July 29, 2013 by Stephanie

Frolic with Grace

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am. ~Author Unknown

If you have been following me at all, there is no surprise that I love my dog. So today is all about my little lady.

My parents willed me this chair from my childhood. It is an old beat-up lazy chair, that is slightly pink. So it matches nothing that I own, but I absolutely loved this chair growing up. I spent hours reading books in this chair, so they gave it to me in the great purging of the Glinn household.

Well, it has now become Grace’s chair. She is in it all the time.

She loves staring out the window to our backyard. I originally had the chair facing in a more functional way with the room, but Grace moved it to the side like this to make it more functional for her outside watching.

Like I said, this is no longer my chair. We now refer to it as Grace’s bed.

We have always let Grace sleep in our bed with us, so this chair has left an empty spot in our bed at night. For the most part we are ok with it because she is a bed hog and will pretty much lay on you and not be willing to budge. But there are moments that it is a little sad for us as doggy parents.
And this sparked this week’s episode of “Talks with Tom.”

Tom-I like it when Grace sleeps in other parts of the house.

Me-Why’s that?

Tom-Because when she gets in her chair it is a little insulting because I am right here. She is basically saying she doesn’t want to sleep with me. When she sleeps in other rooms, it’s like she is at summer camp.

Just this morning we marveled at the fact that she slept with us most of the night. Later to find out it was probably because she wanted to melt our hearts a little bit with glee before we found her puddle of pee all over the living room. She was probably embarrassed because this is totally out of character for her.

And just when I made her a new chew toy! The nerve!

I love making Grace new toys out of household items that are worn out. I am all about sustainability and reusing things when I can.

Grace does not allow us to keep nice bedding because we–and by we, I mean Tom–plays and wrestles with her on the bed. Impossible to keep a nice bed made.

So we get holes like this in our sheets.

In my effort to be green and also save some of our green, I cut up the fabric to use for a project that we are currently working on for our bathroom, but I still had a lot of “unusable scraps.”

I cut the leftovers into long strips, knotted, and braided them together to make a new rope toy for Grace. These are her favorites because she likes ripping them.

This is super easy to do and then I don’t feel so bad about throwing away sheets. My suggestion though is to make sure you make them long enough to make lots of knots. This will make them a little more durable to doggie teeth. For this one I made 4 separate braids then knotted those braids like the friendships bracelets we all made as kids.

She perked up from her nap to play with it a little bit! Success!

I have also made new toys out of old socks that have holes in them. I know others who have done this but they commented that their dogs then would grab any sock regardless of toy status or not. I didn’t have this problem with Grace, but just be weary if you do!

We have been considering upping our little family by adding another furbaby. We have been discussing the pros and cons of getting another dog, and right now the pros outweigh the cons. I have already been scouring shelters’ websites to see who our new rescue puppy could be, but we want to make sure that this will be a good decision for both Grace and the new puppy. Ideally, we would want to get one around the same age as Grace, and more than likely the same breed if not one similar. But who knows once we actually go look at a dog and let them meet Grace to ensure compatibility. Any thoughts and comments on the subject of owning several dogs are welcome! We want to be realistic and do the dogs justice if we choose to adopt another rescue, so any helpful advice would be awesome.

For now we are enjoying our time with just our Gracie lady. Here are some fun videos from our weekend. Yep, we are totally those parents…ok honestly I am totally that parent.

That was the first time she played with a sprinkler hose. She had a blast with it!

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. ~Ben Williams

July 25, 2013 by Stephanie

Throwback Thursday

This last weekend was my high school ten year reunion.

When did that happen?

10 years. So what do I have to say for myself?

Never. Would. Have. Imagined.

You grow up thinking your life is going to go down this perfect path to happiness. Well, happiness still attainable, but down the path you envisioned and planned for, probably not.

So let me take you back to 2003.

