Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Red Tails

You know,  We saw The Tuskeegee Airmen years ago when it came out and we liked that movie.  We got it from Netflix and watched it again so M could see it and we still liked it and M liked it.

Then we went to see Red Tails...

OMG this movie was terrible.  One minute its a war movie, one minute its a Love Movie, one minute its absolutely none of those things.

The visual FX works in the movie was terrible, seems like all the shots were some kind of green screen work and they looked fake.  My husband, of course, noticed all of that and even more, but even M talked about all the "fake" shots and how bad they looked.  A lot of the audio didnt sound right either.  E said it was bad ADR work, whatever that means...

so no story line to speak of, bad visuals, bad audio..

a quote from the movie..

"Experience is a harsh teacher, you get the exam before the lesson"

well in this instance, the lesson is, dont go see this movie.   its 3 hours of my life I will never get back

think what I could have done with those 3 hours....


Deb

Monday, January 30, 2012

yet, another gun

M brought home his report card and guess what,  He got straight A's

so then after that, I need to go to Target, and I take M because I go after I pick him up from school.

M runs off to see the Nerf guns, because of course he wants to buy a gun just like he got for B

well he comes back and says he couldnt find it.

We walk by the aisle, I go in there, and what do I find?

The gun he wants..



He wouldnt put it in the cart either before checkout or after

I told him he deserved it for getting good grades...

Didnt take 2 minutes to get it out of the box at home and batteries in it for it to be sailing bullets around the house...

Oh well, at least he's happy

Deb

Friday, January 27, 2012

Riler

M has 2 best friends,  one, his brother from another mother, he has known since he was 8 months old.

The other, R, he has known since Kindergarden.

Since we dont go to school with R anymore, we dont see him as much as we use to, but we try and setup times for them to see each other as much as we can.

Well last weekend, R came to be our second child for awhile and as you can tell from the photo, the boys did not stay still for a single moment the whole time they were together


see what I mean....  Cant even sit still long enough to eat a banana and take a photo.  I swear M was in front of the camera when I pushed the button

They wore out all the video games, ran ruts in the carpet, and left nerf bullets everywhere in the house  (I found one in the oven!

anyway


Deb

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Check Please! - RANT

OK so I'm going to express some frustration and rant for a minute.  Please bear with me....

Chase Bank.  We've been a customer of Chase Bank for 20 years through all of its various forms.... Bank One, etc.  Usually I don't have any issues with them but sometimes they just frustrate the living crap out of me.  The first frustration arrived when we moved.  I called the bank to change the address on our accounts and was informed I could not change the address on the account because I am not the primary account holder.  How 1950's is that?  It's a joint account, I can take every single penny out of the account if I choose but I can't change the address for fear that I may be stealing money from my husband.  ARRRGGGHHH!!!

Yes, I know it has been almost 7 years now since this happened, and no, I wont let it go!

OK, so the next time they frustrated me was a similar situation.  I decided getting monthly bank statements in the mail was a waste.  So I asked them to turn off the paper statements and just send them electronically. Again, I was told I could not make that change because I am not the primary account holder..... E's name is listed before mine on the original forms from 20 years ago.  ARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Again, no I wont let it go...


But, I have to say this latest round with them has been absolutely the most frustrating thing EVER!!!  As probably many of you know we all write very few paper checks these days.  I used to keep a close eye on check stock in the house but now since I write just a couple a month I don't keep that close an eye on it.  A couple of weeks ago we were taking the family for our regular hair cuts.  This is one of the places I write checks.  I pulled out my checkbook and made sure I had a check which I did but it was the last one.  I checked the drawer and found that it was the last one period.  So here's where the fun begins.

I go online to the chase account and tell them to send me a box of checks.  The same box of checks I ordered last time, and the time before, and the time before, and the time before, and etc... for the last 20 years...  You get the picture.

Last time they did a little weird thing with E's name making the d's different sizes but no big deal.  (no one spells his name right, and I mean no one.  Honestly, its kind of a thing for him, but hey what do I know, its not like everyone spells my name wrong,  oh wait, THEY DO!

