Freedom is Never Free

Another busy day. Are you seeing a pattern here. I need a relaxing day off, don't you think? Where I just stay in bed and do nothing. But you know what? That sounds too much like being sick. If I have to be sick to get a day off, I'd rather be busy. OK, no more complaining about being busy - hehehe.

I got the kids up and fed and off to school, then printed out my shopping list. I got Jake going with school, checked my emails, and puttered around online for a few. Jimmy was coloring at the table for a while, and brought me a picture at one point.

"Mommy"

"Yes Jimmy"

"This picture is for you"

It was a nose, two eyes, and a straight line for a mouth.

"It's you, crying, after I die"

OMGosh. How sad is that. Yes, Jimmy. Mommy would be crying if you die. I would be SO sad. My poor little guy :(

So I decided that he needed some mommy time, so I took him grocery shopping with me. We found everything on our list, and a few extras. He picked out a snack in the Asian food isle. Some Hello Kitty snack. Some kind of pretzel sticks that you dip in chocolate. I don't know - it had cool packaging - LOL.

We picked out a lunchable for Jake, and some Scooby Doo fruit snacks. Not things we usually buy, but I thought it would be fun for a change. We got all our shopping done before 11am, which really helped when going through the line. Not so busy yet.

I paid Jake a dollar to carry all the groceries in. I think I may just add an extra dollar to my grocery bill each week for his services - LOL. He's really a good kid :)

We had lunch, then I sat down to design for a bit. Yeah, that didn't happen. At about 12:30pm, Captain America called and wanted me to bring him some lunch. I cooked up his Taco Salad, got his afternoon snacks ready (apples and crackers and a Diet Mt Dew - LOL), and headed up to his office.

We chatted with his Captain for a bit, then I headed home. As I was getting ready to leave, I got a text from Laurie. I'd forgotten that one of our friends was going home during her hubbys deployment, and she was giving away all the food in her house! I headed on over.

OMGosh! There was SO much canned and boxed foods. I also scored a TON of spices, real olive oil, and some frozen stuff. Sirloin hamburgers. Mmmmm. And frozen chicken breasts. And veggies. TONS of stuff.

Laurie and I stayed and chatted with our friend for a bit (she was having a rough day), then headed out to Sonic for Happy Hour. We brought her back one. Sometimes, when you don't know what else to do to help, a Cherry Limeade from Sonic's Happy Hour is the best course of action, don't you think?

We got home at about 3pm, and Jake and Jimmy helped me put all the other groceries away. Now my cupboards are FULL to the brim. We're gonna save a TON of money on groceries this month :) Score!

The other kids got home at around 4pm, and they were excited to have a HUGE canister of mixed nuts to eat. Free food is the BEST. They also shared a Strawberry slushie. Yeah, life is good :)

Chores, homework, and dinner. I went in the backyard and chatted with my neighbor lady for a while after dinner. She invited me to go with her and her neighbor to the New Moon premiere. Sounds like FUN!!! Of course, I agreed. And she said that anyone else who wanted to come was invited. So, girls, come on! Let's all go see New Moon together! Wouldn't that be fun :)

It's funny, because between the two of us, we have 9 kids. It was getting dark, and the boys (7 boys and 2 girls) were throwing balls over the fences, and us moms kept feeling like we were gonna get clocked in the head with one. It was close a few times. Her kids are 1 (girl), twin kindergartners (boys), and a 2nd grader (boy). Nice kids.

Captain America got home shortly after that, and I went back inside to see him. The kids were finishing up their chores (with a lot of direction), and settling down for the night. They put in the 2nd episode of Survivor, since Jake had missed it when we watched it over the weekend.

So, I went into my bathroom to, well, er, go to the bathroom, and as I sat down at the toliet, I heard a splash, and realized that my PHONE fell in the toliet! Are you kidding me? I fished it out lickety split, and tried my best to dry it off. There's not much you can do about a submerged electronics, though. I shook it out real good, removed the case, and the battery, and even got out the hair dryer.

You know, funny thing is, Andrea had done the EXACT same thing 2 weeks ago. See, normally I can feel my phone on me. I keep it in my butt pocket, and I know it's there. Well, since I've been eating more than I should lately, and have picked up a few lbs, I've been wearing my girdle. Don't make fun of me. Only the cool kids wear them - ROFL!

Anyway, I couldn't feel my butt. SO, that's my excuse for why it felt in the toilet. I couldn't feel that my phone was in my pocket. Sigh. See, another reason to stick to my diet. So I can feel my butt - ROFL! Yeah, that doesn't sound very good - hehehe. I'm sure you're thinking, "Why was it I read this blog?' hehehe.

After a time, I put the phone back together again, and was actually able to get it to turn on. But only briefly. I called the phone insurance place, and they gave me the website to get my replacement phone. $50. I guess its better than having to buy a new phone outright. Sigh.

After that, I was able to get my phone to turn on, and I pulled up all the contacts, and copied them down. And after I was writing down the last contact number, the phone died. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for letting me get all my numbers. I hate it when people call me, and I don't know who it is before I answer the phone. LOL!

At 7:15pm, Captain America and I headed out to a Cub Scout parent meeting for our Tiger cub pack. It was at Carls Jr. What a great place for a meeting - LOL. All the Diet Dr Pepper you can drink. I know, 2 days in a row of caffeine. AND, 2 giant sodas in one day. Not good. I'll have to steal one of Captain Americas Coke Zero's tomorrow afternoon to keep up my addiction :(

After the meeting, we hurried home, and I got some snacks together for Girls night. One of my church friends had organized a game night girls nite out. We were supposed to bring a healthy snack. I got Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese, and veggies with dip. Yeah, so the dip probably wasn't too healthy. But the veggies were, right?

It was a fun group. Laurie was there. I was pretty late getting there, though. An hour late. But I came, and that's the important part. We played spoons (TONS of fun), some linking word game ( I liked that one), and Taboo. Yeah, not a big fan of that one. Too much attention on me. LOL. I was happy that I didn't have to be the reader, though. Pfew!

By 11:30, we were all feeling tired, and a few of the girls had got babysitters for the night, so we all headed home. It was fun to get together, and have some girl talk. It'd been a while for me :) Well, for group girl time, anyway. hehehe.

So Wednesday is Veterans Day. That means no school for my kids. Except for Jake. His online school has classes scheduled for him. He's not gonna like that very much when he learns that he still has to do school. Sigh. Life is rough sometimes :)

We have scheduled to go to the Veterans Day parade, and march with the Cub Scouts. We'll see how that goes. I don't even know what time it starts. I guess I should figure that out before I go to bed, so that I make sure I wake up on time, right? I'm so bad - hehehe. Which brings me full circle. Wishing I had a day off. But not. Because I don't wanna be sick. And not whining. ha! And now you're thinking, "OK, she's just weird!"

Since today is Veterans Day, I decided to give you all a Freedom saying. I just love this one. Because really, freedom isn't free. It's earned. It's fought for. I needs to be cared for. It takes work. It takes effort. It needs protecting.

Again, a big thank you to all of the men and women out there who are serving or who have served in the military, be it my country's or your country's. Thank you for all you do. For your sacrifices. For you time. For you!

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