I wrote this post about the ScotchBright Glass Stove top cleaner. Now, I know I did not give the best reviews on this thing... but, there is always a but, I have found other uses for it.
I use this for everything... Well everything I need a scrubber on. If it is soft enough to use on a glass cooktop it is soft enough for other things. I use it on my stove as well as my table after the kids eat and sometimes my counters.
Also there is a velcro type of sticky on the scrubber, I am going to use some fleece when all of my pads run out and make it last longer. To conserve the pads, I used all the cleaner out of them then use a regular cleaner until the pad is to far gone.
This is just a quick post... I mean really quick. I got sick this week and it knocked me on my arse. I mean really it came from no where. It took me all Wednesday to recover! Fabulous. I mean really. SD is over some where doing some really good stuff right now. This cruise (how funny is that!) they do not have a phone on board the ship... So communication is a major key into getting through this. (see Deployment, How I take on the challenge ) Last night I was up talking to a friend on Facebook until an unmentionable hour of the morning (notice NIGHT was not used), hubster popped online.... Being that I really value the abilities for instant communication with my husband we had an email chat for 2 hours, Yes two hours! We talked about the kids, taxes, Kipper, a friend for Kipper, rain, Kids, him, me, new toys they got, you name it. I even told him I didn't miss him ;) (ask silly questions you get silly answers). I got 3 hours of sleep last night all to keep my communication open with the hubby. A lot of women complain that they do not get phone calls, that they do not get emails. I got much more of both last deployment. I realize that I was very spoiled and I will not get that every time. I take advantage of what I can get and realize that sometimes a happy couple is better then the sleep I could be getting.
Ladies and Gentlemen take advantage of ANY and ALL communication that you are able to have with your service member. It will make it roll by a lot faster as well as for a great deployment for all involved.
Also, just like you should never ever go to bed angry at your spouse, never hang up the phone mad either. I do not feel I need to go in depth on this one. I just strongly advise against it.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Aesop
The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible.Albert Einstein
There are no thanks for a kindness, which has been delayed. Annon.
Compassion is the basis of all morality. Arthur Schopenhauer
There is no duty more obligatory than the repayment of kindness. Cicero
Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.Confucius
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.Ettiene De Grellet
This weekend I got a chance to take an adventure up to Sea Life Aquarium in Carlsbad. It is owned and operated by Legoland. I was very interested in heading up there because the kiddos love fish. I was not interested in heading up there because I was single-momin it due to deployment.
The kids had a really good time. I should really give my kids credit, even though they drive me nuts sometimes.
Sea Life Aquarium is a large reef tank with sharks. They focus on conservation efforts and how to care for the ocean. Since Sea Life is also part of Lego Land they have a couple things made from Legos. I am not sure which my kids liked more, Legos or the fish.
The aquarium is not in the same gate as Legoland. It is right by the front gates. You have the option to leave your stroller behind or take it with you. I took mine with me (remember I am single mom-in it) Sea Life is geared towards kids. There are interactive parts in every section,
They also have a large shark section that I was impressed with. Since sharks do not always do well with captivity, These sharks looked great.
This is one of the Lego statues. Prince called it a Diver Dude.
The tickets to Sea Life are cheaper than Legoland. It is well worth it if you want an interactive place for your kids to play. For a family of for the total is $64 and their food in the cafe is reasonable.
I like Sea Life and we plan on going when Sailor Dude gets back from deployment. I really enjoyed myself there. It is somewhere that I can take three kiddos alone and not feel like they will run off and get lost.
Sea Life also offers tickets at MWR for a 10% discount for Military families. Please call your local MWR for details.
*To write this review Sea Life gave my family tickets to Underwater Parks Day.
This week's Quotable Thursday is about disaster. With the recent events concerning the recent earthquake in Haiti I thought it would fit the situation well. Enjoy.
“There's no disaster that can't become a blessing, and no blessing that can't become a disaster” Richard Bach
“You should treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster” Quentin Crisp
“There are moments when you have to just walk away and cry.” Lou Angeli
"Only after disaster can we be resurrected." Chuck Palahnuik
"First, those images help us understand the general and specific magnitude of disaster caused by the tsunami. The huge outpouring of aid would not have happened without those images." Bruce Jackson
I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity. John D. Rockefeller
I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.
Catherine II
In wake of this disaster if you can donate anything that would be great. Hope For Haiti takes PayPal if that is something you are looking for.
So Sunday afternoon was a birthday party for my friends 3 year old. The party was at Chuck E Cheese.
GULP!
