The Power of Prayer

With everything that has been going on these past week I have been turning to God more and more. I've always prayed every night before going to bed but now I feel like I've been in constant prayer to God. I know I've asked you all to pray for us and I know that the prayers are working. Dec 7th is an appt we were anxiously awaiting and I decided yesterday to call and see if I could get an earlier appt. No such luck. However later in the afternoon they had an opening for tomm at 8am. Praise the Lord. He heard our prayer's. So I only have one more day to wait before getting answers. I only hope that what I wish is God's will for us.

I read these two bible verses yesterday in my devotional and thought they were very fitting for what we are going through

1 John 5:14-15 " Now this is the confidence we have before him: Whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked him for

1 Peter 5:7 " Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you

So that's what I have been doing. I have been turning to God and trusting in him. I feel a sense of calm and relief so I'm hoping that is a good sign. Hopefully after tomm I will be able to update y'all.

I once again ask for some prayer's and appreciate everyone who has been praying for us. It means a lot to us

Have a great day everyone

Weekend Wrap Up

The past five days have been amazing! It was so nice and refreshing to be off work and do nothing but lay around, catch up on cleaning and errands, finish decorating for Xmas and enjoying time with the hubs

Wednesday the hubs had to work for a bit and I caught up on paperwork for work. Let me say that any paperwork I do is all on unpaid time so I was a little irritated that I had to do some on my vacation. To male matters worse we have to upload them onto a file sharing site. I had over thirty notes to send in and every time I hit the upload button the system would freeze. Not my computer or the Internet but the website that I was using. It took me four hours to upload my notes. Then I got an email from
The office clerk who deleted all my notes because apparently I named the files wrong. I immediately burst into tears. And of course had to do it all over again. The hubs came home to a crying blubbering mess. After that I took a nap and hubs tool me out to see Harry Potter

Thanksgiving was filled with way too much food. We first went to M's captains house. I was able to meet his Captains wife for the first time and loved her. She was so nice and sweet and with the guys leaving soon we both agreed to keep each other company. She also convinced us to go to the Batallions Xmas party which M has avoided the past few years. Now this year we will have to go!
After that we stopped at our good friends house for another dinner. And the news that she was expecting again. Baby number three. All in all we had a great thanksgiving spend with good friends and good food. I suffered all night though with a bloated belly and bad heartburn!

Friday the hubs and I were up at 4 to hit the mall. I won't tell you what I got since I picked up Xmas presents for family members who read this blog. We only hit the mall and target before making it home by 7 and going back to bed. The rest of the day was spent laying around and doing absolutely nothing. Later we rented Eat Pray Love and The Expendables. I did not care for Eat Pray Love finding it boring but actually liked the Expendables.

Saturday I got up and took the pups to the dog park. Then I cleaned while the Hubby went into work. After he got home we went and got a new Xmas tree. We bought a 7.5 foot white spruce tree, fake of course but prelit and the ends of the tree look frosted and there are acorns sporadically placed throughout the tree. Our theme this year is red and gold so I bought ornaments to go according to that and after we put up the tree we spent the night decorating it and watching Harry Potter 6.

Today- I actually got the hubs to go to church with me. We decided to adopt a 10 mth old off the angel tree and get him some gifts for Xmas. It was so sad to see all that most people asked for was gloves, coats and hats. Our little boy's family just asked for some clothes. After church we went out for breakfast and I went to kohls to pick up some outfits for the little boy. I had so much fun shopping for that baby's clothes!
After returning home the hubs started packing since he will be in the field all week an I curled up with the pups in bed while watching The Nativity Story. I l love that movie! Now I just finished making Baked Potato Soup and am preparing for another night of relaxation. Back to the grind tomorrow. I am not afraid to admit I could use another week off hehe!

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!


