My Cowgirl

You don't have to tell me how freakin' cute she is. I already know.


Giddy-up!!

Happy Halloween

Return of the In-Law

You all know that Hubby and I have seen better days. It got really bad and a few hours away from filing for a divorce, and then we woke up. We realized that we both had lost ourselves individually and we were not happy with ourselves. How could we be happy with eachother??? So we are on the mend. We are doing well. We have really great moments, and moments when I'm sure we both think that it's not going so great. The good out weights the bad, and we're working on it.

Yesterday we got a panic call from Hubs Dad. He's being evicted. Yep. All the way in AZ, and no where to go. Instead of calling for help when it was manageable, he waited til it was too late. I don't want to sound to down about it. I am glad that we can help him out. I just worry about Hub and I. I told him yesterday that it was either gonna make us or break us. But you can't have your Dad living in his truck either. Ya know?

So, today I have been cleaning out our rec room. My kids have so many toys that I hope they don't miss the ones on the "Must go" List. I listed several things on Craigs List this morning, and the outdoor toys have already been paid for and taken. YAY! I still have some kids kitchen stuff (which while I was typing, some one called to come look!) YAY again! I usually just donate stuff, but with an extra mouth to feed and all........

The story behind the return of the in-law encase you were wondering....... Both Robs parents lived with us when his Mom was battling cancer. They moved back to Tucson the first part of 2006 and she passed away in Feb. He has been by himself in an apartment, with no family close. So- Here he comes. The Grandkids will be excited!

It's someone else's turn to deal with non stop stress for awhile. I've had enough!

On the Mend

Okay- so I snuck in here to post. I'm allowed, and frankly I can't stay away.

All the morning chores are done, the boy is down for a nap and the daughter is about to be home. If I'm gonna sneak in here and give you an update, I'd better do it fast!!

Firstly. We are on the mend. Mending is not a fast process. No more sweeping under the rug and staying on the same pattern. No more going through the motions. That's actually a relief, even though it is hard!

We had a really honest talk the other morning, like 1amish. It was nice to just chat, and be able to be honest. We have had two good days in a row. So keep the prayers coming!

Secondly, I am working on a 'ghan that I started on the visit to Grammy's. Crochet is so relaxing!

I have also promised myself to never make another pinata. That project is so time consuming! It's the girls Birthday party this weekend, and it's a Halloween theme. The Pinata is a Bat, and I can't wait to never make another one.

So there you have it. Progress. Good Progress at that.

The end

This is not a fun post to type. I must though, as much as it sucks.

It seems that you can only pretend to be happy in a relationship so long before you can no longer pretend. Shit hit the fan, and I must reorganise priorities and *try* get make this work. So far I am the only willing party in this area, hopefully the other 50% of us will be willing soon.

I must leave this dear blog to focus all attentions on the home front. I don't want to leave you hanging, but maybe it will help. Who knows? I am willing to try anything.

If you pray, that is appreciated. If you don't pray just think positive thoughts. I need this to work, I want to be old and grey with him someday, playing with grandkids. He is my dream......

So through tears, I say ta ta for now.

Thanks for all the friendships, and support!!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I have tried, really tried, to be good this year. I have not been arrested or drunk in public, I have not sucker punched anyone or knocked anyone's teeth out. (Please consider the knee to hubbies privates an accident, truly I didn't mean to laugh after that, I slipped, what can I say?) I also have not been taken to Judge Judy, and have not appeared on Jerry Springer (yet?). I don't spew nasty words to the crappy neighbor, nor did I tackle her and knock her teeth out when I was tempted. For the icing on the cake, I have also turned down romantic advances from one Mr Kenny Chesney, Mr Dane Cook, and the super uber-handsome Rock.

After all of this, I am exhausted. I have no time in my day to mess with 2 computers that refuse to work at any given time. Without a properly working computer I turn into the above mentioned person. I would be forced to be naughty.......

With all due respect Santa, I need a working computer. Like this one for instance. Isn't it pretty? It wants me, and I want it. I deserve it. Please?

If you are feeling generous you could throw in a nice printer. That would be super.


Thanks so much for your time Rob, I mean Santa.

With much Love,

Your wife

Updates and thoughts

I seem to be all jumbled up in my head right now. Maybe that is a result of waking up as the bus was leaving without my daughter who was still asleep next to me. Not a good thing. I was rather impressed with myself though, the old me would have said screw it and rolled over. The new improved version said "Holy sh*t, get up, get dressed, lets go"

10 minutes later we were in the van on the way to school. Late, but as the saying goes, Better Late than Never. She made it and the boy and I went through the drive through at McD's. I bet that that fact will really impress my new personal ass kicker, I mean trainer. Speaking of that......

