News from the Sunshines

Or is that the Empty Minds??? Anywho...

I received the following email from my sister on Wednesday...

(Names changed to protect the - well, whatever...)

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From: Joanna
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Subject: Great news!

Starting September 11, Kyle will be starting a new job (a new career) with the CityNearWhereWeLive Police Department. Yes, as a Police Officer!

We didn't tell anyone at the time but from October of 2006 to August of 2007 he attended InsertNameHere Regional Police Academy's nights and weekends Basic Peace Officer training. He graduated 2nd in his class (by 1/100th of a point!) and passed his TCLEOSE test on his first try. Since graduation last year we've been looking for the right opportunity for him. Being out in the country in OurTown proved to be a challenge - it seemed OurTown was the only police department close enough and the only one not hiring... but now CityNearWhereWeLive has hired him and I'm so excited that we'll both be working in the same town!

I am so proud of him for pursuing and achieving this dream of his (or ours!). Since he was very young he's wanted to be a police officer... so this is a dream come true for him.

I'm sure this news, out of the blue, raises a lot of questions (like how did I ever keep this a secret!?!?!?). Please understand that I didn't tell (at Kyle's request) because at age HisAge going after a new career like this was scary - we didn't know for sure he could do it (well, I always believed he could but he doubted). He didn't want anyone to know unless he succeeded...

Pray for Kyle’s Mom - she may have a heart attack when we tell her! Keep us in your prayers too! Lots to do between now and the 11th (only 2 weeks!).

Love you all,

==============================

This is super exciting news, and we are very excited for him. We had NO CLUE, and normally I would be PO'ed at Joanna for keeping something like this, but Kyle is a VERY private person, and I respect his wish to keep things under wraps until he knew for sure...

So, good luck Kyle. We are so very proud of you for for fulfilling a dream and that you are a member of our family.

My first ever award!!

I received an award, from a lovely lady with a terrific blog!

Wendy, over at The Domestiquette gave me this lovely award!

(At this moment, I'm doing a little happy dance, and trying to think of a word that will convey to you just how big the smile on my face is! Nope, can't think of one.)

Here are the rules of the award.

(I borrowed the rules from Heather, who gave the award to Wendy)

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate up to 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

OK, so here are the blogs that I am passing the award to!

I have decided that I'm going to mention blogs that I haven't already linked to here. But you guys know I still love you!

1. From the Planet of Janet

2. Merrie Melody

3. The Adventures of the Williams Family

4. Wiping up Snot

5. Life's Funny Like That

6. Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child

7. My Original Self

It was really hard to pick just seven, and I could have gone on all day. So, go check these out and give them some love!!

First Day of School Photos...

Mater and Daddy...


Mater LOVES school



Why did you come back, Mom?


Monkey - getting right to work.


Deep Thoughts...

Busier than a one-eyed cat watchin two mouse holes

Somehow, the elementary school managed to pass out THREE different school supply lists. I thought I had managed to get everything, only to find out at 8:00 last night that the list they gave me at "Meet the Teacher" night was different from the first two lists I was given. For both grades. Ugh. I will be getting more school supplies tonight - THE NIGHT BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS!!!

Yikes.

I completely blew off all laundry this weekend in favor of a really addictive video game, so I will be dong that tonight, too... Yeehaw.

Along with making sure two very dirty boys get their bath (They're most likely not dirty right now, but they will be.)

I need to call the financial aid office for MY shcool once they open, because they STILL won't release my funds, and I'm kinda freaking out...

UGH.

Monkey will be joning Cub Scouts this year, and of course, the meetings are on Thursdays. Also, every event scheduled at their new school so far has also been on a Thursday AND, Possum has DeMolay on Thursdays. Budman and I are gonna be busy on Thursday.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that a three day weekend is coming up!!!!!

Thank you for letting me complain. I know I'm not the only one, but sometimes, you just got to let it all out to feel better! So, tell me how busy you are. (Or whatever else you want to complain about.) GO ahead - let it all out...

