so much for saving

So I had a few people ask me to keep everyone posted on my savings is going. Actually it is going good and I thank God for that.

Friday I had to take one of the cats to the vet. That made us $160 lighter. I am just glad that we had the money in our checking account. I guess really watching our spending helped there.

Sunday I went down. I was having so much pain. I swear that I felt like I was having a toddler clawing it's way out of my body.

We get to the e.r. Our poor nurse had such hard time just finding a vein. I guess that hole no fluids and puking up all the fluids that went in did not help much.

Once they got the iv started and got some pain meds injected into me I felt better. I had a ct scan and an ultra sound done.

The conclusion is I have a mass growing on my  uterus that is leaking. My right ovary is 10 cm. It is only suppose to 2 cm.

I was admitted to the hospital Sunday night and I got released Monday night.

I need surgery to remove everything, but I have no insurance. I guess we are the working poor.

I was sent home with some massive pain killer's, two forms of estrogen and some stuff to stop me from vomiting.

Rusty took yesterday and today off. So today we had to go get all of my meds. Thank God I had some money stashed. Those set us back another $122.

So here I sit trying to not be in pain and trying to figure out what my next step is. I filled out all of the paper work to get state aid, but I will not know about for another week.

I need to find a doctor that will accept state aid, and then try to get all of this useless stuff taken out.

On a lighter note, I did tell everyone that while I am in there they can take part of my liver because I can grow another one. I also wanted them to check and see if my is made of stone.

Today while we were out getting my prescription's fill Rusty was such a big help to me. He would walk around to my side of the truck and help me get out. I said you know we can act like a little old couple. You will be walking real slow just trying to hold me up. While I walk all hunched over. Yep that was us today.

I love Rusty. He is so good to me. Rusty sat with me for two day's. He helped me shower, helped me ... well he helped with everything.

I am now on very restricted duty. There will be no heavy lifting for me. No more driving for a while, and no more of not taking care of myself.

My dog, Butter is doing better. I swear  I was going to have to get him something if I did not come soon. He did not eat for two day's and all he did was sit at the door and cry. Now I am home and he finally ate something, but he also will not leave my side and is now sticking even closer to me.

Tonight one of the ladies from the church is bring us some dinner. I am so thankful for that. I don't wait, I know that I do not have the energy to cook and I know Rusty is worn out as well.

Well one of my pain pills is kicking in, so I better go lay down before I fall down.

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I am the rock right now

Last night I was standing in the kitchen getting everything ready for dinner. The my phone rings. It is Barry. So I answer it and say "Hey you how is that baby of yours?"

Barry just said "mom"

I could tell by his voice that something was very wrong. Oh my gosh did something happen to that baby?

Well it turn's out that his wife beat the shit out of him and then kicked him out of the house. This is not the first time that she has done this.

Now you may be thinking that Barry is a big bad marine and he let a women hit him. If Barry fought back he would have been the one arrested.

So for now Barry is staying in a hotel room. When I talked to him this morning he said that he was thinking about going up to his parents house in Pa.

If this crap had happened here in California, I would have gone down to base and snatched that baby up and then kick the crap out of her. I swear to you.... don't mess with my marines!

Then Amber called me last night and she was just crying her eyes out.

After I got her to calm down, Amber was able to tell me that her teacher suggested that she drop her English class before she fails it.

Amber has been trying so hard and yet she is still failing this class.

Rusty just said "you know some people are not cut out for college" I know this is true.

I feel for Amber. I struggled all the way through school and I had to work my ass off just to get a c. However I am going to do exactly the opposite of what my parents did..... throw me out.

I am going to just encourage Amber to keep taking college classes. I don't care what she takes. I just want Amber to keep learning.

I hope that by encouraging Amber to keep taking classes that she will find a niche and then I know that she willexcel at it.

My shoulders need to be big today. I have Amber and Barry counting on me.

Today I do no have any major chores. I do have to go get dog food and take Nikki to fill out some more applications. I would love to get my dinning room table cleared off, so that I can start another quilt. I saw this real easy pattern in a quilt book, so I thought I would give it a try.

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grand total

Well the grand total on the quilts that we are donating to the veterans home is 29!

Next year I am going to start my blanket drive earlier and I will reach the goal of 50.

