Vacation update

Anon pointed out that I never posted about our vacation. I totally forgot, with surgery and starting a new job, so here goes. Sorry about that!!!
So, once we finally got to Galveston and onto the ship, we got some time to explore the ship, which is HUGE. You can see the pics on my Flickr, I never did try the big slide in the main pool. So, they had art auctions most nights, with free champagne. I spent an insane amount of money on art, stupid free champagne did it. Wonderful pieces, but still, my wallet still hurts from that! So, we missed the sit down dinner the first night, but went the second night, for the formal dinner. There is a picture of us with the crew, Carnival really has a fabulous crew, and I think I want to work on a ship after my kids are grown. It seems like the coolest job ever! So, we spent the first night and day at sea, with pretty good weather, although it was pretty windy. We finally got to Progreso, which is a really neat city to explore. We went into the downtown area, and had breakfast at this little Mexican cafe, amazing food, and it only cost us about US$6. So, we walked around, shopped, and then headed to the beach. I had my hair braided, then we rented a waverunner. The water was great, we rode around for a while, and then went combing the beach for shells. Of course, at this point we're drinking Coronas, and thoroughly enjoying the sunshine. So, we board again, another night at sea, with rain. There were tons of things to do... shows, kareoke, casino, just hang out on the deck, pretty much whatever you could think of to do. I spent a decent amount of time hanging out on the decks, or sitting by the windows reading. One thing about cruise ships, or at least this one... they are FREEZING cold. So cold that when we would get off the ship, my camera took 20 minutes or so to adjust, and take a decent picture. So, we get to Cozumel, and the weather is kinda iffy. We rented a scooter, and took the long way around the entire island. I didn't like Cozumel as much as Progresso, the people were pushy, there wasn't as much to do unless you wanted to spend a shitload of money, and the public beaches weren't very convenient. We actually never made it to the public beach, but we did have brunch at this awesome place by the water, with the best fresh salsa I've ever had. We did go down on the sand for a bit while waiting for our food. We made it back to the downtown area near the port, and had to hunt down a tattoo shop to buy a replacement stud for my lip ring, lost on the scooter ride. Some more shopping, and we headed back to the port, for drinks at Senor Frogs. Finally, the weather had cleared up, but now it was so freaking hot we could barely breath, so we got back on the ship a bit early. The rest of the cruise was a blur of drinks, dancing, laying out, and just being lazy. We did end up in the casino, although we swore we wouldn't, but it was a lot of fun. All said, it was a great time, I highly recommend Carnival for an affordable cruise experience. The only thing I would have changed was choosing an adults only cruise, because there were close to 400 kids, and the parents of some of them were not the most observant people. Thank god for the topless deck, no kids allowed, for some peace and quiet. So, go on over to my Flickr badge, and check out the pics. :)

Ow

Someone please pass me some asprin, and ear plugs. My head is killing me, and the kids have some kind of sensor that tells them to turn up the volume on everything when mom has a headache. That is all.

The Answer

Normally, I wouldn't use Allen Iverson's nickname for such a somber post, but I got my answer on my friendship. It's not lack of time, or personal issues, it's me. I've had a couple of seriously painful blows in the past week, and honestly this one hurts the most. I sent one last email after posting about it, simply saying I missed her, and our friendship, but I wouldn't bother her again if I didn't hear back. Well, I heard back tonight, and basically I'm a shitty friend with too much drama, and my beliefs (or lack thereof) in God all add up to the end of a great friendship. I'm crushed, really... I know I'm not perfect, and I know that she's seen me through a lot of really hard and dramatic times, but I tried my best. Criticism for the choices I make in my marriage are painful enough, because I don't expect everyone to do things the same way, and I've made some non-traditional choices in that department, but the part about my kids always getting on my nerves being a problem for her hurts the most. Yeah, my kids are in a rotten stage, and they usually do have me at my wits end, but I looked up to this friend (whose children are all older than mine) for advice and support in that area. I never realized this would cost me my best friend.
So, I shed a few tears, and mourn the loss of a friendship, but it's not the first time, and won't be the last. Moments like this are the reason my signature on my email is the Maya Angelou quote "You did then what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better." I really try to live my life by that, learn lessons and do better. Goodbye, friend... thank you for the past few years, I hope I brought something positive to the table during that time.

