Thoughts on cross training for belly dancing

I have weak knee tendons, scar tissue on both my hips from the tendons tearing in high school track and mild scoleosis.  I have days where the thought of having to work out these muscle groups is enough to drive me back under the covers with a large pizza and just give up.  Today is one of those days.  My knees had been feeling especially week from teaching belly dancing on Monday. Almost all moves in belly dance require strength from the knee area but don't really allow the proper muscle to be built up.  So you end up getting "fat knees" and having that jello-y feeling when you stand or walk from weakness and the muscles being built up in a bent fashion from holding that pose so often.

So today instead of belly dancing in the morning, I did ballet.  I did plies. Lots of them. Till my muscles were screaming at me and I was having to remind myself to breathe.  I did tendus, and passe`s.  I did them standing, on my side and supine. I was sweating.  And it felt great. Already my knees feel stronger from having to hold them taut and forcing my hips and inner thighs to pull their weight. Also the pressing back motion that is made in a plie helped stretch out the knee ligaments and start "putting them back into place" so to speak. 

This was a reminder to me that although we build great strength from belly dancing (and killer bootys!!!) we have to train our muslces to be well rounded and give them the proper support for strenth as needed.  That's why we need to do push ups and abdominal work, why we should lift weights and do those squats everyone hates.  The better we build our bodies up, the more they will stand up to us trying to break them down.  So today after doing your drills, go ride your bike, do a few sets of plies, do a WarriorZ workout or hit the weights.  Keep your muscles primed and ready to help you as much as you want to help them.

Peace y'all.

Zuzana Light - ZWOW # 24 Core Crusher

The lighter side of vajayjay in the military

For all my female vets, and chick-a-roos still serving:

I've been thinking about those stereotypes that we all seem to fall into.  People all think that we either want to be a dude, or we feel like victims all the time, not to mention how civvie spouses see us!

Please feel free to add your own anecdotes, quotes or quips to the list!!

"So you didn't sleep with every guy that crossed your path?"     Well let's see between the married guy, the married guy, the old married guy, the creepy rapist looking guy, the guys who probably still live at moms house on the weekend, they guy with the girlfriend, the officer who is illegal to fuck and oh yah that other married guy, my possibilities are endless!  Oh yah did I mention that these guys are my brothers?

"So do you just not like being a girl or something?"   Shit, you mean I don't have a dick?? Holy shit what are these masses of fat being held up by something that looks suspiciously like a bra!  Seriously though, why would I want to spend all day having to adjust something in between my legs?

"Aren't you scared you'll get hurt?"  Oh sweet baby jesus, I'm a human being you idiot.  But I have a job to do and guess what; I can shoot better than your husband who you think I want to fuck....did you know he's married?


"How do you deal with being around guys all the time?"  How do you deal with being around nothing but females all the time?  Now where is my beer.......


"Oh you got divorced, that makes sense why you joined."    What?  Go slam your head into a wall.  Repeatedly

"I don't know how you can be in the military while your husband is."  Um, we took vows, we like each other, for some odd reason I trust him.....you do the math.

"All the women in the military are whores...well except for you of course."   But you just said all......... btw did you know your husband is married?

"Isn't that gun so heavy though?"  Well I suppose if your head is filled with hot air, anything else would seem heavy in comparison

"Ugh I hate being dirty, I guess it must be nice to just not care what you look like"    Bitch I will choke slam you, after I get out of my fucking candle lit bubble bath. 

Feel free to add (even things that you shouldn't say to a mil spouse; doing one for that soon :) ), just as long as everyone keeps it sem-respectable and this doesn't turn into a "well I know this one person" thing.  We ALL know that person/people.  We also know that doesn't mean ALL are like that. :)

Peace y'all

Don't drink the Water!!!!!!!

Good now that I have your attention..............

I have been telling people for years to not eat things with artificial sweetners.  To not drink energy drinks and diet soda.  Why you ask?  Well becuase of a scandously back- doored, carconogenic, used-to-embalm-dead-test-animals drug.  Yes drug.  It's called aspertame, and has somehow miraculously been allowed to become the #1 commonly used drug/artificial enhancer-sweetner dispite the numerous studies that have been done discrediting it's use and it's so-called health benefits.  The "inventor" of this so-called wonder sweetner actually ended up offering jobs in his corporation and firms to members of the FDA and somehow it got approved. Coincidence?  I think not. 

I write this because I am furious.  People either know what this shit does to you and don't think it will happen to them, or they just don't care.  I have a family member facing terminal cancer that originated in his kindeys (after they failed from trying to keep filtering out the chemicals from abuse of diet soda) that raced to his lungs and finally up to his brain.  He is now facing chemo that most people die from anyway.  I'm sure a lot of my family is going to get pissed about this, but facts are facts.  If you overconsume any kind of drug you will die.  Period.  He is dying, from his self inflicted drug consumption. 

Do your freaking research people!  Just because it's "low-calorie" or "sugar free" does not mean chemical free or even healthy for you.  People have become so ignorant and blinded by shiny brightly colored lables touting false health claims that they are now dying from it.  Stop putting chemicals in your bodies you idiots!!!!!!!!  Am I the picture of perfect eating and health? Fuck no, I love doritos, ice cream, margarine rather than butter, and yoplait light (which btw has aspertame as one of it's main ingredients then has it's sister ingredients lower down on the list).  But I am educated. I read the labels and recognize what ingredients are.  I actually think about what I am putting in my body.  Just try it.  Picture a vial full of a labratory manufactured chemical.  Now picture pouring it over your cereal, into your juice.  Picture the animals and people that are embalmed with a by-ingredient of this "low calorie" artificial sweetner.  And trust me, real food tastes much better than chemically enhanced crap. 

I am about to probably lose a family member to a painful and slow process that could have been avoided by simply taking better care of himself.  It's simple shit people.  Do your research don't believe everything you are told, and think for yourself!  If not for yourself, then do it for your family and friends.  Help make sure your children have a better chance at not getting cancer from the other million things that are causing it these days by giving them a healthy body that is able to fight off illness like this. 

I'm done. D.U.N dun.

Peace y'all

Oh the joys of the prediabetes and pms

Lord have mercy! Since getting diagnoised with prediabetes I've noticed my pms is incredibly TERRIBLE!!! I knew it was horrible back in Oklahoma and getting worse but I attributed it just to the fact that I hated where I worked.  But now, oy vei!  I could kill a person to get any kind of sugar and have been staring at the honey pot with serious contemplation of devouring the entire thing coupled with a huge ass plate of vegetarian nachos and a side of chocolate ice cream.  And some wine, cannot foget the wine!  I've drank my chocolate shakeology, in the hopes of kicking the sugar craving, taken my st johns wort and waiting for my valerian root to kick in to go to sleep.  But God damn it's not working! 

