Not deploying

Go here. I read it and thought it was interesting. What do all of you think? What would you have done? Or what if it was your husband?

More chocolat

What Kind of Chocolate Are You? Your Result: Chocolate Hazelnut Chocolate hazelnut is so pure and honest... just like you. You are one smart person, with a passion of helping others. We can always count on you to help us out, whether it's a math problem or just a bad day. Don't be afraid to steer away from your plain white tees and straight-cut jeans once in a while, though!
Dark Chocolate
Chocolate-Covered Fruit
Milk Chocolate
White Chocolate
<>http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_kind_of_chocolate_are_you_3">What Kind of Chocolate Are You? http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quizzes for MySpace

Just for you Athena. And just for the record I don't like hazelnuts. But I LOVE nutella.

Lucy

I have been beginning to potty train Lucy. Yesterday and today haven't been too bad. Yesterday we had many accidents, but today only one. She is getting the hang of it. AFter dinner I was on the computer, and I couldn't hear her. Andrew was using the kids bathroom. I finally yelled out "where's Lucy??" and she responded "I pooping mom". Immediately I jumped up to find her. She was sitting in the dark in our bathroom, using our toilet and doing her thing. Only problem was that she had forgotten to take off her underwears. Luckily, it wasn't messy and could be dumped right in the potty, but not without some help from Matt. So, she is getting it and this is only really day 2. I think it helps that she gets to wear pretty underwear and when we go out she wears princess pullups. I still have to find either Dora or princess underwear that are small enough for her 2T bum. I reward my kids with "cool" underwear once they can do it. Unfortunately, this leads to taking our pants off in public to show it off. Like in primary several months ago.

She just said "mommy I need to go potty" and she did it within a few seconds of sitting down. YAY!!!!

Cake

So, I have never been a cake decorator. I just have a hard time spending so much time on something that is going to be eaten, and no matter what it looks like on the outside it is still going to be the same on the inside. But I have friends that really get into it!! Not that I don't appreciate a beautiful/cool cake. Just not for me. But check out my friend Christy and the cakes she has made for the men in her life.

For Lucy's birthday I attempted a watermelon cake. I could never get the darn cake to come out of the pan without falling apart. Yeah, cake making is not for me. But cupcakes, can totally do those.

Le Chocolat

My chocolate is coming!!!!!!!!!

I keep forgetting to tell you all

Remember the soldier I posted about in this post? I found out the week that Lucy got sick that he had passed away sometime earlier that week. The only postive thing I can attempt to find is that he got to spend the last few months with his wife and his family before he passed. So many soldiers die in Iraq or Afganistan. This soldier was surrounded by his family. This is seriously the hardest part of being in the military.......

Thank Goodness

I must be one of the most uncoordinated people on this planet. This morning, I did the dance section of my exercise DVD that I have. I am SO glad that I can do this stuff at home. I would be way too embarrassed to ever do something like that in a gym. I have a hard time keeping up, and even Andrew started laughing at some of the things that we were doing. He called what I was doing "silly." I never took a dance class as a little girl. Not sure if I didn't want to, or if my parents could only afford for me to take piano. Sigh. Can't help but think I would be a little more coordinated if I had taken one. Or maybe it has just been so long since I did any "dancing" that my legs and arms just can't quite do it anymore. Or maybe they are just so darn long it takes longer for my parts to get where they need to go. All I know is that I'm glad that I can do this at home. So embarrassing.

So....

I got some good feedback after I spoke at church yesterday. I mostly talked about my personal experiences. I made a few people laugh. I wasn't trying to be funny either. One person said something about how "frank" I was in how I felt about something. I guess that is how I am. Although I would never say I was "frank", I would probably classify it as having a big mouth, or just honest.

Tonight I was changing Lucy's diaper, and we were talking about how it was just wet. I am trying to prep Lucy for potty training. I keep putting it off because I hate potty training!! Anyway, Andrew was already up on his bed and said "how can Lucy pee. she doesn't have anything to pee with." Well, I said yes, she did. He asked what she had. And he also asked what he had as I have not told him the correct name of what he has. Well, we said the correct name tonight. Then his comments were "Daddy has a penis and I have a penis but you don't mom." And then "you have a vagina and Lucy has a vagina." It just sounded funny. I also said that we shouldn't really talk about it too much. I don't know how to tell him to Please Don't Say Those Words in Public So I Won't Be Embarrased. He won't get it. Hopefully they don't come out in school at the wrong time.

I also met a new friend today. I found her on Feminest Mormon Housewives. We discovered that we both were in Fayetteville and both had military husbands. She came over this morning and we took the kids to the park before Andrew had to go to school. It was very nice to talk to another adult for a while. And then she ended up staying longer than she had planned, but thats ok. I should have given her something to drink at least, but I get so caught up in my conversations and all that I just forget. Such a bad host. Something we talked about was how we have lost the desire to really go out and make friends. I move so often, the effort required is sometimes more than I'm willing to put out for people that I will only be around for a year. It is a very bad attitude, but I'm trying to put it aside and make a few more friends in this ward. I already have my visiting teaching companion, who else do I need?? (hi rachel. promise I'll make more friends so I don't drive you crazy calling you all the time!)

