Our Happily Ever After

It has been AGES since I posted a blog. Life became so hectic and entertaining that I put the computer aside and rode the constantly fluctuating waves. I enjoyed ups, downs and I even think I found myself a little sideways a couple of times. But my life is blessed no matter what challenges I find myself facing. God blessed me with an amazing husband and a exuberant daughter. My prince returned home from a deployment, safe and sound, Chloe passed through a fourth birthday and we moved into a brand new home on base. To say things have been exciting would be the greatest understatement.

It has been ages since I did a "Not Me" Monday but I had so many good things to spill that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to divulge:

I certainly did not go to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead on Friday nor did I get as giddy about all the fun things to do there as my 3 year old did. And I most certainly did not enjoy feeding the goats with a silly grin on my face...


It was not me who sat in awe in El Mezcal while 40+ University of Kansas Sorority girls sang Happy Birthday to my little baby...


I also did NOT take pictures of these flowers simply because they instantly gave me a feeling of happiness (the simplicity of some things can be quite amazing)...

I am sure there were lots of other things that I did NOT do...

Such as:

-screaming "Go Cars" with my little girl as beat up cars plowed into each other at the demolition derby
-love all over baby Lyra hoping that someday I get to have #2
-cry all over my brother because I hate that we've never been close and most of the time all we say is goodbyes
-cruise down 32 highway cheesing on the back of my uncles Harley Davidson

and...

-miss my husband more and more as we push through these months of separation due to his deployment...

Nope, not me.

It has been quite nearly an eternity since my last blog. I blame it on the roller coaster of a life I live. I never have enough time to catch my breath let alone write a blog. But since hubby is officially deployed and its just Chloe and I flying solo for awhile I will definitely be blogging more often as I am going to have plenty of free time on my hands.

I don't have a lot to say today. Sunday is the day in which I allow myself to be completely and utterly brain dead so instead I will just post a few pictures of Chloe, who turned the big numero tres on Sunday!

I have been a blog neglector lately. I feel horrible about it but I have been so immersed in life that I just haven't had time to sit down in front of the computer and put my thoughts onto "paper". Opportunity struck today when I had to spend the day at home with Chloe, as she had a bit of a temperature this morning, and now that it is nap time for her I can tappity tap tap on the computer.

This week has been a trying one, even though it is only Tuesday, as we received some not-so-pleasant news from our Assistant Business Office Director, Danna, on Friday. It seems that census is down at our hospital so they have cut all non-clinical employees down to 32 hours a week. Now I know that it may not seem like much when you put it in perspective with the large amount of individuals out there who can't even get employment, but it does make things difficult for us as I share joint custody with Chloe's dad and am court ordered to drive to Wichita twice a month ( 2 1/2 hours away) twice a month so that her father can have his week with her. This is quite costly since gas has begun creeping back up.

My student loans come due next month and even though my pay just decreased by approximately $300/month, I will still have to figure out a way to make enought to pay my $150.00 student loan payment. I think that what I shall do is try to get on as a bagger at the commissary on my day off during the week, Wenesday. They don't get paid an hourly wage but they do make tips and I could cram those tips into a jar and hopefully make enough each month to pay those student loans.

I am trying my best to put my worries in the Lord's hands. I know he will carry me when I cannot carry myself but sometimes it is hard when you are the control freak that I am.

On a sunnier note, I did put in for a job working for the State of Oklahoma. Even if I start out at the minimum I would be making $3/hour more than I do right now which would be extremely beneficial to our family. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is the opportunity I have been looking for :).

Well my dryer just dinged at me so I guess I should fold the clothes before they wrinkle and get my Honey and I's sheets/comforter into the dryer so that we have something to sleep on this evening.

Have a blessed day!

So today I went for what I thought would be a regular ol' 2 mile walk here on base (the trail they commonly refer to "golf course"). Little did I know that I'd make myself a new pal because of my attempt to make a change from a very sedentary, and altogether unhealthy, lifestyle.

