once the security guard decided I could keep my underwire but took my lighter (b*tch!) I was in. And immediately started whimpering until The Man came through the door too. People moved out of his way also, but not for the same reason. The Man was in a button down shirt and jeans with boots, but in this crowd, his wide shoulders made him a very noticeable Bigfoot.



We hit the ATM, got some sodas and found a place to stand very close to the stage when a group of people with very shiny nice bald heads started removing shirts and stuff. Hmmmmm. Strange, true there wasn't ANY air conditioning in the joint but dang, there is no need to get personal. I slapped my hair up in a pony, therefore transforming myself instantly into a 14 year old looking little girl with a fat face and waited for the opening act.



It was then we noticed the upper balcony had room to stand. Hello.....oh turns out, that is where the drinkers were. The adults were in the "club", cause in Utah you have to be a club member (hello, they get that membership fee as a tax, greedy state) to even be in a bar with "by the drink" is served. So since none of us were drinkers, we passed. Even though the view up there had to be better. Drunken neighbors were not our cup of tea. So we stayed put.

Until I noticed a very mean looking security guard guarding a doorway, hmmmm. Being the supreme nosy person that I am, I went over and made friends. Turns out, upstairs were private VIP booths with direct stage views and open windows providing breeze. Yeah, you following me here. For $25/person, we got ourselves a private booth. VIP all the way baby.

And when the opening act came on, some very strange little punk band.....lots of screaming....

This happened.....

So I never realized that mosh pits actually happened. I mean, I've heard of them but OMG. The lily livered country girl in me was beside herself, cause "Honey, there are GIRLS in there". Oh and I snuck my phone in to take pics....it was inside my bra, waaaaaaaay down so it missed the security pat down. But back to the moshing.......turns out, people actually do this. My Lord, I saw a 50 year old man in there.....Completely insane. I couldn't tell you anything about the opening band, cause I was fixated on this scene developing below me.

Are you seeing the girls in there? This was just the beginning of it too, it was still daylight outside at this point so the lighting was just barely good enough to get a pic. I was beside myself. And lovingly draping myself all over The Man cause he was smart enough to make me a VIP.

Want to know why? Cause where that lovely little mosh pit started? Is EXACTLY where we were standing. Oh hell no.....

By this point, we were sweating so badly that my make up was gone. My hair was a rats' nest and The Man shucked his button down and stuck it in his back pocket, it was white t-shirt city.

There was a little break while they set the stage for my band, woohoo....... and it was during this time that another couple came into our booth. Two women who were doing some serious grabbing and petting. We just pretended that we didn't see them until one turned and looked straight at The Man and whispered "Hello there...."

Never seen a man move that fast, he immediately picked me up (literally) and put me between him and her, "Honey, she wants to talk to you...." the idiot then stuck her lip out and pouted. I'm proud to say that all I did was get in her face and point out "Private property" and she apologized, kissed her girlfriend and left. Interesting little side note there, but funny. The Man didn't find any humor in that at all.

The crowd filled up seriously at this point, while the house lights were still on, you could see that this place was packed.....hello, lovely little VIP booth. But once the concert started, 1/2 of this place was moshing and body surfing the crowd.......OMG
This was before we started stripping off clothing due to high heat........My dang hair went flat too, sigh.........can't have it all.
Oh wait, yea you can........Hello Flogging Molly. This is seriously how close to the stage we were in our little VIP booth. Seven band members, tons of instruments and wow, the best sound ever! It was a blast.......

And if you look really really hard, down by the accordion players foot.......you might see my blue gum I accidentally spit on the stage, I was trying to whistle and it didn't work out well.....

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