Ditto

 

Oh my goodness, did someone say creme brulee?

Jen said in her comment to me that she got Coffee Mate creamer in Creme Brulee. How awesome is that! You know where I am going to this afternoon. I'm going to hunt down some creme brulee creamer. Thanks Jen

tag-your it-twice!!!!

Sandra tagged me for a book meme that I had already done but it seems not too many people saw it. I think I may have done it when her relatives were visiting and since I am computer illiterate I can't move it to the top, so if anyone would like to see it just go to August and scroll about 20 posts down.
Jen tagged me for a pizza meme, I'm still not sure what meme actually means, but here goes.
What was your favorite thing about being a kid? I think not paying bills but getting to enjoy all sorts of neat things that I thought were free, like Disneyworld.
What was your favorite subject in school? Sociology. If they had psychology I'm sure this would of been my favorite, but they didn't, so I pick Sociology.
Who was your best friend when you turned 10? Jeanne Madden. She is like a sister to me and we have been friends for about 32 years. I'm one of those people who actually makes friends and then keeps in touch with them for forever.

If you could be any animal what would you be? A little, fluffy, cute puppy. The type that looks like a snowball and everyone wants to hug all the time.

What would you change about your school, occupation, or life right now? I might want to add more kids. I know I already have 7, but would one or two more really make that much of a difference. You can tell I either love kids or am crazy.

What's your favorite color? ditto on black, except since it's not a color I'll say teal.
What is your favorite type of crust and toppings? Thin crust and pepperoni and pineapple topping. Maybe a little weird, but what can I say, I live in Hawaii.

Let me see, who can I tag? How about
my sister stephanie at forks and chopsticks
Melissa at twinadomommy
and anyone else who wants to do this. In fact tag your all it!

Fear Factor

How does a mom, who's kids have never even seen an episode of The Simpsons, end up watching Fear Factor and calling it family night? How you ask? I gave birth to 5 boys, yes 5, and now there is way too much testosterone running through this house on a daily basis, that's how! So every Monday night, I plant myself on the couch surrounded by 4 males, and watch a whole hour of people performing sick acts just for money. In fact last night I sat through people trying to consume Madagascar cockroaches covered in green slime. Who comes up with this stuff anyway? Of course while I was holding my hands over my eyes and getting totally grossed out, my 3 year old was sitting next to me, laughing hysterically, and saying "eat cockroach." Gee thanks for the commentary. This isn't the only show I have to watch with them. I am also forced, well maybe not forced, to watch the new horror series Supernatural, on Thursday nights. I actually like horror, so this one isn't too bad, and of course the two young guys who play the lead characters aren't too hard to look at either, but I digress. This show doesn't seem to bother them in the least either. When its over they just yawn and go to bed and when I ask them the next day if they had any nightmares, they respond with brilliant questions like "why would you think that?" Oh how would I know, maybe the scary stuff we sat through last night, while you all hid under your blankets, might do it.
I on the other hand love 7th Heaven and will be glad to see it coming back on Sept. 25th. The boys never seem to last through this whole show, why when you can watch people eat cockroaches on Monday, but my daughter and me like it. This turns into our show we watch together.
I wonder if this propensity toward gross stuff is inborn in most males. I wonder this because my husband just loves shows like The most extreme whatever on Animal Planet where he gets so excited he will call out "Babe? You gotta see this, it's a hippo eating a zebra." Now why on earth would I want to see a hippo eating a zebra? I'm a girl, remember, you married me. I don't spend my hours watching all kinds of disgusting things happening on tv, or do I? I guess with a house full of boys I'll just have to keep up with the latest insect consuming contests after all.
Boys, you can't live with em and you sure can't live without em.

Goodbye Kira and Julian

od We will miss you. Give hugs and kisses to papa for us. We love you. 

