Boys,Buns and Fun

I'm moving

2006-01-31T22:15:00.000+01:00

I wasn't going to at 1st, I've been writing on here for awhile now, and have met a lot of really great people. But, after signing up at Myspace, it didn't take long before the Myspace blog, with all of it's really cool features, had seduced me.

I'll keep this blog up though, and I'll be checking up with all of my favorite bloggers out there whenever I can.

Ciao!

Taming the Beast

2006-01-22T12:02:00.000+01:00

The Big D decided to school me on how to drive a standard. Yes folks, I never did get around to learning how to drive a standard. I also never had the desire to learn how to drive one either.

If I'm going to be paying many thousands of bucks on a vehicle, it sure as hell better be able to shift it's own gears...

So because someone has to take the siliconed beast out for a spin once in awhile after he leaves, and beings that I'm his wife and all, I get to be the one who shoulders that responsibility.
---------------------------------------------------
So.... Of we went to some Nazi era industrial park where I hopped into the drivers seat and as David speed fired instructions at me, I made my first attempt at getting the beast rolling.

But, not a whole lot happened....

So,I made another attempt, and another, and then another...

It looked to me that there was something wrong with the beast, because it kept lurching forward with a huge jerk, and then it'd stall out...

Finally, I had enough: between not being able to get from point A to point B, and the fact that we'd both be needing a neck brace soon, I got out, slammed the door and said "Fuck this. You can drive it right to the wrecking yard."

The drama of the moment was heightened when I saw David frantically reaching for the emergency brake to keep it from rolling down the street. (Yeah, I'd forgoten... Putting the shifter into nuetral isn't the same as puttiing an automatic into park)

Anyways, after a lot of patience on David's part and a lot of bitching and moaning on my part... I can now drive the beastly vehicle.
* * *
Sidenotes:
My classes start tomorrow, so I won't be around a whole lot, until the semester wraps up.

Pics of Dexter and D.D. will be posted soon.

I haven't smoked in 3 weeks. I think I'm gonna start taking pictures of the crap that's coming out of me to scare my kids out of smoking.

This is who I WAS going to marry...

2006-01-17T13:05:00.000+01:00

Before there was David, and waaaaay before there was Marilyn Manson, there was
Nivek Ogre.

And even though I'm no longer 17 years old, and David's the love of my life. I'd still sling shot my thong at him during a concert.
Ladies, quit licking the monitor!

The Training of Little Grasshopper

2006-01-13T00:01:00.000+01:00

Not everyone agrees that kids should be taught to stand up for themselves from day one. And not everyone agrees that I have told both of my kids that if anyone ever hits them, they are to hit them back even harder.

Now, I don't encourage going around starting fights, but I fully support self defense. The world's a tough place..

Anyhow, I guess Garrett lost some of what I meant during our talk about defending ourselves....

According to his teacher, she was working with a reading group, and heard a commotion, she looked up to see that Garrett was straddled over another kid and punching the crap out of him.

After pulling him off and getting them both calmed down she found out what was going on.

I guess the other kid was singing, and Garrett didn't like it so he asked him to stop. So, the kid started singing even louder. Garrett got pissed and moved to a different table, but he could still hear the kid singing. So, that's when he decided to take action and knock him out of his chair and start beating him up.

According to Garrett he was standing up for himself because the other kid didn't listen to him.

Well, we had a pretty long talk after we got home, and I think he'll be able to handle annoying people better the next time around.

But when he wasn't within hearing distance, I had to laugh... I mean seriously, how many times have we all wanted to just rip someone from their chair and start beating on them? I know I have, especially with various past coworkers and stuff.

Winning at Quiting

2006-01-12T23:44:00.000+01:00

So far, I'm doing pretty good about not smoking. The 1st week wasn't too bad, then shortly afterwards things got difficult.

According to the research I've done, my body is repairing the damage that smoking did to it.

Last night was really difficult, I had a lot of tightness/congestion in my chest, so I propped my upper body up on pillows to help relieve that.

But then my calves started hurting, the dreaded charley horse, brought on by my circulation starting to improve. So, it was back to the linen closet for more pillows to prop my legs up on.

Well, this laying in a "V" position was just not working. Finally I decided to just keep only my legs elevated and sleep facing a humidifier, which I placed on the end table by the bed, so I'd have moist air blowing through my breathing passages, hopefully loosening up all that gunk that's accumulated in me.

