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

A Must Read

So this cousin I've been obsessively mentioning lately started her own blog with much persuasion from my mother and I. You have to check her out here.
She will not fail to make you laugh.. promise.

My week brought to you in bullet points

• I still have no puppy. I haven't tried looking too hard yet. I will at some point. I'm way too indecisive for my own good. I think I'm back to no pet for now. I do really want the pup. But I have to admit.. I kinda just want it to fall in my lap.
• Weekend with Kate was perfect. I could really get used to us living in the same town. Let's just send a little shot out to God asking him to let me stay in Columbia for just a little longer!
• I woke up at a truly un-godly hour Monday morning to take her to the airport. I somehow made it through the day and even put in gym work after work-work. AND went to the grocery store. Mmmhmmm.
• But it was awfully sad to come home to a house without her.
• My TV works again!!! And that is such a cause for celebration for me.. trust me! Back to DVR'ing away as usual. So far I've gotten caught up on Desperate Housewives, Army Wives, The Hills, and Gossip Girl. Got some 90210, SVU, and Lie to Me to go.
• I officially have 7 more days until I see the hubster. I'm finally letting myself be extremely excited over this. I went through every single emotion. From feeling like it would never get here, to being initially excited, to dreading it because I know it's just another "see ya later", to being scared for multiple reasons ( what if it's wierd, what if I'm not the same person, what if he's not, what if I see him and I'm just like.. Oh hi.. and then it's like a normal old day, to now putting all those thoughts behind me and just letting myself being stoked and believing that we'll be the same as we've always been) Basically.. I can't wait. One week from tomorrow :) Pray for good weather.
• I think i'm ready to push past the one mile mark on my running. Yes, I know I'm a wuss and I should have passed this already. Today I could have gone further but I'm running into a blister problem. I'm getting them on the insides of my feet. Right in the middle, on the side, in the arch of my feet. Thicker socks? Bandaids? Get used to it?
• I'm very excited for a date Saturday with my SIL. Pedi's in the morning. Crawfish Festival all day after that. Do I like crawfish? Um no. Do I like a day outside around lots of people, bands, good weather, and drinks? Absolutely.
• My brother left yesterday for AF Basic. In Texas. I said bye to him on Sunday and cried even though I didn't think I would. I got pretty emotional sending my little brother on his way like that. I know this will be great for him, I'm proud of him, but I did stay true to my basketcase, emotional self.
• My house smelled like something died in it on Saturday. After spending a lot of time narrowing it down (taking out trash, running the garbage disposal, literally looking for dead animals in the vents) I realized it was the load of towels that I washed on TUESDAY and somehow forgot to put in the dryer. They were so moldy they made my house smell like a rotten morgue. I never claimed to be Mrs. Domestic Diva. Don't judge.

Change of Heart

I know no one more fickle than I am.. let me tell you!

Good thing I never did settle on a little kitty to take home. I changed my mind this week when a lady I work with came in with The.Most.Adorable puppy I have Ever.Seen.In.My.Life.

Her name is Lucy. She's a maltipoo . And I love her. I HAVE to have one. I'm having above mentioned co-worker look around for me. Probably won't happen in the next week. But it WILL happen.

My lists of 8

Seeing how I've had a horrible horrible case of bloggers block over the last couple weeks (months?), you can imagine how excited I was to see that one of my new fav bloggers, Mrs. GI Joe, tagged me in this fun little post. Perfect for me right now.. thanks girl!

8 things I look forward to:

1. Let's start with the most obvious... 17 more days and a wake-up before I get to see that amazing husband of mine!! Family Day on May 7, and graduation on the 8th! Yes, I understand that I won't even get to spend a full 24 hours with him total before he moves on to OCS, but I'll take what I can get and soak up every second!
2. Getting back into the gym tomorrow and pushing myself a little further.
3. Tuesday night dinner that I'm making for our good friends, C & J. They have been so good to me while Trey has been gone. C coming over unasked and unexpectedly to mow and trim the yard. And J being there through ALL of my many many ups and downs and listening like a saint through every single episode and through all the tears. So point being.. I love them and I'm making them baked ziti Tuesday night.
4. Some night this week getting in a new tv converter box (i think that's what they're called) because the hard drive blew on mine and will not record any new shows or let me watch anything that was recorded. Gasp! Those that know me best know the extreme mess this little episode has turned my life into.
5. Weighing in for The Biggest Loser Thursday morning. Because somehow or another I lost another 3 lbs this week. Holla. I'm now comfortable enough to share my weight publicly with you girls. Ready? When hubs left for basic I was weighing in at a full 150lbs. Please keep in mind that I'm a tiny boned, 5'barely 3" girl, so this for me was not pretty. I'm proud to say that as of last Thursday morning I weighed in at 139.4. Again.. holla.
6. Picking up my cousin, Kate, from the airport Friday night after work. She's spending the weekend with me and I'm very excited to have her energy with me.
7. Getting together with my fam this coming up weekend for some qt with my brother and some of his closest friends since that'll be his last weekend in town before he leaves for Texas for his Basic Training. Again.. I would have never guessed a year ago that my life would be so involved in the military. Please tell me how this happened again??
8. Sporadic visits to Georgia while hubs is at OCS.
9. Leaving winter behind and bringing out that summer sun full force. Yes, I know I live in the deep south and we've had weather in the mid to high 70's for some time now. But I'm really ready for that to be an all day thing. It's still pretty chilly at night yall! (ha)
10. Finding out where we're be moved (if at all) for hubs 6-month training after OCS (please forgive me.. I'm not quite down with the terms yet)

Hahahaha.. I really just now noticed that I've exceeded my 8 things. But I refuse to erase, I have a lot to look forward to. I could keep going, but I'll save that for a rainy day.

