Atonement was a really sad movie ...

good, but sad :(

ON sale Correction

Ok, they do have some things on sale for 50% off, but after looking at my receipt, I realized I may have been mistaken about the double discount. I think it's just 50% off the original price, which for some things is still a pretty good deal, but for things like t-shirts, is still higher than I like to pay. :)

Anyway, if you decide to check it out, please let me know. Now I'm a little confused because there was definitely a 50% off sign near the clothes, and I thought it said 50% off clearance. Maybe it was mislabeled and I should have said something, or maybe I just read it wrong. Now I wish I could go back and look. Sorry for the confusion. Still, 50% off is a decent discount.

shout out to the lady who's bored in her cubicle

HIII! :) I know you posted at 10:45 and that was a few hours ago so I hope your day has picked up by now, but if not (and assuming my blog is on your google reader, which maybe I shouldn't assume so maybe I'll shoot you an e-mail just to let you know this post is for you), here's something for you to read, albeit not very inspiring or interesting, but something. It's times like these that I'd get sucked into adding things to my Facebook profile. Oh the time I could spend. Anyway, only 4 more hours 'til quittin' time!! (yay)

ummm, here are some jokes I looked up just for you ....

"Well, congratulations to Barack Obama, the big winner of the Democratic caucus. Stunning victory. He got 57% of the youth vote, 35% of the female vote, and 100% of Iowa's black vote, a guy named Larry." --Jay Leno

"Obama and Hillary argued last night over which candidate the Republicans are most afraid of. Interesting. I don't want to take sides here, but I think it's pretty obvious which candidate Republicans are most afraid of, John McCain." --Jay Leno

Hillary's Deal With the Devil

Hillary was finishing up a day as Senator for New York when the Devil suddenly appeared in her office and made her an offer...

"I am here to offer you a deal," the Devil said. "I will give you unlimited wealth, even more power, and a media that will pander to your every whim. In return, all I ask for is your soul, the souls of every member of your family, and the souls of all your constituents."

Hillary pondered for a moment and then asked, "Unlimited wealth and power?"

"Absolutely unlimited," the Devil asserted.

"A pandering media?" she asked.

"They'll fall over themselves to support you, no matter what you say or do," the Devil assured.

"And you want my soul, my family's souls, and the souls of my constituents?" she asked.

"Yes. All of them," the Devil answered.

Hillary was deep in thought for a moment, then finally spoke:

"So...what's the catch?"

if you want more you can go to this website. Hope that brightened your day a little. :)
Blessings

ON sale

I just wanted to let those mom's of young children out there, know that Old Navy is having a 50% off clearance SALE right now at the Newport store up here in RI. From talking to other moms in the past, I've learned that sometimes these sales are nationwide, so I just thought I'd mention it like I promised Dana I would when I saw it again.

For those of you who don't know, it's not 50% normal priced items and then put on the clearance rack, it's 50% off items already ON the clearance rack! This is the cheapest way I've found to buy decent clothes for future seasons for the kids. It's definitely cheaper than Wal-Mart and when you consider that they'll probably last longer, it's a steal.

Anyway, just wanted to pass that along in our network. :)

Total eclipse of the moon

Hey, it's not too late, go watch the lunar eclipse. It's about 2/3 done out here on the far East coast, but central time should be beginning ... soon, it almost has a hint of pink! So cool! The next time will be 2010. So pretty.

completely random

Super Tuesday is almost here... are you excited?!! The field is being narrowed, decision time is coming.

Hilarious, Night Rider is coming back! The next thing you know, the Smurfs will be on!

The Hunt for Red October is such a cool movie!

I'm still hoarse & flemmy from a week ago ... this has to end! I'm almost out of Mucinex.

Now we might move in April. Tune in next week, it could be March! :) Praise the Lord! He's in control! He knows my steps before they're taken.

new year, new name, new blog, new un-resolution

Surprise! :) I really didn't plan on changing everything, but when I was revising my poetry blog name, this new name for my main blog just hit me. My name, Leigh, actually means "from the meadow" and so I thought it would have more meaning and be fun. Plus, I really like the verse I found to go with it and I think it really fits since we're raising little ones.

Will is planning on helping me edit the picture, but it's from the Smokey Mountain National Part in TN where Will and I went after he got back from deployment in June of 2003. We celebrated our second anniversary there and just a few months later, I was pregnant with Charley. The meadow in the picture is at Cade's Cove. (and I have a cousin named Cade!)

Now if I could only finalize the poetry blog and get brave enough to post something I've actually written, gulp. :) It's still fun to have it there and hopefully it will encourage me to write more.

