Sunday, May 30, 2010

My ever expanding brood

So Wilson is almost a year old and our family is coming to a crossroads.
I'll explain.
When Presley turned a year old we got pregnant with River. When River turned a year old (plus a few months waiting for James to get off deployment) we had Wilson. Now Wilson is almost a year old and we're going back and forth.. Okay I'm going back and forth, James is okay with whatever, on whether or not to have another one or to just be done all together..
For some folks the timing or spacing of children may not be that important, to us it is.. We want them to be close together, for a lot of reasons..
The first and foremost being I want my kids to be close.. We're a military family and because of that every few years my children will be asked to pack up their lives. Say goodbye to everyone they know. Move somewhere new and start completely over. At the very least i can give them siblings who are close in age who are going through the same thing, someone they can relate to.
Secondly i don't want to do this forever. I don't want to always have cribs and highchairs and baby gates and elastic waist jeans. I want to have the baby making chapter finished and not bookmarked to come back to later. I don't want to have a 16 year old, a 14 year old, a 12 years old and a baby on the breast. If I'm doing this now I'm going to do it all the way.
Which brings my to my next point. Another one?
I know that some folks are intensely anti-big family. They want their 1.6 kids and that's all. Well that's not what James and I came from. Both of our Mothers are from ridiculous Catholic families with 3 dozen kids (okay maybe not 3 dozen but my grandparents had 9 and James' grandparents had 7). We both have huge extended families with lots of kids, grand kids and now great grand kids and being a part of a family like that is only something you can understand if its something you live. When i was younger i looked forward to family holidays all year long. Seeing all of my cousins, aunts, uncles and wiener dogs. Everybody eating together, hugging, laughing and crying. Ever body being close to celebrate the good times and everybody being close to get us through the hard times. A big family is a beautiful thing and the older James and I get the more we start to look toward the future. What do we want in our lives 10, 20 and 50 years from now. Is it a retirement community in Boca or is it rocking chairs and pipe tobacco on a big back porch while are grandchildren running in the yard.. Well i have a fondness for pipe tobacco and if i want more than 2 grand kids I'm going to need more than one child.. Besides 4 kids is not what I think of as a big family, its a medium family..
Now like I've said, I'm going back and forth on this but this seems to be a good time for it. We've got 2.5 years (at least) left here. I wont be going to school for another 3 years or so. I haven't packed up the highchairs, cribs, baby gates or elastic waist jeans (eh) and i know if i do put these things away, I'm likely to never pull them out again..
So that is where things stand... I am back on my vitamins and taking folic acid and I've got a Dr's appointment in two weeks to make sure I'm healthy and everything is still working the way it should.. Its a big step but its one I'm very comfortable with..
More to come on this subject later..

Friday, May 28, 2010

No Thanks on the Jesus Meat..

Okay so i posted a link to a story about a teacher who's been fired twice from public schools for leading prayer in the classroom and the comments led to some christians acting ver unchristianly..
Have fun explaining that one to your "god".. yea because your gonna meet him someday.
Remember folks that the same people that taught you about god also taught you about santa claus and the easter bunny.. Stop being sheep and learn to think for yourselves. You know, use those brain cells that you have and actually produce a rational thought..
Stop attacking non believers to feel better about yourself. Really who are you trying to convince of your faith, me or you?
I never said that its absurd that we even let christians vote and teach in public schools (even though thats how i feel because you people are clearly luney), i just posted a link..
So feel how you want, i dont care. Nothing you can say is going to change what i think or how i choose to raise my family. I dont have to be threatened by eternal damnation to be a good person. I make that choice on my own everyday..
Relegion (whether yours or something you find totally absurd) is relegion and all it boils down to is what people came up with to answer questions before we figured out science..
Now i like my life. I have three beautiful (and matching) children. I have an amazing husband who found me good enough to marry. I wake up everyday and fall in love with everything i have and i feel satisfied with my life, I DONT wake up everyday and feel the need to thank some cosmic jew zombie for everything that I have accomplished. Im a big girl and i can do things on my own..

