TGIF

Thank goodness it's friday.

I was thinking today, how much changes in a week.

Sunday of last week, our good friends who are a family of four

moved to Fort Bragg.

Tuesday of last week our friend Ashley, who was staying with us for almost 2 months,

finally got orders to join her husband in Germany.

Thursday she left for her home state.

Thursday we drive up to North Carolina to visit our friends.

Sunday we came home.

Tuesday, Ashley flew out to Germany, where she will be visiting with her husband until the big "D" comes.

Today, I'm grateful that I have these friends, I am also grateful that I've had some down time.

I wasn't supposed to have a ton of down time, I was supposed to do some FRG (Family Readiness Group, for the non-military readers)-realated training this week, but Stryker got sick again so I had to ditch those plans and take him into the doctor.  Again.

So today, Friday, I am thankful it's the weekend.

I am thankful I'm able to spend 2 whole days alone with my husband, it sure has been awhile!

I'm thankful that Stryker is feeling better,

and that Spuz is feeling normal (even though I just watched him cover his wet food with my sweatshirt...weirdo).

Today I have to take the dog out to play, go to the store, make some awesome looking amazing cupcakes (photo to follow)

attempt to go to the gym (preparation for awesome looking amazing cupcakes)

and make a class 6 stop (a convenience like store that sells liquor, wine, and beer...Again for the non-military readers).

All before we attend a BBQ with some friends of ours.

I'm not sure what the weekend will bring, but I'm looking forward to it.

I hope everyone has a fun-filled weekend.

If you're anywhere down south, you're probably having some beautiful weather...

We've been battling this 80 degree weather, it's been tough;)

Happy Friday!

♥

Friday Fun

I'm sorry it has been too long again....
Today I decided to be a homebody.
I worked on FRG stuff, ran 1.5 miles, and played ball with the dog.
And more FRG stuff.
Jesse got home, and I suggested we stop and get some fast food.
He said he needed to go to clothing & sales to get some things
when a friend of ours called and asked if we wanted to go to dinner with them.
So we went and did our shopping then went out to dinner.
We got home and Jesse had to meet some guys from work.
I am here updating the blog, watching Dateline, and doing more FRG stuff.
Such an interesting life! ;)


Here is an update on my 365 Project:


Day 30:  Waffles I made with my new wafflemaker.
I was awesome and made these for my husband after he had a very long night on staff duty.
And by long I mean very busy night.

Day 31:  Proof to show we spoil our cat, too.

Day 32:  Mr. Doodle with his eyes open.  Otherwise you couldn't tell what he was, lol.

Day 33:  Jesse got his bronze star....finally.

Day 34:  Fish tacos.  Yes, they were good and yes I had them for lunch the next day, too. 

♥

Birthday With the Fam

Here are my photos of the day for the 28th & 29th....And holy crap it's the last day of January today!

Time flies

Well, when your husband isn't deployed.

Anyway, my photos:

January 28th:  Flowers from my husband.  A little late, but beautiful!

January 29th:  Dinner with the Fam

I hope you all had a great weekend, today is the last day of my husband's weekend.  The battalion got their own DONSA and we've been enjoying the extra day.

We relaxed most of friday night, saturday we got ready to have my family over, went out to eat, and had cake and ice cream here.

Oh, and gifts.

Yesterday we had our friends Megan and Jacob over for dinner and a movie at our place.

We saw Red, which was pretty good.

Today we ventured out, Jesse takes over an XO (executive officer) position tomorrow so he's excited and anxious for that.

I will be taking over for the HHC FRG leader.

We bought a small freezer (for home of course) along with a small cheap microwave for Jesse's new office.

We also saw the Chiropractor and did some grocery shopping.

We are having one of Jesse's old soldiers over for dinner tonight.

On the menu:  chicken, carrots, garlic bread, and mashed potatoes.

I'm starving, but trying to keep myself from munching!

I hope you all have a great week, and I will talk more soon!

♥

Hello Out There...

It's been....Well, a while....Since I have blogged.  This seems awfully common among many of my friends lately...Maybe it's something in the air!

What I have been up to in the past week or so....Is well, not a lot.  I work twice a week, today I picked up an extra shift {today} and I got off early.  I just finished up watching Doctor Phil's Desperate Housewives {yes, I know it's pathetic}.  Now it's just getting in some down time before an FRG meeting later on this evening.

