I Wish I'd Had My Camera...

Tonight J. had basketball practice. I know I've said this before, but I'm so proud of him. He just continues to get better every practice and every game. He did great tonight.

Well, the funny part came at the end of practice. I was sitting with another mom and we were talking and watching the kids practice. Well, after practice, J. took off his shoes and started putting his jogging suit back on over his practice clothes. As he finished getting dressed to go, the three little girls that are on the team all came over. They surrounded him and, in a very girly way, said "bye, J." while giving a very cute little wave. The other mom and I looked at each other and she said, "hmmm, ladies' man?"

Yep, the girls have always liked J. I told his daddy about it when we got home, and Daddy was quite amused. I asked J. why he thought the girls liked him so much. He looked appropriately embarrassed, as evidenced by the dimple in his cheek that shows up at times like this.

J.: I don't know.
Mom: Well, do you think it's because you're so cute?
J.: No!
Mom: Well, I think you're awfully cute! (Remember the aforementioned dimple? It appeared again.)

I didn't get the "Moooooooommmmmm" in protest tonight. I'm sure it's only a matter of time, though. So, is this what I have to look forward to as he gets older?

Our Day

J. had another basketball game today. He played great. He just gets better every game. I'm thinking that basketball might be a really good sport for him. He does well and he enjoys it. As well as they all played, though, the other team played better. We lost by about 9 points (I think...they didn't leave the final score up long after the game). I think the other team had an unfair advantage, though. Their center stood head and shoulders above the rest of the kids. Another mom said she wanted to see his birth certificate...lol! With his height advantage and the fact that they lower the goals for this age group, he seemed to just be able to reach up and toss the ball into the hoop. He played rough, too. Our kids weren't intimidated though...they played great defense.

After the game, we went to lunch. This has become a bit of a tradition. J. has chosen to go to Pizza Hut three out of four weekends. He was really wound up after the game though. He goes through stages when he just simply does not want to listen to me. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that Dad was away, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. So while I needed to go to Radio Shack to get a new battery for the remote for my car (that's another story), I wasn't about to take him over there with the way he was acting. I could just see him messing with things he knows not to mess with and tearing stuff up. So we came home to try to get the house cleaned up before Daddy got home.

So we got home and I sent the kids upstairs to get to work on their rooms while I worked downstairs. I hear some noises that don't sound like cleaning and ask what's going on. A. says "J.'s playing basketball in my room." I swear he does everything besides what I tell him to do sometimes. We've been really lenient with letting the kids spend time with their Nana and Papa whenever they (Nana and Papa) ask, but that's about to stop. I'm putting my foot down, and they won't be doing the fun things they want to do anymore if they don't fulfill their responsibilities here at home. Yep...Mean Mom's about to get meaner.

P. finally got home late this evening. His folks were hoping we'd come up there to spend the night so P. could get up to go to a men's breakfast at their church at 0730 tomorrow morning, but he's just exhausted. After being cooped up in a conference room for training for the past three days, all he wants to do is relax here at the house, have a couple beers and watch some TV. Don't think we'll make it up for him to go to the breakfast tomorrow morning either.

P. was pretty frustrated about being cooped up all day today. The temps were in the low 70s today, and the sun was out. Perfect riding weather. He and one of his soldiers who also rides were looking longingly out the window all day. His soldier told him "there sure are a lot of bikes out there." P.'s like "man, I don't even want to hear it." I think I was just as frustrated as he was, because the kids were asking me today if we could go riding. I had to remind them that I can't take both of them out on my motorcycle. We have to have both Mommy and Daddy home for all of us to be able to ride. They were pretty disappointed, but I guess that's another "fun" thing that I'll have to start withholding if they don't do their job around here. Their only jobs are homework and cleaning their rooms right now, so there's no reason they shouldn't be able to do that.

Oh well, that's about it for what's been going on around here today. That, and the fact that I have yet to train them to let me sleep late on the weekends...ugh!

