Wades' World

We've Moved

2011-05-24T11:36:00.003-06:00

Not us, but the blog has moved!! YAY!! I finally have created a new blog that uses my current email address and not some antiquated address that hasn't existed in almost 5 years. Took me long enough, didn't it?

You'll now find all you want to know about Wades' World HERE!

I still need to work on all my budgets and gadgets, but for now it's up and running.

My Feelings Exactly

2011-05-05T08:35:00.003-06:00

I've probably mentioned at some point how much I love TheNester. What's not to love - - She lives in the Charlotte area. She's crafty, creative and a great decorator. She says so many things that I think, but could never put into words. She's inspired a few of my decorating projects here in the new house like my coffee filter wreath and a sunburst mirror that has yet to be completed or begun for that matter.

Today or yesterday - sometime in the past few days - my days seem to run together or over each other and most of the time I have no idea what day of the week it is...Okay..the point is she had Karen from the Art of Doing Stuff do a guest blog on how she sold all of her stuff in a 2 week period of time and totally redid her house, only keeping those things that were truly meaningful. Check out her post here. While you're there, be sure and read some of TheNester's other posts on this topic.

I don't know about you, but I have been overwhelmed this week by many things - one of the main ones being my disgustingly filthy and cluttered house! Since Saturday, I have mopped my kitchen floor 3x because two of the tornadoes have dumped entire bowls of cereal on the floor. It could stand to be mopped again, but I can't let myself bond with the mop any more this week. I just can't do it! In an effort to have one room in my house be relatively clean, I spent a little while cleaning the laundry room this morning. It even has clean baseboards and that's totally not my style.

I'm feeling the need to just start tossing more stuff from our closets and drawers and wherever else I can find useless, meaningless things hiding. One day, not today or this week or even this month, probably not this year, I will have a clutter free, peaceful and easy to live in house.

If I could only figure out where I left that Diet Dr. Pepper I had in my hand, I could get started on the decluttering. I really do lose opened, half consumed cans of Diet Dr. Pepper in my house. I could do a whole blog post on the topic, I'm sure!

Understanding Grace

2011-04-18T15:52:00.006-06:00

In the past few weeks I have discovered that my view of God's grace over me is quite skewed and as a perfectionist, this has been especially dangerous!

You see, as a believer in Jesus, well meaning people in my life have told me about this perfect little picture that my life as a Christian woman should look like. Here's what I've understood - - To be a good Christian woman, wife and mother, I should wake up before the children every day without fail and spend an hour studying the Bible and praying. I should never raise my voice to my children and I shouldn't have to because they will innately be perfect children who would never dream of making a wrong choice. I should love and serve my husband and submit to his every decision because he can do no wrong. When he comes home from work at the same time every day, I'll be perfectly dressed, lipstick and all, dinner will be ready and the house will be free of chaos (living and non-living). If I don't live like this, there's something terribly wrong in my spiritual life. Some may even say I don't have a relationship with Jesus at all. (gasp!) You can probably see how the perfectionist nature in me that will never live up to this picture of the perfect Christian woman has kept me in bondage and defeat for years! I'm so glad that the only person I have to give an account of my life to is God!

Well, reality is that my life doesn't look like that and the grace of God that covers me through the shed blood of Jesus says it doesn't have to. Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus ever give this indication. Yes, there are the places that point us to pray without ceasing and to rise while it's early and go to a secluded place to spend time with Him. I don't discount those at all, however, I am a mother of 3 small children whose husband doesn't come home from work at the same time every day and for months at a time doesn't come home at all. In the past week, I have had one - one hour conversation with my husband who is somewhere in the middle east. I have to make choices and decisions for our family that are way outside of the realm of what the ideal woman is supposed to deal with! In no way, shape or form is my life typical or ideal and I've come to the place where I will no longer beat myself up because I can't live up to the man-made standard for what my life should look like as a lover of Jesus.

My new understanding of grace leads me to know that it's my heart and my intentions that are most important to Jesus. My heart longs to study the Word in depth and for hours at a time, but in my current circumstances, that's not possible. I'm grateful for a group of ladies who I walked through the end of the book of James with using a simple, doable method that didn't require hours and hours of study, but that I was able to do in short snippets throughout the day as time and the quietness of my house allowed. I know this season of my life will pass and I will have more time to spend studying and praying and fellowshipping with others.

I am so grateful for the freedom that I've experienced in the past few weeks as I'm reminded daily that God doesn't love me any less because I'm not perfect! He knows there's no way I'll be perfect as long as I reside on the earth. While I'm here, I must embrace the circumstances and situations of my life that aren't ideal and let Him use them to conform me to His image. I'm grateful that I better understand that God made me as an unique individual and His love is unique for me, as it is for every other believer. He knows what my days look like and knows before I even open my mouth how I'm going to respond to my kids or husband. His desire isn't for me to beat myself up over my failures, but to find joy in His grace that covers all of my imperfections!

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:1-2

The Almost Tax Day Comeback

2011-04-15T12:45:00.003-06:00

After over a month of non-posting here to Wade's World, I'm seriously working on my comeback, complete with redoing the blog layout for good and even changing my account from a non-existent email address to one that actually exists! What a concept? I'm thinking that using a real email address may help me with my issue of not being able to post from my iPhone. If I can resolve that issue, you'll definitely see more from me.

Since the end of February, I've been on a journey of sorts of discovering who I am and why I respond to situations and challenges the way that I do. It's been a painful process, but one that will prove worthwhile for years to come. In the days ahead I'll share more about some of my personal discoveries and how these have effected my outlook on my life up until this point.

One of the things I've discovered is that I struggle with perfectionism! Some of you may not be shocked by that, but I still am at times. If you saw the wreck my house is most days, you'd think there's no way she's a perfectionist! The problem is that I beat myself up because my house isn't perfect. Not being able to see the surfaces on the tops of the kids' dressers stresses me out every time I walk into their rooms.

My struggle with perfectionism contributed to a lot of the undue stress I put on myself in academic situations and the reason why I may be able to excel academically, but I'm a terrible student. I know that doesn't make sense, but my mom can attest to the number of times in high school when I would pitch huge fits or threaten to quit school over how difficult I could make any assignment because I wanted it to be the best. I wanted people to think well of me.

I mention my perfectionism issue here because that's been a struggle with me and this blog. When I go through these spells where I'm absent or where I can't seem to be committed to posting regularly, I just don't. If I can't do it perfectly, why do it at all? You can imagine how this can translate into so many areas of my life! It's why I'm hesitant to paint a wall in my house - what if it's the wrong color? what if I drip paint on the trim? if I do one room, I'll have to do them all, etc. It's an agonizing and debilitating mental struggle!

So there you have it! I'm back as much as I can be, but am not going to beat myself up about not posting for a day or two.

Days Go By

2011-03-06T15:01:00.002-07:00

The days are just flying by here in my little world. For no real reason, I find that I spend less and less time sitting in front of this laptop. One of the reasons is probably that I spend more and more time with my phone in my hand reading news articles, tweet and status updates. Because my blog is set up with an old email account that I no longer use, I can't use any of the blog apps to update this thing or you might see new posts more often.

The children have all managed to find themselves in bad phases of their lives! F5 is working to get himself caught up with his friends here in his TX kindergarten class. It's a struggle because he acts so disinterested most days or just rushes through whatever it is we're working on. I have had to walk away from him many afternoons because I just get so frustrated with his lack of effort or his clueless act he turns on. F4 spends most of his time bossing F1 around or micromanaging her every move. His tactics are very ugly and mean. I'm sure he is dealing with some middle child issues at this stage in his life. F1 is just F1! She has her own ideas about how she's going to behave and the things that she's going to do that every moment of her life is a power struggle. She wants so desperately to do what her brothers do, but she's obviously not mature enough to do such things. She annoys the heck out of them with her destructive antics!

So my life is quite fun and interesting these days! I have supplies for 5 different decorating or craft projects, but just don't have the energy or desire to get involved in them after I've had a rough, stressful day with the children. I've spent more nights in the past month sitting on my couch watching pointless television than I care to admit. I never thought my life would come to this and that I would have so little motivation or energy to do things that I enjoy or really want to do, but I'm here or there! Every day I hope that things will be better or different, but so far, it's just not happened. I will keep hoping, regardless!

Ooh and Aah

2011-02-09T13:30:00.003-07:00

I often think about very strange things and this post is going to be absolute proof of that fact! So here we go...

Since the beginning of the year, they've been advertising on Playhouse Disney that on February 14th, Playhouse Disney is going to become Disney Jr. Sounds strangely like the move Noggin just made to become Nick Jr., to me. Nonetheless, Playhouse Disney is hosted by 2 monkeys named Ooh and Aah. They're quite amusing and have some catchy songs and skits they do between shows on Playhouse Disney. I should also add that Ooh and Aah are puppets. I didn't mention that before.

My wondering is about the future of Ooh and Aah! Are they going to be out of jobs when Disney Jr. starts on Monday? Are these monkey puppets dispensible to the people at Disney? I know it doesn't really matter - they're puppets for crying out loud!

Moose A Moose and Zee didn't lose their gigs on Nick Jr. when they made the switch so maybe Ooh and Aah are safe, too. I guess I'll find out early Monday morning when the TV comes on.

You can obviously tell that I've spent all but about 30 minutes of the past 2 days stuck inside my house since this is occupying my mind when I'm not wondering if these children are ever going to get past their fevers and coughs! I think we're going to brave the invisible (truly invisible, like not really there) ice that closed F5's school today.

A Typical Week?

2011-02-08T11:32:00.003-07:00

I've yet to determine what a typical week in our new town looks like! For the past 3 weeks or so, things have just been abnormal. Last week, F5 was sick and missed school on Monday and then they were out of school Friday for snow. Our PWOC group was cancelled on Tuesday so instead of getting home around Noon from that, we got home at 10:30am. We didn't go to church Sunday because I have been sick for several days and didn't feel like spreading my germs to other unsuspecting churchgoers. Today, F4 woke up with a fever and I've not been feeling so great so we skipped PWOC. There's also a chance of rain/freezing rain here tomorrow! Next Friday is an early dismissal from school and then F5 is out of school for President's Day on the following Monday. It could be March before we have a full 7 day week where we do what we would normally do during a week and then once we get settled in to that, it'll be Spring Break!

For someone who needs a little bit of structure (not much) and wants to have an idea of what to expect from day to day, these little interruptions in normalcy just don't get me all excited. I've watched lots of TV and have had time to work on ripping recipes and articles out of my stack of magazines that need to be gotten rid of. I did make a valiant attempt to make homemade pretzels for the kids. They were edible, but I think I've finally learned my lesson in attempting to substitute whole wheat flour for all purpose! Things never turn out right when I do!

Please, Please, Please, Lord, let us establish some sort of routine in our lives and quick!

My People Mover

2011-01-26T13:00:00.006-07:00

I've mentioned before that my husband has had an obsession with trading cars in and buying new cars for the past few years and apparently his obsession didn't end when we moved to Texas. I am sure I remember hearing him say that he would drive his Ford Taurus the whole time we're at our current duty station.

However, last week, he got the car buying fever again! Wednesday or Thursday we drove to a local car lot to see a car he called the dealer about. After negotiations got nowhere on that one, he broadened his search area and ended up in Austin Friday buying a car that is supposed to be for me. His rationalization about this one is that now we'll have 2 cars that are big enough for all 5 of us to ride comfortably.

So here's the car progression he's had since 2006

Isuzu Rodeo

purchased from his brother some time in 2005, I think

GMC Yukon

purchased in November 2007 for a GREAT deal.

If we still had this one, it would almost be paid for!

Chevy Malibu

puchased in the spring of 2008, the first time we thought we'd be stationed at Bragg or Hood

Chevy Silverado

purchased in summer of 2008- better known as the $20,000 swingset

Ford Taurus

purchased in May of 2010 because we knew we were coming to Hood

Now he's supposed to drive my Kia Sedona that will be completely paid off next month and I'm supposed to drive this....

Chevy Suburban

I'll never be able to just pull this thing into just any old parking spot. In his kindness, the hubs said that I'll get plenty of exercise parking in the parking spots furthest from the doors of all my favorite shopping destinations. I should probably just print out cards now that say something like "I'm not capable of driving this tank so I apologize for dinging your car with my door or bumper." Of course, I'd give my contact information and maybe the name of the body shop that I contract with to repair the damage I cause to innocent cars parked in my way!

I'm just hoping the car buying fever doesn't strike again any time soon! I've threatened to make him sign a "No Car Buying" contract. The next car I get will be exactly what I want. It's too bad I have no idea what that is!

More House Pictures

2011-01-24T20:34:00.007-07:00

It really is a shame that pictures can't just jump off the camera onto the blog page! I know some of my readers are interested in seeing what the inside of our new house looks like. At least, I think you want to see them. Honestly, I'm not sure who my readers are these days since my blogging is extremely sporadic lately. On to the pictures...

This is a picture of the front exterior of the house. I only took this because I was taking pictures of my new ride that was parked on the street. (That's another post in itself!) You can see the hubs standing by the garage.

The master bedroom has been fairly done for a while now, but it's those darn pictures that don't jump off the camera onto the laptop that have kept me from posting these.

These are of my dresser wall and this image has already changed since we were the recipients of a new larger tv for the living room. Our old tv from the living room is now on my dresser. It's much larger and easier to read the onscreen guide from the bed! (Thanks Dad)

A view of the bed.

The lampstands have been sitting on the night stands since we moved without lampshades. I finally made it to Ikea to get these last week. I'm not sure if these curtains will stay forever or not. I actually need 2 more panels, but finding 2 more of these panels hasn't been a priority. They no longer sell them at Target so it'll take some serious hunting to find them.

Mirror with sconces. Nothing special.

The best part about this mirror is how easily it went up when I was in one of my get it done moods and hanging mirrors all by myself! It went up on about the 2nd try as I was contorting my body to hold 2 different hooks and look behind the mirror to see if the hooks were hitting the screws. I've not had near as many picturing hanging mishaps in this house as I have in previous houses. I guess I'm getting to be a better picture hanger with all of my experience and the help of Command Strips! Love those things! I'm actually considering painting these sconces at some point, but that's hanging out on the bottom of the project list with finding the 2 panels for the windows.

I wish I could take a good picture of the ceiling and the 3 different sets of lights on it. I tried today, but just can't get a picture worth posting.

More to come...

F1's Room

2011-01-12T19:55:00.008-07:00

F1's room is really the easiest room to decorate after we move. I think it was the first room complete when we got to our apt in OK, too. Once the bed is in place, it's pretty easy to decide where things will go on the walls. I'm not positive what I'm going to do with her windows. This valance is hung with a tension rod under a decorative piece of molding at the top of the faux wood blinds. There are arches on the 2 windows in the kids' bedrooms and I'm conflicted about how to cover both of them! For now this works for me in her room.

Not Quite Settled Yet

2011-01-12T19:23:00.003-07:00

I think I psych myself up to think that every time we move it's going to be easier. No amount of psyching makes any move easier for me - not even moving back 'home' or at least to somewhat familiar territory close to family and old friends. There still is the process of reestablishing routines, getting kids signed up for school and finding childcare options for the little kids, figuring out where to buy groceries and finding the paper that has the best coupons.

