RTT: What's that black stuff?

I should have done this last night instead of this morning. I am so achy and tired. *yawn*. Hopefully I won't be too cranky. Let's get this over with...

 Random, it's all about random. If this is your first time to see Random Tuesday Thoughts, you should probably come back next week when I'm less grouchy. If you yourself are grouchy, then please, pull up a lawn chair and kick back with your glass of sweet-iced tea and have a chat with us. We're going to be random. We may sound crazy, but that's normal around here.
Julie, Ane, Stacy, Cass, and Raven  are going to have some randomness on their blogs today as well. So visit them, say something random and link up with your own random blog post. 

It is week 8 of Keely's (The originator of RTT) hiatus due to work. If her new job wasn't so awesome and didn't pay money, I would go and stab it just to get her back... Just sayin'.


Anywho... random, LET'S DO THIS!

• I'm having memory problems as of late, so re-capping how last week went up til now may be difficult. 
• I think I painted something...no, that was the week before... scratch that.
• OH yeah, remember Thursday when Blogger crashed? Well, I had posted the recipe for Quesadilla Casserole. It disappeared. And hasn't come back. It was a good post too. I may or may not rewrite it. It took awhile to type out all those ingredients. Maybe if enough people still want it...
• Also last Thursday, our neighbors had a little get-together on the back patio. This is the result:

 Yes, that is a child's bicycle next to a bag of beer cans. 

• Also Thursday, J and I went shopping at Winn-Dixie and saw some delicious cakes.
• In case you haven't seen it, I wrote a post about it already.
• Oh, Wednesday I made a blog for my sister. And a post about it. Have you seen It's Miller Time? 
• Friday...I don't remember what we did Friday. I know J had to pack for drill that night.

•  Also, I made pasta with meat sauce and garlic bread. I used way too much garlic salt on the bread. Apparently that's not what you're supposed to use anyway. Oops. Try not to eat anything I cook; you could die...well, only if you're a vampire. ??? 
• Friday night right before bed, my stomach started feeling bad and I felt like vomiting. I ended up staying up all night because my stomach hurt worse when I was laying down. I finally went to bed around 4am. J had to get up at 5 to leave here and be at drill in B'ham by 7. I slept until 12:45 and didn't accomplish anything the rest of the day. Well, I take that back. I did load the dishwasher. Woo-hoo! 
• The Lion King is coming out of the Disney vault this fall! Woo-hoo! It's my favorite Disney movie of ALL time! I'm so excited. 
• I started reading Russell Brand's My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up. I tell you what, it is really interesting. I'm trying to read it with an accent that sound somewhat like his. {I do that, you know. Read in accents in my head.} But, it's really difficult. He's pretty wacky. 
• Sunday, I went crazy. I felt a lot better and had that antsy, I-gotta-do-something feeling. So, I swept and swiffer-mopped the kitchen, cleaned up the living room and set out new coffee table decorations. Then, I rearranged the bedroom all by myself, did some laundry and took a shower. I know, I know...I'm awesome. The bedroom looks a lot better this way and J has more room on his side of the bed and amazingly, so do I. I'll take a picture and post it later.
• I also hung the curtain rod all by myself. That involved power tools! I told y'all to start calling me Suzy Homemaker! I also baked some chocolate muffins for breakfast Sunday! 
• Sunday evening, J came home and we went out for some McD's. When we got back, we started watching True Grit {the original with John Wayne}. Then, our neighbor Janel came over and told us that the apartment manager had just called her and told her that there had been a few break-ins! Apparently, a couple of young guys had busted in a door and window of an apartment on the street over, tried to break into the house next door's shed, and tried to break into a few of the storage units! They also tried to steal a truck's muffler thingy, but only managed to pull it halfway off before someone noticed them.
• Needless to say, I didn't sleep well at all Sunday night. I stayed up until it was almost time for J to get up. Then, I crashed. J ended up being 30 minutes late for work because he turned off his alarm at 6 and went back to sleep. He said I woke him up at 7:07 and told him to go to work. LOL. What? I need my sleep and he was hogging the bed. 
• Oh yeah, Friday night I also had to wash the kitchen rugs. Sabrina had gotten underfoot while I was cooking and I tripped over her and bumped the handle of the pan that was cooking the meat. The spoon fell out and raw meat got all over the kitchen rugs. I didn't think about the colors of the rugs and the red one bled onto the beige one. So now I have a pink rug. Ugh.
  
