I'm wearing his clothes

The Marine is about ready to demand I find and put away my clothes. I am wearing his pj bottoms and a shirt of mine I found in the laundry room basket and washed. Yesterday I wore one of his old t-shirts.

why?

Because the pictures of the dining room in the previous post from Wednesday reflect what my dining room looks like right now.

I haven't had time to put everything back, which includes all our clothes in bags.

The Marine was in Texas when I pulled everything out, so we are both wearing the clothes he had in Texas.

He's not amused.

Especially when he was looking for his pj bottoms.

I was sitting in the chair checking out tie websites for the wedding. I need to buy 10 ties. Oh, and I found a cool site www.thetiebar.com... but I digress...

The Marine: "ARE YOU WEARING MY PJAMMA BOTTOMS???"

Kelli: "No." I continue scrolling through ties not meeting his gaze.

The Marine: "Yes you are!" Standing about 5 feet from me staring at his p-jamma bottoms on my body.

Kelli: "No I'm not." I continue shopping.

I can't remember what happened next. I think I blocked it out, but he muttered some sort of threatening consequence if I didn't start wearing my own clothes again...

I have to go... I hear him coming back out of the office.

Recruit 1 is PCSing to a different Platoon in December...

Recruit 1 will be getting married in December of this year! I've been waiting to do a post when I had some pictures, but not living there it makes it hard for me to make demands and have them met.

I told her tonight I wanted to blog their 'how we met' story. She said OH MY GOSH...

I told her she could proof it before I posted. That calmed her down a bit.

We are very happy for her. The Marine met him when he was out visiting recently. He said he was a good kid. I've got to think up a good name for the soon to be new son in our family.

Most folks have mixed reactions when they hear the news. I understand, it seems sudden (no I will not be a Grandmother anytime soon). They want to be married in the Temple, and most LDS engagements are shorter rather than longer. I'm more than happy that they are both committed to a Temple Marriage.

When you've been as happy in your marriage as I have, you want that for all your kids.

The Marine and I are peacefully happy with the impending nuptials and The Marine gave his blessing while he was out there. He's a pretty good judge of character and he said this was a good thing.

I haven't met him yet!!!! Arggghh, it's just not fair!

It won't be until October when they come out for another friends wedding.

In the meantime, lots of chats about wedding plans etc.

Now if I could just get some pictures from SOMEBODY out there, it would make me very happy. HINT HINT

The More You Do the More You Have to Get Done!

The Marine arrived home safely with most of the Recruits Sunday night. I had the bedroom painted and most things somewhat organized. I was ready for the new furniture. Here's the bed! I need different curtains, but I'm not sure what to get. Any ideas?

That is the state of Texas in the middle of my quilt. I love Texas....

This is the armoire for The Marine. The base is sitting on the floor in front of the closet part.

Here you can see it still sitting in our den. Why you ask? Because we can't get it around the corner into the bedroom. This beautiful piece of furniture WON'T FIT. I am very sad.

Here is all the stuff I took out of my bedroom that is in our dining room.

HELP .

In case you didn't get the full effect of what I still face here's another angle of the dining room.

In the meantime, as I have a melt down, Recruit 3 begins the arduous task of painting her room.

If you have been a Krazy Eight follower for long you will remember last year when another recruit worked on this very same room.

Now Recruit 3 is covering up all of Recruit 2's hard work.

She wasn't thrilled I was stalking her.

She asked me to leave.

I asked for a nice pose.

She said okay.

I'm so proud.

Stinkin' Little Red had to be banned from the room. He wanted to wallow on the walls. Thank goodness this baseboard had already dried....

Almost everyone is home, except Recruit 2. He stayed a little longer at The Grandmother's house. Soon all will be back in the nest, except Recruit 1.

She's building her nest else where now.

It's good to have them home!!!!!

Down to the Wire

The Marine and Recruits are about 4 hours away. YIKES

Here's the status

All things have been swapped (for the most part) to all the appropriate rooms.

All carpet except upstairs has been clean.

My room is all painted, including the trim.

