Warm enough to do this

It has been a dream to live in GA since February. The weather is awesome. Most days its is so nice, sure it rains every so often, but we've been wearing shorts on and off for a while now. We even went out the other day and did this. It was hot outside it was great. We spent half of Saturday washing and waxing our car, only to have someone hit our car while out one night and drive away. Don't love that. Don't love the cracked tail light and dented bumper, but what can you do?

My life in GA

So I feel like I have some big dark secret. Like I am not the person everyone knew 7 months ago. Living in GA has already changed me. Maybe it was all a part of the changing process. For example. I find myself wanting to say "Y'all", and even liking the sound of it. A friend of mine the other night said "it's just more efficient." I mean what do you say instead.. you guys? Is that any better? At least in the south they've picked a way to say it "Y'all." Granted I don't think I say it much, but I do like it.
Now for my other confessions. I am now semi health conscience. Not like I wasn't before but this one has been forming for a while. Even before we got here. I just realized how much junk we eat. And we still do, believe me, but I find myself feeling guilty for buying processed foods. I now grind my own organic wheat and make organic all natural wheat bread every week. And might I add it is delicious. I haven't purchased a loaf of bread since October. I have my locally grown organic fruits and vegetables brought to my house every other week. I wish I could afford to shop elusively at places like Whole Foods. You would have to be loaded to do that. I told Lee "if we were rich, I'd hire someone to teach me how to shop and prepare all natural unprocessed foods." This isn't something that changes overnight. It takes money and work to eat like this. I am not even a quarter of the way there, and until Lee is a billionaire I'll probably stay a quarter of the way there.
If I had freezer space I would order my meat in bulk from local farmers who have grass fed beef and free range chickens. That is next on my list of ways to improve my families health. Do you think I am crazy yet? Sometimes I do.
I started couponing. It's huge in the south. Its like a sport or an art form. People devote their lives to couponing and showing others how to do it. I have saved a great deal but I am still a rookie compared to most. I have to keep it realistic, I don't just run out and get something just because its free. There is order to the way I shop and the stores I shop at.
I now shop at all the local church consignment sales. It is great, I have gotten to know lots of people from different faiths and churches, and scored a lot of cheap children's clothes.
I've started reading. So much so that Lee even bought me an e-reader (Yes the same as a Kindle only not that brand). I've finished 6 very decently sized books in the last few months. It's like an escape from my mind.
For as much complaining as I've done, I do like it here. I like how slow it feels compared to D.C. I like how friendly the people are. I like that people have faith down here. Most everyone attends a church and religion is such a part of people's culture down here. I like that. I love the weather. 70's all week baby, and its been like that off and on since February. We're slowing breaking in, and I like the person I am becoming. I want to be the best me I can be, for myself and my family.

Christmas in March

It is so me to forget that my blog even exists so why not post Christmas in March. Merry Christmas everyone. Here is what we were doing.
So Makenzie and Maddie were dying to go Christmas caroling, which I thought, could be a disaster, but hey why not. It was entertaining to say the least. Kenzie takes her caroling seriously.

The Truth is...

Just an image of some of the wonderful friends that are too far north for my liking
The truth is, I have so much I want to say, I have so many backlogged blog posts in my head but I don't make this a priority. It's been a while since I've had time to just sit down and blog, or read other peoples blogs for that matter, so tonight I tossed Kenzie in a her bed a little early with a coloring book and some crayons and hit the blogs for a little catching up. Catching up is so great and so hard because here is how I felt. (It's how I've been feeling for a while.)
I miss my friends. I miss VA, I miss really simple things. I miss my ward/wards, the fact that I felt like I knew people and they knew me. (I spoke in church on Sunday and wanted to crack a joke about Lee's youthful appearance in my intro but somehow I thought, nope, they just wouldn't appreciate it.) I miss how everyone was friends, sure everyone has their good buddies, but everyone was friends. I miss how I knew about the schools in VA, I miss the fact that my friends were a stones throw away. I miss my old running routes. This all sounds silly, but I miss it.
I was excited to move to GA, head out on a new adventure, live in a place with reasonable housing prices but the newness has worn off. Don't get me wrong, I do like it here and I have faith that our situation will improve with time, just in the current moment I am missing my old life.
I don't really have any friends here. Not in my ward at least, people are friendly but I don't have any friends. In fact I really only have 2 friends. My two neighbors have been a blessing in my life, but one is going back to work full time next week (so sad for me). But in a way I still feel alone. None of my close friends here are members of the church, part of me feels like I need a friend who understands me on all levels. I miss that about VA, I can't begin to describe how many truly amazing women I knew, and they all lived within a mile of me. What a blessing that was, and how I miss them so much. I miss just talking to them, I miss their families, I miss their cutest little kids. I miss being able to take their kids and drop off mine, and feel ok about it. I miss really knowing people. And it feels weird saying it, but I miss people knowing who I really am. I feel like I've met a lot of people they've got an idea of who I am, but thats not who I am. Its weird feeling like there really isn't anyone close to turn to. Its been a lonely feeling.
I think this loneliness feeling I have also stems from the fact that Lee and I haven't been on a real date since September. We haven't found anyone to swap with. We don't really know of anyone to hire as a babysitter (although we are looking into it). Our relationship has not been nourished, when I think of counsel about weekly dates I have to laugh and think, they must mean weekly dates when your kids are like 16. But a little attention to my husband and our relationship might also help the mental, social and emotional roller coaster I have been on. Right now, he's the only one I've got. So as depressing as that all was, I really am fine, I just really miss my friends. (It doesn't help that Lee is in DC right now on business, I told him to tell it hello for me!)

