Shhhhh......

My 'funny' for Just Humor Me this week isn't a knee-slapper, but right now it's the only humor I can muster.

I am sick with some odd throat-isolated illness. My throat is raw to the point that I'm tasting blood, I can't get anything but hot tea, coffee, and soup down, and I've all but lost my voice. I can't get a single word out above a whisper, which makes me realize I really should have taught the girls sign language! Morgan, Jamie, and Danica are coping just fine, however. They actually lowered the in-house volume to match mine (note to self, Dr. Phil was right on that one!) and have been walking around whispering for the last several hours. None of them really knows why, but they're still doing it.

Kids are so weird!

What weekend?

Weekend? We just had a weekend? I'm not so sure. I played the stereotypical Supermom (yeah, AS IF!) role on Saturday, changing diapers, making meals, doing the grocery shopping, clipping coupons, washing and folding four loads of laundry, doing dishes, and making not one but TWO dishes to take to potluck....all while caring for two preschoolers, a toddler, and a newborn and dodging the gloom and giggle fest that two teenage girls (only one is mine, of course) were having all day, while my hubby and son were at a football game. Where's my medal?

In all seriousness, it's really not as difficult as it looks typed out. Thankfully, the crises usually come one at a time. Except, of course, for times like this morning, when I had Shelby screaming bloody murder because while I was changing her diaper, Dani comes in saying "eww, mama, EWW!" and pointing to the poo stream dripping down her leg and trailing behind her on the carpet. Lesson number 1 for Shelby--sometimes a bottle has to wait!

This was a weekend to truly focus on the blessings in life, even through the trials. I could have spent the entire day Saturday moping about being left at home AGAIN for the fourth weekend in a row and stewing about how all of the weekend work really does fall on me while Pete goes out and has fun. I could have wallowed in self-pity about the fact that moving back to the US meant we lost $1000 from Pete's pay every month and it took the physical act of deferring a car payment (ugh, just the very thought of it makes me queasy...) to the first of October so we can get our payments evened out and not have to pay all the bills in one pay period. I could have whined and chosen to spend the weekend sitting on my couch because I seriously do NOT feel good--and it really hurts like the dickens for me to even talk. I could have burst into tears when the mail arrived on Saturday...containing two bills--a $250 vet bill for the day Cleo died, and a $850 hospital bill that we never saw coming because we've never once in 19 years had to pay a cost share for any of our medical care.

I could have. But I didn't. THAT, my friends, is what keeps me sane. Not some superhuman amount of patience or militant organization, but a conscious choice to dwell on the blessings. It was a long, hard road, learning to refocus. It took years of tears, marital discord, and even a short bout with antidepressants, but I finally got my thoughts straight.

This weekend, through the trials, I chose to see that even though I spent most of the day 'alone' (with all these people in the house, I'm never truly alone) bearing the brunt of the household maintenance and the extraneous tasks that I really needed Pete's help with, I have a roof over my head, a wonderful house to care for, WAY too many clothes for all of our backs, food in the fridge, and six healthy children. The finances--well, even though we STILL have to be careful with our money for the next few weeks, we'll more than "make it", even if the idea of a deferred payment (it's just being deferred for two weeks, I keep reminding myself of that!) does make my knees go all wobbly. We were blessed with enough food during the week after Shelby's birth that I was able to make those two dishes for potluck with frozen leftovers, and when we added $10 of groceries to it, we ended up taking a pot of blackeye peas, a mexican casserole, a seven-layer salad, a big jug of tea, and two cakes! Not bad. Through all of the mess, I had to grin that I don't have to run out and replace a dwindling diaper stock while Dani battles this "teething diaper" thing, because I have a closet full of cloth diapers that wash up nice and clean to be used no matter how long this lasts (and it's going on two weeks already). My throat may be screaming in pain (even though I don't want to make a sound), but the seven hours spent at the church building yesterday for a revival, potluck, and area-wide youth devo were pain well spent! Those two bills in the mail....well, they're painful. But it's not going to bankrupt us to make payments and pay them off. And I'm STILL thankful that we didn't have to pay the full $16,000 hospital bill!

