A mother's love; Happy 1/2 Birthday, Eric

Eric's birthday is December 22. He never gets to have a big friends party because it's so close to Christmas. So this year we decided to do a half birthday for him. Now, technically, his half birthday would have been last weekend, closer to the 22nd of June. But he was out of town that weekend, so we are doing it today.

His two friends, AJ and John got here about 1, and I loaded them, towels, floaties, a cooler of juice and snacks and my Siddhartha book (still have to have that done by Monday for Ethics) and we headed down to one of the many beaches within a 10 minute drive. I have been to this lake before, and specifically, to this lake access. It's quiet, there's bathrooms, shade trees and a nice sandy area near the boat launching area. It's not a huge area, nice and small. And every other time I've been there (this is the place I usually take Hailey and Comet for their swims) it's been almost deserted.

Not today.

Today it was inhabited by Al the troll. Or, rather, Al the troller. He was trolling for women... no, that's not even right, he was trolling for THIS woman. Me. I would have been flattered, but it was so gross.

Beer gut. I could tell where he got that from, it was 1:30 in the afternoon and he was already slurring. His glass was never empty.
The top row of teeth was crooked and gnarly from the center to as far as the eye could see to the right side of his head. And that was his good side!
He had no top teeth on the left side.

He decided we were friends when we realized that his son, Levi knew my son and AJ and John, too. Well, fine, we can chat for a bit, as I was unpacking my blanket and getting the things set up for the boys. By the time I had that done, I was so grateful for Siddhartha! I thought (wrong) that he would see me with a book and realize that I wanted to be left alone.

He was hitting on me pretty hard at first, and I was willing to cut him some slack on that, since I had taken my rings off and left them home. (I have lost the diamond in my wedding ring before, and I don't care to do it again, so I take it off alot more than I used to)

I figured as soon as I mentioned my husband (which was pretty quick) that he would back off. That's what most men do (not that I get hit on THAT much, but when I do, one mention of JP usually does the trick)

Not this troll.

He had to have been drunk, because in the course of our (4 HOUR LONG) one sided conversation, he mentioned several times his disdain for the military. And yes, this was after I told him that my husband, the SERGEANT, would be home by the end of the next month.
I can only imagine this stems from his inability to be in any kind of military due to either being unwilling to give up alcohol during basic training,

or perhaps he got a dental pardon. EWWW, I mean really, I was so glad I had a hat along. I was able to use the brim to keep from looking him in the face. His mouth was like a bad car accident, you know you shouldn't look, but you can't seem to look away.

So from 1:30 until 5 I was in the company of this creepo. He wanted to take me to lunch some time (No pressure, nothing serious, just lunch...we won't even drink) Um, no that will not happen. (Aw, come on, why not?) First off, I know my husband would not approve (Aw, he won't care) Uh, you don't know him, and you don't know that, I do and he will care. Sorry, not gonna happen.

Sorry JP, I used you as an excuse because I just didn't have the balls to scream "Leave me alone, you creepy fucker!"

Even Levi (the Troll's son) noticed. Eric asked me when we got home "Mom, what's 'hitting on' mean?"
Um... why do you ask?
"Cuz Levi said that his dad was hitting on you...was he?"
Ah, yeah, buddy. That means that he was trying to be my friend, and he wanted me to like him the way I like Dad.
"Didn't work, huh?"
No, buddy, no it did not. Oh, and Eric? Don't do that, ok? When you get old enough to like girls and want them to like you... don't hit on them. It's creepy, ok?
"You got it, Mom. You didn't look happy. I could tell"
Yeah, not happy at all. Happy Half Birthday Buddy.

The sacrifices we make for our children... makes me shudder sometimes how much I love my kids.

Summer Session

I thought summer classes were supposed to be easy! At the very least, they're supposed to be easier than full semester classes.

I have a book and a half to read by Monday for Ethics (The Stranger by Camus and Siddhartha by Hesse) and I have a book to finish by Monday for College Writing (Books & Islands in Ojibwe Country by Erdrich)

I think I only have 3 or 4 more class meetings in each class, so it is getting down there, but both teachers are trying to cram as much as possible in those last few meetings. I have "final papers" due in each the week after the 4th.

Things have been piling up around here, driving me nuts. I am letting Eric have a "half birthday" party this weekend. His real birthday is late December, all his friends are busy with Christmas stuff, so he never gets to have friends over. So I am taking these boys to the lake for an afternoon of swimming, then back to the house Saturday night for movies and pizza. All this means that I have to get the house cleaned tomorrow. I have class today from 1-4, so I can get started tonight.

I'm still waiting on my damn lawnmower part, getting cranky about it, too.

And I have to assemble a new gas grill. And clean out the garage.
So much to do and yet here I sit blathering on about it on my blog instead of actually DOING THEM!

Bronze Star?

I get an email version of the newsletter put out by JP's battalion. My husband's name was in the "awards and recognition' section this month. His was the only name listed under Bronze Star... My husband was awarded the Bronze Star and I have no idea why...

