Back from Disney!

So we just got back last night from Disney and I just checked my blog. Apparently the post I had left before we went on vacation did not get posted. Oops. Yup, so we've been away!

I'm busy doing laundry, getting the dogs and kid re-situated and trying to decorate for Christmas. Plus, uploading pictures... so I'll post more tomorrow on the vacation!

I'll leave you with this....

Pictures from the One Curtained Thanksgiving

This year has been dubbed the One Curtained Thanksgiving because we put off hanging our curtains till the night before Thanksgiving. Of course, one of the curtain rods was missing the hardware to hang it (all of the important stuff). Instead of taking down the other curtain I decided to keep it up so that I could show my mom the curtains (which are actually tablecloths cut down the center and hemmed).

This year we had 13 people for dinner. Last year we had 19 and had to use 2 tables. I was excited this year because I thought we could once again have everyone at 1 table but alas, my table only will only seat 12. We once again had to set up another table.

Here's the gorgeous turkey. We've been frying our turkey for at least 5 years now. I love it... especially since it frees up the entire oven for me to use on other things!

Getting the turkey off the stand is a 2 person job! Here's my hubby and my soon to be brother-in-law working on getting the turkey ready.

Here's me and my awful chin! The food was yummy!

Dessert is ready!

Here is my menu for Thanksgiving this year:

Appetizers
Smoked Cheddar Cheese and Apple Butter Fondue
Munster Cheese and crackers
Wrapped Cocktail Franks

Dinner
Turkey
Sweet Potato Casserole
Corn Pudding
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry Sauce with Golden Raisins and Apples
Pumpkin Muffins
Cranberry Bread (made by my dad)
Macaroni and Cheese (made by my sis in laws soon to be mom in law)
Potato Casserole (made by same as above)

Dessert
Upside Down Pecan Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie

It was great to have the whole family over! I love having the house filled with people. But now I better get to cleaning it up! I won't be posting for a week. We're using this week to spend as a family and going sightseeing. We're going to limit our computer usage while we spend time together. I'll post pictures when I get back onto the computer.

Thankful for my Family

Things right now are going a little crazy. I have a ton of things coming up in the next week and on top of that I was sprung with something very interesting yesterday. Sort of a friend emergency. Because of everything going on and the support I will also be giving to my friend I'm not sure exactly how much I am going to be able to post this week. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to show you the pictures of where we ended up putting the door. We did put it up today but there was a slight problem with one of the hooks so it's going to have to be rehung tomorrow.

I do want remind myself and everyone else out there... do not take your family for granted. Stay connected together and be grateful for every moment you can all spend together. Right now I am just oh so thankful for my fantastic husband. He's such a great guy and he really supports me in the things I want to do. He's also very open minded and caring - I'll be able to share more about this in the coming months.

Tomorrow I'll be shopping for food for Thanksgiving. I just LOVE this time of year. I can't wait to cook! Wish me luck at the supermarket! I hope it's not too crowded...

Round and Round... and round and round and round and round....

These pictures pretty much describe how I am feeling right now. I feel like I am going around and around doing things but nothing is getting done! Plus everything is just way out of focus! For example, the shutters and trim are now finished but I have yet to decide on a door color so my door is still 3 different colors. I just can't decide! Since they are replacing the surround of the door (rotted wood) in a few weeks I asked them if they could just paint it them to buy me some more time in choosing a color.

Also - I'm working on the church directory right now and I'm getting close to being done but tonight I just realized that my card reader wasn't reading all the pictures that were on the church's camera. No wonder I was confused to where certain pictures were! Well, if I had realized that a few weeks ago I might have actually be a lot closer to being finished that I am right now. I just feel as though this project is never going to end!

Also - I can't find our stud finder and it is driving me crazy!!! I need it to hang our curtain rods and if it's not found tomorrow I might just go out and buy a new one. These curtains have been a project now for weeks. I've been getting stuff done on them but there's always something that holds the project up for a few days.

Whew. I am just in way over my head right now. But - you know what... I totally lost it this afternoon. Straight out I thought they might have to send me to the loony bin. Thankfully it wasn't for long though. I just cried a bit and out of my mouth came a prayer for help. In just a few minutes I was feeling a lot better. I definitely still have a lot weighing on me but it just doesn't seem so depressing right now. I'm ok with going around and around with things out of focus as long as I keep a smile on my face. I just want to stay happy during this time. With a little perseverance and prayer I'm hoping I can keep that up.

Until next time...

Thanksgiving Gravy

My favorite gravy... I make this every year! We fry our turkey so we never have drippings left over from roasting so I make the gravy about a week to 2 weeks ahead of time. I made the gravy today (although I usually try to make it a lot earlier!) and it is now sitting in the fridge overnight waiting for the fat to rise so that I can scrape it off tomorrow. Then it will go in the freezer until Tuesday. I'll then transfer to the fridge to thaw and warm up on Thanksgiving! I try to do most of the "work" ahead of time although I usually end up running around crazy on Thanksgiving!

I LOVE Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday and I always host it at my house. Even though it usually is a huge task and sometimes a hassle, I am so content while cooking for Thanksgiving. No matter what goes wrong - I just love putting this big meal together. Of course, I usually crash the day after (hence why I have NEVER gone shopping on Black Friday). This year we well have 13 people (last year was 20 but my cousin is heading up to NY this year for the holiday). It's a full day of eating. We start off by having a family breakfast of Overnight Blueberry French Toast... then it's appetizers mid afternoon followed by a huge feast and then dessert. Yum!!

