unwelcome shower guests

my brother just started his freshman year of college at a very large university. it is totally different than the college experience that i had, but i bet one thing is similar: dorm showers. i came to college prepared with the shower shoes, a robe and little shower bucket to carry all of my soaps, shampoos and razor in, but i didn't come prepared for the hair in the shower. being a blonde, i guess i never had to confront the fact that i do lose hair in the shower and it might get on the walls or floor of the shower. my hair simply blended in or disappeared against our shower walls at home. in college, however, there were other people who used the showers besides me, and they weren't all blondes. i remember walking into the shower one of those first mornings and seeing long, dark hair on the walls of the shower. my gag reflexes kicked in as i quickly exited and searched for a safer shower. finding a hair-free shower eventually became a daily ritual for me, and i would try to wake up earlier than the other girls on my hall, just to get there right after our sweet cleaning lady left. i still can't seeing hair in a shower that isn't mine or LH's. something about it just really makes me gag.

something else i can't stand seeing in the shower is a spider. or any sort of bug, for that matter. when i was about 17, i was home alone and getting ready to shower when i noticed a really nasty, spiny looking bug in my shower. not one to let something like that survive and perhaps even escape the confines of the shower, i quickly found some bug spray with which to kill it. not only did it not kill it, that thing fought me and i thought it might climb out of the shower. i ran down to the garage and found a spray can of something that i wasn't really sure of, but it looked deadly enough to kill the monster lurking in my shower. back upstairs, i discovered that the mystery can did, in fact, deliver and kill the bug. it also spray painted the shower silver. oops!

just a few days ago, i discovered a better shower bug killer that washes away: my husband's shampoo =) i tell you what, this stuff really does the trick and kills the yuckiest of spiders:

so tell me, how do you kill the bugs in your shower?

having a baby the military way

as soon as we found out that we were pregnant, we went to the military hospital to switch my health care from "standard" to "prime." basically, this means that instead of paying a co-pay and choosing my own doctors, i decided to see military doctors and let the military pay for everything. LH and i decided that this was the best choice for us at this time because we have heard nothing but good reviews of the hospital and doctors here and also because hey, why not take advantage and use the resources that are provided for us? how often do you get to have a baby and come out with a hospital bill of $5.00 which was only charged because your hubby ate a meal with you?

i was given the opportunity to request a female doctor and much to my relief, actually ended up with one. she is probably around the same age as LH and me and just had her first baby last year. luckily, we really hit it off and i'm already looking forward to my next visit. seeing my doctor in uniform wasn't nearly as weird as i expected it to be, and i've been treated just as well by the nurses and staff as i was at civilian doctor's offices that i've been to in the past. the more i hear and see, the more i like it.

i've also decided to take advantage of some free one-on-one parenting classes that the military provides. at first, i was a little skeptical when a friend recommended it. i mean, i am an avid reader and have friends that are moms and all, so why do i need the military to help me raise my child? are they going to try and brainwash me? well, after my first visit by the representative today, i'm hooked. the lady that will be working with me is so laid back and showed me all of the books and materials that they provide for us, as well as the classes that are offered on base. i especially like the new dad's class that lets the dads wear pregnant bellies filled with water while they try to climb a flight of stairs and get in and out of a bed. they also get to practice holding newborn babies. oh, and women are not allowed in the class. anyhow, i'm totally taking advantage of the free resources that are available. for all the quirkiness involved in being "married to the military," there are so many privileges and benefits and i'm making it my goal to use them as much as possible.

you are what you eat

i meant to thank you all for your well wishes after i announced our pregnancy. it was exciting to see comments from new and anonymous readers; i love checking out new blogs and reading what you all have to say! i obviously have quite a few mommy readers out there, so please, tell me how on earth i am supposed to handle being so hungry during this pregnancy!

i've always been one of those "eat to live" type people and unfortunately, i'm notorious for forgetting to not only eat, but also to feed my adorable husband. pre-pregnancy, it would be about 7:00 at night before LH would turn to look at me with a somewhat bashful, "are we going to eat sometime soon?" then i would realize that not only had i not started making dinner, but i had not thawed any meat from the freezer or planned anything. those are the nights that we usually have pasta or grilled cheese sandwiches.

now that i'm pregant, however, LH is in heaven. there is no way that i'm missing any meals now, because this baby likes to eat! my problem seems to be that i just don't know what to eat. seriously, this whole problem of being hungry but not wanting anything in particular seems so weird to me. i'll be starving and just rummaging through the pantry and refrigerator trying to find something that is healthy and actually sounds good. yesterday, we had some yummy turkey burgers with toasted cheesy buns for lunch and then i was hungry 20 minutes later, so i had a nutri-grain bar. i also had some vanilla yogurt and some caramel ice cream as a snack after we went for a run at the local track. oh, and don't forget the chocolate chip pancakes that we had for dinner! i'm trying to drink tons of water with everything, just to make sure i'm not mistaking the hunger for thirst, but so far that hasn't seemed to be a problem. this is craziness, i tell you!