Big D's doing great with his quit too. This time I got him to use those nicotine lozenges. During his other quits, he always insisted on going cold turkey so he could impress me with how much mental power he has... Acting like a dick would be an understatement, for those cold turkey runs. Deranged psycho path doesn't even come close. It was just ughhhhh... In the end I'd be practically begging him to take a dip. But now with these lozenges he's doing really good and I don't have to consider putting him in a cage of somesort until his addiction is over.

Anyways, I haven't really written because most of my focus has been on smoking cessation, so I've been spending a lot of time at quitnet. (I'm misfit100 there) And since I like to keep my blog heavy on the FUN, I don't want to fill it up with daily rants and whines about caving in, or any of that crap.

Oh! I just remembered something I've sooo got to write about. Ok, let me post this and I'll make one more entry before I go to bed.

I'm here!

2006-01-06T21:45:00.000+01:00

For those of you who have been wondering, "Where did JueDee C. go?". Here I am!

New Years was a nice, quiet evening spent here at home. I decided to let my hair down and get rip roaring drunk off of Mimosas. Once the Champagne ran out, I polished off the rest of the eggnog and vanilla rum. Then I experimented with other drink combos. (Note to self, never mix Jim Beam with O.J. again-yuck!)

Since I don't drink a whole lot anymore, I figured I might as well go all the way with it. When you have a lot of issues in your life, it's not a good idea to drink heavily since getting drunk has a tendency to send the door of your emotional closet flying wide open, sending skeletons scattering in all directions. But, it was a good night and I was a happy drunk throughout all of it.

Big D was also a few sheets to the wind by the time 2006 arrived, and he almost missed getting to toast it in with me. For some reason, he decided to take a shower at 11:45, crazy guy!

So yeah, even though we stayed home, it was a good New Years. We let the kids stay up and play Xbox for as long as they wanted to, and so they both slept in nice and late.

Once my hangover wore off, I polished off the rest of my cigarettes, slapped on a nic patch and have thus far, gone without smoking. Hurray! It's always been hard for me to quit, but throughout the past few years, I've gotten better at it, and have been able to go for longer stretches without smoking. So, hopefully this time I'll finally be able to quit for good.

So far, I've spent a lot of time sleeping through my withdrawl and gnawing on cinnamon sticks, which are extremely comforting to me, and they satisfy my oral fixation needs nicely.

Big D's also decided to jump on the quitting tobacco wagon with me, and on the 2nd he finished his last can of dip and started using the lozenges. So far he's doing really good, and I'm so proud of him!

Anyways, that was my New Years.

4 feet is a lot of man to blow

2005-12-27T13:29:00.000+01:00

Here in the world of Boys, Buns and Fun, we had ourselves a really great Christmas.

David and I spent a good portion of Christmas Eve taking turns blowing up a 4 foot punching bag for the kids. It took FOREVER. It could have been worse though, if we didn't have an air pump. Ours is this dinky little hand pump that we got for filling up small objects like basketballs and such, so our biceps were screaming by the time we finished filling him up.

Here's the 4 Feet of Punching Bag

We decided to take credit for the "big" gift, instead of giving the credit to Santa. So we're both on super cool status with the boys, since we got them an Xbox.
After unwrapping it, and the 3 games we got them, it was immediately hooked up to their playroom t.v. and we haven't seen either of them since.

This is the last time I saw my children

Ok, not really... Every few hours I go in there and force them both over to the table for a meal.

Christmas dinner was goooood. David fried us a turkey and I made tons of side dishes. Most notably, a sweet potato souffle that is just heavenly. I'll have to post the recipe for it some time.

Anyhow, I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

"Man" Day

2005-12-18T15:34:00.000+01:00

David's on block leave now, and the kids are on vacation, so I have everyone home until January 3rd. Right now, the 3 of them are getting some "man" time in, which means they're out someplace in the wilderness testing out the Jeeps mettle.

I've just turned in the final exam for Algebra class. So, that's 2 Algebra classes completed, 2 more left to go. Thanks to a wide variety of online calculators and solvers, I should get a B. Thank god for online solvers! I'd be lucky to scrape together a D without them.

I just don't do math, which is weird since it should be in my genes. My Dad's like a total Math geek, he's one of those people that thinks it's "exciting" and he actually enjoyed taking those type of classes in college. My kids are also showing a strong potential for Math related subjects... So, I guess that gene just skipped over me. Ah well...