Now i would say that im sorry for being offensive but really, Im not.. At All! Its that old christian double standard. Everything i think is just plain mean and Im supposed to feel bad about that but i have to grin and bare it everytime somebody says they will pray for me? Dont waste your breath, Im good. Ive already met my makers, their names are Jack and MartyAnn and they made me on the hood of a 74 Ford Galaxie..

Thursday, May 27, 2010

really... its not that hard

Okay this blog is a bitch..

If your tired of people thinking your a slut, stop going to the bar and having sex with strangers.

If you want your kids to stop being terrible, stand up to them. Theyre children and they need to be disciplined.

Im sorry that your life is SOOOOO hard because your a single Mom. Well guess what, its not the victorian age anymore and pregnancy is avoidable. Use birth control and wear condoms..

Breaking the law is illegal.. Tough.

If your tired of being fat, stand up. No seriously, stand up and run in place for an hour.

If your tired of your kids being fat, turn off the goddamned TV.

If you find this offensive you need to grow up, put your big boy pants on and move out of your parents house...

Monday, May 24, 2010

My Ever Changing Life Long List

Man i love making list..

Okay this isn't really a "bucket list", more like a life list. Things that i want to do, want to see, want to keep doing, things i want to happen before my 110 years is up..


5 kids, all boys if i can do it.

Have a very large (and successful) vegetable garden..

Be there when baby sister graduates from AF Boot camp.

Raise boys with table manners.

Raise boys with respect.

See the USS Arizona memorial..

Raise boys with confidence.

Raise boys without killing them.

Have grand kids one day, alot of them.

Teach James that yes, people do plan families.

Buy and RV and drive to Mount Rushmore

Get the boys closer to James' parents.

Keep moving, I think its healthy to know the world.

Teach the kids German.

Be there when baby sister has babies (she was there for me).

Live to be old, like real old.. Like a super centenarian..

Take the boys to county fairs and show them how to love it.

Take the boys to Washington D.C. and show them how to appreciate it.

Build a house with a gourmet kitchen.

Build a close relationship with my step-daughter and let her know i am there for her.

Show my kids the importance of seat belts and speed limits.

See my nieces no matter where they go in life and let them know i love them.

fix my brother.

Go camping with the boys at least once a month.

See all of our kids do at least 4 years in the service, i wish i had.

Build a house with a big wrap around porch.

Teach the boys to be proud of their heritage.

Show each one of my kids individually how amazing they are and try to never group them together.

Go on a "date" with each of my boys at least once a month..

Build a house with two hot water heaters.

have long silver pigtails..

quit smoking, for good.

master parallel parking, i can do it in a small car but the suburban is a different story.

Pass on to my kids the importance of making list..

get breast implants, big ones.

Learn to juggle.

Have and use a clothesline.

Get braces and finally fix my teeth, this has gone on too long..

rebuild an old car, preferably a 1959 Ford Galaxie 500.

Open my own artsy coffee shop.

Open my own family friendly restaurant.

Go back to No Name Colorado and take pictures, it was beautiful.

Convince my inlaws to move back to Elsbery.

Have sex with James in the woods, completely naked, in the daytime at least twice a year every year until i die, even when I'm a supercentenarian.

Be on a Jury.

Buy Hattiesburg High a bench or something with the inscription "Brandy B. dropped out of this school and can still afford this bench".

Take the kids to the statue of liberty in aforementioned RV.

Always be able to find and/or call A&J Furniture.. Theyre prices cant be beat.

Watch all 2 minutes and 40 seconds of the total eclipse of the sun that will be on August 21st 2017.

Get back in that RV and see all 50 states.. except Hawaii because we'd all drown trying to get there in the RV..

Fly to Hawaii.

Learn to say the alphabet backwards really, really fast.

Teach the boys that dreams don't mean anything until you follow them and money is worthless until you spend it.

Stay out of debt..

Pay for one of those operation smile kids..

See the Northern lights.

Learn to play the bagpipes.

Be able to let the boys go when its time for them to grow up..

Live as simply as i can. Pay the bills, buy the groceries and smile often.

Always remind people to wear their seat belts.

Take pictures and order prints. Its so much more fun to go through a box of old pictures than it is to email and attachment.

