Sheenanigans!

CSN Giveaway at Creative Disaster!

2010-10-14T01:38:00.002+02:00

My friend, Emily, is hosting a CSN Giveaway over at her blog Creative Disaster. The drawing is Friday, so hurry and get your entries in!! Good luck. =)

9.20 meal planning

2010-09-20T18:26:00.000+02:00

Monday: Eggplant Cacciatore, brown rice, salad
Tuesday: Black bean burgers, salad
Wednesday: Chickpea and Pasta Soup with a salad
Thursday: chickpea patties with roasted carrots, green beans and salad
Friday: Left overs
Saturday: Broccoli pizza, salad
Sunday: Split pea and tomato soup with spinach

We've started following food guidelines found in Eat to Live. Amazing book. After eating this way for a week and a half, I already feel more energetic and healthier. =)

Phases

2010-08-23T16:44:00.000+02:00

I've realized my life is going through phases constantly, back to back, one right after another:

getting ready for T to leave
getting adjusted to T being gone
finding a new routine once adjusted
getting ready for T to get back
readjusting once T gets home
finding a new routine when he's home
and then back to getting ready for T to leave.

And really, the phases overlap each other, no matter what phase I'm currently in, I'm trying to catch up from the last phase and simultaneously prepare for the next one. It's no wonder so much time goes by without me realizing it.

Anyway, with that being said, I'm currently trying to figure out a new routine for us. I need more organization, really I do. Surprised? =) I've got a new weekly schedule planned, reworking the budget, and starting meal planning again. We'll see how long I'll keep it up this time. Wish me luck!

This weeks dinner menu:

Monday: Chickpea cutlets (Veganomicon,) mashed potatoes, and corn
Tuesday: Vegetable stir fry
Wednesday: Samosas
Thursday: Pasta with roasted veggies
Friday: Tofu hot dogs to take to Family Fun Night at church
Saturday: Summer squash soup, cous cous & black bean salad
Sunday: Restaurant

See Menu Plan Monday on Organization Junkie.
If only I could be that organized!
=)

Waste Not... Want Not

2010-06-22T21:32:00.000+02:00

That is the theme of my life! So much so, that it's caused mild hoarding issues, but I am happy to say I am successfully dealing with those! As a couple, my husband and I are very practical. Sometimes we drive ourselves crazy with just how practical we are. Our main thoughts when out and about are usually along these lines: "Do we really need this?" or "Is it necessary to buy this or do this?" or "How long can we put this purchase off?" or my absolute favorite, "I could easily make that myself!"

This week, I crossed off a project on my "I can do that myself and for cheaper," list. About a week ago, the girls and I were visiting a friend. While they were playing outside, they found the sandbox, and fell in love with it. I remember seeing those huge sandboxes at stores and thought, "Now really, my kids do not need anything that big. I could make one myself." And that's just what I did:

I bought a Rubbermaid container for $8 and a few bags of sand for $3.50 each. (I ended up only needing one, so I saved the others for later.) Compare that to the cheapest sandbox at $37 that holds 150 lbs of sand! Really, my kids did not need that much sand. It would all eventually end up in the yard anyway. One thing I love about keeping the sandbox small is that I am still able to move it when I need to. So wherever the shade is, that's where I'll put the box. They also got a lot less sandy than they would if they were able to sit in it, which is good when diapers are still in use. The lid should keep water and critters out, but even if they do happen to get in, I only have to replace one bag of sand versus a whole sandbox of it! Not bad! Best of all, my kids LOVED it. I mean really loved it. So much, that they played with it this morning for so long in the heat and humidity. I eventually had to tear them away from it! Awesome results from $11.50!

Another project is my basil plant "box." I took another storage container that my grandma had given me, and repurposed it into an herb box. I had my husband drill holes into the bottom for drainage. He and my oldest daughter filled it with potting soil and planted my basil plants. Within a day, the plants were flourishing! What's awesome is since it's pretty much see through, I can tell right away if the dirt is moist or dry, and C can see the roots that ended up reaching down next to the side of the box. Great for a plant study! And yes, we will be enjoying a lot of pesto this summer!

So, those are a few of my thrifty and repurposing projects lately. The next one on my list is to work on sewing up some summer clothes for the girls. I'll be trying to destash my fabric and clothes that need to be repurposed. Anyone else out there have this habit? Or am I just weird?
=)

Great Waves

2010-05-24T22:07:00.001+02:00

The Great Wave off Kanagawa - Hokusai 1832

The past month has been a tumultuous sea of emotions. My family has felt devastated and happy, and everywhere in between, and at times, both extremes at once. On April 24th, my stepdad unexpectedly passed away. My husband was out to sea at the time. As soon as I found out, (on top of emotionally dealing with the news,) I was trying to price plane tickets for the girls and me. A few days passed and T was able to come home and take emergency leave. So, thankfully, we were all able to fly home to Texas for about a week and a half. It was good for me to be with family. I'm so glad we were able to help my mom out, and I was able to get some closure. I could literally see God working and providing for all of us every day. He never fails to amaze me.

After we returned to Virginia, T had to go back out to sea. I was busy getting the girls back into a routine, then the following Saturday started my mom's visit here. We had actually planned this visit months back to coincide with C's 5th birthday and her first ballet recital. Only God knew well in advance how much we would both need that time together.

My mom and I took advantage of every single moment together. We laughed, we cried, we talked (for hours!,) we played with the kids, took them to the beach, we studied the Bible, we worshiped together, we enjoyed the little things, and the BIG things. It was so fulfilling.

C turned five this past weekend. If my mom hadn't been there, I probably would have been an emotional wreck... ok, a BIGGER emotional wreck! C's birthday fell on the same day as her ballet rehearsal for which she had to get dressed and made up. I put as little makeup as possible, and yet I cried. It was so hard to see her looking so grown up. My emotions were really out of control that day. Thankfully, C didn't seem to notice too much.

We only had to stay for C's class' dance, so afterward we came home to get ready for her birthday celebration. My grandparents drove in for the weekend as well. C felt so special to have everyone in town to celebrate her birthday and recital. Since I didn't get a chance to plan the birthday party I wanted to give her, we had a small family dinner at the house, opened presents, and had C's requested strawberry cake. I'm so grateful my family was here. It really meant so much to C and me. They all truly made C feel so special.

The next day, after attending church together, we all went to the recital. C was beyond cute on stage, and I was very proud. She had a blast. The afternoon brought goodbyes to my grandparents as they had to go back home. We enjoyed a Japanese take-out dinner and a family movie at home with my mom. Then early this morning, we said goodbye to her as well, as she also had to get back home.

And now the house is quiet.

Ha! Who am I kidding? The kids are as active and energetic as ever. They are always who keep me focused and busy. So, this week, we will get caught up around here. Get back to our normal schedule, and patiently wait for Daddy to get home soon.

one year

2010-05-13T04:36:00.000+02:00

We've been back in the states for a year now.

I'm still waiting for things to slow down.

And so it begins....

2010-04-17T04:08:00.001+02:00

Well, we got to have Daddy home for about 8 hours, 3 of those he had to nap thanks to exhaustion. He had to go back to the ship tonight, and left right before I started putting the girls to bed. They're taking it pretty well. I'm really surprised, since this was somewhat all of a sudden for them. We knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but found out pretty much last minute. The ship should be starting her workups soon, so hopefully the girls will continue to be just as easy going about all this as they have been so far.

I supposed I shouldn't put off C's study about Daddy's job and his duties any longer. I've had the idea swirling around in my mind lately and just haven't done the planning yet. I'm thinking about a scrapbook type project with the details of Daddy's job, the ship, his going away sometimes, etc. I will also have pages of pictures of them, and a place where she can put letters she receives from him. That sort of thing. I think it will help her understand more, and also, hopefully, give her comfort in the unavoidable times of missing him.

I've definitely reacted differently this time. When we were in Florida and he would leave for any amount of time I always felt somewhat devastated. We were newly weds though, and I was completely new to the military life. Every time he left, it broke my heart a little. Now, though, I think I am much stronger. I know what to expect. I think my growing relationship with God is truly the main reason for the change. He is giving me peace, and for me (since I've always dealt with anxiety,) that is such a faith building block. Having the kids now is another reason I've reacted differently. (better?) They make me want to be stronger, keep it together, and show them how to have faith that everything is in God's hands.

Last Minute Dessert - Raspberry Sorbet

2010-04-16T03:21:00.001+02:00

At the last possible minute, I decided to make something special for the girls' dessert tonight. They were both fairly well behaved all day (surprisingly,) and since today should end our week of not having Daddy around, I felt they deserved it. I had a HUGE 16 pound bag of ice in the freezer that I really needed to make a dent in (thanks A!) so I decided to use the ice cream maker. I also had a ton of frozen fruit in there as well. I thought back to the fruit slushies we recently had at JoJack's (a local coffee shop,) and wondered if I could make a similar concoction and turn it into sorbet. So, I asked C what fruit she wanted, and when she decided on raspberries, I set to work. This is what I came up with:

Pretty Raspberry Sorbet

12 oz frozen raspberries (about 3 1/2 cups)
2 cups green tea
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Brew 2 cups of green tea in a small pot. While it is still hot, add sugar and stir until it is completely mixed in. Transfer tea and sugar mixture to a blender, add in the raspberries and lemon juice. Puree mixture. At this point, if you have time, strain the mixture through cheesecloth in order to get the seeds out. (I didn't have the time. The seeds didn't bother the girls or me too much.) Cool in refrigerator, and then process in an ice cream maker until you remember it or your kid says, "Mom, I think the ice cream must be done by now!" (Obviously, I forgot about mine, but I would say 20 minutes should be good.) If you want a really sweet sorbet, you might want to add another 1/2 cup of sugar. Because this was for my kids, I kept it to the minimum; the 1/2 cup of sugar was just enough to balance the tartness of the raspberries without adding extra sweetness to the flavor. Hope you enjoy it, I know we did!

the girls

2010-03-26T20:25:00.000+01:00

Because I know my family is going through withdrawal from pictures of the girls... =)

Look what came in the mail today!

2010-03-08T20:47:00.000+01:00

Finally......

My Associates!

My daily battle

2010-01-28T19:58:00.000+01:00

Most days, I try my hardest to be organized. I really do. It does not come easy for me. I try to get my meal planning done, my chores prioritized, and my errands ran. It truly takes extreme effort on my part to know what I need to do and to actually be able to get it done.

If a truly organized person would come into my home and watch me for a full day, she would probably evaluate me running at 20% efficiency in the area of organization. Twenty percent. That's probably being a little generous with the estimation, too.

On days like today, I wake up and organization is a giant monster that wants to eat me alive. I lay in bed not even wanting to fight back. I don't even where to begin. The to-do list has no end and I have no motivation to even start. Even if I did, every single thing that has to be done is flying around my mind or glaring right at me, all screaming and vying for the number one priority spot.

It's enough to make me scream, "I quit! I'm done trying to get it all done. I don't care." But just as I open my mouth, a sigh escapes instead of the scream. I realize (once again) that I can't quit. I have a husband (who I love more than I can describe) who is an absolute neat freak and born organized, and kids (who I also love, of course!) that need structure and a clean place to eat and play. I have to keep trying. Every day, I have to start this battle over.

So, I get out of bed, brush my teeth, and face the monster head on. Hopefully, I'll get at least 20% done today.

P.S.
Obviously, blogging has been extremely low on the priority list. =)

Dear City Treasurer Clerk

2009-11-19T19:23:00.000+01:00

It was sweet of you to offer candy to my four year old, really. I get that you were trying to be nice and I appreciate it. However, did you consider that maybe my child can't eat what is in that candy? Or, how about that since it was 11:30, we were about to eat lunch? Or, how not five minutes earlier, my four year old was being very rude and giving attitude to the poor children's librarian? And since you gave my daughter a sucker you have 1) rewarded her for that behavior (of course unbeknown to you,) and 2) usurped my role as a parent because then, I could not take it away unless I wanted to hear a mighty four year old tantrum while I stood there and paid my Virginia state car taxes (which would have probably ruined both our days.) Maybe you could have handed it to me (being the parent and all) then I could have handed it to her with the instruction that she would take it to the librarian and apologize for her previous behavior. Better yet, may I suggest stickers? Trust me, kids get just as excited about stickers and that is definitely a much better sticky something to give to a four year old.

=)
of course, (you know me,) I didn't say anything as I stood there writing out my check, but it makes me feel better to put it on my blog. heh Hoping to start having more time to catch up on blogging, but.... well, we'll see.

wow

2009-09-15T20:13:00.004+02:00

May was the last time I blogged?

hmmm

A lot has happened. We're still getting reacquainted to stateside spending... errr I mean living. It's been quite an adjustment.

The girls and I were able to visit family while T was in school.

We've been working on setting up our new house!

C is now in ballet.

D is almost 10 months old!!! (she keeps me way too busy!)

T is getting used to ship life again. He also bought himself a nice '99 Firebird that he's loving.

T and I are getting baptized this Sunday! (Hopefully I'll have more time to blog about that later.)

