Beep, beep!

There's nothing like being awoken by a beep beep. Not the beeps of a passing car, honking obnoxiously or the repetitive beeping of our stupid alarm clock, but rather the beeping of the smoke detector as our apartment regains power. Yesterday and today, our electricity has been anything but consistent. It likes to come on for a few hours and trick me into thinking it's here to stay, so I get comfortable. I start a load of laundry or the dishwasher, only to be interrupted by yet another power outage!

Yesterday we had an ice storm, and while my classes were canceled, the hubby still had to go into work. Afterward, he went to the gym and asked me to pick him up, yes I was venturing out into the crazy world that is southern drivers in bad weather. The power had went out again, so I was happy to get into my heated car. I drove to the end of our street only to see that the traffic light had lost power as well. Now, when this happens, you're supposed to treat the intersection as a 4-way stop. Well, I treated it as such, but about 90% of the drivers on the road didn't. After sitting there for about 5 minutes, people finally let me make my left hand turn & I was on my way. Going to post didn't take long at all, but coming back was a nightmare. We stopped to get dinner on our way home because of the bad power situation, so yes, I ate bad yesterday, it felt pretty good too.

My school was on a '2 hour delay' today and was set to open at 10, but I received a text at about 7:30am telling me campus was closed yet again. The hubby has already been told not to come in until 9am, but they called to tell him not to come in till noon, which really didnt matter either way since we again had no freaking power. He was on his way to work when they called to tell him not to come in at all. That may seem insignificant to most, but I found it extremely annoying!

Anyway, the power has still been glitchy today, so I'm getting off here & going to fold some laundry. Adios!

Only in Tennessee.

Today was the first day of the semester and also one of the coldest days of the year! As I was leaving school, I received an e-mail on my Blackberry. Now I get a lot of 'junk mail', hence why I even received this stupid e-mail. Now to the reason to this blog - the content of the e-mail said schools in middle Tennessee would be closed tomorrow. Now I know this state is rather unprepared for acclimate weather (i.e. 1/2 inch of snow and patches of ice), but this reasoning behind the schools closing tomorrow? Coldness. As I saw this in my e-mail, I couldn't help but question myself as to whether I had read this correctly. They're going to close school because it's cold? I mean yeah, it's cold, I agree. And while I may be more accustomed to colder weather being from Michigan, I still can't get over that they're closing schools because of this. Last time I checked, coldness has no effect on driving to and from school and while it's cold outside, students will be indoors for the school day. I truly find this comical and while I think it's truly stupid, I'm a little sad that the universities aren't buying into this lame excuse for a day off and giving college students a day off too :]

I'm Proud to be an American

Citizen, that is. My husband however, is not one. No, he's not in the country illegally, he's a legal alien resident, which means he came here the right way. We're in the process right now of getting his citizenship. We attempted to do this while he was in Iraq, but they sent him on his way with a stack of paperwork. However, today he actually sat and spoke to someone who gave him the correct paperwork & advice on filling it out -- which by the way I will be filling out since I have 'pretty handwriting'. He was also told that he would still have to take the Citizenship Test, which he will have to travel to Memphis to take. He was told he would be asked 5-10 questions by a person, but someone told him that when they took the 'test', the examiner asked him how long he had been serving and didn't even ask him test questions, he was approved immediately. We're hoping that the case will be similar with my husband, as you have to answer all questions correctly. After nearly eight years of service, I hope that make up for his lack of remembering stuff.

It's not that he is uneducated or doesn't know anything about America, afterall he's been living here for 18 years. It's just that he 1) hasn't been in school for 7 years, and 2) History wasn't his best subject. We took a look at the 100, yes 100, possible citizenship test questions and some of them are absurd! I'm not a betting woman, but I'd put money on it that the majority of Americans could not answer all 100 of those questions correctly. So, needless to say, it will take some quizzing on my part to help prepare him for this, if they do indeed ask him the 5-10 questions.

I'm excited for him though. I'm glad we're finally starting this process up. It will help him with job prospects once he's out of the military and really just in daily life. On a side note, I think that if a LEGAL non-citizen serves in the military for four years, they should automatically be granted citizenship. I understand the paperwork...but seriously, 20 pages of the same information, my hand hurts already :]

Arizona? Maybe, Baby.

As my husbands time in the military comes to a close, we're starting to really think about our future. Today on our way home, we were talking in the car about what we were going to do, since we only have 5 months to figure this all out and continuing to serve in the military is NOT and option here in a few days. Anyway, he has been dead set on finding a way for us to make it in New York City, where his family is. He has always listened to my point of going elsewhere, saving more money, and settling for a few years before we go to NY. Well, today, he told me that I was right and that we probably should do that. I was in shock! He has always listened to my points, but would always go right back to arguing his point for NYC.

One big concern of his was housing. I had looked at homes for sale in Arizona (where we're seriously considering going) and I didn't like any of them, but I explained to him that I was looking at home in our current price range. If he were working at one of the jobs he's considering, we'd be making considerably more and would be able to afford a nicer home. I was looking at homes online this evening and found more homes that I like and some that I even *gasp* love! If we do indeed go to Arizona, my husband would continue working for the for the government either as a civillian on base or Border Patrol. I know nothing is set in stone, but I love Arizona, the weather, the vast open spaces, and the history.

We have a lot of work to do if we want this to happen, mainly paperwork for my husband. Even if we don't end up there, we're on our way to somewhere else and I am so very excited!

Long Time, No Blog!

I haven't blogged in so long, partially due to my husbands return from Iraq & the holidays, partially because I was starting to resent blogging. I don't know if you recall or not, but I had a class last semester where I had to write blogs on blogger and therefore blogging turned into homework. However, I am back and will try to blog more often.

Anyway, here is a small update on my life! My husband returned home from Iraq November 2nd, which of course made me incredibly happy! Here's a photo from that day. Thanks Bestie for coming along as a photographer (and for support of course!).
After he returned, leave started the day before Thanksgiving, so we traveled to Michigan to spend the holiday with my family. I still had about a month and a half of the semester remaining after his return, so even though I was very distracted, I finished the semester (this includes a 10pg paper, a 5pg paper, a presentation, and a few tests). A week or so after the semester ended, Jenry and I traveled to New York City to spend Christmas with his family. We had a good time hanging out with both his family and friends while we there, but we both eager to head home. The past week has flown by and while we are sad that he has to go back to work, we both know he has no choice.

That's it with me! I still have a week and half until classes start up again for me, so you may see me here again soon :]