TWIN GIRLS

We were expecting a baby boy to join our family in October. An ultrasound scan today revealed the birth mom is carrying twin girls!
I am going to let that sink in.

We are moving again!

So we will be moving to our new house on 7 July! Yay! We finally got ahold of the correct people in both housing offices, and away we go! I have a housing inspection set for Monday the 26th and fun fun fun, we have to move ourselves! I need to research U-Haul rates.

I said earlier that I registered at BabiesRUs, well I was looking at Walmart.com and they also have a registry, a bigger selection, and lower prices on a lot of my items. So I deleted some things from the BRU registry, and created a WM registry. I was specifically looking for a Safe Feeder (even though the baby will not need it for many months). I could not find it at either the BRU or WM sites. I knew they had them at One Step Ahead, so I looked online and lo and behold, they have a registry too! They also have many items you never knew you needed until you saw them. And I registered there. (blush)

So I feel like quite the greedy pig now. Who runs around with 3 registries? Even if we don't have any baby stuff left, and even if some items were site-specific, ehh, I still feel like an oinker. Oh well. I can just call them wish lists. Oooh, that sounds better now doesn't it?

"I registered and created a little baby wish list at such and such store."

Much less piggish.

Ok well I did the dishes today but I need to still do some more cleaning if some housing cow is going to be traipsing through the pyramid on Monday. TTYL.

Life changes

So, it's been a roller coaster at my house for the past few days. I can't edit my posts fast enough, you know?

We are still trying to move into a new house. We have to be released from housing before we can get in the new one. The new house lady told Steve she needs an answer tomorrow. So we have been alternately calling and dropping by the housing office, and no one is ever there. I left a voicemail but it has not been returned. Grr! If we don't get some sort of answer, we may not be able to get the new house I described before, but we will get *a* new house, somewhere. Oooh, a mystery house. Maybe this one will be closer to town?

As for a new vehicle, we may have to pass up on this sale, but there is always a sale on, right? We are going to do our research to get the best deal possible. Any suggestions?

Finally, concerning a new baby. The adoption is back on. Just a few birth mother glitches which have hopefully ironed themselves out. So, unless something major happens, we will be adopting a baby in October. We think it is a boy, and I will keep the blog up dated about the gender. Birth mom has an ultrasound next week.

In a fit of excitedness, I registered at babiesrus.com for a few things. Our youngest will be 6 and we don't have much for a new baby. We have a bassinet, but no bassinet sheets. MIL has a spare crib and she thinks, a mattress to go in it. Woohoo. I am all for saving money, you know?

Well it is late and I am tired. Tomorrow is the last required day of school. Monday is the "real" last day but it is a half day and no one in Jonathan's class is going, so far as I know. So I think we will be skipping school and sleeping in like a bunch of truants on Monday. Yeah, watch Katie actually want to go on Monday. Night all & TTYL.

A new house and car, but no new baby.

You all have read about the small house we live in. We should be moving here in the next few weeks to a 4 bedroom house. It is huge, with a 2 car garage, 4 bedrooms, a partially finished basement, a huge kitchen with an island, and carpeting so I don't have to deal with the hardwood floors any longer!

It has a huge front yard and back yard, with a fire pit the size of a kids' wading pool and a horseshoe pitch as well. It is a nice big house. There will be plenty of room for us all. Oh yeah, and 2 full bathrooms! Yay! And plenty of closet space! I can actually unpack our boxes from the move 8 weeks ago.

Finally, a local car dealership is having a huge sale on fully loaded minivans! Who cares if they are 2005 models? They are 50% off, and brand new! Woohoo for the minivan, even if it is known as the "loser cruiser"! LOL! It will be nice and roomy!

We thought we were going to adopt a new baby in a few months. No sooner do I blog about it and put the word out, then circumstances change. So no new baby in October.

We miss you, Mr. Bill

Most of you probably don't know who Mr. Bill is. He battled cancer for 6 years, I think. He lost his battle last week. I just got word tonight. He will be buried in Arlington in a few weeks. We miss you, Mr. Bill. My thoughts are with you, Miss Judy.

Wired for sound

So I wrote a post, which Blogger decided to eat. Here is the condensed version:

The speakers on my computer haven't been working since before Steve left. They do now, because I fixed them--woohoo!

