Ouch!

My little guy turned 9 on Wednesday, and we had his birthday party today. The boy LOVES to skate, so he wanted to have his party at the skating rink like we did last year. I used to love to skate when I was a kid, too, so I usually skate with the kids when we go. Well, I must admit that I wiped out pretty good toward the end of the skating session. I'm thinking I may have bruised my tailbone...it HURTS! There's no photographic evidence, though, so nobody can prove it actually happened!

I'll have pictures from J's birthday party, as well as A's from July. Yes, I know I'm way behind. I also finally found my battery charger, so I'll take some pictures of the work we've done outside here at the house. I'm really proud of the way the yard looks, as well as everything else we've gotten done.

Patriot Guard

I've actually been a member of the Patriot Guard for almost a year now. Up to this point, though, I haven't been able to participate in any missions. I wish I could say that was because there had been none to attend, but unfortunately, there have been.

Hope Mills, the town I live in, lost a soldier last week. His name was SPC Steven Elrod. When I first learned of this, I thought that this might finally be my opportunity to stand for one of these brave soldiers who so fearlessly fought for us. Then last night the hubby told me he was going to be gone all day today. The Patriot Guard mission was today. Darn it.

My mother-in-law called me this afternoon, and I took the kids to their house this evening. On my way home I passed a few bikes that were obviously returning from the funeral mission for SPC Elrod. One bike had a large American flag mounted to the back of it, but it was wrapped around the flagpole...those flags aren't great for highway speeds. I saw another bike with the Patriot Guard banner mounted to the windshield. All I could think about was that I wish I could have been there with these PGR members standing for this young man. One day I'll be able to particpate.

Week Off

I am enjoying this week off between classes. It's nice not having to worry about a paper I need to be writing, or research I need to be doing, when I have so much other stuff around home to worry about. I think that the first thing I'm going to do when I finish my degree (after resting, of course) is to finally finish taking care of things here around the house that I've been neglecting since we moved in. Mostly I have to finish organizing my bedroom and the bonus room upstairs. I worked on my bedroom some last week, so there's not a whole lot left to do in there, beyond getting rid of things I no longer need and hanging things on the walls. The bonus room, though, is a huge project. I had started in there several weeks ago, working a bit each day, but the kids have completely messed up what I started. Ah...the joy of kiddos!!

Tomorrow is my kids' last day of school for the first nine-week term. Starting tomorrow, they have three weeks off, not going back until October 9th. They're really looking forward to it. On a downside, I discovered last night that my son's been lying to me about his homework. I think he accidentally let me in on it. I trust my kids to bring home their homework assignments and do them the way they're supposed to. He told me last night that he didn't get to go to recess yesterday because he had to scan in his math. I asked why he had to miss recess for that, and he gave me some excuse that I can't remember right now. Basically what it boiled down to is that he hasn't been bringing his math home to complete his homework, so he had to miss recess yesterday because of it. I guess he thought I was going to give him some sympathy. Sorry, not gonna happen. So I lectured him, yet again, on the importance of doing his best in school and doing his homework. I think I scared him when I told him that if he didn't do his math homework and really apply himself (if you'll recall, math was the portion of the End of Grade test he had difficulty with last year in spite of the fact that he had As and Bs in class), he was going to end up failing and have to repeat fourth grade. Well, if scaring him was enough to make him take his homework seriously, then it was worth it. He also got grounded for the rest of this school week. He brought his math homework home and did it today, though. He also told me today that he's going to have to work on math over the break. I had intended to have him work on his multiplication tables anyway, since that's still an issue for him.

