funny Friday

I haven't had too many laughs this week but here are two things that made me step back and ask myself, "what were you thinking?"

On Tuesday I looked down and noticed the hem was out of my pants . . . of course no one would have noticed but it was driving me crazy. I mean it really was driving me crazy . . . so I got out some masking tape and taped that baby up. After that it was all better and I could focus, lol!


And then there is my garden . . . it is growing so far but this crazy wind we have had this week has broken a few of my basil and tomato plants . . . hopefully they will grow back. I was sitting there looking at my pepper plants. It worried me that I would forget which one was red, yellow, and green. I would not know when to pick them so I picked up some spray paint and went to town . . . is this considered OCD?

Have a great weekend . . . guess where I will be spending my free time if it doesn't rain?

Who is slower?

Snail Mail OR Pony Express OR Two Feet . . . that is the question

So last Tuesday (March 18), my CPA, who lives less than 20 miles from me, mailed some documents to sign to contest the third party collections letter. They finally arrived this Tuesday (March 25). I swear I could have walked to his house and back compared to how long it took snail mail . . . our mail takes forever! I signed them and went to the post office that afternoon around 2pm to mail them certified to the Austin office (about 100 miles away) . . . always want proof it made it. Yesterday, I got the return post card saying it had arrived and that someone in the office signed for my letter . . . so now I must just wait. Really, less than 24 hours later it was there; how could that be? I still don't understand why it takes a week for a letter to go 20 miles and the same letter makes the 100 mile journey in less than 24 hours? Oh well, now it is up to the Taxpayer Advocate, a division within the IRS, to hear my case and make a decision. I guess no matter what they say it will finally put this issue to rest. I still think the money should be refunded.

I also need to go pick up my 2007 taxes . . . yes, we both still have to pay. At least Colin's amount is less since I made four big payments throughout the year. Thanks to our elected officials their 'fix' to the AMT did not help him. I can't complain enough about this but I will try to back off. I know Sean would be so shocked at how much of his money is going back to taxes.

Nothing else going on in my life . . . just enjoying this beautiful weather . . . oh and my garden . . . will have to post about that tomorrow.

Happy Easter

from my favorite bunny!

3 months old

vacation wrap up

I am finally getting something up about our trip . . . thanks Kahne for introducing me to these mosaic/collages for your photos . . . it took me a bit but I think next time I will 'get it'.


1. our room, 2. fun in the sun, 3. warming up to the waves, 4. balcony break, 5. our view, 6. favorite pool, 7. hotel lobby, 8. going to be a fun day, 9. city view, 10. city park, 11. mask museum, 12. more mask, 13. favorite mask, 14. enjoying a coke, 15. cliff divers, 16. slide, 17. sand, 18. more sand, 19. loving waves, 20. waiting on a big one

Our trip started at 4am and it was a long one. I was planning on sleeping once in air but Colin had other plans . . . he was out until the flight attendant hit his foot with the cart so after a 10 minute power nap he was up. The kid was awake from 4am-8pm; what a long day! As I said before, Colin did great on the flights . . . he loved the water and could not stay out of the waves. We are both tan, but I have started peeling. Don't get me wrong, Colin had his moments but he by far was much better than I expected. Now I am thinking where we will go next! I am not sure we are ready for a long flight but there is hope:) It has been a hard week getting him back into the routine of school. He has been super clingy and doesn't want me to leave. I guess this is the only draw back to vacations.

Photo 8: we were about to go on a city tour and he was not in a good mood . . . I was afraid it would be a stressful day but once in the car he was better

Photo 14: We were having lunch and it was funny to watch Colin drink this coke . . . he was so into it and it was too funny . . . wish I would have made a video clip

PS: it took our suitcases 24 hours before they found us . . . it was a total mess but we have them