Supposedly cleaning my bathroom, but I'm doing this instead.

Dining room is STACKED with stuff as is my closet.

I have not touched the office. That will be an issue. However, I'm tired, alone, and I've got thing one and thing two interrupting me every two.five minutes... Thank goodness they are so cute.

Okay, back to scrubbing the tub. ew.

Making Progress

Sometimes you just have to keep trudging along. I often hear Dory from Finding Nemo singing inside my head when I start a task I feel is never ending or difficult.

"Keep on swimming, don't stop swimming" over and over again. See, if you know the tune you are now saying in your head, or possibly out loud if you have a lot of self confidence, "Keep on swimming, don't stop swimming."

It was a little like that yesterday and today as I steam cleaned what carpet I could get to. I still have the big den to do, but it is currently under siege by multiple family member's belongings.

Two of my girl friends from church showed up this morning and helped empty all my drawers in my bedroom out of a man's armoire, chest of drawers, two night stands and big dresser. Then we moved all the furniture out onto the driveway for GG pick up later in the day.

We probably could have gotten even more done had I not been in there "helping". Every time I opened a drawer I would yell "Oh My Gosh! Look at this, I have to tell you the story about this".

I should probably clean out my drawers more often. They said they liked my stories, but they are very nice and probably didn't know how to stop me. GG would have said "SHUT UP AND WORK".

In my defense of the excited exclamations however, let me explain.

When one is a military family member, one does not HAVE to remember to purge. It's an automatic occurrence at least every three years or sooner than that. Now I know there are some service members with jobs in the military that limit their duty station options, so they don't necessarily move as often as others.

I however have never lived anywhere this long. This October will be five years in the area and this past March will be four years in the house.

I'd better mark a calendar when we retire, it could get ugly.

Later in the afternoon the Big Football Guy stopped by at my request to help move a few other chests around to various kid's room. One was quite heavy, so I am thankful he has some muscle hidden under his girlish figure.

I am hoping to get started painting tomorrow afternoon. The Marine will be home Sunday night and I want to get as much done as possible.

However it may be difficult considering I keep getting interrupted when Recruit 5 runs in and says things like, "MOM! Recruit 6 has a sword. A REAL ONE!"

He found the sword set The Marine brought home from Okinawa. While they are real, they are not sharpened, but still sharp enough to cause damage, especially in the hands of Recruit 6, our weapons expert.

I happen to be on the phone with the company's CFO at the time. All I can say is how much I love working with a bunch of Marines. He is a recently retired Marine and patiently waited while I ran in and removed the weapon.

The hazard of being left with the two tiny guys and gutting your home and working all at the same time.

I am starting to miss The Marine, just a little bit. Plus I need my camera. These posts would be way more exciting with pictures, don't you think?

I've moved to Poopville

Our dogs are a big part of our family. With all the moving, separations, and other turmoil, they have been a constant. However they definitely make things more complicated and sometimes just down right frustrating. I like to think they are worth it though, at least during times like these I tell myself that over and over.

In the midst of the insanity of trying to work every day from noon to five, watch the two little guys by myself, turn my house inside out like a sock with toes, and get my bedroom furniture moved out AND paint my room all before The Marine and Recruits return this weekend... my dogs have all lost their mind... or something like that but the other end.

Bradford, our almost 15 year old Lab, is really the only one with an excuse. About 18 months ago he had an injury to his back and we thought we had lost him then. He is super dog. He should have a cape. He has come back from several injuries miraculously over the last 14 and a half years. We've had him longer than we've had most of the kids!

He has been my constant companion through most deployments and RECRUITING DUTY... A difficult duty to say the least. I love him.

This is Scratch. My sweet surfer dog. He's only a surfer because he is totally laid back and if he could talk he would say "Duuuuuude" all the time. Unfortunately, he has no excuse for the recent poop bombings. I know their his because Bradford can't climb the stairs any longer and the poop was GINORMOUS.

