The Story of Grandpa's Hair

To you it might look like a simple dandelion.

To Junior, it is his Grandpa's hair.

My dad had white, white, white, hair as long as I can remember. We used to joke that he was the only gray haired man at Kindergarten graduation.

My dad also had a love for his Triumph--a convertible of course. My sister used to say when the saw white stuff floating in the air, that our dad was driving with his top down.

Fast forward to Junior.

He never met my dad, but Abs assures me that my dad was rocking his little soul in heaven before he was born.

The girls told him the story about Grandpa's hair flying in the air, and Junior who is in love with anything Grandpa, latched on to it.

Every time we see a fluff of dandelion floating in the air, Junior runs to it, grabs it, and calls it "My Grandpa". It breaks my heart because he never met him, but makes me smile because I know my dad would get a kick out of it.

Junior will carry around his "Grandpa", taking special care that it doesn't fly away. Sometimes he hauls it inside and wants to keep it in his room so he and his "Grandpa" can read stories together at bedtime.

Maybe Junior knows something we don't, but in the meantime he is constantly on the look for his "Grandpa".

COG railway pictures

Cute GI I found.

Me headed up. My hair wasn't down for long!

Similar to the other picture. We weren't all the way to the top yet.

If you had asked me yesterday, I wouldn't have done it again unless someone new was along. Today, I would probably do it again. It definitely gave me a workout, and you couldn't beat the view!

4 day weekends

I really need to finish and make sure I upload my posts when I write them.

(Thursday) I love 4 day weekends. Tomorrow morning I will hopefully be sleeping away while Gunner is getting ready to get the kids off to school. Weird thing is that Abs has a 4 day weekend from school too, and is off Tuesday, but Em has school. They do things so differently up here!

All the controversy about the Obama speech that is going to be broadcast to the schools, and we got an email about it. Since Abs won't be in school it's not an issue. For middle school students they are broadcasting it in several different areas of the school during their study hall, and the students have the choice of attending. If it is going to be watched as part of a class, then teachers have to have signed permission slips from the parents. Then they went on to update that, so the next letter read that if a teacher was going to use it as a lesson, she needed to provide the specific state standards that it was going to meet. Guess with all the controversy they want to make sure they are covered.

Abs was selected to be on the school Senate. I was reading the paper and it said that she might be elgible for the Presidential Volunteer Award or something like that. I was impressed, but she wasn't. She said she didn't want anything from that guy. I explained to her why it was important, and she finally just said "OK", probably to get me to be quiet about it.

Speaking of Abs, this morning I had her go make her breakfast. I walked in a few moments later and she was spreading jelly on one piece of bread and she had another piece of bread covered in honey.

Me: What are you making Abs?
Abs: A sandwich.
Me: You can't have a jelly and honey sandwich.
Abs: Can I have jelly and honey on toast?
Me: Point made, hurry up.

Abs is also joining choir. I wonder what she will do if the uniform they have to wear is not green. We went through all the stores before buying school clothes and she swore up and down she would wear everything. I think she has worn the same 4 or 5 green shirts every single day. They're probably thinking that we can't afford any clothes.

Junior is finally making some progress in potty training. He's been dry the last two days to include pooping in the potty. Please let the end be in sight!

Gunner and I decided that one mile straight up would probably be hard on the kiddos, so we made the trip by ourselves on Friday. It is 2,744 old railroad ties to climb up. It was ridiculously hard. There's a trail on the other side of the mountain and so we did a trail run down. I used to think that trail running was not for me, and of course we were going straight down, but something about jumping over tree roots, watching your step, and all that was fun! I'm sure I would be singing a much different tune if it was uphill!
We opted not to take the steps down, but they had people running down them. I'd be sure to fall as they were steep and uneven!

*For some reason the other picture wouldn't upload.

Working Wednesday

I should be cleaning the house.

Instead:

I went to the commissary.

Interviewed a bigwig for a class assignment. I got so much information from her, and I am overwhelmed with all I want to learn about the subject. Maybe I'll get a PhD after all?

Tore through the commissary, and had to make 5 repeat trips down the same aisle because I kept forgetting stuff. Mental note--put your shopping list in order next time.

Em is staying late to play softball at school and will take the late bus home. I love the late bus.

Gunner managed to attend orientation at daycare since I couldn't make it due to my phone interview for my project.

The part for the dryer finally came! Of course Gunner was gone by then and while he tried to explain to me how to hook it up, I think he was vague on his directions so I wouldn't attempt it. I'll be doing laundry all night.

I did more homework.

I think I need a nap.

Thoughts about everything...

The Mrs. is having a giveaway over at her blog for a military alphabet book! Check it out and leave a comment so you can be signed up for it. She's due any day now, and I missed the bet on her having Dash-3 share my birthday, so she'll hopefully shoot for Dash-4 to share my big day?

Abs was all over her homework this afternoon. Go figure. Some days she loves it, other days, it's a lost cause.

Em is under the impression that because she has a new friend that lives about 10 minutes from us, that she can go over there whenever she wants. Maybe if she lived closer and I didn't have to drive. Tonight she wanted to eat dinner, load everyone up, drive her to her friends house so that they could "do homework" and then pick her up later. We don't eat till 6, so I can't imagine that schedule would work well. She seemed shocked that I didn't think that it was a good idea since she would supposedly be working over there.

Ran 4 miles today and walked half a mile to cool down. Tomorrow it's the bike, arms, and abs.

I cranked out a ton of homework tonight. We have a group project that is due next week too that we need to get started on. I got the conversation going about it, so now I just need to see if the other people contribute. I am hoping that they will, but will do it all myself if I have to. It's almost easier that way, actually.

