I'm Back from our weekend on the Alabama River!!

Well here are some pictures from our recent trip to Alabama. By posting pictures I am going to be introducing you to my family. We met up with my husbands family just south of Selma Alabama for a camping trip this past weekend. The camp ground was located on the Alabama River. Now I am not fond of swimming in rivers and all but I had a great time. I have this thing about not being able to see what is around me in the water. My inlaws had their boat and so did my husbands aunt and uncle. So we loaded up about 15 people and headed to this beach in the middle of the Alabama River referred to as Little Miami. There were so many boats at this beach and people had little grills cooking and it was awesome. We took some drinks and the kids all had a blast. Neither one of my sons have gotten to do this with the family due to the fact that we have lived so far away for the past couple of years and that my father in laws health is deteriorating. They have a cute motorhome, I am used to tent camping so this was a real treat for me, like staying at the Ritz or something. My kids ran free with the other kids and were absolutly no problem the whole weekend, we got to see people that we have not seen in years and we even met some new folks. My parents live about a hour from where we were so we stayed with them the night before we came home.

This is Little Miami.......and it was 101 that day so the water was so refreshing, even if it was river water!!!!

This is my Dylan, he had so much fun jumping off the back of the boat. He found a pet clam that we had to bring home, believe it or not he lived and then we dropped him in the river the next day!!!!

This is my captain Avery, he is not fond of getting in water, only the tub so he stayed on the boat but he sure did enjoy driving. There were not other boats on the road at the time...Thank God!! By the way that is my husband standing behind him and in the picture above he is behind Dylan in the water.

This is my Mother in Law. She is the greatest, I think she was feeling good, hey as long as she was happy!!!

This is my father in laws favorite truck, its old and he won't get rid of it, in matter of fact he had it painted like 2 years ago, well my husband ran his uncles truck into his fathers truck while backing the boat down the ramp. See the nice dent on the door. Yup that is courtesy of my wonderful husband. His dad got pissed and had to drive away, it seems that my husband is always messing his stuff up.

All in all we had a good time, and made a lot of memories. We got home yesterday in time for the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert. It was really good, we had awesome seats we were so close to the stage that you could actually see facial features. The only thing he did not sing Indian Outlaw. I did not meet him for all you wonderers it would have been awesome. Got home at 1:30 this morning so I have been tired all day, I am heading to bed now. I have some catching up to do on all of my friends blogs. Dr. John I am so behind on Pigeon Falls news. I feel like I am out of the loop with my gossip, also we got the jelly beans, they came the day we left for Alabama and they kept the kids quite content in the car for a bit. Thanks So Much

A little Eye Candy for the weekend...sorry Dr. John

Ok Ladies, this is the Man of my dreams, literally!! I am going to see this hunk in concert on Monday night. This will be the 3rd year in a row that my friend Alison and I will have gone to see Tim McGraw in concert. The only problem this year he is touring with his wife, Faith Hill, and we are not too thrilled. You see in our minds we are his ONLY women!!! Now we are going to have to share him with his wife!! LOL. While living in Connecticut we went to see him twice at the Mohegan Sun casino. It was awesome both times. Then we found out that he was coming to Jacksonville, how could we pass up this opportunity to see him again. Well because he is touring with Faith Hill the tickets are outrageous, they are 96.00 after tax and facility charges. So we decided that we were going to skip seeing him this time around. Well we got a little confused and thought he was coming in April so the weekend of the 29th we were saddened and we told our story of how we really wanted to go but the tickets were too much and how we felt that we should have done it anyway. Well 2 days later I got an email from Ticketmaster, reminding me that Tim McGraw was coming May 29th. It was a sign, we had to go! So we bought the tickets, as outrageous as they were it was worth it anyway. Well since buying the tickets I have had 3 very odd and different dreams about meeting Tim McGraw and the last one was him sucking my neck....GO Figure!!! Jeez I wish it were true though. Well now Alison thinks that since I have dreamt about him 3 times that we probably are going to meet him. So this Memorial Day I will be looking at my eye candy.....mmmmm!!! I am have one other man of my dreams but I will talk about him later on before his movie comes out this summer!!!!

