Blogger 411: about ME

I'm linking up with Becky in the Blogger 411. I don't think I have done one of these get to know me things before and I always love reading them so I thought I'd join in!

1. How long have you been blogging? And what got you started on blogging? Has your blog changed?

 I started blogging in January of 2010. 
I had been a blog stalker for years and was finally encouraged to start my own. 
I was going to wait until we had kids, but bit the bullet and blogged about our married life in Florida instead. I am so thankful I started when I did, I was able to connect with so many awesome women. I had no idea it would take us as long as it did to conceive and I was so thankful for an outlet, support, prayers and encourage from everyone- including others who were struggling. 
Of course, my blog has changed since having Adalyn....a lot.
 I used to write with some humor and these days I'm lucky if I can get my brain to form words to even write a post! 
I'm thankful to have the blog in each season of my life and I look forward to going back and reading it one day! 

2. Did you go to college? If so where, and what did you study?

I went to college for two years. And I got nothing but debt and great friends. 

I started out at the community college taking gen. eds, paying my way through and staying close to Mr. B {he was still a senior in High School}. After crying for months about having no friends and seeing all my others friends having fun, the college search was on for me and Mr. B. We decided on a small school in PA. We loved it. And then we hated it. My major was Communication Disorders. I had an awesome group of girls that I really connected with and loved. {Still love!} 

But we didn't feel the school was helping us grow spiritually and we really wanted to be surrounded by an uplifting/challenging environment. So we only lasted a semester. And said a tearful good-bye.

 We made our way down to FL. We went to Southeastern University. How can you not love a school in Florida?! {It's pretty easy actually- you live there and realize how hot it is.} We loved their chapels and it really seemed like everyone was there to learn and grow.

 My major was Elementary Education.

 At this school Mr. B connected with a good group of friends and I didn't like I did before. Some of my credits didn't transfer because I was dumb and took core classes for each major so I was about a year behind. I was always a good student, graduated HS with High honors, and got all A's and a few B's in college, but I was really just going to college for the experience and because I felt like I had to. I didn't like elementary education. I never felt the desire to be a teacher, I didn't enjoy lesson planning and hated speaking in front of the class. I only did it because I knew I wanted to work with kids. After much consideration and prayer, Mr. B and I decided that I would stop going to school and pursue my dream of being a nanny. Something I loved to do, I was gifted in doing and a way to make money rather than continue to put myself in debt.

 And that's what I did! 

I am thankful for each experience along the way! We always wonder what life would have been like had we stayed in PA the whole time- I don't think we would be where we are today.

 And I love where we are today, so that's okay!
 I do live the grass is greener life though and I seem to forget about all the bad times and only remember the good so I always wonder why we left and what we were thinking. Which is good and bad, I guess! 

But God knew.

Oh yeah and I only went away to school for one year and I still have $11,000 in debt. 

Paying the minimum doesn't get you very far.

3. Where have you traveled?

Outside of the US I've been to Canada, Mexico, Romania and the Ukraine

4. What are your 3 biggest pet peeves?

I have a lot of pet peeves, it depends on the day. 

Sometimes it could be someone breathing.

Seriously.

But if to think of my three biggest...

1. Mouth noises. 

2. Heavy breathing

3. Whistling

I know, I have problems.

5. What is your favorite movie?

I think I'll have to go with Now & Then. 

I haven't seen it in a long time, but it was always one of my favs.

I do love the Notebook, too!

And A Walk to Remember { I couldn't listen to the soundtrack for months, because it would make me cry}

And I love Wild Hogs too.

6. What is your drink of choice; wine, beer, or liquor. Or Water, Soda, Tea?

I don't drink any alcohol, but I do love me Diet Dr. Pepper or Root Beer.

It switches up every couple months between the two.

I'm currently in a Diet Dr. Pepper phase.

I also love water and I am particular about what kind.

I love smart water, but it's not always feasible.

I am fine with Poland Springs and Dasani.

Really don't like Nestle Pure Life.

Aquafina hurts my stomach.

I know, I have problems.

7. What is something you enjoy to do when you have me time?

I enjoy watching TV, blogging/reading blogs, editing pictures and various DIY projects

8. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, which store would it be?

