One Crazy, Beautiful Day at a Time

It's finally summer...

Not that the heat around here would have made me feel any different for the past hmmm...4 weeks, but July 4th has always meant "summer" for me.  In a way I am happy that it is finally here.  For one, it means that time is moving by faster than I thought it would and two, every day is a day closer to Matthew and I seeing Daddy again.  Seeing him over the webcam just isn't the same as touching him in person. 

It also makes me a little sad because its getting closer to the time we leave this area.  As a military family, your roots are always transportable, but this is the longest we have been at any duty station so its a little harder to leave here than any other.  The next post we go to has been our goal from day one so toughing out this separation is mandatory (and it will be well rewarded!).

Matthew and I went out to Marlow for their 4th of July Festival (I made him a cute little shirt to wear).  We met up with a couple friends and then got rained on.  The fireworks were cancelled so we headed home.  It was still raining when we got back on Fort Sill so I figured the Lawton fireworks would be cancelled...uh no.  At around 10 pm, Matthew was asleep and the fireworks started.  <sigh>  Guess we will just have to wait until next year to see them. 

Scrapbooking has been going well.  Actually, let me rephrase that; writing for the magazine has been going well, me actually scrapbooking has been sort of non-existant.  Not that I don't WANT to do it, it's just by the end of the day (after work, making dinner, working out, bath time, and bed time) I just dont have the energy to fire up the creative mojo to get it done.  Here are a few new pieces that I can share:

 

I have a few more in the works and a ton that are pending publication (so I cannot share those just yet) but I will try to share more as soon as I can.

I started running again recently.  Wow.  After a few months off, my body doesn't ever remember doing it before.  This is SO not like riding a bike, LOL!  I am determined to make a change though so it will require intensity so that my body will adapt to the change.  Eating and food is on track and has been for about 3 weeks.  I feel so much better just from doing that alone.  I have also been doing a lot of yoga and pilates.  I have also taken "before" pictures that are just too hideous to show right now but I know I will be willing to flaunt them once I have the "after"s to put beside them.

Wish me luck!

Have a blessed week!

-Brianne

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

 

"Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity." -Bo Bennett

Wednesday has official become "Wordy Wednesday" here at Crazy Days.  I absolutely LOVE quotes.  They always get me thinking about my life and how great it really is despite those days where I feel like I am living in a bad re-run of "Everybody Loves Raymond".  Well, without the intrusive parents across the street (although sometimes I wish I had that problem to deal with...ok, no I take that back.  No, I don't.).

That whole quote is just a string of BEAUTIFUL words! ENTHUSIASM! EXCITEMENT! Inspiration, motivation and creativity! All those I wish would visit me on a daily basis, yet miss the bus a couple times a week.  Haha.  Know what I mean?

The Nevill Home Front is still alive and active here at Fort Sill.  Matthew is struggling with some seperation anxiety which is sort of baffling me, but we are slowly working through it.  He has been resorting to some past bad behavior and I have to admit, it catches me totally off guard.  When he does bad things that were nixed months ago, I find myself tilting my head in true dog fashion with a "huh?!" look across my face.  We have also been changing the bed sheets a lot more often due to some nighttime wetting.  I am confident this is just a phase and we will get through it so I am not putting a lot of thought into that problem.

I am back to working out hard core.  I love to excersise.  I missed it SO much during the pregnancy.  I felt so "blah" all the time.  Now I am feeling MOTIVATED to do more.  ALso back to eating healthy.  Weight Watchers plan has always worked for me (mostly because I love journaling) so I am doing that as well.  I want to start running again soon, but I need to tone up a little bit more first (flapping is SO not fun while running).

RIch is hanging in there.  He hates being so far away from family but he is very strong. Every day he constantly reminds me of how lucky we are.  We miss him SO much!

We are looking forward to July and all that it entails.  We will have a fun forth of July with friends and some great fireworks.  Maybe a night out for my birthday.  Who knows!  I am just excited to cross another month off and look at one month closer to Rich coming home.

Will post soon about some EXCITING scrapbooking news! 

Love you all!

-B

Grrr.

I swear I am not avoiding my blog.  I read so many other blogs and then get addicted to Facebook, that I end up forgeting the purpose of sitting down to my computer to begin with. 

New scrapbook work! 

I miss that age.  Its ironic, really.  When he was that age, all I could think about was, "God, please let him get a little older so that this will be easier."  Now I look at him and I want that time back.  He doesn't need me so much anymore. 

