A bit of the Pampered Wife's history

I grew up in small town Oklahoma. I was brought there by way of the womb. Yes, I'm adopted. I have always known and can't remember a day in which my parents sat me down and told me. My parents had been married for 13 years when they got me. Because of who my parents knew in the town and the fact that mother worked for the doctor who delivered me I was in my home at about two hours old! My parents were unprepared for a baby to say the least. I've been told that my father and aunt went to Wal-Mart and cleared the shelves! My mother was one of those lucky women who walked around wearing a size 0 with a new baby. So the parents calmed down, finally had their baby, things were good. When I was five months old my mother found out she was pregnant. So my sister was born when I was 14 months old. Everyone thought my parents were the happiest couple in town. Perfect house, perfect jobs, perfect cars, two beautiful baby girls, life couldn't get any better. I've always been the child who could sense when things weren't right and at the age of seven figured out my parents were NOT the happy couple everyone else saw them as. They seperated not long after that realization. My father owned his own business and my mother was a nurse. They both worked long hours and became quite selfish at this time in their lives. Enter in the grandparents...
My grandparents were/have always been such a blessing in my life. They lived less than a half mile from us on the outskirts of town. We rode our three-wheelers back and forth between our home and theirs. Anytime we needed anything they were right there. My grandmother was a solid christian woman who was always raising us with morals and faith. My grandfather was my favorite person on this earth! I was his baby and I had him wrapped around my little finger. The whole family knew it too. I truly believe I'm the woman I am today because of these two very special people in my life!
I grew up a pretty spoiled little brat. My parents always made sure we had the name brand clothes, best new bike, three-wheelers, scooters, you know the best of the best. They were so self absorbed that in our youth they forgot they were suppose to be raising children. This is nothing I have not said to their face and they still love me. So on the outside it looked like we had it all. On the inside our lives were very empty. This is something my sister and I have struggled with for many years.
My mother never dated during our childhood and my father had numerous girlfriends and a new wife before I was 13. The new wife didn't last long. I now know my mother had a boyfriend it was just kept a secret from us for many years.
At 14 I met a great guy at a youth convention with my youth group. He was 17, about to graduate and going to an Assembly of God college down south. Him going to a christian college to be a pastor was the only reason I was allowed to date at such a young age. We dated until about two months before my 17th birthday. Yes, I lost my virginity to a guy in ministry school.
By this time my mother had sold our family home, moved us in with her mother, and was spending more and more time with her boyfriend that lived two hours away. I think back on this time and think how much we needed our mother. As a mother myself I think about how my mother must have felt with just needing some adult interaction and wanting to live her life. Selfish yes, but I at least think I have some understanding. Through all of this, we still looked like a pretty stable family on the outside. Girls were always jealous of my sister and I's clothing, cars and other material things. What they didn't understand was how empty our lives were on the inside.
The next few months I became a little rebelious err maybe promiscuous is a better word. I'd had my heart broken by my first true love, didn't really care about myself and had no real home life to speak of. I think that was a pretty good combination to create all that happened next.

The top of the cake

A couple of pictures of the cake

I promised some pictures of the cake. The giant cupcake isn't on top of these pictures. I'll have to look for that picture.

Weekend Madness and some football too!

