life keeps happening

I have just been so busy with life. Why is that? Why does life get busy, but you can't really put your finger on what has made you busy.

The babies are doing good, and let me tell you they are a hand full. They are running everywhere and learning to play. They have learned to sing to me every morning when they want their breakfast, Once you put the food down, you better run because they will bite you if you don't get out of their way.

Nikki got a summer job. She will be babysitting and I am really hoping that this job goes well for her. It is in the next town over, so that means a lot of driving for me. I guess I will have to deal with it until Nikki gets her permit.

Amber is out petitioning. She is not happy about it, but she is out doing it none the less. I told Amber now that school is over, I will take her cell phone and drop her from the insurance. I made it very clear that until she gets a job she will petition. She is not happy, but at least she is doing it and I am finally being taken seriously.

Chris has no cell phone, or should I say that it did work and then it didn't and now it does. Chris's sister add a line so that Chris could have a cell phone. Now she is not paying her bill. I just shook my head. Chris's sister moved back home, so I am betting that the mom has something to do with it. I told Chris to just tell his sister to not worry about it and that I would go buy Chris a to go phone. I swear his "family" just keeps throwing stuff at him, but that is o.k. because that gives me the opportunity to do the right thing.

Ryan will be out of school next week. I am so not looking forward to that. That means I will be stuck with a child that wants to do nothing but play video games. Ryan does not even want to go to the lake....ever. If I force him to go he will sit next to me and moan the entire time. If he is not moaning then he is asking if we can go home. I hate summers with Ryan. I don't think he is going to summer school this year because California claims they are broke. Whatever.

My car is still over heating. I am so sick of it. I told Rusty to sell it and he said "we can't". Oh yes we can! I lived without a car for a very long time. I use to walk everywhere with three children, and I can do it again! Besides, we will still have another car, it will just make Amber upset that she won't have "her" car. I am thinking it would be a good thing to just be done with it. One less car I have to register and insure. It works for me.

I am still in the middle of making two quilts for the marines. I will still have three to go once these are done. These boys really keep me on my toes. I am just making simple 9 patches and then sewing them together. It is very random, but I am still trying to use what I have on hand. While I am sewing the 9 patches for the boys, I am also make an extra 9 patch and turning them into pet quilts. June is coming up fast, so I also need to get another lap quilt done for the shut ins. How do I get myself into this situations?

Yesterday I took an English riding sale into a e bay store. I am going to take that money and set it aside for the girls to use to go to college this fall. It won't cover everything, but it will sure help. Nikki will be taking an English class in college and her high school will pay for the class. That will help out a lot. Plus she will be getting high school and college credit for it.

Well the babies are sleeping, so I better go get their litter box cleaned out, and change all their blankets. Life keeps happening, and Life is good.

my weekend.

Years ago I saw a book of quotes by Mother Theresa, I wish I would have bought it.

We really did not do anything exciting this weekend. That is fine with me. For some reason I was just not in the mood. However I did have a great weekend.

I walked past Ryans room and was grossed out. So I told him to turn off the video games and to start cleaning. I must have taken a truck load of toys out of there. New toys! Ryan never really plays with his toys, they just sit around and collect dust. No more of that. I got rid of all of them. I even got rid of his gaming chair because he never sits in it. Ryans room does look a little bare, but it felt so good to get in there and get rid of everything that he does not need. I could kick myself because I think "I moved all of that stuff. Stuff he does not even play with or need."

I have been on a clean out kick. The girls are even talking about taking some of their stuff down to the e bay store and selling it. One of their grandmothers keeps sending them porcelain dolls. Both of the girls hate them, so I guess they are going up on e bay. Hey if they can make money off crap they don't want then they should go for it!

Sunday morning I got up and was walking around the house lost, so I grabbed the only marine that was up and asked him if he wanted to go play. I took him to see a mission, and he really liked that! This marine is from Pa., so he the mission was very new and exciting to him. Then we went to the beach. I found out that this marine loves shells. We must have walked for miles just looking at all the different shells and collecting some to take home. We saw several huge sea slugs. I had never seen them before of even held one, but I did on Sunday. We also saw a dead seal. Ick! That thing stunk.

