Much Better Day!

A whole day dedicated to Trey and I spending time together with nothing really to do? What could be better? Ok.. an over night pass I guess.. but I take what they give us!

I woke up at 7:00 sharp to get all dolled up for my lovah. I knew he was planning on eating breakfast in the chow hall, so I made my way down for my assumed complimentary breakfast. No such thing. Coffee would have to hold me over for awhile I guess. I had to wait around for Trey's phone call saying he was free, so I took my book and sat in the sunshine by the pool and waited for the green light. After waiting for what seemed like FOREVER he picked me up (wouldn't want a repeat of last night's episode would we??) and we drove back on base. We spent the day doing a whole lot of nothing ~ it was perfect. My favorite part I guess would have to either be the long "nature" walk we took ( wasn't too much nature involved but it was nice to walk around and be silly together), my ice cream cone, or any amount of the smooches I got along the day ;)

He dropped me back off at my hotel in time for him to get back by 5:45. But my day did not end there. I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Rebekah, from Mrs. G.I. Joe , and her husband today!! The three of us went to dinner and she is just as sweet "in real life" as she is on her blog! It's so funny how much we really do get to know each other over these blogs. It felt like I was sitting down with a friend I've known for years! I wish we had more time *I thought of a million other things we could have talked about.. next time though* :) And her husband is great... he reminded me a lot of my own personality-wise. I know they'd be fast friends too!

Anyways... off to get some sleep. He gets released even earlier tomorrow, but i'll have to leave earlier too. I'm absolutely dreading getting in that car and driving away from him :(

Thankful to be Alive

Seriously.

Day #1 ~ Not a success. More like a disaster.

Never again will I use a Garmin. I'm way too exhausted to give a detailed story *need my beauty sleep to see hubs tomorrow bright and early* but here's the gist of it....

Made it here to Columbus all the way to my exit with no problems other than traffic here and there. Got off on the right exit and all hell breaks loose. Damn Garmin kept telling me to make a U-turn all of the place and got me so so so confused. At one point I ended up driving down the wrong side of a freeway for probably .... ehhh.. a total of 3 minutes. No exaggeration. I almost killed myself along with like 5 other people. I can still here the squealing of tires in my head and it makes me shudder. Ended up getting lost of Fort and I can't even tell you how I ended up there. I finally found help. I was so worked up and non-coherent at that point that the sweet, sweet MP's physically drove in front of me to the hotel. How embarrassing. I was lost for an hour and 1/2. I wish I knew who they were. I'd be baking them cookies in this little oven in my room.

I called my mum when I finally did get into the room *which is very nice by the way* and cried for about 10 minutes. She told me to go to the bar.

I better learn some common sense real soon or else I'll never make it...

Early Anniversary for Me!

I knew to expect a box in the mail today ~ but to be honest ~ I completely forgot about it until I got home and saw it sitting there. I promised myself I'd wait until June 2nd (our 2 year anniversary) so I just put the box down and went about my business. When Trey called I let him know that the box arrived safely. I'm pretty sure he could here the excitement in my voice and he knows how I am with surprises. i love them but can barely stand them. So he told me to go ahead and open it. Who am I to argue with my husbands demands??
Love. Love. Love. Love. Love.
I didn't get jewelry. Or anything very materialistic. (which, trust me, I'm not snubbing my nose at.. I'd love love love that too) but what I did get were the most thoughtful things he could have came up with right now.
First thing I saw was a Army bear. So cute with his little ACU's on and barae (sp?). I love it. Then proud Army Wife yellow ribbon magnet to go on my car. THEN.... my favorite part. I'll have to show a picture for you to get the full effect. This plaque thing to hang on the wall. It's pained like the American flag and says "the norton family" on it. Above that it says "home is where the Army sends us" . Below all that you can hang little pieces on it showing where you've been. He's started it already. The first one being Columbia, SC of course with little wedding bells with our wedding date on it. Then Fort Jackson with his specialist rank. Then Ft. Benning with the OCS symbol on it. LOVE IT. I can't wait to find the perfect place to put it. And the two cards he sent with it.. priceless!
Can't wait to get on the road tomorrow to see him <3 Not so much looking forward to the 5 hour drive but hey...

Road Trip!!

I'm leaving here at 3:00 this Friday to go see the hubs!! Fo Real this time. Have my hotel booked and everything :) He doesn't think he'll actually be able to go out into the real world, but we're still hanging on to hope for an off post pass. If not, he'll have from 9ish-6 Saturday and Sunday.. I'll take it! With the short week because of Memorial Day, I'm having a hard time adjusting and I can't believe that tomorrow is Thursday and I'll have to pack after work. I'm a little excited so excited I could pee my pants at any minute.

