Ft. Hood....

As a military wife and daughter my thoughts and prayers go out to the Army community at Ft. Hood.

Visitors....

My cousin "Jordanthing" came for an over night visit the other day. Jordanthing isn't her real name it's just what my son called her, for reasons known only to him, when he was little. Anyway she came for a visit and much laughing and talking was mine for a couple of hours. Cousins...they do the body good.

As she was packing her car to leave a pretty interesting thing happened. She came back into the house and said she had to hop into her truck PDQ cause two labs came over to check out what was what and made her nervous. I, being a dog LOVER!, said labs?? She thought they had gotten loose cause they both had collars on. My, being a dog LOVER! said lets catch em and find their mom! She looked a tad bit sceptical, not knowing that inside of her quiet mom-like cousin beat the heart of a hero. :) hee. I go outside and whistled. Two huge! dogs came running around the corner. I opened my back yard fence and in they galloped. Much coo-ing over how cute they were and what good doggies they were and let Aunt Dawn get you a little treat-kisskiss belly rub-belly rubs later and I had caught me some dogs. My cousin? In the house watching from the back door. Inside of her beats the heart of a hero as well she just likes to use it only on weekends. heeheehee

I had her bring me Abbey's leash and took the biggest one out of the back yard to look for his mom. The younger lab protested so we let him out thinking he wouldn't go far without his buddy. I walked around the neighborhood looking for someone obviously upset cause Hey! Doggies!! Loose!! Looking for them!! And you know what?? Found her!!!! She had gone out back to feed them that morning and the gate was open. She was in her car driving around the neighborhood in a panic thinking she would never see them again and life would never be the same. Okay, I made that up but she WAS looking panicky and driving around the neighborhood. She got her dogs and we shook hands promising to be bestys. Okay! Made that up too but wouldn't that have been great!!! Really she acted kinda put out and only wanted to get her smoke on and pull up her white tank top/sans a bra but that's okay cause Hey! Doggies!!! I knew in her heart she thought of me as a hero and I was okay with that. Then I went home and we took the cousin out to Red Robin where she paid!!! Hey!! Cousins!!! and we went to Best Buy where we may have danced around the store a little cause they were playing rockin music.

All in all a very nice two days. Big hugs Jordanthing!!!!

Brotherly love....

Our youngest and oldest have a very deep abiding love. He has introduced her to the tres fabulous Pokemon game, tooting, watching movies, blue slushies at Sonic..... and she has helped him to learn patience. :) The other night he went to the store, bought a bunch of snacks and the two of them put their heads together so he could help her achieve levels unreached before in the history of Pokemon. All. Night. Long. Yeah, I know, that's a great big brother.

He has also introduced her to the always funny game of name calling. Do you all know what a Pongu is?? It is a toot. He calls her Pongu Sniffer and she calls him Turd Juggler. A very typical morning between them at Chez' Owens usually goes thusly....

Him: Morning Pongu Sniffer.
Her: Morning Turd Juggler.

Then they are able to start the day. Now if one of them tried this with the middle child?? Our 17 year old?? It would go like this...

Them: Morning Turd Juggler.
Her: OHMYGOSHWILLYOUSTOPCALLINGMENAMES!! Twitter twitter text text. MOM!!! text text twitter. MAKE THEM STOP!!! text. MOM!! twitter. MOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOM!! I CANNOT WAIT TIL COLLEGE!!! AUGH!!

Always classy over here folks. Always classy.

Astro Boy......

Last night I took the Boo-Bear and the Son out to a movie. It's hard to agree on a movie between three people and after much discussion Astro Boy won. Boo-Bear loved it....I gave it a C. It gets a little weird/campy in one spot but the message is good. It was no Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs that's for darn sure! She wants to see Where The Wild Things Are but man oh man every time I read something about it everyone says how depressing it is and I do not need any more of that! hahahaha

Today is Saturday. I've got two kids who want to hang out at the mall and get some Christmas shopping done. We're gonna eat Chick Fill'A and maybe I can talk one of them into treating their ole' momma to a Starbucks. A trip to JoAnns and some fat quarters may be in my future. I am working on a tea pot wall hanging and want to get all the blocks prepped so I have something to do at night while the family watches what they watch on TV. I'll take some pics of the blocks later on tonight.
It's gonna be a great day. :)

A peek into Air Force life.....