Monday hubby and I went to visit his parents grave. Right across from where their grave is, is a new section that they are starting to fill up. There she was. A lady sitting in a chair. There were flowers all over a head stone, but no grass as of yet. I just walked over to her, knelt down and put my hand on her leg. The grave stone said that her husband died just a few weeks ago. The lady just held my hand and I gave her a hug. Before I walked away I said "you are not alone." She must have felt so alone.

In my lifetime I have done so many random acts of kindness. Acts that no one else knows I have done. I do believe that those are the best kinds of acts. My heart broke for this lady. The love of her life is gone. I don't know what I would do if Rusty was gone.

Today I am going to spend the day cleaning up the house and getting it put back in order. I have started on the laundry, so at least I have done something. I still need to go to wal crap and the then go buy some meat. I must say that I am not really in the mood to go do my shopping, but if we want to eat I done really have a choice.

The marines have been good about keeping the house picked up, but with 10 extra people here I just think that my house is gross and I want to scrub it down. I think everyone is leaving today so that will give me a few day's to get everything in order.

what have you done?

My life would be dull and easy if I did not have four teenagers living here. The boys are not on my last nerve, it is the girls!

So my old boss called me yesterday and he said that he has work. Work is good. That means that Chris and Amber will be working, even if they don't like the job, I don't care.

When I told Chris and Amber that they will be out working I got mixed reviews. Chris was thrilled and was willing to do whatever since he has not been able to find a job. Amber on the other hand gave me the look of death.

Amber said that she did not want to go get signatures, and that she hated the job. That was when I lost it! I told her in no uncertain terms that I don't care if she hates this job, I hate paying her bills every month! I also told her that she will work and she will make at least $100 a week, and every bit of that money will go to her bills.

Amber just looked at me and then opened her mouth. She had the nerve to say "well you have paid my bills this month." I kept my cool and told her that she will pay all of her June bill's, and then the next week she will pay all July's bills and this will keep going until there is no work left or until she finds another job that will pay her bills.

Lets just say that Amber is not happy with me, and I don't really care. I am not happy that she is not willing to do whatever it takes to pay her bills.

Now there is dear Nikki. This child thinks she is smarter then Rusty and I, and she thinks that she can walk all over us. Well, she is wrong and she is not as good at mind games as she thinks.

Nikki found a couple on craigslist that was selling some chinchillas. So Nikki went and paid the lady and even bought everything needed for this animal. However she did all of this without telling Rusty and I a thing.

Then Nikki starts asking me if she can have one. This was going on for several day's. I kept my cool, and I gave Nikki my list of reason's why she could not have it.

1. she can't afford it.

2. she can't afford the medical bills for this animal.

3. The cat's or the dogs will kill it.

Nikki did not care. So she finally got on my last nerve. I was at the store when it hit me on how to solve this problem.

I called Rusty and he got on craigslist and found this lady and sent her an e mail explaining that Nikki is only 17 and that she still lives at home, and that we did not give Nikki permission to purchase the animal. He also explained that we have several animals that would kill the chinchilla, and that if she had any more questions regarding this issue to please e mail Rusty.

Well, the lady e mailed Rusty back yesterday and informed him that Nikki had already paid for this damn animal and that she had turned other people away. Rusty just said well you can refund her money or you can keep it, but that the animal was not to come into this house.

As of yet I am not sure what this lady has decided, but I can bet she won't be handing over the chinchilla anytime soon.

Yesterday I worked on making a very simple lap blanket. It turned out really cool and I loved it. I was going to add it to my stack to give to the shut In's, but I think I am going to turn it into a "baby" blanket for a fellow blogger. I am not sure what it is about this blanket, but I love it.

I do have some sewing and some cleaning up to get done today. I don't think I am going to get any beach time in today, but I am hoping to get some in this weekend.

Life is good

Two boys leave

Yesterday two of my marines got a call from their mother, and then the red cross message followed. Louis and LeeRoy, my Cajun twins, are heading home to be with their sister who has a brain tumor and is not doing well. I wish there was more I could do for them, but I did what I could and I just sat and talked to them.

