Winnie The Pooh

Today I lived a bit of my childhood over and found it is true..you can't go back to it. I love Winnie the Pooh...he was with me my entire childhood and I still have him with me, although now he is tucked in a box in the attic hibernating lol. Pooh had his tonsils out when I did (the doctor cut his neck and then stitched it up lol) and he stayed with me through ear infections and when I wasn't feeling well he was there. He let me shed many tears on him through the years.

I took my girls (Valerie and her bff) to see Winnie the Pooh movie. I was excited and the girls are the ones who wanted to see it but secretly I was glad they did. First of all, the price for a movie ticket is just outrageous and second, so is the concession stand food. We brought our own snacks and water bottles LOL.

They played this stupid little cartoon before the movie as they do with kid movies and then my Pooh came on...I propped my feet up and leaned back and took it all in. Sang the theme song with the girls, we laughed and had a great time. Then as quick as it came on the big screen, it was OVER! I kid you not...the whole movie was an hour long. ONE HOUR! I was dismayed at that and felt I was robbed.

Did I mention the price they charge for movies is outrageous? I feel they should give me half my money back, if not all of it. I don't know who sets the prices but this is crap.

However, ya'll know me...I find the good in everyone and everything:

Price of movies for three (matinee prices) $22.50
Listening to kids cry and talk during the movie - annoying
Reliving my childhood and sharing it with my girls - PRICELESS

yada, yada, yada

Ok so today not so good on the eating or exercising but I am pooped. Spent the day moving Jennifer into her new place and no one, or two but three trips to Lowe's and I still have stuff to take back there that I brought home with me. I wasn't gonna go for four trips. I will start fresh tomorrow. I have a lot of things to move and clean in her room in my house...we are giving the bed to a friend and maybe moving the home gym contraption that is in the garage sitting pretty upstairs. Although, hubby is wondering if the floor will hold it and all the weights he bought for it....good question to ask now before we move it.

I have this irritating dry cough from this stupid HBP meds...the doc said it would be a side effect and it would bother others more than me...hell it bothers me a lot.

Bootcamp...day one

Workout done...day one of bootcamp - not really but that is what the video was called LOL. After my doctor appt Tuesday I had a wake up call...not really one that I haven't been aware of but this new doctor did it in a way not to belittle me or harshly...just facts. Since Sunday I have had this pain..I thought UTI as that was the area of my bladder the pain was in. Well, Tuesday it was so bad I was crying. I went...did the tests...it showed no infection really but he was more concerned with my BP which was very high. Typically it is when I go to the docs but if they take when I leave, it is just a bit elevated or near normal. Well this was the second visit and it was not the case. So off to the lab I went for blood to be drawn...and off with BP meds and an antibiotic for whatever I had come in for. 

I left a bit unsure of what to do..I was in terrible pain still but off I went home. On my drive I made a plan...I have two weeks before I go back to the docs and I want to have lost at least 10 pounds and want my BP to be lower both with the meds and exercising and eating better. I thought I was eating well and I am for the most part....it's that going out thing that sometimes throws things off... or the nights when we get home from wherever and by the time dinner would be cooked it would be bedtime. So - dinner is frozen pizza or something like that. ding ding ding...sodium heaven, fat heaven, etc. My real downfall is I hate HATE to exercise. The idea of it is great...actually doing it, yea no. I like to walk, it's too hot at the moment. I have a gazelle upstairs and do use it but not often enough. 

So Wednesday we went to see Jennifer for her birthday...I had to go to the lab first to give more of my blood for a cholesterol check (which I imagine will be bad bad bad too) and i had to fast for it, which really wasn't a big deal since I don't eat past 8pm at night anyway. Then we went to Burger King...yea...I know. Once we got to Jennifer's we hung out a bit and then went to Olive Garden...now don't be shaking your head...I did good there. I had salad..the dressing is great but bad so before they mixed it up too much I got my share (the dressing is all in the bottom at first) I ordered the Pasta e fagioli soup (low in everything) and I had 1.5 breadsticks...hey it's Olive Garden! Unsweet tea as usual to drink. I felt I did good. Of course the frozen pizza for dinner cause it was late was not good LOL. 

