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.

The Game

The past few weeks Papa G had us searching for a new truck for him.

This resulted in having to play "the game".

I hate this game.

You know what I am talking about, the whole used car game.

All of the ridiculous rules:

Don't act like you like the car.

Don't say that you like the car.

Don't smile at the car.

or the salesman.

Don't show any emotion.

Don't give him too many details.

Don't let him know you saw it online and were interested.

Don't tell the truth right away.

Don't look at any other cars.

Don't try to negotiate right away.

Be firm.

Be prepared to walk away if they say no.

Don't have too much hope they will change their minds.

Don't act like you are so disappointed and would actually pay more than what you originally said because you love the car and it's perfect.

They can't know that.

Don't point.

Don't blink.

Don't breathe.

You know this game?

Hate this game.

Let me give you some background information on the history between Mr. B and I and car shopping. Last summer we traded in my 2 door car for a newer 4 door car. We barely negotiated, we barely checked all the features of the car. It was an 08, 4 doors, real low miles and drove nice. We bought it. We drive off the lot with it, get on the highway....no cruise control. No big deal we are only driving to FL and back. It's only an 08 why would we expect it to have power everything, Aux port to play iPod and have cruise control?? Apparently having cruise would just put it over the limit. Also, just discovered it doesn't have power mirrors either. So, uhh, clearly we aren't exactly the best contestants for this game, but we were just getting married and this was our first big buy and you live and you learn.

So we needed a truck to help us with the move and my dad was ready to buy a truck so it was a win-win.

He thought it was great to get a truck in Florida that way it hadn't been through the winters.

Only problem is he is in NH.

Therefore the car shopping was up to us.

Let me remind you, I hate this game.

Papa G is real good at it. It can be embarrassing at times because, to me, he just looks rude.

But hey, "it's all part of the game".

This version of the game was a little different.

We weren't the buyers.

Can they know this bit of information or is it top secret?

Can they know it was for him up in NH and not for us in FL?

No.

In this game sometimes you need to bluff.

The plan was:

Tell them your dad from NH is buying you a truck. Don't tell them you're moving. They can't know that the truck is going to NH and not staying in FL because they might try and scam you. If they know you are taking it far away, something could be wrong with it and they won't tell you because it's really inconvenient to take it back to them so they don't care.

Lots of overanalyzing.

Which I typically do with about everything.

But this game is not my forte.

Plan seems easy, right?

We go to car dealership #1.

Under pressure, we forgot about the plan.

New plan is we {Mr. B & I} are looking to buy a truck.

Mr. B tried to play the game.

I hid and give him looks because it is ridiculous, we are losing the truck and we can be a little more flexible and honest than that.

I receive dirty looks back and "just wait, this is part of the plan".

The plan backfired.

This guy was not impressed with us at all.

He tells us he has nothing else for us.

We walk away.

As we were leaving the lot we found one that he didn't mention to us.

This plan failed big time because apparently he thought we looked to young to be able to afford these trucks.

This assumption would totally be right, if we were actually the ones buying it.

We go back in and tell him, Papa G is buying the truck for us.

It was night and day difference in his attitude.

Still no success, he wouldn't budge on the price.

So we walk away.

Lame game.

Lesson learned: Important to mention Papa G is buying the truck.

Car dealership #2:

The salesman is a nice guy.

Forget about Papa G's plan and told him the truth that the truck is for my dad.

Bad idea.

Sales guy doesn't want to sell to us because what if Papa G doesn't like it or finds something wrong with it that we didn't notice.

I assure him that he trusts us, I am taking and sending him video and it is fine.

Sales guy is still unsure, but nice and willing to help us regardless.

But he doesn't budge much on price.

We walk away from the most beautiful truck.

Hate this game.

Lesson learned: Don't say it is for Papa G.

Car dealership #3:

Go with Papa G's plan.

Papa G is buying us a truck.

Appear very spoiled.

We found a truck we loved, it was perfect.

We find out it's listed out of his price range, I call Papa G ready to me the mediator for negotiation.

Huge failure.

