Kai is now 8 years old (8.5 she reminds me) and I hate that as she gets older there are times when I cannot relate to her at all.
And for the most part I'm happy about it!

I grew up in a dysfunctional family that I often likened to Roseann growing up only more dysfunctional.
I was (still am) an only child that was raised out in the sticks by my undiagnosed (at the time) PTSD, manic depressive Mother and my dad who was just trying to cope with it all which turned into raging alcoholism. 

Bonus both of my parents are ex-military!
So I was raised where I was either alone most of the time or in the company of adults because back then it was cool to take your kid to the bar with you.
So I spent my developing years either around adults that were drinking heavily, or with my Mom who I never knew what the mood was that day, or I was alone with my cat.
Some days were great with my mom, where we would bake cakes, work in the garden if it was summer time, snuggle and watch movies together if it was cold or raining and then there were the days where I got my ass beat for looking at her funny or saying something with the wrong tone, or if there was a speck of dust somewhere that I was suppose to clean up or if I made too much noise I would get kicked out of the house with my cat to go do whatever. I would be booted outside, only allowed to come in to use the restroom or eat lunch otherwise I was outside until my dad came home from work in the evening.
If I stepped outside the line even a little she would whoop me either with her hand, a shoe or most common a switch.

When I was about 7 I went through a phase of only sleeping under my bed and I spent all my time under out dining room table with a stack of books and my stuffed animals.
I felt safe under there and I think my parents occasionally forgot I was under there.

As I got older my dad's drinking got worse and my chore list got longer as I took on the little things he was supposed to do so that my mom wouldn't come home from waitressing and lose her shit.
They fought constantly so if there was anything I could do to stop it I tried.
So by the age of 9 I was doing dishes, vacuum, dusting, taking out the garbage, doing the laundry, feeding the animals, whatever I could think of.
Which some people think is the normal amount of chores but I respectfully disagree.

I grew up in a hurry. Between being pulled into the fights and going to school, and trying to keep the peace chore wise I lost my ability to be a kid. I became a miniature adult basically.

I swore if I ever had kids I would never be anything like my parents and I'm pleased to say that I'm not like them at all.

Now that I have kids I struggle to relate to Kai since at her age I was doing so much and then she won't even put away her laundry I lose my temper and yell "I was doing 10x's that when I was your age!"
My heart stopped when she responded that she would be more like me and I immediately sat her down to tell her I didn't want that at all. I would just appreciate her doing the chores I ask of her and to play with her little sister.

I'm trying so hard for Kai to enjoy being a kid but it's so freaking hard when I'm not even sure what a normal 8 year old does.
So I'm doing the best that I can and letting her set the pace with her interests with some exceptions such as no makeup, no daisy duke shorts, no bikinis, no mini skirts.

I'd like to think that I'm not fucking up but only time will tell.
My Dad is sober going on 9 years and my Mom is finally getting the help she needs so they are involved in my daughters lives and it's nice. 

She told you what?

I know the art of the conversation and just communication in general is dying out.
I'm guilty of it as much as anyone else.
I would prefer to communicate pretty much any way other than face to face or over the phone. Over the phone is the worst for me for some reason, I would rather send out freaking carrier pigeons than talk to anyone on the phone save my mother and some days I don't want to talk to her either 😁
If I can talk to you without actually talking to you that would be fantastic, email, text, IM, Snap Chat, smoke signals I'm down.

Kai had a parent/ teacher conference the other day and she has been slacking off on turning in her homework.
Her teacher was surprised to learn that Kai had willingly told me about it even though it wasn't good news and had the potential to get her grounded.
I didn't realize kids started keeping secrets in 3rd grade O.o

We keep things very open in our house, our main rules are
1. Be Respectful to everyone and to our home. (which translates into don't be an asshole and pick up after yourself. Lola the 2 year old is still learning this but Kai gets it even though she doesn't like it some days.)

2. No Secrets ( now keeping a gift a secret is one thing but we completely open about everything else to a point. Obviously we are not going to be 100% candid with our 8 and 2 year old about our sex and sneaking quickies while they play in the other room nor are we going to divulge all the details of when we go out and have a few drinks. You have to keep things age appropriate.)

3. No Lies. (We do not tell lies. Honesty is the best policy in our house and we back it completely.)

How hard is it to talk to your kids?
Answer: Not very fucking hard. All it takes is 15 minutes of your time tops. Turn off your phone or at least put it on vibrate in your pocket, shut your laptop, let the PC go to sleep for a minute, turn off the TV and ask them How their day went. If that gets you no where try asking if anything interesting happened during their day or what they learned.

