I still exist.....

As many of you know. I have no excuse for not updating my blog, except for the fact that I have no computer and have limited access to the Internet other than my phone, which does not support blogger updates.

With that said, I am well. Not much has changed, really, since my last update. I am still technically unemployed but currently on active duty with the Air Force in Mississippi right now, so I'm saving money for to live on when I return. As it turns out, this Finance School I am attending will serve me well in the military as well as the civilian world, and I am grateful for this opportunity to be paid to learn. I also appreciate a chance to hit the beach on a regular basis. Last weekend (pictured above) was one of the coolest weekends of my life. I spent the weekend SCUBA diving and sight seeing with friends, and very much enjoyed my stay at Panama City beach.

My girls, who unfortunately I haven't seen in almost 3 months, are also well and greatly anticipating my homecoming. They have been well entertained by my mother and the rest of my family in my absence, for which I am extremely thankful. Most exciting in their little world right now, is the Disney World vacation have planned for the day of my return. We are all counting down the days until this event! The theme for Disney parks this year is "What will you celebrate?" Our trip is going to be a reunion celebration, which is pretty darn exciting! Additionally, I will be extending our vacation by three days and bringing them back to my base in Biloxi, Mississippi for a visit and some time at the beach. I am planning a bonfire on the beach (which the girls don't know about yet) and am also planning to take them into New Orleans to visit the French Quarter, Jackson Square and the Aquarium of the Americas. I will also show them the areas I worked in when I was deployed for Hurricane Katrina and of course, buy them some Mardi Gras beads. It will be a lovely weekend....

Another one bites the dust.....

Just so everyone is aware, I am in the middle of a pity party right now. MedCentral layed me off on Thursday with less than a days notice (actually, about 15 minutes notice) and no severance package. So here I am, another victim of the economy - or at least that's the explanation I was given. I am going on Active Duty in Mississippi for 3 months and am fortunate to be able to go on active duty 3 days per week until I leave, effective tomorrow. My head is still spinning, but in the mean time - I'm just trying to figure out how I will (as an unemployed single Mom) continue to pay my bills and provide for my children. I will be looking at every possible (legal) employment option. (lol) I think it may be time for a career change.....

Wish me luck!!!!!

A girl and her frog.....

I have been thinking of what I can post as updates and really, we are just living day to day and enjoying our lives thoroughly. We have added a new frog to our family. (Are you sick of hearing about our frogs yet?) We came across a Pixie frog at a local pet store, mislabeled as a Pac man frog. What is the difference, you ask? About 20 years life expectancy - about 6 inches and about a pound in weight! Pac man frogs grow to be about 6-8 inches long and live for about 10-15 years. They weigh anywhere from 1/2 to a pound, and get to be a rather large frog. A Pixie (our new frog) is also known as an African bull frog, and is the second largest species of frog in existence. They will live on average 35 years and grow to be 12 inches long and equally as big around. They weigh about 2 lbs. and are often (in infancy) mistaken for a Pac man. We had been debating getting a Pixie for quite some time, but they are typically only available on the internet from breeders. I located one at a pet store in California, but between the cost of the frog and next day shipping, it would have been nearly $100.00 - which was insane. I was very glad to run across one locally and at a reasonable price.

So what can you do with a frog like this? Well in addition to being incredibly cool and HUGE (kind of like Darwin) you can play with it....and apparently, put it in a weebles tree house! These frogs can be quite aggressive in adulthood unless trained to be handled in infancy, so we are getting "Jabba" used to being touched now, so hopefully we can continue to interact with him as he grows. (Molly came up with the name, Jabba because when they're full grown, they look like the star wars character Jabba the hut!)

Finally I must mention - Molly received an A+ on her recent Science test, which was (you guessed it) about FROGS. She was the only child in the class to get every question correct! I spoke to her teacher and she commented on how much this child knows about frogs. She was wildly impressed with how Molly had learned it all hands on, at home. (Yay for MOM!) I told her the funny story about how I had told the girls a few weeks ago that I was taking them to the "all Ohio reptile show" in Columbus, so we could buy some new frogs. She laughed when I revealed that Molly had given me one of the most confused and disgusted looks ever, replying "Mom, that is the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. Frogs are amphibians, NOT reptiles!"

*sigh...... In the words of my sweet Molly, I've been schooled.

Yummm... Frogs!

Last weekend, in the depths of my illness, I begged my mother to drive the girls and me to the "All Ohio reptile show" in Columbus, so I could buy some new frogs for Molly and Kate's bog. As insane as it sounds to go out when I was terribly ill, it should be noted this show comes to town only once a month and this was the only month we were available to go between now and August, hence the urgency. After much debate, we purchased two beautiful red eye tree frogs named Cha Cha (Pictured above) and Ting-ting. These frogs are a wonderfully bright green and Kate especially, loves them. She delights in telling them stories and listening to them call eachother. This bog is one of the coolest little investments I have ever made... It's WAY better than an aquarium!

