Disposables are Trying to Be Like Cloth

I ran across this article today and had a good laugh. Apparently, the makers of disposable diapers have decided maybe those cloth diaperers have something in the cute look of their diapers. So, they are coming out with these fabulous designer diapers. You'll have to pay a lot more, however. These Pampers diapers will run you about $6 more for a pack of two dozen.

Um, no thanks. While I do agree it was high time they stopped pumping out such ugly diapers, the high cost of them only makes me happier I made the switch to cloth when I did. I do wonder how they will do - at what point are people willing to pay so much more just for their babies' butts to look cuter? Considering all the diaper-bargain sites, I'm guessing not much, but only time will tell. Those Huggies jeans diapers are pretty cute, though...

Confession: I started cloth diapering in part because of all the nauseating cuteness of the diapers. Apparently, I am that shallow.

About the Water

The beach here is magic. Take the kids for a couple of hours and bedtime goes so smoothly. No crying or fighting, no last minute begging for drinks of water or the dinner someone didn't finish. Not a single request for just one more tuck-in. Just sweet silence. Whew! I really should take them more often.

No camera today because I was on my own and didn't want to worry about it baking in the sun while I played with the boys. I wish I'd brought it, though, because I'd inadvertently matched the boys' outfits. Wyatt was wearing his dark blue rash guard with red swim trunks, and Oscar had the same colors switched. I get all of our swim gear from Land's End because they hold up so well, so the colors matched, too, despite the size difference. Put the two of them together and they looked like they were color-blocked. I'll have to do it again sometime just for a picture.

I don't need a picture, though, to talk about the water. Wow, I have never gone swimming in an ocean before today that was as warm as bathwater. As summer comes on, the water has been getting warmer, but today was the first time it actually felt warmer than the air when I first stepped into it. Crazy, crazy, and I do get why people love the Caribbean. I think I'm in love myself.

Although, at home, the warm water continues. We no longer have cold water here. In the mornings, it's fairly cool, but by the end of the day, it's more like a choice of hot or not so hot. Also, we have to make sure we leave the toilet seat up or the seat gets damp. The water is so warm inside that it condenses on the lid, which is chilled some by our air conditioning. This was kind of gross the first few times we dealt with it (it doesn't do this in the winter time).

Just a few of the more interesting things about living here.

In the Name of Honor by Patterson

I have a book review to post today. Awhile back, I got an email from the publisher asking me if I was interested in reading two of their books. I'm not too big on doing giveaways or reviewing products I have no use for, but free books and writing book reviews are definitely interesting to me. So, I said yes, and received them in the mail a couple weeks ago. This one, In the Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson, is the first of the two. I'm still reading the second book, but will post about it when I'm done.

In the Name of Honor is a book you would probably find on the mystery shelves. In truth, it isn't a genre I'm typically into. I've read my share of Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon books as a kid, but as an adult, I tend to only read mystery novels if someone has recommended one to me. The premise of this one intrigued me, however, and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Set during the early years of the Iraq war, the book begins with Captain Paul Terry, a JAG lawyer who has excelled in the army, and is a month shy of getting out and beginning a new career with a law firm in New York City. He's called in to defend Lieutenant Brian McCarran, a soldier who has served a tour in Iraq. McCarran is accused of shooting Captain Joe D'Abruzzo, a man who had not only been his commanding officer in Iraq, but is also married to a woman who Brian considers his sister because of the closeness of their two families growing up. Brian McCarran's father is one of the army's most distinguished generals, further complicating the situation. So begins a story of family secrets and what war does to not only those who go, but those who are left behind.

I am, quite frankly, a sucker for skeleton-in-the-closet kinds of stories, and this was definitely one of those. The main shocker at the end was actually not much of a shocker because I'd guessed fairly quickly what it was. I did, however, eagerly await the resolution of it because it was so intriguing. A huge chunk of this book focuses on the trial, which I found a little tedious to read at times, but I know this is partly because I was trying not to skip to the end and find out what happened. I'm also not too into trial books in general, so if you enjoy that, you will probably like it better than I did.