I also have a friend coming this weekend. Her husband has been deployed and he will be here for a little while. So she is coming out to stay with him without their kids. (they have 5) And we're hoping he gets here when he is supposed to. Otherwise she will just have to spend the entire weekend with me.:) Not that it would be bad, but she REALLY misses her husband.....I am excited just to have a friend spend the night. It's like being 14 again and having a sleepover!! I will be stocking up the Ben and Jerrys and the root beer. And probably jelly bellys.

Such a disjointed post.

Its late

And I am speaking in church tomorrow, but I have to stay up and wait for the washer to end. Andrew drew on his very light colored church pants, and I am attempting to get out the green and pink marker with rubbing alcohol. Then washing it in cold water. So, we'll see how they come out.

I do have daffodils in my backyard!! I have taken a few pictures, but in true Terina fashion have not uploaded the pictures. They are so pretty!!! I wish they would bloom all year round. I need to get some fake ones that look real and put them in my house somewhere. Even the kids are excited to see them.

I also went to pick up my prints that I had framed. They. Look. Awesome. I am SO excited to hang them on my wall. The best part was that framing five prints with mat and glass was only $114. I will take pictures of those too when I get around to it.

Andrew going to school has been a very good thing. Lucy cries every time we leave him at school. Andrew had only one bad day out of the three he's been. Sitting and doing his "homework" with him isn't so fun. But we're working on it.

Dancing with the Stars starts March 17th!!!!!!! So excited for that. I never vote, I just like to watch. And it should be interesting with the new cast.

I have exercised five out of the last six days. My rear hurts from Matt's super high tech exercise bike. My lower abs cannot do the pilate "teaser" exercise as it requires a stomach that has not been cut into twice. Even though I know that I haven't turned any of my flabbyness into muscle yet, I do feel better about actually doing exercises.

I got a really cool package in the mail today from my grandpa's wife. She sent me copies of the home video's that she took when they came to visit us in Germany. Very excited to watch it, but I know it will make me homesick. Although I will have to fastforward over the part where we're at Dachau and Sharon is videoing the timeline of the camp and reading it outloud. As interesting and horrible as it is, I would rather not watch it on a video with the background of my children screaming and the echo of it inside the building. Oh, and the part where we are stuck in backed up traffic in the black forest. The road is only a two lane road, one going either direction. We're completely stopped for ten minutes. A woman walks across the street in front of us walking her bike and Sharon video tapes her. Seriously. It is that exciting?

Well, his pants are done. Not too bad. But as it is too late for me to wash it for a third time, I will just let them hang to dry and then try again tomorrow. Hopefully no one will notice the very light mark of green on the right leg. Good thing all the pink came out.

The one time Disneyland was bad

I though I would share a story about my past.

I came home from my mission in December. Literally days before Christmas and the night before my sister got married. A guy that I had waited for before I even went on my mission was still around. He came to my homecoming, and we kind of hung out. It wasn't that great with him. He called me up and asked if I wanted to do to Disneyland with him. He said the words "free ticket" and not once said "I only have one, so you'll have to pay for yourself". I honestly don't remember if the word ticket was plural or not. I go to his house, he drives us out there. We park, and he says "Do you need to buy a ticket?" I said "WHAT???" He only had one ticket. Didn't bother to share that one with me. Didn't even offer to pay for half of mine. And I hadn't brought that much with me because I had not been home for that long and had only had a job for maybe two weeks. But because I wanted to go, I paid for my ticket, which only left a little bit left for me to eat on and we went. I remember thinking, "I'll just have a fun time no matter if he is such a jerk." Looking back I should have made him drive me home and had him waste his free ticket. I think that day was the last day that he could use it. His parents apologized like crazy for their retarded son. Obviously, I did not marry him. He ended up getting married shortly before Matt and I did. But not even my parents got an invitation because she didn't want any of his ex's to come to the wedding. Um, what am I going to do? Beg him to come back to me? Yeah, I don't think so. My parents did still like him, kind of, and did want to go to the wedding. So I had to call his mom and ask if my parents could have an invitation. What a guy. I don't remember if they went or not. I think I had gone to Utah to another wedding of one of my companions, and Matt had come with me. Which was a lot of fun, well, mostly. But that is another post.

Way funny stories

You all must go and read this. These are real stories that happened to my best friend. Yeah, our big mouths do get us into trouble, but come on. There are some crazy people out there. Enjoy and get a good laugh!!!