Last night I was looking at SparkPeople.com and realized it has more than I thought it did the last time I viewed it. It has a tracker for everything, food, fitness, goals, and more. It really reminds me of WW in that you can post everything you eat and it tells you based on your profile how much of each nutrient, calories, etc you shoul have a day and counts it down. Recipes, community boards and even exercise routines. It has all kinds of exercise videos and one that require little or no equipment. I found a series of bootcamp workout ones that were for beginning to intermediate levels and uses weights too. SO - today I did day one...10 min (really more with warm up and cool down) and then walked on the gazelle for a few minutes too. I only had to take one break for a few seconds. I did most of the exercises they way Nicole, , my fitness expert did them. The others I did the less intense version. She showed both the less and more intense for all the moves. Now, I hate exercise but I will do this because I have to. I do not want to be on meds for BP or anything else the doc is going to tell me when I go back in two weeks. Check SparkPeople out if you haven't. I hate exercising with others...I tend to feel like they are all watching me, etc. I walk with my hubby which we will do tonight and every night...heat and all...bleck. I do not want to become a person that has to take a ton of meds every day...I already forget to take my vitamins...add more to my list and I may be in trouble LOL. 

There was one that showed you how to make your household chores into exercise routines. One was laundry...instead of grabbing a handful of clothes and placing them into the washer at once you place the basket on the floor and picked ONE piece up at a time doing squats. I thought, easy. Yes it is, easy but OMG...takes forever when you are doing it with whites..,.Marks wears tons of socks!! I ended up grabbing two things, three things and the heck with it...it all went in the washer LOL. BUT you get the idea. 

Why am I telling you my personal business...I don't know other than I had the urge to write it. LIke I said, I can do the eating part - I just need to do the exercise part and I will. Well...thanks for reading this far (if you did) and sorry to have bored you.

In a funk...

Haven't had a topic I wanted to write about in awhile. Seems I am in a funk. I get this way when I have to pay out of the norm bills or expenses that come up. I am second guessing my decision to quit my job and go back to school. I have moments where I feel I am being selfish or moments where I think we aren't going to be able to make it. We've been so lucky to have put the paycheck to paycheck behind us so to speak and now we will be there again...it's scary as hell. Then I go back and think, all will be fine. I hate this feeling.

The day my Mother asked to be my Friend....on Facebook

My kids both had Facebook accounts long before I did. I asked to see them from time to time making sure no pedophiles were their "friends" or they weren't doing anything that they weren't supposed to do. I did the same when they had Myspace.  I did have one of those and they didn't add me and I didn't add them.  We were all like " no way are you gonna see what I have on there."  I played my Mom card well though and monitored them every so often.  I did let them see mine too, I really didn't have anything to hide - it was the principle!  


Well, I joined the Facebook craze to find old friends and such.  My youngest added me to her friends' list but the oldest not so much.  It was invading her college life now! I was indeed enjoying getting re-acquainted with old friends from school and past military bases we were stationed at.  I accepted requests from some of my husband's family too.  My oldest kept telling me it was just wrong for me to have this, of course she said the same about Myspace too.  It was nice to be able to chat with the friends from long ago in real time and I even added some of my co-workers.  Which, for some was a mistake because when I wanted to put up a status like "OMG Some people seriously need to grow up, I would like to point out that immaturity is not attractive in adults...pull up your panties and deal ..." - I couldn't without them asking if it was about them.  It's not always about you, idiot.  


I soon got notifications to play various games and my kids made fun of me for having that farm of course but hey, I was doing  my thing and not bothering them.  Besides it was a bit of a stress reliever from those idiots.  Then one day, in my notifications was a friend request from my oldest daughter.  I had to rub my eyes and look again to see if it was real.  Oh it was there still! I moved the mouse cursor to accept and then backed away.  I hesitated...there was a motive for this.  I called her and asked her. She said it was fine because she hid everything she didn't want me to see...well then what's the point of adding me,geez.  I laughed and accepted her.  It took her two years before I was "invited" to see everything or rather more of what she let me LOL.  


I remember telling my mom about Facebook and the games (she is a big online gamer lol) Then came the mother of all notifications...MY OWN MOTHER!  OMG...no no no...now what was I to do. Yes I am adult but there are somethings I don't want my mother to comment on! Oh geez.  Ok OK OK... I added her but I sure was skeptical.  She would comment and it was odd...she doesn't put statuses up and her gaming posts bug me but I am sure some of mine bug others too.  I learned how to not but others though and not let hers bug me LOL.  I do watch what I post because if I put this as my status - "Some people make me understand why monkeys throw their poo." - she will call me to ask me what's wrong.  Sometimes I just put stuff up and nothing is wrong LOL.


I could so relate to my girls hesitating to add me into their Facebook lives. But it's cool.  Even their friends add me and the girls tell me "OMG that's embarrassing" LOL.  To that I simply say,


Hey, I'm Awesome - Deal with it.

Since you don't have a job....