In the news, we've heared that the U.N. is suppose to take over the Afghanistan mission that David's unit's suppose to be on. So, who knows if he's deploying or not. (Thanks U.N. for jumping in there almost 5 years after 9/11, we really appreciate your help. Especially after all these years the U.S. has footed the majority of the bill to keep your corrupt operation running.)

All that Glitters...

2005-12-06T18:14:00.000+01:00

"I can't believe this" he said, his voice cracking, "I really thought I knew you. Now it seems like it was all.... just a lie."

I looked away and kept my eyes cast downward.

His face contorted in disgust as he hissed, "This... is.... SICK!"

I'm such an idiot sometimes... Yeah, I guess a small part of me always knew that he'd eventually find out. I guess I could have told him, but there just never seemed to be a "right" time for doing that..

Exhausted, he sat down beside me and whispered, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

I rolled the question around in my head for a moment, then decided to be honest with him, "I was ashamed, all right? I knew you'd FREAK as soon as you found out, so I didn't say anything."

He contemplated this for a moment, then asked "What about the kids? Have they been.... exposed to this?"

As I slowly nodded, he buried his face in his hands.

...............................................................
Since I'd gone so long without getting caught, I'd started getting sloppy about covering my tracks.

So now... The door on my Gary Glitter closet had been blown wide open when the greatest hits CD came sliding out of the Jeeps CD player, in all it's glam rock glory, and into David's calloused hand.

I've decided to cool it for a bit, as David gets use to the idea of the kids and I happily singing along to "Do you wanna touch me (yeah)" as we drive up to the store. (With the windows rolled up of course)

You Really Shouldn't Have....

2005-12-03T14:12:00.000+01:00

When I found out that D's deploying for a year, I knew exactly what I wanted him to have with him. So for months, I've been secretly stashing away my slush money to get this for him.

By November, I finally had enough to get it! So it was wrapped up and stashed away for Christmas.

His Birthday's on December 13th, so I also had his Birthday gift hidden away. (Which is also something I got for him, with the deployment in mind.)

___________________________________________________________________
I recently found out that everyone's getting their things together to ship downrange. He also mentioned that a lot people were shipping "big" items like electronics and what not. So, with his gift in mind, which is cumbersome in some ways, but not in others, I realized I'd have to give it to him earlier than planned. Everything's shipping out this Tuesday.

So his smaller Birthday gift is now his Christmas gift and vise versa.

Last night night was his "Birthday". The boys and I gathered around him and I proudly handed his gift over. I know he was excited because I've been gushing for weeks about how much he's going to love it!

Being "Mr.Cool" he slowly unwrapped it. It was KILLING me! I almost snatched it away from him and ripped the wrapping paper off myself. (I think he does this on purpose, to drive me nuts)

Anyways, an hour later, after peeling back the last bit of paper, his gift was revealed.

His eyes grew big and his jaw dropped as he gazed at his BRAND NEW, VERY OWN......

BRIEFCASE!!!!

He was so overwhelmed with his gift, that he was struck speechless, so I spoke up for him.

"Isn't it great honey? I thought we should start working on your future, and even though I know you don't normally use a briefcase, nothing says professional like a smart briefcase like this one."

His mouth opened, then closed because he was still... speechless!

He politely started to unzip it to see what it looked like inside, when I decided to let him off the hook.

"Of course, we also got you something to put into this briefcase." And I disappeared for a moment and came back in with another gift that had been stashed away.

Looking confused, and unsure of what to expect at this point, he started unwrapping, b.t.w.: this time he didn't linger on every fold and taped down piece!

This time he got his "real" gift- a brand new I.B.M. laptop computer!!!! Which of course would be placed into his "briefcase" which is actually a cool, black canvas laptop case.

He told me several times: "This gift KICKS ASS!" *nods* Yup, I done good.

But, I really did have him going and wondering what the hell I was thinking when I got him a "briefcase".
_____________________________________________________________________________________
I also pointed out that in addition to being able to keep in touch with me, he can also watch DVD's with it, and it's small enough to bring into the port-a-potty for when he feels like watching some porn.

Tag Teamed

2005-11-28T12:37:00.000+01:00

Simones' Mamahas tagged me.

