Kitchen scrubbed. Couches vacumed. New glasses washed and put away. My room half done. Laundry being done even as I type this. My Mom told me today if she did not know better she would think I was nesting. HA!!!! Not on your life. You have to be having some fun between the sheets or wherever you chose for that to happen. I don't even remember what is feels like. :( Anyway, the house cleaning is going better than expected.

I picked up two more foot lockers from the post office today. One more is on the way as we speak. I have never been this excited to get big bulky foot lockers in my life. Life gets better day by day.

I am still searching for new sheets. I always buy sheets right before hubby comes home. Something new I put on the day I know he will be home. He will sleep through the first two nights but it will be sand free.

I am about halfway through Project Everlasting. It is such a good book. Very easy to read. Nothing like I really expected. I also ordered "I Talk Like A White Boy" by Joseph C Phillips. It looks to be a good one too. I am saving this for our weekend get away. I know I will need something to read because I have a feeling Hubby will be sleeping alot. At least we will be alone those days. :)

I am officially enrolled in school. I will have my class list on Thrus. Hopefully I will not have to take any remedial courses after I take the placement test. Only time will tell.

I am off to bed and some rest I hope. The Boys are wound up and I am not. Hopefully they will calm down when I start turning things off. Hope everyone has a wonderful night.

Tomorrow is the first of two days of no Boys!! What will I do on those two days? One is going to be spent cleaning my room and Sweetness' room. I will also try to get the truck detailed and waxed if I have the time. I need to go to the post office to pick up a very big tote I did not want to get with the Boys tagging along. My Mom told me today if she did not know better she would think I am nesting. I am just not for a baby this time. It is for Hubby's homecoming.

My second day of freedom from the Boys will be to run my monthly errands. rent and water are due and my twice monthly trip to Sam's will be done without the Boys. I am so looking forward to it. I will buy season 5 of 24 and have it ready for Hubby to enjoy when he returns. I am also getting my nails done and a pedicure.

I am having anxiety with Hubby coming home. I am thinking did I do everything I needed to? Will the house be clean enough? Will he still want me like he did before he left? All I know the answers to but they still run through my mind. It never stops and some nights I stay awake because of them and others nights I don't even think about it. As time comes closer for Hubby to walk in I am worried I have forgotten something to put on my list therefore it will not get done or will fall on my face when I go running to Hubby for my hug and kiss.

I am off to get the Boys' stuff together for tomorrow. When the wake up and I have fed them, maybe pancakes. Anyway I hope everyone has a good night.

This will be the fourth time I have started this post. The last 24 hours have been surreal to me. Late last night while I was talkin to Hubby, he up and left. I did not figure out right away what was going on. Then it hit me, motars. He was gone for about 10 minutes and the whole time I sat staring at his web cam praying I would not lose the connection. I was groggey and exhuasted but wke pretty quick when it dawned on me what was going on. Once he was back it was back to the regular chat.

I don't know if I will get used to those interruptions. It brings a almost safe time (in my mindat least) to no longer safe. The reality has set in and it dogs me for a few days. Then I go back into my NeverNeverLand. A Land where nothing can pop my bubble. A place that is pretty and safe. I know it is not real and so much can happen that is both ugly and cruel but I like my world when I don't have my Hubby with me. It is one way of me coping with the deployment and having my Kiddos gone and the younger Boys at each other all day.

I do know I will not be back to my NeverNeverLand til Hubby is home and I can see and touch him all at the same time. I will not even have to hear his voice. Just see, feel and smell him. Yes smell I am a smeller. I have fond memories of our times together associated with smells. Our wedding day we BBQued so the grill will make me smile at the thought of us at 19 and 22 starting our life and so in love. The smell of fresh cut grass will remind me of Hubby cutting our yard and lovin every minute of it. The smile he has when he is doing that is so wonderful and sexy. The smell of mechanics grease brings oh so many things to mind. Like the time we worked on my Mom's car and I changedout the fuel filter while Hubby changed out CV boots on our car. And when HUbby comes home from Drill weekend and has worked on trucks all day. Such a manly smell. soon I will have those smells back on a regular basis and I will not float off to NeverNeverLand when I smell them. I will be content to deal with whiny, clingly and demanding Kiddos because my Man will be home with me again

We made it home. The Boys were good and did not fuss to much. They were bored without Sweetness to entertain them. We hung in there and made the drive in 12 hours once again. With only two long stops. Once at WalMart for some lunch items and then again at a wonderful rest area on 289. It had a play area and nice clean restrooms. No smelly one with no doors.

