Two, and three.

Yes, I was finally convinced to try a new game. It's the console version, which means a great deal of the time spent playing was taken up with Damm showing me how to work all the little toggles. Once or twice he laughed at me, but I can't blame him, my character did look funny running into walls and other things. I had created a human warrior but I might be switching-an entire family, including a little boy, dies. It is just a game but stuff like that instantly takes the fun out of it for me. I am guessing most of the plot lines are depressing, though, so Damm might have to play me past the sad parts. Anyhoo, there you are.

We are back, loaded with presents and pastries. It was an interesting week, one in which I was deprived of my laptop because it needed repairs, so no posting. I'm not sure I would've remembered to; when we first switch to a new schedule I have a tendency to forget things. Anyhow, here are some snippets from our Christmas Adventures: 1) The trip up was the most delightful twelve hours we've ever driven. When there are four adults in the car it seems they can contrive to keep two little kids happy. 2) I was told, by Damm's grandmother, to help myself to her coffee. It's that newfangled kind, with the little cup that brews one cup of coffee and costs about fifty cents each. I tried, I really did, to get my coffee elsewhere, but I have a suspicion that she didn't know about my "three cups to consciousness and the fourth to converse" habit (quotation shamelessly taken from a Julie Czenerda book and which I have adopted as my own). 3) Speaking of...

My kids are being SPOILED this year. You see, my mother sent her "12 days of Christmas" package early in December. Then their other grandma did a similar series of presents. We're finally reaching the end, tomorrow will be the last day they open presents before Christmas. Well it would be, except I went to the Dollar Store and grabbed some new toys to pull out at regular intervals during our trip to Grandma's house. I wrapped them too, since I had paper left over from last year. And when they get to Grandma's house (technically great-grandma, but they don't understand that difference)? MORE presents. She asked for the list in November. The day I sent it she emailed me back explaining everything she had gotten for them, which was every item on the list. They're going to have an AWESOME Christmas. Plus my parents are dropping by and that means even more presents ... sometimes it can be advantageous to be the only grand kids (yet, anyway) on both sides of ...

So my mom called me tonight (10:15 p.m. their time), which was kind of weird because my parents don't generally call people after 9 p.m. I picked up, of course. And this is what transpired: Mom: "So, you're probably not going to believe this. I have a question for you." Me: "Ok?" Mom: "How do I inoculate the owl thingies?" Me: <-busts up with laughter (my mom just doesn't play video games) Turns out she rolled a Drenai and got herself to level three. She's enjoying the graphics and got a laugh out of one of the guards telling her "Aren't you cute?" when she wandered out of the starting area. Just when I think I know my parents, they bust out a new one. My mom, playing WoW. Never been prouder:)

So my mom called me tonight (10:15 p.m. their time), which was kind of weird because my parents don't generally call people after 9 p.m. I picked up, of course. And this is what transpired: Mom: "So, you're probably not going to believe this. I have a question for you." Me: "Ok?" Mom: "How do I inoculate the owl thingies?" Me: <-busts up with laughter (my mom just doesn't play video games) Turns out she rolled a Drenai and got herself to level three. She's enjoying the graphics and got a laugh out of one of the guards telling her "Aren't you cute?" when she wandered out of the starting area. Just when I think I know my parents, they bust out a new one. My mom, playing WoW. Never been prouder:)

I thought this was an apt picture. I haven't burned any of my school paraphernalia but I have thrown away an awful lot. It's been a joy tossing things (that I won't need in the future, obviously) into the trash can. Done! Done with another semester! What shall I do with myself now that I have all this free time? The creative urge has struck, I have ideas, I feel the weight that has been lifted off me. There is joy in life. Man, is this what normal people with normal jobs feel like? Hahahahahahahahaha oh shoot I'm verging into a mini-hysteria ... So, yes, the Orc family (should probably come up with a new name for ourselves) is finally on Christmas/Winter Break. The tension that has filled the house these last few months has dissipated, stress levels are eased, and the Christmas spirit now has room to flourish.

