Family Adventures Family Adventures When my children are grown and gone, I hope that they will look back on their childhood and remember the sound of their mother's laughter. Sometimes that is easier said than done. Articles
Adventures
2008-02-18 14:12:00 I am really itching to go on an adventure. We haven't been on a trip in a very long time. Last year, we moved from Japan to Mississippi and we went to Virginia to visit Jeff's family. That was it. In previous years we did things like go to China, Egypt, Kenya, Alaska, Hawaii, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland ...I mentioned this to Jeff, he suggested we go to Disney World.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Adventures
Frozen
2008-02-17 18:17:00 I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Frozen
If You Don't Have Something Nice To Say
2008-02-17 17:21:00 I have been in a bit of a funk lately. Well, whatever...I started this blog when I was in a bit of a funk, my intention was to write something nice and good about my life everyday in order to feel a bit better. Lately I haven't really been writing about anything but what is bothering me. Something nice to say about my life . . . do you hear the crickets.Just kidding. I have a great life. I have been in pursuit of a photo of a great sunset over the Gulf. Several months ago, Jeff and I went for an evening walk. We arrived down at the pier by our house right at sunset. It was the most amazing sunset of my life. I wished I had my camera. I thought that a photo of that sunset would make the most beautiful blog header in the world. all those lovely horizontal layers. The sky, the water, the grass, the sand. I have been trying to re-capture that sunset every night since that night and it has never occurred again.We really don't live on the Gulf of Mexico, we live on the Mis... More About: Nice
A Battle of Wills
2008-02-14 13:27:00 Shouldn't have waited until the last day to try and find heart shaped cookie cutters. Might have to just cut them out freestyle. Lily and I are making heart cookies for dad and Mandy today. We got the idea from a magazine my parents got for Lily. We have been talking about this for weeks and she is so excited. Counting the days to Valentine's day. Too bad I didn't think to get all the stuff until the last moment.Lily and I have been having a battle of wills. Pretty much since she was born. Now she has gained the ability to manipulate me. It is no longer just that she refuses to do things she doesn't want to do. Now she pushes my buttons just to watch me squirm. She can make me go from happy to crazy insane mad in less than 30 seconds. She is very good at manipulating me. I have always tried to be very protective of the girls' feelings. I want them to grow up feeling that they are worthy of being treated well. I may go a bit overboard, but my husband constantly re... More About: Parenting , Wills , Battle
Who Am I?
2008-02-11 16:42:00 I recently decided that it might be a good idea for me to begin working again sooner rather than later. I took stock of the jobs I am qualified to perform and this really depressed me. Not having worked in a very long time and not having finished my degree, there really isn't a lot job options available to me. I am also the primary care giver of Lily and Mandy and any job I find I will have to find care for Lily and transportation for Mandy. I did apply for a few freelance jobs and a few local jobs. Then no one wanted me, not even for the peon jobs that I applied for.Jeff talks non-stop about the fact that as soon as Lily starts school, I am going back to work and we will have more money. He is counting the days. I feel like such a failure, because, other than lunch lady (Jeff's suggestion) or Wal-Mart Associate what can I do? I would have to be available for Lily before and after school, so a full time job is not an option.That lunch lady job really hurt my feelings. Som...
Golden Corral
2008-02-07 20:18:00 Some of you may remember the story of Jeff's warm and buttery buns. If not and you want a good laugh at my husband's expense go and read it now. I'll wait...This seems to be pick on Jeff week. Of course you all realize he was kidding about the streaking through the neighborhood, right? Sometimes you don't know how sarcasm plays via the written word.I have just received my first BlogHer paycheck, $30. I have had the ads on the blog since August 28, 2007. Which for me is pretty good. I had google ads on my blog for 2 years and never earned more than a nickel. Which I am still waiting to be sent. As soon as I received the check Jeff started getting ideas of how to spend the money. He was able to find a Golden Corral - his all time favorite restaurant only an hour and a half from our house. So guess where we are going to dinner tonight? For those of you not familar with the GC (Jeff speak for Golden Corral) it is an all you can eat buffet with all the free hot and butter... More About: Daily
Super Fat Tuesday
2008-02-05 19:31:00 I was up all night with a sick kid, Mandy throwing up until 3AM. So tired. We don't get to vote today, our vote isn't until March 28th, talk about being snubbed.Mandy, called in sick to work and they told her she had to have a doctor's note because it is Mardi Gras and they are busy. Jerks. Trying to intimidate a sick kid into coming into work. That is how I see it, too bad Jeff works at the hospital and knows people who know people. We were luckily able to get a doctor's note with a phone consult.I am so tired and would feel bad leaving Mandy who still hasn't kept anything down, so we are having a private home Mardi Gras, with cartoons and cookies. At least we got to go to our local parade. I was looking forward to going to the downtown Biloxi parades this afternoon. I guess it wasn't meant to be.So, how is your Super Fat Tuesday ?In other news...I was trying to convince Mandy and Jeff that we should make homemade gifts for Valentine's Day this year instead of buying...
