Random Things

This is one of our favorite VeggieTales songs. Katie was singing it a little while ago ;)

Haha! I got this email from a dear friend today and had to post. This should give those of you in South Dakota a little chuckle.

South Dakota Barbies on the shelf for Christmas

Sioux Falls Barbie
This queen Barbie is sold only at Macy's. She comes with an assortment of Chanel Handbags, a Volvo, a French poodle named Charisse, and a Lincoln County McMansion. Plastic surgery available upon request. Hey, she has to look beautiful when she works at KELOland TV. CitiBank Ken sold separately.

Rapid City Barbie
This tough little sport comes with optional hiking boots or mountain bike. When she's not selling magnets at Mount Rushmore, she can be spotted off-roading in her Land Rover or running on the bike path. Inhaler included to give relief during forest fires. Buy her while you can because Ken works at Ellsworth and might be getting transferred!

Spearfish Barbie
This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair, arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her Ocean . She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Spearfish Barbies and the optional Hybrid Toyota, you get a 'Free Tibet' bumper sticker for free.

Aberdeen Barbie
This 'Frost Queen' comes with an entire winter wardrobe! Her parka is reversible and can be used as an emergency igloo whenever needed. Package includes a shrink for seasonal depression.

Vermillion Barbie
This young, hip girl actually comes with her own pepper spray. Her USD sweater is made of real wool and her Cavalier gets great mileage between the Empire Mall and Vermillion. Available keg with purchase of makeup. Ken doll sold separately with broken cell phone... he never seems to calls back.

Mitchell Barbie
This brassy, tobacco-chewing gal comes with camouflage overalls, Cabela's Credit Card, and a rifle. She can be found just north of town shooting pheasants and drinking an ice cold 40. Cabela Ken available with purchase of Chevy Silverado.

Brookings Barbie
This modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Windstar Minivan or Honda Odyssey Minivan with matching Wal*Mart sweats. She gets lost easily while taking Stacy to her soccer games and has no full-time occupation other than the PTA. Ken doll sold with matching Daktronics company car.

Sturgis Barbie
This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, leather chaps, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable bills) ...unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about. Harley sold separately along with deadbeat Ken. Jail uniform available with purchase of Mobile Home.

Belle Fourche Barbie
This model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans, a NASCAR t-shirt and Care Bears tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Johnny Cash CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken's butt when she is drunk. Purchase her Mega Ton Dodge Dually pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free.

Deadwood Barbie
She may be a 75 year-old, Brandy drinking, Virginia Slim smoking cuss, but she has more audacity than Calamity Jane. She just got out from Gambler's Anonymous and needs to get rid of some spare change. Deadwood Barbie can be found at the Monday night 'Kevin Costner Fanclub' meeting just down the street from Cadillac Jack's Prime Rib Buffet. Ken comes free, but is usually working two jobs to keep a roof over their head.

Pierre Barbie
She comes with scooter and a state employee ID card, bowling ball, pool stick and dart case. Khakis can be rolled into capris. Ken available with purchase of fishing boat.

We named our new puppy Fergie. I don't know exactly how we came up with the name...it just popped out and stuck. She is so stinkin' cute and is already acting like she owns the place. Dash is not too happy. It took her all of about 1 day to figure out how to master the steps. This took Dash months to figure out. She is so playful and Dash acts like a little scaredy-cat. It is so funny. The kids are of course smothering her with love. Here are a couple of pics. I need to get some of her and Dash playing. He seems so HUGE next to her. Her favorite place to lay is in Kasey's Spidey chair.

We had a nice Christmas. Brian arrived on Saturday about noon. He left at 3:45am ET on Saturday! I guess he was excited to get home :) The kids were so excited to see him and he couldn't really do much without Kasey at his heels (or in his arms). I put Kasey down for a nap Saturday afternoon and he just screamed for his daddy. It was quite pitiful! I think he thought that Brian was going to leave while he was sleeping. Poor thing.

We got up early on Christmas morning and opened gifts. The kids loved everything! Denise, the Strawberry Shortcake dress up outfit was a hit! I need to get a picture. SO CUTE! I love watching them open up their gifts. They were just so excited about everything. It's so easy to please kids at these ages with gifts. I love it! Brian and I exchanged a few gifts - unfortunately 2 of his gifts didn't make it in time, but they should be here when he gets back. I got another beautiful necklace and some Princess perfume by Vera Wang. YAY! Katie kept telling me I smelled like a princess. :-) She's so sweet.

Brian left this morning about 4am CT. He wanted to make sure to leave before the kids got up. Umm...yeah. I hope they wouldn't get up that early. Oh well! He called a bit ago and is just about to South Carolina already. We've got about another 23-24 days before he gets home from his TDY. Can't wait! Only a few more weeks!!!

I had a chance to go through my closet the other day and I managed to create a pretty big pile of clothes to donate. I also broke down and got rid of some shoes...it was time.



