I beg you... just tell me what you want!

I have difficulty shopping for gifts for the men in my life, and by men, I mean my husband, step-dad and father-in-law. Do you have the same problem? Christmas is hard enough, but the month of June is particularly painful because of the fact that it's Father's Day AND it's my husband's birthday. My dad's birthday was in June too, so for many years I was searching for two gifts (or one big gift) each for my husband and my dad, and one gift each for my step-dad and father-in-law (Thankfully my husband helps with his dad's gift). Frankly, I think that's cruel and unusual punishment, don't you?

So what is it about men that makes them so hard to buy for? My husband rarely asks for anything, so when his mom and my mom call to ask what to get him for his birthday, I'm truly at a loss most of the time. If he's mentioned a potential gift item at all, I feel obligated to pass it along to our moms so I can make gift giving a little easier for them. Then I got nuthin'!

I just love it when you ask the men in your life what they'd like to have for their special day and they tell you, "Oh, anything is fine" or "You don't have to get me anything." Okay, ANYTHING is fine? Really? So you'd be happy receiving a new toilet plunger or perhaps a jelly of the month club membership? How about a William Hung CD? Are ya sure ANYTHING will do? And do you really think I could just not get a gift for my dad for Father's Day? I mean, would that really go over well? I don't think so. (Did you note the sarcasm?)

Throw me a bone, people, and just tell me what you'd like to have already! Time's a-wastin' and you're on my last nerve.

Do we have to go outside?

The last week or so of school is always filled with fun events like field day, which our school held on Friday of last week. This event was held mostly outside, with a few activities being conducted in the gymnasium. I helped monitor an outdoor activity and thought I would roast in the process. The temperature has really heated up in the eastern part of the U.S. Here in northern Virginia, it's gotten downright unbearable for me.

Yesterday my youngest son's class had their end of the year party and they had it outside as well. I didn't even have to do anything but take pictures and I was sweating buckets and utterly miserable. There were these aggravating little flying critters (Someone said they were termites!) buzzing all around and I just wanted to flee inside the entire time.

I have become such a wimp where heat is concerned. When I was a kid when didn't have central air conditioning in our home for the longest time. We opened our windows and used fans to blow around all that hot air. My brother and I would stand in front of the fan and make noises so we could hear our voices change. It didn't take much to entertain us, did it? We must have been hot then, but I don't really remember thinking so at the time. We finally got a window air conditioning unit. Remember those HUGE beastly contraptions? Those things weighed a ton! Anyway... we'd play outside and come in and just stand in front of that air conditioner and it was sheer heaven. And then we moved into a house that had central air conditioning and I guess that was the beginning of my love affair with air conditioning.

My older son's class is having their end of the year party on Thursday and I volunteered to help monitor an OUTDOOR activity. Why? Why did I do that? It's nearly 100 degrees here this week! I might seriously melt right down into my shoes. Why do the kids have to go outside? Can't we conduct the golf ball on a spoon relay inside somewhere? Please? Do we have to go outside?

Returned Mail

In my mailbox last week was a Christmas card, one that we'd sent to friends, who had, unbeknownst to us, moved and were no longer receiving mail at their former address. Now, I knew these folks had moved because the last Christmas card I sent just 7 months or so ago was also returned, and our friends' new address was actually on a sticker on the envelope, so I was able to re-send the card to them at their new address.

Are you thoroughly confused? Two returned Christmas cards addressed to the same people? Had I sent two cards without realizing it? Why would I get one back at this late date? I, too, was confused for about 10 seconds. I stared at the envelope in my hands, scratching my head and thinking, "What's up with that?" and furthermore thinking I had lost my mind, which is a likely scenario.

Then I looked at the postmark. The card was mailed during December 2006! Yep, we're just now getting returned mail from 18 months ago. See, I can now tell our friends, "Your card got LOST in the mail - REALLY!"

Remembering Dad

Today is the 1-year anniversary of my dad's passing. Memories of this time last year are a mix of happy and sad ones. I was happy to have been able to spend time with Dad before he passed away. I'm grateful he was spared any further pain. I'm also comforted knowing he's with God now and that we'll see each other again one day.

I have some sad memories as well, but rather than dwell on those, I'm choosing to reflect upon the good times. The month of June will always bring back memories of Dad because it was the month of his birth and of course Father's Day falls in June as well.

Here are a few pictures taken during the last few years of Dad's life. These were good days, full of warm, happy moments. That's how I want to see and remember Dad today.

