What Would You Take?

On the way to lunch Paul and I were talking about an Air Force family, stationed in Colorado Springs (which is where we are trying to go next year) who were out of town for the day and returned home to find they had no home. Their home and car had been destroyed by the fire raging through CO right now. This is a picture of their street.

And we started talking about how, while it's devastating, they are blessed to be a military family because the AF will help them, their squadron will help (and are already collecting funds and gift cards as I write), and how they probably have good insurance, and of course and most important that they are alive and healthy. Paul was saying how if the fire was started in a natural way your insurance won't necessarily cover it because it's a natural disaster. How could you possibly start over without insurance? Terrifying.

Anyways, we talked about what we would grab if we had to evacuate our home and it really got me thinking.

We decided we'd get Emma (duh), the dogs, Emma's lovie (Paul said he'd run back into a burning building for that lol), the computers because our pictures are on them, the cd's with the rest of the pictures, his dad's American flag from his funeral, his and his dad's basic training books, a suitcase with some clothes, some autographed football stuff (Paul, not me), some of Em's toys from her crib so she can have familiar things, and my memory boxes that have cards from clients and things from dating Paul. Looking around right now I realize that there's nothing that can't be replaced as long as we are together.

People have such strong ties to their homes. The items in a home represent so many things-memories, success, hard work, family, but at the end of the day they are just things. Being safe and healthy is what's most important.

And I wonder, if you had to evacuate, what would you grab?

The Mystery of the Missing Pad

So if you've breastfed then you know about nursing shields or pads. If you haven't or don't know it's basically a round pad you wear inside of your bra to soak up leaking milk.

When I was nursing I suddenly came up short one nursing pad. I figured it was static clinging to something else I had washed and it would turn up eventually.

I spent last fall in Florida for 3+ months having never found the missing pad and sort of forgot about it.

So the other day I was folding laundry and mixed in with the clean clothes was the missing pad!

How many hundreds of loads of laundry had I done since mid February when I stopped nursing? How many hundreds of loads since the pad went missing? Where the heck did this thing come from? Is there a black hole in my dryer and it's back from the great beyond?

It's a mystery I will probably never solve.

Horrifying

So this weekend my cousins drove up from DC to visit. I am the old lady in the club and may have to go to bed as soon as I post this. Lordy I'm tired!

Friday night we hung out at home, eating pizza, and watching a movie. I know you're probably thinking they drove 10 hours for pizza and a movie???

Saturday we got up and decided to drive to a local winery for a wine tasting. The wines were surprisingly good minus the apple brandy Devon tried. I thought my lips were on fire. It was straight alcohol. Thankfully Kathryn had a pear something liquor we could use as a chaser.

After many tastes of wine and a delicious lunch we went to get pedicures. The woman sitting on my left asked if we were there for a wedding party and I said no, cousins visiting.

She then looked at me and said, "When is your baby due?" Um, excuse me!!!!!

I wasn't sure how I should respond seeing that I'M NOT PREGNANT!!! So I said, "16 months ago."

I. Was. Horrified! Horrified! I mean I knew I had gained some weight...

In the midst of my pedi, Grandma Foot in Mouth got up and left and a new woman sat down. She said,"You look like Minnie Mouse with your red toes and polka dot flip flops." sigh...

Of course the baby cousin Kait wanted to stop at Wet Seal and looking around I realized that the style of clothes that were popular when I was growing up are now popular again. How did I get so old??? Let's not even talk about the fact that I couldn't fit my right thigh into something from Wet Seal.

To say I felt like crying when we left the mall would be an accurate statement.

Saturday night was board games, wine, and Chris Pine (This Means War is hilarious! And ya know Chris Pine). I really know how to show out of towners a good time!

And this morning I made sausage gravy from scratch for the first time and it was pretty tasty.

Luckily Em has recovered from hand, foot, and mouth and I've recovered from my ear infection so back to working out this week. No excuses! I gotta get rid of my pregnant looking belly. Yikes!

Go!

Poor Paul. Em has been in a mommy phase. I think it's mostly because she has been sick and everyone wants their mommy when they're sick. She's been waking up frequently at night and holy heck if I'm not the one that goes in to sooth her.

