Time to indulge...

[warning, this post is all over the place. My thoughts are nowhere near oganized]

..ok, not yet. I am on Amazon thinking of things I want to order. I have a little bit of money coming in from my tax returns (and hopefully the second half of my enlistment bonus) and I just want to be able to buy a few things and not worry about the price tag, or getting it on sale, or that it is too much. I am going to indulge and not feel an ounce guilty if I spend a lot. Granted I am not going to spend ALL of the money, but I want a few new clothes, a few new nice things, a few gifts for people for next Christmas. Those such things. I have this new obsession with Willow Tree figurines, they are so precious. I want to buy them all and give them away! I am creating a [rather lenghty] wishlist on Amazon. Veggietales CDs for the baby, Melissa and Doug toys for the baby, Willow Tree figurines, SnowBabies since I owe my mom one, etc etc.

Oh, and if you are wondering, yes, I am at work... doing my *ahem* work.

So today, while doing my "research" on Spartacus, the Starz series, I was slightly devastated. I am not sure if any of you [if anyone is even reading this] watch Spartacus, but the main character, Andy Whitfield, has passed away as of September 2011. I knew he had cancer, hence the delay of season 2's (or is it 3's) release, but he has been replaced. I will watch the new season regaurdless, but Andy did an excellent job and the new guy has some big shoes to fill. Andy, you did wonderful, and I am glad that you were able to accomplish something so extrodianry in your 39 years here on earth. *Not to mention your sexy body*

RIP Andy

 

Onto something a bit more uplifting. I chanced across an old album I used to listen to with my grams. It is by David Arkenston, called Quest of the Dream Warrior. I am so so happy I found this album, currently I am streaming one of the songs that I listened to on repeat, "Road to the Sea". Have a listen, it so soothing and invigorating. -- Sails in the wind, ride on the sea, dreams in the sand, all you'll ever be. -- Yup, I just ordered it off of Amazon for less than 4 bucks- score!



And to end this post on a funny note I will share a comic strip from Zits. recently we have had a lot (I mean a LOT) of work done on our car. The work included the thermostat, the headlight, the wipers, the cig lighter/car charger, an oil change, we have to replace the water something, the front axle.. just to name a few that I can remember.

hehe :)

PLnCG

Rae

Stay this little, forever. Please?

This is the last post of the year, and I already did 2011 in retrospective in a previous post. What now? Well my friends, I have something more intimate that I wanted to share today. This thought occured a few nights ago, during one of my non-sleep-through-the-night experiences. Ty had woken up again, it was probably 1am or 2am. Mommy = dead tired and did not want to walk/feed/find a pacifier for my almost 9 month old who I feel SHOULD be sleeping through the night. Yes, I will admit, I was slightly irritated. When I say slightly, I mean it. I was not mad at Ty for waking up, instead I am mad he is not in his own crib where he can sleep alone and not feed off of the constant connection (etc). These such matters are out of my control, so back to 2am, holding a squirming Ty trying to finegal his pacifier in his mouth to calm down. Success! We have a sleeping baby, but by this point I am awake (don't ya hate when that happens?) So I decide to read a little while, and while reading I found it hard to hold Ty and the book, and almost put Ty back down. Then a thought occured, I cannot snuggle his little 20 pounds forever. One day he is not even going to fit on my lap, nor will he probably want me to hold him while he is sleeping. *insert sad face here*. It was a sad realization. I then remembered when I was about 3 and my mom told me to stop growing and stay that little forever. I thought my mom was sooo silly, stay little, forever?! Now I get it. Plain and simple. I was able to rationalize myself through this bought of sadness, and thought of all the fun I will have with him at each stage: building legos, taking him to zoos, aquariums, museums, going on trips with him, starting HS, prom, college. I think you catch my drift. I'm kind of excited for all of these milestones, and I will always have the memories of snuggling up with his little warm body and his peach fuzz head resting under my chin with his soft snores.. we are both in complete bliss <3

As 2011 Comes to an end

So I was going to start off this post with a look back at the year of 2011, when I started to type out month-by-month I realized how boring my year was. I think for the year of 2012 I am going to have more fun. I am going to make a serious effort to do things, afforadable things. I mean, we do things here and there.. the movies, Chuck-E-Cheese, go out to dinner, friends come over with their kids. Things like that, but nothing that was a "wow" factor. Nothing I can recall off the top of my head. Here is my previous "post" :

"What an interesting year in retrospective.