Honey? I know you're a quiet guy, not a boastful or arrogant man, I know that you detest "one-uppers", braggarts, and the like, but honey, if you don't toot your own horn occasionally, it's going to rust.

At the very least, you could have mentioned it to me so I could toot your horn for you! (oh, wait, that's for when you get home... heehee)

OK, honey, tell!?

Saturday & Birthday Drunks

Yeah, drUnks, not drInks.

Mom had a bit of a surprise party for Dave's birthday today. The surprise was not the party itself, he knew about that. The surprise was just how many people were invited!

Dave knew that I would be there, with the boys, and that Tammy, his daughter would be there with 2 of her daughters, and their dad, Brad. That's it.

He was rather surprised when all these cars and trucks kept coming up his driveway. Two of his brothers with their wives, a nephew, two nieces, plus several friends and their spouses and kids. Mom and Tammy and I did a big meal, brats, burgers, dogs, plus all sorts of side dishes. Plus there was more beer there than at the local liquor store. Lawn chairs in a huge circle around a fire ring, Tammy set up a stereo over by the garage for background music. Mom even got him a cake with a picture of a backhoe on it... that's what Dave does, he drives big machines. He was so surprised and very happy. The man turned 57 and nobody had ever done a big party like that for him before. He loved it, even though he kept telling Mom that he was going to kick her butt every time another car turned up the driveway.

Mom did the grilling and I was in charge of the buffet table, setting it up, and keeping it stocked. Wow, those drunk people can really pack away the food, let me tell you! It was a ton of work, the prep and the clean up afterwards, but very worth it, to see Dave and his reaction.

In the end, only one person spent the night, too. Dave's nephew was MIA for a bit, after everyone else had left. His truck was still there, but he was nowhere to be found. Then we found him... sleeping in his truck. Well, better that than a DUI, I guess. And it was a nice night. At least Dave's birthday isn't in December, it would have been a bit chilly to sleep in a vehicle then!

Dave's daughter, Tammy turned out to be the one casualty of the night though. There's always one, ya know? She fell down the stairs, and her ankle was so swollen and had a funny bend and bump to it, I really think she broke something. She was really drunk and would say "No, it's fine, I'm fine" then she'd try to walk, and end up crawling. Now, if you're that drunk and can STILL feel the pain, then sober, it's got to be excruciating. I hope she goes to the doctor.

It was a good night but I'm glad it's over!

Friday & a new kind of pain

I had a busy day Friday. I was also shown how right I am at judging people, how right on the money my gut feeling tends to be.

Friday morning I got Emma and the girls in the van and we went down to St. Cloud to meet the in-laws. I gave them Em and received from them one Eric. We got back home after he talked my ear off on the 2+ hour drive home about how fabulous it was for 2 weeks down in Albert Lea. Oh, ok, whatever, glad you had fun. (I really missed this little bugger, he is such a sweetie and such a cutie)

When we got back to town, Mom showed up, she helped me take out Hailey's stitches, and then we ran some errands. The AC is out in her truck, so we did the errands in the Kia. We both had shopping to do for Saturday night, Dave's big birthday party.

We were in Walmart at 2:30. My friend Gina's boyfriend works there, and he had agreed to meet me there at 3 to get cash from me to use his employee discount to buy the grill I wanted to get JP for Father's Day. I called Kent's cell when we got there, to let him know we were there, so when he showed up, just call me and we would meet him in the lawn and garden area. I called again at 5 after 3. No answer. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I really do not like this guy. I think he is lazy, and slovenly and disgusting, not to mention having absolutely NO physical attributes to make up for these other deficits... you know what I mean, he may be a bum, but at least he's pretty...NO NOT THIS ONE. I have no idea what Gina sees in him, except that he is the rebound guy. She divorced a real loser, and now she's with a slightly higher form of loser...maybe some day she will work her way up to a guy that's worthy of her.

ANYWAY, I digress. I was pissed off at this jackass, so I decided to buy the grill anyway. The sticker said it cost $248. I had it on me, and figured, fine, that'll just give me more to bitch about to Gina, hopefully make her think about the thing she calls "honey". His discount would have made the grill $231, with figuring in taxes. When the woman rang up the grill, however, it came up at $197!! It was still on the sale price that it was in the week before Father's Day! Even with everything else I bought that day, my total was still only $225! Screw You Lazy Jackass! HA! I hated the thought of being grateful to him, of having to thank him, of him doing me a favor... problem solved, grill purchased, and for a deal, too!

After we got back from our errands, I loaded up the boys and we went out to Charity and Gary's place. They have a uber-nice house on one of the 10,000 lakes here, and we had a cookout for the softball team. Gary has a speedboat, and a jet-ski. Charity talked me into riding on a tube thing being pulled by the boat. This activity requires so much more upper body strength than I have. I ended up NOT falling off, but giving up. I just finally let go and slid nicely into the water...my arms were cooked spaghetti noodles dragging along behind me. It was a really good time though, and we headed for home around 11:30 Friday night.

too tired

I will tell you all about my busy and fun day tomorrow, but I am tired now. (hint: I did something NEW, something for the FIRST TIME EVER today... and now I'm sore!) teehee

Tomorrow is busy, too, but I will find time to update... I hope.

maybe Sunday.

yeah, Sunday for sure.