Last night I was getting ready to go to bed and our tiny dictator woke up crying. Paul went up and picked her up and she screamed louder! Paul said no matter which way he turned Em twisted her body to face the door. I finally finished what I was doing and walked into Em's bedroom to find Paul sitting on the stool, Em standing facing the door, and as soon I walked in she reached up for me. That of course made me feel needed and loved, but poor Paul said that when he was holding Em she looked at him and said, "Go!" In the midst of all her screaming and crying of course.

And as soon as I picked her up she stopped crying. I gave her a hug, laid her back down, and she went right back to sleep. This has happened almost every night since she's been sick. Paul's poor ego is taking a beating.

She is fine when she gets up with Paul in the morning, but at night she is a momma's girl. Luckily Paul loves her more than enough not to be phased by her mommy obsession. She does make us laugh.

Her little character gets stronger and stronger every day. The other day she was sitting in her high chair, eating dinner, and all of the sudden she started arching her back, pursing her lips, and we laughed so she kept doing it. She definitely is an entertainer. I can only imagine what she's going to be like as she gets older.

Carseats and Vomit Do NOT Mix

We have had a world wind weekend. My 91 year old grandmother passed away last Tuesday. It wasn't unexpected, but it was sudden. She had declined a lot this year so it was a blessing and praise Jesus my mom, Em, and I got to see her just a month ago. So, we headed to NJ the end of last week for the funeral. Unfortunately, a lot of my mom's family is estranged so I really wasn't sure what to expect in terms of who would be there.

We got to NJ on Friday at lunchtime (we left home early and hit no traffic) specifically so we could eat lunch at McCobb's. McCobb's is a hot dog/hamburger place famous for their Texas wieners. I eat there every time I'm in town. The whole drive down to NJ I had this feeling that this could be my last time there. Usually my mom and I go every May to see my grandmother, but if she's not here anymore...

Paul did not get a Texas wiener and was not impressed with my hot dog place, but this place has been in business forever! Seriously my parents used to go there when they were young and I can remember going with my grandmothers when I was young young. After lunch we drove to Otto's Delicatessen. I think they have the BEST German potato salad of any place and I love their bologna sandwiches. Last month I asked the owner for the recipe for the potato salad and he told me if I bought the deli he'd give me all the recipes. Boo! But again the couple that own it now are the same couple that have owned it for like 40 years! We let Em play on the playground across the street a little bit and then drove around so I could show Paul the town where I used to live.

Friday night was the viewing and Saturday was the service at the cemetery. I got to see an aunt and an uncle (and we had stopped by another aunt's office on Friday afternoon) as well as some cousins. I hadn't seen my cousin Jeanne in probably 15 years. We talked about the need to stay in contact as a family and hopefully we'll follow through on our plans for a family reunion next year.

Friday night Em was super restless and I felt like she was warm. Of course the one time I forgot a thermometer and Tylenol...we were only going away overnight though! She was super lethargic Saturday and even fell asleep on my shoulder at the cemetery. We went out to lunch with my aunt, uncle, and cousin afterwards and Em slept through the entire lunch. We knew she didn't feel good if she didn't want any bread.

Driving home she started crying and then projectile vomited all over. I remember my friend Christy telling me once that she caught her kid's vomit in her hand and I replied, "That is gross. I will NEVER do that." hahahaha famous last words...every time Em throws up my first instinct is to put my hand under her mouth. As she is in the midst of projectile vomiting sure enough I stuck my hand under her mouth and then thought well this is pointless. Luckily we were near a rest stop so Paul pulled over. Conveniently he gags when Em vomits so I got the task of getting her undressed as she is trying to crawl up my shirt and then clean up her car seat. Thank goodness I had thrown a roll of paper towels into the car cause it took almost the entire roll.

We finally got home...smelling like vomit the entire way. Our poor goose had a fever and then Sunday the rash came. Sigh. Saturday night I had the fun job of cleaning the car seat which of course is NOT machine washable. Why on earth would you make a car seat cover that is NOT machine washable? Thanks Recaro! I actually had to get out the directions to figure out how to take everything apart and then I washed it in the tub. I actually broke a sweat taking it apart. Sunday night I had the fun task of putting it back together. Even though I let it air dry in the sun I believe it shrunk and had to ask Paul to help me. So the only exercise I got all weekend was taking apart the car seat cover and putting it back on.

