Hard Lesson Learned

I knew when I married Tim that being a military wife would be hard but knowing and actually experiencing it are two different things. We move a lot, we don't have a "home", and with not having a place to call home we are forced to make new friends all the time. While this was semi-exciting in the beginning it has become old as I have gotten older and gone through 4 moves in 8ish years.

I have recently had to question what I would qualify as a friend as I have many types.

Type 1 - The high school friends.
  I have a few of these and thanks to good people at Facebook it has made it easier to keep in contact with them and I thank you FB. These were some of the people that I thought I would never see again unless I went back to the reunion (which I don't have any intentions on doing so, unless I live close) or I was back visiting my family in NC and happen to see one of them while I was out and about.

Type 2 - College Friends
  I do have quite a few of these as I loved college at good ol' Chowan and I do/did see some of these people recently when I went to a friend's wedding. Although I would like to see more of them more often, my location comes into play as it always has but would make it a point to back to Chowan and visit. We will always be the Braves in my mind.

Type 3 - Best Friends
  I only have 4 of these and those people know who they are. They are the type of person that I can say that I talked to my Mom, sister, MIL, etc. and not have to give a 20 minute background story on. They are the people that know my story and what makes me tick. What makes me sad and what really gets to me. These are the people that I talk to on a semi-regular basis or if I don't talk to them we can pick up a conversation right where we left off even if days, weeks, months, and yes even a few years. I miss these people often.

Type 4 - Facebook Friends
  I really think this is everyone. I don't have a lot of people on my FB and that's for a reason. If you are on there its because you are my friend in some way shape of form. I have some friends because I like what they post, whether it be something funny, or a picture of their dog(s), or I can see how big their kids have gotten. You all have a purpose in my life and thank you for it whether you know it or not.

Type 5 - Work Friends
  I work from home so I do not have any of these, but have had them in the past. They have always made my life at work more interesting. They are the ones that I would tell my random thoughts to or just tell them something funny that happened on the way to work. I miss these type of friends and hope that one day, when I go back to work at a job that isn't my home that I will have these type of friends again.

I have recently put my a friendship over my business and it bit me...hard. By doing this I have put my friend over my family because my business is my family and I won't do that again. So I lost a friend and I lost business. I know that not everyone is going to like me and I need to be okay with that, which is hard for me sometimes. I don't like people to be mad at me, it bothers me. I need to learn to remember that the only person that I can control is me and I need to keep that in mind when I talk to other people. By controlling what I say and how I say it I limit myself to the company that I will keep (e.g. not many friends) and I will have to work harder for what I want (more friends). But as always, I know I will be okay in the end. I need to refocus on what's important and that is me and my little family and figuring out what is best for us.

It can get lonely but it is nothing that I'm not use to, but in my mind I want a quality friend and if it takes being lonely for a while I know it will be worth it.

The Bucket List

It seems to be an ongoing thing with bloggers that I have been reading of all the things they want to do before they or their "bucket list". I have had one for a while, since I was about 16 actually and I wanted to add more stuff to it because some of the blogger that I have been reading have some things on theirs that make me want to do more than just travel. I have obviously done some of the things on my list. So in no particular order, here they are.