I did take a picture of all the blankets stacked up, but I can't get the darn picture to load. So goes my life with a slow crappy computer.

Right now I am the only one up, except for the kittens that I swear Rusty fed caffeine this morning.

I have super cleaned our bed room, got all of my laundry put away, and bleached out the litter box. Soon I am going to start to wake everyone else up and finish my cleaning.

I have a question for the universe. Why is it that I cleaned out my dresser drawers and get rid of stuff, but I still never have room in my drawers 2 months later? If my clothes are breeding then can't they breed into something new?

Last weekend a Reader Digest article caught my eye. So I bought the magazine. There is an article in there about a family that went on a zero spending diet for 30 day's. They did pay their bill's, and they set aside a certain amount for fresh fruit and vegi's, but once that money was gone it was gone.

The family in the article saved $2,000 a month. I know that I do not waste $2,000 a month, but I did wonder how much I could save if I really tightened down our spending.

The week that Jolynn was here I must have had Starbucks four time. Well heck that is $20 I just wasted. I have since washed out those starbucks cups and I am reusing them for my coffee to go.

I think that this is going to be a very interesting experiment, and I can't wait to see how much I do save.

I also hope to gain some new insight as to how I can reuse what I have. I hope to have to get creative with our food, instead of running to the store to buy one item to finish making a meal.

Ido know that by stretching my mind and by really thinking about every purchase, I know that I will walk away from this experiment a better person.

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glad not to be 19

Last weekend Jolynn and I had the pleasure of meeting a wife of one of the marines. I do use the word pleasure very loosely.

After this gal left Jolynn and I have a very interesting conversation about how to treat your husband. We then continued to laugh and we are both glad that we are not 19 any more.

At 19 I did not know shit about being a wife. At 38 I am still learning, but man my relationship with Rusty is so much better then if we had gotten together at 19.

At 38 I know better then to run  my husband down in front of his peers. At 38 I know better then dress like a tramp when we go out. At 38 I know better then to get drunk and make an ass out of myself.

Now that I am older I know that there are little things that I can do to make my husbands day's a little bit brighter.

I know that by packing Rusty a lunch,.... well, that free's up some time for Rusty.

I know that when my husband is having a bad day hamburger help will make him feel better.

I know that by making sure that his laundry is done and folded for him, that he will be set for his work week.

I know that by sending him a simple e mail to say I love you, well..... that just make his day.

I know that by holding down the fort and taking care of things at home well..... that is one less thing Rusty has to do and worry about.

Jolynn and I have both learned that treating our men like kings will reap us huge rewards.

Our husbands are more attentive to us and they worship the ground that we walk on.

I told Jolynn that it was after our conversation that I realized why Rusty does some of the things that he does. Rusty did not have to rush home and go get my meds and buy me all the food for the brat diet. Amber could have done that.

But instead, Rusty left work early, came home and went and got my meds. Rusty made sure that there would be no penicillin any where near me. Rusty really showed his love for me that day.

Another reason we do not want to be 19 again is because our sex life is great. At 19 you can not paint each other with chocolate body frosting and then laugh because your bodies are stuck together!

I so wish that when I was a young wife that someone would have told me several things to do and not do. However, I have lived and learned and because of that, I think that I am a much better wife.

I better get off here and got rape my husband before he goes to sleep.

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belonephobia

Belonephobia is the fear of needles. I have that. I will avoid going to the doctors for fear of seeing a needle much less getting stuck by one. Rusty has to hold me down anytime I have needed a shot. I went through natural child birth so that I could avoid ...... needles. So if you ever hear that I got a tattoo, please know that I am dead. LOL

Nikki is at her first day of classes at her new school. Nikki only has to go once a week, Tuesday's are her school day. I also need to make an appointment, so that we can go register for Nikki for college classes. Next semester I will have two children in college. Now that is a scary thought. However at least I will not have to pay for Nikki to go to college, but I will still have to buy her book's. I am kinda hoping that Nikki and Amber end up in the same classes, at least then they could share a book or something.

Tomorrow is the end of our blanket drive for the veterans home. I am not sure how many we have in total yet, but I know that whatever we have will help out. I will try to get a picture of my stacks of blankets. I will do this again next year, but I think I am going to start earlier and next year I will reach my goal of 50 blankets!