The next awesome joy of pms and (pre)diabetes is the huge ass mood swings.  And with the husband gone I've just been wallowing and feeling quite depression-y.  Again st john's wort helps take the edge off and dance and cardio help so much. Ugh, let me tell you if you thought PMS was terrible with nothing wrong, try having it when you have a terrible time trying to regulate you blood sugar and horomones on a normal day!!  I am definitely not trying to say that PMS doesn't suck ass for every single woman out there (unless you're one of those bitches who get really happy and crave vegetables and lose weight during this time, then we hate you God bless your heart) but trying to deal with this shit is driving me up a wall!!!!!  Luckily I found at least a few things on the internet to read and had some suggestions, so hopefully this will serve as at least a "you're not alone" thing. 

So go have some nachos and ice cream for me will ya?  Then tell me how amazing it was! 

peace y'all

lost

The house is super empty now.  I feel a mix between jealousy that he's the one going on deployment and I am left behind dealing with the same thing day in/day out.  But i also feel awkward, like I don't really know how to do this.  I don't know how to be the one who's left behind.  I barely know how to be a wife and now i'm the "deployment" wife.  Ugh.  The dog has been watching either out the window or at the door intently waiting for daddy to come home.  Brookie is such a daddy's girl. She's gonna go ape shit when he gets home :)  So tonight I am already in my pajamas, and full of food.  I had planned on going to the gym after he left since I have a recital sunday, but just not feeling up to it.  So spa day tomorrow then a quick workout I suppose and a run through of my performance.  I feel a little lost right now.  Talk to ya'll later.

Peace y'all

Vous voir plus tard mon amour!

Friday is approaching waaaay too fast for my liking.  Then it will be 6+ months of solo sleeping (well the dog but you know), solo meals, trying to fill my time and obsessivly watching news reports for certain parts of the world.  And yet, I'm strangely calm. 

 I think everyone should have to do a two year stint in the military, it gives you A) a better appreciation and understand of the bullshit we go through, and B) I think there would be a lot less tension between couples before deployments.  I hear so many stories of couples constantly fighting, tension and silence, shit even break ups and divorces before they leave.  Yah yah we know, "Well it's easier to leave if they're mad"  or "It's easier if i start the distance now."  Guess what?  A lot of civillian spouses don't understand that.  They don't get it, they don't get that claming up and/or acting like a jackass is how we settle nerves and deal with things coming up that we are anxious about.  And that's ok.  I think that if everyone did a stint they would know what it's like to leave and so we wouldn't have all these problems.  But guess what, they don't.  And leaving is never easy, ever.  People need to talk.  I am fortunate enough that I understand what it's like having done it myself, and that my husband doesn't mind talking about what bothers me, and actually listens when I tell him how he is making me feel.  Will it change anything?  Probably not, mostly not, but I feel better having gotten it off my chest and he makes more of an effort to not close himself off from me and the world.

Also as scary as it is, I firmly believe couples should talk about the "what ifs".  My husband and I have gone over every possible "what if" scenario  related to deployment that I refuse to post on here because I would probably get a lot of angry comments.  God willing, the "what ifs" never happen, but if they do the person on the recieving end of bad news (either side) will be prepared, know what the expectations and wishes are, and can at least have a game plan of how to go about settling things.  Happy stuff, hell no, but absolutely necessary. This isn't to say you should sit there and think of all the scary stuff that could happen and obsess over it, but just have it covered, written down is even better. And honestly, I think it's a good way to get over your fears of what could happen, just by talking about it. 

But besides that, just love each other, even if that means giving the other person a ton of space and realizing that them distancing themselves from you (or you doing the distancing) is just a coping mechanism. It doesn't mean they love you any less, doesn't mean that they are planning of leaving you after they leave.  It simply means "This is how I deal. Compromise with me."  So compromise. Tell them how it makes you feel, make sure they aknowledge your feelings and make an effort, then let it go and enjoy each other.  Go snuggle on the couch....or something.......

And just remember, "see you later my love!"

Peace y'all

On the way home from school..feminism

On the way home from school, I happened to think about the comparison between what people would call "femi-nazis" and what I consider to be the new normal for feminism.  I am a feminist, totally so.  I think that while there are physical differences between a man and a woman, that should never, ever be the deciding factor in what is considered appropriate or capable for a woman to do.

Having said that, it's kind of nuts (in a good way) how feminism has evolved, at least in my mind.  When people think of feminists, they either conjure images of spiky haired lesbians who "want all men to die." (we all know that's not what they all think lol), or they think of some sissy-assed woman who wants the same rights as men but without any of the responsibility or the "cahones" to handle a mans world.  But, there is a new type of feminist out there.  She looks a lot like me.  Opinionated, strong both mentally and physically, isn't afraid of telling it how it is, and likes to play with the big boys.  She is capable of pulling on her flight deck boots and carrying chains like the rest of them.  But she also likes to cook, drink wine, get her hair and toes done and loves shoes (or clothes, or purses etc.).  She is not afraid of embracing her femininity and acknowledging she not only has a vagina, but that it is sacred.  But that sacredness also comes with responsibility on many many levels.  She does not hate men, rather she loves them. She dates, marries, has children with them.  And no, she does not "wear the pants" in the relationship, or expect her male mate to be submissive, but rather knows he will treat her as an equal and they will make their life decisions together, hand in hand, side by side. Not one opinion or thought more superior than the other, based solely on gender. 

The new feminist raises her children to fight for what they want, but to do so in a respectful manner, because you treat others how you want to be treated.  She does not assume her son will turn out to be an abuser and must be stopped before it's too late, but gives him the honor and respect of growing into his own person while skillfully and carefully guiding him to give love and have it returned rather than demanding and expecting submission.  She raises her daughter to live in balance of the yin and yang, because truly there cannot be one without the other.  She teaches her to be a wild wolf woman, to hold onto that wildness and to protect her spirituality throughout life so that when the daughter becomes the mother, she too can continue to teach of balance and not judgement or superiority. 