• I think I now know why Monday is named so. It's Moan-day. I was so sore "Moan"-day after moving the bedroom around by myself, that I could hardly move.
• I went with my neighbor, Janel to the thrift store yesterday and saw this beauty:

 
So ugly.

• I had to clean out the pantry this weekend to make room for all the chips we bought Thursday. I guess we just had the chip munchies or something.

 
Nevermind the rest of the junk please. 

• I went to get something to drink yesterday, out of the fridge. This is what I encountered:

Why can he never just take the empty tea jug out?

• I find the weirdest things at the Dollar Tree. A few weeks ago, I found Mudoku detox foot pads. You put them on the bottom of your feet and they're supposed to suck out all the toxins and metals that are in your body. I thought, what the hey, they're only a buck! Saturday night, I tried them out. You will never believe what happened. I took photos as evidence:

 

Left foot and pad, right foot, right foot pad.

Nasty huh?

• I recommend if you use these things, wear socks over them. You have to wear them all night for them to work properly and I didn't want to get anything on the sheets. Good thing I wore the socks too; the inside of them were black and sticky in the morning!
• Remember last Tuesday it was a million degrees outside? Well, this week it's cold. Seriously. The high today is only supposed to be 66°F! What the fuzzy sock happened?

Well, I think this post is long enough. I don't think I left anything random out. Hopefully I wasn't too grouchy. If you want to link up, be sure to enter your name and the URL to your post, in Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post. :) Please come back next Tuesday for more randomness! {Or later this week... either way.}

Just call me Susie Homemaker...or just Whitney.

 Thursday I was feeling a lot better than I have been in awhile.

So I decided to get busy with some projects that have been sitting around 

the house longer than I have. *ahem*

I started out by sanding the dresser tower I found sitting out by the

dumpster one day. They didn't want it! And there was nothing

wrong with it, other than the coloring on the drawers. 

(It was obviously a children's dresser. It still had little

girl pajamas and undies in the bottom drawer.)

It also had a piece of weave in it...gross.

After sanding the top and one side, the battery to the 

sander died. So I swapped the batteries and sanded the front and

the other side. I started sanding the third drawer and that battery died.

So, I had to wait several hours for the batteries to charge before I 

could finish. I cleaned out the plastic storage drawers

in the bedroom and unpacked two more boxes of 

picture frames and J's pajama shorts.

After reorganizing the bottom of the closet some,

so I could fit the plastic drawers storage thing in there,

I ran to the Dollar General to buy a cheese grater.

Why, you ask? To make my own homemade laundry

detergent, of course!

I got the idea from my friend, and fellow blogger, Holly.

(I think we're friends. We are friends aren't we Holly?...)

Anywho. She has 5 beautiful kiddos and she made 

her own laundry detergent. I figure if it's good enough for Holly's 

sweet babies, it's gotta be good enough for the Hubby and I.

I had already bought the supplies at Wally World (Holly bought hers at 

Pub-lick's for around $8.) on the Laundry detergent aisle, but when I got

home to make it, I didn't have a cheese grater! I don't know how that

happened. We've been married almost 3 years and we both love

 cheese. I know I've even bought block cheese before. Apparently,

we just ate the block whole...

SO...I keep getting side-tracked... When I got back from the DG,

the batteries were charged, so I finished sanding and then wiped

off the dust so I could paint. I laid out my drop-cloth and 

set out my paint. Conveniently enough, the brush was just a smidgen 

too big for the paint-can mouth, so I had to have a tray.

Instead of running out to buy one, I improvised and used the plastic,

albeit reusable tray from Hormel's Refrigerated Entrees.

Heck yeah, these are awesome.

