I'm taking my life back!

And deleting Facebook!!! That's right! I'm getting rid of Facebook.

It so frequently dictates my mood. I read something that really irks me and I just get so worked up. I've decided that those who really care about me will find another way to keep up to date with my life. I'll find elsewhere to upload pictures for my relatives who live far away from us. People who want to know what I'm up to will find a way to get a hold of me. Plus, without spending half of my day on Facebook, I will have way more time to call my friends, haha. Facebook has made people lazy. You don't actually have to talk to people anymore, just read how they are doing on Facebook. It is ruining relationships, in my opinion.

I have already deleted all of my Facebook friends and all of my profile information. Once I move all of my pictures, I will deactivate my account altogether.

It's almost like a weight being lifted. I feel free!

One year "no 'poo"-versary:)

Today marks the one year anniversary of when I stopped using shampoo!

My routine has changed a lot over the last year, but I definitely don't regret the decision. For a long time I was using apple cider vinegar only and that was working really well. I only switched again because of the dreading process. ACV is a little too conditioning alone for dreads:). I'm back to baking soda and have added a few drops of tea tree oil and lavender, mmmmmm, smells so good!

This year has gone by so quickly!

Should we stay or should we go?

If you are the spouse of someone in the military, you've probably had thoughts similar to the ones I'm going to talk about in this post. Should we continue to be a military family or should we leave this lifestyle the next chance we get so that we can settle down somewhere.

A little background on my husband and my childhoods:

When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad was stationed in Korea with the Army. He came home for the birth, then had to go back. When he got back, we moved to Fort Hood, TX and lived there for two years. My dad got medically discharged and we moved back to my hometown. We lived there until halfway through my 9th grade year, then moved to Ft Jackson, SC because my dad had gotten back into the Army. We lived there for two years and moved back to my hometown, when my dad deployed.

So, for 14 of the 18 years that I was at home with my parents, I lived in one town. My mom and dad both grew up in that town. I got to graduate from the high school my parents went to. My grandpa still lives in the house that my mom and her eight siblings grew up in. That's what my normal is, and that's what I've always wanted for my family, but obviously this dream is not compatible with the military lifestyle.

My husband has been a military brat for almost all of his life. His dad was in the navy, his parents divorced when he was a tween and his mom remarried a man who was, and still is, in the Army. My husband has always lived the military lifestyle. The longest he lived in one place was about five years. He lived in eight places, that I can think of right now, before he turned 18. He doesn't understand my need to be settled into one place, because he's never had that.

So now for the pros and cons.

If we stay in the Army:

-We may have to move as often as every 3 years, but this also means the girls may be able to see different parts of the country and maybe even other countries.

-Will never really be able to buy a house without worrying about selling it if we have to move.

-Job security, this is huge for us. I think one of the main reasons my husband wants to stay in is because it's a reliable job, the chances of getting "laid off" are pretty slim unless you mess up. And even if he were to have to discharge before retirement we'd probably have plenty of notice. It wouldn't be like a two week notice or anything like that.

-Almost guaranteed upward mobility- it's very well laid out that if you do xyz in x amount of time that you will get promoted. Even if it takes you awhile to get promoted, there are raises for time in service, every two years.

-He will be eligible for retirement when he's around 40 years old. At this point he can stay in to get a higher percentage of retirement, or he can start a new career and eventually will be able to draw two retirement salaries. The con to this is that it won't happen until the girls are almost done with high school, which means we wouldn't get to settle down until the girls are almost out of the house.

If we get out:

-The uncertainty is scary, very scary. There's really no telling what will happen.

-Lack of job stability is definitely a huge con, although there's a good chance he could get hired in a federal agency of some sort, which would ease this a little.

-Potential to make more money, but also the possibility of making less.

-Would be able to buy a house and not have to worry about selling it a year later. Which would mean I'd get to paint my walls and renovate and the girls would have a childhood home.

-Girls would be able to grow up in one town, they'd have the same friends throughout their entire lives, if they wanted to.