Steve will be home in a few days. I am still organizing stuff here in pyramid house. You can't blame the mess on "just moving in" when you've been here 6 weeks. Sigh.

Also, I am posting some names here of friends that I have lost touch with. I had previously mentioned a friend on a message board, and she Googled herself, was led to the message board and was able to get in touch with me after many years! Yay!

So, I want to see if I can regain contact with Greg Wilburn, Jo Hunt, Alaina Collins, Ursula Leggarreta, Brandy Mayer, Ben Heath and Taunika Taylor. More names in other posts when I have more time to walk down memory lane. Adios, y'all.

Redefining pathetic

Last night I was IMing Jordan. She said she misses my cookies. I told her I haven't baked since I left CA. I don't have anyone to bake for. That thought alone made me cry. I'm utterly pathetic.

I am watching Sister Act

It brings back memories of living in Italy. When we first moved there, we were waiting for our household goods to arrive. Our express shipment had dishes, sheets, and we had our TV, VCR, and one tape...Sister Act. We watched it every day, for months. My mom, brother and I knew the script. We sang the songs. There was nothing else to do there, and nothing else on TV. We called AFRTS "a-farts" for a reason. There wasn't squat on TV. (Armed Forces Radio & Television Services, for you civilians.)

I think it is bad here with nothing to do, well Italy was a whole 'nother story.

Today the weather was nice and Katie, Jonathan and I went to the birthday party. About 25 kids, surprisingly enough, no fights or unhappy kids. Burgers, dogs, sodas, juiceboxes, cake, ice cream, and a huge bouncy house thing that was a maze and ended in a slide. It also got to be about 200 degrees in the sun, so they turned on the sprinkler to cool it down. The kids had a blast, soaking wet, and covered in mud! Moms watched kids in cycles as other moms took their turns to run home & grab swimsuits and towels.

I helped out with serving cake and cleaning up, and opening random kids' juices. It didn't matter that no one knew me and I didn't know them. I just started passing out plates of cake. And once some kids saw me punch a hole in the foil top of the "Little Hug" juice for my kids with my car keys, they lined up for me to "pop a top" for them too.

The mom and dad both thanked me for my help. I could see they wanted the party to be a fun one, and it was--I didn't see any unhappy kids. I just figured I could help them out because I know how hard I work to make my kids' parties fun, and then I am friggin' exhausted afterward.

The kids did a decorate-a-big-paper-horse craft, and spent loads of time on the bouncy house maze slide thing. Jonathan actually came home and took a nap! Katie was pretty low-key afterward, but no nap. We had a late dinner and went to the store for some cross stitch thread. We were out late, and ate late, and I let them stay up late, and they are currently out like lights. Gee maybe they will sleep late in the morning.

The other day Katie woke up at 4 AM and crawled into bed with me. Not before she pushed me over and grabbed one of the two pillows I sleep with, either. "Share, Mommy." I didn't notice her leave the bed, but I noticed her come back, with the dog! He knows that he is supposed to stay downstairs. Katie let him out of his crate, called him, and up the stairs he came! I woke up again to her patting the bed in an effort to get him to jump on it. He did, and when he saw me glaring through one half-open eye, his ears drooped because he knows he was being a bad boy. Katie scooped him next to her and I just went back to sleep. Sigh.

Well it is midnight now, and I can't sleep as usual. I am going to do some more cross stitch. I have a lot to finish in just a few months before FIL's birthday. For those of you following the captivating drama that is my life, I still cannot find the crochet hook. So I bought another one. And the new neighbor does have a wife. I saw her. That is all.

More rain, a neighbor and questions to ask yourself about living in this house

It started raining again today. Katie has been invited to a birthday party tomorrow so I hope the showers stop soon. We came home from school and there was a man coming out of the house 2 doors down. He said hello, and I asked if he was moving in. (There have been a lot of workmen spiffying up the three empty houses lately so I thought he might be another one of them.)

He says yes, and introduces himself as Dave. I told him my name and that Steve would be home in about two weeks. He asked what branch of service Steve was in, and I told him Navy, and he said he is Army but he works with all branches up at MEPS. He asks Katie how old she is, and when she answered, he said he has a 3 year old little girl in the house. I am assuming that he has a wife too, but he never mentioned her. I thought that she was in the house with the little girl. I hope he just wasn't leaving her alone in the house. I also hope that he has a wife because Steve isn't home and I am man-shy.

