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Monday, September 17, 2007

whoo hoo.


Thanks to a friend, Conny I found out some fun results! Conny did this with her 4 girls! Thanks Conny!

I found this to be pretty cool, considering more often than not I receive comments about how Ben looks like his dad. Tee hee. I have gotten used to it, because I know that the reasons for their thinking is that he is so fair compared to me. Not that I am as dark as my mom, but I just have darker features in contrast to Ben, and Rob for that matter. While I am posting these results, the thought just occurred to me that I don't know the basis for their conclusions and findings. Ha! How many times in life do we not consider the source?

We ought to do that more often. It would probably lead to me not being so sensitive about things all the time. As I have been finding myself lately.

I think if I considered the source more and their frame of reference, I wouldn’t be feeling the way I do. An illustration of this is when people look at me and my physical features. When my mom’s side of the family sees me, all they see is the white – oops, I mean “Caucasian” in me. When my Dad’s side of the family sees me, all they see is the ethnic – oops, I mean the Filipino in me.

This is not about race. I am merely using it as an example of how and why people see the things they do.

Really, I try my hardest to see how others might see things, so that little comments directed toward me wouldn’t make me feel hurt. Maybe if I could just consider the source all the time, my feelings would NEVER get hurt, huh?

I know. Ambiguous. Don’t worry about it. I really just wanted to share this look-alike test! Happy Monday!

Do you do that? How?

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

long and very random. don't feel obliged.

For some reason, I am having a hard time titling this entry. You see, the reason I am telling you this will disclaim this entire thing from making any sense. I am the kind of person that must be given a conclusion or bite sized statement and then I start to expound. Leave me with no title and I don’t know where to go. (Guess the media might think me an easy target in this day and age of sound bytes and spin tactics!)

This week marks the last week in August and the beginning of fall. And the beginning of my life changing! Not drastically, but more mommy-scaled. So before I tell you why, I wanted to preface it with a long stupid story of this week’s events. The family being sick, like a bunch of falling dominoes. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

Sunday: Ben is sick. Vomiting. (and for once, not the disobedient kind.) No appetite, but otherwise pretty normal. Just sick to his stomach.

Monday: The calm before the storm. Got lots of cleaning done. Vacuumed the house and cleaned bathrooms. Nice and sparkly. Another friend’s blog notes that she is a S.H.E. – a Sidetracked Home Executive. She is reading this book that helps her categorize her every cleaning task with an index card. Only Susannah. (Susannah – consider this your “shout out”.) You can read about her…cuz she really is pretty funny – at www.susannah.typepad.com. Susannah, I am not sure I can even begin to read this book, because I will, too, keep shuffling around the index cards because of procrastination and lack of motivation. I just clean what bugs me. Sometimes a good system, other times…not so much. Ha.

Tuesday: Jenny is sick. The opposite end of Ben’s issues. Every hour from 2:30 a.m. – 7 a.m. Out of it. 101.6 degree temp. Ben decided to lash out by stripping down to his birthday suit before taking a nap! omg. I had pretty much plugged my son in to the TV all day and made him lay down with me for an hour. I got sick of the fish out of water routine, and sent him to his bed where he decided to not go to sleep, but rather take of his clothes and remove his diaper! When I went in there I was so mad, and he was completely oblivious to my emotions. Didn’t care whatsoever. He slept for a total of 1 hour.

Tuesday evening: the husband comes home. I complain about him not pampering me. Whine, whine, whine. And apparently I did a bad job of whining, because I got no pampering.

Wednesday: Jenny is better. The husband is sick. He has it the same end that Ben had it. He is apologizing profusely for not pampering me the night before. Is this because he’s feeling so bad?! Hmm. He went to work for a couple meetings and was home by 11 that morning. He got the whole house to himself, because I was out with Ben to Wendy’s house, and didn’t get home until 2pm. And then the little booger went in to hibernation for his nap. Slept from 2:30 to 5 pm, and that’s only because I woke him up. Ohmigosh. How can he take an hour nap for me, and then sleep the whole freakin’ afternoon for his dad! Must have been nice to recuperate in a house all to yourself. What’s that like? I wouldn’t know. And why did I even bother to clean the bathrooms?! That would just be a couple index cards to redo! (am I right, Susannah?!) It pretty much went through Hurricane Katrina between the two of us. My friend, Wendy, laughed while saying, “well at least you got sick first, and Rob was the one sticking his head in the toilet vomiting!” Hee, hee, hee.