I got a call from him around 5:30 or so today. It's not normal for him to call during the day so I was immediately on edge..

T: Hi. Can you hear me? (in a very whispered voice the whole time)

J: yeah, what's up?

T: Nothing. Just wanted to tell you I love you.

J: Did you just get fired or something?

T: No. I have CQ tonight during the normal time that I can call you so I knew I wouldn't be able to talk to you tonight.. just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you. Have to go before I get in trouble.

AWwwwww!!!

And now I'll leave you with a little picture I saw today that made me LOL.

The Long Awaited Blog Post

Because I have nothing else to write about, and with hopes that maybe, just maybe, some of you will be able to make me feel like i'm not so strange after all relate to me... tonight I will share with you my rigorous bedtime routine. It's gotten worse over the years. Here goes.. step by step ~

After watching the last show of the night, I'll get up to turn the living room light on.
Shut the TV off.
Make sure the front door is locked.
Turn the Kitchen light on, turn the living room light off.
Make sure the back door is locked.
Turn the bedroom light on, go back and turn the kitchen light off.
Lock bedroom door, make sure the "stay" alarm is on.
Floss.
While brushing teeth, turn the bedside lamp on and the bedroom light off.
Wash face.
Turn the ceiling fan on.
Shut the closet door all the way and the bathroom door all the way (it freaks me out to be able to see into either one when it's dark).
Turn the oscillating fan on. On high.
Get in bed with heating pad on my lower back. (this started in high school when I had really bad back problems for some reason that the doctors never could find out. They also gave me muscle relaxers. Too bad I didn't hang on to that bedtime ritual. I joke. Kind of ).
Feet have to be outside of the sheets/blankets.
Read until I can no longer keep my eyes open.

This is the ONLY aspect of my life that I am OCD about. For some, this post may be slightly boring. Some of you may enjoy though. If I read this out there in blog land I would be rolling in laughter fits and telling that person we must be long lost twins.

Happy Memorial Day!`

I'm home from Charleston! We came back a day early, but all-in-all had a good time while we were there! The weather didn't really cooperate so we didn't get down to the beach. We ate, drank, and slept for the most part to be honest! But it was nice to get away!

I'm not sure what I'll end up doing today. I may end up going to my brother's baseball game, or I might just stay around the house cleaning up a little bit. Maybe go to the grocery store. Right now, I'm waiting on Ashleigh, from The Storey Family, to wake up and see if she wants to run out and get some breakfast. She came over last night (we were both without our hubs and almost had a pity party while alone at separate houses) and brought The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with her. I LOVED that movie! I definitely did shed a few tears, but not as many as I thought I would. It was also a lot longer than we thought it was. We were both fighting to stay awake so she just crashed here. I believe her lasts words before falling asleep were something about not being a late sleeper. Phhssshhh! It's almost 9, my stomach is growling, and she's still not up ;)

Whatever I do end up doing today, I will be thinking about the reason we are celebrating this day. I've probably thought about this more this year than any other year before, which is only natural I guess. These men and women risk their lives for us every single day, some having made the ultimate sacrifice... they are doing the most selfless and brave thing I can think of.

A Little of This and a Little of That

It's officially Memorial Day weekend.. woohhooooo!!

Just taking it easy tonight. Doing a little laundry, packing, and catching up on the DVR. I have a week's worth of catching up to do. What am I packing for you ask?? No, not to go see hubs. I'm leaving in the morning for Charleston with a couple girls and I CANNOT WAIT. Will be back Monday morning with a few stories to share I'm sure and maybe some pics.

My day was going really good today ~ that is until I locked my keys in my car. Uh huh. On my lunch break. Went to get my eyebrows waxed. Threw my keys in my purse. Thought to myself "oh I don't need my purse, I'll just run in with my wallet". Put purse in the passenger seat, lock the doors, slam door shut and immediately say a bad four letter word. Grrrrr!
Luckily, a girl at work reminded me that I have USAA and I could call them and have them send someone out for free. But it did turn my hour lunch break into a 2 and 1/2 hour lunch break.. and not for any fun reasons!

Trey seems to be doing pretty well. We do get to talk a little bit each day so that's a relief. He has from 9-10 to shower, shave, and get ready for lights out so we find about 15 minutes to talk in the midst of all that.. which is better than nothing!! So far he's passing the things he needs to pass so we're off to a good start. For the most part his mood seems to be pretty positive :)

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Happy Memorial Day!!

So Maybe I See Where He's Coming From..