I am recovering from two finals earlier today. My hand cramped, my neck hurts and my back feels thrown out of alignment. I think my face had a grimace of concentration on it most of the day. I'm sure it was very attractive. But now that's over and I only have online stuff to work on. Damm still has finals left though. Or does he? The last time it snowed in Las Cruces the city shut down for several days. Look what it's doing right now: So I guess we'll see about the school remaining open. I know those of you in the North are laughing but we here in Las Cruces are woefully unprepared for cold weather. Heck, I saw girls walking around in non-winterish looking skirts today. We were so not expecting this. This is what we have also been up to: This is our "serious" face. We took some smiling photos too but I am ALWAYS smiling in pictures. I needed some non-smiley ones. I went for the black dress this year; I have trouble finding dresses in brighter hues that work f...

I hope your Thanksgiving went well. Mine did, although it was a bit weird-it was at my house this year. I didn't host it, we all pitched in, but it was at my house. And therefore it couldn't be Thanksgiving, because Thanksgivings are spent at grandma's house with all the relatives. My grandma, to be specific. For seventeen years holidays-most of them-were spent at my grandma's house, so now the holidays feel weird 'cause I'm not at her house. Oh well. I also hope your Black Friday went well. I was facing the hordes at 8 a.m., but really everyone was very nice. We at the bookstore didn't get any of the crazy, pepper-spraying people (if you haven't heard of that read this ). It was busy though, so when I finally got home around 4:30 p.m. I collapsed on the couch. I did take advantage of the games being 50% at my store, so I guess I contributed to the madness. And now it's Cyber Monday and we college kids have to go back to school. Every part of my be...

So I read the Hunger Games Trilogy and felt absolutely awful Monday morning. Book hangover. Definitely don't drive while under the influence-trying to navigate the car while reading what happened next just doesn't work. Anyway, I was on our school's online thingymajig (it's called Blackboard but I have no idea what you call it in computer parlance-platform?) and noticed that our final essay assignment had been posted for my mythology class. Turns out I can write about any hero/heroine from any novel/movie. Score, right? I'm totally writing about Katniss Everdeen. My reading marathon over the weekend turned out to be just the right thing. In other news, I have a group presentation today. Judging by the laughter, goofing off and cookies we made it's going to be a good one. Ask me anything you want to know about jazz and I might be able to answer you. We had some confusion over what, precisely, we were going to cover. I thought jazz and I thought music! and researc...

I feel grouchy. Kind of hungover, but not a alcoholic hungover. It's a book hangover. The Hunger Games, people, the Hunger Games. By Suzanne Collins. Ok, I'm going to go medicate my head with coffee now.

First, the Oatmeal. I was out shopping the other day in the middle of the afternoon. I had actually made a shopping list and was going to stick to my budget so I was feeling pretty good about life. We (meaning myself, Orclette and Miniorc) got to the cereal aisle and I thought about buying some. Cereal is rather expensive, however, when you compare it to Oatmeal, so I decided that I was going to be virtuous and buy the cheaper option. It was a great idea until the next morning when my morning brain threw a fit against my afternoon brain because my morning brain DOES NOT COOK. Not even the minuscule amount of cooking that it takes to make Oatmeal. So the moral is: do not do your breakfast shopping with your afternoon brain. Secondly, the Shirts. I was switching out the kiddos summer clothes for their winter ones (it's just now getting cold here) and I discovered that the Orclette had practically nothing warm to wear. So I packed the kids up and headed out to Savers, one of our local...

I think we are. Everybody we know is having a rough or stressful or life-changing semester. Ours is simply stressful; some grades haven't been what we wanted them to be and there are always teachers/fellow students to grapple with. And it's been this way every semester. I have end-of-the-semester stress symptoms every May and December. It seems to be worse this year, however. Last Fall I was still baking, actively planning Christmas and making sure my friends felt the love of the season. This Fall I collapse on the couch to start watching my stressed-out go-to show: The Gilmore Girls . No baking has been done, Christmas planning will just have to wait, and does anyone actually want a Thanksgiving dinner or can we just do pizza? I've analyzed the situation, of course, and I have come up with two reasons for our extra-tiredness: #1: Our class levels are higher. There is a huge difference between a 100-level course (that's a beginner class) and a 400-level class (that...

