Does the snow ever end!!!

The first month we were here I thought all the snow was beautiful, the second month I was used to it and it didn't bother me now were on month three and I can't wait until it stops!!! I asked Tyler today when does it stop snowing and he said it can snow until April. That’s 2 more months of snow!!! I can't wait until spring but that means summer is close behind, which I'm not looking forward too. Base housing does not have AC and temps in the summer can be in the upper nineties. When I was in Italy they didn't have AC either and it got pretty hot there as well but I have put on some weight since then so I'm not looking forward to sweaty rolls lol!!!

I am trying to work on losing the extra weight, especially if I want to get pregnant soon. Back in December I signed up for Weight Watchers online, I did really well for the first month but I only lost like 2 pounds. It was so hard keeping up with the food journal and most of the time they didn't have the food I ate on the list. So I canceled my membership and we are just trying to eat better and workout. Tyler has to go to the gym at least 3 times a week so Bella and I are going with him. The base gym here has a mommy (or daddy) and baby room, the front of the room is set up with a TV, tumbling blocks, and a little kitchen; the back of the room is set up with treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes. This base is so family friendly!!! So far this week we went to the gym on Monday and Wednesday and we plan to go tomorrow. It is so nice because we can put Bella in the play area and Tyler and I can work out together. We also have started going to the pool on the weekends, last week me and Bella went twice during the week, so maybe we will try and do that on Tuesday and Thursday.

Tyler read my disappointment blog the other day and we had a talk last night, well he talked and I listened. He thinks the reason I am feeling so down on myself is because I'm not getting out and doing things, I think it is because the medicine I take for migraines makes me fell sluggish. Anyways he suggested that I take Bella outside and let us both get some fresh air. So this morning I got her all dressed up in her snow gear and I got all bundled up and we headed outside. For the most part I think he was right getting outside and doing something helps but I still think my meds are keeping me down. The good thing is Bella had fun and I definitely got a workout. Tyler didn't have time this morning to get all the snow shoveled before he left for work so while Bella played in the snow I shoveled our parking spots and the sidewalks. It took me about 30 minutes to do it all; I never would have thought shoveling snow was such work.

This is looking out our apartment window!!! I shoveled that whole sidewalk along with the a sidewalk on the opposite side of our yard that leads to the garbage cans. Our parking spots are the one with my car in it and the one that is for the most part clear (to the right)!!! I tried really hard to get all the snow off but under the snow was ice so I didn't get very far.

This is a picture of my new favorite drink, cold green tea!!!! I think I mentioned it in an earlier post!!! I love the bottle, I thought I would share it with y'all!!!

Well I just put Bella down for a nap so I'm off to get some homework done. Maybe I can get somewhere in Statistics today...Wish me luck!!!!

Don't feel like writing!!!

You Are Clogs

You are a solid and down to earth person. You seek and almost always achieve a really sound balance in your life. You are stylish yet comfortable. Mellow but driven. Excited yet calm. You are the perfect mesh of contradictions. No matter what happens, you have the ability to stay well grounded in your life. People know that they can truly depend on you. You should live: In Europe Maybe one day soon!!! You should work: At a company dedicated to helping the world I want to be a Social Worker

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Crazy how true this is about me!!!

Your Ideal Pet is a Cat

You're both aloof, introverted, and moody. And your friends secretly wish that you were declawed!

What's" Your Ideal Pet?

You Will Be a Cool Parent

You seem to naturally know a lot about parenting, and you know what kids need. You can tell when it's time to let kids off the hook, and when it's time to lay down the law. While your parenting is modern and hip, it's not over the top. You know that there's nothing cool about a parent who acts like a teenager... or a drill sergeant!

Alright that's enough of those...maybe tomorrow I will feel like writing something!!!

Does the disappointment ever end!!!