I had mis understood the nice, nice woman on the phone the other day. The apt I was dreading had nothing to do with working out, it was all paperwork. I was all worked up for nothin! Figures. Now I am waiting for a personal trainer to call and set up my first apt to start my journey. I did go in on Friday and ride the bike, that was actually easy......It's not supposed to be easy right? I was a bit sore the next day, but I felt nothing while there. Well I felt the sweat....Eewww.

So- other news. The boy and I have been having great fun together during the day. I seem to have turned over a new Stay at Home Mom leaf. We go to the park, we read stories, we paint. I think that I have always been a good Mom, but lately I am keeping us busier, which equals more entertained, which equals happy, healthy Mom and Boy. Good for me, yes?

Oh! Something else- I am having surgery! Me, having surgery, means being a patient at a hospital, which I hate. Something I hate worse is gall stones. Especially the ones that are 10 mm and will not pass without trying to kill me. I soulda listened to my beloved doc when they started back when I was pregnant. Oh well, lesson learned. My doc, whom I love, called and had remembered that I did not want surgery before, he thought he was in for a challenge by talking me into this. He was really surprised when I said "Sign me up" he actually laughed and asked if I was serious. LOL, then he reminded me this was his recommendation 2 years ago......yea yea...Better late than never....or in this case, dead. By the way, Gall stones HURT!

So there ya have it, a whole lotta nothin for you to read today. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

One more thing- I have learned that I hate embroidery. Who wants a pillow case with pretty flowers to finish?

I'm in for a Whipin'!

Oh Lord, what have I done?

I seems have spoken on the phone to one of those "fitness" people. She sounds nice, but I know what she's hiding behind the phone. She lured me in with discounts, free yoga, and childcare. Now I must go. I made an appointment. I confirmed the appt this morning. I'm in for a world of hurt. I hurt thinking about all the sweat and watching all those pretty bodies looking at my not so pretty self.

Just cross your fingers that the little one does okay in their childcare area. He is very stranger phobic, which can be good, but today, especially today, he needs to have fun. PLEASE let him have fun........

Wish me luck, and pray that she's not the exercise devil in disguise

A Wednesday Funny

I told Mom is would post these stories. One or more are quite hilarious. I think it's funnier if you can imagine my daughter saying it but ohwell....


We all know kids say the darndest things. Here are a few that my daughter has said lately.

Several months ago we were eating out at our favorite Chinese restaurant. I was up at the Buffet, hubby was at the table with the kids. Our waitress, who didn't speak English well, started trying to talk to our son. She wasn't getting the hint that our son is very anti social and kept trying. As she turned her attention to my daughter she got the hint and walked away. My daughter said "Whew, thank God that is over!!"

More recently we were eating at BK. The kids were playing in their play ground with a few very loud and rowdy boys who seemed to be unsupervised. After about a 10 minute play session we called them to the table to eat.
My daughter sat down very politely and took a drink and said

"I'm so glad I wasn't born with a penis!"

LOL, she cracks me up!!

Grammy time

I am very pleased to report that I had a great visit with my Grammy this week! I was nervous, because her care sounded really intence, and really involved. There also seems to be a high probability for "issues".

I learned the ropes from Mom when I got there. All the drops and meds were planned out, so that was a relief. Nothing needed tweaked which was another worry off my mind. All was well and that set the stage for a very relaxed 4 day crochet and gab a thon.

I don't know if I explained that she had eye surgery. After an accident several years ago she lost one eye, which has no sight now. Her "good" eye was getting so bad that she could barely see at all. She found a doctor that thought he could help and replace part of her cornea. Sounds fairly easy right? No, not at all. I think that we were all under the impression that it was going to be easy and a very little recovery time. Boy we were wrong. Lots of complications and "retries" and high blood pressure probs......

All is getting better now. Her B/P is normalish, and she is doing her own meds and drops. She can feel her way around the kitchen but has been told not to use the stove. She makes her own sandwiches and finds her way around almost everything. I'm pretty proud of her.

While I was there I started on a brownish afghan for someone as a Christmas gift. I got quite a bit done as we sat in living room and chatted. She has some amazing stories of way back when.....I'll have to decompress them and share them with you later.