Busy Day

It's shortly after 9 and I finally have a minute to relax.

I got up at 7:30 (all by myself, NO ALARM CLOCK!)
I got going on my huge list right away, and let the kids sleep in for an hour. I got in the truck and went out to Mom's. We swapped garbage (I took my burnables out to her and brought her non-burnables in to my town garbage) and got the truck hosed out. Yeah, honey, I'm sorry but I hauled some pretty icky stuff in the bed of the truck, and it was pretty ripe... but it's all better now, I promise!

I ran all over town running errands, and while in the City office, I promised them that next month when the water bill is due, that YOU would be in there to pay it and visit those ladies. They have been so nice every time I've gone in there, and you were so naughty to not go visit them when you were home on leave.

I got the garage worked on, hauled a load to charity, all the clothes that didn't sell last weekend, and some of the 'stuff', too. I think one more load, thing is, I don't have any more boxes to load it up in. I will figure something out, I guess.

I had Ethics class today and got a big icky writing assignment, due next Wednesday by 6 pm. I finished it about two hours ago. Then I got started on my College Writing II paper (rough draft) that's due Monday night. I'm going to be too busy the next few days to get anything done on homework, so I'm being responsible and doing it now.

Tomorrow morning I am meeting the in-laws in St Cloud and getting my Eric back, he's been with them for 2 weeks. I am also giving them my Emma, and in two weeks I will take the boys down for Nikki's wedding and bring all 3 home.

Tomorrow afternoon I am meeting Kent out at Walmart, the grill I want to get you is finally in, so he is going to help me buy that (with an employee discount) and then tomorrow night we are having a softball team cookout at Charity and Gary's place.

Saturday morning I have to make up some pasta salad and load up the lawn chairs etc and head out to Mom and Dave's. Mom is throwing a big cookout party for Dave's birthday. We will be doing burgers and brats and a bonfire with smores etc

I am assuming that by Sunday I will be too tired to do any papers with any sort of knowledgeable application, so I should get back to my assignment.

Or I could just go to bed.
Yeah, that sounds about right.

Grape Tomatoes (an answer for Flat)

I copied and pasted this from an article I found... They describe it much better than I do! They are fabulous bite sized snacks that are not fattening!

Grape tomatoes: Giving the Cherries a Run for Their Money
Plants & Gardens News Volume 16, Number 1 Spring 2001
by Niall Dunne
It's been nearly three years since I bought my first dry pint of grape tomatoes—and got hooked. At the time, these tasty treats were only available at trendy food stores like Fairway on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Nowadays, they are a supermarket sensation, flying off produce-department shelves all around the country.
So what's all the fuss about? At first glance, grape tomatoes don't look that different from red cherry tomatoes, which have been around for eons. (Prior to cultivation, the first tomato plants grew wild in Peru and Northern Chile, bearing pea- to cherry-sized fruits.) On closer inspection, however, you see that they are more elongated than cherries, shaped instead like olives or—yes, I have a genius for simile—like grapes.

Grape tomatoes combine a number of desirable tomato qualities, including very sweet flavor, firm texture, and at least the semblance of having been ripened on the vine. They don't have an inordinate amount of juice in them, so squirting accidents are minimized. Indeed, since these tomatoes average only about 1/2 to 3/4 inches in length, they pop right into your mouth, eliminating the squirt factor altogether.
Grape tomatoes also eliminate the "yuck" factor—kids love 'em! They gobble them up like candy. And they do it before, during, and after meals.

Almost Forgot to do this!

I got tagged a few days ago by Steff ( An Inside Look, see my sidebar, she's great), but with the rummage stuff going on, I put it off and put it off. Now that I am relaxing, I found the time. Problem is, part of it is to do a chain letter looking list of blogs, with links and put my blog on the bottom. I don't know how to do link thingys. I'm also going to weasel out of tagging 5 people... yeah, I know, I'm a loser.
So here it is:

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was 24, so I must have been pregnant. I was pregnant with Eric, and dealing with Emma being a 9 month old drool gland who poops.
What were you doing 1 year ago?
I was getting used to my braces, and still stinging from the realization that JP was "over there" and would be for a long time.
Five Snacks You Enjoy:
crunchy Cheetos, cheese and crackers(sharp cheddar), Rolos, HoHo's, grape tomatoes
Five Songs That You Know All The Lyrics To:
Got the time~Anthrax
Daniel~ Elton John
Unskinny Bop~ Poison
American Pie~ Don McClane
Still the One~ Shania Twain
Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Millionaire: Remodel the house, pay off the vehicles and the house, pay off my student loans, set up my kids' college funds, Donate a huge chunk to the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer foundation
Five Bad Habits: I guess you could say smoking, um, I jump the gun and go from 0 to bitch WAY too fast, I swear alot, I hate making my bed, so I never do, I just pull the comforter up over the mess, and I procrastinate.
Five Things You Like To Do: Write, read, play games at Pogo, shoot critters, and collect DVDs
Five Things You Would Never Wear Again: Neon (anything neon), banana clips, Ugg boots, jeans pinned at the ankles, miniskirts
Five Favorite Toys: well, um, 2 of them are in the top drawer.... then there's my cell phone, my laptop and my netcam.