I double checked the printing instructions to make sure all was well and zapped the order off to whomever handles such things.  As I was down to the last check I made sure and requested expedited processing.  A couple of days later I received a package of checks in the mail.  No problem, right?  WRONG!!!!

Apparently the check printing company (Deluxe) has decided that Edd's name is misspelled and really it should be Ed.D.  Nope, wrong, and not acceptable.  So I called the bank and told them the check printing people had made a mistake and please send me another order.  I was on the phone with the customer service agent for about an hour, no joke, while he put a stop payment on the box of checks I held in my hands and authorized the new order.  I implored him to expedite it as I am out of checks.

A couple of days later I received another package of checks.  Low and behold they still insist Edd's name is Ed.D.  So..... I call again and this time I'm not as nice.  The customer service agent assures me that she's called over to Deluxe (while I waited on hold) and made them correct their records as they have it in their records as Ed.D. and if she put in the order that was what I would get again.  So, to make sure they got it right this time she called the printer directly and fixed it.  OK, finally getting somewhere here....  and reminded her that I am out of checks and need them ASAP as I have paid for the expedited service and it's now been two weeks and I have no checks.

A week goes by, no checks.  So, Monday I call the bank.  I've decided that all of that was a farce and she never even put in the order for the checks.  I ask about the status and was told they were mailed on the 17th.... from where, I ask, Mongolia?  It shouldn't take that long to get a package of checks.  He checks on the order and informs me that not only were they mailed on the 17th but they still have the wrong name printed.  I tell the agent I'm tired of all of this and I want to talk with a Supervisor as this is ridiculous.  Low and behold, he is a supervisor (or so he claims).  I rant and raved and yelled and screamed about how ridiculous it is that I cannot depend on MY BANK to send me a simple box of checks with a simple name spelled correctly.  And, just where in the bloody hell does Deluxe get off deciding how to spell a customer's name....  etc.  Short story  ( i know, too late)  I was upset and shared my feelings with this so called supervisor, you get the picture.

So this Supervisor assures me he's fixing the problem, is going to credit our account for the cost of the original box of checks, and is going to send me another box of checks overnight so I'll have them as quickly as possible.  I assured him I could really care less about the $13 for the checks but I really am concerned over the fact that they can't seem to get it right.  He assures me it's right now, he's fixed it, he's a supervisor ( so he knows what he is doing, supposedly) and all will be well when I get the next order.

So Tuesday I receive the package of checks that was mailed on the 17th....  I knew what I was told and that it probably wasn't right but I had to see for myself.  Sure enough, it had the wrong name on it.... but surprisingly, had a second set of name and address that was right.  That's right, these were printed with two sets of names.  ARRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!

But, it did give me hope that perhaps the "supervisor" could just delete the bad name and replace with the good name.

So Wednesday I received the promised overnight package from Chase.  Anxiously open it up to find.....

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

YEP, they screwed them up too!!!!

we're back to the Ed.D.

You have got to be freaking kidding me... I GIVE UP!!!!!!!

At least they have credited me for the four boxes of checks I have sitting on the desk and I havent had to pay for this whole debacle, BUT THAT IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT!!

I cannot believe people can screw this up that bad.

As my father says,  These people could F up a wet dream

I'm torn between calling Chase to tell them they're idiots, taking the four boxes of checks to my nearest branch and telling the branch manager they're all idiots or just giving up.

What I did do....  I ordered a box of checks from Checks in the Mail.  Hopefully they can push the "I believe" button and decide I do know how to spell my husband's name.  Stay tuned.

Apologies for the rant but I'm REALLY frustrated about all of this.  Oh, and would anyone like some checks?  Thanks for listening.  Amen.

Deb

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Its that time of year.... The Deuce

and yet again, off the CCA with another load for them...


While I was there, a guy pulled up with a truck and trailer.  The trailer had a hot tub on it..

The guys who unload the trucks were looking at that going..  UMM, what do we do with that?


Deb

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Monday, January 23, 2012

Tornados!

some friends of ours neighborhood was rocked by Tornados last night,  (outside of Birmingham Alabama)

They are all fine, but the neighborhood is a wreck!  Dont know who else is their area might have been hurt.

wouldnt hurt to say a few prayers for them


Deb

MAYBE, he does actually listen

So we have this creature who lives with us, but doesnt really live with us.  He lives in his own little world and only every so often does he venture into ours.