I really wanted to say no. For many reasons. I didn't. I made her a felt crown so I had to go!
Keep in mind folks, I have a child who is not social, then Ms. Talks A Lot!
I must say all the fear was for nothing. My kids were great. Maddison's mommy really helped me with Princess, though. Prince did run off but that was expected.
It is not a challenge that I will take on ALONE, as in no one there to possibly help me but I will do it again with help.
This will defiantly be a first stop when Daddy gets home!
You know... I have done this my entire life. I thought I would have this down to a perfection. In reality, I don't. I have what works for me down to perfection.
They way I deal with Goodbye is simple. I just do not say it.
WHAT!
I do not say the words good + bye.
To anyone!
Not just the hubby!
I simply say "I'll see you later."
Why, you might ask?
Simple, no matter what happens I will see that person later. If we physically see each other again, that is later. If unmentionables happen, there is always later.
Goodbye seems like forever. Forever is just to long for me.
Well folks, He is off. Plans changed a tad bit since liberty was over at a crazy time. We took him to the ship last night. The kids did a lot better than I expected. Princess was asleep when we got there and Prince made sure to stay up to see daddy off.
Sadly, I do not think they get the time frame of the things happening.I tried to explain to them. After birthdays, after this and after that. We will see. I am hoping that it works.
Honestly, This is my first deployment with kid(s). Princess was 18 months last deployment. She did great. WONDERFUL I should say. Prince has had daddy home a large majority of his life so this is really new to him. I will teach him to roll with the punches.
I tried to snap some pictures last minute. They are a bit goofy and everyone is tired.
It is that time again. Time to gear up for another deployment. I have one been on one deployment as a wife and countless deployments as a daughter. I have found some things that made it easier for me to get through both types.
One thing that will help any couple is trust. Without trust you have no marriage. Without trust your marriage will fail on deployment. That is something you need to make it out of this obstacle alive and thriving. Plain and simple.
Communication is not only key to any marriage, but especially a military marriage. Our loved ones are half a world away. We need to be on the same page about home, finances and especially our children. As a daughter I remember waiting on letters from my mom. They were numbered just in case the mail would get weird. Now day’s snail mail is out of the question. We have email. It is faster and cheaper. I understand that there are times where email is not up, where you are not able to get a response back. I went through my share of those times. I still sent emails. When the email would come up they would be waiting for him. Also, just because he was not able to send out sometimes he was still able to get emails. I still send my emails. Even if they were just to say “I love you”, he got my emails.
Care packages are what get the guys and gals through the day. I mailed a lot of non-perishable food to him and lots of stuff from the kids. The USPS has a military kit that has priority boxes so you can stuff it with all you need to for a flat rate. It helped tremendously.
Pictures. Lots of pictures. He would send them home and we would email them to him. I am sure that the Its that review the emails got tired of seeing my daughter then my son. It is okay. I don’t mind ;)
Books, books and more books. Your spouse can read a book on board the ship and record it and your little ones will get it on a DVD. We did not plan for this the right way but the best way to do this is to get 2 copies of the books that will be read. Mom/Dad takes one and the other stays home with the kiddos. They can read along while watching the DVD. This worked out GREAT. My son at 2 months knew his daddy’s voice and face from 3 days old. I also think this helped my daughter remember her daddy.
Money is tight for some on deployments. Make sure you have an understanding of how much will be spent in each port. Remember also that they will not be in port every month. You can always save up for a port. It is important that they get to get off the ship. This is where your trust and communication really come into play.
One thing that has helped me through work ups and deployment is a smart phone. When I first went through this as a wife, I had a Sidekick. Now and iPhone. I need my email at my finger tips. It really helps for me to be able to email him my thoughts and instant pictures of the kiddos.
Map it! Show your children on a map where mommy or daddy is. My dad did this for me and I cannot tell you how it helped me. I was much older, teenager, but my mother was gone. This made it a bit easier.
Tick tock… Time zone maps also really help. My daughter at eighteen months really liked this one. She had a hard time realizing that just because the sun was up where we were doesn’t mean the sun was up where daddy was.
Deployments are not fool proof. You have to hope for the best. I am going through our recent deployment with 2 more kiddos than I had last time. Three years after my last one. I sent SD off with a ton of food, warm clothes, and his computer. Other than his wife and kids, these are all things he loves. I can only hope he has good memories, doesn’t eat nasty food, and gets a good break from us that when we roll to shore he is ready to help out for the next ten months as we gear up for another one.
I will see you later babe, I love you and I will miss you.