Well - it looks like I may not be able to register for the Fall Semester. The only document on the list of many that is completed is the one I completed. The application. I am still waiting on the Shot dude to call with the results of the blood-work (calling him tomorrow), still waiting for my transcripts to get to the college. Waiting to hear back from financial aid too. Geez...c'mon peoples! At least if I have to wait till Spring I will be ready. But what to do in the meantime is now at my front door.

I almost smacked Valerie the other day (not really but I gave her the "look") - she mentioned, not once but twice in conversation that since I don't have a job I have time for.... Oh yes she did. I looked at her and told her, just because I am not working, doesn't mean I don't have a list of things I need to do. For too long I have put off things because of work or the kids. Mark hasn't said anything like that yet but I feel if I don't go back to school this Fall, he may get to a point where he will. Not on purpose but it may still happen. He is behind me on my decision to quit and to go back to school but you know how men can be LOL.

I am looking here and there for job openings but not finding much and if one came along that I liked, I would apply.

Actually, I am enjoying this down time...I am getting things done at the house, appts made, and projects now can be completed. I am also back on track with my sonoma diet, no, that's not right back to eating healthier now. I just need to get more motivated to exercise. I go to bed each night saying ok in the morning I am walking. Then when I get up and see it is already 90 out at 7 am I am like oh hell no. I do have a walking DVD that I am going pull out and do in the house. I just need to be held accountable LOL. That will come. I have great intentions at night, in bed, when I am planning what to do the next day LOL.

While I was packing the car today with Jennifer's goodwill stuff, I found some of my things...imagine that! A purse, a book and my rechargeable batteries. Hmmm. She had a whole trash bag full of clothes that I just didn't want to give to Goodwill, so off they went to Valerie's friends. They loved them. The box of books...of which 10 of them were statistics (I never knew she had issues with the subject LOL) are going to the library for the annual book sale. The last box was purses, shoes and junk. I will take the purses and shoes to the Goodwill. I used to be a fan of the Goodwill but lately when I go, they seem to be more about $ than helping others. There was a fishbowl there too and there is a story about the two fish that lived in it that I will save for tomorrow's blog LOL.

I looked at the boxes she deemed "don't touch, I am keeping" and really wanted to go through them to donate stuff too LOL.

There are 35 days till Valerie moves to college.

Joys of Dorm Room shopping

Ok so, college dorm shopping this morning..and I was just starting to get used to the idea of not having to buy a ton of things because she had a traditional dorm (two in a room, bathroom down the hall). Well...she got an email saying she now has the apartment style dorms...wonderful for her...$$ for me. Her original idea of "I dont need anything" is now sounding like this "But it is what I want" - I about blew up on her over a duvet cover she "had" to have and no she did not get it. What the hell is a duvet cover? I thought it was a cover for a comforter or something...if so, how impractical for her!! I can't spend $25 on that and then $25 on a comforter because "It is what I want" - OY VEY

Another one bites the dust...

Another one bites the dust....another wonderful and good coworker turned in her resignation at the place I did. They say things come in threes....wondering who will be next.

My First Time....

Eating Sushi! (What were you thinking this was about!!)

Sushi = raw
That has been my impression forever.  I mean it's the view you see at the grocery store sushi counter, on TV show, and just about anywhere else - or so I thought.

As my children were growing up, I made various meals (not sushi) for them and they would try just about everything I made.  They had very distinct opinions on what they did and didn't like.  So you can imagine that I didn't make what they didn't like too often. When I did, they would try it again.  Hit or miss again.  I never stopped them from trying new things when we went out, they just chose to order what they knew they liked.  So fast forward to when Jennifer starts college. On her own. Choosing and cooking her own meals.  All of a sudden, I have "sheltered" her from trying new things...liking new foods.  Haha! Same has been for Valerie, she will tell me she tried this or that at a friends and likes it now.  Well, clue me in so I can enjoy it too, geez!

Anyway, sushi is something Jennifer has fallen in love with and has been pestering me to try it with her.  My protests were exactly like hers in the past when I was encouraging her to try lima beans or wild rice.  Eww..no way.  I finally promised her I would try it.  Anyone who knows me, knows I don't promise things lightly and I follow through.  My girls know this and count on it.

Of we go to Sushi Thai last night.  I tell her I want my sushi cooked and she told me "I' got ya covered, Ma." I'm a bit scared now....nervous too.  We look at the menu...this stuff is not cheap but it is very pretty to look at!  She tells me I want to order the Gigi Roll. I looked at the description...marinated chicken in teriyaki sauce with asparagus.  That's it...that's what I want!!! Yes...I can eat sushi without gagging or puking.  Jennifer orders the Bruce Lee Roll (shrimp, crab, spicy mayo, caviar and seaweed.  Ewww nasty.  I dislike most seafood. We also order some Spring Rolls...those I like - a lot. Back up plan!