-We'd have more control over our own lives. We could up and move where ever and whenever we wanted to, as long as we could find work in that new place. The town we live in wouldn't be determined by the Army.

When it comes down to it, my husband will probably stay in the Army. Even if we'd be happier out of the Army, it's a hell of a lot scarier, and I don't know if we could deal with the uncertainty. We had planned to leave at his ETS date, but the talk got brought up again yesterday. I saw the midwife who had been my midwife when I was pregnant with McKaleigh. She was a Lt Colonel in the Army and just recently retired. She's now working at the birth center where I had Adelaide. So hubby and I got to talking about how she's not very old at all, has a military pension and now has another job. Once again the appeal of being able to retire at such a young age came up. So who knows what is going to happen now. If I was a gambling woman, I'd probably bet on things just staying the same.

As Dave Ramsey has said "Change is painful. Few people have the courage to seek out change. Most people won't change until the pain of where they are exceeds the pain of change." Right now, I guess this just doesn't hurt enough. But I'm scared that I'll always regret that my girls didn't have a hometown.

Getting back to normalcy

The hubby went back to work this week. I was dreading it and looking forward to it at the same time. Part of me wondered how on Earth I would be able to handle both girls all on my own. Another part of me was ready to get back to normal life and was getting a little tired of my husband being here all the time;).

Overall, this week was GREAT! I got up at a decent time everyday, worked out 4 of the 5 days, and didn't spend too much time watching TV or being on the internet! We stayed home for most of the week, but on Thursday we went to an indoor play area AND went grocery shopping. It went so well, I can't believe I haven't gone more places, just the three of us, before. Yesterday, the weather was so amazing. I put Adelaide on my back in the mei tai and McKaleigh was in and out of the stroller, while we went on a walk. We live on a circle that's a little over half a mile long and we went around it twice! The sun actually made me a little warm in my long sleeves, but the cold breeze helped a lot.

I'm so happy with how this week went and I hope we have plenty more like it.

Update on the girls- Adelaide is rolling both ways and McKaleigh is saying more words everyday:).

How to Clean the Microwave- without commercial cleaners

The microwave is pretty much my least favorite thing to clean. Such an odd angle to scrub at and everything seem SO stuck on there! The solution is pretty easy honestly, but it works so well!

Step one: Use your vinegar/water spray and wipe down the whole inside, getting the loose stuff out first.

Step two: Put some baking soda in a bowl and add in just enough water to make a paste out of it. It doesn't take that much water at all.

Step three: Spread the paste all over the inside of the microwave. I used a plastic baggy over my hand to do it because I couldn't find my cleaning gloves and I didn't want the paste to irritate my skin. Let this sit for a minute or so, longer if the mess is really bad, lol.

Step four: Get a wet rag and wipe the paste off, using a bit of pressure and a little bit of elbow grease. It should come up without too much effort.

I just did this and was amazed at how easily all the gunk came off of the top of the microwave! I used the left over paste to make it super easy to clean off the rotating glass circle thing... not sure what that thing is called, haha!

Happy cleaning!

Parenting pet peeves #1

This post will probably be the first of many, haha, thus the "#1."

The other day while talking to someone, the subject of me not cooking with plastic in the microwave came up. It's just something I don't do, I try to limit my use of plastic all together, but this is one of my firm rules. The other person's response was that our food is in contact with all sorts of plastic in the process of it getting to our house. I then replied with something along the lines of "yes, there are things I cannot stop from happening, so shouldn't I limit exposure when I can?"

I just don't understand the notion that our kids will be exposed to bad things, so there's no sense in putting up safeguards at home. My girls will certainly be exposed to alcohol at some point in their adolescence, but I'm not going to be the one offering it to them. There will be people out smoking on the streets, exposing them to second hand smoke, but I'm not going to allow people to smoke in my home. I don't get how someone can't see that plastics are the same way for me. It's not really a matter of debating the safety of plastic, but rather a matter of protecting our children from things that we don't think are safe. My children will be exposed to plenty of things that I don't deem okay or safe, so isn't it my job to limit that exposure when I can? Obviously, with the task of also educating them on those dangers. Protection without education won't do that much good in the long run.

