How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Shower

1.  Send husband off to present his thesis at the Pentagon (see post below).

2.  Get two-year old out of bed.

3.  Turn on TV and hope that said two-year old would watch something (even though she never has).

4.  Hop in the shower.

5.  Entertain two-year old by poking head out of shower every now and then to make sure that the Neosporin is not being used as toothpaste.

6.  Just as you are about to finish, have two-year old remove PJ's and diaper on their own, yell 'I naked Mama', and climb into shower with you.

7.  Oh yeah, make sure that the diaper has been soiled so that when two-year old climbs in with you they are sure to smear feces on the edge of the tub and bring a friend with them.

Ahh... it's going to be a long couple of days.

Green is Good!

E got his 'green card' today which means that he has officially completed his Master's Thesis. Woohoo!! Somebody give that man a Bud. Wait, he already has one.

He flies out tomorrow to present it at the Pentagon. We will keep our fingers crossed here and hope that all goes well.

Congratulations and Good Luck!

Girls Day Out

Our long time Navy friends, R, JC and baby C came to visit us for Thanksgiving and we have been having a wonderful time.

R and E headed up to Palo Alto for the Notre Dame/Stanford game this morning, so we had a girls day out. Today was a gorgeous day here on the bay and we decided to go down to Fisherman's Wharf to bark at the seals... and they barked back.

Here are a bunch of seals warming themselves in the sun. This technique still amazes me.

Here's our model-to-be.

And her 'monarch'... 'I know it's a monarch Mommy because of the orange and black and white'.

We headed over to the Coast Guard Pier to find more seals... and did we ever. I have never seen them this close up... we could have pet them (probably not advised, so we didn't). I think they were actually posing for the camera.

I could have shot pictures all day.

Here are JC and cute baby C... and lots more seals.

'Come by and see me real soon.'

You Didn't!?!

I did! I took two 2 year olds to the grocery store today. Why in the heck would one do that you ask? Here's why:

See, today I was watching one of the members of the'A' Team so that my great friend S could pick her parents up at the airport without having to confine the bug for too long in the car.

And this was the conversation between E and I this morning:

E: 'Are you going to the grocery store this morning?'

Me: 'Umm... probably not until this afternoon, I have L this morning.'

E: 'You don't need to get that much stuff, right?'

Me: 'No, not really. I guess maybe two in a car cart is better than one.'

And then my warped brain started thinking. You see, he threw down the gauntlet. You want to throw any sort of crazy challenge at me, I'll take you up on it because that's the way I roll. I was feeling Wonder Womanish this morning and I figured, I can do that no problem. Others wouldn't do it, but me, I can do it... and just watch, I'll prove it.

And $90 and two cookies later, we were out the door with my last minute Thanksgiving purchases. Whew! One more thing I can cross off my list.

Yep, KK, you're not the only one that feels that way. (By the way, did you notice the filth on the car? No wonder the kids are always sick.  Sorry, S, I should have sprayed her down with Lysol before giving her back.).

More of Batgirl's Party

Here are the rest of the pictures from e's party. If you missed the first post, click here.

It was so much fun to see all the kids in their costumes. Here we have Spiderman, a witch and a Power Ranger.

The Wicked Witch brought her date from the Geek Squad. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everyone costumes... but they were great. Thanks for dressing up.

Even the neighbors dog came in costume.

Batgirl was so happy. There really is nothing like the look on their faces when it's birthday time.

Captain America and Super KK in the jumper/slide. Way too much fun.

e was very concerned that the big people were in the jumper... with good reason. Ricky Bobby took out Spiderman on the way down the slide. Oops.

Sooo many presents. Lots of art supplies and crafty things... perfect for the girl who is always stealing the printer paper.

We forgot that we had a pinata... the few kids remaining got to take a whack at it.

Of course, no party is complete without a game of Wii. Look at the hook on Ricky Bobby. He's not afraid of a little kid.

Ahhh... and the mess. Pictures really cannot capture it all. Not so much fun to wake up to in the morning. Oh well. A great time was had by all and it was worth it.

From the Mouths of Babes

Overheard in our household...

"I have allergies of the wind"

...e explaining to kk why she was taking medicine.

Happy 5th Birthday, Batgirl!

I completely lost track of the time and realized that I never posted about e's birthday. So, here goes...

We started out the morning in our pajama's opening family presents. Our creative, artsy girl got the perfect gift of an easel complete with paper, paints, whiteboard and chalkboard. Endless hours of creativity will be enjoyed. She also got a dog that grows, which, if you ask me, is pretty dang creepy... and money not well spent. Notice the crown and earrings? A necessity when you turn 5.