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Once Again

I know I asked you all to pray for M and I and I'm going to ask for another huge favor of you guys. My good friend Mrs G.I.Joe over at ACU's, Stiletto Shoes and Pretty Pink Tutus needs our prayers also. Her cousin celebrated the birth of his baby son Brody this past Saturday. He was born three months early and weighs in at 1lb 11 oz.Today little Brody suffered a brain hemorrhage and out of a 1-4 scale with 4 being the worst Brody's was a 4. So please pray for this little boy and his family. To read more about Brody and to send your prayers and thoughts to Mrs G.I.Joe please go HERE

In other news M and I canceled our Florida trip and are going to be enjoying our thanksgiving at home. Today also is a special day since it marks the 3 year anniversary of when we first met. 3 years ago I took my baby brother out to celebrate his 21st birthday. M's sister who I worked with had asked to meet us out since her brother, who had just come home from a deployment was coming home for thanksgiving. I agreed and that's when it all started. I am so thankful that M walked into that bar 3 years ago. On that day I met the love of my life and soul mate and am so grateful for the life that we have today.

These next two weeks are going to drag by as we anxiously await news that will change our lives forever. So again please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully come Dec 7th I will be able to share with you guys what has been going on.

I also want to take this time to send a big thanks to all my great blogger friends who are always so supportive. I love you all.

Prayers

While I can't share what is going on with M and I I just ask for your prayers. No we are not getting a divorce, not are there any problems between us whatsoever. I just ask that you keep us in your prayers and when I can update you on our situation I will.

I probably won't be blogging much this week so I wish y'all a happy thanksgiving!


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Weekend Wrap Up

The hubs and I had a crazy but amazing weekend!
Friday night I hung out with a girlfriend of mine while our hubbys got together to play Black ops the new call of duty game. Yes my husband is a gamer and a nerd at that

Saturday M got up to go into work and I laid in bed all morning relaxing and watching tv. It was so nice. I'm still not feeling the greatest and enjoyed catching up on my sleep
When he came home we ran some errands and than babysat our two fav little boys, ages 7 months and 2. The 2 year old def gave us a run for the money. He gets into everything and anything! But we always enjoy watching them so overall it was a great night

Sunday we were up bright and early cleaning and cooking for our thanksgiving feast. Since we will be outta town over thanksgiving we invited our close friends over for a early thanksgiving dinner. I made turkey, green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and biscuits. Nom nom. After eating all that it was no surprise I was in bed at 7pm

This week is also going to be q crazy week. We leave Wednesday for Florida. Many of you have asked where we will be PCSing too and Florida it is. We technically won't be moving for another 8 months if not more but since M leaves soon we are heading down to check out the area. We had originally intended on buying right away but some things came up that may affect our financial situation so we are looking to rent a house instead.I am so excited to only have one more day of work and than to be off for 5 whole days!

Hope y'all had a great weekend



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Playing Hooky and a new hobby

I am laying on my couch this morning debating if I should stay home from work again today or not. No, I'm not really playing hooky, I got sick at work yesterday with what I'm assuming is the flu. The only thing I've eaten in the past 24 hours is some soup and toast and my tummy is still quite upset

Part of me wanders if this flu is due to stress. Lately I've been feeling burnt out, both physically and emotionally. It was nice to sit on the couch yesterday and read and watch tv and do nothing.

My work hours have been crazy. Literally 8-6 every day and that doesnt include driving time. I feel like I have no time for myself or the hubs. Then when the weekend rolls around I'm catching up on cleaning and doing errands. I haven't worked out in months and I wish I had some more time to come home, prepare nice dinners other than recipes I can cook in the crock pot and I wish I had more time to just do things in general

Ok I'll get off my soapbox. I am lucky and grateful to have such an amazing job. And I do love what I do. I think what I need to do is find some sort of hobby. I love reading but sometimes am
Not in the mood to pick up a book. So I'm thinking of learning how to knit or crochet. I think it would be fun. So does anyone of you out there know how to knit or crochet. Which is easier? Did you teach yourself? Any pointers?


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Happy Birthday Baby Brother

Today is my baby brother's birthday. Technically he isn't a baby as he is turning 24! I can't believe he is that old already. It seems like just yesterday he was a freshman in high school when I was a senior,visiting my locker between classes because he knew my friends better than the kids in his class.

My brother and I are close, probably closer than most brothers and sister's. We grew up each others only siblings and my parent's never tolerated it when we fought with each other. After losing their first born they constantly taught us that family was important and that later on after they were gone it would just be my bro and I. Being a close knit family was very important to them. Sure we had our moments of sibling rivalry, like the fact that my brother as the youngest is clearly the favorite though he will tell you that our mom still buys me more clothes and things now that I'm outta the house than when I lived at home. But we grew up as each others best friends. He would play barbies with me as long as after awhile I would play legos or cars with him.

