Thirteen Reasons I Go to Nebraska for the 4th of July 1. I grew up on an Air Force base where we weren't allowed to do fireworks. The military put on a pretty good show every year and that was it. 2. When we moved to the farm we got to experiment with shooting off our own fireworks. We spent about $20 and had a good time putting on our own little show. 3. The first 4th of July after we moved to Nebraska, we were ready to party with our $20 sack of fireworks. 4. Little did we know that the city would turn into a virtual war zone at dusk with fireworks going off everywhere. 5. And I'm not talking the cheap little fireworks. I'm talking fireworks that are a hundred dollars a pop. 6. I can still remember the shock and amazement I felt watching the fireworks from the top of a hill near my parent's home. 7. A haze actually hung over the city by the end of the night from all the smoke. 8. The next year we were much better prepared. 9. I think my brother is on a first name basis with the owners of a fireworks outlet store in Missouri. Yes, he's a pyro and has bought that many fireworks. 10. The only 4th of July I've missed since my family moved to Nebraska is when Olivia was born. Celebrating the 4th of July in Arkansas will never be the same. 11. The 4th is a day long event at my parent's house. The guys blow up lady fingers and such until night fall and then the real fun begins. 12. Let's just say we spend a little more then $20 on fireworks these days. 13. I can't wait until the 4th of July is here!!!

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No voice

I no longer have a voice and I don't mean in the political sense. It started to go on Monday after I talked to my friend on the phone for almost an hour. I had a little bit of one yesterday- enough to get the kid's attention if I needed to. Today I have nothing. All that comes out is a high-pitched squeaky sound. I feel like I'm trapped in my own body. Yesterday Paxton had gunk in his eye. Now it's in both eyes. I have no idea how I'm going to call the doctor. What do you do when you can't speak? Yesterday Olivia served as my interpretor on several occasions. I don't think it will work for this though. I'm supposed to leave for my parent's tomorrow. I was supposed to leave yesterday. Things are not going in my favor at all.

Plans

I cannot plan anything, A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G. It's an inherited family trait. It's actually a family joke. We know not to make plans or things will happen. They always do.

I am (was) planning on leaving on Tuesday for our biannual journey to Nebraska. The kids and I will be gone for about a month and a half so I have a ton of things to get done before we leave. Thursday Olivia came home from MIL's house with a hoarse voice. Friday she laid around quite a bit. Friday afternoon I started not feeling so hot. Friday night and this morning I felt down right awful and spent a good chunk of the day in bed. Apparently we caught the nasty cold or flu that Jody had.

I do not need this right now. I have too much to do to be laying around all day. It looks like our trip may be postponed a few days. We don't need to share our germs with family up north. Hopefully this is a quick bug and we get on the mend quickly. Hopefully. But I'm not making plans.

Happy Birthday Olivia

Happy 4th Birthday my sweet little Olivia!

To my baby girl,
I can't believe you are 4 years old today. Where has the time gone?! I can't believe how much you have grown and changed over these 4 years. I treasure the day you came into our lives. I am a better person because of you. You've taught me things about strength and honesty and love that I have never known before. I love to look into your big green eyes and give you cuddles. I love to watch you run, jump and play. I love to watch you learn new things. I have so many dreams for your future. I hope you are strong and happy and independent and loved. And I hope you have a wonderful 4th birthday.

Love,
Mommy

Thirteen Things I Need to do Before I leave for Nebraska 1. Get Olivia's hair cut. 2. Pay bills. 3. Put in my CM order. 4. Laundry, laundry and more laundry. 5. Pack bags. 6. Vacuum and wash the van. 7. Pick up check from consignment store. 8. Go grocery shopping for snacks. 9. Mail packages. 10. Fill out family group sheet for mom. 11. Preen the garden. 12. Gather and pack scrapbooking stuff. 13. Load van.

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Wordless Wednesday

Happy Father's Day

First of all: Happy Father's Day, Pa! I wish I could be there to celebrate but a lousy blog entry will have to do.

Second of all: I basically had two options today. Ignore Father's Day like my husband did for Mother's Day or buy him gifts and go the guilt trip route. I chose option 2. Jody's been needing some new clothes that are church worthy and a new pair of shoes. This seemed like a good opportunity to buy them and use it to my advantage. We planned on having steaks for dinner and inviting the ILs. I bought a french silk pie for dessert because I know Jody's been wanting one. The first thing Jody asked is why I got him stuff for FD when he didn't get me anythingfor MD. I told him it wasn't from me, it was from the kids, and that I wanted to teach him how to celebrate a sentimental holiday correctly. Maybe it sunk in a little bit. I guess I'll find out in a little less then a year.