We shall see what sort of neighbors these people turn out to be. We have 2 other families near us, and they don't say a single word to us. Sigh.

Lasagna is in the oven for today's dinner, and will soon be out. Earlier today I started sorting Katie's room and have chucked 2 huge boxes of broken toys and crap. I am back-burnering the kids' rooms over the weekend. If I do it while they are in school, they cannot protest my throwing out all of their stuff. So I will continue the mundane effort to organize the downstairs part of the house over the weekend.

Instead of nagging the kids to put their things away, I have composed a list of questions they need to ask themselves about living in this house. I will post them, and since they can both read now, I don't even have to ask the questions, just point to where they are posted.

They are as follows:

Where do your shoes go? Your bookbag goes there too.

Where does your coat belong?

Where do dirty clothes go?

Where do dirty dishes go?

What happens to toys that come downstairs?

What do you need to do to the bathroom light and door?

Should we run in the house or up and down the stairs? Why?

What do you need to do to your bedroom light and door?

Is your room clean each night before you get in bed?

Are you being gentle with the dog?

Are you keeping your hands and feet to yourself?

and last but not least...

Does whining ever change my mind and get you what you want? Ever?

That's about it. Tonight is popcorn & a movie night. The kids have chosen a Spongebob movie. I think I'll read.

I want to be a drop-off mom

Every day when I bring my kids to school, I park in the side lot and walk them to the door. We are usually a few minutes early and they get to play on the playground with a couple hundred screaming kids. Fun, right?

But each morning, when the alarm goes off, I wish I could just be a drop-off mom. These moms don't park, they pull alongside the fence, where there are two little gates and paths leading to the school. Their kids do a tuck and roll, and the moms pull a U-ie and drive off. And in the wee hours of the morning, when I don't feel like even getting out of bed (much less getting dressed and taking the kids to school) I want to be a drop off- mom, too.

Tonight for dinner we tried something new. Moroccan chicken with vegetables, in foil packets, baked in the oven. Picture chicken breasts, seasoned with a mix of cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Petite diced tomatoes and sliced zucchini accompany this, and they are also seasoned the same as the chicken. Bake and put on a bed of rice or couscous, then eat.

Katie did a few fake gag and puke noises to show her appreciation. Jonathan picked at his, but in the end, they were both hungry so they ate almost all of it. I am a mean mommy and I don't cook separate meals for the kids. Eat what I cook or be hungry.

Me, I had to choke down the tomatoes as a good example, because I don't like them much. The seasoning was good but every now and then the cinnamon would come through and kind of throw me off. Cinnamon on chicken, you know?

I am working to make better eating choices. Tonight's dinner was the embodiment of this effort. More fresh fruits and vegetables. More fiber and less junk. Not that some junk isn't allowed. Making it forbidden just makes it more desired.

So that's about it. I lost my crochet hook, much to my distress. I have three, but the other two are still packed in my boxes of craft stuff. I just had the thing yesterday. Sigh. I guess it doesn't really matter since I haven't yet unpacked the yarn I will be using to make my friend a baby blanket. But I do have yarn available to make yet another friend a baby blanket. But the one friend was first in line. So I want to get started on hers. Where's my crochet hook?

Men falling from the sky

After school today I took the kids to the park. There is a big park adjacent to the school and I was knitting a scarf for my friend Jessica while the kids played. I heard shouting and turned around. Behind us, a ways back, was a big helicopter with two propellers dropping men out of the sky with little black parachutes!

That was the excitement of my day. Not much goes on here, so that was probably the event of my week.

I can't believe that it has been yet another month since I last posted. It's not like I am so busy here. So what has happened since the lasy time I posted? Steve left for recruiting school. He returns in about 2 weeks.

I changed my home phone number. If you need my new number, email me. Vonage phone service is abysmal and their customer service sucks donkey balls too. So I went with a reliable service, who is worth the $20 more a month. I tried to save money by going with Vonage but they are crap. And for Curtis, the smart-mouth customer service rep, you can just sit on a pointy pineapple, buddy. End of rant.

