giveaway fun

I saw this on my friend's blog....she saw it on her SILs' blogs. I thought it would be fun so I joined in.
The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me.It will be my choice what I send to you.But...there is a catch...ready?
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (But I hope you do!)
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year!
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5-The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog! (then come here and post, that you put it on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a homemade gift by me! Anyone up to the challenge? Jess says "Don't worry she makes cute stuff, and cute babies!!"

Photos from the sandbox

Matt graciously sent me some pictures! But it was kind of depressing and sandblown....so I tried to make the skies blue with a hint of clouds...It didn't make me feel better about him being so far away, but at least it looks like a less depressing place...at least a little bit.

Before: dreary, sandcolored and blah

then...blue skies and less sand in the air...still miserable but at least the skies are blue...

The situation with volcanos...

O-S-M

Maddie walked into the computer room just now proudly bearing a large red sign with the letters OSM stuck to it.

"Mom! I made this for daddy! It says AWESOME! See? Awww SSSSSSS Mmmmmm! Awesome!"

I loved it so much I had her make a video for ya'll.





Please ignore the disaster behind her. 12 kids is a good excuse right?

A Valentine's gift from my DH-he doens't even know about it!

I won a year's supply of brewed chocolate from Cabaret Brewed Chocolate! It was all because of my wonderful husband.

I entered a contest where you had to write your best Valentine's Day story. I didn't really think I'd win, but I love how he did this for me...

I know this will probably embarrass him, but I hope he doesn't' mind too much! A few deployments ago, he sent me an entire box of little kid valentines. You know, the kind that kids give on Valentine's day?

Well, I don't see this kind very often now, but they were the kind where every one had it's own envelope that you licked and sealed shut. He wrote something sweet on EVERY SINGLE CARD. Not "I love you" but something different on each one.

It took weeks for me to open all of them. I opened one or two a day and they were all fantastic.

One of my favorites was the one where he joked about throwing a pine cone at me. Remember when you were a kid? Boys didn't just tell girls that they liked them...no, they threw pine cones at them or pulled their braids!

So that small gift from years ago is still a special memory for me...and it's still paying out with happy thoughts and a year's supply of chocolate! (Just in time to get me through this deployment!) I'll let you know if it's good!


*PS-N-I ran spellcheck just for you!

A dozen kids...

Yup.  You read that right.  A dozen kids at my house this weekend.  I would have thought I would go crazy, but after the first 6, you really don't notice the rest!

Connor had his friend Mitchell and Mitchell's sister Darcy spend the night on Friday.   I figured that if I'm not doing anything for Valentine's Day....someone should!  I thought about it and invited Connor's friend Conor over as well.  Three boys and two girls...they all got along really well and entertained each other.   Connor and Mitchell grooved on the video games, Connor and Conor liked the Legos and all the boys played outside...stayed up really really late and woke up at 6 am!

What is up with that?  I know that they were tired....why couldn't they sleep till at least 7?  Put I suppose it's fair.  I seem to remember my parents being cranky when my friends and I woke up in the morning after a sleepover!

The girls played dress up all day Friday and then as soon as they woke up.  they came to me about every 10 minutes to show me the minute variations in their outfits!

Conor spent the entire day playing and it was really nice to have him here again.  I admit I missed the M. boys, especially Conor.  My kids talked about them all the time and still remembered them even after they moved away and came back.

The rest of the boys showed up around 4 in the afternoon....to be joined by the C. kids.  Becky needs a break, I don't know how she is always so cheerful, but she is!  So she went out to enjoy a valentine's burritto and have some mom time....her kids and the M. boys and my kids all got along really well!  The older boys and Natalie would play video games.  The girls and Finn ran around the house chasing each other and playing dress up again.  The Con(n)ors were just crazy and played outside...spurring a mass exodus from the house where all kids 4 and up screamed through the yard till they were too cold to stay outside!

