Date Night

Last Friday night, The Man and I took advantage of being in the same town together; we went on a date. The girls were safe with a royal babysitter, the daughter of their after-school center director, so were we free come 6 p.m. to dine out.

We dressed up and hit this little bitty steak house with very odd named food and drinks. My "King of Hearts" was a raspberry and banana smoothie with whipped creme.......ohhhhhhhhh yes! The food was amazing, the atmosphere was soothing and dimly lit. We told funny stories, held hands over the table and shared food from each others plate. True date stuff!

Then we hit a store nearby to shop for curtains. Leisurely strolling through the aisles, laughing and being that happy couple. We saw nothing and left for a discount chain store where we found some super sales on curtains, new sheets for our bed and a blanket for Princess's bed. I spent less than $40 for all of that, God Bless America.

When the phone rang, from home. Crap. At exactly 8:34 p.m. I answered the call where Duchess announces tearfully, "I'm tired of waiting on you, COME HOME NOW."

I knew it was a mistake to give her my cell number.

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MIA: No Longer

This week has been very tiring here folks. Not to bore you, but I'm back in action, finally. Lets do a quick overview of the hell, I mean week I've had...

1.Duchess is STILL sick. Poor baby. The cough has moved to her lungs and she is hacking that dry cough days later. Now, she has graciously shared it with me, hello daytime Cold Pills! Yes! See the rosy cheeks, the askew glasses and the pigtails, those are all signs there that the child is not her normal self. Never under any circumstances will this kid wear pigtails, unless she is too sick to care what her mom does to her hair. This is on the way to the second doc visit of the week. Poor baby.
2. The Man was home briefly, then left, then came home after his flight was canceled. Then left the next morning after I took him to the airport at 4 freaking o'clock in the morning. Geez.... Then he actually left, just to get stuck at LAX for 14 hours cause his airport on the east coast was closed down. So he came home again that night, which called for yet another airport run. So tomorrow he will attempt to leave AGAIN. (I am so sick of that hour long one way drive to the freaking airport!!!)

3. Princess decided to attempt a royal mutiny for my crown yesterday, leading to all out war. She knows that it's easier to drive mom nuts when she's sick, she doesn't run that fast. However, I had things under control until The Man called from the airport....Then I gave up and handed her over.

4. The royal castle is DISGUSTING. I seriously have cleaned all day and there is no end in sight for laundry. Mental Note: Do not get sick again, ever!

5. I'm still not working yet. I come from the boonies and apparently they are still waiting for proof that I have never committed a felony crime, ever. Since I have lived in fourteen different counties they have to check with each one. So while thirteen other counties have verified my non-criminal self, my HOME county has yet to respond.

6. First paper due for new class. Oh mercy, I started at 11:00 p.m. and finished at 2:00 this morning. Then I posted it and went to bed. Got up this morning and was horrified when I read it, people....I have got to write more papers while high on cold meds and no sleep....its freaking awesome. Even The Man wanted to know who I got to write it for me....Apparently my brain works better by itself so I should just let it take over more.

A good note is that having The Man home I was able to get the following done:
1. Hang curtains in dining room
2. Get fireplace in livingroom going
3. Take four long bubble baths without interruption, oh sorry wrong list....
4. Clean out garage so kids can actually open doors when I park inside, rather than climb out windows like Duke boys
5. Get baby-ed while being sick, this is by far the best

Still aiming to get:
1. Curtains hung in livingroom
2. Den fireplace running
3. Interior of car cleaned out
4. Dinner cooked without me doing it

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Yes Please

While juggling the arrival of The Man, a sickly Duchess (Princess is back in business) and the beginning of a really tough English class, I found myself up at the butt crack of dawn to do a paper so I can spend the rest of the day staring at the hotness that is The Man.

However, after reading this, I realized that Yes Please, I'd like one of these.

I'm blessed beyond words as no sooner did I finish this, did The Man come waltzing into the office where I sit with greasy hair, mismatching pjs and stressful lines all over my forehead with my breakfast. Yes, you see he's already put Princess on the bus, bathed and dressed Duchess and made breakfast. While I work. Ahhhhhhhh......

Never mind, I like what I got.

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Plague Visits Our House

Save us from the plague! Princess got strep and has graciously shared. Duchess went down with it last night and I'm paranoid. All this just in time for The Man to come home for a visit. Oh crap!

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Interesting Thoughts

I have five very best friends.

