Kumbya, My Lord....

My baby left for 6th grade camp today.

Even though she's my oldest, she's still my baby.

She was so nervous yesterday and this morning. I'm surprised she even slept at all.

Lord knows I didn't get much sleep! I feel asleep fine, but then when I got that "middle of the night pee call" I couldn't fall back asleep right away. And then finally when I did, the cat started playing with something on the hardwood floors and then the dog decided HE had to go pee too!

She did get up once in the middle of the night, but was able to go back to sleep fairly quickly.

She was fine when we were packing things up, packing the dufflebag, rolling up the sleeping bag, labeling everything, etc. She was even fine when I timed her to see if she could take a shower in 2 minutes (1 minute, 45 seconds, you go girl!) It wasn't until we were sitting there, watching TV that I think it hit her and she got very nervous and a bit teary eyed.

I certainly couldn't let on that I was nervous too! After all, the longest she had been away from me was 2 nights and that's when I went away for the weekend! And I was missing my family after the first night way too!

So I soothed her, hugged her, gave her kisses and told her that everything would be alright. I kept reassuring her. I told her that I knew for a FACT that she was NOT the only one who was feeling this way. I knew some of her friends were nervous as well. But that she would have her friends there and her teacher would be there too. (How cool is that, to be a 6th grade teacher and be able to go on this camp with your students for a whole week!) I think, or at least I hope, that it helped her some.

She was still nervous this morning, but she marched on.

We dropped off the youngest at preschool early and then headed on towards her school.

Of course finding a parking spot in the parking lot was impossible because every other parent who's 6th grade student was going too and they wanted to be there, just like me.

The bell rang and us parents stayed behind to watch all the luggage while the students went inside to class to gear up for the trip.

The bus came (there was literally a whole bus just for the luggage) and we loaded it up.

Then I saw her teacher and she guided us parents over to where the kids were lining up to get on the bus. We gave them hugs and kisses and waved them goodbye as they left.

Four nights without my baby.

I hope she has a BLAST though.

Dreams

Do you believe in dreams? I do. I believe dreams can be a powerful thing.

I have had quite a few dreams in my life that are so vivid that they have stuck with me.

I also believe that your loved ones that have passed o,n can use your dreams to be a pathway to communicate with you. I really do. That is why I believe that there is a heaven and that your soul doesn't die when your body does.

Case in point:

About 5 or 6 months after my grandma had died, I had this dream. In my dream I was at a family gathering and my grandpa was also there. When I looked up behind my grandpa, there was my grandma, standing behind him. I was so shocked to see her! I asked her why I could see her and what was she doing there. She told me that she was there to watch over grandpa and that only he and I could see her. Hubby literally had to wake me up from my sleep because I was crying so hard. Crying for sadness? No, joy because I was able to talk to her again, and I knew she was still there.

That was my first time I had ever had that happen to me. And I truly believe that she came to me in my dream to let me know it was okay. And to realize that she was actually watching over me as well.

It was nearing Christmas that year and I was telling hubby about this train set that used to get set up every Christmas, and how we loved it. He was very interested in it and we both were thinking about seeing if it was still around and if we could possibly have it. It was at my grandma's house (my mom was living there to take care of my grandpa) but no one could find it. My uncle said that I could have it (it was his, growing up after all) if it was still around.

That night I had a dream in which I found the train set in an armoire in the garage at my grandma's house. That next day I called my sister, who was also living there, and told her to go to that armoire in the garage and it would be there. Sure enough, it was there.

Psychic?

No, I think it was my grandma telling me where it was in my dreams.

I knew she was watching over me that night I had to drive up to see my mom, who had just had a massive stroke. I knew my grandma would make sure I got there okay to see my mom.

About six months or so after my mom passed away, I had a dream about her. I was at a family gathering (similar to the one I had when my grandma came to me) and I saw my mom there. My two sisters were there with me too. All 3 of us were able to see my mom and talk with her. And then, almost just as soon as it began, she wanted to give us a group hug because she had to go. She had to go so that she could come back to us again. One second she was giving us a group hug and then the next second, it was just the three of us hugging.

And my last example?

Just happened Thursday night/Friday morning.

I was having a dream that I was on MySpace, on my cousin's site, reading about the birth of her two babies. There was a picture of one of the babies. I kept reading on that she had had some complications with the delivery, but she was okay. I only saw one of the babies. My dream was so vivid, and I was going to keep on reading to find out what happened, but I got awoken by my cell phone going off.

I had a text message from my aunt.