I think I'd have to go with Target. I can never walk out of there with only what I went in to buy. 

They pretty much have everything I would need and I know that $10,000 would go way too quickly!!

9. Share with us an embarrassing moment of your past? Or present.

Way too many to share. 

I suppose my most current would be the amount of...ahem..gas I passed through the whole laboring process.

I'm not sure that was normal. 

I laugh about it almost every day.

I had no control.

10. What are the jobs you had in high school/college/the early years?

In high school I worked at a grocery store {Mr. B worked there too}. I was a cashier and sometimes bagger and I hated working on express and that is where I seemed to be the most.

I worked there for 3 years. 

Then I worked with kids- daycare, nanny, live-in nanny and  in-home daycare until I was 8 months pregnant. 

11. Show us a picture from high school or college.

"The Event" {aka Christian school prom- Senior Year}

College:

12. Show us the most current picture of you or you, or your family, or anything of meaning to you. 

{6 Month family pics that I still need to post!}

13. Where do you see your life 5 years from now?

Happily married to my best friend, living in our own home with a sibling {or two!} for Adalyn.

But I know the Lord holds our future and we can only do so much- it's in His hands! 

But these are my dreams and desires.

Ornithophobia

It was as if he was an Olympic athlete striving to just cross that finish line. Keeping his eye on the prize, he persevered using everything in his strength to reach his destination. Unfortunately, this youthful creature did not practice hard enough for the goal set before him. Just feet from that victorious arrival, weakness prevailed. The finish line that was once the tree quickly became my head!

That was am excerpt from a narrative essay I wrote in one of my writing classes, I was going to just copy and paste the whole thing (yes, it's that good of a story it qualified as a college paper), but it's a bit too formal for this little blog of mine. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but we will pretend it is. Anyways, this "youthful creature" was a baby bird, more specifically it appeared to be a baby owl. I don't know if that is true or even possible because it was in the day, I always thought it looked like it and in order to make the story that much more exciting we will stick to the fact that this was indeed a baby owl.

I was about 7 years old and I had just come out of the lake. My hair may have looked something like this, but add in the wet look.

This was taken on our honeymoon, in the bird's defense this particular "hairstyle" does give the appearance of a rat's bird's nest. I am very thankful I never experienced this again because clearly, as seen in this picture, I didn't learn my lesson on the importance of maintaining beautiful hair in the presence of birds.

Anyways, I got out of the lake, wrapped myself up in my towel and sat next to my mom and her friend. Everyone sitting by the lake saw this helpful little bird fly from one side of the lake to the other. As he was approaching land he seemed to be flying a little on the low side, low enough that we all had to duck our heads. Turns out I didn't duck my head low enough and there was some bird confusion between a nest and crazy wet hair. Everyone lifted their head and laughed at how close the bird was, lo and behold I am screaming trying to swat the bird off my head. As the tears were coming and I was beyond freaked, I wouldn't have expected anyone to do anything other than what they were doing to help the situation....point and laugh. Can you say scarred for life? Talk about a tragic childhood, right? As time goes on, and my memory fades becomes stronger, this story seems to get more dramatic. In fact, it may have been a vulture that landed on my head that day, only God knows.

So I share this very personal, life changing event with you to bring you to the second part of this post. I give you permission to laugh at the story above (if you haven't already, thank you for being so kind). I can laugh about it now, but that doesn't change my Ornithophobia- just discovered this word and feeling pretty cool right now.

Two years ago, when I was a live-in nanny, I took the kids to go feed the ducks. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I had some bread that was getting old, so I packed the kids up in the car (Mr. B came along too- thank you Lord!) and we headed over to the lake. Where I come from ducks found at the pond look like this:

Well, welcome to Florida, through migration they morph into these big guys:

They must change in bird types too because these are actually geese not ducks so it's a complete morph package. These birds are nothing like the sweet little ducks I fed in my childhood. These birds attack. These birds are huge. Apparently these birds are starving. Besides the fact that the kids (and possibly me) were crying because we kept getting bit due to the fact that we were standing on a bunch of fire ant hills (another thing we don't have up north), we were getting attacked by these geese. We were running around the parking lot (safety first) and I dropped the bag of bread, grabbed the kids and bolted to the car. Remember, birds scare me. Why did I think this would be a good idea?? It played out way different in my head. Sorry kids, Ms J is having an anxiety attack because she's scared of birds, get in the car, we are going home. Because.

