Why now?!

My TV is toast. Not the crappy little TV in the bedroom or in my office. Not even the tiny little TV/VCR combo in the fort. The big TV in the living room. I haven't been able to turn it on for over a day now. A search of Sony's support website and online forums and the only suggestion was to unplug it for a while and try again. Nothing. Because of the blinking light, I read that it is something major, power supply or something like that. I guess it's past it's expected life span anyhow.
Hubby and I almost bought a new flatscreen TV last year. Now I wish we would have.
It's not really the buying and installing a new one that worries me, it's getting rid of the old one. Hubby is the only one I know strong enough to remove that stinkin TV from the cabinet. He's not a big guy, average height, but has superhuman strength and amazing coordination. When we moved from our apartment to this house, he carried the refrigerator, a full-size refrigerator, down the stairs and into the truck by himself. This TV fits so snugly in the cabinet that it's almost impossible to get a grip on it. I'l need to ask a few of my friend's husbands to come over to help. Maybe if I provide food and beer?
Hubby's due for R&R in 6 months, so I thought maybe I'll wait. No, I don't want to waste precious R&R time messing with a TV.
So tomorrow I go shopping, for a new TV and a credenza on which to place it.

SuperHamster

The girls, E1+ E2, brought Snowflake to the hamster races at the local Petco. Snowflake won all three of her races and was champion! With this honor the girls won a $10 Petco gift card which we immediately used for purple hamster bedding. Snowflake doesn't have plain old beige woodchips at the bottom of her cage. She currently has pink bedding and when that bag is finished , it'll be replaced with purple. The races weren't even close. As other hamsters were at a standstill or slowly moving backward, Snowflake was cruising! What a hamster!

A long day...

E1 at 6 1/2 years old (she insists on that 1/2) drew this today. She really worked on it. First with pencil, then colored pencils and marker. I am amazed! Her dad's genes. She's sending the drawing to Daddy because he really likes Spongebob too.
I just realized that I should send drawing supplies to Hubby in the next care package. He can maybe capture some of the things he sees over there.
A couple months ago, E1 received a grant from Our Military Kids for art classes. You should have seen how proud she was when she received the certificate and patch from them! She sent them a nice handmade thank you card.

E2 had a rough day today. Really missing Daddy. We ended up talking a lot about him and we watched the videos he made before he left. In them, he reads books to the kids. She only ate egg sandwiches today. Something Daddy usually cooks for her. I think it helped her to reconnect with him.

I never made it to the gym today but the baby stairmaster helped. I should count how many times a day I follow E3 up and down and up the stairs.

We played scrabble, E1 kicked my butt, triple word scores did it. E2 was making her own words. daddy was one of them. We quit when E3 woke from his nap because he likes to eat the letters.

I scooped a ton of plums off of the ground and into the trash can. Picked a bunch more and shared with neighbors. Still a full tree.

I partially drained the pool. A couple levels were high so I drained and refilled with fresh water. That took forever. It should be ready for swimming tomorrow!

Looks like Roxie will NOT be going on a diet pill afterall. The vet called and due to her high liver enzymes, he didn't think it was wise to start her on the medication at this time. Her further tests showed that her liver functions properly, but since the drug is new, he didn't want to risk doing more harm than good. I'm still gradually cutting down her calories. I need to find a level that causes her to lose weight, but not eat every non-food item around her. She really is a pig in a dog costume.

I was doing just fine!

Tonight, I was working upstairs in my office. I’m up there late almost every night. My ears hear a familiar sound, the sound of my Hubby’s car driving up the driveway. I’ve heard this sound countless times while working. His car has a unique sound and so often he works late and I hear his car, look out the window, and he’s home. For a brief moment, I forget that he’s in Iraq. My stomach has the same butterflies it always gets when he comes home from work. When I come home in the middle of the day, see his car, and realize that he’s home early, I have the same butterflies. He still makes me weak in the knees.
Well, tonight was different. My ears played tricks on me. His car is still parked in the same spot. No one drove up the driveway.
I broke down in tears. I miss him so much.

What am I doing?

I began blogging pretty recently. Initially, I thought of it as a nice way to document this history-making year. We are in the middle of a tumultuous time in our nation's history. It is a turning-point and I'm not sure which way we are turning. My Hubby is away at war, and as my mom just reminded me during our phone conversation, he may not come back.
I'm finding that posting myself, reading and/or commenting at other blogs is very therapeutic. Almost all of the information on the war, I find online. I find that there are many other mil-spouses that are going through, or have gone through what I am dealing with right now.
Today I was reading a blog that was linked on one of my daily reads. On the sidebar there were adorable pictures of a young couple in love. This young woman's blog was fun to read. Eventually, I saw that she called herself a "widow, but not technically".
I read her early posts and saw that early this year her boyfriend was killed in Iraq. This yanked me right back into the reality that we all face as families and friends of those who serve our country.
Here at home we still face all the same, usually meaningless, day-to-day challenges. A world away people are trying to kill my Hubby and many others.
Sometimes I feel guilty that I'm here at home, enjoying all the luxuries that modern American life brings. I've decided that I'm still going to post my day-to-day crap. That's my life... but that doesn't mean that I'm not constantly thinking of my Hubby.

