He's Home!

We did it. We finished our first NTC rotation. (For family and friends not associated with Army, NTC stands for National Training Center and is located in Ft. Irwin, CA. This is where they all go to train up before a deployment.)

Source
 

As you can see it is in the middle of nowhere. Trey says if he ever actually gets stationed there he will promptly get out of the Army. I want to say that that's just his hostility from being there so fresh in his mind, but I really can't be sure.. ha! Can't say it's on my top list of places to go!

Anyways, this was a big milestone for us. Granted, I took the opportunity to go home and visit with family and friends, so besides missing him like crAYYYzy, it wasn't too hard on me. But it was still a month apart. Just a teensy tiny glimpse into what next year will look like for us. Trey survived the month of blah desert. I survived separating from my parents yet again.

And now he's home!! His plane landed at an ugly hour this morning and he was showered and snuggling up by 6am. He had about 15 minutes of laying in a warm, freshly laundered bed before Andrew decided it was time to start the day. Trey was pretty adamant about going up to get him and Andrew's face was PRICELESS.

He is in lurrve with having his daddy home! It started with him taking out all of his cars one by one to show Trey (fyi.. that is a TON of cars) as if he was worried that Daddy forgot what any of them looked like. And he hasn't caught a break from Andrew's energy and enthusiasm since.

Until now. In true Army fashion, Trey's 4 days off turned into, "I just have to go in for an hour and a half" to "I have no earthly idea when I'll be home" (not an exact quote, but I like to keep things family friendly around here). I had about 5 minutes of self pity until I got over it for the most part. He's home now. He has to come home at some point tonight... I think. And our son is over the moon that his Daddy is home!

Home again, home again

It's hard to believe that an entire month has already flown by, but it has my friends and tomorrow Drew baby and I will be on a plane back home. I dread these flights.. I really do. Andrew always does great ::knocks on wood:: but they are still exhausting. I miss the days of flying solo! I had no idea what a luxury that was!

Anywhoo... It's a bittersweet feeling to be going back. We will miss it here. Both of us. Andrew has just blossomed here. I think he's so used to up and traveling to a different place at this point. The makings of a true Army Brat in this boy! It has been reaffirming for me. I knew coming home for the deployment was the right move to begin with, but I still felt antsy about it and doubted myself sometimes. I don't anymore. I'll make a note to elaborate on that later, but I'm feeling really good about that decision!
It's been beyond amazing to have this month with my family. Their company and help with Andrew... I don't even have words. (The following is not meant to be read as "oh poor me, so please don't read it like that.. I simply didn't know what I was missing!) I'm used to doing just about everything by myself. With Trey in his XO position we haven't been seeing him until... on average... 7 at night. Sometimes later. By that time, everything is done (dinner, bath, clean up.. blah blah). So to have people walk in the house between 5 and 5:30.. wow! And people that are eager to unwrap Drew from my legs and go play with him so I can cook. So THIS is how normal people live??

On the same note, I'm ready to get back. I'm ready to have our own space. Part of me.. try to follow me here, I know this may sound contradictory to everything I just said.. just go with it.. Part of me is ready to get back in my groove and do everything on my own. Remind me of those words in 2 days. I can't explain that feeling. It's just what I know I guess.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY - I'm ready to see my husband!!! I can't say just when he'll be home, of course, and I'm sure it will be another fun Army Waiting Game, but it won't be too long of a countdown once we get back. I can't wait to wrap my arms around him! To see him with Andrew and catch him up on everything that's changed in the short month since he's seen him. To have our movie nights back! Good stuff.

I've been telling Andrew since we got here that he's a lucky boy because he has 2 homes. It's the easiest way I could think of so he wouldn't get confused and I wouldn't have to specify, "Mizzy and Grampy's home" the whole month. He gets it and will tell you he has 2 homes. So, I guess I'm pretty lucky too. That I can be "at home" in both places. That I have more than one place to call home.

Now if someone could just move one of those homes to a cooler climate, I'll be even more content (ahem.. looking at you Army!)

Waiting..

I'm patiently waiting for my husband to come home!

He's been in the field all week, but I swear it feels more like a month! They got back on post around noon and have been waiting to be released. Three hours later and I got nothing. Silly Army.

I'm so much looking forward to a quite night home together and a very low key weekend!