Those three hours of studying with middle child on Thursday night paid off in at least one department. Miss M. e-mailed me to say that the daughter made a 100% on her spelling test!!!! Wooohoooooo! You're probably thinking...a spelling test??? But this daughter is a horrible speller and we have to really study hard! I'm so proud of her! We also studied for a content test which was basically a few questions about what country you live in, continent you live on, inalienable rights, a few holidays matched with the month they happen, and naming the oceans. We won't know those test results until Tuesday. The matter test we studied for was postponed but you can never study TOO much, right?
Saturday morning was pick up day for our Angel Food Ministries boxes. The university was also having homecoming which made traffic a bit hectic. We finally arrived and got our boxes. This is such a neat offering to the general public. There are always plenty of men/women to help carry your boxes to your car for you. They all greet you with a smile and in general seem happy to be doing the work of God. I'm inspired each time I go there. I am pleased that this month's menu has NO mini chicken chunks that require frying. I hate to fry food! We bought our usual two main boxes, the fruit and veggie box, and a special meat box. There is a ton of food here for $102. My children were happy about the Hawaiian Punch and I was happy to have the pineapple. Tonight I made the meatloaf with gravy (most of the meals are not prepackaged), Corn au gratin, and mashed potatoes. The potatoes and meatloaf came from my food box. The rest of the ingredients were simple things I had around the house....milk, sour cream, bechamel sauce, butter, salt and pepper.
My oldest daughter (middle child) has come down with the stomach flu. She has been up vomiting since 6:30 a.m. Try telling a sick nine year old that it's Sunday and you want to sleep in! Ughh! The husband took good care of her til I woke up. She's been sick in every room and has finally settled in on the sofa with a cool wash cloth on her forehead and a trash can nearby. I hate it when the kiddos are sick. :(
Our home owners association is most of the time a PITA (pain in the a$$). Today they organized a Halloween parade. We are the new peeps on the block so this our first time doing this. My son is Ozzy Osbourne this year, youngest daughter is a candy corn girl (she chose this costume), and the sick daughter will be Hannah Montana. I'm rolling my eyes just typing Hannah's name! They divide the neighborhood by last names. Some bring snacks and some bring drinks. I was told there are some "adult" drinks as well. I sent the husband and the youngest to the parade while I prepared dinner. Our son is a bit old for a walk through the neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon in costume. He's saving his for the actual night. I believe he's next door playing x-box 360. I made orange cupcakes for the mini party after the parade. Decorated with whipped frosting and sprinkles. Not just any sprinkles but bats and pumpkin sprinkles! No wonder my neighbors calls me Martha!
It's been a pretty quiet day and for that I'm thankful. I wish my little girl felt better. Dinner is made and all that's left to do is get my wonderful son to load the dishwasher and I need to hang some clean laundry. I've started writing a rough draft of the whole who I am, where I come from blog so it'll make it here eventually.
Can someone please beat Texas University??!! Oklahoma State played a fantastic game against them but just couldn't pull it off so Texas remains undefeated. I have yet to see the University of Oklahoma game but did happen to see they won! BOOMER SOONER!
The husband and daughter are still at the parade that started at 4. I should probably go hunt them down and spoil their fun. Hope you've all had a quiet weekend. Bigg, I hope the meds are kicking in and you're feeling better. Bis zum nächsten Mal!

I'm back even though it took me FOREVER to get here!

