Well MIIIINE can...

This gives me the hysterical giggles every time I see it. Aaaah, to be back in the states for the GOOD commercials.

Linking, since I can't get the dang thing to embed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZXHoh_9pBk

Do you sudoku?

I had never heard of sudoku until a few months ago, and I was too intimidated by it to try it. Adam helped my with my first puzzle yesterday, and I just finished my second. I think I'm addicted. It's going to be interesting teaching this to the girls, but I think it will REALLY help them with several aspects of homeschooling.

www.websudoku.com

9 incredible years

9 years ago today I married my best friend.

Exploring Okinawa

A few weeks ago, while Brian was on leave, we took the kids exploring for the day. We drove south and turned here and there. It's the best way to get anywhere, really. We found the Gushikawa-Jo ruins (Jo means castle), and Cape Kyan Prefectural Park. We also drove down to Peace Prayer Park. It was a beautiful, albeit horribly humid, day. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a reference book to Okinawa.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2106130099&code=22225051&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2106115301&code=22233118&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

A spider tale

So the other night around 2 AM I woke up from a deep sleep with that feeling that something was very wrong. I lay there for a moment, and opened my eyes. As I opened my eyes I looked up to the corner of my bedroom.There was a spider dropping down on a thread. It's body was bigger than my hand, NOT including it's legs. It was the scariest thing I had ever seen. I swear it was coming to eat me.

I screamed like a little girl and jumped out of bed, and ran to turn on the light. As I stood there in the doorway of my bedroom, clutching my husband's trusty baseball bat (because we all know that a baseball bat will kill a f-ing huge spider!) I scanned the room. I didn't see the spider. I didn't even see it's thread. It was a STEALTHY spider. *nods*

I pulled back the blankets. Maybe it had crawled into my bed and was cuddling with my husband.

No spider.

I got up on the bed and leaned over to look underneath.

No spider.

I looked back up in the corner again, to see if I could tell where it had come from.And realized...I dreamed that spider. *looks around in a paranoid manner*











Brian slept through ALL of it.

You're such a retard.

Come on, people, if you want to insult somebody, let's get a little more original.

I hate HATE HATE when people use the words retard or retarded as a manner of insult. If there's a number one way to make me dislike you right off the bat, let me hear you call somebody a retard. I'll dislike you for life, on principle.

People with true handicaps, whether it be mental or phyical, have no control over the way they are. It's not their choice. It's something that they, and their families, will have to live with forever. But it doesn't define who they are. They're still amazing people. And by calling them retard, you're just pointing out their differences. As if they weren't already aware of them. Puh-lease.

Last summer I was in one of the many "customer service" areas on base, waiting to be helped. There was a young female airman behind the counter, talking to one of her coworkers, and she said fairly loudly, "He's SUCH a f-ing retard."

It wasn't my place to say anything directly to her, so after I was finished I asked to speak to her supervisor. I told him what she had said, and told him that I actually had less of a problem with my kids hearing the f-bomb (OK, I admit it, I have a potty mouth that I'm working on) than with my kids hearing somebody being called a retard. I pointed out to him that if there had been a parent in there with a truly disabled child, that parent could have been crushed. Worse yet, what if a disabled person had heard that? How would they feel?

Honestly, I find the word just as offensive as the "n-word." It's not ok to use somebody difference to mock them. It's not ok to make a mistake and call yourself a retard, because YOU were stupid. If you make a mistake or are stupid, call it a whoops and move on with life. Don't be disparaging about it.


I feel so strongly about the word that just from typing it out so many times here, I feel as awful as I would if I had been cussing like a sailor in my grandma's presence. *ick*

A few pictures of the kids

I can't decide which one I want to put on MIL's Mother's Day mug. She's a coffee addict, so I thought I'd get her a new mug for work.

Countdown

It's 7 PM on the 30th, so this day is done enough....

92 days

exactly 3 months

13 weeks and 3 days (hey, I thought 3 months was supposed to be only 12 weeks!!!)

And my favorite, 6 paydays...


UNTIL WE LEAVE THIS ISLAND AND MOVE INTO OUR NEW HOME.


Nah, I'm not anxious to leave at.all.

Please God, let it go fast!!!

We got the house!!!!

We close on June 2, and we'll be able to crash in our VERY OWN HOME the night we land! *does the Roger Rabbit, because that's just how cool I am*

A few more pics

We didn't make it to Lee Greenwood after all. Bummer, that would have been fun. So instead I had a Corona and gave the kids my own little impromptu concert. I don't think the ungrateful little wretches appreciated it!!! *shakes head in disgust* Those kids have some learnin' to do!

