Boring couple of weeks...

Nothing really interesting has happened since my last post.

J came home. It's been awhile since we've been home without him, so it was nice when he came back. And he brought presents...always a good thing!

Turtle got a new video game.

Frog got the Kung Fu Panda movie.

I got a UM jersey.

Most important...he brought Cuban bread!

I love Cuban bread. I took it for granted when we lived in Key West and now that I have no access to it, I realize how much I love it. I used to be able to run in any grocery and grab a loaf. I'm going to have to learn to make it myself, I guess.

The big problem this week is finding someone to watch Winston while we are in Key West this xmas. We had a couple watch him for us last year, but I don't know if they can do it again. I've looked at kennels around here, but they are outrageous! $24 a night is the cheapest I've found. That's almost $600 for the three weeks we'll be gone! Oh, man...I don't know what we're going to do, but I have ten days to figure it out!

The Joys of Boys!

It's official. Turtle, my sweet, affectionate, sensitive boy, is on his way to juvenile crime. He received not one, but two detentions in one week. As a first-grader! Where did I go wrong?!?!

It all started with a phone call from the school principal. It went something like this:

Principal - "I've got Turtle here in my office. I am very worried about his behavior today."
Me - "What did he do?"
Principal - "He told another boy to open his mouth so he could pee in it."
Me - "Okay."

Now I'm waiting for the shoe to drop. What did my son do that would cause his principal to be so very worried? Did he whip his peanut out? Did he actually pee on the other kid?

Principal - "He's going to need to stay after school for ten minutes for detention today."

Wait a second! What did he do to get detention? At this point, I'm still waiting to hear what horrible thing my son did. It turns out that was it. He told another boy he was going to pee on him.

After laughing a good ten minutes, I call everyone to let them know (and to make sure I wasn't making too light of a serious issue.) Thankfully, I wasn't crazy and everyone agreed the school over-reacted.

J picked him up after detention, told the teacher that he thought they went a little overboard, and then took Turtle to the store to get a videogame. Now before anyone gets up-in-arms about J rewarding him for getting in trouble at school...Turtle had to wait until the next day to play it because he got detention.

So, then a couple of days later I pick Turtle up and he tells me he got detention again. What did he do this time?

Turtle - "X farted on me, so I farted on him back."

Because the detention slip said "very disrespectful behavior" and because Turtle doesn't always remember all the details (not to mention I was pissed if that really was the reason he got detention), I decided to go get the details from his teacher.

So that conversation went a little like this:

Me - "I'd like to know why Turtle has detention again."
Teacher - "Well, X farted on Turtle and he farted back."
Me - "So he got detention for farting?"

I must have given her an incredulous look. Here's where the story changes:

Teacher - "Oh, they were being rude to a teacher outside at recess."
Me - "I thought he farted on X?"
Teacher - "Well, I wasn't really there. This is just what I was told. He was being rude to a teacher and the farting was the last straw. I can find out for sure and let you know."

So, I get a note the next day saying he got detention because X farted on him and Turtle chased him down the hall trying to fart back.

Hmmm, so which was it?

A. He farted on a boy in the classroom.
B. He was rude to a teacher outside.
C. He chased a boy down the hall trying to fart on him.

I am inclined to believe it was A. They had to make it sound more serious when they saw that J and I thought they were being ridiculous.

So, my seven year old boy got in trouble for threatening to pee on someone and for farting on someone. What the hell?

Have children changed so much? I'm a girl, but I clearly remember bodily-function humor from last week, err I mean when I was a kid. Puke, snot, poop, pee, farts, boogers...it was all discussed at one time or another. Is it really such a cause for concern? I turned out fairly okay.

So, now I have to make sure Turtle only farts on his brother. I just hope he didn't tell anyone about how they pee on each other in the shower!

Pity Party

This is what I am looking at...

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This is what my husband is looking at...

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I'm freezing in 50-some degree weather. He is baking in 90-some degree weather. I stayed home with two leeches (um, boys attached to my butt.) He went to a Miami Dolphins football game.

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Am I jealous? You better believe it!!

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This past summer J was teaching both classes, so he couldn't get any time off. The boys and I took off for a month to visit the family in Key West and North Carolina. So we decided that J could take a couple of weeks to go home and visit everyone in November. He left Saturday and I am already about to go insane!

