Randoms

I just need like and hour and 1/2 added to the day. Couldn't we all use that?

I have a few spare minutes to blog, but my mind isn't capable of putting together full, concise paragraphs at the moment, so it's another fun random post. Yay!

First, and most importantly, Fort Bliss lost a Marine, SSGT Christopher Diaz, recently. The other day was the funeral and burial. The night before, it was posted all over FB that the westboro crazies were coming to protest the funeral. I won't get into how sick this makes me as 1) I'm sure you all know and 2) we'd be here all day. What I will do is boast about how incredible the Ft. Bliss community is. A very large amount of people showed up to support this family and westboro did not! I'm so glad for that family! Some of the pictures that I've seen so far are just breathtaking..

All photos were taken courtesy of Jessica Brooks





All scrap booking stuff is on sale at The Hob Lob for 40% off until the 15th. I couldn't be any more excited. But, don't you wish money grew on trees? That's wonderful that it's on sale and all... but if you have very little extra money, it doesn't matter too much. That all being said, I'm going tomorrow to pick up juussttt a few things.
~ Ahem ~
All of that above was written yesterday. I'm just sitting down to finish quickly, and have to admit that I went a little crazy at the Hob today. But I am in scrap booking heaven! I can't wait to start on Andrew's 1st year book. I may or may not be just waiting on the 335 pictures I ordered from Snapfish the other day to come in. Woopsies! But as my good friend Nancy pointed out... that's less than a picture a day. I think I did pretty good narrowing down a year's worth of pictures.

My in-laws are flying in on Thursday. I'm so excited to have some visitors. It's just a short visit, but we're going to make the most of it. It should be a fun few days :) I'm hoping Andrew will take his first real steps while they are here. He's so so so very close. As in has taken one or two wobbly can-barely-count-as-steps-steps. We're so close and I can't wait. No matter how many people tell me, "I'm in trouble now". That really grinds my gears (said in my best Peter Griffin voice).

I've finally joined Pinterest. Got sick of fighting it and it's the best thing that's come into my life. A little obsessed? Possibly.

That's all for now. I can't promise that I'll come up with any note-worthy posts anytime soon. Unless you can find me that extra hour and 1/2 in a day!

Officially Fall... almost

Tomorrow marks the first official day of fall and I've finished my Fall Bucket List just in time!

When Katie first posted hers for all of us to not only oooooh and ahhhhhh over, but actually print it out as well, I was straight giddy. A Fall themed decoration that serves a purpose... bonus! I could hug her through the computer for giving me the adorable idea.

When I clicked on the link to print it out, I thought I'd be able to change the "to-do" items. You know.. make it my own without having to do any of the work? Not so much. Seems I was going to have to dig out my old computer skillz.

I love your ideas, Katie. I do. From the looks of it, you're going to have a few months worth of awesome family fun. But... I live in the desert. Beautiful, crunchy leaf piles? Not gonna happen for us. And while I love pies, I've only attempted to make one and it wasn't very fun for me. I'll leave that one alone too. So you see... I just needed to make my own list. But I'm ever so grateful for her posting her creativeness for the world to see so I can copy it :)

I also have no free printable to post like she did. Not because I'm not super nice like that... I.. umm.. don't know how to do that. If anyone does know how and is that interested, feel free to leave me directions. I don't mind sharing.

I can, however, show you what I did with mine. I have my dry erase marker ready for checking off all the fun things we have planned! Ta-daaaa -

That's a big picture. Good thing I just dusted!

Friday Randomness

I've been hard at work all morning getting Drew's nursery organized :) :) :) As I sit here glistening *goes to turn on all fans and swamp cooler* I realize I may have already pushed myself a bit further than I should, but I just. can't. stop! Mainly, I'm just putting things we've gotten recently in place (a small dresser and one of those cubby things that you can put the different colored cloth baskets in... know what I'm talking about? No? I'll have pics soon) and washing the rest of his clothes, bibs, burp clothes, etc. so I can put those away in said new items.
The crib will be here next week (thanks again mum and dad... I say dad.. but I'm not sure if he is aware that he bought this for us) as will the bedding set thanks to a source that I am not allowed to reveal. I'm really thankful for that unmentionable source, because Trey would have never allowed me to spend that amount of money on it. He is under the impression that Drew only needs the bare essentials and apparently and matching room isn't essential??? Men....

