Yeah yea yeah.... I know! Sheesh!!

So, as some of you have noticed, I haven't posted in a while. I can explain! It's a legit reason I swear!!

Last week it rained every day (no joke) for almost an entire week! It started on Monday and didn't end until about Saturday. It was terrible!! No joke!

I did get a bit of a night out with the girls tho. (I had written a nice blog entry about all of this, but, it disappeared!! :-( )My favorite Nicole graciously invited me and a bunch of other girls to join her at Chili's for a girls night. Of course, I ended up going to APPLEBEES and then couldn't understand why I couldn't get checked into Chili's on foursquare. (DUH!!!) I got to meet a bunch of fantastic ladies and I got to have some adult conversation with someone other than my husband. It was fantastic I say!! I ended up having Salmon with broccoli and brown rice. It was super yummy, but I couldn't eat it all, so, I brought it home. Of course Bug decided that what I brought home was for her, and she stole all of the broccoli. It's okay. I don't mind sharing broccoli with my little picky eaters! :-)

Monkey got $40 from the Tooth Fairy for his very last tooth, and it has been BURNING a hole is his pocket for some time now. He did spend a little bit of money at his school book fair. I got very excited when he told me that he wanted to take some money to buy something. I thought just maybe he would buy a book! Alas, it was not meant to be. He bought a calculator that looks and smells like chocolate and a pencil sharpener. *sigh* He decided last week, when we went to pick up a bag of dog food that he just simply couldn't live without an African Dwarfed Frog. Now, don't get me wrong. They are incredibly adorable and docile. He picks out the smallest frog in the tank, and carry's his new prize to the register. He plops down $5, and even got some change back! He was very thankful that I bought his new pet, Hopper, some yummy food as well as some weekend feeders for the snails. (Which are getting REALLY big by the way!!)

Monday (the 4th) Monkey woke up and said "My throat hurts." That was all it took. He never complains about things like that. The last time he said something like that his blood pressure was thru the roof and he didn't have a bowl movement for 3 days! (It was terrible and he missed a WEEK of school!!) So, we went to the Doctors and wouldn't you know it, he had the flu!! So, one pack of Tamilfu later, and a note to go back to school the next day, and we were off and running! Of course, then on Friday, he decided to tell me that he's had diarrhea for 3 days! SHEW! This kid is killin me! LOL

Well, we decided that we were going to trade in our Pleco that we bought back in July for something that wouldn't poop as much. (Seriously... Spike pooped.... A LOT!!!!) So, we put him in a 1 gallon ice cream bucket and took him to our local pet/fish store and traded him in on a Corydora Catfish (Cory Cat) whom Monkey named Cory. I think I might have inadvertently caused Cory some harm today. The filter was running really slow and I decided that I would clean it and put it all back together, so I took about a half a gallon of water out and cleaned everything up, and then I put some rather warm water back in the tank. I didn't think it was THAT warm, but poor Cory came barreling out of his little hidey-hole and didn't look like he was doing so well. He floated for a little bit, and didn't move for about a minute, and then he went down to the bottom of the tank where he stayed for quite some time. I thought he was going to die!! I thought I had done Cory in! Nope! He's back in his hidey-hole after a bit of normal swimming. I just hope that in the morning I don't find half eaten bits of Cory in the tank.... :-/

I also have been a bit under the weather. On Wednesday I went to wake Sam up for work and I walked in the bedroom and felt like someone had skewered my from back to front. It was terrible! I couldn't breath in very much. I thought maybe I had pulled a muscle, took some Ibuprofen and laid down for a while after the kids went to school. Of course my wonderful 68 year old Philippine neighbor told me she could come over and rub some liniment on my back and I would feel better in no time! I love this lady to death, but I don't know that I want her rubbing some chicken poop on my back that she brought from the the Philippines!! (Okay, I don't know that it's chicken poop... but I have no idea WHAT it is, tho it's probably better for me than the meds the Dr prescribed!) So, I go to the Doctors (I joke with them that I deserve my own parking spot there.) and meet this fantastic guy! He, of course, was my very capable Dr. Perry! I think I now want to follow this man to whatever office that he is practicing in. He was that great! FANTASTIC guy! I wanted to pick him up, put him in my pocket, and drive home. I love him! Anyways! He said he thinks I have Pleurisy. What that is, is that at some point in time I had some sort of infection or something in my lung, and that my Pleura are rubbing together and they hurt. (I would make a wonderful Doctor wouldn't I?!) I have a follow up appointment with Dr Hotty (Or at least that's what the receptionist and the office manager and I have named him. His real name is Dr. Jones. Dr. Hotty is a better name tho.).

On a happier note!! I have a WONDERFUL person making over my blog!! It will be the first time that this blog has seen a new layout, background, anything, since it's birth! How terrible is that?? I'm such a bad blog-mom I swear! I can't wait to reveal it to you guys!! As most of you know, I'm not a very girly girl, but, she's doing a fantastic job of everything so far! I sent her about 2397234983 pictures for her to use. I just know that what she comes up with, you all will love, but even if you don't, I will and really that's all that matters!! ;-)

Anyways! It's 9PM and Sam and the kiddos are watching Wackos' Wish on Netflix and I can hear Pinky and The Brain planning to take over the world, so I should probably go spend some time with them before my

It's Magic!

