You never know where it will come from... Be observant, be inquisitive, be curious and you will learn something new every day.
I always get interviewed by the news crew!
The buses are coming!!!
My wonderful friend Beth volunteered to take our homecoming photos today and I gladly accepted! There will be more to follow.
...and waiting... and waiting. So it's that time, it has been a year. 52 weeks. 365 days and counting... My dear husband has completed his second deployment to Iraq, served our country well, is ready to return home but all we can do is wait. He is waiting, we are waiting. We've been waiting since the beginning of the week when he took his aircraft to port and proceeded to the "Camp" where he would begin the wait for his flight home. Unfortunately, returning from the Middle East is nothing like returning from Disney World. You don't hop in a cab, plane ticket in hand, go through security and jump on your given flight. That would be much too easy and straightforward. Instead we wait and wait and wait some more, we wait for a phone call saying "your soldier should be on his way within 72 hours" then we wait for a call that says "you soldier should be on his way in 24 hours" and then finally a call saying "the plane is in the air, your soldier is on it" and if by chance that flight doesn't come upon any other delays between there and here they will finally be on their way home!
We got to the point of "your soldier should leave in 24 hours", they gave us a day and a time and a place to meet them and where to park. I jumped in on the cleaning and announced to the kids "Daddy will be home tomorrow!" and told Cali to mark off the rest of the days on her chart except for the #1. Well, low and behold I receive a text message, a facebook message, and even a phone call from my dear husband himself all confirming that yet again we will wait. Everything has been postponed by 24 hours, at the least. He told me that at least they found beds for them to sleep in (after 18 hours of sitting on hard chairs) and they were able to take showers and shave although they've already taken their bags away and all they have is their carry-ons.
As if waiting a whole year to have your husband back home, your kids' Daddy back home, isn't bad enough... this last week can really be a mess!
In the meantime, the kids have the first part of our "Welcome Home" sign all painted.
I posted this on my favorite Scrapbooking website, where it got rave reviews so I wanted to share it here also. This was for Vanessa's new scrapbooking room but you could easily make it for a child's room also.
It was made simply by creating a rainbow of scrap papers, rough cut, no measuring necessary. And I really wanted to impress her so I even got out the sewing machine and stitched across each row. The sign on hers says "My Scrappy Place".
I'm assuming Poison Oak. I am treating it with Tecnu but it has been lingering. The original spot was on my other ankle but it spread. Growing up in Alaska I have no knowledge of poisonous plants, or snakes, or scorpions, or killer spiders for that matter. So I certainly have "learned something new" this past week. And yes, thankfully it is only on me and not the kids.
I am a piler. I am not an organized person. I do not like sorting the mail or deciding what to do with each piece of paper that ends up on my kitchen counters and desk tops, but I am working on it. I was recently inspired by the BH&G special issue titled "Secrets of Getting Organized" I found at Sam's Club for about $6.
Simple phrases like "for every scrap of paper there must be a labeled container. If there isn't, create one" make so much sense! Or this gem: "Toss it, file it, but never pile it." And to stem the paper flow in the first place "be mindful of bringing this junk into your home." Go visit DMAchoice.com right now to opt out of all that junk mail!
Before you start your own system make sure to read this article too: 9 Common Home Filing System Mistakes and Their Solutions
Now I have this lovely (and quite empty!) filing system for all the mail and papers that come into the house. Of course many of them will head right for the recycle bin or go into the more permanent files, but no more piles on the counters!
When my children play nicely together it sure is entertaining to see what they will come up with. Recently they have played a "game" where Cali goes to visit her brother at his "house". This involves Cali packing up her babies, their beds, backpacks full of their baby clothes, bottles, toys, etc. and carrying it all to D's room. Today she told me she was going to stay for "5 days" (which explains why Cali took a handful of her own clothes over to his room) and during her stay they play together, take care of their babies, pretend it's bedtime and even... that their babies are sick. Today they told me that Baby Cali was sick and she threw up on Cali's shirt so she had to go change it. This was followed by D telling me his Baby Diego Bear was sick and he threw up on his stuffed puppy so he had to go put it in the wash.
Their other current "game" is taking the eggs we got from our library egg hunt, putting little toys in them, hiding them, helping their babies find them, then acting very surprised and excited about the little toys inside.
Been in a fog of seasonal allergy misery lately. Haven't been to the doc this season so I'm probably not taking enough of or the right combo of pharmaceuticals to treat it. Just wanted to let my loyal readers know why the posts were coming in slow and lackluster these days.
Funny thing about this picture... you notice her poking her ear? She was telling me it "itched". Well, after nap she had a fever so I called the doc and went in this morning to find out she has a double ear infection. She says it doesn't even hurt!
