Sunday, October 31, 2010

well, he's gone

This afternoon the whole family packed up in the car and we dropped my little boy off into the care of the United States military. We all did good, no major tears for anyone. Though, my eyes did get a little damp, but that's allowed because I'm his mommy, darn it! I know he was nervous and a bit scared, so there was no way in the world I was going to make it harder for him than it already was. Besides, though he's nervous, I know this is what he's spent a lot of time thinking about and really wants to do, so once the initial newness wears off, he'll be fine. He's a great kid and I know he'll be a wonderful Marine.

He had a great send-off yesterday. We had quite a crowd here at our house for his going away party. Lots of food and lots of fun. Hubby spotted a couple of girls crying as they were leaving our house after saying goodbye, so I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who puddled up thinking about him going. And just to prove what a wonderful kid he his and it's not just mom pride talking, he had thank you notes written to everyone who'd given him a card before we even had the house picked up after everyone left - and I hadn't even told him he needed to send thank yous. I guess my job here is done. If he ever asks for advice or counsel, hubs and I will be more than happy to help him, but we've realized that though we're always going to be his parents, we're pretty much finished with the actual parenting. He's a young man now and is capable of making his own decisions, it's our responsibility as parents to support his decisions. We're fortunate we've got a son who's making careful, well thought out decisions in his life. Hopefully, we'll be as fortunate with the three we've still got at home. They're all getting so big so fast, our days of being a direct influence on their lives is almost over. Boy, things were easier when they were just eating worms at the playground.

Friday, October 29, 2010

hang on to your hats, small children & pets and compact car

Boy, was it windy this week. We had gusts up to 65mph, the angels almost got knocked on their cans walking out to the school bus. I saw a corrugated metal roof on a building curled up like the top of a can of Spam. We don't have to worry about those pesky leaves falling off the trees anymore, they're probably about 100 miles away by now. It finally stopped blowing today, which is good. We really needed to get the gutters cleaned out (the leaves that didn't blow away became firmly lodged in our rain gutters) and it had been too windy to do anything about it until today. We also got things ready for Angel #1's big going away party tomorrow. I still can't believe that my little baby is going to be a Marine in a matter of days. It seems like only yesterday I was kissing his little toes and powdering his butt. Time seems to go by so slowly when you're dealing with the craziness of little kids, but now that they're teens, looking back, it seems like it went by so quickly. Makes me feel like I'm in a time warp.

The kids all went together to a party tonight, so it was just hubs and me home together for the evening. It's been a long time since it was just the two of us home alone, it was nice to just cuddle on the couch together. He's been gone so much this last month - it's nice to have him home for a change.

Thanks to those of you who commented on my last post. I've got such a wonderful group of friends, both in real life and cyber friends. I'm so blessed.

In cool news, today, my third book, Not Looking For Trouble was released. You can find it here if you're interested. It's another 1920's era book. Despite it being the 3rd book I had come out, it's actually the 2nd thing I've ever written, the first being something that'll never see the light of day. I kind of think of it as my baby, because it's the book that really got me excited about writing and my first foray into the 1920's, which I'm now totally in love with. Check it out, I think you'll like it...not that I'm biased or anything.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A Declaration of Independence

"I called to apologize. I guess I said some things that hurt your feelings, though I can't think of anything I've ever said that's hurt you."
"You said I looked old and ugly."
"Well, have you looked in a mirror lately?"
**part of an actual phone conversation I had yesterday

You won't be shocked to know that the next line in this conversation was NOT "Alrighty then, apology accepted." A little clarification, I was the old and ugly one in this conversation, not the apologizer - and that last line was not said in a joking manner and the apologizer didn't see the irony of their statement. This conversation degenerated from that auspicious beginning to a 45 minute litany of everything I've done wrong, real or imagined, in the last twenty years. I was angry the caller dissed me and hubs, but when they brought my kids into the rant, my mama bear rose up and I knew it was all over. I think what upset the caller the most was that instead of curling up and backing down like I have in the past, this time I shot right back. As upset as I am over the phone call, I'm glad it happened. It showed me that these issues aren't mine, I'm dealing with an abusive person who refuses to look in the mirror. After putting up with this kind of stuff for longer than I want to think about, yesterday I knew it was time to stop it. If someone wants to wallow in their own poison, that's their decision, but it's my decision to refuse to be dragged into that pit with them. I'm distancing myself from this kind of crap, I don't need or want that kind of abuse, pain and sadness in my life any longer. I've always had self-confidence issues (probably from the kinds of conversations shown above) but I'm working hard to overcome that. You know what? I'm an awesome person, with an awesome husband and kids and awesome friends. I refuse to let someone try to take that happiness away.