The nice thing about having a birthday so close to Halloween is that you can have a costume/birthday party. And when e decided that she wanted to have a 'super spookey costume birthday party', I was in heaven. I LOVE Halloween and there are sooo many things that you can do with that kind of a theme.

Like have a haunted house cake, blood shot eyeball cupcakes and dip, mummy toes for a main course and creepy, crawly snack mix. The use that I have gotten out of the Woman's World magazine that I bought off the check stand a year ago was well worth the $2.50 I paid for it.


Of course, no Halloween party is complete without naked bobbing for apples. No, seriously that wasn't required, but we did bob for apples. e wasn't buying in on the day of the party, but figured it out the day after.


We encouraged parents and adults to dress up and they did! Barry Bonds, Ricky Bobby and Harley Trailer came.


Blogger is killing me right now. To be continued...

Back to Life, Back to Reality

I am working on a post for later, but in the meantime...


Is 8:53 AM too early for a glass of wine??

Thank You!

Thank you to my parents for serving and teaching me what it means to be an American.

Thank you for those that lost their lives serving.

Thank you to those that have served.

Thank you to those that are currently serving.

Thank for for supporting those that serve and have served.

And finally, thank you to my wonderful husband for doing what he does so that we can live as we do. I love you!

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A good friend of mine emailed the following video (link below) to me. It's about 5 minutes long, so watch when you have time. It was made by a 15 year old girl named Lizzie Palmer. It's incredible and haunting.

And the Winner is...

House...







#2


Thanks to all of you for your comments and advice. We signed a 3 year lease today.

We absolutely fell in love with the yard and the amount of space that it has. We have increased our square footage over our current place by about 2000. We are going to have to be careful to not go crazy buying furniture to fill it. A refrigerator box desk is sounding like a viable option, along with a cinderblock coffee table for the 'formal' living room. When we get into the house, we will post pictures with our stuff. But in the meantime, take a gander at these.

Backyard and pool.


Deck


Kitchen


Dining Room


Breakfast area


Family Room


Living Room


Entrance/Foyer


Wash Room/Mud Room


Bedroom #1


Bedroom #2


Bedroom #3 (door leads to den/craft room)


Master Bedroom


Master Bath


Den/Craft Room


Outside


We might need to paint. I'm not sure if I can live with all that blue for the next 3 years.

House Hunters... East Coast Edition

E and K are searching for a home to rent at their new duty station. They have narrowed it down to three.

Their budget is $2054 (BAH... Basic Allowance for Housing). A good school system, lots of room, and allowance for pets is important.

Here are the choices:

House #1

Upsides: A former model home, loaded with everything... builder trying to show off. 3500 square feet; finished basement with den, wet bar, and pool table room; HUGE master bedroom with jacuzzi tub, fireplace and two walk in closets; kitchen with stainless steel appliances, double ovens and island Jenn-Aire; deck with gazebo; house wired for internet and sound through-out; gas fireplace on main level and finished basement.

Downsides: Located on a corner lot with virtually no yard; close proximity to neighbors; escalating lease ($1900 year 1, $2000 year 2 & $2100 year 3); e would have to ride the bus past a place called the 'insanity farm' with beware of dog signs; no parks except for an open field with 5 picnic tables; water damage (with mold) to the basement and dead yard.

House #2

Upsides: HUGE yard; nicely landscaped; wrap-around front/side porch; above ground pool; wood burning fireplace; master bedroom with stand alone shower and jacuzzi tub; owners leaving riding lawnmower; close proximity to the bay; partially finished attic space for office or craft room; full mud room; walking distance to elementary school; secluded location.

Downsides: tending for yard and landscaping, tons of leaf raking; pool maintenance; single sink master bathroom and bedroom with small closets; older home; kitchen could stand to be remodeled; rickety fence around pool; no basement.

House #3

Upsides: Lowest rent price ($1700); unfinished basement (lots of room for girls to ride bikes inside); 'designer' color through out house; washer/dryer upstairs; HUGE master bedroom with great closet, large tub and separate shower; nice kitchen with island, cherry cabinets, side-by-side refrigerator; first house we looked at and loved; gas fireplace.

Downsides: Door to deck has no deck; SMALL yard not watered since tenants left in June... dead; hurricane (2 years ago) knocked down trees in the backyard (county land) trees remain knocked down; designer paint out of control in some rooms; bedrooms, other than master, are small; propane heating for water heater... what??; located in same subdivision as house #1... same bus problem arises.

We had no idea that we would find this many possibilities... all in one day. PLEASE help us make a decision. What do you think? What is important for you or us? HELP!!