Drama-Filled Weekend

(Past Pets Hall of Fame will be back tomorrow!!)

We had one heck of a weekend. Where to begin…

Well, Friday night the Mister had a mess night to attend. A mess night is a Marine only event that’s pretty basically an excuse for them to get together and get drunk. They punctuate the evening with ceremony and tradition, but drinking takes the main stage. I’m rolling my eyes as I type this just so ya know.

So, the girls and I decided to have a girls night of our own. We started off by buying junk food to snack on at the grocery store. Then we ordered a pizza for dinner. The oldest child and I played some Phase 10 while the youngest played on her DS. Next we decided to go for a cruise around town with the windows down, the sun roof open, and the music blaring. It was fun, lol. We returned home, played another game of Phase 10, and then sat outside for about an hour and a half watching lightening from storms that were in the area. It was awesome. I had never seen lightening like that. It was virtually nonstop for several hours. Anyway, by this time, it was about 11:30 so I sent the girls to bed and then sat on Facebook waiting for midnight when I could grab my vanity URL, lol. I’m such a nerd. I’m www.facebook.com/trishaj in case you wanted to friend me up.

Saturday, I had to drive the Mister to pick up his car at the restaurant where the mess night was. Yeah. Then we grabbed the girls to go to Jacksonville for some shopping. On the way, we went to the library to return some way overdue books. The road to the library is under construction. They’re widening it or something. Anyway, it’s a mess, narrow, and you can only go about 20-25 mph. The Mister hit a nasty bump in the road that wasn’t even marked. It was a doozy abut nothing seemed wrong so we continued on to Jax. We got home after a couple hours. We got some books at the Barnes and Noble and we got the girls new bathing suits because we planned on making our first trip to the beach this season on Sunday.

Later that evening, we decided to go to Lowes to get some gardening stuff for my tomato, broccoli, and cabbage plants. They’re being attacked by bugs. Anyway, we go to start the car and the lights flashed, then nothing. Crap. The Mister tried turning it over and nothing. The freaking battery is dead. Mind you, the Rav is only three years old so the battery should still be good. We borrowed some jumper cables from the neighbor, charged up the battery and ran it for a bit. Then, the lights started flickering again. The Mister turned it off, tried to restart it, and nothing. We’re figuring we broke the alternator hitting that bump in the road. It’s all very bad timing besides just being damned inconvenient. The Mister has to leave Wednesday for some training in Jacksonville for the summer. He needs a car and I can’t go without one for weeks at a time.

I called the warranty people this morning and if it is, in fact, the alternator, it’ll be covered under the warranty. So, I made arrangements with the Toyota dealer, called for a tow, and it’s now at the dealership getting diagnostic tests run. Our warranty is freaking awesome. It’s going to cover the repairs the towing, and a rental car if we need one.

:(

:(

Having the car broke kinda ruined Sunday so we didn’t do anything other than go to the commissary and tend to my plants.

Past Pets Hall of Fame Part Three

Next stop in the hall of fame takes us to Faline. Faline was our very first rabbit. We got her at a pet store (I know! The shame!) and they claimed she was a Netherland Dwarf. Being unfamiliar with rabbits, I took them at their word. Clearly though, she was a Dutch. We also found out later that she was a he, lol. When we moved to California, I had to give her/him to my aunt who absolutely loves rabbits so I knew that she/he went to a good home. She/he actually lived with us both in Ohio and in Florida but since I flew to California, Faline wasn’t able to come with us.

So, here’s a picture of Faline, the oldest child when she was only two, and myself at our apartment in Pensacola. This was taken in 1998.

Past Pets Hall of Fame Part Two

Next I want to tell you about Cal. Cal was the cat that we got from the Humane Society in Vermont. We originally wanted a cat because we needed a mouser. Before Vermont, we had never had mice before and we tried things like traps and poison to get rid of them but living in the country next to open fields, that stuff did absolutely no good. Plus, the ding dong mice sat on top of the traps and ate the peanut butter out of them. So, we figured a good mouser could be the solution to our mice problems.

Cal was one of the neatest cats that I had ever seen. We visited him a couple times at the shelter before finally deciding he was the cat for us.  He was already a few years old when we got him, but still playful and personable. While still very cat-like, he also liked being around us and he was fun to have.

Unfortunately, he stopped using his litter box and started using our coats, the closets, and laundry baskets to do his business in. His timing was really bad because we were getting ready to move and I, in good conscience, couldn’t move an unpredictable cat into a rental house. Had we had more time, maybe I could have figured out a way to get him to use his litter box again but that wasn’t in the cards. So, Cal went back to the Humane Society. I still feel guilty about it almost three years later so no lectures please.

I would love to have another cat someday but the Mister is pretty against it. I love cats though. They’re gorgeous and graceful and I would really love to have one. Maybe I’ll wait until the Mister  is out of the country on a deployment or something, heheheh. Just kidding.

Anyway, here’s a couple pictures of Cal the cat.

Wasn’t he just gorgeous? Oh. And Cal was an excellent mouser. He completely got rid of our mice problem.

Past Pets Hall of Fame

The Mister e-mailed me this morning asking me if I had a picture of my pet rat, Snickers. He said that a guy he works with doesn’t believe that rats can be nice. The stigma attached to rats and the stereotypes that people attach to them really annoys me. It’s definitely one of my pet (no pun intended) peeves. Rats are highly intelligent, smarter than most dogs, they have a personality, and they are good companions. I got my first rat when the Mister was in Japan. He kept me great company at night when the girls were in bed. When I lost my eyesight in my right eye for a few weeks, it was like he knew. He would sit on my shoulder and lick my right temple all the time. It was so sweet. So, I wanted to share the picture of him that I found for the Mister.

That was Snickers. Wasn’t he pretty? I really miss him. I’ve had several rats since Snickers but none of them were as great as he was. Maybe it was beginners luck, lol.

Things You Can Never Have Too Much Of

First up, we have material things. Everyone needs the everyday stuff in life. Here are the things that I think you can never have too much of:

1. Paper towels
2. Toilet paper
3. Trash bags
4. Laundry detergent
5. Towels
6. Sheets and blankets
7. Books
8. Pens
9. Nail files
10. Scratch pads
11. Tape. Scotch, duct, whatever floats your boat and sticks.
12. Dish soap and/or dishwasher detergent.
13. Chocolate
14. MP3s
15. Nail polish
16. Candles
17. Sandals

Next, we’ll take the more insubstantial things that you can’t necessarily physically touch but stuff you can’t have too much of  nonetheless:

1. Good, honest, true friends.
2. Sunshine and warm weather punctuated with a good, booming thunderstorm every once in a while.
3. Security whether it be financial or otherwise.
4. The love of a good dog and/or cat or any pet for that matter.
5. Love in general.
6. Beauty in music, art, and nature.
7. Music that moves you.
8. Hugs and kisses.
9. Good karma.
10. Good memories.
11. Having your hand held by someone that loves you.
12. Cuddles.

Wanna add to my lists? Feel free to leave a comment or start your own post. It’s Monday. Find the positives in life, lol. ;)

Day Trip to Wilmington

Saturday, we took a drive down to Wilmington, NC. It’s about a two hour drive from our house which is perfect for a Saturday outing. It’s also one of the things on our “to do” list before we move. I’ve been to Wilmington several times over the years and the Mister has been a couple times but the girls had never been.

