The Trip, The House, The Area

Well hello. It's been over a month since my last obtuse post and since then I've come a long way. Literally. Last Thursday we left Washington state drove nearly 3000 miles across the US to Augusta, Georgia. We traveled through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah,Wyoming, Nebraska,  a little Illinois,  a little Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and finally arrived in Georgia Yesterday afternoon. Henry was unbelievably amazing for the entire trip. Like clock work he got fussy and exclaimed he wanted out of the car within 30 minutes of our planned stop for the night. He played, watched movies, got excited at every train that we passed, (which were many) and snacked until we arrived. He deserves a medal.

I, however, was not such a happy traveler. At least not for the first day. That morning we woke up and headed out at 4:30am. After saying a very groggy goodbye to my family we headed out and within an hour I was having a full blown panic attack. It was painful. All I could think about was the trip ahead, the family behind us and the strangeness that comes with moving to a new place without seeing it first. These thoughts combined with a large cup of coffee on an empty stomach and not much to do other than sit in my seat and stare forward caused the anxiety to continue for nearly three hours, until I fell asleep. When I woke up the panic was gone but replaced by horrible car sickness. That lasted the rest of the day.

Thankfully we reached Ogden Utah at a decent hour, got a hotel fast and went to sleep. The next day started out later than the first but with good time. We were all in good spirits, I was feeling fine and when more than half the day was over I took over driving. I had a hard time immediately. We had just eaten a large and satisfying meal at Sonic and I was lethargic and the long roads of nothing were making me sleepy. But then Andrew got a phone call from the hotel we stayed at the night before. The manager was claiming that our cat clawed at the carpet in the middle of the living room and they were going to charge us $200 for the damage. When Andrew told them that,

#1 OUR CAT DOESNT HAVE CLAWS
#2  he was in a kennel the entire time
# 3 he was not located in the center of the living room

well, the woman told him that she was going to regroup and call him back. 10 minutes later she calls back saying the pulls in the carpet were in another location. Andrew again, said our cat does have claws, was in his kennel the whole time and also added that he was sedated the whole night as well and that he does not approve any charges to his card. She said she would email us pictures of the damage and discuss it further but she never did. If they end up charging us we are filing it as fraudulent and I will be writing many letters and bad reviews.LOL!

The irritating call made me so mad that combined with Sonic's super yummy ice, I was wide awake and ready for hotel number two which was nicer, less expensive and had an amazing breakfast. I was sad that we got in too late to eat at the Texas Road House though.

 Day three started out great thanks to our stay at the second hotel and even though at times it felt like we were driving in place due to the complete lack of change in the scenery, we blew through Nebraska and the little bit of Illinois and Kentucky and right through Missiouri. St. Louis was a very run down city and yet it was still so beautiful. I wish we could have spent more time there but soon were making our way through Tennessee and by 9pm on day three were in our hotel in Murfreesboro, TN. It was a harder nights sleep mostly because I think were were all so excited to get into Augusta the next day.

By 1:15pm we arrived at our new apartment complex. We checked in, signed the lease, got our keys, had some issues with our locks, then more issues with our keys and locks and finally got the right keys and locks. I was thankful to see that the apartment was updated, clean and a good size. Our bedrooms here are bigger than the ones at our house in Monterey and the walk in closets are going to allow me to have a small craft desk inside of our closet. We are turning Henry's closet into a secret space with lights and his DVD player, for him to play in.The living and dining rooms are good sizes as are the bathrooms. The kitchen is micro tiny but since there is a laundry room next to it with pantry space I'm more than pleased. We also had more than enough good spaces to choose to put our cats litter box which is always something I have to worry about a little when we go to a new place.

Our first night in the new place was good. Henry slept alone in his room for almost 15 hours. That kids was TIRED! We are sleeping on an air mattress that Andrew borrowed from a friend who is already settled in. We thought our stuff wasn't going to arrive until February 6th but I just got a call saying it could come between the 26th of this month and the 1st of February so I'm excited. We have almost everything we need here to live. We went grocery shopping last night and today we are going to get some cheapo pans and knives, etc to manage until everything gets delivered.

