heyyyy! long time, no blog!

Now, as for revamping this blog.  It started out as a....I don't know what but it morphed into a nothing interesting blog unless you know me.  Then, it's still just slightly interesting when I mention the boys. 

I've been inspired!  As you know (if you've followed) I missed the registration for the Chicago Marathon due to moving.  Yeah, I'll blame it on moving.  Anyway, I was super disappointed.  I've been running, but training for anything until I bit the bullet a month ago and signed myself and my loving husband up for the Rock n Roll half marathon at Virginia Beach.  Last week I finally finished my vampire romance series (yes, I'm one of those girls) and decided to start a book my husband had started and kept telling me "you gotta read this book next".  Okay, okay, stop pressuring me.  So I started it, am more than half way through, and I feel like it's changed my thinking.  Not just for running but maybe all aspects of my life?  Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is amazing. 

I ran yesterday as naked as I dared to go in years.  I was clothed, but decided to leave my iPod at home.  Something amazing happened.  I listened to my body rather than Lady Gaga or the soundtrack to Glee.  The result was I decided my pace, not the tempo of the current song blaring in my ears.  Also, I will be ordering minimalist shoes.  I used to think barefoot running or minimalist shoes were stupid.  How can no cushioning help?  But it makes total sense!  Run in your yard barefoot and see how your foot placement instinctively changes.  And how pronation isn't a bad thing that needs to be corrected.  Just blows my mind and has re-lit the fire under my ass to run. 

But run differently.  I've always known running is 99% mental.  But the difference between my thinking before Born to Run was "Just another mile until I reach my goal".  Since I've been reading the book it's more "Where else can I run because I don't feel like stopping yet".  The unfortunate side is that I now look at my treadmill and scoff.  Which means that I need to get up extra early before Jamie and the boys and run.  Speaking of running, I gotta go! 
  

My Margaritaville

Let the countdown begin!  Only four days until I am on vacation.  Where to, you ask?  The Outer Banks.  We have been planning this trip for about a year now and those frozen drinks are finally within reach.  The we part is made up of me, my bestie Sarah, her bestie from college Kelly(who I also love), my twin boys and two teenage daughters, Sarah's two kids, Kelly's two kids, Sarah's mom, Kelly's mom, my mom and mother in law, my two dogs, and Sarah's dog.  Yeah...if you lost count that's three moms, six kids, two teenagers, four grandmas, three dogs, and a partridge in a pear tree.  However, the most important part to take away from that harem is the four grandmas.  Which means that us three tired and harried mommies can take a BREAK!!!!  Thank the gods for grandmas.  I plan to sit either pool side or with my toes buried in the sand drinking pretty much the whole week.  Not that I'm going to go on a bender or anything, just need to maintain that happy medium between really tipsy but still functional.  At least until the young kids are in bed asleep, then I make no promises! 

I have much to prepare for.  I should clean out the van, pack, paint my toenails, and clean the house since my mother in law is coming the night before we leave.  Luckily, I have an awesome mother in law who couldn't care less about the state of my house as long as she gets to see her grand babies. 

Also, I, and the other two moms, are of the mind that it takes a village to raise a child.  So, if one of us sees another's kid doing something wrong we can and will correct it.  To me, that takes soooo much pressure off.  I see some moms, just running after their kids making sure they don't do anything wrong so they won't be confronted with a discipline situation in front of anyone.  Seriously?  Discipline your kids moms, don't leave it just to the dad.  No kid is perfect, and no parent is perfect.  Embrace it and move on. 

I know I keep promising pictures...I am terrible about bringing a camera anywhere.  But we will definitely have pics from the beach for all to see.  I will be the one in the big floppy hat, huge sunglasses, and margarita in hand.  Wait that might be all of us...  I will label.

Do you hear it?  Jimmy Buffett is calling................................ 
   

no point, just babble

Can I please be a girl again.  Just for a day.  I swear I'll go back to the mommy mode immediately afterwards.  It's been almost three months since Jamie's been gone and while I have had one haircut at a "salon", I feel a little blah.  I took a ride to the mall today, an hour each way with my boys.  I got there and thought "yes!  I'm out of the house".  Then I realized that the boys just spent an hour in the car and now they are confined to a stroller, and then we have an hour ride home.  Right away I felt like I was being selfish because now the boys aren't going to run around and play.  Not only that but like I can weave through a store with my double stroller, let alone try any thing on.  So the afternoon consisted of me looking longingly into the store windows just getting cranky.  I did however get a smoothie!  Isn't that exciting?  I also got my eyebrows threaded.  It hurt like a bitch, but I like the results better than waxing.  If you haven't tried it and you don't mind ripping hairs out of the tenderest spots on your face one by one in a rapid succession because you are a sadist, you really should.  I hate my eyebrows due to their insane growth rate, so I do secretly love it when they are ripped from my head.  Ah...