1. Get married - Completed August 2002
2. Have children (at least 2) - half done - Completed January 2010
3. Get a Master's Degree - Completed July 2006
4. Go to England - Completed February 2004
5. Go to Ireland - Completed March 2005
6. Go to Germany - Completed July 2006
7. Go to Italy - Completed June 2005
8. Learn to snowboard
9. Sell some of my pottery and/or my art
10. Write a book
11. Become good at sewing Completed May 2013
12. Invent something and sell it
13. Learn to play the piano or at least one song
14. Finish scrapbooking old pictures (not sure this will ever get done)
15. Go sky diving
16. Go hang gliding
17. Kill a turkey
18. Go to Hawaii Completed May 2013
19. Beat Tim and Dad at racquet ball
20. Build my own personal library
21. Live in a nice house - Completed October 2005, March 2008, & June 2010
22. Build the forever house
23. Go scuba diving (not sure this will happen either with my ear issues)
24. Learn to refinish a piece of furniture
25. Take up photography - Completed April 2008
26. Learn to water ski
27. Go skiing in the snow
28. Get to 135 - 140 lbs. and stay there!
29. Swim with dolphins
30. Read the classics
31. Drive a NASCAR/do the NASCAR experience
32. Go bungee jumping and yell Geronimo as I go down
33. Go to Egypt
34. Read all the books that I own
35. Go on a hot air balloon ride
36. Go to France - Completed July 2006
37. Complete my family tree
38. Be part of a Flash Mob
39. Eat waffles in Belgium - Completed July 2006
40. Eat a crepe in Paris - Completed July 2006
41. Go to the top of the Empire State Building - Completed May 2007
42. Go to a Yankee Game - Completed May 2007 (Yankee v. Red Sox-Yankees WON!)
43. Run a 5K - Completed July 2012
44. Run a 10K Completed October 2014
45. Run a half marathon (13.1 miles)
46. Run a marathon (26.2 miles)
47. Take Max to Disney World
48. Get one of my layout published in a  scrapbooking magazine
49. Make cannolis  - Completed September 2012
50. Go see the Grand Canyon
51. Go to the Mall of America
52. Go to Mt. Rushmore
53. Do all the touristy things in Washington D.C.
54. Go see a show on Broadway
55. Find my dream job/career
56. Buy my first house  - Completed June 2010
57. Be debt free
58. See the Sistine Chapel in Rome - Completed June 2005
59. See the Colosseum in Rome - Completed June 2005
60. Take a cooking class
61. Perform a random act of kindness (i.e. pay for some one's meal, etc.) Completed September 2014
62. See the Statue of Liberty - Completed June 2000
63. Go white water rafting
64. Fly a plane
65. Go to Alaska
66. Ride a camel (preferably in Egypt)
67. Grow my own food/have a vegetable garden - Completed June 2012
68. Stand on the Great Wall of China
69. Captain a boat for a day
70. Be in a movie or TV show
71. Make a movie of Max's first year
72. Finish Max's baby book
73. Get all the DVDs into digital form  (Tim accomplished this) Completed May 2013
74. Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge
75. Walk over the Golden Gate Bridge
76. Go to Alcatraz 
77. Witness the Northern Lights
78. See a whale on a whale watch
79. Visit Pearl Harbor Completed May 2013
80. Get married in Vegas
81. Go to Vegas
82. Get a 3rd tattoo Completed May 2013
83. Ride a really long zip line
84. Break a world record
85. Drive through that big tree in CA
86. Vote (for a president)
87. Go to the equator 
88. Raise chickens and goats
89. Hear Max say "I love you" with clarity Completed March 2013
90. Take Max to Lego Land
91. Make all handmade gifts for Christmas one year
92. Go deep sea fishing
93. Make wine
94. Go to Niagara Falls
95. Go on a cruise
96. Visit the fish market in Seattle, Washington
97. Celebrate New Year's Eve in New York City
98. Go crowd surfing
99. Ride a gondola in Venice, Italy
100. Go the the Vatican (Rome) - Completed June 2005
101. Go snowmobiling
102. Ride in a helicopter
103. Go to a St. Patrick's Day celebration in Ireland - Completed March 2005
104. Go to LA
105. Go to the World Trade Center Memorial
106. Make pasta from scratch/homemade 
107. Catch a foul ball
108. Visit the Worlds Largest Stuff
1. Rocking Chair - Completed June 2012
109. Eat a meal backwards (1st dessert, 2nd entree, etc.) Completed November 2013
110. Do a triathlon 
111. Swim in Pacific Ocean Completed May 2013
112. Swim with sea turtles Completed May 2013
113. Visit all the NY sites that are made popular by TV
1. Seinfeld restaurant
2. Friends fountain in Central Park
114. Knit something
115. Donate to Locks of Love Completed June 2014
116. Compete in a Tough Mudder
117. Go to Disney World

I know there are more but well I think that is all for now, I'm sure there will be more things that will come up what I will want to do but for now I think 111 things is more than enough things to do. Do I think I will get all of them done...no, I don't. Do I plan on trying to get a good 90% of them done, yes I do. 

My To Do List

I have so many things to do and such a short amount of time to do them in. So with that being said, let the list begin.

1. Finish Theresa (Tim's sis) birthday present. It's next week and I haven't even started so I guess you would say, start Theresa's birthday present.
2. Finish blankets for Gabby and Noelle.
3. Figure out what I'm going to do for my sister's Xmas present since she has not given me the wedding pictures to do her scrapbook. (hint hint Bri if you are reading this).
4. Buy Xmas PJs for Max
5. Buy Max's tux t-shirt for his birthday.
6. Put the finishing touches on the deck so we can be done with that very large home improvement project once and for all.
7. Buy pumpkins to carve this weekend.
8. Finish Mom's Xmas present.
9. Get caught up on Project Life, I'm only a month behind now instead of 4 like I was before. Making progress on that front.
10. Order stuff for December Daily album.
11. Figure out what kind of family picture we are going to take for our Xmas card
12. Mail the 6 boxes of stuff that have been sitting there for months on end
13. Make new Christmas stockings for us, I have really cute Grinch fabric.

I think that is all for now, if that isn't enough. Need to get going so I can accomplish some of those things on my list today...I hope anyways.

Home vs. Away

We have almost been home for about a year now. Home being the US and since then I knew it was going to be different but as we all know we grow as we get older and learn things about ourselves that we didn't really know before. So this is really a list of things that I have realized since I have been home. I mean no offense, just stuff that I took for granted I suppose or I was just too young to realize it as these things were happening.

-People drive like manics both here and in England, at least there I wasn't afraid someone was going to shoot me if I honked at them.

-Walmart is a great place but I think the people have gotten dumber over the years both the shoppers and the staff.

- There are more stupid people here and/or they are talked about more on the news.

