The Newest Super Hero On The Block

Haaaaaaaave you met Aquatot? 

He guards the city from sea serpents, kraken and giant jellyfish. Strategically placed water messages, or "puddles" to the untrained eye, assure the citizens of our landlocked city that Aquatot is there. Working silently and until now, anonymously to protect our city from villanious sea creatures.  

The next time you come across an unconventional puddle, know that Aquatot is keeping you safe*.

*Please watch your step. Aquatot assumes no responsibility for water related injuries.   

In which we are food snobs...

Today has been one of those days where I just feel frumpy and awkward. I've been really tired lately (No Dad, I'm not pregnant) and I think today it just caught up with me.

I was in the kitchen baking cookies for Sweet Husband's soldiers as Sweet Husband washed the dishes for me (*swoon*).

Sweet Husband sighed and said "I have to tell you something, and you're not going to like it".
He paused briefly before continuing "I've been seriously craving spaghetti with that powdered parmesan cheese in a can..."

My spoonful of cookie dough dropped to the counter with a clunk, and I gaped at him in horror.

"I will buy you real parmesan cheese." I gasped, as I waited for my heart to resume beating again "I thought you were going to say 'Those jeans look awful on you.' I was prepared for that."

It was Sweet Husband's turn to look at me in horror "Why would I say that?!" he gasped.

I held up my cookie dough encrusted hand "Because it's true. I was prepared for that. You can't just spring cheese flavored potato starch on somebody!"

He grinned "I did say you weren't going to like it."

I grimaced "You know how I feel about it. There is nothing worse than cheese products that don't need refrigeration." I grinned as I saw him shudder slightly.

I was mentally giving myself a point for messing with him when he turned and gave me a slow grin "Babe, you know I'm a classy guy. It's all about eating *trashiest fast food restaurant ever* off of your stomach."


I mentally erased my point. He won. Hands down.

I need a shower.

Expect The Unexpected & All That Jazz

After six long months of Army purgatory, Sweet Husband has received his orders. Our family will be embarking on a new adventure starts next spring.

But let me back up.

In December, a mere six weeks after Sweet Husband returned from deployment, his unit made the announcement that it was deactivating in June and everyone would be up for orders. This was unexpected for us, as Sweet husband had re-enlisted with the added bonus that we would remain at our current post for a minimum of 12 months after the deployment ended.

We began to prepare for the move. Sweet husband became proactive in trying to choose a new post. But because of the “you-don’t-have-to-move bonus, he had to jump through extra hoops to “voluntarily” forfeit the benefit.

Days turned into weeks.

Weeks turned into months.  

We found ourselves in Army purgatory.

We were finally given the green light to proceed and Sweet Husband contacted his manager to request orders. He had been given a list of available options and together, we chose our top two choices. One was a mere four-hour drive from our hometown and families.

The other was six-hours away from our grandparents and seven-hours away from our parents.

We floated on marshmallow clouds as we went back to our hometown to visit our families. We had practically been assured one of our picks. We were just waiting for the official confirmation.

Then Sweet Husband checked his email.

Your space has been reserved in the recruiting school. See you next spring….

(I’m paraphrasing)  

Recruiting?

Next Spring?

……………?

I’ve had a couple weeks to really let this sink in.

Recruiting is a three year commitment.

That means for three years we won’t have to worry about deployments or moves.

That’s pretty exciting!

I was sharing this with my dad over the phone one night.

Me: We’ll actually get to live together for three whole years!!

My dad: That’s great!

Me: I know! The last time we actually got to live together for three continuous years was… Never-

That’s right. Sweet Husband and I have never lived together for three continuous years.

We’re getting ready to celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary.

What’s more, since we’ve become a military family six years ago, we haven’t lived together for a solid year. There’s always been some type of deployment, or out of state training that lasts longer than a month.

I won't lie, I'm freaking out a little. 

So I did the only reasonable thing I could think of. I called a friend and asked if I could spaz out for a minute. 

After all the spazzing, I talked to Sweet Husband

Me: I'm freaking out about living with you for three continuous years. What if you finally figure out how neurotic I really am?

Sweet Husband: I knew you were neurotic before I married you. You can't scare me.

Best. Husband. Ever!

Learning new things....

The boys were sitting in their room playing with Legos on the floor. Alex was narrating the scene.

"This is a bomb. Mama told us not to touch it, but we didn't listen and it exploded!"

Lesson of the day: Always listen to mama!

Tip of the day:

Always check to make sure the camelback you're sitting next to doesn't have a slow leak. 

Know your Audience

According to Blogger, I get a lot of referrals from a vampire stats website.

I don't really know what else to say.

Dirty Little Secrets

While doing laundry like a good housewife, I found a handful of small chocolate candies in the washing machine.

Yes. I am sure they were chocolate candies.

My first thought was someone who's name rhymes with "Crain" stuck a handful in his pocket to avoid detection and forgot them, but the load was full of grown up clothes. No little boy clothes anywhere.

Which leads to a very important question. Why hasn't Sweet Husband been sharing his chocolate stash?!

Flats&Handwashing. The END!

