Psst........

I almost forgot to remember, Its Blog Crawl time!  This month's theme is 'Sibling Rivalry', which is kind of fun looking back at but can be heck going through (from both a sibling and now a parental point of view!)

So, here's what you do, if you have a story, a picture, a poem, a favorite quote, or anything that depicts sibling rivalry and you'd like to share it with others, just drop off the link here and I'll include it with the list of participants.  It doesn't even have to be a new entry, it can be something you posted last year.

And for the record.... I was NEVER as bad as my own children are now!

RANDOMOUS (relax, its not a real word)

Its raining.  Rain is good, we need the moisture.  Besides, it sounds so soothing against the roof top.  AND... it is washing that dang pollen away.

The rain has made me feel all melancholy so I've been poking through old files and pictures.  Can't believe how much weight I've put on in the past 12 years.  Ugh!  This isn't the most I've ever weighed, but I'm not pregnant now so that thought offers little comfort. 

And my hair... my once thick, rich brown hair with glints of copper and bronze... now hangs limp and dark streaked at an alarming occurrence by thick wiry white hair.  Why couldn't it be gray hair?  Lots of people get gray hair.  Isn't it supposed to go from dark to gray and then to white... gradually?  What happened here?  I went straight to white.  And those suckers are fricken LONG!  Its as if I go to bed and overnight 20 more fully grown hairs turn pure white...poof! Just like that!  No little tiny hair that gradually grows in, giving me time to get used to it.  Nope, POOF!  There it is!  White!  At this rate I shall be looking like Rip Van Winkle in about  6 months.

Miss Clairol, take me away! 

What do you think, maybe auburn?  Or blonde!  I hear they have more fun.

Wait, if I dye my hair am I supposed to do my eye brows as well so that they match?  Yes, I have whites in them too, grrrrr!  Heck, I'd probably see white hair growing out of my ears if I could see in there!  Isn't growing old fun?

Actually yes, to answer my own question, growing old IS fun!  Except for maybe the first few minutes in the morning when I first wake up and my body rebels because hey, its 46 years old!  But a quick purge and deflation, a splash of cold water on my face, a swish of Crest and a shot of Folgers and I'm ready to go!

Did you know that if you eat breakfast every day you better your odds of living to the rip old age of 100 years!  I think I'm going to have to start leaving some breakfast out for Dickidoo each morning.  What fun it would be to harass his ass for 54 more years!  

HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY THAT I LOVE YOU?

I have been riding an emotional roller coaster all month long, and its been a rough ride.  I'm ready to get off, except the operator doesn't seem too eager to end the ride.  Its out of my hands so I must just hold on and hang on.

Up:  Gabe is going to be a daddy again... which means I'm going to be a granny again.  Down:  Gabe is going back to Iraq soon.  My heart is already aching.

Up:  Mom's spot behind her eye doesn't seem to be anything to worry about.  Down:  an increasing pain in the stomach and abdomen region has her going back to see her doctor.

Up:  Blondepennie is back online.  Down:  Walt from The Diatom Project is in a Hospice and Demandnlilchit has a new hot spot.

Up:  My co-worker Peggy is okay after a mysterious but serious illness.  Down:  My co-workers Bridgette and Martin both have been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.

Times like this, occasions like these give my hum drum piddly problems a new perspective.  Suddenly money problems just don't seem that big.  Those mountains that grew out of mole hills have become insignificant again.  I feel petty and selfish.

On the verge of wonderful break throughs, and on the eve of potential heartache I am reminded of a time when I dared to break tradition by appreciating a wonderful and supportive woman from my husband's unit at a formal function.  After a traumatic illness in my family in which I almost lost a child, this woman whom I barely knew provided emotional and physical support for me and I wanted to honor her at the unit ball.  I was told that it was against protocol, appreciation was rewarded only when the person was leaving the unit.  That made no sense to me.  To truly appreciate someone you should do so at the time, not later, long after the fact.  So I bought a dozen roses and had them presented to this woman who had made such an impact in my life and that of my family, because I wanted her to know that I appreciated her NOW, not just as an after thought when she was leaving.

