Friday, February 24, 2006

Good day with some bad news...

We knew we were going to have a busy day today... but being the uber-multi-tasking mom that I am I decided to throw in some more to the mix.

So we had to be at Presentation Club at 10AM. After much consideration, I decide that before we head to that, we should try to deliver some Girl Scout cookies over at Church... so we head over there first.

We get to Church and deliver one box and then head to the office and get the Bad News. A family that we don't know all that well (I can tell you who they are, but haven't actually met them yet) lost their baby boy today. James was not even a year old and I don't know what he died from.

So after that we head over to Presentation Club. There are a lot of kids 15 presented. The kids just got up and presented anything that they wanted. Darly read a short story that she wrote a while back. Then the kids voted on what to do next month. Darly was bummed that Animals wasn't chosen because she wanted to do dogs...they chose Cultural. So I said that we could do a thing where she told where different breeds of dogs come from. Tah Dah! It's a cultural dog thing. So now I've got to find a large world map to attach pictures of dogs to it.

Then we sold some more Girl Scout cookies...this one mom the longer I was near her, the more she bought.

After lunch we went to the park to meet up with some of the Homeschooling Group moms and I got to "play" while Darly played with her friends.

Then this evening we had a totally awesome field trip. We went to the Plains Conservation Center for the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE NIGHT OUT. We've gone there a few times before, but never for this program and never at night either. So we get there early and wait at the Museum. They have some local snakes (in tanks) on display. The rattlesnake was suprisingly calm...I guess he's used to kids in his face by now.
After we were all there, we got the brief of what we were doing and all the rules.
Then we were allowed to take a handwarmer (aka Hot baked potato) that we could eat if we liked and head over to the sod house.
There we split into two small groups and our group headed to the school house. Where Mrs. Mouger was teaching school. From our previous visits we knew that we could be in trouble for attending school in our "pantaloons" so Darly & I made sure to wear skirts. Mrs. Mouger appreciated our thoughtfulness. She also went over the school rules such as "Children are to be seen and not heard." So the kids had to make sure that they asked permission (raised their hand) before speaking. One poor girl slipped up on that...oops!
Mrs. Mouger talked to us about life in Laura Ingals Wilder's days on the prairie. Darly & I had gone over quite a bit of The Long Winter book today so Darly knew quite a bit and did very well with raising her hand and answering questions.

I kinda think that Darly would do quite well in this kind of school versus a classroom of today. The fact that the kids had to be quiet and well behaved made Darly more at ease (she doesn't like loud noisy kids).

After school we got to go to the sod house and help bake some cookies. The kids got to check out the house and play some games while the cookies baked and then we got hot chocolate too. The one presenter got a little perturbed when she asked a question and two kids interupted her with non-related stuff instead of answering her...can't say that I blame her. After the cookies were done we cleaned up and helped bring in some fire wood. The trip ended with a "waggon ride" back to the Museum.

I made the mistake of mentioning that our Girl Scout troop had cleaned the sod house for them and they were quick to mention that the school house really could use a cleaning if we wanted another service project.

While looking up the website for this post, I noticed that this event was a one time deal and that our Troop was the only one that took advantage of it. That's a shame. They really missed out. I hope that they do it again...I'll be back.

The tags that I chose this week...

I caught this tag over at Whiskey TalkingThe rules:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

I Am - Mark Schultz
What If - Nichole Nordeman
Just The Way I Am - Big Daddy Weave
Only Grace - Matthew West
How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin
I Am Free - Newsboys
All In The Serve - Michael W. Smith
My Jesus - Todd Agnew


And then this tag over from Veronika’s place
Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot*
1. a girl named inky
2. snickerdoodles
3. Fireflies&Frogs
4. A Day In The Life Of Veronika
5. fefyfomanna