I meet people all the time. Everyone of them leaves an impression on me. Recently I met a veteran that just made me miss my father in law. I was in the fabric department looking at all the fleece and I noticed this older gentlemen sitting on a stool.

My father in law would go material shopping with my mother in law and I. He would just stand there and wait to be summoned to hold material. This older gentlemen had the same look on his face as my father in law would have. I talk to this older gentleman for a few minutes. He had just had surgery on his arm and his wife drug him to wal mart.

I went to get all of material cut and one of the ladies asked me what I was going to do with all this fleece. This older gentlemen grabbed my arm and said "excuse me what did you say you were going to do with those blankets?" I once again explained to him what I was doing. By this time the gentlemen's wife had walked up. It turns out that this guy was a veteran and he said that he had his surgery at the same hospital where we are donating the blankets to.

I asked this gentlemen's wife to write down his his name and address for me. She did. I told Rusty that on the next payday I am going to make this gentlemen a blanket and drop it off on his door step.

Rusty just gave me a grin. It was the grin that said "that's my baby always taking care of everyone else".

Lynn, wanted to know why I surprised that I was a pick by the guest editor. I guess I am just surprised that people would find my life even a little bit interesting. I think my life is dull and very uneventfully. I do know that from time to time I do some crazy stuff, but hey that is life.

One of the marines said that he was going to grill some steaks tonight. That will be nice. That also means that I do not have to cook!

 I do believe that fall is finally arriving here in the so cal. I have been enjoying this cooler weather and I have been getting some flower beds ready for some fall flowers and some bulbs.

I must admit that I do miss fall. Back east all of the leaves change colors and the weather is just so crisp. However I do not miss racking leaves!

Oh well. The rest of my day is calling me, so I better get moving.

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ham pineapple and a nap

This past weekend was nice!

For the most part the marines are home. We do have a few stragglers that will be coming home over the next few months.

Jake was the first one to come home. This was the first time that Jakes mom, Jolynn, got to see him come home.

To see Jolynn hug her son was just so special.

Yesterday we had some more marines come home. Chris was the fir marine that I saw. I just ran up to him and hugged him so tight. Then I saw Larry, whose real name is Nikki, anyway, she looked real good. I could not find Leeroy to save my life. So finally i just started walking along all the gear, and then I spotted him with a group of marines. I pushed my way through the marines and gave him a kiss and a hug.

Leeroy told me this morning that when I grabbed him he thought that someone had grabbed the wrong marine. Leeroy confessed that he did not think we would be there. All I could say was that "I told you I would be there."

Yesterday Jolynn and I had a girls day out.... after we welcomed the boys home. We went to the beach and soaked up the sun. We went rock climbing and shell hunting. Then I got Jolynn in the ocean. Jolynn had never swam in the ocean, so it was neat to see her reaction when she finally got in.

Today Jolynn went home and all of the marines are off getting all of their stuff done. I got the living room cleaned up and got the carpets cleaned in there. I have two roast in the crock pot, and so much more left to do today.

I am sitting here eating a slice of ham and pineapple pizza wishing I could take a nap. I am so worn out.

Oh Barry's wife finally had the baby! They are now the proud parents a HEALTHY baby boy! I am so happy for them. Barry is so happy to be a dad and it is so funny to hear him talk about his new baby. I know that Barry is going to be a great daddy.

Amber got her first tattoo over the weekend. amber got a turtle on her foot. The turtle is for her grandfather. My dad use to call Amber the turtle and she is just so proud of her turtle. I must admit that I do like the tattoo.

Thank you Linda for picking me as an a editors pick! I was so shocked that anyone would pick me.

Well, I still have a million things to get done today. On the top of my list is doing some stuff for Rusty. Over this past weekend Rusty and I have really been moving in different directions. Today I want to make sure that all of his laundry is done, and I am even going to make Rusty some homemade bread. I love my husband.

 

 

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no rest

\

I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning. I turned the coffee on and sat down to work on a blanket.

Why am I so early? My to do list is long, and I have to get it all done today. Today is my day to kick ass and do a million things. I do not want to do anything the rest of the week.

Our marines start coming home tomorrow! That's right. Thursday and Saturday we will be waving our flags as our friends come home.

I am so looking forward to seeing everyone. One of the marines mom's is coming in and we have a girls day out planned.