I do this with Kai almost every damn day when I pick her up from school and on the 3 block walk home I ask her these questions.
Now granted I get the run down on a ton of shit I could care less about like whether Mason wore his blue shoes or not or what color the bow in her friend Mary's hair was but I also find out about how they are learning about forced perspectives in Art and how she is learning that she likes writing songs in Music class which has prompted us to look into getting her guitar lessons. I also find out when she's being bullied by little girls that are acting way older than they should be and how I find out that her teacher is working on teaching them to be responsible and take responsibility for their actions.
She tried to blame me for her not turning her work in and her teacher would hear none of that.
She informed Kai that it was KAI'S responsibility to turn in her work not mine especially when I have Lola to chase and HB works 3rd shift.
I could not have hoped for a better teacher for Kai this year.

Putting what on your baby's butt?

Lola has been successfully cloth diapered for over 2 years now. Which is impressive since everyone thought we'd make it like 2 weeks tops.
She's in mostly pocked diapers now with the occasional disposable at night or for long car trips.
However when she was 6 months and under I used covers and flour sack towels almost exclusively. Now the flour sack towels go in her Kawaii diapers wrapped around a hemp insert.
Its the one thing I rarely hear about people using on their cloth babies even though its literally one of the cheapest options for when they are not so wiggly. I've read about people using them past 6 months and adding a insert to the fold for more absorption but I never did that.
The Flour sack towels were easy to wash, dried quickly even on the clothes line and they are HELLA CHEAP! You can get a 5 pack of them for just a couple dollars.
There a ton of folds that you can do with them and I fastened mine with a Snappi since trying to use diaper pins makes me a nervous wreck.
You can find a TON of tutorials on Pinterest (my guilty pleasure) that are so easy and then you just put a cloth diaper cover over it. And covers are a lot cheaper than even a pocket diaper.
They are so trim and cute it amazes me that more parent's don't cloth diaper. 

Just trying to raise good people.

All we've ever been concerned with is raising the girls to be good people.
Raise them to not be assholes, to help others without being asked, to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
Religion has never been a way of keeping people from being assholes.
I would know! I was raised in the Lutheran church and there were just as many assholes there as anywhere else only they seemed to think that because they went to church every Sunday their being an asshole was excused. That they could treat others badly, be nasty to them, say humiliating things to others and it was ok as long as they went and prayed to the big JC come Sunday.
So called good Christians that couldn't be bothered to help their fellow man unless there was something in it for them.

So we have been raising the girls without religion. We want them to be genuinely good people not people that are only decent because they are scared of going to Hell.

It hadn't been an issue how we were raising them until recently when one of Kai's friend's started preaching to her on the play ground about how Jesus grants wishes and since we don't go to church we're all going to Hell.
Fun kid right there.
He's on to a head start in fear mongering.
Thankfully HB was raised in the church as well but he actually was confirmed where as I wanted no part of any of that and refused to go to church unless my grandma forced me to attend with her.
So he has been able to answer all the questions but she's been so confused as to why God has any right to judge us to begin with.
But it made us think about everything.
I am pagan.
He is agnostic at best.
And Kai is asking questions about Christianity.

Do I start teaching her about being Pagan and celebrate the Solstice that is come up along with Yule or do I drag her to church so she can see what it's all about in its boring glory.

We've decided to do both. I'm going to set up my altar and get her some books. And we'll be making a trip at least to the Unitarian Universalist church in our city.
Perhaps we'll go to church with my in-laws as well. I might need to be drunk for that trip lol 

Guess who's baaack... +1!

I am finally back to my poor neglected blog after a loooong ass hiatus.
Our life has been crazy hectic! 
Its been a busy 2 years!
We've added to our clan Kai's little sister Lola-bug, we moved, HB and I both got new jobs and now I'm working on starting my own business!
We finally found all the bits and pieces to our PC since writing a blog from my Kindle was a freaking pain in the ass.
I'm so excited to get this thing rolling again and share the antics of my crazy family!

A New Chapter: Getting Our Rainbow. (exciting news!)

It took us longer then we had expected to the nerve to try again for a sibling for Kai. We focused all our energies on her, school and getting married last year. Once the wedding was over and she was settled into a routine at school we finally had time to think.
We were unsure what to do for quite a while until we had an "accident" and then started counting down to my period.
We both very surprised when I cried and he was bummed when my period showed her icky, messy head.
We sat down and had a long talk about if we were ready and weighed all the pro and cons.
We decided that we were ready to give it another shot (pun intended)
I already tracked my cycle since I can't take hormonal BC and IUD's scare the hell out of me.
Turns out we got it right one our first try!
I then proceeded to turn into a nervous, neurotic mess panicking at every twinge, rushing to the bathroom every time I feel "wet".
I think I spent more time in the bathroom in the beginning of this pregnancy then I did at the end of my pregnancy with Kai.
I chose to continue to see a midwife collective that works out of a local clinic. They don't see patients until around 10 weeks so I had a long wait to drive HB nuts.
The midwives were very understanding and did awesome putting our minds at ease.
They couldn't find the heartbeat with the dopplar at our first app so we got a surprise ultrasound and there it was! Little bean was bouncing around like crazy to where she couldn't even zero in on the heart beat that way.