I say all that to say this hasn't been an easy move for me. Not at all! I think I've mentioned before, but if you've ever read anything about 'spirited' children, I fit a lot of the descriptors as an adult. I don't do change well. I don't respond well to processes that don't make sense. I get easily frustrated when my mind has been made up that something is going to work a particular way and then it doesn't. My responses aren't good, either.

Pile on the change the fact that F5 has to be at school at 7:30am and you've got a tired, cranky out of sorts, not adjusting to change well wife and mother and an F4 and F1 who are out of sorts and sleep deprived, too. It's not pretty. It's not pleasant. I have had many moments over the past few weeks that I wish I could take back and have a do over, but that's not how life works.

Nonetheless, I'm pressing on. I'm trying to embrace our new home and our new life in our new city at our new post with grace, but that's not always the case.

Christmas in November

2010-12-20T20:53:00.005-07:00

A few weeks ago, probably a month or so ago, Cpt came home from work full of surprises. The first surprise was homemade tamales made by the mother of one of his classmates. They were delicious and reminded me of one of the things I miss about El Paso at Christmas time! The kitchen staff at FBCep always sold tamales by the dozen in December and we would eat them for months at the house.

Then he had another surprise - - tickets to see Michael Buble' in OKC! We've talked many times about artists we would be willing to pay full price for tickets for and Michael has always been on the top our list.

For weeks I lived anticipating the night, but the reality of going to a concert and losing an evening at home less than a week before we were set to move almost ruined the day for me. Nevertheless, we pressed on, got in the car and had a fabulous evening with Michael! He puts on a great concert and even says that he knows his fans spent good money to come see him so he wants to just have a party during his performance and that he did. There were moments when things were a little PG-13, but his music and his stage presence were wonderful. His opening act, Naturally 7, were fabulous, as well. I hope we get to see him in concert again some time!

2010 Christmas Tour of Homes

2010-12-13T15:37:00.003-07:00

I'm not going to be participating in any sort of Christmas tour of homes this year since as of today, the only Christmas decoration I have up is my Coton Colors wreath with a Tree attachment! However, I wanted all of my faithful readers to have the privilege of gleaming inspiration from the Nester's Tour of Homes. You can check out the 2010 edition by clicking on the picture above! Enjoy.

I'm hoping to post some pictures later of a few of the events we've been part of so far this Christmas season. One of them has nothing to do with Christmas, but will live on as one of my favorite events EVER!!!

Tick, Tick, Ticking Away

2010-12-02T21:33:00.002-07:00

Is that song now stuck in your head? "Time is ticking away, tick tick ticking away." That's how I feel about my life right now. In so many areas, time is just passing me by and I'm not taking the opportunities and making the most of them. In the midst of what is already the busiest month on the calendar, we have the privilege of adding a move to the craziness! Needless to say, my mind is so full of 'things to do' that I find myself just paralyzed in my procrastination. So paralyzed that finding a piece of paper to write these things that come to my mind never happens!

Other than a ceramic Christmas tree attached to my all season Coton Colors wreath and the children's constant conversations that begin with "I want that for Christmas," you wouldn't know that Christmas is just around the corner! I do feel badly for my children whose mother is terrible at consistency and beginning and keeping traditions. One day I'll do better...until then, I'll just listen to the clock tick away reminding me of the many plates I should be spinning, but haven't made it out of the cabinets yet!

One Step Closer

2010-11-20T21:08:00.002-07:00

The home buying process has been a little more stressful than I imagined it would be. After being prequalified, I guess I just thought everything would go very smoothly. It seems like every other day I'm having to divulge more and more information to the mortgage company. Some times I know the answer right off hand and other times I have to go digging and hoping that I haven't made any serious mistake when filing our taxes or something. Our most recent hang up has been with the title to our van.

We bought the van with a loan from whoever the dealership we bought the van from used as their lender. We knew we were going to immediately pay it off with a low interest personal loan we were eligible for when Cpt was at Officer Candidate School. Apparently I paid off the loan with the initial lender and then never got a copy of the title! Oops! Honestly, in my mind we still are paying on the van, only for about 3 more months, so I never thought about us 'owning' the van outright and being the title holders. Thankfully, the underwriters for our mortgage are willing to take a written statement from us detailing why we don't and won't have the title to the van by the time we close. I think that's our final information hurdle!

We did our walk thru with the builder today to determine if there were any touch ups or repairs that needed to be done before closing. We only found some minor things like drawers that don't close flush, a light fixture that is coming loose on one side, and a noisy ceiling fan. Other than that, we just need the paint touched up in various places and we'll be good to go.

I am so excited and can't wait to get out of our apartment and into a house again! Not just any house, though - - OUR house.

Catching Up!

2010-11-17T10:29:00.002-07:00

I had the privilege of attending the Protestant Women of the Chapel International Conference in Dallas this past weekend. It really was a blessing and not something I ever anticipated that I would do. I didn't have a great PWOC experience at Fort Bliss. Some due to my own idealistic expectations. Some due to administrative issues I had with the program there and then ultimately because I started working and going to PWOC was just another morning to get the kids ready to go somewhere.

When we moved to Fort Sill, I decided I would give it another shot and I'm so glad that I did! I have met some wonderful ladies and truly been challenged when it comes to my spiritual neediness. One night when we were on our way to our Friday night Orange Leaf fix, I was telling Cpt that if we had to stay here I knew there were some women at PWOC that I would really love to get to know better and develop relationships with. Within an hour, I received an email saying there were spaces available for the conference. After I mulled it over a few minutes, I figured out that it was Veteran's Day weekend and Cpt would be off and could hold the fort and kids down for a few days. He gave me the go ahead and off I went! I know that the Lord had His hand in every one of those details!

Alas, conferences end and I've come home to face the music and laundry and dishes and squabbling preschoolers! I do have better perspective now and am working on being more patient in my responses to all of the little people issues that never seem to go away. It just seems like it's taking me a while to get back in the groove. I stayed up until Midnight last night trying to get caught up on my coupon clipping. I am happy to announce that so far today I have almost all the laundry washed, folded and put away and the dishwasher has run once! I feel somewhat accomplished!

There are other things starting to dangle over me, like our very fast approaching move, but I'm trying not to get too wrapped up in that one. Since I know Hood will be our final destination for a while, I'm looking forward to taking my time sorting through every box and being realistic about what to keep and what can go once we get there.

Donors Choose

2010-11-10T06:38:00.003-07:00

America's schools are in financial trouble! We're all aware of that and if you're not, you must live under a rock! Cpt is a former high school teacher and many of our friends are educators so we have contact with many who have been affected by the financial crunch facing our schools. Many have been furloughed, basically mandatory time off without pay, several days over the past several years. The purchase of new and more advanced materials and teaching aids isn't an option in many places.

A few months ago, I became aware of a website called Donors Choose. It's a website designed to help teachers find funding for various projects or supplemental curriculum items for their students. The idea is genious! Donors can go to the website and search by school or subject or city and find various projects posted by teachers waiting to be funded. My friend Mr. Dearybury has had several projects funded. One we even helped fund! It was such a fulfilling feeling knowing that we were able to contribute a miniscule amount of money to see students in his classroom have access to new teaching tools!

If you're looking for a way to invest some small change or big change in a project that will help shape the education of children in our nation, I think you should go browse Donors Choose! You may even see your alma mater has a project you could help fund. I'm sure Mr. Dearybury (Mr. D) would love to have you help him fund a project! I'm not being paid to endorse Donors Choose, but some times I come across an effort or organization that is doing something valuable and I think it's good enough to pass along.

To read a cool story about the impact Donors Choose has had in California, read this story HERE.

Faith Deployed - A Giveaway

2010-11-08T10:33:00.008-07:00

Several weeks ago, maybe even a month or two ago, I got a message on FB from a friend letting me know that Jocelyn Green, the author of Faith Deployed, was looking for bloggers to read the book and then giveaway a copy on their blog! I jumped at the opportunity and sent my email to Jocelyn about my blog and how much I'd love to giveaway a copy of her book on my blog.

Not long after sending my email and being confirmed as a giveaway participant, I received the books in the mail. You must remember that I'm a slow reader so I haven't quite finished reading Faith Deployed for myself, but have been blessed and challenged with every page I've read.

Faith Deployed is a book full of short devotions written by women from every branch of the military. It is designed to be 'daily encouragement for military wives.' The writers are extremely honest and transparent in their writings. So far they've discussed contentment, comparison, gossip, temptation, and our own commitment as wives to the military and to our spouses. I've enjoyed hearing from the lips or pens of other military spouses that they have dealt with the same types of issues that I sometimes think I'm the only one in the world who has faced this!

My favorite devotion so far has to be one written by Vanessa Peters, a former Air Force wife, titled "Married to the Military." There's so much truth in those 4 words! As an Army wife, I sometimes get caught up in wondering if I really signed up and agreed to do this. There are days when life is just hard and when we live in limbo about what happens next or where we go from here or how our kids are going to be effected, positively or negatively, by our moves and our choice to be an Army family. She uses the Proverbs 31 woman to remind us that our husbands are most able to do their jobs well when they know that we're supportive and content with the life God has given us. He can have "full confidence" in us. Sometimes that requires asking for help or hiring help to do menial tasks. It was a good challenge for me and very timely for our current situation that is less than ideal!

I would highly recommend this book to any military spouse, and already have. It is Christ centered encouragement for women whose calling in life is far from ordinary and full of mountain and valley experiences handed to us via whatever branch of service we're affiliated with.

For more info, check out the Faith Deployed website. It's full of great information for military spouses. I'm hoping to sit in Jocelyn's session at the PWOC conference in Dallas this weekend!

To enter this giveaway for your very own copy of Faith Deployed, simply leave a comment with your name, email address, and one reason you enjoy being a military spouse. To receive an extra entry, post a link to this giveaway on your own blog then leave me a separate comment letting me know that you've done it and where I can find it! You can enter between now and midnight CST, Sunday, November 14th. The winner will be announced at some point on Monday, November 15th.

Can't wait to see who wins!

"Get Wisdom"

2010-11-04T12:05:00.005-06:00

I woke up yesterday morning, read a comment on the Army Wife Network on FB and couldn't get the comment off of my mind. For much of the morning, I tried to figure out how I could blog my response to this person's asinine comment! It struck a specific nerve with me because the commenter was making herself the victim because she's the wife of an enlisted soldier.

The question on Army Wife Network's wall was "Where do you get your hair done?" and responders were to tell their installation, salon name and town where it's located. Most did exactly that, except for the one in the group that said something about enlisted wives not being able to have the same luxuries as officer wives.

I don't know this person at all. I was just struck by this tension that can some times exist, mostly imaginary, simply because someone's husband is enlisted vs. officer. My husband is an officer and that's all I've ever known. I would never say that we live a 'luxurious' life because we don't! We wouldn't even if funds allowed. However, we've made wise choices in how we use the income that we have each month.

So my response to this comment is that it has nothing to do with enlisted vs. officer. It has everything to do with the choices you make in how you spend the money that comes in each month. It has everything to do with what you do with the extra money that comes as a result of a deployment. It has everything to do with looking at your expenses and deciding what's really important to you. We find the money and way to get the things that are important to us. If it's getting your hair done in a salon vs paying for Showtime, HBO and Cinemax on your cable each month, you'll choose the one that's most important to you.

Our family chooses to tithe each month, which is 10% of our income to our local church! There's alot more 'fun' and 'worldly' things we could do with that 10%, but we trust the wisdom of God and His ability to provide all of our needs each month. I coupon and save us a good bit on groceries each month so that we can enjoy a couple of meals out each week and a salon highlight every other month or so. When Cpt was deployed last year, we saved part of our extra deployment money and used the other part to pay off student loans. We could've sunk it all into a new car, but that wasn't the best long term investment for our family.

I guess I took offense to this person's statement because it generalized that officer wives have such a good and luxurious life when that couldn't be further from the truth. We face alot of the same things that enlisted wives do and have to make choices just like enlisted wives. Some of my best friends are enlisted wives. With us, it doesn't matter what our husbands' ranks are. Rank isn't something to be flaunted or to use as a crutch for our issues. It only determines pay and job responsibility.

I found it just like the Lord that yesterday my internet went down all day and I read a passage from Proverbs 4:5-9 that talks about getting Wisdom, prizing Wisdom, and embracing Wisdom. The result will be being kept, being honored, having a graceful garland wrapped on you and a beautiful crown. As I was in a tizzy about this person's comment, I found this great application for me. I needed to be wise in how I addressed this and I need to remember that making wise choices is ultimately what is best for me and my family. I also needed time to let my jets cool!

Wind Blown

2010-11-03T19:49:00.002-06:00

It's been especially windy here in the great state's neighbor to the north! I'm not sure that especially windy is really the right description because it's windy here all the time, I think. It's also been frigid in the mornings so our walks to school have come to an end, much to F5's chagrin! To help keep him happy, I have promised him that on the not so cold days that we'll still walk home from school or scooter home from school. So that's what we did today!

After retrieving F5 from 'Parent Pick Up,' we proceeded to the school library for the book fair. One book for each boy, poor F1 just gets nothing these days, and then we would be back on our way to our lovely apartment complex. I took the check out of my zippered wallet keychain, a Vera Bradley, of course, that was hanging from a hook on the stroller and apparently didn't zip it back up. Major mistake - - - remember the wind!

We were almost to the mailbox where I would discover some free Green Mountain coffee that I had signed up for last week when I noticed small cards blowing all around me. I'm sure for a second I just froze and didn't move a bit. I had to first realize that these were coming from my wallet! Then I had to decide how on earth I was going to chase after them and try to retrieve them. If any apartment dwellers were hanging on their porches at the time, they got an interesting show. I quickly went after said flying cards hoping I could get them. I think F3 actually caught one of them for me. It was mostly insurance cards that went flying, but those are important. After I gathered what I could and was hopefully everything that had flown out, all I could think about was how much trouble replacing my military ID would be. Praise the Lord, that one stayed in its special pocket! I also had to count my credit cards to make sure they were all accounted for and my driver's license was accounted for as well.

I know these things only happen to me. I'm just glad that I can add enjoyment to someone's day by my crazy antics. I know for sure that one of the complex maintenance men saw the ordeal. I hope he went and told all his coworkers and his family about the show he saw from that wacky woman and her 3 kids.

I've Been Booked

2010-11-02T21:21:00.004-06:00

For quite some time I have wanted to have my blog printed in book format. When the world is going paperless, I want more paper! I have this fear that one day blogger will disappear and so will all the stories, pictures and memories I have recorded here.

This blog has served as a scrapbook of sorts for me and our family. I'm not a scrapbooker, even though I have tons of supplies! My poor children don't even have baby books that say much about them. Honestly, I'm not even sure where they are at this point.

In place of scrapbooks or baby books, I have recorded quite a bit here in cyberspace for all the world to share with us. As I was editing which posts were included and which weren't, I had to laugh at some of the funny things that have happened to us that I had completely forgotten about! It was also eye opening to how much I blogged the first year and how little I blogged last year. Hence, why I attempted to blog and post more pictures in the last couple of weeks.