Today I stumbled across something that really made me think. Hemp oil. I was reading about a mother that took her child and ran because the doctors wanted to give him chemo. I am against chemo. What other people do is fine with me, but for me I don't believe it is the be all and end all of cancer treatment.

My mother and I agree that chemo is bad, but yet my mother still pushes me to have surgery. I don't want surgery. So today I found a link and I clicked on it. It was talking about the benefits of hemp oil.

Over the past few years I have read a lot about hemp and I have never really given it much thought until this morning. That was when I went to my fridge and pulled out my hemp oil. I use hemp oil on my hair and on my skin, but I never even considered drinking it. Now I am drinking it.

I am still taking all of my other supplements and now I am adding hemp oil to it. I am determined to heal my body a natural way, and not let the doctors and the drug companies tell me what "works".

One my to do list today is some sewing, and some cleaning. I am sure that my children will add more to the list, but I am going to try to keep it light, so that way I can get in some sun tanning.

One of the kittens is weened. I am so happy! That is one less bottle I have to make, and one less I have to feed. Now if I could just get the other three weened. That will come in time.

My daily grind is calling me, so I better get to it.

not Friday, but still eco friendly

I heard a saying today that has really stuck with me. "By consuming less you are reducing". How true is that.

If we all consumed less then there would be less in our trash cans and less in our recycling bin's, there will also be more green in our pocket.

I would love to go save the rain forest, or go to Africa and plant tree's but I can't. All I can do is my best and teach my children. By teaching my children how to reduce and make do with what we I am teaching them to help the planet, with out them even knowing what I am teaching them. Lets face it they are the next generation. It is their generation that will be cleaning up our mess.

One of the things I have tought my children is to clean up the beach. On mothers day weekend we spent a lot of time at the beach. While we were walking the beach I noticed my children picking up trash. I did not have to say a word to them. At one point Chris went into the water and pulled out a huge black trash bag.

Yesterday while we were at the lake we also picked up a lot of trash. I think it is becomeing second nature for my children and I.

I recently got so discussed with the area under my sink. People had been shoving plastic bags under there, and then we could not find anything that was under there! I gathered up all of the bag's and on my next trip out I took them to a store that has a plastic bag recycling center.

I now have no bags under my sink. Until the marines, and hubby refill that area. However that does not bother because I know that I am not going to the store and getting them, so I am doing a small part.

This morning while I was cleaning up the laundry room I noticed that my lint bag was full. I keep a plastic bag on the back of the door and that is where all of my lint and dirt goes. Now what? I have no more plastic bag's. So I took the bag out and shook it into my green trash can. Everything will compost down and I just gave a plastic bag another use.

When I got my babies in they ladies asked me what all I needed. As they were opening cupboards and handing me stuff I was handing it back. No, I don't need formula, I have two half cans at home. No I don't need bottles because I still have some from last year. Yes, I do need some new nipples. No I don't need and plastic food dishes.

All of this is not only conserving, but it is also going back to my no spending diet. I need to retink everything. At the time I never really thought I was reducing my amount of trash I was just thinking about consuming less, and saving everything else for another foster mom. This will save the shelter money.

As I sit here thinking about it, I have a list of things that I have not bought, but have made do with what I had.

1. an old alumin pan is now being used as the kittens litter box.

2. a plastic container fron roasted chicken is now being used as an outside water bowl for the dogs.

3. a plastic ice cream bucket is now being used to hold my homemade dish soap.

4. all of my material scrapes are now being used to make pet quilts. That is really nothing new, but I am also using the scrapes from the pets quilts to make a Christmas gift for my girlfriend. My girlfriend is a fellow quilter, so I am giving her two 4" squars of every material that I have used. By Christmas she will be able to sew them together and make a really cool lap quilt. I am keeping all of her squars in an old bread bag.

5. I do not buy zip lock bags. This morning when I pulled some chicken to thaw, I was looking at the big plastic bag it came in. Onece the chicken is thawed, I am going to marinade the chicken in the same bag. I will at least be reusing it before I place it in the recycling bin.

