This weekend promises to be busy… my youngest turns 13 tomorrow. 13!! I can’t  believe it. It seems like just yesterday that she was born. Wow. She’s having a sleepover tonight and a party tomorrow morning – early afternoon. Then we are heading for the Fair — which is a really lame excuse for a fair, but hey, when you’re on an island, you take what you can get and thank goodness it’s available! The Maui County fair is very old rides, very high cost and very little else. Everyone on the island goes. <sigh> I really miss being able to go to amusement parks and large fairs. This is really more like a carnival, but I digress. This will be Squirt’s first time attending, although Silver_Fangz has gone every year with friends.

I just can’t believe that starting tomorrow I will have two bonafide teenagers! Yikes. I’m not sure that I’m ready for that. Can we stop here?? Is there any way to reverse time?? You know what? Never mind…I would hate to have to go through 12 again. I hate 12!

Well Silver_Fangz is single again. Bad news… 18 yo is not gone yet. Although he seems very responsible and mentioned yesterday that if she was just a little older…… She is going to the fair with friends this afternoon and he is one of them. I really like this kid, but I’m really glad I don’t have to worry about this issue for long, since he’s leaving Monday. She broke up with boyfriend, and I’m glad. He freaked out when she had already made other plans for Friday. Then when she changed her plans to be with him — he was unwilling to go — it was “too late” — she had chosen her friends over him…yak, yak, yak. She was feeling so bad about herself. He’s always making her feel like crap about herself. That’s the real problem I had with him. I’m relieved that it’s over. He was trying to control her every move and thought. He was isolating her from her friends (or trying) and he even tried to isolate her from us. You know I was worried about that and the direction that was headed!

Anyways, Silver_Fangz had a bunch of friends over for a goodbye get together for Jake (18 yo headed for AF).  They hung out, ate, wrestled on the floor, talked outside, inside, tickled, watched movies. It was so good to see her happy. Her friends all wanted her to break up with him, and had told him that they didn’t like him anymore because of how he treated her. Good friends huh?

I have to go clean up and get ready for the sleepover. Popcorn, giggling, water balloon fights and movies are headed my way. Not to mention that they plan on making her cake together — and Squirt really wants to have an icing fight….I have put my foot down on that one. I’m up for lots of things, but not wiping up icing from all the surfaces of the kitchen. Uh huh….NO!

So I’m off to get ready. Have a great Friday everyone! And a great week end!

Have you ever had a food fight? And would you allow one in your kitchen?

When I was a teen — I was probably mostly atypical. I hated to talk on the phone. I didn’t go in for a lot of drama — I kept the same friends, boyfriends and styles. When I did change it was no biggie, usually added a friend into the mix, parted with boyfriends amicably etc. No big deals, no drama. I hung out with my friends, commiserated with them over their problems and went back about getting through my life.

My kids are surrounded by drama. Drama with boyfriends, friends and friend’s boyfriends. It’s a never-ending series of traumatic life changing events parading through our living room for our viewing via the internet, phone and in real-life.

Now, Silver_Fangz is having difficulties with boyfriend — he’s a nice kid but we’ve had problems with him from the get go. Nothing major, just not the way we believe our “Princess” should be treated. You know the drill…no one is ever going to be fully good enough. This kid started on a bad note – things went well for a couple weeks and since then she’s cried more days then she hasn’t.

Being an adult far removed from that type of  all encompassing events we can blithely look at her and say “It’s time to move on”. For her…its just not simple. There is another boy who likes her, fortunately (for mom and dad – who aren’t quite ready to deal with what that relationship would bring) he is 18 and leaves on Tuesday for Air Force basic training. Needless to say, we like him a lot more than current boyfriend, but the age gives more than a pause, it gives us a complete panic attack! 18 is quite different than 15. 18 drives. 18 has 3 years more experience. 18 can do things that 15 can only fantasize about. 18 makes parents go…. ummmm…………NO.

So, I continue to deal with daily drama and wonder why can’t they be more like mom…….

Then I remember the things I DID do at 15 and I think… ok, I can take the drama — turn on the soap operas and let the tears roll. I would much rather have that happen than have to go through what I put my folks through.

So…. Would you rather your children were like you during their teens — or just the opposite??

My names mean:  of the valley and Gracious.

Does this mean I am of the valley –  or that I am the valley of graciousness?

Nope. It means exactly… nothing. Although I did grow up in a valley, we moved there when I was 8 and I lived there until I married and started the gypsy life of a military family. The gracious part is hard to connect  — in any way. I graciously let others in front of me while driving without honking, swearing or trying to punish them by crowding, but somehow I don’t think that really counts.

