Day 122 Feb.16 2011

i less than a week our little girl will be a year old.

i will admit, it seems her walking is a much bigger accomplishment than her turning 1.  especially since we aren't doing the party on her actual birthday.

today i started planning her big day.  i started with sorting through pictures to pick one from each month.  hello memory lane.

after a glass of wine, and a box of tissue, and of course a lot of smiles, i picked my 12 pictures...more to come :)

Day 121 Feb.15 2011

my neighbors got pink flamingo-ed today.  caitlin loved it.  i think she loved the fact that they were covered in feathers and beads for mardi gras.  it is a little bizzare to see a flock of pink flamingos chillin in the lawn.  but they made us all smile :)

Day 120 Feb.14 2011

for all you believers that this day was made up by the greeting card companies:
today is named after the early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

for all you history buffs out there:
It is said that in ancient Rome people observed a holiday on February 14th to honor Juno - the Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also regarded Juno as the Goddess of Women and Marriage. February 15th began the fertility festival called 'Feast of Lupercalia'.  An interesting custom was followed in which young boys and girls, who otherwise were strictly separated, were allowed to be together.  On the eve of the festival, names of young Roman girls were written on a slip of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew out a girl's name from the jar and was paired with the girl for the duration of Lupercalia. Sometimes pairing lasted for a year until next year's celebration. Quite often, the couple would fall in love with each other and later marry. The custom lasted for a long time until people felt that the custom was un-Christian and that mates should be chosen by sight, not luck.

and yet another version:
The story goes that during the reign of Emperor Claudius II, Rome was involved in several bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius found it tough to get soldiers to join the army and felt the reason was men did not wish to leave their wives and families. As a result, Claudius canceled all marriages and engagements. A priest jn Rome, Saint Valentine, defied Claudius's unjustified order and along with Saint Marius, St Valentine secretly married couples. When his defiance was discovered, Valentine was brutally put to death on February 14, about 270 AD. After his death Valentine was named a Saint.
...another popular version of the legend states that while in prison Valentine fell in love with a jailer's daughter who visited him during confinement. Before his death Valentine wrote a farewell letter to his sweetheart from the jail and signed ‘From your Valentine'.

 :)

Day 119 Feb.13 2011

i watched the grammy's for the first time tonight.  not a bad shin-dig.  mostly b/c i enjoyed the musical performances.  everything else just made me feel old and out of touch.  monica had to explain the connection between usher and justin beiber.

watching people stand up and thank others for helping them achieve this prestigious award, got me thinking.  do they really 10 years later still appreciate and acknowledge the effort and people and recognition for the award they received?  if this show happens every year for 20 something years and artists can walk away with multiple awards, it seems like a lot of awards are handed out, making them less special-in my opinion.  i've been given 2 trophy style awards in my life that stand out a lot to me still to this day.

almost two years ago 11 twelve-year-old girls gathered around me in a big mob and handed me a cheap plastic soccer trophy and in unison cheered "thank you coach libby!"  in such a short time, i got to know the personalities of all of these little girls, on and off the soccer pitch and it was one of the best times of my life.  80% of the time they all wanted to learn the game, and they tried so hard to do so.  the other 20% i got a taste of my life 10 years from that point, when i would be able to chase my own little girl around the soccer field, or hockey rink, or basket ball court.

almost 10 years ago i was presented with my very own bobble-head trophy.  complete with curly hair!  the three other seniors on the soccer team got them as well.  my 4 years of high school soccer are memories that i carry close to me, and love to relive often.  a lot of learning, a lot of sacrifice, and a lot of fun :)

Day 118 Feb.12 2011

i should have savored my alarm clock free morning.  i should have sat with my feet up and drank my coffee and got lost in a magazine.  i should have slept in.

nope.

this was the morning, i woke up at 0600 as soon as the sun peeked over the horizon, tossed and turned until 0700 when i finally decided it was an okay time to text jayme and ask if i could come over and wait for caitlin to wake up...i felt pathetic.

tonight was caitlin's first sleep over.  we spent 14 hours apart, she had dinner, her bath, her bedtime bottle, and fell asleep all without her mom...:(.  on one hand, i'm proud.  on the other hand, i'm not ready!

jayme opened the door as i walked up the driveway to see my little girl jumping and squealing with glee :)  that was very much reassuring.  i was worried she had forgotten me-i know, that's silly, i don't need to be told that.  the next 14 hours made my day b/c it was all with my little girl :)

Day 117 Feb.11 2011

my "roommate" invited me out for a valentine's evening put on by a committee at her church.  it consisted of dinner at a mexican restaurant followed by an evening of pampering at a committee member's home. 