Friends

I just had to share this. We were stationed at Fort Hood from Feb. 1999 through Dec. 2000. The end of December...we were in El Paso for New Year's. While we were at Fort Hood, I met a lady who would become one of my best friends. The friendship started online. Her husband was in Korea and mine was in Bosnia, and we met on a message board on America Online. After talking for a few weeks, we learned that we lived only two blocks from each other. My husband got back from Bosnia before hers returned from Korea, and the first time we met in person was after P. got home. She became one of my best friends for the last year we were at Hood. She got to know J. pretty well, and came to visit me when A. was born. She was one of the main reasons I was so sad when we left Fort Hood.

They moved on post after we moved away, and we flew in once and stayed with them once after we moved to El Paso. Over the years since we've left, we've stayed in touch through letters and email, sometimes sporadically. But the important thing is that we never really lost touch with each other.

Tonight we had a nice, long talk through IM. I love talking to her because we GET each other. In some ways our worlds seem so very far apart, but in some ways they're so similar. Our husbands are dealing with some of the same issues, but also some different ones. But we GET each other. She's dealing with the same emotions I've been dealing with. Some of them have been brought on by different circumstances, but the emotions are very much the same anyway. I was reminded just how much I've missed her, as I am every time I talk to her. We always seem to pick up right where we left off, and it's wonderful. SA, I love you, and I hope you always remember that. Thank you so much for "listening" to me tonight, and please remember that I'm always here for you, too.

Never a Dull Moment

I've had an interesting week with the kids this week. I've gotten calls from both of their teachers, and that's not a common occurrence.

Wednesday I came home from work and there was a message on my voice mail from A.'s teacher. She wanted me to call her back at the school to talk about A. Uh oh. So I called her back right about the time the kids got home from school. Both of them told me they'd had a great day. So she wants to know if A. talked to me about why she'd called. Well, I had just gotten the message so hadn't had a chance to ask her. Well, her teacher just wanted to let me know that A. had said "Damn" that day. She hadn't been mean or malicious. It was a frustrated "damn." She had made a mistake on a math problem and said it then. The worst part of the whole thing, though, was that she told her teacher that she says it "all the time at home and it's ok with Mommy." She said WHAT?? So the teacher had a talk with her about character. I reinforced what her teacher told her and reminded her that it was unacceptable to use that kind of language. I also explained to her that it wasn't ok to tell lies like the one she told her teacher. Of course she's not allowed to talk like that!

So this morning I get a call from J.'s teacher. She wants to know if I had seen a permission form for a field trip that he had brought home about a week ago. Well, I had seen the permission form, but not until last night. And I signed it and sent it back with him. Or thought I had anyway. I handed it to him and told him to put it in his backpack. Well, the backpack went to school empty. Then she asks me if he'd told me that he needs a signature on his planner every day. They use a planner to write their homework assignments and parents are supposed to sign them. If mom or dad doesn't sign the planner, the child has "silent lunch." I explained to her that yes, I was aware of this, but that I'm attempting to teach J. that HE's the one responsible for making sure he does his homework and then bringing me the planner with his completed homework to check and sign off. I do remind him every afternoon to get his homework done, but he's old enough that I shouldn't have to stay on his back about everything. She laughed and said she understood, and then told me that J. says I'm the problem. Well, of course he does! It's always Mom's fault. He never hesitates to nag me about the things that he wants to do (like about the permission form yesterday), but conveniently forgets about the things he's supposed to do. So I had a talk with him this afternoon about not blaming everything on Mom. If he makes a mistake or forgets something, he needs to admit to it without blaming others.

What am I going to do with these two?

Selective Hearing

It apparently starts early with the male members of our species. Here is the conversation I had with my son last night. They had just had their bath and gotten their pajamas on, and were supposed to be cleaning their rooms - especially J.'s which is where they play most of the time. About 15 minutes before bedtime I figured I'd ask how the room cleaning was going.

