Golden Vlog April

Golden VLog April

           Visit Alana's profile on Pinterest.    

Just a click to vote- no registration necessary-

Visit Alana's profile on Pinterest.
Just a click to vote- no registration necessary-

Fours

I know I talked about trying to blog twice a week until the end of the year, but I got sick with a terrible sinus infection the last week of school. The endless sinus headache, and vertigo I have had has really limited my ability to do anything but watch Gilmore Girls. I am still not up to par, however today is the first day in a week I haven't been eating an enormous ibuprofen with my morning coffee, so that's a plus. 

I decided to do something a little fun this week. I found this last night on Scattered Seashells, and it looks fun! 

4 names people like to call you other than your real name:
1. mom

2. sister (my sister calls me sister, we are weird) 

3. Alana-Banana

4. Banana 

4 jobs you have had:

1. Manager at AAFES

2. Motorcycle sales person (I was terrible at it) 

3. cook in a takeout Italian restaurant

4. Courier for a real-estate company 

4 movies you've seen more than once:

1. Star wars series

2. Indiana Jones series

3. Harry Potter series

4. Strange Brew

Del Mar Beach Camp Pendleton December 2014

4. books you'd recommend:

1. Harry Potter 

2. anything by Chelsea Handler

3. Bitter is the new black - Jen Lancaster 

4. I have read so many books but my mind is blank

4 places you've lived

1. Tucson, Arizona

2. Chicopee, Massachusetts 

3. Okinawa, Japan

4. Helena (and Butte), Montana 

4 places you've visited

1. Washington DC

2. Mexico

3. Glacier National Park

4. Las Vegas, Nevada

4 places you'd rather be right now

1. Okinawa

2. anywhere else in Japan

3. my moms house in Arizona

4. Okinawa

Okinawa, Jp September 2010

4 things you don't eat

1. raw carrots, they are just gross

2. raw onions

3. radishes 

4. natto

4 of your favorite foods

1. Kraft mac and cheese

2. cheeseburgers 

3. french fries 

4. eggs

4 TV shows you watch

1. Gilmore Girls

2. Archer

3. Bobs Burgers

4. South Park
(I don't watch a lot of TV, we don't even have cable, just netflix and hulu)

Okinawa, Comprehensive Park 2010

4 things I am looking forward to this year:

1. making through it in one piece 

2. vacation to NorCal

3. summer 

4. how sad is it that I can't think of anything?

4 things you are always saying:

1. Stop climbing on that!

2. You are not a monkey!

3. I'm tired, is it bed/nap time yet?

4. In or out dogs! in or out! 

Bates Nut Farm 2014

Just a click to vote- no registration necessary-

  

#instafriday

Shark in my tea 

At Urgent Care :( 

I wonder what she dreams about 

Renji was asleep like this #derp

healthiest meal of the day!
(ask me if you have any questions)

glass of moscato at the hair salon

over it, so over it

for someone who doesn't even get dressed everyday, I have a lot of clothes

Today it's a bit chilly out there! 

Follow me for more!
instagram.com/alanamarie26

Belated Sunday Social Questions, because I can!

These are Sunday Social questions from a few weeks ago, but I liked them and decided I wanted to do them too, even if I was late. So here you go.

1. What is the name of your blog?
Fractured Fairy Tales

2. Why do you blog?
I started as an outlet for my writing, journaling, it turned into a way to keep up with family when we moved to Japan, and now it just part of me. I don't know what I would do without it. I can't explain it.

3. What is the first blog you ever followed?
Several Marine wife friends all started "blogging" about the same time, I can't remember any of the blog names, I don't think any of them are still doing it.

4. What is your favorite post you wrote in 2013?
Camping with Baby
Glacier NP 1
Glacier NP 2

5. What are your blogging goals for 2014?
I want to write more frequently and be more focused, I want to blog with a purpose.

6. Top 3 favorite blogs to follow?
hard to choose top three.... These are the three I think I check most frequently, and I always look forward to their blogs.
-Ramblings of a Marine Wife
-Mrs. K & Captain J
-To The Sea

Sunday Social, Threes!

a little late but who cares!