Ok, time to move laundry, relaxing time is over! Now, to make up for me being such a slackass, I want everyone who reads this to click on the side bar to Steff's blog. (An Inside Look) Go, now... tell her I said HI!

Yeah, I guess I am a blogger whore!

LOL

Steff, I will let you know when I mail something out to you, and I'll send it to the date appropriate address... not sure when it will be, we are doing strawberry jelly this week.

Well, I had an interesting day. I slept in until almost 10, and putzed around the house for awhile. Then the kids and I loaded up and headed out to Mom's. We didn't get any chippies or any other varmints for that matter...

We loaded up and went to Fargo. Cigarettes, dog food, a stop at Target for Alex's latest "want", a new playstation game "God of War". He paid for it himself, but I had to buy it... age restrictions. Then we stopped in at the Sportsman's Warehouse. I was window shopping... well, I WAS, til the guy told me that they have a layaway program. Mom has a really nice .22 rifle. I have a .22 rifle, but it's small, more like Alex's size. The barrel is too short, and I don't care for the scope. I wanted to look at new ones, get an idea of the price I would be looking at. I chose a really nice Remington. I put some money down on it, and can pay it off a bit at a time. It is so nice.

To celebrate, we stopped at TGIFriday's for supper. Being a good girl, wanting to watch what I eat, I had a (fabulous!) cedar seared salmon on a bed of greens, grilled portabello mushrooms... simply the yummiest thing I have ever eaten that was actually NOT bad/fattening for me. Normally I would have chosen some pasta, or a fried something... in other words, fattening!

When we got back to Mom's, we decided to sneak out onto the deck and see if we could kill anything. This was the first time I had brought my old .22 out there, so I asked Alex if I could take the first shot, I wanted to check my shot. We had used a pop can earlier to line up the scope, but I really wanted a live target.

It didn't take long, and our victim showed his ratty little self. I took the shot and pretty much took his arm off... gruesome, but very cool.

That takes my kill count to 4 chippies and 1 squirrel. I just want a bunny now. I wish I could shoot in town, those damn bunnies are all over my yard here. Don't even get me started on those damn squirrels... I think they're just taunting me!

Well, time to get going, the laundry and housework has piled up.

Happy Father's Day

For the second year, the greatest father on Earth has to be away from the children he helped to create. Not fair.

Soon, babe, soon. Four weeks from now you will be back in the States, and within 2 weeks of that, you will be home where you belong. This last part of the wait is really the hardest for me, as I bet it is for you too.

Our rummage sale ended with a whimper, but it was a success. Saturday was not nearly as profitable as Friday, but I did get rid of a ton of stuff, and ended up making $165 for the two days. JP's grill is around $200, so I almost made enough to cover that, and that makes me happy.

One cool thing, Mom and I ended up selling 46 of the small candles and 16 of the large, so that was a huge inventory reduction, we were really happy with that. She also did incredibly well selling her books. In fact, she had one guy on Saturday who bought 33 of them...one guy!

After the sale was over, we did some cleaning up, will have to load the rest up this week to take to the charity so I can have my garage back. Then I let Alex and his friend Luke break that desk. Mom had said that we could bring it out to her place to burn, but it had to be free of any metal. So I gave each boy a crowbar and a hammer, and let them work out their frustrations (I do not want to think about what my 13 year old son is frustrated about...not my business)

Then while they were karate chopping and flying leaping the desk to pieces, I got the ladder out and cleaned out the gutters. The last few times it has rained, I've noticed that the gutters have been overflowing, not draining down the spout like they're supposed to. I suspected those whirly-gig seeds from that big tree by the driveway to be the clog culprit. I was right. I got them all cleaned out and drained. Then, just to make me happy, it rained last night and I woke up to shut windows and noticed a lovely flow right down the drain spout like it should.

As a reward for all my money-making and hard work, I bought myself a new thing yesterday. It's a microderm abrasion thingy... anyway, it made me laugh when I first opened it, with the right kind of attachment on this thing, it could easily be a vibrator. But it is for face scrubbing, not diddling. So I put on my soft comfy robe and spent about an hour in the bathroom, cleaning the grime and gross off of me. I took a long relaxing shower, got all better-smelling and washed away the stress of the last few days.

Then I took 3 of my coma-sleep pain pills and crashed.