Bury a time capsule deep in the woods (somewhere like state forest, protected lands) no where near the roads and write down the gps coordinates. Put those in a safe deposit box and leave the key for my first great grandchild.

Learn to throw a boomerang and then teach the kids to do it.

Get a two hundred pound, ultra lazy dog. Name him Forrest.

Makes the kids bathe Forrest once a week.

Go to the Olympics!!

Learn to surf (also get over ridiculous fear of the ocean).

skydive barefoot.

Walk the Great Wall with all of our kids... (and maybe by then Grandkids)

Research my ancestry on my Dad's side.. Other than they're all dead, i don't know anything about them.

Catch up on laundry..

Take my kids to redbluff.

When i have that house of my dreams with its gourmet kitchen and wrap around porch. I want it to have an outside shower. Maybe on a deck off of my bedroom. Hot and cold water, with a drain so i can shower outside because showering outside is amazing..

Never, NEVER stop being proud of who and what i am because it may offend someone else. This is my life, not yours.. The world never stopped spinning for me..

just a lazy sunday... i mean monday..

Tomorrow is Presley's school physical.. yikes.. I'm really having hard time grasping that this chapter is opening.. Presley has turned into a kid, A KID! He started out so sick and still in his little isolette and now hes a verb on his way into kindergarten.. I sat up all night last night crying over this and I'm not even sure why.. okay I'm exactly sure why. I hated school. It was the worst thing ever. I ended up quitting because i got to the point where one more day was going to be more than i could handle.. I hated it and now its time for my beautiful boy to go.. It may seem silly to some of you (some of you will never understand because for some odd reason you enjoyed school) but i feel like i am forcing my innocent child into being tortured for the next 13 years. I know hes not me and knowing Pres hes going to really enjoy school but that was my experience and that's what i know of it and that's how i feel..

Thursday, May 20, 2010

An old blog

I wrote this a couple of years ago when James was on the boat.. We had our fifth anniversary (seven years together)one month ago and it still rings true..

I love James Because

He makes me laugh but not on purpose
Hes a great Dad
He worries about me
I know if he had too, hed fuck somebody up for me
He gave me two beautiful boys
He made an honest woman out of me
Hes the perfect height to hug
He drives faster when Metallica comes on the radio
He tells me dinner was good, even when it wasnt
He thought i was pretty, even when i was 11 and he was 13
He still thinks im pretty
He'll get up in the middle of the night and go to the store to fetch whatever pregnancy induced craving im having
He cried during the Pantera behind the music
He works hard so i can stay home with the boys
He's a patriot
Hes a republican
He stays home on Saturday night, even if its just to play scrabble with me
He watches Dr. Phil
He bought me the Trailblazer for our Anniversary
He appreciates the beauty of a lazy Sunday afternoon
He bought me my very first guitar
He loves the sound of my typewriter
He drinks coffee as much as i do
He gives the boys a bath and puts them to bed with a story everynight (when hes not on deployment)
He gets up with the boys on Saturday so i can sleep in.
He takes the boys to the hangar to show them off and teach them about F-18s everychance he gets
He thinks our new stroller is cool (its a sit and stand and it kicks ass)
He loves his mother
He thinks its cool that we are competetive gingerbread house builders
He puts me and the boys first, no matter what
Hes never met a stranger
Hes proud of me, for what im not sure but he is
He lets me spoon him
He made 2nd Class in 2 and a half years
He still holds my hand, even if were just standing in the kitchen
He lets me be right
Hes left-handed
He keeps the kids busy and out from under my feet while im cooking
It was important to him for me to breastfeed the boys
He wants to have alot of kids so oneday we can sit on our porch in our rocking chairs and watch alot of grandkids running in our yard
He worships me
He takes pride in what he does, at work and at home
We never have leftovers
He goes grocery shopping with me
He realizes just how lucky we are to have what we have
He misses the rain too
He smiles with his whole face
Hes a good kisser
He can reach the top shelf
He has sexy muscles
He has freckles on his eyelids
Hes generous
He falls asleep when he sits still too long
Know any other man that can fold a fitted sheet?
I wake up in the middle of the night to find him just watching me sleep (in a romantic, loving way and not in a crazy way)
One of his best guy friends is a girl (yes its you, i know your reading this ^_^)
|If one of the boys has a bad dream, he'll go sleep in their room in case it comes back
My dad loves him and trust me thats hard to do
Hes got a great butt
His best friends like me
He gives me back rubs
He loves Maggie
He promised to let me die first, so i never have to live without him and right now that ones really important, im holding him to it..
He wakes me up at night to tell me he loves me
He talks to my mom like their old friends, i mean, i know they kind of are but still..
He pics on my accent
Without realizing it, he plays air guitar on MY arm
We still take showers together (when hes home and not on the boat where he gets to take showers with all kinds of people)
ADD is great for getting chores done
he makes the same face i do when we see somebody elses kid being bad as hell in the grocery store
He wipes the bathroom sink down after he shaves
He smells good, somewhere between Aqua Di Gio (?) and jet fuel
He changes the oil
He goes to the boys Dr.'s appointments with me
He thinks i look good in a straw hat
He says "dang" alot
The fact that im completely nuts doesnt bother him at all
He thinks my family is hilarious and is proud to be a part of it