Birth control for the masses

How to know you're raising little terrors? I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon before dinner. I was only asleep for about 30 minutes, but when I woke up my daughter was wearing my lipstick, my wallet was empty of all money, and the chocolate bar in my purse was gone. OK, no big, I got my money back from them, the lipstick wasn't destroyed, and all was ok. Well, I was just making the rounds, picking up the house, and noticed 2 pills on the dining room floor. At first I panicked, because one of them looked like a medication I take that could be very dangerous for them. Then I noticed the other was identical, except it was lighter in color. Oh shit, those are my birth control pills. I run upstairs, grab the pack from my purse, and EVERY PILL is missing. There were 10 actives, and 7 inactives left in the pack. I go get the little insert, because the kids have been asleep for 4 hours, and this happened 2 hours before bedtime. It says no serious illness has been found with accidental overdose in young children. OK, no need to rush to the ER or call poison control. I don't know which one, if either of them may have ingested them, but if they did, someone is going to have a whole lot of hormones running through them tomorrow. Ugh... who said parenting is easy?

Still here!

My lack of posting is because I started a new job this week, and have been busy as hell. Yesterday was my 24th birthday, and I definitely participated in Get Drunk Friday in honor of my birthday. We had a big party hosted by a couple of my friends, it was actually a joint party for me and another friend who shares my birthday. So, I'm alive and well, and hope to return to posting regularely very soon. Have a great weekend!

Filed In: Daily Insanity

On a serious note

I'm pretty sad about my best friend... she's just stopped talking to me, and I don't know why. We've been friends for a couple years, and seen each other through some hard times, but suddenly she just dropped out of my life without so much as an explanation. My emails have been blown off, under the guise of being too busy at the moment. I've given things a couple months to settle down, and still nothing. Have you lost a close friend? I'm fairly used to it, because military life doesn't lend itself to long term friendships very often, but this was a non-military friend, and someone I used to talk to daily. I'm really depressed about it, I miss her. Life goes on, of course, but good friends are hard to find, and it's hard to not feel like I wasn't a good enough friend, or did something wrong that made her discard our friendship. :(

True Friendship

TRUE FRIENDSHIP


Are you tired of all those sissy "friendship" poems that always sound good,
but never actually come close to reality? Well, here is a series of
promises that really speaks to true friendship:



(1) When you are sad - I will help get you drunk and plot revenge against
the son of a bitch who made you sad.

(2) When you are blue - I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

(3) When you smile - I will smile, knowing you finally got laid.

(4) When you are scared - I will rag on you about it every chance I get.

(5) When you are worried - I will tell you horrible stories about how much
worse it could be and to quit whining.

(6) When you are confused - I will use small words.

(7) When you are sick - I will stay the hell away from you until you are
well again. I don't want whatever you have!

(8) When you fall - I will point and laugh at your clumsy ass.

Healthy eating

On the urging of a good friend, who was concerned because my body wasn't healing from cuts, among other things, I've promised to improve my eating habits. Ok, I admittedly don't have great eating habits, and they could definitely use a revamp. This weekend that was down the drain, because I ended up so sick from the pain meds I was lucky to keep anything down. Since I'm feeling better, I decided to work on keeping my promise. What's your typical diet like? I can't imagine cramming all of the recommended servings in every day, that seems like an awful lot of food, and I don't want to pack on a bunch of weight. I know I *should* eat what I prepare for the kids, but that's damn near impossible. I don't know the first thing about eating healthy, and I certainly don't drink enough water (although I've been working on that.) Being an incredibly picky eater doesn't help, although I love fruits and veggies, and those are the things I lack most in my diet, go figure. So, any suggestions??