She text messaged everyone to let them know that my cousin had had her babies. My cousin had to be in ICU for a little while, due to excessive bleeding, but she was okay now. And the big surprise? She didn't have two girls like the ultrasound had "supposedly" showed, (but my cousin never wanted to know the sex of the babies, but hubby knew and that's how we all knew), but she had a girl and a BOY (thus the reason I only saw a picture of one baby in my dream. I think I was supposed to see the pictue of the boy in my dream had I not been woken up by my aunt's text message about it).

So the fact that I had a dream very, very similar to what had actually happened, coincidence?

Possibly.

But I believe in the power of dreams.

Dialogue from the Youngest At The Dinner Table

"I'm eating worms" (spaghetti)

"It's red worm blood"

"It's squishy"

"I was eating the worm blood"

"The flavor is spinach"

"I have a worm moustache"

"Know what it smells like? Spinach"

"And inside the worm blood is another worm inside"

Boy, I sure can't wait to see what this kid is going to be like when she starts drinking! She will probably be the girl who swallows the worm in the tequila bottle........

Decompressing

All day today I've felt like I am just going to burst or blow up or yell or scream.

Do you ever have one of those days?

Where nothing "specific" actually happened to foul your mood, but you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I guess?

It started off waking my girls up. My eldest is usually a bear to wake up, but when I told her she had an email from Daddy, she hopped out of bed in an instant. I mean that's great and all, that she's excited to get an email from Daddy, but it also made me feel like the gum on the bottom of the shoe.

Then my youngest is starting to follow suit with her and waking up in crabby moods as well. She used to wake up all nice and cheery and loving. Not so much anymore.

Plus work is work. No fun.

Don't mind me, I'm just whining today.

Easter Eggs....

Dying eggs for easter.

What a time honored tradition.

This year it was no different in the fact that we dyed eggs, what was different was the place.

We were at home. I can't even remember the last time we stayed home for Easter. For the past few years we have been up in Henderson, NV at my aunt's house for Easter. It was always fun for the kids too. Plus they were with their cousins and we had a lot of family around. Dying eggs, finding their baskets Easter morning, going out in the backyard to find the plastic eggs hidden about.

Before that we would be at my mom's house for Easter. Same scenario, different location.

So this year was much more cozy.

It was just me and my girls.

Oh, and the Easter Bunny had to wrap all of the Easter baskets in cellophane to prevent the cat from getting into the baskets at night while they were hidden around the house. That was a new thing to do, since I've never done that before.

It was a nice quiet day here around the house and I liked it too, except for the fact that hubby wasn't here for it. We sure miss him.

Here's how our eggs turned out. Quite cute I think....

Where Did It Go?

My creative mojo.

It seems lately all my creative mojo has gone out the window.

Perhaps it is because I have been so busy lately.

My scrapbook area looks so lonely and wishing for me to come over there and create.

I'm hoping to get over there and do some work tomorrow, as it's on my list of things I need to get done (I'm doing a swap with some friends and it's due tomorrow, so I guess I should get a move on, huh?)

I just feel like I'm in a rut with the creative process.

It probably has something to do with the fact that I do need to get stuff done around here, so the "clutter energy" can go away, leaving me free to create.

I hope I can find it tomorrow under the clutter!

It's only Day Two!

Of Hubby being gone and already I'm having to yell at the children!

Okay, I know it's stressful for them.

The eldest is showing it already. Plus I think she's tired.

The youngest still doesn't really know what's going on, or that Daddy will be gone for a while. Today she wanted to get Daddy's phone number to call him and tell him she loves him. :*) (Too cute though!!) It's hard to explain to her that Daddy's phone doesn't work where he is and we don't have a number where we can call him, so we'll just have to email or write letters or draw pictures for him until he can call.

Whenever that is.

So I get my "stern mom voice" out and tell them to both come over here where I'm sitting.

I make them apologize to each other.

Then give each other hugs.

Then kisses.

Then wiggles. (that gets them to start giggling)

Then tickles.

Okay, they're fine now.

New Shoes

Back in style.

Finally, a pair of slip on Vans my daughter likes that don't make her feet look like boats.

Aren't they cute?!!!

I still find it amazing that slip on Vans are back in style.

That and bermuda shorts.

Yea, she got two pair of those today too.

Spring Break Shopping!

:::::just shaking my head::::::::::::

Okay.

My youngest wanted me to turn off My Little Pony because of the witch that's on there that's trying to steal all the Little Ponies is scaring her.

So instead she watches Harry Potter and is perfectly fine with that.

Go figure

Duh!!!

Yesterday I was having some not to nice pains in my back on my left side. So here I am, thinking, "Oh no, I hope I don't have a kidney infection!" So I'm downing CranGrape juice all day long.

So last night, I'm getting ready for bed and I'm thinking I should look at my back where it hurts just to see if I see anything (yea, like I'm really going to see anything if I have a kidney infection).

So I look.

So I see a bruise.