Well, you can tell the holidays are approaching. A bunch of my colleagues have started their vacations and there is a bit less work coming in. PHEW! I have been able to catch up on some much needed housework. Did you know that I recently went 17 days without doing laundry?! A friend of mine told me I was brave. Hahaha! I said, "No, I ran out of bras. It was time!"



We received a package in the mail today sent to us from Brian's grandmother. Our last name was spelled wrong. Hahaha! You know, I have found that if even if you spell it out, a lot of times they get it wrong. That's "F" not "Ph"...I never ran into this probably with my maiden name. Oh, wait...."is that Miller with one I or 2?"



Some of you are going to think I am crazy when I say this....but...we're getting a new puppy! We've been thinking about getting Dash a buddy for quite some time now. I have been waiting for a red female dachshund to become available. I thought it would be cute to have our black and tan Dash and a little red girlfriend for him. :) Here are a couple of pictures.





Kasey and I picked her out today and we are going to pick her up on Sunday after Brian gets home. It's a surprise to Katie - if she knew about it, she would be going nuts and asking for her constantly. So we are going to head out to Laurel Hill and pick her up. She is so tiny! And cute!

I've been learning how to play this song on guitar. It's not so good at this point, but with just a little practice...

I'd really like to get a piano and try to learn on that as well. Maybe some day!





Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves

To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out His hand

But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. "Boy, you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"

Chorus:
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
The voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant
With just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand

But the giant's calling out my name
And he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again. "Boy you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"

But the stone was just the right size
To put the giant on the ground
And the waves they don't seem so high
From on top of them lookin' down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
When I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
Singing over me

I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

This video made me laugh today... :)

Ha! I found this article semi-interesting. The answers to many of these questions was quite generic.

Having lived in UT for several years we met many Mormons. I've got to say that they are some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet, but they still kind of freak me out. We went to the museum down in SLC with my aunt and uncle and it was extremely difficult for me to walk through. I just felt "icky" while I was there.

I also read this book a couple of years ago which freaked me out more....

I still haven't decided if we are going to send Christmas cards this year. Hello?! It's Dec. 17! We received several cards in the mail today :) Time has escaped me big time this fall. If I do get Christmas cards out, they are going to be late. Those of you receiving gifts from us will be getting them late as well. Just to let you know. It's been crazy!

My grandma's apartment building had a fire over the weekend. I guess the apartment next to hers was the one that started the blaze. I found an article here on it from a local TV station. Wow. Scary stuff! I am just glad that no one was injured! My grandma is staying with my aunt and uncle until they figure out what to do next.

My brother graduated on Saturday! Yay! He had already accepted the position of vocal music director at the high school we attended and has been working hard with the kids during his last semester of school. Go Chris!

Brian is coming home for Christmas! Woo!! He is supposed to be home Saturday some time. I know Katie is super excited. Kasey will probably be excited when he gets here. I don't think he quite understands when I tell him daddy is coming home.

I got some great news at work today. I nice big pat on the back if you will. :) It's just nice to hear that I am doing a good job and that others think so as well. My manager told me I was one of the best on the team so that made me feel pretty good!! That was a great start to the day!

Sheesh! All I have really found time to do since getting back from South Carolina is work! One of the accounts I work on had me very busy - I actually put in like 18 hours over the weekend just to finish up some documentation that needed to be complete by end of business today. Whew! Glad to be finished!

Several of the other accounts that I work on faced major challenges due to system failures. That was not pretty. I had to put out a lot of fires last week.

I finally found time this morning to run to the commissary for groceries! I hadn't gotten groceries since we got back! Well, I had gotten milk and a few other staples, but hadn't had a chance to do a complete shopping trip. So that was a good feeling to get that done today. Ok, so I had to go during work hours, but I more than made up for the time over the weekend so I didn't feel bad!

I haven't had a chance to write anything about our trip to South Carolina. So here goes!

We left about 30 minutes earlier than I had planned on Wednesday which was great! The weather was great, the kids did great!!!!!!! I am so glad we have the DVD player in the van...

It was a very pretty drive through northeastern Florida and into Georgia. There were so many trees and all the leaves were falling. It was beautiful! It actually looked like it was raining leaves for a while because it was so windy. Orange, yellow, green, brown and RED. Katie and I liked the red leaves the best. It was so pretty!

And then we got about 25 miles into Georgia and STOPPED. I literally parked my van for 30 minutes. Lots of traffic! 6 lanes of traffic stopped. A guy in a Ford Escape next to me got out and walked his dog. Haha!

It took us an hour to go the next 3 miles. And then another 30 minutes to go the next 9 miles and then it was as if nothing had happened. Weird. There was no accident, no construction. Just lots and lots of traffic.

We ended up getting to Sumter about an hour and a half later than expected thanks to our little "stop" in Georgia.