There are times I love being the wife and daughter of an Air Force member. I was reminded of something this morning that I especially like while having my first cup of coffee and reading blogs.

Every morning at 7:30 I can hear Reveille play. We live across the street from a section of the base so I can hear it loud and clear. At 5 Retreat plays and then at 10PM we get to hear Taps. Every day. Did you know that when you are on base everything stops while those songs play? Every car stops and anyone outside must face in the direction of the big American Flag....usually by the front gate. If you are in uniform you must stand at attention. It is so neat to sit in your car and watch life come to a standstill for a moment while we all pay our respects to our country.

When my kids were little 5 o'clock was dinner time. You would hear Retreat play and when it was over you could see kids scatter for home. I absolutely loved it! Some days I would go to my kitchen window, where I could see the park, and just wait for it to happen. The kids would all stand very still....some with tiny hands over their hearts like they had been taught to do...and then they would run for home to eat.

The other day we were all walking to the car to go somewhere when we heard the music. Without saying anything we all stopped and faced the area across the street where we knew the flag was. My kids were quiet. The hubby stood straight and tall. When it was over we resumed walking and talking. Just picked up where we left off and it was so natural that no one mentioned it. My heart felt so full. It made me proud.

Just a little sharing about how life is over here. :)
hugs everyone!!

My new Dream Job...

I was online last night perusing the internet when I came across an article about people who study paranormal activity. In short, they are Ghostbusters.

I. Totally. Want. That. Job.

I read that article two times and for a brief second I thought about waking up the hubby and telling him that his dreams were about to come true and I was going to get a job! Then I thought about how grumpy he would be if I woke him up to tell him that his wife wants to be a Ghostbuster and let him sleep.

Ghostbuster!!! Can you even imagine how great a job that would be??? I could be at a function with the hubby....he would be in full Major-mode and I would have on heels and an oh so lovely dress. (annnnnnnnnnd since this is my fantasy the dress would be a size 5! ha!!) A General and his wife would walk over to make small talk and they would ask me what I do. I would sort of swish my cosmo and say in an offhand kinda way "Me? Oh, I'm a Ghostbuster." Then I would smile demurly at the Generals wife cause there is no way her day job could top that! I am sure they would stand in awe at the wonder that is Me "The Ghostbustering Wife"

Or I would be at JoAnns taking full advantage of a 40% off sale and a woman would ask me what I needed the 4658 rolls of tape for. I would say "Tape? This is for my job." She would be intrigued by the woman of mystery that is me and say "Really? What is your job?" I would then smile politely and tell her that I am a Ghostbuster and the tape is to put all over a house infested with Stage One Ghosties that can only be caught with good ole fashioned sticky stuff. Can you just see the envy on her face when she realizes that she is just a boring Supreme Court Judge who has to wear a boring old black robe day after day and I am a Ghostbuster, probably besty's with Dan Aykroid, and I get to wear awesome ghostbuster type outfits??!

Now, of course, as I am afraid of ghosts my job would be to wear the cute outfit and stand in front of the haunted houses with a sign saying "Ghostbustering Going On Here....to hire please call 1-800-rockin-jobs" I would let others do the actual "busting." My momma din't raise no fools.

I am now off to have a third cup of coffee. God only knows what I will post next. heeheeheehee

The creepy man....

On Sunday my hubby woke up and told me that he must cook some ham-hocks...and beans. Then I went downstairs to make some coffee. I needed to fortify my loins before any plans were thrown at me. He came down about 20 minutes later, dressed and ready. He definitely needed some ham hocks and beans.......maybe some of my sweet corn bread....and possibly some sweet tea. Oh, and I should get ready cause he wanted me to go with him. As I am a white woman I don't have the faintest clue what one should look for in a good ham hock.....other then they should be big.....but I love muh man so off we went. The man likes to buy his ham hocks from one store. It is a small little hole in the wall......probably run by mountain people. Nothing wrong with mountain people, I'm just setting the scene. Teeth are not always a given. Shoes and shirt are mere options.

As we are waiting at the meat counter with all 645 other mountain/hunters in full camouflage gear/slasher type people I got a little tingly feeling at the base of my neck. Now int-netz I am a child of Oprah. For years I was a devout follower and I know that when you have a tingly feeling at the base of your neck that means that a murderer is close by. Of course Oprah calls it your "hmmmmmmm something is not right" feeling but she really means that a murderer is close by and you should run RUN ham hocks be damned!