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Overslept
2. And in doing so missed the Bark in the Park walk I was supposed to do. It was a charity walk for a no-kill animal shelter we have around here called Project Pet. I already donated my money though so I don't feel too too badly. I really needed that sleep.
3. Did some much needed cleaning. You would think no one actually lives in my house and someone just comes in it sporadically just to mess it up and leave.
4. Called Dish to figure out what was wrong with said receiver, only for them to tell me I need a new one. They will be mailing it to me and I'll have to figure out how to connect it all on my own. Ha!
5. Picked up Trey's truck.
6. Watched The Office and Southland on Hulu. That non-working DVR is killing me.
7. Napped. I really really needed sleep.
8. Went out on the town with some friends. It may have involved shots. And the night may have ended with us eating left over fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls at 2 in the morning. Whatev.. we had fun.

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Make my laundry magically do itself with no folding or ironing from me involved.
2. Have the groceries buy themselves as well while we're at it.
3. Run more than a mile without dying. How am I supposed to build up from there? It's not happening at the rate I feel it should.
4. Travel more. Although I suspect I'll be doing much more of that.
5. Keep my house cleaner without much more effort.
6. Find the time to read more.
7. Think of something really creative to do for Trey on that one day we get to spend together coming up.
8. Turn off my brain from constantly over-thinking.

8 shows I watch: (this may be hard to limit)

1. Army Wives
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Law & Order: SVU
4. Friday Night Lights
5. The Hills
6. Gossip Girls
7. 90210
8. Family Guy

Trust me there are many more.. but I'll stop there. Please don't judge on #'s 5-7.

I'm going to skip the tagging process.. sorry! Feel free to do it if you'd like, but let me know if you do.. I'd love to read it :)

A Touch of Randomness

I cannot get my but in gear to get on here and post like I used to. I'm not sure what's up with me! Nothing very exciting has been going on really.

We had our first weigh in for The Biggest Loser last Thursday and I lost 3.3lbs.. in.a.week!! I may not do so hot this week though seeing as how I've only worked out once since then. And will only work out one more time before next weigh-in. And I may have been in a little bit too much of an easter spirit yesterday and had 100 too many little chocolates :) I had all plans to go to the gym today, but here are the reasons I didn't go:
Got a HORRIFIC nights sleep last night. Maybe slept 4 hours total.
The weather was just plain yucky. Wind. Rain. Although no thunder storms like i was hoping for.
I had to go to the grocery store.
I didn't wanna.
I promise I'll go tomorrow though and I'll work it out extra hard!!

Got to talk to my lova for like 2 hours yesterday all-in-all! Loved it. Tell me if this is weird though? He got a pass to go off and do his own thang for a couple hours for doing so well with his shooting. My first reaction was to completely spaz out and tell him I'm on my way to come hang out. (because lets keep in mind that throughout all of this we are really only like 10 minutes away from eachother). He didn't seem so keen on the idea bc they had to stay attached to their "battle buddies" hip. They couldn't leave eachother. He didn't think that would be fair to his BB. And after I started thinking about it, I decided I didn't want to go anyways because I didn't want to ruin the excitement of seeing eachother for the first time in months during graduation. Are we nuts? Maybe. But that's us. 23 days :)

One last little thing. I'm getting a new camera soon. I need help. Something basic. But something a little better than the last one I had. (kodak easy something or another) See why I need something simple? I just want to be able to point and click. No fuss. Suggestions please!!

Not enough time in the day!

Excuse me work, but you are seriously taking up way too much of my day. How do you expect me to fit in working out, eating dinner, blogging, keeping up with tv shows, and finding a kitty to adopt when I'm with you 8 hours of my day???

Yes! I decided I'm biting the bullet and adopting a sweet little kitty. I want something. And I'm not ready for a dog. I had cats growing up, Trey on the other hand, does not so much care for them. But he did give me permission and promised it wasn't just because he felt bad that he was gone. I actually fell head over heals in love with one. He was 6 weeks old and absolutely the cutest thing I had ever laid eyes on. Calico, had white paws, white nose with freckles, and blue eyes. I mean heart pounding, almost in tears fell in love. Sped on over to the shelter right after work... Jackson was already gone. Yes, I had already named him. I'm not quite over this yet, but I'll find another Jackson out there somewhere!

On a brighter note... 4 more weeks until hubby graduates and I get to spend the day with him!!!! I can't believe that the time has gone by so fast. I can't imagine how I'm going to react to seeing him. I don't think I'll be able to keep my cool!! I'm pretty sure I'll jump all over him. I'm imaging him lookin pretty amazing in that uniform :)

Now back to catching up on the DVR!! I'm still on lasts weeks shows.. but i'll get there!

The Adjustable Weights

Can I just tell you how excited I am about something??

Tomorrow, myself and a couple girlies from work (and two skinny guys who felt bad for us), are starting a competition with different offices around here. Our very own Biggest Loser competition!! We had to pick a team name, and being a mortgage company, duh, what else makes sence... The Adjustable Weights!! (Big shot out to Mum) It's all on an honor system, meaning we don't actually have to weigh in together, just have a *hopeful* loss reported in every Thursday. The winning team will be announced June 3rd. I'm pumped. I've lost about 9ish lbs since Trey left but I definitely needed the extra motivation to lose a good 15 more! Plus we had to donate money to St. Lawrence Place in order to participate (helps out the homeless, something I have a pretty soft heart about). And whoever wins gets a $500 gift card to Blue Marlin :) We already got a 5 day pass to New Life Fitness, we'll get weekly motivational emails, but someone will also be going by offices to drop off little goodies in order to sabotage us! Good thing I'm at the front desk and will immediately throw it away!