Kai is so excited and keeps telling me its a sister. She won't even consider it being a boy lol
We go in April to find out the gender and get the anatomy scan done. We can't wait!
We're pretty sure its another girl but I don't care as long as its healthy :) 

We tied the Knot! (finally)

HB and I finally got married in October after being together for 6.5 years and being engaged for 2 years.
We had to postpone the wedding twice because of very sad circumstances.
First time my closest cousin passed away after a battle with cancer that spread to her kidneys. There was no way I could get married on the same day as her funeral and I wanted to be there for my aunt. Everything else could wait.
HB understood completely and we put things off till the next summer.

Summer came and as they say "When it rains, it pours" 
First HB's grandma was diagnosed with Lymphoma, then my Grandpa was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, then I got pregnant and had a miscarriage at 10 weeks, AND then my Grandpa passed away that September.
I was completely crushed and pretty much lost the will to do anything besides function on a very basic level to care for Kai.
So we decided once again to put the wedding off till the next year when hopefully things were better.
I don't know about anyone else but 2013 freaking sucked donkey balls.

2014 has been a much better year if a little stressful.
I was bound and determined to be a calm, zen bride and not a Bride-zilla.
I let the bridesmaids pick their dresses. Just told them what color to go with and let them go. Same with shoes and hair. I didn't want to do something that they couldn't afford or saddle them with a dress they hated.
We did get tuxes for the groomsmen because none of them seemed to own dress clothes so I made it easy on them lol

We DIY-ed everything. Except the cake and photos.
We did our own music with a program called Wedding DJ on HB's Ipad and used my stereo for the sound system. One of HB's awesome nephews manned that for us during the ceremony and then just hit shuffle for the reception.
I'll do a better review of that later on.

For decorations I carved about 12 pumpkins and had two bridesmaids paint another like 10 pumpkins.
I got 30 pumpkins in trade for a loaf of Apple Bread... Best trade EVAR.
They were placed on the tables along with some autumn leaf garland. Very minimalist but turned out gorgeous with the rustic setting.

We had a friend that was ordained online perform the ceremony for us since neither of us is religious in the slightest.
She did an amazing job using pieces from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Rufus Wainwright, and Bill n Ted's Excellent Adventure.

My Mom and Aunt made the food for the reception.
We had spaghetti with garlic bread and Filipino spring noodles with Lumpia. Strange combination of food but everyone loved it! People are still talking to me about the food and its been a month!

We kept it lo-key and everyone had a great time.
Things we didn't do...
1. Dance. None of us are into that
2. Traditional first Dance, Parents dance, etc.
3. Garter toss. Too cold for that
4. Bouquet toss. Everyone was married or recently dumped. Didn't want to rub salt in that wound.
5. No booze. Best man surprised HB with a beer but that was it. We don't drink so why pay for everyone else to get smashed?

Somethings happened that should have made me freak out but I was able to realize those things didn't really matter in the end.
What mattered was that we got married in front of the people we loved and cared about, and the ones we really wanted there were there to celebrate with us.

Butt Slam FTW! (Borderlands Pre-Sequel PS3)

So HB and I recently got married (Oct 4th) and our wedding present to ourselves was the newest Borderlands Pre-Sequel.

Omg its so much fun!
We're almost halfway done playing through as Wilhelm(HB) and Athena (Me).
I really like Athena though I wish she was a little more like a Siren (Maya).
Athena is the Gladiator class though she's actually an Assassin which originally made me think she'd be more like Zero but nope.
She is great with all guns and her special skill with the Kinetic Aspis is pretty awesome. She can throw it and pegged enemies with it and also absorb damage for a limited time.

Wilhelm is pretty funny and HB seems to like him though his skill trees are a little different.
His special skill of the 2 drones is pretty cool and I like them way better then Gage's Deathbot which always got in the freaking way.

The graphics are amazing and the landscapes are gorgeous.
I love that the characters have more dialogue and comebacks.
Its so weird that Handsome Jack is a good guy in this one though he's just as funny as he was in Borderlands 2.

I love the new addition of Laser types weapons. They are badass!
We're at level 16 now and have only opened 3 of the weapon slots which is a little frustrating considering by this level in #2 you have them all open.
We're working on finding the next quest that should open the final weapons slot.
There are a ton of side missions that seem to be scattered through out the map.
The Oz masks are pretty awesome as well.
I found one that makes it so the O2 canisters actually heal you which is sweeet!
HB found on that adds corrosive damage to your butt slam and then makes it sound like you just ripped a massive poot lmao
Our 5 year old thought that was HILARIOUS!

