Right Wing Mom

Alright, busy day for us here. I ended up having to do some school with the kids in the car and at Marc’s office. While we were at the office, I had a chance to “surf the net” for a few. I can’t tell you how I found this little jem - but I was laughing my booty off! I hope you enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday with a twist.. I like it!!! So, the object here is showing off 3-5 photos, sounds like fun huh?

Last night Jake was snooping in the girls room and guess what he found? Valentine’s Day candy. We told the girl they could keep it in their room so Jake wouldn’t see it and want any. Well, the damage was 3 suckers, a mini-twix, a pixie stick and 4 chocolate hearts. Lovely… lucky for us it was close enough to bedtime so we didn’t have to experience too much of a reaction. He did however start acting really goofy and loud. Spinning around and flapping his arms and making really loud annoying noises. Well, at least we know what caused that and how we can make it better. I am so happy we found The Feingold Plan. Huge difference! I am just hoping his reaction is mild today. It is exhausting trying to deal with everyday stuff when he is having a full blown episode. 

I love my house and one of the things I love about it is all the natural light. I really like sunlight (as long as my pasty white skin isn’t sitting in it!) We have this lovely wall of windows things going on in the living room and kind of the same thing in the bedroom. But, I will tell you what. Those windows really stink when a hail storm comes blowing in at 5am! I was scared out of my wits till I realized what was going on. Man… it was LOUD! Thankfully, it was short lived.

I am still scrapping my heart out for my clubscrap competition. It has been fun putting everything together and it has helped me try some new stuff out. One thing that I FINALLY got the hang of was my Cricut. I bought it over a year ago and just could not get the hang of it. I really thought that I wasted a lot of money on it. Haley had been talking about it and she mentioned an infomercial she saw. I had seen it too, but all I could say was HA! Fat chance! Cause I just couldn’t get the darned thing to work and it really making me mad. Well, the other day I needed to finish up a page and I was out of my favorite alphabet stickers, so I took a deep breath said a little prayer and dug the Cricut out. After a few minutes of tweakng the machine and REALLY reading the directions - I gave it a shot and… IT WORKED!!! Thank you Haley for motivating me to give it another shot.

Last night I was finishing up a page and I couldn’t figure out when the pictures were taken. SO I started digging around and well, eventually I dug out an old computer that was sitting in Marc’s office closet. Man - I struck gold! I found a whole bunch of pictures of Jake when he was about 2 and 3 years old. Which really made me feel better, I was starting to think I really neglected taking pictures of him! Also some pictures of my home Akron, Ohio! On my last trip home, I took a bunch of pictures of stuff that reminds me of home. I would list some of them, but no one but Shannon would know or care! But, I did find a picture of my elementary school that I found out has since been torn down. I can’t wait to scrapbook those!

Off to start school - I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

I keep fizzling out with my workouts and subsequently my food and water. For me they seem to go hand in hand.

No excuses, but, as I have done so often in the past, started out WAY too strong, which resulted in me having a little injury. Nothing major, but my left knee had been killing me for about 10 days (Thank you Marine Corps for the jacked up knees and back ) Anyway, instead of taking it easy and keeping in check with my food - I chucked in all out the window! Please, someone… slap me.

So - new week - new start. Marc has been struggling too and since we are both so darn competitive, we have challenged each other. KInd of Biggest Loser style. Largest percentage lost for the week is the winner and gets one hour of whatever form the loser. I am going for the one hour massage Cause you know I am going to win!!!! (Oh, I hope he reads this, cause there is nothing I like more than a little trash talking!)

But, to show how serious I am… I am going to divulge my starting weight (Lord, help me!) 204.8. My goal this week is just one pound lost. I can do that!

Ok, what else on the accountability front?

School - we are still going strong! We skipped Friday. The girls and I had a little mini girls day. Emma’s pictures at the mall. Some window shopping and lunch. So we have a little to catch up with this week, but not much. It will be easily done. Going to the library today. First time in a long, long time. Lets hope this library does not have the Most Wanted list from our old library. I think I single handedly keep libraries open with the fines I rack up. So sad. Jake’s schooling will get a big boost this week. We tried last week - but I took an approach with him that did not work so well. Let’s pray that what Marc and I have worked out this week for him is a better fit.

House - Catch up with the laundry! Not to hard, just need to be consistent.

And finally my food and such. I hate to say this, but I am going to cut out my best friend this week - Good Bye Sugar! I love you, but this abusive relationship we have, has got to stop.

So, what are you going to hold yourself accountable for this week?