Without further ado, the recipe I use for Gravy:

MAKE AHEAD TURKEY GRAVY

Ingredients:

• 4 turkey wings (about 3 to 4 lb)
• 2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp stick butter
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Have ready a large roasting pan, 5- to 6-qt pot and 3-qt saucepan.


2. Put wings in a single layer in roasting pan; scatter onions on top. Roast 11/4 hours or until wings are browned.


3. Put wings and onions in pot. Add 1 cup water to roasting pan and stir to scrape up any brown bits on bottom. Add to pot. Add 6 cups broth (refrigerate remaining 2 cups), the carrots and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 11/2 hours.


4. Remove wings. When cool, pull off skin and meat. Discard skin; save meat for another use.


5. Strain broth into saucepan, pressing vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard vegetables; skim fat off broth. (If time permits, refrigerate over-night so fat that rises to the top solidifies and can be easily removed.)


6. Whisk flour into the remaining 2 cups broth until thoroughly blended and smooth.


7. Bring broth in the saucepan to a gentle boil. Whisk in flour mixture and boil 4 to 5 minutes to thicken gravy and remove floury taste. Stir in butter and pepper.


Planning Tip: Freeze in an airtight container up to 1 month. Refrigerate 2 days to thaw. Reheat in saucepan, whisking often (see Note).

(Recipe and Photo taken from womensday.com)

P.S. Many of you left comments on my facebook profile instead of on here (although there were a lot of people that looked at the blog and just didn't comment! That's ok though - it's nice to know there are people out there in Blog world that are nice enough just to see what I needed help with!!). I started what I am going to do with the door today and hopefully it will be secured tomorrow. As soon as it is I will post photos! Thanks for all of your help!

Desperate for some Decorating Help!

Ok, so we have a new couch - it's what I've been waiting on to finish the living room (well, I need new chairs too but I can hang stuff w/o the chairs). I bought an old door to go over the couch but low and behold the greens clashed so that won't work. Then I thought I'd hang the door in my kitchen to discourage dirty handprints on the wall that leads into the dining room. Well, I looked at the back of the door today and it's white - so I put it above the couch. Yeah... it looks good. Just when I got used to the thought that it would be in the kitchen!! So... I need help!!! Here are the pics...

Door or....

(close up of the fabric... I wanted a burgandy couch but they don't make it in this fabric and I have spend 1.5 years now looking for a couch that I liked... this matched the carpet ok and the fabric is pet & kid proof so green it was...)

... or picture (it's a painting done by my great great Uncle... I think, well, its someone in the family!))
Door in the kitchen... or over couch?
instead of the door in the kitchen I could get one of these shutters...
Shutters are now green instead of reddish brown. I am going for "english cottage" look... yes, I know... I own a colonial. Anyhow... the bushes will flower orange red in the summer and I want reds, blues, yellows and purples in the garden beds next year. I can't pick out a door color though! I want it to be lighter than the shutters so that a wreath will stand out. We are replacing the surround around the door and the pediment on top of the door because of rot. The top thing will be a simple triangle instead of the acorn thing that is there now.

too yellow of a green on the door?a view of the door from the inside. Actually the original color goes better in the house because I've got some red accents but the color was so blah on the outside of the house. It was the same color as the roof and so much brown made the house disappear and also look way too traditional for me. I really hate having a brown roof!
Comments... Ideas... Suggestions... PLEASE!

Being with hubby...

I love my hubby! He's an awesome guy - I'll have to tell you about him sometime soon! But for this weekend we are going to spend some good quality time together so I am going to forgo the computer this weekend. Ack! We're going to be content together :-).

Blog you Monday!

Our Foster Dogs

Along the years we have had a few fosters that did not stay with us. The dog in the front is Troy. He was our 2nd foster (after Emmi). The dog behind Troy is Marty and my neighbor adopted her through Ratbone Rescues as well.

>Then came Oreo. She's the pup standing on the chair. She was a fantastic dog with TONS of energy. She was adopted out to a woman in Baltimore that eventually moved to North Carolina. Oreo left us right before Bryce was born and she spent most of my bedrest on the bed with me. She was a cuddler.

Last but not least came Sharky. When we had Bryce we decided that it was too much for us to foster dogs but when they asked me to foster Sharky I couldn't resist and David let me get him. He was an American Hairless Terrier and I WANT one! I know I'll never have one because David doesn't really like them so I wanted to foster one so that I could experience one! He was really cool. He got along with Bryce just fine and after a few months he joined a family in Jacksonville, Fl. I had to put him on a place and that was one of the hardest things I had to do because not only did he have to wait a few hours in the crate at the airport he was also going to have a layover and I felt so bad for him! But he made it down there just fine and I heard he was doing just fine with his brother dog down there. Here's a pic that his new family down in Florida sent me. He's here with his brother. I can hardly tell the difference between the 2! Sharky is the one sitting. Well, those are all of the dogs Dave and I have had in the past 8 years. Right now we're just fine with the 2 - I wish I could foster again but it's just so much work and with the amount of kids that go through the house I just can't chance getting a dog that might have a problem with them. I definitely have to say that I am totally content with my dogs - through thick and thin - they bring great satisfaction to my life. I've always been a dog person (since really young) and I think I will always be a dog person. They just love you unconditionally and that's so amazing!

