Thursday, June 7, 2012

I cannot believe it's already June!

Wow, it's been a few weeks... for awhile, life was filled with uncertainty. I had a lot to digest and a lot to work out. The good news is that now, I'm feeling the best I have since ... well other than the days my daughters were born, I haven't felt this good in a LONG time.

I'm a single mama, no longer an army wife. And life is improving on a daily basis.

Here are a *few* of the positives:
- feeling more self-relient
- my opinion matters
- for that matter, my opinion is what matters
- I'm not afraid to be myself
- I'm happy with myself
- my children have BLOSSOMED!
- we are HAPPY!









signing off for now, but just wanted to say that I haven't disappeared! I'm so excited for what life has in store for myself and my family from this point on!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

When Turmoil is for the Better

It's been quite awhile since I last posted. I've had a lot going on in my personal life. The quick low-down is that Mr. Smitty and I are going through a sticky divorce. The girls and I have moved and this is a time of upheaval and stress in our lives. The good of it is that I'm feeling better than I have in over a year. The marriage was toxic for all of us and this is going to be better for everyone in the long run. The girls are so much less stressed and they're dealing with the separation rather well. They are much better off with Mr. Smitty and I being separated. The girls and I are enjoying the freedom and relaxation of being able to spend more time with friends and family as we are now in Minnesota. The bad of it is that the girls are soon going to start a custody rotation between Missouri and Minnesota, 1 month at a time. This is temporary and will only last until late fall, when Toddler will become Preschooler and start school here.

Baby girl will remain with me through her 1st birthday as she is exclusively bf'd and refuses to take formula. She will take breastmilk in a sippy, but I'm not super-woman, I cannot pump an entire month's worth of milk to send with her! Toddler starts her first stint with her father this upcoming weekend and she's a little nervous. Glad that she gets to spend some time with daddy, but terrified that she will be leaving mommy and sister. 

We could definitely use some prayer to help us through this time.

Since I'll no longer be "Mrs. Smitty", nor will I be an army wife, the blog might go through a few changes in the upcoming months. Since it's a secondary concern in my life and I only blog "for fun", there might be a lot less in terms of posts, but that's only realistic. 

As for now, here's a late Happy Easter! from the Smitty clan!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Photo A Day No Way Today

Today's Photo is 'Inside your Closet'. Since we've been working so hard on renovations around the house, some of the more mundane, everyday chores are getting sidetracked... including laundry folding and daily cleanup of my closet. It's a disaster area of clean, unfolded clothing, hubby's field equipment, my unorganized sewing and craft equipment corner (it's a big closet)

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Thursday, February 9, 2012

#FEBphotoaday 'front door'

Since we're renovating, I'm using today to dream about the color I'm going to choose for our front door...

what about this one?
or this one?
My own front door is drabby factory-finish white with muddy finger and paw prints from my lovely kiddos and dogs.. not going to share that one. I'll share the picture of when it's done!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Tuckered Toddler


#FEBphotoaday 'button' AND 'sun'

Okay okay.. I missed a day. But I'm still going to do that photo. 


The Coffee Machine Button... the MOST important button of my day. It's like my own personal power button.


And on to today's photo(s). Since this is what it looks like in my neck of the woods:




 This is my sun photo!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Sunday, February 5, 2012

#FEBphotoaday '10 AM'

We're currently renovating our home... It's a work in progress. Example.. We have since 'finished' the kitchen and dining rooms, but have not put trim in...

This is my dining room at 10 this morning. Yup, no window. But the good news is, Mr. Smitty has finished this window, adding a custom flower box on the outside! One down, 8 more to go (for now at least).

Saturday, February 4, 2012

#FEBphotoaday 'stranger'

I'm not quite outgoing enough to ask a complete stranger if I can take their photo.. but I did meet a new person today! Mr. Smitty picked up a new dress up outfit for Toddler (I swear, that girl has more dresses at age 3 than I've had combined in the last 20 years... ). She didn't try on the dress today, but Mr. Smitty also got her a tiara, clip earrings and shaded chapstick. She was ecstatic and ran around proclaiming herself to be the princess of fairyland. Now I don't know about you, but to this day, I hadn't met the princess of fairyland.. so I'm going to go with it and call this my stranger photo!


Friday, February 3, 2012

#FEBphotoaday 'hands'



Rock on Baby Girl, Rock On.
And yes, this is the only way she sucks on her hands.

Coffee Tealights

This week I was looking at my little writing desk and wondering what I could do to make it less bare. This is what I came up with!


I found this idea on Pinterest.

The planters were at the local dollar store in sets of 4 for $1. 
The coffee beans were the cheapest whole beans I could get at the commissary... $5.
Because I didn't feel like wasting the entire bag of beans on this project, I used a bag of dried black beans that I had in my cupboard as a filler. Yup, there's only an inch of beans in those bowls. Now I have 4 cute tealight holders in my favorite scent!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

#FEBphotoaday 'words'

Toddler's Quiet Time
Can she read them? Nope. But she LOVES making her own story to go with the pictures, then have me read the story to see how close they are. Sometimes she's right on the spot, sometimes I like her version better than the actual written storyline. 


