How I Know I Have the Best Husband Ever

I have the best husband in the world.  And I know some of you will argue your husband is better but before we get into the debate, I'd like to lay out my reasons for thinking he's the best.

• He makes me coffee in the morning and frequently I don't even have to ask.  
• Why it matters: I don't always want coffee.  He always asks and if I seem undecided, he makes it for me anyway.  Then if I don't want coffee, he doesn't get mad
• He calls me when he's leaving work.
• Why it matters: Right now we have one working vehicle.  He calls to ask if I need anything from the store.  If I do he always cheerfully picks it up and brings it home.  If I don't then he still happily comes home to me.  
• The other reason it matters: He knows I like to have dinner about ready for him when he gets home.  By calling me, I know whether to slow dinner down or speed it up.
• He calls me from work and/or IM's with me throughout the day.
• Why it matters: I know this would annoy the crud out of some women but he's not just my husband, he's also my best friend.  We chat and tease each other all day long.  If one of us is having a rough day, the other is there to life them up.  I can always count on him to lift my spirits.
• He works. Hard.  Frequently at a job he doesn't really like.
• Why it matters: I'm a stay at home wife and we both really like that.  He supports us financially.  And while occasionally things are tight, and it would be much easier if I worked too, he never asks me to get a job.  If I wanted to work outside our home, he'd support my decision and would do whatever I needed to help out but he'd never ask me to.
• When I'm having a precursor to a bad day as described in a previous post, he comes home, hugs me, tells me he loves me and kisses me.
• Why it matters: He's ready to be loving and affectionate no matter how cranky or snarly I am.  And when that bad day finally materializes?  He holds me while I cry and not only tells me it's okay, but makes me believe it too.
• No matter what I do or say, he's there.
• Why it matters: I'm not an easy person to live with.  I accept that about myself.  So does he.  Enough said about that.
• His values are the same as mine.
• Why it matters: Although it may sometimes seem that work is a priority to him, that's not true.  Family is the priority and that sometimes means he puts what he wants to do aside, so he can provide for me.  He put his desire to move to Oklahoma on hold for eleven years because of familial obligations.  Before we moved, he asked me if I needed to stay longer.
• He lets me hold the remote.
• Why it matters:  I have control issues.  He knows that and while he occasionally holds the remote to annoy me, he frequently lets me hold it.  In return, I try to turn on things I know he likes to watch.
• He senses my mood and changes his behavior accordingly.
• Why it matters:  Notice I didn't say he does whatever it takes to appease me.  I said he changes his behavior.  Sometimes that means making me angry until I blow up.  I feel better afterward though.  Sometimes it means talking about things that hurt me until I cry.  Though after a good cry with him holding me, I feel refreshed and don't hurt.  Sometimes it means teasing me until I lighten up and laugh.  I think that's self explanatory.
• He encourages the child in me to come out and play.
• Why it matters:  I have fond memories of my childhood.  I also have terrible memories of my childhood.  At times I grew up way too fast.  He lets me be the little girl I didn't always get to be.
• He does chores around the house.
• Why it matters: I'm not always the best housekeeper and I know it.  However, he is always more than willing to help me out and do what he can around the house.  If I ask him to do something he does it.  Not the way I would but it gets done and really isn't that what matters?
• He loves me when I'm happy and childlike, he loves me when I'm on the warpath, he loves me when I collapse in tears.  He loves me.
• Why it matters:  His love is unconditional.  I feel accepted and cherished.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.  Next I'll try to do a posting about what I do in return for him.

OMG, I'm Boring Even Me

So I just perused some of my previous posts and realized, I'm even boring myself. And who could blame me with gems like the one llllooooonnnnnggggg paragraph about The Chowder and this rambling post about the woes of our air conditioning.

I am now contemplating what to do about said boring of you my poor innocent readers. (I'm supposed to be cleaning out a cabinet right now. Shh! Don't tell Music Man.)

After long and careful thought, I've decided what I really need is change. And way less clutter. So in my attempts to have both. I shall be further boring you with before and after pictures as I declutter my home and hopefully change the way I feel about my life right now.

You see I miss California and while moving here was an adventure, (Thanks a lot Mom for forever attaching the word adventure to the word move in my mind) I'm just not entirely sure I like adventure. I think part of my melancholy and absenteeism from the world has to do with my missing of palm trees and rain falling in the winter, not the summer.