The new feminist comes with designer hair, prada or addidas depending on the day.  She eats steak or is a vegetarian.  And yes, she wears bras, because dammit they make our boobs look amazing!!!  There is no longer the conjured vision of the feminist, because she too is evolving like the rest of the world, to living in balance and being ok with that.  She understands she has choices, and whether those choices are to fight in the military, raise to the top of business, deliver babies, teach children , or simply take care of her own home and children does not mean she is automatically thrown into one category or another. She is multi-faceted, like a prism, with many colors going in many directions that paint a beautiful harmonious picture on the walls and windows of our lives.  She strives not just to make women's lives better, but everybodys, understanding that balance is the key to life no matter what gender.

peace y'all

Where is that Damn Yellow Brick Road?

School and Dance, and Work.......Oh My!!!!!!!!!!

Kinda feels like I'm in the Land of Oz.... everything is topsy turvy. My lazy days have given way to sleep deprivation once again, stress of many kinds, and trying to maintain my marriage and my house in the midst of it.  And it's only been 2 weeks!  Oh, and I was asked to be in 2 different performances in June, which is fantastic, but means extra rehersals and now the stress of trying to lose this weight on top of everything else.  I know the universe is putting this out to see if I will finally stand up, and take care of my needs first for once.  Not stretching myself thin, trying to please everybody like I normally do.  I refuse to do a mediocre job at a bunch of things this time.  Dance is important becuase I need it to stay sane.  School is important because I don't want to have to pay back the GI Bill if I fail.  Babysitting is important because I truly do love all those kids, and the moms......but I think sometimes a couple forget that I have a life outside of taking care of their children.  So babysitting drops to the back of the pack, which makes me feel terrible, like I'm letting people down.  But then I have to remind myself that I have been struggling these past couple weeks just to get everything done, not getting done with homework until about 1am, then staying up until about 3am winding down from the adrenaline pumping to get me through studying.  Then my husband's alarm goes off at 4am lol.  Sigh.  Looking for the flying monkeys at this point.......oh! There goes one now!

It'll fall into place at some point, I know it will, but until then..........Anybody seen the Scarecrow, Tinman and Lion?  Cuz damn if I don't need to find the wizzard to get me back home, and quick!

Peace y'all

Shameless Plugging :)

So even though I have been fighting with my body breaking down on me, and having a horrible inability to lose weight right now I'm trying.  It's super frustrating to get on the scale one day and see that I've lost 4lbs then get on it the next day and see I've gained 2 or 3.  And all it makes me want to do is down gallons of ice cream (I did almost a 1/2 tonight).  But like I said I'm trying. 

So here are my shameless plugs.

I am in love with Shakeology!!! I hate, hate, HATE meal supplements and protein shakes and the like.  But this stuff is amazing! I got the vegan tropical strawberry and look forward to it every morning. And sometimes I have to force myself to not have one for dinner as well lol.  There's so many different recipes you can make with this stuff, my favorite is to mix almond milk and almond butter with it, it tastes like some kind of dessert :)  I have more energy, I feel lighter and except for the ice cream binge tonight which I am now regretting, my cravings have decreased which is wonderful.  I'm actually craving veggies and protein again and the small amount of carbs I have been eating during the day are becoming less frequent in craving.  I still get severe cravings at night, but have learned that's due to whatever is wrong with my thyroids, and not just a lack of will power.  Well worth the money in my eyes!

I ordered this stuff through Beachbody.com which is great. It's like one stop shopping as far as weight management goes.  None of the stuff is super hard core like the stuff my husband is doing at bodybuilding.com but they have every workout video from Insanity and P90X to Hip Hop Abs and Ballet Booty.  Yep, it's pretty diverse.  And there's a pretty decent community and they hook you up with a beachbody coach to help guide and inform you on your transformation.  (Note: My friend Gabriella Harrison is a beachbody coach and can be found either on facebook or the beachbody.com website)

So even though it sucks having such trouble losing weight I feel better that I'm at least making an effort....just hoping I'll actually see some results soon!

Try the Shakeology, full 30 day money back guarantee if you don't like it or don't see any results!  And look up Gabby while you're there and tell her I sent you!

Click here!! To buy Shakeology or workouts Click here!

Click here! To get ahold of coach Gabriella Harrison

Click here for extreme body transformation

You know you're getting ready for beach and bikini season, help yourself out!!

Peace y'all!

Aussies make awesome documentaries

That pretty much sums it up.  Just saw a documentary called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." It followed an Aussie named Joe who had a severe autoimmune disorder wherein his brain released histamines in response to non-histamatic situations such as shaking someone's hand.  He traveled to America and started a juice fast for 60 days.  At first I was in disbelief that someone could get all their nutrients this way.  I had to face palm myself.  All it was, was a vegan diet without external protien in liquid form.  Perfectly healthy, and probably more satisfying than a diet of burgers, fries and starch.  It was amazing to watch his transformation in a mere 2 months.  He dropped 56lbs in 60 days, and met someone in America with this same disease who he also inspired to make the same changes.  It really got me thinking about how much we put into our bodies that is just so incredibly unhealthy.  Even people who are on high protien diets aren't getting the macrobiotic nutrients that they need, but getting more of the micronutrients that just sit in the body and hold toxins.  I don't know if I could do a 60 day or even 30 days but am thinking about a 10 "reboot" as they call it to cleanse and detox the body.   Hmmmmmmm......things to ponder. Because I like food.  Really like food. I have an emotional affair with food.  I'll let you guys know.

Anyway this documentary was funny, real and to the core.  I reccomend checking it out.  "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.   Seriously, it's good shit :)

Peace y'all.

Nature is the shit :)

It's been so nice every morning to open my blinds and see my woods outside. A couple weeks ago I got a nice suprise from Mother Nature.  Two small daffodil plants found their way onto my stairs, on the same step framing it. I shit you not. It's awesome how they sprouted themselves :)

Isn't nature cool? :)

Well this has been fun :/

After having sinus colds/infections for the past month, I finally went to be seen at medical last week. No biggie, was given some antibiotics and nasal spray, and the Doc noticed my thyroids were swollen, told me to keep an eye on it and sent me on my way.  That Saturday night I couldn't sleep (like normal) so started looking up goiters, and thyroids.  Reading the list of symptoms I had to smack myself on the head. I've had about 95% of these for about 3 years now and just thought it was stress. Which in all due respect can actually be one of the main causes of hypothyroidism if stress is sustained and chronic for a long period of time (can anyone say VQ-3?). As I kept reading about it, what it can lead to and what it does to your life I became this almost maniacal split of relief and anger.  Anger that I had been trying to get seen to figure out what was wrong with me and the doctors besides telling me that my cholesterol was high told me I just needed to de-stress or that there was nothing wrong with me. That I was just having an anxiety attack.  Then the other part of me, the big part, was just relieved to finally realize that I wasn't insane, that there was actually something going on with me that was medically associated and not just the daily stress of life.  So have made an appointment to get thyroids checked and having been obsessively reading everything I can on hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's disease, and anything else that could remotely be related to it.  This time when I go to the doctor I will be armed with information and not let them tell me that anything is within a "normal" range when I know it isn't. When I've had debilitating fatigue, hair loss, weight gain, inability to sleep and a whole host of other problems, something is wrong.  Thankfully my PCM here at Whidbey and I get along great and so I'm hoping if I go in with all the knowledge and a slew of tests to just knock out of the way he will be on board with me. 