Now he is Mr. Independent.  That is hard on a Mom!  AND instead of looking at the smaller kids toys at the store, he goes straight to things like Transformers!  This is when I need my husband the most LOL!  He handed me the toy tonight and asked me to turn it back into its vehicle shape and I had no earthly idea on how to do it!  I kept looking from the box to the mass that was in my hands.  From the outside, it probably looked like I was trying to understand Rocket Science (and in my brain it felt like it too!).  Eventually I got it to look "similar" to the box and, bless my child, he didn't notice the difference.

Guess what starts tonight!!!  YAY! I am so excited!  I love this show.  Rich will make comments while watching it with me like, "He didn't even say "Sir!"!!!", or , "That is now how that is done.".  So actually its better that he is not here to watch it with me, but doggone it if I didn't give a hoot right now about his comments.  I just wish he was home.  I can guarantee that every episode will make me cry for one reason or another; all of which will hit close to home for me, as always.

So that is it for me right now.  Going to finish up my laundry, clean up a few things, go for a walk, run through bath time, and settle in for the night.

Hope you have a great Monday!

Love always!

-B

Hurts more today...

 

I can honestly say that the emptiness and pain of Rich being gone is stronger lately (especially today) than it was when he left for overseas.  How is this POSSIBLE?!  It should be getting "easier" to deal with by now.  I should be grateful for having a little freedom but I'm not.  This is just not right.  Maybe more retail theraphy is in order?

I love you babe, and I am thinking of you a lot.  (and I was just kidding about the retail theraphy...sort of.)

Love you!

-Brianne

Cards for Heroes Blog Hop!

Today is Cards for Heroes Blog Hop!!!

If you haven't heard about Cards for Heroes, it is an organization that supports our nation’s armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them.  Over 140, 875 cards have been sent so far.  Isn't that awesome!!!

Today bloggers from around the word will be sharing their cards that they're sending to Cards for Heroes.  You can start at this page then hop from blog to blog reading about the participants. 

Here are the instuctions:

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"Hopper" instructions:

You're a "hopper" if you're planning on viewing all or part of the blogs—and we highly recommend setting aside some time for it!
 
-Click on the button above when it's "live", and hop from one blog to the next, and leave a comment when you feel inspired by the card, the patriotism, or anything at all! Prizes will be awarded to someone randomly from comments left, so you'll want to get yourself entered lots!
 
-Some blogs will have their own prizes (sometimes called RAKs) for those who comment on that post—keep your eyes peeled for those!

-If you get lost—if one blogger misposts a link or something else happens—come back to this post. Scroll down and find where you left off last and start there.

-Don't forget to end at the Homefront Blog when you're done, there's one more prize waiting when you're done hopping!
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As some of you know, I am a huge supporter of Cards for Heroes.  Last year, the magazine I write for, Scrapstreet Magazine, donated over 400 cards to CFH for Christmas!!!  Keep an eye out for information on an upcoming contest that Scrapstreet will be hosting in July for CFH!!!

Love you all!

-Brianne

Full-Circle Parenting

How many of you said to your parents, "When I have kids, I will never say ____!"?  I know I certainly did!  And now I can honestly say that I am my mother.  It's not necessarily the bad thing that I thought it would be but it certainly is humorous to me.  I caught myself saying to my son on Sunday, "Don't stand there with the door open!  You will let flies in the house!"  *insert flashback of me standing there with the door wide open hearing my mom say the same thing to me.*

And then there is the crazy things that you THINK only happen on TV to parents.  Take for instance this experience:

I'm standing at the sink helping my son wash his hands.  He reaches for the Brita filter we have attached to the water spout and before I could say, "nooooooooooo" (in slow motion, of course), he hits it, it comes away from the spout, and a STRAIGHT shot of water goes streaming into my face.  The world is still in slow motion and let me tell you, when you have COLD water streaming into your face, ALL thoughts go out the window.  Your hands (currently covered in soap) do not function.  Your face does not turn to avoid the water, your feet are glued to the very spot on the floor because they have suddenly forgotten how to move, and your mouth hangs open.  FINALLY your feet work and you take a step forward to hit the faucet handle to turn the water off and you turn to stare at your child.  The thing is...I couldn't even be mad.  It made me laugh.  Which in turn made him laugh.

Odd isn't it?  The things we go through as parents that we never really saw coming. 