Emmi

Next came Emmi. We brought Emmi to our home as a foster dog through Ratbone Rescues. I was expecting a larger dog than Zena because she looked huge in the pictures. I was shocked when we picked her up in Virginia - she was 8 lbs! I instantly fell in love. She was so funny looking. Her back legs are longer than her front legs (I call her my little dragster), her ears are huge for her head, her tail has a kink in it and she sounds like she's talking when she growls. It turns out that she had grade 3/4 patellas in her back legs and she would need surgery on them. They wanted me to send her to the midwest because the surgeries were cheaper out there but I just couldn't let go. I was convinced that no one else would love her like I did. She had so many behavioral problems I really thought she'd be returned and how could I just let her go like that? So hubby and I discussed it and she became a member of the family.

We got her the patella surgery that we thought would fix a lot of behavioral issues - and it didn't. She still has a tendancy to go in the house (hence when we moved we got hardwoods because she will only go on carpet) and as she's gotten older she's gotten crankier. She is now 6 and has arthritis in all 4 legs. Her back hock joint is curved from arthritis so it almost sits on the floor and her front left joint is very swollen. She's on pain meds and prozac for anxiety. She's good with kids when she's awake - she LOVES people - excpet if you bother her while she's sleeping she turns into Cujo. She's really bad if she's sleeping and so I usually lock her in her crate if other kids are coming over. The vet says that while she is in pain, it can be managed with the meds and she's got YEARS left on her. Sigh. While I love this dog so much - she can be difficult. She now has to be carried up and down stairs and she has to be carried off the porch to go potty. Oh yeah, and I'm also convinced that she's not totally all there (brainwise I mean). Last week she barked to get off the bed so I put her on the floor. She followed me into the den and barked at me so I got up and followed her. She went back to the bed and barked to get back up. She found a new spot, laid down and was totally happy. Here's our little wacky Emmi (she's about 10 lbs now):

This is a picture of her shortly after we got her about 6 years ago (it'll be 6 years in December!). She has always sat like this and still does. She sits on the side of her bum, never on it like Zena does!

This is her after her surgery. She had double patella surgery. She was such a trooper! She walked around on her casts just fine (vet said that was ok after a few days) and this is how she sat while they were on.

Partners in crime. Bryce used to love to unroll the toilet paper and Emmi is obsessed with shredding any kind of paper. I caught the 2 of them doing this and made them pose for it as a reminder - you can see how happy Emmi is to do a sit stay!

And this is where the naughty kids go....

Just kidding! Bryce used to love going into the dog's crates when he was younger. He thought it was so much fun! Now he enjoys just taking them apart! We only crate Emmi now because of her issues. Zena has the run of the house now that we're not in a townhouse. I was afraid she would bark constantly in the townhouse because of all of the noise and I didn't want to disturb the neighbors. Now they can't hear her if she does (well, I hope not!) because we're in a detached house.

Zena

Well, it's about time that I tell you what makes me extremely content with my life... besides my hubby and son! My doggies! I can't remember if I'd written about them before but I love them both so much they deserve another blog entry if I have! We have 2 rat terriers, Zena and Emmi.

Zena is a purebred rattie. I was bad with her... she is a puppy store dog. I know, I know.... bad... but I was young and she was so cute. I did do some research on the breed before I went back to get her and I did look around a bit to see if there were breeders in the area but I couldn't find any at the time and she was just so darn cute! We have been lucky with her so far though - no big health problems and she's pretty well socialized for a pet store pup. She's not extremely keen about kids but she will tolerate them to a point. She does not like to be poked at or have her ears pulled and she will warn you if you do so. She's pretty good at just warning and not snapping at the kids. I see it as the "mommy" dog disciplining her pups. She was our first "kid" and it's pretty obvious. The poor gal has this look she gives me when Bryce is acting up.... "when is he going back mom???". She's now a tad bit overweight (she probably needs to lose about 4 lbs) but I'm finding it very hard to find the time to get out there and walk her. Here's a picture of our darling Miss Piggy:

This is taken when she was about 1 and before Bryce.

I can't find any recent pictures of her - she tries to stay clear of Bryce and most of my pics are of him now! Here she is at a playdate from this spring eyeing the popsicles. She's not a huge fan of kids but if they've got food, she wants to be near them!

Next came Emmi.... and I think I'll keep you in suspense about her... till tomorrow!

Family and Old Pictures

It has been an interesting weekend. I started writing a post on Friday but couldn't finish it because my jaw was acting up and my headache was making me extremely nauseous that I coudln't sit in front of the computer. I clench and grind my teeth pretty bad in my sleep. I've had TMJ for awhile now but a few years ago someone hit from from behind in the car. The accident caused my cartilage to slip out of place on my right jaw joint. I had very limited movement in my jaw and had to have surgery to put the cartilage back into place. Of course, insurance wouldn't pay for my surgery because they stated that we hadn't tried other options yet - although all of the other options involved taking anti-inflamatories and I am allergic to them. After a year of going back and forth with the insurance I had my surgery and I was finally able to eat like a normal person again! Anyhow - I will still have issues with it for the rest of my life and I see my oral surgeon on a normal basis (every 3 months) to get my night brace adjusted. Fun, eh?

Well, normally what happens is that if I get too stressed out my jaw joint gets swollen and hurts which causes really bad headaches and neck aches. I've learned to just live through it but Friday I just had to go to bed. So no blogging for me on Friday.