Our first stop was a tour of the Battleship North Carolina. Both of the girls thought it was neat but Morgan was especially impressed. She enjoyed seeing how the sailors lived their daily lives on the ship. She and the Mister toured the entire ship, top to bottom while the youngest was too afraid to go below deck. I don’t know why. I explained to her that they don’t tie you up and torture you down there, but she refused to go. So, she and I toured the upper deck and enjoyed the views of the Cape Fear River. At one point, I asked her if she thought that alligators lived down there. She figured no but as we were walking around, we saw a placard that said there were indeed two alligators that live in the river near the ship. I never figured we’d actually see either of them, but as the Mister and I leaning over the railing looking in the river, I spotted what I thought was just driftwood but it moved closer toward us and then we could tell that it was an actual alligator!!! I was so excited, lol. It reminded me of the time that we saw two moose alongside the road in New Hampshire. You know they’re out there but you never expect to see one. Seeing the alligator was definitely the highlight of the day.

After that, we drove to Wilmington’s historic river front and walked along the river and did some window shopping. It was pretty muggy that day so we also did a lot of sitting and drinking water. Still, we had a fantastic time and now I can say that I’ve seen an alligator in the wild. Woot!

Here are some pictures. For those of you that are my Facebook friends, these are repeats. If you’re not my Facebook friend, you should be!!

Champagne Tastes

If you’ve ever gone shopping with me, you know that I’m not very much fun. Well, unless I’m shopping for sandals, makeup, books, sunglasses, and/or electronics. Basically, I’m no fun when it comes to shoes, purses, and clothes. There are a couple reasons behind why I suck at shopping.

I hate shopping for clothes for myself because I’m unhappy with my options. If I keep losing weight, I’ll love shopping for clothes again. Once upon a time, the Mister and I used to blow entire paychecks at the mall on clothes. This was before we were married and when we were both still thin. Nowadays, I LOVE buying clothes for my girls because they are both skinny minnies and it' is so fun dressing them in clothes that I wish I could wear.

Shoes, I hate shoes. I think all athletic shoes are ugly. Ugly. That’s it. I have no other word for it. Dress or casual shoes, I have a hard time figuring out what goes with what. I have one pair of healed slides that I love with jeans, my running shoes, and then tons of sandals. That’s it. Well, I  have one pair of black pumps that I wear to funerals. They look like old lady shoes and I hate them. Plus, they remind me of dead people so they don’t come out of my closet. Sandals I can do, other shoes I can’t. Why should it be fun for me to shop for shoes? It isn’t and I don’t recommend you go with me when I do unless you’re willing to pick them out for me. I totally wouldn’t mind that.

Purses. Shopping with me for purses is a painful experience. I know it and I admit it but surprisingly, I love, love, LOVE, purses. Why don’t I like to shop for them? Because I can’t afford what I’d really like to have:  Fendi, Prada, Gucci, D&G. You get the idea. I currently sport a Tommy Hilfiger purse and it’s the closest I’ve come to a designer label. I really like my purse and am happy with it. Still, it’s not a Louis Vuitton. When it comes to purses, I have champagne tastes on a beer budget. Even if I could afford thousand dollar plus bags, I don’t know if I would buy them. I love to drool and fawn over them though. Yup. Drool and fawn. Not on the purses of course. You shouldn’t actually drool on designer label purses. ;)

I’ve decided to indulge just a bit and I got myself a Burberry purse. After buying it, I had immediate buyer’s remorse because I’ve never spent that much money on a purse,but you only live once, right? I also got myself a membership to Bag, Borrow, or Steal. I have some Gucci sunglasses on the way. Yay! I’m very excited. I hope I don’t become one of those addicted impulse shoppers, lol. Even with a membership, it’s still a bit on the pricey side to rent from the website. It would be very easy to overindulge. I promise to try and control myself, heheh.

 

What I’m Watching

It’s been a while since I’ve done a television post so I think now would be a great time with the regular season ending and the summer one starting in a less than two weeks.

First of all, I said a sad farewell to several shows this year. I watched ER from beginning to end. I thought the finale was fabulous. Prison Break is another show I stuck with to the end. This one was tough too. It stopped being fresh after the first season and became very repetitive. Still, I needed to know how it was going to end. Much in the same way that I’ll read a book to the finish no matter how boring it is. Battlestar Galactica ended too. :( Very sad about that. I loved it beginning to end. I have all the seasons except for the last on DVD which I will be buying as soon as it comes out. I’m planning a marathon, lol.

I have a ton of shows that I’m looking forward to watching next season.

• Grey’s Anatomy
• Private Practice (What a cliffhanger!!)
• Chuck
• Bones
• The Big Bang Theory which is the funniest show since Friends and if you know me at all, you know that this is high praise.
• Two and a Half Men
• The Tudors

Summer season shows that I am really excited about are:

• The Closer
• Raising the Bar
• Gene Simmons Family Jewels (heheh)
• Psych

There are other shows that I watch that I’m not sure when they are due back on but I’m waiting on pins and needles.

• Weeds
• Dexter
• Mad Men
• Big Love
• Flipping Out
• Californication
• The United States of Tara
• My Boys (It hasn’t ended yet but I will be sad when it does and I’ll be looking forward to its next season.)

I hope that Medium does okay on CBS since NBC dropped them. Aside from some grizzly murder scenes and pictures, there really isn’t too much about this show that I would consider too risqué for my kids to watch. It doesn’t have bad language and very little sexual situations. Why can’t people get on board with shows that don’t have half dressed people in it?

There are a few other shows that I watch that are my “fillers” which means that I’ll watch them if I remember that they’re or I’ll catch them in reruns.

• American Chopper
• Deadliest Catch
• Myth Busters
• Ghost Hunters
• Little People, Big World
• J&K + 8 (You know what this one is, right? I used to be a big fan but due to recent events, it’s like watching a train wreck. I don’t know how much I’ll be watching of this season.)

If you have any shows that are not on my lists that you would like to recommend that I watch, DON”T!! I watch too much TV as it is, lol. It’s really no wonder why two DVR’s aren’t enough. 

eBay Woes

I’ve never been a big eBay person. I sold a car stereo and speakers on there once a looong time ago but I have never purchased anything before. I don’t know why. I don’t have anything against it, but it’s never really appealed to me either. Probably for the same reasons why I hate garage sales. I don’t consider people’s trash to be my treasure. Anyway, the Mister was trolling eBay for a thing for his motorcycle. He found exactly what he wanted, brand new, and for about $100 less than retail. “Wow!!”, I thought. “Maybe I have underestimated eBay all these years.” Off I went to peruse all the many eBay items. I found a delectable little item that was again, about half price retail and I went for the “Buy Out” option. As soon as I clicked accept, or whatever the final thing is, I notice that my address was wrong. It had my old address instead of my current one. I don’t remember registering for eBay but apparently I had done so at our old house. CRAP!! So I immediately sent a message to the seller asking her to ship my item to my current address and apologized for the confusion. She replied, thanking me for my prompt payment (I did the fast pay with PayPal), and said she would ship it to my current address.

Then, I get another e-mail from her saying that when she was printing my shipping label, she noticed that I have zero feedback (Um yeah. That would be because this is my first eBay purchase) and with my address change request, she didn’t feel safe mailing me my item. So she refunded my payment and asked me to resubmit with the correct address. I’m an eBay noob here, I have no idea how to re-purchase an item on eBay once the auction has already been closed. I explain this to her and tell her that I would be willing just to send her the payment through PayPal using the “goods” option which would totally switch the trust thing since doing it that way would make it easy for her to renege on the transaction. She replied saying that she has over 13,000 positive feedback and that she would never go back on an agreement and that I should correct my address, cancel the refund, and then she would ship my item. Don’t you think that changing my address would be the first thing that I did after my mistake?