I spent almost an hour talking to lady at gymnastics about name meanings and histories. See, I was named after my grandfather. If you don’t think thats handicapping for a young girl, you are seriously delusional. And don’t get me wrong. I ADORED my grandfather and he me. We were very close, he taught me chess, slipped me money and when I got older never mentioned that I was smoking as many of cigarettes as he was (ok, maybe that one didn’t help that much ).  He told me stories of the depression, picking corn for a penny a bushel in Iowa, and living in factory housing when he worked in the cement plant. Still, for a young girl to have a considerably masculine name, was not easy. Thankfully, my mom won the argument about what name to use in day-to-day stuff and I grew up with my middle name. Some people don’t even realize that the name they call me is NOT my first name.

When thinking about names for the girls I  we choose names that were somewhat unique, and had an interesting meaning.  I  We paired them with more common and simple names that if the girls later decided they didn’t like their name, they could follow in their mama’s footsteps and go by their middle name. Both girls have friends with lots of unusual names. Names like Zuri, Rhienne, Kai, Pila, Fiona, Char.

I like them. I like more common names too, like Jason, Jake and Erin and Sam. I see that there is definite trend towards the unusual or uncommon. It certainly more of a challenge to find a name that is different, but an unusual name adds something I think. Course, it’s a tough to have to live up to your name…. I should know.

You know the really bad part of having an unusual name? You can never find your name on those little license plates or on a nifty personalized pencil or keychain… I need a pencil with my name on it and I’m sure the girls are devastated because they have never found there names floating around on a cheap souvenir.

So…. Question of the day..
What does your name mean and do you like it?

As you can see I took down the background pic. Working on tweaking it, until I do, it was driving me NUTS! So…bye bye picture.

Now onto the important stuff:

Kitten update:

Kitty is doing fine, growing, crawling and eating. Taking him/her into the vet today for a check-up. A little worried about his eyes, they are not the blue they are supposed to be, they look all black. They were blue the first day, but since then they just look black. We’ll see what the vet says.

No name yet, waiting to find the gender.

Hair update:

Eldest dd’s hair is a mauve color. Boyfriend hates it, but oh well.

Youngest dd decided she wanted blue streaks, but they didn’t turn out like planned, so she’s washing her hair like crazy and we plan to redo them, this time using a highlighting kit first and then using the cap to put in the streaks.

Obviously, I choose a pic that showed both the little fuzz ball, and Silver_Fangz pink hair (mauve, burgundany — what eveah).

School update:

Squirt is doing well in all her classes, although she is still terribly behind in math (grrrr…..). I am waiting for my financial aid to go through and then waiting anxiously (or not) for classes to start next week. I haven’t been able to go work out, due to having to babysit the kitten 24/7. Thankfully that will be over in a week (or two, or three — <sigh>).

Went to a great program at a local church. It was called An Evening of Miracles. They put on a women’s conference last year that was fabuluous. Last night was inspiring as well. One of the biggest things I took away from last night was that “Jesus knows where you are”. So true…always.

Hubby was out at a track day all day yesterday so it was just us girls. We went shopping on Saturday and then hubby and I went out for a little “us” time. Ate at a great italian resturant in Kihei — soooo good! YUM. Then we came home and went to bed! How pathetic! The kitty has wiped us out. Getting up every few hours. I honestly don’t know how women in their forties have babies…I guess I’m just a wimp but I need my sleep!

Ok, done rambling. You guys have a great day!

Question of the day:

Natural or dyed??

Latest assignment from Featured_Grownups:

A Memorable Decade of your Life: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s ….

Tell us about an entire decade of your life — be it music, food, news events, popular movies and TV, Commercials, family memories…. use pictures where you can and/or want to.

Remember, when  you are done come back and leave a link to your post or if you don’t know how just a comment and I’ll make a link for you!

ALSO remember to visit all entries and leave a comment ~ and BOOST your favorites!

So, here we go:

Everything old becomes new again. I say this as they have great 80’s night on the radio and continuously play things like Boy George, and Prince (the artist now once again known as….). Flares, fringe and feathered hair is all back. To my great horror I even saw a terry cloth jumper… yikes (although that was more 70’s). Break dancing is back, as are Mohawks and safety pins in bodies.