I was so excited to open the mailbox today and have the 2007 version of the book there to greet me. I couldn't be more pleased with the quality of the book with slick pages and colored pictures. I can't wait to just skim through it from time to time and laugh at how far we've come. 2008 and 2009 should be arriving in the next day or so.

If you're looking for an easy way to print out your blog, I highly recommend Sharedbook. I had a 15% off coupon code through The Cutest Blog on the Block that came in handy at checkout. I have attempted several other websites to print the book, but have found them cumbersome and quite slow. The speed and ease of Sharedbook was quite impressive. The only thing I had a hard time figuring out was how to access my book after I had loggged out and logged back in. I obviously was able to figure it out and there was probably as simple solution that I just missed.

2010 Thanksgiving List

2010-11-01T21:03:00.003-06:00

Last year in November, I did a list of things that I was most grateful for during the month. Some times there were days and days between posts, but I completed the list!

I started a list this year and even created a new page for it called 2010 Thanksgiving List. You'll see the link under the Wades' World title at the top of the page. I'm proud of myself for even figuring out that I could create my own pages.

I hope you'll check back periodically and follow along on the many things that I have to be thankful for this November.

Final Fall Festival Experience

2010-11-01T20:53:00.004-06:00

For the past 3 years, I was in charge of the Fall Festival at FBC El Paso and my children never even attended the event! Sad, I know, but true. This year, as a participant and chaperone to my children, I realized that being in charge of the whole event is much less stressful that guiding my own children through the chaos and crowds of a Fall Festival. I did this 2x this year and can honestly say I was never so glad to put those costumes on their hangers to stay!

The one highlight of the final Fall Festival we attended at our church was watching F1 use her own tactics for getting candy in her basket. She was so much more greedy than I imagined she would be, but the cutest greedy kid alive! We stopped to watch a game and let F5 jump in a bounce house for a few minutes so F1 was left to find something to occupy her time. She noticed the buckets of prizes at one of the games sitting on the ground, at her level and decided that was the perfect opportunity to score some loot! She just smiled and bent down close to the buckets and non-chalantly started putting handfuls of prizes and candy into her pumpkin bucket.

I was a little embarrassed, but the high school kids working the booth didn't seem bothered and there was plenty of candy and prizes to go around. She did come home with the fullest bucket. I joked later that I should've made her aware of which ones were the good candies and which weren't worth putting in her bucket.

Dress Up Time

2010-10-29T20:18:00.003-06:00

This seems to be the "Fall Festival" season that keeps going and going and going!

On Thursday I was the bad mother who didn't dress my children in costume for their Fall Parties at Mother's Day Out. I felt much better at the end of the day when I picked F3 and F1 up and all the other kids had changed out of their costumes. I actually hoped that the teachers were grateful that they didn't have to change my 2 kiddos' clothes like they did the others.

So since that little glitch, I want to make sure we wear costumes to every other Fall Festivalish activity we attend.

Thursday night our apartment complex hosted a little party with cupcakes and pumpkin painting in the clubhouse. Here are our costumes of choice for that night. All the little tornadoes, except for F5, have multiple costumes to choose from.

I have made it out cheaply this year because the boys have both chosen to wear their costumes from last year. I guess they don't understand that we could get new ones!

F5's costume of choice = Thomas. I'm not sure we're ever going to rid our family of our Thomas and his friends!Here's our cutesy little ladybug and her brother the monkey! Aren't they the cutest?I couldn't resist this hand holding picture of the boys as they walked to the party.

Thankful Thursday

2010-10-28T21:51:00.004-06:00

I have come to really look forward to Thursdays since we've moved to OK. It's the one day of the week where all the little tornadoes go to their various day time activities! I enjoy the time to get caught up on various projects or reading for PWOC. It's a day that I am truly thankful to get each week.

Here's what else I'm thankful for this week:

1) I have ordered the first 3 years of Wades' World in book format and can't wait to hold them in my hands! This was a neat experience, even though I did it as quickly and painlessly as possible. To go back and read some of the old posts and stories that I had forgotten about was really fun.

2) The mortgage loan papers have been Fedex-ed so we're praying that process goes smoothly and we'll be able to close at the end of next month.

3) A good warm pumpkin spice latte on a cool morning! We're under a frost advisory for the morning, so the cooler weather is starting to arrive.

4) F1 has finally gotten 2 teeth on the top. She's been the 2 tooth wonder for probably 9 months now.

5) Seeing the tornadoes dressed up in their lady bug, monkey and Thomas costumes to go to our apartment complex's Halloween party tonight. They were super cute!

6) We finally have local channels with our DirecTV! We got to watch CSI in primetime tonight for the first time since July.

7) It's been a great week of getting good deals on groceries and various sundries.

8) A few teacher gifts have been purchased and are being stored so when December gets here, I'm ahead of the game in some areas.

9) Discovering some new blogs to read and get ideas from. Check out all my new buttons I've added of blogs I've stumbled upon that are full of great info and ideas - everything from good deals to decorating - all my favorite things!

10) Tomorrow is Friday!!!

More Tiger Soccer

2010-10-27T20:03:00.002-06:00

Our first soccer season is well under way and it's been interesting to say the least. We have a new coach. We have scored very few goals and if we were keeping stats, I'm sure we've scored the least goals total of any team and are on the bottom of the ranking sheet. Thankfully, we don't keep score so that's not a big deal and there's no consoling upset children who didn't win. (I couldn't bring myself to call my children losers in that last sentence!)

A couple of weeks ago, we were playing the Gladiators and F5 scored 2 goals! It was unbelievable, really! After the Gladiators scored a goal, F5 was chosen to be the kickoff person. He kicked the ball right through the other team and straight into the goal. This is actually a shot of him scoring his first one. The second time was the exact same thing, but it wasn't supposed to be his turn. He was very proud of himself and will still remind us that he scored 2 goals that game!
This is a typical shot of F3. He is just goofy no matter what he's doing. He has a hard time staying focused on the game. I'm sure this was his halfhearted, being silly attempt at trying to keep up with what was happening on the field.
During one of the quarters when the boys weren't playing, they hung out with their daddy on the sideline watching their team play. Not sure if they were eating snacks yet, but I'm sure they were anticipating them!
All in all, I'm glad we ventured into soccer with the boys. It's been a good, light introduction into team sports with little pressure or expectation as far as their performance. I think both could be good little players if they had a little bit of instruction and experience.

Little Miss F1

2010-10-26T20:24:00.003-06:00

Miss F1 is finally getting 2 teeth on the top and she's been mean and grumpy as all get out lately. You wouldn't know it from the pleasant look on her face in these pictures, but you'd know after spending 5 minutes in a room with her. F3 could definitely bear witness to her meanness, not that he has much room to talk. Nonetheless, I wanted to show off her cuteness! This top picture is for Grammy since she sent her this little zebra outfit! She rocked it today.
This is a pair of overalls that one of our friends in SC found at TJ Maxx or somewhere when F5 was a baby. I have a picture of him somewhere in the abyss of digital pictures in this exact same outfit. If only she'd keep her AU bow or clip in her hair.

I just thought she was super cute the day she wore her little pink vest, but could never get her to stand facing me for a picture.

Hope my cutie makes you smile!

Little Tornadoes

2010-10-21T20:20:00.003-06:00

Tonight, I remarked to the Cpt that our house always looks like a tornado has been through it! He remarked that there were 3 who go through it regularly - F5, F3 and F1. It hit me that those are the perfect code names for the kids. So that's what they'll be here in Wade's World - - my little Texas Tornadoes!

Under Contract

2010-10-20T20:19:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago we did our Fort Hood househunting trip and it wasn't quite what I was anticipating. I never thought that we would actually make an offer on a house during this first trip, but we did. We had been looking for months online at houses in that area and had made one sweep through on a trip from Austin to Waco in August to get a better idea of exactly which neighborhoods we liked and didn't like. One of the neighborhoods we initially thought would be an option turned out to be a no go after we scoped it out on our drive through. So we were back to the drawing board and budget board to figure out how much we were willing to spend on this house investment.

A few weeks ago we finally got word that we would definitely be going to Fort Hood so we decided to do our first househunting trip over Columbus Day weekend. We had been in contact with the realtor and told her what we were looking for and the price range we wanted to stay in and all those details. Her initial list of houses she sent back was more than disappointing. Over half of them were in a neighborhood that we absolutely did not have any interest in living. We sent her some others that didn't make her cut that we were interested in seeing and went from there.

On househunting morning, she showed us 3 houses and while we were in the 2nd house she started talking about a house next door to her that had a similar layout to the one we were in and never said much about taking us to see it until a few houses later. All 3 of the first houses we saw, we really liked, but they were zoned to a high school or had the probability of being rezoned to a high school into which we don't want our home to feed. We saw 4 more houses and none of them were spectacular to us. Then she took us to her 'ace in the hole' house - the one right next door to her personal house! I think she was feeling us out to see if she really wanted us to be her neighbors.

I walked in the door and tried to not like it! Seriously!! It was above the price range we had initially set in our minds. It was a beautiful home from the floors, to the doors, to the lighting, to the counters and all the little touches that had been done to make this home feel like a custom home! There was absolutely nothing wrong with this house. It was perfect in so many ways.

We had to leave it to go see a house that was on our initial short list of houses that we were very interested in. This house was a beautiful home, but in a sketchy, unrestricted zoning area. There were some really nice houses around it, but there were also poorly taken care of homes and cars on cinder blocks! If this was a house that we were going to live in for the rest of our lives and never try to sell, I think we may have been more interested, but that's not the case right now.

The day of househunting was over and we were left to mull over our choices while eating a #1 from Chick Fil A! We were both still in shock over her 'ace in the hole' house and couldn't get it off our minds. We were really like every episode of HGTV's House Hunters you've ever seen and predicted that the people would choose the house that was out of their price range or over their initial budget. After deciding that this was the house we wanted, we called the realtor to get the contract going.

So this is what we're getting...

This is the view from the front door into the living room. These are ceramic tile floors that look like hardwoods. They are beautifully deceptive! Here is the limestone fireplace that will probably never have a fire built in it, so it's just for looks! The front exterior of the house is made from this same limestone, if I remember correctly. I don't even have a picture of the outside of the house! Shameful, I know.

Here is the kitchen with granite countertops, an island and ceramic tile backsplash. I can't wait to cook my first meal here and spend every night of my life scrubbing little fingerprints off of the stainless steel appliances! The eat in part of the kitchen is just to the left.

Finally is the jacuzzi tub that will probably rarely be used except maybe by the kids! This same tile work is done on the shower to the left.
These were the best pictures I could get. I can't wait to get our stuff in there and make it our home. It truly is a blessing from the Lord and I feel like it's a reward for practicing good discipline with our finances from the beginning of our marriage. If all goes according to plan, we'll have the keys in our hands by the end of next month!

More to Come

2010-10-16T20:33:00.002-06:00

I think every day about what I am going to put on my blog, but just don't seem to have time to sit down and do it! So a few days turns into a week and on and on! So here's just a little catch up post with some of highlights of things that you might hear more about soon.

1) We do have a contract on a house at Fort Hood! Yippee Skippee!! It's a beautiful home and I can't wait to live there. I'll fill you in on the details of how this contract came to be later and I might even include pictures.

2) I am going to do my first giveaway very soon. I was mailed the book Faith Deployed specifically to use as a giveaway here, but I need to read the fine print about how I am really to do that. So stay tuned.

3) Bailey scored 2 goals in his soccer game last week - - not today. His team didn't score a single goal today. We really are a scrappy team, but it's fun to watch and the boys seem to improve in different ways every week.

4) I've become entrenched in couponing and it's been quite discouraging on some fronts and encouraging on others. Just tonight I found myself giving the hubs the 411 on why shopping at CVS is so much better than Walgreens! I'm sure he's glad to be informed.

5) I'm pooped most days dealing with the busyness of our lives. I don't think I was this mentally and emotionally exhausted when I worked part time, was pregnant and the hubs was deployed. Oh wait, I did have a cleaning lady then.

6) From here on out, the kids and hubs will be named in code on the blog. I'll still put up pictures, but am working on nicknames for them to use here that could be as simple as their initials. I'm not sure yet, but those of you who know us personally will know who is who.

7) Appropriately the 7th thing on my list, we're celebrating that the Auburn Tigers are now 7-0. Who would've thought? It's been an interesting football season and every Saturday I get to hear how much DirecTV sucks because we don't get ABC or CBS. That could be a whole post in itself! Not only can we not watch SEC football, but we can't watch CSI or Survivor. I know we can watch them online, but it's just not the same to me.

Look forward to elaborations on most of my 7 points in the near future.

Bailey The Potty Mouth

2010-10-13T19:43:00.002-06:00

I had an interesting afternoon of fact gathering after I found out that Bailey had been sent to the principal's office and I couldn't exactly understand why!

When I picked him up from school, the first thing he said was that he got in trouble and had to go to the office. What?!? He always tells on himself to me! I asked him what he did to deserve to go to the principal's office. He gave me some story about an older kid, a fire drill, going to his classroom, not following directions, yada, yada, yada. I couldn't put all the pieces together so I let it rest for a little while.

After we had been home for a little while I asked him again about it and what the principal had actually said to him. He said something to the effect of he asked me to say the "B word" and Bailey said his response was "Buh" like the sound a B makes. So I asked him if he had said a bad word and of course he denied it.

Wanting to get to the bottom of this, like any good over reactive parent of a kindergartener would do, I called the school to find out what had really happened. The principal wasn't there when I called, but his teacher was so I asked her what had happened. She didn't really know except that some older kid had told the principal that a boy dressed like Bailey had said some bad words on the playground...

pause...so my child's teacher is telling me that she has no idea why they called him out of class to come to the principal's office except that some older kid on the playground said he heard a boy dressed like Bailey say something bad and told the principal. Huh? ...unpause...

She was able to talk to the principal and the principal agreed to talk to me and let me know what happened. After talking to him, he told me the same thing. Some older kid told him that he heard Bailey (or a kid dressed like Bailey) say the "B word" on the playground so he called Bailey into his office to address it.

Here's where it just gets comical! The older boy and Bailey were called into the principal's office together. The principal said he asked Bailey to say his name for him and Bailey of course said Bailey. Then he asked him if he had said the "B word" and Bailey said no. The principal then asked Bailey to say the "B word" and Bailey said "Buh!" The principal said he told the older kid to go back to class and just kept Bailey there for a couple of minutes and sent him back to class.

There are a few concerns I have about this situation.

1) My son, a kindergartener, was sent to the principal's office and I received no notice or explanation except what Bailey told me!

2) Bailey obviously never understood why he was sent to the principal's office, who sent him there or who this older kid was.

3) Bailey has speech issues and can't even say the word itch with a ch sound on the end of it so how he said the "B word" and some other kid was able to understand it is beyond me.

4) I honestly don't think Bailey knows what the "B word" is. If he's heard it, it's only been at school! The only words we say here that are bad are crap and butt!

5) The principal, upon the tattle of an older student who didn't even know Bailey's name, called my son into his office over something he had absolutely no evidence of except for the word of this older kid - obviously way after the fact! Why was this kid not in his class and why did he have the ear of the principal?

