A New Blog!

Hello All! By all I mean my 3 readers.  I've decided I'm not going to continue this blog anymore.  I'm not quite happy with it, so I've decided to start fresh :).

Here's the new site. New Blog!

Baby, it's cold outside

Okay. It's really cold outside.  I mean, really, really, really cold. 

When I go outside I feel like a human popsicle.  Last night we remembered (once we were already warm and in bed) that the trash still needed to go out.  I checked the weather and it was 7 degrees with a real feel of negative 7.  Negative 7!  I went outside just to experience it and decided rather promptly to go back inside.

This morning I needed to go to the store and get some beer for beef stew tonight.  It was 10 degrees with a real feel of negative 17!!!  Ack!   Going outside in this weather is just the worst.

I feel so bad for the people who are dealing with even colder weather.  I don't know how they deal with it.  I'm ready to hibernate...now.  That must be why I'm craving donuts!  I need to stock up on fat for my insulation :).

Basically, this: 17 Signs Winter is Killing You

Hot Tea!

I'm pretty sure that my insides contain a tiny old woman.  She's my core.  Some of the things I enjoy most are stitching, drinking tea, and gossiping with my friends.  At our last base I had a lovely group of friends and we would powwow every other week at a 'stitch and bitch'. Sadly, we're spread out across the country, but I think of them often when I drink tea.

This past end of summer/fall I started experiencing deep anxiety and it seemed to be linked to caffeine.  Yes my friends, caffeine! For any of you who've tried to live without caffeine, you know it kind of stinks.  Not only did it mean giving up coffee, I had to give up black tea as well. Super sad face!  Yes, there's decaffeinated, but it's just not the same!

Fast forward 5 months.  I started reading about the benefits of drinking green tea.  There are a ton.  And although green tea does contain caffeine, it also contains something that mellows you out and makes you feel calm.  I thought I'd give it a try.

It turns out that green tea is totally delicious! I have no anxiety after drinking it, I get the benefits of a butt ton of antioxidants, and I get my tea drinking ritual back. 

Huzzah!

Happy New Year!

Oy Vey am I bad at blogging! I can't seem to consistently update my blog to save my life!  I have several blogs that I frequent on a regular basis that I love. I aspire to be like those blogs...and yet it never seems to turn out on my end.  I'd like to try and give my blog a little update...reformat, rethink, redo (reduce, reuse, recycle just popped into my head!)

I have lots of thoughts and ideas, I've just never been able to really put them down on paper - or in this case, on webpage.  I'll try and be better in 2014!

Today I will just give a brief update of what's been happening in Casa G:

• Holidays! Wow, our Holiday season has been a blur of traveling, cooking, eating, and chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.  It's been fun, but I'm also happy to get back to real life and routine.
• Job Search: I've been on the hunt for a part time job.  I've interviewed at two places and been turned down for one job already.  This upcoming week I'll hear back from job opportunity number 2.  I have to say that it turns out I don't take rejection very well! Not getting hired somewhere after having two great job interviews was a bit of a shock to my system.  But, such is life!
• Weight Loss: Last year I managed to lose almost 15 pounds. I'm really proud of that, but I'm still not sure exactly how I managed to accomplish that task.  I'm thinking it was smaller portion sizes/trying to be more active?  The last 2 weeks I've put probably 3 of those pounds back from all of the chocolate.  I need to stop but it's just so damn good!
• Trying to bring my crafty back:  In an effort to get more organized I decided I needed a menu board to plan my dinners for the week (thus making grocery shopping an easier, more affordable and efficient task.  I didn't want to pay 50 bucks for one off of Etsy, so I decided to get a little crafty.  Here's a picture of a darling menu board that I made this past week:
  

     I also spent the months August through December crocheting a baby blanket for my cousin's baby.  It's so beyond cute that you won't believe it!

• Fighting the never ending battle of laundry, dishes, and housecleaning.  If anybody has any tactics for success in this war, let me know!

I don't think that I have many readers at all, but if you're one of them have a fantastic and magical New Year!