I'm officially taking the last class of my Associate's degree.

Hopefully, I'll be able to add pictures to the girls' blogs soon.

=)

ahem

2009-05-28T18:56:00.002+02:00

i'm alive...
just haven't had time to update my blog.
if you're friends or family, look me or T up on Facebook.
Makes it so easy and quick to update everyone.
=)

8 days left in Sicily....

2009-04-09T21:50:00.007+02:00

I don't know what to think yet.
There will be so many people and things that I will miss.
So many things that I won't.
I'm trying to be at peace with the fact that we didn't travel as much as I wanted to,
and yet appreciate that we did travel some... definitely more than some people ever get to.
Nervous about being back in a big city....
and yet excited for everything that is available with a big city.
Anxious.....
but trying not to be.
Nostalgic at what this duty station has brought me.
a true relationship with God.
my complete acceptance of who I am, what my role is, who I have become, how much I have grown.
Nostalgic at what this duty station has brought us.
we've grown into our own family, have formed our own ideas, have become our own persons.
Sicily put our relationship to the test, and our marriage was strengthened.
my baby grew up here.... she learned to walk, to self feed, to ride her tricycle, to fly a kite.
and now we have a new baby.
the pregnancy and her birth... are memories forever tied to this place.
such good friends were made.
beautiful, amazing women who have helped me so much,
more than many of them will ever know.
among a tumultuous cloud of emotions....
mostly, I am so grateful.

What do stay at home moms do all day?

2009-04-01T21:37:00.001+02:00

A friend of mine emailed me this link:
Tell Me About It
Loved that.

A Quick Trip

2009-03-28T20:44:00.005+01:00

A few weekends ago, it was a beautiful sunny day. Warm and springlike! I asked T if we could go take pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses that my grandparents sent. So, we did. We only drove a few minutes up the road from housing, but just being out of housing's sight and seeing the country side was nice. We ended up having a rocking chair in the trunk of the car because we had planned on taking it to a friend's house before leaving housing, and I insisted we use it in the pictures. =)

T didn't want to be in any pictures. =( It was so nice to be out of the house. I'm hoping I can convince T to go sightseeing somewhere... (anywhere!) within the next few weeks, before we leave.

NSFW Diapers

2009-03-16T14:22:00.006+01:00

Last night, I made 4 "Not So Flat Wrap" diapers in about an hour and a half! That included all tracing, cutting the diapers, cutting the soakers, sewing the soakers in and sewing/topstitching the diapers. Not bad! I was so excited to use them today:

Spoiled:

Gir!!!
"I feel pretty."

Mighty Mouse:

The fourth one is red with the words "I'm here for the presents" written across the bottom. It was a shirt I wore at Christmas... takes on a whole new meaning as a diaper! LOL As you can see, I used some of my most favorite old t-shirts! So, not only did I get 4 FREE diapers, but I also uncluttered my t-shirt drawer! Bonus!

A friend of mine had made me one of these a while ago, but I hadn't been using it because I couldn't get it to fit D right. Plus, my pins kept leaving holes! Well, after I figured out how much I had to fold them over since they're so stretchy, and after my friend told me I need to be using my snappi to close it.... Well, then I figured out that these are the most awesome things ever! They are so trim, fit really nicely under her Bummis Super Bright covers, and are soooo cute! and FREE! and SOOO completely easy to make! =D I will definitely be making more.

in His time

2009-03-13T17:06:00.004+01:00

The other day while perusing our yard for interesting plants and bugs, C noticed this plant covered in "spike-ies" and "pricklies". Intrigued by the budding weed, I snapped a few pictures holding C's magnifying glass in front of it:It was very thorny, and I had no idea what it was, except an unwanted weed in the yard. The rest of it (stem and leaves and whatnot) was rather ugly, generally unpleasant to look at, rough and abrasive, definitely not welcoming and enjoyable.
Lo and behold, the next morning I peeked out the window and saw the scarlet flower had emerged. I didn't go outside to take a better look, but when a friend stopped by she mentioned it was a poppy. I hadn't even noticed. Later, I went and got a better look at the pretty little flower.
Out of something ugly and unwanted, emerged a refreshing and beautiful flower, all in His time. Not mine, not the flower's, but His. This little flower gives me hope about so many other things in my life. Reassurance that some things that might be "ugly," "thorny," or "unpleasant" right now, will emerge into something wonderful in His time. All I have to do is be patient and trust His timing.

My Day

2009-03-10T22:00:00.002+01:00

was full of:
homeschooling...
ant watching...
laughs and giggles...
playdough making (and playing)...
pumpkin bread baking...
organizing for the garage sale...
playing at the park...
Bible study and fellowship...
blog updating!!!

this picture sums up my thoughts...

I am so blessed.
=)

ugh... sickies

2009-02-26T18:33:00.004+01:00

I had 3 events to go to today:

A "caffeine kicker" at a friends house (get together and chat- can you say adult conversation!?)
C's Preschool Co-op
Stamp Club (making cards!!)

And I couldn't go to any because C is sick =( She woke up this morning with a sore throat and a fever that got up to 103. ugh. Not fun, especially since it's a duty day. It always seems to happen that way.

the elephant song

2009-02-24T14:59:00.001+01:00

we can't stop singing this today =)

21st Century Learners

2009-02-20T15:47:00.004+01:00

This is why I'm homeschooling my kids.

"If we learn by doing, what are we learning sitting here?" I love that.

I really feel that more technology should be used in education. All people need to know how to use today's (and tomorrow's!) technology for information, for creating, for communicating. Student's are not learning this in today's schools, unfortunately.

My children will of course know the basics to learning anything: reading and writing. Then we will push learning further into utilizing technology in age appropriate situations. C at age 3 already uses our computer! She uses the internet to watch videos I've selected. She knows that when we're emailing, we're talking to real people. She uses Paint to draw. And this does not make her special! Most children today, whose parents have some type of technology in the house, are growing up with it from birth! So why is it not prevalent in most schools?!

I found this video posted on The Mom With Brownies blog. Thanks for sharing it!

Our new orders

2009-02-20T09:46:00.003+01:00

I didn't realize that I completely forgot to post about our orders.

So.... we are going to Virginia!

If you know T, you probably know that he never wanted to go back to Virginia after going to school there a few years ago. When we were up for orders we tried to go to Japan twice, we were denied both times. Then we tried for Washington State or California, and we were pretty much told that west coast was not an option for us. Which left us Virginia, Virginia, or Virginia to choose from. =) It turned out for the best though, Tony and his best friend found a ship they could both go to, so that's where they're going.

We will all be going to Virginia in April for house hunting. Then I will stay with the girls and cats, and he will come back to Sicily until the end of May or first week of June. I will keep house hunting if we didn't find something we liked (we're going to be buying hopefully.) And hopefully have a house ready for us to set up by the time T gets there.

We're starting to get ready now. We're very excited to be going back stateside! We miss it very much. Three years here has been quite long enough. =) So, please, keep us in your prayers for this transition!

hidden food, slow food, etc.

2009-02-18T18:24:00.004+01:00

It's been a while since I've posted about food! Everyone knows my weirdness about food. Love cooking, love baking, but it better be healthy.... =)

So, how was I the only person on the planet who didn't know about the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld? I hardly ever buy nonvegan cookbooks anymore, so when I saw this at the Nex I was surprised that I was considering purchasing it. I talked myself out of it the first day, only to come back a week later to go ahead and buy it. I mean seriously, hiding pureed veggies into foods? Why didn't I think of that?! Now, C will try just about any vegetable... try, but not necessarily eat a whole serving. So, this definitely piqued my interest.

Honestly, the main reason I bought it was for the whole first part about what veggies to use for purees and how long to cook them. With the recipes, I figured I could veganize the ones I wanted to try. I've made the tacos, the pink pancakes (made with beets,) and the tofu cutlets so far. Beyond that, I have been basically adding pureed veggies to anything and everything that I cook. My spaghetti now has either extra carrots or squash included, and that basil pesto pasta that C loves? haha, it's got broccoli. =)

This has been very helpful making quick food (i.e. pasta) healthier since I've started going to cardio class at 5:30 PM. In my opinion, that's the worst time for a class, since it's our dinner time, but if I want to go I have to work around it. So, I had been cooking around 4:00 - 4:30 so that we could eat around 5:00. Thankfully, the class is literally across the street from our house! I hate to admit, we had spaghetti quite a few times in the past few months. LOL One week, I remember making it twice within a few days, and T said, "Spaghetti again?"

"Hey! I gotta hurry," I said, "and I added a salad this time, so it's special!" heh.

Lately, though, I've been trying to solve the time crunch problem by using my crockpot instead of resorting to quick cooking pasta. Love the crockpot! Yesterday, we had a South African Bobotie type dish from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. I served it with some green beans, and it was yummy. Everyone liked it. Today we had a BBQ vegetables dish from the same book, again, a keeper. Tomorrow, I'm trying a slow cooker potpie. I'm really enjoying it because it allows me to cook when I still have energy (mid morning or lunch time,) and I can leave it to cook all day when I'm at base (like today,) and have time to actually eat instead of cook right before workouts and Bible study! Very nice. I'm also hoping to try a few recipes from A Year of Crockpotting. She has a few vegetarian recipes I thought looked pretty good.

I'm also going to be making my first loaf of bread soon! I've been meaning to for a while, but just haven't set the time aside to do it. I'm hoping this weekend will be it. Hopefully, I'll get good enough at my basic recipe, so I can start searching A Year in Bread for some more exciting recipes. =D

So, those are my food adventures lately. OH! and this recipe will be made very very soon: Chocolate Covered Cherry Pudding over at Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. Oh, go take a look, that recipe looks absolutely divine!

morning musing

2009-02-16T10:56:00.001+01:00

I love how 3 drops of neon blue food dye in pancake batter make me the coolest mom on the planet.
=D

So how do I really feel about Valentine's?

2009-02-12T22:29:00.004+01:00

Yesterday, while at base, I ran in to the grocery store (by myself!!) T had stayed behind with the girls. I was routinely checking my list as I raced down the aisles to find the few things we needed. As I was reaching to the top shelf for Chocolate Silk, C's favorite drink in the whole wide world, I dropped my grocery list. When I realized it, I had two cartons in my hands, so I readjusted to be able to hold both and be able to bend down to pick up my list. Well, an older man was standing near me, saw my list, and picked it up for me.

"You should be careful where you drop your lists, you never know what someone can tell about you from them." huh? I just smiled nicely, thanked him for the list, and put my soymilk into my cart. "I could tell just what kind of person you are from your list."

"Oh yeah?" I said.

He nodded, "May I?" I thought about it and decided I wanted to hear what he was going to say, thinking he would get it all wrong. I handed him the small notepad paper.

"Hmm... You are a very nice person. You live one day at a time, very easy going. 'Help me get through the day' is your motto. You're very emotional, but you try to hide it," he started. Yeah... but that would apply to most women, I thought. "You get angry, but you don't stay mad for long." Again, true... but a lot of people are like that. "Wait, what's wrong with Valentine's Day? You're mad about something with Valentine's Day."

"ummm..." I thought about it as I looked at the line he was pointing to: Valentine's Treats. Am I mad about Valentine's? I don't think so... Unless... Oh maybe. "Oh," I answered, "I guess that'd be because my husband has duty."

"Oh yeah, that's a bummer. I'm sorry," he answered. I think he was pleased that he'd picked that up. "You see how everything is straight, except for Valentine's? That's what it means. It's the only word that dips like that," he pointed out.

He went on to talk about other stuff, but I was still stuck on the Valentine's line. I was highly amused. After he was done, I admitted everything was, in fact, right on about me. It made me wonder if this was just a hobby of his, or if he was a civilian working on his 2nd retirement with the military or something, banking the money while analyzing people's handwriting. That would be a cool job, if that is a job. Who knows. If it was just a hobby, can you imagine how torturous it would be to go to the grocery store? Seeing so many people with lists that you just want to grab and run three aisles away so you can analyze it? Either way, whether it was a hobby or his job, I got a kick out of it.

And if I had been writing a note or list right then, I think it would have showed I was subconsciously trying to prolong my solo trip in the store. heh.

=D

What My Life Looks Like Now

2009-01-29T10:41:00.002+01:00

Me and My Girls

C's usually doing something crazy while D is constantly looking for food:
Unless of course, her big sister is bothering her... then she's just looking annoyed.

Thank goodness I blog....

2009-01-27T10:18:00.003+01:00

T came home (super late) yesterday from work, and told me that we had gotten a speeding ticket. Now, getting speeding tickets here is so much different from in the states, except that they obviously involve people speeding. Instead of being pulled over by a sneaky cop hiding on the side of the highway and instantly knowing you're screwed, here, they have little cameras set up on the guardrails of the highway (only when they need funding, really.) And they always target Americans, because unlike Italians who laugh off tickets, we have to pay before we can leave the island. The camera takes a picture of your car and its license plate and then later, you find out that you received a ticket. How much later?

Our ticket was for May 5th, 2008.

Nice.

T said, "It's you."

