Ahh... the odoriferous smell of cat pee

Yes, you heard me right. Cat. Pee. I've had the pleasure of smelling cat pee all night long. And all day for that matter. Scooter accidentally peed on the couch today after I brought him home from the vet. He was a tad disoriented after his big day yesterday of getting declawed and neutered. I don't totally blame him. He shot out of his cat carrier like a crazed animal, tore through the house, ran this way and that, and was finally cornered on the couch by Hunter. There he let it go.
Now, don't think that I did absolutely nothing to clean up the pee. I am lazy, but not that lazy! I did try some Resolve, and a powder carpet cleaner/freshener. That helped a little. Then Drew sat on the couch and swirled up the pee smell again.
I'm putting more carpet cleaner on it right now. Now that the kids are in bed I can let it sit longer and hopefully soak in more. However, to really clean cat pee you have to get a certain kind of cleaner with an enzyme that neutralizes the pee. WalMart didn't have that and since there is literally no where else to shop here, I'll have to wait until tomorrow when I go up to the big city! The big city being Alexandria, Louisiana.
That brings me to my next point of business. Tomorrow, we're all playing hookey.
Ok, not really. The kids have dental appointments. After a frustrating trip to the local dentist last week with Louisa where they found three cavities and then after her exam told me they don't work on pediatrics, we made an appointment for the nearest pediatric dentist. 45 minutes away. I figured while we were up there we could get Drew's teeth cleaned, too. Then go out for a fabulous lunch at some yummy restaurant or another.
Again, the cat pee smell is finally going away. As long as no one sits on the couch, we should be fine.

When you have nothing to write about, post pictures!

As I sit here eating my Tostino's Pizza Rolls and drinking my Nestle Pure Life water with Crystal Light On the Go packet of Raspberry Ice added to it, I remember that it's been a long time since I've unloaded my camera. Oh, and I'm watching Romancing the Stone. Does anyone even remember when Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner were that young?! I remember thinking how beautiful she was and that I wanted a scratchy cat's meow voice like hers so bad. I'd try to talk with bubbles in my throat so that I could sound like her.
Anyway, back to pictures.
I have a large group of online friends. We started our kinship on Club Mom where I began chatting on the message boards over a year and a half ago. Club Mom shut down their message boards, but started a new networking forum called CafeMom. I happily lead both a Christian Moms group and a bible study group. The ladies that I have met come from all walks of life. We laugh with each other and cry with each other and all in all support each other. Many of us decided to start a secret sister type of thing. We were assigned a "secret sister" to whom we can email or mail things to. We're all having fun trying to deceive each other by sending things to other ladies who pass it on for us so that our secret sister gets mail from all over the country. So far I've emailed my SS many ecards and sent her cards and gifts in the mail. On Friday, this is what I got from my SS:A big thank you to whoever my SS is! It really made my day! I love yellow roses. They were my Granny's favorite flower and I love to be reminded of my Granny.
Back in August the kids and I went to Niagara Falls with my whole entire family. We ended up bringing a kitten home with us. Now the kitten, Scooter, is 7 months old and the time has come for the big ole snip snip! I take him in tomorrow to be neutered and declawed. It will be so nice to not have him scratching on my furniture anymore. He's grown so big! Here he is sitting next to our 6 1/2 year old cat Socks:

They have become good friends. Socks needed a companion after we said good-bye to our best friend Nikki last October. I know Scooter helped Socks feel better after losing his girl, and they both helped me feel better.

The puppy is adjusting well. He is more playful now. He has a few chew toys he enjoys playing with and the kids are teaching him the concept of "fetch". His housebreaking is going well thanks in part to my good friend Judi who is in charge of the Dogs group at CafeMom. She has been holding my hand through housebreaking Flash and also just learning about his behavior in general. I'm glad I know someone who is so knowledgeable about dogs.

Needless to say, Flash is loving the kids and they are loving him. Flash's best buddy in the house is Hunter, though. These two have just taken off and they play and laugh and run around all day. What better to keep a toddler occupied than a puppy, and what better to keep a puppy occupied than a toddler?! (By the way, yes, I do realize that's actually a picture of Louisa and not Hunter!)

Speaking of Hunter, we bought him a new cage to sleep in because he kept getting out of his crib all the time.