I left my apartment here on base with my phone in hand and my earbuds in place, listening to an old favorite, "Fancy", by Reba) and set my pace at a very brisk walk. Enough to raise the heartbeat but not enough to be lightly jogging. At about a half-mile into my walk a gentleman, probably in his late thirties or early forties, jogged up next to me. As a courtesy, as I was definitely not going his pace and would definitely be passed, I moved to the side of the trail to let him get by and muttered my usual cheerful "Hello there and how are you?" Normally I get a smile, a muttered response and I am passed. However, this was not to be the case today, Mr. Motivational (as I shall call him) slowed his pace to a brisk walk as well and asked me how I was doing. I was a bit taken aback and searched my head for an appropriate answer. I wanted to be polite but didn't want to drown him in information. So I told him I was wondeful and was out for a walk as I am making a lifestyle change. This intrigued Mr. M. So he asked if I thought I could increase my pace into a very light jog and keep pace with him. I told him that I am definitely out of shape as anyone could see but that I'd try. He then told me that he'd chat with me to make it seem as though we weren't jogging, just having a casual conversation.

Anywho, Mr. M and I continue at this pace and as he promised, we chatted it up like old pals. Mr. M asked me to explain to indulge him and explain what has made me decide on a lifestyle change... and I did. I divulged to him that I had been obese since my chubby cheeks graced this world with their presence, that I have an longing desire to join the Air National Guard and that I want to find a simple sort of satisfaction with the way I look. I know that I shall never be perfect and I wouldn't want to be either, but I don't want to be disgusted by myself either. (After I had diarrhea of the mouth and spilled all this to this complete stranger, I started to feel very silly and began to ponder if he was going to make fun of me as this gentleman was the perfect example of being physically fit) Mr. M once again caught me off guard when he began to tell me HIS story. Mr. M is an AF retiree who still continues to work at Tinker. But his story began over 20 years ago.

Mr. M, alot like myself, was overweight his entire youth and shortly before he went to Basic he found a friend who was a pro in the area of weight loss so Mr. M asked him for help creating a regiment to lose weight. M lost over 100 lbs before he went to see a recruiter. M explained to me that although he is fit and lives a very healthy lifestyle, there is still a chubby 17 year old in side of him and that will never change. He said that when he started losing his weight he had a hard time stopping, but through trial and error he learned that setting a reasonable and attainable goal, and maintaining that goal once you hit it, was the key to not becoming that overweight child again. He told me that he knew, without ever having seen me before today, that I could reach whatever goal I set. I was nearly to tears at this point.

We continued to jog and discussed our careers and before I knew it M tapped me on the shoulder and slowed the jog to a brisk walk again. By this time we had hit the officers club which meant we'd jogged a complete mile in what seemed like seconds to me (which to some is chump change as far as exercise but for this chunky chick it is amazing). He really had upheld his word when he said he'd keep pace with me and keep my mind off of the distance. M walked the remaining half-mile with me. As we were about to part paths Mr. M told me that he'd be here the same time next Wednesday if I needed a pal to keep me motivated.

And to think I had almost pushed the idea of going for a walk out of my head.

The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways...

I haven't posted in a few days as we had family in town this Memorial weekend as my honey will be shipping out very soon and his Mom and Dad definitely wanted to spend some much needed quality time with him before he deploys. So instead of writing a lot today I will instead share some photos from our very blessed weekend...


Chloe making me extremely nervous...

Honey's Dad patiently waited his turn to feed the blind Kangaroo


Chloe and Daddy feeding a very greedy goat...


Papa helping Lil Miss Chloe bowl...



The man of my dreams and I...



Hope you enjoyed!! I didn't get to snap as many of our family as I would have liked as we were just having to much fun to take pictures!!

Hey, I just wanted to post a quick note that although I have really started blogging lately, it is probably going to come to a standstill for the most part over the next two weeks. Christopher will be home from his field exercise today and I plan on spending every moment of the next two weeks enjoying my husband while I still can.

So if you don't hear from me for a while, I am still here, still alive and definitely thriving. Just taking advantage of what few moments I have left.


God Bless.

That is pretty much the only word that sums up my intense day.

My job is not physically demanding like other jobs out there, but you could never accuse it of NOT being mentally demanding. I spend 10 hours a day handling patient accounts for a eight story, two hundred and fifty bed+ hospital. I love my job but man oh man. When my fellow office guru decides to call me at 7:05am and tell me that she won't be in today, and Mondays are our busiest day phone-wise, I just knew my day would be anything but boring.