"Please," I answered, "I never speed. Plus, I was already pregnant with D, so I definitely wouldn't have been speeding." But, the chance of it being me was driving me crazy. I am constantly getting on to T to slow down. (Granted, you can never really tell what exactly the speed limit is, but I've heard 60 mph is our limit.) If the ticket was his, oh well, I wouldn't care. I've warned him a million times, if he wants to spend his money on an (expensive) speeding ticket, then he can just go ahead. But if it was me.... I knew he wouldn't let me live it down.

So, I found my planner/calendar. and flipped back to May 08. Nothing was written in, I didn't start using it until July. grrr.... I went and found a MOMS Club calendar from May 08... no event, so I could have possibly been at base.... Then I thought, "I'll check my blog and see what I wrote. Maybe we had an appointment to go to."

May 5, 2008:
"We bought a kite for C today, and took her to the park to fly it as soon as we got home from base."

Ha! So, if we were all at base, then T was driving. He always drives when we're together, because apparently I drive too slow.

LOL

haha

2009-01-27T10:15:00.003+01:00

This was in my inbox today from a parenting email. Made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. =)

When I finally get the chance

2009-01-22T18:37:00.003+01:00

to blog about one of the many things I've been meaning to blog...

my brain turns to mush.

Don't know what that's all about.

Maybe it's this rainy weather.

I'll blame it on that.

Stolen Pic of J

2009-01-16T11:53:00.004+01:00

I stole this from my sister's friend's myspace. This is my nephew, J. I can't wait to meet him. Looks like he is such a character. =)

just some thoughts

2009-01-16T10:39:00.003+01:00

the baby is sleeping, so I'll blog, since my blog posts have been few and far between.

this morning I woke up feeling like you know what. It's a head cold or something. =(

I get so annoyed at C saying, "Mommy, I'm staaarving." no you're not. You have no idea. And besides, you just ate less than an hour ago.

Most of my kid free time is being spent sewing diapers for D and my nephew, J, and C's bear.

Or at workout. I've been going to a cardio class 2x a week. Loving that. I'm going to start weights soon.

I gained 30 lbs with D. I have 10 left to lose.

Our next Bible study has started. We're reading Having a Mary Spirit. Already love this book.

Speaking of Amazon... I'm so mad. My last box came in with a craft book and four patterns I ordered, completely trashed and soaked. The book was folded to fit into the box that was too small, and it and the patterns are useless. They better refund my money.

I have had so many things to blog about and no time to do it. =) Here in Sig. that's probably a good thing I'm staying so busy.

It's been raining all day....

2009-01-12T13:36:00.005+01:00

fitting the mood.

I just found out that my great grandma passed away last night. It was expected. She lived a long life and we were blessed to have her for so many years.

I wish I lived closer. Wish I could have visited more than two or three times in the past 3 years.

Wish I could be there to support my grandma and mom.

But it is not in God's plan. I will be home soon enough, and I know He will take care of everyone and everything.

I got it!

2009-01-04T10:52:00.005+01:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while... (uhh family, LOL) remember that book I wanted when we first got here? Persephone and the Pomegranate? I found it! Finally, after two years, the price went down on Amazon. And I found a non Ex-Library copy! Like new! AHH!! I'm so excited. The best part? I didn't pay $88.... only $20. =D I'm super excited. I can't wait for it to get here.

My 1st Pocket Diaper!

2008-12-29T23:44:00.003+01:00

I sewed this on 12/23. I used the free RRP diaper pattern found here. I love this pattern, it's so easy, even I could do it! heh =) I've made 6 or 7 now, I believe, and I've gotten better and a little faster at making them since the first. Now, I need to get making some covers. =)

I've got a ton of pics to upload to the girls' blogs, I just have to find the time. Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Christmas Morning

2008-12-29T23:40:00.001+01:00

My Girls... and their favorite man of the season. =)

2008-12-14T13:43:00.004+01:00

This was on the 6th, at a Santa's Helpers Event on base, put on by the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. C had a blast and was so excited to see Santa. D wasn't interested, obviously, although she looked a bit hungry. LOL The guy was an awesome Santa wasn't he? Pictures were taken (for free!) by Joseph Farmer of Firelight Photography.

quick fix.... ?!?

2008-12-11T15:14:00.004+01:00

A while back, we noticed that there was a leak in the wall of the guest bathroom. It must be between the shower head and the bathtub, because it never leaked for the past 2 years of C's baths, but suddenly showed water damage when I started using that shower. We finally called in the work order a few weeks ago. Last week, a maintenance guy came and re-caulked the bathtub. Hmm... Okay. I asked T, "Did you make sure to tell them the leak is in the wall?" He said of course. Today, was round two. The maintenance guy primered the water damage on the wall. (I guess that's what he did, or just put a new layer of wall stuff over it. LOL I'm so home repair knowledgeable, am I not?) He was supposed to paint it I guess, but couldn't because it's pouring rain, and the wall needs to be completely dry. So he's coming back next week to paint. But not to fix the leak. No, of course not. Seriously, why on Earth would he do that?

Lookie what I got to make today!

2008-12-05T16:44:00.003+01:00

No... not the baby, she's crossed off my "things to make" list. haha... the diaper! I finally started cloth diapering yesterday for good. I tried for the very first time at the hospital, and lets just say it didn't happen then. I couldn't get the diaper to fold right, and D was more than a little mad, so I decided to wait. I've been using the disposables that I received as gifts, and then yesterday, finally asked my friend Mira to come show me how to do it right. =) *thanks again!*

Well, after D went through almost all of her prefolds yesterday alone, I realized I needed to get on the ball and make some more diapers. I got 2 made today while T and C were at base. I've got two more almost ready to sew if I can get a chance to pin them really quick. I used my friend Mira's tutorial for turning receiving blankets into prefold diapers, posted here (you have to join the forum to see it.) My receiving blankets were smaller though, so they made diapers that are only going to fit for a little while, but that's okay. I'll make more later. I also have a bunch of pocket diapers for when she grows a little bit, too.

After all that practice yesterday, I'm pretty good at putting them on the baby. And D's pretty used to me doing it now, too, which is good.

So here's how it went....

2008-12-02T12:09:00.006+01:00

D's Birth Story

I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday at 8 AM. The doctor checked me, and I was still at 4 cm. We then discussed the options for days to induce. The day would have been Saturday the 29th since a new doctor would have been taking over by then, and that was when he wanted to do it. My family would be leaving the following Tuesday (2nd) so I figured if I was going to have to induce, I'd rather do it sooner than later. The doctor asked if I wanted her to strip my membranes to get things going. I really hadn't even wanted to do that, but I figured if it did help get things moving, then perhaps I could avoid inducement. So we did that. T and I ran errands around base all morning.

Around 10 my contractions started but were very minor. Around lunch time, I had some back pain and thought maybe the stripping had triggered it, but then realized that with how steady each pain was, I was actually feeling my contractions in my back. yay! So, we finished up errands and drove home.

We got home around 1 pm and T went to take a nap. I took care of some last minute emails and getting things together, since my contractions were still steady. I knew we'd be going in later. My grandma was looking very concerned every time I had a contraction. The contractions were still about 7 minutes apart at this point, so I went upstairs to try to take a nap as well. While I rested, my contractions got down to about 4 to 5 minutes apart. I couldn't sleep. So I went back downstairs, and stood/walked around through them, while talking to my mom and grandma, answering C whenever she said anything, and generally enjoying my excitement that was building up.

Finally, around 5 pm my contractions were about every 3 minutes, still minor back labor. We decided to head in so that we could stop by the Commissary and pick up some food since the hospital wouldn't have food for me. I kept getting distracted and finishing up little things around the house =) My family practically had to drag me to the car to get me going. We were finally on the road around 5:30 PM. My contractions slowed a little bit on the ride to base. We made it to the commissary after 6 PM and I had 5 contractions in the store in about 20 minutes lol. I don't know if anyone noticed, but they probably thought I was crazy. My grandma was sure I wasn't going to make it to the hospital. hehe...

So, we finally got the hospital a little before 7 PM. The doctor was already there, as it turned out to be a pretty busy night with 3 or 4 other ladies having their babies! She checked me, and I was still only 4 cm!!! She told me she would not admit me until I was in active labor (since she knew I wanted to go natural.) So, she told me to walk around for a few hours, and come back around 9 pm to be checked again. They let my family and our stuff stay in one of the monitoring rooms, and I got to walking with my mom.

My contractions while walking stayed consistent, and remained as back labor. I called a friend to ask what was best for back labor, since it took me by complete surprise. I was not expecting back labor at all, since the baby was in the right position for weeks. The walking did not seem to be productive with my contractions and it seemed to make the pain worse. My friend told me all fours was best, and a few other things to do that would help. So, we headed back to the room to eat dinner (thankfully I was able to, since I wasn't technically admitted yet) and to labor in the room.

I stayed on all fours for a bit, then wanted to just lay down in Bradley's runner's pose. That really helped me relax through the contractions that were getting stronger, but still staying mostly as back pain, but at this point I was also feeling it around the front as well. I thought for sure things were moving along nicely with the increase in intensity, but when the doctor came to check me again around 10 pm, she found I was still at 4 cm! "You've got to be kidding me!" I said. "After all this?" I felt really disappointed and like things were going to end up not going the way I wanted them to.

At this point, the doctor had the inducement conversation with me. She recommended that we not go home since we live in the further housing neighborhood. She said once things get going, that they were probably going to go fast. So, I could either allow her to break my water, or start on pitocin. Pitocin was out of the question as a first resort. So, I decided to let her break my water.

They finally admitted me, I think it was around 10:30 PM? maybe later (this was when time started to not even matter.) My contractions were getting stronger. She broke my water and within a short amount of time, my contractions were suddenly even closer and even more painful. I told T who was by me, "If this is how it's going to be until I'm 10 cm I don't think I can do it." In my head I thought I was still 4 cm. I thought labor was going to stay at this pain level for hours and hours until I reached 10 cm. I told him I was going to need pain medication.

While they were getting the medication ready I was already talking to the anesthesiologist about the epidural, since I was still feeling the pain full blast, I was seriously considering it. My laboring was hard throughout this waiting time. I suddenly got very hot and sweaty. I remember thinking, "When does this happen? I know I read it. How soon until she's ready? Hours? Minutes?" I couldn't remember. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't relax even on my side. My back was in constant contractions, I could not relax it, I kept waiting for them to start the IV. I kept thinking, if it's going to be like this all night, I can't... I can't do this. They finally came with the narcotic for the IV, after I don't know how much time.

T told me, "Okay, they got the medicine in." *Note: they did not check my dilation at this point.* Literally two minutes later, I had a pushing contraction.

"My body's pushing," I said out loud to no one in particular. I'm not sure anyone heard or noticed. The epidural lady told me to roll over to the other side of the bed and sit up. I did, had another pushing contraction and fell back over to my side to push. I couldn't not push. "I can't stop pushing," I said again.

The epidural dr. finally went and got my doctor to ask if she wanted to check me before giving me the epidural. She came in and checked and said quickly, "Sheena, you're done. You ready to have this baby?" They must have immediately taken the medicine out, and really I should not have even had it since I was past 8 cm. *T says the medicine was in for about 10 minutes.* They helped adjust me in the bed. I didn't even bother with squatting like I had wanted to, I could tell she was coming already. "Alright, with your next contractions, push." (Like I could have not? lol)

I waited for the next one to arrive.... it took what felt like a few minutes, but I'm sure it was only a few seconds lol, and pushed. I pushed through 4 contractions, and with the last, felt a huge relief of pressure from my belly. I knew she was out. I opened my eyes and looked and saw the doctor pulling her away from me. I knew I wasn't going to get her to my stomach like I had wanted, she was completely blue and purple. She still held her out for me to cut her umbilical cord, only saying to hurry. So I didn't panic, I knew if she had given me even a few seconds to do it myself, then she felt it wasn't a dire emergency. After I cut the cord, they immediately took her to give her oxygen. She was born at 12:06 AM, technically Wednesday morning.

While they worked on her, I delivered the placenta and the doctor started taking care of me. Then apparently, something wasn't quite right, and the doctor said something like, "I'm really sorry to have to do this." I didn't realize what she was talking about, since I had been paying attention to what they were doing to the baby, not to me. Suddenly, she was all over my abdomen practically beating it. Let me tell you, that hurt like nothing I've ever felt before. She had to go inside and for lack of better words, scoop out everything that was keeping me from stopping bleeding. Apparently, if even one piece of the placenta is left in tact, the body will continue to bleed. So, this was torture. She did that, and then massaged/beat my uterus. I was also on pitocin at this point to help my uterus contract. I honestly don't know how long this took but it was torture. I was fighting her the entire time, grabbing her arm and asking her to please stop. *T just told me they didn't do this just once but several times. Every time the doctor came in to check on me.* This hurt worse than my labor! Anyway.... That is definitely an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Finally, the doctor was done doing that, and she told the corpsmen to hurry and give me the baby when they had the first chance. The entire time I was fighting her, and was crying and reaching for my baby. I wanted her. They finally gave her to me, and I was so incredibly happy. I can't even describe it.