He cannot get his stankin behind home fast enough! Literally, he said the stench is pretty awful. I remember attempting to do his laundry after his week in the field during OCS. I just about passed out from that God awful smell. I didn't know such a smell was possible.

Now I can't wait to smell it again :) 

Busy Busy Busy

Whewwwwww...

We've been home since Thursday night, but it's been non-stop, go go go! In fact, we have to go go go again in about 20 minutes so this is just a quick little update to let you guys know I'm still alive and we're doing really well.

1. graduation went really well. Except for the fact that during the whole ceremony people were creeping politely on their knees to take pictures of their graduate except for when it was time for Trey to go up. Then they decided to not so politely stand in my way so I got a crap picture. More pictures to come later.
2. It took about a day and 1/2 to get readjusted to living with each other again. It was hard for him coming into a mostly packed house. Even harder to learn that you can no longer leave your shit laying around at any time. You never know when someone might want to come and take a gander at the house!
3. But it's good now and i'm loving every.single.second we have together.
4. We got family pictures taken with his family yesterday and i'm prettttty sure they will end up coming out amazingly and i'll have a really hard time picking out just a few.
5. My grandmother finally passed away yesterday. Last night around 7:30 actually. We knew it was coming. She's been suffering really badly all week and she was down to 7 breaths a minute yesterday. I had a hard time with it last night, but I really know that she's much much better off. I can just imagine her running around with my grandfather not even losing a breath. Actually I can't imagine them frolicking around together. More like playing poker or rummy with one of her "damn ice coffees" in hand.
6. Trey is about to kill me with these damn Army workouts. Thank God that tomorrow is a day of rest. Literally, I'm thanking Him. My legs can barely hold themselves up and are in a constant state of wobble, my abs hurt so much I can barely breath in and out.
7. Tonight we're going to hang out with a couple of our good friends. I've seen them countless times since Trey's left but I'm excited for him to see everyone again. These are the two guys that Trey's been close with since 9th grade. *and their beautiful wives*
8. Tomorrow we're going to church in the morning. Again, I've gone here and there since he's been again, but I'm AGAIN, so excited for him to see everyone.

That is all for now. Preparing to go back into work on Monday and am dreading it will enjoy every day since it's my last week.
Here's to hoping the rest of the week crawls by at a snails pace!

Enough of That!

I've been so focused on the negative lately and have been so down in the dumps that I'm sick of myself! If I have any readers left it'll be a miracle! Unfortunately for all of you, I find it much easier to write about than to show feelings "IRL" so you get the brunt of it all. Healthy? Maybe not so much but it is what it is...
Buuttt I really can't take myself anymore so I'm choosing to pick my self up by the britches and make some changes. The bad things in life are going to happen... all I can do is try to roll with it, focus on the things I have to be thankful for, and learn from any mistakes. Positive thoughts for the day:

• Did I chose to give my sweet, adorable dog away, when in the long run she may have been a really good thing for me? Yes. But you know what? She's in such a good home with lots of love and companionship that I just know she has to be happier. I can't worry about what other people think about that decision either. I know I did the right thing for me and Daisy.
• My grandmother (as we all know by now) is on her last strings, but she's had quite the long and fulfilling one. I'm pretty sure she's excited to go and be with her husband again. I have so so so many good memories of that woman. I know I'll see her again.
• Our house hasn't sold *or rented* yet and because of a couple different emergencies, we have no emergency fund left. I'm almost through with my job which means we'll be down to one paycheck and double the housing expenses. I don't know how we are going to get by, but WE'LL get by together some how. I'm going to be living with my husband again and if we have to eat Raman Noodles every day so be it. I'm pretty fond of them anyway. They have lots of different flavors so we won't get sick of them. Maybe one night a week we can splurge on Kraft Mac & Cheese. Which is my fav. Speaking of my husband...
• He passed his PT test. He's graduating this Thursday!!!
• I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a couple days of graduation festivities.
• And he's coming home with me right after graduation. For two weeks.
• Then we're moving away. Together.
• I went to church this morning and it was the best feeling ever. Even better of a feeling? When hubs told me he wants to make it a priority to find a good church in OK and go every week. That needs to become more of a priority in our lives.
• I had a great day today with my in-laws. Church with them, lunch afterwards, and painting nails with my MIL afterwards = pretty dern good day.