Saturday Night Fun
2008-02-04 16:41:00 Thanks for all your advice about buying a new car. If we ever change our mind and decide to try it again I will be sure to follow all of your sage advice. On Saturday evening after the minivan saga and then a good nap, we decided to go to Chuck E Cheese. A Saturday night at Chuck E Cheese, am I not the coolest person you know?There happens to be a Barnes and Noble next to the Chuck E Cheese and Mandy still has quite a bit of Christmas Barnes and Noble gift certificate money. A quick stop was made at Barnes and Noble. Lily had not taken a nap and promptly fell to sleep on the 45 minute drive from our house to the Chuck E Cheese / Barnes and Noble. I don't know why we don't have anything closer to us, oh yeah we chose to live in the quiet neighborhood instead of the convenient one. I sat in the car with Lily, she slept I day dreamed. Jeff and Mandy did the book store and then it was off to Chuck E Cheese.We just love going there. We are all so competitive that we just have a... More About: Daily , Night
Buying a New Minivan
2008-02-03 12:19:00 Jeff and I decided to go ahead and buy a new mini-van. A big purchase to be sure, but we figure that he has four years until retirement, and we could have it paid off by then. We figured we travel a lot and this would make traveling more comfortable. So why not? We did a lot of shuffling but we thought to find the money we would take a bit from here and there, various savings plans, and tighten up our extra spending.I did a great deal of Internet research about which is the best minivan and how much they cost. We decided that Saturday we would look at our top ten choices, see what they have on the lots and narrow down our options to maybe one or two. OK, so you all see the humor there right.I have never bought a new car before. Jeff has. He kept telling me that we don't want to get out of our vehicle that we should just drive by slowly and see what they have and hope we can see the sticker price from our car. I was thinking, why not just ask someone? So we got to the first... More About: Buying
Sunshine Does Not Fix Cars
2008-01-29 22:12:00 Went to our play group today at the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center. It is about a 45 minute drive from my house but worth it. We had our play group. I am a bit of a regular now so we know people and have bits of conversations. Not like having friends but a step in the right direction. We sing, we dance, we play, we hear a story, we do a craft. Then we played indoors for awhile and then outdoors. As we were playing outdoors, it was a beautiful 65 degree sunny day. There are tree houses, trains, just the most beautiful play area you can imagine, and you can see the Gulf of Mexico just beyond the centuries old oak trees. I was thinking to myself, Lily has the most amazing childhood. She is a lucky little girl.Our plan was to stop and grab some lunch at McDonald's, return some books to the library, pick up a few things at the commissary and then head home. This McDonald's had an outside playground and Lily asked to play for just a minute. Just a minute I say, as we have a ... More About: Daily , Cars , Sunshine
Sunshine to Chase Away the Funk
2008-01-29 15:34:00 Yesterday was such a nice day. We spent the morning at the playground and the afternoon playing in the neighborhood with the kids. My street is filled with kids who play outside after school. We met a new neighbor, she just moved in and has a four year old boy. I am sure once school starts meeting people will be a little easier. I met a few nice ladies at the playground too.There is something so nice about having adult conversations mixed with playing in the sunshine. I think I even got a bit of a sunburn on my nose and cheeks. I think sunshine is the new drug. Even if the adult conversations were with strangers, I am working on making friends. Been almost a year and still no friends. Weird that I love it here so much but have no friends. The lady at the playground was a military spouse and moved here about the same time as me. She hates it here because she has no friends. I was thinking to myself, I don't have any friends here either I wonder why that doesn't bother m... More About: Daily , Parenting , Funk , Sunshine , Chase
Blog Village Carnival: Much Ado About Money