I can't wait! But I must stay focused on the task at hand.

I have blankets to finish and to get collected up. I have to finish cleaning up around here. I want to get all of our laundry done before the marines bring me more laundry to do. I have to go turn in Nikki's paper work for her new school blah blah blah.

There will be no rest for me today. That is O.K. I can sleep when everyone goes back to work.

I am turning my alerts off, but if you would like to leave a message for the marines please do so.

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we saved $40 and I fell in love

I have felt like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest lately.

If it is not one thing then it is another, but in my usual carefree style, I just changed all the rules so that I can be in charge of everything.

On Friday I found out that the lady that was going to take 15 quilts to finish was backing out. What? Oh I was so not happy. So, I started calling all of my friends that have children in high school and asked them if they needed community service hours. I have a lot of the blankets farmed out now. Oh I even found a couple of home schooled children who wanted to help. Oh thank God for free labor!

This weekend I decided to clean one of our area rugs. My in laws brought this rug back from the middle east, and did not know how long it been since it had a good cleaning. OH my does wet wool stink!

That led to me cleaning the carpets in the whole house. Now I am hooked. I love the way the carpets look when they are clean, so now every morning I am cleaning the carpets in a different room of the house.

Amber say's that I should not be allowed to clean carpets at 6:15 in the morning. I told her that she should not be allowed to sleep at 6:15 in the morning.

I mentioned to one of my friends that I wanted to buy a pedicure for the dogs. My friend just laughed at me and told me to go get my dremil. Well that saved me $20! Rascal just laid there as I filed down her toe nails. I need to file them a little bit shorter, but this is an easy way to her nails trimmed.

I told Rascal that I had some real cute girl material and that I would make her a neck scarf. Rascal loves to get a bath, get her nails done and to just look like a girl. I think she was a princess in a former life.

I told Rusty that we needed to buy Ryan a new pair of shoes. Amber said I have a pair of boys skate shoes that I never wear, he can have them them! Yes that is another $20 in my pocket. I swear my little boy is not so little any more. He is all most as tall as me and I am 5' 4"! Then again Rusty is 6'2" so I am sure Ryan will be tall like him.

Last night I was talking on the phone and walking around the block. When I saw something sticking out of a trash can. So I HAD to look. I scored this little stereo that has a tape deck and a cd player. So I pulled it out. Then I found the speakers for it, so I pulled it out. Then I found a bunch of recycling so I pulled that stuff out. I was a bag lady without a bag or a shopping cart!

The little stereo worked, so it went out to the garage, so Rusty can listen to music while he is out there. Is my husband the only one in the world that still has tapes?

Today I am going to go drop off all of the finished blankets. They are starting to consume my home. I think once I am done with this quilt drive, I am going to do a baby blanket drive. Let's face it. With all these guys coming home, there is going to be a baby boom! LOL

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friday already?

Yes it is Friday, but I am not sure where this week went.

Amber is over the accident and has made some good choices. Amber decided to have this gal take her car to a little place that we go to. It look's like it is going to cost Amber a lot less to get the car's fixed. I am proud of Amber for using her head and for starting to really think things through.

Amber also applied for a job at the ups store and they interviewed her yesterday. Today she has to talk to another manager. Amber is going to try to work both jobs until after the fist of the year and then after the first of the year she will put in her two notice at her retail job.

Nikki has been trying like hell to get all of the paper work done, and is now looking for a job.

The weather has been very cool here and I have just been loving it. I am usually a hot weather type of person, but man this year it has been way to hot. Not to mention that my electric bill needs a break.

Linda brought up a good point yesterday about my plastic bag fetish. I will not go to the store and use a plastic bag....ever. It is hit or miss with the girls.

Rusty is another issue. He loves his plastic bags. Under my sink is just full of plastic bags. I use them in trash cans and I do use them to scoop cat poop. When the bags start to really take over I will take them down to the recycling place.

I told Nikki to ask Aaron if he and the guys needed anything. Nikki came home the other day and said "Mom they do not even have a shower curtain, they have nothing for their trailer."

So yesterday while Amber and I were at the 99 cent store I stocked up their bathroom. We got them a shower curtain, a toilet brush, bathroom cleaner, tp, liquid hand soap, bar soap, deodorant, and some q tips. When we got home I had Amber dig out some shower curtain rings, and I dug out a bathroom trash can, and some bathroom rugs.