I'm getting to spend the entire week with my niece this week. My sister's mother-in-law is on vacation, so I get to have her all week. She's such a joy to have around, and a reminder of how fun babies are. She'll be 11 months old next weekend. So of course she's crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything, and seeing what she can get into without me telling her "no." She's getting to the age where she hears "no" a lot. She's such a good baby, and my sister is very blessed, but I keeping teasing her, telling her that her next baby is going to be a pill. After all, that's what happened for me...the boy was just about as close to being a perfect baby as possible, while my daughter was, well, NOT! I love her with all my heart, but she was a very difficult baby. She's mellowed as she's gotten older. She still has her moments, but they're very rare compared to her first years.

The hubby's been a bit under the weather this week. There's been some kind of virus going around. His 1SG had it last week, and apparently he picked it up from him. I just hope he doesn't give it to me. I am usually able to avoid getting these things...I guess my immune system has benefited from all my years of working in the health care system...but every now and then, a bug manages to get me down.

I guess that about covers it for what's going on here lately. My final course starts next Tuesday. Then five weeks later I'm done. REALLY done. I still don't really believe it.

One More to Go...

I finished up another class tonight. Now I have a week off and then have one more class to go. Can that really be possible? Can I really be only one class away from finishing up my degree? After all this time, it's nearly impossible to believe.

Here's how I put it to some friends of mine earlier tonight. For so many years, it seemed as thought I couldn't even see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now, all of a sudden, it's blinding me! It seems like I've been working on my degree for so long now (3 years by the time I'm done), that I don't know what I'll do with myself when I'm actually finished.

Maybe life will get back to normal...whatever that is!

Never Forget

The memories of this terrible day have been heavy on my mind and heart for the last few days. Today I remember those who lost their lives in the terror attacks six years ago today, as well as all of those who have lost their lives since as a result.

Never forget.

Distractions

So here I am trying to work on one of my papers and dealing with all sorts of distractions today. For example, I had to share my computer with my son so we could get a part of his Social Studies project done...this part is due tomorrow. I'll write a bit more on this later.

Anyway, this evening the hubby has been trying to get the kids to leave me alone so I can concentrate on what I'm trying to write. I haven't been able to convince them yet that Daddy can answer question for them as well as I can. For that matter, sometimes I still have to convince Daddy of that. Sometimes they'll ask him something and he'll look at me. I have to teach him that he is allowed to make decisions about the kiddos...haha!!

Well, the kids have gone to bed, and I'm thinking that finally I'll be able to finish this paper with no more interruptions. Well, a couple of weeks ago, the kids had dinner out with my mom and her fiance', and his two younger grandkids went too, because it was the little boy's birthday. My kids came home with a couple of balloons. They were the foil kind with helium. Well, they lasted a long time, and would startle me every time I heard them scrape across the ceiling when they would move. The hubby took them down tonight and cut the bottoms off.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

Yep, he decided to inhale some of the helium and talk to me. So of course, I start giggling and can't stop. He inhaled some more and continued to talk. At this point I've got tears rolling down my cheeks. I beg him to stop, after all, I'm trying to write a very serious paper. After some urging, he convinces me to do it too. So I did, and before I could get the second word out of my mouth I cracked up. So then he starts fussing at me for "wasting the helium by laughing!" Crazy thing!

So that was our excitement for the night. It doesn't take much to amuse me.

Back to my paper...

Just Don't Get It

I spent the better part of this afternoon and evening helping my son clean his room. We just haven't been able to get him to grasp the concept of taking out a few things to play with and then putting them away before pulling something else out. And to make matters worse, his sister has a tendency to go in his room to play, bringing along toys of her own and helping him make a big ole mess, but not wanting to help when it comes time to clean it up.

When we were in Germany, I bought these racks with buckets to sort their toys. I thought that having a way to keep them sorted would help make cleaning up easier. After all, that's sort of how daycares do it, and they would help clean up at daycare without any problems. Each time we move, I sort their things into their buckets and put them on the racks. It doesn't take long for everything to get all messed up again.