I'm very excited and extremely confident that us girls are going to kick some major ass. We'll be the finest ladies in the mortgage business ;)

Now you won't be able to shut me up

I thought of a couple more points I wanted to touch on...

*The comments you girls leave brighten my day more than you will ever know! The day-to-day ones I love, but especially when I'm going through a hard time, yall never fail to put a smile on my face. Thank you so much!

*I talked to Trey for over an hour today!!! It was amazing. He told me during our last convo that he's able to have his cell there, but for the past couple of weeks his platoon had been getting their phone priviledges taken away. I mailed him his cell and charger and was very pleased (okay, ecstatic) to see that he got it in time. I got a text from him out of nowhere asking me what I was doing. I almost choked I was so surprised. He called before I could even respond. We talked about everything under the sun... man that was so refreshing. And very reassuring. I was beginning to worry that we wouldn't know how to talk to eachother anymore. It was nice to hear our laughter together :)

*I'm getting sick. Which really pisses me off actually. I hate being sick. Especially on days like today. it's been raining cats and dogs for the last 4 or 5 days straight. Today was the first beautiful day in a while, but I couldn't enjoy it. My throat is sore, ears hurt, and I'm exhuasted. I don't handle being sick very well... turn into a huge baby. But I am loading up on Alka Selzer and Nyquil and will try and stay positive.

*I'M GETTING A CAT!!!! A little kitty actually. I'm been thinking about it during the past week and finally got myself all pumped up for it. The only thing holding me back was the fact that Trey kind of hates cats. But I asked him in the sweetest voice possible if it was ok today and he said yes!! There were a lot of conditions attached to that "yes", like as long as it doesn't stink up the house (which of course I don't want either so any advice from you cat owners out there would be wonderful) and it doesn't claw up all of our furniture. Can't promise that I'm guessing so I'm just going to go for it and hope for the best. There are way too many stray cats in our hood though, so I'm keeping him locked up. Now we have to think of a name!! I can't wait!!

Getting back in the swing of things

This is so intimidating. I haven't came on in so long it feels like. At first I didn't because I just had nothing new or positive to blog about. Then it just got more and more overwhelming.. where do you even start? *Confession* I even thought about getting rid of this altogether, but I never could quite bring myself to do that. I knew I'd regret it anyways and I'm way to involved in some of your lives at this point. In a totally non-creepy way.
I've had a good couple of weeks. Came up from that pathetic slump of depression I was in and feel like I'm getting used to things. I'm sure that was the first of many more meltdowns to come, but for now all is good :)
I'm defininately becoming more independent. I feel myself becoming less of a scardy cat (you know.. not so much scared of the dark, or doing things on my own, or killing bugs, or sleeping alone at night). I haven't cried in a long time (or what feels like a long time) and I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I mean I made it through the first whole month which I never thought would end! Graduation is starting to feel like it is right around the corner (even though he leaves for 12 more weeks after that.. we won't go there yet)

I've been such a debbie downer lately, I thought I'd make a list of everything that makes me happy:
the fact that my mother has facebook now
lunch with my brother yesterday, just him and I
Macaroni and Cheese
Loosing Weight
Steeplechase last weekend (even though I cooked myself pretty badly) with my SIL
seeing my relationship with my SIL strengthen to more than it's ever been
my work friends that make me laugh and smile
friends that are up for those serious, full-blown sobbing chats at whatever time of day.. or night
getting a good run in at the gym and the feeling I have after that
my favorite tv shows
letters from Trey

On seperate notes, here are a few things I'm looking forward to:
Dinner date with an old friend and catching up
Hilton Head next weekend
Easter with my fam the next weekend
middle of the week "little black dress party" for my SIL's bday
Walking for Project Pet that weekend
My cousin hopefully coming to visit from Mass the next weekend
And then 2 more weekends from that seeing my amazing husband for Family Day on the 7th and graduation on the 8th.

Which leads me to my next thought. What am I going to wear to both of those days???? Any thoughts? I'd like to get one of those "my husband rocks" tank tops to wear for family day. and then maybe a sundress for graduation.. we'll see.

Still here...

My mum brought it to my attention yesterday that I haven't posted in a while (a couple days). She called to make sure I was alive.
I'm alive.. just in the biggest funk I've probably ever been in in my life. I haven't gotten on here, because I didn't want to talk about it and I knew I'd have nothing positive to say. I don't want to say I'm fully depressed bc I hate that word and also I don't feel like I've gotten there "officially", but it's been pretty bad.
I really don't think that I have faced this until now. I mean, clearly I know he's been gone.. and I know where he's been... but I think I've just been going through the motions and not really piecing everything together until now. I think I'm just NOW realizing that he's gone for another couple of months, just now realizing what it means that he is gone. That this is the life we're going to be living. What if I never find that I'm strong enough? I JUST NOW realized the implications of this.. that i'm going to be leaving my friends and family. I'm having this hard of a time with it now being surrounded by people.. how am I going to do it around strangers? Having maybe a weee bit too much to drink Thursday night may have had something to do with me waking up.. I know it brought me crashing down. All of a sudden I'm finding it hard to eat, I cannot stand to be in my house so I'll do anything to get out, and my heart just constantly feels like it's broken. And it doesn't help that I haven't talked to him in 2 weeks now. It somewhat feels like he's a ghost and I hate that. I know that's illogical though and I keep reading his letters over and over.
I WON'T let this get the best of me. I'm just venting. Somehow I will pick myself up by my bootstraps and keep on trucking through. He's way way way too important to me for me to just give up. That's not an option. So my only option is to one way or another check out of this pity party and learn how to be okay on my own.

