and...AWAY he goooooes!!!!

so, we are from west texas. meaning...we're not really used to the effects of super wet, salty water in the air. meaning...brand new bikes from the fall that were not properly stored are large lumps of rust with wheels. er...not THAT bad, but too bad to be seen on in public. ;)
not to mention oscar's ONLY bad dog evidence, which is from her first few days here, are the chewed off seats. ;)
anyway, i was NOT going to go spend all that money on new bikes again, much less new bikes that broke as much as the rust lumps did. kade is ALMOST, but just not quite, at the next size up. that means that so is cody. hence...we're not spending much on bikes for the next several months.
so i went in search of my favorite thing...a bargain!
so i went all over looking for used kid bikes. i took poor kade back and forth looking at bikes. of course he was mad that i chose the fitted size bike for co that happened to be co's fave color, BUT it had flames on it and is totally fast b/c of that flame job ;)
we finally found kade a bike. he said it was a bob the builder bike due to the color, it looks like Scoop.
Well, he'd had training wheels on his green bike all this time, I had decided he was old enough to learn to ride w/out them though so I had no intention of putting any on his bike this time.
When I took him to see this yellow bike, the man asked if he could ride and I said not w/out any trainers on it. So he's pushing Kade on the bike to see if it fits him well or not, and he then lets go of Kade, who I'm waiting to fall over and go kiss his knee. Apparently t hough, he'd been out taking bike lessons in the middle of the night or something because he did not fall over, he took off riding that bike like he'd been doing it for a year.
Seriously, it reminded me of Forest Gump when his braces fell off and he could " RUN! FOREST RUN!!!!".
He hasn't stopped riding ever since. I was absolutely amazed.
So...without further ado, here is Kade...his SECOND time riding a bike for real. :o)

Kamikaze Kade


Poor Co, has to still have the training wheels on his and he has more hell than anything I've ever seen. I know he's awfully young for it, but I think we're going to try him w/out them soon as well. If he can figure out balance, he can do it no doubt. Kade won't even try to use his hand brakes and Co uses his fine. Just seems that regular old training wheels are not tough enough for my big boy. We've gone through a few pair now...he's not used to not being able to keep up, so it's frustrating for everyone!
He kicks butt training wheels or not though...when he's not falling over that is. ;o)
After this video we took them out to the woods and rode all our new bikes and it was awesome. Kade did not fall once...Co on the other hand, well...he WOULDN'T have if his trainers could've kept up with him. :o) So much fun though, so we're in the market for a bike rack.
Also, just FYI, I guess you really DON'T forget how, b/c I didn't even fall ONCE! yeah I was probably more sure that I would fall, not the kids! ha!

Anyway, here's Kade, knowing how to do something all along, but not bothering to tell anyone.
xoxo

What I do NOT miss...

I feel it's only fair.... ;o)

Well, I certainly have things that I do not miss about West Texas. I mean...come on. If not for family and friends, West Texas would've just been something of the past a long time ago. I never keep it any secret how much I did not like the area. It's not BAD BAD, but it's so not my favorite either. However, my favorite PEOPLE are there...so that makes a big difference. ;O)

Anyway, West Texas does not get off Scott Free here...

~ hummingbird sized mosquitoes (AT ALL) i get swarmed. always.
~ wind. not that there is not wind here, no there is plenty. however, we don't have to breathe in half of New Mexico when it does blow here. It's just damn cold.
~ 107 degrees in the shade. Yeah I loathe baking when I step out the front door for 5 whole seconds.
~ Swarms. You know how every couple of years we have a swarm of something? The crickets are the worst IMO. *shudder* but the grasshoppers, the beetles, the crickets...
~ june bugs. potato bugs. whatever you call them. i hate, hate, hate them. thanks to my Uncle Tommy and cousin Philip. I'm still scarred by them chasing me and throwing them in my hair.
~ fences. that's the WAY cool thing here. there are thousands and thousands of acres here that have no fences. meaning...if i had a HORSE here i could ride for days and not make a circle. you can go exploring anywhere on foot, on bike, on horse...it's awesome. there are hardly any fences here. i dig.
~ brown grass
~ this one is a given...fire ants
~ having to watch for poisonous snakes
~ having to watch for poisonous spiders
~ having to watch out for poisonous everything.
~ um, just having to worry about everything possibly being killer bugs or reptiles or animals or...whatever it may be.
~ wasp nests.
~ the barren landscape
~ water rationing
~ the feeling like the world drops off at the edge of town. ;0) haha