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I don't begrudge him this trip. Really, I don't. He has gone almost a year without leaving this hell-hole. Plus, he works crazy-hard and more than deserves this break.

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Does that keep the green-eyed monster at bay? Nope.

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Edited to add: Ignore the dots. For some reason, everytime I try to publish this post, it runs all the words together into one, big paragraph.

Election Thoughts

Well, the election is over. Finally. There has been a lot of ups and downs over the past two days as all the final totals have come in. I'm still not 100% sure how I feel.

First of all, politics aside, I am so proud that our nation has finally put aside some of it's racist past and elected a black president. Fifty-sixty years ago, segregation was still legal. People were treated as inferior beings based solely on the color of their skin. And now a minority has been elected (by a vast majority of votes) to the highest office in our land. It's amazing to me that the first president my son will remember is a minority. When I was little, it would have been an impossibility. How far we've come. Go, America!

That said, I'm not so sure about Obama as president. Don't get me wrong, I was against McCain, too. I really hope Obama is able to bring about the changes he promised. I hope he can turn this country around and get us out of the hole we dug for ourselves. Good luck to him, he's going to need it!

I'm very happy Prop 2 (in California) passed. More humane treatment for farm animals. Always a good thing. Prop 12 passed. Again, I'm happy. Providing for Veterans should be an automatic thing.

Prop 8 passed. This prop denies people of the same sex to marry. I am so disturbed by this. I know there are that many ignorant, hateful people in the world, but this just proves it. Why would someone be so spiteful that they would deny a loving couple the same civil rights everyone else enjoys? I know the "Yes on 8" group ran a shady campaign, purposely misleading people, but I still hoped there were more compassionate people out there, especially here in California. I know similar bans were passed in Florida and a couple of other states, but I kind of expected that. Not here in California.

One definite good thing came of the elections. At least I don't have to worry about Palin as president.

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a busy Halloween on Friday. First was Turtle's parade and party at school. They do a really neat thing there...instead of letting the kids wear costumes to school, every class spends a month working on a paperbag costume. This works out so well. No one is left out and the teachers don't have to worry about getting the kids in and out of their costumes. No torn or messed up costumes, etc. I love it. They have a big parade to show off their paperbags. Some of them were really creative. Turtle's was so cute; he was an alien...



When we got home it was time to carve the pumpkins. Usually I do this weeks ahead of Halloween, but the boys wanted to use the pumpkins they got from the field trip on Thursday. This year I let Turtle do a pumpkin all on his own. He made a scary pumpkin with lots of eyes and stitches. Not bad...





After that I had to finish up Turtle's costume. Attaching a knife to a shirt sounded so easy...it's not. I finally had to get J to help. It turned out okay. Not what I pictured, but Turtle was happy. And, of course, Frog was ecstatic in his "fiderman" costume...



We had a blast TnTing. We hit every street on base here and, between the two of them, we now have an entire brown grocery bag full of candy. No exaggeration. I thought it was going to pour (it had earlier in the morning), but we made it through with only a few sprinkles of rain. Our next-door neighbor has been working on a haunted house under his carport since September. It was awesome! And we actually got both kids to go in it. Turtle and the kids from the other side of the house spent half an hour running through it. It turns out the boys aren't scared of the gory decorations. They were scared of the people screaming and yelling.



On a side note...my NaNoWriMo is coming along better than I expected. I only got 213 words on Saturday because we went to Travis AFB to get groceries. I did manage to get my character sheets and some notes done at work that morning. Yesterday I was work at the library and I got 1419 words done. So, right now, my total is up to 1632 words. I go in early to work tonight, so hopefully I will get even more done.

Pumpkins and Apples

Yesterday was Turtle's class field trip to the pumpkin/apple farm. Frog and I went and, since he actually had a day off, J did, too.

We had a lot of fun. The kids got to see how the apples are washed and sorted in the warehouse, then they got to go out in the orchard to pick their own apples. They got apple bread and apple juice for a snack. Then they got to go pick their pumpkins. This part was kind of cheesy...the pumpkins were just all laying on the ground (not on the vine...they were just dumped there) and they got to choose one to take home. The kids liked it and I guess that is all that matters, right?


They had an awesome hay pyramid that the kids could climb on. Frog loved it...

All the other pictures show the boys' faces too clearly, so you will have to be content with this pretty picture I took of old farm equipment...