I remember when...

and I still like cows.

Rain??!!

I woke to rain today. Real rain. More than the usual just-enough-to-spot-the-windshield rain. It's the driest rainy season on record. I love sunny days, but you really can have too much of a good thing.
I moved here in May, 12 years ago. After the first 3 months of sunny day after sunny day, I yelled out one day "Come on already! Rain!" Since then, I've gotten use to the lack of weather here. I still laugh when there is slight precipitation and the news anchors say "Stormwatch"'
I really miss lying in bed and listening to the rain and distant thunder.

THAT'S NOT CHOCOLATE!!

Went to the San Diego Zoo today. A beautiful zoo that I had not been to since I was 4 years old. Me, the 3 kidlets and friends of mine that had guest passes from their family membership. 3 adults and 5 kids in 2 cars trekked to the zoo. It was a great day. The girls wanted to take pictures of the camels to send to Daddy since we just received pictures of camels from him. I got a good workout walking around the zoo pushing 2, sometimes 3, kids in the double stroller for 5 hours. We saw a lot of the amazing animals before it became busy and crowded at the zoo.
On the ride home the kids were doing fine. We were just past the Anna Nicole Memorial Power Plant and I glanced back at the kids. E2 was asleep, E1 was drinking water and looking at the scenery, E3 was covered with chocolate on his lap, hands and face. E1 must have given him a piece of the chocolate doughnut she had earlier today. I continue driving for a few more seconds and think "there.....aren't....any...doughnuts...left...and...E1...never...gives..him..food..without.asking." I glance back again at my happy little boy and realize THAT'S NOT CHOCOLATE!
I had just looked back there and he had been clean! Only 1/2 mile to the next exit! Exit and pull over, yes I saw the "emergency parking only" sign, but if this wasn't an emergency, what is! How could something so BIG come out of someone so little?! Luckily I have worked both in a clinical microbiology lab and on a farm. Therefore, I have seen a lot of gross things in my life and I have a strong stomach. I've been changing diapers for most of the last 6 years and this tops the list. An entire package of wipes and a bottle of water and he is good to go. A clean diaper and clothes and we're back on the road.
There were a couple traffic accidents just north of our emergency exit. A few minutes earlier and we probably would have witnessed or been involved in one of them. I guess the diaper blow-out was a good thing. A nice bath at home and then I disassemble the car seat and sterilize it.
Still a great day.

Who Cares!

OK, have I been sleeping in a cave? Am I the only one that doesn't understand what the big deal is about a soccer player moving to Los Angeles? Play-by-play of their arrival at the airport? Helicopter following their car with live aerial shots? WHAT?
Now last night I had the TV on NBC, can't remember what I had been watching, it was on in the backround, and an hour-long special comes on about Victoria Beckham. All about her adventure of moving to America. The differences in language, finding the correct multi-million-dollar house, missing her family for 3 WEEKS. It was disgusting. What was worse was that I watched most of it! It was like a train wreck, I couldn't help myself. My husband called me from the other side of the world during the show and I PAUSED IT! Oh no I didn't want to miss a bit.
Yes, David Beckham is H.O.T.. but I've seen better

Snowflake

The girls brought home a hamster today! I have to say, it is very cute. They named her Snowflake. The first one they chose looked a little sick, and not wanting the drama that a sick hamster would bring, we chose a different one. Or could I say she chose us. It was the only one the associate at Petco could catch. He was awfully afraid of hamsters to be working at Petco.
What an energetic little thing. She had chewed through the cardboard box before we reached home.

I hope the dogs never come face-to-face with Snowflake. Not sure if they would be friends.

Brunch recipe

AWTM asked for brunch potluck recipes and I recalled my favorite fancy brunch dish that I make. I decided that since my paper recipe is becoming tattered and stained, it would be a good idea to type it now while I still have it.
here it is:

Phyllo Sausage –Egg Bake

1 Tbs butter
1 medium red pepper, chopped
1 medium (1/2 cup) onion, chopped
4 oz. (1 ½ cups) sliced fresh mushrooms
½ lb sausage (I usually use a medium-spice breakfast type, but you can use Italian or whatever you like)
5 eggs
4 oz (1cup) shredded Monterey jack cheese
10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed,drained (can use broccoli instead)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 tbs parsley flakes
20 frozen phyllo pastry sheets, thawed
¾ - 1 cup butter, melted