My Birthday Weekend

Whew.. it was busy weekend! This would be 600 pages long if I went into detail about every single poing so I'll try and sum it up:

• Had pizza for dinner at my parents house on Friday. I was pretty persistant on pizza from one certain restaurant, even after warnings from my dad that it wasn't how it used to be. I should have listened.
• My mum is coming over one day soon and for my bday present, we are going to cook a few meals and seperate them into little single servings. She's so thoughtful!!
• Woke up to beau-ti-ful weather on Saturday. Opened all the windows and did a little spring cleaning.
• Had margaritas and pedi's with my SIL. While rushing home from shopping (trying to make it before other people go there), we got lost.. like really lost.. ended up on a dirt road.. damn Garmin!
• Had a really really good time with SIL. We haven't had that in a while and I missed her.
• A couple more girls came over for dinner, brownie sundaes, and movies. We're getting old. We didn't drink very much at all and fell asleep before the 2nd movie was over.
• Best part of my day... TREY SENT FLOWERS!!! He must have arranged it before he left... how sweet is that. I cried very happy tears for 2 straight minutes.. they've been keeping a smile on my face ever since!
• In-laws took me to The Melting Pot Sunday. A must do for anyone. Too much food, but I have never tasted anything like the dessert.. white chocolate ameretto fondue.. yes please!
• They are so sweet and got me an Ipod and a case for it! I've been miserable ever since my other one disappeared. Now to remember the 500 songs that were on it and get them on my new one!!
• I fully expected to get a phone call from hubs at some point during the weekend.. but alas.. not a one came through! I may have cried over that for just a short little moment as well. I'm thinking he can't make too many calls yet though... ahhh well!
• I really really really missed him last night. After being surrounded by people all weekend, it was really hard to be alone after everything was done.

And it was back to the grind today! Went by very fast and even got in a walk/run after work... couldn't resist in this beautiful weather :)

Very Exciting Giveaway!

If you think your husband is the cats meow ~ you should probably head on over to
Wandering DC's blog and sign up for this giveaway. I'm really dying to win this one!! She's giving it away on the 10th, so head on over there before then :)

On other notes:

• I am ashamed.. work got the best of me today and almost brought me to tears. Almost.. but I didn't let it. Just got a little overwhelmed. It was sad to come home from a hard day and not have hubs to wrap me in one of his big bear hugs. MMMMmmm.. those hugs are going to be amazing when he gets done.. all those muscles...
• I stayed late, so I did not get to the hospital to see Baby Em. Have a very busy weekend so I probably won't get over to their house to see her.
• Hubs got to call his parents last night and I am so glad he could here their voices (and vice versa). He is still doing well and at the end of 1st day of Basic he was loving it. Yes, I know, he's sick. He would be the one person in the world to enjoy his first day of Basic..

My weekend plans include:
Friday~
Going on Fort to hopefully take care of a bunch of paperwork. That night going to my parents crib for my "birthday dinner" I requested pizza. I could kill for some pizza at this point.
Saturday~
Getting together with my SIL earlier in the day to get pedi's!!!! Then getting ready for our girls night bday celebration. I'm making baked ziti and brownie ice cream sundaes for dessert. And I'm sure a few glasses of wine. I've been afraid to have too much to drink though, because I just know it'll make me too sad. We're also going to rent some movies. I'm thinking Nights in Rodanthe and Women.
Sunday~
Birthday dinner with my in-laws! Actually a late lunch/early dinner. Those amazing people are taking me to The Melting Pot. I've never been, so I'm very much looking foward to that!

Hopefully I'll be able to fit meeting Emily somewhere in there!

Congratulations!!

To my good good friends Tim and Wendy!! They left for the hospital around 2:30 this morning and will come home Friday with a beautiful new baby girl!! Emily Danielle was born at 3:15 today.. all 6lbs, 19 inches of her :)
I haven't seen her yet, but talked to Wendy's sister, J, today and apparently everything went very smoothly. Not the Auntie J would be biased or anything, but she says she is just perfect. I'm going to see her after work tomorrow and I CAN NOT WAIT to meet the little babe! I do wish Trey could be here to meet her though. But I'll send him pictures and he will meet her soon enough!

One goal for the month accomplished today:
Went to H&R Block to pay them the $280 they raped us out of to do our taxes this year. Next step... wait for our State refund to come in so I can pay the Federal amount we owe.. I know right?!? First time we've ever owed.. at least we're getting enough from State to pay it with.

More goals for the month:
celebrate my birthday
line all of our drawers and cabinets with that lining stuff (?)
celebrate St. Patty's Day
get my military ID and insurance set up

I think that's all. Ok ok.. so there are only 2 real goals in there. Fine, let's add starting a work-out regimine in there as well.

Let's get real...