Remember when I posted this about being a high maintenance parent. Apparently, I'm going to have to continue that trend to make sure I know what's going on with Bailey at school. I sure hope the school we go to in TX is much better at communicating than this one has been so far.

House Hunters

2010-10-08T20:34:00.002-06:00

After several months of wondering whether or not we would get the next assignment location that we wanted, we finally have an answer and we got it! We've been assigned to Fort Hood, TX. This is great for me because we'll only be about 45 minutes from some of my family in the Central Texas area.

Tomorrow we meet with our realtor to start looking for a place to live! I can't believe it. For months I've spent hours at a time looking at houses online. I've actually looked at 3 different locations because for a while, earlier in the year, we thought we were going to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas! We were overjoyed about that because we love Vegas, but through a series of conversations, that assignment was yanked out from under us. It's really a blessing, but was disappointing at the time.

We've cleared the prequalification phase with a mortgage specialist so we can rest assured that we can actually purchase a home. Even though I know our credit is good, I still worried about this prequalification process because I was worried we would be approved for much less than we really want or need to spend to get the kind of home we think would suit our needs as a family. Praise the Lord, we are prequalified for much, much more than we would ever imagine spending on this home.

I probably won't get much sleep tonight because I'm so psyched about looking at houses! If I were a better salesperson, I probably would be a good realtor because I love looking at houses! The hubs even asked me the other day what I was going to do with all my free time I'll have now that I won't have any need to look at real estate websites! I'm sure I'll find some other pointless obsession to fill that void!

Soccer Monsters

2010-09-25T13:56:00.006-06:00

This week the Wade boys became official soccer players. They're definitely not the stars of the team, but they have a good time for the most part.

I'm not sure how to really explain the game to Bailey or get him to understand how to be aggressive and get the ball from the other team. During the game today, you could see the disappointment on his face when he wasn't kicking the ball. I'm not sure if he thought they should give him the ball when it was his turn or if he had to share with everyone else. Taking turns has been an issue for him since a little sports camp he went to this summer. Playing soccer aggressively doesn't require taking turns so he's gotta have a change of attitude when he's on the field playing.

Maverick just doesn't get it and kind of stands around. Most of the pictures I have of him he's got one of his hands on his head or hip just standing still. The coach is very helpful and tries to make sure the kids that aren't involved are getting a chance in on the action.

Our team is definitely the underdog, not well organized or trained team. The team we played today were very aggressive and acted like they knew exactly what they were doing! For us, it's all about having a good first sports experience for the boys. Of course, a good experience requires good snacks and today's snack parents went over the top with theirs!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #1

2010-09-23T19:50:00.006-06:00

One of my goals for our time in OK that I haven't added to an individual blog post is to be a more regular blogger (how many times have I said that?) and also to get more connected with military spouses. I'm hoping I can be a regular at the Friday Fill-In hosted by Wife of a Sailor. Here's my first attempt! She posts 5 questions each week and then other military spouses fill in and link back to her blog.

1. What characteristic about yourself has either been strengthened or weakened due to your experience as a Military Spouse? (from The Albrecht Squad)

My answer to this question is really a 2 edged sword. In some ways I've been strengthened, but that strength has caused weaknesses in other areas of my life. The characteristic that has been strengthened is my independence and ability to get through life on my own. We faced our first deployment last year and I managed to do well at my job, give birth to JB, and handle the every day stuff of life on my own. I can't really say on my own because the Lord gave me tons of grace and supernatural strength and brought some incredible people into my life to help me get through some crazy days! However, being more independent has weakened my relationship with my husband because I find myself not really needing him to help or do because I've done it on my own so much. This has gotten better with time since he's returned and we've moved, but independence has proven to be a positive and a negative in my experience as a military spouse.

2. What is your favorite vacation spot and why? (from 'Tis the Life of the Army Wife)

I don't really have a favorite vacation spot. I enjoy seeing new places so really anywhere we go that's not the 4 walls of my house is a favorite vacation spot while we're there!

3. If you could have any fast-food restaurant in the food court on base/post what would you pick? (from The Only Pink in a House of Blue)

I would definitely choose Chick Fil A. It's my favorite fast food restaurant and not every town has a free standing Chick Fil A so it would be nice to know there's one in the food court at the PX.

4. Where did you go on your honeymoon? (from Pennies from Heaven)

We took a short honeymoon to Savannah, GA, but then spent a week in Las Vegas the next summer as our extended honeymoon.

5. If you could have any job in the world regardless of money, degree or experience, which job would you have and why? (from Proud to Be a Navy Family and The Calm Before The Storm)

This changes almost daily. One that stays constant is to be a Professional Organizer or Interior Designer. I've always enjoyed organizing things, although if you saw my cabinets you wouldn't believe it! I am constantly trying to purge and be realistic about the clutter and junk that I hold onto for no reason. I would like to help others find freedom from the grip of clutter and chaos and enjoy the place where they live.

Like a Good Neighbor

2010-09-23T19:04:00.005-06:00

I struggle being a good neighbor. I'll admit it. I like my space. I like my privacy. I don't like being inconvenienced. I want relationships on my terms. It's a very selfish and sometimes isolating way to live, but it's how I've functioned for most of my life. I could say more about how I've come to grips and have had to face my issues being neighborly head on lately, but I had something happen Sunday that was a glaring reason why I have a hard time being neighborly.

Here's what happened...

We pulled in the parking lot after church with our Arby's drive thru lunch and as we got out of the car, our neighbor upstairs leaned over her porch and said "Neighbor (she didn't know my name) could you take me to the corner of this street and that street?" She was on her cell phone at the time so I thought there was some sort of emergency or something. I was planning to go into town for a half off sale at a consignment sale so I said yes. No big deal, I thought. I'll drop her off and go on my way.

When she got in the car, she revealed to me that she wanted a ride to a nail salon to get 2 of her acrylic nails fixed. Then she said she was going to walk to Walmart - about a half mile walk - to get some ingredients for a recipe she had seen on the Food Network that morning and couldn't get off her mind. She also said she was just going to call a cab to bring her home.

I quickly figured out that what I thought was going to be a quick drop was going to turn into an entire afternoon of playing taxi driver! I dropped her off at the nail place, that she didn't even know exactly where it was. It was not near the intersection that I had initially agreed to take her to. I then went over to the consignment sale and quickly looked through the rack I wanted to look at and then went back to pick her up at the nail place. I chauffered them to Walmart for their groceries or whatever they were getting and finally went back home. She has a bum knee so I had to help carry groceries up the stairs to her apartment.

It's not that I mind helping someone or driving them somewhere, but I felt misled! I guess I should've asked more questions, but I was put on the spot and would've felt worse just saying no not knowing what the real story was. I was also a little shocked that someone would be bold enough to ask a total stranger to take them to have their acrylic nails fixed when that could've waited a day or so.

I'm ashamed to say that I have almost wanted to go into hiding or park somewhere else to keep from being asked to take her places now that she knows I'm willing. She has asked me one more time for a ride, but I wasn't going anywhere else that day.

I really want to be neighborly. I really do, but it's going to take some time before I just flat agree to do things without getting all necessary information before saying yes! I did offer to let her son walk to school with us in the mornings and he has been at my door every morning this week to hang out and then walk to school. Baby steps...

Updates on my OK to do's

2010-09-16T20:53:00.002-06:00

Since there aren't many other things to write about, I figure I can at least update on my OK to do list...

1) I've yoyo'd the same 4 or 5 pounds the entire time we've lived here. I get very motivated for a week and then I fall off the wagon. We are still trying to develop routines and so far exercise hasn't found its way into the routine consistently. There's still time, though!

2) Maverick is pretty much potty trained! He had some poo poo set backs last week, but has done well on all fronts (or backs) lately. He is lazy and doesn't always want to go immediately when he needs to, but he'll get there! I'm impressed that he's done as well as he has with this process.

3) I haven't even touched my Article and Recipe Organization process except for purchasing notebooks, sheet protectors and other supplies to get the project going! Hopefully I can start working on this one very soon since I have some recipes that I want to use that happen to be buried in the pile of loose articles.

4) As far as eating meals together, we're doing fairly well. We aren't always eating the exact same meals, but we've gotta start somewhere, right! The boys are eating more of a variety of foods then they have in the past. It often takes bribery and a little bit of negotiating! Sometimes it takes a little friendly competition between the boys to see who can finish first or who is going to get the after dinner treat and who isn't.

I do have a few other little things I want to get done in the next couple of months so we'll see if I can take advantage of my time and be productive!

Ultimate Recipe Swap - Weight Watchers Easy Enchiladas

2010-09-02T13:54:00.003-06:00

Fishmama at Lifeasmom.com is hosting her weekly recipe swap and with Labor Day weekend upon us, she's focusing on recipes you can use to feed a crowd.

One of my favorite crowd recipes is for Weight Watchers Easy Enchiladas, but I usually don't make them into enchiladas for a crowd! I just cook what would be the filling of the enchiladas and then let people put it on tortillas or chips, whatever their stomachs desire. This can easily serve 8 -10 people depending on how big their appetites are.

Here's how to make this Weight Watchers Easy Enchiladas filling!

Ingredients:

2 teaspooons of oil (I only keep Olive Oil at my house for cooking)

1/2 pound hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped (whatever color suits your taste buds)

6 scallions, sliced

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 cup canned stewed tomatoes

3/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Directions:

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil. Saute the sausage, bell pepper and scallions, stirring frequently to break up the sausage, until browned. Add the chili powder and cumin; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, beans, chickpeas and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

When it comes time to eat, I usually have the stove on low and leave the pot with the filling there and let people serve themselves. Have various types of tortillas available along with whatever condiments (cheese, sour cream, avocado, etc.) that you think your guests would like on their 'enchiladas.'

Everyone I've ever served this to has absolutely loved it! It's a healthy alternative to the typical beef or chicken 'taco.'

The Master Bedroom

2010-08-31T20:16:00.004-06:00

This is a long overdue post with pictures of our bedroom. We got new bedroom furniture in April or May, I can't remember exactly when. I do remember sleeping on an air mattress for a week in the time between us selling our old bed at a yard sale and the new stuff being delivered. Our timing wasn't great. Buying bedroom furniture was a decision we had mulled over for a while and had considered waiting until we got to wherever we go next, but the opportunity to sell our old furniture during the postwide yard sale couldn't be passed up.

We love our new furniture. I remember it being a little overwhelmed at how large all the pieces were when they started bringing them into the house. I guess on the showroom floor, they didn't seem so large. In a small bedroom, they seem 'gigantula' (to quote my little kindergartener's word for all big things).

Buying bedding was a challenge as well. I like so many different styles of things and really wanted a comforter that was machine washable. The man of the house said he didn't care if it was machine washable so we ended up buying beautiful bedding that the children are not often allowed on!

Enjoy the pics and you'll get an idea of how small the master bedroom in our apartment really is!

And before I forget, yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary. No major celebrations or anything. Just an impromptu trip to our favorite local yogurt place.

Next Generation Anglers

2010-08-27T11:25:00.004-06:00

Since moving to Oklahoma, the boys and their father have set their sights on becoming professional anglers. Not quite, but there've been lots of trips to Walmart for worms! I've always said that I didn't like to fish and that's because I've always felt like fishing was the equivalent of watching paint dry! I guess I've never had good, exciting experiences where fish just jump on your hook one after another.

There's a little pond on the property where our apartment is so it's ultra convenient for the boys to get their fishing poles and go fish for a few minutes and then come back home. Their attention span is about like mine. Maverick is alot more patient than Bailey is when it comes to just holding his pole and waiting for the bobber to go under.

They've caught quite a few fish in their time as fishermen. They're mostly small fish just looking for a snack and accidentally biting too far up on the hook when snagging the worms. It's enough to keep the children excited for a few minutes.

Here are a few photos from their first fishing experience.

This is the average size fish they catch off the bank of the pond. Supposedly there are bigger fish in there, but they're not coming near us.This is what Jenna Beth thinks of fishing! I think this was before one of the bored fishermen came and knocked the stoller over and almost sent her down the hill into the pond, causing her mother to go into an extreme panic. That little fisherman apologized for 2 days about pushing over the stroller. Truth be told, I've actually enjoyed a couple of the fishing excursions. I have even put a few worms on hooks to throw out and give a snack to the little fish. I will not, however, remove the little fish from the hook. I touched one once and its wiggling, slimy body and sharp fin gave me the willies so I just hold onto them until the man of the house can take it off for me.

Bailey's 1st Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-23T21:50:00.003-06:00

I am officially the mother of a kindergartener! I cried myself to sleep the night before as I worried about whether or not I had prepared him well enough to go off to school. I just knew I would get a phone call telling me to come pick him up because he was pitching an uncontrollable fit over something silly. I know him very well!

It turns out he didn't have a great first day and there were things that he didn't really want to comply with. The first words out of his mouth as we were walking home from the school was "my teacher was mad at me - - don't tell daddy my teacher was mad at me."

From what I can gather, he didn't want to draw a picture of his family and he didn't want to eat in the cafeteria so he was in trouble. This is all his perspective, of course. I'm not sure how he really responded or how his teacher responded to him, but his interpretation was that she was mad at him.

He had a much better day today and even brought home his first completed assignment. He wrote his own name on the bottom of the paper and everything. I know it will take him a week or more to get in the groove and be compliant. Deep down he is a people pleaser and needs lots of praise to keep him motivated. I do hope his teacher sees that he's a bright kid, but has some little quirks! Don't we all?

Here are the obligatory first day of school photo shoot pictures.

Daddy came home between PT and class to walk with us to school for the first day. Maverick has probably had the biggest struggle so far with seeing Bailey go to school and him getting left behind so we tried to include Maverick in the process and festivities as much as possible.

Here I am with the boys. Being beside the blondie makes me look like I have a great tan!This was our parting shot! They have the children sit with their classes in the gym before class starts for an assembly. He was on his way to crossing his arms and putting on his pouty face. Exactly how I imagined it would be.

First Haircut

2010-08-18T20:30:00.004-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Jenna Beth had a big day. She didn't volunteer for it, but nonetheless, she had it! She got her first hair cut and her ears pierced all in one trip to the mall. She wasn't a big fan of the hair cut so thankfully we had met some friends from El Paso that were passing through town at the mall and they were able to take pictures and try to keep Jenna Beth distracted.

She's getting ready for her first haircut!

This is a good picture of how out of control and unruly the back of her hair was before the cut. This is her "Please get me out of this chair!" pose.One of the smiles she gave because she was being entertained by various goofy antics!

There wasn't an official end product picture, but you can see in the one below that it looks so much better, even though this one is her sweaty and on the loose! If you pan in close, you may be able to see her earrings.

I do need to take some time to get the pictures from my phone onto the computer since I use it alot for candid, spur of the moment pictures.

While In OK #4

2010-08-15T16:16:00.004-06:00

Our lifestyle for the past several years has not given us the opportunity to eat meals at the table together. Honestly, in our house in El Paso, the only time we ate at our table was when we had company! We usually just stood in the kitchen to eat or sat at the stools at the bar. Bailey has noticed several times that the 'whole family' is sitting down eating dinner together. Very rarely in the past did I even attempt to have everyone eat the same thing. Talk about short order cook! I'm trying to get away from that mentality, which brings me to my #4 goal I'd like to see accomplished here in Oklahoma.