Yesterday I went to a Meet the Baby shower for the whole day. It was lots of fun - we had a traditional baby shower (except for the baby had already been born!) that started at 3 and then at 8 we drove back to my friends house and had the "after shower." 9 months of not being able to drink made my friend a little nuts so she wanted to have her friends over for some wine, beer and food! I didn't end up coming home until 2:30am! It was lots of fun but I was feeling it a bit today and basically have done nothing all day!

I did, however, get a chance to scan my mother's childhood pictures in. I'm hoping to be able to frame some old family pictures and put them up on a central wall in the house. My grandfather was in a lot of the pictures - I never met him. He died when my mom was 15 from stomach cancer. I really enjoy looking at her old pictures because I can imagine what he was like. Personally I don't think I look anything like him but my brother on the other hand bares a resemblance to him. Here are some of the pictures:

My grandmother, grandfather and mother

My grandmother and mother

My grandfather and mother

My grandfather My grandmother eventually remarried but he died 3 years ago. She lives very close to my mom though (and has for about 15 years). A few years after my parents moved from NY to MD my grandparents moved into the house that backs up to my parents house. It was pretty cool growing up to have my grandparents so incredibly close! Bryce and I go up once a week to spend the day with my grandmother (we live an hour away from them now) and then we all have dinner with my parents at night. It's really great to be so close with my family. They are so great and I am so blessed to have them!

Well, I was going to post a picture of my mom, grandmother and myself at my wedding but I can't find it! Item #2 that I can't find - my proofs from my wedding. My goodness - where are things going??! Oh well - I'll have to look for that tomorrow. It's getting late and I need to get things together so that I can get to sleep. Until then - thank goodness for family! Be content in the fact that we have family - people to stick by us no matter what.

I've lost my head...

So all day I was thinking about the topic I was going to write about today and I had wanted to include some pictures to make it more interesting but well... I haven't been able to find them. I even cleared off the scanner to scan them in! Bummer - what I was looking for seems to be lost. So.... I'm going to put that post off until I can find what I want to find.

That brings me to the fact that I am totally scatterbrained tonight. Right now I am in charge of organizing the layout for our church pictorial directory. Not the actual photos of people... the collages and such that go at the front of the directory. I have always just assumed that the church sent in these pictures and the company organized it for the church. Noooo... I assumed wrong. It's a lot of work! Right now I have a bazillion pictures... ok, it's not that many... but a lot!... on my hard drive of the computer and others that need to be scanned in and then apparently others that are waiting for pickup at the church. Plus, I have organize the layout of the staff... type out everything that needs to be labeled and add cutsey pictures to make it look pretty.

To give you an idea of what I'm doing. Our last pictorial directory in 2005 had 45 collage pages preceeding the actual pictorial directory. I have 2 people that I can call to help me but it's just crazy. I also have the directions and random papers all over the den floor so that I can start laying out the "layout". It's a wreck.

So on top of that I realized I coudln't find what I wanted to find for my blog post tonight. So then I started running all over the place looking for that. No where to be found. While I was doing that my husband came home and went in to read a book to my son who, yes... was still awake in his bed (I put him to bed at 8:30, Dave came home at 9:30 and it's now 10:40 and I can still hear him awake in his bed... argh). I was then informed that Bryce's imaginary friends dog pee'd in his bed again (the dog pee'd in his bed 2 nights ago too). On top of that I had forgotten to put the waterproof mattress pad back on today after it had completely dried from being washed yesterday! Goodness.

This post has gotten away from me. Haha - just like everything else tonight! So it's been a hectic night. I went over to Mary's blog to read her Day 6 posting and ended up also re-reading her Day 5 post. There's where it hit me, she writes:

"I am also content that God is in Control!!!"

I need to remember that and be thrilled that it is all for a reason! God is in control! Goodness... just thinking that has slowed down my heartbeat and calmed me down. God is in control and it will all work out alright. This is just one crazy night that I can handle. Because God is not going to throw more at me than I can handle - I have to trust that he is right. And as I say that over and over in my head I hear my wonderful little 4 year old boy running to the potty and pee'ing! It's music to my ears! Because I only have 2 pairs of sheets for him and 1 are in the wash right now! HA - if he had gone in his bed well... I would have handled it. But thank you God for reminding him to use the POTTY!

So thank you Mary. Thank you for reminding me that God is in control. It's not me - it's him and he's not going to throw more at me than I can handle. I CAN do this all. I WILL get it done and goodness gracious... I will find that item I'm looking for!

Lastly.... I need advice from you moms out there with tons of wisdom. My son now has many, many imaginary friends and like I said, they apparently have pets. I am totally find with the friends and pets... no problem. I find his imagination amazing and love that about him! BUT... he's now blaming things on them and I don't know how to handle it. I don't want to squash his imagination but really... we all know it was him that pee'd in his bed and him that threw all of his books around the room. The pee in the bed thing... he was totally awake and I think he did it to spite me. I wouldn't come in and read him another book and the next thing I know... he peed his bed (but not his PJ's! so he must have pulled them down to do it!). Again tonight - our agreement was he could watch the end of his movie but no books (since it was getting late). He asked over and over from his room for me to read him a book and I said no... next thing you know... Daddy's finding pee in the bed and PJ's are dry! Any advice on how to handle it???

Being Content

There's such a thing as too much happiness and sadness. What I'm after is contentment.