2008-01-28 16:15:00 Welcome to the January 28, 2008 edition of a blog village carnival. Without any further Ado, here are the submissions.Marshamlow presents Family Adventures: Much Ado About Money posted at Family Adventures. In this post I write about our family's decision to use the money we will be getting back from our taxes toward our home mortgage loan in order to reduce the amount of interest we will be paying over the life of our loan. We had a lively discussion within the comments about whether or not it is important to live for today or save for tomorrow. alicia presents "Peace, be still." posted at Get to Know Alicia: Christian Artist, Poet and Full-Time Mom Alicia writes a post about how she finds peace during the troubling financial times we are facing in our country. I found this to be a very moving post. It is sometimes necessary to look past the here and now and see the big picture.Hueina Su presents My Young Living Story and Exciting News posted at Intensive Care for the Nurtur... More About: Carnival , Blog , Blog Carnival , Village
On the List
2008-01-27 20:37:00 Drove husband to airport. Along the way we notice several police cars pulled to the side of the road, lights flashing, officers with machine guns. We then noticed a helicopter circling. As we drove past the prison we notice a news crew filming the prison.Using our incredibly nimble brains we deduced that there must have been a recent prison break. Which I later confirmed via the good ole Internet.So on the way to the airport we drove through a gantlet of machine guns.As I was driving home. I made it back threw the gauntlet, no escaped convicts tried to jump in my car while I was going 70 on the highway. It really should be illegal to drive after taking cold medicine. Phone rang, Jeff- come back to pick me up flight delayed 7 hours.Exit, enter the other way, back threw the gantlet of machine guns. Back to the airport. Jeff comes out to the car and informs me that he and his fellow travelers are going to drive instead of fly. Turns out driving the 10 hours to San Antonio take... More About: Daily , List , The List
My Day Off
2008-01-26 17:22:00 Long time readers will remember or not, that Saturday is my day off. Jeff works hard all week at his job and I work hard at mine. Saturday is my day off from taking care of Lily, cooking, cleaning, driving people around. I do what I want, no responsibility to the family. Sunday is Jeff's day off, on that day he can watch football or go hiking, do whatever he wants with no guilt. We started this when Lily was very small. She was such a difficult little one.Today, I woke up around 9AM. The entire family was gone. I didn't get to say good morning. I am lost. I have the hardest time disconnecting and finding my bliss on my day off. Instead of enjoying my day off I usually end up feeling left out and lonely. What a dork I am. What would you do if you had a day off from the family all to yourself.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Daily , Parenting
Cold Medicine and Kids
2008-01-24 00:37:00 I have heard many a news report about cold medicine not being safe for children. Even the cold medicine specifically made for their age, the FDA has issued a warning that it is potentially unsafe for children to take these medicines. This is nothing new, when Mandy was suffering from her first cold more than 16 years ago, her pediatrician warned me not to give her over the counter medications for her cold. More than 10 years ago a friend of mine was in medical school studying to be a pediatrician and during a conversation told me that children's bodies react very differently too medications than adult bodies do. That children are not small adults, their systems and bodies are completely different than ours.But, I feel so guilty. I take cold medicine and it makes me feel better. My snuffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever are reduced by my little pill. Every time Lily sneezes, coughs, needs her nose wiped, wakes up from coughing, I feel bad. I try to go without t... More About: Daily , Kids , Parenting , Medicine , Cold
Please Send Sage
2008-01-23 15:20:00 Friday, we spent the day at a garage having our brakes fixed. They guy who works behind the desk was feverish and appeared to be dying from the flu. We tried to steer clear of his germs but not so sure.Saturday, we spent the day outside in the freezing cold wearing light weight sweatshirts and freezing our asses off. At the Marti Gras parade which was a blast but we should have checked the temperature. Who knew Mississippi could get cold? Sunday, Lily started to get a sore throat and cough. I blame the sick mechanic, Jeff blames us for allowing her to get so cold. Maybe it was both.Monday, I was entertaining Lily and she sneezed in my face. Full frontal snot attack, my face was soaked it went up my nose, in my eyes, in my mouth. I immediately felt a scratchy throat and headache. Probably psychosomatic. Tuesday, we skipped playgroup and instead I put Lily in the stroller and took her for a walk. My energizer bunny was not up to walking. Lily is such an active child it break... More About: Daily , Send , Sage