I also heard that something like 75% of what we throw away can either be recycled or reused. I believe it. I see people throwing away so much good stuff. I am famous for pulling stuff out of the trash and using it myself or posting it on craigslist for "free". One man's trash is another mans treasure.

I don't need to try to save the rain forest. I need to consume less, recycle more and re use more. That will be my goal. A goal which I can reach and a goal that will have an inpact not only one pocket book but also on my community.

No tears here!

So here is my girlfriend and I reading some of the names. You can really see the sun burn on my nose!

I was able to make it through the whole reading without any tears. I was very proud of myself and I know that this is something that I will do again.

I also learned a lot from doing this roll call. It will take the national cemetery one week of people reading for 24 hours straight to call off every name of the veterans laid to rest there.

The people that organized this are from a motor cycle club. This group goes around to funerals and they carry big flags. They will them form a circle around the gave sight so that they family can mourn in peace. I have seen pictures of this group in action and it is really cool to see all the flags opened up and pulled tight. You can see nothing but a ring of flags.

Yes, this will go on my list of things I have done and things I will do again.

My babies are getting so big and they are keeping me one my toes. Two of them have learned to climb out of the crate, and they are all litter box trained. Now all I have to do is get them weened. I will start that in a few weeks.

I spoke to my mom last night. I guess she is doing good, but I had to end the conversation when she started criticizing Amber for not having picked a major, and the fact that she has not started taking any of her required classes. I just reminded my mom that there are people with degrees that are working at McDonalds.

I know that Amber should be working on her required classes. I don't care that she has not picked a major. Amber struggled all through school, so I am just happy that she is taking classes. Well O.K. she has to take two classes a semester in order to live here for free, but hey, at least she is going and she will eventually find her niche.

Nikki only has a few weeks of classes left and then she will get a two week break before she starts summer school. Nikki will only be taking two classes in summer school, but it all condensed into 4 weeks of classes. I know she can do it, it is just the question of weather or not she will make herself sit down and do all of the work.

Chris is doing everything that he needs to do. He will graduate in a few weeks, and then he will enlist into the Marine Corp. We are not sure when he will be leaving for boot camp, but at least he is taking steps in the right direction.

Yesterday the children and I took the dogs down to the lake. It was so nice because there was hardly anyone there, so we had the whole beach to ourselves. I don't like it when the beach is packed. I really need my space. The puppies had a good time and the water has warmed enough that our old girl will actually get in the water and swim around.

I have been working on some quilts. I have a lot to get done, so I am doing a simple nine patch, and just using all the material that I have on hand. I can't believe that I have not reached the end of my material stash yet. Life is good when you don't have to buy material and your stash never ends!

Thanks boys!

So Last night I went down to the vfw to help load some chairs. No big deal. Then all of my boys started rolling in, so I stayed.

The other day I was feeling so down. I was just so done with everyone and everything. Then it happened. One by one my boys walked up to me and said "Hi mom" and gave me a kiss. I must be the luckiest women in the world to have so many good looking young men kiss me.

Then we started singing Karaoke. The marines got up and sang "have you forgotten". One of them pulled ,me in and I sang with them. Have I forgotten? No I have not forgotten. What I did was have a pity party for one. That pity party is over. I do what I do because I know so many young men and women who need me. I must be their rock.

Today I was talking to my friend Beth and she was asking what was going on back here. I told her that tonight I am going to the cemetery to read names for an hour, and I explained that the cemetery is having a roll call of everyone that is laid to rest there.

Beth cried. I asked her why she was crying. Beth said "Because that means that you have not forgotten us. I have been to so many funerals and I have heard roll called and you know that the person is dead. It is nice to know that we are not forgotten". Oh Beth. I could never forget any of my marines. I love them.

Its not just the marines. I signed up to do this because I thought it would be something different. I now see that the actions I am about to take will mean more then I will ever know. I am no longer doing this for me. I am doing this so that all the people that have been laid to rest will not be forgotten.

