Idol Chatter

What is your obsession????? What do you feel you were created for??? What worthless idol gets your attention? Is it some famous actor....like Mel Gibson...or Edward Cullen?...or perhaps....shoe shopping???? I was not real excited when I realized that things that had my attention....were my foci....were called idols....why? Simply put...if those things are idols....doesn't that make me an idol worshipper? The truth is....I do have numerous people, places, things...that I turn to before God for comfort, pleasure, satisfaction, purpose, meaning in life.....and yes chocolate could be one of those. I used to get a chuckle out of the t-shirt that read, "Hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt." I don't laugh at it so much any more. Idols....grab your affection and tell you nothing but big, fat lies. They promise you love, power, comfort, pleasure....but you never really get it....what you end up with is willingly forfeited grace.....and a big, fat empty feeling. So what does capture your attention? I would have to say...mine would be the need for security. I personally need to be approved of and accepted....so what part of the gospel am I NOT believing?? I struggle with this every day of my life and....just when I thought I had it under control.....my mom moved in with me....and the insecurity reared it's ugly head again. The struggle I guess boils down to this....simply....God is God....and I AM NOT!....but maybe I am a little like Adam and Eve in the Garden....when the snake tempted them with a chance to be like God if they sampled the fruit....maybe I want a taste myself.....I am learning....slowly.....that the more I get to know God.....and who He really is.....the more I trust that He does know what is good for me.....and that has a 100% guarantee. There is an old doo-wop song that is very appropriate here:

To know know know Him

Is to love love love Him

Just to see Him smile

Makes my life worthwhile

To know know know Him

Is to love love love Him

and I do.....

Peace to you all.....K

Driving in the Snow

It's snowing outside. We're supposed to get dumped with 5 or 7 inches of snow. Fantastic.

Tom came home from work looking horrible. I mean usually he walks through the door looking half asleep but this time he walked in coughing and looking like death warmed over.

"Could you get me some more Tylenol and Excedrin from the commissary today?" he croaked out.

I gestured to the window. "But it's snowing."

Tom blinked at me. "So?" he finally answered.

So. SO says the man who drives a large TRUCK to the woman who drives a TINY PT Cruiser.

"I don't want to die," I explained since he was just staring at me in confusion.

Tom rolled his eyes as he sat down on the couch. "You won't die," he promised.

"What if I get stuck? Or slide into a pole?" I wondered.

Tom started pulling off his boots. A woosh of stink blasted towards me. Maybe I'm overdramatic there. Tom claims that his feet don't stink, especially now since it's so cold. I disagree. When he takes off his boots they seriously REEK which is why I insist that he jump into the shower when he gets home.

"If you leave now, you'll be fine," Tom said simply as he tugged off his other boot.

I held my breath for a few seconds.

One one thousand...two one thousand...three one thousand...okay, I think the stink is gone now..

"Well...I did want to mail a few packages today anyhow," I replied. My eyes drifted over to the wrapped packages that sat against the wall all ready to go. I had planned on mailing them today. But then I heard about all the snow and panicked and decided that I'd wait until the snow storm was all over.

Plus I felt bad for Tom because he basically has to work a month straight. The base is having an inspection and it;s is all paranoid because apparently the other nuke bases (Minot, Malstrom) failed their inspection. So Tom has to work extra hard. AND he doesn't even know if he'll get Christmas off yet.

Tom said I could keep Natalie with him. (Tommy was at school.) I refused to drive with her in the car with me in case I drove into a pole.

So I pulled on my jeans, ran a brush through my hair, shrugged on my jacket and left.

"Amber!" Tom called out in a pathetic voice. "Get the fast acting caplets. Not the tablets. I can't swallow the tablets."

Fine.

I got into the car and had to wait a few seconds before the ice melted off my windshield. Then I was on my way. I gripped the wheel tightly and headed for the post office.

I slid a few times. I sucked in my breath whenever it happened and willed myself not to go into a pole. Or, you know, another car.

I finally made it to the post office and dropped off the packages.

Then I went to the commissary.

The snow was coming down harder at this point. I couldn't see very far in front of me.

"I don't like this," I said outloud. Yeah, I tend to talk to myself. I wonder if that means I'm crazy?

The speed limit on base is 30. I was going 20. I think I irritated some cars behind me but I didn't care.