I DID IT...My green thumb stayed green not black

For all of my readers that are aware of my attempt to grow grass, I did it!!! Yeah...I was checking out all of the spots that I planted at there it was little tiny patches of fine baby grass. I am so happy, I am currently watering it as we speak, we are kind of going through a dry spell here in Sunshine Central. It has been so very hot and I am looking foward to rain, so are my other plants. We are supposed to go out of town this weekend and I am really afraid to go because I know I have no one to water my stuff. And I do not want to return to the demise of my babies!!
*On another note we are 5 days into summer vacation (when does school start again?) No, actually we are doing alright, kids are happy and content. We had a busy weekend last week and now we are just trying to glide through this week with out spending huge amounts of money. We are supposed to take a trip home to Alabama this weekend for the holiday and return on Monday for a concert. (I will tell more about that later) Although due to timing I am not sure if the trip is actually going to follow through.
*For all of my readers that are wondering of my summer dilemma with watching my best friends daughter, well she is in a Summer Day camp program and I can get her whenever I want to and take her to do stuff with us. I think we are going to all do the zoo next week.
*I had my MRA, yesterday, it was and angiogram of my brain, I thought I was going to have dye injected in me but they did not have to do it so I was quite estatic. The only problem was my sunburned back and I had to lay flat on it for a half hour without moving while being inside of a tube. Can anyone say OH JOY!!! I go to the doctor on June 6th to find out the results of that and for him to check my optic nerves again. So everyone pray for me until then!!

Well that is all for now from the Chaotic World of Me....I will have more for you tomorrow!!!

Me & My Babies...well they aren't babies anymore

I know that many times I have really vented on how my children and my husband drive me nuts but that is what my page is here for and sometimes I think it is a bit therapeutic for me!!! Anyway.....I took a psychology class a couple of years back and I had to write a paper on the age old debate of Nature vs. Nurture. Are we genetically disposed to become the people we are or does nature mold us to the fine human beings that we become?? I think that my children are fine examples of this. I have the two boys ages 7 & 3, they are 2 totally different people, like night and day when it comes to interests and disposition. Now I have been both of their mother since birth and my husband came into my oldest ones life at 14 months and has been here since then. My oldest son sees his father every other weekend for the past year but for the 3 years before that, while we lived in Connecticut the visits were sporadic and sometimes months would pass before the next visit. I have exposed them to the same things never shielding one and not the other. My oldest, Dylan, is a cautious child and always has been, he never liked being dirty, or playing in the dirt. Never liked playing with cars and trucks always liked bugs and worms and dinosaurs. Now my youngest, Avery, is a risk taking child and has been since birth, the dirtier he is the better, he loves mud and know what to do with a dump truck and front end loader like there is no tomorrow. Now both of them loved trains, and we have more wooden Thomas the train stuff than I know what to do with and it still gets hauled out daily. I used to buy Dylan cars and trucks when he was little. Dylan is a complainer and Avery is a go with the flow kid. Avery really never pushes my buttons but at 3 Dylan knew just how it worked. Sometimes I felt that Dylan was my arch nemesis and we mix as well as oil and water. Until I looked at the big picture, Dylan is like his father and Avery is like his, even though Dylan has grown up in the same house with my husband for the past 5 1/2 years. Dylans father is very uptight and afraid of many situations, he told Dylan one time that there were Ticks in grass, and now when he sees high grass he wont walk through it for fear of ticks. This is the man that when a new sickness comes around he believes he has it, his whole family is like this. Once upon a time he thought he had the West Nile Virus from mosquito's. Now Avery father is a risk taker, never by the book and is happy go luck doing what ever. Doesn't take much to entertain him. Is not afraid to live life to the fullest, his mantra is You can't escape what is going to happen to you, because it will eventually get you in the end. The only things that my kids have gotten from me is my temper and my brown eyes. That is it!!! My mother says that brown eyes, show the world that you are full of shit!!! Gee Thanks mom. Each one of these childrens paternal grandparents have told me that they are exactly like their father when they were younger. I am starting to think that Nature hold water in my case, these kids were predisposed to be who they are and I had nothing to do with it. I wonder if I had a 3rd if it would be like me or not. I do not think that is a chance I want to take, I think I would end up fighting with myself.
This weekend we went to a (AA) Baseball game, the Jacksonville suns, Avery was in hog heaven, he loved it, Dylan on the other hand was ready to go as soon as we walked through the gate. Then on Sunday we went to the beach, this was Dylan's forte, he was in his glory, Avery on the other hand doesn't care for the water and after 4 hours we had to peel Dylan away from the ocean but Avery had been ready to go for like 2 hours!!! GO FIGURE! I don't think I will ever be able to win with these children