Here are Emma’s 3 month portraits. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

And here is a close up and the four black and white photos…

And to compare… Here are Katie and Mandy’s and Jake’s 3 month portraits.

(Because nothing says little boy like clouds, a laundry basket, a lacy pillow and a football! LOL!!)

And compare this one to the one black and white of Emma… weird!

That’s a question I have been asking myself. It’s been a week since I last blogged and I don’t know why! LOL. Actually I do… I have been busy scrapping when I usually blog. I mentioned a few posts ago about I contest I entered from a scrapbooking club I belong to. Well, for those that really know me, you know the best way to get me going is to make it a contest. Man, why am I so competitive? Weird.

So - what been going on? I have been very involved reading about a trip to Uganda that a bunch of bloggers took for Compassion International. Wow! What an organization!!! Check out two of my favorite bloggers as they talk about their trip. Shannon and Carlos.

School has been going great! I can’t even tell you how many days in a row we have actually homeschooled - but its a bunch! Definitely a new record for us And I have found that when you homeschool on a regular basis you have do do much less review - amazing! LOL!!! Just wanted to add too that I love homeschooling because of history. Seriously one of my favorite subjects when I was in school, but I am learning so much more than I even did in school. We read about The Battle of Hastings today. DO you know what it was? I, of course, was familiar with the term, the name of the battle. But, I couldn’t tell you who was involved and why. But - I can now! And if you don’t know - I am not going to tell you! Look it up!

Have you seen this? The 30 Day Sex Challenge. Guess who signed up for this… It’s actually rather neat, not just all about getting freaky with your spouse for 30 straight days. They have a real cool devotional to go with it… check it out, I am sure this is one devotion your hubby will love to take part in! LOL!!!

Hmmmm - what else? Emma turns 12 weeks old tomorrow which freaks me out! I need to figure out a way stop my kids from growing up. Not permanently, mind you, just a little bit.

We got her pictures taken yesterday - so cute!!! I am going to see if I can take some pics and get them loaded for you to see! Its really freaky how much all 4 of my kids look alike. Very freaky!

Sponsored by Andrea at Sgt. and Mrs Hub

The story of how we met

It was January of 1994 and I was checking out of Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia. I was heading to my new duty station of Beaufort, South Carolina. I remember standing in my First Sgt.’s office getting my check out papers signed. He was laughing and joking with me and told me “I bet you will be married in a year!” Oh Man! That was the funniest thing I had ever heard! I was almost ready to swear of the whole male race. Just too much bad luck in too short a period of time.

Fast forward a few days. Here I am in Beaufort. Now, this story will tell a bit from Marc’s poit of view, as it is important to the story. So - it’s lunchtime of my first day and I am dressed in my Alpha’s (minus the groovy cover (ie:hat)) I go into the chow hall to well, get some chow. Now, realize that there are not a lot of women in the Marine Corps, so when a new female Marine checks in, people notice. And being that I was in my Alpha’s everyone knew I was new. I was getting a lot of once over kind of looks and I knew that would happen, so I was focused on getting my food and getting back to work. Well… Marc happened to be sitting in that chow hall at that very moment. He says that when he saw me walk in he was instantly attracted. Why? I have no clue - Alpha’s were not very flattering on me. But anyway, I digress. So - the funny thing here is that Marc wears glasses, the boy is nearly blind, so they are big, thick glasses. LOL! Well, knowing how wonderful military issue glasses are, he actually wears contacts. Except, that the night before he had a little “too much fun” and late at night took his contacts off and put them in a soap dish. (The things beer will make you do!) so, he is wearing his glasses. Well, he sees me and doesn’t want me to see him in his glasses, so he smoothly takes them off and hides them so I won’t think he is some kind of freaky nerd or anything. The problem with this logic is that I was not checking out the place. I had two interests in mind… food and getting back to work. Sadly, I didn’t even notice him.

A few days later, I had gotten comfortable in my environment and was getting the hang of things. My Gunny and I were doing the turnover for my job. Basically she was handing everything over to me. At the time I was in a job that was almost Supply like and I had an inventory of equipment that needed to be verified before I took control of the account. The first two week of my job was going to different buildings all over the base to see the equipment and sign off on it. One day my job took the Gunny and me over to Motor-T. It just so happens that a certain LCpl (Marc) was there taking a class to get his Hummer license. Lucky for him, he went home over lunch and put in his brand new contacts he had gotten in the mail that very same day! Lucky, why? Because guess what red-headed LCpl came strolling in to find the overhead projector? That would be me. Unlucky for him? I have no recollection of speaking to him. Oh, I remember speaking to someone, I just didn’t care who I was speaking with. I just wanted to see my equipment and move on. Poor guy.