I had talked to Brian and told him we needed to pick up some vitamins for Katie because we had run out the night before so he suggested we just meet at the Walmart. Ok. Sure. What trip would be complete without a trip to Walmart?! Hehe. So we pull up and I see Brian standing outside waiting for us. And Katie sees him and starts screaming "Daddyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and starts unbuckling. So I parked and let her out. And then I let Kasey out and he ran right over to Brian screaming "Daddy!!". It was so cute!

And then Kasey didn't want to have anything to do with me for the rest of the trip. Haha!

A coworker of Brian's had invited us to his house for Thanksgiving. It was so nice! We really had a good time! We got along with this couple immediately. It was almost as if we had known them for years. Crazy! And of course the first thing Katie wanted to do after she met the girls was play "dress up". She refers to their little girls (ages 4 & 5) as her new friends. All weekend it was "my new friends this and my new friends that...". Cute.

We "braved the stupidity", as Brian likes to say, on Black Friday and went shopping. We got a few good deals and were done shopping by lunch time. We went to the Old Navy (of course) and picked up a few things. They had some good deals on jeans and I decided to get some and so did Brian. This was the largest Old Navy I have ever been to! There were 2 floors and Katie and I got to ride the escalator :) She loves the escalator.

We ended up running over to Target to pick up a few things and to waste some time since we didn't really want to head back to the motel and hang out. Twiddling your thumbs gets old after a while ;)

We had to park very far away from the doors and I noticed there was a Lane Bryant right near where we parked. Funny thing is, it was located right between a Cici's Pizza restaurant and a Marble Slab Creamery ice cream parlor. Who was the marketing genius there? Hahahaha! I laughed so hard when I saw that. It was perfect! I didn't end up stopping in because we were tired after Target and it was time to head back to the motel for a nap for the kiddos.

Friday night was quiet. We ordered pizza and watched Shrek the Third and Ratatouille with the kids. After they went to bed we watched Knocked Up. While it was funny, there was a ton of cursing in the movie. There were some funny parts in there though and if you haven't seen it this might not make a whole lot of sense, but Katie's eye hurt last night and was itchy and I jokingly asked if she had pink eye. Then I remembered from the movie HOW they say you get pink eye and had to laugh.

We didn't do much on Saturday. Brian gave us a tour of the base and surrounding area. We went to the BX to waste more time and just hung out at the motel and napped. We are very exciting people. I actually managed to relax for a few minutes. That was nice :)

After nap time, I packed up most of our stuff and hauled it out to the van.

Then we had some pizza left overs for a very early dinner. We made plans to go out with the family we had Thanksgiving with. We went over to Columbia to the zoo to look at the Christmas lights. It was cute.

So the "snow" at the zoo was actually made from a machine that blew soapy bubbly type stuff. At one point I turned around to look for Katie and there she was...standing there all excited about the "snow", sticking her tongue out...

Umm...yuck.

I did have to laugh though. She really thought it was snow. Bless her heart!

We ended up pulling out of Shaw AFB at about 10:30ET Sunday morning. We got back home at just after 10:00CT. It took us 4 hours to drive the 110-120 mile stretch through Georgia. Eeek!

Again, the kids did great!! Movies are my friend!

It ended up raining during our last few hours, but that was alright. The kids slept through all of that and it wasn't raining when we got home. But geez did it pour the next day. Holy cow! The streets were like tiny rivers for a while there. I thought for sure we were going to have flooding. But the rain let up and no flooding. Woo!

Wow. This was a long one!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What a great day! I was born on this day in 1977. For those of you who aren't quick at math that means I am 30 today! :-)

In less exciting news on this day in 1977...

According to Wikipedia, 1977 - Vrillon, representative of the 'Ashtar Galactic Command', takes over Britain's Southern Television for five minutes at 5:12 PM.

Some hit songs...

I didn't really find anything else very interesting, but then again didn't have a ton of time to search.

OK, so I was in the shower today and the kids were upstairs playing. I get out of the shower to find that Katie had changed Kasey's clothes so that they could be "matchy matchy".

Aww....cute! They like being "matchy matchy".

And "matchy matchy" they were...

Katie dressed him in one of her Ariel mermaid dresses and she had another one on. My two little mermaids.

Too funny! I didn't take a picture, but I assure you this will not be the last time this happens and next time I will be sure to snap a photo. I just know he will love that when he's 18!

That's what I told Katie today. Only 5 more sleeps until we get to go see daddy!

I can't believe he's been gone for almost 2 months already. Time seems to just fly by when you are busy with the kiddos!

We are heading over to South Carolina to visit Brian for Thanksgiving. It should be a good time. One of the guys in Brian's office has invited us over to his house for Thanksgiving. I am told he has kids so Katie and Kasey will be all set! They are not shy at all and seem to get along with just about everyone.