January-- I cannot remember anything too eventuful taking place this month. I was pregnant and itching to buy everything for the baby. We did receive a LOT of snow!

February-- the same as January, ticking away the days and weeks. I wish there was something more eventful to insert here.



March-- My baby shower was this month!! That was a fun time, good time to catch up with friends and family.

Tyrone and Me

The layout :)

     and my cousin from FL and my cousin from NH came to visit!

April-- Little man arrived. 4/10/11. Two weeks early. From then on it was taking care of the baby.

     and Steph's play

May-- My birthday.



June-- Enjoying the summertime with the little one, taking him on walks around the neighborhood. He loves the trains that go past our house.

A day with the "Greats" Great Grams, G Aunt Ro, G Aunt Mary, Cousin Teresa

We took little man to Castle Craig

Steph's 8th gr. Graduation - gooo Steph-e!

July-- Tyrone's Birthday. I went away for my first two weeks away from the baby for AT, which was 1/2 in the Cape and 1/2 in CT. We had fun for AT, good high-speed medic training.

Up in the blackhawk

Medical Classes

and who can forget the 4th of July!

August--


September-- nothing? Started seriously applying to jobs again


October-- Job offer at a hole-in-the-wall company. The start date was delayed 6 weeks! And the job lasted only 5 weeks. A waste of time if you ask me.. *le sigh* Drill weekend was the usual start of FY12 for the military. PT test and weapon qual, I did not pass my PT test, but I did pass my weapon qual. Impressive. :) We took little man pumpkin hunting and dressed him up for Halloween :)

KRod with Ty

Family Portrait!

November-- Thanksgiving with the little one! We went to Papa and Grandma's. Preparing for Christmas. Started the process of my current job.

December-- Started my job at THD. Had a wonderful Christmas with the little man. Welcomed my cousin Kadie Ann into this world!"

Regaurdless of 2011, I would not trade that year for anything.

On to other, less intersting.. ok, equally as boring topics I actually ran last night. I kept telling myself I needed to run, and something would always come up why I couldn't. Yesterday I took a 2.. ok 3 hour nap and upon waking up I felt groggy and hung over. Granted, I did not drink alcohol in days. A cure for this- going for a run. Quick side note: 3 laps around my neighborhood is 1 mile. This lap has a decline and an incline. So I did one lap and then I did a little more than 1/2 of the second lap, it was the incline that did me in the second time around. I was proud of myself that I was able to do that much for not really running on months. It was also a reality check to start running seriously again. The problem is that I hate running alone and usually wait for Tyrone to be ready. This is not a good approach if I actually want to run. I went solo last night. I might do a before and after picture of my running results. I know that it is a combination of exercise AND diet.. but I love my cookies and cake too much. On that note, I think I am going to go home and bake oatmeal cookies.. mmm! I am at work, yes doing more 3rd grader training. Who am I kidding. I found a way to listen to a radio station. Music in my ears = heaven. It makes the day 100% more bearable.

I hop everyone enjoys the last dregs of 2011.

toodles!

Christmas part two

So my first post I just wanted to share Christmas in pictures. I have to admit that playing Santa was a lot of fun! As soon as the baby was asleep, I put the presents under the tree and snapped my pictures. The morning was a lot of fun as well. The baby liked to rip the paper off of the first few presents, then he just wanted to play with the wrapping paper.. not the toys. He loved his Rockstar Elmo, his t-ball, and a bunch of other things. It was like a field day in our living room with all of the toys sprawled around. And of course grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins had to shower little man with tons of gifts! I'm tempted to rewrap some for next year.. the baby will never know! :) After presents I helped prepare some food for company. We had a southern style Christmas, definately not the same food I am used to as a kid.. the lasagna, the antipaste, basically Italian food. Nonetheless, the food was delicious, and the company was wonderful. Little man was so overstimulated that he did not nap the entire time company was over. Once everyone left, he crased! Dad came over the following day with Erika, Becky had to stay home because she had a cold. He bought the baby books and a "sing-a-ma-jig". It is hilarios!
I hope that everyone else had a magical holiday season. I am off to Michael's to snatch some steals for next year. Maybe I will buy a few presents for the following year!
Happy Holidays everyone, and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Day as follows:



Christmas Morning









   Our Presents.. mainly little man's

 

 

  "What are these mommy?"

 



 "Don't mind if I help myself to the presents and the ornaments.."

  



 "He's kind of fun mama and dada, he sings to?!"



 Mommy's shot glass, the perfect cup for me!

