Monday, September 23, 2013

Blogtember- What we've been up to lately!


I haven't really felt like blogging prompts lately. I feel like I'm not very "real" when I do blog prompts. But today's prompt is very much up my alley. The prompt is: "A "life lately" post. What you're up to, how you're feeling, how you're doing on your goals, etc. Bonus points for great photos!"
This is one I can do!!

So...here's what's been going on lately:

1. I've been insanely busy. Attending training, carting kids to play dates and keeping the house standing. Apparently, my indoor only cats got fleas and brought them home or maybe the house gave them to the cats. However they got here, we've been doing flea battle for a week. Last night, thankfully, both my husband and I were fed up with doing this battle ourselves. So we've called in the experts and terminix is coming tomorrow. Thank you sweet Jesus! I was so upset to find the fleas. In my head I thought you only got fleas if you didn't clean enough (and those who know me well know my cleaning schedule.) Well our veterinarian tells us that is just not the case. Apparently just walking in the grass can bring them in your home and it won't matter how hard you clean. Either way....I'm thanking the lord (no joke) for the exterminator coming tomorrow.

2. Little Dude has a cold. I love my son, but he doesn't do colds well. He is crabby and just mad at the world. He's obviously inherited my impatience for illness. It's cool...I get him. Little Dude being sick is exhausting though due to his impatience. Thankfully his sister isn't effected and *cross your fingers* my husband and I don't get sick, though the jury is still out on that one of course.

3. It's raining, it's pouring....yeah typical Washington weather. Hopefully we'll get 2 days of sun this week, but the weather changes every 12 hours here sometimes I swear!

4. I found a new tinted moisturizer that I love. Aveeno is rocking my world on the days I'm exhausted and don't want to use makeup, but need a pick me up.

5. I've read a few books lately. I read "Tell the Wolves I'm Home" recently. It's supposed to be for a book club I joined here, but I'm suspicious of them actually ever getting together to discuss it. I miss my book club in Hawaii that actually had their act together. 

6. Little Miss turned 4 months on Saturday. I'll have to get a 4 month picture and do a special blog post. Maybe by Wednesday....we shall see.

Have a good one my friends!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Five on Friday!


1. Oreo Cookies
Yes, my son is making the biggest mess right now as I type. Double Stuffed Oreos are one of the foods I only indulge in a few times a year, because otherwise I'll eat an entire package in a matter of days. Well...I guess Matthew agrees on their taste.

2. Julia is almost 4 months old!
Yes, Little Miss turns the big 4 months tomorrow.  I desperately want time to slow down with her. She's a gorgeous little gal and everyone loves her.

3. Friend arriving soon!
One of my very, very good friends from Hawaii is PCSing here with her hubby in 1 short week. My level of excitement since they had their hard copy orders has been difficult to contain (and I've had a long wait on this one!) Yes, quite a few super girly squeals of excitement might have been heard from me...;-) 

4. New iphone operating system
I'm not sure I'm sold on it. It's not horrible, just a bit of an adjustment. It seems to really drain the battery life though. :-/

5. Play date! Matthew & Julia love play dates and this week was no exception. 
Julia hanging with the girls at a play date.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Sunday Social

Sunday Social
Link up here!

This Weeks Questions:
1. What is the name if your blog? Ramblings of a Sailor's Lady

2. What do you love most about blogging? The other blogs I find to read. Reading about other people's lives is like people watching on a grander scale.

3. Why did you start blogging? No lie- the people who made my wedding cake had a blog & I thought it was cool and I wanted to be cool too. Plus some of my friends had blogs and again I wanted to be cool like them. Now I blog, because it's fun.

4. What is something you’d want to tell someone just starting out in the blog world? Follow lots of other blogs and do the link ups. It really gets traffic to your blog. Oh and link to Facebook, because your friends are nosy & will read even if they don't follow officially.

5. Biggest blogging learning experience you’ve had? Hmm...tough question. I can't think of anything honestly. Maybe make sure you approve your comments, because then if someone says something you don't like or want the world to see, you can easily monitor it.

