Flip Flops and Airforce Boots

Hello? Can you hear me?

2011-01-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

We are all alive over here! Life got in the way of blogging and my lack of picture taking didn't help reinforce the fact that I need to start blogging again. Well nothing too interesting has happened between September of 2010 and now. Enjoyed Halloween, T-Day, X-Mas and New Years.

Ohhhh Ohhh so the BFF who has been living in England and then went to Hawaii (thanks to the Air force!) is now back in the same time zone as me lol. I now don't have to worry about waking her up when I call or text!! She and her 3 boys flew in Thanksgiving night and came over on Black Friday to have a T-Day celebration with us. I made my first T-Day meal all on my own. Didn't turn out too bad I must say so lol.

I decided to cook X-Mas dinner myself this year. BIG freaking mistake! Never again, that is unless it is just for Chloe, my guy and I lol. I didn't judge my time very well and I screwed up a couple recipes lol. Oh and didn't help that I missed out on Chloe opening up all her gifts from the family because I was stuck in the kitchen :(. But that morning before everyone came over my guy decided to spoil Chloe and I with a Wii for X-Mas and the Wii Fit accessories for us to use. I've used it a couple times since then but I really need to get into more of a routine with it. However we are definitely getting our use out of it with the Wii Sports game and Netflix hooked up to it. Chloes one gift that she wanted so bad from Santa was a yellow scooter. I looked high and low and couldn't bring myself to pay $100 to have a yellow scooter shipped to my house lol. Santa came through though and got her a pink Barbie scooter. Leave it to my little girl to not want pink (even though the last 2 years all she has wanted was pink stuff lol) and want yellow then blue. My dad and myself went in together and got my guy a tool box for X-Mas. It is still in the box in the garage. I need to get a move on and finish cleaning the garage out so he can set it up.

New Years Eve was nothing to hoot about. In the last 3 years my guy and I have been together we have never had a fun filled New Years Eve night. The first year he had to work and left an hour or 2 before midnight. The next year we just stayed in bed and slept and then last year he was over seas. This time I cooked dinner, Chloe's dad came over to hang out for a bit and we watched the count down at Time Square. Neither one of us were awake when it finally struck midnight here lol. I'm hoping this years New Years Eve is a lot more festive.

In hair news I've flat ironed twice! I know, I know not good lol. But besides that and the occasional silicone infested curl cream use (but for the record I just bought that curl cream maybe a month ago). I've stuck with my no sulfates and no silicone's thing. Last week after not dying my hair since April, I decided to go back to red. I've gotten so many compliments on my hair color it's insane!!!!! My guy is not pleased with my love of red hair dye though. But you are who you are! I've been dying my hair on and off since I was 16 people!!!! I don't see myself ever really giving up hair dye until I'm old and decrepit lol.

Besides all that and every day life of school for Chloe and work for the guy and I nothing interesting has happened. I've been in a bit of a lull or depressive state you could say lately. Over night I went from being okay with my one little girl to wanting to have another baby. I know in my head that right now is probably not the best time financially but in my heart I just crave to have another little baby growing inside me. It doesn't help that a lot of people I know are having babies right now or have just had them. I'm hoping in another year or 2 I can be one of them excited to share the news of a new little wonder to bring into this world. But who knows if I can get my guy on the same page as I?

Shower Thinking

2010-09-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have put the blog on the back burner for awhile now and thought I would dust the cob webs off. Life has been busy like normal and blogging just hasn't been high up on the priority list. Last week I got news that my guy is going to be moved to a different shop on base for work and a different shift.

When we first met just about 3 years ago I can't remember what shift he was on but quickly after meeting he got moved to mid shift (graveyard). It totally screwed up our time we got to spend together on the weekends and since that was the only time I got to see him I was not happy at all. In fact that schedule screwed him up so bad that he for whatever reason being half asleep said we should get married with an Elvis impersonator as our minister lol. Yeah so not funny!!!!! The lack of sleep really screwed with him and made doing anything with him not enjoyable. He was either horribly cranky or falling asleep while we were out.

Well when I got word last week that he was switching to mids I was mortified. I felt as though I just lost my partner for however long he is going to be stuck on this shift and just thought of all the reasons why mids was not a family oriented shift. But this morning while I was in the shower (where I do all my thinking for some odd reason lol) I realized mids is not all bad. Yeah I'll be doing my grocery shopping alone unless I opt to go after 10pm at night on a Friday or Saturday, Saturday and Sunday mornings will consist of me trying to keep Chloe and the pups quiet so my guy can sleep, and waking up to an empty bed in the mornings during the week which I do not like doing will happen again. But now I'm starting to think maybe the pros (that is if my guy gets on a good sleeping schedule) may outweigh the cons.

With this new shift he will be able to pick up Chloe from school (if he is able to go to sleep when he gets home) and that will save me around $140 a month since we won't need to use Safe key on a normal basis. He will be home for dinner, which means I will actually have a reason to cook a nice meal instead of just throwing this and that together for me and Chloe. Also with him being home for the first half of the night I can finally start running and not have to worry on who I can find to keep an eye on Chloe if she doesn't want to go.

Now I know I mentioned I don't like waking up to an empty bed but with my guy being at work when I get up between 5 and 6am I can turn on the lights and the T.V., listen to the news while I get ready and not have to worry about waking him up. During the week I think I maybe liking the idea of him on mids but I know the weekends are just going to suck. I'll deal with it because hey you do what you got to do and if Chloe starts taking 1 hour of dance and 1 hour of gym on Saturdays then I won't have to worry about the noise level in the house those mornings.

But overall I know I shouldn't complain because he could be overseas like some of my friend’s husbands and this issue is just a drop in the bucket compared to what they are going through. So I'm thinking looking at the pros of every situation the military throws our way is a better outlet then just letting myself drown in the cons.

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Big Girl School

2010-08-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Chloe will be starting Big Girl School (aka Kindergarten) in a week!?! Where in the world have the last 5 years gone. When we first went into the school to pick up her Kindergarten packet it almost didn't feel real that in 3 months she would be an actual school age kid. But over the last month of picking up school supplies and new school clothes it has started to become a reality. I received her final Kindergarten packet in the mail last week that stated who her teacher was and all that fun stuff and it just hit me that she is no longer a baby but a little girl getting ready to set foot in a new world. Well the new big girl school will be a new world to her anyways.

I remember what it was like when I started at new schools with the excited but a bit nervous feeling. And now I find myself having those feelings all over again for my child as she gets ready to start a new school for the first time.

I'm looking forward to her first day but also kinda dreading it at the same time because I know I'm going to be a teary eyed mess with the camera and Chloe will probably be wondering what the hell is wrong with her mama :).

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Quarter of a Century!!!!!!!

2010-07-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I turned the big ol 25!! Growing up birthdays have always been a special day for me with doing fun things with my family and friends. But they weren't lying when they say the older you get the more your birthday just feels like another day. Saturday started out as any normal Saturday would. The pups woke me up between 5am and 6 to be fed and after that I crawled my butt back into bed and snoozed until the munchkin woke me up around 7am to watch a movie. After I got her squared away I went back to bed and sometime while I was sleeping between 7 and 8 my guy got up. When I finally got up for the day it was time to feed the munchkin and get ready to go to gymnastics. We hightailed it across town to pick up my little sister and get to gym. After that we dropped the girls off at my moms and went to Best Buy to browse and then Mimi's Cafe for lunch. We hung out at my moms the rest of the day until it was time to leave to go to dinner. We met up with the rest of my family at the Cheesecake Factory. The food was really yummy and the cheesecake was even better! If you ever go there I suggest getting the fried macaroni balls. They are so freakin good. After that we headed home to get the munchkin ready for her 1st ice skating experience.

I forgot my camera and left my phone in the car so I had to use my guys camera phone to take the pics. But for it being the munchkins first time she did pretty well. My guy pushed her around with the walker for the 1st half so she could get a feel for how to balance and by the end of it she was pushing herself with no help on the walker. I'm so excited to take her again :)

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Parents Job Description

2010-07-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

I received this in an email and thought it was dead on!!!!!!

