Wanna see something funny?

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/

I started humming the old sesame street song "one of these things is not like the others" when I realized several of these states are not like the others..

It was about 2 weeks ago that I felt one of these earthquakes. I hadn't felt the others that had happened since we arrived.

But the more recent signifigant one was somewhere near LA and we definitely felt it. It was funny since right after it happened- the kids were debating amongst themselves what it was. It was 1 vote for earthquake, 1 Vote for JM jumping from the bed onto the floor and 1 vote for a bear crawling under the rug.

Not sure where the bear came from or how it would get under a rug.

I detest Rodents

Absolutely detest rodents.

And I waged war on them back in January and put copious amount of green rodent food around the house in places the kids couldn't reach but hopefully the rodents would. And we were rewarded with 4 dead RATS in the yard and countless dead mice in the yard and a few in the garage.

And I set traps.

And at the time it looked like I won the battle of humans vs rodents.

But.. no.

They're baaa-ck.

I've been up late at night and hear them or - worse- see them scurry across the floor.

And I pull out my weapons of detruction- traps- place them amply around the house

And forget that Larry won't be around to, uh, dispose of my, uh, targets.

This month, I found a nearly dead and bleeding profusely in the middle of the kitchen floor. In the middle of the day. I swear Nevada could hear me scream when I found it laying there in a puddle of blood, but worse- when I took the shovel to scoop it up- it moved!! EWWWWWW
At this point I'm guessing it ate the poison the previous rodents kindly moved into safe hiding places since in cleaning I'd find the pretty green pellets in places like- boots- that I KNOW I didn't put pretty mouse food in. (yep, those boots were donated to a thrift store, the very thought of putting my feet into something that a mouse had at one time been in makes my toes want to fall off)

And later that week I set the traps and then not even 15 minutes later I hear one go off. And then I hear clunking and banging for 15 minutes while it tries to fight it's way out of the trap.

EWWWW GROSSSSS!!!

When it finally gave up the fight I took the trap, scooped up by cardboard under the newspaper I placed it on- since, well.. I don't want to come near it-and put the whole contraption outside.

And now- tonight as I was going into the garage to get some butter from the freezer- there a small brown thing there- fully alive and moving. Nebraska heard my yell that time.

As much as I am allergic to cats and as much as I detest litter boxes, cats on counters, cats on beds and all things cat related- I'm pondering- from whom can I borrow one or two from to get rid of these rodents??

I don't know if it's my screaming like I saw a zombie or the mouse, but my dog is afraid of them, too. Dumb dog. So much for a hunting dog.

Have you ever gotten an email with a random "J" in it

And wondered what it was?

Me too.
Tonight I had an email reminding me to bring socks to bowling with my growth group and it had 2 of those random "j"s

So... since curiosity kills all cats around here, I went off on an internet search and I'm pleased to report I think I have the answer-

If the person writing the email uses outlook and you're reading the email in a non-outlook email system, smiley faces show up as a "J" in a odd-looking font. It has something to do with Microsoft using a Wingding and ASCMII sees it as a "J' or somthing (essentially talking Greek here..I'm repeating what I read, not what I actually understand, so if you do understand it and it dosen't make sense... sorry. But you probably knew why the "J"s were there in the first place)

And with this information, I have added another random useless bit of trivia in to my already stuffed-full brain space. Much like my linen closet or the storage closet in VA- open the door to put something in and there's a pretty good chance something else will fall out.

I better watch that- If I keep cramming dumb and random facts in there, the bit of information with my name on it may fall out of the brain-closet. It already has confused my kids names. Just like my mom used to and I thought "how dumb- she had us kids and she can't remember what she named them?" and I realize.. it's the crammed full closet info and you're either going to remember how to change a diaper and put food in front of them or you're going to remember their correct names.

I agree- food will win out in the end.

Free at last!

Free at last, Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!!

Tonight was the closing awards ceremony at Awana. Awana was the last scheduled kid thing we'd been doing in the evening- there was dance, TBall (lots and lots of Tball) And for the longest time we were out nearly every night of the week, eating Peanut butter sandwiches as we rushed into the van or picking up chicken nuggets in a drive through and tossing them to the kids in the back.