Next, select five people to tag.
1. You
2. You
3. You
4. You
5. You

What were you doing 10 years ago?
That would be February 24, 1996. We were living in San Angelo, TX. DH was stationed at Goodfellow AFB and I was attending Angelo State University. I would have been attempting to take Calculus 3 and Zoology. (yes, I was crazy) This is also when I first got sucked into the world of the web and I was visiting about 3 different message boards…none of which still exists.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. Potato Chips (Sour Cream & Cheddar!)
2. Tortilla chips and salsa
3. Ice cream
4. Girl Scout cookies
5. Flavored crackers…Cheese Its

Five songs you know all the words to:
1. See the above tag, I know all of them
2. Most any song that I’ve heard more than twice & liked
3. You’re All That Matters To Me – Curtis Stigers
4. 99 Luftballons - Nena
5. Impulsive – Wilson Phillips

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Pay the taxes on it
2. Invest ½ of it so that we could live w/o working again
3. Give some to my Mom
4. Buy my first dream home
5. Travel

Five bad habits:
1. Being “chronically early” as in I feel as if I’ll die if I’m late
2. Trying to mind read instead of just asking what’s going on
3. Saying, "Yes" too much; taking on too many tasks
4. Procrastinating
5. Interrupting

Five things you enjoy doing:
1. Reading
2. Visiting & talking to my friends
3. Sewing
4. Blogging
5. Volunteering

Five things you would never wear:
1. A moo moo
2. Something too revealing
3. Something that totally doesn’t fit right
4. A thong
5. High heels

Five favorite toys:
1. The computer!
2. My massaging chair pad
3. My stereo right next to the computer
4. the internet (I can claim that separate from the computer, right?)
5. My blog

Monday, February 20, 2006

It's still Monday...

Well that's what I get for being late...I can't get the code. LOL! I guess that's okay though...I'm still trying to decide which memory to post about.

Did I tell you about the time I got in trouble for doing something my mom would have wanted to do herself?

This is another memory from when I was a kid. I think I was 8. One day we were driving to Shreveport and my Mom says "Why don't we go to the airport and watch the planes?" So we get to the airport and are watching planes for a while and then someone that my Mom knows gets off the plane near us.
Turns out this person is my Mom's sister and her two boys. But I hadn't seen them in so long that I had no clue. And did you notice how Mom didn't bother to tell us anything about them coming or that's the real reason we were going to the airport?

Anyway, so we get all the way back to our house which was at least a hour away. And we are all in the back yard playing. By this time I realized (again) that my cousin Len is a real prat! (I'm reading Harry Potter again and this word seems to fit Len really really well.) Len had been getting on my last nerve since we got into the car. So I got a bucket and started filling it with dirt...nice Louisianna red clay dirt! Then I climb up "my" tree with the bucket of dirt and I wait. I didn't have to wait too long. :D And Len is under the tree playing with one of my brothers' cars. 3-2-1! I dump the bucket of dirt onto Len's head! Wow what a site!

Unfortunately, Mom and Aunt were sitting in lawn chairs right there. And Mom immediately sends me to my room. Whew! I'm away from prat!

It's the middle of summer so all the windows are open in hopes of getting a breeze. I'm in my room playing with my toys. All 5 boys (my 3 brothers & 2 cousins) are outside with my Mom & Aunt. At one point Len comes up to my window and hollers in for my attention. I come over and he says that I should just go say I'm sorry to my Mom and maybe she'll let me come back outside, it works for him all the time.

I must have been getting bored by then so I tried it. HA! What a joke. My Mom was even madder at me for trying it than she was for me dumping the dirt.

Years later, I of course learned that Mom was secretly very happy that I dumped the dirt but had to put on a good show for her sister. And that I had tried something that her sister would have caved in on was just not going to happen because she had to prove that she was stronger than that.

My cousin is still a prat who is most favored by his mother. Len still keeps messing up his life and his mommy bails him out.

Other Memories:
Norma*~ Jen*~ Veronika

Friday, February 17, 2006

Here's what actually happened Feb 16, 2006

So it was very very late on Feb 15th and I was trying really hard to come up with my Thursday 13. But then I realized that in a few minutes it would be Feb 16th, the anniversary of when DH proposed and wrote my lovely TT about that.

So after I logged off for the night, I left DH a nice little Happy Anniversary note for him to find in the morning. And then I go to bed.