10 Favorites:

Favorite Season: Summer
Favorite Sport: Tennis
Favorite Time: 10 p.m.
Favorite Month: June
Favorite Actor: Vin Diesel-YUM!
Favorite Actress: Angelina Jolie
Favorite Ice Cream: New York Strawberry Cheesecake
Favorite Food: cold fried chicken
Favorite Drink: it's a tie: water & coffee
Favorite Place: London, England

9 Currents:

Current Feeling: Content
Current O/S: Windows XP
Current Windows Open: Internet Explorer
Current Drink: coffee
Current Time: 12:43 p.m.
Current Mobile(s) Used: Siemens A55
Current Show on TV: Fox News
Current Thought: I might be able to sneak a nap in before picking up the kids from school.
Current Clothing: Tinkerbell pajama pants/white cotton camisole

8 Firsts:

First Nick: 1st Nick? As in nicotine? 10 yrs old in the corner of the playground at school with a bunch of other girls from my class.
First Kiss: I was 12, had just gotten braces and worried that one of my rubber bands would snap from his toungue digging around.
First Crush: Garrett, a kid I met in 2nd grade while playing baseball. Continued to love his name and decided to name my 1st born after him.
First Computer: some peice of crap I bought off of an ex-boyfriend. Who knows what it was.
First Vehicle I drove: 1990 Nissan Sentra, red
First Job: Pizza maker at a pizza place. I lasted one day and quit for a better job that opened up.
First Movie I watched on Pulse Global’s print: Haven't seen one
First Pet: Pepper, a german shepard
First Shave(men)/hairstyle(women): My one and only perm in the 5th grade. I cried and begged my mom not to make me go to school.

7 Lasts:

Last Chai (Tea) : 7 1/2 years ago in Kansas, City
Last Movie: War of the Worlds
Last Time I Drove: a few hours ago
Last Time Shaved(men)/Beauty parlour visit(women): 3 months ago
Last Web Site Visited: http://www.newsmax.com/
Last Software Installed: I Spy Spooky Mansion
Last Pill I Had: Zoloft, Iron, Multi Vitamin and Calcium Chews

6 Have You Evers:

Have You Ever Broken the Law: Yes
Have You Ever Been Drunk: Yes
Have You Ever Climbed a Tree: yes
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: yes
Have You Ever Been in the Middle/Close to Gunfire or Bomb Blast: Yes
Have You Ever Broken Anyone’s Heart: I like to think I have, to make up for all the times someone broke mine.

5 Things:

Things You Can Hear Right Now: The bunnies hopping around the living room
Things on Your Computer Table: Checkbook, computer, a pink highlighter
Things on Your Bed: Sheets, quilt and my foot long black vibrator. (JUST KIDDING!!!)
Things You Ate Today: coffee
Things in Mind: nothing really, just vegging on the computer

4 Places You Have Been Today:

Home, MailRoom, School and Store

3 People You Can Tell Anything To:

David, Kerri and Brandi

2 Choices:

Black or White: black
Hot or Cold: hot

1 Thing You Want To Do Before You Die:

To see the pyramids

And individuals I wanna tag-
Special K,VanyT and whoever else would like to do this.

Munchin on the Nibblets

2005-11-28T10:59:00.000+01:00

I hope you guys all had a great Thanksgiving!

In spite of a few mishaps, ours was wonderful. Mishap #1 was spending an hour and 1/2 driving aimlessly around the Kaiserslautern area, as we tried to follow D's co-workers vague handwritten roadmap. Stir in a husband who refuses to call for better directions and 2 hungry boys who are relentlessly whining to eat, and that makes for a very caustic solution.

Fortunately, D's co-worker called us after awhile, figuring that we were lost, and being a married woman, she knows how stubborn men are about getting directions. So, with her on the line, we were able to get there-finally!

It turns out we weren't the only ones who had problems, EVERYONE got lost trying to find her house. LOL

The food was FABULOUS!!!! OMG, I totally gorged myself shamelessly. We hung out there for a few hours, eating, drinking and being merry.

After staying long enough to where it wouldn't seem like we were dining and dashing, we headed over to our other friends home and enjoyed coffee, desert and conversation with them.

So, it was a great night, especially since we got to return to a clean house and no dirty dishes to deal with!

The next day I took down all of the Thanksgiving decorations and now I'm slowly putting up the Christmas decorations. The tree won't go up until the 1st, but I've set up our Kris Kringle village, window and balcony lights and a few snowmen decorations.

I LOVE decorating for the holidays, especially Christmas. This year I'm really going crazy because David won't be here next year for it, so I want to make sure this one's especially memorable for all of us. In the words of the darling Bridgett Jones, I want my home to be a Christmas Casbah!

