The Metcalf Five

Updating 101

2010-07-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

I know it has been forever since I last blogged and for a while there it was just too hard to do. Once we hit TX and Tim being gone, it felt like blogging was just one more chore. But I suddenly got the bug today to look and see what friends and family were doing and it was nice to read up on them. And the next step from there was to blog myself.
As many of you know, we have just recently moved back to Fort Leonardwood from Fort Hood, TX. I can't say that I will be missing TX but there were some great people that I met there that will be hard to get along without. This move has been less smooth than I would have liked but we are doing OK. Although we have been here for about a month now, I am STILL unpacking and getting our house to rights. Firstly, I have been doing a lot of procrastinating. Ack! What a horrible habit of mine....But it has also been quite the process of looking at what I have and then asking myself if I want to put it into this house. Downsizing is never fun and going from a larger home to a smaller home makes it a slower process. The boys think they have gone to hell since they have to share a room once again. I keep unpacking with the thought that I will (hopefully) have to repack it all soon enough when we finally sell this house.
In the meantime, to get to a point that we can sell it, we need to re-side the house and call in a mold specialist to get rid of the mold that we found under the house. Then after that we need to gravel the crawl space and put down a vapor barrier. Yes, we will have money hemorrhaging from our pockets and I will most likely be going back to work. Sigh. Oh the life of a homeowner......
Well, I will try to do better and keep this updated more. And hopefully next time I write I will have pictures and something funnier to say. But for now.....dinner is waiting for me to cook and serve.

The Last "Romantic" Outing

2009-09-14T13:28:00.001-07:00

The last thing that Tim wanted to do before we left was to go overnight, just he and I, somewhere. Little did I know that he had alterior motives. He contacted a fishing guide somewhere in TX and booked a trip with him for us. We left one afternoon and got there that night. The motel that we stayed at was built for fishermen and location, not comfort and beauty. We got up at about 4:30 the next morning and were on the lake about an hour later. Anyone who knows me, knows that this was done totally out of love for my husband. I am so not a morning person. It wasn't the most exciting day that I have had with my husband but it wasn't horrible either. I had the first catch of the day AND the biggest catch of the day. Tim told me it was bigger than any bass he has ever caught. That'll teach him to take me fishing again. It was the first time I have ever been on a fishing boat with my husband and in an odd way, it helped to bring me closer to him. Below are pictures of Tim's first catch of the day, Tim wishing he were me and catching a big bass, my BIG bass catch, and the first bass of the day caught by me. :)

Playing Catch....My Summer Vacation

2009-09-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

I hang my head in shame. I have been a bad blogger and haven't kept up so I thought that I would give you a quick update to what the Metcalf summer was like and then in the next few days fill in the blanks with pictures and more stories. We did a alot of driving(all of it done exclusively by lil' ole me.) But first, Tim came home right after school ended for his mid tour leave. It was such a wonderful time! We did some fun stuff like going to Sea World, but we also did a lot of just hanging at the house. And I have to say that I fell more in love with my husband during that time. It was just a rare time where time seemed to stop and we really got to enjoy being together again and really appreciate even the little things. When he left, the kids and I headed to Monterey, CA. We stopped off in Hesperia, CA first to say hello to my sister's family and my brother's family and I took the kids to a surprise trip to Disneyland. Boy, were they mad at me for waking them up so early UNTIL Connor read a street sign that said "Disneyland Blvd" and they figured out where we were going. Then it was a party to be sure. When we got to Monterey, we had fun with Grandmama and more family then we ever get to be around. Connor even got to build a robot with his Uncle Craig...a very cool sculpture that I need to get a picture of so that I can post it. We did the beach(A LOT), the Monterey Bay Aquarium, tide pooling, shopping, San Fransisco, and an adventure to Big Sur that ended up with us being stranded for a bit with a car that refused to start. Yikes. After our time in CA, we headed over to UT and saw more grandparents, more cousins, more aunts and uncles and did tons of fun, fun, fun things there too. My kids now think that I am made of money and I have to remind them that Summer is over and life is back to normal, budget and all. We ended our trip with more car problems, 2 new members of the family-kittens named Blossom and Roxas(yes, I lost my mind and drove from UT to TX with kittens), and we figured that we had drove through a total of 8 states this summer in all. Quite and Adventure and one my kids will not soon forget.

Another contest

2009-06-04T06:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, in times like these finances are tight and finding advice is a good thing. Here's a good blog about it and they are running a contest right now where you could win a Wii or an ipod. I thought I would give it a chance and see if I can finally win one of these things. Check it out:
http://www.christianpf.com/wii/

My new neighbor

2009-05-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

After repeatedly trying to discourage them from moving in, I finally gave up and let my new neighbors make themselves at home.....

mommy on nest

daddy watching near by

In the beginning, I kept knocking down their starter of a nest. Why, you may ask? They decided to build this nest right above my front door. Now, we are in for some bird bombadeering. Not the most pleasant experience to be pooped on while walking out the door...and I am hoping that they don't fly at us when the babies arrive. But, on the bright side of things, maybe I can squeeze a biology lesson from this. I know that these are not the best pictures. I will try to get better ones later. They are rather cute little birds, putting all annoyance aside and I think it is funny how they stare at me with an indignant look when we open the door.

Chop, Chop

2009-04-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

So here is Laurel's latest self imposed hair cut. This time she only got her bangs. The scary thing is she is getting better at this. At least I know that someday she can have a career as a beautician. But I still hate the outcome of her dabbling.

BEFORE

I know that this isn't the best hair shot, but the point was to show you that her hair was long enough to catch in her ponytail.

AFTER

Like said, not the worse of her chop jobs.....

In other news, she busted out with a comment that floored me the other day. As we were watching TV she commented on how pretty she thought the girls on the TV were. Then adds:
"But I don't think I am pretty. If I was, Keven would like me."
WHAT?!
I thought these kind of self esteem issues and wanting boys to like you like a "girlfriend" didn't start for at least another 3 years or so. I explained that Keven did like her, but as a friend because boys this age don't like girls like that and that didn't mean she wasn't pretty(cause she is!) (SO biased here.)

Mother's Day Contest

2009-04-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I just found a fun blog that is written very witty and makes me laugh about mother hood. It is called The Meanest Mom. Right now they are having a REALLY cool mother's day contest. If you want to win some COOL loot go to this blog posting and follow that steps. Good luck to all!!

http://themeanestmom.blogspot.com/2009/04/mothers-day-giveaway.html

On the right track?

2009-04-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

So, I finally got serious about working out. I have been struggling this time around with Tim being gone. It has really bothered me. I am usually very independent and proactive.....I have never been a wife that mopes while he is gone. And I am not really doing that now, but I haven't been functioning so great either. Procrastinating more than normal, not sleeping, feeling like I am losing my mind...Anyhow, I knew that exercising would be a great release for stress and that it would help in the long run with my sleeping problem. Plus, I don't want to be fat anymore. I am SO much cuter in my head....and then I look at pictures and wonder when the fat chick showed up. Ha. I know they say that the camera adds 10 pounds but when they took pictures of me last it left that and more on me once they were done taking the pictures. Anyhow, my neighbor and I banded together and we have started out this week being workout studs. We even had a trainer show us what to do....hopefully now I can be good at home too and change my diet up so all the exercising will get results.
In other news, Laurel cut her bangs. ARGH!! That child!!!! She is killing me with all the haircutting. At least I know that she has a future in the beauty business someday. And at least this time it was only her bangs. Yes, they were chopped pretty short, but I am hoping that it grows fast and in no time look cuter again. I will post a picture of her chop job in the next post.

The great destroyer of sleep

2009-04-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't really been sleeping to begin with so the title isn't all that truthful, but I now have one more reason for my lack of sleep.
Last night, Laurel came to me complaining that her ear really hurt. Usually this is cause for me to think "Uh oh!" but this time for a different reason other than an ear infection. I sent her away once because I was distracted but she came back and this time said it really hurt! And would you look in my ear? So I peered inside and there was an earring back in her canal! Yikes. So, I got her to lay down calmly and pulled it out with tweezers. Thankfully all was well.....or so I thought. As the night when on, she kept telling me that her ear still hurt. She had an ear infection. It was just a coincidence that it was also the ear that she put the earring back into. And why that happened still baffles me....was she thinking it was some Chinese ancient healing secret and would make things better? This is the kid that shoved a sponge capsule(you know the kind that look like pills and when you put them in water they pop into shapes) up her nose and didn't say anything. I never know what she is thinking. Anyhow, I didn't get much sleep last night. About 2am after listening to her alternating screaming and moaning, I took her down stairs and turned on the TV. Thank goodness for cable and Noggin that runs 24/7. I took her in around 1pm and THEN learned that she was running a fever. Bad mom! I never thought to check. Anyhow, I hope that she sleep better tonight. She is dosed with her first dose of Amoxicilian and drugged with Motrin. The Murphy's law in all of it: I had a horse ride planned this morning for a Wife's coffee thingy that I was really looking forward to and was invited to lunch tomorrow by a friend that I rarely hear from. Sigh. Can't seem to catch a break this time around while Tim is gone. I am SO going to need a vacation......

Spring has Sprung

2009-03-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

Spring. It is just about my favorite season. I love seeing all the colors and lushness of things growing. I have always fantasized that one day I would be able to have a veggie garden and a lush flower garden too....kind of like an English cottage garden. Well, if you have ever lived in military quarters, you know the difficulties of doing that and that they all look the same and sterile pretty much. So I decided to spruce up the front walkway of my piece of military home. It was fun to go out and get the flowers. I told my mom about it and she asked me to take a picture of it before it all died. Either that was a commentary on my gardening skills or a commentary on the weather of TX and how inhospitable it can be. I would have done more but I ran out of money. Gardening can be pricey.

In other news, we just had our spring break. It didn't so much feel like a break as a quick breath of air. It zoomed by too quickly. The kids thought that if I wasn't doing something kid friendly every moment that I had failed, but we still managed to go bowling, see Escape to Witch Mountain, play in a park, eat out, go to the Ward camp out and go to the zoo. Not a bad list. Most of those things happened in 3 separate days. I am not a constant fun machine contrary to popular belief(my children's mainly). I wish that I had had more energy and money to make a trip with the kids somewhere, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. The Zoo was a highlight. It wasn't huge but had a good amount of things to see. They had these wood cut outs that you put your head on top to take pictures with. Fun for the kids. I especially liked the boys shot on the lady bugs. ha.

The ward camp out was fun too.....until we tried to sleep. I sit here and laugh because it was kind of a comedy of errors. The kids and I slept in a small 4 man tent. I blew up a queen mattress that filled most of the tent. You see, I had the brilliant idea that Gavin, Laurel and I could share that mattress and Connor could sleep next to use on some different cushioning. Connor complained about every noise. At one point, a baby awoke in the tent next to us and after listening to it for a moment, Connor whines to me that he can't stand it anymore and for me to do something. LOL. I told him to chill that the mom was taking care of it and he would have to just deal until the baby calmed down. We also heard a pack of canines of some sort howling and yipping. It wasn't scary but it did keep me up and listening to what was going on. In the midst of all this, Laurel flipped and flopped to find a comfortable (and warm) position until by the end of the night she was rolled up into a small ball almost on top of my head. And the tent inside was wet when we awoke.....something about warm bodies and heavy breathing versus cold air outside makes for a damp interior. I didn't get much sleep if you can't tell. I enjoyed the socializing with the members, but I learned what I would and wouldn't do next time I go camping. Yes, there will be a next time.
In the times that we weren't having massive amounts of "kid fun", I hung at the house and napped, read, and cleaned. It was nice not to have to get up morning at 5:30am. Tim is doing well himself also and we are already counting down the days until he comes home in June for R&R. Oh, and all my friends there in MO, if you know someone looking to rent a house, ours will be vacant at the end of April. I so hate owning a house right now.......sigh. Chin up, I tell myself. There are only 2 more months of school and then I can escape TX for the summer.

Twilight Contest

2009-03-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine pointed out this blog so I thought I would try to win too. If you are a fan of Twilight go here:

http://frugalupstate.blogspot.com/2009/03/twilight-giveaway.html

and try to win this cool prize. And if you do win...let me know so I can live vicariously through you. :)

Gavin's Diorama of a Forest

2009-03-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

So I was talking about this diorama to someone and told them I would post a picture. I thought it turned out pretty okay. Way to go Gavin......but can I just say that he tried to get me to spend about $40 making this thing???Crazy.....

A Jay Bird moment.....

2009-03-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

Have you ever hear the phrase "naked as a jay bird"? If you haven't, now you have. Why do I bring that up? Well, it goes like this....Laurel has invited her friends over to play the other day. They are like the 3 musketeers. You don't much see one with out the other two. Very cute little girls, but can be your typical girls when together...squealing, giggling, the works. Anyhow, the time came when Kately was picked up by her mom and then we were waiting for Bailey's dad to come. Laurel and Bailey were having a good time playing upstairs so no worries that he was a little late. When he did come, I yelled up for Bailey with no answer. So I trudged up the stairs to get her. I could hear them giggling in Laurel's closet so I opened the door to find them both......completely nude. My first thought was "AHHHHHHHHH!!! what the heck??!!" and my second thought was "AHHHHH!!! what are you doing??!!" but instead I was calm and told them both sternly to get their clothes on quickley and come downstairs cause it was time for Bailey to leave. I went downstairs and continued idle chatter with Bailey's dad and waited. Once she left, I calmly pulled Laurel into a private room and told her that she was NEVER to do that again. We don't play nude and if someone even suggests it we say NO!! I never yelled or sounded upset. I know that it is a "normal" thing for kids to do....be curious about their bodies and others. I had to have a moment of relief that it wasn't a boy in the closet cause then I may have lost my cool. My question is this: would you say something to the mother of the other girl or let it go completely since I already addressed it with my own child?

I'm Flying!!!!

