Sappy...

Yes, that's how I'm feeling today. I'm missing my husband terribly and loving him even more. He is so cute and just a wonderful husband. How I wish he was here with me right now. I'd love to curl up on the sofa with him and watch a good movie in his arms.

I'd love to cook him a good meal, maybe some Chicken Parmesan and Fettucini Alfredo and then in the morning fix him some homemade biscuits and gravy with sausage. I would even enjoy doing his... I can't believe I'm going to say this.... his laundry!!!

I'd just love to be near him. He called tonight and just talked and talked. I loved just listening to his voice. I told him to tell he loves me and he did then he said, "Can you believe we are going on 14 years of marriage?" (We've been a couple going on 17 years. WOW!)

I giggled and said, "Promise me 14 more?" He did and then I said was going up the ante to 20 more years and he laughed and said he'd be there. Oh how I love him.

Break through???

well, I had one a few days ago but it's over. I had finally said no! I never say no. (Well, I do to my kids but not anyone else.) It's just not in me and I finally did. I was so proud. But that was on Monday and today is Wednesday.... I've said yes twice today and one maybe that will probably be a yes! Not being able to say no is a terrible disease. I end up over booking myself and getting burned out and angry. The saddest part is that it hurts my kids the most.

Oh well, there's always next week to do better.

We had a good day today too. We cleaned up around the house then we went and visited a shut-in from church. I really enjoyed that. I love spending time with the ... well.... with old..er people. (Don't want to offend!) I love being with them and talking to them, listening to them. I love their homes. They always have such neat things in their home. I love the furniture. We had a really good time.

Then we came home had a short but sweet visit with DH and then went to church. DS had bell choir and DD and I had our children's program in which we played a game and then she went to choir and then to Krystal Bells. It was a good night.

Tomorrow we are leading a devotional at a local nursing home. Our minister usually does it but asked us to fill in for him as he has a meeting. (This was one of my yeses from last week.) Then in the evening we are probably going back up to the church to fill boxes for soldiers. A group in our church is going to send toiletries and snacks to some of the soldiers in our church. They are planning on sending around 25 boxes. Our soldiers will have enough to share with other soldiers. So we are probably going to be going to help with that. (Another yes from last week.)

Then Friday we have one of our Usborne Books Parties. I hope it goes well. We also need to go buy new shoes for everyone. Dress shoes and tennies. Busy, busy, busy. You can see why it is that I need to learn to say no. Especially next year when DD is home with us too. I love for us to do our volunteer work but it will have to really come second to our school work. No, No, No. DS says I need to practice more. It really drives him crazy and sometimes even angry.

He is sitting here next to me being so totally silly. I love my kids! DD has pulled out the bed in sleeper sofa and is watching Discovery Kids. She keeps coming in telling me she loves me and giving me hugs. She is so sweet. She is the happiest little girl I know. DS was always happy too. He still is but he can be pretty sad and irritable at times. I think it's called adolescence.

Anyway, wow, what a long post I have here. I hope I didn't bore you all too much. Have a nice night. No, have a lovely night.

What a day we've had!

It was a wonderful day today. It was absolutely beautiful today. We went shopping this morning after a good breakfast. DD got a lovely Easter dress and hat, some new socks and undergarments and a couple shirts and pants. DS got a new pair of slacks and two new church appropriate shirts, a new pair of jeans and t shirt and belts.

Then we went for a picnic and they had a blast!!

They are so funny. Then we went to the library and the PX for more shopping and the commissary.

When we got home DH called and I visited with him. He was super tired and could barely talk so I let him go to bed and the kids and I went for a walk. They enjoyed that and so did I. Now we are getting ready to eat dinner and then watch some TV. I think I'll look at a magazine while we do. Have a wonderful evening dear cyber friends.

Good Evening Dear Friends

I hope you all had a good day today. Our day was pretty good. DD said that she had a "most wonderful day." I'm so glad because we didn't do a whole lot. We got up and ate a nice breakfast and then did some school work with DS and workbook for DD. She is on spring break. Then after lunch they played outside for a while.

We spent time straightening up the house a bit and I spent time time reading my vintage housekeeping sites I enjoy. Very interesting. I love it.

After doing a lot of reading, I've decided that I want to make a list of what I want to do better or start to do.

1. take better care of myself
2. take better care of my home
3. menu plan
4. exercise
5. learn to say no
6. set priorities

Okay, well, it's a short list. I had more but seem to be distracted so... this will do for now. I'll add more as it comes to me.

Good night dear friends.

Hello dear cyber friends.

How is your Sunday going? We were up early and at church to meet with some other ladies to go lead worship at a nearby nursing home. It was nice and probably a good experience for the kids. They didn't do anything but observe but next time we go I will have them take part more. (I wasn't in charge.)