One of my favorite memories with my brother revolves around christmas. On Christmas Eve we used to sleep in sleeping bags in our living room under the christmas tree trying to catch santa. We'd stay up late watching holiday movies and talking. Once we reached the age where we knew santa didn't exist we continued this tradition. When I think of christmas and my brother this is the first memory that pops into my head.

When my brother went away to college, I moved back home. Then when he graduated and moved back in with my parent's I moved to NC. And although we don't get to see each other very often we text every day. I am looking forward to going home for Christmas and visiting with my brother.

Here our some pics of my bro, family and I at his 21st bday party which also happened to be the day I met my husband but I will share that story next week!!
Happy birthday Michael-I love you and can't wait to see you in a few weeks

My BookShelf

I have a stack of books on my nightstand begging to be read.I thought I'd share with you some of the titles


The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern
A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi
Going Rogue by Sarah Palin
A Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Dream when your Dreaming Blue by Elizabeth Berg
The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg
Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
The Love of her life by Harriet Evans
The Transformation of Things by Jillian Cantor
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Daughter of Darkness by VC Andrews

Whats on your reading list?

Weekend Wrap Up

The weekend started on Veterans day. The hubs had off and I only worked until 11am. We were able to go out to lunch together and just enjoy spending time with each other. That night we had friends over for dinner and enjoyed a night at home

Friday the hubs once again had I and I only worked until 1. M decided it would be fun to put up our Christmas decorations. I know thanksgiving hasn't even come yet but the next few weekends we won't be home to decorate. I normally pull out Christmas decorations on thanksgiving but we will be in florida during that time. We hit target and got some Christmas lights and prelit potted plants for our porch. Then we stopped at kohls to expand our Christmas village. A few years ago I bought us a bed and breakfast to symbolize where we stayed during our wedding and an Irish pub since we are Irish. This year we got a church, the town square and some village people. We went home and set up the village, hung up lights outside and out my favorite Christmas decoration- the willow tree nativity.



After decorating we cleaned and made dinner for our friends who were once again coming over

Saturday we got up bright and early to head out to Hilton Head. M's aunt and uncle had flown in the night before and had invited us to come stay for the night. I had never been to Hilton head and absolutely loved it. The area is so pretty and while walking on the ocean we saw at least 4 schools of dolphins frolicking in the waves. We went out to an amazing seafood restaurant and just spent the night catching up

This morning we slept in later than expected. We had originally planned to go out for a early breakfast and then M and I were gonna hit the outlet mall and hopefully meet up with a fellow blogger for lunch. That didn't really work. By the time we were up and ready it was lunch time though we still managed to find a local pancake house. After eating we said our goodbyes, stopped at the outlet mall for an hour and are now on our way back to Nc where I have been informed that our dogs have made a mess of our house. Luckily I have an amazing friend in town who agreed to let the dogs out when we were gone so we wouldn't have to board them. I guess they gave her a run for her money. My year old puppy who we kept in her crate in our room somehow, and I don't know exactly how managed to drag our bedsteads into her kennel and eat them. 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets! But oh well not much we can do. Tonight we plan on putting up our Xmas tree and watching our first holiday movie of the season!

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

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Blue or Red Fridays

I posted about an email I received yesterday about blue Fridays. I know that normally Fridays have been considered red fridays and am not sure if blue Fridays is not replacing the red. I just posted the email because I thought the stories and pictures were too amazing not to share and completely touched my heart. I've had some of you ask if blue Fridays is replacing red and I do not know the answer. Maybe someone out there does. So if anyone has any information let us know!!

Happy Saturday!


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Blue Friday

WILL YOU WEAR BLUE???

I got this in an email today and thought it was too good not to share

International Picture of the Year
Here are 2 very touching photos honored this year

First Place :





Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News

When 2nd Lt. James Cathey's body arrived at the Reno Airport , Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac.
During the arrival of another Marine's casket last year at Denver International Airport , Major Steve Beck described the scene as so powerful:

'See the people in the windows? They sat right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home,' he said 'They will remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should'

Second Place





Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News

The night before the burial of her husband's body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time.

The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of 'Cat,' and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. 'I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,' she said. 'I think that's what he would have wanted'



PLEASE KEEP THIS GOING!
"Blue Fridays"


Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing blue every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the 'silent majority' We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or overbearing. Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops.



Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -- and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar, will wear something blue.





By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of blue much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.



If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, coworkers, friends, and family, it will not be long before the USA is covered in BLUE and it will let our troops know the once 'silent' majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on.



The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you?' is. 'We need your support and your prayers.'



Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear something blue every Friday.

IF YOU AGREE -- THEN SEND THIS ON.

IF YOU COULDN'T CARE LESS -- THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON.

BET YOU DON'T!


Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:

1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Veteran's Day, Lifetime and the CMA's

The only words I can think of to say today is Thank you. Thank to you all the men and women who have served and continue to serve in our armed forces. I may be a military wife but as far as serving our country the only thing I do is say goodbye to my soldier and anxiously await his return home. I know nothing of what it feels like to leave your friends and family behind, I don't miss out on holiday's family functions, birthday's and other day to day activities that continue to go on without me, I don't sleep in barrack's or a tent and have to wear a uniform day in and day out.I am free to go on about my day whether the hubby is gone or home because of people like my husband. Because of all those men and women who believe in and fight for our freedom. So thank you! I know that this simple thank you can never repay all that they have given up for us here at home

And in honor of veteran's day I was contacted about this new lifetime series featuring military homecomings. I have spent many hours watching the youtube reunion video's and am so excited to see that there is actually going to be a show catering to our military members. So here is the information and if you are interested in being featured on the show def sign up

LIFETIME TV SERIES FEATURING MILITARY REUNIONS

Lifetime network, home of the hit TV series “Army Wives,” is producing an exciting new reality show that will honor the great sacrifices and celebrate the emotional reunions of service members – from all five branches of the Armed Forces – with their loved ones.

These wonderful moments are perfect opportunities for heartfelt and poignant stories, as well as fun and unexpected surprises.

Please let us know if you’re interested in crafting the perfect reunion with your parent, spouse, fiancé, best friend or pen pal!

We’re filming these reunions with service members on leave or redeployment from mid-November until mid-March.

This exciting project has full approval from, and is working directly with, the Department of Defense.

Please send contact information, date and location of return/reunion, and a few photographs.

Include a bit about yourself, your service member, and why creating an amazing reunion is important to you!

Please reply to: militaryshow@rrstaff.com

So there you have it. I can't wait until this show officially airs. And speaking of tv shows, did anyone watch the CMA's last night. I just love how country singer's pay tribute to our military and the scenes of the stars signing a race car that is to be donated to the wounded warrior's project brought tears to my eyes! And if you watched the CMA's did you happen to catch Gwenyth Palrow. I'm sorry, she wasn't horrible but she should stick to acting and not becoming a country singer. It was just too unbelievable for me but that's just my opinion. It seems like anyone famous these days can just drop an album or a book and it becomes a bestseller regardless if it's bad or good.

Happy veteran's day everyone!

Never Grow Up

Last week I went out and bought the new Taylor Swift cd. I love it! Every single song is awesome but I do have to say my favorite is Never Grow Up. I listened to it as I was on my way to the store and immediately burst into tears. She sings about enjoying your childhood and how we should not be in a rush to grow up! This song really hit home to me

I grew up in a close knit family. My parent's revolved their whole lives around my brother and I. Weekends were started off by movie night on Friday and would continue to include trips to the zoo, museum, movies, etc. Any family friendly activity that went on we were there, along with getting together with other various family members. We went on two big family vacations a year and I can honestly say that there wasn't a vacation that my parent's took that we didn't accompany them on.

Growing up I loved all these outings and family vacations but remember by the time I hit my teenage years the last thing I wanted to do was spend a week with my parent's anywhere. I complained and grumbled and the minute we got home I rushed to the phone to call my friends. Friday movie nights gave way to outings with my friends and by the time I reached college I was ready to move out. My parent's warned I shouldn't rush getting an apt with friends but did I listen? Nope. And Dad you were totally right. If I would have stayed home for a few years I prolly wouldn't have ended up in so much credit card debt. But anyway back to my post. My college years were filled with nights out with friends and long gone were weekends spent with the family. By my senior year of college I was over it though. I longed for quieter times and missed the days spent with my family.