Unfortunately along with the relief of finding all this out, it's been very hard to motivate myself to do anything weight wise.  I know deep in my heart that I still need to eat healthy and exercise, but there's always that little part of my brain that just keeps saying "Why even bother? You know it's not going to help anything until you get seen and on some medication. There's no point."  And it's very hard to fight that one off, especially when you keep getting sick and it seems all you can do is sleep all day long.  But I'm trying, none of it seems to help, but I know it's better than do nothing.  So until we figure this out I guess I will just try to ignore the fact that it's not ok for me to be this chronically exhausted and keep telling myself it's normal.  But it's not, and thank God for it.

I cannot wait to get my life back.

Peace y'all

Side affects of Doula-hood and the Ticking Time Bomb

*Authors Disclaimer: All topics covered in this blog that involve my marriage and any decisions within are, always have been, and will be discussed with significant other. I do not post anything that makes it seem as though I am going behind his back.  In other words, I'm not telling you anything I wouldn't tell him!

I hate being 26.  I'm so much closer to 30, my body is starting to break and slow down, and my damn biological clock has kicked into overdrive.  That is the worst. Going from being the person who never wanted anything to do with children, to now going through times where I ache to experience pregnancy and childbirth.  And it sometimes doesn't help when your main ambition in life is to attend as many births as possible as a doula because it is in your blood, and to eventually become a midwife.  My husband and I have discussed the possibilities of why it has suddenly kicked in with such a vengeance, and have come up with possible solutions. The most obvious thing is the hormonal and biological changes within my evolving body. The other solution we have come up with is now I have time to slow down, my body is coming out of survival mode from my last command, and my priorities have been able to shift to what is important to me now.  And on my own personal side, I think that I have finally had the time to really fall in love with my husband and just want to create an extension of that love I have with and for him.  Silly girl, I know :)



A odd "quirkiness" of being a doula is I have set about dreaming of my birth much in the way most girls dream and plan their weddings.  I never worried too much about the wedding until I was faced with it, then dealt with it, but ever since becoming a doula and studying as much as I do I dream away with the ideal setting, how I would like to proceed with my labor and birth, even down to the last little details of whether I would prefer to wear a long gown or t-shirt to birth since I am a little on the shy and modest side, or if I won't care and will go au natural while moving and bathing to bring about my little one. It is quite interesting to me that I would relish such details about my birth considering that the husband and I are still only in the discussion stages of having a baby, and while are down to terms of "a year or two" instead of "sometime"  we really haven't made much more progress. But any progress is progress. As we used to say in the Navy, "it is what it is."   I have even toyed with the idea of starting a "baby hope box" and start filling it with things now so that when it comes time, whenever God decides that is, we already have some things put aside. And maybe it will also give me something tangible to hold onto while awaiting the choice of my little one to grace us with their Divine presence either through birth or adoption.

In the meantime, I will continue to relish attending births and reveling in the glow and beautiful energy of a momma birthing, helping her plan and learn along the way to her own sacred birth journey. Which in turn is always helping me learn about my own sacred feminism, the power of being a woman, and the holiness that is always the cycle of Divine, death and rebirth at it's greatest. 

Peace y'all.

Basics on Starting a Meal Plan

I know everyone out there is trying to stretch their dollars these days, and when it comes to the grocery bill, we are squeezing blood out of every penny!  As outlined in former posts, I am definitely NOT a couponer, I can barely remember to look at a stores circular.  But, I am a meal planner.  And that alone has saved us soooo much money it's ridiculous.  In case you haven't really heard about meal planning before, or you've thought about it but couldn't decide how to get it in motion I've laid out a few basics that you can build on and make as extensive as you like.  Try it just for a month and see how much sanity and money you save!

Start by making a meal plan for just one or two weeks.  I personally like to just make meal plans for dinner and keep simple things for other meals on hand like cereal, sandwhich and salad items, bread milk and eggs.  You can either plan out a different meal for every day of the week, or do like I do and plan out only 3 or 4 meals that can double as leftovers or freezing and have simple things like vegetables and rice or chicken and salad on a day with no meal plan or if you don't want leftovers.

Take stock of your kitchen and pantry after you have made your meal plan and see what you already have, better yet take stock before and see what you can make with what you have and shorten your shopping list even more! Make sure to only put exactly what you need, resist the urge to get the 'goody' food, at least for the first 2 weeks to get a sense of how much you save.  When shopping make sure to eat before hand and try to go when you aren't super rushed so you aren't tempted to buy a lot of frozen crap which is terrible for you. Stick exactly to your list, and use coupons, if applicable!



Remember also, meal plans are just guidelines, you don't have to stick with it exactly if you don't feel like having what is on the plan for dinner that night switch it out, or have a stand in meal.  We did this one time and ended up pushing back our shopping by 2 1/2 weeks lol! After you get comfortable with it, you can start planning meals around what's on sale in the circulars as well as in the pantry, and doubled with coupons who knows how much you guys can save!  I know I know, yes I'm a part-time housewife so this is partly my life.  But my husband and I have been marveling that we can actually keep a decent budget doing this when back in Oklahoma we were spending upwards $200 every 1 1/2-2 weeks for just the two of us! Now we are spending on average between $85-$105 every 1 1/2-3 weeks!!!! And that's without couponing or planning around the circulars!  So get to it, try it out and let me know how it works out for you! I recommend www.mealsmatter.org to get you started, it's free, you can browse recipes, start a cookbook, transfer meals to shopping lists and read articles on everything from cooking techniques to healthy living!  Get to it and good luck!



Peace y'all!

