Our Last Valentine's Day Weekend Together as a Family of Two! (Sunday & Monday)

• After having a horrible night's sleep Saturday, I got up and showered. After I showered, I dressed and packed up the suitcase while J showered. When we were completely packed and ready to leave, we went downstairs and took all of our stuff to the car. While J smoked, I went in to to get some breakfast. The breakfast spread was great! I had a bowl of fruit loops, a blueberry muffin, strawberry yogurt, orange juice and I grabbed a banana for later. J came in and checked us out while I was eating. He complained about the bed and the lady said the hotel was only 4 years old! The rest of the hotel was really nice, but the beds were cheap! 
• When we left the hotel, we went to St. Elmo to ride the incline. (We had to pay to park there, and it was exactly $2! Remember that $2 J found Saturday!?) I was terrified and the higher we went, the more my terror intensified. By the time we were at the top, J was convincing me that I didn't have to ride back down unless I wanted to. He would ride down by himself and bring the car up to get me. I was in agreement at the time (but I did eventually calm down enough to ride it back down).

• We got off at the top and walked down the street to the Battles for Chattanooga Museum and Point Park.

•  We looked around the museum and store, but didn't see anything we wanted, so we went out to Point Park and paid $3 each to walk around. The park was mostly a military park, with cannons, statues and lots of historical information about the site and battle that was fought there and nearby. The views surrounding the park were incredible! You could see forever!  

Point Park

View from Point Park

In Point Park

• When we left Point Park, we walked back to the Incline gift shop and J ordered me some hot chocolate to warm up. It was freezing outside! Then we walked to the top of the building to look out over Chattanooga.

• By the time we got back downstairs, it was 10 minutes til boarding time to go back down, so we got in line so we could sit in the front. The ride down was not as bad as I thought it would be and it was much less-terrifying than going up. Especially since going down, we were facing the direction we were going. 

The other railcar was coming up, so we switched lanes! 

• When we got to the bottom, we went into the gift shop to buy a few postcards to satisfy my obsession. haha.
• After we left there, we went back to downtown Chattanooga to find somewhere to park for the day. We found a parking garage that only charged $8 a day instead of the $9 to park at the aquarium. We walked around awhile instead of going straight over to find something to eat. We walked along the river and I took a few pics at Ross's Landing. 

Ross's Landing

Artwork on the wall leading to the landing.

My Love. ♥

• By the time we left Ross's Landing, I was freezing and really had to pee, so we went to find somewhere to eat. The first place we tried was so packed, we could get in the door! (Cheeburger, Cheeburger) The next place we went to was closed and the next place had their menu outside and nothing looked appetizing. We finally ended up eating at Big River Grille & Brewing Works. I wasn't that hungry, so I ordered off of the kids' menu. I had a grilled cheese sandwich with carrots and ranch dip. I ordered pickles on my grilled cheese, but they didn't put them on there, so I had to get the waitress to bring me some to add on to it. I hate when they forget! I ended up liking the ranch dip so much, I dipped my sandwich in it, too! :P
• After we finished eating, we walked around a little more before we had to go into the Ocean Journey building for our backstage adventure! It was great! We got to see the penguins from above, the biggest tank from above where we got to meet the divers and feed the fish and then we got to meet a rare gecko and pet it! 

Penguins! 

 This sea turtle was injured by a boat and as a result, his back fins had to be removed.
He has trouble swimming down low, so he stays near the surface where his butt often floats above his head. Bless him.

Gecko

• We had so much fun on the backstage tour, J wanted to do the River Journey, too, but I convinced him we should save it for another trip, so we could go see something else. 
• We left the aquarium and headed back to the car. When we left the garage, J couldn't get the ticket to go into the slot, so he pressed the button for assistance. Turns out he was trying to insert the ticket from another parking lot! HAHA! We got a good giggle out of that.
• We pulled out the GPS and headed towards Rock City which was near the incline. Rock City was awesome! I was freezing, but it was totally worth it! There are so many pictures on my camera and phone that I don't have time to look through all of them, so I'll just post a few sneek peeks from my phone.

J taking a smoke break.