Day 7 of the 3rd Annual Flats and HandWashing Challenge. The challenge is to use only flat cloth diapers and handwash them for 7 days. No washing machines or dryers allowed!

The flats and hand washing challenge ended last night. I felt a sense of satisfaction as I put Spain to sleep in a flat diaper. I hadn't had a chance to wash diapers all weekend and I was down to the last one.  All things considered this challenge was pretty easy. The hardest thing for me was staying on top of the diaper laundry. We had three days of non-stop rain, and the extra humidity made the drying time much longer. I ended up needing to iron dry a few diapers, so we could finish the challenge. 

I woke up this morning and stared at the full diaper pail of weekend diapers. Technically the challenge was over I could throw them in the washing machine, but a small part of me felt like I would be cheating. The washing machine already had a line of laundry waiting it's turn to be cleaned. I resigned myself to hand washing the diapers. 

Handwashing really isn't bad. It's not as long and arduous as I first expected. But having double the normal amount of diapers to wash, it did take longer. I ironed them after washing to try and help speed up the drying process. My poor drying rack was loaded down. Ever rail was holding diapers, liners, and wipes. With he dark clouds overhead threatening more rain, I figured the diapers could use all the drying help they could get.

Now with the challenge officially over, it's time to test out Spain's new fitters! 

Oh, and you know, upload the rest of the diaper photos from my camera.

Flats&Handwashing Day 6

Day 6 of the 3rd Annual Flats and HandWashing Challenge. The challenge is to use only flat cloth diapers and handwash them for 7 days. No washing machines or dryers allowed!

I'll be honest. I'm drawing a blank as to what to write about today. Yesterday I had a thousand ideas running through my head. I was deep in "Diaperland" yesterday. I started making  some diapers and wet bags for our new niece (coming in September!). I scored some grab fitteds, and then realized Spain had to wait until Monday to try them on. *sad sigh*

I thought about telling you about the crazy wonderful thunderstorms we had ALL day. I stuck the diapers on the porch to finish drying, and they ended up completely drenched. I didn't even bother to bring them in. 

I even briefly debated sharing a little story about how Spain's new favorite game is to hide the diaper pins. I caught him hiding a set of pins inside the cover of a couch cushion. I can only imagine where the others have gone. I have no idea where the Boingos are, I haven't seen them since Monday.

Today is a day jam packed with activities. I'm praying that we have enough diapers to get through the day, and that Spain goes to bed early so I can have some special bonding time with a pint of ice cream.

Flats&handwashing Day 5

Day 5 of the 3rd Annual Flats and HandWashing Challenge. The challenge is to use only flat cloth diapers and handwash them for 7 days. No washing machines or dryers allowed!

What is working for me?  

My nighttime Kissaluv fitted is definitely NOT working out with hand washing. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic diaper, and pretty much bullet proof when I add in the bamboo doubler. The issue is that I can't wring it out enough by hand. I checked it after 36 hours and the poor thing was still slightly damp.

However, flats topped with a bamboo doubler plus the wool cover have proven to be pretty magnificent at night time.

I cleaned everything out from underneath the boys' bunk bed yesterday. I found a crazy amount or books, and hidden under three shoes, a ball and a handful of legos, was a dusty receiving blanket. I decided not to ask questions, and threw it into my dirty diaper pile to add to the rotation.

I'll leave with my little speed demon, and go wash some more diapers!

Flats&Handwashing Day 4

Day 4 of the 3rd Annual Flats and HandWashing Challenge. The challenge is to use only flat cloth diapers and handwash them for 7 days. No washing machines or dryers allowed!

Let's talk about hand washing.

My basic routine is to rinse the diapers out in my shower as soon as I can, whether they're wet or unspeakable.
Warm wash in the bathroom sink, followed by two rinses. I wring the diapers out as best as I can, and then I hit the diapers against something hard a few times before hanging them on the drying rack.

Beating the diapers is a great trick to keep them soft as they dry. I do not appreciate folding stiff diapers, and I imagine that Spain appreciates a soft pliable diaper on his derierre, than a stiff scratchy one. So I use this technique. 

We have a handheld shower head that packs a wallop with water pressure. After I rinse the diapers out, I throw them in a diaper pail. I learned last year, that washing through out the day is less tiring than washing all at once. This year we're working on the joy of using the potty, so Spain isn't going through as many diapers in a day as he was last year.

Last night I had a total lightbulb moment. We'd been running around all day trying to check things off the always growing to-do list. I hadn't had time to wash diapers until 10pm. I stared at the pile of diapers in dismay. Washing them in the sink was going to take forever, and I just wanted to crawl in bed. Sleep deprivation is mother of invention. As I began to resign myself to the fact that I was going to spend an eternity washing diapers in the bathroom sink, inspiration struck.
I dumped the diapers on to the shower floor, flung the pail liner across the room, and proceeded to fill my now empty diaper pail with warm soapy water. After a thorough rinse, I tossed the diapers into the diaper pail and gave them some manual agitation TLC.

After two rinses to make sure I got all the soap out I deemed them clean and loaded the drying rack. Sidenote- I love that I can load the drying rack at night, and have a full rack of dry diapers by morning!

I even gave myself extra points for being green, and poured the wash water over my pitiful flower garden.