Random Thoughts

Too many random thoughts to actually get a true post out, so here's what I have:

• Why is it that replacement batteries for the smoke detector cost ten dollars?
• I had my first spider free Thurday night last week, I'm hoping for another this week.
• I'm stressed out planning the youngest's birthday party this weekend, wondering how I'm gonna make it through two more this year.
• I've never admitted to anyone but my husband before, but I have thoughts of having another.
• I think I'm allergic to Snuggle fabric sheets.
• I don't know how much more dog shedding I can take this season.
• I really need to get back to going to the gym and eating healthy next week.
• We're on day 79 of deployment.
• Only 6 million some odd seconds left of deployment, 113 thousand some odd minutes left.
• I still have cable even though I canceled it well over a month ago and turned in the equipment.
• I really need to get to the doctors about getting some sleep aid.

Whatdya Been Up To? Part 3

I know, it's been a week since my kitchen has been complete and I haven't posted about it yet.  I'm a slacker (if you consider a slacker working on mid terms for 2 classes, doing normal homework assignments, cutting grass, shampooing carpets, cleaning house, grocery shopping and my "spa day") and I'm okay with that!

Just to give you an idea of how bad our kitchen was when we bought our house.  It was straight out of the 50's or 60's with tanish color laminate cabinets that only had two shelves and a teal countertop with silver sparkles.  I tried to find a decent picture of it but apparently I avoided taking pictures in that general area. 

Here is the best I could come up with (sorry Jeremy about the horrible picture of you).  At least it gives you an idea of how bad it really was before we had the cabinets and floors redone and all new appliances back in November 2007. 

After we had the new cabinets and floor installed, I put up the tile back splash and then it just sat there, unpainted for 2 1/2 years.  Part of me was terrified to accidentally get paint on the new cabinets, part of me didn't want to do anything after doing the back splash and the other part of me couldn't decide what color to paint. 

So it sat there:

I know it looked a lot better than when we bought the house, but it still wasn't what I wanted it to look like either.  Well that was until last weekend anyway.  Here is my AWESOME new kitchen:

(You can also see many of the new things we bought when we were in Lancaster  as well as my new dining room table too.) 

I absolutely love it!  I sit here many times during the day just admiring my own handy work.  It's amazing what some paint can do to really transform an area. Of course there are some things that still need to be done like a few more things on the walls, some more items on the tops of the cabinets and new rugs, but those things will come with time. 

Until then, I'm enjoying the new look.  Hope you've all enjoyed getting a glimpse into my house as well.

Day 75

Today marked day 75 of my husband's deployment!  Woohoo!  Almost to the 100 day mark!

Several weeks ago, Renee and I were discussing how she does something every 25 days to celebrate and countdown the days during deployment; and I so stole the idea from her.

With today marking 75 days, I decided to have a spa day.  Except it wasn't at a spa.  Another friend of mine works part time in a salon and normally does my hair out of her house.  I normally have boundaries as to what she can and can't do with my hair.  Today I had no such things.

I told her to do whatever she wanted and she gladly excepted the challenge.

Here are some before photos:

(my hair is naturally curly and I hate it)

(although I don't really care for it straight either)

During:

(yes, I know it's quite scary, but I think it's funny)

After:

I absolutely love it!  

It's A Flippin' Massacre

The exterminator finally came out on Monday.

I had had enough of the spiders that I found here and here.  I found it weird that I found both spiders on a Thursday night a week apart from each other.   

And to make it even wierder, when I was in West Virginia this past Thursday night, I found another similar looking spider but this time it was carrying a sac of eggs!   EWWW.  (And no, I didn't get any pictures this time.  And yes, I did kill it even though we were in the "woods".  I put a whole bunch of gravel from the driveway on top of it and stepped on it.)

 I'm beginning to wonder if it's some sort of sign - Thursday nights and spiders - anyone have any ideas?

Anyway, like I said, the exterminator came.  And now I awaken to dead bugs all over my house (both inside and outside).  It's wonderful.  NOT!  I guess that's why the contract stated they didn't dispose of dead bugs.  I originally thought it odd that it stated that but I can completely see why now.

On a brighter note, at least it seems to be working.  Although it's not Thursday night yet....

Whatdya Been Up To? Part 2

So what else did I do while being MIA?  Glad you asked....

My wonderful and hilarious friend Jess came for a visit and we took a day trip to Lancaster, PA.

(That's her in the side view mirror!)

 I honestly don't remember the last time I had so much fun in the car!  I laughed until I my face hurt and there were tears running down my cheeks!

At several points, I almost started a voice recording of her solo comedy act on the way up.  I'm really regretting it now that I didn't and can't remember half the crap that she said.  You'll just have to take my word that she's pretty freakin' funny!  And I promise next time, I'll start recording.

We did manage to take lots of pictures; however, her camera was used mostly during the beginning of our trip and she has yet to send me those pics.  As soon as I receive them, I'll update with another post because I know she has some really good ones.

These are all pictures that we took on our way home using my camera.

As I drove along, she would shout STOP, and it would scare the crap out of me as I came to a screeching halt and she'd say, "oh, I just wanted a picture of that!"  She seemed to scare me EVERY single time too.

One conversation I do remember about this shot as she was trying to get the cow to look at her:

Jess:  Hey, cow cow!  Look at me.

Cow: ........

Jess:  Whoopidty Woo!  Whoopidty Woo!

Cow: ........

Me:  What?

Jess:  What's a cow say?

Me:  Moo

Jess:  Oh yea that's right.  Moooooooo!

  All in all it was a fun and successful trip to Lancaster.  I spent my allotted amount of money on new decor and had a blast with a great friend all at the same time.  I'll be posting pictures of my new kitchen and dining room soon...