Blogtember isn't on weekends, so I decided to try this link up on for size. It's not bad. I might just do it again. It's stormy here too. Duh, we're in WA so of course it's stormy. ;-)

Friday, September 13, 2013

Catching up: Blogtember

I've been a little distracted/busy this week. Plus the weather has been warm & just gorgeous out so I had to enjoy it before the real fall & winter rain set in for good.
SO....Tuesday's prompt was describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn. I have several so I'm not really sure I can pick one. So we're skipping that one.
Wednesday's prompt was to share links to your favorite online shops. My favorite online shop is: Amazon. Seriously...I have the app on my phone and look at the site several times a week. I got Amazon prime on a free trial & liked it so much I paid for it. I can't beat the convenience factor of it.  

Thursday's prompt was to describe how social media & blogging has changed you. Well obviously it has made me more open to the world. But it also has motivated me to do better. I've read blogs that just inspire me and make me want to press on. There's a blog I used to read, which unfortunately doesn't exist anymore, that motivated me to finish my degree. It wasn't a motivational blog but the lady who wrote it had such a way with words that she made me want to finish my degree so I could do amazing things in life.  (Wow that sounds cheesy as heck...I really don't mean it to be cheesy.)

Today's prompt is easier. It is a self portrait. I have 2.
Ready for the Ombudsman Appreciation Dinner. I felt really pretty. 

Last night. What I look like with no make-up on.

Thanks for reading along. See you Monday!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Blogtember: My Personality Type

I skipped Friday's prompt for Blogtember. It was asking about a time when you were very afraid. A time when I was extremely afraid is still too intensely personal for me to share with the blogosphere. Maybe someday I will write about it, but not now.

There were no prompts for the weekend so I just did stuff with the family. Friday evening I attended my first Ombudsman appreciation dinner (blog on that later.) Saturday we finally opened savings accounts for the kiddos & bought our 5 year anniversary present (only 3.5 months late), which was a set of new pots & pans.

Now it's Monday and the prompt for today is: Take this short personality test and respond to your results. (At the end, find the detailed profile of your personality account - click "click to view" under "You" and "self awareness and personal growth." You can even google your type and find more info on it!)

My results were not all that surprising. I'm an ESFJ.  The E is for extroverted, S is for Sensing, F is for feeling and J is for Judging.  The first 3 obviously do not surprise me in the slightest.  I am very extroverted and have been my entire life. I love meeting people & socializing. Feeling is a given. I couldn't do my job if I didn't feel. I have learned to tame the feeling a little, so I can be more effective at what I do & how I interact. Sensing is an inherited trait. Both my Mom's Mom & my Mom had/have this same trait.  It is going to sound a bit crazy, but my Mom (and my Oma before she passed away) often just knew things. I used to think they were off the wall, but as I got older I realized I had that too. It's not a psychic type thing...we can't see the future or whatever. Related to this I read people very well though I seldom tell them. It's like insider information. Again- this is why I'm good at what I do.
The last one judging though sort of annoys me. I'm not sure how I got that result.  I do admit to judging on some things, but if you know me you'll know I'm pretty open minded on a lot of things and I don't always think I have the right answer.  I'll have to dig a little deeper to figure that one out.

Go take the test...it's easy to do & really interesting!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Blogtember- Wisdom & Advice

The prompt for today is: "Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered."

This is a toughie (did I say that the past 2 days as well? Probably. I think I sound very scripted when I have to blog based on prompts.) The reason I say it's tough is because I have so many things I could say to answer this question. My Mom is a phenomenal advice giver.  Once I got over that teenage rudeness, I realized she was a pretty smart lady. Mom- if you're reading...please don't faint. ;)

That said one quote I have always remembered is this one: " Life is a succession of moments, to live each one is to succeed." -Corita Kent.
I read this quote as a freshman in high school. I was roaming the internet and I look an IQ test and while awaiting the results, random quotes were coming up on the screen. The reason this particular quote stuck with me was because I was going through a particularly anguishing time in my life. That quote made me feel better and it has always stuck with me.  I feel like it says to just keep living & eventually you'll make it. Basically a nice way of saying don't give up and be stuck in a rut forever.
As someone who has veered off the intended path a few hundred times, it's comforting to know that I'm still succeeding.