I am watching the season finale of American Idol so I can call my friend Julie and tell her who wins, in another time zone. These are the scintillating things that happen in my life. I'm so exciting!

We have actually started getting mail regularly.

I got the car inspected.

It rained for 2 weeks solid if I recall correctly. We didn't flood. But the car has developed a leak, and I don't know where. I just know that if it rains for more than a day, I have a huge puddle waiting in my front passenger side floorboard. Not in the driver's side and not in the backseat, on the in the front floorboard and there is no obvious leak, no watermark or stain on the car's interior that would indicate a leak, so I have no clue where it is coming from. Sigh.

I finished my friend Jordan's baby blanket and also made a cape for the dog out of heavy yarn.

I washed the dishes and the kids helped me sort laundry. I am currently washing whites. The kids are upstairs but not asleep yet.

I have instituted a "no TV between dinner and bed" policy and you can guess how popular I am with the kids about that. I turn the TV to classical music instead. Once I clean off the kitchen table dinner will once again be a family event and not a reason to sit at stare at the TV.

Well that's about it for me. Nothing going on.

Back to my old routines

Well here it is, about 1:30 AM and I am still awake. Just like when I was in CA I kept late house too. I have been doing "moving-in" type things around the house, organizing stuff, but also mundane things like laundry & sweeping the floor. I like my Swiffer because it keeps the floor nice. This hardwood floor is driving me nuts. I sweep, then little bits of I don't know what turn my feet black. Or I feel little gritty stuff underfoot as I walk, even after I sweep, so I Swiffer around in a vain hope to clean the floor. Sigh.

So everyone in the house is asleep but me. I have the kids' school clothes ready, and bookbags ready, so it's basically wake up, eat, dress & go. Their school here does not start until 8:30 which seems so late to me. But it's ok. I know the kids like to sleep in a few more minutes.

Not much to say, just trying to get settled in. It is nearing 2 AM so I guess I better turn in so I can get up in 5 hours. Adios y'all.

It has been a month...

...since I last posted.

What has happened in that time? Steve came home from deployment. He was only gone for 3 months instead of the usual 6 because he had orders, and we moved across the country, from California to Massachusetts.

We drove across the country in the smallest car on the planet with 2 kids, 2 birds and a weenie dog. The trip was long and mind-numbing, but still not too bad. I think we only had one instance where we were scrambling for a gas station to make a potty stop for the kids.

We live in Marine housing by an Air Force reserve base. It is microscopic. I refer to it as the pyramid because the basement is huge, the main floor is small and the upper floor is miniscule. One of the so-called bedrooms is only 8x9. It is more than a little ridiculous.

Everything in the kitchen is new. The floor, the counters, the applicances. The hardwood floor in all of the other rooms is a novelty, since I have never had one before. I guess I need to learn how to care for it.

I guess the kitchen is an eat-in one, since there is certainly no dining room. But neither is there room in the kitchen for the little table we eat on. My big formal table is relegated to the basement for use as a scrapbooking surface. There is no room to put it upstairs.

The yard is ok in the front, in terms of size. It is a weed patch and I put down some grass seed today. It is rather drab and I intend to put up tiny decorative fencing and plant some flowers near my door. In the backyard, again it is sizeable but if we want a fence we have to put one up. Sigh. I also wanted to put aside a small bit of the yard as a vegeable garden. We'll see if I feel like doing that.

We lost about 75% of the storage space, closets and cabinets that we had in the other house. This creates a challenge in terms of unpacking because we have nowhere to put what it is that we unpack.

For those of you who knew us in Virginia, this house appears to be bigger than the VA house, at least on the main floor. In VA the kids' rooms were much bigger. We also had no garage or basement, and we have them here. But from my description, it sounds like this house, the pyramid, is smaller than the VA house, commonly referred to as the shoebox. It is bigger, but we have more stuff, or bigger stuff, so you cannot really tell.

I like the trees in the neighborhood, and the close proximity to the school. But like VA, we have to cross a busy 4-lane street to get to the school.

This housing is a ghost town. I suppose it is because they just finished renovations, and they usually put a hold on people moving in until after renovations are completed. Steve said he saw the list of people about to move in so maybe soon I will have more than the approximately 20 neighboring families who are here now. And maybe some of them might talk to me. I guess I am just used to Silver Strand, with all its people.