Okay, so nothing overly exciting has happpened for a while. Sorry, I'm boring! ;-)

This past weekend, I got a call from my good friend Bill from Frost Magic Productions and told me that he was doing a show in a nearby town and invited all of us as his guest. I have known Bill for about 3 years now
(Wow! Has it really been that long?!) and would consider him a good friend. He's a great guy, with a lot of talents. He is a magician (Frost Magic Productions) and also has a martial arts school (United Martial Arts). He's very good at what he does. Like I said, I've known Bill for about 3 years now, and only recently have I been able to call him anything but "Master Frost." If you are looking for a great martial arts school, learn some self defense, or a magician for a party, he's your man!!

Anyways, enough of my shameless plugs for Bill! *Sorry Bill!! ;-)* Sam and I decided that it would be good for the kids to have a little fun, and the drive was only about 45 minutes, so it wasn't too horrible. Of course, I was told the time was 2:30 and 6 P.M., and it was actually 2 and 6:30 P.M.! So, we showed up just after 2:30, and were told that we could go in, but he was about half done with his show. So, we decided that we would go get something to eat, and hang out for a couple of hours. Not a big deal! We ended up driving to Surf City, which is on Topsail Island, about 15 miles up the road. It was nice to get out to the beach and smell the ocean *Did I just say that?! The ocean smells like dead fish! Ew!* and feel the nice breeze. We had lunch at a little place off the main road called Long Island Pizza. Great place! The food was great, reasonably priced, and the staff was extremely friendly! They brought out coloring books and crayons for Monkey and Bug, who happily colored a few pictures while waiting for our pie to show up. We all had a slice or two (or half in Bugs case) of pizza and dessert. Sam and I (I shared with Bug) got the Tiramisu, and Monkey had a Cannoli. Boy was Monkey in Heaven! Little crunchy dough wrapped around creamy sugar frosting and mini chocolate chips drizzled with chocolate?! What more could an 11 year old sugar addicted ADHD kid want or need?! After that, we drove up the coast looking at all the houses and talked about how we would buy one if we ever won the lottery. Monkey and Bug thought that was a FANTASTIC idea, I thought about all the wonderful nights sleep I would get listening to the ocean, and Sam thought about how high the Home Owners Insurance would be! *giggle* We can dream can't we?!

We finally drove back to the high school that the magic show was at and Sam finally got to meet Bill, after months of "Bill this," and "Bill that." He was amazes at how much the kiddos look like me, and how tall they are. I don't find them that tall, but as a 5'8" tall female, I'm not exactly short either. (Not to say that Bill is short... he's just... not as tall as others!!) We chatted for a little bit and then we took our seats. The schools Jazz band was playing. They were pretty good for a high school band! I did think that the one saxophonist was getting a little too much love in the solo department tho.

When the magic show started, the kids were AMAZED! He magically exchanged places with his assistant who was handcuffed in a box, cut a woman in half, and many other things, along with some comedy, which had us all laughing. Bug still asks me how "Mr. Bill" cut the woman in half! Monkey wants to know how he got the balloon dog back together and into the bag. Though they were a bit disappointed that they weren't called on stage, I told them that there were a lot of other boys and girls there that may not get another chance to see Bill perform and we would, so, there would be other times that they could get called on stage. They seemed satisfied by that. Bill invited Monkey and Bug to come out to the martial arts school and take a couple classes. Monkey thinks that's a FANTASTIC idea, and Sam thinks it would be good for Bug for when she gets older. (I think mostly so she can take care of herself a little better and he can stay out of jail for trying to kill some boy who thinks it's okay to put his hands on her... LOL) Overall, we all had a fantastic time watching Bills show, hanging out at the beach, and doing a little day dreaming.

Yesterday, we were pretty much bums. Monkey and Sam played Lego Star Wars for a big part of the day because of a pretty good Thunderstorm that came rolling through in the afternoon. Bug helped me make garlic and herb chicken with smashed potatoes and corn. We watched a show called "Wreckreation Nation" which was pretty good. They were racing lawnmowers, which the boys thought was super awesome, and wrestling alligators, which we all thought was super cool, until one of the participants got bit in the face, then I was the only one who thought it was cool. Bug and I did the laundry together. Most the time she got in the way, but, she wanted to help, so, she helped me sort the clothes into piles, put the detergent in, dropped the fabric softner ball in, and put the clothes in the washer. She did her best, and that's all I could ask for. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend!

Julie and Julia

So, as of late, I have become a little bit of a Domestic Diva. I've learned how to make Amish bread (partly in the bread machine, of course), I've learned to cook more than roasts and soup beans in my crock pot, and I've (sorta) learned how to sew. I've kept the house fairly clean, been shopping and recipe swapping, and have even gone out to brunch! I've learned the best way to get stains out of clothes, and the quickest ways to iron a shirt, and which fabric softner works, and smells, the best!

Tonight we watched Julie & Julia. It was a pretty good movie. I love food, and apparently it really loves me, it likes to stick around. (Bah duh duh!) I did some laundry while watching it as well. Monkey had an accident again, despite going to the bathroom right before he went to bed. It happens every now and again, but I try not to dwell on it and just wash the sheets. I never ridicule or make fun of him. It's not his fault that the muscle just hasn't developed yet and there's honestly nothing that the doctors can do about it. (We've been to one... said it's normal.) Monkey and I made his bed, I grabbed him a comforter since his hadn't made it's journey through the washer and dryer yet. Both of the kiddos are now sleeping peacefully in their beds while visions of sugar-plums dance through their heads. *Yes, I know it's not Christmas* While all of this is wonderful, I have a rather busy week ahead of me.

First on the agenda, deep cleaning the dinning room carpets! You guessed it! I never got to it on Friday with all of the commotion of going to appointments and whatnot. So, I said I wanted it done by Monday, so it will be done by tomorrow! Then, I need to finish up the laundry. I've also got to go to the grocery store and figure out something for dinner, and make another loaf of bread. I think that will keep me busy for the majority of the day. I've also got to slip in a workout as well!