I applied for a job at the club on base about a month ago and finally got an interview last Wednesday. I haven't said much about it because I didn't want to jinx anything. Today I was kind of wondering what was going on with it so I called the girl whose place I would have been taking. Guess what she said, "Sorry we hired someone with more club experience"!!! I just want a freaking job!!! Don't get me wrong I love staying at home with Isabella but I get so depressed sitting at home day after day. Yes we could go do things around the base but I don't want to spend money and most of the time I just don't feel like leaving the house. The truth is I don't feel like I have a purpose most days. I know my purpose is to take care of Bella and I really need to get her potty trained but I guess I'm just not that kind of mom. I loving being with her and she can always make me smile but she can also drive crazy. I think maybe if it was warmer outside things wouldn't be as bad, we could go to the playground which is about 100 yards away, go for a walk around the block or walk to the BX which is about a 15 minutes’ walk from the house. But right now it is way too cold for any of those activities.
On top of me not getting the job today I tried to do some of my homework while Bella was sleeping and couldn't get anywhere in Statistics. I have figured out the method we need to be using but when I try to solve the problem I don't get the answer in the back of the book. I HATE MATH!!!
Maybe I should have let everyone know that I am in school before I started talking about it. While in North Carolina I got my Associates Degree and am presently working on my Bachelors in Psychology. I am only going to school part-time because the tuition at UMUC is a little too high for our income right now and the GI Bill will only pay my tuition. This means my books have to come out of our pocket or should I say Tyler’s pocket since I can’t seem to find a job.
Anyways enough complaining for now!!! I put an application in for a secretary job at the CDC (Child Development Center or the daycare on base) but the reason I haven't heard anything from them is because I need to fax a copy of my transcripts and my DD214 (prior military service form) to the main office in San Antonio. So when Tyler gets home from work we are going to go the base Library and fax it off. Hopefully I will get somewhere with this job, if not I don't know what my next plan of action will be.

Happy Birthday Tyler!!!

Ok so I know I'm a little late...his birthday was February 21st but I really haven't had time to blog about it. Unfortunately I woke up Thursday morning, Tylers B-day with a migraine but at least I did remember to tell him "Happy Birthday" before he left for work. Guys I felt like such a bad wife because he came home for lunch and all I did was sleep the whole time he was home. I had taken some of my migraine medicine before he got home and had been fighting sleep because I had to take care of Bella. Then once he got home I was able to relax and went right to sleep. I knew when he left I had to stay awake until Bella’s nap time so I just wanted to sleep a little to try and get rid of the headache. When he got home I told him how bad I felt about lunch time and he said don't worry I had told him Happy B-day a couple of times and I don't even remember it. Once Bella’s nap time finally rolled around I couldn't hold on any longer so I put her down and crashed on the couch. We sleep for like 3 hours and when we woke up I felt a million times better. I couldn't wait until Tyler got home so that I could give him birthday present. I had bought it 2 days prior to his b-day and had asked him a couple times if he wanted me to give it to him early, of course he said no!!! Here is a picture of what I got him!!!

I wasn't sure if he was going to like it because he had told me about them before and said he didn't really think he wanted one because we would have to load a new program on the computer. But once he opened it I knew I had made a good decision by getting it for him. He loves it!!! Supposedly it is a lot easier to use than my iPod and getting the music from the computer to the zune is a lot easier as well. Since I was feeling better we decided to go out to dinner, Tyler’s pick. He wanted to go to one of our favorite place to eat in Misawa...so far!!!

This place is just a little whole in the wall restaurant that only has like 6 tables and I little bar but that have the best cheese rolls and awesome shrimp yakisoba. The lady that works here is so friendly she will talk Japanese to Bella and just play with her while we decided what we want to eat. This isn’t very hard because we always get the same thing. But Bella loves her...we tell Bella to tell her "Domo" which is Japanese for thank you and Bella says "Domo thank you"!!! Tyler says he thinks Bella thinks her name is domo. Anyways all in all I think he had a good B-day despite my illnesses. He is such a great man...he is so forgiving of my migraines and willing to take care of me when I can barely hold my head up. I love him so much and I am so thankful I married such a wonderful husband and father.

I better get going I need to get some homework done while Bella is sleeping. I will leave y'all with a picture of the delicious cheese rolls from the Cheese Roll House!!!

A Long Weekend!!!

This weekend was a long weekend, which means that Tyler had Monday off for Presidents Day. Friday night was spent just relaxing at home watching some TV. Saturday morning we headed out early because there was suppose to be a Snow Festival in Misawa. The internet said that it was at the local lake recreation area so we printed the directions out and off we went. Once we got to the area there was no sign of a snow festival so thinking we were in the wrong place we decided to drive a little further. After about an hour of driving we decided that the internet must have had the wrong dates for the festival so on the way back to base we stopped by the Universe a Japanese grocery store. Everyone we talk to says that you can find some really good food there but you can also find some really weird stuff as well. We wanted to try it out first hand and we didn't want a day of adventure to be wasted. For the most part it was a typical grocery store, they had their different sections: frozen food, meats, canned and bag food, and vegetables. We picked up some sushi my favorite and also some dumplings, we got a couple bowls of dried noodles that you just add water. We also got a small bottle of sake because I have never tried it; I have to say it wasn't too bad; it just tasted like a shot of whiskey without the strong bit afterwards. I also found my new favorite drink there, it is cold Green Tea, and the Japanese are very big on green tea. This one taste kind of like the Lipton ones you can buy in the states but it doesn't have that extra flavor. Tyler can't stand it and doesn't even like the way it smells but I think it is great, plus it is good for me!!! After our little adventure in the Universe we decided to head to base to do a little shopping at the BX. Tyler wanted to get a new DVD player because for Christmas we got a new HD TV and our old DVD player wouldn't show moves in HD so we had to get one that is compatible. And since we were getting a new DVD player we had to get a new DVD so we picked up the first season of Prison Break. While in the states we watched season 2, but we missed season 1 and wanted to get caught up on how it all happened.