We live right off the main drag, with lots of stores and stuff, so it is not like Coronado, I mean Gilligan's Island. I dont have to drive more than 2 miles from the house to find 2 grocery stores, some East Coast version of Costco, Friendly's, Dunkin Donuts, WalMart witha Subway inside, every fast food imaginable, (except In-N-Out Burger, to my chagrin) a Home Depot, etc. Lots of stores. I have to find the nearest Michael's and see if there is a scrapbooking store around, and I also need to locate the library.

I haven't gone on base yet. It has an Exchange but not a Commissary. I am 2 hours from the nearest Commissary. Sigh.

Anyway, I have to get back to cramming things into the whopping 3 closets we have, so I will post later. And more often than once a month. I am trying to embody the sentiment of "Bloom Where You're Planted" but so far, it's not working.

See all the pretty colors?

My dentist and his staff just think I am a trip! I am getting all my dental work done before we move. It is a lot of visits but it needs to be done. And I have a wonderful dentist who acknowledges that I am a spazz in the chair and he is nice to me.

Well with each visit, I get nitrous, and I just lay back, close my eyes and listen to an Ipod. As long as the nitrous is flowing, I am ok. And when I close my eyes, I see all kinds of pretty colors. The first visit, it was pink & purple. The second visit it was white & green, The third visit was black & purple, with blue and green washing over the black. Today's visit was white on one half with a grayish green, then on the other half, it was orange & pink.

Quite the rainbow today. I have 2 more visits next week, and then I am done. When we get to Massachusetts I can find a dentist and go in for a cleaning, and know that a cleaning is all I need! Yay!

Speaking of moving day, it is looming right around th ecorner. I have plotted out our trip. We are driving to Phoenix on the first day to see my friend Julie. We are staying in a hotel by her house and thean going out to dinner with her family. Then, the next day, we are northward bound. We are driving about 500 miles a day and stopping to see the Football Hall of Fame. The day after that, we will be at Steve's parent's house in CT.

Our house is waiting for us--a 2 story house, hardwood floors, attached
1-car garage and also a basement, so I will have my scrapping room down there! It is about the same square footage as our house now.

In a few short days Steve will be home, and we will cram the car full of 2 birds, a weiner dog, 2 kids, 2 adults and miscellaneous crap and head across the country. I have my crochet and cross stitch ready to do in the car! The kids and I will do lessons in the car and in the hotel rooms across the country. And of course I will take plenty of pictures across the country.

Katie got her picture in the paper today! She was chosen to represent her class in a peace-promoting, flower-planting ceremony. So we went into town and joined kids from 6 other schools and planted petunias. This happened last week but the paper was published today. I am getting all my neighbors' copies so I can send them out to friends & family. She was right on the front page!

What else? We have had our pre-move inspection from housing, as well as the packers' inspection to see how much stuff we have & how many boxes they will need to pack up our stuff. I have put in our notice to vacate and have had 3 yard sales to offload extra crap that we don't need. My friend took my kids & I to Disney, because she said, "You can't leave southern CA without going there."

Katie has her very first wiggly tooth, and feels SO grown up!

Jonathan went on a field trip overnight onboard an historic ship! He became part of the crew and had to stand watch and everything! They both are doing well in school--report cards just came out.

Our fish are finding new homes in the house of my neighbor and in a classroom at school. So many changes are happening here at home, and the kids are reacting well to it. They are excited that Daddy is coming home quite soon and also that we are moving back East.

That's about it for now. I am going to find something to drink because I can't chew anything for 24 hours. Sigh.

Dentist, vol 2, and some other stuff

So I went back to the dentist last Tuesday the 28th of February, and they asked me ot come in early so I coudl get medicated ahead oftime & then be ready to go at my appointment time.I started off with 2 pills, no messing around. I brought my crochet and sat there for 45 minutes. I was working on a baby blanket for my daughter's teacher, and I noticed the carpet was gettin fuzzier by the minute. It was Berber, so I wondered how it could be fuzzy? I looked up and the waiting room appeared to be a little foggy. I thought it would be a good time to put the crochet away or else who knows what I would have ended up making?