Tuesday brings another day of busy-ness. I want to wash all of the windows, at least on the inside and clean the curtains. (What curtains that we do have!) Then I want to clean out the cabinets and rearrange every thing, and also clean the cabinet doors as well. (That means upper AND lower cabinets.) Also fit in a work-out and made dinner as well.

Wednesday, I believe I will wash the sheets (for my parents), and the blankets in the dogs crates as well. (No, not together Mom...) More than likely the blankets that go in the living room as well. I will more than likely vacuum and dust as well. (Hopefully) Also, clean both bathrooms, sweep and mop. Did I mention work out in there at all? Oh... and Girl Scouts!

Thursday, I and going to sweep and mop the kitchen. Since the kitchen gets used so much, the floor can get rather icky, and even with mopping it, sometimes there is still some gunk left on the floor, so I'm going to scrub it with a scrubby sponge. I haven't done that in a while! (Oh yeah... and work out!)

Friday is pay day! (Hooray!!) So, I would like to pick up some sheer material and a curtain rod for the dinning room and make a curtain for the sliding glass door, get Bug a new set of blinds, and maybe even make some curtains for her room as well. Also, I will more than likely pre-make the apple pie that I want to have for dessert for Saturday, which is when my parents will be here! Shew!!

Saturday morning, I'll throw the beef Burgundy in the crock pot for dinner, and relax a bit before I have to pick up my parents at the local airport at 11! Shew!!! I have a VERY busy week ahead of me! Here's to accomplishing it all! Now it's off to bed to read a bit and slip off to Never-Never Land in the arms of my wonderful husband!

By the way, I forgot to mention that Friday was my FANTASTIC step-dads' (That's you Kevin) birthday! Hope you had a good one, and glad you liked the cards! :-D*

Chilly morning

So, today started off not so good. I couldn't fall asleep last night, so I ended up reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson until almost midnight. I was then riddled with a recurring dream that I just cannot seem to remember. I woke up dazed and a bit confused, and 5 minutes after I should have already been up. I get out of bed to find BOTH of my children in Monkeys bed. For anyone that knows me, my kids, or knows a 11 year old brother and 6 year old sister, knows that these two get along about as well as gas and fire. I was sort of shocked that they were both in there giggling and playing at 7:05am. I hurried them both out of there and on with medications. Bug has Poison Ivy (again) and this time we had to give her antibiotics to calm the rash. It seems that there was a touch of infection and the Cortisone shot that they had given her, which worked last time she had it, made the infection explode all over her upper torso. Monkey takes his usual morning medications, tho he is slowly being weened from the Risperidone. It's a good thing.

I went with Sam to his cognitive therapy this morning. It went well. I have realized from the few times that I am a cornucopia of knowledge that I never thought I knew. Sam and his therapist were talking about proverbs. Everyone  knows at least one proverb. One of the most common ones is: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Well, Sam had to break them down and tell his therapist what they meant. Of course, I knew what this meant, and where it actually came from. I explained it came from the actual horses mouth, that if you look in a horses mouth you can find out all kinds of information on it. It's approximate age, and some heath issues also stem from the mouth, and how well the horse had been treated. So, looking at a horse's mouth, that was a gift, would be just like telling someone that has just given you a baby grand piano that it has a scratch on the top. Going to these things with Sam is always good for me, because I learn about what he's learning, where he is struggling, and how I can help, or at least try. Sam got a headache while he was in therapy, so she stopped and told him that he did a good job. I'm really proud of Sam for everything that he has been doing, to try and regain some memory, some shred of his former life.

Today on the agenda is, again, cleaning the living room, and the kitchen. I'm HOPING that I can get the dinning room carpet cleaned today, but by the latest Monday. It's not that it's overly dirty, but, I'm sure it could use some TLC. I've already got the kitchen clean, but will be doing it again next Friday right before Mom and Kevin come for their visit. Also, I'm going to start the laundry today. Most of the time it takes me a couple of days to actually get all of the laundry done, and I would like for it all to be completed by Saturday. Next Friday, not only will I have to do ALL of the normal laundry, but I want to wash the sheets and comforter that my parents will be using on the blow up mattress that we will set up for them. They've been in storage since the last time they came for a visit! All in all, not a horribly busy day, but enough to keep me busy for the day, and part of the weekend.

I think next Saturday, I will put some beef burgundy in the crock pot for the family. It's one of our new favorite meals, and we normally serve it with mashed potatoes and corn. Kevin normally isn't the real potato type of guy. Sam and I have been trying to make most everything we can from scratch to try and cut down on the processed food that our family eats. (Thanks Jamie Oliver!) So I'm hoping that he doesn't much mind that for one night, he has to eat potatoes that were in the ground. We also normally eat corn from a can, but I think next Saturday, we'll have corn on the cob. I will probably make a fresh loaf of bread as well. Maybe I'll even make an apple pie for dessert and have some vanilla ice cream! *Don't I just sound like the little domestic Goddess!* I think that would beat my sister and her grilled tenderloin steaks any day of the week! ;-)

On that note, I think I should go have some lunch. All the food talk really made me hungry, and I forgot to eat breakfast with all of the hustle and bustle of getting the kids around to go to school and going to therapy with Sam!