Monday, October 25, 2010

so much stuff going on

Today I had to take the kids to the clinic to get their shots updated. The school requires kids get certain shots updated in 6th, 9th & 12th grades and guess what? I've got a kid in 6th, 9th & 12th grades. So, it was varicella and tetanus for everyone. YAY! After everyone got shot, we had to head back home so I could get Angel #4 to her very first basket ball practice. Even though she's my youngest kid, she's my first one I've had join a sport. The other three never showed a whole lot of interest, they're more like me in the athletic department, we're lazy and non-competitive. #4 on the other hand, totally takes after hubby's side of the family. Those people run for fun! Shocking, I know, but they're only related to me through marriage, so I think I'm safe from that sick affliction. #4 enjoyed practice and I think she'll do great, once she actually learns how to play basketball. We've never been into organized sports of any kind, so we've never even played a game of basketball/football/baseball/water polo/etc as a family. We more of a Pictionary kind of group.

The daughter of a close family friend was killed in a car accident Friday night and I'm going to the funeral tomorrow. It sucks to go to the funeral of a 27 year old, she had her whole life in front of her, now it's over. She was going to school to be a counselor and she would have been a great one. She'd gone through a lot of hardships in her life, starting at 5 years old when her mother's died from cancer and she faced a lot of other tough stuff as well and she came out of it a great, responsible person. It's kind of weird, we were all concerned about her brother being stationed in Iraq and it ends up that it was the sibling in the supposed 'safety' of home who ends up getting killed. Just goes to show you, time and chance happens to us all.

Friday, October 22, 2010

kjyrfdo

I finished reading the book Shutter Island and now my brain is all messed up.

Our landlord is coming today to fix our sink. About a week ago, Angel #2 turned on the faucet lever to the kitchen sink for some water and ended up with the lever coming off in her hand. The faucet has a lifetime warranty so the landlord ordered the part, but since it had to come from the manufacturer, it took about a week to get here. The part came in the mail yesterday and they're going to put it together today. You don't realize how often you turn on the kitchen sink until you can't. There's a bathroom right off the kitchen, so we've been using that sink to get water, but it's too small to wash dishes or anything, so we've got to tote the water back into the kitchen. And the bathroom faucet is too low to fit a container of a workable size under it to catch the water, so it gets complicated. So. to make a short story longer, I'm looking forward to getting my kitchen faucet back online.

Yesterday I met my sister for lunch. We had a nice time and I stuffed myself. I was so full that at 10pm last night-9 hours after our meal- I still felt like I'd just eaten.

After lunch, I headed out to the grocery store. One of our stores was having a special one day only meat sale yesterday and I was needed large quantities of meat. We're having a going away party for Angel #1 on the 30th and invited an indeterminate amount of people. So I needed enough meat to feed between 50-100 people next Saturday. I bought a lot of other groceries too, so many that when they were bagging them, they needed to use a 2nd cart. This meant I needed to use parcel pickup. The guy who was loading my car really knew his stuff. When he commented on my large quantity of meat, I told him I was having a party and needed to feed a lot of people. "For your 21st birthday? " he asked. I really liked that guy. :P

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

you can't get here from there

Thanks for the website suggestion, AD, I'll check it out.

Tonight, on our way home from Bible study, I decided to try a different route home. It wasn't long before I realized that we'd 'gone adventuring' which is what I call it when I don't have a clue where I am. Our 20 mile drive home took about 45 minutes. We've got a huge 4'X4' mounted and framed map of the area in our living room - hubs brought it home yesterday for Angel #2 as a joke, she went adventuring last weekend. He told her she could keep it in the car in case she got lost again. So tonight when we eventually got home, Angel #4 and I marked out on the map where exactly we'd gone. There's one little gap in one section of our trip though because we were so out in the boonies that there weren't road signs on some of the corners, so I'm not exactly sure where we all were. But, we made it home, so it's all good. This being an unfamiliar area to me, I learn a lot from my adventuring trips. It helps get a grip on the layout of the area if you've been lost there. Heck, if I ever end up in that town called Larrabee again, it'll almost be like visiting an old friend.