Overall, D's birth was so much harder work physically than C's had been, but the recovery was so much easier. I felt pain (that I can't even remember what it felt like) with D, but after she was born, it's true what they say and the pain just disappeared (except for the whole beat down lol). With C, I felt nothing while delivering her, but afterward, recovery was hard. My body had felt like I had been hit by an 18 wheeler, and that was even before all the drugs had worn off.

I was a little disappointed at first when I found out how fast she came after I had accepted the medicine. If I had only realized I was in transition, or had someone told me, I would have just gone through with it without medication. In my head, I thought I had the whole night to go through at that level of pain. Really, though, the doctor should have checked my dilation before giving the medication. Perhaps, it was meant to be that I received that little bit of medication to help with what was going to happen afterward, but still.... I wish I had known.

After they finally gave her to me for good, we were good. She took to breastfeeding right away. The family was ecstatic to finally meet her. C was so excited. I was so proud of C, she was there the entire time, and did really well. I'm so grateful for T's support. I was worried he was going to freak out LOL since last time I was practically smiling the entire time while pushing. I didn't know how he'd handle me feeling everything, and my reaction to it. I'm also so grateful my mom and grandma could be there. And I'm so glad I ended up not getting the epidural. I kind of wish I had gone ahead and hired the doula even though it would have been expensive for the amount of time she would have spent with me, but if I had had one, she would have known I was in transition, and I wouldn't have taken the medication.

But, then again, I think everything happened the way it was meant to. If we have another though, I know I can do it now. I know what to expect with a natural delivery. I think that was my biggest thing to get over, was not knowing. I read so many books, and watched so many birth stories, and I thought I knew, but you just don't until you are experiencing it. Overall, I am happy with my experience, and I would definitely do it again. We have another wonderful baby girl, who I am so excited to get to know and watch grow.

She's HERE!!!!

2008-11-27T23:05:00.004+01:00

Our precious little girl is here! Here are some pics from my mom's camera. Hopefully I'll get to a more detailed post tomorrow. =)
Introducing:
Dl born on November 26th, 2008 @ 12:06 AM
8 lbs 2 oz and 20.5 inches long

yay!!!

2008-11-25T16:49:00.002+01:00

looks like we will be heading in to base here in a little bit.... contractions are about every 4 to 5 minutes!!!! and staying steady!!!

so exciting!!!!

dr. apt

2008-11-25T13:44:00.003+01:00

Had another doctor appointment. Same as the other day. But afterward, my contractions which were about every 10 minutes started getting stronger. Came home anyway, so hopefully they'll stay constant and get stronger, and hopefully we'll be going back in today. Otherwise, they want another monitoring session on Friday and inducement on Saturday. But if we're going to have to induce, I might decide to just do it tomorrow. Hopefully though, my contractions will get stronger and we'll have to go back in today anyway. =)

I'll give another update soon, hopefully, or if not, my mom can leave a comment to update everyone.

[another] Update

2008-11-24T19:40:00.001+01:00

We walked around Caltagirone for a few hours today..... and still, nothing. I thought for sure something would start happening. If it hadn't been rainy we would have driven out to Agrigento, then of course something would definitely have happened, lol, since it's quite a ways away, but oh well. My next appointment is tomorrow morning, bright and early. The doctor will be talking to us about "her schedule" for this week, and will undoubtedly recommend an inducement day.
=(

Guessing Baby's Weight

2008-11-23T19:49:00.003+01:00

Here's what we're guessing:

Grandma: 8 lbs 6 oz
Mom: 8 lbs 4.5 oz
T: 8 lbs
Me: 8 lbs 9 oz
C: "uhhhh 3 years old"

Anyone else want to guess?
=)

41 weeks today

2008-11-23T19:38:00.004+01:00

I had another monitoring session today. They hooked me up to the wonderful machines again for over 20 minutes. Baby's heartbeat is fine. I was having contractions every 4 minutes, but I couldn't feel them, until I watched the machine, and realized... "Oh, that feeling is a contraction?" lol very weak contractions, so minor, I've been ignoring them for some time now. I'm dilated 2-3 cm now instead of 1-2. I met my new doctor, and while her bedside manner is not the greatest, I do like her method of inducing a lot better than my last doctor's..... that is if we have to resort to inducing. I'm still hoping I won't have to. But if we do, she's going to use an internal medication, if that doesn't work, then break my water, and if that still doesn't get things going, then as a last resort, use pitocin. I asked that if we had to resort to pitocin, once my contractions started up, if we could stop the medication, and she said she would be willing to try. So that was a little comforting. Hopefully I won't have to induce, and if I do, hopefully the internal medication will be enough to get things moving along. I'm very excited, and so happy I've stuck to my plan so far. I really think the only reason I've been able to keep saying no to an inducement is because of my mom and grandma's help. If they weren't here to help with the house, cooking, and C, I think I would have been exhausted by now, and probably would have given in to an inducement even though I didn't want one. So, I'm so grateful for their help. I just hope the baby decides to come soon, so we can all meet her! (and hopefully get a little bit of sight seeing in!!!!)

=D

soooo

2008-11-21T17:44:00.003+01:00

I had the tests done today (another trip to base...) My family is already seeing why we're quite tired of living here sometimes lol. I had to be monitored for 20 minutes to watch the baby's heart rate, my heart rate, and contractions. Apparently, I had 2 contractions in that 20 minutes that I didn't even feel. I'm only dilated 1-2 cm. The doctor was talking about inducing Monday or Tuesday (I'd barely be 41 weeks.) But I think I bought some time. If I don't go into labor by Sunday morning, I have to go in for another monitoring/test session. At that time I will meet with the doctor who will be taking over for my doctor (since he's going on vacation.) She will give her recommendation which I'm positive will be an imediate inducement to avoid having a baby on Thanksgiving when "not all the staff will be at the hospital." ugh. We'll see.... I'll give another update when something happens.... or doesn't.

Dr. Apt.

2008-11-19T16:48:00.003+01:00

My family made it in okay yesterday. Had another dr. apt today. Frustrating! I'm not dilated, and the baby is not engaged at all! lol she is quite content where she is..... Like I predicted, my doctor started talking about inducing already. I told him I'm not even 41 weeks until Sunday, so he better hold his horses. heh. He's going to start making me go in twice a week for stress tests, amniotic fluid checks, and possible extra ultra sounds. give me a break. ugh. So, we'll see what happens this week. I'm praying that she'll decide to come on her own... and soon.

just another update

2008-11-18T12:14:00.002+01:00

for family that's checking in:

Tuesday @ noon: still waiting.... might have decided on a different name... =)
we'll see.....

hehe

=)

another update

2008-11-17T23:03:00.001+01:00

It's Monday night... 11 PM, still no baby. My luck, she'll decide to get things going as we're on our way to the airport to pick up my mom and grandma tomorrow lol. *knock on wood*
=)

Still Smoking?

2008-11-16T20:35:00.001+01:00

Still Smoking? Watch This !! - The best free videos are right here

I'm due today.... and nothing is happening yet...

2008-11-16T12:33:00.003+01:00

Today is my due date. Leah is not here. Tony is at work (yay!) And Carlee is keeping me busy. Thankfully, right now she's occupied with playdough. (We've already painted, colored, read, and made & drank some apple cider, her new favorite.) She's definitely keeping me busy....

I'm tired of waiting. I'm so ready to be in the next stage of our life already. I want to hurry up and have my two kids! to be in our new schedule! to get my energy back! to be able to go somewhere without thinking, "Oh, but I might go in to labor." I'm even missing out on a Christmas Card workshop today =( boo. It's okay though, I'm still buying the supplies so I can make them here at home.

My mom and grandma are going to be visiting soon. They're coming in on Tuesday. I'm so excited! Hopefully Leah will be here by then... we'll see. I'm hoping she doesn't wait too long. I want my mom and grandma to spend as much time with all of us as possible. I don't want to spend it being tired and eventually in the hospital. Speaking of which. Another reason I hope Leah decides to come soon, is I know my doctor is going to be pushing for an inducement at 41 weeks at the most. I really, really, really, do not want to induce. He's making a big deal about the weight I put on in the last few weeks. Even though, really, it's not much and I haven't changed ANYTHING in how I'm eating at all. (Besides, I ate less healthy and put on more weight with Carlee, so I'm so not worried about it.) He's just weird, wants to be in control, and is beginning to irritate me.

anyway... time for lunch. Send labor vibes my way!!! =)

Still.....

2008-11-15T16:22:00.000+01:00

waiting.

39 weeks today!

2008-11-09T19:38:00.001+01:00

39 weeks and counting..... =) my friends were guessing the day she'd pick to arrive. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday were their guesses. Tony decided to take Thursday. We shall see...
=D
hopefully she won't keep us waiting for long....

chaos caught up with me

2008-11-04T18:11:00.002+01:00

This past weekend I crashed. LOL The few weeks leading up to Halloween, I had so much going on. But at the same time, I really need to stay busy, or Carlee and I will go insane in the house. =) Yesterday, I spent all day organizing some MOMS Club stuff, taking care of business, etc. Today, I went on a walk with a friend, got some sunshine (it was so warm this morning!) and then we let the kids play at the park for a good while. That walk took all my energy. After lunch, I pretty much just lounged trying to get my energy back. The skies turned gray, and then I ended up dozing in and out of sleep while Carlee was being good and entertaining herself. After a short nap, I got to upload some stuff to Splitcoast Stampers. =) I'm not posting it on my other blog until I go to our next card swap. But I really like one of them. My poor craft blog has been ignored... I haven't had much time to craft at all. Although I did get to go to a stamp-a-stack for Thanksgiving cards. I loved them, and it was a lot of fun. Nice to do something creative. Now I'm about to head off to Bible study. We're reading Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. It's an awesome book. I have a lot to work on. =)

Well, this turned out to be a long rambling of sorts, eh? =) Hope everyone's week is going good. I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow.... these weekly appointments are starting to irritate me..... lol

So... I thought

2008-11-03T10:22:00.003+01:00

the baby was going to decide to come last night..... Had my first contraction at about 11 PM. Had a few more throughout the night, just enough to keep me awake, anticipating things to happen, water breaking, more contractions, anything! But no... they just stayed very mild and far apart. Yay for false labor! lol But hopefully this means she'll be here soon!!!!! I did practice my relaxation and feel pretty good about that. Carlee also kept getting up throughout the night, so it was a rough night. Thankfully she let me sleep in this morning. =)

On an unfortunate note, my doula had to go to the states for an emergency. =( I'm praying for her and her family, and also for me since she won't be here if I go into labor before my due date. Keep us in your thoughts! =)

10/27 Vegan Menu Plan Monday

2008-10-27T14:53:00.005+01:00

My 2nd week of menu planning! Last week went pretty good dinner wise. I used my plan maybe half of the week? Is that normal? lol But it was nice to have something to fall back on. I switched a few nights around, and on one night, Tony ended up cooking so that was nice. Another night, I ended up throwing together a quick shepherd's pie that was really good. All I did was use a can of Amy's Lentil soup, added in some frozen green beans, peas, corn, and carrots. Let that cook for a few minutes while I made some instant mashed potatoes. (Yeah, it probably would have been better with fresh mashed potatoes, but I was exhausted... lol) After the soup mixture simmered down for a bit, I poured it into a casserole dish, topped that with the mashed potatoes, then sprinkled crushed french fried onions on top. Then baked it in the oven for about 15 minutes. Even Tony said it was good. I thought so, especially since it was literally just thrown together. =)

Here's my plan for this week:
*Okay, had to edit because 1) wasn't feeling up to cooking tonight and 2) I completely forgot Friday is my birthday LOL!

Monday (if I feel better by this evening):
Broccoli Soup (my personal creation, I'll come back and add in the recipe)
Otherwise, whatever Tony wants to cook. =)
*Didn't feel better, so Tony made spaghetti with a ton of various veggies added in. Super yummy. Moved soup to Wednesday.

Tuesday:
"Meaty" Slow Cooker Chili from Geek, Poet, Housewife Wannabe

Wednesday (duty day):
Broccoli soup (my recipe... I'll add later.)

Thursday:
Fettucini with Artichokes and Beans (my current favorite dinner) with lemon juice squeezed on top, and green beans on the side

Friday:
Hopefully going to the Agriturismo! or at least a restaurant =)

Saturday:
Morningstar Chi'kin strips, broccoli rice (made with leftover soup,) and another vegetable.

Sunday:
Bean Tacos, spanish rice, and fried corn

I'm participating in:
Menu Plan Monday hosted by Organizing Junkie
Veggie Menu Monday hosted by Geek, Poet, Housewife Wannabe
Veg*n Meal Plan Monday hosted by In a Garden Somewhere

Pregnancy Pics!!!!

2008-10-22T21:45:00.005+02:00

Even when I was pregnant with Carlee, I wanted pregnancy pictures, but wasn't able to get them done. This pregnancy, I am so blessed to have a really good friend, Angie, who is a really really awesome photographer! This past Saturday we did a shoot together and I loved soooo many of the shots. We even had to deal with low lighting due to thunderstorm clouds that came in, and with Carlee's weird smiles and constant moving and they still came out great! These are my super super favorites. :)

Is she awesome or what?!
Thank you so much Angie!!!!!
=D

Vegan Meal Planning Monday!

