Fabulous Army Life

I try not to 'vent' too often ... Momma always said nobody likes a whiner, but ... ugh! I get so frustrated with military health care sometimes. In our time in the Army, these things have actually happened (either to me or to a close friend): Exhibit A: Five year old child goes to the ER with a swollen ear. Yes, swollen. As in, inflated a full inch away from where his ear SHOULD be located on his head. After sitting and waiting for over an hour (or two or three, time seems to stop inside these clinics), one quick review and the technician says, "Yep. It's an ear infection. I'll get you some antibiotics and you can schedule a follow up in three weeks." Fortunately, Momma won't take no for an answer in this situation (she KNOWS ear infections and this is something else). After a second opinion, the child is taken for a CAT scan to "check for an infection in the brain." Really?? We've gone from "Take two aspirin and call me in ...

Photo:  The day after our snow storm, my oldest son stands with the remains of his snowman. There's nothing like Texas weather.  The famous saying is ... "If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a few hours.  It will change."   Being a native Texan -- only spending a few years out of Texas courtesy of the United States Army -- I can attest to the validity of that.  In Texas, you never pack away a wardrobe.  You're as likely to need shorts and flip-flops in December as any other month.  You only need sweaters a few days of the year and breaking out a heavy coat is an annual event at best. Besides the weather, there's a specific lingo in Texas that you should know about.  Here are my top five Texas words you need to know: Ya'll (plural = All Ya'll) Howdy Fixin' To I reckon Over Yonder For some more fun Texas Talk: Texas Slang Translation Texas Talk Enjoy, Ya'll!

As I write this, yesterday's snow is melting so fast in the 48 degree sunshine that it looks and sounds like it's raining outside. Add to that the artillery that is ba-bamooming out of Fort Hood and you'd think it was a regular thunderstorm ... until you look outside. After yesterday's grey, snowy day, it is bright and sunny today. Snow is melting fast and only one of our three snowmen still stands. The boys will be slushing around in the mud after school today looking for remnants of their frozen playland, but I fear all they'll find is a big mess. I'm amused by the amount of hot chocolate we went through yesterday ... as if trying to stuff an entire winter season into one twenty-four-hour-period. My boys and their dad spent a vast majority of the day outside in the snow, with me popping into and out of the scene, taking photos, replacing soaked winter gear, gathering snowman couture, and yes, making more hot chocolate. In a twist of humor, one of the funniest ...

The boys' wish came true today ... not that school was cancelled (although that would have avoided a lot of hassle) but that school was released early for SNOW! It hasn't snowed much here since that infamous snowy Easter several years ago (I did get some really great photos of bluebonnets -- the state flower of Texas that only blooms a few months each Spring -- covered in snow), so today was a truly special treat for us. We saw a little snow on Christmas Eve this year in Dallas, but here ... HERE it's a full day of snowman-building, snow-fort constructing, snowball fighting, sledding down driveways and lots of hot chocolate and snuggling in between. Enjoy the show! Thanks for stopping by to read. Hope you're all having a wonderful and warm Tuesday out there!

If you are a die-hard dog-lover, I should have some great posts for you as I gush about our precious new puppy. If you're not, you may want to just skip anything tagged "puppy" or "Leo" ... it'll save you some time. =) New puppy Boxer Leo and fifteen-year-old Cairn Terrier Shadow are really getting along well ... Shadow is showing more spunk with a puppy in the house than she has in years. She often initiates play, grabbing one of Leo's toys and running off with it so he'll chase her (which he always does). Leo, for his part, is a wonderful addition to the family. He is learning his place in the hierarchy well and makes life very fun for all of us. It's funny to me how dogs, pack animals that they are, instinctively know things like: Daddy is the alpha male, the current dog rules over me, and I have to find my place to fit in with my new 'pack.' Leo understands that Daddy is alpha male, that I rank next (and that I am his primary source o...

I guess you're officially old when you start thinking things like "Kids these days ..." but really! Kids these days! I am amazed at the world they are growing up in. A few weeks ago, our family is sitting down to dinner when my first grader turns to me and says, "Mommy, have I told you about my blog?" Really!?! I just figured out blogging (sort of) myself! He does indeed have a blog (along with his entire 1st grade class) and it's wonderful. Today, my eldest son and I travelled with my brother-in-law and his family (including my fabulous sister-in-law and their three beautiful girls, a six year-old and twin four-year-olds) to Dallas for another cousin's birthday party. The party was wonderful and we had a super time rollerskating, opening gifts, and visiting with family. On the three-hour ride back, we had more fun entertaining each other in the car. At one point, one of the twins asks me, "Aunt Traci, Can I use your iPhone to text Uncle Na...

Sweetheart roses, fabulous chocolates, wonderful day with wonderful family and friends ... plus two amazing boys, a cute new puppy, and the most incredible husband ever HOME with me. This was a really good Valentine's Day! All in all, I think Valentine's Day is a pretty hokey holiday ... largely dreamt up by retailers and restaurant PR teams. Sometimes I think it's pretty amazing what we can find to spend money on in this country. But I fall for it all and get all the cutesy gifts and snacks for the day. We had pink sprinkled cinnamon rolls with blackberries for breakfast (on our red and pink heart paper plates) and gobbled up pink heart-shaped marshmallows for a snack on the way to church. We all wore red and exchanged cards and gifts to demonstrate our undying love for one another. Yep, I know it's hokey but I play along anyway! We started the day with our Valentine's exchange. I always like to get the boys a collection of fun stuff ... a book, game or toy, stuffe...