~Ray Charles

This quote is exactly what I am chasing after. My life tends to be a lot of ups and downs. I definitely would not say that it's that extreme for me to be diagnosed as bi-polar by any means but I do think that I tend to be riding a roller coaster a little more than most. Of those who know me personally... you know that I love to sleep. I have the hardest time waking up in the morning. I tend to stay up way too late at night because I know that I won't wake up in the morning and I have things that I want to do. The amount of sleep I get does not seem to make getting up in the morning any easier or harder... I can easily sleep 10 hours at night and still not want to wake up in the morning. I am just NOT a morning person!

But... if I have something exciting to look forward to sometimes it helps me to get a jumpstart in the morning. It does take a lot of excitement to get that going though. What I'd like overall though is to have such a contentment in my life that I enjoy waking up and getting on with my life every morning.

Now, don't get me wrong... I love being at home with my son and I do love my life. But daily life becomes so ordinary sometimes that it's just hard to get up and get moving. Seriously, the idea of doing laundry and vacuuming all day just doesn't do it for me. The idea of serving breakfast, then snack, then lunch, then another snack and then starting dinner... can get rather boring. Especially when I have absolutely awesome dreams. In my dreams I catch up with long lost friends and have a blast. In my dreams I don't have to worry how partying is going to affect me the next day or my liver in the long term. I can smoke easily in my dreams and it doesn't even affect my lungs! (I used to in real life but not anymore because of all of the health issues and such) Goodness, in my dreams I can smoke and not stink afterward!! My dreams are so incredibly real and vivid.

What I am hoping for through this "therapy" is to get a contentment out of life on an everyday basis that I am just plain content with everyday. I want life to be pleasurable... including making lunches everyday. I want to look forward to making honey sandwiches!

I have a feeling its going to take me longer than 30 days to get this way. I need to retrain my way of thinking a lot. I want my thinking to be positive most of the time and to keep complaints out of my head.

I want to in the end... want to wake up every morning. I don't want to wake up because I'm thrilled to do something special that day... nor do I not want to wake up because I'm too sad to go on with my day. I want to be content with what I have and to be satisfied with waking up and serving my family everyday.

What I think of now when I think of being content:
(this is the my favorite view from the beach while we stayed in St. Lucia... I used to just stare at it while we laid in the sun)

What I want my view of content to look like:

Election Day

Today I am SO proud to be an American. Not only was Obama elected to be the 44th President of the United States of America but I exercised my right to vote. I am so happy to live in a country that we can actually choose who leads us. What a fantastic process we have. Granted, the process has flaws and does need a lot of help... but we do have a voice.

Thank you out there to everyone that went out and voted. Now - we've got an interesting 4 years ahead of us.

In closing... even if your candidate didn't win... be content in the fact that you had a voice in this election. Be happy that we live in a country that allows a public vote. Be happy and content that you have a choice.

Now I'm off to watch the news!

Being Happy about an awful photo....

I hate having my picture taken. I have a total aversion to seeing my double chin! Most of you that know me already know this about me.... the ones that don't... yeah, I want chin-o-suction! I feel as though from the neck up I look so much heavier than I actually am! Granted - I can still lose a lot of weight and I desperately need to tone up but since I have been in high school I've always felt as though I have a double chin! The only time I didn't mind having my photos taken was around my wedding and at that point I was pretty darn underweight. I am 5'10'' and for my wedding, I weighed about 128 lbs. Once I hit a "normal healthy" weight though - my chin comes back. Anyhow... that's not what this post is about but as I searched for pictures of Kelly and I ... this is the only one I could find. Not only do we both look pretty harsh in this picture... it is a goodness awful picture of me! But we had been driving for about 8 or so hours with 2 toddlers in the backseat. Actually - this might have even been day 2 of our drive. We drove from MD to Wisconsin last summer with the 2 kids to drop her car off at her mom's house before she moved to Okinawa with her husband. Anyhow - I decided to share this picture because this is one of the last times I spent with Kelly and we had such a great time! So I need to become comfortable with showing pictures and actually being in them. Otherwise... I won't have any to look at in the future!

Last night was a little rough for me. It was the season finale of Army Wives. It's a show that Kelly introduced to me last year. It used to be one of her favorite shows. I started watching it last year with her and we watched the season finale together. This year, it was just me. I miss my best friend. She's actually more than that... she's kind of like the sister that I've never had. We're so much alike but really different at the same time. Her husband and my husband are the polar opposites (hers is pretty anal about things and mine is extremely laid back!). But she's the first real friend that I've never had a catty feeling about. Most of you know what that's like - gals can get a little funny when you get a group of them together!

Her and I have never been competitive about things and I've supported her decisions on doing certain things that I knew would be best for her... even though I wasn't happy about them! When she decided to go back to work full time it was terrible! She was my neighbor and our sons played together on a regular basis. She was like a built in playdate! It was great! So when she talked to me about going back full time - I supported her because I could tell that's what she wanted to do. She was having problems staying at home and keeping the house totally spotless (which is how her husband expected it to be when he came home!). It was too much pressure on her and the daycare situation she would use was spectacular! It was right at the workplace so she could drop in whenever she wanted. It was a great deal for her - sucked for me though! I missed my lunches with her! But she called me almost every day on the way home from work - really, now that I look back I think she called me more from work than my hubby did! Then again though, she talked back and hubby is not a big talker!