I got the dental work done, not too much drama. I remember smelling black licorice and trying to spell it out with sign language because they couldn't undertsand what I was talking about. The meds did not affect me as much this time, which was ok. I was a little less loopy, but still unsteady on my feet.

Tomorrow I call to get an appointment to have both crowns put on. All financial donations toward my dental work will be accepted because I am already capped out with Tricare's lovely dental plan, and I have no coverage until Feb 1, 2007. Yay.

So what else has happened? Hmm. I had 2 yard sales in the past 3 weeks, and I am having my thrid and final in 2 weeks. I have multi-family sales, where other people bring their stuff over. Everyone has something they would like to get rid of, but most times it is not enough to warrant a big yard sale. So I group together with a lot of people and we have a big yard sale. They have been ok so far. Katie wants to sell lemonade at the next one. She has gotten the money bug since I had a lady pay her directly for her old videotapes. That child ran into the house and was bringing out toys and stuff, trying to sell them. She wants money! LOL!

I finished the blanket for Katie's teacher--it is white with a yellow ruffly border. I started on one for myself, it is varigated yarn, in tones of blue, purple, navy, lavender, white and sky blue. Each color gets lighter, darker, and changes in to the next color. It is called Blueberry Pie. It is a nice yarn. I rarely make anything for myself, so this is nice. I can see myself working on it all winter in freezing cold Mass, with it laid over my legs as I work.

Speaking of baby blankets, I get to make one for my friend Jordan, who is having a baby boy! They just found out it is a boy, and she is happy, since they have two girls. I have made only baby girl blankets so it will be nice to do somethig in blue or green, or maybe red. Whatever kind of yarn she chooses. I am going to start it when she brings me the yarn but I will have to mail it to her. I cannot finish it before we leave. If I pushed myself I could but right now I am focusing on other things, like cleaning the house & doing yard sales & other things before we move. Jordan is fine with it being mailed to her--she is pretty easygoing.

I have finished up the 5 cross stitch pieces I owed people--4 birth samplers and a picture of Elvis for my friend Poppy. They have all been stitched, washed, dried, pressed, and distributed. I finished 2 blankets due to other people, one has been mailed & the other (for Katie's teacher) will be given at a baby shower at the end of the month. The only thing left that I have to do before I go is to knit my friend Jessica a scarf. I promised it to her on her last birthday and I want to finish it before I go. I hope to have it done by the end of the week.

What else has been going on? The kids are in school, Jonathan is about to go on an overnight field trip, on a boat! He will "stand watch" too, just like his Daddy.

Speaking of Daddy, he is in the waters off Iraq, in the gulf. He has finally been around the world. He has been to the gulf on a Med cruise and now he reached it the other way, on a West Pac. He is coming home in about 3 weeks and we are rolling out of here in 4 weeks and 2 days.

Well I need to post this so I can go get Katie from school. More later!

A trip to the dentist, volume one

It all started with my dryer. Lisa helped me heft it into the house, and I installed it, wiring and all. I am such a big girl, I didn't even burn the house down. Well the manual said I would need tin snips and I don't have them. I thought my kitchen shears, or the blades in my pliers would do the trick.

At one point I was trying to snip a wire, and not succeeding. I was bending the wire back and forth and gritting my teeth really hard, for about 10 minutes. In so doing, I shoved a filling upward into my tooth. Um, ow!

Sooo...I got a huge toothache Saturday night. Sunday Lisa took the kids and I to Disney, saying we couldn't leave southern California without visiting. I took Motrin all day to ignore my toothache because no way was I ruining my kids' trip to Disney with a little old toothache.

I don't remember much of Monday or Tuesday but I was miserable, so much so that my neighbor Diane called her dentist and they squeezed me in Wednesday morning for a consult. Being a dental freak, I managed to get a cavity underneath an existing filling! I had shoved said filling up into the cavity area and it was hurting.

So I was told to come back on Friday morning and they would give me nitrous and drill it out. If the cavity was bad enough they would need to do a root canal. So I go, they drill, I do need a root canal, and they try to do it. But the root is infected and I am a dental freak (did I mention that?) so the pain was pushing past the nitrous and the novocain. I would freak out and hyperventilate and basically have a spazz. The dentist referred me to a friend of his, an endodontist. He does nothing but root canals.And he does sedation! Conscious sedation with a drug called Halcyon ( I think).