Anyway, I hope you all are well!  I don't know how many of you have decorated your house for fall {our your blog for that matter} but as you can tell I did.  I love the holiday season.....But the holidays + retail always = ick.  We'll see this year.

Also, if you tried to find me on twitter by using the twitter button on my page...I fixed it and it actually works now!

Have a great week!

Day Twelve: Run To Remember (aka whatever tickles your fancy)

Run to Remember

I know I mentioned this in the last posting, but I thought I would give a little bit more attention to this topic, the group Run to Remember was founded to remember the soldiers of fifth brigade that lost their lives during deployment.

To see a background of this story you can visit

this link.

These are the ladies of my husbands battalion representing.

Again, they are on Facebook as a group under

Run to Remember.

Never forget.

♥

Day Eleven: A Photo Taken of You Recently

This was Taken at the

Rock 'n Roll Marathon

with

Run to Remember
(view news story here)

They're a group on Facebook if you are interested in looking it up

or getting involved.

Land of the Free

Because of the Brave!

♥

5K Run for the Cure

2-1 Ladies at the Susan G. Komen Foundation's

5K Run for the Cure

June 5, 2010

Seattle, Washington

You can figure out which one is me!

Happy Sunday,

Thursday Update & My "Big" Announcement

Since I haven't updated since Tuesday, I will give ya'll a low down on what's been going on in our neck of the woods.

Cars.  Oh, how we love cars.  I took my car in on Tuesday to get the headlights changed.  While the car was there, they said they noticed a leak of some sort (from a gasket they said) and recommended me to head into Honda to have them work on the vehicle since it was probably covered under warranty.  I scheduled the appointment.

Yesterday, I bring the car in.  My dad (who was in the area because he went to the hall) met me out these since the dealership would be dealing with my car.  They said everything should be done by mid-afternoon.  But, is anything that easy??  Dad dropped our other car off at his mechanic to get looked at earlier that day.  He and I spent the rest of the day taking the dogs for a walk (separately, that's a long story).  I also made a trip out to my FRG leader's house in there too.  I get a phone call mid-afternoon (I was starting to get anxious) telling me that they changed my oil and did something with the AWD fluid by my tires (I didn't realize there was such a thing), and that they had noticed it wasn't a gasket that was causing us the leakage, it was something else that they had to reseal and let sit overnight.  Is that okay? they ask me.  DAMN.  I stuttered, then said yes.  What else was I supposed to do, and better yet, what was I supposed to do about not having a car?? Son of a...

So dad calls his mechanic to get the low-down on the Civ.  They need to replace a $300 piece (insert expletive here) but he'd try something and if that worked we'd be good to go.  So we waited for a while, I called the dealer back and made sure they proceeded with the work.  How the heck is it that both cars have issues at the same time, and both cars have to be in the shop at the same time?  I am just curious to know how this happens.  Isn't the point of having two cars (other that having each spouse have one) to be able to have a back up??  Seriously.

Thank GOODNESS we get a call back from the mechanic telling us they fixed it without needing a new part (without the $300 dent in our pocket), and we could come and get it!  I got to drive my car home, but come this morning I had to have a ride to the dealer to get my other car anyway.  I have to say this situation was a blessing in the fact that: 1. Both the cars are fixed.  2. We got both of them sitting my driveway.  I didn't know how I was going to get them on post otherwise (and my dad hates going through security on post).  This will make it much easier when Jesse comes home on leave.  *Phew.*

So today I got my car, took Stryker out, prepared dinner in the crock pot (corned beef mind you...YUM!), found my vacuum sealer, packed and sealed Jesse's St. Patrick's Day package, and loaded my recycling bin with more paper (I wish they picked up once a week!).  I gave myself a break and decided to write an update.

On to my "big" announcement...haha.  I seriously haven't been meaning to hype this, but I had to wait for the right moment for reasons you could probably understand.  But:

I am now an FRG co-leader of Jesse's company.

I'm really excited to help and to be more involved with the FRG in the ways that I can.  Besides, I know that I will have to lead a company eventually after Jesse gets promoted.  It's only a matter of time and I might as well learn now.

I don't know how often I'll be updating come next week, my schedule is a bit busier than normal with work.  I will as much as I can, and it might be more that I'm thinking now.  But, if you don't hear from me you know why!

Happy Thursday!

Tuesday Update

So today I decided that I was going to get my headlights fixed.  After a few phone calls, I did just that, only to find my car has a few more issues.  Hopefully that will be all finished tomorrow morning.