We're putting an offer on a house!!!

We're going to put an offer on the house in my best friend's neighborhood. It's only got the one thing wrong with it, in that the 3rd bedroom is really a study, but that's workable. My FIL is a handy guy and can help us build out the corner and a new closet, and put in a door where the closet currently is. Besides, the faux finish in that room will be a cool start to a rockin' piratey bedroom for Matt.

We're going to be homeowners. Woah. Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude.

I want a beer.

I hardly ever drink anymore. In the last few weeks though, I've drank more than I have in two years. A whopping three beers. And I want another one. Why do I want a beer now?

Because it's what you drink when you're swaying to Lee Greenwood, singing along with him as he belts out, oh-s0-patriotically, "Proud to Be an American" in front of a crowd of Air Force, Navy, And Marines.

Uber-American Lee and Restless Heart are giving a "PATRIOTIC concert" here tonight, and I think it's just down the hill. I might have to convince Brian to go, and get a babysitter so we can have a few beers and be patriotic.

If we go, there will be pictures. Oh yes, photographic fun. :D

So we're still house hunting.

The existing home we really liked turned out to be a no-go. I figured it would, I wouldn't want to hold closing until August if I were the seller. It was worth it to try though.

So now we're looking in the same neighborhood where my best friend lives. New homes, good school, lots of cul-de-sac streets so the streets are safer... We've got a floorplan that we like, now it's just a matter of finding one in a stage of construction where we can ask that the builder put the door on the 3rd bedroom in the hallway, instead of opening into the living room as a study. I never realized how difficult JUST THAT ONE LITTLE THING COULD BE. Ergh. If we can find a home that's in that stage of construction, we'll also be able to choose our own colors & such, which will be nice.

I'm so ready to just buy a dang house. I'm trying to not be emotional about it, but that's hard to do when you're so stressed about everything that you're not sleeping at all. Emotions kind of just take control. Ergh again.


I did realize something that helped reduce the stress for a few moments. We've only got seven more paydays until we leave. (Assuming we leave in the first week of August.) SEVEN. That's a single digit, folks!!! But...but...SEVEN? Holy crap, that's a single digit, that's going to go by REALLY fast. We need to save more money! We need to get started on buying a few things for the house! We need to get the cat back to Oklahoma! (Crap, I just realized, I think he has an appointment today.) We need to figure out how to get the dogs back!

Ok, I need to call the vet...

I've found it.

I have found the house that I want, and it's in Brian's top three as well. It's in our price range. The current owners are leaving a shed in the HUGE back yard, and the hot tub. Yeaaaaah, baby, there's a hot tub. There's a HUGE beautiful kitchen, where I won't be tripping over everybody. (OK, so I'll trip over them, but only because they're leeches, not becuase there's not enough room in the kitchen.) It has two living areas, and the front living area also has a little niche that would make a great craft area. There's a three car garage, the master bedroom is plenty big enough for our massive furniture. The tile floors are actually the pretty ones, and not that cacky yellow shiny stuff. I think it's even got a gas oven! YAY!! HOORAY FOR COOKIN' WITH GAS!! There are lots of windows, so lots of light.

Yes. This is the house that I want. Now, as long as the owners are willing to pay closing costs and are ok with an August or so closing, we're good. Right?



It really can't be that easy, can it?

And a few more

And a few more

Artsy fartsy

At the beginning of March, Brian and I went on a deep sea fishing trip. We had a ball, caught a few fish, and I was mocked by the crew for taking "artsy fartsy pictures." Hilarity ensued.

Anyway, these are some of the best from that day.

The time has come...

to buy a home.

We've been married almost 9 years and have lived in military housing or apartments the entire time. We are READY for our own place. We need roots. We need stability. We need a place to come back to that will be home.

So tonight I'm starting our preapproval process. A perfect stranger is going to tell us just how much house we can afford. Then I'm going to rely on another stranger to help us find a home and pretty much purchase it, sight unseen. We have a few places bookmarked on realtor.com that we really like, but it all depends on how much we're approved for. These last hours tonight, waiting for it to be 9 AM in OKC, have been agonizing.

There are so many questions to be answered. Do we want to buy a home that's currently under construction, or a previously owned home? Exactly what features do we want? Just how big IS 1620 sq ft? Do we really want to live in that particular town, or should we move closer to base? Are there ANY homes in that area that have anything other than gas heating? If not, we'll be going through a lot of firewood.


I'm anxious. I just want to know how much we can get, so we can hurry up and find a house. August is coming fast, and I just want to be SETTLED.

Waiting sucks, dude.