Random Rant Saturday

So, I know this will blow over, but, I'm just REALLY tired of feeling like I'm the only person who does a freakin thing in this house! I cook, I clean, I do laundry, I get the kids off to school, I'm a taxi, I do the shopping, and it is all wearing me a bit thin! The kids help me more than Sam does. For the past 3 or 4 days, Sam has spent more time in bed, than he has awake. I know that he has PTSD, DVT, and TBI. I know that while you are doing therapy for TBI, you can be very mentally drained and just want to sleep more, but, and it is a very big but, I don't see why he would need to sleep for about 16 hours in one day, when he's not had therapy for more than 3 days! He's been saying since Thursday that he was going to mow the lawn. It is now 6:40 and he is in bed again. The lawn is still now mowed. I'm more than likely going to have to mow it tomorrow because it's getting too long, and I don't want to have the lawn mower die every 4 steps because there's too much junk stuck in there! Yesterday I cleaned the entire kitchen, did some laundry, took Monkey to get new shoes, did some grocery shopping, made pizza from scratch, cleaned the kitchen again, put dinner away, folded laundry, and Sam finally got out of bed around 7 or so. Last night, Sam was making comments to the dogs like "oh, mommy starves you!" and "You poor thing, I know you must be hungry!", so I told him to go feed the dogs then. He actually says to me "It's your turn, I did it this morning." SERIOUSLY?! Well, it's your turn to clean the kitchen, your turn to do the dishes and put them away, your turn to do laundry, fold it, and make sure it gets put up, your turn to vacuum, your turn to trim the hedges and trees, it's your turn to get the kids up, feed them breakfast, and get them to school on time! I seriously want to SCREAM at him!I just feel like I have SO much to do, and not enough time to do it. Every time I get one section of the house cleaned, they ALL destroy another section. I'm not just talking about the kids either. I'm talking about Sam as well. Sam brings home all this CRAP from all over the place and sets it on the table. I get dinner done, and want the table cleaned off, it goes to the bar. I want to clean the bar off and Sam yells at me because he hasn't read a newspaper he got in the mail 2 weeks ago and I want to throw it away. I forgot to remind Sam to take out the trash to the curb and the recycling, so, we have 2 weeks of recycling in the kitchen now, and probably 2 weeks of trash in the bin. We don't generate alot of trash these days, but the recycling REALLY needed to go out this week. When I said "Oh, we forgot to take the recycling out last night" he blew up saying that it could wait another week and that there was nothing he could do about it now anyways.
All I want is to get a little help around here. The kids clean their rooms, and their bathroom, and will help me with the dishes when I ask. But I ask my husband, and it's like I'm asking him to undergo surgery with no pain meds for him to give me his kidney or liver! Seriously, it should not be this hard! I know that I stay home and I shouldn't complain as much as I do, but I work hard to try to keep the house clean and the yard presentable, and it's not too much to ask to help out with a few things here and there.
I seriously sometimes feel like I'm alone in this marriage. I love my husband more than just about anything in the world, but, I can feel the tension rising every day. I can feel this mountain on my back. I can feel that I'm almost at a breaking point and nothing that I do or say to him will come out like I'm just asking him to help. He thinks that I'm bitching at him, or that I just want to yell at him, or start a fight. He thinks that I just don't understand anything about TBI or PTSD or DVT. That's not true. I do understand. I just don't think that 16 hours of sleep in a day has ANYTHING to do with any of those issues. He tells me that he has trouble sleeping at night and that's the reason that he sleeps so much during the day. Well, if you didn't sleep so much during the day, you might be tired enough to sleep at night! But if I say that, I'm being a bitch. I just don't know what to do any more!

Merry Christmas... and all that happy jazz.

So, Christmas was here and gone. We had a pretty good Christmas. Living with only one income in the house has been kind of hard! I did find a new job, and I start on the 29th! (Hooray!) We set a pretty strict budget this year, and came in just barely over! I achieved that by using online coupons whenever possible. Sams' birthday was on the 18th, we had Christmas on the 25th, our anniversary is on the 29th, and Monkey's birthday is on the 31st!  We have a pretty busy December!
The kids were really pleased with their Christmas bounty. They both got DSi's. If you don't know anything about Nintendo DSi's, oh man! I would suggest getting one! They have 2 cameras on them, so you can take pictures of yourself, or outside your DSi. The ones that the kids got came preloaded with a few games and such. Now that we have 4 Nintendo DS/DSi's in the house, we can all play our own games, or, we can use the chat feature and chat with each other. (Yes, I know this is the lazy mans way! *hehe*) They also got some new clothes and some toys. They also got a gift card each, which was promptly spent getting toys and other various things that they deemed as necessities after the holidays. My best friend got us a portrait package from Sears. We're pretty happy about that, the kids would rather have the presents tho.
Sam got himself a very nice guitar for his birthday/Christmas/anniversary present. It's black Fender and it's an acoustic/electric guitar. Maybe next year I will get him an amp! For my Christmas/anniversary present, I got a sewing machine! It's been a very long time since I've used one, and so we just simply bought an inexpensive one. Hopefully, someday, I can be as good as my mom. She used to make things for us all the time. I remember her making me a pilgrim costume for Halloween one time, complete with the white bonnet and apron! More recently, she made a clown costume (which is REALLY awesome, by the way) and a vampire cape! I'm sure she has made other things as well, but, I just don't know about them.
I have already found some really neat things that I want to try to make. Hopefully, I don't screw them up. I have my eye on a couple books that I would like to get. Both the kids would like to learn how to sew as well. This gave me quite the surprise from Monkey. He is begging to have a Sock Monkey kit for his birthday. I would say that we may just have to oblige him that request. My mom made him a Sock Monkey a very long time ago, but, Lilly, his dog, tore it up.
Other than that, things have been going pretty well here. Sam is still working on getting out of the Marine Corps. That seems like a never ending project itself! It seems like it has taken forever for things to work themselves out, but, we have been assured that we're close to the end. We're figuring that it will be at least another 6 months before he gets out. In a way, that's the hardest part, not knowing. We don't know when he's going to get out, so he can't look for a job. Nobody will even consider him unless he's 90 days from getting out. We're in the process of trying to save up a years worth of expenses right now. We refinanced the house and his car, both with a better payment. Unfortunately, we didn't win the Powerball last night either. Congrats to the lucky winner in KY. We sure could have used that $128,600,000! I'm sure alot of people could have.
Anyways, It's Sunday Funday here, and I'm behind on laundry and dishes, so it's time to get back to that! I hope that everyone had a great Christmas, and from my family to yours, Happy New Year!