A Bit of Everything

2005-11-23T12:42:00.000+01:00

Things worked out with the big D's tire situation. He was able to get one of his friends to spend the lunch hour with him pilfering through the junk yard for a new rim and tire. Luckily, old Chevy Cavaliers are a dime a dozen, so the siliconed beast was prowling the roadways in no time at all.

He got REALLY lucky though, I guess with that type of impact, it could have been a lot worse, resulting to damage to more than just the tire. Anyhow, I have mentally filed away this bit of bad driving, so that if I find myself in a situation in which I'm having to defend myself for driving badly, I'll be able to pull this little ace out of my sleeve. Heh!

Heard from my Best Friend from High School. She told me about how the janitor of our old school has died. Turns out, some illegal immigrant from Mexico found his way to our town, and while high on Crystal Meth, broke into our janitors house, killed him then set the house on fire. When the cops and fire department got there, they found his useless ass trying to hide out in a neighbors yard. It turns out the janitor didn't even know him either. It was a random crime.

It really pissed me off when I learned of this. I don't know why the government isn't taking a tougher stance on closing the borders. It's scary when you think about it. If these poor Mexican villagers can make their way into the U.S. without having any formal military or survival training, I'm sure it would be a cake walk for a terrorist to just walk on in.

Personally, I think there's no excuses for not having an electric fence going around the Mexican and Canadian border. Plus guard towers every 1/2 mile, survellience cameras, motion sensors, etc... If I ran the show, I'd even throw in a huge trench filled with man eating alligators and blood thirsty pirranahs for good measure.

It just makes me mad how every single administration in charge has ignored the problems of illegal immigrants coming into the States. I have no qualms with those who want to come to the States, integrate themselves into our society and become productive citizens. It's the ones who come over, do absolutely nothing productive with themselves aside from sponging off our tax dollers through the welfare system, that need to go.

On a different note. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm really looking forward to it this year because for the 1st time in many years I won't have to cook! YIPPIE!!!! Usually we decline offers to come over for dinner from others, but this year we decided to take up the offer from 2 couples we know. So, in addition to not having to cook, we get to have 2 dinners!!!

Gobble Gobble!

KaBlooey

2005-11-17T09:20:00.000+01:00

During the frosty, snowy months, there seem to be 2 types of people. There are those who scrape their entire windshield, plus the mirrors, side windows, tail lights and if there's not a rear defroster, they clear the back window. And then there are those who believe it's not a big priority to have a good field of vision while they're driving. This type can be found bumping into curbs as they struggle to look out the teensy, little peephole they cleared off.

I'm the type who won't drive unless I can see out of all of my windows, while David is a peephole driver. Our different window clearing personalities have been a source of frustration for both of us. It drives him crazy having to wait for me to finish clearing the windows before I'll go anywhere, and it drives me crazy feeling like I'm riding inside of a submarine, as he takes off squinting through the little periscope of a hole that he's made.

For almost a decade I have nagged the crap out of him for not taking the time to clear off his windows. And for almost a decade, he has rolled his eyes at me and ignored my advice.

This morning we faced our first real frost, and with it's arrival, I got to chalk up an extra point in the great window clearing debate.

This morning he cleared away the usual 4 inch strip, and with Metallica on the tape deck and a hot, steaming mug of coffee wedged between his legs, he proceeded to leave the neighborhood. Things were looking up. He had plenty of time to get to work, and he was looking forward to leaving work earlier than he usually does.

But then a traffic circle came along, which threw a wrench into the clockwork of his morning.

As the siliconed car approached the circle, he realized that he was having a hard time seeing anything, and so he misjudged where to enter the circle. This miscalculation caused the front tire to slam into the curb, resulting in it bursting with a loud gun fire like boom, thus rendering the vehicle useless. Slamming into the curb also caused him to lose control of the coffee mug, resulting in a massive spill on him and around him.

Luckily he hadn't gotten too far, and he managed to limp it over to a parking spot. Unfortunately, he happened to limp it just far enough to damage the rim.

After he'd come upstairs to hit me up for a ride into work, I decided not to say anything about it as we drove along, with cleared off windows so there wouldn't be any obstructions in my field of vision.

Chickity Check

2005-11-10T23:18:00.000+01:00

Even though Check Cards are making paper checks go the way of the typewriter, I'm still holding out for as long as I can.

I like being able to express myself as an individual through paper checks.

I also like having the power to piss off other people at the store, by taking my time filling out the check.