All right, all right, before you go calling CPS on me, the cage is really for Flash, but I can't keep Hunter out of it! He sticks his toys in it and he opens the door and just sits in it. Apparently cages are just as much fun for toddlers as they are for puppies.Well, Flash doesn't actually like his cage, but since he willingly laid down in there by himself tonight, I can tell he's understanding what it's for. The cage, by the way, is another awesome piece of advice from my friend Judi. Not that I wouldn't have thought of it on my own, but everything she said would happen did. She told me to get a cage for him to sleep in because the first few nights he was wandering around the house peeing everywhere. She told me that he wouldn't pee in the cage because dogs hate to go potty where they sleep. And so far, he holds it until morning. Also, she told me it would be a good place for him to go lay down when the kids got too hyper for him, this way he'll learn to go lay down and not nip at them. And sure enough, the kids got too hyper today and Flash went and laid down. Husband and I always said we would never have a cage dog, but so far this cage thing is awesome!

Ok, well, I guess I had lots to write about. Huh! Funny when I think nothing is going on, then I start writing. I can just babble and babble and blabble.....

Sick baby and bye-bye daddy

Husband had to leave for three weeks. Off to play soldier again. Three weeks apart is nothing to us now. A drop in the hat. Last year's nine months, now that was a challenge.
Last night husband got to lay down for about two hours of sleep before he had to get up and leave. As we lay there, he brushed my hair back and said, "Always apart". Yep. That's our marriage. Always apart. I think it makes us stronger, though. Six and a half years of marriage, and half of that has been spent apart from eachother. Because of that we value the little things more. We don't take much for granted. Definitely not eachother.
The kids just know by now that they give daddy a hug and they'll see him again in a few weeks. It's routine.
Not all military families live this way. I've known a few who have barely had to say good-bye to their husband/wife, dad/mom. But we're infantry, which means a lot of training, a lot of special schools, and right now, a lot of deployments. However, it doesn't make watching him leave any easier. Just because it's routine, and just because we do this regularly, doesn't mean we cry any less. It doesn't mean we hurt any less. We just grow accustomed to it and deal with it. And anyways, it's not like I'm going to complain about three measly weeks! Now if this was another overseas deployment, I'd be a lot more worried and upset.
So, in the past few days we've gotten a dog, I've had a colonoscopy, husband has left for another trip, and Hunter has been very sick. What a strange mix of events to happen to us.
I finally took Hunter to the doctor today. He has a viral infection. Lots of medicine and lots of sleep, he should be better in a few days. He is miserable, though. I'm supposed to go to my first FRG meeting tonight and I just can't take him. Without husband here, I'll have to skip going. Hunter doesn't need to be in a crowded room full of people and kids and I don't need to deal with a sick crabby baby while trying to listen to what's going on. Too bad, though, because I was looking forward to meeting all the women I've been emailing and calling as POC for the platoon.
Now it's time to go give the puppy a bath. I'm sure he will enjoy every minute of it!