Man, how did the week go by so fast? Just a moment ago I was having a case of Mondayitis that was NOT being solved by coffee (I think I got up to eight cups that day). Now it's (almost) Friday and a weekend full of fun Halloween festivities are about to begin, starting with a 6 a.m. costume run tomorrow morning. I'm going as a middle-aged female biker who has had a middle-aged crisis and bought herself a fancy bike and a few tattoos. Here's my pretend bike: I even have a fake tattoo sleeve. It looks kind of odd juxtaposed with my real tattoos, but it's fun. Damm is going as Gru (from Despicable Me ), the Orclette is a bundled-up fairy and the Miniorc as a bundled-up knight. It finally got cold on us, hence my mentioning the bundled-upness. It's going to be a fun run (cue resigned voice). I remember my parents and grandparents doing early morning runs and activities on holidays/celebrations. Now it's our turn to create memories (muahaha!). Then we have a Harvest ...

I'm thinking orange. Orange pumpkins, orange candles, orange foliage. Mixed in with a few other fall colors, of course. Rather than jump immediately into Christmas-planning mode (like I usually do) I've been mustering up enthusiasm for Thanksgiving, and even in some measure Halloween. I do not celebrate Halloween because I am not enthused about the origins of that particular celebration but we do participate in festivities if they are kid-friendly. For instance, this year Damm and the Orclette will be participating in the ROTC Halloween Run dressed as (we're thinking) Dorothy and the Tin Man/Straw Man. It'll be awesome. Speaking of the Orclette, I had a moment yesterday that I was strongly tempted to say "Why can't you just be more like Miniorc!" I didn't say it, in case you were curious. What had happened was that she and I were in the bathroom getting ready for bed and Miniorc and Damm were already asleep (bathroom connects to bedroom). She was sing...

This past weekend we went to an air show at Holloman Air Force Base. The Miniorc in particular ADORES planes and the Orclette is also fascinated by them. It was perfect weather: crisp and cold and clear (although we didn't dress the kiddos warm enough, we just aren't used to the cold weather yet. Some of the adults had to go without their jackets:) Some of us weren't quite awake. Others were armed with their planes and were ready to go. Experiencing one of the static displays. I had fun too, although the face-painting lady looked at me oddly when I asked to have my cheek painted. Paid my two dollars and I see no reason why adults can't do silly things like paint their faces. I didn't take any pictures of the kiddos during the aerial displays. We were having too much fun pointing out the planes. Miniorc, after watching the first display, turned his face to me, pointed at the airplane, and very firmly said "mine!". It was awesomely funny. Afterwards, as we w...

(Is me) For my mythology class: project on various archetypes in different cultures. For example: Creation/Origin myths, the Flood archetype, the Great Goddess etc. I'm researching Judaism, which has been fairly smooth sailing so far. The only issue I've had is reducing my focus to just the Torah. I've always read those first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as part of a greater whole and it's been interesting to shift my viewpoint to the Torah/Tanakh. For my Latin American class I'm reviewing for the midterm. One essay, which I'll be writing at home, and short definitions to be written in class. Thirty options for the short definitions given on the review sheet, professor will give eighteen to choose from, I choose ten to write about. Ask me anything about the various independence movements and political infighting. Hurry though, data dump will commence after the midterm on Monday. For my terrorism class: nothing, really. The ...

Last week the Orclette and I were talking about how our ancestors had to use candle for light (during our school session) and I had the brilliant idea of researching how candles are made. We hopped onto YouTube (my kids love watching videos) and watched a couple of demonstrations. It looked easy so we made a trip to Hobby Lobby to pick up candle-making supplies. Here are the results of our adventure: The Orclette helping me. One candle vase was a girl and the other was a boy and they lived happily ever after. The Miniorc was "opening" everything with his screwdriver. Prepping the gel candles. I really like having the marbles at the bottom of the glass. We went with the orange dye. And ta-da! Two new candles to go on my mantle (the ones on the sides). Anyway, I was describing out adventures to a classmate (or was it a co-worker? my days are all jumbled) and she exclaimed "You're like one of those blogger moms!" So I figured I'd better blog about thi...

You know it's going to be an interesting morning when, after you drink an energy drink, you have moved from the How did I end up in the kitchen stage? to Man, I think I need some coffee stage. Have a great morning!