2008-10-20T13:40:00.012+02:00

I've decided to try my hand at meal planning. I have a friend who does once or twice a month cooking, and I would love to eventually get there, but I think I need to start small. lol. She raves about OAMC, how she's never in the kitchen and that it's so nice to have dinners ready to go. That would be soooooo nice.... But for me, organization needs to come one step at a time LOL otherwise, I will get overwhelmed.

This week, I'll probably be trying a bunch of new, quick, and easy recipes in order to get a small collection to share with some good friends of mine that have volunteered to cook us meals when the baby gets here. Do I have awesome friends or what?! :D

Here's the sites that got me interested:

Organizing Junkie who hosts Menu Plan Monday

In a Garden Somewhere who hosts Veg*n Meal Plan Monday

Monday:
Tortilla Casserole
*Review: This was pretty good. For the two cups of vegetables that the recipe calls for, I used: 1 can of rinsed & drained black beans, 1 cup of frozen corn, and 1 cup of chopped red/yellow/green bell peppers. Obviously I went over the 2 cups, but it wasn't too many vegetables, I thought it was just right. I used only 1 onion, since my hubby isn't too fond of them. One was enough for us. On the other hand, one clove of garlic wasn't near enough. I actually used 4 small cloves since all of mine were small, and next time I will use even more. Instead of the jalapeno, I added 1/2 of a 4 oz can of green chilies. I can't make things even remotely spicy if I want Carlee to eat it. I skipped the nondairy cheeses since I can't get them here. So, with all those changes, it was good. I didn't put near enough salt in while cooking (I never guess salt amounts right!) And I think that since I didn't go for spicy hot, that I need to add some different spices to it, just oregano was not enough. Overall though, it was a quick and pretty good dinner. Not great, but good. The best thing about this recipe was that Carlee ate all of hers, not complaining once! We didn't even have to count bites or promise dessert! So, this recipe will definitely be a keeper for that reason alone.

Tuesday:
"Hamburger" Macaroni Casserole
*Review: I really liked this dinner! So easy, and tasty. Then again I love those French Fried Onions. I am so glad they took the hydrogenated oils out of them too. (Well, the brand I get anyway.) (Unfortunately, the only tomato soup they had at the store had HFCS in it. boo.) This dinner was so quick to throw together, and I really liked the mix of flavors. Tony on the other hand didn't care for this dinner too much. This is usually how it goes for us with dinners. If I love it, he doesn't. If he loves it, I don't. lol. He said, "it's allright, but all I taste is the onions." I could taste all the other spices too, and I really liked the sweetness of the corn added in. Carlee liked it, so again.... it's a keeper. =)

Wednesday:
Southwestern Pasta

Thursday:
(Tony has duty so we'll eat Carlee's favorite meal)
Morningstar Chikin Strips cooked in coconut oil, garlic and olive oil cous cous, and peas (super easy!)

Friday:
Pizza night - Fresh basil pesto and tomato pizza. (Tony's absolute favorite) Someone posted the pesto recipe that I use from the Vegan Planet cookbook here. Add chopped tomatoes on top (we use cherry tomatoes) and you have yourself a super yummy pizza. This time, I'll be adding white beans on top for some added protein to see how we like it. *You can refrigerate any pesto you don't use for up to a few weeks.... trust me, it probably won't last that long though because it's so good*

Saturday:
Pistachio Pasta or Gnocchi *I will post this recipe soon*

Sunday:
Mediterranean Cannellini Bean Soup

I'll try to post reviews of all the new recipes as we try them.
=)

Here are some other vegetarian meal planners for this week:

My accident prone husband.....

2008-10-17T19:04:00.002+02:00

Today, I had planned on taking Carlee to a fire demonstration in the other housing complex. They were going to have an empty unit filled with "user friendly smoke," and have the fire fighters and Sparky there to talk to the kids. Then about 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave, I got a call from Tony. "I'm coming home," he said. "I need you to take me to the hospital."

"What!? What happened?!"

"I sliced my ear."

"How did you do that?"

"Playing basketball."

Yeah........ playing basketball. Turns out someone pushed him into a transmitter that was waiting to be demolished. (They have a makeshift basketball court....) Anyway.... long story short, we had to head to the hospital. 10 stitches later.... he's fine. From what I hear, it was really gross, but I told Tony I didn't want to look. =D

What I want....

2008-10-08T19:33:00.002+02:00

This afternoon, I had a meeting with my prospective doula. I had a different lady that I was going to start up with as soon as she helped the last lady to have a baby, but she let me know that she would not be able to be my doula after all. Completely understandable, as she has a lot going on, and she wasn't charging. So, she referred me to a different lady here who is a certified doula, but who charges. I knew I still wanted someone with me, so I met with her. She gave me a third off her normal fee since I'll only have 4ish weeks left by the time we will start our doula/patient relationship. I'm very excited though, since she seemed very concerned with what I wanted and helping me achieve it.

My labor with Carlee was not traumatic by any means, in fact I was extremely blessed that everything went so well. But looking back, I regret a lot of things, I'm disappointed in how things went, and there are so many things I would change. I was not informed, I was scared, and only had Tony to help me (who was gone most of the pregnancy, and who also didn't know a thing about labor and delivery.) I gave into the doctor's advice on drugs and an epidural, even though I had originally told him I didn't want one. I felt completely not in control, like I wasn't even having a baby, and passive. My epidural was so strong that I didn't feel a thing after they administered it. I was lucky that even then, I had a strong mind/body connection and could still control my body without feeling anything, otherwise I don't doubt for a second that they would have suggested a C-section if I couldn't push effectively.

I blame the epidural and drugs for how I felt after having Carlee. I was so out of it, and felt like I had been hit by a truck. It was like my body was wondering what the hell had hit me, since during the whole event I hadn't felt a thing. I also blame the epidural for Carlee's sucking problems. It took her 2 weeks to learn how to suck right in order to eat well. Even with bottles, not just with breastfeeding, so I know it wasn't me or that she needed to "learn" to breastfeed. I never knew epidurals could cause that until recently.

This time will be different though. I have a birth plan in my head and am currently planning it out on paper. I'm hoping to go natural, do my early laboring at home, not be restrained to the bed once I'm at the hospital, and have my doula present. I want to be relaxed and will have the environment a certain way, I want to shower if I feel like it, walk if I feel like it, work through the contractions in whatever position I feel most comfortable in, hopefully snack if I need to, etc. I'm really looking foward to this birth. I can't wait to welcome our little Leah into this world, on her and my terms and in our own way.

Everything's fine!

2008-10-03T16:45:00.001+02:00

Thank goodness! I didn't start doubting my intuition until last night, and then I didn't sleep very well, but the ultrasound results today say she's perfectly fine! Her measurements are right where they should be. My amniotic fluid is fine. Everything's good. The guy tried to get a few pictures.... buuuut she's already head down! and was facing my back. =) She's getting ready!!!!

=D

33 week check up

2008-10-01T18:13:00.003+02:00

My 32 week checkup was a week late as my doctor was on leave. We went in today, and everything was fine except my belly is measuring 4 inches smaller than it should. I'm not particularly worried, I can feel this child doing her little gymnastics in there; I know she's fine. But the doctor wants to be sure, so he scheduled me for another ultrasound.

....yay....

Can you tell how excited I am? lol I have to drive down to base again this week, (ugh) on a full bladder (UGH) and get looked at for an hour (DOUBLE UGH!!!) buuuut maybe I can con the guy into printing some more pictures. *crosses fingers* heh. Gotta have those pictures for the scrapbook! =D

I'll give an update on Friday. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Birthday Boy =)

2008-09-29T09:20:00.003+02:00

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday. =) Last year he held a halo party, but this year he didn't feel like doing anything but hanging around the house... he's getting old. hehe. When I first met him, he had just turned 17. Yesterday, he turned 26. Goodness. I don't know where the time is going. Anyway here's a few pics of his birthday cake. He chose a Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

Look at all those candles!!! He was a little upset that I had to buy 2 boxes of candles LOL This was taken with my Nikon, then the battery died. The other two pics are of lesser quality. =(

The Birthday Boy and his little helper:
Thank goodness the fire alarms didn't go off with all that smoke! LOL
A funny thing was, when we were getting ready to eat the cake, Tony was pulling the candles out and said, "Uh Sheena..... the cake melted the candles."

"What!?" I didn't think the cake was still hot because I got it out fine, and could touch the pan and the cake and everything, I figured it had cooled off enough. Apparently not in the inside. LOL So to eat the cake, we had to scoop out all the little pieces of melted candle wax. It was too funny. I hope he had a good day. =)

Homesick.....

2008-09-27T17:22:00.002+02:00

I don't know what it is..... but homesickness struck really hard today. I think it was the weather. It's cool, fallish, and cloudy. When I looked outside, it looked like Central Texas fall. =( My Texas. Every time I glanced outside I thought I should be able to just drive to my Mom's house. sigh....

It's a good thing I had quilting class today. I would have brooded around the house all day crying about missing home. lol A funny thing was after a few people showed up to the class, someone noticed my t-shirt of my brother's highschool football team, and asked if I was from Texas. I said yeah. Turns out all 4 of us that were there first are all from Texas. So I shared my homesickness, and we talked about Texas for a few minutes, how we all missed it. That helped a little bit. =)

Then I spent the next 3 hours learning how to work my sewing machine (again,) and cutting my first color of fabric for my quilt. I am very excited! I hope to have all my fabric cut before the next class two weeks from now, so that I can start my sewing. =D

My daughter is a little rational adult stuck in a 3 year old's body

2008-09-24T08:54:00.003+02:00

Last night, after returning home from Bible study, I told Carlee it was almost time to go to bed, and we needed to get ready. She matter-of-factly looked at me and said, "Oh, well tonight I can sleep in your bed, because Daddy's not here."

"What?" I was speechless for a few seconds! LOL "Well, don't you think you should sleep in your big girl princess bed?" *fingers crossed* {I still haven't been able to write about our whole buying her bed experience... I'll get to it.... eventually. heh}

"No, I'll sleep in my bed tomorrow. Tonight I can sleep in your bed because Daddy's at work and he'll be home tomorrow afternoon. So there's room for me now."

"Well.... I uh... hmmm.... Let me call Daddy and see what he says about this." So I called him, and he just laughed at her rational thinking. We both decided that if she understood the fact that when it was all 3 of us, there is not enough room, that neither one of us minded if she slept with me on Tony's duty days. I really don't want her to feel like she's not wanted in the bed, because that's not it at all, there really is just not enough room. And honestly that is the reason I've been giving her, so how could I tell her no after she realized that there was room last night? lol... I'm going to have to watch how I say everything and what reasons I give... looks like I have a little lawyer on my hands, or something. =)

Sigh....

2008-09-19T17:34:00.001+02:00

Another one of my very close friends left the island this morning for good.
=(
I'm bummed.
ugh... the navy life.

The Sleep Situation

2008-09-17T12:46:00.003+02:00

Funny that I got this article in my inbox this morning.... :)

So, the sleep issue is getting a little bit better. Okay, a lot better, but only in Carlee's weird little way. We ended up "SuperNanny-ing" it at first. I started it on Thursday (Tony's duty day YAY!) and it was a nightmare. She fought for an hour at first, with me repeatedly picking her up and putting her back in the bed silently. As soon as I laid her down, her feet were already swinging out of bed, and I had to race her to the door to close it and prove I was serious. Every time she opened the door, I'd take her back to bed. My back was killing me! She finally quieted down for a bit around 10 PM. I had time to take a shower (my only break) and as soon as my head hit the pillow, she started up again. That was about 10:30 PM, I did not lay back down until 1 AM when I finally gave up and let her in to bed. I insisted that this was the absolute last night, and crossed my fingers that she at least took a hint from the last 4 hours and would be more cooperative the next night.

Friday was much better. Still a struggle initially to get her bed, but she eventually quieted down but was laying by the door. She got up and fought Tony (I told him that night was cake compared to the night before, so he had Carlee duty) about 3 times max. She ended up sleeping by the door on the floor!

That's where she's been since then. She finally let us know that she thinks the crib (which is in its daybed form) is for the baby, and that she likes our bed. So, I decided to use a chart to track her nights slept in her room. Once she gets 10 stickers, *I guess....* we'll go to base and buy her a twin sized bed. I really had wanted to wait until we got to the states to buy her a bigger bed, with more selection and better prices.... but whatever will work, I am willing to do.

She's been doing much better. Usually only waking up once or twice and going back to sleep fairly easily once I remind her about the stickers. I just find it so weird that she's happy on the floor in a makeshift blanket bed. LOL but whatever.... :) Plus I'm wondering if when we do get the bed, if she's going to actually use it, or stay on the floor..... o_0

My Very First Award!

