A Squirrel's Tale

This squirrel at my house is spoiled rotten.

My dad had been teaching him to come up and take nuts and 

food from his hand.

Watch...

"Hey, Bushy! Want some food?"

 

"Food? Yeah, yeah!
I am on my way."

"Where is it? I want it now!"

"Nom, nom, nom!!
Date candy. My favorite!
Thank you, thank you!"


I have been trying for a couple of days now,
but he's been kind of skittish.
Until today.
I finally got him to come and get some Ritz crackers from me.

I do so love living in the country.

It's Friday!!

It is Friday, ya'll.
Finally!

My hubby and daughter should be here today after the
long, tedious process of getting signed out of Ft Bliss.
They were supposed to be here Tuesday.
It's a long story.
Whatever, I am just happy that they will be here today.

I get to go on a ladies' weekend with my mom and her church ladies.
It is kinda weird being the youngest gal around after being the
"older" Army wife.
It is taking some getting used to.
We are still looking for a church home, but I am enjoying
spending time at my mom's until Jerry gets here and we
can really start looking together.

Ok, on to Friday Letters....



Dear Grapefruit,
You are my newest love. I am obsessed with you.
I think about you all day and cannot wait to sit down with you
every evening for my TV time snack.
I hope you enjoy our time together as much as I do.
I suspect you don't.

Dear Strawberries,
Don't be so jealous.
You are still my first love.

Dear Pretty Pink Skies,
Thank you for making getting up so early in the
morning a little more tolerable.

Dear Bed,
I am so happy we are finally reunited.
It's been too long.
Let's never part like that again, ok?

Dear Christmas,
Hurry up and get here.
I want to hang my new ornament that I made from
the moving stickers this week.

Hopefully I will be linking back up this weekend with my Scavenger Hunt Sunday pictures.
It's been too long and I miss it.

Stay tuned....

48 Questions

I stole this from Kat who stole it from someone, who stole it from someone else.
I am just following tradition here...
 
1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? 
My grandmother and mother.
While my mom was out from the C-Section.
She wasn't very happy with my dad when she woke up,
but now she kinda likes it.


2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? 
Last night, in a fight with my hubby.
What? We are under a lot of stress with the move.


3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? 
Sometimes, when I really try to make it pretty.

  4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Roast beef 
(I can never say that without thinking, 
"and he himself carved the roast beast")

  5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? 
No, but I do have three children. Does that count?

  6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Heck yeah, I am totally awesome. 
Everyone wants to be friends with me.
   
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
See # 6

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yep, I think so...
Wait, do I?
Let me go check....
Yes, yes I do.

  9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Do I have stupid written across my forehead?
No? Well, then there's your answer.

  10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Golden Puffs, at night, while I watch The Walking Dead

  11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Nope, too much work.

 
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Yeah. Why? You wanna try and take me?

  13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Rocky Road, and Cookies & Cream, and Orange Sherbet, and ....

  14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? 
The smell

  15. RED OR PINK?
Pink, for sure. Or red, if it is covered in glitter.


16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I am a control freak.

  17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Currently, it is my hubby. I wish he'd get here already.
 

18. WHAT IS THE TECHNIQUE THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON THE MOST?
Finishing a proj


19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
The ones where they used invisible dye.


20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Grapefruit, three of 'em. Yum!
 

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The sweet sound of silence, as my boys just left for school.


  22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Mauvelous


23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Leather and fresh cut grass
 

24. HOW IMPORTANT ARE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS TO YOU?
Very important because obviously I am right in all things.


25. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?
That's like picking a favorite child.


26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
America's pasttime...Baseball forever!

  27. HAIR COLOR?
Original? Light brown. Current? Dark brown with  grey "highlights"


28. EYE COLOR?
My hubby tells me "golden sherry"
I am going with brown

  29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No, but I want the super cool colored ones.
I would pick yellow just to freak people out.


30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Mexican.
Well, Tex-Mex actually.
I am from Texas


31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy Endings
Unless it is a scary movie with Brittany Spears getting her head chopped off.
I guess that is a happy ending, too.

  32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The Hobbit.
Good, but a little too long.


33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Pink


34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer if I can stay inside and not be hot
and winter if I can stay inside and not be cold.

  35. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Cheesecake. Any kind, any flavor

  36. STRENGTH TRAINING OR CARDIO?
Strength training.
I told you I am strong.

  37. COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?
Computer, duh!


38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Nothing, currently. But I am about to start  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn


39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Don't have one

  40. FAVORITE SOUND?
Baseball game in the background


41. FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC?
Country. It makes me appreciate my life when I hear how others are
breaking up, drinking too much, and shooting their mama's.

  42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
I am an Army Wife, what is home?


43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can go from 0 to psycho b*%#h in 3.56 seconds.


44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Texas, baby!


45. WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?
Texas, baby!

  46. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE?
Dull, boring grey. I am about to paint it.
Got any suggestions?

  47. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR CAR?
Dull, boring white.
I want to paint it, too, but it is too expensive.
If it wasn't, I would paint it Neon Yellow with flames down the side.