Oh, and through it all, I did get to see that my little $100 digital camera takes pretty good pictures, even from the nosebleed seats of Bryant Denny Stadium! I am thrilled (albeit a wee bit jealous) that Pete finally got to attend a Bama game. It's something he's wanted to do for a loooooooong time, and it was FREE! He and Jon had a blast, and of course, Alabama wiped the field with Western Kentucky! ROLL TIDE!!!!


Check it out, a picture that has me in it! No, this isn't the greatest picture of me OR Shelby, but it's the only one I've got of us since she was born! She's getting pretty good at holding that wobbly head up, but that flash....it makes a girl's eyes run for cover!

Not. Fair.

So much for that quasi-promise. Pete will be gone ALL day tomorrow...but I've got to be careful how loudly I complain, I guess.

One of our elders' wives called Pete at lunchtime and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. He and Jon are getting their extra tickets to the U. of Alabama home game tomorrow. I'm THRILLED for him, but.....

I'm staying here. Again. Trying to get caught up on planning, cleaning, preparing for a potluck, and resting (HAAAHAAAAAHAAAA!!!!!). And part of my planning is figuring how to stretch $400 for three weeks. Ouch. Ah, yes, and I've got that telltale scratchy throat and the odd sneezing fits that tell me there's a cold coming on.

Did I pray for patience? Oh, I get it. This is when I start that big-time study on contentment and a meek, quiet spirit. Got it, Lord. Loud and clear.

Shelby is one month old today!

That was a GREAT quote!

If I weren't still ruminating on such a wonderful lesson during Bible class last night, I'd have a profound 'deep ponderings' post to fill this page. However, I am still ruminating. I'm steeping, I guess you could say. But I simply have to get this quote on here. It's GREAT!

"God doesn't always come when we want Him to, but He always comes in time."
--unknown

Last of the Great To-Do-Lists

Yep, that's about how I feel. All tuckered out. It seems to be a popular state of being around here lately...and by 'lately' I mean the last four months. I'm actually looking forward to a time when we aren't running from place to place. We're getting there. In fact, I think we're there!

Finally, the doctors' appointments are a thing of the past. True enough, I'm an awfully neglectful mama who hasn't even taken her four-week-old for that all-important two-week checkup. Somehow she lived. I'm growing more and more jaded in my old age--I don't have the will to take my kids to see a doctor unless they're actually sick with something that can't be treated at home. for some odd reason, every time one of us goes to the doctor, we all end up sick.

The transitioning to a new base is now complete. The only thing left is the one thing that only Pete can do--go to the transportation office to fax a copy of his orders to Fort Stewart to have our long-term-storage items released and delivered to us. We still have no clue what's in that shipment...but we also don't want the Army tossing it because they think we don't want our stuff!

I've got all of our enrolling for DEERS, Tricare, WIC, and the homeschool umbrella school done. We've even started school! I did start Kelsey a week before I'm starting Morgan, just so I can get the hundred repetitions of "you're in 11th grade now, I should NOT be hearing that you don't 'get it' every five minutes" out of the way before I'm officially working on teaching another little one to read. Technically, Morgan isn't even old enough for kindergarten yet, but I remember far too well how frustrating it was having a school system hold you back because of age, so I could care less what her birth certificate says!

Pete has almost promised me that he will actually be around this Saturday (instead of working at the railroad museum again) to give me a "break" from holding, changing, feeding, rocking, making lunches, pouring juice, refereeing arguments, and assisting with potty chores so I can put all of my efforts toward getting the last of the bedroom-reassigning-task done and tackle the girls' bedroom. I only need a couple of hours, but when I never get any backup.....it backs up!