Afterwards, they ate lunch and got to play in the field. Then it started raining, so we packed up to leave. It was a good time for everyone!

The Halloween Witch

The Halloween Witch

Each year they parade her about ... the traditional Halloween witch.

Misshapen green face, stringy scraps of hair, and a toothless mouth beneath her disfigured nose. Gnarled, knobby fingers twisted into a claw, protracting from a bent and twisted torso that lurches about on wobbly legs.

Most think this abject image to be the creation of a prejudiced mind, or merely a Halloween caricature.

I disagree. I believe this to be how witches were really seen.

Consider that most witches: were women, were abducted in the night, and smuggled into dungeons or prisons under the secrecy of darkness, to be presented by the light of day as a confessed witch.

Few, if any, saw a frightened, normal looking woman being dragged into a secret room filled with instruments of torture. To be questioned until she confessed to anything that was suggested to her, and to give names or whatever would stop the questions.

Crowds saw the aberration denounced to the world as a self-proclaimed witch. As the witch was paraded through the town, en route to be burned, hanged, drowned, stoned, or disposed of in various other forms of Christian love ... all created to free and save her soul from her depraved body. The jeering crowds viewed the results of hours of torture. The face, bruised and broken by countless blows, bore a hue of sickly green. The once warm and loving smile gone. Replaced by a grimace of broken teeth and torn gums that leers beneath a battered, disfigured nose.

The disheveled hair conceals bleeding gaps of torn scalp from whence cruel hands had torn away the lovely tresses. Broken, twisted hands clutched the wagon for support. Fractured fingers locked like groping claws to steady her broken body. All semblance of humanity gone. This was truly a demon, a bride of Satan, a witch.

I revere this Halloween crone and hold her sacred above all. I honor her courage and listen to her warnings of the dark side of humanity.

Each year I shed tears of respect.

~ author unknown

Setting myself up for failure?

Maybe. Probably.

November 1st marks the start of 2008's NaNoWriMo. What is NaNoWriMo, you ask?

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

It is when thousands of aspiring artists sit down together with the task of completing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. The goal is to actually finish...quantity over quality.

Since that is my main problem (finishing what I start), I thought this would be a good way to jumpstart my novel. I have two ideas: one for a stand-alone book and one for a possible series. I think I am going to do the first book in the series. I had good intentions for planning this week. I wanted to get my character sheets done and a notebook compiled of all the little ideas I've come up with for this book. Alas, it is Wednesday and I haven't started yet. I promise to try and work on it today!

Will I actually finish? It's a distinct possibility. I've always worked best under pressure. You know, finishing papers and projects the night before they are due? My obstacles are numerous:

1. I've never actually written a novel before. Or anything of this length, for that matter. Several thousand word essays are the most I've done on one topic.

2. Thanksgiving, leading up to Xmas. Whoever had the bright idea of having this take place in the middle of the holiday season, should be taken out in the street and shot. Seriously. I will probably have guests over, cooking, shopping, wrapping, etc. At least I don't have to worry about decorating the house.

3. J will be gone for almost two weeks right in the middle of it. J had classes all summer, so he didn't get to go home to Key West with the boys and I. So, it's been a while (last Xmas) since he's seen his family. He is leaving November 8 and will be back November 19. There is still a slight possiblity of him taking Frog with him, which will make it very easy for me. But most likely, I will be here with both boys by myself.

There are plenty of other reasons, but I am still going to try.

Wish me luck! Less than three days to go!

Thank you, Angela...

Okay, I feel like crazy cat-lady Angela from The Office, but I have to admit it. I love LoLCats. For some reason, I get the uncontollable giggles when I go through the pictures. Drives J nuts.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Whenever I have a rough day, they always cheer me up. Sick, I know.

The Best Holiday of the Year!

I love Halloween. It is, by far, my most favorite day of the year. I longed for the day when I would have children to dress-up with. What I didn't count on was the lack of scary costumes. Halloween costumes are supposed to be scary. On the night when the veil between the living and the dead is at it's thinnest, you're supposed to wear scary costumes to frighten away the evil spirits. So, what have my kids dressed-up as over the years? We've had a football player, Diego (from Go, Diego, Go), a pirate, a firefighter, spiderman, a scarecrow, superman, a frog, and a dalmation. The only scary costume was when Turtle went as a vampire when he was two. I tried to make him a zombie football player last year, but he wasn't having it.