*Edit - I've also been caught up in this TV show called Chuck.  It's dragged me in and I can't escape! Help! Except, don't help - because this show is awesome!

The Past 3.5 Months

The past three and a half months have been an incredible roller coaster!  We made the farewell trip from California to North Carolina in the beginning of August, which is where Archer and I spent our last three months.  It was in many ways an incredibly stressful time, although there were several large benefits.  Here are some of the major happenings from this interim time.

• Archer and I went to the beach with my family.  We made the trek to Holden Beach in NC, which was a lot of fun.  We ended up leaving 2 days early because of rain, but it was still a fun trip.  Some of those sunset walks on the beach with the dog were just gorgeous!
  
• Shortly after we got back from the beach I suffered a pretty devastating anxiety attack.  I ended up needing to go to the ER to get a beta blocker so that I could calm down.  Needless to say, it was a pretty horrible experience.  Since then, I've cut caffeine completely out of my diet, have picked up journal-ing, and yoga, all in an attempt to get control of my anxiety.  Three months later, it's much, much, much better!  This anxiety has really contributed to the difficulty of the last few months.  I'm hopeful that now that my new routine is getting settled and that Jake is home, my anxiety will melt away into the abyss that it came from and I won't have to deal with it anymore!  
• In the beginning of August we were hit with another blow.  Our beautiful cat Lily passed away unexpectedly while staying with some family.  It was nothing that anyone could foresee, and the vet thought it was probably some sort of heart attack or stroke.  We miss her, and her snuggly fat kitty self.  Our other cat is still with family and will be here soon.   When she arrives I think another wave of sadness and realization will hit us.  I hope that she is resting in peace.

• As sad as we were about Lily's passing, we had to move past it and continue to enjoy life.  One thing that I enjoyed immensely while staying in NC was work with our family friend at her farm.  I love being useful and helpful, and part of feeling healthy and happy is fulfilling those needs.  One of the coolest things that I was able to do with their farm was go to an event with them at Bennett Place in Durham, NC.  We got to dress the part and be involved at a historical site, which was amazing.  The old time dances were my absolute favorite, and I wish that there was a way that we could continue to do those dances today!

• In October, we FINALLY moved into our house at our new place! We now officially live on the East Coast again, in Maryland.  Two days before Halloween, Jake joined me here and we were reunited after about a 4 month separation (long enough for me.)  We are still moving into our house and have yet to hang any pictures, as well as organize a lot of our belongings!  I know that we'll get it done soon.  It's our first time living in a townhouse, and so far, so good.  

• As of this week, I have a new job doing the morning feed at a barn for one morning a week.  I'll be able to start riding again as a payment for my work.  I'm extremely pleased about this opportunity!

Sorry about how long this post is, and about how crappy I've been with updating the blog.  Now that I'm back in my own house with my own kitchen, I'll be revamping my food blog and updating that more frequently.

Goodbye to California

Hello all!

I realize that I definitely dropped the ball when it's come to blogging...for let's say the last 3 months? My goodness, it's been a long time.  So much has changed!  For starters, Jake finished his training in CA! He is now in another state doing other training.  

After he left, the movers came and packed up all of our belongings, which are now in storage.  My sister flew out to California to help me drive back across the States.  I checked out of my house July 31st and started the long voyage to the East Coast!  It's obviously been more than a month since I've had to deal with all of my moving logistics, but I remember it well.  The stress is unbelievable!  I'd never had to handle anything like that by myself before...and while I hope that I'll never have to again, I can't count anything out!  I had a lot of emotions about leaving California.  Our first home together was there.  Our family grew by three - two kitties, and then Archer! Our first two years of marriage were spent in California.  It definitely will always hold certain sentimental value.  And, while I don't really miss CA in general, I do miss our home there.  That home will never exist again...our belongings will be shipped to a new place, where I'll make a new home for us.  But, that particular home will never be again.  The first few weeks away were the hardest, but now I'm looking forward to our new house, new home :).

We loaded up the car, hopped in and drove 3,000 miles. 