Tonight I went to dinner with two friends. At one point we got on the topic of Trey and how he's been doing/how I've been doing. I was asked if I'm keeping a journal. My first thought was "are you kidding? With blogging almost everyday and writing Trey everynight, I have NO time to keep a journal. And my hand might actually fall off if I did add that into the mix. But she brought up something that made me start thinking about it... how neat it would be to see the changes in myself from day 1 to day.. infinity. I know I will change a lot, especially over the next couple of months, and will hopefully change for the better. Starting an actual private journal is just out of the question (for above reasons) and the thought of putting my true, deep down feelings out in the blogger world for all to see terrifies me, plus I don't want to bore people. But then I thought (whew.. this is a lot of thinking)
#1. If I'm not being myself and talking about what I really really feel, then I'm kind of cheating people (all my fans) out of who I really am.
#2. This is supposed to be therapuetic for me, and if i'm not really opening up, then what good does it do?
#3. If anyone doesn't like it, or gets bored with it, then they don't have to read it! (but I hope you do)
So here we go. I have never, ever in my life had to depend on myself. I went from living at home with mum and dad, to living with Trey. I grew up with my dad and 2 brothers and basically didn't have to do any hard stuff with the boys being around. Then I had Trey to "take care of me". So to sum it all up... I'm not at all independent.. I've never had to be. And all that has changed very drastically.
I am JUST NOW feeling okay with myself. If it weren't for the responsibility of a job, I probably would have curled up in fetal position in our bed, and would not have moved until yesterday. I miss him more than I thought was possible. My heart aches. I cried every single day up until yesterday. I had to deal with a little bank account issue the first full day he was gone. And I ended up crying to my mum for help instead of dealing with it myself. I locked myself out of my house in my PJ's Sunday night. With no spare key hidden. I haven't cleaned my bathroom, even though I've promised myslef I would for the past two weeks.
When he called my Saturday, he was miserable. I was not strong for him and cried almost the whole time we were on the phone, almost bringing him to tears in front of a group of grown men. I then cried for the remainder of the night. Not a proud moment.
But something does feel like it clicked in me as of Monday. I don't know if it was getting through the first weekend. Or just time. And maybe all of the prayers. But something changed. I stopped for a minute at work and realized that I was actually happy. I was smiling and it wasn't fake, forced smiling. I was thinking about him yes, but it didn't make me cry to do so.
He actually just now called me again! He sounded much much better as well! He is definately starting Basic tomorrow, so I'm sure that is helping him. That was part of the problem saturday, was that he was still stuck in in-processing. That was a much better conversation, and for the most part consisted of us laughing together.
So there it is... all out on the line in a nut shell at least. One day in the future I hope to look at this and see that I've grown into a mature, strong, independent and self-sufficient woman. One that loves her husband dearly and adores when they are together, but that can make it just fine when he does have to be away!

I have a new obsession

And shocker... it has to do with television.
Army Wives on Lifetime! I just watched an episode for the first time and it is by far waaaayyy up there on my list of favorite shows. I may have even cried at the end. Hey.. it was moving okay?
I know I'm watching old episodes... does anyone else watch this? Is there a new season coming? Please say yes!

attack of the birds

I started to notice this yesterday, but didn't give too much thought to it until this morning when I attempted to get my newspaper from the driveway. There are HUNDREDS of birds flying and squaking around my house. It's really really creepy. Isn't that a bad omen or something? And isn't there a scary movie out there about birds? I'm not their biggest fans and I wish they'd fly away and get their squak on somewhere else. I took a video for yall to get the full effect...

This really doesn't even do it justice. I'm sitting in my living room and that's all I can hear.

Needless to say, my newspaper is still sitting in the driveway, soaking wet by now I'm sure.

Rain Rain Go Away... Please!

It's a beautiful day here in SC. And by beautiful I mean we are in the middle of a torrential downpour. This would be a lovely day to catch up on all the movies that I have DVR'd over the past couple of months. Unfortunately I have to get out at some point today. I have a baby shower gift to buy, a friends new house to go by *and hopefully help out a little*, and my parents house to go to. Hopefully it will slow down, but it sure doesn't sound like it!
Last night was very refreshing. After work I went with friends, J & C, to the church they go to. They had a big ... event I guess you can call it??... about missionary work (which I have been pretty interested in) There is a young couple that goes to church there that have been living in Africa for a couple of years. They are there with 2? children.. maybe 3.. and one on the way. The preacher was talking to them over the internet for us all to hear, although it was very hard to hear them, very muffled, we could all get the gist of it though. Their goal is to build churches over there and to bring people to Christ. It was very interesting to hear how they are raising their children and just to hear about their lifestyle really. They also had different foods there, a band playing, the little kiddies were dancing around with the band, and the childrens choir got up and sang a couple songs... which was so so cute!
After that the three of us went to eat some Mexican *we didn't eat much at the church* and then went to J's parents house for a bit. Our plan was originally to pick up a pie (since she's been pregnant that's all i've heard her talk about is pie pie pie) :)
But we ended up staying for a while. Somehow we got on the topic of Christianity and ended up talking for a least an hour. We were asking them alll kinds of questions. They are very very strong Christians and seem to have an answer for everything. I definately want to go back over there when we all have more time to talk! I'd love to sit and pick their brains for hours!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekends and hopefully your weather is a little less dreadful than ours is!!

On the brighter side...

I've had some exciting news, but wanted to wait for the mama to make her announcement to everyone in her life first... One of my besties is pregnant!!!!!! Aahhhhh!! I'm so excited! *we'll be calling her J from now on* She just had her first official checkup yesterday and confirmed that there was definately a little heart beating in there. And of course the doctor said she was just about by the book perfect with everything (she's a little OCD so this surprises me none). To put some icing on the cake ~ J has two sisters. She's the youngest, the middle one is pretty much on standby. She could give birth ANY DAY NOW, but is actually do on the 10th I think. And the oldest sister just found out she is pregnant as well and is due just a couple weeks before J. How cute is it that by Thanksgiving, or Halloween really, there will be three new little babies in their family??
This new baby and J's pregancy is sure to keep me pretty occupied over the next couple of months. I will just die a little inside if we don't get to stay here for whatever that school is that Trey has to do after OCS (I clearly have a little learning to do on what everything is called) and I have to leave J 2 months before she births! I'll just die.

I have yet another friend that has started her own blog. Check her out here. She got married to one of Trey's oldest friends from highschool last summer * oldest as in friends for a long long time, not age :) *

I got to talk with Trey last night!!!! I was just crawling into bed when my cell phone rang! Megan, you are right... I used to avoid calls if I didn't recognize the number. Now my heart stops from excitement bc I know it could be him <3 He was just at a hotel last night and they gave him a 5 minute phonecall. He sounded ok. Not great.. but ok. I think he was just nervous (i'm sure!), but i know things will get better for him as the weeks go on.
Today was better for me than yesterday. I think I just may find out that I'm a lot stronger than I've ever given myself credit for!

