Silly Leonidas Video - YOU WILL GIGGLE!!

Do any of my bloggy friends out there have a dog whose favorite toy is a laser pointer? I have heard of cats chasing around a laser pointer but until we got Leonidas, I had NEVER seen a dog do it. I will swear by it though, it is Leonidas' FAVORITE toy! If he hears the little chain jingle when I go to pick it up he starts looking for it! Not only will he follow this little laser light around, he will do the same thing with a flashlight outside! Lovahboy is the one who initially bought the laser light, not sure what he bought it for but it soon found its real use!

Can you tell by my voice that my allergies have been going CRAZY with this change in weather? Don't mind all of Leo's toys laying around, and if you do OH well! I'm a horrible housewife what can I say!

I WON A GIVEAWAY!!

WOOHOO! You read that right! I won a giveaway in my few months of blogging! What an awesome giveaway it was! The giveaway was hosted by Book Obsessed. The prize was from Easy Canvas Prints... and I won it!

So what did I win you ask? A sturdy and nicely made 8X10 Canvas Print of the photo of my choice! At first, I was having a hard time of deciding what photo to use. Since Lovahboy and I had a large canvas print made out of one of our Pre-Deployment pictures, I decided to go with one of my favorite pictures of our sweet boy Leonidas! Check it out!

This is on our wall, without a lamp near it's a little dark.

Moved to the couch where the light is better, it looks great! Colors are perfect!

Up close, you can see the sides. I chose to have a color wrap-around, but you can check out Book Obsessed, she chose a photo that would continue on the wrap-around.

The Easy Canvas Prints website was super easy to use! Shipping was fast, it was here three days earlier than expected! I will definitley be going back! I love the way canvas prints look and I am so thankful for being able to win this one!

I hope to work it over with the amazing Melissa from Easy Canvas Prints to host my very own FIRST giveaway! Would you be interested in winning an 8X10 Easy Canvas Print for the photo of YOUR choice?

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

Man it has been a LONG while since I have done a MilSpouse Friday Fill-In! Go on over to Wife of a Sailor and join in!

1. My favorite thing that happened this week was getting a phone call on my birthday from my Hubby! He didn't think he was going to be able to call :).

2. Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck!

3. Autumn is officially here and my favorite part of the season is the fact that it is sweater weather!!

4. One of the things I’d like to do before winter arrives is have pictures made with Leonidas, Hubby and I for our Christmas Cards this year!

5. I –Definitely WOULD– be willing to participate in MilSpouse Secret Santa.

MIA... it happens frequently with me!

I know, I know! I am pretty much one of the worst bloggers EVER! I have been MIA again! These days I am doing school work (only four more classes until my degree!), cooking and baking lots, and just being flat out lazy! I will admit that I tried blogging last week at least once, but the new interface really turned me off. I guess I will just have to get used to it. I do have somthing to blog about soon though! I won my very first giveaway!! I am super excited to put my order in and recieve my prize! I will post pictures once it arrives and hopefully even host a giveaway of my own with the same company! So be looking forward to that!

Right now, it's off to bed for me and Leonidas. He's already asleep on the couch beside me and I need to get into bed earlier because it is taking an act of Congress to roll me out in the mornings and we all now how hard it is to get Congress to do ANYTHING!

Have a wondeful Thursday Bloggy Friends!

Riding out the Hurricane with Chili Recipes

The Hurricane is here! I still have power... for now. I spent most of the morning/afternoon in the kitchen cooking! I figured if i have to stay inside all day because of the weather and I am in the mood to cook, why not! I ended up making a yummy pot of hearty beef chili and a yummy pot of creamy white chicken chili! I ate a bowl of the white chili for dinner and froze the rest in ball freezer jars for days when I don't feel like cooking. I froze 5 jars of white chili and 7 jars of beef chili! Thats quite a few meals for little ol' me! I did lose power for maybe an hour or so around 4pm today. I wasn't prepared... so I went to the local wal-mart to see if they had any flashlights... they were wiped out... all but this little head light contraption. I bought it! When I returned home, my power was back on! :)

My family in North Carolina isn't faring as well as I am though. My mom has been without power since around 8am. She is there by herself, which makes me sad, wish I was there with her! She watched two trees fall down on our horse pen, at least one across the fence, she doesn't think the horses will try and escape because it fell along the wooded area so they won't be able to see what they are getting into... lets hope they stay in! 