So the dentist office calls the endodontist's office, and what a miracle, they have an appointment, in an hour, on a Friday! So I fly down there with the help of many friends, one to drive me to & from and 2 others to pick up my kids from school. I am given the wonder drug, which does... nothing. The staff kept asking how I felt and I said fine and not a bit different. This alarmed me. So the dentist asked if he could start numbing me up, and I said OK, because I knew I would fell that anyway. They gave me another half a pill, and eventually, the second half of the second pill. The dentist stepped out for a few minutes (could have been more, how could I know?) and when he came back, I was feeling just a little bit warm & mellow. The nurse had given me a blanket because I was freezing. The dentist said something about how he thought I was ok because the quality of my voice had changed. I take this to mean I was slurring my speech. LOL!

The rest of the events are fuzzy and have been pieced together with the help of people who weren't high as a kite.

I remember the dentist telling me what I would be feeling and also telling me I could go to sleep if I wanted to. Yeah right. Like I was going to go to sleep and be awakened by breakthrough pain??? I heard him tell the nurse, "I think she fell asleep" about 4 times, and each time I would say, "No I didn't" and scare the crap out of him.

I raised my hand whenever I felt anything, and the dentist gave me more novocain. This has led me to *still* be numb on the roof of my mouth, now, Sunday night, 6:30 PM, two full days after the root canal. They waited until I was high to give me the bill, which is good, because my dental insurance is crap. I needed the Halcyon buzz to sign that charge slip.

I was walked to the van that was driving me home (thanks Trinice!) and I was so surprised that I needed help to walk. I didn't feel very different at all.

I told Trinice to stop so we could get some dinner for our families, my treat. We parked at the KFC but had to cross to get to the ATM. I don't remember crossing the street but Trinice does. I am astounded I remembered my PIN. We crossed back to the KFC and ordered. Now I ordered a meal that said 4 pieces of chicken, 4 strips and 8 boneless wings, plus 2 sides & 4 biscuits for $17.00 I also ordered a mega-jug, which is a big half-gallon soda for $2 . My total was just over $20.00, which sounds right. So why did I come home with one huge bucket and one half-sized bucket filled with extra crispy? I got the sides and drink too but I wondered why on earth I had 3 bags full of KFC?

I had to get my prescriptions, and while I wandered around waiting for my prescription to be filled, I went up and down every aisle looking at stuff. I don't remember getting in line, or even paying for my prescriptions. I do remember asking if I needed to wake myself in the night to keep on a strict schedule. My pills have to be taken 4x a day. The next day, when I looked in my Rite Aid bag, lo and behold a 96-count box of crayons!

I remember thinking I needed them! It was a pretty, fresh, new box! A big one! I remember getting the crayons, and my prescriptions, and picking up my kids, and almost falling down in Traci's kitchen a couple times.

I came home, wandered over to my neighbor's house, and was led back home, called my mom, (amazing that I was able to remember her number) and I managed to put my kids to bed at 8:30 PM. Then I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 1:30 AM, somewhat more clear-headed.

Trinice told me the next day that I also topped off her gas tank. I told her before the appointment that I wanted to put gas in her van for driving me all around, and I am glad that she says I did top off her tank, but I don't remember actually doing it. She says I put my card in wrong twice! LOL!

I think that is all that happened. Round two happens on Tuesday! Stay tuned!

A surprise in the mail!

On my doorstep today was a box, just begging to be opened. The return address was FTD.com and I thought, "Oh my goodness, did Steve send me a Valentine's Day gift???"

He sure did! Who needs flowers when the Chocolate Indulgence Basket exists? Nestled inside a gorgeous rectangular basket with a handle on each side was a treasure trove of chocolately goodness! A Ghirardelli bar, a huge box of Ghirardelli nonpareils, a twice-dipped chocolate-covered graham cracker, a dark-chocolate-covered english toffee topped with nuts, chocolate chip pecan cookies, milk-chocolate-covered Oreos in a gold box and Ghirardelli squares in 3 flavors in a round blue tin.