As for the new un-resolution . . . since I have been married, it has been a struggle for me to plan and make meals. Other things I get easily but this, for me, is hard. It's not something I really enjoy; I'm more of a baker. Cookies, pastries, especially pies, that's my favorite, but other than some of the prep work of cooking, it's not something I get excited about. This could be b/c I'm fighting to cook while I watch the kids and keep the house picked up right before Will gets home and a plethora of other things combined with the fact that I'm not too good at planning ahead in this area. However, Will has communicated that this is something that's important to him, no surprise there, but it's also something that we understood before we got married as being my role. It's something I've fallen short on for years and struggled with (even trying a few different methods to help, but with no success).

However, I think I just needed practice and determination to overcome this one. This year, for the first time, I have had meals planned out every week!!! (wave the flags, blow the horns, this is huge for me!) I've had all of the ingredients (with only a few misses I think) and had everything ready to go every week since the year started. The only reason some of the meals haven't materialized were because of illness, or last minute changes to our schedule, but not b/c of my unpreparedness (Yay, finally!). I even grabbed a small dry erase board to leave in the kitchen with the meals for the week on it. I NEVER thought I'd do this. Will and I have "struggled" with this for awhile and my constant answer was, "I'm not like your mother and you can't expect me to do things like her." While this may be true, I also want to serve my husband, and if having a weekly meal plan (something he's used to) can help relax and help him for some reason, even if I don't understand it, it's a small thing to do.

The funny part for me is that I didn't make any new year's resolution to do this, it just sort of happened until one day I realized I had been doing it and succeeding. I even mentioned it to Will and he hadn't noticed, but thought it was great! (I'm sure it was because he's been so at ease now that he knows the meals every week) LOL :) just kidding hubby, I love you!! :) Anyway, I'm glad it's working and I plan to try and continue to get this right for forever :) or until he decides to start cooking. Although, he did say he wanted to be a stay-at-home dad and let me support him with a singing career. Umm, let's just say I don't think that going to happen anytime soon, even though I do hope to get involved in the Norfolk Opera when/if we move back there. I'll keep ya posted! Anyway, until then, it's happy cooking for me (and baking!).

Election Year

I have to admit, I love politics. I follow from a distance since I'm a novice, but just the same, the competition for president and even some gubernatorial and congressional elections thrill me! It's probably because I love games and am so competitive by nature. Some years it's also because I don't like the president or want to see a change, but I'm since I'm not too passionate about politics, it's usually not that, unless I'm really fired up about a particular issue.

If I don't like a candidate, I try to remember that God has appointed the people who lead us and He is ultimately in charge even if it's someone dangerous. That being said, I know that a lot needs to change in D.C., in general, but since the field of candidates slim pickin's this year (in my humble opinion) I haven't decided who I want to vote for.

This is usually NOT me. I usually have my mind made up before everyone has even thrown in their hat, but not this year. There's just no one that I completely agree with on every issue (like that's possible) but more than that, one who encompasses the moral, fiscal, and constitutional conservatism that I desire. However, since the probability of the next president appointing a supreme court judge, I feel that I don't have to be as concerned with the next president's moral aptitude. I think as long as I focus on getting morally conservative congressmen elected, they'll have more control over the moral side of things that I care about.

The argument could be made though, that if a president has a poor moral character, this will ultimately affect how they run the country, but I believe that God doesn't necessarily insist that we elect Bible believing Christians to run the country every four years (Lord knows they are NOT always the best leaders), but instead to elect the person who will run the country justly, and best for our circumstances, with the Lords guidance, always! I can't encompass all the important criteria here in this short blog so before you start throwing things at the screen and stop reading my blog, try to read this in a broad sense, not as the absolute reasoning for electing a president.

This leaves me to concern myself with the candidates fiscal and constitutional conservatism. As of now, I will state my position: (gulp)

I like Guliani for his fiscal conservatism and for the leadership he showed in NY and plethora of positive changes he made there. However, I disagree with his position on immigration (too soft) and I feel iffy on a couple of other ideas he has, but feel that he is strong enough to get some good things done in D.C. and not be pushed around by the "thinkers" in charge there. Lobbyists . . I hope not, but maybe, who knows. I also don't like his position on abortion and personal history of cheating on his wives and not being in good standing with his own children. However, as I said before, I'm more likely to ignore some of the candidates moral positions b/c I don't think they will be able to affect the country as a whole in the next few years by a judicial appointee.

I would like McCain, but I think his service and time spent in Vietnam cost him a lot that would hinder him being a good president (I don't want to go into these things b/c he deserves our honor, but if you want to know, you can e-mail me).