When I met the hubs and he deployed I moved back in with my parent's.I loved growing closer to them again and being able to spend more time with them. I wish I could have taken back every vacation where I wasted time complaining about being away from my friends, spent more times with my parent's and not being embarassed when they tried hard to fit in with my friends. It's funny how as you get older you try so hard to recapture your childhood and relish every memory.

My parent's also were big on traditions, especially around the holiday's. My mom always made a big deal out of decorating the house for every holiday and planning many family functions. As a child I loved this but as a sullen teenager I could have cared less if we went and cut our own christmas tree down and dreaded spending a day decorating the tree with my mom. However that also changed my senior year of college. It was as if as I grew older I realized that family and time spent with them was more important than night out with friends. I got back into celebrating the holiday's with my parent's and loved tramping through the forest in snow boots looking for a tree and then rushing home to decorate it. I loved all my family traditions and couldn't wait to start my own

I found that once I moved to NC I did my best to continue these traditions with M and I also tried to incorporate our own traditions with my family's. Now that we have decided to go back to Wisconsin this year for Christmas I am fully in the christmas spirit. I can't wait to spend some much needed time with my family.

My favorite line in the Never Grow Up song is when Taylor sings about not making your mom drop you off around the block because remember that she is growing older too. This is the line that really touched close to home. I can try my best to pretend that my parent's are not growing older and that we don't live far away.But in fact they are and who knows how often we will be able to make it home for the holiday's. I can't wait to see them in a month and celebrate my old childhood traditions and share them with M. And part of me will wish that I was still a little kid again!!

Photoshoot

The hubs and I hardly have any nice pics of the two of us. The only ones we have are one's from our wedding. Sure we have some pics from vacations and get together's but most of those have my arm in the pic since I am taking the picture!! So this year I asked M if we could go get pics taken. I wanted to use these pics for christmas cards and to also blow up a nice pic of the two of us for our family members for christmas gifts. I was just going to make an appt at JCPenny's for these pics but then remember a friend of mine in town B just started her own photography business. I had only met B twice and it had been awhile since I had talked with her but decided to message her and ask if we could meet up for a photoshoot. She agreed and I'm so glad she did. She is such a nice,sweet girl and very talented with her camera and photoshop. And she also recently started a blog so click here to read about the life of BJOHNSON, fellow army wife stationed here in NC

Here are some of the pics she took of us last weekend












Thanks B!!

Trump Card

It's not very often that I get to claim that my job is more stressful than my soldier's. I am the first to admit I have no clue what it's really like to be in the army, nor do I think I could handle it. I would be the girl leaving basic crying hysterically because someone yelled at her! And since my job keeps me safely at home with no chance of me encountering terrorist's, IED's and living in horrible conditions do I ever try and claim that I have it harder than he does.

But certain days I am able to do so. And today was one of those days. I have mentioned that I am a behavioral therapist who works with kids who have autism. Some days the job can def be stressful and challenging but other days are just plain fun. Today though I was pushed to the limit. While my hubby sat in a classroom all day attending a training course, I was spat on, kicked repeatedly and slapped while also blocking flying objects such as shoes, remote controls and metal water bottles being thrown at me from a 7 year old. As a behavior analyst we are taught and trained to ignore such behaviors and block so that the child can cause no harm to themselves or others. But really all I wanted to do was run from the room

After that session I had one more kid to go. I was already stressed and tense and couldn't wait to end my work day. I was pulling out of the post housing complex that I had been at and stopped at the stop sign. Before turning I made sure the way was clear. The sun was setting between houses and causing a huge glare from the reflection on the street sign. Not to mention a soldier was out jogging with his reflector belt. When I thought he had passed I slowly stepped on the gas. And... almost ran over another soldier who I never saw due to the glare and reflection. Luckily I didn't hit him and he laughed at my apologies and shocked look on my face. Thank god I didn't step on the gas hard. I seriously would have hit him

Needless to say when work was finally over I was more than ready to go home. The hubs had gotten off at two so I walked in on him sitting on my freshly dusted coffee table, with 5 soda cans and a bag of chips piled around him. I had to remember whether or not I had entered my grown up apartment or my college apt! I ignored this and heated up dinner which thankfully was leftover's from the night before. When we finally sat down to eat M asked me for a soda. I paused and debated about what to say. I held my tongue and politely mentioned that maybe there was some soda left in the 5 cans cluttering our coffee table. He of course tried to insist that some were mine from yesterday. Nice try hubs and I then called him out on the fact that he had sat in a classroom all day and was home by 2. This clearly did not phase M as he stared at me with his so what look. I trumped this by stating that not only did I almost run over a solider, that I had had three, not one by three loogies spat at me. Two in my face and one in my hair. Even M was stunned. He quietly got up, got his soda and didn't say another word. Yes for once I was able to trump him in the who had a more stressful work day game!
Point for me

