A mish mosh of sorts

A random slew of stuff, its just one of those days.

*I'm dying for cake. Real cake, with eggs. (For those of you who don't know dash-1 is allergic to eggs, real cake has eggs in it, egg free cupcakes are good but again, not real cake.) I'm thinking of white cake with white frosting. Butter cake with chocolate frosting sounds pretty snazzy too.

I mentioned this last night to flyboy and he just looked at me. I repeated myself in case he didn't hear me and then he replied, "I cant crap you a cake and you understand I'm not running to the store at 9:30".

Ok. Point taken. I will go without cake.

*Tomorrow night we are supposed to get 9-14 inches of snow. Do you know why it's going to snow enough for an Olympic trial in downhill skiing? Because I have a doctors apt scheduled for early Weds. morning. That's why. And its been scheduled for two weeks. Of course.

*Dash-2's latest craze is blowing raspberries on my stomach, face, arm, any skin exposed pretty much. Although its less a raspberry and more just a giant spew of spit left all over me. It's a good thing he breaks out in a fit of giggles or seriously, I'd lose my mind.

*Life on Mars is starting back up this week. I'm very excited. It's about a cop who suffers an gunshot wound and ends up back in 1973. And flyboy and I agree on it. How often does that happen?

*In the fish tank front, while washing the gravel the bag slipped and gravel ended up everywhere. Even in the toilet. Fresh after a certain little boy used it and didn't flush.

We can't flush gravel down our toilets so flyboy just stuck his hand right in. He said it best "clearly we've had kids for a while now, I didn't even think twice going in."

*This is a little embarrassing but it was so funny as it was happening I looked right at flyboy and asked if I could blog about this. He gave his blessing.

Both of us were cleaning last night, well I was scrubbing toilets (those with small boys or even big boys realize more pee is actually on the OUTSIDE of the toilet) and he was putting in some insulation in the attic. So we both opted to shower when we finished up around the same time. And you know being green minded we wanted to save water. So we hopped in together.

Hey we have small kids, that's about as exciting as it gets.

Until Dash-1 decided he needed to pee. And his brother decided to follow him. Into the same bathroom we were in. Flyboy stuck his head out to see what was going on and I stayed mum, nothing gets past dash-1 and he starts in on how we shouldn't be in the shower at the same time. It's only meant for one person at a time.

I cringe when I think about what he's going to say at school tomorrow if he remembers this.

Really that's enough of the mishmosh, I think I've adequately embarassed myself enough.

And I still want cake.

The fish saga

We went and got the boys the much anticipated fish tank today.

Ummmm yeah.

I thought fish tanks were a cheap little proposition. Uh. No. Almost 200 dollars lighter we left the store, only to drive 45 mins home to find out the box was missing pieces. So with two, not so understanding little ones and two moderately peeved parents, off we trudged to get another one.

Of course the other store didn't have that one. Of course. Seems simple enough to just get another, which we ended up doing, but let me clue you in, small children don't always understand why they aren't getting the cool looking circular one they originally picked out.

Come home, take the box apart, realize that all our combined higher education (and quite frankly between the two of us we have a fair amount) did not prepare us to put together what I thought would be a fun family project.

Fun it was not. Tons of little pieces, 15 separate instruction books, various cords and plugs, and the kids asking where the fish were. And big daddy.... yeah, for someone who deals with high stress situations in a cockpit AND who's been to war, a couple times, he was quite near the edge.

Honestly, I wish we had just bought a damn dog.

apparently i am late for wordless weds.

I know some folks don't let their kids play with toy guns. Obviously we are not those people.

my hero

My husband is my hero for many reasons. He came home this weekend off from a few weeks away and jumped right back into the thick of things while I retired to my bed to wretch my guts out. Sounds charming doesn't it?

But seriously. He's a great dad, a very loving husband, he cleans like a crazy person, and then you have the whole serving his country thing.

But after last night he might as well have slayed a dragon for me.

I have no problem doing some icky things around. More then once I have stuck my hand down the toilet (prior to flushing disgustingly enough), I have caught my children's vomit in my own hands, when he is away I have killed bugs big enough to flip me the bird.

