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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