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday- The hubs and I actually had date night. This was the first weekend since he has come
Back from his deployment that he has had off. It was so nice to have my relaxed and carefree husband back. It def beats the stressed and tense Hubby that I see most weekends! I really wanted to go out for a nice steak dinner but there was a long wait so we went to a local chain Smokey Bones for dinner. It wasn't too bad actually. Then we finally went to go see Life As We Know It. What an awesome
Movie. It made you laugh and cry and the hubs actually enjoyed it too!

Saturday- I got up bright and early to go to the holiday fair in town. I went with my friend who had the miscarriage and her mom. My friend is starting to get back to her old self. She has regained her appetite and color had come back to her face. She left the craft fair for a bit to drop her mom off at the airport and came back saying she had a melt down in the car. I was just glad that I was there to keep her company yesterday. And the craft fair was a ton of fun. I got my parents, brother, in laws and niece all their presents from
There not to mention some cute stuff for our apt! I did drink some mulled cider wine that I didn't do very well with so I left feeling quite sick.

Sunday- I meant to get up and go to church this morning but still wasn't feeling good from yesterday. So instead I cleaned the house and decided to make some homemade bread and potato soup. The soup turned out great, the bread took some time. I normally make it in my break machine but could not remember what ingredients needed to be put in first. So the first batch didn't turn out. But when I put the liquid ingredients in last it turned out great!
The hubs and I spent the rest of the day relaxing and spending some much needed time together

One great thing we did is finalized our thanksgiving plans. We had meant to stay in Nc for thanksgiving and over Xmas take a trip to where we will be pcsing to look for a house. However we decided to go over thanksgiving and go home for Xmas! I am
So excited. Xmas isn't the same without our families. We also booked a room on the post we will be pcsing too so that helped in that we don't have to find a hotel to stay at or pay a ton of money since it is thanksgiving weekend. Now just keeping our fingers crossed that the vet has an opening for our dogs over thanksgiving

What did y'all do this weekend?


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Christmas Cards

I love Christmas and am now officially in the Holiday spirit because we decided today to go home for Christmas!!!
And one thing I wanted to do this year for Christmas was actually send out cards. Last year we were lazy and did not do so and this year I told M we had no excuse. I even had a friend in town here take pics for us that we can use for our cards. Originally in the past I have ordered cards and pictures from snapfish.com. In recent order's I have been unhappy with the quality of my prints and have found that their customer service is even worse. So I decided to check out shutterfly. They have some beautiful card options and many other products to chose from such as gift tags, photo gifts, things for home decor and cute calendar's that you can make. So I knew that once our pics were in I would be ordering my cards from shutterfly. Well all week I had seen blogger's post about how shutterfly was giving away 50 free cards to blogger's. I immediately hopped on the bandwagon since not only do I want to purchase christmas cards, we also our giving the pics of us to our family members so I have a ton of print's to order!


So after looking at Shutterfly's website here are some of my favorite cards
This one is so adorable. If we had a newborn this would be the card that I was sending out for sure! How sweet




http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/joyous-and-blessed-religious-christmas-card?sortType=1&storeNode=60217


http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/elegant-lace-snowflakes-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93496







http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards/holly-chocolate-christmas-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93480

As you can see I posted the links below. For some reason my links aren't working so just copy and paste the links into your url and it will take you to shutterfly's site.