Manic Monday

About 2 weeks ago I said I was going to start my own thingy called Manic Monday. I was going to write something weird, strange, unusual, or just manic about me, or the cat, or whoever. Today I am going to write about my husband Dominic because tomorrow is his birthday and because he is out in the field and probably won't get to read this until next month. Here goes. 3 manic things about Dominic:
1. He is obsessed with his guitar. Just like everyone else here he has an obsession. With him it's the guitar. He only started playing about 2 years ago, and he is pretty good, but I think he secretly thinks he will become the next Randy Rhodes or something.
2. He can remember all kinds of technical stuff, but like I said before, he can't remember anything that takes common sense. Like where he puts his beret. In the Army you have to wear this, so losing it is not an option. I always ask him if he wants me to staple his head on so he doesn't lose that!
3. He is very obsessive like me. I suspect ADHD, so we are definitely kindred spirits, but he over does everything. If you buy him cupcakes, he eats the whole box. If you buy him oatmeal, he eats the whole box, If you buy him peanut butter, he eats the whole jar. You get what I mean I'm sure.
Those are the 3 things I came up with for today, but given more time I will come up with more. He is a great guy and I wouldn't trade him for the world, but he has quirks like everyone else. Some quirks I love and others drive me crazy. What really drives me nuts is his sons seem to have many of the same quirks. I think its DNA.

More Obsession

Anyone who has read my blog in the last month knows I have an obsession with the magic eraser. When I went into Sams last week I saw this. Only $8.00 an apparantly new and improved. Like I'm not going to buy this. It's obvious you can't take me to Sams. I buy everything I can large sized. Maybe it's because I have 7 people living here, or maybe I just like big things, or maybe even getting lots of stuff for less money sounds good to me. I went home and tried the new magic sponge, which has a squiggle edge and seems to be a little more sturdy, and of course I love it. It does hold up a bit better. It still crumbles, but seems to get the job done. I wonder how long these will last me? I am going to have to make a trip to Sams today because the creamer I bought on August 14, all 64 ounces, is gone. It only took me 7 days but it's officially drained. I guess I will just have to buy more magic sponges. Thank You again Mr. Clean.

Ranch

Like my obsession with french vanilla creamer, my daughter Vanessa has an obsession with ranch. She puts it on everything. By everything I mean everything. All the way from pizza, french fries, chicken nuggets to turkey sandwiches. Each week I purchase a bigger and bigger bottle of Ranch and each week we run out before the week is over. I got this one at Sams and I said to her when she got home from school, "here, is this big enough?" She said "I think so." I said "you think so? You've got to be kidding me." I really don't think she can go through this in a week or two unless she's drinking the stuff. If she's obsessed enough to drink it then we really will know she is like her mom. I practically drink my creamer. My husband always asks if I want more coffee with my creamer because I use so much. In fact the big creamer I bought from Sams will be gone in about a week, and that's 64 ounces. I guess its pretty obvious we have issues here. I better go to Sams today and see if I can buy 2 instead of 1 creamer so I don't run out. Wish me luck. 

Julian and spongebob

Julian has an obsession with spongebob. He just loves the square sponge. Here he is with his new spongebob water wings. 

Darrian and Julian

We are at the Ala Moana beach park in Waikiki. It was a nice day and the boys loved it. 

Happy Birthday

My hubby will be in the field all next week and since his birthday is on August 22 we celebrated it last night. We went to a restaraunt here called Compadres. It is Mexican an serves pretty authentic food. My daughter had told the waiter that it was his birthday so when they served us our fried ice cream they brought out a huge sombrero he had to wear while they sang happy birthday. It was so funny. We did have a great meal though and the meals were huge. We all ended up with doggy bags to eat for lunch today.

Dad (grandpappy)

Here is my hubby Dominic and our kiddo Darrian and our grandson Julian. 

God is good...

...All the time. Yesterday morning I get a call from my mechanic at about 7:30. He said the battery was no good and all the noise was, was some dust on a rotor or something. Then he said my van was ready and to pick it up. All that they thought was wrong with it from my description turned out to be incorrect. Thank God. All I ended up paying was $200. So I guess spitting salsa isn't all that bad in the scheme of things. What do I mean by spitting salsa? See Post Below.