I feel so special, and he brightened my day! I am cleaning, sorting and organizing, getting ready or a pre-move yard sale on Saturday. I am going to sit down and have a treat and take a break from all the stuff I have been doing! Thanks so much, Steve, for my treat!

Mail from the White House

Last year the President came to visit the USS Ronald Reagan. I have a picture of Steve shaking the President's hand. I sent a copy of the picture to the White House, along with some nice patriotic (and photo safe) paper. I enclosed a letter, explaining how my husband is assigned to the Reagan and here was a picture to show the President shaking his hand. I asked if I could have an autograph on the photo safe paper, not the photo itself, because the acids in the ink would eat through the picture. Nothing like a little scrapbooking education for the leader of the free world, huh?

I also enclosed a self addressed, postage paid photo mailer so the photo and signature paper could be sent back to me with no addition to our budget deficit. I'm such a good citizen.

Well yesterday I got a response! I was so excited that when I tore into the envelope I almost tore up the White House's return address & postmark! Inside was a letter on watermarked, embossed and letterheaded paper. From a secretary.

The letter thanked me for my letter, and Steve for his service to the country, and said the President was unable to fulfil my request.
I thought, hmmm.

He isn't in the White House much, so I expected a computerized signature. I wasn't too picky because I wanted it for my scrapbook, not for Ebay.

I finish reading the letter that was sent, and it says they have enclosed something that they hope will make up for it. It is an 8x10 of the President, and underneath his head it says "To Stephen McConnell, God Bless America" and what is after that? A computerized signature!

Part of me says, why couldn't they just print that signature out on my photo safe paper? The other part of me says who cares? This photo is personalized to Steve, and signed! Yay!

I sent this in late November or early December, meaning for it to be a birthday present for Steve. It's a little late, but oh well! I am putting it in his USS Ronald Reagan scrapbook. Now, onto acquiring a unique Father's Day gift...

Steve got his package!

Yay! He said that the "vultures" were circling when he opened it, wanting goodies, and that the homemade candy didn't melt, so yay! I am already compiling a list and rounding up treats to go in the next box, to be sent out on the first.

It has been 11 days since I last posted. Not much going on here at our end. The kids go to school, I volunteer at the school, then come home and wage war on the dirty house, the kids come home and mess it up again, and so on. We still keep to the routine, but field trip Saturday has been sorely lacking since I don't drive the interstate. There aren't a lot of places to go here on Coronado.

Anyway, the ship pulled into Australia, they had a good time, and pulled back out. Steve had duty while in port and Australia was expensive so he didn't do much, but it was still nice to eat a nice meal and get off the ship. He also was able to get ahold of a phone and phonecard, and call home. That was the highlight for us! We have missed hearing his voice.

Hopefully we will get to hear his voice again when he hits the next port: Singapore!

Golden Shellback!

Here is a picture of Steve! He is now a Golden Shellback! Polliwogs are those who have never crossed the Equator before, and Shellbacks are those who have. Normally when a ship crosses the Equator, the Polliwogs become Shellbacks. But when a ship crosses the International Date Line and the Equator at the same time, they become Golden Shellbacks.

Steve is dressed as a pirate, complete with a pretend sword, parrot and eye patch. In the days before (and the day of) the crossing, there is a little friendly competition between the 'Backs and the 'Wogs, since the 'Wogs are impertinent and have to be shown who's boss.

Steve sent me this picture today, but since he crossed the IDL, it is already tomorrow for him. Confusing, huh?

I made a "Daddy Time" clock with a photo collage of Steve on it, and numbers too, of course, so we know what time it is wherever Daddy is.

Today is Tuesday, I can't believe it has been a full week since I last posted. Not much happened. I sent off Steve's first care package today, full of cookies and homemade candy, which I am hoping doesn't melt before it arrives onboard ship. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

At night, the dog has taken to sleeping on my legs, atop the covers, facing the bedroom door, as if keeping watch over me. Thank goodness he is just a mini dachshund and not a St. Bernard!

Katie is currently painting a ceramic tea set, which I will "fire" in the oven to set the paint. Jonathan is munching on some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans that came in the mail today from my mom. Today we went to the farmer's market for a few strawberries, oranges and flowers. And tonight's dinner will be tacos. Woohoo!

That's about all that is new in our neck of the woods. More later.