Me: J., is your room clean?
(Silence)
Me: Hello??
J.: Huh?
Me: Is your room clean?
(Silence)
Me: Answer me!
J.: Huh?
Me: IS YOUR ROOM CLEAN??
(Silence)
Me: J., I've asked you the same question three times and I expect an answer!
J.: What was the question?
Me: I think you know what the question was; why don't you tell me?
J.: Is my room clean?

See, it's not a hearing problem...it's a listening problem. P. called me last night right as I was getting ready to send them to bed, and I told him about the conversation. He laughs. Laughs! I tell him I'm glad he can laugh about it when he's gone because if he were here, and it was him having the conversation instead of me he'd be pissed! "Yeah, I know," he says. MEN!!

TDY

So the husband left this morning on a TDY trip. I've felt so far removed from the "Real Army" ever since we've been here. While I miss the hubby when he's gone, I look forward to these brief, infrequent absences. Most of my Military Spouse friends know what I'm talking about. We live with so many deployments, TDY trips, time in the field, etc., that we learn to live with them being gone quite a bit. Then there comes a time when we have an assignment where they're home most of the time. We start getting on each other's nerves.

He's only going to Raleigh, which is easily within commuting distance, but his Commander wants them all to stay up there all three days. He'll be back sometime Saturday afternoon, and really the worst part is that he'll miss J.'s basketball game. Plus, it's a "processing Saturday" so he said not to count on his getting home too early. So even if he didn't have to go TDY, he'd probably be working on Saturday anyway.

So the kids and I will have a quiet night here at home. I won't have to cook...maybe we'll go get McD's or something.

Basketball

I'm so glad that P. and I talked our boy into playing basketball this season. He was a bit apprehensive about it, because he knew that it was harder than just shooting hoops. But we kind of insisted that he give it a shot anyway.

He gets better and better every game. We're so proud of him! We get a bit frustrated because he has a tendency not to pay attention, but overall he's doing awesome!

Tonight he had practice again before his game on Saturday. We've been really happy with his coach. The coach has two daughters about J.'s age, and they are both on the team. He does a great job of teaching the kids the fundamentals without completely overwhelming them. After all, these are 7- and 8-year-olds, and if you give them too much information at once, they won't remember it and it won't be any fun. We watched one of the coaches at the game this past Saturday and decided that it was a very good thing he wasn't J.'s coach. He was way too intense and so critical of the kids. Sports are supposed to be fun at this age!

Here are some pictures from J.'s game last Saturday:




Here they are lined up for pre-game drills. J. is fourth in line.



During the game. That's my boy over there with his hands up playing defense!

Another shot during the game. J. is number 9. He's finally learning to be aggressive. This is something that's kind of hard for him. We always had issues in soccer trying to talk him into going after the ball and trying to take it from the other team. After all, he's been taught to share his whole life, so this kind of goes against what we've taught him!

So far we've lost two games and won one. We'll see how it goes this Saturday!

Just for Fun

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The South That's a Southern accent you've got there. You may love it, you may hate it, you may swear you don't have it, but whatever the case, we can hear it.
The Midland
The Inland North
The West
The Northeast
Philadelphia
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Are you shocked?

It's funny though. I've been away from home for so long that I kind of had to think about some of the questions. Even a different answer to just one question could change my result to the Midland, and the description for that says basically that you have no accent. Well, I know that's not the case for me. Although my accent may not be as pronounced as it used to be, I am still very Southern, which my best friend loves to tease me about.

Holy Cow!

So P. and I went out to dinner tonight (sans kids...WOO HOO!), and as we're driving back home something caught my eye. "Honey look!" I said, pointing to a sign. He looks and says, "Whoa...it was $2.22 when I filled up ther other day!" Yep, gas prices. A couple places had it for $2.08 in Fayetteville. Good thing it was time to fill my car up. We stopped and took the opportunity. I actually filled up my car for under $40 tonight. First time that's happened in a long time.