Our game play will probably be put on hold till Sunday because HB has to work tonight and tomorrow night. 

But so far this game is pretty Epic and funny.

Thank Jeebus for the Interwebs.

Wedding planning is a beast even at the best of times.
Right now I feel like I'm herding cats lol

This was literally our last shot at having a somewhat traditional wedding.
If shizz had went south this time as it had in the past we were sooooo going to elope and not tell anyone.

It was crazy how the last 6 months just flew by and here we are with 17 days left. I'm so freaking excited XD

Things went swimmingly till about 2 weeks ago when my future MIL decided to try and make me have a nervous break down by throwing a HUGE tantrum claiming we never told her that we were getting married in October.

Ummmm excuse me? What the Hell? I feel like wedding planning has eaten the last 2 years of my life... How the F*ck did she miss the date?

Thankfully HB was able to take care of everything but in the mean time while everything was hanging in Limbo I lost some crucial time and didn't get our invitations out.

Thank Gawd for a site called PunchBowl. 

They have E-Vites that you can send for just about EVERY occasion and they help you keep track of RSVPS, and the slackers who take forever to reply.
PLUS they have options for you to add Polls to your invites like... Types of Cocktails, Potluck, music, and custom ones.
You can also schedule when to mail a reminder to the people you haven't heard from yet and it keeps everyone's email addies on file for you.
There are also cool options like letting your guests forward the invites to others and you can make it a recurring event if you want to join Punchbowl's Premium membership.
There is also a option to add a map so your peeps don't get lost heading to your soiree, add another host, keep track of how many adults and munchkins, and add a gift card option.
You can add a link to your Registry too!
I didn't join and you don't really miss out on anything is you don't.

This site is saving my caboose right now.
I love all the designs and color options that are available for free as well.
PLUS YAY paperless invites!!

*I am not getting anything from promoting this site. They have no idea I did this or even who I am. I just really loved how it saved my arse. 

Tech Savvy Munchkins

We are a very tech friendly household. 
We have more gadgets then you can shake a stick at lol 

I try to keep us at least half way unplugged most of the time but especially when Kai is home. 
I am a texting Queen so that is hard even for myself. 

At Kai's kindergarten Orientation a couple weeks ago I was really surprised that the kids were going to be doing computer things at least once a week and that the library there has a couple IPads for the kids to use.
So I've had to change my game plan a little since we don't let Kai use the PC at all and its a treat for her to use the IPad to watch PBS kids.

Through all this I thought I'd share some of the awesome FREE apps that I've discovered on my Kindle Fire HDX and we discovered that they offer most of them for the IPad too.
(I checked and these apps are offered on both Android and Iphone/Apple devices.)

1. PBS Kids Video App.~ They have both full and segments of all the PBS kids programs plus a couple that are online only cartoons like Kai's favorite Plum Landing. Its all about a little Plum shaped Alien and focuses on science.

2. Reading Rainbow: Read Along App. ~ The download is free for my Kindle and comes with 5 books that you can download for free without subscribing. If you subscribe you can get unlimited. We're still testing this one out so we haven't subscribed yet.
I loved Reading Rainbow when I was little so I jumped on this one.
(I'll post more after we're done checking it out)

3. PBS Parents. Play & Learn App~ I'm still testing this one too but its free and you can play along with your LO's checking out stuff.

4. Pocket Penguins App~ Another Free one that connects to Web cams in the live African Penguin exhibit at the California Academy of Science.
The other day I turned the App on just in time for Kai to hear a lecture they were giving to a bunch of grade school kids about the penguins eating habits, breeding, habitat and social lives.
Kai thought it was really cool.
They also answer questions during the Penguins meal times at 10:30 am and 3:00 pm PST.
(this is our favorite app lol)

Well there is 4. I'm sure as the summer goes on I will make more of these posts to share what I find 

I officially hate Barbie and I learned an important lesson

Barbie has officially been banned from our house until further notice.
Mainly the cartoon and movies but right now I could care less if Kai ever plays with the dolls either.

The other day as a reward for good behavior and since it was shitty weather Kai got to watch Netflix on the IPad once chores were over.
She knows what shows are ok and what shows are not.
She was watching Super Why and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Then she discovered Barbie Life in the Dream House and Bratz.
I figured it couldn't hurt to let her watch a couple episodes since they were pretty short and I noticed a lot of her classmates with Bratz dolls.
(I hate the dolls but I thought maybe the cartoon wouldn't be too bad)

OMG I was wrong!!! She watched maybe 3 episodes and then she turned it off so that I could charge the IPad.
She immediately became obsessed looking at her reflection and flipping her hair.
Then she started looking at her tummy. (She has the CUTEST little pudgy tummy.)
She turns to me and asks me "Mommy am I fat?"
Wth? O.o
NO!
I sat her down and immediately told her that she wasn't. That she was perfect the way she is.
I thought I had nipped that talk in the butt until the next morning when we were getting dressed for school.
She wanted to change her clothes like 6 times because her Tinker Bell shirt and jeans weren't "Cute enough"
I was like "what is up with this? THIS is your favorite shirt!"
She comes out with "Well Barbie says jeans are so last year"
Excuse me?