I'm trying to get the children, the boys mainly, to get out of the box and experience new food even if it's just one or two bites. I've done alot of this already and with tiny bits of success. Maverick acquiesces more willingly than Bailey does. A few nights Bailey has sat at the table acting like he's going to gag, refusing to even attempt some things, even things I know that he's eaten before with no issue! To make it even more laughable is that there are foods that Bailey will eat that are almost shocking like tuna salad sandwiches and raw carrots. He does refuse Kraft Mac and Cheese, which I find just strange! What kid doesn't like Kraft Mac and Cheese?

The good thing is that I've found they'll eat ground beef or turkey as long as it's not charred. This gives us a few options for things like hamburgers, meatloaf, meatballs, etc. They'll eat spaghetti so I'm thinking about trying some other pasta dishes with red sauces to see how they react to that.

I'm not at the point of sneaking vegetables into things that I cook, yet. If I felt like they weren't eating a variety of foods I would be more concerned and start sneaking mashed vegetables into random dishes.

Do you have any foods that your children love that you think I should try? Leave a comment and give me the scoop!

As I've reread this, I'm starting to wonder why I've decided to tackle some of these difficult tasks now. I guess there's no time like the present or a time when I feel like we're just on a detour and passing through.

Offended by Ignorance

2010-08-13T11:20:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I had to take Jenna Beth to get her 15 month shots - 4 of them! While we were hanging out in the waiting room for the nurse to get ready and get an empty room to do them in, I overheard a statement that has greatly bothered me.

A lady with 4 kids finished her appointment and walked through the waiting room. As she did, a man seated across from me said "That's why we're going to have to start paying for Tricare - All these people having a bunch of kids." He then rationalized their 2 kids because both he and his wife are soldiers and they only have one child per servicemember.

Those of you not familiar with military families may not realize that many military families have multiple kids - like 3 to 5 and there are others with more than that. I would venture to say that many of us with large families incur less healthcare costs than some families who only have 1 child. To make such a broad statement is just a sign of his ignorance.

The entire time we were at Fort Bliss, Maverick had one doctor's appointment and that was to get shots! Bailey went to the emergency room once and that was with a broken arm. The only time I ever went to the doctor at Fort Bliss was when I was pregnant. As a matter of fact, since 1997, the only time I have ever been to the doctor was pregnancy related or for an annual exam. My mom taught us at a young age to just suck it up and I've been doing that all my life!

I don't doubt that there'll be a day when we have to pay out of pocket for some of our Tricare benefits, but it's not because people have too many children who require coverage. I can think of many reasons why the cost of military healthcare has increased.

One being that we're a nation at war and have soldiers who are incurring life changing physical and emotional injuries. Many of these will require lifelong medication, therapy and many other services due them based on their military service and healthcare benefits. These are the men and women who are defending our freedom and aiding in providing freedom for families around the world. I'd be glad to pay a portion of my Tricare premium to make sure they receive proper medical care.

Another reason our healthcare costs are rising is because people live longer. Years and years ago when the government decided that people can serve full time in the military for 20 years and then retire with pay and healthcare benefits until they die, they had no idea that we'd be paying these benefits to these retirees for 40 or 50 years! People live longer now than the government ever imagined. As it is now, retirees do pay a portion of their Tricare premiums out of pocket. These are men and women who fought wars that have secured our freedom. I'd pay part of my premium for their benefit, too.

To Mr. E6 in the waiting room of the pediatric clinic at Reynolds Army Community Hospital, get your facts straight before you start saying stereotypical and slandering statements toward families who choose to have multiple children. Trust me, you're not paying for our contraceptives, so we're already saving you money!

How to Live With Just 100 Things

2010-08-11T07:53:00.002-06:00

How to Live With Just 100 Things

A friend had this article on her FB wall this morning and being in the constant state of purge around here, I found it interesting. I'm not taking on this challenge, but it really is interesting to think about the things that we could live without. It's definitely worth thinking about! I do identify with the girl who counts all her shoes 20something pairs as 1 thing. That's my kind of thinking.

While in OK #3 - - Article and Recipe Organization

2010-08-10T14:04:00.002-06:00

Progress on #1 of my things to do in OK is definitely a challenge, but I have time, right?

Progress on #2 is going well. Mr. Mav is even starting to be aware of when he needs to go and can hold it if he needs to, at least with the pee pee part. The other, well, it needs lots of work!

#3 is more of a tangible, can be accomplished with visible results, type of goal. For years, I have been collecting articles, recipes, decorating ideas, and other random stuff from magazines. The hubs has accused me of being a borderline hoarder and this is one of those areas where I've given him ammunition for his accusations!

I did a good job before we left El Paso of getting rid of the actual magazines and only keeping the articles of interest. Now I have a huge pile of file folders that are very broadly labeled and organized. While I'm here and it would appear that I have time on my hands (I have 3 small children on my hands, too) to accomplish a better organizational system for these things. I would love to be able to go right to the recipe for cinnamon rolls or chicken fried steak that I ripped out of a Cooking Light magazine. Currently, that is not feasible. I haven't decided what type of system I'll use for this and am open to suggestions or ideas. My first thought is notebooks for various categories and the articles in individual clear sheet protectors organized alphabetically by some system of subcategories. See, this isn't as easy as it sounds like it would be.

After I get this one accomplished, or maybe when I actually start, I'll post pictures of my progress.

Black Listed

2010-08-09T08:15:00.003-06:00

After my first encounter with the office staff of Bailey's elementary school, I'm positive that I've been black listed or that there are huge skull and crossbones drawn on the top of his enrollment forms.

You see, I'm administratively gifted. That's not a brag on myself. It's how God made me. I can see right through processes that don't work or are inefficient. Enrolling Bailey in kindergarten has been one of those processes that has some glaring flaws and could be so much more efficient!

I'm not sure how other school districts do this whole process, but in Lawton I had to go to Central Registration to get the enrollment process started. I actually went there twice because the first time I was told that Bailey needed a couple of shots that apparently aren't required in Texas for kids his age. I had to wait about 10 minutes standing at the counter that a lady had called me to as her next person while she walked around helping others with their forms that arrived much later than I did to get that little bit of bad news! So after we completed the shots, which was a surprisingly easy process, I had to go back to Central Registration to actually get him enrolled. I had to have proof of residency and shot records there. Once I completed all their paperwork, which was different than the paperwork you can print off on their website, they gave me a copy of one of the forms and a little half sheet form to take to the school for the actual registration day at Bailey's school.

Fast forward to 8am this morning! I was determined to be one of the first people at the school because I wasn't sure what kind of line would form and I had all 3 children in tow. I was about the 5th person there, but was the 1st person finished!

As we sat waiting for our turn, I noticed one particular registration lady sent 2 people home because they didn't have proof of residency or their shot records. When it was my turn, I mentioned to her that I noticed she sent them home and told her that I didn't have any of that either. She told me that I needed to get all of that information. I proceeded to tell her that this was a dumb process for us to need to do the exact same thing in 2 different places. What was the point of going to their Central Registration if I'm going to have to fill out the exact same stuff at the school. I guess I said everything loud enough that another of the registration ladies heard me and said that I didn't need all of that because they had copies from Central Registration.

I had to verify the information on the forms someone had input into their system from my original enrollment forms. They were a mess! CMC's name never showed up on their form and my friend, who should've been the emergency contact was listed as the 2nd parent/guardian. Another lady who was registering her 2 kids had to completely refill out that form because there were so many entry errors on hers. They must've hired the incoming kindergarteners for data entry.

I did/do feel badly that I had to be a butt this morning. It really wasn't the lady's fault that she didn't know what I needed, but someone should've sat down with them beforehand and trained them on what to expect and what to do when parents come to register. I'm not sure why one of those first people she sent home didn't cause a stink. I guess I'm no longer the pushover that I used to be!

Oh and did I mention that registration started at 8am, but they weren't ready until about 8:15am?

I'm sure the next time I walk into the school I'll see the office staff whispering warnings of Psycho Mom's presence in the building to each other.

While in OK #2

2010-08-03T15:49:00.002-06:00

My #2 project is actually about a week in the works already and that is getting Maverick out of diapers! He voluntarily took off his diaper last Tuesday and traded it for underwear. He's only wearing diapers at night right now because I'm too lazy (depressed, bored, incoherent at 7:30am) to get up and make sure he goes to the potty as soon as he gets up. He is doing very well. He's had few #1 accidents, but hasn't grasped the #2 thing at all. Every time I have to clean up a poopy pair of underwear I remember why I haven't been too gung ho about starting this whole process. That is just one of the nastiest things in the world to have to do! I feel like I can smell poop all day on my hands no matter how many times I wash them. Hopefully I can say when we leave here in 6 months that I have gone a few days or weeks or months without cleaning poopy underwear!

While in OK #1

2010-07-30T21:38:00.002-06:00

I've been thinking recently about things I want to accomplish in these six months that we will be residing in OK. Most are pretty petty, but are tasks or goals I'd like to accomplish nonetheless. The time we spent in El Paso was extremely busy, yet fulfilling for me personally. I really am looking forward to having a few months of 'down' time to focus on some of these projects or tasks that there just wasn't time or energy to do with the schedule we had been keeping until a few weeks ago.

So for my While in OK #1 - - Lose 10 pounds!

I really have no excuses not to focus on this one. For the most part I have total control over the foods we eat and bring into the house (apartment). I also have 24 hour access to the fitness center here at the complex. I did a great job of getting most of my baby weight off while CMC was deployed. After he came home I got too relaxed and actually gained about 8lbs! I've managed to get most of that off, but have about 10 more pounds I'd like to lose before I become content with my weight. I had a goal of weighing 135 on my wedding day and I think that's the only day the scale has ever read those numbers since then. I want to be there again even though my body is much different after having 3 babies in 5 years!

Stay tuned for more of my While in OK posts.

Apartment Sweet Apartment

2010-07-28T14:54:00.005-06:00

For quite a few years I've said that I never wanted to live in an apartment ever again! When I was single, after college, my best friend and I lived in a 4th floor apartment in Fairfax, VA. It took my entire first paycheck of the month to pay my portion of the rent. I really didn't mind apartment living then, but certainly never thought we'd resort to living in an apartment with 3 kids! I don't recommend it. Some times I just have to fantasize and pretend that we're just renting a condo at the beach or something to make it feel somewhat enjoyable. I also have to remind myself that this is just for 6 short months and then we'll be back in a house with a yard. I'm hoping it's a house we own so I can paint a wall or two or ten!

I've tried to do my best to get settled in and make this 1300 sqft feel like home for all of us. Here are a few pictures to let you know what 1300 sqft of Wade stuff looks like! Jenna Beth's room was the easiest to do so I did hers first.

She has these 3 cute little windows that if we were to stay here longer I would work on some cutesy curtain or covering for, but for 6 months, I thought her initial letters would hang perfectly on them! I have some pink flower hooks that must be in a random box that the letters normally hang on, but until I start digging through boxes that didn't get opened a nail will have to do.Her curtain that matches the bedding and the very versatile window seat bench that both of the boys used in their rooms. My mom and I recovered it with a different sheet a few months ago so that it would better match JB's stuff. She even wanted to make sure she got in the picture!This is the quilt that goes with her bedding. I bought the little flower hooks that are holding it up from someone on Etsy a year or so ago.And her blah bed! I didn't put the bumper back in it when we got here. The other night we heard this weird banging sound and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. We opened her door and found her banging this metal flower against the wall! She was not ready to go to bed and wanted to make sure we all knew. I think Maverick was vacuuming the floor for her.

I have pretty much every other room except for the boys as decorated as they're going to get. More pictures of those to come!

Officially a Kindergartener

2010-07-22T21:15:00.003-06:00

A lot of my friends are very emotional about sending their kids to kindergarten and the reality that our babies are growing up. I told CMC the other day that I must not love Bailey as much because I'm very ready and excited for him to go to kindergarten!

He is officially enrolled as a kindergartener in Lawton Public Schools as of about noon today. He had to have 4 shots this morning or else he would've been enrolled yesterday.

He keeps saying that he can't go to kindergarten because he's not 6 yet! We've thought about faking a birthday so he'll think he's 6, but that would backfire on us in March when we really celebrate his birthday and he thinks he's 7. I'm probably just going to refer to it as school and not kindergarten to keep him from being so adamant that he's not 6 yet! He's a silly little kid.

I think once he gets over the newness of going to a different school, he's going to enjoy it! I've not been a good parent about preparing him and making him an overachiever as a preschooler, but academically he's more than ready to go to kindergarten. His biggest struggle is going to be cooperating with his teachers and learning to do what they want him to do, when they want him to do it!

It's about to be a whole new world at our house, but a world that is going to be good for all of us!

Jiminy Cricket

2010-07-21T22:07:00.003-06:00

We've lived in Oklahoma for a week now and these little black crickets are our nemesis! They are everywhere. Almost every day we find one in the strangest places. I found one in a box of things that I was giving to Goodwill and it crawled out into the back of the van. I hope it was a male and hasn't reproduced in there! CMC found one in a shoe that he picked up today. He felt it tickling his hand.

Last night I was walking back from the workout room at our apartment complex and was greeted by about 6 of them at our front door. As I got closer to the door, they started jumping at the door. I swatted at them with my towel to attempt a cricket invasion into our apartment. Thankfully only one got in through the crack at the hinge of the door. I was able to end its life fairly quickly. I'm sorry if it offends you that I killed the cricket. Trust me, there are plenty of them and they are in no way endangered by extinction!

I grew up in Central Texas where the climate is very similar to that of Southwestern Oklahoma and I don't remember crickets like this! I remember june bugs swarming around outdoor lights, but not these crazy crickets. When the moon comes out, we'll be sure and have our cricket defenses ready because they're out to get us!

OOOOOOOOOOKlahoma!

2010-07-19T14:01:00.002-06:00

We're here! The boys and I made it to Oklahoma last Wednesday and CMC and baby girl made it here on Thursday. We had to adjust our travel plans slightly so that we could meet the movers here. If we weren't able to get here quickly, we were going to have to wait a week or two before someone locally could deliver our belongings.

The movers got here around 7pm Wednesday night and were here until after midnight unloading the truck and assembling our beds and tables. You really have no idea how much stuff you have until you see it in boxes sitting on the ground. I kept looking at it all wondering how on earth we were going to get them all inside the apartment. We downsized about 700 sq ft from our house in El Paso to the apartment here in Oklahoma. Thankfully our apartment complex has garages that we can pay extra for and use for storage. We have ours filled up! Other than furniture, I think we have more stuff in the garage than we do in the apartment.

We've unpacked just about all the boxes inside and even have a few things hung on the walls. The living room still has to be rearranged because I was tired when the movers were here and told them to put the couch and tv stand on the wrong walls. We do have a couple of things missing so far. It's likely that they're in one of the boxes in the garage that we didn't even open. I'm hoping I don't have to buy new curtain rods because I can't find the brackets to hang them with! Oh the perils of moving. I even made an effort to keep the brackets separated, but didn't follow through and make sure I knew where they would be packed!