My sister

This is my sister Camille. She is eight years younger than me. I know that because I remember when she was born. I took her to my 3rd grade class for show and tell. She is now in college, going to graduate next December with her nursing degree. This is her with her boyfriend Will. He likes to swing dance (geez, can we transplant that one into my husband?) and took her out dancing. It might have been a school dance since he brought her flowers.

I just don't ever remember being as cute as she is. And I don't know when she got this old. She came to visit me this past summer and we had a good time together. I guess I am just used to her being a little girl. Not this adult who is going to be a nurse, has a boyfriend and goes swing dancing and looks stinkin cute.

This is me

Trying to have a serious conversation with my husband. (and just for future reference, my foot is slightly smaller than his. I know right now you are thinking, um, why do I need to know this??)

Discussion on me taking a break as he is now planning on riding with a bike club on Saturday mornings.....and I'm telling him I need him to want me to take a break, to encourage it....

Me: So, imagine yourself in my shoes. I need adult conversation.....

Matt: I can fit in your shoes.

It seems really flat typing it out, but the grin on his face as he is telling me this.....sigh. Having any kind of serious conversation with him is near impossible!!!

InsideOut

Four years ago, my sister gave us this CD called Primary Colors, by a group called InsideOut. We loved it. Matt was in a group in college that did acappela with vocal percussion and he had a great time. We are also huge fans of Rockapella. Last September while I was at Deseret Book in Chandler AZ, my sister and I thought we heard them playing InsideOut. Their new CD had just come out, but this store was all out. Darn. Well, I just got my order from Deseret Book, and I had to get their new CD. They have a few other CD's that are not church music. I actually own four of their CD's. My kids love them. So, we have been listening to their new CD almost nonstop since we got it yesterday. This one is called Sharing Time, and it is awesome. I wish there were a way to use it in Primary for singing time....
(if you click on the links, you can hear clips of some of the songs)

edited: the snowman song on my sidebar is the second one that they did. i couldn't find the first one. if you click on primary colors above, you might be able to hear some of it. the first one was awesome!!

Big Decision

I've been reading a blog called These days in French life. She has decided to have a slow year. Reusing, bartering, making her own of almost every thing and anything she can. She hasn't shopped for the last few months at all between the stuff she had and what she was able to barter or grow. It has got me thinking......

My sister uses vinegar on her nice tile floors to clean them. Just vinegar and water. I saw how much a gallon of regular white vinegar was the other day. Only $1.99 at the commissary. How much money have I spent on cleaning products?? How much could I save if I just used vinegar and water?? So, I've decided to go for it. I will use what I already have before I start. I don't have much as we just moved. But as soon as it is gone, we are using vinegar. I have a hard time with smells of things, and vinegar can put me over the edge. Neither of our bathrooms have windows, but they do have fans. So, the fans will be going, and I'm going to get some essential oils and put a few drops in with my water and vinegar to help me clean. So, if you come over, the bathroom might smell like peppermint. Or whatever other smell that I like. Doing this will cost me less, is better for our environment, and the end result will still be the same. Clean floors and a clean bathroom and kitchen. It will probably take me a while, if ever, to get to the point of making my own laundry soap or toothpaste. Never been that kind of a girl. But we'll see. Never say never.

Credibility

I was at Walmart on Valentines day this week. Not something I would suggest to anyone, but I was getting my oil changed and at this Walmart, it took an inordinately long amount of time to do it. As I was without children for the next two hours and free to roam the store as I liked, I thought I might try and find Matt a card.

I have always prided myself on being able to find the perfect card. And if I don't, I just don't give a card. One of my favorites was one that my friend Mike and I gave our friend Andrea for a her birthday back in high school. It was so awesome. I wish I could remember the details of it now, but all I have in my head is the picture on the front of the card. I've gotten some really good ones for my dad on Fathers Day. And sometimes I have found a good one for Matt.

I am not a flowery, mushy gushy type of person. I am to the point, and I say what I mean. Well, most of the time. As I was looking through a few cards, I could not believe the amount of mushyness in these cards. And since people buy these kinds of cards, I'm going to assume that there are people out there that actually feel the way they describe. You know the ones, where they go on and on for three paragraphs of how amazing and wonderful and you fulfill me type of stuff. Yeah, so not me. I didn't buy him a card.

Matt usually gets me a card and a small treat on Valentines. Once he bought me flowers. But that was a long time ago. This year, his card was funny. It said: I'm so glad we're married! Lucky lucky me-I can't think of anyone luckier.....(open card) except maybe you!!!! Now, that is Matt. And me.

When people are this mushy lovey dovey type of stuff, I don't tend to believe a word they say. None. I think, do these people have any sense of reality? Yes, Saly is great but she (fill in this spot with bad habit or other non-great personality trait). Perhaps I focus on too much of reality.

I started to think about why. Why don't I believe it when people start saying those sort of things to me, or even others?