It really is odd to me how similar my new home and my old one are. A lot of the same stores and restaurants are here. The management company of my apartment complex owns property in California. Miss Goofy is still goofy and still works hard to not do her schoolwork (I think I might know where she gets the procrastination bug from), Music Man hates his job just like he did in California, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do when I become a grownup, though I do have a better idea about this one than I used to.

And then weird things happen. Like it rains in July. It's not supposed to rain in July. Or and this one was strange for entirely different reasons. You have to have a permit to set off fireworks. I'm from the land of wild fires, I have no issue with not setting off fireworks at all. I am totally okay with going and sitting in a parking lot to watch someone else set them off. But you have to have a permit? And it's not like you have to go to a class to learn safe handling of fireworks, no you just have to pay a fee.

Our city doesn't allow fireworks, not that it stopped some of my neighbors, and I have to say, I for one am kind of glad. Having grown up around the threat of wildfires, I don't have as much of a problem with no fireworks as people who didn't grow up that way. Besides, nowadays, the fireworks suck.

Remember sparklers? Remember stepping on the hot metal stick and burning your feet cause you were barefoot even though your mother told you to put on shoes? Remember learning not to just drop the sparkler but putting it in the bucket? That was part of the fun of fireworks. Remember hearing about the kid who blew half his arm off because he was playing with fireworks without parental supervision? That was an important lesson to those of us who didn't do that. We learned by hearing our parents talk of the dangers that we needed to listen or bad stuff would happen and it would be our own fault. Now we sue the company who made the fireworks cause Mommy and Daddy are too busy getting high to watch their kids and make sure they don't try to see what will happen to GI Joe if we attach a rocket to his back.

Wow, I really need to quit watching Christopher Titus and go clean out my bathroom cabinet.

I'll post before and after pictures eventually.

The Many Faces of Music Man

This is Music Man happy:

This is Music Man mad:

This is Music Man being pestered:

This is Music Man killing zombies:

The End!

Laundry Saga Update

So today, eventually, maintenance finally came by the apartment. They have to order a part for the water valve in the laundry room.

He did, however, say it was okay to go ahead and use the machine for the weekend since it wasn't leaking much by this evening and any leaking it did do was back down the drain anyway. And he did fix the dryer vent issue. At least for now. They will have to tear apart a piece of the wall to fix the water valve issue as they have to replace the whole thing.

That being said, I have now washed three loads of laundry, dried two, have the third in now and Miss Goofy washed and dried a load. I have at least two more loads of clothes, one of sheets and one of towels and table linens to do tomorrow. I'm just so excited to have this wonderful tool for completing my household chores. It makes it so nice!

Well, I have to go fold towels now! It's so nice not having to go to the laundry room!

Aren't They Beautiful?

So here is my wonderful anniversary gift from my wonderful husband! No more lugging laundry to the laundry room of the complex! No more laundromat!

I'd love them even more if the water valve for the washer wasn't leaking and the hose that's built into the building for dryer exhaust wasn't too short! Hopefully maintenance will be here early to fix the issues and I can use my new beautiful machines. I love them so much! And that bookshelf is totally coming out of there later tonight!

Something Big is Coming on Thursday

Sometime between noon and 6 pm on Thursday the 26th of May, something big will be happening at my house.

Tune in this week for pictures...

A Favorite Author

Okay so it's not a secret anymore that I've been working on a romance novel or two (possibly twenty). I've enjoyed writing them and reading other people's work. I'm of the firm belief that just because I have the same basic premise, doesn't mean I'm stealing the author's work. After all, how I picture the story turning out and how they do is invariably different.

On that note, I was poking around online for a bit today and went to one of my favorite authors sites. I swear I didn't write this, but I could have except for a few minor changes. For example, while I like several of the same authors as she does, I haven't read some of the others work . And while I like the occasional country song, I'm not sure I'm comfortable saying I like country music although the music they now call country sounds a lot like what we called pop when I was a teenager.

I can totally get into the diet Mt. Dew thing though. Yes, that's possibly my deepest darkest secret. I like Diet Mt. Dew. *Sigh

I'd rather have a Butterfinger than a Hershey bar with or without almonds though if that's all you got I'll take it. I'm really not into the Rob Pattinson or Twilight thing. I read part of the first book and watched the first movie. All I could think at the end was I wanted them to stop whining. I remember when vampires were cool. Anyone else remember, Interview with a Vampire?