 

"Daddy wants me to be a baseball player, I better start practicing now!"

 Look at all of these cool gifts!

 



Daddy and Me!

 



 Mommy HAD to torture me (check out my cool Santa diaper!)

 



 "I had so much fun mommy!"

 



 Mommy and Me <3

 



 "Time to brush my teeth!"

  

 ... and go to bed. *yawn*

Two more wake ups?!

Yippie! I'm so excited to play Santa this year, no, really. Even though the baby won't know the difference, I will! I'm just itching to put the presents under the tree and take some pictures worth remembering. :) Christmas Day is going to be super busy, Tyrone's brother from PA is coming up to CT with his gf and son, then his sisters, cousins, nephews always stop by, along with aunts and uncles. We are going to be jam packed.. mental note- charge the camera! I really need a good family photo of the three of us in front of the tree. If my two guys will cooperate that is.

Well I am at work again, procrastinating. I need to be doing my "Cashier College" classes. I cannot even bring myself to do them just yet. I am cold and tired. There is a constant breeze blowing on me from somewhere, and it's not pleasent. The baby went to sleep at 7, was up from 12:30-1:30, I went to bed at 2, the baby woke up at 5am and I have been up since. 3 hrs of sleep, I am definately sleeping when I get home. Oh, and as far as running last night went, I didn't go. It was raining. I know, excuses, but the cold rain is NO fun to run in. That's my story and I am sticking with it.

I know, lots of gripping. I need to get a grip, Christmas is right around the corner. Cheer up you!

Next month, the 9th-18th I have to go down to Niantic to get my recertification for my EMT license. This shall be interesting, I hope that it is not too long. 9 days away from my poopie, that is the part that I am not looking forward to at all.

Slight Rant

Yep, I am still at work, bored off of my rocker. I was just reading some of my older blog posts and saw the part when Zelda comes out 11/20. I was so pumped. I went to Best Buy about a month in advance and pre-ordered the bundle. Now, this was a special item that you basically had to pre-order to get, limited edition, all the bells and whistles. It came with a shiny gold Zelda wii motion plus remote, for just 20 bucks more than the game. I was all over this, gosh, a GOLD remote! I put my $5 down for the pre-order, kept my receipt religiously in my wallet until I could pick my game up. Terms for picking up pre-ordered games: has to be within 5 days of the release date. Cool. It was Black Friday- 11/25, the 5th and final day for prompt pick-up, the store was mobbed with shoppers and I was armed with my receipt. I (after about ten minutes) find an associate who can assist me and retrieve my game for me. But no, what does he tell me instead " There are no more copies of the bundle in the store." What? Meaning, you sold MY copy that I pre-ordered. Excuse my French, but, assholes! I remain calm, and politely ask when do they expect to have more in. They don't know. What good are store associates these days. I call BB the following day to tell them my woes, and the customer service lady takes my name and number and tells me she would give me a call when more become avaliable. Shipments are made on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Mhm, it is now 4 days later, past a shipment date.. where is this game. I stop back in and talk with the supervisor from the gaming dept. He does the same thing, name, number, gunna give me a call. No call. Now, I am starting to get mad. They are playing games with me. I wait two whole weeks, I follow up with now a manager. He said he was going to try and track one down from another store and give me a call back. My phone did not ring once from BB. I was tracking this product the whole time online to see if it would pop up as "In Stock". Not once did that happen. I did a quick google search to see if anyone else was selling my bundle, there were others.. Amazon, Ebay. The price tag - 230ish bucks. Original price: $69.99. Oh H to the NO. Now I am heated, so I call back and ask to speak with the manager again, this time it is someone different. I explain the entire situation, and he offers a discount on the game-- without the controller. *sigh* I DO want the game, wanting the controller is materialistic and isnt going to make a difference in my life. Game price $49.99 - $5.00 for the preorder -%50 = 20 bucks plus tax. Not bad for a new Zelda game without my controller. Lesson to learn- never preorder for BB again! I had to go home and wrap my game since it is part of my Christmas present. I am excited to play, with my black motion plus controller. I am going to buy that gold controller one day, someone will get tired of theirs and give it up (yea right).

3 Days and a wake up!

I remember counting down almost EVERYTHING during training. "X days and a wake up!" Christmas is so close! I just bought my last gift yesterday at the mall, it is a surprise for Tyrone. I wanted to get him something special, seeing as this is his first year being a dad (and he is such a proud "dada").

I hope he loves it as much as I do!