Now I was at one end of the meat counter and the hubby was at the other. He had gotten all enthralled by the sirens call of beef and had left me. I looked around to see why I was getting the tingly-murderer is close by feeling when I saw this man looking at me. It wasn't a "Hey! What a cutie that girl is!!" It wasn't a " HMMMMM white girl with black man....bad!" look either. It was just a really weird blank stare. I looked away and pretended to be oh so intrigued by a packet of something called "Salt chure deer meat and the wimmin will come a'runnin" and when I peeked to see if he was still looking? He was. I looked behind me cause maybe he was aiming his dead blank stare to some other unlucky person. But guess what?? There was no one else behind me. I decided to hide in an isle. Not that Oprah ever suggested that hiding in the cereal isle when you are about to be attacked, is a good idea but I needed to give the man time to be distracted by something else. When I got tired of reading cereal boxes I fought my way over to the the hubby. I figured the weird Freddy Kruger man would see that I was well protected and would stalk someone else. Nope. He kept looking. I thought about telling my hubby but the man hadn't really done anything. I just kept getting an icky feeling. And ladies, would my husband understand The Wisdom Of Oprah and how I was having a Hmmmmmmmmm Moment?? No. He would walk over to the icky little man and ask him if he was staring at his wife and if so could he knock it off cause he was giving her the heebie-jeebies. And really.....the area of town we were in...well let us just say that I didn't want to stand out any more then we already were. I only break out the black belt moves when needed and on one cup of coffee.....me loins weren't nearly fortified enough.
Our number was called while I was wrestling with what to do so we ordered our ham hocks. Paid for them and got in the car. I told the Major about all of my thoughts. He looked around the parking lot to see if I was being stalked but nope. No icky murdering man had followed us out to the store. And why I felt the need to share this loooooong and sordid tale I do not know.
It's just me looking for the silver lining in things....see......escaping a murder/slasher?? WIN WIN!! Yeah Me! Looking for the good in life!!! :)

Anyway!!! so tonight I am still alive and well in Ohio. Let this be a lesson to all you ladies out there. If a very tiny-weird-murderer-slasher type person stares a death ray stare at you, just do what I did.
Hide in the cereal isle. Works every time. And yes, that is the moral of this story. giggle

Night all!!!

Decrating for Fall.....

Been doing a little Fall decorating around here. When I went to the Covered Bridge Fest my dad got this house for me....it lights up!! Very Fall-ish.











I also decorated the front porch.......This is just some corn stalks....a couple of bales of hay....some pumpkins and a table my dad made for me.











In the other corner I put a small cabinet with a very large pumpkin on top. (Cabinet also made by my dad....yes, it pays to have someone in the family who is a woodworker!)











And over here I put two bird houses......also made by my dad. :) I got some Fall Garlands from JoAnns.....60% off Ladies!!!....and hung them around our porch. It looks really nice at night when the porch light is on.

I think Fall may be my favorite season. It's cold so you can wear the cold weather clothes but it's not freezing to where you don't want to go outside.

Happy decorating everyone!!

Serious post ahead.........

So ummmmmm my posts have been pretty spotty lately huh.
Thanks to all who have hung in there with me and my once a month posting.

As many of you out there know life is not always one big basket of butterflies. At times things that we are desperately trying to hold at bay rear up and say "Okay, enough. Let us deal with this now." Everyone has something that they deal with. Mine is that every once in awhile I get sad. For no reason. Just sad. Usually it only lasts a day or two and then I can snap myself out of it and go on with life, none the wiser. This time? No. It has gone on and on and on. I describe it as waking up one morning and it is sitting on your chest, smiling down at you and saying "Hi! Remember me?? Wellllll I'm back!" You can tell yourself that your children are wonderful, your hubby is the best, you have a roof over your head, food in the fridge, shoot even your dog loves you but it doesn't always work. I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago to tell him that maybe my "vitamins" weren't working like they should and he wanted to go over what I had been doing that week. I told him. Just the usual wife and mom stuff. He says to me "You seem to take care of everyone. Who takes care of you?" Then he got nervous when I felt oh so sorry for myself thinking "Yeah! Who??" and maybe got a little teary. hahahahahahaha

So what to do and how to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and get it together already??

