Spent the day hangin’ at the beach today. Did some snorkeling, saw the required sea turtle. The sun was warm and relaxing. The water cool, the waves just right. All in all it was a good day! I love to hang out on the beach. I admit, early this morning I didn’t want to go. Of course at that time, they were contemplating a dive that was poorly planned in marginal to poor conditions, followed by a Superbowl party at some people I didn’t even know, and then church. Did that sound like an extremely difficult and dangerous day? It did to me too! So, I stated my objections. Thankfully, they decided against the dive, I convinced them to just go home and watch the superbowl from there, and we stayed home and watched movies. We had dips and chips, hotdogs and hamburgers and the regular Superbowl goodies.

Don’t really follow football, but wanted to see who would win and at least catch a few of the commercials. They are always my favorite part.

Tomorrow I will start with the home schooling of the landlord’s son. I am praying that goes well. Course I need to discuss payment with him first! I’m not home schooling someone else’s kid for free. Not that I don’t love teaching. I do. But I have enough to handle with my Master’s program, home schooling Squirt, parent’s visiting, the girl’s activities, the house, the dog, the cat and the husband. We’ll see how it goes.

The stuff I bought for my jeep didn’t work.   However, I did some more research and commented that it’s a shame we didn’t have a propane torch cause every one said that worked really well. Well lo an behold….we did! Although we ended up buying a new nozzle cause I was a scared that hubby was going to blow himself up as our old nozzle was leaking and kept catching on fire.  But the overall results were amazing. I’m going to post some before and after pics later (have to go to the other computer). Silver_Fangz declared that she wanted a blow torch. Hmmmm,,, 14 yr old pyromaniac with a blow torch. Let me think………………………………..

NO! I don’t think so!

Alright, I’m off to get interview by Silver_Fangz for a school assignment. Hah! They want ONE concern I have about Maui schools, hah! The tough thing is narrowing it down to just 1! Silver_Fangz went with my response about the drug usage in schools, because she thinks it’s more interesting than a standards based reporting system, low academic offerings, limited funding, and poor administration. Phooey on her! She wanted to go back to public school, it’s hard for me to accept some of what goes along with that. I guess I just have to trust her and us to get her through. Man I wish I could afford a private school. Even though some of those are just as bad, at least they have higher academic standards.

The cat just walked across the keyboard….. any typos are completely his fault!!

Night all!

Yesterday was a complete waste for me. I had an appointment with my ophthalmologist. I HATE going there. It’s getting to where I hate that place almost as much as I hate dentists. First of all, they immediately dilate my eyes. GREAT!!! Not bad enough that I’m mostly blind, lets add dilation to the mix. Now not only can I not see, I can not see blurry and bright. Whoopee!! You know what gets me about that? They won’t let you leave without some kind of eye protection (sunglasses etc) because the bright lights might damage your dilated eyes. Before that however….. the doctor takes a light, put a prism magnifier on it, hold it about 1 mm away from my eyeball and shines a blindingly bright light right in my eye. My eyes are burning and watering and he’s over there saying “Now don’t squeeze or pull away, just be still and keep looking straight ahead.”

Why bother with the sunglasses??? I’m already blinded for life by the shining of light directly into my retina. Jeesh.

Not only that but they test for pressure etc. By the time I get home I have a massive headache, and I still can’t see. The whole day was wasted. Couldn’t read my assignments, type on the computer, even update or blog. How pathetic is that? Then he asks again about getting another LP (read extreme pain). Seriously, I’m fine with it, as long as they stick that long a## needle in his back, not mine. After all that he claims I’m stable… no change. So….. let’s review the reason for the LP again??? There’s nothing wrong, everything looks good….. we need this why????

I honestly believe its just so he can have the experience.

Fortunately, I do not see myself as a test subject and can freely without any guilt or sorrow tell him to go stick it some where else.

So today I did assignments. Had to retake a quiz. Talked to a friend in CA and a friend in AZ. Went to Lowe’s (during lunch hour traffic — what on earth was I thinking) and got some stuff to do my fender flares on my jeep. Hopefully it works. I love my Jeep. So far, it’s my favorite vehicle. Although the Camaro Berlinetta was cool, and I loved my motorcycle, this tops my favorites list. I’ve decided I’m taking it with me when we leave. I’ll need a truck when we get to NM for the horses, but I’m keeping my Jeep. Why?? Because I can!

What has been your favorite car — and did any of them have a name (put in especially for ThisIsBullDookie)?

This is an assignment from Kween_of_Queens

Pick a Moment In Time that remains close to your heart.  Just a small moment when everything seemed perfect, when, if given the opportunity, you could have stopped time completely and stayed in that moment just a little bit longer.