I get up around 8:30am-ish in the mornings. DH leaves for work at about 6:45am. So I go down and see that my note is still pretty much where I left it with nothing from DH on it. (in the past, "I love you" notes usually have "I love you, too" written on them. That's all I expected for this day.) So I'm wondering if he didn't even see the note.

When he gets home that evening, I show him the note and he just looks at me.

Me: "You don't know what anniversary this is?"

Him: "The day we met?"

Me: "No."

Him: "Oh, the day I proposed."

Me: "So not a Happy Anniversary?"

Him: "I'm not going to say anything about that." (pleading the 5th)

Hummm So I have to wonder if remembering another anniversary is just too much or if he has regrets about that day. I'm more inclinded to believe the first, but I know that sometimes I get on his nerves.

Like yesterday...
Darly & I made brownies for DH's birthday on the 12th. We had been each having a brownie for desert each night. Wednesday night I went out to TNO and didn't have my brownie...so last night there was one brownie left (my Wednesday night brownie) so I go to eat it. Darly states that SHE wanted that brownie. I give her a dirty look as it is MY brownie, but since I don't want to start a war over a brownie I give it to her.
Then as soon as I decide to give it to her, she decides that No, it's really my brownie and I should have it. But I've already surrendered the brownie and I really don't want it anymore. So she's feeling really guilty and wants me to have it, but I've already picked a different desert and started eating it. So I tell her "eat the brownie or throw it in the trash." Well apparently that wasn't the thing to say because she draggs DH into it and now he is ganging up against me. WHAT??? And I don't even know how this happened (probably from picking her nose again) but she got a nose bleed and it gets all over her sweater. GAHHHH!
So now DH is upset with me for not rushing immediately over to take control of the situation. I calmly tell him "I'll clean the sweater AFTER her nose stops bleeding." Dirty looks!

So now he is all ticked off at me for "starting" a fight with Darly. Hummm I didn't start the fight, she did. And no matter what he thinks, I AM allowed to fight with her and she is old enough to deal with my anger. And now I'm ticked off at him because he ALWAYS takes her side in our arguments.

The funny thing is: He thought that I should eat the brownie, but he's always after me for what I'm eating because the thinks it's his job to make sure that I don't gain weight again... They are both driving me CRAZY!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Thursday 13: Anniversary

I took the table off this post because it was messing up my formatting. Renee

Thirteen Things about Today


1. Today is the Anniversary of the day that my DH asked me to marry him.

2. We met each other on December 16th, 1990.

3. On the day we met, he asked me to go with him to Busch Gardens on the 29th of December.

4. On Dec 26th, He asked me over to his apartment to watch a movie (Pretty Woman) and have pizza. I had already agreed to pick up a friend from the airport that evening...but I agreed to go over anyway.

5. I stayed at his place as long as I could (calling the airlines to check on my friend's flight) before leaving to pick her up. I spent the night at my friend's place talking about him...and she was talking about this cute guy that she had met on her flight.

6. I told my friend "He's a nice guy and all, but I don't think I'll marry him or anything." She was making plans to marry the guy that she had met on the plane.

7. In April, He had to go to Las Vegas for a business trip and was planning to take a few days vacation and visit his parents in LA after. I am pretty sure that I asked if I could fly out to Vegas to join him and he said yes! He even bought the tickets... I had assumed that I would be paying for them, so I took that money out of my savings acct to pay him back... he never took the money and I never put it back in my acct, so it got spent. oops! But I didn't spend it on this trip.

8. When we had been dating 6 months, I sent him flowers at work. The florist called his office to get directions there and his co-workers all knew that he was going to get flowers before he did, so they all made sure they were there when the flowers arrived... he was very embarassed.

9. In October 1991 He tried to break up with me for no given reason. I was determined to make this work and finally he admitted that the reason he was trying to break up was because he had to go out of the country on business for 3 months and he didn't want to make me wait for him. I told him that I wanted to wait.

10. He was gone for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years & my birthday. I collected his mail & watered his plants while he was gone.