Angel #2's cell phone fell out of her pocket today and landed on the floor. The back fell off and the battery popped out, so it was in three pieces. For some reason, when that happened, I said "your cat exploded". Yeah, I don't know why either. Anyway, that has struck her as extremely funny and now she keeps saying, your cat exploded and breaking out into giggles. Last week I also said something about getting a 'fart smone', which she also thinks is hilarious. That's me, the Queen of Malapropisms. I'm starting to feel like the mom in that tv show Raising Hope.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

new place - new rules

Angel #2 got a taste of the no-touchy mid-western attitude yesterday. She got in trouble in school for an inappropriate display of affection. Her crime? She was hugging someone in the hallway. As she stated, in Hawaii it's practically considered rude if you don't hug somebody. It's different here where a quick handshake is about as up close and personal you get with someone you haven't known for at least five years. They let it go this time and she was warned to not let it happen again. Yep, things are a bit different up here.

IMBD used to be one of my favorite places on the web to visit. Here's the thing, I like movies, but don't actually have the patience to sit and watch most of them. So, I like to go on IMDB and read movie summaries, just because I'm interested in knowing the plot, resolution and major turning points, but not interested in using 1 1/2 hours of my life to watch it. This is especially true of horror movies, since I'm too chicken to watch them but love knowing the plots. But now, IMDB is pushing it's Pro version, which you have to pay for, of course. In order to lure you away from your $, they've restricted a lot of the information they used to put out there for free. As much as I love cruising around that site, just reading random stuff, I love not spending money even more. So, IMDB, I used to love you, but it's all over now.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

life imitates art - or vice-versa

The recent episode of Modern Family struck a particularly hilarious note with me this week. For those of you who don't watch, here's a quick recap. Cam has decided to start exercising and insists on wearing a pair of spandex biking shorts and Mitch is trying to figure out how to tell him that biking shorts aren't a real good fashion choice without hurting Cam's feelings. Now, flash over to my house a couple weeks ago. Angel #2 came in the house saying that hubby was in the garage fixing the car in his underwear. Hubby followed her in saying it wasn't his underwear, but his spandex shorts. Yep, he was wearing spandex shorts. I asked him whatever possessed him to buy a pair of biking shorts and he said he didn't, he just found them in his closet so figured they were alright to wear. I made it VERY clear to him that the were not and never will be alright to wear. When I took a closer look at them, I figured out where they came from. My husband squeezed his 180 lb body into MY exercise shorts. These would be the shorts I only wear at home, with an oversized tee-shirt if I ever get the urge to exercise. The shorts I seldom wear because they're tight on my 110 lb body. The shorts I now have to burn because every time I see them in the future, the image of my husband wearing them will imprint itself onto my brain. Now I'm tempted to buy a teensy lacy thong and stick it in his underwear drawer just to see if I can get him to put those on as well.

Yesterday was Angel #4's birthday. My baby is 12 years old and in only one short year, I'm going to be mother to FOUR teenagers. I'm sure I can get a doctor to prescribe drugs for me for this situation. The giggling tween girl slumber party is Friday night, I'm guessing WE is going to find something else to do that night...I know I wish I could.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

is that supposed to be blue?

Angel #2 got her senior pictures taken yesterday. Right after she got home, she and a friend went upstairs to her room and shortly after that, she asked if we had any old towels. I know what that means...hair dying time. I wasn't sure who was getting dyed or what color and didn't really want to know. After about fifteen minutes, someone said "is that supposed to be blue?" STILL didn't want to know what was going on. The Angel had wet sloppy looking hair when she said goodbye to her friend later and her friend was still the same blond she was when she walked in, so the question about who was getting dyed was answered, but the color question was still up in the air. This morning I heard her rustling around upstairs and I called up, asking her what color her hair was and her reply was "not the color it said on the box." Anyway, she's got this blondish reddish streaky thing going on and I'm just thankful she waited until AFTER senior pictures to get her new 'do.

This morning we headed over to a nearby town with Angel #4 to pick up a Craigslist purchase of a beginning drum set. Yeah, she thinks being a percussionist in the school band is a good idea - I'm not sold on it yet, but since I forked over $120 for a snare drum, xylophone (I spelled that right w/out even needing spell check) and various sticks, drum muffles and stuff, I guess it's a commitment. At least it's not a tuba.

