Craigslist Envy

I don't know why I do this to myself.  I love to scour Craigslist for furniture.  Specifically things I could revamp and make them fabulous.  And right now for stuff that could go in our new house.  No, we don't have a new house yet.  Or do we even know the city we will be living in next.  But I can still dream.  I know our next house will be (much) bigger than the one we are in now, so I will need a lot more stuff to fill the space.  Especially if we move into that beautiful 6 bedroom 4 bath 3000sq. ft. house in one of the cities Bobby's new job could be in.  It's gorgeous.  And boy have I been dreaming about decorating that baby!  Call it planning, not dreaming...

So of course on Craigslist today I found a bunch of stuff that I need want. 

Who doesn't want a cute table like this?  And for only $50??

There will probably be the perfect spot in our new house for these!  And $20 is such a good price!

I also want a china cabinet with a hutch, I haven't found the one yet though.  I want it to have glass doors on top, but I would take to glass out and put chicken wire in it's place. Beautiful details that would show up after some good distressing and maybe beadboard backsplashing.  It's out there.  I will find her.

Soon enough we will know where this dream house will be and then let the decorating begin!  Get ready Craigslist, I'll be busy...



The wait is almost over!

Bobby had a great day of interviewing yesterday! He had 7 interviews and is knee deep in his 6 interviews today.  The opportunities are just amazing and I cannot wait to see what comes of it!  We have been waiting for this weekend for 2 years and now that it's almost over I CAN'T WAIT!

The locations of the jobs are alllll over the US.  To name a few places... Wilmington DE, Athens GA, Cleveland OH, Hammond IN, Cheyenne WY, Arizona, Utah, Chicago, Albany NY, and a few more I can't remember exactly.  It's actually quite overwhelming to think about!  We could be anywhere....

The hardest part is not being there with Bobby.  Spouses are invited to the career conference since we are part of the decision making process!  But with no one to watch Jack, I stayed home.  Bobby's older brother drove to Austin from Louisiana to be there for support. 

So for now I sit and wait, again.  Yesterday was the longest day of waiting...  Until 8:20pm or so, my time, after Bobby's meeting to find out the list of 'yes, no, maybes.'  Maybe some Target shopping will help the time pass...

Mr. Mom

 Here I am laying in my bed listening to my favorite sound.  Jack and his Daddy playing in the living room.  Unfortunately, I have strep throat and cannot get in on the playtime fun out there.  Last night I felt a little sore throat coming on but figured it was related to the cold I was just getting over, geez I never used to get sick I tell ya, and brushed it off.  Until about 3 in the morning when I woke up to the worst pain in my throat.  I wanted to cry, but was too tired to even move.  So for the rest of the night I tried to sleep but every swallow was excruciating.  Don't ya hate how you never even think about swallowing until it hurts to do it, then you feel every single one?

So I woke up called the Dr. got an appointment, after finding out my PCM had retired, and was congratulated by my new doctor on having strep.  Gee thanks...  And at first he didn't think it was strep since my throat didn't look like it, but since Jack is around, he did the test.  That's one test you never wanna pass...

And thankfully, Bobby is off for MLK day.  He's being a super Mr. Mom.  He's been doing laundry, dinner is in the works, Jack napped successfully without breastfeeding, lunch was made and fed, and now playtime is going strong.  I don't know what I would have done if he was at work today! 

But it's so hard to not be around my baby.  I can hear him talking away to Bobby.  I think the are playing with some trucks.  When I left for the Dr. this morning he waved goodbye to me through the window.  I wanted to kiss him so bad.  I am trying not to hold him too much since a baby with strep is the last thing I want to deal with.  So here I am, banished to the bedroom, while my boys have a boys day.  Being a sick Mommy is no fun...

My Predictions Are...

 That this year will be one for the record books!  We have SOO much going on I cannot even stand it!  The first big thing coming up is Bobby's career conference at the end of January.  This means we will know where the heck we will be moving to next.  That also means I will have a real city to stalk houses for sale in and not just those in our hometowns.  Although we would be tickled pink to move back to NY!  I am just not ready for the whole packing up a house business.  I know the Army will take care of it which makes me even more anxious after some of the horror stories I have heard.  Anyone got a good moving experience??

Next up in the excitingness is our trip to Disney for the Princess Half Marathon!  My parents paid for our room for Christmas and since they are also going we got a swanky two bedroom suite at the Animal Kingdom Villas.  We just love Animal Kindom and I can't wait for my mom to see how incredible it is!  I have been busy making dining reservations, which I compare to studying for my pharmacology tests, and just have on more lunch to figure out!  There will be some good eatin' going on while we are in Disney.  And there better be considering all the calories I will be burning!  Part two of the excitingness of Disney is that two of my best friends (and their hubs) will be there running with me!  All the boys running in their tutus will be pretty funny too...