The funeral was Friday afternoon (October 17). I did NOT get to go home and my sister chose to stay home and attend the funeral. I was really devastated by her decision but since have come to realize she made the right decision. My sister and her husband hold pastorial duties within their church and felt they needed to be at home with our family through this difficult time. I respect them for that but sometimes wish they'd just choose me. I know that's selfish! My aunt has sent me a dvd of the funeral. This seems strange and gross but I'm going to try my best to watch since they've all told me what a beautiful and perfect service it was. I made it very clear to the husband that I do NOT want my funeral video taped!
Now to the birthday party...Friday was extremely difficult for me. I ended up taking a valium about the time my family arrived at the church. I was actually able to focus on finishing up my cake and preparing my home for the party. My daughter had a wonderful time! There were 22 children total and only one boy from her class. I felt so sorry for that boy since I had sent my son to a friend's house for the evening. He was a trooper and survived all those girls chasing him. (In a few years he'll realize just how lucky he was to be the only boy) My cake turned out wonderful! I'm not sure how to get pictures here. I'll work on that with the husband tomorrow. After everyone left but the six girls that were spending the night we did makeovers. The girls seemed to love putting on makeup and having their nails done. I had bought those foam type squares to make picture frames with so the girls decorated them and the husband printed off their group photo so that everyone got to take a picture home of them all made over. We watched movies, ate pizza and popcorn until 3 a.m. I suddenly realized I am no longer in my 20's :( I did survive however. The first girl was wide awake at 7:45 which means by 8 they were all awake and hungry. I served them waffles and sausage links with Sunny D. The last girl left around noon. Which meant I had just enough time to shower and get my girls to Mrs. S's house and get to the airport to get my daughter's last surprise (my sisters arrival). I rushed and made it! So my sister and her husband arrived around 2:20 Saturday afternoon. I hid them in the back of my Tahoe and picked the girls up. They crawled in the truck to find their aunt and uncle in the back. They were so shocked!
Somehow I managed to stay awake the rest of the day and we went to dinner at Bone Fish Grill. My daughter chose the restaurant. The food was excellent but our service was LOUSY! So bad that the manager took half off our meal. That definitely made up for it and we will go there again. If you have Bone Fish in your area, try it! The house salad is wonderful as is the filet. They have a shrimp appetizer with feta cheese and black olives that is really tasty too. My daughter made my sister do her hair and make up for the night. LOL She wore a tiara to dinner which was too cute and drew lots of attention.
Sunday was a busy day as well. Daughter got tons of gift cards and my sister loves to shop! So off to the mall we went. I was proud of the daughter because she chose to get NEEDS instead of wants with her money. (This means my desire to be thrifty is rubbing off on the children even though I've yet to stick to my budget!) She ended up buying a sweatsuit outfit and a jacket at Tarjay, a purse with lip gloss at Claire's (it's hard to do NEEDS there). She still has about $90 to spend but we had shopped till we dropped. I'm sure I'll be suckered into more shopping in the coming weeks. Several gift cards were for Barnes and Noble, Books a Million so that will be on the agenda next. This child loves to read!
Monday we had lunch with the girls at their school. We walked in and smelled cafeteria food and decided to pass on actually eating and just sit with them. They had a good time with their aunt and uncle at school. Once that was over, the sister and bil wanted pizza so we headed to Athens. It's a little greek restaurant here that is known for great pizza. They did not dissapoint. We had a greek salad and a greek pizza. Then it was time to get home to get everyone from the bus stop. I had a chiropractor's appointment at 4. My sister stayed home to do homework with the girls. That was disasterous. My sister has no children and was completely clueless. I returned home to the kids being outside playing and no real homework completed. That evening we chose sushi for dinner. We went to a place called Volcano. It was really good and they accomodated my sisters refusal to eat anything raw. She's from the midwest and weird like that! The bil, husband and I ventured out and ate the raw stuff which was really, really good. The daughters had asian barbecue chicken and chicken teriyaki. After that meal we drove them around to show them all the tunnels and shipyards around here. My bil had never been to the east coast so they wanted to see all that. It was a LONG day but somehow I managed to survive my sleep deprivation to be a good host. Or at least I'd like to believe I was a good host!
My sister being my sister booked the earliest flight she could for Tuesday morning. We were up at 4 a.m. and out the door by 5 so they could be at the airport by 5:30. I dropped them off and returned home to the comfort of my bed! I slept all day yesterday. FINALLY! I so needed some rest. I didn't get out of bed til the kids were arriving home from school. I even went back to bed after they were all home. I got up about 6 and made them dinner(LOL the husband brought home Arby's) and started homework. We all made it to bed before 10 and I actually slept all night last night too.
My chiropractor (pyrocractor is what my girls call him) is doing a new protocol on my sciatic nerve as of Monday. It is really working. My pain level has gone from 7-9 to 3-5. It's amazing. Of course I missed my physical therapy appointment yesterday due to sleep so we'll see how I am doing tomorrow after pt. The chiropractor has suggested that I go ahead with the MRI when I see the spine specialist on November 5. That will be most of the discussion that day I'm sure.
Today is normally the husband's day off. The owner of his company has been in town since Sunday so he's not been off since last Wednesday. I'm truly in need of some down time with the husband. He hopes to have tomorrow off so hopefully I'll figure out how to post some pictures here and scan my daughter's Glamour Shots for an email to my father.
This post wouldn't be complete if I didn't speak a little football talk. My Sooners fell to Texas last week but pulled off a win this week. Last week Oklahoma State won against Missouri which moved them into the top ten. This weekend will be a great weekend for Oklahoma football!
I plan to do some posting with background information in it so that you all will feel like you know who I am, why I'm the way I am and all that stuff soon. Until then...much love!