I explained to her that I had, in fact, changed my address on eBay but that it had always been correct on PayPal because I use my PayPal account for business purposes and have had a PayPal account since 2000. I also replied and said that there isn’t an option to cancel the refund as far as I can tell and asked her how to do it since she is such an expert on this stuff. I didn’t say the last part but I was thinking it.

She replied and said that she can send the item to whatever address I have on either eBay or PayPal but I had told her they weren’t correct. Didn’t I already explain that they now match??? Didn’t I tell her that the eBay address was incorrect but that I had changed it so that it wouldn’t be?? ARGH!!! And she also said just to send her the money via PayPal. Didn’t I offer to do that like a thousand e-mails ago?!?!?!? 

I am so frustrated at this point that I don’t even want the damn thing anymore but I can’t go back on this because I already agreed to purchase the item. SO, I am going to send her the money using my PayPal account and hope that she sends me my item. Is eBay always like this? I realize that the original problem was my fault but she had my money because she had to freaking REFUND it to me so how was I not going to pay?!?!?! I should have just gone to a ding dang store and paid full price for what I wanted, had it in hand the moment I paid for it, and been happy with it with no worries that the store wouldn’t give it to me after they already had my ding dang money!!!

I won’t say that I will never eBay again. It surely can’t  be as bad as all this or it wouldn’t be as popular as it is. But, I will think long and consider hard before I do. This level of paranoia is hard to handle.

The Ups and Downs of the Week

As I said earlier, the Mister took some leave this week for what it was worth. He ended up having to go into work both Monday and Tuesday. Not all day, but it was still a pretty crappy arrangement and he was still charged those two days of leave even though he worked both days.

Wednesday we had to get up bright and early for an appointment for the youngest child and then on Thursday, they got out of school early.

Friday, the Mister and I took his car in for new tires, an alignment, and an oil change. We dropped it off around 10:30 in the morning and told them we’d be back to pick it up at 5. That should have given them more than enough time I should think. I called at 4:30 to see if they happened to be done early because I figured that it shouldn’t take 6 1/2 hours to do the work and they said they were doing the alignment. I asked how much longer, and they said 30-45 minutes and they would call when it was ready. I was a bit irritated at that answer. 5:30 rolls around and still no call so we decided to go ahead and drive out figuring they’d call on the way. We get there, and the car is still in their garage. Wth?!?! They didn’t get done until about 6:30. 6:30!!!!!!! They had the car for EIGHT hours. I was not a happy customer. But, I didn’t throw a fit and made them recheck my receipt about five times to make sure they didn’t charge me for anything extra which they did because they tried charging us for new valve stems and we don’t need those cuz we have an air pressure monitoring thing. Oh! And I didn’t even tell you the best part, It turns out that we have freaking Lexus tires on our Rav 4. Wanna guess how much those things cost and how hard they were to find? I won’t say how much we paid but I will tell you that Toyota was going to charge us $1200 for them. Of course, a dealership is going to be more expensive than somewhere else so we didn’t pay quite that much but it was still more than we had guessed it was going to be. We have the sport edition Rav so they have high performance tires on them. Go figure. It’s something to keep in mind the next time we’re in the market for a new car.

So, all in all, the Mister had an entirely sucky leave. The only thing that kept it from being a complete loss was that he got his bonus.

Speaking of his bonus, heheh, we did a little shopping during the week too. I already mentioned the new printer and the Wii Fit. Fun stuff. We also went out for just the regular type of shopping. The oldest child and I hit the Ulta store. It’s makeup in case  you’ve never heard of it. I was like a freaking kid in the candy store. It was all so bright, pretty, and colorful. I ended up with some Smashbox lipglosses, some pretty Opi nail polish in bright, summery colors, and some Urban Decay eye shadow.  I think I”m set in the makeup department for a while.

Then we went to Victoria’s Secret for their sale. I needed new bras and it turns out that it’s been so long since I’ve bought new bras, I had forgotten my size. All the ones I got did not fit and so I still do not have any good bras. It was a bit frustrating. The oldest child and I also got some new panties. Fun!

THEN, we went clothes shopping. I think all of us got new clothes except for the Mister. I don’t know why he didn’t get any new clothes. I think it was because he was shopping for tools and a new baseball cap when we were looking at the clothes, lol. That’s a man for ya. He did get a new Padres baseball cap but it makes his head break out in one of his rashes so he can’t wear it very much, heheh. Yes. He’s still getting rashes. Last night was the worst I’ve ever seen them. The entire left side of his back, from his shoulder to his waist, was a crisscross of welts. It was terrible. And I mean terrible. As someone who was prone to eczema as a child, I feel terrible for him.

Anyway, he went back to work yesterday at noon and is now on a 24 hour duty. Yay for him. But, he has Monday and Tuesday off for the holiday so it’s not that bad. The girls and I are going to have a Wii marathon and our traditional “Daddy has Duty Dinner” of turkey tettrazzin. We’ re looking forward to it, lol.

I hope everyone has a great extended weekend. Enjoy the unofficial start to summer. I know I will.

Close Calls

When we lived in California, we did quite a bit of flying to and from Ohio to visit family. One such unforgettable time, we were coming in to land at the airport in Columbus. We were close enough to the ground that we could see cars and stuff below us. Then all of a sudden, the plane pulled up really hard. The engines were as loud as I’ve ever heard them on a  plane and the whole thing shook with the effort. As passengers, we had no idea what was happening. I don’t recall the captain or any of the crew making announcements to explain or being worried. We were all just curious. My dad was there to pick us up and it turns out that he saw the whole thing from the ground. This must’ve been before 9/11 because he wouldn’t have been able to see from baggage claim. Anyway, he told us that they almost landed us on top of another plane. When the plane pulled up at the last second, he said that black smoke poured out of the engines. That’s how fast and how hard we went back up to avoid what could possibly have been a deadly situation. It’s hard to be traumatized by something that I didn’t see or even realize was going on at the time, but that’s probably as close to death as I’ve ever come.

Since living here in North Carolina, the Mister and I have come extremely close to being involved in very bad car accidents. The head on collision with the Mustang that I blogged about a while back (Sorry. I’m too lazy to find and link to the post.) was extremely scary. This weekend, however, was the worst. Once again, we were on route 17 on the way to Greenville. It started raining pretty good just as the forecast had predicted. Suddenly, the car two cars in front of us hit water in the road and completely spun out. Ironically, it was another Mustang. The car spun and hit two other cars, her hood flew off and landed on the opposite side of the road, and she headed straight for us. I will never in a million years forget the sight of that red sports cars spinning so fast that we lost count of how many doughnuts she turned and watching knowing that she was going to hit us and there was nowhere we could go. Then, she hit the ditch and with the rain softening the earth, she finally came to a stop deep in the mud. The driver who was maybe 18 years old, got out of her car shortly after the Mister ran up to her and her passenger to see if they were okay. I was amazed that anyone could get out of that car on their own steam. I had told the girls to stay in the car and not to look because that was how bad the accident seemed. The other cars she hit, one was totalled and the other one had some pretty good front end damage but it had landed in the ditch too and can probably be fixed. Miraculously, everyone involved was not seriously hurt. The girl was eventually taken away by ambulance because her back was sore, and while I haven’t heard anything, I’m pretty sure she’s okay. She was walking around and stuff before she realized that she was in pain. I managed to hold it together enough to tell 911 where we were. That was my first 911 call too, by the way. It rang three times before they answered and it seemed like a lifetime. I felt so bad for that girl. Her car, what was left of it, was a mangled heap and she’s probably going to end up with a few citations. The funny thing, the 911 operator asked me if we were on north or southbound 17. I don’t know directions when I’m not shaking half to death, lol. Also, the lady whose yard we all ended up in, came out of her house in her pajamas and was worried that people would notice, lol. The things people worry about.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my weekend. Well, the oldest is grounded again,but that’s hardly exciting news anymore. She spends more time grounded than ungrounded these days.