 Fairytale from Mother Goose Village

Gnomes in Fairyland Caverns

• We didn't leave there until they were closing, so after we left we headed towards the Chattanoga Choo-Choo Hotel to check in to our room. J had bid on hotwire.com for a three-star room at $61/night. This was the hotel that we got. The main building where we checked in was beautiful, so we thought our room would be awesome, too. We were surprised to see that our room was very much not up-to-date and the only thing that had been updated was the television. The mattress was so old that the end of it was higher than the rest of the bed and there was a huge dip in the middle of it. Needless to say, it was very uncomfortable.
• We settled in and then decided it was time to go get dinner. First we walked around and didn't find anywhere that was open other than the ice cream shop and The Gardens. The Gardens wasn't our style of dining, so we asked if any of the other four restaurants were open and they said that the deli was, but all they served was soups and sandwiches, so we went next door to The Tavern. We had to wait FOR-EV-ER for a seat. They seated us on the second floor and it was so cold, I couldn't take my jacket off. There really wasn't anything on the menu that looked appetizing to me, so I finally just ordered a burger and some baked beans. When it finally got there, I was starving. I didn't think I could eat 1/2 pound of ground beef, but as it turns out--I can! I also ate the small serving of beans (I'm talking baby food jar small) and the waitress brought me another serving, which we were charged for. WTH? It's not like there's a shortage on baked beans in this country! They were $4! 
• After we left The Tavern, we went back to the hotel to swim. When we got in, there were only 5 or 6 kids and 4 adults, with only one adult in the pool. (The other adults weren't even wearing swimsuits!) By the time we left, there were at least 15-20 kids in the pool and probably only 4 adults! What is wrong with this world that parents don't get in the pool with their young children!? There's no way I would let my 3 or 4 year old in the pool by themselves even if they were descendents of mermaids. SMH...
• I need to mention that this was a 9-foot deep pool! 
• When we got back to the room, I was freezing so I showered and then we crawled into bed to attempt to sleep. Not much sleep was had...
• When we got up Monday morning, we dressed and packed the suitcase up. I wanted to take our stuff to the car then, but J said we'd do it after we ate breakfast. So, we headed over to the main building to see which restaurants were open. Only The Garden was open and it was $10.99/ person for the buffet. All I really wanted was cereal, a muffin and some yogurt and I wasn't about to pay that much for it even if they did have it. We turned around and went back to the room, grabbed our stuff and headed out the back stairs to take it to the car. J had had to park so far away the night before, that he left me and the luggage waiting on the sidewalk so he could go get the car. It was pretty warm Monday morning, so it felt great to be outside. After we loaded everything up, we drove around to the front of the hotel to check out. Then we headed out of Chattanooga to get on I-24. It didn't take long before we found a Cracker Barrel off of 72, so we stopped there to eat.
• I had two little boxes of cereal with a small carton of milk, two chocolate milks, an apple, a pineapple yogurt parfait with granola, almonds, and cranberries, and a huge blueberry muffin which I ate later for a mid-morning snack. All of that was less than $8, so I'd say we got a much better deal than we would have at The Gardens. 
• When we left Cracker Barrel, instead of getting back on I-24 as we should have, J turned left onto 72 because he thought it would take us straight to Huntsville. He was wrong...lol.
• As we were driving along, I told him that nothing looked familiar and he said it was probably because we were going the other way and b/c I had had to pee so many times that I wasn't paying attention on the way through.
• I saw a huge yellow sign advertising Raccoon Mountain Caverns and I told J that we should check it out because it looked interesting, so he turned down the dead end road. Turns out, being lost was a good thing because the caverns were really cool!
• J got in free because he's military and my ticket was about $15. It was a 45 minute guided tour through the first cave. Since we had just learned about stalagmites and stalagtites and cave formations in my college science class, I found the different formations very interesting! 

Stalagmites and Stalagtites joining together.

 Soda straws and stalagmites hanging from the ceiling.

"Iguana Rock" and that hole at the top is where two flows of water joined together

and swirled, causing the hole to form. The geckos that live in the caves come in through the roof here.

Crinoid, or "sea lily" fossil.

 I think this is part of a Crinoid fossil as well.

 The round object in the center of the photo, with the "beard" is a cave shield. They are not very common and have only been found in 80 caves in the U.S. 

• I had a great time and asked a lot of questions. I was afraid of falling because in a lot of places it was very slippery because of the water from the ceiling of the cave, so I was walking very slowly. But no one in our group seemed to mind. ;) 
• I have to tell you that I expected to see some raccoons in the cave...but there aren't any. That was my only disappointment.
• After we left the cave, we headed out on 72 again until there was a detour which led us to I-24 where we were supposed to be. Thankfully we hadn't gone too far of the correct path and we got to have an adventure along the way!
• We only stopped one more time along the way home for a bathroom break and then we went to pick up our fur-babies! They were so excited to see us! 
• **Here's where those stars from yesterday come into play. I called the Animal Care Hospital twice, two different times during the week before we were to board the girls. I asked both times about the pricing and both times I was told that it would be $20 for each dog, each night. So I planned on having them there Friday and Saturday night. I asked what time we had to pick them up Sunday and she quoted me a time that was only about an hour window. I asked what if we were unable to get them in that short time frame and the woman told me the price would be the same if we picked them up Monday as if we were picking them up Sunday. So we only expected to pay $80 for the boarding and then $39 for Sabrina's shots to be updated. When we got there to pick them up, they charged us $160. They charged us for Sunday night's boarding. I argued with the lady, but she wouldn't change the price, so we just paid and went home. Both girls had to use the bathroom badly when we got home and Sabrina peed three times before she would come inside! I don't think they took very good care of them and we won't be using them again. 

