So, instead of waiting around to get nothing something last minute, I decided to take charge and get my own Mother’s Day present from Roby myself.  He tends to have the feeling that I’m not his mom, so why should he buy me something.  Well, I’m the MOTHER OF HIS CHILDREN, so that’s why he should buy me something!  So there!  I buy all the cards to send to his mom and our grandmothers.  And the kids will make me cards (he will sometimes take them to the store to get me a card…).  But this year, I want me a new purse!   I have been in love with Fossil purses for a long time.  I had a falling out when we were in Germany and found a different brand that I loved, but I can’t get them here and haven’t found a way to order then online.  Anyway, I found one at the Base Exchange the other day and put it on hold/layaway.  Its only $65, so not like its a $350 Coach purse, but still a lot nicer and longer lasting than a Devil Store purse!  This is the one I have on hold.  But I found this one on their web site…and I kind of like the colors better.  I could go up to the mall on Thursday as I’m going to be up that way for TWO doctor appointments (head doc and another CT scan), and see if the Fossil store has it.  But then again, the one I have on hold at the Exchange is $20 cheaper than it would be there, with no tax, and the coloring is quite summery and FUN!

I only get one/two purses a year, so its not like I’m a crazy purse hoarder.  But I’m a typical girl who loves shoes and purses!!!  (And socks!  I love random socks!!!)

BTW, Ethan swears that he did not change the code on his phone.  He didn’t know that there was a code until I told him.  Damn.  I still haven’t taken it to our phone carrier to figure it out.  Thus, he’s still getting those annoying calls all the time.  Just another thing on the list of things to do.

Ethan’s and Roby’s cell phones have been getting several spam calls a week. Just yesterday, Ethan’s phone got TWO while was at school. Both were for “extended car warranties.” Seriously. Because my ten year old son obviously needs to extend the warranty on his car! I was sick of it, so called our phone carrier and asked if there was anything we could do. She gave me a number to call (for each phone) to get on the “do not call list.” This is not like the “do not mail” list which no one seems to pay attention to. If you are on this list, after 31 days, you can file complaints against companies that still call you. I don’t know if anything would happen to those companies, but its still better than signed up for the “no junk mail” and “no phone book” and receiving just as much junk mail and getting TWO identical phone books.

Anyway, so I was going to call the number to put Ethan’s phone on the “do not call” list. I pressed “send” and was promptly reminded that I needed a password to unlock the phone. Yup, I locked his phone so he couldn’t call his friends whenever he wanted or make random calls we didn’t know about. He has an entire address book full of friends and family, as well as people he can call in an emergency…but he can’t add numbers or call people I haven’t approved. I went to type in the password I was 99% sure was correct…and the phone told me it wasn’t. Hmmm I tried various other things. Nothing worked. I couldn’t figure it out.

As I was pondering it this morning, I came up with a thought…something that is very likely, and that Ethan and I are going to have a chat about after school. He has a friend that I like. But this friend is, well, not as “monitored” as Ethan. He is also much more phone savvy than Ethan. They hang out after school a lot with no supervision. It’s the whole me-trying-to-let-Ethan-have-some-independence thing. He really needs it, and I think its good for me as well!!! My suspicion is that they figured out what my password is and changed it. I could be very wrong, but I’m not putting it past them. They are ten year old boys!!! I’ll ask him today after school and see what happens. Luckily, Roby is on leave for the next week, so he’ll get to help me with the punishment if that is the case. If not, then I’ll have to call our phone carrier and see what I have to do to unlock that damn phone!!!

In other news. I’m utterly disgusted with my cola intake. It’s so good for the first sip…but then its sooooo gross. And its soooo bad for you (aka ME). I can’t drink milk. Juice makes me want to vomit. I do like apple (Tree Top only) and white grape juice to a point…but too much and that too makes me nauseous. Just the smell of tea and coffee is repulsive to me. I LOVE water and can’t wait to have our fridge with built in filter so I’m not the ONLY one filling up the little Brita. And having to replace those damn Brita filters every two months (because that’s who much water four people drink!) is rather annoying. But, I NEED some caffeine! Especially with classes starting in the fall! I’m going to be getting very little sleep again. I don’t know how I’m going to survive! My caffeine addiction started in high school when I had Ethan and was going to school, working, and taking care of him. I was getting 3-5 hours of sleep every night for two years. I have the feeling that that’s how its going to be again. I want to give my beloved Diet Dr. Pepper up…but I don’t know how!!! Waaaahhhhh

I completely forgot one of the *best* randoms from the weekend!!!