Free Movies??

I saw this online from Work at Home Mom Revolution. It sounds like a good deal  to me! There’s a  Regal Cinema pretty close to where I live so there’s a good chance there will be one close to your house too. Go to Regal’s Website to read more about the offer and to check your state for a participating movie theater.

REG Free Family Film Festival Beginning June 2009!
When school’s out, kids around the country visit selected Regal theatres for the Free Family Film Festival. It’s a fun-filled nine weeks of movies for kids and parents. Since 1991, Regal has provided this service to the community, and best of all it’s FREE!

Selected G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. First-come, first-served seating is limited to theatre capacity. The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kids to spend a weekday morning in the summer.

Tickets for our 2009 Free Family Film Festival are exclusively available at select theatres’ box office on the day of the show.

Another Random Thought Kinda Day

The Mister goes on leave tomorrow at noon. I’m really looking forward to having him home. Monday, he has an early morning thing so he’s getting up with the kids and getting them off to school. Yay!! I get to sleep in on a Monday. Woot!

Speaking of getting the kids to school…I think I need anger management therapy or I need to learn how to meditate or I just need a vacation. The carpool lane at the oldest’s school is really getting the better of me. Maybe I’ll take a video of it so you all can better understand why one of these days, I’m going to take my car and ram a bunch of other cars with it. I need a bigger car for that though. The Scion wouldn’t stand up to ramming too many cars, heheh. On a totally serious note, I need to figure out someway to keep my cool because I let perfect strangers (yes, they’re idiots, but strangers all the same) get to me way too much. But at least I’m not the only one. I had a lady get out of her car last week and come up to me to ask why people are so rude in the carpool lane. I didn’t have a good answer for her other than that they are assholes (sorry). I didn’t say that, but I was thinking it.

Also speaking of the kids…The oldest had a project she had to do for math class. She had to go on a “scavenger hunt” to find different geometric lines and shapes to see how they’re used and can be found in real life. She also had to document where she found all the different items. She chose to make a book with illustrations, clippings, and pictures of her loot. She did a decent job of it. I asked her what the other kids did and she said most of them used Power Point and turned in CD’s of their projects, lmao. Geez. She also said some of them made websites of their hunt. I guess I’m a bit stuck in the past because it never occurred to me that a digital project would be acceptable. When she told me that, I said she should have made a blog diary of her hunt. She responded by saying that blogging is my thing, not hers!! I had to laugh. She’s pretty, popular, and other than games, not interested in computers. Sometimes I really wonder if she’s my kid at all.

I received 13 work related e-mails this morning all before 8 am!! Talk about the early bird getting the worm. Who goes to work that early in the morning? Well, besides the Mister, heheh. Don’t regular, civilian-type people work 9-5? Or is that just a rumor?

The more I work, the more I love it. I have no regrets about being a stay at home  mom for 12 years. I raised my kids myself and I’m working at something that I actually like. I’m also working because I want to and not because I have to. Not many people can say any of that. I’m also meeting awesome people, most of whom are other work at home moms, Most importantly, I’m appreciated. Some days, work is the only thing that keeps me sane. It’s something positive to focus my energy on.

Oh! And I downloaded Pocket Tanks on my iPod yesterday!! I was pretty excited about finding it, lol. The Mister and I used to play it on our computers back in California but I had forgotten about it. It’s way fun even on the free version that I downloaded and a great time waster. If you want to check it out for yourself, here’s the link to their website:  http://www.blitwise.com/ptanks.html . Super DX Ball is fun too and another shareware game you can download at their website. I’ve also been playing the heck out of Kingdoms and iMobsters on my iPod too. It’s silly, I know.

I think that’s about it. I have to go and attend to those 13 e-mails. No rest for the wicked.

 

Use Your Eyes

Check this out:  Optical Illusions

Save the Drama for Your Mama!

Mother’s Day was uneventful at my house. The youngest made me a thing at school and the oldest endeavored not to be a pain. The Mister’s present to me was to take the kids to the commissary so I didn’t have to go and so I could have a couple hours alone. It was darn near perfect. I got exactly what I wanted, heheh.I also managed to talk to my mom, stepmom, and sister on the phone and I texted with my brother on Sunday as well. Talk about a banner freaking day. I hadn’t talked with my brother in any form in months. It had been so long that he had a different phone number. My mom was enjoying the last day of her Disney vacation. My poor stepmom was at work but seemed to be in a good mood overall. My sister found out that her offer on a house had been accepted so she’s soon going to be a first time homeowner. Honestly though, I think I had the best Mother’s Day of all. ;)

Oh. And the youngest spilled a Coke all over my wireless keyboard. I was sure it was ruined because every other keyboard that I’ve spilled soda on (it happens way more often than it should), the keys stuck so I couldn’t type and I figured a wireless keyboard would have more components to ruin. I was wrong. I’m typing on it now and the keys don’t stick at all. It’s a MIRACLE!! Either that or the soda just hasn’t dried yet but I remain hopeful that I won’t have to buy yet another keyboard.

Uh, umm, hmm…

I couldn’t resist taking a break from work to post about this article that I just read on Guila’s website. If you’ll remember, I mentioned Guila Muir in an earlier post because I was doing some work for a couple months ago. Well, now I’m helping her get her new website and blog up and running live and while I was working, I saw this article about disfluencies that I thought some of you might find interesting. Umm’ing and uh’ing actually help people to remember what you say!! In Guila’s opinion, however, public speakers should still strive to remove these disfluencies  (I like that word, heheh.) from their speech because people still find them a bit distracting. I tend to agree with Guila, and not just because she’s paying me, lol, but because in my unprofessional opinion, um’s and uh’s make you sound nervous and unsure about your subject. I hear myself doing it and cringe every time knowing I sound like a dunce. Anyway, below is the article and I will link to it once Guila’s new website is live.

Presentation Skills: Can Dreaded “Ers” and “Ums” Actually be Positive ? by Guila Muir of Guila Muir and Associates

A recent study at Stirling and Edinburgh Universities (U.K.) found that the use of “ers” and “ums” in speech boosted listeners’ retention. These speech boo-boos, called “disfluencies,” actually helped people remember what had been said.

Here’s how it worked: Volunteers listened to a series of sentences, some including verbal blunders and some not. When tested, volunteers remembered more of the sentences with the disfluencies (62% vs. 55%), a statistically significant difference.

What’s going on? Researchers guess that speech disfluencies force the brain to pay attention. Dr Martin Corley, of Edinburgh University, says “It’s like we are saying to ourselves, ‘I’d better pay attention now, because what I thought was going to happen isn’t going to happen!’ ”

Even with this surprising news, most presenters want to clean their speech of disfluencies. And as listeners, we all know how distracting constant “ers” and “ums” can be!

On Being Laid Up

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday some other stuff that has been keeping life less than sane.

My dad had surgery last week on his leg. He had blockages in his leg which were keeping the blood from reaching his foot which caused major pain. He had the same thing in his other leg and had a successful operation on that one too. He’s home and resting comfortably. From what he’s told me, this second surgery was easier than the first. Still, it’s hard not being there with him through this.