Olivia's Birthday Party

Olivia the Princess




















The cake

















Paxton playing on the Slip n' Slide

















Olivia's birthday party turned out to be a huge success. It rained Saturday morning but eased up just in time for the party. The kids got to play in the rain for a little while, but they didn't seem to mind. The Slip n' Slide was a blast and made for great pictures. Olivia's friend James provided great entertainment when he whipped out his boyhood in the middle of the yard and proceeded to pee. Later on he had a few streaking incidents too. It was hilarious (although his mom was a tad embarassed). Olivia couldn't wait to eat her birthday cake. She blew her candles out so quickly I didn't even get a picture. She got lots of great presents. She got 4 new dresses and lots of craft supplies. Overall, I think Olivia had a great party. She's already talking about her Dora party next year.

Let the countdown begin...

There are two days left until Olivia's birthday party and it's crunch time. I was planning a small, easy affair with Olivia's friends but it's grown a little larger then that. MIL is turning it into a family reunion.
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Yesterday I got the girl's skirts finished. Thanks Ma for helping me figure out how to sew them. I hope the girls like them.
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Today I went grocery shopping for the food. As I was standing in the checkout line with half of my items on the conveyor belt I realized I forgot napkins and silverware. Hopefully we can scrounge enough forks up around here or people will just have to eat the baked beans with their fingers.
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Tomorrow we are making the cake. My friend and I are attempting to make a Barbie birthday cake which involves baking a cake in a bowl for the skirt. I have to make another 8 in. cake to put under that cake for height. I just hope we can make this work. I want to make the cake tomorrow just incase we royally screw it up we can run to town and get something else.
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I need to wrap presents. There were a few other things I wanted to get Olivia but I don't know it I'll have time. I was hoping Jody and I could go shopping together but seeing how he isn't talking to me right now, I don't see that happening.
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The weatherman is now calling for a 40% chance of rain on Saturday too. Two days ago the forecast was saying it was going to be clear. I'm praying it doesn't rain because we are all not going to fit into my IL's house.
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I ordered party favors from Oriental Trading Company. When I ordered the supplies the invoice said they should be here on the 16th. When I track the order it says they should be here on the 17th. Here's hoping the package gets here tomorrow or before 10 on Saturday.

Thirteen Ramblings of a Pissed-off Housewife 1. Why am I the only one that sees dishes need to be done. 2. Why am I the only one that knows Paxton needs to take his medicine before bed. 3. Why am I the only one that knows we need to go grocery shopping. 4. Why am I the only one that knows the trash is full. 5. Why am I the only one that there is food smashed all over the carpet and it needs to be vacuumed. 6. Why am I the only one that knows the bills need to be paid. 7. Why am I the only one that knows when the kids need a bath. 8. Why am I the only one that knows the garden needs to be watered. 9. Why am I the only one that knows the laundry needs to be washed... 10. ...and folded 11. ...and put away. 12. Why am I the only one that knows when Paxton needs a diaper change. 13. Why am I the only one that knows WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS HOUSE!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

Happy Anniversary

Happy 6th Anniversary Jody!!

Can you believe it's been six years already? Where does the time go? Yet it seems like we've been together forever. This is just where we hoped we would be someday. You, me, a couple of kids in our little love shack. I love you more everyday. I wouldn't trade my life with you for the world. Here's to a million more happy memories!

The eagle has landed

I now have 5 pounds of snow crab in my possession. Good job me!

Enough to Gag a Magot

MIL brought Olivia home because she wanted to play outside in the sprinkler. We went outside to set up the sprinkler when I notice a big hairy tyrantula in the yard. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! What does MIL do but go over and step on it. WTH is she thinking?! Doesn't she know there is some kind of rule that you can't step on tyrantulas. They're too big and too hairy. Gross! So now there is a giant tyrantula corpse laying in my yard. It's enough to gag a magot.

Crab Hunting

Tomorrow is our 6 year anniversary. We used to go on our annual trip to Red Lobster to celebrate until I found out that something in their food gives me headaches. My sister said it could be a metaphor for marriage. It starts out really great and all you end up with is a big ole headache.

So now we've started buying snow crab legs and cooking up our own little feast. There are only two places I know of around here that you can get crab legs- Floyd's Meat Market and Big Bayou Smokehouse. I tried to call Big Bayou first since it is the closest to us. Unfortunately the call was met with an 'I'm sorry that number is no longer in service' message. No such luck there.

Floyd's Meat Market has been around for quite some time. It's where my parents would buy the snow crab and shrimp for our traditional Christmas supper every year while we stationed at LRAFB. They've moved shop a couple of times but it was no problem finding their phone number on the internet. Thank you Yahoo! Yellow Pages.

I called Floyd's and they confirmed that they had crab legs and that they looked good. Ok, great, I'll see you in a little while. Unfortunately Floyd's is in Sherwood which means a 45 minute drive on a good traffic day.

While we were down that way, I decided to make a stop at the mall and exchange a pair of underwear at VS that were the wrong size (too small, not that you needed to know). Olivia was so excited to go to the mall because she loves the escalators so I promised her we could go up and down them a few times. We also stopped at Gymboree since they were having a buy two get one free sale- you know me and free stuff- and we ended up getting Olivia two dresses and a skirt for a total of $20.69.