I swear it took me a week to get her back to normal.
I cringed every time I heard "Well Barbie..." or "Yasmin..." (a bratz)

Looking back that whole thing did teach me one big thing.
I used to complain about my weight though I tried not to in front of Kai.
Listening to a 4 year old worry about her tummy made me realize that I needed to be a better role model for Kai and start loving myself how I am instead of complaining about what I don't like.
Kai is finally back to where she is happy and doesn't worry about things no 4 year old should.
It was so bizarre listening to a little girl worrying about being fat.




 Now she's back to herself :)

Borderlands 2: Son of Crawmerax

So for our date night last week we decided to stay in and download the newest DLC for Borderlands 2.
I had no idea they had even released a new DLC. I thought Moxxi's Valentine one was the last since they're coming out with a new Borderlands hopefully this fall. (I'm so EXCITED!)

HB surprised me and had it downloaded while we were getting the munchkin settled into bed.

I was pleasantly surprised at the content on a whole.
Sir Hammerlock is one of my favorite Borderlands characters especially after the Bullymongs quest. (Bonerfarts...bahahaha)

The tropical setting I thought was a nice touch since Hammerlocks Big Game hunt is in that drab marsh setting.
The crazy fiddler crab looking things were a fun new enemy. They're called Craboids.
There is a new colorful type of Varkid in this DLC as well called the Tropical Varkid.

The 2 quests in this DLC are fun and funny. Hammerlocks dry humor always helps.
For the first quest you have to get a Varkid drunk and use it to track Hammerlock. That was pretty hilarious.

My favorite quest though was the Victims of Vault Hunters support Group with Sparky Flynt (Captain Flynt's son) as the host.
All in all we really enjoyed this DLC and I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Also can't wait for the new Borderlands to come out this Fall!
I know what I want as a wedding gift now ;)

Holy hormones... Good Bye BC (Adventures in Family Planning)

This would save us a lot of headaches. We should be funding this!

Waaay back in the day BK (before Kai) I was on the Depo shot for 4 years. I gained a bunch of weight but I dealt with it.
Well then my engagement ended and I swore off men so I went off of it.
2 years later when I decided to start dating again @ age 20 I wanted to be safe and double covered so I got on the Nuva Ring for BC.
I had no problems with it and it worked great.

Then I met HB and we decided to have a baby. Good Bye Nuva Ring! 1 month later BAM we were pregnant.
Since I got pregnant so fast I wanted to get back on BC as soon as I could after Kai was born.
The midwives said my only options were an IUD or The Shot. I was/still am terrified of an IUD so I opted for the shot since I had experience with it.
BOY was I wrong! I had no clue that having a baby could change how you reacted things.
The Shot turned me into a complete basket case. I couldn't control my emotions, I had violent mood swings and crying jags. Plus I gained 20 lbs in 2 months even though I had no appetite and was breast feeding.
HB sat me down and told me we HAD to figure out something else because I was acting INSANE.
We decided that maybe I should give my body a break and go off all BC.

So I did just that and I felt GREAT. It was amazing the change. I went to our local Planned Parenthood and got a diaphragm to try.
Boy was that awkward. The Dr there had only trained on them but had never actually fitted someone for one lmao.
It is a very interesting method of BC which works ok though it feels weird walking around with it in.
So we did used that and paired it with NFP where I track my cycles and temps.
I'm still super fertile though since it was only one slip up that got me pregnant last summer.

When I went in for my physical I decided that maybe I should try The Ring again just till the wedding.
Omigawd was that a mistake. I made it 2 weeks with the BC in before I was ready to take it out and set it on fire.
I was a raving bitch. My temper control was non existent and everything set me off.
2 days after taking the Ring out I was back to normal almost.
I did a bunch of reading on the Nuva Ring and discovered that what happened with me is listed at the very bottom under the heading Rare Side Effects.

Anyone else go through this at all? I'm just going back to NFP and am swearing off hormonal BC
What methods have worked for you?
 

No one should feel alone. (miscarriage related)

Yesterday I went to see the local midwives for the first time since the miscarriage last summer. I needed to get a physical and I do love seeing them. 
I had mentally prepared myself I thought for anything. 
I was very wrong. I had not prepared myself at all for when the midwife walked in and took my hand and she said "I'm so sorry for what you've been going through"
I never thought a single sentence could reduce me to tears so fast.
I started crying and couldn't stop.
She held my hand and talked to me about everything I was feeling.
I apologized for crying and she just smiled and told me I didn't have to apologize for still grieving what could have been.
She told me how a recent study says that it can take over a year for a mother to stop grieving a loss.
She talked about how the women surveyed said they weren't just grieving the lost baby but also all of the milestones that went with from the due date to the first day of kindergarten.
Its true. I thought I was mourning those because we have Kai so we know the milestones but turns out I'm not alone or crazy for those thoughts.