THINGS LEARNED LIVING IN TEXAS

My sister, Joanna, sent this to me, and I thought it was funny (Plus, I'm totally lazy busy today and don't have time to write a real post.)

THINGS LEARNED LIVING IN TEXAS

• A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.
  
  
• There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in Texas
  
  
• There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 of them live in Texas.
  
  
• If it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.
  
  
• 'Jaw-P?' means, 'Did y'all go to the bathroom? (Very important phrase for Texas mothers embarking on a car trip.)
  
  
• There is no such thing as 'lunch.' There is only dinner and then there is supper.
  
  
• Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar.
  
  
• "Backwards and forwards" means "I know everything about you."
  
  
• The word 'jeet' is actually a phrase meaning, 'Did you eat?'
  
  
• You don't have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.
  
  
• You measure distance in minutes. (more like hours) instead of miles.
  
  
• You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.
  
  
• You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Texas Pete, Tabasco and Ketchup.
  
  
• The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and high school football.
  
  
• You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.
  
  
• Fried catfish is the other white meat.

The craziness that is my life.

Ok - so enough of the changes crap - back to the mundane details of my day-to-day life.

This morning, I drove Budman's truck to work, because I need to leave early today to take the little ones to meet their teachers, while Budman is taking Possum to DeMolay (I really wish they hadn't scheduled Meet the Teacher for a Thursday, but they didn't consult me in the planning stages...).

We have limited parking at our house, so the truck is parked in the ditch out by the street. We have had rain almost non-stop since Sunday. (Can you see where this is going yet??) That's right, I couldn't get the truck out of the ditch (but at least there was no rushing water this time...) It wasn't stuck, it just didn't want to climb the little hill to get up to the street.

I had to go back into the house, fuss at Possum for not being ready to go (He knows that his Dad will jump his @ss when he comes down and finds him sitting there watching TV, but he still does it - TEENAGERS!!!) and get Budman to move the truck for me. THANKFULLY, he was able to coax his lady out of the ditch and up onto the road, so that I could get to work only 15 minutes late today.

This is actually an improvement over the past 7-10 days...

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Also this morning, I took a pair of Knee-highs out of my drawer, tried to put them on, and discovered a hole in the heel. So, I threw them away, and grabbed another pair, put them on and discovered a hole in the heel. ugh!

Now, I suppose I could have taken the one good knee high from each pair to make a complete set, but they weren't the same shade, and I'm weird like that. Back to my drawer I went, where I find a navy trouser sock, a black trouser sock and a maroon trouser sock. *Sigh*

So, I stole borrowed a pair of socks from Budman.

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At work, my boss hired a new temp to replace the replace the one that left. She started work yesterday around 10:00am. This morning, around 9:00am, my boss started asking if we had seen her.

My co-worker and I checked the file room.

No new girl.

We checked the break room.

No new girl.

We checked the bathroom.

No new girl.

This was about two hours after we first noticed that she hadn't been at her desk in quite some time.

A quick check of her desk told us that wherever she went, she took her purse with her. This is how I know it wasn't aliens. Aliens never let you take time to grab your purse.

I am completely befuddled by this, because I would NEVER dream of walking off a job, even if it sucked. I would just wait out the day, say 'this isn't working out for me', and then not come back. I certainly wouldn't leave without a word to anyone.

And if she wasn't walking out, if there was some true emergency, then she would have said something - to SOMEONE, right?

I don't know why I am continually amazed by people. I should be used to it by now...

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Oh - and I'm in the process of creating a blogroll, it's over there.

<====

I used the blogger gadget, but I don't really like it, because I can't change the font color, and it's really hard to read. Anyway, I'll get to work on that as soon as I learn a little more HTML, or whatever.

My point is (Oh yes, I actually had one this time) that if you are not on the blogroll, and you want to be, leave a comment, or email me to let me know.

If you are on the blogroll, and you don't want to be shame on you leave a comment, or email me to let me know.

Have a great day.