I woke up this morning to Mom calling me telling me to come out early for our Fargo trip, and to bring my own .22 She said the chipmunk population has exploded and she needed reinforcements! Yippee! so we are going to head out there around 1.

Tomorrow I have to call and make another appointment with my buddy the doctor. I am still not walking right, and I am still in pain. I have to walk hunched over, and it looks like I shit my pants. You know, that bum-sticking-out kind of walk... it's bad. And dammit, I am going to need my flexibility back in about 5 or 6 weeks, so I have to get this taken care of NOW!

Well, time to jockey vehicles in the driveway and get dressed to head out.
Honey, I love you, you're the best Dad I could have ever asked for for my kids. They are really lucky to have you, as am I.

I love Money!

More specifically, I love MAKING money!

Our first day of the rummage was quite successful. I alone made just under $150. Mom made about $130, the kids did well, and so did Gina.

Almost all the "big stuff" of mine is gone. The most expensive thing I have yet to sell is a $5 chair. The rest is all cheaper, so I know tomorrow won't be as financially fabulous, but just getting rid of all that stuff, WOW!

Mom and I also put some of our candles out, sold about 20 of the small ones, and around 10 of the large ones. Talk about inventory reduction, we were in that cupboard once an hour grabbing a few more to put out, it was great! I get half the candle money, and that's included in the $150.

JP, I guess I have to get you that new grill for Father's Day, since I sold the old one today! Yippee! I also got rid of Shaggy's tank and the stand for it, all the "spare" bookcases, and the old DVD cabinet. Now that I have that fabulous wall of shelves, I didn't need any of those.

Mom started out the day with something like 145 books, mostly hardcover. We sold them for .25 each, and at last count she had sold 80 of them. Yes, she had them all listed on Half.com, and all for more than a quarter each, but this was quick, and done and gone. She's pretty happy. I went to Half.com first thing this morning and "went on vacation" to suspend my inventory. Now when the rummage is over tomorrow, I will delete any inventory that we sold, and put the rest back from vacation.

I am so sore, my entire body aches, and my hip/arse region is not better. I am going to have to go back to see my friend the doc on Monday.

It was hot and muggy today, but now it's cooling off and there is a lovely breeze. I bet it was in the high 90s today (Yes, JP, I know that doesn't mean much to you, but it was awful for us!)

So we think the countdown is at around 5 to 6 weeks until I am a whole and happy woman. Gosh, that sounds so wonderful, and kind of scary, too. Not scared of being happy, just got used to NOT being happy, I guess. I am sure it will be a big adjustment for all 5 of us (hell, even that sounds nice... all 5 of us) but an adjustment that I am looking forward to.

I am off to shower (I stink...sorry if that's TMI, but I was hot and sweaty and working all day) and then I am going to pop about 3 of my 'happy/sleepy pills' and drift off to a coma-like slumber.
Until 7 am, when I will have to awaken and be perky to do this all over again...
Money, Nik, just remember, it's all about the money.

Hailey

Hailey went to the vet today. I dropped her off at 8am, and went out to Mom's for awhile. We made some more raspberry jelly, and around 11 I stopped at the vet to check my bugaboo.

She was out of surgery, and sort of awake. She was groggy and sluggish, but when she saw me, she tried to sit up and her tail started thumping. I spent a few minutes with her and got her to lay back down, then Mom and I headed back into town.

We got a lot done getting ready for the sale, got the garage cleaned out and organized. The kids helped a little, but not much.

At 3 we headed over to get Hailey. She looked a lot better, but still not normal. She was walking fine, but slow. Her eyes were droopy but she was wagging her tail and smiling (yes, dogs CAN smile!)

We brought her home and then I had to get going to class. In my College Writing II class tonight, we had to analyze a bunch of different poems, then we had to write our own. After about 20 minutes, she asked for volunteers to read theirs. 3 of my classmates read theirs, and they were pretty good, we discussed them, what different styles they used, etc, and she asked for another volunteer to read (she was not forcing us to read them, just asking for volunteers). I decided to read mine. She said it was really good, they discussed, and she asked me to read it again. I said no. She looked surprised. I told her that someone else could read it, but I wouldn't read it again. Too sad, might start to cry.

When I got out of class, we worked some more on the rummage sale stuff. Now I am about ready for bed.
BTW, my hip is starting to feel better, I can stand upright now, and I only look like a weeble-wobble when I walk now, instead of the 90 yr old lady mocking Quasimodo.
(Weebles wobble but they don't fall down... remember them!? The original ones, egg shaped... LOVED them)

We're off to see the Doctor, the wonderful Doctor of Drugs

My appointment this morning was interesting.

First off, the doc I got the appointment with was the same doc who, 9 years ago, ended my child birthing experiences(thanks buddy, LOVE YA!) yeah, he was JP's snip master... great guy.