Much Ado About Money
2008-01-22 15:13:00 Jeff and I have already spent our tax money. We haven't filed or received our refund but the money is spent. We have decided to make extra house payments. I took the amount of money we pay each month to the bank, multiplied it by 12 (months) multiplied it by 30 (years) and found that we are going to pay the bank more than two times the amount we borrowed over the course of our 30 year loan.That interest is payed up front, meaning in the first few years of your home loan the majority of your monthly payment goes toward the interest and very little goes toward the principle. This is only true if you only pay your mortgage payment and no more. Any extra you pay goes toward the principle.The less you owe in principle the less you pay in interest. Every dollar I pay extra in principle the first few years of my mortgage is going to save me $1.40 in interest. If I pay $5000 from my tax refund toward my principle it will save me $7000 in Interest. That is $7000 I will not have to ... More About: Carnival , Money
Marti Gras
2008-01-20 14:28:00 We went to our first Marti Gras parade. It was much colder than we realized and we were not dressed appropriately. The wind was fierce too. You can see in the pictures that Jeff is trying to wrap his jacket around Lily for added warmth. Mardi Gras is a traditional celebration carried on since the middle ages. Many communities around the world, including Italy (they call it carnivale) New Orleans, and here. Have a huge party with a masked ball, parades, etc to celebrate Fat Tuesday, the day before lent begins. This year Marti Gras is on February 5.During the parade, each float has beads, and other treats which they will only throw to you if you are yelling and waving. Being the loudest family in Mississippi we got our fair share of booty. Now we have so many beads we have no idea what to do with them all and we still have of weeks of parades left to attend. I am afraid I didn't get a picture of us with all the beads at the end, I only remembered to take pictures at the be...
Another Bummer of a Day
2008-01-19 14:51:00 Yesterday was even worse than the day before... Six hours at the car repair place with Lily...Finally came home and dog had diarrhea all over the house. I cried. Felt better... Life goes on.I couldn't help but think of my friend Laura and her real problems. I told Mandy all about my day while I was driving her to work. We had a good laugh and that was that. So my day sucked but the car is fixed and life goes on.Lily and I feeling claustrophobic, bored, tired, hungry... at the site of the never ending brake job, we bonded. It was us against the world and we helped each other through it. I was so upset, they had told me an hour and a half and then just never finished, kept coming up with excuses. I am there with Lily with no way out, no way to leave, at their mercy...My head about exploded with anger, helplessness and frustration. Lily was feeling similarly upset. We were at first picking at each other but in the end we came together and got through the experience with some ... More About: Daily , Bummer
No Good Day Goes Unpunished
2008-01-18 13:45:00 Yesterday Lily (4) and I had such a lovely day at her library story time and then at the playground afterwards. You will remember I wrote about the fact that she has a problem with hitting. I wanted to point out that she does not have a problem with hitting other children. Even at the playground when she was hit and pushed by other children she handled it by telling them politely not to hit or push her. She has the mommy voice down pat. Her withering look and, "Honey, please do not push me. I do not like to be pushed. Pushing is not nice. OK? No more pushing." Made a little girl cry. But, they were soon friends again. I was so proud. She still hits me or herself whenever I say, "the wrong thing". But, she seems to be on the right track with her friends. Even though at home I pretend to be a monster attacking her and she pushes me down, I fall to the ground do a couple of somersaults and lay still beaten by the big strong and powerful, King Lily as she calls herself. ... More About: Daily , Good , No Good
A Katrina Update
2008-01-17 14:10:00 Long time readers will remember my husband, Jeff's best friend Chad. Chad has come down from Virginia to the Gulf Coast in order to volunteer his time and skills as a contractor to help rebuild homes destroyed by Katrina . He is also staying in our garage off and on. Mostly off, as he stays in Pearlington, MS where he does the majority of his work.Can you believe there are still people whose homes have not yet been fixed? Can you believe that there are still hundreds of people coming down here to help strangers. It totally amazes me.For many families the problem is that they are stuck in a no win situation. Crippled with house payments and insurance premiums on the home which was destroyed. Unable to stop making those payments or lose the hope of ever rebuilding or recouping their losses. So these people live in FEMA trailers that have some weird toxic gas that is making them all sick. When you are sick it is hard to move forward and get a lot done.The volunteers come here a... More About: Update