And so that little light bulb on top of my head turns on.

Oh yea! The day before I was backing up and I hit my back on a corner piece of furniture.

Ahhhhh, that must be why it's hurting.

Well, at least my kidneys are nice and cleaned out now.

I Never Thought I'd See This!

My big German Shepard trying to hump my little cat while licking the back of her neck.

Bizarre.

Of course the rest of the night he's off chasing her and she's finally like, um, get the hell away from me dog. I don't think I like what you're trying to do!

Did I Say That?

Something I never thought I'd hear myself say,

"Cat! Get your head out of the toilet!"

I Think I Need An Exorcism Performed

On my house.

There is a dark cloud over my house right now and I don't know how the hell it got here or how the hell to get rid of it!

Since this year started, I have had to have the refrigerator serviced, because it quit working, had to get a new water heater, along with a gas leak scare (no damage, fixed fine though, although my nervers were shot), had to replace the washer and dryer, and then yesterday was the kicker. Hubby replaced the kitchen sink faucet because it was corroded and making funny noises, and then our TV went out (that was only THREE YEARS OLD, for crying out loud!) and now hubby's truck is making a LOUD noise when the engine is started. So yesterday I bought a new faucet, a new TV and had to rent a car.

Yea.

No fun.

And THEN, today we had blustery winds, so the accordian door that was on the closet that hubby made to protect our new washer and dryer that's outside blew off and we had to replace THAT!.

My house and my nerves have had enough.

Maybe I've got some bad mojo in my house somewhere, or it's not Fung Shui. I don't know. Whatever it is, it needs to be fixed ASAP people!

Catch Up

Yikes! It feels like forever since I've written anything!

It's been fairly busy for me lately though.

Hubby is home, and has been home for a few weeks, but shortly, he will be leaving out to sea for quite a while.

I'm not looking forward to it. I never DO look forward to it. I want him home with me. But I know that he has to do this, as it's his job. But it still never gets any easier. You'd think that since I've done this FIVE times before, that it wouldn't be as hard. But it is. Especially with our girls too. This will be the first time that the youngest will really know what's going on. The last time we did this, she was only 3 months old.

She can be SO painfully shy too. On Friday she fell at preschool and scraped her chin. She absolutely HAS to have a bandaid on it, because she doesn't want people looking at her chin. SHE doesn't even want to look at her chin with the scrape on it. But once the bandaid is on, she's fine. It's probably going to take her some time to get used to Daddy being back when he comes back. We are going to have to make sure and send him lots of letters, emails, pictures, etc, and make it so she can communicate with him to make the transition a little easier.

The eldest? Well, she doesn't like it either and she has her moments too with it. She'll have her emotional outbursts as well, and with her being a preteen and hormones rushing around her? Yea, that' s not something I'm looking forward to.

She had a rough week herself! I had to pick her up from school on Wednesday, as she had gotten sick at school. On Friday, she had two baby teeth pulled and then threw up again that night at 1 a.m., and that was not a pretty sight. I HATE throw up. But then again, I don't know anyone who really LIKES it, do you?

Is there anything HAPPY that happened to me this past week you ask?

Yes, we went to DISNEYLAND on Tuesday!! Woohoo!!! Of course it did rain on us for about an hour there and I can't stand rain, but it was near the end of the day, so it wasn't that bad. Hubby and I joked that we were traumatizing the youngest, as we took her on Pirates of the Carribean first and the Haunted Mansion second. Then a while later we took her on the Matterhorn. Now, before anyone says anything we took her on these rides a year ago and she was fine. She LOVED the Matterhorn back then. Now? Not so much. She literally screamed when we were on the ride and not because she was having fun. (My poor baby!) Pirates? She didn't care for that as much, but she LOVED the Haunted Mansion. Go figure.

Her favorite? It's A Small World, Dumbo and the Carousel, of course.

We rocked out on Space Mountain with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, which was WAY cool! Hubby and I took turns with the eldest on that one since there was no way we were going to take the youngest on that one. That one goes just a little too fast to put the youngest on that one.

Maybe next time.

Squeaky Clean

I now have a squeaky clean remote control for our TV in our bedroom.

Apparently it got caught up in the sheets when I took them off to wash them.

Okay, this is like the THIRD time I've done this! (Not in a row, but the third time in about 8 years or so) You'd think I'd learn, wouldn't you.....

Since the last time I've been pretty anal about making sure the remote is OFF the bed before I pull the sheets off, but I was in SUCH a hurry earlier this week that, apparent, OBVIOUSLY, I forgot to check.

Does it work????

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!! It took a night to completely dry out, but then I have an HE washing machine which uses less water, so maybe that helped? Who knows. All I know is that I don't have to go out and buy ANOTHER universal remote..