i was so incredibly taken aback by the warmth and friendliness of all the woman involved in the event.  i expected to get what i paid for (it was free), but was very pleasantly surprised.  there was a manicure and pedicure station (with full hand and foot massages), full body massage table, head/face massages, about 5 massage chair pads, 3 bathtubs, a sauna, chocolate covered giant strawberries, cheesecake, sparkling punch (3 different flavors)...and it was all quality.  it was amazing.

it's nice to know there are still people out there that are willing to give without strings attached or expectations.  it's very uplifting, and is very contagious :)

Day 116 Feb.10 2011

i finished the infamous garage/shower curtain project!!!  i did it!  it worked.  there is a slight temp difference on either side of the curtain!!!  i'm so geeked.  now with my luck, it still won't ever get used...

i still got to check something off my to do list-that's all that matters on some days :)

Day 115 Feb.9 2011

had an MRI done today.  i always get so paranoid that it will find some fleck of metal somewhere on my body and it was rip my limbs into a thousand tiny pieces...i know, a little extreme...

so, when the technician asked what music i wanted to listen to, classical was the first thing that popped into my head. i figured it would help keep me calm and not thinking about painful death...

i was so right.  i focused on keeping still, but not getting tense, listened to the music, and went to my happy place (which is now imagining what it will be like when chad steps through the security gate at the airport in 88 days).  i walked out of the hospital feeling the most relaxed i've felt in months!  :)

Day 114 Feb.8 2011

let there be life! 

Day 113 Feb.7 2011

my mood and the weather didn't communicate very well, and managed to miss the mark by a mile.  it was beautiful, and sunny, and windless, and perfect outside.  i woke up so far on the wrong side of the bed, in such a horrible mood, i felt like i woke up in the bath tub covered in ice cold honey...

not fair.

i tried to immerse myself in sun hoping to change the mood.  here i met my wind chime.  pretty, it made a valiant effort.

Day 112 Feb.6 2011

superbowl was a disappointment in every way.

but i walked into the dining room and remembered i have a garden, and all was better :)

Day 111 Feb.5 2011

as i expected, we started losing our ice and snow today, bright and early. 

the sun was out, but the temp was actually 4 degrees lower than when we got all of our ice.  mother nature is a little bit of a mystery. 

a few errands were run today.  the search for a baby gate less than $60 continued-with no luck.  some essentials were purchased at the commissary and we were home in time for our friend, erin, to bring over homemade pasties :).  they were delicious.  erin is from MI too.  monica had no idea what a pastie was.  she was thoroughly impressed. 

Day 110 Feb.4 2011

our big winter storm finally hit today.  i will admit, it has been a while since i've seen ice like this.  it's always very pretty, no matter what state you're in.

today was a pretty lazy day-we avoided the outdoors pretty much for the ice reason.  it may look pretty, but i have no desire to make contact with it...

i got to check of a big item on my to do list this afternoon.  caitlin spent an hour with monica and abi and i was able to start my "garden".  this year i planted carrots, tomatos, two kinds of peas (that's how much i love my daughter), onion, bell pepper, a few herbs, and some flowers.  and my pineapple is still alive, even though it spent the last 3 months outside.  i'm very impressed that the tropical plant is still alive...thriving, not so much, but it's still green.  i have to give it a lot of credit.  it's inside now, hopefully i will be able to nurse it back to health.  pictures to come of the "garden" :)

Day 109 Feb.3 2011

today i should have taken a picture of the "caution wild horses" sign that was put out on chaffee road today.  but i chose to not pull out my camera to take a picture while driving-with the threat of wild horses-and was probably one of my better decisions...the sad part about that decision was that i now have no picture to post today.

i think i'll pull my "once a month no picture" rule today.

monica told me she saw wild horses out on the road later that afternoon-i have not seen them.  i thought they were just a myth here on Post.  guess not.  we do live in the middle of a national forest.  :)

Day 108 Feb.2 2011

i spent the majority of the day with monica helping her set up for her mary kay open house.  it really consisted of me chasing around the kids and eating cookies and veggie sticks-all of which i'm very happy doing :)

the evening then consisted of couch and gilmore girls.  not much else to say.  a rather simple day, makes for a rather simple blog :)

Day 107 Feb.1 2011

i think my number one, all time, biggest pet peeve is one person making a selfish complaint, or a selfish act that in turn ruins EVERYTHING for everyone else.