We get the Spring Rolls and they were out of this world wonderful!

Out comes our sushi after that...Jennifer's is so very pretty and very appetizing! Mine not so much...BUT it is cooked and foods I like.  She tells me you have to stick the whole piece in your mouth to get the full effect.  I am like, are you kidding, not my first time. So I break some off and bring it to my mouth...first thing I notice is a FISHY smell.

Gigi Roll

"Jennifer - there is something fishy here"
"no mom (laughing hard), there isn't."
"what's this green stuff?"
"seaweed, it's in all sushi"
"SEAWEED....well they didn't wash it or something cause it smells like the ocean"
"try it mom"
"ok"


I put the stuff in my mouth and while I didn't gag, I sure as hell wanted too! It was not good! AND I still smelled the fishy whatever.  I ate one more...the way she told me too...the whole thing in mouth to see if it would change my opinion. NOPE.

"Jennifer, I can't eat this, it's not good"
"try mine"
"ok, why not"

Bruce Lee Roll

I try hers and it was good...not great but good.  AND NO FISHY smell or taste, despite the shrimp and crab and seaweed. I guess her seaweed was washed!  The spicy mayo was very good.  So I had a couple more of hers and she tried mine. She didn't like it either.




We ended up bringing home mine just because the waitress was so very nice and worried I wasn't going to like anything (she could tell it was "my first time.") It sits in the refrigerator..it will go in the trash today.

Will I go again, sure.  They had a ton of other options there.  Actually, we are going again Sunday and taking Valerie so she can be a little less sheltered too.

I have to get how many shots??!!

Now. Getting shots...let me tell you...this isn't gonna be fun! Apparently I am behind in getting them??? Not sure how that is even possible but "according" to the computer at the clinic I am.  Why do I have to have these stupid things to go to school...yea yea yea I know rules...health and all that too. SO - NOW I am thinking I may not get to go to school until the Spring Semester. Why?! Because I have to get shots. More paperwork. AND my transcripts won't be here on time most likely. Man I hate to admit this BUT I feel like one of the students I work with...they would ALWAYS be late to register for classes and complain that it wasn't fair. I would always tell them, ya shouldn't have waited so long...See where I am going with this...uh huh.

At least, if that happens, I will be ready for Spring! 

I also found out who my friends were/are at that place I worked. yea...fun times there. My rose-colored glasses are clear now. Thankyouverymuch for the life lesson. 

BUT I am not dwelling. I am looking ahead. IF they wanted to know why I really left, my phone would be ringing. This is where one might insert the bleep you comment but I am not dwelling. I have to get shots tomorrow...gotta be relaxed LOL.

Bored??? Heck NO

For being unemployed, I am exhausted! My husband came home today from work and asked me if I was bored today. "BORED" - haha. There may be only two of us in this house lately but ONE of us forgot how to pick up things. No I wasn't bored, Honey. Actually, I rather enjoyed myself today with all the errands, cleaning and laundry. Someone, QUICK, feel my forehead...I MUST have a fever!

I am rather glad hubby went back to work today...he's been home since Friday. I was getting a bit annoyed with him LOL. Jennifer is coming home tomorrow and should be home until Sunday. It will be nice to have her here as I miss both girls. I just have to let her know upfront, I am not picking up after you or your dog! Oy Vey.

I miss both girls - I don't know, I don't think I am cut out to be an empty nester. Yeah, you say I will get used to it...I'll get back to you on that. After I graduated with my AAS degree I went to work for about a year and so and then had Jennifer. I quit and stayed home to be with her, loved it, loved it! Along came Valerie, two and a half years later and still I was home. When Jennifer was old enough for preschool, she went and I put Val in daycare while I went back to school to work on my BA. Didn't get far but still I went. I volunteered (LOVED IT) on the base when Hubby went to Korea for a year and was still with my girls.

We moved to GA soon (2 weeks) after he got back from Korea and the girls were about 11 and 9 then. A year after we were here, the dentist said they both needed braces. Money is needed for that! So I went on a hunt for a job. A job! Eleven years of staying home! The hours I had with my job were perfect for my girls and me. I left after they got on the bus and was home when they got off the bus! I loved that I was the first person to hear about their day when they got home. Of course through the years the hours changed and I may not have been the first but they would call me to tell me about their day. It was the best part of my day.

