Wordless Wednesday

Since I love my pups I'm going to share more pictures with you.  I'll have to work on getting some of the kitties but they've been hiding a bit since Joey came to live with us.  They're starting to come out a little more, so hopefully they'll start being cute in public again!

Are you sick dad? A hug will help you feel better!

Sleeping with daddy

Chillin'

Getting daddy love

Wind of Change, Part 2

The Man and I have been talking about several things lately that will cause some big changes in our family.  Good changes, scary changes...I'm not a huge fan of change.  While I understand that change happens and that it if often good, I don't always handle it well.  Sometimes I even go out of my way to avoid it.  Silly, I know but that's how much I dislike change.

First up is that we're considering not reenlisting.  Yes, I said we.  While I'm not in the military and I don't wear any rank, The Man reenlisting is something that we decided together.  While ultimately it is The Man's decision, it's a huge decision and effects us both.  When we got married we thought that The Man would be career Navy.  Two+ years later we're reconsidering.  It's scary to think of getting out...we have a steady paycheck, healthcare and other benefits.  Both of us had been civilian longer than we've been military but now that I've been in the military bubble, it's scary to think of leaving.  If he gets out then there is a good possibility that he'll go reserve.  Thankfully we have several months before we actually have to decide.  Even though it's scary to think of getting out, it's also exciting.  I'm most excited about no more deployments and no more duty days.  Can you imagine having your husband home EVERY DAY?  I'm not sure what I would do!  The scary part is making sure that we have jobs that pays for everything. I know that people do it all the time but in this economy...I'm sure you get the idea!  Anyway, we're looking at all our options and we haven't decided anything. Yet.

The next item is that I'm considering going back to school.  I have a Bachelor's degree in cross cultural communications.  I started my master's degree in Instructional Technology back in 08 but decided that I really didn't want that degree.  I was only 15 credits in so not a huge loss (just 4 weeks of my summer vacation that year. On the plus side, it gave me a raise when I was teaching!)  So now I'm considering going to school for nursing.  This idea is not out of nowhere.  I keep coming back to it.  In middle school and early high school I wanted to be a nurse and then a doctor and then changed my mind.  Then when I came back from Asia in 05 I considered it again and ended up teaching.  So now I'm considering it again...3rd times a charm, right?!  I've done a little research and I can get as associate's degree at a local community college that will allow me to get my RN in two years.  I'm kinda having a hard time about getting an associate's degree after already having a bachelors but maybe I'm just being snobby.  Last time I did research it sounded like I would need another bachelor's so I was kinda surprised to find an associate's program.  I would probably eventually go for a bachelors and then a masters.

What things to you consider when deciding to stay in or get out of the military?

For you nurses out there, what things should I look for in a program?  Any advice?

Christmas Cards

I love taking photos and sharing them with family and friends.  One of the best ways to do this during the Christmas season is on our Christmas cards.  I used Shutterfly last year and we got so many compliments on the cards!  I love the quality and selection of Christmas and holiday cards that Shutterfly offers.  The cards are so easy to make!  The hardest part for me is picking which card to use!  Some of my favorites this year include:

I like the option to use several photos

The furbabies will be making an appearance.

They may or may no get their names as part of the family too.

Am I the only that does this?

I love the simplicity of this one.

Red and brown are some of my favorite colors together.

This one is just fun!

I love the snowman and the monogram.

There are so many choices!  And if you need some gift ideas, Shutterfly has those too!  Did you know that you can get a fleece photo blanket?  How cool is that?  Photo calendars are a great gift too!  There also lots of photo gift options.

I'm excited to put our Christmas cards together!  I think Mickey Mouse is going to be making an appearance.  

Do you enjoy sending out Christmas cards?

Disclosure: I was given 25 free cards for blogging about Shutterfly.  My opinions are my own and were not influenced by the free cards. 

One Month

It's been a month since daddy went home.

It still seems surreal in many ways.

I have good days 

and

I have bad days.

I miss talking to him on the phone.

He would always tell me about 

the weather

and

what he was cooking

or 

had cooked

and

what their upcoming plans were.

He would often

talk to me about Joey too.

He would mention what 

a pain Joey could be

because he always wanted

to be in dad's lap.