I was so excited this year because Frog wanted to be Frankenstein's monster and Turtle wants to be a "zombie Army guy with a knife sticking out of him" (his words.) Yay! I found a cool Frankenstein's monster pattern to make and got all the stuff together for the zombie costume. Then Frog discovered his brother's old spiderman costume and hasn't quit wearing it in over a week. So, now he wants to be spiderman. Sigh. At least I still have a zombie costume to look forward to.

But the boys' Tia saved the day by sending a box of Halloween goodies which included two skeleton shirts and a skull mask. Happy, happy! Joy, joy!

Today we had the Halloween carnival, hay ride, and haunted house on base today. So, I was able to scare the boys up to my heart's content...

The carnival was really cute. Lots of games with prizes and cookies. Afterwards we took the hay ride up to the camping grounds for the haunted house.

The haunted house was a no-go...

Last year Turtle went through it twice, but this year he didn't make it past the first room. Suprisingly, Frog made it to the second room, but then he was done, too. Oh well, maybe next year!

Oh, Trader Joe's, how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways...

1. condiments, dressings, marinades - Thai Green Curry is delicious. As is all the Indian curry sauces, the chili-garlic sauce, the Gyoza dipping sauce, and many more. Low-sodium soy sauce, raw apple cider vinegar, etc.

2. peanut butter filled pretzels - need I say more? Yes, I do. Chocolate-covered peanut butter filled pretzels.

3. frozen foods - too many to list. Veggies, Asian goodies, desserts.

4. desserts need a number of their own - apple blossoms, cheesecake, cookie dough, mochi, carrot cake, chocolate

5. triple ginger cookies - OMG! Leave them out to get stale and chewy, you won't be disappointed!

6. wine - Where else can you go to get good wine for $2? They also have high-end wines, but for every day wine with dinner? Can't go wrong with two-buck Chuck!

7. Peppermint JoeJoes - It's like an Oreo cookie with peppermint creme and little bits of candy canes. You can only get them around xmas time, so you have to stock up for the rest of the year. Last year our surplus stock ran out in February.

I could go on and on. It really sucks here in California, but Trader Joe's makes up for some of it. What am I going to do when we move back to the south-east?

The food is good, local, mostly all-natural, and cheap! My kind of place!!

More genealogy stuff!

The other thing that helped start my interest in family history is that I've always loved learning about Native Americans. According to family legend, my great-grandmother is full-blooded. Full-blooded what, I'm not sure. She definitely looked like it, as did my grandfather. These aren't the best pics (they are pictures of pictures), but here he is circa 1954...

That's my mom with him. And here he is circa 1981...

That's my grandmother and I with him.

I was able to trace the Riggs (grandfather's last name) line back to the Yeopim Indians of Pasquotank County. But it was on his paternal side. I haven't been able to find anything about Lela (my great-grandmother.)

While I'm doing pics, here is one of Lela's house...

And on to my father's side....

This is my dad, aunt, grandmother, and grandfather. One line on my dad's side is the only one I've been able to trace out of the country. John Maness (my 8x-great-grandfather) was born in 1655 in Scotland. It seems like every other line in my family has been in North Carolina since the early 1700s. Hopefully one day I'll trace another one out of the country.

But for now I am enjoying researching my Scottish heritage. It turns out we are descended from Clan Gunn in northern Scotland.

Don't shake the family tree too hard...

You never know how many nuts will fall out!





I love geneaology and family history. It used to be one of my favorite hobbies. I say "used to" because I haven't done much with it the last few years. I started in 1999 and made a ton of progress over the years. Unfortunately, in 2005, Hurricane Wilma hit the Florida Keys. Our house was flooded and our computer destroyed. Yes, the computer with all my research, pictures, etc. on it. Luckily, I had paper copies of everything, but it was all thrown in a tub in no particular order.


Since then I purchased a new laptop just for my genealogy stuff and have tried several times to input all the info into it. Everything is all jumbled together (and I'm not the best at labeling/notes), so it has been very discouraging and frustrating. I am basically starting over.


Recently I have been going through some of it and I think it's time to start again. I just have to take it slow, not get obsessed with it, and be methodical. Yeah, that sounds like me...not!


Here's the man who started it all...






