One Woman, One Life

That's what just moved into this house. It happened last weekend and I haven't been quite myself since. It was a long process last weekend, from getting to her apartment to assist with packing down to unloading into our house and shed, I'm happy it's done.

Done? Not quite. 75% of my house might look put together and neat, but take a peek into my basement and you'll see. I can't walk around my basement, I have a path from the bottom of the stairs to our storage room with our things, but nothing else. I don't like 'extra stuff', I like things to have a purpose and don't like knickknacks. Luckily my amazing husband told her she has one week (from last weekend) to clear it out, at which point I get to move in and go through the things myself. The weekend is quickly approaching and the basement continues to be, well...full. Is it bad I'm kind of hoping that she doesn't get it done so that I can go through things? I'm not a terrible person and I won't throw out or donate things that are actually important, but there is a L-O-T of 'extra stuff'.

I've definitly not been feeling myself this past week. Irritated TMJ, headaches, being moody. As this weekend approaches, I'm feeling a bit better and more hopeful of having a better and more relaxing weekend. Sleeping in is at the top of my list of things to do this weekend, along with applying to take my LISW exam, scheduling a weekend getaway to Gatlinburg, The Superbowl of Preaching at church, and baby making!

There are so many things to look forward to and to be thankful for. Mark and I both have big weekend trips coming up soon, and while they are different (Mark's annual ski trip and my girls weekend) and we won't be together I'm really excited. I always worry about Mark when we aren't with each other, especially on out of town trips without each other. I'm hoping that with me being on my own trip I will worry less, as long as we both has cell phone reception so we can talk and text. What I know won't happen is worrying less about Tera. Mark's Mom will be taking care of her. She has no experience with dogs and doesn't totally understand how or why they do what they do, but Mark and I are going to do our best with getting her ready to watch her.

I know I'll be calling a few times to check on her because I'll be worried. I can't imagine how much I'll worry when it's a real human baby. I'll be calling then too, but it's nice to know that our human baby probably won't be running away or jumping the fence in the backyard. I hope...

When Vacations Attack...

As I sit here on the couch on a Tuesday night. I find myself watching 'When Vacations Attack' on Travel Channel, and think to myself how very FORTUNATE Mark and I are. The stories are amazing about about elephants attacking in Africa, birds attacking, and raging rivers. Luckily for Mark and I, our vacations have been much less eventful.

In October we took a Southern Caribbean Cruise (that had been postponed from May, due to me being laid off) with Royal Caribbean that was fantastic!



I had mixed feelings about Puerto Rico. Upon getting to the airport and to our hotel I wasn't impressed. It seemed full of run down high rise buildings and poverty until we got into the Condado hotel district. We stayed at a reasonably priced hotel off the main street, and quickly hopped into a cab to head to Old San Juan, where we planned to spend all our time while in San Juan. Old San Juan is amazing! It's full of little shops, restaurants, old forts, and beautiful views. Enjoy the pictures above, they do nothing to show the beauty of Old San Juan.

Yikes....talk about a bit picture heavy. The trip was great with minimal difficulties. I love to travel and have always wanted to see the world. One of the best parts about traveling is getting to see different places in the world with Mark and trying new things, experiencing them together. Lucky for us, we have gone on a major trip each year without fail, and will continue to do so until we are blessed with children.

I haven't been saying it

Why haven't I been saying it? I'm really not that busy... I've seemed to let myself slack when I wanted to do more. Things are about to get busier in this house and I need to mentally prepare.

Here's the jist of what's going down:
#1 We are TTC
#2 We are fixing up the house so it's ready whenever kids come
#3 We are saving money for kids, new car, home improvements, vacations, etc....
Now let's back up a darn minute here. What am I missing that is about to rattle us?
#4 My Mother-in-Law is moving in with us in t-w-o weeks.

I like my MIL, I do. That doesn't make the situation any less....difficult. She's live with us twice before, both for very short periods of time, but this will be different. This time she needs more. She's hard a hard life and is in very difficult circumstances. We hope that within 6-12 months she will be back on her feet with the skills she needs to succeed, so that this won't be necessary again.

On my way home I was thinking about how I never thought I'd be in this situation. I never thought supporting a parent would be something we'd need to do until we were in our 40's or 50's and even then it would be due to illness. This is a decision we have made as a couple and I don't regret it. She's family and what needs to be done will be done. I'm trying to be a better Christ like person, and I know that this is what he would want us to do. I'm selfish. I like not sharing time with my husband with anyone else at night, eating whatever we want if it's macaroni or cheese or peanut butter and jelly or dinner. I'm going to be giving up some comfort and freedom, but let's get real...there are going to be some perks. Here is a run down of positives and negatives:

Good: She's going to clean the bathrooms (which I HATE doing...when I actually do it), we are doing as Christ would want us to do by helping others in their time of need, she is going to dog sit for us so my husband can go on a ski trip and I can go on a girls weekend, and I'm sure there are others.

Not so good: Decreased privacy and intimacy throughout the house, increased costs of everyday living (utilities, groceries, storage unit if needed, etc.), increased amount of things in the house, more noise, additional opinions when may not be appreciated, quieter TTC time, boyfriend being around that I don't like and am uncomfortable around, snoring, possible strain on my marriage, having to cook more frequently, among many others.

At this point, it doesn't matter what the negatives are. We are doing this. If things become too difficult then my husband and I will intervene as necessary to right the situation. We are going to do what we deem appropriate and feasible for us to help her, but we will be putting ourselves first.

We will not allow this to effect our marriage in a negative way. Our love for each other comes first.