all this talking about food has my stomach growling again. please excuse me while i go stare into the depths of our refrigerator for the third time this morning.

mama always knows

i happen to be very picky and cheap when it comes to style. it's my mom's fault, really. she taught me that it is better to spend more for quality now because it will last much longer than clothing that might be cheaper in the short run. same idea as my expensive haircut theory - the cost per wear is much less. my mom also taught me that you don't have to pay full price for the more expensive, quality clothes and shoes. she is better than anyone i know when it comes to finding a bargain, and she passed on some of her skills to me.

it's because of that drive to find the perfect bargain and our lack of "fun money" (thanks to two house payments and one income), that i've been making do with these shoes.


in all honesty, i could get by with the shoes in these pictures just fine throughout my entire pregnancy. the only problems with the shoes in the first picture are that they all have heels over 3 inches high. i love heels, but i'm pretty sure that it won't be in my best interest to wear them 100% of the time while my body is changing shape and weight.

the second picture features the flat shoes in my wardrobe. the first is an adorable pair of jeweled flip flops that always bring plenty of compliments every time i wear them. they also have no support and are super slick on the bottom, which always leads to at least one episode of me looking like i've stepped on a banana peel every time i wear them. my running shoes are just that. i don't want to wear them down by wearing them when i'm not running or working out because they are more expensive to replace than a pair of flip flops and it's extremely rare to find a good sale on the exact style and size of running shoes that i need. the last pair of flip flops in this picture are cute, black, foamy tevas that i bought last summer. they look great with shorts and with sundresses. the only problem with these shoes is that i've worn them so much that they look ragged, and bozeman also happens to love them as much as i do. he carries them around the house in his mouth and the foamy material just can't stand up to his teeth, so i have the world's first pair of bozeman-personalized-tevas.

okay, so back to the whole purpose of this post. i've been looking for a supportive pair of flat shoes that are versatile, good quality and cheap. so far, no luck. until thursday of last week, that is. my mom called me on thursday morning and asked if i was busy. since scrubbing the inside of my crock pot does not really qualify as busy, i said no, and she asked if i could do something for her. she asked me to check out dillard's online shoe sale and pick out two pairs of shoes that i wanted. let me just say that my mom had no idea that i happened to be on the hunt for shoes or that i even needed them. even though i am 28 years old, my mom still has that mother's intuition. it probably didn't hurt that i had prayed and asked God for help.*

after over an hour of searching on the website and narrowing down my choices, i emailed my mom with the links to two pairs of shoes that i wanted. the first pair was just a replacement of my black tevas and they were on sale for $7.00. the second was a cute pair of merrell flip flops that totally had the supportive and non-slippery soles that i had been looking for. after seeing my selection, my mom called me and said that those two pairs didn't add up to much and asked if there was another pair that i might want. wow... not one to turn down an offer like that, i found another pair of merrell sandals that, while they had a funky looking fabric on them, were also supportive and perfect for walking the dog in the rain. so, not only did my mom place an order for three new pairs of shoes for me, but they also arrived on saturday! who doesn't love a surprise like that? here are my new shoes on my gigantic, size 11 feet:






*and yes, i do pray for much less selfish things, too. i'm just not against asking God to fulfill all of my needs. i love these verses that remind us not to worry about this sort of thing: "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

still waiting on that explanation i promised?

here is the picture of our new tractor. it doesn't look very new in this picture because it's all dusty, but believe me - it is new and it can mow really fast. LH is so good that he can actually mow our grass at 7mph. i need to get a video.


and are you the least bit curious about this picture that i shared with you earlier this week?


would you believe that both pictures have the SAME explanation? in case you are still wondering, maybe this picture will help you out a bit:


that's right... we're pregnant! woohoo! LH was a little worried about letting me mow the grass for three sweaty hours while also trying to grow a baby, so he took over the duties. less than a week later, the in-laws let us know that they wanted to help us out and they bought a riding lawnmower for our anniversary/baby present. do i have the greatest in-laws, or what?

as far as the mac & cheese goes, it sounded really good when i bought it and when i ate it, but i haven't wanted it since then. same story for the salt & vinegar chips and the shockers candy. i have really had a great pregnancy so far, without any morning sickness, but i have had some definite food aversions and the food cravings come on so suddenly it is ridiculous. i've also discovered that if i'm hungry, i have about 15 minutes to eat something before i get so hungry that i can't think about anything but food. we had a bit of a scare two weeks ago and i had to stop exercising, but as of this week's doctor's appointment, i have permission to start working out and running again, so hopefully i can continue to feed the baby's hunger without also getting flabby. i know the weight gain will happen eventually, and i'm not worried about that, but i would like to keep my muscles in shape for labor & delivery and then the recovery that follows.