I'd rather watch the Simpsons or Law & Order: Criminal Intent than the Gilmore Girls. Though Dog the Bounty Hunter is cool if you don't take it too seriously. Don't get me wrong, I think they do a good deed and it's not a job I want but seriously if you can't carry a weapon due to a felony conviction in your past, bounty hunting may not be for you.

I totally agree with her assessment of teen years and the reality of being older and having responsibilities. Sometimes, you have to run to the store and don't have time to perfectly apply six layers of make-up.

Her thoughts on why she likes her job are totally true for me. Seriously I get everyone of them. Oh and the part about liking Nickelback, they are so in my playlists for all kind of my stories.

Thank you Rhonda! You made me feel so much better about myself today!

Promises

So when my husband and I decided to move our family to Oklahoma, a number of factors went into the decision. Concerns about our families, our future, our dreams and goals, costs and what we were willing to give up. It took years before we made a decision.

And then we didn't tell anyone what we'd decided. For a long time.

I won't go into all the thoughts we covered right now, we had a lot of things to think about but some of the issues included being there for my grandmother while she nursed my grandfather, who was dying from Alzheimer's, whether we even wanted to surround ourselves with Music Man's family when they haven't had anything to do with him in years and finally, what to me seemed like the most important: air conditioning.

I knew we weren't going to leave while Grandpa was still alive. I needed to be there to offer whatever help I could and to make sure Grandma was going to recover before we left.

Music Man knew we weren't going to live in the small town he was born in and we probably wouldn't see much of his family.

We both made our peace with both situations and when the time came, we moved.

A lot of my friends have asked why a California Girl would be willing to move to Oklahoma. When we first arrived here we stayed in his uncle's fishing cabin which has since made me very frightened to read Henry David Thoreau's Walden after Music Man commented one day on the similarities. I had no idea it was a horror story. ; )

One of the biggest things that had worried this very California Girl, was the heat. And the humidity. I don't tolerate heat well. I tend to bloat and swell up like a balloon. As long as I have air conditioning I'm okay. Music Man promised me we'd have air conditioning. He's so sweet. Or he didn't want to see his wife looking like a puffer fish and to be honest, I think it might be the latter.

At the cabin, we purchased two window air conditioners. One for the bedroom, one for the living room. I survived while we were there. I even managed to stop killing crickets at three in the morning. I learned to just casually flick them off me and then wake Music Man who would capture the offending insect and escort him outside. I'm still not sure why the crickets loved me so very much.

We've been in our apartment since July 9th. I had maintenance out to fix the air conditioner at least four times last summer. I went to turn it on a week or so ago just to check and make sure it was properly functioning. It isn't. I put in a request to have maintenance to come fix it again.

I'd say I'm sure they'll fix it properly, but four times last year...

Oh Dear

My husband is a bit of a nerd. I love him but he is what he is. Well, I'm pretty sure I've now lost all ability to laugh at his nerdiness.

While he was looking at the Think Geek website and showing me all sorts of things he "needs", I spotted my downfall. It was an R2D2 pepper mill.

I am officially a geek.

So A Funny Thing Happened Today...

Okay it really wasn't funny at all.

We had a blizzard here in Tulsa this week. It's made it impossible to get out of the parking lot at our apartment. So my wonderful husband has been home the past two days.

Our apartment complex has signs they put out occasionally that read "Freeze warning, let your faucets drip". Now, we lived in snow country in California. If you properly insulate your pipes, you really shouldn't have any problem with them freezing. To be safe, we did leave the faucets open if it was going to be especially cold. So when we saw the signs the first time we thought, "uh oh, we might have a problem."

Blizzards include wind, just in case you didn't know. When your water heater is outside and there is a blizzard coming, there is a good chance your pilot light will go out. No amount of running water will keep the water heater from freezing. Not with the wind and snow collecting under the heater.

So when maintenance accuses you of not leaving the water on, it's a bit irksome. Especially when they've already had a fit over the screws they put in the outside door to the water heater rather than fixing the door.

When the head of maintenance brings his entourage of four guys and they don't bother to wipe their boots off outside and track snow all over your living room, you tend to get a little annoyed. Especially when you realize they did the same thing this past summer only it was oil from the asphalt they tracked in.