Changes, Part II

OK, so I decided I would go with Eternal Sunshine. Sounds kind of peppy, and since I'm an annoying Pollyanna-type, it probably suits me.

I also decided to Plurk and Twitter. We'll see which one I end up sticking with.

If you want to follow me on Plurk, I'm at http://www.plurk.com/user/EternalSunshine

For twitter, it's http://twitter.com/EternalSunshin

I can already see how Plurk, Twitter and Facebook could totally ruin my blogging if I'm not careful. I'm sure I'll be able to figure out a nice balance once the new wears off.

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In other news, I had yesterday off work. It was a busy day so that I could get the boys ready for school. I took Mater to get his shots in the morning, so that I could make sure that his new school had everything they needed (We got re-districted this year) for him to start next Tuesday.

I was pretty sure that Monkey's shots were up to date, but I took with him with us anyway, so that they could look over his shot record to be sure. When we got there, they told me that Monkey was up to date, and ... so was Mater. Crap - I drove 20 miles for nothing!

Next, we went to the school; I had been told at the end that since Mater was in Pre-K last year, I would have to redo the whole registration process at the new school. Turns out, the old school just transferred his records, so other than our proof of residence, they had everything they needed already. That was a nice surprise.

Then off the super mega store, that I hate, but dang - it's just cheaper than everything else! I got the rest of the boys school supplies (except for Possum, since he's in High School, we won't know what he needs until he gets there), picked up some school clothes for them, as well as new backpacks.

They were acting like wild animals in the store, but I was STARVING, so I took them to McDonald's for lunch. I normally wouldn't take them somewhere special if they hadn't been behaving, but I also knew that it was an exciting day for them, and they were having trouble "reining it in".

We did a little more shopping, then headed home, where I collapsed into a chair and didn't move for an hour. I still have to find a personal pencil sharpener for Monkey's list (WHERE do they come up with this stuff!?!?), but other than that, these kids are ready for school (and Mom is ready to send them!).

Possum has Fish Camp this weekend, I guess he will get his schedule then, and figure out "how High school works". I remember moving the summer before I started HS and I was SO nervous, AND I was new. At least he's not the new kid anymore...

His school is unlike any High School I've ever seen, they put the Freshmen into "The Freshman Academy", mostly separated from the upperclassmen, and when he moves to tenth grade, he will have to pick an "Academy", based on his interests and aptitude. It's very unusual (at least, I think it is), but I guess it works for them. I'm interested to see how it works.

I really hope that Possum enjoys High School as much as I did.

So now, our oldest starts high school, and our youngest is starting Kindergarten, dang, who said they could grow up!?

Changes

I've made a few changes to my blog. (I'm sure you're sitting there right now saying, "Duh!")


Based on several series done lately by some really terrific bloggers, and the reactions to these posts by some of my friends, I've been making gradual changes. (Sorry if I missed anyone - it took me hours to go back and find the posts I was looking for)

This new template may end up being temporary, although it's really starting to grow on me. I have been desperate to find a 3-column layout, so that my sidebar wouldn't be so cluttered. Now, I've found it, but it's possible that when my blog figures out what it wants to be when it grows up, I will have someone design a template that is all mine.

I changed my name. Then, shortly after, the day after, in fact, I discovered another blog, written by a very lovely woman who calls herself Sunshine. (Yes, I am asking myself why I didn't check on that BEFORE I renamed myself... ANSWER: Because I'm an arrogant twit who thinks she knows everything, that's why) Her blog is older than mine, she's been Sunshine longer. I don't know how I missed it, and I'm not sure yet if it's that big a deal. It doesn't seem that we travel in the same circles, so any possible confusion might be avoided. I'm still up in the air, and not sure what i should do about it. I suppose I could begin calling myself 'Eternal Sunshine", which sounds a hell of a lot better than changing my name to 'Empty Mind'. Your thoughts on the matter??

So, name change issued to be addressed at a later date - but not too late, because it's driving me crazy.