In truth, though, the part of this book that affected me most was not the family issues and all the drama surrounding that. It was the story of PTSD and what Iraq did to these soldiers that held my attention. I've always been a bit of a war buff, reading up on the Civil War and World War II quite avidly as a teenager, but this war is personal in a way those historical accounts never were. My own husband has not had to head to the sandbox, but we know people who have gone, and I am acutely aware that as long as he's in the military, it will be on the table in some way. My biggest fear has always been not that he would die if he has to go, but that he would come home someone different and there would be no resolution for us.

Reading about these soldiers in Iraq drove that fear home, and it also reminded me anew of what sacrifices those who have served in these wars have given. I wish everyone could read the chapters that deal with this issue. I actually think this book would make for a great Book Club read because of all the different issues it addresses. I wish I still belonged to one and could offer it up as a suggestion!

Vacation Headaches

In true military fashion, we are trying to plan a summer vacation. It's definitely easier to do living here, but we're still running into problems. We're also learning what a complicated challenge it can be to plan flights out of here.

 The 20-seater that flies us to the States.

The plan is to visit my in-laws in a couple weeks, and then leave the kids with them while we go off and celebrate our anniversary (in true military style, a week late). Oliver still doesn't have leave because the guy who needs to sign his paperwork and send it up the chain is off-island right now, but we bought plane tickets and made a car reservation. Because we've learned a thing or two about this over the years (and we still are not completely positive about the dates he is going to get), we got them through Southwest, who will let you cancel an online reservation and carry over the funds for the next year. Between that and the ability to check two bags free, I'm not sure why people still fly legacy carriers (JetBlue is our airline of choice when we don't have to worry about the whole leave thing).

We're also hoping that we can manage to fly the same day as we leave the island. We requested a morning flight out of here, and then have a 1700 flight out of West Palm Beach. Hopefully, the flight here isn't canceled due to weather or something, and we don't get bumped. If either of those things happen, well, good thing we have Southwest tickets! Coming back, we're going to have to stay a night in Florida for sure. We thought we'd actually stay a couple nights and do some shopping before returning, but there's a Bahamian holiday and no flights scheduled that day, so it's either go back the next morning or wait three days for a flight. So, I guess we'll just be going back the next day.

Yikes, I didn't think taking vacation could get more complicated than it was when Oliver was on a boat. Apparently, I was wrong. I actually looked over at Oliver and suggested we just rent a car in Florida and drive all the way to New York because it was a whole lot easier to plan. There are way too many disparate pieces to put together! He nixed that idea, and I wasn't really all that serious. I think driving for two weeks on the way here was enough for everyone for awhile.

I'm really not complaining, however. At least Oliver is going with us this time!

Taking Care of Each Other

I'm feeling a little under the weather today. If I had to hazard a guess, I think I've caught whatever was plaguing our sons this weekend. I haven't been puking, thank heavens, but definitely not doing all that much. The house is a mess, but it also gave me a chance to see my oldest show me his very sweet self.

After Oliver came home this afternoon, he took the kids to the store to pick me up some ginger ale. Wyatt came running back alone about five minutes later because he hadn't wanted to walk the whole way so his dad sent him back. He came and snuggled on the couch with me, telling me he wished I felt better.

Then, he leaned back and said, "When I get bigger, I'm going to learn how to take care of you, Mommy."

If that doesn't make me feel better, nothing will!

Followers and The BlogRoll

I recently came across a blog that stated the "etiquette" of following. Apparently, if you get a new follower, you are supposed to immediately start following their blog regardless of whether it's on a subject you are interested in or not.

I have two problems with this (not necessarily in order of importance):

1. It can be a pain to figure out who this new follower is. Google doesn't announce it to you, so unless the person left you a comment, you have to comb through the list and try to recognize who is new. This is especially hard when half your followers don't have profile pics.
2. Does anyone realize how insanely full your RSS feed will get if you follow everyone you get? I mean, when I had five followers, no problem, but whenever I see someone with over a 100, I wonder. I "follow" about ten blogs, with about 15 or so more in my feed that I'm not "officially" following for various reasons, plus a few bookmarked ones that I check on occasion when I'm bored or need something specific. If I go a couple days without checking my feed, I can easily have 30 or more posts staring at me, awaiting my attention. So, should I clutter up my feed with blogs I may not want to read just to be polite?