And Jeremy scoffed at me when I emptied and then washed the tray

to reuse it. I knew it would come in handy for something. lol. It was perfect!

I painted the dresser and then the drawers. Then I put a second coat on.

Surprisingly, the paint we bought at Lowe's dries really quickly!

Valspar's with primer included. It's really awesome

and totally worth the extra bucks. A quart cost us about $14.

Luckily, that's all we needed for the dresser. 

                                                            *Note: The knobs we bought didn't fit...so we have to get new ones.

After I finished painting...and stepping in the paint,

I started grating my block of Fels Naptha soap.

I grated all the way down to this tiny piece:

I may or may not have grated some of my nail...

so one of us quite possibly, may have a piece of nail

scratch us when we put on our clothes...

And a few Special K flakes may or may not have

been raked into the container when I was cleaning up 

spilled soap crumbles. Oh well. I forgot to clean the counter

this morning after making a bowl of cereal.

Anywho, so y'all can make your own homemade laundry detergent,

here are the ingredients and instructions:

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, shaved (97¢/bar)

2 C of Borax($2.98 for 4lb. 12 oz. box)

2 C of Arm and Hammer Soda Wash (not to be confused with baking soda) 

($2.77 for 3lb. 7 oz. box)

(That's $6.72 for all the supplies!)

I really like the way the soap smells. I think there is another

recipe out there that calls for Ivory, but Ivory makes my skin itchy

and dry, so I'm using Fels Naptha instead. If you want to use the Ivory bar

of soap, you may have to use more, since the bar is smaller.

When you wash laundry, you only use 1-3 Tbsp. depending on how

large your load is and how dirty they are. Regular detergents bubble up,

but this does NOT, so don't just keep adding the stuff. Bubbles

don't necessarily mean your clothes will be clean!!

I'm storing mine in a plastic container I bought at The Dollar Tree.

A buck for storage? Sure!!!

I'll letcha know how the detergent works out! And I'll post pics of 

the finished dresser when I have the knobs. :) 

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Happy Mil-Spouse Appreciation Day!

RTT: A Tomato!!!! A what?? A TORNADO!!

It's time for Random Tuesday Thoughts, which used to be hosted

by Keely at The Un Mom, but she is currently on hiatus. Therefore, I

have decided to host Random Tuesday Thoughts as well as her blogging 

buddies Julie, Ane,Stacy, Cass and Raven .

If you want to participate, just link up with Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post.

Be sure to use your RTT's URL and not your entire blog's URL.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! :) 

So, I haven't been blogging in awhile. I apologize for that. I just haven't

been in the mood lately. Especially after Jeremy left Saturday the 8th.

I lazed around the entire weekend and went to Nana's

with Mama Monday. Tuesday I did laundry all day and packed to 

go to Amanda's (my sister). Wednesday I left home and 

headed to Springville with Sabrina. {She was really depressed-looking

because Daddy was gone to AT. ): }

When we got there, we got settled in. Then my sister wanted to 

go get groceries and snacks for our trip. When we were done, we 

drove to get J so I could see him before we left for Mississippi.

Unfortunately, he didn't tell me that he was all the way in Tarrant. We drove

way out of the way to get there. And then Amanda got mad because J

was still sick. {Not my fault, I thought he was better.}

Anywho... J and I spent the night at Mama's since Amanda moved

her guest bed over there. J had a co-worker {i.e. another soldier} pick

him up from Mama's, so I didn't have to drive him at 6:30. {ridiculous!}

After I had a shower, I went over to Amanda's to help her get the 

babies ready and the car packed. We didn't leave until almost 1:30.

Then, we stopped in Trussville to get something to eat since

Boog hadn't had anything for breakfast. We all ate, and I fed The Princess.

Then we finally got on the road to Mississippi. {FYI, we were

going to MS to see Amanda's high school friend, who we'll call "the friend". 