In the salesman's eyes I am sure the situation went something like,

"Ugh, Daddy won't pay anymore than than x amount of money",

therefore he is thinking, sorry daddy won't buy you this nice of a truck spoiled little bratts, your loss not mine.

Why, oh why would he want to negotiate the price when in reality it looks like we are looking out of what daddy wants to pay for his princess??

Horrible horrible plan.

Too awkward to change our story.

We walk out.

Lost a great truck.

Despise this game.

Lesson learned: Don't say Papa G is buying you a truck.

Car dealership #4:

Papa G calls ahead, informs them of the real plan.

Perfection.

Minus the fact that the salesman had ride in the back seat with us during the test drive repeating over and over how nice the truck is.

Thank you. We are aware. Thank you for the privacy.

Minus the fact that when we brought it to the mechanic down the street to make sure the dealership was honest the salesman had to come with us.

Minus the fact that the salesman was hovering around the mechanics, continued telling us it was a great truck and was driving me nuts.

It all worked out in the end.

After lots of trial and error, lots of traveling, lots of gas, lots of test driving, it was a success.

A beautiful truck, a good deal, lessons learned and a win-win situation.

Papa G is much better at this game. Even when it's over the phone.

He is a salesman after all. So it's kind of expected.

Practice makes perfect, I guess.

I still hate this game.

Why can't everyone just be honest and upfront?

Why can't the cars be priced accurately, you just say you want to spend x amount of dollars, show me what you have. Boom. Done. Thanks. Bye.

But it's not. So we live, learn and eventually drive off with a car knowing you most likely got screwed somehow, but hope that, for the most part, it was the right decision.

Top 2 Tuesday: Things I can't live without

It's Top 2 Tuesday over at the undomestic momma! Today's topic is two things you can't live without, this excludes the obvious things like Jesus, Mr. B, family, friends and TV.

So here we go, my top two things:

1. iPhone. I can't even imagine having a normal phone any more. Honestly I am not even sure how I could live. Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch. But really...it would be so weird to not be able to go on facebook, twitter, blogs, check my emails, google anything, follow the map when I'm lost, listen to music, watch movies, take pictures, record videos- everything. The real question is- what can't I do with this phone?? A sad, slightly embarrassing fact about me: when I wake up in the middle of the night to check the time I always go on and check fb and twitter too. It's a habit.

Cute little Roxie ( I hope we get new pics soon!!) as my wallpaper, I am aware that the time is an ugly, odd number and yes it is bothering me, I debated whether or not to take another picture, and I am also in love with my phone cover.

2. Fan. It's an inherited trait in the Grace family. I can not sleep without a fan. I can if I absolutely have to, but it takes me for.ever. It normally takes me a long time anyways because my mind never turns off {isn't that so frustrating?? Why is it necessary to replay the entire day and think about the next 50 days?} I hate sleeping in silence. Who am I kidding...there is no silence with Mr. B's snoring, scratching, talking and various mouth noises he does in his sleep, but I can't sleep with that either. I love white noise and the hum of the fan is the perfect sound to drift me off into dreamland.

One day Mama Grace told Papa G to pick up a big fan for the living room because it was a really hot summer day. Well he took her very literal and he came home with this beast. A huge industrial fan that sounded like a plane taking off --wasn't exactly what she had planned for the living room. It was impossible to watch TV and have the fan on at the same time which is clearly a BIG problem. Although this fan was not the right fit for the living room, it is so amazing to sleep with. I think about it all the time, specifically when our current fan fails at completely blocking out the love of my life while he sleeps, therefore results in waking me up. Not a fan. No pun intended. Yeah right... totally intended that pun. Pretty clever if I do say so myself.

What are 2 things you can't live with out??

PS. Just finished Day 6 Level 2!

Ugly Odd Numbers

I was going to write about the sermon I heard this morning, but my day is flying by and I have so much to do in so little time, so I decided to save that post for another day and inform you of a pet peeve of mine. I am sure my list of pet peeves is on the top of your priority list and that is exactly why I chose to write about this today. Or maybe by now you're feeling sorry for Mr. B if I have more pet peeves than my previous top ten twelve list. Yes, he is a good man and puts up with the many little things that drive me crazy. There might be more to add to that list, but I won't take you there. Unless there is another day I don't know what to write about.