All right, now that I've said all that and lost a few followers, I want to say it for the record: I'm not going to follow your blog just because you follow mine. I will check it out if you leave me a comment, and I might decide you rock and add my name to your fan club, but then again I might not. If this makes you not want to read my stuff, well, you obviously weren't that interested in the first place.

Moving on to the blogroll. I have decided it's about time I work on a little blog design, and this includes the blogroll I haven't changed since about two years ago. I may not be too into committing to following everyone, but I am happy to give you some promotion if you want it (and I don't find your blog offensive or against my own personal values). Feel free to leave me a comment here or send me an email if you'd like me to list your blog whenever I get around to fixing things around here. Hopefully that won't take another two years to complete.

Breathing the Clean

A few weeks ago, I joined up with Cat over at 4 Nuts in a Nutshell. She is doing a 120 mile challenge for this summer. I didn't jump on it right away because although I loved the idea (and desperately needed a new workout jumpstart), I wanted to do more. So, I set a personal goal of 200 miles, with a reward of a new wardrobe at the end as I'm very tired of wearing clothes that tell the world my kids have been here.

After a week of tracking my miles, I realized I needed the added boost of being accountable to someone. I mean, I was committed and rediscovering my love for running, but I knew it was going to be tough to keep on keeping on unless I had someone else to report to. So, I joined up and it's been fun seeing my miles go up. I'm at 41 now, and eventually I hope to be pulling in 20 mile weeks. Right now I'm doing about 3 miles a day, and have once managed to do 5, which I've never been able to do before now. I'm very excited about that.

With all that said, I took today off and instead depuked our house. Wyatt bounced back from his nightmarish bout of vomit, taking a three hour nap the next day (you can tell he was sick because he hasn't had a nap since he was just past the three year mark). Oliver very nicely scrubbed their room and bathroom, and I did a huge load of yucky laundry. We thought we were good until Oscar starting throwing up yesterday evening. Thankfully, it happened during the day, but since he's so young, it was a much greater challenge to keep it all contained. I actually had to change myself once because he missed the bowl I had out for him and got me instead. Oliver finally went out and bought a soda from a vending machine (because nothing on or off base is open past 1830) and that seemed to calm his stomach enough for him to sleep. He's been doing great today.

So, in hopes we are done for good, I went through round two today and scrubbed our bathroom, the kitchen, and living room (where we'd spent most of our time with Oscar). I figured I'd take this opportunity to introduce you to my newest love:

Biokleen's Bac-Out

I ordered this stuff about a month ago. I actually heard about it through the cloth diapering forums I used to peruse. I'm not sure why I didn't try it back when we were doing diapers full-time, but people swore it was fantastic at getting the stink out. I actually decided to buy it because the carpet in our living room stinks, and I have no way of having it professionally cleaned until we return to the States. I should have had it done before our move, but I kept putting it off and finally ran out of time. I did borrow a friend's steam cleaner and ran it literally two days before the movers showed up, but it wasn't enough. We rolled it out in our new place and were greeted with a nice musty funk. Bac-Out was my last ditch effort to do something about it.

So, this afternoon, after rinsing out all the puky laundry outside with the hose, I came back inside and sprayed down the carpet. I let it sit while I loaded the dishwasher, then came back and went over it all with a wet rag. It's now dry, and most of the smelliness is gone. It actually says on the back that it's used by professional carpet cleaners, and I think I can believe this. I've tried more than one carpet cleaner and have never had it work particularly well.

I'm also using this stuff in our laundry. The washing machine here isn't that great, and our whites often end up still smelling a little musty due to all the sweat they have to absorb living here. I found that just setting it for a 15 minute soak, then adding a squirt (it's pretty concentrated) while it's filling gives us fresh smelling clothes for once. I'm curious what else I can get this stuff to do.

I also have a couple of boxes of their laundry detergent sitting in our bedroom. When we finish the box we're on, I'm going to give that stuff a try. I hope it works out well. I'm bummed I can no longer buy Country Save now that we don't have a commissary available to us. That stuff is awesome; environmentally safe, and only six bucks a box. Oh, and it works well, too. Can't argue with that. 

Although, now I'm looking at their website and realizing I can order it since we have an FPO address, but it's a couple dollars more than I could find it in our commissary and has a decent shipping cost. I'll have to see how it balances out with the BioKleen I've been able to get on sale from Drugstore.com.