- I hate the news in the US, for a 30 minute show you might have 2 minutes of something good and sometimes those are the commericals during the news.

- America has too many commericals. One of the reasons why we got rid of cable and only use Netflick and Hulu. I think everyone will be doing this in the next 5 years. There will be no such thing as cable.

- Our food is WAY better here, although I haven't had good chips since I got home.

- Cadbury chocolate is my friend...oh how I miss you so!

- I like that I can get anything at anytime and have a variety of stores to choose from when I do it...

- ...But I still find myself shopping online a lot. Old habits are hard to break I guess.

- I pay attention to who has the cheapest gas and I LOVE pay at the pump. Missed that!

- I miss my pub!! Where else could you take your kid to a bar and not get funny looks.

- Americans don't treat their animals as nice as the British. Had to report someone to the SPCA (Animal welfare) for neglect. Breaks my heart!

- I feel like people are trying to get more out of me here, like take advantage of/scam me for something.

- I miss Tesco, Sansbury's, and Waitrose. The flowers and produce were always AWESOME!

- The water is so much better now, my hair thanks you.

- Clothes are easier to find, no more trying to figure out what size I need to buy. Old Navy and Kohl's are my friends.

- Wish the states had COLA (Cost of Living Allowance)

- The food service here is so much faster, but sometimes I wish they weren't trying to push me out the door before I have finished my salad.

- Everyone is texting now, it is equally bad in both places.

I guess that's all for now. I'm not saying that I hate being here, each place has their pluses, I guess I just miss it there. I feel cheated that we had to leave 2 years earlier than we were suppose to but I guess we saw enough and did a lot. It saddens me to know that I know it will be a long time before we could go back again. The grass isn't always greener.

The Daily Stuff

The daily stuff around here has been great, well at least most days. We have all been sick in one way or another the last 2-3 days. You would never know it by looking at Max who has had it coming out of both ends. But he continues to walk around the house like nothing is bothering him.
Max got his bath in the morning this morning as Tim and I were too sick yesterday to give it to him at night. But him playing and eating is telling me that he is getting better.

Tim is getting ready to take his test for Master which is next week (the 16th), fingers crossed that he makes it this year, I have a good feeling that he is going to.

I have started to look more in depth to teaching online and what all that in tales. Mostly right now I need to get a OK teaching certificate. I hope the tests aren't to hard but I have to take 3 in order to do what I want or what I would like to do.

My sister's wedding stuff is coming along. I have the "Save the Date" cards done or at least for the addresses that she has given me. I'm hoping to have the rest of the address by the end of the weekend so that I can get them all mailed on Monday. I wish she would be a little more organized when doing this whole thing but it is her day so I'm just going with the flow, or at least trying to.

We are probably going to make the 19 hour drive to NC for the wedding. We plan to make a trip out of it. We are going to take 2 days to get there. I know it is going to be challenging but well what in life isn't at this point. We are just going to take our time and we'll get there when we get there. If we have to stop 10 times along the way then that's is what we will do.

Okay, gotta run, Max is deciding not to take a nap today and is screaming....

Reverb 10 | Prompt 2 | Writing

Prompt 2
Writing. What do you do each day that does not contribute to your writing - can you eliminate it?

Each day I try and write for Max but sometimes he is the reason that I can't write. I use to blog more and do more stuff around the house but I'm home each day taking care of Max so it makes doing things for me a little harder. It is all a balancing act. There are some day that I don't come near a computer because I'm busy chasing an 11 month old around the house. He is getting so fast with crawling these days I can barely keep up.

But I look forward to the days where Tim can take the reins even for a few hours so I can steal some time in my studio to get caught up on whatever needs to get done creatively. I hope for more time in the future as Max gets older and a little more independent. Love you Big Boy and I wouldn't trade this time with you for anything in the world.

Reverb 10 | Prompt 1| One Word

Here is what reverb is all about. Go and read and participate if you like. I'm playing catch up so I will have two posts on this today.

Prompt 1

Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you are choosing that word. Now image that it is one year from today, what would you like your word to be that captures 2011 for you.

My word that I chose to try and do was determined. I was determined to do many things, such as lose weight (which I did, but need to lose more), keep up with scrapbooking, and just to finish all those projects that have been sitting around the house just screaming to be complete.

I wasn't great but I wasn't terrible either. It has taken me some time to get adjusted to all the change this year. Which really should have been my word for the year. My father said it best, it is the year of change. So far this year here are some of the changes.

• I had Max January 1, 2010
• My parents separated after being together 35 years
• We did a huge international move from England to the US (Oklahoma specifically)
• We bought our first house
• We paid our first mortgage
• My parents start dating other people
• I'm still home with Max not working
• Tim got a new job outside of the normal shop that he is use to
• Max is growing and ever changing from day to day
• My sister got in engaged
• My parents divorce was final on Thanksgiving Day
• My Mom is probably moving to Rhode Island to be with her boyfriend
• This is our first holiday season in the states for 7 years now

A year of change....for next year I'm hoping for a calmer more laid back kind of year. Fingers crossed it comes true.

