My weird dog

OK, it's official. My puppy, Doc, is weird. A couple weeks ago, Doc was just acting strange toward me. He was growling at me and backing away whenever he got close to me. I called for Mike and he thought I had something on my hands that Doc didn't like the smell of, so I washed them. No improvement-he was still growling and backing away like he was terrified. The only thing I could think of was my sweater. It was new, never worn before. I hadn't washed it because it's cashmere. I took it off and Doc still growled at my arms, but nothing like what he did when Mike held the sweater for Doc to smell. He was scared of my sweater. I'm thinking he can smell those goats or something and he (obviously) doesn't like it. LOL

This morning I put on an angora blend sweater because it's freezing here. Well, reverse the reaction to the cashmere sweater. I thought the puppy was going to eat me right along with my sweater. He was just nuts over it! So, for future reference: goats=bad, rabbits=good.

Winter Weather Whine

Micah finished his science fair project last night (which snack is more nutritious-PopTarts, granola bars or popcorn) and had to take it to school this morning. Instead of making him lug the big half-moving box I decided I'd drive him.

I went out to start the car about 15 minutes before we had to leave and when we got out there the windows still weren't clear. ACK! For the first time in six years (since we lived in Great Lakes), I had to scrape my windows. Do I even own a scraper??? Nooooooo, of course not! I remember scraping my windshield with my driver's license back in the days when I was young and too dumb to think I needed a scraper. It somehow didn't seem right to desecrate my California drivers license with frost, though, so an old, used up Starbucks card had to suffice. I certainly wasn't going to risk my debit card or either of my library cards, was I?????? Besides, I'm sure Starbucks has new designs on their cards for Valentine's Day, right?

The boys were mesmerized by the frost everywhere. Micah is sure this means it's going to snow today (hate to disappoint him, but only COLD is in the forecast) and Aaron mistakenly thought I said "frosting," which I guess is pretty appropriate.

After we dropped Micah off, there was only one thing to do. It was time for a Starbucks run. After all, I was cold and I needed to replace that card. Right?

I'm not safely ensconced in my nice warm house (well, relatively speaking) with a grande Peppermint Mocha and the half of Aaron's cranberry orange muffin he didn't eat and a brand spankin' new Starbucks card with a Valentine's motif. Life is good, but it would be better if it wasn't so damn cold!

Help Me Out!

Mike and I (okay, I mostly) want to take a vacation in April. No kids, nothing too terribly touristy. Mostly, I want to sit on a beach somewhere and vegetate. I suggested Florida's Gulf Coast. Mike has no desire to go there. But then he says he doesn't care where we go. So, anyone have any suggestions? (Thanks for suggesting Sacramento, Meircee, but you have no beach!!!! Love you!)

I'm sad.....

Yesterday I learned that one of my favorite authors passed away. This wasn't just any old author to me-this was Barbara Seranella, author of the Munch Mancini mysteries. I knew Barbara from an online mystery group I participate in and I can tell you that she was a wonderful, genuine human being. I never got to meet her in person, but I will miss her anyway.

Barbara's books feature Miranda "Munch" Mancini, a mechanic who is also a recovering drug addict. In the beginning of the first book in the series, Munch is trying to start over-off the booze and drugs and away from her wild life-when her father is murdered and she is considered a prime suspect. Barbara's writing got better as she went-and it was excellent from the beginning. Do me a favor and look for at least one of them. You won't regret it.

Sickies-Part Deux

Today is the first day I haven't had everyone home sick since the weekend. Do I have to tell you I was losing my ever-lovin' mind???

Micah is still home. He finally isn't running a temp, but he's still exhausted. He slept over 13 hours last night-and that's the fifth night in a row for that!

And me? I still haven't gotten sick. I felt crappy on Tuesday, but it never amounted to anything. Must be my exceptional physical condition and the attention I pay to my all-around well-being. Bahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Sickies

I've got two sick kids this weekend. Micah started complaining of a cough on Thursday, but it really hit him hard on Friday night. I gave him some Children's Tylenol Flu and he puked it right back up. Nice. Saturday morning I got up to find him sleeping on the couch at 9 am. Remember, this is the child who has to be medicated to sleep at night. Oh yeah, he's sick.

Micah took some Tylenol (but not the pukey stuff) and felt better shortly after. But by 4 pm Aaron was down and out. He napped on the couch for about 3 hours and when he woke up I tried to convince him to take some medicine. He wasn't biting, though. Aaron puked, no medication involved.

Today has been a battle. Aaron still won't take anything, so he's just staying on the couch and whimpering every once in a while. Micah feels better, but still has a fever. Mike has this crap, too, but I don't have to take care of him, thank God!

So far, Marissah and I have been lucky, but you know what's going to happen. Everyone is going to get well and then Mom will get sick. And who is going to take care of Mom?????? Hahahahahahahaha.......that's right! NO ONE!!!!!!

Lucky me. Being a mom is highly over-rated.......

Justifiable Homicide

I'm contemplating homicide tonight. Or maybe just assault. Whatever it is, you can be sure it will be felonious and it will hurt. A lot.