And for all you blogger's out there if you are interested in receiving 50 free holiday cards click here

Oh the games we play

Last year the hubby and I attended a marriage retreat put on by his unit. The retreat was based on the book Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage by Mark Gungor. This retreat and book was truly amazing. I would recommend this book to anyone. Mark Gungor is a pastor from Wisconsin and travels all over holding marriage seminars. I am actually going to a seminar this weekend at Rockfish church in town that is based on this book. I am unsure if he will actually be holding this seminar or if it's just based on his book but I can't wait to go

One of the things discussed at the retreat and in this book was the point system that men and women use to compare themselves to each other. For example women give themself a point for everything they do during the day. A point for working, a point for cooking, cleaning, laundry etc. Men give themselves thousands of points for just completing one task. So men always view themselves ahead of their wives. The hubs and I now jokingly give each other points during the day for things we do! M loves when he can one up me and gain a point

Like last night. We stopped at target to pick up some odds and ends. The week before on his off day he mentioned running to Best Buy. I asked him to get me the Taylor Swift cd. He said he would. When I got home he said the cd was $20.00 so he didn't get it for me. I have to admit I was very irritated. I am always running and picking up things for M. If he puts a book on hold at barnes and nobles I pick it up. If I run to the store he will text me what he needs. Never does he pick up things for me. But I didn't say anything. The next day I just ran to Walmart and picked it up. But last night at Target we walked past the cd aisle and I jokingly mentioned how cheap the Taylor Swift cd was $12.99. M tried to change the subject. Later as we were walking through the rest of the store I mentioned having to run to Kohls the next day. M asked me to pick him up something from there. I said no, that he never picks stuff up for me so he could do it himself. He then tried to ask what I have ever asked him to get for me that he didn't. So I brought up the cd. He then tried to backpedal and say they had been sold out. I laughed and called him out on it. Point for me!

Then as I was picking out birthday cards for my brother M found me in the card aisle and told me to get a bday card for his sister. When I asked when her bday was I got the look, the look that says You should know what date my sister's bday is. So very sarcastically he went to clarify that my brother's birthday was the day after his sisters. Her's is on the 17 and his is the 18th. I busted out laughing because my brother's birthday is not the 18th. Nice try there M. He had nothing to say after that

Ahh I love my husband to death but we both know who wins the point's game every day!

The Difference between IED's and IUD's

My hubby is a saint when it comes to putting up with me! You would think that after 2.5 years of being a mil spouse I would know more about the military in general but I don't. I'm constantly screwing up the acronyms, ranks, mos's and so forth. Although I may be clueless when it comes to all things military related my hubby will be the first to admit that I'm always supportive and rarely complain no matter what is thrown at us. But I had to share these stories with y'all

When I first found out my hubby made the promotion list I pulled out my Married to the military book and started to brush up on ranks. I constantly get them messed up and am not afraid to admit that if you take away the E1-8 part I have no idea what title matches the number. When my hubby came home last weekend and announced that on the first he was finally getting promoted I decided to impress him with my knowledge of ranks. So I busted out with Oh so now you will be ______ rank. I waited for him to appear shocked that I actually knew what his rank would be. Instead he said, thanks babe you just demoted me by two pay grades. Opps!! Though yesterday when he came home with his new id card and showed me his newly promoted rank displayed on it I did correctly get his new "title" right!

Also last night I made another blunder. I was going to tell my hubby about a story I read about soldier who was being treated at Walter Reed. When my hubby asked what happened to him I told him that the guy had gotten hit by an IUD. The look on his face was priceless. He calmly told me that an IUD was a form of birth control and then asked if I meant an IED. Whoops!!

My hubby usually jokes about my cluelessness but the other day he became a little upset with me. Awhile ago the hubs gave me a book that told about his job in depth. I put it aside on my book shelf and never picked it up. To my credit I was currently going to work for my certification in Applied Behavioral Analysis.After reading Skinner textbooks and books on ABA the last thing I wanted was to pick up another dry book for fun reading. Well I still haven't read the book. A few weeks ago we went out to dinner with another military couple. M joked about me not reading the book and we all laughed it off. That is until we got into the car and he brought up the fact that I still haven't read the book. This conversation continued all the way into the house. Basically he was hurt that I hadn't read the book. That I always ask questions about things yet I don't do anything to learn the answers. Especially now with the decision to reenlist made I know that I need to take a more active interest in my husband's career. And if that means I need to start reading that book I will do it. Though it may still be awhile before I stop calling IED's IUD's

Baby It's Cold Outside

The temp is finally getting cool here in NC. Nights and early mornings are brisk and chilly and temps during the day aren't getting much past 60! Bring it on. By this weekend temps should be cool all around and I'm honestly so excited for that. I can't wait to bust out my sweaters and boots!