5 years

I knew the five year mark of the war was nearing, but until I heard it on the radio I did not know it was today. As I drove to pick up Colin, I thought about how different my life is today compared to five years ago. I remember eagerly awaiting Sean to return home for R&R from his Kosovo deployment. Since they were extended from 6 to 9 months they were allowed two weeks R&R. I was planning our vacation to Spain . . . two weeks together . . . it was the first time we had been apart for that long. I was living the good life in Germany; no child, a great job, just down the road from my dear friend, shopping, hanging out, no worries . . . the good life; a great life. As bad as it sounds I was glad my husband was in Kosovo and not in Iraq . . . I knew his time would come to go over there soon enough . . . I worried about our friends who were jumping in . . . today I still worry about our friends in a war zone . . . I think about the families left behind and hope and pray no one knocks on their door. While some might see our life now as comfortable it is broken and empty. I try to make it the best I can for Colin, but a part of me is forever changed. I am not the mother I thought I could/would be . . . sort of hard to explain. I long to be myself but it still hasn't happened. We do have a nice home, a car, and food on the table but the most important person in our family is missing. Gone. I can't help but wonder what my life would be like if he were alive. I miss him dearly . . . I miss laughing at stupid stuff. I miss us. And then there is Colin . . . it truly breaks my heart every time he tells me he didn't want his daddy to die in that sad, whiny voice. Of course I am not sure he truly understands but he is getting to an age where he notices when others have their dad and he has only a mom. I also think about the people I have met over the last 3 years because of Sean's death . . . of course I would trade you all to have Sean home but really do treasure meeting you all.

Five Years . . . life changes in the blink of an eye but some days it feels as if it is much longer. I still have a hard time thinking that Sean has been gone for 40 months. I don't really have any words of wisdom . . . I am hopeful but I am also sad. I wonder each and everyday . . .

projects

As a teacher I love to assign projects instead of test. I also realize that most of the time parents are the ones that end up doing the projects. You can just tell when it is perfect that the child probably did not do the majority of the work . . . not always of course but sometimes. I have heard parents complain and now I am beginning to understand. Before we left on vacation I saw a poster at Colin's school telling parents all children needed an Easter hat for the parade this week. No big deal I will worry about it after vacation. Big mistake! I am tired and it is the last thing I really want to do but I did it. Yep, I did it. It wasn't his project it was mine and I could have cared less what it looked like, but I did not want him to be the only one without a hat. I pulled out some stuff I had and went to Hobby Lobby to buy a hat . . . so without further delay . . .

He won't win any prizes but at least he likes it . . . that is all that matters.

letter writing

I sent out a couple postcards when in Mexico. It was hard to figure out what to write. It is sad that the art of letter writing seems to be lost. John and Abigail Adams were know to be really good at writing letters to each other during their relationship. I guess we can blame the lack of letter writing on the internet and email . . . they are way faster and easier. Of course postage stamps are going up again in May so it will cost even more to send a card. I wish Sean and I would have been better about writing letters to each other . . . it is nice to go back and read what we wrote to each other. I am sure future generations will get a good laugh too. I saw that the USPS is offering free postage to send a free card to a friend. I thought why not and the cards are nice looking too. Here is the article I found . . . it took me a long time to get to the links but it said it went through and I did not enter any credit card information so I don't know if it is really free. I guess time will tell when it arrives . . .

By the way, thanks to someone (you know who you are) who sent me that nice card on Valentine's Day . . . very touching as always!

home

We are home . . . not much time to write (it is late) but I will say the boy was amazingly good on all flights. It really renews my hope that maybe, just maybe our traveling days can begin. I have so many places we need to visit.

There were 6 of us (3 adults, 3 kids) . . . we had 7 checked bags . . . we claimed all in Houston, went through customs, and put them right back on . . . had 90 minutes to hang out . . . can you get where I am going? ZERO bags showed up in Killeen; NONE! We were not alone because there were 8 other people who were missing all their bags too but one lady managed to get all 12 (not a typo) of her bags. Great isn't it! Not mention I truly thought I was a cow the way we were yelled at and prodded trough the post-customs security check . . . I mean they were just awful.

More to come on our adventure to Mexico . . . we are tan and I am sure the stack of mail can't wait for me to open it . . . not even going to look tonight to see if my 'friends' at the IRS got back to me. I wish I could say I was relaxed but traveling with Colin just isn't relaxing when he gets to pick what we do every minute but he had a blast!

fun in the . . .

SNOW! Yes, that is right we got some snow. I will call it an inch but it was more like a heavy dusting. I know this isn't a big deal to you up north but in Texas it has snowed twice in less than a year. It snowed last Easter (April) and today . . . it just doesn't happen in Texas. The funny thing is there wasn't a school delay. It usually shuts this place down but life went on which is so not Texas. We are used to it being ice and not white fluffy stuff.

My phone rang at 7:50 . . . always makes me nervous when the phone rings early . . . my mom asked if we had looked outside. I opened the curtain and the boy proclaimed, "it is time to get outside now!" He was so happy. I have never seen him get moving so quickly in the morning. I was going to keep him home but after trying to pack for 10 minutes I quickly changed my mind. So off to school he went . . . and before I got home it was all melted. Man I love Texas.

So today we made snow castles and tomorrow it will be sand castles . . .