When I go through it I start a new quilting project. I put music on during the day. I get out of the house and go be amongst people. I buy myself a fat quarter. I make big dinners and set the table nicely. Or I re-arrange furniture. I never let it affect my family. I feel very strongly that my kids will not remember their mother being sad. This time? Nothing worked. I found myself laying on the couch after the kids went to school and then waking up 3 or 4 hours later. Eating for no reason even if I was full. A week would go by and I didn't laugh. I had to make myself go out. Even knowing I had to buy bread was a huge huge task that would loom in front of me. I even stopped answering the phone.

One night my daughter sat on my bed and said that I seemed sad. Was it something they had done. Was there something she could do to help. My other daughter came in and sat on the bed and they pow-wowwed as to what I could do. Yeah, that is a heart breaker for sure. They wanted their mom back. Shoot I wanted her back!

It's hard to say what made me have such a long "hard time" this time. It's been months. I was just so sick of myself. Nothing debilitating or any crazy thoughts, I just re-read what I wrote and wanted to put there out there. Just sad. And tired. And anxious. For more then a couple of days.

For months The Rents and I had planned on going to The Covered Bridge Festival together. Just the three of us. I would drive up to their camper....saying camper makes me think of a small little pop up when really people?? This thing is huge! Comes with two lazy boy chairs......tv......kitchen.....shower...you name it! Anyway, the plan was for me to drive up to the campground, stay in the Taj Mahal of campers with them and we would drive to the Festival and spend a whole day shopping. Going from booth to wonderful booth of craft stuff. When Nana got sick and I spent some time with her I thought about not going. I mean...money...recession....sigh. Then my heart said oh no. Go. Do not stay home. Get away for a bit. Spend some time with The Rents. I am so glad I listened to my heart. I took the 4 and a half hour road trip alone. Just me and my music. I stopped off here....



bought a little sumpin sumpin for my Ya-Yas.......












Then I spent some time with these two. The Rents. When I got out of my car to say hello I just held on to my dad. I breathed him in. I hugged my mom and when she kissed me on the cheek, grinning cause we were gonna have a rockin good time, I felt my soul wake up for the first time in months. I felt quiet inside of myself. Does that make sense?? The first night I was there we just sat together. We had to get up the next morning early as the Festival was an hour and a half away. My dad watched some TV and my mom and I read. Every once in awhile I would peek at them. Then I would grin to myself cause oh my gosh are they cute. Also? I felt so happy to be there with them.
The next day we drove to Indiana. The Festival was not what I expected. It. Was. Marvelous! Booth after booth after booth of crafty things! You weren't allowed to take any pictures so I snapped my dad before we entered the town. Oh, guess who had pneumonia that weekend?? Guess who we had to drag back to the camper at the end of the day after walking 245112 miles?? Yeah, that would be this guy.

I came home and felt more myself then I had for a long long time. I've laughed again. I chased my youngest up the stairs trying to pinch her while she laughed like a loon. I was interested in what was going on around me. I've answered the phone! :) I also made a decision that I would not go back to that place. I've started to say no a bit. No, I will not stop what I am doing and drive to the school cause you forgot something...AGAIN. No, I will not drive everyone hither and yon. Get another mom to do it...it's their turn. Yes, I will do my share but doggone it I will not let myself be so taxed out that I get depressed again. I also know that people will only tax you out and make you crazy if you let them. I plan on working on some balance. Oh, and laughing. I've missed laughing.
The next time my doctor asks me who takes care of me?? I'm gonna tell him about these two. My Rents. And I am going to thank my lucky stars that I feel better!!!

Okay, enough down in the mire stuff!! hahahaha Next up is pictures of the porch! It is decorated for Fall and looks so great my neighbor stopped by to tell me so. :)

hugs everyone!!

Angel Swap Update......

My secret angel swap person got her gifts from me a couple of days ago!!
I got someone from Hungary and had a lot of fun making stuff for her. (I also borrowed this photo from her blog as I forgot to take any of my own before I sent it out.)

If you ever get a chance to do a swap sign up!! It is a great way to get a peek into someone who lives a life very different from your own and you can make a nice friend as well. :)

Thanks to Helen for being in charge of all of us!!!