Roller Coaster of Love

Well, Sam and I had it out last week. It ended up with me staying at J's house with the kids and him eventually going back to the barracks so the kids and I could go back to at least some sort of normalcy.

In a way, I'm sort of glad this has happened. In a way! It gives us fresh eyes into what has really been going on in our marriage while we are so busy with kids, school, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, work, doctors appointments, and just life in general! We weren't making time for each other, we were letting life come between us and it almost ripped us apart! He has been staying here for the last couple days and things have been pretty good. We have been in one, for lack of better word, argument. We talked it out, went back to bed, and I even let him sleep in the net day because I kept him up way too late!

We are going to be going to a marriage counselor to try and work things out and become a stronger couple, not only for ourselves, but, for our kids (yes, even tho they are only mine biologically, they're his too), and for our future. We are both committed to this relationship, and neither of us took off our rings. I did say that I wanted a divorce, but at the time, I was very angry. Neither of us feel like that now, and are on the way back to a happier life.

Monkey on reading among other things!

Well, as some of you know, my son (Monkey) is 10. He has ADHD and he was also diagnosed with dyslexia last year. It has been a constant uphill battle to get him to read. He does not have the easiest time at it, and is significantly behind in his reading, which effects alot of other sections of his education, well, actually, almost all of them! Last night, Monkey actually brought me a book and asked if we could read! I was so happy! A couple of weeks ago, we had a conference with his science teacher, and he was in his homeroom right across the hall. He actually got out his book and started reading on his own!
What's the change, you may ask. I think it is a combination of a few things actually. We started buying him books that he really enjoys! We bought him some Diary of A Wimpy Kid and some Bakugon books as well. I'm just glad that he is wanting to read and is actually starting to enjoy it and not scream and cry every time you said it was time for reading homework. Go Monkey!!

In other news around the Charwood house, we're getting rid of cable on Tuesday. Totally not my idea, and it couldn't happen at the worst time! On Wednesday I'm having sinus surgery and will be laid up for a couple of weeks. When I asked Sam what I was supposed to do all day while I was alone, at home, with nothing to do but lay on the couch and talk to the dogs. He said that I could read. I guess that's not a horrible idea.

Oh yes! I started college! I'm actually going to an online school called the Animal Behavioral College! I'm taking Veterinarian Assistant and Dog Obedience. Almost all of the curriculum is online, and then you have to do an externship to complete the course and graduate. It was all actually paid for by the government because I am a military spouse. It's called My Career Advancement Account, and it pays for up to $6,000 to help with college. It's been a big help!

Tomorrow is the Marine Corps 234th birthday! I am proud to be able to say that my husband is a Marine. He is far braver than I! We won't be going to the ball again this year. Wednesday, which is also Veterans Day, I'm having sinus surgery! Of course, Sam didn't tell me when it was this year, so, I scheduled my surgery 2 days before. God love him! My best friends, J, is probably going to go with me. She will be having pretty much the same procedure done in December, so, she would like to go with me. I'll probably be the one that goes with her as well.

The dogs are great! They're both sleeping on the couch right now with their feet straight up in the air. It's actually really cute. Lilly's hair has finally grown all the way back in. She is a fluffy white dog again! Doc is finally in the swing of things around here. He will sit on command now! That was a pretty big thing for us, considering that most people believe that Greyhounds can't sit. Both of the dogs are very quick learners and are doing really great!

Other than that, I think that's really all that's going on lately. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this a little better here in the future. We will see!

Greetings!

Well, life has been puttering along here in the Charwood home. We have settled into a routine that lets us do the things that we need to do and have some family time at the end of the day! That makes me quite happy!

This past weekend we went to Myrtle Beach for a greyhound convention called BeachBound Hounds. It was alot of fun! We got to spend some time learning about Greyhounds and got to meet alot of other people with Greyhounds! We had pizza on the beach at sundown and then drove home!

We have plans to go to another aquarium next weekend. If all goes well we will get to see some more fish and dig around for sharks teeth! They also have an albino alligator at the one that we are planning on going to! My best friend is so scared of alligators, so I will have to take a picture for her!

Monkey and Bug are doing well in their new school. Bug has made alot of friends and Monkey is slowly making friends as well. Monkey is also in Cub Scouts this year! Sam volunteered to help out with this and is excited to start helping these young boys learn skills that will help them in life. Bug is awaiting Girl Scout Daisies to start. We're just waiting for her troop to start up. She is really excited. That means popcorn and cookies this year!

Sam bought me a new crockpot last night and I got to make a nice pot roast today. I put some onions, carrots, potatoes, the meat, some onion and mushroom soup mix and some tomato paste with some water in before the kids went off to school, let it cook all day, and viola! When we sat down to dinner the meat was so tender that it actually flaked off when you ran your fork down the side! I had a heck of a time trying to get it out of the crock to cut up and put on plates!