A little bit of everything

I'm back again trying to figure out what I'm going to write on here, there are a few things that come to mind but not sure I'm ready to share with everyone yet. Nothing bad but just not in the mood to spill my guts I guess. Let's start with the easy stuff...life.

Max is getting big, he is weighing in at 16 lbs. 4 oz. as of the 7 September. The doctors are happy that he gained so much weight considering last time he only gained 3 oz. in 2 months. He is eating some "people" food, mostly cut up chicken and crackers. He is kinda off his Cherrio kick for some reason. Now when you put them on his tray he takes his hand and wipes them all off. That kid! Max loves yogurt, can pretty much eat a whole thing all by himself, no joke. His stomach seems to do okay with all of this so I keep feeding it to him. He is also a big fan of deli meat. Eat that at most meals, I'm trying to introduce a few other foods to him but he loves his deli meat. He is also starting to pull himself up to his knees. Last night we had to drop the crib level down for the first time. I was slightly saddened by this. It shows that he is growing so fast. Where has the time gone? I miss the little little boy. I'm trying to savor every moment that I have with him and not take one minute of the day for granite because before you know it, he will be big and doing his own thing. But for now, he is still my little boy and I'm going to enjoy it.

My mom came to visit about 2 weeks ago for the long Labor Day weekend. It was a little akwards at first but I made my peace with her. For those that don't know my parents are getting a divorce after 30+ years, and while it isn't a messy divorce (just really confusing due to lack of communication sometimes) it had/has its issues with me. I'm not going to air my parents' business on here but like I said, I have made my peace with all that has happened. I'm tired of being mad and/or angry all the time about it. It is time to move foward. All in all her visit was a good one. She got see Max and take care of him which I know she really enjoyed. We had new or first family pictures done with her and our family that came out really nice. Max is into Elmo so she went out and bought him the Tickle Me Elmo and this other one called Shake Elmo or something. He loves them both. She also got him Rex from Toy Story which he also gets a big kick out of. It was nice to see her and sad to see her go. I wish we were closer sometimes, it would make seeing everyone a little simpler. We are still a plane ride away from everyone. A cheaper plane ride but a plane ride none the less.

Tim is getting knee surgery a week from today. He has been having knee problems for months now and finally they told him that he as a menicus (I hope I spelled that right, it would be a bit embarrassing considering I use to do sports medicine :-0) tear. The whole surgery takes about 45 minutes. He is looking forward to it so that he can start running and getting back into shape. He will be home for a couple of weeks so I'll let you know how that goes.

Still no job, I don't really want to work unless I can do it from home. I like staying home with Max, I can't see taking him to someone else to raise. And yes I know that people do it everyday and that their kids are fine but I really don't want to do it. I want to stay home at least a couple of years with him and the next one, whenever we have him/her.

That's about all. I need to go and check on my pictures from snapfish. I'm working on my book for Max, Project Life. It is bascially a picture a day for a year. It is a pretty awesome project and have been doing it since his birthday. I'm pretty proud that I have kept up with it. I plan on doing it for the next kid too. From their birth to their first birthday. I'll take some pictures and post what mine looks like. I have seen so many different versions and different stuff that people have put in theirs and I think mine is pretty cool, like I said, I'm very proud.

So that is about all, gotta run and get some housework done while Max is sleeping. Check back for pictures.

An Update..Finally!!

So I recently got a message on Facebook from my good friend's mother about wanting to be my friend and how she enjoyed reading me on my blog. I of course felt really guilty because I haven't written in my blog in several months. I seem to go through these kind of spurts, but alas I'm back again. I'll try and run through quickly what has happened in the last few months

First and probably the biggest is that we have moved back to the USA. We knew it was coming but we still weren't ready to go. I miss all of my friends that we made there and maybe here soon, I'll write about that. Here are our bags at the airport in London. It was a very LONG and sad day. I think I cried for 3 days straight saying good-bye to everyone. We weren't ready to go but the military doesn't care if you are ready or not, you are just going. So here we are, in Oklahoma where Tim is stationed at Tinker AFB.
This was our hotel room/apartment for about a month. We wanted to kill each other on more than one occasion, it was just to small. Most days were spent in the bed room because it was the place where I could put Max down on his stomach, every where else he would have been stepped on by either me or the puppies.

My Dad came to visit while we were in the hotel. He gave us his old Ford Ranger so we didn't have to buy a 2nd car (thanks Dad!). I think Max has some of my Dad's features. Currently he has my father's blue eyes. (Tim has brown and I'm hazel).

We have also started Max on solid foods, here he is eating carrots. He is now starting to get picky about what he eats, it makes me want to scream. But we are working through it.

We are also new home owners. We bought this house at the end if June. It is a great house, one that can hold all of our stuff, well most of it. We have started selling some of our stuff because we have closets now. In England they don't have closets or at least not large ones if they do so we bought LOTS of dressers. We got rid of 2 of them and working getting rid of the TV stand. God love Craig's List.