Right away, the nurse took me back and did the usual, height and weight crap. I was not happy right off the bat. Apparently their scale is off. It says I weigh a good 9 pounds more than the scale in my bathroom says. You cannot tell me that my jeans, t-shirt, flip-flops, glasses and watch weigh 9 pounds. Their scale is wrong...

I got into the exam room and the nurse did the blood pressure and pulse, checked my allergies (I'm allergic to penicillin) My blood pressure is low, always. It's like I'm half dead, or half empty of blood, maybe.

The doc walked in, shook my hand and introduced himself, and asked me what the problem was.

"I have a pain in the ass"

um, ok.

I explained to him that I thought it was my sciatic nerve being pinched, since thanks to Alex, I know what that feels like, and this is the same pain.

He was really good actually. Several times I have seen docs for a total of 2 minutes, and they don't talk to their patients, they don't listen to them. This guy did. I like him.

I told him that I could sit fine, no pain, but I can't stand upright, unless I do my Captain Morgan pose (Got a little Captain in you?) with my left leg up. Walking is incredibly horrible.

He gave me a shot of Cortisone in the left cheek, holy crap, that really hurt, and I jumped when he stuck me (sorry, wasn't ready)

He says that it will take a day or 2 for this to feel like it's doing any good, and if I am not back to normal by next Monday, then I have to go back in and they will do X-rays.

Mom and I made raspberry jelly this afternoon, and..

ALEX SHOT A CHIPMUNK!!
I'm so proud, my son is taking after his mother, a ruthless killer of small defenseless animals!
hehehe

Hailey is going in tomorrow morning for surgery, being spayed. Tomorrow afternoon Mom and I will be getting the garage etc ready for the rummage sale, and Gina is going to stop by and help out, too, since she will be putting things on the sale, too.
Time to get to bed.
He gave me a prescription for tylenol with codeine... happy sleep.

And the hits just keep coming!

well, what a weekend.

After getting sick of crap here, I loaded up the kids and headed south. After 5 hours of driving we arrived in A.L., at the in-laws house.

I arrived with a real P.I.T.A. an actual pain in my ass. My sciatic nerve is pinched. I cannot stand up straight. I cannot walk right. I look like a 90 year old woman mocking a hunchback when I walk. This has been happening a bit lately, if I sit for too long (a 3 hour class, or a 5 hour drive) but I can usually just walk it off. Not this time.

I did go out for the bachelorette party Saturday night, but I was so out of place. My nieces and their friends were the 'young, loud and fun' ones, and I usually fall into that group, being the loud and outgoing person that I am, BUT, I didn't know any of them except my two nieces, Nikki , the bride, and Karen, her sister and the maid of honor. Plus I was in some serious pain.

The other group consisted of my two sisters-in-law, and some other women in their late 30's and up. They were the quiet ones, the ones sitting in the background and sipping their drinks quietly. I'm not one of them. Plus I was in some serious pain.

I had my other niece Amber, who is gianormously pregnant take me back to the MIL's house at 11:30, barely buzzed and hobbling. The kids and I headed for home Sunday morning and when we got home we ran out to Mom's to pick up Hailey and Comet. We stayed awhile, to have dinner out there, and Mom gave me some drugs. Pain meds, really. The last thing I remember was saying "Wow, I think this is working, I can't feel my toes"... 2 hours later Mom was waking me up for dinner.

Sucky thing is, the meds did nothing for the pain, just knock me out so I can sleep. I took some again before I went to bed last night, and slept nice.

This morning the pain is still here in full force, and it really sucks because I have so much to do. We are still having the rummage sale Friday and Saturday, and with me gimping around, it's been hard to get things ready. Mom and I spent some time today getting things planned out, and I think Wednesday and Thursday will be the days to really getting things lined up.

One nice thing about the pain in my ass is that I'm out of softball tomorrow night. I am going to the doctor tomorrow, but I know that what I really need is a chiropractor. Military insurance does not cover that though, so I'm hoping a medical doctor can help me.

Now I'm sitting downstairs vegging because it's too hot. It got up to almost 95 today, and humid as hell. I don't really want to turn on the AC yet, either.

Well, time to take some pills and drift off into the land of 'don't care'...

"easy-out" my ass

I'm so tired of doing everything.
fucking lawnmower is broken.
the bolt holding the blade (which was shot) broke off.
half of it is still inside the... screw place.
JP tells me there's such a thing as an "easy out" tool type thing that will help get it out.
He says we have them in the garage
bullshit
so I go to buy a new blade and oh-by-the-way one of those "make my life better" easy-outs.

I'm done. I can't do this anymore. No, I probably CAN, I just don't want to.
I'm sick of not knowing how to do things, I'm sick of trying to figure shit out, I'm tired of it all being on me, and I'm tired of 'going it alone'. I just want him back. I'm sitting here sobbing like a dumb girl and I have so much stuff to do. That's another thing I'm sick of, always having something to do, there's always something that needed to be done yesterday and I hate not getting any help and I hate being the one who has to do everything around here.

The lawn will be ready to bale when you get home dear. I give up.

