Adrian's been home on leave for the past couple of weeks, and we've used the spare time to catch up on some island activities that we missed before he left for the middle east. He has to go back to work on Tuesday, but we've had a great time and made some fantastic memories. On Thursday we had a jam-packed day. We took a submarine tour in the morning, spent mid-day at the mall, and finished up the night with a luau. We were kind of nervous about the sub tour because we didn't know how...

Tonight Adrian and I went to a 3 Doors Down concert at Pipeline Café in Honolulu. We had a blast. It's been just about two years since our last concert (an outdoor concert...RHCP and Snoop Dogg...pouring rain) and 3DD was a great one to break our concert celibacy. Tickets were sold out for tonight's concert...in fact, 3DD will be having another one in the same place tomorrow night because of the huge response. Pipeline Café is a small venue (smallest I've ever been in for a concert)...

I'm a grown up. I'm responsible for myself. I'm also responsible for two little people. Daily, I find myself doing things that I hate because they need to be done, or because they are the prudent thing to do. I really hate getting up early in the morning. I mean, most normal people don't care for it, either, but my hatred for getting up early (which is anything before 9:30 am) is quite intense. I wait until the last possible moment to get up and get the kids out of bed to get read...

So, I changed out my tongue jewelry today. I decided to go with my green on with the little bomb icon instead of the skull and crossbones. Don't know why. It's just what I felt like. These are not the best pics in the world, but they give you an idea of what it looks like. The little pic that shows the bottom of the piercing is cropped . . . I had my eyes closed in the pic . . . it was an accident, but the photo came out looking like I was in the throes of orgasm or something and I d...

I'm an ass . . . I'll admit it. In fact, it's almost a term of endearment for me (and for those I care about, too . . . you know I like you when I call you an ass). But how do you know if you are an ass? Well, obviously, understanding ass-ness is like trying to tell a rainbow to stop being a rainbow. However, there are some clues . . . some guidelines . . . that can help you determine whether or not you might be an ass. 1. You laugh at the misfortune of others. You hee-ha...

Xavier is a very industrious child and very interested in justice, in our household and elsewhere. Therefore, it only made sense that he would come up with a very detailed discipline chart and request that Adrian and I implement these new rules that he'd worked so hard to reason out. The top of the chart has drawings on him and of his brother, each with five stars (with boxes for check marks above them) that lead to a drawing of a piece of candy labeled "treat." Five instances of go...

So I've been called a flirt. I don't mean to do it. I don't even really consider it flirting. It's just being friendly and chipper. Hell, I do it with women, too. What is flirting? Is flirting wrong when you're in a committed relationship? Is THIS flirting? My husband and I are in Blockbuster, looking for the movie Holes. I am in an aisle alone, and I look up to see a friendly looking Blockbuster employee. He smiles and asks, "Is there anything I can help you with?" I smi...

Men, have you spent many a sleepless night wondering exactly what numerically quantified value you are to the opposite sex? Women, do you wish you could give your man a report card? The solution is finally here! It's the Male Scale, a scientifically proven method to rate a man's attractiveness, sensitivity, and usefulness, and for a limited time, it's yours free! To use the Male Scale, simply answer the questions (men answer for themselves, women answer for their husbands or partners) a...

Wouldn't you like to sleep in this bad mofo? It's a couple of years old and has lived through some rough "missions," but I still think my boys' bunk bed is just about the coolest thing ever.

This might have been one of my favorite fourth of Julys ever, and that's something, coming from a Texan. We had a spectacular view of the firework display from the boys' playroom upstairs. We opened up their window and gathered around and watched the fireworks. It was incredible. It was so nice to be together as a family, with the boys chattering excitedly and Adrian running his hand over my back as we took in the view. The fireworks were just...wow. Red, white, and blue. Purpl...

It's been said that my house is boring. Tortuously boring, even. With that in mind, I have come up with a humane alternative to Gitmo. Our terrorist's day will start at 7:30 am, when he crawls out of his bed (which ironically, is a bunk bed that looks just like a military vehicle, you'd just have to see it), and searches through his drawers for clean clothes. He'll find clean underwear plus a t-shirt or shorts. He'll never find both. Mr. Terrorist will have to come down the stai...

I get in trouble for saying it. I suppose it's annoying. "Uh oh. I have The Pizza Sickness." "No you don't. There's no such thing as the pizza sickness. Stop saying that." But it's true. I'm sure there's some logical explanation for it. It probably has a name (besides The Pizza Sickness, that is). Everytime I eat a lot of pizza (actually, everytime I eat pizza I eat a lot of pizza, but anyways), I inevitably end up insanely thirsty. After two (ok, three or four) slice...

My dress came today. Mailed all the way from Hong Kong. I excitedly tore open the brown paper bag it came in with my bare hands. The dress was sealed in a clear plastic bag, and I ripped that one open with my teeth, and then I bounded up the stairs to try the dress on. The dress is beautiful. Very detailed and feminine. It even has little sparkles that manage to dust everything it touches. I stepped into the dress and pulled the top up over my chest. I started zipping the dress ...

For the eleven months that Adrian was deployed, I became accustomed to doing everything around the house by myself. I searched the cabinets to see what we had on hand. I made a menu. I used that menu to create a grocery list. I took the list, and the kids, to the store. I selected the items on my list and maybe two or three impulse items. I kept the little one out of the cash register behind us and the big one from kicking his brother while I placed every single item on the belt...