While at the party, I was sitting for a few minutes as eight hours was a long time to be DD.  Seriously.  A couple girls that work in the same area as Roby came in (quite some time after he was already trashed), and one asked him if his wife was there.  That was the first thing she said to him.  I wasn’t sure how to take it, but whatever.  He pointed from across the room toward me and smiled.  I liked that response!  She looked at me, had an almost shocked expression, covered it quickly with a smile, then said to him, “Oh, wow, she’s hot!”  I had to laugh and smile!!!  Wah haha  I’m not the typical disgusting/Air Force t-shirt wearing wife!!!

I just signed up to be an organ donor!  Makes me feel like I’m doing a little something good!  I know that I want to be cremated…so there is absolutely no reason not to be a donor!  I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to as while we lived in Germany I was exposed to TB…so had to take INH therapy for nine months.  I’ve never had symptoms and can’t pass it on to anyone, but there is still a 5% chance or so that I could someday get it.  The reason for this sudden sign up?  I heard a web address on the radio this morning and thought I’d finally look into it.  They had a number to call if you had questions so I did!  They said it shouldn’t be a problem!  Fabulous!

It got me thinking that I should probably also check to see if I could donate blood.  I have always wanted to, but was too young, then pregnant, then lived in Germany.  I called the local Red Cross and they gave me an 800 number to call (1-800-GIVE-LIFE).  Turns out, that as long as I don’t have symptoms and have completed the recommended therapy, than I am!  I logged onto their web address, and saw that you can register, then schedule a time to donate blood.  The base is having a blood drive next month, so I signed up!  I bookmarked the web page so I can continue to check and see if they have new drives.  You have to wait 56 days between whole blood donations, so couldn’t sign up for the one being held less than a month later at the same place.  Regardless, every little bit helps, and I’m proud to finally be doing it!

* * * * * * * * * *

A few randoms for you:

While I was being DD this weekend, I asked a fellow wife DD-er (you love my English skillz, don’t you?!) if she had MySpace or FaceBook so I could send her pics of our husbands acting like idiots.  Her response:

“No I don’t.  I have a life.”

Well then, that’s just swell!  And I had been making a huge effort to be nice to her as neither one of us knew anyone there and our husbands are friends.  Whatever, besides that and the, “What, you don’t save every month?!”  comment, she was very nice!  (Just for those of you who didn’t have kids when you were 15 and 19, going to school full time, working part time, then having one of you join the military and having to fill a house, the other parent STILL going to school, etc…living paycheck to paycheck is kind of a must for a while.    Just so you know.)

I’ve been getting a lot of complements on my hair from random strangers lately.  Its quite fun!  Yes, people have always been intrigued by my curly hair, but I’ve had a least seven people in the last four/five days walk up to me and complement my hair.  My hair is either looking FABULOUS, or I’m looking rather frumpy and its just distracting them from the rest of me! 

My college pays people to blog.  Seriously.  I had applied last year, but I ended up not starting at the school yet because we thought Roby might have to cross-train.  I walked by the advisers area today and noticed that they had “table tents” up for blogging positions again.  Um, sign me up!  I went in and asked if she still had my application.  She said she did, but asked that I bring in “new material.”  Then more or less told me that I would have a position as long as I brought her a couple current blogs!  I doubt it pays much, but I figure if I can make an extra $50-100 every couple of weeks or even a month, it’ll help!  And for doing something I do all the time!  I know I’ll have to write specific ones geared toward school life, but I can handle that!  I’m stoked!  (Stoked is a word I recently started using…I kind of like it!)

That’s about it for now, need to get ready to get the kids from school then take some papers in to our “financial lady” so we can still buy our house on Friday, then take Ethan to Nobbies so he can buy some more army men!  Fun fun!

Neglect to this blog comes for many reasons lately.  The biggest reason is that I’m damn busy!  The biggest issues have been school…and the simple fact that we’re buying a house NEXT WEEK! 

School has been going well.  Slacker classes still take time because I’m not willing to get C’s.  Medical Terminology takes a lot of time just to get the work done.  And two photography classes are quite time consuming as well!  I’ve posted some of the pictures here, and have ended up randomly posting several pictures over on REEN (some of my most recent pics for my online digital photography class here).  I only have a few weeks left, and have a ton of pictures from those  classes that I haven’t posted…but I may get around to it this summer when things settle down a bit!

Probably the best news, I found out a couple weeks ago that I got into the Dental Hygiene program at Iowa Western!  I had my interview on my birthday and found out that Saturday that I got in.  I can still hardly believe that I got in the first time applying!  Over 200 people applied, 35 had interviews, and 20 got in!  A girl I had several classes with over the last two quarters I was at Metro. Community College got in as well which rocks!  Its always a little less intimidating when you know someone else!  I’m really excited, but extremely nervous.  Its been a while since I’ve gone to school FULL time.  And let me tell you…this is full time!  I’ll be in school 8-4/5 three days a week and 8-12 two days a week.  I’m sure it will be fine, just less sleep and learning to manage time differently!