2008-09-15T08:53:00.005+02:00

I was given this award by Loraloo over at Suburbia Las Vegas. I really love her blog too, so go check her out. :)

The Details:
(1) The winner can put the "I :heart: your blog" logo on their blog.
(2) Link the person you received your award from.
(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs (if you can). **Not Required but please feel free to share the love!**
(4) Put links of those on yours.
(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

So, now comes the hard part of choosing blogs when I read so many.... :)
In no particular order....

1. Munchkins and Music - awesome blog by a mommy & music educator to help you include music education in your children's lives from the get go.
2. Vegan Yum Yum - Awesome vegan food and recipes with gorgeous photos!
3. No Time for Flashcards - Great blog by a mommy/teacher with tons of great activities and ideas to use for educating without the use of flashcards. Love it!
4. Crafty Crow - A collection of arts & crafts activities from all over the blogosphere. Love having so many ideas in one place!
5. The Mom with Brownies - Awesome blog by a homeschooling mom with homeschooling resources from pre-k through highschool, and tons of other frugal tips and links.
6. Stamps, Paper, Scissors - I love JanTink's cards.... they are gorgeous. I hope one day, I can be that good. :D
7. Parenting Freedom - This blog pretty much sums up how I feel about parenting... almost every aspect that I have an opinion on is covered. Just add being an ethical vegan to the list, and there you have me.

sooo sleepy

2008-09-08T10:53:00.003+02:00

I haven't been able to update any of my blogs lately... Saturday my friends threw me a baby shower!! It was sooo awesome. THEY are sooo awesome. It was kind of weird for me, because I've never had a party thrown for me as an adult, so I kind of kept forgetting the party was for me LOL. I kept finding myself in the kitchen, and my friends would give me looks like, "What are you doing? Go to the living room!" haha. I hope no one was offended, I didn't do it on purpose. =) I will post pics later. I loved everything I got for the baby. I'm so grateful for my good friends I have here. I don't know what I would do without all of them.

So, why am I sleepy? Well, for the past week I've been dealing with Carlee's weird sleep patterns that showed up out of nowhere! Seriously, is there a reason to get up at 3 AM and NOT go back to sleep for the rest of the day!!!???!!! I'm not kidding. I'm 30 weeks preggers and dealing with this. I'd like to enjoy my sleep for the last few weeks I have it, Carlee, thank you. One night when Tony had duty, I fought to get her to sleep for 1.5 hours in the middle of the night, and finally decided to just let her cry it out, and went to bed. Well, she came in to my room and crawled into bed. I was too tired to even say anything... my biggest mistake. Well, I did tell her that when Daddy was home, she would not be able to do that, but she knew better.... LOL The next night, (when Tony was home) she did it again. Came into our room around 1 AM, went straight to my bed and started feeling for my face (since it's so dark in there, heh). "Can I help you?" I asked.

"yeah, you can help me. Pick me up." I had to laugh... little smart butt. We let her into bed. It's a battle for me, because I naturally parent with attachment parenting. I did it even before I knew what it was, just by following my instincts. But now, my brain is telling me that she's going to start taking advantage of it, and I don't need to deal with bad habits after the baby gets here. Anyway, she wanted to sleep on the edge, so I was forced to the middle, which is horrible for someone who can't sleep in their current state if it's higher than 71 degrees. It was so hot between the both of them... ugh. I couldn't move, my back was killing me. After laying there for a few hours, I finally had enough and told Tony to take her to her bed. Just as he was laying her down, she said, "What are you doing with me?" AHHH!!!! She ended up back in our bed.

Last night, I told her she had to sleep in her bed. It took me a while to get her to sleep the first time. As I left her room, I put the baby gate up in the doorframe. Yeah, she was not happy about that at 2 AM this morning, let me tell you. LOL I took her to the bathroom, then back to her room to try to get her back to sleep for over an hour. I didn't want her crying loudly since Tony had to work this morning. After that hour, I gave up. I was exhausted. I left the room, and of course she got out of bed, opened the door and screamed and cried and was pissed. I kept hearing her open and close the door, say Mom!!! (she's been calling me that lately,) turn the light on and eventually quiet down. Turns out she passed out with the light on the rest of the morning lol. sigh.... I don't know.....

I hope this weird phase passes soon. She used to be such a good sleeper. We'll be doing the baby gate again tonight. I hope she gets the point.

Sarah Palin: Mother and First Female VP Link

2008-09-05T11:18:00.004+02:00

A friend of mine sent me this link, and I loved the write up. These definitely aren't the pictures of Sarah Palin that the news media wants everyone to see. I love how she is first and foremost a mom, no matter what.

Sarah Palin: Mother and First Female Vice President on Parenting Freedom

enjoy!

Raw Food Update

2008-09-04T16:00:00.003+02:00

I forgot to give an update on the whole food issue! Well, about 2 weeks ago, I decided to incorporate more raw foods into our diet. I can't tell you how much better I felt almost immediately! I am now eating raw fruit for breakfast and usually some tea or lemon water. Carlee's been eating more fruit in the morning also since it's available but won't quit her cereal habit. =) Lunch is a loaded salad a few times a week at least. I'm talking all kinds of veggies, nuts, and seeds, awesome awesome awesome. I was surprised how fast I got full on the salads, and believe it or not it lasted me until dinner! We have tried a few raw dinners. One was raw "spaghetti" made of zuchinni cut into noodles, and a raw tomato sauce with dried herbs. Tony added mushrooms to his. He was so skeptical at first! LOL but he said he would definitely eat it again (and trust me, he is SUPER picky!!!) Besides eating more raw, we finally broke the soy meat substitute cycle and started relying on beans and lentils again. Like I said, I feel so much better already. I'm so glad I figured out what was triggering the sluggishness so quickly!

Cartoons, Comedy, and Compassion by Dan Piraro

2008-09-03T22:47:00.002+02:00

Cartoons, Comedy, and Compassion by Dan Piraro (creator of Bizarro)
This comedy/lecture is about 1 hour, if you watch it, comment and let me know what you think!

it was a good day :)

2008-08-26T21:36:00.003+02:00

First, a few 365s... There are a bunch more... but I won't bore you. :) Plus I don't feel like uploading much more than this. haha

8/22/08 tony actually took this one, I was doing dishes... so it's not a self portrait, but w/e. :)

8/23/08 Reading the ads in the paper.... nothing good this week.
8/26/08 Breakfast this morning! Apple French Toast... Super Yummy! It was Tony's day off today, so I thought I'd make something extra special.
So with a good breakfast (well brunch really, since we all lounged around all morning,) to start our day, we were all in a good mood. We headed to base to run errands around lunch time. While there, I decided to stop by the college office, since they still hadn't contacted me about my degree situation, even though they said they would within a few days... yeah right.

I walk into the office, and wait a few minutes for another guy to finish with the college rep. Finally, I sit down tell him who I was and about my situation, and he says, "Oh yeah, your stuff is right here," and proceeds to pull my papers out of a stack on his desk. I asked if there was an update. He then goes over the paperwork in detail (for the first time, I think) and tells me basically what I already know: I have two options. I can get my diploma from the old plan but would still need Span 1 and 2 or I could get my diploma on the new plan but still need a performing arts humanities credit. I asked if they could substitute my Eng. Lit class for the huminatarian class since it was counted under the humanitarian section anyway. He called the lady in charge of all of Europe and managed to fully confuse her about my situation. So, he faxed everything over, and we waited for a call back.

We chatted to pass the time. He asked me about getting my bachelor's, and I told him I was planning on getting it, but I am not in a rush since I plan to homeschool both girls. He was interested, and surprised that there are really no laws in Texas that regulate homeschooling. (He's Texan too.) We talked about how our public education really disappointed us both, I was glad to hear it's not just my opinion. :) Anywho... I decided to take up his offer to go talk to the University of Maryland reps to find out if they had an art class available to take in case my college wouldn't budge on the credits.

Turns out they had a drawing class start yesterday. So, I was to apply tonight to UMUC and sign up for the class tomorrow and pay almost $600 for a 3 credit class. That is way more than I pay for my college, I know because it's a University, but also because with my college I'm a resident of their state, so I get way cheaper rates. But I was willing to do it to just be done.

We headed back to the CTC office and Tony and Carlee walked in. While Tony was asking about his degree credits, the Europe lady called back. She said she looked everything over, and was convinced that they would probably make the substitution and give me my degree. She said she would call the main campus and find out. We gave the rep our cell phone number so that he could call us in case she got back to him sooner rather than later.

While at the grocery store we got the call. Tony answered and sounded very short and straightfoward. I knew they must have said no to my request. Tony said, "They said they can't do it." I asked why, and he gave some answer I don't even remember now... then said, "Just kidding! Congratulations, you have your degree!!!" AHHHH!!!!!

I am so excited to be done with this degree! and I met my goal of being done before the baby gets here!!!! Now, I'm half way to a bachelor's, at least have something to fall back on, and my goal is to finish the bachelor's at our next duty station (especially if Tony decides to get out of the Navy.) I cannot even express my emotions right now. I think it's hard to really describe why this means so much to me. I know it's not hard to get an associate's degree, but I made the decision at a very young age to get married and start my family. That's what I wanted to do, and I did it. I knew I wanted to finish school, but I wanted this first. I had so many people tell me that I would never finish. That I had screwed up. What was I thinking? (I heard it all...) But I had faith in myself. I had the determination. And I still have the determination to keep going until I'm satisfied. And if you know me, I'm all about self improvement, so I am never satisfied with what I know. LOL That's why this means so much to me. =) It's taken me a while... but I'm done with it. All in my own time, and with my wonderful family by my side to celebrate with me. <3

I love it when....

2008-08-25T08:51:00.002+02:00

I wake up to Carlee whining....

and the cat puking somewhere in my room.....

awesome.

=)

Homeschooling & Crazy Event of the Night

2008-08-21T21:55:00.003+02:00

Carlee had her first homeschool preschool co-op group meeting today. She loved it! She made all new friends and did so well. I was a little worried since she's used to only playing with a small group of friends here in our neighborhood. But I worried for no reason. =) Today was a simple water play date to introduce the kids and let them get to know eachother. They had a blast! Next month is my month, so I've got to get planning! =) I'm thinking some activities about our 5 senses since Carlee just got a new book in about the subject. fun fun

A few friends and I took the kids to the park tonight to wear them out... A young boy and his even younger sister showed up about 5 minutes after we got there. The boy must have been about 6, and kept jumping off of everything high. His mom was nowhere around. He even stood on the side of the highest & steepest slide and jumped off, grabbed the monkey bars, and swung. We told him we didn't think he should be doing that, but he assured us he was okay. I didn't doubt he'd be okay, it looked like he'd done it before; I was more worried about our 2 & 3 year olds trying to copy him. Well, two tries later he missed the monkey bar and fell. I thought he hit his head, because he was crying and yelling "OWWW!!" I went closer to ask him if he was okay, and I look down and there's his wrist in his other hand, obviously not in line with his arm. I immediately looked away (I have such a weak stomach!) and said, "OMG he broke his wrist!"

My friends were like, "WHAT?!" We kept asking him where his mom was. Where did he live? etc. Turns out his mom was out at baseball practice (about 4 streets down.) My friend D started to run to go get his mom after asking his name. Ugh after a few minutes (nobody really believed D when she told them he had broke his wrist) they finally ran down to the park. After about 10 minutes, they finally took him to base to the ER. I don't know what they were waiting for, I think they were trying to put a splint on it or something. He's so lucky we were there.

I just don't get it. I mean seriously, how old is old enough to go to the park by yourself, especially with a 3 year old(ish) sister? I definitely wouldn't have allowed him to be there on his own if he were mine. I don't even know how old Carlee's going to be before I finally feel comfortable letting her go on her own. I told Tony, "By the time I do feel comfortable letting her go, it's going to be boy liking age, so she's still not going to get to go." LOL just kidding... but honestly, I don't know. Six is definitely too young in my honest opinion. What do you think?

I am so JEALOUS!

2008-08-19T22:01:00.002+02:00

Go take a look at this room my friend put together for her baby girl.
It's completely awesome.
I'm so jealous.
Emy, maybe I will be able to convince Tony to go to Virginia, then you can come help me do my baby's room. :D

I can just hear my family now....

2008-08-18T19:46:00.003+02:00

First, before I start my post, I ran across this post in another blog:
USDA to list stores that sell recalled meats.
Definitely want to check that out, and keep up to date on what you're eating. Honestly... so glad I don't have to worry about that anymore!

So.. what is on my mind, you ask? Well, food's been on my mind, as usual. I've been feeling very tired lately, sluggish almost, my energy is barely lasting throughout the day... This is odd, since I usually feel great. I only started noticing this about 2 maybe 3 weeks ago. It could be that I'm coming to the end of my second trimester, yes. It could be the fact that Carlee's been sick twice in the past month, and sick kids do have a tendency to drain your energy as well, somehow... (wish someone could explain that one to me LOL.) But I thought about it, and I realized we are eating very crappy lately, mainly relying on some simple carb and soy meat substitute meal most days of the week. This is not what I want to be eating, and it's not what we usually ate before this past few weeks. I don't know what happened. I really think that this food rut is causing me to feel the way I do. And the more sluggish and tired I feel, the less I feel like cooking; it's a horrible cycle. So, I did a little web surfing to track down some new recipes.