Right now I'm working in getting the rest of the house unpacked. For the most part it is done, just some odd and end stuff left to do. More annoying than anything. I have also started working on Max's baby book. I didn't buy one because most of the ones that I looked at didn't have what I was looking for so I decided to make one. I have lost of scraps of paper and stories written down that I need to compile and put in one place. I'll take pictures once it looks a little more organized. That's about all for now, going to do my best to keep up with this again. I can tell I'm rusty, my typing in very slow ;-)

Max @ 2 Months

Here is Max at 2 months old next to his Panda. I'll post the other pictures of him from month 1 and at about 3 weeks old next to the Panda.
Currently he is waking up at least once a night to eat, sometime twice depending on how much he ate during the day. When he does sleep he sleeps for 3-5 hours and of course I love when it is the 5 hours. He is wearing 3-6 & some 6-9 month clothes but the 6 month pants don't fit. I have already put away most of his newborn clothes, there are a few things that he didn't get to wear. Oh well, maybe the next kid.

Rock on!! He has recently just started really sucking on his hands for some reason. He isn't really a binkie kind of kid. He'll take one at night before bed and sometimes I can get him to take one when I know he is hungry and I can't feed him right away but other than that he doesn't want it. He likes his swing. We call it the sleep machine. Most times when we put him in it he's asleep within a few minutes.

Here's Tim and Max all bundled up as we walk the puppies. Max has just started cooing and he is smiling a lot when you play with him. He has very good neck control and has started pushing with his legs. He likes to stand up and look around. He loves to "see" and I love to just watch him look around, it is so cute.

Tim and Max taking a little cat nap. See Max with his hand in his mouth. Too cute!! You can't see it in this picture but the dogs were up there too while they were sleeping. So that's about all for his first two months. Now I just need some time to scrapbook it all. Pipe dreams...pipe dreams!!

Homeward Bound!

So we are coming home, for good. We aren't happy about it but that is another post all together. So we are going to Oklahoma....Tinker AFB to be exact. It is just on the border of Oklahoma City which is good. So here are my list of things that we are looking forward to even though we aren't totally excited that we are leaving.

1. Normal water that you can drink out of the tap, although, I'm not sure that I will since I have been drinking bottled water for 6+ years.
2. Water that doesn't turn my whites gray and destroys them so much faster than being at home due to the water being SUPER SUPER hard.
3. Water that doesn't destroy my hair and my dye job that I get done.
4. Hot and cold water that comes out of the same tap and not 2 different ones. (can you tell that I have a thing about the water here.)
5. Getting a cup of coffee @ 9 p.m or 10 p.m. or even 11 p.m.
6. Eating at a steak house and eating real quality beef (British beef sucks)
7. Grocery shopping at midnight, if I wanted to.
8. Normal size parking spots, they are very tiny here.
9. Normal size roads both in length and width.
10. Getting all of the TV shows when they are actually being played and not 6 months later like you get here.
11. Having more than just Chinese and fish n' chips when we want to eat out.
12. Target, Walmart, Michael's, Joann's, Food Lion, Hallmark store, Best Buy
13. All of my stuff in storage like my giant George Foreman grill, I miss that thing.
14. Being able to get a real job instead of just working at the commissary

There are more but those are the ones that I think of off the top of my head.

Long Time No See/Post

Okay, so it has been a while since I have posted. There are a few "small" things that have happened since the last time we all spoke.

1. I quit my job (see #2 for reason)
2. I had a baby boy, Maximus....Max for short.

But since I quit my job there are a few things that I'm looking forward to doing. #1 Staying home with my son and #2 Taking more time to get caught up on the stuff that I have slacked on for the last year or 8 months or so. I have stayed up to date on reading everyone else's blog but have seriously slacked on mine. Everyone is doing all of these cool projects and I have done nothing for many many months. So in kicking off the new year I need to pick my work for the year. Last year I chose to Simplify my life. This year my word is Determined.

I am Determined to finish all those projects that I have half done. I am Determined to lose most if not all of this baby weight that I gained. I am Determined to save more money this year for both the family and for Max. I am Determined to make move in June as smooth as possible. I am Determined to keep up with my blog. I am Determined to keep up with all of my pictures on my blog, my Facebook, and my house. DETERMINED!!!

September begins

So September begins and to me that means the holiday season is upon us which = NEW BABY! We are ahead of schedule when our stuff, at least I think so. We have the crib and the rocker and the car seats with the stroller accessories are on the way courtesy of Mom and Dad, thanks you guys. You're the BEST! So now I'm missing the stroller, which my FIL is buying, and the dressers for his clothes. They are on the way and fingers crossed that they get here soon. We are not setting up the nursery as we think we are going to be moving anyways right after I have my 6 week appointment. Where are we moving? Some where in Europe is all they have told us. But of course they want us to move right after I have the baby which I can't do because I need to go to a 6 week check-up and the baby is going to need a passport which can take up to month even if we do the really fast way. We'll see what happens.