Aaannd Lessons from Lent Start for Me

As we all know I wrote at the begining of Lent about how I was going to practice it this year. HA! Almost all of it went out the window I am sorry to report.  Broke Lent fasting the 2nd week in when I started getting sick and the only thing that would help my throat was popcicles and ice cream.  And then I kept getting sick. So yah any and all fasting had gone out the window, and I was pretty upset with myself.  Next I had talked about planning on spending more time in nature alone with God.  Two things I forgot; this is Washington State, and it's March....'nuff said. Rain. Lots of Rain.  So I have been getting pretty frusterated with how this Lenton season has been going for me.  Instead of contempating about my role in life and connecting with God, I have been asking "why" a lot.  Why are you letting me get sick so much. Please make it go away, I can't handle this anymore. Why won't You get rid of this shit!?  You guys get the idea.  I had been feeling that this Lent was such a failure just because things weren't going easily and I wasn't recieving Divine messages at all times of day and night.  Just nightmares, lots of nightmares.

So this past weekend was the sickest I have been in a long time.  Fever for 2-3 days straight, ear infection, couldn't walk straight, accidentally overdosed on medication and lost most control of motor functions and was high as hell for two days.  My husband wanted to take me to the ER to get me detoxed and some antibiotics because of the fever.  My stubborn ass refused.  Go figure.  By Sunday I was able to halfway walk and decided to take a bath finally.  I don't know about you guys but I always do my best thinking when I'm in the shower or the bath. I'm also a girl and like to light candles :) I had a new candle called butterfly which had a saying on it's holder wrapper.

  "Butterfly.  Transformation, New Beginnings.  A new life awaits you, let go of anything that no longer serves you. You are a being of beauty, light and grace. Fly!"

Pretty strong and accurate words that I needed in my life. I lit the candle put my spirit animal figures of cat and whale next to it which represent intuition, connecting with the other side, calmness, new beginnings.  I started repeating the mantra on the holder of the candle until I put myself into a meditative state and let go.  A lot of things hit me that night. The biggest one was that I needed to let go of anger and hurt that I am holding towards my father.  I won't go into details, but just know that he hurt our family and tore us apart recently.  I know that I need to forgive him though.  Not for him, not because any religious figure "demands" that I do, but for ME.  It's not well for me to hold onto negativity, it will only affect my life negativily.  So for my own peace, I need to forgive him, and to bring my mother back into my life. Unwittingly I have made her feel that she had to choose sides, and she chose his.  So strictly for me and to bring my mother back I will extend the olive branch.

The other lesson was when my dog got bit by the neighbours dog.  It was so deep that we decided to take her in to the emergency vet and pay an exorbant amount to get her seen and treated after hours.  The neighbours were nice enough to pay for our vet bill and all is well thankfully! And it hit me so suddenly with this one. My aunt who is a very wise person always says that our animals are always trying to tell us things.  And this one was so obvious.  I was more than willing to take my little girl to get a minor wound stiched up late at night no matter the cost, but not willing to call medical to make an appointment so that I would stop being sick for weeks on end.  Face, palm.  I. Am. An idiot.  So I am off in a couple hours to get seen finally.  Sigh. 


But at least the lessons and insights have started, just not how I would have prefered. But isn't being outside of your comfort zone what Lent is all about?

Peace y'all!

to the maker of colds

To the maker of colds...
I dislike you.  I dislike that for three weeks you have made me uncomfortable and out of sorts. That I have had a fever 3 different times and an ear infection to boot.  I dislike that you made me feel so miserable that I overdosed on medication by accident and am still trying to get it all out of my system 2 days later. You are a terrible being.  My husband has enough on his plate without having to give up more of his time to take care of me as well, and I need to work.  I think you have caused enough problems for everyone, so I will thank you to kindly pack up your belongings and leave.

With much compassion while ushering you out,

Christen.

God I love this place!!

I am so happy up here!  I wish I could even begin to describe the happiness and the feeling of being fulfilled that I experience up here!  I mean, I get to live by not one, but two mountain ranges, and the ocean! I get to do small town living again, and while it's been an adjustment to not have everything at my disposal like I used to, it's such a refreshing and slower pace of life.  I see people running, walking and biking everywhere. I am finding myself spending more time outside, even if its just to sit in the sun while the pup plays in the woods and runs laps around the property. I do feel like a bum since it's sunny out and I'm not out walking or running, but with this chest cold I've got going on, I just don't think it's a good idea lol.

Our house is in the process of getting the final fixes on it done, then we can finally start putting our house in order.  And it's about damm time! So excited to be able to make the house a home and feel that we are finally settled in :)

On another up note, I got into all of my required classes that I needed this quarter, my husband has been handing out my doula cards, I have been contacted by so many people to babysit, I've actually been considering closing up shop on the sites I'm advertised on, and I get to spend time twice a week with one of the sweetest boys in the world, my son-rise kid :) The husband and I are so comfortable and cozy that it hasn't even been bothering us that we haven't been going out drinking lately.  The pup drives us crazy with wanting attention like normal, but even she is calm because she gets so much excersise up here and fresh air. 

Pretty much, I am in love with my life right now.  Projects coming up soon with pictures, redoing the closet and porch and starting the garden! 

Peace y'all!

A puppy, some cranberry juice and my pajamas

Helllloooo random thoughts!  I had so much to get done today, get the house cleaned since I didn't have time this week, and go tanning since I've found in my short time up here it's necessary to keep my mood elevated, and workout to keep up with my bff and beachbody coach Gabriella Harrison's 30 day group challenge. What have I completed?  I'm still in my pajamas, fighting off a headache before I go babysit tonight, have the puppers curled up in my lap, and just chugged a glas of water and some cranberry juice.  And I ate some pomegranate and oatmeal. And string cheese.  But I did get the dishes done and the bed made!  Sucess!  lol!

I think I'm going to have to work on some forgiveness of myself and to stop procrastinating this Lenten season lol.  I put off doing anything today because of the headache, and now have no time to get it done since I have to get ready soon. And so here I am beating myself up for not getting those things accomplished, and there's really no reason to.  I guess just because it was my one day "off" this week so I wanted to knock it out.  But honestly, there's always tomorrow to get it done.  We're not living in filth, the house isn't even messy honestly. I just got used to having time to get it all done, and I need to get over that now. Especially since my schedule is going to be picking up for the next couple weeks and after that, it's time for school to start and I really won't have much time.  So I guess in all reality, this isn't that big of a deal.  I need to get over.  Guess I'm going to keep telling myself that until I forgive myself or fall asleep tonight lol.  Or stay up stupid late taking care of all those things lol.