So, if you get behind me in line, don't get into my personal space, don't try to push whatever I've placed onto the counter out of the way with your crap, or I will make you pay.
Oh yes indeed. I'll make you Miserable, and you won't be able to do a damn thing about it either. "Whatcha gonna do? Move my hand for me, so that I'll write faster? Yeah right!"
But, those who are nice, you will be handsomely rewarded. I will thank you by having most of my check filled out before the cashier has finished ringing everything up. And I'll even fill out the ledger after I've left the register.
Tonight I reordered new checks. I've almost used up all of my Mickey Mouse ones, and here are the new ones I'm looking forward to getting:

Bat Boys

2005-11-08T16:52:00.000+01:00

Things have gotten hectic, which is why it's taken me so long to post this.

Here are the kids in the bat costumes I made for them.
But yeah, even though David was stuck in the field during Halloween, I took the kids trick or treating. They made out pretty good with the candy.
Anyhow, David's home now and all is well.

No Freakin Way!!!!

2005-10-31T15:20:00.000+01:00

This afternoon, I was enjoying some time to myself, and working at beating my high score on Yahoo MahJong when suddenly my peace was abruptly shattered.

A HUGE crashing sound came blasting through the apartment, which had me ready to take a dive under the computer desk. Then I heared screams of "Shiza!!!! Shiza!!!" Even though I've spent a total of 12 years of my life here in Germany, that's one of the few German words I know, and when I've heared it, I know that it can only mean one thing..

Something bad's gone down.

Here in the 'hood, there's a massive construction project that's been going on. The government's decided to tear down a lot of the old World War 2 era housing apartments and put in townhomes. This has brought a lot of construction equipment into the area, and when one gazes out the window it's become the norm to see various things like bulldozers and cranes at work.

Like these here
I raced to the windows to see what was going on and discovered that the crash was the result of one of the cranes breaking... I guess the cables snapped or something, but it resulted in the top half folding into itself and crashing to the ground.

Guess who's designated parking spot is just a mere 10 feet or so from the path of the fall?

You can see Garrett checking out the wreck in this one.
Amazingly, it broke and all of the wreckage stayed within the fence line, but after the paint chip incident I almost died when I thought about what the consequences would've been if it'd fallen 10 more feet over....
Hell, if that had happened, I wouldn't be on here blogging, instead I'd be at the Frankfurt airport waiting to board the next flight to the states! LOL

All Good

2005-10-25T12:35:00.000+02:00

Even though David was pretty ticked about me locking the keys in the Jeep, he seems to have gotten over it, and so things are all good, once again.

I mean, it's not like HE'S never had his own share of auto related mishaps. Between us, he's had A LOT more mishaps than I have. And they were A LOT pricier than those little paint chips that resulted from getting the keys retrieved from the Jeep.

For your amusement, and mine, here's just a FEW:

His mom had gotten a brand spanking new Fire Bird and after not even a week of owning it, he talked her into letting him drive it over to a friends house.
While there, he parked behind his friends truck. On the bed of the truck, there was a 4 wheeler. Due to events that no one could quite explain, the 4 wheeler somehow broke away from the straps that were tying it down and came crashing down onto the hood of her brand new car...

While driving his grandfathers truck, he was parked next to another vehicle that was running. After spending some time jawjacking, he tried to start the truck up, but for some reason it wouldn't start. So, he sat there and kept trying to start it....
Turns out, he forgot that he left the truck running instead of shutting it off. So, he burned out the starter and his grandfather had to replace it.

Not too long ago, he locked the keys in his siliconed car. Instead of calling a locksmith, like I did, he managed to pry the trunk open and then kick the back seat in, so he could access the front of the vehicle. (Also, he could have just called me here at home and I would have brought him the spare key......)

These are just a FEW.. In addition to these: we've nearly been taken out by a train while he was driving (It was REALLY close, and remembering that incident is enough to bring on an anxiety attack for me.), he almost drove us into a ditch, because he was too preoccupied yelling obscentities at some people we don't know, he's spilled countless cups of coffee in EVERY vehicle we've ever owned..

So yeah, I think he realized that looking at the big picture. For the only incident to occur, from my end, to be something as piddly as getting the keys locked in.. Well, he's got no room to talk.

For a Nickel

2005-10-22T18:21:00.000+02:00

David called a few minutes ago to obtain a status report on how the Jeep's doing. By the time we got finished talking, you would've thought I'd just gotten done telling him that I'd wrapped it around a tree, doused it in gasoline, torched it then pissed on it.

Wanna know what caused this strained conversation?