2009-03-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I couldn't wait to share how cool today was!!! I learned the basics of how to fly the trapeze. I got there and they took me to a hanging bar that was near the ground and showed me what to do and how to do it and then went through the rules of making sure the I listened to them.....that is most of the work. Making sure that you do what you need to do when they tell you to do it. It was so fun!! My first time climbing the ladder, my heart was pounding. I couldn't believe that I was actually getting ready to do something that circus people do. I stood up there and got hooked up and then they told me where and how to stand. "Ready" means bends your knees a bit and then they say "hup" which means hop off and start to swing. I did it and then flubbed when it came time to pull my feet up in front of me, into a tucking type position and then move them onto and over the bar. I was bummed that I had failed. While still hanging there, they had me swing my feet front, then back, then front again and then touch me knees in a tucking position to fall onto the net below. Basically, that makes you do a back flip. SO COOL! I did that with ease. Next time I got up, they gave me more pointer and told me that I was just anticipating it too much and had starting to try to put my feet up before I was supposed to. I got into position and hopped when told and then waited......I got it this time(it was a struggle, but I refused to give up until my feet were over that bar and I was hanging upside down by my knees. Then I had to pull them back through and into a hang again and then do my flip dismount. It was such a cool feeling. My hands are swollen a little and I banged my toe on one of my last tries, but it was worth all of that. I can't wait to try it again. And next time, I am going to try to do the actual letting go and jumping into the arms of the guy who hangs there! Can't wait! BTW, most of the pictures taken were done by Gavin. Not too shabby of a job. Thanks Gavin and Thanks to Dana who asked me to come and have this adventure with her and took the first picture that you see on this blog.

SO Behind!

2009-03-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, you know it's bad when you come to your own blog and see nothing......no old blogs....nothing. So, here I am writing a new one. I don't know that I will get everything caught up but I will at least give you and overview of how life has been for the last little bit.
Connor's homeschooling is going okay. I could be doing better but as someone pointed out to me the other day, why sweat it too much when he will never use about 90% of what he learns at school. Not that I am slacking in his teaching, but I just need to write a list out of what I still need to teach him and get more organized. Organization is the reaccuring theme in my life right now.
Gavin is doing okay for the most part. He just finished making a diorama of a forest habitat. It turned out very cool and I hope he gets his well deserved A for it. He did leave the whole thing until the last day.....poor kid picking up my procrastinating genes....He has a kid in the neighborhood that has decided to make his life a little more difficult. Bully's really suck. And it bites even more knowing that they used to be friends. Gavin just got sick of being the brunt of all of this kid's jokes and teasing all the time so he quit hanging out with him. I may have to step in soon and put an end to it if it goes much farther. If Gavin ignores him, he sees it as a challenge and ups the anty and if he reacts the kid tells him what a wuss he is. Can't win...
Laurel is her usual girly self. She thrives on going to school and having her 2 friends come over as much as possible. She is so going to miss them when they both move this summer. Speaking of missing things, she really is missing Tim. He sent a picture of himself with a 5 yr old Iraqi girl(he missed Laurel and she reminded him of her). When Laurel saw the picture, instead of being interested in it and excited to see another little girl, she got jealous. "He can't take that little girl homw with him, mommy!" was about the only thing she told me. I explained that that wasn't going to happen and she was happier after that.
In big news, I drove to CA and took pictures of my neice's wedding. It went pretty well. I liked some of what I got and I wish now that I had had more time to take even more pictures. Hindsight, you know, I now can think of a million more poses that I would love to shoot. The drive was crazy though. The last couple of hours on my way home all of the zoo decided to come out to see me. I had to drive on some back little highways. I almost ran over a bunny, opposum, skunk, and then hit a deer that was having a party in the road with all of his friends. He just took a running leap at me as soon as I passed him. I only side swiped it so no damamge to the car.....don't know if the deer survived. Also on my trip, I got to stay with my sister in law Kathy one night. It was a blast to hang out and see their neck of the woods. Other than that, I am hanging in there.....by threads somedays and other days are cake. I think my biggest problem is that I am just not sleeping and it is causing me to feel a little crazy at other times. I can't remember things well and just don't feel motivated a lot. I am not one who has ever let deployments get the best of me, but I think this one has. Talking to another woman in my ward about it, she told me that this wasn't uncommon. Our bodies react to the stress this way sometimes without our conscious brains telling it to. But on the bright side of things, I am making friends.....it's about time....and getting to do fun things sometimes. Today I am taking a class of flying the trapeze. I can't wait! I will have to update my blog to let you know how it went. Gotta go get ready. Next blog I will post pictures.......Miss you all.

Hot n Cold

2009-01-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

Argh! I wish that I was talking about Katy Perry's hit song.... The weather has really messed me up. One day it is 80's here and then next it is in the 30's. Today happens to be a 30's day and I can't get warm. These are the days that I wish that I could cuddle up in bed all day and just read or veg with the TV. Either I am cycling or coming down with something. Alas, I must be a responsible adult and get back to Homeschooling Connor. Antonyms and Synonyms here we come.

let the games begin.....

2009-01-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

If I smother my daughter do you think anyone would notice? Ha. I know that the crap hits the fan every time the husband leaves but I thought I would at least have a grace period. Not so.
Sunday morning I slept in late because I hadn't slept much the night before. There are just some nights lately that I have extreme insomnia and that doesn't work so great when you have to get up and function for 3 children the next day. Anyhow, I was thanking my lucky stars that church didn't start until 1pm. Usually, I hate that time slot, but it was working in my favor this Sunday. So I rallied the troops....Connor and Gavin(with a bit of grumbling) got dressed and ready and fed themselves some lunch. I got Laurel into her dress and tights and went into the bathroom to do her hair. When I walked in, I thought..."i should put my contacts on so I can really see what I am doing". My glasses are an old prescription. I hardly wear them so I haven't updated them in a long while. I opened up the cap on one side and couldn't see the outline of my lenses floating in the liquid, so I stuck my pinkie in. No contact. I looked at the lid......no contact. Okay, maybe I was tired last night and put them both in the same cup. So I open the other side. No lenses there either. AHHHHHHH!!! Come to find out that Laurel poured out both my lenses and put in new liquid. She was only doing what she has seen me do a 1000 times before....only she didn't realize that there was anything in the liquid. The crux of it all is that I have no back up pair. I am left with weak glasses that are scratched to all heck. So, we stay home from church....bummer. It's okay, I think, cause I can go tomorrow to Walmart and get a walk in appointment. I get through my morning of teaching Connor. I made it a short lesson day so I could cram in the appointment and some other important errands. I get the the Dr's office and fill out paperwork only to find out that they won't see me after all. My Tricare health insurance was never changed to this region so they won't pay for any medical stuff. Are You Kidding Me?????? I called Tricare and found out that Tim changed his stuff but none of the rest of the family's. I am sure it was an oversight on his part.....he probably thought the form he filled out changed it for everyone, but IT DIDN'T. I have to go find the office now and fill out forms. In yucky geek glasses in which I can't see that great in.....Yay! It could have been worse...my glasses could have been broken, like they were for many years, with only one ear piece. That would have been cool.

362 days and counting

2009-01-20T19:52:00.000-08:00

Is it too early to be counting down to when Tim comes back? Ha. Saturday was his send off. We woke up at leisure....at least I did. Tim woke early and watched the last of his fishing shows on the DVR. He was trying to convince me to tape a few for him while he is gone and keeping them until he gets home. Don't think so. We did some last minute checking to make sure he had what he needed which turned into "let's go to Walmart..." So we got everyone ready, into the car and then went to the PX. It was closer. After that we picked up some BK lunch and picked up his Chaplain and I dropped them off at their first of many lines to stand in for the day. He had to draw a weapon(both a handgun and a rifle) and get accounted for. They wanted to make sure it was really him and not someone taking his place(I would like to meet the person who can get away with that...Ha.) We didn't stay for all that cause we weren't allowed into the building so we went home and sat around until he called us around 3pm. We could go to a gym to hang out until they loaded up onto buses to go to their flights. Walking in, there was a sea of BCU uniforms huddled into groups with civilians hanging near by....some hugging,some laughing and talking,and almost all of them taking pictures. It smelled of hot dogs and packed in bodies....not my favorite smell. Anyhow, we hung out with Tim for about an hour. We talked a bit, ate some picnic type food(source of the hot dog smell), was introduced to others and took some last minute snapshots ourselves. Then he walked us out to the sidewalk, squeezed us all 2 or 3 times a piece one last time(I got a couple of kisses too) and with a few last word to the kids on how he wanted them to act while he was gone, he turned and went back to start the loading process. I felt a little lost the rest of the day, but it hasn't hit me really that he is gone.....FOR A WHOLE YEAR...again! I will be fine though.

We didn't make it to church the next day. Laurel was up and down all night with every excuse under the sun. I am sure that she was just echoing what I was feeling internally. I was going to go anyhow, but when Connor woke up and told me that he had thrown up too, I threw in the towel. Monday was a relax at home kind of day and then we went to the neighbors and hung out until way too late. Today, instead of cleaning or watching the inauguration(I am such a bad example,but politics really bore me no matter who is involved), I was on the computer helping Gavin work out some issue with his DS lite for most of the morning and a couple of hours past lunch. I have to give my self a huge pat on the back for figuring it all out and becoming the hero of the afternoon for doing so. We then ran some more errands which bored my kids to tears and to reward them for their patience went to a movie-Hotel for Dogs, ate and came home. All in all, not bad for my first extended weekend without the hubby. I hope all of them are this smooth....yeah right. But if they aren't I am thankful for bedtimes and heartfelt prayers that I know are heard.

It's a BOY!!

2009-01-05T13:27:00.001-08:00

No, I am not pregnant and just now announcing it to everyone. But my niece had her baby this morning! I am now a Great Aunt for the 4th time. He is a sweet baby boy named Emmett Thomas and he was a little over 9 pounds. Wow....I never got big sumo babies like that. A quick funny connected to his birth: Meg got checked by the nurse and she was totally dialated. She said she would go talk to the DR. about pushing so to kill time they called me. She was on the phone talking to me and when the nurse came back in and told her it was okay for her to push(I had no clue any of this was happening). She just nodded and continued to let me talk for another couple of minutes when she handed off the phone to my sister, her mom. My sister then informs me that they were trying to get her to push and she was putting them off cause she was on the phone with me. Oops. She should have just told me. Ha. Modern drugs are a wonder.....Well, Congrats again to Meg and Jared on their beautiful baby boy! Love to you all and big hugs all around.

Happy New Rear

2009-01-03T14:57:00.001-08:00

Okay...so it is the beginning of a new year and we all seem to hyper focus on resolutions-big goals that most of us never even begin to attempt. Usually my resolutions go something like: I will lose weight this year....no really I will and to do that, I will cut out sugar and exercise more and find a well balanced healthy way to eat to obtain this goal. A week later after researching all the latest greatest diets, I abandon the thought all together. Not because I don't want to be in shape(hey, I have one of those, it is just the wrong shape....it is more of a blob than anything) but because it takes too much brain power to remember that I can eat that but not this and I have to eat it every X amount of hours and then I have to strain to put my body into unflattering clothes to sweat in. Whatever......But once again, I find myself at the point where I am going to try to attempt this once again. Who knows-maybe since I proclaimed it to all of blogdom it will actually happen this time. I even got a book to go with my new fortitude....It is called the Abs Diet for Women. I figured that was a good place to start since I have NO abs to speak of.....they are WAY buried under a layer of jello and stretch marks. It is basically a way of eating that I don't have to calorie count(if I don't want to) and I won't starve in the beginning while my body readjust to this new way of eating. There are a set of "super foods" that you try to incorporate at least a few in every meal, you eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day, and you exercise at least 30 minutes a day and you get a cheat meal once a week to eat whatever you want. It claims that by eating this healthier way with the super foods interspersed, that your body will learn to burn fat(and not just any fat but the hard to burn stuff on your belly)all the time and not just when exercising. I was horribly cursed by the Miller Family genes that were passed to my from my Maternal grandmother. After having children, we never look unpregnant again. Well, not with out support hose or a LOT of dieting and exercise. So here it goes.....Wish me luck and from time to time, bug me about whether or not I stuck to it. I am almost finished with the book so by my estimation, I will begin the torture....I mean diet....sometime next week.
In other news, I am quickly approaching my 36th birthday and wondering when I aged. Not that I think I am old....I certainly don't feel old, but when did all the signs of aging begin to sneak up on me. I mean, where did this weird(and random) old lady witch hair come from that sprouts from my chin from time to time. And coloring my hair for fun is a thing of the past.....although I blame my grey hair entirely on Tim's multiple deployments. Ha. The nice thing is that when most people who don't know me find out my age, they are surprised and think that I am younger than I am. Maybe my immature way of acting helps out in the long run.....kidding. I still see myself in my own head as the 19 year old that married Tim oh so long ago....with a pre-baby body. Say that 3 times....pre-baby body, pre-baby body, pre-baby body. Tim has told me that he has some surprise for me around my birthday. I am trying not to hype it up too much in my mind. His surprises can go either way. I hate that he told me now though cause now I feel like the kid wanting to sneak in and look through the Christmas gifts before they are wrapped. Ha. I will be fine....I only have until the weekend after my birthday(Jan. 8th for all of you who don't remember). And then after that, we will slip right into me being abandoned once again for a year long deployment to Iraq. Dang, I am starting to hate these things. It wouldn't be so bad except that I don't know many people here to do babysitting so I don't know how often I will be getting a break. Especially since I also teach Connor during the week and Laurel's primary class on Sunday....oh well, good thing I love my kids....there is no escape in sight.....Really, I do love them. Really.

That's Hot

2008-12-31T12:14:00.000-08:00

There is nothing more attractive to me than my handyman husband. I grew up in a family that wasn't very "fix it" friendly. I know that they probably could but my father or mother usually paid someone to fix broken things or bought new ones. So, when the washer broke down....that was my first thought. Tim got right on it though and found out what part needed to be replaced, how much it was, and how to do it. The next morning, he went out fishing(boo) and then went and picked up the needed part to fix my machine(yay!). He came home and fixed it.....it only took about an hour or less and I had a working machine. The pile of humongous stinky clothing has been liberated and I will not have to heft it all to a mat. My knight in shining coveralls!!!