I know we plan on doing some shopping on Black Friday, but other than that I am hoping to just relax on that day...although I don't know how relaxing it will be in a motel room with Brian and the kids. Maybe I should just get my own room....hahaha ;)

We also plan on taking the kids to Chuck E Cheese while we are out there. It's been a while since Katie's been to one and Kasey has never been. Nothing like greasy pizza, loud games and tons of screaming kids! Actually, we usually end up having a pretty good time. I kick butt at skee ball!! WOO! Brian's pretty good at racking up the tickets so Katie can pick out some fun stuff.

Not sure what else we have planned while we are out there, but I am hoping to get a little bit of extra rest. We'll be heading back on Sunday and hopefully we won't get back too late. I am hoping the kids let me sleep in on Monday...we'll see about that.

We are planning on putting up the Christmas decorations this weekend (at least the tree) since we will be gone next weekend. Katie is excited to put the tree up and Kasey will probably want to rip everything down and play with it. It should be interesting....

Have a wonderful weekend!

Better? Well maybe not better...in this case it's more like not even close...

It seems that down here in our area of the country, mold likes to grow. A lot of mold likes to grow here. I was sick of looking at the mold in the shower (the bleach turned it white and the vinegar killed it for a while, but it just keeps coming back.)

I have been meaning to re-caulk the shower for weeks now. I mean how hard can it be, right?

It took a lot longer to remove the old caulk than I thought it would. Thanks for making it look easy, Brian!

Katie was in there trying to "help". By that I mean, telling me how I should go about removing the caulk. That was entertaining.

I finally got it removed, cleaned up my mess and loaded up the gun to start caulking.

Uh...that does NOT look right. Let's see..."easy water cleanup" it says on the tube. Yeah, that just removed it again and in some parts actually made it look worse. Ugh! Good thing I bought 2 tubes!

I am so glad I can laugh at myself. I did NOT do a great job, but I did the best I could. I think that deserves a pat on the back! I mean, I did what I planned on doing, right? Could I have done it better? Uh...probably, but I think I'll just learn from my mistakes this time around. Maybe next time it will look great.

Next time??

Yeah...mmm....well...I think we'll just let Brian take care of that.

I am happy that I was able to get rid of the moldy caulk, clean the mold out of those nasty little spaces and at least make it white again. I hope to stay mold free until at least the end of January when Brian gets back.

Kasey thought it might be fun to sneak over and eat Katie's cake...notice the spoon says KATIE on it :)
Gotta love red eye!

My little smooch turned 4 today!! She is big stuff!!! :-)

I actually made it to the doc today....after fighting on the phone yesterday and this morning. The good news is that this morning the numbness was almost gone. My lip is still a little numb, but that's it. It's so strange.

It's NOT Bell's palsy. Phew!

Totally frustrated with our current health insurance, but I am not going to complain about them right now. Maybe some other time. I just want it noted that I am frustrated.

OK...so the doc can't explain the numbness. She can, however, offer me "reassurance" since the numbness is going away on its own. They did some neurological tests on me and those were fine. So evidently it was some random thing that happened and there is no way to pinpoint what caused it.

Weird.

So I guess that's better than bad news, right? It could have gone much worse I suppose. I am glad I didn't drag the kids to the ER with me to get checked out. That would have been painful. Is it just me or have strange things been occurring since we moved to Florida? The other explanation I've been given (thanks, Cathy!) is that I am getting older and these things just happen. Hehe. What can you do?

My little smoochie turns 4 tomorrow! Yippeee!! She is so excited :)

I'll get some more pictures up here soon.

I woke up this morning and my lower lip was numb. Well the lower right portion...and I am still numb. And the area next to my right eye and below it is numb too. Yikes! So I called the doc's office (they are not known for their efficiency, but I had to do something). They ended up calling me back a couple hours later and think it's Bell's palsy. Sounds scary, but should only be temporary...

-woke up at 6 am
-went back to bed for a little bit and then ended up waking up later than I should have to get the kids to day care.
-wanted to shampoo the van before work, but it was raining so I couldn't. bummer.
-took the trash out
-sat on the couch and watched Fox News for a bit while drinking hot coffee (this is a luxury I don't often get to take advantage of)
-had multiple conference calls
-gave a presentation to my team about my top account. It went great!
-brought the trash can back to the house and took the yard waste to the curb (the spaghetti weeds...please see previous blog)
-took a shower
-had some lunch
-picked up the kitchen
-chatted with Brian
-worked, worked, worked
-found out that an old colleague of mine is BACK! That was exciting news! I hope I get to work with him again in his new role.
-got some groceries at the commissary
-ordered a NEW COMPUTER! WOO!! I haven't gotten a new desktop since September 2000. It was time.
- HP Pavilion Elite m9000z PC
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
- AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 5600+ dual-core - 2.8GHz
- 3GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024,2x512)
- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI
- 500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
- LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
- 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, video, audio
- ATSC-NTSC TV tuner with PVR, FM tuner, remote
- Integrated 7.1 channel sound w/front audio ports
- Norton Internet Security(TM) 2007 - 15 Months
- Microsoft(R) Works 8.0
- HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse
-made dinner
-bathed the children
-painted my toe nails and finger nails bright RED!
-found out my brother and his wife sold their house. yay!
-fed the dog
-am looking forward to vegging out a bit and going to bed
-did NOT watch HSM for the first time in weeks. I was able to talk Katie into watching SpongeBob instead.