The Mister escaped the stomach flu that the girls and I had but instead he has these strange, itchy rashes. It’s really the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. He’ll get them randomly on his face, legs, hands, chest, back, wherever. Sometimes they looks like rash-y bumps, sometimes they look live massive hives, sometimes like scratches or welts. And they come and go in a matter of minutes. They’re driving him insane as  you can probably imagine. He tried going to medical (which should tell you how bad they are. He hates going to medical for anything and won’t go until his miserable.) but they were absolutely no help whatsoever other than to recommend Cortisone cream. He’s also been taking Benadryl but since it makes him drowsy, he can only take it at night. We’re at a loss as to what to do. The doctors said they might be stressed related but they happen at all times of the day and night no matter what he’s doing or where he’s at. Besides, if they were stressed related, he would have been covered in them back in Vermont. If anyone has any insights, your comment would be loved and welcomed.

Lastly, how about that swine flu? We have 7 cases (at last count) here in NC the majority of which are in the county I live in, go figure. One of the elementary schools in the area was closed because of it but since the CDC said that’s unnecessary, it’s opening back up tomorrow. I’m not really a paranoid sick person so I don’t think about it too much.

Constantly Playing Catch Up

I have no routine or pattern to my days anymore. I’m not OCD, at least I don’t think so, but I need structure. I’m like a child that way, lol. Here’s what’s been going on and why I’m in and out so much.

First of all, the Mister reenlisted for another four years of the Marine Corps. So much debate, so much back and forth, so many headaches. Only time will tell if it’s the right decision or not but either way, I’m glad it’s done. I’m watching my bank account like a hawk waiting for the bonus to be deposited because yes, we’re greedy and we have a poor attitude  and there would have been NO, and I mean no, reenlistment without it. That’s all I want to say on this subject.

Secondly, the Mister and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on Sunday. To say we celebrated is a bit of an exaggeration but we did manage to  fit in dinner out with the girls after shopping at the commissary. We’re wild and crazy.

Next, work has been all over the place for me. I’ve had two repeat customers asking me to do more work for them this past week and another client that was supposed to have given me work clear back in October but couldn’t because of the economy offer me some hours. I dropped a client who was insane (just my opinion but I think they were just a bit.) and I’m continuing work with the two clients that I consider to be my main client base. They’re long term and I love them both. LOVE! I’ve been working for almost a year now and have discovered that what I do is very much a roller coaster. Some months I have five clients, some only two Some weeks I have multiple projects and many hours of work and some I only have one project and just a few hours of work. Good thing that I can go with the flow.

We’ve also been dealing with the youngest and her “issues”. I think I’ve said in the past how she’s been diagnosed with ADHD. Well, we’ve been getting her tested and reevaluated with a different pediatrician, psychologist, speech pathologist, and a brand new developmental pediatrician. My life has been a whirlwind of doctor’s visits, filling out patient history forms that are more like novellas, tracking down old patient records, and trying to get everything scheduled so that as little school as possible is missed. Today was insane as I had to pick both kids up early from school in the pouring freaking rain because of a scheduling snafu. And NONE of these doctors are in the town we live in. The closest is 25 miles away and the furthest is about 55 miles away.  It sucks but theses are the sacrifices that you make for your children. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find someone who can give us a definitive diagnosis and that can offer real help because through three states, four psychologists, and so many pediatricians that I’ve lost count, nobody has been able to help us help her and it’s been a hard and long road.

With summer around the corner and several family members threatening to come down for a visit, heheh, I have no idea when or if things will get back to normal.

Favorite Quote of the Week

From The Big Bang Theory, Howard and Raj talking about setting the record straight on Facebook:

“Grow up Raj. There’s no place for the truth on the Internet.”

Be Careful What You Wish For

You know how I said that I wanted a day where I didn’t have to do anything, talk to anyone, or go anywhere? Well, I got what I asked for but not in the way that I wanted.

Friday, the Mister and I took the girls to a baseball game. They had a blast. The youngest is a people watcher and her eyes were bright with wonder the entire game. I was afraid that she would get bored because she’s not exactly a baseball fan, but she loved every minute of it and asked when we could go back. We also stayed for the after-game fireworks which were pretty great. We thought they were over twice before they actually were. Great fireworks show.

Saturday morning is when it happened. I woke up about 6 in the morning which made me really mad, lol. That’s when I normally wake up during the week, NOT on a Saturday. As I tried getting back to sleep, I started feeling queasy and it soon became apparent why I woke up in the first place:  it was finally my turn with the stomach flu. I’m just today starting to feel normal. Either I was affected differently than the girls or we had different bugs because they were better in a day and it took me three days to feel better. The only good thing about it was that it happened mostly over the weekend. I don’t know how I would have handled driving the oldest to and from school if I had gotten sick during the week. AND, I lost about two pounds, heheh. Hey. I’ll take the pound lossage anyway that I can get it.

Due to being unpleasantly laid up in bed, I’m behind in my blog reading, Twittering, and responding to comments and such. So, thanks to everyone who wished me well via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc. It was very sweet and made me feel better to read all the nice comments. Like I said, I’m pretty much back to normal today. I just have some residual tiredness and not much of an appetite.

Hope you all had a better weekend than I did. ;)

On Being Me

I’ve been in a mood lately. Or to be more accurate, I’ve been moody. What?!?! ME!! Moody?!?! Never! I know. It’s a shocker. I need therapy or something, I’m sure. Anyway, today I am focusing on the positive. Barring any unforeseen punishments, we are taking the kids to a Kinston Indians game tonight. We’re having some spectacular weather and it will be a perfect evening for a game. I’m really looking forward to going as a family this time, lol. For your reading pleasure, I’m going to list some other things that I enjoy. I’ve done something like this before, I know, but my tagging system is, well, not a system and I can’t find my other post, lol. So, if there are any repeats, you can rest assured that it’s something that I really  like.

1. I really love getting into a freshly made bed at night. Crisp, clean, lovely smelling sheets are a perfect prelude to a good night’s sleep.
2. Coming home to a clean house after being away for a few days.
3. Hannah when she sleeps in my lap. Or as much in my lap as a 60 pound dog can be. She’s such a cuddler that I think she’s a lap dog trapped in a larger dog’s body.
4. Bailey when she smiles. She’s four years old and it still makes me giggle every time she does it.
5. A hug from my youngest daughter. She gives the best hugs out of anybody I’ve ever known my entire life. You can tell she means to give love and comfort with her tiny arms.
6. When I look at my oldest daughter and I’m suddenly struck with how beautiful she is and getting a glimpse of the young woman she’s becoming. Every once in a while, I’ll glance at her and see that woman on her face. It’s amazing.
7. Watching my husband watch TV or read. I don’t know what it is about it, but I just like watching him concentrate on something, lol.
8. In the early, humid, morning, right after the sun has risen, I love the scent in the air. That smell that is fresh and a bit crisp because the day is still chilly but you can tell it’s going to be a scorcher. I love that. It reminds me of my dad.
9. My desk after it’s been clean and organized.
10. The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She is so funny. I laugh throughout the entire show and it just makes me feel good. Her Move It, Move It game makes me laugh until I’m crying. It’s a must DVR show.
11. This one is shallow, but having money in the bank. When we’re broke and I’m worrying about finances, I have migraines and insomnia. Sleeping at night and getting through the week without emptying a bottle of Excedrin is a good thing.
12. Relaxing with a glass of my favorite wine and an episode of a favorite show. I actually have “Wine” shows, lol. Weeds, Californication, Dexter, The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, are a few of the shows that a glass of wine is the perfect accompaniment.
13. Listening to the rain at night. I like to leave the windows open, turn off the lights, and light candles while it’s raining at night.
14. Playing the radio LOUD in my car. We have a rockin’ stereo in the Scion and it' is so much fun cruising around with it bumpin’. No. I’m not 17 years old, heheh.