At some point I'll post pictures, but things pretty much look the same - - just less space in between!

14 Months Old

2010-07-11T14:22:00.003-06:00

Since I failed to put pictures of Jenna Beth when she turned 1, I figured 14 month pictures would have to do. Heck, we didn't even really celebrate her birthday at home. Poor kid will definitely have the trauma that comes from being the 3rd child! She's our walking, babbling, Miss Personality! She's working on her Princess attitude and knows how to defend herself against the attacks of her brothers.

Here she is on her actual birthday!

And here she is sporting her Buzz Lightyear pajamas that her Grammy sent her because she can't send the boys Toy Story stuff without sending something for the little sister. Maybe we'll just call her Buzzette.

Boxes, Boxes and More Boxes

2010-07-09T22:17:00.004-06:00

A house full of cardboard boxes is the sure sign that this move is really about to happen!

2 ladies spent the day here loading boxes and getting things ready to go to Oklahoma next week. The master bedroom, garage and outside storage are the only things left to be packed. It's not been too bad to live among the boxes yet. However, CMC went to eat ice cream tonight and realized that we don't have any utensils! I also realized that I didn't take underwear out of the drawer for Bailey. They packed a drawer full of Maverick's diapers that I didn't get put in the 'don't pack' stack. Jenna Beth has no sheets for her crib so she's already in the pack n play.

We were only expecting a couple of hours of packing today and the rest to be packed on Monday. Yesterday we found out the plan had changed so we weren't quite ready to have most everything packed today. It is what it is and we're trying to roll with the punches. I have some cookies to bake tomorrow for teacher gifts. I hope I set aside everything I needed for that project to be successful!

After the packers left this afternoon, my first thought was that we have to do this again in 6 months. Hopefully I can be more on top of things next time and be more prepared before the packers come knocking on the door!

Everyone Loves A Parade

2010-07-02T22:06:00.002-06:00

In the morning, we'll do our 3rd Westside Rotary Club Independence Day parade. It's so funny to think about how different each of the parades has been.

The first year I had no idea what to expect and neither did the boys! Maverick was about a year and a half and Bailey was 3. I can remember Bailey finally getting the courage toward the end to walk up to parade watchers to give them candy.

Last year I had all 3 with me by myself! The boys hung out on the trailer most of the time with their friends shooting water guns at each other. I carried Jenna Beth in my pouch sling the entire parade. She was just a little bitty thing!

Tomorrow morning I have no idea how things will go down. Jenna Beth is going to need lots of snacks to keep herself occupied in the stroller for the whole parade. Bailey says he's going to be squirting his water gun. Maverick said he was going to hand people candy. We'll see what they really do when we get there!

I love the parade because it's a fun time to just hang out with the kids and their parents. I also love seeing all the people who have made it a tradition for years to sit in their favorite spots to watch the parade. There will not be a 4th of July that goes by that I won't think back to the parade here in El Paso and have such fond, wonderful memories!

Winding Down

2010-06-27T13:50:00.003-06:00

I think we have about 17 days left in the great, and hot, city of El Paso. Give or take a day or two! I'm beginning to realize that there aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things that I want to do before we leave. I have managed to do a few cleaning/purging projects in the past couple of days. One of my projects was cleaning out clothes from Jenna Beth and the boys' closets. I have given some of them to different people at the church and today there were 3 kids wearing shirts or dresses that once belonged to us. It was weird and gratifying all at the same time!

One thing I really need to tackle is the shelves in the garage. They've become dumping grounds for many random things. There are figurines that didn't sell in our fall yard sale, but didn't make it into the spring yard sale. There are no telling how many random toys or bubble wands that are hidden in the shelves. Every time I pull into the garage I think what eyesores they are, but get distracted and comfortable in the house and don't want to go back out there in the heat! Today may be the day that I tackle them. I may even let the boys ride scooters in the driveway since our neighbors are on vacation and there aren't 2 expensive cars out there to hit!

I know that the Lord has worked out the timing of this move perfectly, but it's still hard to think of leaving El Paso! The people, the places, the memories are great and wonderful. I told someone this morning that I'm already planning trips back to visit, but have to talk the husband into financing them!

VBS...Check...Purging...Ummm...

2010-06-19T07:55:00.004-06:00

As our time here in EP is winding down, last night marked the end of Vacation Bible School (VBS) and my first public tears shed over our leaving here. We had a great week with all the cowpokes (kids) who attended. Now the fun clean up, reorganize part begins.

This week I get to send about 40 kids and sponsors to camp. There's still some prep work that needs to be done to get them there, but it's minimal compared to prepping for VBS.

I feel like I'm getting my life back in some respects. I have a lot of winding down and finishing out to do at FBC, but can start to focus some of my energy on the much needed purging projects that have been neglected here at the house. Finding the right time and energy to focus on any of these for any amount of time has been difficult lately. I've come to the conclusion that not all can be done, but some can and I need to focus on those.

Beware craft room, here I come...Beware master bedroom closet, here I come...Those are the only 2 threats I can make at this point in time!

Motivation

2010-06-14T20:59:00.003-06:00

Last summer I was a hardcore dieter! I was so intent on losing the baby weight that I was obsessive about writing down points and exercising. I wouldn't put anything in my mouth that I knew was going to cost me. I ate salads like crazy and would often eat just vegetables for lunch or dinner.

This summer, not so much!

A year later, I am the epitome of a dieter who has seriously fallen off the wagon. I've gained a few pounds and my clothes are starting to be tighter than is sometimes comfortable. I cancelled my subscription to Weight Watchers and seem to have little motivation to jump back on the train. Not sure if it's the super busy schedule we've been keeping the last few months or what that has deceived me into being okay with my new found lack of dieting and exercise desire. Whatever it is, it's about to send me over the deep end or make my end look deeper, however you want to put it.

Not sure what it's going to take for me to jump back on the "I'm on a diet" train, but it better happen quick or I'm going to look like Jabba the Hut!

A Lesson in Honesty

2010-06-10T21:23:00.002-06:00

Tonight I had the unique opportunity to teach the boys about being honest. I may have gone overboard, but want to take hold of teachable moments that I get with them before they're beyond teaching the basics.

We were getting ready to go out for our evening stroll when I noticed Maverick pointing at the ground near our neighbor's garage saying, "Quarters! Quarters!" There were some coins, 37 cents total, laying on the ground by their garage door. Instead of just leaving them there, we picked them up, along with a screw that could've done serious damage to a tire. I told Maverick that we were going to give them back to our neighbors since they were theirs.

Maverick rang the doorbell and I told our neighbor that we found the coins on his driveway and wanted to give them back. I'm sure he thinks I'm a big weirdo now, but oh well! Maverick handed him the coins and ran back toward his bike. My neighbor asked what his name was and then called him back to the door to give him the coins and tell Maverick that he could keep them. I think he said something about being too honest!

As we left, I told the boys that any time we find something that doesn't belong to us and we know who it belongs to we should give it back to them. I'm not sure there's ever a time that we can be too honest, except maybe when answering the "do these make my butt look big?" question! The boys are like sponges and remember all kinds of things. I hope this experience, as insignificant as it can be, will be a building block for future conversations about honesty.

If you saw Captain My Captain's facebook status on Saturday, you know they were very honest in telling their father about me breaking the mirror to the van as I was backing out on Friday. Bailey even rememberd to tell him that I said "Oh cwap!"

What I Should Be Doing

2010-06-08T15:28:00.004-06:00

After a few minutes of absolute drama and chaos, all the children are asleep on a Tuesday afternoon. I've spent a little bit of my quiet time reading and getting somewhat caught up on a Bible Study I'm doing. Now I'm sitting at the computer reading an article about a woman who found out her birth mother was a murderer by watching a movie about her or something to that effect. You can read the story here, if you'd like to waste a few minutes of your day, too.

Here are the things I should be doing and will be doing as soon as I finish this post...

1) Clean off the dryer!

2) Put away my coupon mess from my grocery shopping preparation earlier today.

3) Take pictures of a few things we need to sell on Craigslist and get them posted.

4) Unload and Reload the dishwasher.

5) Secretly put some backyard toys in the trash can.

6) Work on VBS name tags and other details that I can do from home.

7) Go get JB out of her crib since she has now interrupted my remaining minutes of quiet with her cries for help.

The Lasts...

2010-06-03T18:13:00.003-06:00

Within the past few days I've started having those thoughts of..."This will be the last time (fill in the blank) in El Paso." It really hit me today as I was driving across town to pick up some supplies for VBS. I'm on the schedule to sing my LAST solo at FBCep on July 4th, which will be my LAST Sunday on staff at FBCep.

As I was singing through one of the songs I'm thinking about doing, I started imagining the faces of people that I may be singing in front of that day for the LAST time. The faces of people who have become like my family here in El Paso. The faces of people who have loved on my children. The faces of people who have been so encouraging and giving to me as a staff member.

I remember singing here for the first time in 2007 and coming home to post about my first solo here. You can read the post here and now that I am looking at it, I typed the name of the song incorrectly. Singing that first time to a room full of strangers, for lack of a better word, reminded me of all the friendly faces that I had come to love at FBC Fort Mill. Now that we're preparing to move away from El Paso, those faces are no longer the faces of strangers. These are people that I love and admire.

Every time I have sung in the past year and a half has been an emotional thing for me. I sang a song by Andrew Peterson while I was pregnant called "Labor of Love." Talk about hard - - singing a song about the mother of Jesus knowing that I would be alone giving birth to my 3rd child while my husband was in Iraq! A couple of months later, I sang a Sandi Patty song called "God of All of Me" just weeks before I would be bidding farewell to my husband for 12 months!

Singing one last time here will be an emotional thing for sure! I may just have to sing "Happy Trails" or something light hearted and non emotional. I know that I'm not singing for these people. I'm singing for my Savior. I'm singing to bring praise and glory to Him and I think that's why singing has become so emotional for me in the past few years. I want to sing songs that mean something to me, songs that are personal, but sometimes personal songs mixed with emotions brought on by other circumstances can put me over the edge.

I've tried to bury this whole moving thing, but practicing a song to sing as my LAST one has uncovered the well of emotions! I'll just have to go back into denial about this whole move thing and not practice until I absolutely have to.

Aloha Friday #31

2010-05-28T09:33:00.002-06:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Aloha Friday.

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So on Fridays at Wade's World I take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I'll ask a simple question for you to answer - nothing that requires a lengthy response!

For more Aloha Friday, visit Kailani at Island Life.

In the states, this is the beginning of Memorial Day weekend. We celebrate and remember those who have lost their lives for the freedom and protection that we hold dear as Americans. In the Army, we refer to this weekend as a 4 day (4 days in a row off). We have 2 swim parties and a picnic to attend over the weekend. We'll be busy, but I'm looking forward to getting to try out some new recipes for each of the events.

For today's Aloha Friday question...

How will you be celebrating or spending your Memorial Day weekend?

50 days - - WHAT?

2010-05-22T21:41:00.003-06:00

Captain my Captain informed the world today that we have about 50 days before we make the move north to Sooner country! WHAT???? 50 days??? Do you know what else happens in the next 50 days?

Here's just a snippit of things that will happen in the next 50 days:

Celebrate my 34th birthday. Bid farewell to our interim pastor. Celebrate the inactivation of the Task Force. Farewell a few Task Forcians. A mommy vacay with a friend. Welcome our new pastor. VBS. Preteen Camp. Pack. Get things organized at work for whoever is going to replace me. 4th of July Parade. Shed many tears. Say See You Later to many who have become like family to me.

I'm trying not to freak out about all the things that aren't going to get done in the next 50 days or so, but trust me, it's going to be difficult. On top of it all, I've got to think about sending my first born to kindergarten and pray I don't spend too many days in the principal's office or parent teacher conferencing. I think I'll have to start praying daily for the 3 kindergarten teachers at his school! I'll have to find out their favorite Vera Bradley pattern or something and start sending them gifts NOW!

Okay, back to the pile of laundry on my bed...

Women Renewed

2010-05-04T11:21:00.002-06:00

Just signed on for a Scripture Memory challenge via some of my friends in Fort Mill. Just 2 verses a month - you choose the verses! Sign onto WomenRenewed and record on the 1st and 15th what your verse is going to be. I'm a month late, but better to start now than never at all.

Join us! I'm going to start working on REmemorizing Romans 6.

Monday Musings

2010-05-03T21:01:00.004-06:00

10 days ago we had a yard sale or garage sale, whatever term you want to call it. We were awakened by a knock on the interior garage door at 6:30am that day! Some how the exterior garage door had been left open all night so I opened the door to about 5 people already in my garage pilfering through our stuff! The very first sale of the day was a $90 sale that consisted of patio furniture, an armoire and a few random pots and pans. The guys that made the purchase left and said they'd be back later to pick their stuff up. 10 days later - - - that stuff is still in the garage!

I have all kinds of conspiracy theories going through my mind about why they've never showed up to get the furniture. None of which I can prove! We have no way to get in touch with these people. They have no way to get in touch with us other than to just come and knock on the door. It's the oddest thing!

I think we're about to list the furniture again for sale on craigslist or something so that we can get rid of it. That was, of course, the purpose of selling it in the first place! It's just baffling and everytime I walk in the garage my mind begins to wondering why these people haven't picked up their stuff. I mean, if I woke someone up at 6:30 am and gave them $90, I'd not forget that I needed to pick up my stuff! I'd for sure take a mental note as to the location of my $90 worth of stuff.

If there are any developments in this story, I'll let you know!

For Those Curious Minds

2010-05-01T20:10:00.003-06:00

I received a few messages after my post before Aloha Friday about my moving comment.

Yes, we are going to be moving in about 75 days or so. The word is on the street here, so I feel okay sending it out into the abyss of the internet now. It's a bittersweet move for me because I love it here in El Paso and love the opportunities that we've had to minister at FBC. At the same time, there are events happening here that are definitely making it clear to me that our time here is over and the Lord is definitely moving us on.

We'll actually be moving 2x between now and next February. Our first move will be to Fort Sill, OK where "Captain, My Captain" will be attending a 6 month course that is necessary for his career. After that, we are pretty positive that we'll be heading to central Texas, to Fort Hood. We are very excited about that because in some ways for me it will be like going back 'home.' Nothing about Fort Hood is definite until the Army releases the orders and we could be waiting until November or December for that to happen.

Hope that answers a few questions for my inquiring readers, you know who you are!

Aloha Friday #30

2010-04-30T13:14:00.005-06:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Aloha Friday.

For more Aloha Friday, visit Kailani at Island Life.

I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon recently for a variety of reasons. Here are my excuses:

1) The software or settings on my laptop don't allow cutting and pasting on blogger for some reason and sitting down at the desktop to blog isn't always an option or convenient.

2) I've been super super busy in the past month or two and blogging is just one more thing to do.

3) I really struggle with what I want to share openly and what should be kept private and that paralyzes me at times.

4) I want to print my blog out as a book so I keep from adding to it so that the process of printing it in book form won't take longer and be more trouble than it's already going to be.

5) If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!

So for today's question...

What's the number 1 reason why your blog is neglected?

If neglecting your blog isn't an issue for you, what motivates you to keep it updated?

