Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Monsoons.....

are nice in Arizona. It has been raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock around here lately. It's nice though. The clouds normally roll in in the evening and we get really good thunderstorms. The only bad part is the dadgum swamp cooler that brings in all the moisture and makes our house feel dirty. But at least there isn't as much dust around.

Charles and I rode 8 miles today on our bikes. We went the uphill route and I thought my lungs were going to explode. I slow him down but he stays with me for the most part. My chubbyness and the less oxygen here makes those climbs a booger bear. I better be skinny in the next month or 2. We took the kids on that ride a few weeks ago and as Josh and I were climbing the hill he tells me he would rather pick up dog poop with his bare hands than to do that hill on his bike!

We got our first tomato from our garden today! Very exciting. Our chickens are doing well too.

I finally got around to all the chores that have been needing to get done. I cleaned out our car yesterday just in time for them to randomly inspect on post today. The security guy even told me how clean it was. For some reason I was thinking that would fall into the man of the house category, now that Charles is home and all. I guess I was wrong since I don't have a penis. And speaking of a penis, I wonder why men don't feel uncomfortable to shower in front of other men. Whenever we go to the pool, the kids will always tell me how there are naked men walking all over the locker room or showering with no curtain to cover anything. Charles tells me the secret to this is to act like you are the only one in the locker room. He says meat gazing is a big no no! I'm sorry, I would have to look. Not because it's some huge turn on but it's like a car wreck. I just wouldn't be able to turn away if I saw something like this. Apparently, Cody has some of me in him. I remember when he was about 3 years old and we were at the gym. I had started going to the gym when he was about 2 1/2 and they were pretty familiar with the gym I used. He went into the bathroom one day with Ryan, while we were there. I was speaking to my trainer when Ryan comes out to tell me that Cody won't come out of the bathroom. He said that he was enthralled with some man in there and was literally standing there watching the guy while he was butt naked! The man, I am hoping, was uncomfortable. I know I would be if some 3 year old was staring at me while I was nude. That would definitely make me never want to walk around another locker room undressed. We finally peeled him away from the peep show and he's been o.k. since.

I should run and get the floors prepped for mopping. All of my kids will be gone tonight and I'm excited :)

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Have you ever noticed....

when someone has good intentions you can just feel it. And vice versa, of course. By the way I finished Twilight on Friday night and watched the movie last night and was completely disappointed. Back to my first thought, though. Two people can do the very same thing, you feel that one has good intentions and the other has not so good intentions. You take the action completely different. Am I making any sense at all? For instance, I was reading a blog yesterday about someone I know who had run a 5K. You could clearly tell from her blog posting she had worked hard for this goal and she was excited she had done it. It was really inspiring to me. I felt her intent was not to brag or make someone else feel like crap but that she was truly happy that she was able to do that. On the other hand, my little facebook "friend" who is constantly making her status about how she just ran a 5 mile hill/interval and she's ready to start her day. Her intent is clearly that she wants to feel sexy, and great and others to compliment her. I mean even through facebook pages you can tell someone's intent. At least that's how I see it. And while we're on the topic of exercising, it is my intent to brag, I'm a biking fool! I did 8 miles in 3rd gear yesterday! Don't worry though, my intent is not to make others think I'm sexy or great, but to let myself know that chubby people can still be fit!

Ok, like I said, we watched Twilight last night and I was completely disappointed. They did not do justice to the book. What have I become? I can't believe myself, I'm a Twilight reader and can't wait to read the next book. AND...the worst part, I thought Rob Pattinson was cute! :- He's is everything I'm against. I bet you anything he doesn't know what to do with a tool belt and has never shot a gun! After reading the book, I was disappointed in who had been chosen to play the part of Edward. After seeing the movie I thought he was great. For those that know me, this entire paragraph has to be a complete shock! Dang it, what has come over me. Charles wasn't at all interested and still has no desire. That's a good thing though.

It is summer time in Arizona and we have a swamp cooler. Do you know what that means? Monsoons and IRRITATION! It is constantly humid in our house. Your clothes feel wet all the time and everything feels dirty. It is driving me nuts. I know all the Alabamians reading this are thinking they have to deal with humidity everyday of the year. BUT....at least when you are indoors the humidity stays outside. I will admit, though, there is nothing like Alabama humidity. Of course, I've been in San Antonio before and thought the same thing.