That’s it for now. I have laundry waiting for me. Not a favorite thing of mine, heheh. But I’m wearing my last clean pair of underwear so it’s a must do.

Have a great and awesome weekend.

I Could Swear it’s Monday

I would give my left pinkie toe for a day of total nothing! I just want one day where I don’t have to see anyone, talk to anyone, or leave the house. Just one day. Today was not that day.

No sooner do I get the youngest child well and back to school than I had the oldest home and puking all day. Thankfully, she recovered faster than the youngest and is already feeling better.

That was today.

The weekend went by in a blur. Saturday, we were supposed to go to a Kinston Indians game. The Mister bought tickets on base and we were all excited to go. I don’t know about you, but I think minor league baseball games are way more fun than major league games. Anywho, during the coarse of the day, we discovered that the youngest child downloaded a game to her phone. This was expressly forbidden when she first got her phone. As a result, she got herself grounded and the Mister and the oldest child went to the game while I stayed home with a very angry ten year old. Fun times for me.

Sunday, we took her to a birthday party. I know. But I already told her friend’s mom that she’d be there and I didn’t want to disappoint the little girl. It was at the roller rink and we ended up dropping off both kids for the afternoon. The youngest is still grounded from her phone.

We also had to go to the commissary on Sunday. Remember how I mentioned that my tags were expired on my car and the DMV hadn’t sent me new ones? Well, we got pulled over on base for driving with expired tags. They didn’t cite us because luckily, I printed the receipt from where I had paid for new stickers so that I had proof. Monday, I called the DMV and they offered to mail them out again. Hello!! I already tried that. I paid for them on April 3rd and they still haven’t come in the mail. I told the lady I would just go pick them up at the nearest office which is only a block from my house, heheh. I’m driving legal once again.

Oh!! And I totally forgot to mention that I planted TEN tomato plants on Saturday. Yay!! I’m very excited to have garden fresh tomatoes. It’s been years since I’ve had them. I just hope they don’t die. I have a tendency to kill plants. I just don’t have a green thumb. I also planted four broccoli plants and the youngest brought a cabbage plant home from school that we are growing as well. I’m keeping all my appendages crossed in  hopes that they all grow successfully. Oh. And that the dogs don’t decide to chew them up. The only place in my yard that gets enough sunlight is the  backyard. :/

 

Where’d the Week Go?

I can’t believe that it’s already Thursday. I love weeks like this though. Supposedly, time flies when you’re having fun, right? Well, maybe.

Monday, the Mister had the day off work for the holiday. It was also our 14 year dating anniversary. 14 years. Wow!

Tuesday, we had to take the youngest for an appointment at the Naval clinic on base. It’s kind of a long story, but it has to do with her ADHD. That doctor gave us referrals to two more doctors that we have appointments with this month. I have a feeling the rest of April is going to fly by too. We also managed to get her social security card and mine replaced. They took her shot record as a form of identity. Just an FYI.

The tags on my car expired yesterday. I paid for new ones two weeks ago but still haven’t gotten them in the mail yet. I really and truly hate driving around with expired tags. Hopefully they’ll come in the mail today.

Also in mommy blogging news, I had to pick the youngest up from school this morning with an upset stomach. She had only been in school for 25 minutes when I got her, lol. I thought she was faking but she’s definitely not faking. She’s been puking her guts up all afternoon. She’s so tiny that her entire body is wracked with spasms and you can feel every bone in her back. I feel terrible when she’s sick like that. Thankfully, she’s already starting to feel a bit better. I hope none of the rest of us gets it. Puking is the worst.

\Now, with all my kidlet drama this week, I’m behind with my work. Not terribly behind but enough that I don’t like it. I left the youngest in the temporary care of her older sister while I try and get caught up a little. How do moms who work outside of the home do it? I just don’t know.

Being Neighborly and Other Stuff

Last week was spring break for my kids. The whole week was a blur of sleepovers. It began with he youngest sleeping over with a neighbor girl earlier in the week. Monday or Tuesday. Something like that. Then, one of my neighbors asked if I would mind watching her kids for a few hours one afternoon. Well, they were already over playing so I figured why not. While her girls were here, they conspired with my girls to sleepover that night. Again, they were already there, so why not. Then, to repay my kindness, my neighbor offered to keep my kids overnight the next night. Woot!!! An entire night with no kids! Then, Friday night, both the girls were invited to a  respective  friend’s house for yet another sleepover so we had no kids Friday night too. It was nice for all concerned.

As a result of all these sleepovers, I met quite a few of my neighbors. They all seem nice enough but I don’t want to be friends with any of them. How bad does that sound?? My two very closest friends don’t even live in the same time zone as me. I’m tired of making friends only to leave them behind or have them move away. We are currently trying our darndest to move back to California by next summer. If not Cali, it will be somewhere else. I don’t want to make new friends that I know I’ll be leaving in a year’s time. Oh well.

In other news…

It turns out that when a military brat turns ten, he or she is supposed to get their military ID card. We found this out the hard way and also discovered that the girls took their social security cards to play with and now we can’t find them. You need your social security card to get your military ID. Do you know how ridiculous it is to get a replacement social security card? Did you also know that you can only get ten replacement cards in your lifetime?

Don’t even ask how the dieting and exercising is going. Fine. I’ll tell you. My street “run” really threw my routine for a loop. I was in pain for the entire week last week. My left foot had this burning, shooting pain along the outer side of it and both my shins had swollen knots on them. As a result, when I tried running on the elliptical on Tuesday, I could only go for two miles before I couldn’t take it anymore. And that was the last time I tried. I’m getting back into my routine starting tomorrow. I swear. I have an appointment today or I would have started today.

I have more to post but I need to hit the shower so I can get ready to go. Laters.

My First Street Run

The Mister took me out for my first street run on Sunday. It was rough! It’s pretty embarrassing to say how poorly I did but what the hell…I ran/walked about 1.5 miles before I wanted to die. I had never seen a sweeter sight than at the end of my torturous 1.5 mile run, to see my car sitting beside the road beckoning me to it’s comforting interior. I think Trisha is more cut out for turning the key in the ignition, sliding open the sunroof, and running the volume up all the way in her car than she is for tying on running shoes and hitting the pavement. I am so sore today that every move is accompanied with a sound of pain that I can’t help making. Even my ribs hurt and I have no idea why that would be unless it is due to all the huffing and wheezing that I did trying not to pass out. Yes. It really was this terrible. It was high school gym class all over again. I knew going into it that five miles on the elliptical (my best distance) was not going to translate to five miles on the street. The machine does some of the work for you. But I had no idea that being able to run five miles on the elliptical would only mean a mile and a half on the street. I was rather disappointed in myself. The Mister said that for a first time out that I did good. I mostly believe him, lol. He knows how I feel about people telling me what they think I want to hear rather than the truth.

Even so and despite all my soreness, I’m not giving up. First of all, the Mister won’t let me, heheh, but I am pretty disappointed. Really disappointed. I thought that I could do better than that so I’m going to keep at it until I can run a respectable mile.

I’m going to alternate between elliptical runs and street runs until I can get my endurance up. Oh. And until I stop turning an alarming shade of purple. I’m going to have to come up with a plan, goals, and a routine to keep me motivated. Running sucks and at this point, I have no, absolutely no idea why people do it for fun. I’m doing it because I don’t like failing at things and I don’t like being embarrassed by how I did. Maybe at some point it will turn into something that resembles fun. But I doubt it. ;)

Purely a Test

One of my clients uses Survey Monkey. I had never heard of Survey Monkey before and one of my tasks in the future will be to compose, send out, and use the results. I’m trying to figure out how to use this service so I created a survey as an experiement. I would appreciate it if you all could take the time to take my survey just so that I can see what the results will look like. It’s strictly confidential and the survey is pointless but it would really help me out if I could see how it works.