Ahhh the daily adventures in parenthood.

Ok off to finish watching Dancing with the Stars finale.  I'll be back soon with scrapbooking goodies!!!

Love you!

-Brianne

Never-ending Tuesday....

That is how I have been feeling about this time apart from my hubby.  Its like my world is stuck on Tuesday (now), I keep hoping that Wednesday (half-way point) gets here so that Friday (when he gets home) won't seem so far away.

I know that may seem like a strange way to put it, but it really fits my mood.  Don't Tuesday's ever get you down?  I know they do for me LOL!.

On the upside, today is our 4th wedding anniversary.  4 years we have been bonded and though it seems like it has been a rollercoaster ride, we are closer and stronger than ever before.  He is more than just my husband, he is my rock, my inner-smile, and my best friend.  I am so lucky to have him in my life and I could not be MORE proud of him for what he does for this country. (I love you babe!)

Scrapbooking!

So I am working my way back to my scrap-table slowly but I can feel the creative energy building.  I have missed my mojo so much!  I have kept sketch books by my side the past two years so that if ever I had an idea, I can immediately put it down on paper.  I know that my coworkers have thought me a little nuts, but it really helps me visualize what I want to create on paper. 

Recently I decided that the sketch books I had were too small (majority of the time I was using both pages just to get out my idea for ONE page).  So I bought myself a new book.  The poor girl sat there for a few days but I am happy to report that I am now sketching again!  YAY!  Layouts will soon follow (I hope).

Ok Hot Wheels and Laundry are calling my name.  And for those that know, those two don't wait for anyone.

All my love,

Brianne

Solo-Ops: The Military Wife

 

I found a very exciting piece of news today. 

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2009 - President Barack Obama signed and issued a proclamation today designating the day as Military Spouse Day.

Here is the presidential proclamation:

"Military spouses share the sacrifices of service with our Nation's men and women in uniform. As members of the Armed Forces serve in the United States and across the world, military spouses also serve our Nation.

"When a servicemember goes to war, we know their spouse also shares in that sacrifice. I am inspired by their commitment to family and our Nation, and on Military Spouse Day, we honor these individuals for their contributions.

"Wives and husbands of servicemembers display an uncommon courage and strength as they steadfastly support their spouses during long and arduous deployments. While they endure separations that are filled with worry and anxiety, they face unique stresses. Foremost is the concern about the safety and well-being of deployed loved ones, but there are many other challenges. From managing household finances to comforting children impacted by a military parent's absence, military spouses take on the burdens of maintaining families largely on their own.

"This task is complicated even more as spouses work to maintain careers and a sense of community while moving to new duty stations around the country and the world.

"Despite these hardships, military spouses are an inexhaustible source of strength for our military families and donate their time generously to local communities. Military spouses offer the love and encouragement that help servicemembers endure the challenges of serving our Nation.

"Military spouses support one another as friends and mentors. They serve in family readiness groups to keep fellow spouses informed and to provide mutual support. They contribute as volunteers to improve neighborhoods, military installations, and communities. These contributions strengthen both our Nation's character and its security.

"All Americans should express appreciation for military spouses and let them know they are not alone. To help those who need it, friends, co-workers, and neighbors can offer to help with the burden of daily tasks and thus give military spouses more time for themselves and their families. To assist spouses who are coping with the absence of a loved one, individuals can listen and offer their counsel. Americans can also volunteer through the many organizations that provide assistance to military families.

"Our Nation maintains a sacred trust with every individual who serves. My Administration is committed to showing our Nation's gratitude for them by honoring our obligations to their families.

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 8, 2009, as Military Spouse Day. I call upon the people of the United States to honor military spouses with appropriate ceremonies and activities today and in the future.

"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third."

How cool is that!!!!!!  I am so proud of my soldier but also so blessed by the people that support us.  Thank you to each and every one of you that look in on us and keep us smiling!

Love you!

-Brianne

A New Direction...

Lawton’s central post office is located across the street from where I work.  Every month I make at least one trip over there to mail something to somewhere in the United States (normally something scrapbook related LOL!).  Today was no different.  I was mailing my Mother’s day gift to my mom and today was the LAST possible day that I should do it.  Anyway, back to my topic at hand.  I was dwelling on the fact that having idle hands at work was given me far too much free time for my thoughts to wonder and with everything that had and was going on in my life, this available time was not helping my mental state.  The miscarriage, Rich’s PCS to

Korea, and the stupid SWINE FLU have been occupying my every thought and stressing me out.  I had told myself that going back to work full-time will help keep my mind busy and by the time I got home from work, my son would occupy all of my time and I would have no spare minute to agonize over any of those thoughts.  Well, it did not quite work out as I had planned.