Tonight my house is full again. We have friends in from 29 palms. Dinner is on the way. I will need to grab a quick nap and then I need to leave the house by 10:45 p.m. Tonight I am going to wear one of my mother in laws head dresses. No I am not middle eastern, but my mother in law lived there for 20 years and she loved her head coverings. I will wear my father in laws necklace. We were both Gemini and he always wore this Gemini emblem. I will wear my dad's watch. My dad wore that watch until the day he died. I am taking a piece of them with me tonight. I will dedicate my reading in their honor.

All of them were U.S. service men and women. Yes my mother in law was a marine. None of this is about me. It is about them. It is about honoring our fallen troops. It is no secret that I hate this war. I hate everything about it, but I will continue to stand by service men and women and support them.

Raven beat the drum for me and set up the smoke rings. I will need all the help I can to make it through tonight. I just want to be able to read the names and not cry. I can cry on the way home. I need courage and a stiff upper lip.

I need a shower.

I need a shower and a new life. I think I will get the shower first.

The last few day's have really made close my mouth and just be. I am sick of arguing with the children. They bitch and complain even if I ask them to do a simple task. The first two months of them being in charge of a certain area went o.k. now they are just walking away from everything and doing nothing. So I am back to it all. I sometimes wish they would just move out already.

One of the marines took leave and she was here for two weeks! It was getting very stressful having her here 24/7. That was another mouth to feed and another person in the house and another voice to be heard. I am glad that she is back to work.

The babies are doing good. I finally got them sucking off a bottle. for the first two days they were here it was touch and go on weather or not they would feed. Now they are really settling in and getting into a good routine. I am happy about that.

I have been keeping my mouth shut when it comes to Nikki and Chris. I told Nikki a while ago that she and Chris would need to break up once he leaves for boot camp, but I know that is not going to happen. I am just waiting for Nikki to crash and burn. I am sick of trying to give both of the children advice. Lets face it I am the dumbest person in the world right now.

On the other hand, I do want to say something, so that way when everything does go south I can say "I told you so, but you won't listen to me." I know very immature, but that is how I feel.

I better get moving. I need to go get in the shower and go pay some bills. Then by the time I get home I am sure that the babies will be ready for lunch.

Here they are

Here is my newest batch of kittens. They are Jamison, Otis, Shadow and Latte. All boys! I was suppose to get some babies that were already on food but then these guys came in right before we got to the shelter. Since bottle feeders are harder to place I took them. This is the best job I never get paid for.

There is not to much new going on here. Amber and her boyfriend broke up. The first few day's were hard, but now she is over it. Amber said to me "I use to laugh when you and Rusty would dance in the kitchen, but that is the kind of love that I want. I could never see us dancing in the kitchen." I guess my children are watching even if I don't think they are.

Nikki is still looking for another job, but as of yet is not having much luck. I know something will come along. Nikki is also trying to figure out how to graduate next year, and wants to take some college classes because they would double as high school credits as well. I think this is a huge mistake. I know that she is biting off more then she can chew, however I can't say that to her. So I am keeping my mouth shut. Nikki would not listen to me anyway, so I am not even going to waste my breath. Lets face it, she is 17 knows everything.

Can you believe that Amber is getting ready to turn 19! Am I really that old? Age does not bother me, I just can't believe how fast my children are growing up.

Yes Paula it is so hot here as well, and yes I am buying Christmas gifts already. I try to buy throughout the year so that I am not doing it all at the last minute. It works for us, so we just keep doing it that way.

I am thinking about trying to quite smoking. I have been tracking my patterns. I smoke more in the mornings and when I am in the car. I have started to control how much I smoke in the morning, and I am going to look into some stop smoking aids. It is time for me to make a huge life style change.

I over heard Chris and Nikki talking, so I had to ask a question. Chris and his sister went to spend mothers day with some of their "family" and they really laid a load of crap on him. His grandmother and Aunt are very upset that he is joining the military. They think he should just get a job and go to college. This really got Chris pissed. I don't blame him.

I just can't like his family. Get a job? O.K. he has been trying, and there are no jobs around here. Go to college? O.K. who is going to pay for that? Chris has no job, and no parents who are willing to help him. If his "family" was so concerned about him then why in the hell didn't any of them offer to take him in?