Read the following. Was I neutral enough? Nice enough? Too nice? I didn't bother complaining at the store; usually the peons can do nothing and it wasn't their fault in the first place (I jokingly refer to myself as a peon as well so no offence is meant by that word). To Whom It May Concern, I recently left one of my purchased bags at Store #5155 (Store Manager Anthony Martinez). Within the hour I returned for my items only to find out that they had already been put back onto the shelf. From my conversation with the employee at the Customer Service desk it seemed that this was a store policy and not an individual blunder. While it was my negligence that caused the situation in the first place it also was, in my opinion, an egregious lack of customer service. It would be a courtesy to keep purchased, non-perishable items at Customer Service for at least a few hours before returning them to the shelf (and necessitating the customer to shop for those items once again in order not ...

"Mistress Para Ventura, Our Lady of Chrome" Love the name.  Schlock Mercenary is still the comic that draws me in the most and enraptures my attention.  I avoid the archives because I can easily lose days there.  Props to Howard for an awesome comic that lives on the strength of its story telling despite early struggles with art(I like his art now).

The BBB Poem "We're the battling bastards of Bataan; No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam. No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces, No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces. And nobody gives a damn. Nobody gives a damn." ~Frank Hewlett 1942 Because a buddy didn't know about Bataan I would like to take this moment to remind you to remember Bataan . Always.

Frequently things that happen in life just do not translate well into story form. Something occurred last night at work, however, that was just too funny to not tell. So, here goes: Two coworkers of mine were chatting, discussing a variety of topics including whether or not Barnes & Noble would build us a bigger building for the store we work in (a very large campus B&N had just been built, I assume this fueled the speculation). I came along and our discussion ranged from the mundane to whether or not that space station was ever going to be built. At this point one of my coworkers asked "So do you think we'll ever move someplace bigger?" while indicating with her hands what appeared, to me at least, to be a globe. Completely confused (because I had not heard that part of the conversation) I asked "You mean a bigger planet?" Amid the gales of laughter that followed this question I managed to get out "'Cause I don't think we'd actually ge...

I did not throw the percocet pills away. The pain did not go away, and seemed to be getting worse. Then I looked and saw what appeared to be white bone. In a panic that I had dry socket (a very painful condition) Damm called the surgeon's office. The surgeon himself called back within five minutes (I still need to write him a thank you letter) and concluded that I did NOT have dry socket but that I needed to be taking the percocet so I had some periods of time without pain. I thought about it, it made sense, so I started amping up ALL my painkillers. Now I'm off of them and the pain is gone. I guess sometimes doctor's know what they're talking about. Although the first two days off percocet were AWFUL. I don't even want to imagine what people who have been on it for longer than two weeks have to go through. In addition I am glad to report that we are fully moved in. Not fully unpacked, just fully moved over from our old house. We turned in the keys yesterday and apo...

So earlier this summer I experienced the excruciating pain of a tooth infection. Due to the long process of being referred, waiting for insurance to kick in, waiting for an appointment to see the surgeon and then waiting another month for an available surgery I just now had my wisdom teeth removed. Want to hear about it? It's fairly non-entertaining. I had to fast for eight hours. Not a big deal, surgery was at 9 a.m. The lack of coffee was a bit hard, but I (obviously) survived. I was escorted back to the surgery room, put on laughing gas, told the nurse about my brother who burst into hysterical laughter when he was put on laughing gas, and then tried very hard not to laugh at the story. I succeeded. Then the doctor came in, put the needle in my arm, and I was out. Apparently the nurse had to manhandle me to get me out/in of the wheelchair. I somewhat remember the drive home; it was hot. Damm told me later that I asked him several times to turn on the air conditioner. I rememb...

What isn't posted is the number of questions per metric ton that I have answer via text per minute. Otherwise a very nice and lovely schedule. p.s. holy crap I actually made a post. Pretty sure at this point though anyone reading is only reading for Wulfa's sake.

