January 1, 2006

It is thirty minuets until 2006 and I am typing in my blog. At first blush this may appear truly pathetic, but I am not unhappy with the situation. Hubby-O-Mine is on duty again. And that's not so bad either. His boat made the intelligent decision to give married guys Chrismas off and give the single guys New Years Eve off. It's the smartest thing I've ever seen the Navy do. I loved having him home from Christmas (he wasn't last year). And with me pregnant, New Years Eve just doesn't have the same appeal to me this year. So, things are as they should be.

My dogs don't agree. They are panic stricken and hiding out in the walk-in-closet. The neighbors are setting off fireworks from across the pond (retention pond that is) and it's giving the pooches a terrible fright. The way my Chihuahua is shaking you would think World War III just touched off in our back yard. Well, it's Georgia. What can you expect. I am ready for some sleep. It is exciting that tomorrow is a new day and a new year. 2005 was a blast. There were MANY exciting trips to visit our families. Plus, we hosted many such visits in our home as well. We threw BBQs and parties, took trips, had wedding showers and wedding plans. The "Big Day" was storybook and perfect to say the least. Our honeymoon was a dream come true. And to top it off, we are expecting a baby. A PERFECT year. Look out 2006! We have many adventures to look forward to (No more Navy, new city, new house, new baby) but 2005 will be a tough act to follow.

Pride and Prejudice

I have become completely captivated by Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. It is a wonder I have escaped so long without reading anything by her before. It is really a fun and delightful book, perfect for daydream reading. In fact yesterday, besides a few domestic responsibilities, it occupied ALL of my time. It's funny, I keep expecting the heroine to be ABOVE the then contemporary concerns of her society. Though Elizabeth Bennet displays a more critical eye than her peers to the capricious whims of those who are considered high society, she seems just as prone to concerns of her preceived spot in that society as her less intelligent sisters. Jane Austin wrote of her time, not above it. Which is cool, it gives a great peek into a society very different from our own. I am embarrassed though, at how many words I have had to break out the dictionary over! Usually I am a wiz with words, but there have been quite a few in this novel that I have needed a refresher on. I can hear giggling in the crowd, "Oh Becca! Pride and Prejudice is SO easy! I read that book in high school!" OK Smarty Pants, let's see if you can do better than I have. Here's a little vocab quiz for you:

Pride and Prejudice Vocabulary Quiz


Well, I won't spend the rest of today reading, though I might like. My hubby mentioned he might be home in the early afternoon today, in which case we might take the horse and carriage into town! It is always a thrill to drive south to Jacksonville, where we can shop at places other than Walmart! If it works out, we will be going to shop for professional duds to outfit him for all the upcoming interviews. I am excited! I love having a sexy-life-sized Ken Doll of my very own! ;-) He is going to look so dapper in a fitted suit and power tie! As for me, I don't look nearly as good in my clothes these days. I am in a tween stage with my pregnancy. At 17 weeks I am just a smidge too big to button my pre-pregnancy pants, and still not quite big enough for all the awesome maternity clothes given to me by my wonderful parents and sister this Christmas! Oh well, soon I'll be big as a house and I'll be lamenting something new I am sure.


hmmm... My concerns and thoughts about my upcoming day make me sound very little different than the ladies of leisure in the novel I am reading...

Mr. & Mrs. Smoochy

Thus begins my adventure in Blogging. I have officially joined the band wagon, for which my darling husband (seen besides me in the photo to the left) thinks I am a tremendous dork. So be it. The truth of the matter is I have far too much free time (24 hours a day), and I believe I will enjoy the blogging process for several reasons. Firstly, I have become addicted to reading my brother's blog, and thought I might try my hand at internet journaling. Already it has prompted me to organize the hundreds (thousands?) of digital photos I have recently started accumulating on my computer. That in itself is a great benefit. Secondly, my hubbby and I are relocating in about two months. It is most likely my family and closest friends are no longer going to be within a day's drive. We still don't know where we will be moving exactly...but my gut tells me it will be AWAY from Florida/Georgia. I feel better about publishing a blog than I do weekly mass emails. Surely, I should be chastised if I intend this to be my only means of communication with everybody. (Which I don't!) That would suggest I am so terribly self-centered that I expect people to come check in on me in a very impersonal way, without my having to put forth any effort to communicate with any one person specifically. If I get like that just let me know in a comment! ;-) Lastly, how can blogging be anything but cathartic? People have been journaling for countless generations for that exact purpose! You spell out your experiences on a moment by moment, day by day basis so you can reflect back on larger themes and patterns in your life! How much fun!

OK, now that my blog has been sufficiently justified...and my dorkieness established, I'll move on to current events in our household. My aforementioned darling husband, Jacob, Naval Submarine Officer for exactly sixty-two more days, has duty today. Duty days used to signify to me that he was gearing up to go back out to sea. I considered the duty nights he spent on the boat practice for the long haul that I knew was imminent. It is so exciting to think that this period of our lives is almost over. No more patrols, no more months on end without so much as an email from him, NO MORE NAVY! But the truth is, I am going to miss missing him. It made the relationship so exciting, so fresh, we took nothing for granted. I can't help but wonder if civilian life will be less thrilling, more mundane. Not to mention I have been proud to say "My husband is in the Navy." I wonder if I will feel the same way about saying, "My husband is in sales." That's kinda' silly because I know, no matter what Jacob does, I will be proud of him. Proud because he is a good person, because he will be a good father, and because no matter what his JOB is he will do it and everything else in life 100% to his best ability, because that's just the way he is.

So, he's gone for the day and I have the house to myself. It's rather nice. I cleaned yesterday, have no one to cook for, and no one will be the wiser if I spend the day playing on the internet and reading Pride and Prejudice (which I started in earnest last night, Zach! Great book so far!) Oops, I suppose my lack of productivity is out of the bag now! I am OK with it though. Let the whole world know! Today I shall be lazy! After the wonderful Christmas holiday it feels great. I need a good rest after eating all that food and all the glorious excitement of family, presents, and board games! ;-) Perhaps I will go to Walmart for shampoo, and eat peanut butter and pickle sandwiches for dinner! By tomorrow, I will be itching to have some company, but for now the solitude suits me just fine.