Fast forward again to a few weeks later. Beaufort is a small air base in a very small town, or at least it was when we were there. There was not much to do, especially if you didn’t have a car, which I did not. Your only options for entertainment were the gym or the bowling alley. One evening I went to the bowling alley and (oh man, this is sad) I was bowling with a the daughter of a lady that worked there. Yep, the highlight of my social life, bowling with a 7 year old when I was 20. While we were bowling I guy walks in and gets put on the lane next to me. “Ok” I thought, “He is kind of cute.” But, then his friend/roommate joins him. Oh baby! “What a hottie!” I thought to myself. Then he took his sweatshirt off to reveal his (ok, let’s keep this a “G” rated blog) T-Shirt. He was hot - totally… and this is the first time I notice Marc. We were doing the little flirty eye glances and stuff, but we weren’t talking to each other. On a funny note the little girl I was with, obviously noticed him too and was relentlessly making fun and teasing him. I have no clue why, but it was funny! At one point I mentioned to the little girl that I was hungry. Marc, I guess, over heard this and went to the Subway that was right there and got a big huge sub. He proceeded to eat half then declare he was stuffed and offered me half. I of course declined. I mean, c’mon! I can’t take food from a stranger, no matter how hot I thought they were.

A few days later it was a Thursday. Thursdays in the Marine Corps are know as field day. Field day is nothing more than a deep cleaning. So, Thursday evening you clean the heck out of your barracks room to prepare for Friday morning inspection. So, most of one’s evening on any given Thursday is occupied, but you may get done early - then what? Well, the Bowling Alley of course! I went with a guy I had met through work - just a friend, he was engaged. WE went in and put our names down for a lane. Marc walks in a few minutes later and also signs up for a lane. We have to wait for a bit. I end up telling the guy I am with that I was going to go ask Marc and his roommate to join us. Marc had been in the arcade playing some game. As I went in to find him, he was walking out. I asked and we accepted. I found out later that Marc was coming out to find me to see if we could share a lane So, we bowled and talked and flirted and made a bet. If I beat him he had to take me down to Savannah to go shopping. I don’t remember what his side of the bet was, cause I totally beat to snot of out him!As we wrapped up bowling Marc went back into the arcade and I pondered what to do next. I didn’t want to just leave… so I went and “watched him play” How 8th grade of me When he finished he walked with me to the door and asked if I wanted to go grab a burger from Hardees. “Oh yes! I am starving!” I said. I was so excited to go with him, even if I was in no way, shape or form hungry. I think he laughed a little when all I ordered was a lemonade. He dropped me off at my room and we agreed to meet at 10am on Saturday to go to the mall. Then he asked if I would be interested in going out to dinner the next night, as friends. Yep - I think he actually said that!

Friday evening we met and went out to a very swanky place for dinner; Denny’s. LOL! Oddly enough that was Valentine’s Day. I can remember getting dressed for that evening and even remember what I wore! I remember we talked about weight lifting of all things! And to wrap up the evening we each had a piece of Strawberry Pie!

The next morning was the big shopping day. I was so nervous! I really liked this guy and I was hoping he felt the same way. I woke up super early and went to the chowhall for breakfast. I came running home, I was so worried I was going to miss him. He was supposed to pick me up at like 10am and it was only like 8. I was such a dork! Well, for the next two hours I made sure I looked ok about dozen times. And I propped the door open to my room and tried to pose myself, so I looked perfect when he showed up. I sat on the desk, behind the desk near the desk, feet on the desk, feet on the floor, sitting on the bed, laying on the bed, sitting near the bed, sitting outside on a chair, sitting outside on the floor , oh goodness the list goes on and on. Then I contemplated - what should I be doing when he shows up? My nails, my hair, reading a book? writing a letter? Counted cross stitch? LOL - What a nutcase huh? Well, somewhere around 9:30 I convinced myself that he wasn’t coming over. Nope, he stood-me up. I gave up. Plopped myself in my chair and grabbed a book. Then an amazing thing happened… he showed up, on time and everything!Savannah is about a 45 minute drive from Beaufort and we enjoyed every minute of it. I tried so hard not to talk to much. This that know me, know how hard that was. But, he kept asking me question after question. I actually told him I was talking too much and he said not to worry. that he was enjoying hearing about me. We had a great day and got to know each other a bit. The highlite of the day was when we were starting to head out of the mall. I was dying to touch him, have his hand brush up against mine or something. Suddenly he says “You can hold me hand if you want” That makes me giggle right now! But, I was on cloud nine! We held each other’s hand the whole way home. He gave me a kiss goodnight and oh boy - I was majorly in LIKE!

