Friday, April 14, 2006

Hold on tight, here it comes........


I woke up this morning with a sore throat and now I have the worst headache ever. Guess all my dodging and running from this bug didn't work. Oh well, just deal with it, I tell myself. Nothing some cold medicine and some rest won't cure right?
Thank God it's friday though which means hubby will be home for the next 2 days and I can actually get some much needed sleep.
At times like these though, my heart just goes out to the wives whose hubbies are gone right now, because they have to do it all without him there to help. You ladies know who you are, and you know I have much love for you :)

I would invite you to come on in and have some hot coffee and donuts but I really don't want to be the cause of anyone getting sick. Guess we'll save the shared breakfast for another day.

First I want to point you in the direction of Freedom Isn't Free. Her post this morning brought tears to my eyes, and being that I have to deal with the issue directly, this was just perfect. So especially for military wives, I hope you get a chance to read it. It definitely gave me an idea of how to explain to my kids about the war and daddy being a soldier.
Way too often I'm met with those questions that blow me away because, seriously, I don't even know how to answer them. Being that Jasmine is going to turn 7 years old, she understands alot of things that somehow I wish I could shelter her from. So when she turns to me and asks "why do we have to have war?" or "but why does daddy have to go fight bad guys, why can't he stay with me?". Imagine the heartbreak, when you see the tears in their eyes and you know that nothing you say will make it better!!!
Go on over and read the post, it's really well written and it's one of those WOW ones!!!

So what's going on in my life you may ask? Well I could be negative and say "my legal stuff isn't done yet, Nicholas has a bad cold, I'm feeling horrible, Curt is working crazy hours, Jasmine is outspoken and testing my patience, Lola is determined not to be house trained and so on and so on".
But let's face it, all that's going to do is make ME miserable and make YOU want to run in the opposite direction.
So I'm going to say that things are GOOD!!!
All those things are just small bumps in the road and easy to fix. I'm just going to embrace them and roll with the punches. LOL

Kids always remind us of how simple and beautiful things can be.
Last night I was complaining, yes ME, complaining. What a thought huh? I would like to say that I don't do it often, but who am I kidding right?
Going back to the story, I was complaining about the rain, about it constantly raining and how annoying it's becoming because it messes with MY plans. Like I'm THAT important that the whole world has to change for me. LOL
Jasmine turned to me after a while and said "You know mommy, just remember that Spring Showers will bring us May Flowers".
BAM BAM
(I'm sure Emeril is thrilled). Boy did that hit me and I thought to myself.....look at you, sitting here whining about the rain, how pathetic can you get?
So I stopped and smiled and hugged her, because she reminded me to always look on the bright side.

And just to KEEP reminding me, guess what? It's raining again today LOL
Ok now, I get the message!!!! Let's not RUB it in anymore!!! LOL

It's friday which means another "Remember When???". I was trying to think of a story this morning and for some reason I was drawing a blank, which is not normal because I tell you, my family has had it's shares of funny things happening, I think we're a HUGE magnet for the funny and weird!!!!



When I was growing up, we always had our yearly trips to Algarve. We loved it because it meant getting away from the city and all the commotion and actually going to relax at the beach, and just have fun.
So we set out on a trip to Odeceixe, which is a beautiful town with gorgeous beaches.

Now imagine this....a small little car, my dad and stepmom sitting up front, and in the backseat we had, my greatgrandmother, my mother, and me and my 3 brothers LOL
Don't ask how the heck we fit in that car, but we did, I think my youngest brother was sitting up front with my stepmom. If it was nowadays we would have been sitting in jail for that LOL I guess in those days you got away with everything and anything.

Let's not forget the dog in the trunk, yes it was an open trunk not like he was closed in there LOL
We drive to Odeceixe which is quite a way away. The whole time we have my greatgrandmother complaining because she has one of the luggage bags hitting her on the head LOL
We stayed in this beautiful house, rented of course. The first day we went to the beach, we opened the trunk for the dog to come out and he took off. Yeah, he was OUTTA there. We literally ran after him for what must have been miles. He's running down the beach, throwing sand on everyone and we're chasing behind him yelling, what a SIGHT!!!