I like to think that each represent a big part of me, there is the ultimate housewife, the go get'em and take no hostages working mom, the total support system wife/mom, the strong hearted peaceful spirit and the wearing a target cause I'm too nice one.

Each are so very different, I always wonder if they would ever be friends with each other.

I met each one through the military. They are all military wives, yet our husbands have never worked together. In five different towns I made life long friends against all odds.

These are the very people who keep me sane. They are my sounding boards, my vent when I am angry and can't tell anyone else.

However, they each love me for me, each one accepting all my faults.

We all live in different states/countries now. They are spread out from Canada to California to Florida to North Carolina to Oklahoma. Yet I know everything that is going on with them and they know all about my drama.

I wonder what makes friendship?

But cheers girls, cause you are the ones that keep me smiling, keep me sane and keep me reaching for more.

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Crap, I got tagged...

Okay, I got tagged so here are six things you probably do NOT know about me. In no special order:

1. When I graduated high school I weighed 45 lbs more than I do now. After I hit 20, I lost my "teen weight" and I have stayed within 15 lbs of my current weight since then. While preggers with Duchess, I still weighed less than in high school.

2. I am a current college student, on the presidents list. Anticipated grad date of Jun 08.

3. I am hopelessly addicted to romance novels! I hate admitting this but it's a huge part of my down time. This and This are my absolute favorites. I own them all, cause I can't just like normal romances, although I read just about anything people share with me. Oh and I re-read all of my favorites till I know them by heart, then box them up for a year before reading them yet again.

4. I am morally challenged. I can't say certain bad words without blushing and stuttering. I blame my mother for this. Also, during nude scenes in movies, I cover my eyes. Yeah, I'm a freak.

5. I am a closet music snob. I hate anything but MY music. Want to upset me? Adjust my stations or put your CD in my rotation. My current must haves: Ohhhhh this one, alot of this, and this guy oh and lately Princess has me hooked on this too.

6. I hate the thought of being predictable. When someone assumes something about me, I go out of my way to do the opposite. This is one of my worst faults, it reminds me of elementary school, do too, uh-uh, do too, uh-uh.....

Okay, now you gotta tell me at least one thing about you that I don't know.

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Because I can...

I have some explaining to do. I have gotten more calls about that beefcake picture of The Man than anything I've put on this blog yet. This isn't the classiest picture on earth but this is where that pic of him came from. This is what happens when you have a ship with ONLY guys on it and you set them to sea for six months. They work out nonstop, they compare muscles and wear crappy clothes all them time and when you break out a camera, this is what you get. Testosterone City! So the love of pete, no, I don't let The Man publicly walk around looking like that! That call just cracked me up! Love ya J!

Anywho! There will be no more beefcake pictures on this blog, unless I can get my hands on the local firemen calendar, then we'll talk.

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How The Man Came To Be....Mine

A day late, but in honor of Valentine's Day, I have to give you the story of how The Man and I hooked up, hung out and reproduced. This is my tribute to the hotness that is The Man.

Having just moved to a new state, new city and new house to go to school, I worked evenings/graveyard at the local Texaco Mart. It was a glamorous job but the quiet evenings in the predominately old people neighborhood gave me time to study for my entrance exams. One night about 9 p.m., a 1970ish pale pink BroughamCadillac pulled in to gas up. This thing is a din-o-saur! Big, beautiful and in great shape. Holy cow! This is not a normal sight, even in the blue haired neighborhood!

The guy gets out, puts his cowboy hat on (people we were in the middle of the freaking rodeo/bible belt area, is to be expected. Dare ye not laugh!) and tells his DATE to find a song on the radio while he gases us. He gased his car....then came inside to wash his hands. To do this, he had to walk in, pass the counter where I was attempting not to throw myself across (I hated men at this point) and walk back to the bathroom.

I held my composure till his back was to me, then I was literally laying on the counter, chin in hand watching those Wranglers walk on....I mean him, walk on. Little did I know that the frosted door on the beer cooler next to the bathroom was essentially a mirror. Opps. He knew I was drooling, how pathetic was I?

He left, with his DATE and then an hour later returned. ALONE. He bought some smokes and then smiled at me and left. LEFT!

Then the phone rang not too long afterwards. A really pissy guy wanted to know how much our 40 weight oil was. Well crap, I looked all over the store, when I told him we didn't have that, he asked if we had some in storage, cause he needed it. So out I go to the storage. Nope, then pissy guy starts laughing. It's pink caddie man, and no that is not his usual ride, it's his grandmas. Oh and it was years before he told me that there is no such oil.