We came home after that and fixed a good lunch and then went for a short walk. It started out nice with sun shining but it quickly hid behind the clouds and now I'm soooo sleepy.

DD had her piano lesson with me this afternoon and she did well. I was afraid she wasn't really catching on to reading the music and was just kind of guessing but she proved me wrong today.

Later I think I will take time to play the guitar with DS. I'm not very good so we will be learning together. He was taking lessons but it just didn't work out so I'll try to pick up the slack for a while until we find another teacher that we can afford.

We went to an Arena Football Game last night and didn't get home until LATE so I'm super sleepy and I think the kids are too. I may try to lay down for a bit. We'll see.

Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend. Until next time.....

Busy

We have a busy day today... a birthday party and a trip with the middle high youth to an arena football game. Can't wait for DH to get back so that he can chaperon some. I think he would enjoy it.

I'm already tired and we haven't really even started yet! I hope you all have a great weekend. Until next time....

a hermit?

Do you ever just wish you didn't have to go anywhere or see anyone? That's how I'm feeling today. I have several places I have to be today and honestly, I don't want to do any of them. I just want to stay home with my kids. I'm in kind of a mood today. I don't know why, I just am.

I don't want to go to these places I feel like I "have to" go. These are things that originally I wanted to do but somehow that's been taken away and now it feels like a have to and well, that takes the joy out of it.

I kind of feel like I need to just crawl back into bed and start over. I guess you could say I'm a little sad today but I'll get over it. It's also just me being a little sleepy and tired. Yes, I definitely want to just crawl back into bed.

The news is a little disheartening. Our President has now made it known that our troops will NOT be coming home while he is in office. That means at the very least 3 more years in Iraq. That means at the very least one more rotation for DH and we aren't even through with this one yet! And I HATE THAT!!!! I want them home. I want peace. I want the dying to stop. I want the violence to stop! I want this over. I want my husband back, out of harms way, safe and sound.

Sorry about that, venting happens.

Good Sunday Evening

I'm missing my wonderful DH today. The last few days have been difficult. I'm trying to snap out of it but... it's not easy. I'm trying to force myself to keep busy.

After church today, I took the kids to the $.99 movie to see "Nanny McPhee." It was so good!! I really enjoyed it. So did the kids but I think I enjoyed it the most. It is definitely one I will buy. I loved it.

When we got home, we picked up the house a bit and then the kids played outside for a while. I gave DD a short piano lesson. She gets discouraged a little too easy but she is doing well.

DS had a terrible headache that was appearing to be a migraine so I sent him to bed with a cool pack on his head. Poor kid. They were rolling around in the grass and I think it upset his allergies. So he's not going to Youth at church tonight. He didn't go last week either since my parents were here. I don't know what I'm going to do with him.

Anyway, now I'm sitting here eating a bowl of ramen and waiting for DH call. I miss him so very much. I'm ready for him to come home and stay. So is he! He's ready for retirement. Only 6 more years! Yea!! Then I don't know what we'll do. That's one we will worry about later.

When DS got so sick I slacked off on my letter writing to DH so I'm slowly picking that back up. He says he doesn't care if I write or not since we talk so often but I know that having a letter he can read over and over really helps. I know that I love those!!

Well, I guess I've rambled enough for now. Until next time...

Hello dear Cyber friends,

Sorry I've been away so long. My parents were in town and we stayed very busy. We had a nice visit. They helped me to get a lot done to the house while they were here. I always love having them here. I wish we lived closer together.

DD is outside playing with the neighbor's son and DS is in here bugging me looking for food as always, and our dear dog is for some reason in his "room" whining to get let out. I'm sure DS put him in there because he was barking a lot at DD outside.

Okay, we'll I've bored you enough, I guess. We our getting ready for our second Usborne Party tonight. I'm excited and nervous. The first one was fun and I enjoyed visiting with friends. Anyone interested in hosting an E-Show?

Have a good rest of the weekend!

Still here

We are still here. DD is well and back at school. She got her report card yesterday and she has straight A's. I'm very proud of her.

We have company this week. My parents are here visiting. We are keeping very busy so I've not been on here much at all. Sorry about that. Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and let you know that we are still here!

Until next time...

Not such a good day...

Yeah, it's definitely not such a good day. I'm a little cranky. I'm frustrated because DD is still sick and I can't seem to get her teacher to call and let me know that I can pick up her school work. If her teacher had gotten back to us this morning, we probably could have been finished with quite a bit of it and turned it back in this afternoon! (Not mention if she had got back with yesterday after I called at 8:30am. Then I called back at 8 am today and again at 10:45, her lunch time.) Very frustrated.

