Life on Planet Caddick

Wow! I can't believe I've been gone so long. I think about blogging here a lot, but then I realize that honestly, we aren't doing anything that awesome. I guess that's not the point though - the point is to get stuff down as a record mostly for myself. So I will try to be better. It's time to pick curriculum for next year. I don't know why this is so agonizing - and it gets worse as we get closer to high school. I'm planning 8th grade now. 8th grade {insert big 'Home Alone' face here}! I knew it was coming, yet somehow I'm still not completely prepared. I've realized that no matter how it's presented, Zach hates History. That it was always my favorite subject doesn't matter to him at all. So, I'm going to teach the way I want to and he's just going to have to get with the program. I'm going to go with Sonlight (World History Core W) for that and LA (since they come together). We will still do Lifepacs for Science. I'm ...

It snowed on our wedding day. I made the guys wear peach cummerbunds and bow ties. Except my soon to be husband and dad - they wore white and black respectively. My soon to be arrived on location before I did. Good thing too since apparently bows had not been changed to the correct color (um, peach) and since I really was being a big ol' witch (but with a b) it would have been very bad for the lady who was supposed to change them. I also made my sisters wear shorter heels (or no heels) so I would be the tallest one in all the pictures of us girls. Yep, I said witch - remember? We had more people in our wedding than at our wedding. I requested chocolate cake with (yep, you guessed it) peach flowers. I was 28; Erik was 23. For some reason my MIL thought I was younger. Much younger. I don't know why - I never lied about my age. I knew I was robbing the cradle! One week after our ceremony I left my man in AZ and headed back to Germany, where I was stationed at the time. ...

As much as I want to get all mushy about my son. How he turned into a teenager in, what seems like, the blink of an eye. How he's now taller than me (ok, not that hard to do!). I won't. Not this year anyway. We couldn't really go anywhere for his birthday this year. If we'd planned a party it would have been iced out. So, we did the best we could with what we had to celebrate this milestone. We counted down to the big day. We did a treasure hunt for his presents. In the end, this kid who doesn't eat cake or ice cream, asked for homemade pizza for dinner and we had a great day. As an added bonus his birthday this year actually fell on President's Day so I didn't make him do school on his birthday either! OK, I never make him do school on his birthday (I'm a sucker like that).

The weatherman said it was coming. I laughed at him because he's always wrong. He said "get ready - it's going to be bad." I mocked him for crying wolf - again. Then, for the first time in I don't know how long, he was right. We lost power for 44+ hours. We played a multitude of dusty board games. We spent time in the van watching DVD's while charging electronic devices. We made coffee and cooked food on our camp stove. We made it through just a little cold and smelly (because this girl doesn't take cold showers unless she's in a combat zone). And I even managed to take a few pictures! Beautiful - but it's still SC  Is it any wonder we lost power? This was only after about 2 hours of the storm I know it looks like snow It really is all ice though How we make coffee with no power Some lantern light while cooking dinner Hot food is good when you're iced in Erik doing the cooking I'm...

Erik is now officially a working civilian. I'm going to be honest, finding a decent job was hard. We had a couple months where I was worried (really worried), but everything has worked out. And although he's not really loving  his job, it's something. There were a few things that completely caught me off guard with his new job: The paperwork! Oh my goodness! I thought the military had a lot of paperwork. Yikes. There was all kinds - health insurance, vision, dental, HSA - all on forms that didn't look anything like forms I was used to filling out! Talk about things I had to ask about (and made me feel stupid) - there were a lot of them. First, the above mentioned HSA (maybe it was a FSA? Either way "WTHeck is this?") Long term and short term disability. I honestly didn't know this was something that had to be paid for. Sad, huh? I guess that's what happens when you grow up military and then spend the next 20+ years still in (or around) the military...

Weird title, but let that be your warning. I've been away for so long and have so many things running through my mind. This post is just going to be me thinking out loud, wondering about stuff, and basically dumping all my thoughts out so I can decide what needs to be put back in and what can be discarded. Brain Barf - zesty To the government please quit screwing with the military, gun owners, and former military gun owners. You won't get our guns - you may have signed away our entitlements but now we're mad Veterans. No, that's not a threat - just pointing out the obvious (that all of y'all might have missed). Military trained, pissed off gun owners. Paul Ryan and John McCain - I'm embarrassed that I voted for tickets you were on. And I'm embarrassed that after you screwed us Vets you asked for money. No, I won't vote for Hillary - but I guarantee I will not ever vote for any ticket either of you are on. Anyone who lives your states that has ever se...

The first time I ventured into homeschooling my little man was in second grade. I was really good about pictures then. *sigh* now I'm just lame about pictures, even though I always have my phone close by and pictures should be easier to take. Today I was looking for a picture for Throw Back Thursday (which I love - you never know what you're going to see!) and I chose this winner It's from second grade - when we were studying Ancient Greece (or maybe Rome - I don't remember now). Dang, we really use to have a lot of fun. I need to fix that.....