Okay well this could go on for days and its getting late so im just gonna stop here and maybe ill pick back up later..

so yea

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

creative in the kitchen

I think everybody likes the food that their Mama cooks..
Well my kids might never be satisfied with their future wives cooking because their Mama watches the food network waaaay too much..
Last night we had fried chicken, cabbage and black eyed peas. Pretty normal as far as the soul food that us G.R.I.T.S. are accustomed to. The night before we had breakfast for dinner, another one of my favorites..
Well tonight we are having chicken wrapped asparagus and whole wheat penne pasta with broccoli and alfredo sauce.. Last night i was listening to Charley Pride, tonight its the Ramones..
Haha I think i may have domestic bipolar disorder!!

Ma'am and Sir?

I know that i am Southern to the bone. It is in every piece of my being. The way i eat, talk, relax and raise my children are all in that hazy Southern way. I, like most Southern parents expect my children to say yes Ma'am and no Sir. Not so much because its polite but because its rude if you don't. They also don't put their elbows on the table and have to say please and thank you if they want anything.. I realized more than i ever have when i was in California that not everybody feels that is as important as I do. I had a friend out there who (against her husbands wishes) made a point of NOT teaching her son things that i thought were basic manners because she felt like it was forcing him to respect her and in her opinion respect is something you earn. Now this woman is a good woman and a good Mother but i never could understand her reasoning behind this. This kid was not 17, he was 4. I don't think that teaching my kiddos Ma'am and Sir is forcing respect but rather instilling respect. My parents always taught me that you respect your elders regardless and in my house, I'm one of the elders! I did not live all these years to take crap off of a three year old. You will not talk back to me and you will not be demanding. I know this process will undoubtedly get harder as the boys get older but for now its not hard to be polite. I don't think you could ever just know how to be respectful if your not taught respect.. That makes sense right? And totally besides the respect side of it, its polite. Polite to me is alot more than Thank you and alot of what i thought was polite didn't really matter in (that particular) friend's house.
Merriam-Webster defines polite as showing or characterized by correct social usage b : marked by an appearance of consideration, tact, deference, or courtesy c : marked by a lack of roughness or crudities..
AKA no farting at the table.. I'm not raising bigger versions of my little boys I'm raising gentlemen here.. I think our entire country would be so much better off if Moms and Dads reminded their children that they are Ma'ams and Sirs..

Monday, May 10, 2010

5 things i wish everybody knew

1. Nobody owes you anything, we all come into the world breathing the same air.. Its up to you if you want to make something of it.. Ive known plenty of people that do alright despite having crappy parents themselves and no (gasp) universal health care..

2. The posted speed limit is the maximum speed limit when conditions are good.. Riding my ass isn't going to make me go any faster its just going to frustrate you and besides if you drive anything smaller than a midsized SUV and your riding the rear of my truck, i cant even see you so your really not bothering me at all.. Just making it unsafe for everybody..