The rest of the day today was basically running around.  There are a lot of things I need caught up on, and a few of those things I have done today.  Hopefully I make a big dent in my list this week, so I can move on to some other things.

I rounded up my day by taking Stryker out to the park.  It was raining pretty good but I put on my BDU gortex and rain boots and was good to go.  He seems somewhat pooped after all of that.  Only time will tell if playing ball with him wore him out for the evening.

I have a question for you mil-spouses.  I know my FRG is in need of some good fundraising ideas.  What are some good ideas that have worked for you?

Mock Dining In

The Ladies of 2-1 IN

Yesterday I attended my first Mock Dining In on Joint Base Lewis McChord.  It was a blast!  I have to say these ladies...along with many other ladies from post are amazing AND hilarious.  Our theme was Superman, because of course, our men are our Supermen!

Enjoy the photo!

Flowers, Chocolate, and Diamonds...Oh my!

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update, I have been surprisingly busy!  Valentines Day was good, even though my day didn't go as scheduled.  I did end up having a convo with Jesse, bought my long-awaited birthday/Valentine's Day present from Kay Jewelers, found flowers awaiting me on my doorstep, got to go out to Mexican with the fam, and got some gifts from mom and dad.  Overall it was a good day!

Yesterday was very busy, I didn't end up going to bed until nearly 1 o'clock in the morning.  I had a busy day at work (lots of stuff do to from V-Day weekend), ran out to get some cat food, and met my friend Cherie at the airport.  This is the second time since we've been in Washington that she's come by, each time she was awaiting a layover to go back up to Alaska.  It was great seeing her again, she always has a positive attitude.  That is a great thing to have in a friend!

Today is going to be just as busy, so I hope to update you all again soon.  I'll try to have some better stories to tell then!  Tonight I am attending a Mock Dining In, which should be fun :)

Have a great week!

Superbowl Sunday

I hope you all had a great Superbowl Sunday.

I know I have said I don't care much about the football or teams playing, but I do have to say that I am looking forward to eating some football game snacks!  I spent last night at the house last night, did some stuff around the house, took Stryker to the dog park (he met lots of new friends and tried to get two new girlfriends), and then we came back to my parent's house.  She made tons of goodies, guacamole, brownies, two kinds of chicken wings, and chex mix.  I am going to head out to a Superbowl get-together at my FRG leader's house, then hit up the mini-party my parent's are having over at the Stagner residence.

I can't believe that a year ago Superbowl Sunday we were in Georgia.  Jesse was home, we invited three of his BOLC II buddies over, ate pizza, and ate chips with salsa and queso.  It was fun, and hard to believe that that was last year!

Okay, the Superbowl is starting soon....I better go.  May the best team win!

Goodbye January!

I was happy to see this month come, and I am equally happy to see it go.  One month closer.

I am posting a link at the bottom of this blog for January.  If you're on Facebook you probably already saw most of these photos, but if not you can see the rest of them down at the bottom of the page.

Jesse is doing well, nothing new on his front.  He's just trucking along.

I've been busy working and doing stuff for my birthday this weekend.  It's been fun!  Yesterday we went to Duke's Chowder House down on the Tacoma waterfront, came home, opened gifts, and had cake with ice cream.  I rounded the night out by talking to Jesse and that was about it.

I agreed to be involved in a "Mock Dining In" taking place on post.  I think that it should be both fun and interesting, I will try and take pictures to give everyone an idea of things that take place.  I have been to a "dining out" so I'm not completely sure what goes into a dining in....Especially with my husband not being around much to be able to answer a lot of those types of questions.  He is encouraging though, wanting me to do all that I can to be involved.

Wow I miss that boy.

Have a great week everyone!

January 2010

Thursday

So today I got up, failing to get up in enough time to both talk to the husband and help take the dog out.  Oh well, the day goes on.... I managed to get myself in gear, going out and mailing Jesse a package and a letter.  I'm still trying to keep a good rotation so that he gets something once a week or so.

I do feel like I'm at a point where I want my husband to come home already.  Now, this comes and goes, and I'm sure it will go away soon.  But, it's tough...  The easiest thing to do is obviously keep yourself busy.  For those who will be going through a deployment in the near future that is truly the best advice.

Anyway, I finally made it out to the house today.  I ran into our neighbor and her mother-in-law.  Her husband is also gone, but a little bit more recently.  I worked on a lot of dishes, set up the cat box for Spuz, and put a LOT of dishes away.  Kitchens seem to be the worst...  So much little stuff to go through and put away.  Thank goodness we have more storage space than we did in Georgia!  It makes it soooooo much easier.

