Tomorrow

is the big day. Erin and I are going to WALK a 5K. I'm excited!

The excitement could also be from knowing that I didn't have to drive to swimming for two days?

My mom is keeping the girls tonight, but Junior will be with me. I'm sure he will love it and ask me to run, run, run!

A 5K today.....a muddy buddy in October. A triathalon next Spring?

Wordless Wednesday

Finding a job

The local school district has a job fair coming up and I need to get started on my resume. I've had several interesting jobs over the last decade--buyer, worked at the Consulate in Germany, International Trade and Investment, etc.

Somehow I am supposed to play all this up towards education. If they want to give me millions to spend, I can do it. If they want to import from Africa or invest in foreign countries, I can do it. If they need me to look over oil & gas logs, reconcile account discrepancies, coordinate trade between the US and other countries, work with classified documents and more, I am their girl.

Any teachers out there that can help me? Anyone that likes to proofread resumes? Help!

Did you know???

That a roll of toilet paper will hold up to half of a container of windex? Abs does now.

We called Gunner's laptop tonight and figured out how to use the telephone feature. Is Skype any better? It really wasn't a bad connection, and since the phones were locked up because people couldn't clean up after themselves, it was better than nothing. We spent the first two deployments with little to no contact, so we are enjoying all the communication this time.

I went to the gym this afternoon and I was glad to be back. It had been a while, but I am back on the bandwagon. I'll need to be in shape to keep up with all my plans!

Pizza for dinner tonight...Papa Murphy's.....yummmmmm......

Enablers

I found this very interesting! If you answer yes to two or more questions, you can be considered an enabler. Hopefully someone will recognize themselves in it and do something to correct the situation.

1. Do you find yourself worrying about a person in ways that consume your time, or do you find yourself trying to come up with solutions to his/ her problems rather than letting that person do the solving?
2. Do you find yourself afraid for this person, or convinced that he/she “cannot handle” a situation or relationship without “falling apart”?
3. Do you ever do something for a person which he/she could and even should be doing for him or herself?
4. Do you ever excuse this person’s behavior as being a result of “stress, misunderstanding, or difficulty coping,” even when the behavior hurts or inconveniences you?
5. Have you ever considered giving/given this person money, your car, or talked to someone for this person as a way of reducing this person’s pain?
6. Do you feel angry if this person does not follow through with something you have suggested - or do you worry that you may not be doing enough for this person?
7. Do you ever feel you have a unique and special relationship with this person, unlike anyone else they may know?
8. Do you feel protective of this person - even though he/she is an adult and is capable of taking care of his/her life?
9. Do you ever wish others in this person’s life would change their behavior or attitudes to make things easier for this person?
10. Do you feel responsible for getting this person help?
11. Do you feel reluctant to refer an individual to a source of help or assistance, uncertain if another person can understand or appreciate this person’s situation the way you do?
12. Do you ever feel manipulated by this person but ignore your feelings?
13. Do you ever feel that no one understands this person as you do?
14. Do you ever feel that you know best what another person needs to do or that you recognize his/her needs better than he/she does?
15. Do you sometimes feel alone in your attempts to help a person or do you feel you may be the only person to help this individual?
16. Do you ever want to make yourself more available to another person, at the expense of your own energy, time, or commitments?
17. Do you find yourself realizing that an individual may have more problems than you initially sensed and that you will need to give him/her your support or help for a long time?
18. Do you ever feel, as a result of getting to know this person, that you feel energized and can see yourself helping people like him/her to solve their problems?
19. Have you ever begun to “see yourself” in this person and his/her problems?
20. Has anyone ever suggested to you that you are “too close” to this person or this situation?

April--Month of the Military Child

And I just happen to have three.

Fort Hood had a celebration on post today, so I ventured out with all three of the kiddos. We started out by picking up their free shirts and then over to pick up their free prize. They were happy.

They jumped in a jump house. Junior didn't like it. Em velcroed herself to a wall.

We had hotdogs for lunch. Popsicles for dessert. Chips. More ice cream--hey we are in Blue Bell country, you never pass up Blue Bell!

The girls participated in a wheelchair rodeo and won shirts and prizes. They met Miss Texas Wheelchair 2008 and got her autograph.

They threw footballs.

Em & Junior met Wonder Woman and Superman. Abs decided that they didn't look like real superheroes so she would pass because they were "weird".