JUST STUFF!!!

Well first off, Mimi, you sure have some guts to do the audio posts!!! I left you a comment today about yesterdays word. I think once you have kids you get words for everything and they make sense to you and your kids even come to use them!!!

Well anyway, yesterday was a blur for me, I had a horrible headache, I though my head was going to literally cave in on itself. I had to have a Tetnus shot on Tuesday, so I do not know if that had somehting to do with it or if it is the effects of my pseudotumor. I am enrolling in a different college here is Georgia, last fall I went to college in Florida, but in Georgia they require you to have all of your shots. Its like being a kid starting Kindergarten again!!! This college is only 10 miles whereas I was traveling 25 to the one in Florida. Plus they offer what I need on the days I need it. Well I had to have a tetnus shot, and I had to have titers done to prove immunity to measles, mumps, and rubella. I had to have the same thing done in Connecticut but apparently the Navy Clinic there forgot to put all of the paperwork and information in my medical file, which caused me to have to have it all redone!!! That is the Navy way, when you need something it is nowhere to be found but the totally useless stuff is in there. Makes no sense to me, but you better be sure I am going to make sure that this test goes in there. Next Tuesday I have to go for another MRI this is a continutaion of my Pseudotumor, but this time they are going to inject me with dye to read the veins and arteries in my brain. Oh Joy!! I am coming up on my 6 month window of being on the diuretic so I am hoping that my Optic Nerves have gone down in swelling.
For all of you that have no clue what I am talking about read about My Pseudotumor

So tomorrow is the last day of school for my son, ahhh Summer has now begun in Georgia!!! Now I have to think of things to do so I can keep what little sanity I have left. There is a water playground here in town and we are members of the zoo so I see us doing that quite alot. THe beach is also 30 minutes away so we will do that too. I am getting the oldest ones tonsils out on the 13 of June. So that gives me 2 weeks of down time! School will start back August 4th and my husband will leave shortly after for a couple of months. But he'll be home for Christmas. Yeah....he was home last year but left 2 days after and I did not see him again until the end of Feb. That is the Navy Life I live I guess.

My House.....

Sorry to all that expected a post today, therefore you will have it in the morning and it will save me from having to post tomorrow. I was actually a little busy today, believe it or not. I planted grass seed, yet again for the 3rd time. We have a nice sandy back yard. No grass, well I am exaggerating, there are sparce patches but where I want it, it will not grow. We ususally just buy something cheap, but not this time. We went even as far as getting quotes for sod. It is amazing how much they will charge you for a pallet of grass. For my 1/2 acre lot they wanted almost 5 grand for grass. So I bought the $20.00 bag of seed and raked and raked and spread the seed then raked it in and watered. Wish me luck people, someone needs to remind me everyday to water it though. I am horrible at watering the grass, it is just not something you think of. I also got laminate pergo-type flooring for my dining room, there was carpet in there but it is getting ruined from spills and kids so we ripped out the carpet and the hubby and I are laying 108 sq ft of flooring. It is really easy just a little time consuming. We almost got finished tonight but he has to get up at 5 so we quit early!! It is going to look really nice. We have officially been in our house for a year now and we have replace cabinets, countertops, built a deck, painted everything, and now wood flooring in the dining room. I figure if I am paying to live here then I am going to fix it the way I like it!!! Next are the bathroom vanities and sinks. The house had ceramic tile flooring put in before we bought it, the previous owners had just done it and bought all new appliance for the kitchen but failed to replace the way to small cabinets so they were the first thing to go!! They did the floors in the bathroom too but did not replace the cracked sink so I do not know what they were thinking but it is entertaining me for now. Well it is late and I have a busy day yet again tommorrow.