You know it's bad when you start getting on your own nerves!! But can do nothing about it. It's sad really.
I have this cup issue... I know... this may be a freakishly insane slightly weird post.

I cannot bring myself to drink out of the same cup once.. or twice at the most. This would drive hubs insane on a daily basis. Because not only will I not reuse it, but I have a tendency to leave them all over the house as well. I'm constantly drinking something and usually while walking around the house will just take my glass with me. He would walk around huffing and puffing *and maybe cursing me under his breath* while collecting all the glasses always wondering "why can't you just reuse the same damn cup". I don't know why girls.. I really can't explain it. I try to make myself, start to have very illogical thoughts about the Crystal light going bad that was left in it, or what if a bug flew in it (and clearly contaminated it).. spaz out, and just grab a new one. I've given up trying to justify it ok.. it's just my thing.
Wellll now he's not here to collect my scattered cups. I would have cleaned them up myself, but I guess I just never noticed it because there was always a clean one in the cabinet. Now I go to reach for one and there may or may not be a fresh, clean cup waiting on me. So I have to go around the house, cursing myself under my own breath, and load the dishwasher up. It's sad when you have to run the dishwasher with only the top shelf filled.

It's the little things you miss while he's gone. I miss my cup collector!
Stay tuned tomorrow for my strange bedtime rituals...

Back to Basic

Or it feels like it anyways!
Trey and all the guys he's with got placed in thier actual platoons today. Which means they are actually starting stuff this week. I know he is thankful for that as he was quite bored last week! So while I'm glad for him, I am a little down because this also means this is the start of him being a busy soldier for the next couple of months. I haven't heard that voice all day as of 8:20 tonight. I miss it! Yes, I take back my "hating the phone" complaints!
He did text me earlier today to let me know that we need to talk about this upcoming weekend. He will not be getting on off-post past like we originally thought, but will have about 8 hours of free time during the days. I'm been struggling with the decision on whether or not to go all day, but I think I've decided to make a go for it. Any thoughts?? I'm sure I can manage to find things to do when he is away right? I think it will be worth it.. but opinions are definitely welcome!
I hope everyone had a great Monday (as great as Mondays go anyway)

Here are some reasons my day sucked:
Close to NO sleep last night. (just could not fall and stay asleep)
Felt like I got NOTHING done at work today no matter how focused I tried to be
Not hearing from Trey
Not making it to the gym because of pure exhaustion
And I JUST NOW spilled an entire glass of bright red tropical punch KoolAid (sugar free of course) on the cream colored carpet

And here are some things that made it not COMPLETELY suck:
Knowing that i have someone to miss as much as I do
Finding a new little surcie for myself at the grocery store ~ Weight Watcher Candy Bar Ice Creams. It's kind of like the Snickers IceCream bars which I happen to LOVE.
Having a bowl of Apple Jacks for dinner.

Here's to a better day tomorrow :)

Update:
Trey just called only to inform me that he doesn't know when he'll be able to call me again. And I shouldn't go down this weekend bc although he technically will have free time, he'll have to be back at all hours of the day for anything from formation to detail... blah. It will all be worth it in the end <3

Busy Week Ahead, but...

it will all pay off! i'll be leaving Friday to go see the hubs!!! (well i'm like 95% sure of that at least) I've tried to not get my hopes up, but who am I kidding. The forever optimist here. A 3-day weekend.. what??? So excited. There will be a couple times that he has to go on Fort for some reason or another through-out the weekend but I'm sure I can keep myself occupied during that time. Trey keeps reminding me that they very well may take this privilege away from him, but on Memorial Day.. really.. i don't see that happening. So it's official.. my hopes are up and in my mind I'm already there. Have any plans Mrs. GI Joe???

Now if I can only get through this week..
Monday: (remember working until 5 is a given throughout the week)
gym and grocery store
Tuesday: dinner with my friends C & J
Wednesday: gym
Thursday: hopefully a date night with my SIL, then packing. If not I'll just go straight home to pack.
Friday: I'll get through what I'm sure will be a torturous day at work and then off to see my lova until Monday!

Today was not meant for me to get the mulching finished. I tried.. I really did. Steve and I cleared out the rest of the beds (minus one little section in the back). Jump in the car to go to Lowes and here's where the day's adventure begins. Typical day in the life of me...