We then headed over to the fire engine display and stayed forever. I let Junior out of the stroller and he was in heaven. The firefighters were from Fort Hood, and were GREAT! They were so nice and patient with Abs and Junior. (Em didn't want to do this part)



The girls got their faces painted.

In between we had two visits to the ambulance. The first time was because when we arrived Em opened the car door and whacked herself. She has a huge knot on her forehead. They gave her an ice pack and checked her over to make sure she was okay. We returned an hour later when Abs fell and skinned her knee.

We didn't win any door prizes, got a little bit too much sun, and we had one tantrum, but other than that we had a great time!

Cost......$0.

Compound Eyes

The girls are constantly leaving the door open and flies get in the house. Tis the season of the fly right now. Blech. I was chasing one around the house with a flyswatter this evening and Junior was laughing hysterically. My sweet Abs stated matter of factly "He finds it hilarious that you are trying to catch something that has compound eyes. Don't you know anything about compound eyes mommy?"

I smushed the little sucker. Compound eyes and all.

Thank goodness for disappointments

The girls had swimming tonight, so we loaded up and drove the 1/2 hour to the pool. We got there and there was lightening everywhere. They cancelled the lessons, and I was kind of ticked after driving that far. I accepted it, moved on, and headed back home. By the time we got to Killeen, the area where we had just come from, had a tornado visible (hadn't hit the ground yet), hail, and of course a Texas size thunderstorm. Sure glad we weren't in that mess!

Guess

Can you guess where I went today?

Three hints: Junior, ears, prescription

Yes folks, for the third time in 4 weeks, Junior has gotten another ear infection. He was on antibiotics still when this one started. I don't get it. I did see the doctor that I really like and he agreed to let me try a low dose of antibiotics daily over the next three weeks. It's not usually done anymore, but it worked on Abs and this will hopefully buy us some time to get his allergies under control and the weather to remain warm and then we can be ear infection free. We have to go back in three weeks to reevaluate. Keep your fingers crossed that we see some progress!

This was the 5th time we have been to the doctor this week. I loathe going to the doctor. I'm already germaphobic and thankfully the clinic has hand sanitizer thingies everywhere. He wanted to play with one of the communal toys, which made my skin crawl. I did contemplate whipping out my mini bottle of lysol and spraying it down and then letting him, but I left my purse in the car. Maybe next time....

While we were in the office with the doctor my phone rings. I ignored it. They called back. It was Gunner. I answered.

Me: I have to call you back I am with the doctor.
Gunner: The doctor? Again?
Me: Yes, again.
Gunner: Fifth time is the charm right?

Kitchen Update

The IA admitted they wanted an officer's mess, so they are now paying for it all themselves.

A new kitchen

Gunner is in a location where they get one hot meal a day.

Not a big deal, he's used to it and he gets packages filled with things he can microwave. The Iraqis have a contract with a guy who cooks their meals and delivers them three times a day. The IA is not happy because they feel like the guy is serving them poor quality food and not enough of it. Fair enough.

So what's an Iraqi to do? They tell my husband that they want a kitchen. The command tells my husband that Santa Claus is dead and they need to go through their people.

So this morning my husband was IMing with me and working with the translator on getting things taken care of. Apparently the last team in there gave the IA everything that they wanted and now they expect that. The team Gunner is on, is supposed to cure them of that habit of expecting the Americans to pay for everything.

To make a point Gunner said that they had some of the IA come over for what they have been eating for "dinner". In the end, the outlook is not good and the IA will probably get a kitchen with the bare essentials. Maybe then they can serve hot meals to the Americans?

Junior

A story about Junior here. The boy cracks me up.

Grrrrrrr.....

Love from Iraq

Wednesday morning my outlook express cratered. I'm sure it had something to do with the 4,569 unread emails. Or maybe the over 15,000 deleted emails. (I keep everything, and often don't even click on the junk emails) Gunner called from Iraq to see if he could help fix it, to no avail. I told him the error codes, etc. and he asked when I would get online again. The girls had swim lessons, so I wasn't able to get on till almost 9 that night.

My dear, sweet Gunner said he would call me then. Unbeknownst to me, he went back to his room, googled instructions (my whole computer locked up), wrote them down, set his alarm, called me, explained the instructions, and went back to bed. He loves me.

My email works.

I'm off to email him.

One more thing...

One thing I don't like about Junior going to a clinic on post is that if come the afternoon he gets some ailment, our only choice is the ER. Daycare called today to tell me that he had pink eye. Great. I go pick him up at 3 and we head to the er while I try to get an appointment at the clinic. After giving them every bit of information on my husband they tell me they have a first available tomorrow at 1 p.m. I take it and continue on to the er.

We get to the er and it's pretty empty. Good thing since I have to get the girls before 6. We move through the er relatively fast--don't even get me started on the rude doctor. We get a prescription to have filled in the pharmacy downstairs. We race down there and wait in line so we can get a number and wait some more. Since family members are not first priority, we wait. They aren't even calling our classification of numbers. The lady next to me has been waiting 50 minutes and she is 10 numbers before me. The clock is creeping. The Soldier next to me told me to go get the kids and then come back and if I missed my number to tell them I was in the bathroom.

So Junior and I race down the hallway, through the er, to the car. We race over to the school, pickup the girls-Abs has decided her foot is broken and has to hop to the car. We head back to the er, run back to the pharmacy (Abs ran so I guess her foot was miraculously healed after I told her I was not going back to the er).....and we missed our number by 5 people. I saw an open counter and asked for the prescription and he luckily gave it to me.

So Junior will go to work with me tomorrow and hang out with my mom. Good thing he likes tortillas for our weekly mexican lunch.

Here's hoping that we can avoid the er for a while, but I better refill the sanitizer bottles in the meantime.

Making Progress

A while back I said that while Gunner was gone I was going to do three fun runs/walks/bike rides. My first one will be on the 4th of May! I'm excited, but also know that since I haven't been to the gym lately that I will be walking it.

If I can find care for the kids, I am doing a 25 mile bike ride on the 31st. Somehow the thought of pulling them in a trailer or trying to convince Em that riding 25 miles would be fun, is not appealing.

I tried to sub today but nothing was available so instead I am madly listing things on ebay.

Mona-ME-sa

Drawn by Abs. Another self portrait....

A miracle on Sunday....

Took Junior to the ER this morning--he is fine--and we were in and out, including xrays in less than an hour. We even went to Darnell. There was absolutely no one there.

There is basically nothing they can do about him coughing all night long till he starts to barf. Lovely. They did say that his xray looks better than it did Thursday, so at least it is headed in the right direction. He has an appt with the allergist on Thursday.

And Gunner's son thought having his temperature taken rectally was hilarious and giggled the whole time.

On the homefront--every once in a while the sound goes out and we have to reboot the cable box. This morning it went out and Abs said "Where's Daddy when you need him?". Come on, I could move mountains if I had to! So with her lack of confidence I have chosen to not fix it till much later tonight. It's so peaceful....

Friday Part II

Our nails are done.Abs in a bright blue and Em in a bright purple. I of course stuck with conservative red. Boring.

We shopped. We ate. We talked. They declared it a great day.

We were on our way to daycare to get Junior and I said something about the powder all over the bathroom.

Em: There was powder all over the shower last night.
Me: There was?
Em: I mean all over, I wondered what you were doing mommy.
Me: Abs? I thought you confined it to half the bathroom.
Abs: Well it said shower to bath.

Friday!!!

The girls are off of school today and Junior is feeling better. I took Junior to daycare and the girls and I are doing a mad dash of cleaning the house. I told them if they would clean their rooms that we would have times to go get our nails and toenails done. What girl doesn't like that? Em is working and Abs is......well being Abs. I figured after our nails we could go get ice cream, pick up Papa Murphy's for dinner and pick up Junior and have a nice evening.

Then I went to the bathroom. Abs is not allowed to use my bathroom AT ALL! Apparently she "forgot" that rule. My bathroom is now decorated in powder. To be fair, most of it did make it in the trash can and was absorbed by the soaking wet roll of toilet paper that she dunked in the toilet. I know I should make her clean it, but the thought of Abs with water and powder....it is a recipe for disaster.

I better run since Abs just informed me that Em was holding her in slavery. Never a dull moment....

UPDATE: I went to clean the girls' bathroom and made Abbie stick her hand in the toilet to fish out the approximate three pounds of toilet paper that she had stuffed in it. She was crying and told me that she just wiped her nose. I don't know what possesses her sometimes. She has clean hands now, the toilet is unstopped and I am considering locking up the toilet paper and rationing it out.

More

Lunch with the Iraqi Army.

Mutton anyone?