I don't really care for Romney or Thompson. I don't feel like they understand what really needs to happen in Washington and prefer things just stay status quo. I like Duncan Hunter, and his strong immigration policy, but I don't like his energy policy. I think he might be too radical a conservative to unite behind and again would leave too much alone. This could be b/c I haven't heard enough from him b/c of his lack of press time.

Umm, who's last, oh yeah, Huckabee. I like his "flat tax" idea and think it would encourage saving and a more responsible use of money in Americans. I also think it would keep certain people from being able to avoid loopholes in paying taxes etc. by hiding money. You're only taxed on what you spend and don't pay taxes up front on what you earn. I also like some of his other policies that I can't remember right now, but my concern with him is that his lack of experience in D.C. would keep him from making good appointments and controlling lobbyists. He just seems so nice and soft and Washington is such a hard place. I could be wrong on this though, we'll see.

So there it is. I totally haven't made up my mind. I even ventured to the dark side for a bit to consider EVERY possibility even using Obama to stir things up for a few years and make some good changes and develop bipartisan work (since he hasn't been around long enough to make too many enemies), then elect a conservative to keep the good changes and throw out the bad ones. However, since he's a Democrat, I think that in the end, most of the changes he'd want to make would be too socialist for me such as not enough accountability and higher taxes etc. I also liked some of Edwards' ideas, but haven't studied him enough yet. Also, the fact that he's been characterized as earing his millions as an ambulance chaser and being a scuzzy lawyer concerns me, but it may just be character smearing, I'll need to look into that.

Obviously, I have a lot more studying to do, but in the mean time, I've been asking the opinions of everyone I talk to who's willing to share just to get more points of view and more ideas. So if you're willing, please post your thoughts and ideas and opinions. Maybe you could help me make up my mind! :) Thanks and happy voting!!

one New Year's resolution

add more laugh lines to my face :) Happy New Year!

growth spurt? and normal

I think Charley's growing ... he's eating a lot and being really clumsy. He keeps falling down randomly and bumping his head and running into things. I'll have to keep an eye on him to make sure this accident prone stage isn't just an active boy thing, or something else. For now though, I think it's because he's getting a little more lanky. :) We'll see.

Will is driving home tonight, as I write this. He'll only be home for 3 days, but still, it's been two months! I miss him so much and I know the boys miss him too. He'll be gone again next Tuesday for his brother's graduation and travel to TX with him, then fly to Norfolk to make sure our house is ready for new renters when we find them. So if anyone is interested, 803 Townsend Ct. Norfolk, VA 23502 is available beginning Oct. 8. :) You can see our ad at militarybyowner.com. Anyway, then he'll be home again for about a week and start department head school.

It will be so nice to get back to normal again (even if it means I have to start cooking regularly again-not one of my favorite things right now with two kids running around that need supervision). Hopefully it will get me to plan ahead more and do more prep-work in the morning or whenever I have down time. We'll see how it goes. I'm more of a baker, than a cook. :) I enjoy making pastries, pies, desserts etc. I think cooking will become more enjoyable once the kids are a little older though. I hope.

an update

Will was able to come home for a short, but very enjoyable visit last weekend. It turns out he had a cold which he unfortunately left with me. I've been struggling through that all week, but am feeling better now that's it's finally moving into my lungs. (at least I'm not sneezing anymore). Fortunately, the boys don't have it yet.

Some good news is that one of our babysitters came back into town and is going to give me a break 2 or 3 times a week for the next 2 weeks before Will's parents get here. This will give me a chance to get some much needed mowing done, and other chores as well as rest.

We've been doing better than I thought and Will has been gone for almost 3 weeks now. We've stayed busy, running around, playing with friends, going to the Barnes 'n' Noble book hour and playing in our pool in the backyard. My only guilt is that I had to relax on the TV watching this week b/c I felt so miserable. Even when Will left, I had managed to keep it down to a half hour to an hour a day, (it's usually none or half an hour). But this week, I was in survival mode. Hopefully, next week, between the babysitter, play dates and my feeling better, I'll be able to cut it off or at least back down.

Also, the weather has cooled down significantly which has been such a blessing. Since we've been able to stay busy, Will being gone hasn't been as awful as I thought. I think it will be even easier once Charley starts pre-school in September. I have friends that are on their own for a year, and am still thankful we haven't had to do that yet. I know that's a whole different ball game. This shorter time though, has been good practice for what we might face in the future and I'm looking at it as a blessing in disguise. :) It's been a good taste so I can prepare better for next time, which I'm sure there will be since he's not getting out of the Navy anytime soon.