That pretty much sums it up. Last Friday one of my professors asked for a paragraph on Monday. It didn't occur to me that this was an actual assignment (because usually they wait until Monday; Thursday and Friday classes are usually hand out the syllabus) so it wasn't up to my normal standards. Slipping already:) I also forgot to drop off the Orclette's school assignments with the mother-in-law. Mondays. Damm has been busy with his new ROTC responsibilities. If he isn't busy typing out texts/emails he's anxiously checking the phone to make sure he hasn't missed any communications. We knew it was going to be like that, but because I feel the need to check my phone whenever he checks his phone it has been brought home to me just how few people actively interact with me via text/email. And there ya go. Have to leave now to pick up Damm, drop me off to class, pick me up after that class, dash to the doctor's office (for Damm's knee), then dash back h...

The kids and I returned to this barren desert on Sunday. Damm returned Tuesday. School starts today. I return to work tomorrow. No rest. Oh well. We're army tough:) I've always thought Damm and I integrate back together fairly well. We haven't experienced a real deployment yet but I'm confident we'll weather it just as well. The only issue I have after this separation is Damm leaving the toilet seat up. Once you've accidentally sat on the toilet rim because your spouse left the seat up you never, ever want to repeat the experience. The kids were ecstatic to see Damm. The Orclette has adjusted to him being home with no visible problems. The Miniorc has been acting like he isn't sure Damm is around to stay, or maybe he's thinking "Why did you leave me? I don't like you anymore!" The Miniorc's vocabulary has been expanding but it's not up to explaining complex emotions. So we're being patient and understanding with him, tryin...

While Damm is off on an army adventure we have been having adventures of our own. Here's meself and the kiddos at the Butterfly Museum in Houston: A closer look at the Orclette's "Fancy Nancy" type hair (Fancy Nancy is a children's book character. She is always dressed fancy , hence the name): Fun at the park. Forget the slides, lets play with rocks and dinosaurs! At the NASA Space Museum. My dad works at NASA (not one of those getting laid off) and we figured the kids should see it, since the whole astronaut era is over (at the moment at least). At the Space Museum (that's not the official name, just what I call it in my head) they had various kid activities. They enjoyed the ball park the most. Miniorc finally figured out how to dunk the basketball. He had been just pushing it. The Orclette can jump in all by herself. No fear there. The YMCA we've been taking lessons at has a Splash Park. Both the Orclette and Miniorc enjoyed running through it. So ther...

The rain in Texas is incredibly different than in New Mexico. In NM it'll rain for maybe 15, 20 minutes and then it's over. Everything is muggy, if you have a swamp cooler it feels like it's continually raining in your house, and then the sunshine starts. I don't like sunshine after the rain. I'm actually not a huge fan of sunshine; my house has sunlight-blocking curtains over all the windows and I keep lights off if I can manage without them. It's like a nice cozy bear den. In Texas, which is where we are at the moment (visiting my parents) it rains for a good long while. Frequently it even stays dark and overcast after it stops raining. And because Texans would never hear of having swamp coolers (because in this humidity it wouldn't work at all, whereas in NM it just doesn't work during the summer months. Works fine in spring and fall. Yeah, it's totally wrong) the house stays nice and cool, and it even gets a wee bit nippy. I'm also soaking up...

Last night I was up past midnight watching The Return of the King . I didn't finish, but I figured my kids probably wouldn't sleep in if I actually needed them to sleep in, so I called it quits right after the battle for Minis Tirith. I was woken up this morning by my daughter, the Orclette, telling me quite seriously that "It's morning time momma. The sun is up! We need to be up! It's morning time!" She does this every morning, so it wasn't a shocker, but I haven't been sleeping well lately. I believe I growled at her and then groggily made my way to the coffeepot. She didn't stop there, however. She thought it'd be a great idea for me to get her milk and could she please sit in the chair that I painted with flowers and turn on a movie and oh could the drink be milk and I am cold momma so I need some cold water to make my tummy feel better and where is my milk? As you can imagine, I did not find this amusing. I think I had managed to get the ...

As anyone should know, little children + food usually=grossness. Sticky messes, bread that had milk/juice/whatever spilled on it, food that has picked up additional flavor from being on the floor, etc. I didn't have any problems with encountering child-enhanced food until this past week. You see, I'm mental , as Ron (from HP) would say. The calorie count would get messed up if I shared with my kids or if I ate something they shared with me. So we just stayed far away from each others food. I had a recurrence of pericoronitis, however, and was anxious to get started on the antibiotics. I was in my car, racing to get to work on time, and couldn't find any type of liquid. Finally I spotted one of the kiddos' drinks, which I thought had contained water and/or gatorade. So I washed my antibiotics down with it. Then it struck me that the "water" tasted a mite funny, and then I noticed there were red dots in the cup. I still don't know what the red dots were, a...

