Time to update!!

Time to update my 101 in 1001....it's been a while I know! But let me just say I haven't had too much to write about other than updating my library. I added 2 new books, working on a third and I just ordered about 10 from Amazon. Other than that, the whole 101 thing has been pretty lax...

So on to my first book. Look Again is a really great book by Lisa Scottoline. It is about a single mom raising a little boy whom she adopted in as far as she knows a completely legal transaction. She is a very successful journalist, but finds herself in a rather alarming predicament when she gets one of those, "Have you see this child" white postcards in the mail. She thinks at first glance it is her son and can't get the image out of her head. There are stunning similarities, but convinces herself it can't be the same child because of the different birthdays, which are only a few days apart, and the fact that she had an all around legal adoption.

Well the journalistic side of her get the better of her and she starts to dig into her adoption of her son and finds much more than she bargains for. It was such a good book and it makes you ask yourself, what would you do in these circumstances? Would you forget it ever happened or would you need to know to do the right thing. I definitely didn't see the end coming, but it was really great!!

The second add to my library is a book called Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult. It is another really good book and makes you think about how far you wold go to protect your child. And what lengths you would go to let your child learn to "get thicker skin". It is set in a small town in New England, where everybody knows everybody. This small town is rocked by a major act of violence and tears the town apart. You start to realize with all the flashbacks, just where the story is going and why it is going in that direction. You see how interconnected people's lives are and what impact a few words can have on a person's life.

I am definitely glad I read it. I was not expecting what the story line at all. I assumed there was another sort of crisis in the small town due to the fact that in the summary of the book from the back cover doesn't go into much detail, but I think it is a must read. It has made me realize that when I have children, that I want them to be raised in a very specific manner and if I were to ever catch any of my children acting in any of these ways it would just break my heart.

Next update...D was OOT for most of the month, so date night was pretty hard. We spent our 9 year anniversary apart. No big deal since we spend most of the apart anyways. But when I went to visit him while he was OOT, we went to Sonic late one night. It was a blast. Nothing fancy...just s country boy and a city girl driving on some country high way to get a late night snack. We had one of those really fun, giggly talks that I love having. He had just picked me up from our hotel, and I was in my PJs with wet hair and he was in a dirty set of camo pants and a t-shirt smelling like gun metal and sweat. Oh the things that make my heart melt!!

But it was about a thirty minute drive from the hotel into town for some Sonic, but it was really great. I thought it was a perfect date night. I hope we will be having more of them like that. I like not getting all dolled up and we can just be us...you know it was really great.

Luckily D comes home tomorrow night and I will get him all to myself for a whole week before he leaves again for another three. Then after that Vegas again, and Oklahoma home for two weeks after that! I am just so dang excited!!! I miss home.

And yet another update...I am almost finished with the blanket for my friend that is deploying this summer...I think I have about 3 more balls of yarn to add and then the fringe on two of the ends!! Yea!!! I will post pics when I finish!

So frustrating!!!

This whole business of loosing weight is really ticking me off. The last several weeks my weight loss has been, well...a lack there of. I started WW March 1st and at the end of the month I was down almost 8lbs! Now here we are almost to the end of May and I am only down 6.7lbs!

What the heck!?!?

Last week I even did the Wendie Plan and that was a big fat fail! That was my biggest weight gain of them all!! I am so frustrated and I don't know what to do. I try to work out, but during the week it is pretty much not gonna happen. I get up for work at 6 am, leave by 7:15 am, work for 12 hours, get off at 8 pm, get home at 8:30 pm and let me tell you, working out is the last thing on my mind. Especially when I have to go to bed in about an hour and a half. I am just so wired after working out I can't fall asleep. And not sleeping is not an option for me.

Ans then there are the weeks I work nights and well, I am pretty much sleeping the whole time I am home just like when I work days. I thought I could at least go walk to dogs around the block, but honestly I don't want to walk alone in the dark and I don't think my 4 and 9lb furbabies are all that intimidating to anyone. I would totally go if D were home, but thank you Navy, he isn't. He comes home this week, so I am at least going to do that when he is home.