Linking up with Sunday Social today

1. Top 3 favorite kinds of food:

+Sushi

+Pizza

+Eegees

2. First 3 things you do in the morning:

+ Change Evey's diaper

+ Step on the scale

+ feed the dogs (or take them potty if thats what they want)

3. Last 3 things you do at night:

+ Get some water

+ Put on lipbalm

+ make sure my phone is on the charger

4. A TV show you never miss:

We actually don't have cable, or network TV. We only watch on Netflix an Hulu, but I love: 

+ Archer

+ Bobs Burgers

+ New Girl

Kyoto, source

5. 3 places you want to visit:

+ Mainland Japan

+ Rome

+ Greece

Let's be honest

I haven't been writing much, I struggle each week to get Evey's weekly posts done, I don't have a whole lot else going on, besides her right now. I keep telling myself that her weekly posts are going to be like a baby book, I am going to get them published after I get through the first year, so I need to keep it up. But besides her, and my new Beachbody adventure I don't have much else to say.

I am in a bit of a funk, I am a bit down that we are stuck here another winter.  We will still be headed to Camp Pendleton, just not until April. Deep down part of me really hoped that extending would send us to Okinawa, even though I knew the chances were incredibly slim. But we will be in the sunshine state, so I can't complain too much. It's starting to get pretty cold here, it's in the 20's every morning, frost on everything. This week it has warmed up in the afternoon, but it's still sweater required. I find myself extra tired with the cooler temps, my anxiety has begun to return too. I get anxious when I am away from the house for too long. But I managed to get myself out and get my hair done, I've been wanting to go blonde again for months, but didn't want to spend the money, didn't want to be away from the baby for 3+ hours, excuses, excuses. Once we found out we would be here for the Marine Corps ball in. November, I decided to get my hair done, for me, because I deserve it. 

Two days and one allergic reaction later I am blonde:

The pink is just hair chalk, and there is a bit of pink toner in it to soften the blond, it'll fade in a few days. It was a bit scary though... So I have been seeing this hairdresser for a few months, but she has never colored my hair, so when I was sitting in the chair, after the bleach had been rinsed and toner had been applied, I started to itch in my hands I thought "gee that's weird" assuming it was anxiety because I had been away from baby for almost 2.5 hours now. Then my back started to itch, then my stomach, and my feet. I went to the bathroom and lifted my shirt everywhere I had clothing tight on my body (bra, waist of my pants) was hived and red, then I noticed my face was getting red and puffy. We rinsed the toner from my hair and almost instantly I started to feel better. I was mostly cleared up by the time I got home about 20 min later but still took Benadryl, then proceeded to almost fall asleep in my dinner, but I was hive free! I went back two days later and she finished, using another stylists toner, and all was well. And I am blond again, I feel younger, and more confident. 

I have been working out just about daily, we take a few days off here and there, but I really need to step up the diet portion of working out. It really plays huge part in weight loss, and I know that. I'm not eating like a piglet, but I'm not eating great either. 

Linking up with :

An Update on Me and a Link-up

Things have been a little busy here the last few weeks and blogging has obviously taken a back seat.

Our PCS plans have been nothing short of nerve wracking. I'll elaborate more on this, eventually, but now is not a good time. It'll get it's own post, maybe next week.

You may remember my post last week about snow, we ended up with about 4 inches. It has since melted, and warmed up and it's fall again, but I am ready to go somewhere warm, for the rest of my life. I've experienced enough winter to last me for a while.



P and I have been working out quite a bit, You may remember we started Focus T25 about a month and a half ago. Well Paul went on vacation for a month, two weeks after we started, so we ended up taking a two week hiatus. We started up again two weeks ago, and we are sticking to it. It's hard to workout every day when you are as lazy as I am, but it's only 25 minutes. So progress? well Paul is loosing inches, but not so much pounds, and I am loosing pounds but not so much inches. haha, it makes no sense to me, but whatever I am only about 10 pounds from pre-baby weight, So it took me 10 months to loose 20 pounds >.< but I have lost about 10 of those pounds in the last two months. I have really struggled with the baby weight. I think part of that is because I wasn't really fit before I got pregnant. It's discouraging when you see or hear about moms who have the weight just melt off, and you are not loosing anything. I am part of a mom group of first time moms who were all due in December last year (about 80 in the group), and so many of them the weight just came right off, pre-pregnancy weight was achieved in weeks after pregnancy. Not just the ones who were slim before pregnancy either, even some of the ones who have struggled with weight loss were just dropping baby weight. Nursing is supposed to help loose the weight, not for me. I am still Nursing E on demand and I am still struggling, even with eating better and working out daily, it's still a daily battle.

