Drunken G.I.s - The Start To My Morning

Today's blog post comes from John. This actually happened to him this morning!!

"So here's an odd way to start your day...

at approximately 7:30 this morning I was awakened by someone ringing my doorbell. When I got to the door, there was a black man in a polo shirt, baggy jeans, and 1 shoe standing on my porch. He asked if I could give him a ride to Ft Wood. I told him that I wasn't getting out today but I'd call him a cab.

So then he asks me if he could use my phone to call his wife. I dunno about you, but I'm kinda funny about letting random people use my cell phone. But against my better judgment I let him use it and she didn't answer (thank goodness...he'd STILL be trying to explain this one to her). I find myself wondering why she wasn't with him, why he got that drunk, and why she wasn't able to locate him, etc etc.

During the wait for the cab I invited this non-coat wearing, one shoed man into my home to warm up. I told him that I simply couldn't resist asking what his story was to which he replied "I don't honestly remember". lol I kept pressing him for answers since I was growing more and more uncomfortable with this individual and it eventually came out that he had crawled into my unlocked truck and slept last night. Stop right there...I NEVER leave my truck unlocked, but my brain is still fried from the lack of sleep and constant barrage of snow plow truck parts breaking/fixing/breaking/fixing etc. So now I'm REALLY uncomfortable and VERY confused(don't forget, I just woke up).

after the cab arrived and he left, I went to my truck and started looking over things. It was obvious that someone had been in it rifling thru things and smelled STRONGLY of alcohol...not beer...the hard stuff. (sue me, I know what it smells like ) then I noticed the pistol that HAD been in my truck, was NOT in my truck where it was supposed to be.

My first call was to the cabbie (bring that feller back here...I needa talk to him) My second call was to the police (stolen weapon, get somebody here before I get ahold of this feller)

A brief character reference. While I felt really uncomfortable, I never felt threatened. He seemed like a guy who went out for a good time and something went very wrong. But I didn't know where I fit into that and certainly didn't intend to lose a pistol in the deal. and there was blood on his shirt from somewhere.

Ok back on track now, the man, an MP (92nd) is now standing in the snow telling the police that he doesn't have a gun, isn't a thief, and generally trying to explain all sorts of inconsistencies that didn't make sense...then dispatch calls and says he's UA. Somebody on post is looking for him. at that time one of the officers says he has found the pistol. It was still in the truck, it had been looked at and was out of its case...but had been moved. My business cards had been pulled out of the dash and scattered about, some of my tow straps(that had been behind the seat) were on the ground in front of the truck....just all sorts of odd things, but now nothing appeared to be missing.

The answer of the day still was "I don't remember" and "I don't know", but at least nothing appeared to be broken, missing, etc. Some details began to come out during questioning and he said he had been at Area 151 with his buddies when they started carting people back on post. He apparently wasn't in the first car load and decided he could make it on foot. I'm guessing his military navigational skills failed him and he took a wrong turn and walked all the way here. that's quite a hike. By the time he would have gotten here it would have been a matter of survival to find someplace to escape the elements, so I can't really blame him for sleeping in my truck.

His commanding officers picked him up at the police station and I didn't see any reason to charge him with trespassing. It just makes me angry, makes me feel taken advantage of, makes me feel my "space" has been violated, and makes me want to teach these guys a lesson. But at the same time, the freak accident of me leaving my truck unlocked probably saved this guys life...and I am thankful for that. I still don't actually know if anything is missing or not, but I didn't come away feeling like the man was a thief. Just a young soldier that made a potentially life threatening mistake and gets to walk away from it with little more than the shivers...and probably a VERY angry wife. I doubt his captain and 1st sergeant were particularly happy people either.

I'm still freaked out about it since for the first time in I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG, I also didn't lock my house. I simply fell asleep on the couch. Now if it had been just me here, no worries. But when you have little ones in the house and something like this happens...it's a whole different ballgame.

..so how was your morning?"

Turns out... it was also the start to MY morning. John called me this morning "are you awake?" (I wasn't until he called) "I'm freaked out!" (now I'm awake!!)

These are the kinds of stories that my family tells on a regular basis. I still think between me and my three siblings we could write a book of bizarre stories like this that have happened to us! Welcome to the family, John! LOL

Why The Long Face?

The other day Levi came up to me and says "Mom, this is a sad face"



so we made a game out of it. I requested faces. He gave me his best.

This is (obviously) a happy face. (my favorite!!)



This is "scary" (I dunno. I still want to kiss those cheeks!)



This is what he did when I said "give me your 'I don't want a spankin' face"



I think it looks more like a "mom, you're a dork" face to me.

moving on...