This is Isaac Taylor, my great-great-grandfather. He was the longest-lived Civil War veteran in Onslow County, North Carolina. I was fascinated by the Civil War when I was younger (Who's kidding themselves? I still am!) and my grandmother told me all about him. Of course, she also told me we were descended from President Zachary Taylor, so (according to my mom and aunt) we have to take it with a grain of salt. For the record, most of what she told me has been true and we could still be related to a president-it hasn't been disproved yet! After learning about Isaac, I started searching for other relatives in the Civil War and it just spiraled out from there.

Here's the road my grandmother (and mother for half her childhood) lived on...

Charlie was Isaac's son and my great-grandfather.

I have to pick Turtle up from school (teacher conferences this week), but I will post more on this later.

Go Nunicorn!!

Lately I've been introducing Frog to some of my favorite shows and movies from when I was little.

So far we've watched:

Fraggle Rock
He-man
Labyrinth
The Last Unicorn

Here is his He-Man get-up:



Right now his favorite is The Last Unicorn. He watched it three times yesterday and he's watching it right now. He really likes it when all the unicorns come out of the ocean and the castle falls down. He yells "Go Nunicorn!"

Maybe this weekend I will show him the movie Legend, so he can see a real unicorn. I also have The Dark Crystal, The Princess Bride, Goonies, The Neverending Story, The Lost Boys, and E.T. I think I have Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I'm trying to think of some more, but I've drawn a blank. I guess I better go browse Netflix.

Quasi-crunchy. The Diet Coke of Crunchy.

Just one calorie, not crunchy enough!

Some days (most days) I wish I was a free-spirited hippie traveling around the country in van. Wearing long skirts, going barefoot, living in a forest, growing my own food, not dealing with society.

On the other hand, I like my a/c, microwave, grocery store, etc.

Walking the crunchy line also applies to my parenting. I believe in natural parenting. Do I practise it completely? No.

My kids eat mainly healthy, organic food. Usually vegetarian during the day (or when J's not here.) But they also eat McDonalds and candy, ice cream, cookies, and more crap. So do I.

I don't really watch TV. House or Office lately, that's about it. The boys love TV and watch it every day. Turtle is starting to really get into video games. But they also play outside every day and we try to read together most nights.

The boys have wonderful wooden blocks, handmade wooden trucks, dress-up clothes. But they also have plastic, noisy, licensed character toys.

With our next baby, I plan to cloth diaper. I couldn't do it with the boys because they came to work with me, it just wasn't feasible, J didn't want to, I was lazy. This time I will be home all day, so I'll be changing the most diapers.

Turtle was carried around in a front carrier and Frog lived in slings. I think I'm trying a wrap and a mei tei with this next little one.

Of course, we co-sleep.

I'm all for child-led learning/life experiences. If my kids want to watch a zombie movie, fine. I'm there with them to explain it's not real. Turtle goes to bed around 9:30pm. Frog goes to bed around midnight (or whenever we do.) As long as they are getting up in the morning and not dragging around all day, I'm fine with it.

I definitely wish we could be more natural, but right now I'm happy with our balance.

Married to the Military

J picked up a new class this past Saturday. This basically means I will rarely see my husband for the next thirty-three days. J is an instructor at the Coast Guard Chief's Academy. He had the last class off (just had to teach) and I got used to having him around. But I am thankful that I get to see him every night.

Being married to a military man is definitely different. J has been in thirteen years now and we have been together for ten of them. He has been on a boat for five of them. During these five years, J was gone six-eight months each year. It sucks. Even more now that we have kids.

We should be leaving here in 2010 and J will most likely be going back to a boat. He only has seven years left before he can potentially retire. So, leaving here and going to a two-year boat will leave us with three years, hopefully on land and even more hopefully in North Carolina. Of course, J is talking about staying in twenty-five, possibly thirty years. We'll see. If he retires at twenty years, the boys will be fourteen and ten. That sounds like a perfect time to get out.

Somehow things always work out...

Yesterday was Turtle's 7th B-day party. I have been dreading it for weeks. His birthday was actually August 6th, but he wanted everyone from school to come. So, we decided to wait until after school started (August 25) and then work around J's schedule and what the skate park had available.

I swear I will never ignore an RSVP ever again (I don't think I ever have, but just in case!) We invited twenty boys (Turtle only wanted boys) and only eight responded. Nine showed up. I didn't know how many were coming, so I had twenty treat bags, water bottles, plates, etc. It was a pain in the ass.