By next week, we should truly be rolling with all eighteen wheels firmly planted on the road! I'm SO glad.

Wait, what? Christmas is three months away? WHAT??

Kid Humor

You know how people are always telling parents of young kids to write down the funny stuff they say so you can look back and laugh about it (not to mention have some GREAT embarrassment for a mouthy teenager)? It occurred to me the other day that I'd not done that...as Morgan shot off a little nip at Jon that I said to myself, "I HAVE to write this stuff down!"

Well, I'm writing it down. Granted, right now I've only got three big funnies of note, but with only half of the kiddos of the age-of-embarrassment, I've gotta start somewhere, right? Hmm, methinks I can feel a scrapbook JUST for kid-funnies coming on....

Eons ago, when Jon was still Jonathan (he was five) and Kelsey wasn't talking back every five minutes, we lived in [rather shabby--like the ghetto type shabby] military housing on Fort Stewart in southern Georgia. It was Mother's Day weekend of 1995, and since Pete was away for a month, the kids and I were alone in the house. Just before bedtime, a typical southern thunderstorm rolled in and we found ourselves in a blackout. Since there was nothing else to do, I took the kids and went upstairs to my bedroom to just lay on the bed and watch the storm out the window. The lightning worsened and the thunder claps nearly overlapped as the storm intensified right over our heads. Not 25 feet outside of my bedroom window, a bolt of lightning lit up a utility pole and Jon and Kelsey insisted that we "hide" under the covers. I assured them that there was no need to hide from weather, that we were inside the house where we were safe, and that in the meantime we could ask God for His protection. Not missing a beat, two-year-old Kelsey asked, "Mommy, can we PWEEEEZE call God on the phone to tell Him we need Him?"

Jonathan's quick wit upstaged any response I could have had..."Kelsey, can't you see the power's out? The phone is dead!"

**insert staged rimshot**

Two years later, our little drama queen was coming into her own and really starting to show that she had Pete's haphazard sense of humor. We'd planned a tea party for her 4th birthday and she invited three of her little friends over for a day of dress-up, Kool-Aid "tea", and finger sandwiches. Midway through their tea service, amid all of the typical four-year-old banter, came Kelsey's little voice, as polite as could be, asking, "Could you please pass the caffeine?"

**groan, snort, giggle**

FINALLY, however, one of my kids has picked up on my ability to sling one-liners at just the right time. Morgan, of all kids, had us rolling the other day. Jon was getting ready to go back to the barracks after church, and was giving the girls their goodbye hugs as they readied for bed. Morgan apparently didn't get enough of her big bro, and asked him for another hug and a kiss. Jon obliged, but Morgan's wet-from-toothbrushing face was a little more than he could handle. He expressed how grossed-out he was to receive such a sloppy little smooch, and then came the humor....

"Jon, IT WASHES!!!!"

Oh, I love my job.

This is my first time participating in Heidi's weekly meme, "Just Humor Me", but I think my kids (and the rest of my life) will offer enough blog-fodder to keep me well stocked far into the future! Go see what the funnies are all about! If you want to play too, leave a comment and I'll link you up below!

Wordless Wednesday--Curiosity Cleaned the Cat?

To go to the WW HQ, click here.

Leave a comment and I'll link you up below!
~*deanna*~ ~*dawn*~ ~*june*~ ~*qtpies7*~

That "home" feeling

Military life is not easy. I can't remember ever, in nearly 19 years, thinking "hey, this is a cake walk, I don't know why everyone thinks it's so tough". The deployments, the constant moving, the, erm, 'humble' paycheck and the predictable but yet unexpected yearly goofups in the finance department that keep us from ever having a real savings backup...those things are all challenges we've learned to just accept as the norm. But there is yet one thing that we haven't figured out a way to get around. It's just one of those things that we knew was there in the background but just had to ignore. We never really felt at "home" at any of our duty stations. In fact, this last tour in Germany, we didn't even put pictures up on the wall; it just didn't feel right.
It has been nearly two decades since we felt "at home"; in fact, it's been so long, we almost forgot what "home" feels like. Our family has never even really had a home. We've had houses, apartments, duplexes, and (ugh) even a mobile home. But every single one of those came with the thought in the back of our minds that it was VERY temporary. At any moment, the Army can pick you up and move you to somewhere else in the world, so you just don't put down roots. It's not a fun way to live, but you just get used to it. Until now, I'd almost forgotten what that "home" felt like.