K, shower time

Peace y'all.

The Season of Lent

GREETINGS AND HAPPY FAT TUESDAY!!!

I am stuffed! And haven't even had dinner yet!  In my hometown we had a very big Polish population in a nearby city, and so have grown up with eating paczkis on Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras!)  Paczkis are a delicious Polish pastery made with a dozen egg yolks (!) and usually filled with jelly, custard or sweet cream, and you eat as many of them as you can in addition to a huge dinner, since traditionally you fast the next day on Ash Wednesday. 

Anyway, they have no paczkis  on the island, nobody even knows what they are!  So I settled for some yummy cupcakes from one of the local grocery stores.  I am going to miss sugar for the next 40 days!

Lent has begun to become important to me over the years, and while I may not go to church during this time (or ever lol) it has become a time of reflection, self-exploration, and renewing my connection with God, and increasing my connection with the Divine and the Universe.  I do try to go on Ash Wednesday at least, or sometimes will put ashes on my own forehead and pray if i couldn't make it to Mass.  This year I am giving up sugar, but am also going to find more time to be alone in nature with God, and am still toying with the idea of actually going to church.  But I am terrified of going to church, especially alone!  But then I guess that's the whole point of Lent, getting outside of your comfort zone.  A lot of people celebrate Lent as a rememberance of Jesus dying for us and repenting our sins. But for me, Lent is a reminder that we are not the only masters of the world, and that we should look to the greater things around us and connect with the Divine to bring about a greater US and humble ourselves to others. But that's just me. 

I'm not trying to preach to anyone, or push Christianity on anyone (anyone who knows me that would be the most hypocritical thing ever since I combine a lot of things into my own brand of worship) but to maybe plant a seed of thought in people to do some of their own self-exploration and connection, whether it be to God, Buddah, Yaweh, The Great Creator, Allah, Mother Nature, Sacred Feminine, Ganush, Krishna, the aliens, Orisis, Patah or whoever else. 

I'll be doing updates on how the Lenten Season goes for me and what changes, if any, I bring about this season.  But for now I am going to go roll myself into the kitchen to make some dinner before my fast tomorrow and eat that last cupcake!!!

Peace y'all!

The homemaker's Valentine

Yep I'm gonna be like everyone else today, and gush about Valentine's day and my husband and all that good stuff! 

So today I got woken up by my wonderful husband with a GORGEOUS bouquet of pink and yellow lilies and sunflowers, a box of yummy chocolates and twilight! Did a bunch of chores, finally got so sick of the boxes I put a blanket over them and put pictures up like a stand or something, went and baby sat and then came home.  I was going to make a fancy dessert for tonight but just didn't feel up to it, so made some "fake 'n bake" raspberry vanilla tartlets, and made up the coffee table for a make shift dinner table.

pictures below :)

My makeshift dinner table :) Awesome flowers provided by the awesome husband!

Delicious fake raspberry tarts!!

Mix a box of french vanilla pudding mix with 1 1/2 cup milk, and whisk until set....

Spoon about a teaspoon of raspberry jam or preserves on the bottom.

Fill the mini grahm crusts with the pudding on top of the jam, then put a dab in with the pudding, and swirl with a toothpick...

Add some fresh raspberries on top and let chill for at least an hour!  YUM!!!

And finally the amazing dinner that was the precourser to the above mentioned dessert, yah kinda lame, nothing big, but it was the first Valentine's Day the husband and I actually got to spend together! We were both working the last two, and on 12's to boot! So this was pretty exciting that we actually had time to spend together, and that I had time to pull something like this together. 

So there it is kids, Happy Valentine's Day. And honestly if you're single, no big.  Go get drunk and bash everybody and everything, it's what I did. Hell i still did it even after I was married lol.

P.S. Anybody notice that the stores already have fucking Easter stuff out???????

Peace y'all!

 

Extreme couponer I am not!!

Lord have mercy, the grocery bill wasn't too bad, but definitley could have been better!!!  I'm trying out this whole meal planning thing which is awesome, but I'm not being too frugal about it, seeing what we still have left in the house before i go out and by more crap lol, and couponing?  Fuck it.  I am the absolute WORST at couponing!!! I either never remember the coupons, or we don't need what the coupon is for, or I don't look at the weekly circulars before going shopping (granted the comissary doesn't have one but still!) WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!  Keeping the house in budget is part of that whole housewife thing, and when it comes to the grocery bill I am failing miserably!!  Somebody help me!  In the meantime, I'm going to stick with the meal planning (it's reduced our food bill by about $60-$100 per week so far) but going to see what we also have in the house each week before I make out the Plan so that we can use up more of what we have in the house before going and buying groceries.  It'll also help if I make more things that can pull double duty.  Roasts, crockpot recipies, soups and the like all usually last at least 2 days, so that will cut down on some more bills.  I just have no idea how to do the couponing still!!!  Any help would be fan-fucking-tastic!!!!!  


http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/frugal-mama-makeover-series-saving-big-on-groceries-part-1.html

Son-rise program and Autism

I've been working with an autistic child for only a week now as part of a therapy program called son-rise, and in just that short time I have learned so much! Not only about autism and my son-rise kid (to protect names) but myself as well.

First let's take a look at ourselves; I know most of us who have never really been around autism or who grew up when I did look at autism with a stigma. You know, we kind of become a bit uncomfortable when the child starts doing their "ism's" or politely ignore them the way you would when a dog is humping their favorite toy.  Or we get the "oh poor's" going on in our head while trying to convince the other person, that "maybe they will outgrow it."  Wow, we really did grow up in a very conformist age eh?  Working with my son-rise kid has made me realize that when people say their autistic kid is such a special person, they're not just talking out their ass.  These kids are pure spirits, there is no other way to describe it.  There is nothing bad about them, they are good energy all around, their vibes are amazing and even though they are withdrawn from their surroundings they are SO grounded and centered there's no way you can't help but feel it.  And maybe that's why we feel uncomfortable around them.  Because we recognize how connected they are to the earth and how grounded they are, and it makes us realize that we aren't.  And when our energies recognize that something isn't in balance it feels uncomfortable to us, and our ego goes to work trying to convince us that we need to retreat back to what is comfortable, which is being uncentered and ungrounded.
Since working with my son-rise kid, I have been more aware of my feelings, when my ego is taking over and been able to check it faster.