Saturday night one of Tyler’s co-workers had invited us over to play games and of course do a little drinking. We had a very good time, I didn't drink they live on the opposite side of base from us so someone had to drive home. We played Phase 10 and guess who won....Me!!! Megan if you are reading this it was nothing like game night with the Oaks!!! We didn't get home from there until midnight and can you believe that Bella didn't fall asleep until we were like 2 minutes away from home...she is such a party animal.

Surprisingly Bella let me and Tyler sleep in on Sunday until 10:00, we couldn't believe it!! At about 12:30 Sunday afternoon Tyler had to take his boss to the airport for emergency leave so we decided we would all get ready and once we dropped him off we would head out to find another snow festival. This one was about an hour and half drive away and we didn't want to be out to late at night because driving in Japan can be a little difficult at times. Mainly because they don't have street names and I imagine if they did we probably couldn't read them anyways. All the directions we get off the internet use land marks such as: go three stop lights and turn left, at the gas station turn right, and at the Homac (a Japanese version of Wal-mart) turn left. So driving some place new can be very challenging. So we got there at about 2:30 and finally a snow festival. This was the Lake Towada Winter Festival and it was amazing. Small compared to world know Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo, Japan. The one in Sapporo is said to have hundreds of Ice and Snow sculptures, they say you can walk for hours and still never see all the sculptures. I think the Lake Towada Festival was good for our first experience, maybe next year we will be able to get up to Sapporo. We really want to go because Sapporo is known for brewing one of Japan's best beers. Anyways back to the weekend we got back to the Misawa area at about 5 and decided to head home to get warm, do some relaxing and watch a couple episodes of Prison Break.

Monday was spent getting groceries at the commissary and Tyler getting his hair cut. The base has an indoor swimming pool so we tried to take Bella swimming but I guess they are closed on Federal holidays. Since that didn't work out and she was pretty upset because we had been promising her all day that we were going to go swimming, we took her to the Weasels Den. Which is an indoor recreation are for kids, they have jumping castles, indoor miniature golf, a small soccer field and tons of video games. She loves going there so once we got there she forgot all about the pool.
So that takes me to the end of our weekend, Monday night we just cooked dinner and got ready to begin the week. I will leave y'all with some pictures of the Lake Towada Winter Festival!!!

This was the entrance to the Snow Festival.

There was another wall on the other side just as big!!!

Me frezzing my butt off!!!

Bella and her little Japanese friend

Not sure what it said but the art work is amazing!!

I love this picture, the horse is as big as the little Japanese Man!!!

Look at the guy at the bottom, that is why we didn't let Bella go on this one!!

I still can't believe how tall they can get these things!!!!

Tyler and Bella in the Ice Bar!!!

Such a cute little church, they even had a ice sculpture of the Virgin Mary inside!!!

Bella and Pokemon

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!!

For everyone in the states V-day is today but for all of us on the other side of the earth V-day was yesterday. Even though it wasn't a typical Valentine’s Day it was a great day. Tyler didn't have to work so he was home with me and Bella all day which was great in itself. Tyler and I had decided not to worry about gifts because money has been tight, with us not having a tenant in the rental house in North Carolina. But as usual Tyler had something up his sleeve!! I had decided to try and get a manicure and pedicure this weekend because my toes and feet were getting pretty bad and about 3 weeks ago I got fake nails put on and after I took them off my nails looked like crap. I guess Tyler had already planned to give me a gift certificate to the base beauty shop but since he didn't have time with the exercise and all I just went and paid for it myself. It was great I spent 2 and half hours by myself getting pampered!!! I felt kind of bad about not getting Tyler or Bella anything so once I was done being pampered I went into the BX and got Tyler a new cooking pot that he has been saying he needs and I also got him a set of high quality steak knives. Of course for Bella I got her the new Diego DVD and her all time favorite candies "Reese's Pieces"!!! When I got home the house was completely clean, mopped vacuumed dusted, the whole 9 yards...my husband is the best!!! And Bella had made me a cute little Valentine's Day card!!! Then we cooked a homemade pizza and sat in front of the TV to watch "American Idol". Well I hope everyone as a great Valentine's Day!!!!