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Definition of Family
Family … it can have a lot of meanings. Moms, Dads, Children, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Nieces, Nephews, Cousins. All are family… and over the past couple weeks I have seen them. Hugged them. Cherished them. We spent time at my folks’ house, over the river and through the woods. (It is not a road trip of epic miles … but with a family of six it can be a few hours, a bit of “Are we there yet?”, and quite a few “MOM, I have to go to the bathroom!”s. While we were at Mom and Dad’s the grandchildren put on their own nativity scene, we ate /too/ much (always…
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Distractions
Distractions are a good thing. Distractions kept me sane during hub’s deployment in Iraq. My boys had swim lessons, soccer camp; we had time with family and friends during deployment. All things that kept my mind from focusing on the one person I was missing the most, my soldier! We were busy, we were distracted, life was only as good as we made it. Distracting ourselves at the local park’s Butterfly HabitatDistractions are keeping me sane during these last few days of pregnancy. I had contractions ALL weekend but they weren’t getting any stronger or any closer. If I sat down all I noticed was the contractions. All I could…
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Super Bowl Party Plans
While Dale is out plowing the driveway… I am pushing all of the ideas that I have together for the Super Bowl Party… Par-tay that will be *Happening* here this Sunday. The invitations have all been phone calls, facebook interaction or emails. Every invitation was met with a responsive YES, followed by a suggestion of something they would like to bring. Wow! How nice is that? So… since it is the Colts vs Saints; blue vs black; IN (Indianapolis Colts) vs NO (New Orleans … Saints) there is room to play with subtle themes! Food: Chili Saint’s Delight made with colt-like meat. Most folks call ground round. Tamed cooked and…
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The National Museum of the United States Air Force
This weekend we had a great time visiting the USAF Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton OH! We traveled from sunny Michigan to Ohio and picked up three grandsons enroute for a stay in Dayton on Saturday night and a visit to the museum on Sunday morning! The kids had a great time asking questions, looking at airplanes and helicopters and sitting in the cockpits as well! I had a chance to share my enthusiasm about flying with them and they learned a bit about their heritage too as I was able them aircraft I had flown! The museum staff was friendly, helpful and it is open from 9…
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Migraines and the power of human touch
I am a migraine sufferer. I will never forget my first migraine. The night before my best-friend’s wedding. I was sleeping at her place in the guest room and woke up suddenly sometime after midnight with so much pressure behind my eye that I couldn’t lay down. I could only sit in the bed wondering if I was dying. (Ok, so sometimes I’m dramatic.) I could not move my head an inch… it lasted for what felt like hours. I finally was able to make it to the bathroom where I proceeded to throw-up, which brought some major relief. That was the start of a long history of migraine headaches (for 14…
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Our Pepper Plants are A’Popping: Ready for Nacho Topping
No luck this year with green beans… at least not since early July when we got our first harvest. Then the bugs, or elements or something came in and wiped them out. Ugh. Little luck with tomatoes. We have walnut trees, so I know the tomatoes have to fight for survival. Other rows of plants have flourished… and I love it. Ball jars or Mason jars will never go out of business as long as I am in control of the pressure cooker. That big old pot goes nonstop during this time of the year. But what to do with peppers. Can’t can them; chopping and freezing work well.. but…
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Love and Marriage
I am 100% in love. Hubs and I aren’t your ‘perfect’ couple. I get frustrated with him when he leaves the Sunday paper strewn across the kitchen counter. He would really prefer I DIDN’T leave my shoes all over the house. I’m sure any psychologist could pick our relationship apart. We have squabbles. YET, We don’t kick. We don’t scream. We just get past it and work through it. We love each other 100%, unabashedly. Our toughest ‘years’ of marriage were probably the first couple. We were in love but not quite synced. I did a lot more yelling and fussing then I needed to. He didn’t voice his opinions…
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Community
What a weekend! I am thrilled to have Hubs home from his year long deployment to the sand-box for so many reasons. This weekend was a quick reminder of one of those reasons: multiple-schedules. There were times over this last year where I simply had to say “I can’t do it” because it would have required splitting my body into two and being at four places at once. It was frustrating because when my children are active they are happy. When they are happy I am happy. But there were times we just couldn’t do it all PERIOD. (And yet we were still happy, well apart from the fact that…
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Oh the trauma…
Warning: for the squeemish I do have a pretty graphic picture below, involving a bit of blood. All in the ‘day in the life’ of a boy… but not exactly a pretty picture. Hubby can not get home a day too soon! My six year-old missed school on Thursday and Friday due to a pretty rotten cold and temperature ranging from 99 to 103 throughout the day & night. So our days have just been messed up. Unfortunately, on Friday night I started to feel the same way; achy, hot yet shivering, with a major headache. I love it when the kids share, but they don’t need to share their…
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Mrs Obama’s Visit to Fort Bragg
I realize I’m preaching to the choir on this one … but I was reading an article this morning about Michelle Obamas visit to Fort Bragg and it struck a chord with me. “I encourage everyone out there, within the sound of my voice, to reach out on your own — through schools, PTA, Little Leagues, churches, workplaces — and find out if there’s a soldier or a soldier’s family right there in the community who needs a little extra support,” Mrs. Obama said in her speech. “They’re there. Something as simple as offering help with car pool duty can make the world of difference to a parent who’s trying…