Then it hit me. If these boys did not even have a shower curtain were they even wiping? I was so glad that I bought them tp.

Amber said that she had to laugh at me. If I ever see people throwing away useful stuff I will pull it out of the trash. Well, the rugs and and the trash can can from the trash. I just washed everything up and they were fine. i guess it goes to show that ones mans trash is one mans treasure. It also proves that you can reuse stuff or give the stuff away instead of throwing the stuff way.

I do not really have a lot to do today. It will be so nice to just take my time and do whatever I need to do and not have to be on a schedule.

 

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my husband can suprise me

Over the last week or so my husband has said some things that really shock me. Could I be rubbing off on him?

Last week when we went to the commissary I took in all of my reusable bags. On the way up to the door Rusty said " You know they have bags here." I just ignored him and kept on walking.

When we got home, I went out to the garage and pulled out a Arizona tea jug out of the recycling. I washed it up and made lemon aid in it. I said "Rusty that is lemon aid in the jug not Arizona tea."

Rusty said "That is a really good way to reuse. It beats us buying another pitcher"

What? Is this the same man that tolerates me recycling, but thinks I am crazy for doing it?

The kittens are growing so much and they are really starting to show their own personality. One of the kittens likes to climb the screen door.

This morning was no different. While Rusty and I were outside having a smoke one of the kittens climbed the door.

Rusty said "Just think we are told with every litter that they will not make it. Now look at them. It make me sick to see these kittens come in. They depend on us for some much and people just throw them away or abuse them."

That was so special for me. Rusty does not complain about me doing foster care, but I know at times he wishes that I would not do it. By Rusty speaking those words he has told me that he understands why I do what I do.

I was talking with one of friends last night and he was telling me that he was telling his new girlfriend about Rusty and I. So I had to ask "What did you tell her?"

He just laughed and said " I told her the truth. I told her that Rusty is very right wing conservative, very much still has the mentality of a marine, and that he expects his house to be run that way. As for Kelli, well she is a hippy that is so far out in left field that we do not know if she is still in the game, pushes the limits and likes to get naked."

Well..... I guess that is a very accurate way to describe us. O.K. everything he said about us is right on the money.

On my agenda for the day: general lean up of the house, cutting and sewing, and whatever else should happen to pop up.

 

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oh my

Amber hit a huge learning curve yesterday.

Yesterday as Amber was pulling out of the driveway she hit another car. Minor damage to both car's, but enough damage to warrant repairs.

Instead of filing a claim with our insurance company, Amber wants to pay for it out of her own pocket, and keep here driving record cleaning. The cost for repairs to the other car.....$800!

Amber has $400 of it.

So I thought about this long and hard and then talked it over with Rusty. Here is what we are going to do.

We will loan Amber the other $400 on these terms.

1. She must repay us $80 a week until the balance is paid off.

2. She will drive no where except to school and work.

3. Once we are paid off she will have to pay to get her car fixed.

4. If she fail's to do any part of this agreement then we drop her from our insurance and she will have nothing to drive.

Amber came back with the argument that she needs to pay her cell phone bill.

I very calmly told her that I do not care if her cell phone gets turned off. I do not care if you have to pan handle for gas money. I do not care. Break the agreement and you will no longer drive.

Rusty is not happy with this, but he has agreed that it is fair.

As for Nikki. Oh this child! Nikki has been asking me for about a year now to home school her again.

Rusty and I found this charter school that we really like and it is a home based school.

I have no desire to home school again. So this charter school has teachers and Nikki would not have to answer to me.

So, I was going to tell Nikki and that Rusty and I agreed to let her do her schooling through them.

Then Nikki came home and was all pissy with me, and would not listen to a thing I had to say. So I never got a chance to tell her this good new's.

Maybe she will be in a better mood today?

There are a few conditions with Nikki going to this school.

1. Nikki must get on line and fill out all of the paper work to do the transfer.

2. Nikki will have to get a job and work enough hour's to pay her own phone bill.

I have no idea what Nikki is going to say. I guess we will see when she gets home from school..... if she is talking to me.

Berry is flying out tonight to go home! I am so excited for him. He will make it back in time to see his baby born.