Then the head idiot proceeds to damage the door to your a/c/heater unit, the one that is a safety issue cause it also opens directly to the water heater closet and when you woke up in the middle of the night one night to the dog having a meltdown and look outside you see the outside door is open and realize someone was trying to break into your apartment through the connecting door you had your husband screw shut the heater door and then called maintenance in the morning and requested they repair the outside door so they didn't have to clean the apartment after removing your dead carcass and maintenance only screws shut the outside and tells you that's what they would have done to the inside door, it's a little insulting. Especially when they damage the inside door and you know they're going to charge you when you move out.

What was my point in telling you all of this? I don't know, Music Man thought I needed to rant. If you're looking for an apartment in the Tulsa area, email me and I'll tell you where NOT to move.

What the Hell?

Okay harsh title I know but I believe I am justified. I was watching the news and saw a news story about the drug being used for death row inmates in Oklahoma. I was concerned as you might imagine so I googled "Oklahoma death row drug" and this article came up. In case you're too busy to read the whole article let me explain. This is a drug that the news story on television said was the same drug that they use to euthanize animals! Now the AP article said it was chemically related to the drug used on animals.

I understand there's a shortage of the drug usually used to kill death row inmates. I'm not sure however how good an idea it is to use a drug that clearly states it's for canine use only. This would probably be a good place to talk about alternatives to death row but I have to say I do believe that occasionally putting someone to death is the only solution.

I was a teenager in Los Angeles during the time of the Night Stalker. My grandmother was a very good friend with one of his victims. Her murder was gruesome and the stuff of nightmares. There are people in this world who choose to commit evil and atrocious crimes. Sentencing them to death is sometimes the least costly solution. Housing them in prison forever is impractical and I understand that.

And while I'd love to discuss solutions for prison overcrowding I'm not an expert nor do I feel like it's something I have enough information on to offer an opinion. But when the manufacturer says don't do this and we do it anyway, then we've got a problem.

Two news articles later and I hear something about state flower, state rock and now someone wanting to choose a state gun.

Hmm, maybe I do have a solution to the prison overcrowding problem...

The Year of Thin Waists and Fat Wallets

So that's what I've dubbed this year. So far, well, we're working on it.

Mostly I've been playing facebook games like CityVille. It's addicting. Seriously, I'm going to be seeking a 12 step group for it soon.

"Hi, I'm Micki, I'm a CityVilleaholic."

"Hi Micki."

Sorry, just imagining the meetings.

I started reading "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien last night. I'm enjoying it a lot.

What else can I say...oh, it's cold here. Like it's been in the single digits cold. Like wow that's not a misprint, 5 degrees is really cold.

Mostly I just needed to check in so I have a more recent post than Miss Goofy. Now I can harass her.

Thanks for being so patient with me.

Company Christmas Parties

Last night we went to Music Man's company Christmas Party.

I didn't really want to go mainly because we've had a few issues with the company but as a member of management, Music Man felt it was important we go. I tried to convince him in the days leading up to it the cat would be an awesome companion but he didn't believe me, so Miss Goofy and I went with him.

It was at a chain restaurant that we'd wanted to try but hadn't yet done so. Kind of an upscale Chuck E. Cheese, complete with video games and a bar, only more expensive and they don't serve pizza. Sadly, we weren't allowed to make use of the bar, since it was a company function and for some reason drinking at their functions is banned.

I did get to at least see a bunch of people Music Man works with. We didn't talk to a lot of people. Mainly cause, well, I'm pretty sure no one really wanted to be there. Music Man works for a corporation that has several used car lots in the Midwest and they're expanding into the South. This party was for the lot where my husband works and it's satellite lot. There were probably sixty people there, including the Area Operations Manager, Music Man's boss's boss and the HR Lady. Both of whom didn't really seem to want to be there but it seemed Music Man's boss, we'll call him, Big D, pestered the heck out of them to get them there.

See, Big D has only been at the lot for 10 months. I know cause he said so last night when he gave a little speech about how wonderful the lot was. Anyway, at last year's party, (I really hope kids weren't present) there was alcohol. A lot of alcohol. And then there were the gifts. Oh the gifts. For some reason this company now frowns on adult toys being given at an office Christmas party. Personally, I'm thinking last year's party was way more fun than this years. Needless to say, heads rolled, people got fired and this year the General Manager, Big D, was a nervous wreck and harangued people from corporate into coming to the party so there was no hint of impropriety.