All in all, we had a great trip and enjoyed ourselves immensely! Even though my legs, back and head were killing me most of the time, I have to say it was worth it to spend some time together before the baby gets here. Hopefully we'll be able to go to the beach sometime this summer, but if not, at least we got our last hoorah in!

 

I hope y'all enjoyed reading about our little adventure! 

RTT: Our Last Valentine's Day Weekend as a Family of Two! (Friday & Saturday)

J and I decided to spend our last V-day weekend as a family of two in Chattanooga, TN. We had a great time! Here is the timeline and what we did:

Friday (the 15th):

• I worked on schoolwork all day, washed laundry, cleaned the kitchen, washed the dishes and packed while J was at work.
• I packed up food, treats and toys for Sabrina and Reba and dug out their medical records.
• When J got home, I quickly showered and dressed and we loaded up the girls to take them to the Madison Animal Care Hospital for boarding. *notes at the bottom*
• After we dropped the girls off, we headed to Jaybee's church for the annual birthday dinner. The food was amazing! They served green beans, ham (which I don't eat, so J got an extra helping), mashed potatoes, pineapple casserole (so good, I had seconds!) and a roll. Everyone at our table could tell they were sitting with a pregnant woman since I was stealing green beans off of J's plate and I cleaned my plate and had seconds of mashed potatoes, pineapple casserole and another roll! For dessert, they had an entire wall in the hallway that was lined with tables full of all kinds of cakes! There were so many to choose from, but I chose a chocolate cake with a cherry on top, coconut cake (to die for!) and a mandarin orange cake that was super-moist! They were all so yummy and I definitely got full!
• After most everyone was finished eating, the church members put on little skits, sang and told jokes. I really enjoyed myself and my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much! Thanks again for inviting us Jaybee!
• When we left the church, it was already almost 9! We stopped by Wal-mart to get a few things for the weekend, including: new loofah for me, travel containers for shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face soap; candy, drinks, nutty-butty bars (which I've been craving lately...), air fresheners for the car and a couple of cd's.
• By the time we got home, finished packing, fed Toby and J cleaned out his litterboxes, it was after midnight. It took forever for us to go to sleep. Mainly because we couldn't shut up or shut our brains off and J eventually ended up going to the couch so I could sleep.
• We got up at 5:30 ( I think...that was a couple of days ago, so I can't be sure! haha) and showered, dressed and loaded the car. I spent a little extra time loving on Toby while J was packing the car up. We ended up leaving late because J couldn't find the cigarette lighter charger adapter thingy, so that we could plug in more than one device at a time.
• We stopped by McDonald's and grabbed some breakfast on our way out of town.
• It only took about two hours to get to Chattanooga and although we forgot about the time change difference, we were still there pretty early. We went straight to the Tennessee Aquarium and bought tickets. (FYI, they're giving a 50% off discount to students this month!) With the IMAX, both aquariums and a backstage pass for the Ocean Journey, it ended up being only about $60! Not bad for two people!
• We were going to get something to eat before we went into the aquariums, but no one was open yet for lunch, so we went ahead into the River Journey building. I cannot express how much I love the aquariums! I could go every month and never get tired of seeing all the different fish and animals! I'm like a little kid. :P

The smaller turtle was swimming close to the bigger turtle the whole

time we were watching them. It looked like the little one was trying to

get a kiss!

 

Nemo! 