I think he is missing his boys, and with me rearranging everything it might be freaking him out. He's pooping and peeing upstairs where I am moving Recruit 2 and 4, HIS recruits. Plus I think the coconut oil I've started giving him for his skin might have created some of the problem.

Poor fella has a severe skin allergy to fleas and I think everything else. I finally bought these pills today that is supposed to start killing fleas within thirty minutes, but it doesn't keep killing them, only the ones currently on them. I'm just trying to get a handle on it.

I have the three lads on Front Line, but it's not enough. The house is sprayed once a month, but I haven't treated the yard, so that's the only thing I can think. Okay, writing this I realize someone reading this is going to say "duh, ya think?"

Little Red. (said like "Neuman" from Seinfeld) First, let me assure you he is not actually being gripped as hard it appears in this picture. He is an almost 2 or 3 year old cock-a-poo (I can't remember). It's a good thing he is so flippin' cute, otherwise The Marine would have made him 'disappear' a while ago.

This tiny dog wants to be the Alpha Male, even over The Marine. Each and every day when The Marine walks through the door, he hunches near me and growls at The Marine. No one else, ONLY The Marine. Not smart.

The Marine is highly annoyed with this tiny furry man-dog. This dog actually belongs to Recruit 1, however I think HE thinks I belong to him.

This little red mop has no excuse to be dropping presents either, except, I noticed out in the yard whenever one of the other dogs pee somewhere, he immediately runs over and pees right on top of it. I mean RUNS from like across the yard.

Right now I'm waiting for carpet to dry as I write this post. Yes, in the midst of toiling and shoveling my way through my children's.. uh... stuff... I've got to clean all my carpets.

However as I look down I have Little Red keeping my left foot warm, Bradford stretched out to my left near the wheels of my office chair, and Scratch hanging ten to the right. My soul delights in the genuine and unconditional love of these sweet boys.

They just need to stop pooping in MY HOUSE!

Okay, back to de-pooping my life... Thanks for listening...

Entering the second week alone/ The Marine and a Jack Hammer.

I am going into the second week alone here at the house with just the two little boys. Now I know why Heavenly Father said mom's should stay home with their children and not work when they are young.

Without my big helpers to be extra eyes, ears, and hands I find myself somewhat overwhelmed with all that needs to be done.

While The Marine and other Recruits are gone I am supposed to be getting the house ready for their return with my new furniture. Part of that was to switch the kids rooms.

The Plan:
Move Recruit 2 from bedroom C to upstairs, Recruit 6 from bedroom C to bedroom A, Recruit 3 from upstairs to bedroom C, and Recruit 4 from bedroom A to upstairs, leaving Recruit 5 to maintain residence in Bedroom A.

I also have to empty my stuff to move all the bedroom furniture to GG's house, leaving my room empty to paint before the return of the troops.

I also thought I could paint Bedroom C and the upstairs. Not going to happen.

My children, the sweet darlings, left me with a mess beyond description and the only little helpers were the tiny men. I've resorted to having them pick one object up, come to me for direction on what room it goes to.

They dutifully deliver it to that room, stand in the door way and toss it six inches into the room on the floor.

Then at some point I enter that room, yell for them, lovingly of course, and have them move it at least another foot in and to the left or right so I can walk in there.

Meanwhile at my mom's The Marine and Recruit 2 are putting in cross fencing. There's about 6 inches or less of top soil before they hit bedrock. She lives in the hill country and dynamite should be used. Folks don't have basements out there.

I just got a phone call from The Marine:

Recruit 2: "Mom, Dad wants to talk to you."

The Marine: "Hey, listen to this!"

(it's 0700 their time)

I hear the distinct sound of a jack hammer. In fact, my teeth start to rattle just hearing the vibration over the phone. It continues. I'm thinking, OKAY, I get it!

Finally it mercifully stops.

The Marine: "Hey"

Kelli: "So, your up early playing with your jack hammer"

The Marine: "Yep, I've already done five holes!"

The conversation went south from there, I'll spare you. He is still a Marine.