The calls came a little more frequent as did the visits then one night, he asked if he could drop by my house the next day when I was off work. Okay, no prob. Then he left before I could tell him where I lived. So I totally DID NOT sit up all night fretting cause I wanted to see him, but refused to call him. I have never been that desperate people! Yet, I did shave my legs, cause who knows? Right.

Yet the next day, at precisely 11 am, my screen door opened and in walked The Man. I pulled a knife on him, he kissed me. Ahhhhhhhh happy bliss. Except, how did he find me? Oh yeah, seems he parked in the parking lot each night and watched me walk home. It bothered him that I didn't have a car in the lot so he "kept guard". Guard, stalker? He meant well, I think.

A year and a half later, The Man joined the Navy. Then we married as soon as he got out of bootcamp, yep, we were those people. :) But I had him before the Navy. Fast forward eleven years and here we are.

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Happy Day To Me...

Today was my day. Today I had my interview with The Man's company. Today I left the interview after two hours of four people questioning me thinking I was doomed: Why?

After a very intense interview, the big man sums it up with "So what to you think of the interview process?"

Dumb-arse me replies: "Well you gave me enough rope to hang myself....." Silence.... Then I laughed cause, well crap what else could I do...

Surprisingly they laughed to. Then told me that I would know something next week.

Ten minutes down the road I am on the phone with The Man giving all the details of how brilliant I was until I blurted out that stupid comment, when my phone beeped.

I had the job.

I have the job.

I got the job I wanted.

I'm blessed beyond words.

Oh and I rock. :) Stupid comments and all.

Here's my rope.

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Taking My Stance...

Recently Princess came home with a paper on why guns should have never been invented. Broke my heart she did. Not to mention she crippled The Man instantly with this! So last night, I took control of the situation.

As we were driving along from visiting the eye doctor, Princess pointed to something off the side of the road and said "Can we go there?"

People! There happened to be the Ultimate Hunting Mecca of ALL TIMES. A 5000 square foot store filled with guns, camo and stuffed animals of every species.

OF COURSE WE CAN! So in response to those hard core PETA people from her school who are trying to woo her over to the dark side. I say that this......

Princess shoots a mean duck people. Yes, it was only a laser gallergy but hey, $5 spent here was well spent as I got to hammer home the whole "we hunt therefore we eat thing". Does she look thrilled!

Then I proceeded to feed the girls dinner there. Yep, a single woman with two little girls ate dinner at the Hunting Mecca's Cafe. I was actually upset that the kids meals weren't named, "Armadillo Hotdogs" and such. That would really have driven my point home.

We then spent an hour looking at all the stuffed animals. While I was giving her my best, "it's okay if you shoot it and eat it but otherwise it's waste" speech.

We feed some fish, had some great family time and then washed our hands before leaving (such a chick thing to do!).

All in all, I'm feeling alot better about all of this now. :)

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The Job Sage Continues...

So another week, another day continuing my job hunt. Ahhhh, last week I tried to spare you some of the worst calls, you don't' want the bruises I have from banging my head on the wall after hanging up with some of these people. I swear, I just want a decent job. Please, decent...J-O-B!

So tomorrow I have an interview with a lady who wouldn't let me speak at all on the phone. She pulled my resume offline and called me about a job. I didn't call her! However, she kept reminding me how lucky I was to have called her. Uh-okay. I'm lucky. That's me, lucky! However, the job is for a legal department of a company I've seen on the local news lately that is having some ethics issues. Not Enron, but I thought it appropriate. :) So yeah, I left her a voicemail canceling my "lucky" interview. One down....


The sweet sweet ladies at the dear old Mink Farm called me and left me a message (do you see why I screen my calls! Except you, I always answer your call!) reminding me that the job is mine (I've said no twice now) and could I drop by (oh god no!) and see about some paperwork. Yeah, left her a message today too. Sweetly telling her no and then suggesting that we get together for walks sometimes cause she lives in my neighborhood. Crap! But I'll sleep better at night not thinking about the minks. God Bless Them!

Yet another call that I did not answer came from Bambi. Not the deer, the blond girl who thought I'd make a great addition to her company, oh just read here. However, since I have lots of blond friends, I didn't want to insult Jac...opps, somebody by posting a picture here. So enjoy the little forest creature below.