Now for the kids themselves. Even though there is so much to learn, when you spend a little time with them, you can just see that they love what they do, and that they are thinking so much all the time, and that they are processing everything, they just can't express it yet.  All those feelings and thoughts and actions somehow get stuck when trying to get expressed to the outside world. And for the longest time instead of trying to reach them, on thier level where they could connect with us, we tried to make them reach our level, or pushed them into the "will never advance" profile which is so terribly sad.  These kids can be so sweet and so interesting to watch, we just have to come down to their place and hang there for awhile to really get to know them.

After reading and watching about the son-rise program, I don't know how anyone didn't come up with this sooner!  Instead of just correcting a child into submission to try and "act" normally which won't do them any good anyway, we need to build relationships and interact with them.  You have to interact with people in life, you can't just "act" your way through it, otherwise what the hell kind of life is that?  Teaching these kids how to "act" is not doing anything, you do that and you will always have limited mobility, interaction, and independence.  Teaching someone how to interact and build relationships with others will increase all that.  I'm not sure how else to put this.  We'll use a dog for example, as everyone knows there is "corrective" obedience training and then their is "interactive" obedience training.  When you force a dog to behave by negative reinforcement all we do is teach our dog to be afraid of us, and then training will take longer, and their are bound to be more accidents and behavioral mishaps because the dog has nothing good to connect with them doing something correctly but has everything bad to connect to it.  But if we try another type of "interactive" training such as clicker training, the dog learns that there is positive association with behavior, they are not scared to behave, and are not so scared of making mistakes that they make more. The dog is more willing to behave since they are not scared of their owner, nor doing behaviors out of submission. They are happy and willing to interact with us and do as we ask because we are paying attention to them, coming down to thier level to see what motivates them, and are celebrating with them.  Whew that was long but I hope I got the point across!

I love my little son-rise kid already and am so excited to see what changes are in store for all of us on the team and his family, and with him!!

For more information: http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/

Peace y'all!

Homemade laudry detergent

                                                  HAPPY SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!!!


I told you guys this shit was gonna happen!!!!!

So finally got around to making the god forsaken laundry soap.....and I don't know why I DIDN'T DO THIS SOONER!!!!!!!!!  To buy the ingredients to make the detergent were less than buying a reglar 64 load thing of tide by a loooooong shot!

 64 load bottle of tide at the comissary = $13.94.

Box of Arm&Hammer Washing soda, box of borax, and 3 pack of ivory soap = $7.73

We're already saving money here, and I only used 1 bar of soap, 1/2 cup of washing soda, and 1/2 cup of borax. Granted this was the liquid version since we have a new HE front loader, but they have recipes for powder detergent also using the same ingredients.  And I gotta give credit where credit is due, found the recipe at http://www.frugallysustainable.com/

Here's my breakdown:

1) Shave about 1/2 bar of Ivory (or Fels Naptha) into a soup pan, then add 6 cups of water, heat until soap has melted.
2) Add 1/2 cup of the Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax to the mixture, stir until dissolved.
3) Using a 2-3GAL bucket pour in 4 cups of hot water, add soap mixture and stir. (I added about 2 teaspoons of Lavender essential oil to this to give a bit of a nice sent)
4) Then add 1 Gal, plus 6 cups of water and stir.
5) Let sit over night to gel up.

The notes of the website let you know that the detergent will not become a solid gel but will have the "consistancy of egg drog soup" and it does kind of look like it.  Also if a little extra cleaning power is needed, the always handy dandy oxi-clean can be added into the load.

Use 1/2 cup per load. 

The boxes of washing soda and borax I got were huge, and I fully expect to be able to make around 15 batches of laundry detergent, for less than the cost of 1 container of store detergent!!!!!!!!!!!
It only took about 30 minutes to make this and I am thrilled to not have a bunch of artificial dyes, chemicals and sents going onto my clothes.  This was so easy I am now looking at making homemade dish soap and household cleaners as well!!!! I'll keep you informed!!

Peace y'all!!!

Happy Superbowl Sunday!!

Redoing the Side Yard

While I was gone, my husband gave himself a project, and set about to cutting down quite a few limbs and branches from the surrounding pine trees all around our house. Now we have finally gotten around to cutting most of them up for fire wood for both the wood furnace in the cellar and the soon to be fire pit in our back yard. While he was working on that,  I started clearing a path up the slope by the house, made some little dirt stairs and started to clean out some of the dead brush all over the area.  Now I'm stuck with what to do with it.  It's mostly shade, so I guess shade loving plants (duh) but not sure where to put them or how to "scape" it.  Then there is the yard which is screaming for something to spruce it up, but what???  Any feedback is welcome!!!

Thanks!!

Morning musings with oatmeal

I was e-mailed yesterday by a lady looking for someone to be part of a team to help her boys. They both have austism.  I took a look at the program which is called son-rise and it is a theraputic program to help austistic children "re-integrate" back into the world.  I feel like this is something I need to experience, it's kind of ironic that this came about. While I was on terminal leave, I stayed a day over at my Aunt Nancy's house. Nancy is a very intuitive and very much a "energy" girl, and we happened to get on the topic of epidurals which is a hot spot with me becuase of what I've learned while being a doula. I was commenting on how the are starting to be linked to austism in children, and Nancy then commented that while in .her healing school the learned that austism is an energetic disconnection from the Self and the body's world.  Which makes complete sense. The epidural often gives mothers the effect of being "disconnected" from their bodies or a "dissassociation" with one's self and the labor. Which in turn in disconnecting the child from the mother during labor and delivery. The child then has that energetic disconnection already hard wired into them from birth and if not relieved of quickly could possibly turn into what we are now seeing as a very sharp spike in child autism.

I think this is something I need to learn more about, first hand and so am willingly if not somewhat cautiously entering into this new and unkown world. I feel there is something I will learn about myself, and something that will benefit my job by doing this.  Not really sure what else to say, there is something brewing in me, pushing me to do this, but it is a calm pushing.  This will be a challenge. 
I thank the universe for handing me the opportunity, and this challenge to grow.

Peace y'all.

This is our.....house????

I'd like to give you guys a little tour of our formerly cute house that is now under repair from the water damage during the roofing expedition.

As you first walk in the door from the yard, you will notice the huge piles of boxes sitting out in the open as though we were still unpacking. These all had to be moved out of the 2nd bedroom with the initial leak.