I had sharing time in Primary today, and let me just say, kids around the 10 year range are so annoying and corny. I hope and pray I wasn't like this when I was that age. I can't imagine that they would ever know what I was thinking because they think they are so cool and funny. They could never imagine that I would like to slap them! Charlie told me, the other day, he didn't think we were like other Mormom families. I asked him why he thought that and he says because we don't act or talk like other Mormon families. I told him it's because I refuse to allow my children to act so dadgum corny like other Mormon families might allow. I have no tolerance for silliness and I'm not talking about the good silliness. I'm talking about the silliness that only my sister knows :) You know what I'm talking about, Ericka, don't you?

Thursday, June 25, 2009

A catchy headline would go here.....

I am not one of these mothers that makes her kids' summers educational. We sleep in, swim, play outside and other fun summery things. We don't read or do librairies or anything boring. Bad, I know, but so good for me. It's a break from homework, getting up early, and making lunches everyday. My kids get to make their own lunches during summer. I get nice from time to time and make something for them but I feel like I'm finally at a time that I get some partial retirement.

Yesterday, the outdoor pool finally opened. I was so excited to be able to sit in the sun and not have to be the lifeguard. All of my kids are old enough to swim on their own without me being in arm's reach! (government pool rules) I have waited for this for quite a few summers now. I have sat envious of the moms who get to cart their kids to the pool and watch lovingly as their kids swim and have fun. Yesterday was going to be MY day, or, so I thought. I sat our things up and doled out goggles and got everything ready to nestle in and read my book. It took each child a minute to have the balls to jump into the chilly water. Each child swam for about 10 minutes before getting out and telling me how cold the water was. At one point every, single, one of them was literally hovered over me, blocking my sun and dripping all over me. I couldn't believe it. All the summers I have waited to have my kids leave me alone while they swam and enjoyed themselves and here I was being annoyed. I gave them a choice, though, because that's what good moms do. It was either swim in the icy waters or go home and do chores. I mean, hell, we are in sunny Arizona. It wasn't a hard choice.

I have fallen victim to the Twilight books. This is 91% of the reason I wanted to be left alone at the pool! I've heard all about them and had absolutely NO desire to read them. I'm not a reader, unless it's a gossip magazine, BUT, a friend of mine loaned me the first book in the series the other day so I thought I would read a page or 2 and see why everyone was acting foolish over this book! I couldn't put the dadgum thing down! I don't know what's wrong with me. I mean, I've read a few John Grisham books in my life and that's it. I made it to chapter 6 yesterday and haven't picked it up YET today. People I talk to either love it or hate. I just knew I would hate it. Now that Edward's character has been described I am a little disappointed of who plays him in the movie. I guess people's definition of beautiful differs somewhat!

I was awakened this morning at 5 a.m. to a woodpecker pecking on the storage shed! Completely frustrating since Charles wanted me to take him into work. I had actually told him I would drive him in today. He is supposed to be riding his bike to work but Charles isn't one to enjoy the heat, so his riding days have been put off a bit lately. It's actually cutting into my sleeping in time! It gives me a reason to get out of bed and go to the gym. Oh and speaking of exercising, we rode the 6 mile loop last night and I did 90% of it in 3rd gear. There were times when I begged Charles to ride home and get the car but he wouldn't hear of it. Today I feel as though someone has kicked me in the buttocks repeatedly with a steel toed boot. My butt hurts so bad from the bike seat but I was pretty excited that was able to reach that goal! Of course I made the goal quite a while ago, but better late than never, right?

Friday, June 19, 2009

Lazy days of summer....