Monkey has developed a fear of the 'boogie man' being under his bed, so, today I went and got him some storage bins to go under his bed and a nice blue dust ruffle to hide everything under there. He went to bed with just a slight disagreement because he had to go to bed 15 minutes early for getting in trouble. We shall see tomorrow if this idea has worked or not!

Well, until next time my faithful readers! The husband is snoring, one dog is passed out on the couch, the other in the bed, and both the kids are snuggled safe in their beds, so, now it's time for me to slip in and get a couple hours of sleep so I can get up and do it all again tomorrow!

Newest Family Member

So, we officially have a new family member! His name is Doc's Whipper. He's a retired racing Greyhound that we rescued from Greyhound Crossroads. He's such a sweet boy that we have decided to call Doc. (Or Doc-er Do!) The kids absolutely love him, and he loves them too. Lilly isn't quite sure about this very tall dog that has invaded her house. She will give a warning bark when she thinks that he is getting too close, and will give a nip if he doesn't heed her warning. It doesn't seem to phase him much and he continues to stay close to either me or Sam. She does seem a little jealous, but, she will come to love him as part of the family, just like all the rest of us, in time.

We've run into our first "problem" already this morning! While it's not really a problem at all, it could become one very quickly if we don't figure out a solution. We got up to start our morning routine and Doc was doing very well. We let both Lilly and Doc sleep in our room and have not had more than a couple barks from Lilly to tell Doc "You are not allowed in my bed, go sleep on the floor!" He doesn't seem to mind sleeping on the big fluffy bed that we have for him on the floor. Well, Sam got up to let the dogs out to go potty. It is raining outside. Lilly just runs out the back door and does her business. Doc, on the other hand, stops at the back door and looks at Sam like he's lost his mind! We even tried putting him on a leash and taking him outside under an umbrella. No luck! He will need to go out to use the bathroom about 15-20 minutes after he eats, so, we haven't fed yet today. It's only 8:30am so, it's not like they're going to starve to death.

Other than that, things are pretty good! I will learn about my fate at work on Wednesday. I'm not so worried that I'm freaking out, but I am a little worried. If we could afford it, I would just stay home. Someday!

New baby.

Well, Sam and I have decided that we don't want to have any more children, and if we do, it's going to be quite some time before we do. (Think 5 years or so.) So, we decided, along with the kids, that we were going to adopt a dog. It's been a dream of mine to have a retired Greyhound for a very long time. I think it's horribly sad that alot of these animals are put to death after their racing careers are over, simply because they don't have someone to take them and love them as part of their family.

Lilly, our American Eskimo dog, she is very high energy. We go outside and play with her and take her for walks, but you can almost tell that she wants another dog to play with. When the neighbors have their dog in the back yard they run up and down the fence line just wagging their tails and playing. It was a decision to bring her home a "brother" as well.

I had been watching two different Greyhound rescue sites for the last few weeks, and Sam and I had fallen in love with one. Before we had really made the decision to go forth with the adoption, he was placed on hold pending adoption. We were both kind of sad, but if he got a good home, then it was great for him!

We took the kids to the ER for the rash that they have, because it spread from Bug to Monkey and Monkey's had gotten worse. The doctor had told Sam it was something that we didn't think it was and we were going for another opinion. We spent pretty much all night in the ER with very little sleep. The next day we slept in and recovered. I also wanted to watch the rash a bit more. I ended up calling the adoption agency that he was at just to inquire about their adoption policy. It turns out that the people that had put him on hold for adoption didn't want him after all! I decided right then and there that we were going to get him.

I filled out the application, answered some questions, and Sunday afternoon we found out that we were approved to adopt! This upcoming weekend the entire family will go meet him to see if he is a good match for us. Everyone at the agency has told us that he is the sweetest guy and that we will fall in love with him the moment that we see him. I have no doubt in that considering we are already in love with him and all we have is pictures!

Hopefully, this guy will be in our home next weekend and part of the Charwood family! Here is a picture that we got from the agency, and the one that made us love him!

Wedge cuts and Faux hawks and layers, oh my!

Well, it was an awesome week with my mom and step-dad visiting! The kids got to spend some time with them, which they really enjoyed. We got to go to their open house for their brand new school. It was just built this year, and they will be the first students there! They're very excited!

Monkey has a male teacher for the first time, he's excited about that. We met him. He's a Star Wars geek, which is something that they will most likely get along very well about. Monkey has the Star Wars trilogy and is often very upset when he can't watch it on the living room TV because his sister throws a fit!

Bug has another female teacher. She seems really nice. This will be her first year of going all day to school. North Carolina is different than Ohio. Kindergarten goes all day, and pre-school is half a day. You have to graduate pre-school before you can go to Kindergarten. I was actually very excited that she had a sign language alphabet on the white board. Bug was learning sign last year in Kindergarten. She has forgotten alot of it, but, knows more than I do!


We decided yesterday that it was time to get some haircuts for the kiddos!
Bug is growing her hair out from a wegde cut that she had last year and Monkey wanted an Mohawk but settled for a Fauxhawk! Sam was too worried that he would get a reputation as a trouble maker if we sent him to school with his hair in the fauxhawk, so during school it will just be jelled in some spiky hair fashion, but on the weekend he will be all Johnny Ramone! Well, maybe not Johnny Ramone, lets hope for someone more tame, like David Beckham!