Yesterday I went and bought a ton of fleece. So, I spent most of the cutting and I am almost ready to to start dividing up the quilts to get tied.

I think we are going to come up short of my goal of 50 quilts. We will see. I am just going to keep moving forward and take it one quilt at a time.

While I was at Joann's yesterday I found some really great fleece that I want to buy for Nikki. I can't believe that the fleece is $14.95 a yard! I am just glad that I coupon for 40% off on cut.

Today is a new day and I have some running around to do. So I better get moving.

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finally alone

Wow I can't believe that the house is finally empty.

So last week I was showing Rusty one of the quilts I finished and he said "You know the V.A. hospital is collecting lap quilts for the patients." Rusty then showed me the flyer.

I said "well I might be able to make one or two of them but I could not do anything in bulk." That was the end of the subject.

Then a few day's later I said "You know if we did some tie blanket's we could really do a lot of lap quilts if I could find someone to give us the money for the material."

Rusty said "Well I have to go down to the post, so let me ask if any of them would like to help."

Lets just say that this has spiraled way beyond anything I could have dreamed up.

The VFW is going to donate 30 quilts, George donated two, and another friend donated 3! My goal is 50 quilts and I know that I can reach it.

Now that is a lot of tieing, so I asked one of my friends who is a teacher if any of her student's needed some community service hours. So her class is going to tie. Nikki and all of her friends are going to be tieing, so they can get more community service hours.

I am slowly seeing this whole thing coming together! I am so excited.

Berry is trying like you would not believe to get out of here. Berry found out on Friday that the doctor is going to induce his wife. We are hoping that someone can push him through all the red tape and get him home with in the next few day's. It would be so sad for him to be this close and still miss his first child being born.

Rusty and I did not go on our date this weekend. But that is O.K. After spending $285 at the commissary we could not see going out to eat.

So I spent yesterday watching Rusty do a tune up on the car and truck. Then I edged and mowed the yard, and I even trimmed one of the tree's back. Rusty came over and swept and helped pick up the branches. It was so nice to just spend time with Rusty even if we did yard work.

I did however make Rusty a very nice dinner.

I have adopted a young man from our church. I adopted Aaron, because that is Nikki's future husband. I will be doing his laundry, making sure he get's fed, and has anything else that he might need.

I should explain who Aaron is. Nikki and Aaron met at summer camp. They talked on the phone and wrote for a while and then Aaron went off to boot camp, and then off to Iraq. Aaron called my cell phone while he was in Iraq. He wanted to talk to Nikki, but Nikki was in school. Aaron said that everyone he called never picked up, so I talked to this young man for and hour and half on the phone.

It was at that moment that I knew he was right for Nikki. There is only one problem. Nikki is 16 and Aaron is 19. The Army look's down on that.

Aaron parents came to pick Nikki up, and she got to see him come home from Iraq, and now he is working at our church! So, I will take care of him.

I have a lot to do today. I suddenly have a full plate, so I need to get moving.

 

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womens rights

I am sure that this entry will cause a lot of controversy, but I don't care. This is my journal and this is on my mind.

Over the past few day's I have been able to talk to Barry. We have talked about everything from his new baby, to this deployment.

Barry said that once they got into March Air reserve base and they got their busses load, the marines started to load onto the busses. That was when they were stopped. In Barry's words: "The male marines were crammed into two busses. We were sitting balls to ass and on the floor. There were five women with us, and they got a whole bus to themselves."

My comment back was "That pisses me off. These women scream about being treated as equals, but they can't ride in a cramped bus with a bunch of smelly guy's?"

I do not believe that women should serve in combative roles. I did not want a women in a hole with my husband. I did not want to have to wait for adrenalin to kick in so that she could move my husband out of harms way.

However if they want equal rights then they should be treated as equal across the board.

I know of guys that deploy as soon as their babies are born. So then why do women get to wait for six months? After six weeks your ass should be out of here.

If our boy's can sleep on the hood of a hum v then why can't the women?

I think that all of these women who scream for equal rights need to not speak for me.

I enjoy not changing my own oil. I enjoy not killing spiders, not cleaning up dog poop and not taking the smelly trash out.

I enjoy not having to do heavy lifting. I enjoy not changing my own tires.