Anyway, there isn't much to say about today other than that.  Tomorrow in the AM I'm going to meet the brigade HHC FRG leader to get my Afghan blanket.  SO excited!!  That will likely be on the blog tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everyone -- sometime here I will post more photos of January.

By the way, my teeth still hurt from my fillings the other day.  Dangit! :(

Hail Victory

~Little things make me happy~

Hey all, I picked up another new tee to add to my closet.  Very excited..... The little things make me so happy!

I am doing the best I can right now not to eat my entire dark chocolate orange.  They're so GOOD.  I was thinking today, how do they make chocolate oranges?  Because when you break them apart and everything they look exactly like orange slices!  I know, I'm a dork.

Other than that I worked all day.  Next week I work a little over 35 hours.  Christmastime, what?  I know.  I feel like my stress level is getting raised once again... My dad is working 6-10's this week (six days a week, 10 hours a day) so saturday (the day I have off) he can't help work on house stuff.  Sunday I work, a short day, but still work.  So I might be able to squeeze in some bookshelf-fixing time.  But other than that I'm not sure what else is going to get done.... I really need to figure out this dryer situation.  I think I'm going to focus on that and my internet.  I can't live without that!

I'm sorry it seems like I keep saying the same things!  I did talk to Jesse today, he's doing well.  He got to see his buddy Bill again yesterday, and today he's doing some more training.  There is an artist named James Dietz (www.jamesdietz.com) who does color prints for military units and sells them.  He is doing one for Jesse's battalion, and making 1,000 - so they're a limited edition.  Chances are if you have been in our house, you have seen three of the many prints he has made.  One Jesse has of his old unit (3/2), the other is an Airborne print, and the third is his famous "Reflections" print which is hung in many military homes.  Again, this gentleman is doing one specifically for Jesse's unit, so it is going to be a rare print.  I know he's super excited, and I'm in the works to get that done for him!

Other than that Jesse is doing well.  They (the FRG) are having a meeting of sorts that I might go to Thursday to learn what's going on downrange.  I'm thinking I might go to that, we shall see though.

If you don't watch Oprah you may not have seen this.  I thought it was pretty cool and thought I would share.  Let me know if the link doesn't work!  It's a "mob dance"......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvljD0toJmU

Cookies, Crackers, and Starburst

I thought that would make for an interesting blog title!  These are things going into Jesse's next care package.  I'm baking him some cookies (I bought premade dough with chocolate and mint chips), including some triscuts or wheat thins, and some new Starburst I saw today at the store.  It'll be a small package with a card.  I will probably mail the package friday, Jesse of course won't get the package before Christmas, but a fun package nonetheless.  I'm thinking he'd probably rather omit the cookies... But what he doesn't know won't hurt him!

Last night I came home from the coffee, was on the computer, and talked to my dad for a while.  Before I knew it, it was midnight... And I laid down to go to bed.  Not even five minutes later Jesse e-mailed me to talk to him.  So I got online and spoke with him for about an hour, went to bed and got up at six.  So, right now I'm pretty sleepy, but pushing along nonetheless.

I stopped and picked up some stocking stuffers and maneuvered myself out of the Tacoma Mall parking lot.  How come EVERYONE waits until the last minute to shop?  It was INSANE.  I don't understand sometimes... I understand that people are going to be finishing up college classes and getting out of school for winter break and will need to go shopping... But do people really enjoy the craziness in these parking lots and stuff?  I don't get it!  Yes, I do realize I am still doing some shopping....  But at least I don't have a lot to do and won't be wasting all my time at the mall!

I got some dinner (soup) on the way home, called the vet clinic, and arrived at home.  I'm feeling the five hours of sleep last night, but still have to make sure I get those pills from the vet (if possible) today.  I also want to try and get some things from a store -- possibly WalMart -- and get a couple more things.  All I can think of is sleep right now!  I better get off my behind and do something!

Day Off... Well, sorta.

So today I woke up knowing that I didn't want to go to the new house.  I didn't want to think about getting the pets registered, going to a fire safety brief.  I didn't want to work, I didn't want to paint, I didn't want to drive, I didn't want to get out of bed.  I just wanted a day OFF.  Well, that's not going to happen.  At least completely.