Murphy's Law

2008-12-29T22:36:00.000-08:00

All the clothes in the house are pretty much dirty....it is time once again to have to great washing of the clothes day begin. I have been putting it off since the holiday was upon me because I didn't want the huge pile of clothes that inevitably ends up on my couch for a week tp appear. So today, I undertake the daunting task. One load goes through and into the dryer.....I start a new load and then leave to go run a few errands with the kids. I get back and look to start a new load. I start to grab the washed clothing to put them in the dryer and they are still WAY wet. So, I try to put them through the spin cycle once more. It's not spinning......try it again. IT'S NOT SPINNING!!! Argh! My washer went KAPUT! Tim looked at it, which entails him laying it on it's side, dumping any reserve water out onto my floor in a mini version of the great flood. And then proceeds to tell me that the belt is burnt out and needs to be replaced. He says he can do it and it will only cost us 4.95 for the part and 4.00 to ship it to us. How fast it will get here and how long it will take for him to get said part onto the washer and into working order is a whole 'nother story. So, in the meantime, I have to schlep all my laundry to a laundry mat with the no extra money that I have since the holiday broke us. BUT on the bright side, at least I don't have to buy a whole new washer......At least not for the moment......I'll let you know.

Christmas Morning Loot

2008-12-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas

2008-12-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

It was a nice, quiet and semi-sweaty Christmas. Unlike our friends and most of our family, we were in 70 degree weather for Christmas and the next day it was 78.....we slept with the A/C on.....crazy I know. Laurel was worried that Santa wouldn't show up cause it wasn't snowing in TX. Anyhow, Christmas eve, we went to a friend's house, Diana Reichert, and had a nice turkey dinner. She had invited a few families. It was a lot of fun to interact with so many kids even if they weren't related to me. We even got to act out the nativity story and then Diana, who is sweet beyond words, gave everyone some type of nativity present. Laurel got a felt board, Connor and Gavin got their own ornaments and Tim and I got a pretty one from Willow Tree(which just happens to be a favorite thing of mine). The only down fall is that my camera went on the blitz and wouldn't take any pictures(just a few video clips) so I will have to wait until Diana gives me copies of the ones I took with her camera. It was a fun night and filled in the little aching space that I had from wanting to be with my family and in the midst of all that beloved chaos. We came home and Tim was nice enough to let the kids open 2 presents each. One was the prerequisite pair of new pj's and the other was whatever they wanted to pick. Laurel opened a gift from a neighbor-it was a teddy bear, Gavin opened one from Tim and I-it was a McFarlane Dragon, and Connor opened a gift from Colleen-it was an action figure from Ironman.

The next morning, we were awoken at about 7am by our kids and we stumbled down to our living room to happily rip into all of the fun things that Santa had left for us. Santa leaves each child their very own sack full of toys in our family. Connor's big gift this year was a remote controlled Walle. He also got a cool tin robot from Grandmama that he adored. Gavin really lucked out and was gifted with a Nintendo DS lite and 2 games. And he hit Bakugan pay dirt....he ended up with about 16 altogether. Laurel got her favorite(for now) Barbie, Diamond Castle Princess, who sings songs when you press her hand....she seems to know them all already and sings them loudly every time. She also got her very own Disney Princess Laptop(the fake kind with games loaded on it) She takes her "puter" everywhere. It is very cute. They all got lots of knick knacks in their stockings too. We will have little pieces galore for the next couple of months. I then snuck back upstairs and slept for another couple of hours because for Christmas I got a cold. Fun for everyone....Ha.

That night we had our neighbors come over and share a Christmas dinner. The Ditzlers are a fun family with 3 boys ages 10,6, and 4. We had a nice time talking and just hanging out.
The next morning, I slept in and refused to get out of my pj's. In fact, I napped and ate junk food most of the day and then rotted my brain out watching fun TV movies. The kids ran in and out of the house, playing with all the neighborhood kids and showing off all their new toys and seeing what all the other kids got. The holiday season was a good one. And it could have only been better if we could have spent it with family.

Night Lights

2008-12-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to Nature in Lights(or something like that). It is a huge light display that they have set up at Belton lake here near post. You pay $5 and then drive through all the lights. It was fun to see and the kids got a big kick out of it. What did Tim think? He said he was glad that gas was cheap seeing how it took us almost 2 hours to do it due to traffic. I had fun taking pictures and trying my hand at being artistic. None of pictures that I took were in focus....which was on purpose. Anyhow, here are a few of my favorites.....

Traditions

2008-12-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

I often tease Tim that he grew up doing Christmas the wrong way and so I am now forced to do it wrong too. It has been hard for me to let go of the traditions of my childhood and it was made even harder since Tim doesn't seem to have any firm Metcalf ones to bring to the table. So it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started to try to blend new ones for our little family.....and it is still evolving. So tonight, it got me thinking....where did my Hubler traditions come from. My father came over from Switzerland when he was of college age so the Christmas things I did mostly came from his culture. I looked up Swiss Christmas and here are a few things I found out(there were more but these are what stood out to me):
On Dec. 5, at dusk, they celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas. In some villages,a procession of "lifeltrager' wearing gigantic illuminated lanterns in the shape of a Bishop's mitre on their heads walk the streets. The children will put out their shoes and the next morning they are filled with treats.
On the 6th of Dec., as further part of the Feast, Samichlaus, who is accompanied by a character called Schmutzli, go from house to house. They bring out a book telling if the children have been good or bad and consult it. The naughty children are threatened by Schmutzli (or "dirty guy") who tells them that he'll throw them in a sack and bring them to the Black Forest where he will drown them. The children will sing or recite a poem to make up for being bad and then they will have a chance to reach into the sack that Samichlaus carries and get oranges, chocolates and nuts.

It is also tradition to make grittibanz on this day. That is a sweet bread that they decorate with currants and almonds and shape to look like little men. It is said to represent Santa.

The week before Christmas, children dress up and visit homes with small gifts. Bell ringing has become a tradition, and each village competes with the next when calling people to midnight mass. They try to see who can ring the bells the loudest. After the service, families gather to share huge homemade doughnuts called Ringli and hot chocolate.
Traditionally, the tree isn't put up or decorated until Dec. 24th. They put candles on the tree and light them. Christmas carols are sung. If the family is religious, the read the the nativity story from the Bible. And then they open gifts from one another. The tree is left up until Jan. 2 to ensure good luck in the new year.
As a kid, we did the 12 days of Christmas a few times for families. That was a rush as a kid. Leaving a present on some one's doorstep and then running away....way an exciting experience. Then trying to keep it secret when we saw that person later. Ha. Good times. We also would go to a place called Candy cane Lane in PG. That is a neighborhood where everyone decorates their lawns and houses to the hilt. It was always a highlight for me. There is just something about seeing the glow of lights that decorate a house. So growing up, I did the whole Christmas eve thing. We all got together that night and had a fun dinner of finger foods that we loved but never really got to eat during the year......this may have been my mom's way of getting out of making a big Christmas dinner(LOL). We would then gather around my mother's piano and sing carols. Then we would read the Christmas story and if there were enough small children around we would act it out....even going so far as to dress up for it.

The came the best part.....we got to open all our family gifts to one another. After all that chaos was done, my mom would make us arrange all our gifts into a consolidated pile that would then be marked as our spot. We weren't allowed to take anything new to our rooms that night. "Santa" wanted to be able to see everything that we had been given. That night he would come and leave us more gifts and a stocking so in the morning we would awaken at the crack of dawn, we would find more gifts to tear into. It was great!
So with my kids, I have tried to blend a few of my childhood traditions in where I can. We hunt out the best lighted and decorated neighborhoods, we sing Christmas carols and read the nativity story. We also read another special book a few nights before called One Wintry Night. It is a gorgeous illustrated book with a spiritual message. Tim won't bend when it comes to the opening of gifts on Christmas eve so I have tried to make sure that there is a marked difference between their family gifts and Santa gifts. Santa leaves each person their very own sack full of presents. But after reading up on my Swiss heritage, I am sure to incorporate Ringli and Grittibanz next year. Plus, Tim will be in Iraq next year so we will get to do Christmas the "right" way anyhow. LOL. Merry Christmas to you all. Much love, Hugs and Kisses!!

Look! I am a Christmas tree

2008-12-20T11:37:00.001-08:00

Carols and "The Season"

2008-12-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

The kids are ready for Christmas and I still need about another extra week. And since school let out today for our winter break, you can forget about getting about 1/2 the stuff you need to get done in a timely manner. Oh well....it will just have to be good enough as is. Speaking of the last day of school, we gave the kids teacher's their presents today. I had fun making wreaths for them and wanted to share with you all how they turned out. They went over big. It is nice to have your ideas appreciated.

We have done some of the fun stuff already, though. We did some baking the other night. The kids helped to lick the spoons and bowls, but there is still a few more items that I want to make before it really feels like Christmas to me. We went to see this crazy house in town that is decorated with lights to the hilt. They were way impressed and we found out that a couple of days later there was going to be an open house there too. They decorate like crazy inside too and were going to have Santa come and talk to the kids. Of course we had to go back and see the mystery of what the inside would look like. So the night of the open house, the kids kept bugging me and asking: "is it time yet?". Finally, I pulled it together and ushered them to the car. We got to the house and with baited breath entered the home. And realized that we needed to hold our breath. It was decorated to the hilt, but it stunk so bad of cat urine that we were out of there in record time! We are going to go see the special lights display that they do here at the recreational lake a couple of light from now. Hopefully they are not all "lighted" out by then. It is one of my favorite things about Christmas....seeing the displays that people create on their homes with lights and props.
The other fun thing is that every time the door is knocked on, Laurel runs to it hoping that there will be a package. In the chance that there is one and there are presents in it, she insists that it is NOW Christmas and we should open everything right away. Her tactic hasn't worked yet, but not from lack of trying. Because of her extreme excitement, I haven't put any gifts under our tree.....I am just too afraid that she will rip into them prematurely.
So to wrap this blog up, I thought that I would add a "carol" that I re-wrote that words to. You would sing this song to the tune of "Stars were Gleaming" from the Primary songbook:

Eyes were streaming, children screaming,
And their voice was high and shrill,
Mother's story, long and gory,
Retail nightmares, lists to fill,
Hand is stinging, Ears are ringing,
Curses flinging, Baby clinging,
Heavens, is it Christmas still?

Okay so it isn't all as bad as that, but sometimes it is easy to forget the "reason for the season" with all the "I want"'s and stress that we impose on ourselves this time of year. Hope that the song above it just a parody and not a true to life experience to any and all that read my blog. Much love to you all!

Happy Birthday to Tim

2008-12-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my Hubby! He turned 42 on the 17th. It was a bad day at work so he was happy to come home to a meal ready to eat, cards to open, big hugs from me and the children, and his favorite cake, German Chocolate. Connor asked how old he was now and when I told him, he exclaimed in horror" Dad is an OLD man now!" I laughed and told him that it wasn't that old. But Tim contends that being in the Army has made him feel old some days so it was no biggie to hear Connor say that.

Laurel's Birthday

2008-12-16T14:54:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to put a little blurb about Laurel's birthday. She had a fun one with 3 of her friends and a little neighbor boy who hijacked his way in. I didn't have to heart to kick him out. He kept asking where the pinata was and I told him we weren't having one. For someone who wasn't invited until the last minute he was quite the critic. He even asked for a gift bag at the end and I had to explain that I only had 3 girly bags.....I almost expected him to ask for one. Anyhow, my friend, Diana made the cake and Laurel LOVED it. She asked for a Barbie princess cake with a dress with pink and white flowers with butterflies. What do you think? Laurel is already planning on her next birthday theme and has invited some people WAY in advance. I have to keep telling parents that there is no party for at least another year. Ha. My baby is now 5!!!

Unintentional Hiatus

2008-12-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2005

My sister in law wrote me an email the other day and asked if I was still doing my blog. And that is when I realized that I hadn't gotten on here for too long. So this may get long winded. If it does, I am sorry and I hope that it isn't boring for you to read.
So what's been happening since I least wrote.....Laurel cut her hair again! I so tired of that and told her that if she does it again I am going to shave her head. I would rather have her looking like a chemo patient than to have a semi mullet thing happening. I am able to hid it for the most part, but I am STILL annoyed with it and it has been at least 2 weeks ago that it happened.
My sister came to visit right before Thanksgiving. It was so fun to have her come!! We did a lot of shopping and eating out to lunch. She also came just in time for Twilight to come to theaters. We went to the midnight showing the night before it officially came out. I am glad that I went that night. You could feel all the excitement and anticipation from all the teens and rabid Twilight fans radiating out from all sides. I loved the series so I was excited to see the movie. Alas, as it is always so, the book was way better than the movie. I did have a fun time watching it and it was an okay movie, but the script was weak and so was some of the directing. I hope since they have a better budget for the next movie that they will make more of an effort and make a movie worth making. I felt that this one was basically only for the fans of the book. I wonder if people who haven't read the book would like it (or understand it all) as much. One of my friends who saw it said that she was so excited to finally see Edward in the sun and when she finally did, he just looked sweaty. Ha. I thought that was funny.
My big news(or maybe not so big since I alluded to it in a post a few back) is that I am now officially a Homeschooling parent. I prayed really hard about it and that was the answer that I got. It makes sense for me right now to do this. In the long run, I really feel like it will benefit Connor to be home with me and get some good, intense, one on one teaching. I don't plan to do it for more than a year or two, as of now. During this winter break, I will be refining and organizing what I will be doing with him. I am in a bit of shock since I never thought that I would have the patience to do this, to even want to attempt this.I is amazing how things can change when the circumstances arrange themselves just so. I could have gone to the mattresses with the school, but in the end, I didn't want to put my energy toward that. I am burnt out on fighting. I am going to leave that to another parent.......I may even have to be that parent later on. But I felt my energy was better spent on getting him more up to speed now so there will be NO question that resource classes are where he should be later. The school says that he is functioning at an academic level of 3rd grade......if that is the case, it has been that way for about 3 years now. I have got to wonder why he hasn't progressed more. So, I am removing some of his daily anxieties and stresses and teaching him here. We are getting into a homeschooling group with whom we will meet with once a week. He will also be taking piano lessons, working out daily with me, and at least once a week doing something active like swimming class or rock climbing. It will also give me a chance to teach him practical uses of what he is learning and to see where he excels so that I can steer him that way in his future schooling.
So Christmas is coming up.....It has managed to sneak up on me faster that I was ready for it. There is so much that I need to still do. I am annoyed at Connor and Laurel because they keep changing what they "really want from Santa"....I started telling them that it was too late to change their minds. Connor told me it wasn't because he has just talked to the Santa at the mall the other day. So should I pop his bubble or let him continue to believe?? Laurel was cute and worried the other day that Santa might not come because"it doesn't snow in TX so he won't know where to go..." I told her that he always knew where to go no matter what the weather was like. In the meantime, TX can't make up it mind....it is 32 degrees and the cold just bites through your clothes, but 2 days again it was 77 degree and on Friday it will be again. At least we are getting the FULL use of our shorts here. Screwy TX! So, I need to get my Christmas baking done, get out all my family packages, send out Christmas cards, grocery shop for Christmas dinner, finish getting the last little items for stockings and gifts.....crud, I can't write anymore! I need to get with it. Hopefully I won't go so long in between writing anymore.....

