I'm Almost Out Of Centrum Silver

Today's original blog post was all about cellular phones.
Jump on over to Roots and Rings; it's not too late.

It is too late for me, however.
I decided that instead of continuing to complain about moving, I'd participate in Ten on Tuesday.
Once I had answered a few of the questions, I felt the need to put on a shawl and rest a spell.

I felt older and older by the minute.
This could have been me, people.



So I didn't finish the post. I ran 498 errands. And didn't pack or sort a single thing.

Then because I am a Senior Citizen, I preheated the oven and set the timer and when I went to take our dinner out of the oven...
It was sitting on the counter. Cold. Uncooked.
I never even put it in the oven.

Thank ya'll for stopping by and showing Granny some blog love.

Things I Do When I Should Be Doing Other Things

It is T-Minus 2 weeks until the great move.
I flit from one pile of stuff to the next. Like a big bumblebee.
Except I am not making honey. I am making piles.
Piles to donate.
Piles to let the movers pack.
Piles to take with us.
Piles of things we may or may not need between now and house-getting time.

Mostly, I avoid the piles. Here's what I do instead of getting ready to move.

1. Go to breakfast with my favorite girls.

2. Look at Facebook.

3. Make lists of things to do.

4. Try to clean out the freezer and design meals from 4 chicken nuggets, a Hot Pocket, and some frozen spinach.

5. Eat the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies I forgot I had stashed in the freezer.

6. Continue to drive the boy to and from school and school functions.

7. Volunteer at various school functions like I have nothing else to do.

8. Think about what needs to be cleaned out in the garage.

9. Break into a sweat from the thought of working in the garage.

It's hot, people. Too hot to work in the garage.
It's so hot I had to show ya'll this...



And, since I am not doing anything I should be doing, I am doing this...
10. Take pictures while driving. Don't tell my mom.

The 10 on Tuesday Where I Try To Hide My True Feelings

1. From your childhood, what do you miss most about summer vacation?
The way summer vacation seemed to start in late May and last until the end of July. Now it seems to get shorter and shorter.
Case in point... the boy gets out of school here June 14th. That is a crime. The bigger crime? He starts school in our new home on August 3rd.
(I'm not bitter at all.)

2. Are you going anywhere on vacation this summer?
Does "living in a hotel for an undetermined amount of time until we get a house" count AS A VACATION?
(I'm not bitter at all.)

3. What foods do you like to barbecue?
Does this mean "grill out" or actually cover in BBQ sauce?
I'll play it safe and say chicken.

4. How do you celebrate the fourth of July?
Usually grilling out. There are always amateur fireworks displays, as well.

5. What’s your favorite beverage to drink in the summertime?
Half-sweet tea. Or lemonade. Or anything from Sonic.

6. What movie are you looking forward to seeing this summer?
Oooo. I could make a list. But then you would all call me a 12 year-old boy again.
"Harry Potter" without a doubt.

7. In the car: windows down or AC?
Mercy. That makes me anxious just thinking about it.
AC, please. Not a fan of sweating, 90+ degree weather, or being hot.

8. Have you ever had a summer fling?
Just a few crushes on the cute boy at the beach or at camp. Nothing major.

9. Do you wear sunscreen?
Have you seen my legs?
I am a sunscreen Nazi. The boy runs in terror. Even Dan/Daddy rolls his eyes in disgust when it's time for us to be in the sun, because he knows what he's about to hear.
"Put on sunscreen!"

10. Do you have any favorite summertime activities?
The beach.
The beach.
The pool.
Snow cones/shaved ices.
and
NOT waking up to make a ham sandwich at 7:20 am.
(I am not bitter at all.)

M-O-V-E. It Really Is A Four-Letter Word

It's not the kind of four-letter word that usually gets people in trouble.
But, in my opinion, it's just as bad.

I may or may not have mentioned lately that we are on the verge of another move. Courtesy of the US Government.
It is our life, and we have come to accept it, and we've learned a lot about actually surviving it.
But that doesn't mean we always like it.

Saying all the "goodbyes" is bad enough, but dealing with the other "stuff" makes my left eyeball twitch.

I woke up at 5:00 am this morning thinking about how I need to buy cardboard mailing tubes to pack some of the boy's wall decor into... so the movers don't squash it all.

We have started taking apart some of the approximately 702 Lego sets that are sitting around his room. We put them into ziploc bags and into plastic containers... so the packers don't dump them into one big box. And label it "Coffeepot."

In the garage, there are 17 cans of spray paint, bottles of plant sprays, a propane tank, container of bubbles, and other "highly dangerous" things that packers won't pack and movers won't move.