11. He called me about once every 2 weeks in Nov, about every week in Dec and every few days in Jan. He also send me quite a bit of mail while he was gone.

12. The first weekend when he got back we celebrated Thanksgiving (I cooked him dinner at his apartment), we celebrated Christmas the following weekend, we celebrated my birthday the next weekend and then his birthday a few days later. Then on Valentines day he invited me to attend the wedding of one of his co-workers with him. I caught the bouquet, he caught the garter.

13. To celebrate the anniversary of the day that we met (1 year and 2 months later) on February 16th, 1992 he asked me to marry him.


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
~*~Laura~*~KDubs~*~ladydaria~*~Karri
~*~FrogLegs~*~Jen~*~Bone~*~froggie~*~better safe than sorry
~*~ "d" ~*~lisa~*~killired~*~Kimmy~*~theidlereceptionist
~*~audra~*~mamamel~*~Courtney~*~lazydaisy
~*~veronika~*~
(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!



Wednesday, February 15, 2006

42 Things about Me

Shamelessly copied from Running2ks.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:45 am. I heard DH leaving and rushed to kiss him good bye. He lets me sleep in the AM.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds, but I’ll take the pearls too (got fakes of both for VD day and love them!)

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Madagascar

4. What is your favorite TV Show? Good Eats

5. What did you have for breakfast? Coffee

6. What is your middle name? Darlene <-that’s actually where Darly’s handle comes from. Darly isn’t her real name or even part of it.

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Mexican

8. What foods do you dislike? Peanut butter

9. Favorite Potato Chip? Lays Cheddar & Sour Cream!

10. What is your favorite CD at the Moment? I don’t listen to my CD’s much…mostly KLove I would probably love a Newsboys CD

11. What kind of car do you drive? 1994 Ford Explorer

12. Favorite sandwich? Turkey Ranch & Swiss at Quiznos

13. What characteristics do you despise? Mis-directed rudeness

14. What are your favorite clothes? Fuzzy sweaters

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go? Europe or Hawaii…I really wanna see the volcanos!

16. What color are your eyes? brown

17. Favorite Brand of Clothes? I’m not into brands…I’ll take whatever fits!

18. Where would you want to retire to? The beach

19. Favorite time of day? Evenings with the hubby

20. Where were you born? Barksdale AFB, LA

21. Favorite sport to watch? none

22. Coke or Pepsi? Water!

23. Are you a morning person or night owl? Night

24. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with everyone? I’ve got Girl
Scout cookies for sale!

25. What did you want to be when you were little? I had NO IDEA! As I got older, I thought that I wanted to be a lawyer and later work with animals (vet?)… but it
wasn’t until Darly was born that I figured out that I had always wanted to be a mom.

26. What is your best childhood memory? Going to Girl Scout camp

27. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Babysitter, animal sitter, paid trick-or-treater (kinda like babysitting), Arby’s, Gift shop, Registrar’s office at college, waitress, more fast food places, copy & mail room of electric company’s main office (we didn’t make the power there, just sold it.), receptionist & later accounting for a property management company (we supplied the staff for apartment complexes & paid their bills for complexes that were owned by the bank.), Church Secretary, volunteering at Church in the office, Mom, LLL Leader, Homeschooler, treasurer for LLL, Field trip planner for Homeschooling group

28. Piercings: 2 in each ear

29. Ever been to Africa? no

30. Ever been toilet papering? Just last year we did
Jen’s house! My first ever.

31. Been in a car accident? Yes. Dad rolled the van & I rear-ended a car once.

32. Favorite day of the week? Sunday

33. Favorite restaurant? Steak & Ale

34. Favorite flower? Pansies in my garden

35. Favorite flavor of ice cream? Vanilla, but I also like Caramel Caraboo

36. How many times did you fail your driver’s license? None… never missed more than one question.

37. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? None, I couldn’t spend that much money ever!