We've been spending lots of our days at the pool lately. It's nice because I can swim laps while the kids play. Normally when I swim with the kids I have to watch everyone dive, jump and swim for diving sticks. Then they want to swim under me, around me and between my legs. Usually it isn't a very fun experience for me. But when I get to do laps nobody bugs me and I can swim as long as I want. Only lap swimmers are allowed in the swim lanes so kids are off limits! Don't you hate when you have to hear about everyone's exercise experiences? Not to be mean, but there is a girl on my facebook list of friends. I'm not really friends with her other than through facebook. I met her when Charles and I were first married. I'm sure she's a nice gal and all. But every time I log into to facebook it tells me that she has set her status as just having run 5 miles and feeling amazing and ready to start her day. She ALWAYS uses the word amazing too. When I exercise, which I do everyday, the word amazing never comes to mind. I mean that is great that she can run 5 miles without stopping and passing out but I really couldn't care less. Plus she puts it up every day, I mean think of something new. It just bugs me. My issues!

On the way to the pool today, Ryan reminicsed about days gone by. He was recalling a time we went swimming when we were here for our last jaunt and he and Charlie were the only children. It was something about Charlie wanting to go off the slide and the lifeguards wanted him to pass a swim test before he could use the slide. They asked if he could swim and apparently I told them he wasn't an olympic swimmer but that he was a decent enough swimmer to patron the slide. I don't recall that incident but everyone in the car was convinced it happened. I was cracking up because it very much sounds like something I would say and I thought it was hilarious that Ryan remembered that!

For some reason pools on a military base have the craziest rules. For instance, the one we go to now makes you swim the length of a 25 meter pool, with your arms out of the water, and back, to be able to jump off the diving board without a parent waiting in the water below. That makes no sense that they want you to do that because once you jump off the diving board, it's like 6 feet to get to the ladder. Again, my issues. I can't complain, it is free and believe it or not there are no black people there, with it being free and all that's just hard to believe.

So I learned how to make tamales today. I never realized just how unhealthy those suckers are. The recipe called for 2 pounds, yes, 2 lbs of LARD! I don't think the greasy feeling I have in the roof of my mouth will never go away. Won't be making those again. Plus, there are way too many ingredients and time involved and I just DO NOT cook like that. It's one thing if the majority of the ingredients are spices but when you have more than 10 actual ingredients, that's just way too much. Plus.... my attention span is super short.

Just in case you're wondering of the randomness of this posting, it was over a 2 day period. So we actually went to the pool yesterday. Today, Saturday was the tamale making :)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Why is it that people's failures makes us feel more comfortable? Why is it that some people can't feel genuine happiness for others? There was a guy that spoke briefly about this during church this past Sunday. I was quite intrigued that he spoke about it because that characteristic bugs me in a person and I have noticed it quite a bit throughout my life. I can't say that I haven't fallen into this category :( When you're trying the best you can in life and things seem to never go your way but over in the corner is someone that seems to always have things go right. It can get a little frustrating when you feel picked on. I guess it's just our perception of things. We see things worse about ourselves than what other people see. It sucks, I know. But, for some reason I seem to feel much more comfortable around people who have had a few hard knocks. People that have had to make it on their own in life. I like just plain 'ol blue collar folks, that live pay day to payday and don't need the finer things in life. It's ok to have a white collar job and live a blue collar lifestyle. People that can do that are so much more fascinating to me and more enjoyable to be around. I was listening to a story today about a girl that has had a pretty rough life. To look at her though, things seem to be perfect. Once I heard the story I wanted to get to know her. Not to feel more comfortable about myself but to meet someone that can rise above it despite her obstacles. I love stories like that. The ones where mommy and daddy fixed everything are boring and predictable.

People that can't give compliments are hard to be around. I mean if someone looks cute, tell them . If you notice someone has lost weight, say something. Don't be pissed because you haven't had the motivation to do it. Give someone a dadgum compliment. It's so irritating when people just can't say something nice about someone else.... just some thoughts I've had today :)

Well I've been making Father's Day stuff all this week! I've been pretty crafty. I made a cute photo block on Monday and then last night at church I made a tie! They're both cute. I didn't want to over spend considering what I received for Mother's Day and all. For anyone wondering if I truly won't get Charles anything for Father's Day, the answer is no. I can't go a holiday like that and not recognize him. For the feminist reading this, I'm sure that's enough to piss you right off. BUT....even though he is a big ding dong at times, I do love him, he is the father of my 4 kids and when he retires, from the army in 6 years, I'm getting a new car and a vacation :) That last part is seriously true.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

We really need to move to a state that does year round school! School has been out long enough. I usually start to go crazy around the 3 week mark and here we are! August 6 can't get here soon enough.