Pet peeve of the day: Odd numbers. I hate odd numbers. I think they are ugly and they really bother me. I like to make the volume on my radio and TV an even number, the room temperature an even number and special events like our wedding day and the eventual birth of our children (I only have so much control with this situation, but a girl can hope) even numbers. If you take a look over to the left of this post you will see I have 49 followers. Of course, this is a blessing seeing as just a few weeks ago I was dreaming about having a whole 25 followers. I have almost doubled my dream goal. Wow, let's take a moment and reflect on that achievement for a second........... Thank you. So as I am very pleased and thankful for my 49 followers, but it drives me nuts that it's an odd number. To give you a better understanding of where I am coming from, or maybe to convince you that I am even more "out there" than you thought, I don't consider multiples of 5 to be an odd number so if I could just hit 50 it would make me feel a little more comfortable with my blog. Are you getting the gist that I am never content with where I am at, the grass is always greener and I always want the next best thing? Because that is so not like me.

I know there is at least one person who is being invisible in stalking me, no need to be ashamed. I will admit, I was once an invisible stalker myself. So if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and become a follower of my smelly life you would totally make my Sunday. I love my Sundays, there is a lot to compete against, so please realize that making my Sunday is a really big deal. So if you are not yet a follower, just head on over to the left hand side and simply click "follow". I wish I had some extra money to have a giveaway for my 50th follower, but unfortunately all I can give you is a shout out and a big ol' THANK YOU!

In conclusion, let me share a little odd number story with you. Mr. B and I had been dating for about 3 years when he proposed. At this point he was well aware of my even number infatuation. So naturally, he proposed to me on April 19th. Can you say ew?? Other than the fact that I was completely naive, hated what I was wearing and didn't do my hair, I tried to make the best of the situation. It was obviously a very exciting time! But, I couldn't help but think in the way way way back of my mind what an ugly date! He had two beautiful even numbers to choose from, why the 19th?? He is of course a guy and this thought had never even crossed his mind. In end, being proposed to on the 19th wasn't really that big of a deal, I had a beautiful ring on my finger, I was having a fantastic nail day and most importantly, I was asked to spend the rest of my life with my best friend, I think I could get over it being one of the ugliest dates in the month. Clearly- I'm over it.

Trying to be creative with the ugly digits...

I know it looks deceiving, but that really is my ring finger.

All this to say, bring on the the even numbers!

PLEASE!

Tuesday's Ten

Ideas to write about are limited so I copied this idea from a favorite blogger of mine, Dave and Brit Plus One.

Tuesday's Ten: Things That Annoy Me

(this could easily be twenty, but I'll spare you)

In no particular order....

1. Saliva mouth noises

2. Finger/toenail picking noises

3. Scratching noises

4. Heavy breathing. If it sounds like you're snoring and you're actually awake-you are breathing too loud.

5. Being touched by feet

6. When Mr. B moves and takes the blankets with him

7. When Mr. B scratches and/or adjusts himself...which is pretty much always. My apologies for the visuals, but this list would not be complete with out this.

8. This super painful canker sore on the inside of my bottom lip. Something happened to my retainer and it cut me. I'm not feeling confident about the healing process because it's in a horrible spot and gets hit no matter what I do. And yes, I am that cool and still sleep in my retainers.

9. Whistling

10. Loud sneezes

Edit: Tuesday's Twelve..

11. When I paid $2 whole dollars (remember that is $200 in newlywed money) for these healthy items from McDs from lazy teenage employees who couldn't go the extra effort to fill them to the top:

Chocolate & Salt- may be another reason why I'm not confident in my canker sore healing

No lie, there wasn't even ONE fry hanging around by it lonesome self at the bottom of the bag

12. This Olympians voice- CLEAR. YOUR. THROAT. I had to mute it, I could not take it any longer. I took this with my phone so I apologize for the quality/sound, but you get the idea..

I will also add Gia's whiny, scratchy, trying not to cry, kicked off The Bachelor voice to that list of wow, you are so annoying. MUTE.

So....who wants to hang out with me??