The Move

The move is going very smoothly for me, thanks to my Mother in Law Lisa who is here today and has been here the last two days! She helps to keep me motivated and is awesome at all her efforts to help! We will be back online next Thursday hopefully!

Ah! one more thing!

I totally forgot, talk about frustrating! I got online to file our taxes and was almost done when I got the message that I was going to have to come back Mid Feb. before I could file because the gov. had a new tax form out that had not been uploaded yet and should be by mid Feb. I don't even think that this said form applies to me so why does it matter when I file! UGH! so frustrating!

The issues of this week:D

Firstly, I want to inform you all that I am trying out a little thing called ad sense:D Anyway if anyone clicks on the ad I get paid for it. Just trying it out for a month and no I don't expect you all to click on it, I just wanted to explain why it was there! SO that's out of the way!

Secondly, many of you know I am moving this weekend, sadly on Monday when I went by the apartment looked like it had been wiped down in some places but not in others, and let me tell you that is HUGELY disappointing. I talked with Patty (the person we are renting from) and it turns out she paid someone to clean it. So she as well was disappointed. Go figure! Anyways the things that bugged me the most were the floor in the kitchen entry way and babies room, and the master bathroom. You can see the hair left in the shower. Yeah I do the same thing but that ain't my hair! And the scum behind the toilet. So yeah I went over Tuesday night and spent about 2 1/2 hours cleaning so that we could move into a clean place.


Thirdly, I got a wild hair while I was there, the master bath had the WORST wall paper up ever, I do not live in Arizona and I am not a senior citizen so it HAD to come down. Patty knew that was my one big thing that I didn't like about the place:D So I noticed while I was over there cleaning that a corner was coming up and had to pull it off. I have never removed wall paper before so I had NO clue what I was looking at was ok, the yellow wall, so I called Hope a little panicked:D Anyway turns out that I am extremely lucky and that wall paper came off without a fight! YAY for me!

Oh here is a picture of the light switch you can see that this wallpaper was not the only wall paper the bathroom had seen! Anyways I am going to have to replace all the light switches because they are all a little worn out.



Which leads me to my last and final thing. The Lord is aware of me. My sister Amy keeps a notebook that she tries to write down when she can see His hand in her life. Well I can certainly tell you that I know from Yesterday alone that He is aware of me, and all my struggles, and I came home after cleaning with a thankful heart! Not only after I had been up all night with Leland did Brian's school get cancelled so he could be home to help, but we were able to get him to the doctor and found he had an ear infection brewing, so I had the help I needed so that I could take care of me as well as my kid. Not only that but that meant that I could go and clean without Leland and that I could take my time! Also I am so thankful for a sister who wants to help me when I know how full her schedule is, and my Hope who is willing to add a 3rd kid to her day on Friday so we can start the move without a little one underfoot. And for my in laws, one set is coming to help on Friday and the other set is taking Leland on Saturday so again we can have the day to finish the move! I am blessed!

Holy Crap! (this post probably contains a TMI:D)

So folks I wasn't going to write about this subject at all, but you see I will at some point probably be reduced to tears in front of many of you, or while talking to many of you on the phone, instead of trying to explain (ask my dear MIL Cindy, listened to me cry almost our entire conversation!) I have been having some issues with stuff, and I went to my OB, well I am NOT going through menopause so that is good news, but I have stopped ovulating, this was not a surprise as I haven't been visited by aunt floe for some time. SO I started a hormone which the generic name is Medroxyprogesterone yeah try saying that 5 times fast. Anywho this wonderful pill is supposed to "jump start" my little ovaries into ovulation. So not a huge deal as it can be helped along, but still kinda shocking and a little bit of a bummer. You see this is NOT a good time to have whacked out emotions, but alas, when is a good time! We are moving sometime this week or next, all I know is we have to be out of our current residence before the 1st:D So I made the decision at the OB's office to go ahead and start the hormones and I would talk about it with Brian a little later just to make sure he thought it was a good idea. I told him what was up, he seemed a little worried at first then I told him it would/could be fixable with hormones, held up my little pharmacy bag (its nice he works at Costco great insurance, I didn't drop any money for my 20 little mood messin pills) he said "great! When do you start em." I explained to him that I would be moody, and he gave me a look, I am pretty sure I could interpret the look thusly "Allie when are you NOT moody" so he is in. So here we go! Off on another adventure. Let me just say I am proud of my Brian! He has come such a long way since we have gotten married, yes he still likes to prod me till I am ready to snap then laughs and says I am cute when I am mad, but he has really stepped up to be the provider and I just proud of him, don't really know how to put it but there you have it! Now if I could just grow into being a good housekeeper life would be pretty dang good!