She had asked Amanda to come spend the weekend with her, but Amanda

didn't want to drive all the way to MS by herself with two babies, so when she asked

me, I said I would go.}

We drove forever to get there. Had to stop three times for dirty 

diapers and bottles. {Because I'm sure you want the details...} 

The first time we stopped,

was because we thought The Princess had a dirty diaper, but alas,

it was Boog. {Still not potty-trained.} Then we had to stop to make

a bottle for The Princess. Not too long after that, we had to stop

to change her diaper. Finally, like literally 6 hours later, we 

made it to Clinton, MS. {This chick lives in the boonies.}

When we get there, we start bringing all of our stuff in and the friend

shows us where we're supposed to sleep. She has a fold-out

toddler couch for The Princess to sleep on.

Like this, but with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it...

For Boog, she has a crib mattress on the floor. For Amanda,

she has a twin-size bunk bed mattress on the floor. {Did I mention

Amanda is pregnant??} And for me, she has a twin-size bunk bed in another

room. Ok... That night, we move all the beds into her boys' bedroom {They 

slept with her.} so we can watch TV to go to sleep. The babies refuse to go to

sleep. We all swap beds a few times before we end up getting 3 hours of 

sleep. It was horrible. It was really hot in the bedroom and there was

absolutely NO noise. We all sleep with fans, so not having a fan

or air-conditioner noise was torture. 

When we woke up Friday morning, there were tornado watches for most

of the state. We got up, showered and dressed quickly and headed out to 

the Science Museum in Jackson. {We didn't want to stay at

the friend's home since she lives in a trailer.} On the way, we 

stopped at Wally World to pick up a few pillows {She only provided 2 pillows

for the 4 of us...}, a bottle brush and some dish liquid {She doesn't use it

at all? Ok.} Before we could check out, the friend comes rushing in with

her two boys {She went to pick up the 8 year old from school} and 

told us the tornado was 10-20 minutes away. Something like that. I 

rushed through the check-out line to buy my pillows, contact-solution

{I forgot my glasses at Mama's house!!! Panic! I only had the one pair

of contact lenses and I never sleep in them. But was forced to since

I didn't have a lot of contact solution.} and hair clips. Amanda didn't 

even get to buy the things she needed.

We rushed {and what I really

mean is, we broke a few laws getting to the Science Museum. The friend

drove like a maniac and it was already raining. It was really hard to follow

her.} to the museum and I jumped out and grabbed the babies and 

the friend let her two boys out on the sidewalk with me. I carried

both babies {it was raining.} while the boys walked in front of me to the

overhang in front of the building. We waited about 5-8 minutes before

Amanda and her friend got up there. When they did, we all were 

directed to the bottom floor to wait out the tornado warning. {Plus side- we 

didn't have to pay to get in. Score!} We waited

in the caterpillar exhibit for around 30 minutes with about 100+ school-aged

kids jumping, screaming and playing around us. Surprisingly, The Princess and

Boog were really well-behaved!

After the warnings were over, we got up and checked out the exhibit and 

the rest of the museum. It was pretty boring since it was for school-aged kids.

Boog got in trouble a few times for running out of our sight. Amanda and I 

took turns carrying The Princess and the diaper bag since she hadn't

bought a stroller for her. {We have since found one.}

Wish we had had it while we were at the museum. This little Princess

weighs a lot! LOL.

After the museum, we headed back to the friend's home in Clinton. 

On the way there, we passed over the tornado's path of destruction.

I snapped a few pics, so we would have proof of our "near-death experience".

Pretty impressive, but the guy who was dumb brave enough to record

the actual tornado got much better footage:

And when I get on YouTube to find the video that my sister saw, I find that

there is more than one video... more than one idiot, brave person out trying to 

record a tornado... If you watch this video, you will see the Chik-fil-A next to the Wally

World that we were at 20 minutes before the tornado hit, less than a block away. 

Pretty scary. Thank God, we "got out of dodge"...*snicker snicker*

Anywho... We stopped by a grocery store and bought some real food to

make for dinner and finally got a bottle brush at a Dollar General. That night,

the friend borrowed a box fan from her mother-in-law and we finally got some

sleep. After the friend and Amanda took the kids to the park, {while I stayed behind

with the sleeping Princess, to wash our clothes and pack up our stuff}, Amanda

came back to pick me and The Princess up so we could get something to

eat with the friend before we left town. 