• After the River Journey, we went to eat lunch. We wanted to eat at TGIFriday's, but the wait time was 45 minutes or more, so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings instead. It was really good and I was starving. I had the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Wrap, which I always have. The lady was so sweet, she brought me a huge handful of celery to munch on while we waited for our food. I honestly have no clue what J ate, since I was so absorbed in my food. Haha.
• We played games while we ate. J played some kind of poker and I played the Lunchtime trivia. I won...twice. Although, I played by myself the first time. Haha!
• After lunch, we went to watch the IMAX movie. It was so pretty to see the different ocean creatures up close. Some of them were really scary though, like the eel. J fell asleep during the movie and I had to keep nudging him. Also, they told us to move into the middle of the theater with no empty seats, because they had sold out of the show. So, I was sitting to very large lady who kept hitting me with her elbow.
• After the IMAX show, we headed back to the aquarium to tour the Ocean Journey. J was so tired and it was so incredibly hot in there, that we really just cruised through so we could get out sooner. Plus, it was so crowded! I have never seen it so busy there before. We did spend a little time at the Ray tanks, so I could pet them. I never miss that opportunity!
• When we left, we had to walk all the way back to the car which was parked in the lot in front of the River Journey building. As we were walking through the parking lot, I spotted a $20 bill under a van. I grabbed it before the wind could carry it away. There was no one around, so I just kept it. J looked to see if there was more and he found $2! (Which we would need Sunday!)
• We got to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express), checked in and immediately stripped down and put on our swimsuits! I was more than ready to swim!
• The pool room was WAY TOO HUMID so J cracked open the door to the outside and stuck his flip-flop in so that it couldn't shut. It cooled off after awhile and it was more tolerable. I stayed in the pool a good hour or more. J could only handle so much of it. It was a salt-water pool, so to my tired pregnant body, it felt really great!
• After I had a craving for some milk while swimming, J went to the front desk to get me some milk and to get his phone from the room so we could listen to some music while I swam. When he came back, we looked outside and it was snowing! It didn't stick, but it was really cool to see it snowing outside while I was in a swimming pool inside!
• After I got all pruney and super-tired, I got out and we rushed upstairs to finish drying off and decide where to eat for dinner. I laid down in the super-hard and uncomfortable bed and fell asleep for an hour or more. J let me sleep while he got dressed and left the room for awhile. When I woke up, he was back and I had a bad headache. I dug out my one reserve of Tylenol and took it to try and relieve my massive headache. It didn't really help that much, so I went ahead and got dressed for dinner.
• We headed towards the mall about 10 miles away to find somewhere to eat. We didn't see anything along the way and ended up eating at Red Robin (YUM!) which was attached to the mall. It took forever for our food to come out and I was starting to feel really bad. By the time the food got there, I was already really nauseous. And then, to make matters worse, they brought me my chicken sandwich with onions on the plate which really made me sick. The waiter had to take it away to remove the onions and replace my lettuce and tomatoes that had been touching it. I ate several of J's sweet potato fries while I waited for my food to return. When our waitress brought my plate back, I scarfed down my sandwich and ate a few fries. I finished my chocolate milkshake (which was really just vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and not enough of it...) and I was ready to go.
• We went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. We watched a little TV while we waited for more pillows to be brought up and then tried to sleep. I say try, because I was so uncomfortable! The mattress was so cheap, the springs were stabbing me in the hips and shoulders and everywhere else! I probably got about four hours of sleep before I woke up for good at 7:30 (30 minutes before the alarm went off...of course) with another headache.

This post is already really long, so I'll continue our weekend recap tomorrow with Sunday and Monday. :) I'm not really sure if this post constitutes random, but I'm going to say it does! If you're thinking of any random thoughts, be sure to write a post and then link up at Stacy Uncorked!

 

 
 
 
 





Gone Again?

It seems every time we get used to being together, the Army is going to make sure we remember what it's like to be apart. J has drill this weekend, then he leaves for Savannah on the 12th and will be gone until the 29th. Then, he leaves somewhere around March 27 for school in Pennsylvania until the second week of May. Can we not get a break here?  Seriously...let's just go ahead and make sure he's gone for our 4th anniversary, too. Especially since he has been gone for our last two anniversaries. Might as well make it a habit.

*stepping off soap-box now*

I hope everyone is surviving winter! We certainly are. We haven't had any snow and our temperatures range in the low 40's to the upper 70's. Feels like spring if you ask me! We even had tornadoes a few weeks ago. They really messed up several parts of Alabama. 

Jeremy and I decided, since we won't be together for  Valentine's Day this year (again), we would celebrate before then. So, last weekend (since he had drill this weekend and leaves next weekend) we went to Maggie Valley, NC!

