it was a good day :)

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

A Lotta 365 Pics

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!

sigh....(of relief!!)

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.....

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

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

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. :)

This past week has exhausted me!

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.

Laundry....

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!!!

Like Whoa...

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...

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

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

UGGGHHH

6-19-08 Thursday
Doing the dishes before going to bed. Look at the belly! *I have an ultrasound appointment on the 30th!! So we should be finding out soon!!!*

6-20-08 Friday
I had just gotten back from a stamp club meeting, so I was in a good mood. We made 3 cards that I loved. Only bad thing is I dropped a black ink pad on my lap (so clumsy!) and got ink on my shirt. I hope it will come out. We'll see...

6-21-08 Saturday
Was busy all day. I did get to sleep in though (thanks Tony!) then made a big brunch (vegan version of "sausage," biscuits, and gravy. Tony LOVED it. :D Afterwards, I made cupcakes for Carlee since she had a birthday party to go to. We went to the birthday party, and that was fun hanging out with friends. But by the end of the day, I felt way too tired... something was up...

6-22-08 Sunday
Oh, that's what it was. I was getting sick. yay! And of course, Tony had duty. Double Yay!! Doesn't Carlee look too freakin' chipper? LOL

Today I'm still feeling gross, but I'm hoping I'll feel better by the end of the day, so my picture will wait. I can't wait for Tony to get home... gah, it's only noon... :) I love this picture project because it really just shows my daily life without me writing about every single thing. heh.

I've Been TOOO Busy!!!

Sunday 6-15-08

Leaving base. We had watched Kung Fu Panda for Father's Day. It was really cute. Ran errands, got groceries, and headed home to spend time together.

Monday 6-16-08

Spent the entire afternoon deep cleaning the house. Definitely not my best picture LOL but it shows what I was doing....

Tuesday 6-17-08

Almost forgot to take my pic. :) So this is me drinking one more glass of water before getting ready to go to bed. I'm trying really hard to stay hydrated in this heat.

Wednesday 6-18-08

Up really late (I think it was 11 by the time I took this,) writing my paper. I went to bed around midnight and my brain would not shut off. I couldn't fall asleep, and ended up getting up around 1:30 to eat because I was starving. While I was in the kitchen, I noticed something very weird. A truck was going around housing, spraying what looked like pesticide right into the air, everywhere. Not just a little pesticide, but like a huge pouring spray into the air, like a fire truck would pour water almost. No wonder I thought it had smelled like pesticides outside! I don't know how I feel about it. That's a lot of pesticide! But the bugs here are sooo bad even with the pesticide, they're horrible! I don't even want to think about what it would be like if more of the bugs were surviving. ugh. But then again... UGH Pesticides UGH.

I went back to bed, and couldn't sleep. My back was killing me. I'm super tired right now. I might try to take a nap. We'll see if Carlee will let me. :)