KARMA

Last night Kira made dinner. She made some quesadillas with homemade salsa. After she whipped up the salsas she asked me to taste it. It was green salsa and smelled heavily of jalapenos. I like jalapenos and love hot stuff, but if something has a heavy taste of any kind of pepper I don't like it. I tasted it and ran right away to the sink and spit it out. I said "Sorry Kira, but I can't eat anything with too many peppers in it." Kira decided she would make a red sauce, like pico di gallo so we had to go to the store. Me, Kira and my grandson Julian went to go to the store and when I put my key into my van all the juice drained right out of the battery. Luckily I had a jump start and after letting it sit for a few minutes the battery light went on. I knew I had to get it to the shop so I did. The mechanic said it is probably the alternator or alternator belt. Meanwhile when he goes to drive the van into the bay he wants to know when it started to make that sound it made when he turned it slowly to the left and was backing in. It just started to do this once in awhile so he said it sounds like the cvc or the U joint. Gee I wonder what all this will cost.
Meanwhile when I went into the house to call my husband to let him know what's up I realized my 3 year old just went poop in his pants. It seems he has some diarrhea and couldn't make it to the bathroom. I run him to the tub and then go clean up the mess on the floor. When I look up to where my daughter and her friend are making a Mexican cake called tres leches (3 milks), they inform me the blender doesn't seem to be working. While trying to call my husband, while trying to give my kid a bath, while trying to clean up the floor, and while trying to fix the blender, my daughter Kira looks up and says "that's what you get for spitting out my salsa!"

The kids and Julian

My daughter and grandson are here visiting for the next week so if I don't post every day or comment on other blogs every day it's because I will be a little busy. I will try to keep in touch with everyone as much as possible. Next Friday I should be back in full swing. 

Julian

The first thing the kids taught my grandson Julian is how to beat them up with a light saber. Obviously you can't grow up without knowing something as important as this. 

Kira

This is my daughter Kira working on my computer. 

Thank You Sams Club

I went to Sams the other day and this is what I came home with. Now that is what I call creamer. 

You know you're pathetic when?

When you walk into your sons room in the morning and say "Thank You Lord." Thank you for what? Thank you for not letting me kill Jr's goldfish. This is a serious prayer, not just thanking the Lord in jest but seriously thanking the Lord for sparing the fish. Do you want to know why? Why, because so far I have killed one full tank of fish, two goldfish and 3 betas. Finally he has a goldfish, one we have now for at least a year, that has survived against all odds. Why would I even consider a new fish? Because while standing on line one day in the commissary the boys spotted goldfish in bowls in the flower section and thought they looked lonely. Ok I'm a sucker. Why you ask am I once again focused on the fish being I haven't killed it yet? Well two weeks ago I bought a new filter for his tank. When I put it on it seemed kind of strong for this little tank even though the box said it was good for his size tank. I'm also paranoid because one of the other fish I killed actually stuck to the part of the filter that sucks the water up and died. Obviously this happening again is not an option. Last week I went into his room and the fish was stuck to the filter thing. I ran over to the tank, unplugged the filter, and watched thankfully as three fin spike Tamayo swam away. My heart was racing as if I had just run a marathon. Thank God. This is why I am thanking God every day for saving the fish It's also because I am only running the filter about an hour a day and even for this amount of time I'm taking my chances. This fish also likes to swim upside down. I noticed this a few months after he was bought. Almost on a daily basis I go into the kids room and my heart stops. There is three fin upside down. I go over and once again Thank the Lord he is still breathing. What kind of psycho fish is this anyway. I don't know what I will actually do when the day comes that three fin does die, but for now all I can say is 'THANK YOU LORD."

Snakes and snails

This morning my son Brandon, who is 14, asks me if I can give him $5.00 for a new school ID card. It's been two weeks and already he lost his school ID. Last week he had lost his military ID. I'm scared to ask if he has his bus pass. This is the kid who has been on the honor roll since 6th grade. This is the kid who the teachers say never forgets his homework. This is the kid who brings home his permission slips to be signed on the first day they are passed out and bagger's me all day to make sure I sign it so he can get it in on time. What I want to know is why can't he remember where he puts his ID cards? In the cosmic scheme of things does this make sense. My husband is the same way. He can remember military routes out in the field, and recite word for word most stuff in a military manuel yet he once forgot his beret for work. He has been wearing some sort of cap for 12 years. How do you forget this? It's like forgetting you have a head. I guess it's just boys.

