Positives.

My friend Susan has a blog where she had made a commitment to post at least one positive thing every day. I harassed her tonight because she's fallen off the wagon a bit (hey, it's easy to do, but your friends are supposed to hold you accountable, right? that's my story and I'm sticking to it). I said if she could do it, I would do it.

So here you go. My positive things for today, Thursday, December 9th:

1. I've made good progress on getting things done for Ben's party & have knocked quite a bit of things off my "to-do" list
2. I made a really fantastic chili today that my family enjoyed (my corn mini muffins stuck to the pan and were visually unappealing but still tasted good)
3. I had lunch with my mama
4. I got to chat with Susan for a bit this evening (bonsu!)
5. My son was extra cuddly today

Hometown.

And so Facebook has spurred a completely random blog.

You know, FB has rolled out it's new layout thingiemabobber and most of my FB friends have made the switch and are busily updating their info, which hits my newsfeed. One of the things that I see a lot is "hometown" - this is something that always stumps me. What do you consider a "hometown"? To me, it's a place you primarily grew up and consider your home. By that definition, I don't have a hometown, and thus I never know what to put - so I usually leave it blank.

You see, I was actually born very close to where I live now. My parents had a little house over on Cribbens Street in Boise and I was born at the same hospital that I had Ben (St. Luke's down town). Shortly after that, my dad enlisted in the Army and we moved down to Georgia while he went through basic training. From there we traveled a bit north to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina (that's where all my earliest memories stem - would that be considered my "home town"?). We lived in North Carolina for I think 3 years before we went overseas and lived for 3 years in Italy and then 3 more years in Germany. It was during our stay in Germany that my dad decided not to reinlist and we headed back states side.

I believe the original intent was to settle back in the Boise area, but during the 10 or so years we were gone from the area, Boise boomed. It wasn't the same town my parents remembered and some how we ended up further north, in Moscow, Idaho. My dad went to the University of Idaho there and we lived there for about 3 or so years before we moved down to Clarkston, Washington. We lived in Clarkston for again, the magical 3 years, before my dad's job was transferred to Salt Lake City, UT. That was not a good fit for us and the shortest I think we've lived anywhere. We lived there about 6 months before we again followed my dad's job to the Seattle, Washington area. We lived in Black Diamond, WA for several years before I graduated high school, went off to play at college at the U of I before becoming a dismal collegiate failure and dropping out to come back home (a decision I do not regret to this day).

After that, my moving journey fell on my own shoulders. Nick & I lived in sin in an apartment in Auburn, WA and then bought our first house in teeny Enumclaw where we lived til my family all abandoned us. First it was my brother - he moved to Boise. Then my parents went. Then my granny went. Then it was just us. So we up and sold our house - most amazing story: we talked to a realtor about what we would need to do it get it sellable and planned to work on those items and then list. Not even 2 or 3 weeks later, she called saying she knew it was an odd offer, but she had a buyer in from California that was looking for homes similar to ours and asked if we'd mine showing it. Seriously, she looked at it that weekend and made an offer that night. I quit my job in a whirlwind and we moved to Boise.

So what is my hometown? Is it Boise - because that's where I was born and that's where I've settled again (for now)? Is it the Seattle area, because that's where I've spent the most time in my life? I never know what to put, so I generally leave it blank if I can.

Life.

for the record: This blog serves mostly as a journal for me to look back on later and see how things were going at this point in our lives. Since it's online and public, and I choose to import my blog to Facebook, you're free to read along. No hurt feelings if you don't ;)

I was reading through me old bloggeroo here and realized I haven't really blogged about Ben much, nothing too much on him since I posted he turned 11 months. To be honest, there isn't much new to report on him. I was going to try this week and wean him off the last feeding of the night (I go in to his room every night and do a "phantom" feed before I go to bed - I just get him out of his crib, give him a bottle and put him back down for the night; he never fully wakes up from that) but last night was not so fun (he woke up crying hysterically at about 4:00 and that's no fun for anyone). I don't believe I'll try it again tonight.

I am trying to get him down to 20 ounces of formula a day by the time he hits the year mark. At his 9 month check up, the doc said that's where he should be, so that's what we're aiming for. At 9 months he was eating a solid 30 ounces a day and now he's down to 24. She also told us that a few days before his 1st birthday that we can start adding milk into his formula so that when he turns 12 months, he's solely on milk. I figure I'll start that next week - I'll start adding milk to one of his bottles and see how he likes the change. If he's okay with it, the next day I'll change it to two bottles and keep diluting the formula til he's completely on milk and off formula.

He's starting to get a bit more picky on what he chooses to eat and some meal times are a bit of a battle. I have a love/hate relationship with him dropping food on the floor. When he's tired of eating, he'll pick up a handful and deliberately drop it on the ground - which on one level completely cracks me up and totally annoys me on another. He didn't care for turkey at Thanksgiving, but I honestly didn't think he would. He doesn't care much for chicken either. He does love ground beef and pretty much every veggie we've given him (minus peas - he's never liked peas and still doesn't and potatoes...he just isn't a fan, I think it might be the texture). I had a goal a while back of being completely off jarred stuff and I'm 99.9% there. I do buy baby prunes for him but that's it!