The good thing about moving is it forces you to deal with all the junk.
The bad thing about moving is it forces you to deal with all the junk.

Have I mentioned we've been told to move, but we don't have a house?
We are on the "waiting list" for a house at our new base, but we may not get one in time for school to start.
So we may have to rent an apartment.
Or we may have to get off the waiting list and find a house somewhere else.
Good times.

Also on my list:
1. register the boy for school (and this depends on the house situation)
2. find somewhere to sign the boy up for soccer or football
3. find a guitar teacher, new dentist, new hair stylist, etc.
4. change our address on 400 mailing lists
5. spend a very short summer living with and visiting with family
6. eat up all the food in the house... packers and movers won't deal with that either
7. drag a cat and her litter box all over the Southeast
8. find a new church
9. live in a hotel/extended stay for way too long
10. lose my mind

So if I sound a little negative, please forgive me.
I am in the process of dismantling our lives and setting them up someplace else.
And saying goodbye to our friends.

Such is the life of an Army wife.

Stink, Stank, Stunk

It was super-de-duper hot in Chapel this past Sunday.
Like "Africa hot."
The hour of Sunday School was torture. My knee pits were dripping.
It was hot enough for me to feel the need to go to the bathroom and spray a little body spray. I didn't really sense a deodorant failure occurring; I was just paranoid. And hot. And have I mentioned hot?

When I got back to my seat, the boy made a nasty gagging face, pinched his nose, and scooted 4 feet down the pew away from me.

"What's the matter with you?" I whispered in that shouty little whisper that you use when you can't yell.

"You stink," he said.

"I just sprayed perfume!" I said.

"I know, and it's too strong!" he shout-whispered back.
(For the record, I am not a perfume fanatic. I like light scents, and I know how he feels about overpowering smells.)

So I asked, "What are you going to do one day when the pretty little girl you adore is wearing perfume? Are you gonna gag and tell her she stinks?"

"NO!" he shout-whispered. "Her perfume will smell good; not like...
old-lady perfume."

Well then.

I can't wait to buy his first real girlfriend a gift. A pretty little bottle of perfume.
Exactly like mine.
(Bwwwwaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaaa.)

Dear 10 on Tuesday, I'm Back

Roots and Rings is the place to participate...

Participating is what I can do today, because there is no need for a camera.
Mine's still dead.


1. Have you ever used Craigslist?
Yes. I bought 2 very adorable red bar stools from a lady in town. Oh, and a coffee table from a girl here on post (base).
I think my mom warned me of attackers when I told her about my cute bar stools and coffee table.

2. Can you sew?
Yep. Enough to make curtains or crafty things, but not clothes.

3. Do you pour syrup on your pancakes or dip your pancakes in the syrup?
I am a "drizzler" of syrup. I don't like soggy pancakes.

4. Rain storms: Love them or hate them?
Love, love, love rain. Hate, hate, hate the storms that come with lightning and hail and wind. I used to be ok with them, but we dodged one too many tornadoes during the years we lived in Alabama. Now, storms make me jumpy. Like my cat.

5. Do you like swimming?
Love it. It's probably my favorite form of exercise because it doesn't seem like exercise. I hate exercise.

6. What kind of drink do you order at Sonic?
I like to keep it exciting. Either un-sweetened tea with peach, un-sweetened tea with strawberry, Coke Zero with lime, Coke Zero with vanilla, or cherry limeade.
I think I see a stop at Sonic in my near future.

7. Are you funny?
In my mind, yes.
The boy thinks I'm a riot, and Dan/Daddy laughs at me now and then. Most of my pals would say yes, I think.

8. At what age will your kids get cell phones?
I used to say 14. Odd arbitrary number, I know.
But, seeing as how I love to eat my own words...
The 12 year old has one.
My reasoning? He is at the age where he's spending more time away from us than with us. I want him to be able to get in touch with me if he needs to.
Also, the boy and I are a 2-man team most of the time around here, and we need to be able to communicate when Dan/Daddy is away.
Why just yesterday, I called him on his phone while he was off playing in the woods after school. I'm sure it put a cramp in his outdoor adventuring style.

9. What’s your favorite vegetable?
Lima Beans. I can hear 29 people gagging.
I also like all forms of lettuce. And I would say tomato, but is it really a fruit?

10. Were you a Girl Scout?
Yes. Only for a little while, and I wish I'd stayed more involved.

Have a wonderful Tuesday, and please say a prayer for the people in Joplin, Missouri. I cannot imagine the heartbreak.

I've Gone Looking For The Fountain Of Youth

If anybody needs me this weekend, I'll be at the movies...