This way to book meme. What the heck is a meme anyway?

 

keep going

 

one more

 

almost there

 

Welcome to my world

I was over at rocks in my dryer when I happened upon a meme that I just had to participate in. It also said at the bottom that if you are reading this consider yourself tagged. So I figured this would be the best meme for me because there is nothing I like better in this world besides books, well maybe coffee, and of course creamer. Anyway you get the point, so here goes:
1. Books that changed your life: I have to say Trixie Belden books written by Julie Campbell because these were the first books I ever read that got me started on a life long love affair with reading. I did buy one of these on Amazon about a year ago and tried to read it to my kids, but they all just sat there like zombies until I asked them if they were bored. They all rolled there eyes and said yes so that was the end of sharing my favorite kids book with my kids. It probably doesn't count that they are mostly boys and aren't at all interested in girly books. Can't blame me for trying though. The Bible, I can't think of anyone I know who would not be life changed by this pick. Marianne Williamson, everything she writes changes me in some way.

2. Books that you read more than once? The Bible. I don't read anything else more than once. I never have and I probably never will. I have too many (to be read) to even think of reading one more than once.

3. Books you'd want on a desert island? The Bible of course, and maybe Deserted Island Living for Dummies.

4. Books that made you Laugh? I really can't think of one right off the top of my head, but lot's of things makes me laugh so I am sure there are some books out there that do.

5. Books that made you cry? Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson. Don't read this if you don't like to be sad. It was kind of a bittersweet. Sad yet uplifting.

6. Books that you wish had been written? How to read all the books you buy before you die.

7. Books you wish hadn't been written? Maybe The Davinci Code. I know this may not be a popular answer, but I find messing around with God's stuff kind of offensive.

8. Books you are currently reading? Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Awesome book. We are reading this with my sisters virtual book club "the written word," see link in sidebar. Naomi's Home Companion by Naomi Judd. Children Learn What They Live by Dorothy Law Nolte. Simplify your Life with Kids (kind of an oxymoron don't you think,) Is it even possible to simplify your life with kids? There are a few more I am reading at this time. Once again ADHD rears its ugly head as you can see by the amount of books I am trying to read at once while raising 5 kids.

9. Books you have been meaning to read? All the books in my library.

10. Books you remember as a real page turner? Any John Saul book. Very scary and I love that sometimes.

11. Non Fiction books that you have enjoyed? Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Anything by Marianne Williamson. Creating a Beautiful Home by Alexandra Stoddard.

12. Childrens books your family has loved? Goodnight Moon. Peters Chair, Mr. Peabody's Apples by Madonna, Magic School bus series, and Berenstein Bears Series. Also anything by Mercer Mayer.

I guess that's it. I'm done. Consider yourself tagged!

Me, Myself, and I

 

My turn

The little guy waited all day for the kids to go out and play, and when they did, he snuck out of the yard, turned on the garden hose, and went to town on the trampoline. 

boys, a trampoline, and a hose

What do you get when you buy the boys a trampoline? When you buy boys a trampoline they are always trying to think of ways to make it more fun. Of course attaching the hose to the top is definately more fun, but is it safe? I let them have their 15 minutes of fun and then shut the water off. Back to the same old boring trampoline. No more pictures because now it remains empty. 

Sunday, the Lord's day, the day of rest...

 

Houdini

Here is my 3 year old getting ready for the great escape. We call him Houdini because he can escape from anywhere. Whenever I don't hear him I go into his room and this is what he is doing. If I didn't come right away (for instance if I ever wanted to use the bathroom) he would have the window unlocked, the screen pushed out, and he would be gone. We have tried everything, even jamming the lock, but he just pushed the window up until the lock broke off. In our new house I am going to put bars on the upstairs windows, and now you know why. I wonder what he'll try next? 