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

#FEBphotoaday 'Your View Today'

Aha. You thought I forgot. Well... I did. But by my count, I still have an hour to post, hehe. 

My girls were both sick today. Nothing sucks more as mom than watching your child go through illness and being powerless to help them. At least I can offer comfort via cuddles. 



Our sick household. (wordless Wednesday)

My poor babies are sick. They decided the best way to cope was to cuddle with a mountain of stuffed animal, blankets and pillows.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Obsessed with Honey (Pinterest Finds)

This week, my most recent package from Tropical Traditions arrived. It was my Raw Organic Honey and I was really excited!

I am obsessed with honey lately. It's sweet, it's healthy and it's helpful when you've got a cold.. what's not to LOVE!?

Here are a few of my most recent Pinterest finds focused on HONEY
Honey Is Always Better in a Jar
Banana & Honey Acne Fighting Mask
Honey & Brown Sugar Scrub
DIY Honey Bath
Honey Hair Conditioner
Honey Soap
Homemade Honey Balm
Salt & Honey Scrub with Grapefruit & Rosemary
Goat Cheese & Honey Sandwich
Honey Wheat Bread
Honey Beer Bread
Cinnamon Honey Butter
Deliciously Self-Explanatory
Honey Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

And Last But Not Least... 

Chocolate Honey Cake



And of course, feel free to
Follow Me on Pinterest




Pinterest Monday From Musings From A Stay At Home Mom


^^^ Feel free to Link Up with Musings From a SAHM ^^^

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Wordless Wed: The Difference: painting at 8 mo and 3 years

This is Baby Girl fingerpainting the first time with edible paint. And Toddler painting like a pro with brush.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

February photo-a-day challenge

Hmmmm! I'd love to make this happen. Do you think I can stay on track and post once a day? 

Thanks to FatMumSlim for this amazing idea and terrific marketing skills! This project is world wide after only one month! She just started it in January!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Cold Season and Ear Infections

Well, it's been a long and painful start to the year. The Smitty household has been dealing with cold after cold after cold. And now Toddler is dealing with an ear infection. Here are a few of our home remedies that have helped us deal with the cold symptoms.

1. Liquids. Water, tea, orange juice, coffee (for myself). And lots of it. Room temp or hot, keeping the fluids going helps clear your body out. Toddler has been running around with a water bottle and asking for me to fill it several times a day. She asks for tea and OJ every morning. Baby Girl has been nursing like crazy. Almost every hour during the day and she's even been waking at night to eat (which is unusual since Baby Girl has slept through the night since month 2).

2. Pepper, Garlic and Ginger in our food. Hubby has taken over cooking this week since I've been sick and taking care of the girls day and night. He's been sure to get a lot of pepper, garlic and ginger into our food.
- Pepper ... clears out your sinuses. Try eating something heavily peppered without your nose running. Perfect for anyone who is completely stuffed up.
- Most people don't know garlic is actually an antibiotic. It's practically an antibacterial for your innards. While it's true that garlic works best as a preventative in colds, it can't hurt for us to up our garlic intake for awhile. We usually eat a ton of garlic anyway so it's par for the course for us.
- And ginger has long been thought to have healing properties. I'm not well voiced in the subject, so I'll just link to some information HERE. In any case, we eat a lot of ginger on a regular basis so this is also par for the course for us.

3. Steam showers. 2-3 times a day, we've spent 30 minutes in the bathroom. Toddler and I sit under the steaming hot water while Mr. Smitty holds Baby Girl. It definitely helps.

4. Honey. Toddler has been loving this one. Once a day, I allow her to have half a tbsp of honey. She practically inhales it, but I know it's coating her sore throat, and thus, soothing it. If I wait for bedtime, she has an easier time falling asleep too!

5. Cuddling under the blankets. There's no other way I can get the girls to actually rest. They're tired (overtired) and restless (i.e. fidgety). Cuddling not only comforts them, it keeps them warm and rested. And if I'm lucky, they drift off for half an hour of really good rest and I get a few minutes to relax too!

As for her ear infection, Toddler doesn't show any symptoms during the day. But at night, it's nearly impossible to get her to sleep. We were able to sooth her pain by squirting breastmilk into her ear and giving her a warm rice pillow to fall asleep on. The milk soothes the skin surface in her ear and the heat makes the pain bearable as she falls asleep. But now she's getting antibiotics and on her way to mending, as long as we keep handling her symptoms alright, it should be over in a week!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


And goodbye to 2011. 

Toddler potty trained in March.
My grandfather died in May. We welcomed Baby Girl into our lives a week later.
We brought Apollo, our Saint Bernard Puppy into our home in October.
Toddler turned THREE this December.
We bought a new truck for ourselves for Christmas.

Only a few of the big events of the year, not all good, but all part of our 2011 history. 
I'm excited for 2012, bring it on!