I am just so lost as to what else to do. Even the weekends I am catching up on sleep and then doing the 800 errands I have to do because I can't do them on the weekend. I feel like this whole weight issue is such a battle. I know no one said loosing weight was going to be easy, but gosh dang-it!!!!

I'm not asking to be what I was in high school. I was WAY WAY too skinny. When I graduated I was 105lbs and a size 2 was falling off, but my hips are so wide I couldn't go any smaller. Really??? I was disgustingly small! I would love to be in the 130's or even 140's again. But I feel like it is such a far ways away. Ideally I am 25lbs from where I want to be...

I don't know if it is because I am stressing over this whole issue and that is why I am not loosing or what....I am just at a loss for words and really upset about the whole thing. I am about to give up!!

Give away, what?!?!

So a fellow OK Nestie has this really fun arts and crafts blog that I follow. She has actually inspired to do a couple of projects! One being her wicker chair make over with pillows! I love these chairs and I have been searching Craig's List like a mad woman trying to find some in good enough condition that I can rescue for our back porch!

Anywho...if you don't alread follow her awesomeness blog you should...just click here.

Oh and she has a pretty cool Esty shop as well. I haven't ordered anything from her yet, but I plan on it very soon. Ordering something from her is part of my 101 in 1001.

So if you don't follow her yet...just do it!!!

It's finally here!!!

So at the end of February I ordered a bag from this awesome little website. They take your dearly beloveds uniforms and turn them into purses or bags! Lord know I don't need any more bags, BUT I don't have any made out of D's uniforms so that was my out! ;D

It took them a little longer than they said it would...more like 8 weeks instead of 6, but oh well it is finally here. The website is called Hero on My Arm. They have some really adorable stuff! I ordered the Abigail bag in the largest size. I sent them D's DSUs that he work while deployed in Africa last year for 10 months. I got to pick out some super fun fabric to line the inside of it. We plan on getting his mom one and take it back with us when we go home this summer. We will do hers in his Woodland (traditional green camo) and then I will pick out another fabric for her. She is like me and just can't have enough bags. And she is so sentimental about D and being gone all the time, I am sure it will be a bundle of tears when we do give it to her.

It has 2 super huge pockets on the inside as well. I added a zipper top closure just to make sure it stays closed. I hate having my purse just fly open all the time. I also had a cute little patch put on for being a Navy wife. Yes I am cheesy and corny, but I don't care. D thought it was pretty cool. They also have some key chains that you can personalize. Again, I will get one to match my bag and we will get D's mom one to match the bag we make her.

It really is a huge bag and cannot wait to start using it! Not only are there 2 huge pockets inside, but there are 2 on the front, as shown above, and the same 2 on the back. All with double button closure to each pocket. Like I said I am so excited to finally have it, and I cannot wait to use it! I guess I will be carrying it tonight to work!!!

Girl's Night!!

Well last night was girl's night! We had a total blast! I went out with a girl that works in D's shop and her friends. We all met shortly after we moved here and I just really clicked with them all. They are so much fun to hang out with. We are never short on something to talk about or something to do.

So last night we all met up and I drove us to downtown San Diego to an area known as the Gaslamp. It is like Bricktown back home, but a lot more bars and clubs. We went to this amazing bar called The Shout House. It is a dueling piano bar with a small back up band. You go in and there are 2 pianos at the front of the bar with a set of drum and guitar. They play pretty much any song you can come up with.

These guys were incredible musicians. Anything from Garth Brooks, "Friends in Low Places" to Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance" and Metallica to Elton John. They knew all the words and the back up music. You could write down your request on a piece of paper, give them a dollar and they would play it. There was a point when there was some sort of drum solo in a song and all the musicians jumped up on the 2 pianos and did an impromptu drum line.

And of course being a military town, they called all the active duty as well as retired service members up on stage while they played, "God Bless America". That song gets me every time!