But the one moment we will always remember from that trip was the day we left. We had the car packed, everyone sitting down and we waited for about 30 minutes for my greatgrandmother. Thinking she was either in the bathroom or trying to get ready, we go back in to investigate, only to find her cleaning the house LOL
She was making sure the chairs were all neatly pushed in at the dining table, and doing all sorts of housework which we didn't have to do, cause the cleaning lady was coming in LOL

Boy what a trip that was. It was fun, but full of crazy moments. Oh and let's not forget my mom who go sunburnt so bad that she pretty much cried all the way back home, no one could touch her and even her clothes were bothering her. LOL

So that's it for today's "Remember When???". Now I really need to get off here, not only is this post reallllllllllyyyyyy long, but I'm not feeling that great, think I might go lay down on the couch a bit, don't know how long that will last with a sick 3 year old around.

Hope you all have a fantastic friday!!!!

9 comments:

Valkyrie said...

HI Sandra - I love your 'remember when's ' I have always wanted to visit the Algarve, particularly the beautiful Lusitano and Alter-Real Stallions which are bred and trained in classical dressage - in the region. Did you live in Portugal, Mozambique and SA? Wow!! It must give you some FABULOUS 'Remember Whens'? By the way I've moved my blog - or atleast imported it into my new blog. If you swing by the old site (Brainbubbles) then you'll find the link to the new one! See you soon!

Courtney said...

Get well soon Sandra & hope you can get some rest this weekend! Your greatgrandmother sounds just like my grandma. So afraid someone will break in & see a dirty house. LOL!

Sandra said...

Valk - Glad you enjoy the Remember When's. :) Algarve is gorgeous, I loved going there on vacations. I lived in Mozambique and then when the independence happened we moved to Zimbabwe and then Portugal and then finally settled in SA. LOL I have tons of crazy stories from everywhere :)

Court - Thank you :) Nicholas didn't let me sleep last night, so I didn't fall asleep until at least 3am and then he's up and ready to go at 7am, so I'm exhausted. LOL I think my greatgrandmother and your grandma would get along perfectly LOL

Leah said...

I found your site yesterday while doing a search.
I have just read the story you linked above, and it is beautiful.
Freedom isn't free, and this story is the best explaination of President Bush's action I've ever seen. I myself, never doubted the need for war, and it is sad when Americans just want to close the blinds and go to bed.

Sandra said...

Leah - Thank you so much for stopping by my blog :) I totally agree with you, it's a beautiful story and I hope that many more get to read it and understand the reason why the troops are over there. It's always easier to turn your back than actually get in there and DO something :)

someone else said...

Out of the mouth of babes! I live in your state too and I've been complainingg so much about the rain. Gotta.have.the.sunshine! But if it will bring all the flowers out when it's over, I think I can cope.

Hope you feel better soon!

Sandra said...

morning glory - Ain't that the truth? This rain is frustrating at times, but I just gotta keep reminding myself that it's good and it's here for a reason :)

Emily - I really have. If you ever have any questions about any of the places, let me know, I would love to share :)
Thanks for the well wishes, hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better.....and OMG on the diet pepsi, come on, why can't we have those sales here LOL

Ron said...

Hi! I'm italian. Also i and my friends were in Algarve some time ago! It was a wonderful experience that i will never forget....
we had an Algarve tours and we saw a lot of good thing ;)!

elen said...

Hi.i was in algarve last summer. i think that here ther are the most beautiful beaches i ever seen! I was with my boyfriend, we came from England by car...it was very exciting! just we arrived i seen the beautiful sea and beaches! we also did the Algarve tours and we played golf a lot too ( one of our passion).