Of course this means the next time I throw one int he washing machine that it won't work.

So maybe it is a good idea if I go out and buy one..........................

............just in case.

Love Thursday - Bedtime

Love is cuddling with your youngest at bedtime, giving her butterfly kisses and making her giggle.

What's That Noise...............

You know those people in the stores who are just browsing along whistling? The ones that just bug the hell out of you and you just want to go up to them and yell, "STOP WHISTLING DAMN IT!!!!" but just can't bring yourself to do it, because hey, they are obviously happy and who the hell are you to stop their happiness?

Yea, I think my youngest is going to be one of those people.

For the past week or two, she's ALWAYS whistling!

Of course I know it's just because she just figured out how to whistle and now that she knows how to do it, she likes practicing.

I wonder if those "whistling people" in the stores just find comfort in whistling.......

Right now, at this point in time, I would never tell the youngest to stop whistling. I sit and watch her quietly and smile. She figured out how to do something and she's proud of it.

As she should be.

Life In The Fast Lane (the mom fast lane anyway...)

Life has been so hectic for me the past couple of weeks and there IS an end in sight, but it's WAY down the road.....

I'm creating the yearbook for my eldest's school and it's due at the end of the month. I AM over 1/2 way done, and I see no problem being able to finish it this weekend, as the rest of the pages are activity pages and the pictures just need to be plugged into the page.

The eldest also had a softball game last night and I must say, us parents thoroughly enjoyed ourselves last night. We had the best ump. He was friendly, made jokes with the girls, it was fun. The eldest did get a hit, which is very good (although it was a pop up and she got out) AND she got to play second base in the last inning. Very nice......I also VERY much like her coach. Our team was so far ahead and some of the girls could have easily stolen home base, but he had them hang back. No need to throw it in the other team's face, you know?

The youngest was having a ball with sunflower seeds. Just about everyone at the softball games has "seeds". She wanted them too. Hubby and I have tried to teach her how to open them with her teeth and eat the inside, and a few times she did do it, but for the most part, she just likes putting them in her mouth and spitting them out, like she sees everyone else do. One time she had about 7 or 8 sunflower seeds in her mouth at once and spit them all out at once. It was funny. Ahhhh, the things that amuse us these days.....

On a more somber note, my great uncle passed away this past Saturday. He turned 90 a week ago today. His health was failing him, but his mind never did, even up until the end. But I will write a special post about him later on, as he is one who deserves it, for he was a great man.

I should certainly get off the computer now, as it is time for me to take the youngest to preschool and get my butt off to work.

Can You Hear That????

Silence.

There are no human sounds in my house right now.

It's even quiet on the animal front too.

And it's DAYTIME!

My wonderful hubby came home today from being out to sea for over a week, and took the girls to the park to go bike riding.

He knew I was getting stressed out. He could tell when he called me today and I was at the Commissary From Hell. SO many people at the military base grocery store today! AND I had both kids.

AND I've been running on hyper-speed since Wednesday.

Yea, it hasn't stopped.

Until now.

And even now I'm not fully stopped, I'm uploading pictures to the yearbook website while I'm doing this.

Multi-tasking.

That's my life.

So the 3 of them are at the park, riding bikes, and when they get back, I still get to be by myself, because I get to go out and do errands ALONE! YEA!!!

Well, I DO have to get some stuff for the girls' easter baskets while I'm out, but I HAVE to do that by myself, for obvious reasons.

I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO needed this though!!

I was telling hubby that if I didn't get to "de-stress" soon, I was going to have a burnout MAJORLY and that wouldn't be good.

We are going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks, so I have to find a hotel for that, get the dog a reservation at a kennel, and I want to finish this yearbook by then. I want to go away for a day with my family, knowing that I don't have a deadline. I want to get this yearbook done, so that the principal can proof it over and I can have time to do any changes I need to, without being completely rushed. I want our family to have some GOOD family time together, and what better place to do that than Disneyland!!

Wow......I can actually hear the birds chirping outside. Beautiful, baby, beau-ti-ful.

Olive Riley's Blob

No, that's not a typo.

She refers to her blog as a "blob". I have a feeling it's going to be the new "lingo" for blog soon.

She is 107 years old and lives in Australia. Her friend, Mike types the "blob" for her as she talks.

She has had WELL over 190,000 visits since she started this blob LAST MONTH. Her blob is called The Life of Riley.


I HIGHLY encourage everyone to read her blob and enjoy her stories about what is going on in her life now and what she tells about the past.

I have ALWAYS loved to listen to older family members talk about the past and I love this blob.

I learned of her blob from Sognatrice and her blog, Bleeding Espresso. Sognatrice lives in Italy.
Another HIGHLY recommended blog to read!

Enjoy!