My biggest fear for this week has come true

At 5:30 p.m. my uncle (dad's brother) passed away. He's been suffering with cancer for more than ten years. Part of me is greatful that he's no longer in pain. Of course the selfish side of me is having a very difficult time dealing with the fact that my loved one is gone, I didn't get to say goodbye and I'm 1,500 miles away from home. Then there's my middle daughter's birthday party on Friday. My sister is flying in on Friday. A non refundable flight at that. We aren't sure when the funeral will be so my sis and I may miss it all together. I'm worried about how my father is handling all this and I'm his baby so I want to be there with/for him so badly. Earlier this week I had told the husband that I probably wouldn't go home for the funeral and now that the uncle is gone all I want is my family! The husband is on his way home since I'm obviously not dealing with this very well. A good friend of mine here locally just called me back and we prayed together. It's so nice to finally have a good friend here. Those of you who have moved a lot in life can understand. This is my first move away from where I've always called home. All my friends there I've had since preschool. Making new friends is a whole new world to me so I'm thankful for the dear friend I do have here on the beach. She's almost old enough to be my mother but has children my children's ages so we've decided we're more like sisters. LOL Most of her family is up north or out west so she can relate to being so far from home in a time like this. She has comforted me in more ways than she'll ever know. I love you Mrs. S.!!!! I'll check back in later to give updates on all the other details in my life.

Bedrest HA HA HA

I've had physical therapy for two consecutive days. Yesterday they had me walk on the treadmill VERY slowly for six minutes, do some rubber band stretches and then some muscle stimulation. Seemed very easy at the time since less than two months ago I was training for a 5k. Well, my back felt much different than my head. I was up almost all night in pain. I tried very hard not to wake the husband and think I succeeded. Although he's extremely pissed off at me now. You see I saw the PT today and I could barely walk into the office. They didn't ask me to rate my pain on their scale as you could see it on my face. No stretches for me today. Just ice and muscle stimulation which gave me very little relief. So the diagnosis is BEDREST! Yes, you read that right and I'm still laughing my a$$ off. I'm the mother of three children under the age of 11. I tried explaining this and they told me it was time for me to learn to delegate! I did come home, eat some lunch, take some pain meds, and crawl into bed for a good two hours. Of course with the birthday party approaching people were calling all afternoon to RSVP. I did rest a little. The kids came home and because it's the weekend they want to play outside. I tried explaining to my neighbor (who speaks very little english) that I'm on bedrest and if my daughters aren't behaving to send them home. I not really sure how much she understood of that conversation but the grand daughters said it was fine so I came home. This is where I made the husband mad. He expected me to come inside, go back to bed and rest. I came inside but chose to wrap some more presents, post my very short blog, pick up the kitchen and have girl conversation with my youngest daughter. Since the husband works such long hours most of our conversations happen on msn. He told me to take the _________ (insert maiden name) stubborness away because he's really tired of trying to explain to me that I have to listen to the doctors if I want to get well. After I laughed my a$$ off I explained to him that my job in this life is to take care of him and our offspring. That this makes me feel whole and complete. Without laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, I don't know who I am. I do realize as a woman I can be anything I want, I have chosen at this time in my life to be a homemaker, mom and wife. I call this the domestic events coordinator. He was quick to tell me who I was: STUBBORN AS HE LL! There was a lot more to the conversation but it got pretty sappy so I won't bore ya with all that. I love him and he loves me. We are soulmates and this too shall pass.
So tomorrow is Oklahoma football and the husband took the day off. This will be the first game of the season that we've watched in real time. Normally we tivo the games and watch them once he's home from work. It's Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Longhorns. This game normally determines who wins the Big 12 South. We are pretty stoked since the Sooners are ranked #1 in the nation! Boomer Sooner!!!
I think I mentioned before that my father sent cash for my middle daughters birthday and said, "make this a birthday she'll never forget". Well, I think I'm accomplishing that. Wednesday I took her to Glamour Shots for a makeover and photo shoot. It took about 3 hours but the pictures turned out fantastic! She is beautiful without all that hair and make up but they really captured her personality in these pictures. The pictures will be mailed to our home in 7-10 days. During one of the clothing changes I told her that her grandfather had given this to her for birthday. She almost cried and I had to fan her tears away. She called my father and told him he was the best grandpa ever! Awww girls just melt their daddy and grandpa's heart. It was a fun day for us girls.
Unfortunately I was in a lot of pain towards the end of the photo shoot. I refuse to take pain meds and drive with my children in the car so it was pretty bad. In my rush to get home (with the husband 5 cars behind me) I went through a yellow/red light. When I entered the intersection the light was yellow but turned red while I was in the middle. A police officer was sitting at the intersection. I knew I was busted as soon as he hit his lights. So I got a ticket for disregarding a red light. I called today and the fine is $166. I can see my insurance premium going up already. I tend to have a lead foot so I'm just glad I wasn't speeding. LOL I was pretty pissed at myself. Hey, we've all ran a red light in our life, I just happened to get caught.
I think I've pretty much blown the budget all together for this month but I'm going to try harder next month. This is a work in progress! I will get better! I haven't cooked much of the food in our AFM's box this week. I'm in pain so we've cheated and ordered take out many nights. I do have a pork tenderloin defrosted for tomorrow. The husband follows directions well so I'm sure he'll be doing most of the cooking. I'm thinking a pecan crusted tenderloin, roasted asparagus, and some kind of fruit salad for a dessert. We are suppose to start decorating the dummy cakes on Sunday. Not sure how I'm suppose to do that on bed rest but maybe the husband will cut me a break and let me help. I at least want to make the lady bugs, butterflies, snails, flowers and leaves from fondant. Fondant is like play-doh for adults. It's edible but NOT tasty. I hope everyone has a peaceful weekend! Tschüß