PARENT - Job Description

POSITION :

Mum, Mummy, Mama, Ma

Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION :

Long term, team players needed, for challenging,

permanent work in an

often chaotic environment.

Candidates must possess excellent communication

and organizational skills and be willing to work

variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends

and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.

Some overnight travel required, including trips to

primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!

Travel expenses not reimbursed.

Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

The rest of your life.

Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily,

until someone needs £5.

Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.

Also, must possess the physical stamina of a

pack mule

and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat

in case, this time, the screams from

the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.

Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges,

such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets

and stuck zippers.

Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and

coordinate production of multiple homework projects.

Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings

for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.

Must be a willing to be indispensable one minute,

an embarrassment the next.

Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a

half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.

Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.

Must assume final, complete accountability for

the quality of the end product.

Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and

janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :

None.

Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills,

so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :

None required unfortunately.

On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :

Get this! You pay them!

Offering frequent raises and bonuses.

A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because

of the assumption that college will help them

become financially independent.

When you die, you give them whatever is left.

The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that

you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :

While no health or dental insurance, no pension,

no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and

no stock options are offered;

this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love,

and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

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1st half of July 2010

2010-07-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

So I know I wanted a break for awhile from everything we had going on the last month but atlas that was a lie. I'm the type of person who likes to constantly be doing something or going somewhere. I don't know how to just stay still and be. I've now admitted to myself thats where Chloe gets it from and I can't get to peeved at her for it lol.

We have had a lot of stuff going on so far this month and of course I didn't have my camera, but I was able to snap some shots on my phone on some of the stuff.

Can you tell what this is? (Horrible picture quality lol)

Well Bill and I were home on the Saturday night before 7/4 itching to get out and do something while the munchkin was at her dads house. I should say I was itching to get out lol. After browsing the Vegas.com site I found out that the Fiesta has Ice Skating! I had thought all the ice rinks on the north side of town had been shut down but I was happy to be wrong lol. We opted to go since it had been years since either of us had been and $4.00 for rental and skate time sounded like a good deal to me. And we found out we both can still ice skate, which is good because we are planning on taking Chloe and seeing if she likes it.

The next day we went over to my moms for some swim time, bbq and fireworks. I of course forgot my camera again and didn't think to take pics with my phone. I'll have to steel the pics from this night off my moms camera at a later date.

I of course have to throw in a hair pic since I'm so obsessed with it these days lol. This is from this past Saturday while I was getting ready to go out to my early bday dinner with my guy to The Melting Pot. I'm falling inlove with my curls finally and it only took 25 years to do so lol.

So we were originally going to go on the night of my bday but my guy decided we should go that night and leave my bday night to do something with my family. Got to love him for being so considerate :). Now if you have never been to The Melting Pot I suggest you get up, grab your honey (or wait till they get back if they are "out and about" ;)) and head on down there (sans kiddos). Its so yummy and so romantic.

You can either sit at a table or private booth. We opted for the private booth. Its a bit dark in there but with the little candle on the table makes it pretty romantic.

We first started out with our cheese appetizer which comes with different types of bread, veggies and apples for dipping. You can fill up just on this its so good lol.

Now this picture isn't doing much justice but this had to be one of the best ceasar salads I have ever had. They had these glazed nuts in it that were just so scrumpicious.

Next came the Entrees where you choose your cooking style and cook your meats and fish in a flavorful stock. If you have a timer app on your phone it will come in very handy lol.

After all that came dessert. This pic is after we munched on some of it. There was a candle in the cheese cake and some cake pieces that are missing from this pic. We went with the Disaronno Amaretto chocolate served flambee style which came with the different dippers you see above. It was like heaven in your mouth :).

This month so far has been alittle busy but more of a relaxed fun busy. I can't wait to see what the rest of the month has instore for us :).

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Busy Bee

2010-07-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

This last week has been a hell of a week. We have been running around none stop with errands, events and family visiting that describing the last 7 days as hectic doesn't even begin to describe the last week. Saturday started off with Chloe going to gymnastics and then a 3 stop hunt for a smoothie. The third store was finally the winner but with a lovely 30 minute wait. After we got our smoothies we headed home to get ready for Chloe's Pre K Graduation. I'll let the pictures do the talking :).

If you can't tell Chloe is the 4th kid from the right.

Singing their class song.

Thats a proud grandma :)

Receiving her pseudo diploma.

A proud papa!

A proud Gammie!

A proud Nana!

A proud Bill and Mama!

When her graduation was over Chloe took off with her Grammie to go spend some time with her daddy and his family while Bill, Nana and myself took off to my little sister's gymnastic and tap recital. Here is a couple pics from after the recital.

Lindsey in her gymnastic costume. Chloe wants to be just like her Auntie!

Lindsey with Mom and Gary (her dad)

A proud Nana again :).

After the performance we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Yum!!! Then we headed home. Rosco had a 7:30 am appointment Sunday to get neutured.

This is Rosco before we took his manly parts away lol.

We then proceeded to spend the rest of the day cleaning up the house until it was time to pick up Rosco. After a 3 hour nap and a quick shower 10pm rolled around and it was time to head to the airport to pick up Bill's daddy and stepmom. We then spent Monday and Tuesday eating out on the strip, catching a show and hanging by the pool at The Wynn.

"But momma I want to go back in the pool!!" She just can't get enough of the water lol.

Bill ran around with his parents while I was at work on Weds., Thurs. and Friday. Tonight we are having a BBQ at the house before his parents take off to the airport. While this week has been lots of fun, I'm so ready for a chill weekend with nothing to do. We will be spending 4th of July at my moms chillin in her pool and lighting fireworks. Hope your 4th is relaxed as I hope mine to be lol.

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Hair update!!!!!!

2010-06-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

So I have successfully been sulfate and silicone free for just about 2 months. My hair feels so much healthier now. Right before I jumped on the curly bandwagon and before my guy got home I had highlights put in. I think the girl let them sit in my hair alittle too long because I've noticed the strands that were highlighted are so much drier than the rest of my hair. Also they don't hold my curls/waves as well as the rest of my hair. I've learned my hair is very porous from being dyed and highlighted over the years and that it loves it some protein (pretty common for fine haired curlies). After I use a heavy duty protein treatment or my Aubrey Organics GPB Conditioner (love love love Aubrey Organics and can be found at Wholefoods!) my curls and waves are so springy and wavey.

Over the last month I have noticed a ton of curlies on naturallycurly.com have been using flaxseed gel on their hair and getting really awesome results. I decided to try my hand at making some and it came out pretty good. This stuff only lasts about a week in the fridge and can be a bit of a pain to put in if its all stringy and stuck together. It has the nickname of "booger gel" because of its snot like texture lol. But boy does it pump up the shine and its all natural.

Since going CG I haven't touched my flat iron or curling iron this whole time and have really limited my self to diffusing with the blow dryer. Over the last few weeks I haven't diffused at all. I have been PLOPPING and airdrying (while at home) and then using the a/c vents in my car to dry while on the way to drop Chloe off at pre-k and get to work.

I never would have thought when I was younger I would actually like my hair curly/wavy. But I actually do now. I can just about do anything with my hair (style wise) and I'm just now beginning to appreciate it. I'm in the process of trying to find a non expensive cleanser and conditioner for Chloe's hair. I've noticed in my many ventures to Wholefoods over the last month that there are some children's hair products but nothing that I have felt the urge to purchase. There is stuff online I can order too but it is just so expensive and money is tight right now. I may just decide to use my stuff on her but I'm still up in the air on it.

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A little this and a little that!!!

2010-05-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting has been going on in our neck of the woods these days. Chloe celebrated her 5th birthday a couple weeks ago. I can't believe she is 5 already. Where has the time gone? We picked up a decent size 3 ft by 10 ft above ground pool for Chloe which came in pretty handy during her birthday party and all the kiddos that were in attendance.