 

As I walked over there, I was pondering on how slow it has been for me at work due to all of the leave time I had just gone though.  All of my files and daily work had been completed for me by my coworkers, leaving me nothing to do once I came back.  This has been both a blessing and a curse.  I am so grateful for every single one of them and how they were so supportive to me while I was on leave.  They truly were there during one of the darkest times of my life (and still are actually).  With every step, I was trying to come up with ideas that I could do to fill the time (that wouldn’t directly come between me and actual “work”).  And then it hit me!  My blog!  My poor, beautiful, abandoned blog.  All the time and effort I had put into obtaining my site and trying to build the most eye-catching header and then I just drop it like a bad habit.  So as this idea grew in my head, it took on form and swirled and danced until I had more thoughts than I could ponder in that short walk.  I came right back to my desk, opened Word, and started to type.  I would write about what it’s like to be a scrap-a-holic, Army Wife, trying to make it in the day-to-day reality that is the military.  One that was also trying to maintain her mental sanity while her husband was away for a year would be a great start, right?  Yay!  I was riding the creative wave again! 

 

So what to write about first?  Well, I guess it’s always best to start with what you know, right?  I currently live on an Army installation so my life is submerged in all things military.  I deal with housing, I shop at the commissary, I run into the PX when I absolutely cannot get off-post to the closest Wal-mart, and I even go to the post library for something to read.  Despite all this, my life was still really separate from the “Army way” and I found this out, first hand, at one of the first real spouse events I went to.  I have been blessed that my husband has always been “around” and I have never had to fend for myself in terms of figuring things out regarding the Army.  Now that he is away, I am finding out there is a lot I did not know and there is a lot of information out there for spouses if you just look hard enough.  So how would I approach this wonderful possibility of not only having an outlet for my crazy thoughts, daily antics, and military humor but also of my passion for scrapbooking?  Could it be done?  I guess we will find out together.

Love Always!

-Brianne

The Spouse Conundrum

So why is it that I can learn anything from any man except for my husband?  He's attractive and is able to hold my attention, but when it comes to having to listen and follow directions from him, BAM! it's broken.  Which is exactly the same when it comes to me teaching him something.  Let me expand a little on this...

THE JEEP

Rich leaves for Korea next week Wednesday.  During this time, his Jeep will be sitting in our driveway...doing absolutely nothing (everyone make the "awwww" noise with me while rolling their eyes).  The man does not want it stored anywhere so let us move to the real issue; Brianne does not know how to drive a stick (standard).  YES! I know!  You all cannot believe that someone doesn't know how to drive a stick!  Gah! I never got around to learning it ok? :)

So in an effort to leave the Jeep here and it get the maintenance driving it needs, my husband has been trying to teach me to drive the Jeep.  SOOOOOO not liking a clutch.  I think I need a t-shirt that has the word "clutch" on it with a big red circle with a line through it.  The clutch does not like me.  I am having a hard time trying to release the clutch and press the gas before the Jeep stalls.    It is still an on-going project but the whole going from "laughing at me" to "sighing and speaking with a strained voice" is getting really old.

PHOTOSHOP

In an effort to design the front of his Jeep with lights, my husband wanted to play with a picture of it in PS while strategically placing mini headlights all over it.  He did not really ASK for my help, he more DEMANDED it and I heeded his call.  As he installed PSE onto his computer, I am explaining what he will need to do in an effort to help me (i.e., find a picture of his Jeep on his PC that will work for us altering it...straight on view and also a small picture of the lights he is getting so that we can make a smaller image of it and duplicate it to place all over the picture).  This must have seemed like the end of the world to him because I ended up having to sit right beside him and find the images with him. 

PSE finally loads and we are off.  Instead of me doing it all myself (which I refused to do) I was issuing commands from beside him.  Things like, "use the paint bucket to drop color there" and "click the arrow button so we can move that layer around".  Being very versed in PS, these explanations seemed very simple to me but they must not have been simple enough for my husband.  He was getting frustrated because he couldn't find the "stupid" paint bucket or the "flippin" arrow button.    He finally got so frustrated that he actually had one of his online Jeep buddies do it for him. LOL!