I'll try to remember to blog about my new physical therapist. It's eery how much we have in common!

WOW! 72 hours later and I'm not SPAM!

So blogger's bots thought I was spam. Now they've realized I'm not. Has this happened to anyone else? I've got tons to update but the kiddies are just walking in the door so I must prepare snacks and get them out the door to play. It's FRIDAY!!!!
Ravn, I apreciate your comments and finally got the chance to read your blog. You and Sander sound like such wonderful people. The love you two share is amazing! I'm so glad you have great friends and family. Also, if you're ever near me you are most definitely invited to dinner! You two would be wonderful people to have for dinner. My wish for you both is a long and healthy life together. I'll be back later!

Okay I'm new to this and admit I get distracted often by my family

My middle daughter really has to study to ace a test. I mean like hours every night and even then she's excited over a C! I spent most of the week going over all this ancient greece stuff with her. I'm happy to report the test was today and she thinks she did really well. Even went as far to say she knew ALL the answers.
I met with the spine specialist today. He did a ton of x-rays of my spine and hip. He believes I have a pinched nerve but wants me to continue with physical therapy and seeing the chiropractor. He gave me more vicodin, valium and robaxin. At least I'm well drugged til he sees me again next month. His goal is to get me feeling better in a month, if not we'll proceed with doing an MRI. Costly even with insurance so we're trying the above mentioned first.
I went to physical therapy on Thursday. My therapist is great and he's good looking! (always a plus, right?) I actually had an almost pain free day on Saturday. Enough so that I enjoyed some wine and some awesome blueberry martini's with the husband. Our daughters were away for a sleepover and we just had our eleven year old son. He thought it was hilarious to see his mom let loose. (This does NOT happen often, he's never seen me that way) I was responsible and didn't drive but I said many things I should not have said in front of him. LOL I did tell him that it's okay to drink when you're old enough just DON'T DRIVE! It was a great night! Since I'm the clumsy one and both my boys (the husband and the son) were concerned that I might fall down the stairs, the son bear hugged me from behind and due to my alcohol consumption I fell backwards on top of him. We all laughed til we cried! Good times here in my home! The son is really growing up. More so than I realize most of the time. We fed our albino leopard gecko and he looked at both of us and said, "I'm going to bed and I don't even want to know what you two are going to do!" Yes, I totally died of laughter. My baby boy will always be my baby boy but he is growing into a fine young man. His progress report came home with all A's and one B. Yep, I'm a proud mama tonight!
As far as the budgeting is going...hmm well, we've really blown it lately. Especially with all those martini's on Saturday night. I had the wine with a good friend in her home. We are eating from our Angel Food box. I made cheese bratwurst, baked beans, and my youngest and I had a steamed artichokes tonight for dinner. I tried baking the french fries and ended up covering them with bacon and cheese. Somethings just weren't meant to be baked. I put together a really great salad on Friday evening. It was the breaded chicken chunks from the box, dark lettuce, real bacon bits, cucumbers, tomatoes, and homemade ranch dressing. I learned my lesson with the fries and just broke down and fried the chicken chunks. Everyone ate well so I guess I did well. Last night I was in a lot of pain (not the hungover type either) so the husband ordered pizza for the kids and himself. Pizza has gotten expensive! $40 with delivery and tip included!