Chloe has also been enrolled her in gymnastics again. She started going to gym for an hour on saturdays when she was 3 and at the beginning it was good but then she started not wanting to go every saturday and for me felt like a waste of money when she didn't want to go. So we decidec to take a break for a while which turned into a 2 year break lol. Well over the past couple of months she has been begging me for her to start gym again. Her Auntie (my little sis) is an avid gymnast and tap dancer and Chloe has had to go to a few of her practices with my mom and that lite the flame of her wanting to attend gym again. So now I have a standing date with gym on Saturday mornings lol.

I have also kept with my sulfate and silicone free regime with my hair which I am so proud of. My hair was pretty damaged before I started so it will take a while to get my hair back to the natural healthiness from when I was younger but I'm determined to follow thru. I haven't used a brush in my hair in a month (but I do use a comb in the shower to detangle so don't think I've gone crazy lol) and have kept to only low pooing once to twice a week and condishoner washing inbetween. My hair is feeling so much healthier and stronger than when I first started. I have noticed my wurls (curls and waves) are starting to enhance which is awesome. I also figured out over the last week that my hair needs all the protein it can get right now. It makes my curls bouncier and so soft. I have fallen inlove with Whole Foods since they have some awesome hair care products there that aren't too expensive. My most recent purchase was the Aubrey Organics GPB Conditioner. Its packed full of protein and moisture that my hair just eats right up. There are so many products there that I want to try out but alas I mush be patient and use up what I have already first. My guy thinks I'm crazy for putting in all this work on my hair but I know once I get my hair to its full potential he will understand.

As of yet we don't have anything planned for the summer. I know we will throw in a trip to Cali sometime this summer for the munchkin but unsure of when yet (because finding someone to take care of 4 dogs can be a bit of a pain in the rear!!!). But right now its looking like a lazy go with the flow summer which sometimes can be better than chaotic running around trying to get a laundry list of stuff done. I'm looking forward to laying around by the pool and spending time with my 2 fav people and 4 fav dogs :).

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Everyone needs alittle Sunshine!!!!!!

2010-05-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

So I have been awarded my very 1st award by Now an Air Force Wife! How freaking exciting is that. I wasn't even expecting to ever get an award. Now I'm supposed to pick 12 blogs to pass it on too. Well I follow alot so that shouldn't be too hard lol. So here it goes:

1. 3 Bedroom Bungalow
2. A Yummy Mummy On A Pink Park Bench
3. SJSFALTER+
4. That [Officer's] Wife
5. Random Rants of an Army Wife
6. Mrs. G.I Joe
7.Mr. and Mrs. Top Gun
8. Married to the Military
9. Day In The Life of His Military Wife
10. The Undomestic Army Wife
11. New Girl On Post
12. Homefront 7

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Au Naturale?

2010-04-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

So after 25 years of ironing, coloring and highlighting my hair I'm going back to the basics. No more coloring, sulfates, silicones and whatever damaging ingredients I've used over the years will be touching my hair for awhile. I'm following the Curly Girl Method or also knowns as becoming a CG and going "No-Poo"!

"Do you suffer from curly hair that's dry, damaged, frizzy, or uncontrollable?"

Yes I sure do!

" Are you open to trying something new?"

Yes I sure am!

"The curly girl method (also referred to as "no-poo") is based off the book "Curly Girl" by Lorraine Massey. The nickname "no-poo" alludes to not using a sulfate shampoo, because of sulfates' power to strip the hair of its natural oils. Once you take away the sulfates your hair can retain its natural moisture. Like many beauty regimens, the results vary from person to person, but this one just might work for you. So, say good-bye to the frizz and split ends and hello to soft, healthy curls!"

Yes Please!!!

I ran across this Blog and then this one too and saw the pictures of their hair and thought "with some TLC my hair can look like that!" I have been researching here and here and determined that I fall somewhere between a 2A and 2B. I checked out alot of other curly girlies sigs (where they post their hair types and products they use) that are the same types as me and made a list of some of the products they use that I should try out. I then went out and found them. Some of them are cheap and at Walmart or any other regular store so that made my day. Others I had to order and/or were a bit more pricey. But anything I get from WholeFoods can be returned if I decide in a reasonable amount of time that I don't like it and its just not working for my hair.

Up until today I have been cleansing and rinsing out with Suave Naturals Coconut Conditioner and also using a dab of it as my leavin and using Herbal Essence Totally Twisted Gel. Over the weekend I had some ok curls going on given I'm a newbie and just starting out. I also haven't touched any shampoos since my last sulfate shampoo Friday night. I haven't really had too much build up which is really surprising. Before I could normally only go 2 days before I had to wash my hair because of the oil build up on my scalp. But for some reason cutting out all the bad stuff I'm producing less oil and not needing to cleanse my scalp as much. I just got in some products from Devacurl that I'm excited to try out tonight or tomorrow morning. I ordered
the Lowpoo, One Condition and Mister Right spray. I also picked up some Kinky Curly Curling Custard from WholeFoods and have a deep condition treatment and a curl potion from Jessicurl coming in a couple days.

This is my hair today. I didn't put enough product in it and I kept messing with the curls so it frizzed out a bit. Plus it doesn't help that its windy today either.

But I'm hoping with some TLC and no heat styling I can get it to this or somewhat similar.

And ofcourse once I figure out my hair and get it back into shape I will then work on enhancing Chloe's curls because she has crazy wavy hair just like her momma!!!

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Homecoming!!

2010-04-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

So the Air Force finally decided to release my guy from the middle of nowhere they shipped him off to for a week and send him home. He flew in Thursday morning and we got to spend the whole day together. I was in complete heaven even though he did take like a 5 hour nap that day lol. But I got a nap in to so it was all good. Friday night after my boss was so nice to let me off work early, he took Chloe and I to dinner at our favorite steakhouse The Outback. Well that was the start and the end of our Homecoming weekend lol. Chloe started upchucking early Saturday morning and just was not feeling good the rest of the day. She even had a upchuck episode in the car after I thought she was feeling better. Guess I thought wrong. She then proceeded to sleep the rest of the day and night. Then later that night my guy starts in with the upchucking and then proceeds to sleep all day Sunday trying to recover. Some how I managed to steer clear of the nastiness that infiltrated our house and even got some shopping done. But so much for a fun filled Homecoming weekend. Oh well there is always next time I guess lol. Oh yeah and I still have that ice cream cake in the freezer that hasn't been touched yet. Good thing I went with ice cream instead of a regular cake that would have been on its way out tonight lol.

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I did it when I knew I shouldn't have.......

2010-04-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

My guy gave me a date of his return and I got my hopes up, rearranged schedules and went and got a cake. Well yeah needless to say I'm a newbie at this and even though I knew I shouldn't of gotten my hopes up, I did it anyways. The date has changed and I'm back to a shorter version of the original time frame hopefully. I'm here trying to think of a easy way to break it to Chloe that she won't get to see him when we thought she would. Yeah she is only almost 5 and it hopefully won't phase her but I know how much she was looking forward to seeing him. I knew this getting involved with him that it could and probably would happen, but boy does it suck. Well atleast its a good thing I got a ice cream cake and I can just leave it in the freezer till they decide to actually ship him home!

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Lets Get Ready to Rumble

2010-03-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

So my guy and I had a fight lastnight. While I was at my friends beauty school getting my hair done none the less! It was all through email and before I went to bed lastnight thought it was over and we were okay. I knew I would have 2 nasty emails waiting for me at work this morning that he told me about lastnight which is what started the fight in the first place. Well I pretty much already knew what they were going to say but instead of just deleting them straight away I decided to ready them. Well then I got pissed again and sent him a couple nasty emails. I feel bad now. I know we will work it out and everything will be all hunky dory again but I'm getting a bit worried about homecoming now.