The weekend was good. Charles and I went out for our anniversary on Saturday night since we weren't going to be able to do anything on Sunday. The town we live in isn't very exciting so we did the standard dinner date. Charles had heard something about this place called The Hummingbird Grille. It sounded good enough so he gave them a call and asked if we needed reservations and the guy told him it was recommended. He penciled us in for 6:30. We headed out about 30 minutes after the reservations were made. I was wanting to go to the German Cafe but Hummingbird Grille it was! We never eat out so we were excited to get away from kids and cooking. Mostly I was. We pull up in the nearly empty parking lot and walk to the entrance where we were greeted by the hostess. It looked pretty fancy and there was only one other table being occupied. I was spmewhat surprised since they told Charles reservations were recommended. We sit down and the menus were brought to us.......I opened mine and was immediately irritated. There were about 6 things to choose from on the entire menu. That's including appetizers. We looked at each other at the exact same moment and Charles says to me "do you want to get out of here?" I say "hell yes." He wonders if we will have any dignity left if we just walk out. The waitress is making her way over at the exact moment we had decided to blow the joint. Charles, being the most unconfrontational person I know, is worried if the waitress will feel bad. I told him to let's just go and not worry about it. When we informed her we were leaving she was surprised and wasn't quite sure how to react. Here's the deal.....we NEVER eat out, so when we do, I am not going to just settle. I'm going to eat something that's worth eating out for. So we headed to the German Cafe and it was delicious! Just in case you're wondering :)

I'm pretty sure the mice are all gone. We've had no activity in a few days. I'm seriously hoping 7 mice is all that got in. As if that isn't enough. That's all the excitement I have to report for now.

Friday, June 12, 2009

A week of events....

Charles' last day of leave was Monday so we went out with a bang! Actually we just spent the day in or near the water. We took the kids swimming and later in the evening we went fishing! We have a nice, smaller lake out the west gate. Of course if we were in the south it would be considered a pond but that's neither here nor there! Well, I think we have found something Charles knows nothing about. He was super cute though trying to figure everything out. Josh was wanting to stay home and play video games but his dad would hear nothing of that. We loaded up and drove out there and discovered only 1 of the 5 poles, we brought with us, was in working order. Charles' friend, Keith, the one that invited us, had an extra so all te kids had to take turns. Josh and Cody ended up digging fishing the most since they caught the most fish. Cody was the actual winner, as he ended up catching and throwing back 4 of the smallest fish you can imagine. He didn't care how much it weighed though, HE caught them!

I believe Wednesday would take the cake for the highlight of the week. Our house had not been deep cleaned since just before my sister's visit. After a trip to the pool we came home to get our working gloves on. I was scrubbing the kitchen down when Charlie took it upon himself to clean the dog's food and water bowls out. I thought this was a kind gesture since none of the kids do anything super sweet for Dixie. He gets the bowls sparkling clean and refills the water bowl and walks over to the cabinet where all of Dixie's belongings are and grabs her bag off food to put fresh food in her bowl. Awwww! Charlie digs his hand deep in the bag when he feels something fuzzy brush up against his hand! He squeals like a school girl which gets me screaming asking what the heck it is. I was praying it was going to be a spider or some kind of six-legged thing. Hell no, it wasn't anything with six legs. It was more like 16 legs in there. Four, yes 4, MICE were in the damn dog food bag. HOLY @#%*! I was going crazy. He throws the bag down and is freaking out! I'm screaming for him to get the dadgum bag out of the house. I have chills as I type, thinking about it! He calms down, grabs the bag and takes it out. Now all of the kids are interested and looking in the bag. I'm still screaming at this point, telling them to take the bag to the big, outside trash can and not to stand there and let all the mice out of the bag so they can re-enter the house. Cody looks at me through the sliding glass door with his hands cupped around his eyes and says " No, Mom , we're keeping 'em!" I had to laugh at this point because if he was any cuter it would be dangerous. There was still 20 minutes before Charles was to leave from work. I call him up and told him he must come home early. He sits on the phone and wanted to debate with me when I promptly reminded him of going into work 2 hours late that same day! He agreed to come home and analyze the problem. He checked everything out and went to Wal*Mart and bought everything you can think of to kill mice. He woke up the next morning to find 3 more dead mice. So that's 7 mice in a 24 hour period! Holy crap I think I need a sedative. We loaded more traps and haven't seen any action since. I'm hoping and praying we have fixed the problem and can patch up the holes where they were coming in.