Thursday: the start of my life changing. Rob and I are attended a meeting for Ben’s preschool that he starts next week!!!! Ben will be going to preschool on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 – 11:30 at a church preschool that has had positive notoriety here in town. When I first signed him up, I was excited to have “me” time (what is it with mommies and “me” time….geez we always complain), but after he and I started doing school lessons at home, I was so excited for him to learn more in addition to him already being a sponge. Do you know that my son knows countless different airframes!?!? He knows that his daddy’s favorite airplane is an F-16 Viper (pronounced “ef sisteen viper”) He can identify T-37, T-6, T-38, F-16, Eagle (F-15), Tomcat (F-14), B-2, Stinkbug/Nighthawk (F-117), A-10, Harrier, Blackbird, Concorde, Saber, F-4, Tornado, Hawk (British trainer), and probably a few others I am forgetting. But you get the idea. It really is incredible. It must be such a joy for Rob to know that his interest in airplanes is largely due to his job. Wow. What an honor. He does feel humbled and happy about it, but he says that he tries not to push it too much, for fear of jinxing anything or ruining what Rob sees as a good thing. He doesn’t want Ben to feel pressured about flying. I understand that.

What a lovely transition to talk about my darling husband. Not a really a great transition, but I’ll take it.

Rob: It suddenly occurred to me that maybe other people who read this may not care about my son’s potty training antics or my sudden need for “me” time or my rantings about toy recalls or kid’s projects. Right? Who cares? Well, if anyone does happen to care here is our latest project.

Here is the piggy bank.


Apparently P is for Money. Well, it started out as P is for Pilot, Pajamas, Paper, Paint, and then Pig. And then Piggy Bank. I know I don’t have to tell you that the piggy bank *isn’t* made of: a coffee container, construction paper, a pink piece of pipe cleaner, and egg shell, a couple toilet paper tubes, etc.

And the construction of this piggy bank, led my son to shout, “I want more money, Mommy!” Well, doesn’t that just say it all. Yeah, join the club!

Oh, I was talking about Rob: In fact, it was brought to my attention that one of Rob’s fellow Hounds, Snakeye, has read this blog in recent times (Snakeye, consider this your only shout out.) Truly, I am honored that any guy would read this as it is laced with girly random talk, and in all honesty – if you’re not married, you’re not bound on any terms to listen to a girl’s rantings. And if you are married, like Snakeye, you’re really only bound to listen to your wife’s rantings! So I consider it a flattering comment when a busy AF guy turned Army Jump guy takes the time to have a read. Thanks! Shoot…that was a good shout out. We miss you both, Pam and Snakeye! And Pam, if you’re reading, I’ll have you know I have gone experimental with trying some different wines…You’d be proud of me. But if I order a glass, I just point to the title, as I am still not good at pronouncing the names. Pam, you’re both a wine connoisseur and speech therapist, maybe you could lend a hand sometime….along with teaching me the rest of the preposition song! Random inside joke. You can read more about Snakeye and his wife, Pam, in his blog at www.snakeye.us/ Enough shouting out now.

Oh yes, Rob. He has been quite the VIP traveler lately. A couple weekends he was tagged to do a fly by over Arlington National Cemetery. The flyby was cancelled due to a low cloud deck, but he got a cool weekend in DC out of it! He also brought me a cool pink hat with from the National Air and Space Museum. It’s kind of fun when he brings me home things.

Here is my pretty pink hat that I love to run in….I especially love that it has a velcro-adjustment strap because all girls know what a pain it is to put a hat on with a pony tail and then you have to shove little hairs back up into the hat?! Please tell me I make sense to someone.


This next weekend he was also tagged to do a fly by over the US Tennis Open in NYC on Sunday! What a lucky guy. He figured he wouldn’t go on this one, since he went on a fun cross country a couple weekends ago. The accommodations are pretty posh he said…considering that he is not only getting per diem from Uncle Sam, but also from the US Open! And as if that wasn’t enough – they just added a fly by over the Mets game on Friday!!!!!!!! I told him he better bring me something home from Tiffany! LOL! I told him, “I’d like to say I was kidding about the ‘Tiffany’ statement, but that I kinda wasn’t…” LMAO! He said, Oh I know. What girl wouldn’t want the Tiffany blue box! I’ll keep you posted, and rest assured, Rob, I will still love you even if you don’t. Really. Plus, I have received that little blue box, from my best friend Emily! (guess this is the blog of shout outs!) While New York is one of the places I have always wanted to go, I am very excited that he gets to go. He deserves some fun for all the bread winning he does around here. Wink, wink. I also want to commend Rob because he has recently been made a flight commander, which means he’s kind of like a boss over a smaller group in the squadron.

Congrats to him, as he works very hard to do what he loves and to also take care of Ben and me.



Some pictures to share: (I truly am sorry that this was so much babble. But I also thank all who stick it out for me.)




a wooden train I finally got around to painting.


3 cardigans down, 4 more to go.




sometimes we really do climb the walls around here.



Ben enjoying his Gram's and Grandpop's new screened-in porch - true Southern style. He is also wearing a shirt that Rob wore as a child. Cute.