Guess what?

Joey CAN be a pain

because he always wants

to be in your lap.

ALL. THE. TIME.

Joey's doing well though.

His latest trick?

Destroying Molly's tennis balls.

I found this when I woke up one morning

It's ok cause Molly is eating his bones.

Sibling rivalry, right?

Mom's coming out this week for a visit.

This trip has been in the works for weeks.

I'm looking forward to it 

and am so glad that it has been planned.

We don't have too much planned.

Just a conference in Seattle

and hanging out here.

She's finally going to get 

to see our house!

She's excited for that.

I am too, 

to tell you the truth.

I know today is going to be hard for her too.

Every day that goes by

makes it that much more real

that he's not here.

That he's not coming back.

And we know it.

It just sinks

deeper

and 

deeper

in. 

We miss you dad.

But we're ok.

Just ok...

for now.

Wind of Change, Part 1

I first heard this song when I was in middle school.  I think it was 7th grade.  There were three screens set up and it was a video production.  I have no idea what it about.  Anyway, during the video this song was played and it got stuck in my head.  I had never heard it before.  Thankfully my friend Kelly had and she even had a cd of it.  I think she copied it onto a tape for me.  Does that age me?  I think it does.  Oh well.  I used to listen to it over and over and over again.

Wind of Change by the Scorpions

I was thinking about this song cause I've been working on a post about some changes that might be coming for our family.  Be on the look out for part 2 of this post.

I'm linking up with Goodnight Moon

Seattle Art Museum

So eons ago The Man and I made it into Seattle to go to the Seattle Art Museum.  We had been wanting to go and I was determined that we would go while we had free admission (Active duty military and dependents had free admission to hundreds of museums this summer; that's how long ago we went!)  We both enjoy looking at art and going to an art museum is on my 101 in 1001 list, so that was another incentive to go.

I have to say that I love taking the ferry to Seattle.  I know that has nothing to do with the art museum...but really, taking the ferry is the best. We usually get some soup for the ride over; Ivar's clam chowder for The Man and chicken noodle or chili  for me, depending on what they have. We're creatures of habit and we love our soup.  I also keep an eye out for some Orca. It's not unheard of to see them from the ferry and I really, really, REALLY want to see some Orca.  I refuse to leave WA until I see some. It's a good thing we're not planning on moving anytime soon!  I've never seen orca but it is common to see some seals (or seal lions...not sure which one) hanging out around the buoys.  They're really cute!

So, on to the Seattle Art Museum.  We enjoyed the feature exhibit and sadly we weren't allowed to take any pictures.  We really enjoyed the exhibit of paintings of American landscapes.  I'm usually drawn to ones of either coast and the ones they had did not disappoint.  I could just stare and enjoy for hours. Thankfully I had The Man with me to keep me from doing that!  They also had logging photos from the early 1900's.  Those were pretty awesome too.

We didn't explore too much else as we under a time crunch.  We really wanted to see the last Harry Potter film at the IMAX in 3D so we headed over to the Pacific Science Museum so w could do that. It was awesome though I didn't think the3D added too much.  I'll be just fine seeing it on my plain old TV when we get it on DVD!

Anyway, I did manage to take a few photos at the museum....

How about wearing this to a military ball?

I wonder what Ig would do with this mouse?

I really like the colors and pattern.

Menu Planning

When we were first married, I brought up menu planning to The Man. After all, it's the popular thing to do (if you're a blog reader, it seems that everyone does it!) There are tons of cute ideas and printables to help make this chore easier.  And as a newly married women, I was eager to jump in with two feet.  The Man, not so much.  He didn't want to be locked into a meal plan, even after I described that we didn't have to be locked in.  So no meal planning for me. Instead we stocked up on our staples at Costco and the Commissary.  Our staples may not be your staples...ours include diced tomatoes, tomato paste, cranberry juice, chicken breast, ground beef, pork, chicken broth, flour, noodles, onions, potatoes, carrots, celery...you get the idea.  There is lots you can do with these items.  And it worked for us.

Add Source

One kink in our system was when I wanted to try a new recipe I would often have to buy some of the ingredients just for that recipe.  If I didn't use it all it would often go to waste.  Then I feel bad.  I hate wasting food.  I've lived in countries where hunger was a very real issue that was visible (I know it's an issue here in the US but I don't think it's as easily seen as it is in some other countries).