So we have the puppy, the kennel, the collar, leash, toys, treats, and new boxer books. Next on our checklist is a name! We've brainstormed lots of boy puppy names -- everything from Mr. Paws to Rocky to Cannon -- but needed to meet our puppy before making a final choice. The boys began our search by throwing out the names belonging to some of their favorite games. This gave us choices like Pikachu, Wartortle, Pidgeotto, and Dragonite (from Pokemon) and Bakugan names like Tuskor, Griffon, Juggernoid, and Terrorclaw. As they continued to shout out crazy names, I picked up on the name "Leonidas." I asked them about this name (a dragon Bakugan that happened to be one of their favorites). I liked this name so we looked it up online (to ensure there were no negative connotations or satanic worship links) and found that it was also the name of a King of Sparta! We even found this summary of the movie "300": In the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas and...

After weeks of research, days of debate, and a couple of hours of prep work ... we have a puppy! We adopted a boxer puppy today and love him already. We used www.puppyfind.com to look at lots of adorable puppies. It's one of the best websites I found in my search and we are so excited to have found our new family member there. The breeder is in the local area. She was fabulous with us, sending us emails, photos, and giving us lots of fun tips on our new puppy's personality traits. We met her tonight just to see "Simba" ... but came with a new kennel, leash, collar, dog food, and chew toys, um, 'just in case' we wanted to leave with him. She brought one of his litter-mates along for the ride and I seriously considered coming home with two new puppies. Sanity won out in the end, though, and we only have one. Our 15-year-old Cairn terrier, Shadow, was very patient with him when she met him tonight. I've been worried about her reaction. She was our fi...

We've always been dog lovers. With both mothers-in-law allergic to cats (and neither of us with a great affinity for cats), dogs have always been our option for household pets. I grew up with a variety of mix breeds ... "Trampus" who looked just like the dog Benji from the movies (we think he was taken from our yard because of this resemblance), then "Aggie," a black-and-white terrier mix. My husband grew up with dogs as well ... a beagle then later a dachshund. It seemed logical to us, then, after we were married, to get a dog of our own. We wanted a smaller dog since we were living in an apartment then, and spent lots of time searching at local shelters and in the classified ads. (How old do I seem when I say that the internet was not an option for us then?) Finally, we got a call from the local rescue shelter with just the right dog for us! The previous owner of this dog had dropped her off, saying she just didn't realize she was allergic to animal...

My precious first-born turns ten years old today. Since I tend to be gushy and sentimental, this one was bound to hit me hard. I guess all moms can remember every detail of their babies for decades after they are born? I reminisced through finding out we were pregnant (just home from a year in Korea and complaining that "I just can't get used to the time change ... I'm exhausted all the time!") to delivering him (sparing the details, it was a quick delivery but a high-risk one with both of us on Magnesium to curb preeclampsia-induced seizuers) to his life highlights (learning to crawl, walk, getting -- then losing -- his first tooth, first day of Kindergarten, learning to read, ride a bike, joining scouts, and on and on). We've always enjoyed celebrating birthdays, too. In fact, each birthday starts with the birth video (don't freak out; it starts just after the baby is born and shows his first hour of life). Next comes a remembrance of all birthday parti...

PHOTO: Hubby and me during our high school football match-up ... Super Bowl Sunday is just around the corner and I'm really excited. Having grown up in Texas, football has been a part of my life since I can remember. In fact, rumor has it that my first word actually was ... not "mama" or "dada" but ... you guessed it! ... "Football!" My parents were equally enthusiastic about the game. He played ball, she was in the drill team when they were high school sweethearts. He is now a faithful fan of the Cowboys and the Longhorns. She never missed a game; whether watching her daughters cheer or her son play on the offensive line. My grandmother was a cheerleader who dated the high school football star (in fact, he went on to play college ball until he was drafted in WWII) and she went on to teach and coach cheerleaders and drill team. My grandmother remained true to her high school alma mater throughout her life ... graduating, teaching, coaching, and...

Does anybody else have one child who is a near carbon-copy of themselves? My little mini-me is my almost-ten-year-old son. Since he was a baby, he has physically resembled me ... except his gender, of course, and his eye color (I share that with my youngest). In most other ways, though, my eldest child and I are very much alike. I taught at a junior high school parttime when this child was three and four years old. Even then, our resemblances were striking. The custodian at this school would always ask me, "Where's your twin?" talking about my toddler boy. I also learned early on that we shared an emotional tie as well. His personality, quirks, and tendency to have overwhelming emotional moments ... that's all me. Isn't that crazy? Who knew the DNA strands that would replicate in our offspring? We are both book addicts (to the point that it's sometimes debilitating), highly emotional, forgetful, and math-phobic. In fact, it is eerie to me to watch this male ch...