Are Lee and I really married? According the the state of GA, NO!

Lee said it best today when he said "Don't you have to come to the DMV like 3 times before you can actually get what you want?" So true. In order to avoid having to go to the DMV three times I am a diligent researcher. I look on line beforehand to make sure I have every document necessary. So today when we went to go get our licenses switched over we had all the proper paper work. Well when I presented my marriage license they wouldn't honor it. Apparently they don't think my ORIGINAL marriage license is real. They asked me if I had a certified copy, I said I've got even better, you are holding the original. After arguing with the woman for a few minutes about whether or not we were married and whether or not we had a "real" marriage license, I finally lost the battle. This has never been a problem in any other state I have been to but GA has some snooty marriage license requirements or something. So now 5 and half years later, I have to get in touch with the state of UT and ask them, do you have something GA will honor, because apparently your marriage licenses aren't good enough for them? What a pain. I hate the DMV. As if to make me feel better the woman then turns to Lee and says "well he can get his license." Oh great, that makes me feel better, maybe I can just drag my two kids back here and do this again another time because that is fun for me. Right! So GA doesn't honor my marriage, does that mean Lee and I have been fornicating for 5 years, or are we just fornicating in GA? HA!!! I smell another wedding coming on. Lee said if we can't get this all straightened out we might just have to get remarried. I actually smiled, thought that could be fun. Shot gun wedding in the court house, maybe our kids could be the witnesses. HA! This might sound terrible but if I were to do it all over again, I wouldn't change my name. Not because I wouldn't want Lee's last name or because I am some feminist or something but because I can't tell you how much of a pain it has been legally, in every state I have had to go through something regarding my name change. I could still be Mrs.(so and so) for social purposes, it just wouldn't be on all my legal documents. So my advice to newly weds, think twice before you change your name, because if you move around a lot like our family has, it will only come back to haunt you. So until then here's the questions of the day, are Lee and I really married? What a sketchy life we are leading. Muahahhaah!!

A new addition to the Family

No, we are not pregnant, nor are we going to be anytime soon. The new addition I am referring to is Lee's new love in life his scooter. With as much love and attention this thing gets from Lee it may as well be another child. Yes, Lee justified himself into buying a scooter. Being the one car family that we are, he decided the responsible thing to do as a provider/husband/father was go get a second vehicle. He's been working on it for about a month now trying to get everything up and running. A special thanks to our wonderful neighbor Mike who has been helping Lee put this thing together. Hopefully it will start serving its purpose soon, or at least when the rain stops. My favorite part about the scooter is the owner's manual. I kid you you not, this is exactly what the introduction page says, word for word.

"We are very welcoming you to drive the GT 150 motorcycle. In order to make you drive with practice and acknowledge well, we make the descriptions of motorcycle, hope it leads to excellent function for wide the users. All information is about the latest product, we will advance some parts because of new high technologic. We have the right to change any contents in it without notice."

I literally had tears in my eyes the first time I read this, not because I couldn't understand it and had no idea what it said, but because they literally printed it and sent it to the USA with that translation. So funny!!! So welcome to the family scooter, I hope you serve us well. If anyone wants to come down, Lee would happily let you ride it.

Halloween

So I thought I should probably post about Halloween before Thanksgiving, which is next week, what the heck? I swear, Halloween was yesterday, yet all the stores have Christmas stuff out (and have since Nov 1.) This really is a confusing time of year, if I was visiting from another planet I would think humans were crazy. Another random holiday thought, I don't think Thanksgiving gets enough play, I mean sure it is the most boring of the 3, but come on, day after Halloween and I can't find a cute turkey or pilgrim to buy but I've got my pick of every Santa or nutcracker in the world, just seems wrong to me.
Anyway, back to Halloween. So every year I try and think of the best costume ever, and every year I come up short. This year I thought I had done it, I thought I was a creative pop-cultural genius. I guess I wasn't because no one at our Trunk or treat knew who I was except the cutest 13 year old down syndrome girl I've ever met, and one other friend. Trick or treating we had a little more luck, but still only a handful of people met our Halloween genius and enthusiasm with Glee. But I'll let you be the judge. Most people thought we were rappers, someone said Brittany and K-fed, I was like huh? So gold stars to whoever recognizes our Halloween genius. Even though only a few people appreciated our costumes, I still think we looked awesome!!
For those of you who know me well, you know that Halloween has a special place in my heart, and now the heart of my daughter (I swear I didn't brain wash her). It all started a few years ago when we got a catalog in August with Halloween costumes. Makenzie became obsessed with it and then began her search for Halloween. We had a good year, partcipating in everything possible having to do with the fall and Halloween and since then, every August Makenzie starts asking about Halloween. This year she was a witch, I made her costume, it just seems like the right thing to do when it comes to Halloween. She and her friends had a great time trick or treating in the neighborhood, it was a lot of fun to watch them have such a good time, reminded me of all the great Halloween memories I have. Here's to Halloween, we had a blast!!