I'm gonna shoot myself, (figuratively)

Okay, I'm not going to shoot myself. 2 reasons. First I am a Christian. Second, it will be Sunday, the Lord's day, the day I will probably run out of creamer and this was the original reason I was gonna have to shoot myself. I forgot to buy it and I may not get a chance to go to the store to get any, so by Sunday you won't want to talk to me, unless my awesome hubby (hope he reads this) goes out and gets me some. I know some of you might think it is a little extreme to talk this way about creamer, but I consider it my drug of choice. Well actually coffee (caffeine) with creamer in it. I think I may have to fast after Sunday just for writing a post like this. I know God will make sure I obsess about it so I guess I might have to live without Coffeemate for the time being. At least until Monday!!!!!!!!

teenage boys...kid on the left in Cowboys t shirt

My son Brandon, the kid in the cowboys shirt, came into the living room last night and said "mom, smell my hair, I really like the smell of that vanilla shampoo you got." I smell his hair, and I agree it does smell nice. Then I say "Brandon that's not shampoo, that's body wash." Once again "the look," this one says "I have no idea what you just said." I repeated that it was body wash not shampoo. He just shrugged his shoulders and went his merry way. I'm sure tomorrow he will once again use the vanilla body wash as shampoo. 

I'm so mad!

My daughter Kira and my 18 month old grandson Julian are supposed to be here on Tuesday. Of course with this latest plot by terrorists I am not sure if their flight will be cancelled or not. I am so mad at Al qaeda that I could personally go over there and kick Osama's you know what myself. I'm just venting a little bit, but say a prayer for all those who will be traveling this month.

Teenagers-go figure

I must be on a teenager kick today, God only knows why. I was looking at another post on this gals blog about food allergies. I had commented to her on how interesting it is that foods can cause sensitivities and allergies. Then I was thinking how we found out my son had a food issue. One day about a year ago my daughter Vanessa said to her brother "Brandon did you have cheetos today?" I asked her why she was asking him this and she said "because every time he has cheetos he starts the blinking thing." I was blown away because I never noticed this. So we started experimenting with him and found out he does almost exclusively start ticking when he has things with orange dye in it. Getting back to the teenage issue, Brandon has had tics since he was 4 years old and I took him to the doctors in Germany and asked him why does he keep blinking and clearing his throat. Now that he is 14 I kind of know why he tics but my daughter said she realized this a long time ago. Gee thanks for mentioning it. It's funny not only how perceptive teenagers can be, but how they don't necessarily find their perceptions to be all that important. I really could of used this information 10 years ago, but what the heck, now is better than never!

This is my calander

I have ADHD. How often do you think I check this calander? Ask my doctors office how often I miss an appointment. Answer-too often, you actually have to look at the calander once in awhile, not just draw on it. 

The look

I should say many looks. Today I am writing about some of the looks teenagers can give you and their meanings. I'm sure some of you have experienced these, or have even used one of them yourselves. Here are my examples: Last night my son comes running out of his room and says "mom!" "you know that wrestler John Seena?" "yah" I say even though I don't know who he's talking about. "Well he lifted another wrestler weighing at least 500 lbs." I answer back "Well I just read in my magazine that Jack Lalane is 91 and can bench press a small car." My son looks at me like what the heck are you talking about and who the Heck is Jack Lalane. It is a look where his mouth is kind of open and he is sort of raising his eyebrows. That's the look that basically says what has that got to do with what I'm talking about and anyway who the heck cares. A few minutes later he actually responds with "really?" Of course really, what does he think I made this all up. Another experience I had was yesterday morning with my daughter. She was in the bathroom getting her makeup on and we were talking about her brother joining JROTC and I said "remember when Kira (her 22 year old sister) was in JROTC in Germany and went to JROTC camp and jumped out of that helicopter with her uniform on? I can't even jump off my coffee table." This last part supposedly was a joke. Of course my daughter didn't think it was all that funny and looked at me like that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. This look has raised eye brows and her mouth pursed kind of like she wants to say "duh." That is the look that lets every parent know how stupid they actually are or at least it says "are you sure we share the same DNA?". I'm sure many of you know which one's I'm talking about and can probably add some of your own. I'm sure that all of us can think of times as teenagers we may have even resorted to using one of these looks. How may looks have all you seen?

cats anyone?