If you also have noticed I'm still calling my son (it sounds so weird to be saying that) the baby. We still don't have a name yet. I'm hoping that Tim will give me my name. I have put a deadline on him of October 1st to chose a name. I hate calling him 'Him' all the time. Someone else also said that I should wait till he is born to name him cause he may not look like a (insert name). I guess we'll figure it out soon enough. We do have till December but that will be fast approaching as well.

I never thought I would say this but I'm happy for my new maternity clothes to be coming in. I don't have much in the way of summer wear but it is getting chiller here and the one pair of jeans isn't going to cut is for much longer and well I'm in need of some tops as well and a coat/jacket. I have it all coming but the mail is so SLOW right now. I'm waiting on a bunch of stuff now from like 5 different stores, it's crazy. Trying to get the Christmas shopping done now so I don't have to worry about it.

I have almost finished all of my unfinished projects. They are slowly coming along. I'm in the process of making a diaper bag for a friend who is having a baby any day now. She is due at the end of the month but probably not going to make it to her moved up scheduled induction. So I'm pressed for time.

That's about all for now, nothing else to really report. Sleeping is becoming a real challenge. I get up at least twice to pee and my stomach is starting to get in the way. Like I hit it with the frig door when I close it, or I can't put my water bottle between my legs because then I can't drive. Fun stuff like that. Sorry again, no belly shots. Tim is suppose to take pictures of me soon for his portfolio so I might post some of those. I feel as big as a house and I have the belly of fire from my stretch marks and yes I'm doing the lotion thing but I have a very strong feeling that this kid is going to be HUGE! They normally say your kid will be the average of what you and your husband were. Well I was 9 lb. 11 oz. and Tim was 9 lb. 2 oz. So that being said.....you do the math.

Okay, that's it, I'm out.

So I forgot

I know today is the first day of my "A Week in the Life" project but I forgot to get the camera ready this morning so I'm thinking about putting it off another week but now I'm trying to reconsider. I'm really behind on all of my other projects that I want to finish here soon and well I don't think I'm going to have time to do it this week. I am, however, going to have Tim bring the camera to the ultrasound so that we can have some pictures because I have a few layout ideas about how to document this.

I was actually thinking about starting the baby's book. Ya know, nothing to fancy cause well I'm not a fancy person. Just the pregnancy story, a layout of how I'm NOT doing belly shots (sorry everyone), and the one of the baby's sex and maybe one getting ready for their arrival. I'm thinking about doing one for the possible names that I have/had picked out. Maybe I'll do that today when I go to work seeing as I don't have any tests to give.

Anyways, things are starting to come together. My house is fairly clean, I have gone through a few things that I'm donating and throwing away. I just have to much stuff now a day. Still doing my best to sticking with my Word of the year, SIMPLIFY. I think I have been pretty true to it so far. Okay, gotta run, have to load the car up with recyclables cause our recycle guys don't take plastic....yeah I know, we said the same thing.

Playing Catch-up

Okay, so I'm a bit behind, but at the same time I didn't want all of my posts to be about my pregnancy, and well I have been really lazy and tired all at the same time. Here is the first picture of our baby. There is only one, secretly I was hoping for 2 so I could get just get this all over with, but anyways. As of now I'm in my 11th week. Tim and I were about right when we thought we conceived. That sounds like such a dirty word at times. Our due date moved from Dec. 28 to the 26th. This should be interesting I guess. Whatever, as long as baby is healthy. We go back for another scan on the 13th of June and see the Dr. (Mr.) on 16 June. The scan on 13 June is for abnormalities and I have to get blood drawn either this week or next week for the Down's testing.

As far as other things pregnancy related I feel very fat. Yes I know that everyone is different, but I'm hoping this will all kinda taper out here as far as weight gain is concerned. I'm hoping that I just gain it all in the beginning and then the baby will just take the rest of it, what do you think? I don't think I have gained any weight, I just feel like I have. Nothing fits, stuff is to tight, and I don't feel comfortable in my own skin. I have also decided to boycott underwear. You heard me, I'm boycotting. I hate them. Now here is where I think you are going to get some TMI so if you don't want it, skip down below to the next picture. I'm a thong wearer. I became one several years ago and I love them. I like the mostly because I'm a butt sweater and I hate when I sweat then sit down and feel like I'm sitting in a puddle. Well now my thongs don't fit me, well most don't. My friend Chris told me about pregnancy thongs but again I have been too lazy and tired to search for any. So I need to get off my ass and get some stuff before I drive everyone around me insane. Honestly, I would love just to walk around in my basketball shorts and an old T-shirt for the next 6 months or so but I'm not sure that is possible. I have to look presentable at some point don't I. Okay, enough pregnancy stuff.

Below is my first gift. It is a handmade from one of our British friend's moms. She is really nice. We brought her some bread back from Scotland when we went up there last month. She said that she made it in one night. Pretty good if you ask me. Oh yeah, it is a shawl, forgot to mention that. It's really pretty though.

