The first countdown of several, that is.
This time next week I could very possibly be hanging out with my husband. :)
Considering that this time next week I will also be turning 26 just leaves the end of November and the waltz into December a crazy one.
In a good way. :)
Other countdowns....
....until our second neice enters this world.....
....until Thanksgiving...yum food!....
....until Christmas, I'm getting to go back to CO....
....until March/April when John is HOME, home.
Lots of good times to look forward too.
I can't believe it's been 7 months without seeing that man.
There are times where it feels like it's flown by.
There are times where I thought a single day would NEVER end.
By the time leave is over and John heads back to the "sandbox," it will have been 8 months down with only 4 to go.
Shoot, I can do that in my sleep. ;)
On another note, I have to brag for a minute.
I am only 2-3 pounds away from the 30 lbs. lost mark.
Thank you, thank you.
I'm pretty proud myself.
I am still on a slight plateau only averaging a pound lost a week or so.
Now that it's cooled down Steph and I are going to have to find a back up for working out. I made John promise to take me to one of the main post gyms while he is home.
The thought of me going to the gym with him makes us both really happy.
He wanted so bad to help me when I was at my lowest point, but I really needed to jumpstart myself. Now that I've gotten to that point, we both look forward to having this new hobby to do together. :)
On another random note, Panera Bread has finally arrived here in Fayetteville, and it opens this THURSDAY....We are so pumped! I swear we have all been counting down the days. The closest Panera is about 25 minutes away from FAY and it's not uncommon for us wives to caravan ourselves and the kiddos to Aberdeen for a Panera fix. We've even moved our weekly Tuesday night dinner to Thursday for the occasion.
With John gone I've kept him in the loop as far as the progress of Panera sending him pictures here and there. Asking if it's open yet seems to be the one reoccuring question I get asked when we Skype! I have a feeling we'll be there quite a bit while he's home. Now if we had a Chipotle in town, we'd really be in business.
Well here's until next time, which could possibly mean John's already headed back to Iraq at that point.
Hooray for some new memories and having my husband home! Even if it's only for two weeks a year....:)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
I HATE Halloween
So, if you know me, even a little bit, we've probably at some point had a conversation about what a wuss I am and how much I HATE scary stuff.
Now, oddly enough, I was not always this way. It's something that slowly worsened as I grew older and watched freaky things that totally didn't help my psyche.
Growing up, my family never really "celebrated" Halloween.
I remember one time as a small kid dressing up as a cute little clown (I actually HATE clowns as an adult! Thanks to the movie "IT") and any other time I dressed up as something appropriate for a church Neewollah event.
A cat, most the time.
Completely innocent and free of any freaky interpretation.
As an older kid/pre teen/teen I HATED dressing up. So I never did.
I think it was mainly a self confidence issue. I don't like putting myself in a situation where I could look stupid or dumb in front of others, therefore, I chose not to test the waters much by avoiding this holiday in every way, shape, or form. Especially situations that would consist of me having to dress up.
As a teen, gory or freaky movies never bothered me. I can't say I loved them, but if a group of friends were going to a scary movie, I was down and had a great time. I remember watching "The Ring" with John (when we were dating!) and our dear friends Scott and Katie (they are married now too!) and we all freaked out when in the middle of the movie the TV went static (Scott had rolled over on the remote, LOL). I was exciting and funny to me then.
Once I got into college, things went downhill.
The main "event" I remember that began my Halloween demise, is being at Sarah Sturgis's house when we were all watching "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
Usually gory movies don't bother me, but for some reason, this movie threw me into another dimension I had never entered before.
Maybe it was the fact that some of the guys decided it'd be hilarious to sneak out of the house and pound on the windows during a scary part.....
Maybe it was Chris Jones sneaking up behind me and breathing down my neck and in my ear!
.....Maybe it was Becca Venheim throwing up at one point cause the movie grossed her out that much??
.....It could also be the fact that on my drive to CO from OKC we drive through a part of Texas where there's a heavily wooded stretch of road between two small towns that has TONS of warning signs screaming at you to not pick up hitchhikers.....
IDK, maybe all those things combined?
Either way, I went home that night to the dorm and laid wide awake and frozen in my bed with the cold sweats. My heart was pounding. I had sweat literally running down my face. Every time I opened my eyes I could see "Leatherface" staring at me overhead....like a ghost floating over my bed.
Starting that night, I never slept in darkness or in the quiet ever again.
My weird phobia took a extreme twist when my group of college friends went to Tulsa with my girl, Laurie Tomlinson (Martin). We went and saw "The Grudge."
Needless to say I was secretly in tears most of the movie and hand my hands over my eyes. Hence began my phobia of Asian people.
I know that sounds bizarre and maybe even racist, but I PROMISE it's not like that.....
This new twist along with my heightened anxiety at night when trying to sleep-I was a mess.
I remember being at home during summer break in college and waking up from a nightmare and I swear to this day there was a creepy little dead Asian girl standing at the foot of my bed.
I was scared to go to sleep. I was scared of the dark. EVERYTHING would make me jump.
Slammed doors. People coming through doors I didn't see. Car horns. People coming up behind me in anyway.....
While living back home I slowly got over my Asian phobia....LOL.
I am proud to say that being around Asian people no longer bothers me (unless it's in a spooky way, like a scary movie preview!) and I have several friends (I love you Christie Chan!!) that are Asian that laugh it off with me.....every once in a while I'll see an Asian child running through a store and I'll stop short and then slowly talk myself down from thinking about it.
By my senior year of college, I managed to at least sleep with the TV turned off. Still had the lights on and substituted the sound of the TV to a more subtle sound of a fan.
Moving back home after college was not a good experience at first because I was back in my room where I saw that dead girl. I would not sleep without a light on, my door locked, and a fan or space heater going for some white noise.
So if you look at where this all stems from (scared of clowns thanks to the movie "IT," scared of Asians, thanks to "The Grudge," scared of creepy dudes "Texas Chainsaw"), it seems like I have a serious issue differentiating "pretend" from reality.
I actually think it's a control issue. Or lack thereof.
I also think that it's related to my freak out sessions at the ocean. I CANNOT stand being in the ocean. I love to look at it and love to be on the beach. But the water and I are NOT friends. My freakout with that happened in Mexico when John and I went snorkeling on a reef during our cruise. I accidentally floated to the "wrong" side of the reef and when I looked over all I saw was black darkness....it was the vast open ocean and all the sudden I felt so small to the point where I panicked. John had to float me back to the other side of the reef cause I was so frozen. I had no control.
Today is dress up day at work and luckily for me I work with people that are funny instead of scary, LOL. I didn't dress up obviously, but the "theme" this year were classic characters from the WWE, and I got deemed the photographer this morning. :)
Granted I don't know who half of these character's are but it was great watching everyone have such a great time.
Until this guy showed up at the shoot.
Oh Em Gee.
I was snapping pics (like the one above) in the studio and turned around and saw this.
My jaw dropped, brain went blank, palms sweating, heart almost exploded, tears welled up, and instantly started looking for the door. I made a comment as I was scrambling away that he was freaking me out, in which he slowly turned his head and looked straight at me.
He was holding a bloody machete by the way.....
I started walking towards the group away from him and he followed me!....Not even cool....Luckily it was total pandemonium in the studio and no one noticed me panicking looking for the nearest exit.
Everyone kept asking, "Who is that?"
No one could figure out who it was and he wouldn't speak!
Which just freaked me out even more.