Another Reason I Love the South...

The mere thought of snow or any kind of wintry precipitation has a tendency to bring things to a halt.

We got some freezing rain here early this morning. Apparently some other parts of the state even had some snow. They started announcing last night some schools that were going to be on a 2-hour delay. I thought I'd heard on the radio last night when I took J. to basketball practice that the schools in our county were going to be delayed. Actually, I'm quite sure that's what I heard. So we didn't set the alarm as early as we usually do and slept a bit later. This morning J. wakes me up saying he just saw the bus go by and pick up the other kids. OOPS!! No problem. We just got up, got ready real quick and we hopped in the car and I took them. Made it in plenty of time.

One of the neighboring counties did delay school by two hours though. We didn't even get any snow here, but they THOUGHT we might. Another county (where it actually did snow today) actually closed schools all day. They're calling for schools to be closed again tomorrow, from what the husband's First Sergeant told him. The freezing rain was enough to put a nice layer of ice on the windshields and we had "icicles" on the inside of the door handles (which delighted the kids..."Icicles, Mom!").

I went to work and one of the ladies asked me if I made it in all right. I kind of laughed and said "yes, no problems." She laughed back and told me to be nice. I reminded her that I had spent the last five years in Germany where it takes an awful lot of snow to delay or shut down anything. Yes, I know that Southern states aren't equipped to handle a lot of snow, but there is such a thing as overkill. Also, yes, I grew up here, but my parents are from West Virginia and we spent a lot of time up there when I was young.

My kids were pretty disappointed that they didn't get to see any snow, though. That's probably what J. was looking for when he saw the bus go by this morning.

My Thoughts on 24

A friend of mine, Marc, is also a big fan of 24. He's posted a synopsis of both parts of the Season Premier that aired last night and tonight. I won't repeat that here. But I will share with you my thoughts on the season so far, which I posted as a comment on his blog. Keep in mind - this will be the first season since the show first aired that I'll actually have to wait and watch each episode when it airs every week, unless if course I were to just not watch it at all and wait until it comes out on DVD. Let me tell ya - that's not gonna happen!!

Ugh! A whole week! I have to say that one advantage to watching in Germany was that I could usually get the season on DVD long before AFN even got halfway through the season. That way I was able to watch as much as I wanted (or could depending on time) without having to wait a week between episodes. This is gonna kill me!

Anyway, one thing that I’m already finding fascinating is the internal struggle Jack’s dealing with this season. I think it’s going to be interesting to watch how that plays out throughout the day. After all, the man has dealt with and lost so much from the very beginning of the Series. When will it get to be too much?

Anyone else a fan of this show? What do you think?

24

The hubby and I got hooked on this show while we were in Germany. Well, I got hooked on it while he was in Iraq. I bought all of the seasons that were out on DVD while he was deployed for my sleepless nights. Not exactly the best thing to watch during that time, but oh well. Then when he got home, I watched all of them again with him so he could get caught up. I thought I had all the seasons on DVD, but it turns out I'm missing Season 5. We missed part of it because AFN was in the middle of playing it when we left Germany, and of course it was already over in the States when we got here. I'll have to get that season on DVD ASAP so I can get all caught up.

Anyway, so the hubby and I are sitting here watching the second part of the Season 6 Premier. Already looks like this season is going to keep me on my toes. I just love watching things like this with him though. There was a scene where a guy blew up a warehouse of weapons with a grenade. I hear the husband say, "bullshit!" What do you mean? "A grenade won't make C4 explode," he says. How did he know it was C4? I don't know. I sure didn't pick up on that.

Does he have to nitpick everything?

Finally a Photo...

I posted back in October about the Harley that P. got me for Christmas, and shared a couple of photos. One of them was a picture with the kids sitting on it. I had a couple requests back then to share a picture of me on the bike. Every time we go out riding I never think to grab my camera. Today we took the bikes out to ride up to visit P.'s parents, and I happened to remember to grab the camera as I was walking out the door. I had P. take this picture right before we left.