So Kelly has now been in Okinawa for a little over a year and she is actually in California right now on vacation with her husband (who is in a conference). I can't believe that I'm not flying out there!! Flights have dropped in price big time - a few weeks ago I checked it out and for me to fly out there it would have been about $700. The other day I checked and it's now about $269. Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere for Bryce to go and it's just not a reasonable time for me to travel. There's a lot I have to do here. But - she's in the states!!! It's not fair! Needless to say I am devastated.

On the flip side of this. How incredibly blessed am I that I have a friendship this great that I feel devastated that I can't hang out with her. She's thinking of coming back to the states next summer and staying around longer so Bryce and I would actually be able to hang out for awhile - so I just need the patience to wait that long! I am so incredibly lucky to have a friend like this. Heck, a few weeks ago I had such an awful stomach virus and at 10:30 pm I called her (11:30 am their time) just to complain about how awful I felt and to see if she had any advice (her hubby's a doctor). She was so sweet and while she didn't have any advice on what I was asking .... it was great to talk to her.

It's definitely a shame that I can't make it out to California right now but this contentment therapy has really helped me think of the flip side of situations. I feel so blessed by God right now that he has granted me to be in such a great friendship with her. And so I am going to proudly post one of the last pictures Kelly and I took together (actually I think I only found 2 of them and the other one I posted awhile ago!). Double chin and all..... :-)

The Washing Machine

Have you ever had a stinky washing machine? A few years ago in our townhouse we bought a new Kenmore washer and dryer - I loved having new appliances! When we moved I figured that I would just have to deal with older appliances in the new house until we could afford to get new ones. So imagine my happy surprise when the house we bought had the exact same washer and dryer that we had in our townhouse! I was thrilled!

But that happiness soon went away. The washer and dryer we have now don't ever really make the clothes smell good. Actually, every once in awhile they come out smelling a little moldy I think. I thought maybe I was leaving them in the washer to long so I bought a timer so that I remembered to take them out right away. When the wash goes in the timer gets set at 34 minutes and when it beeps I transfer the wash to the dryer. Well, it really hasn't helped that much. I just think our washer and dryer are a little stinky. Now, don't get me wrong... it's not awful... it's just not totally fresh smelling. So I figured it was about time to look into how to clean the inside of the washer to see if that would help. Here is what I ended up doing:

Step 1 - With your machine empty, run it full of hot water to the largest load setting. When the tub is full and begins to agitate, add 3 to 4 cups of distilled white vinegar to the water. Then add ½ cup of baking soda. Allow the machine to agitate for a few moments, then turn off the machine. Let the water sit for thirty minutes to one hour.

Step 2 - After allowing the vinegar/baking soda mixture to penetrate the grime in the washing machine tub, restart the machine, allowing it to complete the wash cycle. At the end of the wash cycle, as the tub begins to drain, advance the washing machine to the spin cycle. On many washing machines, this will cause the washing machine to spin as it drains, which can help to further loosen any residue. If yours doesn't do this, simply allow it to drain. Turn off the machine.

Step 3 - Wipe the inside of the washing machine tub with a wet cloth. If desired, use a cloth soaked in a solution of half hot water and half white vinegar. Be sure to wipe all inside surfaces, including the bottom and blades of the agitator and the top of the tub just under the lid. (It is sometimes helpful to use a wire toilet brush around the top rim and in hard-to-reach places.) If the washing machine has a fabric softener and/or a bleach dispenser, remove these and clean thoroughly before replacing.

(taken from How to Clean Your Top-Loading Washing Machine)

I wouldn't say the inside of the cleaner smells any better (or worse really) and I haven't really thought the laundry has smelled bad recently (really, the mildewy smell was hit or miss and not terrible - my hubby didn't smell it as much as I did) but it was probably time for the washer to be washed anyhow! I think I'm going to add this cleaning to my list of things to do - I'll probably do this process every other month or so. A little vinegar and baking soda isn't going to hurt anything! Although I still would really like to have a new front loading washer and dryer. But - for now, I need to be happy with what I have!

Thankfully, I have a functioning washer and dryer in my house and while I complain about them more than I should and grumble that they are in the basement and have to climb 2 staircases to get the clothes to their closets.... I should be extremely grateful that I don't have to put it all in the car and traipse off to the laundromat! When I was little I spent the summers at our summer shack with my parents and grandparents in Long Island. We had no washer and dryer there and every week off the laundromat we went. It was such a pain! So really, I have to stop complaining about my washer and dryer and feel blessed that I have one convenient in my home and that I have the opportunity to give them a cleaning.

So - if you've got a washer and dryer in your home - think about treating them to a "spa day" and wash them out and wipe them down. Then thank your lucky stars that they are conveniently located in your home! Heck, we're lucky we're not still carrying our clothes down the the local river with a washboard!

Closets... ugh

I love closets. I love that you can stuff things in them and close the doors. Then - the room actually does look tidied up!

What I hate about them though is that eventually they do have to be straightened up and cleaned out. Especially with a little one that is growing quite quickly. I've learned that I hate that he's growing up. For all of the obvious reasons and also - I don't know what to do with all of his clothes that he's grown out of! Plus, I have a habit of yard saleing and picking up clothes at cheapo prices that I know will fit him later. For example... my son has the tiny tiniest waist! He needs those pants with the adjustable waists. So if I find them at a yard sale... I buy them! Right now I've got a few pair in every size up to 6. He's currently growing out of 3T. I mean, you can't go wrong with those adjustable waists - especially if they're jeans! You can wear jeans all year long! So at some point he's gonna fit them! It's just finding a place for them until then.