Jamie is flying home tomorrow for the Memorial Day weekend.  We have a date night planned.  Well, we have dinner planned.  That's as far as we got because we suck at coming up with things to do that sound better than sitting on the couch and watching some sci fi crap.  It sounds super pathetic and I know we should both weigh about 300lbs, but thankfully we run...a lot.  My goal this weekend is to get a family picture.  I realized I have no pictures of me with the boys since like Easter of last year.  Hopefully, my next posting will include a pic.

Been a while

I just realized I haven't posted anything in about a month.  It feels like forever.  I haven't had any motivation to do any projects.  In fact, one of my projects which would only take me about 15 minutes to complete, is sitting in the garage staring at me every time I pass through, annoying me.  My only excuse is that I am currently a single mom of two very active 16 month old boys.  It's basically all I can do to make it to their bed time and back to the couch to stare off into nothingness.  Okay, it's not THAT bad.  Not every day anyway. 

The Framer's Market has opened here about three weeks ago and it is awesome.  It's small, but has just about everything I would ever think to use and some things I wouldn't...  My first trip to the market I was apparently feeling adventurous.  I bought goat meat from a very local farm.  I decided that a loin and two loin chops would be good.  I plan to slow cook the loin and the farmer told me to prepare it as I would a lamb dish (cuz I've prepared so many of those?) Anyway I figured my dad is the perfect person to try it out on.  He, like my husband, will eat just about anything.  I mean that in the most complimentary way.  It is nice when you can put a "spaghetti pie" in front of your new husband and he eats it without complaining.  I had no clue how to cook when Jamie and I got married. 

The other constant purchases at the market is eggs, sweet potatoes, green tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and strawberries.  I've discovered that for my Yankee roots, I make killer fried green tomatoes. 

Dad comes in two days and other than hanging out with the boys I plan on going for nature walks and to the park and maybe coerce dad into coming along on a grocery trip before he leaves so I don't have to push the double stroller and pull the shopping cart like some retarded caravan through the ever crowded Wally World hearing "you've got your hands full" every two feet.  If this weren't predominantly a retirement community, I would seriously consider ramming people with the stroller when they said that to me.  It makes me want to scream! 

In other news, this is only the half way mark through this stint of single parent hood.  Seriously?  Another 6 weeks?  As you all know, I'm more of a "glass half empty" kinda girl.  So that's my take on the halfway marker.  The bright side is that I will have my dad for 8 days (like dad Hanukkah) then Jamie flies home for a three day weekend.  Actually it's more like a day and a half with travel time, but it will be awesome.  After that it's a month until the beach house.  I'm hoping for the fastest month in history. 

As you can tell, I'm going a little crazy here by myself.  If it wasn't for wanting to get this house I probably would have gone to my parents at least for a little while.  Or maybe gone down with Jamie to San Antonio.  Oh well. Speaking of crazy, I just heard my kids squeal, thus starts my day... 

High Tea

Here are some long overdue pictures of the living room.  I have a mirror on it's way to put over the mantle which I ordered from...my mom's basement.  Well, it's a frame for a mirror.  Whatever, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Anyway, I also finished the tea cart that was our first house warming gift from, you guessed it, mom.  She found it at a garage sale.  It was dark stained and I needed to lighten it up so it would go in my kitchen to hold the all important TV.  I'm pathetic.  But I love to watch Food network while I cook.  I pretend I'm on Iron Chef America, battling it out with Bobby Flay.  Then I think about if he were to find me and challenge me to a throw down, what would it be?  I'll have to ask my husband to see what it is I make that he can't live without.  But I digress...where was I?

Ah, yes, the tea cart.  It started out as an antique which I then primed, painted and distressed to make it look old.  PS-I know that sounds stupid.  But I like the worn shabby chic look.  It just so happened that I'm really lazy and lose motivation 1/3 into a project so that look works out well for me.  No need to be a perfectionist.

Enough babble, it's fast approaching 10pm and I'm staving!

