Shhhhhhhh...be verwy, verwy quiet...

Although I wasn't hunting "wabbits"...I was "hunting" my lovable knucklehead Jax aka The Big Puppy.  Sean had duty last night and I was prepping the kiddies for bed.  When I was leaving the kids' bathroom I hear Jax scratching wildly at something on the ceramic floor downstairs.

I peek downstairs and he just looks at me in mid-scratch with his goofy look.  I go back up and hear him scratching again.  So...being the being the brainiac I am and wanting to outsmart my German Shepherd...I sneak downstairs.

Except...

It's kinda hard to "sneak" downstairs when your ensocked (yes, I did just make that word up) feet SLIP on the stairs...making your "sneaking" turn rapidly into barreling down the stairs and landing solidly on a newly formed gluteal area.  I am truly thankful that I decided to try to do something about these atrophied muscles and began working out a couple of weeks ago...and thanks to the hundreds of squats & lunges...my booty was ample cushion for the fall.  Pre-workout booty would've surely resulted in a broken coccyx or spinal injury...but I felt my bad boy absorb most of the shock.  Hahahaha.

Yes...I was solidly living up to the single married military spouse curse...all things go wrong when your spouse is gone (for instances that have occurred since I started blogging and independent of all the other instances that occurred before I started blogging see: here, here, here, here, here, this happened a few months before we got married, here, & here).  Still, besides the attempted abduction & almost missing the birth of my niece...it's paltry compared to what a lot of other spouses go through...alone.  

So...no complaints here.  Just something to laugh about.

Have a fab weekend and to those in DC...have a safe & WARM weekend!

Figure it Out Friday...

It's the second week of Figure It Out Friday.  

So here is this week's photo:

What is it?

Could it be expensive designer pleated shades?  Oh no no no.  It is not.  They are the temporary blinds that are covering our windows that recently got replaced...

and by recently...I mean SEPTEMBER.  

So, I guess that the definition of "temporary" is relative to the person utilizing the word...whether "temporary" means "a couple of weeks" or "FIVE months"...it's all relative, right? (To our defense, our new windows have less than 1/2 inch to work with...that doesn't give us much leeway or options.  But...since we bought plantation shutters for our FL home...we're definitely going uber-cheap this time...apparently you can't get any cheaper than temp blinds.  Hahaha.)

Poor Melis...she was witness to our high-class "temporary" window treatments.  At least she had a good laugh. ;o)  She'll have a good surprise when she comes back over and sees we are in the process of trying to replace some of them...but procrastination is winning and we've taken a 2-week going on 3-week break.

Oy vey.

Reflection...

Today is arguably one of the hardest days of the year for me and my sister.  It's a day where I vacillate between trying to dull the hurt while not lessening the memories.  Always, the memories win and now I look at it as it being a way to remember.

Time does heal all wounds...but filling the void in a life without a certain loved one still hurts...especially when I have realized that my dad has missed out on 1/3 of my life...never seeing me graduate from college, getting a job on the nat'l level of a civil rights organization, and most importantly...the largest part of my life...meeting my husband and kids.

Even though my hurt is for myself, my sister, and my family...the biggest hurt is for him and that he has missed out on so much and that he hurt so much before he died.

Today...I remember and reflect.

Figure it Out Friday...

Bloggers have Wordless Wednesdays and other such days to showcase poignant photos. Me...I'm makin' my own...Figure it Out Fridays. When I start taking better photos and/or get my DSLR (eh, hmmm...HI HUBBY)...I'd love to participate in those days. For now...it's time for photos that share a different special place in my heart...

This is the doorknob on my back door...weathered from the wonderful salty-air climate of Hampton Roads, VA. It's also weathered because it's on the OUTSIDE of my door. Someone needs to tell my big puppy Jax that THAT'S the side of the door he should see AFTER he poops OUTSIDE my house in the backyard...again, the operative word being OUTSIDE. Ideally.

Except...

One of us is not onboard with doing his bidness outside since apparently the warmth and comfort of carpet in a warm house is way more appealing than the soggy, frigid, muddy wetness of the backyard. One of us is also becoming more impatient with cleaning up messes that don't belong inside the house and is tired of keeping said living creature living since one of us has a partner who gets a little ticked when I...oops, one of us, tells him that said living creature had another accident.

Thank you, Jax.

I love you.

Well looky here...

My alma mater turned up in the Top 10 on the list of public colleges ranked bast value for 2009-2010...still...I shudder at the cost of in-state tuition and wonder what tuition will be like for my munchkins when they reach that point. Kaia's only in 1st grade and Jaron starts kindergarten next year...still, the countdown starts...*shudder* What doesn't help was that there was a statistic when I was in grad school that a 4-year public school education would cost roughly $200K by the time the kids are ready for school...

*yikes*

You can find the list of public colleges ranked best value here and here for the private colleges.

8. University of Maryland, College Park

Undergraduate Enrollment: 26,431
SAT: 66 percent; ACT: 76 percent
Student/Faculty Ratio: 18
Graduation Rate 4-yr./6-yr.: 63 percent/82 percent
Total In-State Cost: $18,455
Total Out-of-State Cost: $34,392
Average Debt at Graduation: $20,091

University of Maryland, known for its engineering, journalism and computer-science programs, has risen to our top ten by keeping in-state costs virtually unchanged while improving on quality, especially in its graduation rates. Maryland also provides need-based financial aid to 50 percent of its students.