Today has been mostly showers

with a few silver linings, while I would like to think I have the cutest kid around, he at his ripe old age of 1 has decided he no longer needs naps. Whats that you say, just put him down... oh believe me I did! And I am sure the neighbors called CPS 3 or 4 times today imploring them to come check out the situation at our place. He sleeps in our closet (we have a semi smallish one bedroom with a "sunroom" that was supposed to be his room, but with no doors, its impossible to put him down out in the middle of the hub bub) anywho, I put him down the first time, screamed for an hour, got him up bathed him, put him back down, screamed for about 30 minutes (now when I say screamed, I mean it, this kid is horse now) figured he was probably just really hungry got him up fed him lunch let him hang out a while, put him down again, screamed for another hour. Got him up and tried to clean (my vacuum broke and I just fixed it yesterday and boy do my floors need a good once or twice over) he was following me around yawning and whining, so I got him a warm bottle of milk sang him a song, cuddled him and then went to put him down, he was asleep or so I thought. Nope he was screaming 5 minutes into the nap, this time I am frustrated so I say he can cry, the poor kid screamed for an hour and a half before I went to get him. So he is up today, no nap, and all whines! YAY for me, on the funny side, he realized he could climb into his toy box, loves that, and secondly he learned that since I cleaned out the space between the window and the couch there is a secret passage way that he can just barely squeeze through, and then the diaper pail blocks him! Oh man, he was sure proud of himself though! He also has claimed a chair in our house, Karen & Kendell Roman got us this nifty little video rocker for our wedding, and Leland has claimed it as his own! He absolutely loves it! Thanks Karen and Kendell!

Zoo Zoo Zoo!

Amy and I went to the zoo this last Friday it promised to be a chilly day so we went knowing we may not be there very long, turns out those are the best kinds of trips! Michael Noah and I went to the nature exchange so Michael could fulfill one of his scout requirements. He turned in some cool stuff and got some cool stuff in return! We learned a lot from Mr. Rick, who is a geologist by trade. Anywho than we went to the under zone, which has some dwarf mongooses and some horn billed birds. The kids had a blast and Eli was in heaven with the birds, which Amy called one happy little pecker... yes folks my sister said pecker, although it was true, because there was one bird who kept coming over to the glass right by them and pecking at the glass, so in truth he was a friendly little guy!:D Anyway we had a blast and enjoyed some quality time learning together! Sweet Amy even remembered my very real fear of snakes when one of the zookeepers offered to get one out for the boys to touch, I was ok with it as long as I was far away from it, but it was nice of her to make sure I wasn't going to embarrass myself in public by having a melt down! Leland Eli and I did puzzles, or really I did the puzzle and tried to keep them from eating it! Over all it was a blast and it the Zoo was pretty much ours to enjoy, as most people stayed inside!