The 80’s was my coming of age decade. In the 80’s I:

Went to high school

Was labeled a “freak” or a “head”

Listened to Heavy Metal – Scorpions, Ozzy, Black Sabbath, Rush

Marched in the Rose Bowl Parade

Lost my grandfather

Got too involved with my recreational methods

Got clean and sober

Learned what a dysfunctional family was

Got promised

Lost something I held onto for too short of a time and could never get back

Got my heart broken

Learned to drive

Learned to dance

Graduated from High School  – a year early (*ahem*)

Started college

Got engaged, and then married.

Moved out of my parent’s house

Moved out of the country

Visited East Berlin and saw the Wall, went through “checkpoint Charley” (and Alpha and Bravo)

Learned to play poker

Listened to classic rock: Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Eric Claypton, and heavy metal.

Learned to ski.

Drove 800 miles in 7 hours and 15 minutes (stopping for lunch) on the German Autobahn. (I drove 5 of those hours).

Grew my hair long

Moved back into the country.

Cut my hair short

Bought my first house

Watched the Wall come down

Learned to ride a motorcycle

Bought my first motorcycle

Worked as a peer counselor, fast food worker, car wash attendant, cashier, sales associate, and warehouse stocker.

Started college again.

Listened to Queensryce, Tom Petty, classic rock and heavy metal.

Grew up and came of age.

Many good things happened in the 80’s. There was good music, good movies and good times. Some bad times, some momentous times and some life-changing times. All in all… it was Memorable.

So… oldest dd colored her hair yesterday.  And as you might expect, she didn’t go  brown, black , blonde or red. She went  PINK.  I think it looks great! Her friends came over yesterday and helped her. She didn’t bleach it out first and just did streaks and the back pink, so it really looks magenta. She would have gone solid pink, but her boyfriend  didn’t want her to dye it at all.   I like her boyfriend, he’s a nice kid, but he’s starting to irk me.

I’m sure they’ll work it out. Silver_Fangz is bright, attractive, friendly, and strong-willed. I don’t think that she will let a boy make her decisions for her. She’ll figure it out, she’s a smart kid. My only concern is that she stays true herself and doesn’t give up any of her spirit and individuality. One good thing is that she has great friends and they are willing to stand up with her, no matter what. They are also willing to turn her hair pink and eat me out of house and home –  I guess that what teenagers do huh?

I wold love to dye my ends purple/magenta/pink — but I think I’m too old and it would be lame. <sigh> I hate aging — in my mind I’m still 20. If only my body would get the message.

Question of the day:

What have you wanted to do but haven’t because of age or maintaining an certain image for work or family?

Orphaned Kitten update:

So … kitty is doing pretty good. It received its first bath today. A very brief wash to remove some fleas. Followed by a hair drying and followed by a nice long nap. Miracle eats, sleeps and poops. Just like a baby. Her eyes are mostly open. She prefers to sleep on a warmer made from fleece and stuffed with birdseed. It can be warmed in microwave. She loves it. I think she thinks its the mommy. We put that in her box and *booom….. * it’s lights out!

It’s been a little warmer around here than we would like….. which really bites as the trades came back in force yesterday. It’s been blowing with a nice cool wind for the last two days and we have all the windows closed and the fans off trying to keep this little runt that is smaller than a remote control from getting cold. We are on constant guard against drafts and breezes. We are also quite warm most of the day. What’s that old saying? Women don’t sweat…they “glow”. Yeah right, well the “glow” keeps running off.

At any rate…. Hubby has come around. He realized yesterday . He just starting laughing. I asked what was funny. He looked at me and said “I just realized that there is no way I’m ever going to pry that kitten out of this house”.  I just laughed and replied that I was so glad he had finally come around….that he was the only that didn’t know that, and we were all happy that everything was out in the open.

So…we continue to feed, and care for this adorable little munchkin… and have the highest hopes that she will continue to progress….. Right now, this task consumes us. And keeps us up all night!!

We’ll keep you posted.

Quiz for today:

What do you get when you have 2 preteen girls,

2 teen girls

1 premenopausal woman

(2 of the above are suffering from their monthly visitor)

1 hubby who is practical and sensible

and one itty bitty teeny tiny orphaned kitty that is about 5 days old. Eyes still closed, found by landlord abandoned.

That’s right! You get 5 females cuddled around this tiny creature feeding it with a miniature bottle every hours or so, wiping its bum to stimulate it’s bowels, and cuddling it to keep it warm. Meanwhile sensible and practical hubby makes trips to vets for replacement milk and said baby doll sized bottle, suggests calls to vets and humane society for advice and repeatedly admonishes his 3 girls not to get too attached because we can’t keep this one if it even makes it. (According to the professionals, odds are against us).