One song that they did that was pretty rockin' was Queen's, "Bohemian Rhapsody". It was A.M.A.ZING!!! Like ridiculous. One of the girls at the table recorded it and sent it to me. She only got part of it because a bouncer told us no recording, so we only got some of the song, but it is just a small sample of how amazing these guys were. Every one in the bar was just going crazy and singing it at the top of their lungs! You can hear everyone at the bar just lovin' it! I wish there was a bar like this at home...they are packed every night and on the weekends there is a huge line to get in if you don't get there early enough!

Any who....ending with a few pictures of me and my girls. We cannot wait to do it again!!!

Meet Betty!!!!

AHHHHHHH!!!! So I finally took the dive and bought myself a new car last weekend! Eek! I was so freaking nervous! D and I went to the Ford dealership just to get his truck fixed because there was a recall, and we saw a comercial for the Escape. We decided to look while we were there because, well I really needed a new car. My last car was really getting up there in miles and well, I wanted one. I had had my eye on the Chevy Equinox for some time now and I really had my heart set on one. But the price for what I wanted was a little steep. Almost 30k....no thank you!

So we were looking around first at the Edge because it is similar to the Equniox in just about every way. But then I saw the Escape was cheaper and BIGGER than both. SO ya....our sales guy took us to the back of their lot where there were oodles and oodles of new cars, and there she was. Bright red and shiny and new....

I lurve her so much! I know I am probably a little dorky for giving my car a name but I don't care. That's just me!! I got a crazy good deal on financing and she was just sitting there waiting to be driven home. I traded in my other car and viola....she's mine!

I was so nervous actually buying it. I feel like a real adult now. A car payment is a big deal and I have never had one before. D was super supportive of me and said that if it is what I want and I can handle the responsibility of making a payment, then I should just do it. I turned into an all day affair at the dealership though. I never thought it would take that long to buy a car, but Lordy Lordy....that was way too long!

So here she is:

So that's another one off my 101 in 1001!! Enjoy!

I miss you mommy!

Well today is a weird day. Very bitter sweet for me. On this day 15 years ago, I lost the most amazing woman in the world. My mother, Martha Ann Burja Gerber, succumbed to her illness and left the planet to meet her Lord. Being the devout Catholic she was, I am sure it was a glorious return for her.

It was probably the worst day of my life. She was my everything. Literally. She clothed me, fed me, tucked me under the covers at night and everything else a mother is supposed to do. She was amazing. We were so very close. My parents didn’t have the greatest relationship and often fought in front of me. I would always tell my mom that I wanted to go with her every time she told my dad she was going to leave. I adored my mom. She was super crafty, she cooked, she baked, she sewed all my clothes…I just can’t say enough about her.

It has often been extremely hard for me over the years. I never knew how to deal with the loss. Maybe this will be a therapeutic release for me....

But I guess should start from the beginning. My mother was often sick with breathing issues when I was younger. When she was roughly my age, possibly younger, she was diagnosed with Alpha 1 Antitripsin Deficiency. It is a genetic disorder, the only kind of emphysema you can get without smoking. I obviously never thought much of it. It was normal for me to see my mom taking medication and breathing into a nebulizer full of medication. I often joined her on the nebulizer because of my own asthma. My mom was a nurse and worked as a nurse manager at OU Med Center (called Presbyterian back then) in the CCCU (cardiac critical care unit). She was loved by many and boy did she know a lot of people. I never knew how important my mother was to so many people.

I don’t remember any one point when my mom was drastically “sicker”, but I do remember the day she went into the hospital and never left. In the fall of 1994, my mother got pneumonia. She battled it with rigorous antibiotics and for all every one knew she was fine. We made it through all the holidays as a happy family. Then January/February came around. She had gotten a little sick and had to stay a few nights in the hospital. She came home on a portable oxygen machine. Back in those days, they were these monstrous machines. Massive, cumbersome, and noisy as all get out.

My dad and I were in the kitchen making my mom chocolate pudding, and suddenly we hear an alarm going off, coming from my parent’s bedroom. My dad took off and I followed suit. He was of course much quicker than I was, jumping over couches and flying to the room. I never made it into the room. He grabbed me and ran back to the kitchen and called 911. I was 9 years old.
The next thing I remember is my dad’s parents, who lived literally around the corner, came speeding up to our house, grabbed me in my blue cloud, flannel nightgown, and put me in the car as the ambulance came pulling up. They rushed my mom to the hospital and it was a couple of days before I saw her again.