I'm excited to get to know the area and you know I've already enquired as to where the best BBQ is! Also I need to find the best sushi in town so I've been reading lots of reviews and found a place to try. The thing about BBQ and sushi is that Northerners can come to the south and eat at a BBQ chain with mediocre BBQ and think it's amazing because they dont' know any better, and so I'm a little concerned that Southerners might be eating sushi here and thinking it's awesome and that it will end up being disappointing to me. I guess we will find out. In other food related news. There is a Sonic a mile down the road. I've promised myself that I wont eat it unless I'm walking there and back. Then it will be like it never happen.

As far as recreational activities go, well, I've been looking into that as well. I found several parks, and even a zipline place and a bouncy house place. And I googled the local zoo which is in South Carolina just 45 minutes from us.

 We drove down the main business roads yesterday and I have everything I'm going to need here. That being, a Joanns and a Barnes and Noble. Andrew and I are excited to drive around and see where we would like to puchase a house next year. I love thinking about the possibilities.

For today though, the plan is laundry and a little shopping for household items.

I'm still here. Still dedicated to this blog. I've written a half dozen posts since my last, none of which I published because they were just too personal. It's been a long and hard 3 months away from my home, friends and mostly my husband. Henry has been having fun and staying busy with his cousins but I could only focus on the days left until Andrew got home. Now there are just 7 days left and in the last week I've started to get some of my spunk back.

I've got a lot of great things planned for me and my family in the next few months. I'm eager to get settled into our new home and get to the know the area we will be living. I'm hoping that I will continue to grow and improve in Georgia as I did in Monterey but this time I want to focus more on learning to not let others opinions and negativity affect me. I want to learn how to stay positive in less than ideal situations and enviroments and I also want to learn how to better appreciate and use the opportunites that I have.

The last day in October

Today is the last day of October and it's been a whirl wind of a month. To me, this month has always gone by at a snails pace but this time it's like life was in fast forward motion. My sister, who never sits down, was always suggesting things to do and we had a lot of exciting firsts happen!




Millie lost her first tooth! And then her second a few days later.



Granddad built a fire and cooked smores for the kids!



We went to the Kid's Museum on Bainbridge Island

 



We baked goodies!





The cousins came to visit!



Henry used the potty for the first time!!!

Henry used water colors for the first time.



Henry completed NASA training. THAT was a big day.



We took the kids to a corn maze/pumpkin patch.



Granddad spent .50 on a whoopee cushion that the kids thought was priceless.



We went to Raab park and enjoyed the good weather and pretty leaves.



We took the kids to see Puss and Boots and it's the first time Henry sat through an entire movie.

Finally, we went trick or treating with our cousins, Millie, Chase and Taylor.

Not pictured is Henry's first time swimming which he ended up really enjoying and a "hike" through the new-ish Fish Park here in Poulsbo. It was a busy month but a good month and I'm sure November will be no different. While there are some days that I just want to sit and do nothing, I really do feel thankful for a family who keeps me on my feet to help me keep from thinking about how sad I am without Andrew here. We are into week seven of this separation and he has 7 more weeks of training that will hopefully fly by just as fast. I am just thankful that he will be finished with training in time to spend Christmas with us. 





Is that a huge wad of cash on the ground?

Remember that time I thought a wadded up ball of napkins in the middle of the Target isle was cash and went through mental hell to reach it only to find out it was napkins?

Yeaahhhhh, today was worse than that. My sister and I went to Walmart to grab some needed things (namely Lysol, Lysol and more Lysol seeing as I'm on my 2 or 3 cold this month) and after paying I got $100 cash back, all in twenty dollar bills, jammed it in my tiny purse and went on my way. I was already having a rough morning and forced myself to get out and run several errands so by the time Walmart shopping was over I was drained and Henry, who is also sick again, was ready for his nap. I was clumsy when getting him into his seat and dropped my purse which I immediately bent down to get as I saw a nickle roll from it. Big whoop.

I get in the car and happened to glance into my rear view mirror and see a walmart worker move fast to pick up some "trash". "That's unusual" I think. And then I think to myself, "That lucky bastard just found money. I wish I was that lucky. All I find are wads of napkins."  "I should make sure that cash wasn't mine." I peek into my wallet and sure enough the money is gone. I jump out of the car and see a twenty under my tire. I grab it and then start running at full speed down the parking lot, looking left and right but I can't find the guy. Finally I see him and he's getting into his car and I yell "Hey! I think you grabbed my money!"