And so, now, with so much good in our life, and so much sadness, I challenge you all to go to those you appreciate and let them know NOW, how much they mean to you and how much you appreciate them.  Don't wait until it's too late.  Don't wait to pay tribute to a person until they are gone and no longer able to hear you.  Tell them NOW so that they know NOW how important they are to you. 

And it you are reading this then YOU are important to ME!  Thank you!

Sometimes it is possible to win more by accepting defeat...

Its been a bad past few days and all I can do is sit here and hope that its passed and all behind me now.

Without airing my issues and boring you all to tears, let me just say....

Grrrrr³!

(thats Grrrrr x Grrrrr x Grrrrr, it was that bad!)

So here I sit, wired on two pots of coffee and self pity with only one positive thought on my mind...

Gabe has asked me and the family to help name his unborn son.  How cool is that!?  I'm thinking a nice biblical/ patriotic name like Abraham (big Zack was almost Abraham  but Abe  sounded too close to Gabe ) or maybe Nolan, after our dear friend.  Or Maverick or Mitchell... Morgan, Pierce (I don't know why but I love that name) or Quinton or Barnabas (okay, you all know why I like those names... Dark Shadows.. sexy!) Or Samual... I love that name, its so simple yet so strong.

Or maybe another Gabriel?  (scary! Hahahaha! )

So, anyhow... as I sit here, wired on 2 pots of coffee, self pity... and HOPE... hope for the future,  I also hope that all the bad times from the past few days are now behind me because...

This fart's for you T-Mobile! 

Nope, that ain't no left over Easter Eggs, that's flatus baby!  Can you hear me now?

Can you SMELL me now?  Hahahaha!

THE 4 LETTER WORD

Yesterday the weather man said a 4 letter word... s-n-o-w.  I'm really not liking that word any more.  But even more than that I don't like the word b-l-i-z-z-a-r-d,  because b-l-i-z-z-a-r-d  means LOTS of s-n-o-w !  And wouldn't you know, the darn weather man said the 8 letter word right along side the 4 letter word in the same forecast for the area.  I woke to about 5 inches of snow on Big Red.  Fortunately it brushed right off.  No s-n-o-w  day today for the Oompas!  We got more of the white stuff during the day, but it melted almost before it landed.  The b-l-i-z-z-a-r-d  had passed us by.

My allergies have cleared up without medical intervention.... probably because the snow has frozen all of the pollen to the plants from which they came from.  No itchy eyes, no sneezing, no stuffy nose and headaches.  Hmmm, there might be something to these 'early springs' after all.  (I'm still chucking that dang lying groundhog into the stew pot if I ever see him!)

I found a bottle of Pumpkin Spice coffee creamer in the fridge yesterday.  Now, just the flavor alone should have set off all kinds of red flags but I was too excited by my find that I never made the connection.  Pumpkin Spice is a seasonal flavor, seasonal like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  While it was still wintry outside, it is after all the middle of April.  I completely ignored the bells and whistles and poured a generous amount of the creamer in my coffee mug.

Do you know what Pumpkin Spice creamer from November tastes like in the middle of April?  Well, its kind of sweet and sour, with a hint of pepper.  That is a taste I never want to experience again for the rest of my life.  What a waste of a cup of coffee!

Its trying to snow again.  The night sky is over cast and the temperature is dropping like a rock in a pond.  The snow already on the ground glows softly in the failing light.

I think I just remembered how beautiful snow can be.

THE FLUFFY FRIENDLY DIET and a call from Gabe.

There is yet another diet book in bookstores now. Its called 'The Bonus Years Diet'.  This isn't your standard 'get thin quick' book, no exercise regiments or recipes on 'how to cook appetite suppressing fat-free water in 20 minutes or less'.  This is a special diet.  Its a diet that allegedly can lengthen your life by 4 to 6 years.  In other words, you won't actually lose weight, you gain years.