We spent Friday night in Maggie Valley. When we woke up, Saturday, we went up to the ski area to see what it was all about. It was really cool to see snow, where there really wasn't any anywhere else in Maggie Valley. It was wicked expensive to ski, though. Plus, we didn't have any cold weather gear, like ski pants. We drove over the mountain into Cherokee and then  through the park over into Gatlinburg. We spent all day there. It was a lot of fun! We bought tickets at the Ripley's Believe it or Not! Aquarium for only $4.99! They have incredible rates for military! {Just show your ID!} We then walked all over the place just looking at everything. We stopped in several places, but didn't buy anything since we really wanted to eat first. We ended up eating at T.G.I.Friday's since we don't have that restaurant in Anniston. It was so yummy! We had fried green beans and pot stickers for appetizers and I  had Bruschetta Chicken Pasta and Jeremy had a burger.  {I think} I have a hard time remembering what he ate. I was so hungry, I wasn't really paying  attention to him. Haha! After eating, we went walking and rode the Ripley's Moving Theater ride. It was really cool. I've done it several times before, but Jeremy had never done it. Then, we rode Earthquake The Ride! Don't do it! It was the lamest ride I have ever been on. Waste of money and time. 

We had a sign made at The Sign Company of Gatlinburg.

Then, we went to the aquarium. I LOVE the aquarium!  I didn't take my camera in, so all of the pics are still stuck on my phone for the time being, but I will post a few of them later when I get a chance to free them! LOL. 

After the Aquarium, we walked around some more and picked up our sign. {It took an hour to make.} We stopped for awhile near the middle of the town, trying to figure out if we wanted to play put-put. {It's our favorite thing to do on vacation!} But, the prices were too high and it was pretty windy and chilly. So, I stayed behind while Jeremy walked back to the parking deck behind

the aquarium. I waited about 20 minutes before he came to get me and while I was waiting, a couple got engaged right beside me! It was really cool to see. When he got down on his knee, a crowd started forming behind the couple, in front of me. Everyone clapped when she said yes. It was so sweet! :) 

After J picked me up, {I was nearly frozen!}, we went back to Maggie Valley to find somewhere to eat dinner. We wanted to eat at Butts on the Creek {we ate there for our first anniversary and it was amazing!}, but when I called the number listed for them, it was out of service. We drove by there and it was completely pitch-black. The only place open, looked like a locals-only kind

of place. So, we drove over to Waynesville and ate at Nick & Nate's. Jeremy had pizza and I had a Turkey Club. It was really good. Afterwards, we went by the tubing place in Maggie Valley to find out times and pricing. They only do runs every two hours, and they were just starting one, so we would have to come back later or on Sunday. It was $20 each! I told J that we might come back Sunday while the sun was out. We ended up not going. I told him I would rather do something on the way home than freeze to death and have to change clothes in a gas station bathroom since we had to check out of our hotel room by 11. So, we slept in late

and checked out around 10:30. We got on the road and stopped in Sylva for breakfast at Bojangles. It was really good. We bought 2 biscuits each and ate only one, so we ate the second one for lunch and didn't have to stop again. When we got to Atlanta, J wanted to stop and watch a movie. We stopped at Atlantic Station, walked around and watched a movie. {Underworld 4...or whatever it was.} Then, we finally headed home. I was so tired! And I wasn't even driving. 

All in all, we had a great time. :) It's going to be awhile until we have a chance to go anywhere together, so I'm glad we had the money to take this opportunity. Now, we have to start packing to move. Ugh. I really love our apartment, but hate how far away it

is from anything. Especially how far it is away from my doctor. We're going to start trying to get pregnant in June. Since I don't ovulate, I have to take a pill to help. Hopefully, it will work. Wish us luck!

RTT: Reading, Reading, Reading

I can't believe it's already Tuesday. Time flies. I'm glad that this month is almost over. I'm ready to get my fall decorations out of storage. And I'll be changing the look of the blog! Let's do this random thing which will mainly be re-capping the weekend. That's how it goes...

If you're participating in RTT, be sure to link up with Stacy at Stacy Uncorked and leave her a comment! I'm sure Princess Nagger and Little Dude will be up to something! Don't forget to be random!!!