I don't know how better to describe it other than to say that when you know it, you just know you're home. Talk of moving again and looking for a city to settle in have disappeared. Now that discussion is about retirement from the Army; about looking for a house, about planting those roots that we've had so loosely plunked in whatever soil we've been on. We look around us and we see people we want to be around for the rest of our lives. We see a church family that we already love dearly, and we see a community that we can invest our hearts in, not just a little bit of our time.

We're home. And it's WONDERFUL.

Our little fashion diva

This was just one teensy little facet of girlhood that completely eluded me. This particular tomboy couldn't have cared less about playing dress-up, but I've somehow been gifted with four (five? We shall see...) girls who live for experimenting with clothing, shoes, hats, etc.

Poor Dani. Seems she's inherited Daddy's ability to coordinate. Sigh.

Bear with me...

I'm NOT computer-savvy. I wiped out my entire blog layout. There. I said it. I'm now trying to re-establish a lot of what I lost without losing MORE. I'm also trying to revamp things a bit to suit my tastes so my blog isn't so....vanilla. Not an easy task for ungeeky-types like me. I'm a nerd, not a geek.

Oy.

MINE!

There are very few things that I truly refuse to share in this life. Well, okay, one I won't bend on--my hubby. However, when it comes to the York Peppermint Patties, my socks, hair spray, even the Mint Milano cookies and a Pepsi...I'll gladly offer a bit to someone else. I'm not even really selfish with my time, either, except when it comes to the precious few minutes I'll steal every day (or two, or even three....depending on how much really needs to get done around the house) to get online and blog.

It's MY time. I don't blog to benefit anybody but me. I could, but I don't make money with this little hobby. I just write, tweak, add pictures, and visit a few other blogs. And I am not willing to give it up. It may not make much sense to my family, but I really do need this outlet, even if no one were to ever read anything I write.

My blogging adventure started out as a way to network with other people. I was lonely over there in Germany, and I just needed "something" to connect to others. I found it...and then some. After a month or two, I wasn't doing it just to share pictures anymore. It was truly a means of clearing my mind, getting my thoughts out of my head, and even categorizing daily life for myself so when I went back to scrapbook those events, I had a written recollection instead of just vague memories.

I saw a t-shirt the other day that I told Pete I simply "must have". It said, simply, "I blog, therefore I am." How true, how true. He didn't get it. He said it was silly. But yet I can understand so well why that sentiment makes perfect sense. Blogging, at least for me, is a way to keep in touch with what makes me "me". And it's all mine. I scrapbook for more than just selfish reasons. Sure, it's a great hobby, and I truly enjoy my time at my scrap table surrounded by glue, pictures, papers, and embellishments. However, I'm not the only one to benefit from that hobby. I use my time scrapping to catalogue family history, to preserve moments in time for future generations; and already, at least one future generation is benefitting from my efforts. My girls love to sit with a scrapbook and talk about the stories behind the pictures.

Not so with my blogging. There are things I blog about that most people (yes, MOST) would not even know about me. But I'm not writing really for "their" benefit. It's for me that I write. I'm thrilled that anything I write can encourage or entertain anyone else, and I'm just tickled pink to have so many visitors to my blog, but I'm mostly thankful that I have this means of self-expression that I normally would not have. I feel freer to open up my mind and just...oh, I don't know, let all the fodder flow from brain to keyboard. Some days what's in my mind is ridiculously silly, other days I am pondering some great quandry of life, and on yet other days my heart is hurting and I just need to "get it out". I love my blog time. It's therapy for me, and it only takes a precious few minutes a day!