Then as you look to your left you will notice a bright blue thing half under the carpet. Is it perhaps a bright blue urn? Nope, it's a bright blue fan that is starting to give us headaches and has to run continuously until Friday. Can't wait for that electric bill.

 

Then as you enter the second bedroom, you see this. Looks almost like a fort eh? Nope, 4ft dehumdifier and another fan to try to get the mildew out that has been growing for the past week. Also running until Friday.

And finally as we close the door to the second bedroom and look towards the master bed, we see the cord that had to be plugged into our room for some reason, and all the clutter in there up against the wall.

Is it Friday yet????? Oh wait I forgot after we can finally have silence in our house again we then have to have someone come in and tear our ceiling apart to fix all the cracks and water damaged sheet rock.  I especially feel bad for my dog right now, she has no room to play in here and the weather has been too icky for extended play. All this clutter is just draining my energy, I have chicken out to grill and all i want to do is go to sleep until it's all over.  Trying to remain optomistic that at least it's in the getting fixed phase, but after two weeks of this crap I am sooooooo over it!!!!!!!

When Life Gives You Lemons.....Chuck Them at Someone!

Ok, the ceiling finally stopped leaking.  Oh, you didn't hear? Yah every room in our house was leaking. EVERY ROOM!!!! Ok, got that out of the way. So after  the day long frusterations and the tense silence in the house between me and the husband, we finally started talking. Stress makes both of us shut down, him more than me, but still. There was nothing we could do about any of it, the roofers were trying to finish the roof before they start repairs inside, the rental company agreed to get us a dehumidifier and bring in a carpet cleaning team, and the rain finally mellowed out to a drizzle. But when you are helpless and feel like you are trapped, you tense up. And become irritable. And snap at each other, then appologize, snap again, appologize and repeat. I got the big lesson at the end of the day when the roofers finally went home, and we decided to move the couch back into place because we simply could not take the clutter anymore.

Even in the midst of stress, it is so vital to keep the lines of love open. Fuck communication, anyone can talk to, yell at, or scream. Communication is worth absolutely zip if there is not an open heart and open love when talking with someone. Doesn't have to be your partner, it could be a co-worker, your friend, family member or the person down at the rental agenency (cough).  The husband and I definitely found ourselves reverting back to how we would handle stress back in Oklahoma, and while we recognized what was happening, we didn't quite know how to come through it yet. So silent hugs, quick back rubs, and giving the other person LOTS of space today was the coping mechanism.  By the end of the day we were exhausted from stress and my wonderful husband stepped up and made a lovely dinner of salad and mac and cheese (gotta love comfort food and fresh vegetables) and we mellowed out and talked a little about how we did and didn't handle things today. At least now we have improvement and it didn't take an all out brawl for us to see what the universe put in front to teach us. As my chief in F/A-18 "C" school would say, "learning has taken place." And boy it has.

I write this one, not to put out what goes on in my marriage but a "hey, this is a great example of what not to do" and take somehing away from it that can be used in every part of every day with every person you come across. After you get done throwing the lemons, what's left except a lot of bruises and black eyes (craver lol).  And make sure when doing the all important "communicating" you are doing the REALLY all important thing of keeping your self and your heart open and being present when that communication is taking place. Because otherwise, what the hell are you doing besides throwing those God Dammed Lemons?

Peace y'all and blessings all!

Beginnings of new housewife

So as everyone knows by now, I'm almost out of the Navy. 6 years of my life spent getting bossed around, bossing others around, launching, recovering and repairing jets. Being covered in fuel and oil, carrying around chains, almost getting blown off the boat a couple times, great friends, lots of alcohol, air shows and amazing memories. I came away from the Navy with lessons learned, friends made, and a husband and dog gained. Not too bad for 6 years I think.

Now I'm out on terminal leave which is rapidly dwindeling, and trying to put the plans I have had for the past few years into play. Setting up a doula business, setting up teaching Dancing for Birth Classes. Problem, Im terrified of rejection. I know quite the quandrom when setting up a business, since I have to put myself out there to drum up business and find a place to teach classes.
So in the meantime, I have applied for school to start the nursing program and figure that will buy me some time while I ease myself into business and will fire out those pre-requisites for midwifery school at the same time :)

So while I'm waiting for school, and applying for jobs in the meantime, I am a housewife. There, I said it.  My sole job besides getting things together for business and applying for jobs is my house, my husband and my dog. It's a very strange change of pace, to go from having someone dictating what my day is like, to being in charge of my own schedule, to figure out what needs to be done in the house each day. Stupid little things like making the bed each morning when I get up. I cannot tell you how much nicer it makes the room feel and it sets the tone for the day. I think back and realize how I hardley ever made the bed, or if I did, it was a cheaters version, of just pulling up the covers and smoothing it out. Not actually making it, ya know tucking in corners, and all that crap that after boot camp you never want to do again for the rest of your life.
Another stupid little thing. Washing the dishes. By hand. Not in the dishwasher. Yep, you heard me right. The dishes are cleaner, we never run out of anything, and I feel better that I'm not wasting so much water and electricity running that stupid thing because I am simply too lazy to wash a few dishes. I love having the time and energy to actually plan out a meal and have time to make it, having time to make something out of nothing, and feeling accomplished at the end of making the meal. I know, how lame is this woman, you guys are probably saying to yourselves. And I would probably agree with  you, if I hadn't spent most of the past 6 years eating mostly take out, or just throwing meals together with hardly anytime to sit down with Jimmy and actually eat a meal. Ya know, together. Like a family.

So after the roofers are done, it's on to decorating, cleaning, re-arranging, organizing and all that other stuff that I used to just nod my head at when someone would tell me that they were a homemaker. I couldn't relate, plus I had been brought up to be independent and never "bend" to a man but to stand tall on my own. But I'm realizing there's nothing wrong with taking pride in taking care of your house and making that your job. I don't think this is something I would want day in and day out, but for now I'm liking it. I like embracing my femeninity, and taking on the gentler role in my marriage for once. I don't feel like "one of the dudes" for once, I actually feel like I'm someones wife. I know people who know me are probably thinking I must be drunk 24/7 or have started smoking something, but honestly it's just that it's so different it's intriguing. So enough with the ranting, but be prepared for my blogs where it's something ridiculous like "Oh my god, I just figured out how to make homemade laundry detergent!" or "Holy Shit, I just made the cutest little decoration out of twigs"

Sorry guys, it's happening :) At least until school starts ;)

Blessings all!