I was relieved when the commissary came into few. The parking lot was covered in snow so I don't even know if I was within the lines. Oh well. I managed to park beside some other cars and then darted inside. I grabbed Tom's Tylenol and Excedrin. Then I figured I ought to pick up diapers just in case the snow storm got really bad.

I made it home safely. I slid a few more times and went "eeeee!" whenever it happened.

Tom and Natalie were both fast asleep when I got back. So I figured I could crack open New Moon for a few minutes. But Natalie seemed to sense that I wanted to do something for myself because a few seconds later I heard, "Mom? MOM?"

I have some pictures:











Then she did this and I figured Picture Time was over:



I need to go put Natalie down, clean a bit and then watch Fringe on the DVR. It's a good show. Not as good as Lost but entertaining enough.

Thanksgiving 2008

Okay, I don't get it.

Natalie is infatuated with pulling her baby wipes out of the container. I just caught her doing it. I made the mistake of doing a few dishes and when I came back out she was in the middle of the living room surrounded by all her wipes.

"Hi!" she said grandly when she saw me. As though she had done nothing wrong.

And the thing is, I had put those wipes up. Out of her reach. Because she's done this before and I blamed myself for stupidly leaving them on the ground. This time I put them up.

But she grabbed a few of her stuffed animals, stood on those and got the container down.

The little minx.

Anyhow, I'm proud to say that nothing burned from my Thanksgiving dinner.

I put the turkey in the oven around noon. And let me tell you, it sort of freaked Tommy out.

"Where's the head?" he asked.

"Well, that got cut off."

Tommy looked downright disgusted.

He nearly gagged when I pulled out the neck and giblets.

"WHAT ARE THOSE?" he shrieked, covering his face.

I remembered some tips that people had given me about the turkey. I rubbed olive oil all over it and then placed butter in various places. Then I shook on some salt and paper.

It smelled delicious as it cooked.

But before we had Thanksgiving dinner I made these for breakfast:



Tommy was hesitant to eat some because last month I accidentally grabbed the cream cheese frosting one. We only like the regular frosting in this house. The cream cheese frosting has a strange aftertaste to me. Tommy took one bite out of the cream cheese frosting covered cinnabon and nearly spit it out. "It tastes," he said, chewing slowly, "funky."

This time I made sure to get the regular frosting.



While the cinnabuns were cooking we saw that it was snowing outside. Natalie was amused. Yes, she is in her diaper. It's because her diaper leaked overnight and her pajamas were wet. And I figured I'd wait to dress her until after she had breakfast. Yes, that is also my necklace around her neck. She's really into wearing jewelry these days. She likes going through my jewelry and she'll be all, "Ooo. Petty!" (Pretty.)



Natalie surprised me and actually ate a few bites of the cinnabun before demanding to be let down.





I tried to get a good picture of the kids together but it was difficult. They would not hold still.

Then Tommy wanted me to just take photos of him:






While dinner was cooking I brought in the tree:



And look. Here is the turkey:



So yes. We had a lovely Thanksgiving.

Poor Traumatized Tom

Tom has been traumatized.

By Wal-Mart.

I warned him that it would be packed.

Actually, he said it didn't look that bad when he pulled up at 4 in the morning. He said he was able to find a parking spot close to the front.

But then...then he saw all the people inside.

He said he could barely move. He'd go down one aisle and get stuck.

Eventually he made it to where the Power Wheels were. He said they were all wrapped up in black plastic and there was a small group of people waiting around it.

For some reason I picture a circle of lions surrounding a hunk of meat.

Tom took his spot and then played the waiting game.

"Amber," he told me when he had made it back home. "You know those angry black women in Maury?"

Oh yes. I admit I watch those DNA Maury shows. I have no idea why. They always end the same way: with the woman leaping out from her seat and screaming that she's ONE THOUSAND AND TEN PERCENT sure that DeShawn is her baby Daddy. I like it when it turns out the guy isn't the father. Then the woman runs off the stage screaming at the top of her lungs.

Well hello? Maybe you should keep your knees shut.

"Yeah," I answered Tom.

"Well I think I had one beside me," Tom explained. "Because she said 'I will fight anyone who takes my Power Wheels.'"

Oh lordy.

He said she was in her pajamas too. And that she had a large purse and that he was afraid she'd take a swing at him.

At five on the dot the black plastic came off. Tom said people immediately rushed in and placed their hands all over Power Wheel boxes and shouted, "THREE OF THESE ARE MINE!"