About six months ago, I never dreamed I'd enjoy riding as much as I do. I sure do love my new baby though!

Great Day

We had a wonderful day today. I have to say that although I absolutely love babies, and my kids were wonderful, adorable babies, I just love the age they're at now. We're able to do things with them that we couldn't do when they were younger. This was just one of those days when we were all able to enjoy spending time together.

We tried to sleep in this morning. The kids haven't quite learned to be quiet in the mornings on the weekend so Mommy and Daddy can get a little extra rest. They got a bit rowdy, but we got them calmed down and dozed back off. Well, I'll be darned if the doorbell didn't ring and wake us back up. P. got up and went to the door and there was a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses there. Nothing against them right now, but they ruined our Saturday morning sleeping in plan. Gotta get one of those "No Solicitors" signs for the door.

So we got up and had breakfast. Today was my "official" weigh-in day for my Weight Watchers plan. I lost four pounds this week. I know that 1 to 2 pounds is the safest rate for weight loss, but since this was my first week officially following the Weight Watchers plan, I'm naturally going to lose a little bit more...water weight! J. had a basketball game again today, so after breakfast we all got ready and took off for that. My mom and her boyfriend were able to come again today.

We went to the basketball game and J.'s team won this week. He really played a good game. I can tell such a difference in this week as opposed to last week. He's really learning the game and what position he's supposed to be in. He's learning the difference in offense and defense too. He actually fouled a kid going for the ball today. I was so proud! Not that he fouled the kid, but that he's finally starting to get a little bit aggressive. Our biggest issue with him in soccer was always that he would never try to get the ball. He always waited for someobody to "let him" have it. He's finally learning that it doesn't work that way and he has to go after it. That's a really big step for my kind-hearted little boy.

After the ball game, we came home and had him change clothes. He needed to put blue jeans and his boots on for what we had planned for the rest of the day! So he changed clothes and P. put his boots on, we put our jackets on and took the bikes out. We had made arrangements to meet my mom and her boyfriend at a little family-owned Italian restaurant in our town, so we met there and had lunch. Then after lunch, we took off to my sister's house to visit with her and the baby for a little while. We would have visited with her hubby, too, but he had to go help round up some cattle that I guess had gotten loose. I just can't get over how big my niece has gotten and how much she's interacting now. She's about 2 1/2 months old and is smiling, trying to laugh, and trying to imitate what she sees people do. She's getting to the age where she's really starting to be fun. She has the sweetest little smile and is a really happy baby.

After we spent some time with them, we got back on the bikes and headed home. We wanted to leave in enough time to get home before it got dark and cold, and just made it. We loaded the truck up with a treadmill we had that we never used and my mom's boyfriend's lawnmower to take over to their house. P.'s grill has been over there for several months and we intended to pick it up when we dropped those things off. We got there and visited a bit after we dropped the treadmill and lawnmower off, and completely forgot about the grill. DUH! They ordered a couple of pizzas, picked them up, and brought them over to the house with some beer, and we all had dinner. We had a really nice time. I love getting to spend time with my family. That's the best thing about being stationed here. Yes, I know that pizza and beer aren't great for Weight Watchers, but I'll be back on plan tomorrow.

Hopefully the weather will be nice again tomorrow so we can ride some more. Next time I post I'll have to tell you about A. on the back of the motorcycle.

Fun Family Night

I realized something this evening. I mentioned in my Christmas post that the kids got tickets to a Monster Truck show for Christmas. We went last Saturday night. It was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed it, too. I couldn't help but get tickled at J., though. He is so serious sometimes, and then so doggone goofy other times. We were sitting there watching the show, and I kept asking him if he was having fun, because he looked SOOOO serious. Every time I asked him he just kind of nodded his head and kept watching. A. was pretty giggly the whole time.