There are exclusions.  I want a small moment.  Nothing as grand as a wedding, a birth or a contest winning moment.

So…. after prolonged and sometimes painful thought here is my entry…. enjoy.

I wasn’t sure what I was doing here. I had only been clean for about 6 months, and here I was going tubing with my sister, her boyfriend (whom we called Guedo) and a couple of his friends. I was 18. My sister and I walked in, there on the couch sat a good looking guy in his mid 20′s. Short blondish-brown hair, a little Hitler mustache which was weird, and a cute smile. Problem….. he didn’t know it wasn’t polite to start at the toes when being introduced. He took his time, by the time he finally got to my eyes, I was TICKED. My hispanic blood was boiling and if he wasn’t a friend of my sister’s he’d have got the business end of my temper. Stay calm… blow it off, guys will be A** holes, no biggie, you’re here to have fun.

I got the front seat with friend #2, Bill being the driver and Sis, Guedo, and mister “let my eyes do the walking” squished into the backseat of the Z28 for the long ride to the Salt River. The day was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky. A light breeze, but no real wind. By the time we got to the river we were all anxious to get going. The river was beautiful. Clear, cold and flowing strongly. All that day I worked at avoiding Mr. “Eyes”. I hung out with Bill, laughed and joked with Guedo, and teased my sister every opportunity I got. Some how though he kept ending up close to me, and eventually in the tube tied next to mine. Have to give him this, he was persistant. After a long hot but extremely fun day we were ready to head home. Clouds had come up and we faced a long drive home with possiblly bad weather on so so roads. Oh oh… here comes another problem. Sis and Guedo are in the backseat getting friendly, and they ain’t leaving any room for Mr. “Eyes”.  The two of us end up sharing the  bucket seat of a Z28, and you should all know, that’s not a lot of room. The ride home looks to be long. I am holding myself rigidly away from him. I can feel the tension in my neck and back. I know that sometime in the next 3 hours, I’m going to have to relax. Great. Just what I want.

The ride home is………….. magical. Some thing happened in those three hours. Maybe it was the rain. A refreshing rain fell on the desert and washed it clean. The air was sweet smelling and clear. Everything was bright and green. The sun began to set over the desert, and for those of us lucky enough to see a desert sunset, with clouds still in the sky, we know how amazing that can be. We ended up talking, and I relaxed. He was alright. He made a stupid mistake, but he wasn’t as bad as I thought. I relaxed some more and leaned back. We held hands, and talked. We cuddled and talked. We kissed, and talked. 3 hours later we were home. That ride home was perfect. The desert, the rain, the sunset and yes, even the company.

I married him 1 year later. That ride was 21 years ago. Should have known that only good things could come from that great of a begining. Yes, he still makes  incredibly stupid mistakes — (he digs holes for himself, he’s so good at it that he’s earned a platinum back hoe), but there is always the desert magic at the heart of our relationship.

“We gonna explode?? I don’t wanna explode”

From Serenity

Productive day…… another trip to the maschocism that is known as dentistry. I had a deep cleaning on three teeth. Not fun. Had to numb me up for that, and tonight I was stuck eating rice and soup, while the family had more substantial sustenance.

Some shopping, mostly groceries, but I couldn’t pass up a 300 piece pack of scrapbooking paper and 78 wood stamping set. Some times… giant bulk is best. Of course the only other thing that we needed in gallon jugs was the shampoo and conditioner. My girls have an affinity for shampoo and conditioner. It’s best to buy it in industrial size vats.

We welcomed home a returning troop. Just returned from Afghanistan. We are so glad he is back safe and sound. We met him at the airport with armfuls of leis and signs welcoming him back and showing our support of the troops and thanking him for his service. The majority of the welcoming party was made up of active duty in the BDU’s. One guy stopped and tried to start something, but decided after realizing there was overwhelming odds favoring the military, he left quietly. Besides the 8 or so military personnel, most of the civilians were looking at us with approving smiles and nods. All in all it was just so good to have one of our own back safe and sound.

I am thinking of home schooling the landlord’s son. He is ODD, ADHD, and has Tourette’s. He was expelled before the holidays. He’s been doing nothing but watching videos and playing video games. His father is willing to pay me. It would be good to make some extra money. Hopefully, the boy will behave. It also benefits me through my school. As one of the classes I’m taking is dealing with exceptional children. So I’ll let you know how it goes. We aren’t planning anything big, just trying to keep his brain from atrophying. I’ve never home schooled anyone elses children. I’ve of course taught other children (being a teacher… duh.. of course…). On top of that, he’s the landlord’s kid. Yikes!! conflict of interest??  What do you think?? Am  I totally insane??? I think so.

Ok, off to play with my balls of string…..