I don't have a table big enough for all the kids to eat, so they had to eat in 3 shifts!  It was pretty fun when all was said and done.  The C. kids went home and the M. boys stayed over till late....just mellowing out.

So except for one bedwetting the first night and an ear-biting incident the second, I think it went rather well!
I think that a big part of the ease in this weekend was that a-all the kids are really good kids and b-the average age is NOT 2!

12 kids
A-11 years old
S-10 years old
B-8 or 9??

N-9 years old
C-6 years old
M-6 years old
C-6 years old
D-5 years old
M-4 years old
A-4 years old
F-3 years old
A-18 months

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…it’s learning to dance in the rain.”

My goal for today....and tomorrow....and after.....

9 Minutes makes me happy.

You got to take joy where you can get it.  This morning Matt called for 9 minutes (it might have been more, but I missed the first call since my phone was in the other room....I got to get a hoster or something....)

I honestly didn't expect a call this week.  Kuwait is crazy crowded and they are usually busy doing a whole lot of stuff and nothing.  (Hurry up and wait!)  But it was great that he called when Maddy and Connor were awake.  Although they really need practice having a real conversation on the phone!  They are very into the one word answers! 

So I have a bazzillion things to do....and a phone holder to buy!

Cake on a stick!

I decided NOT to post a picture of my product...mostly because I was afraid. Afraid that if I stopped dipping and wrapping long enough to take a picture, I might try one. And if I tried one, I just might eat them all! Plus mine are a bit messier!

This picture doesn't have a stick, but if you scroll down you can see what some people (namely Bakerella!)
do when they have time on their hands! (or maybe she is just really amazing?!)

 

Red Velvet Cake Balls

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting.
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

I also only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It's easier to work with when it's hot.

Saturday...posted late. 365-2 and 3

Today I had 5 kids all day...don't worry, I wasn't crazy and they didn't drive me crazy. :)

My kids plus Eden, Maya and Mitchell made for a fun day. Maddy had ballet. Maya watched for a while (she didn't want to actually dance) and the boys played outside. It was hillarious to see the boys play. It's been a long time since I watched little boys run around play. Secret agent, star wars, all sorts of stuff all mixed up. But the best part was when Connor made a gun with his finger and pointed at his friend..."Say goodbye to yourself!!" I just about fell over laughing!

I was going to post a photo of me working late at night....but I got tired right after taking the picture and decided to hit the sack at 8 pm instead! So here you go- one more 365 down!

Maddy showed me her necklace this morning. Apparently she asked Connor to design it for her and he made it out of legos! The "jewel" is really the head of a egyptian lego dude. Kind of creepy but cute and creative.



This morning, I thought about getting back to work....but I ended up watching "Estate of Panic" on scifi.com instead of processing a really fantastic family! Sigh. I'll finish it asap. So my 365 was FUTAB!

Do you love me? do you read me?

I know a few people who follow my blog because they comment or email...if you have a sec...please let me know if you read this blog.

(and then go to http://heartpics.blogspot.com/ and follow me there too!)


please?

Sex and Chocolote....a 4 year old version.

On the way home Maddie pipes up from the back seat..."Mommy, have you seen that commercial with the M&Ms?"

"The M&M is a girl and she has hands and fingers and feet and toes. Then she sticks her finger in the pretty chocolote and she just ATE IT ALL! Then all the other M&Ms are making silly faces at her."

Me: Yup. I've seen that one. (thinking, oh for heavens sake, here it comes.)

Maddie: "Do you know why they are making silly faces at her?"

Me: Um....(I really didn't think the issue of sexy candy would ever be an issue)

Maddie: "Because they can't believe she ATE IT ALL OFF HER FINGER!"

Me: um...

Maddie: "Did you know that some M&Ms are chocolote on the inside but some M&Ms are chocolote on the inside and on the outside too? That girl M&M, the green one that ate the pretty chocolote, is chocolote on the inside a little bit."

*dramatic pause*

"M&Ms have chocolote (wiggle "spooky" fingers here) blood."