They did a couple of freestyle rounds where each truck had 15 seconds to do stunts and crush the cars on the field. That was pretty fun. Then they did qualifying for the race and chose the fastest Monster Truck. The kids had their favorite. It was called Reptoid. It was customized to look like a dragon of sorts. It was pretty cool. My favorite, though, was Bigfoot. After all...that was the original Monster Truck.

Then as a surprise treat (I didn't know about this part when I bought the tickets), they had a small motocross dirtbike team there that came out to do some stunts before intermission. They did two rounds of freestyle stunts, one before intermission and the other after. I have to say...I was pretty impressed with the portable equipment they used. They used two portable ramps for their stunts. I was scared to death they were going to roll away right as one of them was in the air and then he'd have nowhere to land. We were all really impressed with their skills. Then for the finale, the trucks did the final race and a final round of freestyle.

I have to share this with you all though. My friends and readers who are or were associated with the military in any way will appreciate this. The emcee announced that he was going to open the show the only way he knew how and then introduced the County Sheriff's Department Color Guard. As soon as they entered the field with the American Flag (and the State flag), we of course stood up. So did everybody else in the arena! I was pleasantly surprised at that. I hear stories all the time about people not showing respect to the Flag anymore. They started playing Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." while the emcee is still talking, saying that he dedicated the event to those who fight for our freedom, and the freedom of others. I can't express here how touching it was, because it was one of those situations where you just had to be there. Then he asked anyone who was still seated (I didn't see anybody who wasn't standing) to please stand for the National Anthem, and a young lady came out to sing. As she was singing, there were some kids in the same row as us who sang along. I was SO PROUD! They weren't yet teenagers. I remember being very pleased when the music teacher at my kids' school in Germany announced that he was ensuring that his students (mostly the 4th graders and older I think) learned the Anthem because there are too many Americans who don't know it. Anyway, I was in tears by the time we sat back down after the Color Guard left the field. Even the hubby's eyes looked a little moist from my point of view.

I tried to add pictures but keep getting an error page. Maybe later. Anyway, it was a nice night. I just love that my kids are getting old enough to where we can do things that everybody enjoys. We all went to a Trace Adkins concert back in the beginning of November, and we all enjoyed that too.

The weather's supposed to be nice this weekend. J. has a basketball game tomorrow at noon. After that we thought we'd try to do some riding. Now that the kids have helmets and P.'s bike is ready, that's something else we can start enjoying as a family. I talked to my mom, and she and her boyfriend were already talking about taking the bikes out this weekend. So we might all try to go together. Hopefully it won't rain.

Murphy's Law

We all know about Murphy's Law, right? You know the one...if something can go wrong, it will. And I know those of us who are Military Spouses have heard, and experienced, the variation that says that if something can go wrong, it will - while he's deployed (or TDY or in the field, etc.).

Well, I had my own experience with Murphy the past couple of days and have a few words of my own that I'd like to add to it. If something can go wrong, it will - at the worst possible time.

I know I've talked about how nice the weather has been here this winter. Well, we had a cold front come through. Our house has two separate heat pumps - one for the upstairs and one for the downstairs. The one for the upstairs hasn't been working quite right since the end of summer. The unit itself worked, but the thermostat didn't. Whenever I would try to change the temperature it would go blank (that one is a digital thermostat). P. could usually go out and reset the unit and it would start working right, but that was, of course, a pain. But since it had been so warm and I prefer the room I sleep in to be cooler anyway, it wasn't that big a deal.

Last night the temperature got down to the mid 20s. P. and I were sitting here watching TV last night after the kids went to bed, and I kept getting colder, even though I was under my afghan (which is a routine for me on cold nights). So I got up and checked the downstairs thermostat, adjusted it, and the heat never seemed to come on. Even when I pushed the needle up to 80 degrees. It had been working fine the night before (it was down to the mid 30s that night). Uh oh. So we had no heat at all in the house after about 10 or 11 last night. It got pretty cold in here! Thank goodness we have a fireplace or else it would have gotten a LOT colder!