18 years old-adult finally! And I think I know everything, just ask my parents.
moving out of Kansas City-which did not seem like that big of a deal since my parents were divorced and I had become fairly independent going back and forth every weekend since I was 4. And I was ready to be away from my family-what 18 year old isn’t?
ok so fairly independent, but extremely painfully shy. I liked riding the coattails of people into a group. This is probably why I found my home in the arts (band, theater, and photography-I could either hide behind something or was given lines.)
huge dork-when I sat down to look at pictures I made a disclaimer to Tom that if he thought I was a dork now, the stats grow exponentially for back then
going to college for elementary education
I had my first year of undergrad paid for through the dozens of scholarships I applied for, but I was apprehensive of how the rest of the time was going to get paid.
I had just started my first summer at Worlds of Fun, which I thought would be a one time deal.
I did not own a car.

Looking back these things had a significant impact on how the last ten years went.

I acted like an adult and rarely asked my parents for guidance or support like many in college. And luckily my parents were not helicopter parents so they let me have my space. It made me fend for myself and fight my own battles. Don’t get me wrong, my parents were always there for guidance and support, I just learned how to fumble through things on my own first. This helped me learn who I was and how to pick myself up after I made a mistake.

I have lived in several places since then. I have not moved back to Kansas City, and that is still up in the air if I will. At that point [2003], I was so ready to be gone. Now I look forward to my visits home because I have lived far away for so long and I know that I am missing out on things. Most of my family lives in that area, and we have two nieces now that we don’t get to see grow up. We have decided that eventually we will end up back in Missouri so that we can be closer to family. The “where” will depend on job searches.

The shyness is a roller coaster itself. I am still painfully shy, I just have learned how to mask it-for the most part. It is really surprising that I made it through residence life as long as I did. I found when I was in my own element and a chosen environment, I could make it count, with a lot of work and energy. (And then a weekend holed up in my apartment). Over the past few years, I had several staff members comment that they were surprised I was an introvert. I am not sure if that is a compliment or not, but I guess it shows some growth that I can put my shyness aside. It also showed that they were unaware of what extrovert and introvert actually mean-teaching moment. I will say, I definitely have become much more self aware and learned a lot about balance so I could put away the shyness in some parts of my life. (All those personality tests…)

However if it is a new environment or one that I have not chosen myself where I know few people or no one, I still have severe anxiety and become that wallflower I have always been. I will constantly check my watch to see if I have put in enough time. Making friends is difficult to do on my own still, which moving here, just makes it all the more apparent. Housing really spoils you by putting you in forced cohorts. Tom and I recently had a heated discussion about my “preferred” way of making friends in small intimate groups instead of large gatherings. Fortunately and unfortunately, my hubster is a social butterfly and can easily work his way into any conversation. Sometimes he has a hard time understanding my hard time. My awkwardness however makes me feel like I am always 3 steps behind, so most of the time in new situations I just observe. And I hate forced mingling. Navigating socials at conferences always gives me a pit in my stomach and is the reason why I sprint towards a familiar face. So this shyness/awkwardness is still a work-in progress.

But, I am much more confident with who I am, and the shyness has become more of an inner battle. I have become slightly more assertive, although Tom would argue that I still let people walk over me too much. Eh, I can’t give it all up I guess. At least there is growth right? And I am not unhappy about my shyness. I have made many good friends over the years, and wont stop making friends. I just take my time and do it very carefully. Overtime, I have just learned what are the best routes for me, or how to force an awkward smile and excuse myself for a graceful exit.

I am still a huge dork, and perhaps I have sharpened that in some areas. I like to proclaim that I am a classical dork, and I embrace it every day.

While I still found myself in education, I became a statistic when I changed my major. I learned within a month of my freshman year that elementary schools were not in my future. I quickly changed to Social Studies Education, which is what I stayed with. However as things happened thought my involvement and teaching practicals, I learned that I actually wanted to work with college students. I proceeded to get my Master’s in Counseling with an emphasis in Student Affairs.