Another genius moment

2008-11-14T12:25:00.000-08:00

Today as I walked out the door with Connor and Laurel to take them to school, I noticed that Tim's cell phone was in my car. As I looked at it, I thought, I know he is gonna miss that. He uses it a lot during work. As I was dropping Connor off at school, Tim's cell started to ring.
Me: Hello?
Tim: who is this?
me: your wife, Alice
Tim: hey, I think I left my cell phone at home.
me: you think?
Tim: can you bring it to me......
Anyhow, I couldn't stop laughing. It was a definite"here's your sign" moment.

The movies were right....well this time

2008-11-13T22:15:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I learned that not everything that we see on TV is exaggerated. My boys are really into Bakugan and have been trying to do extra chores around the house to "earn" one. It is routine for them to unload the dishwasher, but to do something extra, Connor asked to load it. I was more than happy with that and they should be doing it anyhow.....anyway.....Connor loaded up the dishwasher and then looked for the detergent to put into it. Not seeing it, he got creative and squeezed liquid dish soap into the detergent holder. He then made sure all the right buttons were pushed and then started the cycle. I had no clue of any of this until about 20 minutes into the cycle, I went into the kitchen for a snack. ARGH!!!!!!!! There were bubbles everywhere!!!!! My dishwasher looked like it had rabies or maybe even mad cow disease. Bubbles were oozing out everywhere and they were diligently trying to take over most of my kitchen. Ha. I stopped the cycle, drained it, wiped out the remaining liquid and then started it again with no detergent. Disaster was averted. I had a good laugh after freaking out about it. Wish that I had taken a picture though. BTW, the pix above is not from this incident, but another fun time we had.

Thanks

2008-11-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to write a quick note to say thanks for all the support from friends and family. It helps. I was just so down and angry when I wrote that last post. I know that I haven't gotten a chance to call some of you back and I will....I have just been so busy. A quick update.....the aide that said that the kids in the FASP program couldn't go to High School until they were 15 was wrong. Why someone in that position doesn't know what she is talking about is beyond me. You would think they would be better informed because she really freaked me out. She had also told me that they had NO Sp.Ed programs at the high school and that was wrong too(although I already knew that). Some of you asked if what they were doing is legal. Yes, it is. This is why: Resource classes work at a lower grade level(about 5th grade) and sometimes work slower, but Connor has regressed and is working at an even lower grade level(about 3rd grade) than a Resource class is set up to do. They have been modifying the work to meet Connor's needs, but to "show" me he doesn't belong there, they will take away those "further" modifications. Their intent is to point out that he needs to be in a more restrictive enviroment. I don't agree....I just think he needs an extra push and guidence and they don't have the "time or staff and no money in their budget to find someone" to do so. I am still deciding what to do, but I feel much calmer now and am looking at ALL my options. Right now, I am looking into the option of home schooling. It would be a BIG undertaking, but I can do just as good a job, if not better, than this system that I am stuck with. I know some of you won't approve of that,but I am not looking into it lightly. Anyhow, there's the latest. Thanks again for the support, advice and prayers.

Why Me?

2008-11-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, first you need to know that I hate the question that I used as my title. It is nothing but unproductive. But I am having a moment where I am asking myself, "why me?". The mantle of my responsibilties to my children is weighing heavy on my shoulders at the moment. I am so drained and need to find my inspiration to move through it and I am sure in another day or so I will be over this pity party. So, what am I talking about, you may ask.....I am going through it with the school that Connor goes to, Audie Murphy Middle School. I feel like I do this same song and dance every couple of years. Last year, I went through it so I came here with the confidence that I had my ducks in a row and everything would be smooth sailing....at least until he got into High School. He is in a Resource program. That is when a child who has learning issues goes to a series of classes that learn things at a lower lever than his mainstream peers. It can mean that the work is at a lower grade level or learned at a slower pace. The school he is in is telling me that he is struggling so badly that he can't be productive in this learning enviroment. I find it interesting that he was able to do it in MO, but not here in TX. It could be a product of a few things though......moving and the change that brings, he is no longer on his meds, he's being lazy....I don't know. But in the meantime, he isn't doing so hot here. They want me to put him in a FASP or SKILLS program....they are the same thing just 2 different ways to say it. That is a contained classroom in which you do all of your work at whatever grade level that you are able to learn at and maybe you get to leave for elective classes if you are able and up for it.It is the most restrictive learning enviroment in the public school system. I went to the class at the school they want him to move to and observed it to see what it was all about. What I found was a class of children that were much more severely handicapped then my child and if they weren't, then they were being WAY underestimated. I don't want to sound snotty in any way, but it isn't where my child should be. He does have his issues, but he is capable of more that what was going on in that classroom. This is what I walked into:
On one side of the class was a table with 4 students sitting at it. They were the group who were the most impaired. Even though it was reading time, they were being taught life skills....it happened to be a lesson about a place setting. An aide was giving them a plate, fork, knife, spoon and cup and asking the kids to touch the item she would name. In another corner was a group of kids that were having the teacher read them the story of Little Bear, a children's book with pictures. And asking them basic questions like who is in the story and things like that. Then there was a group of 2 students reading a piece of paper with a story paragraph at about a 2nd grade level to an aide. When they were all done with the reading hour, the students got to do a round of singing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes". Through the whole thing there was one more student that sat at a table in her wheelchair with her sippie cup doing nothing, but looking off into space. It was a sad commentary to see this girl and all I could think of was what a sad waster of time...she wasn't learning diddly and she needed way more than this setting could ever give her.
As I left, I just felt insulted that this is where they wanted to put Connor. I will concede that he may be struggling, but I really felt like this isn't the answer. It felt too much like giving up. He would never meet his potential or be pushed to progress in this enviroment. If anything, I think he would regress and be distracted by all the movement and noises that the children around him would make. So I went to the school meeting that I had hoping that there was another choice....a way to find a happy medium. In the meeting, I was basically told in so many words that his current school was not an option and that if I insisted that they leave him there, that they would take away all of his modifications that help him learn and "let the proof be in the pudding....he will either sink or swim and we think he will sink". Then they would have the right, according to them, to force my hand and put him where ever they want....meaning this FASP program. They also tell me that I have one more option....I can go look at the same program at one more school....because "every classroom has a different personality and you may like the one in that class better". So I go to look at another school, same program. The next school had 2 classes. One room had the severly impaired children in it and the other seemed a little more Connor's speed. It was close to being what I was looking for if I have to do this. Some of the children would leave to go to Resource classes and electives. Then, I talked to the aide in there and she informs me that any child that is put into this program isn't allowed to go to High School until they are 15....no exceptions. WHAT??!! If that is true then Connor would end up doing the 8th grade at least one more time, probably 2 since his birthdate is June 26, 1995. So, I am back to the mind frame of this choice really sucks....what am I going to do? I went home and cried due to my frustration and anger at the whole situation. I am doing a lot of questioning, soul searching, and praying. I began to wonder, "why me?" Why was I chosen to have this child when I can't seem to find the path that will make him successful. It is one of those times that I wish that I had money. Sadly, if I had that, then a lot of this would be moot. I could afford to do so much more for him. But we live on a military salary.....So, no crying over spilt milk. Today I am really drained from the whole ordeal. I know that I need to talk to some more people and that,with some faith, I will be guided to the right choice and situation for Connor.......but I am so tired of it being such a battle all the time.
Okay.....enough of my complaining and venting. I know that in the long run,I am blessed. So I will end it with that.

Halloween Funny

2008-11-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

I had a good time walking around with Laurel last night trick or treating. It was just her and I. At one house, they has really decorated and the whole family was out front waiting to give out candy. As we got closer, she saw that there was a witch(mom) and a vampire(dad) standing there.
"Look, mom! There's a witch and her husband, Spatula!"
It took me a minute to realize she was talking about Dracula. Ha. What an unscary name for a vampire.
She also asked me if I was dressed up. I was wearing my superman t-shirt last night. I told her that I was super mom. She looked at me and said:
"yeah, right! You must be dreaming."
I know that she wasn't putting my mothering skills down.....just telling me that I couldn't fly or be as fast as a speeding bullet. It still came out funny though.

Trunk or Treat

2008-10-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

We went to a trunk or treat tonight and the kids posed in the back yard for me before leaving. I don't know if I will get another chance at doing the picture thing tomorrow so here they are......the Metcalf Kids for Halloween 2008:

Tid Bits

2008-10-30T11:55:00.001-07:00

I feel like I am on a merry go round that keeps picking up speed. I have been so busy but when I come here to blog and share it all, I have a hard time remembering what has been going on. Ha.
I have been starting to go to the gym regularly. Tim has been doing some type of pre-training for Iraq so he has been going in late every morning. So he and I have been going to the gym together. I told him before going that he had to be nice to me. He enjoys making his soldiers work so hard at PT that they puke. He loves watching Biggest Loser because he likes how mean and tough Jillian is. He has been very nice to me…..no Jillian like behavior. He told me he just can’t be that way with me since I am his wife. Very sweet.
The kids are all jazzed up for Halloween. Connor plans of being the Punisher…..he wants me to go out and buy him more guns though. Gavin got a hoodie and gloves that are a skeleton costume. After talking to his friend, he doesn’t think it is cool enough and wants another costume or some type of wicked weapon to wield (say that 10 times fast). And Laurel was going to be a purple bat, but when we went to the store and saw all of the sparkly princess dresses, she was hooked. She is going to be Snow White. She insisted that she needed red lipstick for the costume so after some thought I gave in. I mean, what fun is Halloween if you can’t use a little makeup as a little girl. We are going to be going to a Trunk or Treat for my friends ward tonight so hopefully I will has pictures to post of them soon. Connor is bummed out cause I won’t let him go out to trick or treat this year. Am I being too mean? But he can do the trunk or treat so I am sure he will get over it.
I swear that Laurel lives in a musical. It makes me laugh cause Tim hates it when I make him watch them…..he says that it isn’t realistic that people will break into song for no reason. Now his own daughter is doing it all the time. What a hoot. She sings even where there isn’t anyone around for an audience. And they are necessarily songs that are known. She makes them up as she goes a long….sings about her day or what she is doing or what she wants to do….whatever strikes her current mood. I wish that I had a way to capture some of it on tape.
I had an IEP meeting about a week ago for Connor. He is struggling pretty bad at his new school. I think it is due to it being a different environment and trying to readapt to a new place….there is always a time of adjustment. I also think that they aren’t giving him all the services that he may need. And I took him off his meds before we moved here. The school wants to move him to another school entirely and put him into a program that would keep him in the same classroom except when he has to go to his 2 elective classes. I am not happy about that choice. Part of me, thinks that it is a good idea. Who wants their child to struggle? I find myself second guessing sometimes about how I may have an unrealistic expectation for what Connor should be able to do, but then I talk to him and realize that I am not too far off of what he can do. My big fear is that I put him in this program and then he is forever stuck and won’t be allowed to progress out of it ever again. I want him to reach higher, not remain in a comfort zone. I have come to the conclusion that part of his struggles are also from his laziness (for lack of a better word). He has been able to get away with people carrying him through for so long that he expects it now. He knows that if he says he can’t enough some adult at school will step in and “save” him. I feel like my time is running out…..he only has 5 more years of school (although I know that technically, he can stay in longer. I am hoping that he doesn’t need to.). Anyhow, I decided to put him back on his meds and ask for an aide in the classes that he struggles in the most. I want them to really exhaust their efforts before I put him into this other program. It would just feel too much like taking 2 steps back and then freezing in place. I know that they are going to be difficult when I go back with this plan….they already act like it is all said and done and he will be going to the program that they want because they don’t want to put forth the effort. I try hard not to be frustrated and to believe that Heavenly Father has a plan for Connor and me to make this work. But there are times…..in the darkest parts of the night……that I feel like a failure.
Gavin is still Bakugan crazy. He mopes a lot because he wishes that he made money to buy them all the time. If there are any good suggestions on how to do that out there, I am all ears. After hearing him grumble about how I NEVER buy him anything, I sat him down and gave him and economics lesson. I showed him how much we make and where all it goes. It was an eye opener for him, I think. He didn’t realize how much it costs to “live life”. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop the grumbling. He has become a wheeler dealer though. He took the Bakugan that he already owns and has sold them for some major profit to be able to buy more. I am impressed that he can find kids with the disposable income to do it and then gets them to do it. I was never that resourceful as a kid.
Lastly, my niece, Elisa, is getting married in February. She asked me if I would be her photographer. I was blown away. I was so flattered and honored that she would entrust that task to me. I am shaking a little in my boots about the prospect. It isn’t something that you can “do over” if it somehow gets messed up. But I think that I am up for the challenge. It made my mom cry to hear about it. My dad has been the one who has taken so many wedding pictures for family. But he has gotten to the point in his Alzheimer’s that he isn’t capable or interested in doing what used to be a passion of his. So, in essence, I am carrying on that torch. I hope I can fill his foot steps adequately.
Well, I need to be getting back to housework. So not into doing that lately, but it is the never ending task……

Field trip and Bakugan

2008-10-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

I love Autumn time. I love to see the leaves change color. The colors that appear at this time of year are some of my favorites. I miss being able to see it all happen. In Texas, all we really get to see is the grass turn yellow. But this week Laurel's preschool class got invited to go to a pumpkin patch. I was so excited. It has always been one of my favorite activities to go do with my kids. Going to a farm, picking out a pumpkin, maybe doing a hayride or walking through a corn maze.....those are the makings of some fun memories and some great pictures. So when Friday rolled around I was primed to go. We headed off to the pumpkin patch and after driving for about 15 minutes we were at "the place". It was a lawn in front of a church building right off of a very busy street. They had bought a boat load of pumpkins from an Indian tribe trying to make ends meet(that part I think is really cool). The pumpkins were spread around the huge grass lawn on wood pallets and there were stations set up around the perimeter. The preschool classes broke into groups and they got to go on a "hayride".....it was a hayride for the most part except that it just went in circle around a shrubby field(not much to look at). Then we went to the next station where they stood in a circle and sang Halloween songs. After that there was the "color a picture of a pumpkin" station, then the face painting station(everyone got painted on their hands)and then they went to a station where they got to paint a tiny pumpkin.