I hope everyone else on the East Coast isn't doing too bad in the storm! Leonidas and I are sending out our best wishes to everyone!

My Chili recipes will follow in another post!

*WARNING* You WILL cry but I had to blog it! Touching story of a Heros "Best Friend"

**WARNING: Readers you will cry reading this post and the article that it originated from**

MSNBC Article

So I was laying here in bed, having just finished posting my song for "What's YOUR Song" Thursday link up. I was perusing FB and saw a post that caught my attention "Dog mourns at casket of fallen Navy SEAL". Immediately after opening the article and seeing the picture I started crying. I am not sure that it has ever been documented at least that I have seen of the affect of the loss of a person on their Furry companion. Reading the article just broke my heart, I remember how Leonidas acted after hubby transferred last October. He knew somthing was going on but just couldn't understand it. I am pretty sure that is why he is such a cuddlebug, maybe because he doesn't want to be left behind again. I can't wait to see his reaction when he finally sees his daddy after a full year apart! I know he will remember the mister's scent! He will know that it's time to play again because he used to only play with Daddy and he would just cuddle with Mommy. If this article touches you like it touched me, please share it!

Rest In Peace 1st Class Petty Officer Jon Tumilson, A True American Hero! I pray that you look over your Furry friend Hawkeye and help him find comfort in the wake of your untimely death.

MSNBC
RIP 1st Class Petty Officer Jon Tumilson
1976 - 2011

No Place Like Home and Random Rambles

I had an absolutley amazing weekend at home in North Carolina! I always love going home and being with my family. On Saturday I was able to hang out with one of my very best friend's Kim! We used to live in the same apartment complex in Alexandria, VA. Her hubby got transferred to KY so we hadn't seen each other in probably about a year. They just got transferred to NC which makes me sooo very happy! I go home to NC quite often and now I get to see her when I go home! I am so very thankful to be able to see her while the hubby is deployed, she is someone that I can tell anything to. I am very lucky to have her as my friend!

Hanging out with my mom and stepdad is always an amazing time too! I love my family!!

On Sunday, I woke up and let Leonidas outside. My parents were out back in the barn so I started walking out there, still a little groggy, I had maybe been up for 7 minutes. Leonidas and my moms dog Tipper are both probably around 50lbs each. They started running back up towards me and the house, this is where my morning went south. I became the target point for an impromptu game of chicken between Leo and Tipper... let me just say, neither one of them were chicken! They both came running at me full force, one hitting each leg. I went flying, not sure exactly how or where I landed, but it was painful. My mom saw the whole thing and said my flipflops flew about 20 feet. I landed in the gravel somehow... I think I started to turn when I realized they were headed straight for me, luckily I think that is why I walked away instead of having two broken legs! I have a pretty gnarley bruise on my lower back/upper part of my butt cheek, I will save you the horror of pictures lol. I am pretty exhausted today and every bone in my body is sore!

On another note, when I make the 4 hour drive home to NC or back to VA, I love to listen to audio books on my Ipod. I download from http://www.audible.com/! On the way to NC on Friday I finished "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. What a great book! It's told in the point of view of the family dog Enzo! I definitley recommend it! Especially if you are a dog lover! On the way back to VA last night I started listening to "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I have heard all good reviews of the book and movie, so far it lives up to those reviews :).

Are you currently reading any good books?

Day Three - Eight Fears

So today is day three in the 10 Day Challenge of You. Day three hightlights eight of my fears... These are in no particular order!

8. I fear house fires! Especially living in a Townhouse that is connected to 6 other townhouses... so even if it isn't my house that starts the fire, somthing could go wrong in my neighbors house and still catch my house.

Google Image

7. Getting into a car wreck! Being in a big city, this scares me tremedously! I am a small town girl and these drivers up here don't care one bit where you are going or what and who you have in your car! They will cut you off and flip you the bird at the same time! My road rage has severly increased up here. I can't wait to go to a new place where hopefully I won't have to deal with so many crazy drivers and so much traffic!

Google Images

6. Somthing happening to my family with me being so far away... I am very close with my whole family!

This picture is missing quite a few people... I say we need to do some family photos!



5. My sweet Leonidas getting sick or injured! I would pay ANY amount of money to do anything to help my sweet healthy boy! He wasn't so healthy when we first got him and I don't ever want to see him in that shape again!

Who couldn't fall in love with this sweet boy?