Now that first year of college, I grappled with the fact I needed to figure out a way to continue to pay for school. I was persistent about applying for scholarships and was fortunate to receive many. This is probably because many people stop applying for scholarships once they actually get to college. Don’t stop! There are sooo many that very few people apply to. I ran a scholarship committee for the last three years, and only one year was there more than six people who applied for a $1000 scholarship. Anywho, I also managed to keep my academic tuition scholarship for my entire career. Whoop being a smarty pants finally worked in my favor! This financial situation led me to work in several areas on campus and showed me that a hard work ethic and determination can get you pretty far. Can you believe I worked for the alumni center phone bank? Seriously this shy girl did make those annoying telemarketing phone calls. I was horrible at it, but it was a fun semester none the less. The two jobs that probably changed the course of my life though were both in housing. I was a Community Advisor for three years and worked for a year as an Office Assistant in the main housing office. Because of these opportunities, I learned that I did in fact love teaching, just on a different scale than I thought. This experience prompted me to change my life plan and go into student affairs which led me to Clemson University for my Masters. And oh the lessons learned from housing….And because of all this, I managed to get two degrees with zero debt. Yep you read that correctly. Toot my own horn yes indeed! I paid everything the moment it was due and have no bills to worry about now. It has made my education very dear to my heart and probably is one of my greatest achievements to come out unscathed by the debt most college graduates face today.

Not only did I work on campus, but I continued to work at Worlds of Fun for 6 years. This was also a defining experience in my life, for so many reasons. Working at an amusement park is an awesome way to spend your summers. You gain some great memories, friends, and leadership experience. You also gain some really random knowledge like the best way to clean up puke and how to run a steam engine locomotive. Who doesn’t want to know that? (Unfortunately, you also get some wacko tan lines but you can relieve the pain by riding roller-coasters all day.) This is also where I met Tom, so we are pretty much in debt to that place. I would love to get my hands on a vintage WoF map to do something crafty with it. Who knew that this temp job [starting in the games dept no less] drastically changed the course of my life?

My parents didn’t get me a car while I was in high school. I had to earn that ’99 Jimmy. They gave me a price that I had to reach on my own before we could look into it. I wasn’t able to do my share until after my freshmen year of college. Saving thousands of dollars while paying for school, is a hefty charge! But I am so grateful that my parents dealt me this hand, even though I hated it at the time. First off, UCM was a suitcase campus. So I was forced to stay at school on the weekends and make friends. Done and done. I joined clubs and had some great experiences that year that were a foundation for the rest of my time in the Burg. Secondly, it taught me a lot about fiscal responsibility and how to save. I have also never had a car payment in my life because of this and my parent’s support/encouragement. I am getting ready to get my third car using this method=just a little more savings to go!

So yea, I guess you could say the last ten years have been pretty good to me. I have learned a lot and become a better person then that scrawny nerdy shy girl who was terrified of the future.

Unfortunately, I was not in a position to make it to the actual reunion in KC. It would have been nice to see all those blasts from the past, and interesting to see how we all have changed. If my little novel of reflection here is any indication, we all probably made some strides.

Here are some visuals from my senior year. Photos sure have upped their game in the last decade!

This was my favorite senior picture. In high school, band was my main identity. I played all through college and hope to someday pick it up again in a community band. I loved that saxophone. I had a luggage cart that I use to bungee cord it to so I could literally take it everywhere. That thing was heavy! Why there is no picture of this, I am not sure. For now just picture a gangly girl pushing around a box that could hold a person while trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Oh and I was probably carrying at least 2 or 3 bags with all my basketball/track gear, music and photography knickknacks, and all my books and class folders. It’s astonishing that I did not have a trapper keeper. Dad used to call me a pack mule when I got out of his truck. Good picture in your head? I said I was a dork. Don’t be hating; I think I came out alright.