I figured it out. When someone consistently tells you one thing, but behaves in a different way, their actions speak louder than their words. And depending on the relationship that you have with this person, it can affect you very deeply. You don't believe them when they tell you things like "I love you" or "You did a great job" or things of that sort. Their credibility is shot.

And it carries over into other parts of your life. There are few people in my life that I will actually believe when they say anything remotely mushy, or lovey dovey. Obviously, one of those is my husband. And I really struggle with those that I hear do that. I want to correct them, throw them a dose of reality. Like when people say, "Going on a mission was amazing". And then leave it at that. They don't go into the reality. Or when a girl is about to get married, has never had sex, and when she asks her friends that are married about it, all they say is how wonderful it is, how close you feel to your husband.... and on and on. Where is the reality?

Perhaps I need to lessen my reality and look for more of the good in people. Do my best to believe people when they give me a compliment. When Matt's mom goes on and on about how proud she is of Matt, how smart he is, and aren't you proud of him?? I want to say yeah, but do you see how he acts when he has a big test coming? Do you see how little he is with his children on a daily basis? Do you see the bad habits you allowed him to cultivate while under your care that I am now having to deal with because he is too busy to be bothered about picking up after himself?? I should focus on the good and say Yes, I am proud of him, and try to get past the small irritations of the last year. (this year is MUCH better than last year, just to clarify.)

I have a feeling that this isn't something that is going to be easily changed. Perhaps I just need to up my positive thinking. Not a bad idea to always remember the reality of things, but try to give more people the benefit of the doubt. It is a slow process. Sigh.... but I guess I wouldn't care so much about it if it were easy.

Education

I wanted to let all my readers (all four of you) know something. Some of you know me in real life, others do not. But here is what I wanted you to know: I'm not terribly educated.

I haven't been to school since I turned 21. And I'm about to turn 30 in a few months. Politics, history, math, science....I know very little. I've tried to understand how politicians work. I've attempted to read Prop (fill in the blank) and I don't understand what they are saying at all. My history classes were horrible. I remember very little from Civics and Econ. My math skills are none. But I'm great with money. I struggled in science for years, and finally got smart and stopped taking it. I took a world religions class years ago, and I barely remember any of it.

Lots of blogs that I read have very smart, educated people writing them. They use big words that I admit, sometimes I have no idea what they mean. They have degree's, and are using them. It can be a little intimidating for me.

They seem to write so well, having their thoughts move smoothly from one point to the other while some of my posts take me so long to write as I reread and change, and hope that things kind of work. I have only ever gotten one A on a paper that I wrote.

Of course, I am still smart in other ways, just not in a way that you get a paper that you hang on your wall.

So, if I don't always comment, and especially on the deep thinking/big words/lots of information type posts, it's because I'm a little nervous. I don't want to show how little I know, or sound dumb, or...... you get the idea. Matt told me the other night that I will be able to use his GI bill, so once we are in a place for longer than one year, I will be using it. I am very very excited about it!! But until then, I just read books that hopefully will help me be on somewhat of the same playing field as the rest of you smarty pants out there. :)

Why?

So, does anyone know why the color pink is associated with Paris?? (as in the city) If you've ever been there, there really isn't one color that is everywhere. I don't understand it. I cannot stand pink. I have warmed up to it very slightly since having Lucy, and so many little girl things are pink. But I tried to keep that at a minimum and choose lots of different colors for her to wear. Anyway, stop the madness with the pink!!! Can we have another color?? Like red. That would be better. Plus the Moulin Rouge.....red windmill for those of you that don't speak french. That would work much better........

My kitchen

This is my lame attempt at decorating. I have always wanted a blue and yellow kitchen. Don't ask why, I just always have. I finally can kind of sort of decorate my kitchen. What you see below is what I've done so far. And there really isn't much actual wall room, so this just might have to be it.

This little thing is something that I made for my Grandma Belliston when I was about 8 or 10. My mom sewed the little ruffle thing around it, and voila. When my Grandma passed away, I asked for this back. Can you tell I didn't use a pattern? I thought it was cute, so I hung it up in my kitchen. And it reminds me of my Grandma. (note: the yellow blob next to the house is a sun. just so you know)
This is actually a washcloth that my sister crocheted for me. It is way too pretty to actually use, so I hung it on my wall.
This is my very first cross stitch that I did from start to finish (well, not all the way. I was supposed to do this dumb cording thing on the side. Yeah, right.) I've had it done for about five years now and never framed it or anything. So, I got an open backed frame, bought a really cheap frame for the glass to fit. I had some cardboard to stretch it on (well not really that either. I just taped it) and bought some of those claw like things to nail into the back of the frame to hang. I love it.
So, that is my kitchen. You've already seen my pottery that matches it. I love my pottery. I must go back so I can find some more.