I have envisioned homecoming being this joyous event of me picking him up at the airport and going straight home to spend some quality time together before the responsibilities of the real world interrupt. And I'm sure the first day will be like that. But now I'm worried about after that.

I'm worried that we won't be able to get back into pre deployment grove and that we will constantly fight and bicker with eachother. I'm worried that even though he wasn't around any casualties that he still will come back and have some issues to workout from being gone. I'm worried he won't like how I'm doing things and constantly critize that will drive me to packing up all my stuff, chloe, splitting up the pups and leaving. I can handle criticism fairly well but if I'm criticized about anything and everything I do that will put me over the edge.

I'm probably just over analyzing it all. Which I'm really good at lol. And probably because he has been working on his shift for an hour now and I haven't received my "Good Morning" email from him :(.

But here is my new "Do" for your viewing pleasure :)

There are some subtle highlights in it. There was a issue with some of the highlights processing so you can't really see unless your right up in it lol.

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Update

2010-03-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

So I have not been blogging much lately. Nothing of interest has happened to warrant a blog. All I have been doing is working and taking care of Chloe and the pups. I spent the weekend cleaning up the front yard and backyard for homecoming. I mowed grass for the first time on Sunday and let me tell you I would rather clean the bathrooms then mow the lawn lol.

Oh wait I have to do that anyways :p.

Half of the grass was dead so it wasn't as bad as it could have been but still. I'm all for planting but I have no green thumb and have no business maintaining a lawn. I then broke up the ground in the dead areas, raked the grass in the dried up yellow areas, created holes in the yellow areas and spread out new sead. Yeah I'm definetely feeling the burn today. That ground was hard!

I'm sure I will be mowing atleast 1 or 2 more times before my guy is back :(.

The front yard wasn't as busy. Just lots of weeding and blowing out all the leaves from the rocks.

After we (my little sister and I) finished the backyard we rounded up all the pups and they each got a much needed bath. They weren't too happy about it but it made a world of difference in their coats. Then the 2 young pups spent a good part of the afternoon lounging in the middle of the grass soaking up the sun while the 2 older pups lounged in the house.

Chloe and I are off to see Walking with Dinosaurs Wednesday night. I'm sure she will get a good kick out it. She's into animals so I don't see why not. Then the new 3D Dragon movie comes out this weekend so I'm thinking of taking her to see that since everytime she sees the preview she goes on about how she wants to see it.

So yeah nothing interesting going on. Just life and waiting for Homecoming ;)

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Ugh!!!

2010-03-10T11:25:00.000-08:00

I am to the point where I feel like these braces are never going to come off. At my last ortho appointment last week my chain came off again. Now thats 4 chains I've gone through in exactly 1 year. I'm beginning to think that this adult canine tooth of mine is not ever going to come down. I have an appointment with a different Oral Surgeon next week. I wouldn't be too upset if he doesn't think this tooth is ever going come down and there is no need for another surgery. Honestly the numbing needles that will go into the roof of my mouth during the surgery are no picnic and I'd rather not go through it again. I'm going to give him the run down of everything that has happened and all the money that I've paid out and see what he thinks. I'm seriously thinking of pulling my old ortho and oral surgeon on to Judge Judy and see what she thinks of the whole ordeal. I think I could get my money back and more for pain and suffering. I'm also thinking of getting a 2nd opinion with a different ortho. I'm beginning to think that both my orthos don't/didn't know what they are/were doing. My teeth look so much better since I started the treatment but this giant gap where my adult canine should be is throwing it all off and I'm just sick and tired of it.

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I can't think of anything

2010-02-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

to title this post lol. Oh well. I'll just jump head first in and see where I go.

So we are down to 30 something days!!! I'm so flippin excited. I still have a ton of stuff to do around the house to get it all nice and tiddy but if I don't get it all done no biggie. I'm sure he won't care how cluttered the house is just as long as he is actually at home.

But he has been doing a bit of shopping while he has been away. I received a fondu set yesterday :)

We went to The Melting Pot for our 2 year anniversary and boy was it yummy. If anyone has the chance to go there then you better hop on it. Its so yummy and so much fun. I can't wait to fondu with him when he gets back. Which I better hop on it and get some recipes together for it.

He has also purchased a heavy duty steam cleaner!!!!

I'm almost as excited for the steamer as I was for the washer and dryer we got last year. I can finally get my grout all nice and clean without having to get down on my knees to scrub, scrub and scrub some more just to find out I have a white film on it. It also comes with attachments to clean the tile. Apparently he has bought some other stuff for me that I'm not to know what they are till they are delivered. Which I just checked and something is being delivered today. Guess I'll have to see what it is when I get home tonight.

I think he thinks the gifts will make me feel better about him being gone. Which in all honesty not really. I would rather him be home driving me crazy then spoiling me from thousands of miles away. Oh well atleast the gifts we will use around the house. Now if I can just keep myself busy cleaning and working for the next month it will all be downhill from there :)

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Writing

2010-02-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

So I finally did it today. I wrote my first handwritten letter to my guy and popped it in the mail. Yeah I know I am about 2.5 months late. I should have been doing it from day one. But he said he didn't care if I actually wrote a letter as long as emails were coming his way. And boy have I made sure he has emails. I shoot him a email every morning. Its the first thing I do at home on the weekends in the morning and the first thing I do during the week when I get into the office.

I went and saw Dear John lastnight and I think thats what got me started. I have been wanting to actually sit down and write him a letter from day one. But since he said it didn't really matter I thought emails were a bit better. But seeing all the letter writting that went on in that movie and knowing how I feel when I get a letter that someone actually took the time to sit down and write made me feel bad. Why did I not start this sooner?

There is no way to know if he will actually write me back. I don't want to tell him in an email. I would prefer it be a surprise.

But how I hope he does though :)

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Happy Early Valentines Day!!!!!!!

2010-02-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

My Valentines Day came on Thursday!!! I went to lunch to run a couple errands and I arrived back at the office to this with a love note attached. Aww I have such a good guy :)

I hope everyone has a good day full of love on Sunday. Especially the spouses who have to be away from their loved one!!!!

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Changes

2010-02-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

So since I started reading blogs of other mil spouses I have noticed that some of the women leave their loved ones boots just where they were left during the deployment until their hunny returns. I didn't do that. I put his up in the garage to get them out of the way. Since he moved in with me he has always left atleast one pair of his boots out in the open and I'm always stubbing my toes or me feet on them. I thought about it the other day and I felt bad that I put them away. I have changed alot of stuff since he left and he says it's ok but I don't know how he will actually feel when he gets back and sees all the changes and has to adapt to them.

But I did notice one thing that hasn't changed. On D day he left one of this ACU coats hanging on our metal head board. Over the last couple of months I have been rearranging and organizing things of his but I never thought to put the coat away. I recently got a new bed and I tossed his coat on the dresser and its been there the last week. Well I was in there cleaning again and got through the pile of towels, blankets, and Chloes stuffed animals down to his jacket. I automatically hung it up on the new metal headboard and went on with my business. After a few minutes it hit me. That is the one thing that hasn't really changed since he left.

So even though it doens't match my bedroom decor it will stay put till he gets back. Its the one thing that I don't want to change.......

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Love!!!!!

2010-02-04T10:50:00.000-08:00

So I read this post just now and I thought I would share here. I have very little followers but maybe someone will like it as much as I do :). I got it from Fifteen Months..... An Army Wife's Deployment Journal and it just hit in the right spot with me.

"Love Under Ground"

"I'm having a tough day today. My night is his day and his day is my night. We live in two seperate worlds and his life, quite literally, happens a day ahead of mine. Owing to the 7, 738 miles between us, life doesn't even occur on the same day for us.

I think one of the hardest evolutions taking place in my heart is the acceptance that life goes on. It's tempting to wait by the phone or computer for a spark of a connection. Somehow, life goes on - bills get paid, trips get taken, you miss his call, you say the wrong thing, you miss days of writing letters, work has to be done, wars have to get fought.

