What yours is mine?

Another habit I probably should break before he comes home:

Our conversation today.

Him- When are you heading over to Leslie's?
Me- Probably around the time the trick or treaters show up since I forgot to buy candy.
Him- Haha, what? Are you going to hide from them?
Me- Yes that will be easy. I'll just hide in my room.
Him- Just hide in your room, huh? By any chance is that next to OUR room?
Me- Dang it!

I have been so use to saying my room, my house, my dogs and I do not mean to!

In other him news, I finally started the infamous "Donut of Misery" today. It read: 94% DONE! What a glorious time to start it :)

I really love my...

One of my few vices I am finally saying out loud in this blog is my addiction to garbage magazines. I am pretty good about not buying them, but if I see one at a friends house or doctor's office, I am all over it.

I think US Weekly has a section called "I really love my...." then they show a ton of pictures of a certain celebrity either carrying the same purse, wearing the same jeans, etc.

With the weather getting cooler, I knew I liked my scarf, but looking through pictures, I am convinced I love that scarf.

Case and point:

Oh I definitely wear that thing a lot.

Any trends you notice in pictures? What do you really love?

So Close

Today, just a few short moments ago, I had my first, "No I really cannot do this without him here" moment. I subbed all day and am about to go circuit coach. I needed some energy and something healthy. I decided to make a protein shake in that stupid Magic Bullet.

I hate the Magic Bullet for many reasons. He loves it and everytime I beg for a stupid blender, he replies with some comment about how the Magic Bullet does everything. My hands are small and they do not fit completely around the top of it. Therefore, I get close several times to not opening my shakes.

This afternoon at approximately 2:45pm, I decided IT CANNOT BE OPENED and my delcious shake is in there. I attempted to open it for the past 15 minutes. And you know what really gets me, I am strong!

I am so angry right now, I tempted to chuck the Magic Bullet into the pool. Its now taunting me with the shake I cannot have.

Dear Magic Bullet,

If you make it to the end of this deployment, I will be VERY surpised.


In much brighter news, Sunday will mark the point where I am weeks away not months from his return. Its so close, but yet feels so far. Our AVON party comes home in days.

Secret Single Behaviors I need to break before then:

Sleeping with the television on
Sleeping diagonal in our bed

I still hate you Magic Bullet. The only thing you have going for you right now is that he likes you.

How Far We've Come

It really did not surprise me how much I was spoiled this weekend. I have wonderful friends and family and they really made my birthday special.

On Saturday, after a fun time with my family, I drove a half hour to visit with my BIL, Brian, and his girlfriend. My time spent with them put a huge smile on my face and warmed my heart.

A little sidenote on our relationship. Brian and I did not get along in the beginning. We were young (15 & 18) and immature when his brother and I started dating. He hated the "C&D" show as he called it. As a couple, his brother and I received a lot of attention and I blame a lot of that on WP. Not to mention, I was the outgoing, always talking, bubble of energy passing through their family. Although we definitely did not mean to, we made each other's lives miserable from time to time.

Well, we are older and wiser now. On the day of his grandfather's funeral nearly a month ago, I was curling my hair in the rather large "kid's bathroom" upstairs. Brian walked by and said, "Oh I can wait until you're done". I said nonsense, we have two large sinks and a huge mirror. So while Brian shaved, I curled my hair. We began talking about anything and everything for a good 15 minutes.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed his mom and girlfriend standing in the doorway smiling at us. I have no idea how long they stood there, but we asked, why the stares? His mother smiled (on the day she was burying her dad) and said "You two have come so far, it just warms my heart". I of course made the jab, "Well Brian now knows he's stuck with me" and Brian laughed and jabbed back, "I am stuck with her, not by choice".

Flashforward to this weekend, Brian and his girlfriend made my birthday so special. They took me out for lobster, good wine, and an amazing dessert (my typical special date with the love of my life). He even ran out on Sunday morning to buy my favorite cream for my coffee and was the first person to wish me Happy Birthday that morning.

I love my relationship with him. I could have not said that a few years back, but I love that he is my family.

200th Post, 25th Birthday

I never thought I'd hit 200 posts when starting this blog a year ago. Its been more than a place to vent, but rather a wonderful community to turn to.