Another thing that made me
Happy today was that I bought my first holiday book of the season! Yup I'm a nerd and love holiday related
Books. Today I picked up Knit Season, one of the books in the Knitting Club series. I can't wait to start reading it. I also stopped at target today and saw they are putting out their Christmas decorations. I love it! This year I plan to go all out!

The rest of the week will be a busy one in our household. Tomm I need to do some major grocery shopping. Is it just me or does menu planning get old. I swear I cannot come up with any new menu ideas. I also decided to do my grocery shopping at Aldi's. Have any of you shopped there. It's all discounted stuff but not necessarily generic. I love going there for all our staples, milk, bread, butter, eggs, etc. We really do save quite alot

Then tomm night or Thursday I am having a girls night with my friend who lost her baby and hopefully Friday will turn into a date night with the hubs.
I took a "mental health" day Friday and only work two hours. I can't wait to relax and get caught up on some things around the house!!

Then Saturday I am off to the Holiday Fair here in town. I was unable to go last year but can't wait to go this year. Not only do they have a ton of vendors but lots of crafty decorations to buy but they also sell holiday wines! Yum yum

So as you can see I have a busy next few days coming up! Happy Hump Day


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Prayers Needed

My friend today, the one who informed me of her pregnancy last week called to tell me she miscarried. Words cannot describe how horrible I feel for her. Not only for her losing the baby and having to go through this, but horrible that I was selfish and jealous of her pregnancy in the first place. So all I ask is if you can say a quick word of prayer for my friend. I can't even imagine what she is going though

Thanks so much


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Bye Bye Baby

So a few posts ago I wrote about trying to conceive and how I felt about a good friend being pregnant.
I held out with said friend this weekend and it wasn't as bad as I thought. Although I was sad and a teeny bit jealous I'm glad those feelings didn't get in the way of our friendship. As this is my friends first everything is baby this and baby that. And at 5 weeks she's already fat and bloated. She's a size 2 and pregnant. I'm an 8 on a good day and not pregnant. Who should feel fat and bloated hehe
But in all seriousness I am able to push aside my feelings and focus on being very happy for her. Lately all my friends in town have had boys and I'm so hoping she has a girl so I can go crazy shopping for baby girl outfits!

Today joking with the Hubby I mentioned that in the next few days it would be our prime time to, you know...

The look of horror on his face was priceless. I got a No we are moving in 8 months, we can't move with you pregnant!! And although that is why he says we need to wait before we start trying again I know that deep down he needs a break

I've been so obsessed with charting and buying ovulation kits along with every sigle pregnancy and fertility book known to man. He admitted that he didn't know what to say to me after finding out our friend was pregnant because he felt I would lose it and blame him for everything. That made me feel horrible

So while I'm disappointed to take a break I agree it's for the best. Since he's been back from
This deployment I've been consumed with trying to conceive. It was all I talked and thought about. I know that that probably wasn't what he had been looking forward to after being deployed. Especially since it did create a stressful home situation

So today I packed up all those baby and fertility books and put them away in the back of my closet. I know it's only for a few
Months but I am looking forward to just spending some quality time with the Hubby and not having this dark cloud hanging over our heads

Thanks again for everyones comment and support these last few days. It's nice knowing I have such amazing blogger friends

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Insomnia

Ever since I was little I've always been a slight sleeper. Some days I have no problems falling asleep, other nights I toss and turn all night long. Some of my weird sleep habits include the following. No matter how tired I am, if I take a nap during the day I won't fall asleep at all that night. I am perfectly fine falling asleep in a well lit room with the tv on but the minute the tv and lights go off I'm wide awake. If something wakes me up, such as a phone call, the dogs or the Hubby either as I'm falling asleep or am asleep I again am up all night.

What usually helps me fall asleep is the tv. I need some sort of background noise to help me sleep. For awhile the hubby put up with it but last night he told me he couldn't deal with it anymore. He says that he ends up staying up to finish watching the movie while I fall asleep. Even if I pick a movie he is sure to hate he will watch the movie until the end. He stated that last night was our last night to watch tv while going to bed.

Now I don't know what to do. I've tried everything to help me fall asleep. Warm milk, wine, and once I even tried Tylenol pm. That made me hallucinate and sleep walk! So I'm afraid to try anything like that again.

So now I have to try and figure out other ways to fall asleep. Any ideas?




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