And the van was trashed. Literally- trashed- the kids took the floor to be a garbage can and they'd been bringing toys, books, and lord-knows-whatelse in there to entertain themselves as we ran errands or while waiting for Tball practice to end...

Today I cleaned that van out. It was nasty. Really really really nasty. Oxycleaned it, scrubbed it, vacuumed it and took out bags of toys, clothes, underwear (I'm serious- and scratching my head why my older-waay past potty training- kids have used underwear in the car), dog treats, books, random pages torn out of books and notebooks (grrr). And filled a trash can with the crumbs, food remnants, empty juice boxes and other food packaging.

And the van breathed a huge sigh of relief. And I vowed and promised the kids if I ever see them throwing their trash on the floor again and leaving that much junk in there, they will never see another drive through again and I-don't-care-if-you-didn't-finish-dinner-you're-not-taking-it-with-us.

When Tball ended I felt like a prisoner out on parole. Today I feel like it's the last day of school or parole has ended. YIPPEEE!!!
Tomorrow is my last Women's bible study for the summer too.

What will I do with my evenings?

Don't worry, I'm sure I have plenty to fill my time with ;-)

Says who???

So.. I'm sitting here planning what books and CD's and books on tape I want to request from the library for the summer and decide to use Barnes and Nobles vast selection to put into a wish list.

Simple enough right?

Well... you need an account. I set that up and it asks for a security question- one of the usual-
Mother's maiden name, Mother's middle name, Father's middle name, pet's name..

And I figure, heck, I'll go with my father's middle name which is John. (there goes the security of it, right?)

But.. no.. Barnes and Noble says his middle name can't be John, it has to be a 6-8 letter word.

And that also rules out my mother's middle name and my pet's name.

So much for choices.

But if you're in the mood for CD's, we discovered Bill Harley.

I hadn't heard of him either, but I picked up one of his CD's last week at the library- the battle of the mad scientists- and my kids LOVED it. They were hypnotized which meant I had a peaceful car ride. Oh- such heaven. Usually our car rides consist of crying/whining and competing stories of 2 or more voices at the same time. Just listening to the CD- no competing voices, complaints, crying- oh.. that is perfection.

Anyway- the Battle of the Mad Scientist had a story about these kids in 4th grade? Anyway- it has them fooling around in the bathroom at school and while I feel a twinge of quilt that my kids don't understand what public school is like- they thought fooling around in the school bathroom and pretending like you were getting sucked down the toilet was the MOST HYSTERICAL thing ever. After listening to it 4 or more times between the car and house, we brought it back and I was kinda sad they didn't have more of his CD's. So we settled on a few others and I'll be inter-library requesting others as soon as I have the ISBN numbers. I LOVE inter-library loan.

But check him out here
Or below on You Tube



And mom and dad- he's from Seekonk! he gives free concerts locally- I think there's one at Roger Williams Park this weekend if you want to check him out with Danny and Alex. (seriously- you should- it'll be fun).

And I just clicked on the "radio" button on the bottom left of his site- totally cool- it plays his stuff. hmm.. how to get that to play in the car??? I wonder. There has to be a way. I bet it involves bluetooth-something or something which would take technology savvy I don't have...

Shoes and life

There is something essential about having shoes that are comfortable. I mean, really- nothing can put me in a bad mood like a pair of sore feet navigating life with worsening blisters.

So with that in mind and with my current sandals with holes forming after a year of constant use I went shoe shopping yesterday.

And I came home with nothing.

Either they had far too high a heel for me to reasonably use without breaking my ankle or neck or were cute on the shelf but painful in seconds on my feet. Or the wrong size- too snug, too wide, too narrow, rubbed wrong, etc...

*sigh* I spent an hour trying every pair in the store before abandoning ship for the day.

And today I put the internet to use.. I can do a search for my size, the color I want and STILL after flipping through 124 pairs of shoes that are in my size and in the color I want (which is white or red this year) and I've found 2 pairs that LOOK like what I want but I suspect will be ill-fitting.

I guess some things don't change. I remember spending days looking for shoes when I was a kid. And generally I came home with something I "settled for" when I gave up.