After we get back from Disney, Bobby will start his terminal leave from the Army.  This will be such a bittersweet time for us both.  This is all we have known for the past 6 years and the only wife I have ever been is an Army wife!  I have met so many amazing people being an Army wife and a ton of those people I have never met face to face!  But we share something special and understand each other better than most non-Army friends. 

Like I said before, a new job means a new house!  I spend hours looking at houses online, mostly in the towns Bobby and I are from, but some in other dream locations.  I have my dream house all planned out in my head.  This will make it easier when we do go to find a house right?  As long as the house has a craft room, I will be happy.  All my crafty goods need a nice new space to spread out.  Another small request is a laundry room.  Something slightly larger than the laundry closet we have right now.  Hopefully unpacking will make it easier to find proper places for all the stuff we have.  A shopping trip to The Container Store might not hurt either...

This past weekend was our last (for real this time) St. Barbara's Day military ball.  And it was extra special for three reasons! 

    1. Bobby's parents came down to come with us!  They had an absolute blast.  Ann even cried.  Twice.

    2. Bobby was awarded the St. Barbara Award!

    3. I was awarded the Molly Pitcher Award!

I'll put some picture up when I get them from Bobby's parents.

Christmas Vacation

 Our little family will be packing up the new ride and heading north this week for a much needed vacation!

We are so excited to see some snow!  And eat good food, and see family, and just relax!  And the presents won't hurt either...  So see ya next year!

My Christmas Soul Mate

 One of the reasons I know Bobby is my soul mate is our love of Christmas.  Both radio stations in our cars have been set to Christmas songs since the day after Thanksgiving.  We are looking forward to our drive to NY so we can listen to Christmas music for 14 hours straight.  Not too many people have that much love for Jingle Bells.  Maybe it has something to do with both of our birthdays being in December.  His is December 21 and mine is December 24. 

Speaking of my birthday, I will be accepting presents throughout the year.  Some of my favorite things are sparkly, ruffly, shiny, brown, silver, black, green, blue, purple, well pretty much most colors.  Except for yellow, it clashes with my blond hair. 

One thing I can always get Bobby to agree to is more Christmas decorations.  He's as much of a sucker as I am for them.  Even when I say that I want to put another wreath up, I don't get an eyeroll.  And I already have 4 up.  The only thing I couldn't get Bobby to agree to was putting a tree up.  As much as I really want a tree up, I know that Jack would have pulled it down at least 14 times by now.  And we are leaving for NY next week so who would water it?  I compensated my putting up more tree trimmings from the Christmas tree kiosk around town.  We go to the same guy every year and he gives me as many trimmings as I need.  He tells Bobby the same story about when he was in the military.  Maybe when we retire in our luxury RV we can drive around selling Christmas trees.

I am anxiously waiting for our Christmas cards to arrive from Shutterfly!  I think they will be here tomorrow.  I've got all my address labels printed out so we just need the cards!  This will be our first photo Christmas card and I can't wait to see what they look like.

We are beyond excited to get home for the holidays this year.  We didn't make it in time for Christmas last year since Jack was born in the beginning of December.  This will be the first time in four years that Bobby and both his brothers and their girlfriends will be together.  Between all the deployments we haven't been able to spend it as a whole family.  Bobby is super excited for this...  We also get to meet Bobby's older brothers new fiance!  The got engaged a little over a month ago.  It totally blew all of us out of the water too!  But not we get to have a beautiful wedding next Oct at Chapel Hill NC.  We also get to go skiing when we go home!  I haven't been on skis in I don't know how long.  It's like riding a bike right??  I used to teach skiing in Vermont so I should be ok.

Jack is excited to go sledding at the cabin.  He's got his snowsuit all ready!  I can't wait to get some pics of him in the snow.  He's loves Christmas just as much as we do.  He's a December baby too afterall...

Pay It Forward

 Did you know that December 1 was Pay It Forward day?  Jack and I didn't do much that day since we were getting ready for our weekend visitors.  So I didn't get to do anything special for someone else.  But I did do something special a few days later. 

One of the girls I went to high school with, August, has an 18 month old little boy named Liam who was just diagnosed with Leukemia.  He is half way through his chemo therapy and things are looking up for them.  They are at a hospital in Rochester NY which is about 2 hours from our hometown.  Since her husband has to work in Elmira he is not able to be with them full time.  And they have another boy who is older than Liam.  Can you imagine the stress she must be going through?  She is facing some pretty big demons right now with her faith too.  This is little Liam.

Every day since finding this out, I look at Jack and wonder why.  Why does this happen to such sweet innocent babies?  Not that I understand why it happens at all.  How can a mother be put through this?  I read the updates on Liam and cry inside for August, even if they are good! 

So my pay it forward was sending money in to help this family with Liam's medical bills.  If you would like to help them out too here is how.  I know they would be forever grateful for your generosity...

Did anyone else do something for Pay It Forward day??