The group quickly disbursed to parade their outfits throughout the plant (especially customer service whom we were attempting to beat this year) allowing me to own my sweet escape!
Sigh.
Most of the time I will not fully admit I have all these fears.
It makes me feel like a kid and of course it's always hard for someone to admit something they are scared of. For me it's a series of things and I am slowly over time somewhat coming to terms with a couple of them. I've actually had to overcome them big time with John deployed. He isn't here to protect me! LOL.
My first Halloween in NC was fun cause the McNew's were our neighbors and John was home, so we had a great time with the neighbor kids. Every year since then I've always managed to be alone on Halloween forcing me to hide out in my house with my lights off and my pets on my lap ignoring the ringing doorbell.
Last year, I was told by leaving your porch light off that people would skip your house, so I went along with it. My doorbell was still rung! I finally figured out I had left my garage door open, so they obviously knew I was home......duh......
This year I am going trick or treating with some military families and their kids so hopefully that should be a tame event. We are going on post and the kids are all under 8, so I don't foresee it getting too rowdy.
For all of you out there getting ready to get your "Halloween" on this weekend, I apologize on behalf of all us party poopers that do not share your enthusiasm in dressing up for one night. But I swear if you jump out at me with some freaky mask on, I might burst into tears or it's on like donkey kong.
Now, oddly enough, I was not always this way. It's something that slowly worsened as I grew older and watched freaky things that totally didn't help my psyche.
Growing up, my family never really "celebrated" Halloween.
I remember one time as a small kid dressing up as a cute little clown (I actually HATE clowns as an adult! Thanks to the movie "IT") and any other time I dressed up as something appropriate for a church Neewollah event.
A cat, most the time.
Completely innocent and free of any freaky interpretation.
As an older kid/pre teen/teen I HATED dressing up. So I never did.
I think it was mainly a self confidence issue. I don't like putting myself in a situation where I could look stupid or dumb in front of others, therefore, I chose not to test the waters much by avoiding this holiday in every way, shape, or form. Especially situations that would consist of me having to dress up.
As a teen, gory or freaky movies never bothered me. I can't say I loved them, but if a group of friends were going to a scary movie, I was down and had a great time. I remember watching "The Ring" with John (when we were dating!) and our dear friends Scott and Katie (they are married now too!) and we all freaked out when in the middle of the movie the TV went static (Scott had rolled over on the remote, LOL). I was exciting and funny to me then.
Once I got into college, things went downhill.
The main "event" I remember that began my Halloween demise, is being at Sarah Sturgis's house when we were all watching "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
Usually gory movies don't bother me, but for some reason, this movie threw me into another dimension I had never entered before.
Maybe it was the fact that some of the guys decided it'd be hilarious to sneak out of the house and pound on the windows during a scary part.....
Maybe it was Chris Jones sneaking up behind me and breathing down my neck and in my ear!
.....Maybe it was Becca Venheim throwing up at one point cause the movie grossed her out that much??
.....It could also be the fact that on my drive to CO from OKC we drive through a part of Texas where there's a heavily wooded stretch of road between two small towns that has TONS of warning signs screaming at you to not pick up hitchhikers.....
IDK, maybe all those things combined?
Either way, I went home that night to the dorm and laid wide awake and frozen in my bed with the cold sweats. My heart was pounding. I had sweat literally running down my face. Every time I opened my eyes I could see "Leatherface" staring at me overhead....like a ghost floating over my bed.
Starting that night, I never slept in darkness or in the quiet ever again.
My weird phobia took a extreme twist when my group of college friends went to Tulsa with my girl, Laurie Tomlinson (Martin). We went and saw "The Grudge."
Needless to say I was secretly in tears most of the movie and hand my hands over my eyes. Hence began my phobia of Asian people.
I know that sounds bizarre and maybe even racist, but I PROMISE it's not like that.....
This new twist along with my heightened anxiety at night when trying to sleep-I was a mess.
I remember being at home during summer break in college and waking up from a nightmare and I swear to this day there was a creepy little dead Asian girl standing at the foot of my bed.
I know how weird that sounds, but you have no idea how much it gripped me.
I remember working at Mimi Maternity in college.
Most nights I'd work by myself in the store, and I remember one night specifically where this beautiful Asian woman and her two small boys came in the store to shop. I was petrified. Especially by the boys. If you've seen "The Grudge" you'd know why!
This fear gripped me especially during Halloween when people would spook people in masks or dress up as real creepy things that looked WAY to real for me to handle.
I was scared to go to sleep. I was scared of the dark. EVERYTHING would make me jump.
Slammed doors. People coming through doors I didn't see. Car horns. People coming up behind me in anyway.....
While living back home I slowly got over my Asian phobia....LOL.
I am proud to say that being around Asian people no longer bothers me (unless it's in a spooky way, like a scary movie preview!) and I have several friends (I love you Christie Chan!!) that are Asian that laugh it off with me.....every once in a while I'll see an Asian child running through a store and I'll stop short and then slowly talk myself down from thinking about it.
By my senior year of college, I managed to at least sleep with the TV turned off. Still had the lights on and substituted the sound of the TV to a more subtle sound of a fan.
Moving back home after college was not a good experience at first because I was back in my room where I saw that dead girl. I would not sleep without a light on, my door locked, and a fan or space heater going for some white noise.
So if you look at where this all stems from (scared of clowns thanks to the movie "IT," scared of Asians, thanks to "The Grudge," scared of creepy dudes "Texas Chainsaw"), it seems like I have a serious issue differentiating "pretend" from reality.
I actually think it's a control issue. Or lack thereof.
I also think that it's related to my freak out sessions at the ocean. I CANNOT stand being in the ocean. I love to look at it and love to be on the beach. But the water and I are NOT friends. My freakout with that happened in Mexico when John and I went snorkeling on a reef during our cruise. I accidentally floated to the "wrong" side of the reef and when I looked over all I saw was black darkness....it was the vast open ocean and all the sudden I felt so small to the point where I panicked. John had to float me back to the other side of the reef cause I was so frozen. I had no control.
 |
| Photo taken at our photography studio at work. |
Granted I don't know who half of these character's are but it was great watching everyone have such a great time.
 |
| My worst enemy. |
Until this guy showed up at the shoot.
Oh Em Gee.
I was snapping pics (like the one above) in the studio and turned around and saw this.
My jaw dropped, brain went blank, palms sweating, heart almost exploded, tears welled up, and instantly started looking for the door. I made a comment as I was scrambling away that he was freaking me out, in which he slowly turned his head and looked straight at me.
He was holding a bloody machete by the way.....
I started walking towards the group away from him and he followed me!....Not even cool....Luckily it was total pandemonium in the studio and no one noticed me panicking looking for the nearest exit.
Everyone kept asking, "Who is that?"
No one could figure out who it was and he wouldn't speak!
Which just freaked me out even more.
The group quickly disbursed to parade their outfits throughout the plant (especially customer service whom we were attempting to beat this year) allowing me to own my sweet escape!
Sigh.
Most of the time I will not fully admit I have all these fears.
It makes me feel like a kid and of course it's always hard for someone to admit something they are scared of. For me it's a series of things and I am slowly over time somewhat coming to terms with a couple of them. I've actually had to overcome them big time with John deployed. He isn't here to protect me! LOL.
My first Halloween in NC was fun cause the McNew's were our neighbors and John was home, so we had a great time with the neighbor kids. Every year since then I've always managed to be alone on Halloween forcing me to hide out in my house with my lights off and my pets on my lap ignoring the ringing doorbell.
