I'm Ready (Post Written on Tidewatermommies.com)

Ready to go back to Virginia
Ready to see my doggies...I miss them sooo much
Ready to sleep in my own bed
Ready to be able to hide in my own room, with no kids
Ready to eat my OWN food when I decide to cook it
Ready to be done with this nasty weather
Ready to be done with Christmas Vacation
Ready to be in MY home
Ready for January 15th...even if you DON'T have a place to live, you can live with me!!!!!!!! ;)
Ready for this deployment to end so the end of sea duty is closer
Ready to go to coffee with my VIRGINIA friends since these Ohio women all want to hibernate
Ready for my Costa Rican rum...anyone want to join me?

I've been ready to leave here since I left Virginia. This place is super depressing and just makes it that much harder to be here on top of being without my husband and my grandfather. Add the fact that my mother has been off work only two whole days since we've been here, Christmas Day being one of them, doesn't help. She works days so she goes to bed at like 9pm. They don't eat a normal dinner so I have to figure out what to cook here and be sure to make enough for my kids and my step-dad and whomever else decides to come over at dinner time. OH and then we were informed last night that the water softner (they have well water) broke and that is why my mom and I have been sick for the past 3 days. (We drink a TON of coffee) My son got sick shortly after we got here with strep and LUCKILY I found a little clinic that took Tricare Prime so we only paid $3 for the antibiotics. Christmas Eve day I cut my eye opening packages I had delivered here, but it is now healing nicely! But Christmas Day went amazingly well. My mother bought $150 worth of petit fillets (steak) and cooked them on the grill. She also made crab soup and my grandmother brough over shrimp and noodles and LOTS of sweets. There was other stuff too like potatoes and this bread stuff and...yeah, I'm getting hungry. Before my sister left we had our Christmas fight over how I discipline my children. She thinks I yell at my middle child more than the other two but it just so happens the middle child has acted out the most in front of "Aunt Shay" for attention. Anyway, it ended with her boyfriend and our step-sister interveneing by giving my sister money. That always shuts her up! LOL! The end of the night was laden with beer and cards and basketball. It was nice.

If you made it this far, I commend you. Guess I should have blogged this instead. Maybe I will since I haven't done that in a while! LOL! Here's all the grandchildren posing nicely in front of the tree. Aren't they just adorable?! :) Happy Holidays to all and I can't wait to get back to my home.

First Annual SITS Blogathon!!

WOOT! WOOT! Welcome to my blog if you are headed over from SITS or from a SITSta!! Feel free to browse my posts and pictures but be forwarned that I can have a bit of sarcasm in my bones! ;) Anywho, I must frist thank the SITStas Tiffany and Heather for making this site what it is. It has brought me some of the most WONDERFUL support people in the bloggy world. I never thought comments from perfect strangers could lift my spirits on a bad day or make me laugh so hard I almost pee my pants!! With that said and to keep with the rules, I am going to clue you all in on some of the lovely people I have "met" through SITS! Shall I begin with the person who introduced me to SITS? Why not!

Meet Jenna! She is my RL-never-met-you-before friend from my mommies website. (www.tidewatermommies.com) I originally "met" her on another mom site and then she joined ours. One day while reading one of her HILARIOUS posts I saw the pretty pink and brown icon for SITS and clicked on it. The rest is history. Check out Jenna! Leave her some love!!

Next is Lula from Lulaville! This woman corrupted me! A fellow Virgin-i-an, she has made me laugh, cry and laugh so hard I cried many times in my short bloggy life. She introduced me to the methliture (my word)or crackliture (her word) called The Twilight Series. She got me hooked on the Edward/Bella love story that has pretty much taken up my bathroom time! I "lurk" read her blog daily and do not know what I would do with out some Lula-crack.

Let us all head on over now to Candid Carrie! Another one of my favorite reads, Carrie is a momma of SIX children...SIX!...and she does it with such ease. She has an uncanny love for cats that I will NEVER understand and she hosts one of the BEST photo days on Blogger. At least I think it is the best! On top of all that, she is FUNNY! I love myself some funny blogs! SO, head on over to Candid Carrie and check her out!