Now I've also been super congested for awhile and sudafed is not working so I've also been doing a sinus rinse. Last night during my sinus rinse I got excruciating pain in my right ear. It hurt so bad I almost went to the ER.

So off we both went to the doctors today. Em has hand, foot, and mouth and I have an ear infection. What adult gets an ear infection??? And Em had a meltdown while waiting at the base pharmacy/clinic for my meds. Screaming, crying, throwing herself about. It was a good time.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home and then when I tried to put her in her crib screamed. I decided to lay down with her and then thought I'd transfer her to her crib when she was asleep. hahahaha Every time I picked her up and walked into her room her eyes would pop open and she would scream. As soon as I laid her back in our bed she would be fast asleep so I laid in bed with her, listening to Beauty barking, and praying for an eagle to come.

So, I'm thinking it's going to be a LONG week. Wish us luck. :) I'm never going to get back into my work out routine!

Oh You Silly Gypsies

How did we spend fathers day? Helping Paul build our new deck and watching a Big Fat American Gypsy Marathon. It's a train wreck. I can't look away.

I've decided that I need to add a romichel to my sister wife collection as they stay home and clean all day. Lord knows we could use a full time housecleaner.

But my favorite part of the one episode today was 1 wife talking about her love of bleach and then she said that we shouldn't spend $600 to get our teeth whitened, but we should just get us a $2 bottle of bleach and use that as she POURED BLEACH ON HER TOOTHBRUSH AND PROCEEDED TO BRUSH HER TEETH!!!! Are you kidding me??? TLC clarified for us that she chose to ignore the warning label saying not to use it in that way. Thanks TLC. If you hadn't said that I was gonna rush right in and bleach my teeth!

I can tell you 1 thing... No way in hell would I allow Emma to get married at 17 or 18 years old to some guy she's known a month.

I pretty much spend each episode shaking my head and saying "no, no, no, no, no."

No, no, no, no, no.

Words I Never Thought I'd Hear

Last week we got a flier in the mail for a student research project at our local college. They needed dog owners for a 6 month study and there would be a small compensation. So of course I called.

The girl goes through the list of questions about my age, etc, and one of the questions is about how many hours a week do I exercise. I said about 5.

She finishes up her questions and then says "Unfortunately you aren't able to participate because your activity level is too high."

What! I am too active to participate in a study on weight loss and dog walking! Me, who is the laziest person ever, gets too much exercise. Between that and the fact that I've voluntarily eaten an apple 2 days in a row is proof that the world is truly ending.

Some Questions About Gypsies

Have y'all ever seen My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding on TLC? If you thought Jersey Shore was trashy then ya need to watch this show. It makes Jersey Shore look like a family sitcom.

For example, I don't think the previews of Jersey Shore ever has included the phrase "A gypsy bride commits to her cousin in holy matrimony." I know! Pick your jaw up off the floor cause Annie's not committing to just any cousin...she's committing to her first cousin which I thought was illegal in this country. Hey what's a little inbreeding and genetic abnormalities among family, right? Oh, apparently in W VA it is illegal for 1st cousins to marry, but not in VA. Really VA? Really? You're gonna let W VA best you on that? Hey Annie I'm pretty sure "beautifulest" is not a word.

So it's ok to marry a cousin but NOT ok to live together before marriage?

Now I may not be the best dresser in the world, but I feel I'm pretty average. Good days and bad days and all that. But why, if you are a gypsy, are you required to dress like an off duty stripper? No one needs to see your chuckie or your muffin top. I'm pretty sure the romichal women get style tips from Snookie and J Woww. Its almost as if the gypsies intentionally try to make themselves look bad.

Keep in mind TLC is the same channel that brings us What Not To Wear. You'd think TLC would hook the gypsies up with Stacy and Clinton.