Colonoscopy's aren't fun

Yesterday was my colonoscopy. Not fun.
I couldn't drink the golytely on Monday that was supposed to clear out my system. It was so awful! The nurse at the doc's office told me to mix Crystal Light in with it. Ok, did that. Now it's going to be a LONG time before I drink lemonade again. I can't even think about lemonade! I got about 1/3 of the golytely down and threw it up. Then I tried to force myself to drink it and kept getting nauseous. Nope, couldn't drink any more.
We went to the hospital yesterday and they weren't too thrilled that I couldn't drink the stuff, but they were nice about it. It just meant more prep for them. Well, we won't get in to that. Let's just say, if you're a nurse, no, the patient's husband REALLY does NOT want to be there for the "prep". No, you don't need to insist that he can stay. The patient and her husband would like to have sex again some day, and he doesn't need that image running through his head.
Husband did come back in while I was waiting for the anaesthesiologist, though. He had Hunter with him, and Hunter kept looking at me like he'd never seen me before. He wasn't smiling at me. He was just sitting there staring at me in my cute little hospital gown. I know what it was, I was about 10 pounds lighter after all that "prep", so he just didn't recognize me!
When the nurse came in to stick my IV into me, husband told Hunter this was payback for all the times I took him to the doctor to get shots. I told the nurse I don't have any good veins in my hands, but that didn't stop him. He kept trying to stick my hand anyway. I understand that you have to start down and work your way up, but the patient probably knows their veins better than the nurse does. He couldn't stick the vein he was trying to get. Now I have a big blue bruise on my hand. But at least Hunter found it funny and finally started smiling at me! He was laughing at the scrunched up faces I was making.
The anaesthesiologist came in and just stuck his sleepy juice right into my IV. I told husband last night that the last thing I remember was waving to him and Hunter as they walked out the door. Husband laughed so hard and said "Really, you remember me walking out the door? That's funny because I left the room AFTER you did! I held the door while they wheeled you out!" Weird. I clearly remember husband and Hunter leaving the room and me waving at them. I wonder if I was just waving and they were all giggling at me for waving at the air.
45 min later I woke up. They threw my clothes at me and I was in a wheelchair faster than you could say "colonoscopy"! Wait, don't I get a complimentary sandwich for starving myself for a day and a half?! It's such a strange and awful feeling knowing that I was so deep in sleep that someone put a camera where a camera needn't go.
In the end, it all boils down to IBS. All that, and it's just IBS. That's probably why the Zelnorm has been working so well to control the pain and such. I do have actual pain meds now in case those severe stomach pains come back. And I have to make a drastic diet change, which won't be all that bad.
At least it's over and done with and hopefully I won't have to face that nightmare again for a very long time.
On a good note, one of the nurses asked how long my husband had been in the army. I told her almost 10 years and her jaw hit the floor. She couldn't believe we were "that old"! She told me she wouldn't have placed us more than 19 or 20! Husband was still smiling about that this morning.

Meet Flash

On Sunday we brought home our new furbaby. Flash. He is a beagle and he's 5 months old. Right now he's a little shy of us, but slowly warming up. He had never been in a house before, so he's adjusting to that as well. Housetraining him has been fairly easy. He's learned that if he rubs up against the blinds on the patio door that we'll let him out. He likes to run around the back yard. So far the cats don't bother him and he doesn't bother the cats. They sniff eachother from time to time, but that's about all.

As if we didn't have enough chaos in our house.... we've added a little more!

Grandma's Thoughts to Ponder

No, I haven't recently become a grandma. I still have about 15 years (hope to God) before that happens.
My mom sent us a package... well, three packages actually, but one was for me and two were for the kids. In my package my mom sent a folder with little clippings from my grandma. My grandma passed away on April 14, 2006. She was 82 years old and had battled Parkinson's disease for about 10 years. My grandma gave me the strong faith in God that I have today. She inspired me to live in His works like she did.
So, in the clippings and snippets of this and that there are things from the newspaper that she found interesting and clipped out, things from cards people have sent her that touched her, things from newsletters she received in the mail, prayer cards she received from church and funerals, and some things written in her hand.
Anything that is written in her hand is something that she heard and liked and wrote down. For now, I'll focus on those. Some made me cry, some made me laugh, but all of them made me feel her presence. These are messages from her that she kept to be passed on someday. Now I get to pass them on.
Even in death my grandma has a strong spirit.
Now I give you Grandma's Thoughts to Ponder, Part One:
"Remember there is someone who thinks of you often, and smiles"

"Remember that a successful marriage depends on two things, Finding the right person, and Being the right person"

"Be Mature enough to realize that you still have much to learn. Be wise enough to know Respect is something that you earn. Be patient with your parents, and youself and others, too. Be the best that you can be, and life will give its best to you."

"Be not afraid on eagle wings, Always remember me as loving you" ~this one is signed at the end with her name, Florence. It brought me to tears as it is her final message to us. She was such a loving grandmother that I cannot ever think of her in another way. Hugs, kisses, kindness, gentleness. And always loving. To see her name signed on this piece of paper is so heartwarming to me. She is with me. And she is with all of her children and grandchildren.

more to come.....

Happy Show-Your-Woman-Attention Day!