So you see, I am not entirely sure where our lack of communication comes from but its there.  LOL!  Despite how funny it is to me from my side (well except when I forget to put the Jeep into first and start trying to drive forward :P )

GAH!

Love you all!

-Brianne

Where The Sidewalk Ends...

 

Some of you know how much I love to write rhymes.  I mostly do it for different gifts or secret games but I always end up getting a lot of giggles from them.

Which is why I absolutely love a couple books by Shel Silverstein.  The silly poems in "Where the Sidewalk Ends" remind me of childhood and can make anyone imagine funny creatures making crazy faces!

I was reading a few tonight and one in particular stood out to me and reminded me of my "family & home" at ScrapStreet:

Tree House

A tree house, a free house,

A secret you and me house,

A high up in the leafy branches, cozy as can be house.

A street house, a neat house,

Be sure and wipe your feet house

Is not my kind of house at all -

Let's go live in a tree house!

It makes me so thankful I have such a great place to be close with my girlfriends.  I can giggle with them, they cry with me, and above all, we care for each other unconditionally.

::HUGE SMOOTCHES:: to my "Tree House" friends

-B

Ok, let's try this again...

So sorry for the huge gap in posts.  Life has been....unexpected lately.  Let me catch you up on our happenings:

In early February, I went in for an internal ultrasound so that the doctors could determine how far along I was at that point.  There was some question on my conception date (not for us because, well, it really could have only been one of two days that Rich was actually HOME!).  Everything checked out great at the ultrasound but I began spotting afterward.  We called the OB office and they explained that sometimes that could happen after the type of ultrasound I had done.  Ok then.  After a few days, I started cramping as well.  This freaked me out.  I went into the ER and they checked everything out and said that nothing was wrong.  Hmmmm ok.  A couple days passed and nothing changed.  If anything, it seemed to get a little worse.  OB called me back in and wanted me to see the high-risk pregnancy doctor at this point (also, because of my history of one previous high-risk pregnancy, they wanted me to start seeing him anyway).  He was concerned because my hormone level had been dropping significantly and combined with the bleeding & cramping....odds were not very good.  Then he went on to explain that once you see a baby and a heartbeat on a normal ultrasound, the risk of miscarriage drops down to 3%.  So he did an ultrasound, low and behold, there was a baby and a heartbeat.  Told me that he wanted me on semi-bed rest (work and nothing else) and no intercourse.  Wanted me back in two weeks for another ultrasound.  Two weeks went by and everything was great.  Hardly any bleeding and virtually no cramping.  The day BEFORE my next appointment, it started again.  They moved up my appointment from late afternoon to first thing in the morning and checked me again.  Still, absolutely nothing wrong.  So they are not really sure what is causing the bleeding but the baby is doing great, moving around, waving to the camera, and happy. 

So without further ado....

The belly:

 

The baby:

 

Those are as of this month.  I will post more as the months past.  Sorry for being so apprehensive about them, but by reading above you know why.

So Rich leaves in 11 days.  ::sigh::  I keep reminding myself that this is only 5.5 months until he comes home for the birth and then another 5.5 months after the birth.  Its NOT a year.  The longest we have been apart since we have been married is 2 months.  BUT when we first met, we only interacted over the computer for almost 2 YEARS!  So we can do this right?  We are talking to Matthew about it little by little so that he is not completely shocked by it when it happens.  He knows that the Army takes Daddy away sometimes and that he will always come home but during that time, he takes it so hard :(  Going to be a long 5 months.

Our home life has been relatively quiet other than that.  With being on partial bed rest, I feel so COMPLETELY lazy.  I want to go walk, I want to be active, I want to....ugh...MOVE!  Going to ask the doctor this week if I can start water aerobics at the Y.  Hopefully he agrees because I cannot take this anymore.  I know its for my own good, and I wouldn't do anything to jeopardise this, but I am getting FAT.  ::Cry!:: 

Scrapbooking:

New work has not come very easliy for me lately and I am not sure why.  Sometimes you just need to take a creative break to recharge and I know this, but I am anxiously waiting for the "bug" to come back!

Here are a few new items from Feb & March:

 

 

 

 

 

So thats about all I have to share right now.  OH one more thing....

ScrapStreet Star!