And NOW I understand my mom's frustration (funny how life works that way) as I have a daughter who is similarly difficult to buy shoes for. I took her last month for shoes and we went to no less than 5 shoe stores, tried on every pair of non-heel shoes in her size and came home with 2 pairs of shoes- 1 sneaker and 1 sandal- which in the store she said they fit and she WANTED them. Once home, she's decided they don't fit her right and hurt her feet. *sigh* At least they will still be in good shape when her younger sister grows into that size.

I see mother-daughter shoe shopping marathon happening again shortly. Or course with the other offspring in tow, running and causing havoc through the stores.

And one day my daughter may have a daughter who tries on 90 pairs of shoes to not like any of them and then to buy one that she refuses to wear...

As I walk out of the bathroom this morning

I was met by a orange covered toddler

NOW what did he get into?

I ask him what he had and he answers "lipstick"

I don't have lipstick after the last time he found lipstick. And I certainly don't have bright orange lipstick. I figured it was marker, since he enjoys chewing on them like a lollipop.

But no- he opens his backpack in which he stores all his found treasures and produces 4 tubes of food coloring of which he had managed to open both the red and yellow. For which he dragged a stool across the kitchen, climbed the counter and got it out of the cabinet, presumably looking for candy or other brightly colored snacks.

I'm still cleaning up the floor from what looks like a crime scene. Gratefully most of it has come off the tile. Not as successful at getting it out of the fisher price rocking chair.

(yes, I have pictures, but can't find the cord to hook computer to camera. Technology challenged here and my new 4GB memory card isn't read by the little slot you push it into the computer, and I don't know why... 1GB just wasn't cutting it for me anymore, but I may go dig that one out since it's way more conveneint to just pop it in the slot than hunting for a cord that seems to have feet of it's own, along with everything else in any drawer within reach of said toddler)

And as I am settling the fight between the 6 year olds, I notice one of them has pen - ball point pen- lines covering her legs. What possess someone to turn their skin ball-point pen black? Not writing or anything that passes for decorative art- just lines and scribbles.

And as we're still working on using the potty and JM loves his pull-up, I'm also chasing him back to the bathroom with the "little kid potty" which he loves carrying around- as soon as he has some content in it, he's bringing it through the house sloshing it's contents everywhere.

I'm thinking I'm going to try using a smaller seat on the potty bolted to the floor with a stool. He's afraid of it, but I'm loosing the Battle of the Major Messes.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I ever win that battle. But today it's kicking my butt worse than usual.

And- no- still no word on if we get "the house" in Fallbrook we're waiting for and thus- no word on where/when we'll be moving.

I *heart* Chic Fil A

I love their food but more than their food

I love they have indoor playscapes for the kids

Now they have free wi-fi

AND our local one had "Military Appreciation Day" yesterday- Active Duty or Retired Military and their immediate family ate free.
And they pretty much closed to everyone else since they were swamped by the military people taking advantage of this deal.

The line went all the way around the parking lot which was closed and filled with rented tables and chairs, a DJ, free massages, a bounce house and other stuff.

Wow.

And the staff were just un-be-lieveable - on the busiest day I've EVER seen, with non-stop demands (let's face it, not everyone in or married to the military is grateful or patient in crowds) they were SO patient and really demonstrated a servant heart. I don't know how to say it, but I was absolutely touched while sitting there (by myself with the kids, since Larry was working) several times staff came up and asked if I needed anything- straws, napkins, soda refils! wow. wow. wow.

I wrote a letter of thanks but I don't think it really conveyed enough thanks for the way they went above and beyond.

And now I'm craving one of their chicken sandwiches.. humm.. I think they're open for breakfast :-p

Too cute not to share

May I have that much spunk when I'm 90

I wish..

I wish I had an uncluttered house

I wish that house was self cleaning

I wish my kids could clean up after themselves
Or at least make less of a disaster

I wish the mouse in our house would find a new house to live in

I wish I had 48 hours in a 24 hour day

I wish my clean/folded laundry wasn't launched into the air yesterday by a certain toddler encouraged by his older siblings- making it no longer folded.

I wish my laundry put itself away

For that matter I wish it was self cleaning

I wish there was a milkman who could deliver milk so that I wouldn't have to make frequent trips to buy it

I wish I had someone with the money to buy little lions and all our inventory

I wish the air conditioning in the van worked

I wish I had the time/energy/interest to take it to a shop to find out why it's not working

But until my fairy Godmother appears, I guess I'll go on wishing until I do something about it.