It's so difficult not to worry about the cumulative, long-term effect of the gaps in connection but somewhere inside I guess I know that my understanding of what defines "connection" between a man and his wife is going to be stretched. What I'm really trying to absorb right now is the knowledge that love and life always make a way even when you can't see or feel it.

There are flower bulbs that lie dormant in the dark, sunless ground for seasons at a time. From the outside, it would appear that nothing is growing there at all. Yet when the right time comes, out of that dark, wet soil emerges life. In the secret and hidden world not seen by man, something beautiful was being forged all along, just the way that God designed it. Unseen to our eyes, He sustains and grows, He fortifies those fragile things until they are in season. I take faith in this today and hope that I will remember it.

Perhaps this is what he does with military marriages during wars. He puts a special love under ground so that while there are limited flowers, their roots will course deeply into the earth. Roots entwine in place of hands that can't, anchored there by something nobody sees. They will be sheltered as they grow into their next season, where what beauty they behold will once again be apparent to the rest of the world.

Root with me underground, my Love and entwine your roots with mine. Let's grow another year deeper where nobody can see us."

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Guitar Anyone?

2010-02-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

So over the past few weeks this song has been playing on the radio. Its called "According to you" by Orianthi. I am absolutely inlove with it. I just downloaded the album and its freakin awesom. Check out the video!!!!

Don't you just want to run out and learn the guitar now? I know I do :)

The things we do for love

2010-02-01T21:15:00.000-08:00

So amongst tinkering around with things here at the house I'm sitting here constantly pressing the "check email" button on my email page for emails from my beloved. And listening to Pebbles whine because I won't put her up in my lap. Now if I was the normal person that I was before he left I would just go to bed and check my email in the morning. Yeah uh I can't seem to do that tonight for some reason. Then again I do this about every night these days lol. I've organized, done laundry, played with the pups and am a bit tired but debating if I want some Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream!!!! Aww that stuff is so freakin good if you like bananas and chocolate.

I pushed the button again and still no new email. Hmm its been about 15 mins since my last one. I'm thinking its time to call it quits, go brush my teeth and go to bed. The only thing with that is I can check my email on my phone!!! Yeah but it takes a bit longer than here on the lap top.

Yeah so even if I go to bed I'm still going to be up!! Oh well sleep is for the weary!!! Goodnight ;)

Oh so long over do randomness :)

2010-01-31T11:48:00.000-08:00

so I kinda fell off the bandwagon lately. Life got in the way of blogging :( But I'm here now :). Chloe is feeling a bit ill today and is snoozing so I thought I would take a few minutes and get a post going.

~The last few weeks we have had some rain. Which was awesome and sucky for me. Awesome because I hardly had to water the grass, trees and plants. Right before my guy left our sprinkler system in the backyard stopped working. I don't know why he didn't call up someone to take care of it but I have had to water by hand every week thanks to him. When it's cold out watering is the last thing I want to be doing. My grass is looking a bit greener now so the rain did me some good lol.

~One of me bestest buds is getting married in 6 days :) I'm super happy for her but alittle down too. Her guy is a paratrooper and is being deployed the end of the year for 15 months. So there getting married now and then in April she is moving back east with him :(. Sucks but thats the military life for ya!

~Work has been so freaking busy the last few weeks. Thank god my wonderful boss is gonna be out pretty much the whole month of February. Things should quiet down a bit. This last week I completed 4 reports, logged about 2000 emails, data input about 107 pages of nothing but numbers and all the other stuff I do around the office. Lets just say it has been very hectic.

~Picked up my new bed yesterday!!!! Got it put together and got the old one moved into the guest bedroom. Yeah I actually have a guest bedroom now :) instead of just a throw all room lol.

Isn't it cute? I also spent like $100 on bedding for it lastnight eek!!! But oh well. We didn't have any new bedding for it anyways since its a different size than the old one.

But thats all I got for now. I'm having a girl only party on Friday night ;) so I need to get back to cleaning the house. Happy Sunday!!!!!

Emotional Rollercoaster

2010-01-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

So I'm looking outside and its all cloudy and rainy. I usually love it when its like this and this morning I did. But at this moment in time not so much. I'm having my daily email chat convo with my guy and reading a blog of another mil spouse out there that was going through her first deployment a couple years ago. Everything that she was feeling pre and up until her guy deployed and the first week after was how I felt to a "T".

The last few weeks I have been concerned for my mom and her cancer that I haven't really had a chance to pay attention to how I am feeling about this deployment. Infact earlier this morning I was thinking about how easy the last few weeks have been on me with this deployment. I guess that was because I had something else equal to my guys safety to worry about. But after reading part of that blog the depression and loneliness just settled right back in.

Talk about an emotional rollercoaster.

We are days away from the half way point and it feels like it will be ages before I get to be in his arms again. I'm ready for my hormones to chill out and it to be all over with.

Breast Cancer

2010-01-13T08:42:00.000-08:00

So I never really had to deal with this disease. Chloe's grandma on her dads side had it long before I met her and over came it before I met Chloe's dad. I've never really known anyone who was diagnosed with it. Well that all changed a month ago. My mom was diagnosed with it last month. When she first called and told me I was in utter shock. I didn't know what to say or how to react. My first thought was I need to call my guy and talk to him. I went to reach for the phone and then it hit me. All I'm going to get in some Sprint voice telling me his phone is shut off. I then thought of Chloe. "What if she is susceptible to it?" Yeah that was kind of stupid lol. Yes it is running in both sides of her family but whos to say she will ever get it? I next thought of me and when should I start getting checked out for it? Then my mind went back to my mom. She didn't seem scared or upset. She was just so matter of factly about it. "This is whats going to happen and this is whats going to be done."

So I will have faith that on Friday the disease that has reared its ugly head into my moms life will be removed and the 6 weeks after that of radiation every day will kill any bits left of it and we can get on with our normal lives. I will have faith that nothing will go wrong during the operation and she will make a full recovery. I will have faith that god will take care of her and keep her from harms way.

Because when it is out of your hands all you can do is have a little faith.

2009 Review

2010-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

So alot of the blogs that I have been reading have all done a year in review post. I thought I would too. I didn't start this blog till the end of the year so I'm going to have to search the cob webbed filled corners of my head to remember what all took place this year. But bear with me it's going to be a long one :).

Jan 2009
We rang in the new year in bed while watching the fire works down at the strip :). That was better than the year before where I rang in the new year by myself since he was at work! BOO! We decided to start looking at buying a house and on the first day found one we liked :). Then celebrated my guy turning 25!

Feb 2009
We took a weekend trip to Brian Head, Utah to go snow tubing and just hang out :). Had my oral surgery to get my chain on. We then spent the rest of the month packing to move into our house when we closed the following month.

March 2009
Closed on our house and moved in. We are now first time home owners!!!!!

April 2009
Celebrated our first Easter in our own home with my whole family and some of my guys work buddies who stopped by.

Thats my lil sis and Chloe on Easter slippin and slidin!!!

May 2009
Our A/C took a dump right before our house warming party lol. Chloe turned 4 just in time to get the A/C fixed lol.

June 2009
Sam knocked up Pebbles lol.

July 2009
Celebrated our first 4th of July in our house :). Celebrated my 24th bday at work, had dinner with my sister in law that night then we hoped a jet to Virginia so I could finally meet my guys family :). We spent a few days down in Nags Head, North Carolina on the beach and then the rest of the time in New Kent, Richmond, Newport News and Norfolk Virginia visiting his family and friends.

Chloe, my lil sis and mines first taste of Chick-fil-A!!

At Williamsburg

Spent a whole day at Busch Gardens

August 2009
Pebbles brought 5 beautiful puppies into the world with very little help from myself lol.

We lost the little brown pup a week later :(.

Talk of deployment started happening :(.

September 2009
Nothing intersting happened this month other than lots of puppy kisses lol.