I cried last month when what should have been our due date passed but I thought I was doing better.
HB has let me cry all I want but I get so tired of hurting, of being sad, of having a hole in heart that won't close.
I have cried more times since July then I care to admit and HB has held me through them all.
Sometimes I can't help it and the pain comes out of no where and takes me out.

No one ever talks about how long the pain lasts or how they get through it.
Everyone acts like once its over that's it you should pick up and move on even though your heart is breaking every day.
I have a new respect for other women that have gone through this because it takes a lot of strength to ignore the hole in your chest and act like nothing is bothering you until you get behind closed doors.
I hadn't realized till yesterday how alone I felt in my grief.
Its not something I want or try to talk about but I am putting this out there because no one should feel alone.

HB's Review of the XCOM game series

Hey everybody Charles here again, this time to give a little review of a game series I've been getting into lately on the PS3.
For those that don't know what it is, the XCOM series of games are a turn-based, squad-based tactical RPG that is about an alien invasion of Earth and you play the role of a commander in the fight for survival.
The games in the series are XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM: Enemy Within, and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.
Chronologically, the games begin with The Bureau which takes place in the 1960's while the next is Enemy Unknown taking place during modern times, and Enemy Within being a stand alone expansion of Enemy Unknown, which means that the people in these games have basically been fighting the invasion for more than 50 years!
Unfortunately, the games do not follow each other in this manner, with each game consisting of a separate and unrelated invasion, so nothing that is accomplished in The Bureau effects the other games, not does anything from the other two effect each other or The Bureau. Since each one will be kind of long I will break them into a series of posts, one for each game I discuss.

I will start with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, since that was the first for the three that I played. You start out as the leader of a squad investigating the disappearance of a recon team that was in turn investigating some kind of attack in Germany.  As you move your squad through the city towards the recon teams last known location, you see signs of battle, as well as some very gruesomely mutilated civilians, and upon reaching the warehouse where the signal was lost, you find the last living member of the recon team and he is being MIND CONTROLLED BY ALIENS, ARGHERJEH;shgadf!!!
Um, OK it's not really that dramatic but you get the point.
After the tutorial mission that was just completed you select where you want you main base of operations to be, your choices are North America, Europe, and Asia and each one comes with its own bonus.
Now that you've selected your base, you are now in charge of the global resistance, answering only to the mysterious Council that occasionally provides you with additional funding and engineers and scientists. In addition to your main base, you are responsible for several small satellite bases that you need to arm with fighter jets, and later your own reverse-engineered UFO's to shoot down enemy aircraft, because if you don't they will spread panic and shoot down your communication satellites.
There is some resource management required in your mission to save humanity which are; money (used to buy weapons, aircraft, and research new tech), weapon and component parts (used to research and build new tech), power (which is used to provide electricity to your buildings), there are a limited number of building slots available (which you use to build laboratories, workshops, satellite control centers, power plants, and some others), and lastly global panic ( the Council and XCOM are attempting to limit how much the general populous knows about the invasion, which you control by launching communications satellites and successfully completing missions, if a regions' panic level gets too high, that region will lose faith in XCOM and remove themselves from the council, which will result in lower funding, longer research and build times due to fewer scientists/engineers.)
You can also recruit additional soldiers which upon achieving their first level up will randomly choose one of four classes each with it's own abilities; Heavy Weapons (primary special: Rocket Launcher), Sniper (Primary Special: Headshot), Medic (Primary Special: Smoke screen) and Assault (Primary Special: Extra move.) Each class unlocks additional skills as they level up which if used properly can make a pretty unstoppable squad, especially the Medic that can earn a skill that allows for bringing additional medpaks. It's important that I mention here how vital medics and medpaks are to the game. They become the most important teammates and piece of gear, especially in later levels because while wounded troops only have to sit out of combat for a few days, if anyone dies in the field, they are gone for ever which is really frustrating when you lose a high level squaddie and don't have a proper replacement trained. 
Now I detail the gear you can use: all your troops start out with standard military equipment, Kevlar armor, basic armaments that differs based on unit type, Heavy weapons uses light machine guns, assault uses assault rifles or shot guns, sniper uses sniper rifles, and medics use assault rifles, and each one can carry a side arm and two additional pieces of gear such as grenades or medpaks. As you progress through the game, you get the chance to research higher tech equipment, such as laser or plasma guns, plasma grenades, tank drones that take the place of living team members, and more advanced armor which in addition to providing some damage reduction also add a bonus to max health, some of which has cloaking technology that makes your troops temporarily invisible or jet packs that grant momentary flight. Additionally, you get to upgrade you fighter craft with more advanced weapons systems, targeting systems, and evasion systems, up to turning the enemy UFO tech against them as I mentioned earlier.The last addition to your arsenal that you can unlock are psionic powers that your scientists are a latent ability in many humans, and by using some alien tech those abilities can be unlocked. A couple abilities that you can unlock are telekinesis and mind control, so you can turn enemies into allies for a short duration.