So I get up this morning, get the kids off to school, and get ready to go to work. Our property manager doesn't open until 10. Must be nice - their hours are 10 to 4. But I digress. So I go to work and then call them the minute my clock reads 10:00. I tell her what's going on. She asks me questions, including whether we'd checked the breakers. Yep...checked the breakers. So she says they'll contact their contractor who will call me back to set up an appointment. She calls me back around noon and asks me again if we'd checked the breakers. Answer's still the same...yep, checked the breakers.

I left the hospital at 2:00 to make it home in time for the kids to get off the school bus. As soon as I get home I call the property manager again to see if they'd talked to the contractor. So she gives me the number of the company they use for heating and tells me to call them to check on the work order. So I call them, and they tell me that they haven't received any work order so I have to call the property manager. UGH! I did that already! So I call the property manager again since I can't get anyone out here without a written work order and make it pretty clear to her that I expect to have my heat fixed today! She said she completely understood and would talk to the girl who was supposed to do it earlier in the day to fax it right over. About 15 minutes later I get a call from the heat and a/c company saying that the technician was on his way. Thank goodness!

They get here and it turns out that there was a part in the downstairs unit that had gone bad. It's whatever part makes the motor run, and I can't remember what he called it...lol! The only thing wrong with the upstairs one was the thermostat, which we pretty much already knew. So they had to go to the shop to get a new thermostat (after getting it approved through the property manager again) and came back to change it out. They got that done and were finished by about 5:00. Not bad at all. I was pretty impressed that they came so quickly, but very thankful. So we have heat now. Thank goodness, because it's supposed to be another cold night.

Another Change

Yep, had to change my blog layout again. The winter theme got to be a bit much for me, especially considering the weather we've been having. Yeah, it was pretty chilly today (I actually had to put on a jacket), but I'm not sure how long this cool spell's going to last. I decided to go back with one of the templates Blogger offers. With the changes they've made to the website, updates should be a lot easier now. Much as I love playing around with the template and learning some HTML, I don't like having to change everything around when I want to change the layout. I don't know enough about HTML yet to be able to do it without having problems I have to go back and fix. So it usually takes me a while. But as I'm learning, I know I can make changes to specific things if I choose. Maybe I'll play around with it a little more once I have a little more time on my hands.

This and That...

So the kids went back to school today. They had a little over three weeks off. They're in year-round school here, and I really like the schedule. By the end of the second week, though, they were really starting to get on each other's nerves and fighting constantly. They had a pretty good break though. They were happy to go back to school, and I was ready for them to go back too...lol!

P. will be promoted on February 1! I found out yesterday and am so excited! I know he's happy too. Partially as a result of that, I'm quitting my job. Well, I had decided to quit before finding out about the promotion, but knowing when it will happen just helped determine when. I'm working through the end of February, and then I'm finished. I pretty excited about it. I'll be able to have more time to do the things around home that I need to do and to do the things with my kids that I want to do. They're too young for me to have to be working all the time, and I have to do what's right for all of us. I put my notice in with the lady I work most closely with today. Now I just have to send my resignation up to Corporate.

I have been inspired by a couple of friends to start my own weight loss journey. I started Weight Watchers this week, and it's going pretty well so far. Right now I'm doing the plan through their website. I might eventually start going to meetings...it would probably be very helpful for me, but right now I just can't. I guess I'll make a ticker to put on my page to keep up with my progress. Maybe having that out there will help keep me motivated.

That about covers what's been going on here. This week has started out pretty well. The beginning of the year is looking pretty good so far! Hopefully it will continue that way.

Basketball

I mentioned in a previous post that my son is playing basketball this year. He started to develop an interest while we were in Germany and he went to SAS (School Age Services) after school until I got off work. He actually shoots quite well. He's never played an organized game before, but with as well as he shoots the ball, P. and I wanted him to give it a shot this year. I've never pushed it before, but since we missed soccer and we wanted him to play a sport, we very strongly encouraged it this time around, and he agreed.