So the main point I'm getting to, slowly, very slowly. The dream job has officially entered my realm. Yes, it is there and I haven't a clue how to make this go any faster. See Tuesday I a final interview with a great company (lots of perks) for good money (woohoo) and sucky hours, yeah I hate that part. I can't really say no to these people if they meet me in the middle.

However, the dream job, well I have an inside track, being that it's the same freaking company that The Man works for. I love him, he rocks. No he isn't hiring me, but that could be interesting. He just sent my resume off to someone to sent it to HR and boom. They called. But we're stuck, cause the person doing the interviewing is out of town.

Do I wait for the possible chance to do my dream job for The Man's company? Or do I accept (if offered, who knows they may laugh in my face) the other job knowing its a good deal?

Crap, I hate this part.

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Weather, The Big Tease

The weather here has been teasing us all week. Cold, not so cold, burrr and then boom, today was actually nice. Still cold but no wind so we were able to finally venture out of the house (further than the driveway). So we went for a power walk (bike ride) down the street to the marina. I wanted to see if the ice was really hard enough to walk on. On the way there, I realized the view of the back of my house was awesome, so here you go. Sorry it's a little dark, the sun went away at the precise minute I lifted the camera.

So off we went, determined to see the frozen marina/lake area. First thing I noticed, the locals were all over the ice, playing hockey, ice fishing and even skating. Hell, their dogs were out there too. Did I? Nope cause I'm a big fat chicken, see the water had started melting at the far end and I don't trust it! Chicken, I tell you. So here are my two lovely little girls. So cute holding hands and carefully walking along. This photo is completely untouched! The background of the mountains is what we see everyday at our new home. I love it here, very big reminder that God is magnificent!

Got home and even felt productive enough to hose all the nasty snow/ice leftovers off The Man's truck so it's purty again. Besides can't have it dirtying up my driveway! Then I felt compelled to clean off the driveway, then the street immediately in front of that, then hose it all down to the drain. Anal much? I need a job, but that sage is another story another day. :)

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Just Because

So they can get along.... huh!
Can you breathe down there?

Suddenly bashful?

Yes, it's cold but you're a block from the bus stop. Walk child walk!

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I got this Mom!

Running errands with Duchess is certainly an experience. She has thoughts that she likes to ponder and ponder and ponder. Like why can't I keep a horsey in my room? Do the billy goats gruff live on our mountain?

However today she left me speechless as only my youngest can. While on our way home, once again we found ourselves staring at the back end of a John Deere something or nother.

Can't remember what I said but her response was quick, "Don't worry mom, I'll kick'em and they'll move, I'm real good at kicking people."

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Mutiny in the Air

My Princess: Big hearted, sassy, wild child that she is, she is also The Man's shadow. Since she was old enough to focus in on his gorgeous face, she was a goner. He was the sun in her sky and I was the cow, umm nourishment.

She may look more like me, but her very entrance into a world where men in The Man's family DO NOT have daughters (in like four generations) surprised and delighted everyone. The Man was thoroughly confused for the first few months on what exactly to do with her. You see, she was too young to wrestle with, she was too pretty to throw a ball at (gasp, what if he hit her face???) and well she wasn't a boy. When she was six months old, a little fat ball of slobber and cheeks, The Man left for deployment. Six months of getting pictures occasionally and listening to her utter her first word, dada, over the phone convinced him that she was the most perfect creature ever born. So before he came home, literally the night before as he called me from about two miles from the port where we would meet up the next day, he knew just what to do with her....I'll treat her the same way I would a boy. Oh and I'll dress her cute too. Problem solved.

True to his word, he wrestled with her at 18 mths old, he dressed her up for her first real photo shoot (ain't she too cute in that jersey) and when she was four he began taking her out hunting. See hunting in his family is as natural as breathing. Problem? Go hunting. Moody? Go hunting. Bored? Go hunting. This is how he survives, having time in nature, just him (and her) and his trusty gun. So when he worked on the ranch tracking animals, skinning deer and running tractors, she begged to go one weekend a month too. So she took her pink camouflaged hunting clothes (yeah he bagged nothing with her around) and learned to pee outside and be "one of the boys". It was great.

So that background being told, today at Parent-Teacher conference I was anxious about how she is settling into her new school. Princess is doing great! Grades are awesome, teacher had great things to say and he had a pile of papers she'd written. One stood out from the rest. It broke my heart and I mourned the idea of sharing the news with The Man. Poor guy.

