Sunday, December 28, 2008

Just A Weaver

Just A Weaver
by Benjamine Malachi Franklin


My life is but a weaving,
between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors,
He worketh steadily.
Ofttimes he weaveth sorrow,
and I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper,
and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent,
and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas,
and explain the reasons why

The dark threads are as needful
in the skillful weaver's hand
As threads of gold and silver
in the pattern He has planned.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

And this is how the cooki... Laptop Crumbles...

What a day, what a day!

My day started off as any other Wednesday... I Woke up, drank some coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer {{YUM!!}} and waited for my Popp Children to arrive. After kissing Kelz on the cheek and smacking her butt as she left for the office I settled into my cream colored leather couch and began my normal Internet routine... check Gmail.com, check HawaiiMilitaryWives.com/board, check Myspace, etc. etc.

Main Objectives for the Day:

1. Review Black Friday Ads and compile list of WANTS.
2. Decide whether or not I "need" a new Lappy. (ALERT: HP SUCKS. END PSA.)
3. Review List of Wants...
4. Review BF Ads again, List again, Ads again...

Everything was normal until Kelz came home with the bacon and I forced her to accompany me to Mc Doodles for an impulse "lunch" while the older children's went to Speech. Once at the Promised Land, I ordered, what else, but the norm! (Even Gogo could order this on her own!!)

'Number 10, Coke, and Sweet 'N Sour Sauce'... {{PAUSE}} 'add a Hot Fudge Sundae, extra Hot Fudge please'

Maybe that's what sent things spiraling...but I had to spring for the ice cream goodness, it was my fault Kelz was in the Sacred Place to begin with!

I get my order, (Read in the voice of that Lord of the Rings-creepy-guy)
'Fries...My Precious'

WAIT! There's NO extra Hot Fudge in my sister wife's Hot Fudge Sundae... I quickly scan my receipt, no charge for it... I throw a really dirty look at the much too old lady working the counter. (Who lets their 80 year old grammah work at Macadonaldz nEways!?) ::ROLLEYES::

This is where it gets really bad... The clock strikes 12:58pm and we make our way out to the car... As I start to back out a flat bed tow truck surprisingly comes into my field of vision backing up with little or NO consideration for anything or anyone in its way. I quickly stop my reverse and thank God for sparing my bumper. I recover, and start to back out again... then quickly slam on the brakes... There's an old women right behind me and she came out of NO WHERE!! She must be friends with the Mean Hot Fudge lady... I Begin to reverse for the THIRD time and GOOD LORD there's NO room to back out!! Three point turn, and I'm starting to think I need to get home quickly and STAY home.

1:05pm... Back at the Elementary School; I pull into an empty "Reserved" Parking stall, buckled up Jordie, got in the driver seat, looked in my rear view mirror only to find... Another mother has blocked me in... No problem, she's here to pick up her kidlet too. I sit and wait... I wait and watch as she has a conversation with her son ... presumably about his Turkey artwork. Now I'm getting irritated, besides...Jordan's rendition is sooo much better. Another minute passes by... Seriously? Do you not see me? Do you not care that you're double parked, taking your sweet time... Sure, I'm parked in a reserved spot...but that's not the point. After what seems like 23 minutes she finally finishes buckling in her kid and drives off... I'm more annoyed that she never even had the decency to look my way, I had a really good dirty look for her!! I don't like to waste those!

Ok, so back home... I think things are back to normal... Henry barks for no reason, normal. The house has mysteriously turned into a pigsty, normal. Kids wont nap, normal. I'm strangely calm in the chaos that is my life. . . Until. . .

Dusty comes home...and he's got a silly smirk on his face... Oh no, here it comes...

BaCkTrAcK tO mOnDaY: Dusty informs me he thinks he's lost his BRAND new Black Berry... I'm furious and nauseous all at once. He insisted on purchasing a $85 8GB to compliment this MP3 Player, Organizer, Camera, Movie Playing, disgustingly expensive phone... He goes back to the scene of the crime and confirms the worst when he finds his cracked clear case. If you're wondering, yes He got lots of dirty looks...LOTS.

BaCk To ThE fUtUrE: He walks in and says "So guess what I found on my rack today?"

Yupp, someone had found his Blackberry, ripped off the case with all the intentions of stealing it... Then this someone nicely returned it to his tin-can-Glorified-Cot.
Confuzled, but mostly relieved I ask him if the memory card is still there. It is! It is!!

But wait! UPS just delivered the replacement... what now!? The $50 deductible is non-refundable... Dare I say it? Does Lea get a new fantabulous phone!? What a day it would be!! Dusty calls the Sprint people, and yes... we get to keep it!! A $300+ phone for $50!!

The Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, somewhere in the world SOMEone is getting their extra Hot Fudge... All is perfect in the world... but NOT Lea's world...

Jordie, my recently clumsy daughter...trips on my Hp Laptop Power Adapter cord and pulls my laptop crashing to the floor. The birds stop chirping, the Mean Hot Fudge lady cackles in my ear... and my Hp Laptop now closely resembles a stain glass window ... broken in lots and lots of teeny pieces.

How ironic, just two days before the biggest shopping day of the Year! WAIT, that means my Warranty isn't expired! I bought that piece of crap on Black Friday LAST year!! I quickly sign onto HP ONLINE Cust. Service, using last-last years Crap HP Lappy and start a convo with Jahkmed (The "J" is silent).

Here's a snippet of our conversation...

Lea Garner : Hi Jahkmed, my Lappy fell and the LCD is broke yo'. So how's your mom, its been about a month since we last talked.

Jahkmed : That must have been very inconvenient. Thats very unfortunate to have this issue.

Jahkmed : Let me help you in this.

Lea Garner : ok

Jahkmed: Lea, does the sreen cracked and need to replce complete LCD screen to fix the issue?

Lea Garner : I think so but I'm not really sure what you just typed so...

Jahkmed : Because there is no be Troubleshoot or setting to fix the LCD screen insteak replacing complete screen.

Lea Garner : Yea, sorry Jahk still don't understand you.

Jahkmed : Thats clears that it need to replace complete LCD Screen. Let me check what best can do to fix or the best option to fix the issue.

Yea so... my warranty expired last month and Jahkmed tells me "The service charge for the Notebook is high in this regard, I suggest you to purchase completely key board and it will cost you less than the service done to the Notebook."

What a day... I'm refused extra hot fudge, I'm nearly obilerated by a tow truck, trapped by a craized mom, score a cool phone, get a GREAT excuse to buy a new laptop...and this is all in one day!!

Whats more? I wish I could tell you this a pretty extrodinary day for me... comparitively speaking it was pretty low key!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I got tagged!!

10 Years Ago, in November 1998,

I was:
1. a Senior in high school
Class of 1999 Pictures, Images and Photos
2. Drove a Geo Metro with NO Hood... It flew off, literally and COMPLETELY!
3. Planning to join the Navy with Wendy...
4. Addicted to In N Out and Taco Bell.
5. Wishing I had never "homeschooled" my first semester of Freshman year.

Five things on today's "To Do" List:
1. Watch the last two episodes of Grey's Anatomy.
2. Try not to miss my Dusty too much...
3. Wait 'til the kids fall asleep and raid the kitchen.
4. Finish laundry...Finish. HAHAHA
5. Ignore the To Do List, tomorrow's a new day!

Five things that I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Ok, how many millions are we talking? One? Several? Lets go with TEN. I'd invest five million.
2. Buy a house in Ohio, California, and Oahu.
3. Visit Europe, Australia, Africa, and anywhere else I can dream up!
4. Gift each parent with 500k. Appoint a trustee for the ones I can't trust to use it usefully!
5. Donate to some deserving charities!

Five places I have lived:
1. Rancho Cucamonga, California
2. Corona, California
3. Great Lakes, IL.
4. Hawaii Kai, Hi
5. Honolulu, Hi

Five jobs I have had:
1. Ruby's Food Server
2. Receptionist at California Animal Hospital, Dept of Surgery, now known as Animal Surgical and Emergency.
3. Puppy Nanny to Marjorie L. Everett
4. Receptionist at Kuakina Medical Center, Oahu.
5. Newborn photographer

Okay the five people I'm tagging are:
1. You
2. KatieD
3. You
4. You
5. You!

The $1400 Schick Effect!!

"A picture is worth a thousand words..." blah, blah, blah...

The following picture is worth approximately $1,400.80 ... One Thousand, Four Hundred dollars and eighty cents in FREE groceries!! In the course of three months I purchased 1030 Schick Slim Twin Razor Two packs ($0.64), for each I redeemed a coupon for $2, thus I saved $1.36 for every razor I bought. Go ahead, read that again! ;)

I had to buy a chest freezer, my pantry is jam packed, and I'll NEVER need to buy another razor EVER again! :P

I always held my breath hoping the baskets were full, I carefully chose my cashier, I had my copy of the DECA Directive at the ready, and I argued with a dozen cashiers and managers and always won the fight... Shopping WILL never be the same.

Thank you Schick, from the bottom of my full chest freezer, Thank You!

Photobucket

P.S. I'll take a picture of my stash of Ky later!! ;)

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Honey it was a great ride... But its over.