Homeschooling

It was at least alittle funny so I'd share it, since I have little else to write this am. It was on a homeschool mailing list this week.

On the homefront -JM successfully went on the potty and then successfully picked it up to show me and dumped it on the floor. Not once, but 3 times. At least the floor was been washed for the day.

The Bitter Homeschooler' s Wish List
by Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling, Issue #1, Fall 2007

1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is - and it is - it's insulting
to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?

2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one
you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing
means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having
acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If
you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside
now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can
safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir
practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H
club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to
socialize.

4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the
same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.

5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on
the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.

6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know,
know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling.
You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running
up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every
ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.

7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're
in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil
fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of
homeschooling.

8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.

9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for
religious reasons.

10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of
options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to
annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the
specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being
homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational
decisions.

11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my
credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully
cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my
children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of
chew-it-up-and- spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left
me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the
basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a
reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.

12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can
possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're
calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.

13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in
"homeschool, " we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the
amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the
off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays
when it's crowded and icky.

14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in
homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day,
just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education -
and many of us prefer a more organic approach - we can burn through a lot of
material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons
to the lowest common denominator.

15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid
might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry
was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get
to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be
bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.

16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't
mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep
now and then.

17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some
kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days,
I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.

18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're
allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't,
thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than
your teachers did, and might even do a better one.

19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as
her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around
academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet,
boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because
he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be
as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of
anything but childhood.

21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's
homeschooled.

22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my
kids.

23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my
kids.

24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get
because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about
all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling,
shut up!

Computers and Viruses

It probably shows my age, but I had never heard of this game- have you?

Sonia announced to me that they got to play "Computers and Viruses" at game time at AWANA this past week and I almost choked on my cup of coffee.

WHAT?

"Mom, it's a game"

HUH?!

"Everyone is a computer and some people are viruses. Computers can take one hop then viruses can take 2 hops and if the virus tags you, you become a virus until you'd gone 10 turns then computers take 2 hops and viruses take one hop..."

But who gets to play Symantic, MacAfee, and Mac?
LOL..

I don't remember anything close to that from when I was a kid- back in the days of Mainframes and TRS80's oh, and Apple 2e. Were there even viruses then? All I remember was making the little mouse make cool designs on the screen. Totally thrilling and totally useless. Unless you were looking to make a screensaver.

And in other news- today is day 1 in the current attempt to potty train JM. He loooves to be naked, so he's thinking this is pretty cool. (we use the let-them-run-naked method of potty training). But right now they're resting watching a movie while I planned on getting in the shower so I can look less dumpy before going to the grocery store for yet more milk. And I know it's an invitation for trouble. EVERY (yes every!) time we try this, he gets into something big and/or makes a huge mess. So.. come to think if it.. maybe that shower isn't all that important..

One More Pilgrimage to Disney

Yesterday..

Part of those free tickets, were "2-fer tickets", which for us So Cal residents- you get to come back to the other park free- so since last time we went to DisneyLand it meant we could come back free to Disney California Adventure. (well.. nothing's exactly free.. especially when you add in the parking, drinks, food, etc.. but.. I digress...) It's right there, turn one way go into DisneyLand, turn the other way off the plaza and you go into CA adventure...So.. we went to use those tickets- a full 4 days before they expired. Larry had the day off, so we said, "hey, why not?"

Unbelievably- Disney ran out of parking. By 11 am when we got there.
Let me repeat that - DISNEY- with the largest parking garage in North America, I think- ran out of parking and diverted their parking to every other lot/garage in the area and provided buses.

So.. Last time we said "hey, next time we go, Larry will drop us off near the front and we'll wait through the bag inspection line, get a locker for our towels/changes of clothes, etc.. and wait for him there- it will avoid the lines for the elevator in the parking garage, the tram lines, etc.. with stroller, kids, etc.." So.. I had no idea they had run out of parking as we walked our way down to the inspect your bags, entry lines, etc.. I would have probably had second thoughts had I known about the parking- I'm not a big fan of crowds and all...