So I make my way over to Floyd's Meat Market. I go in and ask for 4 pounds of snow crab legs. The guy looks at me funny and goes to get some out of the case. When he comes back he tells me they only have a pound left. But I called this morning and you had some. Well a man came in about 5 minutes ago and bought the last 15 pounds we had. Damn escalator rides. If only I had been a little earlier. Apparently there's been some kind of run on snow crab today. They've gotten three calls this morning for that specific product. Great! And just in time for our anniversary. They say they are supposed to get more crab in the morning. They want me to call and let them know if I want some. Because calling has been so effective thus far. *sigh*

I stopped at Kroger on the way home hoping they might have an unknown seafood selection that I didn't know about. All they had was the boxed stuff that is overpriced and not too tasty. So I came home and made the call to Floyd's to let them know I'm coming for crab legs tomorrow and I want 5 pounds. Do you want my name? No, we should have plenty. Yeah, that's what I thought before. Crab hunting is hard work.

I put a call into my eye doctor's office because I've been having nothing but problems with the new contacts he prescribed to me back in December. My eyes hurt whenever I wear them and I want to switch back to my old brand. I talked to the receptionist lady and told her my concerns. She said she needed to talk to the doctor and he or she would call me back. It would be a few minutes though because he was in with a patient. Well it's been over two hours and still no call back. Is it unreasonable to ask that they be prompt? Do I have nothing better to do then sit by the phone all day waiting for a call? I just find it frustrating. It's the same thing when you call the doctor's office. I call because I have a real, legitimate concern and sometimes it takes hours to hear back. Nothing like waiting 4 hours for a call, they call 30 minutes before the office closes and say, your child should really be seen today. You should take him to the ER. Uh, that's what I was trying to avoid by calling you 4 hours ago!!! Take a deep breath.

Wanna go shopping?

I went shopping with a friend of mine this evening. Our husbands both had plans, and we didn't feel like sitting at home by ourselves, so we decided to get together and have a little fun. We went to two stores and took the kids to Sonic for supper. I ended up buying 2 shirts, a skirt, a cami and a sweater. I've been needing some new outfits for church and just happened to find some cute, good deals on the sales racks. I also got Jody a new dress shirt for church. I hope he likes the colors. For not caring much for clothing, the man can sure be picky. I'm so proud of myself for getting some new clothes. Between the guilt I get for spending money and being cheap, I usually don't buy anything for myself. And the best part is - I'm going to look so cute tomorrow!

A Good Read

I finished a great novel by Richard Paul Evans called The Locket (thanks Ma!). I've read a couple other books that he has written and they are good, quick reads. This book was no different. It involves two really sweet love stories and second chances. I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

I have this problem. When I get a good book to read I can't put it down. I don't want to sleep. I don't want to eat. And I don't want to clean house. So I try to limit the number of good books I have lying around the house. Isn't that sad?! Luckily I read quickly and can finish a book in a day or two. You should see the house when a new Harry Potter book comes out. Those take a little longer to finish. By the time I get to the end of the book, my house looks like a bomb went off. It's worth it though. So, anyone have any recommendations on good books?

Thirteen Reasons I'm Scared to Have Another Baby 1. My sister calls it Third Baby Syndrome. You have two healthy kids and you don't want to tempt fate by having another baby because you've been so lucky. I have Third Baby Syndrome. 2. I've never worried about money until this past year. Do we really have enough income to provide for a bigger family? Will we be able to give the kids everything they need and mayby a little more? 3. Our house is little. And another kid would fit where? (Although I was very reassured a few weeks ago while watching Buster on PBS when there were 5 kids sharing one room in a little trailer. Suddenly my house didn't seem so small.) 4. If we have another baby we will be outnumbered 3:2. The odds won't be in our favor, and that in itself is scary. 5. Do I have enough energy to have another baby? The two I have wear me out. What will adding another one to the mix do? 6. Do I have enough patience for another baby? Starting over is so scary. I get in my groove, and I don't take change well. 7. In the last year I've known of one baby being born with severe birth defects and dying, 2 stillbirths, countless miscarriages, a tubal pregnancy, one SIDS death, a mother dying from hemmorage and a pregnant mom being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. If that doesn't give you a reality check, I don't know what will. 8. How will the kids handle another baby? Will they love it and play with it and be happy with an addition to the family? Will I be able to give each of the kids the attention they need and deserve? 9. What will happen to my body this time? Between saggy boobs, hemmrhoids and stretch marks, how much more damage will be done? 10. Poor Jody. All I have to do is mention another baby and his face turns a pastey white. 11. I do a lot of traveling. Traveling with three will be a lot more challenging physically and mentally. 12. Suddenly the physical risks of having a baby are so much higher. If something should happen to me, the stakes are higher. I have a husband and two children who depend on me. 13. Three kids may be all we have. I don't know if I'm ready to be done yet. My entire life, all I've wanted to be is a mother and have babies. I'm just not ready for that phase of my life to be over.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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