In case you didn't know, the Women's World Cup is currently going on. There was a teeth-clenching, tension-building quarterfinal match-up between Brazil and the USA which we managed to win in PK's (penalty kicks, taken when the game ends in a tie and both 15-minute overtime periods have been played and the teams are still tied). Japan, a team who hasn't really been considered a team likely to win the tournament, beat powerhouse Germany in their quarterfinal 1-0 in one of the most splendid displays of defensive and technical skill I've seen. Then Japan beat Sweden 3-1 in the semifinals, proving to everyone that a collective playing style can win games (I've said that all along but the commentators didn't agree with me until Japan scored their third goal against Sweden). The USA beat France 3-1 in a slightly less emotional game. So now it's the USA vs. Japan in the final game on Sunday. I'll be cheering for the USA, although Japan is now my other team...

Last fall I had a powerful hankering for pumpkin bread. I think it was around September/October. Went to Walmart and lo and behold: no pumpkin. Desperate for pumpkiny goodness I finally ended up buying organic pumpkin puree from the local health food store. It had a very interesting taste, but it was pumpkin. So I stockpiled pumpkin puree throughout last fall when Walmart finally started carrying it. I'd buy 4-5 cans a week, use 2 of them (reduced calorie/fat and protein enhanced pumpkin bread was a staple because everyone liked it) and save the others. Didn't actually end up with as many as I had wanted (there were weeks I forgot to buy pumpkin so I had to use what I had) but enough so that, when the pumpkin craving hit, I was able to make pumpkin bread. I have now used the last of my hoarded pumpkin, and man is that bread good. Here's the recipe, in case you wanted it: 3 C. Flour (I use a combination of white and whole wheat) 2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. baking powder (the...

It all started at 13, suddenly jerked out of bed and started doing pushups and sit-ups with no control over his body. Other events happened along the same time as well. Walked past a sign up for swim club when his body stopped listening and he just walked over and signed up. Random sudden loss of control became common. He’d lose control every morning and night for what was apparently a regular workout session; same with swimming; same with weekend runs. He had no control over what he ate but only ate healthy. Side effects of this were nice, a healthy strong body with excellent form and reflexes. But loss of control was harsh. Testing showed he could slightly hold back intensity or contribute to it but mostly control wasn’t his. His hobby was apparently to be a puppet, a glove to someone else’s hand. As a side effect, he laughed at others ideas that “such and such teacher was controlling” or that “so-and-so’s parents were so intrusive”. Teenage movies about kids wh...

Behold, one and all, the Bear King! He has been crowned by his lovely daughter Princess Orclette. Damm: "The bear is trying to eat my face." Princess Orclette: "These photo ops take the LONGEST time. Are we done yet?" Princess Orclette: "Ok, seriously, we done yet?"

Last year I signed up for the DailySpark at the behest of my mom, who uses the site extensively. It's completely free and has tons of stuff to do: blogs to read, tools for tracking your nutrition, fitness, water intake, etc, and much, much more. Way too much, in my opinion. I dabbled around with the site for a couple of weeks, but it was just too much given that we were still in the midst of a grueling semester. I have more time during the summer, however, and in an effort to cultivate more things my mom and I do together I decided to take another look. So far I have tracked today's calories and the exercises I have done. At first it's annoying: you have to enter or find caloric values for your food, enter "groupings" (i.e. combinations of foods you regularly eat) and enter your workouts in detail. You can save everything, however, so at this point I point and click to enter my foods and also the strength training and cardio I've done. And I like it. I'm ...

Orclette, very sagely: "We should go there (Kazakstan). We went there when I was a baby." Also: "Maybe my uncle could take me to Argentina when I get big big bigger." And, for your viewing pleasure, since I have no words left to say. She made sure they color coordinated that day. She kept on trying to swipe my hat. She finally succeeded. And the Miniorc being cute.