Then I ran across this site: The Garden Diet. After seeing pictures of how healthy and energetic the whole family looks, I remembered my ultimate life's goal: to be as healthy as possible. After seeing the pictures of Jinjee 10 days (!!!) after giving birth, I was amazed. I looked up a few raw vegan sites and blogs. Then I remembered a book I had just read about a month ago: The Thrive Diet. I had loved this book! (The author is a triathlete!! and he is such a genious on food and how your body utilizes it for energy and muscle repair, etc. Definitely recommend it!) And then, as I got busy this past month, completely forgot about it. I had forgotten so quickly how I had wanted to incorporate more raw foods into my diet.

So, now I've set my mind to it again. I cannot possibly do 100% raw here, as there are plenty of ingredients I cannot get here. But I am going to work with what I have access to. I plan on eating raw breakfasts most days, and at least 3 raw lunches, and at least 2 raw dinners a week to start out with. I'm hoping that since I will have more raw foods available, that Carlee will enjoy them with me. I doubt she'll eat much of it though, it'd be a big change for her. I don't think I'd be able to go 100% raw also for the reason that I love to cook and especially bake. Maybe I can find some good books on the subject... always researching, no? :)

I once had a friend criticize me when I first went vegan for how "strict" I was with my eating, saying that she definitely couldn't do it. I told her that my and my family's health was my utmost priority, and that I wanted to take as good of care as possible of the one body I was given. "Well, I just enjoy life and my food. If it's God's will that I die tomorrow, I'm going to die, regardless of what I ate." I told her yes, that's true, and I believe that too. However, God did give us free will. That's like saying to a drug abuser, well go ahead and keep doing cocaine, if it's God's will that you die tomorrow, it's going to happen anyway. In the same way, if we clog our arteries, abuse our bodies nutritiously, and take for granted what He gave us as a gift, do you think that we will live as long as He meant us to? That's how I look at it anyway.

Anyway, I will definitely be giving updates, and posting about what I'm eating. I'm excited to start feeling more energetic again. :D

A Lotta 365 Pics

2008-08-18T13:55:00.004+02:00

Catching up on 365s: I left out a lot of boring face shot days... :)

7/29/08
At the Doctor's Office for 24 week check up:

7/31/08
Driving home from... somewhere.

8/1/08
Yes, in my spare time I enjoy reading diet/nutrition/cookbooks... LOL
This one was okay... Found a few vegan recipes. Will have to check it out again.
8/2/08
I <3 Pig Tails
8/3/08
Sitting outside while Carlee played...
I was going to upload the pic of Tony mooning the camera while I tried to take a picture, but I thought I'd spare you. LOL
8/4/08
I'm a list maker....
8/5/08
I have no clue.... haha
8/7/08
Watching previews before my movie started. I watched Premonition. Pretty good.
8/13/08
Ugh. My weakness when I go to base.
8/14/08
Taken right before heading up to bed.
8/17/08
Watching The Reaping. I liked it.
8/18/08
Folding towels... yay!

Thrifty Baby

2008-08-15T10:28:00.003+02:00

Every time I have to go to base, I make the trip worthwhile by stopping by the thrift store. :) There is usually no shortage of baby things here, well, since people are constantly having babies here. LOL Last week, I found 30 (!!!) baby washcloths. I'm guessing they were all donated at once, too, since they were all folded and packed together. I can't imagine needing 30 for baths, but for cloth wipes!!! yeah baby! My friend, D, found the little bath robe with the bunny. And I found that little red striped outfit from Old Navy. Cutest thing I've seen! The blanket in the background is so cute, it almost made me want to change the girl's room to a jungle theme, but I still want to do the woodland creature theme. :) I bought it anyway, since we have no carpet in the house, and I'll need blankets anyway for the baby to lay on. There have been a ton of other finds, too: cloth diapers, swaddling blankets, baby house shoes (that Carlee presently uses to "skate" around the house,) prenatal dvds, and a hand crocheted (!!! how could anyone donate this!?!!!!) christening outfit complete with a hat, booties, and gloves! So cool. :D

Spending the morning Stampin....

2008-08-14T13:03:00.003+02:00

I made a birthday card for a friend this morning... (yes, that's a link to yet another blog. haha) I want to keep my cards, scrapbooking, and crafts separate. Angie... where's your new one so I can link!? :)

Carlee is feeling much better. We're just lounging around today, since it's Tony's day off. We're kinda treating today like a Saturday. :) I hope to get some more scrapbooking done.... maybe I'll get to all those 365 photos I've been taking. It's going to be a pain to work with them though... my Microsoft Office trial is done... boo. Back to using Paint to resize... yay! LOL

Update

2008-08-13T09:33:00.002+02:00

I have a ton of pictures to go through for the 365 project... LOL it's not going to happen right now.

Carlee caught another viral infection and started showing signs of it on Sunday. She's feeling better now as long as she's on tylenol.

Been busy the past week with MOMS Club stuff, taking Carlee to parties, and whatnot (not knowing she was carrying that yucky sore throat bug.)

Last Tuesday I went in to the college office to talk about my credits. The one guy who would know anything was out of town until yesterday. So, I have to wait for him to take a look at it and email me...

Pregnancy is still going good. This child is always kicking me. LOL I go to bed, I'm getting kicked, I wake up and I'm getting kicked, I'm cleaning/eating/walking/sitting/etc/etc/etc and I'm getting kicked! little booger. :)

We found out yesterday that a mutual friend from highschool died over the weekend. I saw him last about a year and a half ago. He was only 25. He had just gotten married 2 months ago. :( My heart broke for his wife when I found out. I can't imagine. Just makes you realize it could happen any day. I'm so grateful for everything I'm blessed with.

Vegan BBQ with Food Network's Bobby Flay

2008-08-04T22:51:00.002+02:00

A friend emailed me this video. Thanks G! This so makes me want to BBQ before summer is over! Everything looks soooo delicious!

Starting Homeschooling Again!

2008-08-04T15:57:00.004+02:00

Today, I started Carlee's homeschooling again. We started out simple today. I "tested" her on what I had taught her back a few months ago before I started my English class. I was so surprised at how much she retained! First, I had her sing her ABC song, which she already knew, but it got her in a school frame of mind. Then I drew one letter at a time on an eraser board and asked her what letter it was. She could identify most of them. W and Z she got on the second try, and N and U she still had trouble with. She could write: C, H, T, A, O, P, X, L on her own (she was trying to test me LOL.) She recognized all numbers 1 - 10 except 9. She knew all her colors: green, purple, pink, yellow, orange, brown, blue, black, red, gray, and white. She also wanted to start a new workbook, so I let her do a few pages in a Hidden Pictures workbook. I thought this was going to be a challenge from the get go... apparently not. She did a total of 7 of these pages completely on her own.
I had originally not wanted to do workbooks as we got further into homeschooling, but for now Carlee still loves them, so I'm letting her. I've decided since she doesn't even know enough to know what she wants to learn about, I'm going to do sort of unit studies that I will revolve around things I know that she enjoys or that I think she will enjoy. Our first will be "farm" animals. I wish we lived in the states so I could take her to an Farm Animal Rescue. She would LOVE that! sigh... oh well. We'll save that for kindergarten I suppose. =D I'm also going to be working on the upper case letters she had trouble with, and then start on recognizing the lower case letters. We'll also start working on numbers greater than 10, and of course, continue working on the list of things preschoolers are supposed to master before kindergarten.

So bummed....

2008-08-02T20:34:00.003+02:00

I found out this morning, that the college I'm going through changed my degree plan! ugh! You know that English Lit class I just took? The one I spent so much time and effort on, struggling not to stress out too much over it? Yeah, well, it turns out I didn't even need it anymore with the new Business Administration Degree plan. GRRRR!!!! They moved the Eng. Lit credit to the humanities section (which I already had credit for,) removed the foreign language requirement (that's good,) but added another performing arts humanities credit that I cannot get online. Great. So my degree is on hold until I can take some stupid "learn to draw" class, or "learn to do interpretive dancing" class face to face somewhere. I've wanted to scream all day. I just wanted to be done with this. Sigh....

I'll upload 365s later.
:S

A bit of Sheena trivia....

2008-07-28T10:38:00.002+02:00

Click Here to watch the 1984 movie I was named after.
=D
I have it on DVD....
now I feel like watching it.
haha

sigh....(of relief!!)

2008-07-25T21:44:00.002+02:00

365s:
7/23/08
This is Tony's cat: Dori. Can you tell she's his? LOL She doesn't like me much... I don't know why. It's just because I'm not Tony. I should take a picture of him holding her, and show you the difference. :)

7/24/08
Studying some more... Reading the next to last lesson. WOOHOO! Now this is my cat: Nemo. :D She looooves me. She even likes to keep me company while a read a whole book included in my text book, while I'm secretly trying not to run through the house screaming like a lunatic.
7/26/08
My daily prenatals: a vitamin and a DHA supplement. The prenatal is uncoated so it's horrible to try to get down. And the DHA one tastes like seaweed... well, because that's basically what it's made from. The things we do for our kids... before they make it here, no less! :D

Don't those pills look yummy?

Do you notice how shiny my sink is? :D Spent extra time cleaning it today. I'm starting back up with Flylady. I used her site for a while, some time ago, and got really good at routines around the house. School and MOMS Club volunteering eventually gave me a reason to ignore my routines though. Now I want to get back on top of it before the baby gets here. I have a friend who is starting up with the site too, so now I have someone to talk to about it.

So, the reason for the post title. I checked out my messages in my English class, and noticed the teacher sent me a message saying my paper was graded. I immediately headed over to the grades page and saw that I got a 235 out of 250 points. I knew it was a good grade, as the average was quite low, but still I needed a calculator to be sure.... 94% baby! What!?! Seriously that paper was not an A paper.... Either I am really hard on myself, or everyone else in the class is turning in crap. I don't know which one it is, but I'm really glad for it. Then again, when half the class thinks they can get away with plagiarizing the discussion questions, I can't imagine what their papers look like. I almost feel bad for the professor for having to read them. But whatever. That grade put me over the 70% mark, so even if I don't turn in another single assignment, I will still PASS!!! (of course I will though, and with 100% effort, because that's just who I am.) So, this class is guaranteed! AHHHH!!!! All I have to do is clep Spanish when I get back to the States.... and I am DOOOONNNEEE!!!! Can you tell I'm uber excited? :D

sigh.....

2008-07-22T21:01:00.004+02:00

365s:
Wednesday 7/16/08
Tony came home with hand picked flowers. :) Unfortunately, I wasn't home to get them right away, I was across the street scrapbooking with friends. :) I think this is one of my favorite pictures ever!

Thursday 7/17/08
Spent the day cleaning, studying, and scrapbooking some layouts to frame. This one was almost done. I put it in the gift exchange at our MOMS Club End of the Year Banquet. My friend grabbed it, hope she likes it. :)
Friday 7/18/08
A few of my friends were heading to base to take the kids swimming, so Carlee and I joined them. Carlee had a blast as usual. At the pool, I ran into another friend and found out that the guys had gotten off of work at like 11:30! I wish I had known, I would have told Tony to take the duty van all the way to base. Oh well... After swimming, I picked up some groceries, ran some errands, and headed home.
Saturday 7/19/08
Our End of the Year "Banquet" was Mexican theme, so I took my sombrero. LOL Banquet is in quotes, because it wasn't anything fancy, just a normal get together. We were supposed to play some games, but just ended up relaxing, eating our food, talking, and exchanging gifts. It was really nice to get out though. This was taken after I got home. I had meant to take a pic there, but forgot...
*I forgot two days in a row to take a pic! I was so busy.... I kept thinking, hey I'm actually doing something interesting, I should take a picture... but then kept forgetting.

Tuesday 7/22/08 (today) *It would seem that green is my favorite color to wear, huh? LOL It's really pink*

This is the magnifying glass I bought Carlee the other day. She's been having so much fun going around the house looking at everything. She's so cute. I can't wait to start homeschooling again. I took a break for me to take this English class, and I'm going to start back up with Carlee in August. Speaking of the English class..... sigh.... I've been working on my paper all day today. I finally finished it around 9 and although it's not a great paper, I turned it in anyway. I'm tired of looking at it. Tired of re-reading it. Tired of overanalyzing what else I could possibly do to the paper. I figured out that I only need 50% on the paper and 50% on the final in order to pass the class with a 70%. I'm sure I will get better than a 50 on both, so I'm not worried anymore. Just tired of this class. I've still got to read this week's and next week's lessons, post discussions, take the quizzes, and finally take the final exam next week. I'm aiming for Tuesday since I'll be at base anyway, but we'll see....