I'm busy planning away on his party. I decided to do a little circus theme. I know it's not entirely original or awe-inspiring but I thought it was fun. A found a seller on Etsy that does customized party printables for a pretty affordable price. I know I could have done all the things she created for me, but I'm not sure I ever would have gotten around to doing it, so it was worth the investment. I have so much to do between now and then - time is really getting away from me. I have plenty of time to do things, I just find myself NOT doing them. But no worries cuz Susan will be here a week from today and she'll help kick my rear in gear if I haven't accomplished much between now and then!!

I've been in a terrible funk slash borderline depressed recently. Lots of things happening in my life, both in and out of my control and it's all adding up. So many things aren't turning out the way I'd hoped and I feel often that I'm just on the sidelines looking in at every one having a good time. I try to find the rainbow in every day but some days it's quite a struggle. Like anything, this too shall pass. I do have a good life. Though we may not be in the financial position I wish we were in, I get to stay home with my baby; and it's a nice home. It's big enough, we've made a good investment in it and it's comfortable for our little family. It can even accommodate another lil one if we're still in this house by the time we're ready to expand again (which, depending on the day you ask, may or may not ever happen HA!).

Oh wow I'm jumping all over the place on topics. Back to Ben. :) He's safe to talk about. I'm positive that he's finally cutting a tooth. I wasn't going to say anything til it broke through because I feel like I've been saying he's been teething since he was 4 months old. But there is a definite white spot and a definite bump on his gums. I'm not making it up or imagining it - but you just watch. Now that I've put it out there, his elusive teeth won't make an appearance for months longer.

We took him to see Santa today. I wasn't sure if it would be a good day, he's been kind of a Senor Crabby Pants recently and today was no exception (he isn't sleeping so wonderfully recently and I'm wondering now if the aforementioned white bumpy on his gums has anything to do with it and the resulting clinginess during the day). I figured the worse that would happen is that we'd get there and come home empty handed (which is essentially what we'd be getting if we just stayed home). It went pretty much the way I expected. He bawled. It is the mostly classically priceless picture ever and it's probably one of my favorites. Santa looks absolutely delighted and Ben looks devastated. As my mom pointed out, it's quite similar to all of my childhood pictures with Santa - in some state of distress or another. Poor kid (she says as she giggles).

Speaking of my mom - thanks to all of you for your kind words over our latest news. Her doctor isn't finished fighting the fight and my mom hasn't given up yet either. If any good can come out of all the bad, it's that it's forcing us to remember to embrace the happy joys of every day. To truly enjoy every moment.

School started back up today. Nick got the same schedule he had last quarter: class on Tuesdays & Wednesday's with one online class as well. Not too shabby! I'm glad we're seemingly done with the Friday and Saturday classes (for now... we'll see what happens next quarter). He's almost done! He has this quarter and the spring quarter to go and FINISHED!!!!! We. Cannot. WAIT. It's been a long 3 years, but I'm incredibly proud of him for plunging in and sticking with it (and sticking with it with fabulous grades).

So that's it. I think. That's the news from the Idaho Beesley Household Chapter. Aren't you just so thrilled (ahhh I know some of you are ha ha)??

Memories.

By special request... :)