Weekend update

Thank you for all your well-wishes and concern!! I'm feeling ok, a little sore, but should be fine in a couple days. This weekend was pretty bland after the surgery, I spent Friday at a friend's apartment recovering sans kids, and didn't have my laptop, so I didn't get caught up on blog reading until today. I FINALLY made it through all of my bloglines, and realized how much I miss everyone!! I stayed in Friday night (obviously), and spent Saturday sick from the pain meds, so when I tried to make it out with my friends on Saturday night, it didn't work out, I ended up coming right back home and going to bed. Sunday we did go out, although I wasn't 100% (freaking out because Kasey won, while at a rather yuppie college bar is funny, no one really understands why you're so excited), and yesterday was spent at home relaxing. How was your weekend??

Still Alive!!

I'm still alive, I've just been busy as hell, and haven't had time to post anything. I had surgery today (outpatient, I'm fine), so I'm resting and recouperating for the day. I'm still insanely behind on reading all of your posts during my vacation, so please excuse my lurking!!

Summer Anthem

Your 2006 Summer Anthem Is

Promiscuous by Nelly Furtado "I'm only trying to get inside your brain To see if you can work me the way you say It's okay, it's alright I got something that you might like"

What's Your 2006 Summer Anthem?

The funny thing is this has been my summer anthem, and is currently one of my ringtones.

Back to reality

Well, we're back in KS. I'm in the process of putting my house back in order, and trying to unpack everything. Here's a synopsis, I'll give the full report when I've had some more rest.

Get to Dallas Saturday afternoon, in-laws pick up kids, we see a kick ass DMB concert. They closed with the most amazing version of Rapunzel, the whole show was just insanely energetic, as usual.
Start driving towards in-laws house before heading to Galveston, something tells me to double check that we don't need our birth certificates for the cruise. OH SHIT! We do, and it has to be originals, which are at home. HAUL ASS to D/FW airport, book flight to Kansas City for me, N drives to his parents. I drive the 3 hours to Ft. Riley, get BCs, sleep a couple hours, and head back to KC to fly into Houston. This brings us to 11am Monday, the ship leaves mid-afternoon. Drive to Galveston, board, sail, awesome day in Progresso/Meridia, sail, rainy but fun day in Cozumel, sail (and whenever I say "sail", I mean spend WAY too much money, and drink way too much alcohol), get back to the states yesterday morning, drive to Central TX to pick up kids, eat, rest for a couple hours, drive home. Get home this morning, try to normalize as quickly as possible. Stay tuned for the full report and some pictures.

Vacation time!!

We leave 7am tomorrow for Dallas, and I'm such a procrastinator that I haven't even packed yet! I have to get my van in for new tires this morning, pack for me and the kids, pick up some last minute items, and drive the sugar gliders to the lady I got them from, about 2 hours away. This is going to be the LONGEST day ever. Thank god for Starbucks!!! So, I'll probably have internet access at some points during the trip, I know they offer wireless on the ship, but I intend to spend a great deal of time drunk and laying in the sun, so not too much blogging will happen. I promise to post some great pictures when I get back, and visit (and comment on) every single blog in my Bloglines. Adios!!

Only me

I swear I am the ONLY person in the world who can injury themselves in the stupidest ways. For example, I regularly fall UP the stairs. I did yesterday, carrying the kids food, and bent my nail back past the nailbed. Then, while out last night, I managed to cut my arm on my jeans. There was NOTHING in my pockets, I was not near anything sharp, but I moved my arm, skimmed my leg, and suddenly I'm bleeding, and have an inch long split in my forearm. I go outside, and call Nate to see if he thought I should go for stitches (how I expected him to DX it over the phone I don't know, but I did), and it was decided it was too shallow to need stitches. Still, I've got two butterflies and a guaze pad taped to my arm now. Ridiculous... So, at the end of the night, I walk into my friend's apartment to get my stuff and head home, and realize I've lost one of the beads to my eyebrow ring on top of everything else. I'm falling apart here, and it's only Friday!!!