This weekend will also be another milestone, my 25th birthday. I will hit the big quarter of a century mark. As a kid you always think of 25 as when your life starts, marriage, kids, etc. I am very happy where I am at now. Just a month away from his return and living the good life as a mom of two puppies.

We've been together over nine years....And I am twenty-five....Meaning over 1/3 of my life has been spent as his girlfriend/fiance/wife.

Flashback over the past few birthdays:

October 2005- Living in NYC

October 2006- Senior Year of College

October 2007- First grown-up birthday

New bike for him...Working new job for me

October 2008- Living the good life

I will not be able to spend this weekend with him, but I do get the next best thing...football weekend with my family. I am driving those four hours tonight to stay with my parents and get ready for a huge game for my brother tomorrow. After the game, I will drive a half hour to Indianapolis and spend the night with my BIL and his wonderful girlfriend.

I love birthday weekends :)

Things that...

Do not taste good:

I accidentally bought chocolate coffe creamer forgetting I recently bought a large bag of French Vanilla coffee. Those two flavors do not mix well together.

Drive me crazy:

Dakota is baaaack! And more energy than ever. She is currently shoving a toy (as well as her whole body) in my lap and trying to knock my hand away from the computer. I threw the toy about 9,456 times and she brought it back ot me 9,457. LEAVE ME ALONE!

Make me happy:

Today while working, I overheard the women talking about the number of times they go through the circuit. One woman replied, "Well when she (refering to me) is running the circuit I can barely go three times, but normally I go four times"

That is right. I am worse than Jillian, haha.

Almost killed me:

I bought a few, ok about 7, of those Smart Ones dinners. While working two jobs and living all by my lonesome, I prefer a nice, fast dinner after arriving home around 9pm every night. My mom told me to watch the sodium content in them. I figured Weight Watchers approves them, they cannot be that bad.

This morning while shopping, I turned one of those bad boys around...980mg of Sodium?!?!? Thank goodness for my mother. I might have died in a week of sodium induced heart attack (I do not know if those exist)


P.S. Dakota is STILL bringing me her toy. Scratch the Smart Ones, she might be the death of me.

Happy Day

This morning I blogged about my one of my favorite days of the year. Instead of writing my story down in two places, you can read about it here.

It has something to do with these:

What is your favorite brand of workout shoes?

Sunday Funday

I love Sundays in the fall. Sundays in September, October, November, and December mean fantasy football time.

Super Jeni invited me over for lunch today and I contemplated not going. Why? Well I needed to make sure my team did ok by checking online and flipping between CBS and Fox.

I found myself several times laughing out loud and to myself at the NFL Today Show. I may be bias since I interned there for 4 months, but the chemistry between them is awesome. Those were some of my favorite memories. Picture of my last day on the set.





I think I have a problem. However, I did go over there and my team did survive in those two hours where I did not intently study my players every move.

I also finally prepared my house for fall. I took out all of my fall decorations and put away all of my summer stuff. My deck is now empty and all of our pool toys and chairs are in the shed.

For something being so bare, it actually makes me feel happy. I know when I get out my next season's decorations (Christmas), he will be here helping me. He told me on the phone to make sure I wait for him. I reassured him that there is no way I am dragging that dang tree out of the attic, remembering the hassle of dragging it up there after the holidays were over last year.

I also managed to do ALL of my laundry. In my year of living in this house, it is the first time this has happened. I am the queen of finding those clothes I need and washing only them. My hamper is now officially empty.

I love productive, football Sundays.

No Superwoman Here

While on the phone with him the other night, I mentioned the infamous lawn. I have been insanely busy the past few days (I am not complaining). He said..."Babe, just pay a lawn service". To me, I thought this was so sweet, but I responded with a I'll get to it tomorrow after subbing. I could handle it.

You see I thought I only worked Monday and Tuesday at Curves so Wednesday would give me a exactly 2 hours to cut the grass before heading to my weekly pot luck.

I walked in the door yesterday while talking with my MIL and let out a loud, "Oh no". I smelled poop. I looked into her cage and saw it everywhere. On the wall, cage, bed, rug, kitchen floor. As a few too many other times this deployment, I spent the next hour cleaning, scrubbing, and hosing.

I also received a phone call from my boss. She forgot to mention to me I work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings too.


I didn't even flinch when I called the lawn service immediately following the phone conversation.