October 2009
The reality that he was being deployed hit home and boy was I not ready for it. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary :) and I got my first real piece of jewelry from my guy! We sold 2 of the pups from Pebbles litter and I made a new friend in the process :) (yes I'm talking about you S'mores momma). We celebrated our first Halloween in our house :).

November 2009
We got the date for D day :(. I started this oh so lovely blog of mine. My guy's parents flew in for Thanksgiving and we spent a week running around with them on the strip :). I cooked my first turkey and apart from it not being cooked all the way through at dinner time it came out pretty darn good lol.

Thanksgiving weekend my guy left us to go down range :(.

December 2009

Celebrated x-mas with family and friends.
Chloe was in her 1st xmas s!!!!
My mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer :(
Rang in the new year with my dad and stepmom at the Silverton.

And you ask what will happen in 2010?

Well there will be love reunited!
Hopefully a debanding date for my god awful braces!
A start of big kid school (Kindergarten) for Chloe.
Hopes for a better holiday season this year than last.
And tons of heart warming moments inbetween :)

When a man loves a woman

2010-01-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

So there are talks of a ring!!!! Guess we will have to wait and see what happens when he gets back :)

Only 3 more months. It should go by fast, right? Well anywho here is what I'm getting my hopes up for :)

It ain't much and its pretty simple. But I'm a simple kinda girl :)

or maybe this

Ah only time will tell!

Somewhat Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-30T13:08:00.000-08:00

Because wearing glasses inside and

taking pictures of yourself is all the rave these days!!!!!

X-Mas

2009-12-27T08:56:00.000-08:00

So I hope everyone had an awesome X-mas. I'll be honest here, I was not looking forward to X-mas this year. With my guy being gone I couldn't get into the holiday cheer. Everytime a X-mas song would come on the radio I would change the station. I actually dreaded seeing my family and having to look and feel happy on X-mas. But during X-mas eve after I got all my shopping finished I went over to one of my grandparents house with my moms side of the family and actually had a good time. There was tons of talking (thanks to my brother who can't shut up lol) and lots and lots of laughing. As much as I miss Bill and knew that he should of been there but I was able to sit there and soak in what X-mas is really all about, Family. The next couple of days were followed up with running around like a chicken with its head cut off lol going from house to house so we could get together with most of my immediate family and exchange presents. Chloe did very good this year with her presents. There was no whinning about opening presents unlike last year. The last couple of X-mas we have been sick at X-mas time and she has just not been in the mood to rip through wrapping paper to get to her presents. I'll let the pictures do the talking of this year :)

Family Traditions

2009-12-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

So in a portion of my family (because my family is freakin huge lol) we have a tradition every year for X-mas. Usually me and my grandma bake up a storm and give out the goodies to people at work and family. Well as my grandma ages the more she doesn't want to bake all these goodies every year. The tradition has finally fell upon my mother and I to keep it going. Well since my mother and I have our own house holds to manage and kids to take care of its easier if we just do it separately and when we have time. Well I decided to slap on sappy emo music and get down with my bad self baking all those delicious goodies that my grandma has taught me over the years. My mom already made a few of our awesome recipes so I kept with the stuff I knew I couldn't screw up on my own!!!!

Lots and lots of cookies!

Yummy brownie cookies!

Chocolate covered cherries ( I did make one little mistake and got the unstemmed cherries lol)

Banana nut bread because its just freakin yummy. (this isnt my actual bread. I'm making that tomorrow night but here is a pick for your viewing pleasure)

Of course the pups slept the whole time lol.

Do you guys have any family traditions?

Dear So and So... Sleepless in Nevada

2009-12-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

This is my first go at this so cut me some slack lol. Oh and after you get done here head on over to 3bedroombungalow where you can read the good stuff.

~Dear pups,

Barking every 5 mins between the hours of 9pm and 2am is going to make you guys end up sleeping in the livingroom alone on cold tile or better yet outside. I love you guys to the end but keep it up and no warm bed for you.

Love your sleepless mama!

~Dear Stupid people outside at all hours of the night,

Your lucky my guy is not here or you would be in big trouble!!! The pups barking (that interrupts whatever important conversation you deemed necessary to have between 9pm and 2 am) would be the least of your worries!

Tired and sick Nicole

Apron Strings by Paisley Cat is having their first Giveaway!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

And you can win this little number by posting a comment HERE!!!

She has the cutest aprons and gloves imaginable. I may have to go and order me one after X-Mas!!!!!! That is if I don't win this one!!!

432 hours and 18 days......

2009-12-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

that have included 1 phone call, 1 video chat and 139 emails……

It’s hard to believe that is has almost been a month since we had our last real kiss. I know I should thank my lucky stars that I am able to talk to him as much as I have been but sometimes I think that makes this even harder. I can tell him everything I’m thinking of but I can’t see him or feel his touch. I can’t see the emotions on his face when I tell him the different things that are going on with me and Chloe. I’m taking it one day at a time but it is not easy. My mind reminds me of all the things that can happen over there when a few hours passes by with no email from my love. I have become my own worst enemy.

I have a routine set for me and Chloe during the week with school and work and I have managed to keep us extremely busy during the weekends. But I’m getting tired of always having somewhere to be or something to do. I long for our days together as a family.

I long for him. My heart aches for him. It’s like I am missing a piece of myself while he is away. Sometimes I think I can actually feel the physical pain of it.

I now know how much of our time together I took for granted.

RTT - To dye or not to dye?

2009-12-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

Its another Tuesday with more random thoughts. Click the pretty button and check out where RTT originated from!!!!!

Ok so heres a low down of yesterday. Left my lunch sitting on the dresser before Chloe and I got out the door. Spent my whole lunch break at the post office to ship my guy is care package. Had a not so healthy lunch because I was in a hurry to get back to the office. Got half way to the springs preserved when I realized I left the free admission tickets at my moms and had to drive all the way back to her house to get them. Got to the springs preserve at 7pm to find out they closed at 6pm. (I thought something was up when they had the entrance gate closed and I drove in the exit gate lol). Then this morning I was late to work yet again because I couldn't find my keys. But I did remember my lunch. Oh and PMS has been plaguing me up until this morning.

But I decided to go back to being a full blown red head on Sunday. What do you think?

Don't mind the "what the hell" look on my face lol. Since I was running late this morning I didn't have any time for makeup. And I didn't really want to smile so the whole world could see my giagantic gap from my missing tooth. But I think it brings out the green in my eyes more now!

Anywho Happy RTT!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

No words can come close to describing the fun we had that week in North Carolina and Virginia!!!!

More Wordless Wednesday found here.

Swimming outside in December? = RTT

2009-12-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

Go over to the The Un Mom and link up.

So as some people already know I have 4 little loveable mini dashchunds. We have a little pool for Chloe out in the backyard for the summer and during the winter I fill with blankets for the dogs when I need to put them outside so they don't get cold. Well yesterday it rained almost all day long and I didn't think to bring in the blankets or put something to cover up the pool because guess what, I was leaving late for work again. Well I worked all day got my running around down after and came home. About 9:30 I looked out the back door to see if it had stopped raining and it did but then I saw the pool was completely full of freezing cold water. Their blankets and toys that were in were completely waterlogged. At first I tried to lift the whole pool up to drain the water out but with the water absorbed blankets it wasn't happening. I took the blankets out flinging water all over the place and myself and lifted the pool up again. Well it creased in the middle and alot of the water came running out the sides, all over the patio and my poor bare feet. Its a good thing Chloe was not there or else she would of got a not so good ear full of every "bad word" under the sun lol. I just thank god we don't live somewhere where it gets to 20 below!!!!

Domestic woman moment: I'm so freakin excited (almost as excited as I was when we got our new front loader washer and dryer and my vaccuum cleaner) that I got the shower doors out of our master bath over the weekend. They were in good shape (I'm donating them to habitat for humanity if they ever call me back to pick them up) but I absolutely hated them and they kept coming off the track. My guy blames me for them coming off and it probably is the way I was pulling them but regardless they sucked. Now I have a nice shower rod and curtain up and it seems to make the bathroom seem a bit bigger. I would never of thought that at 24 stuff like this would make me excited lol. Do you have anything that excites you that you never would have thought would?