The AOM (that's the area operations manager), is well an aggressive piece of...dog doo. Not a nice man. He came over to Music Man and started asking very abrupt questions. "Where exactly have been this week?" (He'd been to several lots recently) "What'd you think of the GM?" "He spends too much time in his office, doesn't he?" It went on like that. Needless to say we were not impressed with his lack of professionalism.

The HR Lady didn't really talk to anyone except Big D and the AOM. Music Man said bye to her as she was leaving and she turned briefly, said bye and walked away. We'd be worried but she had a guy with her that no one had ever met. I hope she had a lovely night. After last year's party, she earned the nickname "The Grim Reaper" cause if she was on the lot it meant someone was getting fired.

We spent the night talking to one of the salesmen. A lovely older gentleman, who I'm only going to call Mr. C. He was so sweet and lovely to talk to. He's only been with the company for a short time and he lives about an hour from the lot so for him to have driven in and attended the party was a bit of hassle for him. I'm glad he did though. We chatted briefly with the other salesman Mr. A although he's pretty young, so I'm not sure I like the Mr. part of his name. He had his lovely wife with him. She was a sweet and quiet thing. Not sure what she thought of the party or the company. They left pretty quickly after the party.

The other person we talked to used to be a salesman at Music Man's lot. He's now in the manager-in-training program and at a different lot. He's a hoot and his wife is just as wonderful. She's funny and reminded me a lot of me, down to the bleached hair that needs to be done again. Anyway, MIT L, that's what I'll call him, asked if he could borrow Music Man for a minute. He told me he was trying to get Music Man to start smoking.

I have to interrupt myself here to say, Music Man and I both grew up with parents who smoked. Neither of us do now and we're quite proud of that fact. To us it's a waste of money. However, Music Man and this particular work buddy have had a running joke about my husband's lack of smoking. It seems nearly everyone here smokes. That said I have to add that one of the women Music Man works with had smoked for her entire pregnancy. NO ONE HAD TOLD HER IT WAS BAD FOR THE BABY!!! I asked Music Man what about her doctor? He said he didn't know. Anyway, she found out after she had the baby it was bad for the child and quit. I'm so impressed with her for that. I hope she has quit for good.

Back to what I was saying, MIT L had asked to borrow Music Man and had made the joke. I said, if you get him started smoking, I'll have to kill you and I know where to hide the bodies. He laughed, his wife laughed, Music Man laughed. Everyone was laughing. MIT L then said, "As long as it's painful, bring it on." More laughter. His wife smiled and said about the same time as his comment, "I like her." I stuck out my hand and said, "Hi, I'm Micki." She introduced herself and we all joked a bit later when we were all trying to leave.

So to summarize the events of last night. We went to Music Man's company Christmas party. It was interesting in the kind of way that a car crash is interesting. I don't think I'd like to attend another one, but you never know what's going to happen. We had a good time if you think watching a bunch of people who are so afraid they're all going to get fired that they sit stiffly in their chairs and laughing is frowned on the way it is in church is fun.

The best part of the evening and possibly the most interesting: The GM's wife didn't come to the party. Her parents were in town but to me this spoke volumes. Why not bring the in-laws too? There was plenty of food. I'm just saying it was interesting.

Music Man

Some of the comments this man makes while playing World of Warcraft with his boss are...well they would be odd if it wasn't my husband.

Tonight his comment was, "Damn it I set myself on fire again."

My thought, "For real or in the game?"

The barbecue may have gotten him a few times in the past.

You Know You've Been in Oklahoma Too Long When...

1. You tell people you like both kinds of music; Country and Western and you are able to give examples of both.

2. In a restaurant you no longer have to ask if something is fried, you know it is.

3. You know you'll have your choice of tables in the nonsmoking section.

4. You start contemplating financing a tattoo.

5. You keep wondering what happened to everyone's accent.

6. You no longer nap during NASCAR.

7. You no longer think of environmental causes and try to find an answer, instead you start blaming them. After all, they are causes.

8. When you drive past a spot where a skunk sprayed and your out-of-state relatives react, you have no idea what they're talking about.