Evey is a little handful. She is crawling, and trying to walk, and getting into everything. Our layout is weird so we have a mess of baby gates and furniture built into a big baby jail, so she has free space in our common living area to play and get into shit. She manages to  escape all the time and we "chase" her through the house, she loves it. She is learning things, we are working on "peek a boo" and she knows "I'm gonna get you" means she is about to get tickled and she screams out laughter. She loves the dogs and they love her.


On one of our road trips while P was on vacation we ran into some car trouble, my 2010 Jeep Patriot had the transmission go out. It's sort of a complicated story but after it cooled down it started working again and we weren't stranded in the middle on no where, but it's been shitty. It's still under warranty, but the transmission is on back-order. I have a special transmission on mine and from what the dealership says mine isn't the first that they have had fail, and I live in a small town. But they let me take it home and I am still driving it, I have been advised to avoid highway driving because it could fail again and not come back to life. So that's it, that's why I've been missing. I'm working on finding more time in my day to be here though, at least a few more times a week.  I know you miss me desperately.

Go link up with Kara, Erin, a Girl, and this weeks special guest Organized Chaos!

Belated Military Monday

I know I am late, I really wanted to get in on this Military Monday though so here we go:

Did we plan our pregnancy? Yes. We had just returned from an overseas tour and we are both getting older, we knew it was now or never. We'll not really now or never, but we weren't getting any younger. We had spend the better part of the first 6 years together partying and running amok across the world, and it was time to settle down a little and have a little wee one. Recruiting duty was also the ideal place to do this because Paul is non deployable. But he is on the road a lot, and when he was recruiting he was often working 16+ hour days, but you can still make a baby on that schedule. Things worked out even better because he was transferring to MEPS when E was born and was able to take almost a month off to stay home with me just before and just after she was born. 

two weeks old

It was nice having him there and available for the birth, but leading up with knowing he was transferring to a new position that was located an hour away, with him commuting I was nervous about going into labor early and not having him there, or having to have him drive through a mountain pass to get home in the snow. 

As far as going "Home" for my pregnancy/birth:

I did not go home. No offense to those that do, but I don't go home, like I go to visit but I won't go to live, not if he gets deployed, not if I get pregnant again, not if I get pregnant and he deploys. We live together and have a home together and I am not going to leave that home, our home, while he is away. That's just not my style. 

My family and his family helped tremendously, they were always available by phone, and my parents visited for E's birth and His parents shortly after. That's part of the reason we decided now was the perfect time to undertake this baby journey, family is an inexpensive flight away (vs. overseas flight).

Military Monday

I've been traveling! Sorry for the un announced absence, but due to personal security I don't like to reveal my travels before they happen. But I have a couple of cool posts coming up as soon as I can find time to put them together. Evelyn has also become a major handful, she is crawling in full force and walking along furniture. So I am constantly chasing her when she gets into unsafe zones.

Here's a sneak peek from our travels: 

and now for your regularly scheduled programming:

This week is about Enlisted vs. Officer wives.

I really don't have a lot of experience with officer wives. I think as military wives they are held to a higher standard. They sometimes are asked to participate in events and help put together events involving all of the wives in the command/unit/shop. My grandmother was an officer wife. She has told me stories about having to entertain other officers and commanders. I think she really enjoyed it though. 

When we were in Okinawa I would babysit for some officer families and I didn't find them that much different than me. They still worry about their husbands when they are away, they still make dinner for their kids, they still have dishes in their sink. 

But I have heard horror stories about wives pulling rank (not just officer wives), using their husbands higher rank in the military to try to get favoritism, thankfully I never saw that. 

But we have only spent 2.5 of our years together at an actual base, or even stationed near a large number of other Military, and for 9ish months of that 2.5 years Paul was deployed so I didn't interact much with command functions or such. 

Being an enlisted wife I certainly have a bit more experience there. But along with all wives (not just military) they can be catty and gossipy. Have you seen Desperate Housewives? I like a bit of juicy gossip just as much as the next girl though. But they aren't all that bad, and my experience is they aren't as bad as the internet makes them look. Not all wives cheat, not all sit around and talk shit all day, not all of them are fat and lazy with 1/2 dozen kids. 

I really can't say to benefits to each, I guess I think, to me, we are all equal-ish, officer wives may get nicer housing on base and their husbands may get slightly higher paychecks than mine. But they still get deployed, they still have to work duty weekends, they still may get late night phone calls when one of their Marines has screwed up. 

Currently we are living several hundred miles from the nearest military family so I have no direct communication with the officer side of things and command sponsored events, I really only know just the few wives that live closest to me. 