I can't wait to hear your responses.

Why The Hiatus?

2010-04-27T14:14:00.002-06:00

To say things here at the Wade Residence are busy is quite the understatement! Between promotion ceremonies, funerals, a broken arm, a walking baby girl, and a fast coming move, we've been non stop for the past 2 months. The time to just sit and do nothing is no longer available around here. It's also amazing how once a routine gets interrupted, it's nearly impossible to get it back together. I'm really optimistic that in a few months things are going to slow down dramatically for me. I can't speak for everyone else in this house, but I'm looking forward to more do nothing days - more agendaless days! Hopefully once I get these agendaless days I can be a better blogger again. Until then, I make no promises other than look forward to sporadic posts about meaningless things!

Aloha Friday #29

2010-03-19T14:08:00.004-06:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Aloha Friday.

For more Aloha Friday, visit Kailani at Island Life.

We are enjoying a mid 70's sunny day in SC on our 'vacation'.

What's the weather like where you are today?

Food Fight

2010-03-09T14:17:00.002-07:00

The boys are reaching the age where me pansying to their eating whims needs to be put to an end. It's almost a little embarrassing to take them places where someone has cooked a great meal and I know they're going to snarl their noses and only eat the bread and dessert.

Today I am making them try carrots! Making or forcing, whatever you want to call it.

I gave them 4 slices of canned carrot with their chicken nugget lunch and am not allowing them to watch television or go play outside until they both have eaten their 4 carrot slices. I'm not even giving them any other food options or snacks until the carrots are consumed. I know, I'm a very mean woman!

Bailey finally caved and ate his dipped in ketchup. Maverick is still being hard headed and fighting me to the death to not have to eat his. He'll be a hungry little munchkin because until these are in his stomach, he won't be eating or drinking anything else.

It's bad habit breaking time for these two and I know it's going to be a long, hard battle! The end result of children who will at least attempt new foods in public will be worth it, right?

Aloha Friday #28

2010-03-05T08:20:00.003-07:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Aloha Friday.

For more Aloha Friday, visit Kailani at Island Life.

For a couple of years, I've been contemplating printing my blog into book format. Some because I have this fear of Blogger crashing and me losing 3 years worth of written memories and also because I'm terrible about keeping up with Baby Books for the kids and so much of their lives has been recorded here. I've researched and looked at several online sites that will do it, but just haven't taken the time to reformat and get it the way I wanted it.

So for today's question...

Have you had your blog printed into book format? If so, how did you do it?

Observations on the Homefront

2010-03-02T11:03:00.003-07:00

Since LT's been home about 3 weeks now or maybe closer to 4, there are some things that have changed a ton compared to our lives while he was away. Here are a few of the obvious:

1) The stockpile of food in the pantry doesn't seem to last as long, especially the diet sodas! When he got home, the pantry was bursting at the seems and every shelf was packed with multiple layers of stuff. Now, it's looking pretty bare in comparison. One more adult mouth to feed really makes a huge difference in my cooking and eating habits.

2) The laundry never ends! LT has done a great job trying to keep the laundry under control, but his 3 outfits a day, most days, has made a significant increase in the amount of laundry we do.

3) My routine has been rocked! Part of this is because LT hasn't been working a 'normal' schedule and has had many days when he's home at lunch and never goes back to work. He's had several 4 day weekends, too. I'm having a difficult time adjusting to this sporadic schedule change. I would say it's going to get better soon, but we're about to go on vacation and there will be no routine when that happens. Maybe in April we'll start to sort of understand a normal routine again.

4) It's so much easier to go places alone when daddy's here to provide his child care services. I try not to take advantage of him, but there are days when I feel like I have a year's worth of me time to catch up on.

5) I don't spend nearly as much time on the internet as I used to! That's good for him and probably good for me, too. My poor farms on FB have been neglected and I'm sure they'll be foreclosed on if I don't start planting some crops again soon.

These are just a few observations - that are okay for public sharing! Things may be different and it may take us a while to get completely adjusted, but we're glad he's home, most of the time! :o)

LT's Homecoming

2010-02-20T14:11:00.005-07:00

He's been home almost 2 weeks now and I figured I better post pictures of this event now before the rest of the Task Force shows up tonight for their official 'the deployment is over' festivities.

From the time we took LT back to the airport after R&R, the boys have talked about how they were going to wait at the escalator and see their daddy come down. LT was at the back of the plane so lots of people came down the escalator before him. Maverick got tired of waiting and went back to the window to watch the airplane. I guess he thought he might see his daddy out there somehow.

Of course, their daddy couldn't do things like everyone else, so he came down the steps instead of the escalator. When I saw him coming, I had to find both of the boys to get them to look somewhere other than he escalator. They were super excited when they saw him! I think Maverick is asking him if that's his white plane out there.After the boys got their hugs and were off to the next thing, we finally got a glimpse of each other. One of our friends took this picture, but from the moment I first saw it, I've loved it because I have that, "he's really home!!!" grin on my face. It's like excitement, relief and a whole string of other emotions wrapped up in one big smile! The embrace that almost ended Jenna Beth's life! I knew I was holding her when we hugged, but it wasn't until I saw this picture that I realized how awkward it looked for her. After everyone else got their hugs, a sleepy Jenna Beth finally got hers. I love the look on the guy on the edge of the picture's face. He's a high ranking military official who came to the airport to greet LT's little group that came home. I'm sure he never gets tired of seeing the joy on the faces of moms and dads who embrace their children after a year long deployment. Here we are - - - together at last! I've given up on pictures where all 5 of us are smiling or even looking the same direction. It's who we are and I've just come to grips with that fact. The boys thought they would help their daddy carry his bags. They couldn't even lift this thing off the floor, but they gave it a valiant effort!

Aloha Friday #27

2010-02-19T13:58:00.006-07:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Aloha Friday.

For more Aloha Friday, visit Kailani at Island Life.

We had a glimpse at warm spring weather here in El Paso yesterday and it's made me long for warm weather again. There's so much about the warmth that I look forward to! I look forward to wearing sandals and shorts. I look forward to being able to sit outside and not be cold or hot! I look forward to not wearing a jacket. I don't like to be cold, but I don't like wearing a jacket, either! I look forward to the kids having no excuse as to why they don't want to play outside.

So for today's question...

What do you most look forward to or enjoy about Springtime?

Thankful Thursday

2010-02-11T15:22:00.003-07:00

On this pleasant and sunny Thursday in El Paso, I'm thankful for...

1) Happy Reunions! I'll post pictures soon.

2) Seeing how excited the boys get when their daddy comes home from PT each morning

3) Transitioning back to the old, but new normal

4) Valentine Care Packages from the grandparents

5) Beautiful, almost perfect blue skies

6) Reaching my 'when the hubs comes home from vacay' weight loss goal

7) A very productive day at the office

8) My little inquisitive blondie

9) My growing up way too fast red headed baby girl

10) My fast talking and walking brown headed boy

Aloha Friday #26

2010-02-05T20:28:00.004-07:00

I've been doing alot of cleaning and organizing at the house to get ready for LT's arrival home from his vacay. I could spend a ton of money buying this and that organizer kinds of things like containers, hangers, drawer organizers, etc. I also love watching shows on TLC and HGTV like Clean Sweep and Mission Organization where they go in and organize someone's mess of a room or closet. I've even toyed with the idea of taking some professional organizing courses.

So for today's question...

If you could hire a professional organizer to come in and organize one room in your house, which would it be and why?

Mine would be my garage and outside storage areas. They're always a wreck and the last thing I want to even touch when it comes to cleaning! Out of sight, Out of mind :o)

Bath Robe Model

2010-02-01T22:11:00.002-07:00

This isn't a new picture, but I know it's been a while since I've posted many pictures. Jenna Beth in all her clean cuteness!

I've got a ton to do this week to get ready for LT's return, at least I'm assuming he's still LT. I mentioned once on FB that I was trying to squeeze 365 days worth of projects into 30 days. Believe it or not, I've somehow managed to get a few of my closet organizing/purging projects done. I've got 4 different sets of things that now need to be donated or consigned at various places. It feels good to walk into my closet and not feel like everything is going to fall on my head! I still have plenty that could be tossed or done away with, but there will be time for that later.

Still working on the losing the end of the baby weight. I've lost about 5 lbs since I started hard core Weight Watchering a couple of weeks ago. I still have about 7 to go to be at Wedding Day Weight and that's the ultimate goal! I'll let you know if that ever happens.

Aloha Friday #25

2010-01-29T10:29:00.005-07:00

I have lots of tile floor in my house and I hate to mop so I'm thinking about buying a steam mop. I've heard mixed reviews about them so I'm going to float this out into Aloha Friday land and see what you think about them.

So for today's question...

Do you have a steam mop? If YES, what brand and what do you like and dislike about it?

Thankful Thursday

2010-01-28T16:40:00.002-07:00

On this rainy, cold and dreary Thursday in El Paso, I'm thankful for...

1) 3 kids who are full of energy and life

2) Knowing the end of this 'vacay' is in sight

3) The scale has been nice to me and I hope it is nice in the morning when I have my official weigh in

4) Piles of junk have been cleared out of some rooms of my house, but there are others that need to magically disappear

5) Having lunch yesterday with some great girlfriends here in El Paso

6) Only 2 hours until we start the bedtime routine

7) Jenna Beth survived a tumble down the stairs this week - lesson learned!

8) Looking forward to paying off some student loan debt with our tax return

9) Canned biscuits with jelly as an acceptable meal for the children

10) Making time to keep the blog updated more regularly

Corn Salsa Recipe

2010-01-26T18:03:00.004-07:00

I mentioned this Corn Salsa in a post I made earlier about my Hoppin' John Stew. A friend suggested that I make it again to take to MOPS today and I granted her wish. It took me two trips to the grocery store to get the ingredients because I forgot to get the corn on my main grocery trip so I had to take the children into the commissary with me to grab a couple of cans.

Corn Salsa

(Adapted from a recipe in Southern Living's Christmas Cookbook)

2 Cans Rotel Tomatoes (mostly drained)

1 Can Whole Kernal Corn (drained)

1/2 Green Pepper (chopped)

1/2 Onion (chopped)

Juice from 1 Lime

Salt, Cumin and Cilantro to taste (I like lots of cilantro)

Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate a few hours before serving to let flavors gel. Serve with Corn chips or Tortilla chips. It's addictively delicious!

Free VeggieTale DVD

2010-01-23T16:35:00.003-07:00

You pay the shipping, but will receive a FREE VeggieTale DVD just for signing up for their newsletter. Click the HERE to see more about the offer.

I just did it and it worked. I'm paying $2.99 for shipping for the I Can Be Your Friend Singalong DVD. I'm singing the song in my head right now!

Aloha Friday #24

2010-01-22T15:12:00.004-07:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Aloha Friday.

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So on Fridays at Wade's World I take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I'll ask a simple question for you to answer - nothing that requires a lengthy response!

For more Aloha Friday, visit Kailani at Island Life.

For the past couple of years, I've been addicted to Facebook, which has seriously cut into the time I spend blogging or reading other blogs. For me, Facebook gives me the ability to connect with people that I actually know in real person some how or from some period in my life. Blogging or reading others blogs is a connection with people I only know via their blogs. I like both forms of connection, but have a hard time balancing both!

So for today's question...

Which do you prefer - Blogging or Facebooking?

Thankful Thursday

2010-01-21T18:51:00.002-07:00

On this Thursday, I am thankful for...

1) Finally getting my hair cut after 2 months!

2) Hanging out for a little while this afternoon with a friend.

3) Seeing Jenna Beth grow up more and more every day.

4) Knowing the end of this deployment is in sight.

5) Finally having our family pictures hung that were taken in October.

6) A clean house that only stays that way for about an hour after we get home.

7) The prospect of the best tax return we've ever gotten, maybe the best we'll ever get.

8) Hoping the scale will be kind to me tomorrow on my official weigh in day.

9) Having a Christmas tree free living room.

10) Warmer days, at least for now.

Blog Design Giveaway

2010-01-19T18:20:00.003-07:00

Just another giveaway to pass along.

Casey at the Ever-Changing Life of the Military Wife is giving away a FREE Blog Design. Her blog is super cute so I'm sure she will make the winner's super cute, too. See the contest for entry details here.

A Parenting Rant

2010-01-19T14:36:00.002-07:00

I usually try to keep my work life and my personal life as separated as I possibly can. That's a little difficult in the line of work I'm in because my friends are people that I deal with in my role at work and the place I work is my extended family, etc. Nonetheless, today I'm on a tyraid and my blood is boiling and I'm just a mess!

If you read my Facebook status, it says something to the gist that I'm convinced that the reason so many kids don't have respect for rules and authority is because their parents don't.

You see, there are parents, I know you won't believe this, that think way too highly of their preschoolers! They want their preschoolers to have the same privileges as their 5th graders. One of my biggest frustrations comes from parents who want an exception made so that their preschoolers can participate in an activity that is intended for older children.

I'm very black and white about this. When an activity is advertised as Kindergarten - 5th grade, who is that activity designed for? Kindergarteners through 5th graders!! I don't care how advanced you think your child is or how gifted they are or how unique they are, if they don't fit the age bracket, they don't participate. Who wants to be the choir director of a choir of children with ages spanning from 3 - 11? NOT ME!!! Do we not know how vastly different the development of the children on the ends of that spectrum are? What 11 year old wants to hang out with 3 year olds?

When we ask for exceptions on things like this, what else are we going to ask for and what are we telling our children about the rules and parameters put into place by those in authority? You're telling them with the right amount of negotiation that kid can do anything they want to do. You're telling them that this rule doesn't apply to them. You're telling them that you, as the parent, don't have any regard for the person or entity responsible for putting that rule or parameter in place. You're setting an example for your children that they're only going to follow in the future.

We complain because our kids grow up too fast and are so much more mature at 10 than we were when we were kids. I can tell you why! When I was 3, my mother didn't have me in 3 extra curricular activities! I was playing with barbies and dolls and pretending I was Mary Lou Retton in my bedroom. I was swimming in my swimming pool with a life jacket on. I was watching Captain Kangaroo. I didn't do my first extra curricular thing until I was in Kindergarten and that was 3 months of Tball! Nothing else was even available as an option.

My other issue is that once you let one 4 year old participate in activity they're not old enough to participate in, what message are you sending to all the other parents of 4 year olds? So once one exception is made, you might as well say, if you're 4 and you want to do this, come right ahead! What a nightmare for those in charge that weren't prepared for this entirely new age group of children!!

Rules and regulations are in place for our protection. The God of the Universe established that! Rules and regulations are in place to allow us to do things at proper times!

Let's stop forcing our preschoolers to act like their 10 and let them be preschoolers. Let them not sit in the circle at story time if they don't want to as long as they're not disruptive. Let them make messes and teach them to clean them up. Let them fall off of stools or down stairs because that's part of their learning process. It's how they learn what's safe and what's not. Let's stop giving our preschoolers all the rights of children much older than they are.

Let's learn to say NO to our preschoolers or else we're going to be saying YES to things that we're only going to regret in the long run. Parents, we must set the right example for our children. They are little mirrors and whatever you do in small amounts, they will do in excess. Let's be the ones who teach our children how to properly show respect and regard for authority.