Besides some changes due to my braces that I had in college, physically I was fortunate to stay fairly the same. I still own and wear these dress pants. Between you and me, I actually think I look better with the decade behind me! Although I am still just as clumsy…

I was in the senior play “Sabrina Fair” as the maid. My dad still talks about my drunken burping scene. Years of practice finally paid off-on the burping, not the drinking. (I can honestly say I never drank until college.) Acting in this play may have been the start of my infatuation with all things Audrey Hepburn. Sabrina is my favorite after all. Then I played the school “hottie” and was part of the “band” in our musical production of “Grease.” So much fun! These two parts were completely out of my comfort zone and totally not my persona in HS. I remember practicing my “strut” in those atrocious heels for hours just so I wouldn’t fall. It was really fun looking back at my lame attempt of scrapbooking and all the little things I kept. It sparked a lot of memories that I had completely forgotten about.

Who could forget about school dances?! And yes I wore gloves, doesn’t everyone at least once? Seriously though, why are corsages necessary?

I am so glad I don’t have to go though the waiting to be asked and all that drama and pressure of who is taking who. Luckily, my best friend , Ryan was my date to most of them that year. Ryan and I met in 4th grade where he teased me endlessly and made me cry on more than one occasion. I can never look at Sassafras the same.

These ladies were some of my besties throughout high school, or BFFs as we called them in the olden days. It’s hard to believe that most of us are married and beginning to start our own little families. Ok not hard to believe because we are awesome; it’s just when you reflect that it has been 10 years you just think holy cow did we just do that? I wish we could see each other more, but we literally all live in different states and have jobs like grown ups.

We went to DC for a band trip, which was amazing. I would love to go back again since our visit was brief. Plus now with my history background and Tom being military, I think I would be able to soak it in much more than my 17 year old self did.

I was fortunate (or unfortunate some days) to be surrounded by my family my senior year. My brother was a freshmen and my dad was my marine biology teacher. Now while I look fairly the same, (my hair is now flipped under instead of out-but I will have you know that I did have long and permed hair in between), my brother and dad cannot say the same.

My dad has since retired, shaved his mustache, and grew out his hair. He is a long haired salt and pepper man now. Living a wild and crazy life, just like his shirt here.

And my brother grew a lot and now has a daughter. Still crazy! But he is still as stubborn as he looks in the picture above.

I don’t have a recent photo of the 3 of us; we are not really that great at taking pictures together during family time. The second picture is the most recent one I could find with the three of us in it, and that is in 2011 at my wedding. Mental note to make that happen the next time I’m home.

So was this where I envisioned my life 10 years ago? Why don’t we hop on Xanga and find out? Oh goodness, my early days of blogdom.

Times change, and so do we. Hopefully we can look back and say, “Well that was delightful.”

My last ten years have been pretty decent to me for sure. I love my life and who I am with, and I feel blessed every day. Couldn’t have planned it better myself!

Here’s to the next ten years being as fruitful as the last.

And it just goes to show that you have no idea what God has in store for you.

Now what’s next?

Hmm, that pose hasn’t gone away in ten years…

July 22, 2013 by Stephanie

So what exactly does Tom do?

I have been asked by so many people what does Tom do now that he is back from deployment. He is an Infantrymen, so his job in reality is to be deployed to the front lines. So people are always curious what he does when he is at home.

A few people think that he is on vacation now and are shocked that he goes to the “office” everyday. Although he does have the next 9 Fridays off…

Anyway, he still works while he is stateside. He goes in every morning for PT then they do various trainings through the rest of the day and then round it out with some more gym time if possible.