I heard my dad get out of bed probably about eight o'clock, treading down the hallway.  I called him into my room (I didn't want to get out of bed) and told him we weren't going onto post today.  Not gonna happen.  Here I was, thinking that I could use a break, de-stress a little.  I don't know why, but left alone with my own thoughts I seem to get more stressed.  I tried to get back to sleep, but my mind was buzzing.  Maybe next time I guess.

We didn't go on post, nor did we do anything remotely with the house.  I went out to Fred Meyer, they have some deals on bookshelves which I wanted to look at.  I also ordered some of Jesse's promotion photos, I will add the album at the end of the blog.  Let me know if you would like me to e-mail you the photos to print as you would like.  I also met up with our friend Gillian, who gave me the beautiful wine glasses I ordered from her Southern Living party.  I might just take a photo to post for you all to see.  They're quite pretty.

I picked up a couple of things to put in Jesse's next care package.  I'm not sending him anything since he still will probably be moving.  And I'm finally squared away with 2-1's Charlie company, where Jesse is supposed to be going to.  I researched some stuff, and did some much needed errands, then went to work!

Oh if you've been trying to use Hooah Mail (which I'm guessing no one has because I haven't gotten an e-mail!) Jesse's unit isn't on there yet.  So, you'll probably want to hold off on that for a while too.

I hope everyone's having a good week.  I'm going to go have some ice cream!

Jesse Overseas

Jesse's Promotion, FRG Stuff, and Paint!

Today Jesse got promoted to a first lieutenant!!!  He hasn't gotten pinned yet, but he will in the morning by his battalion commander.  He says he will send me plenty of photos.  I'm going to hold him to it.

I FINALLY got contacted by the new FRG (Family Readiness Group) of Jesse's battalion.  We've been trying to get in contact with them for a while (other FRG leaders, Jesse and his resources overseas, and me).  I finally got an e-mail.  Now, I just gotta make sure that this is where I absolutely need to be.  We shall see!

My day overall hasn't been very eventful.  Mom, dad, Stryker, and I went out to the new place to try and get some more painting done.  We still aren't finished but we are confident we will be done friday.  Thank goodness!  Dad and I are going to go out and get some paint tomorrow; I have a long list of stuff to do since it is my day off.  Maybe I will get it all done.  Who knows.  More pictures will follow!

Care Package & New FRG

So today was a pretty busy day for me, I have a temporary address for Jesse at the moment, in which I sent a ton of things he needed to.  We don't feel as though we should share the address with anyone at this time, just because this address is a temporary one.  There's a good chance in the next few weeks he should have his new one, and with the time it takes to get a care package, it has the possibility of missing him.  So, as I said before, I went and sent him some stuff that he needed, along with some stuff that he didn't really need... But they were fun.

Above I have a photo of my stationary that I am going to write him on (along with some care package items).  All this stationary is different colors, and have different colored envelopes.  I'm pretty excited about that... Even though I think I'm the only one between me and him!

Other than that (which I spent most of my morning doing) I got ready for work and headed out to the Tacoma Mall.  I called my friend Katie (my friend from Fort Benning and IBOLC's FRG) on the way out there, it was nice talking to her!  It feels like it's been forever!

In other Army news, I am getting placed in a Headquarters Company FRG (Family Readiness Group) of 2-1.  I'm very excited about that, finally getting more to where I would like to be in the FRG.  Jesse is excited too, happy that I'll be in the loop of the happenings of the battalion.  It's exciting!

There's going to be a lot going on this week and the week of Thanksgiving for me (and my family) so I hope time just flies!  I will post plenty of pictures for all of you to see.  My brother's 22nd birthday is on Thursday and he's coming home for the weekend.  We'll be going out to dinner along with doing cake and gifts.... Which reminds me I have to go shopping!

Goodnight everyone, and don't forget to remember a veteran this Wednesday!

November 2009

A Crabby Day

Yesterday Jesse went crabbing for the first time. He went with our friend Alan, his dad, and a friend of theirs. They left mid-morning, and headed off to Puget Sound. Once they got there they dropped off the pods and then grabbed lunch at a restaurant where you can pull your boat up and moor it there. Jesse had a burger that had meat, pineapple, and teriaki sauce on it. He loved it.

He came home in the evening with 3 crabs, and we had some pasta with that. It was a pretty good dinner!

Today isn't going to be eventful, Jesse went into work for just a couple of hours today, and I am just going to do a few things around the house (possibly take the dog out) before I run off to my first Battalion coffee. I will definitely update on how that goes!