We finally headed out of town after 3:30 {I think} and we made it to Chunky, MS,

{No, I'm not making that up..it's an actual town.} when the tire started making

a funny noise. I asked Amanda if it was the road, she said she thought it was.

When we went over a smooth bridge, the tire was still making the noise, so she slowed

down and it got worse. We pulled off at the exit for Chunky, MS and I got out to

check out the tire. Sure enough, the tire was split.

 

Amanda called her insurance agent and they sent someone out to put the

spare tire on. We waited over an hour for the guy to get there. While we were

waiting, at least 7 people stopped to offer assistance, including a sheriff. 

Thank you citizens of Chunky! We both joked that we were moving there

since the people were so nice. ☺ 

 The Princess "driving" while we wait.

To keep him from sitting in the car, I made up a game for Boog.

We threw rocks at this sign. It was a lot of fun! No really! When we left, he cried,

"I can't throw my rocks!". Poor little guy. :( 

When the tire was finally fixed, we followed the guy to the Wally World in

Meridian, so Amanda could get some cash to buy a new tire. It was of

course, Saturday night and everywhere else had already closed for the night, 

so we had no choice but to use the guy-who-fixed-the-tire's friend. 

We followed him into the middle of nowhere and I stayed in the car with the

babies while Amanda helped the man unload the luggage to get to the

bad tire in the trunk. They replaced the tire in less than 10 minutes and we 

were on our way. 

We didn't get home until after 11pm. We were so exhausted. We

unpacked the car and got the babies ready for bed. Amanda, Tim and Boog

crashed and I rocked The Princess to sleep and then laid her in her crib. Then, I headed 

for bed myself. Despite being in a familiar place, I didn't sleep well. Over-exhaustion

probably. After going to the park Sunday, I left and went to meet up with J

in Trussville. Of course the check-engine light came on while we were down

there, so J got under the hood to find out what was wrong. He couldn't find the 

problem, so he sent me on my way and he headed back to his unit.

I got home and Sabrina and I settled in to watch some movies before bed. 

The next day, Monday, J got to come home after half a day. We took the car 

to get the codes read and to pick up supplies to do an oil change. Turns out,

I didn't tighten the gas cap all the way the last time I filled up, so there was

an engine emissions read-out. Oops...my bad! 

After getting the car checked out, we went to the mall and had some Chik-fil-A

and watched a movie, Arthur. It was really funny and I definitely recommend it! 

Tuesday, we just "chillaxed" at home since J had to go back to work Wednesday

morning at the crack of dawn. 

Sabrina and I just chilled at home the rest of the week until J came home a day

early on Friday. :) We had a Harry Potter marathon Saturday and then again

Sunday night. Most of Sunday we cleaned. I'm not really sure what

he did, but I cleaned out the spare bedroom and washed clothes. LOL.

Yesterday he went back to his regular job and I washed clothes and cleaned the

living room. Today I haven't done ANYTHING but blog and watch Ugly Betty. 

I'm not feeling real productive. 

I did call to reschedule my doctor appointment

to check on my thyroid. Hopefully my levels haven't changed, so I won't

have to have another prescription. I don't feel like the one I'm on is

helping me at all though. I still feel like a zombie most of the time.

And did I mention I make lizards look soft and silky?? Seriously,

I'm flakier than a high school cheerleader... haha. Just kidding. 

If anyone has an recommendations on how to treat my scalp

and forehead, that would be awesome.

I hope this is random enough for everyone! Maybe now I can get back into the swing

of blogging everyday more frequently. :)

BTW, the title of this post is from a book I read when I was much

younger. But, I can't remember the title. :(

I hope everyone had a very blessed Easter and a great weekend!

Keep on being random!

Don't forget to link up with Mr. Linky!

Mil-Spouse Friday: Cancelled

The sweet lady who provides us with the questions for Mil-Spouse Friday has her hubby home for just a little while longer, so she's cancelled Mil-Spouse Friday this week.