But yesterday my husband saved me.

First I should explain, we live in an old country house. Read between the lines and understand that that means when it starts to get cold the mice find their way in. One in particular made himself right at home and drove me nuts. Honestly had he never surfaced from the basement I probably would have left him alone.

But he had to push it. He had to come into my pantry.

Flyboy unleashed his furry. He put some bait blocks around the basement (just so no one calls CPS, its a very scary basement, I only go down there to do laundry, the kids never go, there was no harm they would eat the bait blocks). Well they did the job.

Of course the mouse got the last laugh. He managed to make it up to where I store all my plastic shopping bags (note to self I should probably not store bags like that anymore apparently mice like to burrow in them) and well, lets say he arrived at the pearly gates in the company of a target bag or two.

And then I noticed a smell. And I had a sneaking suspicion what it was. And I wasn't going in after it. At all.

Seriously, THANK GOD I married a man who when he walked thru the door from work and was greeted with, "Oh by the way I think there is a dead mouse to be found." He didn't even flinch. He just went right in and went to work.

I stayed upstairs during all of this. I couldn't even stay down there for moral support. I heard him coughing and gagging and well given my stomach over the past week I thought my moral support would just have to be on loan from the upper level of the house.

I really can't sing the praises of this man enough right now. If he wasn't here I would have had to tape off the kitchen and moved, because, no way was I going to get a first hand look at a decomposing mouse. But flyboy, just stepped up and did the dirty work.

Someone is getting a very, very, big valentine's day gift.

Look what I found!

Sorry for the lack of posting and commenting. I'm alive really. I'm just on my last leg. I've been under the weather, you know the kind where you just lay on your bed with your head hanging over the edge waiting for the earth to swallow you whole?

Yeah that kind.

And since flyboy is doing what he does best, flying, not to be dramatic, but it really is taking all that I have to get my kids fed and watered. This is really when you miss not living close to family. I am not to proud to admit that my kids have watched a fair amount of tv this week and eaten a fair amount of cheese slices. But, they are alive. And I have still taken them to school, karate, the doctors, given them a bath daily. See, I'm not a total slacker mom.

Anywho. Dash-1 is on an orange juice kick. I mean really, its like crack for him, he wakes asking for it and follows me around all day trying to get another fix. I don't mind too much, I get him the stuff with calcium added so I feel like its win win. And with the exception of the day he drank an entire carton (flyboy didn't realize I water it down. A LOT) I can stretch it out.

And if your wondering, there is a point to this besides his love of oj.

So after languishing without his oj for a few days the boys and I headed to wally world to get the kid his stash. As I was checking out what did I spy sitting near the register looking oh so sweet and perfectly pluckable?
These babies. These delightfully delicious sweet treats that only make a brief appearance once a year. They must be enjoyed. Curse eating well and counting calories. You only have a limited amount of time to enjoy them.

Halloween candy doesn't really impress me, Christmas candy doesn't either (ok the cookies cripple me but the candy doesn't phase me), Valentine candy is just eh, but Easter candy is my weakness. Apparently even when I feel like poop.

Not only is it GREAT for a sweet tooth but it also means that spring is more then just a distant dream. It has to come sometime. And while I wait for it, I have these to keep me occupied.

Now once these show up on the shelves, I might just die from sheer delight.

Upon seeing Loqi's comment I realize not all maybe aware of these little delights. They are little eggs with dense marshmallow (not fluffy marshmallow that would be disgusting) and then a hard candy coating. DELICIOUS but apparently an acquired taste. And take my word, blue is the best color.

Not me Monday!

Yeah yeah, not me Monday is showing up on Tuesday. That folks should give some indication of what the week was like and how this one might be shaping up. It just means more fodder for next week. Although really its hard to top the underwear one.

I did not wear my underwear inside out for an entire day. I did not wonder why the inside of my underwear was nicer then the outside, I did not wonder why the cotton panel was on the other side, and I did not wonder why the tag that was printed on was printed on the outside.

I did not go all day thinking that Thursday was Friday and that Sunday was Saturday.

