Eighth

Well, it definitely was one of the most interesting days that I've had in a while, that's for sure... ha! And not necessarily in a good way... Well, not in a bad way either, I guess...

I woke up at 8am to the faint sound of my alarm going off. My battery on my phone was dying when I went to bed the night before, so I left it on the dock in the bathroom. And I must have had the ringer volume down way low. Luckily, it did manage to wake me up.

The kids had a Breakfast meeting with the primary in the morning. It was a great time. We got there at 9am, and there was a GREAT turn out. ALL of the primary teachers came out. The kids were supposed to come in Jammies, and all of the teachers did too! I SO wish I had taken a picture. I was, um, er, too busy chatting with the girls... Go figure, huh? hehe.

I knew I had to leave early to get Eme to her 10am game on post, so I had to get the most chatting in that I possibly could... ROFL! The kids ate, and hung with their classmates, and met their new teachers. It was a good time.

I probably waited too late to leave, but eventually, I went and gathered up the kids and headed back to post. Eme was about 5 minutes late to her game. I had Jim and Joe with me, and still had to go home and get Tom ready for his 11am game (and get him to Logan 15 minutes before hand), so I just left Eme. She could get a ride home with either the coach (Rebecca), or the neighbors (Kayleigh). I was confident that someone would give her a ride home :) Have faith, right? hehe.

We headed home, and I had just a few minutes to get everyone at home situated. Jake was awake, and I got him started on some cleaning projects. He was gonna focus on the truck first. He'd washed it the night before. Now it was time to clean it out. His method wasn't what I'd have chosen, but then, I wasn't the one doing it, right? He took all the crap inside of it, and threw it in the gravel beside the driveway... Nice. We looked REAL high class...

Joe wanted to earn some money towards the additional PS2, so I let him clean out the inside of the Saturn. I left all the doors and trunk open for him, and came inside for a little while. That child was thorough. He came inside with every scrap of paper, asking if it was keep or toss! Dang! At least we wouldn't have lost anything important, right? hehe.

Soon, it was time for Tom's game. Eme was still at her game, but I knew that she could be at home for a few hours unsupervised. She'd old enough (legally). So I grabbed Joe and Jim's DS's and their chargers, and got Tom, and we hopped in the Saturn, and headed to Logan gym. Jake was still cleaning the truck.

Here's the lone picture I managed to get of Tom's game. During the huddle. He's #10. Ha! They lost horribly. But his teams crowd was very supportive, and from listening to the two different crowds, you'd never know the disparity in scores :)
While at the game, Joe and Jim sat in the hall with the power chargers. And were PERFECT. That was the best Santa investment we've ever made. hehe. And the fact that I keep them in my room and dole them out when I deem it appropriate makes them "special" still. hehe. Love it!

Andrea called while I was at the game, and I ended up chatting with her for about 25 minutes. LOVE her! She's awesome :) We talked about husbands and kids and friends and moves and all other sorts of stuff. Having super good friends that you can pick up the phone and talk with, no matter where they live, makes the army lifestyle easier :)

I watched the rest of the game, then we loaded up, and headed back home. We had about an hour at home before I had to take the kids to daycare. Joe continued to clean out the car, and Jake moved on to vacuuming the truck. I cooked some Tater tots and made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for everyone.

At 12:50pm, I loaded Tom and Jim and Eme up inside the car, and left Joe and Jake at home cleaning. We drove over to Logan CDC to sign the kids into Childcare. I wasn't dropping Joe off immediately, because we had a cub scout activity at 2.

Tom waited in the car, and I took Eme and Jim in. And the lady asked how old Jim was. I said 6. She wanted to know if he was Kinder or 1st grade.... And I thought really hard about my answer. If I said Kinder, she would make him stay in the baby childcare. And he hates it there. Last time, they accidentally took him to SAS (School aged services), and he had a BLAST. They have open gym, and computers, and big kids activities.

But I didn't wanna lie. Cause that's bad. So I crafted a tricky answer. I said "He went to SAS last time". That was good enough for her. She said to sign him up on the SAS list. Works for me. hehe. I dropped them off in the SAS side of the little kids daycare (they move them over to the FUN place at 3pm).

I headed back to the car, and Tom and I drove over to Biggs. We went through the checkpoint, and then I dropped him off at the Youth Center. He was somewhat excited about going. I think he really just wanted to stay at home and play computer all day. That's not good for a kid, though. I told him he needed more social time. hehe. I wish he had some friends in the neighborhood. All the other kids do...