I left the house at 3:30 this afternoon to pick up a few things from Wal-Mart. Marissah came with me because she needed some stuff for a school project. I should preface all of this by saying I am extremely tired today. I haven't slept well in a few days and it's catching up with me.

On our way to Wal-Mart Marissah explained to me that she can't just bring two things on her list to school, because then she'll only get two extra points. You see, they are making an edible cell model and the teacher gave them a list of supplies she needs. I told Marissah I was sure she didn't need ALL of that stuff, but she insisted she did. And those extra points are why. For each item on the list that the kids bring in they get an extra point on their grade. 15 items total on the list and you get 15 extra points. That's a HUGE difference when it comes to a project or test. My beef is that I'm essentially *buying* her grade. There is NO WAY the teacher needs all 24 kids to bring a package of paper plates. Or a pack of Dixie cups. Or a freaking package of gumballs. Gimme a freaking break.

We got all our stuff at Wal-Mart and went to check out. I went to swipe my debit card only to find it wasn't there. In fact, my entire wallet seemed to be missing. #%(*#Q&%*(#Q)*^$ And that is exactly what I said! The cashier at Wal-Mart was kind enough to say she'd hold my stuff, but I was pretty sure she wouldn't. This is Wal-Mart. In Tennessee. Need I say more? Besides, I had bigger things to worry about. Namely how I was going to get onto the secured base without my military ID.

I don't know any of the sentries on base, but there are some who are more friendly than others. You know I didn't get one of the friendly ones, right? Oh no, never happen. I got this runty little guy who apparently thought I was scamming him. I explained my predicament and he asked all kinds of questions (including where my husband works and if I have stickers on my van---as if he couldn't see the stickers right in front of his beady little eyes). Finally he told me to wait a minute, but not before he asked to see my driver's license (it's in the wallet with my freaking ID you moron!). I thought he was going to get something or someone to sign me in, but he just went to wave a car from the adjacent parking lot through. Then he came back to my side of the road and waved me through. As I was driving past I said "Thank you!" and he yelled for me to stop. I kid you not, he said: "Whoa, where are you going in such a hurry?" I was just about ready to strangle him, but I kept my cool. He finally let me go, but gave me a lecture about how important it is to keep my information on me. @@ <-eye roll. When I finally got back to Wal-Mart I was just tickled to see that not only had my cashier kept my stuff out, but she had just suspended the transaction so it was super-fast. I've never received such good service in Wal-Mart before-in Tennessee or elsewhere-and I made sure she knew that.

Now I had just one last obstacle. I had to pass the Moronic Sentry before I could get home. I seriously considered going all the way around to the other gate, but it was already 5:00 and I had no desire to prolong this excursion any more than I already had.

By the time we hit the gate I already had my ID out of my wallet and my window down. I was hoping I could just slide on through, but of course he remembered me.

"Well," he said. "I see you found it."

"Actually, it was never lost," I told him. "I just forgot it."

"Aw, you were just playin' tricks on me, weren't you?" he said in a smarmy voice. I swear, he was flirting with me.

I didn't stick around for anything else. He could have called Shore Patrol on me and I wouldn't have cared. Talk about an asshole. Did I mention how short he was? Napoleon complex, for sure. Short people should never be given power positions.

I'm glad I made his day, glad he got a laugh and some entertainment at my expense. I'll be thinking of him tonight when it drops down below thirty degrees and he's still standing outside at that gate. And I'll be laughing, too.

I can guarantee you that is one sentry I'll never forget and he'll never get so much as a "have a nice day" from me again.

Just Call Him "Striking Catfish"

Mike has been researching his genealogy since Marissah was a baby. We got this little family tree from the hospital where she was born and it got both of us more curious about our ancestors. He's made contact with many different relatives and traced his grandmother's family line (Paulson) back quite far (the 1600s or so). Last night he stumbled on some really cool connections.

To make a long story short, he was able to connect his grandmother's line to all kinds of royalty. If that's not cool enough, this line, being that it's royal and they tended to inter-marry, ties into other royal lines. He's descended from (among others) Marcus Aurelius, Constantine and King Herod. Cleopatra is part of his line, but he's not directly descended from her, along with Alexander the Great. Mike's line goes to Alexander the Great's lesser known brother (I am not joking here) The Rabbit. I forget his first name, but it's one of those impossible to pronounce Greek-sounding names.

And then, just to put the icing on the cake, his line ties into the ancient Egyptian line. So my husband is descended from the ancient Egyptian rulers, the first was named......"Striking Catfish." Less well known that King Tut, for sure, but isn't it much more fun to call Mike "Striking Catfish"? I know I'm enjoying it. OK, Mike claims "Striking Catfish" was the wife's name and the husband was The Scorpion King. I'm sticking with Striking Catfish. ;)

To sum things up, we now know my husband, and in turn my kids, are Swedish, German, Norwegian, Danish, Bohemian (hahahaha), and Austrian. Then we can add the places that no longer exist like Macedonia, Persia, and ancient Egypt. Plus a lot of Jews from Judea. Oh my......talk about a mutt.

Happy New Year!

Hope you all have a safe, prosperous, happy new year!