My children's names will not be changing (except for Mater - maybe). Those animal names are actually their nicknames, and while we don't use them on a daily basis, we do use them. It started when my father named Chipmunk, and then we decided that all the children needed animal names as well.

For all of them, their animal name either fits their personality, or in Chipmunk's case, physical appearance. No, she doesn't have rodent teeth (and if she did, we would be calling her Peacock or some other animal name, 'cause I AM NOT THAT MEAN). She just has this habit of walking with her hands out in front of her like "paws" pointing down - or whatever. My point is, she looks a little like a chipmunk. Either that, or like the scene from Legally Blonde, where they do the "Bend, and SNAP!" routine. Given those options, I prefer Chipmunk.

Mater also has an animal name as well, we finally decided on Grasshopper, but since I had already started calling him Mater here, I never changed it... Besides, he's the only one that doesn't really "fit" his name, so I'm waiting to see if he grows into it before I make it permanent.

Aren't you glad I decided to share??

Now, please be sure to comment with your thoughts on the name issue. I feel rather silly, having made a big deal about changing it (which it wasn't) only to turn around and change it again, or worse, change it back... Help!

Time for a bit of seriousness.

A few years ago my Grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. While we ultimately lost him to cancer, it was his Alzheimer's that had the greatest impact on our family.

I have decided to do all I can to help end Alzheimer's before it affects another generation of our family! My sister, J, and I have had a team in honor of our Grandpa Jack every year since he passed.

This year we are walking in October.

An estimated 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's today. And with 78 million baby boomers approaching the age of greatest risk for this fatal disease, the need to find a cure is more urgent than ever. Unless we find a way to change the course of the disease, 16 million Americans will have Alzheimer’s by 2050.

Since 1989, Memory Walk has raised $230 million for Alzheimer care, support and research. By teaming up with others, I'm hoping to do my part to fight this deadly disease.

The Alzheimer's Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research, and funds raised through Memory Walk go toward research to treat and prevent Alzheimer's, and programs to improve the lives of millions of Americans already affected.

We know we can make a difference together! To join our team or make a donation, visit the link below.

Follow This Link or click on my sidebar to the left to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support the Alzheimer's Association.

Oh, The Google searches I'm going to get...

I know - two posts in less than 12 hours... No, I'm not sick, but thanks for asking!

I have been meaning to post this one for a while, but I've been hesitant, because I can only imagine the crazy search terms that will bring perverts people here... However, Catwoman recently posted this (You MUST read it, go ahead, I'll wait) so I decided to suck it up and just post the story already.

A few weeks ago, Budman sent me this link. (I feel I must warn you, this site can be a tremendous time suck, so let's try and stay focused on me and MY story first, Mkay??) I thought it was funny, and gave it no more thought. When he came to pick me up from work that evening, however, this thing

was in the car, in my seat... Purty, ain't it??

"Oh gawd, you bought one?? I just thought you were sending me another crazy product idea." (He loves to do this. I don't know how he finds some of this crazy stuff.) Turns out, he and his boss had stopped by the hardware store at lunchtime - Men - and he saw the chicken sitting there innocently, picked it up, and when he saw what it did, he had to have it.

So, the chicken came home with us.

Monkey and Mater were very curious about the chicken. They really love that their father likes toys as much as they do. (except when they bring home a cool happy meal toy, and he steals it, but I digress)

Here's the point where I must show you what it does - PLEASE, if you are at work, or have a sleeping baby, husband or dog, and don't want them to wake up, turn down your sound. (Actually, it's not quite as loud as I thought it would be...)

Naturally, the boys then wanted in on the fun.

ALL.EVENING.LONG. I was bombarded by the following statements coming from my little darlings:

I want to choke the chicken!

Mom, can I choke Daddy's chicken?

Is it my turn to choke the chicken??

No, you can choke the chicken after I'm done!

I LOVE choking the chicken!

FINALLY (long after all the talk of choking the chicken had gotten old) it was bedtime. The boys each begged to be allowed to choke the chicken one more time before they went to bed, and as they were heading up the stairs exclaiming things like "I want to choke the chicken again tomorrow" and "Choking the chicken is FUN!", Monkey cried out "That is the best thing ever!!"