So - this weekend I decided to clear out all of Bryce's summer stuff, move in the fall/winter stuff and re-organize his closet. So all the while... I tried to keep the "contentment therapy" challenge in mind and thought... "we're so blessed to have all of these clothes!" instead of my usual grouchy thoughts.

We really are blessed. I mean, there's tons and tons of people out there that just don't have enough clothes. It's starting to get chilly around here and there are lots of people around that don't have the option to change out summer clothes for fall/winter clothes.

Anyhow... here are some pics of what I did. I forgot to take some before pictures so they're all after pics:
Now, the closet is still not totally finished. I have to figure out his clothes - I'm not sure if a lot of the older ones still fit and I have to see if some of the newer ones have to be tailored (some of them do not have the adjustable waist!)

For the clothes that he has grown out of... well, that's another story. I would donate them but I'm not sure yet if we are going to have another. Some of you know that we've had some fertility issues and we will be starting some therapies in December so there is a possibility of having another. Therefore, I'm not quite ready to part with it yet! Those clothes are now all over the nursery (well, what was the nursery until my miscarriage). That organization is for another day though! But for now... instead of looking at organizing closets and switching out clothes as a meandering chore... thing of it as a blessing! You are blessed because you have the clothes to do so!

Contentment Therapy

I found this blog via another blog I read written by Tootsie (the link to her blog is on the right hand column). This blogger writes about "Contentment Therapy." She's trying to get other people to join her on her journey to contentment and I decided I am going to give it a go.

She wants us to blog on it daily and I am definitely going to try and do this. I've been wanting to blog on a more regular basis anyhow and this might just be the way to help me do it. Also - I had also planned on straightening up my house and I want to use this challenge to help me do so. Clutter and chaos in my house just causes me to stress. I've never really been that great at putting things away or doing things on a routine and I want to get better at it. I can't stand having things all over the place! Although really, I am the one to blame for most of that! I want to be able to do my laundry on a daily basis so it doesn't turn into a huge task. Right now I have piles upon piles in my room and I am dreading doing it!

So for November I am going to share my journey on getting my house put together with you! I'm going to try and get the many, many projects that I've wanted done ... done and also work on others around the house (and being frugal while doing so!).

We're supposed to start on November 1st but I'm going to try and start today. It should be interesting. Wish me luck!

So please go vist.... "THE 30DAY CONTENTMENT THERAPY SESSION "

Upside-Down Apple Pecan Pie

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com about 2 years ago. It has quickly become my most favorite apple pie! I love it because I am a HUGE nut fan and I love that the top of this pie is FULL of carmely nuts!

Bryce and I went apple picking a few weeks ago and came home to make our apple pie. I used Golden Delicious apples and 2 other kinds of apples. I can't remember the names of those 2 other types of apples for the life of me right now! Anyhow - here is how our pie turned out:



and here is the link to this FANTASTIC recipe! Upside-Down Apple Pecan Pie

I need to update!

Wow - I haven't blogged in awhile. Sorry to my readers out there - if there are any at all! It gets quite busy here with an active 4 year old and 2 VERY needy dogs! Although really, I should be blogging more because when I'm on the computer Zena (our 1st dog) doesn't bother me. It's when we're downstairs that she's constantly asking for something. She's my little piggy. She wants food all the time (not that I give it to her all the time but she's ALWAYS asking for it!) and if it's not food - she wants a rawhide. She asks by scratching the floor, cabinets or appliances. Oh yeah, btw... remember, I have hardwood floors. So when she scratches the floor I pretty much go nuts! It drives me crazy!! Although, she's my first "baby" and I love having her around to keep me company.

Well, it just got busy again... the painter guy just called and he's in the neighborhood. We need to get quotes on getting our house trim repainted and some it needs to be replaced (so not a fun thing to spend money on!). He needs me to walk the house with him SO since I haven't posted any pictures recently I will leave you with some pictures from Bryce's first day of preschool this year.

Here he is trying to be a bug (waffles over the eyes make a very good fly costume!). He insisted on me taking this picture!
And here is the little cutie pie before we headed off for school. He is doing much better this year and I think actually even enjoying it!Well, the doorbell has rung.... blog you later!

Moms Night Out! and Potty Present!

So I'm feeling better. Still a bit sore but better than yesterday! Of course now - I think I'm getting a cold. Fun, eh? I'm really hoping it's just allergies though! All 3 of us have stuffy heads, runny noses and sneezing.

Today we spent the day toy shopping. We left at about 2 and got home at 6:30. Today was the day to get the potty present!! I created a chart for Bryce a few weeks ago and every day he stayed dry he got a sticker and every time he went #2 he got a sticker. Each thing had 14 places to put a sticker. So after 28 stickers I told him he could get whatever toy he wanted! Today was toy store day! First we went to Target but he said he didn't see anything he liked. So then we went to Toys R Us. He ended up getting the True Heroes Military Island Playset. It's got a bunch of plastic "army guys", tanks, airplanes and barricades. He LOVES those little army guys. He takes them with him everywhere and loves to line them up everywhere. He's probably got a good 100+ of them. He's SOOOO happy right now.

Tonight I have another Moms Night Out at my girlfriend Tracy's house. Last night was Bunco - tonight MNO. It's a rough life but someone's got to live it! ;-) It actually just so happens that my 2 MNO's this month land on the same weekend so Dave is watching Bryce both nights. Although because I feel a little crappy I don't know how late I'm going to stay out. I have a feeling I won't be going wild and crazy tonight!