I just know if we could all live in his world, then everything would be great!.  But the problem is, we dont, we live here and he floats back and forth  (maybe like that guy from The Traveler series of books, although when M is in his own little world, he doesnt look like he's sleeping, He looks like he is there paying attention to what is going on, he just isnt)

Of course, I am talking about my child, my offspring, my boy,

and again the problem being, when he is in his own little world, he pays no attention to ours,

and I get frustrated...

and thats not good, I dont like to be frustrated,

and M doesnt like me to be frustrated

and E doesnt like me to be frustrated

and Domino, we actually he doesnt care

ANYWAY,

but every now and then, he really surprises me.

The other day E comes home from work and M asked him how his day was.  E replied that he spent almost all of the day working on Japan.  M's response was,  "How is the UFC event going"

HMM,  comprehension, retention of previous mentioned facts, the cognitive ability to tie it all together...

HMMMM

Then, when I picked M up from school on Wednesday, I told him that E had to go to Austin on a emergency and I wasnt sure when he was going to come home.  M's response...   "What happened at Longhorn?"

HMMM,  yet again, comprehension, retention of previous mentioned facts, and cognitive ability to tie it all together...

hmmm, again.


This creature will definitely need further study.

Deb

Friday, January 20, 2012

AND the project is finished

so M was out of school on Monday, so I tortured him and made him work on his school project most of the day  (We are such bad parents, making our child do his own schoolwork and such)

As he was complaining about how hard the Styrofoam was to paint, I was thinking to myself, "you were the one that HAD to have the biggest ball in the store!"

Here is the "work" area for the project...



and here...

(drum roll please)

is the completed project



He got a 100 on it!


Deb

Monday, January 16, 2012

Crazy, Busy, Hectic, but FUN weekend

As usual, our weekend was pretty crazy.

Friday I was in Corpus working, came home late that night.  E and M went running around trying to find B a Christmas present  (yes, a Christmas present, bear with me here) and were also picking up supplies for a project M has to do for school.

When I land I get a note from E that said they struck out on the present for B and that "when you see the Styrofoam ball, its all M's fault"  Hmm, thats not good either way around.  The project for M is he has to do a thing on a planet.  He picked Jupiter.  E and M went to Hobby Lobby  (I know, that place is always a zoo and too many crazy people there, think I would rather go to wally world than there, and thats saying something) to get poster board and a styrofoam ball to paint like Jupiter.

When I got home I saw the ball and got the story.  M decided that since Jupiter was the biggest planet, well then he should get the biggest ball, which is 10"  All i thought was, thats a lot more to paint!

Saturday morning we stopped at a couple of estate sales looking for a piece of furniture I want  (no, I am not sharing what yet, you will find out when I find one and not a minute sooner!) but we found nothing, so we headed over to JP's.  Edd worked on mounting some AC registers for her.  (Yes, it was harder than it looks, he had to build a whole thing and all, point is, it was hard and just "looks" easy.

Also worked on her storm door which quit working that morning.  We were not planning on working and running, but while we were there I got an e-mail that said M had practice that day, WHAT?  since when?  Well apparently since right then.  Luckily we were able to get done at JP's just in time to run home, have M change, grab a snack and get to the field right on time, which means we were late, because if you are on time, your late...  Never mind, you wouldnt understand.

Well while M was running circles around the field, E and I went to Target to see if we could find the present M wanted to get Brandon.  I got the whole story about how the 2 stores they drove to the night before had a terrible selection of NERF guns, which is of course what M wanted to buy Brandon, and etc, etc.  Well we walked in Target and walked in and E picked up a gun and said, this is it!.  Apparently this Target had more stock than the ones by us.  That was good because that let us get in and out of there quickly.

So we get back in time to pick up M after he was out of breath from running around the bases 14 times, or something like that, run to Bass Pro to pick up some ammo since E has shot almost all we have for M's new gun, and we were off to see B.