Other happenings: We are going to have a very busy summer. I think I only have 1 free weekend until August. Here, I'll run through our summer, for the most part.

June 5-7: Old Neighbors (Drew, Shelley, Lily, and Martha) come for visit

June 13: Scan in Oxford = most of the day gone.

June 14: Pictures at a dog show, we're taking the pictures

June 20-21: Free weekend, spring/summer cleaning

June 27: Wales to Bookstore town, maybe

July 4: Someone will have a BBQ

July 11-25: Mom and Dad here

July 17-19: RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo)-largest military airshow in the world held at RAF Fairford.

July 25: Wedding, taking pictures again

August 1: Scan in Oxford, sex of the baby scan

So, there's my summer, for the most part. I might be helping a friend but I'm not going to say who or what we will be doing just in case it fall through but if it doesn't, life is going to get a lot nicer and I think some what easier. SUPER EXCITED, but not to excited, just in case.

We had a nice weekend as well. We had people over on Saturday for our Italian theme BBQ. There was really nothing to cook on the grill except hot dogs and some chicken. But I made lasagna, stuff shells, green beans with shittake mushrooms, regular salad, tiramusu, rice crispy treats, and peanut butter fingers. I was done but the day's end, which is why yesterday was so nice. The other major thing we did was walk the dogs for 2 hours. Puppy got to swim which was nice because it was hot here and he doesn't get his hair cut until Thursday of this week. Well hot for us, it was about 75 or so. We had to get the fan out last night and leave the windows open. It was really nice. I think we are going to get a summer this year. Super excited about that too.

Okay, that's enough of an update. Can't think of anything else. If something new arises then I'll post again. I think Transformers comes our 19 June but not sure. Will do a movie review on that when we go and see it.

Today is June 1st, I think summer has arrived....YEAH!!!!

A Mismash of stuff

This is probably going to more of a random post about a little bit about everything kinda thing. As usual I have like 800 things to do and no desire/drive to do any of them right now, too tired. Anyways, just thought I would show you pictures of my messy room that is desperate for a clean up.

My computer desk with a freshly reloaded computer thanks to Tim. Thanks! I think it run faster now.
My mess of crap. This layout has been sitting here for the past 6 weeks. The sad part is that it only needs like 2 small things and it is finished. No desire.

Another shot of messy work area. I think there is every kind of craft on these tables.

This past weekend, I went to London with one of my best friends for her birthday. I took her to see her first London show. We went and saw Wicked. What an amazing show!!! You don't have to be a fan of the Wizard of Oz to love this show. It was great, loved it, I will go and see it again when family arrives.

My Wicked program, I always get a program.

While in London you know I had to get something for Tim. I was looking for something that I knew he would like but yet was unique and didn't cost to much. Then I came across these. Yes, that's right, they do say Pasta Boobs on the front. Chris was going to get him a Boobie neck pillow but it was really dirty so she opted out. They even had Boobie Soap-on-a-Rope.
I went up on Friday night to see Chris and her family. She made "the chicken" which is like when people come here they get "my lasagna". It was nice to be taken care of, not that Tim doesn't take care of me but I didn't have to cook, didn't have to clean up, and got to sleep as long as I wanted without having to be woken up by the dogs or any other thing around here. I got the nicest Mother's Day card from her too, Thanks Chris for a very special weekend, I had a good time.

After spending the couple of day with Chris I went up to see our old neighbors, Shelley, Drew and their daughter Lily. There house looks great and has come along way from when they first moved into it. They are still working on trying to make it "perfect" and I think they are going to get what they want in the end. I can't wait to see it when they finally do the kitchen but in the meantime, all their hard work looks GREAT!!

That's about all I guess. This weekend I'm staying in, except for Friday night, have to make our bi-weekly pub trip. We are suppose to be meeting friends so it should be a good night. Other than that, I'm going NO WHERE!!! I'm so tired and need to catch up on everything!! Berry picking season is just around the corner so I need to find my jars and get them ready for jam. Saves me time come Christmas when I don't have to make any extra cookies and well with the baby coming around that time, I'm not sure how much I'm going to be doing anyways.

Okay, that's it, maybe a post of more substance later.

We're Expecting

Yup, we're expecting. Due December 28, as of now anyways. We went to the doctor on base and got our referral to Oxford. We will be having this baby there as it is easier than driving to Lakenheath for every appointment and we don't have to go up 2 weeks before the due date to have the baby up at their hospital, so that is nice.

Currently, food doesn't like me or I don't like it. I do okay for a few hours in the morning and then I just want to throw up, but don't. I think I would feel better if I could just get it out of my system but apparently my body as another agenda. I constantly feel nauseous and my stomach is flip flopping all the time. I know it is only temporary but it still doesn't feel good. I do better when I can just lay there like a lump. I'm doing the cracker thing with ginger ale and that seems to help. Not sure how much eating I'm going to be doing here in the near future.

The prenatal vitamins also don't agree with me. I have to take them as I'm going to sleep and it isn't like that is helping because I'm already waking up in the middle of the night for no reason. One top of that I'm waking up before my alarm. Yesterday at 5 a.m. it was like BING! wide awake.