A Funny for all the Ladies!!!!

I have recieved this in an email from a couple of my friends and I just want to post it because as funny as it is, there is some truth. Let me know if any of these have pertained to you!!!! I need to know I am not alone!!!!!!!!!

When we Girls Drink too much

1. WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHERE OUR PURSE IS
2. WE BELIEVE THAT DANCING WITH OUR ARMS OVERHEAD AND WIGGLING OUR BUTT WHILE YELLING "WOO-HOO!" IS TRULY THE SEXIEST DANCE MOVE AROUND
3. WE'VE SUDDENLY DECIDED THAT WE WANT TO KICK SOMEONE'S ASS AND HONESTLY BELIEVE WE COULD DO IT TOO.
4. IN OUR LAST TRIP TO PEE, WE REALIZE THAT WE NOW LOOK MORE LIKE A HOMELESS HOOKER THAN THE GODDESS WE WERE JUST FOUR HOURS AGO
5. WE START CRYING AND TELLING EVERYONE WE SEE THAT WE LOVE THEM SOOOOO MUCH.
6. WE GET EXTREMELY EXCITED AND JUMP UP AND DOWN EVERY TIME A NEW SONG PLAY'S BECAUSE "OH MY GOD! I LOVE THIS SONG!"
7. WE'VE FOUND A DEEPER/SPIRITUAL SIDE TO THE GEEK SITTING NEXT TO US.
8. WE'VE SUDDENLY TAKEN UP SMOKING AND BECOME REALLY GOOD AT IT
9. WE YELL AT THE BARTENDER, WHO WE BELIEVE CHEATED US BY GIVING US JUST LEMONADE, BUT THAT'S JUST BECAUSE WE CAN NO LONGER TASTE THE GIN.
10. WE TAKE OUR SHOES OFF BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IT'S THEIR FAULT THAT WE'RE HAVING PROBLEMS WALKING STRAIGHT

Ode to My Mother.......This is not pretty and sweet!!