•  J and I left for P'cola Thursday around 3:30 after he got off work and showered. Of course, we had to stop a million times, so we didn't get there until after 9. 
• I got to spend a lot of time with J's brother's wife, Kelly. I adore her. She cracks me up and we had a great time getting to know each other better. They used to live in NH, so this is only the fourth time I've had the opportunity to spend time with her. 
• We had a great conversation about using the phrase, "Bless you/his/her/their heart". lol. 
• The guys went fishing Saturday night after we played mini-golf. {Side-note: J picked the place to play. Sam's Funland or some such place. It was pretty horrible. The course was under trees and there were about a million mosquitoes. I got bit quite a few times. I'm still itching. And it was really humid and hot.} Kelly and I were going to swim after golfing, but their apt complex was having a party, and there were way too many people at the pool.
• Kelly and I watched "The Red Violin" on Netflix. I had tried watching it before with my brother-in-law, but I fell asleep. It really is a great movie. 
• The guys were gone so long, that by the time they got back, it was after 1 and J and I didn't get to bed until after two. Needless to say, we didn't get up until late Sunday morning, which ruined my plans to spend the day at the beach. :( We had time to shower, pack and eat breakfast before we left. Then, we went by the beach so I could get some sand for Mama. We had Sabrina with us, so we couldn't stay more than a few minutes. {We left the car running with the air on so she would smother to death.} Afterwards, we stopped by Chris and Kelly's apartment to say goodbye. 
• We got home around 7:30. It was like someone sucked all the energy out of me! I was exhausted. Especially since I drove the last 3 hours. On the plus side, it felt GREAT outside when we got home. No humidity and about 89°F. Perfect weather. 
• 'Bina had a great time riding in the backseat but eventually, she wormed her way to the front. So spoiled.  
• My new favorite app is Jango. Free music! On. my. phone. Need I say more?
• I'm having a hard time thinking of blog posts. I've noticed I'm only doing memes. :( This is not cool. I need to do more. At least, I feel I should do more. 
• Saw a cop chasing some man out of a gas station in FL. We stopped to get gas and a cop pulled up to the pump next to ours. He got out of the car and was sauntering towards the store when a man came out of the store and saw him. The man started sprinting around the corner of the building and the cop took off after him. He didn't catch him though. I snapped a pic of the cop when he was walking back to his car.

• Finally finished "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood last night...wow. Talk about Dystopian... It's a must-read for everyone!
• The weather is slowly turning into fall! Last night it was so nice outside, with no humidity! Pray that it keeps being nice, so we can finally open up the windows at night instead of running the air conditioner 24/7! 
• I'm re-reading "All Together Dead" from the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. It's been awhile since I've read about ole Sookie, so I can't remember what's going on. Then, I'm going to read the last four of the series. I can't wait! I'm trying to catch up to where I'm supposed to be on my reading list.  Only 22 weeks in this year left and I'm way behind! Only 43/100 books read!!

Have a great Tuesday everyone! :) 

 

Six Word Saturday

We're at the 

beach in Florida!

Aren't you jealous?? 

I would be.

Hope everyone's having 

a great weekend!

♥

If you're going to participate in 

six word Saturday, be sure to visit

Cate at Show My Face. Leave a comment

and link up!  

 

Mil-Spouse Friday Fill-In

 These are some really interesting questions this Friday. Are you a Mil-Spouse? Then you should definitely check out Wifey's blog, Wife of a Sailor and join in every friday!

1. When you vacation what type of vacation do you like to take (beach, historic, adventurous, food oriented, etc.)? submitted by Megan Dub-Yuh 

I love the mountains. But I also love unplanned road trips. Those are the ones that I remember the most when I was little.

2. What is your best memory associated with a song (you know we all have tons!) submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife

Oh wow. I do have so many; it's hard to think of just one. "When I Get Where I'm Going" by Brad Paisley reminds me of my Daddy. I love that song.

3. If you had six months with no obligations or financial constraints, what would you do with your time? submitted by Married to the Army

I'd go on a road trip! I'd visit all the places all over the world, that I've always wanted to see. 

4. What is one thing about you that people do NOT typically notice at first that you wish they would? submitted by Our Motto is Patience

Umm... I can't think of anything. 

5. submitted by The Three Turners: It's a summer of sequels, and if you had to live in one of each of the following "worlds" (there are three total) which would you choose and why? 
--X-Men: Be a Mutant, what would your power be? Well, I'd definitely be a mutant. I wouldn't want a power that could hurt people. I think Mystique is cool. She can look like whatever she wants.
--Harry Potter: Be a Witch or Muggle? Harry Potter! I'd totally be a witch! I actually had a dream about a Harry Potter-esque world last night. LOL. J and I love us some Harry Potter. We will definitely be in the theatre when the last half of The Deathly Hallows comes out!


--Twilight: Be a Vampire or Werewolf? I'd be a werewolf. I couldn't stand the thought of killing someone to drink their blood. Ewww!

RTT: A Tomato!!!! A what?? A TORNADO!!

It's time for Random Tuesday Thoughts, which used to be hosted

by Keely at The Un Mom, but she is currently on hiatus. Therefore, I

have decided to host Random Tuesday Thoughts as well as her blogging 

buddies Julie, Ane,Stacy, Cass and Raven .

If you want to participate, just link up with Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post.

Be sure to use your RTT's URL and not your entire blog's URL.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! :) 

So, I haven't been blogging in awhile. I apologize for that. I just haven't

been in the mood lately. Especially after Jeremy left Saturday the 8th.