1. took 26W instead of 26E, so we had to turn around
2. go all the way to the wrong end of Harbison, had to turn around again. Should've taken a left instead of a right.
3. Go to Home Depot.. not Lowes.. find the perfect mulch, load up 10 bags of that crap, wait 10 minutes in line, go to pay... guess whose debit card is nowhere to be found.. uh huh.. left it at home
4. Go home and eat lunch.. pick up said debit card.. go to a Lowe's that is much closer.
5. Pull in the parking lot. The torrential downpours figured they'd show up at the same time. Thanks.
6. Decide to go in anyway being the trooper I am and all.. get soaked because mulch is not kept under a ceiling apparently.
7. Can't find the perfect match to my red mulch. But they had it at the other store right? Oh, what's that you say Steve? We were at Home Depot.. not Lowes.

I gave up at that point. I can take a hint. I should've realized it wasn't meant to be at number 2.

Day number 1 of mulching = huge success!

My family came over around 1:30ish and we went outside to get to work first thing bc the clouds were threatening to rain on our parade. My dad and I were making the trip out to buy the mulch so Mum and Steve stayed behind and started clearing out the beds.

The mulch was less expensive than I had prepared myself for, but it also didn't cover as much as I thought it would sooo.... looks like I'll be going back for more asap. We got two big tractor scoops and it didn't even cover the whole front yard. But already, it's transformed my yard. I can't wait until it's completely finished!

So here's some before and after pictures.. please don't judge me too harshly on the befores! I didn't realize how horrid it looked until I saw what it could look like!

Before:

After:

That's what we have left to finish in the front. Still have the side and the back!

I like these next two because it's the same area just from a different angle and it really shows what a difference it makes:

So there you have it! My very thrilling first post concerning my own little home makeover. More to come in probably about two weeks. Next on the list that you can find yourself waiting for with baited breath.... Painting our guest bedroom! Trey's been extra anxious for me to do this.. it's lavender at the moment!

Weekend Plans

After a wonderful Friday night of being a lazy bum getting some much needed rest and relaxation and after I'm done lying in bed extra late on this Saturday morning, I actually do have a very production weekend planned.
Since "Welcome to Army Life" part number 1 is behind us, I've realized that before I know it.. I'm going to have to put this house of ours up for sale. And by that I mean most likely at the end of the summer. With this realization came the minor spastic reaction on my part thinking about all the things I need to get done to make this house scream "Buy Me".
So I'm doing project #1 this weekend and I'm actually really excited to get it done.
Mulching the trashy looking jungle of weeds garden bed that runs around the entire house! *Yes, I may be a little more excited to use this as an opportunity to work on my tan more so than the actual act of mulching* Trey and I planned to do this all summer last year and just never got around to it. Good thing my 13-year old brother practically lives for this stuff and is coming over today after lunch to help me prepare it. He's spending the night (which means I should probably get to the store to buy some food) and my parents will be here tomorrow to help with the actual mulching.
Thank God. I'm not ashamed to admit I've never done anything like this before so it should be an experience and provide some blog-worthy material.
I'll at least be sure to post some before and after pictures!

Bad Wifey??

Please don't get me wrong.. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my husband. Love. We all know this.
I am so glad that he has more freedom (for the time being) and I know I'll miss what about to complain about.
But what do I hate?? Talking on the phone. I hate it. Especially after being on the phone all.day.long.
so is it so wrong of me to not be totally thrilled with the fact that he has nothing to do from 5-10 but talk on the phone with me? It makes my whole entire day to get a sporadic texts from him throughout the day and my heart patters extra fast when I get that first phone call after work. I LOVE being able to hear his voice.. but by call number 5.... I really don't have much to talk about at that point!
it would be different if he were here and we could just be. I can't stress enough how much I hate prolonged phone conversations. There's only so much you can talk about.
If I could talk through texting for the rest of my life ~ that would be ok with me.

Point of this little post:
I'm definitely NOT a phone person. But what are ya gonna do when that's the only way to communicate? Suck it up and vent through your blog.

Where does the day go??

I did not plop my tush down on the couch today until 9:00... PM!
Seriously? Dinner at 9:00 is not very good for my weight loss efforts.
Worked until 6. Drove to the gym. (one day when i live on post this whole gym thing will be much much more convenient). Stopped by the grocery store for some essentials (Zyrtec D, deli meat, bell pepper, bread, and choc. milk). Dropped the mail off at the post office. Finaalllly made it home. Showered. Microwaved my delish LC dinner. Made lunch for tomorrow. Plopped that tush down. One hour later and it's time to go to bed. I'd really like to watch some TV but my eyes just won't let me.

Oh yeah... multiple conversations with Trey throughout the day?? Lovely. He has his phone during the week and can use it freely after 5. He somehow snuck a couple texts in during the day. He wakes up at 4:45 tomorrow morning to do a 4 mile run. Better him than me. I know someone who would be a tad bitchy.. i mean cranky (I really would love to learn how to do that strike through the word thing) if someone woke me up at that hour to go run 4 miles....