In a large skillet over medium heat melt 1 Tbs butter. Saute red pepper, onion and mushrooms until tender, remove mixture and put it aside. In same skillet, brown sausage until no longer pink, drain. Add to mushroom mixture. In medium bowl, beat eggs lightly, stir in Monterey jack cheese and mushroom-sausage mixture
In another medium bowl, mix together spinach, ricotta and parsley.
Unroll phyllo sheets, cover with plastic wrap or towel.
Place 1 phyllo sheet in 13x9-inch baking dish, folding to fit if necessary. B+rush with melted butter, repeat with 4 more sheets of phyllo dough, brushing butter between each layer. Spread half of mushroom-sausage-egg mixture on top of dough, layer 5 more sheets of phyllo dough, brushing butter between each layer. Spread all of the spinach/ricotta mixture. 5 more layers of phyllo dough and brushed butter. Remaining mushroom-sausage-egg mixture. 5 more layers of phyllo dough with butter brushed between each layer. Brush top with butter. Score top of phyllo dough in diamond shape.
You can refrigerate this up to 24 hours in advance before baking.
Bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes or until top is nice golden brown
9-12 good size servings, more if cut smaller.
I double this recipe all the time and bake in my giant lasagna pan.
Of course, this is the recipe I use each time but I usually up the amounts of the Monterey jack cheese and the sausage.
More sausage + more cheese = yummy

Oh, another great to impress brunch recipe is fruit pizza. Especially now that it's summer.
Tube of sugar cookie dough, spread out into circle and bake as 1 big cookie.
cool and spread with whipped cream cheese that has been mixed with a little sugar and lemon juice (both to taste)
Top with fresh fruit- whatever pattern you like, blueberries, kiwi, strawberries, whatever is in season.
Warm a jar of apricot jam in the microwave and brush it on top for a glaze.

OhOh, another impressive recipe... baked brie
Take a wheel of brie, slice horizontally to make 2 wheels.
Spread a few tablespoons of apricot jam in the middle and sandwich the pieces together.
Open a can of crescent rolls, press the seams together.
Wrap the brie wheel in the rolls like a present, place seam side down on a cookie sheet.
You can decorate the top with the extra crescent dough, I've rolled it out and used cookie cutters. I think the prettiest was overlapping leaves. Brush the top with egg wash.
Bake according to the crescent roll package until golden brown.
Serve with water crackers , a nice time to use the pretty little cheese knives you have laying around in the junk drawer too.

Roxie is fat.

Roxie is fat. A wonderful, sweet, silly dog, but fat. I couldn't figure out how she got so fat so quickly. Then I found out that when Grandma visited for several months in 2005 she had a daily routine. Early am, only ones awake are Grandma and Roxie...Grandma cleans out leftovers and feeds a hearty meal to Roxie. Roxie is not one to refuse food, or chew for that matter. She grew, grew more when Pumpkin stopped eating and shared with Roxie during her cancer fight. (Pumpkin's OK now) .
Roxie's hips are bad, poor breeding, pitbull puppy mill. She had cherry eye and they tossed her on the street, we rescued her from the shelter. She needs to lose weight to ease the strain on her hips. Cut her calorie intake...she eats everything in sight, toys, wood planks, her dogbed.
I can't believe that I'm going to put my dog on a diet drug, yes that's right, MY DOG IS GOING ON A DIET DRUG. It's called Slentrol.
I hope it works and that the benefits outweigh any risks. I want to see my baby Roxie swimming her little heart out again. She rarely swims now, It hurts to walk down the step into the pool.
She's at 90 lbs now, lets she how it goes.

Always on my mind...

A Walmart trip with the kidlets.
To the post office, a package sent to Daddy.
E2 didn't want to send anything to Daddy, he was suppose to "come home to share it with her!"
Picked up a few Girl Scout patches at the council shop.
Lunch at a friends house, the kids played nicely.
McDonalds ice cream cones on the drive home, chocolate dipped for the girls, plain vanilla for me.
The baby sleeping on the way home, snoring behind me...the rest of the car is quiet due to good ice cream and tweety bird on the DVD.
I'm terrified that there will be a government car in the driveway as I drive up the hill.
Haven't spoken with my honey since I knew he went out on a mission... it's really late there now.
No car...a breath taken.
Hubby calls a few hours later, all is OK...life goes on...

A great description

Guard Wife does a blow-by-blow of Ted rall's latest cartoon. Such an intelligent breakdown of an idiotic cartoon.

Hot glue guns Rock!

Today I "borrowed" an idea from my neighbor. I made a "go to bed' chart for the kids, the girls helped. They were so excited to place all of the little pictures in the proper places as they completed the list. I love hot glue guns and color printers! It's a list for me as much as it is for the kids. I always forget something...
The velcro I used is olive drab, I wonder why I had that lying around?

Today I called my boss

Today I called my boss for the first time in months. I need a vacation. I'm taking two weeks off. I'm tired of being tired all the time. I want to do more with the kids and keep up on my housework. It's not a tough job, but I work from when the kids go to bed until midnight-3am. then up before 7am. 6-7 nights a week. I'm finishing what I have on my desk, then off.