Here Dad and I are having a conversation after having a meal at my grandmother's house. We were in the process of moving from California to Delaware in 2002 and had stopped in Kentucky to visit a few days.

Dad allowed the boys to "shoot" him with their bubble guns until they were absolutely worn out. I'm sure he had to go home and take a shower to get all the sticky, slimy bubble residue off of him. He was always a good sport where the boys were concerned.

Here Dad poses with the boys in 2004 during one of our trips to visit family in Kentucky.

I love and miss Dad very much, but thankfully, God's love, peace and comfort really do help with healing, and make it possible for me to look past the pain of loss and focus on the joy of the relationship Dad and I shared. I truly believe there's something positive in every situation. I hope whatever you're feeling and experiencing today, you're able to see the good in your situation and sense God's hand in it.

Electricity is AWESOME!

We experienced a power outage yesterday due to a severe thunderstorm that zipped through our area. It rained like crazy and the wind whipped so hard that tree branches were flying around the yard. My poor potted geraniums on the front porch look pitiful today as a result. There were also tornado warnings in our area, but of course I didn't know that at the time because we didn't have power here at home. The power went out around 3pm, right about the time I'd gotten a shower and couldn't blow-dry my hair. I hate it when that happens!

The boys are dismissed from school at approximately 3:40 and normally get off the bus at around 4pm every afternoon. I decided to walk down to the bus stop with an umbrella because it was still spitting rain a little. I could have driven down to the bus stop, but my vehicle was in the garage and I could only open the garage door manually due to the fact that it runs on electricity, which we didn't have at the time. I hate it when that happens too. I seem to be totally inept at opening the garage door manually and it makes me feel so very competent.

I walked to the bus stop and stood around for the longest time as traffic zoomed past and people stared at me as if I had two heads. They probably knew what I didn't know, which was the fact that our school system was holding the kids at school until the tornado warnings were no longer in effect. In the meantime, I'm waiting for my kids (who don't get home until 5pm) outside, all the while completely unaware that tornados have supposedly been sighted. A neighbor happened to come out of his house and upon talking to him for a mere 10 seconds, I was brought up to speed on the current situation. DUH... Again... I had no power at home and therefore couldn't check the weather on TV or on the internet. I suppose I could have sat in my truck in the garage to listen to the radio. I finally found an old boom box (Yeah, we still have one of those gigantic pieces of electronic equipment) and put some batteries in it so I could listen to the weather reports.

I thought about picking up the kids at school, but then remembered the garage door having to be opened manually and changed my mind. I figured it was a madhouse at the school and parents driving to the school might just make things even more chaotic. Plus it occurred to me that I might arrive at the school only to discover my kids' bus had already left. I called the school just to check on the status of the buses and was told one had already left and the others should be leaving soon. So I stayed put.

The boys were in high spirits when they came home. Chaos and severe weather seems to bring that out in my kids. It's like they were on a sugar high or something. I started thinking about those teachers, administrators and bus drivers who were faced with putting up with those kids quite a bit longer than normal and I could envision them all going home and hitting the bottle.

Homework was done quickly because daylight was slipping away due to the fact that it was 5pm and another storm was rolling in. Thankfully we have a gas stove and I was able to cook dinner with no problem. The phones were working too, although we obviously were unable to use our portable phones, which I had to explain to my children. They didn't know we couldn't use them because they are powered by electricity, to which my oldest son said, "Stinkin' portables!" The way he said it was so funny. Trust me, you had to be there.

The boys decided to watch a DVD on their portable player, which we can run on batteries. Luckily it was charged up. The little man asks if we can pop a bag of popcorn. Hmmm... let's see... No, we can't do that because the microwave runs off of electricity! He was NOT happy.

I was beginning to think about the possibility of being without power for the remainder of the night and I was concerned about our refrigerater/freezer items. We have a generator for emergencies, but do you think I know anything about how to use it? I DO NOT! By the way, I haven't mentioned it yet, but my husband is out of town this week, which is nearly always the case when we experience inclement weather. It's like Murphy's Law for us. We can be assured of being apart when these things happen. So I called my husband to get directions on how to use the generator in case I need it. He tells me to check the gas gauge. I do, and I discover it's almost empty. Imagine that! I need to go get gas and the gas pumps up the street probably aren't working because they... you guessed it... run off of electricity!