That's all for now.

I'm taking my laptop with me tomorrow since he'll still be "working" during the day. I plan on laying out by the pool for the majority of the day. I'll be sure to update throughout the week... especially after the ball on Tuesday!

Thanks for sticking with me throughout my "poor me" stage. All your thoughts, prayers, and kind words made me smile throughout it all :)

Another Weekend Recap

Honestly I am in no mood to post something right now, so I probably shouldn't, but for some strange reason feel like I should anyways. Is that bad? I mainly just don't feel like I have much to say. It was a pretty uneventful weekend so I really won't even touch much on it. I'll just say a little something about my favorite part of the weekend:
Dinner Friday night with my friends Chris & Julianne at the best little Mexican restaurant around here. I had chicken fajita nachos. YUM!! I always really enjoy myself with them, but I did even more so this weekend. We've been very close for years now (I met them when I met Trey have been inseparable ever since). Julianne and I, especially, have been BFF's since day 1. We can go to each other with everything and sit and talk for hours. Lately, I feel like life's little day-to-day hassles (you know like her being pregnant... me handling life on my own) have gotten in the way of that and we haven't had much time for "us" time. But Friday was great! We sat outside and talked for a long time and it was extremely refreshing to me... much needed! She is definitely one that I'll have a hard time being away from. *Hi Julz.. I know you're reading this. Hope that wasn't very awkward for you to read. You have your own little shot out.. hope you like*
Saturday I got a TON of errands done... Babies R Us for the above mentioned pregnant girl, Barnes & Noble to grab "dog training for dummies" (yes, I will actually read this), Dillard's to return ugly green caterpillar dress, Rita's to pick up a refreshing italian ice, then to my parents house to spend some QT with the fam. I got to talk to my grandmother while I was over there so that was great. Mum talked to her first and whenever she gave me the phone, the first thing my gma said was, "your mother asks too many damn questions. I had to get off the phone with her". Ha! Gotta love that woman! She sounded okay. Just very tired. She's in the nursing home now and she hopes to start some PT on Monday. She's been laying around for 10 days and really wants to get moving. She said she just hopes her body cooperates with her mind. I'll see her in 5 days and I cannot wait!!

Oh yeah, btw, I'm leaving for Massachusetts Thursday, coming home Sunday night, driving to Columbus Monday, coming home WITH MY HUSBAND!!!!! Thursday. So I may be will be MIA for awhile. I hope you still all love me dearly when I get back! Don't forget about me :)

That's all for now. You got one more thrilling day's description than I said I was going to do. Off to watch Army Wives (love love love)

Another Weekend Gone

Yard sale = Huge Success!!

I sold everything. Literally everything. I don't have very many interesting stories to report unfortunately. It was pretty uneventful. To most people that would be a good thing.. but you know how I like a good story. The only thing I got for ya is a very sweaty, tell me your whole life story woman who bought 2 lamps from me but said she'd have to come and get them at another time. The lamps are still in my shed. I assumed she meant this weekend but apparently not? She was sweating so much that my brother thought she was spitting. No, that was just the sweat rolling down her lips as she was talking. It really wasn't THAT hot.

We thought we were done around 10:15. Just as we were figuring out how to get a dresser, desk, and bookshelf down the the goodwill store, a older man in a pickup truck pulled up and started checking them out. He said he'd paid me $25 for everything. Sold. Deal of a century for him? Absolutely. But also for me seeing as how I didn't have to deal with it! I made out pretty good and will be using the money I made to put towards paying for the rest of my sweet pup that I'm going to pick up in ~ 18 ~ days!!! I bought her a cute little bed this weekend at Burlington Coat Factory for $9.99!!

I DID NOT on the other hand find another dress to buy that I liked more than that blue number from a couple posts back, so that was ordered this morning. I'll have it by Wednesday. Pray Pray Pray. I also ordered the dress I'm going to wear to his graduation:

Very simple, I know. But I likie and I'll spruce it up with some fun jewelry. I can't believe his graduation is a mere 3 weeks away. I remember when were counting down from 2o-something weeks. It felt like a lifetime. I can't even express how much I'm looking forward to living a "normal" life with him again. I do worry about re-domesticating myself though! I don't think he'll be down for cereal or LC's for dinner...