Last year, I was told by leaving your porch light off that people would skip your house, so I went along with it. My doorbell was still rung! I finally figured out I had left my garage door open, so they obviously knew I was home......duh......
This year I am going trick or treating with some military families and their kids so hopefully that should be a tame event. We are going on post and the kids are all under 8, so I don't foresee it getting too rowdy.
For all of you out there getting ready to get your "Halloween" on this weekend, I apologize on behalf of all us party poopers that do not share your enthusiasm in dressing up for one night. But I swear if you jump out at me with some freaky mask on, I might burst into tears or it's on like donkey kong.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Happy Anniversary!!
Hello All!!
First off, happy 6 month anniversary to all of my 108th ladies!
We are half way there and many of us are in countdown mode until our mid tour leave R &R arrives!! How exciting and what an amazing ride it's been so far!
I can honestly say that as far as my end is concerned, it's been a good ride overall so far.
Def had some bumps in the road (car accidents & lawn mowers not starting!) but looking back on the past 6 months it really has gone by quickly and I really am blessed.
I'll be randomly walking around my house, hiking the Cape Fear Trail with Steph & Luke, or just driving around town and I remember that this time, maybe a year and a half ago, I felt anything but blessed.
I hated my job, I hated Ft. Bragg, I hated Fayetteville, and I HATED North Carolina.
Although I am still fighting some of these inner demons, I am proud to say that I am learning to truly make lemonade out of life's lemons and make it the best adventure possible.
I have a job I love and try so hard, every day, to not take it for granted, no matter how frustrated I get.
I have a house and want for nothing that it doesn't already have in it.
I have a new car that I don't have to worry about breaking down or having issues with (even if it has been "hit" twice!).
I have three awesome pets that I wouldn't trade the world for. They really are my saving grace while John is gone. These three furry babies are what keep me extremely entertained on a daily basis and I am so blessed to have these little creatures in my life to keep me smiling and laughing. Even if I am home by myself!
I also have an amazing husband who, although I haven't seen him in the last 6 months, still manages to make me feel like a rockstar-even if he is on the other side of the world.
The Army life has turned me into this person that can go on with her day-to-day activities and not even spend a second thought on worry what John may or not be doing while deployed. We both find an amazing solace in the fact that we can both focus on our jobs and our day-to-day rituals and not have that little bug in the back of your mind wondering if the other one is ok, or what they are doing...
I guess you could say it's what 100% trust feels like, and I am telling you that it is so RELIEVING!
I could go on and on, so I won't bore you, but the one other thing in my life that I have realized more and more that I am blessed by are my friends and family.
These cover several categories, starting with not only friends, but my military wife friends.
We are all rockstars in our own right and not everyone in this world can do what we do. We are a special "breed" of women, in my opinion, that cannot only find small joys when we are alone, but also can make joy extra special when we aren't.
As bad as this may sound, I so bad want to challenge all those women that whine, complain, and miss their hubs who are gone for a weekend, or even a week, or a month for work............
Please.....story of my life.....the world's smallest violin is playing sorrowfully for you somewhere, just not anywhere near here. :)
Then there are my non-military wife friends. It seems no matter how far apart we have scattered since high school/college, we all still manage to pick up where we left off when we do get to see each other. I love it. I do miss the fun times of when we all were together, but hey, we have our big kid panties on now, so let's rock it from a distance. :)
Then my fam.
They are so quirky and I heart it.
Everyone always secretly thinks their family is crazy.
Come on, at least a little bit!
I, however, will openly admit that we are all crazy and I think we all take pride in that fact.
We like to substitute the word "crazy" for "unique," but hey "potato, potato."
Anyways, here goes to the next couple months as we all get to experience our two week R&R's and then look on forward to their return home...:)
First off, happy 6 month anniversary to all of my 108th ladies!
We are half way there and many of us are in countdown mode until our mid tour leave R &R arrives!! How exciting and what an amazing ride it's been so far!
I can honestly say that as far as my end is concerned, it's been a good ride overall so far.
Def had some bumps in the road (car accidents & lawn mowers not starting!) but looking back on the past 6 months it really has gone by quickly and I really am blessed.
I'll be randomly walking around my house, hiking the Cape Fear Trail with Steph & Luke, or just driving around town and I remember that this time, maybe a year and a half ago, I felt anything but blessed.
I hated my job, I hated Ft. Bragg, I hated Fayetteville, and I HATED North Carolina.
Although I am still fighting some of these inner demons, I am proud to say that I am learning to truly make lemonade out of life's lemons and make it the best adventure possible.
I have a job I love and try so hard, every day, to not take it for granted, no matter how frustrated I get.
I have a house and want for nothing that it doesn't already have in it.
I have a new car that I don't have to worry about breaking down or having issues with (even if it has been "hit" twice!).
I have three awesome pets that I wouldn't trade the world for. They really are my saving grace while John is gone. These three furry babies are what keep me extremely entertained on a daily basis and I am so blessed to have these little creatures in my life to keep me smiling and laughing. Even if I am home by myself!
I also have an amazing husband who, although I haven't seen him in the last 6 months, still manages to make me feel like a rockstar-even if he is on the other side of the world.
The Army life has turned me into this person that can go on with her day-to-day activities and not even spend a second thought on worry what John may or not be doing while deployed. We both find an amazing solace in the fact that we can both focus on our jobs and our day-to-day rituals and not have that little bug in the back of your mind wondering if the other one is ok, or what they are doing...
I guess you could say it's what 100% trust feels like, and I am telling you that it is so RELIEVING!
I could go on and on, so I won't bore you, but the one other thing in my life that I have realized more and more that I am blessed by are my friends and family.
These cover several categories, starting with not only friends, but my military wife friends.
We are all rockstars in our own right and not everyone in this world can do what we do. We are a special "breed" of women, in my opinion, that cannot only find small joys when we are alone, but also can make joy extra special when we aren't.
As bad as this may sound, I so bad want to challenge all those women that whine, complain, and miss their hubs who are gone for a weekend, or even a week, or a month for work............
Please.....story of my life.....the world's smallest violin is playing sorrowfully for you somewhere, just not anywhere near here. :)
Then there are my non-military wife friends. It seems no matter how far apart we have scattered since high school/college, we all still manage to pick up where we left off when we do get to see each other. I love it. I do miss the fun times of when we all were together, but hey, we have our big kid panties on now, so let's rock it from a distance. :)
They are so quirky and I heart it.
Everyone always secretly thinks their family is crazy.
Come on, at least a little bit!
I, however, will openly admit that we are all crazy and I think we all take pride in that fact.
We like to substitute the word "crazy" for "unique," but hey "potato, potato."
Anyways, here goes to the next couple months as we all get to experience our two week R&R's and then look on forward to their return home...:)
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Unorganized Chaos...
Yup.
That pretty much describes the last month for me.
An oxymoron if you ask me, but this month has proved to be just a mess upon mess upon mess, so oxymorons are allowed in my book.
Where do I start....Well, let's go in order so the anticipation will slowly build up to the purpose behind my blog title.
We actually left just in time. The last day there we spent the morning laying out on the beach with one of Kristen's friends who's from the area. She texted us later once we left town saying there had been a shark attack on the beach we had been laying out at!! Shark week def left an impression on us, literally. :)
Downer #......??
As far as the pregnant part, it's been an awesome thing to watch. Thank you Lord so much for Facebook. LOL.
As much as I hate FB sometimes, it really does allow me to see some of my friends from far away in these joyous events.