On the upside, the number we had was perfect. Twenty kids would have been way too many. We had the party at Ramp Rats , a big indoor skatepark in Petaluma. Turtle loves going there, but it's usually full of older kids who run him over. We were able to rent out the whole place for two hours just for Turtle and his friends. Even Frog was able to skate. We were supposed to have an instructor show up because I thought the kids would be bored after a while and need someone to get them back skating. Well, the instructor never showed up. But, again, it worked out fine. The kids skated the whole two hours and wanted to go more after cake and presents. Even talking to the parents didn't kill me

I don't think this will be an every year (or even every other year) event, but I'm glad we did it. The boys had a blast and that is all that matters.

School Ramblings

When we took Turtle to school this morning, it was 46 degrees outside. In September. It's not supposed to be 46 degrees in September. Do you know how cold that is? Before we moved out here, I didn't think the weather would affect me so much. I am not a cold-weather person at all. It is miserable. What's worse is I feel lied to...betrayed. California is supposed to be warm and sunny. Nice beaches. Palm trees. Well, let me break that illusion for you...it's not. At least, it's not up here in northern California. Here it's cold all year long, except for about three weeks at the end of August/beginning of September. But even then, it was chilly in the mornings and at night. I guess I didn't pay enough attention in Geography class. Yes, Oregon is cold and wet. Guess what? Northern California is right next to Oregon. I guess it never clicked in my head that the climates would be similar.

It is beautiful, though...

Speaking of school, I am in the middle of two online classes: medical terminology/anatomy and cultural anthropology. I am really disappointed in the anthropology class. I have been waiting for this class to open up and was so excited when I started it, but it is not what I expected. I haven't really learned anything from it that I didn't already know. Basically, I'm just memorizing vocabulary words for the tests. On the other hand, I really like the medical terminology class. I was surprised at how much I already knew. The words are all like little puzzles that you take apart to find out the meaning. For example: "arthr" means joint and "itis" means inflammation. Hence, "arthritis" means an inflammation of the joint.

I'm still not sure how I feel about online classes. These are the fifth and sixth online classes I have taken. Basically, you just read the textbook, take a few quizzes, two exams, and maybe write a paper or two. That's it. The instructors don't really teach anything; just answer any questions you might have. I just don't feel like I'm learning anything. Maybe that will change when I start taking upper level classes. Good news is I only have two classes left (after the current two I am taking) and I will have my long-awaited associates degree. I have been working on this since 1996, so twelve years now. Granted, I haven't been working really hard on it. We move a lot, so I take classes here and there. Of course, between working, the boys, and J's work schedule, it's never been a good time for me to really go to school. So, online classes work well right now. I wish I could go to a real school for my last two years, but I don't see it happening.

In other school related news, Turtle is doing well so far in first grade. He still has trouble with language arts, but he is actually reading a little now. He has a list of sight words he knows and he is starting to figure out how to sound out new words. Math is still coming really easily to him. His teacher even said that "math is his thing!" I'm glad he has something that he is really good at. It boosts his self-esteem so much. Now if we could stop the talking in class, we'd be doing great! Friends are still the most important thing, though, so I have a feeling this is going to be a problem for a long time.

Frog is starting to freak me out with his math skills. When he was two, he was already counting...and I don't just mean by rote. He loved to count objects and line them up, take some away, and then re-count. Now he is doing it in his head. He'll just look at something and say "there are five cars on the table" without counting them out loud first.

I'm glad my boys seem to like math. I watched how J and other members of my family have struggled with math over the years and I was worried the boys would have trouble, too. But so far, so good.

In a little bit, I have to head out to the store. Somehow I volunteered to bring in snack for Turtle's class to celebrate his b-day tomorrow. Yes, I know his b-day was in August, but it's a long story I will share later.

OCD - But Not the Good Kind

Over the last couple of years, I have decided I have OCD. I have since I was a kid. I always thought that the only people with OCD were the ones that wash their hands repeatedly, counted all the time, or were germaphobes. Well, they are, but there are all sorts of levels of OCD. Luckily, I have it pretty mild. As in, it doesn't really affect the quality of my life.

Here are some of the signs I used to self-diagnose:

1. I like things to be even. If I scuff my left foot as I'm walking, I have to purposely scuff my right foot.

2. When I find a subject I am interested in, I become obsessive about it. I want to own every book about the subject and I will spend hours looking up information about it on the internet.