This is my latest cross stitch project. I got the pattern off of Ebay. It is a pattern from Russia and I loved it when I saw it. I started this sometime back in August I think, and I just finished it last night. It is pretty big, about 11 x 14 or so. It looks so cool!! As I was doing it, I didn't ever really look at it as a whole, just at the little parts in my little circle. I cannot wait to be able to frame this!!! But that probably won't happen until April or something.

This is about as creative as I get. I'm working on putting stuff on the walls of our house. But it is slow going. I don't get to paint, so I just have a bunch of white walls that say nothing to me. But I've been thinking. When I've finished I'll post more pictures.

Update

I have updated my links. Some of you might wonder where you went. If you only have a family blog, you are probably linked on my family blog. If you have both, you have a link on each of my blogs. So, it's not because I don't like you, it's because I'm trying to be a little organized. I still need to adjust my links, so things might change from day to day. And please let me know if a link doesn't work. I've gotten much better at this linking stuff, but sometimes I still mess it up a bit.

I love ebay

I got those green and yellow shoes in the mail today. And I LOVE them. They are made by Palladium, a French shoe company. I already have a pair of their shoes, so I knew these would be good. Their shoes are so COMFY!!! The seller I bought them from on ebay has several pairs in lots of different sizes. Usually, these shoes sell for around $80.

I also got my Adobe Photoshop in the mail. I AM SO EXCITED!!! I have never had an actual photo program before. I haven't installed it yet, but I will tonight.

I finished this huge cross stitch that I've been working on for several months. I took a picture of it earlier, and I'll post it later. It looks so cool. I just won't be able to afford to frame it for a while as I've already got my Paris prints in the works. Maybe next month or the month after. Or when I have a 50% off coupon for Hobby Lobby......

Hoping

So, the kids were playing outside the other day, in our backyard and I saw these.

I was so excited!! I am hoping that they are daffodils. As of this morning, they still have not flowered, but I am watching!!!

Daffodils are my favorite flower. On my mission, my first winter there was very dreary. I had a horrible horrible companion, the city was gray, the skies were gray, I thought I just might never make it til spring. And then kids starting selling daffodil bunches on corners. You saw tons of them in the neighborhood flower shops. They were sprouting in everyone's garden. I realized that spring would come, and things would be much better!!! And my companion was transfered, I got a great companion, the sun finally came out, and the skies were blue again. There is nothing that does it for me at the end of every winter like a beautiful daffodil.

I tried to have some in a small pot in my house once. Yeah, bad idea. These ones grew up all by themselves, so I shouldn't be able to do too much damage to them. When they flower, you know I'll have some pictures!!!

If you could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles, you wouldn't be able to sit down for six months.

Unknown

Ugh

I like to go on ebay, and put Paris into the search. I have found some pretty cool things there. The one thing I HATE about putting just the word Paris, is that I have to see all of the Paris Hilton crap. Her perfume, pictures, bad movie, naked pictures, all kinds of crap. While I think it would be so great to have as much money as she does, why does the simple fact that she has a lot of money make her so "pretty" or "hot" and why do people even care about her? Hands down, I bet I'm smarter than her in about 15 different ways. I'm sure when it came to fashion, she would be smarter than me on that. I really hate the importance people put on those that have a lot of money. I sincerely doubt that they are any better of a person that I am. So, now when I go to ebay and put in Paris, I always make sure to attatch France to it. I might not see some of the listings that I would see if I just put in Paris, but it's worth it if I don't have to see any more Paris Hilton stuff.

My voice is not a good one for singing

So, I thought I was done with being sick. Whatever it is has settled in my throat, and is making it very difficult to sing. I felt bad for the primary kids today. I sound horrible!!! But I didn't have any other options. And standing in front of these kids is pretty hard for me. I don't know their names or anything, but I'm trying to do fun things. I think they liked what I did today. I barely get ten minutes with senior primary, and so it is nice and short, but leaves little time to learn the songs needed. Junior is OK. At least Andrew didn't have a fit today. We talked about how needs to behave yesterday and this morning, and it seemed to work. I did sit with him during sharing time, and maybe that helped. I really like my pianist. Since Lucy is in nursery, I don't go to the singing time in nursery, but Lucy always comes home singing songs. She says over and over again "the foolish man built his house upon the sand" and today she was singing "jesus wants me for a sunbeam". She seems to pick up on the songs more than Andrew did. So, still working on the singing time thing.

It is crazy windy here today. But few clouds and a beautiful blue sky. I hope it is this nice tomorrow. I saw a new park for us to go to. Parks are what gets us through somedays.

I finally got to watch the PBS Northanger Abbey today. I really liked it. I really liked the end where they weren't quite sure how to go about the kissing thing. I got halfway through Mansfield Park before someones Laker game came on. I guess it was his turn.... sharing has never been something I've been good at. I have tonights ready to record. I don't remember if I remembered to record it last week (hopefully I didn't miss one) and this week I will be watching them. I haven't been able to watch much lately.