Anyway, I'm cranky about that and poor DS is being sooooo slow and lazy with his school work this week and today I've just had it! He's not putting in the effort he should be. He's not doing the work the way I know he can. He is incredibly smart but lazy and it's driving me insane! I'm at a loss for what to do at this point today. To make it worse, he's had an attitude all week. He's not ugly or anything, just showing an attitude that is driving me crazy. Today, he has raised his voice at me some so I finally sent him to his room and told him not to come down until he could treat me with the respect I deserve. I hate doing that!

Oh well... the week is almost over. Thank goodness!! Now if only we can be rid of all the sickness so that things can get back to normal. I'm ready for normal!!

We are still here in case you were wondering.

DD is still home today but I think she can go back to school tomorrow. She's coughing less. She had a really bad night of coughing last night. I really thought she would go to school today but when it came time to go she burst into tears, crying here tummy and throat hurt. "Really bad!" I tried calming her and then talking to her but it was no use. I told her go put her PJs on and get back in bed and so she did. She studied her spelling words and read a little. Then she slept for a long time. It did her a lot of good.

Mom's started feeling poorly now so I'm taking every opportunity to nap I can. I actually feel better today than yesterday. Thank goodness! I really can't be sick right now. Too hard to be sick and take care of sick kids at the same time. I just keep chanting.... "I refuse to be sick! I refuse to be sick!"

DS has been working on his school work. He seems to be very slow this week. He's heart is just not entirely in it right now. I don't rush him but I do expect his work to be done at the end of each day. He's done that but very slowly and in his own time. It's funny. Sometimes he finishes in just a few hours and then other times it takes all day and he's usually doing the same amount of work! Oh well, I guess that's a nice thing about homeschooling.

That's about it here. DH is a little down but I guess we all would be if we were in war zone far away from family. We are half way there! Yea!

Sick again!!!

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it!! DD went to bed last night just fine and woke up sometime around 4am coughing uncontrollably! It was horrible! She has a temp now of 102. I think it's the croup or something. About a month ago they said she had the croup so.... It seems very similar to other time but worse in that the coughing is continuous. Poor baby.

She will be home again tomorrow. She can't seem to go to school for more the a week at a time. Poor DH is feeling bad that I'm having to deal with all this by myself. I feel bad for HIM. At least I'm here and can hold them and hug and kiss them and do whatever to help them. He's so far away and I'm sure he feels helpless.

Did mention that our water softener is leaking really bad too? UGH! I went to take DS and his friend to church tonight and there was a huge puddle!! I personally hate the damn thing. (Excuse me but I really do!!) It has caused us nothing but trouble since we moved in here. I'm turning it off until DH gets home and he can do whatever he wants to it. I say throw the damn thing away! (Excuse me again.)

Anyway, anyone have any secret remedies for the croup? We've been out in the cool night air, in the bathroom with the steam, and have a humidifier going. Any other ideas?

Have a great night.

Good afternoon cyber friends.

How is your day going? We've had a pretty good one. I actually got several things done. Some of them I've been trying to get done for over a month so that's good that I got to them finally.

I too often have very unproductive days due to this silly computer. No, it's not the computer's fault, it's mine so ... due to my silly addiction to this computer. Yes, for Lent I'm trying to cut back on my computer time. I did fairly good today but can do better and I will. I have 40 days to do better! I know I can do it!

Anyway, this is my time today on here. I've checked my e-mail every once in a while but I have not let myself really sit down here for more than a second or two to answer an e-mail since about 7 am. Maybe tomorrow I'll just move the chair away from here so I have to stand. Hmmm...

The kids are great. For those who don't know, today is Dr. Seuss's Birthday! DD celebrated it at school today and had a great time. Her class got to wear their PJs and bring pillows and blankets. She loves that kind of thing.

Anyway, time is up. I have to go play basketball with DS for a little while before we head to dance. Until next time....

Ash Wednesday

Yes, it's the first day of Lent. Sunday our minister encouraged us to think about what we could give up for lent. Sometimes instead of "giving something up" I try to let go of
something or change a behavior. I don't know what I'll be doing this year.

I asked DD if she had been thinking about this. She's 6 by the way. She hadn't so I told her she had all day to think about it before worship tonight. As we got in the car to go to school she told me she still couldn't think of anything! (She had been thinking for all of an hour!) hehehe Anyway, I told her about changing a behavior and that kind of thing and asked her if there was anything like that she wishes she could "give up". She said, "I wish I could stop arguing with DS ( or DB in her case)."

I told her, "Well, there you go!"

She said, "Oh, that would be too hard!!" Too funny, I know... Anyway, I told her that sometimes the point is that we have to ask God to help us. She said, "hmmm."

Anyway, I'm trying to think of what I could do and you know what came to mind.... less time on the computer. That would be a great one for me! But I'm kind of like DD and think, "That's too hard!" I have an extenuating circumstance but maybe I, with God's help of course, could give it a try and make it work.

What are you "Giving up" for lent?