I am sure it's because of the situations I have been put in, but I have made some amazing friends that are military wives. I think it takes a special breed of woman to marry a military man. Life is so unpredictable. You have to be strong, patient, flexible, and a sense of humor is a must. Bonus traits would be a love for travel, trying new things, and independence, because you need to be able to pay your bills, run your household, and open that jar of pickles, should your husband deploy. 

But I must mention, the officers club in Okinawa had the best brunch in the whole wide world. We only had the one on the Air base, but I heard the Marine one was amazing too. 

Military Monday Link-up

This weeks questions: Do you live on base/post/fort or away from the military world?  What factors did you consider when deciding where you would live?  Was one more affordable than the other?  Did it help/hinder your family situation?  What things would be helpful for others to know before they potentially move to your area?
Great questions! But they don't really work in my situation. If you are a new reader, My husband is on recruiting duty for the USMC, and our nearest Active Duty base is about 3 hours away, Malmstrom AFB. So we obviously just live in town. Our current location Paul works at MEPS, we moved here from Helena, where he was a Recruiter, in February. Finding a rental in a small town, that allows cats is hard. So our biggest considering factor was can we live there with 2 dogs and a cat. That drastically narrowed our search window. Then can we fit our stuff in it. We have a king size bed and monster size entertainment centre. The town we live in is an old mining town, and a lot of the houses are OLD, and SMALL. I really thought we would never find a home, but alas this one fell into our laps, and at a very reasonable rate. We save quite a bit of our housing allowance, even after utilities.  Helpfull info about Butte? Well despite the fact that it's highly unlikely that anyone reading this will be moving here, ever, I would say don't judge a book by it's cover. Butte has lots of run down shanty little houses, especially in my area. In fact there is a vacant little shanty house about 20 yards from mine. But I live in a great neighborhood, and I have pretty quiet neighbors. Everyone is really nice, and keeps to themselves.  I was nominated for the top 50 Military Mom Blogs by VoiceBoks, you can vote here. Thank you for your support.

Sunday Social

It's been a long week, Paul and I have been doing our T-25 workout every day, I've lost about 3 pounds. Which is awesome since I am not following the diet. We haven't done our measurements yet, probably should before my coffee bloat sets in.
Today I am sitting here uploading all the videos off my computer onto Flickr because I have no room left on my computer. Looking at pictures and videos from Okinawa makes me sad still. I remember our sunday thing was going to the Officers Club and have the most amazing brunch spread that ever existed. They had everything, from sushi to waffles, crab legs, smoked salmon, omelet bar, fresh carved roast beef, even had adult beverages! We went about once a month, because it wasn't cheep, like $20 a person not cheep, but so worth it. Yummmm.
Aaannnnndddd now I miss Okinawa even more.



1. What do you miss most about being a kid? not having to pay bills

2. Did you have a nickname growing up? What was it? Alana Banana

 3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess? dig holes in the playground, I think I tried to dig to China every day, or we would dig up indian clay and play with it.

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I don't remember.

5. Did you participate in any school activities?
I tried out for soccer in 6th grade but got cut real quick. All through highschool I was in drama and I was a Student Athletic Trainer.

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about? 
Well not so much a kid, and not really funny more stupid as hell, but when I was like 17 my parents went out of town and I was to stay at my grandparents. I was driving their Bronco, taking my sister to and from school, that was supposed to be it. Well over the weekend my friend Tam and I decided to take the Bronco up the mountain and go "4 wheeling" down the back side (yeah, hella dumb) long story short we ended up blowing a tire in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't find the jack, so I drove about 30 miles on a dirt road on the rim until we found help and got the tire change. I then had to explain getting a flat. Instead of, "I dunno I ran over a nail" I concocted this elaborate story that made no sense, even though I stuck to it, no one believed me. It was a few years later that the truth came out, My dad still won't let me drive any of his trucks. I'll never live that one down.

Military Monday Link Up

Linking up over at Eights on the Move for Military Monday:

Pack it up! 

To kind of go with my theme of prepping for my PCS this weeks prompt seems appropriate. This week is all about packing, how do you do it? 

Well. I don't. 

I suck at packing. I hate packing. I let the movers do it. They are much quicker, and much more efficient. Plus I noticed with my last move they repacked most of the stuff I pre-packed anyway. 

Unless you are doing a DITY (do it  yourself) move, you may have the movers re packing anything you pack because they are liable for anything that breaks while moving. When we moved back from Okinawa they repacked everything I packed except my rubbermaid tubs, they just opened them to see that they were just blankets (with alcohol hidden, shhhhh) and then taped them up. 