RTT

2009-12-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the week again. Go over to the The Un Mom and link up.

So before you tell someone to grow up you need to have a long good look in the mirror. If you can’t support your children and provide food and roof over their heads on your own and you don’t even have a high school diploma it seems to me you’re the one who needs to do the growing up. And on that note learn how to budget your money. Maybe you won’t be in the pickle that you are in. Just a thought!

On a better note I have a list of things to do while my guy is gone and I think it will keep me busy through the next couple months which is heaven sent for me. I love being busy since it makes the time go buy faster and I feel that I will get a lot of stuff accomplished.

Ohh so before my guy left he found this article regarding the military care package supplies that The United Postal Service will provide for family member or friends sending care packages to the men and women overseas for free. I don’t remember the link (it’s saved on my computer at home) but if you call 1-800-610-8734 and hit option 1 twice and tell the operator you would like a Military Care Kit they will send you one at no charge. I ordered mine on Friday and should have it sometime this week or early next week.

And on another military note I found some air force girl friends bumper stickers and a license plate frame here for cheap. They also have tons of other military family member things there as well.

Well thats all I got right now. Happy RTT!!!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend Wrap Up

2009-11-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

Yep so how was everyone's Thanksgiving? Mine was pretty good. I spent part of the morning cleaning and then the rest of the day in the kitchen cooking. We had a total of 14 people not including myself show up. And for it being the first time I have had Thanksgiving at my house and cooked the turkey it went pretty well. Except that the turkey didn't cooked all the way lol. But most of it was so everyone was able to eat while I cooked the rest of the turkey. Then later that night after everyone left my guy had to take his family to the airport. I was actually a little sad to see them leave. I really enjoy spending time with them and learning new things about my guy that I didn't know from his younger years.

The next morning my guy got his butt up at 4 am so he could get to Best Buy before they opened to pick up some bigger external drives for his trip and for the house. I got a lovely call at 5:30 am from him asking if I needed anything from Target. Haha even if I did there was no way I could think of it that early in the morning. I'm not usually conscious till atleast 7 am on a weekend. When I finally did roll my butt outta bed we had breakfast and I went out with my grandma to get my shopping done. Which only consisted of one thing for someone other than myself and the rest of the $70.00 was spent on myself. I think I deserved it. Then later that night we took Chloe to see Planet 51. She has been bugging me for the last week to see that everytime she sees the commercial on T.V.

This was the first movie in the theatre that I have taken too and she did so good. She stayed in her seat the whole time and didn't make one peep. After she said she really liked the movie.

Saturday was a pretty uneventful day. We lounged around the house and went out to lunch. My guy must of packed and unpacked his giant green duffle bag that the wonderful airforce supplied him atleast 3 times making sure he had everything. We had a nice home cooked meal of steak, veggies and loaded smashed potatos.

We were up nice and early on Sunday to get my guy to the base on time. I'm sure my guy kept it quick and simple so he wouldn't break down.

It was a bit early for Chloe to be outside as you can see. She doesn't really quit understand what is going on but I'm sure in a few days or by the weekend when Bill hasn't come home she will start wondering where he is and when he will be back.

The rest of the day couldn't go by quick enough. I was surrounded by family and friends and that was nice but I really just wanted to be home with Chloe by myself to process my emotions and have a good cry which I still haven't done. Just some tears here and there. I'm sure tonight the water works will be flowing.

P.s for the record it is now 10:00 pm and not really any tears. Then again he has called me atleast 4 times today before they hoped their plane lol. I'm taking this alot better than I thought originally.

RTT

2009-11-24T15:05:00.000-08:00

(haha I finally figured out the button ~ go me!!!!!)

It's Random Tuesday Thoughts. Go over to The Un Mom and link up!!!!!!

So I'm sitting here getting caught up Fringe on Fox and I can't help but wonder if this stuff does actually happen. I mean how do people come up with stuff without having seen it happen before?

And how cute is Joshua Jackson in this show? I have loved him since his days as Pasey on Dawson's Creek. Yes I was one of the many who would watch this show every week. Sad, I know.

Did you see that Paula Deen got smacked in the nose with a ham? That happened while she was donating a bunch of hams in Atlanta for charity. But she took it with stride and didn't seem to let it take away from her good cheer. Oh how I love me some Paula Deen!

So as everyone who knows me knows that my guy is leaving Sunday morning for his deployment and I'm really heartbroken about it :(. And he tells me lastnight that there will be no crying at the base that morning. Yeah like that is going to not happen ha. He forgets how emotional I get. I know seperation makes the heart grow fonder and everyone keeps telling me we will appreciate our time together more once he gets back and I'm sure that is true but right now it just sucks. But to help deal with it all I have been making a list of all the stuff I want to do while he is gone. Like getting new counter tops in the kitchen and I spent most of my lunch break wondering around Target looking at all the shelves and frames to hang up on my walls. If I keep myself busy the next 4 months will fly by!!!!

Dental Woos

2009-11-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

As you can see from my new profile picture on here I have a giant gap in my mouth. It isn’t pretty and I'm very self conscious about it. It’s the whole reason why I’m in braces. I had a baby tooth that never came out. Apparently my parents were aware of it while I was younger but I don’t remember dentists every mentioning it to me and they didn’t do anything to fix it. If they would have taken care of this when I was younger I would have only been in braces for about a year instead of the 2 or more that I was quoted. Well about a year ago this baby tooth of mine became infected and my new dentist said it was time for it to come out and that I would need braces ugh! So they set me up a consult with the Orthodontist (“Ortho”) and off I went. Well the Ortho explained that they would put on the braces and leave a bracket off of the baby tooth so it could be pulled by my dentist. After the dentist pulled the tooth I was referred to an Oral Surgeon (“Oral”) to have my gum cut open and a bracket and chain attached to my adult tooth that was still up in the roof of my mouth.

Well I had all that done and $900.00 later that my insurance didn’t cover my tooth was slowly making its way down. Well the 1st time I had this surgery it was done back in February of 2008, since then I have had it done 4 times (which of course I had to pay for because neither of them would fess up to who's fault it actually was). The bracket kept coming off my tooth for some reason. Well come to find out when the Oral opened up my gum for the fourth time that the Ortho was pulling the tooth into the base of my Lateral Incisor and the tooth was stuck which caused the bracket to pop off within the 2 weeks it was on. Now that the Ortho and Oral have finally communicated, (they haven’t gotten along since the first time my chain popped off and they blamed each other for it) I seem to be back on the right track to getting my impacted canine down and in place. I was quoted this was to take about 2 years and it has been a year already so hopefully in the next 6 months I won’t have this horrible gap anymore and an actual tooth there and have a de-banding date too. So I'm thinking by the time this is all said and done I will have a $10,000.00 smile if not more lol.

This is a diagram I pulled from Century Orthodontics to give an idea of the process I'm going through.

Impacted Canine Diagram[1]

ABCs

2009-11-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

I found this little didy over at More than an army wife and thought I would give it a whorl.

ABC's OF ME:

A-Age: Twenty Four
B-Birth date: July 17, 1985
C-Chore you hate: Cleaning bathrooms
D-Dog's name: Pebbles, Sam, Rosco and Donut
E-Enter or Exit: Enter
F-Favorite color: used to be lime green when I was younger but now its red
G-Gold or silver: White Gold
H-Hair color: Strawberry blonde
I-Instrument: I got nothing lol
J-Job Title: Receptionist, personal assistant and master of all trades lol
K-Kids: just Chloe
L-Living arrangements: Our house with my guy on the north end of town
M-Monkey or Moose: Monkey cuz they are just too darn cute
N-Nicknames: Nicola, nicki, toot
O-Odd thing about you: I have an overly active drooling problem
P-Pet Peeve: People who do not rinse their dishes when they are threw with them!!!!! (my guy knows it!)
Q-Quote from a movie: “I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my squishy” ~ Finding Nemo
R-Right/Left Handed: Right
S-Siblings: half brother, half sister and 2 step brothers
T-Time you wake up? Somewhere between 5 and 6:30 am mon – fri, sat and sun are around 7 am
U-Underwear: boy shorts
V-Veggie you dislike: cauliflower
W-What makes you run late: Chloe in the morning with her whininess
X-X-Rays: ankle and teeth
Y-Yummy food you make: guacamole dip, and cheesy chicken
Z-Zoo Animal: penguins!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

Ok I'm jumping on the bandwagon thanks to More Than An Army Wife and Mrs. Staff Sergeant.

