Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the dont's. Listen to shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen child. Anything can be. - Shel Silverstein


March 21st, I'll officially be a student of University of Phoenix. Hopefully, ((please oh please)) by the time we are settled in NC, I'll be a bachelor's student.

I'm *ting-ing*!

Daydreaming

There was so many things I wanted to talk about today and it turns out they all sort of roll in together. Bug is getting so big. I'm so thankful and she warms my heart so much. Even when she points her finger at me and says plain as day, "Your gonna be in twouble!" That one was free from her 20 month old BFF. I've been watching her play and daydreaming about our next house and the nice play area she'll have that WONT be in our main living room. Actually, I've been daydreaming about all the aspects of our next house. The fine side of being in limbo for so long is picking out all of the "must haves" our next house, next life, next everything, will contain. I've been doing a lot of research and I'm getting SO excited to be back in NC!

I think we've decided that a new build is going to be the right choice for us. Of course, as soon as we get there and actually REALLY start looking at houses this could change. Such is how it goes. In the mean time I will be busy daydreaming about our next brand new house no one has ever lived in before. And. All. The. Space. I found one that I'm secretly placing furniture in that is almost 3,000 square feet. It has EVERYTHING! And even better than that. ITS BRAND NEW. We don't have to worry about chewed gum stuck in random places, faulty drywall patches, peel and stick tile, water damage, or holes cut in walls because the previous owner couldn't get their furniture out. I know that just because its new doesn't mean it may not need anything. But let me tell you, after living in this 45 year old BEAST the last couple of years, it sure sounds like a good idea!

What do you think of "our" new house? ;0)

My little piece of Peace

I had an awesome ride & lesson today, which is funny because Pat was being a jerk. He was fighting me and at one point almost threw me off onto my face ((thank goodness for strong legs!)). But what made it great was that I kept going and won the fight and we jumped two sets of cross bars perfectly before my legs were shot. It's amazing how good having a good ride makes you feel. I thought today I would photo bomb you and let you in on my little piece of peace.











<3

I'm a spaz

I was reminded today that while things are a little on the stressful side, they could be much, MUCH worse. It was a nice reminder that I'm a spaz and sometimes I need to step back. I don't know how many times I've said this in my blog, but it seems to be the one lesson I can't seem to learn. Helping the issue today: things with the real estate agent went great and I hope she got some good pictures of the inside of the house for the "coming soon" ad, I also got to go out and hack Pitty-Pat at the barn for awhile and watch a great pre-show lesson that was going on. I also was able to deliver the champagne glasses the couple from the Bridal expo won. That is one thing that has been WAY past due and stressing me out. So done. Done. and Done! So lesson of the day {{cough*,cough*. Again}}?

I'm a spaz and need to chill out.

"The Sisters"

There was this day a long time ago, I think I was seven. Everyone was happy. Everyone got along and My grandpa was still alive. My whole family was together at my grandma's house. Before all the blame, all the she said this. Before CPS and finger pointing. When everyone was happy. They had brought in a photographer for the day to take family pictures. The photographer took pictures of each of the 'kids' families on Grandma's great stone fireplace. Then he took pictures of the 'kids' with Grandma & Uncle Darold & Grandpa. The pictures from that day turned out perfectly and each kid proudly displayed their families' portrait in a frame in a prominent place in their home. And everyone was happy.

My grandma has no recollection of this day.

When going through some pictures with my mom at her new place, they came across the one taken of the sisters. "The Sisters" were quite the bunch. A force to be reckoned with. Each one louder and more animated than the next. Together they were scary. They spurred each other on. They were Best friends. This would be the last time "the sisters" would be in a picture together without there being a family breaking fight. Grandma looks at the picture and says, "Oh! When was this taken? I don't remember this." My mom does her best, "Remember, Mom? We had everyone there that day? He took pictures of all us?" But Grandma doesn't remember and Mom is sad so she changes the subject.