OH MY GOSH! (As my daughter continues to explain the inner workings of M&Ms, I realize she thinks the other M&Ms are open mouthed and gaping because she is a CANNIBAL!


Go ahead. Treat yourself to some cannibalistic M&Ms for valentines day!

If you haven't seen the commercial...here it is.

Done whining for now.

I guess the massive infusion of chocolote and a late night phone call from Matt have done some good.  I feel considerably better than I did a few hours ago.  (Even though my stomach is aching from too much chocolote!)

Turns out they didn't leave till 1800.  That's 6 hours after bag drop.  Poor guy, that is a long day.  He just called from Minneapolis collect.  I was saying "yes yes yes" before the poor operator could ask if I wanted to accept the charges.  On the plus side he is, for the first time in his nearly 40 year history of traveling the globe, flying 1st Class.  He almost giggled as he told me about how he couldn't even touch the seat in front of him.  Apparently they pulled all SFC and above and CPTs and above and gave them the best seats in the plane.  It's a 747 so the 1st class is probably the first time he will fly without ending up with bruises on his knees from the seat in front.  He can lay down, so his back won't hurt.    Knowing he is doing okay makes me feel so much better.  So much better.

On that thought:
As I was walking out away from the buses, I saw a young girl, very early 20s with a tiny baby, say 3 or 4 months at most.  She was shaking from the effort of not falling apart.  Her face was starting to scrunch up as though she could squeeze the tears back into her eyes.

I just looked at this girl, probably on her first deployment, away from home only recently, alone and with a new baby.  I told her, "You will be okay. You'll get through it.".  That was it.  She didn't know me, but she needed to know there was hope.

I forgot about that until a little whiile ago (when Matt called).  It was a throwaway moment at the time, not really registering with me.   But prior to that, I was struggling to keep the tears out of my eyes.  But as I think about her, I remember what it was like on my first separation.  I was young, hadn't even lived with my husband for a year yet and I was deploying 6 days after we were finally reunited (less than a year into marriage we had a 7 month separation.)  The grief was overwhelming.  I was miserable.

They say the evil you know is better than the evil you don't.  I guess it's true.  Deployment sucks, there's no way around that.  But I know that I can get through this.  I have friends who have been with me through many many separations and they are here again.  I know all the improvements in communication that we didn't have back in '98.  (no cell phones! IM was a new deal, didn't work where he was, phone calls were routed from Bosnia to Germany to the States to some transfer station to the Embassy to what sounded like them holding the phone up to a radio....)  Knowing what we have done makes it easier to do again. I know it's possible.

I know he is safe.  Safe-ish anyway.  He isnt' a door kicker. I believe in what my dad always said about watching out for the bullets labled "To Whom it may Concern". (If it's your time, nothing can be done to avoid it...just be smart and avoid TWIMC".  I have faith in our family's eternal bond should it be that time. 

So what's that mean?  It means I need to quit whining and start peeling my eyes for the people who DON'T know they can do it.  I need to remember that helping someone else is a good way to help myself stay on the right path.

I also need to try to be happy.  But that may take more chocolote.

I think we are on the losing side....

Whining post ahead. Beware.

We used to joke about how we were apart more than we were together. I actually used to figure it out by days home vrs, days gone. But it got old real fast. Matt mentioned it today and I can't remember the exact dates of every trip, but here is a rough draft by month.

Some stuff on here is short stuff (45-90 days) That's cause we were staggered. He left for Korea after I left for PLDC. I was at NTC when he was home, but he was at PLDC when I got back...so the actual separation was longer than the 45-90 days. But this does not include field problems of 4 weeks or less, mini schools etc.

