My love of peanut butter will be the death of me.

It's been a couple of days since my last post but there really hasn't been anything that interesting to update about. I'm meting up with Candyce this week to see where her house is and have an opportunity to (direct quote from her, here) "have a last chance to freak out" on watching her kids. Haha, so far I'm not scared! But, I have a feeling I'll be second guessing myself once I'm in the thick of it. Speaking of kids, my neighbor Marcy's kids are so sweet but the other neighbor kids in this apartment complex are a bunch of bullies! They pick on Auston and MaCaelob non-stop. I'm really getting fed up with them and I swear if I hear them being mean one more time, I may just need to "accidentally" lose control of Clark while we're walking outside and let him chase them down the street. He's totally harmless, but they certainly don't know that.

Anyway, other than plotting my revenge on the heathens in my apartment community. . .

I'm really needing to get back in shape. I took a couple too many days off (ok, just 2 but still!) of my wii active so I didn't make the 30 day deadline. I'm really bummed out but I am going to start back up tomorrow and am absolutely not giving myself any more excuses for missing workouts. I really need to eat healthy and I really am trying, but the peanut butter keeps calling my name! We're going grocery shopping today and I wasn't going to pick anymore up so it wouldn't be tempting but Mark specifically asked for peanut butter (the first time he's asked for it! Why now when I'm being good!?!?!?) for when he does he weekend ambulance work. Ooook, fine.

Damn. Maybe I'll just have one teaspoon?

But no seriously. I do need to get in shape and I actually have some motivation this time! In October my cousin (who I haven't seen in two years!) is getting married and I'm going to her wedding. She lives in Florida so I'll be flying down there for a week and meet up with my mom and grandmom to go to the wedding. So my goal is to get into some serious shape so I can hit the beaches and get a nice tan while I'm there. We will see how that works out!

Going to do some menu planning now for grocery shopping.

~LeAnn

Dog Park Drama and the King of Pop

My dog is crazy. Clark is a lab mix (the guy we got him from said corgi mix, but he looks like a miniature lab so I don't buy it.) and he's 35 pounds. He's 3 years old and is the most hyperactive dog I've had in my life. My aunt and uncle have 80 pound black labs back in MD and Clark has always bee used to playing rough with them-- he came home with grass stains every day he was over at their house, haha.

So, Mister Clark doesn't exactly have a "filter" where he can behave like a normal dog and be nice and sniff a little bit and then be cool. No, he pulls himself on the leash so hard that he chokes himself, starts drooling, and automatically jumps on anyone and anything that's exciting to him. Once he gets the attention he needs from people (or dogs, or squirrels, or anything for that matter), he will calm down but that doesn't generally happen for a while. For the last three days I've been testing him a little bit to se how he interacts with some of the other dogs in our apartment complex, because this whole time I've been so embarrassed that he just jumps all the time. He now has three new best friends: Samson, Static, and Copper. My neighbor Marcy has two kids (Auston and MaCaelob) and a chocolate lab named Chaco-- Clark and Marcy's kids get along SO well but Chaco is jealous of Clark being too close to the kids so she's not very fond of him. We've been trying to get them used to each other and we're hoping Chaco will get over it soon.

So today I took Clark to the dog park with Marcy, Auston, MaCaelob, and Chaco. It was the first time in a long time I had taken Clark to the dog park (he had a throw up incident the first time he went because he was so excited, so I've been hesitant to take him again). Anyway, we went to the dog park hoping that Chaco would feel a little better since she didn't have to be so territorial since it wasn't in her front yard at the apartments. Unfortunately, no luck yet! Clark ran up to her as soon as I let him off the leash and she lunged at him, and jumped on top of him. He kind of fought back but we separated them. I think in time they'll be ok but we don't want to push the issue. We were the only people there at first, but then 7 other dogs eventually joined the party. Clark was very well-behaved and had a blast. He's sleeping on the couch now and is absolutely exhausted. Marcy and I are going to go to the dog park again soon to see how they are with each other. I'm really glad Clark went and had fun!