Won't lie, it's given me a bit of the baby bug which fortunately for me, John's not here, so no babies. I just go love on my animals some....
John and I were actually proactively planning to expand our family, in the human sort, LOL, here in the next year or so, but plans have changed, as they always do, so here I am getting back on the pill.
From our experience in the Army lifestyle, we have become firm believers that things happen when they are supposed to, so we aren't letting these plans be viewed as negative setbacks....just steps we are making so we can be better suited and set up for when we do start a family.
Our motto is we work now, so we can play later.
So as of right now, we aren't sure what kind of work we are going to be doing, per se, but we just know there will be a couple more years of it. :)
Of course, I am jinxing myself, so there goes nothing...............
After typing all this out it doesn't seem like such chaos....I think it's been more of the emtional of psychological drain than anything. Some of this is stuff that normally wouldn't be a big deal but I am realizing that I need John home more than I have admitted. For fixing vaccums....Lord knows I miss that man dearly, and I don't think I do a very good job of showing it.
I've had my moments, but most the time I keep myself so busy that I don't give myself time to miss him or to get emotional about it.
But when I see him on Skype or get an email, bu heart still skips a beat. :) I do miss him. TONS. Luckily I am surrounded by people that are going through the same thing so we rely on each other for that stability...as much as I don't talk about how his deployment effects me, it really does eat me up inside. There are so many things he and I work so hard for and with the morale being so low over there right now, it kills me. It makes me feel guilty for sitting home all weekend watching movies in my AC with my yummy food, hanging out with our kiddos...
If anyone asks me (and no one really does anymore anyways), I am doing fine and things are good...but inside my heart hurts a little.
Don't get me wrong, things are easier the second time around. I couldn't imagine going through the first deployment here in NC by myself.....I'd have broken a long time ago. Vaccum or not!
I am SOOOO grateful for my job, as tired as it makes me feel sometimes.
I am SOOOO grateful for my military girls and our Tuesday night dinners (this week Texas Roadhouse, Woo Hoo!!) and our random BBQ's or outings.....
Well, this was one of my first weekends since John left where I had TWO days off AND I spent them at home doing absolutely nothing.....I've watched 5 movies total thanks to Netflix (Benjamin Button, Last Song, Edge of Love, Do you hear about the Morgans, and The Pianist), caught up on my trash reality TV, bought some groceries, got my car inspection done, ate sushi, looked for plane tickets, fixed the vaccum, cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, and started "24" season 4....yes I know I watch a lot of TV, but I work a lot on the weekdays, so the weekends I catch up!
August is almost gone, so that means four months down!
November is his rumored mid tour leave, so only 3 more to go! :)
That pretty much describes the last month for me.
An oxymoron if you ask me, but this month has proved to be just a mess upon mess upon mess, so oxymorons are allowed in my book.
Where do I start....Well, let's go in order so the anticipation will slowly build up to the purpose behind my blog title.
To begin, let's start on a positive note!
My cousin, Ashleigh, and one of my dear friends I met in college, Kristen, flew out to North Carolina for a vacation. We hit up Myrtle Beach, SC and had a great time. Despite having to work around my crazy busy work schedule, we managed to get some sun, meet some new people, and make some memories. Did a tad bit of shopping, attempted every morning to get a sunrise, laid out and walked around enjoying the sun...Senor Frogs....Hard Rock Cafe.....Boardwalk...Ron Jon.....exactly what we all needed I think.
We actually left just in time. The last day there we spent the morning laying out on the beach with one of Kristen's friends who's from the area. She texted us later once we left town saying there had been a shark attack on the beach we had been laying out at!! Now let's start the snowball of crappy stuff.
I was in that car accident a couple weeks ago and although they had my car fixed, they have given me tons of crap. The last of it was when they offered me $150 for loss of value on my car....long story short we are considering our options including suing Nationwide....we'll see how that goes...
Second downer is that I had a falling out with the gym I had been going too. Needless to say I was able to get my membership cancelled without all the fees. Downside is I didn't have a backup gym in place to go to. So since then I have been doing a walk that Steph and I invented almost everyday with Hurley. I clocked it the other day at 1.7 miles, and it's on hills, so go me.
Downer #3, my iPod quit.
Well, then I went to Myrtle Beach again. LOL.
This time with the FRG ladies for the Strong Bonds Deployed Spouses Retreat. It was a weekend long and didn't hit the beach at all, but had a great time getting to know some of my fellow military wives better.
Funny enough, my father in law and his family are TCS'd in Ft. Jackson, SC and met me in Myrtle Beach for lunch so I could meet his daughters.
His name is Pete, a Chaplain Captain in the Army, and he remarried a couple years ago to a Filipino woman he met overseas, named Daisy. They have 2 year old and 7 month old little girls named Alliyah (sp?) and Katherine. They are gorgeous little girls and it was neat to be able to see them.
We don't talk to his dad or his new family much, so the fact that it worked out was really cool. To this day John has never met his new family, he has always been deployed when they've been in the area, so whenever they are around I try my best to meet up with them.
Well here goes stressful moments 4-however many....
Apparently the new trend these days is to get married and then tell everyone about it later.
This first happened with my best friend Dana, who was my college roommate and my maid of honor in my wedding. Although I am still on the mend of how much it sucked not to be able to share that moment with her, we are working past it and hopefully making our friendship stronger in the process.
Little did I know that this was preparing me for it to happen in my own family.
John's middle brother shocked us a couple months ago telling us he was engaged to this girl Brittany. John and I have never met her, so imagine our shock.
Well got another shockeroo when I got a text message from my sister in law that, sure enough, Jerrod was getting married that evening and she had just found out. Sure enough they got married and of course John, his best man, wasn't there....I guess obviously I wasn't either, but the main reason for me blowing up was cause John wasn't there.....
Well, long story short, it's not been a good situation and it's going to take some MAJOR work for some of us to get over all this and get it all sorted out. It's hard for me to not take these actions personally and it really makes John and I feel so disconnected from everyone in their lives...we feel far away from home enough already....moments like this make it seem even further.
It will work itself out. It always does somehow....
John is really the one feeling really hurt.
Maily cause he can't do anything about it. Morale has already been really crappy for the guys and adding this on top has really made him feel far away.
Luckily for me and everyone else in our lives, John is an amazing forgiving person. One of the best I know. It seems no matter how much crap people throw in that man's face he refuses to let it bring him down. I love him for it because it makes me grow as a person.
With him being like that I have gotten the mindset where I refuse, regardless of how John & I feel right now, to let something like this tear any family member's apart.
Downer #......??Jax ate his third pair of my sandles......Sigh.....Yes, Jax is my cat (he's curled up in my lap all cute while I type this, I will have you know).
Next downer, I accidentally busted our vaccum running over a dog toy.....
Positives out of some of these situations?
I got a new iPod and it's PINK!
I completely disected our vaccum figured out the problem, replaced all the filters, and got it working again. All BY MYSELF!
It also seems these days that either everyone is getting pregnant :) or getting divorced. :(
Obviously not going to name names, but it seems to be going one extreme or another and the divorced ones are ones I never imagined. Some I know better than others, but it still is hard to watch. Especially from a distance. You want to know what's going on with them, but at the same time you don't want to come across nosy or pushy, or in their business..... ya know?
As far as the pregnant part, it's been an awesome thing to watch. Thank you Lord so much for Facebook. LOL.
As much as I hate FB sometimes, it really does allow me to see some of my friends from far away in these joyous events.