And back home I went (don't I sound like a taxi today!) to get Joe ready for the Cub Scout art museum field trip. It was about 1:20pm, and I texted Kari to see if she wanted to carpool. Unfortunately, she was already carpooling with Julia. Crap. Now I had to figure out how to get there (downtown) on my own... Oh well. I could do it.

Jake said that he wanted to come too. I went to check the truck, and he'd gotten it finished off! He'd even steam cleaned the seats! It looked and smelled pretty good! Way to go, Jake. $15 earned :). We straightened up the mess from cleaning outside a tad (still had more to go on the car), and got ready for the art museum.

And headed out in the car. I'd programed my phone to take us there. Take 54, and then Jake was gonna follow the dot the rest of the way. I knew we had to turn somewhere, but I couldn't catch it fast enough. And ended up taking a wrong turn, and we were stuck in an exit for MEXICO!!!

And, as fate would have it, there was no turn around. Seriously? So we waited in this 30 minute long line, to talk to Boarder patrol agents so get turned around and back into the US. Wow. I went to Mexico today!!! 375 feet, at least. hehe.

See the sign? It says, LEAVING THE UNITED STATES.
Eventually, we got to the turn around spot with the boarder patrol guys. He pulled us over, and asked why we were there. I said it was because we were trying to get to the art museum. He just kinda look at me funny, and smirked. He asked if I was coming from Post (I have post registration stickers on the car), and gave me directions on how to get out), and let me back. Dang, THAT was an adventure! So, Joe and Jake and I have now been to Mexico! Woohoo! International travelers!

These are all cars waiting to get into the US.

Hello Texas!!!

Finally, we got on the right road. And took Paisano all the way to Santa Fe, which got us to the Art Museum. I should have just gone that was in the first place... Sigh. Oh well! It was funny, cause as we were driving downtown, we had the windows down (it was a nice day), and Joe, from the backseat, screams, "There's a MEXICAN" really loud and points. I was like, What the crap???

And there, on the street corner, with a Mexican Blanket Poncho and a Sombrero, smoking a cigar, was a little man. It was just super funny, because being this close to the boarder, there are SO many Hispanics, that we see "Mexicans" every day. But in this case, Joe saw what he thought "Mexicans" from "olden times" were supposed to look like. Jake and I were busting up in the front seat. We couldn't believe he'd shouted out what he did. I explained to him that what he said was not appropriate, but how it was humorous.

And then we got to the art museum. We found metered parking, and gave ourselves an hour. I decided against taking a purse or wallet, and just brought my phone and my keys. Jake put my keys in his pocket, and I kept the phone for pictures.

Kari and her kids, and Julie and her kids, and Aiden and his dad and sister were all there. And Damien (a kids from the bus stop) and his mom (I haven't met her yet) were there, but I didn't get a chance to say hi. It was a good turn out!

We all kinda walked around with our own kids, and look at stuff at our leisure. We counted it as a Cub Scout family outing. That way, I didn't have to be in charge of anyone elses kids. The museum dude was getting a bit frisky at kids running around, but I was like, those aren't my kids. Their parents are here. This one is mine. And I made Joe hold my hand the whole time, so I was good. hehe. See, THAT'S why I do the "if you are coming, you have to have a parent" rule... I don't have enough hands to hold EVERYONE in the packs hand...

Check out some of the exhibits that I liked :)
These butterflies were SUPER cool. They were all over the entire wall!

This was my FAVORITE piece

Me and my boys in the elevator
OK, I'm ready to get on with the day :) hehe. I decided that it would be SUPER fun to come back with grown ups, the go do lunch downtown... hehe :)
We headed out of downtown, and back towards post area. And to Logan. I dropped Joe off at SAS (my other kids were already transferred over there), and Eme came and gave me a big hug. I chatted for a while with the lady in the office, then Jake and I headed back to post. And as we got close to Cassidy gate, I realized that I didn't have my little purple wallet.....

I must have left it at home on the counter. But I had no photo identification... I got to the gate guard, and told him. He was rude, and made me pull off to the side. So much for flirting my way through this one. There's this one really hard nosed gate guard at Bliss. The others are all super nice. I'll remember NOT to go to his lane again... Let's hope the terrorists all get him. ha!

So, a supervisor came out, and asked me what happened. I said that I had my purse, and my big wallet, but that my little wallet was at home. With my drivers license and my debit card and my other picture ID. And that I live on post, so I couldn't go and get it. He asked where I lived. Trying to give him an idea of where I lived, because I was pretty sure he wasn't aware of EVERY street on post, I said "You know where the (insert known landmark) is?", and pointed in that direction.

