Really?? Really.

Took the kids out trick or treating tonight. We left our candy outside with a note, since there wasn't anyone left at home to hand it out. It was pretty cold out, but the kids were alright.

So, as we're walking, I start to notice that there are people smoking. Smoking. While they are taking their kids trick or treating. Then, one winner of the night, had a can of beer in his hand. I mean, really? It couldn't have been his first because I could really smell it as we walked past. And, the kicker was he was pushing an infant stroller, and started to pull out that tiny baby. Nothing better than smelling alcohol as you pass a baby.

At least this was the minority of the parents out there. But, it was enough that I noticed it. I just don't get it.

If you need a good laugh

You should just check out what people are using that find your blog. Because it is so funny!!! I thought I would share a few of my favorites that people have used as keywords to find me. Or at least have hit me using these key words. And really, I have no idea how I could be anywhere near the top of some of these pages. These people must really have been looking. :) Here we go:

Military Wife Sex Stories
Military Women Porn
"odd size foot"
"a guide to the birds of east africa"
hot military wife
how to tell wife i want to be in military
naked pics of military wifes (yes, wifes.)
positive things being a military wife
are fairies real have you seen tinkerbell
army wife pron (ha! this one makes me laugh. pron??? spell check anyone?)

A while back I did this post. Which has NOTHING to do with porn. Which is hysterical that when they click on my link, that is what they get!!! And as any woman knows, that stuff actually works. :)

Those were just a few of my favorites. When I need a good laugh, I go look at this.

What keywords do people use and find you????

I've been hit

Oh this day.

Been dreading you for a whole year.

And now you're almost gone.

Have you noticed that things always happen in groups? It never is just one thing. It's about four or five.

This week I've had a sick kid, another kid who was jealous of the sick kid and therefore was behaving badly. The weather has been terrible. We've seen the sun very little in the last 8 or 9 days. We got a package from Matt, and he wrote a few special things to me. (which means a lot to me, and is a big thing to me, so that's why I'm including that.) I'm on my period.(yes, I just said it. lets just move on.)

And I was doing OK. I was feeling really good. But then today came. And for whatever reason today hit me. Hit me hard. A birthday should be something to celebrate. But nothing to celebrate today.

Are you ever so conscious of your heart that it feels as if your whole body were beating?

I want to revel in this pain I feel today. I rarely allow myself to do that, mostly because I truly don't have the time to just stop and cry. I'm sure I would feel better if I did. I have kids that need my attention, and at this moment, I should be getting them ready for bed. So I shouldn't even be writing this. But I am anyway. Hopefully they'll get the blocks picked up while I do this.

My faith should help me through this. And sometimes it does. And other times, it just doesn't matter. Because it just hurts.

Progress!!!!!

This week, I had a conversation with my mother. Sometimes these conversations are good, and others not so good. This one started out a little awkward, but we got that figured out. Then she asked me the big question: Why aren't you coming for Christmas??

I told her I wasn't going back for Christmas this past August. She kind of poo poo'd it, and said something about a Christmas present for us. I've said it a few times since then, and it's like she doesn't believe me. This time, she asked me point blank. So I told her why. And then she tried to guilt trip me into coming. Mostly playing the "well, because you're not going to be there I guess we can't do this now, even though I really want to" card. And it did nothing. I did not feel guilty. I stuck to my decision, and said, well, I guess we'll have to do that another time. I hung up the phone, and I felt good.

I'm still kind of on that high. I've been working for a really long time to get to this point. And boy does it feel good. I've become my own person, and am making my own decision. And while I've done that for years, I've always felt guilty, felt bad about it. And would sometimes carry that guilt over to the next choice I would have to make, and have it influence my decision making. This time, I feel so free! It feels wonderful! And the best part is I know that I made the right choice for us.

All of this gives me hope. Because I've got a whole bunch of other things I'm working on. And sometimes it seems as if I'll never get to a good place or be consistent with those things. Now, I know that someday those things will happen, I just need to keep working on them. And not get so discouraged when I fail.

Just feelin' good.:)

To wrestle or not to wrestle????

Matt has wanted our son to get into wrestling for a while. I looked into it a bit when we moved to California, but I think we missed it. I found some information on our local wrestling teams here, and I'm considering getting him into it. He says he wants to do it, although I don't think he realizes exactly what he is saying he wants to do.

I looked at the practice schedule, and the meet schedule. They have practices three evenings a week for an hour and a half, right during dinner time. And every Saturday is a meet. Sometimes close by, usually a good distance away. My son isn't that old. Sometimes he doesn't want to go to soccer, and that is only one night a week. Not to mention that it's $70 and we provide the shoes and headgear.

I guess this group is really hardcore. I mean, we have to commit to three evenings a week, plus whatever time on Saturday. I guess if Matt were here to do some of this, I wouldn't be so apprehensive about signing him up. That is just so much for me to commit to, for such a young kid. Who may HATE it.

I brought this up to my husband, and he said at our sons age, he was running every day. And not just running around outside, they were running competitively. His dad had both his sister and him running like that. His mom took his dad to court (they were divorced) because she felt it was abusive to be making such small kids do that every day. While I don't know about abusive, I would have had a problem with it, too. I mean, they are kids. I guess to get ahead in the sports world you have to start the second you're conceived. I just don't think it's worth it. For my husband, it's one of the few positive memories he has from his childhood. (his words) I'm sure it still could have been a positive thing for him if it was done with a little more moderation, and more thought about what was good for the child, rather than what the parent wanted for the child. Because we as parents have a habit of projecting on our kids what we want for them, rather than asking the kids what they want. With regards to sports and other extracurricular activities, I mean.