Why, if you are a gypsy, must you have BAD teeth? You can afford for the wife to stay home and not work, but no one can afford to see a dentist?

What if you're a lesbian gypsy couple? How do you decide who works and who stays home?

How is there enough business for a woman in Boston to cater to making ugly gypsy dresses? And in Boston. That makes me sad for Boston.

Why do all gypsies live in trailers? Not that there is anything wrong with living in a trailer cause there are some dang nice trailers. I was just curious.

How do they afford these giant weddings?

Now I am totally ignorant on gypsy history, but from watching this show I've learned that being a gypsy is the same as being black before the Civil War or Jewish in Germany while Hitler reigned. You learn something new every day. And who in 2012 still thinks gypsies are thieves? Who would even know someone was a gypsy unless that person said hey I'm a gypsy. Although the neon and rhinestone clothing may give them away.

I just can't get over this cousin thing. Emma just say no to 1st cousins.

Seriously y'all this may be my new favorite show. It's awful! AWFUL!

Fifty Shades of Boring

I am a sucker for a good book. If people rave about it I will read it. I love to read.

So when people started talking about Fifty Shades of Grey I knew I had to read it.

And thus it began. Yawn. It was like reading porn written by a high schooler. "Oh baby do it to me baby.". Really? My dead grandmother probably wrote more erotic notes during her lifetime than what is portrayed in Fifty.

The same lines and scenes over and over and over. Christian and Ana have sex. Ana freaks out about something. Christian gets mad. Ana thinks about leaving. Christian is sorry. Ana cries and swears she'll never leave. Christian and Ana have sex. It's like the worst love story ever.

Then one of my KD sisters reviewed the book on her blog http://www.thebookhostess.com/blog/2012/5/23/50-shades-of-grey.html. I didn't know Fifty Shades was a bad knock off of Twilight. And I definitely agreed with their thoughts on the book. She had a link to http://50shadesofsuck.tumblr.com/ which was hilarious.

But I finished the first book and am suffering through the second. Apparently I am a masochist. If I ever met Ana I'd have to punch her in the face. Perhaps her should I/shouldn't I is bringing up some of my own issues. Lol

For all people have talked about this book I expected it to be a spectacular love story. It's really just a big ole snoozefest and I am convinced the only reason people are reading it is because it's women acceptable porn. And I'm sure there are some repressed women getting their jollies off.

If this napapalooza ever gets made into a movie Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison should play Ana and Christian because they are the two most annoying actors I can think of. Kristen especially...good golly woman make a facial expression for once in your life. I'd rather watch paint dry than listen to her monotone voice.

Anyways, I will read the third book because I am hoping for a murder suicide at the end. Don't spoil it for me.

Aliens vs Air Force

While watching Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files on syfy...

Me: It does seem that an awful lot of UFOs are seen near Air Force bases.

Paul: Hmmm could that be because people don't know what planes look like?

Me: Or it's because the Air Force has aliens and the other aliens come to try and get them back!

Paul shakes his head sadly.

Glamping

For my fellow RHOC fans you probably saw the glamping episode...for those of you with better taste in television, glamping is glamorous camping. On RHOC (or Real Housewives of Orange County if you don't watch reality television) the ladies went glamping. I thought this seemed like a fabulous idea and so I planned a girl's overnight glamping trip. Let's compare our trip the the one the RHOC went on.

I'll start with the RHOC. They stayed in these beautiful cabins that looked like 5 star hotel rooms. They actually may have been at a 5 star hotel camping. They sat around the fire and drank wine and cooked fish and what not over the fire.

Our trip was a little bit different. I'm sure their cabin was several hundreds of dollars per night. Our trip not so much. Instead of a resort we stayed at a KOA campground in Maine. It was about an hour and a half from our house.

This is how the trip was supposed to go in my head...we'd drive up to ME, stopping for lunch somewhere cute and seafoody, do a little shopping, and head to the KOA. We'd get there, unload the car, uncork the wine, start a fire, and sit around the fire, drinking wine, eating s'mores, and gossiping all night. The weather would be gorgeous.