4. Getting in trouble for any reason whatsoever! I have always been a paranoid person when it comes to this, I have a fear of getting in trouble. I don't understand how people can put themselves in position to get in trouble over and over again, especially at work! If I ever had to get masted and lose rank I think I would just DIE!

From a 2nd Class Petty Officer

To a 3rd Class Petty Officer

To NO collar device! YIKES!

3. The idea of not being able to concieve when my Husband and I are ready to try having a baby. I have read so many other wonderful ladies blogs that are going through this right now. My heart goes out to them! I pray that they will each recieve the joy of becoming pregnant and having a healthy baby soon!!

Zazzle Image

2. Being in the Washington, DC area during another attack on the United States. With so many military bases and significant monuments and buildings in the area, it scares me a little living here and knowing that terrorists are constantly plotting against the US.

Google Images

1. My number one and largest fear is my wonderful, sweet, amazing, sexy Husband not coming home safe from the war.

I love you baby! You are my everything!

Day 2 - Nine Loves

These are my nine LOVES for the 10 Day Challenge, day 2. They are in no specific order.

9. True Blood! I just can't get enough of it! I think there is far too many months in between the seasons!

8. Sleep! I love to sleep, just ask my husband! He hates that I take so many naps, especially while he is deployed, he worries about me... which brings me to number 7...

7. The most amazing husband in the world! He takes amazing care of my and I am the luckiest girl in the world to have him!

6. My puppers Leonidas. He is my furbaby, my four-legged child! I would do anything for him!

5. My wonderful family! I come from a rather large family, 3 sisters and 3 brothers as well as 1 brother in law!  My family as well as my husband's family pretty much rocks!

4. Reading, I really love to escape into a good book!

3. My friends! They are just an extension to my family!

2. North Carolina! I am a Carolina girl and I always love going home!

1. GOD!

Spoiled... just to have my bubble bust...

So the last few days have been pretty BLAH for me. I have figured out that I got too accustomed for pretty much knowing exactly when my Hubby would be calling me. My bubble has definitley been busted though, I havn't heard his voice in far too long! :( I do miss my dear sweet hubby!

On a happier note, Leonidas is loving going to the dog park everyday. I guess since my spoiling has halted, I decided to spoil him. It wears him out enough to where he isn't going 150 miles an hour all day and night. We went to the dog park today only to get caught in a torrential downpour!! We were both soaked by the time we made it back to the jeep... and go figure 5 minutes after getting in the jeep it stopped!

On and even HAPPIER note... tomorrow I get to head to North Carolina after work! It will be a nice long weekend! And the most exciting news is that I get to see one of my greatest friends Kim!! I havn't seen her in over a year when she and her husband got transferred to Kentucky. Well now they are coming to Bragg and I can't be more excited!! I can't wait to be able to decide to go home to NC and visit my Kimmy! It's a much shorter drive than going to Kentucky! AND on top of that, my Hubby is going to be sooooo excited to be able to hang out with Kim's Hubby on R&R whenever that may be!

This is Kim and I all dressed up for the Old Guard Ball in 2009!

A Productive Saturday!

The picture above is what a productive Saturday for Leonidas and I leads to... cuddling together! I started out this morning by getting up bright and early to volunteer with the USO on Fort Belvoir. We stuffed over 5,000 care packages in less than 4 hours!! It was awesome!! I had a friend from work and her husband there that I knew already and I met a ton of great new people as well! I came home and hung out around the house with Leonidas for a bit then decided to take him to the dog park to maybe run off some of his energy. We had a great time, he loves playing with any pooch that will wrestle with him a little! We came home and I brought him inside and gave him a treat before I turned around and went right back out... I was on a mission. I have been wanting to get Leo a doggie pool for a few months now and finally decided to go out and get it! I found one at PetSmart for like $10! We didn't get to play in it really today before the sun went down but I am hoping that we will get to test it out tomorrow during the heat of the day! I also bought some new running shoes! WOOHOO for me! I have to convince myself to get up early in the morning and go to the gym since I didn't work out Friday or today. I also have a Trace Adkins concert to go to with some great girls tomorrow evening! I am pretty excited! This weekends activities has definitley kept me for sulking around at home because I havn't heard from my hubby.

I hope that I have not bored anyone into a coma tonight with my ramblings... Looking towards Leo as in example, I fear that I just may have!

Leo during my blogging...

Who needs a pillow pet when I have the best pillow pet around!

I hope you all have a very relaxing Sunday! And just remember... tomorrow is the end to another full week during this deployment!!