When I saw her, she seemed just like my normal mommy. A little weaker and maybe pale, but mommy. She asked me to braid her hair, which was one of my favorite things to do, and I took the purple hair tie out of my hair, braided hers and put in the hair tie. It was getting late, so I went home with my grandparents. I lived with them for quite some time while my mom was in the hospital. My dad was supposedly staying there with her. Although I find that hard to believe now-a-days.

Finally, my grandma asked me one morning if I wanted to go see my mommy at the hospital. I was so excited! My mother was staying at Children’s Hospital in OKC because she was was on an EKMO/ECMO machine and the only 2 at the time we located there in the Pediatric ICU. This machine would take the blood from the body and put oxygen into it, basically giving the lungs a break and having the machine do the lungs job. So we get to the hospital and some lady comes out. I am guessing she was some sort of social worker, but I have no clue who she was, but I knew she wasn’t a nurse. She showed me some pictures of my mom and let me know what everything was.

My mom, as you can imagine, was hooked up to oodles of machines and tubes, and wires and IVs. It didn’t really scare me, I just wanted to see my mommy and talk to her. The lady told me that my mom was sleeping so I would not be able to talk to her. That day, where my grandma made me so happy by letting me see her, where some nice lady showed me weird pictures of my mommy, was April 12th 1995.

Turns out my mommy was too weak to fight off the raging case of pneumonia that had invade her lungs. Nothing was helping her at all. I of course still had no idea how sick she was and what all was going on. I walked into my mommy’s room and saw her for the first time in a couple of months. I don’t remember being scared, I don’t remember feeling anything actually. I walked over to her kissed her on the cheek and told her I loved her. I noticed her hair was still braided and it had the hair tie in it that I had put into it. I was thrilled that it was still there.

The day was long and I just wanted to go outside with my mommy. I played puzzles and colored, watched tv and just about anything else I could find to do. The next thing I knew, we all went into this dark room, outside the doors to the PICU. There was my mom's dad from California, her best friend (my Aunt), her brother, my mom's mom from Tulsa, my dad and his parents and a couple of nurses from my mom's unit at Presby. I don't remember much, but seeing my Aunt and my Grampi (mom's dad) crying.

My dad and his dad took me outside and walked me across the street. It was a beautiful day outside, no clouds in the sky at all. It is amazing when your life changes like that, what details you can remember. I remember asking if mommy was dead. Although know I didn't exactly say those words, but it was something to that effect. That day was Wednesday, April 12th 1995.

She was buried on a Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. She had a traditional Catholic mass at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Downtown OKC. It was amazing and standing room only. Another beautiful day just like she deserved.

I went to school the day after she died. My dad insisted we carry on like everything was fine. And looking back on it now, I needed some serious grief counseling. But there was nothing I could do about it. 10 months later my dad remarried my unfortunate gold digging step-mom and 6 months later she had my youngest sister. My dad uprooted us from my home town and all my friends in Midwest City and moved us to Norman because my step-mom couldn't bear to move her daughter (my step-sister) away from her friends. Ya, I know...pretty lame right?

All the years following her death when I lived with my dad, he never once mentioned her name. Asked me if I wanted to visit her grave. Nothing. He acted like she never even existed. I resent him so much for that along with so much more.

I sent flowers to my mom's mom today and when she called to thank me for them, I just lost it. I want to see her. I miss her so much. My mom has missed so much of my life. She missed me teenage years, teaching me to drive, helping me prom dress shop. She never met D, wasn't at my graduation or our wedding. I am sad she will never meet her grandchildren and she will never see me as their mom and all those things moms and daughters do together. How am I supposed to act with my daughters if I don't know what the mother/daughter relationship is all about?

I guess I will just add it to the list of life experiences that I have to live without her being here. I just hope she looks down on me often enough to see I am doing well and that I am making her proud. I miss you mommy and I love you so much!

101 in 1001 update!