Instead the forecast called for rain starting Friday. The rest of our gang was going to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings so we decided to crash that party and leave for glamping from there as it was POURING. Not just a little rain, but a monsoon. We have hardly had any rain this spring because apparently God was saving it all up for this weekend.

We left to head up to ME. Danielle, Sarah, and I rode up together while Rebekah was driving up later. Of course we stopped at the first Starbucks we saw and then again stopped at the Maine welcome center (keep in mind that our total driving time was an hour and 30 minutes and we've stopped twice).

It was still pouring when we got to ME (duh) so our leisurely unpacking of the car turned into a mad dash of hauling everything as fast as possible into the cabin. The cabin was super nice...not 5 star nice, but definitely impressive. The cabin had 2 bedrooms, a full bath, kitchen, and living area and came with 2 flat screen tvs and cable.
We had no plans on seafood dinner, but instead classed it up with some hotdogs cooked in a frying pan on the stove followed by some microwave s'mores. There was indeed wine, but instead of drinking around the fire we drank while we played Yahtzee and watched some movie on the comedy channel. There was a lot of conversations about Sasquatch. I mean a lot. As in had an escape plan in place just in case (this plan involved sacrificing Danielle).

We walked in the rain, ate breakfast at the Merry Moose in the rain, hiked (ok, it was like a 5 minute walk) to a waterfall in the rain, took lots of pictures in the rain, and drove home in the rain. Rebekah swore there was an awesome little Italian restaurant on our way home...turns out it was closed, but we did get some dang good pizza at another place (I actually ate the leftovers for lunch today which I never do). And we planned a return trip including the hubster, baby, and rest of the gang for later this summer.

All in all it was a great glamping trip...good friends, wine, and lots of laugh. What more could we ask for.

Sometimes even though you might not get what you planned, what you do end up with is pretty awesome.

Sleep Study

Last night was my overnight sleep study. I was nervous and did not want to go. Em has been sick and although she seems to just have a cold I didn't want to leave her. Plus who wants people watching them sleep! Weird.

My check in time was 9:25pm and I got there right on time. I was shown to my room and it was like a little hotel room (think Microtel). The tech told me that the other tech was busy getting other patients set up, but after the video explaining what would happen I could watch tv or whatever. I had brought my nook and was excited to read my book for a little bit.

Well, an hour went by and I was finished with my book, and them some more time went by and finally I was so tired that I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes. I wondered for awhile if they forgot me because my room was down by the storage closet. lol

Finally about 11:15/11:30pm the tech came to get me to get me hooked up. I had wires coming out of my head, legs, face, and then I got to go back and get into bed. After a quick trip to my own private bathroom (swanky, huh?)the tech hooked me up and put a thing on my nose to monitor my respiration. Midnight and I was finally going to sleep.

I worried I'd have a hard time falling asleep, but I was so exhausted that I fell asleep pretty quickly. The tech came in at one point to adjust something which of course meant I had to get up and go to the bathroom.

Before I knew it he was coming back in, it was 6am, and time to get up. I felt like I had not slept at all. How can someone be as tired when they wake as when they went to bed? It took a few minutes for him to get all the wires off of me. I really wish I had taken a picture because holy moly. They use this Vaseline type stuff to stick the wires on your head.

Remember the scene from What About Mary with her hair and her hair "gel"? That is what I looked like when I woke up. Of course that didn't stop me from stopping to get Paul and I muffins and a coffee on the way home. Nothing gets between me and my coffee and those muffins. haha Not even the fact that I had my jammies on.

My follow up appointment isn't until July 3rd although I'd hope that if something was seriously wrong they would call me before then. Maybe Rebekah can request my records before then.

And even though it's raining and supposed to rain all weekend tonight is glamping (glamorous camping). Paul is staying home with Emma and the girls and I will be leaving around 10:30am to head up to Maine. I'll let ya know how it goes!

PS Have you ever seen the show Rehab Addict on DIY? This woman is awesome! She renovates, restores, and flips old houses and she does a lot of the work herself. Amazing! I have a girl crush on her, but Paul thinks she looks mousy.