......Wednesday. Gunner went on a run this morning and it was similar to our Koko Crater experience in Hawaii. He took pictures and we are doing it this weekend! I can't wait, I love stuff like this. It's a bunch of old railroad ties up the side of a mountain! I'm not sure the kids will love it, but we'll strap Junior on our backs (in a pullup with extra diapers and wipes packed this time) and go. I won't even think about all the whining that will occur.

I've taken up cooking. I pretty much suck at it, but am determined to get better so my kids don't just remember me as the mother who microwaves everything. So far only Em has even eaten anything that I have cooked. Maybe I should resort back to steamed chicken and veggies every night.

Afternoon tea today is peanut butter and jelly muffins if I can find the muffin pan.

I'm craving herring salad.

Abs did not sleep last night. She was up to go to the bathroom and then I heard her get up at 5:30. She was so sweet this morning, maybe she needs to get up early every morning? Of course if she is not up on her tems, all bets are off.

Em saw some bears the other morning on her way to school. (she was on the bus) The mama bear was growling at her cub who was running around in circles. I can sympathize as she must have an Abs bear.

Best Birthday Ever

I was kind of bummed today about my birthday. I treated myself to a pedicure, read, took a nap, and then waited for the kids to come home.

Abs was in rare form. She had one worksheet of homework to do. It had been over an hour and she sharpened her pencil a dozen times (pencil sharpener is now gone), had a snack (kitchen is off limits), whined, told me the answer to every question, but yet she refused to write down the answer. Apparently in Ab's world, she shouldn't have to do homework on my birthday.

Junior followed me down to the basement and then peed all over himself. Of course the one time he had his shoes on. Now we have wet shoes and no way to dry them. I can't find the hairdryer. I'm hoping by some miracle they dry by tomorrow.....but I know they won't! I don't know what we will do. I did wash some clothes and we have them on coat hangers all over the house. These are what memories are made of.

Abs finally finished her homework and then Gunner showed up. He brought an ice cream cake--who can turn down ice cream cake! My mom had sent me a present but I wasn't allowed to open it till everyone was around. I shook it. I felt it. It was....


My first book! My mom had all of my blogs bound into a book from 2007! I LOVE IT!!!!! I was totally shocked and I know how much time and energy it must have taken her to get it done. It was funny to look back on how everything started. I've come a long way baby! I read a couple of them to the girls and showed them the pictures. One day they can read them all. It's absolutely one of the best gifts I have ever gotten!!!

My mom just got back from Thailand and I also got this in the box.

The picture doesn't do it justice, it's beautiful! It's freshwater pearls strung on Thai silk. I love it! Em spent over an hour tonight telling me how perfectly it would go with her outfit for school tomorrow, lol. Maybe some day Em!

I got tons of birthday wishes from my friends, phone calls, and a quiet day at home. You can't ask for more, but the book......priceless. Thanks Mom!

Maybe 37 won't be so bad after all. We'll see how these old bones feel after the gym tomorrow and a long run...

Ch...Ch...Changes

Dear Abs is wearing deoderant. She started smelling a little musty. I asked her if she ever noticed any bad smells, and she told me her armpits smelled like burritos sometimes.

I went off to buy her deoderant. She has wiped mine or her sister's deoderant on the wall, carved in it, broken it, destroyed it, created art with it. I was relieved to find......roll on!

So far it's been a week and she hasn't managed to get the ball out of the container. She puts it on every morning and evening--guess she feels like she needs it--and then she walks around with her arms sticking out to give it ample time to dry. I can't imagine Abs growing up, but I guess in this way she is! Unfortunately I was hoping that the whining and trail of destruction would disappear first.

I went and got a pedicure today and got my eyebrows done. Even if I am unemployed, I need to look nice, right?

I've got a pile of books that I want to read and a pile of books that I have to read. Where to start.....

Another weekend

No traveling this weekend. My friend Dave came in Saturday and bought us Pei Wei for dinner. I think I am addicted and it's so much cheaper than PF Chang's!

Junior started his antibiotics. His eczema is gone......I mean everything is gone. Not a sore. Not a spot, not a mark. We see the BRILLIANT dermatologist on Thursday and then begin bleach baths to help keep everything going the way it is. (The bleach is minimal and he said it's like chlorine in the pool.) For the first time in over three years, my son is not scratching his skin off, being miserable, or being coated in anything other than aquaphor. He walks around telling everyone "My eczema all better!". I sure hope we are done, done, done with this crap.

Army Wives--I think they would have escorted Pamela out, but I can't wait to see what next week holds.

Our dryer stopped working. Luckily we managed to figure out what it was, but no parts were available here, and the store that did have it in stock was closed on Sunday. Are we living in Germany? I found the part online for cheaper and hopefully it will be here in the next few days. No dryer while potty training Junior, is a mess. Abs offered to construct a clothes line in the backyard, but it rains every day here, so I can't imagine the clothes would get very dry, but I appreciate the thought.

Abs story--my friend Dave got up this morning and heard Abs say "hi". He couldn't find her anywhere. He went into the kitchen and found the tub of cookie dough on the floor, open, and Abs had gone the other direction and crawled into his bed on the couch. He picked up the cookie dough, closed it, and put it on the counter. Gunner asked her if she was eating cookie dough, and she said nope, and then looked at Dave like he was the guilty party.

No big plans tomorrow other than a pedicure at least. I've got my readings all printed out, and ready to be highlighted, marked on, and summarized. I downloaded Perrla and am ready to have an easier time with all the APA formatting. I was killing myself trying to do it all on my own, and my friends assure me that this is a lifesaver!

I didn't run all weekend, time to get back in the groove this week. Can't wait for the 4 day weekend this weekend, I better start planning!