Cock Soup

Go visit Karla, and read about the most unusual birthday gift ever. My bday is next month, and I can only hope my friends are creative enough to come up with something so hilarious... after all, blog fodder doesn't produce itself, ya know?!

Wired

A sign of our world, I'm sitting here on my laptop, listening to my MP3 player, and text messaging. Shane is plaing his VSmile, and Mads is watching some TV. A few people I know are doing an "unplugged" month, no computers, no TV, etc... I don't think I could survive. I like my electronic luxuries, thankyouverymuch!

Filed In: STFU, K? THX!

WIC re-vamp

The WIC program, a program providing supplemental foods to pregnant/nursing women, and children birth through age 5, is undergoing it's first signifigant change since it's conception. I have been on WIC for most of the last 5 years, and since the programs are state-run, each state is different, but runs within the same guidlines. A certain amount of milk, eggs, cheese, specific cereals, peanut butter or beans, and 100% juice is allotted to each child over age 1. (There is a different list for pregnant/nursing mothers, and formula is provided for non-nursing children up to age 1) They have decided to reduce the amount of juice and add fruits, veggies, and whole grain breads to the list. I think this is a wise move, because the juice is the one part of the program I NEVER use all of. I have more Juicy Juice in my pantry than any human can possibly need, and have often decided to forgo the juice, or give it to a neighbor rather than continue to build my supply. Juice makers are not pleased with this, since it means less profit for them, but I think more than 6-8 oz of juice a day (of course, my children get the rest of their servings in other forms) for a small child is TOO MUCH, and WIC currently provides for much more than that. Considering about half of the children in America are eligble for this program, it could definitely make a difference in bringing healthy foods into low income homes. Think about it, a mom is shopping, and can buy the cheapest white bread for $1, or whole grain bread for $2 or more. This doesn't seem like much, but to a family on a budget, it is. Those fresh veggies that provide way more nutrition than canned or frozen are also more expensive, and some children living in low income homes never get the opportunity to experience them. Excellent move on the government's part here!

I quit.

Today, Shane cut off his mohawk with safety scissors. Then Mads let him cut her hair. It was horrible, she has bald spots, and her once shoulder length hair is now a pixie cut.

Aftermath...


Waiting to get it fixed...


After the salon. It doesn't look too bad from the front, but there are a couple of noticable bald spots on the back, and it's going to be hell growing back in.


I'm exhausted, I don't think I can take any more of this stuff!! Call your parents tonight, and apologize for every evil thing you ever did. Grrrr.

Weekend Recap

Well, my Saturday was much better than my Friday night. My friend Meegan and I convinced another friend of ours to host a party, because he has a loft above tha bar we hang out at, and it's an incredibly cool place. So, it was originally going to be a toga party, but we couldn't find enough women to make it anywhere near an even ratio, so we scrapped that idea, lest it be 2 girls, and 20 guys... awkward. So we showed up with an insane amount of alcohol, everyone else brought some as well, and we got to drink, laugh, and act like idiots all night long. I had my camera, and one of the guys who lives there had his as well, so lots of incredibly hilarious photos were taken, I'll only post a few.

The beginning of the night, part of the crew.


Me and one of our hosts, Mike (Apparently I decided to attack him for a picture. Oops!)


Our other host Joe, and Mike the Pilot (we actually do call him "Mike the Pilot", to differentiate between him and Joe's roommate.)


Of course, today wasn't so great, because Kasey wrecked on the last lap of the race, and got a DNF. Not. Happy. Oh well, shit happens. I'm tired and cranky, but it was well worth it. Of course, I haven't got an Idiot of the Week this week, although Floyd Landis is a prime candidate. I'm slacking, so we'll just give it to him. Congrats, dumbass... you can't get away with doping on the Tour de France.

Cranky

After a week of tantruming kids and more stress than one could possibly imagine, I'm not a happy camper tonight. I'd go as far as saying I'm downright pissed off at the world. Oh, and it's Get Drunk Friday, and guess who is remaining painfully sober. Yep... not a good night.