I'll continue to be selfish with my blog time; it's good for me, and it's one of the very few things I can claim as "mine".

It's September? Seriously?

Who turned the calendar speed up to "ludicrous"? [For those of you who think I've lost it....go watch "Spaceballs". On second thought, no, don't. It's insulting to the intelligence. Just humor me.]

During an oddly quiet and peaceful moment last night, Pete and I were actually sitting on the couch at the same time (GASP!) doing some channel surfing. We've still not gotten the hang of all of these channel choices, considering we only had a small handful of channels available to us in Germany. So it's no surprise that we're admittedly overwhelmed by the variety at our fingertips now. But anyway, we were bouncing between the Food Network, HGTV, and the Discovery Channel (our tried and true standby trio) when we happened upon "Road Tasted With the Neelys". This BBQ couple from Memphis was traveling in San Fransisco sampling some of the local fare, talking about how this was a little like a second honeymoon to them, and Pete and I both wondered out loud when we'd take our second honeymoon. See how our life is just one huge digression after another?

It's not like we've had much time to travel on purpose over the last 18 years...with twelve military moves under our belts plus all those trips to visit family so they didn't all forget what our kids looked like (or the other way around), we have done very little traveling for fun. In 18 years, Pete and I have taken a total of three one-night trips away from the kiddos. The weird realizations of just how much of "normal" life we've not had any part of during his Army career keep hitting us, and this one was no different. In two years, give or take, we'll be civilians. Able to do normal civilian things. And yet, we still can't even THINK like civilians. We still think in terms of four-day-weekends, training schedules, and operation tempos. The idea that maybe one day we can do something just for US is still a tad foreign...but we're getting there.

Then, like a brick, another realization hit us--it's SEPTEMBER already! Our nineteenth anniversary is less than three weeks away, and neither one of us has even thought far enough ahead to even consider that we have an anniversary this month! Thanksgiving is creeping up on us fast, Christmas is only a few months away, and Danica's second birthday--just a bit over six weeks away!

NO plans for anything, unless you count the two of us agreeing that a trip to the Bahamas might be nice for a second honeymoon...and then laughing at the futility of that thought!

Do-Over!

Well that worked out well--NOT! Today was supposed to be our first day of the new homeschool year. It didn't happen. About 11pm last night, I realized that our very first day was going to be "nuts" before we ever hit the books. I'd STILL not gotten the opportunity to organize Kelsey's schoolwork to my satisfaction, we had an appointment at 9:30 in the morning, and the house is not up to par thanks to my little toe-breaking incident (let's not go there, shall we?) last Friday and again on Sunday. YES, I broke my toe twice in three days. Hey, I said I don't wanna go there, okay?

Kelsey also threw another wrench into the works this morning. Ten minutes after getting out of bed, she told me that yes, she DID want to trade bedrooms with the baby. Her room is a wee bit too small for her tastes, and she is finally getting tired of having her bedroom on the bottom floor of the house, right in the middle of everything. So....by lunchtime, she was moving furniture.

We're starting school next Monday. It works out better for all of us. Pete's work schedule kind of got us off track when he got Monday and Tuesday off for Labor Day instead of Friday and Monday like we've always been accustomed to. There's just something about starting something in a halfway-finished week that bugs the you-know-what out of me. So we're not starting mid-week. We have time to rework schedules, heal toes, and get these bedrooms done!

After all, one of homeschooling's greatest assets is being able to work the kids' education around life and not the other way around, so we're working it!

Siamese chickens?

This must rate right up there with one of my oddest topics to blog about...


I've found several eggs that contained double yolks, but never one that the twins shared a yolk sac! I'm not sure whether this intrigued me or just plain grossed me out. Didn't affect the taste of my fried chicken, tho!