For those of you that don't know, I am a writer for an online scrapbooking magazine called "Going Places" at ScrapStreet.com.  I gained this position by participating in an annual contest at their site called "Star" last year.  The contest is gearing up right now and you have until March 27th to get your entries in!!  You can read more about it here:Star Info

I will be partipating for fun this year (and to hopefully spark up my mojo again) and cannot WAIT to see all of the contestants work!  So make sure to check it out!

OK I am out of here for today.  I will be posting more now (crossing my fingers) and keeping everyone in the loop.  Love you all!

-B

Very Bad Blogger!

Argh!  I cannot believe it has been so long since I last blogged.  I blame it on morning sickness (ok all day/any time of day sickness really).  By the time I get home from work, it is so hard to sit down and type out all my thoughts.  Maybe I will just start making a list of them while I am at work whenever one hits me and then type them all when I get home..... (makes a mental note to herself).

So where to begin...

Rich is home from school (yay!) but leaves again at the end of March.  We will be enjoying his presence from now until then.  Savioring every single moment is more like it.  We have pretty much gotten out of town the last three weekends to just spend time as a family.  The first weekend he was home we didn't do a single thing.  He slept as much as he could and Matthew and I waited around like kids on Christmas morning LOL!  The next weekend we drove down to Wichita Falls so take Matthew to Chuck E Cheese.  That child LOVES that place (and I love the pizza so it totally works!).  Last weekend we drove up to Oklahoma City and spent the day shopping.  We ate at the Cheesecake Factory (omg so good!  This was the first time we had been there since we got married in 2005!).  This weekend we drove to Norman (which is very close to OKC) and spent the day getting things we have needed for a while but did not really have the money for (i.e., we dropped a lot at Super Target).

Things have been going well with Baby Nevill.  We had a T/V ultrasound done on Wednesday, Feb 11th and I have spotted off and on since then.  Two days spent in the ER and the doctors tell me this is nothing to worry about so I am putting all of my faith In God over it.  That is so much easier to say then to actually do, isn't it?  Being human, I think our first instinct is to worry endlessly over it even though the final decision is not even up to us.  Something to think about...

Anyway, that is pretty much it.  Everyone in the house is currently sick my scrapping mojo went away with our health.  Hopefully I will be creating a lot more here soon! 

More from me this week!

Love you all!

-B

New Addition to my site!

If you check out the sidebar to the left, you will see that there is a new addition!  With so much going on in our family life as well as scrapbooking, I decided to create a separate page just for that.

Check it out when you get the chance!

Smootches!

-B

A visitor!

  My friend Heather called me a couple weeks ago and asked me a wonderful favor.  Her daughter, Courtnie, was going to be starting a project where they had to send out "flat" people to someone that lived outside their state (Geography class).  I, of course, agreed immediately!  Matthew and I would have so much fun with it!

Well, Stanley arrived today!

He was waiting patiently for us in the mailbox but ran to the door as soon as we let him out.  He also pestered our cat, Mojo, for a while but Matthew does that every day so we will forgive him.

Matthew and Stanley both said they were hungry so we decided to go out to eat.

BW3 is a favorite from back home (GO MI!) so we decided to go somewhere that Stanley might know.  He tried to steal some of Matthew's fries but little man did not let him sit there long.

 

Be prepared to see more from Stanley for the next two weeks while he vacations in Oklahoma!

Ok on to new work!  Here are few things that were published recently in January's issue of Scrapstreet's Going Places!

   

I have a lot of projects in the works and wish I could share them all with you!  They are "sweet" and "pink" and will be seen in next month's Going Places!

Pregnancy is going well so far.  Had all of my blood work done today and my next appointment is the 30th of January.  THank you all SOOOO much for the well wishes!  We are so very excited for this new phase of our lives!

Oh and Matthew is playing basketball for the YMCA right now!  It just started this week.  Isn't he just the cutest thing EVER!?

Ok I am out of here to go spend some time with my dh in World of Warcraft (our only form of quality time while he is away LOL!)

Love you all!

-Brianne

Expecting...

 

That's right!  Our little family is growing!  I received a positive test result on Friday, January 2nd and went for a blood test this morning with my doctor.  We should receive more information tomorrow morning as to how far along I really am and then I will have a tenative due date!  *cheer!*

Hope everyone is having a great week!  I cannot wait to post more of my current work here!  Will be doing that very shortly!

Love you all!

-B

Say it in words!