Rosco and Pebbles in all their Holiday Glory!!!!!

Random Thoughts

2009-11-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

So I have been sneezing all morning and my head is starting to get congested. Now is not the time to be getting sick! Bill has family coming in Saturday and Thanksgiving is next week, plus Bill is leaving next Sunday. I'm gonna start chugging my vitamins and cold medicine now and hopefully kick this thing before it gets bad.

Why is it that I associate my self with people who can't seem to keep themselves away from drama and when drama does rear its ugly self they start to act like freakin highschoolers? Highschool was just a phase in our lives. Grow Up! Just saying.

The puppies are getting better about going potty outside. I came home from work yesterday and not one accident on the floor. So the potty training puppy gods may actually be on my side :).

Lastnight I found out that for the last 2 months of my guys deployment I probably won't be able to talk to him since he will be in a remote undisclosed area. I don't even want to think about what could possibly happen at that time. I know the first 2 months he will be on a base safe and sound doing his job but when I think about what could happen the during the last 2 make me sick to my stomach. I don't even want to think how I'm going to be during those last 2 months. I'm just gonna pray nothing happens and its a rather boring deployment.

I hate feeling this spastic :(

RTT

2009-11-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

So this is my first Randon Thoughts Tuesday post!!!!!! If anyone can tell me how to post the "RTT button" on here that would be awesome!

But anywho yesterday I get a call from Chloe while she was at her grammie's house and she says "I have an ear confection!" I say "an ear infection?" and she says "No! an ear confection!" I couldn't help but laugh. Or when she says the number 3 it sounds like she is saying tree! I also can't help but laugh at her. Is that bad?

We put our X-mas tree up saturday and I like it. I think it would be better with white lights and that would make the ornaments stand out better. But my guy wanted color lights and since we put it up early for him I'll give in. Next year there will be white lights whether he likes it or not lol. And yes this is a crappy pic of it. I got a new camera and I'm still trying to figure it out lol.

Why the hell is it still in the 70s? Its November for crying out loud. I want it to be in the low 50s during the day. I love the winter and sometimes wish it was winter all year long. There is nothing like curling up on the couch under a warm blanket with the dogs and Chloe and watching holiday movies and sipping cocoa.

Oh and lately the little things have been making my eyes get all watery and tear up. I can't blame my monthly visitor anymore so I'm thinking I'm beginning to slowly crack since I have been trying to just keep it all bottled up and not let my guy know how its affecting me. And I know its only 4 months that he will be gone but anything longer than 2 weeks is a long time for me. Also I knew getting into a relationship with him that deployment was going to happen and I'm up for the challenge but I still can't help but get a little emotional about it. Anywho enough of that back to work. Hope everyone has a good Tuesday!!!

Crappy/Good Week

2009-11-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

So other than my emotional breakdown yesterday. Gotta love being a girl on a hormonal overdrive! This week has been pretty good. Chloe hasn't been acting like the spawn of satan. My chain that was reattached to my canine that had to be re-exposed, bracketed and chained for the 4th time last week is healing and moving again. And I got a 5% raise that was back dated to August. Hell I'll take an extra $320.00 plus the extra $100 on each check now during these poor economical times! (Doing a lil dance) ;).

The puppies have finally figured out the doggie door! Woot Woot for potty training!!! Chloe is finally fully potty trained except for the occasional accident at night and now I'm starting all over again with 2 puppies. But the big mission before my guy leaves is to have both pups fully trained before he leaves and I think that might actually happen.

I'm still a bit down about him leaving but I know we will get through it. I'm thankful that we atleast have a few weeks together and that he's not just up and leaving in a few days. Also that part of his family will get to come down and visit before he leaves. And so thankful that my family and friends (old and new) who live here are such a great support system through this hard time especially since it is the holiday season. But enough of this mushy mumbo jumbo I'm afraid I must get back to work. TTFN

Halloween

2009-11-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

So Halloween came and left like the wind. It seems like we spend almost 30 days getting our kids and ourselves ready for this day. Some even longer to create or find the perfect costume that suites our tastes or trying to out do what was done last year. Chloe decided she wanted to be a pink cat this year. Where did she come up with that idea? I have no clue. Well actually I take that back. I had suggested back in September that she could be a black cat. Well Chloe thought differently. She wanted to be a pink cat because "mom! Pink is my favorite color!" Well excuse me! My four year old is going on 13 ha! What of world of hurt I'm going to be in lol. But anywho back to the story.

So pink cat it was going to be. I figured I could do this the cheap way and find pink cat ears and a tail and call it a day. She already has a pink leotard from gymnastics and tights, plus the pink sparkly ballet shoes her papa bought her earlier this year. So I just needed to find the cat accessories. Well me being such a procrastinator :) waited till 2 weeks before to start looking for the rest of her costume. Yeah not a good idea. They had some on the net but I wasn't too keen on ordering because with my luck it wouldn't get here in time*. And I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for next day shipping on a $15.00 dollar order. Stubborn I know lol.

Well we decide to go shopping with my mom one night after work that week. She was heading to Wally World and I needed some cleanser anyways. Well as soon as you walk in the door there are the Halloween costumes. Chloe took off with my lil sister to go get something to eat at Mickey D's while my mom and I started shopping. I decide I want to check out the costumes they have. I find this cute fairy costume and have a thought. " Maybe I can get Chloe to want to be a fairy instead of a pink cat?" I quickly call my little sister and tell her whats going on and have her hype of the idea of being a fairy instead of a cat. She brings Chloe over by the costumes and Chloe's eyes grow big as she sees all the little girl costumes infront of her. I quickly point out the cute pink fairy costume and how cute she would be. She jumps at the idea and quickly forgets about being the pink cat. Woohoo no more internet searching. With all that being said here is the pretty little pink fairy in all her glory!!!!

And couldn't leave out Donut who fit so perfectly in the pumpkin lol.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and gots lots of good sweets!!!!!!!!!

*Yeah so I did try and order one of the cat accessories I saw online and the stupid website caused my bank to shut down my card. Never doing that again. But on a brighter note that caused my mom to buys Chloe's costume. Woohoo for a free costume!!

The beginning

2009-11-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

So I'm taking the leap and am venturing in the world of blogging. Since my guy is getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan the end of the month I thought this would be a good way for him to keep up with whats going on with me and Chloe while he's gone. Plus when Chloe gets older she can look back and see what crazy stuff went on during her childhood years.

If you don't already know me I'm Nicole. Born and raised here in good ol Las Vegas. I got knocked up with Chloe when I was 19. She was the best thing that could of happen to me. I can't vision my life without her. I met my guy 2 years ago when he got stationed at Creech AFB but lived in the dorms at Nellis AFB. Again I can't vision my life without him now. A year after we met he moved in and 5 months later we moved into our own home.

We have 2 mini dachshunds name Pebbles and Sam. They decided to get it on and now we have puppies left from there litter still with us.

This is Pebbles (aka the momma) while she was prego .

This is the Sam aka the daddy.

The little boy is Rosco and the girl is Donut. They are the cutest the puppies you have ever seen ;). Then again I could just be a bit biased since they are like my grand babies ha.

Rosco!!!

Donut!!

Well i guess this is good enough for now. Tata for now!!!!!

~Nicole