The first day they used the jack hammer, on Saturday, the drill bit got stuck. They had to take a couple of hours to fix that. The Marine said using the 90 pound jack hammer was the hardest work he's ever done. That's saying a lot since he works like a draft horse.

Their hands were swollen, they were exhausted and he didn't think he would be able to move the next morning. Thank goodness it was Sunday the next day. (Day of rest from daily labors, church etc.)

The Marine told me if I had to use the jack hammer I would be in bed for a month. No duh. That's why I would have been shopping at all the outlet malls once they turned that bad boy on.

All the while I am being counseled by my husband, "I'm not going to be in any mood or condition to fix whatever mess you and the boys have created when I get home."

So I am going to look around and try and wrap my head around where to start next. The garbage can keeps coming to mind...

Daily Conversation with Recruit 6

Recruit 6, please go pick up your toys and wash your face.

Yes, you have too and no, I am not taking you to Walmart to buy a toy.

No you may not play with knives instead.

Recruit 6 knocked a tooth out of Recruit 5's mouth the other day. It was a baby tooth and proabably already somewhat loose, although I wasn't aware of it. They were doing their "cool" moves and the little fella landed a solid punch to his brother's mouth.

Typical day in my world...

Potpourri

My mind is sprinting in a hundred different directions. The Marine has my camera on their trip and so I can't even take pictures right now and I need to clean.

I've got rooms to rearrange and paint now that Recruit 1 is gone and I just can't get motivated.

I'm sure it has something to do with the mountain of clothes in each room. And the fact I couldn't sleep last night. I'm exhausted.

I'll have to borrow GG's camera.

I've also started working out diligently again. It's VERY painful. So much so I have a whole new blog devoted to documenting the torment and pain. I don't want to be old and crotchety and not able to run with my Grand kids.

I don't have any Grand kids yet, so I am not too late. Although I feel a little crotchety. Is that a word?

What else am I thinking about?
I love love love having Island Girl living nearby. Her recruit is the one on the trip with The Marine. Our girls are the same grade in school but almost a year apart. They have become conjoined. Our fears may yet be realized of pulling them out of jail together one day.

Although I think we need to be more worried about my Recruit 6 and her Recruit 4. They were heading off to kick some butt on July 4th.

The target?

These two boys much older and bigger than them who were throwing them around and being bullies. They didn't come to tattle but to gather sticks and pine cones to go back to war. Thank goodness we saw them in time. I have pictures but just am too tired to post them. Check out Island Girls blog, she has a few up.

I am amazed at how years can go buy and I still love my friends. They are members of my family and I am grateful I've been given the opportunity to have them as such. The military often pulls us far away from biological family members, creating distance and sometimes parallel lives.

I miss my El Paso girls. They are sisters too and I wish we were closer to make those secret sonic runs away from the kids. Only way we could talk about all of them without being overheard or interrupted. The Island girl and I kept going to the "store" the other night because we were in the middle of juicy stories and the kids wanted back in the womb for some reason.

Even The Marine kept coming in and finding us.

It can be lonely for those military families who never adapt and open their hearts up to non transitional ties and definitions of "family".

And wait, there's more I'm thinking about.

I also am worried about the fleas. I can't seem to get rid of them off the dogs. Frontline is not working this time. (told you this is hodge podge). Little Red is scratching under my feet and I feel bad for him. Scratch is looking bad too, he's allergic to them. I'm going to go buy super flea killing shampoo tomorrow and stuff for the yard. I don't like using chemicals, but my furry guys are miserable. Death to fleas.

And yet I still have room for other stuff.

Okay, I owe Lacrosse Camp pics, July 4th, and something else, I can't remember what. Right now, I need to go see what Recruits 5 and 6 are doing. Couple of days ago doing his "cool" ninja moves, Recruit 6 knocked a tooth out of Recruit 5's head.

Thank goodness it was a baby tooth already starting to loosen. I'd better make sure the ninja is under control.


The Marine is two hours from his destination. All seem to have survived the two day drive.

I'm alone with the two little Recruits. Wish me luck.

Dapper Dan!