The secret to this age enhancing diet is 7 very special foods:  fruits, vegetables, dark chocolate, red wine, nuts, fish and garlic.  What this diet does is to lessen your risk of  heart disease, stroke, and kidney problems.  By lessen we're talking 14 to 34%.  Live longer just by feasting on fruit, vegetables, garlic, CHOCOLATE!, fish, nuts and washing it all down with a glass of red wine... Yeah!  I can live with that.  In fact, I can live 4 to 6 years longer with that! Throw in some anti oxidant rich coffee with nutty hazelnut creamer and you have the perfect diet.

Here's to many MANY years of happy fluffiness!

Gabe called yesterday.  He's going to be a daddy again.  Do you know what that means?  That means that I'm going to be a 'grandma' again!  Woo Hoo!  No, its not the same girl (although his ex is still very much a part of his life), but I have spoken to her a couple of times and she sounds like a really wonderful young woman.  She already has 2 children from a previous relationship, and those little ones have adopted Gabe as a sort of 2nd father already.  I'm still waiting to meet Little Zachary, but I can't help but feel sooooooooo excited about this new little one.  Woo Hoo Hoo!

His deployment date is getting closer.  I try not to think of that, but he's ready to go out and get it behind him so he can finally get down to business of being a daddy.  (and maybe 'husband?'   hint hint Gabe!)

Tags: Bonus Years Diet, fluffy

LOOK! Its the Easter Dust Bunny!

"I'm dreaming of a white Easter..."

Not!

Somehow it just doesn't seem right, being spring and all, to have snow on the ground.  Yep, that groundhog Punxsutawney Phil is toast if I ever see him!

At any rate, I hope you all had a nice warm Easter, surrounded by the ones you love... unlike some  of us who are surrounded by SNOW! 

Happy Easter!

BLOG CRAWL 4, Sibling Rivalry

I've got a lot of queries about what exactly a 'blog crawl' is so I'm going to cheat by cutting and pasting my original crawl introduction:

What exactly is a 'blog crawl'?

Well, it can be a way of searching for and through blogs. I think that is the technical definition but I'm not into technicalities.  I want simplicity, so in this case lets just say that a 'blog crawl' is when a group of bloggers all visit a predetermined group of blogs.  And lets liven it up by having the participating bloggers do a specific entry for the 'crawl' with a common theme.  Its kind of like a blog carnival, a journal jar, and round robin all smashed into one.  One established blog crawl specifies that the bloggers attain a certain level of intoxication for added effect before blogging but I will leave that optional.  I would like to keep the entries light though, for a 'bar crawl', from which the idea is derived, is a group of friends traveling from one bar to another and having a good time along the way.

How it works:  Participating bloggers write an entry based on the theme, which is entirely open to individual interpretation, and add the link to the comment section for the specific crawl entry here.  You can even use an older entry if you happen to have already blogged about the theme in the past, just make sure you use the entry specific address so we can link up to the correct entry.  Entries can be but are not limited to: fact or fiction essays, photos, video or graphic designs.  On the day of the Blog Crawl I will post all of the participating blogswith their entry addresses, and readers can visit them at their leisure, leaving comments if they so desire. 

Rules:  hey, I said I wanted simplicity!  For the bloggers, keep it clean, that's about it as far as rules go.  Stick to the TOS.  Not an AOL blog?  That's cool too, link 'em up.  Just keep in mind that you might not get as many comments if your blog host requires commenters to have an account.  I personally won't sign up for another blog account, I can't even keep track of the ones I already have!  For the Crawlers, same rules... be nice.  If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all (my mom used that on me a million times so now I can't help but repeat it myself... a million times!)

Interested?

April's Theme:  Sibling Rivalry.

A woman I met some years back gave me probably the best and yet at the same time the worst example of sibling rivalry I'd ever heard of.  Her baby brother was born when she was about 6 years old.  Up until then she had been the only child and she was not about to share the attention.  By the time her sibling was 9 months old she'd had enough.  She got her baby brother, put him in a large trash bag and threw the bag in the back yard next to the garbage cans.