The trainings vary depending on the time of year. These are just some of the things they could be doing:

land navigation-how I interpret this is like a treasure hunt. They get coordinates and have to find their way around the woods. They will do this during the day and at night to get a feel for the land in different situations.
range time-practice shooting
Company STX (situational training exercise)- go out and practice attacking things or reacting to contact. Usually they have actors, and they have a mission to accomplish. They will get a brief and then have to go in and do what they would do on deployment. Did you know the base has entire fake cities to use for training? They even have people who will speak in other languages so they can work on how to converse with various populations that cannot communicate in English.
live fires-this is similar to STX (if not the same thing) but with live ammo instead of blanks and more about short attacks and without the actors obviously.
medical training- from proper bandage techniques to dealing with a casualty
detainee operations
clearing rooms how-to
classroom portions of the things above
and as my husband says getting dirty and eating MREs–>”the things that men do best”

But every once in awhile they rotate into a special duty such as funeral detail or flag detail.

Tom had to do funeral detail back in the spring. This is exactly what it sounds like. As a veteran, you can have a full honors military funeral where soldiers will come and do the ceremonial things such as the flag over the coffin and the 21 gun salute. So the units rotate this duty and are on call to serve the area. For the funeral Tom did, they had to drive a couple hours out to perform the service.

Flag detail is here on base and Tom had it this last week. This also rotates around the units. The unit has to raise the division flag each morning and then lower it at night. And as we learned this morning in the torrential downpour, it occurs no matter the weather.

Being a history major, I knew that there are a lot of rules with flags and how they are displayed:

if displayed with other flags, they must either be smaller or the same size as the US flag, but none bigger
unless… flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace. The order of precedence for flags generally is National flags (US first, then others in alphabetical order in English), State (host state first, then others in the order of admission) and territories (Washington DC, Puerto Rico, etc.), Military (Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard), then other.
has to be lit if displayed overnight otherwise it must be taken down each night
inappropriate for it to touch the ground
The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position
represents a living country and is itself considered a living things

There are tons more. It is actually really fascinating reading about the history and reasons for some of them.

But here are two little tidbits about the flag that I learned in the past week that I had no idea about!

One, did you know that the flag on a soldier’s uniform appears to be backwards?

I had never noticed it until Tom mentioned it this week. And here is an explanation why.

Army Regulation 670-1, “Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia,” updated most recently September 5, 2003, addresses explicitly the proper and lawful placement of the U.S. flag patch on the Army uniform.

The regulation states that when authorized for application to the proper uniform the American flag patch is to be worn, right or left shoulder, so that “the star field faces forward, or to the flag’s own right. When worn in this manner, the flag is facing to the observer’s right, and gives the effect of the flag flying in the breeze as the wearer moves forward. The appropriate replica for the right shoulder sleeve is identified as the ‘reverse side flag’.”

So it is like they are all flag bearers all the time. I love American symbolism.

And two, Tom told me a legend of things that are hidden in the flag poles themselves.

Each should have a bullet, knife, and matches so the last surviving soldier can continue fighting (with the knife), and if need be destroy the flag with matches (to prevent it from being captured), and take his own life with the bullet. Apparently, soldiers should not let the flag or themselves fall into enemy hands which ensued these dark measures hidden in the flag poles. Yikes.

Thanks for letting me geek out on some American history and symbols. I still remember trying to teach that silly red 5 block about flag history during my student teaching and getting so frustrated that they were not as excited and passionate as I was. Probably one of my worst days in teaching because I felt like a failed as a teacher and an American, and no I am not kidding. That was a bad day.

I digress.

I went and watched one of the days when Tom’s unit was lowering it. (I was never awake to watch it go up.) It is something that people can go and watch anytime, which is pretty cool. Although I felt like a creeper hanging out in the bushes with my camera. I wasn’t really in the bushes, just behind them. It just looks like it in some of my pictures. I wasn’t really sure where I could stand so I kind of lingered in the parking lot.

It was pretty cool to watch and listen to all these things you never think about. Army education-Armucation.

There are a lot of pictures so just get ready for some America.

Tom got to shoot off the cannon, which I think made the whole 12 hour work days worth it.