I'm really really looking foward to being done. I think the past few weeks are finally catching up with me. I'm so ready for a break. I had another post to write, but I'm tired... I'm going to veg out in front of the TV for a bit with Tony. :)

Long Day

2008-07-15T20:40:00.004+02:00

First some 365s:

Sunday 7/13/08
I decided to wash the car after church to suprise Tony when he got home from work Monday afternoon. See? We're still nice to eachother.... sometimes. lol The people attending the 11:00 mass (literally right across the street) were probably wondering what the heck a pregnant girl was doing standing on a foot stool washing the car.... haha. Carlee had fun helping me.

Monday 7/14/08
This was right before I headed to bed. Almost forgot to take a pic. :) Look at the belly! She's constantly moving around too! This baby is already very different from Carlee. Carlee didn't move around too much, enough for me to know she was fine, but not constantly like this one. I can't wait to meet her!!!
Tuesday 7/15/08 (today)
This is me making sure the muffins are allright hehe. I made them for our MOMS Club meeting tomorrow.
Today was long.... We had to take Carlee in to see the doctor. Sunday afternoon she started not feeling well, and ran a temperature. I thought maybe it was just from being outside too long for washing the car. She ended up taking an hour and half nap (which is extremely rare since she doesn't nap anymore) so I knew something was up. I gave her some tylenol to get her temperature down, since she got up to 101.8.

Monday morning, she woke up at 5:30 AM so I gave her some more medicine. Up until this point, she hadn't really complained about anything specific, just that she didn't feel good. A friend of mine was hosting a lunch for MOMS Club, but no one could go, so she asked if I was going. I told her that if no one else was going to show up (and if she didn't care that Carlee wasn't feeling too hot,) then I would. Well, no one came, and she didn't care, so I ran over there since it seemed Carlee was feeling better. I was wrong... it was just the tylenol working because by the time we were getting ready to go the medicine had worn off, and she just about turned into a different kid. Suddenly, though, she was complaining about her throat. So she finally singled out what was hurting. I took her to a lighted area and told her to open her mouth... and oh my goodness. Her throat was red, swollen, and I caught a quick glimpse of something white on her tonsils before she shut her mouth. I immediately started to apologize to my friend. "I think I just figured out what she might have," I told her. Strep. ugh. I know the symptoms from having it all the time as a kid, and those white puss pockets on your tonsils are a dead give away.

I immediately took Carlee home after helping pick up toys, and called the hospital to make an appointment. They were booked, so she'd have to wait until Tuesday morning. Which leads to why we were at base today. The doctor seemed somewhat disbelieving at my personal diagnosis, he first started out with, "Well, kids aren't supposed to get strep before their 3, but she's 3 1/2 so it's possible...." He started the exam, and finally asked Carlee to see her throat. She cooperated thank goodness. "Oh my," he said, "Yeah, I bet that does hurt, and mom gets an award. Yeah, she's got a lot of puss pockets, which doesn't necessarily mean she's got strep, but it's a good indication."

So, he ordered a throat culture and prescribed the medicine anyway. If the test comes back negative, they'll call and tell me to stop the antibiotics. He said she shouldn't be contagious by tomorrow morning. Which is good, because I have the meeting to run. What I don't get is where she picked it up at! We haven't really been anywhere lately, and all her friends that she's been playing with are fine. The only thing I can think of, is she picked it up while in the child care at church. sigh.... oh well. And now I've been blogging for a while, when I should be reading for my Lit class. I have a 5-6 page paper to write this week (my last paper!!!) I seriously am looking foward to August 1.

365: Composting

2008-07-12T20:55:00.001+02:00

365 for today. Throwing in the day's food scraps. Can you tell our backyard is very ignored? We need to get out there and weed while it's still dry, before the rain starts up and the weeds completely take over again. What I don't get is that they lecture us about not using too much water, but then they want our yards to be nice and green. Yeah, when I drive to base, I don't see luscious green grass fields in this area of Sicily in the middle of summer. I've started watering the front yard every night because it was getting way too brown. I really didn't want a notice on my door. You can't even tell I'm watering it. By 10 AM the next morning, the yard looks just as parched and cracked as if I didn't even water it, and it sits completely in the sun from 8 AM to 8 PM. Oh well, hopefully I can keep it somewhat green until the rain comes. I see so many houses with their water running for hours though... in the middle of the day no less. uh duh. The sun evaporates that water before it even soaks in. What a waste. ugh. Just another thing that irritates me. :)

Weird Fact and Super Yummy Recipe

2008-07-12T14:47:00.002+02:00

"Borborygmi is the noise that your stomach makes when you are hungry." - Snapple "Real Fact" lid #364.

We had these omelettes for brunch after helping/selling stuff at a friend's garage sale. They were sooooo delicious! We're definitely going to be making those regulars around here. It's nice because the recipe uses silken tofu, which thankfully we can get.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. We're just planning on hanging around today. Tomorrow will probably be the same since Tony has to work. Hopefully I'll get some scrapbooking or sewing done. :)

This past week has exhausted me!

2008-07-11T15:20:00.004+02:00

Thursday 7/3/08
The things we moms must do. heh. Carlee and I went to a finger painting playgroup, and they all painted their feet to make footprints. Carlee had a blast. I keep forgetting to go pick up her painting from my friend's house actually....

Friday 7/4/08 Happy 4th of July!
Okay, so this wasn't actually a self portrait, but I was holding a 30 lb child, so it will have to do. We were at the fireworks, that Carlee obviously did not care for. This was where she stayed the entire show. The show was fairly quick though, because the field behind the base caught on fire in quite a few places. It was more amusing to wait around and find out how long it was going to take the fire truck to get there.... a good twenty minutes.
Saturday 7/5/08
The Mineo Town Council (that Tony is a part of) held a kids' event day, so we went and volunteered. Carlee had a blast running around and trying to play the games they had: balloon war, dizzy bat race (she just ran,) 3 legged race (she and I tried on the sidelines, and she was done after about 10 seconds of it LOL) and the balloon toss. I asked the MOMS Club to bake goodies to have for the kids. (I made these Blueberry Banana Muffins and cupcakes. The muffins were soooo good!) The kids all enjoyed the event and the snacks. It was really hot, but worth it.
Sunday 7/6/08
This was after my yoga workout Sunday night (after putting Carlee to bed of course.) I felt great. I always forget how much I love yoga until I start doing it again. Sunday had also been a busy day also. We spent all day at base, saw WALL-E (I could have written a whole post about this movie! If you haven't seen it, go right now!) did some grocery shopping and ran errands. *The grocery manager at the commissary told me they aren't trying to get the firm tofu anymore. :( ugh.
Monday 7/7/08
Another busy day. I went to workout in the AM with MOMS Club! I'm hoping to make it a habit. Then, I held an event, and we scrapbooked at the rec center. There are usually 3 of us that scrap together, and we're thinking about holding more scrapping events. I know there's more people who want to scrap, so hopefully they'll start coming out too. :) It's so fun, and nice because the kids love the Rec center, and play so well, so we get so much done!
*I guess I forgot to take a picture! I'll have to double check my camera... hmmm

Tuesday 7/8/08
The picture shows my new rosemary plant. I'm doing really well with my basil, so I thought I'd try rosemary too. I can't wait to make some oven roasted rosemary potatoes! YUMMMM. On Tuesday, I spent the whole day cleaning. Fun Fun.

Wednesday 7/9/08
I held another MOMS Club event: Story Hour, and then we scrapped afterward lol. Tony spent the free time cleaning out the outside storage unit, and the under the stairs storage that we call the "Harry Potter Closet." My Harry Potter closet is now so nice! I had wanted a shelf for cleaning stuff, and a place to put cloth diapers and a diaper pail, and Tony organized everything just right! (Thanks Tony!) In the afternoon, we headed back to base for more errands, mainly a trip to the post office. We caught another movie Forbidden Kingdom, which I really liked, and Tony (the Kung-Fu fanatic) didn't care for it too much. Of course he liked it enough just because Jackie Chan was in it. :) After making it back home, I worked on a paper for about 2.5 hours straight. I finished it and turned it in. woohoo.
Thursday 7/10/08
Went to my friend's house, and she helped me sort out the fascinating world of cloth diapering. She showed me how to make a prefold diaper out of a receiving blanket. Thanks so much Mira! I'm so excited lol. In the afternoon, I took Carlee to another MOMS Club event: water play! She had a blast with her friends. In the evening I spent all my free time reading more of my current Eng. Lit lesson. UGH.... I'm right in the middle of this class, and I already can't wait for it to be done with!
Friday 7/11/08 (today)
I spent all of today finishing up the lesson and taking the test, as it was due today. Thank goodness my time is 7 hours ahead of the professor's time. It always looks like I am ahead of schedule at least by a day. :D The picture shows my first diaper that I sewed yesterday. I plan on making plenty of more of these. I also started my urban compost pile today! Tony bought me a trash can to keep it contained in, and drilled holes in it for me so that it can circulate air. I just put my first layer of food scraps in today. I'm so excited to be using up all the veg & fruit scraps we have.

I'm an AUNT!!!

2008-07-04T19:05:00.005+02:00

This is Jonas! My sister had him yesterday evening (early morning today, my time.) Isn't he soooo freakin cute!?!

Congratulations Britt! I wish I could be there. Welcome to motherhood! :D

Peter Jennings report on National Health

2008-07-04T16:25:00.003+02:00

A friend showed me this video, and it's good. Check it out. Jennings talks about the government and food industry's role in the demise of our national health.

Watch it here.

What's sad is that he reported this years ago, and still, nothing is getting done.

Laundry....

2008-07-01T18:11:00.004+02:00

365 for today (7-1-08!!!) I can't believe it's already July!!! I ran out of laundry detergent, so I had to make a new batch today. Now I'm set for a while.

I called the CTC college office at base today to find out their testing schedule so that I could go in and take my midterm... I was hoping for tomorrow afternoon, or Thursday at the latest since it's due on Friday (which is a holiday.) Turns out the proctor will only be there tomorrow morning, first thing. So I have to be at base at 8 AM. yay.... lol. Half of my test score is based on essays... heh. man.... Wish me luck!

This afternoon it stormed, which was really surprising! It's been so hot and dry lately, we really needed this rain. Carlee heard the thunder and said, "Mommy, where's my rain suit? and my umbrella? I wanna see the rain." How could I refuse? She had a blast out there.
*Notice where they put the storm drain? Um... Not where the water collects. This is why our driveway and yard get flooded every rainy season.... nice planning huh?

I'm making some treats for Tony right now, to surprise him when he gets home from work tomorrow: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. I can't wait to find out how they come out. I am finally using my mini muffin pan I bought from Pampered Chef a long time ago. hehe.

**PS** In case you missed my post this morning (below this one) I announced what the baby is!!!

So..... Okay, I'll tell ya :)

2008-07-01T08:37:00.005+02:00

DRUMROLL PLEASE.....
We're getting what we were hoping for!!! Sugar and Spice and EVERYTHING NICE!!!! :D
So, now that the girls will eventually share a room (like I had planned all along... LOL) This is what I plan on doing:
I made this notecard the other day, and I looked at it and thought, "Geez, I love these colors (they're kind of washed out in the scan, but it's coral pink, dark yellow, and chocolate brown.) I LOVE this little hedgehog. This theme would be soooo cool for the kids' room." (I had it in my head since the beginning we were going to have another little girl.) We're so excited!!!

Like Whoa...

2008-06-30T21:45:00.003+02:00

Thursday 6-26-08 Studying Some more... My midterm is due this week already!

Friday 6-27-08 Got all my school work done during the day, so I enjoyed stamping with a few friends after Carlee went to bed. They left around 10, and I stamped a little more. :)

Saturday 6-28-08 Enjoying a snack from a Vegan Care Package a good friend sent us. :D

Sunday 6-29-08 We went to the BEACH!!! Enjoyed a day in the sun... too bad the drive is almost 2 hours to get to that particular beach, AND it was packed. We still had fun though. :0)

Monday 6-30-08 WOOHOO!!!! Ultrasound and 20 week appointments today! So... it's a BABY!!! :D

Fun Day Even While Sick...

2008-06-25T21:09:00.002+02:00

Tuesday 6-24-08
I had rested all day, feeling good enough to want to do something, but not good enough to actually be able to do anything. heh. We ended up having to drive to base anyway, so that I could make it to the Homeschooling Group's meeting, and then we ended up eating dinner at a restaurant across from base with a few friends. By the time I got home and put Carlee to bed, that is what I looked like.... not too good. haha. I was miserable. I even got 2 stamp orders in, one from Stampin up, and the other from Joann.com and I couldn't even get excited about it because I felt so awful. :(

Wednesday 6-25-08
Today, Tony had to work at base, so Carlee and I caught the lunch time bus to base as well. We ran errands, printed out MOMS Club newsletters, bought a baby shower present for a friend, and a bathing suit for me. When Tony was off of work, he came and picked us up and we headed to the pool! I was still sounding horrible, (especially after having to continually strain my voice to get onto Carlee the entire time while shopping!) but I felt a lot better. Carlee had a blast! Then we enjoyed dinner at Applebee's with a friend that we ran into. It was so nice to do something fun today, after being in the house for a few days straight. :)

feelin' a little better

2008-06-23T21:14:00.000+02:00

Now I need to catch up on my Eng. Lit reading.... yay.