 

Have you ever "wordle"'d?  If not, you HAVE to try it.  Check out www.wordle.net to create your very own word art!

More from me soon!

-B

And the winner is....

 

Heather Casper!!!!

YAY! Congrats girl!  Matthew drew your name and after he found out what it said, he said "Heder Casssssper" for hours LOL!! Your goodie box will be headed your way in a few days! 

More from me tomorrow!

Love ya!

-B

Reflections of me...

 

Have you ever been broadsided by a “past” you?  I have not really changed all that much (ok so a few lbs and now I speak my mind…too much!) but was recently reminded of who/how I was in high school.  I was not able to attend my 10 year class reunion this past summer due to my husband’s training schedule and attending summer CHA so I have been really out of the loop for hmmm about 10 years now.  A full decade! *sigh* Has it really been THAT long?! 

Anyway, back to my run-in with HS Brianne (and I swear I didn't always have that stupid look on my face while cheering...at least I don't think I did).  Do you Facebook?  I do.  And apparently I was not doing it all that well.  After a couple months of pestering my husband to sign up, he finally did…and ended up with double the amount of friends I had in one single weekend!  This from the man who can sit in front of his computer for hours on end and would rather text then talk to people on the phone.  UGH!  SO I asked him who all of these “unknowns” were.  He said they were people he went to high school with. *DING* Hello! I completely forgot about high school!  Living so far from my home state has really put on a mental block I guess so I did a search for people that went to my school with my graduating year and VOILA almost all of them appear right before my eyes.  Oodles of my long lost friends HOORAY!  I must have spent hours this weekend looking through pictures and reading stories on their sites and blogs.  I feel I have gained YEARS back that I have missed.  Their smiling faces and the cutest pictures of their families gave me such a feeling of joy!  You all are SO awesome and I am SO glad to be back in touch with all of you! (Oh and if you think the above photo is bad, just wait until I get the chance to scan in more from cheerleading and the dance team MUHAHAHAHA!)

Speaking of the word “JOY”, this year I will have a power word.  You know how some people use quotes to live by or possibly a special bible verse?  I am going to use a power word.  In 2009, JOY will be my driving force behind my life.

I want to enJOY life more and not stress so much.

I want to bring JOY to others through my actions and my work.

I want to continue to surround myself with people that exude JOY! (Summer CHA BABY!)

And most of all, I want to make a JOYful noise whenever I possibly can. This meaning more posts, submitting my work, and just being a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend.

So to celebrate this upcoming JOY-filled year, I am giving away a small JOY basket to one lucky poster! All you have to do is respond to this post with something that brings you JOY, something you enJOY, or something that just plain makes you smile.  I will draw randomly from the names on December 31^st! And just because I can, here is a small peek at what you will enJOY:

 

  YAY! Isn't it just "bittersweet"?

 Ok on to new work!  YAY! NEW WORK! I know, I am a dork but I am TOTALLY ok with that! Here are a few items that were published in Scrapstreet’s December issue.  If you haven’t gotten a chance to check it out yet, you can do so here: December.

Here is a mini-album I made for my hybrid article:

 

 

 

A special layout for one of my closest friends, Dora:

Ok, well that is it from me tonight! Make sure to post a response to put yourself in the running for a yummy basket, filled with goodies just in time for some early Valentines creations!

Smooches!

-Brianne

Posting Hiatus

(Rich is home! YAY!)  

Gah how the time has flown.

Not really on a hiatus, although it seems like one.  I just haven't had a whole lot of time to sit and post lately.  Going to make a much stronger effort to do so very soon.

Rich drove in on Wednesday afternoon around 11am.  Left El Paso at 1 am that morning and drove straight through.  He got to sleep for a few hours and then got up to eat dinner with us and spend some time together.  Little did we know that Matthew would wake up at 10 pm with a stomach bug that kept us all awake through Thursday morning around 7 pm when we got back from the ER.  Yes, that's right, the ER.  Matthew couldn't even hold down sips of water after 8 hours of non-stop sicky so we took him in :(  Poor little guy.  Totally bounced back to normal now but it was a rough couple of days.

Got my hair cut and colored yesterday!  YAY! It has been way too long! 

Just finished up a special gift to a family member.  I cannot WAIT to send it off.  They have no idea it's coming so hopefully it will get there for the family Christmas gift exchange.

Ok need to go lay out tomorrows clothes.  Will hopefully post more tomorrow with new projects!

Love you all!

-B