Gotta go rest while the baby naps, happiness and health to all!

ps. Don't forget to pray for the missing miners, the Peruvians affected by the earthquake, the northern Iraqi's affected by the bomb and the upcoming hurricane season (here's hoping we'll have another gentle one). :)

zzzzzzzzzz

Oh yeah, another thing we did this past week was get a new mattress. We have had a hand-me-down one since we got married that was well-worn before we got it. We opted for a Simmons Beautyrest Plush top in a King size. :) The thing is 15 inches thick!! Anyway, it's so comfy and we're sleeping and feeling so much better on it. Mattresses can make a huge difference in how you feel and I'm so glad we finally got a new one.

We went with a King because we enjoy snuggling with the boys in the morning, but we were always getting trampled on before if they decided to start moving around. Plus, we plan to have more kids and thought it would be fun to have the space as a family. We wrestle, and tickle and play on the bed so it's like a soft, social gathering area at certain times of the day in our house. :) Also, my circulation has been bad since I was a kid. Limbs would fall asleep in elementary school if I sat the wrong way. So now, it's nice to be able to stretch out at night and not poke Will. Yes, I'm one of those people who can't touch anyone if I'm trying to sleep. Unless I'm really tired and we're snuggling. That works.

Before we got it Will said the only reason he slept on our previous mattress and not on the couch was because I was there. Now he actually looks forward to going to sleep. Amazingly, it also makes it easier to get up in the morning, because we feel so good! Time to go try it out again for the second night while I wait for Will to get home from the Boston airport with my Mom! YAY! zzzzzzzzzz

nothin' much, or not

I want to post something, but don't really have anything to say :) Just random thoughts that don't comprise a theme, which is always fun! :)

I'm stressing a little about Will leaving tomorrow to go on his 5 day boat trip. I have a few activities planned to keep us occupied and one night with a babysitter, but that's about it. They're getting easier to do things with, but Ben's fussiness combined with Charley's strong will at times, makes things very interesting and impossible for me to predict. I'm sure no one knows what I'm talking about. :) hee hee We may be watching some movies this week to help out. Although, I think I've been doing such a good job of keeping Charley down to watching only half an hour to no television each day.

Charley is almost fully potty trained as far as going pee. We're having some setbacks on the poop front. He hasn't gone in a day and when he went before, it was solid and hard for him to push out. We might have to start up the Glycolax again or try Fibersure that a friend of mine, Rachel, is using with her daughter. He's still trying to go, at least, and on the potty no less. He used to want us to put him in a diaper before he'd go. Who knows, he may want us to again once he starts going. Two steps forward, one step back, and one step at a time. We'll get there eventually. :)

Ok, I'll say it, (partially because another friend of mine, Christianne, mentioned it on her blog first), I've been having lots of baby thoughts lately! aaaaghh :) We've gone back and forth about timing etc. and agreed that we'd wait until Ben was around 2 to try again, and that's still the plan, and my hope. That doesn't mean you can always control your thoughts. It's not like their bad thoughts, just thoughts about holding a newborn, being prego again, nursing, swaddling, all the noises and smells and crying . . . knowing that both boys would love it and want to make it happy and take care of it. I loved giving birth at the Newport Hospital. They have a wonderful birthing ward with wonderful nurses and our experience there was, well, wonderful. But we're moving in a year and to do that with a newborn, especially when we're talking about moving states, or even overseas, would be quite a challenge. Not to mention, Will would need to focus on his responsibilities on his new ship and not need the stress of a baby not sleeping through the night yet etc. I want to be able to support him, not need him a lot. Anyway, we're praying about it right now so that hopefully these "thoughts" will go away, or God would confirm that it is the right time to have another, or I could just get pregnant, although birth control is working pretty well for us right now. God's bigger than the pill though. :)

Ok, that's all of my random thoughts for now, so now I can let go of them. Whew, one less thing to keep up with in my brain. :) ta ta

fun weekend

This weekend was a long weekend for us. Will had Friday and Monday off! He graduates Friday from the War College so things are slowing down a bit, which is nice.

Friday, we went to Sweet Berry Farm to pick some strawberries. It's such a neat farm with such a cute little farm store. We bought a wonderful blueberry scone there for a snack on the way home since both boys were tired and hungry and I forgot to bring snacks. oops!