Well since Mother's Day is upon us and the growing theme with bloggers is their mother, I thought I would just jump on the band wagon. My mother and I are sort of like Oil & Water at times, it is really a love/hate relationship. Now that I have moved away and I have my own things going on, things are better, however when I visit I have to really set time limits for us to be together or we fight, not like normal people, the claws come out. I have to give my mother a lot of credit now, and I have really come to appreciate her since I have had children of my own. I understand why some of the situations we have been in have happened in the first place. I was born to an alcoholic father and I am not sure what my mother was really doing at the time, I sort of don't ask, don't tell with her past. My father was very very abusive with her, even during her pregnancy with me. They split shortly after my birth but did not actually divorce until I was 3 or so. After their split, we moved in with my mom mom, which to this day she means the world to me and I would not have become half the person I am without her. I was mom-mom's princess, or so that it what I felt like, I have more memories of her at a young age than I do of my mother. My mom worked all of the time, she was a waitress and that meant she usuallly had the 2-10 shift. We lived in a duplex, my mom, mom-mom, and I on one side and my Aunt Carol, her husband at the time, and her stepson were on the other side, I was constantly surrounded by family. Every Saturday night my mom-mom and I would get dressed up and go to dinner with my pop-pop. (They were divorced at the time and still are but they live together once again.) My pop-pop owned a hotel in New Jersey, and it had a dining room, bar, and coffee shop. We would always go to the dining room and my mom worked in the coffee shop so I always got to see her on the Saturday nights. As I grew older, I remember getting off the bus and my mom jetting out the door to work. I mean she had to work, she wasnt getting money from my father. But mom-mom saw to it that I was well taken care of, I was always dressed nice and taught how to act properly. When I was 7 my father remarried and my mom met a man from Alabama, he was an antique dealer that had come north for the antique auctions. I guess they had been together since I was 4 or so but it was like an every 2 week thing that is when he made the trip north. Well at 7 my mother decided to leave her life in New Jersey for her love in Alabama, so we packed it all an moved. She took me away from all that I had known. I had a lot of huge adjustments to go through at that age, my mom-mom was now 1000 miles away and I didn't get to see her or any other family for that fact except for holidays. Well once in Alabama, I do not think my mother really had a clue of what to do with a 7 year old girl full time. She never went back to work, well she did but she worked at her boyfriends antique auction, so she was always around. I was grateful, I was not a latchkey kid. Things got hard for me very quickly, all of a sudden I was expected to say yes mam, no mam, yes sir, no sir. I could no longer sleep with my mom. And of all things when I got in trouble I got hit with a belt. All in the true southern way. My mom basically pawned me off on the new man in her life for the discipline aspect of my life. It is funny how in my mind I remember all of the discipline, I think that is why I do not want to hit or discipline my kids now for fear of repeating the cycle. Was I abused? I really do not know, I would like to say that I was just for a reason. Well they got married 2 years later when I was almost 9. They are still married, he has always been the strict on with me, I think I was more or less a thorn in his side for many years. I always rebelled against his rules and punishments. But back to my mother, she always had an anger problem. My favorite saying of her, " You better shut up before I knock you through the F******* wall." I saw no wrong with this until I was in my teens. She never did knock me through the wall, she hit me many times. But to this day she is still a very angry person even if she wants to admit and accept it or not. When I was 10 my mother gave birth to my brother, he was the apple of everyones eye, including my stepfather's so of course I resented this child, then 16 months later, another brother. Arg...what where they thinking??? My youngest brother was basically put on the back burner for a lot of things, he was always content with himself. The other brother need the attention and even today on his 17th birthday he needs the attention on him still. But he is growing and maturing nicely now. But back to my mother again!! Since the birth of my son Dylan 7 years ago, he has been the apple of her eye and she has been a better grandmother to him than I could have ever imagined. She has never harmed him or yelled for that fact. I think my mother is now playing the role in his life that my mom-mom played in my life. My stepfather is uber laid back now, never yells at my brothers or hits them, that became my mothers job since he traveled all of the time up until 4 years ago when the business went under and they had to file for bankruptcy. My mother and I have aruged many times over all of our relationships and I have so many "Why" questions. But all I can walk away with is that the person I am today is a result of the childhood that I had, she apologized all of the time for being the way she was and my stepfather is too stubborn so we just keep our distance. I am bitter, very bitter. About a year ago my mom told me that when she left New Jersey, she wanted to send me back because I was not happy in Alabama. I often wonder what my life would have been like? I am sure I would not have ended up being as strong as I am. I have learned through my parents mistakes, I know what I do not want my kids to go through. I also feel that my parents learned through their mistakes with me. Sure raising me was not a walk in the park but what kid is. Recently she has found church and God and I think that it has done her a world of good, she is trying to be a better person and she is succeeding at it very well. So has my stepfather. But I think that you have to truly become a parent to understand the trials and tribulations of your parents. Sure I wrote about my Dylan and his problems but I am looking for the cure and the answer rather than beat it out of him. I do love him and I show it to him everyday in some form or fashion. My kids are my life and I want them to grow up having had a healthy life. One full of good memories and experiences. I hope that they will learn from my mistakes. So one the eve of this Mother's Day 2006 I am thinking of all my fellow mothers young and old. Love to you all for what you have done for your children. No my story may not be the prettiest or best memory but it is mine and it made me who I am and I think now that I have got through it I would not really change it. I am who I am for a reason!!!