Living Room Before:

Living Room After

And the tea cart:

Going Coastal

Kitchen is done, entranceway/office area is done, living room has been started. Two days ago I was totally over it.  I had hit that wall that most marathoners encounter at like mile 18, where you just want to lay down on the side of the road and poop yourself because you are so tired...yeah, th t was me.  However, with just the living room to go I have woken up this morning with renewed vigor.  Have to give a big shout out to mom.  I wouldn't have been able to do this by myself.  Well, not correctly and not in a week and a half.  I wanted to wait topost pics until everything was done and staged and looked like a magazine, what planet do I live on?  I have 15 mo old boys, so that won't happen until they are in college!  So here ya go!

Before

                             After. Paint-Antique White on walls, Banana Cream Pie on cabinets

                                                                 Dining Area Before

Dining Area After.  Paint-ontop, antique white.  Bottom-Banana Cream Pie

                                                                        Hutch in process

                                                                            Hutch after-paint, Hint of Mint

Kitchen ceiling before

Kitchen ceiling after

Foyer before

Foyer after-paint Grey Ghost

Cleaning the air intake-blech

Up next, the living room.  Stay Tuned!!!!!!!!

Well, hello everyone!  Mom conquered a grueling 18 hrs on the road just so I could put her to work and make her eat nothing but bologna sandwiches.  That's love.  Her incentive was getting to play with the boys.  However, after tackling the kitchen, I don't even know if repaying her with grandkid hugs is enough!  First she said, "we have to paint the ceiling". I nodded politely but internally was kicking and screaming.  Does anyone really look up?  The house has that lovely popcorn ceiling. Has anyone tried to paint that?  If not and you eventually do...wear safety glasses, the popcorn pops off the ceiling a little and can/will get in your eyes.  I'm so glad we painted that ceiling though.  It looks sooooo much better.
Here is a picture of where I stopped and still have to pick up when we reach the dining area.  Which will be after the cabinets.

Okay, so the cabinets.  As of now they have been cleaned, sanded, wiped, and got a coat of antique white.  Today we are going to get some color, all be it  very slight, on them.  The worst part was sanding them, I talked mom into just leaving them on and we did it by hand.  I just couldn't imagine having them off and two little boys resisting the invitation to get into everything.  I finished up the coat of white on 3/4 of the cabinets last night at 11pm. here is a before and
mid transformation pic

This was two days worth of work.  We work when the boys are napping, here and there after they wake up, and for about 3 hours after they go to bed.  I can't wait to get color on the cabinets! 

Oh but, like with any home remodel project, you come across something that stops you in your tracks and makes you say, "ew".  Mom popped off the fridge grate at the bottom. Now, I vacuumed it when we moved in and a lot of crap came out.  But when we looked to see the coils, we couldn't!  It was so full of pet hair/dirt/whatever that we have no idea how it was still working.  Gross with a capitol G!  I wish I took pictures.  I wanted to vomit and shower immediately.  For sure it was never cleaned out since it's been installed.  FYI, like 90% of all service calls for fridges ends up as just needing to clean it!  Some depending on what type of fridge you have, I order you to go pull it out, pop off the grate, and VACUUM!!!!  Okay, I've said my piece. 

Back to work for us!  More pics to follow.  We should (fingers crossed) be done by the end of tomorrow.  I hope, I hope, I hope!

This post is just a "checking in" post.  Jamie leaves very early tomorrow morning for 3 months.  So to occupy my time since my bestie is leaving and I won't have to cook (bonus!) I am focusing on painting the house.  Luckily Grandma Robin is coming down sometime this week to help.  We will also enjoy the visit and hopefully get to a couple antique shops or find a salvage yard.  I have big plans for a headboard that involves an old door.  Anyway, I must accomplish painting the living room and kitchen and taking wallpaper down in the main bath.  I hope to tackle the kitchen cabinets while she is here as well.  Last on my list of redesign is the master bedroom.  I just re-read what I wrote and I am reminded of those crazy people on HGTV who buy a house and think the can renovate it in like 2 weeks and it ends up taking them 6 months.  My first room is going to be the living room because it only needs a paint job and I really need instant gratification at this point.  Then the dreaded main bath. 

In other news, I love area here and running over the hills and through the woods is a great change from flat hot nothingness and doing it against 40 MPH headwinds no matter what direction you are going. 

Please stay tuned as I hope to have the living room done by next week, yay! 

Are we there yet? YES!!!