P.S. I appreciate the comments I had on my last post. I felt like I was having an "a ha!" moment when I read them. It's always great to find out people totally get what you are saying because they've been there, too.

Two Hours of Sleep Last Night

Last night started nicely enough. The boys went to bed easily, and Oliver and I spent some time video gaming before we crashed for the night, too. Then, right before I was shutting down my computer for the night, I heard Wyatt start crying. I went in there to find his dinner all over his bed as he looked dazedly at it. Thus commenced a night of puking.

I am not complaining too much, really. My kids are very healthy, and I can count on one hand the number of times they've had a puking sickness. Also, when they puke, it tends to be a one time thing. I've never really experienced the all night, every 30 minutes puking Wyatt went through last night. Because Oliver had work, he ended up sleeping in Wyatt's bed while I crashed in our room with Wyatt to help him through it. At 0430, we finally fell into an exhausted sleep. Then he woke up at 0645 saying he couldn't sleep anymore. Sigh.

All of this did make me very grateful that Oliver was actually home and could handle so much of it. While I haven't had to deal with much sickness overall, most of it happened when he was on duty or out to sea, so this is a really nice change. It's very nice to have your spouse around when things happen. In almost seven years of marriage, this is the first time I've learned I can count on him for things. (Not that this is at all his fault.) I really like it. Although, if he ends up reenlisting, I hope I don't get too used to it...

To Move or Not to Move

Well, actually, I think we've already answered this one, but I'm still agonizing over it for some reason. We were offered a double-wide trailer today. We went over to look at it this afternoon, and have all but decided to take it if it works out (we have to wait for final approval). In truth, I'm not sure why I'm worked up about it, but I am. More space is not always better.

Oliver actually wanted to just say no when we were asked, but I wanted to look at it first before I made up my mind. He is not keen on moving, and I don't blame him. It's not going to be a small amount of work, although at least it isn't any real distance. In truth, I had originally decided that if were ever offered something like this that I'd turn it down because of the hassle of moving everything, so I totally get what he's saying.

But then I walked through the other place, and I changed my mind. We're living in a singe-wide right now, and it is enough space. It's tight, and the boys don't really have space to lay out their trains, plus I feel like I am always struggling to fingure out how to fit our stuff in better so it doesn't look cluttered, but it's really ok. The main thing I don't like about it, actually, is that it feels like a trailer because of how it's laid out. When we walked into the double-wide, it felt more like a house. It's also been redone recently, has carpet instead of tile, a master bathroom we can both actually use at the same time, and an oven that is actually modern enough to have a clock and timer on it (seriously, the one we have is awful!). Tough to say no to all that, especially since we live in a place where going nicer is not easy to do for just about everything.

There are still things to think about, though. For me, the biggest drawback is moving away from Wyatt and Oscar's best friends. They are only three houses down from us right now, and that has been really nice. The new place is three streets down, so we will have to make more effort than we do now to get them together. On the plus side, Wyatt starts school on August 16th, so we really have a couple of months before he's seeing his friend a lot more than he does now. Oscar is still happy to do things on his own, and I can always take him to the daycare every so often when he gets antsy. So, it might work out fine. I know we'll miss our impromptu biking sessions down the street, though. And what if we dislike the new neighbors? Sigh.

There's also the question of what the internet will be there. That's actually a pretty big issue. I think we'd rather have a smaller place with decent internet than a bigger one with a poor connection. Yes, we are definitely reliant on the internet in far too many ways. My in-laws don't have it, and every time I visit, I feel like I am operating with a limb cut off. Really, how did we get along without the internet?!

Our boys, though, have no such reservations. They are already asking us when we're going to move; they loved being able to run through it, I think. Way more space for them. When we sat down and asked what they liked, though, Oscar told us it was the "doors" that were great, and Wyatt liked "all the beds". Somehow, I don't think these were actually the reasons they liked it (and possibly they mostly like the idea of change, which goes to show you they are my sons indeed), but at least they are thinking!


It's interesting because back in Washington, we had a similar situation while I was pregnant with Oscar. We could have gotten a larger place in housing, but opted not to because we only had a little less than two years to go there. We also didn't want to get used to a bigger place due to the goal of going overseas. Now, we have a little over two years here, and will be returning to the States when we go back. So, it makes more sense to move.

