Looking up

So after seven months of unemployment, Landon finally got a job! YAY! and it's a good one too which will fit in perfectly with his schooling. He's doing work at Home Depot, and it's right up his alley, although I won't describe it because I won't do it justice. We'll just say he got a job at Home Depot Hurray!

Also, we have fixed up Lilly's room so it is "Lilly's" room now. We painted it pink, got the bookshelves out, got her a bed and just generally made it really cute. Once it's done I'll post photos. The best part? We did it all for almost free. Landon's BFF got him paint super cheap, and everything else we already had or traded etc. Awesome :-D

Checking in!

Welcome to the New Year! I hope yours is as promising as mine! I think back ont 2012 and I realized something: I'm making my dreams come true! I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, a nice home, lovely dog and most importantly my big dream of becoming an author is on its way to fulfullment! Seriously, a few years ago I felt like I was going nowhere fast and feltlike all my hopes and ambitions I had as a teen were what everyone told me would happen. DEAD. But, whether I was in denial or I'm just so stinking stubborn, I was determined to not give up. I didn't want to settle for a mediocre existance of day in and day out routine. So, I studied and read up on style and skills and everything else and  I got editorals and I did research on how to get published and I did everything I could to be published. And guess what? I got it! But a career as an author isn't permenant so I have to keep working at it and promoting and enhancing my skill.
So I say to you: Dreams are only dreams and they won't become more than that unless you decided to make it reality. With some hard work they can become reality. Nothing is out of reach unless you give up. There's a quote I remember as a YSA which said something like, you think: who am I to be great and wonderful? The question is, who are you not to be? We all have something burning inside us just desperate to come out. A gift, a thought, a desire. So never settle, always reach for your true potential because who are you not to be who you were made to be?

Blah blah!

Landon and I have both finished school now and passed with flying colors. Let's just say there were a lot of A's. ;-)
So now on to Christmas. We're both looking forward to my work party on Friday because they are tonnes of fun! Lilly loves all the lights everywhere, and when she gets up in the morning she runs into our living room and insists I turn the tree lights on.
My book is speeding toward publication! Yay! Keep an eye on my stories blog for updates on that and also follow my page on facebook.
I've got a new calling after 3 years in young women's. I'm sad to leave my girls, but with all the dramas going on, I'm glad for them to have new leaders who will put them first. So now I'm the Ward Conductor. Blah, boring.

What's New?

This week Landon has been sick. With all the crazy rain we had recently our yard grew knee length grass and weeds, so, he has spent quite sometime trying to cut it all back. Unfortunately has can only do it in small increments because of all the pollens getting spat out at him. Fun times.

School is going well for both of us, Landon is on straight A's and I'm at 100% for my class too. We are quite happy.

Back on the yard thing, Addy is the most awesome dog ever. While the front yard was being worked on, Landon left the gate open so she came into the front yard and chilled under the carport. Our road is quite busy too, so the fact that she had no desire to head out onto the road was awesome. The only time she approached the road was when the postman came and she started doing the stereotypical dog-attacks-postman moves. But as soon as I said, "Addy come here!" she came running back under the carport. She's the best.

Lilly continues to do her thing. Trolling around, expanding her vocab. We need to buy her a doll because she rocks her toy dog to sleep and tries put diapers on it. Yeah... she's also into biting. It's driving me nuts. I can never catch her so I just don't know what to do. She's clever enough to know not to do it when I'm around or she'll get spanked, so I never see it.

So that's it for another week. Oh, I got a request from an agent for my manuscript today :-)

Lilly

So I think I have raised my kid perfectly. This morning I went to get her changed, but instead, she jumped back into her crib, told me she wanted some books, then told me to "Go away". She then proceeded to sit and "read" aka look at the pictures, which is all a 22 month old can do really. I couldn't help grinning to myself as I went about doing things I hadn't expected to do until this afternoon. I think I'll start teaching her letters soon so she really can read her books.
Potty training is proving difficult. With me being the only person trying, it seems to be going nowhere. She tells everyone when she needs to go, but I don't think anyone but me actually takes her. *Sigh* She knows what's going on, and she hates diapers, so I just want to get it rolling. At my parent's house she pooped in the toilet twice, and peed several times, but here I am just struggling. I'll keep trying, that's the only thing I can do.

Quick Update

So Lilly and I are home now. We are mostly recovered from jet lag, and I'm back at work.

Landon has decided to grow a beard. It's pretty hot too so I'm not complaining. The best part is he started while I was gone so I missed the prickly stage.

Lilly is picking up new words everyday. It's so much fun to hear her repeat things we say back to us, and so nice to know what she wants because she uses the word for it. Really if I could just skip the first year with all my future children I think I'd be happy. Lilly is in such a wonderful stage.

So our A/C is still broken, which sucks, but at least the last few days haven't gone much above 100. Yesterday didn't even break 100! We are trying to work out how to get it fixed before next summer so we don't have to suffer through the heat again.

That's it!

Australia

Right now I'm in Australia! That's right! I'm sleeping in my old room in my old bed at my parent's house! Lilly is in my sister's room as she is now on her honeymoon and we are enjoying away from the sweltering heat.

So we are here because my sister got married last Friday, and will be here until the 30th. Since the healthcare system in the US is so appalling I have been hitting up the doctors, optometrist and dentist because as an Australian citizen I get medicare - which means actual doctor care! I have a years supply of meds which hopefully should get my PCOS back under control and help me take off all this extra weight, I'll be getting new glasses because I'm getting night blindness in my left eye, and of course a good ol' fluoride treatment to keep my baby teeth strong and in my mouth. I also got a myriad of blood tests done, and will be getting an ultrasound on the giant painful lump in my wrist. I didn't know that going without for almost 4 years could rack up so many health issues!

Anyway, aside from that Lilly and I are having fun. We went to Featherdale wildlife park today to see all the native animals - which Lilly of course LOVED, especially the wombats.

I haven't seen many friends yet, but it doesn't help that so many of them seem to live in Queensland now! But I have seen a few, Libby, Becc, Tam, and of course I have visited my beloved Emu Plains ward.

I'm loving more than anything else the weather. It's cool, the air is fresh, and I can go outside with my child! Oh my gosh the small things I have missed about this place...

Well anyways, I miss my hubby and wish he was here with me and not stuck in our house with the broken A/C.

Also, I've started school again. English baby!