What I Wore Wednesday...22

I'm linking up with The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday. Here are my outfits from the week.

Cardigan- Ann Taylor Loft

Top- H&M

Jeans- Old Navy

Necklace- boutique

Jacket- Old Navy

Sweater- Banana Republic

Jeans- Banana Republic

Shoes- Target
Necklace- Target

Just Another Monday

Laundry and lounging pretty much sums up my day. I had hopes of making it to Combat Cycle class but that went out the window early in the day.  Too ambitious. I settled for a 30 minute walk/hike around our housing area. We have some pretty great trails. Honestly, I'd rather walk an hour looking at nature than the screen of a treadmill or stationary bike.

Here is the trail I walked today. The view makes climbing the hill very rewarding.

After my hike, I did more laundry and read a little of my non-fiction book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers. The book follows a handful of poverty stricken people living in India. Very enlightening to learn how others live in true hardship. I don't typically read non-fiction but I wanted to switch it up a bit and feed my brain. I can not survive on fluffy romance novels alone!

I put a little extra effort into dinner tonight. I made one of the kids' favorites, spaghetti. I use a recipe from Allrecipes.com which is my favorite recipe site, even above Pinterest. Yes, I really did just say that!

I also made cute heart shaped Rice Crispie treats dipped in chocolate. Yum! I made them for my three valentines at home and sent a virtual one to my valentine floating around the ocean. Miss him.

Today was not the most adventurous BUT I think I needed a day like this. Plus clean clothes are always a good thing!

I will be back at it tomorrow.

Gratitude Journal

A random list of all the things making me smile throughout the week.

Today, I am thankful for....

...a nap.
...cloudy skies.
...crockpot dinners.
...a Google chat with the husband.
...kids who can help with household chores.
...a quiet house after kids are asleep.
...time for reading.
...a Pastor's sermon/message that felt like it was created for me.
...a God who knows exactly what I need.
...another week of deployment over.
...a short week of school for the kids.
...my husband's Mustang restored and in the garage. I no longer have to think or stress about the car.
...Zumba. It keeps me motivated to workout.
...hugs. I am a firm believer in "4 hugs for survival, 8 for maintenance, and 12 for growth".

Deployment Funk

It's been one of those days. I just can't shake the negative feelings about deployment. There has been a build up over the past couple of days. I've been fighting them off as much as possible. I've just been feeling like this deployment is so long. I hate when I get caught off guard by the negative. I do so well for weeks and then one day or week...BAM!...I feel like I'm in month 1. The difference being I'm better at coping and letting the mood pass without too much negative impact. Sadly, this week I didn't do so well at shielding the innocent people. I know my limitations and have retreated to the comfort of my own home until this burns out.

I kind of brought it on myself by attending the military breakfast at church today. I always enjoy attending. Fellowship with friends, meeting other military families in our church, breakfast, and free childcare. What's not to love? Each month is a different theme, a different guest speaker. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, you would have to expect the topic to be marriage. I don't think I was in a good place to listen to a two hour talk about communicating in marriage. Heck, I'm lucky to get an email when I wake up. By the time we closed in prayer, I was just asking God to let me hold the tears back long enough to sneak out of the room. Not a good start to the day.

The rest of the day was busy. The boys got haircuts, frozen yogurt for all, we replenished Derrick's jean wardrobe, and picked up a few things at the grocery store.

I can always tell when I'm in a bad mood by what I buy at the store. I came home with a 50 pack of potato chips and $20 in magazines. I would say it was a foul mood. 

Hoping for a restful night and a happy Sunday!

Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Museum

Lots and lots of rain falling here in SoCal. It's kind of a nice switch from our typical winter days. Tonight we are homebound listening to the drops on the rooftop. Occasionally the rain intensifies and it sounds like a big gust of wind blowing through. We even got about 30 seconds of hail tonight. Not common for us.

This afternoon, I took the kids to the Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Museum. It a small building off of Main Street in Fallbrook. The museum is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11AM to 3PM. Unfortunately, we didn't make it before the museum closed. We did tour the lab and see some gems being polished. Zachary and his friend were extremely impressed. We even met a world renowned gem cutter and saw her latest gems. The cuts really were very impressive. The lab workers also informed us of the museum rock garden of discarded gems and minerals. The kids dug through the rocks to find all kinds of goodies. Which pleases me to no end, you can never have enough rocks in the house! *sarcasm*

There was an older gentleman who kept us company in the rock garden. He was telling the kids all kinds of facts and stories about the rocks they found. He was a retired 4th/5th grade teacher. He worked with the Fallbrook School District for 30 years. How fortunate we were to have a private lesson in geology from such a sweet soul. Thank you Garth!