These geese became a special attraction for my visitors. My friend was visiting for my birthday and knowing she is not too fond of birds herself, I knew exactly where to take her. After all, it was my birthday so she had very little say on what we did that day. To us, this video is priceless and will always make us laugh. To you, it will most likely not be the same experience, but feel free to give it a shot just in case. I would hate for you to miss out. Disclosure: I think a baby could video tape better than I did, although please note I was running away. If you get motion sickness, I apologize, you may want to take some Dramamine or just close your eyes and make up your own illustration based on the sound effects. You may want to try and tune out my laugh as well. As mentioned, I now like to bring people here (the experience is different when you know what to expect), I am still petrified of the birds, but their reaction trumps my fear. Kind of.

When my mom and sister visited in October, I was so excited to bring them and see how my sister would react. We only had a few pieces of bread, but they would still be able to experience the attack of the geese.This was quickly destroyed when Mr. B gave each geese a whole piece of bread. Someone needs lessons on how to feed the birds, not to point fingers, but it's not me. He completely killed this experience. The bread was gone. I'm still trying to get over this disappointment.

Mr. B learned his lesson and didn't touch the bread this time around with our new visitors. This past weekend my grammie was the innocent victim.

This is how our friends greet us when they catch a glimpse of the bread bag.

Again, excuse my obnoxious hyena laugh, I didn't learn from the first video.

Note to self: Restrain laugh for as long as possible.

My grammie loves birds so she was the perfect candidate for the comedic attack of the geese experience. She was totally oblivious to what we set her up for. We were prepared for some laughs...

She didn't let us down.

Today is actually her 65th birthday! Happy Birthday Grammie!! So glad you were able to visit this past weekend; you were such a good sport when feeding those vicious creatures! She doesn't read this (she's not the most internet savvy), it's the thought that counts, right? :)

I am aware that these are most likely "you had to be there" stories, similar to when you are telling someone about a crazy dream you had and it only makes sense to you and no one else cares. So I am sorry I wasted moments of your life, but I appreciate your time.

Happy Friday!!!!!!!

Welcome new followers =)

Celebration

I realize this is almost a week late, but I have been way too busy stuffing my face at restaurants and soaking in the sun that I have had absolutely no time to write about my days. Now no one is here to keep me company, it's pouring outside, it's 10:30 in the morning, I am eating cheese and crackers, watching Regis and Kelly and I might still be in bed, so I think I can find some time to update.

Friday night was my last day of work. Yip-EEE! I was kind of stressing because I wasn't sure if we were going to hug good-bye or if I was just going to leave like normal. This thought was kind of taking over my day. Do you hug when it's a mutual dislike?? When she doesn't even day "hi" or "bye" to me?? The answer is yes. I went with the flow, followed her body language and went for it. Not only was there a hug, there were tears. From her, not me. Which makes the whole situation quite comical, I think. Clearly it was not because she will miss me, she will miss everything I do for her. This is the second employer I've had that has done this to me. Newsflash: If you treated me better I wouldn't be leaving- it's your own fault. As she was shedding tears, we were out celebrating. I know, that sounds really mean, but there's freedom in being released from a bad position, sorry. We went to a delicious restaurant right across from our place called The Grill Smith.

"Cheers to no more work while in Florida!"

My wonderful visitors, Grammie, Auntie Liz and Mama Grace

The melt in your mouth filet mignon (note: Mama Grace was paying it would be wrong to choose a cheap meal. She might think differently.)

Smiles of pure happiness.

I'm beyond happy to be done.

He is beyond happy that he won't have to hear me complain every.single.day.

Although I am quite confident it won't take long for me to find something else to complain about.

We will pretend all complaints were left behind with the job.