Hmmm, who should I put next...let's see...ahhhh! How about Debbie from This is the life! Let me just say that this woman has amazing abilities! Not only does she post on her own regular blog, but she also hosts another blog called Blog Around The World. BATW is a super busy commenting blog. I don't know how she does it!! But she takes in people from literally all around the world and features them over there. On her regular blog, she makes me laugh with her quips about politics, people and her very own life. So, why not head on over to This is The Life and while you are at it, check out her other site too called Blog Around The World!

Now how about flying on over to Tale of a Kansas Girl and saying hi to Ronnica! I just love reading her blog. Some days her posts just calm my spirit. She is NOT afraid to speak her mind and her blog is comical and fun at times but she can also be serious. My current faves from her are her School Days posts. They take me back to when I was just a kid myself and some days, yeah, I need that. Soooo, click, click, click on over to Tale of a Kansas Girl and leave some love!!

Finally, just because I absolutely ADORE and am secretly jealous of her awsome blog layout, meet Kaycee from Life as a Mom at 21 22! I have only just started to read her blog this past week, but I am ADDICTED to her layout. It is pink and brown, my newly acquired favorite color scheme, and it just SCREAMS cuteness! Not to mention she has the most adorable 2yr old little girl AND is about to have another one here VERY soon! (If she hasn't by the time this posts!) So, you know the drill, go leave her love!

Well, that is all! Whew! I hope you got your commenting in and that you remembered to leave ME some love as well! Enjoy this SITS day and OH! Go on over there and check them out too! What a wonderful way to network and meet new people! The Secret really IS in the sauce!! ;)

TTFN,

Friends...

Have you ever wondered if you were good enough to be someone's friend? Have you ever wondered why you put so much time into your friends just to get nothing in return? Have you ever taken a step back to look at your "list" of friends and wonder if your life would even sputter if certain people weren't in it? I have. Many times. I am doing it now. There are people friends in my life that I think I could just never talk to ever again and they either wouldn't care or wouldn't notice! How sad is THAT? I put forth the effort and get NOTHING, why should I? I am SICK of always "being there" yet when I am in need of someone to be there for me, everyone disappears! I must bitch WAY too much! Imagine that. Me, bitching too much!

I have a friend that I have known for almost 4 years now. I USED to tell this friend EVERYTHING about my life and she did the same. We talked and texted daily and if someone wanted to know where one of us was, they asked one of us because we always knew. I was there for her through some pretty rough times including her decision to have an abortion and a really horrible breakup with her boyfriend that landed ME on the phone for days on end, hours at a time, listening to her cry, bitch, get mad and then get drunk. She moved before all that and since then has visited a few times. During her visits she usually gets wasted and talks shit, hits on my husband (he loves it, no harm, no foul), becomes beligerant to the both of us and the next day acts like nothing happened. She NEVER remembers being a jerk just that SHE visited. That's fine, I get over it and we continue on with our relationship as always.

So, I haven't talked to her in a few months. She is usually the first one I call when I have a problem or if I need to cry but this time, when I found out about my heart problems, I didn't call her. I called Mrs Paruser because she has pretty much taken the place of the friend that moved away. Instead, I messaged her and asked if she could call me when she had a free hour and she said she would, today, Friday, in the afternoon after she got out of class. Well here it is, 10:15pm and the beloved friend has not called. Has not texted to even say "sorry, I lost track of time". Has not even messaged me to apologize and I GUARENTEE she won't. She probably forgot and will remember in a few days and will finally message me and say she will call when she gets a free minute. Well what the hell about all the free minutes I didn't really have when she had boyfriend troubles? And when she got done with her procedure? How about whenever we talk the conversation always ends up going to her. It is like she always has it worse than me and really, I would give anything to have her life at her age.

So I guess I am just tired of being put on the back burner all the damn time and that is why I have written off so many people friends in my lifetime. If I'm not put on the back burner, I am being back stabbed. Either way, I guess it is time for me to "watch my back" and start making another "hit" list.