This morning we were awakened to Jehovah's Witnesses wanting to share a message. That was fun! Charlie got stuck opening the door and let them know his mom was asleep. It was 9:30 :- Whoopsie! It is summer though.

Charles and I celebrate 14 years of marriage on Sunday! We were discussing this last night and reminiscing of our life together. I recalled the tiny, roach infested military house we first lived in on the very base we are stationed at today. We then realized how far we've come after 14 years, 4 kids, a few cars and several states later to the big, mice infested house we now live in! We've had a good life! Charles has gotten better looking everyday, huh Babe?

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

just some thoughts....

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post about my award winning peanut butter chocolate cake! It fetched $80 at the church fundraiser for the youth! I made the same cake that I had made in April for Ryan's birthday. You know the one that Charlie had crapped up? Yeah it fetched 80 big ones, so that helped out a lot with the $200 scout camp. It pays to be a good baker!

Ok, last night Charles and I rented a redbox movie. We rented He's Just Not That Into You. Now, that movie just down right pissed me off. I know that our views on life and relationships differs somewhat from most people in the world. This movie portrayed, what I assume, the way most single folks, with no morals, feel about relationships. The one character that bugged me the most was Scarlet Johansson's. She meets a married man and feels that because she couldn't stop thinking about him she was entitled to get what she wanted. She thought is must be right since this married man wasn't leaving her mind. Her friend assures her just because he's married doesn't mean he can't be THE ONE. By the way, she does end up sleeping with the married man in the movie. Can you believe that crap? I was irritated most of the day about this movie. Then, today while I was at the pool with all of my sons this woman walks in with the most revealing swimsuit on. First i was trying to figure out why in the world you would be wearing a suit like what she had on to a pool like the one we were at. It's an indoor pool on post that is used mostly for people trying to get exercise by swimming laps and moms with kids. There is usually nobody around to gain attention from. BUT.....today there just so happened to be a group of military guys doing some water training exercises. This woman looked like a dirty tramp. She had tattoos completely covering her right arm. She was deliberately trying to be revealing by pushing her chest out. Everything but the nipple of her boobs were exposed. I was mortified since my 12, almost 13 year old, son was with me. I wondered if she somehow knew these guys were going to be there. She never even got her hair wet and only stayed less than an hour. I just do not understand this behavior. It was the same way in Vegas. Women were dressed like dirty tramps trying to get a man's attention. Do women not realize when they perform these tactics they are attracting the wrong kinds of men? It seems like this may be a reason for so many failed marriages. People are physically attracted to someone but when the rubber meets the road there is no substance to the relationship. Anyway, it was very hard not to judge the tramp, I mean woman, at the pool. Not one good thought went through my mind about her. I just imagined her being someone like Scarlet's character. I can't think of anything more selfish than infidelity. I've known some great women who have been devasted by infidelity and this may be why it pisses me off so badly. What is so baffling to me is that women find married men who would cheat on their wives attractive. I can't think of anything less attractive. Bunch of a-hole people. Anyway, I've just been a little bugged about that today and thought I would write my frustrations to get them off my chest. Oh yeah one more story along these lines....a man comes into the ER where someone close to me works. He is complaining of back pain and doesn't know what's going on. The doctor runs a plethora of tests and determines he is in the final stages of full blown AIDS! The man told the doctor to not let his wife know. They have kids together and chances are have been intimate during the time he has had this disease. Unbelievable.....the degree of selfishness of some people!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Here I go again....