Our flower beds in the back yard have been overtaken by weeds. So many weeds. It was gorgeous out this weekend so I did a little backyard cleaning while the kids and the dog played. I got the Garden Claw out and began tearing up the flower bed.

I compare my experience to that of eating spaghetti.

The roots on these weeds were so long! It was like the Garden Claw was a giant fork and I was twirling spaghetti noodles around and around to make a nice and neat bite so as not to make a giant mess.

Sheesh!

These noodles, however, had a few unwelcome guests. The kids were playing with the rolly polly family they found in the dirt and I kept dodging the beetles, bees, spiders and frogs that kept sneaking out of the dirt. There are some really big bugs out here. Have I mentioned that?

And evidently this is the time of year for all the baby lizards to come out and play. Holy cow! There has been this one little lizard stuck in one of the windows in our front room for about a week. The cat amuses me as he tries to get the pesky little critter...he just can't quite figure out why he is unable to get it. Keeps him busy. hehe!

Kasey telling Dash how it is...

I'm really not trying to poke my eye out...it's just a hair clip!

Well the weekend is here! The kids and I went out for a little ice cream on Friday night after dinner. We went to Sonic for some shakes and malts. I was apparently drinking mine too fast and got freezer head. hehe. So I told Katie that I had freezer head and asked her if she had freezer head. She said, "No, I have hot head." Gotta love it!

We ran some errands yesterday. We headed to Walmart to pick up a birthday gift for Katie's friend Christen. Her birthday is on Wednesday and she will be 4. Fun stuff! Katie had a great time picking out about 200 things that Christen needed. I narrowed it down to 3 items and off we went. While we were checking out we saw Christen's daddy. He said that Christen was in the store somewhere with her mommy so of course Katie wanted to run and find her. I had to break her heart and say no. We were on a mission! Next stop: A.C. Moore for some Halloween crafts!

Not much on our plates today. We are going to see if the Broncos game is on down here (which I am sure it won't be) and we'll check in on the race periodically. The kids have their Broncos jerseys on today and are ready for the game. I really need to mow the lawn so I am about to head out there in a little bit to do so. Good times!

Oh, I forgot to mention...yesterday we passed by one of those signs that displays the temperature. It was 96 degrees! 96 degrees! When will it start cooling off?

Today was rough for me.

I dropped Katie off at daycare and then headed over to the clinic to get Kasey's eye checked out and my arm checked out. I got an ant bite yesterday while I was cleaning out my van and it appeared to be infected this morning and was super painful.

They told me to go to the ER for my arm and to give Kasey some Benadryl. If the Benadryl didn't do the job or it looked worse we were to take him to the ER.


OK.


So I took Kasey over to Katie's daycare provider and asked if she could watch Kasey while I went to the ER. It's just not fun chasing kids around in the ER.


Sure enough. Infection city! So they put an IV with an antibiotic in me. The doc was satisfied with that as the redness faded a bit. He traced the red area and told me not to wash it off until I had my followup appointment with my PCM. Ok. So I look funny...Katie thought it was cool. See below:

I headed back over to the daycare to pick Kasey up. It was right at 10:00 so I was only going to be a few minutes late for work. I gave him some Benadryl and put him down for a nap. I myself took some Benadryl because MAN WAS MY ARM ITCHY! Holy cow! I wanted to rip it off or rub sandpaper on it or something. Sheesh!

Kasey slept for 3 1/2 hours! WOW! When he woke up he could barely open his eye and he was just screaming. So I grabbed some zip lock bags and filled them with grapes, a bagel and some goldfish crackers, filled up a cup with milk, made a few phone calls and headed back to the ER.

Kasey was flirty with the nurse and offered to share his bagel and grapes. The awesome thing was that the same people were working the front that had helped me earlier in the day so they got us in and out of there fairly quickly. The doc gave him some Atarax (which is the medicine Katie takes) and it seemed to help.

It just ended up being a very long day.

Kasey got a few bug bites while playing outside yesterday. Poor guy!

Thankfully the weather over the past weekend wasn't too terrible. We had rain - and lots of it, but nothing too bad. We were stuck in the house all weekend due to the rain, but I had the kids working on crafts and I did some much needed scrubbing.

I've also been doing a lot of online shopping for upcoming birthdays/Christmas. I have many saved shopping carts with many different retailers. I figure I will purchase a few things at a time. Maybe that will help save some money in the long run. I like to wait and see if the price drops. :)

Brian's been gone for a week already. It's gone by quick. Of course every time Katie doesn't get something she wants it's "I want my daddy". Ha!