The last place they went to was the "read a Halloween book" station and then they were rushed back to the buses. The kids had a fun time, but I was sad. I know that I shouldn't care cause Laurel never knew the difference, but I was really sad that there was no picking out a "special pumpkin" or even getting close the the big pumpkins at all. The closest she got was the teeny thing she painted. I had been putting off buying any from the stores cause I thought this would be the place to get hers.....oh well. Like I said, she liked it so I will not complain anymore. I do miss real pumpkin patches though.....
Not much else going on in the Metcalf home except the constant chatter that I hear from Gavin about Bakugan. For those of you who don't have kids old enough to know what this is.....thank your lucky stars. LOL. It is basically another form of Pokemon, in a very loose sense. You buy these balls that open into things that battle each other and there are cards involved.
Going to Walmart turns into a production....they run right to that place in the toys. Sadly since they are so popular here, there are hardly ever any of those toys on the shelves. Gavin once asked me to visit ALL the Walmarts in the area(only 3 of them around here.....thank goodness). He finally found a KB toys that has quite a few of them. Now I am just hounded by him to to chores around the house to make money to buy them. I guess it could be worse. He could have some habit that cost him a ton of money to support. I will be thankful for that for just a bit longer.

2008-10-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a good and busy week. I am still sniffling and sneezing my way through it and I am tired of being snotty, but it's been pretty productive....mostly.
We had parent teacher conferences on Thursday. I wasn't told anything I didn't already anticipate. Connor is doing well in his resource classes, but pretty much failing his regular ones except for Science(cause he likes the labs and that saves his grade.) He has been getting frustrated with his locker, but has otherwise been doing well. I am STILL waiting for my IEP meeting to come about or as they called them here ARD meetings. Just have to be different, don't you TX? Anyhow....Gavin is doing awesome in his class and is getting a straight A.....his teacher went so far as to say that he is the most intelligent in her class. Wow. I never thought I would hear that about one of my kids. So pat on the back to Gavin and on my own back too since the genes must have come from somewhere. Ha. Laurel is doing great too in Pre-K. She LOVES her teacher and her teacher loves her back. I can tell it is a good fit. Laurel frequently comes home with "star of the day" pinned to her chest. I used to question whether it was a favorites thing or not, but after talking to the teacher, I found that it is just Laurel working really hard to please her teacher and in the end gets that reward. Basically you get a star for certain good behaviors and Laurel is competitive enough that she wants that star so she works to make sure she has the most stars on the board at the end of the day. What a hoot.
Tim went TDY to Fort Irwin this weekend so it has been pretty quiet. I look at it as a practice run to get us ready for him going to Iraq in January. The kids were really good and helped me to clean up around here and we even found the time to completely reorganize and "spring clean" in all of their rooms. I weeded out old and broken toys. Never got to my own room though. Ha.
Laurel got a chance to go to Chuckie Cheese on Saturday. My kids love that place. I call it a mother's migraine inducer, I'm gonna beat you if you don't get to the car cause I want to leave now not in 2 more minutes, money waster, I can't stand the stupid ticket prizes....place. That' a mouthful, I know. They all have a good time and I guess in the end, that is what matters. I got a funny sketch picture out of it so it wasn't all bad on my end. I am just glad that I only have to endure that every other year or so. Ha.

I love how Laurel looks drugged or sleepy, Connor looks like he is being choked by Gavin, and Gavin's glasses are crooked. All in all, a good representation of a day at Chuckie Cheese!

Skewed view

2008-10-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, it is a sad commentary when perceptions have become this skewed. Driving past the gas station on the way to drop Connor at school, I thought "wow, gas is cheap right now". It has come down to $3.02 here in TX. I say this is sad because a couple of years ago, we would have been outraged about gas being over $2.00. Strange.

Doped Up

2008-10-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't posted for a bit. Partly because not much news worthy was going on and party due to illness. Laurel came down with a cold. But she refused to stay at home and get better. She even woke me early Saturday morning just as the sun was thinking of rising to wail in my ear that she missed school. After explaining to her that there was no school on Sat., she proceeded to cry and tell me that she wanted to go anyway. She cried again on Sunday. I hope she keeps her enthusiasm for school intact.....check back in around 4Th grade and ask me if she has. In the meantime, I caught her cold too. I hate being sick and colds are the worse. They linger forever and seem to sap you of your strength. And of course being mom, you really aren't allowed to give in to being sick all the way. I don't do cold meds very well, either. So I have been a little loopy lately. In the meantime, my housework has piled high. My love seat has laundry overflowing like an avalanche ready to roll. At least I had the energy to wash it all. Now I just had to excite everyone into having a laundry party and get it all folded and put away.

Other than that, the kids are getting excited about dressing up for Halloween. Connor wants to be the Punisher. I am thanking my lucky stars cause it will be an easy and cheap costume. He already has the T-shirt so all he will need to do now is wear some black pants. Gavin was thinking of being a viking or knight, something with a cool sword to smite his brother with, but is now undecided. And Laurel was dead set on being a purple bat. I don't know where she came up with that, but that is all she talked about after dressing up for Halloween last year. So I was all ready to figure out how to sew a cute purple bat costume. Then we went to Walmart and walked past all the costumes and she saw all the sparkly princess dresses. She is now going to be Snow White. She couldn't resist all the sparkle and girliness of it all. Ha. She will make a very cute Snow White too. I was Snow White as a little girl so she is just taking after mommy.

Can We Cuddle?

2008-10-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Laurel wasn't feeling very well the other day and was getting kind of sad and grumpy. For those of you with kids, I am sure you can relate. Because she was feeling grumpy, she was being impatient and I was being short with her. All of a sudden, she asks me," Can't we just sit down and cuddle for a minute?" Of course I did it. I love when my kids give me a chance to have a quiet moment to just sit and hug on them. Those times are coming less and less and most times I have to force them into it with bribes. But I have noticed that even with Connor and Gavin,when they are having a bad day or coping an attitude with me, if I just stop and ask them to hug me, they tend to perk up and act better instantly. It also helps me to figure out what is really wrong sometimes. It's hard to remember that in the heat of the moment, but it does work. As I held onto Laurel and laid my cheek against her hair, I realized that there are still days that I wish that I was little enough to curl up into my own mother's lap and just cuddle with her.....to pretend that all the "bad stuff" would disappear. So, I will enjoy my moments of cuddling my kids for as long as they will let me.

Everyday Life

2008-09-25T12:33:00.001-07:00

So since I didn't post a picture of my boys yesterday, they asked me to put one of them in today. Here they are......Connor is making dinner for himself. If he looks funny, it is because he is trying to cover his nose with his shirt. He said that his food really stank before it was cooked and didn't like the smell. And this is Gavin watering his sister, I mean the lawn for me. Not much else to speak of. I am still trying to figure out what to do for my anniversary afternoon and cleaning my house. It, my house, seems to be made of Teflon, as none of my cleaning seems to stick.

How Quick They Learn

2008-09-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe it is a girl thing, but how is it that girls instinctively strike a pose like this when the camera is on them?

A/C, DVR, questions, oh my!

2008-09-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

I woke up to a puddle on my floor near the door that houses our A/C unit downstairs. Bummer. A/C is just kind of important here in TX. The good news is that I don't have to pay for whatever is wrong. The bad news is that I am stuck here all day until the maintenance guy shows up. The funny thing was to watch everyone step a foot in it except me and yell, "Eww!". Our cable box also gave up to ghost this morning. That isn't such a horrible thing cause I am not so addicted to TV like others in my home, but I am sad to see the DVR disappear. I love that invention:the ability to tape a show without a VCR and then watch it, being able to zip by commercials. Watching TV goes by so much faster for me now. I hope that we are able to transfer what we have already recorded. The kids will be sad otherwise. Oh well. No biggie. Tim is turning it in and getting a new one today. Anyhow, I got this email from Diana R. today and thought that I would do it here on the blog instead of the regular questions. Thanks Diana! It was fun to stretch my brain that way. The rule is to answer each question with only 1 word. Can I tell you how hard that was? I like to explain things. Ha. Or I talk too much. Here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Your significant other? Tim
3. Your hair? straight
4. Your mother? example
5. Your father? confused
6. Your favorite thing? bargain
7. Your dream last night? blank
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? college
10. The room you're in? Kitchen
11. Your fear? debt
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? gone
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? thin
15. Muffins? moist
16. One of your wish list items? vacation
17. Where you grew up? Monterey
18. The last thing you did? breakfast
19. What are you wearing? jeans
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pet? Children
22. Your computer? used
23. Your life? stressed
24. Your mood? grumpy
25. Missing someone? YES!!
26. Your car? old
27. Something you're not wearing? makeup
28. Favorite Store? Borders
29. Your summer? hot
30. Your favorite color? red
31. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
32. Last time you cried? clueless
33. FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: bed, bathroom, school, church
34. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS? chocolate, artichoke, crab, fondue

16 Years and Counting....

2008-09-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

So my anniversary is coming up....I can't believe that we have made it to 16 years. Somedays it seems so much longer. Another 3 years and I will have been married the same length of time as I was single. Weird. I had almost forgotten about it, actually. I have read other friends blogs, about the sweet romantic things that their husbands have done and planned for them to do. It would be so cool if I could have a year where my husband would take the lead and plan something that would blow my socks off. Alas, it is not to be. I married the wrong man for that. I will be thankful for my crumbs, I suppose. Our anniversary is on Sept. 25th. When I was reminded that it was coming up, I made mention of it to Tim. He then proceeds to tell me that he has planned to take a 4 day weekend around the 25th. Ahhh, how sweet, I think....he wants to spend all that time with me. Reality enters: the 4 day weekend will be devoted to a fishing weekend that he has planned. While online, he found a site that was running a bass tournament for military guys and all of it is free: the entry fee, a hotel room, and all food. So, he has already written and gotten a spot(without talking it over with me). "So instead of celebrating our anniversary on it's day could we do it on Monday?", he asks. Whatever. Sure. He wants me to come up with something for us to do on Monday....we have until the kids come home a little before 3pm all to ourselves. I have no clue what I will come up with or even what is feasible for us to do financially or time wise on that day. Not really excited about it yet.....maybe I will have a burst of creativity and come up with something cool and then start looking forward to it. We'll see how it goes.

Ouch!

2008-09-21T18:39:00.001-07:00

We had a good weekend for the most part. Tim woke before the sun came up on Sat. and told me he was fishing and would be back around noon. He says that he asked for permission and I call this cheating because there is no way my brain functions before around 8 am. I barely even remember the beforehand conversation taking place. Ha. Anyhow, Laurel was way happy cause she got to go to a birthday party. In the meantime, the boys and I cleaned house. They were really great and didn't even complain. Maybe my training of them is starting to pay off or maybe all the stars in the sky were aligned. Who knows....I am just happy that I got help with no grumblings. Later when Tim and Laurel got home, we all went out, bought Gavin a new bed, got Connor and Gavin haircuts, went to a book store, and then out to eat. All in all a pretty good day.
picture of Gavin's haircut
Laurel made a funny. While talking on the phone to my mom, she was trying to pull all her hair together and then twist is around. "hey mom, can you put a muffin in my hair?" I didn't understand for a second that she was asking me to put a bun in her hair. It is funny how sometimes we can mess up words like that.
In other news, Connor was messing around with some kids outside and got pushed off a scooter and ate pavement. We are lucky that all he got was some road rash on his face. I hate those scooters and a pair of wheelie shoes were involved too....I hate those even more. He is worried what people will say at school. I told him to tell people the truth and no one would say anything more. Hope I am right.
Connor's road rash....nasty bruising to ensue

They're cut, I bleed

2008-09-18T20:22:00.001-07:00

As a mom, there are times that you want to wrap your kids up and shield them from everything. I know it isn't possible and that at certain ages, life can be cruel. We all make it through, but it is still painful when I hear that one of my kids is having a hard time. Usually, it is Connor that I worry about, but Gavin is making it to an age that kids are beginning to try to be more popular and can be really mean. He has been getting teased a lot due to the fact that he wears glasses. I know I am his mom but I thought he looks really handsome in his glasses. Anyhow, he misses MO and his friends who never teased him. So, 2 days ago, he came home really upset cause the boy right next door that he had started to hang out with had turned on him and was calling him a nerd because he got good grades and wore glasses and he was even nerdier because he had befriended someone who wore glassed too. Then he was called gay cause he didn't have a girlfriend and hadn't kissed anyone. Come on! He is 10 for heaven's sake. Does it really start this early??? Anyhow, I talked to the boy and his mom. He denied it all(why would Gavin make it all up....whatever). The mom still yelled at him and got mad so the kid apologized to Gavin and all was right again. Aren't boys great that way.....if it were girls....I shudder to think of the ugliness that could ensue. Then later that night, his dad came home and he got another round of punishment. I was scared that that may have the opposite affect of making things right. I worried all night and all the next school day, but things are still good between them. I hope it continues. In the meantime, I am ready to go get him contacts before middle school starts next year cause I know it will only get worse. I just wonder if he is too young for them. It is something I need to think on, I suppose. Oh well. I had to laugh though when the father next door was saying that the reason why kids bully each other was because they don't like themselves and were jealous. I don't know if I believe that even as an adult. I just think that some kids haven't been raised right and are down right mean or sometimes kids can get caught up in peer pressure and mob mentality(kinda like Lord Of the Flies) or something stupid like that, but do we really still believe that old adage of jealousy and low self esteem?
On the funnier side of life, I was making some herbal tea for Gavin cause his throat was hurting and we had no medicine for it in the house. I drink my tea like the English do with sugar and cream in it. This is the conversation the took place:
me: do you want cream in it too?
Gavin: what does it look like?
me:(take creamer from fridge and show it to him)
Gavin: Yeah
I finished making it and handed it to him. He takes a sip and says: Cream with sugar....just like I like my women.
HA! I about fell over with laughter at such a random comment. At least he still knows how to make light of things and laugh even when the going gets tough. I wonder where he got that from(sarcasm)?