Then last week happened.  Since I had been gone and no food shopping had been done, we didn't have a lot to work with.  Money had been spent on other things and while we still had some, I didn't want to spend more than we needed to on food.  So I made a meal plan to maximize food usage and saving money.  It worked GREAT! I decided on what meals we wanted and then got what we needed just for those recipes.  During the week we decided what we wanted to eat when.  The end result...we enjoyed our meals AND saved money AND had the flexibility. SCORE!  The Man is now on board.

I've started a master list of recipes/meals we enjoy so I can pull from that. I'm excited because I think this will help us enjoy those meals that I forget about and it will be easier to try new recipes.  We're also looking to save some money and I know this will help!

Do you  meal plan?

What are some of your favorite meals/recipes?

Any tips for a newbie meal planner?

Egg Sandwiches

A while back several people pinned the following picture on pinterest:

I couldn't get it out of my mind and I decided that I REALLY wanted to try to make an egg sandwich.  This came out of nowhere but The Man was ok with it.  He likes it when I try new things!

So this is what I did:

1.  I put my bacon in my small ridged baker and baked it 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Can I just say that I love the baker cause the grease dripped down and the bacon doesn't sit in it? It's amazing and is my new favorite Pampered Chef item!

2.  Once the bacon was done, I turned the oven down to 350 degrees.  I  baked the eggs for about 15 minutes, though DH said his yolks were a little runny.  I'll bake them a little longer next time.

Before baking

After baking

I'll have to say that I was super excited that this really worked.  Not that I didn't think that it woudn't but it was really cool that it worked.

3.  While the eggs were baking, I toasted the English muffins.  Once they were done, I put a slice of cheese on it to melt while I was waiting for the eggs to finish.  This helped the cheese to be super melty!

4.  Then it was time to assemble the sandwiches.  On the English muffin I put a slice of cheese, 1 egg and 2 slices of bacon and topped it all off with the other English muffin.

5. Gave two the The Man and kept one for myself.  Bite in and enjoy.  I can't wait to make them again!

What's your favorite breakfast meal?

This is linked to:

The Afters

One of The Man's favorite songs is by a band called The Afters. 

Light Up The Sky

When I'm feeling all alone

With so far to go
The signs are no where on this road
Guiding me home
When the night is closing in
Is falling on my skin
Oh God will You come close?

(Chorus)
Light light light up the sky
You light up the sky
To show me You are with me
I I I can't deny
No I can't deny that You are right here with me
You've opened my eyes
So I can see You all around me
Light light light up the sky
You light up the sky to show me
That You are with me

When stars are hiding in the clouds
I don't feel them shining
When I can't see You beyond my doubt
The silver lining
When I've almost reached the end
Like a flood You're rushing in
Your love is rushing in

(Chorus)

So I run straight into Your arms
You're the bright and morning sun
To show Your love there's nothing You won't do

(Chorus)

That You are with me
That You are with me

I'm linking up with Goodnight Moon.

Puppy Love

A jealous Joey

Getting some Joey love

Getting Daddy love

A happy Molly getting Mama love

Joey making Molly jealous on her bed

Not A Perfectionist

I am not a perfectionist.  I don't have the patience to be one!  My lack of perfectionism was clear to me when I went to the Dancing Brush with a friend.  What is the Dancing Brush you ask?  It's one of those fun studios where you can paint your own pottery.  We had been wanting to go for months and since her hubby is under the ocean and mine had duty, it worked out perfectly.

We started the evening with dinner at The Loft.  If you live in Kitsap County and you've never eaten there, you are missing out.  They have delicious food and a deck over looking Liberty Bay.  It's a great place to eat dinner.  Anywho, after dinner we headed to the studio.  By the time we got there, we only had an hour and half.  After perusing the options, I decided on this plate that I will use as a platter:

I'm really not that crafty.  I can sew just fine but when it comes to painting....I am lacking in skills.  Art was not a favorite class of mine.  My painting ability is as bad as my singing ability...if you've ever heard me sing, then you know it's bad.