Well, Bryce is calling for me to help him carry all of his army guys upstairs so he can line them up in his room on his furniture. I better get down there and help him!

HSG

Wow... a lot has gone on since my last posting. It's been a whirlwind of fertility! No... I'm not pregnant... but I have started seeing a specialist. I don't mind people knowing because I can use all of the support I can get! I was the same with my last pregnancy... I told a lot of people early because I figured if I did miscarry I would be telling them anyway... I needed the support and that's exactly what happened. It's been about 18 months since my miscarriage and no luck so I figured I'd go and see if anything was wrong.

My first appointment with the Dr. was last Wednesday and apparently all the testing they do starts on Day 1... and lucky me.... Day 1 was appointment day! So needless to say, in the last week I've had plenty of tests done. Yesterday was my HSG or hysterosalpingogram. During this test they shoot some dye into you and then do a series of x-rays to see if any tubes are blocked. I read up on the procedure the night before and the nurse informed me all about it. I knew there would be some pain but I read that it wasn't that bad. A few months ago I had cryosurgery and everyone seemed to advise that that procedure was much worse. HA.

I hurt. I don't know if it's because I was expecting pain with my cryosurgery and therefore it just didn't seem bad. With this one I wasn't expecting much at all so maybe it's worse because it does hurt! It's not intolerable. Although I would say it's a tiny bit worse than monthly cramping. It's just extremely uncomfortable and my whole body is very achy. Sigh.

Onto some good news - Bryce is totally potty trained. He goes by himself now and I dont' have to remind him. It's AWESOME!

Well, I have to go get ready now for another Dr. appointment (fun!) but I'll update again soon.

Dry and CLEAN!

For the past week I have been working on potty training Bryce. It has been one of the hardest things I have ever done!! I thought getting him to stay in his big bed boy was hard but I only had trouble with that once a day. With potty training - it's been multiple times a day!!

Bryce thinks going potty is boring and he doesn't have the time for it. He has told me "It's not fun!" and "I'm too busy to go potty!". Well last Monday he put himself in big boy underwear... coincidentally it's also the day I ran out of diapers in the house! Well, for the past week he has been peeing and pooping in his pants and he could care less if he sits in it! Plus, whenever I tried to get him to go it was a HUGE fight! He argued that he didn't have to go and then would proceed to go in his pants.

Enter the trusty kitchen timer. For some reason he will listen to the timer! I set it for 40 minutes and when it beeped he would go directly into the potty and relieve himself. It was like one of Pavlov's experiments! So for 2 days I relied solely on the timer and chocolate. I told him that he could get a mini snickers or twix whenever the timer went off, he was still dry and he pee'd in the potty.

Well, that did the trick! He remained dry for those 40 minutes and he got his chocolate. He now gets a sticker on the potty chart for every day he's dry and one for every time he poop's in the potty. After 28 stickers he can get an "expensive" and "big" toy! He's getting very excited.

Yesterday he went potty all by himself... without the timer! He just had to go! Yay! He also did that all this morning. Plus... he poop'd in the potty yesterday!!! Finally!!! I'm so excited.

Yes, I understand there will probably be more accidents. That's fine.... it's only been 3 days dry and clean BUT.... HE'S GETTING IT! I am SO happy!!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! No more temper tantrums for 45 minutes to try and get him to _try_ and go (at least I hope!).

YAY! :-)

Okinawa, Japan

So - if you scroll down my page you have probably noticed that I have the time in Okinawa, Japan on the right hand side of my page. You might be wondering why in the world I need to know the time in Japan... well, both Bryce's and my best friends live over there. Kelly and Tristan have now been in Japan for almost a year (it will be a year in about 2 weeks). Kelly's husband is a pathologist in the military and so they were stationed there for 2 years. 1 year down... 1 to go.

Kelly lived 2 houses down from us when we lived in our townhouse. She and I had our sons 3 weeks apart and they instantly became best friends. She stayed at home for a year before she went back to work part time and during that time we practically lived together during the day! It was SO nice to have someone to share that new mom thing with. Even when she went back to work full time we still stayed super close. She would call me every day on her way home from work to talk and occasionally even called on her lunch hour!

Before she left for Japan she came to live with us for about 2 weeks because their house had sold and Arash (her husband) had already left to set things up in Japan before she got there. We then drove together in her car to Wisconsin so that she could leave her minivan at her mother's house. I stayed and visited with them in Wisconsin for 2 weeks. It was awesome! I loved Wisconsin and they have amazing cheese!

So basically, I use the time on my blog so that I can call her at a decent time. Lately though no time is good. She's been working more lately so not available during the day (my night) and I am so not a morning person so I haven't really been able to call her in the morning. She's called a few times recently but I've missed every call. I miss her desperately!

I can't believe they've been gone for a year. Bryce still talks about Tristan A LOT and is constantly wanting to send him stuff. He's also always talking about what he is going to tell Tristan on the phone but Tristan doesn't really like talking on the phone yet.

Anyhow - here are pictures of the 2 boys (best of friends):

Here is a picture of all the 4 of us right before Bryce and I left Wisconsin:
Kelly was also the one that I told everything. The night I had my D&C from my miscarriage she came over with desserts and wine - she was always over with wine whenever I had a problem. I really miss having her nearby!... but I am so glad that her and I became such close friends. Next September she returns to the states and I'm so hoping that it's somewhere close! But at least wherever they move to will be a much shorter flight to get to!