5 Second Gripe

2008-09-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

If one more teacher sends me a note home asking me for yet more school supplies, I might have to hurt someone! Why do they put a list out if they are only going to request more from us. And personally, some of it is insane.....almost every teacher of Connor's Middle school has requested that I send in a box of Kleenex. That may seem like nothing but think on this for a moment. That's 7 classes and then multiply the amount of students that run through each of those classes....that is a sea of tissue. So, I am ignoring it and if needed will send in his own personal tissues if he ever has the sniffles. One class asked for 7 spiral notebooks...for one class. I wouldn't have any problem with this other than the fact that most years, when they bring their stuff home at the end of the year, a lot of it is BARELY used. Waste of money and landfill. I remember going to school with a binder with a divider for each class. If I was really prepared I had enough paper and pencils, but that is all I got and I made it through the years just fine. Ha. Sometimes we complicate things so much nowadays. Up to this point I have spent about $200 on school supplies(that is between 3 kids mind you)....a little excessive and not in the budget either.
Okay, I am done complaining. On to the things that have made me chuckle. I got another offer for renting my home yesterday. Why laugh you ask? The couple asking to rent my home had 11 dogs!! Yes, I realize that our backyard is perfect for that amount, but come on. Even 11 dogs that are the best and most well behaved dogs would do such major damage that it isn't even funny. The realty lady that called prefaced the whole conversation by saying" I realize that we already have an offer that you are willing to take, but by law I am required to tell you of all offers...""there is a couple who would like to rent your house and they have.....11 dogs." WHAT?! Anyhow, I laughed and then turned her down. I am sure she saw that coming. I feel bad for that couple. How they will ever find a place is beyond me, but I don't feel bad enough to be that person. Ha.
Laurel came home the other day and told me she learned a new dance. She then proceeded to close her eyes, stick out her tongue, stick her rear out as far as she could, touch her knees together, feet wide apart, with her elbows tucked into her sides at a 90 degree angle. Can you picture this? She tells me it is the BootyTa. Ooookaaay....what are they teaching her? LOL. I will have to take a picture of it and put it up here sometime. Actually it is some activity recording that tells you what to do.....like put your elbows by your side....and it works up to you doing all of that together and looking funny. It could be a good lesson in following directions that is just goofy to boot.

Almost ready for that Sigh of Relief

2008-09-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

So I got a phone call today from our realty company telling me that I had 2 interested parties willing to rent our house. BUT....one had 2 dogs and the other had 2 dogs and 2 cats(we had specified that we would allow one pet). They were both willing to pay the non refundable pet deposit so I told her to go ahead with the couple with the least amount of pets. But they don't make it to town until the beginning of Oct. So we are still doing the waiting game of seeing if they will really move in or not. Although, I see a faint light at the end of the tunnel, I am not doing the victory dance yet. In the meantime, I will be crossing fingers, picking 4 leaf clovers, rubbing buddha statues and praying my heart out.
I got a good reminder today in an email from a friend and thought that I would pass it along:
"The Lord has promised us that as we 'search diligently, pray always, and be believing, . . . all things [will] work together for [our] good' (D&C 90:24). That doesn't mean that everything will be perfect or that we will not have any trials, but it does mean that everything will be okay if we just 'hang in there.' Ours is the opportunity to 'be . . . an example of the believers' (1 Tim. 4:12), and the Savior has promised that 'all things are possible to him that believeth' (Mark 9:23). So believe in yourselves. Believe that you are never alone. Believe that you will always be guided."
Elaine S Dalton, "Believe!" Ensign, May 2004, 110
They are inspiring words and I needed to hear them again.
With that being said, I forgot to do my questions the other day. So I will do it now:

What is your favorite book?
That is a hard one cause it can change and does often, but I think that I would have to say The Little Princess. It is the first words only book that my mom read to me and it began my love affair with reading. I showed me that reading words could conjure a whole new world in my head.

Would you rather be a Beauty or a Geek?
Okay......hmmmmmm.....if I was a great beauty, people would jump to do my bidding and somehow beautiful people end up with more benefits, but geeks usually end up making more money and are more successful that way....so I guess I would be a geek. I could always use the massive amounts of money that I made from my genius geekery and get plastic surgery to be more attractive if it bothered me enough. Ha.

Favorite perfume?
I like the scent of Beautiful by Estee Lauder, but I also like the cheaper version of perfume with body sprays by Bath and Body...currently I am liking Japanese Cherry Blossom.

Favorite cologne?
I love Cool Water by Davidoff, but I am a cheap date cause I also like the smell of some of the Axe sprays....a man who smells good is way hot. And a guy who wears Polo or Drakkar just makes me feel like I went back in time to High school. Ha.

Favorite Cartoon?
That's hard cause I still enjoy watching some of them.....Looney Tunes will always be a hit with me especially certain Bugs Bunny ones. I liked the Animaniacs...it had witty humor. I also like the Fairly Oddparents sometimes. Oh and one of the times that I have laughed the hardest is during one episode from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. I am posting it below....it is just a short clip. I know I have a strange sense of humor. I don't know if I can say they are favorites but as long as a cartoon has a witty, but not rude sense of humor, I can enjoy it.

Catch up!

2008-09-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

It is so easy not to post but I didn't want to get too behind so I will now try to remember all the non consequential things that have happened since last writing....I guess the biggest thing to happen was that I got Laurel's ears pierced. I know to some people that is no biggie, but for me it was a huge decision, well, sort of. As a girl, my mom always told me that I couldn't get mine pierced until I was 18 and it was a really big deal when she gave in and let me when I was around 13. Laurel had a fun time picking out what earrings she wanted...they had to be the most flashy of course. They were flower earrings that were made of pink crystals for the petals and a green one for the center of the flower. They pierced both her ears at the same time and Laurel was surprised that it hurt. I didn't warn her. Bad Mommy! She scrunched up her face and made that whining noise that kids do to start crying and then realized that they weren't hurting anymore and abandoned the cry tactic. She then got excited and picked out some butterfly earrings to wear when she can finally change them.
We had Tim's Chaplain that he works for over for dinner the other night. I turned into Super Homemaker and made a great meal if I do say so myself. Lasagna, homemade french bread, corn, and salad with homemade brownies for dessert. I know this isn't something fantastical, but for me it is big. I don't cook big meals often and so this was all out for me. Laurel made the comment that she was hungry like a wild hungry monkey person. Ha. It sounded funny and random.
The kids are still doing well with school for the most part. Connor still reports that he likes this school, although his history teacher is short with him. I guess it is time to make sure that doesn't go further. Gavin tells me everyday how much he hates it here and how lame the school is. He is my teen with Angst with a capital A and he isn't even a teen yet. Yikes. He can be such an Eeyore sometimes lately. Laurel is loving school. I kept wondering why she wasn't completely worn out by the end of school and found out that she actually naps during nap time. Good for her, bad for me. Ha. Below are pictures of Laurel on her first day of school(finally) and I feel bad that the ones of Connor and Gavin were so blurry that they are not worth looking at. I will load up some pictures of them soon.
Other than that, I just want to say to Taylor and Melina: Congrats!!!!! I wish that I could have come home to see you two married. I am so happy for you and wish you a wonderful and long married life, full of love and laughter.

NOT a morning person

2008-08-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

So school is in full swing and everyone is settled. I am feeling like I went back in time to my seminary days. I have been having to get up at 5:30am to get Gavin up and moving. His bus comes at 6:30. I then muddle through getting Laurel and Connor up right after he leaves and the day is off and running. I miss sleeping in. I got too comfortable with my sluggy ways. At least I have been being good and going to bed at a decent hour. Gone is my insomnia problem. Ha. Now if I can only find a good alternative to coffee so I can inject some "umph" into my mornings. Nothing like watching a blurried eyed mommy stumble around while trying to remember everything that needs to go with each child when her brain hasn't really turned on yet. Speaking of inject.....I am wandering off topic....in Tim's new Division there is a Commander that has decided that they all needed a new catch phrase to "pump of the guys" and show spirit. When I heard it I had to laugh. It is "Inject the Venom!" what it is supposed to mean or signify, I haven't figured yet, but it is funny to hear men yelling out:"INJECT THE VENOM!"

Time Waster

2008-08-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I know that I should be more productive.....especially when I have no kids around. But I got caught messin' on the computer. I just wanted to share a site I think is so cool! It is www.etsy.com. I know some of you may have already found it. I have a friend who actually sells her stuff on it. Angie, you truly amaze me with your sewing abilities... Anyhow, it is a site that people can sell their homemade crafts/art/goods on. Any kind of homemade item you can think of is on it. I have spent hours, accumulative, just looking at all the cool stuff. Just thought I would share.......

Thoughts and Questions

2008-08-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

So school has begun. I usually am celebrating at this point and in some ways I am. Yesterday was actually the first day of school. Laurel went to preschool ALL day. She had a great time and couldn't wait to go back this morning. Gavin was up first and earliest. He gets up at 5:30am and catches a bus at 6:30. Good training for when they start seminary. Ha. I can't believe that I have to begin getting up that early. Yikes. Naps are going to be my best friend this year. Ha. Connor has his first day of school today. He stayed home yesterday since the schools around here messed me up big time. Back to that in a minute. So this is the first day that I sans child. Wow. I don't know quite what to do with myself. I have a ton of housework that needs to be done and I could go to the gym and start getting healthy, but I think today, I am going to veg most of the morning. I am nervous for Connor and Laurel was sad that I wasn't the one to walk her this morning to school so they are both on my mind. Gavin also came home yesterday from his first day and reported that he "hates everything about this school and wants to go back to MO". Poor kid.....he can be so negative. According to him, the bus ride was too noisy and rowdy, the first teacher he was with he doesn't like, he didn't find a kid that he likes yet and even his favorite class, PE, was really lame. I told him to give it time it would get better. Going back to Connor....I went through the whole registering process only to find out a day 2 days before school started that his school was A) one of the worst schools in the district, B) would be a horrible place for him to be cause it is too rough and C) they couldn't even accommodate his IEP there. So, I had to scramble to get a transfer to the other middle school on post and get it all done before school began. Of course that didn't happen so he stayed home for the first day of school while we did yet more running around so that he could go today. The system really failed me this time in the information department. Good thing I took Clara classes and got right into it from the beginning so at least Connor didn't have to suffer through going to the sucky school. I am crossing my fingers that his day (and the rest of the year) goes smoothly. He looked like he was gonna cry when I left.....he was so scared and nervous of the unknown. It put butterflies in my stomache. But I smiled and told him he would have a great day and not to worry....people would help him if he needed it. I will put up pictures later of their first day.
As for the questions...I forgot to do them the other day so here they go:

Favorite thing about the opposite sex:
Ok...physically speaking, I love a man that is fit. I am not talking monster buff where his neck disappears into his shoulders, but a lean guy with muscle definition. So after establishing that, I love a man's muscled back. Don't know why, I just think it is hot. I love the way they can make me feel safe and secure and taken care of. But I also like they way a guy handles conflict with another guy....they yell or beat the snot out of each other and then it is over basically. There is no grudge holding or slaying each other with gossip and talk like women tend to do.

3 jobs you would like to try other than what you currently do:
1. a cartoon character voice
2. personal shopper for a rich person
3. professional photographer for pregnant women and children

What's your favorite accent?
I LOVE to Irish people speak. I could listen to an Irish man read the telephone book all day.

Best advice ever given to you:
I really can't think of the BEST advice, but the funniest was at my bridal shower. Some older lady told me that if I was going to fight with my husband, I should do it naked. That has stayed with me for 16 years. Ha. I have never done it but it does pull up a funny mental image.

Favorite Cereal:
As a kid, we weren't allowed sugared cereal very often since it was just too expensive. I craved the forbidden cereal. But now, I have gone back to liking boring old Cheerios. Go figure.

Perspective

2008-08-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

I was reminded again that perspective is everything. I have been having a hard time of it since we found out we were moving to TX. It seems like I kept getting bombarded with one crisis after another. Today, in the early quiet moments before we all awoke to get ready for church, I had an epiphany. Every time something came up, I would heave a great sigh and think "dang, I thought things couldn't get any worse and now they have." I felt like I was repeatedly failing some test that the Lord was putting me through or being punished. As I thought through it, although nothing that has happened has been easy or fun, I have always figured out how to work through it and move forward. So, instead of heaving that great sigh, I got onto my knees and said thank you for showing me how to problem solve and sending the right people into my life at the right moments. I am so thankful for the guidance and support that family and friends have given me. They answered prayers without even knowing it most times in the last couple of months for me. I hope that I can keep this perspective up for then next thing that gets thrown my way.

Blessings

2008-08-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, now that I am over the shock of the crappy news, I am back to being positive again and trying to look at this with a good outlook. I felt better after talking to Tim. He pointed out that we still were waiting for our dity move money and the travel money from our move here. That should cover at least 1 or 2 more house payments. I am hoping that it gets rented out like tomorrow though. And more good news, paying your tithing works. Ha. Today in the mail, I got a sizable check from our home owners insurance company. They said that they had charged us overpayment or that we had double paid or something like that. I hadn't even know that that had happened so this check was a definite surprise. I looked at that check and smiled. I know that I was blessed. I hope that the house rents so I can use the dity money to pay down some debt, but at least I know that we won't go into more debt.....at least not for another couple of months. So for now, chin up and power forward.

Thank you Sir, May I Have Another One

2008-08-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

Dude, we just can't seem to catch a break. I hate that I am going to sound like a complete whiner in this latest of blogs but I need to just get it out. Every time I think we are out of the woods with our house, we are dragged back into it. So I was way excited because at the beginning of August, a family had decided that they wanted our home to rent. They had saw it online and decided that it was what they wanted, but wouldn't be able to move in until the 15th. Yea! I was no longer going to have to stress out about trying to pay for a house and make rent here in TX. We are so in debt right now that I wonder if I will ever see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is an evil, evil thing. Anyhow, I call this morning to make sure that all is well and that I can finally turn off all the water and electricity. And that is when the crap hits the fan.....Our property manager tells me that the family has backed out of living there. They came and saw it and although they love the yard and there isn't anything "wrong" with the house, it is just too small and they don't want it. Holy heck! One of the worst parts is that we have no recourse in which to penalize them.....it never crossed my mind to ask about that beforehand. I will now. Live and Learn. SO, we now we are back into having to find someone to live there and do so before the influx of people coming to Fort Leonardwood stops. I have lost faith in anything having to do with this house. I have been burned over and over where it is concerned and in the end, nothing....NOTHING good has come from us having bought that house.