To me it felt as though the phone just never seemed to quit ringing, especially this afternoon. I love to take patient calls, even when they're mean, because no matter what I know I am helping (even if they don't recognize it) in some way. But I also have other duties I have to fulfill and when you are manning a huge hospital's customer service line almost completely alone you are bound to get frustrated, frazzled and altogether mentally fried. I walked out of work today feeling as though my brain could have seeped out of my already pained ears (as I have as sinus infection).

I guarantee you I will be talking about HCFAs and UBs in my sleep. I will snore CPT codes and HCPCs and in the morning I will wake up brushing the charge codes out of my teeth. But although I complain (as it provides a bit of mental release) I am thankful each and every moment for my job. I am not going to take it for granted at all in todays economy where people are fighting to keep minimum wage jobs. So before I lay myself to bed I will make sure to pray for those seeking jobs, those losing jobs and those who still have their jobs. I will pray for their endurance to keep looking, their faith in God and the fact that he will not ask them to carry more than they can bear and for improvement financially for our country as a whole.

So... I will leave you with this food for thought...

Our talents are the gift that God gives to us... What we make of our talents is our gift back to God.

I was going to write a lovely blog but would much rather enjoy a day indulging myself in my family so instead I am just posting this note to all the women in the world (and all you men who have to be daddy and mommy) saying Happy Mother's Day, because although you may not have bore a child of your own, you are a mother to someone :)

God Bless ♥♥♥
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P.S. I thought that the picture below of a Mbukushu Mother and Child was a beautiful photo to share on Mother's Day...

As the end of May creeps its way closer and June starts to float into my horizon, I have this horrible feeling of loneliness starting to overwhelm me. My handsome, and hilarious, husband will be deploying the first week of June. This will be Chris's first deployment as he was lucky enough to not go last year and it will also be our first separation since we were married in March of 2008. I think the hardest part will be the fact that I am still integrating myself to the atmosphere here in Oklahoma as all my family is 5 hours away in Kansas, so I will be almost completely alone with the exception of the lovely faces of the ladies I work with each day and my close, and absolute blessing from God, friend Tammy.

I will also have to continue to kiss my angel goodbye for a week each month as her father, since Chris is her step dad (but we call him Daddy), will still continue to get his visitations each month even during Chris' absence. Therefore there will be 7 whole days each month that I will have to come home to a completely empty house. I think that I will either be scrubbing every nook and cranny, working out every muscle in the human body at the gym or just coming to munch on a HG Sassy Southwester Egg Roll and climbing into my bed to lose my sorrows in my sleep.

I just ask that those of you who read this will keep me in your prayers. I am sure this all seems a bit selfish of me but I can admit that I am needy lol. I love my husband and one of the things I am most thankful for is coming home to the man I fell in love with and for 6 months, which I know is much shorter in the big scope of things compared to other deployments, I won't be able to fall asleep to the sound of him breathing and I promise that I am not taking that for granted each night until he leaves.

So I shall close on a lighter note with a picture of sweet Coheed who is growing like a weed:

and my miracle from the Lord:


God Bless
♥♥♥Rach

And the bonus is that the Mister likes it too!!




They are called PB-Nana Poppers and they came out of my HG (Hungry Girl) Book. My new one.

My favorite part, well besides the taste, is the calorie value.

For 5 of these poppers (way more than deliciousness than you get in your average 100 calorie pack) you are only looking at:

108 calories
3 g. of fat
2 g. of fiber
(for those of you counting weight watchers points this equates to 2 points making it an A-W-E-SOME snack)

All you need is a medium banana.
2 tablespoons Cool Whip Free, thawed (which I got on sale for like $0.98 @ WalMart)
1 tablespoon reduced fat peanut butter (we like to use Skippy Creamy Reduced Fat, yummm)

- Cut your banana into 20 slices
- Place 10 of those down on a plate and set the other ten aside
- Mix your cool whip and peanut butter in a small dish until smooth and creamy
- Scoop little spoonfuls of the mixture onto the banana slices
- Cover your 10 slices with the other 10 slices you'd set aside

** Throw them in your freezer for an hour or so and then **** BITE BITE BITE **** YUM YUM YUM **** ♥LOVE♥ **





On another note. Things are going good in Oklahoma. Had tons of fun at the Guthrie 89'ers festival on Saturday and I'll throw some of that up later!

Well.. Today is very colorless day. I see lots of black for the remainder of the day. Chloe leaves me today to spend her week with her Dad and I am already beginning to the feel the emptiness that this week will bring and we haven't even begun our 2 hour journey to Wichita.