I came home to find Big Man's birthday present had arrived. A day after we left. :( It is a Razr phone I found on EBay for under a 100 bucks. It is nice. To wide for me but it is what he wants. I also got my book Project Everlasting. I have yet to start it but it does look good. Maybe one day while I have no Kiddos I will be able to read at least a portion of it.

We are doing well. No one had to be ducked taped to the roof of the truck and we made it in one piece. The Kiddos were great for the most part. We got started late but i worked out anyway. We made it into Santa Rosa about 30 minutes after my Mom did. The Baby and Bully remembered Mom with no problems. Both were screaming for her when we pulled into he hotel parking lot.

I have decided to call the Bully Bubble Gum because he has stuck gum in his ear and it was stuck good. Not just around the outside but pushed in to form to his ear. YUCK!!!! Sweetness got most of it out but some residual is still there. I can't get him to sit still long enough to try ice. SO if anyone knows of another idea to get ice off please let me know.

I will post pictures when I get home tomorrow or on Sunday after church. I am off to get some rest for the 12 hour drive tomorrow. I will be minus 2 Kiddos and a camera. It is a good thing Hubby will be home soon. :)

I should be asleep. Really sleeping good by now but I am not. I still have a shower to take and last minute things to clean up and put away for the few days we will be gone. I did get almost all of it done but I need to be in bed soon. I will be home soon. I am off to see my Mommy this week. Just for a day but enough to get my fix and finish the summer.

I sit here trying to get laundry done and the Kiddos to finish their chores. We are supposed to be heading out in a few days for a visit with my mom. We are driving and meeting her half way. I am so excited to see her. I last saw my mom in March before Hubby left. I refuse to drive that far again for anyone without stopping. (Hubby made that call) AS we are going through the day the Kiddos do not want to finish what they need to.If they weren't going back with her and I needing the break I would lock them all up and go play a game of pool somewhere. It seems I have had to jump in butts more often than not to get the simple things done.

If anyone was a cop or social worker walking by this afternoon and heard me hollering at the Kiddos I am sure I would be in jail by now or my Kiddos in "custody" of CPS. I lost it. I wanted to yell and holler. I wanted to hit something so I kicked a chair. I wanted to cuss but kept my mouth shut. That was a hard one.

For some reason this deployment has tested my last little nerve. I have nothing to give anyone and everybody wants something. The poor Kiddos were running today and hiding from me. I really was a tyrant today. I have been telling certain things had to be done and some were accomplished but destroyed in a matter of a couple of days. Oh well. They are all almost done now. Tomorrow we finish laundry and pack in the evening. Wed the 3 younger boys will head over to a friend's and be pampered all day by her. The two older Kiddos and I will head to Wally World to have new tires put on the truck and an oil change. While that is being done last minute food snacks and trip toys will be purchased. I would have bought the food but the Kiddos would have had it all gone by now. I can not keep food in the house with them. We have already gone through half a bushel of peaches and 3 pounds of tomatoes. Not to mention the cheese sticks.....anyway what was I talking about?? Oh yeah.. the Kiddos.

They are doing better now and so am I. I have learned in the last few years I do not have to do everything and not everything has to be done. But it would be nice to actually keep a nice half clean house for more than 5 minutes. I do have my trash out areas that just hold things and that will be cleaned out next week while little people are sleeping. It happens once a month. But the rest like bathrooms and other common areas in our home should be maintained by us all.

I have been tossing around ideas to blog. I have had alot on my mind and want to express it. The only problem with that is I would have to sit down and organize my thoughts and as of now I just type when I blog. It is a whole new area for me. I keep telling myself it will be good practice for when I start school next month. That is a whole other subject. I am scared and worried but so very excited. Anyway I am off to love on the Kiddos and tell them Mommy is not crazy and finish making dinner for them.

Has anyone heard about this? I saw it over at Drudge tonight. Hmmm wonder if it is true. They don't give much info.

Oh my goodness!!! Four days of beautiful sunshine is gone. Not only is it raining it is thundering and lightening. WOOHOO!!!! On one hand I will sleep good tonight. On the other NO PARK tomorrow. If it is half way clear we are so going out.

Does it make me a bad mommy if I leave all 5 Kiddos home so I can get the truck washed and my nails done? I even threw in a pedicure. It was so nice to sit in a massage chair. Hmmmmm....I want one for my house. The Kiddos were all asleep while I was gone and Big Man called to say all was well a few times. And the younger ones were still sleeping. It was so nice to not hear Mommy all morning long. I am glad I have old enough Kiddos to watch the younger ones.

Hubby called today and it was nice to talk with him. He and his roommate spent the day getting the room ready to vacate. One more step that means he is closer to coming home. YEAH!!!