ADDENDUM: I loaded up the mower and the kids and the dogs and went out to Mom and Dave's. Dave fixed the bolt, put on the blade, changed the spark plug and the oil (OK, ADDED oil, there really wasn't any in there... what? I didn't know!) and cleaned it up.

We let Hailey and Comet play in the creek (holy balls, that pup is a total water baby! It was tough to get her OUT of the creek!) and the kids got Dave to take them on scooter rides, and I got into a better mood.

We came back home around 5, and got right into the laundry, and Emma went out to mow. All that good mood? Yeah, shot to hell again. She ran over a carcass (I don't know how it got in my front yard, I KNOW I DIDN'T SHOOT IT) a dead rabbit, I think, bones and guts and MAGGOTS... she claims that she didn't see it, yeah, I believe that...NOT... more like "Gee, I bet this will be cool to run over, and see it scatter/splatter all over."

Then she got a big long piece of twine wound around the shaft, and it wouldn't turn. I got a knife and cut that off, and then she tried to mow again, and there was a cloud of smoke, and it sputtered and died. The front yard is half done, looks like shit, side yard, not done, and back yard, not done.

stick a fork in me, I am done. Ya know, it has been a long time, and yes, there have been shitty things happening and every once in a while, things sucked, but I'm sorry this is just too damn much all at once... did I mention the dryer?

I think it's the heating element in the dryer that has gone to shit. The dryer (and washer, for that matter) is something like 12 years old, so I guess it's due, but holy crap, all this stuff couldn't wait another 7 weeks??

Good thing we are going out tomorrow night for Nikki's bacherlorette party... damn, I need a drink, or 8.

There's no "I" in TEAM...

But there is an "I" in "I fucked up and our TEAM lost because of it"

We actually played a team that was about our level of suckiness. We had a shot of winning!

The first game we played, we actually went all 7 innings. And up through the 6th, we were in it, we were only down 6 to 4, so we were IN THE GAME... then, top of the 7th inning, I pretty much went to shit. Walking a ton, and when I did get a pitch in there good, they wailed on it, way out to the outfield, and they scored 5 runs. We had to make up 8 runs to win the game, and we only had the bottom of the 7th to do it. Yeah, we didn't.

The second game we batted first (I am the lead-off batter and got a double, TYVM) and their pitcher also sucked, and we got in 6 runs off just 2 hits. She walked the rest of our runs in. So I head out to the mound for the bottom of the 1st, thinking I can relax a bit, we have a 6 run cushion. Yeah, fucked that up right off the bat, literally. They also scored 6 runs in the 1st... although I made them earn their runs. 6 runs off something like 5 hits.

It was getting dark, and the Umpire said he would probably call the game due to darkness before we could finish it. Don't even get me started on that jackass, either... all I really wanted to do was pitch one in overhand and aim right for his head... either one. I wanted to hurt him so bad... very one-sided umping, and his strike zone was so inconsistent... as if my pitching weren't inconsistent enough, then I had to contend with him calling the same thing a strike once, and a ball the next time... fucker.

In the second inning, I pretty much fell apart. I walked so many runs, and when I did manage to throw a strike, those fat women could really hit. We played 3 innings, and ended up needing to make up 11 runs at our last at-bat. No, we didn't quite make it... missed it by just 10. sunuvabitch. I was feeling pretty sucky about the whole thing.

On the way home I was telling Eric that I felt crumby, and he said "Ya know what I do when I feel like that?" (what buddy?) "I go see my best friend"

hmmm, good idea. I called Mom as we were driving down our street. Told her that I was having a sucky night, and she said "So ya coming out here?" (Um, yeah, I guess we are!)

We only stayed about 45 minutes out at Mom's, but it was nice, and relaxing, and I told her all about how I lost the games for us, and that I was pretty bummed out. By the time we left, I was feeling better.

I haven't seen JP online for a couple of days, so that makes me cranky... I miss him.
He'll be home in something like 8 weeks... wow, that sounds so nice, think I'll type it again.
He'll be home in something like 8 weeks.

Nice.
(btw, still waiting on an email of pics from Kelsi)

almost midnight, update tomorrow

I'm too tired, but softball was a real pisser, and I will talk about it tomorrow.
I got home from the games, and wrote my paper for my Coll. Writ. II class tomorrow afternoon, and it's late, and I'm sore and tired and cranky.

Oh, and Kelsi took pics from the game, and she's going to email them to me, so if I don't look like a total cow, I will post one... later.

Mr "guard widow" strikes again

Why do I even answer the phone? I have caller ID, I KNEW it was him.

He is so horrible. We got onto the subject of when all these soldiers come home, and how hard it will be to readjust all these families. How hard it must be for the soldier and the family.

It has been a very long deployment. 22 months by the time it is done. Of course, he mentions fidelity. Or rather, INfidelity. I don't remember how he worded it, but it was like he was halfway between accusing me of cheating on my husband and saying that it was ok to do so. Just slimy creepy. He basically said that it was virtually impossible for a human being, ANY human being, to go that long without sex.