48. DO YOU LIKE ANSWERING 48 QUESTIONS?
Meh!

 

Weekend Fun

The movers finally arrived on Friday morning with all our stuff.

The house quickly filled up with boxes and furniture.
And I quickly became overwhelmed with it all.


But I jumped right in and started unpacking and putting away.

 I think I may have issues with turquoise dishes.
It makes me happy.

This is my "new" China hutch I inherited from my mom.
I adore it so much.
It makes me happy, too.


After doing nothing but unpack and organize for two days straight,
I was ready for a break.
Sunday, I decided to do nothing at all with the house.

 This was my church outfit Sunday morning.
I found that safari jacket on clearance for $10.
Talk about happy!

After church, we had lunch with Grandmother
and my niece and nephew.
Best Mexican restaurant in town.

The boys played hard all afternoon with their little cousin.

They wore him smooth out.

Grandmother took the boys for a walk through the woods.
After living in the desert for the past four plus years,
they were fascinated.
I can't wait until Spring when everything will be green and lush.

Today I have spent more time decorating.

After I dealt with the inevitable disaster that seems to
always come with moving into a new house.
The washing machine exploded all over my new laundry room.
There was water about an inch deep all over the floor.

It is all better now.
And I don't have to mop for a while.


Tomorrow...more organizing.
Anyone want to come help?
I pay in cookies.

Friday Letters 1/18

Now that I am a little bit settled into the new home,
(Well, as settled as can be.
The rest of my household stuff still isn't here),
I am trying to get back into my blogging routine.

Which means Friday Letters.


Dear Mom,
Thanks for showing me some awesome antique
and thrift stores in the area.
I want all of these.
Maybe after I win the lottery....

Dear Dad,
I love that you still enjoy wrestling with the boys.
But you better watch out.
He's going to be bigger soon and you won't stand a chance.

Dear Winter,
You have been cold and miserable lately.
Be warned, we are wishing for an early Spring.

Dear Self,
The boys might be in need of photography lessons.

Have a wonderful Friday, friends.
And a warm, cozy weekend.

Rainy Days

It's cold.

It's rainy.

It's dreary.

But all is made well when I get the chance to hold my brand new niece.

This week

We do not have a working dishwasher in our house yet,
so the boys are learning how to wash dishes by hand.

Although not as spectacular as the sunrises and sunsets in El Paso,
it is still pretty cool to wake up to this.
And it has trees. Winter trees, but trees nonetheless.
I cannot wait until Spring.

Since this was my parents house and they gave it to us,
there is still a lot of their stuff here.
With her stuff and my stuff, there is two or three of everything.
I am having to decide what to keep and what to donate.
It is taking a lot of time.

My mom has some wonderful antiques.
I adore them and I am keeping as many as I find.

Like this 28 year calendar.
I am still trying to figure out if I can line it up for this year.

These are tiny copper pencil sharpeners.
There are about 10 more, but these are my favorites.

Hurricane lamps? Yes, please.

The boys are loving their new schools.
And they get to ride the bus for the first time.
They say it's an adventure.

I got tired of unpacking my stuff and packing up my moms,
so I took a break and did some decorating on my new bathroom.

I found these shelves at a thrift store and painted them all white.
I have two more, but I am not sure where they are going to go yet.
So far, I am in love with it. It is so bright and airy.
I can't wait until the rest of my stuff gets here and I can finish it.


Jerry and Trina get here in about 10 days.
Then I think it will feel more like home.
Right now, it still feels temporary.

Also, could I ask for your prayers?
We are starting to look for a home church tomorrow.
I hate church shopping, so I am praying that
God provides our church quickly and painlessly.

Finally

Finally, after months of preparation and discussions, we are home.

Not Army home.
Home, home.

Since Jerry is retiring from the Army, we decided to move our
family back to East Texas where our families are.
Back where we started.
This is the place where we met, got married, and had our first child.
I am very excited to start our new life here.

 But first, we had to get here.
We had a really rocky start to this move.
The boys and I were going to go first with Jerry and Trina following
two weeks later after he was all signed out.

Moving day came, full of snow.

We tried to leave El Paso last Friday, but apparently there was a blizzard going on.
We got 60 miles out of town, where we were turned around because the interstate
was shot down for over 200 miles.
I was so frustrated!
But, I changed my attitude, trusting that God had a reason for sending us back.
At least we got to spend one more day together as a family.

All was cleared up by Saturday morning, so the boys and I got up at the crack of dawn to try again.

It was a pretty uneventful trip then.
11 hours of driving with a lot of sleeping by the kids.
I can't wait til they are old enough to take turns at the wheel.

We arrived to grey, overcast skies and a new flag
my parents had put up for us.

I have been unpacking and organizing for the last few days.
And I only had a vanful of stuff.
The rest of our household should get here within a week.
I can't wait, I need my stuff.

Especially my bed.


I am going to miss my friends and the life we made in the Army,
but I am ready for this new challenge and adventure.

Bring it on!