Click Here to take survey

I’m not getting paid for this survey. It is purely for my own benefit. ;)

Two Month Update

April 1st was the last day of month number two of my new eating right and exercising regime. I’m very happy to report that I’ve lost 12.4 pounds so far. Not too terrible considering those three pounds I put back on in GA. I’m not losing at the same rate that I was in the beginning but I expected that so it’s not getting me down.

I’ve had the most ups and downs with eating right. The biggest hang up that I have is that I get entirely sick and tired of cooking every single day of the week. I’m beginning to hate the whole process:  Planning meals, making a shopping list, grocery shopping, figuring out what I’m in the mood to cook and eat every night, then prepping and cooking dinner and then eating my own cooking ALL THE TIME!!! Ugh, ugh, and UGH! This is leading to burnout which results in us eating out once or sometimes twice a week. I try not to go crazy on the nights we eat out and without giving out TMI, I can’t eat too much greasy, fried food anymore. I’ve had a major thing for Quiznos. I can’t seem to get enough of it. I could eat a chicken carbornara right now. Or a Baja Chicken. Hmm. You get my point though. What’s more is that the more weight that I lose, the less calories I’m allotted a day, lol. Doesn’t seem fair, right? Well, the less you weigh, the more it takes to burn fat so the fewer calories you can eat in a day and still lose weight. I started out being able to eat 1,464 and now I’m down to 1,384. 80 calories may not seem like a lot to you, but to a person on a diet trying to lose weight, 80 calories is a lot. I miss those 80 calories, lmao.

Exercise is still going really good. I’d have to say that this is where I’m the most proud of myself. I started out only being able to run for about a mile to a mile and a half in 20-25 minutes on the elliptical. Today I ran 4 miles in 40 minutes and 50 seconds. That’s a really good time for me. Sunday the Mister is taking me out for my first street run. It should be interesting. I’ll be sure and update you all as to how it goes. I’m also going to integrate some other exercise into my routine. Probably some yoga and some strength training. My legs and butt are really firming up with all the running and my upper body is being neglected. Plus, mixing it up will keep me from getting bored and will push me over any plateaus I encounter. :)

 

I Want to Quit the Gym!!

I don’t actually belong to a gym, but if you’re a Friends fan, you’ll get the reference.

My Entrecard post and tweet stirred up some people yesterday namely, the founder of Entrecard, Graham Langdon, who left a comment and @ replied me on Twitter yesterday. He wasn’t the only one either. What’s more is that I can’t even seem to give my stinking credits away. Which, by the way, the offer is now off the table. I have to wonder, is this because so many other people are cancelling their EC account or if it’s because people don’t believe that they’d really get something for nothing. Heck. It could just be that nobody cares one way or the other but I do have a plan of action to give way the danged credits. Sheesh.

Never in a million years did I think that my wanting to cancel my Entrecard account would stir up so much drama. It reminded me of the days, way back when, when I had AOL for my dial up Internet service provider. It was near to impossible to cancel my account with them. Their service reps badger and browbeat you until you’re on the verge of tear and just want to say, “Fine!! I’ll keep AOL. Just don’t harass me anymore. PLEASE!!”  XM Radio was the same way too. And you know what?? The more you try and convince me that your product is the end all, be all of the greatest thing in the world, the more I push back and just want to get away from you. I’m to the point now that I wouldn’t keep Entrecard if my life depended on it.

And for the record, and what was failed to be mentioned by Graham Langdon in all his persuading yesterday, is that yes, bloggers do have the right to refuse paid ads on their EC widget. BUT, you, the blogger and EC account user, have to pay out of your earned credits, a fee to refuse these paid ads. This is straight from Entrecard’s blog which can be found here:  Entrecard Blog

It’s just not worth it to me anymore and you know what?? I have a right to my opinion.

And I just realized the time so that’s the end of this subject. Move on!

Attention Entrecard Users!!!

I am cancelling my Entrecard account. Why? For a few reasons but mostly because they are starting a new thing where businesses can put paid advertisements on your EC widget. I really don’t like that. Nothing on this blog has ever been paid advertising, paid blogging, paid anything (except for a very brief stint with Google Adsense that didn’t get me one red cent.) and I’m not starting now.  Not that there’s anything wrong with earning money with your blog, it’s just not my cup of tea. At least not on this blog but that’s a whole other topic.

ANYWHO!!!! I have 2,460 EC credits that I am giving away to the first blogger that asks me for them. I also tweeted this on Twitter so if a comment here beats a Twitterer’s @ reply to me there, you’ll get the credits and vice versa.

So LEAVE ME A COMMENT telling me you want my credits and if you’re first, you get them!!

Hurry up! If I don’t get any replies, I’m deleting my account and they’ll just be gone.

Things I Did This Weekend

The title makes it sound like I actually did stuff this weekend, huh? After our whirlwind weekend last weekend, I was determined to do as little as I could get away with this weekend. Having it rain 75% of the time really helped me attempt to achieve my goal.

Saturday, I got in an afternoon run on the elliptical. No rest for the too fat and lazy. I haven’t slacked off of the exercise at all, but after our weekend in Georgia, my eating habits have been on a downhill slide. I gained almost three pounds over that weekend. THREE POUNDS!! But you know, without the pecans, pralines are basically pure sugar. I wonder why I gained so much weight!!! Anywho, Saturday night I did something that I haven’t done in a looong time. I actually planned to and sat down to watch a movie. Sex and the City was on HBO and I enjoyed a girlie night to myself on the couch. Glass of wine in hand, candles lit, and the windows open to a fantastic night breeze, I enjoyed watching the movie all by myself. The Mister was on the computer or something and the girls were in their rooms playing. It was really nice. And the movie was pretty okay. For a chick flick, you couldn’t really ask for more. It was very predictable though.

Sunday, the Mister and I hit the commissary and then he disappeared for a marathon paper writing session. I, however, sat down to read Twilight on my Kindle app. I’m almost done with it and I have to laugh at how many times Meyers uses the words “beauty” and “beautiful”. It gets to the point where the meaning is completely lost. It’s just like when you say, “I’m sorry” all the time and people stop believing you after a while. I was prepared to thoroughly dislike this book. I began reading it keeping in mind that the intended audience is tweens and teenagers. In fact, that’s why I decided to read this book at all, because my 12, soon to be 13 year old daughter, wants to read it and I wanted to read it first before I gave her permission. I can see why it would appeal to teen girls but I really could take it or leave it. The dialogue comes off as being fake 90% of the time and Meyers has yet to make me care about the characters. Also, I dislike how much she has deviated from the traditional vampire myths and legends. I don’t mind creativity but her take on vampirism comes off as too contrived. It’s as if she was trying to be different just for the sake of being different. Whether or not I read any of the other books in the series depends on whether or not the oldest child wants to continue reading them. Twilight is too easy to put down to make me want to read the rest of them for myself.

As for the rest of my Sunday, I washed my car. It was such a gorgeous afternoon that I wanted to spend some of it outdoors so I decided to clean off all the bug guts from the drive too and from GA. It was disgusting. The really irritating part is that as soon as I was done washing my car, it had a layer of pollen all over it. Pollen freaking sucks. I also got my garage cleaned out AGAIN, so that I could park my car inside of it. I’m hoping that it will keep the pollen coverage to a minimum.