Laughter is the best medicine

Well this is what I have discovered. I have been thinking about it a lot because I can't remember where I was now, but I made my white whale comment and giggled about it (I LOVE white t shirts, but they aren't so slimming:D) which is why I often refer to myself as the white whale, oh and I am white:D Anyway this is how I cope with something that often gets me down, it only really gets me down when someone points out ( i think I may have been at work) that I shouldn't say that or its not true, well truth be told I am not a whale I am just overweight, which is a problem half of America faces these days, but to me to be able to say it just makes it a little easier for me to decide to conquer, now if someone else calls me the white whale, it might be a different story, but I was talking with a friend tonight, who got ganged up on at work, because like me she uses jokes to deal it lightens the load and it makes it easier for us to feel ok. It doesn't mean we are depressed and it doesn't mean that we hate ourselves, although it couldn't hurt if we did it less and believe me we both realize this. I have a little boy at home and I have to watch what I say around him because whether the girl is thin or fat what matters most is whats on the inside, because some thin girls are nasty and some fat girls are too. I don't want him to judge a girl solely on the "cover" so to speak (unless that cover has some coverage issues, then its ok to walk away!) but if I remain negative in speaking of myself even if it is in jest, he may not get it, he may think I truly hate my body like all the good meaning people out there, who are tryin to change me:D So since Amy was inspired to point that out to me, that what I was joking about around her boys would have an influence I decided to make a valiant effort to not joke about it so much, and that maybe if I have to put a positive spin on it, like there is more of me to love! However what matters most is my hubby thinks I am pretty, and he loves me the way I is, however when I got off the elliptical yesterday and had made it to 25 minutes and was so overjoyed about it, he laughed and said "way to go!" it made me feel a little silly, but of course that didn't stop me from texting the man who made it possible:D And the phrase must be a man phrase because that is what he responded with as well! By the by Pops I am down 3 pounds this week, and I just started! Anyway all I ask is that I can continue to laugh and hope to continue to improve my health so that I can play longer and harder with my kiddo and the kids to come. Because that is where the best laughter happens!

PA

or passive aggressive, it makes me laugh when I realize that people connect me with this term, I prefer to think of my PA status as really being sarcasm, but alas sometimes I am just plain PA! Anywho Hope told me about a blog she had found, not sure if this is the right one, the one she was talking about, but it made me laugh, this blog is NOT for kids though, it doesn't sensor much, I mean there is nothing like nasties in it just swearing. http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ there it is if you want to check it out for yourself! It helped me realize that yes I am sometimes painfully passive aggressive, but more though speech than note writing:D

New years

Yeah this year I didn't make any resolutions, since I normally never keep them I decided not to waste the time! However I did learn how to crochet while my mom was here! I was pretty slow picking it up but I am getting faster, she kept saying I can't believe you are doing this right handed, for those of you that don't know I am a south paw, for those of you that don't know what a south paw is we could use some reasoning and realize the only reason it is amazing that I am crocheting with my right hand is that I am a lefty, the irony of this sarcasm is if you had asked me 4 years ago what a south paw was I would have stared at you blankly with crickets chirping in the background, it was a phrase introduced to me by a friend who liked to call me that. Anyway back to the fabulously fun times with the fam! Amy was kind enough to host us all at her house and so we had a blast, Annie and Adam flew in from Hickory, and Mom and Dad from Sunnyvale, as always their trips were too short. Little Leland followed uncle Adam where ever he did go! It was about the cutest thing I have ever seen! I don't know how much Adam loved it, but I loved the fact that Leland had found a buddy! Brian took some time off while they were here so there was lots of family fun to be had! Mom helped me with my knitting when I picked up too many extra stitches and while learning crochet we had a fun conversation with Amy and Mom, which I will try to write out to the best of my memory, because it makes me laugh still
Mom: Oh this is going to turn out great (to me about my crocheting)
Amy: Did you just say it was going to be crap (to mom)
Mom: NO repeats herself
Amy: OH
Allie: Giggles lamely
and I went blank, but there was something about a happy hooker in there:D Yeah that was my mom referring to me after I picked the skill up, but don't worry folks Amy is a FAST happy hooker! Grace we were all running on 100% so we were all worn out, and we had to wait to break out the yarn till Lee was down because that kid has a thing for yarn! Anyway when I dig my Camera out from behind our bookcase (yeah I am awesome) I will take pictures of my sting ray trivet that was supposed to be a square, not so much talented yet, but Mom promises I will get better! Amy made great meals, and Dad and Mom treated us to some awesome meals! Its so nice to be with family as they up lift and nurture things we don't always realize we need! I wish Mom was closer and Ann and Em and Gene, but I am lucky to have Amy, people seriously don't realize how wonderful she is! I love it when we are together and we both get tired, because that is when the laughing happens, or when she calls me because she thinks I may know where Eli's shoe is even though I haven't been there all day, and sometimes I can actually guess right! There is nothing like having a sister who is so great, so close, to inspire me to be better, granted people I have a LONG way to go to get to Amy status! Especially as Ame points out if I am going to have to laugh every time Zeke tells me about the Huge balls at Ikea, or that Caleb is touching his balls (he had two balls at scriptures when I was watching them last and I told him if he touched them again I was going to throw them out, so he was pretty stressed when Caleb started to play with them, I just lost it and started cracking up! So much for the hard nosed Aunt!) I will post the pictures in the morning as it is late late late, and I am actually feeling tired, cursed head cold! Anywho thanks Amy for hosting the week and a half, it was fabulous! Thanks Mom and Dad for the treats out, Gatti town and the Yarn, and making me a happy hooker:D and thanks Annie for the good laughs and of course Mario Cart, although Zeke may never play it again!