I am SO loved!!

What a hard day today was!!
From my dramatic leave to work this morning, knowing it would be the last time I set eyes on him for 9 and 1/2 weeks, to getting his phone call at 3:00 saying he was on his way to the recruiting station, to his last little text telling me how much he loved me and he was walking in now. I stepped out of my office and felt so empty because the first thing I do usually is call him. And I was DREADING walking into this empty, quiet house, knowing that at no point would he be walking in.
But he left a trace of himself everywhere. Number 1.. he cleaned the entire house for me on his last free day. But most importantly... he has left little notes for me EVERYWHERE!! I was laughing, smiling, and crying for the first 2o minutes of being home.

There's a note taped to the door that says "Have a great day! Smile!! Love Hub".
He typed out a quote he loves and layed that on my pillow.
A note taped to the mirror that I sit at every morning to straighten my hair, right at eye level telling me how beautiful and sexy I am.
There's a note on my Bible reminding me to pray for him and our future (like I needed a reminder).
And best of alll... There's a 5 or 6 page, typed out note that he must have been working on for God knows how long!! It's all broken up into different paragraphs, so it's like each day was a different section. At first I thought he wrote it all today, but at one point it talks about him asking me to be a little more aware of my surroundings (I'm not very observant) and he mentioned that he hopes I'll have the ADT system by then.
Ohh no.. this may be the best part. There is also a note written and taped to the night stand right by my bed. When we were dating, and whenever we are away from eachother, he has his own little way of "tucking me in" over the phone. It's nothing really.. but just a few things he would say to me every night. He wrote that down word for word right by my bed.

I am just so incredibly blessed to have a husband as selfless and sweet and thoughtful as him!! I know I have been complaining a lot and dreading this day for so long now, but in the midst of all of this, I can honestly say that I am still very excited about the life we are going to lead. I know it will be difficult at times and I know that we could/will go through times that are much harder than this, but there is noone else on this entire planet that I would rather take this ride with! God, I love him!

I also have pretty amazing friends, which I am sure I've mentioned lately. I've been seriously thinking about getting a day planner. They have been showing so much support and making so many plans to keep me busy that I really think I'm going to need it to keep up with everything! I am so so thankful for everyone I have in my life!!

My stomach is now growling.... Night number one for Lean Cuisine's!

One More Night!

Seriously... I am emotionally drained! We have been running around all morning like crazy people!

Let me just say that Trey's recruiter has SUCKED from day one. Not really too involved. Never calling when she said she would and then would SWEAR she called him when he would ask her about it. Would say she'd meet him at 8:30 and not show up until 10... the list goes on and on! Aren't they supposed to be up your ass???

He started calling her about a week ago to make sure he was set on everything he needed before he left. She didn't call him back until Thursday night and set up a time to meet Friday morning so they could go over everything together. Among other things, he needed my birth certificate (for insurance crap) and our marriage license. And not just our bride/groom copy of marriage license.. the probate copy. We thought we knew exactly where everything was... come Saturday morning, we realize we can't find my birth cert. anywhere. Nowhere. Mom doesn't have it either. So I've been freaking about this all weekend.
Fast forward to this morning. I'm on the phone with City of Worcestor (Mass.) at 8:30. I know it's a long shot, but no.. they will not fax me a copy. (hey.. I tried) Trey calls his recruiter. They tell him he can't leave without it. They'll have to push his date back. I start crying of course. I've built myself up for this. I'm prepared for him to leave ya know! So my family in Mass starts getting together and they decide on someone to go and pick it up for me and fax it to me. This is going on for a couple of hours while Trey and I are heading down to our courthouse to pick up our marriage license.
We call the recruiting station and talk to someone else (his recruiter is on leave). He told Trey all this is fine, but that he's pushed his leave date back a day. So he leaves tomorrow at 4! Now that I've settled down a tad, I've realized that means I have one more night with hubby!! :)

So welcome to my first headache/panic attack with the Army. This should be a fun ride!

Hi, I'm your daughter. Nice to meet you.

Last night was the big party... it went really really well I think. Lots of people showed up, we had plenty of food for everyone, and the secret of it being partly for my dad stayed a secret for the most part. He said he had a few clues, but I think he was genuinely surprised when people from his work started showing up.. which was nice!

At one point my dad and I are in the kitchen talking at me when I notice he is looking at me rather strangely.

Dad: You're eyes are blue.
Me: *staring blankly* Yup, my whole life.
Dad: huh...

Hello, I've been your daughter for the past *almost* 26 years. Nice to see that you've finally noticed my eye color.

Anyways... as per usual.. my mother completely outdid herself. with the balloons and amazing cake and like I said above.. wayyy to much food. I still don't have a new camera so I have no cool pictures to show other than the pic of the cake I took from my phone.

Here it is:

Don't you love it!! Publix!

So today is our last full day together. We just had a little breakfast of eggs and toast and coffee. He's watching some silly movie, then we have just a few more things to get down. Our friends Tim and Wendy couldn't make it to the party last night. Why you ask?? Because she is pregnant and could pop any time now so says her doctor! My mum's house is like 45 minutes away from the hospital she will be going to so they didn't think that would be such a good idea. So we're going over there for a bit, still have to find him a few more things to take with him, and tonight we're going out to dinner with his family. Our choice. We're horrible at choosing. We'll see where we end up!

One more random thought. My friend Charlotte started up a blog, The Happy Hamilton's, not too long ago. Yall should go over and check it out. She is pregnant as well and found out recently she is having a girl! Baby Georgia will be making her appearance in June!