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

Five Places I Would Rather Be Than Here Right Now

Alright, so here I go again with a complaining day. Everything has gone well in the Casa de Chaos until 2pm this afternoon. As I sit here 2:41pm I really do not think that it can get any worse. I have hit my breaking point with my eldest son Dylan right now. Today was PJ day at school, all of the students were invited to wear PJ's, bring pillows and sleeping bags and games to share, next Friday is the last day of school so they are just trying to pass the time away. Well Dylan wore his Star Wars Pants and a blue Tee shirt today and requested that I please pick him up so he doesn't have to ride the bus home from school. So I said ok I will come and check you out of school later today, last I knew he was fine with that. Well at 2pm my husband was out and about so I asked him to stop by and get Dylan. School gets out at 2:30, so he was in luck getting out of school 30 minutes early and not having to ride the bus. Well my husband calls me after he picks him up, apparently Dylan is spazzing out because they were watching a movie and he was pissed that he got picked up early. When he got home I talked to him about what he had requested and that I followed the instructions that were set forth this morning. But he was still mad. This child is always mad, always lashing out at me, especially when he doesn't get his way. I love him so much and I know that it is my fault from letting him get away with so much for so long. He is a bossy kid, remember that kid in school that no one wanted to play with because they were too bossy, I fear that he is this kid. He is 7 and still will cry when you ask him to do something that he doesn't want to do or when things do not go his way. There is so much friction in this house between him and the other members of the family. Sometimes he is just downright hateful. I try, sometimes he just works my nerves so bad I want to lash out at him, I refrain from spanking him, I know it does nothing for him, and I have started taking away things from him at first it made an effect but now I do not think it holds water with him. I know that he is troubled, we have done therapy when we were in Connecticut, he has always been standoffish to my husband, who has been in his life since he was 18 months old. THere has always been friction on Dylans part with him, I think it has part to do with his biological father constantly reminding him who his real dad and who his step dad is. I try to talk to bio dad about it and he gets all defensive. This makes it really hard for me, I need Shalom in my Home. I have got to do therapy again, I can't have my baby troubled and miserable. It hurts me to see him this way and to have to constantly deal with his mood swings. I see more hate coming out of him everyday. Well I have my friends kid here today too and my other son and her are arguing over toys, simple childhood arguments but they get setteled and they move on. I was thinking there are tons of places I would rather be than here right now.

1. I would love to be on a beach in Mexico with a Stawberry Daquri and a good book
2. I would love to be at a Spa in the desert somewhere, where no one can reach me
3. I would rather be on a boat in the middle of a lake with the warm sun
4. I would rather be pampered by maids right now
5. Most of all I would love to be locked in my room with headphones and good music.

Happy Mother's Day to Me

Help!!! My kids are destroying the house.

I believe that single handedly my children ages 7 &3 are going to destroy my house. The house has been here since the mid 80s, made of brick, a very hardy house. Though I do believe that these kids are going to give it a run for its money. By no means is this my "dream" home or the house I see myself in 10 years still living in. My husband being in the military we just moved back to this area a year ago and decided, NO MORE NAVY HOUSING. Mimi, knows what I am talking about! So we bought our first home. 3 bedroom, 1/2 acre lot, 1500 sq ft. I am constantly cleaning this beast. It is all one level which I am so thankful for, but there is always something that needs to be done. Of course God has blessed me with sons so I am always cleaning up pee in the bathrooms. I cant say that my husband is any better. I have a solid plate glass storm door that is always covered in nose and hand prints, and my garage is a catch all for everything. It is very sandy here so they are constantly tracking in sand and I am constantly using the carpet cleaner which I do not think is making a difference anymore. There are always sprinklings of food on the floor or toys. Hot Wheel Cars hurt in the middle of the night. As much as I set the rules and keep the toys contained to one area it just seems to happen the opposite. I am starting to believe that there are little trolls that come out and party while I am out running errands. Laundry is the story of my life, I fold it and put it all away just because if I dont it is shoved everywhere. My oldest son sleeps on the top bunk and it is like his own fortress, he has so much junk up there that I am surprised that he does not have unwanted visitors. I can fill a whole washer with his clothes up there. Although I have heard if you have a clean house you live a boring life, my life is far from boring.