3. Certain things have specific places that they belong in. For instance, my dishes. Brown bowls on the right, white bowls in the middle, plastic bowls on the left. Glasses and coffee cups on the middle shelf, plastic cups and sippy cups on the bottom shelf. J does not follow this and will mix them all up. I can't unload a clean load of dishes from the dishwasher without going through all the cabinets and straightening them out.

4. If something belongs in a set, I want every piece that goes in the set. I am really bad about this with the boys' toys. If they want one Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, I am not happy until they have every turtle, bad guy, weapon, vehicle, etc. I had a really bad moment last year when I found the last pirate Turtle needed to complete the Pirates of the Carribbean set. He wasn't really into pirates any more and didn't want it. I actually yelled at him and told him he had to get it. I felt so bad and apologized and let him get the toy he wanted, but, to this day, it still bothers me that he is missing one of the pirates.

5. I have routines. I have an order in the shower I follow. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shave, rinse hair, rinse body. If I do something out of order, I am messed up for the rest of the day. I brush my teeth the same way.

6. I do not like food on my face. I have to have a napkin when I eat and I wipe after almost every bite. I don't like my hands to be sticky.

7. This one I blame on my mother. I constantly check/fix my eyebrows. Growing up, she was constantly telling me to fix my eyebrows or doing it for me.

8. I'm not sure if this is OCD, more of a sensory issue, or another quirk from my mom, but I don't like shoes or socks. I go barefoot almost all the time. I also don't like hats, glasses, gloves, or long-sleeves. Pants are okay for some reason.

I have plenty of other ones, but these are the most obvious ones. I've watched specials on TV about OCD and I'm glad I have it so mild. For some people, OCD rules their lives. They can't leave the house unless their routines are followed perfectly or their counting is right. I had a friend who used to wash her hands until they were red and raw (she has it under control now, but she said it was really bad when she was younger.)

Oh, and if you're wondering about my thread title...no, I'm not joking or trying to make light of OCD, but if I have to have it, why can't I have the cleaning kind? J would love it if I was obsessive about a clean house. He doesn't understand that if things aren't just right, I can't clean. If the dishes aren't in the sink just right, I can't just go in and wash them. They have to be rinsed out and everything together (all the silverware in one cup, all the bowls and plates stacked together, etc.) Or laundry. If everything is sorted by color, I can throw it in the washer, but if everything is just dumped together I can't. I even got colored laundry baskets to help. Pink basket for reds/pinks/oranges, blue basket for jeans/blues, etc. He still just tosses his clothes into whichever one is closer. I can make myself do the chore, but it is miserable.

Speaking of...I have a sink full of dishes, but since J is away for a few days they are all put in there right. So, now I can go do them.

CIO...Makes Me Cry

Yes, I am one of those mothers. I let my children sleep in bed with me. They have since they were born. In fact, J got yelled at by a nurse in Key West when we were sleeping with Frog the night he was born. I love my hubby...he told the nurse that it was his child and he would sleep with him despite what she said.

We had good intentions with Turtle *snort!* He had a nursery room all set up...crib, changing table, the works. We even painted the walls (in a military house, so that should tell you something.) Guess how many nights he slept in it? About 20 minutes. Nope, he didn't even make it one night. The changing table never got used either, but that's another story. Poor Frog didn't get a nursery room at all. He never even had a crib.

It just seems so unnatural to me for someone not to sleep with their child. A baby is with you for nine months...he hears your heartbeat, your voice, all the noises around you. He's warm and comfortable. He's never alone. And then after he is born, you throw him into an empty room by himself and expect him to soothe himself to sleep. This just seems cruel to me and goes against every mothering instinct I have. I want to comfort my children and snuggle with them.

The US is one of the few countries who has separate places for parents and children to sleep. I don't know if it is selfishness on the parent's part or if they think they are helping their children become "independent."

I keep hearing "if you let them sleep with you, they'll never leave." Do people really think their kids will be in their bed until college? Turtle left our bed for his own when he was four years old. Frog is three years old now and is starting to show signs of leaving. Both of my boys are wonderful sleepers. Neither have nightmares (and if you saw the movies they watch, you'd be surprised), they sleep through the night. And most importantly, when they are tired, they go to bed!