Looong Weekend

My weekend has officially started! While I am thrilled to sleep in and think about and do everything non-work related, a little part of me keeps remembering what that means. That on Tuesday, when I do go back to work, my whole world will be different.
To all my co-workers, please excuse and by all means ignore and look past any emotional outbursts next week. I cannot be held responsible and I will move past them. Thanks!

Over the next couple of days we will just be taking care of some last minute details. Tomorrow we have the "bug lady" coming to spray the house. God bless her. I wonder if she takes panic stricken calls at any hour of the day to come over and kill/clean up any little buggies I may find at any given point??? In the afternoon we have ADT coming to install our new system. This exictes me to noooo end! That will be such a source of comfort to me. Our friends, Jessica and Josh, have been so helpful with this. He works for ADT and have made this very easy and is making sure everything goes right. I'm not sure what we're doing for dinner tomorrow night, but I'm secretely already making plans to maybe go get some Mexican with some friends... or maybe just us.
Friday we hope to maybe go down to the river and walk for awhile. We need to do some shopping. He needs a couple of things that is on his list of things he should be taking with him. you know, 3 pair of white undies, brown socks, brown towels. I need some stuff for our party on Saturday. I'm making some BBQ, a veggie trey, and chocolate peanut butter cookies.
Saturday we have the party of course. I'm really looking forward to that. For all of our close friends to be together. And because my dad has no idea that this is partly for him as well and a couple people that he works with will be there.
That is about it. Other than my very scary dentist appointment Monday morning at 10 that I would rather not speak of right now.
Off to go get some precious time in!

My future babies

In the midst of my not so much a good day, I'll talk about the one little thing that did make me happy. I'll try my hardest to leave out all the "tmi" stuff.
Before I begin, I'd like to start with this.... NO I'M NOT PREGNANT. And serisously, if one more person asks me that this year I might go psycho crazy on them. I think i've been asked this at least once a day for the past month.
I had a gyno appt this morning for reasons I won't get into. It came complete with an ever-so-pleasant pap smear, blood work and a ultra sound to top it off. For a little background info.... I've always been a little worried in the back of my mind that it might be hard for me to have children. Other women in my family had trouble... not as in it was impossible, but just had to work a little harder for it. And my periods are not regular at all. Anyways, I have my ultra sound, head back in the room to wait for the doc, and finally after what seems like an eternity, she comes trecking on in. And what does she tell me? I've been grinning about it all day.
My cervix and ovaries look beautiful. Girls.. I have beautiful ovaries. And I saw like 5 or 6 eggs swimming around in there. Yes, I realize I will probably never use those particular little eggies... but it's what could be I guess. I also realize that there could be other things to prevent me from having babies, but this made me quite happy to see and hear. Little known fact #500 about me... That's pretty much all I want out of life.. to be a mama.
Looks like i really am beautiful on the inside. So says my gyno. Get it? My little attempt to make a funny...

And this is why...

... I'll make it though the next 21 weeks.

"...but i know that everything is happening very fast with trey. and i just want to make sure you know that i am available if you would like to talk or not talk about stuff. as you know, hub works late often, and also works on saturday mornings and afternoons. i just wanted to put that out there. "

I love my friends!!

Out in the Open

I couldn't hide in privacy any longer! It just wasn't for me.

In other words, I tried out the whole private blogging thing and didn't like it so much. So I made it open again for the world to read.

Happy Valentines Day??

Yes Yes Yes... happy v-day to everyone out there. I won't let my dislike for the "holiday" ruin it for everyone else out there who happen to love it! It's not that I even strongly dislike it, more like indifferent I guess. I'm sticking to the cliche of "we try to show each other how much we love each other every single day so why is this day so special". It's really true.
For instance, I got out of bed early this morning to make him breakfast while he was still sound asleep. Sweet? Romantic maybe? Thoughtful? Yeah sure. But I've done that for him for the past 2 or 3 Saturdays as well. Not because today is valentines day.
Have I gotten a card today? Flowers? Chocolate? No. But he is throwing down 300 someodd bucks later in the week to have ADT installed in the house so I can feel safe while he's gone. And he told me last night that he loves my haircut... even though I keep going shorter and shorter and I KNOW he would much much rather it be as long as possible.
So low and behold, here we are on valentines day. Me cuddled on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, blogging. Him sprawled out on the other couch playing his playstation game. And in a little bit we'll go over to my parents house to celebrate my brother's 13th bday. It's our perfect little day.
I do hope everyone else had a perfect day, whether you are ringing it in with cupid or not :)

Little bit of this and that

I looked back at the last couple of posts and I am so sorry for all of the sadness and one topic posts. I think everyone would probably understand and just kind of let me dwell in my depression for just a little bit.. but I AM NOT having it!! I won't promise perfection, but maybe just a little more of my more positive self!

Trey and I had a pretty good weekend (besides the tears). I got laundry done and out of the way Saturday afternoon *even though it was absolutely bea-u-tiful outside* and that night we (read: Trey) gently and gracefully (read: ripped, cussed, yelled) replaced our garbage disposal, while I cooked a yummy meatloaf and watched Fireproof. Maybe not the best acting in the entire world, but I LOVED the movie.. so did Trey! I would suggest this movie to anyone.. married or not.

Sunday we had family fun day at his parents house. It was pretty sad planning next months day at our house knowing Trey wouldn't be there.

And that's pretty much how our weekend went. Nothing too special to report. We're spending Valentines Day at my parents house. One of my brothers is turning 13 on Wednesday, so that's when we're celebrating. Grilling out steaks and having baked potatoes. We never have really celebrated Vday anyways. I don't so much get into it. Anyone have any special plans for that day?
My mom and I will probably do some planning for the next Saturday. We're throwing a little party both for Trey and my dad. Obvious reasons for Trey, but my dad turns 50 on the 26th. So we're having a little combo party. I made a little event to invite people on Facebook and called it.. Sending one to hell and one over the hill.
Cute, yes? I thought so.