I am officially renaming today. From now on, unless you're Catholic and actually observe today as Saint Valentine's feast day, it's called Show-Your-Woman-Attention Day.
To me, Valentine's Day is another day where lucky women get to show off how much their husbands spoil them, and unlucky women get to feel like crap. And I always get presents on Valentine's Day. Husband has never missed one. I've gotten jewelry, candy, flowers, homemade gifts, candles, taken out to eat, made delicious homemade dinners. I've been spoiled. So what do I have to complain about, right?
It's just that I don't need a day where my husband spoils me just because a greeting card company has gotten fat off sucker husbands and whiny wives. What I need is a gift anytime for any old reason. What I need is for husband to say, Hey, Today's June 4 and I don't know what that means, but I'm bringing wifey flowers!
Ok, ok, since he's reading over my shoulder right now (and protesting with some very loud pssht... noises) I'll give him some credit. He does a lot for me and usually for no special reason. But I can't help but think of all those women out there who got their hopes up today thinking they'd get flowers, candy, a card at least, and got nothing.
So why not put aside all this bullcrap and call today what it really is. Show-Your-Woman-Attention Day. Reason being, men need things to be obvious in order for them to understand. If we call today what it really is, there won't be as many disappointed women out there. Men will finally get it! I can see their little lightbulbs going off now. Oh, so that's what Valentine's Day was for!
And on a side note, if you were one of those disappointed women, I give you full permission to take this idea and run with it! By all means, take advantage of it. Next year, be obvious. No hint dropping. Tell him the day has been renamed and I promise you he will finally understand.
On a sider side note, I'm going to invent Sister Day where us women show our sisterhood towards eachother. Why, because we won't forget and dropped hints are totally ok.

On a way sider side side note: I love you husband, you know I'm just kidding. You did good this year. (yes, he's still reading over my shoulder)

Did I say something offensive, to make you defensive?

I'm not an offensive person. At least I don't think I am. I'm curious. I ask a lot of questions. I'm like that 4 year old who asks "Why?" 100 times on the drive to the grocery store. Except that I'm 29, not 4. So, I guess that sometimes my questions can get annoying, but I don't usually offend people. I'm not malicious, or mean in my intentions.
Lately I've found out that, for some reason, it's offensive to ask someone if their husband is deployed. I'm not really sure why. I would assume that being on an army base, we are all in the same boat. We all go through deployments, we all go without our husbands and wives for months and years at a time.
Incidentally, I added up once just how much time I've been without my husband. Including training, we've been apart for half of our 6 1/2 year marriage. So really, we're all the same down here. Just because mine isn't gone right now, doesn't mean he hasn't been, and doesn't mean he won't be in the furture.
Last night, while I'm at the bowling alley with Louisa and her student council group, I sit next to one of her classmate's mom and chat with her. The lady mentions, several times, how her husband isn't around right now. I say, very innocently, "Is he deployed?"
"NO!!" she snaps at me. Then she explains that he's going to a special army school right now, but the rest of his unit is deployed.
I said, "Oh good, you guys missed out on this deployment then!"
"NO!!!" she snaps. "Then he goes to Korea!" Ok.... I didn't know I was asking something that required a snappy answer. I felt really stupid for even mentioning it.
This has happened to me before. I ask, Is your husband deployed, and I receive a snappy, NO! So apparently, you're not supposed to ask someone if their husband is deployed. But then why o why did this woman keep mentioning how hard things were for her with two kids and a job while her husband was gone? Am I supposed to ignore that she keeps bringing that up?
Me, being the overly-nice person I am, always has to inquire and then give sympathy. Sometimes it results in my foot being inserted into my mouth. Other times it results in people following me around telling me their sob story over and over beause if I was sympathetic once, I'll probably be sympathetic again.
I just can't win, can I? (oh wait, that was another question. see, I told you I ask a lot of questions!)

When she doesn't know I'm listening...