To which his father replied "Almost, son, almost

awesome. Thanks, Honey!!

(And what is UP with my gratuitous use of parentheses lately?)

I almost forgot to mention!

Possum came back from Colorado this week.  YAY!  He's really been missed.  But even better still...

He brought CHIPMUNK with him.  Boy, have we missed that girl.

These days, THIS is what Budman looks like most of the time...

(The picture turned out a little fuzzy, but I like it...)

And this...

We're over the moon to have her back - even if it is just for a little while.

Here it is, as promised.

Since it's been over a week since I last posted, and PLENTY has happened in that time, I'm actually going to be kinda glad to get all of this out of my head - finally.

Unfortunately for you, I will be subjecting you to a bulleted list. (Why do people always apologize for the bulleted list?? I actually enjoy them - everything is organized neatly, so you can read each point, and move on. So, next time you do a bulleted list, no need to apologize - at least, not to me)

• Two weeks ago, Budman and I took my cousins, Kaley and Kyla, to see this band, among others. Budman has been friends with them (the band, not my cousins) longer than we've known each other, and this is the first time we have gotten out to see them. It was fun, and I didn't get home until 1:30AM! I'm such a party girl.

• In addition to Mater's birthday last Sunday, we had a b-day party to attend for one of Monkey's friend's, at Peter Piper's Pizza. It was a nice time, but I hate those things. I don't really fit in with all the other mothers, who I guess know each other all ready, and no one talked to me.

• Since I don't really like having to hold conversations, I didn't mind it so much

• My nephew, Nigel (See, I'm giving everyone names, now instead of initials) turned four on Wednesday, so we drove down to Waco for his birthday party.

• I took 124 pictures before my camera battery died. Still loving my camera so much. Last year, with my old camera (which took AA batteries), I went through 6 batteries (could have gone through more, but I only brought six), and only got 60 or 70 pictures. This year, if I had charged my camera after Mater's birthday last week, my camera would have been good all day and then some

• I wish I had gotten a picture of the play food that we bought for him, 'cause some of the items, were rather questionable - at least for a dirty-minded soul like me, and would have made for great blog fodder

• Yesterday, while I was home with the boys, they asked to make books. I gave them paper, and helpd them draw things like rocketships, trains and boats. Turns out, they made "Mom and me" books. For example, Mater's book had pictures of me and him on the rocketship, train, etc... and chronicled the "adventures" we went on. Monkey's book was much the same, but the adventures were in a different order. SO cute... and creative

• Mater's idea originally was to do a "recipe book" He changed his mind before I could figure out exactly what he had in mind, but it got me to thinking. If I had them each draw pictures of their favorite foods, and then added recipes, it could be cute. Need to give it more thought - I'm trying to figure out how I can turn it into a Christmas present idea

• Still need someone to do help me learn my Statistics problems. UGH

• It was 107 degrees here on Sunday, and 106 yesterday

• It's only supposed to be 98 today, Thank goodness for Tropical Storm/ Hurricane/ whatever Edouard.

• I think it's pretty sad when we're all jazzed about the temperature "ONLY" getting up to 98 degrees.

• I'm leaving you with this picture of the cake that my sister, Joanna, made for Nigel's birthday. Prepare to be amazed. Oh, and please forgive the poor color quality of that last photo. I futzed with my camera setting, and I have no idea what I did wrong. But I still LOVE my camera!!!

In case you were wondering, that's Daffy duck, on a life raft in the Ocean. Made with food paste and fondant and all that good stuff, and dang, all I did was buy a cake at Albertson's for my kid...

Still here...

I've been incredibly unmotivated lately, I have plenty to post, but haven't felt like sitting down to organize all my thoughts.

We've been busy, but hopefully, I have a slow day tomorrow, and I can manage a few minutes to put something out there...

Hope you all are well, have a great week.