Fast forward one week:

Out of the goodness of her heart, when my mother came to get the girls ready this morning, she brought a bag of bright green shamrock cookies from our local bakery. As Grandma and Molly were sitting at the table, enjoying their last bites of cookie, a groggy Kate entered the room and declared with shock and total dismay "Grandma!!! You are eating one of our new frogs!!!"

I think my favorite part of this whole "parenting gig" would be the completely random things my girls do, and the random comments they make. I can only imagine the horror my poor Kate must have felt in that moment, when she believe her grandma was eating one of her new frogs - but to her credit, she recovered quickly and laughed along with the rest of us. That's the good stuff....

"I learned what SMUGGLE means!"

Wow, I'm typically better at updating my blog than this. Sorry! Cramming 2 weeks in to one... we went to Niagara falls on Valentines day, and had an amazing time. We had a bit of a fumble though, when we got the Canadian Border and realized we did not have the correct birth certificate for my friends's youngest daughter "A2"" ...she had accidentally sent one of the boys certs with me. FORTUNATELY the border patrol didn't notice or just didn't say anything - and so we were permitted to cross for the day. I will blog more about our trip later...

We have new frogs for our bog... we have 2 red eye tree frogs who are just absolutely awesome. They can be a bot difficult to keep in captivity, but it appears we are doing things correctly, so I hope they choose to live.

I became violently ill last week with Kidney stones, a raging kidney infection and a wicked reaction to my completely ineffective antibiotic. I was down for several days and after a week am finally starting to feel better. I haven't been that ill in a decade. People who are on facebook (which I also discovered last week) noted my long and drawn out whines.

And finally.... poor Kate has strep again, diagnosed by Dr. MOM. I am making an appointment for her in 2 minutes and 19 seconds, and if this isn't strep, I'll eat my coat!

If she is feeling well enough, we will be going back to COSI this Saturday to see the frog exhibit with Molly, Aunt Chrissy and cousin M. I hope and pray she is well enough...

We have a bog...

Greetings friends.... I have to show you our newest project. We have a Frog bog! Otherwise known as a vivarium, or living terrarium. This is a work in progress, as I am still trying to figure out how to create a water feature.

Above is our first green tree frog "Pearl". Kate named her herself, because she has a pearly belly.

Here is Molly looking at the bog last evening. We also have a green tree frog named "honey" because she has 3 yellow spots on her back. (Molly was the name creator here.) We are planning to get poison dart frogs (which are NOT poison in captivity) and maybe a couple of red eye tree frogs. I'll keep you posted!

SOME people find it amusing.....

But I do not!


Apparently, the only person who did NOT get the memo that Mullets went out in the 80's, is my daughter Katie...

As evidenced by THIS!!!

Note, I had just whined a week of so ago, about the fact that Jason cut 4 inches off of Kate's hair. now, Kate took nearly 6!Kate is grounded from scissors indefinitely - for sure until after valentines day - and perhaps until after Easter, since she showed no remorse. Her only other consequence is a logical and natural consequence of her behavior. She will not be getting a princess makeover at the bibbidy bobbidy boutique in August, as her hair will be too short for any of the princess hair do's and I am SO not paying for them to simply apply makeup. My frustration also came with Molly, who had been asked specifically to put the scissors up where Kate could not get to them. Instead, she threw them on her pile of art supplies which were on her bedroom floor. (That's another story.) As Molly's consequence, she now has to pay for her own princess makeover. Actually, she doesn't know it yet, but I won't make her pay for the makeover in it's entirety; but she WILL pay at least as much as Kate's haircut cost me yesterday - which was a pretty penny, as the ONLY salon in town open was in the mall, due to the blizzard like conditions we had yesterday! Molly is earning money by doing wonderful chored like emptying the dishwasher, taking laundry out of the dryer and folding it, emptying the trashcan upstairs daily.... etc. I will make sure she has enough money to cover her fair share, and I'm getting valuable help without whining! This is a win-win for both of us.

AND just FYI, if you *happen* to be a grandparent, or anticipating being a grandparent some day - here are suggestions on conversations to avoid with your grandchild: The names have NOT been been changed to protect the innocent!

"Hey Katie, guess what?!?!? Baby Mario got his first hair cut yesterday! Would you like to see pictures? Oh, isn't he CUTE getting his hair cut? We just LOVE new haircuts, don't we? Katie, guess what.... here are 2 brand new pair of scissors for you, so you can work on your art projects! I'll send them to your house. Katie, while I'm thinking of it - do you want to see more pictures of baby Mario's first hair cut? Isn't he cute?...... now run along and play with your scissors sweetie. Have fun - Grandma loves you !!! "

(I Love you Mom.... but PLEASE - No more scissors !!!!)