I had such an awesome dream last night. You know.. one of those dreams that you don't want to wake up from. You desperately try to go back to sleep so you can live in your fantasy world again, even for just a short bit of time. I emailed my mum about it this morning:

"I had a dream last night that I was due at any time and we were just waiting around for the signs. I can't even tell you how disappointed I was when I woke up and realized I still had 6-11 weeks left. I'm getting EXTREMELY excited to meet him and see what he looks like and am caring less and less about the pain and whatever I have to go through to get him out."
Her response was, "sounds like a mom" and that made my heart smile from somewhere it never has before I think. It's starting to become a reality for me. In about two months, I am going to be a real life mum!

This week I've been to two classes. Earlier in the week was an Car Seat Safety class. I just wanted them to correctly install the infant car seat in my car and the convertible one we have in Trey's truck. He wasn't able to get off of work, so that was a fail. Not so much a fail though... the El Paso Police Dept. gives you a brand new convertible car seat when you go to these classes! I even tried not to take it, not wanting to take anything away from someone who has nothing, but apparently they have a big surplus. Sooo we currently have 3 car seats! Is anyone giving away baby swings???
Last night we went to an Infant CPR class, which was very informative. We learned what to do if a baby is ever unresponsive or if they are choking. Here's to hoping and praying that we never have to use this information!!

I feel like I've been eating so much food without any regard to the healthiness or caloric intake. I'm really afraid to go back to the doctor on the 8th.

I went back to the stitchers group again this week. Remember, when I left last week, Mrs. Host (we're officially friends now, FB says so, but I don't like to use people's real names until I know they are comfortable with it) said it would be a success if I had an "E" stitched. I COULD NOT WAIT to show her that I actually had "NDREW" done! I showed her and her excitement did not disappoint me. It's like a 5 year old trying to impress her kindergarten teacher and when I showed her, I felt like I got my smiley sticker for the day :) I can't wait to show you guys when I'm done!

That book I'm reading is SO SO good!! I'll tell you all about it when I'm done, but I felt I should mention that because it takes place in London, I'm learning a lot of their slang. For instance, and I should have noted the page so I could give you an exact quote, in one part, there is a guy who is very stressed out and talks about really needing a "fag" in his mouth. I'm still laughing now as I remember by first reaction to this until I realized that a "fag" is really a cigarette. Who knew? I also find that when I'm thinking things in my head (like reading this blog as I type) that my inside voice now permanently has a English? accent. I kind of enjoy it, I just hope it doesn't come out when I talk out loud. That would be quite awkward. (that was said very Londonly in my head).

That's about all for now. We have a decent weekend coming up I think. I may be going to dinner with some wives from Trey's unit tonight, but I'm not sure if that's set in stone yet. Trey is going to a party tonight at a guy's house that he went to OCS with. I've already come to terms with the fact that I will be picking him up, but so help HIM God if it's after 10:00. (hey.. I'm pregnant.. that is past my going out time!) Tomorrow morning we'll be thrown into finding a new mechanic in this area. His window won't roll up. AGAIN. Well a different one this time, but still.. and tomorrow afternoon we have some kind of get together with his unit.

Maybe I'll make him steak and baked potatoes one night, since he'll be putting a crib together next week...

New Hobby

Within our first week of getting to El Paso, the realtor we were using (and now turned friend) invited us to a cookout they were having along with other military couples. There was another pregnant wifey there (again turned friend) who invited me to join in her Fort Bliss craft group. I kept saying "yes I'd love to" for about a month, but other things kept coming up. Finally, last week, I was free and went to the craft group albeit with nerves in my stomach.

I don't have the easiest time trying new things. I usually do and am up for trying just about anything, but it's always hard for me. Just have to push the nerves away!