He nervously got out of his car and said, "Yes, I..I..I.. was going on break but was going to turn it in when I got off."

I smiled and said, "Ok!" Not sarcastically. I wanted to believe him but as I walk back to my car I can feel how hot the bills are from being clutched tightly in his hands and I feel bad. I'm always dreaming of finding a wad of cash on the ground, he must have messed his pants about finding $60.

That's right. $60. Plus the twenty that I found by my tire. That's just $80. I'm still missing a bill. I knew he didn't have it. I was counting the times he grabbed "trash" on the ground and I knew the $60 was all he had. So I crawled on my hands and knees in the parking lot looking for the last bill.

Napkin

Napkin

Reciept

Used baby diaper

Napkin (There is no bigger tease)

Finally on the other side of the car next to me there it was, next to their drivers door, waiting for a new owner. Was my purse so offensive? Didn't it know how much I loved it and all of the nice things I was going to use it for? And now it was trying to hitch a ride with a lame Windstar mini van when it could be cruising with me in my super awesome Scion rocking to Yo Gabba Gabba.

I felt the guilt as I picked up the last bill as well. Thinking about how it really would have made the day of that walmart shopper as they returned to their vehicle.

But alas, this chick has bills to pay.

I'm blessed. It was a windy day and the guy could have told me to get lost and kept my money. I'm blessed to have found every bill.

And I also won $20 off of a $1 scratch ticket last night. And despite my mother publicly outing my purchase of $11 dollars in scratch tickets (a second one of which I won $2) I still made a $11 dollar profit and that's still dang good.

practice run

My sister and I decided to wear Day of the Dead makeup for Halloween this year so I did some practice runs tonight. I used cheapo Halloween makeup from Walmart but now that I know the makeup is simple to do I'm going to get some good makeup to use on Halloween night. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going for half or full face makeup, white base or my natural skin color, and the colors and the patterns are not concrete either. It's a lot of fun to practice and try new patterns though. The makeup sticks from walmart are dull and while I look the thicker petals I prefer the thinner lines on the mouth and teeth that a good pencil with a fine tip would make. Also with a finer pencil I will be able to add more details around other areas of the face. We decided that we would like to use false eyelashes and along with the flowers we are wearing small lace veils. We are also going to experiment with using a doily as a stencil on the forehead piece and see how that comes out. Lastly, jewels to accent the top of the forehead at the ends of the web, at the chin and maybe a few around the eyes. We have some old Mexican Wedding dresses that we are going to alter and we are thinking some cowboy boots.

moving day

The movers came and went within 4 hours on Wednesday. It was a relief to have it done so quickly but the next day and a half where excruciating as I cleaned 1200 sq feet of our house on my own. Now that it's done and over with I can relax for this last day here in Monterey. Henry and I have been staying with our friends, Desiree, Ben and Avery, for the last few days and it's been really nice. Great food, fun conversation and a great bed to sleep in. I have never been more comfortable as a guest in some ones home.

I was excited that Henry's Ponyo plushie came in before we left. I was starting to worry.

This afternoon I have to go back to the house to do the walk through. I've come to terms with the fact that they might charge us for a little cleaning because by the 8th hour of scrubbing I was done. Next move I will hire a cleaning service. I'm never doing that again.

My poor cat is in a large kennel inside the empty house. I know he must be so mad at me. I keep having to remind myself that he's in there. I'm worried I might forget him!

Tomorrow morning we head to the airport at 9am to pick up my Dad and get on the road to Washington. I still haven't come to terms with the leave. It's hard to think about leaving a place that has been an important part in growing up in just the short year and a half we've been here. I made amazing friends, learned a lot of important things, especially about myself, and Henry had his first steps and many other firsts here.

It's sad but still exciting to move on and discover new places! I'm really looking forward to learning my way around Augusta. I've been fortunate enough to talk to a  lot of people who have lived there and hear their advice about which places are great and which parts to avoid. It's exciting to think that Henry will start school there in a year or so and that our family will hopefully grow by one member. Hopefully.

That felt good. That felt perfect. I want more

I can't reveal much about the Triple M-D Last Hurrah super secret/masonic/ritualistic gathering my girl friends and I had last Thursday. Just a small remark that was made the next morning as we sat around the breakfast table talking about different things we and our friends had been "Pinning".