So the two Tyrones are all set this year, I cannot wait to see all of the presents under the tree. They are currently sitting in the pack and play in our room so the baby cannot tear them apart. Kind of ironic, gifts in the PnP, baby on the outside. The stockings are stuffed, the cards are hung, the tree is decorated. It is going to be memorable. Yesterday I went to our neighbors house and helped her put up her tree and decorate. She is not much of a DIY person. She is the same neighbor that I help with the plants in the front every spring. I enjoy that kind of stuff so I am more than happy to help!

So my job at Home Depot is going to be a cashier, officially. It is kind of cool, I was hoping to be on the floor so I could walk around all day and get some MUCH NEEDED exercise. I have been so lazy about running. I keep telling myself I need to wake up early and run, then it turns into running at night, then it gets dark and cold and I just say forget about it. blah. Tonight! I am going when I get home!

Hopefully, *fingers crossed*, I get paid soon so I can go buy some Christmas stuff on sale for next year! I am waiting on my back checks.. hurry up!!

Well, I'm off to do more of these online "learning modules" for being a cashier, I am literally about to fall asleep. Some of this stuff is as if they are trying to teach a 3rd grader- "If the customer is paying with cash, press the cash button!!" *Gasp, no way!* I had to go buy a Monster just for a boost of energy.

Christmastime

Happy Holidays!

So it is that time of year again, and this year is so special. Our little man is here to share it with us. We put the tree up, hung the stockings, hung some of the cards and it looks so festive! Ty loves to play with the ornaments, but he doesn’t bother the tree too much, it pricks his head! Mae Mae and Nia sent up their presents, I tried to put them under the tree and quickly realized they would be unwrapped WAY before Christmas if Ty had any say so. We drove around to see the lights and it seems like more people are in the Christmas spirit this year—it so pretty out! I shall have to take a picture of my lights on the house- it’s simple but cute. Here are some of the holiday pictures for this week:

Santa's little helper

Our Tree!

New Haven Lights

Wrapping up the year (How festive!)

Hey all,

so life has been crazy with the end of one job and onto an interview at the next. Home Depot-- this is going to be interesting. But maybe, just maybe, they give good employee discounts (or at least better than the 10% I already get off for being military, I am not getting my hopes up too high)

Other than the potential job, I am still chipping away at this Java class. It is sucking ALL of my energy and my Eng class fell to the wayside. I have 2 weeks to complete everything, lets get busy! I sure know how to work down to the wire. Eeks!

So one month left of 2011; what a year of memories. January 2011 I was only halfway through my pregnancy-- (wow, time has flown by). April little man got here and ever since it has been a race to 2012. We had a wonderful summer - low key, but enjoying a lot of firsts with Ty. Halloween was a hoot, Ty was the cutest skelleton.. ever.

Last week we took Ty to Chuck E. Cheese-- he LOVED the moving cars:

Weeee!!

Move out of the way!!

Write soon

Rachael

7 Month Photoshoot!

Little man is SEVEN months old, holy moly. This is a crazy concept. He is already pulling up on everything; chairs, the couch, tables, your legs. He is brave too! He has already started letting go and holding on with only one hand. He is going to be walking soon. The Dr. said by his next appointment. All this advancement, and we still have no teeth. Not even close (although, I am getting a wisdom tooth in).

We did a photoshoot last weekend, lots of fun. My little man did great!
Here are a few of my favorites:



I cannot wait to get them.. Saturday!

Oh. And ZELDA comes out on the 20th!! How pumped am I?! 

Pumpkin Hunting!

I just love this fall activity, we took the little man to look at the colors of the pumpkins this past Monday, but he was more interested in picking the mums and tearing them apart. Kim, Tyrone, little Ty and I all went to Silverman's farm, and it was a nice time! I think that Ty wanted to lick every pumpkin and see how they tasted, silly little boy. I bought some pretty gourdes, Kim bought a pretty squash, and we just had fun! The ladies who worked there loved Ty, they thought his smile was the greatest and his sneakers were "too cute". I love the grandma's who love every little kid.

 Big Smile!

 Picking the Mums

Playing with the Pumpkin

Looking Handsome!

Good memories, we had so much fun! I want to go for a hayride, eat sugar donuts and drink hot apple cider next time! I think once the trees change more we will take pictures somewhere else. 

On a side note, the job started. We have three days of training, and we start taking phone calls on Monday. If anyone wants to order from Chadwicks, they have some good sales right now!

Toodles!