Liebster Award

Last week, I was awarded the Liebster Award twice.   I'm almost positive someone gave me this award when Aubri was a newborn.  This time around, I will make time to comply with most of the rules and whatnot.

First, Becca gave me the award and then Roxy  gave it to me.  They each have a beautiful baby girl that is about the same age as Aubri.  If you don't follow their blogs already, go check them out.

The Rules

 1. List 11 facts about yourself.

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.

3. Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award.

4. Choose 11 bloggers with 200 or less followers to nominate.

5. Go to each bloggers page and let them know about the award.

6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

Becca's Questions:

1. What is your favorite quote?  I can tell you my least favorite quote.   It's, "It is what it is."  No joke.  Everything is what it is.
2. What is the first thing you notice about people?  This may sound weird but eyebrows.  I don't know why.
3. If you could live in any era of history, when would it be and why? I love 70s music.  So, I'm going to go with the 70s. 
4. What motivates you to exercise?  What motivates me to exercise is that I don't want to be the fat bridesmaid in my brother's upcoming wedding.
5. What grown up job did you want, when you were a kid?  I believe I wanted to be a math teacher.
6. Did you ever want to change your name? If so, to what?  I'm sure I did want to change it but I can't recall what to.
7. What single dish do you cook well?  I'm going to go with potato soup.
8. Where were you in life 5 years ago?  Five years ago, Matt was deployed and we had just gotten engaged.
9. What makes a house a home?  Family :)
10. What is something you have always wanted to try? I want to try Zumba but I'm afraid I'll make a fool of myself.
11. Which junk food is your weakness?  Chocolate chip cooks and peanut M & M's.

Roxy's Questions:

1. Where do you live?  We live in central Illinois.
2. Do you want to be living there? Why or why not? Yes and no.  We are actually trying to sell our house and move to a town closer to where we both work and where our families are from.
3. What is your occupation? My title is Accounts Receivable Specialist.
4. Is it your dream job?  I like my job. I'd love it if I made more money.
5. What is your favorite food?  I'm on a low carb diet.  So, anything with carbs sounds good right now.
6. What types of food are you afraid to try?  Sushi.  Really any seafood besides fish and shrimp.
7. What are your hobbies?  Spending as much time with Aubri as I can, in addition to working and going to school.
8. Do you like to workout? Why or why not? Like, no.  I do it though. 
9. What is your favorite type of workout?  Well, I have a gazelle.  I wouldn't say I really like it.  Matt said I could get a treadmill. 
10. What are your goals for this year?  Lose about 40 pounds, finish my first school related micro-goal, try to relax more.
11. What does your typical day consist of? Wake up, get ready, take Aubri to Mom's, mess around there until I absolutely have to go to work, work, go to Mom's for lunch and see my baby, work, go home, eat supper, play with Aubri, work out (maybe), rock Aubri to sleep, put her to bed, and then go to sleep.      

Thank you both for passing this award along to me!

If you are reading this, consider yourself a recipient of this award.  

Hope you are all having a great week! 

Army related news

I haven't talked about my husband being in the Army for awhile now.

The hubby was active duty Army, then Army Reserves, and now he is in the Illinois National Guard.

One weekend a month, he packs up his gear and leaves.  We live about 70 miles away from where he does his drill.  More often than not, he spends the night.  He is usually gone from 6:00 Saturday morning until 6:00 Sunday evening.

A couple of months ago, he signed a new contract.  A three year extension.  As of now, he has a commitment until July of 2016.  Around the same time, he was also promoted.  He is now a Sergeant. 

This all means a couple of things for us.

First of all, he will have a 10 + year (actually 12) commitment to the Army.  When you have a commitment of over 10 years, you can transfer your GI bill (the thing that pays for him to go to school).  From what I understand, he can't transfer it to Aubri because he already starting using it and it has to be used within 9 years from the time he started using it.  So, basically, we are going to try to transfer it to me.  If my school is paid for, I will go as long as I can.  Matt has done a great job with school and has one class left.  I'm super proud of him for going.  

Also, because of his promotion, he will have to go to WLC.  That stands for Warrior Leader Course.  I'm not sure how much of the details I can share.  But, what I can share is that it is a couple states away.  He will be gone for two and a half weeks.  And it's coming up soon.  

When I think about him leaving for two weeks, I get a little nervous.  Aubri has went from a perfect little angel that likes to sit on a blanket and play quietly to almost a toddler that likes to roam, yell, and get into things.  Taking care of her has become a two person operation.

But, then I remind myself, it's only two weeks and a half week.  I can totally do it. 

He should be able to text me and call me everyday.  We can probably even Facetime.  It's two weeks, not 15 months, or a year, or 9 months.  We will all be fine.  

The thought of him leaving is a big reminder.  A reminder that it could be a lot worse and it is a lot worse for some people.  Having him home with us every night is something I try to not take for granted.  I will never forget what it was like when he was deployed.  But, I think we both grew a lot when he was gone and looking back, I'd do it all over again.

Aubri and I will miss you!

Selling/Buying a House

I don't think we ever planned on living in the house we bought forever.  It's a nice house.  It is exactly how we want it.  Matt has his man cave.  The dogs have the yard.

There is a problem.  Our house is in a town that is about 15-20 miles from where we work.  And also where my parents live.  (My mom watches Aubri while we work.)

So, if we stay in our house that we are in now, how will Aubri get from school to our house if we both work past the time school gets out?

I also figured that we are spending about $300 a month driving back and forth to work.  

So, we have decided we want to move back to the town we work in and are from.

The price of a house in the town we live in now is a lot lower than were we want to go.  That's why we bought a house there in the first place.  That was also when gas was $2.50 a gallon.  (God, I sound old saying that.)

We stuck a "For Sale By Owner" sign in our front yard two weeks ago.  We've had people ask for pictures.  A few nibbles, if you will.  

I think there are somewhere around 40 houses for sale in the town we live in. On the other hand, where we want to go, there are six.  And all of them are no-gos.

If we don't sell ours by this summer, we will most likely list it with a realtor.  If we do sell it before we find something else, we can stay with my parents or rent somewhere.

At least we have made a decision to move.   That's a start.

Vacation is Over

Today, we had to go back to the real world.  No more staying in our pajamas all most of the day.  No more lounging around and watching Judge Judy.

Vacation was good to us.  Aubri had a great 1st Christmas. There were times during our vacation I just tried to freeze time and remember.  Remember all the little things.

Christmas morning at our house.

Christmas day at my parents.

Grandma & Grandpa got her a slide.

She got a horsie named "Sugar."

Here is everything she got.  Santa brought her the wagon, Little Tykes swing, and a few small things.

Partying in the garage on New Years' Eve.  

For the New Year, I am going to lose weight.  My brother is getting married next February and I don't want to be the fat bridesmaid.  I weight more now than I did a week after I had Aubri.  I never really much cared about how much I weighted.  Maybe that's the problem.  Anyways, here goes nothing.  I'm not posting "before" pictures of my fatass but I'll let you know the numbers.  I know I can do it, I lost 30 pounds once before.  Gained it back too, and then some.  

Hope you all enjoyed the Holidays!