Questions

2008-08-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

I finally got back to church today after 2 weeks away. It was nice to go back. I always feel like my week never ended when I miss church. SO this was the second time I have gotten to our new ward since moving here. I was way more vocal....figured I better make my presence known. Ha. It didn't take them long to give me a calling. They called me and asked me to be a primary worker. I will be teaching the 7 yr olds. I am bummed out. Not that I have to teach these kids(have no problem doing that), I am just sad that I won't have a chance to meet the women of the ward before being sent off to Siberia. I guess I will just HAVE to go to all of the mid week activies now so that I can find out more about the RS and not just some of their children. Whatever.
So for the questions.....

Where did you meet your Husband?:
I met Tim at YSA in Monterey, CA after the summer of the year I graduated high school.

What was your first impressions of him?:
I noticed his backside first since he was faced away from me when I walked into the room. It was very nice. When he turned around his eyes really caught my attention. It isn't often that you see such light eyes with such dark hair. Anyhow, personality wise, I thought that he was very reserved and comfortable to be around, easy going, good conversationalist.

How did you end up dating each other?:
This is where our stories differ a little(you'll have to ask him sometime for his version)....I remember that after one activity he asked if anyone would like to go to a movie and I said sure. His best friend Jon tagged along and when we got to the theater, they sat me in between the two of them. Jon made the first move so I started dating him. The whole time, Tim told me what a bad idea that was because Jon could be a bucket head(his words, not mine) and that he was on the rebound. I didn't listen. Tim and Jon would come to my house to hang out a lot cause it was nicer than the barracks. Jon dumped me to date Tim's sister while she was visiting Tim. She didn't go for it since Tim had warned her not to and she listened. Jon started dating someone else and me, again, at the same time. He dumped the other girl to be with only me and shortly there after, I dumped Jon....finally realizing that he made a horrible boyfriend but a good friend. Since he and Tim were always hanging out at my house, Tim just never stopped coming over and one night asked me to go see a movie(by ourselves). We started holding hands and that was that.

What was your fist date?:
Our first date was to go see Beauty and the Beast on post. We went to a YSA activity afterward and I remember someone telling us that we looked like an old married couple. Ha. Was that someone telling the future?

How did you know he was "the one"?
Well, unlike most people who say that they prayed about it and got a really strong answer, I can't say the same. I was just so young and felt that as a good member of the church it was my duty to get married to a good and righteous man as fast as I could after graduating high school. I know that isn't true now but that is the message that I got and interpreted from all those YW lessons that I got. The other boy that I had been in love with after graduating high school had broken my heart and I was doing the dating thing and looking for that righteous return missionary to marry. I knew that Tim was different because he was the first guy who hadn't tried to take advantage of me. He was my friend first. It took us 2 weeks to have our first kiss and that was a BIG change for me. I had always kissed guys right away. I knew that Tim had prayed about it and gotten the answer that I was a good choice so I just went along with that.

How did he propose?
He tried to be tricky. Ha. We were supposed to have had dinner that night together. I was going to make him dinner at my apartment, but I ended up having to work the closing shift at the store I worked at. I had had a really bad day at work and was looking forward to hanging out and cuddling with Tim to make me feel better. He met me at work and followed me home. As we got out of our cars,he told me that he had to leave within 15 minutes because he had a room inspection the next morning. I was bummed and as soon as he left, I ran to my room and flung myself on the bed to cry. Yes, I was dramatic(what could I say, I was young). About 7 minutes later, a knock came at the door and when I opened it, it was Tim. "What are you doing here, did you forget something?" I asked as I tried not to let me see that I had been crying. "I forgot to give you this" he said and he handed me the ring box. I knew immediately what it was and started crying and flung myself into his arms. After a couple of minutes, he asked if I was ever going to open it so I did and then he asked me to marry him and I said yes(thank you capt. obvious). I asked him how long he could stay since he had an inspection and he admitted that he had made that all up just to add drama to the moment.

When and where did you get married?
we got married on Sept. 25, 1992 in the Oakland, CA LDS temple

Lost Momentum

2008-08-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, I have been slacking this last week. Not really being very productive and sleeping in late almost everyday. I am amazed that my kids let me do this, but they have been leaving me alone until about 10am. I can't believe that I have been sleeping that long, but I guess in the end, I needed it. The kids are all on each other's nerves. Both they and myself can't wait until school begins so that they can meet new kids to interact with and have something more to do with their time other than sit around while I unpack yet another box. Tomorrow, I think that I will put unpacking off a little more, most of the day, due to the fact that it is tax free weekend here in TX and amazingly Connor has lost most of his shorts. I bought him about 5-6 pairs before leaving for UT and now I can only find maybe 2 pair. Whatever. So we are off to buy some new clothes. Gavin is happy cause he is always about getting something better than what he already has. He is lucky that I am such the bargain hunter and can usually find something "cool" at a price I am willing to pay(which is usually pretty cheap). It is getting harder and harder to do that with him though, cause he is getting older and brand names are starting to get more important. Other than that, the RS pres and a counselor made a visit to my house to introduce themselves and meet me. They seem like nice ladies. I haven't felt the need to find a friend yet that I usually do when I move in. I usually have this almost desperate compulsion to find female companionship, but this time it is lacking. Probably too busy and a little burnt out to care yet. Ha. Apparently, I will see no home teachers while I am here and I am told not to even count on them for anything.....that is because the men of the ward are mostly military which equals mostly deployed here. Tim will be gone a lot of Sept and most of Oct doing training and TDY stuff so I guess we are fast easing into our time apart with these "test runs". Well, I gotta get to bed. Laurel and Tim are going fishing in the morning and I need to get all her stuff ready. I still think it is funny that only Tim's daughter like to fish while his boys hate it. Ha.

Favorite Pictures

2008-08-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

I was looking at my cache of pictures on my computer and realized that I don't really look at them often enough so I decided to post a few of my favorites. No reason other than to be able to see them one more time. Really no other special reason. So happy viewing.

Wasting Time

2008-08-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

So I was on the internet today, again, when I should have been being more productive and finally got a chance to watch the internet movie called
"Dr. Horrible's sing along blog". I loved it! Okay, I know I am strange, but I really get Joss Whedon's brand of humor. So if you like Joss Whedon-maker of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly-you will get a kick out of this. You better get there soon though cause it is not going to be on the net indefinately. Anyhow, it is at www.drhorrible.com
Have fun watching!

Random Questions

2008-08-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

So while I was perusing the net today and looking at an abundance of blogs, I came across a blog in which,weekly, the blogger answered random questions about herself. I thought that was a cool idea. I love it when I get to read those kind of tid bits about my friends and family so I thought, Hey, I would give it a try. So I am stealing the questions that I read from her blog today and using them for my own. Next time, if you have a good question/questions, email me and I will answer those. So here goes:

What where you doing 10 years ago?
Okay, that is hard for me since I have a bad memory for a lot of things...should have been a blond in some ways.....ummmm, We lived in Fountain, CO and I had given birth to Gavin that year in Feb. I also got to go on my first vacation by myself since getting married to Tim to see my friend, Robin, get married and went to my first ever bar with her for her bachelorette party.

5 snacks I enjoy:
1.chocolate
2.chocolate
3.chocolate....no I am kidding, sort of. I do love chocolate.
4.really fresh strawberries
5.home gorwn tomatoes with just a little salt

5 things on my To-Do list:
1. finish unpacking
2.get rid of all excess trash and misc. items no longer needed/wanted
3.buy a new phone(my land line phones don't work and I have a land line number I am not using currently)
4.Go to Connor's school and introduce myself and Connor to the staff....let them know that they will see A LOT of me this year. Ha.
5.get in contact with all important bill people and give out new address....make out new address card to friends too.

If I suddenly became a Billionaire, I would:
Give a million to each of my siblings, parents, inlaws, and Tim's siblings, and to my close friends. Pay off all my debts....car, boat, house, credit cards(then upgrade them all). Ask Tim to retire. Travel to a lot of places that my father has been to and taken really cool pictures and see them all first hand. Find specialists in the area of Autism(school wise) and enroll Connor in their programs(Either that or pay Clara to school him continually.HA.my personal autism whisperer) I would also donate a lot to the Cure Autism Now charity. I would also hire a chef to make all my dinners for me forever after and a personal trainer to help me lose and keep weight off. And(before this list gets too long) hone my skills as a photographer and do that as a living just for the heck of it.

5 jobs that I have had:
1. balloon decorator(where I decorated with balloons and sometimes dressed up in the costumes of Belle or Jasmine for parties)
2. Asst. Manager at Wilson's Suede and Leather....loved that leather mini's that I couldn't where after getting married. Sigh.
3. Manager of a card shop....loved the creativeness of being able to creative the window displays
4. Mother's helper...kind of a version of nanny for a CNM in TX the first time we lived here
5. sales assoc. at Express Limited

5 things that you may not know about me:
I think I am a pretty open book so this will take some mind stretching.....
1. I would love to be a professional photographer of children and pregnant women
2. I really want to learn how to scuba dive
3. I want to learn how to ballroom dance
4. I hate bananas...the taste is fine, but the texture creeps me out
5. I can still do the splits

Hope you have as much fun reading these tid bits and I did writing them.

Metcalf funny

2008-08-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today, while sitting with Gavin in the living room, Laurel came to me and asked for a snack. I told her no because she has JUST eaten a banana and I figured she should wait a while longer before eating more. Gavin said to her "man, Laurel, you are nothing but a bottomless pit". "Nah uh", she said, turned around and pointed to her own bottom and continued "I got a bottom right here". I died laughing!

House of boxes

2008-08-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

So we are in our house on post and they delivered all our stuff to us about a week ago, but we are STILL unpacking boxes. Most of that is due to the fact that I keep developing a case of adult ADD(LOL)and things like school registration and the last book in the Twilight series has popped up. It is so hard to stay on task when all I want to do is read all day until I am finished and I get to know how the whole series will end up. I am more than half way done and wish that I knew someone around here so that I could discuss it. Oh well.... Back to our house, it isn't so bad. All the kids have their own rooms and the boys are way jazzed about that since it is the first time ever. The common living spaces are a little strange but anything is doable when it isn't for forever. If you want to see a layout of our house, go here: https://onestop.army.mil/_hqd/BaseHousing_show.asp?base=67&planid=14&rid=1&k=0
That's what it looks like but flipped the opposite way.
As I said before I got the kids all signed up for school. I don't know what I will do with myself once school starts since Laurel will be in an all day preschool program. So much free time on the horizon, whatever will I do with myself. I plan on going to the gym a lot. I am planning on hitting my goal weight this year. Tim is so busy with all the pre-deployment stuff going on that we don't see a lot of him. At least I still get to cuddle up to him at night right now. Our new ward here is a little strange. They didn't even ask the visitors to introduce themselves. SO I fugure one sunday, I'll just raise my hand to answer some question and then launch into "hi, my name is Alice......." Ha. Just kidding. I am not passing judgement yet, but thought it was strange. Anyhow, here are a few pictures of what we did this summer:

Laurel found a snake in the back yard of a relatives house in CO and had a blast playing with it.

Went bowling with cousins and Gavin got mad cause Laurel won:

Played way too many video games:

Went to my inlaws 50th wedding anniversary:

Connor Turned 13! and scored 3 rounds of present openings and 2 cakes:

Hiked up the canyon and had play time with lots of cousins:

Waterskiing in CO and Laurel started us all off by doing it herself(my dare devil child):

And Plenty of playtime at the Metcalf Farm with all the animals( Laurel was in Hog heaven):

Over all it was a fun summer and we loved seeing all of our family and friends. Hope TX treats us as well as MO did.

On our Way

2008-07-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Yea!!!! We are finally taking off tomorrow morning for TX. I never thought that I would be that excited to finally make it to TX but it will be a relief to be in my own space and with my husband. Clara and her family have been incredible and I am so thankful for their generosity and graciousness. It will take forever to repay the kindness of letting us hang at their house through this whole thing. Anyhow, I will be silent for a bit and then I will return and hopefully with a ton more pictures. Take care until then! I will miss everyone from MO that I got close to. In the Army, you never know who you will run into again so here's hoping I will see you again sometime in the future.

Clean Up

2008-07-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

So we got through packers being in our home. I always wonder if it will all make it to my new home and in what kind of condition....We even had some people look at the house while they were packing us out. I had to laugh. Who in their right mind would get a good impression of a home that is in total disarray? Ha. Anyhow, I cleaned up when they were all gone and realized that it would look better and probably sell better if I painted the whole interior an off white. I weighed all the pros and cons and then decided that in the end it was worth it to have a pro do it. The blood, sweat, and tears that it would have caused me just wasn't really worth it. So they just got down this morning. It looks pretty good. I found another problem in the process though. There was a leak behind the fridge that has been there the whole time we have lived there and cause damage to the wall. The painters fixed the wall damage but now I have to buy a new part to fix the initial leak so that there won't be more damage done to the floor. I can't seem to win in this move. But I am keeping my chin up and figure, it is better to have found the damage now than when I had left. A blessing in disguise.....Tim has a home set up for us when we finally make it to TX. We will be living on post in Comanche Village II and it will be the first time EVER that my kids will all have their own rooms. Tim told me that it has really grown and changed since we last lived there. I hope all goes smoothly for us from this point on. But as of now, I am still in MO doing the last minute clean ups and fixes and praying that someone loves our home and buys it.

