Toast

This semester is done! I just e-mailed my last assignment.

Updates:

My husband left home for Iraq at the end of October. He's should be home in November of 2009.

My son is doing better than he has ever done with school. And Iwas worried he would drown in high school. Guess he showed me!

The backyard is holding up. I got some grass seed down before the first frost. Spring will be interesting.

My oldest daughter decided to move in with her father. It was really hard for both of us, but in the end, I think it will be good for her.

The baby girl makes me laugh every day. Watch the video and you can see for yourself. :)

Merry Christmas!!

Homecoming!!

So, I'm sittin' here trying my best to finish up my large mini M&M Blast from Sonic and it's just not going down. Tomorrow is my son's first school dance and I am about to pee myself with excitement. Was that TMI? Sorry. But really, though!! His first Homecoming. Eeeee!!

Is it that he's going on his first "date" that has my stomach in a bunch? He certainly isn't too excited about putting on a shirt and tie (this is the Mohawk/Fauxhawk kid) and giving a girl a wrist coursage in front of her parents. They are going to dinner first with several other couples. I've explained how to tip the waitstaff and the importance of opening doors (including the car door), but I can tell he's all "eh, do I have to?" So, I threw in how his date will be the envy of all the other girls when they see what a gentleman he is.

He thinks I'm an idiot. :)

It has to be tough, being a teenage boy. You want to impress the ladies and look cool doing it. It's only when he reaches manhood that he will realize just how cool it looks when you impress us.

I'm still here...and so is the house!! Woo woo!!

Sorry I have been gone so long! I had no idea so much time had passed.

First, thank you for all the well wishes! I feel terrible that I didn't get back here sooner!!

We did not receive any help from insurance or anywhere else. However, we found a contractor who is doing the work for about half what it was supposed to cost. Although it will completely wipe us out financially, we are very grateful that we won't be losing the house down the ravine. And we can always make more money.

They are still working back there and I am excited to see how it all turns out. It seems our side yard is also in danger so, we have fill being dumped there to prevent another cave in. At least when it's all finished, it will be safe and we won't ever have to worry about it again.

The news did a follow up and after watching myself, I have come to the conclusion that I am an idiot on camera. :)

As far as classes, I have a paper to write on WWI and I'm a little intimidated...I also have a big paper to write for my Social Work class and I'm really pumped about that one! I got to pick my subject and you can't beat that, right?

I've been busy...really, I have.

In fact, I have a video to prove it.

http://www.week.com/news/local/28474454.html

I e-mailed my instuctors, not asking for any special treatment, but just to let them know that I'm a little behind these days.

See, I really have been busy... :)

Mohawks and Mustaches

This is my 14 year-old. And, yes, that's a mohawk he's sporting. I thought I'd better get photographic proof of it before he shaved it off. With 14 year-olds, you never know what tomorrow brings.

I'd like to wax his eyebrows but, he won't let me. He's no fun. But, I don't blame him...

Once, when I was getting my eyebrows waxed, my sister-in-law (who is also my stylist) asked if I wanted my mustache waxed.

Wha...??? Mustache?!? Get it off me! Get it off me!

I'm sure I would have reacted more gracefully to being told I had an enormous tarantula crawling up my pant leg...shooting fire ants out it's fangs like tiny, biting balls of gremlin pyrotechnics from a Glock. (I don't even know what a Glock is exactly except that it's a gun and it sounds mean).

Anywho, I gave her the green light and I was immediately sure she had done severe nerve damage and that I would never again have use of my upper lip. The second she ripped the wax off, I swear I though she stabbed me in the face with a shovel. And not one of those pointed ones, either. It was one of those flat ones that you dig posts with.

Needless to say, I don't care if I look like Sgt. Floyd Pepper on a good day , there will be no more mustache waxing on this face!

Can someone check the Lost and Found?

I can't think straight so, I must have dropped my brain somewhere.

I have posted to one class but there is already another Discussion Board posting to make and I have to make an argument. *breaking into a cold sweat*

Another class has two questions posted that I have to answer and I'm not sure how the questions relate to the chapter we have to read. *gulp*

My third class hasn't had anything posted to it yet although, the prof. e-mailed and said she's working on it. *love you!*

Remedy: Lots of beers. No, wait...that's the cure for the family reunion. The remedy for the first week of class is deep chest breathing, yoga, soft music, and only concentrating on one task at a time...

whew!

My apologies to my Mom

I know that I am getting it back as good as I gave it. I'm truly sorry for all the things I did as a teenager. I get it now. Really.

I woke up Tuesday morning to the sound of leaves. We had a pretty good breeze going and I could hear the sound of Fall through my open window. Next, will come the smell. I'll walk out of the house one day and I will get a nose full of the crisp, clean air of autumn. It smells like Halloween to me.

Most people consider Spring the season of renewal. I think it comes at the end of the year. Fall sweeps through, getting rid of summer's green and Winter wipes the slate clean...well, depending on where you live (I can't imagine Christmas in the southern states).

Sure, everything is reborn in Spring, but I feel the newness much sooner. Fall brings new books, classes, pens and pencils. There are new clothes, new teachers, and new book bags. For me, Fall is a fresh start.

Maybe that's exactly what my 16 year-old needs.

Teenagers are hazardous to your health.

This is my oldest. My first born ball of sweetness and bull-headedness all wrapped up in one. She's fighting with her boyfriend tonight and she won't talk to me. I hate that. She thinks I don't get it. She thinks I was born 36. Maybe she's right but, I distinctly remember being a teenager...really!

I guess I'll just go read my textbooks and wait until she's ready to talk. Hmph!

War and Peace

The books for my political studies class were on my porch this morning. (I have to give props to Amazon.com which saved me at least $100 on my textbooks this semester). I'm standing out at the mailbox in utter, yet momentary, confusion because the mailbox is empty and I know I heard the mailman stop at my house.

I look up to see the box on my porch and realize I walked right past my mail when I stepped out the front door. Have you ever done one of those tests where you study a picture for 30 seconds and then answer questions about it? I hate those tests, they remind me of how much attention I don't pay. If I ever get raped or pillaged, the officers that take my statement are going to want to strangle me. No, he wasn't wearing a mask. I don't remember what he looked like. But he had on a blue shirt. I think. He smelled like my grandma's drapes. That I know fo' shizzle.

I wouldn't normally be interested in a class called "War and Peace" (as in the verbs, not the ginormous novel) but my new husband (the date on the photo is incorrect, we were married on July 11th of this year) is leaving in September for a year in Afghanistan. He's a Reservist and this will be his second tour. The first time, when we were only dating, he went to Iraq and I'm pretty sure it was the longest year of my life (probably his, too).

Today, I will dive into my new books and learn about war. I don't know how much peace will be in books about the cold war, the war of 1914, and the second world war. All I know is, maybe this class will give some viable explanations of why I'm spending the next year alone.

This isn't my first time...

blogging, that is. I am a recovering Y360 addict. I am not cured, I've simply replaced my blogging illness with that of MySpace disease.

And now, I'm here. And it feels like I'm a smoker who spent the day in a non-smoking building and my day of super boring meetings just ended. These first few sentences are my sprint to the parking deck. Yessssssss!

Anywho, today I learned that registering two teenagers for high school (one Freshman and one Junior) can take three hours.

With my ten-month-old on my hip.

In a school with no air conditioning.

Okay, I'm not being honest. I already know how long registration can take. What I really learned is that my baby girl has a lot more patience than I do.