I do not, I repeat, DO NOT, own 3 cats. 

Just another manic Monday

...I wish it were Sunday...It seems that there are so many cool lists on the blogs like Tackle it Tuesday, Thursday Thirteen, etc. that I thought I might add my own. I'm calling it Manic Monday. On Monday I will post 3 manic, weird, silly, funny, or just plain strange things about myself, my kids, my hubby, my cat, or anyone else I can think of.. I think everyone is a little bit manic and the more we can laugh at ourselves the more fun life is. If anyone would like to participate go ahead. If you leave a comment and want me to put your link in my links list, that would be cool too.
Here goes my first 3:
1. I have a fear or more like a uneasiness about odd numbers, but only some odd numbers. This mostly pertains to parking spaces or dates. For instance I don't park in spaces number 3 or 13, or spaces that start with 3 or 5. I actually usually prefer to park in lucky number 7, but will settle for 17, 27, 77, or something else like this. I also didn't want my c section with my youngest on July 13th so my doctor said ok the 16th. I said no the 17th, but he only had availability on the 16th, so I figured this was better than 13 and went ahead. See I am not all that paranoid, my son was born July 16.
2. I'm kind of a semi hypochondriac. I go to the doctors for lot's of stuff. Luckily we are in the military so it doesn't cost me anything. I really don't think I have anything terrible, but I always have something.
3. I don't drink coffee without coffeemate creamer. I mean I really don't. If I don't get coffee in the morning (this of course is totally unacceptable) and I go to a restaurant, I won't order the coffee, because I just can't stomach it without creamer that is flavored. And don't try to give me any other brand because I don't do other brands either.
Well that's all for now. I think I might post next Monday about my hubby. There are many wacko things I could write about him. The question is will he want me to!

Good Morning Hawaii

This is the creature that greeted me the other morning. He is trying to crawl up the pipe that leads to my roof. This is the cabinet above my stove where the chemicals are stored, this is obviously also his home. How would you all like to wake up to this. I'm kind of used to these so instead of being startled I ran to get my camera. I like these because they eat all kinds of other stuff like spiders, and as my 3 year old would say crackaroaches. The only problem I have with these little buggers is they tend to scurry away to places unknown, and I mean places unknown better not be in my bed one night. Other than that they seem like their pretty cool. Although I have heard some are aggresive, but so far at least I have not been introduced to one of these. The kids think they are pets. 

A plug for public school

I had to post this thought about my kids school Pearl Harbor Kai. It is a title 1 school, so that means they have many special ed programs. My son Dominic Jr. who is 8, has special ed classes. He is ADHD, but only gets about 90 minutes of special classes and then he attends his regular class. His special ed teachers, which he has had for a few years now, are always coming up with new plans in order to make these kids excel. One of the problems with struggling with learning is that by the time you get home, you just don't have any more to give. That means that not only does homework take forever, but it seems very little is gotten out of it. So my son's teachers decided that they would put a small block at the end of the day, where the special ed kids could come down to the special ed center and these teachers would help them with their homework. That way the teachers could see exactly what they learned that day in their regular classrooms, and also catch the areas that these kids did not understand. I think this is a great idea. I think this will help the teachers really pinpoint the areas that need work and also give the kids a break from doing the work at home they may not understand. I'm just glad that the principal of our school has given the go ahead and will let the teacher's fly with the programs they think may help. Hurray for PHK. Not all schools our there cater to the kid's needs, just to the testing.

friends

Ingrid on the left is my daughters friend who spent the night last Friday. Vanessa is on the right cooking with her. As you can see both girls don't want their pictures taken so all they would give me was the back view. Ingrid was born and raised here in Hawaii and my daughter was born in NJ and raised anywhere the military placed us at the time. it is so nice to see no racial boundaries with most of the kids in the military. Sometimes my hubby and I will laugh because whenever we walk into the teen center to pick up my son Brandon we notice all his friend are tall and black. He is short and white. I think he is a wanna be basketball player.