OMG, that was a long trip.  Traveling with 14 month old twins and two dogs (one of which does not travel well at all!), 7 states in three days.  The boys did fairly well but I'm still debating if I should list the dogs on eBay.  Our furniture arrives tomorrow and we can finally feel at home after two weeks of being a refugee.  Our house is awesome! (pictures to follow)  The town is the cutest, prettiest town I've ever seen (again, pictures to follow).  We landed this great house and the owner who lives in another state wants us to update it for him, for which he will pay for the materials and out labor.  Seriously, it's like all that time in Purgatory...I mean Texas, has paid off.  I've already decided that if Jamie has to change duty stations again, I'm not going.  Just joking...kinda.

Okay so here is an added feature to my blog.  I will blog about the home renovations.  And really, who doesn't like a before and after shot?  I've already painted 95% of the boy's room.  I went with a soft sage green which turned out very nice.  However, it now has to stand up top a hideous sea foam green carpet.  The carpet will be coming up and wood laminate going down.  But for right now it is quite the green room.  Wait until you all see the bathrooms...that will be a great before and after pic.  How am I going to do all this with 2 toddlers and my husband away for four months???  Well, I'm going to try to do a lot on my own.  Perhaps during naps and after the go to bed for the night.  But my very handy mother I'm sure will come for a visit during the four month period.  I may need help with laying the tile since I'd never done it before and I am scared to put that first one down and that first one, "the keystone" is what the rest of the room is based off of.  Scary.

Okay, that is all for now. 

indoor camping

All of our stuff is gone and on its way to North Carolina!  All that is left here is me, my husband, the boys and two dogs.  We have a little TV propped up on a cooler and we are sleeping on air mattresses.  We have four more nights on a self deflating air mattress and waking up with back pains.  The boys are fairing as well as can be expected.  They have free reign of the house but seem to still be getting into things even though there isn't all that much to get into.  There was some Uhaul drama but my very handy husband is fixing that as I type.  All in all we are surviving.  I wish we were in the van driving already.  Careful what I wish for,right?  By day two and a half of being on the road I may be making a blog entry for someone to come put me out of my misery.  I promise to stop being so negative once we are settled in NC.  Promise, promise, promise.

Veggie Curry Stir Fry

Wanted to share a stir fry recipe with y'all.  Although I must warn you that I don't really measure anything when I cook. 

Cooked brown rice.  I prepared one cup uncooked rice with two cups water, so whatever that gives you in the end.

One bag of any type of frozen stir fry you like.  I prefer the broccoli stir fry bags.  I used the asparagus stir fry mix, which is fine but I find some of the stalks to be pithy.  Now I know to add fresh asparagus if I so choose.

1 tbsp minced garlic.  Soy sauce, yellow curry, red pepper flakes-all to taste *note, I add a lot of red pepper and curry, I want to sweat half way thru my serving.  My soy sauce stay somewhat lighter because my husband doesn't like it as salty as I do.  I splash my serving with some before consumption.

Throw veggies in a big skillet over med heat with some EVOO add several splashes of soy sauce, the garlic, red pepper and curry powder.  Cover and let veggies heat thru. 

Once the veggies are heated thru and the skillet is hot, I push all the veggies to the sides making a hole and I crack 2 eggs and lightly scramble them in the middle of all the veggies.  The egg is of course optional, but I like it in there.

Add cooked brown rice and season with the curry, soy sauce, and red pepper to suit your taste.

Dish up and (hopefully) enjoy!  

This is one of those dinners that multiplies in front of you as you keep adding things.  So you will have about 4 generous servings.  It is seriously awesome as left overs.  Sitting in the fridge overnight really marries all the flavors.   

Ah, the military move

If you will notice tothe right it says that my location is "soon to be Fort Bragg area, NC".  Well, that apparently is going to be a lot sooner than we thought.  We finally got our orders yesterday.  Then the hubby texts me and says that the movers may be coming next week (15 Feb).  Seriously?  I'm trying not to freak out.  Afterall I really don't have to touch a thing.  Very nice burly government contracted movers come into our home and pack up everything in one day, come back the next day and load it on the truck and wave as they make their way to our next home. 

Since my husband will only be in the Ft Bragg area for a little while before he flies back to Texas for school I'm thinking I will need to prep for packing that way when the other very nice burly government contracted movers show up in NC to unpack, it will be a more organized process.  My type A personality is totally up for the challenge and foaming at the mouth to organize.  However, my stick to routine mommy personality is hiding in a corner in the fetal position when I think about the boys during this entire process.  The packing  day will be hectic.  Maybe the boys and I can go to the park or a bar or something while Jamie supervises the movers.  Cleaning day, will be awesome because the boys will have free reign of the house and can't get into anything since there will be nothing left to get into.  And let's face it, those of you who know me know I live to clean stuff.