38. Bedtime? Between 10 & 2 depends on what’s going on.

39. Last person you went to dinner with? Darly at Applebees

40. What are you listening to right now? “All in the Serve” Michael W. Smith on KLove.

41. What is your favorite color? Purple

42. How many tattoos do you have? Zero

No tagging–play as you’d wish

Monday, February 13, 2006

Monday Memories: weird trip to the State Fair

Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you about my weird trip to the State Fair?


Okay, this was a very very long time ago (I think that I was 13 or 14) so the memory is very fuzzy...but I think I've got enough of it for you.

One of my brothers (pretty sure it was the middle one) had a friend who's family was Mormon. I was young enough at the time to think I heard them say they were Morons... my appologies to any Mormons out there...remember I was just a kid.

So Rob (he would have been 9 or 10)comes home one day and asks us if we want to go to the fair with his friend's family. Since we had no idea if our father would be able to take us, we said sure. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

So we go to his friend's house. They have very big family with kids aging from high school to infant. Once we got there, I realized that I knew one of their kids, but she was 2 years older than me. They had added a new wing to the back of the house to have rooms for the expanding family... the bathroom that they put in was a shower that happened to include a tolite & sink. I guess the idea was that multiple kids could shower at the same time. The kids bedrooms each had at least two sets of bunk beds. But I'm digressing here... on to the fair.

So we all load up into their huge vehicle to go to the fair. We get to the fair and are all directed to follow to the Draggon Ear concession stand. It was there that we learned what we had been brought there to do. Inside the stand were multiple tables with many people pressing out the draggon ears. (BTW: Draggon Ears are a lot like Elephant ears [flat fried pastries] only Draggon Ears are all hand pressed.) So some people were mixing up the dough, some were measuring it out, many racks of dough rising, and then trays are brough to the kids at the tables to get pressed out into circles, then the dough is brought to the friers to cook, then the fried dough is covered in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar and sold.

So we washed our hands, sat down and started pressing out the draggon ears. The stand also sold soft drinks and we could have all we wanted of the draggon ears & drinks. Since I was older, I was also allowed to man the fryer, or measure out the dough. I remember making my own special draggon ear that was smaller than normal...I measured the dough, pressed it out, and fried it myself.

I don't quite remember how long we had to work, but we were allowed to take breaks and go enjoy the fair. This is where it gets really fuzzy, because I don't remember if any adults went with us when we were out doing the fair stuff. I do remember visiting the exhibition hall and trying my first Orange Julious (is that how it is spelled?) I also remember that we didn't have any money so we didn't get to do any rides, but that was okay as most of the were really scarry.

That's all I remember of the trip to the fair...

But I also remember that this same family took us to a elect Ronald Reagan rally and had us help put Ronald Reagan fliers on cars... (my father is a democrat.)

They were a really nice family and I don't remember them talking to us at all about their religion... but we were always welcome to their house.

We ended up getting to go to the fair with our father and his girlfriend's family as well so we were exicted to have two trips to the fair. I'm pretty sure that dad lied about how old I was so he didn't have to pay as much to get us in.


Links to other Monday Memories
running2ks
jen
the Intuitive Woman
craziequeen
kimmy
barbara
better safe than sorry
veronika

(If you participate, leave your link in the comments and I'll post it below)

Friday, February 10, 2006

My baby can't hear!

and it's really driving me up a wall!

Darly caught a cold a few weeks ago and last Saturday it turned into an ear infection. Well the kid hates to take medicine (so unlike her uncle ron!) and my "How to Take Care of Yourself" book says that the doc will want to wait before giving anything anyway... so we didn't go to the doc until very late on Tuesday.

Meanwhile she hadn't been eating and had been sleeping a whole lot.

She's been on her meds since late Tuesday and started feeling better on Thursday. She insisted that we go shopping, but about half way through (we ran to the Library, Wal-Mart & the Grocery store) she was starting to give out.

Today she's still the same and still can not hear. So I called up the doctor's office. They tell me that the hearing loss can last until after her meds are gone!

WHAT?!?!?!