So, I just don't know if it's worth it! I think it's a little excessive to require so much for kids my sons age. Granted, like I said, it would be different if I had some help. But I don't. So, not only do I question the practices for the kids, I just don't know if as a parent I can commit to that. I mean, I have to cook dinner sometime. There is more to life than wrestling. And those nights I may have other places that I need to be, or things that I need to do.

Have any of you encountered this? What have you done? How do you feel about sports that require so much from kids as such a young age? I'm torn a bit. He says he wants to do it, but I don't think he realizes what he's saying yes to. I have until Monday to figure it out. I guess I'll spend some of that time explaining to him what he'll be doing those 3 nights a week.

Sigh.

Totally ridiculous

Well, I'm still around, just been busy. Busy with life that can be a tad overwhelming. But I wanted to share a few absolutely ridiculous news articles I've read recently.

Oregon Apartment Complex Bans the flying of the American Flag.
Now, this is freaking ridiculous. Worried that someone might get offended? Are you kidding?

Pocketknife suspension.
Really school district? I think it was pretty obvious that it was in a survival kit for his car. I would consider the kid pretty responsible for even having that in his car. The school district is making an idiot of themselves.

First grader brings camping utensil to school.
You know, this one hits home a bit. I have a first grader. Obviously the kid didn't bring it to the school to harm anyone. He brought it so he could eat his lunch with it.

Wives are stressed when husbands deploy.
I don't even know what to say to this one. I mean, REALLY??!! They had to do a study to figure this out? Sheesh.

Trade you these kids for your bird.
I'm kind of speechless on this one. What????

Hope you get a good laugh out of how ridiculous these are. There are some truly sad people out there who have zero common sense. Anyone else read any good ones recently??

Ssssllllloooowww

A few weeks ago, my best friend suggested that we try and do a slow month. What is a slow month? Well, it can be whatever you want it to be, with the ultimate goal of spending less, and being resourceful. And since all of us are in different places, we can make our own rules.

We started out defining what our goals were going to be. Mine are as follows:

1~To get our credit card down. We use a credit card for all of our purchases because of the cash rewards we get. Between doing stuff before Matt left, my road trip, plus some birthdays, our balance is a little too high for me to feel good about it. So, this month, it will be smaller.

2~To use what I have. I cooked some pinto beans at the end of August, and froze them. They taste awesome, and are SO MUCH cheaper than buying a can of pinto or refried beans from the store. Been working on using those. Next up are black beans. I have other things that I want to use that I haven't been, for whatever reason. Plus, with it only being the 3 of us, I can make our meals last longer. Minimal fast food too. (even though the 10 piece chicken mcnuggets for $1.99 at mcdonalds is a great deal!!) And this doesn't just apply to food, this goes for everything. Rather than go out and buy something, I look and see what I've got and make it work.

3~We are not good savers. Thanks to some poor financial decisions early in our marriage (isn't that how it always goes????) we've been paying off debt. We've got it so low, it feels so good! But. Not much saved. And since Matt is deployed, we have access to a high yield savings account. It is only high yield while he's gone. So the sooner I get some money in there, the better. So, my goal is to save money for whatever we may need it for in the future. Down payment on a house? Trip somewhere? Kids college fund?

4~To sell or get rid of stuff that I don't use or can't use. Or just don't want. I have a nice little list in my head of things that need to be listed on ebay. And, I also have a nice little favorites list on etsy. So, the only way I get anything off of etsy is to sell some of my stuff on ebay.

To accomplish this, I am planning on avoiding Target, and any other impulse buy type of stores. I am planning my grocery store visits. (I made it out of Costco spending under $100. I thought that was pretty good!) I am making a big effort to have a list of things, and to stick to the list as best as I can!

There are some things I have to do this month, like get the oil changed in our cars, pay for school pictures, and things like that. I did want to get my Christmas card planned and supplies bought for those. Got a few packages that need to be sent, too. I also need an external hard drive, and that will cost a little bit of money.

Since I live in the middle of nowhere, and Ross and stores like it are a good twenty minutes drive away, I think I can do that. I do have a Walmart (I just hate Walmart), but I'm trying to get what I need a little at a time between the Commissary, Costco, and tomorrow I'm heading to the nearest Trader Joe's. (which is about half an hour away) I'm sticking to the list!! Hopefully I'll only have to go to Walmart for milk this month. Because the less of my money there, the better.

I am really going to try and do this. It will be good for me. I do like spending money and having stuff. But I'm getting tired of stuff. I have too much stuff, and it is really crappy to have to constantly be packing it and unpacking it time after time.

So, have any of you tried a slow month? What were your rules? Anyone want to join us? If we can do it, and be mostly successful, we're going to get ourselves a years subscription to RealSimple. What defines success? Well, I guess if we manage to do our best, and expect that we'll have a few setbacks, I think that would be a success. We're also going to be accountable to each other. I'll be checking up on her, with regards to her goals, and she'll be doing the same for me.

For a hard core slow lifer, check this out. I've been reading her for a while, and wow.