Home Alone

With 3 kids for two weeks.
Does this sound like the latest horror flick or the latest reality game? Well, for me it is a reality. So far no one has been voted off. One of the telling signs for me that my dh is gone is that I have a hard time sleeping when he is not home. I seem to hear every little thing when I finally do go to bed at 1 or 2 am and the only thing that makes me feel any better is Bec comes to bed with me about that time and then with someone else in the bed with me I can go to sleep. Weird huh?? It must be her snoring that makes me feel better?? I mean really when he is here he does not get up to check on all the little noises for me and 9 out of 10 times he does not hear even the kids when they wake up in the middle of the night. So after a week of not sleeping I am now exhausted and able to go to sleep earlier than usual. I'll chat more tomorrow -- I have lots of adventures to share about this week. Good night...

30 min. challenge

I vacuumed my car today and it only took 30 minutes. I know this because Bec had a field trip that I agreed to drive for but then when I dropped her off and looked in the back I noticed the mess. You know when you look at your things with your eyes they tend to be okay, passable, it will do for now because I don't have time to clean it, change it etc... Well I looked at my van with eyes of someone getting into for the first time and let me tell you, it was disgusting! There were wrappers of all sorts of thing I don't even remember giving my kids. (when did we eat Popsicles in the van???) Crayons, socks (no wonder my oldest claims he has none), fast food toys(they were the first things in the trash), cards to a memory game (who plays that in the car??), hair clips (no wonder her hair always looks like a mess), flowers (I mean weeds), and dirt from every corner of the world I am sure! So I tossed it all in a big box threw the garbage out and vacuumed. Now my car looks clean -- I would even sit back there!
Anyhow, so I thought, this only took 30 minutes. What else am I neglecting that would only take 30 minutes or less??? There has to be other stuff I never get to but would not take long at all. Like clean the sliding glass window, fold my socks, toss out the magazines, weed, or clean up the entertainment center. So I figured if I gave myself this challenge of doing just one of these things a day maybe then I would feel something got done- even if I did not do anything else all day at least for 30 min. I achieved something! So there it is. My challenge. Wonder what tomorrow's 30 minute chore should be????

Grateful for my appliances

On the Today show this morning I saw this story about a mother of 4 who gave up all her electronic devices for 7 days. At first I thought "oh, so she gave up the TV and computer." But no- it got worse. Not only did she have to give these things up but she gave up the microwave, dishwasher and vacuum but most importantly this mother gave up her washer and drier! Is this what's going on in America that we have to torture a SAHM with giving up the things that make her life smoother??? The poor woman had to wash the clothes by hand and air dry them -- plus it took her 8 hours to do this chore. Who has 8 hours to devote to washing clothes??? I know people have way too many clothes and this is what we use to do, etc... but we have evolved these things save us time. Not to mention do you know what a pit my house would look like or how insane I would be if my kids did not veg in front of the TV or computer for a bit???? Lets not even talk about my carpets with no vacuum! Gross!
Today I am thankful for all my appliances!!!

Run Forest, Run

So I am running now. I can call myself (dramatic pause for effect), a runner. If you knew me for the true couch potato that I am you would know that this is a down right miracle . You know one of those seeing the face of Jesus on toast kind of things... Anyhow I am running. As of December 15. I know this because that was the date that I ran a Jingle Bell run with my oldest and almost lost him because he was way ahead of me in the race and he decided to go back and look for me after he finished but couldn't find me and it was dark and .... well now I am a runner. Actually not because of that but because of the fact that after that I was so sore and did not want to experience that soreness again so I kept running.
I actually like it. It is very freeing and I am by myself -- in fact it is the only time that I can leave my house and my husband is thrilled to see me go (he is a runner) and nobody- NOBODY questions where I am going or wants to go with me. I just get to go.
In my running I find my favorite days to go are garbage days I like to see what everyone is throwing out. You can totally tell what people have been up to during the weekend by the garbage they throw out. Beer bottles and wine boxes = party, old furniture = redoing the rooms, Assorted boxes = cleaning the garage.
I don't go for very long just 30 min. but it is enough time to clear my head and listen to my music and rejuvinate. This is the only time that I listen to my husbands hard rock-- you know ACDC and Poison.. There are alot more but this is who I remember. It keeps me going the thumping of the beat and I have to watch myself that I don't sing out "welcome to the Jungle..."
So, I am a runner.

at church

Today the homily was about change and how people don't like to change and about why people don't change and about in what ways does God want us to change.
I must say change is very hard for me. Amazingly enough I have changed all my life being a kid of the military and now the wife of a military guy. From that house to this one, leaving this friend, finding new friends, moving to this town instead of staying in this one, moving schools adjusting to different places and the list goes on. Now I find that as I get older I just want to stay in one place, have the same friends, know where I can go to get whatever it is I need. I am a bit envious of people who can do that, who can buy the furnishings they want and not be wary of it getting dented or scratched as they move for the tenth time or whose friends never change and they always have someone they can call. I am sure that is not what the deacon means when he started on about change but that is what comes to mind.
I think what he had in mind was changing the person you are and how you love others.
Change, it is so hard to get rid of how you are comfortable and move on to the uncomfortable. I guess that is where you grow. So I guess I will strive to survive my Change ...

Rocket Day

My boys were excited today -- and when I say my boys I am including the 37 year old one that I married. Today our cub scouts joined the Spaceport Rocketry Association in their monthly meeting to launch homebuilt rockets. As you can see from the picture on top our rockets were not that impressive, but they did travel far and fast. (JP is the on the right and D is on the far left) Some of the rockets that the club members launched were as tall as me and even had a nice hissing - boom sound with fire as they launched. It was quite impressive.
The other picture is of the boys going to search the field for their launched rockets. Now the key to the search and recovery is to make sure you follow the rocket as it is in the air so you know about where it lands or you are searching forever! Fortunately dad kept his eye on them or we would have been out there as we speak (cuz you know we would not have been able to leave it !)
While this was all exciting for "the brothers" as she calls them. Bec hid under the towel (mom forgot a blanket) and plugged her ears. The only time she moved was when they were reloading the launch site. She would then scramble to pick all the flowers around her. We now have a beautiful arrangement of weeds -- I mean flowers-- in a vase on the table.

Valentine card

By request I am posting my card that I gave my pilot.

I made it by cutting 9 white circles and then placing 9 black circles on top of them (sort of an optical illusion) then I cut out the 2 little hearts and a big heart for the middle. I added bling to the side hearts and I stuck the big heart on with a glue dot to raise it a bit and then tied the string around it attaching the distressed little tag with the u on.

He liked it, and in return I got a $25 gift card to the local scrapbook store. He knows me too well!!!