Louisa cracks me up. The way she talks when she doesn't know I'm listening is so funny. I'm lucky enough to get to do a lot of activities with her. I volunteer for church, school, Girl Scouts, and I get to be with her when I volunteer for these groups. It's a lot of fun and gives us much needed mother/daughter time. At home she sacrifices a lot of mommy time so that her younger brothers can have my attention, and since she's my only baby girl, I always work hard to maintain our friendship.
Tonight I got to go with her to the bowling alley as part of a Student Council outing. Louisa is her class representative for her student council. Her teacher appointed her and since she's a newbie in her class, it's a huge honor that her teacher thinks so highly of her to represent them in the student council. Especially since her teacher leads the student council!
I went along with Louisa because they were assembling "Candy Grams" that they sold as part of a fundraiser which will be distributed on Valentine's Day. The school totaled over 800 Candy Grams and they needed help assembling them all.
After the kids bowl one game and have a snack from the snack bar, we all get started putting together the Candy Grams. My job was to cut out die-cut paper hearts and then stamp hearts into them. Two of us moms worked side by side stamping out hearts as fast as we could. The kids taped suckers to the hearts. This weekend the two teachers who are in charge of the student council will attach labels to the candy gram to say who it goes to and who it is from. The kids could pick from a whole slew of Valentine type messages like, "You are a great friend", "You are sweet", "I'm happy we're friends", and "You're the best". There was an "I love you" option, but only if the child was buying one for their parent. Louisa's teacher had typed up only about a third of the labels she needed, so she will be very busy this weekend!
While Louisa was sitting with her friends taping suckers on paper hearts, they were chatting about this and that and the other thing. Usual things that second thru fifth graders chat about. Now, Louisa doesn't know that I'm close enough to hear everything she's saying. Me being me, I'm nosey and love to eavesdrop. One girl said she doesn't like it when her mom calls her "honey" in front of other people. Louisa chirps up and says, "Well my mom calls everyone honey. I think it's nice. It means she likes everyone." Awwww!!!! That was so cute! I was looking down, but I felt a few of the girls from the table looking at me. The first girl replies, "I guess it's ok if someone else does it to be nice. But my mom embarrasses me." We all do, Honey. We all do!
A short while later I heard my little honey start talking about me again. "My mom is the youngest in her family, she has an older sister. And trust me, my mom has done it ALL!!! There's nothing I can ever get away with. And trust me, I've tried!" Umm... well, I don't really like her telling people I've done it "ALL". But at least she knows she can't get away with misbehaving.
In my life I've played every trick in the book, I faked sick to stay home, I lied, cheated, conned, scammed, stole, made excuses for everything possible. My kids don't get away with too much in our house. It's nice to know they recognize that. See Mom, all my naughtiness came in handy some day! You had to suffer so I could be a good mom. Isn't that nice to know?!

My Newest Endeavor

In the army we have a spouses group called the Family Readiness Group (FRG). The purpose of the FRG is to give support to spouses and families for anything they need. If a spouse has trouble with something, they are supposed to contact their FRG Point Of Contact (POC) first. Good ole' military, lots of acronyms!
My newest venture is that I volunteered to be the FRG POC for our platoon. I won't really have to do much for awhile. The other wives won't really start calling me with problems until they get to know me better. But once the guys get deployed again, I'll be busy. For now, I receive information from the FRG leader of the whole company, and I pass it on to my platoon's wives. Not too exciting yet.
However, once the guys get deployed again I'll have to thwart rumors that inevitably fly when a bunch of women don't have all the correct info and they panic. I'll have to make sure everyone is informed of what the guys are doing and where they are. And in the unfortunate circumstance of a soldier being hurt or killed, I'll have to contact my platoon's wives right away so that no one panics due to not knowing who the casualty was. I'd like to say I'll never have to do that, but since we lost a soldier during the last deployment, I have to be prepared.
Apparently this platoon is full of lots of drama and gossip.

Well, let's hope things aren't as bad as I've heard. After all, if I'm so worried about the wives gossiping, then I shouldn't believe the gossip I hear!

I guess in my small little way, I'm doing my patriotic duty. A really, really small way. And why do I have the feeling I'll regret this someday?!

My birthday present

Tomorrow I'm turning 29 for the first time. I say "the first time" because this is it. I don't get any older. I can be "29 with one year of experience" next year, but I won't be 30. 29 is where this silliness of getting older ends.
So in celebration of my first 29th birthday, husband surprised me with the everlasting gift of a tattoo. Ok, ok, uncrinkle your nose. I happen to love tattoos. I think they are beautiful and sexy. Husband has three that I adore. I have one, who I wrote about back in June. His name is Sam the dragon.
I've been wanting these cute little birds to represent the kids for a year now. Husband told me when he got back from his deployment I could get them. But then there was moving and Christmas and Disney and there was never extra money to do it.