Rude Texting
2008-01-14 23:29:00 Not long ago I offered to drive a young lady and her two small children around town in order to buy a new car. She worked in Jeff's office (Air Force). Jeff was busy that day, I can't remember what he was doing. Her sponsor, a person assigned to help you out when you are reasigned to a new base, was also busy. I drove her around for more than two hours. The entire time she did not speak to me except to answer direct questions. Otherwise she was texting.I felt rather unapreciated. I believe in Karma and in the military we move a lot and depend on the kindness of others. It was my turn to be kind. Many have been kind to me. But, she didn't even have a polite conversation with me. I wonder what her mom would say. My husband is her boss's boss so perhaps she just didn't know what to say. Two hours sitting next to me in a car going from one used car lot to the next and she did not have a thing to say to me. She was very young, closer to Mandy's age (16) than mine (38).... More About: Daily , Parenting , Rude
Camping
2008-01-13 04:55:00 Jeff and Lily are sleeping in a tent in the backyard. I have just come inside from the campfire portion of the camping trip. The firewood I bought from the grocery store was wet. It took us several hours to get it really burning and by that time we were ready for bed. We were able to burn some marshmallows and make smores.I was a little leery of having a camp fire in the backyard. Instead of dirt we have sand underneath our grass. We live two blocks from the Gulf of Mexico. The previous owners of this house had an above ground pool. It was blown down by Katrina and grass has not been planted where the pool used to be. Therefore, we have a patch of sand smack dab in the middle of our backyard. Perfect for campfires.I really love camping in the backyard. Especially when we eat dinner in the house, and I get to sleep in my bed. Best camping trip ever!I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Family , Daily , Camping
A Happy 3rd Anniversary Was Had By All
2008-01-12 20:04:00 Yesterday was the third anniversary of the my very first post on this blog. I think I have had just about as many template changes as I have posts. I am almost done with this one, but still have some more ideas, I want to try and figure out.I started this blog with a post called, Quality of Life where I tried to write about my thoughts having traveled all over the world. I am still trying to find a way to write about my thoughts. I think I have gained more wisdom than I have imparted to others.It was through the multiple attempts to make this blog pretty and unique that I discovered my love of web design/development. I tend to have more fun changing the colors than coming up with words. While I started with a lot to say, I still have tons more to say, the journey took me on a new path in my life. I was on a path to become a high school math teacher three years ago. I had a lovely little one year old Lily at home, a lovely thirteen year old Mandy who I was still taller than, and I wa... More About: Anniversary , Blogging , Happy
GIRLS RULE boys drool
2008-01-10 14:41:00 My husband listens to a stupid radio show every morning on his way to work. There are a bunch of rednecks who discuss current events and spew their hateful bigoted opinions onto the public. This is how my husband finds out about current events and forms opinions about politics. I cannot believe I am married to someone who is so different from me. He gets a kick out of repeating this crap to me at the dinner table and we end up having a fun little debate and I end up using a lot of bad language. He then reminds me not to use bad language in front of the kids. Better to hear some bad language than to hear the evil that comes out of his mouth.An example: Yesterday's topic was Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16 year old sister of Britney Spears who is pregnant. The boys on the radio reported that she was fired from her TV show due to her pregnancy, but after the show went up in ratings due to her pregnancy Nickelodeon decided to renew her contract and do another season of her show. The ... More About: Girls , Boys , Rule
Does rough housing cause hitting?