Saturday, we had a small, last minute birthday party for Charley. We decorated cupcakes and they all played really well with all the toys, old and new. At one point, all 5 kids, including Ben (1) and a girl who is 6, were all downstairs playing together by themselves. The older girl babysat a little, but we also took turns going down to make sure things were ok. Anyway, it was a nice little get together and we were grateful that people could make it last minute to help celebrate.

We were sad that Will's mom and dad couldn't be here. They were supposed to fly up last Wednesday, but Will's dad got pretty sick and they decided not to come. I was really bummed because I was looking forward to a break!

Then Sunday was Music Sunday at our church. We had an instrumental ensemble play some pieces, and I sang a solo, Selah's version of "I Need Thee Every Hour" and a duet, Rutter's "The Lord Bless Thee and Keep Thee". The lady I sang with also sang a solo, "His Eye is on the Sparrow". Our music minister accompanied the whole thing and played some pieces on his own as well. It was really nice to hear everyone and afterwards, we went to a brunch at the Best Western for the choir. Yum!

Monday was kind of hectic, I spent most of the morning working on invitations for a shower and Will went to help a friend with his boat. After that we were supposed to go play beach v-ball, but we were so tired that we decided to skip it and go see a movie and eat out instead! We saw "Ocean's 13" and it was fun. Then we ate at Sea Shai Hibachi Restaurant, and walked next door to have ice cream after. It was a nice break.

A funny side note: Charley had a big accident in his undies while we were gone and the babysitter had to clean him all up, but she didn't put anything on him for bed. So he went all night w/o a diaper or undies, just his PJ's! I thought he would have wet himself for sure, but he came in at 5:20 in the morning to tell me he had to go potty. He was dry as a bone and went promptly. We were so proud of him even though it's probably a fluke. Who knows, maybe he's getting the hang of it finally.

Anyway, we had a full, fun weekend and once again felt so blessed to be together, for our 2 amazing boys, for our friends and neighbors, for our church, and for our blessed life in general. Thank you Lord!

Early Happy Father's Day!

The grill is the early Father's Day present, not the Porche Boxter below! Actually, I think the grill is kind of a late Mother's Day present as well since I don't have to cook as much when he's grilling! Look at that . . . it works out well for both!


First lesson in push-ups :)



Making peanut butter butterscotch chip cookies with Dad, Cheers!


Porche Boxter on loan from a friend out of town. Happy to watch your car anytime! Will and I got to go to the PP&M concert in this as well.

catching up

Yay, I finally get to post! We have been so busy with colds, Will finishing a trimester at the War College and my wonderful Mom coming out to visit. I know some of you have been wondering what happened :) We're still here and doing well.

A couple of shout outs before I get going . . .

Congrats to Jennifer O. on her engagement!!! Whoop!

Congrats to my sister-in-law Elanor on her engagement to Andrew Straight!!! (I don't know how to say hurray in Czech) :)


Late congrats to my friends Anna & Dana on being prego!! Anna is due in January and Dana is due in April!

More catching up . . .

my Mom came out to visit for a week and just went back home this passed Wednesday, we had a great time! We went to the Mystic Aquarium and that was really cool!

we're going to the Marine Corps Ball here in Newport next Saturday!!

Will has his wisdom teeth pulled on the 16th, ouch!!

Will's parents are coming on the 15th for 2 weeks to help out and for T-day.

I decided to join the choir at First Pres so I'll finally be doing something musical :) yay!

I'm still involved with the Sarah Circle Bible study on Tuesday mornings and the soup kitchen on every first Wednesday of every month, both have really been a blessing.

Ok, that's all for now, will post more in a second or two!! Thanks for reading!

helloooooo

That's the way Tigger would say it I think. (not that I'm a Tigger fanatic, I'm just in a bouncy mood) :) We've been so busy around here that I haven't had time to post, and things still are crazy with Will finishing up this trimester with a ton of papers and me getting more involved at church . . . and taking the boys places like the corn maze which I need to post pics about . . . anyway, I just wanted to say hi to everyone and I will answer e-mails soon. I did manage to post a pic from the PKD walk a post or two ago, but need to post a couple more as well.

Also, congrats to Rachel and Ian Maize on the birth of their new little boy, Ezra!! I have a link to her site over on the side if you want to see pics!

I need to post a congrats page for things that have happened to everyone lately (within the last year) :)

One more thing . . . I'm going to start a poetry/favorite quotes blog soon so please send me some of your favorites. I'm not a big reader so I need all the suggestions I can get. I also intend to start a favorite pics blog too so start thinking about pics to send me for that if you can. I'd really appreciate all the help I can get to have a great collection. Just e-mail me at LadyCayt@gmail.com . Thanks so much!!

I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful fall weather!