So today I went in to help him. It had just gotten to the point where it was overwhelming for him. He would come down and tell me that he was finished, and I'd go up to check and things were just shoved against the wall, up next to his bed...I guess pretty much to get it out of the middle of the floor. Is this a boy thing? Then when I told him again this afternoon that it wasn't finished, he just got so upset. So that's when I knew that it was time for me to step in. So I went in there and together we took out all his buckets, sorted everything out and organized it again. Then when we got the majority of his room mostly finished, I took his mattress and boxsprings off his bed. The bed is really low to the floor, and the only way to clean out from under it is to take it apart. I still haven't figured out how he manages to get so much crap shoved up under there...not to mention all the crap between the bed and the wall. Blows my mind! So we got that cleaned out, I vacuumed under the bed and moved it over as close to the wall as I could get it to try to keep so much stuff from getting down there, and we put everything back together.

So now his room is nice and neat again. I guess we'll just have to see how long he can keep it that way. I try to tell him that he has a birthday coming up (in less than three weeks), and he's going to be wanting new toys for his birthday, so he needs to take care of what he already has and keep things put away when he's not playing with them. Both the kids were impressed with how nice it looked when we were finished, and how much room they had, so maybe that will be at least some motivation to try to learn good habits.

Shoot, I'm still trying to improve my habits!

Hit and Miss

I know, that's how my blogging has been lately.

I'm just having a hard time getting motivated to write much of anything these days. I have about a month and a half (actually a little more) before I'll finally be finished with school. So any writing I've been doing has been for that purpose, and it's not exactly the kind of writing that I enjoy. I enjoy writing here when I can take the time to do it. Let me get through these last two courses, and hopefully I'll be able to find the inspiration to start writing here again.

The hubby and I are heading to Myrtle Beach the first week of October. The fall Bike Rally is the 3rd through the 7th. We avoided the Spring Rally, in large part because of the crowds. From what we've heard, the fall rally is much nicer. So my mom and her fiance' (they got engaged this week) are coming to stay with the kids so the hubby and I can have a vacation alone. The nice thing is, it will be sort of a birthday present for me since my birthday is the 8th. I can't wait! I'm also glad my mom will have the opportunity to spend that time with the kids.

So that about sums up what's been going on around here lately. I'll just be glad when I'm finished with school and can start focusing on other things.

Making a Difference

I was finishing up a paper for my current class tonight. It was a critical thinking assignment, and we were supposed to use the "Critical Thinking Problem Solving Model" provided for us, which my husband was sure to remind me was based on the military's problem solving process. Can't remember what he called it, but ok.

Basically, we were supposed to identify a problem in our work environment that we had been involved in finding a solution for using the problem solving model, or a current problem. Considering the fact that I'm not currently working outside the home, I chose to write about the first problem that came to mind from my job in the clinic in Vilseck. It had to do with the EFMP screenings that family members had to go through anytime they were coming to, leaving, or moving within an overseas duty station. Those of you who are or have been in the military system (especially overseas) know exactly what I'm talking about. Those of you who don't, google "EFMP" or "Exceptional Family Member Program" for more information.

Anyway, as I was writing this paper, I had to consider my role in ensuring these screenings were accounted for in my clinic. They took up a lot of time by the nurse responsible, and were not accounted for before I started working there. Once we decided that these visits needed to be accounted for, we then had to decide the best way to report them.

As I was proofreading my paper, I was trying to read it as an outsider would read it. Not to sound conceited, but the process sounded quite impressive if I hadn't been the one writing it. I talked to the hubby about it as I was writing it. I told him, "wow, maybe I did make a difference, even in a small way." My main goal in that job was to make sure that our soldiers and their family members were taken care of to the best ability of the clinic, and that the care was reported as accurately as possible. When I told him that, he said, "I'm glad you finally see it."

Did I make a difference? I don't know. I hope so. Our Soldiers (Marines/Airmen/Sailors) and their families deserve the very best our military health care system can provide. And part of that includes ensuring statistics are reported as accurately as possible to ensure the care only gets better. Did I help in that goal? I can only hope so.