I added 2 new books to my library. Finished them both this week too! The first book I finished this week was just okay. I don't know if I would recommend it.



It was called The Breach by Patrick Lee. The back of the book made it cound pretty cool...this is what is on the back of the book, but pulled from Amazon:



Lee's debut thriller pits ex-con ex-cop Travis Chase against increasingly dire odds as the action ratchets up like levels in a complex video game. Fresh out of prison, Travis sets out on a solo Alaskan trek, wanting nothing more than quiet time for introspection. Then he encounters a downed plane containing the dead bodies of the United States's first lady and several others, plus hints about a mysterious missing item. Armed with superior firepower and the instincts and savvy of a good cop, Travis tracks down the murderers, who are torturing hostage Paige Campbell to get her father, Peter, to reveal another clue. Travis manages to rescue Paige just as Peter confesses the information and is killed. His last words send Paige and Travis into a dangerous world of secrets and conspiracies, where they slowly learn about the eponymous Breach and meet progressively more menacing foes. It's all here: brilliantly devious enemies; nifty, innovative gadgets and weaponry; hang-on-to-your-hat action; and razor-sharp plot twists aplenty.



Had I known it was more of a sci-fi book, I probably would have strayed from it. Not really my type of read and it was a little hard for me to imagin some of the stuff the author wrote about.



Now on to book 2 for this week. I would absolutely recommend this as a read. I am a bit partial because it is a Navy SEAL book, but it was amazing and a true story. It is called Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson. A...MAZ...ING! It is the single largest loss of SEAL life lost in the history of the organization, begining I believe when Kennedy was president.



Here is the premise of the book, again thanks to Amazon:



In June of 2005, Luttrell led a four-man team of Navy SEALs into the mountains of Afghanistan on a mission to kill a Taliban leader thought to be allied with Osama bin Laden. On foot, the team encountered two adult men and a teenage boy. A debate broke out as to whether the SEALs should summarily execute the trio to keep them from alerting the Taliban. Luttrell himself was called upon to make the decision. He was torn between considerations of morality and his survival instinct, and he points out that "any government that thinks war is somehow fair and subject to rules like a baseball game probably should not get into one. Because nothing's fair in war, and occasionally the wrong people do get killed." Luttrell opted to spare the Afghanis' lives. About an hour later, the Taliban launched an attack that claimed nearly a hundred of their own men but also the lives of all the SEALs except Luttrell, who was left wounded. Not long after that, the Taliban shot down an American rescue helicopter, killing all 16 men on board. Luttrell is sure that the three Afghanis he let go turned around and betrayed the SEALs. But if nothing is fair in war, neither is anything foreordained. Luttrell was found by other Afghanis, one of whom claimed to be his village's doctor. Once again, Luttrell had to rely on his instincts. "There was something about him," Luttrell writes. "By now I'd seen a whole lot of Taliban warriors, and he looked nothing like any of them. There was no arrogance, no hatred in his eyes." Luttrell trusted the man and his colleagues, who took him back to their village, where the law of hospitality -- "strictly nonnegotiable" -- took hold. "They were committed to defend me against the Taliban," Luttrell writes, "until there was no one left alive." The law held, and Luttrell survived, returned home and received the Navy Cross for combat heroism from President Bush.



Obviously I am a big military supporter as well as a Navy supporter. D is working with the BUD/S students right now and he is hoping that it help him get his foot in the door to getting in a BUD/S class so he can be a SEAL.



So obvisouly, I knew what the book was about. The author is the only survivor from a high risk mission in the Afghanistan mountains, and it takes you on his journet of survival as well as his journey through boot camp, BUD/S training and his family's journey for the 7 days he was declared dead/MIA. I tell you what though, when his last buddy died, I just couldn't hold back the tears. It absolutely broke my heart to hear what PO Luttrell went through.



This book totally sucked me in and D can't wait to read it. It was a book he brought back with him from his deployment in Africa. He found it in the armory he was working in and they were going to throw it away. Well D wouldn't have any of that because he had heard about the story of the team and it was a nice looking book. So started to read it and couldn't put it down.



I cried several times during the story and I kept thinking about my friends over there and when D was over there. It really puts into perspective what the military personell go through and how much we are actually hated half way across the world. It blows my mind how twisted their world is and how easily these people can be manipulated into wanting to kill any and all Americans without any regard to their own lives.



When I finished it I told D that I couldn't wait for him to become a SEAL. I know D has what it takes and he has wanted it for so long. He is so stubborn and bull-headed, that I know in my heart he will have no problem getting through all thr training required of him.



So that is my wrap up of my 2 new books added to my library. The first one was just eh, ok...but the second one was a total hit! I am sure I will be reading it again!!

Busy Bee....

Well...it's time for blankets! I have so many friends right now that are KU, I am swamped with baby blankets to make!! And to top it off...all them have to be finished by the time we come at the end of June. I am making one blanket for a friend who's little boy turns 2 this May, so I guess that is one non-blanket. She is the same person I am making a blanket to take on her deployment this June...so her blanket needs to be done by the end of May...and hers is going to be crocheted. I think patchwork might be a little young for her!

I make these blankets for all my friends and family who have children. The first blanket I made was for D. I made it...about 7 years ago. It is huge and big enough to cover a twin size bed. He loved it and slept with it every night until he left for the Navy and once he got an apartment in VA he had me ship it to him. :D

The next one I made was for my BFF...she had her first baby in 2005. My little angel Kailyn. Oh how I love this little girl! She is my Angel and has her Aunt Erica absolutely wrapped around her little finger! I made her a baby blanket that was crib size...Winnie the Pooh fabric with rose, yellow, mint green and baby blue. It was adorable.

My angel half asleep in my lap

Now my BFF is preggers with her 2nd baby, Tinslee. She is going to be an absolute spoiled doll too! I have started calling her my Peanut...and I think that name will stick too. Her blanket is going to be the same size as big sister's but it is going to be chocolate brown and pink. I haven't found any fabric yet, but I will post a pic when I find some!

The next blanket I am working on is for another friend, Amy. She was our neighbor below us in our first actual apartment together, which burnt down 8 days after we moved in. Needless to say that made us pretty close really quick. She has a little girl named Abi. I made her a blanket before she was born and it was pink and chocolate. It was a different pattern than what I usually do and a lot more time consuming, hence why I try not to do it too often. But it is just so stinking cute, I had to do it again when she got KU again. Amy is having another little girl, Graycie, and her blanket is going to be hot pink and zebra with white and black ribbon to tie in the corners of the squares.

This is big sister Abi's blanket. As you can see, it has a lot of different pieces to it. I cut 4 9" x 4" strips around a 6" x 6" square of the alternating color. Graycie's will be the same way.

The next blanket I need to have done, is for my friend's little boy who turns 2 in May. He is an absolute mess and a half! He is about all boy as a boy can get. If he can climb it he will, if he can throw it, he will throw it as hard as possible. He runs every where and is into everything! His daddy is really going to have his hands full while mommy is gone on deployment.

I made his big sister, Cheyanne, a blanket for her birthday in February, which I don't have a picture of, and she loves it. So I had to make one for Felix as well. Felix LOVES bananas. Like LOVES LOVES LOVES them! He could seriously eat bananas all day long and be fine. Since banana fabric isn't exactly easy to find, I decided monkey fabric would be just as good. Plus he loves monkeys since they have bananas, so it's a win-win situation. I might switch the ribbon from this blanket to another...just not for sure yet. I think yellow might look better than the blue gingham.

The next blanket is for my nursing school buddy Carolyn. She had her first little boy 1 and a half years ago and just found out she is KU again! She is due in September, so I have a little bit of time, but I want to give it to her while I am home. She had a little boy first and is having another little boy, Trevor. His blanket was teal, cream, and chocolate. Super cute! I haven't picked out any fabric yet, but I know I want to do red and navy, but I don't want it to look like the 4th of July, KWIM??

Me and the mommy-to-be at her first shower!

Next, is D's BFF...his wife is having their second little boy as well, Bryson James. Their first little boy Kagan Joseph, got a turquoise, yellow and lime blanket, and BJ will get a lime, yellow and bright blue blanket. I know the color schemes sound basically the same, and I guess they are, but the patterns of all the fabrics are different. Here is what I am using for BJ's blanket.