One of the dog owners said she doesn't like going to that dog park much when there are a lot of dog owners around because there is a lot of bickering between owners. Apparently they are so paranoid about which dog "caused" something first or got in another dog's way. The woman who told us this, along with the rest of us dog owners, were laughing about it because it's like, they're dogs for god's sake! They have their tiff and then they are fine. Just let them be dogs! All the dogs at the park got along great today, and it was a big mix of them. The woman said two guys actually got in a fist fight with each other one time when she was there. So crazy. Why can't we all just get along?

In other news, I knew Farrah Fawcett died today but I was watching CNN and they were like "Michael Jackson has been rushed to UCLA hospital for cardiac arrest". I didn't think much of it until they started talking about how he was dead. WHAT?! This day is crazy. Two amazing entertainers. So sad. I also heard a rumor that Jeff Goldblum died today but on twitter there are a bunch of people saying its not true. I think it's some internet hoax, so I'm not believing it!

Anyway-- It's already almost 5:30 and Mark will be leaving work soon so I need to get dinner started. We're having breakfast tonight! Marcy is making breakfast for dinner and it made me SO hungry. It works for me because I didn't know what to make tonight. So now it's pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs! Woohoo! I'm going to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things and then I'll be starting dinner.

~LeAnn

Meet Miss LeAnn, the Crazy Lady

So today I had my second interview with this woman Candyce for a nanny position. I interviewed with her two weeks ago and let me tell you, she is awesome. She is such a laid back woman who thinks she's crazy (she might be a little but she's really cool). Anyway, her and her husband are basically on the verge on going looney tunes with their three kids, so they want me to go and hang out with them for a couple of days a week. The kids are 5, 2, and 7 months and are apparently off the wall. I met them today after a series of unfortunate events which made me look like this crazy woman who is late (I'm like never late!) and it was not fun.

Here's a rundown:

I went to the mall where I thought we were supposed to meet but she wasn't there so I panicked. Then I went to the next mall (15 minutes away) and at that point it was 10:05, when we were supposed to meet. She wasn't there either. Then I figured she probably DID want to meet at the first mall so by the time I got there (after waiting to see if she showed up and getting stuck in traffic) she was getting ready to leave and I was almost 40 minutes late. I felt bad I hadn't confirmed the place and she felt horrible that I drove all over trying to find her.

Seriously. Only me.

It worked out in the end because the kids loved me (thank god), and I was able to meet Candyce's mom who normally watches the kids and she liked me too. I am going to go meet up with Candyce next week to see the house, meet her husband, and see where she works. I'm supposed to start in early July. I'm so excited! I'm hoping that with all the running around after the kids that I'll burn some extra calories (and drop pounds!)

It's cute because the kids are calling me Miss LeAnn. Candyce just started saying it and it kinda stuck. I haven't ever had anyone call me Miss LeAnn, but it feels weird. Make me feel old though. Back in Baltimore my cousins always called my dad Mister Steve and my step-mom Miss Vicki, and anyone I knew in MD would usually do it too with their elders. It's totally a southern thing so it's strange to hear it out in WA.

I'm going to go make dinner and watch TV with the guy. Good night!

PTSD Sucks

Mark (my boyfriend) has PTSD. I wasn't expecting to really get into it so early on my blog but after what happened last night, I wanted to use this as an outlet to get the word out about PTSD resources for others who may be going through something like this.

So last night Mark had an emergency call to go to MAMC for a mass casualty incident and it really through him for a loop. He had multiple flashbacks from when he was on his deployment and was totally out of it when he came home last night. I'm not going into details but I can say it's a totally different experience when you see you're loved one immediately after being part of another traumatic event compared to seeing them come home from a deployment where they've had traumatic events happen and had time to process it. This whole PTSD thing just sucks every ounce of energy out of him. And there isn't anything I can do that will help him to work through the emotions he's feeling and that sucks more. I'm sorry in advance for being selfish and unreasonable-- you can all judge me if you want but I'm just going to be real here: I am so angry about this war and what it did to Mark. I know he signed up for his service and believe me, under normal circumstances I wouldn't be so quick to put all the blame on the military but yeah, I'm going there. I know the Army has done a lot of good things for Mark and I and don't want this to overshadow that but sometimes you need to be angry to get through your emotions.