Anyway.. I'm so glad I went! Turns out it's actually a stitchers group and these ladies are all waaay more advanced than I am. As in, they were making quilts and I don't know how to sew a button on a pair of pants! So yeah... way advanced. I felt comfortable right away though. I enjoyed chatting and had every intention of coming back next week, but not really participating.

Then the host got ahold of me and insisted I start a project. We'll start you easy she said.. with cross stitching. I looked at her like she was insane, but mindlessly followed her into her sewing room and let her load me up with supplies. It's like she had me brain washed and I could say no. All I knew is that I was in over my head. Before I knew it, I was on my way home with everything I needed to make a burp cloth for my son. Except confidence.

I took everything home and stared at it for a few hours giving myself a pep talk. You can do this. It's just a burp cloth. Who cares how it turns out, Andrew's just going to be spitting up all over it anyways. I'll be able to keep it and tell him later on, "look what your mama made for you". Just try it.. who knows.. you might be a genius at cross stitching. I finally pick up the cloth and clumsily thread the needle.. I'm all thumbs. I can't figure out what the hell she meant by stitching all in the same way and something about top left to right bottom. Right bottom of what???

The next afternoon I leave a desperate comment on above mentioned "friend" who forced me to start this crap anyways, letting her know I was giving up until we met up next. I vented and vented. Then picked it back up, pissed that I was failing, and was determined to conquer this burp cloth.. it was not going to get the best of me.

That's all I needed I guess. Something clicked and I figured it out just like that. I'm glad I was home alone because the happy dance that ensued after that was probably not pretty. I was so flippin proud of myself.

The host said if I come back on Thursday with an E done (his name is part of the design and you have to start in the middle) she'll call it a success. I'm not done yet, of course, but it's only Monday and look what we have so far...

In the end, it'll say "Andrew" and the name will be being (that drives me crazy) towed away by a tow truck.. hence the wheels on the bottom of his name. It's not perfect by any means, but I'm glad that friend of mine (we can take the quotation marks away now ) ;) introduced me to something I NEVER would have tried on my own!

New Discoveries

I've been meaning to post about my favorite new discovery for quite some time now. On the slim chance that there are still people in the dark, like I have been, you must check out Pandora! This is pretty much the coolest website I have ever seen (you'll agree if you're a music lover like me). All you have to do is type in an artist you are loving or a song, and Pandora will create your very own radio station and save it. It'll play song after song for you that has qualities just like the one you picked and you give the song either a thumbs up or thumbs down (or just let it play if you don't want to be bothered by that). Thumbs up - they'll play more of the like, thumbs down - they will never ever play that song again! You can have multiple stations saved up too. Staying true to my random music taste for example, I have these stations: The Fray, Rihanna, MercyMe, Lil' Wayne (should those two stations be even typed next to each other??), and for my husbands deep south county taste, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band? *which gets no play* So anyway, this is perfect for me when it's time to do a little house cleaning. Oh yeah.. best part... it's FREE. Boooyah.

Discovery number 2? I don't remember, actually. I had this blog post idea in my head all day yesterday, but I was following my strict rule of not doing two posts in one day. I was hoping it would come to me by the time I got to this point, but it's just not happening. Buutttt....

I have a third one after last night. I went to a place called A Pigment of Your Imagination last night with our FRG group. It's the cutest little place to go in and paint pottery. I was looking forward to going, but a little worked up about it at the same time. I promise you, I am the least creative person you will ever meet. I also have zero artistic ability and have a hard time with decision making. After saying all of that - I had THE BEST TIME. I can't express how much fun we had! The whole picking out what I wanted to make and deciding on a design and colors did stress me out a tad. I must have changed my mind at least 4 times. I made a great decision in the end, though, and I can't wait to see the finished product. (Much to my relief they had stencils... so you really don't have to be a great artist!) It takes quite a bit longer than I expected so most of us didn't finish. We go back next Wednesday morning to finish up. I can't wait to show y'all the finished product :) And seriously... I could make us go broke in that place! I have SO many more projects in mind at that place. Gifts, decorations, and nursery items... watch out!