I do however love cooking for my husband. I love being able to stay home and raise our children.... even if I want to kill them most day's. I enjoy doing my hair and putting on body spray and looking like a women. I enjoy making my husband his lunch and doing his laundry.

I enjoy so much about my life that I do not want equal rights.

I do not want my husband or any of the boys to treat me like one of the guys. I want to be tucked into bed when I don't feel good. I want a bag of chocolate just because. I want my husband to say you smell so good.

If I wanted to be treated like one of the guy's I would get slapped on the back, be forced to change my own oil, and I would have to sit ass to ball with a bunch of stinky marines.

No Thank you!

So to all the women out there who scream that they want equal rights but only when it suits them, I must say "NO THANK YOU".

I do not equal right's. I want my husband to continue me like the princess that I am.

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change

Yesterday Nikki called me to tell me that her youth pastor had been "laid off". What? Why? So I called Nikki's other parents and they do not know why he was laid off.

Nikki and Kevin come walking up from school and they both looked like someone had just shot them. Kevin and Nikki have known each other for years and they go on mission trips together. So they were both worried about this change.

The last time their youth pastor left so did half of the youth group. Kevin and Nikki are scared that this will happen again.

So now Nikki and Kevin are sitting on pins and needles, just waiting to see what happens next.

Yesterday I just spent the day doing some sewing. I am still working on this scarf for my mom. I decided to do some detail work. I thought this would be a great time to show off my handy work.

I went to put a lasagna in the oven yesterday only to find out that the oven broke! O.K. it is two day's before pay day, So now what? Then it hit me. I do not have to pay to get it fixed or to replace it. So I called our landlady, but it will be several day's before it gets fixed. I am just glad that we do not have to pay for it.

Rusty has been working a lot of hours and he is just so worn out. So the other night Rusty said that he wanted to go to dinner. Just the two of us. Rusty's only requirement is "we don't have to pull around to the second window."

So I have been thinking. Maybe Red Lobster? They are having shrimp feast right now. Rusty could still get a steak there. Rusty wants to go try this Aztec restaurant. So I told him that we could go there, but that I would have to take his heart burn medicine before we leave.

I can't wait to have a date with my husband!

Today I am not going to be doing to much. I better est up because tomorrow I have a ton of errands to run, and I might make a trip up to the commissary. Heck going to the commissary is an all day trip in it's self.

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A few moments to myself

Well Barry has started to settle back in. I am still in shock that he is finally home safe and sound.

Barry now has clean laundry, has had a few hot meals and several hot showers.

Now Barry is out getting a new tattoo. LOL

I remember just 7 months ago I was crying because all of my boys were leaving and now they are coming home. Now is my turn to dance.

I told Rusty that is strange. I cried when the boy's left and now I am crying because they are all coming home.

I gave Barry the blanket I made for his baby. I am so glad that Barry will be there to see the birth of his first child. Then it hit. Barry is going back to North Carolina because that is where his wife is. Then he will come back here and pcs in November. I will never get to rock his baby. I have a rocking chair and no babies to rock. Barry promised me that he will be back for a visit and that I will be able to just sit and rock the baby.

Today has been much of the same. Laundry, cleaning, and just still in shock that guys are coming home.

Over the weekend I saw an ad for a free English riding saddle. So I went and picked it up. Rusty and I were thinking that it would be in bad shape. Oh NO! This saddle is so nice. The lady even gave me the pad and the cinch for it. So we started looking on e bay and those saddle's are expensive.

Rusty and I are going to list the saddle on e bay. I have never used and English saddle before but put me in a western saddle and saddle stand back! LOL

Flash back. Rusty and I were over at one of his friends house and they were out looking at this guys horses. Old Fred was saddled up and I knew that old Fred was once used for cattle roping. So I asked if I could ride old Fred. I went out in the arena and set up some cones. I adjusted the leg straps and hopped on. Old Fred and I trotted around for a while and then I said to myself "Lets see if I still have it." Fred and I started going in and out of those cones. I looked like a pro. Rusty and his friend just stood there in shock. Yep I still had it. I think that was the first and the last time Rusty has ever seen me ride.

Well laundry is waiting to be folded, sewing is still waiting for me, and Nikki just called to say that she 100% on her advanced placement geometry quiz. I swear I was never that smart.

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