Valentine's Day

Yeah, I know I'm early on this one.... I know you are probably wondering why I'm bring it up!  Well, much of my life involves thinking ahead while not making any solid plans and expecting everything to change.  Ha.


So, I am thinking about Valentine's Day, mainly because I am going to send Jesse a Valentine's Day care package.  And, I have to think ahead.... About 2 weeks to get his care package... And however long it's going to take to get everything together.... And all the stickers and stuff I'm going to decorate with... And the Valentine's Day card....  And however long it's going to take me to get it all done.  Well, you get the picture.


I'm sure I'll take photos because well, that's what I seem to do!  That reminds me that I need to start a photo album for December.  Now only if I had something to take pictures of!


Anyway, thanks for stopping by the blog today.  I realized that I don't really say that very often.  Thank you for reading!

Christmas Cards

Jesse's Cat Spuz, helping with Christmas cards

My first round of Christmas cards should be going out sometime tomorrow!

Expect to see yours in the mail soon.

If you want one, and didn't get one, please e-mail me!

Jesse's New Location

Since Jesse has a new address and a new location, I wanted to tell you all about it!  If you look up his location (which is right after the "FOB" in his address, it is an actual city) you can see where it is on a map.  He is going to be a platoon leader of a MGS, or a Multiple Gun System platoon.  It is an armor platoon (they are tankers), not an infantry platoon.  There are eleven soldiers in his platoon, not like the thirty plus he would be overseeing if he was in an infantry platoon.  It seems as though he has been getting along with the company commander and his platoon sergeant.  He hopes that he will be getting leave which he might get as long as they don't move him again.  We will have to wait that out and see though.


The highways that they travel seem to be safer than other roads that some stryker units travel on because they are overseen by the Afghan militia.  Where he is at he does have good access to a PX and can get most of the supplies that he needs.


I know in his care packages he doesn't want to have a lot of junk food, and he doesn't normally like too much of one thing.  If you have any questions of things to send him, please let me know!

Moving Day & Calming Down

WE ARE MOVED!  Yay!

We have everything moved, notice given to our storage unit, and three boxes unpacked!  We got everything done in about seven hours, with two trips to Fort Lewis and back.  Jesse's mom came down along with family friends Mark, Laurie, Bob, and Daniel.  My friends Stacy and Alan along with Alan's parents Bob and Luann came to help out.  They were all great and worked hard!

Today I decided to take a little bit of a break.  I talked to Jesse via Skype this morning, called and spoke to my friend Katie (who is currently stationed in New York), and we went out to both the hardware store and Costco.  I have a few more hurdles to get over before I can be completely settled in the house, but the hardest things have been taken care of.  We went to Costco and I picked up a magazine which I think is awesome:  Food Network's December issue.  They have great food related gift ideas along with many many recipes - anything from cookies to crock pot cooking!  I have decided I'm going to cook my way through some cookbooks, and try and perfect my cooking before Jesse gets back home!

I will post some moving photos soon...  But not tonight!  If you haven't received Jesse's address overseas, please let me know (at marissa.mcadam@gmail.com) and I will e-mail it to you!

Have a great week!

Really, really ridiculously good looking...

That was a line made famous by Zoolander, a character Jesse seems to idol at times...  But I had to say it!  I just wanted to post a snippet of a photo of my husband on his adventures overseas.  I have decided that next Christmas we're going to some Christmassy things.  'Now, why not do it now?' you might ask and the answer is simple:  I work in retail.  Retail and Christmas can be so hectic that you don't really get a time to do much of anything, let along enjoy the holiday.  I basically have one week -- next week -- to do all of my Christmas shopping.  After that, I'm not venturing out again unless it is to go to the Tacoma Mall to work.

I'm getting off track here, so back on to next year.  Jesse will be home, and we'll be able to do lots of stuff!  There is this train that takes you to Leavenworth, Washington for a day trip to see the tree lighting there.  Normally there is snow, and the bavarian town is absolutely beautiful.  I've never seen Leavenworth in the winter, and would love to do that.

Another thing that I would love to do is go to Illwaco, Washington (one of the most southwestern most towns in the state) and see what they do down there.  One of the big local fish markets makes a tree out of crab pots and puts lights on it.  Then they have a "tree lighting" of sorts.  They also have a lighted boat parade too which just sounds fun!  I know they have some things similar to that in Tacoma (in regard to lighted boats) because we've seen them down on the waterfront for my birthday in January.  I know Jesse would be up for this tree lighting - his favorite artist has a gallery down on the water there.  I love that beach, there's something about it that's just beautiful!

Anyway, I am going to finish up here so I can get ready for work.... As much as I don't wanna go today!  It's cold outside which doesn't help either - and my dress coat is still in storage!  Oh well I guess!

Enjoy your weekend & here are some pics of the husband - I updated the album again.

Jesse Overseas

Welcome to Winter

So along with the shorter and shorter days, holiday hours are in effect.  Tomorrow I'm going to be working until 10:30, which means I won't be home until at least 11, and I have to get up early in the AM sunday to move.  Oh I am I going to be exhausted on monday! Not only that but it seems as though temperatures are having a hard time staying above forty degrees.  AND they're saying the word SNOW.  Oh no, please no snow.  Jesse and I drove allllllllll the way to Georgia in the wintertime, combine that with the crazy weather we had last winter in Washington, and all I can say is:  noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Other than that dad and I have been working hard to get the house in shape.  We went yesterday and today, doing some odds and ends.  We finally picked up all the rollers, brushes, drop cloths, etc... So we should be ready to go on Sunday!  I have the dog and cat registered on post, the u-haul rented, and grocery shopping done.  There's just a few things I have to get together and all that is left to do is move!

I really really hope tomorrow I will have an address to give you all.  Please keep visiting to check, I will keep you posted!

Stryker is doing SO much better!!  They changed his antibiotics, and his nose is doing much better!!  Now all I have to really worry about is his incision stitches healing, and he can start going on walks with the girls (my mom's dogs) again.

In all I have to say this is a much better week, and to be honest I can't wait for this week to be over!  I just want a day to relax, some time to go Christmas shopping, and start to unpack!  Along with that I am going to be able to see a friend from Georgia next weekend.  SO excited!

Have a great weekend all, I will try and update Sunday, but if I don't I will update monday!

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

It's DECEMBER!

I cannot believe it's December!  Here comes the craziness.

I hate to say it, but working in retail can make you crazy.  Yesterday at work it wasn't too bad (I'm sure it was in part thanks to Monday Night Football), but I have to say I'm pretty happy about that!  My craziest week comes the week of Christmas which I work 40+ hours.  That and I'm closing both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.  Not great, but not bad either.  It would be a different story if Jesse was home.

There isn't a lot new on the home front.  Dad and I painted yesterday and will go back to paint tomorrow.  We should have everything done by the end of the week.  YAY!

It was confirmed today that Stryker really does have a VERY bad infection.  How the heck that happened I don't think we'll ever know.  They will tell us later about the biopsy results, but he will be put on a stronger antibiotic.  Pray that his nose goes back to normal!

I have nothing new to tell you all about Jesse today.  I'm hoping he's going to be at his new FOB soon!!  I will post photos that I get of him with his new rank.  It's a great thing, I just wish I was there to pin him.  Well, maybe not THERE.  More like him being HERE.  You know what I mean!

Have a great week!