TTFN,

Sunday Shoutouts

How lame, right? Stealing a title from other blogs! I can't help it. I couldn't think of a good enough title so I did it. Oh well. Anyway, on to the reason for today's post...check THIS out...



Jealous? Yeah, that's what I THOUGHT! This is my AWESOME, CUSTOM, HAND-MADE prize from Kiki & Lele. Yeah, they are awesome and not only do they make bad ass jewelry, they are also donating a portion of their annual procedes to thier local NICU. No, REALLY! You should go read their story here. They are just all around wonderful ladies!

I also want to thank SITS for bringing me such wonderful bloggy friends and bloggy contest like the one above. Without my SITStas I don't think I would still be blogging, honestly. You all should really check them out. They start a new contest every Saturday. This week they are featuring Star Looks Boutique's AllyZabba blanket and boy does it look comfy! They are giving away the large size which measures 34 x 28!!! So hurry on over and check out this week's contest!

This next person doesn't really need to be named AGAIN but she insisted more discussion so hell, why not. Lula, Lula, Lula! Thank you OH so much for introducing me to my methliture! I do not think I could have survived these first 9 days of deployment without the storyline of Edward and Bella. I am in absolute LOVE with this series and will be in utter depression when it is over. I am now 1/4 of the way into Eclipse and am totally pleased with the way the books have flowed from one to the next. Yes, I am once again gushing over the Twilight Series. And yes, it's in the teen section in the bookstore, so freakin' what. I didn't even know that until I bought the SECOND book they didn't have at WalMart and the KID at B&N said "That's ok, we get you "older" people buying these books all the time. I've seen OLDER." I guess that was his compliment? Gee kid, thanks! But I'm only 31!!! Anyway. THANK YOU DEAR LULA for adding to my list of addictions! In all actuality, reading as fast as I have has opened my mind to other blogging ideas so I am really excited!

Finally, I want to extend my thanks to all the rest of my blog-world friends who have been supporting me in this really rough time I am going through. It's only been 9 days but these last 9 days has felt like 9 WEEKS. So much is different this time around and I feel so empty yet you all seem to find a way to make me smile or help me deal. (Carrie, Lula, M...you guys rock!) And to my real world friends who also blog and who don't but come here and stalk, thank you oh so much for understanding that I really can't hand the outside world just yet. At least not all at once. I am taking it one day at a time and eventually I will be the social butterfly I was before my heart sailed away.

I love you all and this Sunday is dedicated to you!




TTFN,

Friday Fiesta Foto Finish

Ahhh. It's FINALLY Friday. And what do we all crave the most on Friday? Yup, that's right! FX4! WHOOP WHOOP! So get your booties on over to Candid Carrie and join me and the others (I think she might have over 100 of us now!) in the crazy fad we like to call Friday Fiesta Foto Finish!

My foto for the week features friends sharing THEIR life's guilty pleasures...stogies and beer! Now, the one on the right has given up drinking so he isn't partaking in the beer, but he is surely enjoying the fat stogie in his mouth! The one on the left is, of course, Balla. I cannot quite remember which night this was taken, but it was taken shortly before the boys deployed. These two are like Frick and Frack and they can always be caught with a stogie in their mouths...or at the computer playing World of Warcraft.



TTFN,

Friday Fiesta Foto Finish

Friday's Fiesta Foto Finish came on pretty fast this week! But I must say that Thursday proved to be a phun photo day pho sho! I took the kids up to Water Country for the day with some of my mommy phriends (yes, it's spelled wrong on purpose!)and we continued the day with dinner at one of the phriend's houses. We met up with another phellow mommy and when it was time phor us to leave we headed on down phor some Rita's Italian Ice. We ate some ice and let the kids play in the grass and before long they were all "dog piled" on top of my oldest daughter. Check it out! She is the one on the bottom. You can only see her hair and her arm! Poor kid!


Not the greatest of photos, but I was too lazy to get my camera out of the car so I used my cell phone. Thanks Candid Carrie for letting me share my photo skillz! I am loving this! AND loving reading your blogs!