Well, I'd taken the kids out and upon our return, I tumbled the front seat forward to let them out. F.Y.I: Tumbling the front seat requires the use of both hands, so whatever I'm holding is placed onto the seat and in this case, those things happened to be my wallet and keys....

After lifting both kids out, I happened to notice a shiny nickel on the ground and stooped down to pick it up. While I was doing this, one of my kids decided to be helpful and shut the door.

I'd pushed the door into the "lock" position as I was getting out...

Yup, you guessed it, I was fucked.

David's gone until the 4th of November, so waiting for him to get home wasn't an option.

So, with my jaw clenched to keep from screaming at the top of my lungs, we went to our neighbors place to use the phone and call the locksmith.

We waited in the stairwell for him to arrive, since it was getting quite chilly outside.

After about 1/2 an hour, a beat up VW Van pulled up with a picture of keys painted on the side and "Locksmith" printed in big, bold lettering. So much for discretion. I was hoping he'd arrive in an unmarked vehicle so none of the neighbors would know what a dip shit I am.

Of course, as he snaked these long metal contraptions between the door and the hard top, trying to push the lock button into the open position, just about EVERY single one of my neighbors passed by us either coming home or going out. And they all offered words on encouragement, "oh yeah, that sucks." and "Don't feel bad, I've done it before too."

After getting the door opened, he charged me 60 euro... (That's a little over $100) I was so happy about having my keys back, that I didn't stop to ask him for a receipt to see if my insurance company would cover it.

So, yes it was a very dumb, dumb, dumb day. In fact, it was so dumb,I should be spelling it dum.

So why's David all ticked off?

Because I made the mistake of telling him that a teensy bit of black paint from the hard top got chipped during this procedure. And it happened to a section that's covered up when the door's closed.

So, the remaining bit of our conversation was of me reminding him of my perfect driving record. Thank god I haven't had an accident. *knock on wood* And to diffuse some of the heat off of myself, I reminded him of my friend Erica who's had 3 accidents in the 2 years she's been here.

OMG, if I did have an accident, I'd just come home long enough to grab the passports and fly the kids and myself back to the states. Once there, I'd call him and tell him about it. (The man LOVES his cars, it's insane how obsessed he is with keeping them in pristine condition.) So, an accident would be very, very bad.

Ah well, in a few years he'll eventually get over it.

As for the nickel that caused all of this. As soon as I realized I was locked out, I flung it as hard as I could into the street... Didn't change anything, but it made me feel better.

JueDee's Favorite Things

2005-10-20T15:47:00.000+02:00

My Favorite Smell in the World

For some reason, I've always LOVED the way rubbing alcohol smells.
My "Signature" Scent

I USE to love Fire and Ice, but I tossed it once I fell in love with Burberry Brit
My favorite medication

What? You thought I was just naturally happy all the time? With Zoloft, we can let the good times roll.
My Favorite Designer

Accept no substitutes when it comes to Louis Vuiton
My Favorite Vehicle

Our new Jeep arrived today, meet "Orange Crush"
David goes to the field tomorrow and has to work late... Poor guy won't get to drive it for 2 weeks. I guess it's up to me to break it in properly.

Hitscherhof Farm

2005-10-16T17:46:00.000+02:00

Last night, while the kids were being watched by the "super cool single girl", we took a drive over to Wiesbaden and had a REALLY great dinner. So, we had a nice time celebrating our Anniversary.

Today, we packed up the kids and made a trip into the German farming community. Because David is leaving on Friday and won't be back until November 4th, we decided to let the kids pick out a few pumpkins, which we'll carve later tonight.

So, even though he'll have to miss going trick or treating with us, we decided to make sure he doesn't miss getting to carve jack o lanterns with us. (Ummm, and no, we definetly DON'T plan on keeping them around until Halloween-ew!! I'll have to figure out a way to smuggle them out of the house without the kids catching me throwing them out.)

So, here's a few pics:

Of course, we had to talk the kids down from wanting the giant pumpkin behind us.

Couldn't resist petting the moo cows.

One of the attractions was this corn maze.

Children of the corn
The farm we went to was really great, and let me tell ya, they've found some very creative ways to utilize the pumpkins and squash.
Here's some goodies I brought back:

Of course, you will recognize the corn and the pumpkins, and now moving from left to right, starting after the corn, we have: some sort of homemade blend of zucchinis, (not quite sure of it's pickled or what, but it looks REALLY good), chocolate covered pumpkin seeds, spiced pumpkin jam and pickles that were canned there.