Won't lie, it's given me a bit of the baby bug which fortunately for me, John's not here, so no babies. I just go love on my animals some....
John and I were actually proactively planning to expand our family, in the human sort, LOL, here in the next year or so, but plans have changed, as they always do, so here I am getting back on the pill.
From our experience in the Army lifestyle, we have become firm believers that things happen when they are supposed to, so we aren't letting these plans be viewed as negative setbacks....just steps we are making so we can be better suited and set up for when we do start a family.
Our motto is we work now, so we can play later.
So as of right now, we aren't sure what kind of work we are going to be doing, per se, but we just know there will be a couple more years of it. :)
Of course, I am jinxing myself, so there goes nothing...............
After typing all this out it doesn't seem like such chaos....I think it's been more of the emtional of psychological drain than anything. Some of this is stuff that normally wouldn't be a big deal but I am realizing that I need John home more than I have admitted. For fixing vaccums....Lord knows I miss that man dearly, and I don't think I do a very good job of showing it.
I've had my moments, but most the time I keep myself so busy that I don't give myself time to miss him or to get emotional about it.
But when I see him on Skype or get an email, bu heart still skips a beat. :) I do miss him. TONS. Luckily I am surrounded by people that are going through the same thing so we rely on each other for that stability...as much as I don't talk about how his deployment effects me, it really does eat me up inside. There are so many things he and I work so hard for and with the morale being so low over there right now, it kills me. It makes me feel guilty for sitting home all weekend watching movies in my AC with my yummy food, hanging out with our kiddos...
If anyone asks me (and no one really does anymore anyways), I am doing fine and things are good...but inside my heart hurts a little.
Don't get me wrong, things are easier the second time around. I couldn't imagine going through the first deployment here in NC by myself.....I'd have broken a long time ago. Vaccum or not!
I am SOOOO grateful for my job, as tired as it makes me feel sometimes.
I am SOOOO grateful for my military girls and our Tuesday night dinners (this week Texas Roadhouse, Woo Hoo!!) and our random BBQ's or outings.....
Well, this was one of my first weekends since John left where I had TWO days off AND I spent them at home doing absolutely nothing.....I've watched 5 movies total thanks to Netflix (Benjamin Button, Last Song, Edge of Love, Do you hear about the Morgans, and The Pianist), caught up on my trash reality TV, bought some groceries, got my car inspection done, ate sushi, looked for plane tickets, fixed the vaccum, cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, and started "24" season 4....yes I know I watch a lot of TV, but I work a lot on the weekdays, so the weekends I catch up!
August is almost gone, so that means four months down!
November is his rumored mid tour leave, so only 3 more to go! :)
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Venting Session
Ok, so I go into the gym yesterday just to be smacked around (figuratively) by a sign on the spin classroom door that spin classes are being changed to Tuesday's and Thursdays instead of Monday's and Wednesdays.
AND!!!! Our usual instructor, whom I LOVE, is no longer teaching the class.
I almost had a FIT right then and there.
I went up to the front and asked the girl at the front desk about it (she goes to the classes too) and she didn't have much info to give me.
I ran into one of the trainers on my way to the locker room and asked her about it and she said that our instructor, Amy, did NOT quit.
So, one can assume she got fired for some reason.....
What the...?!!?!?
I LOVED her, I ADORED her and honestly, I owe a lot of my weight loss/success to her and her class.
I seriously had tears in my eyes as I went to the locker room to change....
I worked out anyways and of course us women that had showed up for spin just to find that awesome sign, started talking/complaining to each other about it.
We are a little clique I'll admit. A true mixture of ages, occupations, areas of life, but we all had this one thing in common. We LOVED spin. We LOVED Amy.
Whomever is taking over her class as HUGE shoes to fill.....
When I got home my mom called and I had a true melt down.
Yes, over my spin class.
And that's where I came to the realization that I used this spin class as my crutch to make up time when I would normally be home with John.
I didn't want to do spin because I love it, I NEEDED to do spin because I NEEDED it.
I needed that "something" to take up my time so that my routine continued to be full and I wouldn't have enough time to sit and think about the fact that I am here alone without him.
Can I just tell you how awesome my mom is?!
She's run into the issue, several times, where her women's only gyms kept closing altogether.
She said she had little fits about it like I was, but you just readapt and keep doing what you are doing, don't let this little hiccup dictate my success at being healthy, fit, and happy.
That's all well and great, but now I am also going to have to figure out how the rest of my life routine is going to work, because.....
Usually on Tuesday's us Army wives have our Tuesday night dinners at a new restaurant every week. That's something I don't/can't miss...I need it too!
Once a month on Thursday's is our FRG meetings.....Don't necessarily NEED to go to that, but I should.
Not sure what I am going to do, but there, I got it out. Just know I am upset, and have taken it rather personally......LOL.
AND!!!! Our usual instructor, whom I LOVE, is no longer teaching the class.
I almost had a FIT right then and there.
I went up to the front and asked the girl at the front desk about it (she goes to the classes too) and she didn't have much info to give me.
I ran into one of the trainers on my way to the locker room and asked her about it and she said that our instructor, Amy, did NOT quit.
So, one can assume she got fired for some reason.....
What the...?!!?!?
I LOVED her, I ADORED her and honestly, I owe a lot of my weight loss/success to her and her class.
I seriously had tears in my eyes as I went to the locker room to change....
I worked out anyways and of course us women that had showed up for spin just to find that awesome sign, started talking/complaining to each other about it.
We are a little clique I'll admit. A true mixture of ages, occupations, areas of life, but we all had this one thing in common. We LOVED spin. We LOVED Amy.
Whomever is taking over her class as HUGE shoes to fill.....
When I got home my mom called and I had a true melt down.
Yes, over my spin class.
And that's where I came to the realization that I used this spin class as my crutch to make up time when I would normally be home with John.
I didn't want to do spin because I love it, I NEEDED to do spin because I NEEDED it.
I needed that "something" to take up my time so that my routine continued to be full and I wouldn't have enough time to sit and think about the fact that I am here alone without him.
Can I just tell you how awesome my mom is?!
She's run into the issue, several times, where her women's only gyms kept closing altogether.
She said she had little fits about it like I was, but you just readapt and keep doing what you are doing, don't let this little hiccup dictate my success at being healthy, fit, and happy.
That's all well and great, but now I am also going to have to figure out how the rest of my life routine is going to work, because.....
Usually on Tuesday's us Army wives have our Tuesday night dinners at a new restaurant every week. That's something I don't/can't miss...I need it too!
Once a month on Thursday's is our FRG meetings.....Don't necessarily NEED to go to that, but I should.
Not sure what I am going to do, but there, I got it out. Just know I am upset, and have taken it rather personally......LOL.
Pool, Pedicures, and Pupcakes
Hello all!
This month of July has definitely not failed to keep me "entertained."
Continuing my saga of car drama, my mom came down to visit me the weekend of 4th of July. I think my self pity made her and my dad feel my pain. ;)
She came into Raleigh on Friday night and after sleeping in Saturday morning, we hit the pool at Steph's apt complex. Steph's sister and niece were in town so they joined us, as well as Jeanette, at the pool for some much needed relaxing and girl time.
After the pool mom, Jeanette, and I went to the mall to get a much needed pedicure.
4th of July weekend is our designated weekend for Hurley's birthday (he turned #2!!) so we stopped by a dog "barkery" called WOOF and picked him up some organic cookies (gluten and soy free of course, HA!) and a birthday "pupcake!"
We waited until the end of the three day weekend, before mom left, to give it to him. It was so cute! The "pupcake" is organic/gluten/soy free carrot cake with a yogurt frosting and he LOVED it. He carried it around for a while until he decided he would go ahead and eat it.
I also bought him two dog cookies, one in the shape of a lobster (it was really cute, ok!?) and one in the shape of a birthday cake. He also carried them around for a while before he settled down to eat them. I think he wanted to make sure Jax wasn't going to take it from him, like he does everything else!
On Sunday after church, we all made our way to Jenn A's house where her and her adorable kiddo's hosted a little 4th of July "partay" for us.
We BBQ'd potluck style so we had tons of food. Jenn's kids got an absolute kick out of my mom. They not only didn't believe she was my mom but also got some much needed time pseudo grandma time. After eating we headed towards the company area to watch the firework show they do on post. They started a little late so keeping the kids entertained was a chore, but we managed. :)
Got home pretty late but managed to sleep in on Monday and then make the trek back to Raleigh to drop mom off. It was so great to have her there. Looking back on it, that was just what I needed after the car accident. I just needed someone to hang out with at home. There's nothing more stressful and irritating than taking care of drama like car accidents with a husband deployed. Just her presence was good enough for me. Someone to vent to and also to take my mind off of things (I will also have you know that somehow while mom was here I managed to lose another 3-5 pounds! So I am now down to 141-142 lbs!)
I took my car to the vehicle adjustor close to my work to prep an estimate. I had a weird feeling about this guy and so far my feelings have been right. He's just not all 100% there......don't know any other way to say it.
I finally started going back to the gym that week.
Came out kinda sore, but gotta start somewhere.
Dropped the Rogue off at the body shop on the 12th. The estimator only gave them 4 days to do the work, but everyone agreed it would take longer than that. So of course, on Thursday when I call to see if it's done, it wasn't, and they said to check back on Friday, the 16th, and see if it's done then. They had to order parts because there was more damage than originally estimated, so on Friday, they told me it wouldn't be ready until that next Monday.
Awesome.
That Thursday I went to my follow up doc appointment and was good for the most part. I have one more doc appt today and I should be done. HOWEVER, because my insurance isn't being charged for these doc visits, I have some outstanding bills in my name which is something I HATE. Have a meeting Friday with the Medical Claims Adjustor, so that should quickly go away, but still!
Finally picked up my car on Monday.
Had to drop off the rental car which quickly became issue #1.
When they pulled up my account they said that Nationwide hadn't approved the extension of my rental car and that until they get it approved and paid for, they are going to continue to hold the deposit on my card.
Awesome, again.
They give me a ride to the body shop I got my car fixed at.
When I went inside to pay for it the total they gave me was for more than the check Nationwide gave me.
When I asked her about the difference in numbers (it was only about $20) they said that because I brought my car in with a used muffler and they had to replace it with a new one, that I had to pay the difference of the depreciated muffler they replaced.
Did anyone ever tell me I was going to have to pay this expense? Nope.
Wow, this is a lot of awesomeness.
I called the adjustor immediately after paying and it went straight to voicemail.
Called again about half an hour later and it rang twice and went to voicemail.
Went to the dealership where the car was bought to get an appraisal done.
In the end, according to the dealership, my loss of value if I traded in my vehicle for a unwrecked version, is $5,410.
AWESOME (please note the sarcasm).
Needless to say through several days worth of no returned phone calls, I finally got the adjustor on the phone and he came by and looked at my car today. The rental car issue was resolved and he's going to write me a check for the difference in total I had to pay at the body shop for the muffler (even though he said they aren't "obligated" too).
Status update on it is that now that it's fixed he submits paperwork to corporate to determine loss of value. They conference meeting over it and come up with an offer anywhere from 2-3 weeks. So now I wait........
Things to look forward to:
My girls Kristen and Ashleigh are coming next week and we are going to hit Myrtle Beach like a hurricane. It's going to be so great. :)
This month of July has definitely not failed to keep me "entertained."
Continuing my saga of car drama, my mom came down to visit me the weekend of 4th of July. I think my self pity made her and my dad feel my pain. ;)
She came into Raleigh on Friday night and after sleeping in Saturday morning, we hit the pool at Steph's apt complex. Steph's sister and niece were in town so they joined us, as well as Jeanette, at the pool for some much needed relaxing and girl time.
After the pool mom, Jeanette, and I went to the mall to get a much needed pedicure.
4th of July weekend is our designated weekend for Hurley's birthday (he turned #2!!) so we stopped by a dog "barkery" called WOOF and picked him up some organic cookies (gluten and soy free of course, HA!) and a birthday "pupcake!"
We waited until the end of the three day weekend, before mom left, to give it to him. It was so cute! The "pupcake" is organic/gluten/soy free carrot cake with a yogurt frosting and he LOVED it. He carried it around for a while until he decided he would go ahead and eat it.
I also bought him two dog cookies, one in the shape of a lobster (it was really cute, ok!?) and one in the shape of a birthday cake. He also carried them around for a while before he settled down to eat them. I think he wanted to make sure Jax wasn't going to take it from him, like he does everything else!
On Sunday after church, we all made our way to Jenn A's house where her and her adorable kiddo's hosted a little 4th of July "partay" for us.
We BBQ'd potluck style so we had tons of food. Jenn's kids got an absolute kick out of my mom. They not only didn't believe she was my mom but also got some much needed time pseudo grandma time. After eating we headed towards the company area to watch the firework show they do on post. They started a little late so keeping the kids entertained was a chore, but we managed. :)
Got home pretty late but managed to sleep in on Monday and then make the trek back to Raleigh to drop mom off. It was so great to have her there. Looking back on it, that was just what I needed after the car accident. I just needed someone to hang out with at home. There's nothing more stressful and irritating than taking care of drama like car accidents with a husband deployed. Just her presence was good enough for me. Someone to vent to and also to take my mind off of things (I will also have you know that somehow while mom was here I managed to lose another 3-5 pounds! So I am now down to 141-142 lbs!)
I took my car to the vehicle adjustor close to my work to prep an estimate. I had a weird feeling about this guy and so far my feelings have been right. He's just not all 100% there......don't know any other way to say it.
I finally started going back to the gym that week.
Came out kinda sore, but gotta start somewhere.
Dropped the Rogue off at the body shop on the 12th. The estimator only gave them 4 days to do the work, but everyone agreed it would take longer than that. So of course, on Thursday when I call to see if it's done, it wasn't, and they said to check back on Friday, the 16th, and see if it's done then. They had to order parts because there was more damage than originally estimated, so on Friday, they told me it wouldn't be ready until that next Monday.
Awesome.
That Thursday I went to my follow up doc appointment and was good for the most part. I have one more doc appt today and I should be done. HOWEVER, because my insurance isn't being charged for these doc visits, I have some outstanding bills in my name which is something I HATE. Have a meeting Friday with the Medical Claims Adjustor, so that should quickly go away, but still!
Finally picked up my car on Monday.
Had to drop off the rental car which quickly became issue #1.
When they pulled up my account they said that Nationwide hadn't approved the extension of my rental car and that until they get it approved and paid for, they are going to continue to hold the deposit on my card.
Awesome, again.
They give me a ride to the body shop I got my car fixed at.
When I went inside to pay for it the total they gave me was for more than the check Nationwide gave me.
When I asked her about the difference in numbers (it was only about $20) they said that because I brought my car in with a used muffler and they had to replace it with a new one, that I had to pay the difference of the depreciated muffler they replaced.