It's been quite some time that I have been in the blogging world. I've been busy so I have lots to report. First, Charles took leave, starting last Monday, and we drove to Phoenix to pick up my sister and her kids. The next day my sister and I flew to Vegas! We quickly learned Vegas is a town for people who like to party, drink, have sex with strangers, gamble and watch naked people. It just didn't have too much to offer 2 ladies with an ounce of class. We did find fun things to do though. The first day we went shopping and didn't find anything we were interested in except some delicious cookies from the Great American Cookie Company! We took a bus around town to see what there was to look at. Day 2 was much more fun! We slept in, got an $80 pedicure and stayed at the pool until late afternoon! We also went to the Bodies exhibit at the Luxor. Now, these weren't naked bodies dancing around. They were old, dead, Asian bodies that had been pumped with silicone to preserve them. It was an educational exhibit that was very interesting. It showed how the human body works, how a stroke happens, what a smoker's lung looks like and even had a rectum layed out in one of those cases. WOW! A for real deal butthole! It was quite a sight. On the way back to the hotel from that we stopped at some souvenir shops to grab somehting for our kids. We had to suffer through someone's version of karaoke while we shopped and got back to our room rather late this particular night. Oh, we did stop in the casino to use the free money we had been given for staying in the hotel. I didn't win the $3,ooo,ooo I was supposed to though! Dang it! Day 3 was a doosy! We got to check out of the hotel late, which was nice. We spent the morning at the pool and saundered back to our room around noon. Got ready and checked out at 1. We ate lunch at a Chinese place and were just about ready to go when my sister realized she had left her phone and her charger in the hotel room . We scurried to the front desk to inform the clerk we needed to get the phone. She told us that housekeeping must have the phone since our room had already been cleaned and another guest had checked in it. She told us she would call us on my phone, which was near dead, as soon as she was informed of the whereabouts of her phone. About 45 minutes passed and still not a word. Our shuttle to the airport was coming soon so we started to panic. My sister found someone else to tell her troubles to and this lady seemed more interested in helping us. They finally located the phone and sent my sister to the floor we had been staying on when she encountered a fellow with small man's syndrome. He was short and it must have made him feel better to be rude. He wouldn't let my sister get on the elevator since she didn't have a room key. She explained the situation and he didn't care. She had to run back to the desk, get a key and run back to the elevator. These were not short trips either. The funny thing about that....not one time during our stay did anyone ask to see a room key to allow us to get on the elevator. I was waiting outside because I had to pick up our luggage that we had checked in. I watched our shuttle come and go! I was panicked because I didn't think it would take my sister that long to run up to get her phone. After the shuttle had passed away out of sight I see Ericka walking towards me with a security guard. She explained what happened and the guy told us he would comp us a cab ride to the airport. We got the hell out of there! We get to the airport and go through security when we met the most irritating woman of our lives. Keep in mind my sister had been through 3 airports between Birmingham and Vegas. But of course this P.I.T.A noticed she had a tiny pocket knife in her purse. My nephew at some point, before the trip, tossed it there. The lady told us she needed to search the purse, we obliged her and she began her search. At first, we had no idea what she was looking for. She emptied the purse and didn't find a thing. She went through every inch of the purse and came up with nothing. She ran it back through the x-ray machine and could see the knife. She finally found it along with a lighter my sister had just purchased and told us we would have to check it or get rid of it. We were going to check it until we were informed we would have to check another bag and neither one of us had anything else to check. Ericka tossed the knife and was wondering what to do about the lighter when I told her to just throw it back in her purse since they didn't even realize she had the lighter until the irritant started pilferring through her purse. She stowed it in her camera case and through security we went, safely!

Needless to say, we were glad to be back home. Away from people who spend a lot of time trying to look good so they hopefully get a date. I was glad to be back around a man who knows how to hold a drill, doesn't wear pink, doesn't go to a tanning bed or highlight his hair. He burps, farts, and needs my approval on what to wear when he has to dress up. He's never sure which socks match, only has 3 pair of shoes and has never put gel in his hair. I never have to fight with him over the mirror and he knows how to use a tool belt! He's tall, broad shouldered, big footed and man sized! I love every inch of him. I don't know what I would do with anything that is opposite of that. Charles took care of all 6 six and ran the house while we were gone. He cooked a hot meal for them every night and took them swimming every day. He did need my advice on how to cook shepherd's pie but he did everything else on his own. All the laundry was done when I arrived and everyone was alive. I couldn't have asked for more. There's just something about a southern man!!!