And, can I tell you how much I love being able to shop at the PX? Sometimes it sucks. The south PX has very little to offer me in clothes. Most stores don't have much. (maybe the north PX has better clothes) but I always look in the clearance section for the kids. Sometimes they have some pretty good deals. I found a coat for Lucy for next year. PX price $39. It has a sticker with 50% off. I found a price check thing, and it rang up as $9.75. I got to the register and there was a sale that day for an extra 25% off of all clearance clothes. Seriously, such a great deal. And I got my best friend shoes, and my sister shoes for really good deals. Love it. I've gotten really good shoe deals there myself. Mostly because few other people wear giant sized shoes. I guess thats one of the few good things about being so tall. You get the marked down but still cool shoes.....

Ebay

Ok, I know I said I wouldn't be back. But after doing my pilates this morning, I had to get on Ebay to look for more DVD's. I really like the Winsor pilates. She is a little irritating, but she moves through the exercises so much faster than other pilates DVD's that I've tried. They are just so expensive!! Anyway, I was looking and I found this purse/bag!! I love it! I am going to buy it. This ebay store has some really cool bags and purses. (and I'm not going to tell you what the store is until after I bought the bag!!)

And yesterday, I bought these shoes. They are palladium shoes, and usually really expensive. But I got these for a total of $22. I thought they would be fun to have!! And I know they fit my feet well. Just thought I would share some of my finds on ebay.

And I'm going to try and buy Adobe Photoshop there too. My pictures need so much help. OK, promise I won't be back. Really.......

My brother and some other stuff

So, my youngest brother is finally in France. His first area is a place called Le Havre, near Normandy. Yeah, such a hard life he has. I sent him a long email with specifics on what he must buy me. Because I cannot go much longer without these rochers (you have to look down the page a bit). And since they are so cheap on this website, I just might have to buy them from them. And perhaps a few other things. I am determined that I will live in France someday. Or at least be able to afford to go there often enough.

I took Lucy to the store with me last night. Usually when I take kids to the commissary it is pure torture, between touching things, they are fighting with each other, and then they are trying to open up snacks... I hate it. Last night though, she followed me all over the place. She was singing songs and holding her little princess book. It wasn't torture at all. Just the two of them together.

Matt will be gone all day and a lot of the night. His first rotation in the ER is tonight. There is also an activity at the church, but I don't think I'm going to go. I won't have the car, and I'm not walking there! Plus, sometimes these activities are a little lame. I have a ton to do right here at home, so it's not like I'll be bored out of my mind here.

And I love my photo printer. I love printing up tons of pictures, and whatever size I want. I am currently looking to buy Adobe Photoshop. On ebay of course. I need a better program for my pictures. Another reason why I want to go back to Europe is because I sucked at taking pictures while we were there. I was always so irritated with my mom and the amount of pictures she would take. And since I try to be nothing like my mom.....yeah, I need to take more pictures. And better ones. Maybe in this ONE thing, I can try and be like her. But I won't make people pose or anything. Just take pictures of what we're doing. My kids actually like it when I take pictures of them, so don't have to worry about any whining yet.

I bought a few things from lobotoME (see side bar for link) and I think I'm going to like them. I got their helpME, saveME and feedME notepads. They have fun quotes on them and things that say Objective: Stop the insanity. Exactly fits my personality. I did not get the packME pad because I do not want to pack for anything for a while. And I've done it so many times, I think I'm pretty good on that.

My goal today is to keep the computer closed!!! I am so easily distracted by so many things. I'm going to have to accomplish a lot before I can open it up again. And it is a nice day out, so we will probably take a walk. I was going to get Andrew registered at school, but his darn shot record is MIA. Cannot find it anywhere. I have everything else, so Matt is going to try and get a printout today at work. This boy needs to go to school. For my sanity and his.

So, today I am going to stay away from the computer and be productive!!! I'll check back in later (hopefully a lot later) and give a report on how productive I've been!!!!

I found another one

Here is yet another post that is awesome. Go see Mary Alice at From the Frontlines and read what she has to say about who we are.