My mom told me this story yesterday. After thinking about it for awhile, I wondered why Grandma would remember it. It's been almost exactly 20 years since those pictures were taken. Shortly after that our family fell apart and now no one talks to anyone else. Blame, finger pointing, disapproval. It's been a life time since that picture was taken.

Even I don't remember the sisters in the portrait.

Our pre-listing walk through

Well, we're finished. Our house is officially a "Coming Soon!" property. The meeting started well and then took a turn for the worse with a strategically placed "Let's be realistic." We are some of the most realistic people I have ever known. Apparently, not realistic enough. We are starting the listing out at $114,900. This is her way of patting our heads. She doesn't really agree with this price but she could see from our faces ((and probably the 'yay! we'll be able to have Mcdonald's when the house sells!' comments)) that it was necessary to patronize us for a bit. Playing along with the nice people because they just dumped a bunch of money into a house that's not worth anything. In a few weeks we'll drop the listing price $5,000 to show we are motivated sellers. This part is true. Having the house sold would make our life quite a bit less stressful when it's moving time. So we agreed. It is done.

There is a whole list of fun things that need to be done between "Coming Soon!" and New "Listing". I was about to cry wondering how I am going to keep a house clean enough to show with a 16 month old running around and all of the work we have three whole weeks to accomplish. Then J's dad called. J's dad is God's way of giving back to me what I lost in the sorry excuse for a dad I got. Every time we have called and asked for his help, he has taken care of it. Now is no different. In about ten days he and J's aunt will be here to knock out this list. By Feb 14th we'll have new shutters, newly painted trim, a frshly painted front door, new columns on the front of the house and some other odds and ends. We'll also have nothing on our walls and half of our furniture will be moved to storage to allow potential buyers to envision and place their own furniture. Still overwhlming but not quite so daunting.

Yay for progress. And chaos.

Nothing but an adventure

I hate chaos. I'm a control freak. The things that have gone on in my life have made me loathe to not be in controlof every little thing that happens. I plan ahead. I make lists. I organize. I plan ahead some more. And usually when Im done planning ahead, I'll go ahead and plan some more. Most of you military wives know that military wifedom and control-freakness do not go hand in hand. I can plan my pretty little life away and it would mean exactly dick tomorrow when Uncle Sam changes his mind about some important aspect of my life. Since I have been married, I have learned and re-learned this lesson. I'm quite humble in it actually. I think I've adapted fairly well and now I plan my day and not my week. Or month. Or year.

Tomorrow starts the beginning of a long amount of time that I will not be able to plan for anything, but my life will be changing. Let's have a run down shall we? We are scheduled to leave here in 138 days ((cough,cough. Not that anyone is counting)) We are going back to Ft. Bragg where we will stay with friends. That is about the only FIRM plans we can have. J's orders have him currently going to an MP unit. He's not an MP and we are pretty sure they don't have a space for his MOS. This means we don't know which unit he will going to. We won't know that until he signs in and they find a place for him. This also means we should go ahead and assume that he will be possibly be deploying relatively quickly - depending on which unit he goes to. If he does deploy quickly, Bug and I will probably go stay with my madre to save money for a nice house when he comes back. If he doesn't then we'll be trying to find a place to live/work/ride. Here is the where the chaos comes in; the variables. Oh the variables. I have never been a fan of math. Now I know why, It's the damn variables. And those are just for this Summer.

Let's talk about now. We are hoping to list the house in the end of Feb/beginning of March. Depends on how long it takes us to get everything done that we'd like to get done to it before we list it. If the house sells right away, we'll have to move before we move. If it doesn't sell at all... more variables. This would be where the business decision to stop focusing money and effort into marketing and customers comes in. There's no use in advertising for a service I can't do because my equipment is in storage.

Believe it or not I'm ok with all of this. I'll be ok as long as I can find good stables where I can ride a couple of times a week. I'm most worried about my poor child who is going to be moved from her home and all of her stuff to someone else's home, then her daddy might leave and then we'll move again, but we can't tell her where. I'm a little concerned as to the effects all of this will have on her.

So there it is. It may not last 1,000 days but I'm sure it will feel like it.