So Recruit 5 was asked to be the ring bearer in a wedding for one of Recruit 1's friends. He was very excited when he tried on his tux the night before. He said, "Mom, I've never had a bow tie before!"

I thought that was so funny because he wears a regular tie every Sunday. Perhaps I should invest in some bow ties for him. Maybe getting dressed for church wouldn't be so difficult!

Who knew I could grow such fabulous ears? And the missing teeth! Be still my heart! I just think this jr GQ is such a cutie!

As is my sr GQ man. He left early to get him to the wedding for pictures.

This struck me as weird, my tux clad tiny man strapping into his car seat.

A beautiful bride. Her dress was gorgeous. They had a beautiful wedding and I wish Recruit 1 could have been there.

The groom. I've never seen him so serious. He rarely takes a picture without making a face. Scared? Serious? Disturbed? He was talking with his Dad, who also was the Pastor that married them.

Steady, step, step, step, Don't look at anyone, focus on the spot you need to make it to... He was very diligent.

Leaving with the Flower girl, GG's daughter. You can tell who was enjoying the moment.

My favorite picture of the bride. Now this is the darling girl I know!

More pictures? The wedding was done and he had started stripping. Nope, get it back on son. Oh and let me take a few pictures...

His six year old tolerance meter was pegged out. He's not happy with me and getting more annoyed by the second.

If looks could wound I'd be bleeding... I'm not saying 'kill' because that makes me sad to think he wanted me dead, but I think he would have taken limping at the very least.

GG and I all dressed up!

At the reception and finally some water!

Now he's smiling!

The best part of the night for Recruit 5? The chocolate fountain. I need to remember this. It's all he'll need at any fancy party we ever throw for him!

The Marine

The Marine is doing the dishes right now.

I love him.

The Marine, A Ford, and a Tow Truck

So I had to call a tow truck twice this week to haul away the big shiny gray truck The Marine bought right after Christmas.

It was dying on us and then just quit running.

We thought it was fixed, but again last night it did it again. So this morning I called and had it towed to the dealership.

The Marine was sweating it. Diesels can get pricey to repair.

There's a big trip coming up. I'm deploying The Marine and some recruits to my mom's house 1500 miles away to take Recruit 1 her stuff and pick up some way cool furniture for me! My Mom over bought and I get to help her out~

I love it when Mom over buys. Thank goodness she has fabulous taste!

So we were freaking out the trip was in jeopardy.

The tow guy showed up and as I handed him the keys he said, "That's a good looking truck".

I frowned and said, "sure is, 'specially when it's not BEING TOWED".

So I hand over the keys, give Big Gray a dirty look and go back in the house to get dressed.

I called The Marine to tell him IT was being dragged away.

He was so sad on the phone. He told me how great I was being and he was sorry we were having so many problems. I told him everything was okay and then it slipped out. I didn't mean to say it out loud. It just slipped out before I could stop it.

I said, "CHEVY". nuts. He asked what I said. I said, "oops, was that out loud?" We've always owned Chevrolet or GMC vehicles with the occasional Toyota or currently my Kia van.

So I felt bad for kicking him while he was down and secretly I love the truck. It's big and shiny and manly. I feel like I can kick some butt driving it around.

I look like a 12 year old driving it. It's a height thing. I'm not bitter, I just raise the seat up all the way so I look taller with a tiny head. Anyway, I digress...

I felt bad for twisting the knife in his back, so while I was out I bought a singing get well card for the truck and a king size TWIX candy bar for The Marine. I left them on The Marine's desk while he was in a meeting. The card sang Stand By Me. I wrote I would walk by The Marine if it came down to it.

Late this afternoon the call came in. It was the fuel pump which was just replaced right after Memorial day weekend. Parts and Service were covered. Our big shiny truck was healed and for FREE!!! Well, minus some worry and sweat.

The trip is on, The Marine got a TWIX bar and a card he can play whenever he wants to feel mushy about me standing by him, and I get my furniture AND he is taking all but two of the recruits with him! WOOHOOO party!!!!

Tonight life is good!