I lazed around the entire weekend and went to Nana's

with Mama Monday. Tuesday I did laundry all day and packed to 

go to Amanda's (my sister). Wednesday I left home and 

headed to Springville with Sabrina. {She was really depressed-looking

because Daddy was gone to AT. ): }

When we got there, we got settled in. Then my sister wanted to 

go get groceries and snacks for our trip. When we were done, we 

drove to get J so I could see him before we left for Mississippi.

Unfortunately, he didn't tell me that he was all the way in Tarrant. We drove

way out of the way to get there. And then Amanda got mad because J

was still sick. {Not my fault, I thought he was better.}

Anywho... J and I spent the night at Mama's since Amanda moved

her guest bed over there. J had a co-worker {i.e. another soldier} pick

him up from Mama's, so I didn't have to drive him at 6:30. {ridiculous!}

After I had a shower, I went over to Amanda's to help her get the 

babies ready and the car packed. We didn't leave until almost 1:30.

Then, we stopped in Trussville to get something to eat since

Boog hadn't had anything for breakfast. We all ate, and I fed The Princess.

Then we finally got on the road to Mississippi. {FYI, we were

going to MS to see Amanda's high school friend, who we'll call "the friend". 

She had asked Amanda to come spend the weekend with her, but Amanda

didn't want to drive all the way to MS by herself with two babies, so when she asked

me, I said I would go.}

We drove forever to get there. Had to stop three times for dirty 

diapers and bottles. {Because I'm sure you want the details...} 

The first time we stopped,

was because we thought The Princess had a dirty diaper, but alas,

it was Boog. {Still not potty-trained.} Then we had to stop to make

a bottle for The Princess. Not too long after that, we had to stop

to change her diaper. Finally, like literally 6 hours later, we 

made it to Clinton, MS. {This chick lives in the boonies.}

When we get there, we start bringing all of our stuff in and the friend

shows us where we're supposed to sleep. She has a fold-out

toddler couch for The Princess to sleep on.

Like this, but with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it...

For Boog, she has a crib mattress on the floor. For Amanda,

she has a twin-size bunk bed mattress on the floor. {Did I mention

Amanda is pregnant??} And for me, she has a twin-size bunk bed in another

room. Ok... That night, we move all the beds into her boys' bedroom {They 

slept with her.} so we can watch TV to go to sleep. The babies refuse to go to

sleep. We all swap beds a few times before we end up getting 3 hours of 

sleep. It was horrible. It was really hot in the bedroom and there was

absolutely NO noise. We all sleep with fans, so not having a fan

or air-conditioner noise was torture. 

When we woke up Friday morning, there were tornado watches for most

of the state. We got up, showered and dressed quickly and headed out to 

the Science Museum in Jackson. {We didn't want to stay at

the friend's home since she lives in a trailer.} On the way, we 

stopped at Wally World to pick up a few pillows {She only provided 2 pillows

for the 4 of us...}, a bottle brush and some dish liquid {She doesn't use it

at all? Ok.} Before we could check out, the friend comes rushing in with

her two boys {She went to pick up the 8 year old from school} and 

told us the tornado was 10-20 minutes away. Something like that. I 

rushed through the check-out line to buy my pillows, contact-solution

{I forgot my glasses at Mama's house!!! Panic! I only had the one pair

of contact lenses and I never sleep in them. But was forced to since

I didn't have a lot of contact solution.} and hair clips. Amanda didn't 

even get to buy the things she needed.

We rushed {and what I really

mean is, we broke a few laws getting to the Science Museum. The friend

drove like a maniac and it was already raining. It was really hard to follow

her.} to the museum and I jumped out and grabbed the babies and 

the friend let her two boys out on the sidewalk with me. I carried

both babies {it was raining.} while the boys walked in front of me to the

overhang in front of the building. We waited about 5-8 minutes before

Amanda and her friend got up there. When they did, we all were 

directed to the bottom floor to wait out the tornado warning. {Plus side- we 

didn't have to pay to get in. Score!} We waited

in the caterpillar exhibit for around 30 minutes with about 100+ school-aged

kids jumping, screaming and playing around us. Surprisingly, The Princess and

Boog were really well-behaved!

After the warnings were over, we got up and checked out the exhibit and 

the rest of the museum. It was pretty boring since it was for school-aged kids.

Boog got in trouble a few times for running out of our sight. Amanda and I 

took turns carrying The Princess and the diaper bag since she hadn't

bought a stroller for her. {We have since found one.}

Wish we had had it while we were at the museum. This little Princess

weighs a lot! LOL.

After the museum, we headed back to the friend's home in Clinton. 

On the way there, we passed over the tornado's path of destruction.

I snapped a few pics, so we would have proof of our "near-death experience".