Today is Sunday Funday! They don't know it yet, but, we're actually going to a soccer game! Monkey will be super excited, but Bug won't be. It's actually one of the women that I work with, her son is playing, who is Monkeys' age and she also has a daughter that is Bugs age! I figured that it would be good for them to have a couple of friends that share their passions (Monkey is soccer and Bug is anything fashion related!) Now it's off to finish house work, so we can enjoy a day of soccer!

ADHD

Well, it's nothing new, but Monkey has ADHD. He's been on medication for quite a while. He will be 11 in just a few months and Sam and I have decided that we want to do something to try and help him as much as we can. That's not to say we haven't been helping him since he got here, but, I've been doing some reading, and I have decided on a new course of action.
We have been making a list of rules to print out for the fridge, and we've also been working on a "check list" of things that he needs to do every day with the days that they need to be done colorized. This way, he can just check to make sure he's done his chores, along with a prompting. We're going to also put up the rules list and the consequences for breaking them. We want to implement things like going to bed early, losing TV, video game, and computer privileges, and loss of dessert. (Not dinner, just dessert! LOL) We also have goals to work on. We want to become members of the local aquarium as well, so we would like to reward him with trips there, and other things that don't cost an arm and a leg!
In other news! My wonderful Mom is going to be down to stay for a week at the end of August! The day camp that the kids go to will be out the week before school starts, so, we don't have anyone to watch the kiddos! how crazy is that?!
Last night we went over to my best friends' house and let all the dogs play together which went fabulously, and played some RockBand and Austin is pretty good at the Guitar, not so good at drums, but not terrible either! Jillian was not very good at the guitar, and didn't even attempt the drums! We all had dinner together, meatloaf, cheesy mashed potatoes and greenbeans. (Monkey ate everything!) I attempted to make home-made banana pudding. The first batch came out beautifully! The second batch, which I thought would set up after I put it in with the first, never sat up, and we had banana soup! It's okay. I learned!

More Flu!

Well, Friday we had to go back to the Dr for Monkey. He had a slight fever, had been coughing, and said that he had a headache. I took a proactive approach and turns out that I was right! his symptoms were so slight, but he had a fever and he said that he had a headache and had been sneezing since Thursday. With that, I had a four day weekend, with two sick kids! Monkey was acting just fine, and Bug wasn't acting out many of her symptoms, but daycare was going on a field trip and I didn't think that they should be traipsing all over the state with the flu!
What it did mean, was that I could get a head start on house work for the weekend! Which means that I might get a chance to enjoy my Sunday with the kiddos! Sounds great, right?
Yesterday, Sam came home from his meeting and said that he had a headache and was going to lay down for a bit. A few hours later I go to ask him if he was okay, and he was burning up with fever. You guessed it, he's got the flu as well!!
the kids got a package from Grammy yesterday. Bug got a new Hanna Montana backpack for school, and Monkey got a new summer workbook, and then she sent the mother load of goodness! She sent a box of CoCo Wheats! If you don't know what they are, then you must have been hiding under a rock for the last 60 some years... CoCo Wheats are like chocolate Cream of Wheats. Man! I forgot how great the taste! We had that this morning for breakfast, and now my 2 "flu sick" kids are bouncing all over! I think today we will go to the park, and possibly even take the dog as well. Not sure yet.

Sunday Funday!

Well, we are going to try and continue the trend that my parents started with the kiddos. It's what they called "Sunday Funday" where the whole family goes out (or stays in) together and does something fun.

Well, we decided that we were going to go to the beach! Well, we got the blankets, towels, beach toys, and the most important item, sunscreen!! Monkey has a very fair complexion, just like me, but Bug is blessed with a bit darker complexion like Sam. I slathered Monkey up with some sunscreen and he got his swim trunks, and he was ready to go! Get Bug slathered up with slightly less of the white mess for the sun goddesses skin and she's ready to go! Sam and I get everything packed into the pack, get everything into the car and off we go to the beach! Now, Sam being Native American, we never ever would have thought that he needed any sort of sunscreen. I should have known better! He now is definitely a red man! Of course, I didn't fair much better either. I have very fair complexion just like my son, and should have known better than to not wear sunscreen. I do know better.

When I was younger, I didn't really need to wear sunscreen because I was outside almost all the time with my horses and such. I would just gradually build up the tan as I needed it. Oh no! Not now! Being an adult really stinks sometimes! I miss being able to go outside and play, and just be a kid. Now, I have to stay inside for 8+ hours at work, go get the kids from daycare, come home, make dinner, do laundry, clean the house, make sure the dog has food and water, make the bed, read bedtime stories, run baths, and a million other things!

Speaking of dinner! Boy, did I make a great dinner tonight!! I made a roast, with carrots, potatoes, celery, onions, and garlic. Threw some watered down tomato paste and some milk in there, covered it with aluminum foil and cooked it on 350 for about an hour or so, and oh man it was good! Even Monkey, who doesn't like potatoes, commented how great they were! What a surprise! It wasn't my best roast, but it was close!

Now, it is time to head off to bed. This lady is pooped!

Out of the mouths of babes!

So, I made breakfast this morning. Scrambled eggs, toast with strawberry jam, and milk. We're all sitting around the new table (thanks mom!) eating, talking about different things when I notice that there is a Boys and Girls Club of America symbol on the back of the jar. I tell the kids "This is where you guys are going on Monday! The Boys and Girls Club!" to which Monkey responds "Are we going to be making jelly there?"

Final countdown!

Well, tomorrow the parents and the kids will be here! I'm anxious, excited, and nervous all at once! It's been quite a while since the kids have lived with me, and Sam has never had kids live with him, so it's going to be a big change for us. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for them to be here!