I did not forget to the near last minute to renew the registration on flyboy's jeep. I did not take dash-2 (dash-1 was in school don't worry I didn't leave him in the car or home alone) to the DMV prepared with snacks, juice and enough entertainment for an army only to luck out and get called the second I stood in line.

I did not buy another whole happy meal because dash-1 lost his very cool monster truck at the CDC while I was at the doctors and was just crushed.

I did not play 422 games of peekaboo with dash-2 this week that did not always end in fits of giggles and kisses.

truth about TDY's

I love it when hoards of people agree with me. It makes me glow for days. There seems to be a consensus on the whole deployment vs. TDY thing.

Deployments, to put it mildly, suck. I mean yeah you do get some nice tax free money but really the worry and what not almost negates it. They bring with them a feeling that is indescribable to someone who hasn't lived thru one. I remember when the war had first started and it was on the news 24/7, I slept with the tv on and would wake up constantly thru out the night to see if there was any news of a plane down or something equally horrific.

His "normal" schedule of constant flying doesn't bring that same fear. But despite not being a deployment it does bring about challenges.

I might not agree with that persons use of deployment but I do kinda understand what its like having a revolving door on your life for your husband to come and go. More emphasis on the going then the coming it seems sometimes.

Just like I said in the other post, I claim to be no expert on how the other branches work, or even how the other parts of the Marine Corps work, but in my husband's part of the air wing, time away from us is not few and far between. There will be lulls in flying, but those lulls are at most, maybe a month long.

And just like there are lulls there are times when it is constant. I remember the summer that dash-2 was a baby flyboy was home for just short of a month between May and November. And that month was broken up by a trip. And when he returned in November he was off again at the end of the month and missed dash-2's first birthday in December.

I know I made TDY's sound like they are a joke in that post. And sometimes they are. And I don't know how it works for guys who don't fly, I imagine everyone TDY's at some point for training or something. But for most trips flyboy is flying his ass off, staying in some crappy base lodging, missing meals because he's running on some whacked out schedule and not calling home because he, well, he can't.

Trips like that may only last a week or a month at a time, but we know that there will always be more. It is impossible to plan anything in this house. Most of the time I feel like I'm a month or two ahead of myself because I'm already trying to plan around next month's schedule. And the constant comings and goings is hell on small kids.

Typically we spend about 6 months out of the year together, busy years can be a fair amount less. Year after year after year. The Air Wing, I have learned, is not for the faint of heart.

damn the snow

My husband loves where we are stationed. He loves the winter, loves the cold, loves the snow. He thinks its beautiful to look at and doesn't mind shoveling or scrapping.

I, however, could probably go the rest of my life and never see snow that accumulates more then an inch. Sure Christmas in shorts might take some getting used to but I think I could figure it out.

They are calling for nine inches today, more tomorrow, and tuesday, and thursday, and next saturday too. Sweet. (note the sarcasm there)

I'm just curious if he loves it so much, why does he spend most of the winter in much warmer locations? Funny how that happens... they call for snow and he is elsewhere much like he is now.

Flyboy, dear, I'm catching on.

And I will save some shoveling for you.

Realization

There was a time when flyboy would announce that he was going to be going on the road that I would feel panic. Not when it was just him and I, sure it might have been a bit lonely when he was gone, but I've always been content by myself. I knew that he would back, be it in a few days, weeks or months, and that while he was away I could take care of myself.

When we had dash-1 it was a whole new ball game. He was an adorable baby but a fussy one. He had such severe reflux all he would do is cry and cry and cry. I remember clearly nights when there would be maybe, MAYBE an hour of sleep the entire time. We would take turns driving around town in the hopes of quiet.

That and motherhood, especially new motherhood, in a relatively new place, away from family, can be lonely. And scary. When I would hear what flyboy's schedule was I was terrified of the time alone to say the least. I feel like a bit of a wimp admitting that now but hey, the truth is just that. The truth.

I was nervous at being the solo person, in the zipcode, the state, sometimes the content, responsible for our little one. We did the cry it out method to get him into a sleep pattern and the thought of having to listen to him cry, sitting in our apartment all alone made me want to vomit.