So instead...I thought I'd give you a peak into what I'm up to on this windy, cold night...

Checking off Army junk on a 5-page list for J to take to drill this weekend...

It looks like Afghanistan threw up in our living room.

"Honey, can you take off your underwear for me?":Random Tuesday Thoughts

I can't believe it's already Tuesday again...but it is! I've been busy...just got back from PCB Sunday around 2100 and thankfully had a restful Monday. Pretty much all I did was laundry...and speaking of laundry...

Why is it when you're trying to wash EVERYTHING that is dirty,
your husband (or children, if you have them) is
always wearing something that needs
to be washed. For example: When I did laundry Monday,
I took all the colored clothes and separated
them into dark colors and light colors.
I even went so far as to take off my undies
to add to the first load of light clothes.
Then, since it was time for a shower anyway,
I added my dark dress to the dark clothes for
the next load and my white camisole to the whites.
Then I took a shower which meant everything I put
on afterwards was clean... and the only thing that
remained dirty when I was done with laundry was
what J was wearing. How annoying...I wanted
ALL of our dirty clothes to be cleaned
at the same time. Now I'm going to have
two white socks, a pair of white boxer shorts
and a dark tank-top and light shorts...
Which means they'll remain dirty until we've
accumulated enough whites, light colors, and dark
colors for three loads...*sigh*.
I DO LOVE having his laundry to wash again though. LOL.
Sorry if this is not random enough, I haven't had
time to think much about blogging. :)
Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

For more randomness, head on over to The Un-Mom, link up
and join in on the randomness! :)

I'm so excited....and I just can't hide it...

I'm about to lose control and I think I like it...

So sorry to have been AWOL for so long. To say I've been busy wouldn't entirely be untruthful. I stayed with my sister for awhile of course. Just to help her out with The Boog and Little Treasure. It was a lot of fun, but then....I got sick. I woke up on Thursday morning (12th August)and felt awful and had a temperature. So I called my Mom to come rescue me and take me home. Then Friday I went to the Doctor. They did a Strep culture, but it came back negative, so he said he thought I had Mono. That sounds simply horrifying to me...but seeing as it is viral and cannot be treated with antibiotics, there's no way I had Mono. By Saturday I was already feeling better, so I'm almost positive it was just a false negative on the Strep test. After that sickness was gone, I had some side effects from the medicine. But now, I'm feeling a lot better. :) 

And whilst I was sickly, I didn't feel like fighting with my laptop to get online, so that is another reason for the lack of posts. I do apologize and hopefully soon I'll get back in the swing of things. :) 

Today...I got to wash ACUs!!! First time in over a year!!!!!!!!!! I was pretty excited about dirty laundry. I know I'm weird...most people love me anyway. The Hubby mailed them to me a few weeks ago, but since I was sick, I hadn't had time to unpack them and wash them. Now that's all done though and I can look forward to bigger and better things. lol. This deployment should be over soon. Keep on praying. 


Love, Whit

"Moon Day"...

Just your typical Monday...

Went to Nana's, the bank, the grocery store, 

the post office, library and gas station.

Came home, washed 5 loads of laundry. You wouldn't think

one person could produce so much laundry!

But I've been putting it off lately, 

so I had 2 weeks worth of clothes

and towels! 

To top it off...I hang my laundry outside on the 

porch to save money on the electric bill.

(FYI, using your dryer during the day 

heats up your house and makes your air-

conditioner work that much harder! Save money

by hanging your clothes on hangers outside

or on a clothesline! :)

And just as soon as I finish the first load of

towels...it starts to thunder.

But that's ok! I just grabbed my camera and took

a few pics! You know how much I love clouds

and storms! 

   

Unfortunately, because I was oggling the clouds...

I missed 5 calls from Jeremy. :( 

*Sigh*...he'll call back later. 

On a more positive note...

I was featured in a blog over at the Mom-tage.

So, be sure to read my post and check

out the rest of the site! Feel free to leave a 

comment!

Hope everyone had a great "Moon Day"! 

Love,