Homeschool, Day 1

Wow. Juuuuuuuuuuust wow.

For the most part everything went really well. Matt was a stinker, go figure. But the girls did well with their work, and I never once lost patientce. Yay me.

A bit before lunch though, Bethany started complaining that her throat felt icky. In Bethspeak, that means that she'll be puking before long. It didn't click with me though, and I fed the kids macaroni and cheese with tuna for lunch. EW. She started throwing up around 1. She managed to finish her work though. LOL

So around 1:45, Matthew asked me to clean his ears. He loves having his ears cleaned, since he's got Brian's nasty ears. The cotton was long and tickled him just the wrong way and he started coughing so hard that HE threw up. Everything. All over me. Not a bit of it got on the sofa or the floor.

Did I mention that I'm a sympathetic puker?

So Matt's standing in the tub, covered in vomit, still throwing up, I'm hanging my head in the toilet and trying to take my vomit soaked clothes off at the same time. I finally managed to get all my clothes off, empty my own stomach, and get the clothes OUT of the bathroom, and Bethany came in to puke some more.

Some time in all of this I had managed to call Brian to tell him that it was a veritable puke fest here at home, and I had to leave a message. He managed to call back right when I was in the midst of trying to get into the shower wtih Matt and rub Bethany's back at the same time. He was mission planning, and couldn't get out until 4.

Once we were all finally cleaned up, Bethany said she felt better and I really needed to go run a few errands. So we went. Got done at the bank, went and got Matthew's hair cut (oh yeah, he climbed up on the bathroom counter while I was helping the girls with their morning work, and managed to start to give himself a haircut. ), and then went to the bookstore. Let the kids each pick out a book since we'd had a good but rough first day.

As we were heading to the checkout Bethany started weaving like she was drunk, and was white as a ghost. Her lips were grey. I asked her if she was going to throw up again, and told her to hurry up and go to the restroom, that I'd catch up to her in less than a minute. She's been to the restroom in that building plenty of times, so when she started heading for the managers office I knew she was bad. I dropped everything in the center of the store, grabbed her and held onto her neck at the pressure points to try to keep her from fainting, and steered her and half dragged Matthew out of the store. Poor Caitlin had no idea what was going on, and just followed. Bethany started stumbling and put her hand up to her face a few steps before we got to the exit door, and I started running. Still steering her and dragging Matt, and yelling "FAINTING GIRL COMING THROUGH!!!" We made it outside just in time, and managed to get to a corner next to a trash can and a water hose. The poor girl had nothing left to throw up.

Caitlin and Matthew were so good, and found a bench behind us and sat quietly the whole time I was taking care of Bethany.

So we started walking back to the van, but I had parked next to the bank so it was a bit of a walk. Bethany was still really pale, and I didn't think she could make the walk. Thankfully we ran into a friend, and Bethany was able to sit in front of Burger King with her so I could go get the van.

SO. Finally got all the kids home. Bethany went straight to bed to read, and Caitlin curled up on the sofa. I gave Matthew a snack and asked Catey if she wanted one.

No thank you.

She was holding her stomach. I asked her if she felt sick too, and she said her stomach really hurt. Like somebody had punched her. Which is CAITLIN's sign that she's going to throw up. Sure enough, about half an hour later she's hanging her head in the toilet.

As Catey's hanging her head in the toilet, Matthew came and tugged my hand and told me, "nigh-night." So I had to go dig his sheets out of the dryer, because of COURSE today would be the day that he wet the bed. Got him down for a nap, got Catey cleaned up, finally got all three kids settled down....

Thank God the house was quiet, I was finally able to take a nap. Because within an hour of them waking up, both girls were puking agian. Bethany didn't eat dinner at all, and hasn't kept down water. Caitlin tried eating some soup, and that came back up a short while later. I've now got both girls sleeping on the bottom bunk. I don't want Bethany waking up to throw up in the middle of the night and hurting her self trying to get down in time. There's a chum bucket next to the bed. Matthew's door is cracked, and I'm sure that he'll be next. I've got a raging headache, but I don't know if it's from stress or if I'm getting it. And Brian has a 10.5 hour flight tomorrow.

Yeah. We're skipping the field trip to the zoo tomorrow.

It's official

Today is the girls' last day of school. Starting Monday, we are a homeschooling family. I'm skeered. What am I getting us into? Am I really doing the right thing for my kids? Am I going to be able to give them the individualized education that they need, the whole reason I'm pulling them out of school to begin with? Are they going to make me so completely insane that I just crack? Am I going to destroy my kids by homeschooling them?

Doubt is a bad thing, and I'm drowning in it right now.