Family Vacation

2008-06-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

So we are now heading back from our trip to UT. We had a fun time seeing family, hanging out and generally laughing and joking. It felt good to not deal with the stresses of everyday life(But always in the back of my head was the thought that I wish the house would sell). I have seen some pretty cool things while on our trip and wished that all of them would have translated as well on camera as they do in person, but alas not all will. In Kansas, we witnessed the vast neverending fields of grass.....they seemed to be a huge green ocean. The wind was blowing and it caused the grass to dance and sway. I don't know why but I found that beautiful and cool to watch. I was great to see the hugeness of the mountains of Colorado. They are not as lush with greenery as we see in MO but their sheer mass reminds me of how incredible all of the Lord's creations are. While in UT, we went to Bridal Veil Falls and I loved watching the waterfall there. I know that it isn't the most spetacular one out there but it was still nice to dip into on a hot day.
While in CO, we got a chance to stop in and see our old ward from Colo Springs. It was like coming home. As I drove in it felt like I had just come home from a really long vacation. It felt so good to see old friends. I got a few double and triple takes before they finally realized it was really me sitting in the chapel....I had a good chuckle. I wish that we could be going back there on a move since we have to move on again, but alas it is not meant to be at this time.
We saw A LOT of family and a mass of cousins. I loved watching my children interact with them and hope at some point I will be able to get some pictures uploaded here but that won't be for awhile longer since I have no internet access at our home. Oh well. At least you will hear from me from time to time until then. I wil feel good to be in my own bed soon, But it has been great to see family. I miss being able to live near them desperately. But the one thing I will not miss in all this driving around is the gas prices and the whining of the children as we drive. Why do they insist in driving me insane in the car......why is it when children are stuck in the car and bored that they tend to pick one of two activities....either they whine at me or fight with one another. At least it won't be much longer before we get home and then we will at least not have to drive again at least for another couple of weeks. Then begins our trek to TX.......

on our way

2008-06-08T21:05:00.001-07:00

So we are traveling and I am writing to you from a hotel in CO, but I wanted to let everyone know that all is well and we are having a some fun moments here and there on our little adventure to UT for the 50th wedding anniversary of Tim's parents. I will post some of the funnies and other news when we finally get to a stopping place, but wanted to warn that from now until we actually get to TX posting will be sporadic at best. I am at the mercy of other's computers. I just hope to make it in one piece at this point. I was having potty emergencies the first 3 days of our trip and now I am throwing up with a massive headache. Gotta love being at the mercy of fast food. YUCK!!

Major Snafu

2008-05-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

So it is almost 12:30AM and we have been cleaning and packing up all day and doing all of the crazy things that goes along with the packers coming the next day to pack us up. It was on the calendar that on May 28th and 29th the movers would be here. My house is pretty torn apart and I am almost packed to go on leave for a long time and then head to TX. Tim asked me if I had the paperwork for the packers ready and I got them off the kitchen counter. As we were discussing them, he looked down and made mention that the lady who helped him out process had put down the wrong pack time of July 28th and 29th and he had had to change it to June. You mean May, right?, I asked. He looked down and suddenly realized that the pack date on his orders was for June 28th and 29th. Talk about a major mess up. A few choice words flew around the room and we both had a moment of stress until I realized that there wasn't a whole lot that I could do tonight about it. I am just trying to see the silver lining in all of this and am trying to reason out that this must have happened for a reason. It may all work out for the best but whatever that may be, I have a messy house now and a more stressed out husband for now.

You Know it's Time, When......

2008-05-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, I give in and will start to do something to lose the weight I know I should. The other day while I was standing and watching TV for a brief moment, Laurel came up to me and laid her hands on my stomach. "Mommy, you have a big tummy....do you have a baby in there?" "Nope, I just have fat in there". That alone should be enough to make me want to lose weight. We all know that kids can be brutally honest and so when my 4 year old tells me I am fat, I am pretty sure that I am not hiding it too well anymore. But the clincher to making my self esteem plummet even more and know that now is the time for action is when I overheard her telling her friend in excitement,"my mommy has a big tummy with fat in it!" I still can't figure out why that would be cause for excitement. Ha.

Bathing Beauty

2008-05-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here is Laurel's personal swimming pool aka the sled.

Funny of the week

2008-05-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

While I was busy in the living room, Connor was on the computer. The computer is right next to the back door and you have a wide open view of what is going on outside. Connor suddenly pipes up,"umm, mom, Laurel is outside naked...." What?! I go to the window and there she is in ALL her glory. She had pulled a sled up onto our deck and filled it with water and was laying in it completely nude with all her clothes scattered on the deck. Ah, the freedom of being 4 in the summer time. I just wish that I had had my camera handy. What a great black mail picture for the teen years to come. Ha.

Decisions, decisions

2008-05-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

Tim came home from being TDY in TX at some conference on Thursday night. And then spent all of Friday fishing with Laurel.....well, not all day. He did come home and manage to go out to dinner with me because the Blau's were doing their "free babysitting for anyone who wants it" thing that they do. So we went out to dinner at the Mediterranean Grill. Their Chicken Marsala is horrible-FYI. While there, he dropped a bomb on me. Tim told me that he will be deploying for Iraq in January instead of a year after getting to TX like we thought. Yea, I knew another deployment was imminent, but it will be upon us in 6 months. He then asks me if I would rather stay here in MO while he goes ahead to TX and we would just end up being apart for about 18 months. The catch was that I needed to pretty much make up my mind on the whole issue by Monday morning cause that is when he goes in to start out processing. Nothing like getting prayers answered under time constraints. Heavenly Father, I need a reply but could you hurry, I am on a schedule......Yea, right. Anyhow, so the whole deal consumes my every waking moment like you could not believe and I start going through the pros and cons of should I stay or should I go(cue bad 80's song here, ha)... And after much agonizing I feel like the pros outweigh the cons on my staying in MO with the kids while Tim goes to TX and then to Iraq. So I approach Tim on Sunday night to talk about the logistics and finances and the "how to go about doing this" thing: I mean, can Tim live in the barracks or can he rent a room from a member of the church around there? I may need to make some money to offset cost during the 6 month period of time he isn't deployed, what things from our house would he want to take with him, ect.....My husband looks at me and says, I don't know that you should stay here. You should just go with me now and we will rent the house if is doesn't sell, but I'm not sure, let me talk to someone tomorrow when I out process. AAAAAAAARRRGH!!! Are you trying to send me to a nice padded room on a funny farm or what?! So, now I have to go back to all those people that I talked to and told that I may be staying here and say scratch that please, I don't know what got into me. Should I even pray about it at this point? I feel like I am crazy times 10. Oh well, I guess I should be used to this kind of thing since I have been a military spouse for 15 plus years......

Inspired

2008-05-09T11:22:00.001-07:00

Clara was taking pictures of the girls that she tends and I was helping out.....We snapped a few of Laurel and it inspired me to get my own camera out and take a few of my kids. It has been a while since I have had any good pictures of them taken. Anyhow, this is the results:

quick funny

2008-05-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Lately, whenever I ask Laurel to do something, she salutes me and in a stereotypical military fashion, barks "yes, Sir!" I thought it was funny, but that I should probably teach her to be polite in the right way. So, the next time she did it, I pointed out that boys were sir's and girls were ma'am's. I went further and told her that daddy was a sir, I was a ma'am and so was she. She looked at me and responded," I am not a ma'am, I am a lady." She sure told me.......

tending children and a dead sqirrel

2008-05-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

So we are still in "please buy my house" mode. Except on top of that, I have added to my stress level. A good friend of mine had to have an operation and she happens to tend 3 little girls every day. Since I really love this friend and knew that she needed help. I volunteered to tend her day care kids for a 10 day period. I have come to the conclusion that I am just too nice. Ha. They aren't bad kids at all and for the most part aren't too hard to handle, but taking care of a 4 yr old, a 3yr old and two 2 yr olds can really be exhausting. And I have found in myself that I am not daycare provider material. Although I have been kind and attentive to all the kids( mine included), I don't enjoy doing this and I count down minutes to things like nap time and time to drive in the car and when their parents will come and get them. I feel guilty for feeling that way but I do.....I am now stressed out to the max. Poor Laurel is acting out a bit since her space and regular routine has been turned upside down. I am also dealing with trying to keep a constantly clean house(even with all the kids), end of school year activities, Tim's military functions and Hail and Farewells, and now I added this to the mix. Calgon take me away. I even began to toss the idea around about becoming a Pampered Chef Consultant at a party the other night. This month is a really good deal where if you do 4 successful parties this month, your starter kit is free. It may be too good an offer for me to pass up. Tim got mad when I suggested it though since that could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I keep thinking of all the things that I didn't get to chance to do or see here in MO now and am trying to think of ways to try to fit it. It is obviously not going to happen though. I can't believe that they will be here on May 28th to pack us up. I hope that we can sell our house before then.....with nothing in the house, you can see it flaws clearer. I just need to start having some more faith that it will happen. We just can't afford NOT to sell this place.

In other news, the kids found a squirrel stuck in our chain link fence. Most of it's body was on our side of the fence and the other half was in our neighbors side. Laurel came in yelling excitedly about it and Gavin was hot on her trail to explain the excitement. "We found a Squirrel stuck in the fence, Mom!" "Is it still alive?" "Nope, I hit it with a stick really hard to check to see if it was still alive and it didn't move" Translation: If it was alive, it isn't anymore cause I hit it pretty hard with a stick..... I went to look at it and find it hanging like you see above. I found out that when jumping through our fence, he grabbed the electric wire that the neighbors have set up to deter their dogs from escaping the yard and wouldn't let go until he was dead. I know it is not funny, but I kept picturing a cartoon version of it happening and started to laugh. Now we know that I have lost it if I think that is funny. Oh well. Tim was kind enough to don gloves and remove it to the trash. I am so glad that I didn't have to do that dirty job....

Selling and Cleanliness

2008-04-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

While in Monterey, we got orders to PCS to Ft. Hood, TX with a report date of July 10th. I don't know that I should ever go on vacation again. Between Laurel's hair-capades, a messy house to contend with, and unwanted news about moving, I don't know if my trip was worth it. Ha. Anyhow, we, Tim and I, both began to panic and wake at 2am with thoughts of "how will we manage to sell this house on time?" I looked at my house and saw all the things that we meant to upgrade but never had time or money. But we went to a Realtor and put it on the market. I worked and made sure that the house was very clean......that lasted about a week then everyone trashed it and I was just too tired to keep it up on my own. Then I had a burst of energy and recleaned it all and organized it all down to the closets. You can open most any of my closets and they look very nicely put together. I even decluttered our rooms and prepacked a lot of things. I have learned in this process, though, that when selling a house suddenly there isn't much privacy. People can look in just about any space. Weird how that is okay just for this period of time......Come on in folks and snoop to your hearts content. Want to look in all my drawers. Go ahead, just buy my house. Ha. We had our first looker today. I wanted to jump up and down in joy. I had to reign myself in and remind myself that we couldn't possibly get that lucky....our first looker also be our buyer. Murphy's law also came into effect and our blower fan motor to our heating and cooling system died......$152 we didn't have to spend now gone. I am trying not to be OCD now though. Even though my house is as clean as it has been in a long time, I still look at it and see more things that need to be cleaned....like I need to dust continually or polish the wood furniture or I keep finding little spots on the carpet. They are things that others would probably never see or notice but now they are really irritating me. Sigh.
In other news, Gavin is playing soccer again and having a good time. He was a little beat up the other day with a kid smacking his glasses off his face, but persevered and stuck out the rest of the game. I don't remember how it came up, but we also have recently had a conversation about french kissing. He told me how disgusting that was and how he would never touch someones tongue. I told me someday he would enjoy kissing his wife that way and that I loved it when dad french kissed me. He looked at me straight faced and said"you totally joking, right mom? You don't really do that?" I just had to laugh.
Connor is doing well with his piano lessons. Songs are actually beginning to sound like songs and not strange notes played out of order. He is excited because he is half way to his goal of getting 35 stickers. Once he gets there he gets the toy of his choice. Yes, I and his teacher bribed him to be more consistent in his practicing.
Laurel is loving preschool and asks me every morning if it is a High School day. Her preschool is at the high school. It still cracks Tim up when she says that she goes to high school. I laugh back and tell him that sooner than we think she really will be in High school. Time goes by so fast.....
Well, it is late and I am beginning to ramble. So, I am off to bed.........

Monterey and How I Paid

2008-04-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

So, just recently I got the chance to go to Monterey, CA all by myself to visit my parents. I hadn't been home for a long time and I felt the need to see my father again before his Alzheimer's progress too much further. My mom was so sweet and even helped to pay my way there. I got to fly out of Fort LeonardWood directly too. What a boon that was.....I had been a while since I had last traveled on such a small plane and it was reminiscent of a ride at a theme park. Luckily I don't get sick. Ha. Anyhow, my next leg(and longest one) was spent talking to the lady next to me, nonstop pretty much. I have to put in a side note that I am amazed at the people we will meet when we most need them. Her name was Anne and she works for a company called Mayer-Johnson and they make a lot of products for children with autism and other disabilities. She also had a masters in special education or something along those lines. She had a lot of great insights and shared tools and methods that would help not only Connor, but my father too. There were 2 children sitting behind up that almost constantly kicked her seat. It was pretty sad and good thing she had a good sense of humor. My last leg happened to be on another small plane that had a return missionary coming home to my mother's ward. Small world.......My next couple of days were full of shopping with my sister and 2 nieces, eating out, and just really enjoying being home with no responsibilities. It was good to see my parents but also sad to see how much more my father has changed since seeing him last. He is almost always smiling and laughing now, although, most of it is to cover up what he isn't catching or understanding. I was sad to leave a bit, but it was also nice to see my husband and children. Until I saw Laurel.......she had a new hair cut. WHAT???!!! Tim had warned me that Laurel had cut her own hair while I was gone, but the way he described it, I thought it wouldn't be that bad. She had butched herself pretty bad. Think of Cyndi Lauper circa 1980's and you have the gist of what it looked like. So a good friend came over and cut it for me. We had 2 options for hairdo's....either she could have sported a really bad mullet or a short pixie cut. We opted for the 2nd option. She was fine with the cutting until she saw the end result in the mirror. She cried and wailed that she didn't want to look like a boy. I don't think she will be cutting her own hair anytime soon. I know she misses her hair too because that is how she now describes girls from her class....by hairstyle and length. So in the end, although I had fun, I paid for it too. (Above: pictures of Laurel with her hair before and after self imposed haircut)

How to Start a Blog

2008-04-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

I never much thought that anyone would really be interested in what I would have to say, but it was pointed out to me today by a friend, Annalee, that since I am moving soon(and do so every couple of years), that this would be a great way to have people stay in touch with me and see what myself and the family are up to. So, here it goes, I am moving into the techno age and putting my life on the web for friends and family to see. I hope it is interesting or at least helps you keep up with the goings on of the Metcalfs.....so in the cliffhanging tradition of all great reads here is my first message-To Be Continued........