Day One of 1001

This week has been one of those weeks where my creative juices are flowing - yet I don't have much follow through. I have started a couple projects, but these are some ongoing things and will take a little bit more time & effort before they're finished. But I hope to finish them soon, so I can share them here. My first attempts at having an organized life & household.

Along those same lines, I've wanted to do 52 things in 52 weeks for many years. But it seems like such a short period of time to me. One year. I've also heard of 101 in 1001 days. Now THAT's more like it. Almost 3 years. I am a fan of commitment. Nothing says commitment like 94 days shy of 3 years.

It sounded like a good idea. Until I sat down to make my list. Let me tell you, that's not as easy as I thought. I had my vibe going and was getting excited over all the ideas I was coming up with. Both small & large. Random & Life Changing. And then I counted and I was only at 25. Oy vie. It took me a little bit, but I came up with 101 things. I decided to divide the list into 4 sections "To Make", "To Go", "To Do For Me" and "To Do With & For Others".

I'm going to share my list, so you can help hold me accountable. I have no idea if I'll even come close to completing all 101 tasks, but this could be fun.

My 101 things as follows:

To Make	To Go	To Do For Me	To do with & for others
Homemade Bread	Take an all day hike	Buy a label maker and become obsessed with using it	Move G to “big” bed
Sew Something	Go on a picnic	Have a meal with multiple courses	Potty train G
Cheesecake	Disney Vacation	Detail my jeep	Go on a date night w/Tyson
Homemade cleaning products	Sit on the beach w/yummy drink	Work part-time	Break G of the pacifier
“Real” meal over a campfire	Visit someplace new for weekend getaway	Start taking photography seriously	Play in the mud with G
Homemade tomato sauce	Camp at a national park	Get a dog	Become preggo with #2
Cheeseburgers on the grill with all the fixings	Go somewhere I’ve never been in NY	Try cloth pads	Take G to a playgroup
Homemade pretzels	Some kind of sporting event	Get mani/pedi	Have Wally cousins photo taken
Paisley curtains for G’s Room	Take G to Children’s Museum	Buy an entire outfit @ consignment shop for $20 or less	Have Ice cream for dinner
Beef Burgundy	Visit a zoo we’ve never been to	Have an HP movie marathon	Buy a house
Chocolate Trifle	On a road trip	Go 2 days without checking FB	Put G’s hair in pigtails
Guacamole	Ikea	Read a book chosen @ random, one I would not normally choose	Family portrait w/Tyson in uniform
Felt Play Food for G	Kayak in the Adirondacks	Relax w/a glass of wine for no specific occasion	Get a night off from the nightly routine
Military Frame Project	Cabella’s Store in PA	Catch up with printing pictures for photo albums	Get a promotion or change of responsibilities at work
Black & White photo wall	Go to NYC for another weekend	Donate items to someplace other than salvation army	Have Tyson make bed frame so we’re not sleeping on the floor
Recycled Frame wall organizer/chalk board	Try a new restaurant	Donate $ to National Parks	Run 5k w/Tyson & G
Salmon Cakes	Cooperstown	Get rid of unnecessary things	Take G Swimming for 1st time
Xmas Ornaments for family	See Fireworks w/G	Write a Xmas Letter	Buy *real* sneakers for G
Xmas Card Album	Meet up with a friend I haven’t seen in a long time	Send letter to a company that did something RIGHT
Card keepsake for G	Take G to baby gym or something similar	Read the entire bible
Bulk cook freezer meals	Camp somewhere in western ny	Drink more water
Peppermint Bark	Go to MS for Tyson’s tech school	Find a dentist I actually don’t mind going to
Soy candles	Washington County Fair w/ G	Pay off Jeep
Something from a recycled sweater	Take G to Disney Store and let her pick something out	Grow a plant & keep it alive
Will for Tyson & I		Compost (for real this time)
Health Proxy		Break something with a sledgehammer
		Trace at least 4 family trees to 1776
		Learn how to use make-up
		Organize negatives & photos
		Have more than 1 person follow my blog
		Make enough money doing photography to buy a new lens
		Take a day off from work for no reason and don’t feel guilty for it
		Have a massage

I'm happy to report that the list for Me is the longest. Sometimes I need a little reminder to focus on myself. (Like most moms do!)
You can tell I was getting a little punchy when I jotted down "Break something with a sledgehammer".
And yes...the get pregnant with #2 is listed under the "to do with or for someone else" category.

If I counted my days right, this 1001 days should end 2/14/2014 - which is kind of cool. The world is only predicted to end twice between now and then. I hope for the sake of this list, it doesn't. If we make it through tomorrow, we've got one of those dates out of the way. (Tell me I will not be the only person to do a happy dance while sticking my tongue out as we all celebrate the beginning of 2013?? This is getting old. But I guess that's another rant for another time. Sorry. I like tangents.)

Introducing Senior Airman Wally

I suppose I've let the suspension hang in the air long enough.

On Friday Tyson took the oath to join the Air National Guard. Stationed right here, with the 174th Fighter Wing. He's currently joining to do weather. Of all things. My husband the weather man. I LOL everytime I say that.