CA to NV

NV to UT

UT to CO

CO to MO

MO to TN

TN to NC

I'll have to do another post with some pictures of our travels.  Honestly, now that it's done I really would prefer to not think of it again.  Driving it with a partner made the world of a difference, but what a hellish drive, nonetheless! 

For the time being, the kitties are staying with Jake's Dad (who is a total hero for keeping them during this transition time!) and Archer and I are staying with my parents in NC.  We are (not so) patiently waiting for our number to be up the housing wait list at the next place.  We're at number 9...and counting!

I'll do another post about what we've been up to, now that we're safely across the country :)

The last 2 weeks of May and all of June

Having just had a lovely cup of coffee and a breakfast of granola, yogurt, and blueberries, I now feel ready to update you all in the blog world about my last 6 weeks!  It has been such a crazy and hectic 6 weeks that I've barely had a moment to myself to think!  

First things first, about 6 weeks ago, I had my wisdom teeth removed.  ACK!  What a horrible experience!  I had several people tell me having them done "wouldn't be that bad!"  Well, I'm here to tell you that that's a vicious lie!  Coming off of anesthesia is awful, being on the pain pills made me sick to my stomach, the pain not only in my mouth but also my jaws was not fun, and healing took FOREVER!  The holes still aren't closed all the way, and I have to be vigilant about keeping food out so I don't get infected.  I'm glad that having them removed is a once in a lifetime experience, because I would not repeat it ever again! One of the best things about having them removed when I did was that one of my best friends had hers removed the same day.  We healed together (3,000 miles apart) and kept in touch about various torturous aspects of recovery.  

A week and a half after my oral surgery I started my nanny job.  For the whole month of June (and yesterday too) I worked 10 hours a day as a nanny for two boys, ages 6 and 10.  In the mornings, I'd get up at 6:30, pack up, take Jake to work, and then head straight to their house.  From 7:30-5:30 Monday through Friday I was with kids.  What a month!  I was so tired after work that some days I couldn't even make dinner, let alone do things like laundry and cleaning.  I now have so much more respect for single moms, because I don't know how they can work full time and then still do all the housework things that need to be done!  It was a great experience, and the kids were super sweet....BUT, kids bickering all day wears me out like nothing else.  Seriously, after getting a puppy, babysitting kids is probably the best kind of birth control there is.  

Speaking of dogs...Archer has had a very expensive mystery ailment for the last 7 weeks.  His pre-puce (the front part of his penis but not his actual penis) has had ulcers popping up, as well as being inflamed and swollen.  The first vet visit, the vet pulled out what she thought looked like a small sticker.  He was put on antibiotics for 10 days.  The day after the antibiotics were finished, the ulcers came back with a vengeance.  We went in again, she checked in all of the ulcers, found nothing, flushed them out with solution, and sent us home with stronger antibiotics and a steroid.  We finished the antibiotics, but have stayed on the steroid ever since.  We've been back in, the vet has taken swabs and cultures and sent those away to be tested.  Four hundred twenty dollars later (that was just for those godforsaken cultures), we have negative results, and no more idea of what it could be.  The vet now wants to do a biopsy, which would include having to put him under, which is about the most expensive thing you can do!  It's so frustrating because we don't have any answers, and it's just a problem that's hemorrhaging money....not great right before a cross-country move.  I showed a picture of Archer's issue (when it was at it's worst) to a friend who's ex-BIL is a vet.  He showed it to said BIL, and this vet said that a tiny piece of sticker is probably still in there, and it's causing the problems.  I think that's a much more reasonable assumption than an auto-immune disorder that we may never cure...so we're switching to the new vet for this particular problem.  So...after we've weaned Archer off of his steroids, we'll go in, put Archer under, and this vet will go searching for the elusive bit of sticker that's causing the problems.  I pray that we will find a solution soon, because I really don't want to be dealing with this during the move.  

Sorry to make this such a long post!  A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. This is our last month here, and Jake is about to take his final final final test.  I'm hoping to leave August 1st, and start driving back to the East Coast!