Thankfully they have stencils.  I love Asian influences (10 points if you know why!) so I picked a Chinese character.  I traced it onto my plate/platter and I was ready to go.  I decided to paint the character in red (my favorite color) and do the background in blue (The Man's favorite color)

 So far so good.  Until I decided that I should do a rim of red around the bottom.  Since I'm not a perfectionist the line around the plate isn't the same all the way around.  Oops!  The next hard part was painting in between the parts of the Chinese Character.  Hopefully it will look ok!  Painting it once would have been ok, but the more coats you put on the darker it comes out so...I needed to do at least two coats.

Then I started on the outside.  I got two coats on no problem.  Time was running out and I was going to put our last name along the top and Est. 2009 along the bottom cause I'm sentimental like that.  Well, I tried writing in on in pencil first, messed up and decided against it.  Even though the pencil burns off while it's in the kiln I decided to paint over it so the outside got a third layer.  I didn't have time to give the inside another layer of paint so it's going to be a little lighter than the outside.

 I'm hoping it will look ok.  I figure:

It's my first time

No one ever has to see it

It's a unique piece.

It took me about two months to get the finished piece.  My friend picked them up and then I never got it from her and then I was in MA for a month and it was the last thing on my mind.  I just got it this past Sunday from her.  Here's how it came out:

I don't love the inside and the fact that you can see all the brush strokes.  I wish I had had time for 1 more layer on the inside. Oh well..now I know!

Have you ever painted your own pottery?

How did your creation turn out?

Have you entered my Scentsy giveaway yet?

No? You should!

It's easy to enter so go check it out!

Namesake

Back in the day I had to pick a screen name for my AOL account.  After some thought I chose Poekitten, after our cat Rosie.  We would call her Rosie Posie and after a few years her nickname got shortened to Posie and then to Poe and Poekitten.  

The original Poekitten

The real Poekitten is 16 years old and she lives with my mom.  I wanted to take her but mom wouldn't let me.  She said I left Poe behind when I left for college and when I went to Asia.  Poe lives with Dale Thomas, DT for short.

Dale Thomas, aka DT aka "The Most Handsome Boy in the World"

DT is a 22 pound orange tabby cat.  I think mom favors him but she insists that she doesn't.  I've tried to convince her that Poe would be happier living with Edgar and Allen but she says no to that too.

A side story:

In fact, Poe is the reason I have Edgar and Allen.  We had had to put down our dog and a cat had died.  I was living with my parents and I wanted to get a kitten..or two.  One cat was ok with Mom and Dad, two was not.  I looked and looked and found Edgar who was being called Butch.  I wasn't going to call a cat butch...and I wanted to be able to call him Ig.  So I decided on Edgar.  Since we had an Edgar and a Poe, we had to have an Allen.  I managed to convince dad (he was the holdout) to let me get another cat by agreeing to help clean the cat boxes and to let him pick out the kitten.  He picked the Alleycat out and we've had Edgar, Allen and Poe ever since!

As much as I'm going to miss Poe and DT now that I'm home, I'm glad to get love from Edgar, Allen, Molly and Joey!

And just in case you're wondering, DT was a cute, cuddly kitten.  Here's the proof:

New England Autumn

I love autumn in New England 

53

The quick trip to NH also had another purpose besides making memories...it was so I could meet my nephew!  Meeting him was number 53 on my 101 in 1001 list so that's another item crossed off.  I'm just going to town on that list...

He was born in February and I'm just now meeting him...very sad but the way life is sometimes.  He did let me hold him but he wasn't sure who this random person was.  At 6 months no explaining of how cool Auntie Poe and Uncle Man are would have made a difference.  If it would have, his older siblings would have convinced him!  They'll fill him in as he gets older.

The little man

Getting Auntie and Uncle love

Poe and M

Making Memories, Part 2

After playing in the pool, the kids wanted to go on a walk. It was bedtime so we told them we would take them on a walk the next day. T home schools and was willing to interrupt the school day so we could spend time with them. I enjoy these kids so much!

Little J throwing rocks in the pond

Looking for and throwing rocks

Walking to the Pond

And of course we had to play outside with them too!

Uncle Man was on pushing duty

I love her face in this picture!

C high in a tree