Yesterday he told me he had a surprise for me and he was taking me somewhere today. I was very excited. Of course. We were already scheduled to go out to eat tonight, (that part of the story later) so I couldn't imagine what else was in store. He took the kids shopping for my birthday gift last night. I couldn't imagine getting more gifts.

Today he asked me if I had any particular tattoos that I wanted to get. I said, ya, you know I want those birds. So he kind of pussyfooted around it until he just came out and told me that he had an appointment set up before dinner to get me my tattoo.

I went and got the picture of the birdies I wanted. And luckily he told me in advance so that I had time to shave! I wanted them on my leg and it would have been very embarassing to arrive with a hairy leg if he hadn't told me in advance.

Here are my birdies (on my pathetically white leg):

Three birdies for three beautiful children. The red one is Louisa because she is my bright sunshine. Always optimistic. The green one is Hunter because that has always been "his" color as in "hunter green". The blue one is for Drew because of his bright beautiful blue eyes that his daddy gave him. I'm so happy with how they turned out.

When I got there a walk-in had just sat down, so they told us to come back in 45 minutes. We went to the Harley shop and then came back. Husband and the kids dropped me off and in I went. And sat. And sat. A girl was picking out a butterfly tattoo that she wanted made impossibly small. A bald guy was trying to explain to her that there was no way he could get it that small and keep all the detail in it. He gave her an appointment and told her to come back because his "lunch" (at 4:00) was coming in and he wanted to eat. Then he looked at me and I could immediately see the pain in his eyes as he realized he probably wouldn't be eating when he his food finally came. He asked if I'd been helped and I pointed at the picture of my bird that was on his desk and told him that was my bird and I was waiting. He took me over to his desk and asked how I wanted it and drew it up for me. As soon as he started cleaning his station his food came in. I could practically hear his stomach growling and see his mouth salivating. I felt bad for him so I said I could wait 10-15 minutes while he ate. He insisted he was fine. I laid down and off we went!

I remember Sam the dragon hurting pretty bad, but I could handle it. I was very nervous as he started. The pain wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Heck, after a year of those agonizing stomach pains, this was nothing! He was outlining and pretty soon he stopped and cleaned me off. I asked if he got one bird outlined yet and he said he had all three done! Wow, that was fast! And not too bad. He did the color and I was good to go. Only took about 50 minutes.

Now I'm dreaming about all the stuff I want to add to it. It needs some flowers in the background, I think. Husband loves it, the kids are excited and I am thrilled!

Time to go to dinner. I had a gift card for Red Lobster and Olive Garden. We were certain there were both restaurants in Alexandria. We swore we saw both of them on a main strip where there's lots of restuarants. While husband and the kids were driving around he couldn't find either one. He called 411 asking for a phone number and was informed that neither restaurant was in Alexandria. Oh great! Well, now I have this $50 gift card I earned and what good is it going to do me!

We decided to go to Logan's Steakhouse for prime rib. A good alternative.

All in all it's a great start to my birthday! And I have a new beautiful piece of art that I get to show off.

She Loves Me!

A few weeks ago Louisa and I had a big blow-out fight. Now that she's nine, they aren't uncommon. She thinks she's right and she knows more. I KNOW I'm right and I know more.

We keep fighting about the same things over and over again, though. Some of it has to do with her asserting herself. I have no problems with her standing up for herself if I'm wrongly accusing her. It happens. She needs to learn now how to stand up for herself. Lord knows I've been a doormat my whole life. I definitely don't want to see my daughter turn out the same way. But some of the things we fight about are just her disobeying me, her thinking she's smarter than me (and with my IQ, that's very unlikely!), and her wanting to be the mommy of the house. That all probably comes from being the oldest sibling, and a girl. I'm the youngest, so I don't really get it.

Some times when we butt heads like this I give her bible verses to look up. I need to stop and take a break and look things up and figure things out, so I figure if I do it, then she should too. It's not punishment. Punishment is when I make her write "I am not the mommy in this house" 100 times for the first offense, 200 for the second offense... you get the picture. Looking up relevant verses in the bible teaches her that, according to our faith, there is a one stop shop for all the answers she needs. Plus, she likes it and learns a lot from it.

So I had her look up about 4 verses, I think. We both really calmed down and things got better. After she was done she thanked me and told me it was fun.

Later in the day, I got this note:

So I guess sometimes I do something right! {{{holding my head up proud}}}