Whatdya Been Up To? Part 1

Lets see, where do I start?  My last day of work for the summer was last Wednesday.  I was able to skip out of work early, grab the kids, and hit the road.

We headed out to my parents second home in West Virginia.  (and yes, Dad, I am counting this one too.)  Over Memorial Day weekend we were out there (I just went to link to the post and realized, that I never posted about it...oops.) to spend the long weekend and I ended up buying a new dining room table.

It's beautiful!  I'm so in love!

 

 (And no, this is not my house.  It is the stock photo)

Only problem was they had to order it and my parents wouldn't be back to West Virginia until mid July.  And Little Miss Impatient (that's me) couldn't wait that long for them to bring it home.  So I went to get it myself.  I wish there was some entertaining story to go along with this, but it all went off without any problems.

The kids had a blast running amok in the woods

and through the paths.

I on the other hand had a blast taking pictures of flowers

and more flowers

and some wild life

and of course lots of the kids

There's still more to come from our time MIA .  I'll eventually get caught up.

What Have I Been Up To....

There have been good reasons why I haven't been blogging.  Here is a sneak peak as I work on the posts.....

Happy Father's Day

I'm a Daddy's girl, always have been and I'm sure always will be.  

 Sure, like most teenagers, we've had some tough times over the years, but through and through we have an awesome relationship.  My Dad has widely shaped me into the person I am today and I am forever grateful for everything he has done in my life, both as a child and now as an adult. 

I love you Dad!

While yes it is Father's Day, it has been a sad day without my husband here to celebrate.  

My husband is the best father in the world to our kids.  I couldn't have asked for a better father for them.  He is loving, caring and playful and would do anything for in the world for the three of them.

 He is our hero!

Happy Father's Day honey!

We love you and miss you!

MIA

I know I don't often go MIA during the week.  And honestly, I have no good reason for it either.

I guess it's been a slow week (which isn't necessarily a bad thing!).  The kids last day of school was on Tuesday and my last day of work was Wednesday.

This weekend I have plans to head up to Lancaster to do some shopping so I probably won't be around too much over the weekend either.

Hopefully, after the weekend, I'll have some pictures to show of all the new stuff I bought and our newly redecorated kitchen.

I won't bore anyone with any more uselessness tonight - just wanted to check into bloggy land and let people know I'm still alive and well.  For now anyway - I'm sure there is bound to be some sort of new drama next week.  In the meantime I'm enjoying the quiet before the storm.
 

Things not everyone gets to say at work

As our school year is coming to an end, I thought I would share a little bit of insight into my day at work. As some of you know, I work in an early intervention classroom working with special needs three and four year olds.

It has been a very hectic year as we had way more students in our class than should of been acceptable. On some days we would have as many as 19 students. That's more than most of the typical classes in our school. To say there were some rough days would be an understatement, but in the end when we get to see how much these students have progressed over the course of the year, it has been absolutely amazing!

To give you an idea of some of the antics that have taken place, these phrases were uttered at numerous times during the school year, either by myself or from one of my co-workers:

Get your hands out of the toilet

Please stop peeing on the wall

No, you may not pee in the pool

Take your fingers out of your nose

Put your shirt back on

Get out of the locker

Get your hands out of your pants

I'm not your mommy

Stop putting your toys in the toilet

[name of student] does not want you to sit in their lap - please get up!

Don't eat the playdough

Please stop smelling me

Sand does not go in your mouth

These other things that may have been heard in a low mumble from various adults in the classroom as well...

Stop deep throating that dinosaur

Stop playing with it, it's not gonna disappear

It's gonna fall off if you don't stop

Stop feeling me up

To say the school year was exhausting and I'm ready for summer is an understatement - but we sure did have fun during the process.

From The Mouth Of.....

As I'm lying in bed tonight with my two year old he holds his hand up to me. Here is the conversation:

Me: Get your hand out of my face please.
Two Year Old: Smell It.
Me: Smell your hand?
Two Year Old: Yes, smell it.
Me: Why?
Two Year Old: Iit smells.
Me: Why? What did you touch?
Two Year Old: My FEET!

As he proceeds to crack up laughing! I wonder sometimes where he gets this shit from!

It's Award Time!

It seems like forever ago (I'm sorry my days run together lately) Tiffanie over at My Domestic Niche awarded me with this:

The rules are as follows:

1. To put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
3. Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blog.
4. Share the love and link the person who gave you the award.

Here are the 12 bloggers that I nominate:

1. Julie at Julie The Army Wife
2. Ellen at The Displaced Dutchican
3. Sara at Welcome to the Blog of an Army Wife
4. Renee at Waiting to Exhale
5. Jessica at Me, Him and the Army
6. Ann Marie at Household 6 Diva
7. Dawna at Hiccups In Time
8. Amber at Goodnight moon!
9. Jen at The Adventures of Our Army Life
10. Wife on the Roller Coaster at Riding the Roller Coaster
11. Shannon at Where's Shan Now?
12. Kathy at ToadMama's Interstitial Space

Now go out and spread the love!

It's Final - I'm Moving!!

OMG! I get out of the shower tonight and I'm thinking of this awesome post that I'm putting together in my head (which will come eventually if I actually ever remember it now...) as I walk into my bedroom and proceed to get ready for bed.

I remember I forgot to take my antibiotics (from some mysterious insect bite that has some sort of infection) and go to walk back upstairs when I almost step on this:

You have got to be fucking kidding me!

I know, it's no where near as big as the last one - but seriously this is starting to freak me out! I am so calling the exterminator first thing tomorrow morning!

I don' t even know if it's the same type of spider but I can't take this anymore.

And it was in my bedroom! How am I ever going to sleep?

PS. Honey if you're reading this - I'll make sure I give you the address of our new house....