Well... I shall post later as I do have some cute little pictures (and Chloe isn't looking at the camera in a single one) of our egg dying adventures last night.

Have a wonderful day!

So here are some more pictures of Chloe and Coheed from our day outdoors!!


It was wonderful just sitting on the cozy sheet I laid down on the ground and basking in the sun while my favorite sound, Chloe's laughter, was continually present in the background...

I love my life.

Well we just got home from an hour and a half at the park. Which I must admit was extremely entertaining; between Chloe and Coheed I was running in circles and loving every minute.



Chloe successfully learned the difference between X's and O's as we played a silly game of Tic Tac Toe.


Chloe also advised me that "You're embarrassing me." We're still fighting the potty training battle and Lil Miss had an accident so I changed her and while changing her reminded her, I must admit multiple times, that the potty is where this mess should have gone.


And I had to just include a picture of Chloe's hilarious happening hairstyle. Not just one, two or three piggys but FOUR piggys today!!

Now it is time for Round 2 - Bubbles !!

I think that Wednesdays are almost my favorite day of the week. Why hump day you ask?

Its because this is one of my days off as I work four 10 hour shifts in a week. This means that Wednesday is normally my day for running errands and having appointments. But Wednesday is also my day to immerse myself in my beautiful two year old daughter. I get to spend time with her without having any other major plans for the most part because it isn't a weekend so we're not making plans to do things with everyone else.

So today we're headed outdoors! The weather is lovely as is the company :). Plus Daddy is on Fire Duty for his exercise so he is sleeping right now and we want to make sure he gets plenty of sweet slumber.

So I am loading up some snacks, loading up Lil Miss and toting along my camera for some good fun and great pics. I shall post them later.

Have a blessed day!

I woke up this morning after yet another sleepless night, as my love is on Fire Duty for his exercise therefore he is working nights, but although I am tired and would rather climb back into my bed versus driving to work... I wont. :)

And so instead I'm trying to have a much more positive outlook on today. Instead of dreading the workload before me, I shall embrace it with open arms and focus on accomplishing as many things today as I can. So to each of you, I hope that this day is filled with many blessings and that rays of that beautiful sun shines down on you.

Oh, and tomorrow is my day off!!

P.S. Brittne: I am praying, yet again today, for your friend Pete. I am praying that God lays his hand upon Pete's shoulder and provides him the comfort and direction he'll need during this time of frustration.

Ta ta!!

Now introducing... Coheed Maxwell!!

Little Coheed, or Brother as Chloe calls him, blessed our lives on March 22, 2009 when he came home with us from Kansas to Oklahoma.



He has been such a blessing since the moment his padded paws pounced into our hearts!

He is a full blooded Boston Terrier and although in these pictures he tends to look black and white, in reality he is brendel. A beautiful swirling of black and brown. Our own marbled marvel.

Christopher, Chloe and I all adore him. He has moments where he pounces around attacking his favorite toy, the Prize Fighter Inferno, a silly red dog from PetSmart and at other times you'll find him curled up on our chest just wanting to be loved.


I just figured that I hadn't posted in a while and he seemed like a pretty good thing to post about. Have a wonderful Wednesday and God bless you all!

So I have decided to start a new tradition for my blog. Every Thursday I am going to give praise for all the blessings in my life. So often we find ourselves weighed down with disappointments, mishaps and frustrations. But in some of the simplest daily moments, rituals and motions can we find some of the brightest of lights. So as I said, each Thursday I will just bullet some of the things I'm thankful for.

~I'm thankful for the sound of Chloe walking through the door after Daddy picks her up from daycare.

~I'm thankful for the hugs, messy kisses and I love you that come almost immediately after the door opens.

~I'm thankful for my husband, the man who I envision my forever with.

~I'm thankful to have a job in an economy where so many have been forced to give up so much.

~I am thankful that for all my faults, there are still people out there who love me.

~I'm thankful to be able to put clothes on my child's back, food in her belly, a soft and warm bed to sleep in and unconditional love.

~I'm thankful for my friends, each and every one of you. Even the ones who don't participate much anymore, I am thankful for you too...


Those are just a few of the things that I am thankful for. The list is endless but I didn't want to keep those who read my blog in front of their computers on end...

P.S. I am thankful for YOU!!