We ended up eating with T&T&M&B at Chicken Express (dublin Dr Pepper, get it while you can!) and then going to B's roundball game, which they barely won, and then back to exchange Christmas presents, hang out and play with the dog, and watch the Pats beat up on Denver.  Oh it was so sad, sorry Tebow!

At some point, late in the evening, we went home and had some time with our heads laying on a soft pillow, but a very short amount of time later, we were up, had our Bacon  (it was Sunday, had to have Bacon or the dog would have had a COW) and were at K's to work on her Kitchen.

Sunday morning, her kitchen looked something like this.

By the time we were done, it looked like this.

This is only step one in the process, but we did manage to complete step 1 at least.

After that we went home and got cleaned up, got M dressed and went to practice.

Wow, I thought I was tired enough after the weekend, I think I'm even more tired after running through it again....

Anyway, its nice to get back to work so I can get some rest  :)

Deb

Friday, January 13, 2012

I love my husband, but sometimes....

you know I love my husband, with all my heart, but sometimes the things he does, really makes me shake my head.

So the other day, he and M went to the park to practice Baseball.  He was hitting M grounders and fly balls and M was at shortstop.  They were working on fielding the ball and coming up throwing.  M was having a hard time at the team practice coming up and turning all the way to make a good throw over his shoulder.

During this process, my husband, the Love of my life, challenged my child, wait, lets not go there yet.  Here is the setup.

M was here, in the field at approximately shortstop position.

E was at home plate.  On the fence behind home plate, which you can see in the picture,

Yes, you can see it, its right there, yes, look again and you will see it, FINE)


THERE, see the fence, good!
ok, now where were we.  Oh yeah,  on the fence behind home plate, E put a leaf.  He hooked it in the fence and you can see it in the picture.   E told M that when he came up throwing he needed to aim for that leaf, and hit it.

Yes, there is a leaf hooked in the fence,  ITS RIGHT THERE...  FINE


NOW, do you see the leaf now?

ok, now that we have that out of the way.

2 or 3 balls into this challenge, M hadnt hit the leaf, and he says something like "there is no way I can hit that"  Getting whiny like a 10 year old boy does.

Here comes the thing that makes my scratch my head,

sit down, you need to brace yourself and be ready for it.

are you ready?

E says to M.

"If you hit the leaf I'll buy you another gun"

HMMM,  not, I'll take you to the movies, or I'll make you ice cream,  or I'll let you take the dog for a walk, or I'll let you rake up all the leaves in the yard by yourself, or I'll let you spend your Christmas money on underwear and socks...  (OK, maybe some of those wouldnt have motivated him as much as others..)

But does he use any of those things? no, he says "If you hit the leaf, I'll buy you another gun"

Now, if you know our child you can imagine the smile that spread so far across his face that his hairline re-ceeded.  You can also imagine how much more effort went in from that point forward.  (if you dont know our child then think about how happy Ralphie was when he got his Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun)

Well on the 2nd throw after the offer was made, from a spot in the outfield behind the Shortstop position, M put the ball right on the leaf, and I mean dead nuts on the leaf.

My husband, the LOML, my reason for being, then cussed out loud.  We wont repeat it here.

My child then laughed and jumped up and down and did kartwheels in the grass  (O.K. maybe he didnt do the kartwheels)

They kept going, and M got really good at hitting the general area around the leaf.  Even came real close when he was chasing a ball into the outfield and had to field the ball, turn and make a good throw.

It is amazing how much effort someone can put toward something when they really want to.

Needless to say now my husband has a new project to put some effort towards, and we will have yet another gun to find a place for...


Deb

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Its that time of the year

usually, about this time, the piles of crap and clutter that the people around me store up in my house finally get to me and I have to say ENOUGH!

because of course I am very responsible and never pile up any clutter or crap that I dont use.

Really, I dont.

so over the last week or so I have forced the LOML and my offspring to clean out all of their areas of the things they dont use, play with, touch, wear, whatever so we can give them to someone who will appreciate and love and take care of them better than they will.