Doing weather includes 8 months of school in Mississippi and 3 1/2 in Jacksonville. Luckily, G & I will be able to go with him to MS. FL, not so much. We're still working on that little hiccup. I would like to somehow go to FL with him, but that would be out of our pocket. So we still need to weigh the pros & cons, and probably will not be able to make a final decision on that until the time is upon us.
We still don't know WHEN classes will start for Tyson. Still some more red tape to go through before he can officially be given his orders. We're hoping for a Fall start.

There are so many things this means to our family. But first & foremost, I am so entirely proud of my husband. I practically light up when I get to say my husband is serving our country again.
Being a military WIFE, is so different that being a military fiance who also lives on the other side of the country.

God has started to lead us down an amazing path, and I am truly grateful for any opportunites that he may lay before us. To think of where our family was 4 months ago...everything felt like a struggle; even to just have a normal conversation between husband & wife was difficult and usually left me in tears. But the work HE has done in that short time, simply A-MAZING! (Oh how I wish I had opened that door a long time ago!)

I'm a Slacker

Yes, I know I’ve been a little absent. I always find the first post after a long pause….awkward. And considering not many people read this, can you just accept my apology & we’ll move on like nothing happened?

Ok good.

I haven’t really been able to find words worthy of sharing. Not to mention the stuff going on that I WANT to talk about, but the hubby & I agreed we wouldn’t until it was ‘for sure’. As of this Friday it should be ‘for sure’, so I’m going to keep the anticipation up for just a little longer. (Though it’s all over facebook, and our entire families know…I still feel like I shouldn’t share it with the rest of the world yet…and no, I’m not pregnant…)

Otherwise we’ve been keeping busy at the Wally House. Since my last post we’ve had G’s first birthday party, my grandparents arrived home from FL (and we’re all adjusting to having 5 people in the house again), my sister’s bridal shower was this past weekend and coming up this Saturday is a BBQ for my dad’s 50^th.

I’m learning I enjoy planning parties & get togethers. I just wish I had more time & funds to devote to them.

I apologize for my kind of lame-o post. G shared her cold with me, and even my thoughts are congested.

I’m also going to be working on the look of my blog, and possibly renaming it. So this place is officially under construction. Please excuse our mess. J

The BIG Number ONE

Today is G's First Birthday!!!

I had already anticipated that all day I'd look at the clock and have vivid memories of what was going on a year ago at that time. That around 4:00-5:00pm things would begin to get fuzzy as that's the point I reached the "transition temper tantrum phase". What I hadn't expected is that as I would get those flashes of memories, I'd be encouraging myself. To breath through the contraction, to get through that push...that there's so much more to look forward to than just holding that little baby. You have this amazing little girl to look forward to.

I had not anticipated that my voice would quiver as we'd start to sing the first line of "Happy Birthday"...and I wonder if anyone else noticed.

At night, when I rock G while she drinks her nighttime bottle, is usually when emotions flood me. All the maternal emotions of how amazing this creature is. What a great gift God has given me. Tonight is no different. Yet it was so easy to compare, and become nostalgic. A year ago I was nursing her for the first time, not giving her a bottle of formula/cow milk mix. And when she snuggles on my shoulder for a couple minutes before being laid down, that a year ago she fit perfectly on my chest in a little bundle....her arms & legs didn't drape around my whole body. As my silent tears begin to flow, letting myself mourn the loss of her "babyhood"...I feel a little hand pat my shoulder. And I know I've got an amazing little girl to look forward to. And really, those 11, 2 & 5am feedings...weren't all that fun.

Then G pushes away from my chest, and waves good-bye. Telling me it's time to turn out the light, turn on her cd player and lay her down for the night.

At exactly 8:20 pm my little girl is a year old! I think I may have to sneak back into her room, and give her one more goodnight kiss to officially celebrate her birth.

Spring has Sprung...well it's trying...

Even though the weather can’t seem to make up its mind…I can feel spring. Some days you can actually feel it in the air: the warmer weather, the sounds of birds returning from the south, a muddy yard, flood warnings instead of winter weather advisories…but I feel spring in a different way.

Springtime is all about change. When a cold tundra turns into beautiful lush yards & fields full of birds, bugs, flowers & grass. It’s about starting anew, with spring cleaning, opening windows to let the fresh air in & finally hanging your clothes to dry on the line, like you swear you will do every year. Last year it meant a new baby. This year it means a new toddler. I can’t wait to see her run through the yard, to swing on the swing with her, teach her how to use the slide her cousins are handing down to her.

This year our family has taken the ‘freshness’ and ‘newness’ to a different level. Tyson started a new job today. In a construction field he has missed dearly. With Monday-Friday hours and much room for advancement & pay hikes. Roofing does require some long hours, and possibly a couple out of town trips…but that’s nothing we can’t handle. And maybe I’ll even learn to make those times fun for Miss G & me.

It’s nice to finally take a big exhale and enjoy the world unfolding around us. God is so good.