I've been watching HGTV non-stop to get some ideas for the house. So far, I'm seeing alot of things that I like, and alot of money that we don't have to put into it. I know that I want to do painting in the living room, master bedroom, and kitchen, other than that, I got nothin! For some reason, it feels really warm in the house. I guess we're going to have to crawl under the house again and make sure that the cross over pipe hasn't fallen down again. that would be horrible if it had. Yet more small fixes that we don't need and can't afford right now!

We still haven't met any more of our neighbors, nor have we seen our newighbor Jeremy lately either. It's not like we spend alot of time outside tho. That should be changing this weekend tho. I haven't really had time to do much of anything but sleep, eat, unpack, and go to work. At this point in time, I'm just so tired! It's not going to get any better from here, and I realize this.

Tomorrow is going to be crazy as well. We have to go to Lowes or something and get the materials to fix the back gate before everyone gets here, and many other things. I would really like to have my mom take a picture of all of us on the front steps of the house, and then have one taken every July 4th weekend from here on out. I know that it seems like something silly, but, I want to keep a record of how we grow and change throughout the years.

Okay, I have taken enough time to write a little bit and get some thoughts down. I guess it's time to get back to working on the house.

Finally!!

We have everything out of the old place and into the new house! It's a total disaster right now, but at least it's our disaster! We have half unpacked boxes just about everywhere. There are clothes all over the bedroom floor, the closet looked like a Macy's exploded, and the kitchen has stuff laying all over the place. The only 3 rooms in the entire house that don't have anything messy in them is the 2 kids rooms and the bathroom! That will change this weekend tho! Tomorrow we will be picking up and putting things, hopefully, where they belong.

The first night in our house was rather comical. I can never sleep the first night anywhere, I guess that's why I don't like hotels, so, the first night here was rather funny. We're laying in bed, and I keep hearing a noise in the laundry room that sounded like dripping water. The only thing I could think of was that the roof was leaking, even tho it had not rained. I get out of bed, walk into the laundry room and start looking for a leak. I can't find the light switch, so I walk back into the kitchen and turn on the light and walk back into the laundry room. I can't find a leak anywhere, but the sound is still there, so I start looking closer to the floor. There I find it! It's a long, thin black bug that has like a joint in the middle of it's back! It's laying on it's back and trying to flip over on it's feet! That's what was making the noise, so I picked it up and threw it outside. I hope he landed on his feet!

Today has been a very long day! I got up early for my job, and a new schedule. I had to be there an hour earlier, but I got off an hour earlier as well!! It felt nice to get off work and not have to feel like I need to go right to bed. But now, it's almost tomorrow, and I need to get at least a couple house of sleep, so it's off to bed for me!

New home!!!

So, tonight is the first night in the new house! We've got almost everything moved. The only thing we have left is the kitchen stuff. We wanted to finish washing the dishes before we moved everything over. We have to finish cleaning the old place as well so we can get our deposit back.

I have about half of the clothes hung in the closet. I need to get some more hangers! It looks rather empty in the closet even with half of the clothes hung up! We had some Taco Bell for dinner because of not having anything in the fridge, and nothing to cook on, with, or eat on!

We've got the TV set up, and obviously the internet. The water tastes a whole lot better than it did at the old place, but still tastes horrible. We already have the spot picked out for the desk, and even got a wireless card for the desktop so we didn't have to drill a new hole in the floor. We've figured out that the vents in the living room, if we put the loveseat against the wall and the TV against the wall, will both be covered up! So, we decided to put the TV against the wall and leave the loveseat pulled out a bit. I guess that the dog can lay back there!

We've still got alot to unpack, but, things are coming along nicely. I found a bunch of clothes that are a a bit too small that we are keeping put up on the shelf as motivation to lose weight. Hopefully that works!

Sam is having alot of fun only using the master bathroom, which is very funny! We have 2 bathrooms now, and he says that the 2nd bathroom is only for the kids, and visitors, so we have to use our bathroom! He is too funny! Today he seen a picture of an American Eskimo puppy, which is the type of dog that Monkey has, and he fell in love. He now wants to buy an Eskie puppy. I told him that we would have to wait for a little while before we could afford to buy one of them. I still want to get my rescued Greyhound. Eventually we will get another dog.

We got to meet one of our neighbors today as well. He has 4 kdis! I can't imagin having that many kids! He does have 2 younger ones that are Monkey and Bugs ages! Sam and I think that it's fantastic that they young ones that can play with them. At least we know that we will have someone to play with! Now, lets hope they get along!

That's all for tonight, I'm pooped and I'm ready for bed!

Moving!

So, we're still working on getting everything ready to move. We've reserved the truck, got most things packed and have the bodies to move it all. I had left the electric, cable, and water for Sam to take care of because he said that he wanted all the utilities in his name. No big deal. I ask him today when the electric is supposed to be turned on, and he said he hadn't called yet. What about the water? Hadn't called yet. Cable? Hadn't called yet. He asked me if I had called to set up the trash yet and I told him no, because I just found out today that there was no more trash service at the new house. He knew without a doubt that we were going to need at least the water and electric on before we moved into the house! So, I've given him a list of places to call tomorrow to get things rolling. I will be calling the trash people and setting that up and finalizing the day care for the kids. I've been bugging my boss about changing my schedule so I can get off earlier so I can make sure that the kids get picked up before daycare closes. Oh! And I just found out that Sam has a 24 hour duty Friday and won't be home until after 8am on Saturday. He's not going to be much use to us for moving purposes! This is going to be so much fun. *sigh*