I don't know why I am so worked up about it. I think part of it is because we just got settled here, and now we are moving again. Even though it's only a few streets, it will change some things about life for us. That's just how it goes. Here's hoping this works out fine and we don't regret it. There's no going back if we do.

The Rainy Season Brings Mushrooms

The summer brings on the rainy season here. This is not, however, anything like Washington State, where the skies remain clouded over for days, weeks, sometimes months with intermittent rain. No, here the rain clouds roll in with some amazing speed, dump rain so hard I sometimes fear for my plants, often with thunder and lightening tagging along (we've actually had thunderstorms almost every day of the week recently), and then sweep away to bring back the sun. Sometimes, it even rains while the sun is shining. I have learned it's a wise thing to close the windows in the car while at the gym, as more than once I've walked in the doors seeing a sunny sky, then heard the rain start halfway through my run. It's still hot as ever, and with the rain the humidity is very cloying at times.

I am liking it, though. Things grow like crazy now that there is so much rain. When we first moved here, our trailer was very overgrown, and I wondered how it got that way since we barely had to mow the lawn all winter. Now, I know what happened. Things are turning very green and lush, and our boys love running around in the rain. It's so warm outside, I am happy to oblige them.

The most interesting thing I've seen, though (and the reason for this post), were the mushrooms I found growing under my pepper and tomato plants this week. Wyatt was fascinated by them and eagerly asked if we could eat them. Um, yeah, don't think so - I'm not too up on my mushroom collecting abilities.

It sure would be nice if these were edible, though. I miss fresh mushrooms. They do carry them here every so often, but they are often going bad already. I have taken to smelling the packages before buying. If they smell like mushrooms, I count myself lucky and we enjoy a rare treat. If not, well, back on the shelf they go.

Water is Valuable - Especially when you don't have any

This morning, I got up and for some reason, felt all productive in the kitchen. We had planned on hot dogs on the grill for dinner, so I made hot dog buns (for the first time ever) using this recipe, then boiled the potatoes and eggs for potato salad. I also heated up some milk and set up the cooler for yogurt.

I'm exceptionally glad I did this because by 1400 we had no more water. We've had to deal with no water before because they have been putting in some new concrete houses, along with power outages, but each time we had warning and could prepare for it. This time, the cause was some construction near our street. Apparently, they hit a pipe or something of that nature.

Water is pretty important. That's a whole host of things you can't do when you have no running water, from the annoying to the downright scary. Drinking water is obviously at the top of the scary list (and we were dangerously low because of the lack of warning), especially since we live in a tropical environment. Past that obvious issue, though, consider this list of things you need water for:

• Flushing the toilet
• Washing your hands - this is especially gross when you have a two year old who is not so great at aiming into the potty
• Cleaning up things (this also applies to the above issue)
• Washing laundry
• Washing dishes (wow, I'm so glad Oliver decided to do all the dishes yesterday afternoon and we didn't eat dinner at home!)
• Taking a shower
• Cleaning your kids up after they were digging in the dirt
• Cooking, which includes washing vegetables - I had a fine time cleaning the celery for our potato salad with the inch of water left in the pot from boiling the eggs

 I'm sure I could think of more, but those were the issues that came up today. We did take comfort in the 25 gallons of water I have stored in the house, but luckily didn't need them because the base gave all of us affected by the outage a free case of water. The water came back on by the boys' bedtime, but we're going to be boiling our drinking water for the few days to be safe. Apparently, some ground water got into the pipes. The guy that came by to let us know what was going on assured us they were disinfecting it and it should be fine, but he also handed us a flyer that gave us information on E. Coli and a few other germs and why we should be boiling our water. Fun stuff.

One thing I will say about living here: I have absolutely learned the value of things I really haven't had much reason to think about before. While on the one hand it is a pain (like when you really, really want to wash your hands after taking care of your kid's accident), it is also opening my eyes in a way I had not had cause to do so before. I appreciate that very much, and I hope I take that with me when we return to civilization.

In closing, here is a pic of Wyatt wolfing down one of the hot dog buns. I'm pretty proud of them, and they came out about what hot dog buns should be, so I think I'll be making them again in the future. For the record, though, I did bake them at 375 instead of 400, and will likely drop that to 350 next time as they were just a tad bit dry. I also used a cup of white wheat instead of straight up all purpose.