My response to this pig was "that's why I have Adam&Eve.com on my favorites list and buy AA batteries in bulk."

I had a pretty nice day going before that phone call. I'm just not going to answer those anymore. I just want it to be over so we can try to find normal again. No, I didn't say "so we can get back to normal" because that normal is over, and we need to get comfortable in our new normal.
I miss you babe, everyday, but especially on days like this.

Just call us the Clampetts

Yeah, how's this for a turnaround?
I go from the literary cannon this morning to picking off a chipmunk with a .22 this evening.
I am a diverse woman, I tell ya!

The kids and I went out to Mom's for dinner (again... 2nd Sunday in a row, this could become a habit...one I like)

This is how redneck we are: We are eating steaks and all the fixin's (including wild grown asparagus from the grove) sitting out on the deck. Mom, Alex, Eric, Emma and I... chatting and enjoying some really fine steak. This all seems normal enough, except that suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I see a chipmunk in the woodpile. I set down my fork and calmly ask Mom to hand me the gun. Yes, we had a gun sitting that close to us at the dinner table. (redneck... told ya!)

I got the little bastard in my sights and took my shot. Missed. The little bugger didn't move. Maybe he thought I didn't see him. Maybe he thought I was thinking he had run off. Maybe he was just that stupid. So I lined him up between the cross hairs again, and holy shit, I missed that little bugger again! At least this time he finally ran off. I swore a bit, set the gun down (yes, I did put the safety back on) and picked up my fork and finished my dinner as if nothing had happened. The really redneck part was that nobody, not Mom, not any of the kids, questioned it at all, except to ask if I got him.

After we cleared off the dinner dishes, we sat out on the deck talking. Eventually, the chipmunks came out again. I think that 'stupid' theory is about right. I got another chance, albeit a different chipmunk. I know because instead of the woodpile, they were on the other side of the lawn, over by the garden. I dropped mine in one nice front and center chest shot. No death quivers, no running for 10 feet, just bam, down she went. Yes, it was a female. One who had been, until recently, nursing babies. I was just coming back from the edge of the woods, disposing of the body when Mom, up on the deck, gave me a stop sign. I saw her with the gun up, she had one in her sights. I waited til she took her shot, and then went over and picked up the baby to the one I got and tossed that little sucker into the same area where I had just chucked it's mommy.

Yup, it's a good Sunday dinner when we can kill something. I'm hoping next week for a nice big roast for supper and a bunny to shoot at. Last week was a squirrel (my first) and this week was a chipmunk (also a first) and now I just want to kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit (think Elmer Fudd, gang!)

Now that I'm home and sleepy, of course I have to read an Ethics assignment. Well, if I were suffering from insomnia, this would do the trick, but I'm not, I am already tired... Maybe I will put it down and try again in the morning.

I still have to print out my Narrative rough draft story for Writing, too. I used my blog post about when Alex was full of shit, changed it, rewrote some of it, and I'm using that. Yes, technically, it's recycling, but it's still MY work. I just can't seem to do a short story. Every time I start writing one, I want to do a full length novel with it. I simply cannot sum things up in short story form.

Well, that's it, time to close up shop for the night, it's only a little after 10, but I think being outside in the fresh air has really done me in.

Book recommendations

Flat asked for a book, something she can take on her vacation. I don't generally do romance novels, but she did say she wanted something with an actual story, not just "his quivering member"... maybe there, I do have one.

Yes, it is technically one of the classics of the literary cannon, but the love story within the story of history and intrigue is simply beautiful. And I do not mean the love between Lucy and Charles, that is the classic love story. I am referring to the love that Sydney Carton carries hidden in his heart, yearning to be with Lucy, willing to do anything to make her happy, including dying in Charles' place.

I think it is simply the best love story ever written. Now I am willing to bet that Flat will probably not like this for a vacation read... it's not the light and fun novel most would want in a vacation read. I don't think I know of any light and fun romance with a story types. What I know is that A Tale of Two Cities is the greatest love story I have ever read.

Flat, if you decide not to pick up a copy of this for your vacation, I will fully understand, but please, if you have never read it, do pick up a copy and read it at some point.

There, that's all I have to say this morning about literature.

Shelves

Mom and I kick ass.

Power tools?

No problem.

Measure twice, cut once...

I LOVE this, we did this...just us, we rock!

OMG! He's right f*cking THERE!

I said, as I grabbed Mom's arm, pointing to Michael Bolton as he came out into the audience to sing right in front of us, out in the cheap seats. (FLAT, during "when a man loves a woman"...)

Then later, he said "You are just too far back there, why don't we have everyone from the back just come up front?!"

So yeah, we did. I had so much more fun than I thought I would!

Mom took a bunch of pics with her cell phone, and as soon as we figure out how to get them off her phone and onto my laptop, I will post some...

That man has an ass that is not to be missed. Daaayyyuuum...mmmm, mmmm.