So here is her story:

"What Should Never Have Been Invented" By Princess. I think guns should never have been invented. They are used by humans to kill animals. I love animals and I think it is wrong to turn the animal into a jacket by using it's skin.

The Man didn't take this well at all. See now we face the issue that our baby, our first born, is old enough to have opinions of her own. However, we are stanch believers in the rights of hunters and we own guns. Period. I shoot, The Man shoots and we both do it well. Princess even owns her very own BB gun. So The Man, via phone since he is gone training, attempted to delve into this somewhat.

Sigh!!!!!! Well we're letting it go for now. Going to see where this leads but I really did hear his heart breaking over the distance of the phone line.

At what point do you try to re-shape your child's' opinions? Do you even try? Or do you just let them know your thoughts on it? Yes, I own leather, no I could never work around the processing, I prefer ignorance. There is a difference to me. Call me small minded but I have my own limitations. But dang, she loved hunting and being with him out there! Or so we though.

Parenting is tough! Isn't she cute, maybe I should show her this picture again, she rides a good bull. Oh and no commenting on my appearance in this, at all! :)

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God Bless the little Minks

Another day, another interview. I'll not bother you with details except to say I will never, ever wear mink ever! A job at the local mink farm can not pay enough, ever, to compensate for their little screams, the sounds of live chickens being ground into food for them or the freaking smell from hell. So I'm believing in God that he will provide me with a good job, where I won't have to pray daily for the little minks, or listen to their screams or watch chicken trucks drive in to unload them at the chipper. Arghhhh.

So I have decided to share some of my latest pics with you. My two favorites from my back porch, the view of the mountains, the specks of fresh snow as it falls, ahhhhhhh much better than thinking about minks.

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I left the city for this...

We actually left the house today. I am really proud of that so Im gonna say it again, we left the house. Woohoo. I'm still amazed that the man moved us here, you see I'm about the coldest person you'll ever meet. I wear sweaters in the dead of summer and in winter, I'm wearing 15 extra pounds of thermals, and that was when I lived by the beach. So you can image that I'm still adjusting to moving to the Artic Circle. It's freaking cold people.

I let the car warm up for 40 minutes, by the time we got in there, it was a balmy 90 degrees, felt like Orlando on a beautiful summer day (homage to Jac there). Off to church we went, then to the grocery store and then by Sonic for a drink, get thirsty running all those errands you know. However, I had two wilted and grumpy girls in the backseat and I was gearing for home.

Now, for the record, I'm a great driver, ask my insurance agent. However, I can't stand slow drivers, so you can image my immediate hatred when I round the corner 3 miles from my house to see this in front of me.

A traffic jam in freaking no-where. So I decide to pass, wrong, the county sheriff is behind me and he don't look happy either. So along we putt, and putt and freaking farging putt.

The girls are crabby and complaining. Another problem is that Duchess gets road rage, spent alot of time in traffic with The Man over the years, so she was really ticked and vocal!

So the merry bunch and I followed this dusty bumper all the way home, all the long winding freaking way. Finally the sheriff's car did an illegal u-turn and drove off in the opposite direction. And still we followed.

I left the city for this people.

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A Girl Thing to Do

When I find a song I like, I play it till I know all the words. Then I play it until I can sing it in my sleep and then I play it more. I love music. So, when I ran across this little song.....well it's the ringer on my phone, on the ipod and in the cd player in the car. Cause I'm freakish strange like that.

However, it wasn't till I watched the video that I realized that keying someone's car is such a chick thing to do. Yeah we're really vindictive as a gender, true but dang are we really that bad?

So a girlfriend and I compiled a list of really bad things we've done....no names, don't bother guessing cause I didn't do all of these, lol. However, I did do my share. Here's what we came up with:

Things We've Done-From An Injured Woman's Perspective
1. Keyed 4 vehicles
2. Kicked a dent in one truck door
3. Cut the wires on someones radio/amp thingy
4. Called 2 woman and told them the guy had herpes
5. Tossed a guy's pager in a lake
6. Ran over 1 guys foot
7. Backed into one guy with a car while leaving in a huff (he lived, I swear)
8. 12 times spent following a guy around town
9. Told off 1 guys mom in very graphic detail about why he sucked
10. Stabbed one tire with a screwdriver, his own screwdriver at that

As best we can figure, all of this was done before the age of 20. Dang, it's making alot more sense why I love this song.

So anybody else done anything on our list? Worse? Make my day here....

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