The reason I brought this topic up is because on some of the message boards I belong to CIO has been brought up a lot lately. For those who don't know, CIO means "cry it out." You put your child in his crib and leave him there to cry until he falls asleep. Supposedly, each night he is supposed to cry a little bit less until finally he doesn't cry anymore. Then it is considered a success. To me, it is more like the child has given up. He trusted his mother (or father) to come and comfort him, but eventually he realizes that they won't come. It's like he has been abandoned and defeated. I read these posts where the mothers are proud that their child "only" cried ten minutes that night. I just want to snatch their children up and cuddle them. I seriously feel sad for them. I want to say something to them, but my views are not very popular. I don't think anyone wants to be told that they might be wrong and I don't want to start any arguments.

I am not looking forward to when Frog leaves the bed and I still miss having Turtle in there. When J's away, sometimes Turtle will come in bed with Frog and I, but not very often. I can't wait until we have baby #3 so our bed will be full again. Thank goodness we have a king-size!!

Did hell feeze over?

Am I really posting two days in a row? Woohoo, must be a record!



So, I thought I would write about the bad experience I had this morning. First let me show you my new baby...




Yes, it is a Vita-Mix 5000! I have wanted one for years! Literally. I think I first found out about them when I was pregnant with Turtle, so at least eight years ago. Unfortunately, they cost way more than I could justify on a blender. I really like making green smoothies (more on them in a bit) and I've gone through three blenders over the last four years. So, when we saw this guy sitting in the Exchange last week, J said I could have him. I was a little wary, but it was too good of a price to pass up. So, home he came. And I have used him, at least once, every day since (another record!!)


If you've never heard of a green smoothie, it is basically a regular smoothie with some type of greens added to it. My favorite was always frozen strawberries, a banana, some yogurt or kefir, and a couple of handfuls of spinach. While it looks kind of gross (a murky green color), it tastes great and it's very healthy for you. Sadly, it ate up the motors on my late blenders. But now with my Vita-Mix, I can make them all I want!


Now on to my bad experience this morning...I've been trying to branch out and make new smoothie combinations. Most of them taste good, some are edible, but today's almost made me sick...really I was gagging over the trash can. Never, ever, ever mix a pear, carrots, a banana, apple juice, and parsley. I still have the taste in my mouth...ugh!


So, that is my Public Service Announcement of the day. Now I'm off to brush my teeth again!

I had every intention of posting. I meant to post. I thought about it. I even had half a post written out before my internet went out on Friday. I guess I am going to be a little less ambitious and promise to write at least once a week.

Hmm, what has happened since the 27th? Honestly, not much. I'm a SAHM (stay at home mom) with one kid in school and a very independent kid at home. Frog enjoys playing on his own most of the time, so I am left to myself. I play on the computer, read a little, try to clean the house. Nothing really exciting.

I have started writing the book I have been putting off for a while. It's going to be a YA novel about a girl who follows around her uncle on achaeological digs. At least, that's the plot for now. I'm sure it will change a little.

So, that's my in-depth post of the day. Now it's time to conquer the pile of dishes in my sink.

The Obligatory Intro...

It's a new year (yes, I consider the beginning of the school year a new year) and I'm already a couple of days late. I've been wanting to start a blog to chronicle my oh-so-interesting life for awhile now. In fact, I have started one in the past, but, like most of my obsessions, they start off with a bang and then sizzle out. This time I will perservere and continue to write every (well, almost every) day.

To start: I am a 30 year old mother of two rambunctious boys. I've never been a frilly, pink sort of a person, so having boys has been a blast. Playing in the dirt, telling gross jokes, reptiles, contact sports...yep, I'm on top of that. I am hoping for a girl for our next one, but, at the same time, praying that Murphy's Law doesn't hit me with a girly girl. I wouldn't know what to do with her. Probably help the boys plan on how to put worms down her shirt. I'm not too big on putting my kids info on-line, so the boys are known as "Turtle" and "Frog." More on them later.

I've been married for over nine years now. J is a great husband...he cooks, he cleans, he does laundry. What else could I want? In all seriousness, he definitely completes me. I couldn't ask for a better one. We are opposites in almost everything, but we agree when it comes to values. And, most importantly, he is the best father ever.

So, right now, these are the two roles that define me the most. There is more to me, but right now I have to go clean the house (i.e. play on the computer.) I'm sure I'll have more to say later...