i am in love with my new workout class.  i feel great, i'm doing crazy things like clean sweeps and bench presses, and i'm actually increasing my weight each week!  and it's at the most perfect time in the morning.  0800.  it requires me to set an alarm and get up a smidge early, but caitlin rolls right out of bed, has breakfast in her stroller at the gym, and is happy and content to sit in her stroller during the whole class.  there are three other mom friends of mine that bring their kiddos too.  they aren't mobile yet, so they all sit on a mat near caitlin and play with toys.  it's great for all.  our instructor doesn't mind that they are there and loves that we're able to come.  well it only takes one person to find one stupid thing to complain about.  rumor has it, that someone told the gym manager that there were toddlers running around the class and it was distracting...people are idiots.  i guess another evening class is having "children" issues, but they actually have 5 year old children in the class with their mom's and these kids are taking up space that another adults could be using.  so to address the issue in the evening class, they are "banning" children from the gym-supposedly, there hasn't been anything said to us so far.  it just infuriates me that someone would complain about our kids-none of them cry, they don't leave the spots they sit in, they don't take up any room that someone would be working out in...i don't understand what drives people to steal happiness from all...

so i've been annoyed all day.  constantly on the edge of irritated.  so when i opened the silverware drawer and a cockroach crawled across the spoon i was reaching for, i lost it.  this is 3 days after they came to spray the house for cockroaches.  so, what do i do when i'm highly irritated?  clean.  how irritated was i?  i cleaned for 4 hours. 
if it was in a cupboard or drawer, it got washed.
it it was on the counter, it got moved, disinfected, and placed back where it was.
i did 3 loads of laundry.
i vacuumed every room except for the one caitlin was sleeping in-even using the "detail" hose for the baseboards and those hard-to-reach areas.
i dusted every ledge and electronic appliance.
i mopped all linoleum.
toilets and bathtub and sinks spotless.

it was a pretty amazing feat.  during the dusting process i found this guy.  he was a christmas present from my best friend back in MI.  he has a proper home now on the book shelf for all to see :)

Day 106 Jan.31 2011

had a good drive back to reality  this morning.

today was a whirl-wind day.  i've been feeling like all i've been doing is trying to desperately grab time by the neck and hold it as tight as possible in a death grip.  but the harder i squeeze, the faster it slips through my hands and then 7 days have passed without me noticing.  i'm really torn b/c of course i want the next 259 days to fly by, but those days are still time.  i've come to understand that time is really precious.  it's overall a really unnerving feeling...

but we had tacos for dinner.  i do love me some comfort food-no matter how fast my day moves :)

Day 105 Jan.30 2011

had a lazy day that ended with steaks and margaritas :)

Day 104 Jan.29 2011

a baby shower + margarita machine + caitlin's first steps = one happy drunk libby.

today was not my first baby shower that included alcohol (caitlin's was my first), but this one was the first shower i went to where the alcohol wasn't just bottles of beer, this was a heavy duty margarita machine.  not one of the jimmy buffet ones that sit on our counter-this was one you see permanently fixed to a counter top in a restaurant.  this idea will take off.  it has to.

the extra bonus is staying with those that paid for the margarita machine.  any left over margarita goes home with them (a.k.a-me!)

i'm really proud of this picture, partially b/c this is a margarita induced photograph and looking at it through sober eyes, it's just as cool!

now the question is, anyone know what the picture is of???? :)

Day 103 Jan.28 2011

today i was thrust into facing a fact.  one i hadn't necessarily been putting off, but just had never seen up close enough in order to truly face it.

i sat within arms reach of two families that had lost their soldier.  for an hour i was unable to avoid imagining what it would feel like to be one row closer to the front.

today also happened to be the day we were purchasing the chassis for the Firebird via Ebay.  because of this, my other half was still awake and online (in case i couldn't get home in time to bid on the chassis).  to my relief (i was worried i'd screw up something) we were able to make the purchase together.  i even called the seller and put him on speaker phone and chad could ask him questions-the guy thought it was really crazy that the other voice he was hearing was from afghanistan :)  technology is astounding.

i went to bed tonight with a happy and hopeful heart.  happy with every moment i've had with my husband so far in our life, and hopeful that we'll have the rest of our lives to continue making more moments.

here's to my husband, who is sacrificing so much to do what he does.  it doesn't go unnoticed, i love you, i'm proud of you, and i'm thankful for everything you've given me.  i tell you all now-go hug your significant other.  i'm not trying to sound morbid, just be appreciative of what you have :)

I cast my lot in life with a soldier, and where he was , was home to me.
- Martha Summerhayes, 19th Century Army Wife

Day 102 Jan.27 2011

today was one of those walk outside and blink until you can see straight days.  at 1400 the sun was brilliant and bright.  there was a very slight breeze, just enough to spread the smell of spring everywhere. 

this beautiful, serene, calm image was shattered by 5 boisterous, babbling army wives clad in work-out attire pushing strollers full of equally loud infants all being dragged by barking, panting dogs...

...this made me smile ear to ear.

we walked about 4 miles round trip as a living breathing mass of mom, passing dog leashes back and forth, children and bottles from arm to arm, wiping snotty noses as we saw them and dodging the construction crew men and vehicles who were installing solar lights along our trail.  it's one of those afternoons that makes me so happy to be where i am and doing what i do :)