Most Often Heard Words

2010-01-18T10:21:00.003-07:00

I've realized in the past couple of weeks that I say the same things over and over. I'm sure must other mothers can empathize.

The most commonly used phrases lately are "Leave her alone." This is said to both boys who cannot leave Jenna Beth alone. They can often be found surrounding her with chairs or pillows and toys to 'cage' her in because they like to pretend she's their puppy. I told LT the other day that she crawls all over the place, at least wherever Maverick will allow her. He's usually a road block or the door closer that leads her where he wants her to go. Bailey always takes her bows out of her hair. Maverick always takes her socks off her feet. The poor girl has become their new toy and I look forward to the day when she can fight for herself.

Another commonly used phrase is "Stop making that noise." I say this to Bailey when he makes his aggravated scream sound. I don't know how to describe it other than it being a deep, growling noise that he makes when Maverick is chasing him or wants to play something that Bailey doesn't want to play. It's super annoying and quite unnecessary from the mommy's perspective.

The newest phrase is "Don't say anything else about it." I have to say this when Bailey, who cannot let things go, talks on and on about the same thing or asks the same question 10 thousand times! It's how I have to end the conversations where I have already given an answer that can't be changed and no amount of negotiation or further discussion is necessary. One night it was about playing with a car track at the church that I had no control over. We were on our way there and after 15 minutes of the same questions, I finally had to tell them they'd have to ask their teacher and I didn't want to hear any more about it. I may have a harsh approach, but somehow my children have to learn that you can't pester or annoy your way to getting what you want!

What do you hear yourself saying ALL THE TIME?

30 Day Food Challenge

2010-01-17T13:32:00.004-07:00

I come from a family of food lovers and so does LT! Needless to say, we're always on some sort of diet. I had this goal of losing to a certain weight before he came home from his year long vacation in the desert and am pretty close. I've wasted a few months not writing down points or exercising and just doing my best to maintain. Now that we're in the home stretch, I've become a little more determined. We'll see how long that determination lasts. For 3 days, I've written down my points and not just put whatever I see laying around in my mouth!

It feels good to practice some discipline in my eating. I still hate to exercise and it doesn't matter what it is! I've treadmilled. I've P90X'ed. I've 10 Minute Trainered. I hate that tired, out of breath, burning feeling associated with exercise. I may have to rearrange the living room again and deal with seeing the tv and cable cords so I can watch TV while I treadmill. That would require taking down the Christmas tree, though.

I'll let you know if I reach my weight goal before LT's vacay ends.

Passing Along a Contest

2010-01-14T17:18:00.002-07:00

Brandi at From My Kitchen to Yours and Patti at Artistic Images Photography have teamed up to offer a very cool item for giveaway! Go check out the Giveaway, but don't enter too many times because I really want to win!

A Good Grocery Week

2010-01-13T15:36:00.004-07:00

As you may or may not know, I've been using the Grocery Game to do my grocery shopping for right at a year now. I get such a rush walking out of the grocery store feeling like I've just stolen things!

A few week ago, Albertsons was doubling/tripling/or quadrupling coupons (every coupon is worth $1), a 10% Military Discount, and a great Proctor and Gamble deal where you got an automatic $10 off a $40 purchase of Proctor and Gamble items. It was a a great deal and so good of a deal that I took 3 kids with me on a Saturday to take advantage of all 3 opportunities.

Here's what I brought home for $49!

Total Savings $57!

I'm going to try to track my grocery savings this year to see how much I'm really spending on groceries. I tell people I spend between $50 and $60 a week, but I could honestly go a week or two and spend $10 on milk and fruit and not buy anything else. It's just hard to pass up great deals especially when Albertsons does their Military Discount and their coupon doubling/tripling/quadrupling deals.

I had a great score at Walgreens this week, but forgot to take a picture before I put everything away. I got a box of trash bags, 6 pairs of knee highs, 2 bottles of lysol toilet cleaner, 2 6 packs of Bic Comfort 3 disposable razors for $7.88 out of my pocket.

The Birthday Song

2010-01-12T08:00:00.002-07:00

Here's our pitiful rendition of Happy Birthday for Maverick!

Maverick Made It To 3

2010-01-11T19:40:00.005-07:00

By the skin of his teeth, Maverick has arrived at the ripe old age of 3! Because he speaks so much clearer than Bailey ever has, there were days in the past year when I would forget that he was only 2. He's a wild and crazy guy to say the very least about his never ending antics. He loves to terrorize Bailey and I can already imagine the many times I'm going to hear Bailey scream "MOM HE'S TOUCHING ME!" He adores his little sister, at times to the point of obsession. He's got this deep, raspy voice that is too cute coming out of his blonde haired blue eyed self.

He makes me feel like a real loser of a mother some days, but I wouldn't trade him for the world. He's may favorite blonde haired little boy! I love you, Maverick Cole. Hope you give up your diaper habit before you turn 4.

Aloha Friday #23 -- The Return

2010-01-08T13:50:00.002-07:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Aloha Friday.

For more Aloha Friday, visit Kailani at Island Life.

We're about to buy new cell phones. I have a work provided iPhone that I absolutely have loved. Eventually I'll have to give it back and LT will be home soon from his year long vacation so we need to figure out what we're going to do about cell phones.

So for today's question...

If you could buy any cell phone in the world and money was not an issue, what would you get and why?

New Year's Recipe

2010-01-05T08:06:00.004-07:00

I had some of my friends over on New Year's Day for dinner. 4 adults (1 spouse was home sick) and 7 kids under 6 (1 kid was home with the sick spouse). It really was a super good time. The adults just stood around the kitchen grazing and chatting and occasionally intervening to bring peace between 2 kids. It was my favorite kind of laid back get together!

On the menu was Chili, Hoppin' Johns Stew, Corn Salsa, Strawberry Pretzel Dessert, Peach Pie, and a yummy Vegetable Crescent roll dish that a friend brought. Oh and I steamed up a few of my FBC Tamales.

The sick spouse who wasn't able to make it let me know that we had to have Black-eyed peas since that's a southern New Year's tradition. I'm not a big fan of Black-eyed peas because I think they're somewhat bland on their own, but when I came across this recipe in my latest Southern Living mag I decided it looked yummy and I would give it a try. It really turned out delicious so I'm going to share it with you!

Hoppin' John Stew

1 Tbsp Butter
1 Cup Chopped Smoked Ham
1 Med. Onion, chopped
2 (15 oz.) cans Black-eyed Peas, drained and rinsed
2 (10 oz.) cans Diced Tomatoes with green chiles, undrained (Rotel)
1 Cup Frozen Corn (I used a can)
1 Tsp. Sugar
1/4 Cup Chopped Cilantro

Melt butter over medium heat; add ham and onion, and saute 3-5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in black-eyed peas and next 3 ingredients. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirriing occasionally, 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in cilatro.

The actual recipe recommends being served over cheese grits. I think this would be delicious, but didn't make grits. It was yummy on its own!

My Corn Salsa was delicious, too, so maybe I'll post that recipe some time, too.

Final Auburn Photo Shoot

2010-01-04T17:31:00.004-07:00

I made the boys wear their Auburn Windsuits on Friday since Auburn was playing their final game of the season. After I put theirs on, I remembered I had one in Jenna Beth's size, too. Here are some of the shots I took. None are great since it's impossible to get these 3 to all look the same direction, let alone actually smile at the same time!

1st we have 3 smiles and only 2 lookers.2nd we have only 1 real smile and that one isn't even looking at the camera. Finally if we can't all cooperate, at least Jenna Beth will still give a good smile for the camera!

Christmas Highlights

2010-01-02T18:51:00.005-07:00

This was one Christmas that I was glad to see go by. The Monday before Christmas I found out that Jenna Beth had thrush as a result of her antibiotic for her bronchiolitis. The same day I got a call from the CDC for me to come get Bailey because he had a fever. Then on Christmas eve, Maverick woke up in the middle of the night Maverick started throwing up in the middle of the night. I spent most of Christmas day laying in the bed just trying to recover from the week.

Here are a few pictures of the kids with some of their Christmas gifts.

Bailey and Maverick both got guitars from their GG and Paw Paw Bailey. Here's Bailey rocking out with his.I didn't get the kids anything major for Christmas so I couldn't resist this chef outfit and kid sized wisks from the $1 section at Target. I knew Maverick would be all about it.All Jenna Beth wanted for Christmas was to crawl and she accomplished it! She became a crawler about 2 days before Christmas and has been all over the place ever since. The boys keep calling her their puppy and build 'cages' out of chairs and toys for her to stay in.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T23:18:00.002-07:00

One of my desires for 2010 is to do better with keeping my blog updated. I'm not sure that many people even read it since it never gets updated, but the first year or so of blogging was a good way for me to somewhat record moments in my kids' lives. Now that there are 3 of them, I have plenty of moments to record! If only I could find the moments to do the recording.

2009 was an interesting year. It was difficult. It was eye opening. It brought the blessing of a baby girl into our lives. Most importantly, it's OVER! I'm so glad to have a new, fresh start of sorts. Not that every day can't be a fresh start, as it is when it comes to me and a diet, but it's nice to be able to look back on 12 months of our lives and see the ways we triumphed and the ways we failed miserably in our attempts to reach the triumphs.

2010 promises to be another exciting year in our lives. It's going to be a good time of reconnecting and readjusting to having my babies' daddy home for more than 2 weeks. I'm looking forward to doing some travelling and seeing some sites other than the El Paso city limits. I'm looking forward to purging some junk from my life - physically, emotionally and spiritually. I'm anxious to spend time making memories with my children who seem to have photographic memories at this point in their lives. I'm amazed at the things they bring up out of the blue about places we've been and people they've seen.

So keep reading whoever you are!

Sick Kid

2009-12-10T16:31:00.002-07:00

I've decided this week that there's nothing that can make you feel like the world's worst parent than a trip to the Emergency Room! I'm not a trained medical professional and maybe I'm not even skilled and observant enough to qualify to be a mother.

Sunday night I had to take Jenna Beth to the ER because she had a 104 temp. She had a little cough for a few days, but no fever and I didn't think it sounded like a serious cough. I think they need to give new mother's a video of various coughs that we can watch to help us identify when our kids have a serious cough versus a typical throat clearing cough! The whole time they were asking me questions about this and that, I felt like I was being judged for being clueless. Maybe I was just being oversensitive.

Nonetheless, after watching my baby girl scream bloody murder as she was poked and prodded and x-rayed, they determined that she would need to be admitted for bronchiolitis. You can imagine my despair and the mental agony I was in. Not only was I enduring the pain of hearing my baby was seriously ill, I was alone and had to immediately start thinking about what I was going to do with Bailey and Maverick while I was confined to the hospital with Jenna Beth. At the same time, I was doing all of my communication with the outside world with a phone that was about to die!

Thankfully, the Lord knew before all of this happened that I would need great help! He provided a friend who was willing to let the boys spend the night at her house until Monday morning when I could come up with a plan of attack for them. He also provided a Grammy a truckload to California that would pass through El Paso at about 2:30am Monday morning! Mom waltzed into the hospital and became the primary provider for the boys until Jenna Beth was released from the hospital. He provided a charger for my phone via a friend and fellow iPhone user. He understood how important it was for me to have access to that phone to contact LT and others who were key in lessening the stress of this situation. He provided friends who dropped by the hospital to bring McDonald's and Starbucks! He also provided a gift shop where I was introduced to my new favorite candy bar - Twix PB. Wow!!

Jenna Beth is all better now. She's on a nebulizer treatment as needed and 10 days of antibiotics. She's happy and content and you would never know she was in the hospital 2 days ago. She has been catching up on her sleep since sleeping in the hospital was hard for her. She had an IV and a stabilizing board on one arm and couldn't suck that thumb! It was so hard and pitiful watching her try to get comfortable enough to sleep.

Thanks to all who prayed and encouraged us through a couple of hard days this week!

It's Beginning to Look...

2009-12-06T12:08:00.002-07:00

We've had 2 snow falls in the past week. None of which are still on the ground except in those places where the sun doesn't shine! The house is somewhat decorated even though I'm positive I bought some decorations after Christmas last year at Hobby Lobby that I can't locate. I even have the receipt to prove it! I think there's one more box in the garage that could be the location of these missing decorations. The boys love the Christmas Tree and must turn the lights on as soon as they wake up and every time we come in the house.

This week is 'Death By Living Christmas Tree' as I've appropriately began calling it because it's the week before the 44th or 45th Annual Living Christmas Tree at FBC. I have a rehearsal every night this week except Thursday.

If only I could get in a little bit of the Christmas Spirit myself, we'd be good to go! This is definitely a year when Christmas doesn't seem like Christmas and I'm operating in "Get it Done" Survival Mode just to get through the month. There are gifts to be purchased still. Gifts to be put in the mail. We won't even mention the idea of doing a Christmas letter with cute pictures of the kids. I'm the queen of Fantasy Land if I even imagine that will happen before the first of the year, if at all!

So here's hoping some how, some way the children can get a glimpse of the true meaning of Christmas at our house.

26 Days of Thanks (21-26)

2009-11-28T22:36:00.003-07:00

At least I made the effort, right? 2 days late isn't bad to wrap up this set of posts, is it? It seems to be the story of my life right now. It seems that the good intentions don't get me into action much lately. I honestly have been absolutely exhausted the past week and have been going to bed relatively early. I've gotta find my groove again so that I can be somewhat productive over the next few crazy weeks.

So for the final catch up post for my 26 days of thanks...

21) I'm thankful for the cash I made at my yard sale and the little bit of junk I was able to get rid of.

22) I'm thankful that Bailey is full of surprises and more and more the surprises are good and really make this mommy proud.

23) I'm thankful for an odd, but great week.

24) I'm thankful for what has become a standing play date of sorts.

25) I'm thankful for new friends who have opened their homes to us over this Thanksgiving week.

26) I'm thankful for my life and even though it's not always easy and I'm not always the best at anything, I have been blessed beyond measure.

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

2009-11-22T20:53:00.004-07:00

I make Crock Pot Mac and Cheese for just about every potluck I go to. It's easy and is usually a crowd pleaser. Today's was one of my personal favorites even though I only got a few pieces off of the bottom after everyone had been through the line tonight.

To achieve Crock Pot Mac and Cheese greatness, here's what you need:

*I typically double this recipe because I take it to large pot lucks

8 oz Uncooked Elbow Macaroni

1 1/2 c Milk

1 stick melted butter

3 c Shredded Cheese

2 Eggs, beaten

Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook Elbow Macaroni to desired tenderness

Spray crock pot with cooking spray

Put all ingredients in the crock pot

Cook on low 3 -4 hours

Today, I used one bag of Mexican blend cheese because it was all I had left in the freezer. I think it actually added a little additional flavor with the spices already in the cheese.

I also used evaporated milk instead of regular milk because I didn't realize until I already had the macaroni in the crock pot that I had used all my milk yesterday! I think this helped it be a little more creamy and rich.

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. Everyone raves about this every time I take it so I guess that means it's pretty good or else they don't eat good Mac and Cheese in El Paso!