Gee, thanks

for nothing that is. I just need to vent a bit because the kids drove me insane today. Friday evening we had Thanksgiving leftovers with our neighbors, who have family visiting. Said family has a son almost my daughter's age. My daughter didn't want to leave because she wanted to play more with this boy. Boys mother proceeds to say perhaps they can play together tomorrow and asks me if she has a bike. I say she has a big wheel and this Mom tells my daughter that she and this boy can ride bikes together the next day.

So, Saturday comes... and I see them all pile in the car just before lunch. Okay, no big deal, they can play in the afternoon right? I call and leave a message. I have no idea when they finally came home that evening but I never got a call back. Same thing today - no call. So my daughter has been hounding me every time she sees this little boy outside because she was told they could play. And apparently it's not happening. In her mind it is my fault of course.

Today I spoke with another neighbor who asked how we were doing and if I needed a break. I told her we were doing pretty good, but that my daughter would sure love it if they would bring their daughter over to play for a bit. I'm told they have some plans, but when they got home after lunch we could all go to the park or something. Okay, cool. Thank God I didn't mention this to my daughter, because they never called me back either.

To top it all off, my son screamed his head off for the majority of the afternoon and evening. For apparently no reason. I swear I wanted to bang my head against the wall and knock myself out so I wouldn't have to listen to it anymore.

To sum it all up, I'm pissed off because twice this weekend I've expected a little help with entertaining my daughter and haven't gotten it. It's not easy being the only person who is here to do everything for both children, myself and the house. Yes, my husband and I knew what we were getting into with the mi1it@ry life and I have accepted the role of single mother for possibly the next 4 months and am okay with it. We generally do quite well by ourselves. But don't offer a playdate to my 4 year old and then not call. Please don't ask me if I need a break and then not follow through on our plans. It just serves to cause me more stress and unnecessarily upsets my daughter who is dying for more play time.

On the brighter side, both kids are in bed, the dishes are done, the laundry is almost all done, the cats are fed, litter boxes cleaned, and I am heading for a much needed hot shower. Probably followed by some De@dwood, on loan from the library. And some 0reos. Must have 0reos.

It's beginning to look...

... a lot like Christmas!

So I've been busting butt and I think I'm finally done with all the Christmas decorations. I still have lights left but I can't think of what to do with them since I can't get them in the windows inside the house. If I have a 'bright' idea at some point, I may add them.

So, here it is! I feel pretty good about what I managed to accomplish. Many other people in our neighborhood have put lights up this year too and we are really enjoying the decorations! It's great to see the holiday spirit!

All work and no play...

... makes me a crabby Mama.

I've been trying to get the house in order since my husband left last Monday (he deployed to Q@t@r for 4 months). I've also been trying to get the Christmas decorations set up. The Christmas stuff is coming along, but the house cleaning is going very slow. I just can't seem to get much done during the day because of the kids and after they go to bed I just never seem to accomplish as much as I want to. Each task seems to take much longer than I had planned. It's stressing me out!

I'm also bummed because it has become clear to me that I can't even come close to what I want to do with the Christmas decorations. My husband and I go all out for Christmas and each year we add to our decorations. Last year the house looked pretty darned good and we had even bigger plans for this year. But I just can't figure out his share of the work. He was in charge of putting the rope lights around the posts on the porch, and getting all the lights along the eaves of the house hooked up right. I'm afraid of ladders (not heights, just ladders) so I can't do the eaves, and I can't seem to figure out how he does the rope lights. I also gave up trying to put the lights up in the window because my suction cups kept popping off and I was getting too stressed. I remember it being a royal pita last year and I'm not willing to kill myself over it this year.

I just really want to make this Christmas awesome for my daughter. She is a total Daddy's girl and she really misses him. She is loving the decorations I've put up so far, and I really wanted to wow her with the lights and all. I guess she won't really know the difference if I don't get everything right. To her it will be wonderful and exciting.

I have to go chase my cat out of the Christmas tree. I was hoping this year would be easier since the tree isn't real, but alas it has not proven so yet. The little rat keeps climbing it just like it's the real thing!