The next few weeks we spent most of our time together. Hanging out and getting to know one another. I was falling hard for this guy! Imagine me surprise when one night he said to me “I want to tell you something, but please don’t feel like you have to say anything back, ok?” I nodded. “I love you” he said. Oh holy cow! My insides did a double backhandspring! Or something close to that. I wanted to shout at him and jump up and down! But, I calmly said “I love you too.” We then had a long discussion about not saying I love you too much because we didn’t want it to lose it’s impact. LOL! That didn’t last too long. We said it every chance we got!

I remember a conversation just a few days later. We talked about our life together, what it would be like, where we would live, how many kids we would have. I don’t remember the exact details, all I remember is how secure and happy he made me feel.

He proposed to me 4 months later

and we married just 11 months after we first met.

We had so many people, mostly those we worked with telling us that we were rushing things. But, I knew it was the real deal! And I wasn’t about to let him go. 4 days after we were married, Marc left on a workup (predeployment exercise) and was gone for almost a month. We came home in time for Valentine’s Day! So, although January 14th is our official anniversary, we always celebrate it on Valentine’s day.

We have now been married 13 years! Each one better than the last - and I say that with all honesty. Marc has made me the happiest woman alive and I could not imagine life without him.

For you Marc: Between now and then, till I see you again, I’ll be loving you, love ME!

Marc just sent this to me - and man… it really ticked me off! Take a look: 
Ok: A little background. The city of Berkley, Ca. has decided that they want to kick the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting station out of their city. So this little group of nutcase’s know as “Code Pink” who are very anti-war (to put it mildly!) The town council voted to kick the Marine’s out and let the Code Pink crazy’s protest in front of the office. They (the town) blocked of a parking space in front of the office special for them. So here they are, in all the wonderous Code Pink craziness “exercising their rights” by not letting others exercise theirs.

Well, I kind of fizzled out last week with the exercise. I went Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday I was so tired! And I came down with a cold. I am guessing the tiredness was my body revolting and trying to fight off a cold at the same time. But - it is a new week and I am fired up (and still sniffling!) 

One thing I have been struggling with has been a “program.” I find it very hard to just go and workout. I need a plan! A Drill Instructor would be nice too, but going back to Parris Island, just ain’t in the plans! ( although, deep down, I would so love to go back to bootcamp (kind of) just to start all over again! lol!)

Andrea, over at Sgt and Mrs Hub, posted about a program called Crossfit. It is a completely insane workout. I am being serious, it’s crazy! But I love it!!!!! It’s the kind of workout that you sweat your tail off and have to scrape yourself off the floor afterwards and can’t move for a week after! Man, am I sick or what? The problem is - I am getting old, gave birth 10 weeks ago, overweight and haven’t done a serious workout in I don’t know how long! I planned on modifying the workouts a lot. I had a very ambitious workout planned for today - and well… reality smacked me across the back of me head like a 2×4! I could only do one set! But - I am ok with that. I think I will stick with this workout this week (maybe) and see if I can build up to the 5 sets (descending) that I was shooting for.

As far as food - I am still a little out of control with the snacking and not enough water. Those will be my two goals this week. I am aiming for 64oz of water (which is a huge improvement over what I have been drinking) and no mindless eating. If I get the munchies, I need to do something activity wise and if that doesn’t help - green smoothie time!

I have been making the smoothies with 1 pear, a few ribs of celery, a few pieces of dandelion greens and a ton of spinach. I bought some chickory yesterday, so I am going to try that today and I am going to be adding some flax seed. Every girl needs her fiber right? (well, at least this one does! )

Ok, time to wake the kids and get to the POD ( That would be Plan of the Day for you non-military peeps!)

Enjoy your day and get out a move a bit!

Sorry, I was not able to post the promised pictures on Friday, life kind of got in the way… it does that sometimes! But - here they are!   

Look how strong she is!

Have you seen those pictures of the dog’s where the body is normal size but their head is all huge? LOL! Here is the baby version! LOL!!!

I have some scrapbook layouts too. Nothing too great, but at least I got something done! All the paper is from a company called Club Scrap Right now they are having a contest where you get put on a team and you do layouts based on a theme for that week. This week was Team Colors. As you can see, I am on Team Green. I don’t think I am done with the pages yet. I need to embellish them some. But, that will have to wait for another day.