It's been gorgeous weather here the last 3-4 days. The leaves are all turning and I think this weekend is the peak. I took a few pictures and one of these days I'll see about posting them. WE made a huge leaf pile in the back yard and had a blast diving into it. It won't be long and the leaves will be gone and the snowing will begin. Ug

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

RIP Dorisis

I saw in the obituaries that Dorisis died. Waaaay back when I was really little, my family lived in an upstairs apartment. Downstairs lived an old couple, Papa and Elsie and next door was their daughter and her family, who I assumed owned the building we lived in. Their daughter's name was Doris, but when I was little, I always called her Dorisis and my mom could never figure out why until she started listening to herself talk to me. She'd say things like "stay out of Doris's garden" and "don't run through Doris's laundry so it was only logical that I figured our neighbor's name was Dorisis. Doris's youngest son, Bruce and another neighbor kid, made sure I made it to my first Halloween party when I was really little and I still have the pink bunny stuffed animal their family gave me on my first Christmas. It was kind of weird, when we moved to Hawaii, I got rid of almost everything. I'm not very sentimental, so it wasn't that big a deal. But, there were a few things I couldn't get rid of and when looking around I saw that a lot of the things I kept were things I'd gotten from that family a million years ago. Papa and Elsie have been gone for a long time, Doris's sister and husband have both died within the last couple years. It's kind of like a chapter in life ending, ya know?

Monday, October 4, 2010

and he's off!

I dropped off a very excited husband at the airport this afternoon. This flight to Wash DC is going to be his first as an official premium frequent flyer. He's racked up enough flying miles now that he gets preferred status on flights, things like extra leg room seats at no extra charge, he gets to board the plane first and he no longer has to pay to check in his luggage. Now he gets to BE somebody - that guy you hate because he gets to jump in the front of the ticket line and who gets to stick his carryons in the overhead bin first, without having to wrestle with someone else's junk. He also gets additional frequent flyer miles with every flight he takes. His next goal is executive premium, I'm not sure what happens then. Maybe he gets a personal flight attendant dressed like a harem girl or something.

Tanya, don't you wonder where the heck kids get all that money to blow on toilet paper? Heck, the one house across the road from the high school in Manawa had enough toilet paper in their yard to keep my family wiping for a year!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

I left my butt somewhere in the football field

We all went to the homecoming game Friday night. We dropped the kids off early, Angel #2 had to be there an hour before the game to get her band stuff organized. Hubs and I had every intention of getting there in time to see her play during halftime, but it was so warm and cozy in the house and so wet and cold at the football field, that by the time we forced ourselves to leave the house, we arrived with 10 minutes left of the 3rd quarter. I'm glad we weren't there for any longer, it was cold and I froze my butt off. Our team also got beat pretty badly, but we were there in time to see them score the only two touchdowns they made during the game, so at least they got some numbers on the board and didn't look totally trounced.

We had the kids get the toilet paper picked up in the yard after they got home from school on Friday - we wanted it done before it rained and we had a real mess on our hands. I then made the unpleasant discovery that our trees had better quality toilet paper than our bathrooms did. Not fair - there were a few rolls lying in the yard and I took them in for us to use - no sense wasting perfectly good toilet paper, especially since, as I said, it was softer than the stuff we already had. When the kids complained about my TP recycling, I told them the (absolutely true) story of when our house got TP'd when we were kids and my mom made us pull the paper out of the trees and she put it in a basket by the toilets so we could use it. At least I only recycled the stuff still on the rolls.

Angel #1 spent the night here last night. He'd come over on his motorcycle and by the time he was going to make the 1 hour trip home, it was really cold and getting dark. This is a bad time of year to be driving around in the dark - deer are in rut right now, and like a bunch of teenagers, their bodies are being controlled by their hormones and their brains are disengaged, so they run out into the road without caution. If you hit a 100+ lb deer with a motorcycle, you don't have much of a chance. So, I pulled the Mommy Card and made him stay the night here - it didn't take a whole lot of convincing. He's never lived in this house and we don't have any of his stuff here, so it was like he was just some random house guest spending the night. What an odd feeling to have your kid be company...except most company doesn't wrestle with WE, pick on the girls and kiss me goodnight. I miss having my little boy around.