Feel Good Fridays--Friendship

I love linking up to other people's blogs and thought I'd start hosting my own link ups. I wanted something I could do weekly, but also something that jives with how I try to live my life while helping connect others who might feel the same so I came up with Feel Good Fridays. This is a place to post something that makes you feel good in your life and our first Friday link up is about friendship.

I used to work in a high school for pregnant and parenting teens. Loved it. Was devastated when my position was cut although it did free me up to move to GA with Paul, get married, have a baby, etc. The one thing that always broke my heart was that the girls NEVER had any female friendships. If anything they had frenemies and I constantly heard them talking about how this girl back stabbed this girl, or slept with this one's boyfriend, etc. They saw no value in female friendship. Myself, on the other hand, see immense value in female friendship. It's something I pride myself on...having long term friends. For the most part, if you and I are friends then we are friends for life. We may not talk every day, but when we see each other it's like no time has passed. And I've also learned the value of letting go of those friendships that may be aren't the best for me for whatever reason.

This week I wanted to high light some of my amazing friends and I hope you'll do the same in the link up. How often do we brag about the friends that we have. We may assume they know how much we love them, but how often do we tell them? And in the interest of space this is going to be a short list out of a much greater list. I have too many female friends that I love to list them all here unfortunately.

Kristy B--Kristy and I went to elementary, middle, and high school together. We were in the same Brownie troop in 2nd/3rd grade, but did not get along until our 4th grade math teacher made us sit together. Ugh, right? It was the best thing that ever happened to me! We became instant best friends and spent the next 7 years of our lives glued to each other's sides. We drifted apart some in high school and then found our way back to each other in college and that's sort of been how we roll. We may not talk often, but we are still friends and when I was down in Florida last fall I probably saw Kristy more than any of my other friends. Her and her husband are amazing people and I feel so blessed and lucky that we have maintained our friendship after all these years. Almost 30 years of friendship. Crazy.

High school--Jen C, Amanda, Katie, Cory (among others) were my loves in high school. We were inseparable. Jen and I were the wild ones and we drug everyone else with us. Lots of adventures, many that I can't remember, and we still all talk and call each other friend to this day. Katie and Cory were just here with their daughters (wishing Jen and Amanda could've come as well) and we can't wait to see each other again.

My 20's--Melissa, Jen T, and Mary were my single partners in crime, along with my sister Karin, in our 20's. We went out every weekend. Every single weekend. We met boys, we had cocktails, we had sleepovers (yes, girls in their 20's still do that although maybe it's more someone is too drunk to drive home lol). I think about those days a lot. Melissa and Mary are both married now and Jen is going to be my sister wife in a few years. I wish we all lived in the same place so that we could grow our friendships as married couples, but I am happy that we still occasionally get to see each other. Mary let Em and I stay with her when we drove up to Baltimore to pick Paul up. And she even drove an hour and a half to come to the airport with us when he arrived home from Afghanistan. Even though we don't talk often I think about these 3 almost daily.

Valdosta, GA--When I moved to Valdosta to live with Paul to say I HATED it and was homesick would've been an understatement. I had no friends, no job, and pretty much sat at home all day until I met Emily at a Kappa Delta event. It was friendship love at first sight. Paul always jokes and says that we stalked each other before we went on our first friend date and he may be right. lol But through Emily I met all of the other amazing women I became friends with in GA (Brittany, Anne Marie, Beth Anne, Erika...) and who I'm still good friends with till this day. I only lived in Valdosta for 9 months and yet I became part of a phenomenal group of women. God certainly was smiling on me there and now I'm trying to get my mom to move to Valdosta. I think she'd like it plus it'd give me extra chances to visit. Not sure if we'll ever move back to GA, but I'm trying to convince everyone to move with us to TN. I also have to talk about Chelsea and George. George was Paul's roommate when we met and even though I met Paul right on the heels of him breaking up with another Jen he was dating who was friends with Chelsea and George I'm pretty sure they love me more. Chelsea and George are stationed in Japan right now, but I have my fingers crossed that we end up at the next base together.

I wish I had room to talk about all the amazing people in my life in this post. Of all the thinks I am thankful for friendship is one of the most important to me. I believe when you have good friends you work hard to keep them. I can't wait to read about all your friendships!