I am not only a Navy wife, I was a Navy brat for 21 years of my life. I can actually tell you my mom wore combat boots. I am proud. She wore them well. Living as a Navy brat prepared be for something I said I would never do. I was adamant about not ending up with someone in the military. It happened. Until now I thought I was prepared for everything. Until I became a mom of children who are attached to their daddy. We have been preparing the kids for the upcoming deployment for some time now. Princess gets it, Prince, Yeah not so much. We tell him daily that daddy is leaving. We tell him that daddy will return, It doesn't work. I am not sure if it is his age (will be 3) or if it the fact that daddy has always came home after a week so he doesn't get it. Perhaps he will when we drop him off.
I can honestly say that I am fine. He has only been home a solid year of our marriage. I can honestly say other then my sanity I can do this. Seeing it through the eyes of my kids, that is a different story. Princess is so used to it that she is okay. She knows he will return. Prince, is having a very hard time grasping it.
Here is to lonely nights, lots of worry and staying busy!
New Year resolutions are not for everyone. They are somewhat hard to keep. This year has started off to a rocky start. Last year did as well. Since having a family I like to start off the new year with a clean house and everything put away. That was not the case this year. I had to nurse ear infections and colds. I had to make sure all was taken care of. Kind of hard to clean and take care of the younger two, nurse and clean. It had to wait. I was finally able to get the house clean for the most part. Clean, not put away. I have to go through the stuff we have and get rid of what we do not need. I will probably end up with a storage unit so that we have more space in the house. As for resolutions, I have a few. I usually choose to drop weight. Especially since I became a mom. That is not the case this year. I have decided to work on our health as a family. SD and I have both gained weight since we got married. The kids play a huge part in this. Prince and Munchkin have both had rashes that were not explainable. It really bothers us. So I have decided to go as natural as possible. This might not be to hard. I am not sure. I also want to try and keep my resolution from last year. My resolution last year was to donate as much blood as I can. I was not able to do that last year because the first day of the new year I found out I was pregnant with Munchkin. You can not donate blood when you are pregnant. I do have an issue that I have low platelets and for my health I need to make sure that they are up to a good level. If all is clear I hope to donate to the American Red Cross as well at Balboa Naval Medical Center to help wounded soldiers. I also want to have more patience and spend more time with the kids. Last year was hard. I feel guilty and rather bad for being down and out when I was pregnant. Munchkin is getting older and growing well so I want to get out and do more with the kiddos.
I am hoping that I am able to keep these resolutions. They do not seem hard. In fact, they are pretty simple.
Do you make New Year resolutions? If so, what are yours?
It is two days into the New Year and I have not caught a break yet. I am giving 2 kids meds every 4-6 hours and dealing with the sickies, getting stuff together for Sailor Dad's upcoming deployment, trying to get the house clean and also trying to do "New Year cleaning" all in there. Guess what happens...
My washing machine decided that it was time to OVER FLOW! As in break. Not work!
I have Sailor Dude's laundry to do, laundry b/c I do laundry on the weekends and my cloth diapers. While it really isn't an issue for most BUT the younger two have super sensitive skin. I am hoping that running down to the laundry facilities that we have here doesn't bring on a rash.I can not get this fix until Monday. I am hoping I do not have to do to much laundry downstairs.
As I stated earlier I really hope this is not an indication of what is to come for this year. I was very optimistic for 2010 on December 28th.
While I would love to show you some wonderful pictures of my hubby and I having a good time... There are none to be had. Yesterday was a day to try what little patience I have left. I took all 3 kiddos to the emergency room with me because Sailor Dude had duty. (For you folks that are not aware of what that is, he stays on the ship for 24-48 hours. Depending on the day.) The kids were great. Prince and Munchkin have a cold. Not much they can do for Munchkin. Prince was put on his nebulizer treatments again and then some decongestant.
Great. We left there with great care and I was happy.
Until after nap.
Prince woke up screaming. I couldn't figure out why. After I got him settled I realized that it was most likely and ear infection. I have been a mom almost 5 years and never had to deal with an ear infection!
I call Sailor Dude to see if he can figure out a way to get home for a couple hours to take Princess and get her ready for bed. He made it home and I took the younger two to Urgent Care.
Prince did indeed have and ear infection. Poor kid had a ton of wax as well. They tried to flush his ears but that did not work. They were able to move it around a bit to see that it was a double ear infection.
We got it treated and made it home by 11. Got him in bed Munchkin a bath and was able to watch Dick Clark's NYE special like I do every year.
I hope this is not an indication of things to come....
Happy New Year! May you have a joyous year and I hope this coming year brings you new beginnings!