Did anyone ever tell me I was going to have to pay this expense? Nope.
Wow, this is a lot of awesomeness.
I called the adjustor immediately after paying and it went straight to voicemail.
Called again about half an hour later and it rang twice and went to voicemail.
Went to the dealership where the car was bought to get an appraisal done.
In the end, according to the dealership, my loss of value if I traded in my vehicle for a unwrecked version, is $5,410.
AWESOME (please note the sarcasm).
Needless to say through several days worth of no returned phone calls, I finally got the adjustor on the phone and he came by and looked at my car today. The rental car issue was resolved and he's going to write me a check for the difference in total I had to pay at the body shop for the muffler (even though he said they aren't "obligated" too).
Status update on it is that now that it's fixed he submits paperwork to corporate to determine loss of value. They conference meeting over it and come up with an offer anywhere from 2-3 weeks. So now I wait........
Things to look forward to:
My girls Kristen and Ashleigh are coming next week and we are going to hit Myrtle Beach like a hurricane. It's going to be so great. :)
Thursday, July 1, 2010
June 2010-Three Months Down!!!
Can I just start off by saying that this has been a real roller coaster of a month and it's been a true test of my military wife gumption.
First off i have proof that I have lost the 20 +/- lbs that I have been proudly talking about.
Please check out Exhibit A which is from a doctor's note today (more about the note later!):
If you check out my prior posts, I published that at the beginning of this journey that I weighed in at 161 +/-. Last time I was at the doctor it was actualy a couple pounds more than this, but I wanted to give myself a little bit of credit! Althought I FEEL like I am smaller than this new weigh in, I does give me a boost of encouragement that what I am doing is good and right. So, here I am patting myself on the back, go me. :)
Secondly, I am now a firm believer in Skype. My friend Dana has bugged the heck out of me to use it while she's been traveling abroad, and John mentioned that he's used it, but I just never investigated it. Well for John's birthday his mom bought us webcams and now I am a firm believer. It's been so great to see that boy's face and be able to TALK to him. We have Skype dates once a week and it's just been so great.
Next, I have started going out to dinner with fellow military wives once a week and it's been so nice! Every week we've hit up a different restaurant and just hung out and have had just some good old fashioned girl time. Next week B-Dubs! YUM.
So a couple months ago we sold John's car before his deployment. Found the buyer, signed over the title with the notary, turned in our plates John deployed. It's all good right? Yeah well not so much.
I get a bill in the mail from Harnett County to pay property taxes on the Altima. Through a bunch of drama and insane amounts of phone calls, turns out the buyer of the Altima never took the newly turned over title to the DMV to register it in his name, so therefore we were still technically the owners, therefore getting a property tax bill. Of course John had done all the communications with our buyer. With him and his cell phone out of commission I had no way to get in touch with this guy. Between even more drama and headaches with the DMV and the County it pretty much came down to either I find this guy or I the car will continue to be in our names.
Well, dug through ALL of our car paperwork from the last 4 years and finally found his email. I emailed him and heard nothing. Dug through more paperwork and finally found a phone number. Called and left a message and heard nothing. Finally the County called him and he answered. They got him to do what he needed to do and even with a little bit of attitude from him it eventually got all taken care of.
Even so, it was an "awesome" three week experience that makes me even less of a fan of NC, esp it's DMV. I even had one of the DMV workers hang up on me. No joke.
Anyways, it's over, it'done.
These last couple weeks have been crazy at work. Just so busy. A couple months ago they had the whole company do an anonymous survey about our thoughts/opinions about the company and even more specific, our department. Well, I absolutely adore my job and I'll put up with just about anything in order to keep it. Our deparmental scores came back and showed that people's morale was low and that there was a highly acknowledged case of favortism that we scored high in. Therefore, no bueno.
So in order for all of us to get stuff off our chests our bosses boss took all of us out to lunch, two at a time, so we could say our piece. Whatever it may be and also offer any suggestions, if we had any. It was really nice to be able to go in and vent some issues without having to be intimidated by some of our dominants in the office. We also were told it's review time and to be ready to have our meetings with our boss. Most people get worried about this kind of stuff. Not me. I love what I do and I bust my butt to do my best all the time, so I plan on having a fun conversation with my boss and ask if I can work more on some of the concept work. I'm excited to think about what opportunities I may get in order to get my feet wet. I think I am good at what I do, but I also know I can always learn, so I really hope I get the opportunity to go that route some.
Yesterday, the last day of the month, has probably been the worst. On the way home from work I was rear ended AGAIN. My car has REALLY taken a beating and I am SO sick of it. The people here drive like crap and the fact that I have been rear ended twice in the last six months just proves I am not exaggerating. Buying a brand new car was such a mistake in this respect.
I was in rush hour and probably not even 2 miles from home. The car in front of me stopped quick, but I was far enough behind that I was able to stop without an issue. Well the dude behind me not so much because he rammed right into me totally pushing in the "hatchback" part of my SUV. He was driving a bigger SUV than me. The impact was only inches below my back window, so it could have been a lot worse. It still looks pretty bad to me though!
unmarked car showed up, but didn't even talk to me. Started to really make me mad at that point. While the crash investigator was typing up her report the cop was talking to the guy that hit me talking to HIM about good body shops in town etc. The cop never said a single word to me.
I'm sorry, I know my hubs is a Military Cop, but seriously. You are going to stand there and talk to the guy that hit a girl and not say a single word to the girl while she's sitting there on the curb by herself?
Jerk.
We got our paperwork and I headed home with extremely wounded pride. Not only is my car messed up AGAIN, but here I am driving home in a messed up car. Whenever I see people driving around with dented up scratched up cars, I'm sorry, I judge. Esp here in Fayetteville.
I take major pride in having my new car and have tried very hard to take perfect care of it. Driving around with it so damaged REALLY wounded my pride. I felt like people were looking at me like, "Dang, that girl HAD a nice car and got it all messed up, probably was doing something stupid...." Etc.
By the time I got home I was beat. I'll admit I had my first hissy fit and cried for about a minute. This sucks dealing with without John here. I'm thankful for my girls Jeanette and Steph (thanks girls!) but still. I quickly reminded myself that acting like that wasn't going to get anything done, so I got a couple more pictures taken and talked to the parents and my insurance so they could file the claim for me. I had a pounding headache, my neck was already sore as heck, and I did feel a little nautious, but not for any longer than an hour or so, once I ate something and got it in my system. Went and took a shower and watched some 24 just to relax.
By the time I went to bed I still had a pounding headache and just wanted it all to go away.
This morning I woke up with a shooting pain from neck through my shoulder and down my bicep. The pain was so sharp that my fingers started getting a tingling feeling and my hand started to randomly go numb.
Awesome.
Called the doc up and they got me right in (I LOVE my doc by the way, just needed to give AHEC a shout out). After barely being able to even clasp my BRA or put my hair up, I was able to get presentable and head to the docs office.
Determined no concussion, but think I may have pinched a nerve or may have a bit of whiplash/lower neck disc issues....Got a couple xrays taken, picked up some perscriptions for some muscle relaxers and pain killers, and have been chilling out here at home just resting it up.
The adjustor is supposed to be coming here in the next hour or so to do their thing and have an appointment to go by an estimator on Tuesday.