Now the best part. Don't just love when you're trying to save, you're blowing it and then your extra refrigerator that holds all your frozen fruit for smoothies, all frozen vegetables dies. I believe it died on Wednesday night but I didn't find it til Thursday afternoon. So we lost everything! I must mention there was no cold german beer for the husband after his long and stressful day. Not a great day but we've got love to pull us through. $268 later I'm happy to report that my fridge is back in working order. We have no fruits and veggies but tons of cold german beer. The husband was born in Berlin and occasionally just needs a taste of home. Priorities, priorities!
It's been an expensive past few days. I got a little caught up with keeping up with the Jones' this week and called my Daddy to vent. The girl across the street had her birthday party this past weekend. Her parents spent $500 dollars on a Justice makeover party and then did a sleepover with fondue and fresh fruit. I was feeling a bit defeated since they knew my daughter was having a sleepover/makeover party and they were outdoing me. Well, my father being the wonderful man he is sent me $500 and said "give my grand daughter a party she'll never forget!" On Wednesday the middle child is going to Glamour Shots for a birthday makeover and photo shoot. Then we'll continue on with our birthday party plans. I'm still baking her cake cuz I just think that's the motherly thing to do and I'm weird like that. I like things to be personal and think it will mean more to them when they are older to remember their mother took the time to bake their cake and decorate it. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. We'll just have to wait and see. Oh and my little sister is flying in for the makeover/sleepover party. My daughter has no idea her Aunt Airwa is coming! I need all the help I can get. I was a tomboy and can dress the part of a lady when I must but for the most part I'm just a mom in my workout pants, nike t-shirt, and nike+ shoes. My sister has always been the girlie girl type so she'll really be a big help at this party. All that to say this: I love my Daddy and was speechless when I received his cashola and instructions. Those who know me well (and you readers will soon figure out) know I'm rarely speechless.
Well, it's almost 10 p.m. the husband is still at work. He just called to inform me that he ate leftover pizza for dinner at work and now feels awful that his wife cooked and he ate crappy cold pizza. So I need to go pack him a lunch for tomorrow that will include what was suppose to be his dinner. Kids are in bed FINALLY! Now it's my relaxing time but first I must clean the kitchen and set out the kids clothes for tomorrow. Ahh the work of a slave err mom is never done. I promise to get better at this whole blogging thing for those that aren't snoozing on their keyboard after this extremely long post.
This post would not be complete if I didn't mention my Oklahoma Sooners are still #1 and killed Baylor on Saturday! BOOMER SOONER and Gutenacht! I should probably translate some of my german....gutenacht=goodnight, Auf wieder sehen=so long or see you, or bye and Tschüß basically is german slang or an informal goodbye.