. . . that is right we are boarding a plane way too early tomorrow and heading south where the weather is predicted to be in the mid 80s during the day and upper 60s and night . . . we might not return but the IRS might find us, LOL! I turned the tax issue over to the CPA who is writing yet another letter and when we get back, I will start working the phones. I did not want to start and leave . . . I know this is going to be an uphill battle so need to make sure I am around. I probably won't update for 10 days so happy spring break to you all!

'special' delivery

Our "always look like I am in a bad mood or want to hit you" mail man rang my doorbell today. He had a certified letter . . . he tried to keep the sender where I could not see it but I saw it . . . I jokingly said, "oh wonderful my friends at the IRS are sending me a letter!" He told me it must be a check and I again laughed! If he only knew what a hassle those (insert naughty word) have been to me. I was hoping it was 'the' letter telling me they had made a mistake with our taxes and the money they with held from Sean would be sent to me. Oh no, instead they are turning it over to a third party collection agency to get the money and when I file my 2007 taxes any money will be used to decrease my debt. I have thought it was comical lately but how dare they try and ruin my credit that I have worked so hard to establish . . . and no way am I going to pay them when that money is Sean's and should come to me . . . if I pay it and the issue is resolved it would take forever to get my money back . . . and I will only owe more because no refund expected for 2007! I should not blame the IRS because this whole mess is because of DFAS (military accounting system) and they have been absolutely zero help to me. I swear each person transfers me to another knowing eventually I will give up! You know what . . . I htink I am going to try and ruffle some of their feathers after I post this.

I picked up the phone to make what seems like the millionth time. Of course I had to hear ten different options and none were for me and just saying "customer service" did not help. After a 10 minute wait (not too bad), a nice lady answered. I explained and she told me I still had to pay up or risk it being turned over for collections. I was getting no where . . . I did not ask for an extension because that would imply I owed the money. I told her the IRS sent me a letter in February say they would contact me in 45 days with a resolution . . . again the letter should not be sent until then . . . again nothing happening. I gave up and ended the call . . . shot the CPA an email telling him what the screw balls are up to now. Oh happy day . . . and today is facial day . . . just what I need!

weekend wrap up

We have returned from part one of our adventures . . . went to see the Sims. Man I am tired and I really did not do anything but drive, sit, shop, and eat. The drive home was stressful since there was traffic . . . I hate traffic. How do people drive in that everyday? Another reason why I can't understand our country not having a working rail system. I tell you those Europeans have it down . . . I would love to walk to the train station, get on, and get off near work. How great would that be? And maybe it would help some of the people who are overweight too . . . oh I need to post about my growing waist line. I can tell you that this weekend I realized that I am content having only one child . . . I love babies but realized that I am nearing an age where I don't think I could manage. The new baby is adorable but those long night hours would kill me. I know I did it once and I was all alone but man I need my sleep. I realized what I want is not to have another child but to be pregnant . . . I loved carrying a child but having one would not be so glorious. I hope that doesn't come across wrong.

So now I am in the process of unpacking so I can repack . . . so excited and praying very hard the boy does okay. Now I am a packer . . . I pack light. When I went to Italy/Germany for two weeks in 2006 all I packed was a small suitcase that I could carry on. I did check an empty suitcase to bring things back and it got lost. I took six changes of clothing and washed in the middle. I always had my bag and never had to worry about it being delayed or lost. Now this is the first trip Colin has taken with me and I swear I have packed so much crap to keep him 'busy' . . . and now I am afraid my days of packing light are over. I will have to post photos of how much 'stuff' I pack compared to what we really need clothing. And after waking up to 40 degrees outside I can't wait . . .

The Sims enjoyed having Colin around (at least they acted like it) and I adjusted with letting go of him. It was hard to pretty much let them take and do with him as they wished. It was so hard because he is so precious to me . . . not that he isn't to them but he in my only child and my only living connection to Sean but now that he is getting older he is 'easier' to manage. There will be no overnight visits just yet. They went to the zoo and to Target . . . and every rule we have about buying and shopping seemed to skip his memory. I just laughed because after all that is what grandparents are suppose to do. The boy jumped on the trampoline non-stop and all were so kind to give him their full attention. Everyone was tired and amazed at his energy . . . and I thought to myself I do this everyday all by myself . . . maybe they understand my life a little better and why I am stressed. And one last treat as we headed out of town . . . lunch at The Banana Leaf . . . I tell you it was so very yummy Thai food! Of course I would have loved to be eating at the Thai place in Graf (Germany) but it was just as good.