aughh!!!!

Mike got me an ipod as a gift last Valentine's Day, which was very nice of him, and last night I finally decided it was time to upload all of my Cd's. This will probably take a few days to do, which is why I Had been putting it off for so long, I already had about 1500 songs on my computer from when song sharing via the Internet was free and easy anyway, so i figured why bother, but a friend recently got one and did it right away, and I didn't want to be one-upped.

So, I went around the house trying to gather all of my Cd's that were still usable, because my kids seem to think that they are frisbees, and I got a good collection going, and then I went to the van to get those out. I managed to get about 30 done last night, with an American Idol break in between, not so bad.

This morning when I woke at my usual, too freaking early, time, I got the kids up, and fed, and ready for school. When it was time to take Jack, I couldn't find my keys (also not unusual), so I grabbed a spare, and we were on our way. I found my keys in the ignition of my van, I had to turn it on to get my Cd's out of the player last night, and I left it on, and now it would not start. SHIT!!!

So, now my battery is charging, and the sting is wearing off from the, my wife is an idiot, look on my husband's face this morning (frankly, I think he's just mad because I called Led Zepplin soft rock), and I can't help but wonder, is Cat Stevens Greatest Hits really worth all of this.

burnt toast

My house smells like burnt toast.

On Saturday(note that I am writing this on Friday), while I was out, Mike tried to make toast for one of the kids, and got distracted by something in the process, as happens, but it was how we discovered that our toaster no longer pops the toast up.
I do not know how long it stayed in there burning, only that it was long enough to make the smell last for almost a week now.

We have tried all sorts of the things to remedy it, but to no avail. That day he took all of the kids with him to the grocery store to buy chocolate chip cookie fixings hoping it would mask the smell, it did not. I had him boil cinnamon sticks in a pot of water, didn't work. I made fish for dinner, twice, didn't work(it was really good though).
We have had baking soda out all week hoping to absorb it, hasn't worked.

Sometimes I start to think that it might be gone, and then I leave and come back, and it's there again, I just grow used to it.

Any ideas?

I should offer a reward for whooever figures out how to make the smell go away, not a big reward, a small reward, toast maybe.

silliness

I have spent the last while listening to my girls argue about Star Wars, it started when Katie asked the question, "If Luke and Princess Leia are brother and sister, then why isn't Luke a prince?" This led to several other questions that I didn't have the answer to, about whether Padme was, or was not a queen. I was left wondering who Padme was, because I have only seen the original trilogy, and really am not geeky enough to know the answers. I have to start remembering them and ask my friend Jess' husband, who I'm sure will know how the Star Wars lineage unfolds.

I was saved from this conversation when they went outside to do a rain dance, and becasue it is, in fact, about to rain, I am sure they will come in believing that they made it happen.

I took the boys to lunch today at Macaroni Grill, and as we were leaving the waitress waved at Jackson, he told me that it was because she thought he was so handsome, and then informed me that girls really like handsome boys. I am thinking that we might have to tone down the stroking of his ego, may the force be with him.

The girls just came back in to tell me that their rain dance worked, did I call that one, or what?


"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?"- Yoda

I wonder why guys like Star Wars so much.

role playing

So, I finally got my brakes fixed after six months of complaining about them. It was actually starting to become a sore spot between Mike and me, I would mention that they needed to be fixed and he would roll his eyes (this is where communications skills would have come in handy, because to me it meant annoyance at having to pay for something ELSE). What it did mean was, so stop talking about it and get them fixed.

I can see , where he is coming from with that, since marriage I sort of fell into the idea that there are certain jobs that are his and certain jobs that are mine, and I should never do his, but he can do mine from time to time. I mean why get married if it isn't for someone to fix your car, carry heavy stuff, and take care of the trash and dog poop, it certainly wasn't for enlightening conversation. Mike is actually a great guy, and does more than most husbands and fathers I know. He didn't push me into the idea, I fell there all by myself, maybe because it was the easier place to go. I used to fix my own cars, and I don't mean get them fixed, but do the actual work. I had an old car, tools, and a Chilton's manual, and I kept it running.

I think it's time to find some of that again, it is very easy to say that I am too tired, or I have too much else going on, but there are so many, that have done so much more, with so much less. I am not talking about fixing my own car (they are way too compilcated now), but there are so many things where I could take the initiative, instead of waiting for things to get done around me.

This post went in a direction that I wasn't expecting, I was thinking I was going to write about faith and confusion, but I will save that for later.

I was just informed by a friend that there was another Navy helicopter accident, so if anyone reading this could put a few minutes of their thoughts and prayers out for the families of the three men that died, I'm sure it could only help.

nice package

A bomb squad in Sweden was sent to an apartment building the other day when the janitor found a suspicious package. The building was cleared and a team of experts,"opened the package with bomb disposal equipment", only to find a vibrating sex toy. He called it in because "the package was humming and vibrating suspiciously." How embarrassing for all involved. Will the woman(I am assuming woman) that dropped, or discarded the box be questioned? I don't know, but I know that I am glad it happened, because I enjoyed the story immensley. Some people can't get enough politics, war coverage, tragedy, or even feel good stories in their news, I like the embarrassing and hilarious stories.