So.. we get through and get into CA adventure.. I can tell you most of those people probably went into DisneyLand because I wouldn't qualify it as insanely crowded. And California adventure was a disappointment as far as Disney goes- fewer rides, more stores and "stuff"- kinda like they were trying to be Universal Studios (at least like the one in FL- without the cool rides- haven't been to the CA univeral Studios to compare them... but again.. I digress)

The "cool" rides had a 60 minute or longer wait and well.. I'm not sure any of the rides there were worth waiting 60 minutes for. There were tons of 3D stuff- At least 4 times we were putting on 3D glasses for something- mostly shows with some "extra" special effects. I'd say the best ride was the Toy Story one- complete with 3D glasses you got to shoot your virtual gun at targets- like you were on a midway- but.. well.. the return on investment - time spent for amount of fun was lacking.
At least the line to see Cinderella was short :-) They wisked Characters on and off location about every 15 minutes, so if you saw one, you ran to it/him/her, and got in line and knew that you'd be waiting under 30 minutes to have your picture taken.
The kids thought it was cool, but the adults were pretty disappointed. It really seemed to limit it's stuff to focus on Disney-Pixar stuff, and well.. that's kinda limited and the Pixar movies were better than the rides and stuff they made from them. (in my not always humble opinion)
But we did everything we wanted to and still had time to spare before the park closed. (and I mentioned we got there at 11 instead of the minute it opened, right? I think by the time Larry got from the remote parking lot to the bus to the gate, it was probably closer to 12. I had fed the kids their packed lunches there waiting so we didn't have to break the "no-outside food" rule too much in the park and lug it around and we didn't have to stop to eat.

It was the boy's turn to get Mickey Ears hats. Last time the girls HAD to have the princess ear hats, but the boys were less interested in them. Joey wanted a Light Saber souvenir and ONLY a Light Saber last time and was fixated on the fact that he wanted a light saber, and not only a light saber, but the giant build-you-own $34 10 foot long lightsaber. And you and I both know light sabers are good for only 1 thing and that would be swinging around hitting stuff - things, siblings, dogs.. etc.. and I was not ready to bring something into our house that was going to cause that much temptation to hit. There seems to be plenty of temptation around here already.

Anyway.. since last visit it has been taking a considerable amount of effort to keep the princess ears off JM, so I decided he needed his own non-princess ears and then Joey decided he wanted some, too.

It was kinda funny, but you'll see Joey has a balloon- a super cool Mickey ears balloon. We were walking and this young couple came up to Joey and the guy asked him "hey, can you hold this for me?" waved and smiled at me and took off. It made his day. He thought he was the most special kid with the most special balloon.. And no, we didn't buy 3 others to compensate. Life isn't always equal. And that sucker was in fact huge and 4 of them in the car would have been TOO much. Managing the one through the park was enough. (and I'm sure once they couple realized what a pain in the neck it was to try to get that thing on rides they willingly gave it away. We at least had a stroller to tie it to)

So.. That's all the fun that's fit to print and what we've been up to lately. Still no word on the house situation, no word on where Larry will be reporting to July 19th or which unit he will be assigned to, we're still in the daily limbo of living daily life waiting for something significant to happen while trying to manage the chaos that is our lives around us..

Why should the dog have all the cool places?

He dragged a blanket in there and decided to rest for a while.. which in JM time is about .05 nanoseconds.

No Comparison

Really, there isn't.

But yet, I find myself comparing my life with others' lives, my kids with others' kids, my husband with others' husbands.. and the list goes on.

Yet none of it is good. It either produces pride or discouragement. And an underlying feeling that there is something better "out there" that I have yet to attain- the perfect house, perfect kids, perfect body, perfect husband.. the list goes on..

So today I remind myself what Hebrews 13:5 says:
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you."

This is all temporary.

But no sense in living in a temporary cluttered or dirty environment if I don't have to..
so off to fold some laundry~~

Nothing much to say

Still no word 0n the house we hoped to move into.

Larry still works a zillions hours a week.

The kids are still machines of mayhem and destruction.

We haven't caught swine flu.

The weather is still beautiful.

And I'm still thinking of getting a super cool haircut, but haven't gotten the nerve or time to do it. I'm thinking it will be this week...