Out of all this pandemonium, my mom decided to fly here to NC to hang out with me this 4th of July weekend and baby me some. This is going to be great! I miss my mommy and we have some of the best talks and best times together. She's going to come with me to a 4th of July BBQ with some of the military wives on post, so this should be blast, she should fit right in. :)
I'm more calm and collected now, considering and have reclaimed my HOOAH attitude. :) Things happen. Can't do anything about it, so gotta do what you gotta do.
I'm so grateful that I have my ladies I can call and vent/text vent too if need be. Thanks ladies. I'm glad that even though we are alone without our hubs, we are alone together. This is what it's all about.
First off i have proof that I have lost the 20 +/- lbs that I have been proudly talking about.
Please check out Exhibit A which is from a doctor's note today (more about the note later!):
Secondly, I am now a firm believer in Skype. My friend Dana has bugged the heck out of me to use it while she's been traveling abroad, and John mentioned that he's used it, but I just never investigated it. Well for John's birthday his mom bought us webcams and now I am a firm believer. It's been so great to see that boy's face and be able to TALK to him. We have Skype dates once a week and it's just been so great.
Next, I have started going out to dinner with fellow military wives once a week and it's been so nice! Every week we've hit up a different restaurant and just hung out and have had just some good old fashioned girl time. Next week B-Dubs! YUM.
So a couple months ago we sold John's car before his deployment. Found the buyer, signed over the title with the notary, turned in our plates John deployed. It's all good right? Yeah well not so much.
I get a bill in the mail from Harnett County to pay property taxes on the Altima. Through a bunch of drama and insane amounts of phone calls, turns out the buyer of the Altima never took the newly turned over title to the DMV to register it in his name, so therefore we were still technically the owners, therefore getting a property tax bill. Of course John had done all the communications with our buyer. With him and his cell phone out of commission I had no way to get in touch with this guy. Between even more drama and headaches with the DMV and the County it pretty much came down to either I find this guy or I the car will continue to be in our names.
Well, dug through ALL of our car paperwork from the last 4 years and finally found his email. I emailed him and heard nothing. Dug through more paperwork and finally found a phone number. Called and left a message and heard nothing. Finally the County called him and he answered. They got him to do what he needed to do and even with a little bit of attitude from him it eventually got all taken care of.
Even so, it was an "awesome" three week experience that makes me even less of a fan of NC, esp it's DMV. I even had one of the DMV workers hang up on me. No joke.
Anyways, it's over, it'done.
These last couple weeks have been crazy at work. Just so busy. A couple months ago they had the whole company do an anonymous survey about our thoughts/opinions about the company and even more specific, our department. Well, I absolutely adore my job and I'll put up with just about anything in order to keep it. Our deparmental scores came back and showed that people's morale was low and that there was a highly acknowledged case of favortism that we scored high in. Therefore, no bueno.
So in order for all of us to get stuff off our chests our bosses boss took all of us out to lunch, two at a time, so we could say our piece. Whatever it may be and also offer any suggestions, if we had any. It was really nice to be able to go in and vent some issues without having to be intimidated by some of our dominants in the office. We also were told it's review time and to be ready to have our meetings with our boss. Most people get worried about this kind of stuff. Not me. I love what I do and I bust my butt to do my best all the time, so I plan on having a fun conversation with my boss and ask if I can work more on some of the concept work. I'm excited to think about what opportunities I may get in order to get my feet wet. I think I am good at what I do, but I also know I can always learn, so I really hope I get the opportunity to go that route some.
Yesterday, the last day of the month, has probably been the worst. On the way home from work I was rear ended AGAIN. My car has REALLY taken a beating and I am SO sick of it. The people here drive like crap and the fact that I have been rear ended twice in the last six months just proves I am not exaggerating. Buying a brand new car was such a mistake in this respect.
I was in rush hour and probably not even 2 miles from home. The car in front of me stopped quick, but I was far enough behind that I was able to stop without an issue. Well the dude behind me not so much because he rammed right into me totally pushing in the "hatchback" part of my SUV. He was driving a bigger SUV than me. The impact was only inches below my back window, so it could have been a lot worse. It still looks pretty bad to me though!
Luckily for me the guy had insurance. In FAY they don't send cops to car accidents, they send Crash Investigators (AKA: people that probably didn't pass PoPo school). I saw the buy coming and was panicked more that he was going to push me into the car in front of me. Luckily for me the light had turned green a couple second prior to impact so the car in front of me had already started moving ahead and was not hit by me. When the impact happened he pushed me forward quite a bit but we still managed to stay in the lanes we were traveling in so it didn't kill traffic too much. I hit my head on the back of my seat
and it instantly brought tears to my eyes....I kept looking in my rear view mirror at this guy and he just sitting there. By not getting out of the car I was actually worried he might drive off. I called 911 and they said they'd send someone (Crash Investigator). At that point I got out of my car and started snapping these pics on my cell phone. The investigator drove up and had us drive up the street some to a side street so we could handle all the paperwork, etc. By the time I pulled up on the side street another Crash Investigator showed up, so the other one left....Weird, but whatever. Eventually an actual FAY policeman in an
I'm sorry, I know my hubs is a Military Cop, but seriously. You are going to stand there and talk to the guy that hit a girl and not say a single word to the girl while she's sitting there on the curb by herself?
Jerk.
We got our paperwork and I headed home with extremely wounded pride. Not only is my car messed up AGAIN, but here I am driving home in a messed up car. Whenever I see people driving around with dented up scratched up cars, I'm sorry, I judge. Esp here in Fayetteville.
I take major pride in having my new car and have tried very hard to take perfect care of it. Driving around with it so damaged REALLY wounded my pride. I felt like people were looking at me like, "Dang, that girl HAD a nice car and got it all messed up, probably was doing something stupid...." Etc.
By the time I got home I was beat. I'll admit I had my first hissy fit and cried for about a minute. This sucks dealing with without John here. I'm thankful for my girls Jeanette and Steph (thanks girls!) but still. I quickly reminded myself that acting like that wasn't going to get anything done, so I got a couple more pictures taken and talked to the parents and my insurance so they could file the claim for me. I had a pounding headache, my neck was already sore as heck, and I did feel a little nautious, but not for any longer than an hour or so, once I ate something and got it in my system. Went and took a shower and watched some 24 just to relax.
By the time I went to bed I still had a pounding headache and just wanted it all to go away.
This morning I woke up with a shooting pain from neck through my shoulder and down my bicep. The pain was so sharp that my fingers started getting a tingling feeling and my hand started to randomly go numb.
Awesome.
Called the doc up and they got me right in (I LOVE my doc by the way, just needed to give AHEC a shout out). After barely being able to even clasp my BRA or put my hair up, I was able to get presentable and head to the docs office.
Determined no concussion, but think I may have pinched a nerve or may have a bit of whiplash/lower neck disc issues....Got a couple xrays taken, picked up some perscriptions for some muscle relaxers and pain killers, and have been chilling out here at home just resting it up.
The adjustor is supposed to be coming here in the next hour or so to do their thing and have an appointment to go by an estimator on Tuesday.
Out of all this pandemonium, my mom decided to fly here to NC to hang out with me this 4th of July weekend and baby me some. This is going to be great! I miss my mommy and we have some of the best talks and best times together. She's going to come with me to a 4th of July BBQ with some of the military wives on post, so this should be blast, she should fit right in. :)
I'm more calm and collected now, considering and have reclaimed my HOOAH attitude. :) Things happen. Can't do anything about it, so gotta do what you gotta do.
I'm so grateful that I have my ladies I can call and vent/text vent too if need be. Thanks ladies. I'm glad that even though we are alone without our hubs, we are alone together. This is what it's all about.
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