The next day we drove to Winter Haven to visit the snow birds, Rudy (my great-grandfather) and his girlfriend. Yes, he has a girlfriend. Yes, they met online. Yes, that qualifies them as being "hip". They both lost their spouses and found each other through the internet, they have been great for each other and have been "dating" for years.

This past Christmas while watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, I realized for the very first time, that Rudolph's girlfriend's name is Clarice....ummm..that's Rudy's girlfriend's name! How funny is that?? That discovery pretty much made my Christmas season.

As I mentioned in this post, Rudy enjoys going to Hooters with "the guys". Proof that I was not lying--not that you wanted any proof because personally it is a tad disturbing to think about--here is the sign up list. We were given a tour of his retirement community and in the clubhouse there was a sign up sheet for various activities. A van filled with elderly men on a field trip to Hooters= "Delightfully Tacky". Hmm good choice of words.

Please take note of the last signature on the list. Lee really looks forward to this outing.

I really need to figure out how to put arrows and text, can someone comment and teach me please??

We went out for lunch at a new little diner down the street. Little did we know "Chat-A-Whyle" was not only the name of the diner, but a huge hint of what we had to look forward to.

We waited for our food for at least an hour. Thanks for the simple suggestion and apparently fair warning to chat awhile.

Apparently it takes a long time to make a ridiculously-tall-entirely-too-big-to-fit-in-any-normal-size-mouth sandwich. Customers love waiting that long for their food only to find they need to disassemble their sandwich so they can at least get one part of their mouth over the top.

We went back to Rudy's house and celebrated my Grammie's 65th birthday a little early while she was in town. He made his famous apple pie and it was delicious.

The end of our day consisted of Grammie, some bread, this big guy and a bunch of his friends.

I am going to pull a LOST moment on you and leave you hanging.

This story involves a video and deserves it very own post.

Don't be too overwhelmed with the suspense, feel free to use your imagination and stay tuned.

First {Unofficial} Official Day

Today is my first official day of being a housewife. Technically I have been off since Monday, but with Mama Grace here it seemed like I was supposed to be staying home and laying by the pool with her, why it would be any other way?? I am still not sure if today would count as my official first day because we had to wake up at 6:20 AM to bring her to the airport. Waking up when it's still dark outside wasn't exactly on my my list of things to do as a housewife. Although I am amazed at how much longer my day is, how much more I get done, how much more energy I have and how much of the beautiful quiet morning I miss when I sleep in. Of course this has a completely different effect when I need to wake this early and work, in that case I am pretty much drained the entire day. For some reason it's a lot easier to get through the day knowing you have nothing to do but enjoy the day. Amazing how it works out at that.

Another reason I don't really count today is because I am lonely. I go through this every time (every time meaning the two times she has visited) Mama Grace visits. I finally adjust get used to stop complaining about deal with the fact that my family is far away and then she visits. I love having her around and we have so much fun, then she leaves and I am back to square one. The sad-lonely-I-hate-being-so-far-away-how-many-more-days-til-we-move-back square. Not sure

what adjective I would use to describe my mood when she leaves ...pathetic ...sappy ...childish ...silly. Probably all of those things and more combined. At least I realize how pathetic I can be, that's the first step, right? Is it bad that I get sad looking out the window because I see where we had dinner, I get sad when I open the fridge and see her Diet Coke, I get sad when it's super quiet in here, I get sad when I go to the pool and see where we spent our days, when I go to shower and I see her shampoo and her razor or when I get out of the shower and realize I can no longer use her Chi straightener and I am back to my cheap one that rips my hair out (tears may have been flowing after this realization). I know, I know, the way I am acting you would think she died or something hence why I realize this is a bit on the pathetic side. Last time she left I cried all day (don't know why I just admitted that...), whenever I saw something that reminded me of her visit my eyes would fill up and the tears would come, this time I notice things that remind me of her and it makes me sad, but no tears. If that's not growing up I don't know what is.

So my day isn't completely normal yet, I am adjusting to being back by myself today. Soon enough I will get back on track and into the swing of things. I could not be more thankful we have 54 more days until we move back close to family. Nothing is better than being home and knowing where you belong. I can't wait to have the best of both worlds--be close to family AND have my own place and life with Mr. B. Can. Not. Wait. But I have no choice, so I will wait.