Awesome

I have these prints that my grandma bought in Paris, back in the 60's. She would travel a lot with her sister, and they each bought the same set of prints. I've had them for a while, but this is the first place that I've been anywhere near able to affording to have them framed. I tried Hobby Lobby, and then another store, AC More. I couldn't afford it at either one. A friend suggested looking online because they have some odd shaped frames online. (my prints are not in a shape that would let me just buy a frame and have it fit perfectly.) Last night I went back to Hobby Lobby to look for some regular frames as I wanted to print up more pictures. They were having a sale on their open backed frames for 50% off. There were a few that looked like they might fit my prints!! I found one, that would only need a small mat. The price after the 50% off was only $8!! The glass for each one will be $8, and the mat will only be $6. I have five prints, so it will be about $22 plus the actual cost of the mat. (the $6 is the cost of labor for the mat). The first time I went there, it would have been $47 each with just the frame and glass. No mat. And a smaller frame. I am so excited!! I get them back in about two weeks. I cannot wait to hang them up!!!! I will post a picture when I get them back. I am getting pretty motivated to hang stuff and decorate in this house. Germany was horrible for that because if we put a hole in a wall, we would have to paint the whole darn thing. In Texas, our house was so old and yucky, I had little motivation for doing any actual decorating. Here, we have a renovated house, and I have some extra money to use for getting the things that I want!!! It is very exciting. I have a few other things I want to figure out how to put up, but they will have to wait until after I get my prints back. You know, both my sister and I have a hard time decorating. I think it might be because our mom was a little crazy with it. In our little yellow house we lived in, one wall was so covered...... And I think it is why I like more modern looks. Not too much modern stuff in a house full of antiques, depression glass, and noahs ark stuff (but that is mostly in the family room. but its like noahs ark threw up in there) OK, I'm off to do some hanging and picture printing!!!

Going back in time a little

My grandpa died a year ago, on the same day as President Hinckley. Both my cousins (well, I have more than two cousins, but only two that I know of blog) have done posts about him recently. My cousin LeeElle did a post about his actual passing. My cousin Kerilynn, LeeElle's sister, did one about missing him at Christmas. They got me thinking. I'm going to do one about what I remember about my grandpa.

The next few pictures are my grandpa in Korea during 1952. My grandpa served a mission to South Africa, and not long after he came home was drafted into the Army. He and my grandma married, and six weeks later he was gone for a year on the front lines. I have the pictures and half of his letters from then. These are some of the best pictures of him then.

This one is of him holding his first grandchild. Just to clarify, that would be me.:)
Again, holding his first (and I think the only one still) grandchild.
My first date was about a month after I was sixteen. And it was to a prom. At the time, my grandpa worked for a funeral home, Pierce Brothers, and had access to a lot of different limo's. I talked to my date, and he said "free limo? lets do it", so I called him up, and my grandpa and my grandma were our chauffers that night. This is him coming to get us that day.
Obviously, this one is when I graduated. My grandparents were at everything they could manage. One year, two kids graduated on the same day in two different directions. So, my grandpa headed one way, and my grandma headed the other. They were at basketball games, little league, band competitions, and dance performances. And they had over 20 grandchildren. They were pretty busy.
My grandpa was called as a Patriarch in our church. A few years later, I turned 16, and wanted to get my patriarchal blessing from him. Again, I was the first one to ask him to do that. He wrote me a letter when I got the copy of my blessing (my grandpa's handwriting is horrible. The letters from Korea are hardly readable!!) that he typed. My grandpa wasn't a very emotional man, so that letter is pretty special to me.

He also saved me once. I had graduated from high school and was taking classes at the local college. My parents had gone away for the weekend, and had left me in charge of picking up kids, getting them to school, etc. My parents had left on a Sunday, and there was a church thing that night that we had planned on going to. I get out to the car, and it wouldn't start. I got someone from church to come over and help us out. The next day, it started up just fine to get everyone to school. I got to school, and on my way home, I had to go and pay my pager bill. I got back to the van, and it wouldn't start. And it wouldn't start. Long story short, I called up my grandpa, he came out (an hour drive away from us) and picked me up, helped me start it, bought the part that it needed, and installed it.

My grandparents live very close to LAX. When Matt was in AIT, I would fly out of LAX to go and visit them, and my grandpa would drop my grandma off with me to help me and he would drive around and around the LAX loop waiting for us. He paid for dinner the night that I went through the temple.

I'm glad that we were able to see him one more time before he passed. I hadn't seen him for two and a half years while we were in Germany. That was the only bad part. He had changed so much. It was good that he passed.
Miss you Grandpa.

Worst weeks of my life

I hate potty training. I got Andrew pretty much done within a week. Last night I was at the PX by myself (I wandered around aimlessly just so that I could be by myself longer) and I finally remembered to get Lucy some big girl underwear. I bought several pairs, they even sold some in size 3T, which I have never seen before. Now, I just need to prep her by putting her on the potty often enough that she knows what it is and what to do. I think she does, she just doesn't want to do it. She is two and a half, and girls on average seem ready earlier than boys. I did Andrew the week he turned 3 and that seemed to work. Since I have been changing diapers for four and a half years, I think I deserve a break before my next child comes along (which I am not pregnant for any that speculate). And I want a long break, therefore, get her trained now. And save money on wipes and diapers. And maybe the next time I just might do cloth ones. They have come so far from when my mom used them. I just hated those huge pins and nasty stinky plastic pants. The diapers are pretty cute now, and I've seen a lot of people make them themselves and they are better for our environment than throwing out the disposable diapers in our landfills. Anyway, back to potty training.....I hope it will be easier with a girl. I won't have to teach her two ways to do it. Just one. Sit down and get it done. Maybe later this month we'll have our official start. I like to put them in real underwear, and let them pee and realize that it makes a mess, make them clean it up, and then teach them we only do it in the potty. It was much easier to do that with hardwood floors. But we do have a carpet cleaner.....it will be used a lot soon.