We are planning on visiting Brian for Thanksgiving and Christmas now. We are going to go to Build a Bear for Katie's birthday with one of her little friends. It should be fun. I think she will like it! We'll have to go to Destin Commons...I might try to stop in to Williams Sonoma while I am there. I would LOVE to pick up a few things there!

First week of fall, eh? It's still hitting almost 90 every day and with the heat index/humidity it certainly feels warmer. The air conditioner runs almost non stop still. I miss the cool autumn mornings and the changing of the leaves. It really doesn't look as nice down here when seasons change. Everything goes from green to brown. That's it. No red, yellow or orange. Just brown. I am hoping to get out this weekend and buy some Halloween decorations to spruce things up.

It looks like we will be experiencing our first tropical storm this weekend. It was super windy earlier today and started to rain this afternoon. I feel like we are prepared should the electricity go out. It doesn't sound like it will be too destructive, but we might get a glimpse of some very nasty weather.

Stay tuned!

We had a little pink visitor this morning. There was a baby lizard in the bathtub! The poor thing couldn't quite climb out of the bathtub and was running around like crazy. It was funny to see it moving around so fast. I stuck the cat in the bathtub with it because I thought he might have some fun...

The lizard ended up crawling down the drain.

The cat won't get out of the bathtub now.

Ha ha ha!

Brian left this morning. They allowed the kids and I to go past security and up to his gate. That was nice! Brian somehow dropped his ticket - luckily, someone found it and he was able to get on the plane! Katie ran around like a crazy woman and then got really sad when daddy had to get on the plane. No one cried today. I think I was too tired and I changed the subject with Katie quick enough that she didn't dwell on it.

He landed safely in South Carolina and called for some help with the directions. What would I do without the internet? He has internet access in his room which will be nice.

Kasey had his 18 month checkup today - he has moved up into the 75th percentile in weight and the 95th percentile in height! I guess he went through a growth spurt! He had to get a shot today and doesn't need one again until he is 4! YAY! He got a sucker and stuck sucker slobber in his hair. That's nice. He had poured his pineapple juice in his hair earlier (right before his appt) so was crusty and needed a bath.

OK, so it's not quite as shocking as may have led on, but do you see the missing bangs??!!

The hairstylist actually said to me...and I am NOT joking..."the only way I can fix this is to cut it like a MULLET!"

WHAT?!! I mean this isn't 1985, lady, and just because your hair somewhat resembles a mullet does not mean it is IN style! I told her that I would rather her head be shaved than given a mullet. A mullet...sheesh!

On a side note...

We found out on Thursday that Brian will be leaving on Tuesday for his 4 month TDY. I am going to have my hands full, but such is the life as a military wife. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

devastation.

seriously.

It is so awful that I couldn't even take a picture.

So mad....for several reasons.

1. The scissors have been in the bathroom medicine cabinet since the day we moved in. Katie got them out last night somehow, but what did I do? I put them right back. So I am mad at myself for not removing them completely now that I know she can reach them. (It's still a mystery as to how she can actually reach them, but she does like to climb...)
2. Why when it is bed time does Katie think she needs to go into the bathroom and be naughty?? Every night. She gets out of bed "M O M!!! I need this! I need that! Come up here!" etc...So I get her back to bed - about 8 times and she finally goes to sleep. Some nights she just plays in her room, but gets out of her bed nonetheless. Some nights she turns on music (I can only handle hearing the SpongeBob theme song a few times in a row....) Some nights she goes into my office and jacks with my computer or things on my desk. Some nights she goes into the bathroom and smears my makeup everywhere. MAD MAD MAD! Any helpful hints in this area would be much appreciated!
3. SHE CUT HER HAIR AGAIN!!!! Her hair had finally grown out from the last hair cut fiasco so we could put it in a ponytail or pig tails...sigh.

We are heading over to the salon in Walmart tomorrow morning (it opens at 8am and she needs an emergency cut!!). I think I'll stop by the "hair clip" section as well as we will probably need lots of clips.

I will post pictures. Prepare to be shocked. She cut her bangs as short as Brian's hair - see pictures below of Brian's hair. I don't know what they will be able to do to fix it. She has a mullet style going on the left side of her head. It's quite lovely.

Birthday gift idea: hats and LOTS of 'em!

Thankfully her hair grows pretty fast, but what is the fascination with scissors?

I know it's been a while since I posted! Here are some pics from Kasey's first hair cut this weekend. He still has some curl left :)

We drove about 175 miles tonight...so roughly 12% of our total mileage. Umm...we have a ways to go ;)

We passed by a couple of things that made me laugh.

First, just before you reach the Alabama state line from Florida there is a sign that reads something along the lines of "FL highest point. 345ft elevation" LOL! 345ft...I knew it was there because I saw it last year when we made this trip so I had my camera phone ready. Turns out that I am not that skilled at taking pictures on my camera phone while driving.