The one below is my one of favorite shots of the day.

And there he is just staring at me, which he later told me that he was trying to tell me to move closer…ugh I can’t read lips or minds.

It took a long time to bring the flag down and fold it, but think about how big it is and the fact that it cannot touch the ground and has to be folded in a certain way. They had to practice this a few times. I mean you don’t want to be “that guy.”

I will admit there were parts of me that wanted to race under there like you did when you had parachute day in gym class. ‘Merica.

And here is where I look like I am a lurker in the bushes.

Then there were several minutes of slow salutes and parading out.

So that is flag duty.

I am going to wean off doing a craft/home improvement every time I’m on here. Shocker, I know. Things are dying down a little for us, and I think Tom would not be happy with all my honey-do lists that come with the projects. Plus it is costly! I will still do projects pretty regularly because that is a huge stress relief, so don’t worry about the creativeness drying up! It just won’t be every entry.

Hope you had a great Monday!

July 21, 2013 by Stephanie

So I am a blogger?

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/9751377/?claim=fja88tutdsk”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Who would have thunk that I would have become a blogger? Welp, it has happened. And now that I have accepted that fact, I have put myself on Bloglovin to hopefully be inspired by other bloggers and put myself out there a little more in the blogosphere.

Bloglovin has been suggested to me by a lot of people and since I follow a lot of bloggers across many web hosts this seemed like a good place to keep track of all the posts in a one stop shop.

I now have the button on the sidebar if you would like to follow me on Bloglovin as well.

As always, I appreciate those who take the time to read what I write. It means a lot, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Until tomorrow.

July 15, 2013 by Stephanie

The Power of the V-Neck

One of the greatest things about my husband is his wit. He says things without missing a beat. I admire this skill because half the time I think of clever things hours after they are relevant to the conversation. So I am usually left in awe in the wake of his commentary.

We recently went shopping at Old Navy to change up Tom’s normal wardrobe of t-shirts and gym shorts. I just want to make it clear this was his choice not mine. And this gem of a conversation occurred as we went through every V-neck display. (He even mistakenly went through the boys section before he realized the sizes.)

All Tom- “I love v-necks. I can wear a v-neck to church or to bed. V-necks are the gauchos for men. A step in the right direction for clothing gender equality.”

Tom proceeded to buy at least 5 different v-necks. I lost count as I carried them all.

I love his v-neck obsession!

I am always looking for new ways to store things such as Tom’s v-necks, so I had pinned these pictures ages ago hoping Tom would be able to re-create something like it.

DIY Ikea Shelves - Bed DIY bed with storage!

And sure enough, he did! Thanks to Tom’s mad carpentry skills, we are no longer sleeping on the floor. Grown ups!

He built the two box units for the sides out of plywood.

Then he built the middle part to brace the bed.

Only the outside boxes needed to be stained.

We made it so we can still slide crates underneath the bed for even more storage.

We bought these simple cloth baskets at Walmart to put in the side cubby holes.

We still need to figure out what to do to close off the hole in the front because we were going to put a bench there, but that doesn’t leave enough room for us to walk around the room. So we are still thinking about that, but it is not a huge priority right now.

It was an easy design since you just make the boxes with two long pieces for the length of the bed and 5 short pieces for the height you want and to sanction off the cubbies. You can make more cubbyholes by just putting in more short pieces. Also when you are determining the height make sure you take into account how big the baskets are and how big your box springs and mattress are. We used some nicer plywood for these. This is where most of the cost went.

Depending on the size of your bed you may need to build the middle part like we did to make sure your bed doesn’t fall in the middle. Tom just used 2X4s to build the brace as sturdy as possible. This doesn’t need to look fancy since it is never seen.

We have a nail gun which made this job much easier. I am not sure I would want to attempt this with basic nails and hammers.

Now we just need to work on the headboard to finish the room off.

I love our bed!

I hope you all had a great start to the week!