Go here.....

And read this great post by Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer. I loved it.

Pushing me over.....

My son is going to do it. Push me over the edge. These last few days with him have been the worst ever. First was dumping finger paints onto our carpet. Next was letting loose with a primal yell in Primary when I wouldn't talk to him while I was doing singing time. Yesterday, somehow he found scissors and cut two holes into a sheet I have kept on a mattress in the office. (we've had a friend spend the night a few times as he lives far away from post and he sometimes has to work really late and then still be there for PT at 0530 hours) His explanation was that he wanted to have a puppet show. (he likes to climb under the fitted sheet, and that is when I saw his two fingers sticking out of the sheet.) And this is only the big things. I'm thinking that he is suffering because first Lucy was sick, and I had to pay attention to her, and then I got sick, so I couldn't pay attention to anyone. And somehow, cutting holes in my expensive sheet that I have no way of fixing because I don't own a sewing machine is the way he tried to get it. Kids are so creative. So, today I am determined that I will get physical with this very physical little boy. He loves to wrestle, be tickled, and jump like a maniac. Boys have so much energy in their little bodies, and in a small house, not too many ways to get it out. And this week, I need to take the tons of paperwork over to the school and get him in his PreK class. Lucy's sickness last week kept me from getting that done. But must do it this week.

I spoke to the Primary President about Andrew. We're going to give it until about April, to see if his behavior gets better. Because he did this same stuff with Matt too. I'll just have to work with him during the week, and hope that the PreK helps too.

I love this website

One of my favorite dress websites, Shabby Apple, just came out with their baby dresses. I love them. They are a little expensive, but kind of worth it. Partly because I don't have to make them. I'm thinking about getting this one for an Easter dress for Lucy. What do you think?

Today

My youngest brother is getting on a plane and flying to Paris. Eight years ago, I did the same thing. And I would do it again. Not just because it is Paris (although I have yet to have a good trip to Paris) but because I would go on a mission again. The only stipulation would that it would have to be back to France. Not anywhere else. I am very excited for my brother, and for myself. He will be doing some shopping for me while he is there. Just need to talk to my dad about how to get him the money. Oh, I have a whole list of things for him to send me. French CD's, my favorite chocolat, my favorite candy, notebooks, and other things that I just can't get over here. I also hope that we get sent back to Germany so that we can go visit him the way we visited my other brother when he was on his mission.

Yet another What??

Does anyone else have a husband that walks around the house singing "Somewhere, there's a place for us, somewhere a place for us that can go and I'll take you there" and then breaking into the "Somewherrrrrrrreeeeee" "Somehowwwwwww" trying to sound like he can sing opera?? Please tell me I'm not the only one.....

What?

So, does anyone else think it is funny that Ryan Seacrest is doing a superbowl show? I remember him before he did American Idol, and was a radio DJ in Los Angeles. It just seems funny to me.....

I hate forwards

I got a forward yesterday from someone in Matt's family. The majority of forwards I get are from them. I usually delete them without reading them. This forward was about registering your cell phone number so that telemarketers wouldn't have access to it. The email even said "12 days left!!!!! I'm sure thats true considering I got this same forward months ago....

I went to Snopes and looked it up, sent this person the link, and suggested they email this link to those that received the first email. This was the response I got:

I see but took only 20 sec to do so good idea just incase

Just in case of what?? That this email that has been going around for months if not years might possibly be true??? Misinform 15 or 20 people who will then misinform another 15 or 20 people each? Most people would just send out an apology email with the accompanying link. I've been caught in one of those before. And I felt so dumb having to send out another email with the snopes link on it, I have not forwarded hardly anything since.

I got another one, from two people recently. This one said that "general conference will no longer be broadcast on public television" or something to that effect. The person that sent it was out of town, on a computer not her own, and probably didn't have much time to look things up. Ok, I'll give her a pass on this one, but then I got it from someone else that she had also sent it to. I feel like emailing everyone in my contacts a link to snopes and that the next time they get one of these crazy emails, to take maybe the 30 seconds to type something into their search and find the truth. Much better to check it out than to misinform who knows how many.

Cannot believe this

So, I have a fever. I haven't had a fever in ten years. Really stinks. Hoping that mine goes away faster than Lucy's.

Sick. It never fails that when we move, I get sick. So, Lucy and I are going to be sick together.....