TTFN,

Awareness Wednesday...For Liam Matthews

People come into your life for a variety of reasons. I have posted this before. Whether she knows it or not, the person I am posting for I still consider a friend. Things may not be the greatest for either of us right now, but oh well. We might both be on different pages in our book of life, but again, oh well. We are both adults and should know that no matter what, we should act as such.

Anyway, I am here today to write about something that has affected the Matthews family in a way they probably never thought possible. I am here today to write about Cytomegalovirus, or CMV. CMV is the virus most frequently transmitted to a developing child before birth. When a baby catches CMV prior to birth it is known as a congenital CMV infection. Approximately 90% of all infants who are infected with CMV prior to delivery are born without symptoms of the virus; however, the remaining 10% will have varying degrees of abnormalities. For infants who are infected by their mothers before birth, two potential problems exist:

1) Generalized infection may occur in the infant, and symptoms may range from moderate enlargement of the liver and spleen (with jaundice) to fatal illness. With supportive treatment most infants with CMV disease usually survive. However, from 80% to 90% will have complications within the first few years of life that may include hearing loss, vision impairment, and varying degrees of mental retardation.

2) Another 5% to 10% of infants who are infected but without symptoms at birth will subsequently have varying degrees of hearing and mental or coordination problems.

(above excerpts taken from StopCMV.com)

Liam Matthews survived. He is deaf but with the help of a cochlear implant, he is learning to hear. He has several delayed developments, but he is learning at his own pace with the help of his extremely patient and loving mother and father, friends and family members. He is making great strides and is always a smiling and happy little boy. Sometimes you can see his frustration, like when he wants to walk on his own but he just can't quite get it. But just around the corner is that happy smile when he hears something he's never heard before or when someone lets him have a sweet treat. All in all I bet the best thing in the world for this family is when they wake up in the morning and see their little boy, their miracle, and his happy face because that is what Liam is. A happy little miracle.

Support Liam and all the other babies out there with CMV by visiting the StopCMV website and joining the fight. I did.

TTFN.

Friends...Can't Live With Them...Can't Live Without Them!

I am the one who answers the phone at 2am when someone needs to chat because they are drunk, in emotional pain, or just need someone to talk to. I am the one who everyone else turns to when they need that friend to vent to just because I am here and really have nothing else to do. I am the one that puts myself out there FOR the venting and the phone calls and really, honestly, I do NOT mind, not one bit. I was put on this earth to help and that is what I do...at least I THINK that is what I do.

Some days I think that the more I say, the more advice I give, the more people ignore it. Some days I think that when I talk, it is to a brick wall and brick walls, well, they do not talk back! Some days I think I would be better off ignoring the venting friend because it puts me smack dab in the middle of drama that I do not want to be involved in. Some days I think that some people THRIVE on drama like it was their way to breathe. Well guess what? Drama sucks the life right out of you.

What is my point. Hmmm...good question. My point would be that first of all, for a woman, it is really hard to find other women that you can actually stand to be in the same room with. Once you find women you can tolerate, it is equally hard, if not harder, to make FRIENDS with those women because women are catty bitches. Women tend to "click" and once they "click" they bond and once they bond it is hard to break that bond and join that "click". IF you can break that bond just a little bit and nudge your way in to that "click", it is really hard to find that ONE person you can call best friend. Shit, even if you get in, it's hard to find someone you can call your GOOD friend! Sometimes it is even hard to STAY once you get in. It is like trying to join a group with dues...there is always SOME price to pay.

I believe there is a reason why each and every person enters and exits your life. A while back a high school friend of mine found something and posted it on myspace and I stole borrowed it from her. It makes complete sense especially when thinking about your friends, what they really mean to you and what they mean to your life. I know when I first read it I thought, 'I could have written this myself.' It is my thoughts, in a blog, EXACTLY.

So, humor me, my stalkers, and read the passage below. Remember that everyone comes into your life for a reason and they leave for a reason as well. It might hurt when they leave, but maybe it is what is right. You may THINK you want them to leave, but maybe this is a time you need to grow together and learn. Patience is a virtue...

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

With that said, I want to thank you all for being a part of my life, whether you are a reason, a season or a lifetime.

TTFN,

Mama Roho