Of course I dont have much to do during this time period because as I mentioned above, I dont hoard things at all.  I also dont pile all the flat surfaces in the house with mail, and papers, and dvd's and other such things like the people around me

Really, I dont....

and while we are at it, I have a bridge to sell you,

 right after I drop off load #1 of many to CCA


Deb

Monday, January 09, 2012

A shootin' we went

Saturday the family went to the gun range so M could shoot his new Gun



If you look close you can see me in the picture,  If you look you will see E,  then come to the right you will see M, then on the very far right, you can see the edge of a white stool in the picture,  If you look just right on that and back a little, way off in the distance, you can see me standing behind the camera taking the picture.  Well no, not really, but you read all this anyway, didnt you!

Well why we were there, the LOML came up with a challenge, for me vs my child, who could shoot better.  We would run through the 3 guns we had there  (Henry 22, Winchester 22, Winchester 30-30) and see who could hit the best across the 3 guns.  5 shots from each gun

M refused to shoot the 30-30 based on the kick he felt the first time he shot it, he's still a little nervous about that, so I had the advantage there since I would shoot 5 bullets that he wouldnt.


Above, thats MY target,  notice all the holes in the BLACK PART


Above would be M's target......

We wont mention who won...

Because the looser is kind of sore about loosing a shooting competition to his mama...

oh wait...

I just gave away who won it..

oh well,  yeah for ME!



Deb

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Time

Years ago, (2006) while in Colorado we went to the White Fence Farm restaurant and got this picture of M sitting next to a TJ statue  (AWESOME fried chicken, if you ever happen to be in the area)


While in Colorado over the Holidays we were able to go back to that restaurant and take another pic of M sitting next to TJ




He looks a little different huh.



Deb

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Just, how many Nerf guns, would be too many Nerf guns....

My child's Nerf gun collection



do you think 23 Nerf guns is too many?

hmmmmm
Deb

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

We are such bad parents

as I am sure you know, we bought Michael his first real gun this past year

A Boy and A Gun

Well for the last couple of months he has been getting upset with his father, because since buying M's gun, E has bought 3 for him.
i-like-texas
rednecks-anonymous
i-can-stop-anytime-really-i-can

(All lever action guns, no I dont think he has a problem....  why do you?)

M keeps saying that its not fair and all that kind of stuff.  Well E started talking to M about what he wanted and worked it down to this gun..


I know, another lever action, go figure, apple and the tree....

Well we looked around and couple not find one in the shape we wanted for the price we wanted.  Then E came up with a few more options for M to look at, and M decided these would work also


a pump action rifle....  ok well at least we are expanding our horizons..


a bolt action camo covered Savage rifle...  (Camo is cool, no matter what!)

So we started looking some more, seeing what we could find.  Even looked at a few places in Denver.  (we went to a place called The Gun Room, which was great! and had a good selection, AND we went by Gunsmoke, you know the place where they shoot the TV show American Guns..)

Found some that were close, but they werent quite right  (and having to buy a case to check them on a plane made it tough also)

So yet again M decided that his father was working against him to make sure he did not get a new gun, and of course that is not what was happening.  (really, it wasnt, I promise)  After we get back from vacation the Fort Worth gun show was going on, so we headed over there  (OMG! I have never seen so many people crammed in such small aisles..)   Well what did we end up running across that M fell in love with?




YES, thats right, its a Winchester 9422 Lever action 22 magnum rifle.  The EXACT! rifle he started out looking for...   And the place we ran across it at?  Blast and Past, the same place E bought one of his 94's from.

Good things come to those who wait....

Now if only he could stop being mad at his father!


Deb

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Make like a tree and.....

What better way to start the new year off than....

raking leaves...

Gosh I really loves the trees in our neighborhood, and that is one of the things that really drew us to this house, but this time of year, I do not look forward to...

Here we are raking up one section of the front yard into a pile / row to pick up


One trashcan and 9 bags later, it looks like this

The next section we did with the lawnmower, because its much easier on the areas that arent just completely COVERED in leaves...


(yes we make our child go outside and do manual labor, oh isnt it terrible....  we also make him brush his own teeth as opposed to having his man servant do it for him.  why you ask?  well because, we dont have a man servant.)

Of course we didnt worry about picking up all the leaves because they still arent all on the ground yet....

It will be 2 or 3 more weekends worth of work until we have them all picked up from the front and back yard..

Deb