So I immediately started surfing the web. I found a ton of sites that will sell me something to tell if she has an ear infection, which I already know. But then I also saw that I can give her an antihistamine to reduce the inflamation in her eustachian tubes and that will help them drain, which will help her to hear. We tried some of our allergy medicine and it seems to be working a little.

Now if I have her attention (which I can get by clapping) she can hear me from 10 feet away. This morning I was standing right next to her and she couldn't hear me unless she was looking at me.

wondering if she's lip reading?

BTW: My mom gets these infections every year and it used to drive me completely up a wall when I lived at home. She was practically stone deaf when she was sick. So I know where Darly gets this from... I suspect that Nana, Darly & I all have something with our Eustachian tubes because we all have problems with altitude and our ears...Luckily I have never had an ear infection...knock wood! Maybe that's because I had my adenoids removed???
I need to do more research...maybe if Darly gets hers out it might help. But I'm sure the doc will make me wait until she gets chronic ear infections. I should suggest this to mom.

Update Monday Feb 13: Darly still cannot hear so we're going back to the doctor to have her ears checked. When I called them on Friday they said I shouldn't be concerned yet... Darly normally goes to gymnastics class on Mondays, but I don't think it's safe for her to go if she can't hear the coach.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Thank Your Fairy Blogmother Week 2006

Momma K has created a new holiday, just for Fairy Blogmothers! Here's her description of the special day:


"You didn’t know that you had a Fairy Blog Mother ? Why, of course you do. You may have more than one. You may even have a male Fairy Blog Mother. Your Fairy Blog Mothers are those people who first inspired you to begin a blog of your own."

I had heard about Weblogs on TV I think. But they were described as on-line diaries. So since I can't keep a real diary, I didn't have any interest in them at all.

Then my friend Jen decided to hold one of her Co-op classes for our homeschooling support group on starting your own blog. Still I wasn't interested (can you believe it?!?!?)

But I eventually became interested when Jen started sending us links to her blog. She was posting all sorts of cool stuff and it looked like fun. I figured I would give it a try.

My blog started off saying "I don't know what I'll do here, if anything..." but apparently I overcame that soon enough because I joined the blog Olympics! And I didn't do too badly either. There was even one point where I had TWO blogs, but I gave the other one up... I haven't figured out that 80 hour day so for now it's just one blog.

I don't think that I really came out of my blogging shell until I found out about, threw Jen (of course) Thursday Thirteen. Since then I've been a comment whore.

So that's my story. Who's your Fairy Blog Mother?

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Did anyone see this?

Last night I watched WIFE SWAP. This is not a usual habbit in my home as it seems that the whole idea of the show is to make people miserable and to tell them that they are living their lives WRONG... but I was drawn in by the homeschooling issue.

I was actually pleased to see that homeschooling wasn't BASHED as it normally is... but I was concerned with the Hardin Family's reasons for doing it. The Hardin Family seemed intent on keeping their children sheltered from real life and used their religious beliefs as a reason for doing so. These poor kids had no friends other than their siblings... it seemed that they did not even socialize at Church...although that could have just have been the producer's editing.

This episode seemed to only point out what truely was wrong within each family. I loved that David told Melissa off for disrespecting him and that Steven finally got a backbone to tell Melissa off too.

And I found it very IRONIC that Melissa's business was in Romance Enhancement, yet she barely spends any time with her husband. I guess when they are together, it's really good and that's why he stays. I guess it's pretty obivious that I didn't approve of Melissa's life style. But I was glad to see in the end that she decided to spend more time with her family.

I did not see that the Hardin family will change much, other than David is much more appreciative of Kathy...of course after living with Melissa who wouldn't be?

Friday, February 03, 2006

Asking again...

On last week's Thursday Thirteen I asked you to ask me questions. On this week's Thursday Thirteen I answered them and y'all seemed to really like it.

So I thought that I would try it again. So ask me anything you want here in the comments and I'll try to answer them for my next Thursday thirteen.

Please leave your url in the comment too and I'll link you to your question.

Renee asked: "Ask me a question?"

I of course reserve the right to take the 5th on any question that I don't feel like answering. hee hee But I will give you credit for asking it.