Most of my life I have felt like I was not trusted by some of my family. I am proud to have proved them wrong, and let them know that I too, can handle difficult situations. I am also happy to report that she made a lot of progress while I was there.

It was a great visit.

How was your week?

I'm off

Hi all!
Just a quick note to let you know that I am heading over to the Eastern side of WA to care for my Grammy for most of the week. She doesn't have internet, so I'll be AWOL til I return which is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday evening.

Wish me luck taking care of her. I can't recall the last time that we had alone time just her and I. She has many eye drops and medicines to balance. That should be a test if the nursing career I want so badly is a right fit. Anyway-I should be able to do some serious crocheting. Thats a good thing!

So off I go, have a super week!!!!

Ahhh HAHAHAHAHAHA

This quiz works!!! How did it ever know??? How weird!!! LOL!!

Christy -- [noun]: A level headed person who always makes the wrong decision 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

I NEVER........

do these stupid things, but I'm bored, and am in a weird mood.
Sorry you have to suffer. :)

You are 73% normal You are kinda normal. You have your quirks, but overall you are quite normal. You do get a kick out of doing random things once in a while though. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

It's important to me

This will soon be a link on my side bar. I don't want to dive into the issue to deeply, but if you do some research you'll get the picture.

I wish I was able to do more, adopt some, foster some who knows. Maybe one day I'll be able to have a horse retirement facility charity something-or-other. It's important to me, so I thought I'd put the word out.

Da Girls

**WARNING**
SNEAK PEAK AHEAD
IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE
ORNAMENT EXCHANGE
STOP HERE!!

UNLESS YOU WANT TO SEE IT.....

Here they are, my girls. :)

(The one with the pink bow looks a bit cross eyed doesn't she? It must be the picture or the glare, because she looks just fine now.)




I am incredibly proud of these ginger gals! For starters it is the first time I have successfully crochet in rounds, and they are finished! 2 things I seem to not have very good luck with.

I had started out on a full gingerbread girl pattern, but it seemed so disproportionate with the head being so much larger than the body. So I tore out the arms and legs and thought they looked a lot better this way.

I have several more to make before I am completed, but I am so excited to get them done. I"ll probably make some as gifts for family too! They also look like they might make a great magnet.....hummm...... all the possibilities!

I am also swapping stockings, so I need to get that finished up also. I'm not nearly as proud of that so far!! Lots of stuff to work on, and I see my crochet ability increasing with each project!


On another subject; Rob and I are checking into the Embassy Suites in Everett tonight for the big Khaki Ball the Navy holds for all the newly promoted Chiefs. It was great fun last year when Rob got the promotion, I hope this year will be a nice evening as well. I am especially excited about my Mom being here to watch the kiddos so that Rob and I can have the whole night to ourselves!! YAY!! THANK YOU OMA!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Yesterday, My best buddy Stephanie had her little baby girl!! We are so excited for her!!

She named her Juliona Bronwyn
8 pounds 1 oz, 19 and 1/2 inches long
Lots of black curly hair

And What a CUTIE!!

We're proud of you Steph! You are going to make a Super Mommy!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Updating Time

Supervision

HA!

In the last post I asked for help staying on task with my to do list. Someone took me seriously!

Here is my daughters kitty, Josie, taking on the job herself. I got the new photos out to organize them into scrapbooking topics and there she was, monitoring the job. She's a good cat, and a super friend to my daughter. She even has decided that I am okay! Bonus!

Oh- Sue, if you're wondering, this is not the cat that I say looks like Itsy. I'll have to see if I can talk my Mom into posting a picture of Daisy, Itsys twin!

A teaser and to do list

Here is a little teaser shot of what I have been up to the last few days. The "thing" on the bottom is a gift so I can't really describe anymore details. The item on the black is half of something I am crocheting for a swap over at CAL Pals. I would like to mention that the brown item was partially crocheted in rounds. Aren't you proud of me?? That was the one thing I couldn't master til yesterday. I was so proud of myself!!!

For several years now I have wanted to do homemade gifts. I never got a good enough jump on them and ended up not finishing and buying last minute. Hopefully this year I am ahead of schedule. I know of one more BIG thing I need to start, but am a bit afraid of. I'll stick to these things first and get them finished up, and then I'll tackle the big item.