• Watching dad & Jamie wave to us from every. single. landing on the Tower of Pisa, while we waited down in the rain because I was too little to go up.
• Our walks through the forest in Kaltenbrun
• First time camping once we came back to the States, and my major freak out session over not being able to see in the dark.
• Anne Frank's house
• Stanga
• Mrs. Budd's house
• ALL the round towers
• Watching Unsolved Mysteries and being too scared to sleep (darn that Richard Stack)
• The bee in the car
• Our mixed tapes - they served as a soundtrack for our lives overseas, and I can't hear one of those songs on the radio without a memory attached
• a la one of those songs: heave of construction
• Loading up our belongings on the truck when we left Germany - my bike was the last thing in
• The Great Beer Spilling Debacle
• Driving you on the dreaded 405 to go meet baby Connor
• Planning my wedding with you, choosing the music, making the invitations, finding THE dress, deciding on a place, hating our photographer, loving our DJ - cases and cases of left over personalized wine glasses....and who can forget Jackie's show.
• the birthday banner you made and had strung up on the front lawn for my 7th birthday
• the jewelry box and red dress Christmas
• Christmas before dad shipped out to the Gulf War
• Jamie coming home for Christmas
• Sending Jamie off to the states after he finished high school
• Muffin in my Ewok costume
• home made Halloween costumes (the cat! the pilgrim! the witch!)
• those play clothes you made for me that were so hard to get on and off
• our house in Germany
• Reginald and his mama (AND his daddy)
• playing in the rocks in front of one of our houses in the south
• the Easter picnic on the hills where the eggs kept rolling away
• loads of people over for every holiday
• Wendy's in Venice
• First Frosty when we came back to the States, and dad smirking at me when I got a straw
• cinnamon rolls in the hospital to meet Ben :)
• watching you and Anne boogie woogie in the living room after far too many glasses of wine (and the time granny fell into the tree)
• our trip to San Diego
• our trip to Reno and the search for penny slots
• our entire Boston trip - we had such a great time on the trip, the whale watching and the Salem witch trials, "seeing" like 12 states all at once
• going to Green Bay - one of our most perfect trips ever
• dolphin watching in Florida
• "look at me, look at me"
• getting our hair done for Jamie & Carin's wedding
• the year of the giant sweat pants
• the pen Christmas
• the Berlin zoo
• our first night in the Villagio - lawn furniture, fudge cookies and lime koolaid
• riding the train to anywhere
• doll shopping
• buying the house in Enumclaw
• going to see the Nutcracker in Seattle
• Law & Order ;)
• introducing you to HGTV
• and the Deadliest Catch
• Muffin & The Hot Dog Job
• the cranberry toss
• driving to Salt Lake
• going to Hollywood
• seeing Arches National Park (so very cool and I'd like to go again)
• chanting WE'LL TAKE THAT as you pouted that the Packers weren't doing so well
• the night I thought some one was breaking into our house...turned out to just be an elk looking for a snack outside my window
• the bag of puke down the side of the car
• when dad asked (oh-so-politely) if you wanted to drive
• being serenaded by a drunk Irishman (twice) (in a row) (while he clutched my hand)
• the Keukenhof
• the crazy lady's house
• field trip to Christkindlmarkt
• spaghetti bolognese....
• living in the hotel while we waited on housing
• getting stuck in the bathroom on the bus to Holland
• breakfast every morning in Germany
• the 10 year scarf project
• bike riding into the bush
• family pictures in Italy
• the Joey doll
• the time I butterflied my knee
• Sunday = dinner at mom's
• did I mention Anne Frank's house?!?
• ballet
• when all our clothes where dyed blue by an errant shoe in the wash
• MENTOS!
• European plumbing and toilets in the ground
• discovering a love of toast & tea in England
• seeing the giant Santa and nearly having a heart attack to get it in the craft store in Maple Valley
• the giant peaches from Natches
• "Better or worse?"
• Butt Rice Butt Rice & the founder of Job's Daughters ;)
• making Christmas cookies with you and the kids

There are so many more....

12/06 more added:

• the free Christmas tree from the you-pick lot
• blue berry picking in Germany
• meet you at the next bridge!
• the Susie doll (though I don't remember that one)
• Zulu warrior dance
• filming the Spanish movie
• waiting for dad to come home from the Gulf War
• the time the Tooth Fairy forgot to take my tooth
• playing double solitaire
• endless games of Yahtzee
• the white & blue striped overalls I wanted soooooo badly
• moving into Jim's house - what a 3-ring circus THAT was!
• Greensleeves on a never ending loop
• the birthday cake that part had been eaten...Grafi was an easy scapegoat
• why I don't play Monopoly anymore
• trying to learn how to drive that awful white pick up
• meeting Nick & his mom for the first time - why were they the very last people off the plane??
• somersaults in the living room
• counting out 100 pennies for the ice cream truck in Ft. Bragg
• why I'm still scared of tape measures
• the first time I tried to make spaghetti for dinner, only to discover we didn't have any sauce (after I'd browned the meat and boiled the noodles). you ate it, insisting you liked it without sauce.
• Friday night dinners out in Clarkston
• 
  

Personalized.

I adore personalized anything. Put my name on it, and tiny hearts light up in my eyes. Every year I tell my husband that this is the last time I'm going to buy new stockings and every year I see a new one to fall in love with and promise yet again that this is the last time. Last year I hearted the classic red & white stockings with silver initial pins. This year I'm back to loving my favorite motif - country clutter. I found some pretty great stockings {polka dots! swoon!} from Ballard Designs that you could have embroidered with your name {double swoon!} but the price tag was pretty panic-attack inducing. Since I suck at embroidery but I really wanted to do something that put our names on our stockings and I wasn't about to shell out $30 a piece for stockings, I had to get crafty.

Enter Target. Oh Target, how I love thee and thy awesome dollar bins. In a recent stroll through my Mecca, I found these super cute wooden star ornaments with a simple hook to hang. Picture a light bulb going off over my head. I grabbed up three {one for me, the hubs and the bubs} and then went off to the scrapbooking aisle for some glittery funness by way of lettering. Side note: I could have used my Cricut to cut out the letters and embellished with glitter myself - however, I'm still in my infancy of collecting cartridges and I only have one font cart and it's not my favorite. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. $4 later and I have my personalized plaques for our stockings {and the BEST part is that if I change my mind in the future, these tags go with!}

Here's your incredibly easy how-to:

1. Gather blank ornaments
2. Gather embellishments {as fancy or as plain as ya wanna get - I kept mine to just the name as the surface I was working on is quite small}
3. Adhere your letters and embellishments to the ornaments {in the picture below I show ModPodge as part of the items used - I didn't end up using it at all}
4. Hang on stockings.