Christmas Day

Christmas day was spent with the Green's and it was also a TON of fun! I got woken up a little early for my liking but Dad Green made me some YUM hot chocolate, and I decided it wasn't so bad to be awake just then! We didn't start presents there until around 8:30 which was kinda different and nice, I tried waking Brian up and I got told LEAVE ME ALONE, what a Scrooge! In his defense, we had left the Hamiltons at 11:30 and were trucking up to Anna shortly there after so we didn't get to the Green's until 1:30 AM and that made for a LONG night! Luckily Dottie their dog, slept in Grandpa and Grandma's room because she would have driven me crazy! I love animals, I just am a little over protective as a MOM:D Anywho to those who do it with Medium dogs and babies congrats, I am not one of those people who could pull it off(however I am sure the Doritos's that got smashed into my carpet tonight would be gone if I had a dog, just a thought:D) The day started out wonderful with lots of fun presents (Jason had the camera most of the time, this is a disclaimer of the pictures!) We got so many fun things! Leland got some little people and some books (I LOVE to read so this is an excellent present!) I got a get fuzzy comic book, which I LOVE and Brian got some great Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies! Again wonderful holiday, with a wonderful family! And someday if you are ever in the neighborhood I will see if I can't get grandpa to make his homemade stuffing, it. is. fantastic! We are blessed!

Christmas Eve!

We spent Christmas Eve with the Hamilton's and had a blast! Dad Hamilton forgot to defrost the turkey all the way so we ended up starting it late, and thus we ended up using their microwave :D Which killed their poor microwave of only a few months. Luckily it was still under warranty. Before that though we did some last minute Christmas shopping and Mom Hamilton treated us to lunch!
Leland tried escaping:D

But Mimi caught him just in time!

Can't you just hear him saying OH MAN! I love the cheesy face!

We started opening presents a little too late for Leland as he had already taken the bows off most of them although we did enjoy putting them on him! He wasn't so fond of this activity:D

Leland figured out how to get the party started, and as a matter of fact how to open the most gifts, even if they weren't his, this one was Mimi's and we had left the room only to hear the box hit the floor, this is what was found!

We had a great Christmas with the Hamiltons! It was relaxing and so fun to be with family! Mimi got two new bracelets from Poppy and Poppy got his blue ray DVD player! But Brian and I made out the best! We got a new video recorder! YAY! Along with lots of DVD's and so many fun toys for Leland! It is a blessing to have such wonderful family so close by!
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It's been a long time

since I have even been home! Our holidays are always filled with lots of family, which we love, but we are rarely home during this season! I will post in more detail about our Christmas with the Hamiltons, our Christmas with the Green's and our New Years with the LeBaron's Lamoreaux's and Watkins:D Thanks to all who made the holidays so wonderful and for the wonderful memories we will have to cherish!