Thankful for 30

A little over a month ago I turned, hold your breath, 30. The funny thing is that several of my friends have asked how I'm doing with it like it's some terrible medical diagnosis. It's not and I'm good but I am officially old. Not because I'm 30...30's not old...heck, 40's not even old in my book. No, I'm old because I've always been old. 

When I was a child, I preferred to eat and talk with adults rather than other children. When I was a teenager, I was lost. I didn't understand teens around me...the things they obsessed over and did for fun. Don't get me wrong, I was a stupid teen like most others and did (and wore) ridiculous things to fit in sometimes but I didn't actually want to. Then, in college, I never really got into the party, club-hopping, dating-around scene (apart from about six months after I turned 21 which was more than long enough for me to realize it wasn't my thing).

My 20's often felt like they were filled with "supposed to's"...like I was supposed to want a career and a higher college degree because I'm a "modern woman" and getting married at 22 was not what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to want to "have a life" before I had children of my own. I still remember telling one of my brother's that I was pregnant with my son (just before I turned 25) and his 30-year old response was "WHY?!" Granted, he grew up in California and I grew up in the mid-west so there are some socio-geographic influences. But, I always felt like I was supposed to act young because I was young. 

Turning 30 has come with a new found sense of freedom. I'm not old and I still have an active lifestyle but I don't have to act young. I can prefer to stay home and drink wine while playing a board game with my family. I can take a ceramics or a painting class with women twice my age and have a great time-not going to lie, some of those old birds are a little naughty!

I still want to look and feel 20-pretty sure that's one wish that won't change for a while, but I'm so glad I'm 30 now.

PS>Sorry if it's TMI but I went to the Dr yesterday and I have shingles. I guess there is a downside to getting older. 

Knee Update

Ok. So a few people have asked about how Joshua's doing with his knee. He's been home from deployment for over a year and the VA has just this month given him an official diagnosis. He tore his medial collateral ligament/MCL (no surprise there) and has early signs of osteo-arthritis in his knee (ugh, something to look forward to). 

We've decided to go with a more conservative route of treatment because right now he has full range of movement-he just has a ton of pain with that movement. Conversely, if we have them go in and replace the MCL (with a cadaver piece-didn't know that was what they used until we saw the surgeon), his range of movement could be drastically effected based on how tight or loose the new MCL is and there's really no way of telling until after the surgery.

They've outfitted him with what I affectionately call his "Terminator" knee brace...it's a huge metal hinged thing that goes from mid-calf to mid-thigh and looks rather daunting. He says it's helping. Anything would be better the the itty-bitty, useless neoprene thing they gave him "over there" but hey, they also threw a few ibuprofen at him so I guess he was fine. He's also finally been set up with weekly physical therapy appointments and scheduled steroid shots. The surgeon has recommended going in and "scraping everything out" (doesn't that sound fun?!). Not sure when that will be scheduled but it's the best they can do short of replacing the MCL. 

So our journey continues.

Liebster Love

Jenn from Mouse and Home (a blog you should totally follow!) was kind enough to give me the Leibster Award.

It was great fun to read through Jenn's answers (with the award the presenter provides 11 random facts about themselves as well as 11 questions to all recipients who then come up with their own random facts and questions to pass on to the next set of recipients). To be honest, reading Jenn's answers made me wish we lived closer so we could get together in real life. 

The funny thing is that this was the second time I was honored with the Liebster Award. The first time came from another Jen from The Adventures of Our Army Life (another blog you should totally follow!). 

So, now my task is to come up with 11 new random facts about myself...this might be tough...

1. I'm legally blind without glasses or contacts. Yup. And my better-than-20/20 husband gets weirded out every time I mention getting lasik...in his words "But they slice your eye open!"

2. I could run 5 miles in 30 minutes flat in 8th grade until I tore a ligament. (translation: I peaked in 8th grade)

3. I'm overly domesticated...cooking from scratch, sewing, homeschooling, all of it but I truly hate housework.

4. My record for shooting is hitting a quarter size target with my rifle from 90 yards away.

5. I have 63 blood-related first-cousins. My husband has a total of seven family members. We eloped.

6. I love numbers...like way more than is anywhere near normal. When I go grocery shopping, I keep a running total of what the final total will be including taxes...it's kind of a game. I'm usually within $1.

7. I was an early childhood development major in college but I learned more about parenting as a nanny than I ever did in a classroom.

8. Two weeks after my 30th birthday I was carded when I went to see a rated-R movie (maybe not a random fact but definitely an ego boost and I'm running out of facts so go with it).

9. I am anxiously waiting for our son to have a long enough attention span so I can start reading the Harry Potter series to him...we're so close!

10. I have a love/hate relationship with living in the middle of nowhere. I love the quiet privacy but I miss having shopping and entertainment options (other than Walmart, ugh) less than an hour away.

11. We plan to visit all 50 states before the kids graduate. So far, we've got nine down.

Onto Jenn's questions...

1. If you could meet any person, living or dead, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Esther-as in Esther from the Bible. She's always been my favorite female historical figure.

2. What is the last book you read that you couldn't put down?

Fiction: Hunger Games Trilogy 

Non-fiction: Disney Wars

3. Name someplace you never want to visit.

South America. I recognize I'm alienated an entire continent 

and although I LOVE to travel, I have zero desire to go there.

4. Do you have any hobbies? What are they?

Yes. Sewing and photography. I also really like to go hiking 

and rock-climbing

5. Is there a song that would be your "theme song"? 

Um, that's tough. It probably changes based on the day but as 

much of a cliche as it might be, right now I'd say it's U2 

Beautiful Day

6. If you had a day all to yourself, what would you do?

Sleep. Sew. Read. Go see a movie.

7. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be, and why?

I'm not sure. I love living in Oklahoma now but I think it would 

be awesome to spend nine months a year in Orlando and the 

summer in Minnesota

8. Are you OCD or ADD when it comes to housework?

ADD. See above (I detest housework)

9. Who is your favorite Doctor?  (If you don't watch Doctor Who, feel free to simply respond with Doctor WHO?)

I desperately want to answer this question. Almost all my 

closest friends LOVE Dr Who but living in the middle of 

nowhere, our netflix account is essentially useless. It skips and 

drops out constantly. I keep meaning to check our local library 

for dvds but I haven't yet.

10. What is your favorite TV show?

Reality: Amazing Race Drama: Elementary or Criminal Minds

11. What is the best and worst jobs you've held?

Nanny. For both. Two different families. The bad-I was their 

27th nanny (didn't know that until after I'd been there six 

months and the housekeeper told me). They were awful. 

Incredibly wealthy but the children were starved for attention 

and guidence. The good-live-in for a family with triplets. I 

started when the kids were 4 and left when I got married and 

they were 6. They're still very much a part of our lives. I love 

watching them with our children.

Well, we just lost power...we're having an ice storm so rather than tagging and listing my own questions, I'm leaving it open to all my followers to come up with their own or use Jenn's really great questions!