I think I'd find a more interesting place to bomb

Today, Angel #4 and I had to go to the nearby 'bigger' town (pop approx 3000) to do some shopping. The Dollar General where we were, suddenly became extraordinarily busy for a Thursday night, then we found out why. Someone had called in a bomb threat at the nearby Econofood store. Since that's the only grocery store in town, everyone who was planning on stopping by there to pick up supper for the evening had to make alternative plans - most of which consisted of hitting the small grocery department at Dollar General. If was was going to risk getting my butt in major trouble for calling in a bomb threat, I think I'd pick a more exciting place to threaten than Econofoods, but to each their own, I guess. I haven't seen any mushroom clouds to the west, nor have I heard any explosions, so I'm guessing the Econofoods will still be around to supply everyone with milk and eggs for years to come.

Last night, we got a phone call at around 10:15pm. Hubs went to answer it, said hello, then not another word til he hung up. Then he kept saying wow over and over again. Once he was done wowing, he informed me of what had just taken place. The call went as follows:

Hubs: Hello?

Angel #1 (in a scary, soldier kind of voice): Hello Mr. ####, this is Marine Private ### #### calling to inform you that I've reached my destination. You will be receiving a letter from me in the next three weeks. I love you and goodbye. *click*

Gulp, I guess that means my little boy is well and truly in the military.

For those of you interested, I did a short question and answer post at Unusual Historicals blog. Come check it out and get the chance to win an e-copy of my latest book, Not Looking For Trouble

I voted - did you?

It seems like I make a point of voting AGAINST candidates rather than for them. Maybe we need better candidates.

In happier news, once again this year I'm doing National Novel Writing Month. That's 50,000 words to write in the month of November. This will be my 5th year doing Nano and I've hit the 50K word goal in my previous 4 years, so I'm optimistic that I can do it again this year. I got a good start in and I've already got 6000 words under my hat. Last night I met with the local Nano group for a kick off party. Nothing says a good time like sitting at a table with 7 random strangers, typing away at their keyboards. Actually, for the most part, they were a really nice group and we're hoping to meet again a couple more times this month. Meeting with a group seems to force you to write more and faster, which is the whole point of nano in the first place.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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