I was reading some nature books with the boys the other day, I've bought a load of old books at thrift stores about nature, animals etc...  SO we got to rattlesnakes and that, of course, led to the conversation how they are poisonous and all over the place in Texas. Then we got into all the snakes and spiders and scorpions etc... Well, as much as Kade always tells me that we HAVE to go back to Texas tomorrow, he suddenly changed his tune. He seriously had fear in his eyes and said, "Mom, we can't ever go back to Texas. It's DANGEROUS!"
Whoops! ha! Well, I suppose it will seem that way. Where as I grew up knowing to watch for snakes, not play with spiders and always check the covers before getting in bed, never slipping my feet in a shoe w/out shaking it out first so on and so forth. They are missing out on that schooling living here, so I guess when it's not just the way things are, it's freaky. Just as I did NOT believe or trust our neighbors when we first got here and I asked them what would kill me, after their "OMG that American is mad" expression, they said nothing. Well, I thought it had to be some sort of conspiracy. I mean, not having rabies here was trippy enough, but seriously?!?!?! No killer insects? Not even one teeny tiny innocent looking ladybug turned fire-breathing beast? Unheard of! So I did hear later there is one snake to watch out for here, but it's very rare. Regardless, I jog through the woods with wild abandon.
Needless to say, when we move back to Texas I will surely get bit by a rattler within a month. I should start taking bets now.
While it's not killer, the stinkin nettle is nearly as bad though. OUCH!!!! It might LOOK like the making of strawberries growing wild...it's surely not. Don't find out the hardway like I did. More of that ignorant American I guess. In my flip flops and shorts walking up to a huuuuge patch, "Hey Mike! Look! Wild strawberries EVERYWHEeeeee......OUCH SHIT! OWowowowowowow!!!! *&(*&^^&%^&@@$!&#*J".
Yeah, good thing no one else was around to see that one...

P.S.

i also miss milk by the GALLON and garbage pick up twice a week, gosh...even ONCE a week would be killer.

*sigh*

okay but that's all. i remembered those too. haha

here i am...

as if anyone reads this anymore? i know, i know... everybody gave up on me. well, i do have a sort of reason for not having posted on here in awhile. i've tried to explain but man oh man...can you just imagine how LONG winded i might have gotten? far too much.
so the short of it is, i am going to go on and do my "thang" and i'll finish up my rant about nothing really probably someday maybe. i dunno. at any rate, i'm not going to withhold randomness b/c i haven't had my say yet.
blah...

anyhoo, i am going to try to catch up on all the pointless crap that i've felt compelled to share but have not for the last month or so. somehow, someway.
at the moment, since i'm sooooooo seriously annoyed i feel like sharing a list of....i miss.
so PEOPLE aside, for that is a given, a list of things i miss from home. the things we take for granted in the states and i mean honestly it's not like i'm in some 3rd world country  here so it's really petty stuff. actually, seeing as it's earth day i should really just shut the hell up and not complain about anything. be glad i have food, water, a roof, clothing so on so forth.
um, alas, the petty list.

i miss:

~ drive thru's on the right side of the car
~ WAL-MART  (ooooh the convenience of having it all in one place!!!)
~ target just b/c target was SO fun to just peruse through for hours on end and sadly we only  had an old school convenience store sized target in abilene.
~ lowe's. man...how can i even explain how much i miss lowe's.
~ beds, mattresses, bedding that all fit each other. (hence my current foul mood. SO SICK OF IT!!!!)
~ walking into my fave stores and trying on my clothes first.
~ shopping in a friendly shopping environment. think ppl are rude in the states in stores??? oooooohh no way friends. not at ALL. i think ppl might not even think they are being rude here, but...when you grow up shopping in a country where you don't walk in front of ppl, you say "excuse me" etc... it's beyond effing rude here. i want to pummel ppl within about half an hour. i do NOT go shopping at ALL on the weekend. it's like black friday on crack. yeah...
~ properly sized clothing.
~ shoes. don't get me started on SHOES. if you gals with giganto feet like me think it's bad back home??? yeah, move to europe. piss. off. i thought it was exciting at first to realize that my shoe "size" would be like two sizes smaller...until hey guess what, NO ONE has that size either.
~ walking into a restaurant and KNOWING i WILL like something there, much less know what everything is on the menu.
~ margaritas
~ tanning (it's sickeningly expensive here)
~ going for pedi's with my girls
~ rosa's (okay i could not leave my girl rosa out... ;) ).
~ mrs. bairds
~ borden's milk
~ ice. ice in my drinks, ice at the stores. ice in the freezer. ice is a hot commodity here.
~ adult sized ovens.

and....LAST BUT NOT LEAST.
i miss INTERSTATES!!!! how, how awesome to get on I-20 or I-35 and go in a nearly straight line, fast. straight, solid, fast. getting somewhere in a reasonable time rather than getting stuck behind tractors and trucks and risking your life to pass them to only get caught by a train. 20 miles takes an hour, if you are lucky.


well, i could go on and on about the FOOD i miss and the THINGS i miss doing with the PEOPLE i miss. that would go on forever i'm sure though. it's spring and well, when the sun is out and it's sort of warm out, i tend to forget about a lot of the inconveniences and fall in love with england all over again. there are daffodils all over the roadsides growing wild in abundance. no more of that hoping for a good year and driving around for hours looking for the one good bluebonnet patch that is publicly accessible. cherry trees are covered in flowers, the green is absolutely unbelievable. sure it's green year round pretty much, it's overwhelming in the early summer. breathtaking really...

but for tonight. tonight i'm just PISSED about beds and bedding and the lies they feed you on the internet about things being the same size that are not.
don't ask, just know that i've spent 2 days working really hard and just realized it was for nothing and well, if i've not mentioned. i'm REALLY pissed about it.

so on that note, i'm taking my pissy self to get warm b/c i'm f-f-f-f-f-freeeeeeezing!