UPDATE: My oldest is 16 years old so I am not leaving little ones home alone for anything. I am crazy but not nuts. :)

Our time of deployment is coming to an end. Less than 30days. Yes it was short. 5 months give or take a few days is way better than 20 months. Which to me is the same as two years. I am ready for Hubby to come home. I am not ready to be accountable to another person all the time. When I say that I mean when we talk about what to have for dinner my Kiddos are ok with a bowl of cereal and some grapes. Would my Hubby eat that? Heck NO!!!!! I will have to go back to cooking a real meal each night and having laundry done and put away each day. I will have to give up some of my Internet time. And I will have to stop reading in bed because Hubby has a hard time sleeping with extra lights on. The radio will stay on just louder to cancel out the ringing of the ears Hubby has.

The one thing I am looking forward to is having Hubby sleeping next to me. My little ones like to sleep with me. Even my 10 year old does but it is not the same as having Hubby their to roll over and snuggle up against. Having him there to check on the noises I hear at night that are just my old (ok VERY old) house makes. It will be nice to have someone here to tag team with on the Kiddos. It will just be nice to be a couple again. I will have my partner back to bicker with and tease. It is so much easier to do it in person. :)

Project Everlasting looks like a really good read. I am going to get this. I am always open to marriage enhancers. What better group to ask than those married to the same person for more than 30 years.

Plus these are people who have lived life and started a marriage during a war. It was wars that did not have deployments. It was enlistments when the men were gone for years at a time. I have been wondering how to make my marriage better when Hubby gets home after this latest deployment. I sit in a Sunday School class with older, founders and mothers of our church. The reason I do is because they have been there and done that and they are who I want to learn form. They are also women who have been married to the same man for more than 30 years and it was through good, bad and ugly. They are the ones to teach me.

So I will read this book and learn from the true pros and heroes in my eyes. I will let you know if the book is good.

I am floored by adults these days. I just spoke to the grandmother of the punk who hit my Pooch with a brick. She was demanding and cussing at me because I asked if the "the child" could do some chores around my house to help pay for the bill. Mind you not all just a portion. She went of and then asked me if I took the word of an ADULT over a CHILD. Well of course I do. I even told her that I took the word of an ADULT over my own Kiddos word most of the time More like 99.99% of the time. She then wanted to speak with the adult who witnessed the whole thing. I said I would have to call and ask her first if I could give out her number. That is something I do for anybody whether I know them or not. The grandmother did not like it one bit. We had a few words and I calmed down and repeated in a calmer voice why I would not give out a number and offered options on how to settle this. She was pissed. We agreed to speak later and hopefully something will be worked out. We will see. I am not hopeful but I will give it one more try.

I was out cleaning the pool getting it ready for the Kiddos to play in. Our loving Pooch ran out and Big Man pursued her and was trying a new tactic in getting her home. It did not work like we had hoped. As Big Man was calling for her and holding a treat out to her she bolted to a group of kids of which one picked up a brick and lobbed it at her right in front of Big Man. At first I thought she was fine. Told Sweetness to take her in and rinse the mud and dirt off of her and I would check her out to she if she was seriously hurt. When Sweetness was trying to get our Pooch to the tub she stopped walking and began to bleed from her nose and forehead.

I found the punk who did it and told him I would speak with his guardian tomorrow but in the meantime I had to get my Pooch to a Vet and was trying to figure out how to tell my Hubby who was in Iraq that his dog was hurt by a punk and I did not know if she would live or not. I still am not sure if she will or not. I am so frustrated and pissed right now. The vet said she had a fractured skull and was not walking on her leg due to being stunned. It makes since. I opted to bring her home to rest and watch her. I would not be able to sleep anyway. Plus the bill would have been over 300 bucks and I do not have that kind of money on hand. I will be taking the bill to the child's guardian and asking for help in paying for the bill. I will take part responsibility for the Pooch getting out but for a kid to through a brick at her from across the street is uncalled for. And we do have an ADULT witness who saw it happen. She is sleeping now and doing ok. She did eat some lunch meat with her penicillin but has not gotten off the couch in two hours.If we make it through the night then I know she will be ok in the long run.

UPDATE: Pooch slept fine no seizures or swelling. I just checked on her and she was on the couch from her pillow and wagging her tail. What a good thing to see this morning.

I usually don't link to to much but especially something like this. It made my stomach turn but it is something we need to know about. TO bad the whole story will not be in the MSM.

h/t Sarah

We were able to finally use the pool with no rain in the sky. Well it was between downpours. They had fun and worked off some energy. Hopefully they will calm down tonight and relax better than they have all week. The last picture is just to show you Bully can sleep whenever he is really tired.