After 22 months of not talking, my mom emailed me on my birthday.  I wasn’t sure what to do or what to think.  It was probably the worst time she could have possibly done it.  That was the busiest week I’ve had in recent years…and she chose then to butt back into my life.  After almost two weeks I wrote her back thanking her for the email, but that I didn’t know what to think or say.  That was it.  She wrote back within an hour saying that that was fine that I could write back whenever I wanted.  Whatever.  She told me that I would have to crawl back on my hands and knees and beg for forgiveness.  That I was evil and abusive because of the things I said.  (Remember, telling someone how you feel is abusive.)  I obviously have issues concerning her, life has been easier without her…and I can’t deal with it now.  Or the near future.  Having to explain to my kids once why they can’t talk to their grandma and aunt is bad enough…I can’t go through that again if we get into another fight…which I see happening.

On to my headaches.  Things are about the same, maybe a little better.  My stress level is slightly lower…maybe different.  That is always helpful when you get a lot of headaches.  I’m not seeing the retarded neurologist that sent me to the pain specialist anymore.  She told me that she didn’t understand why he would send me away so quickly and try to make me go to the “pain clinic” (the month or two month long every day-all day thing).  My new doctor is really nice and is really trying to help me.  She started me on 15 mg of a medication that the neurologist started me on 30 mg of.  This stuff makes my fingers up to my elbows, my toes up to my knees tingle (like after they fell asleep or something), as well as my scalp, and sometimes my face.  Its only supposed to make your hands/feet, but I’m really sensitive to most medications.  I have progressively worked my way up to (just yesterday) 55 mg.  She wants me to get to 60-100 mg.  I think it has taken me 4-5 months to get this far.  I have 15 and 25 mg pills to do this with.  Switched from 50 to 55 mg and I’m still getting a lot of tingling.  Its rather annoying and can almost hurt.  But, if it can eventually (she told me it can take as long as a year to help because I’ve had the headaches so frequently for so long) help, I’ll do what it takes.  She also told me, which no one else did, to only take the “pain” type pills for when I do get a bad headache/migraine no more than twice a week.  Seriously, this is something no one has said to me before.  But if you think about it, if you’re taking medications all the time, when you’re not, the headaches are just going to be that much worse!  I don’t know why I didn’t think about it, but I guess when you’re in a lot of pain and no one tells you NOT to…  UGH  Also, last week I got SHOTS in the back of my head!  lol  It was interesting.  Two weeks before that at my appointment, she pressed on the back of my head and I had an instant headache and felt dizzy.  (Which of course didn’t go away for several hours.)  She laughed and told me to come back in two weeks so she could “numb” my occipital nerve.  Here is a link.  The back of my head still feels like its bruised really bad or something and I haven’t noticed any difference in my headaches.  I dunno, I guess we’ll give it time and see…still makes me feel nervous to numb/block a nerve in my HEAD!!!

On to the house.  We’re buying a house!  This came about suddenly,  I’m still surprised at how suddenly!  Roby went from “there is NO reason to buy, I don’t want to buy here!” to “ok, lets buy” in a matter of days.  Military housing is such a shit hole, I think our duplex neighbor chain-smoking in the house and it coming onto our side was just the last straw.  The one thing we just cannot “deal with” or ignore.  Every time we walk in the house it reeks.  Our things smelling like smoke, drying off with a towel that smells like smoke, its just too much.  I called my friends realtor, we set up a time to look at six houses.  Set out.  Ended up only looking at three because I decided that looking at houses that were built before 1990 would cost too much for us out of pocket.  Found one that is in our budget, area we want to live, had one owner with no kids, slightly bigger than what we are living in now!  Put an offer in, had a counter offer in three hours…this was fast I’m telling you!!!  We close on the 24th, I wish it was today!  I spent a good 40 hours packing while Roby was on his last trip…there is still a little more to do, but its mostly things that have to wait until the last minute.  We have a guy coming later today for the “pre-inspection.”  More or less to tell us what we have to do to the house so we don’t get charged outrageous amounts of money for them to pretend to do it.

Right now, I’m avoiding homework.  12 week classes tend to drag at the end.  Really…really drag.  I need to get this weeks and next weeks medical term stuff done this week so I can not worry about it next week.  But its really freaking boring!!!

I think that was enough of an update!!