Shrimp Festival and Mothers Day Cards

Ahhh this weekend we did yet another festival. The Shrimp Festival in Fernandina Beach Florida. I am not a seafood eater so I went along for the arts and crafts. Well I was a little disappointed this festival did not have your run of the mill crafts, you know like candles, purses, and homemade stuff that you would never think to make but really makes sense to have. This was an artsy fartsy kind of festival. Statues, stained glass, and oil paintings. Now don't get me wrong these things were nice, they just were not in my price range or my need for the moment. The OscarMayer HotDog Mobile was there and they were letting people sing the oscar mayer jingles. My friend Alison and I did this, I am sure we looked like total fools, It should be on the internet in a couple of days, I will see what it takes to post it for you guys if it is not too too bad. My inlaws were in town for the weekend, they came down in their motorhome. My father in law is not in good health so he did not go to the festival. He has severe Asthma among a ton of other things. He just went for a sleep study and the found that he has severe sleep apnea, during the study he quit breathing 80 times in 2 minutes and his pulse ox dropped to 47. So he has started on a CPAP machine to help him at night. He is 73 and is going downhill fast so we like to spend as much time as possible with them. But besides the fact that he did not go with us to the festival, he did come to the house and hang out and we hung out at the campground. They left today and the kids were upset but we will be going home to see them soon enough. Today I went to buy cards for mothers day, I spent $17.00 at Hallmark on just cards nothing else, now I have to buy stamps. Cards are so expensive that you really do not want to buy a card and a gift. I should just get a piece of paper and make my own for minimal cost. Well I hope everyone had a good Monday.

My Pal MIMI

Well I keep checking Cissa's page to check on Mimi's condition. I knew something had to be up when I posted and she did not comment on my page. You see, Mimi and I used to be neighbors in Connecticut. Navy housing for us was a 6 family townhouse and Mimi and I were neighbors. Our stairs and front doors were on the same wall. When you live that close to someone, you really can't help to get to know them. I met Mimi the Summer of 2004, she was prego with her beautiful baby boy. Of course I do not think at the time we knew that he was a boy. Mimi's husband, Durk, was a riot. He loved to listen to all of us wives chatter away. We had camp Michigan Drive out front. My friend that lives here now Alison also lived in the same building and between she and I we had the 3 kids and a butt load of outside toys. We now look back on pictures and we were Connecticut White Trash. We had so much crap and half of it was stuff that other families offloaded before they moved to their next duty station. I really feel bad for Mimi now because she had to move into all of this and she had not yet had any kids, what she must of thought. Anyway, everyday Alison and I were outside with the kids, from sun up to sun down. We knew everyone and stories about them but yet we knew nobody. The mail lady, June, she was so cool, we looked foward to her everyday. She gave us the lowdown on everything and she loved the kids and they loved her. One time we were sledding and after she filled all of our boxes she joined us for a couple quick runs down the hill. Anyway back to Mimi, this was her first move away from home and she was pregnant to top it off so we all knew that there was going to be hurdles for her. I explained different things to her and tried my best to help her if she needed it. I was gone over Thanksgiving and my husband had to work but Mimi and Durk saw to it that my husband had a meal. They fed him other times I was out of town and they kept an eye on him since he was alone. We had some issues with some of the neighbors which she was drug into and did not need to be drug into. But that is what happens when you get a bunch of bored women together. I was there when Mimi had the baby and she had a ton of hurdles with that but I made sure that I was there for her. That was the least I could do for her. I went to the hospital even with the baby not there and I went to the NICU to visit that sweet boy. I cooked a big meal on Mother's day last year to celebrate her first Mother's Day. Then because of the Navy I had to move again. I was ripped away from some of the best memories of my adult life. I haven't seen Mimi in almost a year but we still keep in touch, pretty reguarly. Having the blog pages helps make it easier than before. Now with her in the hospital I hate that I can not be there for her and help them with this. It is absolutly killing me not being able to do anything. She is such a good soul. Mimi, I am thinking about you and I want you to get better, these things only make us stronger!!! You ought to be as strong as an Ox now. I Love Ya Girl!!!