Instead of wallowing in my boo-hoo-Mama-Grace-is-gone-what-will-I-do-with-myself attitude my day has consisted of:

A healthy dose of caramel, chocolate, and coconut for breakfast.

20 minutes of determination and horrible depth perception. This down comforter IS going to fit in there. I might not be able to put the lid on, and it might not be close to fitting in there, but it is in there, I am too lazy to find another place for it and it does fit....just not all the way.

40 minutes of deflating the air mattress, rolling it up, more depth perception problems, de-rolling, deflating extra air that was stubborn and not coming out, rolling again, more depth perception problems, de-rolling, rolling again, sweating, stuffing, determination, stuffing, finally got it, leaving it for Mr. B to do from now until...forever.

Today also doesn't count as my first because Mr. B is home early. He brought home a gorgeous bouquet of flowers (ridiculous that he feeds into this "depression" of mine? possibly. But all the more reason why he is perfect for ME), it's a b-e-a-u-tiful day outside, 80 and sunny with the perfect breeze. So I've got my sun block oil on, bathing suit on and ready to enjoy the day by the pool, without Mama Grace, but with my man. I guess it won't be that hard to enjoy this day.

A Day in the Life of the Smellies...

Every Friday over at Kelly's Korner is "Show us your life", if you haven't been to her blog go check it out!! Today's theme is "What's your typical day like?" I already posted for today (feel free to read that one too! Unless reading two of my posts in one day is too much to take in- I completely understand), but thought I'd join in on this one too since no one everyone seems to be asking me how I keep up with my extremely exciting and fun-filled life! Is the suspense killing you?? This one is extra fun because after today it will no longer be my typical day!! I am so excited for what my new typical day will be like! So in honor of my last day...

A day in this life on a Friday....

7:30 - Phone goes off, Colbie Calliet "Bubbly" (have had it for 2 years, hoping it would make me feel bubbly in the morning. it's getting old), press snooze twice

7:45ish - Wake and get ready for work

8:05ish - Leave for work

8:15 - My long day begins

8:30 - Feed baby

9:30-11:00 - Baby naps, I clean up house (sweep, dishes, toys, laundry etc), watch my shows (Regis & Kelly, Bonnie, The View), check blogs and write a post

11:30-1:00 - Feed baby, eat lunch, play with baby, watch What Not to Wear

1:00-2:30 - Baby naps, watch DVRed shows (16 and Pregnant, Oprah, Ellen), browse craigslist for anything and everything

2:45 - Wake baby (always a bummer) and head to carpool to pick up other child

3:00-5:50 - Help with homework, play outside, play games,

5:50 - Freedom

6:00 - Get home and go straight to the bathroom (I hate going at the house where I work so I usually hold it all day and really have to go as soon as I walk in. TMI?)

6:00-7:00 - Make Mr. B and I dinner ( I have the meals planned, so it's usually prepped and ready to go. Weeknights are usually simple meals because I'm exhausted)

7:00-9:00 - Eat dinner, talk about our days, watch reruns and new shows

9:30/10:00 - Go to bed (bedtime may or may not be similar on the weekends too- we are that fun)

11:00 - Usually when my mind finally decides to stop replaying my day, thinking about things to do, things I want to do, things I wish I did, shuts down and allows me to drift into dreamland.

I hope this made your Friday that much better and you were able to handle all of the excitement. I am sure my new days will much more interesting. I wouldn't mind if it's something like...

10:00 - Wake

10:30-5:00 - Read Bible, work out, watch shows, lay in sun

5:30 - Make dinner and be the most cheerful serving wife

10:00 - Bed

Life will be rough.

Whatever Wednesday

Last week I came up with this ever so creative title/theme and said "today I'm just going to write about whatever comes to my mind because it's a rainy day and I am tired." Well today it's another rainy day and I am tired, so here we go....

So so so so excited I have made it half way through my last week of work!

I am so excited that Mama Grace has arrived in Florida!

She sent me this picture while she was in line to board her plane. Parade of wheelchairs=flight to Florida. She said there were more than this, but she didn't want to make her picture too obvious.