1997- Presidio Ca-Married in July, Army finally let us move in together in Oct. (+3 -3)

1998-Aug PCS-Dana to Fort Sam TX, then Fort Hood TX. Matt to Goodfellow AFB TX, the Ft Huachuca (AZ) (+8 -4)

1999- Matt arrives at Hood, 6 days later Dana deploys to Bosnia, Matt goes to Peru gets back after Dana. (+2 -10)

2000 Bought a house (same one we live in now) Dana spends 4 months medical support in field, JRTC, PLDC, NTC Matt TDYs to Korea (when Dana is home) and hits JRTC and PLDC opposite cycles. (Forget exact dates positive estimate...+3 -9)

2001 Dana finally gets out. Matt has short trip to Korea. (+10 -2)

2002-Home till May(Connor is born), then 6 months of Jordan support then Korea in Nov (+5 -7)

2003-Korea all year. (+1 -11) *midtour is 30 days leave

2004-ANOC, short stop home, then Iraq for the rest of the year (Maddy is born) (+1.5 -10.5)

2005-Home in March (Maddie was 4 months old) (+9 -3)

2006-Left for Iraq October (preceded by JRTC etc since Aug) (+7 -5)

2007-Iraq(-12) *18 days home for R&R

2008-Home Jan 27th (except for TDY training) (+9 -3)

2009-Iraq Feb 5th (+1 -11)

I think we are in the negative again. Maybe I should add it up.
In the 11 years, 7 months we have been married ( 139 months ) we have been together for no more than 59.5 months at best. (remember the field problems!) That's barely 40%. LESS than 5 years....

Now I AM depressed.

warning...misery and whining ahead.

Matt's deployment seemed to take all day....but not long enough. It's this horrible feeling that I've struggled with for about two weeks now. The feeling that we didn't do enough, that we didn't make enough memories, that I'll forget or something. I don't know. Depression probably.

I'm just tired of this Army crap. I just want my husband to quit leaving every other year. I know I signed up for this and that I should complain, but I just can't seem to wrap my head around yet another year. Isn't time supposed to go faster when you get older? I don't know but a year just seems interminable right now. I can't even think about it.

All the things that I said, "Oh, I'll do that when he leaves to keep myself busy." are falling to the wayside. I just don't care. I don't feel the desire to fix our home up if he won't be here to share it with me. Heck, I can barely motivate myself to get my son clean clothes to wear to school. I just don't want to do it right now. In fact the kids are eating cereal for dinner....

I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning or after a good cry.(thanks A.btw) but right now I just want to wallow in my misery. I'm not really scared about him not coming home although with the number of friends I have who thought the same thing and never saw them again should change my mind. I know he is fairly safe but it just hurts to have him leave. He is my best friend. Having him leave just hurts.

Connor has struggled with the kids at school doing the "You're not my best friend anymore and I'm not going to play with you." thing and I see how he hurts. It's like that....but a million times harder. Matt is my best friend and he's not going to play with me for a whole year.

This was supposed to be a blog about the farewell and how we sat outside most of the time and had a lot more time than I expected. We got to see him get on the bus and wave. I had a friend who was working crowd control go up to the bus and snap one more picture of him. These are all good things but it seems that I can't concentrate on them because I can only think about how he is leaving for ports unknown (yeah, still no offical determination of where they will actually be IN Iraq.) and how much I will miss being with him.

But that said, I'm sure that I'll be fine. I always am. He gave us all a blessing and in it reminded me of how I'm always stronger than my fear. I know it's true, but right now going back to school, working on the garden, cleaning the house, even going to work all seem too much to bear. I'd just go to bed, but I don't want to have to make the bed alone or pick his pajamas up. sigh.

sigh.

Matt left.

So I dragged myself home from the farewell to do the dishes and clean our filthy house.  *It really IS filthy.  Laundry to be done, dishes stacked in the sink...but I really have no desire to clean or do anything.  I can't bring myself to face the mess, but it's reached a point where I'm worried someone will call CPS)

And the power went out.

So much for dinner and cleaning.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.   I guess I should have expected it.  Something ALWAYS goes wrong or breaks when he deploys.

January in Review.