Wealthy Kids Irk Me

Well here I go again, slacking on my page. I have been reading and posting on everyone elses page but I haven't had anything hit me to write about until today. So I was watching TV tonight with the husband and we were watching My Sweet 16. For those of you that do not know what it is, it is a show about rich kids and their 16th birthday parties. It is unreal the parties that these kids are allowed to have and the attitude that they carry along with it. Just tonight there was a girl whose party cost over 300,000 dollars. Could you imagine, then her dad took her car shopping and she found a porshe convertible that she wanted. It cost 96,000 and she said, "Daddy, its just pocket change." These are the people in our society. He party was in a night club in New York, and she was carried in holding a snake. I mean in 10 years what is this going to have done for you? Its just a shame that the parents have allowed these kids to be like this, you would think beings that half of them have had to work from the bottom up that they would teach thier kids to respect more things and conserve. Lets see my 16th birthday consisted of a homeade cake, my parents, my best friend and my boyfriend at the time. Sure I got a car, but it was a 1979 Ford Mustang hatchback. The ugliest thing on the face of the earth and sure I was pissed that it was ugly and old but I learned to respect it because it was all that I had. But I guess the times are a changin' kids have cell phones and ipods and laptops. Things that were not even around and remotly affordable until after I graduated high school. I just hope that my kids do not expect or demand these things one day. I want them to grow up appreciating things and others. I just hope that society doesn't change them

Chock full of festivals

Alright so this weekend was the Crawfish Festival in Woodbine, Georgia and yes we attended. Both of my boys were in the parade and they even have a Little Miss Crawfish pageant. I have always wondered what makes a city decide that they are going to hold a certain festival. We live in an area that plays host to more festivals in a 30 mile radius then I have ever seen. In September the town where I live hosts a Catfish Festival, the next town over hosts a Rock Shrimp festival in October, then the county seat hosts the Crawfish Festival in April!! I really did not know that these products were dominant enough in this area to deserve a festival. Now you all must understand that I do not like lake or ocean food. If it lives in water and swims I do not eat it. (I am sure it would all be good but I have texture issues.) My husband is a fan of all of these food so the festival goer he is. The last time we did the Crawfish festival he had Gator on a stick. MMmmmm sounds delightful, and to everyone's surprise he said it tasted just like......You got it chicken. Well we had a good time, the weather was perfect in the 80s with a breeze. The kids had a blast and my husband ate 2 pounds of crawfish, and he even sucks the heads. As appealing as that sounds I will assure you that it was not beautiful. There was a whole family that stopped to watch my darling eat his tiny crustaceans. I think they were travelers and trying to figure out what the hell they had stumbled upon. To the best of my knowledge the south has some of the best festivals around. Georgia plays host to the Redneck Olympics in August. There is also a Grits Festival in South Carolina. And a Rattlesnake Rodeo in my home state of Alabama. There are so many more but those just are interesting. Next weekend is the Shrimp Festival in Fernandina Beach FL. It is only 30 minutes from us and we are defiantly going to that one. There is going to be a Pirate Invasion and all. Although once again I will not be eating the festival namesake, my husband will be in all of his glory. At least this one won't be a messy! Hope everyone had a good weekend!!!!!!!!!!