Now that I've completed my drill for the month of November, I'm ready to sit back and enjoy the rest of the month. This weekend, Scott and I are driving over to Spokane for a whirlwind visit with the Monsters. Since I will not be able to go to MI for Thanksgiving with Scott and the girls, this will be a treat for me.

Scott has been going back there alot lately, and I've not been able to make it for most of the trips. I'm starting to feel a little out of touch with home, and jealous - even resentful - that he is getting to go back without me. I used a large chunk of my vacation time to go home in March on a mission to book a reception site. So I've been scrimping and saving what's left in order to spend time with the girls this Christmas.

My plan for the two weeks of solitude is to get my house cleaned up, get some clothes out of my closet and into the Goodwill donation box, watch alot of chick flicks, eat some chocolate and mashed potatoes (not together! ew!), and just relax. After these last couple of months, where every day had a plan and putting the brakes on for some rest was not an option, I'm more than ready to try my hand at being like a vegetable.

Learning new things & going, going, going...

I've been playing around a little with my photobucket account and learned to make online scrapbooks and a cute little slideshow of my nephew (see bottom of page). I just love learning new things!

In other news, I'm going shopping tonight for the stuff for Jessica's baby shower, and I also have to take some photos in to the Kodak photo center to scan and make copies.

The scrapbooks I'm doing for the girls are not progressing as I had hoped - in fact, I only like one page out of all the one's I've completed. It might be because I have never worked with an 8x8 album before, and, as it turns out, I don't care for them or it could be because I have given myself a time-limit (Christmas) to finish them, so instead of scrapping when the mood strikes, I'm forcing myself to do a page every night to get them done. Or it could be a combination of those reasons...

I looked at the calendar the other day and realized that I don't have a single free weekend that doesn't have any plans or schedules until after Scott goes home to MI in November. This weekend is the baby shower, next weekend is when Brian comes to visit and we are taking him over to Leavenworth and other stuff, the weekend after that is drill, then the next weekend (Nov 8/9) we ride over to Spokane to visit the girls while they are visiting their grandparents. Whew! I cannot WAIT to have a spare moment to snuggle up on the couch with a chick flick, something chocolatey, and my fuzzy blanket.

This past weekend...

It's another Monday - but thanks to the federal holiday, it's actually so tame I have time to breathe. I might not have the day off, but the post office being closed makes my day pretty boring.

Scott has taken my aunt up to the casino for the day. They were planning a ride on the ferry over to one of the islands, but the weather isn't playing nice today. The casino was plan B. Yesterday (Sunday) we went to Leavenworth and had a full day and a delicious lunch. I had German sausage, sauerkraut, winekraut, fried potatoes, and rye bread. Yum! Aunt Tina had goulash. We purchased some truffles from the chocolate shop and also got some gorgeous photos of the mountains and river.

Last Friday, her first full day out here, I took here into Seattle Center and she went up in the Space Needle (I'm so proud she overcame her fear of heights!), and then took the monorail down across to Westlake. We then proceeded to wander around Pike's Market for a good couple of hours. She had tons of fun, and that makes me very happy.

Saturday was a mellow day. We went to Mad Scrapper and Boehm's in Issaquah and then we went shopping that evening and did some scrapbooking.

I talked to Ashley Saturday night and she is going to help me plan Jessica's baby shower for this upcoming weekend. I'm so grateful for that - I have been so busy with everything else going on that all I had ready for the shower was a list of ideas! This has definitely been a very hectic couple of months, and with the holidays just around the corner, I'm not seeing much of a break in the pattern until the new year. Oh well...

Carpooling again...YAY!!

Scott is home, finally. This makes the commute so much easier. I swear, one more day of driving alone and being denied the privilege (and convenience) of the carpool lane, and I might have lost my tenuous grasp on sanity. I was 45 minutes late for work on Monday because it took me an hour and half (!!!!!) to go 26 miles. Doesn't sound nearly as bad until you take into consideration that all but 4 miles of that is freeway and should take, at the speed limit, no more than a half hour. Oh, well. Such is the price we pay for living outside the city. Anyway, the point is, I'm soooooo glad he's home!

Making Pasties

So, Jessica went home last night so that she could spend time with Cris, since they are on different schedules and don't get to see each other much as a result.  But we got the pasties started yesterday, and the first half of the batch baked so that she could take them home with her.  

My main goal for today was to get the second half of the batch baked and frozen so that my kitchen wouldn't look like a tornado victim (pasty making requires large amounts of flour and space and dishes to prepare, and it does get messy).  I finished them up around 2:30, and used the leftover dough to make cinnamon rolls, which are usually quite tasty because I put TONS of sugar on them :)  Here is a link to the wiki article on traditional Cornish pasties:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_pasty

Scott is still in MI, and my roommate is at work, so I have the house all to myself (except the canine crew), and am enjoying the quiet and solitude.  I think I'll catch up on laundry, some scrapbooking, and Nora Roberts book I'm really into, and some television.  Wow, I just realized that I get to control the remote!  Sweet!!

Caffeine

I am pinging off the walls!! Kristin and I carpooled in today since Scott is in MI, and we stopped at this little coffee shop I have had a gift certificate for since X-Mas 2006 but hadn't used yet. I got a latte 16-oz latte, and learned that I really don't need that much espresso in my system all at once. It tasted so good, though. I'll definitely be going there again, because they are inexpensive and the drinks were really tasty. Kristin had a chai latte and said that was super, too. Next time, though, I don't think I'll get such a big drink. The jitters are not so good, but the energy is nice.

So tired...

Ugh, I have not been running on all cylinders today. I had to be up an hour and a half earlier than usual yesterday morning so that I could make it to a PCC seminar in Federal Way by 8:00. Then, I was so exhausted yesterday after work that I fell asleep on the couch reading a book. Scott did, too. We snoozed for only a couple of hours, but it made getting to bed at a reasonable hour impossible. I wasn't tired again until 1:30 am, and we had to be up at 3:30 to get Scott to the airport for his lovely red-eye flight. He's going home for his grandmother's 95th birthday. So Jessa is coming up this weekend to hang out - it'll make the weekend way more fun. If I had to hang out by myself, I'd probably be a total vegetable and somebody would have to dig me up come Monday.

Hmmm...Me, a blogger?

It seemed like I was reading an awful lot of blogs lately. So rather than saving them all to my favorites, I thought maybe I would just start my own. Why not?

Things going on in my life right now:

I'm a new auntie! This is so exciting - I just wish I could have been there for the big day, but that is the price we pay for living 2000 miles from home.

I'm planning a wedding. I have so much time to do this in, I'm not really pursuing too much right now. We do have the location for the reception, though, and also the church. And a date (sort of). It will be either Saturday, July 17, 2010 or Saturday, July 24, 2010. See - I told you I had awhile to plan :)
http://www.mcfaddensgrandrapids.com/photos_pearlroom.php
http://www.umcmiddleville.org/

I'm also planning a baby shower. Jessa's baby girl is due in November, and we are planning a little get-together at her house for the end of October. I gotta get my rear in gear!

The military has had me running around quite a bit lately, as well. There are quite a few units getting ready for deployment, and my unit has a hand in each one of those pies. Hopefully, all of the running around will get me in shape for a December PT test. Nothing like running two miles in the cold and rain (and possibly snow!) that you can certainly expect from Seattle that time of year.

Well, I'm hungry, it's lunchtime, and I don't have anything else to report right now, so I guess this is it for my first blog!