Dead Ants and Tomatoes

This post title sounds a little nuts, but I assure you, they are actually two separate thoughts. Although, now that I think about it, it sounds like I could have written about finding dead ants in our tomatoes....

Ok, moving on! First up is a pic of the latest crop of tomatoes. I've picked about ten of them so far, not including the green one my neighbor's three year old grabbed while Wyatt was showing off the tomatoes a few weeks ago. I surreptitiously handed it to his father after he was reprimanded and he told me later it did turn red for them. I think these four are going in homemade mac'n'cheese tonight along with the fresh broccoli I need to use up soon.

I do have to pick them when they start to turn yellow, though. The birds here love tomatoes, and leaving them to ripen on the vine means they get holes pecked into them. They do the same thing to the peppers, sadly, so no red peppers anymore. I could rig some kind of netting and a neighbor offered us some, but I'd have to build a frame first and that is just escaping me on how to go about doing that. So, we just pick them early and it's fine.

This pic is all about the ants. Living on a tropical island, ants are just part of the landscape here. I mean both in and out of the house. It drove me crazy for the first few months, and I was always trying to eradicate them. I realize I don't keep the cleanest of houses, and I never get the dishes done up every night, but we never had a bug problem in Washington. Granted, this may in part me because there just weren't many bugs there (a very nice part of living there), but I'd like to think we aren't bug-magnets despite the lack of a perfectly clean house.

After complaining about the constant ant incursions to a couple neighbors one night, they both nodded their heads and said it didn't didn't matter what we did, the ants would still keep coming. We have even found them in the bathtub - apparently, it's the water they are mostly after, not the food crumbs (although they are quite delighted to bring their friends when we oblige them). At this point, we mostly ignore them, but put out ant traps when we seem to be getting a nest.

This is what is going on in this picture - I put out the lid to a Ben and Jerry's carton with some Terro Ant Killer on it. I'm all about recycling out here, and the ice cream was an added draw, I figured. (Note the half-empty bottle of Terro. I'm sure this is only the first of many more bottles we buy during our years here.) I kept adding more Terro over the next couple of days, and we ended up with an ant graveyard all over our window sill. I left them there, figuring I'd clean it all up when I was done with the trap, but it seems ants like to bury their own (or maybe they are cannibals?). They were nearly all gone one morning, which is actually what prompted this pic. It was kind of weird.

And, well, that's about all I have to say about that. I keep thinking I need a punchline or something profound, but I got nothing people. Just an ice cream lid full of dead ants. Maybe I should go take care of that now...

Is He Trying to Tell Me Something?

Oscar hit his head on the counter this evening. Wyatt, out of great concern for his little brother, asked me if he could give him a cookie to make him feel better.

I love that my older son is so very sweet to his brother, but I wonder what this says about my parenting...

We're Still Laughing

• Last night Oliver was helping Oscar give the prayer.

                     Oliver: "Please bless my big brother, Wyatt."
                     Oscar: "Please bless Daddy's big brother, Wyatt."

• During Oliver's birthday celebration this year, Wyatt looked at his dad and said, "Daddy, stand up so we can see how big you are now!"

• Oscar is always coming up with names for things that baffle me. A few of my favorites:

                     "Hmmmhmmm" - the Scooba, maybe because of the noise it makes when it's running?
                     "Bloody milk" - this is what you get when you add strawberry syrup to milk; I  made a joke about it once and he ran with it.
                     "Liquid Game" - Candyland; yeah, I have no idea at all about this one.
                     "Tinkle Winkle" - is the name of one of his teddy bears. I think this is a mangled version of a silly name we read in a book.

The best part about all of his names is that they aren't because he can't say things correctly. This is a two year old that speaks like a five year old; everyone always does a double-take when he opens his mouth because he speaks clearly and in full sentences. No, he's just very, very creative. Although, when it comes to himself, he's very clear on this: "No, I'm Oscar!" Sometimes, we can get him to accept his last name or even add the middle name in there, but "Sweetie Pie" or even just, "You're so funny!" is completely unacceptable. He's Oscar, and that's all there is to it.

Post on MMB

My third post on MMB is here.