In addition to this, we also saw pumpkin wine, cinammon spiced pumpkin seeds, and a whole slew of other pumpkin/squash related goodies.

Here's the website for the farm we went to (in English):
http://www.hitscherhof.com/english/home.html

Warm and Hearty

2005-10-13T13:35:00.000+02:00

A hint of autumn has been in the air, over here in Germany. The leaves have started changing colors and some have started dropping off.

I'm definetly not a fan of cold weather, but I will say this... I LOVE to cook during fall and winter. During this time of year, I like to make a wide variety of soups, stews, roasts and just the usual "comfort food" fare.

Anyhow, with the cooler weather that we've had lately, I decided to try out my new Pumpkin Soup Recipe. This morning, I chopped, pureed and am now "slow cookering" my little heart out. Mmmmmmmmm.... The house smells so good right now, and the samples I've tried have been quite delicious. I'll add some crusty, french rolls to have on the side, and it should be a nice dinner.

The only downside?
The weather decided to go an warm up today... It hit 70 degrees...
Here's my recipe if anyone wants to give it a try:
Pumpkin Soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 leeks, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cans of pure pumpkin
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
32 Oz chicken stock
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon sage
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp crushed red pepper
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil in a pot.
Add leeks, onion, celery, carrot, sweet potatoes, and garlic, and saute until they start to brown, then dump it all into a crock pot.
Add bay leaf, stock, pumpkin, cream,sage, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon,salt and pepper to taste.
Once it's all cooked through and the vegetables are nicely mushy,remove bay leaf, and puree in a blender. Serve hot.

Here I am!

2005-10-09T17:49:00.000+02:00

Every now and again, things get a bit hectic, even for a modern woman such as myself. So, I had to take a bit of a break from blogging to take care of the things that needed to be taken care of.
Of course, during this break, I have had numerous moments when I'd be out and about, and I'd happen upon lots of things that would make for a good blog entry.
Well, my Science class/lab has now wrapped up, and as of last night, I have submitted my tests, so I'm eagerly awaiting my final grade. *fingers are crossed*
Both of the kids decided that they'd like to be bats for Halloween, so I spent a day sewing their costumes, which turned out quite cute. I'll post a picture when they dress up on Halloween night.
David and I will be celebrating our Anniversary on the 19th. We're hoping "the super cool single girl that he works with" will be available to babysit. If so, we're planning on driving down to Wiesbaden to eat at a Thai resteraunt that's suppose to be really good. If she can't, we'll rent a movie, order take out and kick back here at home.
Last week we felt the need to take a break, so we kept the kids home from school and we headed towards the Holland border to visit Fantasia Land.

The boys make a new friend.

I managed to fight the urge to ride standing up, with one foot on 2 different horses, ala the Three's Company opening that shows John Ritter doing that.

Ooh La La

2005-09-04T11:54:00.000+02:00

Paris was wonderful, the weather was perfect and because it's September, tourism was low, so we had a great time.
We left Kaiserslautern at 8 a.m., got to Paris at 12, had lunch, rode the metro to various sites, then headed home at 5 p.m., we arrived back home a little after 9 and slept VERY good.
I have to say, even though I'm very opposed to France when it comes to politics, I do love going to Paris. The energy is wonderful, and there's a lot of beauty in that whole region. This was my 4th visit there, but the other 3 times I went I didn't have kids, so this trip was VERY different from the other times I've gone. (It's not like you can just stop and start playing tonsil hockey everytime the view takes your breath away.)
I'm so glad the boys got a chance to see the "City of Lights", and it was enlightening to see all the sights through their eyes. It really gave me a new perspective. They were also really well behaved and never complained even though we did A LOT of walking. I wish we could afford to go there every weekend!
Unfortunately, the cost of driving there is freaking insane, there are A LOT of toll roads, going there and coming back. With the way the Euro is kicking the Dollars ass, it makes for one expensive, but worth it, drive.

Riding on the Metro

This is what it looks like when you're sitting underneath the Eiffel Tower and you look up.

Garrett was dancing or something when I took this picture.

Garrett took this one. David cracks me up in this one, he doesn't normally look like this.

Waiting for David to bring refreshments to our table. This is taken at a restraunt that's up inside of the Eiffel.

My baby is 7 today!

2005-09-02T22:38:00.000+02:00

Here's a few b-day pics. No time to write a whole lot: tomorrow we're heading to Paris!

Thanks Big D for snapping one of me looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.