Climbing a Mountain (of laundry)

I'm still doing laundry. I'm so frustrated with it right now.

In case you missed it, I was supposed to be home from house-hunting last Monday and then Wednesday before Thanksgiving we were all going to drive to Hometown, USA together. Well, our flight for our first leg of the trip got delayed and we missed our connection. Luckily we were flying through Hometown, USA so we just stayed at my parent's house for the extra 2 days.

I was thinking (hoping) that D would have done a load of laundry (or perhaps folded a basket) while I was gone.

That didn't happen and now I not only have to do all the laundry from our trip, but I started doing what I thought was dirty laundry (because it was sitting in laundry baskets on the floor unfolded). Nope, it turns out that was the laundry I did before I left and didn't have time to fold.

UGH! I am doing more laundry than I needed. I don't think I'm ever going to finish this mountain of laundry.

I have to go fold the two loads sitting in my kitchen.

Home Sweet Home....

Well, we're back from our whirlwind house-hunting-Thanksgiving extravaganza! Its really nice to be back home but I have so much stuff to do over the next few days that I want to just head back to Hometown, USA and lay around!

Seriously. The laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. has really piled up over the past week. I realized this morning though, while menu planning and writing my grocery list that we have less than three weeks left in this house. Ack!

The movers are coming December 8th to start packing our stuff up. I knew that it would come really fast after Thanksgiving, but I wasn't expecting it to come this fast! I feel like there's too much to do and not enough time to get it all done! Oh, did I mention that we got the house? We're currently under contract and choosing carpet, tile and hardwood colors for the house! Things are moving fast, but we're very excited to finally be in our own place and have room to spread out.

I'm going to really make an attempt to get back into the blogging groove now that we're back! I didn't have my computer at my parent's house so it was hard to blog while we were gone. So anyway, I know I keep saying it, but I really am back!

A Red Letter Day!

So after all the action and excitment that comes with a holiday spent with family, we're relaxing this morning and eating leftovers. I decided to hop online and check out the activity in the bloggy world and lo and behold, I have reached 100 followers!

I want to extend a big thank you to everyone who has determined that I am worth following, and say welcome to all my new followers!


So the other night D and I were talking about my blog and I happened to mention that I was close to having 100 followers. He continues to be super amazed by my popularity (ha!) and he's convinced that someday soon we'll be living off the profits from my super-awesome blog and subsequent book (a la Pioneer Woman).

No, really, he thinks that.

Anyway, the conversation continued and he suggested that once I hit 100 followers we should have a special dinner to celebrate.

I kind of laughed at the idea, but after thinking about it a little, I like the idea! I'm going to expand on it a little further and let you all suggest your favorite recipes or menus for our dinner. It is, after all, because of you that we'll be celebrating! So, start thinking about what I should make, because I'm opening up the comments section for you guys to make suggestions for the next week.

Next Friday, December 3 I will officially close the contest and organize all the suggestions by dish type (like appetizers, main dishes, desserts, etc.) and I'll randomly choose the recipes that l'll make for our dinner! Don't worry, I will blog about the preparation and how the whole meal turns out so you all know how much we enjoy your favorite recipes!

So, get thinking and let me know what we should make!

Details: Make sure that you either submit the directions for making your recipe or you enable your email address on your profile so I can get in touch with you to get the recipe! If I can't get in touch with you and the recipe isn't included in your post, then your entry will be disqualified. Sorry.

Thanks so much for following me!

Oh, hi!

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I was planning on getting home and updating you all as soon as we knew anything about the house.

Plans changed drastically.

We got to the airport on Monday morning only to find out that our flight was delayed and we would miss our connection. They were planning to rebook us on a later connection flight which would have been fine, but considering the fact that our house is 2 hours from the airport, that would add a LOT of extra time to our travel day.

Then I got this great idea. Our layover was supposed to be in the airport in my parent's town. We were planning to drive the 6 hours from our house to Hometown, USA today, so I decided that it would just be so much easier to stay here in Hometown, USA. I quickly told the ticket agent to cancel my second flight and we arrived at my parent's house Monday afternoon. D and the dog are still at home and will be driving up this afternoon.

That catches you all up to last night.

I got word from our realtor yesterday evening that the offer we submitted was countered, which we were (honestly) expecting, so we approved the changes and are under contract! Yay! Now that we know we're getting the house, I am so excited!

We definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year! I most likely won't get on to post tomorrow, so happy Thanksgiving, everyone! See you later this week!

Looking Forward

So in case you forgot, AJ and I made the trip to our next duty station this weekend to house-hunt. When I say "house-hunt" I really mean we wanted to look at the house we found online. We went out to the neighborhood today and walked through it, it's not finished being built, so we walked through the framed out house and the did a walk through of one of the finished ones across the street. It's going to be so awesome if we get it!

We made an offer and should know by tomorrow whether or not it's been accepted.

I'm super excited and hope everything works out! This house is more than three times the size of our current house (the shoe box we live in) and in a great neighborhood! I kept telling AJ that the closets in the new house are bigger than her current bedroom!

Anyway, I just wanted to jump on and let you all know what's going on! Keep your fingers crossed for us!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In...

I figured that I should stop being lazy and get back to participating in the Friday Fill-In again! Its been a few weeks since I last linked up, but in my defense, I haven't been being lazy, I've honestly been super busy (and out of town a lot!).

Here we go....

1.If you had to be shipwrecked on a deserted island, but all your human needs – such as food and water – were taken care of, what two items would you want to have with you?

I'm going to assume that D and AJ would be with me already, so I'm bringing my computer and Dr. Pepper.


2.If you were a salad, what kind of dressing would you have?

French because its the best.


3.If you had to live on a ranch, what kind of animals would you raise/own?

Dogs? I'm not really a livestock type of person, but if I had to choose it would be cows or horses.


4.If your life was was portrayed as a movie, who would you choose to play you and your significant other?

For me, its super easy. Julia Stiles (because I look just like her). D looks like the cartoon character Stan from American Dad. Can he be played by a cartoon? No? Then I'm going to choose Jake Gyllenhal because he kind of looks like him.


5.What was the last thing you put a stamp on (envelope, duh, but what was in the envelope)?

An envelope that contained a check payable to my friend for my part of the hotel room we stayed in when I went to my college reunion with all the girlies. I sent her a check a week and a half ago, but I sent it to the wrong address (genius) so I had to send her another one.

Did You Hear?

I'm sure a lot of you have already heard about this, but Shutterfly.com is giving bloggers 50 free holiday photos cards this holiday season! I don't know if you've ever looked at their stock, but they have some of the cutest, as well as some of the classiest photo cards I've seen.

We have ordered photo cards the past few years and I just have to say, if you've never designed (and I use the term design very loosely) your own cards, then you're missing out. Shutterfly makes it so easy to get your very own personalized cards! All you have to do is upload the photo (or photos) you want to use and then drag and drop the picture in the correct location on the card. The best part is that the cards all have a little saying, but then you're able to add in any text you want in the greeting section of the card.

D's first choice.

Another one we like.

We have a bunch of awesome pictures that we took this year, so choosing one (or a few favorites, depending on the card you choose) was hard for me. Luckily, you can try out a bunch of different cards and photos to see which combination is your favorite before you decide on one.

Have I mentioned how easy this is and how nice they always turn out? I am so excited, especially since I'll be able to show off a super cute picture of AJ for all our friends and family this holiday season! Don't forget, they also have calendars and photo mugs that you can create as well. I know that we're planning to make an "AJ Calendar."

To browse all their Christmas photo cards, just head on over there.