whew, there is so much to talk about now that i've let the cat out of the bag. oh, and since my due date is march 16th, the day before st. patrick's day, i think we can all agree that this baby should be nicknamed lucky baby.

weekend food and what i need

every saturday, with very few exceptions, i make buttermilk pancakes from scratch for LH. it's easy and is something that totally makes his day, so i'm more than happy to do it. when he was little, his friends actually used to call him "maples" because he liked maple syrup so much. i think they were on to something, because whenever LH eats pancakes and syrup, he smells like maple syrup for the entire day!


i think i've mentioned before that bozeman is quite a social butterfly. so much so, in fact, that he sometimes has problems eating when we aren't watching. saturday, LH and i were trying to get bozeman to eat his food while we were eating breakfast and it just wasn't happening. LH ended up putting bozeman's toy squirrel next to the food bowl and told bozeman that his squirrel was eating his food and he better get some before it was all gone. it turned out that bozeman doesn't mind sharing his food.


and this is what happens when it's 2:00pm and you haven't eaten lunch yet and then talk to a friend on the phone about the macaroni and cheese that she just ate. i had to run out to the store right away and buy not just one box, but three boxes of macaroni and cheese. i also threw in a bag of my favorite potato chips and my favorite candy for good measure.


and finally, i couldn't resist adding this part. amy and k did this on their blogs recently and i thought it was hilarious, so here we go. these are the top then things that "i need" according to google:
1. LW needs a kid (doesn't bozeman count?)
2. LW needs a bit of help to get up on the bed (maybe on our ginormous guest bed, but certainly not in our bed)
3. LW needs a housewife like me (i can't even count how many times i said this when i had a "real" full time job)
4. LW needs help with her baby, y'all (um...)
5. LW needs to come home (my mom must have put this one out there so i would come visit)
6. LW needs coffee show (some coffee does sound really good right now, especially with some milk in it)
7. LW needs facebook (i've already got it)
8. LW needs your help! (sure... anyone want to send some free money my way?)
9. LW needs kelly's backing (i don't have any friends named kelly, but i'll take her support, whoever she is)
10. LW needs a china destination (ooh! i'd really LOVE to go to china. anyone have some extra olympics tickets that they want to give me?)

if you try the google search on your own blog, link to it from my comments so everyone else can get a good laugh out of it =)

one of the many reasons i love my husband

lucky hubby: "why don't you stay here and get ready for bed while i take bozeman out for his last walk of the night?"

lucky wifey: "okay!" {pause, then groan} "ugh, i forgot that i still have to make the bed. i washed the sheets today."

lucky hubby: "that's okay, we can just sleep in sleeping bags. we don't need sheets!"




**note: i did actually end up making the bed while he walked the dog**

there's a perfectly good explanation for this

i'm not sure how to say this, but something new has taken up residence in our garage. it has replaced a certain toy about which i once bragged... and just like my title suggests, there is a good reason for the appearance of this riding lawn mower. if you happen to see my comment on the pioneer woman's home and garden page today, you'll know exactly what i'm talking about.

exactly two years ago today

well, i can't tell you exactly what i was doing two years ago today, but i can tell you where i was. LH and i were on our honeymoon in big sky, montana. we were totally enjoying every minute, too. on the 29th, when we celebrated our 2nd anniversary, i tried to close my eyes and imagine that i was back in montana, smelling the crisp, fresh air and listening to the rushing waters of the gallatin river just outside our room. i felt the breeze blowing through my hair as we road mountain bikes around ousel falls and then tasted the peanut butter and honey sandwich that we ate later from the hungry moose market & deli. i also thought about the delicious elk tenderloin and amazing fresh bread and butter that came along with it.

last night, i tried to get LH to be imaginative with me and imagine himself back in montana. unfortunately, when he closed his eyes he only smelled our neighbors' burning trash and all he felt were the bugs getting him in the thick, humid air as we walked bozeman. welcome to reality. i'm so thankful that we were able to totally spoil ourselves on our honeymoon two years ago and start our marriage off with so many wonderful experiences together. i know that we'll make it back to montana one day and that we might even have future trips better than our honeymoon, but those first memories together will always be extra special to me. that was the week that i practiced calling LH my husband and i tried to introduce myself by my married name without slipping up and using my maiden name. we were giddy in love and starry-eyed over each other, not much unlike how we still are... but already i understand what older couples mean when they say how they love each other so much more than the day they were married. it's true. i can't imagine what it will be like when we reach our 50th anniversary. well, i can imagine the wrinkles and sagging body parts, but that's beyond the point =)