9. You know which casinos pay the best.

10. College football and God. In that order.

11. You long for a carrot that's not deep-fried.

12. Road kill. It's what's for dinner.

13. You see lost cow posters.

14. Even the Mexican's can't cook Mexican food.

15. You finally achieve your life-long career goal: disability.

16. You see lost cow posters and recognize the cow.

Makes Me Miss California...

So this morning at 9:06 local time (that's 7:06 in California) there was an earthquake 10 miles east of Norman, Oklahoma. Norman, Oklahoma is right outside of Oklahoma City and is where the main campus of the University of Oklahoma is located. It's a pretty little city.

The earthquake measured 4.5 on the Richter scale, which by California standards is a big truck going by. Or if we're talking about Tehachapi, a train.

Our apartment shook slightly and I mean very slightly. Miss Goofy said it startled her and she nearly fell out of the chair she was sitting in, I was in the kitchen and thought I stumbled as I opened the fridge cause I was tired.

Miss Goofy left to go do laundry and I turned on the television to occupy the dog, (otherwise he barks cause he hears stuff outside) and sure enough Good Day Tulsa is reporting an earthquake in Norman.

Mostly I wrote this to let my family know yeah, we had one. No, it wasn't a big deal. Thanks for your concern. We love you! And let's hope for aftershocks!

ETA: I remember in California it sometimes taking days for an earthquake to be reviewed by a seismologist. At the USGS website each earthquake report lists whether it's a computer generated message meaning the seismographs have detected movement and someone needs to review the data or it will say this event has been reviewed by a seismologist, indicating it's already been looked at. This earthquake in Oklahoma, reviewed within a half hour. Kind of funny, huh?

9/11 We Won't Forget--Unless We're At an OU Game

I recently "friended" a woman on FaceBook. She is a really sweet woman who is going through a terrible time. Her husband was a Marine and he was injured in Iraq. The man lost his leg and his life due to the war. She's in mourning, he died this past April. Having lost my own father many years after his return from Viet Nam to an agent orange related cancer, my heart went out to her. We emailed back and forth a few times and friended each other on FaceBook.

Then my husband told me about the OU- Florida game that was played on Saturday. I know it's all over the news, radio, internet, but I just want to add my two cents worth. It's shameful to yell out during a moment of silence. I don't care where you are or why you're there. It's rude. As for the National Anthem, well, I always thought it was disrespectful to talk during the anthem. I can only offer my opinion that it's just as rude to change the words to honor your school.

That said, I hope OU fans will be better behaved next week when they play Air Force. I however, will be watching and rooting for UCLA.

So We Went To The Cabin Yesterday...

Music Man is working. He's working very hard in fact. However, he's not working for a company he's particularly fond of and he's not in a job he really likes. Needless to say, he's been looking for a new job. So this past Wednesday, he received two calls to schedule interviews for this coming Wednesday. Kind of cool since we hadn't heard from anywhere about any jobs we've submitted his application for.

For one of the interviews, the lady told him to bring his social security card. Always a good sign, we think. Now, we both took our social security cards out of our wallets and put them in a file box for safe-keeping. Just to make it a little harder to steal the number. Good plan, right? Well, when Music Man got the job he has now, I had to find that file box and his social security card. I found it and everything was wonderful.

Until he got the call on Wednesday and suddenly, I can't find it again. Now I do need to explain one detail, we had to get him a replacement card a few months ago because the corporation that he'd worked for had laid him off and wanted to bring him back through a temp agency. The temp agency needed his card for their files. We couldn't find it.

Fast forward roughly a year and I'm tearing apart the apartment trying to figure out where I put that damn card. I remember seeing it in my desk. The desk sitting in Miss Goofy's room. It's not in the desk now. I took the card out when we moved the desk. I know I put it somewhere safe. Tragically, "somewhere safe" turned into "somewhere unknown".

So we went to the cabin to look for the card cause I knew it wasn't in the apartment. Saturday night as we were settling down to go to sleep I told Music Man, I was pretty sure I knew which box it was in. Then I said a little prayer that I was right and went to sleep.

Sunday morning dawned bright and early and despite us wanting to be on the road by nine, it was after 8:30 before we got up. So it was more like ten before we left. After a moment of panic as we got onto the turnpike when I thought we didn't have the cash on us for the toll, I found the change in my purse, and we had a fairly quiet drive.