3. Not breaking the law is not hard to do.. If your not doing anything wrong and you get pulled over, just be polite and you can be on your way.. But if your car is billowing with smoke as you leave your pot guys house at 2AM and you get pulled over, that's not a witch hunt. That's probable cause..

4. Kids grow up really fast. So spend every free second you can with them. Before you know it they will be teenagers and you will be the retarded one.. This past weekend i got a two day break from my life.. I hung out with my friends, i drank coffee and i smoked cigarettes and it was fun but it wasn't something i could do everyday.. I don't think i could do that more than once a year.. Your kiddos didn't ask you to have them, you did that so try to be there for them. I have very little respect for a woman who dumps her babies off on grandma every weekend..

5. I'm not "green". I'm not a liberal or a hippie. I have bigger fish to fry than what the lube place does with the oil out of my truck when I'm done with it.. I drive a fully blown dinocinerator that gets 13 miles a gallon.. But I DON'T LITTER!! It just about makes me sick to my stomach to see people throw garbage out of their car windows.. I feel like that crying Indian.. You don't have to go out of your way to care for the Earth but jesus christ don't think that your Walmart bag full of soda cans and burger wrappers belongs on the side of the highway..

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Where would i have been?

Oh ive had fun in these last two days.. I saw some old good friends of mine, some old notso good friends of mine and some folks that i never knew before but hopefully will one day be old good friends of mine.. It was so weird to be in Hattiesburg with no husband and no children. In fact i have not done that since i had no husband and children. That kind of freedom is almost more than i can handle now. I rode around in the middle of the night, smoking cigarettes and just hanging out. I cant help but wonder what would have happened to me if things hadnt lined just as they had to give me the life i have.. If i had stayed in that place and James had never come over that night. Where would I be? I guess i would probably still be in Hattiesburg. Would i have an apartment or share a house with a bunch of friends? Would i still work at Jody's? Would i have graduated by now? What would i have been doing this past weekend other than sneaking in my every fifth year peak at freedom? Or would i be married to somebody else, maybe with two little girls? That im sure wouldnt be the case because its almost impossible to even imagine.. No, i think i was meant to be married to James and have all these XYs..

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

I'm in this weird Semisonic reminiscent thing right now..


My Dirty Joe, my 005, my inches from albino child, my Presley is going to start going to school in a few weeks and i am just not handling this well at all.. I keep saying I'm not ready for this but its so much more than that. I hated school! I hated it with a passion! I did not like being forced into being in a room full of strangers and shared air, being told what to do by some woman that i didn't know. I hated being forced into socializing and now i hate that I'm about to put my own son through this. It just doesn't seem fair. What did he do to deserve having to go through this? He's such a good kid and hes so smart (and really I'm not just saying that because I'm his Mother, can your 4 year old find the Philippines on a map? mine can..) and I'm so scared that putting him in a room full of nuerotypical, boring, overweight and under mannered kids is only going to hinder him.. Okay i recognize that my point of view on this off balance (one) because I'm his Mother and (two) i went to terrible schools. No really, some of the worst in the country. I just get the feeling that this isn't going to be the best thing ever that i keep hearing from average Mothers of average children..
This is going to change so much for us.. I can literally count on one hand how many times my children have stayed the night away from me. They have never been to daycare and have never been babysat. I didn't have my children to pay someone else to take care of them for me. This will be the beginning of outside influence and I am VERY nervous about that. James and I pride ourselves in not lying to our children about anything. If they have a question, we give them an honest answer. There has been no Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, Jesus, babies come from a cabbage patch around here. I try very hard to teach my kids to think for themselves, they will not be sheep. They do not chew gum, they do not put their elbows on the table and I will not tolerate gross habits they pick up from kids who's parents don't care.. UGH!! I am so stressed out about this!!
This is going to change more than just Presley's life. This will change our entire family dynamic. We are entering the age of having school aged kids.. No more packing up and spending a week in Hburg when we feel like it. All of our trips will have to be scheduled around school days and spring breaks. Hell, even when we pcs we'll have to manage it around school now.. Backpacks, lunch bags, trapper keepers (do they still make those?), back to school sales, pencils, elmers glue... Even the clutter around my house is going to change..