And then sent him an email:

When you come home, I will not deal with poop, vomit, or bunnies for the next entire year.

He emailed me back and said "Deal". I forgot to mention the lawn in our new contract. Dang it!

In the family

My mother did call today and told me that the lump is not cancer, rather a bundle of breast tissue. I probably shouldn't have worried until I heard something more definite, but its my mom. I know a few of you said prayers and I appreciate it greatly.

Moving on to him...

As much as I LOVE talking with him on the phone and as much as I know its a rare occurence to hear his voice, my 10pm phone calls throw off my bedtime!

I can never fall asleep, no matter how tired I am, after I talk to him. I get this sudden burst of energy and it doesn't wear off for hours.

Case and point: 12:13am, wide awake and blogging away.

We had an interesting conversation about power of attorney.

An interesting side story. His mother is his POA and his father is mine. Weird, huh? We were discussing tax returns and the POA subject came up about possibly changing it when he returns.

I do not want to change it to him and he does not want to change it to me.

Its not that we do not trust each other. Goodness, I hope after 10 years we can trust each other. Its more along the lines of stubborness. That is all.

He does not want to be the first to change it and neither do I. He says his mother knows where all of his paperwork is and I smile and agree and say his father knows where all of my paperwork is. He's been doing my tax returns and FASFA since we started dating in 2000. We might be the only married couple who are not each other's POA simply because of pride. His mother often says we act like 5 year olds and this is a very good example of our immaturity.

I think it keeps our relationship young and fun.

New Chapter

Well after a few weeks of dragging my feet, I finally am publishing my new fitness website/blog to the world. My new business cards will feature this web address and email, but my blog buddies will be the first to preview it.

Its a work in progress and I hope to continually improve. I will not stop blogging about life and deployment here, but hope to further myself in the fitness world as well.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and recent family findings, my first blog entry is about Seeing Pink

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Myths about deployment

After talking with some of my favorite miltary wives here and nearing the end, we are all starting to burn out and reach the "I am over it" phase. While talking with them and other wives, I realized there are a few myths about deployment.

1. "Wow, he deployed X months ago. Time sure flies!"

No, I do not think so. Its been 10 months and to be honest, it FEELS like 10 months. Over 300 days without him and I went through all 24 hours of each of those days. Thank you.

2. "If you keep yourself busy, it will help"

I agree to an extent, but I worked 60 hours a week with 2 dogs and a house for a few months and I could not get everything done. As a result I stressed myself out. I know a few other working wives who feel the same way.

3. "A strong group of friends will help"

Now, do not get me wrong, without a few close friends here, who knows if I'd survive this long. In reality, only one person truly makes everything go away and only one person truly helps me in any situation. That is why I married him. With 90% of my Murphy's Law incidents, if he was around, I would not feel as though my world was crashing down in those moments.

4. "If you do X, X, and X, it will make it easier" or "It gets better with time"

Nope. The only thing that has made this process easier is one day at a time. There are no special remedies or no "it gets better with time". It doesn't get better with time. You just take it as it comes and smile a little bit longer at those bright spots in your day.


The truth is and recently I find myself saying it over and over again...Its ONE ENTIRE YEAR. Not everything is rosy, I will not always keep myself busy, I will not always feel glass half full.

And finally when I reach the end, myth #5 "You survived"

No, no, no. WE SURVIVED. I made a pact with God before he left that I could handle anything this deployment and to do whatever He wanted with me, but just keep my husband safe. Sure God tested me a few times, but I do not care, keep testing me just bring him home to me.

Almost there :)

Stepping forward

Well I didn't think it would happen this soon, but I took a step in the right direction in terms of my recent personal trainer certification.

I dropped off my resume at every gym in a 30 mile radius. I heard the typical run around of "we will call if something comes up". Well on Tuesday, something did come up! They asked me to come in for an interview on Wednesday. She said she needed to interview one more person.

On Thursday I found out I am the new "Circuit Coach" at Curves. Its only part-time which I actually enjoy since I am still hesitant to jump into a full time job with a fear of hating it (i.e. like my last job). And my pay check will definitely not contribute to my dream car, a Lexus SUV, but its in the field I wish to pursue at this moment.

I am still able to sub too so this lady will be bringing TWO checks home, chaaa-ching! Not really, but I am keeping busy and getting paid to keep busy. I cannot complain.