It is almost as funny as the man in Indiana that shot himself in the pee-pee while robbing a convenience store.

crash and burn

I just crashed my car about 15 minutes ago, very minor, no damage done to either car involved. It was 100% my fault as well. The funny thing was that just minutes before my little crash I was thinking about what the best day I had this week was so that I could get my brakes fixed. This was just a fender bender, a little bump to slap me back into reality, and now days fenders don't even ding when they bend, they just pop right back into place.

The guy I hit, well who's car that I hit (didn't hit the actual guy), was fine, and Billy and Maggie and I were fine, and our cars were undamaged, so we all just shook hands and went our separate ways. No big deal right? No need to even mention it to my husband right?

When I got back into my car, I realized that I broke car accident etiquette (at least, according to the guidelines set by my insurance company). The first thing I said when I got out of my car was, "Are you alright?...I am so sorry, that was totally my fault." Sometimes I wish that I could still lie like I used to, but it just isn't in me any more.

I don't even know for sure that it was my bad brakes that were at fault, because at the time of the incident, I was looking around for my ipod.

As for the burn part, I was on my way back from my vet's office when this happened. My vet is in Bonsall, where my parents live, and I drove through Fallbrook to get there. Fallbrook is probably one of my favorite places I have ever been or lived, I love it there. For those that aren't from the San Diego area, Fallbrook is also one of the areas hit hardest by the recent fires. The road that I took into town divided the fire line. One side of the road was green and beautiful, and thick with trees, looking like a picture postcard of small town living. The other side of the road was a sea of charred oak, sad and beautiful in its own way, it reminded me of an Ansel Adams photograph.

The thing that made me really take notice was that there were sprouts of green popping up in all of that, already life is coming back into that area, all of that ash and char is great for the soil.

Now I am far from the greenest person in the world, but I do think everyone should do their part. That crying Indian guy in those commercials had its effect on me. I don't believe that we can destroy our planet, I think that it will kill us off before we get the chance, and start fresh again (probably using us as fertilizer). Earth will be fine, soon after we are gone there will be little sprouts of green.

victor

My cousin Victor comes to my house every Sunday to watch football, and hang out with the family. He has been doing this ever since he joined the Marines about nine years ago, with the exception of a nine month hiatus where he was deployed. Before he joined up I hardly knew him, as he grew up in Alaska, and is about eight years younger.

Victor is a great guy, and when Mike, or the kids, and I need anything, he is always offering to help us out. That being said, he isn't always the easiest person to take, and if introducing him to someone, or taking him to restaurant, you need to be prepared, because there is no filter for what comes out of his mouth. We have gotten to be really close, sometimes I don't know if I consider him more like a brother, or another kid. For example, the picture above is of him and Mike at my daughters 8th birthday party, his shirt says, "Boobies make me smile." I have actually had him turn a few of the shirts that he has worn inside-out before he came into the house, this one was tame.

My three youngest kids love him, as do Mike and I, Emma pretends not to like him, but sometimes she lets it slip. He is the typical uncle, he messes with them and tries to get them to pull his finger, etc... His favorite thing is to try to get the kids to touch his nasty big toe, that he has affectionately named, "Lucky". So far they have all managed to escape it.

His behavior had not seemed to rub off on any of the kids until recently. A few weeks ago Billy asked us to pull his finger, and today when I was tickling his feet, he said that I should be careful not to touch Lucky or my fingers would get stinky.
And so it is passed on to another generation, my children's children will now have to avoid pulling their Uncle Billy's finger.

I just realized that I can say whatever I want about Victor here, because like my husband, he doesn't read my blog. I will refrain from any really good stories for now, because I know the Bucs have tortured him enough this week.

Happy New year

How many of you looked like this today?

We rang in the new year last night in a most excellent way, we stayed home with the kids watching The Sound of Music. Very much my idea of a good time. I especially enjoyed that the girls, mostly Katie, were really interested in the history of what was going on in the movie, and we paused several times to explain Nazis, the Anschluss, patriotism, and love.

As usual the new year makes me think about the year we just left behind, and what I would like to do differently in the year ahead. I am not a resolution maker, I am in tune with myself enough to know that I won't follow through, and I see no reason to set myself up for failure. My friend Michele called today and asked me to give up diet coke with her, and I said sure, but as I type this I am drinking a diet coke (see what I mean?). So I have decided that instead of taking something away I would resolve to do something differently, so I have decided to keep my kitchen sink clean. That's it, pretty simple......heck I might even be able to handle it. I once did this home organization/decluttering thing called flylady(remember Jess?), and she would end all of the little reminder emails with, "Go shine your sink!" So I have no intention of promising a neat and orderly house, or that I'm going to walk the dog a half an hour every night, or stay on a diet for the next umpteen years, I'm just going to keep my kitchen sink clean.

There are a lot of things on a more personal level that I hope to give some attention to, but that is all I'll share..

How about you? Anyone got something they want to try and do better?

"Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things"