The Last Month.....

The last anyone heard from me was when Dewey came home last month. Wow. There’s so much to tell, so we shall start from the beginning.

I didn’t tell the girls Daddy was coming home last month. Well, that’s not entirely true. I told Kay only because she had an exceptionally bad day and WOULDN’T calm down. So I ruined the surprise by telling her. Surprisingly, she kept it secret from her sisters. Anyway, when it came time to pick Daddy up from the airport, I told them we were picking up my good friend, Tracy, so she could spend the holidays with us. Mom didn’t understand why I didn’t tell the girls. Maybe I’m the most selfish person ever, but I wanted to see their utter shock and excitement. There aren’t very many things in this world that can surprise the kids like seeing their dad when they least expect it. We had a night where the girls cried and cried and cried some more because they realized Dad wouldn’t be home to spend Christmas. Needless to say, I got EXACTLY what I wanted.

I was late to the airport-and it’s only 20 minutes away!!! It was rainy and about 45. Poor Dewey. He’s acclimatized to about 135!! When I got out of the car to throw myself on him, his poor nose was like ice. I wasn’t late because I just didn’t leave on time. I was late because his flight got in right as everyone was getting off work. The fasted way over there is down 190…RIGHT PAST THE MAIN GATE ON POST!! Oh well. He got home safely, and we had an awesome visit.

While he was home, he BUILT me a new TV stand. BUILT it. Like from the ground up. Like we spent hours at Home Depot figuring out EXACTLY what we wanted-stain, wood, legs, etc. We spent 2 days staining it, and it turned out beautifully. He didn’t make any doors for it, but he will when he gets home. While Dewey built me a TV stand, I painted the girls' bathroom. I wanted to paint it yellow, but Clem wanted to paint it green. So we found a shade we could agree on. IT DIDN'T TURN OUT LIKE THE SAMPLE!! It's so bright that when the nightlight's the only light on in there it looks like something stratight out of "Ghostbusters." It looks like a neon green fog is flowing out of the bathroom. I call it Atomic Vomit green. Here's why...

It's not this light. It hurt my eyes at first. Holy cow.

Here's the TV stand from far away.....

And up close....with all our mess for the world to see.

He had to leave on the 2nd. That was a terrible day, but at least he got to come home. And I had someone to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve. When I got home from the airport, the girls and I went immediately to my neighbor’s house to be sad. Then we had to come back to OUR house. That was hard. As soon as I walked through the door I saw the dishes in the sink-the same dishes he had eaten off of that morning. Then I found his glass sitting on the coffee table, right where he left it that morning. THEN I turned on the TV for the kids…and it was on football. Again, right where he left it that morning. So I went back to my room to be alone and sad, and it smelled like he had just gotten a shower!!! And my sheets still smelled like him. I called the same neighbor, and she came over. Keep in mind I’m not a terribly emotional person…unless I’m mad about something. So for her it was a shock to see me so completely devastated. One of her favorite movies is “Napoleon Dynamite.” So she looks at me and says, “Knock it off, Napoleon. Make yourself a dang quesadilla.” I can always count on Rocio to make me laugh. So we loaded up the kids (my 3, her 3 and her 2 step-daughters) and went to the park. Then we all came back to my house for pizza and movies.

While he was home, we also did something that I feel is not only necessary, but long overdue. We bought a gun-a Ruger P-89 9mm. Yup, I’m officially a gun owner. Don’t worry-I’m also very careful with it. We got it from Academy. On the way in, Lilly told me I was weird for wanting a gun. I told her that I’d rather be weird than to ever have anyone come into my house and hurt her. She seemed ok with that response, so she dropped it.

Last weekend we went up to Mom and Dad’s so I could shoot Pete-that’s what I named my gun. (HA HA Pistol Pete) Anyway, I did ok with him, especially once I quit jerking the trigger. He came with 2 magazines, so I can keep a few rounds in each one and hide them somewhere in the house. Dad and I had our date at The Shootin’ Place. He threatened to smack me if I jerked the trigger anymore. Dad’ll do it, too. It’s the anticipation. You always SQUEEZE it. You can tell where I jerked it-under #1. The rest are just where I didn’t do so well. I'd at least let someone know they were in the WRONG house. School started for me again on the 12th. It’s only 1 class right now. My nursing class starts on March 9th. I like my instructor, and I think I’m following pretty well. At least for the time being. I actually have to go up on campus for this one, which helps. Dewey’s always on me about getting out of the house to do something other than run errands. But for now, this is my break. I get out of the house 4 mornings a week and am engaged in stimulating adult conversation. AND I’m being challenged. I’ve never been very good at math, but I absolutely have to be this time. It’s done wonders for how I feel about myself. AAAAAAAAAND I’ve lost some weight, but not because of school. Obviously.

That pretty much sums up the last month. OH, and Christmas was awesome. Santa brought the kids bikes and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much candy. Silly Santa HAD to go to Sam’s for the candy. We had some friends over and Matthew came up from Austin. I LOVE Christmas, especially when we're home. We didn't go anywhere only because Dewey's time was SO limited. We didn't want to spend it driving everywhere. So everyone came down on different days and visited. I enjoyed that, but hopefully we'll go see everyone THIS Christmas.

This is Zeppelin. He was a stray that one of my neighbor's found in the flower bed. So I took him and he made himself at home in my Christmas tree. This was at eye level for me-I'm 5'10".

Here's Lilly before her first choir concert. It turned out to be a play!! I wasn't very happy because the choir hardly sang!!!

I realized I didn't have any pictures of Kay up here this time, so I found this one. She's so beautiful. They all are. Maybe I'm just biased.

And I just thought this was too cute not to post.