That's all for now. First doctor's appointment with my OB is on May 14 and we'll see if the due date is correct. I'm about 6-7 weeks, not really sure, we'll find out soon enough I guess.

An Update...finally (very pic heavy)

Sorry for the long hiatus from posting but we have been super busy and at the same time super lazy. Too tired to really do anything after all that we have had going on. Shortly after my sister and father left my SIL and BIL came into town for a week. We had a great time with them. Tim was their tour guide and took them all over the country. I will try and go and steal some of Tim's pictures from when they were here as I didn't have any one my computer.

Once SIL and BIL left we were on our way to Scotland for camping a.k.a. Operation Fluffy Bunny. What a gorgeous country!!!! We left Friday morning around 8 a.m. for our 8 hour drive. It was worth it though, even if we were only there for 2 days. We had friends with us. They are pictured bel0w, AJ (who is awesome), Dutchie, and Dalyah. They only got to stay 2 nights because the Air Force is stupid and we'll just leave it at that.

This was our camp site. We were right on the loch. We camped on Loch Linnhe. We were a short walking distance from the water.

It rained a little the first night and a lot of our stuff got wet. This was the clothes line that was in the site. Most camp sites don't have stuff like this, I thought it was pretty cool.
This was mine and Tim's tent, along with the puppies. It is huge but it was just the right size for all of us plus gear. We stayed pretty dry in there after we figured out where our tent was leaking from. Gotta fix that before our next camping trip.

This is Awesome AJ and Dutchie's tent. They had the "Wall of Gayness" in the middle of their tent or really the "Wall of Non-gayness" However you want to look at it. After this weekend Tim has decided to retire this tent as it got all of their stuff soaked all weekend. That tent has many many miles on it.
This is a view of our entire camp site. We had the tarp up there for keeping our stuff dry when it rained when we weren't there. It worked pretty well. As long as the wind wasn't blowing to hard.
This was our Loch. This picture was taken from our campsite. Image, we got to wake up to that for 3 days. How cool huh?

We didn't really have a third tree close enough to tie the other rope off to from the tarp so this is what was mustered up. Tim gets pretty creative on these trips.
Tim sporting his "camping gear". Sexy isn't he.
On Saturday we went to Loch Ness to find Nessie. We put the dog here so that we could go and look out into the water. they weren't really that happy about it.
We stopped on the way home at a different location on our loch. It was a little hazy out but I still felt I should post the picture.

Dakoda swimming and Tim trying to get him out. Dakoda would just swim up and down the loch till he was shaking he was so cold, but still wanted to continue to swim. Crazy dog!
Dalyah sitting.
Mountain, yes that is snow on the top.
AJ walking Maggie, or really Maggie walking AJ.
A rainbow with the boat and mountain. Very pretty. There was someone living/working on that boat. The tide came in a couple of days later and made it very easy for him to leave if he wanted to.
AJ fishing, really just casting, none of them caught anything. They all seemed to have fun regardless.
Tim walking on the bank of the loch drinking his scotch that he bought in town that day. He found better stuff on Sunday.
Tim was more or less walking up and down the bank with the dog who was swimming again. That dog loves to swim.
Sunset on Loch Linnhe

One of my favorites

On Sunday Awesome AJ, Dutchie, and Dalyah had to go home, so Tim and I were on our own with the puppies. We first walked around town. We went and saw the ruins of this castle (will try and post pic, Tim's camera again) and just when I thought I was going to be done, I decided that we should go to the Ben Nevis Falls that the lady at our camp site told us about. It was worth it.

Tim is at the stage where he will do just about anything for a good picture. Here he decided to go crawling around in the rocks to get pictures of the rushing water. The pictures came out good which is all that really matters in his eyes.
Can you still see him in there? He's there. The best part was that there was a Japanese tourist group behind us that we pasted earlier and they were all taking pictures of him down in the rocks. They saw me and gave me a puzzled look and I just pointed to the direction of Tim and they all started to take out their cameras. Too funny. Gotta love those Japanese people.
This is right by the Falls.
Taken from the ground. I just thought it looked cool.

The Ben Nevis Falls.

The last night in Scotland was pretty fun. We were left with some beer that we didn't really want to carry home and there was no way that we were both going to drink it all in one night either. So we decided to offer it to our Scottish neighbors Ronny and Rosey. What a fun couple! We went up there just to bring beer and ended up staying the entire night. We were suppose to go to bed at 8:30 so we would get lots of sleep for our long drive home but bedtime turned into 1 a.m. It was worth it though. Ronny even let Tim try and play the bagpipes. What a sight! I wish I had a camera with me. Ronny ended up giving us a Scottish flag to hang up and a bottle of ale that is only found in Scotland. Those Scots are pretty nice people.

That is all for now. I have other news to report as well but that will come at a later date, I'm to tired as it is a long story as well. Maybe this weekend. If you ever get the chance to go and travel do it, you won't regret it one bit!!