We got to the cabin and walked in, after a moment "Eww, it smells stuffy in here," I turned to Miss Goofy and said, "Go look in that box, I need to use the restroom." And here is the point of this story. Music Man went with her to look in the box. A box overflowing with books. She had been arguing about looking in that box. Her exact words were, "there's no paper-like things in here".

Music Man smirked. I heard her arguing, finished my task and walked into the living room as she said, "Wait, it's in this book." She opened the book and triumphantly removed his social security card. She had remembered putting it in there when we were getting ready to move the desk. I'd handed it to her and asked her to put it in the box with the books. She had even told me she put it in that book. She'd even teased Music Man about it being in her sparkly vampires book.

I looked at her and smiled as she handed the missing card to her father. I asked the only thing I could as I stood over that overflowing box of books. "Did she just say there's no paper-like things in here?"

Music Man grinned and said, "Yes, yes she did."

That's my daughter. We home school her good.

P.S. You may have noticed that the words Miss Goofy are a link. It goes to my daughter's blog. You should check it out.

P.P.S. Are you happy now, Miss Goofy? I plugged your blog four times in one article.

Things I've Learned In Oklahoma

If you live in Oklahoma or have lived here in the past, you can probably ignore this post. If you've never been to Oklahoma and enjoy drivel, this might be the post for you. This will of course be in list form.

1. Although crickets in the house are supposed to be good luck, you really don't want to have them jump on you at three in the morning.

2. Even the biggest, bravest dog will be terrified of a thunderstorm.

3. Oklahoma humidity will make you appreciate the mild climate of California.

4. Oklahoma humidity is way better than Georgia humidity.

5. The wilderness is very noisy.

6. Oklahoma isn't just flat desert. It has gorgeous forests, beautiful lakes and vibrant cities.

7. I much prefer the city to the country.

Where Have I Been

You might be asking yourself that question. Then again you might not. This might be your first time to my blog and if so, welcome. Or you could be an old reader and just happy I finally decided to update.

While I don't have a good excuse for not updating between Jujubee's birthday and the first of May, I do have one for since then. And it's really good.

You see I left my little mountain in California for the forests of Oklahoma. No I wasn't drunk. No I didn't get lost. Yes there are forests in Oklahoma.

As you may have heard unemployment in California is very high. Where we lived it was running close to 20%. Here in Oklahoma we're at 7%. Go ahead and do the math. I'll wait.

Yeah see, more opportunity for a job in Oklahoma. Way less competition. So we made the choice to move. And it's gone, well let's just say it's gone. We've had a few challenges on the way and I'll blog about those when I stop having nightmares. Just kidding, I'll blog about them later though.

However in moving sort of suddenly, we didn't have things as nailed down as we should have. So, we've been staying at a cabin owned by Music Man's uncle. It's shelter. For insects and us but mostly for insects. Let me tell you, the only thing that startles me more when I wake up than a cricket on me, is waking up with a spider crawling on me. Ewwwww!!!!!

But crickets in the house are supposed to be good luck so we've caught them and released them outside. Or nearly all of them. I can't be held accountable for the first one that hopped onto me in the middle of the night and I beat to death with my slipper. Nor can I be responsible for any that my cat has tortured during their "play" time.

The cabin does pose some amenities that are unique for me. There is a wonderful mosquito colony. Not to mention all the good luck from all the crickets in the house. Um, it's about four feet off the ground so if the river floods we should stay dry. Anything in the shed will be ruined but the house should be okay.

Unfortunately, there is no internet. Or cable. There are however lights but I have been singing the theme song to Gilligan's Island for about six weeks now. Slightly changed though to "no web, no phone, no cable, not a single luxury. It sucks to be like Robinson Crusoe. Get me out of here!"

Oh that was the other thing, our cell phones don't always work well. But it's pretty. I'd show you a picture but I don't have my camera with me and I'm sitting in a Barnes and Noble in Tulsa hoping my laptop battery doesn't die before I finish this post.

Hopefully we'll be able to move in the next few weeks and have internet again. We'll see. Music Man did find a job and he's working so there's always hope. Course he just started this week and I have no idea how long he has to be with a place before someone will rent to us. Hopefully, they'll rent to us without any problem. We'll see soon.