Pretty impressive, but the guy who was dumb brave enough to record

the actual tornado got much better footage:

And when I get on YouTube to find the video that my sister saw, I find that

there is more than one video... more than one idiot, brave person out trying to 

record a tornado... If you watch this video, you will see the Chik-fil-A next to the Wally

World that we were at 20 minutes before the tornado hit, less than a block away. 

Pretty scary. Thank God, we "got out of dodge"...*snicker snicker*

Anywho... We stopped by a grocery store and bought some real food to

make for dinner and finally got a bottle brush at a Dollar General. That night,

the friend borrowed a box fan from her mother-in-law and we finally got some

sleep. After the friend and Amanda took the kids to the park, {while I stayed behind

with the sleeping Princess, to wash our clothes and pack up our stuff}, Amanda

came back to pick me and The Princess up so we could get something to

eat with the friend before we left town. 

We finally headed out of town after 3:30 {I think} and we made it to Chunky, MS,

{No, I'm not making that up..it's an actual town.} when the tire started making

a funny noise. I asked Amanda if it was the road, she said she thought it was.

When we went over a smooth bridge, the tire was still making the noise, so she slowed

down and it got worse. We pulled off at the exit for Chunky, MS and I got out to

check out the tire. Sure enough, the tire was split.

 

Amanda called her insurance agent and they sent someone out to put the

spare tire on. We waited over an hour for the guy to get there. While we were

waiting, at least 7 people stopped to offer assistance, including a sheriff. 

Thank you citizens of Chunky! We both joked that we were moving there

since the people were so nice. ☺ 

 The Princess "driving" while we wait.

To keep him from sitting in the car, I made up a game for Boog.

We threw rocks at this sign. It was a lot of fun! No really! When we left, he cried,

"I can't throw my rocks!". Poor little guy. :( 

When the tire was finally fixed, we followed the guy to the Wally World in

Meridian, so Amanda could get some cash to buy a new tire. It was of

course, Saturday night and everywhere else had already closed for the night, 

so we had no choice but to use the guy-who-fixed-the-tire's friend. 

We followed him into the middle of nowhere and I stayed in the car with the

babies while Amanda helped the man unload the luggage to get to the

bad tire in the trunk. They replaced the tire in less than 10 minutes and we 

were on our way. 

We didn't get home until after 11pm. We were so exhausted. We

unpacked the car and got the babies ready for bed. Amanda, Tim and Boog

crashed and I rocked The Princess to sleep and then laid her in her crib. Then, I headed 

for bed myself. Despite being in a familiar place, I didn't sleep well. Over-exhaustion

probably. After going to the park Sunday, I left and went to meet up with J

in Trussville. Of course the check-engine light came on while we were down

there, so J got under the hood to find out what was wrong. He couldn't find the 

problem, so he sent me on my way and he headed back to his unit.

I got home and Sabrina and I settled in to watch some movies before bed. 

The next day, Monday, J got to come home after half a day. We took the car 

to get the codes read and to pick up supplies to do an oil change. Turns out,

I didn't tighten the gas cap all the way the last time I filled up, so there was

an engine emissions read-out. Oops...my bad! 

After getting the car checked out, we went to the mall and had some Chik-fil-A

and watched a movie, Arthur. It was really funny and I definitely recommend it! 

Tuesday, we just "chillaxed" at home since J had to go back to work Wednesday

morning at the crack of dawn. 

Sabrina and I just chilled at home the rest of the week until J came home a day

early on Friday. :) We had a Harry Potter marathon Saturday and then again

Sunday night. Most of Sunday we cleaned. I'm not really sure what

he did, but I cleaned out the spare bedroom and washed clothes. LOL.

Yesterday he went back to his regular job and I washed clothes and cleaned the

living room. Today I haven't done ANYTHING but blog and watch Ugly Betty. 

I'm not feeling real productive. 

I did call to reschedule my doctor appointment

to check on my thyroid. Hopefully my levels haven't changed, so I won't

have to have another prescription. I don't feel like the one I'm on is

helping me at all though. I still feel like a zombie most of the time.

And did I mention I make lizards look soft and silky?? Seriously,

I'm flakier than a high school cheerleader... haha. Just kidding. 

If anyone has an recommendations on how to treat my scalp

and forehead, that would be awesome.

I hope this is random enough for everyone! Maybe now I can get back into the swing

of blogging everyday more frequently. :)

BTW, the title of this post is from a book I read when I was much

younger. But, I can't remember the title. :(

I hope everyone had a very blessed Easter and a great weekend!

Keep on being random!

Don't forget to link up with Mr. Linky!