Shot Out to My Mama!

And all the other mama's out there really.. but especially to mine. I've done a full post before on all of the reasons I love my mum *and if I knew how to link back to a previous blog I would.. help* but it being mothers day and all I feel the need to express my infatuation with her just a little more...

• She supports me in every decision I make.. whether she agrees or not... she'll let me make my own mistakes
• For loving me unconditionally even though I was the most awful brat to her growing up (mum.. we don't need any comments regarding how much you agree with me here)
• She's silly and likes to laugh a lot.. just like me so we have fun together
• She's an amazing cook
• She LOVES her family
• She's pretty fond of my husband which means a lot to me
• She's my best friend and I can talk to her about anything

I really hope she had an especially good day today. She's a little down with not being able to hear from my brother today. She thought for sure that the Drill Sargeants will let him call home seeing as how it is Mothers Day. She sadly found out that that's not the case!

A little conclusion I came to today.... ready for this... are you sitting down? This is big for me...

The thought of having a little bun in the oven of my very own doesn't send me into convulsions, curling up in a ball, shaking with anxiety anymore. Maybe just the nostalgic feeling of being with that hunk of a husband of mine over the weekend? Maybe I just got caught up in the whole Mothers Day scene? Or maybe all the adorable baby clothes I saw at Target? Whatever it was, something put a fresh battery in that clock of mine.. I'm just sayin

100th Post!!!

So that definitely snuck up on me! But what better way to celebrate than to recap the last two and 1/2 days of my life :) It was nothing short of perfect. I'll sum it up a little bit but will let lots of pics speak for themselves.

Thursday was Family Day. The speech was great.. goosebumps great.. emotional and very exciting. All of my very illogical fears were proved to be worthless. It was like we never left each other at all. I know its only been a little over two months and a lot of people deal with much more than that. But it was our first time being apart.. so I really didn't know what to expect. We took lots of pics, had lunch at the golf course with his family, had some alone time together and went to the pond.. walked some trails.. snuck lots of kisses in ;). He showed me his barracks and we took most of his stuff to the car. Met back with his family at the PX, did a little shopping, had dinner. That sat and canoodled on a bench until he had to be back.

Me and my SIL waiting for everything to start

They had to stay in formation until we went to find them. I knew he was in that last group somewhere!
I couldn't help myself! I was physically shaking with excitement at this time. He wasn't far from it!


Friday morning was the actual graduation. A lot more people came to that. Everyone was so excited to see him and I know that made him feel very good and that everything he has been through was worth it. He was even more excited to drive off of that fort at the end of everything and go have lunch and a real restaurant! We were lucky enough that he didn't have to report to Benning until this afternoon, so after lunch we go to go home and he got to spend the night in his own bed.. even if just for one night. We did have to go out for a bit. While we were out shopping, someone came up to him and shook his hand and thanked him. He was pretty flustered by that.. I think that's going to take some time to sink in for him and a lot of getting used to!

The band marching by
*The picture all the way to the left is with 4 of our closest friends*

My living room floor while packing for Benning.. Eeekks!


And he's ready to go. I'd rather my floor look permanently like the 2 pics above :(

I was so worried that things wouldn't be the same between us, or that we'd be awkward together. I was far off. It's like we never left each other. I know there will be some difficult times to come, but I have to say... I am more proud of my husband that I can put into words. And when I look at him, I know I love him more than I ever have in my entire life. And can I just add here that I have never seen him look hotter :)

I miss him incredibly already, but this time feels like it will be easier. He'll be gone for 14 more weeks, but will have more freedom. We'll get to talk more and he'll have some free weekends (we think). And I know that we can make it through anything.

I'm letting myself have today to sleep, watch TV, and eat bad foods. Back to the grind tomorrow.. but for now.. it's nap time!

Time Flies

Is my countdown really down to 2 more full days and a wake-up??? I'll see hubs for the first time since February on Thursday!! I'm going to be like a little kid on Christmas Even night trying to go to sleep the night before! I'm so excited I can barely stand it. He can't leave fort Thursday at all so I have NO CLUE what we're going to do all day.. but I don't really care what it is.
Things are a little up in the air for Friday still. He can't seem to get a straight answer for when he has to be in Benning. I've heard anything from having to take him back to Ft. Jackson by 9:00 Friday night, to him having to be at Benning by 5 on Saturday (please please please) and the latest was that he has to be at Benning by midnight Friday (no no no) I will feel so defeated if it's the last. It'll take him 5 hours to drive there so we will have almost no time together. I'll take what I can get though!
I got a new camera over the weeked so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures <3