Family Friday

Well, in an attempt to make my blog even more fun, I'm still trying to think up "themed" posts I suppose you could call them. I like the idea of "Family Friday". On these days I will share stories about... you guessed it! My family! I hope it won't be to boring, and as everything in life, nothing is written in stone. :)

Today I'm going to share about my niece. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday... and man do I feel old saying that. My sister went into labor early in the morning and none of us were awake. Although she tried calling, it took hours for my aunt to finally get ahold of my mom to fill her in. We spent many more HOURS in the hospital waiting for her to be born. My sister ending up having to have a c-section that afternoon and I remember going outside and just bawling. I was scared, excited, nervous, and full of anxiety all at once. I will never forget seeing my brother-in-law walking down that long hallway, with scrubs still on, holding what looked like a little peanut in his hands. He couldn't stop crying, and that instantly set everyone else to crying. Jordyn Elizabeth was the most beautiful, perfect baby I've ever seen. She was so tiny!! (Minus her man-size feet.) It was the cutest thing. :) She's been my pride and joy ever since then.

Oh to be five years old again

Us dancing at my wedding

Isn't she just gorgeous?

I know I may be biased, but I think she is the prettiest, sweetest, smartest, most wonderful little girl on the planet. She is constantly keeping us laughing and really helped our family come back together again. The first time she came to visit us in Oklahoma they got in at about 11 o'clock at night and hubby had already fallen asleep. I opened the front door right as she hopped out of the car and the instant she saw me she starting running across the yard screaming "AUNT JULIE!!!!!!!!!!!". It made me cry so hard. The look on her face was priceless. Anyway, I love her to pieces and am so proud to be her aunt. I can't wait to continue watching her grow up, even though I'd like to slow it down sometimes, I still feel rather lucky to be a part of her life. It'll break my heart to see her go to kindergarten this year, but I know she'll have a blast and learn quite a bit.

Rather photogenic

My sister works pretty hard to keep her dressed fashionably. She succeeds

We tend to have fun together :)

Confusion

Well, I have an interview on Monday for a nanny job and my feelings are so mixed up I don't know how to feel. I'm excited, but scared. I'm nervous, but resigned. I want to get my teacher's certificate, but I don't know how I'm going to make it work. We can't afford any more student loans or for me to not work. This job is for a part-time position and as far as I can tell I'd make just under what I'm making now... we can't do that. If I could somehow make it into a full-time job or get them to up the weekly pay by just 50 dollars it'd be perfect. (Minus the figuring out how to pay for the certification classes and such of course... but I'd definitely have the time to do it) But I could find fulfillment in a nanny job, maybe more so than working at the station right now. I'm thoroughly confused, but hopefully I can work through some of this and have myself figured out by Monday morning.

Yardwork

Yesterday was just one of those days that I wanted to get a ton done and by golly I did! Hubby's brother has been staying with us for a few weeks so I took advantage of having TWO people to boss, rather than the one I'm used to. We organized the garage...which was just horrible to look at, cleaned up all the junk the family the lived here prior to us left in the backyard.. including but not limited to tarps, pieces of guttering, bed frames, etc., I weed-eated like a crazy person, picked my garden, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and cooked dinner. Needless to say I was woooorn out. And so were the boys...even if they won't admit it.

My little friend I found in the garden

While working in the garden I found that guy up there and promptly freaked out. Thank goodness I had my gloves on! So hubby told me just to toss it over the fence and I certainly shouldn't have done that while laughing. I didn't exactly toss him over... more like tossed him into it. Right into the gap between two pieces of wood. I could have fallen over laughing right then and there.

My green green garden :)

Working outside makes me happy. I don't know why. I guess it's in my blood; my dad used to be a landscaper. I enjoy it so much, I might just do it some more this evening.

As for today, we're doing much of the same. Re-arranging furniture, cleaning, and laundry. A big chunk of the day was taken away when we had to take a trip to the base. Paperwork needed to be filed for hubby's extended leave and boy was that a pain in the rear. Anyway, it's taken care of now and that's what matters.

Whoops!

Well, the hubby had his first post-op appointment this morning and it was rather insightful. Apparently I didn't fully grasp the fact that he'll be recovering for quite a while. It's been nearly two weeks since the surgery and he was told not to go to work until they could see his progress at this appointment. Thank goodness they finally got those awful staples out of his knee today! I thought he'd be much better after that, be able to work out some stiffness and have to head back to work on Monday. Boy was I wrong! They told him that he can't go back to work for another month so that he can regain his full range of motion and THEN start back to physical therapy. WOW! That's a lot longer than I expected. I feel bad now because I've been getting onto him for not doing very much around the house and not attacking his "to do while you don't have to work" list. lol The poor guy shouldn't be doing any of it! I certainly got my reality check today and will definitely be more sensitive now. I felt sooo bad though!

This is a picture of his xray. It shows how out of place his knee cap was. 

That was only one of the problems they had to fix.

My poor baby's knee after surgery.

I need to get a picture of what it looks like now.

Time to Catch Up

Well, last week was pretty fabulous to tell the truth. My birthday was Monday and once I got off work hubby took me to the Melting Pot and to see Eclipse. It was so wonderful to spend time with him and just have fun! Plus it was pretty hilarious to see the hubby sit through the movie.

Then the next morning hubby all but threw me out the door to spend a few days in Texas with my family. It did my soul good to spend some time with everyone. I got to play like a six year old with my niece, spend hours talking to my dad, and hang out with my momma. I didn't get to see my sister as much as I'd like, but at least we got to spend SOME time together. Mom and I saw Inception and boy was it crazy! Probably one of the best movies I've seen in a good while. Dad and I went to El Fenix, only the best Mexican food on the face of the planet! Seriously, if you haven't eaten there, you haven't lived. I had a nice big margarita and the best enchiladas ever made.  I also got to spend the majority of one of the days hanging out with my niece and boy was it awesome. Towards the end of it I was lamenting the fact that she doesn't take naps anymore. :)

In other news, the AC is fixed, I'm congested as all get out, and the hubbys finally gets to have his post-op appointment with the orthoscopic surgeon tomorrow. I'm probably just as anxious as he is for him to get the staples out of his knee! Today is my Friday and I'm rather excited to have two days off starting in a couple hours! :)

Blog Award

My brain may be mush today, but that doesn't dampen my excitement!

 I got my first blog award from the ever-inspiring women behind the blog Keep Moving On and I couldn't be more excited! The rules are seven things about me, and then passing it on the nine others. Considering I don't know how much people really actually read my blog, it'll be interesting to see how many people actually catch on! lol

1. I have recently decided I'm going to take my desire to get my teaching certificate more seriously and start taking steps towards changing my career.

2. My family bought me a Nook for my birthday and it's now attached to my hip! It hasn't even been a week and i'm almost done with my second book. I LOVE to read.

3. I really would like to take a cooking class of some sort, but I don't know where any are offered. I'm not a bad cook, I'd just like to have something fun to do.

4. I have a weird array of things I DVR including, but not limited to General Hospital, The Bachelorette, True Blood, and E News.

5. The hubby and I LOVE to watch The Food Network, but it ALWAYS makes me hungry. That phenomenon just absolutely amazes me for some reason. lol

6. My niece is one of the funniest people ever. She just says some of the most honest and hilarious things ever. She never ever fails to make me laugh, and not much makes my heart happier than hearing her full blown belly laugh.

7. Although Texas is where my heart is, I believe without a doubt that I could be a beach bum for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy. I LOOOOVE going to the beach. Love it.

And here is who I'm giving this award to in return

Julie the Army Wife

Life of an Army Wife

Superheros, Princesses, a Soldier and Me

It's a Hectic Life, but it's all Mine

The Sand is Different Here

Flip Flops and Combat Boots

Fearfully, Wonderfully

Leaving and Loving on a Jet Plane

The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. M

Sunday Funny

This Sunday finds me feeling drained and slightly sick. Truly, if my head gets any more congested I might just
scream. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that my brain is mush and I doubt I have the patience to really dig deep for this week's edition of the Sunday Funnies. However, as luck would have it, I found this clip and it works perfectly with last week's blog. Thank Heaven for Jay Leno thinking Biden is an idiot too. Gotta love it. Enjoy!


Jay Leno Interviews Biden

Thank you GOD!

So, in an update to the air conditioner issue, the repairmen finally made their way out here and brilliantly told us that the compressor had died. My husband knew that without even looking at the unit, but whatever. Anyway, they said they have to order a new one and it won't be here until Wednesday or Thursday. Well... that's swell! What are we supposed to do until then? So tomorrow is my birthday and I was planning on using some sick days to go back home for a few days (starting Tuesday) anyway, so it doesn't really affect me much. However, the hubs is another story. He swears up and down that the heat won't bother him but I beg to differ. It got up to 100 degrees in the house yesterday... can anyone say heat stroke?! So today we bought a window unit to help bring the temp down even just a little bit and thank the Lord we did! By no means is it cold in the living room now, but it is MUCH better than what it was. Looks like I'm sleeping on the couch tonight :)

I've pretty much had the week from hell and I'm so completely exhausted I can't even bring myself to blog about it. My brain is about two days slower than normal so I'm sure that doesn't help much either.

Sunday Funnies

So, here it is. Another Sunday has rolled around and I'm slated to blog my second ever "Sunday Funny". Like I said last week, I work Sunday mornings so I have the opportunity, or misfortune, of airring the news shows that morning. (It depends on which mood you catch me in.) And of course, during the week I'm always working during the evening news and get to catch "World News". At the end of the week I feel like I've met my quota of news and feel adequately in touch with the world.

Anyway, getting to the point... The whole game of politics amuses me most of the time. I feel for the people who find themselves in the public eye because I certainly would stick my foot in my mouth more often than not, if I were to find myself in their shoes. However, I feel like having your words quoted, recorded, disected, and replayed second by second is something that comes with the territory. If you are unable to put truthful words together in intelligent sentences and have the ability to back them up with hard facts, then I don't think politics is for you... or at least it shouldn't be. Being a military wife, I take the government and all our leaders pretty seriously. Not that they, themselves, always deserve to be treated that way, due to some of their outrageous words and actions, but their elected position does. Lately the back and forth between politicians has done nothing more than make me laugh at them. The banter back and forth is just ridiculous, yet they keep doing it! What a waste of time. Our men and women are at war in foreign countries, literally giving their lives so that these politicians will have the freedom to continue what they are doing. Doesn't that seem unfair? I wish the smoke and screen of our government would get torn down, sooner rather than later, so that we can have complete transparency into what our government is doing and what their intentions are, as well as what the people desire of the future.

The clip this week is from ABC's "This Week" and is an interview with Joe Biden. He adamently swore that troops would have a significant decrease in numbers in Afghanistan by the time the July '11 date rolled around. Well, watch as he tries to un-do the words that he said and manipulate them into something else entirely. All it does is make me laugh because we all knew better anyway... it's not like anyone actually believed him. The link is found below.

Biden eating his words

Also, this story made me laugh this weeks as well. While I have my own religious beliefs, I am well aware that some people may not agree with mine, and am glad they have the ability to express that. However taking a blow dryer to your forehead to "de-baptise" yourself is just a little on the hilarious side in my mind. Enjoy the link below.

De-Baptism

I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday and has a fabulous start to the week. Feel free to leave me any kind of feedback, correct my mistakes, assert your own opinions, or share any type of "funny". :)

I could cry

It's 11 o'clock and it's 88 degrees in our house. Why you ask? Because our AC is broken. Of course the hubs would have knee surgery and then the next day the ac goes out. Of course. I really need to go have a good cry

Knee Surgery

Well, the hubs had his surgery today. They found that the tear in his miniscus was larger than they thought, but were still able to fix it. Thankfully there was no lasting damage to his knee cap and he should be back to tip top shape in a few months. He'll be off work until the end of the month and that's not making him sad at all. lol I'm glad I'm off today and tomorrow so I'll be able to baby him thoroughly. He's not in much pain at the moment, but I'm expecting that to change by this evening. He's so strong. I can't believe he lived with such a big tear for so long. Definitely another reason why he's my hero. :) Off to go fill his prescription!

Sunday Funnies

So, I'm going to try and do more with this blog. I'm still brainstorming but the first change/addition I want to institute is the "Sunday Funnies". I know with time this will evolve and take on a life of it's own, but this is how I'm going to start out.

I work at the station every Sunday morning and air ABC's "This Week". By no means am I politically savvy, but I enjoy this show mostly because of the range of guests and I feel like I can keep up with what's being said. I cry evey week when they air the "In Memorium" segment which lists all of the service members who have been killed in action, and laugh at their very own "Sunday Funnies" section. This was what sparked this idea, so thank you Jake Tapper. Being a military wife I feel like we all need to somewhat be in the loop of the political world. Our significant others are a part of that world, whether we like it or not. I am very much a person that loves to laugh and I hope I can inspire you ladies to do the same...while also staying connected to this great country of ours. :) Some weeks I may take this a little more serious than others, but we'll just have to deal with that as it comes.

So, here is this week's. It may not be mentally stimulating, or totally about politics, (maybe I'll just focus on funny things that happened in the world rather than just the political world, hmm...) but I have to admit it's hilarious. Honestly, I chuckle every time I watch it. Just click the link below.

Unnecessary Censorship

Stick with me as I figure this one out. I know at times it'll be difficult. If I could edit the video myself, it'd be a lot easier to produce a mash-up of funny stuff, but alas I am at the mercy of the internet. :) Enjoy your Sunday.

Homesick

I know I'm homesick every now and then, I'm the first to admit it. Hubby knows how much I miss home and my family, but I try to keep it underwraps as best as I can. Due to work I only got to spend two days at home for Christmas and haven't been back for longer than 24 hrs since then. That's not exactly the life I pictured, but I'm married to a man far better than I ever dreamed, so I can deal. However, when I can't make it home for certain events I feel like the worst daughter/sister/aunt/friend ever. My mom has been living with my sister and her family for a while to help them along while my sis finished school. Well, she graduated so my mom found a place of her own and started moving last week. Of course I can't come help because all I get is one lousy day off a week (due to EVERYONE taking vacation). It seems like everyone and their dog came to help mom move, but could her own daughter be there to help? Of course I couldn't. I don't really care what people think, but gosh, what must all of her friends think of me?

I have never missed my niece's function, no matter what. All school events, ballet recitals, birthdays, major and minor events, I've been there...Until this year when I missed her ballet recital this year and her pre-k graduation. When I asked a couple of weeks ago if I could take a vacation day to be at her birthday party in NOVEMBER I was told I couldn't because November is a ratings period. Umm, I can't take one, single solitary day to see my niece celebrate her 6th birthday? My niece called me the other day and asked if I was going to be at her birthday. (The child counts down to it practically starting the day after.) I told her I'd try my hardest, while inside my heart was breaking. I just have to find a way to be there, or I might as well just crawl in a hole and never come out.

I hate what living in another state is doing to me. I have always been surrounded by family and now I'm all alone with only the hubby around. (Not that I'm complaining about him being the only one, but you know what I mean) I just hate being so far away sometimes. I hate how disconnected I feel. I hate that I have to plan out seeing my family and being there for major events. I guess I'm a little more homesick than I'd like to admit sometimes.

Fabulous Day!

Today was my one and only day off this week and boy did I enjoy it! The hubby got put on mid-shift this week so we're still adjusting to him being gone at night, as well as him being home during the day. It was AMAZING to spend some quality time with him while we weren't about to fall over asleep or worrying about needing to go to work in the near future. (Generally we only see each other when I'm getting home from work at 11pm and wake him up when I get in bed) I literally feel like I'm on cloud nine I'm so happy at the moment. I love nothing more than to just hang out with my husband being silly and catching up. My heart is so happy from this day I don't know if anything can bring me down. :)

4th of July

As I grow older I become more and more aware of how lucky I am to have been born in America. I guess being a military wife helps with that as well, but I feel it's also with age. My mind can't wrap around the injustices so many people in the world continue to face on a daily basis, much less all the horrors the world has seen in previous years. Living in America your whole life, it is so easy to take for granted the liberties some people still don't have. I also can't wrap my brain around how many people fought with all their might and literally gave their lives so that the dream of freedom could become a reality. Although I sometimes like to put my blinders on and think my hubby's enlistment is just a job and involves nothing more, in my heart I know it's much deeper than that.  Our men and women in the military literally work every day towards the protection of our liberties. Whether some days are mundane or hectic from 4 am until their head hits the pillow late at night, we civilians depend on them to be able to continue our way of life.

I'm so proud to be married to one of America's hero's. :) I sure am I lucky girl! And we are all lucky to be able to call America our home!