Another piece of wisdom is one I've touched on before and that's choosing the positive.  Today it's been stormy & gray and I was kind of grumpy since my son was whiny. My husband came home and asked me what I was happy about today. And instead of saying "nothing." I forced myself to list several things that I'm looking forward to or that made me happy.  Life can be miserable, but you can make the choice to be happy and not be a victim.  Not everyone is out to get you or ruin things for you, but it'll feel that way if you view the world angrily.

Have a happy day everyone. :-)

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

3 months...Blogtember day 2

Today's prompt for Blogtember is:  If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do? 

I really really wish I had a neat answer, but this was a tough one. At the moment I'm pumping so my daughter can have a bottle those times I'm away from her...so my first instinct is to say I'd pump for 3 months to help babies in need. But then I thought that answer was rather boring.  (Though definite kudos to Medela for making a great pump.)  Anyway...let's get to the fun stuff. If I had 3 months on my own, I'd go back to Hawaii & see and do the things we missed while we lived there. I'd also pack in some scrapbooking with the BFF who lives in Hawaii still. 


Google search of Molokai
The top thing on my list to see would be the island of Molokai. This is the island where the lepers were forced to live after they were kicked out of living on the other islands, because of their disease. This is also where Father Damian did his work & where his reason for sainthood occurred. I've read several books about what happened there and I desperately want to see the island and the old leprosy colony.

3 months of course would never be enough though. I miss Hawaii very much. It was such a unique place to live.

Bon Voyage....if only....

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Blogtember: Day 1


Over 300 people in the blogosphere of the good ol' internet are participating in this lovely event. I figured since I keep saying I want to blog more, I may as well do something that prompts me to get my booty in blogging gear.  You can do it too: http://storyofmylifetheblog.blogspot.com/

The first day of blogtemper's prompt is to describe where or what you came from.
I feel like this is kind of a tough one, because I didn't live in the same place my entire life. So to start: I was born in Hoffman Estates, IL and lived there until I was about 8 years old. My parents and I lived in a very small townhouse, until they had a bigger home built & we moved to the Northern suburbs of Chicago to a place called Crystal Lake. And there I stayed until my parents divorce and Mom & I moved to the next town over, a place called Lake in the Hills. Yes, there really is a lake in the middle of a bunch of hills. I used to look down on LITH until we actually moved there....I'm not sure why anymore. Anyway....I suppose I consider Lake in the Hills to be my home town. At least that's what I claim in Facebook land.  It's a nice, smallish suburb with plenty of good people.

I ended up attending the Catholic high school that was 30 mins from home. When I first got to that high school, as a transfer student my Sophomore year, I was embarrassed to admit that I chose to go there. Unlike what I said to a few seniors....it was not a punishment. My parents asked if I wanted to go there and I said yes.  I really credit a lot of my success later on to this high school. Unlike some people there who were miserable...I pretty much loved it. I had a lot of friends and enjoyed many activities. I seriously could be a walking billboard for my high school.  I think I love it so much, because I finally felt like I belonged somewhere there and it really is where I felt like God came into my life so strongly. That high school and one of the priests there in particular was how I made my way to the Catholic church. Just 3 months after I graduated high school, I became a full fledged Catholic.

After high school, like most people do I went to college and left the area and with the exception of a few visits, haven't really been back there. Neither of my parents live up there anymore, so in reality I think the entire state of Illinois is my hometown. When I was growing up we frequently went to southern IL to visit my Mom's parents and then when she settled there 7 years ago, it just made sense. Southern IL is familiar territory for me.  

That's my little piece of background. Hope you enjoyed it.