This one is "surprise"



and this one is his "normal" face (his words)



I just love that freckle on his ear!

(the scratch on his right cheek is from his little sister. She's two... and don't take no crap off nobody!)

He Is Mine

John's mom sent this to me. I had to share. It definitely is worth taking the time to watch!!

Our Day

Freebies

I ran across a great blog that I wanted to share...

http://frugalfinds.blogspot.com

Check it out!!

Rock On

The other day, Levi beat me at Jenga. Ok, twice. whatever.

Ironically, this is the shirt he was wearing (um, excuse the little boy mess on the front. please and thank you)...



While he was setting the blocks back up for a third game, I got on my laptop for a second. next thing I know, I look over and he's not setting up for the game... He's making a bunch of little crosses out of the blocks.



I said "oh that's cool! great crosses buddy!"

He says "Jesus died on the cross so that we could go to Heaven"

How did a game of Jenga turn into a Bible lesson?

I might not be able to beat my four year old at a game of Jenga... but I'm doing SOMETHING right



*beams proudly*

What was is that shirt said again?

Oh yeah...

Excuse Me??

You want to read something that might ACTUALLY make you puke??

Go here:

http://www.christiandomesticdiscipline.com/home1.html

after reading through that and getting back from your first puking trip to the bathroom (if you can even MAKE IT to the bathroom!)...

... then go to the "gentlemen's" section up top and read this article:

http://www.christiandomesticdiscipline.com/warmup.html

Then run for the bathroom again.

I hope this website is a joke. I really really hope so!!

Love, the one who won't be spanked. =]

Chicken Fried

well I'm on the mend. at least I don't ache all over anymore is really want I mean by "on the mend." John and Maddy came up tonight for our Sunday night Bible study that we attend.... but they had to drive back tonight because Madison has school tomorrow. (making up snow days. I wonder how Dr. King would feel about that??) Before they left, John drove up to McDonald's and got me a half sweet half unsweet tea. So sweet. Gosh, I just love that man! *sigh*
that's all I've got for today.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

so I still feel like I've been hit by a train today. Isn't it funny how kids know when you're not 100% and use that to get away with crap? That's been my day. Anyone want to babysit tomorrow?

Here's an idea... why didn't I think of this??



Achoo. Goodnight.

Mom's Don't Get To Rest

Yesterday I was cleaning and Live with Regis and Kelly was on in the background. During these tough economic times they had a woman on there giving cheap alternatives to vacations. One of her ideas was a "stay-cation." The idea was that you stay home.... but act like you are on vacation, complete with themes and everything. One thing she suggested was having a menu of food choices that your children could order from just like you would on a crusie ship. Only here's me thinking to myself.... um... that's a great idea if you have a maid, personal chef, and butler. But otherwise mom gets the raw end of that deal. Everyone gets to order what they want to eat... and mom's left to cook it (and let's not forget clean-up!) Yeeeeeeeah.... no thanks. Doesn't sound like much of a vacation for mom.

and speaking of mom's not getting to rest. I feel like a train hit me today. Something's going on in my sinuses and I'm achy all over. But, dishes and laundry still need to get done. And SOMEone has to rear these children.

*sniffle*

Blood, Sweat and Tears

This...



is Audrey's arm where she was poked today to get blood drawn. I called our pediatrician's office today telling them that she's been having reoccuring fevers. (a month+ of fevers off and on just isn't right!) They asked some questions and asked me if I could be in at 4:00 today. (I called at around 12:30.... LOVE my pediatrician!!). They told me to have her drink lots of liquids because they'd likely be having her pee in a cup. So, I pumped her full of juice and we went to the appt. They did all of the regular exams on her. Checked her ears and throat. nothing came up. so they wanted her to pee in a cup... only, she got stage fright and couldn't do it. So next, they laid my poor sick baby (yes, she was running a fever today) up on the table and put a catheter in her to get pee. (I didn't take a picture of THAT battle scar.) Then they tested the pee for UTI... but that test came back negative. So then they sent us over to Boone hospital with the rest of the urine and an order to have blood drawn. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have some answers. But for today I ask that you join with me in prayer for my sick baby girl. She's been quite the trooper today. I just got her in bed and now this exhausted and emotionally spent mama is going to take a nice hot bath!!

Reasons to Run

I was ironing, and Levi was looking out the window and he says to me "Mom, I saw a guy running outside!" So I asked him why he thought the guy was running. Here was our dialogue...