This is the blanket I am thinking of swapping the ribbon around. I think blue gingham might look better than this yellow. I think the yellow might be a little too dark....

Ok...this next one is for you Alexis...if you are reading this...STOP NOW! Do not look any further! I want this to be a surprise for you!!

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Ok...now hopefully she is gone. Well Let me just say this blanket I am SUPER excited for! Alexis and I have know each other for a while. We met while we worked at Children's Hospital in the ED. It was a lot of fun. I think I got along with her the best out of everyone else I worked with. We are obviously not working there any more...everything just went into the crapper. We kept in touch a lot over the years and she sent me a text the night she got KU saying she had something to tell me and I called her right away because I knew she was KU! I was so thrilled. She hadn't even told her D yet...just me and another nurse we used to work with. She was going to tell him as soon as he got home!

So monkeys and sage green are the main colors for the nursery. I found the absolute perfect fabric and I can't wait for her to see!!

I will post pictures of all the blankets as I get them done!! Enjoy!

I survived!!!

Most of you already know that I survived my first earthquake here in SoCal....let me just say, "HOLY SHIT!!!!"

It happened Easter Sunday, April 4th, 2010. I was sitting at a fellow military wife's house across town. She lives right near the water, hence the intensity we felt.... Her daughter just woke up from a nap and was sitting with me all curled up on the couch and her little boy was upstairs asleep still. I was talking on the phone with D and I felt this vibration in the couch. My first thought was, oh my phone is about to ring/my friend's phone is about to ring. Then a split second later, I realized, I was on my phone...duh.

Then I felt the "wave". That is really the best way to describe it. It felt like the ground was waving or swaying under us. We both just kind of stared at each other, then I yelled for us to go outside. She took off upstairs for her little boy, taking the stairs 3 at a time. I ran out the front door with the little girl. I started to hear stuff break in her house and I could see their flat screen tv shaking and looking like it was about to tip over...and she wasn't outside yet. I didn't have any idea how long it would last, or how much worse it could get. I yelled for her and she came stumbling down the stairs, sleepy baby in tow.

We stood out on the side walk for what seemed like a good minute before the ground stopped moving. I am sure it was much less time than that, but who knows. My heart was racing so fast and my adrenaline was pumping!!! We could see the street signs shaking and people flowing out their front doors. It was quite a sight I am sure!

It took us a while before we got the courage to go back inside. Neither one of us were sure it that was it, or what would happen next. My friend has been out here almost 2 years I believe, and she said that this was the worst one she ever felt. She said she was so glad I was there because she would have freaked out being there by herself with the 2 babies.

The earthquakes was about 130 miles from where we are....just south of the international border into Mexico and about 100 miles east of Tijuana. It was in far eastern Baja California almost to the main part of Mexico and Arizona. When I was on the phone with D, he said he could feel it too. He said his truck was rocking really bad back and forth. He said he thought a light pole was going to fall over onto it. He was in eastern Cali, near the town of El Centro, which is almost to Arizona. So he was much closer to it and could really feel it. My friend thought that since we were right on the water, that must have been why we felt it so hard.

So...we finally go back inside and turn on CNN and start watching the news coverage...oh media, it is nice to have you around and responding so quickly sometimes! The first reports were that it was a 6.9 and within a half hour it had jumped to a 7.2. And I guess it was shallow as well, which is why it was felt over such a large distance. I don't know...not for sure on that one.

We were both so nervous, we couldn't do anything. We had to clean up all the broken glass from the candle holders that fell off her wall. The babies just laid on the couch motionless. I think we scared them pretty good. We started making phone calls to her command and our friends and family to let them know we were okay.

Thankfully no real damage was done. We continued to feel after shocks the rest of the night and she said she was going to sleep on the second floor in between her babies instead of her third floor bedroom...I am pretty sure she did just that.

But all in all, no major damage done. Although I will say, I prefer tornadoes over earthquakes thankyouverymuch!!!