Chris is still signing the papers as soon as he graduates. He is actually excited about this. Chris is looking forward to being able to pay his own cell phone bill, and to have some money of his own. I can't blame him.

My day is calling me. I have laundry to get done, babies to feed and dinner to cook. I an hoping to get some sun time today, but my major goal is to finish a quilt top. I am almost done with it, so .....

my weekend.

My weekend was awesome!

Friday I went and ordered my new glasses and contacts. I am just so happy to have new contacts. I have been without them for several years now, and I always hated being saddled with glasses. Now I am free!

Saturday Nikki and Chris took me to get henna done. I so love it! I have been wanting to get henna done for a while. Now that I have seen it done, I know I could do it myself. I just have to find the ink.

Saturday afternoon I was so bored. So I grabbed Nikki and Chris and we went to the ocean. Their was a surfing competition going on, so we got to watch a bunch of people surfing. I just love watching surfers. One day I am going to learn to surf.

We saw a ton of crab and lobster shells. Then I spotted a stingray in the ocean. It was dead, so I made Nikki and Chris pull it from the ocean. It was huge and heavy. That thing was almost four feet across!

Sunday all the marines gave me mother day's wishes. I got a few gift cards, and some vegetable plants. That is so perfect for me! Then a bunch of us packed up and went back to the ocean. I swear I could live on the ocean and never get bored with it.

I was looking in the tide pools and I spotted something orange. Orange? I scooped it up and discovered that it was a baby starfish! I have never seen a starfish in the ocean. I ran down the beach to show the kids and they all looked at me like I was crazy! I was thrilled, they were not, but I made them take a picture of me holding the starfish.

I also found one of those big shells that you can hear the ocean in. I see those shells in stores, but I have never found one. Once again I was thrilled, but the children could have cared less.

Today it is back to the grind. I have laundry started, a roast in the crock pot, and some sewing to do.

Life is good.

my day with Rusty

So yesterday Rusty and I ran away together. We ended up in Venture county at some Navy base. I sometimes wonder why we end up where we end up.

Anyway, Venture is a good distance from us so we had a nice long ride. It was on the ride there and back that I remembered how different Rusty and I are.

I rode with my window down and legs hanging out. It was nice and hot and my legs needed some sun. Rusty had his window rolled up and had the air on! He said that he was melting.

I sang any song that came into my head. Rusty was busy listening to talk radio.

I wanted Rusty to over 4 lanes of traffic so that we could see where Petty Women was filmed. I got the evil eye. However when Rusty almost missed our exit he cut over in 4 lanes of traffic!

How can two people be so different and yet be so in love? I think because we are so different is why we work.

Today I am going to get my eye exam and order new glasses. I have been wearing bifocals for over 4 years now and I am starting to get use to them.

Yesterday I scored a really good deal on Baby Phat purse for Amber. I have already put it away for Christmas. Yep. I am starting my Christmas shopping. The girls are so easy to shop for, but I still have no idea what I am going to get Ryan. I will have to really think about this.

My day is calling, so I better get busy.

phone call day

I don't really have a lot that I have to do today. It is kinda nice. I do however have a few phone calls to make, but I can do that while sitting in the sun.

Yesterday I had a few little things to get done, but for the most part I just spent the day chilling in the sun.

Yesterday however, I did shock my children. Since I got a large check from the state, I decided to give each of the children $100. (except Ryan. He would not know what to do with money.) Amber and Nikki were like cool, Chris however was in shock! I rolled up his money and stuck it in the hands of a graduation bear. He was so grateful and just could not believe that I would do that for him.

When we took Chris in we told him that we would treat him like one of our own. I guess he did not realize what all that meant. I am going to hold steady to my word and make sure that he is treated just like my children.

I do however need to tell Chris that he needs to get his mother a mothers day card. I want to teach him to be the bigger person. He does not have to put a return addy on it, and he does not have to really say anything, but he really should at least send her a card. Kindness usually kills people.

I am going to order our tickets for the museum today. The marines are just so funny. Most of them are out in the field and they keep texting us asking if we got the tickets yet and making sure that they will be out of the field in time to go. Yep. This is America's finest out there protecting your freedom, and wondering if they can go on the field trip. I love my marines.