Trying to stay positive.

Hubs swore in this morning. It's official official now. He's leaving on the 24th. I'm okay. Just okay. I know this is what we signed up for and I know I should have been preparing for this all along. I didn't know it would hit me like this.
I plan on soaking up every spare second with him until then. He's out playing basketball with some of his friends right now.. but they'll miss him too. I guess I can't completely hog him ;)
My mom and I talked briefly about having a "goodbye Trey/Happy 50th bday Dad" party the weekend before he leaves. I also plan on taking off a couple of days from work.. like the Thursday, Friday, and Monday before he leaves (the 24th is Tues.)
The lovely thing is that I already have the morning of the 24th off because I have my yearly gyno exam scheduled.
How fitting??
Please excuse the fits of tears doc.. I'll be a tad emotional I think.

Military Wife is the Life for Me

He did it! Went and got himself accepted into officer school.. How proud am I of my husband?! Very!
It just about killed me to wait around by my cell phone for him to call me. I thought he was going in at 11:15. By 1:00 I still have heard nothing. He hadn't even been called in for his interview at this point. But the waiting was worth it I guess. It's finally a real thing. No more maybes and what-ifs. He finishes his paperwork on Saturday and swears in. Recruiter lady says he can expect to leave about 3 weeks after that :(
Ladies... I am going to be sellfish and tell you know that I'm going to need as much support over the next couple of months that I can possibly get. He'll be gone for basic for 9 weeks. Graduate on a Friday and then be put on a bus the next morning for OCS for 14 weeks. If I can just get past these next couple months... at least I'll be home around my family and friends and will have my life here still. I think i'll be okay during the day. It'll be when i lay my head down at night that might get me. But don't get me wrong, I'm very happy about this and am so happy for/proud of Hubs. We're in for an adventure.. that's for sure!

Nerves

Hubs and I are both a little nervous tonight.
Correction:
I am a little nervous/excited.
Hubs is about to throw up.

We'll know our future tomorrow. After all this it comes down to tomorrow morning. No pressure. Sorry for the dramatics.

Nothing like American Idol to take our minds off of it.

When mama's not happy..

Noone is!!

I got a very upset phone call from my mother right after the half time special. Being the big time Boss fan that she is.. she was stoked to here her some Born in the USA. That being said.. he didn't sing it. She was none too happy to say the least.

Mum: I mean really.. how do you not play Born in the USA at the Super Bowl.
Me: I don't know mum.. what are you gonna do.. go right him a letter expressing your anger.
Mum: Nope.. I want you on the blog writing a post about that. I bet you won't be the only one.
Dad (in background): Noone else will blog about The Boss not singing Born in the USA, Ann.
Mum: I betcha they will. Go blog right now.. I want to read it in the morning.

So here you are. We'll see who's right.. I'm banking on dad's opinion though.

Hubs has made it though step number 100000 towards military life. Man.. this is really becomming a reality! He had his physical fitness test Friday and passed this as well! (last week was the doctor physical, this week was the fitness test) So he did his running, pushups and situps and may have not passed with flying colors.. but passed none-the-less. Which is the important thing. His recruiter told him he'll have plenty of time to perfect all of that at basic.. I bet! After that he did yet some more paper work. This is where he actually made his top ten career picks. don't ask me to quote them back to you.. I don't understand the language. And then picked out the top places he'd like to be stationed at (i'm not quite sure why they make you do this.. don't they send you wherever they need you to be anyway??) he had to have 4 overseas places in this list. I know his top three were Alabama, Virginia, and Germany. His other three overseas places were Italy, Alaska, and Hawaii. Why Hawaii wasn't numero uno is beyond me!! He clearly didn't ask my opinion ;)
I know this topic has pretty much dominated my blog so thank you so much for listening to me along this process. This wednesday he goes in front of the board to see if this is actually going to be for real or not.. so we'll finally be able to talk about this to more people and know for sure what type of life we'll be living. This has been so hard for me.. i haven't been able to tell anyone in my family about this (except my immediate family and grandmother of course) as well as noone at work. That's been pretty hard!! We shall see this week!! Keep us (especially Trey) in your prayers!
The baby shower went very well yesterday! I had a great time and the brand new mama got lots of cute, useful stuff! She made out great and has two more showers coming up back to back over the next two weeks.
Church was great this morning. We didn't actually make it to the service. Just bible study. Lesson learned.. on the weeks we do bible study, we'll have to go to the early service! we only do the study on the first and third sunday's of the month. So typical for us, the first one we go to, we're both a little nervous bc we know NOONE and they announce that they're splitting the men and women up. Ha! Someone must of seen the look I shot him at that point, bc I was swiftly made aware that they don't usually do that.. just once a quarter. Phew!
It ended up being really nice though to sit with a group of women like that and talk about marriage from God's POV. Very helpful to be reminded of certain things. Like.. no matter how hard things get, and they will get hard, that divorce is just not an answer. Trey and I promised that before we said our vows and meant it whole-heartedly, but it's nice to hear it and talk about it again. And also, how love is not an emotion. It's a decision and a promise. The emotion won't always be there alll the time and if you don't have the commitment and the strong decision to back it up, then there's nothing there. It just made me think about how sad it is that divorce is so common these days. It's definately not taboo anymore and I think we've all been descensitized to it. So.. that was week 1. I'm interested to see how it'll be when we are all together in the class!

Back to the grind tomorrow.. honestly... I'm dreading it!!