2008-01-08 15:17:00 I am trying to decide if we should eliminate rough housing from our daily diet until Lily gets over her current hitting phase. Looking for some input...We rough house quite a bit at our house. We always have. Perhaps it is our way of showing affection. Lily knows the proper way to wrestle and fight, the way where you don't really hurt anyone, you pretend. We pretend to beat each other to a pulp. No one is hurt during the beat down. Except that one time my arms were pinned to my side and I was pushed off the bed onto the ceramic tile floor and I sustained a really bad head ache. But, that was Jeff not Lily. And an accident or so I am told.The problem is that Lily is hitting while not wrestling. She has chosen this method of venting her anger and frustration at life in general. Lily gets frustrated a lot. Especially with me. For instance I tend to say, "shoes and socks". As in, "please put on your shoes and socks." Lily feels that since one puts on her socks first, the... More About: Family , Daily , Parenting , Housing
Is this about money?
2008-01-06 20:24:00 I have decided to take at least one semester off from school perhaps more. This has been a difficult decision. Getting a degree has been a life long desire and goal. Putting that on the back burner yet again is done with a bit of frustration. But, you can't always get what you want, or so the song goes.This last year we spent way too much money. This upcoming year we are trying to re-coop some of what went out last year. While I don't feel like we are the victims of the economy, it certainly isn't helping. Being a stay at home mom is very important to me for a variety of reasons. I have decided that being home for the family is more important to me than finishing my degree in a timely manner. I could just get a job. I could just get a student loan. But, that is not the course I have chosen. So here I am.It is my dream to become a web developer. This is the person who writes the code to make the beautifully designed websites come together and work. I have been readin... More About: Carnival , Money
kick 'em to the curb
2008-01-04 16:02:00 Last night I was very tired and wanted to go to bed as early as possible. Jeff felt the same. Lily chose to be extremely difficult to get into bed and I was even more exhausted by the time I finally got her down. I was just walking around the house doing those last minute before bed things...Mandy came out of her room crying, her friend had just been kicked out of her house by her mother and needed us to rush over and pick her up and bring her to our home. After a discussion with Jeff and Mandy we decided that we could only pick her up to spend the night at our house if I spoke to her mom and her mom said it was ok. I have only ever met this girl once and have never met her mom. Mandy says that, according to the friend, the mom is terribly mean, calling the friend all kinds of names and that they have been not getting along for a very long time.Back and forth went the phone calls, just when Mandy was about to hand me the telephone so I could speak to the mom, the friend tells ... More About: Daily , Kick
Perspective
2007-12-31 22:10:00 My favorite part of the holidays is the part between Christmas and New Years. I love that we are no longer busy. We have time to just be. After Christmas I spent an enormous amount of time playing with Lily. Her new favorite game is us going into her room and me pretending to be Lily and her pretending to be Mommy. She proceeds to tell me exactly what I can and cannot do. Mostly what I cannot do. She takes toys away from me and tells me to play with this other toy instead. She takes toys away from me and tells me how I should be playing with it. We do puzzles and she gives me the pieces I am allowed to put in the puzzle and tells me where exactly to put the piece. Oh my word. I cannot help but wonder if this is her perception of how I treat her? Of course it isn't the reality of how I treat her, but is it her perception? Maybe she is just a bossy little girl. Since then I have caught myself being bossy and I am taking a serious break from telling Lily exactly how to p... More About: Perspective
Much Ado about Money
More articles from this author:2007-12-31 04:18:00 I am hosting a blog village carnival on January 28th called: Much Ado about Money Join us for another Family Blog Carnival - MUCH ADO about MONEY. Whether you earn it, spend it, save it, invest it, or even lose it, we all deal with money issues in our daily lives. Here's your chance to give your views on the economy, discuss ways of earning money while blogging, tell how you've gotten out of debt, or worse, how you've gotten into debt. Tell us about your business, or your dreams of a business. If your post relates to money, it's a perfect fit for this carnival. We look forward to reading what you have to say. -blogcarnival.comA blog carnival is an opportunity for a variety of bloggers to write about the same topic and then read each others posts. Whether you write a post or just read everyone else's post carnivals give us the opportunity to meet new bloggers. On January 28th I will write a post with a list of links to all the various posts on all the various blogs participatin... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
|
 |
|
 |