I called my sister-in-law in Monument, CO, to let her know that I was at the highest point in the state of Florida. She laughed...I thought it was funny.

We also passed the "World's Largest Peanut Boil". As exciting as that sounds, we found it easy to just drive on past without stopping. I saw so many signs for boiled peanuts. I don't think I have ever had boiled peanuts. Strange to me.

We might have more interesting stops tomorrow and I am charging the camera right now so hopefully we can take a few pictures. We'll be driving through Nashville and St Louis tomorrow.

Good times!

Wow...it's amazing how much stuff you need to take on a trip. Whew! I got most of our stuff packed up in the van this afternoon. I found the source of a mysterious odor. That was fun. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to completely rid the van of the nastiness, but hopefully I will be able to shampoo the carpet tomorrow morning. Chocolate milk left in a cup that leaks a bit is never good...

The kids and I plan on leaving here after I pick Katie up from day care tomorrow. We are only driving a short distance tomorrow night, but it will break up the trip.

It's supposed to be HOT. Very, very hot.

I have to put a few more podcasts on the iPod before we leave so that I can listen to those while the kids watch movies. I have found that it is hard to listen to music while their movies are on. And if any of you have been in a vehicle with me while talk radio is on, you know I can't stand it. These podcasts are certainly different than talk radio so I hope I don't have the same reaction as I do to talk radio.

Lots of little stuff to pack in the morning.
Need to run the dishwasher so we don't have milk cups sitting around for 2 weeks. Yuck.
A few small loads of laundry.
Pick up the kids rooms.
Filled up with gas today so we should be good there.
Need to grab some ice and load up the cooler with water, juice, a few sodas, cheese, yogurt and a few other snacks.
Can't forget the trail mix. :-)
Brian still needs to pack his bag so I can bring it with me - this should create less time in the airport next Friday.
Brian is uploading the maps to the GPS - thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, if only I knew how to use it....
1353 miles to drive according to mapquest.
New tires, oil changed.
Lots of movies...
Disposable milk cups are a MUST

Please pray for safe travels. This is a really long drive to do without Brian. I have made long drives before with just Katie, but this is REAAALLLLY long. Thank goodness we won't have to drive through snow!

If you have my cell phone #, please call me while I am driving. I might need some adult conversation while I am driving (hands free of course). If you don't have it and want it, send me an email and I'll get it to you.

I'll be sure to post things as we go along. I think both motels I am staying at have high speed wireless available (I don't know of any these days that don't have it).

Kasey took a few tumbles yesterday...he must be one tough kid!

I put him down for his afternoon nap yesterday and was on the phone with my manager for our one on one call to discuss all sorts of things - development plans, issues with accounts, general questions, etc. And then I heard a really loud BOOM!!! come out of Kasey's room. That was followed by a second or two of silence...and then screaming.

Uh oh.

I was like "I'm going to have to call you back!"

I ran into Kasey's room and there he was at his door. He climbed out of his crib and fell on the floor. Oh man! He was so freaked out and had a bit of a fat lip as a result. It took me a good 5 minutes to calm him down. The poor little guy. He looked so scared.

Well I had him calmed down and let him down and he was playing with Dash. And a few minutes later I heard some BANG Bounce BANG and then screaming. He fell down the stairs!! I thought the gate was locked at the top, but apparently not! (It turns out the gate is not working properly so we are going to have to replace it.) If we had carpeted steps I might not have been as worried, but the hard wood seems a little less forgiving. He must have hit his face again because there was just a teeny tiny little spot of blood near the gumline on one of his top two middle teeth.

Oh man! I felt terrible! First he climbed out of his crib and fell on the floor and then he fell down the steps!

We decided to go ahead and buy him a toddler bed so he can start getting used to that. He likes to play on it and pretend to sleep, but if you leave him in his room with the door closed, he freaks out. So I am going to have to keep a close eye on him in his crib for a while. I do NOT want him to fall again!

Like many of you, I have heard or performed the National Anthem countless times over the years.

Yesterday, I heard the best rendition of it that I had heard in years. It was right before the start of the NASCAR Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Sgt. Byron Bartosh of the Indiana National Guard performed the anthem solo on his trumpet.

It was beautiful.

Clean. Simple. Beautiful.

The drivers, their families, crews, friends and 250,000+ spectators stood still and silent for the duration of the song. He did an outstanding job and his sound quality was amazing.

I think too often these days performers try to add too much color. A little color is nice, but I like the clean simple versions the best. And my personal preference has to be an instrumental version whether it is an ensemle or a single performer, I like it best. If it is sung, I prefer a small group/choir over an individual performer. I think sometimes the song loses its meaning when individuals try to "fancy" it up.

There's my two cents for the day.

Happy Birthday to my dad today!!!!!!! Hope you are having a good one!!!