He said the people around went, "No, you get only one."

Tom said one old guy added, "Yeh selfish bastards!"

Tom said there was another women beside him that nearly got trampled. He felt bad for her so he handed her the box he had grabbed.

It's just the person he is.

Luckily he was able to grab another box.

"In about five minutes, all the Power Wheels were gone," Tom told me.

He said he passed by the TVs on sale and was disgusted when people were loading up cartfuls of them.

Some people are greedy. That's all there is to it. I try to give these people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they're donating to charity or passing off deals to family members. Although it's hard to believe that when one person is grabbing TEN televisions.

Shame on the people who re-sell that stuff. It's just not right.

Tom said he passed one lady loading up a cart full of those $69 digital cameras.

She basically took them all and some people were arguing with her.

She insisted they were for family members.

But an entire cart?

Tom wanted to look at other places. But his arms were full of the Power Wheel box and he basically "wanted to get the hell out of there."

He said it took about a half hour to get to the front of the store. There were just that many people.

Of course when he got home he realized that he had accidentally grabbed the pink Power Wheels. Oops. But he said at the time all he wanted to do was grab one and go.



He says he'll spray paint it for Tommy. Can he do that without ruining the Power Wheels? That's what I'm worried about.

**Actually I just saw the age limit was 4! So Tommy wouldn't fit in this anyhow. So what we'll probably do is give this to Natalie for her second birthday and Tommy will get his new big bike so hopefully he won't mind so much.**

I ended up waking up at 6:30. I got dressed and told Tom goodbye.

I decided to pop into Wal-Mart because I wanted to get Tommy the $29 bike they had.

It wasn't as packed by the time I got there. I was able to find some good deals:







I thought the $29 bike was long gone but I asked someone and he said that they were stacked way off in the corner of the store.

So I picked up one of those and checked out.

Then I went to Target. I was looking for the $59 Guitar Hero set.

That was sold out. But then I saw a huge set that came with the guitar, the microphone and the drums. That was $189. Yikes. But I figured it would be the best deal. I picked up the last one. Apparently they are huge sellers? I saw a lot of people with them in their carts at Wal-Mart.

I got Juno and Office Space for $5.98 as well.

After that was Kohls. I brought in my stroller because last year I knew the wait for the carts took awhile. I'm glad I did. When I walked in there were a cluster of people waiting for the carts. I breezed right past them and headed off to the toy section. I got a bunch of those.

This is basically what I got:






The line at Kohls...oh my goodness...it was nearly stretched around the entire store.

I had been impressed with how fast lines moved up until then. Wal-Mart I got in and out.

Target was the same.

But Kohls?

Oh Kohls. My beloved Kohls. What happened?

I waited in line for an hour. I ended up getting $20 in Kohls cash back.

Though it was amusing because as I shopped I noticed people kept giving me funny looks. I was starting to wonder what was so amusing and then finally someone came up to me and whispered, "There isn't a baby in there under all your stuff is there?"

Uhhh...no..I would not bury my kid.

My last stop was the mall.

I popped into Gymboree to pick up one of their coats for my niece. Then I picked up two others to drop off at the Salvation Army. The worker there recognized me when I walked in.

"Hi there!" she said. "Our coats are $14 and our fleece are two for $12."

"Hi," I answered. "I know about that." Then I bit my tongue. HUSH Amber. Gymboree workers don't like it when you know more than they do.

I bought the coats and then ordered a pizza to go at Sbarro. While I was waiting I got my beloved sweet tea from Chick-fil-a.

Then I went to The Salvation Army and dropped off the two coats. They seemed surprised that they were new.

"I figure you know someone who can use them," I said cheerfully before driving off.

And then I got home.

When I walked through the door I was met with Natalie's angry, "MOM!"

We ate the pizza and Tom asked if I got Guitar Hero.

"Well," I said. "Sort of."

He looked confused.

"You should wait until Christmas," I added.

But Tom is stubborn and said that he wanted to see now. And I was too tired to argue. As I was eating my pizza I all of a sudden felt fatigued.

I told Tom to look in the trunk of the car.

He excitedly brought in his big gift:



We haven't played it yet. Tom works tonight so he had to get to bed. I thanked him for watching the kids while I shopped.

Oh, and Tom vacuumed while I was gone too.

So I think I'm shopped out for awhile. I'm glad I'm in Wyoming where Black Friday doesn't get too crazy.

The Thanksgiving Entry

Since it's Thanksgiving I felt the need to come online and write an entry about what I'm thankful for.

Of course I'm thankful for my children and my husband, even though he's still confused on what a laundry basket is.

I'm also thankful for--

Oh crap, I can't do this when my mind is racing.

Basically it keeps saying HOLY SH!T DON'T BURN ANYTHING! And I keep wondering if my mashed potatoes are going to turn out hard like last year. And I wonder how everything is going to fit into my tiny oven. What the hell did I do last year to make everything fit?? Then I wish that I had multiple ovens.

Then I start to worry that everything I want on Black Friday will be gone right when I get there. Can I help it if I can't wake up at FOUR in the morning to shop? I mean I love to shop of course but I like my sleep more. Of course this makes me feel a little better because I start to think that maybe I'm not as much of a shopping addict as I thought because hey, I'm not waking up when it's still dark out to shop. So there is some hope for me.

I also need to remind myself to clean out the turkey. I forgot last year. I don't know why it escaped my mind. It just did. I went to stuff the inside and when we ate that stuffing Tom was all, "This tastes kinda bloody." Oh, well that's because I cooked it with blood inside.

How does a person forget things like that?

A person who doesn't really know what she's doing in the kitchen, that's who.

Okay, I need to calm down. So I will continue with my Thankful list.

A-hem.

So..

I am thankful for my diet cherry Pepsi for giving me the caffeine I need to cook all these dishes. Cooking all these dishes reminds me of how much I hate cooking.

I am thankful to the kind person who is sending me her Twilight books for free. It is much appreciated.

I am thankful that I was able to order everything I wanted on Gymboree.com before my items sold out.

Sorry, I am not thankful that Miley Cyrus is at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. I wish she'd go away. I mean what father would let their sixteen-year-old date a twenty-year-old? Ew. My dad would have never allowed that. And Tom was saying if a 20-year-old dared to come near Natalie he'd whip out his gun in a heartbeat. I mean hello Billy Cyrus? It IS okay to say no.

I am thankful for sparkling grape juice. It's what Tom and I drink on Thanksgiving since neither of us likes wine. Yeah, it might be considered a kid's drink but we don't care. Bring on the sparkling grape juice!

I am thankful to Lindsay for sending me this on MySpace:




Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it.

Tom's Wal-Mart Plan

Poor naive Tom.

He's decided that he'll be going to the Wal-Mart Black Friday sale since he'll be up anyhow.

I had told him that I was avoiding Wal-Mart.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because it's scary. It's scary during the day and I don't even want to know what it's like when it's still dark out," I answered.

He then asked me to show him the Black Friday ad. He looked through it and mentioned that there were a lot of great deals.

"I KNOW that," I said. "But I'm just not going to Wal-Mart. If you want Wal-Mart deals you have to get there early. The deals start at 5."

Tom shrugged. "So I figure I'll leave the house at 415. The line shouldn't be that bad."

HAH.

Is he serious?

Does he not know that there are die-hard Wal-Mart fans out there?

Who will most likely camp out at one in the morning. In the COLD.

I explained this to him and he insists that it probably won't be that bad.

"Tom. It's going to be bad. You hate crowds," I reminded him.

He still says he wants to go. So I gave him a list of things to pick up.

The main thing we want is the $88 Hot Wheels Jeep. I told Tom to just focus on that. Who cares about the cheap TVs? Just go for the Hot Wheels Jeep.

"And Tom, it's okay to push if some mother gets in front of you. I know you're overly polite but just tell her that she may NOT get in front of you just because she has a vagina. Okay?" I added.

But anyhow, Tommy has the rest of the week off of school for Thanksgiving break.

So I told him today that I'd take him to see Santa.

"Okay!" Tommy said happily. He grabbed his big toy book and flipped the pages to the Airport Geotrax. "I'm gonna ask Santa for this!"

(Guess what? Santa already bought it. It's hidden in the closet.)

This morning we drove to the mall. Now, for the past week I've been showing Natalie pictures of Santa and she's gotten excited. I'd ask her if she wanted to meet Santa and she'd be all, "Yeth!" with a sharp nod.

As we drove to the mall I asked Natalie if she was ready to see Santa.

"Yeth," Natalie said.