Shore Duty that is!!

It feels like a lifetime ago that we were a Sub family. I almost forget what its like to say goodbye on the pier even before the sun rises... or what a submariner smells like after even just an hour on the boat. Waaait... No I don't ... I remember that smell!! Its like a skunk rolling in the La Brea Tar Pits and sun bathing on a dairy farm. All that aside, I can still remember what its like to smell that smell and be so happy because it meant my man was home. Photobucket

In the last three years we have...


  • Moved from a one story two bedroom house off of Nimitz Hwy, into a two story three bedroom on the Historic Ford Island. Photobucket
  • Sold the Dodge Neon we brought a baby Jordie home in, it was our first car together.
  • Had our second daughter, our "baby Gogo" Photobucket
  • Became unexpected foster parents for six months, and saw the insides of a real life courtroom more times than I'd like to recall.
  • Moved from our Ford Island house into a four bedroom house just feet from the now demolished house where we first met.
  • I turned a little crunchy... or hippy like Dusty says! Photobucket
  • Hailey got Henry.
  • Our son Johey was born...
  • And We both lost our maternal grandmothers...

It seems like an eternity and a blink of an eye all at once! I've already convinced Dusty that we just might need a fourth bebe next shore duty and my odds are good... boys talk about babies when they're home sick!

So here's to the next five years...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I could be a Super Hero!

Let me preface this by saying that I use a paper calendar, an online organizer called Cozi, and Post-Its and I still forget tons things and Appointments. Ever since I had kids my brain turned to mush!! (FYI-Kids eat brain cells, and all your candy if you leave the pantry door open!) BUT!!! I have this strange ability to remember and recall faces of people regardless of time, INCLUDING aging!

For example... I once met this guy at a Boy Scout Event (Yes, I was a Boy Scout) and I was convinced we had met before, after thirty minutes of comparing friends, and even family we figured out we were in Kindgarten together but our paths had not crossed for 11 years.

Second example, I met this family at dinner at a friends house. I asked them where we had met before because I knew I had met them before...The parents passed it off because they were sure they had not met my family... After two hours it hit me like a ton of bricks! I cared for their now 4 year old daughter three years ago at a Cdc... she was nine months old when I met her!

So fast forward tonight... I'm watching Season Two, disc six, Episode 19 of Grey's Anatomy and I instantly guess that one of the actors playing in this episode looks like someone. She's not very well known so it took me about ten minutes to figure out she was on A League of Their Own in 1992... Looked up...I'm right!SOO... I'm convinced I have a gift, and now I need someone to pay me for it!!

Some company out there must have a use for my insane ability to recall the human faces I've seen... I could work for the CIA... sit in a room memorizing faces of known terriorists or Most Wanted peps... Then they could fly me first class around the globe with the hopes that I'll just so happen to run into a few of these individuals! I'll have to fly first class and only stay in five star hotels, I wouldn't want to stick out you see. ;)

Well on second thought, this whole CIA 300k a year job probably wont work out...I'd forget I'd have a job, but... I'd be able to recognize the driver of my company limo in 7-11!

Screw the CIA, I make milk... I AM a Super Hero!!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

I’ve been ROBBED! *UPDATED*

I have been ROBBED!

I've considered every possible scenario... three headed aliens, an invisible time portal, a seven pound Pomeranian with a ginormous hunger for knowledge, or even mutant geckos with a devious intent on destroying Federal property. Nothing explains my missing library books, so I'm forced to accept the fact that we've been robbed.
I don't know who or even when this dastardly act was committed and I have no explanation why the only items stolen were two library books. The first book entitled "Bamboo" is a fictional child's book, which we never read so I can't comment on its worth as a stolen item. The second book was entitled "Birth Your Way" and was only slightly informative as I've read 200 other books on the subject.

What's stranger is that these books were not lost at the same time, they weren't checked out at the same time, and they were one of many we had checked out! Because we returned a group of books together, I don't recall ever specifically seeing this book on its journey back to the library.

I've searched high and low...Every room in this house... every drawer, closet, every possible hiding spot. I've looked everywhere, times 5! Nothing.

I've now racked up some considerable late charges, only to be compounded by fees to replace the books I can't return!

I'm past the point of caring about the moolah... It irritates me to no end, and until my dying day I'll be wondering about these stolen books!

((InsertX-File'sThemeSong))

July 13th UPDATE!!

Alert the press! A book has BEEN FOUND!!

Bamboo is still MIA and all Gecko chirping WILL be investigated!! :P

November Update: I finally went in to pay my bill, asked for quick shelf check and the BOOK WAS FOUND!! My charges went from $49 to $15... NICE... Check the shelves people!!