A few weeks ago I blogged about my to do list and seemed to get a lot done. I thought I would do that again to help keep myself on track. Make sure you leave little reminders in the comments if I'm not crossing things out fast enough!! I depend on ya'll :)

• Shampoo carpets
• Back yard dog duty
• Clean out fish tank
• Remove AC unit from window
• Scrub bathrooms
• Sort kids toys
• organize playroom for kids
• organize newly printed photos
  
• Finish bottom item seen above
• Make dent in CAL swap
• Attempt to take professional looking picture of Son. (Wish me Luck!)
  

Well that should keep me busy!! I hope you all have a great week!!

Sharing the Love

Since I am an equal opportunity mother I need to spend some time gushing over my son.

Here's the little man. Handsome huh!!

Well, okay, he's not the real cookie monster. He thinks he is though. He is in LOVE with this monster and all things" cookie"

If you have ever watched cookie monster, you know that his trade mark is eating cookies while making something of a grumbling noise, and eating them way to fast! Al has picked up on this and it is SSOOOOO cute.

Al will grab up several of something, it could be anything, bring them to me and exclaim "COOKIE" and pretend to eat them all while stomping his little feet. He does this all over the house and with anything that he can get his little hands on.

Alright, that always makes me smile. Now, on with the gushing.



Al just turned 2 at the beginning of this month. Like I always say, it doesn't seem like that long ago. He came into our life at the perfect time and after a very long wait. The first few months we had a huge challenge as he was sick and a mammas boy ONLY. More recently he has decided that Dad is fun to be around and the acid reflux has gone away. THANK GOODNESS!!!

This cute kid and I have really strengthened our bond now that Sissy is in school. He LOVES playing with her and I often miss out of my daily cuddles and alone time when she is here. I am so happy though that they love eachother! Now that we have the house to ourselves during the day we spend time playing and reading, and he loves to help with the dishes and lunch preparation.



Enough gushing for now. Enjoy all the pictures!!

Scrapbooking and a Story

This past weekend I spent a lot of time working on the scrapbooks I make for the kiddos. I am seriously behind on them and need to make the books a priority!

Sometimes I hit a creative rut, and I can't seem to put a page together for anything. Other times I get on a roll and can't seem to quit. That is what happened last weekend, and I was able to finish and fix several pages.

Here is one I completed. This is the first official page in my daughters book. It has sat unfinished all her life because I couldn't get it "just right." On Saturday I made myself complete this task before starting on a new page and I am glad I did. I think it turned out nicely. I'm not a fancy scrapper by any means. I prefer simple and cute. Not necessarily frilly or over the top as others like.

The page is titled Waiting For You and I journaled the story of how I found out I was pregnant. As I re read it while taking the picture I realised that I can still vividly remember that moment when I found out. I also remember the moment that I believed it, they were a few days apart!!

I worked at the Base Clinic on Little Rock Air Force Base as a medic. I was always able to ask doctors questions in passing, with out an official appt. That was nice because I HATE being a patient. (It's up there in the top 3 HATES!) Anyway- I was given a prescription in one of those passing conversations that caused some major, lets call it "irritation."That night I had Rob in a tizzy worried about me, and even his Mom who was a nurse was worried. In order to avoid a trip to the ER I promised that I would get checked out in the am.

So when I say "major" I should let you know that it wasn't a heart attack major. I knew that I'd live to see the morning, I don't want you to think I'm nuts and would refuse something like that......

On with the story......

The next morning I actually scheduled myself as a patient, which was the first sign to the doc that something wasn't right. We did tests and blood work, and I was given a nice uncomfortable place to rest while I waited on an ultra sound apt.

I pulled myself together and reminded myself that I had gotten 3 negative pregnancy tests in a row and that I was definatly NOT pregnant. (Which I why I was on the new med) I had to remind myself so that I wouldn't be disappointed. I knew that I wasn't and that all this pain was something else.

Wrong.

I checked into the ultrasound apt and they asked all the regular questions. "Are you pregnant?" to which I answered "no". We continued the questions and out of the blue the receptionist said "Well the computer says your pregnant" To that I replied "Well the computer seems to be mistaken!"

Straight into shock I went. I was making myself believe that it was a mixup. I couldn't contain myself and I started crying at the OB apt several days later. I was really pregnant!!! I was extatic!!

Since then, I have been more intune with my body. I try to delay all medicines until the do or else point. I jumped into the meds that day, and maybe if I continued with them I wouldn't have the cutie patootie almost 6 year old today......

Anyway- Lots of rambling, but that's the story. Seems like just like last year.