Now that Jennifer is in college, she will call me and tell me about her day or week...it's great. She texts me often too. Now, Valerie, she is gonna have to step it up a notch. The girl has been in FL with a friend and her family since Thursday and unless I text/call her, she doesn't. I told her - this isn't gonna cut it when you go to college...you can't just cut me off cold turkey!! LOL. She cracks me up.

Ok..I have no freakin idea where I was going with this. None. Nada. Nothing. I guess my point is - I am not bored, I am not a maid, and I will get used to being Home alone with no kids hehehe.

Oh yea...funny part and if you ever repeat this, I will deny deny deny. hahahaha Remember the movie Failure to Launch? Remember the naked room? Well...my husband asked me which room would be the naked room once Valerie left! I thought OMG LOL. Seems like a good point to stop with this rattling!!!

The day the Opossum came to visit

Time for a good laugh.

Go back to about 1988 and in Blytheville, Arkansas....

Mark and I were married about 3 years at this time and he was stationed at the Air Force base there and at this time we were living in a trailer...it was a very nice one...it actually had the prefab curtains (very very nice ones!) and it came mostly furnished.  We had our own stuff so whatever we didn't need the landlord removed.  The trailer was a 3 bedroom and it was just us two but the price was perfect for us.  The master bedroom was at the front of the trailer with the living room and front door next to that and then the kitchen and the rest of the place.  At this particular time, Mark was working swing shift and usually went to the gym afterwards and would be home about 1:00 am.  I was in college at the time and had exams the next day so I went to bed.  I don't know what time it was but I woke to hearing this scratching noise and thought it was Mark coming in scratching the wall to find the light switch.  When I called out "Hey you're home early" and got no response except for more scratching I got out of bed and went to the bedroom door and turned the light on in the living room....saw this HUGE Fuzzy Thing...did I mention HUGE! I screamed and it just looked at me from the middle of the living room.  I jumped on the couch which was two feet from where I was standing.  I screamed more.  The Fuzzy thing looked at me more intensely.  I screamed and saw the phone...way way way WAY across the room. I jumped on the coffee table...and screamed again.  The Fuzzy Thing now looked at me and I swear it was smiling and it was saying "See my sharp teeth" I knew I did not want to touch the floor at all costs.  I was much skinnier in those days and more apt to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Ok...it was a leap over the other side of the room to the chair.  I did just that.  The Fuzzy Thing ran to my bedroom.  OMG I was dying.  I called the gym and asked to speak to Airman Kerhin, I told them he was probably in the racketball courts.  He comes on the phone and below is the conversation we had (yes I remember this VERBATIM):

Mark:  Hello

Me; YOU NEED TO COME HOME NOW.  THERE IS A FUZZY HUGE THING IN MY HOUSE AND I WANT IT GONE NOW

Mark: Calm down, it's just a mouse

(we have had field mice in the house, I know what one looks like and I have caught several)

Me: IT IS NOT A MOUSE.  COME HOME NOW. ITS HUGE.  BIG. GET IT OUT.

Mark: ok ok I am on my way.

 

So I jump my way back to the couch and to the front door.  I grabbed Mark's jacket and tennis shoes (size 10) and sat outside in the chilly winter Arkansas air...it was about 35 lol.

About 20 min later, Mark comes home and asks why I am outside in the cold.  I said, "cause there is a HUGE FREAKIN FUZZY THING IN MY HOUSE"

He slowly opens the door and the words from his mouth were "oh shit, what the hell"

Uh huh, tell me it is a field mouse now.

He comes out about 5 min later with this Huge Fuzzy Thing in a laundry basket and by this time I am now sitting in the car with the doors locked LOL.

He takes the Thing over and lets him loose behind the fenced in field.  I get out of the car and asked him what it was ...he tells me it was an opossum.  I said Holy crap!  Upon our investigation, we found were it came in.  The landlord was working on our bathtub piped earlier and had taken the skirt off of the trailer.  If you know how trailers are set up, you know that in one of the bedroom closets near the bathroom was a panel and behind it was the pipes...the pipe that comes in from outside was not covered and you could see outside...and it was big enough for the Huge Fuzzy Thing to get in and visit me.  Also, if you know anything about trailers, they have huge storm windows that you place over the windows in the colder weather.  Well, we took one and barricaded us in so to speak.

The next day, Mark was due to go TDY for the Air Force, he would be gone for a couple of weeks.  I was not going to spend another night in this place until the landlord fixed the hole and put the skirt back on.  So that day and night, I stayed at our friends' house.  The landlord fixed everything and I was back in...but you can bet I barricaded myself in at night until Mark came home LOL.

Tell me about a critter you have had in your house!