While my husband and I were talking, the electricity suddenly came back on. Hallelujah! The boys shouted for joy and I breathed a sigh of relief. I still went to get gas for the generator, just in case the power went out again, which, by the way, it did not. We slept with flashlights beside our beds too, but didn't need them. I know being without electricity for a measly 5 hours is NOT a big deal. We were safe and dry and everything was fine. But I'll have to say I missed the electricity more than I dreamed possible. We truly take it for granted! Everything I went to do yesterday, be it turning on a light, drying my wet hair or using the microwave, required the use of electricity. I'll just go on the record and say, and you can quote me here, electricity is AWESOME!

Git -r- Done!

Okay, so I know this phrase has sort of lived its life and has begun to fade (Don't tell Larry the Cable Guy), but it rather fits our current situation around here, and I'm just redneck enough to still enjoy a good ol' "Git -r- Done!" every now and again.

I googled "Git -r- Done!" and found several definitions (some of which I can't repeat here) on Urban Dictionary. This one best suits my personal use of the phrase...

"'Git-er-done' is a statement of boisterous completion or encouraging another person to get something done, completed or finished."

We're moving soon, if my husband EVER gets his orders from the military. I'm not frustrated or stressed or worried or anything remotely like that. Just because I've never lived abroad and know NOTHING about an overseas move is no big deal. And of course I don't know the language of the country to which we are about to move, but I'm not concerned. Nearly every time we've moved to a new duty station we've known someone else stationed there, but not this time. We'll know NO ONE. I'm okay with that though, because I have NO CONTROL over this situation. My stressing out and worrying over things I can't change won't help one bit. Chocolate and alcohol might help temporarily, but stressing and worrying won't.

So I've decided to concern myself with only things I can control. My husband and I are organizing our house, little by little, to prepare for this move. That makes me feel as if I'm doing something productive and it keeps me from dwelling on things that can potentially make me crazy. We have the floor plan of the house in which we'll be residing at our new location, so that's helpful in determining the amount of space we'll have. We can start dividing our household goods into different categories... long-term storage, goods to be shipped ahead of time, goods to be shipped later and personal items to pack for the trip. The stuff that doesn't fall into any of these categories is either being donated, sold or trashed. I'm rather enjoying this purging of stuff and have considered it to be a definite upside to moving frequently. "Clean House" would love us right about now and the whole purging process is feeding the obsessive-compulsive side of me.

So, yes, I've been in git -r- done mode lately. I have bags on my front porch today, ready to be picked up by a charity traveling through our area. See?
So I'm taking charge over that which I have control. How about you? What do you need to take charge over today? You know what I'm gonna say... GIT -R- DONE!

Cramping My Style

My 8-year-old son has been home from school for two days now due to a sore throat and a very low-grade fever. This is the same kid who had strep about 3-4 weeks ago, took his round of antibiotics and was good to go again. This time I don't believe it's strep because his fever is so low, and much of the time it's totally normal. He's eating and sleeping well and he's not lethargic. He's just complaining that his throat hurts a little.

My son isn't the type of kid to "play hooky" from school either. Sometimes I'll tease him in the early mornings when he's just waking up and I'll ask him if he wants to stay home with me and he'll give me "THE LOOK" and tell me he has to go to school.

I've tried to get him an appointment with a doctor at the clinic, however, they are totally booked and won't allow me to schedule an appointment for tomorrow because they don't schedule appointments in advance. Alrighty then! So I'll have to get up and start calling as early as 6am tomorrow to see if I can possibly get him in to be seen. They say I can take him to the ER if I think it's warranted. Well, it's not an emergency, so I'm not going to go that route. In the meantime, the little man can't go to school with any kind of fever, and of course I don't want to send him if he's not feeling well.

I was wondering if something had happened at school to make the little man unwilling to go. I don't know of anything and he says everything is fine. I told him if he doesn't feel up to going to school, he must really feel poorly, and that means he surely can't feel well enough to play Wii games or go outside. Of course I was trying to call his bluff, thinking perhaps he was milking the situation a bit, but he hasn't budged. I guess he really does have a sore throat. It's a mystery until we can get him to a doctor.

Now I'll just admit to you that this situation isn't exactly what I had in mind for this week. There are less than 2 weeks until school is out for summer break and that means I have very little "freedom" remaining. My window of opportunity for any type of social life is slipping away minute by minute. I have places I wanna go and people I wanna see before I have my children at home all day every day for several weeks. I have a gift card I need to redeem at a day spa, for heaven's sake! This is seriously cramping my style! Come on, little man, work with me. GO BACK TO SCHOOL!