Well I think that is all for now, and it gives you a good idea of what you'll experience if you decide to play this game for yourself. I could go on a little more, but since this is only a review and not a walk through this is about all I can say without providing any spoilers, even just little ones. I will be writing another on The Bureau here shortly since it is the only game of the remaining two that is really different from this one.

Food Glorious FOOD!

The ahhh-mazing French Toast

So the past couple days I have been all about food.

Today my Dad made one of my favorite dishes FRENCH TOAST.
Oh my gawd YUM.
He makes the BEST french toast. Its amazing. Its delicious, moist and glorious (((swoons)))

With the french toast I love not just the food but also the memories attached to those meals from when I was little.
Those meals were always fun and happy where as much of my childhood memories are dark and sad.
My Dad would make french toast whenever. Breakfast, Brunch or Dinner he'd make it.
When I was younger meal time had a tendency to be quiet, strained or my parents would be out right fighting through out the meal.
But when Dad made french toast things were nice and fun. No bickering, arguing or snide remarks. Plus he was always sober when he made french toast.
 Now I love it when he makes french toast because we have fun laughing in the kitchen as he cooks and I steal pieces of bacon while Kai and HB play in the living room.
Even after the meal is over we sit in the kitchen and talk.

Then earlier this past week I tried out a new crock pot recipe that was amazing and made enough to feed the 3 of us plus both of my parents!
This recipe was so simple and easy to follow it has made me think I can cook anything lol
I found this awesome recipe on Pinterest. Its from The Crock Pot Ladies.

Potato and Kielbasa Chowder

Ingredients~1 Medium Onion (chopped)
~1 clove of Garlic (minced)
~1 (32 oz) Carton of Chicken Broth
~6-8 medium Potatoes (chopped)
~2 cups Frozen Corn
~1 (16 oz) Fully cooked Kielbasa. (I used Hillshire Farms brand)
~1 Bay Leaf (Note: If you do not have any Bay Leaves you can use an additional 1/4 tsp of Thyme to replace it)
~1/2 tsp of Thyme
~1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
~8 oz shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese (1 block of cheese)
~1 cup (8 oz) Heavy Whipping Cream

Instructions~In a 6 Quart Crock Pot combine all ingredients EXCEPT the Cheese and Cream
~Stir Well to combine
~Cover and cook on Low for 8-10 hours or 5-6 on High. (Until Potatoes are Tender. Remove Bay Leaf if used)
~Add Shredded Cheese and Cream. Stir well to combine and melt Cheese.

Made 8-9 servings.

Feeling Slightly Blind

So I found out Friday that I am nearsighted.
I knew something was up when I started being unable to see the small print for the weather warnings if I was more then 4 ft from the TV and I couldn't read the tiny print on some of the video games I play.
I also noticed that if I was playing like a first person shooter game I would get a headache pretty fast and motion sick which I never used to.

I kinda figured I was going to need at least reading glasses.

So I scheduled my first eye appointment (ever).
HB still couldn't believe I had never gone to an Optometrist before. I always had perfect eye sight before and my parents never took me.

I had no idea they did so much! The glaucoma test was pretty crazy with those puffs of air right into your eye.

I had no idea that my vision was as bad as it is until they put that giant thing with the adjustable lenses on me.
The Dr flipped one switch and holy COW everything was so much more defined! I could see without squinting!

I have to wait 2 weeks before my glasses will be in and boy am I feeling blind right now.
Its going to be weird wearing them but I'm ok with it. I don't view as I'm getting old at all.
read a TON and I draw a lot and doing Henna involves some very tiny details.
I know I've given my eyes a lot of work and for not needing glasses 27 years isn't too bad.

Mad Moxxi and The Wedding Day Massacre (review)

So a couple weeks ago when it came out around Valentines Day HB downloaded the latest DLC for Borderlands 2 for us to play together.

Mad Moxxi and The Wedding Day Massacre.

First off I have to admit that I love Mad Moxxi. I think she is a hilarious character with a pretty unique outfit. I love the attitude they gave her and how she seems to have her finger in every pie. Her sexual slip ups are pretty funny too.

This DLC was pretty short honestly compared to the others like Bunkers and Bad Asses but I still enjoyed it.