But guess what happened the second I placed her in Santa's lap?

Yeah.

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

At first I thought she'd be okay. We walked up and there was no line. Santa waved from his plush green chair and Tommy happily went over, grasping his toy book. Leave it to my kid to bring a toy book so Santa would know exactly what he was talking about.

I picked Natalie up from her stroller and she kept looking at Santa with curiosity.

"It's Santa," I reminded her. "Remember? We like Santa. Santa is nice."

But yeah, when I put her on Santa's lap?

She nearly ruined Santa's eardrums.

So I had to sit down on the plush green chair too with Natalie in my lap.

(Santa smelled like peppermint.)

They tried to take a picture but then Natalie covered her face.

"Come on sweetie," the picture-taking elf said. "Put your hands down and smile."

But no. Natalie refused to take her hands off her face. She sat primly on my lap with her palms flat against her eyes and nose.

They tried to entice her with a stuffed penguin.

"Look sweetie," the elf tried again.

Natalie briefly took her hands down. But then realizing it was nothing of interest the hands flew right back up.

The picture that we took is not that great. I had held Natalie's hands out of her face and she was not pleased. So she looks pissed off, Tommy is looking away and Santa is just looking baffled.

I'll share a picture of the picture in a future entry.

Then Tommy was able to show Santa what he wanted.

"This Geotrax," he said firmly.

Santa was all, "Well I have a small sleigh so I'm not sure if I can get that for you," because he probably doesn't want to promise anything if the parents aren't really going to get it.

"But if I don't get you this I'll bring you other things," Santa promised.

"Okay but you can get this. Your sleigh is magic," Tommy reminded Santa.

Hah.

Santa seemed at a loss of what to say. Finally he went, "I will try my very best."

And then we went on our way.

I took the kids to McDonalds since the behaved. Tommy said he just wanted a burger.

"Not a Happy Meal," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. NO Happy Meal."

When I got up to the microphone to order I asked Tommy again.

"NO HAPPY MEAL!" he shrieked impaitiently.

I ordered a hamburger Happy Meal for Natalie. And a burger for Tommy.

But then guess who decided he wanted fries after I ordered??

*Sighs*

Thankfully Natalie never eats all her fries so I gave some of those to Tommy.

And now we're home. The weather is actually nice. 60 degrees. But tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 30s. *Shivers* And it'll be butt cold on Black Friday. But I don't care because all the shopping and walking I'll be doing will keep me warm.

Wish Tom luck at Wal-Mart. I have a feeling he's going to drive up, see the crowds and come right back home....

It's Starting....

The Christmas packages are starting to arrive!



I received these two boxes from my mother:















It's always been a tradition of hers to send a bunch of small presents for us to open up prior to Christmas. Starting in December we can pick one and open it. Mind you, nothing is expensive. These are all small presents. When she did this while we were in England one of the presents was those Force Flex garage bags. Tom looked baffled when I opened the gift and garbage bags rolled out.



"Uh? What kind of present is that?" he asked.



I had to explain the whole small present thing again. He understands now. When we got some Christmas plastic bags last year he didn't even bat an eyelash.



Tommy is thrilled. He keeps asking when he can open one.



"December 1st," I explained to him.



"What's it gonna be?" he asked, touching a gift.



"I don't know," I answered.



Because I seriously don't. It could be anywhere from plastic wrap to a book.



Anyhow, this morning I had to run to the commissary (grocery store) to pick up a few remaining items for Thanksgiving.



I knew it was probably a bad idea when I saw all the cars in the parking lot.



But I had to get eggs. And I knew it would only be worse tomorrow.



So I braved the crowds and went in.



Actually, it wasn't so bad. Of course you had a bunch of elderly people trying to look for a certain stuffing brand and when they realized the store didn't have it they looked insulted.



I did pick up some Apple Jacks and Corn Pops for 33 cents each.



They were having a special sale in the back and were all, "Anyone want some cheap cereal? 33 cents!"



My ears perked up at that.



When she handed me the box I checked for the expiration date. Surely the cereals had to be going bad or something?



But nope. They don't expire until 2009.



Awesome.



And okay, I really don't even LIKE Apple Jacks but for 33 cents a box I'll force myself to.



Even though I went in the store to only pick up a few things I somehow managed to walk away with a cart full of stuff.



Oops.



Now I just have to concentrate on not burning the turkey on Thanksgiving.