He finally made it to his first practice tonight. His team has had a few practices already, but since he was quite sick for a couple of weeks, he hasn't been able to go. P. took him to practice tonight since I'm trying to catch up on my reading for my history class I'm in right now. I have a final due on Monday, plus study questions to answer before Friday, and I didn't get a chance to catch up over the two week holiday break we had like I had planned. I'm glad P. took him, though. The coach asked him to help out during the practice, and I think he enjoyed it. Good Daddy-Son time there. He said J. did really well, too, especially considering the fact that it was his first practice. There are some things he wants to work with him on, such as defense and following-through after he shoots the ball. Most of what he wants to work with J. on are things that the other kids need to practice as well. Hey, they're only 7-8 year-olds!

P. picked up J.'s uniform the other night. I was pretty disappointed, because the wrong size shirts were ordered. The shorts were ordered in youth sizes, but the shirts were ordered in adult sizes. So he ended up with an adult size large shirt. Hello!! He quite literally swims in the thing. I was kind of ticked considering the fact that we paid almost $40 for these uniforms. P. pulled out his sewing kit and took in the shoulders and the sides. I sure am glad one of us can sew! So now it's not quite as bad. They had pictures done last night and J. was the only one with a uniform shirt that didn't have the neck coming halfway down his chest. LOL...poor kiddos! The other teams' uniforms fit, though, so it was definitely a mistake on the part of the person who ordered for our team. Oh well...it could always be worse.

His first game is Saturday morning. I'll try to remember to take pictures so I can share them. He looks awfully cute in his uniform...it's red and is a good color on him. :-)

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a great New Year's Eve and a nice day today, whatever you did to celebrate. P. and I had a nice time last night. The kids were with his parents, so we decided to have a date night. We haven't done that yet since we got back to the States, so it was great! We went and had dinner before heading over to the Cadillac Ranch in Fayetteville. Those of you who know us well know that we love to dance, and this is the first time we've gone out dancing since we got here. The Cadillac Ranch is a pretty nice club. I enjoyed the atmosphere there, and it didn't get overly crowded at all last night, which was a pleasant surprise for me. The one thing that surprised me was that they still allow smoking in the club. So many places don't allow it anymore.

When we got there, they gave us party favors, and the cover charge also included a champagne toast at the end of the night. Each person/couple received a little bottle of champagne as it got closer to midnight. Apparently they had extra, because we wound up with a total of four little bottles, and passed two on to other folks.

All in all, we had a great time. We did a little bit of dancing, although not nearly as much as usual. Maybe we'll get the chance to go out a little more often now. I'd like to join one of the other clubs which is a little closer to where we live, but you have to be with a member to get in. Today we just spent the day resting. P. had to go pick up the kids. When they got home they spent some time cleaning their rooms and played most of the day. They fussed a good bit of the time, so I know they're getting sick of each other. They have another week before they go back to school, though, so I hope they don't kill each other before then...lol! We picked up J.'s basketball uniform today, and his first game is Saturday. Wednesday will be the first practice he's been able to go to since he was so sick for a couple of weeks. So hopefully he'll get to play.

Here are a couple of pictures from last night:



Here's P. wearing my little New Year's hat. He refused to get one for himself, so I put mine on his head and made him wear it long enough for me to get a picture.




And here I am wearing my hat. I thought it was cute!

Somehow by the end of the night I ended up with a headband too. As you can see I had lots of fun with the party favors. I just love silly little things like that. We had noise makers too, and were as bad as the kids would have been with them.




New Year's resolutions? I'm going to stop working so much. Hopefully P. will be promoted by February, and then I'll be able to resign by the end of that same month. Then I'll be able to take more time to lose weight and get in shape to meet those goals too. I'm going to get back in the gym as soon as my time is freed up to do so.

Happy New Year everybody!