Then there is the almost 22 hour drive across the country to consider.  I hate hotels, they gross me out.  With the boys it will take us all three days we are authorized, whereas if it were just Jamie and I, we'd be done in a day and a half.

Oh PS-we don't have a house in NC yet.  No big deal.  So anyway all projects I had planned for the next several weeks have come to a screeching halt.  I will be sure to document the move, post pics and complain about the seemingly ever shrinking space of the van as the trip goes on.

Gotta keep my eyes on the prize, right?  Getting out of Texas!  What am I doing blogging, I need to get my arse in gear!  More later...    

Southern Convert?

Okay so almost everyone was hit by this gigantic winter storm that rolled through this past week.  Even Northern Texas got about 5 inches.  What sucks is that being in Texas, they don't think they need plows or salt because, hey it's Texas.  What people don't know is that we get ice more often than snow.  So why my rant today?  Because I was just calculating my running mileage for the week and it summed up to a dismal 12 measly miles.  Of course I couldn't leave the house for four days and I do not have a tread mill.  Anyway, that got me thinking about the future and where we will settle down once my darling husband retires from the military.  PS-it's only 5 years away. 

I've been thinking about moving back to the Chicago land area.  I loved growing up where I did.  It was a small town feel but I could hop on the train and be downtown Chicago in 45 mins and access world class museums and shows and different events.  I loved that.  I want that for my kids.  Also, My brother and soon to be sister in law are in that area.  My kids could grow up with their hypothetical kids and have the grandparents around.  Not to mention the more diverse job market for the hubby.  So those things are really important to me for my family.  However, the winters...  I know I survived them growing up and never thought twice about it when it would snow from November to March.  But living in the South for the last several years has spoiled me.  I love that we only have like two weeks of winter.  Sure I don't have a white Christmas, but I get tulips in the beginning of March.  I can open my windows and air out the winter ick from the house in February even.  And most of all, and selfishly, I can run outside for about 10 months out of the year.  So I think it comes down to this; Either I convince my entire family to move below the Mason Dixon Line, or I just buy a treadmill and take up more winter activities.  Maybe Curling? 

***Note-I will probably post something mid July saying how much I hate the heat and every point I just made about the tulips and airing out the house will be squashed by sticking to chairs and huge bugs.

Intro

Okay as of today my husband and I are awaiting orders to move to North Carolina.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute to move.  We are past the point of it being an inconvenience and we are in the "this is just ridiculous" phase.  Being "just a spouse" has taken some getting used to.  I served ten + years in the Army and now I am a stay at home mom.  So now what?  I have so many aspirations.  I want to dream up some great complicated storyline, wake up and jot it all down and be the next Stephanie Meyer.  But until then, I will have to make due with loving my family and trying to do what's best for them.  Now that my twin boys are over a year and I have a good routine down I feel like I can start doing other stuff.  I've made all their baby food, which I loved doing. Not only did we save money, but I knew exactly what was going into their little bellies.  So I am super excited about moving from Northern Texas (blech) to NC.  I've scoped out the area via Google and I have found many roadside stands offering organic produce and eggs.  My goal is to buy local, buy what's in season, and make the most out of it.  Those of you who know my parents know that if the apocolypse hits, we should just head to Robin's house.  If we hunker down there we won't only survive, we'd thrive and get drunk on homemade wine!  My goal is to do what she does but on a much smaller scale.  Who needs 20 tomato plants???  Not this girl!

Jamie (my hubby) and I are going to try our hand at home brewing when we get settled in NC and I will try my hand at canning and whatever other projects tickle my fancy.

The other little road you can follow me on is my marathon training.  I wanted to run the Chicago Marathon in 2010, but it was only 10 months postpartum for me and decided I should probably let my body heal.  So 2011 it is!  Running is my grip, however weak, on reality.  Without it I feel like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.  The marathon training I will be following is and 18 week plan.  Using backwards planning, I really have to get serious about it April 10th.  I love running races, the kookier the better!  So there will be those as well. 

Andrew

William

Oh yeah, once we move, Jamie returns to Texas almost immediately to go through a school for four months.  I will need pick me ups and tough love giving me a swift kick in the ass to stay motivated.  I rely on all of you for that!