Where have I been?

Stole this from Megan...


visited 26 states (52%)


If you are the genius that can see the pattern and realize that I didn't visit California until after I moved to Hawaii, then you understand why I never saw the ocean before we moved here lol. I need to go northeast and northwest. Guess that means that Patti will have a visitor!!!!

It's been a no good terrible awful very bad month

Our computer has decided that it wants to be stupid. It kept crash dumping on us and we tried every fix possible before we just erased the hard drive and started from scratch. I'm hoping I can find the pictures of Gillian's cast somewhere on one of my many random upload sites because they've all been deleted :(

Speaking of the cast, she's finally getting it off today! Woot! She should've gotten it off two weeks ago, but the doc said since we were just keeping it on for protective reasons that he wanted to leave it on for a couple more weeks. She's had the stupid thing on for 7 weeks today. I can't wait for the kid to be able to take a shower again! And no darn bags to cover it! And maybe we might be able to go to the pool or beach without feeling guilty about it!

Richard and I were having a conversation about how October is his favorite month of the entire year. It's the end of baseball, the leaves change, his favorite holiday is Halloween back home he gets to eat chili all the freaking time, and normally you get to pull out sweaters. I love sweaters. But then we started talking about how for the past 5 years of our marriage it seems that we've been cursed during the month of October. I won't go into details of how and why, but October hates us. November isn't much better until around Thanksgiving and our anniversary, and then everything always turns around by Christmas. Of course October seems to be hating the world right now with the financial crisis and economy. All I can say is that I'm soooo glad we made the decision for him to stay in the military for the time being and go to OCS.

Oh and for more blabbering before I end this, Richard and I have decided that we are going to have a little competition between the two of us from now until we go home for Christmas. We are both trying to lose at least 17 lbs by December 19th, but whoever loses the most wins. I know I'm in over my head trying to lose more weight than a man, but I think it'll be the shove that I need. I've been trying to lose that weight for the last 3.5 years. I should have a good head start on him because I've been eating really well for the last week with the exception of a trip to McDonald's and our weekly trip to Baskin Robbins for Gillian staying on the green light all week. I did get a kid cone though! Ha ha. I think he padded his beginning weight though. He lost 5 lbs overnight *rolls eyes*. I guess it's a good thing we didn't discuss what the winner gets! It's all negotiable now lol.

So, no pictures today until we get the computer totally fixed and I can reload all my software. We think it's a memory issue, so we need to buy new RAM. Much cheaper than buying a new laptop!

We're Still Alive!!!!

We are still very much here, just haven't had a whole lot of exciting things going on. Richard had his pre-deployment exercises the past few weeks where he was working 7AM to 11PM every day. Then he started a new and one of his final semesters of school (doing the happy dance!). So, our life has been consumed of me playing single parent, him working and doing homework in his spare time..oh and sleep...I really like to sleep.

Other than that the dog went into heat AGAIN, and Gillian is experiencing her first broken arm. I'll try to get pictures up soon, but I'll admit..I've just been lazy ha ha.

Gillian says "Hey look Mom it's Dorie"

P8160024, originally uploaded by audreyovercast.

A little late posting, but I just found the time to get all the pictures uploaded. The family all headed down to Waikiki to the aquarium to spend part of our four day weekend (Hawaii Statehood day). To begin with Richard asked me a faster way to get down there than to drive all the way through Waikiki. So smart me looks up the directions on the aquarium's website (we don't spend much time in Waikiki..I can count on one hand seriously). Of course the street we needed to turn right on had no street sign, so Richard and I of course get into a blow out arguement on who's fault it was that we got lost. After back tracking we easily found where we needed to be, but the next challenge was to find a parking spot. After searching for 20 minutes we finally found one and walked over to the aquarium.

The first thing we did was watch the seal show, which I have to admit are some of my favorite animals. We then walked past the gift shop where the girls used one of those machines that flatten pennies and imprints them with a logo. Gillian made a seahorse, and Brenna despite my insistance of a sea turtle made Nemo. I'm going to figure out a clever way to use them in a scrapbook whenever I actually learn how ha ha.

The aquarium was bigger than it appeared on the outside and had a lot of reef fish which made Brenna happy. They did have a Tiger Shark and another small breed of shark among another 5 types of fish in the supposed "shark tank". I think the jellyfish were my favorite and the eels Richards. They looked like snakes that had been painted like a rainbow. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the eels though because I was frustrated with my camera not taking clear enough shots at that point.

We had a good day. It was another weekend spent well with the dreaded deployment looming over our heads. Can you believe he has to pack his toughbox and ship it out this week already?



Richard and the girls in front of Diamondhead (the wind was awful right at that moment). We are planning on hiking up it in the upcoming weeks.



The girls standing on a mosiac in the aquarium's entryway. Brenna always looks so happy to be with us.



I hate having my picture taken, but my mom keeps insisting I'll regret it when I'm older if I don't.



These are moon jellies. By far my favorite tank in the place. Can you believe that they have no brain making their bodies function. They are just one giant nervous system floating around by the ocean's tides.



My second favorite display was at the very end of our tour. It was a coral garden. The colors were amazing in person...very irridescent.



And a closer look. I kept telling Richard that the green and black spotted piece of coral was the prettiest thing I'd seen. It shimmered in the sun and was just absolutely beautiful in person. Guess what it was??? Not a piece of coral. It's a GIANT CLAM!!!!!

A Work In Progress

P8180002, originally uploaded by audreyovercast.

I know it's not the greatest picture taken at a bad angle from the sun, but this is the bedding my mom bought Gillian for her birthday. I picked up the throw pillows on top for $3.99 (Tommy Hilfiger mind you!) at Ross. I knew I wanted something in that corner behind her bed so it would just be empty space. I found those tissue paper flowers at Wal-Mart of all places. The crappy thing is I paid $9 for them when I totally can make them myself. So I think I'm gonna grab some more tissue and add two more flowers to the mix, and of course Brenna wants some for her room now.

And yes Megan, I'm still planning my decor/craft blog...maybe instructions on this tissue paper flower would be a good place to start? I still have a couple projects in mind to spice her room a bit more, plus the curtains I have just aren't jiving for me. Look for a complete project in the future!