So there is one of my big parenging pet peeves. I will continue to protect my children from things that I see as dangerous, even if there's no way to stop them from being exposed to those things outside of our home.

Resolutions for 2011

While looking around for ideas for New Year's resolutions I found an article with the top ten resolutions. Most of them are pretty typical, but I thought I would list them here and then write a little bit from me:).

1. Spending quality time with family and friends

I'm a more family oriented person, I don't really have friends that I hang out with typically. I'm also a stay at home mom, so I'm not sure if I can really spend more time with my family. I would however like to change what I do with my family. Less TV and computer time, more time playing and being active. We have good days and bad days as far as that goes, but this year I'd like to definitely see a lot more good days.

2. Time for fitness

I always feel great when I work out. I love working out. There's something so difficult about finding the time to workout when you have a toddler and baby. I mean, honestly, I could find the time, but it's such a nice excuse, haha. Even when I do technically have time usually someone wants my attention. Still, I'm going to try to workout, at the very least, a few times a month. Ideally, I'll work out a few times a week, but the lower my expectations, the more likely that I will meet them:).

3. The battle of the bulge

Luckily, this one doesn't really apply to me. I still weigh more than I did when I got pregnant with Adelaide, I do however weight less than I did when I got pregnant with McKaleigh(who is my older daughter.) That's right, I weighed less when I got pregnant the second time, haha. I wouldn't mind being that small again, but the number isn't a big deal to me. I would like to get rid of a little bit of belly fat I have left, but muscle tone is what's really important to me, even if that means actually gaining weight.

4. Quit smoking

In January 2008, the day I found out I was pregnant with McKaleigh, I quit smoking. I didn't smoke again until the summer of 2009. It was about a two or three week "relapse" and then I quit again and haven't smoked since. So technically I have already quit smoking, but I honestly feel like I will always be quitting smoking. Just one cigarette makes years of not smoking seem to all go down the drain. I really don't want to ever smoke again, I feel like a slave to the cigarettes when I smoke. So I guess it's still a resolution to continue not smoking.

5. Enjoy life more

I really feel like I do a pretty good job enjoying my life, so can't say that this is one of my resolutions.

6. Quit drinking

Maybe some day if this really becomes a problem it will be one of my resolutions, but I haven't gotten there yet.

7. Get out of debt

We won't be able to get completely out of debt this year, but we are definitely actively working toward that goal. By the end of this year I would like to get out of our current car, buy a cheaper car, pay off a personal loan, and pay off the hubby's credit card. Then all we'll have left is a small student loan, my credit card, and a larger student loan.

8. Higher learning

Nope, I don't really have any intention of doing school this year. Reading the article they talk about more than just actual school, so I guess maybe I could do something along these lines. One of the things listed is learning a new language. Michael and I have been talking about learning German, so maybe this year will be the year.

9. Helping others

This is something that I always want to do. Sort of like exercise, I have trouble finding the time. I honestly don't think that this will happen a whole lot this year, but is definitely something I want to do when the girls get a little older.

10. Getting organized

Organization is something that I am always craving, but I have such a hard to getting there! I want to slowly, room by room, declutter this entire house. I've been making progress lately, so maybe this will happen this year. I don't like chaos and crazy messiness! It's sort of hard to avoid when you have a toddler, but I know I could do a lot to less this if I can just declutter.

Something that isn't on this top ten that is important to me: my impact on the environment. I want to try to lessen my footprint even more. I'd love to stop using paper towels for the most part, maybe even invest in some family cloth. I'd like to get closer to full-time cloth diapers with Adelaide, and get McKaleigh using the potty so we can stop diapering her all together! We already do a pretty awesome job with recycling, but I'd like to try to limit how much ends up going into the garbage. It would be great to send out only one bag of trash a week, or less! I might look into some composting methods, but with renting I'm not sure we'll be allowed.

So overall, I have a lot of high hopes for 2011. I'm sure in some areas I will fail, some places I will excel, but it's all about the journey:).