Levi: "Maybe his house catched on fire"
Me: "Maybe he's late for work"
Levi: "Maybe a cop is trying to get him"
Me: "Maybe he's cold and is trying to hurry up and get to his warm car"
Levi: "Maybe his mom is calling him. That's a good reason to run!"
Me: "Maybe he's gotta go pee"
Levi: "Maybe because he made something and it broke and his mom is calling him and saying 'your thing broke' so he's runnin' to go fix it."

Such a vivid imagination!!!

Cool Points

I just got serious cool points with my four year old boy!!

What did I do??

I burped the alphabet.

Seriously!

Major points.

You should all try it sometime.

I think I've been bumped to super SUPER hero status.

=]

I'm cool with that.

Levi's Corner #3

Levi and Audrey got an easel from Santa this year. Here is some of Levi's artwork...

("Tessie" is what my kids call my youngest sister Thessali)



translation: "I Love Tessie"

Millsopoly

want to see one of the presents I gave John this year for Christmas??

I couldn't show it on here before because John reads my blog....



I made this all by myself on photoshop. Then had it printed on stickyback vinyl to put on an old monopoly board. I happened to find a whole monopoly set still in the box in excellent condition at Goodwill here for $2!!!! I even changed the names on the title deeds. It was fun to make.

Oh yeah... John's last name (soon to be MY last name!! *beams*) is Mills. =]

Bling

{lurve}

January 4th, 2009 (technically Jan. 5th)

As promised. Hey... it's not midnight yet!!

Sunday January 4th my mom, my youngest sister, myself, and my two kids left Virginia for the 17 hour road trip back to Missouri. We were in my truck. We left at around 8:30 in the morning. After several potty breaks (gotta love two year olds!), stops to eat, and stops to the side of the road to adjust an attitude (gotta love two year olds!)... we finally pulled into Waynesville at around midnight. Actually right at 12:30. Thessali had driven as far as Waynesville to meet up with me for the drive to Virginia so we had to drive back through there to get her car.... plus I was ready to see John again after being gone for two weeks!!!

Well for the last two hours of the drive John had called me several times wanting to know EXACTLY where I was. He'd ask me where I was and I'd say something like "I'm on your side of St. Louis" and he'd say "where exactly? town name?" so I'd have to say something like "ok, I'm going through Sullivan" (or whatever)

He told me that he needed to get off the phone for a sec when I was getting closer to his exit but asked me to call him back when I turned onto the outer road that his house and the family business is on. I didn't think anything of that.

So, I called him as I was making the left turn at the stop sign, after driving for the last 17 hours and finally getting off at the exit I'd been driving towards ALL DAY!!!!! He answered the phone "hey, where are you?" and I said "I'm on the outer road getting ready to turn into the shop." At that second, he flipped a switch on a generator that was giving power to a pair of big high powered work lights that lit up the billboard like the fourth of July. He had rigged it to be remote controlled so he could flip the switch when he saw my headlights crest the top of the hill on the outer road.

USUALLY there are a lot of outdoor lights at the shop lighting up the whole parking lot. But since the billboard is so close to the parking lot and John needed to make sure that I saw it and didn't drive right by it in the night, he had turned off all of the outside lights so everything was pitch black, and you can't miss it when a light comes on right in front of you.

So he lit up the billboard which said "Marry Me, Juliet"

sidenote: When the Taylor Swift song "Love Story" came out we adopted it as "our song." We were both young when we first met... like the song goes. Go back and read the lyrics from my post yesterday. At the end of the song he kneels to the ground and pulls out a ring and says "Marry Me Juliet"... he also says "I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress." (remember this it will be important in a minute. =]

Anyway... the billboard is 12' by 32' that he had been working endlessly on while I was gone. Most of it is hand painted!!!

I turned to my mom beside me in the truck and said "did you see that??"

She said "yeah, what's that all about?"

I pulled into the parking lot, parked the car right there still running in the middle of the parking lot at 12:30 in the morning, got out (In my pajamas!! he couldn't tell me to get all gussied up for the ride home without me wondering why).... and John was standing there with a lantern. He said something that I'm sure was really sweet (LOL) but my head was spinning.

sidenote: that new year's kiss from ten years ago... took place in the very parking lot that he proposed to me in. Almost ten years to the day. He had wanted me to be home by new years but couldn't tell me why and it didn't work out that I was able to make it back by then.

Then he got down on one knee, and proposed. =] I of course said yes, and when he stood up he said "I talked to your dad... go pick out a white dress."

He had called my dad while we were on the road, so my dad knew. But mom didn't so it was a surprise to her and my sister who were in the truck, road weary and confused. Haha.

Details are still being planned.... like the date, which is everyone's first question. no... we don't have one set yet but when we do we'll let you all know. We can't wait to include our family and friends in what has been THE love story of all love stories.