Fortunately she had not yet mastered knot tying and when her frantic mother found the baby, the child was a little dazed but otherwise unharmed.  The sister would grow into one of the most attentive mothers I would ever.  I don't recall how her relationship with her brother ended out, but I'm willing to bet they are very close to this day. 

(That gives me hope for my Oompas.)

No reservations required, just link back here by Thursday, April 26, then watch for the entry featuring all of the participating entries, and start crawling!

Tags: Blog crawl, sibling rivalry

REAL MOMS...

A real mom knows the birth date of all of her children.  She knows all of their allergies, their likes and dislikes.  She knows the date of every major illness or injury ever sustained by each child.  Real moms know their child's height and weight, shoe size, and even shirt and pant sizes according to individual manufacturer's sizing.  Real moms know their children's dreams and aspirations, she knows their fears and phobias.  She knows what upsets each child, and she knows how to calm each one down.  She can recognize her child's voice shouting 'Mom'  in a crowded room full of moms.  Real moms can keep track of dates for all of the ball games and band concerts and coordinate it with her own work and household schedules.

Real moms know the names  of the family doctor and dentist.  She knows which child gets how much medicine at what time.  She knows all the names, addresses and phone numbers for all of her children's friends, as well as their parents names and work numbers.

But real moms don't know their own children's names.

"Mom~ I'm Zack, not Gabe"

"How many times have I told you not to argue with me?  If I say you're Gabe then dang it, you're Gabe!"

I have 5 children.  Most times I have to go through the entire roll-call before I get the right name.  And those little stinkers will ignore me until I use their name, even if they know exactly who I mean.

But this real mom has a real solution.

Name tags!

Thanks Stephanie from Home in the Heartland for tagging me on this fun little project. 

Tags: Real Moms

HAUNTED?

Something strang is going on in the House of Oompa.  Whole bags of cookies disappear, empty soda cans appear out of nowhere.  Boxes of chocolate covered Macadamia nuts are found empty and yet nobody will confess to devouring the luscious and expensive confections.  Where did they go?  Dirty dishes lay scattered around the house, accumulating over time, and yet the Oompas insist they didn't use them.  Where did they come from?

Odors that can only be described as 'something dead' steal as silently as shadows into rooms, leaving the occupants gagging for air but nobody lays claim to the eye watering flatulence. 

Day after day, time after time; the questions fly through the house at increasing regularity.  "Who took this?" or "Who did that?", and as predicted there is no living human who steps forward to claim responsibility. 

For lack of any other logical explanation, I can only conclude that The House of Oompa is haunted by a cookie and chocolate loving, messy, gassy ghost. 

Casper, is that you?

ITS ALLERGY YEAR AGAIN

Its springtime in the Rockies and I have been cursed with allergies.  No, let me correct that, I have been cursed with only one allergy.  I am allergic to... Colorado.  Springtime, summertime, anytime... it doesn't matter.  I'm just allergic to Colorado plain and simple.  Each year I think I will get used to it and it will lighten up.  Each year it gets worse.  My sinuses are so congested my eyes are bulging like Henry the goldfish's. 

I may actually have to go to the Dr. 

I don't want to go to the Dr.  I don't get male movie star Dr's with gorgeous eyes and dreamy voices.  My last doctor was a huge Cajun woman with an accent almost as heavy as she was.  She was a good doctor, but she made an examination of my female parts seem more like a back yard barbecue.

'Ooooooowie, lookie there, those are some nice big grapes you got there.' she said, peering close at an unfortunate side effect from my last pregnancy.  She even called her colleagues over for a peek.  I'm sure my nether region was the topic of conversation at the break room lunch table for days after that.

No, I don't like going to the Dr.  No telling what they'll do once they get my sinuses under their latex coated fingers.  Cold stainless steel, blinding examining lights, the suffocating odor of rubbing alcohol, trays full of sanitized tools for torture... nope, not gonna happen! 

No shots, and nobody is going to shove anything up my nose.... except for maybe the Shop Vac, that might help a little. 

Would you please pass the Actifed?

Tags: allergies