But to a very small extent I am already packing a little. I have a shit load of big blue rubbermaid tubs that I am filling with stuff I have no use for for now. Curtains, bath mats (I have enough for 3 bathrooms, here we only have 2), extra blankets, baby clothes that Evey has grown out of, (but we are saving for number 2,) maternity clothes, purses (because I only carry a diaper bag right now) . I need to repack my sewing stuff, fabric, yarn, odds and ends. All of our holiday stuff is finally out of cardboard boxes and into rubbermaid containers. Mostly I am doing this because I can stack these tubs out of sight, but you could call it packing. 

So that's it, my big secret to packing, let the movers do it. 

Well except your underwear, don't let anyone touch your underwear, that's just creepy.

You can find my PCS/Moving tips here

Just a friendly reminder, I was nominated for the top 50 Military Mom Blogs by VoiceBoks, you can vote for me here. Thank you for your support.

Sunday Social

This Weeks Questions:

1. What is something you’ve always wanted to do but are afraid of? 

I see a lot of people answering this question with Skydiving. I guess I am one of the few that have gone skydiving. (BTW- it was amazing!) I can't think of anything I wanted to do but was afraid of. I can think of things I wanted to do, but didn't make the time for, like scuba diving. 

2. Where do you see yourself in five years? 

On a beach with my husband and two babies. 

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2013? 

Moving. and the several family vacations we have planned. 

4. What are your hopes for your blog? 

That people will continue to enjoy it, and once Evey hits a year I would like to have all of her weekly/monthly posts published into a book for her. 

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city? 

Nope, We'll be outta here in a few months. We'll come back to Montana someday to show E where she came from though. 

6. What is your morning routine?

Get E up, feed her, change her diaper. Put her in her bouncy seat and make coffee and 2 eggs. Feed dogs. Eat my eggs while she serenades me with her screechy baby calls as she talks to her toys. Change her again. and then we do what she wants, feed her again or put her back down with toys while I internet, sometimes a walk..



Just a friendly reminder, I was nominated for the top 50 Military Mom Blogs by VoiceBoks, you can vote for me here. Thank you for your support.

I'm a Hippy Dippy, Cloth Diapering, Baby Wearing, Co-Sleeping, Breast Feeding, Mama

Evey's first cloth diaper. She's about a week old.

I don't even know how it happened, I'm not overly earthy crunchy myself. 

Each decision I have made in parenting has been for my own benefit. I breast feed, because it's free, also because I think it's good for her, It's always ready, and I have no shortage of milk. I still feed on demand (no schedule) because it works best for us, I don't work so I don't need to plan feedings, I sometimes try to time them if we have plans, but really she eats what she wants, when she wants. 

It also conveniently soothes her, if she gets upset I can nurse her and she calms down and either naps or eats till she is so full and happy she doesn't remember why she was mad. 

I cloth diaper because I was cloth diapered, and because they are so cute nowadays. And washing poop in my washer doesn't gross me out. Also we have had 2 small diaper rashes in Evey's 7 months, I think this is due to cloth diapering. I still use paper diapers when I leave the house sometimes, and when we travel, because I don't want to be driving around with a bunch of pissy diapers in my purse/diaper bag.

I baby wear because I can burn extra calories walking while wearing her. Also she really likes it, I can nurse in it by throwing a blanket over the carrier and no one knows, I fed her numerous times at the folk festival last weekend and I really think no one had any idea. 

The co sleeping started as a solution to a sleep strike when Evey was about 4 months old, and it just stuck. I still try to put her to bed in her own bed most nights, but she is almost always in my bed by midnight. 

We also practice Baby Led Weaning, a little. We are currently living by the motto 

"Food before one is just for fun"

mostly because I think baby food is gross, I don't want to feed her something I wouldn't even touch. But I know she's not ready for mac and cheese and hot dogs, so when we have baby friendly veggies she gets some, I don't think she has had a real solid food in over a week. So she is still primarily breast fed. 

I'm just doing what feels right for me. I don't plan on breastfeeding forever, I do vaccinate, She will not sleep with me forever. 

I also don't judge, I think if you formula feed that's fine, if you don't vaccinate or you delay I don't judge, sleep training is fine if it works for you. I think as a mom as long as you are doing what you feel right in your heart, and you are doing your best, you are being a great mom. 

Go link up to the Mommy Mondays, I gotta run, my baby is crying and it's her bed time.