And that, folks, was my fun and exciting weekend. I got my workout in already this morning and now I’m headed for the shower. Then it’s work, dinner, work, bed, rinse and repeat.

Georgia Pictures

Here are some pictures that I took while in Georgia. All in all, I didn’t really take all that many but the ones that I have are pretty neat.

Statue in Chippewa Square which is where the bench scene in Forrest Gump was filmed.

Church spire from which the feather in Forrest Gump was dropped.

The two pictures above are of Savannah gray brick. There is quite a story behind the bricks which today, are worth $40 to $50 a piece. These bricks were made by slaves and when the slaves left Savannah, they took the recipe for the bricks with them. That’s why they are worth so much money and they are very historical to the city of Savannah. These bricks above are found in the courtyard of the Sorrel-Weed house. You will probably need to click on the pictures to make them bigger, but you can actually see finger indentations in the bricks that were made by slaves when they were forming the bricks. I really thought that was so very neat. Actual, touchable, history. Anyway…

This is the Mercer house which is where the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was filmed.

  These picture are of a 300 year old Live Oak tree which is also the oldest tree in Savannah.

The following pictures are of The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist Church. It was absolutely stunning. We had never been in such a magnificent church before and were all suitably impressed.

This last picture is of recruits marching at Parris Island. The youngest child had never been to Parris Island before and the oldest was only a year and a half when she was there.

All pictures can be clicked upon and made bigger for better viewing. I really recommend that for the brick and church pictures.

Fun Times in Georgia

We had a really good, albeit short, time in Georgia.

The trip down was uneventful. North Carolina to Georgia is VERY boring. The highlight of the drive was driving through Spivey’s Corner, NC. Yes. Spivey’s Corner. We laughed and laughed at the name. There’s nothing there either. It’s hard to tell it was an actual town. Anywho, we left our house around 5:15’ish and arrived at the hotel at midnight. I will never forget Jennifer bounding out of the hotel, very reminiscent of Tigger, in her too cute pajamas and slippers to greet us.

Saturday we got up as early as we could, grabbed breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, Jennifer’s first time, and then drove to a nearby outlet mall that we had seen on our drive down. That was way too much fun. We bought some clothes at the Gap and the Tommy Hilfiger store. Then we bought some new running shoes at the Nike store. I finally have good running shoes!!

After the outlet mall, we drove the rest of the way to Savannah. Savannah is a great city. So much history! The azaleas are in full bloom so there was amazing color everywhere you looked. We decided to take a trolley tour so that we wouldn’t constantly have to find parking and so that we would know what we were looking at. We got off at several of the stops for tours and pictures. We have never taken a formal tour of a city before but it was neat, informative, and something that I would do again.

After the tour was over, we grabbed our car and drove down to River Street for more shopping and dinner. At Pam’s recommendation, we stopped in one of the candy shops and tried the pralines. Oh. My. Gosh!! They were so good. Jennifer and I both bought some to take home. I also bought some caramel chocolate gophers which were also very yummy.We grabbed dinner at a seafood place that had the most excellent crab legs I’ve ever had. They were so juicy that Jennifer and the Mister ended up with butter down the front of them and I sprayed some poor guy as he walked by our table when I cracked a leg open, lol. Dinner was to celebrate Jennifer’s birthday. Her birthday was yesterday but we couldn’t stay through the week so we took her out while we were there. I did the same thing last year in San Diego, heheh.

Sunday, we were up and off to the Shoney’s for breakfast and then we had to head home. :( The visit was too short but worth every minute. On the drive home we took a detour to Parris Island. I hadn’t been there since 1997 when the Mister graduated from boot camp. Parris Island has changed a lot but some things never change like recruits marching everywhere and drill instructors yelling at them along the way, lol. We didn’t stay long because the oldest child decided to pick herself up a bug while we were in Georgia. She was running a fever and right after we drove through the gate to the base, we had to pull over so she could be sick alongside the road. It was so not a fun ride home for her. She’s still home sick with a fever today.

So, that was our trip. I have pictures but I’ll have to post them later. My camera is still in the glove compartment of my car and I don’t feel like running out to get it at the moment. Stay tuned…

Georgia, Here We Come!

I’ve been going nonstop since 6 am but I think I finally have us ready to leave. The car is loaded and I dropped the dogs off at the pet spa about an hour ago. :( It was really hard to leave them, lol. I feel silly about it, but I miss them already. I know they’ll be fine. The people at the spa and the vet’s love them. When the woman took the dogs to the back, they went with her without even looking back and they didn’t even give me a chance to say goodbye. They probably won’t even notice we’re not there. Oh well.

As for the trip, we’re leaving tonight when the Mister and the girls get home which should put us at the hotel around midnight. It sucks, but I wanted to have the entire day there Saturday and the Mister couldn’t finagle any time off of work. It’s going to be a whirlwind trip since we’re leaving to come home Sunday but I don’t care. It’ll be fun and totally worth it.

I have no idea what we’re going to do while we’re there. I hope Jennifer has some ideas, lol. I’ve been so busy all week that I haven’t had a chance to do any research. If anyone has any suggestions of “must see” sights in Savannah, leave a comment!!

We’re not taking a computer with us so I won’t be able to post anything over the weekend but I’ll have pictures and stuff Monday. Tuesday at the latest.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!! I’ll see ya’ll when I get back.

The Results are In

Hannah had her vet visit this morning and she is fine. She just has some sort of stomach bug. I had no idea that dogs could get what is basically the stomach flu, did you?  Anyway, they ran tests and took x-rays but didn’t find anything. No worms or obstructions. She does have a fever so she’s being treated for that and the nausea. I have to give her two different pills twice a day for five days and she should be all cleared up. AND, the doctor said that we can kennel both dogs at their sister facility next door so that if anything happens with Hannah, they’ll be right there to take care of her. Neato, huh? It’s actually a pet spa, heheh, so they should have a pretty good time while we’re gone. I even paid a little extra so that they could have  special play time each day they’re there.

I’m pretty relieved. Hannah laying around the house for four days had me more worried than her nausea did. She’s such a hyperactive, go, go, go, kinda dog that it’s really scary to see her sleeping all the time. But I guess like people, dogs sleep when they have the flu too, lol.

So, since everything is cool with the dogs, I’m making plans for a weekend trip to Georgia. There’s packing and cleaning to do but with only going for the weekend, it shouldn’t be that bad. I’m really excited and looking forward to going and to seeing Jennifer again. The really coincidental thing is that I was in California this time last year visiting her, lol. It would be really great if we could actually turn this into an annual visitation. Only time will tell.

That’s One Sick Puppy

It’s never a good thing to start your day out with having to clean. It’s a really bad day when that cleaning involves dog puke, pee, and poo. That’s how my morning started Friday and the cleaning continued up until yesterday. I have a carpet steam cleaner that has totally saved us. Not to be too disgusting here, but the messes were dark in color and I have very light carpeting. My steam cleaner got every last trace out of the carpet leaving nothing behind. Each spot took about half the reservoir of cleaner, but whatever works. So far today, Hannah hasn’t vomited anywhere but she’s had these really loud, deep burps that have panicked me twice this morning, lol. I called the vet and made her an appointment for first thing tomorrow just in case.

We’re trying to plan a weekend trip to Georgia to visit with Jennifer this coming weekend but it’s sort of in limbo with Hannah being the way that she is. We can’t kennel a sick dog and we don’t want to take the dogs with us either. Should we be able to follow through with our plans, we are going to tour Savannah which should be a lot of fun. I’ve been to and through Georgia several times but I’ve never seen Savannah before. I really hope that we get to go. It would be a shame for Jennifer to be this close and for us not to get a chance to see her.