Have you ever seen so many wheelchairs?? She counted at least 8.

I really wish I could be home with her instead of working. I was jealous this morning when I had to wake up early and leave and she got to sleep in and spend the day relaxing. Three more days and my time will come!

As I mentioned before in my previous Wednesday post, I am reading a book called And Nanny Makes Three (yes, it's about 200 pages and I'm still reading it and going on about week 4 now) and I read that there are some nannies who have a job where the dad sometimes stays home. He stays in his room and is either watching tv (loudly), sleeping or occasionally watching tv with the nanny (that's not awkward). He is sometimes loud and wakes the sleeping baby. He doesn't offer to take the baby while you go to carpool to get his other child (who doesn't love to sit in a car for 45 minutes with a baby?) or offer to get the child at carpool while you stay home with the baby (this is his day off why would you expect him to do that??) He doesn't let you leave a little early and sometimes even lets you out late. If I had a job like that I would not be repeating to myself every few minutes "three more days, three more days..". If I had that job I might be especially bitter today since they are aware that my mom is visiting and hanging out alone at my apartment today, but obviously I'd much rather be here so it's not a big deal. Besides of course, that was a story of other nannies experience so I have nothing to worry about...

That was really hard to write in the tense like it wasn't really me. I think I messed it up.

There was finally a respectable mom on 16 and Pregnant. I think she is one of the youngest ones (only 15) and she seemed to be one of the most mature...as mature as you can be in that situation, I guess. So many of these girls think they are still entitled to be teenagers. They understand they are teen moms, but choose to take those as two different roles- sometimes a teen and sometimes a mom. Honey, it doesn't work out that way. So anyways, this girl chose to keep the baby, she seemed responsible, she didn't give her mom any attitude or expect her to raise the baby, she took complete care of her daughter, she is now home schooled so she can be with the baby and she realized and accepted that this is her life now.

Regis and Kelly is definitely now on at 10AM everyday, I have chose to accept it. It might work out nicely with my new housewife schedule.

The 5 finalist of the Beautiful Baby Contest are so adorable.

I'm excited the Olympics are over and my shows will resume. Tonight is American Idol, The Middle (hilarious show mostly because it's basically about my family) and Modern Family (also hilarious).

Jessica Simpson is on Oprah today, but Tenley is on Ellen. Gah, which one do I choose?? I went with taping Oprah because I can watch Ellen online. I can only tape one because a)if I tape both then we can't watch another show on TV and that's right when the kids get home from school and I wouldn't do that to myself and b) it's not my DVR.

We chose American Idol over Lost last night. Very hard decision. American Idol isn't on hulu though so it made the decision a little easier. Have you noticed the tough choices I have to face on a daily basis? So we can't wait to watch Lost tonight. Although I will admit, I really enjoyed the first few seasons a lot better.

I am looking forward to eating at all the yummy restaurants while my mom visits.

Looks like some good movies come out next weekend. Pretty bummed about that, Mama Grace loves going to the movies, her last visit we went to the movies three days in a row. I also love the movies, is this an inherited trait? It's so tempting because the theater is literally across the parking lot from our apartment complex, you can walk there. Our theater serves funnel cake, how unique and divine is that?? The movies are so stinkin' expensive these days so Mr. B and I don't make it over there too often so it's a highlight of Mama Grace's visit. There's not much out right now, but we might see Shutter Island. Not sure if that will be too scary for me. Has anyone seen it??

It's another cold day here in Florida. Yuck. Cold meaning cloudy and 52.

I am excited for the Strawberry Festival this weekend. They have the most delicious strawberry shortcakes (fingers crossed they even have good strawberries with all the cold weather we've had!) and we are seeing Darius Rucker on Sunday night. Hootie, baby.

Which reminds me, we are visiting my great-grandpa this weekend and he likes to go to Hooters. Oh boy.

I just got really hungry. The kind where you need to spit out your gum right away because you feel like you're going to throw up. Possible sign it's time for breakfast. Or lunch. Not a huge breakfast fan, not that I don't like eating in the morning, but I like lunch food better.

Enjoy your Wednesday!!