He said "You don't even know where you live???". Stupid man. Of course I know where I live. I was trying to help him!

"Yes, I know where I live." And I gave him my address. Then he said, "Well, just don't leave without it next time". Really? Like I left without it on purpose this time... Sigh. I told him that too. And he said " Well, just drive extra carefully on the way home"... Again, like I was gonna drive recklessly... OMGosh, rock! It's not the sentiment behind what he was saying, but his wordage was SUPER bugging me! I was annoyed...

I finally cooled off by the time I got home. hehe. I told Jake that he could clean the garage and the outside shed for $10. So he started on that. He started to get stressed when he got to the garage, so I went out and helped. He did most of the work, but I supervised.

Leo came over to see if my kids could play, but they were gone. Jake conned him into staying and "helping" him clean. hehe. And he ended up staying for the day to play with Jake after the cleaning projects.


The garage really did look good when we were finishing up. Kari texted me when were were almost done, and asked if I wanted to go to the commissary. Sounded like fun! I hadn't done anything with her in a long time. Or so it seemed. hehe.

So I went to grab my purse and get the little purple wallet, and I couldn't find it. Oh crap. Then I started thinking of when I'd had it last. CDC? I knew I'd taken it in to drop off Eme and Jim. So I called there. Nope. No one had seen it...

Then I realized I had it when I checked in to Biggs. I didnt' get out of the car to drop off Tom, and then I came back home. I didn't need it when I went to Mexico, and I didn't take it with me to the Art Museum. And I didn't have it when I came in thru the gate... Double crap!!!

Kari came over, and I told her that I couldn't find it. We looked everywhere we possibly could. To no avail. She left for the commissary, and I told her that if I found it, I'd come and meet here there. And I kept looking. And looking. And looking.

And hour later, still no wallet. Kim came over to help me look. We even paid Jake and Leo to dig thru the trashes to find it. And there was some ROTTEN nastiness in there. Nope, no wallet. We looked in cars, and in bathrooms. No wallet... I even called the SAS to see if I'd left it there. Nope.

I checked my bank account, and no weird charges. So I didn't think it had been stolen... That's good, at least. Which leaves lost at home. Not a good thing when it comes to finding it, though...

Then I had an idea. When I moved onto post, I put in for an updated drivers license. They sent me a new drivers license. So I still had the old one! Somewhere. I looked in two places, and finally found it. Pfew! I had an ID now. So I could get on and off post, and drive legally. So now I could go and retrieve my kids from daycare - ha!

Here's my extra drivers license :)
I was so stressed out about losing my wallet, that Kim invited me to go to the mall with her and Tim. So I went. I had $40 cash to my name. hehe. I had fun with Kim and Tim, but I really wanted to go shopping at the commissary with Kari... I found out that she's moving in March. SO not cool....

We went to that same store that we found the Doctor Who stuff in, and I, of course, tried on hats. hehe.



Amanda called, and she said that she was gonna overnight me my ID. I couldn't believe she still hadn't sent it- ha! I thought she would have just plopped it in the mail! But she said she was worried that ti would get stolen. We chatted for a bit, then I went back to shopping. But I was really off my game. I was still worried about the wallet.

Like this one. I totally walked by it and missed it. Kim pointed it out.
And someone beat me to the sock monkey isle. See, I'm not the only pervert, um, er, creative person out there!
I did see this. That's just nasty!

I snuck into Santas Village for a photo. hehe :)
We stopped by Wendys in the food court before we headed home. I realized that those Tater Tots at lunch was the last thing I'd eaten. I had a Double bacon cheeseburger, a diet soda, a little frosty, and a fries. Dinner of champions? hehe.

They dropped me off at home, and I grabbed my truck and headed over to the SAS. I picked up my kids, and they had had a BLAST! None of them wanted to come home. hehe. We drove on over to the Youth Center, picked up Tom, and headed home.

I explained to them all how I'd lost my ID, and they said that they'd help me look tomorrow. Tom had had a great time at the Youth Center. They had a Nerf championship thing. He wanted to go back next Saturday too! Sounded like fun!

We got home, and I told everyone to go to bed. Tom went to gather up his shoes from the stairs (they were in the garage, someone must have moved them to the stairs) to go to bed, and my wallet was under it!!!!!!! Thank goodness!

So, the wallet mystery was over. I still don't know how it got there, but I didn't care. I was too emotionally spent to blog, though. I took an ambien and went to bed. I'd blog when I woke up. ha!

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