Another song that we love that also sums up our relationship is God Bless The Broken Road by Rascal Flatts. It's been a very long and very broken road... but it led us to each other (again). God bless it!!!!!

The Rest of The Story (Part 2)

My kids and I moved to America the day after Christmas 2006. In January I was on the computer one night after the kids were in bed, surfing the net. I decided to search for Melanie on myspace. A few months earlier when i was in England, we had talked on the phone and at that time she didn't have a myspace (which is how I had kept in touch with people while overseas) but she siad the teens in the youth group that she worked with at their church were all pestering her to get one so she thought she'd have one soon. So in January 2007 I was online looking for her on myspace. But couldn't find her. So i decided to see if John had one. And he did. Although, it turned out that he had JUST STARTED his account there. What timing huh? Well, I left him a message saying hey and askig him if he knew whether or not Melanie had a myspace. He messaged back the next day, tossing in a flirtatious comment. He gave me her phone number and conveniently put his in the message too. Hmmm. Haha
We ended up messaging back and forth quite a lot until finally one of us said it'd be faster to IM. so we added each other to IM and talked that way for a while. From there it progressed into phone calls... all the while rekindling the old friendship/romance that wasn't.

We started talking about maybe him coming to Columbia to meet up sometime and in late February I arranged for a babysitter, John drove the two hours to Columbia and picked me up at my house and we went to supper at Red Lobster. Our first official date.

The rest is history from there.

I guess now you want to know the story of the proposal huh?

well...

... to be continued (later today, I promise)

The Rest of the Story (Part 1)

I'll fill you guys in on the rest of last night's details... but first you need to know some background info...

New year's eve 1998... ten years ago this year, I spent new year's eve with my family and friends from church at our house in Waynesville. It was a tradition to have people from church over and at midnight we all went out back onto the deck and shot shotguns to ring in the new year.

Rewind even more...

the summer before I went to college, I regularly babysat for a family of three little girls.

Fast forward to new year's eve 1998 again...

It was my first winter break home from college. I had been asked to babysit the same little girls that I used to watch for new year's eve so that their parents could attend a party. so I went and got them and took them back to my house and watched them there.

After midnight at around 1 in the morning, I left my house to take the girls back home. On my way back to my house I decided to stop by my best friend's brother's house where I knew that she'd be hanging out on new year's eve. He was having a party that night and so a lot of people that I knew would still be out there and I could say hi, happy new year, and then go back home.

only...

I ended up staying long enough to end up kissing my best friend's brother that night. Which I guess turned out to be my new year's kiss that year.

This is the part of the story where I tell you that JOHN was/is my best friend's brother. I met my best friend Melanie when I was 14 years old. I'm 28 now which (you do the math!) means I've known John (or at least known OF John) for half my life. I had just turned 18 that October of 98 when John and I kissed on new year's.

We flirted that winter with the idea of persuing a relationship, but I was six hours away at college so it never really progressed to anything more than a few phone calls. Then we both moved on with other relationships. Occasionally when I'd drive through Waynesville over the years I'd stop in to see Melanie at the family's business, and I'd see John working there. We'd always say hey to each other and play a brief game of catch up, but that was it.

to be continued...

It's a Love Story

We were both young when I first saw (him)
I close my eyes
And the flashback starts
I'm standing there
On a balcony of (winter) air

See the lights,
See the party, the ball gowns
I see you make your way through the crowd
You say hello
Little did I know

That you were Romeo ....
.... and I said:

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story baby just say yes

So I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet cause we're dead if they know
So close your eyes
Escape this town for a little while

Cause you were Romeo ....
....and I said:

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story baby just say yes

Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel
This love is difficult, but it's real,
Don't be afraid
We'll make it out of this mess
It's a love story baby just say yes, oh,

I got tired of waiting
Wondering if you were ever coming around
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town I said:

Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think
He knealt to the ground and pulled out a ring

And said:



you'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know
I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress

It's a love story baby just (SAID) yes


Cause we were both young when I first saw (him)

More details later. =]

What This World Is Coming To...

This is the scene at the kitchen nook table...

I'm calling it our internet cafe. Haha.

Four adults in this house. Four laptops at the table.

I warned people (still in their pajamas) that I was taking the picture, and they vacated. Ha!

Happy 2009

For some of us, may this be the year of new beginnings. For some of us may this be the year of renewals. For some of us may this be the year of staying constant. For ALL of us, may this year bring countless blessings, forgiveness, time with family, health and happiness.

Happy new year 2009, Love Bex and Co.