Friday I am going to go get an eye exam and order my glasses. Then I am going to go to Joann's. They have bamboo batting on sale, and I need to get a piece of solid color material. I have decided to make myself a quilt. I think it is about time since I have had that material just sitting in a crate for at least a year. I am looking forward to spending money on me! LOL. I know it does not happen often, but sometimes you just have to.

Life is calling me. I need to go get the spaghetti sauce in the crock pot, make my phone calls, and then I can play the rest of the day.

Life is good.

Thanks dad

I have had such an awesome day!

First thing this morning I had to call child support services. I have not received a payment in a very long time, and I noticed that a big chunk of what he owes was gone! The nice lady on the other end of the phone informed me that it does take a few days for the web to be updated, and that they got my ex's tax check. The check was just over a grand!

Then I called my state case worker and he is still trying to figure everything out. However if I do end up in the hospital my medi cal will kick in with no co pay. To me this is a huge blessing because I am not sure what I am going to do about all these tumors anyway!

I then called and made an appointment to get new glasses. Yep. I am taking all that back child support and spending some of it on me. I so need new glasses and I have been putting it off for just over a year now.

I got up this morning and I was wondering how I was now going to feed a family of 7. Yep we went from a family of 5 to a family of 6 and now we are a family of 7! One of the marines took leave, and she is spending two weeks here. I don't mind except I know that she can't pitch in for food.

So I packed up my dog and we went down to the lake. While we were down there a man asked us if we wanted a bass. He had just caught it, and was not going to eat it. Hell yes I want that fish. I am adding that to my dinner table!

So above is the picture of me cleaning a fish. My girls would never touch it. I did not have a sharp enough knife, so I did the best I could. I am use to chopping the head and tail off and then gutting it. Nope I don't own I knife that sharp. So I just gutted it and baked it up.

I am so glad that my dad taught me how to do certain things! Thanks dad.

Life is good.

Eco Friendly Friday: pissed off!

Do you see it? That big body of water that we are all looking at. That is called that Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is full of water, salt water yes, but still water.

A few years back all of California was on fire. My strategy was simple. I packed three days worth of clothing for everyone, I had all the animals crates out, I packed our small save with all of our documents. I was sitting on go.

Our marines called me every day. "Mom have you guys be evacuated yet?" I like to keep things simple. If we were given the order to leave I was going to post "evacuated" in my blog and two of the marines mom's were to call their son's, who would spread the word to everyone else.

So where was I going? I was going to the beach down on base. The general of Camp Pendleton took charge of the situation and the beach had been transformed into a town. It had huge tents, lights, a kitchen, a cell phone center, complete showers and restrooms, and it even had a make shift animal shelter. Most of all it had fresh water.

What? Fresh water for us to drink and shower in? How could it be?

Well it seems that they Navy and the Marines have figured out how to take salt water and dirty water and make it clean. Did you know that right by the beach there is an Army reserve base, and they specialize in water purification?

So why am I pissed? Because our water district now wants to put a $12 surcharge on our water bill.

O.K. I know we live in a drought area. I plant native flowers, I only water about 3 days a week. I never flush the toilet unless the water is brown. We don't wash our cars, and I am always yelling "Hey we pay for our water!" I am so sick of being screwed!

Go fine the people next door. They water three times a day, and they wash three gas guzzling suv's every weekend. They do not even turn the sprinklers off when it is raining! They should get my surcharge.

So, I went on the hunt for a few more things I could do since I know that I will be paying more for my "water".

I am buying 4 Faucet Aerator's, 3 Flow Restrictors for the showers, and 3 tank savers. All of this including shipping is going to run me about $30. So that is not bad. I am actually excited to see how much more water I can.

I will still have pay the damn $12 surcharge. I think someone needs to tell the city that armed services is hiding a secret from them. And that is that we can take that ocean water and make it clean for us, then we can take the dirty water and make it clean and send it back to the ocean!

So if your water bill is going up or if you water to find easy simple ways to save water please check out this web page.

http://www.amconservationgroup.com/index.asp