*deep breath* Anyway, now that I've vented and gotten that out my system. . . I'm back to loving the Army (ha! maybe love is a strong word :-P)

There are a couple of websites I've used in the past to get information about PTSD (and other military things). I know a lot of you military folks already know about:

Military OneSource

I cannot stress enough how many great resources there are on this website. Not just PTSD specific, they have given me many useful tools in the past.

Also:

National Center for PTSD

They have some excellent articles and information on finding providers.

I hope someone will find this to be helpful. If you have any other resources I'd love to have them!

Now onto some totally unrelated blabbing. For the rest of the day I'm going to do my Wii Active workout and then get some more cleaning done. My neighbor Marcy might come up later to use my computer and hang out, and then I'll be finding something to make for dinner. I don't know what I'm in the mood for, but I want it to be something good for when Mark gets off from work!

~LeAnn

Closets, magazines and shoe obsessions.

So today I am cleaning through the spare bedroom closet today because it seriously looks like a bomb has gone off and I am realizing a pattern. I hoarde magazines. Not crazy hoarding, but nevertheless, I save them unnecessarily. I used to get all of these magazine subscriptions and I would read through them, and then save them on a shelf in the closet or my bookshelf for "future reference". Like I was ever going to have time to scour through 50 magazines to search for that one article I read 6 months ago. So, I'm throwing them all out. (OK, other than my Rachael Rays, but they are in a magazine holder and have great recipes!) And it's funny because in looking back at these magazines (I have a lot of Women's Health) most of them say "Flat Belly in 2 Weeks!"-and I find this interesting because they are supposed to come up with NEW material, not the same old stuff. I don't know why I never paid attention to it before. It's just making it all the more obsolete that I kept any of them in the first place.

Anyway, I love those days when you get into a cleaning frenzy and just get rid of all the crap you've accumulated over the years that you really thought was going to have a good use one day ("But I need to get this!"), only to find it in a closet taking up space x months later. It's refreshing to get rid of stuff. At least for me- it's like you get a fresh start. Clean lines, more space -- for shoes! Mark needs to keep me out of the shoe stores. I'd like to call it a healthy obsession, but don't let him hear that.

Off to finish my cleaning frenzy!

~LeAnn

Wild child

As my first post's title may suggest, I am a wild child. This is immediately evident by my wild tendencies; you know- staying up at 11:30 on on a Friday night to create a blogger account and possibly getting groceries at Walmart. That's how I roll.

But really. Maybe I'm not a wild child and most of you will probably think my blog is pretty boring, but I hope you stick around. For those of

you who don't know me, here's a brief rundown:

My name is LeAnn and I'm 23. I'm from New York (not the city! Yes, I needed to clarify. People always forget there is a state surrounding the city.) I'm currently living in Seattle, Washington with my boyfriend who is in the Army and is stationed here. We have two "furkids", Clark the dog (a three year old lab/corgi mix) and Phoenix the cat (a three year old orange domestic longhair). We are Red Sox fans (yeah, I know what you're thinking: "What about those Yankees?! Traitor!" Whatever). I also cheer on the Orioles- I have family in Baltimore so it's kind of a given. I'm a huge Giants and Ravens fan during football season. My boyfriend Mark loves the Patriots. I love to travel, and want to go back to France. I have a small obsession with all things French and you'll probably find that to be more evident as you get to know me. I've always been into music and singing. I love to snowboard. I'm a huge klutz and hurt myself almost on a daily basis. (Thank God my middle name isn't Grace!)

Anyway, that's all I'll divulge into for tonight about myself. It's almost 12:00AM and I still need to go to Walmart to pick up a few things (like chap stick,

I ran out today and I'm going crazy without my fix of lip moisturizing goodness.) I realize that made me sound like a drug addict, I assure you I am not!

Here's a photo of the kids to sign off with:

Goodnight!

~LeAnn