Week Seven

Oh this morning...not one of my better mornings.

I woke up deciding I wanted a few things:

-Longer hair
-A tan
-More episodes of Criminal Minds
-Summer
-My best friend and better half laying next to me
-Be more girly (actually paint my nails, own make-up, curl my hair more)
-My running partner from Chicago to move here and start training with me

Since I do not have ANY of the above, I manged to pout a little and open up the infamous Ben & Jerry's pint of ice cream. I took 2 bites, sealed it up, put it back in the refridgerator, and realized ice cream could not solve all of my "issues" (gasp)

::Enter Super Jeni::

I will refer to her by this name from here on out in my blog. She called mid-pouting and asked me to join her for lunch and a day of shopping. Needless to say, I am back on the content train.

And yes, we are another week down!

In my seventh week, I manged to accomplish a few things:

-Registered for a different Nashville Half-Marathon in March (not April)
-Completed my highest distance weekly total, including a 6-miler tonight
-Cooked a delicious chicken receipe for our weekly potluck
-Found a job
-Sent his best friend a birthday care package
-Tried a new church this past Sunday
-Started a book by my favorite author, Malcolm Gladwell

So this week, I will hustle to try and complete a few more of my monthly goals before I knock off another stupid month of this stupid deployment.

I swear I am still positive :)

No longer babies...

Due to recent photos, I am beginning to think I no longer own puppies.



November 2007

Now

August 2008

Now

Girlfriends

Today I thought a lot about priorities and I guess in the same sense, blessings.

I talked to my best friend, Karen, for over an hour today. We attended the same high school and experienced it all together. And now, her first child is due in two short weeks.

Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, we talked a little about some of our "girlfriends" in high school who all attended the same college and now all live together in the same city and party, party, party four nights a week. And while we both agreed we admire their "fun", we would not change places with them for all the money in the world, and heck, my better half currently lives in another country.

I love my life.

Tonight while hanging out at my dining room table and drinking chai tea, I smiled and enjoyed the conversations between myself and four other women, including CLR :)

And after all these years of having one or two girlfriends, I finally hang out with a group of women. Women who I adore, admire, and respect. I never had girlfriend because I never wanted to be a girlfriend. You get what you put in and I put in very little in high school and college.

Now I want to make an effort, not because I am stranded here on deployment island, but mostly because these women see the "big" picture in life. And even though we are so different, we all have one very important thing in common...strength.

Down South

I am proud to say I experienced my first "Southerner" moment today.

Around 6:30am, I did my normal routine of letting Daisy outside. I looked outside and noticed ice and a steady rain. And then I decide, the weather is just too bad to go anywhere or do anything today.

I lived in Chicago for 18 years and braved several feet of snow, blizzards, below zero temperatures, and wind chills that make you cry and I thought 30 degrees deserved a snow day.

Oh Not Me...

I not only think this idea is super cute, but I felt this was a pretty ideal way to sum up my day and weekend. Thank you Mrs. Staff Sergeant :)

• I did not eat a cupcake for breakfast the past three mornings

• I did not skip the gym tonight because I thought 25 degrees was too cold to do anything or that I wanted to watch Rock of Love with Bret Michaels instead of run

• I did not almost get my water turned off this week. Of course I handle electricity and HE handles the water bill

• I did not have thoughts of leaving in the middle of my kickboxing class, runny nose, soar throat, pounding headache and all

• I did not watch Daisy clear our $80, four feet tall, dog gate in order to say hi to Jeni

• I did not watch an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. for the 1,000th time and laugh hysterically

• I did not buy him a Captain America bobblehead for his helicopter or a bag of only green M&Ms for a few smiles

• I did not have a glass of wine every night for the past 4 nights

• I did not accept a job offer!

What did you NOT do this weekend? Join in at My Charming Kids.

One more thing...

Keeping up with my deployment goals, I sent my second care package on 20 January. I wanted to share what I sent. I feel it is only fair since I love reading what Kristen at Steady As We Go sends her husband. And I often steal her ideas :)

I created a "Thing I know you miss back at home" and it contained the following:

muddy paws - The girls always bring mud inside the house so I stamped the inside of the box with their paw prints

stuffed husky & rotweiller - Obviously he misses the girls


People magazine- I love this magazine and although he thinks I waste money, I always catch him reading it or looking at the pictures

The Book of Us- We already filled this one out a few years back, but I thought it would be cute for him to go back and read the answers

Slingbox software- It works here, I just hope it will work over there so he can watch his favorite shows.

Mixed CD- I filled the CD with Rockband songs and songs from our favorite shows. I know he misses playing Rockband. And oh yeah, a few that I use to belt out singing in the shower while getting ready together.

Cookies- I am slowly learning to cook, but he already loves my baking

Oceanspray Crasins- To remind him of our grocery shopping trips. These were always on the list.

USAA Debit Card- It finally came in the mail, so I attached a note saying, "I know you miss spending money on me" Ha.

Marley & Me- He says he misses the craziness of the dogs, this book suited our craziness perfectly

Penn State Shirt- He HATES when I steal his clothes and wear them, so I wore his favorite shirt each time I stepped out of the shower for 3 weeks. I sealed it in a ziplock bag to hopefully keep my scent and let him know that I am still stealing his clothes.


Last time he received his package in 6 days during the Christmas holidays, I am anxious for him to receive this one. He and the guys say receiving packages definitely lift their spirts, so I love putting them together for him.

Week Six

And my gift for surviving six weeks of deployment...a nasty cold, soar throat and overall lethargic mood. Luckily my cousin stopped by to visit with me this weekend since she worked only an hour from my house this entire week, otherwise I would still be in bed. She took me to my favorite restaurant, bought my favorite bottle of wine, and brought goodies for Dakota and Daisy.

This week I did a few more productive things. I hosted my first game night on Thursday and started/arranged a weekly pot luck dinner with a few of my girlfriends whose husbands left around the same time. This will hopefully encourage cooking and discourage chips and salsa.

And in other accomplishments, I have yet to miss a kickboxing class in the last month, still feel sore after every class, and get this, I managed to develop a firm, rounder, rear end. Thanks to my mother's genes, the dairy air simply does not exist with the girls in our family, but it does now for me.