Needless to say, we have a new kitten.

We hope all goes well. He/She is now eating out of the bottle, had several bowel movements and sleep for several hours cuddled in my arms like a baby. We are thinking that its name should be “Miracle”. Although we have to find the Elvish translation for that — since we have Pippin and Rashwe (Elvish for trouble) we need to go with the flow.

Ok, first a question — How does my site load for those of you using dial-up? Is the new layout killing your load time? Please let me know. Thanks.

Now……. back to our regularly scheduled broadcast…

While hubby was in Honolulu this week he picked up my  textbooks. Usually I order them via that marvelous electronic invention — the internet! Sometimes I use the equally miraculous invention the telephone. At any rate… he went into sticker shock. He’s still walking around stunned, making comments like $58.00 for a used paperback, and $240.00 for 3 books….. Good thing I only have 2 classes huh?

I’m hoping he’ll snap out of soon. It would probably help to get my financial aid in, but that will be a few more months thanks to the slowly grinding wheels of bureaucracy.

Classes start beginning of October. I’d say I’m excited, but I try to never lie.

I am looking forward to the content of one of the classes — Children’s Literature. Looks like fun. The teacher is one I had in my last block of classes though and she swamped us with work. I have a feeling I can expect the same flood of assignments and readings. And lucky me, the textbook is just as thick as the one for the last class. Woot. She was assigning 100-200 pages of reading a week, plus discussions, lesson plans and activities.

I guess if it was easy….anyone could do it and it wouldn’t really mean much — they would have Masters of Garbage collection, and Masters of Burger Flipping. You could get a Master’s in Cleaning (I’m sure I qualify for that one — I’ve been working on it for 30+ years) or a Master’s of Online Blogging (I’m getting close to this one, just two more years and I’m solid).

How ’bout a Masters of Child Rearing? I’m retaking a few courses in that one that failed the first time around. Courses like Getting your teenager to pick up after themselves 600, and Healthy Eating for Teens 645. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’ve seen any progress since my first go round.

So yesterday was kinda successful, I did make it to the Y and worked out while Squirt was in Gymnastics. I feel good about that! My goal is to work out at least 4x a week. Eventually I want to get strong enough to begin running everyday again…. then we’ll see from there.

Silver_Fangz is grounded. Not anything major, just a lot of not obeying little stuff till “poof” — you’re grounded. She better get busy on her presentation though, or she’ll be grounded until it is complete. She has till Friday to avoid that. Unfortunately, she’s made absolutely no move in the completion direction… sad for her.

Hubby has to fly out to Oahu today. He tests for Chief tomorrow. He didn’t study (since we want to get out) but will have to fill in the bubbles anyway. He will try his best. If he makes Chief it will truly be divine intervention — which would mean we would have to seriously consider our options….. I mean when God talks, you’d better listen.

The bummer … this is the 20th Anniversary of our Church wedding. See we had two weddings (no divorces) thanks to the military. Hubby had orders after tech school (he cross-trained after 5 years in) to Phoenix, which worked perfectly as I was in Tucson. In April of that year (86) he got “diverted” to …. (wait for it)……………………………….GERMANY! Since our church wedding was already mostly planned, we were screwed. See the wedding was scheduled for Sept 13th (5 days after he got out of tech school) and his report no later than date was October 12. 1 month was NOT enough time to get me on his orders, get my passport and get my stuff shipped. Our option was to try to get command sponsored after he got to Germany, which could take up to 18 months… or get married earlier, get command sponsored, get my passport and orders etc. We choose door number 2. I flew out to Mississippi in June. I was 18. We had a small civil ceremony which our friends in Mississippi threw for us –complete with dress, flowers, cake, attendants, reception and decorations. That was June 14th. We had to have special permission from a judge and a notarized letter from my mommy and daddy (You had to be 19 in Mississippi to get married without parental consent at the time). We didn’t tell anyone in the family except immediate — parents and siblings. Then after summer, I went back to Tucson, orders and passport in hand. Hubby showed up in Sept and we had the big she-bang wedding with the church and photographer (who didn’t show) etc.

In the beginning… we celebrated only the church anniversary. We figured that was the “true” wedding. Then he was gone for the first 3 or 4 church anniversaries. We decided to celebrate both, because that way we had a shot of being together for at least one! Some years he actually missed both…pathetic! So now we acknowledge both and do something special on at least one of them!

So

Happy 20th Anniversary Hubby!

I Love you more than I could ever say!