Originally uploaded by Life Happens

I made this the other day....not my typical style and I probably won't do this again...but here you go. January in review. Click on the picture to view it larger.

Any advice?

Okay, I hate moving pictures around on the wall, so I made this quick photoshop version of my living room. (Kindly ignore the mess.)

I also stole the plaque idea from a friend, so imagine that it actually says "stone". I'm not sure I want that picture of Connor to be in the mix, but I'll have to take a new picture of him so I'll leave that for now.

But any suggestions? Ideas? Click on picture for larger image.

You did WHAT?!?!?!

Pictures to be posted AFTER I'm done being furious.

Maddy cut her hair in the middle of the night becuase "it was in my way". Yup. She chopped her bangs off about an inch from her scalp. Right in front.

This is the same little girl that BEGGED to grow her bangs out. She pleaded to "not have bangs on my forehead" and told me that she wanted them to be "long like my cousin Emma". So we spent the last year growing them out and yesterday I thought, "gee they are starting to get long, another month and they will stay nicely in ponytails without having to use a mini rubber band to hold them in place." Now, well now I just have to decide if I want to strangle her or chop it all off.

She snuck out of bed last night and we caught her jsut as she went back into her room. She said something about going to the bathroom, so I thought nothing of it. This morning her closet light was on and the damage was done. She had hidden the scissors under her bed so I KNOW she knew she messed up.

I DID spank her. I even made her throw the scissors away. Now I just have to decide if I want to give up. 1/2 the time she loves long hair and tells me how wonderful it is to have such pretty hair. Then there are days like today where I wonder if she would be better off with a "Maya" cut. (For non-Killeen folk, that's a short bob like her friend Maya)

I took this picture during my last 365. (I'll be starting up again soon Julie, so keep watching!)

Flashback....

One of the cool things about using Flickr for my photos is the nifty toys that are out there. I highly encourage you to all get a *free* flickr account and go play at Big Huge Labs. They have some fun toys.

But one of my favorite features is the PhotoJojo Timecapsule. They email you some of your most interesting pictures from Flickr that you posted a year prior. You can even leave a message for your future self too!

This can be a fun way to look back on the year....but sometimes the results are well, not so fun.

This was the first image that I saw....

Yup. That's right. Just about a year ago, I was all happy and excited because I was welcoming my husband home from 457 days in Iraq. (That's 1 year, 92 days). Now
we are saying goodbye yet again. Sigh. Well at least I know that when I see the goodbye pictures pop up in my time capsule, I'll have him home again.


And in other news....the last bit of time he had home was spent very mellow. VERY mellow. In fact, Matt has been drugged up since our early Saturday morning visit to the ER. Turns out that he had 6 (yes, ladies and gents, count 'em, SIX) Kidney stones.

Yeah, my camera was in my purse, so I had to snap a picture after the pain subsided a bit (thanks to good ol' morphine)  Plus I still don't know if they can recover anything at all from my hard drive, so I'm taking every picture that I can get!

So our time has been spent taking naps on the couch, being lazy and relaxing...I suppose that's okay, since that's what we wanted to do anyway!

That's just not good enough.

I've been working my way through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.

Right now, I'm on the lesson about bargaining. Rule #1 Be Honest! The other rules are pay with CASH (You really do get a better deal that way!), just be quiet and use the phrase, "That's just not good enough." (And then be prepared to walk away if it isn't!)

I was watching this lesson on line while my son sat at the table next to me and worked on his homework.

He asked for a snack, but since it was almost dinner I didn't want him to have too much to eat. I said he could have a piece of cheese, but that was it.

He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Mom, that's just not good enough."

He admitted that Dave was more interesting than spelling words....he had listened to the whole lesson and practiced it on me!

He cracks me up!

Anyway, here are a few tips from Dave himself...
1. CASH is emotional, visual, and immediate.
2. Walkaway power is one of the most powerful, yet underutilized, tools in buying bargains.
3. If you shut up you might get a great deal—silence is powerful!