The fact the she is related one of the red neck clans is pretty funny on its own and that she thinks a love match will fix it is ridiculous.
The Bride and Groom are 2 Goliath one from the Hodunk's and the other a Zaford.
Moxxi has you run around gathering Love Potion ingredients including a Goliath Baby lol
That was interesting.
HB discovered on accident that the holes in the Mountains are actually Leprechaun holes!
He was grabbing ammo when a little cursing Leprechaun came bolting out. Those little things are fast!

There is one part that we haven't finished yet which is the different elemental Threshers.

You spike the wedding punch with the love potion and then the Goliath bride and groom decide to kiss. They take off their helmets and their creepy little heads kiss THEN they immediately start Raging.
The first time around it went fairly easy but we discovered if you go back you can fight them a 2nd time!
This time if you don't kill them close enough together they can revive each other!
And each time they do they LEVEL up! When we finally managed to kill them they had each reached God-liath.

All in all not a bad addition to the awesomeness that is Borderlands 2. 

Omigawd! (sexting gone wrong) swearing

So I know people are pretty divided on "sexting" some do it, others are against it; sometimes for a good reason.

HB and I sext because we rarely get any alone time unless we're going to bed and then 2 nights out of 7 I'm going to be alone.

SO we sext. I think it helps build the anticipation for when we actually get time to be intimate. Plus its kinda fun ;)

Anyways here is my story of sexting gone wrong that could have gone way worse then it did.

This evening like many Sundays we went to my Dad's for a family dinner.
Afterwards I was chilling in the kitchen talking to my Dad while HB and Kai were playing around in the living room watching TV.
HB has tonight off and not much homework so I seized the opportunity to send HB a naughty text.
I have a pic on my phone of me giving HB head.
I thought I would send it to HB with a winky emoji saying "tonight"

Well I forgot the last person I had texted was my Dad.  O.o
(you can tell where this is going)

Oh my gawd ya'll I sent the picture to my DAD!
I would swear on a stack of bibles I had switched it to HB's name but NOOPE
it said "Sending to ICE DAD" Fuuuuuucking hell

I immediately panicked but tried to hide it from my parents. Because I knew if they asked what was up I was going to start laughing hysterically and tell them. I suck hard core at lying or keeping anything from my parents.

I snatched up my Dad's phone without thinking.
He's like what are you doing with my phone? I don't grab yours.

The first thing I could think of was to tell him "OH I accidentally sent you an emoji meant for Moua (my bestie). You don't have a smart phone so I wanted to see if it would show up"

Thank sweet baby jeebus that he is slightly cell phone inept and he believed me. That text came and oh Christ on a Cracker you could see EVERY detail.
I immediately deleted every trace of that picture and stopped sweating.

That probably would have been one of the most AWKWARD moments of my life! 

Oh But I like CHEESE!

So I have recently discovered that I am Lactose Intolerant.
It started during my short pregnancy this past summer. I couldn't eat anything with Dairy in it without terrible stomach pains and gas.
Well after the miscarriage things eased off so I just figured it was pregnancy induced and didn't think anymore about it.

My dairy cravings come and go so I can go a month without any cheese or milk and then suddenly its all I want!

Well come October I noticed that my stomach was bothering me quite a bit and that I was super bloated all the time!
I cycled through all the causes I could think of and tried a couple elimination diets (gluten, beef, no broccoli) Nada still bloated and uncomfortable.
While I was happy I made some healthy changes to our diets and I get to eat broccoli again I was still perplexed on what was going on.

Then one night HB ordered Toppers Pizza for dinner with extra cheese.
Omigawd I thought I was going to die!
I only made it through one piece and I had to use the bathroom IMMEDIATELY!
I felt like I was camped in there all night! My behind was kinda sore too lol

HB and I sat down to figure out what I had ate that day that he hadn't that would do that to me.
We came up with zilch!
He had ate everything I had that day and he was fine.
Suddenly the light bulb went on. DING!
Lactose.

So over the next couple days I cut out all dairy products (which was so HARD!)
My stomach stopped hurting, I didn't have anymore gas, and I went down a pant size and a half!
I have discovered the miracle pill Lactaid though.
That thing is AMAZING!
When I can't completely control my dairy craving I can pop one of those beauties and eat some ice cream or have a regular yogurt and I'm golden.

I has been so weird adjusting to this!
Once I had stopped all dairy consumption now even the smallest trace can make me miserable. So I make sure to carry some of those wonder pills in my purse and wallet for just in-case.
I have had some wicked dairy cravings too.
I took a pill and chugged half a pint of chocolate milk yesterday. Savage style lol
We live in the dairy State so I think we're going to buying stock in the Lactaid pills :)

I'm now experimenting with Almond and Coconut Milk as a replacement and working on my recipes that include dairy.

Wish me luck!