"Pintrest is life changing." I said as I giggled.

Which I then followed with, "No, I'm serious."

And I am serious. I joined Pintrest  a month or 6 weeks ago and I feel like I've made some really great changes in my life since then. I cook more, I find new and creative ways to teach and entertain my son, I feel inspired to eat and live healthier and I feel a kinship with the women on the site who are looking to better their lives and inspire each other by sharing what motivates them, what makes them laugh and helps them to express what they are feeling through art, photography, and writing.

Even my Mother-in-law who joined shortly after me linked this article on her facebook, which by the way I have yet to read because I've been too busy pinning, but based on the title I'm going to guess it's a positive piece on the amazing, life changing effects of using Pintrest, otherwise I may have just made an ass of myself linking it to this pro-Pinning blog post. Pintrest may be life changing but obviously has not changed the fact that I have a awful habit of jumping to conclusions before checking facts.

Onward.

Today from 2pm-4pm, as my son napped, I sat in my bed, eating Sweet & Spicy Doritos from the bag while cursing my sister in between bites (she introduced me to them last year) and Pinning. As I go back and forth to my home board I keep catching a glimpse of how many other Pinners, specifically women, had re-Pinned something of mine that I had been lucky enough to come across on the main page a couple of days ago. This specific Pin was the blog of a woman who lost 135 pounds. After I put this blog on my health and fitness board I sat and read it for a few hours and was touched by her sincere and honest style of writing. She was able to say things that I have felt but in the most beautiful way. A way that could make anyone who sneers at over weight people find an understanding with the struggle.

I sat and looked at that list of Pinners, re-Pinning this woman's blog  and then looked down at my hand, paused inside of the Doritos bag, and I felt sick. The words from her blog ran through my head.

Her are links to 3 of her posts titled, "What I Miss About Being Fat" parts 1,2 and 3.

"What I Miss About Being Fat,part 1"

"What I Miss About Being Fat, part 2"

"What I Miss About Being Fat, part 3"

And then read her posts titled "My Exercise History".

"My Exercise History, part 1"

"My Exercise History, part 2"

"My Exercise History, part 3"

After getting over the amount of Doritos I had eaten, I waited for Henry to wake up, put on my shoes, got him dressed and went for a walk.

Just 2 weeks ago I was jog-walking a mile in 11 1/2 minutes, which was a huge accomplishment for me, and then life got busy with the upcoming move and guests staying and I stopped exercising. It was easy to put it aside because my shins were killing me and my body was not adjusting well to the shock of exercise that I thrust it into so quickly. I was feeling I had good reason to put it to a temporary halt. But my history will show that the halts are never just that. Unless you call 2 years in between active exercise temporary.

 I hate the pain my body has to go through when I exercise. It makes me hate doing things that aren't exercise at all. It makes me avoid things that sound like exercise but aren't. Like walking. I used to love walking. As a kid I was always walking all over the small town I grew up in. I walked to my friends house, to the convenience store and to the beach. But as an over weight adult I've associated walking with exercise when I shouldn't. Walking is healthy. Walking is therapeutic. Walking is a sensory exercise. It opens up my mind to so many things.

Smells. The smell of the ocean. The smell of people cooking dinner for their families. The smell of laundry detergent blowing through the dryer vents. The smell of fresh cut grass.

Sounds. The birds, of all kinds, talking to each other. The cars going up and down the high way. The dogs barking as we walk past their fences. The trees rustling with the breeze. (I think I'll break into Colors of the Wind right about now.)

Sites. The kids riding their bikes on the side walk, the nutty rat-squirrels running around, the ocean over the sand dunes, the soldiers pulling into their drive ways after a long day at work.


I love walking. Why don't I do it every day? Why don't I walk everywhere? I have the time. I have the legs. I have the love for it.

So when I set out on my walk today I knew I wasn't going to run. I wasn't going to time myself and I wasn't going to measure how far I'd gone. I walked slow enough to enjoy everything around me but also with an eager pace,wanting to see, hear and smell more. I let my sons stroller do most of the guiding through the roads and side walks and ended back home thinking,

"That felt good. That felt perfect. I want more."