Then dash-2 came along. The nerves from having one seems to have dissipated, he was older, sleeping better, we were in a groove. Again, I'm not going to lie I was a bit overwhelmed at the thought of how to balance two of them with only one of me. Bath time was tricky at first, keeping everyone present and accounted for when dash-2 was mobile took some getting used to but used to it I have become.

The point of this blather is something I realized today. No longer when he leaves do I feel some dread, I miss him, but I feel strong on my own. I miss the help, the companionship, I miss my boys getting to have their daddy around, that I miss the most, but I realize that I haven't felt that dread in a long time.

It dropped off somewhere along the way.

Somewhere, somehow, not even knowing it I shook it loose.

Not me! no never

Mondays are known for certain things, start of the work week, back to school after the weekend, the ever yucky case of the "Mundays" (you have to channel that lady from Office Space to really get the full effect). They are also know for No Me Mondays. Its where you write out all the things that you did not do this week. Because if I had done these things, well, boy would I be embarrassed.

Go link up over at MkMama and find out what everyone else DID NOT do this week!

And now on to my list of things I did not do. Oh don't think less of me...

I absolutely did not eat pizza every night that my husband was away. Nope, that would be far to unhealthy of me.

I did not, in the least little bit, shoot my two year old in the back of the head with a nerf gun during an all out flyboy family nerf war.

I did not ask once, and certainly not twice, if a charming little dash-1 had scratched his butt with his finger. (I did decline to smell it and DID make him wash his hands immediately)

I did not put the wrong shoes on the wrong kids and wonder why both were complaining so much and walking funny.

I did not, in any way shape or form, add whip cream, chocolate sauce, and extra chocolate chips to a weight watchers ice cream cup. I like to think that those things are 0 pt foods, you know cause I added just a touch.

Back to the nerf guns, I did not threaten to shoot my dear love of a husband in the testicles if he and the boys raided the bathroom one more time while I was sitting on the toilet. And I absolutely did not shoot him.

And regarding yesterdays post about the fish tank, I did not hear 42 various questions about said fish tank today, and bedtime is still hours away.

the perfect plan

The other day we went out to run some errands, just the usual, Target, perhaps the warehouse store (I'm not typing out the name I'll have all sorts of weirdos finding my page via google with that one).

However when we pulled into the shopping center we noticed a new Best Buy, or as flyboy likes to call it, the big boy toy store. So in a show of great love he took both boys with him and off to target alone I went. It was perfect.

Until they found me in Target.

Not just that my peace and quiet time was over but apparently they had taken a detour at the pet store. Flyboy is an amatuer, you can not take small children into a pet store without hearing about something in it for DAYS on end. After that trip dash-1 was all about getting a fish tank.

Flyboy played the whole, talk-to-your-mom angle and while I don't mind getting one at some point, right then and there wasn't in my plans, and now we would get to hear about it for the ENTIRE weekend. Wait and see is not a strong suit of a three year old.

Then flyboy came up with another plan. He's getting ready to go on the road for a bit of time, so he had an idea of doing a fish countdown and if the dashes are good while he's gone (you know good in the relative sense) then when he returns they get a fish tank.

It is a pretty good plan but I do have a few beefs with it. First, this means for the next few weeks I will hear about said fish tank and fish, daily. Actually strike that, not just daily but at some points minutely. If that's even a word. But those of you with small kids know what I'm talking about.

Secondly, I'm not going to lie, I'm a tad torqued that while I am the one who is home to hear about the fish tank approximately 87 times a day, flyboy is the one who gets to come home and get it. I know that I could go out and get it but trust me, the fish tank will forever be associated with flyboy. I suffer he gets credit.

Damn you flyboy, you concocted the perfect plan and didn't even realize it.

Perhaps I'll let the boys leave a voicemail on his phone every time they have the need to talk about it. Hmmm... that sounds almost worth it.

I need to go finish getting fish coloring pages for our countdown. Tomorrow offically starts off our "days of fish" around here. I can just feel the excitement building.