We found out yesterday that Brian is going TDY in September for 4 months. The good news this time is that he is not going overseas. He will be within driving distance so the kids and I will be able to visit him a couple of times. He won't be here for Katie's 4th birthday, Thanksgiving, my 30th birthday, Christmas or New Years. I think the kids and I will be heading over to spend Christmas with him for sure and probably Katie's birthday. I haven't quite decided what I would like to do for my birthday, so if anyone has any ideas - send them along!! I haven't ruled out travel...our doors are open for anyone who might want to come visit - ahem...hint hint ;-)

Finally! For those of you who have been hounding me for pictures of the kids, they are on their way! I was finally able to get them all cut, labeled, separated, stuffed in envelopes, addressed and mailed off this morning. The wait is almost over ;)

I have never claimed to be one of the "cool" kids although I have to say that our little group of friends in high school was pretty awesome. We always had a good time! So...I mention that because I have become even more of a dork over the years. I have recently found myself watching nothing but high school and college drama shows!? What?! I am almost 30 yet these shows appeal to me! I also catch my fair share of Nicktoons (SpongeBob, Fairly Oddparents, etc.) and let's not forget Drake & Josh which has recently become one of my new favorites. Oh and of course High School Musical was on the other day and I had to watch that (even though we have the DVD) AND on August 17 High School Musical 2 comes out and I am actually going to DVR it because I will be up in South Dakota at that time.

I love the DVR! We record SpongeBob a lot...yep, we are ALL addicted to SpongeBob. Every single one of us. I think even Dash and Sully like to watch SpongeBob. There are 5 new episodes on this week and we are recording them because they come on at 4:00 and we can't sit down and watch them together at that time. Sigh.

So what has become of me? Shows like Degrassi, The Best Years and Greek are now on my "must see" list. We still watch CSI reruns every day...maybe it's because it's summertime and Heroes isn't back on yet! And I can't wait for the new season of CSI!

Dork.

I just shake my head. At least I can laugh at myself. I know I am a dork and you know what? Who cares?! Aren't we all a little dorky at times?

Yesterday Kasey woke me up at 5:30am...you know, he just doesn't understand that it's okay to sleep in on the weekend. ;) We both took a little snooze at about 8am to make up for it. I like naps!

We headed over to Destin for some lunch at Olive Garden (thanks mom and dad!). I had the ziti which was pretty good. If it's even possible, I think it had too much cheese...yes, I did just say that! I love cheese! But I gotta tell ya, there was a ton on there!

Then we headed over to Destin Commons for some window shopping. We passed by Abercrombie & Fitch and is it just me or is there continual cologne being sprayed in there? It was quite strong even just passing by on the sidewalk! We passed by Williams Sonoma and I have been itching to get a few things there. But, I will put those on my birthday/Christmas lists as they are pretty good gift ideas.

Of course we had to go to Bass Pro Shops. Katie loves to look at the huge fish in there. We picked up a few small things and then decided to head home. We took the long way because none of us really wanted to go home. We've all been couped up in this house too much recently.

I put Kasey down for a nap when we got home and Katie and I headed to the BX to pick up a few things. Nothing too exciting. By the time we got back home it was dinner time. We grilled some hot dogs and had shells & cheese. Yum!

This morning we headed over to the beach. We saw quite a few crabs today and a ton of hermit crabs. Lots of birds. Brian and Katie went seashell scouting and Kasey and I just took a stroll along the shore. It was nice out this morning. Not too hot, a bit cloudy and just a bit of wind. The water was quite calm so that made it a bit easier for Kasey to get in the water and play a bit.

We were going to go head over to Hershey's for some ice cream, but it appears that they were closed in the location we went to. Bummer! So we headed over to Sonic for some quick lunch and some ice cream and headed home. Kasey just took a bath and is napping and Katie is playing in the tub. It's pretty quiet :) The beach tends to drain the kids which sometimes is a good thing.

I am planning on heading over to the mall this afternoon. It's time to get new tires and since there isn't a Discount Tires around here, I think we are going to get tires at Sears. Maybe get an oil change while we are at it. After all, we are making a trip to South Dakota in a couple of weeks and I believe it's about a 1300 mile drive. Sigh. I don't know what I would do on road trips without the trusty DVD player!!

Here are a couple of photos of Brian and Katie practicing when she got her fishing pole.

I have become so lame at posting! SORRY! I am either way too busy or way too boring these days...hehe.



Brian took Katie fishing on Saturday night and she caught a perch. So cute! It started raining while they were out so they couldn't fish for long, but they had a good time.



They decided to go again early on Sunday as well to see if they could catch anything. Here on Eglin everything is catch and release (which is fine with me because I do NOT like fish!) Katie didn't catch any fish, but Brian had a bite. He reeled it in and it was not a fish, but instead he caught a turtle. OOPS! He was able to get it back in the water. Poor turtle!